July 2006

• Early elections in November are announced in the Netherlands. (Reuters)
• Discovery Mission STS-121's launch has been delayed today due to thunderstorms. The next launch attempt is scheduled for 3:26 PM EDT tomorrow, although more bad weather is forecast.(NASA)(Associated Press)
• Osama Bin Laden warns the US and other nations not to become involved in Somalia and says that Al Qaeda reserves the right to "punish" the U.S. on its own soil. (Reuters)
• The United Nations Security Council votes unanimously to withdraw the 3,500 peacekeeping troops who are currently in Burundi on December 31, despite the continuing activities of the National Liberation Force rebel group. (Reuters)
• At least 60 people die from a car bomb in a market in Sadr City, a Shiite district of Baghdad. (Turkish Press)
• The Qingzang railway is formally opened in the by Chinese President Hu Jintao. (BBC)
• Operation Summer Rains:
  • An Israeli helicopter gunship attacks the office of Prime Minister of Palestine Ismail Haniyeh. Observers report that the building had been set on fire but was unoccupied. (Melbourne Age)
  • Israel rejects demand to free 1,000 prisoners, delivered earlier by the abductors of Cpl. Gilad Shalit. A Palestenian deputy minister says Shalit is in stable condition, but no sign of life is yet given. (Haaretz)
  • The Australian reports Israel threatens to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh unless Israel's kidnapped soldier, Gilad Shalit, is released unharmed. No other news source confirms this report. (The Australian)
• A ceremony is held at Thiepval, Picardy, in France, to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. (BBC)

• One year on from the Live 8 concerts, U2 frontman Bono announces that world leaders are not making good on their promises to Africa. According to Bono in a recent CNN interview, not enough is being done to make trade fair. (CNN)
• Polling closes in the Mexican general election, with voters electing a new President, both houses of Congress, and four state/district governors. Exit polls show the presidential race between Felipe Calderón of the National Action Party and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a former mayor of Mexico City, as too close to call. (CBS News)
• Iraqi authorities distribute a most wanted fugitives list containing Saddam Hussein's wife and daughter and with Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri at the top of the list. (CNN)
• The launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery is postponed until Tuesday at 2:38pm local time due to stormy weather in Florida. (CBC)
• In Pakistan, all parliament members from the Jamaat-e-Islami political movement resign over fighting between the army and terrorists in Waziristan and General Musharraf's support for the United States in an effort to force Musharraf to step down. (IRNA)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • Israel strikes an empty office of Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh. Two other Hamas operatives are killed in two separate aerial strikes. Israeli defense minister Amir Peretz warns stepping up quality of targets, reiterating the responsibility of Syrian president Bashar Assad for the continued crisis. (Ynet), (BBC)
  • Hamas spokesperson threatens further attacks against Israeli schools and power plants if the military campaign to free the kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit continues. (Haaretz)
  • Israeli ground forces deployed in Dahaniya airport kill three approaching Palestinian gunmen, two of them strapped to explosive belts.(Ynet)
  • Israeli PM approves a military operation in the northern Gaza Strip aimed at halting Qassam rocket attacks. More than 1200 Qassam rockets, three of them on Sunday, were launched since October 2001, killing 12 Israeli civilians and a comparable number of Palestinian civilians. (Haaretz),(Ynet)

