10 things you need to know today: April 20, 2013

1. POLICE CATCH SECOND BOSTON SUSPECT

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the second suspect in the gruesome Boston Marathon bombings, was finally cornered and captured by law enforcement officials on Friday evening, after a dramatic day-long manhunt that had Boston on lockdown. The 19-year-old, whose older brother and alleged accomplice Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police early Friday morning, is alive and in custody after a separate lengthy standoff with police. Officials reported that Dzhokhar, who was found hiding in a boat in a Watertown, Mass., backyard, had suffered significant blood loss and was in serious condition at the hospital. [The Week]

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2. DETAILS EMERGE ABOUT TSARNAEV BROTHERS

The two brothers suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings came to the United States from Russia's Dagestan region, near Chechnya, with their family in 2002. Tamerlan Tsarnaev at one timed trained as a boxer and attended Bunker Hill Community College before dropping out. His brother Dzhokhar is said to be an outgoing wrestler who is enrolled at UMASS Dartmouth and is active on social media sites like Twitter. Dzhokhar once won a $2,500 scholarship from the City of Cambridge and is described by friends as a "nice guy." [Wall Street Journal, New York Times]

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3. FOURTEEN PEOPLE CONFIRMED DEAD AFTER TEXAS EXPLOSION

Fourteen bodies were recovered from the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, with 60 people still unaccounted for. Overall, 200 people have been reported injured and 50 homes destroyed. Authorities are still scouring the scene for survivors and clues to determine the cause of the explosion, which was so big it registered as a 2.1-magnitude earthquake. [CNN]

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4. FORMER PAKISTAN PRESIDENT PROMISES TO FIGHT BACK AFTER ARREST

"These allegations are politically motivated, and I will fight them in the trial court, where the truth will eventually prevail," wrote Pervez Musharraf on Facebook while under house arrest on the outskirts of Islamabad. He was arrested after escaping Islamabad High Court in a speeding car to escape charges stemming from when he dismissed several senior judges before declaring a state of emergency and suspending the constitution while president of Pakistan in 2007. [NPR]

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5. BOY SCOUTS PROPOSE END TO BAN ON GAY MEMBERS

The Boy Scouts of America is proposing to lift its ban on gay scouts, suggesting that "no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone." Gay adults, however, would still be banned from taking positions within the organization. The proposal will be voted on next month. [Reuters]

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6. NICOLAS MADURO SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA

Nicolas Maduro, the hand-picked successor to deceased former president Hugo Chavez, was sworn in as president of Venezuela in front of thousands of people. Tensions remained high as a protestor grabbed Maduro's microphone away from him during his speech before being dragged away by security. This comes after country-wide protests on Monday over the presidential election results, which resulted in seven deaths and 61 injuries. [BBC]

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7. ALLEGED RICIN POISONER BELIEVED DRONES WERE AFTER HIM

Paul Kevin Curtis, the 45-year-old Mississippi man accused of sending President Obama and a GOP senator letters laced with ricin, refused to enter a plea in an Oxford, Miss. courtroom. According to court documents and interviews with people who know him, Curtis was a paranoid man who believed "the government was spying on him with drones." He was also writing a novel called Missing Pieces to publicize his theory about widespread underground trafficking in human body parts. [Washington Post]

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8. SOLAR-POWERED PLANE COMPLETES TEST FLIGHT IN CALIFORNIA

Solar Impulse, considered by some to be the most advanced solar-powered plane in the world, completed a two-hour test flight on Friday over the San Francisco Bay. Powered by 12,000 photovoltaic cells on its wings, the single-seat plane maxes out at 45 mph. André Borschberg, the plane's creator, hopes to attempt a flight around the world in two years. [Associated Press]

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9. SECTARIAN VIOLENCE AHEAD OF ELECTIONS IN IRAQ

One day after 27 people were killed by a suicide bomber in a Baghdad cafe, at least seven people were killed by a mortar attack in a Sunni mosque in northern Iraq. The escalating violence is believed to be the result of sectarian tensions between Sunni and Shia communities before provincial elections are held on Saturday. [BBC]

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10. RAPE OF FIVE-YEAR-OLD SPARKS PROTEST IN INDIA

Outrage over the alleged rape of a five-year-old girl by a male neighbor spilled out onto the streets of New Delhi Friday as hundreds of people protested outside of the hospital where she was being treated. She was discovered semi-conscious in the suspect's house and is currently in critical condition. This comes months after four men and one teenage boy were accused of brutally raping a 23-year-old woman on a New Delhi bus. [Reuters]