Boston Marathon Bomber Captured

A teenager suspected of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombings is in custody after a local resident found him hiding in a boat in his backyard.

Police said they exchanged gunfire with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, after cornering him in Watertown, near Boston.

He had escaped on foot early on Friday, apparently wounded, after a police shootout that claimed the life of his elder brother, an alleged accomplice.

Three people died and more than 170 were wounded in Monday's bombings.

As news emerged that the teenaged suspect was being treated in hospital, US President Barack Obama promised to seek answers on what had motivated the bombers and whether they had help.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found after a day of lockdown on Boston's streets and a night of bloodshed that had claimed the life of a police officer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Sean Collier, 26, was fatally shot in Cambridge late on Thursday. Then, after a car was hijacked, a gun battle began further west, in Watertown.

A transport police officer was seriously hurt and one of the brothers, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was fatally injured.

He had died of bullet wounds and injuries from explosives strapped to his body, a hospital doctor said.

As thousands of Swat team officers scoured the streets for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Boston and its suburbs were brought to a standstill, with residents told to stay indoors.

Despite house-to-house searches in the Watertown area, nothing was found and the trail appeared to have gone cold.

The Tsarnaev Brothers

It was not until 19:00 local time (23:00 GMT), an hour after the city-wide lockdown order was lifted and the transport system had reopened, that the breakthrough came.

A resident of Franklin Street, Watertown, emerged from his home and noticed blood near a boat in his backyard.

Upon opening the tarpaulin covering the boat, he found a man covered in blood in the stern and called police.

Bomb-squad vans and ambulances surrounded the house, while helicopters buzzed overhead.

"The hostage rescue team did try to talk him out but from what I understand, he was not communicative," Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis told reporters.

Officers tossed flash-bang grenades into the boat to disorient the fugitive.

Police said they exchanged gunfire with the suspect for about an hour before moving in and seizing him. Images show the teenager climbing out of the boat and then lying on his back as he is searched by police.

A crowd near the scene cheered as he was taken into custody.

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

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was taken to a Massachusetts hospital, bleeding and seriously injured with gunshot wounds to the neck and leg, police told reporters.

Source: BBC News

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Pakistani Police Arrest Musharraf

Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has been arrested on charges relating to the unlawful detention of judges in 2007.

He appeared at a district court on Friday morning amid heavy security.

He was initially placed under house arrest at his home in Islamabad but later transferred to the police headquarters in the city.

Mr Musharraf has described the cases against him as politically motivated.

Thursday's order to arrest him was an unprecedented move against a former army chief who ruled the country for almost a decade, the BBC's Orla Guerin in Islamabad says.

Although he was present at court when the warrant was issued, police made no attempt to arrest him and he rapidly returned to his home on the outskirts of the city.

He was finally arrested on Friday morning and appeared at court, where a judge ruled that he should be held in custody for two days.

The decision to move him from his home to police headquarters appears to be largely procedural. He is expected to appear before an anti-terrorism court in the next 48 hours.

His legal team have said they will challenge the order in Pakistan's Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, members of Pakistan's Senate passed a resolution that the former president should be tried on charges of high treason relating to his declaration of a state of emergency in 2007.

Last month Mr Musharraf returned from years of self-imposed exile hoping to lead his All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) party into the general election next month.

Earlier this week his candidacy was rejected in Chitral, one of four seats he had applied to contest.

Mr Musharraf had already failed in an attempt to stand in three other seats.

The case for which he has been arrested relates to his controversial decision to dismiss judges - including Chief Justice Mohammad Iftikhar Chaudhry - when he imposed emergency rule in 2007.

He also faces several other criminal cases and had been trying to stave off arrest ever since he returned.

The Pakistani Taliban have also vowed to assassinate the former president, who seized power in a 1999 coup.

Source: BBC News

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Rare Blue Diamond Found in South Africa

A rare blue diamond has been unearthed at a mine in South Africa.

The 25.5-carat stone was recovered by Petra Diamonds at its Cullinan mine and is expected to bring large profits.

Experts say it could be worth more than $10m (£6m), and the find gave a boost to Petra's share price.

Similar finds in recent years from the Cullinan mine have commanded high prices and Petra, with operations in Botswana and Tanzania, is expecting a high level of interest from buyers.

"It's very unusual for a diamond of this quality and size to come to market," said company spokeswoman Cathy Malins.

A rare blue diamond has been unearthed at a mine in South Africa.

The 25.5-carat stone was recovered by Petra Diamonds at its Cullinan mine and is expected to bring large profits.

Experts say it could be worth more than $10m (£6m), and the find gave a boost to Petra's share price.

Similar finds in recent years from the Cullinan mine have commanded high prices and Petra, with operations in Botswana and Tanzania, is expecting a high level of interest from buyers.

"It's very unusual for a diamond of this quality and size to come to market," said company spokeswoman Cathy Malins.

Source: BBC News

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Eight killed in gun attack in Kenya

At least eight people have been killed in an attack by a group of armed men in the eastern Kenyan town of Garissa.

Witnesses said the attackers targeted a hotel in the town before escaping the scene.

