Kai is currently developing an advanced fingerprint sensor that’s outfitted on the grip of a gun. When you pick up the gun, it scans the user’s fingerprint and if it’s a match with the gun owner’s, the user is free to fire. If the fingerprint does not match, the trigger locks.
The sensor is designed to prevent children from picking up a misplaced weapon and discharging it — a problem that’s unfortunately far too common today — but it could also help to reduce the number of shootings that take place via illegally obtained firearms.
Kloepfer is entirely self-taught, having studied engineering on the internet and from simply taking things apart and rebuilding them. In fact, this project started as a high school science project. But thanks to infinite curiosity, sheer determination and a willingness to explore, Kloepfer may be able to pull off something no one has quite yet perfected.
(Reuters) - Al Shabaab Islamist militants attacked a government building housing two ministries in the Somali capital on Tuesday, setting off two big blasts before gunmen stormed inside, killing at least 10 people, police and the rebels said. Fighting had raged around the building, which houses the ministries for higher education and petroleum and minerals, before security forces retook it from the attackers. It is the latest in a series of raids in Mogadishu by al Shabaab, which wants to topple Somalia's Western-backed government and impose its own strict version of Islamic law. The group also attacked a university campus in neighboring Kenya this month, killing 148 people. "First two blasts occurred, a bike blast and a car blast, outside the building, then armed fighters stormed in," Major Ali Nur, a police officer, told Reuters. About an hour and a half after the explosions, police said they had secured the building. Al Shabaab's military operations spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu confirmed that the group was behind the attack. Government spokesman Ridwaan Haji said on his official Twitter account that 10 people had been killed in the attack, including two soldiers and eight civilians. He said seven militants had also been killed. Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of Mogadishu ambulances, told Reuters at least 15 civilians had been killed and 20 others injured. He did not give details of any soldiers or militants killed. Police Colonel Hussein Ibrahim said one of the soldiers was with the African Union peacekeeping force, which has led a military campaign against al Shabaab with Somali troops and also guards major government buildings and installations. "Now the fighting is over and the building is secured," Ibrahim said. The government spokesman could not immediately confirm the death of the AU soldier. GUNFIRE Trader Omar Mohamed, who works near the scene, said he was thrown off his chair by the blasts. He said attackers sprayed gunfire at security forces during their battle to retake the building. Al Shabaab, which once ruled much of Somalia, lost control of Mogadishu in 2011 and has been driven out of remaining major strongholds in a joint AU-Somalia military offensive launched last year. Despite losing swathes of territory, the group has repeatedly shown it can strike Somali targets and also across the border into Kenya. Earlier this month, al Shabaab fighters attacked a university campus in the Kenyan town of Garissa, which lies about 200 km (120 miles) from the border, killing 148 people. The group has said it wants to punish Kenya for sending troops to Somalia as part of the AU force. At the end of March, al Shabaab militants attacked a hotel in the Somali capital, killing 14. (Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Gareth Jones)
(Reuters) - Western-backed fighters in southwestern Syria, the one part of the country where they are still strong, have spoken out against al Qaeda, a move could lead to fighting among of President Bashar al-Assad. The most powerful opponents of Assad in Syria's civil war are Sunni Muslim jihadists from two groups: the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, and al Qaeda's Syria branch, the Nusra Front. Western and Arab countries which oppose both Assad and the jihadists aim to support what Washington calls "moderate" rebels. Although such Western-backed fighters control comparatively little territory, an alliance known as the Southern Front has an important foothold near the borders with Jordan and Israel. It has seized a border crossing and a government-held town in recent weeks after weathering a government offensive. Nusra, which has crushed pro-Western rebels in the north, is also active in the south and has sometimes joined Southern Front groups in battle against government forces, making their relationship ambiguous. But this week, Southern Front groups issued a strong statement condemning Nusra's ideology, rejecting any cooperation with it, and declaring themselves the "sole military force representing the Syrian revolution" in the south. "It is not a call for war but they will understand it that way, and if they want to fight they will be the losers," said Abu Ghiath al-Shami, spokesman for the Alwiyat Seif al-Sham, one of the Southern Front groups. With aid funneled via U.S. ally Jordan, the Southern Front groups are stronger than the jihadists in the south, according to several assessments including one provided by a U.S. intelligence official. "We must announce our clear position: neither the Nusra Front or anything else with this ideology represents us," said Bashar al-Zoubi, head of a rebel group called the Yarmouk Army. "We can’t go from the rule of Assad to Zawahiri and Nusra," said Zoubi referring to the al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. Aboul Majd al-Zoubi, head of a Southern Front-linked Syrian Media Organisation, said the aim is to isolate Nusra. "The door is open for Nusra Front fighters to defect and to join the factions of the Southern Front," he said. The statement appears to have been prompted by incidents including an attempt by Nusra to arrest a Southern Front commander, and tension between the sides at the Nasib crossing with Jordan. The crossing was seized from the government on April 1, with both the Southern Front and Nusra claiming to have played the decisive role in taking it. Islamic State currently has little presence in the south but may be eyeing expansion there. Its fighters staged an assault on an air base in Sweida province in recent days, part of a pattern of attacks beyond its eastern strongholds, which was repelled by the Syrian army. Bashar al Zoubi said that attack was an attempt by Islamic State to announce its arrival in the area, and that more international support for the Southern Front was needed to help stave off the jihadist threat.
"Marco Rubio has a certain fluency, and ability to connect with voters, and this will be one of the first times a wider audience has seen it. When people who haven't seen Marco speak finally see Marco speak, they stand back and say, 'Whoa — what have I been missing?'" said Wilson.
Watch as he delivers his speech declaring his run for the 2016 Presidency
Sen. Marco Rubio cast himself as the forward-looking candidate to lead the nation toward a new American century when he announced his presidential bid Monday, framing the election as a "generational choice" for Americans.
"Grounded by the lessons of our history, but inspired by the promise of our future, I announce my candidacy for President of the United States of America," Rubio told supporters at Miami's Freedom Tower.
The 43-year-old freshman senator is the youngest contender in a rapidly-growing race for the presidency, and his speech Monday signaled he'll aim to turn his youth and relative inexperience into a central calling card of his campaign. That offers him a clear and immediate point of contrast with two of the top contenders in the race, both former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who became the first Democratic candidate with her launch on Sunday, and likely GOP contender Jeb Bush.
Rubio wasted no time in taking a swipe at Clinton.
"Just yesterday, a leader from yesterday," he said, as the crowd erupted in boos, "began a campaign for President by promising to take us back to yesterday. But yesterday is over, and we are never going back."
