Boston blast debris may reveal investigation clues

Boston police look at blown out windows at the scene of the first explosion on Boylston Street. (John Tlumacki/The??

The ingenuity of the twin Boston Marathon explosives will offer important clues to investigators trying to solve the case, a former FBI bomb technician told Yahoo News Tuesday.

?How they placed their tape or insulators, all the way down to how they tie the wires together,? said Danny Defenbaugh, the retired special agent who led the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing probe.

A team of specialized investigators has been dispatched to the race finish-line area in Boston where scores of victims were maimed by flying shrapnel when the two improvised explosive devices were detonated seconds apart.

Defenbaugh said the agents will try to recover the blasting accessories and other components so they can reconstruct the device.

?Many times how the bomb was constructed will lead to a bomb?s signature and maybe identify a group or sometimes an actual individual who committed the crime,? said Defenbaugh, who supervised more than 150 bomb investigations during his 33-year career.

It was a vehicle identification number from a charred Ryder moving truck which helped the FBI quickly trace the Oklahoma City bombing to Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. The pair had rented the truck and packed it full of explosives, killing 168 people and injuring at least 680 people at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995.

?We have to be very, very careful and allow the evidence to point the direction,? he said.

Defenbaugh cautioned any pundits who may be painting the Boston bombs as unsophisticated.

?If you construct it, and it blows up as designed and explodes and you haven?t killed yourself, then it is pretty sophisticated,? he said.

The deadly Boston bombs were contained in 6-liter pressure cookers and hidden in black duffel bags on the ground, the Associated Press reported Tuesday afternoon. Pressure cookers have been recovered in foreign and domestic terrorist activity in recent years. An IED fashioned from a pressure cooker was found after the failed attempt to set off a bomb in Times Square in May 2010.

Boston police commissioner Eric Davis said Tuesday morning that the suspect is not believed to be among the deceased.

?The three deceased are all victims as far as I know,? Davis said.

A European security official told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the initial evidence strongly suggests the tragedy was not carried out by suicide bombers.

"So far, investigators believe it was not the work of suicide bombers, but it is still too early to rule it out completely," said the official, who spoke from the United States on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the U.S. investigation.

Defenbaugh scoffed at eliminating suspects too early.

?It was undoubtedly a terrorist attack, however I?d be very careful in trying to subcategorize it as international or domestic,? he said. ?History has proven that?s just not wise.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/key-solving-boston-bombing-could-blast-aftermath-184820765.html

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Shae Bradley Sex Tape: Buckwild Star Confirms That's Out There Too!

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How to Get in Touch With Loved Ones During a Disaster

Disasters often strike without warning?and if you have family or friends who are in or near harm?s way, you?re going to want to get in touch. Unfortunately, that isn?t always so easy: Cell signals and land lines can be jammed ...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/zsrtYpyjim0/

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Investigators probe jet's crash into sea in Bali

BALI, Indonesia (AP) ? Indonesian investigators on Sunday began working to determine what caused a new Lion Air passenger jet to miss a runway while landing on the resort island of Bali, crashing into the sea without causing any fatalities among the 108 on board.

The National Transportation Safety Committee is examining the wreckage of the Boeing 737-800 that snapped in half before coming to a stop in shallow water near Bali's airport on Saturday, said Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan.

He said aviation authorities had already removed the plane's flight data recorder and were planning to tow the aircraft to a beach. Divers were searching for the cockpit voice recorder located in the tail. Experts are examining what could have caused the crash, including whether wind shear may have played a role.

All 101 passengers and seven crew members were safely evacuated from the budget carrier's flight, which came from Bandung, the capital of West Java province. Some swam from the wreckage, while others were plucked from the water by rescuers in rubber boats. Dozens suffered injuries, but most had been released from local hospitals by Sunday.

"I couldn't wait to land in Bali when the cabin suddenly turned dark. I heard a sound like an explosion and water was coming in," recalled Irawati, a 60-year-old woman who uses one name, like many Indonesians.

"I heard people shouting frantically: 'The plane crashed! Get out! Get out!' I did not even have the energy to move my body," she said. "I was so weak and frightened, and I was asking a flight attendant for help before I passed out."

Irawati told The Associated Press from her hospital bed that when she regained consciousness, the pilot and co-pilot were putting a life jacket on her and helping her down a rubber ladder. She was then pulled onto a surfboard by rescuers. She suffered neck injuries.

Another survivor, Andi Prasetyo, who is now staying at a hotel, said there was no warning of any problem.

"The cabin crew had already announced that we would be landing shortly, and I was so excited when I saw the ocean getting closer, but suddenly ... it fell," he said. "I can't believe that the plane actually landed on the sea, and everything changed to dark. It was full of horrific screaming. None of us remembered about the life jackets under our seats. Everybody rushed to get out of the plane."

