BMX legend Dave Mirra dead in apparent suicide

BMX icon Dave Mirra dies at 41 01:16

(CNN)Dave Mirra, whose dazzling aerial flips and tricks made him a legend in freestyle BMX and one of the most successful competitors in X Games history, died Thursday of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police in North Carolina said.

He was 41.

Mirra's body was found in a truck in his hometown of Greenville, North Carolina, about 4 p.m. Thursday, shortly after he visited friends in the area, Greenville police said.

When Mirra retired from BMX competition in 2011, he had 24 X Games medals, the most in the history of the ESPN-run extreme sports competition. 

Saudi Arabia Willing To Send Ground Troops To Syria

After recent military gains by Assad forces, Gulf kingdom ready to put boots on the ground in Syria’s escalating war.
Saudi Arabia is prepared to deploy ground troops to Syria to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) if US-led coalition leaders agree to the offer.

Saudi’s air force has targeted ISIL with air strikes since the campaign began in Syria in September 2014, but the Gulf kingdom is now ready to provide ground forces to defeat the armed group, a military spokesman said on Thursday.

“Today, the Saudi kingdom announced its readiness to participate with ground troops with the US-led coalition against ISIL, because we now have the experience in Yemen,” Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri told Al Jazeera.

In Historic Move, Pope to Meet With Leader of Russian Orthodox Church

Pope Francis at the Vatican on Tuesday. For Francis, the meeting with the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church is the result of delicate and sustained diplomacy. Credit Andrew Medichini/Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis will make a surprise trip to Cuba on Feb. 12 for a historic meeting with the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, the first meeting between a pope and the Russian patriarch since the eastern and western branches of Christianity split nearly 1,000 years ago, the Vatican announced on Friday.

For Francis, the meeting is the result of delicate and sustained diplomacy, some of which began decades ago under Pope John Paul II, and it is another important milestone in his efforts to reconcile the Roman Catholic Church with Eastern Orthodox churches.

The breakthrough also highlights Francis’s ties to Cuba, as President Raúl Castro “was involved in organizing the meeting,” said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, at a news conference.

“The encounter has been under preparation for a long time — it wasn’t improvised,” Father Lombardi said.

He said discussions had been underway “for at least two years,” and the fact that both leaders planned to be in Latin America created the possibility of a “neutral place” for a meeting.

Sweden, U.K. slam ‘frankly ridiculous’ UN claim that Julian Assange has been ‘arbitrarily detained’

Geoff Caddick / Getty ImagesA UN panel ruled Friday February 5, 2016, that the 'detention' of Julian Assange should be ended after nearly four years in Ecuador's embassy in London, stoking the Wikileaks founder's hopes of walking free.

 

LONDON — A United Nations human rights panel has sided with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in his long-running battle with Swedish and British authorities, saying he should be freed immediately and compensated for the years he has lost.

The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which falls under the offices of the U.N. human rights chief, said Assange has been “arbitrarily detained” by Britain and Sweden since December 2010, when he was first sought for questioning on allegations of sexual misconduct.

Rubio Proves Obama’s Point About Islam and Intolerance in the US

Sen. Marco Rubio accused the president of 'pitting people against each other' in Obama's visit to a mosque this week.

For years, President Obama avoided visiting a mosque in the United States. While the White House never explained why, American Muslims tended to believe he was afraid of the backlash such a visit might inspire from conservatives.

David Graham is a senior associate editor at The Atlantic, where he oversees the Politics Channel. He previously reported for Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, and The National. Full Bio

On Wednesday, he finally visited the Islamic Society of Baltimore, and much of the right’s reaction is validating those suspicions. There was some outright dishonesty, like Donald Trump’s implication that Obama is a Muslim: “Maybe he feels comfortable there.” (Memo to The Donald: He didn’t do this until the eighth year of his presidency.) That’s standard Trump fare. More surprising was Marco Rubio’s response:

He gave a speech at a mosque, basically implying that America is discriminating against Muslims. Of course there’s discrimination in America, of every kind. But the bigger issue is radical Islam. This constant pitting people against each other, I can’t stand that. It’s hurting our country badly.

Reading Rubio’s remarks, anyone who heard Obama must have thought, “Did he watch the same speech I did?” The answer is most likely not: Rubio is in the middle of a hectic New Hampshire campaign swing, and it’s hard to imagine he spent an hour watching Obama speak. Suffice it to say that the president’s address bore little resemblance to Rubio’s description.