1. IRAN DENIES INVOLVEMENT IN THWARTED CANADIAN TERRORIST PLOT
Canadian authorities have arrested two men accused of planning an al Qaeda-supported attack against a passenger train traveling between Canada and the United States, said Rep. Peter King of New York, chairman of the counterterrorism and intelligence subcommittee. The news followed an announcement earlier in the day by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that they had arrested Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jase. The two men are charged with "receiving support from al Qaeda elements in Iran" to carry out an attack and conspiring to murder people on a VIA railway train in the greater Toronto area, Assistant Police Commissioner James Malizia said. On Tuesday, an Iranian official denied any links between the country and the suspects. [BBC, CNN]
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2. TSARNAEV SAYS HE AND BROTHER ACTED ALONE
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, has told investigators that his older brother, not any international terrorist group, masterminded the deadly attack, according to a U.S. government source. Preliminary interviews with Tsarnaev indicate that the two brothers fit the classification of self-radicalized jihadists. Tsarnaev has conveyed to investigators that his brother Tamerlan's motivation was that of jihadist thought and the idea that Islam is under attack and jihadists need to fight back, the source said. On Monday, Tsarnaev was charged with conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, and may face the death penalty. [Wall Street Journal]
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3. CAR EXPLODES OUTSIDE FRENCH EMBASSY IN LIBYA
A car parked outside the French Embassy in Tripoli exploded and wounded two French guards on Tuesday in what appeared to be the first major terrorist attack on a diplomatic compound in the Libyan capital since the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. If deliberate, the blast would also be the most significant such attack on a diplomatic facility in Libya since the Benghazi siege last September. Libyans suspect that militant Islamists angry over the French intervention in Mali planned the attack. French troops are supporting government efforts to oppose Islamic militants in the north of that country; the assault came a day after the French Parliament voted to extend the French military deployment there. [New York Times]
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4. TEACHER ON FBI'S MOST WANTED LIST CAPTURED IN NICARAGUA
Eric Toth, a former Washington, D.C., elementary school teacher and accused child pornographer who replaced Osama bin Laden on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, was detained in Nicaragua on Monday. Toth had been on the run for almost five years. As of Monday afternoon he had not been extradited to the United States. Last year, the FBI upgraded Toth from a local most-wanted list and named him one of the country's most notorious fugitives. His face was plastered on bus stops and billboards in the D.C. area and nationwide, including in Manhattan's Times Square. Toth taught third grade at Beauvoir, a private elementary school on the grounds of the Washington National Cathedral. He was escorted off campus in June 2008 after another teacher reported found sexually explicit photographs on a school camera in Toth's possession. He had not been seen since he lost his job. [Washington Post]
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5. TSA BLOCKS SMALL KNIVES ON PLANES
The TSA decided to delay a controversial new rule that would have allowed small knives to be carried on passenger aircraft, the agency said Monday. Bats, golf clubs, and other sports equipment that was set to be permitted under the new rule will also stay banned for now. The TSA is calling this a temporary delay, and says it has not decided on a new implementation date. The new rule for small blades — shorter than 2.36 inches in length and less than 1/2 inch in width — had been set to go into effect April 25. [USA Today]
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6. TALIBAN HOLDS CIVILIANS HOSTAGE IN AFGHANISTAN
Taliban insurgents captured at least 11 civilian passengers of a transport helicopter that was forced to make an emergency landing in a Taliban-controlled area of eastern Afghanistan on Monday. According to a Western official, there were no Americans aboard the chopper; however, there were eight Turks, a Russian, a Kyrgyz crew member, and one Afghan citizen. Turkish authorities assumed that the crew and passengers were in good condition because they hadn't received any information to the contrary, said Levent Gumrukcu, a spokesman at the Turkish Foreign Ministry in Ankara. [Wall Street Journal, USA Today]
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7. FURLOUGHS CAUSE FLIGHT DELAYS AT MANY AIRPORTS
Flight delays are piling up across the country, especially along the East Coast, as thousands of air traffic controllers began taking unpaid days off because of federal budget cuts, providing the most visible impact yet of Congress and the White House's failure to agree on a long-term deficit-reduction plan. The Federal Aviation Administration kept planes on the ground because there weren't enough controllers to monitor busy air corridors. Delays held up flights at some of the nation's busiest airports on Monday, including in New York City, Baltimore, and Washington., D.C. At airports, Monday is typically one of the busiest days, when many high-paying business travelers depart for a week on the road. [ABC News]
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8. NEW YORK CITY MAY BAN UNDER-21 CIGARETTE SALES
New York City took the first step on Monday toward outlawing sales of cigarettes to anyone under age 21, in an effort to reduce smoking among the age group in which most smokers take up the habit. The bill, which was introduced by the City Council, has the backing of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has already notoriously pushed for public health reform in areas such as large-size sodas and calorie counts. The bill would make New York City, which already has the highest cigarette taxes in the nation, the first big city or state to set the smoking age at 21. [Reuters]
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9. NETFLIX POSTS HEALTHY REVENUES AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
Netflix reported revenues of $1.02 billion during the first three months of the year and an added 2 million domestic subscribers for that quarter, bringing their total number of subscribers to 29.2 million. The results represent a positive response to the Kevin Spacey-led political thriller House of Cards. Analysts estimated that the company would report about $1 billion in revenue. The numbers are a welcome relief for the company after a shaky period of rebranding last year. [TechCrunch]
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10. SINGER RICHIE HAVENS DIES
Folk singer and guitarist Richie Havens died on Monday at 72. His family said in a statement that he suffered a heart attack. Havens famously performed at the 1969 Woodstock Festival. [People]
