Boston police commissioner Ed Davis has confirmed that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev killed his own brother Tamerlan by running him over with an SUV while officers were trying to arrest him.
Ed Davis told CNN he believes Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died from being hit and dragged 40 feet by his own brother Dzhokhar.
Doctors revealed that Tamerlan Tsarnaev had been shot and appeared to have suffered a bomb blast, however his wounds from the tires of his stolen SUV appeared the most severe.
However, a medical examiner must still confirm the cause of death.
Authorities are investigating whether Dzhokar Tsarnaev ran over his brother Tamerlan as part of a suicide pact so that neither of them could be put on trial
According to law enforcement sources, Boston Marathon bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were determined not to be taken alive.
Authorities are reportedly investigating whether Dzhokar Tsarnaev, 19, ran over his brother Tamerlan as part of a suicide pact so that neither of them could be put on trial.
Later, as police closed in Dzhokar Tsarnaev reportedly put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
“These guys did not have an exit plan after the bombing, and from the way they have both ended up it looks like they planned on never being taken alive,” said a law enforcement source.
“Why else would this kid drive over his brother? It does not make any sense until you realize he also tried to take his own life. They had some sort of suivide pact worked out so they would not be taken alive.”
A court in Brazil has sentenced 23 police officers each to 156 years in jail for involvement in notorious 1992 Carandiru prison massacre in Sao Paulo.
The policemen were convicted of killing 13 inmates in the city’s Carandiru jail during an operation to end a revolt.
In all, 111 prisoners died, and prosecutors argued that most of them were shot dead at close range.
The officers’ lawyers said they would appeal. Three other policemen were acquitted during the trial.
The 23 convicted officers – most of whom are now retired – had originally been accused of killing 15 inmates, but two of the victims were later thought to have been killed by fellow prisoners.
Brazil court has sentenced 23 police officers each to 156 years in jail for involvement in notorious 1992 Carandiru prison massacre in Sao Paulo
Dozens more officers are expected to be brought to trial in connection with the case in the coming months.
In 2001, Colonel Ubiratan Guimaraes, who led the police operation to regain control in Carandiru, was convicted of using excessive force. But he was acquitted on appeal in 2006.
The riot began on 2 October 1992 after an argument between two inmates quickly spread, with rival gangs facing off in what was at the time one of South America’s largest prisons, housing 10,000 inmates.
Inmates said riot police brutally repressed the riot.
“We never thought they would come in and kill people randomly, as not everyone had joined the rebellion,” said former prisoner Jacy de Oliveira.
“The policemen began shooting everyone; I was on the fifth floor, if you looked a policeman in the eyes, you were dead,” he said.
The officers’ lawyer, Ieda Ribeiro de Souza, argued they were only doing their duty and acted in self-defence, as many of the inmates were armed.
While prison riots are not uncommon in Brazil, the number of those killed at Carandiru and the slow pace of the Brazilian justice system in bringing the accused to trial has shocked the public.
Carandiru was closed in 2002, shortly after inmates co-ordinated simultaneous uprisings in 27 jails across Sao Paulo state during which thousands of visitors were held hostage.
Channel 5 has decided to suspend Rolf Harris’ Animal Clinic programme until his arrest as part of Operation Yewtree has been cleared up.
Earlier this week, it was announced that Rolf Harris, 83, is questioned by the Metropolitan Police in London over alleged historical claims of sexual abuse.
Rolf Harris’ vetinary show Rolf’sAnimal Clinic has been airing on Wednesday evenings on Channel 5, attracting an audience of around 800,000.
Channel 5′s wrote on Twitter: “While this legal matter involving Rolf Harris is on-going we have removed his shows from the Channel 5 schedule.”
Channel 5 has decided to suspend Rolf Harris’ Animal Clinic programme until his arrest as part of Operation Yewtree has been cleared up
It was reported last month that Rolf Harris had been arrested and bailed until May in relation to Operation Yewtree, which was set up after hundreds of sexual abuse allegations were made against TV presenter Jimmy Savile.
Rolf Harris has yet to comment on the allegations made against him.
So far 12 people have reportedly been arrested with regards to the operation.
The fate of Rolf Harris’s one-man show at the Bristol Hippodrome next month now hangs in the balance, with organizers saying it may have to be cancelled.
Donations toward a new boat for Watertown hero David Henneberry – the man who came face-to-face with Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hiding inside his vessel – are already pouring in from around the country.
David Henneberry, 66, is the man credited for ending a nightmarish manhunt for the most wanted man in America.
The after effect was a sacrifice, however was countless holes in his boat that neighbors would describe as his “baby”.
“That boat’s his baby. He takes care of it like you wouldn’t believe. And they told him it’s all shot up,” David Henneberry’s friend and neighbor George Pizzuto told ABC News.
“He’s going to be heartbroken.”
Doborah Newberry of Orlando Florida, so moved by David Henneberry’s heroism and sacrifice, says she’s already mailed a $25 check to his home marked, “towards a new boat”.
“I just want him to know that people care about him because I know he’s probably the guy that would say, <<Well, that’s okay>>,” Deborah Newberry, 66, told ABC.
“But I just would like him to know that we’re all thinking about him and appreciate his spirit.”
Jacksonville attorney John Phillips says he also plans to send David Henneberry a check for $1,000 toward a new boat.
David Henneberry, 66, is the man credited for ending a nightmarish manhunt for the most wanted man in America
“[The boat] is fairly insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but that’s what’s significant to him,” John Phillips told ABCNews.com.
“If that’s what the guy’s passion is, I have no problem whatsoever chipping in and helping out.”
John Phillips suspects the boat, believed to be a 22-foot Seahawk cruiser featuring a fiberglass hull that retails for around $50,000, will be held as evidence for a while anyway leaving David Henneberry well beyond empty handed.
Meanwhile Watertown Police Chief Edward Deveau said that someone in Detroit, Michigan has emailed asking to fully replace David Henneberry’s boat as well.
“It’s just incredible,” Edward Deveau said of the outpouring of support which comes toward his police department as well.
“I’m getting emails and things from all over the world.”
Like thousands of other residents of Watertown, a sleepy middle-class suburb of Boston, David Henneberry had been cooped up in his home, at 67 Franklin Street, since police imposed a curfew in the early hours of Friday.
The curfew followed a 2 a.m. gun battle just a few streets away that left Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, dead and his 19-year-old brother Dzhokhar on the run.
A thousand police, SWAT teams, dog units and explosive experts had been going door-to-door as frightened residents were ordered to shelter inside their homes.
But by 5.30 p.m., Dzhokhar Tsarnaev still hadn’t been found and the curfew was lifted.
Despite cool temperatures and intermittent rain, residents – many of whom had been locked inside their homes all day – began emerging on to the streets. Some jogged, others walked their dogs while most stood chatting to neighbors.
David Henneberry, whose “passion” is his 24-ft white fibreglass Seahawk pleasure cruiser, strolled into his garden at 6.05 p.m. – and immediately noticed the tarpaulin covering his prized boat had been disturbed.
