The Secret Service has intercepted a letter addressed to President Barack Obama containing a “suspicious” substance.
The service said the letter was identified at a remote facility where White House post is screened.
The letter arrived at the facility on April 16, the same day a letter intended for Senator Roger Wicker tested positive for the lethal toxin ricin.
A spokesman for the Secret Service, which protects the US president and his family, said it was liaising with the Capitol Police and FBI to trace the origins of the letter.
“This facility routinely identifies letters or parcels that require secondary screening or scientific testing before delivery,” Edwin Donovan said.
The Secret Service has intercepted a letter addressed to President Barack Obama containing a “suspicious” substance
ABC are quoting sources saying the letter addressed to Barack Obama has tested positive for ricin but that the contents would be sent to an accredited laboratory for further analysis, as the preliminary results need further verification.
Ricin, extracted from castor beans, is 1,000 times more toxic than cyanide.
It can be fatal when inhaled, swallowed or injected, although it is possible to recover from exposure.
Correspondents say there is a heightened sense of alert in the capital after the deadly bomb attacks at the Boston Marathon but there is no indication so far of any connection between the two incidents.
Queen Elizabeth II has led mourners in St Paul’s Cathedral in London at the funeral of Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s longest serving prime minister of modern times.
More than 2,000 guests from around the world paid their last respects at the biggest such occasion since the Queen Mother’s funeral in 2002.
In total, two current heads of state, 11 serving prime ministers and 17 serving foreign ministers from around the world attended.
Notable absences were former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who could not attend due to ill health, and former US first lady Nancy Reagan, who was also unable to come.
Queen Elizabeth II has led mourners in St Paul’s Cathedral in London at the funeral of Margaret Thatcher
Invitees include:
Prime Minister David Cameron
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair and wife Cherie
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and wife Sarah
Former Prime Minister Sir John Major
Former South African President FW de Klerk
Former US Secretary of State and Nobel Peace laureate Dr. Henry Kissinger
Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband
The first minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond
The first minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones
The first minister of Northern Ireland, Peter Robinson
Lord and Lady Archer
Chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten
London Olympic chief, Lord Sebastian Coe
Margaret Thatcher’s former foreign policy adviser Lord Powell of Bayswater
Former Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
Former US Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne
London Mayor Boris Johnson
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe
Former Conservative minister Michael Portillo and wife Carolyn Eadie
Former Czech President Vaclav Klaus and current Prime Minister Petr Necas
US politician Newt Gingrich
US politician Ross Perot
Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his wife Janette
Advertising executive and former Conservative Party chairman Lord Saatchi
Conservative donor Lord Harris and Lady Harris
Conservative peer, Baroness Trumpington
Former Commons Speaker, Baroness Boothroyd
Conservative peer, Baroness Bottomley
Press baron, Lord Beaverbrook
Former first minister of Northern Ireland, Lord David Trimble
BBC director general, Lord Tony Hall
Political commentator Sir Robert Worcester
Conservative Sir Malcolm Rifkind
Former Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Menzies Campbell
Labour MP Frank Field
Labour MP Keith Vaz
Conservative MP Peter Lilley
Conservative Lord Sterling of Plaistow
Lady Annabel Goldsmith, the widow of Referendum Party founder Sir James Goldsmith
Businessman and UK Independence Party treasurer Stuart Wheeler
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti
Kuwait Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Saba
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk
Crown Prince Pavlos and Princess Marie-Chantal of the Hellenes
Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmed Al Sabah, son of the ruler of Kuwait
Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis
Former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir David Richards
Former head of the Army General Sir Mike Jackson
Field Marshal Lord Bramall
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Craig of Radley
General Sir Peter Wall
Field Marshal Sir John Chapple
Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton
Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach
Major General Ed Davis
Vice Admiral Sir Roy Newman
Broadcaster Sir David Frost
Broadcaster Sir Trevor McDonald
Broadcaster John Sargeant
Lyricist Sir Tim Rice
Actress June Whitfield
Actress Joan Collins
Broadcaster Sir Terry Wogan and Lady Wogan
Singer Dame Shirley Bassey
Broadcaster and journalist Jeremy Clarkson
Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber
Fashion designer Anya Hindmarch
Former Antiques Roadshow presenter Hugh Scully
Artist Michael Noakes
Writer William Shawcross
Lady Solti, the widow of conductor Sir Georg Solti
JCB chairman Sir Anthony Bamford
Senior civil servant Sir Alex Allan
Singer Katherine Jenkins
Web pioneer Sir Tim Berners-Lee
Broadcaster Andrew Neil
Actor Michael Crawford
Chef Marco Pierre White
Conservative Raymond Monbiot
Williams Formula 1 team boss Sir Frank Williams
Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre
Businessman Gerald Ronson and Dame Gail Ronson
Philip Woodhouse, Master of Grocers Hall
Michael Cox, Master of the Worshipful Company of Vintners
The Lord Grabiner QC, treasurer of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn
Mark Wood, chairman of the NSPCC
Journalist Martyn Lewis
Businessman Sir David and Lady Tang
Stephen Boateng, of International Democrat Union
Former UK ambassador Sir Leonard Appleyard
Sir George Christie, chairman of Glyndebourne
Hotelier George Goring
Among those not attending:
Ronald Reagan’s widow Nancy is understood to be too frail to travel
Former US Presidents George Bush Sr. and George W. Bush
German Chancellor Angela Merkel did not attend and instead her government was represented by Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, due to health problems
Downing Street has confirmed that Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was not invited
Argentina’s ambassador to London, Alicia Castro, has declined her invitation
Lord Kinnock – former Labour leader of the opposition
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch was invited along with other newspaper proprietors but has indicated he will not be coming
Rihanna was forced to cancel her Houston concert due to an undisclosed illness after she’s already postponed two stops on her Diamonds World Tour since it started in early March.
