Boston Marathon investigators find woman’s DNA on bomb fragment

FBI image shows the remains of a pressure cooker that the FBI says was part of one of the Boston Marathon bombs (Courtesy: AP /FBI)

Investigators have found traces of female DNA on a fragment from one of the bombs that exploded at the Boston Marathon earlier this month, U.S. officials said late Monday.

While it is still unclear who the DNA matches to, the find indicates a female accomplice may have helped the two brothers suspected in the bombings, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, according to officials briefed on the probe speaking to U.S. press.

Investigators will now compare the DNA of Katherine Russell, the widow of accused bomber Tamerlan, against the DNA found on the bomb remnant to determine if she ever came in contact with the device, U.S.-based CBS news reported on Tuesday.

Russell is not a suspect in the bombings.

"FBI agents met with Russell at her parents' Rhode Island home Monday to collect a DNA sample," the CBS report stated.
Tamerlan died after a shootout with police four days after the April 15 bombings.

"The FBI is there as part of our ongoing investigation, but we aren't permitted to discuss specific aspects of the case," FBI spokesman Jason Pack was widely quoted as saying by the U.S. press.

Boston bombing suspects Tamerlan Tsarnaev (L) and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. (Al Arabiya)

Russell has remained silent, staying with her three-year-old daughter Zahara at her parents' house in Rhode Island. Russell's family has issued a statement saying they were shocked by the attack.

Still, investigators want to question Russell to find out if she had any knowledge of her husband's plans.

In 2009, Tamerlan was arrested for assaulting Russell.

Still, investigators want to question Russell to find out if she had any knowledge of her husband's plans.

Her school friends have reportedly said she was "brain-washed by her extremist husband."

Meanwhile, the Tsarnaevs' parents have denied their sons were involved in terrorism.

The father of the bombing suspects has accused the FBI of "setting up" his sons.

"They just wanted to set up Tamerlan, and Dzhokhar just turned out to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," Anzor Tsarnaev told the Russian Komsomolskaya Pravda daily last week.

"Tamerlan was driving him to school when they started shooting at them," he said. "This is a set-up, a political order, a Hollywood show."

Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, the suspects' mother, has also said she believed her sons have been framed by U.S. authorities
 

30 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/04/30/Boston-investigators-find-female-DNA-on-bomb-fragment.html
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Mass food poisoning at Egyptian university sparks student anger

An Egyptian student from al-Azhar University receives treatment at an ambulance in Cairo, after nearly 500 uni students were taking to hospital with food poisoning earlier this month. (AFP)

In the second mass food poisoning case to hit Egypt's al-Azhar University this month, 107 students were poisoned on Monday night, according to the country's ministry of health.

Egyptian students broke out in protest when the 107 cases were confirmed, blocking a road near the campus and clashing with police "who fired teargas in an attempt to open the road to traffic," Egypt's al-Ahram newspaper reported.

The suspected cause of the poisoning was a tuna fish meal eaten by the students at the campus cafeteria.

The students fell sick after eating meals served at the university's campus dormitory in the Nasr City district of the capital, the coordinator of the Popular Movement for an Independent Azhar was reported as saying by al-Ahram.

Earlier this month, some 460 Al-Azhar University students were hospitalized following a mass food poisoning on campus.

Protesting students said the incident on Monday was a sign of neglect by officials at al-Azhar, a thousand-year-old mosque and university in Cairo that draws students from across the Sunni world.

While food poisoning is not uncommon in Egyptian university dormitories, where basic hygiene standards are often not observed, the latest outbreak is the biggest in years.
 

30 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/30/Mass-food-poisoning-at-Egyptian-university-enrages-students.html
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Kerry seeks to drum up Arab support for Israeli-Palestinian peace

Since taking office on February 1, Kerry has made no secret of his hope to revive peace talks, which broke down in 2010. (Reuters)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made a fresh push Monday to revive the moribund Middle East peace process, meeting top Arab League officials in a bid to re-launch a decade-old Saudi plan.

Kerry has suggested that the Arab Peace Initiative - unveiled in 2002 by Saudi King Abdullah in which 22 Arab countries would normalize ties with Israel in return for Israeli withdrawal from occupied lands - could provide a framework.

Far from the cameras, the new top U.S. diplomat held talks with senior ministers from the Arab League, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Palestinian territories to discuss the initiative.

The ministers, meeting in the privacy of Blair House just a stone's throw from the White House, were also joined by Vice President Joe Biden, for what Kerry called a "very positive, very constructive discussion."

"I underscored the Arab League's very important role ... by reaffirming the Arab Peace Initiative here this afternoon," Kerry told reporters after the talks

Since taking office on February 1, Kerry has made no secret of his hope to revive peace talks, which broke down in 2010, but it remains unclear whether U.S. President Barack Obama will decide to back a major U.S. effort.

Kerry has already traveled three times to the region, meeting senior Israeli and Palestinian officials, pursuing what he has called "a quiet strategy" in an ambitious bid to revive the talks and achieve a peace treaty which has eluded successive American administrations for decades.

Addressing reporters after the talks, he said he had reaffirmed the vision of President Barack Obama of "two states living side-by-side in peace and security, brought about through direct negotiations between the parties."

The proposal

The Arab League proposal offered full Arab recognition of Israel if it gave up land seized in a 1967 war and accepted a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.

Rejected by Israel when it was originally proposed at a Beirut summit in 2002, the plan has major hurdles to overcome.

Israel objects to key points, including a return to 1967 borders, the inclusion of Arab East Jerusalem in a Palestinian state and the return Palestinian refugees to what is now Israel.

"The Arab League delegation understands that peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis is ... a strategic choice for the Arab states," Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, who serves as Qatar's prime minister and foreign minister, told reporters.

The core issues that need to be settled in the more than six-decade dispute include borders, the fate of Palestinian refugees, the future of Jewish settlements on the West Bank and the status of Jerusalem.

30 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/04/30/Kerry-seeks-to-build-Arab-support-for-Israeli-Palestinian-peace.html
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