The Blue Ridge Times

WASHINGTON — A man committed suicide in front of the White House on Saturday after he pulled out a concealed handgun, authorities said. No one but the shooter was injured. The U.S. Secret Service said that medical personnel were called to respond to the male victim, but he was declared dead at the scene. The Metropolitan Police Department, who are leading the investigation into the shooting with the support of the Secret Service, identified the shooter on Sunday as Cameron Ross Burgess, 26, of Maylene, Alabama. The police department did not disclose any potential motives for the suicide. "The subject approached the vicinity of the North White House fence line and removed a concealed handgun and fired several rounds, none of which appear at this time to have been directed towards the White House," the Secret Service said in a statement shortly after the incident on Saturday. Bystanders were the first to come across Burgess after the shots were fired, finding him ...

A patient at a hospital in Kenya is "progressing well" after a doctor mistakenly performed brain surgery on him. The neurosurgeon who did the recent procedure and the CEO of the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi were both suspended, according to the Guardian. There was a mix-up between one patient who needed to have a blood clot removed and another who merely needed medication for a swollen head, the newspaper reported. "The hospital deeply regrets this event and has done all it can to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the patient in question," the hospital said in a statement, according to the Guardian. It added that the patient was "in recovery" and "progressing well." Doctors at the hospital came to the defense of the surgeon who was suspended, saying the gaffe took place "because of wrong patient labelling by the ward staff," according to The Star newspaper in Nairobi. The embattled hospital was embroiled in controve...

Russian President Vladimir Putin sits down for an interview with NBC News' Megyn Kelly on March 2, 2018. Russian President Vladimir Putin told NBC's Megyn Kelly last week that he would "never" extradite the 13 Russian nationals who were charged by special counsel Robert Mueller with conspiring to interfere in the 2016 US election. He denied any knowledge of their actions and added that the defendants "do not represent the Russian state" or "the Russian authorities." The assertion spoke to a key tactic the Kremlin often employs: using "cyber proxies" who operate outside the government to carry out its goals, allowing the Russian government to maintain plausible deniability. While the Justice Department is negotiating with the Russian government over extradition proceedings, the chances that Putin will agree to hand over the defendants are slim to none, given that they were acting on the Kremlin's orders. Russian President Vla...