Texas Explosion: Kindness Amid Destruction

Aerial footage shows a neighbourhood blasted beyond recognition - an astonishing swathe of destruction where people are still missing.

Rescuers continue to pick through the wreckage of the fertiliser plant explosion, which has ripped into this once-normal Texas farming community.

At West's Village Bakery comfort and free food is on tap.

It is at the core of this town's clear instinct to pull together.

The explosion has affected practically everyone here

Only a couple of days ago the owner, Mimi Irwin, was at a local function with volunteer firefighters - some of whom lost their lives while trying to tackle the fire that triggered the blast.

She says: "These people were attorneys, insurance agents, bankers, pharmacists, farmers who all wanted to give.

"And our volunteer fire department is really an honour. They're not paid - they simply do this because they love our town."

People are pulling together as the town counts the human cost of the blast

Steve and Joyce Brock are also doing their bit to help by offering their own home to those who have lost theirs.

Mr Brock said: "If you lose four or five blocks of homes, somebody's going to be homeless, so we watched it before we went to bed and I told Joyce we need to go over there tomorrow and see if we can find somebody who needs a place to stay."

That may include Evelyn Muehlstein, who was alone in her home when the blast struck.

Volunteers have been taking bedding to residents left with nothing

"The ceiling fell down and it was all on the floor," she said. "It was awful, terrible.

"I just don't know what I'll do. I'm 92 years-old and I don't have a house."

Acts of kindness are not difficult to find here. For the moment Ms Muehlstein is being looked after by a neighbour.

Homes were wiped out by the force of the explosion

A mile from the bakery, homes like hers lie in ruins. No one - bar investigators - is allowed past the police cordon.

Officers are also locals. One told us his fear is that the operation is no longer one of rescue but recovery.

It seems everyone has a story to tell here.

As Texas governor Rick Perry put it, the tragedy has affected practically everybody in this small town and there is still looming uncertainty over which of their own was lost trying to save it.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Verdict In Case Of Woman Refused Abortion

Expert: Savita Could Have Lived

Updated: 6:31pm UK, Friday 19 April 2013

By David Blevins, Ireland Correspondent

Five times in 30 years, Ireland has voted on abortion. The tragic death of Savita Halappanavar has forced the country to search its soul once more on the emotive issue.

The 29-year-old dentist, a popular member of Galway's Indian community, died in the city's University Hospital last October. Her husband claimed doctors had refused to terminate her pregnancy.

For seven days, Praveen Halappanavar has listened to harrowing evidence at the inquest into his wife's death.  He said he felt her presence with him on his quest for justice.

Mr Halappanavar told jurors Savita had wept "tears of happiness" over her pregnancy but claimed she requested an abortion three times when doctors discovered she was miscarrying at 17 weeks.

Ann Maria Burke, a midwife, has apologised for telling Mrs Halapannavar she could not have a termination "because Ireland is a Catholic country", insisting she did not mean to "offend."

Expert witness Dr Peter Boylan, a former master at Ireland's National Maternity Hospital in Dublin, said Savita would "on the balance of probabilities" still be alive if granted a termination.

Abortion remains illegal in Ireland unless there is a threat to the mother's life, not just her health.  Doctors have to wait until she is dangerously ill before terminating a pregnancy.

Despite a Supreme Court ruling in 1992, the Irish government has never legislated for termination when the mother's life is at risk but is expected to do so this summer.

Pro-choice groups are campaigning for the threat of suicide to be included but this seems unlikely, much to the relief of pro-life groups.  The split is reflected on the streets.

The younger women Sky News spoke to were keen to see the law changed, but an elderly lady disagreed: "In all these things, God knows best and it works like that."

Dearbhla Geraghty from the Connaught Tribune senses change: "I felt I was witnessing history being made when Dr Peter Boylan said she would have survived had the law been different."

Had things gone to plan, Praveen Halapannavar would be the father of a two-week-old daughter.  Instead, he mourns the wife he loved and the child they yearned for.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Texas Plant Explosion: 14 Bodies Recovered

Officials have recovered 14 bodies following a massive explosion that levelled a fertiliser plant and destroyed dozens of homes in West, Texas.

Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt Jason Reyes did not say where the bodies were found but said more information would be provided later.

