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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
4/17/2013 11:05:59 AM

Boston bomb scene pictures show remains of explosive device

Reuters/Reuters - Boston Marathon bomb scene pictures taken by investigators show the remains of an explosive device. REUTERS

Boston Marathon bomb scene pictures taken by investigators show the remains of an explosive device. REUTERS

(Reuters) - Boston Marathon bomb scene pictures taken by investigators and released on Tuesday show the remains of an explosive device including twisted pieces of a metal container, wires, a battery and what appears to be a small circuit board.

A government official, who declined to be identified, made the pictures available to Reuters.

It was not immediately clear what fresh light the photographs shed on the attack. The official said they were taken by Boston's Joint Terrorism Task Force at the scene where two bombs killed three people and wounded 176 on Monday at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

One picture shows a few inches of charred wire attached to a small box, and another depicts a half-inch nail and a zipper head stained with blood. Another shows a Tenergy brand battery attached to black and red wires through a broken plastic cap.

Several photos show a twisted metal lid with bolts. The FBI said on Tuesday that a pressure cooker may have been used to build the bombs.

Earlier Tuesday, FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard DesLauriers told a news conference that evidence recovered from the crime scene on Tuesday morning would be used to reconstruct the device or devices at the Federal Bureau of Investigation laboratory in Quantico, Virginia.

Among the items recovered were pieces of black nylon that DesLauriers said could be from a backpack used to carry bombs that may have been made with a pressure cooker. One of the pictures showed folded pieces of black fabric among the bomb debris.

The metal container bore a label that was partially readable and a small piece of black fabric was attached, the photos showed.

(Reporting by John Shiffman in Washington; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Mary Milliken and Eric Beech)


"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
4/17/2013 3:28:33 PM

Restaurant manager, 8-year-old among bomb victims
By BRIDGET MURPHY | Associated Press15 hrs ago

BOSTON (AP) — Third-grader Martin Richard had just gotten ice cream and was near the Boston Marathon finish line, eagerly watching for friends to run by.Krystle Campbell was enjoying the race with her best friend, hoping to get a photo of the other woman's boyfriend after he conquered the last mile.

Then the unthinkable struck. The spirited 8-year-old, pictured onFacebookin his classroom holding a sign that read "No more hurting people," was dead, along with the outgoing 29-year-old woman and a graduate student from China — victims of twin bombs that turned a scene of celebration into chaos.

More than 170 others suffered injuries that included severed limbs, shrapnel wounds and abdominal lacerations.

Jeff Bauman Jr., a man pictured in an Associated Press photo being rushed from the scene Monday in a wheelchair, lost both legs. Rescuers took the 27-year-old to Boston Medical Center, where doctors found extensive vascular and bone damage.

"Unfortunately my son was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," his father, Jeff Bauman, wrote in a Facebook post.

The younger Bauman, who had been at the race to cheer on his girlfriend, had further surgery because of fluid in his abdomen.

"I just can't explain what's wrong with people today, to do this to people," the father wrote. "I'm really starting to lose faith in our country."

While mourning the dead Tuesday, friends and neighbors tried to focus on positive memories of cherished ones whose deaths still seemed unreal to them.

"I just can't get a handle on it," said Jack Cunningham, a longtime friend of little Martin and his family. "In an instant, life changes."

Cunningham recalled how, as a pint-sized preschooler, the boy had insisted on getting out of his stroller during a 5K race in South Boston. As soon as his mom let him out to run with the rest of the family, Martin took off along the rainy race course.

"He was just having a ball, splashing in every puddle," Cunningham said.

The boy's father, Bill Richard, released a statement thanking friends, family and strangers for their support following his son's death.

Richard's wife, Denise, and the couple's 6-year-old daughter, Jane, suffered serious injuries in the blasts. Their older son, Henry, wasn't hurt. Two neighbors said Jane lost one of her legs in the attack.

"My dear son, Martin, has died from injuries sustained in the attack on Boston," Richard said. "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."

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, a family friend, said Martin and his family were trying to get over the race barriers and into the street after the first blast, when the second bomb struck.

"They were looking in the crowd as the runners were coming to see if they could identify some of their friends when the bomb hit," said Lynch, who has known the Richards for 25 years.