• The Space Shuttle Discovery's launch on STS-121 is thrown in doubt when a 3 inch crack is found in the foam insulation of its external tank. Despite the crack, NASA decides to proceed with the launch, scheduled for 2:38 PM ET Tuesday, which would be the first manned launch on the United States Independence Day. (Spaceflight Now/CBS News) (MSNBC) (Reuters)
• North Korean leaders say that they will respond to any pre-emptive attack from the US with an "annihilating strike and a nuclear war." (Associated Press)
• Greece is suspended from international football competition by FIFA due to Greek government interference in the sport. (FIFA.com) (BBC)
• At least 41 people die during a lunchtime subway accident in Valencia, Spain when two cars of a train derail and overturn. Early reports indicate the train was travelling too fast. (CNN), (BBC)
• The government of Tajikistan renamed the second and the fourth highest peaks of the Pamir Mountains into the Independence Peak and Avicenna Peak, respectively. (Interfax)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • Israel rejects ultimatum to release all Palestinian female prisoners, prisoners under 18, and an additional 1,000 prisoners by 6 A.M. Tuesday, in exchange for information on its kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. Defense Minister of Israel Amir Peretz calls Syrian President Bashar Assad to "open his eyes, because he is responsible". (Haaretz)
  • Israel Defense Forces troops kill two Palestinian militants in the northern Gaza Strip, on their way to attack Israeli armoured vehicles. (Haaretz)
  • Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov calls for the immediate unconditional release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. (Ynet)

• UFDC rebels attack the Chadian city of Ade and battle the Military of Chad. Both the UFDC and the Déby administration claim to have control over the city, stating that opposing forces have fled. (CNN) United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan issues a report warning that ongoing fighting in Chad, Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Cameroon are increasingly destabilized and that borders are loosely enforced. (allAfrica.com)
• North Korea test-launches at least six missiles which landed in the Sea of Japan. An official from the United States Department of State claims that one of the missiles was a long-range Taepodong 2 missile which failed 35 seconds after takeoff.(CNN), (Mainichi Shimbun)
• A Qassam rocket hits a High school at Ashkelon, an Israeli city with a population exceeding 117,000. The rocket was launched by Hamas militants from the town of Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza strip. (Haaretz)
• The Space Shuttle Discovery takes off from Cape Canaveral for the International Space Station at 2:38pm EDT (1838 UTC) after its liftoff had been postponed twice. (CNN)
• A bomb scare in the arrivals area of Dublin Airport results in a complete closure of the main building. The man who is responsible for the scare has been arrested; he claims to be a member of al-Qaeda. Approximately 9,000 passengers and 50 flights were affected during the two-hour disruption. (Wikinews)
• The International Federation of Phonogram and Videogram Producers sues Yahoo! China for providing links to pirated music tracks. (BBC)

• Three members of the Tongan royal family are killed in a car accident in Menlo Park, California. (Palo Alto Online)
• China and Russia resist efforts by the United States and Japan to move a motion in the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on North Korea over its missile tests. (ABC News America)
• Light Sweet Crude futures close at an all-time high at $75.19/barrel, with an intraday all-time high of $75.40/barrel in New York. Analysts have downplayed the effect of North Korea's missile launch. (AFP)
• Former Enron executive Kenneth Lay has died of a heart attack at the age of 64. (Reuters) (KTRK)
• A North Korean state-run broadcaster states that his country is ready to cope with any provocation by the United States. (Drudge Report)(Associated Press)
• Casinos in the U.S. state of New Jersey have shut down for the first time in their history. The closure started at 8 AM Local Time, 1200 GMT, since the state's budget has not been decided, necessitating the shutdown of nonessential state offices, including casino regulators.(Philadelphia Inquirer)(Associated Press)
• North Korea launches a 7th missile, despite earlier condemnation of its earlier tests. One of the missiles landed "near Russian territory." The U.N. Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday, and Japan warns of economic sanctions against the country. (Washington Post), (CNN)(Associated Press)(The Washington Times)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • Israel's Prime Minister has allowed the IDF to expand its offensive in the Gaza Strip against the Hamas-controlled Palestinian government, in order to free the abducted soldier Gilad Shalit. (Reuters)
  • A Palestinian suicide bomber is arrested in the West Bank on his way to the center of Israel. (Ynet)
  • Corporal Gilad Shalit and seven militants are reported to be "living off food hoarded in advance to spare the captors the risk of emerging". (Reuters)