Promoter Live Nation was once again left having to contact ticket holders and let them know that “as a result of illness” Rihanna would not be performing.
Instead of taking to Twitter as she has done in the past to beg forgiveness from her fans, it seems Rihanna, 25, has had other things on her mind.
As well as sending her condolences to all those involved in the Boston Marathon bombings, Rihanna also sent a Happy Birthday message to her brother Rajad.
The singer wrote: “Happy Birthday to the love of my life @RjFenty15.”
Rihanna was forced to cancel her Houston concert due to an undisclosed illness
According to Hollywood Life, Rihanna has been struck down with laryngitis once again, which is what led her to cancel the Boston stop of her tour too.
A source told the website: “She feels bad, but what can she do? This cold and laryngitis … just ain’t the business, but she will bounce back. She just laying it down, trying to get better.”
Rihanna’s health has been an issue throughout the tour and she has reportedly been told to curb her party-loving lifestyle if she wants to fulfill her touring commitments.
After bowing out of the Boston and Baltimore legs of her epic seven-month tour, Rihanna is said to be taking the advice of doctors, who expressed concerns about the effect her late nights, smoking and boozing could have on her overall health.
A source told The Sun newspaper: “Rihanna’s illness was so severe that doctors warned it could take months for her to fully recover – there were worries that she’d have to cancel her entire tour.
“They’ve told her that she needs to make some serious lifestyle changes, or risk this happening again. This has given her a scare. But Rihanna knows it’s partly self-inflicted.
“She loves to smoke, drink and stay up late. Her body was bound to need a break at some point. She’s now on a mission to start looking after herself.”
Meanwhile it has been confirmed that Rihanna is not the new face of Chanel, despite much online speculation.
Jessica Simpson is only days to go until her due date and she was joined by celebrities like Jessica Alba and Ashlee Simpson as well as friends and family in celebrating her baby shower at the Bel-Air Hotel garden yesterday.
The bright and colorful shower, which was planned by renowned event planner Mindy Weiss, featured flowers by Mark’s Garden with yellow roses, yellow ranunculus, bunches of lavender and cabbage leaves surrounding the party.
Jessica Simpson is only days to go until her due date and she was joined by friends and family in celebrating her baby shower
Jessica Simpson received a bunch of gifts for her little boy’s arrival (daughter Maxwell got some goodies, too) including bath toys, a new video monitor, a high chair, a Baby Bjorn kid carrier and an activity play gym.
Jessica Simpson recently told Ryan Seacrest’s KIIS-FM show she’d like to stop having kids after her andEric Johnson’sson is born, but she can’t say that will be the case for sure.
A Cairo appeals court has ordered former Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak back to prison from military hospital.
Hosni Mubarak’s retrial will open on May, the court ruled.
The former leader is charged alongside his former interior minister and six former security chiefs with complicity in the murder and attempted murder of hundreds of protesters in January 2011.
Former Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak has been ordered back to prison from military hospital
The retrial was meant to begin on April 13 but collapsed when the presiding judge withdrew from the case.
AFP news agency quotes judicial sources as saying that Judge Mahmud al-Rashidi will preside over the case at the North Cairo Criminal Court.
Hosni Mubarak will also face corruption charges, along with his sons, Alaa and Gamal, and businessman Hussein Salem.
Lü Lingzi, the third person killed in the Boston Marathon attacks, was a 23-year-old Chinese graduate student at Boston University who came to the U.S. because it was her “dream to get a better education”.
Lü Lingzi was attending the Boston Marathon with her friend Zhou Danling, a student of actuarial science at BU, who was originally said to be in a coma at Boston Medical Center but showing signs of improvement after suffering serious injuries in the blast.
On Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Consulate General in New York said they were not releasing the victim’s name at the request of the family.
But later, Boston media quoted a Chinese Consulate General official as saying Chinese national Lü Lingzi was missing in the wake of the bombings that killed three and wounded more than 180 people.
Li Luquan, who is an operations research student at New Jersey State University said that Lü Lingzi, who is from Shenyang, Liaoning, was studying hard at BU and enjoyed cooking, going to the gym and to play the piano.
Lü Lingzi, the third person killed in the Boston Marathon attacks, was a 23-year-old Chinese graduate student at Boston University
“She came the U.S. last August and studied at Boston University because she wanted a better education. America has a better education system and better research opportunities,” Li Luquan said.
“Coming to America to study was her dream. She was living her dream.
“In the future she might stay in the U.S. or go back to China. She said she might work for a big company in America.
“She has an aunt who lives elsewhere in the U.S. and I think she has come to Boston to find her.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Colin Riley, a BU spokesman had declined to release the student’s name pending a discussion with her family.
On Wednesday however, The Shenyang Evening News reported her name on its official Twitter-like microblog account.
The Associated Press reported that an editor at the newspaper said that Lü Lingzi’s father confirmed his daughter’s death when reporters visited the family home.
According to the Boston Globeon Tuesday, BU did confirm that three of their students had attended the marathon and that one was sadly deceased, one was injured and another escaped unharmed.
Danling Zhou, who was reported to have fallen into a coma, was now doing well and was conscious.
The Chinese Consulate in New York had earlier confirmed that Zhou Danling was injured and a survivor of the attacks which killed two others and left 183 others injured.