The majority of confirmed victims appear to have been firefighters or emergency workers who rushed in to fight the initial blaze.

The blast levelled nearby apartments

He says the bodies will be sent to the Dallas County medical examiner's office for identification.

Sgt Reyes earlier announced that 12 bodies had been recovered by Friday morning and that search and rescue efforts were ongoing.

Senator John Cornyn, speaking earlier to reporters in West, said as many as 60 people remain unaccounted for, but suggested some could be staying with friends and relatives.

Even before investigators released a confirmed number of fatalities, the names of the dead were becoming known in the town of 2,800.

Mourners gather for a candle light vigil at a church in West

A small group of firefighters and others who may have rushed toward the factory to battle a pre-explosion blaze are believed to be among the dead.

Authorities said there is no indication that the blast was anything other than an industrial accident. It remains unclear what sparked the blaze.

"We know everyone that was there first, in the beginning," said Christina Rodarte, who has lived in West for 27 years. "There's no words for it.

"It is a small community, and everyone knows the first responders, because anytime there's anything going on, the fire department is right there - all volunteer."

A massive plume of smoke filled the Texas sky after the blast

One victim Ms Rodarte knew and whose name has been released was Kenny Harris, a 52-year-old captain in the Dallas Fire Department who lived south of West. He was off duty at the time but responded to the fire to help, according to a statement from the city of Dallas.

West's landscape is likely to be altered permanently after an area four to five blocks in radius was levelled by the blast. An apartment complex was badly shattered, a school set ablaze, and a nursing home was left in ruins.

Residents have been kept out of a large swathe of West, where search and rescue teams continue to pick through the rubble.

Some with permission have made forays closer to the destruction and came back stunned - and it is possible other residents will be allowed to retrieve some personal belongings on Friday, emergency workers said.

Texas attorney general Greg Abbott said: "I had an expectation of what I would see, but what I saw went beyond my expectations in a bad way. It is very disturbing to see the site."

Firefighter Darryl Hall, from Thorndale, about 50 miles away from West, was one of the rescue workers helping with the house-to-house search.

A nearby football pitch served as a makeshift triage in the aftermath

He said: "People's lives are devastated here. It's hard to imagine."

A team from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives still had not been able to begin investigating the scene because it remained unsafe, agency spokeswoman Franceska Perot said.

The West Fertilizer Co facility stores and distributes anhydrous ammonia, a fertiliser that can be directly injected into soil, and a blender and mixer of other fertilisers.

Records reviewed by the AP news agency show the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration fined West Fertilizer $10,000 last summer for safety violations that included planning to transport anhydrous ammonia without a security plan.

An inspector also found the plant's ammonia tanks were not properly labelled.

In a risk-management plan filed with the Environmental Protection Agency about a year earlier, the company said it was not handling flammable materials and did not have sprinklers, water-deluge systems, blast walls, fire walls or other safety mechanisms in place at the plant.

State officials require all facilities that handle anhydrous ammonia to have sprinklers and other safety measures because it is a flammable substance, according to Mike Wilson, head of air permitting for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

But inspectors would not necessarily check for such mechanisms, and it is not known whether they did when the West plant was last inspected in 2006, said Ramiro Garcia, head of enforcement and compliance.

That inspection followed a complaint about a strong ammonia smell, which the company resolved by obtaining a new permit, said the commission's executive director Zak Covar.

He said no other complaints had been filed with the state since then, so there have not been additional inspections.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Boston Suspect 'Twitter Account' Revealed

Boston Marathon Blasts: Timeline

Updated: 11:14am UK, Saturday 20 April 2013

Here is a timeline of events from the Boston Marathon bombings to the death of one of the suspects and another one being taken into custody.

Monday, April 15 (Times are local)

2.50pm: An explosion takes place near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Around 10 seconds later, there is another blast about 100m further back down the same road, Boylston Street, also on the marathon route.

The explosions occurred four hours into the race and two hours after the men's winner had crossed the line, but thousands of runners were still on the course.

2.57pm: The Boston Globe's Twitter feed reports a witness hearing "two loud booms" near the finish line.

4.02pm: Two people have died and 23 injured in the explosions, Boston Police confirms via Twitter.

6.12pm: President Barack Obama addresses the nation, saying: "The American people will say a prayer for Boston tonight."

