EgyptAir plane hijacked by man wearing suicide belt forced to land in Cyprus

A man wearing a suicide belt has hijacked a passenger plane during a flight in Egypt and forced it to land in Cyprus.

The EgyptAir plane was taken over by at least one armed man while flying from Alexandria on Egypt's Mediterranean coast to the capital Cairo, the country's civil aviation authority said.

Reports have sugggested that eight Britons and 10 American citizens were on board.

The plane landed at Larnaca airport where negotiations have led to the release of all the passengers, except for the crew and four foreigners, the airline said.

In a statement on Twitter, EgyptAir said there was a threat from a passenger with an explosive belt.

The Airbus was carrying 81 passengers, as well as seven crew.

Cypriot government officials said that after the plane, an Airbus A320, landed at Larnaca airport on Tuesday morning hijackers demanded that police vehicles move away from the aircraft.

One official said it "seems like there's more than one hijacker" on the planne.

The plane landed at Larnaca airport at around 8.50am, police in Cyprus said.

It is not clear how many hijackers are aboard the plane but EgyptAir said the captain, Omar Jamal, was alerted to the presence of a passenger who was wearing an explosive belt.

Footage from the airport shows the plane on a runway and passengers leaving the aircraft before getting on to waiting buses with their luggage.

Journalist Vanita Zannetu who is at the airport told BBC 5 Live she could see passengers disembarking from the plane.

"I can see now some passengers coming down from the aeroplane, going to the bus, most probably they are going to go to the building of Larnaca airport. So this is what we know until now."

She added: "We don't know whether the passengers that are coming down now are Greek Cypriots or whether they are other nationalities. We don't know yet. But as I can see there are quite a lot of them coming out."

She said the passengers appeared to be adults and were holding their pers0nal luggage.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office could not confirm whether any Britons were among the passengers, saaying: "We are in contact with the Cypriot and Egyptian authorities after a hijacked plane landed in Cyprus."

how to stop overthinking everything

Ayop - Here are some ways how to stop overthinking everything:

1. Avoid situations and people that can lead to overthinking.
   You can do this based on history – you can probably determine which situations are going to keep you up at night unnecessarily.  Or do this based on how something makes you feel prior to participating.  This takes some self-awareness, but it isn’t unlike what an alcoholic has to do in order to stay sober.  They avoid the people, places, and things that put them into that mental state.
2. Talk to yourself. 
   Rather, don’t talk to yourself in the way you’ve been talking to yourself; “level up” your self-talk.  When you have something on your mind and you can’t shake it, stay aware of your thought process… You may find it surprising how often the topic pops up.  You may also be surprised to find that overthinking is more likely to occur with negative thoughts, which means you’re fixating on the wrong things to help you overcome the situation.  Every time you find yourself overthinking something, especially when it’s negative, think instead, “This isn’t helping.  What would help is…” and replace it with a positive affirmation.  Do this each and every time.
3. Commit to a project that maps to your goals. 
   Find a happy person and chances are you’ll find at least one active project that aligns with their core values.  If you’re able to focus your energy on something that matters to you instead of on the repetitive monotony of unhelpfulness, you may find yourself thinking less and less about the thing you want to avoid.
4. Distract yourself. 
   Get out, do something, and get your mind off of the thing you can’t stop thinking about.  It’s possible to do this… you just have to be willing to give it a shot, which is probably the trickiest part (convincing yourself to do it).  The best way I’ve found to distract myself is to exercise – for whatever reason it’s hard for me to overthink when I’m sweating – but spending time with your family, going on a drive, or just sitting still and breathing work as well.  The best distractions are ones in which you can find the flow state.  Find your favorite distraction and do it!
5. Enforce a time limit to your thinking and document your thoughts. 
   If you’re going to overthink, just commit to it for a short amount of time.  Give yourself permission to overthink, but only for 15 minutes.  Set a timer, grab a pen and paper, and for the entire 15 minutes, write down everything that comes to your mind.  Don’t stop to correct yourself (pretend there’s no eraser or backspace key), it doesn’t matter what you’re writing.  You’re just letting yourself get it all out.  When the 15 minutes are up, crumple up the paper and throw it out (or safely burn it) and move onto something else.  Something fun.
6. Turn overthinking into a next action in a project plan. 
   One big reason for overthinking is not knowing what comes next in order to make forward progress.  When you consider that overthinking is usually endless unstructured thinking on something, the key is to turn that energy into structured thinking.  Determining what the next possible action is you could take in order to push the boulder another inch up the mountain could free you from thinking about everything else at once.  Crystallize your thoughts into a list of next actions and take the first step.  Add the next to your calendar or to-do list, and know that you’re making progress.
7. Realize that being perfect isn’t possible.  Striving for perfection is a recipe for disaster, and the sooner you give up those perfectionist tendencies, the sooner you’ll move past the thing that’s occupying all your thoughts.  Perfectionism is highly overrated, and this post lists the 11 reasons why!
8. Think about the big picture. 
   This is the one that has worked the best for me over the past few years.  It takes a little experience (i.e. the know-how to realize that it will indeed pass) but if you ask yourself, “Will this matter in a month/6 months/1 year?” and the answer is “No” or “Not really”, then what’s the point in thinking it to death?  If you do, in fact, determine that it will matter in a year, you can use this opportunity to leverage post-traumatic growth.  How has this experience changed you?  What have you learned from it, or how will you approach it differently next time?