His neighbor, George Pizzuto, said: “He got his ladder and put it up against the side of the boat and climbed up. He saw blood on it and what he thought was a body lying at the back. He immediately ran inside and called the police.
“David was totally distraught and in shock. That boat’s his baby. He takes care of it like you won’t believe.”
Robert Duffy, David Henneberry’s stepson, added: “As soon as he saw the tarp on the boat he knew something wasn’t right. It was flapping in the wind and, when he got the ladder he realized one of the straps had been cut – not chafed, or unhooked but cut.
“He stuck his head under it and noticed a pool of blood and what he thought was a man’s leg. He saw someone crumpled up in a ball.”
Minutes later and all hell broke loose as around 300 police officers, FBI and SWAT teams descended on the quiet neighborhood.
At 6.15 p.m. police had cordoned off a three-block, area, erecting barricades and sending sharpshooters to “cover” street corners and take positions on rooftops. A police helicopter with heat sensors flew over the garden to verify there was a body inside the boat.
Just before 7 p.m., an FBI negotiating team rushed past the barricades at high speed. A police spokesman later said: “They were on stand-by all day to talk to the suspect. We always wanted to bring him out alive if possible.”
At 7.25 p.m. there was a burst of gunfire as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and police exchanged more than 40 shots, quickly followed by a series of bangs as flash bombs were thrown into the boat to “smoke him out”.
A bomb squad robot was also sent in to peel back the tarpaulin, while FBI negotiators using megaphones attempted to talk Dzhokhar Tsarnaev down. Police footage later showed the suspect surrendering.
A source said: “The suspect waved his arms and officers made him lift up his shirt and lower his trousers to show he had no explosives strapped to his body. There was a very genuine fear that he might be wearing a suicide vest.”
AT 8.43 p.m., a SWAT team stormed in, dragging Dzhokhar Tsarnaev out and to the ground. Watertown police chief Edward Deveau said that, at that stage, “he put up no resistance. He knew it was over”.
Justin Bieber tweeted a picture of himself and his ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez today – suggesting that they have rekindled their romance once again – but he quickly deleted it.
In the snapshot, Selena Gomez, 20, is leaning in towards Justin Bieber, 19, appearing as if she’s about to plant a big kiss on his cheek.
Selena Gomez’s fingers are running through her silky strands, pulling her hair out of her face, as Justin Bieber gazes at the camera in his backwards baseball cap.
Justin Bieber tweeted a picture of himself and his ex Selena Gomez suggesting that they have rekindled their romance
Justin Bieber deleted the photo immediately after he posted it, but the duo already sparked rumors of a reunion a few days ago.
On Thursday night, Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber were spotted kissing in Oslo, Norway.
Selena Gomez apparently flew to Norway just to see Justin Bieber, who is currently on tour there.
Based on their affectionate displays, friends believe the famous couple are indeed back together.
A source told People magazine: “They were holding hands, hugging and they kissed on the lips. They looked really in love, like no fights ever happened before. It definitely looked like they were back together.”
The parents of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s wife have put their Rhode Island home on the market on the same day the Boston bomber was shot dead by police.
Katherine Russell’s mother and father on Friday put their large detached family home in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, up for sale for $467,000.
The family have lived there for 14 years but the pain of recent events appears to have forced them to move to make a clean break with the past.
Within hours of being gunned down by police as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, tried to flee arrest, the Russell family home had been posted onto a string of online real estate websites.
Katherine Russell’s parents have put their Rhode Island home on the market on the same day Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot dead by police
Public records show that Katherine Russell’s father Warren, 55, an emergency room physician, bought the Colonial style property on tree lined street a quiet middle class suburb in 1999.
It has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms and sits on 0.74 acres of land.
The living area coves 3,090 sq ft, it has Cathedral ceilings inside and a fireplace.
There is a large garden in the front, a basement, central air conditioning and a paved driveway leading to two garages under the house.
Today onlookers could be seen driving past the home with the real estate listings on their laps.
Asked why the property had been put on the market, Katherine Russell’s mother Judith said: “No comment.”
Tamerlan Tsarnaev has a 3-year-old daughter called Zahara with Katherine Russell, 24, who converted to Islam for her husband.
Katherine’s parents, Judith and Warren Russell, issued an emotional statement following the terror attack that left three dead and 176 injured, saying: “Our daughter has lost her husband today, the father of her child.
“We cannot begin to comprehend how this horrible tragedy occurred. In the aftermath of the Patriot’s Day horror, we know that we never really knew Tamerlane Tsarnaev.
“Our hearts are sickened by the knowledge of the horror he has inflicted.”
Boston bombers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev were planning more attacks across the city and were already building the bombs to do this, says the city’s police commissioner Edward Davis.
Edward Davis says it’s his belief that 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan “were going to attack other individuals”. He says that’s based on the evidence at the scene and the cache of weapons the brothers had at their disposal.
However, Edward Davis claims, releasing photos of the two Boston Marathon bombing suspects “forced them out of their hideou”’ and spurred them into Thursday and Friday’s deadly night time car chaos and gun battle with law enforcement.
Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev were probably planning more attacks across Boston and were already building the bombs to do this
“It forced them out of their hideout and they decided to commit further violent acts. But it’s my belief that they were already manufacturing explosive devices. Further violent acts were inevitable,” Edward Davis told The Boston Globe.
The suspects “were not making those explosives for nothing”, he told the newspaper.
“There was a plan there, and I believe that tragically Sean Collier lost his life, but he was truly protecting the citizens of the city.”
Handguns, a rifle and at least six bombs, three of which detonated were found at the scene on Friday after officers had their first showdown with Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev in Watertown, Massachusetts.
And it is believed that federal prosecutors are putting the final touches together on charges against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, despite his throat wound leaving him unable to speak.
The most serious charge available to federal prosecutors would be the use of a weapon of mass destruction to kill people, which carries a possible death sentence. Massachusetts does not have the death penalty.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s parents have claimed that he received a call from the FBI accusing him of the Boston Marathon bombings two or three days after the attack.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who was killed following a shoot out with the police on Friday, called his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, two or three days after the marathon bombings to tell her about the call from the FBI, his father, Anzor Tsarnaev, said.
The claims, reported by Channel 4 News, reveal how Tamerlan Tsarnaev believed that the FBI was watching him. His mother previously said he had been followed by the FBI for five years.
Channel 4 News suggested that, while it was unlikely the FBI had called the suspect to accuse him of the heinous crime, it was perhaps his way of preparing his parents for the news of his involvement.
While it seems unlikely, if the claim is true, it raises questions over how the FBI handled the case.
The agency has already come under fire for reportedly failing to stop brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev before they planted two bombs at the finish line of the marathon, killing three and injuring more than 180.
It has emerged that Russian authorities alerted the FBI about their concerns over Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s links after he was spotted speaking to an Islamic militant six times at a mosque in Dagestan last year.
