PepsiCo has decided to withdraw Mountain Dew goat commercial over criticism that it depicts racial stereotypes and makes light of violence against women.
The online Mountain Dew ad shows a battered white woman on crutches being asked to identify a suspect out of a police line-up of black men and a goat.
One blogger described the 60-second video as “arguably the most racist commercial in history”.
PepsiCo has since apologized for the ad for its Mountain Dew soft drink.
PepsiCo has decided to withdraw Mountain Dew goat racist commercial developed by Tyler the Creator
In the video, the goat threatens to beat the woman up if she identifies him to the police.
The woman eventually screams in horror and runs away.
The dialogue in the clip is a wordplay around “Dew It” – the slogan promoting Mountain Dew.
In a statement on Wednesday, PepsiCo said that it took “full responsibility” for any offence caused by commercial.
It said it had removed the ad from its online channels.
The material was developed by African-American rapper Tyler the Creator.
Lindsay Lohan was reportedly crying hysterically as she finally headed off to court ordered rehab on Wednesday.
Convicted thief Lindsay Lohan, 25, was sentenced to 90 days in a facility after pleading no contest to charges for lying to police about driving during a car crash last June.
And while it may seem like she has gotten off lightly, her father Michael Lohan revealed that did not stop her weeping when she finally headed off on an airplane bound for California from New York.
Michael Lohan told Radar: “She was crying hysterically when she called me.
“Lindsay is heading to California but she doesn’t want to go the place she’s going and she’s upset that she’s being forced to do so.”
Lindsay Lohan was reportedly crying hysterically as she finally headed off to court ordered rehab on Wednesday
Lindsay Lohan had been desperately trying to change the location of her rehab centre from Newport Beach in California, which is the richest city in the US, to one he recommended in Florida.
Michael Lohan said: “Lindsay wants to go to the Lukens Institute.
“But she’s going to go to Morningside in Newport Beach until she can transfer to the one in Florida.
“She asked me if she could transfer to Lukens once she starts and I told her of course she can.
“I will get it all settled for her.”
TMZ are claiming Lindsay Lohan is breaking her plea deal by jetting out to California, as it was agreed she would be attending the Seafield rehabilitation facility in New York.
A newly released mugshot show Katherine Russell, the widow of suspected Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as she looked in 2007 at the time of her arrest for stealing $67 worth of clothing from an Old Navy store in Warwick, Rhode Island.
The picture shows Katherine Russell as an 18-year-old, in the accompanying police report she is described as “skinny” with hazel eyes and red or auburn hair – now firmly concealed by her Hijab.
Since Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s death on April 19, Katherine Russell has taken refuge at her family’s home in Rhode Island and has been doing everything she can to distance herself from Tsarnaev.
Still, now as a single mother, she has had to sit her 3-year-old daughter, Zahara, down and tell her what happened to her father, Tamerlan Tsraneav, a relative has revealed.
Katherine Russell, the widow of suspected Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as she looked in 2007 at the time of her arrest for stealing $67 worth of clothing from an Old Navy store in Warwick
“Daddy has gone to heaven and he still loves her very much,” Katherine Russell Tsarnaev allegedly told her daughter of her father’s absence, as People magazine reports.
“She broke the news as gently as possible, but Zahara wants to know why.”
Earlier this week Katherine Russell Tsarnaev released a statement through her lawyer Amato DeLuca, saying that she wants her husband’s body released to the Tsarnaev family.
In addition to declining to claim the body herself, which is her right as his spouse, Katherine Russell Tsarnaev has also reverted to using her maiden name.
One of Tamerlan’s sisters, Bella Tsarnaev, told ABC that she and her sister Ailina plan to offer their brother a proper Muslim burial. Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, also said on Tuesday that the family would take the body.
“We will do it,” he told the Associated Press.
“A family is a family.”
On Tuesday, Amato DeLuca said Katherine Russell mourned the loss of life from the bombings.
Robel Phillipos has been identified as the American student arrested on Wednesday in the Boston Marathon bombings alongside Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev and charged with making false statements to police and obstructing justice in a terrorism investigation.
Robel Phillipos, 19, is charged with knowingly and willfully making false statements to investigators.
According to the FBI, three friends and schoolmates of detained Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were arrested and charged Wednesday with conspiracy to obstruct justice for throwing away belongings of the latter and lying to investigators.
Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, both 19 and of New Bedford, and Robel Phillipos, 19, of Cambridge appeared at the U.S. District Court in Boston where a federal magistrate read them the charges and their rights. The three are former students of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev also studied.
Robel Phillipos is charged with knowingly and willfully making false statements to investigators in relation with the Boston Marathon bombings
According to an FBI affidavit recounting the charges, Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, who are Kazakhs holding expired student visas, and Robel Phillipos took the laptop and backpack of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev from his dorm room on April 18. At the time, the FBI released photos of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan, as suspects in the April 15 bombings that killed three people and wounded more than 260 others.
Dias Kadyrbayev texted Dzhokhar Tsarnaev joking that he looked like the suspects aired on TV and he replied by texting “LOL” and telling them to go to his room and get whatever they want.
The affidavit cited Robel Phillipos’ testimony to investigators that Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev freaked out upon returning to their apartment in New Bedford as the Tsarnaevs were named suspects.
The three decided to dispose of the backpack, which contained empty fireworks shells believed used by the suspects in making the improvised explosives that remotely detonated near the Boston Marathon finish line. They thought doing so would keep Dzhokhar Tsarnaev out of trouble.
Investigators later found and recovered the backpack and its contents in a landfill after getting a tip.
The affidavit said Dias Kadyrbayev knew Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was involved in the marathon bombings.
Robel Phillipos, for his part, initially told investigators he never went to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s dorm room. In a later interview, he admitted going to the dorm room and getting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s laptop and backpack.
The charges could meet Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev each a 5-year sentence and $250,000 fine if found guilty.
Robel Philippos faces an 8-year sentence and the same amount of fine. The next hearing on the Kazakhs is on May 14 while Robel Phillipos’ next hearing will be on Monday, May 6.
Lindsay Lohan may have broken her plea deal by jetting out to California on Wednesday, as it was agreed she would be attending the Seafield rehabilitation facility in New York, according to TMZ.
Convicted thief Lindsay Lohan, 25, was sentenced to 90 days in a facility after pleading no contest to charges for lying to police about driving during a car crash last June.
TMZ reported that Lindsay Lohan was freaked out because Seafield Center won’t allow her to smoke and she may headed for Morningside Recovery in Newport Beach, California, which does allow smoking.
