Zardari launches emergency drive to safeguard under-fives after virus infection rates in Pakistan rise by 65%

Beset by war against violent extremists, Pakistan is now thrusting itself on to the frontline of a silent battle: the world's final assault on polio.

Asif Ali Zardari, the country's president, is launching an emergency drive to immunise 32 million children under the age of five against polio, aiming to reverse an alarming surge in cases last year.

Under the plan, to be launched , tomorrow armed police and paramilitary soldiers will protect teams of vaccinators in the most dangerous areas, a presidential spokesman said.

Bill Gates, who met Zardari in Washington last week, is funding the effort with a $65m donation through the Gates Foundation.

Pakistan's polio crisis represents one of the last big hurdles in a 23-year campaign run by the World Health Organisation. Doctors say they are on the cusp of eradicating the disease, with infection rates falling elsewhere. In Pakistan, however, the infection rate has risen by 65%, undoing progress made over the last decade.

In the last 10 months we have recorded 9 shootings outside Walmart supermarkets in the USA. What is it about Walmart??

Walmart Parking Lot Shooting

Monday January 24, 2011

Port Orchard, Wash.. - A shootout in front of a Walmart in Washington state left two people dead and two sheriff's deputies wounded Sunday afternoon, a sheriff's spokesman said.

One of the dead was a man who shot at deputies, said Scott Wilson of the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office. The other victim was a young woman who died after she was taken to a Tacoma hospital, he said

The store was immediately locked down. Customers in the store were being allowed to leave after investigators questioned them and the store closed for the night, Wilson said.

The investigation "is real basic right now," he said, adding that officers don't know why the man fled and began firing.

"The big question of why is unanswered now," he said.

Walmart shooting raises more questions about gun safety

January 19, 2011

Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) - Tuesday's shooting in a Walmart parking lot in North Las Vegas has sparked a bit of controversy. Some are now wondering whether the victim of that attempted robbery made the right choice by pulling out his gun during the altercation.

Officer Coon says citizens fighting back against their assailants is a growing trend.

In Tuesday's incident, the suspect pushed the victim to the ground while attempting to steal his wallet. The victim then took out his gun and fired at him.

While authorities acknowledge that it was in self defense and that the victim had a legal permit to carry the weapon, they say it was very risky move.

This latest incident, along with the Tucson massacre, has placed gun safety back in the spotlight.

So with thousands of firearm advocates in Las Vegas for the gun convention Action News asked some of them how they would have reacted under the same circumstances.

"I would have done the same thing. I would have pulled out my gun," said Billy Rugh.

But not everyone sees it that way.

Man Shot At Kissimmee Walmart

January 17, 2011

KISSIMMEE - Two suspects are charged with attempted murder for Sunday night's shooting outside the Walmart Supercenter on Osceola Parkway,

The shooting occurred about 7 p.m. after the two groups of young men began arguing inside the Walmart store. When Townsend and Allwood left to go to their car in the parking lot, Wells and three unidentified men followed them for what appeared to be a fight, and the shots were fired, according to police.

Managers at the store, at 1471 E. Osceola Parkway, near Florida's Turnpike, placed the store in lockdown, and it remained closed until 9 p.m.

Huntsville Police Investigating Double Shooting at Wal-Mart on University Drive

December 7, 2010

Huntsville, Alabama The man accused of shooting two people outside a Walmart store in Huntsville was reportedly taken off life support Tuesday morning at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. The woman who was shot was discharged from Huntsville Hospital late Monday.

A second victim, Stan Ryan Malone, died shortly after the shooting on Monday.

Police: Gunman in custody after Nevada Walmart shooting

October 29, 2010

Reno, Nevada A Reno Walmart employee who apparently feared for his job is accused of shooting and wounding three Walmart employees Friday morning, including a manager. He then ...

Arrests Made In Fatal Shooting Outside Walmart

September 26, 2010

Colorado Springs police have arrested two men suspected of shooting a man outside of a Colorado Springs Walmart.

Christopher Harmon, 26, was shot and killed outside the Walmart at 3201 East Platte Avenue. Police say the shooting happened just after midnight in the parking lot on September 26.

Suspect Dies After Galax, Virginia. Walmart Shooting

May 2, 2010

GALAX, VA. - A Galax, Va. man entered a Walmart store Saturday night and allegedly shot an employee before turning the gun on himself, according to police and witness accounts.

Police put the store under lockdown Saturday night while they interviewed witnesses and checked surveillance video.

Warrants Issued In Walmart Shooting

March 13, 2010

WILKESBORO, NC -- Wilkesboro police have issued arrest warrants in a shooting at the Wilkesboro Walmart that left one person injured Sunday evening.

Police said it is possible the shooting may have been an accidental discharge of a concealed weapon. Carlton is seen on surveillance video near the victim when the shooting happens, and is then seen fleeing the store, police said.

Texas Wal-Mart Shooting: Suspected Gunman Killed By Police

March 7, 2010

Commerce, Texas - A man walked into a Walmart in Texas carrying at least two guns before engaging in a shootout with police outside the store, authorities said. The man was killed and an off-duty officer in the store who had tried to stop him was injured.

The incident in the east Texas city of Commerce began when police received a call of shots being fired from a car in nearby Greenville, about 50 miles northeast of Dallas, said City of Commerce spokeswoman Marty Cunningham.

