Extra officers for London Marathon
By Anonymous on Apr 21, 2013 03:38 am 20 April 2013 Last updated at 20:53 ET 
More than 35,000 runners are expected to take part in the race
Hundreds of extra police officers will be on duty at the London Marathon later in a bid to reassure runners and spectators after the Boston bombings.
More than 35,000 runners are due to take part in the race, which starts in Blackheath, south-east London.
A 30-second silence will be held at the start line for the three people killed and more than 170 others injured by the bombs at the Boston Marathon on Monday.
The Met Police says 40% more officers will be on duty than last year.
The force said that it had reviewed security plans after the Boston attacks and that the extra officers would be used for "for reassurance patrols".
The marathon route, which is lined by hundreds of thousands of spectators each year, finishes near Buckingham Palace, passing some of London's most recognisable landmarks, including Tower Bridge and Big Ben.
Ch Supt Julia Pendry, who has headed marathon security for five years, has said this year's police operation is "about making sure that people who come to London on Sunday feel safe when they are in the city".
She said more search dogs would be deployed and urged marathon spectators to keep their belongings with them to avoid sparking security alerts.
But she added: "There is no link between the Boston Marathon and the London Marathon and there is no change to the threat level at this time to London."
'Brilliant day' Marathon chief executive Nick Bitel said messages of reassurance about security had been "well received".
Mr Bitel said the race organisers were happy with how the build-up to the race had gone.
"In terms of our preparations, it's all gone well, obviously there were some additional security issues following Boston, but that seems to be bedding down and the message of reassurance to runners has been very well received," he said.
He said he was looking forward to "a brilliant day" with a "fantastic looking line-up of stars running the race".
Celebrities taking part include singer Katherine Jenkins, BBC newsreader Sian Williams and former Strictly Come Dancing champion Harry Judd, of pop band McFly.
Athletes taking part include British Olympic double gold winner Mo Farah, who has said he is "hurt" by accusations that he is only taking part because of a reported six-figure appearance fee.
Farah, who won the 5,000m and 10,000m at the 2012 London Olympics, intends to run just half of the 26.2-mile course on Sunday in preparation for running the full race next year.
"I'm here to learn about the course, so that next year I'm ready to go," he said.
"It's a no-brainer when you think about it."
Tamerlan, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are suspected of carrying out the Boston bombings
Meanwhile, specialist US terrorism officers are waiting to question Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the twin bombings close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
The 19-year-old is under armed guard in hospital after he was found seriously injured and hiding in a boat in a backyard, shortly after a Boston-wide lockdown was ended.
He is said to be stable but not yet able to communicate.
The BBC's David Willis, outside the hospital, said he suffered gunshot wounds to the neck and leg and had lost a lot of blood, so it could be a while before investigators were able to talk to him.
Mr Tsarnaev's older brother, Tamerlan, died after a shoot-out with police.
Virgin London Marathon has pledged to donate £2 for every runner that finishes Sunday's event to The One Fund Boston set up to raise money for victims of the explosions.
The race organisers expect the total donation to be at least £70,000.
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US waits to question 'Boston bomber'
By Anonymous on Apr 20, 2013 10:38 pm 20 April 2013 Last updated at 11:42 ET 
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Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was taken into custody covered in blood
Boston is returning to normal after one the biggest manhunts in US police history ended with the arrest of a teenager suspected of carrying out the marathon bombings.
The entire city was under lockdown on Friday as police scoured the area for suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19.
He found hiding in a suburban backyard and arrested after an exchange of fire with police in which he was injured.
His brother, Tamerlan, was earlier killed in a shoot-out with police.
Three people died and more than 170 were wounded in Monday's bombings and a police officer was shot dead during the search.
Continue reading the main story Analysis
Chris Buckler BBC News, Boston
The morning after it was the scene of an armed stand-off, Franklin Street is divided into two.
In one half detectives and forensic officers are examining the place where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was finally found after the huge manhunt across Boston.
In the other residents are out in the street jubilant and celebrating. One woman said the mood was similar to that of a "block party".
But what people are really feeling is relief.
Since the bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday there has been concern, but that turned to real fear when it became clear that an armed and dangerous man was in hiding somewhere in this city.
Yesterday police teams were patrolling Watertown and its surrounding suburbs. Otherwise the streets were largely empty with businesses closed and people advised to stay in their homes.
