News

TERRORIST PLOT UNCOVERED IN TORONTO

Canadian authorities announced Monday they have broken up an Al Qaeda-linked terror plot to attack a passenger train as it crossed over a bridge in the Toronto area. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that two suspects have been arrested on terrorism charges. Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser, who live in greater Montreal and Toronto — were conspiring to carry out an Al Qaeda-supported attack against Via Rail, but posed no immediate threat to the public.”It was definitely in the planning stage but not imminent,” RCMP Chief Superintendent Jennifer Strachan told reporters at a news conference.

via Al Qaeda-linked plot to attack passenger train broken up by Canadian, U.S. authorities | Fox News.

News

PARIS TO SEE LARGE SCALE PROTESTS AGAINST SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BILL

Tens of thousands are expected to take to the street of Paris today to protest against the government’s bill to legalise same-sex marriage and gay adoption.

The parliament are expected to pass the bill on Tuesday. The bill was one of President Hollande’s key manifesto promises.

This latest protest is expected to see between 30,000 to 50,000 protesters converge on the streets of Paris; a similar rally in March saw around 300,000 people attend.

Protesters are angered by the way the government has pushed the bill through parliament, using a fast track procedure, which means the bill has only received 25 hours of debate.

Another protest is planned for May 26th, to demand the bill be withdrawn and a referendum called on same-sex marriage.

Read More: France 24

News

BOSTON BOMBING SUSPECT CAPTURED


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Tonight in Watertown, Mass., Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, was captured. He was found hiding in the backyard of a resident. Tsarnaev was apprehended just outside the area where police had been conducting door-to-door searches all day.

The Boston Police Commissioner, Edward Davis, said at a news conference Friday night, “A man had gone out of his house after being inside the house all day, abiding by our request to stay inside.  He walked outside and saw blood on a boat in the backyard. He then opened the tarp on the top of the boat, and looked in and saw a man covered with blood. He retreated and called us.”

Mr. Davis stated, “Over the course of the next hour or so we exchanged gunfire with the suspect, who was inside the boat, and ultimately the hostage rescue team of the F.B.I. made an entry into the boat and removed the suspect, who was still alive.” He said the suspect was in “serious condition” and had apparently been wounded in the gunfight that left his brother dead.

Yesterday, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, were involved in a carjacking after shooting and killing a campus police officer at MIT, (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). A short time later, the brothers were involved in a gun battle in Watertown with police. A transit police officer was critically wounded in the shootout along with Tamerlan Tsarnaev whom was fatally wounded. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ran over his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as he sped away and escaped the scene according to officials.

Read More: NY Times
Timeline: The Hunt for the Boston Bombing Suspects

News

FERTILIZER PLANT EXPLODES IN TEXAS LEAVING AT LEAST 15 DEAD

A blast at the West Fertilizer Plant, Texas, has left at least 15 dead, and 160+ injured. The blast was likened to a nuclear bomb exploding and has flattened up to 75 homes.

The plant was around 20 miles north of Waco, and the blast was felt in Dallas 65 miles away. The Mayor of  West said, “We’ve got a lot of people who are hurt, and there’s a lot of people, I’m sure, who aren’t gonna be here tomorrow. We’re going to search for everybody. We’re going to make sure everybody’s accounted for. That’s the most important thing right now.”

Firefighters responded quickly to the blast, however, reports say there are now four firefighters missing in the wreckage.

The chemicals used to make fertilizers are also used in explosives, and has been responsible for disasters in the past, like the AZF plant in Toulouse in 2001.

The blast comes two days before the 20th anniversary of the Waco fire in 1993, where David Koresh and his sect were holed up in a siege with the FBI. About 82 members of the sect and four federal agents died at Waco.

Read More: The Telegraph

Opinion

USA REJECTS GUN CONTROL – OBAMA SADDENED

Background checks for gun purchases was voted down in the USA. Obama seemed to think background checks would have stopped the Sandy Hook shooting? Please tell us how? So we pass laws to appease emotional reactions instead of solving real problems? So now US prints money to purchase 1.4 billion rounds of ammo ?? Citizens react by back ordering 10 times the ammo they would have normally purchased. Ammo manufacturers dance with glee as they step up manufacturing, and after government intervention, 10 times the ammo will hit the streets in only a few months…
OBAMA ! OBAMA ! OBAMA ! Maybe we can get him to run for a third term? Stay Tuned…

News

SANDY HOOK VICTIMS SEATED NEAR EXPLOSIONS AT BOSTON MARATHON

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The deadly blasts at the Boston Marathon opened not-so-old wounds for the siblings of last year’s Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims. Their family members had VIP seats near the site where the first of the twin explosions occurred.
A statement posted on the group’s Facebook page informed that the members of the Newtown Strong team which ran in the marathon were safe, because “all runners completed the race before the explosions happened.”
The team featured the mother of a girl who survived the Sandy Hook shooting.

via Compound tragedy: Boston Marathon blasts mar memorial for Sandy Hook victims — RT USA.

News

EIGHT YEAR OLD BOY ALSO KILLED AT THE BOSTON MARATHON ATTACK

As more details emerge of the Boston Marathon attack, authorities have said an eight year old boy, Martin Richard, was killed in the blasts. His mother and sister were also seriously injured.

