7 injured after escalator malfunctions at NYC mall

7 injured after escalator malfunctions at NYC mall

Seven people have been injured, two seriously, when an escalator at a New York City mall malfunctioned, causing one person to fall and set off a chain reaction down the line.

The mishap Tuesday night occurred at the Atlantic Terminal Mall in Brooklyn.

Witnesses say the down escalator was stationary when it suddenly started moving, causing the first person to tumble.

Two people were rushed to Lutheran Hospital in serious but stable condition. Officials say their injuries did not appear to be life-threatening. Five others were taken to Long Island College Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

The mall escalators were taken out of service.







source:foxnews

Chattanooga school bus crash

Chattanooga school bus crash: Driver went 'well above' speed limit, affidavit says

The driver in the fatal school bus crash near Chattanooga, Tennessee, was traveling "well above the posted speed limit of 30 mph" when he lost control of the bus Monday, swerving off the roadway, according to an arrest affidavit. Driver Johnthony Walker "lost control of the bus and swerved off of the roadway to the right, striking an elevated driveway and mailbox, swerved to the left and began to overturn, striking a telephone pole and a tree," the affidavit says. At least five children were killed in the crash, school officials said.

Obama Criticizes F.B.I. Director

Obama Criticizes F.B.I. Director: ‘We Don’t Operate on Incomplete Information’

WASHINGTON — President Obama criticized the decision by his F.B.I. director to alert Congress on Friday about the discovery of new emails related to the Hillary Clinton server case, implying that it violated investigative norms and trafficked in innuendo.

“We don’t operate on incomplete information,” Mr. Obama said in an interview with NowThis News, broadcast Wednesday. “We don’t operate on leaks. We operate based on concrete decisions that are made.”

“When this was investigated thoroughly the last time, the conclusion of the F.B.I., the conclusion of the Justice Department, the conclusion of repeated congressional investigations was that she had made some mistakes but that there wasn’t anything there that was prosecutable,” Mr. Obama said.

'We don't operate on innuendo' — President Obama discusses Hillary, emails, and the FBI in an exclusive interview with NowThis pic.twitter.com/0J6tJyEYSh

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) November 2, 2016

The president did not mention the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, by name, but it was clear Mr. Obama was referring to him.

Declaring that he had “made a very deliberate effort to make sure that I don’t look like I’m meddling in what are supposed to be independent processes for making these assessments,” Mr. Obama nonetheless expressed confidence in Mrs. Clinton and her integrity.

Mr. Obama’s comments were somewhat surprising since he weighed in on the investigation last year before the F.B.I. had determined that neither Mrs. Clinton nor her aides would face charges for mishandling classified information that was found on the secretary of state’s private email server. The president’s comments angered F.B.I. agents.

“I don’t think it posed a national security problem,” Mr. Obama said on “60 Minutes” on CBS in October 2015. He said it had been a mistake for Mrs. Clinton to use a private email account when she was secretary of state, but his conclusion was unmistakable: “This is not a situation in which America’s national security was endangered.”

Mr. Obama took a sharper tone than his press secretary, Josh Earnest, who said on Tuesday that the White House did not have an official position on Mr. Comey’s decision.





source: nytimes

Amber Alert issued for car after it was carjacked with baby inside

Amber Alert issued for car after it was carjacked with baby inside

Maryland State Police issued an Amber Alert for a car that was carjacked Wednesday afternoon with an 11-month-old baby inside.

Police are looking for a 2009 white Suzuki SUV with the Maryland tag 42688CF. The car was last seen in the 400 block of Kane Street, in the Bayview neighborhood. The carjacking happened around 1:30 p.m.

Donald Trump vs Hillary Clinton the final debate

5 things Clinton needs to do in the final debate

This is the final debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump before the Nov. 8 election, and both candidates will face tough questions in Las Vegas.

Trump will have to answer for a growing roster of allegations from women accusing him of improper sexual contact, while Clinton is contending with a trove of hacked emails from her campaign chairman, John Podesta.

Here are five things the Democratic nominee needs to do in the final debate:

The WikiLeaks cloud

There’s been a stream of embarrassing email exchanges between Podesta and Clinton aides made public through the website WikiLeaks. The campaign argues the hacked communications are being released via a Russian government attempt to influence the U.S. election, but they're not denying the veracity of many of them.

They include exchanges showing internal concerns about everything from Clinton's ability to convey sincerity to her use of a private email server.

While there is no single smoking gun, collectively the messages risk painting a cynical view of her campaign that could endure beyond the election. Clinton must have an effective rejoinder that doesn’t revolve solely around blaming the Russians.

Buck up liberals

The biggest risk for Clinton is a demoralized Democratic base, mainly among liberals whose first choice was Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. She needs to reactivate President Obama’s winning coalition that relied on strong turnout among young people and African Americans.

