Gunman holding firefighters killed; 4 hostages OK

An EMT works in the back of an ambulance as it leaves an Suwanee, Ga., subdivision after an explosion and gunshots were heard near the scene where a man was holding four firefighters hostage Wednesday, April 10, 2013. A police spokesman said the suspect was dead and none of the hostages suffered serious injuries. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

An EMT works in the back of an ambulance as it leaves an Suwanee, Ga., subdivision after an explosion and gunshots were heard near the scene where a man was holding four firefighters hostage Wednesday, April 10, 2013. A police spokesman said the suspect was dead and none of the hostages suffered serious injuries. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

A police officer runs after an explosion and gunshots were heard near the scene where a man was holding four firefighters hostage Wednesday, April 10, 2013 in Suwanee, Ga. A police spokesman said the suspect was dead and none of the hostages suffered serious injuries. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

A group of people huddle together after an explosion and gunshots were heard near the scene where a man was holding four firefighters hostage Wednesday, April 10, 2013 in Suwanee, Ga. A police spokesman said the suspect was dead and none of the hostages suffered serious injuries. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

A police officer clears a path for an ambulance after an explosion and gunshots were heard near the scene where a man was holding four firefighters hostage Wednesday, April 10, 2013 in Suwanee, Ga. A police spokesman said the suspect was dead and none of the hostages suffered serious injuries. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

A police officer leaves the scene after an explosion and gunshots were heard near the scene where a man was holding four firefighters hostage Wednesday, April 10, 2013 in Suwanee, Ga. A police spokesman said the suspect was dead and none of the hostage suffered serious injuries. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

SUWANEE, Ga. (AP) ? A gunman who was having financial problems held four firefighters for hours in a suburban Atlanta home, demanding his cable and power be turned back on, before being shot dead when SWAT members stormed the house, authorities said Wednesday. The hostages had cuts and bruises from explosions officers set off to distract the gunman before moving in, but they will be fine, a fire official said.

Minutes before the police announcement on the resolution, a huge blast could be heard a quarter-mile away from the home, shuddering through the Suwanee neighborhood, setting off car alarms.

Earlier Wednesday, five firefighters responded to what seemed like a routine medical call and were eventually taken hostage by an unidentified suspect inside the house, police said. The gunman released one of the firefighters to move a fire truck but held the other four.

Dozens of police and rescue vehicles surrounded the home and a negotiator was keeping in touch with the gunman, police said. The situation remained tense until the blast rocked the neighborhood of mostly two-story homes and well-kept lawns. Residents unable to get into their neighborhood because of the police cordon flinched and recoiled as the enormous blast went off.

Soon after the stun blast, officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect and a SWAT member was shot in the hand or arm, but should be fine, said Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Edwin Ritter. Ritter would not saw how the gunman was fatally shot, saying it was being investigated.

"The explosion you heard was used to distract the suspect, to get into the house and take care of business," Ritter said in a news conference minutes after the resolution. He said the situation had gotten to the point where authorities believed the lives of the hostages were in "immediate danger."

The gunman, who has not been identified, demanded several utilities be restored, Ritter said. According to public records, the home is in foreclosure and has been bank-owned since mid-November.

"It's an unfortunate circumstance we did not want this to end this way," Ritter said. "But with the decisions this guy was making, this was his demise."

Firefighters were able to use their radios to let the dispatch center know what was going on, said Fire Capt. Tommy Rutledge said, and Ritter said officials decided to "get control of the situation" and do it swiftly.

Rutledge said the medical call seemed routine and firefighters did not believe there was any danger. One engine and one ambulance responded. Ritter said authorities didn't yet know if the suspect may have faked a heart attack or some other problem to bring the firefighters to his home.

"Our firefighters responded to a call they respond to hundreds of times, and that's a medical emergency," Rutledge said.

Two ambulances could be seen leaving after the gunfire ended.

