Author: Street Reporter

Tragic Fort Hood Shooting Leaves Three Victims & the Gunman Dead Just Five Years after Fatal 2009 Shooting

The Texas Army Post was under attack when a shooter besieged Fort Hood on Thursday. Lt. Gen. Mark A. Milley said in a press conference that a shooter had fired a volley of bullets which resulted in four deaths. He said that the shooter took off his 45-caliber semi-automatic pistol when he was approaching the buildings.

It is said that when he entered in the Hood, he got a vehicle and rushed towards other buildings and fired a big number of bullets there which resulted in 16 injuries of other people.  Later, when he was intercepted in the parking by the Military Police, he killed himself.

It is assumed that the shooter was suffering from serious mental breakdown and was on medication when he returned back from Iraq. Name of shooter has not been disclosed.  Mark A said that it was the second attack in the history of Fort Hood. In 2009, a man had besieged the fort and killed 13 people apart from injuring 32 others.

Upon hearing this news, President of United States Barack Obama Said:

They serve with valor, they serve with distinction and when they’re at their home base, they need to feel safe. We don’t yet know what happened tonight, but obviously that sense of safety has been broken once again.

The president said that our thoughts are with those people who lost their near and dear ones in this tragedy and with those who are having serious injuries.

 

U.S. requires new cars to have backup cameras

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced on Monday that all the automakers will be required to fix a camera at the back of the vehicle by 2018. The long awaited rule has finally been enforced. It is said that all new cars, minivans, small trucks, buses and SUVs will need to have rear visibility technology in the vehicles.

Previously, there was no rule that asked automakers to include these systems.  The agency said that there are 210 reported deaths every year due to none availability of cameras at the back of the vehicles and this move has been initiated to save the lives of people.

NHTSA further said that rear cameras will save about 59 and 69 deaths a year and it will be necessary for automakers to install these systems in all new vehicles from 2018. On the other hand, transportation secretary Anthony Foxx said that “It is our prime responsibility to ensure safety and we are committed to save lives of our children”. He added that as a father I feel how tragic the situation would be when a father unintentionally hits his child. Today’s rule will surely reduce the number of such incidents.

NHTSA said that we expect cost of this system as $140 per new vehicle and it is not too much expensive. Besides, those manufacturers which had already included the systems in their new vehicles have applauded the rule.

Last but not the least, the Auto Alliance said to NHTSA that it should allow automakers to replace the side mirrors with digital cameras as this is necessary for broader side vision.

 

 

Measles outbreak in Orange County, California worst in decades

The health officials of California said that the outbreak of measles in orange county is the worst than they ever saw in the last two decades.

CBS Los Angeles reported that 21 residents of county have been diagnosed with measles and 7 of them were hospitalized due to serious health condition.  Eric Handle Health Deputy Agency Director of O.C said that “this disease is very contagious and we are trying our best to prevent it to fullest extent”.

On the other hand, health experts hold the opinion that “measles is epidemic diseases and its infections begin with cough, cold, fever, runny nose and pink eyes”.  They say that if proper initiative would not be taken to prevent the disease, it would affect the whole region within very short time.

To prevent the spread of this disease, health experts have installed remote clinics for proper MMR vaccination and asked everyone to get them vaccinated for stopping the spread of measles.

Apart from this, the outbreak of measles have also been reported in New York and San Francisco which also very alarming for the health officials.

Last but not the least, the root cause of this outbreak has not been determined but most of the doctors say that those people who come from different countries – where measles patients are not vaccinated and is common – might have brought this disease along with themselves.

 

 

NCAA March Madness: Arizona fans clash with police after tournament loss

On Saturday, officials of Tucson police said that they had fired pepper spray at hundreds of Arizona team fans who besieged the streets and threw firecrackers and beers at them after the defeat of Arizona from Wisconsin.

Tucson police Sgt. Pete Dugan said that though, there were no reports of injuries yet police arrested more than 15 people for creating the mess.  He said that police had arrested those people who were threatening the officers during the duty hours and 14 of 15 arrested people have been released. Besides, one of them was shifted to Pima county Jail under the charges of unlawful assembly and disorderly conduct.

Dugan said that when we arrived at the scene, all the people gathered in the streets started pelting beer cans and stones on us. Despite this, we did not use tear gas and controlled the situation efficiently.

In addition, David Kitaeff the witness of this incident said to a private news agency that “I myself saw the people throwing the beer cans at the officers and they were responding with pepper balls, pepper canisters and pepper spray.”

Arizona lost 64-63 to Wisconsin in the West Region final Saturday in Anaheim, Calif and this incident was the reaction of Arizona fans.

 

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Former deputy CIA Director Mike Morell says plane likely flew south

The former Deputy Director of the CIA Mike Morell says that the missing jet had not flown to northern route but to the southern route. He said the some investigators have wrongly assumed the directions of the flight and miscalculated the flying path.

He further said that “a lot of defense radars of China, Afghanistan and India noticed this and it is for sure that someone took control of the plane after disabling the communication system and flew it for quite some time.

On the other hand, Wall Street Journal has said in its recent report that “Some US officials think that the plane might have been hijacked for future terrorist attacks and it might have been hidden from radar and many other satellites”.

On this report, the former CIA director said that “it is very unlikely that you hijack a plane and keep it for future attacks. Once the aircraft is hijacked, terrorists use it immediately”.