Trashing Trump probably isn’t enough, and time is running out.

Some WikiLeaks exchanges underscore just how significant a struggle this has been for her all along. In one exchange shortly after she lost New Hampshire to Sanders, Joel Benenson, the campaign’s chief strategist, expressed uncertainty about what “she believes or wants her core message to be?”

Let Trump be Trump

Since the first debate on Sept. 26 at Hofstra University, Clinton’s largely stayed out of the spotlight as Trump’s campaign reels from accusations about his treatment of women, including numerous allegations of sexual misconduct.

She’s kept a lighter campaign schedule than Trump, opting for private fundraisers and intense debate preparations, while allegations about Trump’s past behavior — and his response to them — have dominated the headlines.

In an election where the public is overwhelmingly negative about both of their options, the outcome appears to hinge on which candidate proves to be the least unpopular choice. In that context, it makes sense for Clinton to pull her punches if it looks like Trump is continuing to drive up his own negative ratings.

Sharpen answer on trade

Of all the WikiLeaks emails, the most politically damaging may be an excerpt of a 2013 Clinton speech to a Brazilian bank in which she said her “dream” is “a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders.”

The transcripts of Clinton’s paid Wall Street speeches have been a flashpoint since the primaries, and this excerpt probably shows why she’s kept them under wraps.

The statement risks inflaming both her liberal base — by pining for the same free-trade deals they’ve railed against — and Trump’s voters, by calling for a freewheeling system of open immigration. They also stand in contrast to the positions she’s taken publicly in this campaign, as Clinton’s insisted she’s a critic of trade deals that have hurt U.S. workers and denied she is for totally open borders.

The debate moderator, Fox News’ Chris Wallace, is almost guaranteed to ask her about this.

Be ready, literally, for anything

Based on numerous polls, Trump is trailing Clinton by margins that have proved to be historically difficult to recover from.

During the last debate, Trump invited women who’ve accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault to the debate hall to try to confront the former president and in order to create an embarrassing spectacle tarnishing her image.

With Trump already potentially positioning himself for a defeat, arguing the system is “rigged,” it’s anyone’s guess as to what kind of opposition research he’ll throw out or what kind of made-for-TV spectacle he’ll orchestrate.




source: usatoday

Nobel Prize in literature

Bob Dylan wins Nobel Prize in literature

Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday for work that the Swedish Academy described as “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”

He is the first American to win the prize since Toni Morrison in 1993, and a groundbreaking choice by the Nobel committee to select the first literature laureate whose career has primarily been as a musician.

Although long rumored as a contender for the prize, Dylan was far down the list of predicted winners, which included such renown writers as Haruki Murakami and Ngugi Wa Thiong’o.

This is the second year in a row that the academy has turned away from fiction writers for the literature prize. And it’s possibly the first year that the prize has gone to someone who is primarily a musician, not a writer.

Shocking part of Donald Trump’s tax records

The most shocking part of Donald Trump’s tax records isn’t the $916 million loss everyone’s talking about

Despite what Donald Trump says, we really can learn a lot from his tax returns — even from the partial ones made public by The New York Times.

The major takeaway from the three pages of Trump’s 1995 returns that the Times made public is that Trump is right when he says the system is rigged. What he doesn’t say is that it’s rigged in his favor and in the favor of people like him — and against regular people, those of us who earn money, pay income tax on it, and financially support the country in which we live.

To keep things relatively simple, I’m telling you what I see in Trump’s returns, based on my decades of experience parsing financial filings. I will try not to get bogged down in numbers and technicalities.

Sure, the $900 million-plus of losses reported by the New York Times — losses that could be used to offset income for a total of 18 years — are totally shocking. Legal, yes. But shocking.

But there’s something I consider even more shocking — although it involves a much smaller number.

By my read of the Trump tax return published by the New York Times, he would have been tax-free because of a $15,818,562 loss reported on Line 11 of the return under “Rental real estate, royalties, partnerships, S corporations, trusts, etc.” It looks to me that this loss reflects the outrageous, special tax break that real estate developers that people like Trump can get, but that the rest of us can’t.

To give you the brief version, people who qualify as real estate developers or managers can use depreciation deductions to offset non-real-estate income. But people who don’t qualify for this special treatment can’t do that. (For full details, ask a tax expert about Section 469 of the tax code.)

Now, to the $900-plus million loss reported by the New York Times — which vastly exceeds any cash losses that Trump would have suffered in the collapse of his casino-hotel-airline empire, which fell apart in the early 1990s and resulted in four bankruptcies. (He had two more bankruptcies, in 2004 and 2009, from a publicly traded company in which he was the primary shareholder.)

