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Fri, 19 April 2013
Uncle asks Boston bombing suspect to surrender

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23:25   Uncle asks Boston bombing suspect to surrender
The estranged uncle of the Boston Marathon terror attacks suspects today asked one of his nephew at large to surrender, saying his brother's children have brought shame to the entire Chechen community. 

"This family does not know how to share their grief with the real victims," Ruslan Tsarni told reporters outside his home in Montgomery village, a suburb of Washington. "Of course we're ashamed. He put a shame on our family. He put a shame on the entire Chechen ethnicity," Tsarni said.
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23:24   US set to expand non-lethal aid to Syrian rebels
The United States is poised to significantly expand its non-lethal military aid to the Syrian opposition as European nations weigh easing an arms embargo to potentially supply the rebels with arms and ramp up pressure on President Bashar Assad to step down. 

Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to announce a contribution of between USD 120 million and USD 130 million in defensive military supplies '" that could include items such as body armour, armoured vehicles, night vision goggles and advanced communications equipment '" at an international conference on Syria he will attend Saturday in Turkey, US officials said.
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22:36   US in direct confrontation with evil: Kerry
As his hometown being locked down by police amid tense manhunt for the Boston marathon bomber, Secretary of State John Kerry today said that the US has been in direct confrontation with the evil this week. 

"It's fair to say that for this entire week we've been in a pretty direct confrontation with evil, and I want to congratulate and thank all the law enforcement authorities for the extraordinary job that they have been doing on behalf of our citizens," Kerry said in joint press availability with his Mexican counterpart.
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22:20   Inquest rules Savita died of 'medical misadventure'
Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar, who lost her life after being denied an abortion at a hospital in Ireland, died of "medical misadventure", a jury at her inquest today ruled unanimously. 

The ruling at Galway Courthouse found there were systemic failures or deficiencies in the care given to 31-year-old Savita, originally from Karnataka.
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21:56   Rape accused identified, to be arrested soon
Police tonight said they have identified the person allegedly involved in the rape of a five-year-old girl in east Delhi.

"The accused has been identified and a team is already on its way to arrest him," Delhi police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar told PTI.

Police sources said the accused, identified as Manoj, who hails from Muzaffarpur in Bihar, had taken the room in a building in Gandhi Nagar area on rent eight days ago.

The girl was rescued from the room on the ground floor of the building where the victim and her family stayed.
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20:29   Deeply disturbed to hear about Delhi rape case: PM
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says he is "deeply disturbed" to hear news of shameful rape brutally committed on five-year-old girl in Delhi.
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20:24   Islam and Chechnya
With the Kremlin's approval, Islam is flourishing in Chechnya'"a means to maintain at least a veneer of tranquility while keeping even more radical forces at bay.About a decade ago Russia's leadership acknowledged that bullying wasn't working in this remote and most violent corner of the nation. 

Two ferocious military campaigns in the 1990s to put down an Islamic separatist insurgency left up to 370,000 dead and many survivors furious at Russian domination. So in 2000, Moscow threw its weight behind a former rebel leader, Akhmad Kadyrov, and left him largely alone to run affairs in the restive North Caucasus republic. 

Untold millions of Russian rubles poured in to bankroll his regime and rebuild the shattered infrastructure, with the thinking that men with work are less likely to rise up. 

Yet while cafs and boutiques have appeared in the Chechen capital of Grozny, the jobs have not. Chechnya still has one of the highest unemployment rates in Russia, which fuels radical fundamentalist discontent.

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20:22   Investigation of 2004 shooting at Russian school
On the first day of school in 2004, a Chechen terrorist group struck the Russian town of Beslan. 

Targeting children, they took more than eleven hundred hostages. The attack represented a horrifying innovation in human brutality. 

Here, an extraordinary accounting of the experience of terror in the age of terrorism.

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20:19   The challenges of integration, ethnicity and conflict
Europe's deadliest conflicts are in Russia's North Caucasus region, and the killing is unlikely to end soon. The state has fought back against attacks, first claimed by Chechen separatists, now the work of jihad-inspired insurgents, that have hit Moscow, other major cities and many Caucasus communities. 

But its security-focused counter-insurgency strategy is insufficient to address the multiple causes of a conflict fed by ethnic, religious, political and economic grievances that need comprehensive, flexible policy responses. 

Moscow is increasingly aware of the challenge and is testing new approaches to better integrate a region finally brought into the Russian Empire only in the nineteenth century and that has historically been a problem for the Russian state.  

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20:16   Threat to the west: The rise of Islamist insurgency
The Islamist insurgency in Russia's Northern Caucasus threatens to turn the region into a haven for international terrorism and to destabilize the entire region, which is a critical hub of oil and gas pipelines located at Europe's doorstep. 

Neither Russia's excessive use of military force nor its massive economic aid to the region appear to have helped. The U.S. and its friends and allies should keep a close watch on the region. In the meantime, the U.S. should work with neighboring countries to improve their border security. 

