By Paul Thomson :: 10:04 PM
Multiple sources are confirming reports of a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant in the town of West, Texas, near Waco.
The blast occurred around 8:50 PM, Eastern time, and the shockwaves could be felt many miles away, according to witnesses.
Local news stations are reporting mass casualties at the site, and local law enforcement officials are transporting the wounded to hospitals in their patrol cars.
It is not known at this time if the blast is terrorist related, or associated with the events at the Boston Marathon on Monday.
Below are a selection of photos from witnesses and media at the scene:
Explosion in West Fertilizer Plant –> RT @reidgolson10: @texashsfootball here is a picture of it. twitter.com/ReidGolson10/s…
— Texas HS Football (@texashsfootball) April 18, 2013
Explosion Rocks Fertilizer Plant During Fire nbcdfw.com/news/local/Exp… twitter.com/weeddude/statu…
— Michael Rusch (@weeddude) April 18, 2013
Photo Courtesy of KWTX of a major explsoion in Waco,Tx at a fertilizer plant at 8pm cdt. @kdvr twitter.com/WxTrackerDaryl…
— Daryl Orr (@WxTrackerDaryl) April 18, 2013
Getting report out of Waco Texas of an explosion at a fertilizer plant with multiple injuries.1st responders injured2 twitter.com/PoliceClips/st…
— Police Clips (@PoliceClips) April 18, 2013
PHOTO FERTILIZER PLANT EXPLOSION UPDATE: One of the fires burning in a home via @kirstencrow twitter.com/NewsBreaker/st… twitter.com/Breaking911/st…
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 18, 2013
NEW PHOTO: Powerful image of the West, TX explosion.(via @dfwscanner) twitter.com/KHOLMESlive/st…
— Kenny Holmes 7News (@KHOLMESlive) April 18, 2013
#BREAKING PHOTO: Pic of the explosion in West, TX.(via @faithbaseball) twitter.com/KHOLMESlive/st…
— Kenny Holmes 7News (@KHOLMESlive) April 18, 2013
By Gilbert Falso :: 5:44 PM
Zelda fans have something to look forward to – Nintendo has announced that it will soon be releasing a new Legend of Zelda game for the company’s handheld 3DS gaming device
The new game, scheduled to hit store shelves around the holidays, will be set in the virtual world from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, first released on the Super Nintendo system in 1992.
In addition to Zelda, Nintendo is also planning on bringing back old favorites like Yoshi’s Island, Donkey Kong, and Mario and Luigi.
“Nintendo 3DS and Wii U continue to evolve into some of the best bets in gaming,” claims Nintendo’s President Reggie Fils-Aime.Ă‚Â “We’ve had an incredible 2013 so far with titles such as Fire Emblem Awakening and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, and the rest of 2013 and beyond is even better.”
The new games come ahead of a Wii U
According to sales figures analyzed yesterday, only 55,000 Wii U consoles were sold in the U.S. in March. This is down from 66,000 units sold in February. Peak numbers for the new console came during the Christmas holidays, with 463,000 units in December and 425,000 units in November.
“Combined Wii U and Wii unit sales were down 27% last month, while combined 3DS and DS unit sales were also down 27% compared to last February, and have not shown positive growth since October 2011,” said analyst Michael Pachter with Wedbush Research.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 4:01 PM
Google today has announced the next city in it’s Google Fiber rollout plan.
On the heels of the Austin, Texas announcement, the search giant has selected Provo, Utah as the next site for its high-speed Internet network.
The new high-speed Fiber connections will bring gigabit speeds to residences and businesses in the Utah city.
To bring Fiber to Provo, Google has signed an agreement to purchase iProvo, an existing fiber-optic network owned by the city. As a part of the acquisition agreement, Google is planning to upgrade the network to gigabit technology and finish network construction so that every home along the existing network would have the ability to connect to Google Fiber.
The contract with the city of Provo isn’t approved yet. Approval hinges on a vote by the City Council scheduled for Tuesday, April 23.
Google intends to begin working on the upgrades as soon as the contract is approved.
The city of Provo had initially begun work on the fiber infrastructure in 2004. The area is home to many tech companies and start-ups, and is second in the nation in patent growth.
By Paul Thomson :: 2:26 PM
Gmail and all other Google services affected by the outage this morning should be functioning for all users, according to the company’s status page.
This morning, many users awoke to find themselves locked out of their Gmail and Google Drive cloud storage accounts. Google first responded to the incident with a post on their status page just before 9 AM, and all issues were resolved around 11 AM. All times listed are Eastern.
The company has not yet issued a statement about the outage or what may have caused it. The only statement released was what was placed on their status page:
“The problem with Google Mail should be resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support. Please rest assured that system reliability is a top priority at Google, and we are making continuous improvements to make our systems better.”
By Paul Thomson :: 8:26 AM
Update: Google indicates service has been restored.
It’s not just you, Gmail is down for many people this morning. Google’s cloud-based e-mail service along with Google’s cloud storage service, Google Drive are not allowing many to log in.
The Gmail login screen for many will not even load, and some users receive the message, “We’re sorry, but your Gmail account is temporarily unavailable.”
Users trying to access via IMAP through Apple’s mail program on the iPhone, or through Android devices are greeted with a “password invalid” message in many cases.
The problem extends from regular Gmail accounts all the way to Gmail apps for education and Gmail apps for businesses, according to IT sources who describe difficulty accessing many types of accounts this morning.
Google’s Status page has not yet been updated to reflect these issues.