• Addressing the death of Kenneth Lay, U.S. President George W. Bush states that he hopes Lay, one of the men convicted in the collapse of Enron, "was right with the Lord". (FoxNews.com)
• The long-range missile launched during North Korea's Missile Test was aimed at a point in the ocean close to the U.S. state of Hawaii. (Reuters)
• The Space Shuttle Discovery successfully docks with the International Space Station as part of the STS-121 mission. Checks of the orbiter have revealed no damage from foam falling off the external fuel tank during launch. (Spaceflight Now/CBS)
• Great Britain's young people are for the first time spending more time looking at Internet sites than watching TV, a new survey has revealed. (Daily Mail)
• In Mexico's presidential election, PRD candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador says he will file a legal challenge against the results of the ongoing official vote count that have him losing to the PAN's Felipe Calderón by 0.57 percentage points. (BBC News)
• A United States Military AH-64 Apache helicopter made an emergency landing in South Korea. There was no injury or damage to the helicopter. (Associated Press)
• The New York Court of Appeals rules in a 4-2 decision that gay marriage is not allowed under state law. (Newsday)
• Taiwan plans to test a missile capable of hitting mainland China. This has alarmed the island's main ally, the United States. (Reuters)(Agence France-Presse)
• South Korean media states that there are three or four short to medium range missiles on the launch pad in North Korea, ready for launch. North Korea has now threatened to do so.(Associated Press)(Associated Press)
• The Nathula Pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War in 1962, reopens after 44 years. (Zee News), (BBC)
• Sectarian violence in Iraq: A car bomb explodes outside a Shi'ite Muslim shrine near the holy city of Najaf in Iraq, killing at least seven people. (Reuters)
• An explosion, believed to be caused by a bomb, killed at least eight people in a minibus in the city of Tiraspol, in Transnistria, a breakaway region of Moldova. (BBC)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • IDF raid three demolished Israeli settlements and one Palestinian neighbourhood in the northern Gaza Strip, to halt the daily firing of Qassam rockets at Israeli towns. One Israeli soldier, more than 20 Palestenian militants and one civilian are killed. (Haaretz),(Ynet)
  • 10 Qassam rockets are launched at Israeli towns from the northern Gaza Strip, inflicting damage but no casualties. (Ynet)
  • Palestinian abductors relax their demands for release of the kidnapped Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit. (Jerusalem Post)

• Craigslist is sued because of illegal posts to that website. Amazon, eBay, AOL, Yahoo, and Google all file briefs as friends of the court in support of Craigslist. (NPR News)
• Ayman al Zawahri, deputy of al-Qaeda claims that two of the London bombers trained with al-Qaeda on a video posted on a website. The two men he identified as training with them are Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammad Sidique Khan. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz has resigned. His party Law and Justice has recommended the post be taken over by its chairman Jarosław Kaczyński, who is the identical twin brother of President Lech Kaczyński. BBC News
• The board of General Motors authorises Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner to explore an alliance with Nissan and Renault. (Bloomberg)
• Japan circulates a new United Nations Security Council draft resolution including the threat of sanctions against North Korea. (Guardian)
• For the second time this week, Dublin Airport's main terminal is evacuated. This occurred when airport security was notified of a strange bag in the Arrivals Area of the airport terminal shortly before 08:00 (IST). A controlled explosion of the bag was carried out by the Army. The airport reopened just over two hours later, though 60 flights and 12,000 passengers were affected. (RTÉ News)
• Typhoon Ewiniar nears landfall on the southern island chain of Okinawa, Japan. The typhoon packs winds 160 km, 99 mi, per hour. Japan's Meteorological Agency warns of flooding on the island and the storm to move across South Korea over the weekend. (Reuters)
• Spain has had its first case of H5N1 bird flu, a laboratory has confirmed. The country has forbidden the transport within a 3 km, 1.8 mi, zone around where the virus was found. (Reuters)
• Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, warns of an "explosion" in the Islamic world and it would target Israel and its supporters in the Western world, if Israel doesn't cease its activity in the Gaza Strip. Ahmadinejad said during a rally in Tehran that, "This (Israel) is a fake regime ... it won't be able to survive. I think the only way (forward) is that those who created it (the West) take it away themselves." (Associated Press)
• The FBI announces that a plot to bomb the Holland Tunnel and flood Lower Manhattan with water has been foiled. (Daily News)
• South Korea is developing cruise missile technology, Yoon Kwang-ung, South Korea's defense minister says. This is legal under the South Korea-U.S. missile guideline signed in 2001. (Associated Press)
• North Korea might have moved another Taepodong-2 missile, a long range missile, to the launch site, according to South Korea's defense minister. (Reuters)
• An explosion in the village of Dongzhai village in Shanxi province in north China kills 43 people. (ABC News US)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • Three Israeli civilians are wounded when a Qassam rocket lands in a basketball court in Sderot. More than fifteen rockets land in Israeli towns on Friday, in spite of an Israeli raid in the northern Gaza Strip. (Ynet), (Haaretz)
  • Israeli minister Avi Dichter suggests Palestinian prisoners will be released "in a goodwill gesture", if kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit is released and rocket attacks cease. Hamas official rejects this suggestion. (Haaretz)

