Texas Explosion: Kindness Amid Destruction

Aerial footage shows a neighbourhood blasted beyond recognition - an astonishing swathe of destruction where people are still missing.

Rescuers continue to pick through the wreckage of the fertiliser plant explosion, which has ripped into this once-normal Texas farming community.

At West's Village Bakery comfort and free food is on tap.

It is at the core of this town's clear instinct to pull together.

The explosion has affected practically everyone here

Only a couple of days ago the owner, Mimi Irwin, was at a local function with volunteer firefighters - some of whom lost their lives while trying to tackle the fire that triggered the blast.

She says: "These people were attorneys, insurance agents, bankers, pharmacists, farmers who all wanted to give.

"And our volunteer fire department is really an honour. They're not paid - they simply do this because they love our town."

People are pulling together as the town counts the human cost of the blast

Steve and Joyce Brock are also doing their bit to help by offering their own home to those who have lost theirs.

Mr Brock said: "If you lose four or five blocks of homes, somebody's going to be homeless, so we watched it before we went to bed and I told Joyce we need to go over there tomorrow and see if we can find somebody who needs a place to stay."

That may include Evelyn Muehlstein, who was alone in her home when the blast struck.

Volunteers have been taking bedding to residents left with nothing

"The ceiling fell down and it was all on the floor," she said. "It was awful, terrible.

"I just don't know what I'll do. I'm 92 years-old and I don't have a house."

Acts of kindness are not difficult to find here. For the moment Ms Muehlstein is being looked after by a neighbour.

Homes were wiped out by the force of the explosion

A mile from the bakery, homes like hers lie in ruins. No one - bar investigators - is allowed past the police cordon.

Officers are also locals. One told us his fear is that the operation is no longer one of rescue but recovery.

It seems everyone has a story to tell here.

As Texas governor Rick Perry put it, the tragedy has affected practically everybody in this small town and there is still looming uncertainty over which of their own was lost trying to save it.

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Texas Plant Explosion: 14 Bodies Recovered

Officials have recovered 14 bodies following a massive explosion that levelled a fertiliser plant and destroyed dozens of homes in West, Texas.

Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt Jason Reyes did not say where the bodies were found but said more information would be provided later.

The majority of confirmed victims appear to have been firefighters or emergency workers who rushed in to fight the initial blaze.

The blast levelled nearby apartments

He says the bodies will be sent to the Dallas County medical examiner's office for identification.

Sgt Reyes earlier announced that 12 bodies had been recovered by Friday morning and that search and rescue efforts were ongoing.

Senator John Cornyn, speaking earlier to reporters in West, said as many as 60 people remain unaccounted for, but suggested some could be staying with friends and relatives.

Even before investigators released a confirmed number of fatalities, the names of the dead were becoming known in the town of 2,800.

Mourners gather for a candle light vigil at a church in West

A small group of firefighters and others who may have rushed toward the factory to battle a pre-explosion blaze are believed to be among the dead.

Authorities said there is no indication that the blast was anything other than an industrial accident. It remains unclear what sparked the blaze.

"We know everyone that was there first, in the beginning," said Christina Rodarte, who has lived in West for 27 years. "There's no words for it.

"It is a small community, and everyone knows the first responders, because anytime there's anything going on, the fire department is right there - all volunteer."

A massive plume of smoke filled the Texas sky after the blast

One victim Ms Rodarte knew and whose name has been released was Kenny Harris, a 52-year-old captain in the Dallas Fire Department who lived south of West. He was off duty at the time but responded to the fire to help, according to a statement from the city of Dallas.

West's landscape is likely to be altered permanently after an area four to five blocks in radius was levelled by the blast. An apartment complex was badly shattered, a school set ablaze, and a nursing home was left in ruins.

Residents have been kept out of a large swathe of West, where search and rescue teams continue to pick through the rubble.