Lindsay Lohan was freaked out because Seafield Center won’t allow her to smoke and she may headed for Morningside Recovery in Newport Beach, California
It appears that prosecutors did not sign off on Morningside and no one from the actress’ camp has contacted either the L.A. City Attorney or the Santa Monica City Attorney to get the change of plans approved.
If it is decided she has broken the terms of the bargain Lindsay Lohan could be sentenced to 90 days in jail.
However, attorney Mark Heller is expected to appear before her judge in California on Thursday and Lindsay Lohan’s father is hoping her can persuade the adjudicator to approve of the switch.
Chris Kelly, former member of the 90’s hip-hop group Kriss Kross, has died at the of age 34.
In a statement investigator Betty Honey of the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office said she pronounced Chris Kelly dead around 5 p.m. on Wednesday at the Atlanta Medical Center.
Betty Honey said authorities are unsure of Chris Kelly’s cause of death and that an autopsy has yet to be performed.
Legendary Atlanta radio host DJ Greg Street said Chris Kelly’s cousin had phoned him with the news.
“Around 7.45 I received a phone call from his cousin saying they had found Kelly at the house just 20 minutes earlier and he was unresponsive,” Greg Street wrote.
“I just received confirmation that he has passed.”
Chris Kelly, known as Mac Daddy, performed alongside Chris Smith, known as Daddy Mac, in the early and mid-90s hip-hop group Kriss Kross
Twitter quickly became alive with condolences from celebrities and friends alike.
Fellow rapper and actor LL Cool J dedicated a song to the departed rapper, tweeting: “R.I.P Chris Kelly. This song is now officially dedicated to you. May GOD embrace your soul & lift up your family.”
Chris Kelly, known as Mac Daddy, performed alongside Chris Smith, known as Daddy Mac, in the early and mid-90s.
The duo might be best remembered for the song Jump from their 1992 debut album, Totally Krossed Out, which sold four million copies in the US, hit double platinum and topped the Billboard charts for eight straight weeks.
The 13-year-old rapping duo were discovered at an Atlanta mall in 1990 by then 18-year-old rising star Jermaine Dupri, who helped them to record the aforementioned life-changing album.
In 1992, Kriss Kross landed a spot on Michael Jackson’s Dangerous world tour, as well as a cameo appearance on his popular Jam music video.
Their own music video for Jump shot to number one on MTV and sold over 100,000 copies as a VHS video single.
Their second and third albums also went platinum and gold respectively, but didn’t achieve the success of their first album, due in part to the fact that the teenagers had hit puberty and were marketed with a tougher image.
Kris Kross was also noted for their fashion style, which consisted of wearing their clothing backwards.
Chris Kelly and Chris Smith had reunited once more to star at a 20th anniversary all-star concert honoring So So Def Recordings in Atlanta in February.
“Me and him, we have our times when we don’t talk and our times that we do talk,” Chris Kelly told Yahoo Music when asked about his friendship with fellow rapping partner Smith shortly before their reunion.
“But if it’s any time that I needed him or needed to reach him it was never a problem.”
Chris Kelly had also been broadening his talents, going to back to school to become a musical engineer.
“I just wanted to do something different,” he said.
“Get more on the technical side of things than just being an artist, and produce. I just wanted to be [the] all around best I could be as far as doing everything.”
North Korea announces it has sentenced US citizen Kenneth Bae, aka Pae Jun-ho, to 15 years of hard labor.
The announcement, from state news agency KCNA, said Pae Jun-ho, known in the US as Kenneth Bae, was tried on April 30.
Kenneth Bae was held last year after entering North Korea as a tourist. Pyongyang said he was accused of anti-government crimes.
The move comes amid high tensions between North Korea and the US, after Pyongyang’s third nuclear test.
North Korean media said last week that Pae Jun-ho had admitted charges of crimes against North Korea, including attempting to overthrow the government.
“The Supreme Court sentenced him to 15 years of compulsory labor for this crime,” KCNA said.
Kenneth Bae was held last year after entering North Korea as a tourist and he was accused of anti-government crimes
Kenneth Bae, 44, was arrested in November as he entered the northeastern port city of Rason, a special economic zone near North Korea’s border with China.
He is believed to be a tour operator of Korean descent. The Associated Press news agency also reports that he is described by friends as a devout Christian.
“We call on the DPRK [North Korea] to release Kenneth Bae immediately on humanitarian grounds,” US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said on Monday.
North Korea has arrested several US citizens in recent years, including journalists and Christians accused of proselytism.
They were released after intervention from high-profile American figures, including former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, both of whom went to Pyongyang.
In 2009, Bill Clinton negotiated the release of two US journalists accused of entering North Korea illegally, Laura Ling and Euna Lee.
Held after North Korea’s second nuclear test, both had been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor before they were released.
Observers suggest Pyongyang could be using the jailed American as leverage, amid a very tense situation on the Korean peninsula.
The UN expanded sanctions against the communist state in March, in the wake of its February 12 nuclear test and December long-range rocket launch.
Pyongyang reacted angrily both to the measures and annual US-South Korea military exercises which saw high-profile displays of US military hardware.
It threatened to attack US military bases around the region and cut key hotlines with South Korea.
It has also withdrawn its workers from the North-South joint industrial zone at Kaesong, prompting South Korea to pull its staff out for the first time since the project was launched a decade ago.
Only seven South Koreans remain at Kaesong, a complex just inside North Korea where more than 120 South Korean firms operate using North Korea workers.
Seoul says they are negotiating final wage payments and should be returning South Korea soon.
The South Korean government has pledged 300 billion won ($273 million) in emergency loans for firms hit by the suspension at Kaesong.
US detainees in North Korea:
Eddie Jun Yong-su: Businessman detained for six months in 2011, freed after a visit led by US envoy Robert King
Aijalon Mahli Gomes: Teacher and Christian jailed in 2010 for eight years over illegal entry via China – freed after Jimmy Carter visited Pyongyang
Robert Park: US activist crossed into North Korea via China in late 2009 – freed in 2010 by North Korea
Laura Ling/Euna Lee: Jailed in 2009 for 12 years over illegal entry via the Chinese border – freed after Bill Clinton met Kim Jong-il
Less than 24 hours until entering to rehab for a court-ordered 90 days, Lindsay Lohan posted a picture of herself packing on her Instagram account on Tuesday night.
Lindsay Lohan, 26, was seen surrounded by several bags of clothes, accessories and shoes.
Dressed in a casual pair of shorts and a loose-fitting top, Lindsay Lohan appeared to not know where to start.