Today, at least on the surface, the city has returned to normal.
There is no doubt that the deaths and injuries caused by the series of attacks will have a lasting impact on many families here, but with the second of the FBI's suspects now under arrest people hope and believe that Boston's week of terror is finally over.
President Barack Obama has promised to seek answers on what had motivated the alleged bombers and whether they had help.
'Victims deserve answers' He said the arrest of the surviving suspect "closed an important chapter in this tragedy" but that there were many unanswered questions.
"Among them, why did young men who grew up and studied here as part of our communities and our country resort to such violence? How did they plan and carry out these attacks and did they receive any help?
"The families of those killed so senselessly deserve answers, the wounded, some of whom now have to learn to stand, walk and live again deserve answers,'' he added.
The huge police manhunt began after 26-year-old police officer Sean Collins was shot dead in the Cambridge area. Shortly later a car was hijacked before a gun battle began further west, in Watertown.
A transport police officer was seriously hurt and the elder brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was fatally wounded - doctors said he died in custody of bullet wounds and possible blast injuries from explosives strapped to his body.
His younger brother fled by car.
Early on Friday, police told residents to stay indoors as they scoured the district. The lockdown was lifted at 18:00 local time, then an hour later a huge gun fight broke out.
It later emerged that a resident of Franklin Street in Watertown had found a seriously injured Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hiding in a boat in his backyard.
Police say attempts to negotiate with him failed, and he was arrested after an exchange of fire.
Continue reading the main story The Tsarnaev brothers
- Sons of Chechen refugees from the troubled Caucasus region of southern Russia
- Family is thought to have moved to the US in 2001, from Russian republic of Dagestan
- They lived in the Massachusetts town of Cambridge, home to Harvard University
- Dzhokhar, 19, was awarded a scholarship to pursue further education; he wanted to become a brain surgeon, according to his father
- Tamerlan, 26, was an amateur boxer who had reportedly taken time off college to train for a competition; he described himself as a "very religious" non-drinker and non-smoker
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is being held under armed guard at the Bethesda Memorial Hospital, where many victims of the bombing are also being treated.
'Bittersweet' There were scenes of celebrations on the streets of Boston on Friday night. People cheered, honked car horns and waved American flags, and there chants of "USA".
Elliot Friar, who lives close to where Monday's bombs exploded, said it was "a bittersweet moment" because of those who had lost their lives.
"But it was also a time for celebration because the city has been on edge and we're finally feeling more safe than we have in the past four days," he told the BBC.
The governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, thanked the public for their "extraordinary patience and their participation in this investigation".
"It's a night where I think we are all going to rest easy," he wrote on Twitter.
The two bombs, which went off close to the finishing line of the Boston Marathon, killed three people: Martin Richard, aged eight, Krystle Campbell, 29, and Lu Lingzi, 23, a postgraduate student from China.
In a statement, the Richard family said: "Tonight, our family applauds the entire law enforcement community for a job well done, and trust that our justice system will now do its job."
Law enforcement officials and family members have identified the Tsarnaev brothers as ethnic Chechens who had been living in America for about a decade.
The FBI had interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2011 after a request from a foreign government, US law enforcements officials have confirmed. But agents closed the case after finding no cause for concern.
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Several members of the Tsarnaev family have condemned and disowned the brothers, but their parents have said that they could not have planned such an attack as they were being monitored by the FBI.
Their mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, said she was "100% sure that this is set up, insisting in an interview with Russia Today that her sons had never had any involvement with terrorism.
Read in browser » China battles to bring quake aid
By Anonymous on Apr 21, 2013 12:43 am 21 April 2013 Last updated at 00:43 ET 
Tens of thousands of survivors spent the night away from their homes
Rescue teams in China's Sichuan province are struggling to reach survivors of a powerful 6.6-magnitude earthquake in remote hill villages, with debris blocking roads.
Dressed in bright orange uniforms, they could be seen moving up mountain paths on foot on Sunday.
Soldiers worked all night to search villages and treat the injured, while local people slept in shelters or cars.
The quake has left 203 dead or missing and has injured some 11,500.
The latest figures were given by China's Ministry of Civil Affairs, quoted by Xinhua. It said 960 of the injured were in serious condition.
China's new Premier, Li Keqiang, told state media from a tent in the disaster zone: "The rescue effort is our first duty."