I’m guessing, but I can’t tell for sure — there’s not enough information — that the loss has to do with the collapse of his empire. I don’t understand how Trump, who had very little of his own cash invested in his projects in the 1990s but did personally guarantee part of their debt, could end up with tax losses of that magnitude. They’re almost certainly paper losses rather than out-of-pocket losses.

It’s possible that those losses somehow vanished into the ether from which they came — we have no way to tell.

What we can tell, though, is that what I wrote recently about Trump’s “That makes me smart” boast when Hillary Clinton prodded him about not paying taxes was right.

If Trump were truly smart — and wanted to lead by example — he would have disclosed his tax returns, showed the loopholes he used, and vowed to close them.

I have plenty of problems with the Clintons’ financial behavior, as I wrote. But at least Hillary Clinton is proposing tax code changes that would cost her and her family money. Trump, by contrast, is proposing tax changes that would greatly benefit the commercial real estate business, which is his primary field, and would greatly benefit his own family. And when I asked his campaign last week whether he was proposing any tax changes that would cost him and/or his family any money, I got no reply.

This whole column and most of the articles I’ve read are based almost entirely on just one page of Trump’s tax filings — the front page of his 1995 New York return. So, you see, we have learned quite a lot from Trump’s tax returns — and we could learn a lot more when and if more of them make their way into the public domain.

source: washingtonpost

Shootings near Illinois university campus

1 dead, 6 wounded in shootings near Illinois university campus

Preliminary investigations suggest that two separate shooting incidents near the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, which cost one man his life and wounded six others, were related, according to a statement posted by the city of Champaign.

Police are looking for the suspect or suspects in both incidents, which occurred early Sunday morning.

In the first shooting, Champaign police said an argument during a party inside an apartment spilled out into the street. There a fight broke out and shots were fired.

Four people who were not involved in the fight were injured, police said.

They were taken to to area hospitals, where one person later died from his injuries.

Police identified the victim as George Korchev. Police say Korchev was just walking by by the area when he was killed.

A fifth person running from the gunfire was struck by a vehicle and suffered minor injuries, Champaign police said.

Police are also seeking the driver involved in the vehicle accident.

Thirty minutes later, just after 1:00 am, police say a second shooting occurred nearby and a victim with a non-life-threatening gunshot wounds was transported to the hospital.

One of the surviving gunshot victims is a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign student, according to university spokeswoman Robin Kaler. Kaler said the second shooting occurred in an area where there are a lot of shops and restaurants.

source: CNN

Minnesota mall attack

Man shot dead after stabbing 8 people

A man wearing a private security company uniform stabbed eight people at a Minnesota mall before an off-duty police officer shot him dead, authorities said.

Seven of the wounded were treated and released, while one victim remains hospitalized.
None of their injuries are life-threatening, St. Cloud Police chief William B. Anderson said.
Witnesses said the man entered Crossroads Mall on Saturday night, made a reference to Allah and asked at least one person if they were Muslims before he attacked, police said in a statement.
The stabbings occurred in multiple locations inside the mall, including in the common area and several stores. The mall has security teams on site but they are not armed.
Shortly after, an officer confronted the attacker.
"The individual we believe to be responsible for the victim's stab wounds is currently deceased inside the mall," police said early Sunday.

Police knew attacker

While the attacker was not identified, authorities said he'd had three previous encounters with police.
Anderson said most of the encounters were for minor traffic violations. None resulted in an arrest.

Anderson declined to provide further details or say whether the attacker was a resident of St. Cloud. He said he is not ready to describe the stabbings as a terrorist attack until details such as a motive are established.
"What we know is it is a lone suspect who attacked at least eight people ... whether that was a terrorist attack or not, I'm not willing to say that right now because we just don't know," Anderson said.

City changed forever

The police chief said the attack had changed the city forever.
"It's an awful day. We've got eight victims who were assaulted here in our mall ... things wont be the same here," Anderson said.
While the mall will be closed until further notice because it's considered a crime scene, he said, there's no imminent threat to the city.
"Right now, we don't have information to indicate anyone else is involved," he said.
St. Cloud is about 65 miles northwest of Minneapolis, and has a population of 67,000.

Other attacks

The mall stabbing was one of several incidents reported nationwide Saturday.

In New York City, an explosion ripped through Chelsea, leaving dozens injured. A second device with wiring was found blocks away, authorities say.
In neighboring New Jersey, an explosion went off in a garbage can on the route of a Marine Corps charity run. Thousands of people were about to participate in the 5K race in Seaside Park. No injuries were reported.





source: CNN

Hillary Clinton's health

What we know about Hillary Clinton's health

As Hillary Clinton fell ill during a 9/11 commemoration ceremony Sunday morning, both Democrats and Republicans alike raised questions of concern about her health.