Five wounded people were taken to hospital, according to the Kenyan Red Cross.

Kenya has suffered a series of attacks since its troops moved into southern Somalia to combat Islamist al-Shabab militants in 2011.

Police confirmed that an operation was under way to identify the assailants.

The town has seen several such attacks in recent months. In January, another shooting in Garissa killed five people and wounded another four.

In October, gunmen shot dead a police officer and wounded another in Garissa. In November, three Kenyan soldiers and two police were shot dead there.

Attacks blamed on al-Shabab have previously sparked retaliatory violence against the country's Somali population.

In November, riots broke out in the capital Nairobi as angry youths blamed ethnic Somalis for a deadly explosion.

Source: BBC News

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French Cameroon Hostages Freed

Seven members of a French family kidnapped by gunmen in northern Cameroon in February have been freed.

Cameroon's Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary told the BBC the Moulin-Fournier family, including four children, were in good condition.

In a video published on YouTube, militants from the Nigerian group Boko Haram had claimed to be holding them.

The French president said France had not paid a ransom to free the family who are now in the capital, Yaounde.

The family arrived at the French embassy with a heavy security escort, the AFP news agency reports.

President Francois Hollande said secret talks had been taking place for the past few weeks to help secure their release, but the country had not paid a ransom, Reuters news agency reports.

"France has not changed its position, which is not to pay ransoms," the agency quotes him as saying at a news conference in Paris.

"I spoke to the father this morning... He told me how happy and relieved he was."

The release of the hostages was announced on national radio in Cameroon on Friday morning.

The statement from the presidency said they had been handed over to Cameroon authorities late on Thursday.

Both the Nigerian and French governments were thanked in the statement, but no further explanation was given about how they were freed.

The French president's office said that Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius had immediately left for Cameroon to greet the family, AFP reported.

Mr Fabius told AFP the French hostages were freed overnight "in an area between Nigeria and Cameroon" and would be flown to France on Saturday.

Source: BBC News

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Astronomers Find Most Earth-like Planets Yet

Using a potent NASA space telescope to scan the skies for planets like ours where life might exist, astronomers said Thursday they have found the most Earth-like candidates yet.

Two of the five planets orbiting a sun-like star called Kepler-62 are squarely in what astronomers call the habitable zone -- not too hot, not too cold and possibly bearing water, researchers said in the journal Science.

"These two are our best candidates that might be habitable," said William Borucki, Kepler science principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center.

The two planets are slightly larger than ours, and at least a couple of billion years older.

The first, 62e, is about 40 percent larger than Earth. It might be warm, maybe even a waterworld, and may experience flashes of lightning, said Borucki.

The second, 62f, is about 60 percent larger than our planet, and orbits its star every 267 days, close to Earth's annual trajectory of 365 days.

The planet may have polar caps, significant land masses and liquid water, Borucki said.

Both are orbiting a seven-billion-year-old star some 1,200 light years from Earth in the constellation Lyra.

They are close enough to their star to be warm, but not so near as to boil the oceans. They are far enough to maintain the likelihood of water without freezing the seas solid, Borucki explained.

Scientists do not yet know if their surfaces are rocky or watery, or if they have atmospheres that could sustain life.

But their location and size suggest they "could plausibly be composed of condensable compounds and be solid, either as a dry, rocky super-Earth or one composed of a significant amount of water," said the study.

Other studies have indicated that planets with a radius under 1.6 times that of the Earth, like these two, "have been found to have densities indicative of a rocky composition."

Astronomers detected the planets by observing their star dim when the planets pass in front of it, in what is known as a "transit."

"These are the most similar objects to Earth that we have found yet," said Justin Crepp, assistant professor of physics at the University of Notre Dame.

Crepp first saw a dot near Kepler-62 about a year ago, and has studied the movements of the system for months in order to confirm the discovery.

A third potentially habitable planet, Kepler 69c, is on the "inner edge of what has been considered to be the habitable zone," said Thomas Barclay, Kepler scientist at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute in Sonoma, California.

However, that one may be small and hot and more like Venus, the second planet from our sun, said Barclay, whose research was published Thursday in the Astrophysical Journal.

"We're not sure yet," he told reporters. Its host star, Kepler 69, is about 2,700 light years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.

All together, the latest findings add seven new planets -- four of which are outside the habitable zone -- to the tally that Kepler has found so far, totaling more than 2,700 candidates and confirmed planets.

In late 2011, NASA confirmed its first-ever planet in a habitable zone outside our solar system -- Kepler 22b, spinning around its star some 600 light years away.

However, the large size of that exoplanet, at 2.4 times the size of the Earth, has left some doubt over whether the planet is rocky, gaseous or liquid.

Another large planet that Kepler has confirmed in the habitable zone, Kepler 47c, is also much bigger than Earth.

Kepler, launched in 2009, is NASA's first mission in search of Earth-like planets orbiting suns similar to ours.

It is equipped with the largest camera ever sent into space in its search for planets as small as Earth, including those orbiting stars in a warm, habitable zone where liquid water could exist on the surface of the planet.

