Your task is to extract the thesis of an opinionated news article by selecting some of its text segments. The thesis is a summarization of what the author wants to persuade the reader of. Your answer should consist of segments of the given text. Note that you are not allowed to combine different sentences.

[Q]: Sydney Hostage Crisis: Australia has lost its innocence. Australia is known as the "lucky country." It was a phrase first coined in 1964 by social critic Donald Horne, and has come to represent the visceral feelings of both Australians, and visitors to the nation . It is seen as a reflection of a high standard of living, and a geographical insulation from the bad actors of the world theater . But ten days out from Christmas, Australia has lost its innocence . On a day of brilliant blue skies, the terrorism of the post-9/11 world finally arrived on Australian soil , taking hold of city streets . A man wielding a gun and an Islamic flag took customers and staff hostage at a cafe in central Sydney . As a native of Sydney, home for the holidays, safe and sound but shaken and furious, December 15 is a day that will forever be seared into my mind . I've been to the Lindt Cafe ; in fact ,  I once worked across the street from it . Emotions have run high here all day -- from fear to anger to a desire for vengeance . I never expected this in Sydney . The profoundly shocking standoff with all its disruptions to city life has struck fear in Sydneysiders, unaccustomed to these types of events . The mood in Sydney is one of fear and uncertainty . Until now, Australian authorities have been flawless in preventing terror attacks on Australian soil . They have been aggressive in their pursuit of intelligence and would-be terrorists , foiling plot after plot . September saw the biggest anti-terrorism operation in Australia's history , involving up to 800 police in coordinated raids , sparked by intelligence reports that Islamic State supporters were planning to seize a random member of the public and behead them live on camera . Yet , it was inevitable that one would finally slip through the cracks , and Monday Sydney joined the ranks of cities such as New York, London and Madrid as the latest victim of what appears to be Islamic terrorism . Monday's distressing events have renewed Australians' concerns about Islamist objectives, and a growing Islamic presence in the country . Some Australians recognize that this likely terrorist attack is a result of the poor immigration decisions of Australian governments, both conservative and liberal, over the last four decades . A lack of liberty, an abandonment of reason, the imposition of Sharia on Muslims and non-Muslims, as well as the treatment of women are just some of the serious moral problems within the Muslim world . Islamist views are incompatible with the liberty enjoyed by Australians and Americans . Interestingly, Monday's events have also prompted Australians to revisit their gun laws . With Islamic supremacism a mainstream interpretation of Islam, deeply rooted in Islamic scripture and endorsed by many of Islam's most influential scholars, Australians are beginning to understand the nature of the Islamic threat , and studying their own weaknesses in its wake . The United Kingdom has had two beheadings of members of the public in the last two years, with neither police nor civilians able to prevent it . It also has prohibitive gun laws . Australians are looking to America, and not the UK for guidance . With this sort of threat, the normal calculus of a civilized society with a small, armed (or unarmed) police force upon which the citizens are forced to rely, no longer adds up . It is unsurprising that home-grown terrorism is most rampant in nations with strict gun control . It is a reality that Australia's powerful anti-gun lobby seems to wish to ignore . It is times like these that Americans should be thankful for their Second Amendment, and crush any effort or force seeking to weaken or remove it . Right now, they are the envy of a growing number of Australians that wish they were armed . Australia will never be the same again . Sydney just lost a little of its shine .
[A]: A man wielding a gun and an Islamic flag took customers and staff hostage at a cafe in central Sydney On a day of brilliant blue skies, the terrorism of the post-9/11 world finally arrived on Australian soil


[Q]: Christians rally to defend fire chief who wrote 'anti-gay' book. Kelvin Cochran is a decorated firefighter . He is also a devout Christian . He's a deacon at a Baptist church and also teaches Sunday school . By all accounts - he is a decent and honorable man . And now- he is unemployed . Cochran, who served seven years as the chief of the Atlanta Fire Departmant lost his job over a book he wrote about biblical morality titled,"Who Told You That You Were Naked?" A small portion of the book contained what critics called homophobic language . Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed suspended Cochran last month . He was fired on Jan  6- the day he was supposed to return to work . "I profoundly disagree with and am deeply disturbed by the sentiments expressed in the paperback regarding the LGBT community," Reed wrote last November on his official Facebook page . "I will not tolerate discrimination of any kind within my administration." Reed told reporters Cochran was not fired because of his religious beliefs . Rather , he said, the fire chief was ousted because of poor judgment . The mayor accused the chief of not getting permission to write the book- a charge Cochran denies . The mayor also alleged Cochran distributed the book to members of the fire department . Cochran readily admits that he gave copies of the book to close associates within the department . It should be noted that the individual who initially complained about the book did not receive a copy from the fire chief . And for the record - a city investigation determined the fire chief had not discriminated against LGBT employees . But The New York Times editorial board said it doesn't matter if Chief Cochran was innocent . That's not the point, they wrote Tuesday in a scathing editorial titled,"God, Gays and the Atlanta Fire Department." "It should not matter that the investigation found no evidence that Mr  Cochran had mistreated gays or lesbians," the Times wrote . "His position as a high-level public servant makes his remarks especially problematic, and requires that he be held to a different standard." Robert White, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Convention, called The New York Times editorial "quite remarkable." "It declares his innocence and then declares him guilty," he said . "Guilty of what? He didn't discriminate against any homosexuals. He vowed that he wanted to have a healthy work place for all of his employees." The Times went on to argue that while Cochran is free to believe whatever he wants- there are limits to where he can believe and still maintain gainful employment in the public arena . "If he wants to work as a public official, however, he may not foist his religious views on other city employees who have the right to a boss who does not speak of them as second-class citizens," the Times wrote . "There is a prejudice against Christians in this country right now," White told me . Dr  White made his bold proclamation just hours before hundreds of Christians were expected to gather at the Georgia capitol to protest the firing of Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran . Among those taking up his cause are the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, the Georgia Baptist Convention and the Family Research Council . Click here to follow Todd on Facebook! "What happened to Chief Cochran goes to the core of religious freedom," he said . "Georgia Baptists are deeply concerned about the mistreatment of Kelvin Cochran." Franklin Graham said Cochran was a target of "politically correct bullying against Bible-believing Christians" and vowed to stand alongside the embattled former fire chief . Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said the Times had "reached a new low in blatant hypocrisy." "The New York Times is calling for public servants to be held to a different standard when it comes to their freedom of speech and religion," Perkins said . "I think most Americans are quite happy with the standard that we have had for the last 226 years- the First Amendment." If nothing else , Cochran's public shaming at the hands of Atlanta's mayor has unified Georgia Christians from all denominations and races . "This is one of those things that can bring people together from all of the political spectrum," Garland Hunt, chairman of the Network of Politically Active Christians, told me . "This is about religious freedom. This is not about whether a person is conservative or liberal." The reality is that a good man - a husband and father and grandfather - was fired from his job because his boss objected to his religious beliefs . That just ought not to happen in the United States . I'm reminded of something Chief Cochran told me . "The LGBT members of our community have a right to be able to express their views and convictions about sexuality and deserve to be respected for their position without hate or discrimination," he said . "But Christians also have a right to express our belief regarding our faith and be respected for our position without hate and without discrimination. In the United States, no one should be vilified, hated or discriminated against for expressing their beliefs." Maybe those who preach tolerance and diversity might want to consider practicing it, too .
[A]: Maybe those who preach tolerance and diversity might want to consider practicing it, too