Now his parents are planning to visit the US to see their surviving son, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was found hiding in a boat following his older brother’s death.
Anzor Tsarnaev have claimed that the FBI called his son Tamerlan Tsarnaev accusing him of the Boston Marathon bombings two or three days after the attack
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva told ABC World News in a tearful phone interview that she fears her son will receive the death penalty.
“I lost two sons,” she said through tears over the phone.
“My family is in the dirt.”
The grieving mother did not say when she and her husband, Anzor Tsarnaev, plan to travel to the U.S.
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva told an ABC reporter based in southern Russia that she fears she will be unable to do so, despite her having an American passport, because she is now the parent of a suspected terrorist.
Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s parents spent the day hiding from the crowd of journalist that flooded their neighborhood in the remote Russian region of Dagestan, according to ABC News.
Neighbors who did speak to the press said the Tsarnaev family had no noticeable ties to Islamic fundamentalism or terrorist factions.
One neighbor said that there was no fanaticism among the family members living there and that Anzor Tsarnaev was not too religious.
In her phone call with ABC News reporter Kirit Radia, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva reiterated the wild claims her husband has made in previous interviews that their two sons were framed by the US government.
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva said her oldest son, Tamerlan, was investigated two years ago by the FBI only because “he loved Islam” and that he “didn’t do anything bad”.
The FBI said in a statement released Friday that it had investigated Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2011 at the request of a foreign government. The FBI did not reveal which country’s government that was.
“The request stated that it was based on information that he was a follower of radical Islam and a strong believer, and that he had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the United States for travel to the country’s region to join unspecified underground groups,” the FBI statement said.
The FBI said that in response to the request the bureau culled through its databases and interviewed both Tamerlan Tsarnaev and members of his family, but were unable to find any evidence that he was connected to a terrorist organization.
“The FBI did not find any terrorism activity, domestic or foreign, and those results were provided to the foreign government in the summer of 2011. The FBI requested but did not receive more specific or additional information from the foreign government,” the FBI’s statement read.
“They were all afraid of Tamerlan” his mother told ABC News referring to the US government.
“They wanted to eliminate him as a threat because he was in love with Islam. For the last five years they were following him.”
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva said the anxiety of losing both her sons has caused her to feel so sick she needs to call for an ambulance every two and a half hours.
Mitch Winehouse, father of late singer Amy Winehouse, has been left unimpressed by the version of her song Back To Black recorded by Beyoncé for new film The Great Gatsby.
“I don’t think she brings anything to it,” he said.
He added: “I wasn’t asked for my permission if they could record it.”
Mitch Winehouse has now agreed to its use, but said: “They have got to pay for the privilege, which is what they are doing. I can’t tell you how much it is but it’s a lot of money.”
Amy Winehouse’s father has been working on a follow-up to the hit album Lioness: Hidden Treasures, which was released after the singer’s untimely death at 27 in 2011.
Beyoncé covers Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black in new Great Gatsby
The album will feature some of Amy Winehouse’s very early work and profits will go towards the Amy Winehouse Foundation, a charity set up to help youngsters with addiction problems.
The new collection is expected to be released via Island Records with some input from producer Mark Ronson, who worked with Amy Winehouse.
Meanwhile, Beyoncé’s rapper husband Jay-Z – real name Shawn Carter – presented her with a diamond-encrusted champagne bottle to celebrate the first night of her Mrs. Carter World Tour in Serbia last week.
“He shelled out thousands on having a jeroboam of plush Armand de Brignac champagne sent over to her hotel, with the words <<Mrs. Carter>> emblazoned on it in diamonds,” said a mole backstage on the mammoth worldwide tour.
Kate Middleton, who is expecting her first baby in July, looked obviously pregnant for the first time as she attended the National Review of the Queen’s Scouts at Windsor Castle.
The Duchess of Cambridge, 31, was replacing Queen Elizabeth II at the event as the monarch is celebrating her 87th birthday privately.
A volunteer in the Scout Association, Kate Middleton, 31, has worn an extremely short pastel Mulberry coat, fawn pill box hat and her favorite nude LK Bennett heels.
Kate Middleton has worn her Whiteley Cappuccino hat on several previous occasions, including the Epsom Derby.
The event is a day of celebration, bringing together 400 Queen’s Scouts and their invited guests to celebrate the achievements of young people and young adults who have achieved the prestigious award.
It is gained by carrying out regular community service for a year, learning new skills, completing a four day expedition in unknown terrain; taking part in a residential project and then sharing what has been learned with their peers.
Kate Middleton, who is expecting her first baby in July, looked obviously pregnant for the first time as she attended the National Review of the Queen’s Scouts at Windsor Castle
During the event, Kate Middleton spent time talking with some of the 400-plus Queen’s Scouts from around the UK and the Commonwealth.
She also met gallantry award holders, who have been nominated for their bravery and heroism and meeting adversity in their everyday lives.
The tradition of the annual celebration event within Windsor Castle dates back 80 years.
Since its inception, tens of thousands of young men and women have been honored with a King’s or Queen’s Scout Award for their own outstanding personal achievements.
Today, The Scout Association hailed the Duchess of Cambridge, who volunteers occasionally with a Cub Scout group close to her home in North Wales, for a sharp increase in the number of adult volunteers.
A spokesman for the Scouts said the Duchess had done around half a dozen volunteering sessions with her local cubs this year.
Kate Middleton is one of 2,812 new adult volunteers to join this year. These figures represent the second biggest increase in adult volunteers since 1986.
As well as attracting more adults the total number of teenagers in Scouting has almost doubled in the last 10 years, from 23,446 in 2003 to 40,578 in 2013.
However, despite attracting more adults, the Movement still has 37,867 young people on waiting lists who are unable join up because even more adult volunteers are needed.
Bear Grylls, Chief Scout, said: “It’s great that so many adults are joining the Scouts, and I am sure the increase has had much to do with the Duchess of Cambridge becoming a Scout volunteer last year.
“The Duchess is an incredible role model and she helps us show that Scouting’s not just for boys.
“She’s also such a generous volunteer and everyone is so excited to have her in the Scouting family. Many people have followed her lead and are getting involved and enjoying the adventure.”
Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev may have tried to kill himself rather than surrender to police after he was cornered in David Henneberry’s backyard boat in Watertown, but failed in his suicide attempt, it has been revealed.
Authorities have said they cannot question Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is in serious condition at a Boston hospital, because of a throat wound. Boston Mayor Tom Menino said on Sunday that federal agents may never be able to speak with him.
Tom Menino didn’t elaborate on his comment and it is unknown whether the gunshot also caused brain damage.
The new twist in the story of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s dramatic capture comes as the Boston police commissioner warns that he and his brother Tamerlan were plotting more bomb attacks on the city and they were caught just in time.
New video also revealed the final moments of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s standoff with police. The images come from a thermal imaging camera aboard a Massachusetts State Police helicopter that was hovering above the dramatic police standoff.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was captured by police on Friday night after he was discovered hiding out in a boat that was parked on a trailed at a house in suburban Watertown, Massachusetts.