Source: AFP

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27 Killed, 51 Wounded in Baghdad Cafe Bombing

At least 27 people were killed and 51 others wounded on Thursday evening when a bomb struck a cafe in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, police said.

The bombing attack took place at about 9:30 p.m. local time ( 1830 GMT) in Al Ameriyah neighborhood in west Baghdad, with children and women among those killed, a police source told Xinhua.

The cafe was located inside a small shopping building, which also contains clothes shops, Internet cafes and restaurants.

Violence has increased recently in the Iraqi cities as Iraqis are preparing for the provincial polls on Saturday to elect their provincial council members.

Earlier on Thursday, at least five people were killed, including a suspected al-Qaida leader, in separate incidents in northern and central Iraq, while the security forces failed to hunt down the toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's deputy and head of now-outlawed Saddam's Baath party.

Acting upon a tip, an Iraqi police raided the safe house of a suspected al-Qaida leader in the city of Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, and shot him dead after a fierce clash, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The suspect believes to be the military leader (Amir) of al- Qaida group in Mosul, the source added.

In the meantime, the Iraqi security forces backed by helicopters surrounded the town of Dour in Salahudin province and carried out a manhunt after receiving intelligence reports which said that Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri was in the town which located some 150 km north of Baghdad, a provincial police source anonymously told Xinhua.

"The security forces have received solid information Wednesday evening that Douri was in the town and the troops carried out operation to arrest him, but he wasn't there," the source said.

Iraqi and U.S. officials believe that Douri, 71, a former Baath official, played a key role in funding and organizing Sunni Arab insurgency that erupted in 2003 against the U.S.-led coalition and he was instrumental in forging links between remnants of the ousted government and Sunni Islamic militant groups.

In a separate incident, three suspected gunmen were killed while they were trying to transplant roadside bombs on a road near a village located north of Salahudin's provincial capital of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, the source said.

Meanwhile, gunmen in a car opened fire on a fixed police foot patrol in Baghdad's southern district of Baiyaa, leaving a policeman dead and two others wounded before they fled the scene, a police source said.

Also in the day, Iraqi security forces carried out an operation in some districts in the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, and arrested seven suspects, four of whom are believed to be local leaders of al-Qaida group in the city, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The operation also resulted in the seizing of weapons fitted with silencers, 20 roadside bombs and several rockets, the source said.

Source: Xinhuanet

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Search For Answers After Deadly Texas Explosion

A day after a fiery explosion ripped through the heart of a close-knit central Texas town, many questions remain.

What caused the blast, so deafening its ground motion registered as an earthquake?

How many people died and how many were pulled from the charred rubble alive? And how many remain unaccounted for?

Was it the result of criminal activity?

Despite the flurry of questions, one thing is certain. The effect on the small town of West -- population 2,800 -- is massive.
  

The West Fertilizer Company lies in ruins on Thursday, April 18, in the town of West, Texas, after a deadly explosion the evening before damaged buildings for blocks in every direction. An estimated 35 people died in the massive blast.

A chimney is the only part of a home left standing after Wednesday's explosion.

Search and rescue workers comb through what remains of a 50-unit apartment building on April 18.

Workers clean up shattered windows at a store in West, Texas, on April 18.

Debris litters the fields around a fertilizer plant on April 18, the day after the explosion. The blast damaged 50 to 60 homes in a five-block area, officials said.

This satellite image shows West, Texas, as captured on January 30, 2012. The fertilizer plant is on the right center of the photo, just northeast of the oval track of the town's middle school.

A sheriff's deputy comforts a woman at a command post on April 18.

Remains of a fertilizer plant burn in the town of West, Texas, early on April 18.

Water is sprayed at the burning remains of the plant.

Smoke billows into the sky immediately after the explosion, as captured by iReporter Brian Kitchen.

The deadly explosion leveled dozens of homes and damaged other buildings including a school and nursing home, authorities said.

A vehicle is seen near the remains of the fertilizer plant.

With smoke rising in the distance, a law enforcement officer runs a checkpoint at the perimeter about half a mile from the plant.

Waco Police spokesman William Swanton speaks to reporters about the explosion.

Glass from blown-out windows lies shattered on the sidewalk and street after the blast.

Earth-moving equipment rolls through the downtown area in the middle of the night.

Shattered glass covers items in the front of a thrift store.

Brandon Smith removes broken glass from the West Thrift Shop on Thursday.

Workers board up a furniture shop with shattered windows on Thursday.