Villages close to the epicentre in Lushan county were left in ruins. At least 1,100 aftershocks followed the quake, which struck at 08:02 local time (00:02 GMT) on Saturday.
"It was as if the mountain was alive," a 68-year-old woman with a broken arm, who had lost her home, told AFP news agency at a Lushan hospital.
Japan has set aside its disputes with China to offer any help that is required.
Beijing said overseas assistance was not needed at the moment but that it would contact Tokyo if that changed.
Chen Yong, the vice-director of the Ya'an city government earthquake response office, said the death toll may not rise much more.
"We understand the situation in most areas. Most of the casualties have been reported. In some remote mountain areas, it is possible that we don't fully understand the situation," he said.
Boulders dynamited Ambulances, fire engines and military lorries piled high with supplies were waiting in long lines along blocked roads in the province on Sunday.
Correspondents say the hill villages, where farmers grow rice, vegetables and corn on terraced plots, were hit the hardest.
Soldiers rescued this injured woman
Kevin Xia, of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said: "Supplies have had difficulty getting into the region because of the traffic jams. Most of our supplies are still on the way."
In one village in Baoxing county, Longmen, nearly all the buildings were destroyed, officials said.
Rescuers were forced to dynamite boulders that had fallen across some roads, while overnight rain slowed rescue work, according to state media.
A military vehicle carrying 17 soldiers plummeted over a cliff. One soldier was killed and others injured.
Mr Li, who arrived on Saturday afternoon by helicopter to direct rescue efforts, visited hospitals and tents, and climbed on a pile of rubble to view the devastation, Xinhua reports.
"The first 72 hours is the golden period for rescue," he told officials. "We cannot delay by a minute."
Tens of thousands of people spent the night in tents or cars, unable to return home or too afraid to go back because of the aftershocks.
Sichuan province was devastated by a massive quake five years ago. Tens of thousands of people were killed and five million lost their homes.
Many of the collapsed buildings were schools and nurseries, leading to widespread criticism of local government's planning policies.
But Mr Chen said that this had not happened this time.
"The Chinese government has put a lot of money into building schools and hospitals. I can guarantee that no schools collapsed," he told Reuters.
Read in browser » Russian tycoon top of rich list
By Anonymous on Apr 20, 2013 02:10 pm 20 April 2013 Last updated at 14:10 ET 
Alisher Usmanov started his business empire with the manufacture of plastic bags
Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov has topped the Sunday Times ranking of the wealthiest people in Britain and Ireland with a fortune of £13.3bn.
The Surrey-based tycoon, 59, who has a 30% stake in Arsenal football club, owns iron ore producer Metalloinvest.
Warner Music's Len Blavatnik comes next in the 25th annual list with £11bn but steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal's £10bn sees him drop from first to fourth.
The 1,000 richest people Britain and Ireland share a wealth of £450bn.
The highest British-born person in the list is the Duke of Westminster in eighth place with £7.8bn.
Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin brand, is in 19th place with £3.5bn and Chelsea FC's Russian owner Roman Abramovich, who made his fortune in the oil industry, is down two places to fifth with £9.3bn.
In third place are Sri and Gopi Hinduja, of the London-based global conglomerate Hinduja Group, with £10.6bn.
Continue reading the main story Analysis
Anthony Reuben Business reporter, BBC News
On 2 April 1989, when the first Rich List was published, the Sunday Times was covered with Margaret Thatcher.
The front page stories were about the prime minister visiting Namibia and there was an article by Jeff Randall saying she had called a crisis meeting to discuss the controversy about the takeover of Harrods.
The top story, announcing the Rich List, declared that "Britain is still dominated by 'old' money despite nearly 10 years of Thatcherism".
Twenty-five years on, the list that was dominated by inherited wealth and aristocracy is now full of cash earned from commodities overseas, such as steel and oil.
New money has replaced old, but not much of it has been earned in Britain.
Former Miss UK Kirsty Bertarelli shares her £7.4bn pharmaceuticals fortune with husband Ernesto, the same amount as last year, but they have slipped three places down the list.
There are a record 88 billionaires in the list - compared to 77 last year and just nine when the rich list started in 1989, and the Queen was placed top.
He then wealth of £5.2bn included the Crown Estates and the royal art collection but since 1993 the monarch has been valued on just her personal worth for the purposes of the list.
The combined wealth of the top 200 people in list is £318.2bn which is more than eight times the figure 25 years ago.