It is believed that federal prosecutors are putting the final touches together on charges against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, despite his throat wound leaving him unable to speak.
The most serious charge available to federal prosecutors would be the use of a weapon of mass destruction to kill people, which carries a possible death sentence. Massachusetts does not have the death penalty.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick revealed on Sunday that surveillance video from the Boston Marathon attack shows one suspect dropping his backpack and calmly walking away from it before the bomb inside it exploded.
The video clearly puts Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at the scene of the attack, Deval Patrick said on NBC.
“It does seem to be pretty clear that this suspect took the backpack off, put it down, did not react when the first explosion went off and then moved away from the backpack in time for the second explosion,” he said.
“It’s pretty clear about his involvement and pretty chilling, frankly.”
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev may have tried to kill himself rather than surrender to police after he was cornered in David Henneberry’s backyard boat in Watertown
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev reportedly lost significant amounts of blood after suffering two wounds. One was a gunshot to the leg he sustained during a running gun battle with police early Friday. Another was the wound to his neck.
CBS News correspondent John Miller reports: “They say it appears from the wound that he might have stuck a gun in his mouth, and fired and actually just went out the back of his neck without killing him.
“That’s one of the reasons he’s unable to communicate, but he can understand what they’re saying. And they believe there will be a point where he will be able to talk to him.”
If the report proves true, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev may have had no intention of being taken alive by police as they closed in on David Henneberry’s boat where he was hiding in Watertown, Massachusetts, Saturday night.
Exactly what happened in the boat remains unclear. Neighbors reported hearing police SWAT officers unleash several bursts of automatic weapons fire as they closed in on the 25-foot vessel.
A police robot tore open the cover of the boat and a state police helicopter used an infrared camera to reveal Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s location in the stern.
Officers lobbed flash grenades into the boat in attempt to stun the suspect and called from him to surrender.
After Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was taken into custody, he was rushed to the hospital.
Many reports say the suspect climbed out of the boat on his own power. The Los Angeles Times reports that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was swearing profusely in the ambulance.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has not be read his Miranda rights – but a battle is being waged whether he should.
Four prominent Republican Congressmen have argued that the naturalized US citizen should be treated as an “enemy combatant”, meaning that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev would not be Mirandized.
Senators John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, as well as Rep. Peter King, New York, said in a joint statement they “do not want this suspect to remain silent”.
In a statement, the four Republican lawmakers wrote: “The accused perpetrators of these acts were not common criminals attempting to profit from a criminal enterprise, but terrorists trying to injure, maim, and kill innocent Americans.”
Officials said late Friday after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was detained that they would use a public safety exemption to delay the suspect’s Miranda rights.
However, the exemption expires 48 hours after the arrest, so quick actions must be taken.
The reading of a suspect’s Miranda rights alerts a person of their right to remain silent, the right to an attorney, and the right to a fair and speedy trial.
The politicians wrote that alerting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev of his rights as a naturalized US citizen shouldn’t be anything near a priority.
“We should be focused on gathering intelligence from this suspect right now that can help our nation understand how this attack occurred and what may follow in the future.”
The lawmakers then challenged the Obama administration to consider the “enemy combatant” option, saying: “We continue to face threats from radical Islamists in small cells and large groups throughout the world.”
Federal public defender Miriam Conrad, who represents Massachusetts, told FoxNews.com that her office will likely represent Dzhokhar Tsarnaev following his charges.
The debate over denying the suspect his Miranda rights has sparked outrage in the American Civil Liberties Union. The organization said Saturday that denying Dzhokhar Tsarnaev his rights is “un-American”.
Anthony D. Romero, ACLU’s executive director, said in a statement today: “Every criminal defendant is entitled to be read Miranda rights. The public safety exception should be read narrowly.
“It applies only when there is a continued threat to public safety and is not an open-ended exception to the Miranda rule. Additionally, every criminal defendant has a right to be brought before a judge and to have access to counsel.
“We must not waver from our tried-and-true justice system, even in the most difficult of times. Denial of rights is un-American and will only make it harder to obtain fair convictions.”
London Marathon runners wore black ribbons on their vests in honor of Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings victims.
Thousands lined the streets to see the 36,000 runners set off from Blackheath, where a 30-second silence was held.
Three people were killed and more than 170 others injured by the Boston Marathon’s twin blasts at the finish line.
Hundreds of extra police officers were drafted in as reassurance in London.
About half a million people were expected to watch the race, although official estimates have yet to be made.
Just before the start of the main race, event commentator Geoff Wightman introduced the half-minute silence.
“Marathon running is a global sport,” he said.
“It unites runners and supporters on every continent in pursuit of a common challenge and in the spirit of friendship and fellowship.”
Geoff Wightman said the marathon family had been “shocked and saddened” by the events in Boston and the silence was to show “our respect and support for the victims”.
A senior US diplomat based in the UK said the commemoration underlined the “special relationship” between the two countries.
Barbara Stephenson, Charge d’Affaires at the US Embassy, told Sky News: “We’ve had responses from Her Majesty the Queen, all through Twitter from the British people, and now we have got tens of thousands of London Marathon runners wearing a black ribbon in solidarity with the people of Boston.
“As my senior law enforcement person said on Friday afternoon, it’s moments like this when you know what the special relationship’s really all about.”
London Marathon appears to have passed off without incident.
London Marathon runners wore black ribbons on their vests in honor of Boston Marathon bombings victims
Race director Hugh Brasher said before the race that a full security review had taken place and everyone had been adamant that the “show must go on”.
The Metropolitan Police in London said it had reviewed security plans after the Boston attacks and that the extra officers would be used for “for reassurance patrols”.
Australia’s Kurt Fearnley was the first athlete to cross the line, winning the men’s wheelchair race.
Tatyana McFadden won the women’s wheelchair race less than a week after winning the equivalent race in Boston.
She said: “You know this whole weekend was dedicated to Boston and we got huge support from London. So, I couldn’t be happier – just getting support. It was just a wonderful day.”
In the women’s elite race, there was controversy early on when 2010 wheelchair winner Josh Cassidy dropped out after a collision with Olympic champion runner Tiki Gelana.
She continued running but was off the pace and her race was won by Kenyan Priscah Jeptoo in a time of 2:20:15.
The men’s race was won by Ethiopia’s Tsegaye Kebede and the men’s race by Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede, who overtook 2011 champion Emmanuel Mutai in the closing stages.
Mo Farah, who won the 5,000m and 10,000m at the 2012 London Olympics, ran only the first half of the 26.2-mile course.
Afterwards he praised the atmosphere of the crowd and said the experience was good practice ahead of him running the full race next year.
Singer Katherine Jenkins, cricketer Andrew Strauss and McFly’s Harry Judd were among the well-known names running.
Prince Harry, who is the patron of the London Marathon Charitable Trust, gave the winners their medals.
He said it was “never an option” that he would not be at the race because of security fears following the Boston bombings.
