Los Angeles airport closed after gunfire

Los Angeles International Airport was locked down Friday morning, after a man with a rifle apparently shot and wounded a security-checkpoint officer, then was himself wounded by armed officers.

The gunman was secured by law enforcement personnel around 9:30 a.m. local time,  and was reported to be in police custody.

Within an hour, the situation seemed to be under control, with no suggestion of further gunfire. A triage area outside the airport, with three coloured mats laid out for wounded people, were seeing little use.

Terminal 3 was evacuated and cordoned off, and arrival and departure roads to the airport, in addition to Century Boulevard, were closed.Outbound flights were cancelled, an airport spokesman said.

Airport officials said a police incident began about 9:30 a.m. at Terminal 3 at LAX, airport spokeswoman Nancy Suey Castles said.

Passenger Robert Perez told Press that TSA agents came through the terminal and yelled that a man had a gun.

In this aerial video frame grab provided by CBS-LA, fire and rescue personnel gather at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday. Shots were fired, prompting authorities to evacuate a terminal and stop flights headed for the city from taking off from other airports.

Aerial shots from Sky2 showed buses were transporting passengers who had disembarked from planes onto the runway area.

Passenger Robert Perez, who was getting ready to fly Virgin Air, was taking a nap in the terminal when panic erupted, he told CNN affiliate KCAL/KCBS.

"I heard a popping sound, and everybody was diving for cover," Perez told the station. "The TSA said there was a shooting in the terminal and evacuate the building."

At least 100 people came down a staircase. "Everybody started to panic," Perez said.

Fox Sports national columnist Bill Reiter was also at the airport during the gunfire. "After the initial burst of gunfire and hiding, people started jumping over one another, jumping off chairs, pushing each other. Chaos & fear," he said on his Twitter account.

The passengers were directed to board a bus and were taken to a smaller terminal, Perez told the affiliate.

Alex Neumann was at a food court, waiting to travel to Miami, when the incident unfolded. He said Terminal 2 was put into lockdown.

"People were running and people getting knocked down. There was luggage everywhere," Neumann told CNN. "Mayhem is the best I can describe it."

Several police officers moved about the airport with guns drawn, he said.

The Los Angeles Fire Department is assisting with a "multi-patient" incident at Los Angeles International Airport, the department said Friday on Twitter.

Firefighters were laying down tarps on the street at the airport, which appeared to be triage tarps. Several ambulances were at the airport, and at least one person was loaded into an ambulance.

The area around the airport was jammed with cars as police shut down access to the airport Friday morning.

President Barack Obama has been briefed on the shooting at Los Angeles International Airport and will continue to be updated, but the White House had no further information at this time on what happened, spokesman Jay Carney said Friday.

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Five killed, 20 injured 6 in serial blasts in Patna before Narendra Modi's election rally

Lakhs gather despite news of second bomb blast in Patna

PATNA, (TNP) :  Five people were killed and 66 injured in six serial bomb blasts near the venue of BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s rally in Patna on Sunday minutes before he reached there to address a huge gathering.

Hours before the multiple explosions, a crude bomb went off in a newly constructed toilet at the Patna railway station, two km from the BJP’s ‘Hunkar rally’ venue.

Five people died from blast injuries and 66 others were being treated for these injuries, according to Vimal Karak, Deputy Superintendent of Patna Medical College Hospital.

Immediatly after the blast, bomb disposal personnel came to the spot and recovered two crude bombs, Railway Superintendent of Police Upendra Kumar Sinha said. 

All the 11 trains booked by BJP for the rally had arrived much before the blast, Station Manager of Patna Junction Raju Kumar said. 

The railway station is barely two kilometers from Gandhi Maidan, venue of the 'Hoonkar rally' to be addressed by BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Modi. 

Five low intensity blasts occurred on the outer periphery of the Gandhi Maidan, Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami told in Delhi. One bomb went off before the Eliphistine cinema hall on the western side of the rally venue, police said. Tens of thousands of people had gathered at the rally venue.

Immediately after the explosion at the railway station, bomb disposal swept the area and recovered two more crude bombs, Railway Superintendent of Police Upendra Kumar Sinha said.

One security personnel was injured while defusing a bomb recovered from the toilet, he said.