The troubled actress captioned the snap: “90 days and 270 looks.”
Lindsay Lohan packing before entering to rehab for a court-ordered 90 days
Who Lindsay Lohan is trying to impress remains to be seen as while she is allowed visitors during her rehab stay, she is restricted from venturing out of the facility, which is said to be the Seafield Center in New York.
And whether she will actually be allowed the excess luggage all together is unlikely, as Seafield allows patients only seven changes of clothes during their 90 day stay.
However, Lindsay Lohan’s new tweet hints that the star might not be staying at Seafield anymore.
New reports claim that Lindsay Lohan is considering moving facilities because of Seafield’s strict non-smoking rules.
According to TMZ, Lindsay Lohan has been complaining to friends that she doesn’t think she can go the full 90 days without the smokes.
In an attempt to amend the rules, the actress has asked her lawyers to negotiate with Seafield to make an exception for the tobacco-loving actress.
But Seafield reportedly will not budge and refuses to bow down to Lindsay Lohan.
Her lawyers are now said to be consulting with Morningside Recovery in Newport Beach, California, which does allow smoking.
Lindsay Lohan is familiar with the facility after already spending time there in 2010.
However, her cunning plan may not come off as according to TMZ, City Attorneys for L.A. and Santa Monica have not approved Morningside.
Lindsay Lohan’s lawyers are expected to front the courts on Thursday, providing prosecutors with proof that the actress has enrolled in some kind of approved rehab facility.
Miley Cyrus has posed for a new issue of V magazine in her raciest photo shoot ever.
The young actress can be seen almost n**ed tugging on her underwear, unbuttoning her trousers and cupping her bare breast in the shocking images.
Miley Cyrus, 20, also graces three different covers for V magazine, showing plenty of skin in each of them.
She shed her Disney princess image long ago, but the starlet still seems intent on proving again and again that she isn’t the wholesome type.
Miley Cyrus also dyes her crop of hair various colors for the arresting snapshots, including bubblegum pink, bright orange, lilac and white.
Miley Cyrus has posed for a new issue of V magazine in her raciest photo shoot ever
And she said of her sudden and surprising image overhaul: “I chopped my hair and bought a pair of Docs and never looked back.”
For the new issue of the magazine, Miley Cyrus was interviewed alongside Pharrell Williams, who helped produce her upcoming fourth studio album.
Miley Cyrus said of the record: “Everyone can like what we’re doing. That’s when I feel like my record is so different. It’s not what people expect where it’s me giving my mi**le finger and saying, <<F*** you. I didn’t make a record for the people that love me.>>
“I made a record for the people that love me, but then I made a record for the people that I want to start to understand me.”
The album is scheduled to be released this year and Miley Cyrus admitted she is glad she has taken her time on getting it right.
“I got excited because on this record I can say whatever I want,” she said.
“And then I got more comfortable with that and the record got better and better.
“If I had made it two years ago when I should have had a record come out, it would have been a little brat trying to say <<This isn’t who I am! This is what I’m trying to prove!>>. Now I’m not trying to prove anything to anybody.”
A fish pedicure in Greece on Monday left Kim Kardashian screaming in horror – and it was all caught on tape.
Khloe Kardashian filmed both Kim and Kourtney getting a fish pedicure – the treatment started off in Asia and has become a worldwide craze.
Kim Kardashian, 32, posted the footage on Keek on Wednesday and it was clear from the very beginning the star was not happy about her fishy pedicure.
“I’m about to do a fish pedicure,” she wrote.
Kim Kardashian – who showed off her growing bump in a short high-necked cream gown – immediately started screaming as the little fish nibbled away at the dead skin on her feet.
A fish pedicure in Greece left Kim Kardashian screaming in horror
“Oh my god, oh my god, I don’t like it, I don’t like it,” the reality star can be heard screaming in the video.
“Can I take them out, can I take them out?
“I hate it.”
The rest of the Kardashians tired to get Kim to go through with the procedure even yelling at her to keep her feet in.
“Kimberly stop,” Khloe Kardashian says off camera.
Kourtney Kardashian meanwhile took the pedicure in her stride, sitting calmly as the little fish went to work.
She does exclaim in the video however: “It is the weirdest thing ever.”
Always the joker in one of the Keek videos Khloe Kardashian takes viewers on a tour of the salon and declares that she “would need piranhas” to make her feet smooth.
It may have been a blessing in disguise that Kim Kardashian was not able to go through with the pedicure, as there have been numerous healthy warnings about the practice.
As the fish cannot be sterilized, there has been concern the pedicure can spread infections including, in the most serious cases, HIV and hepatitis C.
Specialists even recommended sufferers of psoriasis, such as Kim Kardashian, should never use the treatments.
Fish pedicures have been banned in some American states including Florida, Texas, New Hampshire and Washington.
Kim Kardashian has been in Greece with both her family and step father Bruce Jenner’s family for a holiday. She flew out to Paris, France, on Tuesday and then headed to England the following day.
William Roache has been arrested on suspicion of raping a 15-year-old girl in the 1960s.
A man, aged 81, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, is being questioned at a Lancashire Police station, police said.
The offences are alleged to have been committed in Haslingden between April and July 1967, officers said.
Neither William Roache, who has played Ken Barlow in Coronation Street since 1960, nor his representatives have commented.
A Coronation Street spokesman said: “Given that a police investigation is under way it would not be appropriate to comment.”
A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: “An 81-year-old man from Wilmslow in Cheshire has this morning, Wednesday May 1 2013, been arrested by Lancashire Constabulary on suspicion of rape.
“The man will be interviewed at a police station in Lancashire during the course of the day.
“We take all allegations of sexual abuse extremely seriously and would encourage people with any information about sexual abuse, or anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse, to come forward and report their concerns confident in the knowledge they will be investigated appropriately and with sensitivity.”
William Roache has been arrested on suspicion of raping a 15-year-old girl in the 1960s
Two police officers are stationed by the closed wrought iron gates outside the star’s home.
In March William Roache issued an apology after he appeared to suggest in a New Zealand television interview that sex abuse victims were being punished for behavior in “previous lives”.
The actor also said if there was anonymity for people making accusations of child sex offences, there should also be anonymity for those accused because of the stigma they faced even if innocent.
William Roache has an award from Guinness World Records for being the world’s longest-serving soap actor, having played Ken Barlow since Coronation Street’s first episode.
Deanna Durbin, one of Hollywood’s biggest box-office stars in the 1930s and early ’40s, has died aged 91, her son has announced.
