French officials say the man suspected of organizing the deadly attacks in Paris last week has died. Police confirmed Thursday that Abdelhamid Abaaoud was shot many times during a raid on an apartment in Saint-Denis, a suburb north of Paris.
On Twitter, #Abaaoud trended worldwide. But many other stories on the Paris aftermath trended, too.
“You will not have my hatred”
A Parisian man who lost his wife in the attacks wrote a letter on Facebook to the terrorists. Antoine Leiris titled his letter, “You will not have my hatred.” He wrote: “Friday night you stole the life of an exceptional being, the love of my life, the mother of my son, but you will not have my hatred.” His post, written in French, has been shared over 210,000 times on Facebook.
Father and son's conversation at Paris memorial goes viral
A touching story about a father and son went viral, as well. The French channel Le Petit Journal posted an interview with a young boy, Brandon, and his father. The two were at a memorial in Paris. The video has received over 38 million views on Facebook.
In the video, the boy tells his father he fears his family will have to change homes because of the terrorist attacks. His father reassures him that they do not have to change homes. He says, “France is our home.”
The young boy tell shis father there are mean people with guns. He tells his father "they can shoot us" because they are very, very mean. His father tells the boy to look around at all of the flowers at the memorial. He tells his son the flowers will fight against guns.
At the end of the video, the journalist from Le Petit Journal asks Brandon if he feels better. He says he does, and smiles.
#InternationalMensDay
Every year on March 8, countries around the world celebrate International Women’s Day.
But today, November 19, is International Men’s Day. If you were on Twitter today, it would have been hard not to notice #InternationalMensDay. It trended all day in the United States and worldwide.
The holiday surprised some Twitter users.
Twitter user Ferrari Shepperd joked that he thought every day was International Men's Day:
Some organizations used the day to bring attention to men’s health and social issues. That included high suicide rates among young men.
Facebook uses Safety Check for Nigeria bombing
Last week, Facebook turned on its Safety Check after the terrorist attacks in Paris. It was the first time the company activated the tool for an event other than a natural disaster.
Some people criticized Facebook’s choice to activate it for the Paris attacks, but not for the terrorist attacks in Beirut that happened one day earlier.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would start using the tool for more tragic events. And on Wednesday, it did just that.
After a bomb attack in Yola, Nigeria, killed more than 30 people, the social media site activated Safety Check. Discussion about Facebook’s decision caused Facebook to trend...on Facebook.
I'm Ashley Thompson.
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Words in This Story
aftermath - n. the period of time after a bad and usually destructive event
hatred - n. a very strong feeling of dislike
touching - adj. having a strong emotional effect
viral - adj. relating to an image or video that is shared rapidly and widely on the Internet
activate - v. to cause (a device) to start working