“The great thing about the marathon is no matter what color you are, or religion, no matter what nationality you are, everyone comes together to run a certain distance to raise money for amazing causes.
“I think that you can never that take away from people.”
Meanwhile, specialist US terrorism officers are waiting to question Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the twin bombings close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s older brother, Tamerlan, died after a shoot-out with police.
Virgin London Marathon has pledged to donate £2 ($3) for every runner that finishes Sunday’s event to The One Fund Boston set up to raise money for victims of the explosions.
Lufthansa has cancelled the majority of its flights scheduled for Monday, April 22, due to a planned warning strike.
The German airline said about only about 30 of its flights would run as planned on Monday, out of more than 1,700 originally scheduled.
Only a select few short-haul flights will operate on Monday, such as in Berlin, where strike actions should end by 2:30 p.m. CET. In all, only 20 of the 1,650 planned Lufthansa short-haul flights on Monday will operate due to the limited flight schedule.
In addition to the cancellations in Germany and Europe, massive flight cancellations and delays are to be expected for long-haul flights beginning Sunday April, 21. Of the 50 planned flights in Frankfurt, only six will operate; in Munich, of the 17 planned flights, only three will operate; whereas, in Dusseldorf all three long-haul flights are scheduled to operate as planned.
Lufthansa has cancelled the majority of its flights scheduled for Monday, April 22, due to a planned warning strike
Flights operated by Germanwings will not be affected, says the company.
Ground staff have called a one-day strike in a pay dispute.
Last week Lufthansa rejected union demands for a 5.2% wage increase over the next 12 months.
Strikers are also looking for guarantees over job cuts.
Like many airlines, Lufthansa is looking to cut costs in the face of stiff competition from low-cost carriers and big Gulf airlines, as well as rising fuel prices.
Unions staged a similar one-day strike last month. Short “warning strikes” are a common tactic among German unions, designed to put pressure on wage negotiations.
In a statement on its website, Lufthansa said passengers should expect “massive” flight cancellations and delays that will start to affect long-haul flights from Sunday.
Lufthansa also asks passengers to check the status of their flight before leaving for the airport.
Doctors have revealed details on Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s condition when he was hospitalized on Friday morning shortly before he died, having wounds from head to toe.
“Every region of his body had injuries [though] his legs and arms were intact,” doctors said about Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s condition.
Watertown police chief Edward Deveau has also given the most detailed yet account of events on Friday, when Boston was gripped with fear as Boston Marathon suspects, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev were being hunted down, after the FBI released photos of the men behind the attacks on Thursday night.
Violence broke out in the early morning hours Friday when police received reports of a robbery of a convenience store in Kendall Square near MIT and a Sean Collier, an MIT police officer, was shot multiple times.
Speaking to CNN following Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s capture, Edward Deveau said that a single officer was the first to encounter the two cars that Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were driving, just before 1 a.m. Friday.
One of the vehicles was a Mercedes SUV the brothers had carjacked earlier that night.
Before the officer could call for backup, the two cars came to a stop and the brothers got out.
“They jump out of the car and unload on our police officer,” Edward Deveau said.
Doctors have revealed details on Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s condition when he was hospitalized on Friday morning shortly before he died, having wounds from head to toe
“They both came out shooting – shooting guns, handguns. He’s under direct fire, very close by. He has to jam it in reverse and try to get himself a little distance.”
Five others officers arrived on the scene in the middle of an intense shootout during which Edward Deveau says over 200 rounds were fired in 5-10 minutes.
The chief said that one of the suspected bombers lobbed an explosive at the officers, which later turned out to be a pressure cooker bomb like the ones used in the marathon attack Monday.
Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev also allegedly threw other explosives at police, which Edward Deveau described as “very rough devices”.
Two of the bombs detonated and two did not.
The pressure-cooker bomb exploded, and the lid was found embedded in a nearby car, Edward Deveau said.
At one point, Tamerlan Tsarnaev came directly toward police, firing a gun at officers as he inched closer toward him, but his luck ran out along with his ammunition, allowing one of the officers to tackle him.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was wounded but alive following a police gun battle when his younger brother ran him over with a car, possibly causing his death.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was pronounced dead at a hospital a short time later.
An alleged autopsy photograph of Tamerlan Tsarnaev that was leaked Friday shows multiple gunshot wounds and a massive open gash that spans from the center of his chest to his back.
Another smaller gash is located right below the larger wound. His right shoulder and his face show signs of hemorrhaging.
Doctor David Schoenfeld, who was involved in treating Tamerlan Tsarnaev told the Associated Press he had injuries from head to toe and all limbs intact when he arrived at the hospital.
Dr. David Schoenfeld said 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev was unconscious and had so many penetrating wounds when he arrived at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center early Friday that it isn’t clear which ones killed him, and a medical examiner will have to determine the cause of death.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s clothes had been cut off by emergency responders at the scene, so if he had been wearing a vest with explosives, he wasn’t by the time he arrived at the hospital, the doctor said.
“From head to toe, every region of his body had injuries,” Dr. David Schoenfeld said.
“His legs and arms were intact – he wasn’t blown into a million pieces” – but he lost a pulse and was in cardiac arrest, meaning his heart and circulation had stopped, so CPR, or cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, was started.
David Schoenfeld did not address the police assertion that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was run over by a car driven by his brother as he fled the gunfire.
The doctor said he couldn’t discuss specific treatments in the case except to say what is usually done in such circumstances, including putting a needle in the chest to relieve pressure that can damage blood vessels, and cutting open the chest and using rib-spreaders to let doctors drain blood in the sac around the heart that can put pressure on the heart and keep it from beating.
“Once you’ve done all of those things … if they don’t respond there’s really nothing you can do. You’ve exhausted the playbook,” he said.
After 15 minutes of unsuccessful treatment, doctors pronounced Tamerlan Tsarnaev dead at 1:35 a.m. on Friday.
His body was turned over to law enforcement for examination to determine the source of his injuries.
“We did everything we could to try to save his life,” Dr. David Schoenfeld said.
“There was some discussion in the emergency room about who it was. That discussion ended pretty quickly,” he said.
“It really doesn’t matter who the person is. We’re going to treat them as best we can.”
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been hospitalized in serious but stable condition after his arrest in Watertown and officials say he cannot speak to investigators yet because he has been “intubated and sedated” with a throat wound.
Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was found bleeding heavily from gunshot wounds to his neck and foot from the shoot-out on Friday morning, which he escaped on foot before taking up his hiding place in David Henneberry’s backyard boat in Watertown.
The blood loss would have taken place over more than 20 hours by the time he was found and there were reports, which could not be confirmed, that he may have been shot a further two times last night.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found bleeding heavily from gunshot wounds to his neck and foot in David Henneberry’s backyard boat in Watertown
“He had lost a lot of blood. He was so weak that we were able to just go in and scoop him up,” state police spokesman David Procopio told the Boston Herald adding that the suspect was in “serious if not critical condition”.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was rushed from the scene by ambulance and images showed apparatus being used to help him breathe.