Her son, Peter H. David, made the announcement in a newsletter to her fans, saying Deanna Durbin died “a few days ago”.
In 1947 Deanna Durbin was the highest-paid star in the United States. But she retired from the business the following year when she was just 27.
Deanna Durbin made her film debut in the 1936 MGM short Every Sunday, in which she appeared alongside Judy Garland.
Deanna Durbin was one of Hollywood’s biggest box-office stars in the 1930s and early ’40s
Born Edna Mae Durbin in Winnipeg, Canada in 1921, Deanna Durbin was nurtured and promoted by producer Joe Pasternak.
Her first movie for the Universal studios, Three Smart Girls, was nominated for the best picture Oscar in 1937.
Deanna Durbin auditioned for the part of Snow White in 1936. But Walt Disney turned her down, saying her 15-year-old voice was too mature for the part.
In 1939, Deanna Durbin and fellow teen star Mickey Rooney were presented with Juvenile Academy Awards for their “significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth.”
The success of her films, which reportedly saved Universal from bankruptcy in the late 1930s, was estimated to account for 17% of the studio’s revenue during the decade.
In 1946 Deanna Durbin’s salary of $323,477 made her the second highest-paid woman in America, just behind Bette Davis.
Winston Churchill watched her films before they were released to the general public in the UK, while Anne Frank hung a picture of Deanna Durbin on the wall of the attic in which she and her family hid from the Nazis.
In 1949, after 21 films and at the height of her worldwide fame, Deanna Durbin quit the movie business and retired to a village in France.
She shunned the spotlight with her third husband, the film director Charles David, who died in 1999.
Deanna Durbin rarely gave interviews but did send reporters a letter in 1958 in which she said she was “never happy making pictures”.
“The character I was forced into had little or nothing in common with myself – or with other youth of my generation, for that matter.”
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon renewed their wedding vows by shutting down Disneyland in Anaheim, California, to walk down the aisle for a fifth time in a lavish fairytale-themed ceremony.
Mariah Carey, 43, was transformed into a princess for her special evening, arriving in front of the iconic Magic Kingdom castle in a horse-drawn pumpkin-shaped carriage that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a scene from Cinderella.
Having the opportunity to wear yet another wedding gown, the singer donned a typically over-the-top corseted ivory dress, featuring a dramatic ruffle detail skirt and train.
Wearing her hair swept up into a half beehive, Mariah Carey adorned her head with a glittering diamond tiara, which she teamed with matching earrings and a sparkling necklace.
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon renewed their wedding vows by shutting down Disneyland in Anaheim
Posting a series of short videos on her Vine page, Mariah Carey could be seen getting ready for her fifth big day alongside her 2-year-old daughter Monroe.
Monroe wore a princess-inspired white gown, which would have no doubt made her the absolute envy of the playground.
Instead of the glittering diamond headpiece her mother was wearing, Monroe had white ribbons in her hair as she joined in the celebrations.
Poking fun at her “diva” reputation, Mariah wrote on her Twitter page: “Slowly making our way to the freezing cold guests #donthatemebecauseimadiva #cinderella.”
Before later adding alongside a video of her and Monroe: “Mommy and princess Monroe.”
Mariah Carey and little Monroe were then seen making their way to the Disneyland ceremony in a giant pumpkin-shaped carriage pulled by two white horses as the visibly emotional star wiped away the tears from her eyes.
She tweeted: “On our way to renew our vows. I love you @NickCannon shut down Disneyland KKLB.”
Nick Cannon – dressed as Cinderella’s Prince Charming – only appeared in the selection of videos very briefly, and was seen holding hands with the couple’s son Moroccan, who was dressed in a mini white tuxedo, as the carriage carrying Mariah and Monroe pulled up.
The picture-perfect family then made their way down the aisle in front of a selection of close friends and relatives as the couple toasted their fifth wedding anniversary in dramatic style.
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon raised eyebrows when they tied the knot on April 30, 2008, at the singer’s private estate in the Bahamas after just six weeks of dating.
Since then, Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon have renewed their vows in a variety of locations, including Las Vegas, the hospital bed after she gave birth to the twins and most recently, Paris.
Three new suspects were arrested in connection to the Boston Marathon bombing and they are thought to be Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s roommates, Kazachs Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov and an unamed American, who helped him cover his tracks after the fatal blasts.
The Boston Police Department were the first ones to report the arrest over their Twitter feed, andThe Boston Globe claimed that the three people in custody were college students and the roommates of the younger bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Federal sources told The Washington Post that the three students disposed of undisclosed material in a landfill on behalf of their 19-year-old Chechen friend Dzhokhar Tsarnaev following the bombing.
The clue fits as police were seen searching a landfill in nearby New Bedford, Massachusetts last week during their search for evidence in the case.
Two of the suspects, identified as Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, were already in police custody in regards to an immigration issue that investigators discovered after questioning them over their license plates that read “TERRORISTA#1”. Those two friends are Kazakh citizens and the third is thought to be an American national.
The three are charged with making false statements and conspiracy to obstruct justice, which implies that they were not involved in actually carrying out the attack but rather helping the suspect evade police after the fatal blasts.
Azamat Tazhayakov, Dias Kadyrbayev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Times Square last year
The claims were reiterated by NBC’s Pete Williams, who said that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s roommates were arrested Wednesday and charged with giving false information to police.
The three were all students at UMass Dartmouth- where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was enrolled- and that they helped him after the April 15 bombings.
This is not the first time that the bomber’s roommates have come under investigation, as they prompted alarm bells after it was revealed that they were driving a BMW with license plates that read “TERRORISTA#1”.
Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov remained in custody over immigration issues as they are Kazakh nationals whose academic visas had expired.
CNN has since identified Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov as two of the three friends that were arrested today.
The third person in custody on Wednesday is believed to be an American citizen who will be charged with making a false statement, according to CBS.
Attorney Robert Stahl told CBS that they were drawn to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev because he also spoke Russian.
The attorney confirmed they now face separate federal charges and have an afternoon court appearance related to the bombing case.
CBS reports that the men will be charged conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements.
ABC affiliate WCVB reports, citing a lawyer who was briefed on the case early Wednesday, that the three suspects disposed “of a backpack full of fireworks that was in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s dorm room, done at the request of Tsarnaev sometime after the bombing.”
CBS reports that the suspects were arrested for “harboring or aiding the suspects after the fact” and that they are in the custody of the FBI.
“At this point, we’re not really in a position to make any comment,” FBI spokesman Alison Mahan told Talking Points Memo.
The Boston police followed up their initial tweet by confirming that there is no threat to public safety.