Asked what kind of weapon or weapons the suspect had, Ritter said he didn't immediately know. He said investigators were in the house where the suspect's body remained.

---

Lucas reported from Atlanta.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-10-Firefighters%20Hostage-Georgia/id-19c68b836dc14d45a419e4bee3926623

kowloon walled city ronda rousey vs miesha tate lindsay lohan snl lindsay lohan on snl real housewives of disney awakenings phantom of the opera

Pakistan test-fires nuclear-capable missile that could hit deep within India

Pakistan said Wednesday that it had successfully fired a nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

By John Newland and Fakhar Rehman, NBC News

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan ? Pakistan raised its nuclear ante Wednesday by saying it had conducted a successful test of an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead almost 600 miles, far enough to strike deep within India, its nuclear-armed neighbor.

The Shaheen-1 missile struck its intended target at sea, according to a statement from the Pakistani military.

The missile incorporates a series of technical improvements and has a longer range than its predecessors, the statement said.

Pakistan has an arsenal of at least 90 nuclear warheads and has been quickly increasing the range of its missiles, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.?

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists says Pakistan has the world's fastest-growing nuclear stockpile.

Meanwhile, India has an estimated 100 nuclear weapons, according to the Arms Control Association, and tensions between the next-door neighbors, which have historically been high, have risen lately with a conflict over the disputed Kashmir territory.

In August 2012, Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna hinted at Pakistan when he mentioned ?rampant proliferation in our extended neighborhood? during a speech in New Delhi.

Str / AFP - Getty Images

Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.

?Nuclear weapons today are an integral part of our national security and will remain so,? Krishna said.

Pakistan, whose foreign ministry has said?the country "is mindful of the need to avoid an arms race with India,? said Wednesday that the Shaheen-1 can accurately hit a target up to 560 miles away, compared with 430 miles for the previous version.

Senior military officers, along with scientists and engineers from the National Engineering and Scientific Commission, watched the launch, the government said.

Among those on hand was retired Lt. Gen. Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, director general of the country?s Strategic Plans Division, who was quoted by the government as saying the new version of the missile had ?consolidated and strengthened Pakistan?s deterrence abilities manifold.?

Related:

Giving voice to Pakistan's 'voiceless': Housewife becomes first female candidate in tribal region

Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani teen shot by Taliban, back at school -- in UK

?

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653387/s/2a8d60b9/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A40C10A0C176850A30A0Epakistan0Etest0Efires0Enuclear0Ecapable0Emissile0Ethat0Ecould0Ehit0Edeep0Ewithin0Eindia0Dlite/story01.htm

homeland Miss America 2013 Aaron Swartz Java Gangster Squad school shooting oscar nominations

'North Pond Hermit' nabbed by Maine police

ROME, Maine (AP) ? A man who lived like a hermit for decades in a makeshift camp in the woods and may be responsible for more than 1,000 burglaries for food and other staples has been caught in a surveillance trap at a camp he treated as a "Walmart," authorities said Wednesday.

Christopher Knight, 47, was arrested last week when he tripped a surveillance sensor set up by a game warden while stealing food from a camp for people with special needs in Rome, a town of about 1,000 whose population swells with the arrival of summer residents.

Authorities on Tuesday found the campsite where they believed Knight, known as the North Pond Hermit in local lore, has lived for 27 years.

Some residents say they've been aware of the hermit for years, often in connection with break-ins that have occurred. He was so well known to some summer cottage owners that they left food out for him so he wouldn't break in during the colder months, state Trooper Diane Vance said.

But others were hardly aware of the hermit living within their midst without detection since 1986.

"I was born in 1987. He was there before I was," Rome resident Melissa Witham said outside her home.

Paul Anderson, a selectman in the town about 20 miles northwest of Augusta, acknowledged local talk about a man living alone in the woods.

"I've lived in the town for 32 years, and I've never, ever met the guy," Anderson said.