As the suspect receives treatment at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, law enforcement officials have revealed that he injured his throat in the standoff with police and may not be able to speak.
The medical facility where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is a patient is under heavy armed guard and federal prosecutors are standing by at the center for when the teenager is able to speak.
Victims who were injured in the deadly blast at the Boston Marathon on Monday are also among those being treated at the medical center, which has some families angry about the close proximity to the alleged mastermind.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is being treated in a room yards from where 11 injured marathon victims are still in recovery while a specially drawn up High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group wait anxiously to question him.
Previously unseen video of the dramatic capture of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev shows a police robot ripping apart the tarp concealing the suspect and numerous flash bang grenades being thrown into the boat where he lay.
In the final moments before his capture on Friday night, Dzhokhar Tsranaev appeared to lay still inside David Henneberry’s boat in a backyard in Watertown, Massachusetts, before he was taken into custody.
A video of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev capture shows a police robot ripping apart the tarp concealing the suspect and numerous flash bang grenades being thrown into the boat where he lay
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, has been hospitalized in serious but stable condition after his arrest and officials say he cannot speak to investigators yet because he has been “intubated and sedated” with a throat wound.
Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber were reportedly spotted kissing in Oslo, Norway, on Thursday night.
Selena Gomez, 20, apparently flew to Norway earlier this week to see Justin Bieber, who is currently on tour, and friends believe they are back together based on their affectionate display.
A source told People magazine: “They were holding hands, hugging and they kissed on the lips.
“They looked really in love, like no fights ever happened before. It definitely looked like they were back together.”
Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber were reportedly spotted kissing in Oslo, Norway
Friends recently insisted that despite their on/off relationship, Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber – who split late last year – can’t stay away from each other and have unstoppable chemistry.
A source said: “They have a crazy connection. They just can’t seem to break their connection. It can be intense.”
The rumored reconciliation comes not long after it was reported Selena Gomez had asked Paramount Pictures to remove her from Justin Bieber’s sequel to his Never Say Never concert film, for fear it would paint her in a negative light.
A source said: “There are plenty of scenes where she’s yelling at him, which, if edited, would make her look bad.
“Selena is desperately worried he’ll try to exact some sort of revenge on screen.”
Despite her fears, the two might be giving their young love another chance.
Justin Bieber hasn’t let go of his affection for Selena Gomez, as he was seen with a picture of her on his cell screensaver during his trip to Amsterdam last week.
The background image, spotted by TMZ, is from Selena Gomez’s photoshoot taken on March 4.
Miley Cyrus stepped out in Sherman Oaks without her engagement ring after she and her fiancé Liam Hemsworth reportedly postponed this summer wedding.
A source told People magazine that Miley Cyrus, 20, and Liam Hemsworth, 23, had been intending to tie the knot this summer and added: “They want to figure out their life together before they get married.”
Miley Cyrus stepped out in Sherman Oaks without her engagement ring after she and Liam Hemsworth postponed this summer wedding
While Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth have decided to slow things down, the insider claims this doesn’t mean that their relationship is on the rocks.
“They’re still engaged and living together,” the source told the magazine.
“They just realized that there is no rush with the wedding and that it’s better that they wait a bit.”
Rolf Harris’ wife, Alwen Hughes, has spoken of the entertainer’s torment at his arrest for alleged sexual offences in Operation Yewtree.
Alwen Hughes, a Welsh sculptress, told a friend that neither of them had been able to sleep since the historical allegations of abuse had surfaced.
Rolf Harris, 83, was finally named this week after being quizzed by police in Jimmy Savile case late last year and arrested last month.
Alwen Hughes, who wed Rolf Harris in 1958, told the friend: “My poor husband. It’s terrible, we’ve been really worrying about it. We’ve both been having sleepless nights over it all.”
Meanwhile, reports in Australia say detectives investigating the claims plan to fly to Sydney next month to interview two potential witnesses.
According to the Sydney Sunday Telegraph, officers from Operation Yewtree – the British Metropolitan Police sexual abuse inquiry prompted by revelations about fellow children’s television Jimmy Savile – planned to take statements from the two people face-to-face Down Under.
Rolf Harris’ wife, Alwen Hughes, has spoken of the entertainer’s torment at his arrest for alleged sexual offences in Operation Yewtree
Friends are concerned about Rolf Harris as he has admitted suffering depression in the past. Talking about that period in an interview Rolf Harris said: “I didn’t know what to do with myself, I didn’t know what to think.
“I now know what people mean when they say <<I’ve got clinical depression>>. I’d never felt so low. There’s no way out of the blackness.”
In a chat with Piers Morgan two years ago Rolf Harris said his depression had affected his family.
“They said I was a total stranger,” the entertainer said.
“They had never seen me like this… it was such a black period, like my life was over.”
The friend who spoke to Alwen Hughes and has known the couple for more than 50 years, said he could not believe Rolf Harris had done anything wrong. He added: “It was important to let him know I am there for him.
“Rolf is a lovely, loyal devoted husband and father and I can’t imagine him ever doing anything to tarnish his image. His wife was grateful for my call. She said it was good to know who their real friends were.”
Melbourne-based promoter Dennis Smith, who twice took Rolf Harris on tour in Australia, said the Two Little Boys singer was a “lovely man” with an original talent.
Of their time on the road Dennis Smith added Rolf Harris was “a laid-back quiet guy, not a party animal”.
The gates of Rolf Harris’s Thameside home in Bray, Berks, remained shut yesterday, but a handful of callers were let in.
Channel 5 said it had dropped reruns of Rolf’s Animal Clinic and children’s animation Olive the Ostrich pending the outcome of their star’s “legal matter”.
Rolf Harris, who denies the allegations, was interviewed under caution in November. He was arrested on March 28 and bailed until May.
Scotland Yard refused to comment.
Police are on the verge of making an announcement over whether or not 11 men investigated under Operation Yewtree will be charged with sex crimes.
The probe was launched last October after Jimmy Savile was exposed as a predatory paedophile with at least 450 victims.
Officers have been working closely with lawyers at the Crown Prosecution Service, who will have the final say on bringing cases to court.
Famous names arrested so far include singer Gary Glitter, comics Freddie Starr and Jim Davidson, DJ Dave Lee Travis and PR guru Max Clifford. All deny any wrongdoing.
New pictures from the Boston Marathon taken in the moments after the deadly blasts that left three dead and nearly 180 injured, show that the explosives packed inside rigged pressure cookers were planted next to a Russian flag that hung among other banners along the street.
It has been revealed that the prime suspects in the bombings are Chechen brothers, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his 19-year-old sibling, Dzhokhar.
If investigators prove that the Tsarnaev brothers were aligned with the decades-long Chechen fight for independence, the Boston attacks would mark the first time that Chechen separatists had struck on foreign soil.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had been captured Friday night following an intense manhunt that culminated in a police gunfight in Watertown.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who is suspected of having received military training abroad last year, was shot dead during an armed confrontation with authorities the night before.