Source: CNN

Photos: Texas fertilizer plant explodes Photos: Texas fertilizer plant explodes
The fertilizer plant explosion Wednesday night leveled buildings, ripped up walls and threw people on the ground blocks away. About half the town was evacuated, including a nursing home with 133 residents.
Waco Police Sgt. William Patrick Swanton estimated the explosion killed five to 15 people. Authorities said more than 160 people were wounded and some residents remain missing.
It was still unclear early Friday what the exact number of casualties was. Officials are treading cautiously on providing specific numbers on victims, but fire officials confirmed some deaths among their crew.
Five West firefighters, one Dallas firefighter and four emergency responders were killed, the State Firemen's and Fire Marshals' Association of Texas said in a statement Thursday.
The blast stunned residents and left behind a trail of charred devastation in the small town.
"There's no way I would have ever dreamed that this would have happened," paramedic Bryce Reed told CNN's "AC 360."
"I mean, it's profound and it's dire, and it hurts like hell," he said. "But, you know, the main thing we wanted to convey is that ... please keep the prayers coming. Please keep the thoughts coming."
When he responded to the scene, it left him speechless, Reed said.
"I can tell you there's absolutely no words that I possess that can convey adequately what I saw," he said. "It went from my hometown and my reality and my existence to a war zone in an instant, and I haven't even had time to process that yet."
He lost some friends, all volunteer emergency workers, just like him.
"People who didn't have to go to that blast, went to that blast," he said. "People who could have stayed at home, they didn't have to go. ... they were all volunteers."
Authorities are still scouring the area for survivors -- and answers.
"We still are holding out some hope," Mayor Tommy Muska said. He said the number of casualties may rise.
The area around the site of remains "very volatile" because of the presence of ammonium nitrate, according to Matt Cawthon, chief deputy sheriff of McLennan County. Ammonium nitrate, a solid fertilizer composed of ammonia and nitrogen, is also a component of explosives widely used in mining.
The explosion tore through the roof of West Fertilizer Co., charring much of the structure and sending massive flames into the air. A deafening boom echoed for miles.
It registered as a 2.1-magnitude earthquake on the U.S. Geological Survey website.
Brad Smith felt his house shake. It's 50 miles away from the plant.
"We didn't know exactly what it was," he said. "The forecast said a line of thunderstorms was going to come through. My wife and I looked up and wondered, 'Did it get here six hours early?' "
Local authorities are working with federal officials, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, to determine the cause of the deadly explosion.
Though there are no indications of criminal activity, Swanton said, it has not been ruled out yet.
It's unclear whether the plant had safety problems. But in 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency fined the company that ran the fertilizer plant $2,300 and told the owners to correct problems that included a failure to file a risk management program plan on time.
Seven years ago, the company had a complaint against it for a lingering smell of ammonia, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality website shows.
West is about 75 miles south of Dallas and about 20 miles north of Waco.
The blast came as the nation remains on edge following the Boston Marathon bombing on Monday that killed three and left about 180 injured.
It also coincided almost exactly with the 20th anniversary of a fire in Waco that ended a federal agents' siege against members of the Branch Davidian sect. More than 80 sect members and some federal agents died.
That anniversary is Friday.

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Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect Killed; Second At Large

Boston police say one of the two Boston Marathon suspects is dead after an early morning shootout in Watertown, a suburb of Boston.

The showdown with police started late Thursday night near the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. Two suspects purportedly tried to rob a local 7-11 store and shot and killed a campus police officer.

The suspects allegedly then car jacked a victim in a black Mercedes SUV and escaped for 30 minutes, sporadically exchanging gunfire with police.

"They're shooting at us," police could be heard saying over scanners.

At one point, police said on the scanners that the suspects were throwing grenades at them.

One of the suspects, so-called Suspect No. 1 who was shown wearing a black baseball hat in a video released Thursday by the FBI, was killed by police, the Boston police said.

Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said, "We believe this to be a terrorist. We believe this to be a man who's come here to kill people."

Sam, a local resident in Watertown, told a PBS radio affiliate that he heard a crash at about 12:45 a.m. and then a hail of gunfire.

Massachusetts state police spokesperson Timothy Alben said at a 5:45 a.m. briefing in Watertown that the governor had cancelled all area buses and subway.

Alben asked local residents in the communities around Watertown to stay indoors and directed local businesses not to open. People should not congregate outside, he said.

It's unclear immediately where the suspects came from, whether their plot amounts to domestic or international terrorism.

A doctor from Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center said at a 5:20 a.m. briefing that the mortally injured suspect arrived at the hospital at 1:20 a.m. and was pronounced dead after about 10 minutes. Hospital officials said they aren't aware of the identity of the deceased suspect.

The second suspect is at large and believed to be on foot.

Police have brought in a bus to possibly evacuate the area.

Several wide-eyed residents showed up at the local Dunkin' Donuts franchise, a few metres from the area taped off by police.

“I'm speechless that this is happening here right now and I'm surprised that the two bombers weren't halfway across the country,” said Tim, a Watertown resident who sipped a coffee and watched the scene unfold.

Source: Toronto Star

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Google Glass Distribution Begins This Week

Google is starting to distribute its new Internet-connected glasses, something seen as the next breakthrough in mobile computing.

Google has picked 8,000 people in the U.S. who entered a contest. The winners will have to pay $1,500 apiece for a test version of Google Glass. The company also took an unspecified number of orders from computer programmers.

Google said Wednesday it started making the glasses available Tuesday, though it may take weeks for recipients to get them.

The excitement stems from a belief that Google Glass is at the forefront of a new wave of technology known as "wearable computing." Published reports say that Google, Apple Inc. and others also are working on Internet-connected wristwatches.

Google hopes to lower prices by the time it's on the mass market next year.