Some with permission have made forays closer to the destruction and came back stunned - and it is possible other residents will be allowed to retrieve some personal belongings on Friday, emergency workers said.

Texas attorney general Greg Abbott said: "I had an expectation of what I would see, but what I saw went beyond my expectations in a bad way. It is very disturbing to see the site."

Firefighter Darryl Hall, from Thorndale, about 50 miles away from West, was one of the rescue workers helping with the house-to-house search.

A nearby football pitch served as a makeshift triage in the aftermath

He said: "People's lives are devastated here. It's hard to imagine."

A team from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives still had not been able to begin investigating the scene because it remained unsafe, agency spokeswoman Franceska Perot said.

The West Fertilizer Co facility stores and distributes anhydrous ammonia, a fertiliser that can be directly injected into soil, and a blender and mixer of other fertilisers.

Records reviewed by the AP news agency show the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration fined West Fertilizer $10,000 last summer for safety violations that included planning to transport anhydrous ammonia without a security plan.

An inspector also found the plant's ammonia tanks were not properly labelled.

In a risk-management plan filed with the Environmental Protection Agency about a year earlier, the company said it was not handling flammable materials and did not have sprinklers, water-deluge systems, blast walls, fire walls or other safety mechanisms in place at the plant.

State officials require all facilities that handle anhydrous ammonia to have sprinklers and other safety measures because it is a flammable substance, according to Mike Wilson, head of air permitting for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

But inspectors would not necessarily check for such mechanisms, and it is not known whether they did when the West plant was last inspected in 2006, said Ramiro Garcia, head of enforcement and compliance.

That inspection followed a complaint about a strong ammonia smell, which the company resolved by obtaining a new permit, said the commission's executive director Zak Covar.

He said no other complaints had been filed with the state since then, so there have not been additional inspections.

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China Quake: Dozens Dead, Over 2,000 Injured

By Mark Stone, China correspondent

At least 102 people are believed to have been killed and more than 2,200 injured after an earthquake struck China's province of Sichuan.

Chinese news agency Xinhua said the quake, measured at varying magnitudes between 6.6 and 7.0, struck at 8.02am local time close to the city of Ya'an in Lushan county and the epicentre had a depth of a little less than eight miles (13km).

It started landslides, destroyed buildings, and triggered a major rescue operation involving emergency services and more than 2,000 troops.

Residents take shelter in a public square in Chengdu

The rescue effort is understood to have been hampered by aftershocks and landslides. Some of the tremors which followed the main quake have been almost as strong.

According to local media reports, a vehicle carrying 17 soldiers fell off a cliff and into a river as it travelled to the epicentre. One soldier was killed and seven more injured, three seriously.

But extraordinary stories of survival are already emerging. According to one local media report, a mother managed to lift concrete weighing 50 kilogrammes to rescue her son from the rubble.

Another report described how a woman gave birth at a bike shelter just a few hours after the quake hit. 

According to the People's Daily newspaper, fire-fighters dug out a mother holding her baby in her arms from the rubble. She survived, but her baby sadly died.

Tremors have been felt in neighbouring provinces and in the provincial capital city of Chengdu. Users of Weibo, China's microblogging service, have posted images of damaged buildings and described scenes of panic as residents rushed outside.

Lushan was hit just after 8am local time

A resident in Chengdu said he was on the 13th floor of a building when he felt the quake. The building shook for about 20 seconds and he saw tiles fall from nearby buildings.

Local seismologists registered the quake at magnitude 7.0 while the US Geological Survey (USGS) put it at 6.6.

The USGS said "significant" casualties were likely and "extensive damage is probable and disaster is likely widespread".

"Past events with this alert level have required a national or international-level response," it added.

Collapsed houses on a road leading from Ya'an city to Luzhou county

A Chinese General, flying over one area in a helicopter, told local media that as many as 50 percent of buildings in one area had collapsed.

China's new Premiere Li Keqiang is flying to the region to survey the damage. The quake is the first big test for the new Chinese leadership. Their ability to respond to it is likely to be scrutinised on an ever growing social media forum.