The Democratic presidential nominee left the ceremony early, after an hour and a half, when she started to feel "overheated," said Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill in a statement. She took some time to recover, about an hour and 45 minutes, at her daughter's apartment. When she re-emerged around noon she waved to passersby, and told reporters she was feeling "great."

he incident occurred just days after Republicans argued that moments when Clinton coughed along the campaign trail were signs of a more serious health issue. Her campaign said she suffered seasonal allergies.

"Secretary Clinton has been experiencing a cough related to allergies. On Friday, during follow-up evaluation of her prolonged cough, she was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was put on antibiotics, and advised to rest and modify her schedule. While at this morning's event, she became overheated and dehydrated. I have just examined her and she is now rehydrated and recovering nicely," said Clinton's physician, Dr. Lisa Bardack, in a written statement on Sunday evening.
From seasonal pollen allergies to hypothyroidism, here's what we know about the 68-year-old presidential candidate's health.

Clinton's blood clots

Clinton's current bout with pneumonia does not negate the fact that as secretary of state she withstood an extensive travel schedule and maintained good health.
In a report that was released in July 2015 (PDF), Bardack wrote, "Mrs. Clinton is a healthy 67-year-old female whose current medical conditions include hypothyroidism and seasonal pollen allergies. Her past medical history is notable for a deep vein thrombosis in 1998 and in 2009, an elbow fracture in 2009 and a concussion in 2012. ..."
"She participates in a healthy lifestyle and has had a full medical evaluation, which reveals no evidence of additional medical issues or cardiovascular disease. Her cancer screening evaluations are all negative. She is in excellent physical condition and fit to serve as President of the United States."
Clinton was advised in 1998 to take blood-thinning medications to prevent deep vein thrombosis blood clots when she traveled on long-distance flights, Bardack wrote.
Blood clots can be a serious health risk for travelers, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Blood clots can form in the deep veins of the legs when a person sits still for an extended period, such as during long flights. The problem turns serious if the blood clot breaks off and travels to other parts of the body, such as the lungs.
Along with taking blood-thinning medication, Clinton takes medication for hypothyroidism, a condition in which her thyroid gland is underactive and doesn't produce enough important hormones, according to Bardack's report.

The report also indicated that, in a physical exam on March 21, 2015, Clinton's vital signs appeared "healthy" with a blood pressure of 100/65, heart rate of 72, respiratory rate of 18, and temperature of 98.7. The remainder of her exam was normal.

Clinton's bones and brain

Clinton's health history also includes a bone fracture. She stumbled at the State Department in summer 2009 and fractured her right elbow. The injury resulted in her having to undergo a two-hour surgery, which was deemed successful.
Then, in December 2012, Clinton suffered a stomach virus after traveling and fainted, which caused her to suffer a concussion, according to Bardack's report. In follow-up evaluations, she was found to have a transverse sinus venous thrombosis -- in other words, a blood clot in the brain. The clot later dissolved.
A concussion is a brain injury, explained Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN chief medical correspondent and a practicing neurosurgeon.
"What we've heard from her medical note is, looking at the follow-up, there would be some concern, but she's been tested and there's no long-term impact from her brain and the blood clot has resolved," he said.
Gupta added that it is difficult to comment on Clinton's health without additional information.
"This diagnosis of pneumonia came in on Friday," he said. "It's a totally treatable thing, there's no question about it, but it's a serious diagnosis still and is something that should not be taken lightly."

The Donald Trump campaign hadn't yet commented on Clinton's pneumonia diagnosis as of Sunday evening. Trump himself has released minimal information about his health.
Dr. Harold Bornstein, Trump's personal physician, released a letter (PDF) in December 2015 that lacked much medical detail, but noted that Trump would be "the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency."
Gupta found such language in the letter to be surprising and "almost comically" lacking objectivity.



source: CNN

Black Lives Matter protesters removed from London airport runway, police say

Black Lives Matter protesters removed from London airport runway, police say

London (CNN)A group of Black Lives Matter activists whose protest temporarily shut down a London airport Tuesday have been arrested and removed from the runway, police said.

Evacuated residents in limbo, California

Evacuated residents in limbo as wildfire burns in California

A DC-10 drops fire retardant on a wildfire as southbound Interstate 15 remains closed in the Cajon Pass, Calif

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Twisted metal gates and rusted mailboxes remained where houses once stood. Flames had turned a lot full of cars — including some vintage models — into a junkyard of hollowed-out shells. Countless trees were scorched or gone.

Scenes of destruction were everywhere Thursday after a huge wildfire sped through mountains and high desert 60 miles east of Los Angeles so swiftly that it took seasoned firefighters off guard.

But the day also brought the biggest gains yet against the blaze, with containment jumping from 22 percent, up from just 4 percent when the day began. The fire has burned 56 square miles.

