Category: news

A massive fire in Bangladesh that raged through a six-storey building home to restaurants where many families with children were dining has killed at least 46 people and injured dozens, the health minister said on Friday.

Fire authorities said a gas leak or a stove could have caused blaze in the capital, which spread quickly after breaking out in a biryani restaurant, and was only brought under control following two hours of effort by 13 units of firefighters.

Hospitals were treating 22 people with burns, Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen told reporters.

“All 22 people … are in critical condition,” Sen, himself a well-known physician, said after a visit to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. “We are trying our best to save their lives.”

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed shock and sorrow at the incident, ordering swift treatment for the injured.

She urged adherence to construction rules and regulations, including requirements for essential safety features such as fire exits and ventilation systems to prevent such tragedies in the future.

One survivor, Mohammad Altaf, recounted his narrow escape from the blaze that killed two colleagues.

“I went to the kitchen, broke a window and jumped to save myself,” he told reporters, adding that a cashier and server who urged people to leave during the first moments had died later.

Firefighters used cranes to rescue people from the charred building, said fire officials, who were still working to clear debris and douse any remaining embers.

Relatives gathered at the hospital early on Friday to receive the bodies of the dead, with some mourning outside the emergency department.

“I could not save my daughter,” wailed Abdul Quddus, the father of Nimu, whose relatives said she was among a group of five cousins and friends who all died in the fire.

Also killed, along with his wife, two daughters and a son, was Syed Mubarak Hossain Kauchar, whose family was celebrating plans to emigrate to Italy on March 18 after their visas came through, a relative said.

“Finally the dream was going to be fulfilled,” said his cousin, Atiqur Rahman. “To celebrate, they came to a restaurant but all died.”

Doctors said most of the dead were killed by suffocation with others dying as they jumped off the building, which also houses some clothing and mobile telephone shops.

Smoke billowed from the side of the building in video images filmed by a witness

The fire could have originated from a gas leak or stove, said Brigadier General Main Uddin, a top fire service official.

“It was a dangerous building with gas cylinders on every floor, even on the stairs,” he told Reuters, adding that it had a single staircase, lacking ventilation, an emergency exit and other safety features.

“The cause of the fire is being investigated. We have taken notes of eyewitnesses. They said there was a small shop on the ground from where the gas cylinder exploded and the fire spread from there,” he said.

The government has set up a five-member panel to investigate the incident.

The main opposition party blamed the government for the fire.

“Accidents and disasters keep happening as there is no rule of law,” Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the secretary general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said in a statement.

“The government is not accountable to the people and that’s why anarchy prevails, many accidents occur and people lose their lives.”

Intense scrutiny of Bangladesh and the major global clothing retailers that manufacture there has helped prevent disasters in the garment sector since a fire in 2012 and a building collapse in 2013 together killed more than 1,200 workers.

But in other industries, mainly catering to the booming domestic economy and lacking equal emphasis on safety, hundreds of people have died in fires.

Fires are common in densely populated Dhaka, where many new buildings have sprung up, many lacking adequate safety measures. Fires and explosions have resulted from faulty gas cylinders, air conditioners and poor electrical wiring.

In July 2021, many children were among the 54 people killed at a food processing factory outside Dhaka, while at least 70 people were killed in a February 2019 fire that engulfed a centuries-old precinct.

An Ohio man who identifies as an “Incel” and wanted to conduct a mass shooting of women at a university was sentenced to 80 months in prison.

Tres Genco, 24, admitted he plotted to commit a hate crime by shooting women at a university in Ohio. Federal agents arrested him in 2021 and has remained in custody ever since.

“Genco intended to carry out a devastating mass murder of innocent women in this state for no other reason than the fact that he hated them. Everybody deserves to live without threats of violence or fearing acts of terror,” said U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker. “Genco’s sentence reflects the need to protect the community from him for a significant period of time. I thank each of our law enforcement partners for working together to keep our community safe.”

Genco identified as an Incel or “involuntary celibate.” The Incel movement is mostly an online male community that harbors anger toward women, fueled by their inability to convince women to have sex with them.

Court documents say Genco maintained profiles on a popular Incel website from July 2019 to March 2020 and posted more than 450 times on the site.