The epicentre is close to the location of the 2008 earthquake which killed 68,000 people. That quake had a greater magnitude of 7.9 but its epicentre was further underground.

Rescuers try to remove rocks blocking a road in Lushan county

The 2008 disaster destroyed large swathes of the province along with areas of neighbouring Shaanxi and Gansu. The government faced significant criticism for allowing badly constructed buildings to be erected and for covering up their failings.

International offers of assistance have already been received.

The Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent China's President Xi Jinping a telegram expressing his condolences and offering help.

An aerial view of damaged houses Lushan county

"The Russian leader affirmed Russia's readiness in case of need to provide assistance in dealing with the consequences of this damaging natural disaster," the Kremlin said in a statement.

Twin tremors in neighbouring Yunnan province last September triggered landslides that left at least 80 people dead.

A 5.5 magnitude quake in Yunnan last June killed four people and injured more than 100.

Another 5.4 tremor the year before near the border with Burma left 25 people dead and injured 250.

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Boston: No Easy Answers For Investigators

There are still many difficult questions, but no easy answers.

If the Tsarnaev brothers are indeed the Boston bombers the question of the motive remains unsolved. However, their ethnic roots do give rise to various avenues the authorities will now explore.

Some of the Tsarnaev family were living the American dream. The brothers' uncle, Ruslan, had come to America, worked hard, got on in life and was able to live in a good house in a leafy part of town.

The brothers' uncle described his nephews as 'losers'

He is furious with his nephews with whom he appears to have broken relations a few years ago. His brother had brought Tamerlan and Dzhokhar to Boston when they were young children.

As Ruslan said, the father had worked hard to 'put bread on their table'. They were educated, grew up, and socialised in the city known to Americans as the Cradle Of Liberty - just another two young sons of an immigrant growing up the American way, but with memories of their heritage.

The Tsarnaev family roots are in Chechnya, a republic brutalised by the unsuccessful wars of independence from Russia.

In the 1990s the Chechen nationalist movement began to morph into one demanding an Islamic state, or Caliphate, in the whole region of the Caucuses.

That led to terror attacks such as that against the Moscow Theatre in which 130 people died, and the Belsan school siege in North Ossetia where 334 died, including 186 children.

By then the ideas of global jihad, including taking on the US, had penetrated Chechnya and in the wake of  9/11 Chechens went to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Some of the radicalised Chechens had moved on from the narrow aim of independence, they were now in al Qaeda intellectual territory.

So investigators will now want to know if the Boston attack is linked to the cause of Chechen independence - which does not seem likely - or if the brothers had been radicalised by Chechens holding global jihadist views. If so, where did that take place?

There is another possibility - one where Columbine meets the Caucuses. The Columbine massacre was carried out by two young men, alienated from those around them, the Oklahoma bombing was carried out by another young American who distanced himself from the mainstream, Timothy McVeigh.

There are suggestions that the brothers, disillusioned with their lives, went down a similar path. Not being born Americans they also had a quick route to feeling themselves to be outsiders. On Friday their own uncle described them as 'losers'.

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Boston Bombings: Second Suspect In Custody

A family has spoken about the terrifying moment they found Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev bloodied and hiding in their back yard.

David Hennebury tipped off the authorities after he noticed blood under a tarpaulin covering his boat at his home in suburban Watertown.

His stepson Robert Duffy said: "As soon as the ban on going out was lifted they went outside and walked around. The wind had picked up and the tarp on the boat had kind of lifted, which he found strange.

Police look around the corner as Dzhokhar was hiding in a boat nearby

"He went over to the boat for a closer look and found a strap that had been cut - not torn or worn through. He was stranged out by it.

"He noticed a small amount of blood in this area and when he went under the tarp he saw a small pool of blood immediately there.