Source: CTV News

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Fame at Young Age May Cause A Short Life

Having a glittering career in the public eye may come at the cost of a shorter life, an analysis of obituaries in a US newspaper suggests.

It showed performers and sports stars tended to die a few years younger than people successful in other careers.

The researchers acknowledge the study does not provide any conclusive answers, but said it asked interesting questions about the cost of fame.

The data was published in QJM: An International Journal of Medicine.

Researchers in Australia looked at 1,000 obituaries in the New York Times between 2009 and 2011.

They showed that performers, such as actors, singers and musicians, as well those who made a career in sport died the youngest - at an average age of 77.

Writers, composers and artists died at 79. Those classed as academics, including historians and economists, survived until 82 on average while those in business or politics made 83.

The researchers, at the University of Queensland and the University of New South Wales, said cancer, particularly tumours in the lungs, was more common in performers.

Professor Richard Epstein said: "A one-off retrospective analysis like this can't prove anything, but it raises some interesting questions.

"First, if it is true that successful performers and sports players tend to enjoy shorter lives, does this imply that fame at younger ages predisposes to poor health behaviours in later life after success has faded?

"Or that psychological and family pressures favouring unusually high public achievement lead to self-destructive tendencies throughout life?

"Or that risk-taking personality traits maximise one's chances of success, with the use of cigarettes, alcohol or illicit drugs improving one's performance output in the short term?"

He added that, whatever the reason, the findings should be considered as a "health warning to young people aspiring to become stars".

Honey Langcaster-James, a psychologist who specialises in celebrity behaviour, said so few people achieved star status that it made it difficult to scientifically study the effect on people's lives.

She said: "The results are interesting of themselves as they suggest an inherent hazard of a public career and that all that glitters is not necessarily gold.

"They may be paying a high price for their career."

However she said it was not easy to come up with a scientific explanation.

On the one hand she said such a career "has unique stressors" such as "the pressure to live up to a public image, which can lead to risky behaviours".

Yet she suspected that "particular personal characteristics predispose people to wanting a career in the public arena", which may also lead to lifestyle choices affecting health.

Source: BBC News

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Many Injured After Blast at Texas Fertiliser Plant

Many people are reported to be injured and others are trapped in burning buildings after an explosion at a fertiliser plant near Waco in the US state of Texas.

Firefighters, ambulances and six helicopters have been mobilised to deal with the situation.

Several buildings are reported to be on fire, some of them in neighbouring residential areas, KWTX-TV reported.

The blast at the West Fertilizer plant was reported at 19:50 (00:50 GMT).

The cause of the explosion is not yet clear.

TV images showed ambulance crews using a nearby sports field as an emergency treatment area.

"An explosion has ignited adjacent structures to the plant," Waco Assistant Fire Chief Don Yeager told AFP news agency.

One local resident told KWTX-TV that she heard several explosions from 13 miles (20km) away.

"It sounded like three bombs going off very close to us,'' said Lydia Zimmerman.
 

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Obama Ricin Letter Suspect Arrested

An arrest has been made after letters containing suspected ricin were sent to US President Barack Obama and a US senator.

The alleged sender, Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, is a resident of Mississippi.

Initial tests on the letters, identified at remote facilities, showed the presence of the lethal toxin.

The FBI has said there is "no indication of a connection" between the letters and Monday's deadly attack in Boston.

The letters addressed to the president and Republican Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker were both postmarked Memphis, Tennessee, and dated 8 April.

The letters read: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance," according to US media citing intelligence sources.

They were reportedly signed: "I am KC and I approve this message."

The FBI said Mr Curtis also allegedly sent a third letter positively identified for ricin to a Mississippi justice official.

The contents of the letter intended for President Obama were being sent to an accredited laboratory for further analysis, the FBI said, with results expected in 24 to 48 hours.

Earlier, police questioned a man in the near the US capitol who had a backpack containing sealed envelopes, but he was not taken into custody.

Reports of suspicious packages and envelopes also led to areas within two Senate office buildings being cleared temporarily.

Meanwhile Democratic Senator Carl Levin said an aide had received a suspicious-looking letter and that the authorities were investigating. The staff member had no symptoms, Sen Levin said in a statement, but was staying overnight in hospital as a precaution.

All congressional mail has been sorted and tested off-site since letters laced with anthrax were posted to two senators in 2001.

A spokesman for the Secret Service, which protects the US president and his family, said it was liaising with the US Capitol Police and the FBI to trace the origins of the letters.

Ricin, extracted from castor beans, is 1,000 times more toxic than cyanide.

It can be fatal when inhaled, swallowed or injected, although it is possible to recover from exposure.

Source: BBC News

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Zanzibari Singer Bi Kidude Dies

Tanzanian singer Fatma binti Baraka, known as Bi Kidude, has died at her home on the island of Zanzibar.

Thought to be more than 100 years old, she was a legendary performer of Taarab, a style of Swahili Arab-influenced music.

In 2005, she was awarded a prize for her contribution to world music at Womex, the annual gathering of the world music industry.

She continued performing and touring until recently.

Correspondents say Bi Kidude's performances were known for their intense energy; she often beat a large drum and danced on stage as she sang.