He further said that “we have received a very good cooperation on counter-terrorism from the Malaysian authorities and they are doing their best to get rid of this situation”.

Lastly, he was of the opinion that Al-Qaida group was operating in the Malaysia but the forces of that country ousted the group from Malaysia and I do not think there is any penetration of Al-Qaida terrorists.

Guinness pulls out of St. Patrick’s Day parade

Guinness the latest beer maker company has decided to withdraw its sponsorship for St. Patrick’s Day parade. It is said that the company has withdrawn its decision because gay and lesbian groups are not allowed to march openly.

Reliable sources claim that, the gay rights icon Stonewall Inn had warned Guinness to stop selling its beer if it continued to support the parade. On the other hand, LGBT advocacy group GLAAD had also decided to launch an anti-Guinness event on Monday.

Guinness said in its official statement that “we have withdrawn our sponsorship and we were hopeful that policy of exclusion would be unresistingly reversed”. This announcement of Guinness has come after the pull out decision of Heineken.

Besides, Sarah Kate Ellis the GLAAD president said in a statement “Guinness has sent a very serious message to its regular customers that discrimination should not be celebrated”. And, the decisions of three beer companies have been welcomed by the speaker of New York City Council.

The speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said in a statement that “I applaud on the decisions taken by the Sam Adams, Heineken and Guinness for taking a good stance in favor of LGBT community”.

If you can go 10 minutes without touching your phone, Giorgio Armani will fund a day of water for a child in need

Are you going to switch off your smart phone for 10 minutes? UNICEF has announced a new project named as “Tap Project”. This project has been designed to help the child who is in dire need of clean water.

Actually this project has been sponsored by Giorgio Armani and the company has promised to pay enough money to  UNICEF for providing clean water to a needy child.

To begin with this move, all cell phone users have to navigate their cell phones to UNICEF Tap Project and switch it off for 10 minutes.  In case, if you happen to use your cell phone during this time period, the site accessed to your accelerometer, will ask you to put it down to continue.

unicefTherefore, if you wish to help a child who is in need of clean water, put your cell phone off and spend your time on other things to help the fund.

What’s Putin’s Next Move? It’s Anyone’s Guess, Experts Say

The result of Crimean referendum was already expected in Russian favor but does anyone know what would be the Putin’s next move? Experts hold the opinion that “All eyes are set over Putin and it is he who has to decide -whether to annex Crimea through steps- or to simply recognize the demand of Crimean through formal annexation.

It is said that if the recognition is done through steps by steps, it would take more than 2 weeks to complete, on the other hand, West is mounting more and more pressure on Russia to withdraw its forces from the Crimean peninsula.

It goes without saying, in the recent diplomatic meeting held at London, Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov said to his U.S counterpart John Kerry that “Putin would decide what to do with Crimea after the referendum and he made this statement repeatedly in the entire meeting”.

Contrary to this, 28 members of European Union are planning to vote for embarking sheer sanctions against Russia. It is said that those sanctions will include; banning of Visa, seizure of European bank accounts and frozen of assets.

Besides, editor of Russian quarterly “Russia in Global Affairs,” Fyodor Lukyanov says that “Putin has already decided to annex with Crimea and no sanctions from west will deter him ,Putin does not care about what other say”.

Last but not the least, it is speculated that Crimea will undoubtedly be a part of Russia in few weeks to come but will Putin end at Crimea or will he go on subjugating eastern parts of Ukraine under the pretext of safeguarding the interest Russian speaking population?

US Airways plane blows tire on takeoff in Philadelphia, passengers evacuated

During the course of take off, a tire of US Airways Flight 1702 blew causing the nose of plane to hit the ground. On Thursday evening at Philadelphia’s airport, spokesman of the US Airways said that “The pilot of the plane decided to abort the take off as he indicated some serious problem in the tires of the plane”.

Actually, the flight was flying from Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale and the technical problem in the jet forced the authorities to abort the takeoff for evacuating the passengers.  Besides, Lloyd Ayers Fire Commissioner of Philadelphia said that “two women had been slightly injured during the course of evacuation and they have been shifted to city’s Methodist Hospital.

It goes without saying, Jim Peters the spokesman of Federal Aviation Administration said that “the flight was scheduled to take off at 5:50 p.m and the incident took place at around 6:25 p.m”.  On the other hand, a witness of this incident said that “I have seen the plane bouncing two times during the takeoff and it was really shocking”.

The flight was boarding 149 passengers and five crew members and all of them had been safely evacuated from the partially crashed plane. One of those passengers, Dennis fee said that “everyone was screaming out when plane failed to take off and it was really shocking scenario”.

Save All Around by Powering Your Computer Down

Keeping your computer at sleeping mode may be convenient for you but keeping it for more than 20 minutes may cause it more harm than good. Actually, sleeping mode is specially designed to keep your computer partially off. But, there are many chips inside the mother board that keep on functioning during the period of sleeping mode. Exactly, it does not only affect the performance of your computer but also affects its overall functionality.

Experts hold the opinion that each time you put your computer on sleeping mode causes you “500 volts” electricity bill in a year and it must not be taken so likely. They suggest that before going away from your computer must keep it fully shut down otherwise there are chances to get your computer heated and internally damaged.

Apart from this, it has been researched that “you can shut down your computer 15 to 20 times a day and this can be consistently done for more than 7 years”.

Lastly, it is highly recommended that do not keep your computer on standby or sleeping mode for more than 20 minutes and try to shut down whenever you go out of your home.