Bill Richard, a runner and cycling enthusiast who did not run the race, had to have several ball bearings removed from his leg, Lynch said.

On Tuesday, a candle burned on the stoop of the family's single-family home in the city's Dorchester section, and the word "Peace" was written in chalk on the front walkway. A child's bicycle helmet lay overturned near the front lawn.

At a nearby park, "Pray for Martin" was written in large block letters on the pavement.

Next-door neighbor Betty Delorey said Martin loved to climb trees and play sports with his brother and sister and the other children in the neighborhood.

"I can just remember his mother calling him, 'Martin!' if he was doing something wrong," the 80-year-old said. "Just a vivacious little kid."

A photo of the three Richard children on Halloween in 2009 showed a smiling Martin dressed as Woody from the "Toy Story" films, complete with cowboy hat and sheriff's badge. Beside him stood Jane, dressed as the film character Jesse, and Henry, dressed as Harry Potter.

"He had that million-dollar smile and you never knew what was going to come out of him," said Judy Tuttle, a family friend. "Denise is the most spectacular mother that you've ever met and Bill is a pillar of the community. It doesn't get any better than these people."

She recalled having tea recently with Denise Richard, a librarian at the children's elementary school, while Martin did his homework.

"What a gift," Tuttle said of Martin. "To know him was to love him."

Kevin Andrews, headmaster at the Neighborhood House Charter School, said the school community was heartbroken by the loss of the third-grader, whom he called "a bright, energetic young boy who had big dreams and high hopes for his future."

Cardinal Sean O'Malley, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Boston, said a Mass on Tuesday in Israel for victims of the bombing, archdiocese officials said. He also called the pastor of St. Ann parish in Dorchester, where the Richards attend church, to say he was praying for them.

Boston University said one of the victims was a graduate student who was watching the race with friends at the finish line, which is not far from the school. The Chinese Consulate in New York said the victim was a Chinese national, though it did not identify the student.

In nearby Medford, William Campbell described his daughter, Krystle, as the light of his life, "a very caring, very loving person."

"Daddy's little girl," the 56-year-old said.

Her mother, Patty Campbell, her voice breaking into tears, said the couple was "heartbroken at the death of our daughter."

"She was a wonderful person. Everybody that knew her loved her. ... She had a heart of gold. She was always smiling. You couldn't ask for a better daughter," the mother said. "This doesn't make sense."

Their daughter's best friend, Karen Rand, suffered a severe leg injury in the blasts. "She's very badly hurt. She's all messed up," Campbell said. "Her leg was all destroyed."

A friend and co-worker at the restaurant where Krystle Campbell was a manager described her as hardworking yet fun-loving, someone who knew how to live life to its fullest.

"We'd go out drinking and she'd work a double the next day," Sheba Parent said. "But she was still career-oriented and focused on her goals."

____

Associated Press writers Bob Salsberg, Jay Lindsay and Pat Eaton-Robb in Boston, Katie Zezima in Arlington, Mass., and Michelle Smith in Providence, R.I., contributed to this report.

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
4/17/2013 3:43:06 PM

A look at the bombing at the Boston Marathon


Two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday killed three people and injured dozens more. A look at the facts in the case:

___

THE EXPLOSIONS

Two bombs exploded about 10 seconds and 100 yards apart at about 2:50 p.m. Monday in Boston's Copley Square, near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. An 8-year-old boy, a 29-year-old woman and a Boston University graduate student from China were killed, and more than 170 were injured. The explosions occurred four hours into the race and two hours after the winners had crossed the finish line, but thousands of runners were still on the course.

___

THE INVESTIGATION

The bombs consisted of explosives put in common 1.6-gallonpressure cookers, one containing shards of metal and ball bearings, the other packed with nails, according to a person close to the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still going on. Both bombs were stuffed into duffel bags, the person said.

Investigators found pieces of black nylon from a bag or backpack and fragments of BBs and nails, possibly contained in a pressure cooker, an FBI agent says. An intelligence bulletin issued to law enforcement and obtained by The Associated Press includes a picture of a mangled pressure cooker and a torn black bag that the FBI says were part of one of the bombs.