• USS Mustin, which has surface-to-air and Tomahawk cruise missiles is deployed to a Japanese port. This is regularly scheduled and not in response to North Korea's missile test. (Associated Press)
• The first confirrmed flight of a manned ornithopter operating under its own power is made in Toronto, Canada by aerospace scientists. (Toronto Star)
• US diplomat Christopher R. Hill indicates US support for the informal resumption of six party talks aimed at resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • Israel rejects Hamas terms for a ceasefire - Palestinian PM Ismail Haniya calls for a ceasefire to end several days of fierce fighting in the Gaza Strip. Israel reiterates its demand to release the abducted soldier Gilad Shalit, and end Qassam rocket attacks on Israeli towns, for an immediate cease fire to take place. (BBC), (Haaretz)
  • Israeli forces withdraw from the northern Gaza Strip after an intensive two-day operation aimed at creating a buffer zone to stop Hamas militants from firing rockets at Israel. Israeli armoured company enters the Gaza Strip via Karni crossing, advancing to within 500 meters of Gaza city, reportedly in search for tunnels used by Palestinian militants. Israeli Air Force carries out numerous strikes against militants in the Gaza Strip. (BBC), (Haaretz), (Reuters)
  • EU warns Israel of using "disproportionate" force during its operations in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, a Palestinian minister in the Hamas-led government urges all armed forces to fight Israeli troops. (BBC), (Ynet)
  • Three Palestinian family members (mother and two children) are killed in a blast in Gaza city. Palestinian sources claim an Israeli tank shell caused the blast, but the Israel Defense Forces states it carried out no tank or artillery fire at the area. Israeli Air Force investigation concludes its air strikes were not to blame for the blast. Numerous improvised explosive devices were planted in Gaza in the past week, in preparation for an Israeli incursion. (Ynet)
• Shoichi Nakagawa, Japanese agriculture minister, announces Japan will no longer provide food aid to North Korea, and that Japan is considering restricting agricultural trade between the two countries. Earlier Japan banned a North Korean ferry from entering Japanese ports. (Mainichi Daily News)
• Seven terror suspects escape from a Saudi Arabian prison. (BBC)