The Tsranaev family, who are ethnic Chechens, lived in Kyrgyzstan and then moved to Dagestan in the 1990s before finally seeking asylum in the US in 2002.
“This family is a very rare episode. Very few make it here, even fewer get green cards,” Glen Howard, president of the Jamestown Foundation, told USA Today.
According to the newspaper, fewer than 200 Chechen immigrants currently living in the US, and most of them reside in the Boston area.
Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev planted one of the bombs under the Russian flag on Boston Marathon route
About 70% of the Chechen immigrants are women because very few men are granted asylum over terrorism concerns.
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Chechnya has been locked in a bloody struggle for independence with Russia, which had been punctuated with nearly a dozen terrorist attacks on Russian soil.
The latest bombing took place January 2011 when the Domodedovo airport in Moscow was rocked by an explosion that killed at least 6 people and left more than 130 injured. Islamist insurgent Daku Umarov later claimed responsibility for the attack.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was born in Kyrgyzstan but identified himself as a proud Chechen on a social media site as well as on his Twitter account.
He wrote: “Proud to be from Chechnya, I miss my homeland,” accompanied by the hashtag “chechnyanpower”.
His older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was a competitive boxer in Boston, said in a 2009 interview that if he cannot represent Chechnya in the Olympics, he would rather become a naturalized US citizen and compete for America than for Russia.
Since the bombings in Boston, Russian and Chechen officials alike were quick to point out that the Tsarnaevs have been out of the country for more than two decades and have no ties to Chechnya.
One explanation for the Boston bombings is that Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev were swayed by radical jihadism rather than Chechen separatism, the Washington Post reported.
FBI officials confirmed Friday that they questioned Tamerlan Tsaranaev in 2011 at the request of the Russian government about possible ties to Chechen separatists, but he was let go because the investigation found “no derogatory information”.
Russian forces officially left Chechnya in 2009, but their departure was marked by a rise in violence in neighboring countries in the Caucasus region, including Dagestan, where the Tsranaevs once sought refuge, and where the brothers’ parents currently reside.
According to an official familiar with Tamerlan Tsranaev’s travels last year, the 26-year-old spent six months in Dagestan.
Travel records obtained by NBC 4 New York show that Tamerlan Tsarnaev left New York January 12, 2012, en route to Moscow. He returned to JFK July 17.
Documents show a photo of a bearded Tamerlan Tsarnaev. According to the records, he was born October 21, 1986 and first entered US through JFK July 19, 2003.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader, said in a statement that attempts “to draw a parallel between Chechnya and the Tsarnaevs, if they are guilty, are futile. They grew up in the US, and their views and beliefs were formed there. The roots of the evil should be looked for in America”.
Russian authorities said that they were unable to provide their American counterparts with any valuable information about the Tsranaevs since the family had lived out of the country for many years.
One trail in the search for clues about why two ethnic Chechen brothers may have carried out the Boston Marathon bombings leads to a sleepy town in Kyrgyzstan where former neighbors recall a quiet family that was never in trouble.
Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are remembered as decent and obedient boys from their time in the 1990s in the small community of Chechens in Tokmok, a leafy town under the snow-capped Tien Shan mountains outside the capital Bishkek.
Two students, named by neighbors by their first names Azmat and Diaz, who own a BMW with the license plate “Terrorista #1” and who are said to be friends with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, were taken into custody for the second time on Saturday.
This time the two foreign nationals thought to be from Kazakhstan were arrested on immigration violations in the Massachusetts town, New Bedford, where police say the surviving suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, may have once lived.
Azmat and Diaz drive a black BMW 330XI with Terrorista#1 personalized plate and a sticker on the back which reads: “F*** you, you f****** f****”.
They had not been seen since the bombings until Friday night when their ground floor apartment in New Bedford, Massachusetts, was raided by a dozen FBI agents at gunpoint.
One of their girlfriends was also arrested. All three are in their late teens or early 20s.
Dzhokar Tsarnaev had tweeted pictures of himself with Azmat and Diaz’s car on his account
The three were subsequently released on Friday night before Saturday’s arrest of Azmat and Diaz.
Their apartment was raised because police say the younger Boston Marathon bombing suspect, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, may have lived at their address.
It also appeared that Dzhokhar Tweeted pictures of the BMW on his Twitter account J_tsar.
In one picture the car is next to another dark colored sports car with the caption: “Place your bets” as if they are about to race.
In another a group of boys stand by both vehicles and a youth can be seen making a gesture that looks like a gun towards the camera.
The three arrests took place at the Hidden Brook housing complex in New Bedford.
A neighbor claimed that Azmat and Diaz had said the BMW was stolen or that they claimed they had rented it and were not paying the rental fee.
Rescue teams in China are struggling to reach survivors of a powerful 6.6-magnitude earthquake that killed 203 and injured some 11,500 in remote hill villages in Sichuan province.
Emergency workers dressed in bright orange uniforms were making their way to remote areas on foot after roads were blocked by landslides.
Soldiers worked all night to search villages and treat the injured, while local people slept in shelters or cars.
Among the injured were 960 people who were seriously wounded.
Chinese PM Li Keqiang is overseeing relief efforts, and told reporters the rescue effort was “our first duty”.
Rescue teams in China are struggling to reach survivors of 6.6-magnitude earthquake that killed 203 and injured some 11,500 in Sichuan province
Li Keqiang, who arrived on Saturday afternoon by helicopter to direct rescue efforts, visited hospitals and tents, and climbed on a pile of rubble to view the devastation.
Villages close to the epicentre in Lushan county were left in ruins.
A number of aftershocks followed the quake, which struck at 08:02 local time on Saturday.
“It was as if the mountain was alive,” a 68-year-old woman with a broken arm, who had lost her home, told AFP news agency.
China has received offers of help from countries including Japan, which is currently embroiled in a territorial dispute with Beijing over an island grouping in the East China Sea.
Beijing said overseas help was not needed at the moment, but added that it would contact Tokyo if that changed.
Chen Yong, the vice-director of the Ya’an city government earthquake response office, said the death toll may not rise much more.
“We understand the situation in most areas. Most of the casualties have been reported,” he said.
“In some remote mountain areas, it is possible that we don’t fully understand the situation.”
Ambulances, fire engines and military lorries piled high with supplies were waiting in long lines along blocked roads in the province on Sunday.
Correspondents say the hill villages, where farmers grow rice, vegetables and corn on terraced plots, were hit the hardest.
Kevin Xia of the Red Cross said: “Supplies have had difficulty getting into the region because of the traffic jams. Most of our supplies are still on the way.”
In Longmen village in Baoxing county nearly all the buildings were destroyed, officials said.
Rescuers were forced to dynamite boulders that had fallen across some roads, while overnight rain slowed rescue work.
A military vehicle carrying 17 soldiers came off the road, killing one soldier and injuring others.
Tens of thousands of people spent the night in tents or cars, unable to return home or too afraid to go back because of the aftershocks.