8.49pm: At a news conference, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announces the FBI has taken over the investigation.

It is confirmed three people died as a result of the bombings and at least 100 others were hurt. The injury toll was later put at over 180.

Tuesday, April 16

Two victims of the blasts were identified as Martin Richard, eight, and 29-year-old Krystle Campbell.

Martin was waiting with his family to give his father a hug at the finish line when he died.

Restaurant manager Ms Campbell had gone with her best friend to take a picture of the friend's boyfriend crossing the finish when the bombs went off.

Wednesday, April 17

The third victim is identified as 23-year-old Chinese graduate student Lingzi Lu.

Boston University confirmed Ms Lu was studying mathematics and statistics there and was due to receive her degree in 2015.

It said she and two friends had been watching the marathon near the finish line. One of the friends, also a Boston University student, was injured while the other was unharmed, it added.

There are reports a suspect has been detained in connection with the explosions and is due to appear in court - but authorities said there had been no arrests.

The federal court in the city is evacuated due to a bomb scare but people are later allowed to return.

Thursday, April 18

Afternoon: Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attend an interfaith service at a Roman Catholic cathedral in Boston to remember the bombing victims. The president vows the attackers will face justice.

Evening: The FBI releases photos and video footage of two bombings suspects at the scene before the attacks.

One is pictured wearing a black baseball cap and a second had a white baseball cap on back to front.

Police say the suspects tried to rob a supermarket in Cambridge, across the river from Boston, on Thursday evening.  

10.20pm: Officers receive reports of shots fired on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus in Cambridge.

10.30pm: A police officer at MIT is found with gunshot wounds in his vehicle after being shot several times. He died in hospital.

The bomb suspects are suspected of carrying out the shooting.

They are then thought to have stolen a Mercedes car at gunpoint and later release its driver unharmed.

Friday, April 19

1am: Witnesses in Watertown near Boston report hearing multiple gunshots and explosions. The suspects reportedly threw explosives from the vehicle as police followed it into the area.

The suspects and police exchange gunfire, during which an officer is hurt.

Police say one of the two suspects in the MIT officer shooting, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, is dead. But his younger brother, Dzhokhar, remains at large. The pair are suspected of carrying out the bombings.

An extensive manhunt takes place in the Watertown area for Dzhokhar, who is said to be armed and dangerous.

Almost a million residents in Boston are warned to stay indoors and public transport is stopped as armed police search for Dzhokhar.

The two suspects are said to be from a Russian region near Chechnya and have lived in the US for at least one year.

6.60pm: Massachusetts Governor Patrick Deval announces the "stay indoors" order is being lifted, even though Dzhokhar remains in hiding.

Around the time the order is lifted, a flurry of gunfire breaks out in the community that is being searched. Law enforcement officials locate Dzhokhar in a boat parked behind a home.

8.45pm: Dzhokhar is taken into custody by police.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Yahoo! Ditching Chinese Email Service

Yahoo's Chinese arm is shutting down its email service later this year, highlighting the brand's diminishing profile in the country.

China Yahoo! said it would close its email service by August 19, a move that will leave it with just its web portal business.

Users of the service were told they must register with AliCloud, a unit of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, to prevent emails and other information from being deleted when Yahoo's mail service stops.

China Yahoo! has been operated by Alibaba since 2005.

The US internet giant has come under criticism in the past over its business in China. In 2007, executives apologised after providing evidence that was subsequently used by the Chinese authorities used to convict government critics.

The company said it was legally obliged to divulge information about its users to the Chinese government - but said it was unaware it would be used to convict dissidents.

Alibaba public relations official Zhang Jianhua said the end of the mail service would affect millions of users, although he did not have a more precise figure.

"We are not sure how long we can provide the email service under Yahoo's current technological structure," he explained.

A China Yahoo! statement added: "We will offer several options to our users to make this transition as smooth as possible, and China Yahoo! users will have four months time to migrate their accounts."

It said the migration process had already begun.

Users of China's Twitter-like microblogs expressed anger at the news.

A post under the name "Lisa's paw" said: "How can they do this? All of sudden Yahoo mail can't be logged onto and everything was moved to AliCloud. Did you ask for users' opinions?"