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THE VICTIMS

The 8-year-old boy killed in the bombings, Martin Richard, was remembered by friends and neighbors as a vivacious boy who loved to run, climb and play sports. Also killed was Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant manager from Medford, Mass., whose father, William Campbell, said she had gone with a friend to watch the race.

Boston University said a graduate student was killed. The Shenyang Evening News, a state-run Chinese newspaper, identified her as Lu Lingzi.

____

PRESIDENTIAL RESPONSE

President Barack Obama called the bombings an act of terrorism but said investigators do not know whether they were carried out by an international organization, a domestic group or a "malevolent individual." He said, "The American people refuse to be terrorized."

___

SECURITY RESPONSE

The area around Copley Square was closed Tuesday, and security was tight around Boston, with bomb-sniffing dogs checking Amtrak passengers' luggage at South Station and transit police patrolling with rifles. The Federal Aviation Administration barred low-flying aircraft within 3.5 miles of the site. Other cities also beefed up security in response to the bombing and the Secret Service expanded its security perimeter around the White House.

___

WHAT'S NEXT

Authorities continued to investigate, and Richard DesLauriers, FBI agent in charge in Boston, said the range of suspects and motives was "wide open." People were asked to come forward with video or photos from the marathon or anything suspicious they might have witnessed, such as hearing someone express an interest in explosives or a desire to attack the marathon, or seeing someone carrying a dark heavy bag at the race.


"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
4/17/2013 3:52:03 PM

Local paper names Chinese victim in Boston blasts

Associated Press/Andy Wong - A Chinese man walks past a huge screen which reports Boston Marathon bombings that killed three and wounded more than 170 people, in Beijing, China Wednesday, April 17, 2013. A state-run Chinese newspaper says the third person killed in the Boston Marathon bombings is a Chinese graduate student at Boston University originally from China's northeastern city of Shenyang. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

A Chinese man flips a newspaper with the headline of Boston Marathon bombings that killed three and wounded more than 170 people, in Beijing, China Wednesday, April 17, 2013. A state-run Chinese newspaper says the third person killed in the Boston Marathon bombings is a Chinese graduate student at Boston University originally from China's northeastern city of Shenyang. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
BEIJING (AP) — The third person killed in the Boston Marathon bombings was a Chinese graduate student at Boston Universityoriginally from China's northeastern city of Shenyang, a state-run Chinese newspaper reported Wednesday.

The Shenyang Evening News said on its official Twitter-like microblog account that the victim's name is Lu Lingzi. An editor at the newspaper said that Lu's father confirmed his daughter's death when reporters visited the family home. The editor declined to give his name because he was not authorized to speak to foreign media.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry and Consulate General in New York are not releasing the victim's name at the request of the family. But on Tuesday, Boston media quoted a Chinese Consulate General official as saying Chinese national Lu Lingzi was missing in the wake of Monday's bombings that killed three and wounded more than 170 people.

In the Chinese-language world of social media, people have been sharing their condolences on what is believed to be Lu's microblogging account hosted by Sina Weibo, which was last updated Monday with a breakfast photo. By early Wednesday afternoon, more than 14,000 comments were left on the page.

Friends contacted through Sina Weibo have largely declined to speak to media about Lu, saying they were adhering to the wishes of Lu's family.

Lu graduated from a Shenyang high school and studied international trade at Beijing Institute of Technology before she went to the United States to study statistics as a graduate student at Boston University, according to media reports, Lu's friends and her own Facebook page.

Chinese are the largest contingent of foreign students at U.S. colleges and universities. Last year, nearly 200,000 Chinese were enrolled in U.S. higher education institutions, and Massachusetts had almost 10,000 Chinese students on its college campuses, according to the Institute of International Education.


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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
4/17/2013 3:56:10 PM

NKorea lashes out anew over protest in Seoul


PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea said it was open to talks, but not as long as the United States is "brandishing a nuclear stick," while Washington insisted that the burden for renewed negotiations now rests with Pyongyang.

North Korea also warned that it will intensify unspecified "military countermeasures" unless the U.S. stops conducting military drills on the peninsula and withdraws the military assets that Pyongyang says threaten the North with a nuclear attack.

The statements Tuesday came amid international fears that the North is preparing to conduct a medium-range missile test and also as North Korea marked the second day of festivities in honor of the April 15 birthday of its first leader, Kim Il Sung.

