Walmart Closing Locations Globally

Walmart announced it is closing 154 U.S. stores, according to a company press release, including the company’s 102 Walmart Express stores, the smallest format stores.

It is part of a global downsizing that will shutter 269 stores around the world out of Walmart's nearly 11,600 stores.

The smaller-format store format had been tested since 2011.

In addition to all the Express stores, 23 Neighborhood Markets, 12 Supercenters, seven stores in Puerto Rico, six discount centers and four Sam’s Clubs will be closed.

About 16,000 associates will be affected worldwide - roughly 10,000 of whom are in the U.S. - according to the company.

It said more than 95 percent of the closed stores in the U.S. are within 10 miles on average of another Walmart, so the hope is those associates can gain employment at nearby stores. In cases where that isn't available, transition assistance will be available, the company said.

Military vehicles at a Walmart parking lot?

“Actively managing our portfolio of assets is essential to maintaining a healthy business,” said Doug McMillon, president and CEO, Walmart Stores, Inc. “Closing stores is never an easy decision, but it is necessary to keep the company strong and positioned for the future. It’s important to remember that we’ll open well more than 300 stores around the world next year. So we are committed to growing, but we are being disciplined about it.”

However, some in affected communities were dismayed at the decision.

Michael Huffman of Waskom, TX, called the decision to close the Walmart Express in his town "a very bad and immoral corporate decision."

He said, "Walmart ran the only other grocery store in town out of business. ... There are a lot of elderly people in Waskom who need a grocery store."

Walmart said the stores it will close "represent less than 1 percent of both global square footage and revenue." The closings represent about 2 percent of Walmart stores globally, Walmart said.

The Bentonville, AR, big-box giant garnered a fiscal year 2015 revenue of $485.7 billion and employs about 2.2 million associates worldwide.

New York City Police Department's Surveillance Helicopter

According to the NYPD, you won't even recognize that its there, but high above the heads of New York City's citizens, there is a $10 million special NYPD helicopter with an impressive arsenal of surveillance equipment inside it. The chopper, called "23", looks like plain helicopter on the outside, but on the inside it is chock-full of hi-tech gadgetry. The helicopter's surveillance cameras, including one for infrared photography, are mounted below the aircraft.

The chopper's arsenal of sophisticated surveillance and tracking equipment is powerful enough to stealthily read license plates - or even pedestrian's faces - from high above. The helicopter's surveillance system can beam live footage to police command centers or even to wireless hand-held devices. Without leaving Manhattan airspace, the chopper also was able to get a crystal-clear picture of jetliners waiting to take off from LaGuardia Airport and to survey Kennedy International Airport's jet fuel lines. The helicopter is just part of the department's efforts to adopt cutting-edge technology for its counterterrorism operations. The NYPD also plans to spend tens of millions of dollars strengthening security in the lower Manhattan business district with a network of closed-circuit television cameras and license-plate readers posted at bridges, tunnels and other entry points.

Body Check

(Dynamic structured light acquisition techniques use a set of lines projected onto an object of interest to generate a 3D surface. Fingerprints or facial scans can be acquired using this method without the need for contact, making acquisition possible from a distance)

In recent years a number of countries have initiated biometric schemes aimed at protecting their borders. Although they are typically launched amid claims that they will accelerate the immigration process, this isn't always their central purpose, and frequently the new systems culminate in long queues.

Back in 2002 Australia unveiled its plans for SmartGate, a system that uses biometric facial recognition technology linked to the passenger's e-passport. Recent travellers to the US may have been taken by surprise by the new biometric security system in place at ten key airports there, which requires ten fingerprints for identification. Clear Cards, which carry biometric information, have been used by Americans since 2005. Dubai has established e-gates where registered passengers swipe an ID card and pass through a fingerprint scan, and the Netherlands has introduced Privium, a paid-for iris scanning service that offers a range of benefits, including lounge access and fast-track check-in.

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