Officials said there were three foreigners on board ? two Singaporeans and a French national ? all of whom suffered slight injuries.

Lion Air spokesman Edward Sirait said the plane crashed about 50 meters (164 feet) ahead of the runway. The weather was cloudy with rain at the time of the incident.

He said the Boeing 737-800 Next Generation plane was received by the airline last month and was declared airworthy. The plane had landed in two other cities on Saturday prior to the crash.

Given that the aircraft was new, Sydney-based aviation expert Tom Ballantyne said a technical or mechanical problem would seem unlikely. He said it was fortunate that the plane landed flat in shallow water rather than nose-diving or hitting deep water, where it could have quickly been submerged.

"I'm surprised. The airplane split in two upon impact," he said, estimating it was likely traveling close to 300 miles (483 kilometers) per hour.

"It was coming into land and hit the water very hard. It's a miracle nobody was killed," Ballantyne said.

It was unclear whether human error may have played a role in the accident, and Sirait said the pilot was experienced, logging 10,000 flying hours. However, Indonesian aviation analyst Ruth Simatupang, a former investigator at the National Safety Transportation Committee, suspects some sort of miscalculation involving the landing.

"Something was obviously wrong with the pilot, and wind shear is a possibility that could lead to an unstable approach," she said. Sudden changes in wind speed or direction can lift or smash aircraft into the ground during landing.

The pilot and co-pilot will be grounded for two weeks for tests to ensure they were healthy during the flight and for questioning by investigators. They also have undergone alcohol and drug testing, and the preliminary results were negative, Herry Bakti Gumay, a Transportation Ministry official, told a news conference Sunday. In the past two years, three pilots, one co-pilot and a flight attendant from Lion Air have been arrested for illicit drug use.

The airline said it planned to suck the remaining fuel from the undamaged tanks in the plane's wings before towing it at high tide to avoid destroying the area's coral reefs. Bali is one of Asia's most popular destinations, drawing millions of vacationers with its world-class surf and beautiful beaches.

Rapidly expanding Lion Air is Indonesia's top discount carrier, holding about a 45 percent market share in the country, a sprawling archipelago of 240 million people that's seeing a boom in both economic growth and air travel. The airline has been involved in six accidents since 2002, four of them involving Boeing 737s and one resulting in 25 deaths, according to the Aviation Safety Network's website.

Lion Air is currently banned from flying to Europe due to broader safety lapses in the Indonesian airline industry that have long plagued the country. Last year, a Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet-100 slammed into a volcano during a demonstration flight, killing all 45 people on board.

Indonesia is one of Asia's most rapidly expanding airline markets, but is struggling to provide qualified pilots, mechanics, air traffic controllers and updated airport technology to ensure safety.

Lion Air, a private company which started flying in 2000, signed a $24 billion deal last month to buy 234 Airbus planes, the biggest order ever for the French aircraft maker. It also gave Boeing its largest-ever order when it finalized a deal for 230 planes last year. The aircraft will be delivered from 2014 to 2026 as the airline positions itself to take on AirAsia, which dominates budget travel in the region.

___

Karmini reported from Jakarta, Indonesia. Associated Press writer Margie Mason contributed to this report from Jakarta.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/investigators-probe-jets-crash-sea-bali-103807352.html

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Could new flu spark global flu pandemic? New bird flu strain seen adapting to mammals, humans

Apr. 12, 2013 ? A genetic analysis of the avian flu virus responsible for at least nine human deaths in China portrays a virus evolving to adapt to human cells, raising concern about its potential to spark a new global flu pandemic.

The collaborative study, conducted by a group led by Masato Tashiro of the Influenza Virus Research Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, and Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Tokyo, appears in the current edition (April 11, 2013) of the journal Eurosurveillance. The group examined the genetic sequences of H7N9 isolates from four of the pathogen's human victims as well as samples derived from birds and the environs of a Shanghai market.

"The human isolates, but not the avian and environmental ones, have a protein mutation that allows for efficient growth in human cells and that also allows them to grow at a temperature that corresponds to the upper respiratory tract of humans, which is lower than you find in birds," says Kawaoka, a leading expert on avian influenza.

The findings, drawn from genetic sequences deposited by Chinese researchers into an international database, provide some of the first molecular clues about a worrisome new strain of bird flu, the first human cases of which were reported on March 31 by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, the new virus has sickened at least 33 people, killing nine. Although it is too early to predict its potential to cause a pandemic, signs that the virus is adapting to mammalian and, in particular, human hosts are unmistakable, says Kawaoka.

Access to the genetic information in the viruses, he adds, is necessary for understanding how the virus is evolving and for developing a candidate vaccine to prevent infection.

Influenza virus depends on its ability to attach to and commandeer the living cells of its host to replicate and spread efficiently. Avian influenza rarely infects humans, but can sometimes adapt to people, posing a significant risk to human health.