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

China Quake: Dozens Dead, Over 2,000 Injured

By Mark Stone, China correspondent

At least 102 people are believed to have been killed and more than 2,200 injured after an earthquake struck China's province of Sichuan.

Chinese news agency Xinhua said the quake, measured at varying magnitudes between 6.6 and 7.0, struck at 8.02am local time close to the city of Ya'an in Lushan county and the epicentre had a depth of a little less than eight miles (13km).

It started landslides, destroyed buildings, and triggered a major rescue operation involving emergency services and more than 2,000 troops.

Residents take shelter in a public square in Chengdu

The rescue effort is understood to have been hampered by aftershocks and landslides. Some of the tremors which followed the main quake have been almost as strong.

According to local media reports, a vehicle carrying 17 soldiers fell off a cliff and into a river as it travelled to the epicentre. One soldier was killed and seven more injured, three seriously.

But extraordinary stories of survival are already emerging. According to one local media report, a mother managed to lift concrete weighing 50 kilogrammes to rescue her son from the rubble.

Another report described how a woman gave birth at a bike shelter just a few hours after the quake hit. 

According to the People's Daily newspaper, fire-fighters dug out a mother holding her baby in her arms from the rubble. She survived, but her baby sadly died.

Tremors have been felt in neighbouring provinces and in the provincial capital city of Chengdu. Users of Weibo, China's microblogging service, have posted images of damaged buildings and described scenes of panic as residents rushed outside.

Lushan was hit just after 8am local time

A resident in Chengdu said he was on the 13th floor of a building when he felt the quake. The building shook for about 20 seconds and he saw tiles fall from nearby buildings.

Local seismologists registered the quake at magnitude 7.0 while the US Geological Survey (USGS) put it at 6.6.

The USGS said "significant" casualties were likely and "extensive damage is probable and disaster is likely widespread".

"Past events with this alert level have required a national or international-level response," it added.

Collapsed houses on a road leading from Ya'an city to Luzhou county

A Chinese General, flying over one area in a helicopter, told local media that as many as 50 percent of buildings in one area had collapsed.

China's new Premiere Li Keqiang is flying to the region to survey the damage. The quake is the first big test for the new Chinese leadership. Their ability to respond to it is likely to be scrutinised on an ever growing social media forum.

The epicentre is close to the location of the 2008 earthquake which killed 68,000 people. That quake had a greater magnitude of 7.9 but its epicentre was further underground.

Rescuers try to remove rocks blocking a road in Lushan county

The 2008 disaster destroyed large swathes of the province along with areas of neighbouring Shaanxi and Gansu. The government faced significant criticism for allowing badly constructed buildings to be erected and for covering up their failings.

International offers of assistance have already been received.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague sent the condolences of the nation.

An aerial view of damaged houses Lushan county

Mr Hague said: "Today's events will no doubt bring back terrible memories of the catastrophic earthquake in the same province in 2008.

"My thoughts are also with the Chinese authorities and the emergency services as they continue their rescue efforts. We are in contact with local authorities through our Consulate-General in Chongqing and will continue to follow the situation closely." 

The Russian President Vladimir Putin sent China's President Xi Jinping a telegram expressing his condolences and offering help.

Twin tremors in neighbouring Yunnan province last September triggered landslides that left at least 80 people dead.

A 5.5 magnitude quake in Yunnan last June killed four people and injured more than 100.

Another 5.4 tremor the year before near the border with Burma left 25 people dead and injured 250.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Virginia Plane Crash: 'Air Force General' Dies

A pilot who died when his light aircraft crashed just a few metres away from a house was reportedly a US Air Force general.

The single-engine Cessna 210 came down in a field near a retirement community in Williamsburg, Virginia. There was no fire when it crashed.

State police confirmed that 54-year-old Joseph D Brown IV and his wife, 52-year-old Susan S Brown, were killed, along with their pet dog.

Mr Brown had reportedly clocked up more than 4,300 flying hours in his background with the USAF, mainly in B1s and B52s.

He also served combat time in operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom.

His official title was Major General of the Eisenhower School at Fort McNair, a premier Department of Defence national security training school in Washington, DC.

The pilot was supposed to land at the Williamsburg-Jamestown Airport but the light aircraft crashed about half a mile away.

The plane crashed nose first

Firefighters said the plane fell out of the sky with a hard impact, nose first.

