BBC News with Julie Candler
Media reports in the United States say investigators have identified a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings from video footage. An official announcement from the FBI is expected soon. From Boston, Paul Adams reports.
Early this afternoon, American networks all started to report the same thing: that investigators pouring over CCTV footage from a department store on the street where the explosions occurred have identified a potential suspect. According to media reports, the video shows him placing a package at the scene and then leaving. His face is clearly visible. Subsequent reports that the man was already in custody were quickly denied. News of a possible suspect came hot on the heels of fresh revelations about the nature of the bombs. They are believed to have been packed into pressure cookers and left in black backpacks or duffel bags.
The FBI says preliminary tests indicate that a letter addressed to President Obama was laced with the substance thought to be the deadly poison ricin, but the FBI said there was no indication that the letter was connected to the bomb attacks in Boston. The letter was intercepted by the US Secret Service on Tuesday. A similar letter addressed to a US senator in Washington also tested positive for ricin.
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has accused Western countries of backing al-Qaeda in his country and warned they would pay a heavy price in Europe and the United States as the militants became emboldened. Mr Assad was speaking in a Syrian television interview.
“In the final account, Syria will pay the price. It will be an expensive price. Even if the state wins, it will be a weak state and this is what the West is aiming for. But the West does not know that this terrorism will return to Europe. It’s a fact just as they financed al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and paid the price dearly. Now they back it in Syria, in Libya and other places, and they will pay the price later in the heart of Europe and the US.”
The Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has set up a committee to talk to the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. The group’s leader recently rejected the idea of an amnesty, but other factions in the group are thought to be more receptive to a deal with the government. Will Ross reports from Lagos.
The committee set up by President Goodluck Jonathan has been given the task of talking to key members of the Islamist group known as Boko Haram. A statement from the presidency says the aim is to come up with a plan for granting an amnesty and for disarming the Islamist militants. Offering support to victims of the violence is also to be looked at as well as addressing the underlying causes of the insurgency. The 26-man committee includes army and police officials as well as politicians. It’s clear that the military approach alone is not pacifying northern Nigeria where bombings and shootings by Boko Haram are common.
World News from the BBC
A new study says energy generation today is almost as dirty as it was 20 years ago despite efforts to introduce cleaner technologies. The International Energy Agency said global carbon emissions hadn’t fallen because a boom in solar and wind power had been offset by increasing use of coal.
The funeral has been held at St Paul’s Cathedral in London of the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Queen Elizabeth led more than 2,000 mourners from around the world, among them present and former international leaders. As Lady Thatcher’s coffin draped in the Union Flag left the cathedral, there was cheering and applause from thousands gathered outside while a few people booed.
The trial has opened in France of five people charged with supplying faulty breast implants which were at the centre of an international health scare. The accused are from the French company PIP, whose implants contained industrial-grade silicon unfit for use in humans. The company founder Jean-Claude Mas was booed as he stood in court. Christian Fraser reports from Marseille.
He shuffled into court amid a blaze of flash photography to face the women he duped. This is a trial that commands world attention. In 65 countries, there are over 300,000 women who bought the PIP implants and some reacted with disbelief today as the man said to have made millions from his alleged fraud told the judges he’s now living on a pension of 1,500 pounds a month. Mr Mas faces up to five years in prison and a 32,000-pound fine. But a guilty verdict would open the floodgate to compensation claims worldwide.
Prosecutors in Senegal have formally charged Karim Wade, the son of the former president with corruption and ordered him to be detained. Karim Wade is suspected of illegally amassing more than $1bn during the 12-year presidency of his father Abdoulaye Wade.