She also broke Muslim taboos by openly smoking and drinking alcohol, they say.

According to Womex, she started her career as a Taraab singer in the 1920s.

"She not only helped to maintain the cultural heritage, but also reinvented it, infusing it with local rhythms, Swahili language and matters of everyday life," Womex said about her in 2005.

The singer's exact date of birth is not known, but she is believed to have been born in 1910.

Bi Kidude was the subject of a documentary, As Old As My Tongue, a few years ago which reported that she began breaking rules at an early age, running away from a Koranic school at the age of 10.

"What was special about Bi Kidude was she lived the life that she wanted to live," DJ Rita Ray, who worked on the documentary, said.

"When she started singing Taraab, the female singers sang beneath the veil. She removed the veil - that was really revolutionary and so controversial.

"She followed her own spirit. She ran away from two husbands, she was childless, she drank, she smoked, she really broke their rules but at the same time she embodied all the great cultural aspects of that island."

The singer was also generous with her time, teaching upcoming musicians, and with her money.

"She'd go away touring around the world - come back with thousands and within days Bi Kidude was penniless because she was looking after everyone whether they were relatives or people coming with hard luck stories," Ms Ray said.

Bi Kidude was also a reputed herbalist, known for her asthma cures with people queuing for her medicine, Ms Ray added.

"She was just true to herself. There're not many people who can withstand that kind of controversy all their life," she said.

"And in the end she won everybody over - she is a national treasure now."

Source: BBC News

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Boston Bombs Suspect Seen On Film

Officials investigating the Boston Marathon bombings say they have found images of a potential suspect from surveillance camera footage.

Boston City Council President Stephen Murphy, who was briefed by police, said a man was seen dropping off a bag at the scene.

Earlier, the FBI denied widespread reports that a suspect had been arrested.

Three people died in two blasts near the marathon's finish line on Monday.

Dozens more people remain in hospital, many of them seriously injured.

Mr Murphy said detectives had spotted the potential suspect in surveillance footage from a nearby store, AP news agency reported.

He said he didn't know if investigators had identified the man, but added: "They may be on the verge of arresting someone and that's good."

A planned FBI news conference outlining the progress of the investigation was postponed on Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier, police and journalists arrived at a courthouse in Boston amid confusion over whether a suspect had been held in connection with the attacks.

"Contrary to widespread reporting, there have been no arrests made in connection with the Boston marathon attack," the FBI said in a statement.

"Over the past day and a half, there have been a number of press reports based on information from unofficial sources that has been inaccurate."

The Associated Press reported that the anonymous law enforcement official who was the news agency's source for the report that someone was in custody had insisted it was true, even as it was widely disputed.

President Barack Obama, who plans to attend an interfaith service on Thursday in honour of the victims in Boston, labelled the attack an act of terrorism.

Investigators have been sifting through thousands of pieces of evidence, ranging from video recorded on mobile phones to fragments of shrapnel removed from the victims' legs.

Officials said a circuit board and battery pack - parts of a triggering mechanism - had been recovered and the lid of a pressure cooker, apparently blown off during the explosion, was found on the roof of a nearby building.

The bombs are believed to have consisted of explosives placed in 1.6-gallon (6-litre) pressure cookers, one with shards of metal and ball bearings, the other with nails.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the bombs, which a source said had been placed in black bags and left on the ground.

The twin blasts killed Martin Richard, eight, Krystle Campbell, 29, and Lu Lingzi, a postgraduate student from China.

Doctors treating the wounded say their injuries indicate that the bombs contained metal shards and other shrapnel. A number of victims have had limbs amputated.

Boston Medical Center trauma surgery chief Peter Burke said hospitals were saving "large quantities" of fragments extracted from victims for the police. They include metal, plastic, wood and concrete.

"We have a lot of lower extremity injuries, so I think the damage was low to the ground and wasn't up," Dr Burke said.

"The patients who do have head injuries were blown into things or were hit by fragments that went up."

At least 58 of the injured have been released from various hospitals around the city, according to AP.

Of those that remain, a five-year-old child, a nine-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy were among 17 victims listed as in a critical condition.

The first explosion went off close to the finish line at about 14:50 local time (18:50 GMT) on Monday.

Seconds later, as rescuers were rushing to help the injured, another explosion went off nearby.

The London Marathon - the next major international marathon - is to go ahead on Sunday, with police saying they have well-rehearsed security plans.

Organisers have said they will hold a 30-second silence at the start as a mark of respect.

Source: BBC News

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Rockets Hit Israeli City of Eilat

At least two rockets have hit the southern Israeli city of Eilat.

Police said the rockets had landed in open areas, without causing damage or injury. The Israeli military said they were fired from Sinai in Egypt.

Warning sirens went off just before the rockets hit. The city's airport has been closed and security tightened.

Eilat, a popular tourist destination on the Red Sea, has previously been hit by rockets fired by militants in neighbouring Egypt and Jordan.

The Egyptian military said it was investigating the incident.

Hours after the attack, a small militant Salafi group, the Mujahedeen Shura Council, said it had fired two Grad rockets at "occupied Eilat", in a statement carried on jihadist websites.