The U.S. should also encourage and work with Middle Eastern countries to stop the flow of cash to the Islamist terrorist organizations.  

Read the Backgrounder report here 
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20:05   The Internets shameful false ID
With the perpetrators of the attack on the Boston marathon now apparently identified as brothers from Chechnya, and with one of those brothers still at large terrorizing Boston, it's worth nothing that before the bizarre turn of events that led to this morning's chaotic scene, Internet detectives made one last totally shameful false accusation that also in this case involved the harassment of a family currently desperately searching for their lost son and brother.

Yesterday, a Reddit user posted a new, startlingly clear image of the aftermath of the explosion, that shows, on the far left, what looks very much like one of the FBI's suspects fleeing the scene.After Philip Bump, an Atlantic Wire writer and Photoshop expert, explained why he believed the image was genuine the New York Times confirmed the photo's authenticity.

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19:05   Will box for US passport, wrote slain Boston bomber
Much of what we know about the Tsarnaev brothers is still unclear. They appear to be originally of Chechen origin, but spent much of their lives outside of the breakaway Russian republic.


NBC News is reporting that Dzhokhar war born in Kyrgyzstan, while Tamerlan was born in Russia.One of the most interesting insights into Tamerlan's personality so far comes from a photo album, titled "Will Box For Passport," that photographer Johannes Hirn took of the slain suspect.


Tamerlan was apparently a boxer who hoped to gain citizenship by being selected for the U.S. Olympic team: "Unless his native Chechnya becomes independent, Tamerlan says he would rather compete for the United States than for Russia," Hirn wrote.  Read the full report here.


Pic: The brothers photographed together
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19:05   Delhi Police has failed to tackle crime against women: NCW chief
Meanwhile, National Commission for Women Chairperson Mamata Sharma today demanded action against Delhi Police, including its commissioner, accusing it of "failure" to tackle crime against women.

Her comments came as a five-year-old girl, who was raped allegedly by her neighbour in east Delhi's Gandhinagar area after holding her captive for four days, battled for her life in a hospital.

"Such incidents (rapes) are on rise in the capital, we want some action, even at the level of Delhi Police Commissioner. It's high time that Union government should take some action," she said. Observing that Delhi Police was not under the city government, Sharma said, she would write to Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday.
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18:41   Nothing has changed since Damini case: Sushma
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj today expressed concern over the rape of a 5-year-old in the capital and police atrocities on women protesters in Aligarh and demanded immediate action.


"I am terribly shocked to know about the details of the rape of a 5-year-old child in Delhi. She should be shifted to AIIMS immediately," she said on micro-blogging site Twitter. The girl was shifted to AIIMS in the evening.


She also criticised the police brutalities on women protesters in Aligarh. A DSP led his team of police personnel in beating up the women who were protesting against the rape and killing of a child. "I had thought that after Damini case, thinking will change. Unfortunately, the situation has worsened. I see an ACP slapping a young girl protesting against this. These policemen are incapable of protecting women. Instead they beat them up," Swaraj said.


The DSP has been transferred by the UP police and two constables have been suspended. "This ACP should be ashamed of his uniform," Swaraj said.
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18:30   5-yr-old rape victim's father: She will not survive
The five -year-old girl who was raped has been shifted to The All India Institute for Medical Sciences (AIIMS) today evening. The victim's father has blamed the police for being late to react.


He said, "If the police had taken action on time, this situation would not even have arrived. If the police had come with us at the time we complained to search the accused, he would have been found out at that time itself and it would not have taken two days to find the girl. She is very critical and ninety nine percent chances are that she will not survive. What can you expect from a five-year-old girl from whose stomach, three candles and a bottle of oil was found. After all she is five years of age."


A Delhi Police officer was placed under suspension for hitting a woman protester outside the hospital where the 5-year-old rape survivor is undergoing treatment. Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bani Singh Ahlawat was caught on camera hitting the woman and pushing away another. A spokesperson of the Delhi Police called the incident shameful and said an inquiry had been ordered against him
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18:23  
Shiv Aroor: Terrifyingly, docs who treated #DelhiGangrape victim at Safdarjung Hosp, saying the same thing abt the 5-yr-old: 'Never seen such injuries'.
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18:09  
On Twitter:  Let's poll the Boston area next week and find out how many want the legal ability to own a gun restricted
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18:05   Don't have any American friend: Dead Boston bomber
The Tsarnaev family moved to Dagestan from Kyrgyzstan in 2001, the school spokesman told RT. Dzhokhar studied there for just one year and  produced no particular impression, good or bad, on the teachers.

The family moved to the US in 2002, RT was told.Dzhokhar was born in Kyrgyzstan. The family, which also included two daughters, Bella and Amina, had the status of refugees at the time they moved to Russia.Dzhokhar has several Chechen-related interests stated in his profile.