An aerial flyover revealed significant property loss, but crews were just beginning to comb through the rubble to document the devastation.

"Most of the areas where there was structural damage, they're still smoldering," U.S. Forest Service spokesman Jake Rodriguez said.

Many residents remained in limbo, unable to go home and wondering whether anything would be left when they can.

"I want it to be over, but more than anything I just want to know, 'Is my house still there?' " Lisa Gregory said as she sat in a lawn chair under a tree at an evacuation center.

At its height, more than 34,000 homes and about 82,000 residents were under evacuation warnings.

While the east side of the fire near the desert was brought partly under control and some evacuees on that side were allowed to return home, the west side's hillsides were still showing heavy flames and thick smoke.

Meanwhile, a new fire broke out in rural Santa Barbara County, quickly surging to about 500 acres and prompting the evacuation of a pair of campgrounds.

Another blaze near Lake Isabella in Kern and Tulare counties in the center of the state had burned more than two square miles.

During five years of drought, California's wildlands have seen a continuous streak of destructive and sometimes deadly fires. No deaths have been reported in the latest fire, but crews assessing property damage were using cadaver dogs during searches.

The dry vegetation is like firewood, said fire information officer Sean Collins.

"It burns that much quicker, that much hotter. The rate of travel is extremely fast," he said.

Wildfires across the country in recent years have grown more ferocious and expensive to fight.

Last year's fire season set a record with more than 15,625 square miles of land charred. It was also the costliest on record with $2.1 billion spent to fight fires from Alaska to Florida.

Experts have blamed several factors including rising temperatures that more quickly dry out forests and vegetation. Decades of aggressively knocking down small fires also have led to the buildup of flammable fuel. On top of that, more people are moving into fire-prone regions, complicating firefighting efforts.

In the Southern California fire, air tankers bombarded rugged slopes with fire retardant, and a squadron of helicopters dropped load after load of water to corral flames. On the ground, firefighters and bulldozers worked to protect the ski town of Wrightwood and other areas high in the San Gabriel Mountains.

The fire unleashed its initial fury on a semi-rural landscape dotted with small ranches and homes in Cajon Pass and on the edge of the Mojave Desert before climbing the mountains.

Travel was returning to normal in the pass — a major corridor for trucking, rail and commuter traffic — after Interstate 15 was fully reopened.

In mountains north of San Francisco, fire crews gained more ground on a wildfire as damage inspectors surveyed the area to determine how many structures were destroyed or damaged.

The 6-square-mile blaze was 55 percent contained after destroying at least 268 structures, including 175 homes and eight businesses, in the working-class community of Lower Lake.

The equipment manager, or "armorer," of the U.S. Olympic fencing team, was among those who lost their homes. Matthew Porter was in Rio with the medal-winning team when the house burned.

Damin Pashilk is charged with 14 counts of arson in connection with 12 separate fires dating back to July 2015 and one count of attempted arson. The 40-year-old construction worker appeared in court Wednesday, but he did not enter a plea.




source: foxnews

Google Employee Killed While Jogging Fought For Her Life

Detectives: Google Employee Killed While Jogging Fought For Her Life

Vanessa Marcotte fought hard for her life.

During a press conference held Thursday evening, investigators said the 27-year-old Google employee, who was killed Sunday night while jogging in Princeton, Massachusetts, put up a desperate struggle, likely leaving her killer bruised and scratched.

Pilot fire grows to more than 7,700 acres

Pilot fire grows to more than 7,700 acres, threatening homes and forcing schools to close

Pilot fire

A wildfire in the mountains of San Bernardino County grew to more than 7,700 acres Tuesday, threatening thousands of homes and forcing schools to close, as crews across the state battled raging blazes in the late summer heat.

The Pilot fire has scorched 7,736 acres and is 6% contained, according to the U.S. Forest Service. About 5,000 homes were under voluntary and mandatory evacuation orders, according to Bob Poole, a spokesman for the forest agency.

Chandra Levy murder mystery

Chandra Levy murder mystery deepens as prosecutors drop case

In this April 22, 2009, file photo, Ingmar Guandique is escorted from the Violent Crimes Unit in Washington. Jacquelyn Martin AP

WASHINGTON
In another stunning reversal, federal prosecutors on Thursday abruptly dropped murder charges against the Salvadoran immigrant previously convicted of killing former intern and Modesto, California, resident Chandra Levy.

The unexpected decision casts back into mystery the question of what really happened to Levy more than 15 years ago when she disappeared while apparently jogging through the capital’s Rock Creek Park. It follows years of defense lawyers’ investigation into the prosecutors’ chief witness, who claimed Ingmar Guandique confessed to the crime while the two shared a jail cell.

