Texas shooting: teacher’s husband dies from heart attack

Just days after US primary school teacher Irma Garcia died during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, her husband has died of a heart attack. Irma Garcia was gunned down in her Texas classroom on Tuesday, massacred along with her co-teacher and 19 students. Two days later, family members say her broken-hearted husband died from a heart attack. Joe Garcia, 50, had dropped off flowers at his wife’s memorial on Thursday, The New York Times reported. He “pretty much just fell over” after returning home and died of a heart attack, his nephew John Martinez told the newspaper. The couple were married for 24 years and have four children. The oldest, Cristian, is serving in the Marine Corps as his brother, Jose, attends Texas State University. Their eldest daughter Lyliana is a high school sophomore, while her younger sister is a seventh grade student.

‘Congress must turn pain into action’ – Biden

“Congress must pass the law on the control of the profiles of those who want to buy weapons, ban assault rifles and machine guns,” President Biden twitted in the aftermath of the massacre in the elementary school of Uvalde. “It is time to turn this pain into action,” insisted Biden who will travel with his wife Jill on Sunday to visit the town of the massacre to meet the families of the victims.

Texas shooting: Gunman entered school ‘unobstructed,’

New information continues to come in regarding the elementary school shooting in Texas. A report from regional NBC outlet KXAS, quotes the state’s Department of Public Safety saying the gunman in the attack –identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos – entered the school “unobstructed,” meaning he did not initially come into contact with school-affiliated officers or other law enforcement personnel. As previously reported, the police’s response to the shooting at Robb Elementary has been questioned and criticised. Adding to questions surrounding the law enforcement response is a Wall Street Journal article featuring comments from parent Angeli Rose Gomez. According to Gomez, who drove to the school out of concern for her children, police “were doing nothing” when she arrived. Following several minutes of pleading with law enforcement to take action, Gomez said, she was placed in handcuffs by federal marshals. When she was released from the handcuffs, Gomez is said to have jumped the fence and made it inside, at which point she grabbed her children and “sprinted out of the school with them”.

‘Lift sanctions… and we will help overcome food crisis’ – Russia

Russia says it is prepared to make a “significant contribution” to avoid a looming food crisis, if the West lifts tough economic measures imposed on it since the invasion of Ukraine. President Putin reportedly made the comments in a phone call to Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. A Kremlin statement after the call said that Putin had emphasised Russia’s willingness to help with the flow of grain and fertilizer. However, it said, this was “subject to the lifting of politically-motivated restrictions by the West”. The Italian government said the call had been dedicated to developments in Ukraine and efforts to find a common solution to the ongoing food crisis, as well as the severe repercussions for the world’s poorest countries. “I was looking for President Putin to ask if anything could be done to unblock the wheat that is now in storage in Ukraine because the impending food crisis, which is already present in some African countries, will have enormous proportions and terrible humanitarian consequences,” Draghi explains. “Putin said it is not enough to resolve the global food crisis. He said Russia is ready to help overcome the food crisis in exchange for lifting sanctions. Both sanctions and fighting have disrupted the supplies of fertilizer, wheat, and other commodities.Together, Russia and Ukraine account for about 30% of global wheat supplies. More than 20 million tonnes of grain have been grounded at Ukraine’s Black Sea ports since Russia invaded the country more than 3 months ago. Experts say the fall in wheat and grain exports has contributed towards the growing global food crisis.

‘Biden prepares to send more powerful weapons’

The Biden administration is preparing to send more powerful weapons to Ukraine as part of a new package next week, according to CNN. In particular, these would be long-range missile systems, Multiple Launch Rocket System or MLRS, which Zelensky has been asking for for some time. The weapons, made in the United States, can fire a barrage of rockets for hundreds of kilometers, far farther than any other system already in Ukraine, and according to Kiev could be “the turning point in the war against Russia”.

Zelensky complains about EU divisions over sanctions

President Zelensky is frustrated that the European Union has struggled to reach a consensus on its latest sanctions against Russia. “How many more weeks will the European Union try to agree on a sixth package?” Zelensky asked during a late-night address. “Of course, I am grateful to those friends who are advocating new sanctions. But where do the people blocking this sixth package get their power from? Why are they allowed to hold such power?” Hungary, which is dependent on Russian oil, is holding up the sixth round of punitive sanctions against Russia. An EU-wide embargo requires unanimity from all 27 member states.

‘Donbas could become uninhabitable’

Zelenskyy was also concerned about the intense Russian assault in the Donbas region of Ukraine. “The current offensive of the occupiers in the Donbas could make the region uninhabitable,” Zelenskyy said. Fighting in the Donbas area of eastern Ukraine is now at its most intense, Kyiv said.“The enemy is storming the position of our troops simultaneously in several directions,’’ said Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar.

Earthquake hits East Timor, tsunami warning issued

An earthquake measuring 6.3 has hit the small state of East Timor, in South East Asia at a depth of 68 km. The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said a tsunami warning has been issued forthe Indian Ocean region.

Russia, China veto UN move to tighten sanctions on N. Korea

Russia and China on Thursday vetoed a US-proposed resolution in the United Nations Security Council to tighten international sanctions on North Korea in response to Pyongyang’s latest missile test. The text received the support of 13 of the 15 members of the Security Council. The US initiative was aimed at strengthening the punishment against the North Korean government, which so far this year has undertaken 17 missile tests.

11 newborn babies killed in Senegal hospital fire

Police were on guard and nearby residents and parents stood mourning outside a hospital in Dakar, Senegal, where a fire in the neonatal unit killed 11 newborns. Only three infants could be saved, President Macky Sall said before calling for three days of mourning. The fire was blamed on an electrical short circuit.

Depeche Mode’s Andy Fletcher is dead

Andy Fletcher, founding member of the British alternative rock band Depeche Mode, has died at the age of 60, the band announced. “We are shocked and full of immense sadness for the untimely death of our dear friend, family member and band member”, reads the note of the group formed in 1980.

…as so does Ray Liotta

Goodfellas actor Ray Liotta has died in his sleep in the Dominican Republic at the age of 67. The US star had been on location filming the movie ‘Dangerous Waters’. He was best known for playing mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 gangster film ‘Goodfellas’ and also appeared in ‘Field of Dreams’. Liotta got his big break playing ex-convict Ray Sinclair in 1986 black comedy ‘Something Wild’. He got a Golden Globe nomination for that role and went on to star in the 1988 film ‘Dominick and Eugene’, about the strained relationship between twins with very different characters.