“She cannot talk now but can communicate with pen and paper,” the consulate said in an e-mailed statement previously on Tuesday.
In that earlier statement, the consulate said another Chinese student, identified by the consulate as Lü Lingzi, was still missing.
“We are following the case closely and are trying to reach our colleagues in Boston. I believe they will release further information on site if anything comes up,” the consulate said. Then adding: “Our hearts goes out to all the families who had been affected.”
Zhou Danling is reportedly a graduate of Wuhan University in central China, and currently a student at Boston University in actuarial science, according to a Xinhua report.
Boston is filled with colleges and there are a handful of students among the 183 injured.
Three Tufts University students, 7 Emerson College students, 3 Northeastern University students, 2 Boston College students, and one Berklee College of Music student, according to the schools.
European car sales were 10.3% lower in March 2013 from a year earlier, the 18th consecutive month of falls.
The figures, from the Association of European Carmakers (ACEA) showed most carmakers saw sales drop, with Peugeot Citroen and Toyota suffering the most.
Continuing economic stagnation across Europe has depressed sales for almost six years.
The UK was the only country in Europe where sales rose, with registrations up by 5.9%.
Germany, the best performing economy in the eurozone, saw the biggest fall in sales of 17.1%, with France just behind with a drop of 16.2%.
European car sales were 10.3 percent lower in March 2013 from a year earlier, the 18th consecutive month of falls
“The car industry is suffering just as the European economy is suffering,” said motor industry analyst Christian Stadler, associate professor of strategic management at Warwick Business School.
The falls came despite hefty incentives on offer to buyers of new cars.
The Reuters news agency said that average retail sales incentives in the top five markets – Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain – had risen 13% to almost 2,400 euros ($3,200) per vehicle.
Last month, 1.31 million cars were registered in Europe.
Peugeot and Toyota were the worst affected manufacturers, with sales falling more than 16% from a year earlier, Volkswagen also suffered a sharp drop, with sales down 15% and the US carmaker General Motors saw sales fall by 12.8%.
Peugeot has forecast a sales fall of up to 5% this year, although since that guidance was given the chief executive has said that the outlook has worsened.
Jaguar was the only carmaker to see serious gains, with sales up by 21%. Mercedes also saw sales rise, although only by 0.8%.
“There are firms bucking the trend, like Jaguar Land Rover who are positioned well in the emerging markets, and you see that those high-end brands aimed at richer customers are not doing as badly,” said Christian Stadler.
“Car firms positioned in this way will be able to avoid the worst of the European slowdown.”
In a separate announcement, Toyota, which was a pioneer of petrol-electric hybrid vehicles with its Prius model in 1997, said sales of these and its other hybrid models had now passed five million.
Toyota said it had sold a total 5.125 million hybrid vehicles by the end of March, and they now accounted for 14% of its global sales.
Fox’s adult cartoon Family Guy depicts mass deaths at the Boston Marathon in a recent episode aired last month.
Family Guy Boston Marathon episode, which first aired on March 17, was removed from Fox.com and Hulu.com and the network has no plans air it again, Fox spokeswoman Gaude Paez said Tuesday.
The Boston Marathon episode features the show’s main character, Peter Griffin, unwittingly befriending a terrorist who is planning to blow up a bridge and then accidentally detonating two bombs using a cell phone the friend gave him. The sounds of screams follow the detonations.
In a separate and unrelated scene, the episode depicts peter Griffin reminiscing about how he won a former Boston Marathon by mowing over runners in his car.
Adult cartoon Family Guy depicts mass deaths at the Boston Marathon in a recent episode aired last month
“I’ll tell ya, Bob, I just got in my car and drove it,” Peter Griffin says.
“And when there was a guy in my way, I killed him.”
As he talks, Peter Griffin is illustrated driving his car across the finish line with a trail of bloody carnage behind him.
Internet users mashed the clips together and suggested that the Family Guy episode had either predicted or influenced the tragic explosions at the marathon on Monday that killed three people and injured 183.
FamilyGuy‘s creator, Seth MacFarlane, called the edited clips “abhorrent”.
“The edited Family Guy clip currently circulating is abhorrent,” Seth MacFarlane tweeted on Tuesday.
“The event was a crime and a tragedy, and my thoughts are with the victims.”
Lü Lingzi has been identified as the third person killed in the Boston Marathon bombings.
Lü Lingzi was a 23-year-old Chinese graduate student at Boston University (BU) Mathematics and Statistics, who came to the U.S. because it was her “dream to get a better education”.
The young woman has been identified by her father in China.
Lü Lingzi has been identified as the third person killed in the Boston Marathon bombings
Lü Lingzi was attending the Boston marathon with her friend Zhou Danling, a student of actuarial science at BU, who was originally said to be in a coma at Boston Medical Center but showing signs of improvement after suffering serious injuries in the blast.
The other two fatalities in the bombing have been identified as 8-year-old Martin Richard, the son of a Dorchester community activist, and 29-year-old restaurant manager Krystle Campbell.
As the latest official tally suggested, 183 people were injured and three killed in Monday’s terror attacks at the Boston Marathon.
Hundreds of people gathered to hold candlelit vigils in tribute to the victims.
Vigils were held across the city as FBI investigators admitted their range of suspects remained “wide open”.
Amanda Bynes has changed her outrageous hair extensions which covered up her shaved head after she said her hair was damaged.
Amanda Bynes, 27, stepped out on Tuesday morning for another trip to a New York salon where a miraculous transformation occurred getting new matted hair extensions.