• 25 people are injured on the Son of Beast wooden roller coaster near Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, as it came to a rapid stop. Several rescue units were sent to the scene. (WCPO-TV), (Associated Press)
• 2006 FIFA World Cup: Italy defeats France in the final game of the FIFA World Cup. The score remained 1-1 after both regulation time and extra time; however, Italy won 5-3 in penalty kicks. The match is marred by the dismissal of Zinedine Zidane in the second period of Extra Time. (ABC News Australia)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert says Operation Summer Rains will only end once abducted soldier Gilad Shalit is released: "There is no intention to reoccupy Gaza in order to stay there, but if certain operations are needed they will be carried out". (Reuters), (BBC)
  • 300 members of the British activist group 'Jews for Justice for Palestinians' sign a petition condemning Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip. (BBC)
  • An Israeli civilian is moderately wounded as a Qassam rocket strikes his private car in Sderot. Another rocket directly hits a house in Sderot, causing severe damage but no casualties. More than twenty rockets were launched against Israeli towns over the weekend by Palestenian militants, wounding several civilians. (Haaretz), (Getty)
  • UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan demands that Israel take urgent action to prevent a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip. (BBC)
• Sectarian violence in Iraq: 40 Sunni civilians are massacred by Shia militiamen in Baghdad. (BBC)
• Hindu nationalists riot in and around the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay), attacking a police station, burning buses, forcing businesses shut and halting public transport. (News.com.au)
• The Indian government bans export of pulses due to domestic shortages. This has led to price hikes for pulses in Bangladesh and other countries. (New Kerala)
• A S7 Airlines Airbus A310 crashes on landing in Irkutsk, Siberia, with many of the 200 passengers feared dead. (ABC News America), (CNN), (BBC)
• Nestlé is added to the Arab League list of companies to be boycotted "because it maintains a branch in Israel". An anonymous source says most League members are likely to ignore the decision. (Ynet)

• The United Kingdom unveils a new terror alert status system, similar to the United States' Homeland Security Advisory System. It is currently at "severe" on a scale of low, moderate, substantial, severe and critical. (Associated Press)
• Hundreds of thousands of children are potentially fingerprinted in the UK, some as young as five years old and without parental consent. (Mirror), (IndyMedia)
• U.S. President George W. Bush will likely cast the first veto of his presidency if the Senate passes a bill expanding federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, Karl Rove says. The House has already passed the bill. (Drudge Report)
• U.S. Chief Judge Thomas Hogan rules that a Federal Bureau of Investigation raid on the Capitol Hill office of Congressman William J. Jefferson was legal. (Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune)
• The Indian GSLV rocket carrying the INSAT 4C satellite fails. (CNN.com)
• The U.N. Security Council's five permanent members and Japan agree today to postpone the vote on possible sanctions against North Korea. (Associated Press)
• 2006 62nd Street explosion: A three-story building located on 62nd Street between Madison and Park avenues collapses in Manhattan at 9 AM EDT following an explosion, and then followed by flames erupting in the building. FDNY labels it a "major incident." (MSNBC/AP), (Reuters), (WNBC), (Associated Press), (CNN), (WABC), (Associated Press)
• A Palestinian girl is critically wounded when a Qassam rocket launched by Palestenian militants hits her home in the Gaza Strip. (Ynet)
• Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert criticises the European Union for its refusal to condemn the daily Palestinian rocket attacks against Israeli civilians, leaving Israel to take effective measures by itself. (Haaretz)
• Fighting erupts in Somalia, with fighting between Somalian fighters aligned with defeated warlords and Islamic militants killing 60 people and wounding 100. (Reuters)
• A chlorine gas leak at a Chinese chemical plant has hospitalized 164 people. It occurred at the Xing'erte Chemical Products Co. (Associated Press)
• India's test-firing of a nuclear-capable IRBM, Agni III, is unsuccessful after plunging into the Bay of Bengal after going 12 km, 8 mi, or about 5 minutes, then losing altitude. Pakistan was notified prior to the test per treaty with India. (Reuters)
• Chechnya's terrorist Shamil Basayev is allegedly killed, according to Russian authorities. He was said to have been killed together with other Chechen fighters working with him at the time of his alleged death. (Reuters)
• Japan says it is considering whether a pre-emptive strike against North Korea's missile bases would be a violation of its constitution. This is ahead of a possible UN vote on sanctions against North Korea. (Associated Press)
• PIA Flight 688, a Pakistan International Airlines Fokker F-27 plane, crashes at Multan International Airport, killing all 45 passengers on board. (CNN), (Associated Press)
• The defense starts the concluding remarks in the trial of Saddam Hussein.