It ended up about 20 metres from Nancy and Bruce Ward's home."I was in my bedroom, heard a thud," Mrs Ward said.

"One of neighbours came to my door. He asked if I had a fire extinguisher because a plane had just crashed by my house.

"That was the first I had heard of it. We saw a plane that had apparently hit a tree right next to our driveway. It had gone straight down into the ground. There was no sign of life."

"It was about 15 feet away from our driveway," said Bruce Ward. "There are about 15 people out here huddling trying to figure out how to proceed."

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen reported there were no injuries or damage to any property on the ground.

Firefighters used a rope to help pull the wreckage from nearby trees.

The cause has yet to be established.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Boston: No Easy Answers For Investigators

There are still many difficult questions, but no easy answers.

If the Tsarnaev brothers are indeed the Boston bombers the question of the motive remains unsolved. However, their ethnic roots do give rise to various avenues the authorities will now explore.

Some of the Tsarnaev family were living the American dream. The brothers' uncle, Ruslan, had come to America, worked hard, got on in life and was able to live in a good house in a leafy part of town.

The brothers' uncle described his nephews as 'losers'

He is furious with his nephews with whom he appears to have broken relations a few years ago. His brother had brought Tamerlan and Dzhokhar to Boston when they were young children.

As Ruslan said, the father had worked hard to 'put bread on their table'. They were educated, grew up, and socialised in the city known to Americans as the Cradle Of Liberty - just another two young sons of an immigrant growing up the American way, but with memories of their heritage.

The Tsarnaev family roots are in Chechnya, a republic brutalised by the unsuccessful wars of independence from Russia.

In the 1990s the Chechen nationalist movement began to morph into one demanding an Islamic state, or Caliphate, in the whole region of the Caucuses.

That led to terror attacks such as that against the Moscow Theatre in which 130 people died, and the Belsan school siege in North Ossetia where 334 died, including 186 children.

By then the ideas of global jihad, including taking on the US, had penetrated Chechnya and in the wake of  9/11 Chechens went to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Some of the radicalised Chechens had moved on from the narrow aim of independence, they were now in al Qaeda intellectual territory.

So investigators will now want to know if the Boston attack is linked to the cause of Chechen independence - which does not seem likely - or if the brothers had been radicalised by Chechens holding global jihadist views. If so, where did that take place?

There is another possibility - one where Columbine meets the Caucuses. The Columbine massacre was carried out by two young men, alienated from those around them, the Oklahoma bombing was carried out by another young American who distanced himself from the mainstream, Timothy McVeigh.

There are suggestions that the brothers, disillusioned with their lives, went down a similar path. Not being born Americans they also had a quick route to feeling themselves to be outsiders. On Friday their own uncle described them as 'losers'.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Jude Law Wants Seal Fur Ban To Stay Put

Jude Law has written to the World Trade Organisation to urge it to uphold a European Union ban on seal fur.

The British actor was writing on behalf of animal protection group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta).

The EU banned commercial trade in all seal products in its member states in 2010 amid concerns about the animal welfare aspects of hunting seals.

But the ban is being challenged by the Canadian government, and the WTO is holding a hearing later this month to settle the dispute.

A baby harp seal awaits its fate in Canada

Peta has enlisted a number of celebrities over the years to help its campaigns against fur farming, factory farming, animal testing and the use of animals in entertainment.

These include Morrissey, Drew Barrymore, Alec Baldwin, Stella McCartney and Alicia Silverstone.

But the best known is probably former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, who stripped off for Peta's "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaign.

A Canadian hunter uses a hakapik, a type of club, to kill a seal

Under EU regulations, the placing on the market of all seal products is banned.

"Seal products" means all products, either processed or unprocessed, deriving or obtained from seals.

These include seal meat, oil, blubber, organs, raw fur skins, fur skins that have been tanned or dressed and articles made from fur skins.

Seal hunting is currently carried out in six countries - Canada, where most of the world's seal hunting takes place, Namibia, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Russia.

Canada's largest market for seals is Norway, which is not part of the European Union.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Boston Bombings: Second Suspect In Custody

A family has spoken about the terrifying moment they found Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev bloodied and hiding in their back yard.

David Hennebury tipped off the authorities after he noticed blood under a tarpaulin covering his boat at his home in suburban Watertown.