Earlier a number of dreaded ropes hung messily down the actress’s shoulders.
Amanda Bynes has changed her outrageous hair extensions which covered up her shaved head
The blonde tangle was kept in place by a red Obey trucker hat but strangely she didn’t ditch the cap after she had her follicles fettled into good shape.
Amanda Bynes wore a camouflage army jacket, black tights, and leather high heeled boots.
The former teen idol sported a thick gold watch and toted a Louis Vuitton gold handbag as she stretched her hands out in front of her while making her way along the street.
By way of explanation for her increasingly outrageous hairstyles, Amanda Bynes wrote on Twitter: “I had to shave my head because of hair damage from someone @ John Barrett so I’m not loving my paparazzi pics for a few years!”
Psy’s new single Gentleman has been viewed by more than 100 million people on YouTube in just four days.
Gentleman music video clip was published on YouTube on April 13 and has since broken the record for first day song views.
The follow-up track of Gangnam Style had around 20 million hits in the first 24 hours.
The previous record for first day views of 8 million was set by Justin Bieber’s Beauty and a Beat, which was viewed 10.6 million times in 24 hours.
Gentleman video features South Korean rapper Psy wearing his signature glasses and playing practical jokes on women such as pulling their chairs away as they are about to sit down and increasing the speed on a treadmill while it’s being used.
Psy’s new single Gentleman has been viewed by more than 100 million people on YouTube in just four days
The video also shows a new hip swivelling dance move. His previous horse riding move was copied by people all over the world including The Wanted, Britney Spears and President Barack Obama.
Psy has insisted that he’s not trying for another worldwide hit with Gentleman.
The singer said: “I’ve been doing this for 12 years. Would it be fair to call me a one-hit wonder just because my next song falls flat?”
Psy’s debut single Gangnam Style became the most-watched YouTube video of all time with more than 1.5 billion views since it was published in July 2012.
Fox has decided to pull a recent episode of Family Guy from its websites that depicted people being killed at the Boston Marathon.
The television network says it has no plans to air the episode again soon.
Fox spokeswoman Gaude Paez said Family Guy Boston Marathon episode had been removed from Fox.com.
In the episode, main character Peter Griffin has a flashback about crashing into runners with his car and making friends with a terrorist plotting to blow up a bridge.
When Peter, who is voiced by Seth MacFarlane, dials a mobile phone a friend has given him, explosions and screams are heard in the background.
The episode was originally aired on March 17 in the US.
Fox has decided to pull a recent episode of Family Guy from its websites that depicted people being killed at the Boston Marathon
On some websites in America, an edited clip has been circulating that mixes the two scenes together, making it seem as though the explosion was at the marathon.
Some commenters have since implied that the show “predicted” the bombings.
Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane criticised the edited clip on Twitter and offered his condolences to the victims of Monday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon.
Seth said: “The edited Family Guy clip currently circulating is abhorrent. The event was a crime and a tragedy and my thoughts are with the victims.”
Meanwhile, Film4 has taken the film Four Lions out of its schedule next week after the Boston Marathon bombings.
Chris Morris’s comedy is about a group of British Muslims planning a bomb attack at the London Marathon.
A tight London security operation involving more than 4,000 police officers is under way for the funeral of former British PM Margaret Thatcher.
Margaret Thatcher’s coffin will travel from Westminster and be taken in procession through central London for the funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral at 11:00 BST.
Some 2,300 people, representing 170 countries, are expected to attend.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip will be among them.
Scotland Yard said it was expecting some protests along the funeral route.
Margaret Thatcher’s coffin will travel from Westminster and be taken in procession through central London for the funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral
Margaret Thatcher, who was Conservative Prime Minister from 1979 until 1990, died on April 8, following a stroke, at the age of 87.
Baroness Thatcher has been accorded a ceremonial funeral with military honors, one step down from a state funeral.
Police were out early on Wednesday with metal crowd control barriers in place along the main route in Westminster.
Margaret Thatcher’s coffin will initially travel by hearse from the Palace of Westminster, where it has lain overnight, to the Church of St Clement Danes – the Central Church of the RAF – on the Strand.
The coffin will then be transferred to a gun carriage to be drawn by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, who will lead it in procession to St Paul’s.
The processional route will be lined by more than 700 armed services personnel. A gun salute will be fired from the Tower of London every minute while the procession is taking place.
The Dean of St Paul’s said the funeral would be “relatively humble” in line with Margaret Thatcher’s wishes.
The Very Rev Dr David Ison said Margaret Thatcher had played a large part in planning the funeral over the past six years.
He said the “simple” service would be in contrast to the “pomp and ceremony” surrounding the transit of the coffin.
“Mrs. Thatcher wanted something that was very simple and it is not at all triumphalist,” he said.
“There is no eulogy, she is only mentioned once or twice in the service. It uses the book of common prayer, which is actually quite austere in places.”
As well as the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, all 32 members of the current cabinet will attend the service, along with more than 30 members of Margaret Thatcher’s cabinets from her time as prime minister.
There will be more than 50 guests associated with the Falkland Islands, including veterans from the 1982 conflict with Argentina, but Argentina’s ambassador to London, Alicia Castro, has declined an invitation to attend.
In total, two current heads of state, 11 serving prime ministers and 17 serving foreign ministers from around the world will attend.
Six police forces from outside London have sent specialist officers to help with escorting foreign dignitaries.
