Empire State Building shootings wounds 11, killing 2, police say

A shooting and subsequent gun battle at the Empire State Building in New York killed two people and wounded at least nine others Friday, authorities said.

The shooter was one of the two killed, investigators said. They identified him as Jeffrey Johnson, 53, who was laid off last year and apparently killed a former co-worker Friday morning.

A construction worker followed the suspect and alerted officers. The suspect, using a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun, then fired on police and they returned fire, killing him, said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Most of the injuries apparently occurred during the exchange of gunfire, and some may have been hit by shots fired by police officers, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Witnesses recount chaotic, unsettling scene at Empire State shooting

Empire State shooting a 'surreal scene'

Johnson had worked as a designer of women's accessories at Hazan Imports, police said.

Witnesses said police shot the man at least three times.

"It's just a crazy scene here," said Rebecca Fox, who works across the street from the famous skyscraper. She said she had been getting coffee with her headphones on when she saw people running.

Fox said she saw a woman who had been shot near a brewery, as well as blood splattered on the sidewalk.

One witness -- 22-year-old Max Kaplan -- said he heard at least nine shots and saw ambulances race to the scene.

"We're all very shaken up at the office," he said.

Aaron Herman, a CNN iReporter, painted a portrait of confusion.

"It was a little chaotic, police had barricaded the area and I saw one woman who was a victim, I think she had been grazed," he said. "Some said they heard around three 'pops' and ran into nearby local stores to be safe."

The White House said top aides told President Barack Obama about the shooting around 9:30 a.m. The shooting does not appear to be linked to terrorism, authorities said.

Local and federal authorities who converged on the building around 9 a.m. closed several streets around 5th Avenue and 34th Street, snarling traffic in the heart of Manhattan.

Shortly after the incident, Manhattan's Bellevue Medical Center reported that it was treating six victims suffering from gunshot wounds, who were at the Empire State Building Friday. All the injuries were not life threatening, according to hospital spokeswoman Alice Ramos.

The Empire State Building is one of the most famous skyscrapers in the world and one of New York City's best-known tourist attractions.

Each year, about 4 million people visit the building's two observation decks. At more than 1,453 feet tall, the landmark building reaches more than a quarter-mile into the sky.

The area typically has a large security presence.

"There's always a focus and concentration on the building," said retired police officer Lou Palumbo

"That building gets special attention."

The Empire State Building Company said in a statement Friday that "the building is fully operational at this time," and that police are investigating the incident.

Deadly shootout near New York's Empire State Building

Two people are dead, including a gunman, and up to nine others are wounded in a shootout near New York's Empire State Building, officials say.

The gunman was reportedly killed by police, and officials said nine others were wounded in the rush-hour incident in the heart of Manhattan.
Law enforcement officials said a shop worker sacked near the iconic tower shot dead a former colleague.
The incident took place shortly after 09:00 (13:00 GMT).
Some of those hit by bullets may have been accidentally hit by police, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a news conference.
But he said their injuries were not life-threatening and they were expected to make a full recovery.
'Shooting indiscriminately' Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the suspect had been fired about a year ago from his job designing women's accessories at a business near the skyscraper.
He said the "disgruntled" worker had been armed with a .45 calibre pistol, and he fatally shot a former colleague in the head.
The shooter was identified as 53-year-old Jeffrey Johnson. His 41-year-old victim was not named.
Commissioner Kelly said that a construction worker followed the gunman, and alerted two police officers outside the Empire State Building. There was a confrontation and the officers shot the attacker dead.
There was a heavy police presence earlier at the scene on 34th Street and Fifth Avenue, and the FBI also attended.
Federal officials said the shooting was not related to terrorism.
Fifth Avenue, a major traffic artery in the city, was closed from 42nd street.
Witnesses described people running away from the scene of the shooting.
An eyewitness told the New York Daily News that the gunman had been wearing a business suit and carrying a briefcase.
One woman, Aliyah Imam, told TV station Fox 5 News that the gunman was "shooting indiscriminately at people".
She said a young woman standing next to her fell to the ground after being shot.
One of New York's most popular tourist attractions, the Empire State Building is a 1,453-ft (442-metre) skyscraper, which attracts nearly four million visitors a year.
The tower also has offices and the area is bustling with workers on weekday mornings.