In one post, Genco wrote about spraying “some foids and couples” with orange juice in a water gun. Foids is an incel term that is short for “femoids,” referring to women. Genco compared his conduct to Elliot Rodger, the man who killed six people and injured 14 others outside of a sorority house in California in May 2014. Prior to Rodger’s attack, he shot a group of college students with orange juice from a water gun.

Genco wrote a manifesto stating he would “slaughter” women “out of hatred, jealousy and revenge” referring to death as the “great equalizer.”

The investigation revealed, on the same day he wrote the manifesto, that Genco searched for two sorotities, including one at Ohio State. His Google searches included “sorority osu” and “ohio state university sororities.”

In 2019, Genco purchased tactical gloves, a bulletproof vest, a hoodie bearing the word “Revenge,” cargo pants, a bowie knife, a skull facemask and two Glock 17 magazines, a 9 mm Glock 17 clip and a holster clip concealed for a Glock.

During the investigation, law enforcement agents found a note of Genco’s that indicated he wanted to kill as many as 3,000 people and attend military training.

Genco attended basic training for the Army in Georgia from August through December 2019. He was discharged for entry-level performance and conduct.

In January 2020, the DOJ said Genco wrote a document titled “isolated” which he described as “the writings of the deluded and homicidal.” Genco signed the document, “Your hopeful friend and murderer.”

On March 11, 2020, Genco screenshotted information on his phone about radio codes for Columbus police and Ohio State University police. He also accessed the Facebook pages for one of the university’s sororities.

The next day, authorities responded to Genco’s residence. Police officers found a firearm with a bump stock attached, several loaded magazines, body armor and boxes of ammunition in the trunk of his car. Inside the home, officers found a modified Glock-style 9 mm semiautomatic pistol, with no manufacturer marks or serial number, hidden in a heating vent.

As part of Genco’s plea deal, he admitted he possessed both firearms in  furtherance of his plot.

Genco pleaded guilty in October 2022 to one count of attempting to commit a hate crime.

A Tennessee school bus driver was killed in a wrong-way crash after an 18-year-old man allegedly drove his pickup truck into the wrong lane, hitting the bus head-on, police said.

According to WJHL, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said that bus driver Aleita Gladson, 55, of Rogersville, Tenn., was driving on Highway 70 in Hawkins County around 7:30 a.m. on the morning when the man allegedly drove his 2005 Chevy Silverado in front of the bus, killing the 55-year-old.

Footage from WJHL shows that both vehicles were crumpled by the crash.

The 18-year-old, whose name has not been released, was also injured in the crash and charges are pending, according to the CBS affiliate station WVLT.

The Hawkins County Rescue Squad extricated one person from the crash site and airlifted them from the scene near Willow Road in northern Tennessee, ABC affiliate WAVE reported.

Hawkins County Schools director Matt Hixson first announced Gladson’s death in a statement, and confirmed that two students on the bus also received medical treatment for their minor injuries, according to the News Tribune.

“Aleita was a longtime and valued Hawkins County Schools team member, as a bus driver, as a secretary and as assistant director within our Transportation Department,” Hixson told the publication in a statement. “Our prayers go out to her family, and we would ask that all those within our Hawkins County community keep Aleita’s family in your prayers as well.”

Many members of the community — where Gladson attended high school before beginning work as a bus driver — posted tributes on social media after her death, the Tribune reported.

“Hawkins County lost a wonderful woman, the part of the bus system that made it run smoothly and a vital part of the lives of the kids she encountered this morning,” one community member wrote in a Facebook post.

With an average retirement balance of just $202,000, baby boomers could find themselves pinched for retirement income, according to a new survey from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies. Using the 4% rule for retirement withdrawals, that balance would produce $8,080 in taxable annual withdrawals, or about $670 a month.

With inflation at 8.5% as of the end of July, that kind of money may not stretch very far for retirees. But there’s a counterintuitive trick in which just $6,000 can help retires preserve $150,000. Here’s how it works.

Adding a part-time job of just 13 hours a week at the current federal minimum wage (with a four weeks off per year) would allow a retiree to bring in $125 a week, or $6,000 year. If that doesn’t sound like much, do the math and divide by 4%. That’s right – the added $6,000 of annual income equals a 4% withdrawal from $150,000 of invested assets.