[Q]: From Guantanamo to Montevideo and on to Havana. The news of the Guantanamo detainees' arrival to Uruguay received impressive coverage in international media . Uruguay is the second Latin American country to accept Guantanamo detainees ; the first one was El Salvador, which welcomed two Chinese nationals in 2012 . The fact that there have been only two countries in Latin America accepting Guantanamo inmates is already particularly extraordinary, given US historical ascendancy on the region . Even US' main allies in the region, Chile and Colombia, rejected US proposals to accept prisoners from Guantanamo, considering the move highly unpopular . Perhaps the spotlight fell on Uruguay as a Guantanamo detainee host because of Mujica's own media popularity over his unusually humble way of life as a world leader, and his progressive public speeches and political agenda . He also managed to get a lot of media attention over the arrival of around forty Syrian refugees in October , although they were few in number compared to the thousands of refugees that neighbouring countries such as Brazil and Argentina have been accepting . The day the detainees landed in Montevideo, Mujica sent an open letter to Uruguayans and Barack Obama . The first sentence reads,"Solidarity is the tenderness of the people", a quote from Pablo Neruda referring to the 1939 exodus of Spanish Republicans escaping fascism to South America . Neruda's words well reflect the main humanitarian goal of the operation , which aims to to reinforce the image of Uruguay as a peacemaker and international reference for humanitarian issues . "Pepe" has the aspiration, before ceding power to Tabare Vazquez at the beginning of 2015, to spread his humanitarian legacy and reinforce his world reputation . Through the well-publicised gesture, Mujica aims to give hope to all those disenchanted people who still think that idealism and ethics in politics are still possible . From a political perspective, Mujica's usual anti-imperialist stance left many in Uruguay astonished that he was willing to do a "favour" to Obama and accept the Guantanamo detainees . It is only in the second part of his open letter that his political goals become apparent . Mujica asks, as a gesture of reconciliation for all the American people, for the release of a 70 years-old Puerto Rican independence fighter, along with three Cuban detainees who are part of the group known as the Cuban Five , and whose controversial detention in the late 1990s led to a worldwide campaign for their release . He also asks for the lifting of the "unjust embargo" imposed on "our sister" Cuba . Mujica's plea is reflective of an emerging regional bloc different than the usual "left-leaning" one . It is instead a heterogeneous regional political bloc able to come to terms with ideological differences and to find common ground for regional coexistence in the name of progress . Best example of this is the ongoing peace talks between FARC and the Colombian government in Cuba, with the participation of Chile and Venezuela . Mujica's move, therefore, is not unprecedented . Back in 2009 the late Hugo Chavez hinted at the possibility of accepting Guantanamo detainees in Venezuela and at raising the issue of Cuba's isoluation . Cuba's reintegration into regional life, after decades of US ostracism, represents the main political goal of the bloc and of Mujica humanitarian operation . Therefore ,  it is not surprise that Jose Miguel Insulza, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) publicly lauded Mujica's move . Although leftist American governments have been particularly at odds with the Washington-based regional organisation, as consequence of the informal exclusion of Cuba under US pressure , Insulza has been working hard to reverse it . Just recently, he said that he hoped both Cuba and the US would attend the next OAS summit planned for April in Panama City . The US is unlikely to release the Cuban political prisoners , but Cuba's unilateral release of Alan Gross after 5 years could be part of a larger swap following Mujica's move . The six Guantanamo detainees will probably be the last ones to be resettled in the region . But their landing in Montevideo made it clear that Latin America is not, and will not be again the US backyard .
[A]:
The news of the Guantanamo detainees' arrival to Uruguay received impressive coverage in international media their landing in Montevideo made it clear that Latin America is not, and will not be again the US backyard