8 dead in Texas school shooting, 2 students held Indo-US 2+2 talks likely in early July
NEVERENDING VIOLENCE Third school shooting in last 7 days, 22nd in 2018
At least one gunman opened fire at a Houston-area high school on Friday, killing eight to 10 people, most of them students, authorities said. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said he could not be precise about the number of deaths at Santa Fe High School, which went on lockdown around 8 am. Two suspects believed to be students have been detained. It was America’s deadliest school shooting since the February attack in Parkland, Florida.
The much-awaited India-US two-plus-two dialogue is expected to take place in the first week of July with the impact of Countering America’s Adversaries Through the Sanctions Act (CAATSA) on New Delhi’s national and energy security needs high on the agenda.
The 2017 US federal law has been used to impose sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia this January.
While India has proposed the date of July 6 for the meeting between external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and secretary of state Mike Pompeo and secretary of defence Jim Mattis in Washington, the US is still to confirm the date.
The two-plus-two dialogue was to take place on April 18-19 but was postponed due to appointment of a new secretary of state by US President Donald Trump. South Block officials said on condition of anonymity
that the dialogue has been shifted to the second half of the year because the US is going to be busy with North Korea next month.
The meeting between US President Trump and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un is due to take place on June 12 in Singapore.
While the first meeting of the two-plus-two dialogue will set the bilateral diplomatic and military agenda, India is worried about the adverse impact of the sanctions on its energy security (it imports a lot of oil from Iran) as well as military hardware purchases (Russia is a significant partner).
India currently purchases nearly 29 million tons of crude from Iran; almost 62% of its military hardware and ammunition comes from Russia.
Already, Mattis has urged the Senate armed service committee for a “flexible waiver authority” so that countries such as India are not punished when it comes to purchasing military equipment from Russia.
At least one gunman opened fire at a Houston-area high school on Friday, killing eight to 10 people, most of them students, authorities said.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said he could not be precise about the number of deaths at Santa Fe High School, which went on lockdown around 8 am. One person was in custody, and a second person had been detained, he said.
An unknown number of possible explosive devices were found at the school and off campus. Authorities were in the process of rendering them safe and asked the public to call 911 if they see anything suspicious.
It was the nation’s deadliest school shooting since the February attack in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people and re-energized the gun-control movement after surviving teens launched a campaign for reform.
The district confirmed an unspecified number of injuries but said it would not immediately release further details. A school police officer was shot, officials said, but there was no immediate word on his condition.
“We hope the worst is over, and I really can’t say any more about that because it would be pure speculation,” Assistant Principal Cris Richardson told reporters at the scene.
Aerial footage showed students standing in a grassy field and three medical helicopters landing at the school in Santa Fe, a city of about 13,000 people roughly 48 km southeast of Houston. School officials said law enforcement officers secured the building and move students to another location. Students were transported to another location to reunite with their parents.
One student told Houston television station KTRK in a telephone interview that a gunman came into her first-period art class and started shooting. The student said she saw one girl with blood on her leg as the class evacuated the room.
“We thought it was a fire drill at first but really, the teacher said, ‘Start running,’” the student told the television station.
The student said she did not get a good look at the shooter because she was running away. She said students escaped through a door at the back of the classroom.
The shooting was all but certain to re-ignite the national debate over gun regulations. In the aftermath of the February 14 attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, survivors pulled all-nighters, petitioned city councils and state lawmakers, and organized protests in a grass-roots movement.