"These viruses possess several characteristic features of mammalian influenza viruses, which likely contribute to their ability to infect humans and raise concerns regarding their pandemic potential," Kawaoka and his colleagues conclude in the Eurosurveillance report.

Kawaoka, a faculty member in the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine who also holds a faculty appointment at the University of Tokyo, explains that the majority of the viruses in the study -- from both humans and birds -- display mutations in the surface protein hemagglutinin, which the pathogen uses to bind to host cells. Those mutations, according to Kawaoka, allowed them to easily infect human cells.

In addition, the isolates from patients contained another mutation that allows the virus to efficiently replicate inside human cells. The same mutation, Kawaoka notes, lets the avian virus thrive in the cooler temperatures of the human upper respiratory system. It is in the cells of the nose and throat that flu typically gains a hold in a mammalian or human host.

Kawaoka and his colleagues also assessed the response of the new strain to drugs used to treat influenza, discovering that one class of commonly used antiviral drugs, ion channel inhibitors which effectively bottle up the virus in the cell, would not be effective; the new strain could be treated with another clinically relevant antiviral drug, oseltamivir.

In addition to Kawaoka and Tashiro, co-authors of the Eurosurveillance report include Tsutomu Kageyama, Seiichiro Fujisaki, Emi Takashita, Hong Xu, Shinya Yamada, Yuko Uchida, Gabriele Neumann and Takehiko Saito. The work was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Pandemic Influenza Research and Grant-in-Aid for Specially Promoted Research from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan; by the NIAID Center for Research on Influenza Pathogenesis (CRIP, HHSN266200700010C); by a Grant-in-Aid for Specially Promoted Research, by the Japan Initiative for Global Research Network on Infectious Diseases from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Japan; and by ERATO, Japan.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison. The original article was written by Terry Devitt.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Kageyama T, Fujisaki S, Takashita E, Xu H, Yamada S, Uchida Y, Neumann G, Saito T, Kawaoka Y, Tashiro M. Genetic analysis of novel avian A(H7N9) influenza viruses isolated from patients in China, February to April 2013. Eurosurveillance, 2013; [link]

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/6D3PTlyJgDU/130412192402.htm

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Japan, U.S. agree on Tokyo joining Trans-Pacific trade talks

By Kaori Kaneko

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan and the United States have agreed on a deal to allow Tokyo to join talks on a U.S.-led Asia-Pacific free trade pact that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is making a keystone of his strategy to open Japan's economy and spur long-sought growth.

The agreement brings Japan closer to entering talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which Japan hopes to participate in as early as July.

"Japan and the United States have reached an agreement on Japan's participation in the TPP talks," Abe told reporters on Friday after a meeting with cabinet ministers. "I think Japan's national interests are protected under this U.S.-Japan agreement," he said, adding he hoped Tokyo could take part in the negotiations as soon as possible.

Abe last month announced his decision to join the trade talks - despite fierce opposition from Japan's politically powerful farm lobby - as part of a "third arrow" in his "Abenomics" policy triad, after fiscal spending and drastic monetary policy easing.

Japan needs formal approval by all 11 participating countries in order to take part in the trade talks. If Japan does join, the pact would cover almost 40 percent of world economic output.

The U.S.-Japan agreement allows the White House to give Congress 90-days' notice that it plans to start trade negotiations in time for Japan to participate in a July round of TPP talks.

U.S. labor groups had been concerned about the impact of removing U.S. tariffs on autos. Japanese media have reported that Tokyo and Washington agreed that the United States could keep tariffs of 2.5 percent on Japanese cars imports and 25 percent on imported trucks. The bilateral agreement also covered insurance and farm goods, the reports said.

New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser said last month the TPP member nations could formally decide whether to allow Japan into the talks when the 21-member trade officials meet in Indonesia on April 20-21 for the annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

Countries in the trade talks include Canada, Mexico, Australia, Chile, Peru, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and the 11 member nations aim to strike a deal by the end of this year.

(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Linda Sieg and Edmund Klamann)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/japan-u-agree-deal-tokyo-joining-tpp-talks-085747996--business.html

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Leaked Details of Twitter Music Show That It'll Connect to Spotify, Rdio, iTunes and More

Though reports had pointed towards Twitter releasing Twitter Music today, all we got was a landing page. Thankfully, designer Youssef Sarhan managed to pry some details from Twitter Music's source code. Because of his awesome sleuthwork, we now know a lot more than we did before. Like how Twitter Music will let users connect with Spotify, Rdio, iTunes, Soundcloud, Vevo and Youtube. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Mxr5kvlBD54/leaked-details-of-twitter-music-show-that-itll-connect-to-spotify-rdio-itunes-and-more

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