"He looked forward and because the tarp obscured a lot of sunlight, he saw what he believed to be a crumpled body bloodied in the front of the boat.

"He immediately panicked, dropped off the ladder and called 911, and with all of the SWAT and physical police presence right there in that neighbourhood and street, they descended on them and immediately evacuated them.

This image appears to show the capture of Dzhokhar

"So they are safe, that's the most important thing and the suspect has been apprehended."

As officers surrounded the property, a police helicopter used infra-red equipment to confirm there was a human inside the boat.

Dzhokhar, who was already wounded from an earlier shootout, exchanged gunfire with police for an hour while holed up in the vessel.

The dramatic stand-off ended with the 19-year-old being given first aid on the lawn next to the boat before he was taken away in an ambulance at around 8.45pm local time.

An FBI officer stands in front of the boat

Dzhokhar remains in "serious condition" at Beth Israel Deaconess hospital, said Boston police commissioner Ed Davis.

He had been on the run since his 26-year-old brother and fellow suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev  - known as suspect number one - was killed in a shoot-out with police in the early hours of Friday.

The brothers were believed to be behind Monday's twin explosions at the Boston Marathon which left three people dead and around 180 wounded.

But their mother Zubeidat said she did not believe they were responsible.

"I am like 100% sure that this is a setup," she said. "My two sons are really innocent and I know that neither of them have never talked about whatever they're saying about now.

"My youngest one was raised from eight years in America and my oldest son he was really properly raised in my house. No-one talked about terrorism."

During their getaway attempt, they killed Massachusetts Institute of Technology policeman Sean Collier and severely wounded another officer, authorities said.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been taken to hospital with serious injuries

A crowd of residents cheered as Dzhokhar - known as suspect number two - was taken into custody, and the celebrations continued into the night in the city's streets.

Mayor Tom Menino said on Twitter: "We got him".

Boston Police tweeted: "CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody."

Residents cheered after the suspect was caught

The family of eight-year-old Martin Richard, who died in the bombings, released a statement praising police.  

"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," the family said.

Martin's mother also sustained brain injuries and his sister lost a leg in the blast.

Thousands of officers combed the streets of Boston for Dzhokhar

US President Barack Obama told a news conference the suspect's capture "closed an important chapter in this tragedy".

But he said there were still many unanswered questions about the marathon bombings, including whether the two men had help from others.

As Dzhokhar was being captured, three people in New Bedford, Massachusetts, were also taken into custody for questioning over the blasts.

Lieutenant Robert Richard said two men and a woman were being questioned by the FBI "on the assumption there is an affiliation with suspect number two".

Dzhokhar's capture came at the end of a tumultuous all-day manhunt and house-to-house search by thousands of elite police officers.

As night fell, police announced that they were scaling back the hunt and they had so far come up empty-handed.

But shortly after that statement, the break came in Watertown when Mr Hennebury - who had been indoors all day due to the manhunt - saw the blood on his boat.

The vessel had not been searched before because it was outside of the police perimeter set up during the search.

It has also been revealed that Tamerlan attracted the attention of US authorities two years ago.

The FBI said its agents interviewed him in 2011 at the request of a foreign government, but that the investigation found "no derogatory information", according to an official.

The FBI declined to identify the country involved or the nature of the probe.

The brothers moved to the US a decade ago from a Russian region near Chechnya and had been living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as legal permanent residents.

Their father, Anzor Tsarnaev, told reporters in Russia that he believed his sons had been framed and described the killing of Tamerlan as "cowardly".

Maret Tsarnaev, the men's aunt, said Tamerlan had recently become a devout Muslim who prayed five times a day.

Speaking to reporters at her home in Toronto, Canada, she also said the older brother was married and had a daughter in the US.

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Verdict In Case Of Woman Refused Abortion

A verdict of medical misadventure has been recorded after the death of a woman refused an abortion at Galway University Hospital.

Savita Halappanavar, who was from India, was 17 weeks pregnant when admitted to Galway University Hospital in October 2012.