South African hippo dies before pool rescue

The hippo was named Solly by staff at the Monate Conservation Lodge

A hippopotamus which had been stuck in a swimming pool of a game reserve lodge in northern South Africa for four days has died.

Correspondents say the hippo died before it was sedated to remove it from the pool, which had no steps.
The pool was being drained so the hippo could be tranquilised and lifted out by a crane.
Earlier the lodge's manager told the BBC the animal had been in some distress as the pool was being emptied.
The hippo took to the pool at the Monate Conservation Lodge, north of Johannesburg in Limpopo province, on Tuesday.
South Africa's National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals told the Associated Press agency that the four-year-old hippo had been forced from its pod by dominant males.
'Stressed'

Lodge manager Ruby Ferreira told the BBC's Newsday programme that the hippo, named Solly, had been quite happy swimming in the pool, which is 2m (6.5ft) deep, 10m long and 5m wide.

But she said the hippo had become "stressed" on Friday morning as the pool was drained in preparation for its rescue.
The water had to be drained to prevent the hippo from drowning when sedated.
Wildlife rescue expert Simon Prinsloo told AP the young hippo had died even though water was being poured on the animal to keep it hydrated.
A vet who was to tranquilise the hippo arrived at the scene nearly four hours late and could not save him, South Africa's Eyewitness News reports.
"We've been waiting all morning. I'm very heartbroken at the loss of Solly," Ms Ferreira told Eyewitness News.
Earlier in the week, residents of Cape Town were warned about a stray two-year-old calf that had been spotted in Zeekoevlei, a district south-east of the city centre, after it too was separated from its pod.
Wildlife officials are hoping to guide it back to its home pod in the Rondevlei Nature Reserve.

Election a stark choice on America's future

Buckle up! The political conventions in Tampa and Charlotte over the next two weeks will throw the 2012 election campaigns into high gear, and send it careering down a mean, rocky road toward one of the most important choices Americans have made in half a century.

Only twice before in the lives of most voters have we seen an election offering such radically different visions about the role of government in national life.

The first was 1964, when Lyndon Baines Johnson was holding up the Democratic standard, calling for government to create a Great Society with a cornucopia of new federal programs. On the other side, Barry Goldwater had seized the Republican banner from previously-dominant moderates and crusaded on the most conservative agenda in six decades, seeking to push back not only the Great Society, but much of the New Deal.

"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and ... moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!" Goldwater declared to thunderous applause at the GOP convention. It was a bare-knuckles fight, but LBJ was campaigning in John F. Kennedy's cloak and Goldwater's proposals were seen as scary and radical. LBJ swept to a crushing victory. Score one for bigger government.

The second "choice" election came in 1980, when, after a decade of failed leadership, a man came galloping out of the West who seemed the most improbable of figures to get the country going again. And he was carrying with him many of Goldwater's ideas. But Ronald Regan turned out to be a strong leader with a million-dollar smile; Jimmy Carter, a man better suited to be a saint than a politician, went down decisively. Score one for smaller government.

This year's election is shaping up to be a rubber match with major implications for the country's future. Gov. Mitt Romney's choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate has dialed up the ideological contrast between the two tickets, while both sides have been throwing sharp elbows at each other (even by the low standards of American politics).

The harshening words and diverging visions speak to an election that breaks somewhat with tradition. Time was, as Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post and others have pointed out, the playbook was simple: run to the base in the primary and pivot back to the middle in the general election, winning over as many of the voters in the middle as you can. (In economics, this effect is called Hotelling's Game and is otherwise normally used to explain why gas stations all seem to be on the same corner.)