Mom of slain Florida teen warned son of nightclub shootings

Mom of slain Florida teen warned son of nightclub shootings

In this frame from video, people gather near the scene of a fatal shooting at Club Blu nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. (WBBH via AP)

FORT MYERS, Fla. — With the Orlando massacre still fresh on everyone's mind, the mother of a young man who was slain at a nightclub early Monday had warned her son about what to do if there were a shooting: "hit the floor, find a table."

But when gunfire erupted at the Club Blu parking lot, 18-year-old Stef'an Strawder didn't have anywhere to hide. He was killed along with a 14-year-old boy, and 17 other people ranging in age from 12 to 27 were wounded during a swimsuit-themed party for teens.

Shots Fired at Munich Shopping Center

Shots Fired at Munich Shopping Center, German Police Say

Shots have been fired at a shopping center in Munich, Germany, according to police, with a local newspaper reporting multiple deaths.

Munich police would not confirm any casualties, but told NBC News the situation "is over." A leading German newspaper based in Munich, Sudduetsche Zeitung, reported multiple people had been killed and injured, but NBC News could not immediately confirm that.

Images and video on social media showed frenzied activity outside the Olympia Einkaufszentrum area.

Shooting in #Munich shopping mall #OEZ!! People running away to seek shelter!! pic.twitter.com/PB189s6RQy

— Thamina Stoll (@thaminastoll) July 22, 2016

"People running away to seek shelter!" posted one Twitter user, along with a video that appeared to show streams of people filing past the building.

A major police operation was underway at the mall, Munich police tweeted, urging people to avoid the area.

The sprawling two-story Olympia Einkaufszentrum opened in 1972 during the Summer Olympics in Munich, according to the mall's website.

The shooting is the second attack in Germany's Bavaria region this week. On Monday, a 17-year-old Afghan injured four people with an ax on a German train near Wuerzburg-Heidingsfeld, before he was shot dead.





source: nbcnews

Woman in custody after standoff at Oklahoma Air National Guard base

Woman in custody after standoff at Oklahoma Air National Guard base

A woman has been taken into police custody Monday afternoon following a standoff at the Oklahoma Air National Guard base.
Tulsa Police Bomb Squad officers were called to the scene after police received a report indicating a woman was driving around the complex with an unknown device, an official said Monday.
Police Sgt. Shane Tuell said officers were dispatched to the Air National Guard, near 46th Street North and U.S. 169, a little before noon because the Guard notified them of the woman's claims.
"She hasn't gone on the base itself, but she's claiming to have some type of a device in the vehicle," he said.
Police were involved with a standoff with the woman at the base's entrance, Tulsa police spokeswoman Demita Kinard said.
"She's claiming there is a war and the war is here," Kinard said of the woman.

Kinard said police received a call from a woman — believed to be the same person involved in the standoff — about 9:30 a.m., who claimed she was being kidnapped and was singing nursery rhymes, Kinard said.
Shortly later, police got a call from the Guard base saying there was a woman at the front gate.
Officers have not been able to confirm what type of device, if any, was in the woman's vehicle.
Police have identified the woman but aren't releasing her name yet because she is a "mentally ill individual," Kinard said.

source: tulsaworld

Baton Rouge Shooting Reaction

Police tighten security after 3 officers killed in Baton Rouge

(CNN)Officers Montrell Jackson, Matthew Gerald and Brad Garafola were killed Sunday after being ambushed and shot by a lone gunman in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Their deaths have kept the spotlight on a region where the July 5 shooting death of Alton Sterling at the hands of police began what has been two weeks of national turmoil.
"We as a nation have to be loud and clear that nothing justifies violence against law enforcement," President Barack Obama said after Sunday's attack. "Attacks on police are an attack on all of us, and the rule of law that makes society possible."
Now police across the country are taking precautions.
The New York Police Department is doubling up all foot patrols and security posts, according to a memo obtained by CNN. Officers are also being instructed to take all meals and personal breaks in pairs.

In Cleveland, the police union is asking Gov. John Kasich to restrict the state's open carry laws temporarily for the Republican National Convention in light of the events in Baton Rouge.
To better protect its officers, the Boston Police Department is requiring that two officers be in every patrol unit.
Although Baton Rouge is "hundreds of miles away from Boston, the pain and suffering caused by the loss of these officers in the line of duty is felt deeply by the men and women of the BPD," Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said Sunday. "This all too common trend we are seeing of violence against law enforcement officers who are out there each day serving and protecting neighborhoods across the country is alarming and disheartening."
Obama urged a stop to the bloodshed.
"Only we can prove, through words and through deeds, that we will not be divided," the President said Sunday. "And we're going to have to keep on doing it again and again and again. That's how this country gets united."