Overthinking is a real detriment to focus and must be stamped out.  Forming positive habits and reinforcing them over time will make a big difference in your propensity to overthink, and these steps are some ways in which you can start to do that.

Mengapa Paus Fransiskus Basuh Kaki Perempuan dan Migran Muslim?

Paus ingin memperluas lingkaran kasih dengan mengajak semua manusia, siapapun dan apapun agamanya.

Di hari perayaan Kamis Putih dalam rangkaian tiga hari suci menyambut datangnya Paskah, apa yang dilakukan Paus Fransiskus telah menyedot perhatian dunia. 

 

Untuk mengulang teladan Yesus tentang cinta kasih dan melayani saat membasuh kaki duabelas muridnya saat malam terakhir bersama mereka, Paus Fransiskus membasuh serta mengecup kaki migran Muslim, Kristen, dan Hindu malam itu.

 

Yang menarik dari apa yang telah dilakukan Paus Fransiskus ialah dia melakukan sesuatu yang baru, yang tak ada dalam tradisi Vatikan sebelumnya. Sudah beberapa kali Paus Fransiskus, dalam upacara Kamis Putih membasuh kaki laki-laki dan perempuan, dan kemarin, Paus Fransiskus kembali membasuh kaki perempuan, bahkan yang berlatar belakang non Katolik.

 

Rohaniawan Katolik, J. A. Hendra Sutedja S. J. menjelaskan lebih jauh tentang perubahan yang dibawa Paus Fransiskus.

Romo Hendra mengatakan Gereja Katolik dalam arti tertentu mewarisi juga unsur budaya semitik, seperti Yahudi dan Islam.

"Nabi-nabi kita banyak yang sama. Dalam tradisi semitik itu laki-laki yang dominan. Seperti di Yudaisme dan Islam, imam, yaitu pemimpin upacara keagamaan, selalu laki-laki. Tetapi Gereja Katolik sedang dalam gerak berubah tanpa henti, menangkap dan memahami dengan lebih jernih dan jelas unsur-unsur keagamaan. Maka gereja saat ini, terutama di bawah pimpinan Paus Fransiskus, semakin menyadari universalitas hidup yang bersumber dari kasih Allah yang sama," kata Romo Hendra.

Romo Hendra menambahkan kata “kasih” dipakai bersama oleh semua agama. Agama Yahudi, Kristen, dan Islam, memakai kata yang sama, yaitu "rahim." Kerahiman, ditegaskan Paus Fransiskus, adalah hukum dasar yang ada dalam hati setiap manusia.

Kata tersebut, Romo Hendra menjelaskan mengungkap tindakan Allah yang luar biasa, yaitu tindakan kasih tanpa syarat dan tanpa batas, yang membuat semua yang percaya pada Allah, menjadi kumpulan ‘Umat Allah.’ Kesadaran akan “kerahiman” seperti ituah yang menghadirkan damai dan persahabatan dalam hati dan hidup semua orang. Dalam kata "rahim" yang berisi pengertian "perlindungan dan pertumuhan kehidupan dalam kebaikan dan pengampunan" itulah umat manusia disatukan oleh Allah.

"Paus mau memperlihatkan bahwa dalam kesadarang “kasih universal” itulah batas-batas diskriminatif dalam praktik kehidupan beragama dan ibadat gereja, juga harus ditinjau ulang dan disempurnakan. Maka jelas, apa yang dahulu, berdasarkan tradisi semitik dan dalam tradisi Katolik tidak mungkin, sekarang dalam Gereja Katolik semakin dipandang dan dihayati sebagai yang justru bisa dilakukan dalam terang kerahiman itu, perbedaan gender dalam gereja semakin ditinggalkan, walaupun tidak semua bisa dihilangkan begitu saja,” katanya.

Dan lebih dari itu, kata Romo Hendra, Paus Fransiskus ingin memperluas lingkaran kasih dengan mengajak semua manusia, siapapun dan apapun agamanya, untuk masuk ke dalam keluasan kerahiman Allah dan menyerap kerahiman ilahi itu, membangkitkan kembali kesadaran akan kerahiman yang merupakan hukum dasar setiap hati, lalu memancarkan itu dalam kata dan tindakan nyata secara universal dan dengan demikian membuat hidup ini dipenuhi damai dan sukacita.

Romo Hendra mengatakan dengan mengikutsertakan migran Muslim dan Hindu, baik wanita dan lelaki dalam upacara pembasuhan kaki Kamis Putih, Paus memperlihatkan kerahiman yang melewati batas-batas tradisi, budaya, suku bangsa dan agama.