The result is that just a few hours of not particularly high-paying work would mean that a retiree with $202,000 in investments could live like someone with a $352,000 portfolio – the equivalent of a 74% increase in his retirement nest egg.

That could be a big relief for boomers making their retirement plans. The Transamerica survey found that 34% of boomers reported that their finances took a hit during the pandemic, and 36% said that building up their emergency savings is their financial priority now. The median emergency fund among boomers was $10,000, the report found. Typically, financial experts recommend keeping at least three months’ worth of living expenses on hand, although a six- to eight-month cash cushion is better.

The baby boom generation totals 71.6 million men and women born between 1946 and 1964. The oldest boomers hit their full retirement age in 2012, while the youngest workers in the cohort won’t reach their full retirement age of 67 until 2031.

Boomers also face concerns about health care risk and longevity risk. The latest Fidelity Retiree Health Care Cost Estimate finds that the average 65-year-old retired couple today could need $315,000 – after taxes – to cover just their healthcare expenses during a retirement of about 20 years. Improving healthcare means that retirees can expect to live longer, too, adding more financial pressure to make sure they don’t outlive their retirement savings. Today’s workers expect to live a median of 88 years, the survey found, but 9% of baby boomers said they expect to make to 100 years old.

The idea of working in retirement is already well-established with boomers, with 47% telling the survey that they plan to work in retirement. Earning extra income also is likely to be a priority for the 34% of the post-war generation who reported that they expect Social Security to be their primary source of retirement income.

With a tight labor market – unemployment was a mere 3.6% during July – retirees looking to pick up a job should find employers waiting with open arms. Employers are much more open to hiring older workers than in the past, and an increasing number of large companies are creating “returnships” for older workers who want to transition to a new field or type of job. And unretiring — where retires decide to reenter the workforce after a year — is a notable trend, with about 3.2% of retirees doing so in 2022, according to the job placement site Indeed.

Bottom line

Returning to the workforce, even part time, can pay off in a big way for retirees. Retirees are ill-prepared to sustain their nest-egg for a lengthy retirement, but adding a part-time job of just 13 hours a week at the current federal minimum wage (with a four weeks off per year) would earn them $6,000 annually. And that’s not something to sneeze at: added $6,000 of annual income equals a 4% withdrawal from $150,000 of invested assets, which the retiree is able to protect and preserve.

Tips for Retirees

A financial advisor can help you find creative ways to enjoy your retirement and potentially even reduce the amount of money you draw down from your nest egg each year. Finding a qualified financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three financial advisors who serve your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.

Use SmartAsset’s free retirement calculator to get a good first estimate of how much money you’ll need to retire.

A subway conductor was taken to a hospital after being slashed in the neck in an apparently random Brooklyn attack today, the latest in a series of violent incidents plaguing the transit system in recent weeks, authorities say.

Police swarmed the Rockaway Avenue subway station, on the C line, after getting a 911 call about the 3:40 a.m. attack. Investigators say he was on the job at the time, performing his duties on a southbound C train. He stuck his head out of the conductor’s cab, and got slashed by an unknown individual, authorities say.

The slasher ran off.

The conductor was treated for his injuries at the hospital and later released. No arrests have been made. Anyone with information on the attack is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.

The slashing comes on the heels of new orange stanchions debuted this week to protect the front cabs amid a spike in violence that has seen three homicides in recent weeks. Over the weekend, a woman was followed off a train by a man police say tried to rape her in the subway station. He’s still on the loose.

MTA officials, who have condemned the violence, are expected to hold a news briefing on the latest incident later Thursday. Earlier, they couldn’t say whether a severe slowdown on the A and C lines over train crew availability was related.

Recent NYPD data paints a concerning picture, with 2023 seeing the highest number of subway assaults since at least 1996. Over that year, there were 570 assaults, marking a slight increase from the previous year and averaging about 1.5 incidents daily.

But NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper said “progress” is being made. An infusion of 1,000 more officers into the subway system — done in a direct response to a January crime spike — led to a 17% reduction in crime in February (though for the year, it’s still up 13% compared to 2023), Kemper said.

He went on to call the high-profile killings “isolated incidents.”