The news of the arrests comes one day after the elder suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s wife Katherine Russell was interviewed by investigators after they spent hours searching her home.
Former Kardashian nanny Pam Behan, who worked for the family for five years from 1991, has revealed the tumultuous time Kourtney Kardashian and Bruce Jenner went through during her teenage years, claiming the star wanted “nothing” to do with her stepfather.
Pam Behan, the author of new tell-all book Malibu Nanny: Adventures Of The Former Kardashian Nanny, explained in an interview with the New York Daily News: “Bruce tried to engage with Kourtney and to parent her as a good stepfather would. Kourtney wanted nothing to do with it. “Bruce tried to talk to her, and she yelled, <<You’re not my dad! Don’t even speak to me!>>”
But the former nanny maintains Kim Kardashian, who was 10 when she joined the family, was always “sweet and friendly”.
Pam Behan is the author of new tell-all book Malibu Nanny Adventures Of The Former Kardashian Nanny
Pam Behan also admitted her relationship with family matriarch Kris Jenner was often fraught, and recalled one particular incident where the “momager” launched into a foul-mouthed tirade at her after she forgot to buy broccoli at the grocery store.
She explained: “Kris wants what she wants, when she wants it, which is usually now! Especially as hired help, there were good times and bad times.
“I had mentally started packing my bags – I was going to quit. And all this, over broccoli!”
Pam Behan also recounted the time she shared a story with the family about losing a race on her High School track team, something that didn’t wash with Bruce and Kris Jenner and their ambitious plans for their daughters.
Speaking to the New York Daily News, Pam Behan said: “I had never been so humiliated and embarrassed in my life! Bruce grimaced and uttered in a pained voice, <<Never ever tell that story again in my house>>.”
And such was the family’s obsession with perfection that Bruce Jenner even suggested at one point that she should have a “little taken off” her nose with a helping hand from a plastic surgeon.
But it wasn’t all bad news for Pam Behan during her five-year stint with the then relatively unknown Kardashian clan.
After being hired from a Beverly Hills nanny agency, Pam Behan received a plethora of hand-me-down designer dresses from Kris Jenner, and was even given a table and chair set worth $10,000, enough to pay for a year of tuition fees.
Pam Behan’s access to the world of the rich and the famous even resulted in a brief relationship with Sylvester Stallone.
She explained: “I wanted it to last forever. But I couldn’t fully enjoy it because I was so overwhelmed that I was actually kissing Sly Stallone. What young girl from the Midwest isn’t in love with a celebrity? My locker was covered with his posters!”
In 1996, Pam Behan finally quit her stint with the Kardashian family, oblivious to the fact that they would soon become America’s most famous reality TV stars.
Pam Behan said: “Khloe would always beg me not to leave, saying, <<You’re not going to quit, are you?>> I felt like I was leaving my family.”
Amanda Bynes’ increasingly erratic behavior fails to slow to anything approaching normality, this time she’s been taking “selfies” of her wearing a very revealing lace bra.
Amanda Bynes, 27, has been given full access to her millions, it has been claimed.
The troubled starlet is splashing the cash after deciding to stop saving, according to reports.
Amanda Bynes apparently demanded access to her money – including the funds tied up in investments – a few months ago.
Amanda Bynes’ increasingly erratic behavior fails to slow to anything approaching normality
“While Amanda was growing up her parents and lawyers controlled all of her money, they put it away in investments so that she would be able to have it when she got older,” a source told Radar Online.
“Amanda made a lot of money starting with Nickelodeon and then other TV shows and movies, but she lived like a regular girl when she was young.
“However, a few months ago she demanded that she have complete access to all of the money so she could spend it, not save it anymore.”
Amanda Bynes recently told In Touch magazine that she is as rich as the Olsen twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley, who are believed to have a net worth of $300 million.
However, a source claims that in reality Amanda Bynes “is worth $5 to $6 million”.
“Amanda knows she has a lot of money. Before she wasn’t restricted from getting to it, but a lot of it was tied up in investments and banked for her future, but she insisted that she be able to use all of it as she sees fit and there is nothing anyone can do to stop her from spending it all,” the first insider added.
Amanda Bynes continues to display bizarre behavior and recently shaved off half of her hair.
A disturbing flurry of text messages has revealed Tamerlan Tsarnaev was willing to lay down his life for his Muslim faith.
According to Fox News, in 2011, Tamerlan Tsarnaev sent text messages to his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, indicating that he was willing to die for Islam.
In 2011, Tamerlan Tsarnaev sent text messages to his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, indicating that he was willing to die for Islam
Around the same time he sent those texts, suspicions were brewing about the 26-year-old former boxer.
Last week, U.S. officials described to the AP what the government knew about Tsarnaev since he was first placed on the intelligence community’s radar 18 months ago.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing investigation.
Russia’s internal security service, the FSB, sent information to the FBI about Tamerlan Tsarnaev on March 4, 2011.
The Russians told the FBI that Tsarnaev, an ethnically Chechen Russian immigrant living in the Boston area, was a follower of radical Islam and had changed drastically since 2010.
Because of the subsequent FBI inquiry, Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s name was added to a Homeland Security Department database used by U.S. officials at the border to help screen people coming in and out of the U.S.
New reports reveal Saudi Arabia sent a written warning about Tamerlan Tsarnaev to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2012, long before Boston Marathon blasts, according to a senior Saudi government official with direct knowledge of the document.
It appears the Saudi warning came separately from the multiple red flags raised by Russian intelligence in 2011, and was based on human intelligence developed independently in Yemen.
Citing security concerns, the Saudi government also denied an entry visa to Tamerlan Tsarnaev in December 2011, when he intended to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, the source said.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s plans to visit Saudi Arabia have not been previously disclosed.
The Saudis’ warning to the U.S. government was also shared with the British government and it “did name Tamerlan specifically”, according to the source.
“It was very specific” and warned that “something was going to happen in a major U.S. city”. The document did not name Boston or suggest a date for his planned attack.
If true, the account will produce added pressure on the Homeland Security department and the White House to explain their collective inaction after similar warnings were offered about Tamerlan Tsarnaev by the Russian government.
A DHS official denied, however, that the agency received any such warning from Saudi intelligence about Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
And so the White House: “We and other relevant U.S. government agencies have no record of such a letter being received,” said Caitlin Hayden, a spokesperson for the president’s National Security Council.
The letter likely came to DHS via the Saudi Ministry of Interior, the agency tasked with protecting the Saudi kingdom’s homeland.
