Boston Marathon Explosion Photo of Terrified Child Puts Time Magazine in Spotlight

Time magazine, no stranger to controversial cover photos, has just released a Boston Marathon explosion doozy: A close-up image of a terrorized, redheaded boy of about 3, blood smeared into his hair, being held by an police officer in the immediate aftermath of Monday’s attack, under the headline “Tragedy in Boston.” It’s the cover shot of a special tablet-only issue, to be published Thursday, which Time previewed online on Wednesday. (See photo, which may be disturbing to some viewers, at the bottom of this post.)

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Though the image manages to movingly convey the emotions of the moment without being as graphic as some other images we've seen, public reaction to it, perhaps because its subject is a child, has so far been mixed.

Many in the Twitterverse have reacted with comments like, “Heartbreaking,” or “unbelievable and moving,” but others were not impressed.

“Disgusting. Giving the bad guys what they want. Idiots,” tweeted one critic. “Media taking it too far,” wrote another.

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Reader comments on the Time preview mostly gave praise to the photograph, as well as the handful of others previewed in a slide show, though some voiced concern. "These images should not be published," wrote one. Another offered a more cynical view, "Let's all thank the media...whose ratings go sky high with tragedy...do they really care or is it just $$ to them."

Just seconds after capturing the image, Hoenk said, the police started “frantically screaming for people to leave” the scene, worried about the chances of a third explosion. “That’s when I decided that I didn’t want to be there anymore.”

The cover of Time's special issue, to be released Thursday. Photo: Bill Hoenk/Time

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Iran condemns Boston but criticizes US policy

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's top leader condemned the twin bombing attacks in Boston but at the same time charged that U.S. policies employ a double standard when it comes to its drone attacks that kill innocent civilians.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran is opposed to the killing of innocent people, whether in Boston,Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran, which follows the logic of Islam, is opposed to any bombings and killings of innocent people no matter it is in Boston, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria and condemns it," he said.

Khamenei, who was addressing Iranian military commanders in Tehran, criticized the U.S. for killing people with drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan and backing forces that kill others in Iraq and Syria.

"What kind of logic is this that if children and women are killed by Americans in Afghanistan and Pakistan and by U.S.-backed terrorists in Iraq and Syria is not a problem but if a bombing happens in the U.S. or another Western country, the whole world should pay the cost?" he asked. His comments were posted

"The U.S. and others claiming to support human rights remain silent towards the massacre of innocent people in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria but create global controversy when explosions occur in the U.S.," he said.

Iran is the chief regional ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad and is considered close to Iraq's Shiite Muslim-dominated government.

Khamenei charged that Western civilization was collapsing because of such double standards.

"Western civilization is on the verge of collapse and downfall because of contradictions, lack of logic, coercions and lack of care for human principles," he said.

Secret Service: Ricin-Laced Letter to Obama Has Been Found

A letter addressed to President Obama that field-tested positive for the poison ricin was received at the remote White House mail screening facility Tuesday, according to law enforcement officials.

The facility routinely identifies letters or parcels that require secondary screening or scientific testing before delivery.

The separate Senate mail-handling facility also Tuesday received a suspicious letter potentially laced with ricin addressed to Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, postmarked from Memphis.

Testing on the first letter, addressed to Republican Wicker, is incomplete but expected to be finished this afternoon.

The Secret Service's White House mail-screening facility is a remote facility, not located near the White House complex, through which all White House mail goes.

The Secret Service is working closely with the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI in this investigation.

"The investigation into these letters remains ongoing, and more letters may still be received," the FBI said in a statement this morning. "There is no indication of a connection to the attack in Boston."

The Bureau added: "It is important to note that operations at the White House have not been affected as a result of the investigation.

"Additionally, filters at a second government mail screening facility preliminarily tested positive for ricin this morning. Mail from that facility is being tested."

FBI sources say anytime suspicious powder is located in a mail facility, field tests are conducted. The field and other preliminary tests in this instance produced inconsistent results. The material has been sent to an accredited laboratory for further analysis.

Only a full analysis performed at an accredited laboratory can determine the presence of a biological agent such as ricin. Those tests are in the process of being conducted and generally take from 24 to 48 hours.

Field tests are often unreliable, and a false positive for ricin occurs at least once each year, a homeland security official told ABC News.

The Centers for Disease Control defines ricin as a poison that comes from castor beans and can be found in a powder, a mist, a pellet or dissolved in water.

"In the 1940s, the U.S. military experimented with using ricin as a possible warfare agent," the CDC writes. "In some reports ricin has possibly been used as a warfare agent in the 1980s in Iraq and more recently by terrorist organizations."

Meanwhile, Senate offices were on partial lockdown today after the discovery of suspicious packages. The police investigation centered on the offices of Sens. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., in the Russell Senate Building, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va, in the Hart Senate Office Building.

The lockdown was unrelated to the Wicker letter.

Also, the Saginaw, Mich., office of Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., received a suspicious-looking letter this morning. The office did not know whether it was a threat.

"The letter was not opened, and the staffer followed the proper protocols for the situation, including alerting the authorities, who are now investigating. We do not know yet if the mail presented a threat," Levin said in a paper statement.

"I'm grateful for my staff's quick response and for government personnel at all levels who are responding."

Several senators have reported suspicious packages delivered to their district offices, with no reports of any credible threats.