He states that he speaks Russian, English and Chechen and holds career and money as his personal priorities. He claims he is a believer in Islam.The page has but a handful of posts, most of them jokes. The owner's last visit of the page was from a mobile phone shortly before the shooting in Boston started.Some Russian-language comments on the page accuse Tsarnaev of being behind the bombing. They were posted after the news of a possible connection of a Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to the bombing broke.

Click herefor possibly the last picture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev taken with a friend.

Pic: The picture on his photo gallery that says he prefers keeping his shirt on so so girls don't get bad ideas: "I'm very religious."   
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17:55   Boston completely shuts down
All taxi services in Boston suspended as the city shuts down. All public transportation was shut down in the greater Boston area Friday morning, for reasons of public safety, officials said, and no vehicle traffic was permitted in or out of Watertown. Residents of Watertown and several surrounding suburbs '" Newton, Cambridge, Waltham and elsewhere '" were asked to stay inside. Colleges and universities announced they would close for the day, and businesses were instructed not to open. - WaPo
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17:27   Boston bomber who died is a boxer
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the brother, who died of gunshot injuries in Watertown today is a boxer and on the numerous pictures he's posted of himself, are some revealing captions. Tamerlan says he loves the movie "Borat," even though some of the jokes are a bit too much. In another picture with a woman boxer, Tamerlan says he doesn't usually take his shirt off so girls don't get bad ideas: "I'm very religious."   

He doesn't drink or smoke anymore: "God said no alcohol." A muslim, he says: "There are no values anymore," and worries that people can't control themselves.  
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17:12   All that you wanted to know about the Boston bombers
The Boston marathon bomber still at large and sought by police has been identified by AP sources as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, resident in Cambridge, Massachusetts.


The man is said to be from the south of Russia, not far from the Chechen Republic, and to have received military training there. He reportedly lived in Turkey before arriving legally in the US about a year ago. Other reports say he was a wrestler who won the athlete of the year competition at Cambridge.


He is listed among the recipients of the Cambridge scholarships in 2011. The second suspect is said to be his brother. There is a page at the Russian social network VKontakte (In Contact) with the name Dzhokhar Tsarnaev living in Boston and studying at Cambridge Rindge & Latin School. He attended high school in Makhachkala, capital of Dagestan.

His brother, who died of gunshot wounds is believed to be Tamerlan Tsarnaev.   Read more


Pic: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the second suspect in the Boston bombings, who is at large and is believed to be armed to the teeth.
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16:52   5-yr-old raped: Delhi cop slaps woman protestor
Update on the brutal rape and mutilation of a 5-year-old girl in Delhi: Amid large protests at the Delhi hospital where the five-year-old rape survivor is fighting for her life, a police officer was today filmed slapping a woman demonstrator.


Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar told NDTV that Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bani Singh Ahlawat, who slapped the woman protester, has been suspended.


There was total chaos at the East Delhi hospital when Congress leaders Sandeep Diskhit and AK Walia arrived to meet the child's family. Since the morning, workers from Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party had clashed with the police, posted at the hospital  to check the seething crowd of demonstrators.


Doctors at Swami Dayanand Hospital treating the girl said the victim suffered serious injuries to her private parts resulting in serious infection. The girl is in Intensive Care Unit. They said the child's condition is very critical and some foreign objects were found inside her.


The victim's family alleged that police were reluctant in filing a rape case and they acted late in locating her.
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16:40   Boston bombers are brothers from Chechnya: Cops
Washington Post: The two men are brothers, ages 20 and 19, law enforcement officials said Friday morning. Their alleged motive in the bombings remains unknown.
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16:34   Is second suspect a Cambridge scholar?
City of Cambridge announced the 2011 City Scholarship recipients for seniors at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and others pursuing higher education.Of the 45 students mentioned in the list, is Dzhokhar A Tsarnaev, believed to be the second suspect in Boston bombings.  Read
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16:29   Boston bombers from Chechnya, lived in US for 1 yr
AP: Boston bomb suspects from Russia region near Chechnya and lived in US at least 1 year.   The surviving Boston bomb suspect identified as Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, of Cambridge, Mass.

There were reports earlier that police on radio scanners said the Sunil Tripathi, possibly identifying him as the suspect. Tripathi is a student at Brown University who has been missing for over a month, but according to (again) Pete Williams, Tripathi is not one of the two suspects.

Here's what Twitter says on the Sunil Tripathi story:

Jeremyweate: Feel so so sorry for the Tripathi family. What hell they are living through. Their beloved missing son falsely accused of being suspect 2..

Nirupama Subramanian
Was that a huge sigh of relief I just heard go up from India?


Pic: The second suspect.
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16:09  
Boston on lockdown: The second suspect may have explosives strapped on his body or with him. 
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16:07   Pink Floyd album designer dies
Storm Thorgerson, whose album cover artwork includes Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, has died aged 69, the band's management has confirmed. A childhood friend of the founding members of the band, he became their designer-in-chief, fashioning a string of eye-catching creations. Read more
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15:58  
Watertown shootout: Dr. David Schoenfeld, emergency doctor at Beth Israel says suspect #1 arrived in a severe cardiac arrest.
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15:27   Boston suspects acted differently on marathon day
After three days of poring over photos and video, investigators appealed to the public to help them identify two men now considered suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings. The men were photographed walking down Boylston Street, one behind the other, near the finish line of Monday's race. Read the full story here.
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15:22   BrahMos chief Pillai to be conferred Padma Bhushan tomorrow
In other news: BrahMos Aerospace chief A Sivathanu Pillai will be conferred the Padma Bhushan award by President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi tomorrow for his contribution to the country's cruise missile programme.