However, a Homeland Security official confirmed Tuesday evening on the condition of anonymity that the 2012 letter exists.
Meanwhile, House Homeland Security Committee chairman Mike McCaul plans to announce on Wednesday an investigative hearing to probe what U.S. intelligence knew prior to the Boston attacks.
Separately, President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that the U.S. government will launch a wide-ranging inquiry into the sharing of information among the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security and other intelligence and law-enforcement agencies of the federal government.
The internal review will be led by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and several inspectors general.
It is not yet clear whether information from Saudi Arabia will be involved in James Clapper’s inter-agency review.
Saudi Arabia sent a written warning about Tamerlan Tsarnaev to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2012, long before Boston Marathon blasts
It appears the Saudi government alerted the U.S. in part because it believed American authorities should be inspecting packages that came to Tamerlan Tsarnaev in the mail in order to search for bomb-making components.
The written warning also allegedly named three Pakistanis who may be of interest to British authorities. The official declined to provide more details about the warning to the UK, but said the two governments received the same information.
The Ministry of Interior, he said, sent the letters in 2012, likely after Tamerlan Tsarnaev returned from Russia to the US in July.
President Barack Obama’s published schedule indicates that he met in the Oval Office with Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi Interior minister, on January 14, 2013.
The Saudis denied Tamerlan Tsarnaev entry to the kingdom when he sought to travel to Mecca in December 2011 for a pilgrimage known as an Umrah – one that is undertaken during months that don’t fall within the regular Hajj period of the year.
That rejected application came one month before he traveled to Russia, where U.S. intelligence sources believe he acquired training enabling him to construct and detonate the bombs that he and his younger brother Dzhokhar placed hear the Boston Marathon’s finish line.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is in federal custody at a prison medical facility.
The Saudi official speculated that Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s residence in the US might have made it more difficult for him to gain entry into the kingdom.
“U.S.-based Muslims who become radicalized and want to visit Mecca create an unusual problem,” he said, compelling the Saudi government “to carefully examine applications”.
In the wake of the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal met with Secretary of State John Kerry on April 16, and then had an unscheduled meeting with President Barack Obama on April 17.
“This is the DNA of the Saudi government,” said the Saudi official, referring to officials in the royal court in Riyadh.
“This is how they work. They sent the letter, but that wasn’t enough. They then sent the top guy to meet personally with the president.”
The Saudi official dismissed the idea that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was likely trained by al-Qaeda while he was outside the US last year.
The Saudis’ Yemen-based sources, he explained, said militants referred to Tamerlan dismissively as “the volunteer”.
“He was a gung-ho, self motivated jihadi who wasn’t tasked by a larger group,” he said.
“There is no reason for anyone in Afghanistan to have in his thinking a scenario like this.
“He took the initiative. That’s why they call him <<the volunteer>>.”
“The Boston thing is beneath them,” he said of al Qaeda.
“They don’t think like this. This is like a firecracker to them. They want something big.”
Tamerlan Tsarnaev may have boasted about his plans online, the Saudi official said, offering an explanation for how Yemen-based sources first learned of him. Islamist militants have well-developed social networks that can enable news to migrate quickly across vast distances.
The Saudi government sometimes tracks such radicals by launching fake jihadi websites to attract extremists. The Ministry of Interior then tracks them electronically, often across the world, and shares information with governments it considers friendly, including the US.
The Saudi intelligence services have a long history of providing credible information to America and Great Britain about looming threats.
“This is the fourth time the Saudi Arabian government has given the U.S. specific intel” about a possible terror plot, the official said, citing prior warnings about Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber who repeatedly tried to light a fuse in his shoe to bring down American Airlines flight 63 bound for Miami in December 2001.
He also cited the 300-gram “ink-cartridge bombs” planted on two cargo planes headed for the US from Yemen in October 2010. Those explosives were intercepted in Dubai, and at an East Midlands airport in Great Britain.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s namesake was a 15-century Central Asian warlord who referred to himself as “the sword of Islam”. Sometimes spelled “Tamerlane” in English, he was known for his cruelty.
When he conquered Baghdad, Tamerlane reportedly made a pyramid of human skulls from unfortunate residents of that city.
Although still revered in Chechnya and throughout Central Asia, the original Tamerlane is sometimes vilified in modern-day Saudi textbooks.
Amanda Knox, who was convicted and then cleared of murdering her British roommate Meredith Kercher, says she may return to Italy to face a retrial.
“My lawyers have said that I don’t have to… I’m still considering it, to be honest,” Amanda Knox told USA Today.
Amanda Knox, 25, also went on TV to publicly protest her innocence as she released her autobiography, Waiting to Be Heard.
Last month, an Italian court overturned her acquittal along with that of her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.
Meredith Kercher, 21, was found stabbed to death in the flat she shared with Amanda Knox – an exchange student- in Perugia in November 2007.
Prosecutors say she died in a brutal sex game that went wrong.
Another man – Rudy Guede from Ivory Coast – was convicted in a separate trial and sentenced to 16 years for the killing.
Amanda Knox says she may return to Italy to face a retrial in Meredith Kercher murder case
The case has drawn intense media interest in Italy, the UK and the US, and put the Italian police and justice system under great scrutiny.
Amanda Knox told USA Today on Tuesday that the thought of returning to Italy for the retrial was “scary”.
“But it’s also important for me to say: <<This is not just happening far away from and doesn’t matter to me.>>
“So, somehow, I feel it’s important for me to convey that. And if my presence is what is necessary to convey that, then I’ll go.”
The Italian courts cannot compel her to return for the retrial but they could request her extradition – at which point it would be up to the US authorities to determine her fate.
In a separate interview with ABC News, Amanda Knox said claims that she was a “she-devil” and “heartless manipulator” were all wrong.
She added that what happened to her “was surreal but it could’ve happened to anyone”.
“It’s one thing to be called certain things in the media and it’s another thing to be sitting in a courtroom fighting for your life while people are calling you a devil,” Amanda Knox said.
“For all intents and purposes I was a murderer, whether I was or not. I had to live with the idea that that would be my life.”
In a reference to the Kercher family, Amanda Knox said she wanted them to understand “that my need for justice for myself is not in contradiction with theirs”.
Amanda Knox said she hoped “that eventually I can have their permission to pay respects at her grave”.
The interview was timed to coincide with the release of her autobiography, Waiting to Be Heard, for which Amanda Knox was reportedly paid more than $4 million.
In the book, Amanda Knox maintains that on the night of Meredith Kercher’s death she was at Raffaele Sollecito’s flat smoking marijuana and watching a movie.