Paus menyapa dan mengundang semua orang yang mengaku diri sebagai umat Allah, untuk mengakarkan diri pada “kerahiman” dan hidup bersama dalam persahabatan, persatuan, dan damai di bumi ini, dengan tetap menghargai keunikan ajaran masing-masing agama atau kepercayaan, demikian dikatakan Romo Hendra.

'Game of Thrones' producers say the new season won't spoil the upcoming books

As season six of the HBO drama approaches, the showrunners of 'Thrones' say their program won't give away future events in the books by George R.R. Martin. The show is experiencing an unusual situation in that it's run out of source material before its story is over.

While the upcoming season of the smash hit TV show “Game of Thrones” will tell the story of the residents of Westeros beyond what is depicted in George R.R. Martin’s “Thrones” novels, “Thrones” showrunners say that the TV show won’t give away what’s coming in future books by Mr. Martin. 

The TV adaptation of “Thrones” seemingly reached the end of the plotlines for many characters as depicted in Martin’s books with the end of the show’s fifth season.

Yet showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff says fans who watch the show won’t have the plots of future books by Martin ruined. 

“People are talking about whether the books are going to be spoiled – and it’s really not true,” Mr. Benioff said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “So much of what we’re doing diverges from the books at this point. And while there are certain key elements that will be the same, we’re not going to talk so much about that – and I don’t think George is either. People are going to be very surprised when they read the books after the show. They’re quite divergent in so many respects for the remainder of the show.” 

“Thrones” tells the story of various people living in the fantasy realm of Westeros who are battling to take the throne.

The last book by Martin to be released in his series was “A Dance with Dragons,” which came out in 2011. The author has said he’s planning two more books in the series. 

Normally fans of books that are adapted for movies or TV are up in arms when part of an original story is changed. But the unusual path taken by “Thrones” – having the TV story and the novels’ story almost be two distinct narratives – may please fans rather than the opposite.

When it was believed that the upcoming season six episodes could give away some of Martin’s future storylines, Vanity Fair writer Joanna Robinson wrote, “The obvious advantage [will be that] book readers will no longer have to tiptoe around spoilers. The disadvantage being that readers who enjoy the story of Westeros unfolding the way Martin tells it (painstaking details and all), will have to settle for learning how it all ends in an abridged and modified way.”

Meanwhile, others feel that so many changes have been made for the TV show already that the TV show and the novels on which it is based are already two very different properties. 

“Many fans have already separated ‘book canon’ and ‘show canon,’”Slashfilm writer Jacob Hall wrote. “… They’re completely different in so many ways at this point.”

But, inevitably, some details will be shown on television before they make it to print. As series author George R.R. Martin wrote in January:

Given where we are, inevitably, there will be certain plot twists and reveals in season six of GAME OF THRONES that have not yet happened in the books. For years my readers have been ahead of the viewers. This year, for some things, the reverse will be true. How you want to handle that... hey, that's up to you.

Philippines marks Easter with crucifixions

At least 17 men were set to be nailed to wooden crosses in the Philippines, Asia's Catholic heartland, on Good Friday in an extreme public display of faith.

Young men dressed as soldiers of the Roman empire dragged local fisherman Willy Salvador, 59, through San Juan toward a central square where he and two other men were scheduled to be crucified mid-morning.

"I know you would not believe me, but God helped me recover from a nervous breakdown," the slight, white-robed and barefoot man told AFP as he acted out the role of Jesus Christ.

"This is my personal way of thanking Him for healing me," said Salvador, who said he has had himself nailed to a cross each Good Friday since 2006.

The nails go through both hands and both feet, but do not bear the weight of the penitents, who spend only a few minutes on the cross before being taken down and having their wounds treated.

Similar crucifixions were also scheduled throughout the day in the neighbouring villages of San Pedro and Santa Lucia, including at least 14 in San Pedro, local officials said.

Ritual crucifixions are the most extreme forms of worship in some small villages in the Philippines, home to 80 million-plus Catholics.

The spectacle occurs on Good Friday, when Christians believe Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross to atone for mankind's sins.

Ritual crucifixions are frowned upon by the church, but have become a major tourist attraction.

Thousands of sightseers were expected in San Pedro, where the event is being held for the 30th year, to witness the crucifixions and other extreme forms of piety.

They include bare-chested men parading through the streets while lashing their backs bloody with whips tipped with bamboo sticks.

To those who practise them, they serve as an alternative to acts of Good Friday penance prescribed by the church, such as abstaining from work or from eating meat, and visiting a series of churches on foot to pray.

"The church discourages these (extreme) acts because Jesus Christ had already undergone that for all of us. There is no need to repeat it," Father Douglas Badong, rector of the Quiapo Catholic church in central Manila told AFP.

San Juan village chief Claro Tolentino said crucifixions and self-flagellations were part of the culture and traditions of the Philippines, which was converted to Catholicism during the 16th century Spanish colonial conquest.

"This is the culture that we were born into. Everyone should respect the culture and beliefs of our people," he added.