The announcement of the third highest civilian honour was made on the eve of the 64th Republic day celebrations in January this year. Pillai has been associated with the Indo-Russian joint venture for the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles ever since it was set up and has worked towards its induction into all the three defence services.
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15:11   Dear Amercians, keep calm and shut the bleep up
Dear Americans, stop patting yourselves on the back for 'not letting the terrorists win.' Read


A tweet from the Boston Police Dept: Businesses in area of 480 Arsenal St in Watertown closed till further notice. Employees instructed to remain home.
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15:08   MIT classes cancelled today
MIT posted to its website a letter sent to the school community this morning.  According to the letter, classes have been cancelled today in light of the recent tragedy.

A portion of the letter reads: While the circumstances around the officer's death remain the subject of an active investigation, what is certain is that the officer gave his life to defend the peace of our campus. His sacrifice will never be forgotten by the Institute.

We are thinking now of his family, and our hearts are heavy. In consultation with faculty chair Sam Allen, we have decided to cancel classes today (Friday). All employees are encouraged to use their best judgment about whether they are prepared to come in to work today: any absence today will be considered excused."
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14:59   Boston suspect #1 died of multiple gunshot wounds
The FBI says they have no clue on the identity of the suspect who was apprehended and then died in hospital. Doctors and administrators from the hospital says the suspect #1 died of several gunshot wounds and wounds from an explosive device. He had extreme trauma to his body, say doctors. 
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14:47   Boston bombings: Suspects have international links
The suspect at large -- believed to be the man who physically placed the bags containing the homemade bombs which killed 3 and injured 170 on Monday -- was described as "dressed in a grey hoodie, light skinned male, brown curly hair.


"Law enforcement sources said the suspects have international links and have been in the country legally for about a year.


The suspects approached the MIT officer and shot him in head, the sources said. The two then stole the MIT officer's cruiser, robbed a nearby 7-11 and carjacked another vehicle, briefly kidnapping the driver, the sources said. At various points, the suspects threw explosives out the window of the moving car.-- MSNBC
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14:44  
The FBI to hold a press conference any minute now. 
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14:37   Loud boom and then pop pop pop: Eyewitness
State police spokesman David Procopio said, "The incident in Watertown did involve what we believe to be explosive devices possibly, potentially, being used against the police officers.


"Boston cab driver Imran Saif said he was standing on a street corner at a police barricade across from a diner when he heard an explosion."I heard a loud boom and then a rapid succession of pop, pop, pop," he said.


"It sounded like automatic weapons. And then I heard the second explosion."He said he could smell something burning and advanced to check it out but area residents at their windows yelled at him, "Hey, it's gunfire! Don't go that way!" -- AP

Pic: The second suspect who is on the loose and believed to be armed and dangerous
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14:27   1st suspect died of gunshot wounds in hospital
The Middlesex district attorney said the two men are suspected of killing a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer on campus late Thursday, then stealing a car at gunpoint and later releasing its driver unharmed.

Hours earlier, police had released photos of the marathon bombing suspects and asked for the public's help finding them.

Authorities say the suspects threw explosives from the car as police followed it into Watertown. The suspects and police exchanged gunfire, and one of the suspects was critically injured and later died while the other escaped (pictured).

"We believe this to be a terrorist," Boston police Commissioner Ed Davis said. "We believe this to be a man who came here to kill people." -- AP
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14:21  
NBC: Authorities say these people came from overseas... had overseas military training... been here about a year.
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14:10   Suspect taken into custody dead in hospital
The suspect on the loose in Watertown, Massachusetts, matches the description of Suspect 2 - a man pictured wearing a white cap - wanted in connection with the bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday, police said early Friday.

The Middlesex District Attorneys office said that the suspect taken into custody was pronounced dead at a hospital. The DAs office did not independently confirm the connection to the marathon bombings.

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14:06   Boston bombing suspect dead, other armed, dangerous
Massachusetts State Police, on its official Twitter feed, warns Watertown residents to stay in their homes and to not answer the door "unless it is an identified police officer." "If any concerns about someone at door, call 911 immediately. Repeat -- Do not answer door, stay away from windows, keep doors locked," the state police says in another tweet.

Boston police now say one suspect is deceased, the 2nd suspect (white hat) at large and is considered armed and dangerous.

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13:57   2nd Boston bombing suspect is white, armed: Cops
Police warn residents not to answer the door unless it is a clearly identified police officer. One suspect has been taken into custody. The second suspect (in this picture released by the Boston police) is still at large is believed to be Caucasian and white. 