Abortion, Medicare hot topics before RNC

Challenging the GOP platform from within

Stewart: Romney knows what voters need

But this election features a small number of genuinely undecided voters --and high negatives for both party candidates, as Karl Rove notes in Thursday's Wall Street Journal -- so the dominant strategy has become playing to the base. That explains Romney's picking Paul Ryan, but it also explains why partisans of both sides rejoiced when Ryan was picked: His strong conservative beliefs fire up the Democratic base as well as the Republican one.

If anything, this year's choice is starker than in 1980: Reagan had a pragmatic streak, so he was willing to compromise to get a deal done and keep moving forward (Tip O'Neill used to say that the Gipper would win more than half a loaf and come back for the rest later). Romney and Ryan, however, reinforced by the tea party, show no inclination to compromise. On the Democratic side, aides to President Obama are spreading the word that, if he wins, he has had enough of trying to accommodate the Republicans and will also be more confrontational.

Whether the two sides will seize upon their conventions to set forth more complete, detailed plans for the next four years remains to be seen. So far, they have refused to go beyond vagaries and harsh, trivial attacks on each other. Most voters are yearning for more courage and less bile.

But there should be no doubt that the two tickets stand behind radically different visions of the role of government and individuals. Under President Obama, federal spending is now 24% of GDP, far higher than in recent decades. While Obama talks of trimming, his most thoughtful advisers think the government is likely to grow in coming years no matter who wins (see Larry Summers's provocative column in the Financial Times this week).

In contrast, Romney has vowed to get federal spending down to 20%. That difference may not sound like much, but it roughly equates to over half a trillion dollars each year. At a time when 10,000 Baby Boomers are becoming eligible for Medicare and Social Security each day, going from 24% to 20% of GDP would mean massive cuts.

Presented with a stark choice between bigger government and smaller government, where are voters likely to come down? That is a question that has interested scholars for a long time. Some years ago, political scientists Lloyd Free and Hadley Cantril observed that Americans were "philosophical conservatives" but "operational liberals," that is, they would tell pollsters they wanted to keep government small, taxes down and socialism out. But when asked if they wanted the government to spend more on programs and benefits, they were all for it.

In the coming election, we may have finally reached a point of reckoning between these two conflicting impulses. And so, while conventions are generally the place for sweeping statements, the winning ticket will need to be able to speak operationally as well as philosophically.

All this makes for a dramatic series of addresses, not just from Mitt Romney and President Obama, but from their parties' top messengers: people like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro. These conventions will offer them a chance to make a firm case to the American people on which kind of government, both operationally and philosophically, they should choose.

Looming over that choice is the question of whether, at the end of this campaign, the winner can actually govern. Certainly, the raucous, often vicious nature of the combat so far has not been encouraging. One of us (David) has been attending conventions for some 40 years and has witnessed a distinct change in tone; listening to the hot rhetoric in both conventions in 2004, it suddenly became comprehensible how the country could have wound up in Civil War back in 1861 after another election full of ramifications for the nation's future.

And the chasms between the two parties continue to widen before us. A deeply illuminating study, released a few days ago by the Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation, has shown that over the past 14 years, the percentages of Democrats and Republicans who consider themselves "strong partisans" has shot up by about 20 points in each case.

So, in pushing voters to make a choice between sharply different visions, it is also imperative that the candidates look beyond November to the next four years, figuring out how they will bring the country together again when the brawl is over. The acceptance speeches are not just a moment to rally the base, they are also a place to begin laying the foundations of a successful presidency.

