Legendary star Mickey Rooney dead at age 93 ADVERTISING Legendary star Mickey Rooney dead at age 93 LOS ANGELES — Actor Mickey Rooney, a Hollywood legend whose career spanned more than 80 years, has died. He was 93. Los Angeles
Legendary star Mickey Rooney dead at age 93
LOS ANGELES — Actor Mickey Rooney, a Hollywood legend whose career spanned more than 80 years, has died. He was 93.
Los Angeles Police Commander Andrew Smith said that Rooney was with his family when he died Sunday at his North Hollywood home.
Smith said police took a report but indicated that there was nothing suspicious and it was not a police case and he had no additional details on the circumstances of Rooney’s death.
It’s likely no one in show business history will ever match Rooney’s career for sheer length and variety.
He starred in silent comedy shorts, MGM musicals with Judy Garland, the popular Andy Hardy family films, an Emmy-winning TV drama and a Broadway smash, “Sugar Babies.” He was nominated for Oscars four times and won two special Oscars.
He was also known for his colorful private life that included eight marriages.
Afghan elections hailed as triumph over violence, though Taliban threat remains
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghans and the international community hailed its presidential election as a triumph of democracy over violence Sunday, despite complaints about ballot shortages and sporadic fraud after millions of people braved a Taliban threat to vote for a new president. But some cautioned against declaring a premature defeat of the Islamic militants.
Securing the vote was a test for Afghan government forces as they prepare to take full responsibility for their own security as the U.S. and allied forces end their combat mission at the end of this year. The consensus was that they largely passed, though there was sporadic violence.
A roadside bomb hit a pickup truck transporting ballot boxes Sunday in the northern province of Kunduz, killing three people, officials said. But the major attacks that had been feared did not materialize.
“This in itself is a victory over violence and a victory over all those who wanted to deter democracy by threats and violence,” said Thijs Berman, the head of the European Union’s election assessment team in Kabul.
Electoral officials, meanwhile, urged patience, saying officials continued to log complaints and tally ballots. The ballots were coming from more than 20,000 polling stations nationwide, some in extremely remote and rural areas. They were being transported to tally centers in all 34 provinces before the results reach Kabul.
Palestinian teaches Hebrew, tolerance as he builds life after 20 years in Israeli prisons
DEIR JARIR, West Bank — Facing a classroom of Palestinian 10th graders, Hebrew teacher Esmat Mansour asks his students who is for and against learning the language. A few raise their hands in favor, others against and he asks both sides to explain.
Mansour believes such debates will help motivate young Palestinians to study Israel’s dominant language. They need to know Hebrew to be able to deal with the Israeli occupiers, but also to build bridges in the future, he says.
The 37 year old’s view of the conflict with Israel is the product of a violent past, as he at 16 helped three older teens stab to death an Israeli man in 1993. Mansour was sentenced to 22 years as an accomplice in the killing of 30-year-old Haim Mizrahi, and was granted early release last year, along with dozens of other long-held prisoners, in a deal brokered by the United States.
Now free, Mansour’s new life comes as Mideast peace talks falter. Mansour said he has no regrets, but also that he would never take another life.
“The most important thing is to … value all human life and to learn tolerance,” he said. Then, “we were very young, the political situation was different, we were very much zealots.”
By wire sources