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13:54   Suspect 2 is armed and dangerous, stay home: Cops
Massachusetts State Police, via Twitter: "Police will be going door by door, street by street, in and around Watertown. Police will be clearly identified. It is a fluid situation."
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13:38  
ABC News: Massachusetts State Police urging residents in and around Watertown to stay indoors, do not answer door unless identified police officer.
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13:23   Watertown Police Chase: Gunfire, Explosions Reported
Shortly after the fatal shooting of a police officer on the campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Thursday night, a second shooting incident was reported in Watertown, Mass.The Boston Globe reported via Twitter that one of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing had been caught, and another was on the loose after a firefight with police. Read
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13:11   Link in MIT shootout, Boston Marathon bombing?
A pressure cooker has been discovered at the Watertown crime scene, NBC News reports. Local TV outlet WCVB says there is a "strong link" between Watertown and Boston bombing.
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13:01   One Boston Marathon suspect in custody
One suspect in Monday's Boston Marathon bombings has been captured, according to an official with knowledge of the investigation. Another remains on the loose in Watertown after a firefight with police. Authorities have established a 20-block perimeter as they search for him.

A scene of chaos descended on Cambridge and Watertown late Thursday night and early Friday morning, as police confirmed an MIT police officer was shot and killed, and an apparent carjacking led police on a wild chase into Watertown.Witnesses in Watertown said they heard explosions. Police officers were screaming about improvised explosive devices.-- Boston Globe

Pic: The suspect, who is yet to be apprehended
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12:56   One Boston Marathon suspect in custody
1 Boston Marathon bombing suspect is in custody, while a search is on for another suspect in Watertown. A scene of chaos descended on Cambridge and Watertown late Thursday night and early Friday morning, as police confirmed an MIT police officer was shot and killed, and an apparent carjacking led police on a wild chase into Watertown.

Witnesses in Watertown said they heard explosions. Police officers were screaming about improvised explosive devices. Authorities would not comment on whether the events were connected to Mondays Boston Marathon bombing. At least one of the suspects in Watertown appeared to be a man in his 20s. Full story here.

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12:40   Toddler, 5, raped, brutally mutilated in Delhi
A toddler is battling for her life after she was allegedly brutally raped in the capital. The five-year old girl has been admitted to the ICU and is believed to be critical.

Her family said that her throat was slit and the doctors said that the toddler is critical. The doctors also confirmed she was subjected to horrific injuries to her private parts and that her genitals have been mutilated. The doctors added that there were foreign objects in her body and due to that infection is spreading. Read

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12:31   Woman in CRPF top rung
An Andhra IPS officer has become the first woman to be appointed to the CRPF top rung. Aruna M. Bahuguna will be special director-general, a rank equivalent to that of the director-general, albeit with lesser powers. The appointments committee of the Union cabinet has cleared her name. Read
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12:25   Leak of JPC report on 2G gross breach: BJP
Slamming the leakage of the draft JPC report on 2G scam as a "gross breach of Parliamentary propriety", BJP today said its contents appeared like Congress documents where attempts have been made to save its leaders including the Prime Minister.

"The media showed the JPC draft report on 2G scam extensively. This is a gross breach of Parliamentary propriety where any report draft is debated, discussed, amendments are moved in the formal meeting and thereafter views are taken," BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad said.

"The draft report looks like a Congress document and not a JPC report in which there is an overpowering desire to save its leaders including the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister in the 2G scam and yet to objectively consider the wider ramification of this massive scam which shamed the country," he said. Prasad said he was yet to go through the report as it was given to the members today only.
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12:21   Mumbai airport's new rules: PA system goes mute
If you fail to board after checking in at Mumbai airport, don't expect the airline to call out your name and keep the flight waiting. In keeping with international norms, the public address system at the domestic wing of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport has been shut down. The idea is to check noise pollution, says Mumbai International Airport Limited. "We can't be minders for passengers, telling them what to do over a PA system all the time,' an MIAL official said. Read
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12:11   Indian Left avoids seeing caste as a political category
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) still doesnt know what to do with the social fact of caste. Intellectually it would rather caste didnt exist so that India could be assimilated into Marxs generalizations without the strain of pretending that caste was a feudal leftover or class by another name. Read
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12:09   Woman offered lift, abducted, gang-raped
A 19-year-old woman was abducted from south Delhi after being offered a lift and taken to Gurgaon where she was allegedly sedated and gang-raped on Wednesday night. Passersby found her in a semi-naked, delirious state at Nanakpura near Dhaula Kuan on Thursday morning.  Read
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12:01   Remembering Hari Sadu
 Saw the ad about the horrible boss? The one in which the employee comes in with a new idea and in return he gets a load of sarcasm? And even when the boss likes the idea, he reveals it with an air of impudent superiority. Seen that one? What was it called? Hari Sadu? Read
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11:55   Whos Happy About the Falling Price of Gold?
While the plunge in gold prices is giving a headache to investors there are some in India cheering its decline. Read