Several opposition MP’s are reportedly being injured during a brawl that have broken out in Venezuela’s parliament over the recent disputed presidential election.
Several legislators were left bloodied and bruised, with both opposition and pro-government lawmakers accusing each other of starting the fight.
A measure was earlier passed denying MPs the right to speak until they recognized Nicolas Maduro as president.
Official results show he narrowly beat opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski, who has demanded a full recount.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) – which has rejected Henrique Capriles’ demand – on Monday said Nicolas Maduro had won by 1.49 percentage points, or fewer than 225,000 votes.
This came after the council had amended the final result, taking into account votes cast abroad.
In all, 99.79% of the votes have now been counted.
Earlier figures had shown a 1.8 percentage victory for Nicolas Maduro, who stood in the poll as the chosen successor of the late President Hugo Chavez.
On Tuesday, the opposition said a number of its lawmakers were attacked and hurt in the parliament – the National Assembly.
One of the MPs, Julio Borges, later appeared on a local TV station with facial bruises.
Opposition deputy Julio Borges appeared on a local TV station with facial bruises after Venezuela’s parliament brawl
“They can beat us, jail us, kill us, but we will not sell out our principles,” Julio Borges was quoted as saying.
“These blows give us more strength.”
The opposition said it was being “silenced” by National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello.
“I am going to ask you: Mr. Deputy, do you recognize Nicolas Maduro?” Diosdado Cabello asked one of them. “If you say no, you don’t get to speak in the assembly.”
Pro-government representatives blamed the opposition for starting the clashes.
“Today again I had to defend [Hugo Chavez’s] legacy,” lawmaker Odalis Monzon was quoted as saying by Reuters.
She added that she and several of her colleagues were attacked and beaten during the fighting.
The CNE declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner on April 15, after he had gained what it called an “irreversible majority”. He was sworn in as Venezuela’s president on April 19.
Henrique Capriles has demanded a vote-by-vote recount, but the CNE said it would be legally impossible to carry out.
It has, however, agreed to carry out a partial audit, which is expected to take until June. During the audit, 56% of the votes cast will be examined.
The CNE says the remaining 44% had been checked immediately after the election.
On Monday, Henrique Capriles said Nicolas Maduro had “illegitimately stolen the presidency”,
He has until May 6 to lodge his request with the Supreme Court contesting the election result.
Henrique Capriles said he had “no doubt that this will end up before an international body”.
Both Henrique Capriles and Nicolas Maduro have urged their supporters to turn out for separate demonstrations on May 1st, sparking fears the two camps could clash.
Nicolas Maduro on Monday said he had changed the route of his march because he “did not want problems”.
But the opposition says it continues to be targeted by the government, citing the arrest on Saturday of retired General Antonio Rivero as proof.
The opposition politician has been charged with criminal instigation and criminal association, after prosecutors blamed him for outbreaks of post-election violence.
Relatives of General Antonio Rivero say he is on a hunger strike in protest.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US has approved the “morning-after” pill without a prescription for women aged 15 and over.
Proof-of-age will be required to purchase the drug, Plan B. The decision comes a month after a judge ordered the drug to be made available to girls of all childbearing ages.
The FDA said its decision was not a response to the court ruling.
Reproductive rights groups approved the FDA move but called for fuller access.
On Tuesday, the FDA said its decision was in response to an amended marketing plan from the drug’s maker, Teva Pharmaceuticals, to sell Plan B without a prescription to women 15 and older.
But the move comes days before the deadline to comply with a New York district judge’s order to make the drug available over the counter to girls of all childbearing ages.
The FDA has approved the morning-after pill Plan B without a prescription for women aged 15 and over
The judge criticized the Obama administration for imposing an age-17 limit.
In 2011, the FDA said it had concluded the “morning after” pill could be safely used by girls of child-bearing age.
But in an unprecedented move, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled the agency.
Kathleen Sebelius said there was not enough evidence from all potential ages to support removing over-the-counter restrictions.
The Obama administration was accused of bowing to pressure from social conservatives.
The reproductive rights group that brought the lawsuit said on Tuesday it will continue its legal fight if need be.
Lowering the age limit “may reduce delays for some young women but it does nothing to address the significant barriers that far too many women of all ages will still find if they arrive at the drugstore without identification”, said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Amanda Bynes has been recently given full access to her millions and the troubled starlet is splashing the cash after deciding to stop saving, according to reports.
Amanda Bynes, 27, apparently demanded access to her money – including the funds tied up in investments – a few months ago.
A source told Radar Online: “While Amanda was growing up her parents and lawyers controlled all of her money, they put it away in investments so that she would be able to have it when she got older.”
Amanda Bynes has been recently given full access to her millions and the troubled starlet is splashing the cash
“Amanda made a lot of money starting with Nickelodeon and then other TV shows and movies, but she lived like a regular girl when she was young.
“However, a few months ago she demanded that she have complete access to all of the money so she could spend it, not save it anymore.”
She recently told In Touch magazine that she is as rich as the Olsen twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley, who are believed to have a net worth of $300 million.
However, according to sources, in reality Amanda Bynes “is worth $5 to $6 million”.
“Amanda knows she has a lot of money. Before she wasn’t restricted from getting to it, but a lot of it was tied up in investments and banked for her future, but she insisted that she be able to use all of it as she sees fit and there is nothing anyone can do to stop her from spending it all,” the insider told Radar Online.
“Amanda can do whatever she wants for a while with all of her money but it isn’t going to last forever if she spends the way she has been lately,” the source added.
“She’s rich but she could find herself in financial trouble pretty soon.”
Amanda Bynes’ unusual antics include regularly professing her love for rapper Drake which she did once again on Tuesday.
She posted a link to an image of Drake on her Twitter page along with the words: “Loving far apart eyes @drake.”
President Barack Obama has pledged once again to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, amid a growing prisoner hunger strike there.
At the White House, Barack Obama said the detention centre was “contrary to who we are” and harmful to US interests.
The president cited recent convictions of terror suspects to argue the civilian justice system was adequate for such trials.
Congress has blocked efforts to close the prison, but Barack Obama said he would renew discussions with lawmakers.
Barack Obama told reporters he had asked a team of officials to review operations at Guantanamo Bay and said he was not surprised there were problems there.
“It is inefficient, it hurts us in terms of our international standing, it lessens co-operation with our allies on counter-terrorism efforts, it is a recruitment tool for extremists, it needs to be closed,” Barack Obama said.
He described the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay as a “lingering problem” that would worsen if it remained open.
