Female suspect dead, several hurt in YouTube shooting

Agencies
April 4, 2018

United States, Apr 4: Gunfire erupted at YouTube's offices in California Tuesday, leaving three people wounded by gunshots and sparking a panicked escape before the suspected shooter -- a woman -- apparently committed suicide.

Amid a chaotic scene in the city of San Bruno, a woman believed to be the shooter was found dead at the scene of the Google-owned video sharing service.

"We have one subject who is deceased inside the building with a self-inflicted wound," San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini told reporters. "At this time, we believe it to be the shooter."

Officers arriving to numerous calls for help saw employees running from the building, and found a person out front who appeared to be shot in the leg, according to police.

Four people, three suffering from gunshot wounds, were taken to local hospitals, police said. The fourth person hurt suffered a sprained or broken ankle.

Investigators were still trying to figure out a motive, but there were indications it may have sprung from a personal matter.

"I know a lot of you are in shock right now," Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said in a message to employees shared by the company on Twitter.

"I am grateful to everyone inside and outside the company for the outpouring of support and best wishes."

He thanked emergency workers for springing into action to help, and said that he and YouTube chief Susan Wojcicki were focused on supporting employees in the aftermath of the violence.

"There are no words to describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter @YouTube today," Wojcicki wrote.

"Our hearts go out to all those injured and impacted today. We will come together to heal as a family."

Shootings by women are a rare occurrence in the United States, where the overwhelming majority of gun violence is carried out by men.

According to an FBI study that looked at 160 incidents involving one or more shooters in public places between 2000 and 2013, just six of the people who opened fire were women, or 3.8 percent.

Amid conflicting reports on casualties, Barberini said the injured "have been transported and are being treated for injuries that are treatable."

He said police had sealed off the building as they pursued the investigation and searched for any additional possible victims.

Employees recounted frantic scenes as they fled YouTube's headquarters near San Francisco, with one saying he saw blood on the floor as he escaped.

The shooting took place around midday, when many at YouTube were having lunch.

"We were sitting in a meeting and then we heard people running because it was rumbling the floor. First thought was earthquake," employee Todd Sherman tweeted.

Sherman said that as he headed for an exit, "someone said that there was a person with a gun," adding that "at that point every new person I saw was a potential shooter."

Sherman's tweets continued: "I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peeked around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front."

One image posted by a Twitter user showed employees being led out of the building with their hands up, with no further explanation.

Another YouTube employee, Vadim Lavrusik, tweeted: "Active shooter at YouTube HQ. Heard shots and saw people running while at my desk. Now barricaded inside a room with coworkers."

Later, Lavrusik said he had escaped to safety.

A worker told of a fire alarm going off at one point, prompting an exodus that grew more urgent as news of gunfire spread.

Witnesses reported helicopters on the scene as well as police SWAT teams.

The White House said President Donald Trump had been briefed and that his administration was monitoring the ongoing situation in San Bruno.

Shortly afterward, Trump tweeted: "Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene."

YouTube headquarters is located some 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the main Google campus in Mountain View.

The shooting, which follows a series of deadly gun incidents at schools and elsewhere, comes amid heated debate on gun control measures in the United States.

An estimated 1.5 million people participated in demonstrations on March 24 calling for stricter firearms measures following a deadly shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Organizers of the March for Our Lives sent a message of solidarity to the employees hit by the latest shooting, tweeting: "Our hearts are with you, @YouTube."

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News Network
March 5,2020

Mar 5: The fourteen Italians, who have tested positive for coronavirus, have been shifted to the Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon from an ITBP quarantine centre.

The hospital issued a statement on Thursday morning, saying these patients are housed on a completely separate floor, which has been quarantined and has no contact with the rest of the hospital.

There is a dedicated medical team wearing protective gear looking after these patients.All items used on the floor are isolated to that floor.

The isolated floor will completely contain the disease even with these asymptomatic persons. All other hospital operations are operating as normal, and there is no increased risk to patients, visitors or staff, the statement said.