The bombs exploded 4 hours into the marathon, turning the carnival atmosphere into one of terror. Bostonians had turned out on their public holiday to mark Patriots Day, which remembers the first battles of the American War of Independence.

Spectators were cheering as runners finished the race. The final mile had been dedicated to the victims of the Sandy Hooke Elementary School shooting, and some of the families were sitting near the finish line.

There are early reports coming out of Fox News that the FBI are searching an apartment in a suburb of Boston, with speculation that those responsible could have links to the Pakistani Taliban.

Read More: The Telegraph
Fox News

News

TWO KILLED AFTER EXPLOSIONS AT BOSTON MARATHON


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Two people have been killed and at least 100 injured after two explosions occured at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Some of those injured have lost limbs in the blasts. A third explosion was reported outside the JFK library in the city.

The explosions happened at 2:45pm local time, two hours after the first of the 27,000 competitors crossed the finish line.

Authorities say they knew of no security threats prior to the marathon, and are investigating the attack. Washington DC and New York have been placed on high alert.

Read More CNN

News

EXPLOSIONS REPORTED AT SITE OF BOSTON MARATHON

A series of explosions erupted near the finish line at the Boston Marathon on Monday. The Boston Police Department confirmed that they were looking into an explosion, but had no further comment.
The explosions at the Boston Marathon went off more than four hours after the start of the men’s race, which meant that there were still several thousand runners yet to finish the race.
The Associated Press reported that the authorities were helping injured runners leave the scene and bloody spectators were being carried to a medical tent that was being used for runners.

via Explosions Reported at Site of Boston Marathon – NYTimes.com.

Connecting The Dots, News

FRANCE: PRESIDENT FRANCOIS HOLLANDE DEMANDS WORLD’S TAX HAVEN’S BE ERADICATED

The world’s tax havens must be “eradicated” and French banks must declare all of their subsidiaries, declared French President Francois Hollande today.

Presenting a draft law “moralising” french public life, he also has demanded that all 37 ministers disclose their personal wealth and assets by this Monday, following the recent tax fraud scandals by leading government figures in France.

As his popularity since election last year dwindles, President Holland said French banks “will have to publish every year the full list of their subsidiaries in the world, country by country”. “They will also have to explain their business”, he said.

“In other words it won’t be possible for a bank to hide transactions carried out in a tax haven.”  In addition, “a high-level authority will be created to monitor the assets and interests of ministers, members of parliament and top elected officials“, he said.

Mr Hollande said a new national, specialist prosecutor would focus on corruption, with tougher penalties for those found guilty of fraud.

The banking system across Europe is being shaken once again, following recent banking scares in Cyprus, where Russian investors lost billions of Euros deposited in Cypriot banks. The government decided on an immediate tax on all accounts over 100,000 Euros and banks closed for a whole week while they negotiated an EU bailout deal, to prevent a run on their banks.  Some sources claimed Cyprus was a “tax haven” and a “money laundering” center, though today Cyprus announced citizenship rules are to be relaxed in Cyprus to encourage foreign investors who lost 3 million Euros under the Cyprus EU bailout deal last month.

The reaction of the french banks, and the rest of the corporate world, to Francois Hollande’s proposals will make interesting reading over the next few days.

READ MORE……

Politics

GERMAN ANTI-EURO PARTY FOUNDED – “ALTERNATIVE” 1ST PARTY CONFERENCE

A new German political party opposed to the single European currency is holding its first national conference.

Alternative for Germany wants the euro abolished, with states returning to their original currencies.

Opinion polls suggest the party is unlikely to win widespread support in September’s general elections.

But analysts say it could skim enough votes from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats to make it harder for her to retain power.

Read more……

Connecting The Dots

HOPI TRIBE MASKS – PARIS AUCTION ORDERED BY JUDGE

Hopi tribe masks fetch record prices at Paris auction

 

A "Chof Cachina" sacred mask of the Arizona's Hopi native American tribe
The Hopi say the masks are blessed with the spirits of their ancestors

A mask from a native American tribe in Arizona has fetched 160,000 euros (£135,000) at auction in Paris, more than three times the pre-sale estimate.

Friday’s auction of 70 masks fetched some 930,000 euros after a legal challenge to stop the sale failed.

Lawyers for the Hopi tribe had asked for the auction to be cancelled on the grounds that the masks must have been stolen from the tribe.

It considers them sacred and blessed with divine spirits.

Auctioneers, however, say the masks had been bought and sold in the past and were legally acquired.

They said blocking the sale would have implications for the trade of indigenous art and could potentially force French museums to hand back collections they have bought.

‘Criminal gesture’

The masks – mysterious looking faces fashioned from wood, leather, horse hair and feathers, and painted in a vivid array of colours – are spiritual artefacts thought to have been taken from a reservation in northern Arizona in the 1930’s and 40’s.

To Hopi Indians they are sacred – tools through which the living can communicate with the spirits of the dead.

READ MORE……

Random Events, Free Will, Pre-destiny or Something Darker ?