Mr Usmanov started his business empire with the manufacture of plastic bags.
His interests now include Russia's biggest iron ore producer Metalloinvest, a stake in internet business mail.ru and a holding in mobile phone operator MegaFon which became listed on both the London and Moscow stock exchanges last year.
Mr Usmanov owns Sutton Place in Surrey, the former home of the late oil baron J Paul Getty, as well as a £48m mansion in north London.
Continue reading the main story Rich List top 10
- 1. (2) Alisher Usmanov (mining and investment) £13.3bn
- 2. (5) Len Blavatnik (investment, music and media) £11bn
- 3. (4) Sri and Gopi Hinduja (industry and finance) £10.6bn
- 4. (1) Lakshmi Mittal and family (steel) £10bn
- 5. (3) Roman Abramovich (oil and industry) £9.3bn
- 6. (9) John Fredriksen and family (shipping and oil services) £8.8bn
- 7. (8) David and Simon Reuben (property and internet) £8.2bn
- 8. (7) The Duke of Westminster (property) £7.8bn
- 9. (6) Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli (pharmaceuticals) £7.4bn
- 10. (11) Charlene and Michel de Carvalho (inheritance, brewing and banking) £7bn
Source: Sunday Times Rich List (last year's positions in brackets)
Mr Blavatnik saw the biggest rise in wealth among those listed with an increase of £3.4bn over the past year.
The Russia-born media mogul, who now holds US citizenship, sold his stake in Russian oil and gas giant TNK-BP for £2bn last month.
Mr Mittal, who topped the list for the past eight years, was the biggest faller in wealth terms after his 40% stake with his wife in steelmaker ArcelorMittal plunged from a peak of £28bn to just under £6bn.
Earlier this month former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney was revealed to have topped the Sunday Times Rich List of musicians with the £680m fortune he shares with his wife Nancy Shevell.
Sir Paul, whose American heiress wife is said to be worth £150m, has topped each music list since 1989 when he was worth an estimated £80m.
Andrew Lloyd Webber was second with £620m and Irish rock band U2 were third with £520m.
Read in browser » Nurses 'drowning in paperwork'
By Anonymous on Apr 21, 2013 03:51 am 20 April 2013 Last updated at 18:59 ET 
The amount of paperwork is increasing, nurses say
Nurses are "drowning in a sea of paperwork" with more than one sixth of the working week taken up doing non-essential paperwork, a survey suggests.
The Royal College of Nursing poll of 6,000 nurses found 17.3% of their hours were spent on tasks such as filing, photocopying and ordering supplies.
Most reported the amount of paperwork was getting worse and was now stopping them providing direct patient care.
The government has said it wants to reduce bureaucracy by a third.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has already announced a review of bureaucracy, which is being carried out by the NHS Confederation and is due to report back in the coming months.
The union said its survey showed a culture of "ticking boxes" had developed.
The survey, which is being released on the eve of the start of the RCN's annual conference on Monday, also found more than a quarter of nurses said their workplace did not have a ward clerk or administrative assistant to help with clerical duties.
RCN general secretary Peter Carter said: "These figures prove what a shocking amount of a nurse's time is being wasted on unnecessary paperwork and bureaucracy.
"Yes, some paperwork is essential and nurses will continue to do this, but patients want their nurses by their bedside, not ticking boxes."
Read in browser » Snowboarders die in Colorado pass
By Anonymous on Apr 20, 2013 11:11 pm 20 April 2013 Last updated at 19:44 ET 
The avalanche occurred in the Rocky Mountains
An avalanche in the US state of Colorado has killed five back-country snowboarders with a sixth surviving, according to officials.
The avalanche occurred between 13:00 (19:00 GMT) and 14:00 in Loveland Pass, near a ski area, and blocked a highway.
No information was given about the five people who died.
An eyewitness saw a fire engine and ambulances, one towing snowmobiles, heading towards the pass, and two search dogs in the area of the slide.
The pass, at an elevation of 11,990ft (3,655m), is popular among back-country skiers and snowboarders in the Rocky Mountains.
Sheriff Don Krueger said the avalanche had occurred near the Loveland Ski Area, but outside its boundaries, the Denver Post reports.
He said he believed everyone had been accounted for but could not be sure.
The Colorado Department of Transportation said the avalanche had closed Highway 6 at Loveland Pass and could not estimate when the pass would reopen.
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