Sichuan province was devastated by a massive quake five years ago. Tens of thousands of people were killed and five million lost their homes.
Many of the collapsed buildings were schools and nurseries, leading to widespread criticism of local government’s planning policies.
However, Chen Yong said that this had not happened this time.
“The Chinese government has put a lot of money into building schools and hospitals. I can guarantee that no schools collapsed,” he said.
An avalanche in Loveland Pass, Colorado, has killed five back-country snowboarders with a sixth surviving, according to officials.
The avalanche occurred between 13:00 and 14:00 local time, near a ski area, and blocked a highway.
The bodies of the victims, who all had avalanche beacons, were recovered by search teams.
A local sheriff said the authorities believed the snowboarders had caused the avalanche themselves.
An avalanche in Loveland Pass, Colorado, has killed five back-country snowboarders with a sixth surviving
The pass, at an elevation of 11,990 ft, is popular among back-country skiers and snowboarders, many of whom have been taking advantage of late season snowfall in the Rocky Mountains this weekend.
Sheriff Don Krueger of Clear Creek County said the avalanche had occurred near the Loveland Ski Area, but outside its boundaries, the Denver Post reports.
He said he believed everyone had been accounted for but could not be sure.
Don Krueger added that the authorities were “pretty sure” the snowboarders had triggered the avalanche, which he said was about 600yds (600m) wide and 8ft deep.
“The basic is that there was a group of about six back-country snowboards that came out today about two o’clock,” he said, adding that they had apparently triggered the snow slide.
“At least one of them was able to bail off to the side, he was partially buried but he was able to get himself out and call for help.”
An eyewitness saw a fire engine and ambulances, one towing snowmobiles, heading towards the pass, and two search dogs in the area of the slide.
The Colorado Department of Transportation said the avalanche had closed Highway 6 at Loveland Pass and could not estimate when the pass would reopen.
New photos, taken with thermal imaging cameras, reveal how breakthrough technology helped police home in on the second Boston Marathon bombing suspect 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
The pictures reveal how state-of-the-art thermal imaging cameras helped police track the Chechen terror suspect while he hid on David Henneberry’s boat for his final stand off in Watertown following a terrifying week of violence.
David Henneberry called 911 after spotting blood and what he thought was a crumpled body in his boat, which was sitting in the backyard of his home.
Authorities then used a helicopter equipped with a thermal imaging device to confirm that there was a body in the tarp covered boat and that the person was alive.
Hovering over the area, the helicopter spotted the heat signature of a person, confirming David Henneberry’s suspicions.
“Our helicopter had actually detected the subject in the boat,” Col. Timothy Alben of the Massachusetts State Police told NBC News.
“We have what’s called a FLIR – a forward-looking infrared device – on that helicopter.”
State-of-the-art thermal imaging cameras helped police track Dzhokhar Tsarnaev while he hid on David Henneberry’s boat in Watertown
The helicopter monitored the body in the boat for more than an hour before police moved in and took the bleeding Dzhokhar Tsarnaev into custody.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev remained in hospital today and was described as clinging to life as Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said: “I hope he survives, because we have a million questions.”
The secret service’s top interrogators are now waiting to quiz Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as he is treated in the same hospital where 11 victims are still recovering.
Thermal imagers are able to detect a body or other heat source inside a house, a vehicle, or in this case, a boat, because heat, unlike visible-light wavelengths can pass through walls.
Police regularly use them to find out whether marijuana is being grown inside a house with heat lamps.
David Henneberry became the day’s unusual hero when he decided to check on his beloved boat moments after police lifted a Boston-wide lock-down believing they wouldn’t find Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was shot twice by law enforcement in the gun battle which raged until his capture at approximately 8.45 p.m.
Law enforcement sources have suggested that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev gave himself up voluntarily after realizing continuing resistance was fruitless.
President Barack Obama praised the outcome after a “tough week” but said the focus would now be on getting answers for the victims.
He said: “Why did young men who grew up and studied here as part of our communities and our country resort to such violence?”
“We’ve closed an important chapter in this tragedy,” added Barack Obama said in his televised address.
Meanwhile, federal law enforcement officials are invoking the public safety exception to the Miranda rights.
That means that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will be questioned immediately without having his rights read to him.
Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham have called for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to be held as an enemy combatant, although the chances of that being permitted are slim.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is reportedly “clinging to life” under armed guard in the same hospital where 11 of Boston Marathon bombings victims are still being treated.
The secret service’s leading interrogators are waiting anxiously as doctors at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center fight to save Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old who murdered three and maimed more than 180 in Monday’s terror attack and killed a police officer on Thursday.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured last night in the culmination of a dramatic week-long police hunt and a completely unprecedented $333 million shutdown of Boston and its suburbs yesterday.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said today: “[I] hope he survives, because we have a million questions.”
Meanwhile, his father Anzor Tsarnaev called on him to tell “everything to the police” and to “be honest”.
The families of two of his victims Martin Richards, 8, and Krystal Campbell, 29, said they were glad no one else would be hurt and now they looked for justice.
A political row broke out this morning over how the terror suspect should be treated with the government sanctioning the immediate suspension of his Miranda rights.
Civil rights groups opposed the move while a group of Republicans said the government should suspend all legal rights and treat him as an “enemy combatant”.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was said to be “clinging to life” after losing a lot of blood from injuries sustained in Thursday’s shoot-out with police which claimed the life of his brother and accomplice, Tamerlan, 26.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is “clinging to life” under armed guard in the same hospital where 11 of Boston Marathon bombings victims are still being treated
Investigations will also look at how Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who is emerging as the clear ringleader of the pair, was previously investigated and freed by the FBI over suspected terror links after being prompted to investigate him by Russia.
There are also questions around how the FBI dismissed posts Tamerlan Tsarnaev made on the internet about terrorism and whether they should have taken his younger brother’s anti-American, 9-11 denial posts more seriously.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is being treated in a room yards from where 11 injured marathon victims are still in recovery while a specially drawn up High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group wait anxiously to question him.
Some victims families questioned the authorities decision to try and save Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s life in the same building where these victims are adjusting to life without limbs and struggling to survive because of his actions.
The hospital was being heavily guarded on Saturday with scores of officers manning the main doors and going in and out of the Boston hospital.
The FBI barred the hospital from commenting on the medical condition of the suspect but they confirmed he was still alive.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found bleeding heavily from gunshot wounds to his neck and foot from Thursday’s shoot-out which he escaped on foot before taking up his hiding place in a Watertown backyard boat.
The blood loss would have taken place over more than 20 hours by the time he was found and there were reports, which could not be confirmed, that he may have been shot a further two times last night.
“He had lost a lot of blood. He was so weak that we were able to just go in and scoop him up,” state police spokesman David Procopio told the Boston Herald adding that the suspect was in “serious if not critical condition”.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was rushed from the scene by ambulance and images showed apparatus being used to help him breathe.
Authorities were just relieved to have taken him alive.