People were seen rushing the injured to the hospital as the explosions sparked panic.

At the rally, plumes of smoke billowed from a couple of sites even as BJP leaders, including Mr. Modi, addressed the crowd.

The Home Ministry sought a report from the Bihar government on the explosions and has sent teams of National Investigation Agency (NIA) and National Security Guard (NSG) to the state.

“I can’t say whether it was a terror attack or political conspiracy. Only after the investigation, we will be able to tell anything,” Union Minister of State for Home R P N Singh said.

Mr. Modi later said he was saddened at the blasts. “Blasts in Patna are deeply saddening and unfortunate. Condolences with families of deceased and prayers with injured. I appeal for peace and calm,” the Gujarat Chief Minister said in a tweet.

Hours after the blasts, one live bomb was found at Gandhi maidan and it was being defused, police said. The entire maidan was also being searched thoroughly.

Krishna, an eyewitness, said the gathering was first told that the tyre of a vehicle had exploded after the first explosions went off near the rally venue.

“But it didn’t seem so. I went there to check. I knew they were bomb blasts. The sound of the blasts was too loud,” he said.

"This blast cannot stop the youth from being part of Modi's rally. There is anger among people and they want to get rid of Congress and also other parties who are standing with it," BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said. 

"Investigation should be done so as to find out who is behind it," he said. 

Former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said that the blast had put a question mark on security arrangements for such a big occasion. Sushil Kumar Modi, who was at Gandhi Maidan, said he got the information about the blast over phone from a well wisher from abroad. 

"When I checked it with the district magistrate. He was not aware of the incident," he said. Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Sabir Ali questioned why "such incidents were happening after JD(U) parted ways with BJP". 

Modi later said he was saddened at the blasts. "Blasts in Patna are deeply saddening and unfortunate. Condolences with families of deceased and prayers with injured. I appeal for peace and calm," the Gujarat chief minister said in a tweet.

Fresh rains scare Phailin-hit Orissa

Heavy rain hits life in Orissa and Andhra, toll rises to 45

Bhubaneswar - Heavy rain occurred at several places in Orissa for the second consecutive day on Sunday making life miserable for citizens.

Meanwhile, the rain toll in the state has gone up to 36. The toll is expected to rise.
The situation is expected to worsen further under the impact of a fresh low pressure in the Bay of Bengal. 

The Orrisa government on Friday ordered closure of all educational institutions in seven districts and deployed the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

The combined toll from the two waves of flood in Odisha stood at 33.

While the massive floods claimed 20 lives in Andhra Pradesh and forced the evacuation of over 68,000 people, the death toll in Odisha touched 10 and forced over 1.50 lakh people to evacuate their homes.

The met department has attributed the heavy rains to the creation of a low pressure zone over the Bay of Bengal, as an impact of Cyclone Phailin.

Due to the resultant vigorous northeast monsoon, the two states have been experiencing heavy rainfall, leading to the flood situation.

The Andhra Pradesh met office has warned of heavy rains in the state over the next two days. Further, district collectors all over the state have been asked to be on high alert and evacuate more people from low-lying areas.

This is the second wave of floods within 12 days to have hit the Odisha.

The two states are still realing from the devastation caused by Cyclone Phailin.

The local weather office has already predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall across the state during the next 48 hours.

During the last 24 hours, Krishnaprasad in coastal Khurda district had recorded the highest rainfall of 280 mm. The rainfall in Bhubaneswar, Orissa’s capital, was 84.5 mm.

Rivers in spate

Water levels in several major rivers like the Bamsadhara and Rusikulya in southern Orissa, Hati in western Orissa and Baitarani in coastal Orissa have already started to rise because of the heavy rain during the last 48 hours. 

Rain waters have already entered into towns in several districts.

Some of the heavily waterlogged towns are Bolangir in western Bolangir district, Berhampur in southern Ganjam district and Nayagarh in coastal Nayagarh district.
In Bhubaneswar, rain water has entered into different colonies, particularly on the city outskirts.

Traffic affected

Traffic has also been affected at different places in the state.

In northern India, showers drenched parts of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, adds PTI. The monsoon showed signs of gaining momentum in these states while it was subdued in the national capital and some other places in the region.

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