Obama in Orlando to console grieving families

1465744947-5097
President Barack Obama arrived in Orlando, where he will console loved ones devastated by a shooting rampage that has fueled America's culture wars and a fresh push for gun controls.
Air Force One touched down shortly before 1:00 p.m. (1700 GMT) in Florida, where Obama will call for national unity and meet families whose lives have been ripped apart by a tragedy of national proportions.
The massacre of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub last Sunday was the deadliest mass shooting in the history of a country that is depressingly familiar with such events. Another 53 people were wounded.
"This will be, I think, an emotional trip," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
In a rare symbolic show of bipartisanship, Obama arrived with Republican one-time presidential hopeful Marco Rubio and was greeted on the tarmac by Republican Florida governor Rick Scott and Vice President Joe Biden.
Obama and Biden are slated to meet emergency medical crews and hospital staff who laboured to save lives in the chaotic hours after the massacre by gunman Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old Muslim American of Afghan descent.
Mateen was killed in a police raid, but his motivation and how he came to possess an special forces assault rifle remain deeply contentious.
Mateen pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State group in a 911 call during the attack.
The IS group then claimed responsibility for the shooting, and FBI agents believe that Mateen was radicalised by following extremist propaganda online.
That has prompted Republicans to call for tougher counterterrorism measures and for the Obama administration to do more to fight the Islamic State group.
The White House says coalition forces and allies are making gains against the group's strongholds in Syria, Iraq and Libya.
But Republican arguments were given credence by Obama's own CIA director John Brennan, who warned the group retains the ability to conduct attacks around the world.
"Unfortunately, despite all our progress against ISIL on the battlefield and in the financial realm, our efforts have not reduced the group's terrorism capability and global reach," he told senior US lawmakers. Read More

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Flipkart-ebay deal and the high stake battle with Amazon

Image
Flipkart has been and will continue to make acquisitions to increase scale India's top e-commerce firm   Flipkart   has raised $1.4 billion in its biggest fundraising to date as it takes on US tech giant   Amazon.com   Inc for a larger share of the country's burgeoning online retail market. Chinese social media and entertainment firm Tencent Holdings Ltd, the world's biggest software company Microsoft Corp and online marketplace eBay Inc participated in the funding round, Flipkart said in a statement on Monday, which will value the Indian company at $11.6 billion. That is lower than the $15 billion valuation achieved at its last fundraising in 2015, reflecting how competition has intensified in the e-commerce sector as companies vie for a slice of the world's fastest-growing internet services market. Amazon last year said it would invest over $5 billion in India, and has recently expanded into online video and grocery shopping, seeking to expand aggressively
Read more

Amazon now has customers in 100% serviceable pin-codes in India: Jeff Bezos

Image
If things fall in place, then a deal with a major offline retailer might happen by the end of this year, according to a source Amazon might be the most visited shopping site in India, but for Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of the technology giant, it is still Day 1 in what may be the second-most important market for the firm outside the US. Bezos, in a letter to customers, said that Amazon now has customers in 100 per cent serviceable pin-codes in the country and is shipping packages from more than 50 fulfillment locations in 13 states. From talking about how Alexa plays devotional songs in local Indian languages to Amazon India working closely with communities in rural areas, Bezos said that the online marketplace has now become part of the country's culture and has adapted all its services and offerings accordingly. Stressing that Amazon India has captured the top spot for the last two years, Bezos pointed out that Amazon is the most visited site in the cou
Read more

Hypertension drug recall by USFDA shot in the arm for some drug majors

Image
The recall was due to an impurity (N-Nitrosodimethylamine or NDMA) which was found in the recalled products that include valsartan and its combinations   The recent recall of a common  hypertension drug  in the US due to contamination with a carcinogen has opened up short-term opportunities for a handful of Indian players. The issue with sartan (hypertension drug) began around July, when the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) notified health care professionals of a voluntary recall of several drug products containing the active ingredient valsartan. Valsartan is used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure. The recall was due to an impurity (N-Nitrosodimethylamine or NDMA) which was found in the recalled products that include valsartan and its combinations. According to the USFDA’s list of products under recall, four companies - Teva, Prinston, Torrent, and Hetero - have recalled products containing the valsartan active ingredient. The USFDA also place
Read more