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11:53   A priceless asset for Indias women
The Indian constitution says women are equal to men, and the country prides itself on gender-sensitive legislation. But even its progressive laws have had little impact on the lives of ordinary Indian women; those who live in rural areas and depend on the land to survive. Read
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11:46   Time to close ranks
India's politicians seem unable to resist the temptation to politicise terror acts. Soon after Wednesday's bomb blast near the office of the BJP in Bangalore, Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmad tweeted his concern that the terror attack would benefit the BJP in the upcoming Karnataka Assembly election. Read
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11:39   Amputees never say 'I can't'
Waking up to realize you suddenly have no leg or legs is as horrible an experience as one can have, and one that will, sadly, be faced by a number of people injured in the bombing of the Boston Marathon. What lies ahead for the victims... Read 
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11:24   Explosion, shootout at MIT campus
This is what the BBC has on the situation at MIT.

A gunman has shot dead a police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge near Boston, officials say.

Cambridge police say the officer was responding to a report of a disturbance in the area when he was shot and suffered "multiple wounds". He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Witnesses in nearby Watertown report hearing explosions and gunfire amid a massive police hunt for the gunman.Television footage from the town, some six miles (9km) from Boston, showed one man lying spread out on the ground, holding out his arms, surrounded by police.

There has been no official comment on the police operation, and whether it is linked to the shooting at the MIT campus or the bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday.

The MIT campus is currently on lockdown.A statement on the university's website says a building there is surrounded by the emergency services.

The statement says the situation is considered "extremely dangerous".TV footage showed police swarming around the university's Stata Center.The university is advising students to stay clear of the area until further notice.A statement from the Middlesex district attorney's office said there are no other victims. 
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11:18   MIT shootout: 1 suspect held, Boston on high alert
MIT shootout:  A male was just put into a police car. He was naked. Policeman just heard yelling that they have another suspect in custody and they're waiting for a positive ID, says the Huffington Post.

After the shootout, an explosion was also heard in Boston's Watertown area. There was also a carjacking in the MIT campus in Cambridge. Homeland security has been called in. There are, so far, no links between this incident and the Boston Marathon bombings. A suspect of some sort has been apprehended. Another suspect is yet to be apprehended.
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11:03   Making space for the tiger a reality
Promoters of development projects in forest areas can be made to compensate by creating buffer zones around sanctuaries through minor modifications to the Forest Conservation Act guidelines. Read
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11:02   Drilling holes in the Thirst Economy
As the borewells go deeper in Maharashtra, there have been worrying instances of 'paleo-historic storages' being breached. Read P Sainath's column for the HIndu
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10:57   2G probe: JPC gives clean chit to PM, says Raja misled him
The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigating the 2G spectrum scam has pinned the blame on former telecom minister A.Raja and exonerated both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram. According to media reports, a leaked draft report of the committee says Raja had tweaked the rules to award mobile permits to a few chosen companies, and that the prime minister and finance minister were not informed about the changes.
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10:49   FBI releases pictures Boston bombing suspects
The FBI released pictures and videos of two suspects in the Boston marathon bombings and has sought the public's help in identifying the men who are seen carrying backpacks near the finish line of the race before the blasts that killed three persons and injured over 170.


In the video footage from surveillance cameras along the route of the marathon, the two men are seen walking together on the sidewalks in the direction of the finish line.


The men, named 'Suspect 1 and Suspect 2', are wearing caps and carrying backpacks. The FBI did not give any information about the ethnicity or nationality of the two young men. The agency said one of the suspects set down a back pack at the site of the second explosion in front of the restaurant.
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10:46   MIT cop shot when responding to 'disturbance'
This is what the NYT has on the MIT shootout.

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer was shot and killed near the campus in Cambridge, Mass.,Thursday night, authorities said.


The officer, who was not named, responded to a report of a disturbance near Vassar and Main Streets, the Middlesex District Attorney Michael Pelgro said in a statement early Friday. He was found, the statement said with multiple gunshot wounds and taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.


M.I.T. said in an update on its campus alert Web site after midnight that the shooter remains at large, police continue to search the campus, and asked students to stay indoors until further notice.


At the campus, helicopters whirred overhead, and police cars were dotted through the streets. A crime scene was cordoned off, and at least one dog unit was on the scene.
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10:27   Shootout at MIT campus near Boston, cop killed
Just In: Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation officials are responding to a shootout alert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus in Cambridge.

According to reports, a university police officer has been shot dead.

The university, which lies adjacent to the city of Boston, requested people stay away from the building as police consider the situation still active and dangerous.

Students and faculty received e-mails to alert them to the event, CNN affiliate WCVB reported.

Residents in the area have been on edge after two bombs ripped through the crowd near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring about 180 others.
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10:18   Dawood aide Tiger Hanif to be extradited to India
Tiger Hanif, a close aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and wanted in India in connection with two bomb attacks in Gujarat in 1993, has lost his appeal in a UK High Court against extradition to India.

