Halloween Week: The Day of the Halloweening

Or something.


Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Johnny Cash sings of the Apocalypse on this eve of All Saints' Day and don't forget the saints commemorated on this day.



Terrible:

A Russian airliner carrying 224 passengers crashed into a mountainous area of Egypt's Sinai peninsula on Saturday shortly after losing radar contact near cruising altitude, killing all aboard.

A militant group affiliated to Islamic State in Egypt, Sinai Province, said in a statement it had brought down the plane "in response to Russian airstrikes that killed hundreds of Muslims on Syrian land", but Russia's Transport Minister told Interfax news agency the claim "can't be considered accurate". 

The Airbus A321, operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia under the brand name Metrojet, was flying from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg in Russia when it went down in central Sinai soon after daybreak, the aviation ministry said.

"I now see a tragic scene," an Egyptian security officer at the site told Reuters by telephone. "A lot of dead on the ground and many who died whilst strapped to their seats.

"The plane split into two, a small part on the tail end that burned and a larger part that crashed into a rockface. We have extracted at least 100 bodies and the rest are still inside," the officer, who requested anonymity, said.

Both black boxes of the plane had been found, Mohamed Hossam Kemal, the civil aviation minister, told a news conference.

A publisher in Bangladesh is hacked to death:

A publisher of secular books was hacked to death and three other people were wounded in two separate attacks Saturday at publishing houses in Bangladesh's capital, police said.

The attacks in Dhaka come amid fears about the rise of radical Islam in Bangladesh. At least four atheist bloggers have been murdered in the impoverished country this year, while the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for three other attacks.

Both of the publishers involved in Saturday's attacks had published works of Bangladeshi-American blogger and writer Avijit Roy, who was hacked to death on the Dhaka University campus while walking with his wife in February.

The local Islamist group Ansarullah Bangla Team had claimed responsibility for the blogger killings and recently threatened to kill more bloggers.

It still riles Obama that he can't oust Assad:

The United States ramped up its support for Syria's opposition with a pledge of nearly $100 million in fresh aid on Saturday. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's top diplomat described the timing of the departure of Syrian President Bashar Assad and the withdrawal of foreign fighters as top sticking points to finding a lasting resolution to the civil war in Syria.

Suck it up, Barry.



Floods in Texas:

Five people have been reported dead and one still missing amid the flash floods that roiled through the Austin area and other parts of south-central Texas overnight, submerging cars, toppling trailers, and leaving more than 32,000 people without power.

And now, a recipe for soul cakes, cakes given to beggars in exchange for prayers for deceased loved ones. This is thought to be the origin of trick-or-treating.