'No talking, just shooting'

The shooting Sunday took place around 8:40 a.m. (9:40 a.m. ET) in the city of about 230,000 people, already tense after the high-profile police shooting of Sterling, an African-American man.
On Sunday, police received a call of a "suspicious person walking down Airline Highway with an assault rifle," a source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN.
Killer Gavin Long "ambushed" the officers, said Col. Michael D. Edmonson, superintendent of the Louisiana State Police.
Long's "prey was those police officers," Edmonson said Monday morning on CNN. "He drew them to the scene."
After the first set of officers were attacked, more responded to the scene and killed Long, authorities said. He had been carrying an AR-15-style, semi-automatic rifle, law enforcement sources told CNN.
At a Sunday afternoon news conference, local and state authorities, including Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, said Long was thought to be the lone gunman. Earlier reports had said authorities believed there might have been more than one attacker. Edwards described the shooting as an "absolutely unspeakable heinous attack."
The Louisiana State Police said they questioned and released two people in relation to the attack, and no charges were filed.
Authorities are interviewing people that Long was speaking to while he was in Baton Rouge, Edmonson said. "We want to know what brought him here, what kept him here" and why he killed police, the superintendent said.
Edwards, also appearing Monday on CNN, reflected on the pain that officers' relatives and co-workers endured at the hospital until late Sunday. "Emotions are raw," the governor said. "There's a lot of hurting people."

The victims

Officers Jackson, 32, and Gerald, 41, both worked for the Baton Rouge Police Department.
Gerald had been serving for less than a year and, like Jackson, was assigned to the uniform patrol bureau, according to the department.
Jackson had posted on Facebook on July 8 how physically and emotionally drained he had been since protests had erupted in Baton Rouge after the killing of Sterling by police.
"I swear to God I love this city, but I wonder if this city loves me. In uniform I get nasty, hateful looks and out of uniform some consider me a threat. ... These are trying times. Please don't let hate infect your heart."
Garafola, 45, worked for the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office for 24 years, according to Casey Rayborn Hicks, a spokesman for the sheriff's office.
The gunman also critically wounded a deputy who is "fighting for his life," said East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux. Another wounded deputy and police officer have wounds not considered life-threatening, law officers said.

Authorities later identified 41-year-old Nicholas Tullier as an officer in critical condition.
Bruce Simmons, a 51-year-old with 23 years of service, sustained non-life threatening injuries, authorities said.

The shooter

Long, a black man from Kansas City, Missouri, was a Marine who was discharged as a sergeant in 2010.
CNN has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the military to obtain records about Long's service. Under Defense Department rules, health records that might include any information on Long's mental health are considered protected even though he is dead. The records are part of the criminal investigation.
CNN has filed a similar request for the records of Micah Johnson, also formerly a military member. He killed five police officers in Dallas, and a criminal investigation is ongoing about his military record.
Long served from August 22, 2005, to August 1, 2010, according to the little information the military has released. He was a data network specialist who received the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, Navy Unit Commendation Medal and others. He signed up for the service in Kansas City and deployed to Iraq from June 2008 to January 2009.
The releasable record on Long doesn't indicate where he worked in Iraq.
He left a long trail of information online about his beliefs under the pseudonym Cosmo Setepenra.



source: CNN

US Declassifies Secret 9/11

US Declassifies Secret 9/11 Documents Known as the '28 Pages'

A New York Firefighter amid the rubble of the World Trade Centre following the 9/11 attacks.

The U.S. intelligence community has officially lifted the veil on 28 classified pages from the first congressional investigation into the 9/11 terror attacks that some believe, once exposed, could demonstrate a support network inside the United States for two of those al-Qaeda hijackers.

Today, the Obama administration declassified those documents -- closely held secrets for over 13 years -- and Congress is expected to make them the public this afternoon. The FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies had kept the information secret until now, citing reasons of national security.

According to sources familiar with the documents, the information in the pages lays out a number of circumstances that suggest it's possible two of the 9/11 hijackers living in California in the months leading up to the attack were receiving operational support from individuals loyal to Saudi Arabia.

But intelligence officials say the information was preliminary, fragmented and unfinished data that was subsequently investigated along with more complete information in subsequent 9/11 investigations.

Saudi Arabia, an ally to the U.S. in the Middle East, has strongly denied any involvement in the attacks and these accusations, and believes the 2004 9/11 Commission Report, Congress's final investigation into the attacks, serves to completely exonerate Saudi Arabia.

"It does not appear that any government other than the Taliban financially supported al Qaeda before 9/11, although some governments may have contained al Qaeda sympathizers who turned a blind eye to al Qaeda's fundraising activities," the 9/11 Commission report reads. "Saudi Arabia has long been considered the primary source of al Qaeda funding, but we have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization. (This conclusion does not exclude the likelihood that charities with significant Saudi government sponsorship diverted funds to al Qaeda.)"

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were citizens of Saudi Arabia.