She was suffering from agonising pain and, according to her husband, made several requests for an abortion.

Mr Halappanavar said Savita had been at the heart of the Indian community

Mr Halappanavar, 34, said doctors had refused to terminate the pregnancy because there was a foetal heartbeat and told his wife: "This is a Catholic country."

The medical misadventure ruling found that there were systemic failures or deficiencies in the care given to Mrs Halappanavar before she died.

Speaking before the inquest, Savita's husband Praveen had said the question of why his wife died is still on his mind and that he hoped the coroner would give him the answers he was looking for.

"The coroner has been kind enough to cross certain borders I suppose. More than what we expected for sure," he said.

Mr Halappanavar said the last two weeks have been very tough and he has been in touch with his parents-in-laws in India every morning and night.

"Today was actually our wedding anniversary so it's even more, very hard," he said. "Hopefully, there's some bright days ahead and something good comes out of it."

He revealed that his wife had been at the heart of the Indian community in Galway, socialising with friends and organising events.

Since appearing in the Diwali Festival in the city in 2010, where she won the best dance prize, she had started to teach dance to local Indian youngsters.

The festival of light was cancelled last year when she died, her husband said. She also entranced Indian and Irish alike with her dancing at a St Patrick's Day Parade in the city.

Mrs Halappanavar, who had been practising as a dentist in the Republic of Ireland for some time, died on October 28 after developing septicaemia - an infection in the blood.

More follows...

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Texas Explosion: Kindness Amid Destruction

Aerial footage shows a neighbourhood blasted beyond recognition - an astonishing swathe of destruction where people are still missing.

Rescuers continue to pick through the wreckage of the fertiliser plant explosion, which has ripped into this once-normal Texas farming community.

At West's Village Bakery comfort and free food is on tap.

It is at the core of this town's clear instinct to pull together.

The explosion has affected practically everyone here

Only a couple of days ago the owner, Mimi Irwin, was at a local function with volunteer firefighters - some of whom lost their lives while trying to tackle the fire that triggered the blast.

She says: "These people were attorneys, insurance agents, bankers, pharmacists, farmers who all wanted to give.

"And our volunteer fire department is really an honour. They're not paid - they simply do this because they love our town."

People are pulling together as the town counts the human cost of the blast

Steve and Joyce Brock are also doing their bit to help by offering their own home to those who have lost theirs.

Mr Brock said: "If you lose four or five blocks of homes, somebody's going to be homeless, so we watched it before we went to bed and I told Joyce we need to go over there tomorrow and see if we can find somebody who needs a place to stay."

That may include Evelyn Muehlstein, who was alone in her home when the blast struck.

Volunteers have been taking bedding to residents left with nothing

"The ceiling fell down and it was all on the floor," she said. "It was awful, terrible.

"I just don't know what I'll do. I'm 92 years-old and I don't have a house."

Acts of kindness are not difficult to find here. For the moment Ms Muehlstein is being looked after by a neighbour.

Homes were wiped out by the force of the explosion

A mile from the bakery, homes like hers lie in ruins. No one - bar investigators - is allowed past the police cordon.

Officers are also locals. One told us his fear is that the operation is no longer one of rescue but recovery.

It seems everyone has a story to tell here.

As Texas governor Rick Perry put it, the tragedy has affected practically everybody in this small town and there is still looming uncertainty over which of their own was lost trying to save it.

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Boston Bombing: Suspect Pictured Near Victims

A photograph of one of the Boston bombing suspects has emerged showing him standing close to a family devastated by the blast.

Dzhokhar A Tsarnaev, 19, who is still at large, is believed to be the man in the photograph.

Images of the two suspects were released by the FBI

Standing close to him are the Richard family; eight-year-old Martin Richard was killed in the blast, his mother suffered brain injuries, and his sister lost a leg.

The other suspect, believed to be his brother, is named Tamerlan.