About 50,000 people live in Eilat, and tens of thousands of holidaymakers visit every year.

The Israeli military said an Iron Dome anti-rocket battery - designed to intercept short-range missiles - which was positioned near Eilat earlier this month was not deployed in the latest attack.

There were several rocket attacks on the city last year, though no injuries were caused.

Most of the rockets were fired from Sinai, which has become increasingly lawless since the revolution which toppled former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Islamic militant groups have grown in strength there and have used it as a base from which to target Israel across the lengthy shared border.

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New Zealand Legalises Gay Marriage

New Zealand's parliament has legalised same-sex marriage, the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to do so.

Lawmakers approved the bill, amending the 1955 marriage act, despite opposition from Christian lobby groups.

The bill was passed with a wide majority, with 77 votes in favour and 44 against.

Hundreds of jubilant gay-rights advocates celebrated outside parliament after the bill was passed, calling it a milestone for equality.

People watching from the public gallery and some lawmakers immediately broke into song, singing the New Zealand love song "Pokarekare Ana", AP news agency reported.

Opinion polls have suggested that about 70% of New Zealanders support the reform.

Parliamentarians were allowed a conscience vote, and, crucially, the reform had the backing of both the Prime Minister John Key and leader of the opposition David Shearer, the BBC's Phil Mercer in Sydney reports.

Celebrations have been held in pubs and clubs in the capital Wellington, our correspondent adds.

Same-sex civil unions have been legal in New Zealand since 2005.

"In our society, the meaning of marriage is universal - it's a declaration of love and commitment to a special person," Labour MP Louisa Wall, who introduced the legislation, said.

"Nothing could make me more proud to be a New Zealander than passing this bill," she added.

Tania Bermudez and Sonja Fray, a same-sex couple, said the bill was about human rights.

"It means that we can actually call each other wife," Ms Fray said.

However, Conservative Party leader Colin Craig said there were many people who disagreed with the bill.

"We're seeing the politicians make a decision tonight that the people of this country wouldn't make," he said.

Bob McCoskrie, founder of the lobby group Family First, said the bill undermined the traditional concept of marriage.

"Historically and culturally, marriage is about man and a woman, and it shouldn't be touched," he said.

New Zealand becomes the 13th country to legalise same-sex marriage.

Other countries include the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Argentina and Uruguay.

French and British lawmakers have also voted in favour of legislation allowing gay marriage, although the bills have not yet been passed into law.

No other country in the Asia-Pacific region allows gay marriage.

Australian members of parliament overwhelmingly voted against a bill that would have legalised same-sex marriages in September. However, some states allow civil unions for same-sex couples.

China does not allow gay marriage. However, transsexuals who have undergone surgery are able to marry someone of the opposite sex, provided their new gender is verified by the local public security authorities.

Source: BBC News

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Kenya Children Buried In Landslide

Two children have been trapped in their home after a landslide in western Kenya, police said.

They were asleep in a village in the Narok area when their house was covered by mud following heavy rain overnight, Narok police chief Peterson Maelo said.

Rescue workers at the scene were attempting to dig them out, the Kenya Red Cross told the BBC.

Flooding across the country this month has left 36 people dead and displaced more than 52,000, the aid group said.

Kenya's main rainy season is between March and May and often causes floods.

Several other houses were also destroyed in the landslide in Olutrot village in Narok county, an agricultural area about 100km (62 miles) west of the capital, Nairobi.

Mr Maelo said although rescue efforts were ongoing, the chances of finding the children alive were remote.

Kenya Red Cross Secretary General Abbas Gullet warned those living in areas prone to landslides to move because of the ongoing rains.

Rescue efforts were continuing across the country to help those who had been marooned because of rising waters, he said.

"The situation is getting worse," Mr Gullet said.

Villagers near Garissa in the usually arid north-east of the country have also been cut off, he added.

Roads in many areas have become impassable.

The main highway linking Kenya to Uganda and then onto other landlocked countries is undergoing urgent repairs where some of it was washed away near Naivasha, he says.

On Monday, Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto said the government had set aside about $18m (£11.7m) to rebuild roads and assist the victims.

Mr Gullet said the Kenya Red Cross was appealing for humanitarian assistance for people currently living in makeshift houses and tents.

Source: BBC News

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Last Respects Paid To Lady Thatcher

The Queen has led mourners in St Paul's Cathedral at the funeral of Baroness Thatcher, Britain's longest serving prime minister of modern times.

More than 2,000 dignitaries from around the world paid their last respects at the biggest such occasion since the Queen Mother's funeral in 2002.

Lady Thatcher's coffin was carried through streets lined by mourners and members of the three armed forces.

PM David Cameron said it was a "fitting tribute" to a major figure.

Four thousand police officers are on duty in central London, which saw large crowds along the route of her funeral procession, which was conducted with full military honours. There were reports of some protests but not the large demonstrations some had predicted.

The congregation at St Paul's included Lady Thatcher's family and all surviving British prime ministers, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Sir John Major, the current cabinet and surviving members of Lady Thatcher's governments.