His stepson Robert Duffy said: "As soon as the ban on going out was lifted they went outside and walked around. The wind had picked up and the tarp on the boat had kind of lifted, which he found strange.

"He went over to the boat for a closer look and found a strap that had been cut - not torn or worn through. He was stranged out by it.

Police look around the corner as Dzhokhar was hiding in a boat nearby

"He noticed a small amount of blood in this area and when he went under the tarp he saw a small pool of blood immediately there.

"He looked forward and because the tarp obscured a lot of sunlight, he saw what he believed to be a crumpled body bloodied in the front of the boat.

"He immediately panicked, dropped off the ladder and called 911, and with all of the SWAT and physical police presence right there in that neighbourhood and street, they descended on them and immediately evacuated them.

"So they are safe, that's the most important thing and the suspect has been apprehended."

As officers surrounded the property, a police helicopter used infra-red equipment to confirm there was a human inside the boat.

This image appears to show the capture of Dzhokhar

Dzhokhar, who was already wounded from an earlier shootout, exchanged gunfire with police for an hour while holed up in the vessel.

The dramatic stand-off ended with the 19-year-old being given first aid on the lawn next to the boat before he was taken away in an ambulance at around 8.45pm local time.

Dzhokhar remains in "serious condition" at Beth Israel Deaconess hospital, said Boston police commissioner Ed Davis.

He had been on the run since his 26-year-old brother and fellow suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev - known as suspect number one - was killed in a shoot-out with police in the early hours of Friday.

An FBI officer stands in front of the boat

The brothers were believed to be behind Monday's twin explosions at the Boston Marathon which left three people dead and around 180 wounded.

But their Mother Zubeidat said she did not believe they were responsible.

"I am like 100% sure that this is a setup," she said. "My two sons are really innocent and I know that neither of them have never talked about whatever they're saying about now.

"My youngest one was raised from eight years in America and my oldest son he was really properly raised in my house. No-one talked about terrorism."

During their getaway attempt, they killed Massachusetts Institute of Technology policeman Sean Collier and severely wounded another officer, authorities said.

A crowd of residents cheered as Dzhokhar - known as suspect number two - was taken into custody, and the celebrations continued into the night in the city's streets.

Mayor Tom Menino said on Twitter: "We got him".

Boston Police tweeted: "CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody."

The family of eight-year-old Martin Richard, who died in the bombings, released a statement praising police.  

"Tonight, our family applauds the entire law enforcement community for a job well done, and trust that our justice system will now do its job," the family said.

Martin's mother also sustained brain injuries and his sister lost a leg in the blast.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been taken to hospital with serious injuries

US President Barack Obama told a news conference the suspect's capture "closed an important chapter in this tragedy".

But he said there were still many unanswered questions about the marathon bombings, including whether the two men had help from others.

As Dzhokhar was being captured, three people in New Bedford, Massachusetts, were also taken into custody for questioning over the blasts.

Lieutenant Robert Richard said two men and a woman were being questioned by the FBI "on the assumption there is an affiliation with suspect number two".

Dzhokhar's capture came at the end of a tumultuous all-day manhunt and house-to-house search by thousands of elite police officers.

As night fell, police announced that they were scaling back the hunt and they had so far come up empty-handed.

Residents cheered after the suspect was caught

But shortly after that statement, the break came in Watertown when Mr Hennebury - who had been indoors all day due to the manhunt - saw the blood on his boat.

The vessel had not been searched before because it was outside of the police perimeter set up during the search.

It has also been revealed that Tamerlan attracted the attention of US authorities two years ago.

The FBI said its agents interviewed him in 2011 at the request of a foreign government, but that the investigation found "no derogatory information", according to an official.

Thousands of officers combed the streets of Boston for Dzhokhar

The FBI declined to identify the country involved or the nature of the probe.

The brothers moved to the US a decade ago from a Russian region near Chechnya and had been living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as legal permanent residents.

Their father, Anzor Tsarnaev, told reporters in Russia that he believed his sons had been framed and described the killing of Tamerlan as "cowardly".

Maret Tsarnaev, the men's aunt, said Tamerlan had recently become a devout Muslim who prayed five times a day.

Speaking to reporters at her home in Toronto, Canada, she also said the older brother was married and had a daughter in the US.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More