Photos: ShuleyDee storms Inspiration Fm ( parties with Derenle, skales, lil Kesh, Tina Woolley )

An explosion collapsed at least 2 buildings in Manhattan's East Village

An explosion rocked the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan shortly after 3 p.m. on Thursday, causing a massive fire and a partial building collapse.

CBS New York cites FDNY officials who say 19 people were injured, four of them critically.

The station says 5 members of the FDNY were among the injured.

The FDNY said more than 200 emergency responders arrived on the scene to battle the 7-alarm blaze, which erupted near St. Marks and East 2nd Avenue.

NBC New York is reporting that law enforcement has told them a work crew hit a gas line inside a sushi restaurant and that started the fire.

The Department of Building lists open complaints relating to an explosion for 121 2nd Avenue and a fire at 123 2nd Avenue (built in 1900). 

Here's a map of the location:

Google MapsThe approximate area of the incident.

Authorities told DNA Info that the explosion was consistent with a gas explosion. ConEd shut off gas in the East Village area of 2nd Avenue as a precaution that is taken in any emergency situation involving a fire, a spokesperson told Business Insider. ConEd has also sent crews to investigate the situation.

The explosion caused the collapse of a five story apartment building, according to FDNY, and the subsequent fire apparently spread to two other buildings. City building and fire officials say so far at least 2 buildings have collapsed.

Karen Kolatka was at Middle Collegiate Church on Second Avenue between 6th and 7th Street, directly across from the explosion. "We saw the biggest flames shooting out beyond the roof ...the smoke was almost as wide as the block."

A man who was nearby when it happened told us, "it was the loudest boom I ever heard. There was debris everywhere and people running and screaming."

A nearby NYU student told us, "I breathed a little in and it was complete smoke. It was really bad."

Sarah Schmalbruch/Business Insider

"Everything's blocked from [St. Mark's Place] to 7th" an NYPD officer on the scene told Business Insider. "They're afraid more buildings are going to collapse."

"We heard a big sound, then three or four people fell on the street," Shameem Noor, a cashier at a restaurant about a block away, told Reuters.

"People were running and screaming," he said. "There's a big fire on the roof and black smoke

Here's what the scene looked like before the explosion:

Google Street View

And here's a crazy video of the fire:

Photos from today's bank robbery in Owo, Ondo state

Three commercial banks including First Bank, Wema Bank and Skye Bank were attacked by dare devil armed robbers this evening. (Read here). Unfortunately several people, including a bank manager lost their lives. Some photos from the tragic incident has emerged. It's graphic so viewer's discretion advised. Continue to see them....

Twitter just launched Periscope, its hot new streaming app

Twitter has launched Periscope today, the livestreaming app it acquired back in February.

Livestreaming has become a hot topic in recent weeks: Meerkat, a similar app, has seen a slew of media attention, explosive growth, and recently raised $12 million at an estimated $40 million valuation. Twitter acquired then-unlaunched Periscope back in February for a rumoured $75 to $100 million.

Periscope lets users easily stream footage from their devices to their followers. Viewers can comment and send "hearts" to the streamer. The footage can be then replayed later — a key difference to Meerkat, where the footage is gone for good once the stream is over.

A large part of Twitter's appeal is its popularity with celebrities, and it looks like the company's hoping this star power can provide a similar draw to Periscope. "Breaking Bad" actor Aaron Paul, astronaut Chris Hadfield, magician David Blaine, high-profile businessman Mark Cuban and skateboarder Tony Hawk are among those already using the platform.

Twitter has also been limiting Meerkat's access to the network, seemingly in anticipation of the Periscope launch.

Periscope videos aren't integrated directly into Twitter — you have to install the separate app. Greater integration may come later, however. Twitter also owns Vine, a 6-second video app, and the clips can be embedded directly into users' Twitter timelines and viewed without leaving the main app.

Here's what it looks like to browse streams on Periscope:

Jeremy Clarkson could be banned from America

The fact that Yorkshire police are investigating Jeremy Clarkson's alleged assault on a BBC producer — which sent the producer to the hospital with a bloody lip — raises an unlikely but tantalising scenario: Jeremy Clarkson could end being banned from working in America because US immigration law prevents convicted criminals from working in the country, according to The Telegraph.

That would hobble his career considerably. The US is the world's biggest TV market.

To be clear, that is an incredibly unlikely scenario. The incident — in which Clarkson is accused of punching producer Oisin Tymon after the latter failed to give him  hot steak dinner — is incredibly minor. It's hard to believe that the police would bother bringing charges, or that the prosecution service would take it all the way to trial.

The case will probably go away on its own.

Even if Clarkson could not enter the US again, it probably would not reduce his appeal as a TV star. If Clarkson went to work for ITV, it could raise the value of that company by £2 billion, analysts say. Part of that value may be tied to Clarkson's ability to promote his shows to foreign audiences — and not being able to to go to America, would handicap that. 

The obvious wrinkle here is that Clarkson has already admitted he attacked Tymon and tried to apologize for it, according to the BBC's internal investigation. That admission would make it a lot easier to extract an assault conviction from the presenter, in theory.

And the fact that Clarkson allegedly used anti-Irish language while attacking Tymon ads a little legal icing, too: Assaulting people based on their identity is a hate crime. It could be very difficult to gain a work visa in the US for a person convicted of a hate crime in the UK.

Again, this would be merely the least-likely, worst-case scenario.

In the meantime, Clarkson would be well-advised not to enter the US through Boston or New York, where US law enforcement officials are frequently of Irish-American extraction.

BREAKING NEWS: Pandemonium In Oshodi As Gunmen Take Over

There is an ongoing shootout in Oshodi where some gunmen have taken over and shooting sporadically destroying properties of sellers. The police is yet to come and calm don the situation. It is still unclear the reason for the shoot out but we give you updates as times as things unfold

Kate Henshaw Got Involved In A Dirty Fight With A Market Woman In Asaba (PHOTOS)

 

Actress Kate Henshaw, took some of her fans by surprise when she was in a dirty fight with a woman at a marketplace.

The delectable actress while on the set of a recent movie in Asaba had to play the role of a woman who engaged in an argument with another woman which later led into a serious fight.

She was thrown to the ground and taught not to fight publicly again.

‘Public Assault’ is the name of the flick, which has the magical touch of Tchidi Chikere, a talented and top movie director in Nigeria.

The film stars the likes of Hafiz Oyetoro (Saka), Queen Nwokoye and many others.

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