Boston Bombing Suspect's Wife 'Very Distraught,' Lawyer Says (+video)

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Photo Credit: John Clarke Russ

By Alan Duke. The wife of deceased Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is “very distraught” and “cries a lot,” her lawyer told CNN Monday.

The FBI wants to interview Katherine Russell about her husband, but for now, agents only have been able to talk to attorney Amato DeLuca.

“She knew nothing about it at any time,” DeLuca told CNN’s Chris Lawrence, referring to the bomb plot.

Russell, 24, learned through news reports that the father of her 2-year-old daughter was suspected in the attack, DeLuca said. “That’s my understanding.”

Hearing that news devastated her, he added.

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How doctor’s daughter became the Muslim convert widow of Boston bomber: Terrorist husband ‘brainwashed’ her and she gave up her dreams of college to have his baby at 21

By Laura Collins. Katherine Russell, the widow of Boston bomb suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was ‘an all-American girl who was brainwashed’ by her extremist husband according to one schoolfriend.

Today MailOnline has gained the first glimpse and pictures of the early life of the woman who, according to those who knew her best, was ‘totally transformed’ by Tsarnaev.

At high school her personal motto was ‘Do something about it or stop complaining’. She dreamed of going to college and joining the Peace Corps.

She urged her friends to ‘lighten up and enjoy the small things,’ in life.

Instead she met Tsarneav, 26, a disenfranchised man who came to America from his troubled homeland of Chechnya who rapidly had her in his thrall. Read more from this story HERE.

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Source: Boston Bomb Suspect Says Brother was Brains Behind Attack (+video)

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Photo Credit: Ninian Reid

Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has told investigators his older brother Tamerlan was the driving force behind last week’s attack and that no international terrorist groups were behind them, a U.S. government source said Monday.

Preliminary interviews with Tsarnaev indicate the two brothers fit the classification of self-radicalized jihadists, the source said. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, wounded and held in a Boston hospital, has said his brother — who was killed early Friday — wanted to defend Islam from attack, according to the source.

The government source cautioned that the interviews were preliminary, and that Tsarnaev’s account needs to be checked out and followed up on by investigators.

And a federal law enforcement official told CNN that while investigators have seen nothing yet to indicate the suspects were working with anyone else, a lot of work remains before they can say confidently that no others were involved. That official would not comment on any motive or specifics on what Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has communicated to officials.

The 19-year-old has been charged with using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, and one count of malicious destruction of property by means of an explosive device resulting in death. He was heavily sedated and on a ventilator at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, but was “alert, mentally competent and lucid” during the brief initial court appearance at his bedside on Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler found.

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Feds Halt Business to Clear Path for Rodents (+video)

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A lawsuit has been launched by the Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of property owners in Cedar City, Utah, whose private land effectively is being confiscated by the federal government for the use of a species of rodent that has been determined to have “no commercial value.”

The action by the PLF, which has taken on federal government environmental regulations in several high-profile cases in recent months, is on behalf of members of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Property Owners – or residents of the Cedar City area.

It names as defendants the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Director Daniel M. Ashe, Regional Director Noreen Walsh and others.

The case focuses on the mandated protections for the Utah prairie dog, a type of ground squirrel, or rodent, established by the federal government for owners of private property in the Utah region.

A new rule that was imposed just last fall demands that property owners are not allowed to “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect” the animals – including when they are blocking construction, development or the protection of private property.

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Bill Maher: Comparing Violence of Islam to Christianity ‘Liberal Bulls**t’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

On HBO’s “Real Time” on Friday night, host Bill Maher entertained CSU-San Bernardino professor Brian Levin, director of the Center for Study of Hate and Extremism, who maintained that despite the events in recent days, religious extremism isn’t only a product of Islam.

But Maher took issue with that claim, calling it “liberal bullshit” and said there was no comparison.