FINANCE & SUPPORT MANAGER

Start Date: As soon as possible The Finance & Support Manager is responsible for the financial, administrative and office management of the country office for Nigeria. Also he/she ensures the compliance of financial and administrative procedures with the standards as set by Oxfam (Novib) and external donors. The Finance & Support manager reports to the Country Director Oxfam in Nigeria and is expected to provide strategic support, working closely with Oxfam GB to deliver quality finance and administrative operations effectively, efficiently, transparent and accountable. For the Finance and Support Manager include reference number 5-155 in your application For a detailed job description and requirements for both positions please visit www.oxfamnigeriajobs.org Method of Application If you are interested in this position please send a motivational letter and curriculum vitae in English to jobs-nigeria@oxfamnovib.nl to the attention of The Recruiter, Shabinah Asgarali. Further enquires on the position can be sent to Joop Peerboom, Senior Finance Officer, joop.peerboom@oxfam novib.nl

Closing Date: 07/09/2012

Lonmin appoints acting chief executive

Chief financial officer Simon Scott will take over from Ian Farmer, who has begun treatment for an unspecified illness, the company said.
It added Mr Farmer would not return to work full-time for "some months".
One of the first things Mr Scott will have to deal with is an investigation into the deaths at the Marikana mine.
The Lonmin-owned platinum mine has been at the centre of a violent pay dispute, exacerbated by tensions between two rival trade unions.
On 16 August, 34 people were killed and at least 78 injured after police opened fire on striking miners, marking one of the bloodiest police operations since apartheid.
Violence had already killed 10 people, including two police officers, since the strike had begun a week earlier.
In a statement announcing the management update, Lonmin said: "Ian Farmer, the chief executive officer of Lonmin Plc, has commenced a course of treatment and it will be some months before he is able to return to work full-time.
"In light of this, the board of Lonmin has today appointed Simon Scott, the chief financial officer, as acting chief executive officer for the time being."