There were tears, and occasional laughter, as the Bishop of London, The Right Reverend Richard Chartres, paid tribute to Lady Thatcher's forthright character in a simple service, which, at her personal request, did not include any eulogies.

"After the storm of a life led in the heat of political controversy, there is a great calm," said The Right Reverend Chartres.

"The storm of conflicting opinions centres on the Mrs Thatcher who became a symbolic figure - even an ism.

"Today the remains of the real Margaret Hilda Thatcher are here at her funeral service.

"Lying here, she is one of us, subject to the common destiny of all human beings."

The day began with Lady Thatcher leaving Parliament for the last time as a hearse took her body from the crypt chapel of St Mary Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster to the start of the military procession at St Clement Danes in The Strand.

The union jack draped-coffin was topped with a large bunch of white flowers and a note reading: "Beloved mother, always in our hearts."

A gun carriage drawn by six black horses carried the coffin through the streets to St Paul's, where the funeral service began with readings from the King James Bible by Mr Cameron and Lady Thatcher's granddaughter Amanda, and hymns chosen by the former prime minister.

The service ended with a blessing from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, before the coffin was borne out of the cathedral and returned to a hearse which will take it to the Royal Hospital Chelsea ahead of a private cremation at Mortlake Crematorium in south west London.

Lady Thatcher, who was Conservative Prime Minister from 1979 until 1990, died on 8 April, following a stroke, at the age of 87.

She was accorded a ceremonial funeral with military honours, one step down from a state funeral.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Cameron said it would have been seen as extraordinary not to commemorate her life.

Asked about those who wanted to challenge his view of Lady Thatcher, the prime minister said: "Of course people have the right to disagree and take a different view.

"But when you're mourning the passing of an 87-year-old woman who was the first woman prime minister, who served for longer in the job than anyone for 150 years I think it's appropriate to show respect."

There were more than 50 guests associated with the Falkland Islands, including veterans from the 1982 conflict with Argentina, but Argentina's ambassador to London, Alicia Castro declined an invitation to attend.

Alan Southern, a former member of the Parachute Regiment who fought in the Falklands War, said: "Lady Thatcher was an absolutely wonderful lady. She loved the armed forces and she did so much for the country, she put the 'great' back in Great Britain."

Source: BBC News

 

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Major Earthquake Strikes South-east Iran

Iran has been struck by its most powerful earthquake for nearly 40 years, with tremors felt across Pakistan, India and the Middle East.

The epicentre of the 7.8-magnitude quake was near the south-east city of Khash, close to the Pakistani border, the US Geological Survey said.

Offices were evacuated in Karachi, Delhi, and in the Gulf states.

There were conflicting reports on casualties. Iranian state TV said at least five people had been injured.

It denied earlier reports that 40 people had been killed.

At least five people died in the Pakistani town of Mashkel, near the border with Iran, hospital and local government officials said. Some reports said more than 20 people had died there.

The earthquake struck in the province of Sistan Baluchistan at about 15:14 local time (10:44 GMT), close to the cities of Khash, which has a population of nearly 180,000, and Saravan, where 250,000 live.

"The epicentre of the quake was located in the desert, and population centres do not surround it. There were no fatalities in the towns around the epicentre," an Iranian crisis centre official, Morteza Akbarpour, was quoted as saying by the Iranian news agency Isna.

Iran's Red Crescent said it expected limited damage and a low death toll because the earthquake was so deep - the Iranian Seismological Centre estimated the depth at 95km (59 miles).

However, one unnamed Iranian government official told Reuters: "It was the biggest earthquake in Iran in 40 years and we are expecting hundreds of dead."

All communications to the region have been cut, and the Iranian Red Crescent said it was sending 20 search-and-rescue teams with three helicopters to the area.

Sistan Baluchistan is Iran's biggest province and one its most impoverished areas.

A member of parliament for Saravan, Hedayatollah Mir-Morad Zehi, said there were 1,700 villages in the area, and most of the buildings were made of mud.

Many people in surrounding villages live in tents, which it was hoped would limit the number of casualties.

Iran's Fars news agency reported that Saravan had suffered no serious damage.

In the Pakistani town of Mashkel, which has a population of about 45,000, communications were also disrupted. But aid workers said many houses were thought to have been damaged or destroyed.

The earthquake was felt across the region.

Michael Stephens, a researcher at RUSI Qatar, told the BBC from his office in Doha: "I definitely felt the walls shaking. It lasted for about 25 seconds."

The quake was felt in the cities of Karachi and Quetta.

Tuesday's earthquake was about 180 times stronger in energy release than a 6.3-magnitude quake that struck on 10 April near the nuclear plant at Bushehr in south-western Iran. That quake killed at least 37 people and wounded 850.

The Bushehr plant was not damaged by the earlier earthquake, and an official at the Russian firm that built the plant said it had not been damaged by Tuesday's earthquake either, Reuters reported.

Scientists say earthquakes in south-eastern Iran are triggered by the clash between the Arabia and Eurasia tectonic plates, the former of which is pushing north at a rate of several centimetres each year.

In 2003, a 6.6-magnitude quake destroyed much of the south-eastern city of Bam and killed some 26,000 people.

Source: BBC News

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