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If the Londoner wielding a cleaver wanted to start a war, then Woolwich—home to poverty, the most violent immigrant gangs, and bubbling racial tension—is the place to start.

Yesterday at about 2:20 p.m., two young men armed with long knives and meat cleavers decapitated an off-duty soldier on an ordinary street in the London borough of Woolwich. The victim was wearing a “Help for Heroes” T-shirt, a charity to raise money for injured servicemen. The two attackers cried “Allahu Akhbar” as they hacked at him. Then, one of the attackers, still holding a bloodied machete and dripping knives, his hands still shining with fresh blood, still breathing hard from the work of separating a man’s head from his body, walked over to a TV camera and gave a monologue: “I apologize women had to see this, but in our country women have to see this every day.

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One woman faced down the two alleged killers who used cleavers and carving knives to hack a soldier to death in London. Christopher Dickey on the Cub Scout leader who stood up to terror.

England has a new heroine and we all have a new champion in the fight against terrorism. She is the 48-year-old Cub Scout leader from Cornwall, Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, who got off a bus in Woolwich, South London, yesterday when she saw a man lying injured in the street and rushed to give him first aid. He was dead already; literally hacked to death. She saw two men nearby with cleavers and carving knives. One of them had a revolver. Their hands were covered in blood.

Pierre Verdy/AFP

The theatrical suicide of a militant right-wing historian in Paris capped off an alarmingly radical reaction to France’s legalization of gay marriage. David Sessions on the ideology driving the hostility.

Just after 4 p.m. on Tuesday, a 78-year-old man made his way to the altar of the Notre Dame cathedral in the center of Paris. After laying a sealed envelope on the altar, he pulled out a small Belgian-made pistol, pointed it into his mouth, and pulled the trigger. The title typed on the sheet of paper inside the envelope  read: “Declaration of Dominique Venner: reasons for a voluntary death.”A veteran of French neofascist groups, Venner was a longtime militant of the far right who had gradually eased into a new life as a respected historian, known for his expertise on weapons and hunting.

The Telegraph

Demanded they turn over bloody weapons.

A 48-year-old woman put her life on the line Wednesday after the brutal beheading of a British soldier in the south London neighborhood of Woolwich, demanding that the killers hand over their bloody weapons. Ingrid Loyau-Kennett jumped off a bus when she passed the scene and tried to check the dead soldier’s pulse. Loyau-Kennett saw that the body was covered in blood, and a “black guy” on the scene with a revolver, a kitchen knife, and an ax. The man said he had killed the soldier “because he killed Muslims in Muslim countries.” Loyau-Kennett then demanded that the man and his accomplice hand over their weapons. “It’s only you versus many people, and you are going to lose,” she reportedly said.

Read it at The Telegraph

Alastair Grant/AP

Just after a man believed to be a soldier was beheaded near London, another man with bloodied hands holding two large knives ranted to a nearby camera. Watch the video.

A beheading in broad daylight. A possible soldier, reportedly returning to his barracks, viciously attacked in a modern metropolis. This was London today, where two men wielding what were called "meat cleavers" by witnesses slashed a man in the middle of the street, near a primary school. Following the attack, a man with bloodied hands and carrying two large knives—one believed to be a machete—approached a camera to justify what just happened.

Alastair Grant/AP

A man believed to be a British soldier was allegedly beheaded by two men, reportedly Islamic extremists, wielding machetes. Peter Jukes reports from London.

In what the BBC is calling a “terror attack,” a man was killed in broad daylight in Woolwich, London, on Wednesday afternoon. Two apparent suspects were later shot by police. According to the local M.P., Nick Raynsford, the victim was an off-duty soldier from the nearby Army barracks—as well as a local primary schoolteacher.Two men, who are suspected to be Islamic extremists, reportedly attacked a soldier wearing a “Help for Heroes” T-shirt, just after 2 p.

Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty

In protest of police killing a 69-year-old man.

Violence erupted in Stockholm on Tuesday night as one of worst riots in Swedish history raged into a third day. Among the targets in last night’s uprising were a police station, two schools, and an arts-and-crafts center. Although no injuries were reported, at least eight people were taken into custody. The riots—which began Sunday with the burning of an estimated 100 cars—were sparked by the death of a 69-year-old man, killed by police while wielding a machete. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt pleaded with the protesters Tuesday to end the violence. "Everyone must pitch in to restore calm," he told reporters.

Read it at NBC News

Khaled Elfiqi/EPA/Landov

After being kidnapped.

Seven soldiers kidnapped on the Sinai Peninsula last week have been freed, the Egyptian Army said Wednesday. “They were released thanks to the work of military intelligence and in cooperation with the noble tribal leaders of Sinai,” said an Army spokesman in a statement Wednesday. The men were treated to a royal welcoming by President Mohamed Morsi, who rolled out a red carpet to welcome them at a Cairo military base. The kidnapping was staunchly protested by Egypt, which shut down the Gaza border Saturday in protest. Morsi applauded their successful return as an “example of cooperation,” kissing each of the men as they arrived.

Read it at Al Jazeera

Kim Kwang Hyon/AP

In attempt to mend ties with its only ally.

Confirming speculation that Kim Jong-un is anxious to mend ties with China, the North Korean leader reportedly dispatched a “special envoy” to Beijing on Wednesday. Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae, the first North Korean official to visit China on behalf of Kim, is a high-profile choice, as the acting director of the General Political Bureau of the North Korean People’s Army. A senior analyst at the Sejong Institute in South Korea confirmed that the meeting suggests there is something “quite urgent” to discuss. Considering that Kim sent his top military official, the agenda likely consists of convincing China—the nation’s only remaining ally—that North Korea’s nuclear-weapon touting is warranted. Good luck.

Read it at Al Jazeera