Reports on Friday said that Hanif alias Mohammed Hanif Umerji Patel, 51, was traced to a grocery store in Bolton, Greater Manchester in March 2010. 

He is believed to be a close associate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. 

Metropolitan Police arrested Hanif in February 2010 on an extradition warrant that alleged conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions. 

Hanif is wanted in India for his alleged role in a grenade attack on a packed market place which killed an 8-year-old schoolgirl in Surat in 1993. 

He is also accused of plotting to carry out a second grenade attack at a crowded railway station which seriously wounded 12 commuters. 

Hanif has since been contesting extradition on the ground that he would be tortured by Indian officials, and that confessions of others involved with the bombings had been allegedly gained through torture interrogations. 
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09:38   Wipro Q4 consolidated net flat at Rs 1,729 crore
IT major Wipro today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of FY13. Its consolidated net profit was Rs 1,729 crore, up less than 1 per cent from Rs 1,716 crore in the previous quarter.

Its total revenues for the quarter under review stood at  Rs 11,026 crore, up minimally from Rs 11,025 crore q-o-q.

Consolidated net profit for 2013 fiscal stood at Rs 6,636 crore, an increase of 19% y-o-y. Consolidated revenue for FY13 was Rs 43,361 crore, an increase of 16% y-o-y.

The IT services revenue for Q4FY13 was Rs 8,554 crore, while IT services EBIT was Rs 1,727 crore.
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09:34   Powerful 7.0 quake hits northern Japan
The Japan Meteorological Agency says a 7.0-magnitude earthquake has struck off far northern Japan and far eastern Russia.

The tremor was in the Pacific Ocean at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers.

The agency said sea changes were possible but no damage was expected.

The epicenter was 58 kilometers east-northeast of Kuril'sk, Russia, and 528 kilometers northeast of Nemuro, Japan.

The area is almost 1,500 kilometers northeast of Tokyo.
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09:21   Pervez Musharraf arrested from his farmhouse
A day after the Islamabad High Court cancelled his bail and ordered his arrest, former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was picked up by police personnel from his farmouse.

During Thursday's hearing, Deputy Attorney General Tariq Mehmood Jahangir told the court that Musharraf had been granted interim bail on the condition that he would cooperate with police officials investigating the case.

Justice Siddiqui remarked that Musharraf had been accused of destroying the judicial system and he was bound to cooperate in the investigation. The judge was then told by the investigating officer that Musharraf had not come to the police station or cooperated with the probe.

The investigating officer further said Musharraf had sent a message that he would say whatever he had to say in court. 

The case against Musharraf is based on an FIR filed in August 2009 by a lawyer named Chaudhry Mohammad Aslam Ghumman.

Ghumman had asked police to initiate proceedings against Musharraf for detaining over 60 judges, including Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, after imposing emergency on November 3, 2007.

Since Musharraf returned to Pakistan last month after nearly four years in self-exile, he has been in and out of court several times to get his bail extended over the 2007 killing of former premier Benazir Bhutto, the death of a Baloch leader Akbar Bugti in a 2006 military operation and for imposing emergency rule in 2007.
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08:58   Man who sent poisonous letter to Obama faces 15-year term
A Mississippi man arrested for mailing letters with the deadly poison ricin has been charged with threatening the life of US President Barack Obama and two others.

Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, if convicted on these charges faces maximum possible penalties of 15 years imprisonment, $500,000 fine and three years of supervised release, federal authorities said.

Curtis was produced before a US court in the state of Mississippi on Thursday while another hearing is scheduled for Friday.   

The FBI said Curtis has been facing charges of knowingly depositing for conveyance in the mail and for delivery from any post office any letter, paper, writing or document containing threats to take the life of or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States.

He has also been charged with knowingly depositing and causing to be delivered by the Postal Service according to the directions thereon, communications addressed to other persons, and containing a threat to injure the person of others. 

The letters were addressed to US President, Senator Roger Wicker and a Mississippi justice official.

He was arrested by FBI on Wednesday at his residence in Corinth. 
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03:42   North Korea demands end to UN sanctions before talks
North Korea insisted Thursday that the U.S. and South Korea must scrap United Nations sanctions and put an end to joint military drills before any talks on its nuclear arsenal can begin. The U.S. and South Korea have said the burden is on Pyongyang to pull back on its nuclear ambitions.

Experts say both sides have set out unrealistic demands. The South Korean Foreign Ministry derided the North Korean argument Thursday as "totally incomprehensible' and "illogical.' North Korea, in turn, is extremely unlikely to give up its nuclear bargaining chips before even getting to the table, analysts said.

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03:41   Frugal pope nixes bonus for Vatican employees
The global economic crisis is hitting Vatican employees in their cassock pockets.

The Vatican said Thursday that Pope Francis, known for his frugal ways, decided Vatican employees won't be getting the bonus that traditionally comes with the election of a new pope.