“I think it is critical for us to understand that Guantanamo is not necessary to keep America safe,” the president told reporters.
Barack Obama said that with the war in Iraq over and detention authority in Afghanistan transferred to Afghan forces, the facility in Cuba was no longer necessary.
He said he would need the help of Congress to devise a long-term legal solution to the prosecution of detainees.
Barack Obama’s comments come amid a hunger strike that has spread in recent weeks to include more than 100 of the 166 inmates at the facility.
They are protesting against their indefinite detention. Most are being held without charge.
UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay has said Guantanamo Bay should be shut immediately.
Barack Obama has pledged once again to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, amid a growing prisoner hunger strike there
The UN has called the continued detention of so many people without trial a clear violation of international law, though it understands Congress has blocked Barack Obama from closing the prison.
Aid agencies are convinced the situation there cannot go on. The International Committee of the Red Cross, the only agency with access to individual detainees, says there is now an unprecedented level of desperation at Guantanamo.
On Tuesday, a UN spokesman said the force-feeding of prisoners was also a probable human rights violation.
“If it’s clearly against the will of the people who are being forcibly fed, then in a view of the World Medical Association and indeed our view, this would amount to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment which is not permissible under international law,” said Rupert Colville, the UN spokesman on human rights.
In his remarks, Barack Obama seemed to support the US practice of force-feeding some hunger-strikers.
“I don’t want these individuals to die,” he said.
“Obviously the Pentagon is trying to manage the situation as best we can.”
The US has had to reinforce medical staff at Guantanamo Bay, with about 40 nurses and other specialists arriving at the weekend, according to a camp spokesman.
The strike began in February but spread in recent weeks to include more than 100 of the 166 people held at the facility.
Guantanamo officials deny claims that the strike began after copies of the Koran were mishandled during searches of prisoners’ cells.
A spokesman for the detention camp told Reuters news agency that 21 prisoners were being force-fed through tubes inserted through their noses, while five had been brought to hospital for observation but did not have life-threatening conditions.
Shorter hunger strikes have happened at Guantanamo since early 2002, when the US began bringing al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners there.
Violence erupted at the prison on April 13 as the authorities moved inmates out of communal cellblocks where they had covered surveillance cameras and windows.
Some prisoners used “improvised weapons” and were met with “less-than-lethal rounds”, camp officials said, but no serious injuries were reported.
Nearly 100 of the detainees have reportedly been cleared for release but remain at the facility because of restrictions imposed by Congress as well as concerns of possible mistreatment if they are sent back to their home countries.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote to National Security Council Director Tom Donilon last week asking for the administration to “renew its efforts” to transfer the cleared prisoners.
Dianne Feinstein and another committee member had earlier asked the Obama administration to temporarily halt the transfer of 56 cleared Yemeni nationals after an attempted bombing claimed by al-Qaeda in Yemen in December 2009.
Soon after his election, Barack Obama made closing Guantanamo Bay a top priority for his new administration, pledging to close it within a year of his inauguration in January 2009.
Barack Obama’s plan to transfer prisoners to maximum security prisons in the US and try some detainees in the civilian justice system met fierce resistance from lawmakers of both parties.
According to legal sources, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s lawyer have started very early talks about a possible deal in which the Boston Marathon bomber would cooperate in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s defense team got a major boost on Monday with the addition of prominent anti-death penalty lawyer Judy Clarke, who has managed to get life sentences for several high-profile clients.
A judge approved the appointment of death penalty expert Judy Clarke to defend 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction during the April 15 marathon.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s defense team got a major boost with the addition of prominent anti-death penalty lawyer Judy Clarke, who has managed to get life sentences for several high-profile clients
Three people were killed and more than 260 injured when two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
But judge Marianne Bowler denied, at least for now, a request from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s public defender, Miriam Conrad, to appoint a second death penalty lawyer – David Bruck, a professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s lawyers could renew their motion to appoint another death penalty expert if he is indicted, the judge said.
The news that he could escape the death penalty for divulging information was reported on NBC News.
Judy Clarke’s clients have included the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski; Susan Smith, a woman who famously drowned her two children; Atlanta Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph; and most recently Jared Loughner, who shot former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the head.
All received life sentences instead of the death penalty.
Judy Clarke has rarely spoken publicly about her work, however, at a speech Friday at a legal conference in Los Angeles, she talked about how she had been “sucked into the black hole, the vortex” of death penalty cases 18 years ago when she represented Susan Smith.
“I got a dose of understanding human behavior, and I learned what the death penalty does to us,” Judy Clarke said.
“I don’t think it’s a secret that I oppose the death penalty.”
David Bruck has directed Washington and Lee’s death penalty defense clinic, the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse, since 2004.
Neuroscientists in Boston have asked for a chance to examine Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s brain to try and find some explanations for the marathon attacks.
Dr. Michael Craig Miller argued in the Boston Globe that Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s brain should be studied “as closely as our forensic experts have studied a few blocks along Boylston Street” – the scene of the double blasts on April 15.
He works as a psychiatrist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in the city, where Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died and his younger brother, Dzhohkar Tsarnaev, 19, was treated after a stand-off with police.
Dr. Michael Craig Miller claimed that we are all keen for more details about Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s radicalization, and also the reported aggression and anger of the suspect.
Neuroscientists in Boston have asked to examine Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s brain to find some explanations for the marathon attacks
The doctor acknowledged that many people are looking for explanations as to why the two men allegedly plotted and executed the attacks that killed three people and injured more than 260.
Dr. Michael Craig Miller claimed in the Boston Globe that Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s brain is an “opportunity to examine important and interesting evidence that is there for the taking”.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev died after a battle with armed police on April 19 but his body has yet to be claimed.
Dr. Michael Craig Miller said that Dr. Robert Cantu and Dr. Robert Stern of Boston University’s Center for the Study of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) have already expressed an interest in Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s brain.
CTE is a degenerative brain disease that was initially discovered in boxers. And Dr. Micahel Craig Miller believes that Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s boxing career could have caused this or another condition in the suspect.
He concedes that: “We are not likely to agree about the meaning of what is found in the brain of the suspected bomber.”
Dr. Michael Craig Miller quoted Doctors Cantu and Stern who point out that any evidence of a brain disease “would not necessarily have been the cause of Tsarnaev’s premeditated, violent behavior”.
He argued that in the aftermath of the bombings we have concentrated on “the aspects of politics and culture, or of social and family life, that may breed violent behavior”.
Dr. Michael Craig Miller is asking to study Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s brain as it “may teach us a small but important bit about the biology of violence”.
