East Dublin - A drug task force gunned down a grandfather in his home during a botched late-night raid that was based on the word of a self-confessed meth addict and burglar who had robbed the property two nights prior. His grieving widow is disputing the official story regarding the no-knock raid that led to her husband's untimely death.

The devastating incident occurred the evening of September 24, 2014. David Hooks and his wife of 25 years, Teresa, had settled in for the evening; Mr. Hooks was asleep and his wife was upstairs in her craft room.

At approximately 11:00 p.m., she noticed a vehicle abruptly race down her driveway. She saw men jump out of the vehicle and approach her home, donning black and camouflage clothing, shrouded in hoods.

Mrs. Hooks bolted for the bedroom to alert her sleeping husband. "The burglars are back," she insisted. Earlier that week, the couple's home had been burglarized and an SUV stolen from the driveway.

Mr. Hooks, a 59-year-old businessman, sprang from his bed and picked up a firearm, then took a defensive stand to protect his wife and home from the intruders. As he exited his bedroom, the back door of the house was breached, and gun-wielding home invaders charged in.

What happened next was described as "chaos." The intruders used their weapons to send a hail of gunfire into the residence; a total of 16-18 shots from rifles and .40 caliber handguns.

When the gun smoke cleared, it became evident that the intruders were actually a Drug Task Force and members of the Laurens County Sheriff's Response Team (SRT). Mr. Hooks was killed without returning fire.

Police are calling this brutal and destructive reaction to a seat belt violation, justified.

A family from Hammond, Illinois was recently on their way to Stroger Hospital in Chicago, to visit a dying relative when they were attacked by police at a traffic stop.

Lisa Mahone was on the way to the hospital to visit her dying mother, her boyfriend Jamal Jones, and her two children were also in the car at the time.

The entire family was on their way to say their final goodbyes when they were pulled over by police because Lisa was not wearing a seat belt.

When police came to the window and asked Mahone for her license and registration, she gave that information to the officers and informed them that she was on her way to the hospital with her family to visit her dying mother.

Ignoring her request, the police became aggressive, demanding that the passenger of the vehicle, Jamal Jones, also provide officers with his ID. Jones was not carrying his ID at the time, because it was taken by police in a recent encounter when he was ticketed for a traffic violation.

Regardless of his reason, passengers of vehicles should not be expected to carry identification at all times. The idea of police being able to ask any person for identification without any reason is a tenant of fascism, which is becoming more and more prevalent in American by the day.

To appease the officers, Jones attempted to give them a recent ticket he received, to prove his identity. However, when he reached for his bag, multiple officers drew their guns on the car, with two young children inside.

A CN freight train carrying dangerous goods derailed in central Saskatchewan on Tuesday and caught fire.

The Saskatchewan government said the derailment happened near the small community of Clair, which was being evacuated. RCMP said people with farms in the area were also being told to leave.

CN spokesman Jim Feeny said the train was made up of three locomotives pulling 100 cars and that 26 of them derailed.

He said the fire came from petroleum distillate, which spilled from two of the derailed cars.

"They had fire and smoke," Feeny said. "The crew is not injured, but we have reports from the local authorities that some nearby residents in the rural area have been evacuated."

Highway 5 was closed in the area.

"Provincial emergency services are headed out there," said Karen Hill, a spokeswoman for Saskatchewan provincial emergency services. "The RCMP have closed the highway in both directions."

John Oliver enlisted the help of Jeff Goldblum to hilariously explain one of the least-funny law enforcement practices you've never heard of in Sunday night's episode of "Last Week Tonight."

The segment explains a disturbing and escalating trend in law enforcement known as "civil forfeiture" - a process by which police can seize items including cash, cars and even houses from civilians who haven't been charged with a crime. Police departments are frequently allowed to keep the items and often-large quantities of cash to purchase things for the department at their discretion and leisure.

During a 2012 citizen police review board hearing, Missouri Police Chief Ken Burton said police routinely decide to seize funds "based on a need" and that there were "not really" any limitations "on the forfeiture stuff."

Four men have been arrested in London on suspicion of terror offences as part of an investigation into Islamist-related terrorism, police have said.

Whitehall officials told the BBC the arrests "may have foiled the early stages" of a plan to attack the UK.

The four men, aged 20 and 21, were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism.

Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said it was a "quite serious case".

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said Whitehall officials were unable to comment on the nature of the potential plot they say may have been foiled.

Officials said the investigation was in its early stages and interviews and searches were ongoing, our correspondent added.

'Drumbeat around terrorism'

Those arrested were taken to police stations in central London and remain in custody. Officials said one individual had spent time in Syria.

"Let your motto be resistance! resistance! Resistance! No oppressed people have ever secured their liberty without resistance." - Abolitionist Henry Highland Garnet

The perils of resisting the police state grow more costly with each passing day, especially if you hope to escape with your life and property intact. The thing you must remember is that we've entered an age of militarized police in which we're no longer viewed as civilians but as enemy combatants.

