Las Vegas terror: Shooter Stephen’s father was a bank robber

Agencies
October 3, 2017

Washington, Oct 3: Decades before authorities say Stephen Paddock opened fire Sunday evening from a high-rise hotel near the Las Vegas Strip, leading to the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history - his father was one of the FBI's most-wanted fugitives.

Benjamin Hoskins Paddock, a convicted bank robber and con man described in a wanted poster as "psychopathic'' with suicidal tendencies, had escaped from prison in 1969, earning him a spot on the FBI's list of most-sought-after and dangerous criminals.

According to news accounts, he was not captured until 1978, when he was nabbed while running a bingo parlor in Oregon.

Officials said Benjamin Paddock is the father of Stephen Paddock, the gunman who started shooting Sunday evening from the window of a 32nd-floor hotel room overlooking a concert on the Las Vegas Strip, where 22,000 people had gathered for a three-day country music festival.

 At least 58 people were killed, including an off-duty police officer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, authorities said.

More than 500 others, including two on-duty officers, were injured.

The gunman was found dead by Las Vegas SWAT officers in his hotel room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

His father had been convicted of bank robbery, auto theft and a confidence scam when he escaped from prison Feb. 3, 1969, in El Paso, Texas. At the time, his son Stephen would have been 15 years old.

At 6-foot-4 and 245 pounds, Benjamin Paddock used a host of aliases, and was also known as "Chromedome" and "Old Baldy," according to his "Wanted" poster.

He remained on the FBI's Most Wanted list until 1977, when he was removed for reasons that aren't clear.

Stephen Paddock's brother, Eric, told reporters outside his Orlando, Florida, home Monday that their father was not around during their childhood.

"I was born on the run,'' he said.

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News Network
January 21,2020

Lucknow, Jan 21: Defending his brainchild, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said the new law will not be scrapped despite the countrywide protests against it.

Addressing a rally here to drum up support for the CAA, Shah also declared that construction of a Ram temple "touching the skies" in Ayodhya will begin within three months.

He said there is no provision in the amended law for taking anyone's citizenship away. "A canard is being spread against the CAA by the Congress, SP, BSP, and Trinamool Congress. The CAA is a law to grant citizenship," he added.

"I want to say that irrespective of the protests this will not be withdrawn," he added.

Shah challenged Congress leaders to hold a discussion with him on CAA at a public forum.

He named Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party's Mayawati and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee while throwing the "challenge".

Congress has become blind due to vote bank politics,"he said. He also blamed the Congress for Partition.

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News Network
April 11,2020

Apr 11: The number of global coronavirus deaths has increased to 102,753, while the total number of cases worldwide has surpassed 1.6 million, according to the latest update by the Washington-based Johns Hopkins University.

As of Saturday morning, the overall number of infections increased to 1,698,416, while the tally of those who recovered from the deadly disease stood at 376,677, according to the varsity's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE).

In terms of cases, the US had the highest in the world at 501,301, followed by Spain 158,273, Italy 147,577 and France 125,931.

Italy accounted for the highest death toll at 18,849, with the US in the second place with 18,769 fatalities.

Other countries with more than 10,000 deaths include Spain (16,081) and France (13,197).

Although the pandemic originated in China last December, it now only accounts for 3,343 deaths with 83,003 confirmed cases.

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Agencies
March 15,2020

New Delhi, Mar 15: The new rules for debit and credit cards to increase security and reduce frauds kick in from Monday. In January, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had issued new rules to improve user convenience and increase the security of card transactions. These rules will help in curbing the misuse of debit and credit cards.

RBI has directed banks to allow only domestic card transactions at ATMs and PoS terminals in India at the time of issuance/reissuance of card. For international transactions, online transactions, card-not-present transactions and contactless transactions, customers will have to separately set up services on their card.

These rules will be applicable for new cards from March 16. Those with old cards can decide whether to disable any of these features.

As per the existing rules, these services used to come automatically with the card, but now it will start at the request of the customer.

Debit or credit card customers who have not yet done any online transaction, contactless transaction or international transaction with the card, then these services on the card will automatically stop from March 16.

The Reserve Bank has asked all banks to provide mobile banking, net banking option to enable limit and enable and disable service 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If the customer makes any change in the status of the card, the bank will alert the customer through SMS/email and send the information.

Issuers shall provide to all cardholders facility to switch on/off and set/modify transaction limits (within the overall card limit, if any, set by the issuer) for all types of transactions -- domestic and international, at PoS/ATMs/online transactions/contactless transactions, etc.,

The provisions, however, are not mandatory for prepaid gift cards and those used at mass transit systems.

The latest instructions come in the wake of rising instances of cyber frauds and the huge increase in the use of cards.

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