The FBI released this photograph of Dzhokhar

It has been reported that they are from Chechnya or Dagestan and have lived in the US for at least one year.

The father of the suspects, speaking from the Dagestan capital of Makhachkala, called Dzhokhar "a true angel".

A photo of the second suspect was released by police in Boston

He added: "He is a second-year medical student in the U.S. He is such an intelligent boy. We expected him to come on holidays here."

Sky's Moscow correspondent Katie Stallard said the Dagestan region is associated with insurgents.

An image showing one suspect leaving the scene (David Green/LetsRun.com)

"On (a social networking page) he describes himself as having studied in Makhachkala, that's the capital of Dagestan, and that's very much at the heart of the regional insurgency at the moment.

"It used to be that it was Chechnya that was the heart of this insurgency, but a crackdown has forced much of that insurgency into neighbouring regions."

A major manhunt is under way for the remaining suspect

Earlier, the FBI and Boston police released new pictures of the two suspects, who investigators had described as "armed and dangerous".

The images released on Friday morning show one suspect wearing dark clothes, a dark cap and sunglasses.

He is understood to have been shot dead.

The second suspect is seen wearing a white baseball cap, which is reversed allowing a clearer view of his face.

Police say he is armed and should not be approached by the public.

CCTV footage was released of the pair on Thursday, in which they are seen carrying bulky backpacks as they walk the route of Monday's race in the heart of the city.

The men were filmed heading in the direction of the finishing line, moments before both bombs went off seconds apart.

Three people were killed and more than 180 others injured in the explosions.

Earlier at a moving inter-faith memorial service, Barack Obama joined 1,700 people at Boston's Holy Cross Cathedral to honour the victims - the youngest of whom was eight-year-old Martin Richard, from Boston.

The president promised the killers would be brought to justice, saying: "We will find you.

"We will hold you accountable. But more than that, our fidelity to our way of life - to our free and open society - will only grow stronger."

The bombs were crudely made with explosives, nails and ball bearings packed into pressure cookers, investigators close to the case have said.

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Boston Marathon Bombings 'Terror' Suspect Hunt

Armed police are hunting one of two men thought to be behind the Boston Marathon bombings, after shooting dead his alleged accomplice.

Described as "armed and dangerous", 19-year-old Dzhokhar A Tsarnaev is being sought by hundreds of officers in Watertown, after escaping the shoot-out in which his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed.

At least one gun shot was heard shortly before 4pm UK time in the town, which lies around nine miles from Boston city centre.

The suspect being hunted by police

The pair moved to the US a decade ago from a Russian region near Chechnya and had been living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as legal permanent residents.

Speaking to reporters, the suspects' uncle Ruslan Tsarni issued an appeal to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, saying: "Turn yourself in, and ask forgiveness."

Mr Tsarni, who lives in Maryland, said he had not seen the pair for several years. He said the family was ashamed and that he loves and respects the US.

Sean Collier, the MIT police officer who was shot and killed

The younger brother is said to have posted links to Islamic websites and others  on a Russian-language social networking site, calling for Chechen independence .

All public transport remains suspended in Boston - and all streets and businesses in Watertown locked down - while a major house-to-house manhunt continues for the suspect who escaped.

The shoot-out in the residential suburb of Watertown between both suspects and dozens of armed officers came after Sean Collier, a 26-year-old campus policeman, was shot dead in his vehicle at the nearby Massachusetts Institute Of Technology.

The suspect at the marathon among the bombing victims (Pic: Kevin O'Keefe)

The suspects are believed to have killed the MIT campus policeman before carjacking a black Mercedes SUV, taking its owner hostage and driving off towards Watertown with police in pursuit.

On their way, the hostage was dumped at a petrol station after around 30 minutes, before the shootout ensued in Watertown.

Boston Police commissioner Ed Davis said: "What we are looking for right now is a suspect consistent with the description of suspect number two - the white-capped individual who was involved in Monday's bombing of the Boston Marathon."