“You know what, yeah, yeah,” Maher said. “You know what — that’s liberal bullshit right there … they’re not as dangerous. I mean there’s only one faith, for example, that kills you or wants to kill you if you draw a bad cartoon of the prophet. There’s only one faith that kills you or wants to kill you if you renounce the faith. An ex-Muslim is a very dangerous thing. Talk to Salman Rushdie after the show about Christian versus Islam. So you know, I’m just saying let’s keep it real.”

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Boston Bombing Marathon Suspect Dead, Another 'Armed and Dangerous,' both from Chechnya, Police Say (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP

By ANTHONY CASTELLANO and LEE FERRAN. One suspect in this week’s deadly Boston Marathon bombing is dead while a second suspect is still at large and the subject of a massive overnight manhunt in Massachusetts, police said early this morning.

In a brief press conference, a local police official said the first suspect was killed after exchanging fire with police officers, during which multiple explosive devices were detonated. One officer was injured and is in critical condition. The man the FBI identified Thursday as Suspect 2 in photos released related to the Boston Marathon bombing investigation is on the loose and is armed and dangerous, police said. He is the target of an “active search by tactical teams.”

“We believe this is a terrorist, we believe this is a man that’s come here to kill people,” said Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis.

Police also released a new image of Suspect 2, which they said was taken from a local 7-11 in Cambridge, Mass., last night.

Watertown police have blocked off at least one town street and multiple police cars, ambulances and fire trucks are on the scene. Read more from this story HERE.

Boston Marathon bombing suspects are brothers of Chechen origin, say reports

The two suspects in Monday’s Boston Marathon bombing have been identified as men from Chechnya.

Earlier today they killed a police officer at the MIT campus, injured a transit officer in a firefight and threw explosive devices at police during their getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left one of them dead and another still at large Friday, authorities said.

A law enforcement intelligence bulletin obtained by the AP identified the surviving bomb suspect as 19-year-old Dzhokhar A Tsarnaev of Cambridge, Massachussets.

Two law enforcement officials told AP that Tsarnaev and the other suspect, who was not immediately identified, had been living legally in the US for at least one year.

Authorities say the suspects threw explosives from the car as police followed it into Watertown. The suspects and police exchanged gunfire and one of the suspects was critically injured and later died. Read more from this story HERE.

Editor’s Note: Fox is reporting in its live broadcast this morning that both individuals are brothers from Russia near Chechnya, who have been living in the Boston area with their family of six for the past year. Fox also reports that the brothers are registered to vote and must “obviously” be citizens.

Obama: 'Damned if He Does, Damned if He Doesn't' (+video)

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Photo Credit: DonkeyHotey

There are two very different President Obamas.

There’s the confident, uncompromising Obama who sought to shame and bully Republicans into submitting to his agenda of tax increases and sweeping gun reform. This version of Obama was dominant until one month ago.

Then there’s the calmer, more compromising Obama — the one who has courted Republicans and taken on his own party with a call for (modest) reductions in entitlement spending. This version of Obama took command last month. Both are flailing.

Obama, regardless of the personality and political approach he displays on any given day, keeps running into the same wall of insurmountable opposition. The cold, hard reality is that the president is trapped in a very frustrating box: He realizes that the vast majority of Congress is as impervious to his pressure as it is his charm. He is damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t — and he knows it, several of his friends tell us.

He will most likely get nothing on guns despite his vow after Wednesday’s Senate defeat that “this effort is not over.” He will most likely get nothing more on a grand bargain to lift the economy.

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Egyptian Cleric: 'Soon We Will See the Flag of…Allah Flying Over the White House…They are Already Holding [Islamic] Prayers' There (+video)

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The following is from a March interview with with Egyptian cleric Abu Islam on Al-Kahera Wal-Nas TV:

Abu Islam: We have four large Islamic groups: The Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafis, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and Al-Gama’a Islamiyya. These are the four significant powers.

Is there anyone more qualified to lead the country than the Muslim Brotherhood? Then let the Muslim Brotherhood assume this responsibility.

