Tragedy at mosques

At least 49 people have been killed and 20 seriously injured after mass shootings at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch on Friday, in a carefully planned and unprecedented attack that has shocked the usually peaceful nation. Christchurch is along the coast and is the third most populous city in New Zealand behind Auckland and Wellington. New Zealand's Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, called the incident a terrorist attack, saying the suspects held "extremist views" that have no place in New Zealand or the world. Forty-one people were killed at the al Noor mosque. Seven people died at the Linwood mosque and one person died from their injuries at a hospital. Both mosques are in Christchurch city center. Four people were taken into custody -- three men and one woman. None of the four had been on any security watch lists prior to the attack. Armed police were deployed after first receiving reports of the shootings at 1:40 p.m. Friday. It is the busiest day for many mosques around the world when Muslims convene for Friday prayers. According to some witnesses, “The gunmen came from the backside. Gunshots went on for a long time.” An attacker reportedly livestreamed the massacre in a graphic, 17-minute post on Facebook, which was soon pulled down from the social media platform. An 87-page manifesto believed to belong to one attacker also has emerged, filled with anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric.

In Other News North Korea might suspend nuclear talks with the US. The North's deputy foreign minister says the country has "no intention to yield to the US demands" or continue negotiations. She said Pyongyang was disappointed in the breakdown in negotiations during last month's summit in Vietnam between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump, and she blamed the US delegation, saying the Americans were inflexible and too demanding. The US hasn't commented yet on the minister's comments. Investigators who discovered what's been called the biggest college admissions cheating scandal ever weren't even looking for it. They were investigating a totally separate case when they got a tip. It came from a financial executive who was being investigated by the feds in a fraud case. This executive, in a bid to save his own skin, told them that a soccer coach had accepted bribes to help the executive's daughter get into Yale, The Wall Street Journal reported. Investigators took it from there. The United Kingdom is supposed to leave the European Union two weeks from today. But it's unclear now if that timeline will hold. Yes, lawmakers voted yesterday to delay Brexit (British Exit), but now the ball is in the hands of EU leaders. They'll have to agree to give the UK more time, and there's no guarantee that will happen. The EU wants the UK to have a withdrawal deal in place before agreeing to the delay. But the UK Parliament has already shot down such a deal twice, by big margins. So, the pressure once again is on Prime Minister Theresa May to craft a withdrawal deal that UK lawmakers will accept. Tens of thousands of students all over the globe are walking out of class today and hitting the streets to protest lax government action on climate change. The Global Climate Strike is taking place in more than 100 countries. The strikes got started in Australia and New Zealand, with students marching in front of government buildings, chanting and hoisting signs that read, "Change the politics. Not the climate." There will be walkouts today in almost every US state, as well.

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY

Friday Photos