Various roads along the route were closed from 07:30 BST, and Transport for London (TfL) has advised drivers to avoid Westminster and the City of London. The roads are expected to be re-opened as soon as possible following the funeral.
Hours before the funeral, people began to gather outside the cathedral.
There were union jacks on display, as well as flags from the US, Canada, Scotland, Poland and the Falkland Islands.
The Metropolitan Police said it had been contacted by a small number of protesters to say they were planning action on the funeral route in protest at the impact of some of Margaret Thatcher’s policies while she was in power. Other protests are expected elsewhere.
Although Monday’s bomb attack at the Boston Marathon was not believed to have led to any significant changes in security for the funeral, it was expected that the police and public would be more vigilant.
Senior officers acknowledged they had a “difficult” balance to strike between allowing people to express their opinions and maintaining order.
Police have powers to arrest those who use “threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior”, but Scotland Yard said it was not for the police to “uphold respect”.
Margaret Thatcher’s union jack-draped coffin was placed in the Palace of Westminster’s Chapel of St Mary Undercroft overnight on Tuesday.
A short service, led by the Dean of Westminster, was held for members of the family, senior parliamentarians, and staff from Parliament and Downing Street.
The House of Commons speaker’s chaplain kept vigil in the chapel through the night.
The chimes of Big Ben will be silenced for the duration of Margaret Thatcher’s funeral.
The FBI has released images from the probe into the deadly attack on the Boston Marathon showing details of the bombs used.
Images from a joint Homeland Security and FBI bulletin show the remains of a dark colored backpack and remnants of what appears to be a pressure cooker.
Three people died, including an 8-year-old boy, and more than 180 were injured when two bombs exploded near the finish line of Monday’s race.
The FBI has released images from the probe into the deadly attack on the Boston Marathon showing details of the bombs used
FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers told a news conference that pieces of nylon had been recovered from the scene, along with fragments of ball bearings and nails that were “possibly contained in a pressure-cooker device”.
He said they were being sent to the agency’s laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, where experts would reconstruct the devices to determine their make-up and components.
Richard DesLauriers added: “The investigation is in its infancy. There are no claims of responsibility and the range of suspects and motives remains wide open.”
He urged people to report anyone they had seen acting suspiciously.
“Someone knows who did this,” he said.
Associated Press quoted a source close to the investigation as saying that the bombs consisted of explosives placed in 1.6-gallon pressure cookers, one with shards of metal and ball bearings, the other with nails.
The bombs were put into black bags and left on the ground, the source said.
It has also been reported that a circuit board and battery pack – parts of a triggering mechanism – were also recovered.
Doctors treating the wounded say their injuries indicate that the bombs contained metal shards and other shrapnel. A number of victims have had limbs amputated.
Speaking at the same news conference, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said the Boston community would “recover and heal” from the attack.
“This is one community. We are all in this together,” he said.
President Barack Obama will address an interfaith service in Boston for the victims on Thursday morning.
The White House said Barack Obama had cancelled a planned trip to Kansas to speak.
Saudi student Abdulrahman Ali Alharbi was detained for “acting suspiciously” at the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday but was later ruled out as a suspect by federal officials after they raided his apartment.
Officials said they were talking to Abdulrahman Ali Alharbi, 22, only as a witness.
Abdulrahman Ali Alharbi, who is studying English, is still in hospital after suffering from serious burns and is said to be cooperating fully with authorities. He was tackled to the ground by a civilian who believed he was acting suspiciously.
More than 24 hours after the deadly terrorist attack which killed three people and injured 183 at the Boston Marathon, authorities are no closer to finding out who is responsible and say the investigation is “still in its infancy”.
Saudi student Abdulrahman Ali Alharbi was detained for “acting suspiciously” at the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday but was later ruled out as a suspect
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack and authorities do not even know if it was a group or an individual, Al Qaeda or a sympathizer, a lone wolf or a right wing extremist group capitalizing on it being Patriot’s Day.
Speaking this afternoon at a press conference, the FBI agent in charge, Rick DesLauriers, said they have received more than 2,000 tips which they have looked into but the range of suspects still remains wide open.
He said authorities are working around the clock and forensic evidence has been sent to FBI labs in Virginia to be analyzed and reconstructed.
Rick DesLauriers also asked people to report anyone who talked about targeting Monday’s race or showed interest in explosives or if anyone was seen carrying a heavy nylon bag in the area at the time.
“Someone knows who did this,” he said.
“Co-operation from the community will play a crucial role in this investigation,” Rick DesLauriers added.
It was also revealed today that important clues are being collected from the victims themselves.
Doctors at Tufts Medical Center said they had removed countless pieces of shrapnel from injured bodies and were turning them over to police and federal agents.
Dozens of pellets and nails were collected and sent away as evidence. Some had as many as 40 fragments in their body.
A letter posted to Mississippi Republican Senator Roger Wicker at the US Senate has been tested positive for the lethal toxin ricin or another poisonous substance, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said.
The letter was intercepted at a centre handling post for the Capitol in Washington DC, US media report.
Ricin, extracted from castor beans, is 1,000 times more toxic than cyanide.
It can be fatal when inhaled, swallowed or injected, although it is possible to recover from exposure.
Roger Wicker issued a statement on Tuesday acknowledging the letter.
“This matter is part of an ongoing investigation by the United States Capitol Police and FBI,” he said.
“I want to thank our law enforcement officials for their hard work and diligence in keeping those of us who work in the Capitol complex safe.”
An official quoted by AP news agency said two tests had shown positive for ricin but the results are not deemed conclusive without further testing.