Former Sen. Bob Graham, one of the authors of the report produced by the Joint Congressional Inquiry in December of 2002, had been pushing for the classified pages to be released since the day they were made secret. He said he still harbors suspicion that these men were being helped by senior Saudi connections and told CBS News in April it is "implausible" to believe these two hijackers "could've carried out such a complicated task without some support from within the United States."

The declassified documents are also of great interest to the lawyers representing family members of 9/11 victims who have brought a lawsuit against the Saudi government, alleging it provided financial support to al-Qaeda. They feel unseen evidence in these documents pointing to Saudi involvement could bolster their case.

In turn, Congress has introduced legislation called the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) that would limit the sovereign immunity of other countries, including Saudi Arabia, that if passed would allow the victims' families to sue Saudi Arabia -- something they currently can't do.

The Saudis have threatened to sell off billions of dollars in U.S. assets if such a law is enacted. And although it has passed the Senate and is pending in the House, the White House doesn't favor it and worries that it could set a dangerous precedent that would open up the U.S. government to similar liabilities and litigation.



source: abcnews

US Drone Kills Mastermind

US Drone Kills Mastermind of 2014 Pakistan School Attack

FILE - A mother mourns her son Mohammed Ali Khan, 15, a student who was killed during an attack by Taliban gunmen on the army-administered Public School, at her house in Peshawar, December 16, 2014.

ISLAMABAD—
The United States has confirmed that a drone strike in Afghanistan has killed a top Pakistani Taliban leader who was responsible for planning the 2014 attack on a Pakistani school, one of the country's worst terror attacks.

A Pakistan military spokesman said Wednesday that the U.S. commander of international forces in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, telephoned his Pakistani counterpart, General Raheel Sharif and “confirmed death of terrorist Umar Narai through drone strike” in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar.

Narai was wanted in Pakistan for masterminding the Taliban attack on an army-administered school in Peshawar in December 2014. Nearly 150 people, mostly young students, were massacred in what was condemned as one of the worst militant attacks in the country’s history.

The slain Taliban commander was also blamed for plotting the September 2015 deadly raid an Air Force base near Peshawar and the attack on a university not far from the city in January this year. Around 50 people were killed in the two attacks

A Pakistani security official requesting anonymity told VOA Islamabad welcomes Narai’s elimination, saying it shows that Pakistani militants fleeing security operations have taken refuge in Afghanistan.

On May 21, the U.S. military reported that a drone strike killed chief of the Afghan Taliban Mullah Mansoor in the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan. Both Afghan and Pakistani officials accuse each other of sheltering militants involved in terrorist activities on their respective territory.

Authorities cite the long porous border dividing their countries for being unable to completely stop illegal movement on both sides.

On Wednesday, General Sharif chaired a meeting of his top commanders to discuss security along the Afghan border.

“To scrutinize cross border movement and ensure strict check on terrorist’s movement, the forum reviewed progress of measures being taken for effective border management,” an army statement said after the meeting.

Afghan and U.S. officials have lately increased pressure on Pakistan to stop Taliban and their allies, including the lethal Haqqani network, from using Pakistani soil for plotting insurgent attacks in Afghanistan.




source: voanews

David Cameron to resign

David Cameron to resign Wednesday as Theresa May to become British PM

London (CNN)British Prime Minister David Cameron is to resign Wednesday, paving the way for Home Secretary Theresa May to take the reins.

May was officially named Conservative Party leader and successor to Cameron "with immediate effect" Monday, said Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee, a collection of Conservative members of Parliament key to electing the party leader. She will replace Cameron on Wednesday evening.

In remarks shortly after her leadership was affirmed, May said her priorities will be to administer Britain's exit from the European Union, a move approved by voters last month, to unite the country and to create a "strong, new, positive vision for the future," not just for the privileged few, but for everyone.

Cameron had already announced he would step down by October after failing to convince the country to remain in the EU in the divisive June 23 referendum that sent shockwaves through Britain's political establishment.

But Monday, May's only remaining rival to replace Cameron -- Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom -- pulled out of the race following controversy over comments she made about motherhood and leadership.

"Obviously, with these changes, we now don't need to have a prolonged period of transition. And so tomorrow I will chair my last Cabinet meeting. On Wednesday I will attend the House of Commons for Prime Minister's questions," Cameron told reporters Monday outside 10 Downing Street.

"And then after that I expect to go to the palace and offer my resignation. So we will have a new prime minister in that building behind me by Wednesday evening."

The vote between May and Leadsom was supposed to go to the wider Conservative Party of 150,000 people, but being the sole candidate, May sidestepped the party rule.

Cameron welcomed Leadsom's decision to drop out of the race and said he was confident May would steer the country in the right direction, calling her strong and competent, and offering her his full support.


source: CNN