Many people think that early retirement from work creates a state of boredom, routine, and perhaps depression, but what many do not know is that many advantages can be obtained and benefited from early retirement from work, and these are the most prominent advantages from the point of view of people who retired from work at the age of forty or fifty. .

Advantages of early retirement from work

1-Looking forward to starting the week

All employees look forward to the end of the week to enjoy a day off and rest, but those who worked for a long time and retired early from work will not look forward to the end of the week, but rather to its beginning, as the beginning of the week means starting a new week of fun, activity, and vitality, going to the gym, and not facing the problems that accumulate in the workplace. In the middle of the week, time can be organized according to the person’s desire and not according to the work conditions imposed on him.

2-The person realizes the extent of pressure and tension and gets rid of them

The person does not realize the amount of tension and pressure that he suffers from throughout his work period. He has become accustomed to it, but when he retires, he sees the picture more clearly, and sees the amount of pressure that he has always endured, but the early retirement reward should be worth taking this step, so that the person does not replace the pressure Working with another type of pressure is physical pressure

3-The person feels free

Many people plan to obtain early retirement not only for the money, but in order to establish their own business and work in it according to their own principles, rules, conditions and arrangements. Private work includes freedom and comfort at the same time.

4-Health improvement

One of the most important advantages of early retirement is the improvement of a person’s health, as a person neglects his health due to his involvement in the whirlpool of work, home, and family, and his health becomes the last thing he thinks about. Therefore, when a person leaves work, he begins to pay attention to his health, exercise, lose excess weight, and get rid of oils. And cholesterol, regulating sleep and enjoying the healthy life that I have always missed.

5-Increase savings

One of the fears that a person faces before making the decision to retire early is the end of his money and savings and his inability to manage his basic needs. However, if the person plans the matter well, he will start a special project, participate in one of the successful projects, or deposit his money in a bank and increase his savings on an annual basis.

6-The person’s social life improves

Many people fear social isolation and losing friends after retirement, but this is not true, as the person becomes friendly, social, and able to attend celebrations and events more than in the past, simply because he now has time that did not exist before, and he can even form new relationships during that period. .

7-The person becomes able to take tourist tours

A person has some money to take wonderful tourist tours, and he can also choose the cheapest trips during times other than peak times, thus his life becomes more enjoyable and relaxing than before.

8-The person discovers the beauty and simplicity of things

After early retirement, a person realizes the true beauty of things, which lies in simplicity, avoiding complexity, keeping necessary items and removing other unnecessary items. The fewer items in the home, the more comfortable it is.

9- The person turns into a morning being

Before retirement, a person would spend a large part of the night completing social visits, household chores, and other things that he could not accomplish while at work, but after retirement, the person has a full day that he can plan however he wants, as he wakes up early, arranges his work schedule, and ends his day in the evening, and he will not He needs to spend most of the night finishing his backlog.

10- Fear of wasting time

There are many fears facing a person who plans to retire early. The person often thinks that he will feel guilty for taking the step of early retirement and doing other things that bring happiness to himself, but that is not true. Many people who retired early before the official retirement age are well aware of the importance of The value of time is therefore they plan how to spend this time very carefully.

At least two persons were killed after a train run over them in Jharkhand’s Jamtara district on the evening, police said. Officials explained that some passengers got off a train (from the wrong side) and were run over by another local train. The incident happened at Kalajharia railway station in Jamtara today . Kaushik Mitra, CPRO, Eastern Railway, said a three-member JAG committee has been formed to enquire about the issue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the loss of lives due to mishap in Jamtara, Jharkhand.

The Prime Minister’s Office said in a X post: “Pained by the mishap in Jamtara, Jharkhand. My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones. May the injured recover soon

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday condoled the death of victims in the Jharkhand train accident and urged the railway authorities to overhaul the systems “to prevent such mishaps”.

Taking to her social media handle on X, Banerjee wrote: “Saddened to note of yet another rail accident case involving deaths and injuries of several persons. Jamtara in Jharkhand, near our border, is the site of this latest tragedy. We express solidarity with our neighbour, express condolences for the victim families, and urge the railway authorities again to overhaul the systems for preventing such mishaps again and again.”