Who should be in charge of religious affairs in Egypt? The Salafis. Is any group more qualified than the Salafis to regulate ideology? I choose the Salafis to run Al-Azhar and the Ministry of Religious Endowments.

We are left with the army and the police. Which is the best to run the police? The Muslim Brotherhood? No. The Salafis? No. Al-Gama’a Islamiyya is the best for the job. This leaves the army for the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.

This is how disagreements can turn into pluralism, and I pray to Allah that this will be accepted by all, and the various powers of the Islamic nation will come together…

Interviewer: What about all the other people?

Abu Islam: What people?

Interviewer: All those people who do not belong to these four groups.

Abu Islam: Tell me exactly who you mean. The Communists?

Interviewer: For example…

Abu Islam: They have ruled for a long time. They have had enough. The liberals? They have ruled for a long time and have had enough too. Let’s give Islam a chance for once…

Trust me, very soon we will see the flag of “There is no god but Allah” flying over the White House. They are already holding [Muslim] prayers in the White House.

FBI Releases Images of Suspects in Boston Marathon Bombing (+video)

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Photo Credit: FBI

The FBI today released images of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing the bureau still considers to be “armed and extremely dangerous.”

At a press conference, FBI special agent in charge Richard DesLauriers referred to the two men as Suspect 1 and Suspect 2 and said Suspect 2 was spotted dropping a bag before a bomb exploded at the second bomb site. The two men appear to be “associated,” DesLauriers said.

DesLauriers asked the public for their help identifying the suspects, but asked the public not to approach them. Though the men are considered armed and dangerous, the FBI said they still do not believe there is an imminent danger in the area.

A few hours later, an FBI official cited a large volume of calls as a result of the photos and DesLauriers’ appeal for help.

A source close to the investigation told ABC News authorities have “good confidence” that the men in the photos perpetrated the crime. The degree of confidence, the source said, comes from a “revealing” reaction Suspect 2 had to the detonation of the first bomb, which was captured on surveillance video.

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Fertilizer Plant Explosion Leaves More than 100 Wounded in Central Texas; Fatalities Unclear (+video)

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Photo Credit: Washington Post

A massive explosion at a fertilizer plant in central Texas left more than 100 people wounded and killed an unspecified number Wednesday night, officials said, as first responders searched for victims in scores of wrecked homes.

Images of the gargantuan fireball were particularly jarring, coming just two days after a terrorist attack at the finish line of the Boston marathon. Officials in Texas said it was too early to say how the fire that triggered the blast began, and offered no evidence to suggest it involved foul play.

“Right now, we have tremendous amounts of injuries,” D.L. Wilson, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety told reporters shortly after midnight in a televised news conference. “It was massive, just like Iraq, just like the Murrah building in Oklahoma,” he added, referring to the April 19, 1995, bombing of the federal building in that city.

Authorities were struggling to get a clear sense of the damage in the tiny town of West, 20 miles north of Waco, because blazes were still raging in the area. They expressed concern about the hazard ammonia billowing through the air could cause.

Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton, a Waco police spokesman told reporters during a news conference early Thursday that firefighters and law enforcement personnel who were in the vicinity of the blast are unaccounted for.

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Rand Paul Opens 2016 Bid, Plans Primary Trips (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP

Tea Party favorite and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday said he is strongly considering a 2016 bid for the Republican presidential nomination, announcing plans to travel to at least three key primary states this summer.

“We’re considering it,” he said at a morning newsmaker breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

Paul, heir to his father former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul’s libertarian voting and fundraising base, said that he is already planning to visit three early primary states this summer — Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. And Paul said he “will continue to travel to the early primary states.”

The plain-spoken senator has been hinting of a 2016 run, saying it helps to give him a national voice on key issues. While his comments Wednesday were much stronger, he said he will not make a final decision until next year.

He joins Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as the other Tea Party leader planning to run for president in what is expected to be a crowded field. Rubio told radio host Andrea Tantaros Wednesday that he isn’t planning his 2016 travel yet, but called Iowa and New Hampshire “really great states.”

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