国际英语新闻：Flags to fly at half staff to honor slain soldiers in Texas shooting: Obama

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. national flags will be flown at half staff to honor killed soldiers in a military base in Texas, said President Barack Obama on Friday.

    "From now until Veterans Day (Nov. 11) I ordered the flags at the White House and other federal buildings to be flown at half-staff," said the president at the White House, one day after a military psychiatrist killed 13 and wounded 30 others in Fort Hood, an Army base in Texas.

    "This is a modest tribute to those who lost their lives even as many were preparing to risk their lives for their country," Obama said.

U.S. President Barack Obama makes remarks about the mass shooting at the sprawling Fort Hood army base in Texas and the rise in the unemployment rate in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, November 6, 2009

    Obama urged people not to jump to conclusions immediately but wait until law enforcement officials wrapped up their investigation in the mass killings.

    "We don't know all of the answers yet. I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all of the facts," said the president.

    According to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, Obama will attend a memorial service at Fort Hood military base in Texas when it is scheduled "for the convenience of the families."

    The service is likely to happen before the president leaves for Asia on Wednesday, he added.