A letter posted to Mississippi Republican Senator Roger Wicker at the US Senate has been tested positive for the lethal toxin ricin or another poisonous substance
The letter was detected during a routine inspection of mail and did not reach the US Capitol or Senator Roger Wicker’s office, a Senate leadership aide was quoted as saying.
Senators were informed of the letter at a closed-door briefing by FBI Director Robert Mueller and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about the Boston Marathon bombings, the aide added.
There is a heightened sense of alert in the US capital after the attacks in Boston but there is no indication so far of any connection between the two incidents.
It is also not clear why the letter was sent to Senator Roger Wicker.
The Senate’s chief security office told Reuters: “The exterior marking on the envelope in this case was not outwardly suspicious, but it was postmarked from Memphis, Tennessee.”
All mail sent to members of Congress has been screened off-site since letters laced with anthrax were sent to Capitol Hill in 2001.
In 2004, three Senate office buildings were shut after tests found ricin in letters that had been sent to the Senate majority leader’s office.
Ricin was the poison used for the infamous murder of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in September 1978.
Georgi Markov was waiting at a bus stop near Waterloo Bridge, London, when a stranger jabbed him in the leg with an umbrella.
The umbrella injected a tiny ricin-filled pellet into Georgi Markov’s leg and he died three days later in hospital.
Ricin:
Can be fatal when inhaled, ingested or – most dangerously – injected
One to three castor beans chewed by a child, or just eight seeds chewed by an adult, can be fatal
The toxin is part of the waste produced when castor oil is made
According to results from the European Commission, horse DNA has been found in up to 5% of beef products randomly tested across the EU.
Inspectors also found the banned anti-inflammatory horse drug phenylbutazone, or “bute”, in 0.5% of horsemeat tested.
The EU said it was “a matter of food fraud and not of food safety”.
The three-month programme of checks was agreed by the 27 EU member states in February after horsemeat had been found in a batch of Findus frozen lasagne.
Horse DNA has been found in up to 5 percent of beef products randomly tested across the EU
“Restoring the trust and confidence of European consumers and trading partners in our food chain following this fraudulent labeling scandal is now of vital importance for the European economy,” said EU Commissioner for Health and Consumers Tonio Borg.
Tonio Borg said the Commission would “propose to strengthen the controls along the food chain in line with lessons learned.”
Of the 4,144 tests carried out across the EU for the presence of horsemeat DNA, 193 were positive (4.66%).
There were 3,115 tests for bute, of which 16 were positive (0.51%).
In addition, member states reported another 7,951 tests for horse DNA performed by food business operators; of these 110 were positive (1.38%).
The number of tests varied between 10-150 samples depending on the size of the EU country and on consumption habits, the Commission said.
The tests were commissioned by the EU amid concerns about possible fraudulent attempts to sell horsemeat as processed beef in a number of member states.
The tests, although not comprehensive, provide an indication of the scale of the problem.
Last week the Dutch government announced that, as part of its investigations, it had identified two processing plants that might have supplied horsemeat as beef since January 2011.
The European Commission believed the EU had one of the best food safety systems in the world but it relied on a complex web of suppliers.
The food companies across the EU were so interwoven that one fraud could have a serious ripple effect across a number of countries.
A graduate student at Boston University has been identified as the third victim killed at the Boston Marathon.
The student’s name was not released until the family could give permission.
The victim was one of three students watching near the finish line.
Another victim of bombings, also a grad student, was injured but is listed in stable condition at Boston Medical Center.
The injured student has been identified as Zhou Danling by China’s official Xinhua News Agency which quoted an unnamed official from the Chinese consulate in New York.
The report said Zhou Danling is in coma and her mother has asked for help in getting to the US to visit her wounded daughter.
The third student in the group was miraculously unharmed.
Zhou Danling is in coma after being seriously injured in the Boston Marathon attacks
Boston University has confirmed one of its student has been hospitalized in stable condition.
Robert Hill, dean of Marsh Chapel, visited the injured student twice and said she underwent surgery on Monday and on Tuesday, according to Boston University Today.
“She is doing well,” says Robert Hill.
“She has her friends around her, and she will soon have family around her.”
Zhou Danling is reportedly a graduate of Wuhan University in central China, and currently a student at Boston University in actuarial science, according to a Xinhua report.
“She cannot talk now but can communicate with pen and paper,” the consulate said.
Boston is filled with colleges and there a handful of students among the 183 injured.
Three Tufts University students, 7 Emerson College students, 3 Northeastern University students, 2 Boston College students, and one Berklee College of Music student, according to the schools.
Boston College identified its two injured students as M.B.A. candidate Liza Cherney and joint J.D./M.B.A. student Brittany Loring, according to Boston.com.
“The two spectators were hospitalized with injuries resulting from the explosions near the Marathon finish line,” the school said.
Bill Richard returned to his house in Dorchester, Massachusetts, looking like “a walking dead” after losing his 8-year-old son Martin, and wife Denise and 6-year-old daughter Jane were seriously injured in Boston Marathon attacks.
Martin Richard had just got ice cream with his family and had returned to the finish line with them watching runners cross the finish line when he was killed by the second of two terrifying blasts that went off 12 seconds apart at the marathon’s finish line just before 3 p.m. on Monday.
Jane Richard, 6, lost a leg in the explosion and his mother Denise is in hospital after undergoing brain surgery.
Martin Richard’s older brother, 12-year-old Henry, escaped injury while his father suffered minor shrapnel wounds to his legs.