Take, for example, Mary Elizabeth VandenBerg who was charged with disturbing the peace, a crime punishable by up to 93 days in jail and a $500 fine, for daring to vocalize her frustrations over a traffic ticket by reading a prepared statement to the court clerk and paying her $145 traffic ticket with 145 one-dollar bills. VandenBerg was also handcuffed, tasered and pepper sprayed for "passively" resisting police by repeatedly stopping and talking to them and stiffening her arms. The incident, filmed by VandenBerg's brother, is now the subject of a lawsuit.

Zachary Noel was tasered by police and charged with resisting arrest after he questioned why he was being ordered out of his truck during a traffic stop. "Because I'm telling you to," the officer replied before repeating his order for Noel to get out of the vehicle and then, without warning, shooting him with a taser through the open window. The encounter, recorded with a cell phone by Noel's friend in the passenger seat, offers a particularly chilling affirmation of how little recourse Americans really have when it comes to obeying an order from a government official or police officer, even if it's just to ask a question or assert one's rights.

Eighteen-year-old Keivon Young was shot seven times by police from behind while urinating outdoors. Young was just zipping up his pants when he heard a commotion behind him and then found himself struck by a hail of bullets from two undercover cops. Despite the fact that the officers mistook Young - 5'4," 135 lbs., and guilty of nothing more than taking a leak outdoors - for a 6' tall, 200 lb. murder suspect whom they later apprehended, the young man was charged with felony resisting arrest and two counts of assaulting a peace officer.

What these incidents make clear is that anything short of compliance will now get you charged with any of the growing number of contempt charges (ranging from resisting arrest and interference to disorderly conduct, obstruction, and failure to obey a police order) that get trotted out anytime a citizen voices discontent with the government or challenges or even questions the authority of the powers that be - and that's the best case scenario. The worst case scenario involves getting probed, poked, pinched, tasered, tackled, searched, seized, stripped, manhandled, arrested, shot, or killed.

Up to 100,000 people have taken part in a birthday celebration rally in honor of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Chechnya's capital of Grozny, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported Tuesday.

The rally was launched at Minutka Square later moving on to Akhmad Kadyrov Avenue in Grozny, where "up to 100,000 Chechens attended the celebration", a spokesman for the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs told RIA Novosti.

The participants carried 600 meter Russian and Chechen flags chanting "Russia!", "Chechnya!"

The celebration will conclude with a birthday concert and Chechen folk dancing.

This year, on October 7, Vladimir Putin celebrates his 62nd birthday. According to presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the Russia leader took a day off and left for the Siberian taiga to mark his birthday.

Sanctions and trade wars between Russia and the West will have severe economic consequences, Gerald Celente, publisher of the Trends Journal, told RT. He added that it is "absolutely insane" to impose sanctions when much of the global economy is so weak.

RT: US Vice President Joe Biden admitted that the US had to - in his words - embarrass Europe into sanctioning Russia. But how embarrassing is this revelation for Brussels?

Gerald Celente: Well I do not think it is embarrassing at all for them, because they have been kowtowing to what America wants them to do now probably since the end of World War II. So it is very clear that Europe does not have what it takes to stand on its own.

And worse than that, well not worse than that but equal to it, is that this is at a time when the European economy and much of the global economy is on a severe downtrend. And to have sanctions at a time when the economy is weak is absolutely insane. And I say that not for myself. If you pick up today's Financial Times - a warning over global economic growth, from the Brookings Institution. If you go back to Friday - IMF expects to cut its forecasts following the loss of output momentum. And I could go on and on. One forecast after another showing slowing economic growth. And sanctions on Russia? To destabilize the region even more? It is insanity.

At least 19 people died as a result of artillery strikes on Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, over the past 24 hours, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk's People Republic defense ministry's political department, Eduard Basurin told TASS on Tuesday.

Over the 24 hours at least three militias were killed and another 36 fighters were injured, Basurin said.

Earlier, the press service of the self-proclaimed Donetsk's People Republic Interior Ministry said the remains of the bodies of four people were found after artillery strikes between the village of Biryuzovo and the cemetery of the mine 29. A criminal case was launched under the article 'murder of two or more people'."

Artillery fire hit the Kievsky, Kuibyshevsky and Kalininsky districts, the report states.

"Some people were killed at the scene and other people died in ambulances and hospitals," the press service said.

The Seattle City Council passed a unanimous decision on Monday to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day in the city.

Tribal members and other supporters say that the move recognizes the rich history of people who have inhabited the area for centuries.

Last week, the Seattle School Board decided to have its schools observe Indigenous Peoples' Day on the same day as Columbus Day; earlier this year, Minneapolis made the same decision.