BREAKING NEWS: Masked intruder armed with a knife and sawn-off-shotgun cuts the throat of elderly woman and kills a man as he holds 70 monks and nuns hostage at retirement home near Montpellier in France

Two people are dead and more than 70 monks were being held hostage by a masked man with a knife and sawn-off shotgun in in Montpellier, France.

Local residents claim the armed man stormed the retirement home at around 9.45pm but they are unsure of his motives as anti-terror police surround the building.

At least 70 monks and nuns, who have served as missionaries in Africa, reside in the home in Montferrier-sur-Lez, north of the city. 

Those killed are thought to be an elderly female supervisor who was stabbed several times and a man who was working with her.

Masked gunman stormed retirement home (pictured) in Montepellier, France, and is now on the run

Pictures from the scene tweeted by Henry A Pinto: Emergency services including armed police at the scene tonight as hunt for gunman continues 

BREAKING: Nigeria Presidential Aircraft Crashes Source

One of the presidential jets belonging to the Nigerian Air Force, has crashed at the Nigerian Air Force base in Makurdi.

The Agusta AW 101, which is a medium-lift helicopter specially designed for military operations, was one of the jets recently handed to the Air Force by the federal government.

According to a report by TheNewGuru, the plane reportedly crashed due to poor training of crew members who manned its operation.

But the Director of Information of the Nigeria Air Force, Group Captain Dele Famuyiwa, has denied the report that one of the aircraft crashed.

“It was not a crash. I wouldn’t call it a crash because it just fell on the ground in Makurdi.”
Source: https://thewhistler.ng/story/breaking-nigeria-presidential-aircraft-crashes

'Sindr' is the Catholic Church's Tinder for confessions

Do you want to confess your sins but don’t know where the closest confessional is? You are...probably a lapsed Catholic. But perhaps you could benefit from a new app the Catholic Church is introducing next year that lets users search for confessionals and Holy Mass.

The Catholic app is being nicknamed “Sindr” by some, though that makes it sound more like you get to swipe right to commit sins—which is already what Tinder is for. But Catholics are hoping this gets younger members of the faith more involved, what with having to balance their faith in a "frenetic world," or so the app demo says.  

No drugs, alcohol found in driver in Tennessee school bus crash, death toll hits six

 

No drugs or alcohol were found in the system of the man accused of vehicular homicide in the crash of a Tennessee elementary school bus that killed six children and critically injured several more, police said on Wednesday.

Johnthony Walker, 24, was driving the bus full of students home from Chattanooga's Woodmore Elementary School on Monday when it veered off a road, flipped on its side and smashed into a tree and telephone poll, according to a police affidavit.

Officials said five children were killed initially: a kindergartner, a first-grader and three fourth-grade students. Police said on Wednesday evening that a sixth child had died.

Walker was driving on a narrow, winding road at well above the speed limit of 30 miles per hour (48 kph) when he lost control, leaving the bright yellow bus mangled and nearly severed in two, the affidavit said.

Justin Bieber accused of punching fan

Justin Bieber has been caught on video appearing to slug a fan.

TMZ posted the footage of Bieber in Barcelona while on tour Tuesday.

In the video, Bieber is being driven in a car approaching Palau Sant Jordi stadium.

A group of screaming fans are greeting the car containing Bieber when a man sticks his hand in the window and appears to touch the singer.

Bieber's hand can then be seen making contact with the man's face.

watch video

At least 40 killed in east China scaffolding collapse

 

At least 40 people were killed in a scaffolding collapse Thursday morning at a construction site in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangxi, state media reported.

A work platform at a power plant cooling tower being built in the city of Fengcheng came tumbling down at about 7:30 a.m., an official with the local Work Safety Administration said by telephone.

He put the confirmed death toll at 22 but the official Xinhua News Agency said that figure had risen to at least 40 by midday. Xinhua did not cite its source for the information and calls to local government information offices rang unanswered.

Xinhua said an unknown number of others were still trapped in the debris.

Television footage and photographs from the site showed iron pipes and wooden planks strewn across the floor of the massive concrete cooling tower.

China has suffered a series of major industrial accidents over recent months blamed on corruption, disregard for safety and pressure to boost production amid a slowing economy.

Trump to Accept Inauguration Funds From Corporations and Big Donors

 President-elect Donald J. Trump will allow corporations and wealthy individuals to make large donations to fund the activities surrounding his inauguration, complicating his promise to eliminate special interests from influencing his government.

Mr. Trump plans to ban money from registered lobbyists, whom he has purged from his transition team and barred from working for his administration. But the restrictions will be lighter on corporations and individuals — the groups that have traditionally provided a vast majority of funding for the festivities surrounding the transfer of power.

The restrictions, which members of the Presidential Inaugural Committee cautioned have yet to be finalized, represent a continued march back from standards set in 2009, when President-elect Barack Obama banned gifts from lobbyists, political action committees and corporations, and put a cap of $50,000 on individuals.