Attempts to reach people who might be Knight's relatives were unsuccessful Wednesday. Officials said they had no information on whether Knight has an attorney. A message could not be left after hours for officials at the Kennebec County Jail in Augusta, where Knight was being held.

Knight's living quarters in the woods included a tent covered by tarps suspended between trees, a bed, propane cooking stoves and a battery-run radio, which he used to keep up with the news and listen to talk radio and a rock station, authorities said.

Since vanishing from his Maine home for no apparent reason and setting up camp when he was about 19, Knight sustained himself on food stolen from dozens of cottages, but his favorite target was the Pine Tree Camp, where game warden Sgt. Terry Hughes, who's been trying to nab Knight for years, set up a surveillance alarm, authorities said.

Knight was caught Tuesday as he left the camp's kitchen freezer with a backpack full of food, they said.

"He used us like his local Walmart," said Harvey Chesley, the camp's facilities manager.

Ron Churchill, owner of Bear Spring Camps in Rome, said employees who maintain his camp's lakeside cabins have seen the man thought to be the hermit in the past. Churchill said his business has lost propane containers to thefts, the latest of which were discovered Wednesday.

"I did an inventory this morning, and we're missing two," Churchill said.

Despite Maine's harsh winters, during which temperatures sometimes struggle to get above 10 degrees for a week at a time, Knight stayed at his encampment and avoided making campfires so he wouldn't be detected, and he used propane only for cooking, Hughes said. To stay warm, he would bundle himself in multiple sleeping bags, authorities said.

When arrested, Knight was clean-shaven and his hair was cut short, in contrast to the iconic hermit with a shaggy beard and long hair. He was still using his aviator-style eyeglasses from the 1980s.

"When we went to the site where he has been living, it only took a few minutes looking around and making observations such as ropes that were imbedded in the trees that had grown around them that he used to hold his tarps up, shoes that were under rocks that had been there for years, there was enough indication to me ... that he had been there for a lot of years," said Hughes.

During questioning after his arrest, Knight said that the last verbal contact he had with another person was during the 1990s, Vance said.

"He passed somebody on a trail and just exchanged a common greeting of hello and that was the only conversation or human contact he's had since he went into the woods in 1986," Vance said.

The trooper said that the case of the North Pond hermit sometimes seemed a "myth" that might go unsolved and bringing it to a conclusion is "amazing."

"I think it's still sinking in," Vance said. "I don't think I will ever be involved in such an incident or case it this magnitude."

Knight had been charged only with the Pine Tree Camp burglary, in which $238 worth of goods were taken, and was being held at the jail on $5,000 bail on burglary and theft charges.

Knight had attended a high school in Fairfield, about 20 miles away.

Why he decided to disappear in the woods remained a question on Wednesday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/maine-hermit-living-wild-27-years-arrested-163447480.html

Barbara Palvin Yahoo Fantasy Football Nick Foles Auguste Rodin Breaking Amish Indianapolis explosion jay cutler

Texas college student wounds 14 in stabbing spree

By Anna Driver and Andrea Lorenz

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A community college student who said he had fantasized since childhood about stabbing people to death went on a slashing spree at his Houston campus on Tuesday, wounding at least 14 people, two of them critically, before bystanders subdued him, police said.

The suspect, identified as Lone Star College student Dylan Quick, 20, was charged with three counts of aggravated assault stemming from the rampage, carried out with a weapon described by the Harris County Sheriff's Department as a "razor-type knife."

Eyewitness accounts cited in local media reports on the attack said the weapon appeared to be a box-cutter or "exacto" knife.

The campus, part of a Houston-area community college network, was placed on a security lockdown and closed for the remainder of the day.

The northwest Houston campus where the attack occurred has about 20,000 students.

According to a sheriff's department statement issued Tuesday night, Quick told investigators who questioned him that he had harbored fantasies of stabbing people to death since he was in elementary school, and that he had planned the attack for some time.