USAID, NGO LATEST JOBS

USAID, NGO LATEST JOBS, FRIDAY 24, AUGUST

For fifty years, USAID programs have saved and improved millions of lives around the world, advanced American values, increased global stability, and driven economic growth in emerging markets. Our long and proud history of helping developing countries and improving quality of life is underpinned by our caring, talented workforce. It is this caring that stands as a hallmark of the Agency and shows the world our true character as a nation. Today, we are the world’s premier modern development enterprise, and our 21st Century workforce find themselves doing the best work in the most amazing places, whether it is helping sick people get HIV/AIDS drugs in the most remote parts of Africa, helping farmers learn how to grow crops better in Asia, or teaching people how to govern themselves democratically.
MARKETS II, a USAID-funded project, is seeking to hire a full time:
JOB TITLE: IRRIGATION AND INPUTS SPECIALIST.
LOCATION: Abuja, with travel to project target states as required.
The Irrigation and Inputs Specialist shall coordinate all activities, including planning, implementation and monitoring of MARKETS II irrigation and inputs development strategy, and monitor sub-contractors’ technical assistance activities. S/he will prepare an inventory of available improved pro-poor irrigation technologies, supervise pilot demonstrations of promising irrigation technologies, facilitate training of local manufacturers In irrigation equipment production and marketing, and assist with the development and dissemination of innovative water and soil best practices. The Irrigation and Inputs Specialist will also work with private seed companies on product portfolio review, development of distribution networks, and training of outgrowers on best seed production practices. Additionally, the irrigation and Inputs Specialist will assist with the development of training and training materials in collaboration with private service providers hired by MARKETS II. The Irrigation and Inputs Specialist will assist with M&E activities, draft scopes of work and provide inputs for periodic and quarterly reports. S/he will pay particular attention to the equal participation of women and youth in all activities.
EXPERIENCE/QUALIFICATIONS
Experience with gender mainstreaming and youth development.
Ability to work collaboratively and build alliances with relevant groups, organizations, agencies, businesses, in private or public sectors is important. High level of initiative and creativity. S/he must be a team player, able to work effectively with people of diverse backgrounds and cultures.
Strong verbal and written communication skills in English.
Strong organizational and work prioritization skills, attention to detail.
Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
Demonstrates leadership, versatility, and integrity.
First degree in agronomy, irrigation development or related discipline, and more than five years of professional experience in private sector and/or agribusiness development. Master’s degree preferred.
Demonstrated experience in smallholder irrigation development and/or seed marketing is required. Knowledge of USAID project or agricultural value chain development is a strong advantage.
Demonstrated ability to provide technical and marketing assistance to input dealers and/or equipment manufacturers is desirable. Experience developing and promoting environmentally sustainable agricultural production and processing techniques is also advantageous.
SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
As directed, the Irrigation and Inputs Specialist is charged with the coordination and supervision of activities, directly or via delegation, as appropriate. These include but are not limited to the following tasks:
Facilitate the entry into the Nigerian market by international seed companies and/or irrigation equipment providers, making seed and/or irrigation equipment available for demonstration and training purposes.
In addition to technical tasks, the Irrigation and Inputs Specialist will assist with M&E activities, drafting scopes of work and provide inputs for quarterly reports, other periodic reports, and work planning exercises.
Produce work products in conformity with MARKETS II and ciients standards.
 Communicate information in a way that demonstrates a basic understanding of development assistance work, MARKETS II culture, values, and practices, and the specific scope and nature of the MARKETS II project.
Demonstrate maturity, dependability, integrity, and initiative to learn competencies and skills required for the job assignment.
Contribute positively to a work environment that emphasizes teamwork, respect for differences, accepting and giving constructive feedback.
Supervise the planning, implementation and monitoring of MARKETS II irrigation and inputs development strategy including but not limited to: drafting scopes of work for short- term consultancies; identifying expatriate and local trainers, technical advisors, and marketing specialists in support of irrigation and inputs development; coordinating work of local and expatriate consultants to ensure timely delivery of quality products; and supervisory review of the irrigation and inputs development action plans and the effectiveness of activities.
Liaise with client firms, other stakeholders and subcontractors to assist with the planning, implementation and monitoring of MARKETS II irrigation and inputs specific activities including, but not limited to: monitoring of subcontractor technical assistance activities and ensuring timely and effective delivery of quality products consistent with expected milestones and results.
Prepare an inventory document of available proven pro-poor, low cost irrigation technologies that can be produced locally and help to minimize transaction costs, including drip irrigation equipment, treadle pumps, low-cost tube wells, and catchment basins.
Provide technical guidance to support private-sector driven efforts that increase access to pro-poor, low cost irrigation technologies for farmers. This will include piloting the African Market Garden (AMG) low pressure drip irrigation technology in collaboration with ICRISAT and Dizengoff Agro and Kickstart’s Moneymaker treadle pump to support homestead gardens for women, youth, and/or vegetable value chain activities, should that value chain be selected.
Train local manufacturers in irrigation equipment production and marketing, technology promotion that links manufacturers with interested farmers, and equipment quality control to allow more poor farmers to benefit, all the while establishing a sustainable market-driven equipment supply system.
Assist with the development and dissemination of soil and water management best practices and incorporate into MARKETS II training materials and package of practices.
Support the rehabilitation of small-scale irrigation systems and the provision of operations and maintenance training building on MARKETS’ and Bridge to MARKETS 2’s training of water user associations and their roles and responsibilities with the irrigation systems.
Assist private seed companies with the analysis and product portfolio review and assist with the development of downstream seed distribution networks.
Liaise with private seed companies to provide training support to their outgrower farmers using existing and improved Packages of Practices (POP) with the aim of regional-level production for village-level distribution of seed.
Liaise with MARD, the National Agricultural Seed Council, Africa Rice, IITA and ICRISAT and NARI’s to facilitate the introduction of appropriate crop varieties and hybrids including stress-tolerant crop varieties which help to mitigate against climate change. Incorporate variety descriptions and best agronomic practices in POPs to ensure that farmers, extension agents, and agro-processors have access to proper information on available varieties.
DUE DATE: Monday September 3, 2012.
TO APPLY
MARKETS II is an equal opportunity employer. Candidates are requested to submit a CV and Cover letter via email to Christin Hutchinson: chutchinson@winrock.org no later than the closing date. Please use the words Irrigation Specialist in the title line.