(NBC)

• The Hebrew University of Jerusalem releases 1,300 letters written by Albert Einstein, shedding light on his lovers, wives and kin. (Haaretz)

• Tajikistan begins reconstructing the Dushanbe-Chanak highway after the Government of China agrees to loan the Tajik Government $281.2 million of the $296 million reconstruction costs. Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov said, "the Great Silk Route will return to live." (Interfax)
• Liu Xiang of China sets a new World Record for the 110 metres hurdles at the Super Grand Prix in Lausanne with a time of 12.88 seconds. (IAAF)
• On the 17th day to the abduction of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, his father asks why Red Cross representatives were not allowed to visit the hostage, as established in the Geneva Conventions. (Ynet)
• An Israeli official states there is neither hunger nor a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza strip. He explains that the cargo terminals to the Gaza Strip are under constant threats, challenging the ordinary transportation of goods, citing numerous terrorist attacks carried out against the crossings. (Ynet)
• A fire and smoke buildup occurres on the CTA Blue Line train in the U.S. city of Chicago. Most injuries are from smoke inhalation. No fatalities have been stated at this time. Emergency personnel are on scene. The cause is from a rear derailment. (CBS2 Chicago), (NBC5 Chicago), (Chicago Tribune), (CNN), (Associated Press)
• U.S. broadcaster Bob Novak reveals his involvement in the Plame leak, stating "I learned Valerie Plame's name from Joe Wilson's entry in Who's Who in America." (Bob Novak/Human Events Online)
• News Corp's MySpace.com surpasses Yahoo! Mail for the first time, and has become the number-one most visited website in the United States. (Reuters)
• The United States government agrees to apply parts of the Geneva Convention to detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, but does not change their status from enemy combatants to POWs. (Washington Times)
• A three ton concrete ceiling tile falls on a car in a tunnel in Boston, United States, killing one female passenger and closing the tunnel. The Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, announces that the Massachusetts Government will be taking legal action to remove the Chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, Matt Amorello. (Bloomberg), (The Boston Globe), (Daily Comet)
• Eight explosions hit at least four commuter trains in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay). India's other major cities are all placed on high alert. At least 174 people are reported dead, and at least 460 are reported injured. A suspect has been arrested in central Delhi. (Associated Press), (Reuters), (MSNBC), (Rediff), (Zee News)
• The Mujahideen Shura Council, a group linked to Al-Qaeda, posts a tape claiming responsibility for killing three US soldiers in retaliation for the killing of an Iraqi girl Abeer Qassim Hamza, allegedly by members of the same unit that the soldiers belonged to. (Dallas Morning News)
• Hurricane Bud forms in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, south of the tip of the Baja California Peninsula. (National Hurricane Center)
• In the 2006 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the American League defeats the National League 3 to 2. Michael Young of the Texas Rangers is named Most Valuable Player. (Major League Baseball)

• Israeli-Palestinian conflict
  • An Israeli air strike destroys the Palestinian Foreign Ministry Building in Gaza City. (BBC), (AP)
  • An Israeli brigade enters the central Gaza Strip via Kissufim crossing, aiming at temporarily bisecting it. Simultaneously, the Israel Air Force targets a meeting of Hamas operational wing commanders in an apartment building in Gaza city. One Hamas leader, seven members of his family and one neighbour are killed. Top Hamas leaders Mohammed Deif and Abu Anas al-Ghandour, who Israeli officials claim were heavily involved in the kidnapping of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, are moderately wounded. Fourteen additional Palestinian militants are killed in other incidents in the Gaza Strip. (Haaretz), (Ynet), (Reuters)
  • 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis:
    • Hezbollah militants kidnap two Israeli soldiers patrolling along the northern Israel border. Three soldiers are killed in the incident, and five soldiers are killed in subsequent confrontations inside Lebanon. Hezbollah demands the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners and one Lebanese prisoner, the killer of two small girls and their fathe