But underscoring the jitters among Senate D.C. and district offices, Sen. Deb Fischer's, R-Neb., Lincoln office contacted police when staff found a suspicious package outside this morning.

It turned out to be a used-car part left in a bag on top of a lawn chair.

ABC News' Sunlen Miller contributed to this story.

Also Read

Thousands of Pakistanis homeless after quake

Pakistani paramilitary soldiers unload food stuff from an army helicopter to send them into earthquake hit area, at a military base in Dalbandin, a town of Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, Wednesday, April 17, 2013. Hundreds of Pakistani soldiers joined the effort to rescue victims of a deadly earthquake near the Iranian border, evacuating 16 of the more seriously injured by helicopter, the military said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

People evacuate buildings and call their relatives after a tremor of an earthquake was felt in Karachi, Pakistan, Tuesday, April 16, 2013. A major earthquake described as the strongest to hit Iran in more than half a century flatted homes and offices Tuesday near Iran's border with Pakistan, killing at least tens of people in the sparsely populated region and swaying buildings as far away as New Delhi and the skyscrapers in Dubai and Bahrain. (AP Photo/Shakil Adil)

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Thousands of people are homeless and desperate for aid in southwestern Pakistan following a deadly earthquake centered in neighboring Iran that toppled scores of mud brick homes and killed at least 36 people, officials said Wednesday.

The Pakistani army has deployed several hundred soldiers to help the relief effort in Mashkel, the area of Baluchistan province hit hardest by Tuesday's magnitude 7.8 earthquake. But many residents in Mashkel, where nearly all homes were destroyed, said they were unhappy with the government's response.

"I appeal to the government. I appeal to the international community to help us with food, medicine, tents and blankets," Syed Mureed Shah, one of the top officials in surrounding Washak district, told The Associated Press by telephone. "Come and see with your own eyes the damage caused by the earthquake."

At least 35 people were killed and 150 injured in Pakistan, according to Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority. Iran's main state TV channel said Wednesday that only one person was killed in Iran — a woman who was struck by falling rocks while she was collecting herbs — and that 12 people were injured.

Iran's state-run Press TV initially reported a much higher death toll in Iran, saying 40 people had been killed, but later backed away from that figure. The discrepancies and apparent backtracking in the reports could not be immediately reconciled because the affected areas are remote and difficult to reach.

An estimated 700 houses were reported damaged in Mashkel in Pakistan, and more remote areas were being assessed, the disaster management agency said.

But Shah, the Washuk district official, said the damage was more widespread. He said more than 3,000 homes were destroyed in the district, leaving about 19,000 people without shelter. He complained that he has only received about 60 tents from the provincial government.

People in Mashkel sat under makeshift shelters or sought shade under palm trees amid the rubble of their mud brick houses Wednesday. A dead horse lay amid the debris of one house. An air conditioning unit stuck out of rubble from another. Several children lying on beds in a makeshift clinic received medicine or fluids intravenously.

More than 300 Pakistani soldiers, including doctors and engineers, were helping with the relief effort by distributing food, medicine and blankets, the army said. They also set up a field hospital to provide medical aid. Five army helicopters were participating in the operation, the army said.

The helicopters flew 15 critically injured people to Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, for treatment, the disaster management agency said. Five more critically injured people are awaiting evacuation from Mashkel and are expected to be evacuated Wednesday, the agency said.

The provision of additional supplies was hampered Wednesday by a sand storm that prevented helicopters from landing in Mashkel, the agency said. The Baluchistan government also dispatched 20 trucks carrying tents, lamps, food and water that are expected to reach Mashkel by Thursday morning at the latest.

Iranian state TV showed brief images of a village house toppled in the earthquake zone, but scenes from bigger towns showed little damage. It gave no details on rescue work or plans to open the area to international media.

At a news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York, the U.N.'s resident coordinator in Iran, Gary Lewis, told reporters by teleconference that the U.N. had offered Iran any international assistance they might need in the aftermath of their quakes. He said none had been requested, and they "seem to be handling everything locally."

Residents in Mashkel said most people were able to remove their belongings — pots, pans, carpets, blankets and pillows — from their homes before they collapsed into piles of rubble. They said they don't know of anyone still buried under debris in the area.

The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude of the earthquake at 7.8 and said it occurred at a depth of 82 kilometers (51 miles). Press TV said the quake was centered near Saravan, about 50 kilometers (26 miles) from the Pakistani border. The website of Tehran Geophysics Center said the quake lasted 40 seconds and called it the strongest in more than 50 years in one of the world's most seismically active areas.

The quake was so strong that it was felt over a vast area from New Delhi — about 1,500 kilometers (900 miles) from the epicenter — to Gulf cities that have some of the world's tallest skyscrapers, including the record 828-meter (2,717 -foot) Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Officials ordered temporary evacuations from the Burj Khalifa and some other high-rises as a precaution. Pakistani news channels showed buildings shaking in the southern city of Karachi, where people in panic came out from offices and homes.

It forced Iranian officials — for the second time in less than a week — to issue assurances that its main nuclear reactor wasn't damaged. Iran was struck by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake near the country's Persian Gulf coast last Tuesday that killed at least 37 people.

In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a magnitude 6.6 quake that flattened the historic southeastern Iranian city of Bam. Two years later, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake killed about 80,000 people in northwestern Pakistan and Kashmir and left more than 3 million homeless.

____

Abbot reported from Islamabad. AP writers Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran, Iran, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Peter Spielmann in New York contributed to this report.

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