BNO News: NYPD confirms multiple people shot in Brooklyn, but cannot yet confirm scanner reports saying 7 shot — Michael van Poppel (@mpoppel) June 30, 2013

Police could not immediately comment on the identities of those hurt or the extent of their injuries. All were transported to Kings County Hospital and one of the victims has life-threatening injuries. So far police have made no arrests. 

Brooklyn: Clarendon Rd & East 52 St. NYPD o/s with 7 people shot 1 in traumatic arrest 4 in serious condition. Level 1 called. — New York City Alerts (@NYCityAlerts) June 30, 2013

A revered Syrian monk and hermit, Father Franҫois Mourad, has been killed during an assault of the Franciscan monastery in a predominantly Christian village in the north near the Turkish border, Vatican Radio reported.

The circumstances surrounding Mourad’s death in the monastery of St. Anthony of Padua, about 70 miles from Syria’s largest city Aleppo, remain unclear.

It’s believed that Maroud was shot dead when tried to defend several religious sisters from the rebels when the monastery that gave them shelter was attacked and pillaged on June 23.

In a statement issued earlier this week the Prefect Cardinal Leonardo Sandri said that “this latest episode of unjustified violence, arouse the conscience of the leaders of the conflicting parties and the international community, so that, as repeatedly stated by the Holy Father Pope Francis, the guns of war be silenced and a season of justice and reconciliation begun for a future of peace.”

After the outbreak of the war in Syria, Father François left his hermitage to be with a friar in fragile health and to serve a neighboring community of religious sisters, Vatican Radio reported.

The head of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, Franciscan Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, told Vatican Radio that Mourad was not a Franciscan, but had to take refuge in the convent after it became clear he was not safe at the Syriac Catholic hermitage that he was building nearby.

According to Father Pizzaballa, the Ghassanieh neighborhood "like other Christian villages, has been almost completely destroyed and is almost totally abandoned," adding that the only people left there were "the rebels with their families, rebels who are not from Syria and who are extremists."

"The only thing we can do, other than pray for Father Francois and all the victims, is pray that this folly ends soon and that no more weapons are sent to Syria because that would only prolong this absurd civil war," Father Pizzaballa suggested.

He described the current situation in Syria as a "battleground, and not just between Syrian forces, but also for other Arab countries and the international community. The ones paying the price are the poor, the small and the least, including the Christians," according to the Catholic News Service.

"The international community must put the brakes on this," he noted.

Syriac Catholic Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo of Hassake-Nisibi told Fides (the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples) that Father Mourad sent him “several messages which showed he was aware of living in a dangerous situation and was willing to offer his life for peace in Syria and the world."

Killings and abductions have become common in Syria as the country has been locked in a two-year internal conflict. In April, two Orthodox bishops were kidnapped when they returned to Aleppo from the Turkish border. Their driver was killed.

Syria's 10 percent Christian population is particularly vulnerable to such attacks, especially from the opposition groups, as they have remained largely neutral or supportive of the government.

Hamid Karzai (AFP Photo / Shah Marai)

 Hamid Karzai is unlikely to remain president of Afghanistan after US troops leave the country, defense consultant Moeen Raoof told RT. The Taliban, a longtime enemy of the US-backed Karzai administration, is expected to regain control after 11 years.

RT: The US State Department is hesitating to define the Taliban’s current status - whether it is a terrorist group, a political force, or both. Why is it so reticent?

Moeen Raoof: I don’t think they are dealing with the actual Taliban, because Mullah Omar has not endorsed the starting up of the office in Doha. So the Americans are not sure who they are dealing with, and if they are dealing with the Taliban, it’s probably Taliban light. Mullah Omar is a very powerful person, and he has to sign off on these kinds of peace talks. And Secretary Kerry seems to be stumbling all the time. He is stumbling with the peace talks in Syria, and all of a sudden there is confusion about the peace talks in Doha, Qatar. So I’m not sure that they are really talking to the Taliban directly.

RT: What about the current government in Afghanistan? How strong is it?

MR: President Karzai hasn’t got a chance in hell to remain in power once US forces would leave in 2014. Let’s go back to President Najibullah – he was forcibly removed from the UN offices and he was massacred in the streets and hung up…I think that if Karzai is a wise man, he would leave with the US forces. But given that US forces are planning to remain in Afghanistan, maybe that gives him some leeway to remain in power for a while.

RT: What if Karzai did leave? Who would take over the leadership of Afghanistan?

MR: Well, the Taliban is going to move in. They have stated that they are going to move in and protect the country. This has been their policy for a long time…They are going to take back power and protect the country. They are very fundamentalist about this viewpoint.

 RT: If the Taliban is to take control of Afghanistan, will more than a decade of death and destruction have been a waste of time?

MR: Yes, completely. Remember the 9/11 attacks were done by a Saudi Arabian, and they [the US] went and attacked Afghanistan. Why did they not go and attack Saudi Arabia? The strategy to attack Afghanistan was completely flawed. They didn’t think this through. They’d go after one man and destroy a whole nation. It was a flawed policy by the Pentagon and the US administration. So yes, the Taliban is going to move in and take over power. And Mullah Omar has not stated that he endorses these peace talks, because [the Taliban] does not operate and does not want any external interference in the affairs of the nation.

RT: The Taliban has opened a “political office” in Qatar. If it eventually takes over in Afghanistan, will the world be forced to recognize it as a legitimate government?

MR: They have no choice. Who are these representatives in Doha? Are they representing Mullah Omar or the Taliban high command? We don’t know. We don’t have the answers for that.

RT: Do people in Afghanistan really want the Taliban government?

MR: Well, it’s not everyone’s preference, no.