Fragments of the blade used in the assault were found in at least one of the victims, and additional broken blade pieces were recovered from "the area where the cutting occurred," the sheriff's office said. The weapon's handle was found in Quick's backpack when he was taken into custody, the sheriff's office said.

The suspect appeared to have acted alone, Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia said.

Of the 14 people known to have been injured, two were listed in critical condition, four in fair condition and eight others had minor injuries, Garcia said.

Garcia said that students and faculty in the vicinity quickly responded to subdue the suspect.

Michael Chalfan, a student at the college, said he saw police shooting the suspect with a stun gun. Chalfan said he was in a drama class with Quick about a year ago and described him as an eccentric student who carried a stuffed pet monkey around campus and regularly wore workout gloves.

"He dresses weird," Chalfan told reporters.

Rand Key, chief operating officer of the college system, said the campus would reopen on Wednesday.

In January, at another campus of Lone Star College in the Houston area, three people were shot.

The Lone Star College System has six colleges and several smaller centers in the Houston area, with a total of about 90,000 students.

The Tuesday incident was the latest in a series of attacks at schools across the country during the past year.

The most deadly of those, a shooting rampage in Newtown, Connecticut, last December, left 26 people dead, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

In Taft, California, in January, a student armed with a shotgun opened fire at a high school, critically wounding a fellow student before two adult staff members talked the boy into giving up his weapon, and he was arrested.

The attacks have prompted calls for tighter security at the nation's schools and a drive for tighter gun control laws.

(Writing by Steve Gorman and Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Andrew Hay, Gunna Dickson, Greg McCune, Bernard Orr and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-college-student-wounds-14-stabbing-spree-040724482.html

powerball winner powerball winner Zig Ziglar lunar eclipse alabama football florida lotto sean taylor

Video: Shedding light on a gene mutation that causes signs of premature aging

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Research from Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute sheds new light on a gene called ATRX and its function in the brain and pituitary. Children born with ATRX syndrome have cognitive defects and developmental abnormalities. ATRX mutations have also been linked to brain tumors. Dr. Nathalie B?rub?, PhD, and her colleagues found mice developed without the ATRX gene had problems in in the forebrain, the part of the brain associated with learning and memory, and in the anterior pituitary which has a direct effect on body growth and metabolism. The mice, unexpectedly, also displayed shortened lifespan, cataracts, heart enlargement, reduced bone density, hypoglycemia; in short, many of the symptoms associated with aging. The research is published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Ashley Watson, a PhD candidate working in the B?rub? lab and the first author on the paper, discovered the loss of ATRX caused DNA damage especially at the ends of chromosomes which are called telomeres. She investigated further and discovered the damage is due to problems during DNA replication, which is required before the onset of cell division. Basically, the ATRX protein was needed to help replicate the telomere.

Working with Frank Beier of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, the researchers made another discovery. "Mice that developed without ATRX were small at birth and failed to thrive, and when we looked at the skeleton of these mice, we found very low bone mineralization. This is another feature found in mouse models of premature aging," says B?rub?, an associate professor in the Departments of Biochemistry and Paediatrics at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, and a scientist in the Molecular Genetics Program at the Children's Health Research Institute within Lawson. "We found the loss of ATRX increases DNA damage locally in the forebrain and anterior pituitary, resulting in systemic defects similar to those seen in aging."

The researchers say the lack of ATRX in the anterior pituitary caused problems with the thyroid, resulting in low levels of a hormone called insulin-like growth factor-one (IGF-1) in the blood. There are theories that low IGF-1 can deplete stores of stem cells in the body, and B?rub? says that's one of the explanations for the premature aging. This research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

###

University of Western Ontario: http://www.uwo.ca

Thanks to University of Western Ontario for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 40 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127648/Video__Shedding_light_on_a_gene_mutation_that_causes_signs_of_premature_aging

tu pac hologram shuttle pippa middleton space shuttle discovery spacex tupac hologram tupac back

Student debt is housing's $1 trillion challenge

Diana Olick , CNBC.com ? ? ? 54 min.