According to the Boston Globe, Martin Richard may have cheated death after walking out to embrace his father who is an avid runner but wasn’t competing in the marathon because of an injury.
When Bill Richard walked on, Martin turned back to rejoin his mother just as the bomb exploded.
Neighbors said Bill Richard returned home still wearing hospital scrubs on Monday night, struggling to come to terms with how, in a few seconds, his family had been ripped apart.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Bill Richard said: “My dear son Martin has died from injuries sustained in the attack on Boston. My wife and daughter are both recovering from serious injuries.
“We thank our family and friends, those we know and those we have never met, for their thoughts and prayers. I ask that you continue to pray for my family as we remember Martin.
“We also ask for your patience and for privacy as we work to simultaneously grieve and recover. Thank you.”
Martin Richard, right, pictured with his mother Denise, sister Jane, older brother Henry and father Bill
According to NBC News, Bill Richard told a local official that 6-year-old Jane would have also died if not for the heroic efforts of first-responders.
Jane Richard had run in a children’s race on Saturday, neighbor Beth Nagy told NBC. She had won a medal and was “all excited”.
Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts recounted what happened at the marathon after speaking to a traumatized Bill Richard.
“The kids were all up on the barrier as runners flooded in,” Stephen Lynch said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
“They were all focused forward and the blast came from the back and the side.”
“The dad is a runner, but he wasn’t running yesterday,” Stephen Lynch said.
“They were there to support some of their friends who were running.”
Bill Richard is a popular community leader in Dorchester, a Boston suburb. Martin Richard was a keen baseball player, climber and runner and was a member of Savin Hill Little League team.
Martin Richard was among at least three people killed in the bombings. Another 176 were injured with some 17 fighting for their lives. CNN reported that at least 10 victims have needed amputations.
At least nine of the wounded are thought to be children, including a 2-year-old boy who suffered a head injury.
When Bill Richard got home on Monday evening he was unable to speak or even look at his friends and neighbors who were gathered because he was so upset at the death of his son.
He came home for around 10 minutes at 10.30 p.m. to get some clothes.
Bill Richard is on the St Marks Area Main St Group, a local traders association, and his wife Denise is on the neighborhood watch board. The family is well known in the community and attends a nearby church.
Denise Richard also works at the local Neighborhood House Charter School, where Martin and Jane attended. The school’s flag flew at half-mast on Tuesday.
In a statement, the school described Martin Richard as “a bright, energetic” boy who had “big dreams” for his future.
“The Neighborhood House Charter School is mourning today the loss of our beloved student Martin Richard, during the tragic events at the Boston Marathon yesterday,” the statement read.
“He was a bright, energetic young boy who had big dreams and high hopes for his future. We are heartbroken by this loss.
“We are also praying for his mother Denise, our school librarian and sister Jane, another Neighborhood House Charter student, who were seriously injured yesterday. Our thoughts are with his father Bill Richard… and older brother Henry. They are a wonderful family and represent the very best this city has to offer.”
Martin Richard was a former student at the nearby Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy.
In a statement today, the school said: “The Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy community is offering its every prayer for the Richard family during this heartbreaking time. Martin was a former student of the Academy and was a kind, caring, and loving young boy who had great excitement for learning. We are deeply saddened by this tragedy.”
Author Adam Johnson has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his novel based in North Korea, The Orphan Master’s Son.
In 2012, judges failed to select a winner of the award for fiction for the first time in 35 years.
Adam Johnson, who teaches creative writing at Stanford University, spent time in North Korea to research his book.
“I wanted to give a picture of what it was like to be an ordinary person in North Korea,” said Adam Johnson.
“It’s illegal there for citizens to interact with foreigners, so the only way I could really get to know these people was through my imagination,” he added.
Adam Johnson has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his novel based in North Korea, The Orphan Master’s Son
Pulitzer judges praised Adam Johnson’s book as “an exquisitely crafted novel that carries the reader on an adventuresome journey into the depths of totalitarian North Korea and into the most intimate spaces of the human heart”.
Other books in contention were, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, by Nathan Englander and The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey.
Sharon Old’s Stag’s Leap won the poetry award.
Tom Reiss’ biography of French aristocrat Alex Dumas, The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, won the Pulitzer Prize for biography.
The prize for general non-fiction was awarded to Gilbert King for Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys and the Dawn of a New America, which details racial injustice in Florida in 1949.
The New York Times won four awards including two awards for its reporting on Apple and Wal-Mart overseas, and another for an examination of the hidden wealth of the Chinese premier’s family.
Caroline Shaw, 30-year-old violinist and vocalist, won the $10,000 Pulitzer Prize for music.
Family, friends and politicians from all sides have paid their respects to Margaret Thatcher at the Palace of Westminster chapel, ahead of the former prime minister’s funeral on Wednesday.
A short service was held with around 100 MPs and peers, and parliamentary and Downing Street staff taking part.
The union jack-draped coffin had arrived earlier in an escorted hearse.
Meanwhile, MPs have voted to cancel Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, after some MPs had tried to force it to go ahead.
Margaret Thatcher, who died at the age of 87 on April 8, has been accorded a ceremonial funeral with military honors, one step down from a state funeral.
Family, friends and politicians from all sides have paid their respects to Margaret Thatcher at the Palace of Westminster chapel
Baroness Thatcher’s body will now rest overnight in the Palace of Westminster’s Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, where a service was led by the Dean of Westminster for members of the family, senior figures from both Houses of Parliament, and staff from Parliament and Downing Street.