Commerce police intercepted the car just outside the city limits, where the man exchanged gunfire with officers, Cunningham said. He then drove to Walmart and entered the store "carrying a long gun and pistol," the spokeswoman said.

Women activists are to blockade Scotland Yard today, intending to demand to know the identity of any undercover police who have infiltrated their organisations.

As evidence continued to emerge of police officers having had sexual relations with people they were monitoring, the women said they wanted to know if they had been "abused" by police.

Though senior police insisted that sleeping with activists during such operations was banned, a former agent claimed such "promiscuity" routinely had the blessing of commanders.

The activists' concerns follow the revelation that the undercover PC Mark Kennedy had sexual relationships with several women during the seven years he spent infiltrating environmental activists' groups. Last week the Guardian identified more officers who had sex with the protesters they were sent to spy on. One officer, Jim Boyling, married an activist and had two children with her.

An unidentified man is dead after he was seen engulfed in flames on a Phoenix street Saturday morning. The man's car was also on fire when police responded to the scene, and authorities want to know what happened.

Phoenix police and fire officials responded to a call about 10:30 a.m. Saturday regarding a man on fire near 2800 South 7th Avenue. The man was still alive when authorities arrived on the scene and found him aflame outside of his vehicle.

The victim was taken to the Maricopa County Burn Unit where he died several hours later.

A Utah Highway Patrol trooper is under investigation after a video showed him punching a woman several times during a traffic stop, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Public Safety said.

A dashboard camera captured footage of Sgt. Andrew Davenport punching 53-year-old Darla Wright in August.


Davenport is on paid administrative leave, said Brian Hyer, spokesman for the Utah Department of Public Safety.

Wright was speeding in Ogden when officers tried to pull her over, authorities said late Saturday. According to an incident report, the driver evaded police, and a chase ensued. Authorities stopped the woman by trapping her car between two vehicles.

"The suspect was still trying to escape, she had the accelerator floored and engine revving in an attempt to push our vehicles out of the way," Davenport wrote in an incident report.

To the people of the United States of America:

For those of you who are reading this and do not know me. Let me introduce myself, my name is Cherri Foytlin, I am a mother of 6, and a wife to one devoted husband. We live in the Gulf of Mexico, and my husband is an offshore oil worker who has been home for 8 months now, due to the moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf. We are still not working, I am sad to report, and yet the over a billion dollars sent to Mexico and South America to drill in the Gulf by our country, and the money China has invested in Cuba to drill, is in preparation, if not full operations.

But the bypassing of the American worker is not why I have written this, nor is the continuing impact of an oil catastrophe you are being told is over. While fresh and weathered oil, and dead wildlife, invade our shores daily; and our countrymen are battling illness from the effects; and our fishermen and citizens try to seek justice from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility that has been so incompetent in addressing their needs; and our waters and marshes wither and die; I come to you today to talk about life - yours and mine.

The American Dream, for some, began with those who came here to escape nightmares in their homelands. Some, found their nightmares here. Our forefathers are an odd mix: they were here before - living righteously on the earth, they came by boat and over mountains in search of a voice for their children, they came in chains that they broke themselves over years of steady pressure on the link. Whatever the background of our genes, you are the children of survivors, and they are in us all.

At least 31 people have been killed by a terrorist explosion at Moscow's busiest Airport, Domodedovo. Around one hundred and thirty others have been hurt by the blast in the luggage collection area of the international arrivals hall. Police say one, or several suicide bombers could be to blame.

Experts say the explosion, which killed at least 35, will likely be traced to Russia's volatile north Caucasus region, where political murders, bombings, and kidnappings occur almost daily.

A huge blast, reportedly triggered by a suicide bomber, hit Moscow's busiest airport Monday afternoon, killing at least 35 people and injuring over 130.

The bomb, which Russian news agencies said was equivalent to seven kilograms (15.4 pounds) of TNT, went off just after 3 p.m. in the crowded arrivals area of Domodedovo airport. Domodedovo is used as a Russia gateway by British Airways, Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific, El Al, and many airlines of former Soviet countries.

The domestic section of Domodedovo is the main arrival point for flights from Russia's troubled southern regions, including the north Cacasus.

Wealthy travelers routinely bypass the TSA by flying on private jets. How long until al-Qaeda does the same?

Teterboro Airport, situated in the New Jersey Meadowlands, a short distance from the Lincoln Tunnel, is the LAX of the American plutocracy. It is an airport given over entirely to "general" aviation - general being a euphemism for "private." There are many different types of "general aviation" aircraft. A majority are very small, four- or six-seat propeller planes. A minority are much larger corporate jets of the sort found in great numbers on the Teterboro tarmac.

I do not ordinarily have access to corporate-aviation flights, but a few of my friends do, and I feel very warmly toward these friends when they ask me to join them aboard their planes, which is not often enough. Such an invitation came recently while I was in New York City for an appearance on The Colbert Report, during which I discussed our country's ludicrous aviation-security system. A friend let me know he was flying back to Washington that night on a private plane. Count me in, I said.

An explosion ripped through the international arrivals hall at Moscow's busiest airport on Monday, killing 31 people and wounding about 130, officials said. The Russian president called it a terror attack.

The state RIA Novosti news agency, citing law enforcement sources, said the mid-afternoon explosion at Domodedovo Airport may have been caused by a suicide bomber.