Isaac and Stephanie Adams live in Richmond, Va., and are expecting a baby in June. Last year they decided to buy a house. With home prices and mortgage rates both at historic lows, it seemed the perfect time. Unfortunately, student loans stood in their way.

"We were looking at the market going, 'Oh my gosh, the market is awesome right now. We can get some great house that our payments will be, our loan will be great to set us up financially well for our growing family, and we just weren't able to do it, take advantage of that,'" Stephanie said.

Between the two of them, the Adams' student loan debt tops $100,000. They pay $1,100 a month for the loans, and that, coupled with the fact that Isaac was working a contract job, was enough to disqualify them from getting a mortgage.

Read More: How the Student Loan Crisis Drags Down Home Prices

Their story is getting ever more common. Total student loan balances nearly tripled between 2004 and 2012, according to a new survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Now $1 trillion in collective student loan debt is directly affecting the housing recovery.

"Short term, you see a decrease in the number of first-time home buyers," said Brian Coester of Coester Valuation Management. "You're going to see somebody who would have been able to afford a more expensive house maybe go for the lower version or the downgraded version."

First-time home buyers usually make up over 40 percent of the home buying population, but their share has hovered at or below 30 percent during this recovery, according to the National Association of Realtors. The student debt burden has forced many potential buyers to rent or to move back in with their parents.

"Without the student loan debt, a year and a half, two years earlier would have been the time I could have afforded to buy a house, and probably something a little bit bigger," Sophia Chaale said.

Chaale is facing $60,000 in student loans from graduate and undergraduate schools. She is paying $320 a month on a 30-year loan. Only after living at home for two years was she able to apply for a mortgage and put a down payment on a home. She is scheduled to close at the end of April.

"I consider myself lucky that I had a place where I could save, but what about other people who aren't originally from this area, who have to pay an extra $1500 a month in rent, and that rent money is not going to savings. How are they going to be able to save up or even to make that transition from renting to owning, in addition to all the student loan debt?" Chaale wondered.

The answer is that many won't. Adding to the burden is the fact that one-third of student loan borrowers are delinquent on their debts, according to the Federal Reserve report. That directly affects their credit rating and, in today's strict credit environment, will keep them out of the mortgage market for years to come.

"Long term it's going to really affect especially the upper end, because people aren't going to have the excess income to buy the jumbo property or buy that high end property," said Coester. "It' s going to affect home prices as a negative, as more of a cap, because it's really debt that they are servicing."

TheAdams had to delay their home purchase for a year, while they reorganized their student loan debt and while Isaac found permanent employment. They now have a contract on a house, but they feel like they got in just under the wire, as home prices are suddenly moving up rapidly.

"As long as this house closes, I don't think we missed out," said Isaac. "Rates are still fairly low, but I do believe as this year progresses, things will change."

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653351/s/2a7a1eb1/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Ceconomywatch0Cstudent0Edebt0Ehousings0E10Etrillion0Echallenge0E1C92550A81/story01.htm

Rob Ryan bethenny frankel sacramento kings alex jones Google Docs Huell Howser Justin Bieber Smoking Weed

Walt Disney Co. says actress Annette Funicello has died at age 70

Nobody loves posing for ridiculous photos more than Russia's president, but it's this completely spontaneous image that is sure to be keeper in his iconic collection.?Vladimir?Putin is in Germany today, where he was greeted by the usual gang of topless protesters?that seem to be following him around lately. One in particular, got pretty close to Putin and his host, German Chancellor Angel Merkel, but the man was unfazed. As usual.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/walt-disney-co-says-actress-annette-funicello-died-172005837.html

Restaurants Open on Christmas Day jessica simpson santa tracker happy holidays Stores Open On Christmas Day Santa Claus Feliz Navidad