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03:40   Mayor: 35 dead in Texas fertilizer blast
About 35 people, including 10 first responders, were killed in the Texas fertilizer company explosion Wednesday night, West Mayor Tommy Muska said in an interview with USA TODAY.

The dead include five members of the West Volunteer Fire Department who were trying to put out the initial blaze, four EMS workers and an off-duty Dallas firefighter who pitched in to help, Muska said. Not all the bodies have been recovered but all are assumed dead.
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03:39   FBI releases video, photos of Boston bombing suspects
The FBI has identified two suspects in Monday's the Boston Marathon bombing, releasing photos and video showing them and asking the public to help locate them.

The suspects, one of whom wore a a dark ballcap and the other who wore backwards white ballcap,appear to be in their twenties and were captured on footage near where one of two explosions killed three and injured 176. 

In video that appears to be from a surveillance camera and which was shown by the FBI, both suspects are walking west on Boylston Street, near the finish line and where the explosions occurred.

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03:38   Baghdad cafe bombing kills 27 ahead of elections
A late-night bombing at a Baghdad cafe frequented by young men playing billiards and video games killed 27 people, just days before Iraq's first elections since US troops withdrew. 

The attack was the single deadliest in the country in a month, and comes amid concerns over the credibility of Saturday's provincial elections as Iraq grapples with a spike in violence and an ongoing political crisis. Thursday's bombing struck at 10:00 pm (1900 GMT) in the mostly-Sunni Amriyah neighbourhood and also wounded more than 50 people, security and medical officials said.

Among the dead were at least three children and one woman.
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01:48   Rescuers search for survivors of Texas fertilizer plant blast
Rescuers worked in cold rain on Thursday to find survivors amid the rubble of houses destroyed in a fiery explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant filled with hazardous chemical tanks.

The death toll in West, Texas ranged from five to 15 people and was likely to change as rescuers went from house to house along the burned-out streets after the West Fertilizer Co. blew up on Wednesday night, said Sgt. William Patrick Swanton of the police department in nearby Waco.
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01:42   Secret report mislabelled: US intelligence chief
The top US intelligence official today disclosed that a congressman inadvertently revealed classified information when he read aloud a passage from a Defence Intelligence Agency report that said North Korea had the knowhow to put a nuclear warhead on a missile. 

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the paragraph read out loud by Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Republican, at a House hearing last week was "miscategorised as unclassified".
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01:42   Gunmen kill six in eastern Kenya town of Garissa
Gunmen in the volatile eastern Kenya town of Garissa today shot and killed six people, police said. "Six people have been killed after people armed with guns stormed a hotel," a police officer told AFP. 

He added that a security operation was underway to track the attackers. The officer said that nine other people had been injured in the attack. Regional police chief Charlton Mureithi confirmed the incident but could not give more details.
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00:53   HC orders sale of ship M T Pratibha Cauvery
Madras High Court today ordered the sale of M T Pratibha Cauvery whose six crew members were killed after the vessel ran aground near here on October 31 last. 

The ship was detained in Chennai port, after family members of one of the crew members filed a case in the court seeking compensation from the ship owners.
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00:41   Disaster declaration sought for Texas blast zone
Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he has asked the federal government for a disaster declaration to mobilize more help for this small community devastated by a deadly fertilizer-plant explosion.

The Wednesday night explosion "was truly a nightmare scenario for that community," Gov. Perry said during a midday news conference in Austin on Thursday.Officials said 15 people are dead or missing, including emergency workers who responded to the initial fire at the fertilizer plant, officials said. 

Law-enforcement officials said the death toll could rise, even as they looked for people still trapped in debris. The blast damaged 75 homes, and a school near the plant, officials said.
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00:40   As Obama consoles Boston, a shift from prior gun tragedies
Americans as a people "refuse to be terrorized," President Obama assured Tuesday, one day after twin bombs at the Boston Marathon left three of them dead and more than 100 others seriously wounded. 

On Thursday morning he spoke in Boston at an interfaith vigil honoring the victims of an attack being termed an act of "terror" but about which otherwise little is yet understood.

"Consoler-in-chief": It's a role the president is familiar with, having been cast in it multiple times over the course of his first four years in the White House.

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00:36   Israel president okays release of ailing Palestinian
Israel's president says he has approved the release of an ailing Palestinian prisoner on humanitarian grounds. Shimon Peres noted in a statement that Mohammed al-Taj has served two-thirds of a 14-year sentence. 

It described al-Taj as a "security prisoner", a term used for those convicted of involvement in violence against Israelis.
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00:35   Kerry warns of Syria break-up
US Secretary of State John Kerry today warned that the conflict raging in Syria could cleave the country into rival enclaves. 

In remarks which came before weekend discussions on the crisis in Turkey, Kerry said that the aim of the next Friends of Syria talks in Istanbul on Saturday is "to get everybody on the same page with respect to what post-Assad" Syria will look like and stressed on the need to ensure that "Qataris, Saudis, Emirates, Turks, Europeans" all have the same goals in mind.

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