Senior figures attending included Commons Speaker John Bercow, Leader of the House Andrew Lansley, Chief Whip Sir George Young and Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith.
Senior Liberal Democrat Baroness Williams said the service had been “very impressive” and “not at all political” but “more about the Thatcher family”.
Conservative MP Sir Gerald Howarth added that it had been “dignified”.
The chapel will be open for several hours in order that members of both Houses and parliamentary staff may pay their respects.
The House of Commons Speaker’s chaplain will then keep vigil through the night.
A debate in the Scottish Parliament on Margaret Thatcher’s legacy is to be postponed until after the funeral.
Green Party and independent members had wanted to hold the discussion shortly after the service, but the main parties at Holyrood have agreed that it should be moved to Thursday.
On Wednesday morning, Margaret Thatcher’s coffin will initially travel by hearse from the Palace of Westminster to the Church of St Clement Danes – the Central Church of the RAF – on the Strand.
The coffin will then be transferred to a gun carriage and taken in procession to St Paul’s.
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh are among more than 2,000 people expected to attend the service.
Former US Vice-President Dick Cheney and ex-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger will also be among the guests, while 4,000 police will be on duty.
Barack Obama’s official presidential delegation will be led by George Shultz and James Baker, who both served as secretaries of state during the Thatcher era.
Argentina’s ambassador to London, Alicia Castro, has declined an invitation to attend.
President Barack Obama has condemned the Boston Marathon bombings as a “terrorist act”.
Barack Obama said attack, close to the finishing line, was “heinous and cowardly”, but that the motive and culprit were not yet known and no-one was in custody.
Three people were killed, including 8-year-old Martin Richard, and more than 170 injured by the bombs.
The FBI, which is running the investigation, has said there are no “known additional threats” to Boston.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick says an interfaith service will be held for the victims on Thursday morning, attended by President Barack Obama.
President Barack Obama has condemned the Boston Marathon bombings as a terrorist act
In his first briefing after Monday’s attacks, Barack Obama had refrained from referring to terror attacks – a choice of words that drew criticism from some quarters.
Today the president said: “Any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians it is an act of terrorism.”
Barack Obama stressed it was not yet known whether an organization – either domestic or foreign – or a “malevolent individual” was responsible, nor what the motive might have been.
“Everything else at this point is speculation,” he said.
“It will take time… but we will find whoever harmed our citizens and we will bring them to justice.”
The first explosion went off close to the finish line at about 2:50 p.m. local time on Monday.
Some 23,000 runners were taking part in this year’s Boston marathon, which was being watched by hundreds of thousands of spectators.
The marathon is held on Patriots’ Day, a Massachusetts state holiday which commemorates the first battles of the American Revolution in 1775.
Thomas Grilk, executive director of the Boston Athletic Association, said the race was “an integral part of the fabric and history of our community” and would go ahead in 2014.
“We are committed to continuing that tradition with the running of the 118th Boston Marathon in 2014,” he said.
The London Marathon – the next major international marathon – is to go ahead on Sunday, with police saying they have well-rehearsed security plans.
The London Marathon organizers have said they will hold a 30-second silence at the start as a mark of respect for the Boston Marathon victims.
Boston Marathon bombs were made from 6-liter pressure cookers crammed with shards of metal, nails and ball bearings and stashed in black backpacks, police sources revealed today.
The two bombs killed three people and injured at least 176 at the world’s oldest marathon race on Monday.
The bombs have “frequently” been used in Afghanistan, India, Nepal and Pakistan, according to a 2010 Homeland Security Department pamphlet – hinting at the origins of the bombers behind the worst terrorist atrocity in the U.S. since 9/11.
When the devices exploded near the crowded Boston Marathon finish line around 2.50 p.m. on Monday, victims suffered as many as 40 shrapnel wounds each and at least 10 people needed amputations.
The bombs used to kill and maim are believed to have contained black powder or gunpowder as the explosive, and information on how to make such a bomb is available on the internet, experts said. The devices were then left at the scene to look like discarded property, CBS News reported.
Boston Marathon bombs were made from 6-liter pressure cookers crammed with shards of metal, nails and ball bearings and stashed in black backpacks
Investigators have also found pieces of an electronic circuit board which could indicate a timer was used in the detonation.
Although no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, similar devices were used in the failed 2010 attempt to bomb Times Square by Faisal Shahzad, who admitted he had undergone bomb-making training at a militant Islamist faction camp in Pakistan.
A pressure-cooker bomb is also a preferred weapon of al-Qaeda and listed as the “most effective” weapon of jihad, according to an English-language terror magazine called Inspire, in an article entitled “How to Build a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom”.
Another article in Inspire last year listed “the most important enemy targets” for jihadists in America – and included sporting events, CNSNews noted.
The aim should be to target “human crowds in order to inflict maximum human losses”, a terrorist known as Abu Musab al-Suri wrote.
“This is very easy since there are numerous such targets such as crowded sports arenas, annual social events, large international exhibitions… etc.”
American Airlines has decided to ground all flights across the US due to a fault with its computerized reservation system.
The airline company said that all departures would be halted until at least 17:00 ET on Tuesday, and that it was working “to resolve this issue as quickly as we can”.
American Airlines has decided to ground all flights across the US due to a fault with its computerized reservation system
American Airlines says it will offer refunds and allow passengers to change flights for free.
About 900 flights are said to have been affected.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which regulates civil aviation in the US, confirmed that American Airlines had asked to halt its flights while the problem was rectified.
“Any American plane sitting on the ground anywhere in the US won’t be taking off,” said FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford.