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge expressed grief over the loss of lives in the Jharkhand train accident and sought an ‘impartial’ investigation into the incident to hold those liable for safety violations.

Taking to his social media handle, Kharge posted on X, “The train accident that took place in Jamtara, Jharkhand, is extremely heartbreaking. The news of the loss of many lives is extremely sad. Our deepest condolences to the families of the deceased and we pray for the speedy recovery of the injured. The railways and government administrations should do immediate relief work, and Congress workers should provide all possible help,” read the post.

The Congress leader further stated in the post, “The Railway Ministry should take responsibility for this tragic accident and conduct an impartial investigation so that those responsible for safety lapses are held accountable.”

Police now know what led to the death of a man who was killed during a fight with three people while riding the subway in the Bronx.

The 45-year-old victim, identified as 45-year-old William Alvarez of the Bronx, died as a result of a gunshot wound to the chest, according to the city’s medical examiner, which determined the manner of death to be a homicide.

But questions still remain regarding the shooting death aboard the D train just before 5 a.m. Friday, such as a motive or what sparked the fight. Police have arrested three people — 24-year-old Justin Herde, 38-year-old Betty Cotto and 42-year-old Alfredo Trinidad — in connection with Alvarez’s killing.

Charges against the three were not clear, nor was the relationship between them. It didn’t appear they had any prior connection to the victim. Attorney information for the trio was not immediately available.

A senior law enforcement official said Trinidad had a gun on him when was arrested Sunday night at an apartment on Villa Avenue with his girlfriend and her brother.

According to the NYPD, Alvarez was riding the southbound D train when the trio boarded at Fordham Road. One of them sat next to Alvarez. An argument ensued.

The disagreement soon turned physical, and the other two suspects joined in to make it a three-on-one fight, according to NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper. The train pulled into the next station, the 182nd-183rd streets stop, and the three suspects ran off.

The violence was the latest in a series of subway incidents. On Feb. 12, six people were shot on the platform at the Mt. Eden Avenue subway station in the Bronx as teenagers exchanged gunfire. A 35-year-old was killed in the shooting.

Recent NYPD data paints a concerning picture, with 2023 seeing the highest number of subway assaults since at least 1996. Over that year, there were 570 assaults, marking a slight increase from the previous year and averaging about 1.5 incidents daily.

But Kemper said there is “progress” being made. An infusion of 1,000 more officers into the subway system — which was done in a direct response to a January crime spike — has led to a 17% reduction in crime in February (though for the year, still up 13% compared to 2023). He went on to call the high-profile killings “isolated incidents” but didn’t share further details.

“We are looking forward to keeping this momentum moving forward,” he said. “Out cops are out there, they are visible and are under immense pressure. They do a very challenging job.”

Kemper and transit officials pinned the blame on the same thing for fueling the rise: recidivist criminals who are repeat offenders. MTA President Richard Davey said Monday there had been seven assaults against transit workers in 2024, for which four suspects have been arrested.

Among the suspects, they have a combined 50 prior arrests.

“My plea to the justice system: Make sure appropriate justice is delivered,” said Davey. “Fifty strikes seems like a lot of godd—ed strikes.”

MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said prosecutors have rarely used a new tool available for those who attack transit workers: Banning them from using mass transit in the city.

A landscaper fell into a Cape Coral canal and was taken to the hospital in cardiac arrest in the afternoon, according to the Cape Coral Fire Department.

The man was pulled out of the water by firefighters near SW 37th Terrace off Surfside Boulevard.

The man was reportedly underwater for nearly 20 minutes, according to a family member.

NBC2 spoke to the brother of the victim, and he said an ambulance took the victim to the hospital, and they don’t know whether he will survive.

The man is a father of two.

NBC2 is at the scene and will update the story as more details become available.

A Honda Civic that ran a red light in far east El Paso crashed into a bus belonging to Clint Independent School District., foxs 14 said

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that a Honda Civic ran a red light at the intersection of Montana Ave. and Krag Street and crashed into a bus belonging to Clint Independent School District, Fox report said

According to EPCSO, the bus was transporting children, however, no injuries were reported to the children or the bus driver.

The driver of the Honda Civic was transported with minor injuries, EPCSO said.