The renewed vitriol began after a Monday protest by about 250 people in downtown Seoul, where effigies of Kim Il Sung and his late son and successor, Kim Jong Il, were burned. Such protests are fairly common in South Korea, and though Monday's was held on the holiday that North Korea calls "The Day of the Sun," some analysts suggested North Korea was using it as a pretext to reject calls for a dialogue with the South, at least for the time being.

North Korea often denounces protests like the one held Monday, but this time responded with a statement from the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army, which is headed by Kim Il Sung's grandson and North Korea's overall leader, Kim Jong Un.

The North's statement said it would refuse any offers of talks with the South until it apologized for the "monstrous criminal act."

"If the puppet authorities truly want dialogue and negotiations, they should apologize for all anti-DPRK hostile acts, big and small, and show the compatriots their will to stop all these acts in practice," the statement said. North Korea's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK.

Later in the day, its state media quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman saying North Korea has no intention of holding talks with the U.S. unless it also abandons its hostility against the North.

North Korea is not opposed to dialogue but has no intention of "sitting at the humiliating negotiating table with the party brandishing a nuclear stick," the statement said.

But in Washington, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell later told reporters that North Korea needs to make the first move.

"They know what they need to do in terms of stopping their provocations and showing a seriousness of purpose, and so they know what's required of them," he said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said during a recent trip through Asian capitals that a North Korean missile test would be a provocation that would further isolate the country and its impoverished people. He said Sunday that the U.S. was "prepared to reach out," but that Pyongyang must first bring down tensions and honor previous agreements.

This year's festivities in honor of Kim Il Sung's birth were mostly low key, with Pyongyang residents gathering in performance halls and plazas and taking advantage of subsidized treats, like shaved ice and peanuts. Last year's anniversary — the birth centennial — was marked with days of immense festivities and a massive military parade.

Instead of such grandiose events, the front page of the Rodong Sinmun, the Workers' Party newspaper, on Tuesday featured photos of Kim Jong Un at an orchestral performance with his aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, and other top officials. North Korean media also reported that he watched volleyball and basketball games between Kim Il Sung University of Politics and Kim Il Sung Military University.

After Pyongyang's latest volley of rhetoric, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said South Korea was closely monitoring its moves and would "thoroughly and resolutely punish North Korea if it launches any provocation for whatever reason."

The calm over the past two days in Pyongyang has been a striking contrast to the steady flow of retaliatory threats North Korea has issued over ongoing military exercises between South Korea and the United States. Though the maneuvers, called Foal Eagle, are held regularly, North Korea was particularly angry that this year they included nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers and F-22 fighters.

"The ultimatum is just North Korea's way of saying that it's not willing or ready to talk with the South," said Chang Yong-seok at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University. "North Korea apparently wants to keep the cross-border relations tense for some time to come."

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin told a parliamentary committee Monday that North Korea still appeared poised to launch a missile from its east coast. North Korea, which conducted a nuclear test in February, has already been slapped with strengthened U.N. sanctions for violating Security Council resolutions barring the regime from nuclear and missile activity.

To further coordinate their response, South Korea's new president, Park Geun-hye, will meet with President Barack Obama on May 7 at the White House.

The U.S.-South Korean military drills are scheduled to end April 30. On Tuesday, a Marine CH-53E helicopter made a "hard landing" during the exercises, according to a statement from United States Forces Korea. Twenty-one personnel were on board the helicopter, including five crew members, the statement said. All were taken to the hospital, but 15 were quickly released. The remaining six were in stable condition.

North Korea has also pulled its workers from a joint factory complex on its side of the heavily armed border — the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean complex. Pyongyang has also barred South Korean managers from traveling to the complex, though it hasn't forced South Koreans to leave.

About 200 South Koreans remain inside Kaesong. Some recently told The Associated Press they were subsisting on instant noodles.

Ten South Koreans from the South Korean companies working in Kaesong hoped to visit the park Wednesday to relay their worries to the North and pass along food and other necessities to their colleagues still living inside. But the North again refused to allow them to cross the border, citing the current tension, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry.

The North's entry ban is "very regrettable," ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk told reporters, saying North Korea should quickly resume operations at the park.

___

Associated Press writers Sam Kim and Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this report from Seoul, South Korea.

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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