Twenty-one Italian tourists and their three Indian tour operators were shifted out from an ITBP quarantine centre here on Wednesday as they were exposed to novel coronavirus.

An affected Italian couple is being treated at Jaipur's SMS medical college.

Officials on Tuesday said the foreigners have been sent to a private hospital in Gurgaon and a centre in the national capital while the Indians have been transferred to the Safdarjung Hospital.

Fourteen Italians and an Indian (driver), who were in the same group as the affected Italian couple, tested positive for the virus as per information provided by the Health Ministry.

The Italian tourists and three Indians were admitted to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force centre in Chhawla on Tuesday.

The Centre already has 112 people, 76 Indians and 36 foreigners, since February 27 after they were evacuated by an Indian Air Force (IAF) plane from China's Wuhan, the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus.

The first samples of these 112 people had tested negative when reports came in last week.

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Agencies
June 20,2020

New Delhi, Jun 20: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi said there are no foreign incursions into India, China has once again claimed that Galwan valley of Ladakh union territory is located on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

In an official statement on the step-by-step account of the Galwan face-off where 20 Indian soldiers were killed, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian has said the Galwan valley is located on the Chinese side of the LAC in the west section of the China-India boundary.

"For many years, the Chinese border troops have been patrolling and on duty in this region," Zhao said alleging that since April this year, the Indian border troops have unilaterally and continuously built roads, bridges and other facilities at the LAC in the Galwan Valley.

China has lodged representations and protests on multiple occasions but India has gone even further to cross the LAC and make provocations, Zhao said.

By the early morning of May 6, the Indian border troops, who had crossed the LAC by night and trespassed into China's territory, built fortification and barricades, which impeded the patrol of Chinese border troops, Zhao said adding that they deliberately made provocations in an attempt to unilaterally change the status quo of control and management.

The Chinese border troops, he said, were "forced to take necessary measures to respond to the situation on the ground and strengthen management and control in the border areas."

In order to ease the situation, China and India have stayed in close communication through military and diplomatic channels, he said. "In response to the strong demand of the Chinese side, India agreed to withdraw the personnel who crossed the LAC and demolish the facilities, and so they did.

On June 6, the border troops of both countries held a commander-level meeting and reached consensus on easing the situation. The Indian side, he said, promised that they would not cross the estuary of the Galwan river to patrol and build facilities and the two sides would discuss and decide phased withdrawal of troops through the meetings between commanders on the ground.

"Shockingly, on the evening of June 15, India's front-line troops, in violation of the agreement reached at the commander-level meeting, once again crossed the Line of Actual Control for deliberate provocation when the situation in the Galwan Valley was already easing, and even violently attacked the Chinese officers and soldiers who went there for negotiation, thus triggering fierce physical conflicts and causing casualties."

"The adventurous acts of the Indian army have seriously undermined the stability of the border areas, threatened the lives of Chinese personnel, violated the agreements reached between the two countries on the border issue, and breached the basic norms governing international relations," the spokesperson said.

Beijing, he said, hopes that India will work with China, follow faithfully the important consensus reached between the two leaders, abide by the agreements reached between the two governments, and strengthen communication and coordination on properly managing the current situation through diplomatic and military channels, and jointly uphold peace and stability in the border areas.

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Agencies
February 23,2020

Panaji, Feb 23: A MiG-29K aircraft crashed off Goa during a routine training sortie on Sunday morning, the Indian Navy said in a statement.

"The pilot ejected safely and has been recovered. An enquiry into the incident has been ordered," the statement said.

On November 16, a MiG-29K trainer flight had crashed after a bird hit, soon after it took off the Dabolim International airport, which functions out of the Indian Navy base INS Hansa.

Both pilots had managed to safely eject themselves to safety after both the engines of their jet failed.

According to data tabled in the recent budget session of the Goa Assembly, every ten days, at least one aircraft landing or taking off at Goa's Dabolim international airport faces dangers involving birds or stray dogs near the runway.

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