He was described as light-skinned with brown wavy hair and dressed in a grey hooded top.

Mr Davis said: "You have seen the picture. You all have it. That's the individual we are looking for at this moment.

The dead suspect, who ran at officers during the stand-off

"We believe this to be a terrorist. We believe this to be a man who came here to kill people."

"We believe these to be the same individuals who are responsible for the bombing on Monday at the Boston Marathon."

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said a "massive manhunt" was under way.

"This is a serious situation, we are taking it seriously and we are asking the public to take it seriously," he said.

A Swat team on a roof in Watertown (Pic: Samantha England)

Officials said the operation could take hours and asked the public to be patient.

The New York Times quoted Watertown resident Andrew Kitzenberg, who said he saw the pair, wearing backpacks, shooting at dozens of police officers from behind a black Mercedes SUV.

The 29-year-old said the officers and the men were 70 yards apart and engaged in "constant gunfire".

He said an explosive device was also thrown at the police and went off some 20 yards from where they were shooting.

Boston Police commissioner Ed Davis holding a press conference in Watertown

One suspect is said to have run at police and was shot at and apprehended. He later died in hospital despite attempts to resuscitate him.

According to NBC, police ran over the suspect because he was wearing an IED (improvised explosive device). However this has not been confirmed by police or other officials.

He arrived at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre with multiple injuries mainly around his torso including gunshot wounds, burns consistent with a blast and pieces of shrapnel all over his body.

Watertown Residents heard the gun battle and an explosion

The other, who is said to be badly injured, managed to get away from the stand-off - in which a police officer was also shot and is undergoing surgery at a Boston hospital.

Some 12 victims from the Boston Marathon blasts remain at the same hospital, one in a critical condition. Around 24 others who suffered injuries have been discharged.

Police officers arriving at the scene in the neighbourhood

A spokesman said though the hospital was open as normal, it was restricting access to "ensure the safety of patients, families and visitors", and urged people to show patience when arriving at the site.

One medic, who lives in Watertown, heard the shoot-out from his home and alerted emergency services before rushing to the hospital where he tried to revive the suspect.

Hundreds of thousands of residents across Boston and Watertown have been told to stay indoors and remain vigilant until further notice while police conduct house-to-house searches.

Several homes in Watertown suffered extensive damage from the bomb blast and were caught in the crossfire in the shoot-out.

Bullet holes through the wall and chair of one home caught in the crossfire

Police have sealed off the area and are conducting door-to-door searches and enquiries.

Sky's US correspondent Dominic Waghorn in Watertown, said: "It has been a terrifying night for the people of Watertown, and it remains so until this man is found."

Meanwhile, police converged on what is believed to be the suspects' apartment in Cambridge and a woman was reportedly dragged from the block of flats and handcuffed before she was led away.

The developments come just days after two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 180 others.

The FBI had earlier released pictures and video of two suspects in the deadly Boston marathon bombings.

The shootout took place in the Watertown neighbourhood near Boston

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Texas Plant Explosion: 12 Bodies Recovered

A law enforcement official says 12 bodies have been recovered following a massive explosion that levelled a fertiliser plant and destroyed dozens of homes.

Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt Jason Reyes said it was "with a heavy heart" that he confirmed the bodies had been pulled from the area of the plant explosion.

Even before investigators released a confirmed number of fatalities, the names of the dead were becoming known in the town of 2,800.

The blast levelled nearby apartments

A small group of firefighters and others who may have rushed toward the factory to battle a pre-explosion blaze are believed to be among the dead. Sgt Reyes said he could not confirm how many of those killed were first responders.

Search and rescue crews continue to sift through the still-smouldering remains for survivors.

Authorities say there is no indication that the blast was anything other than an industrial accident. It remains unclear what sparked the blaze.

"We know everyone that was there first, in the beginning," said Christina Rodarte, who has lived in West for 27 years. "There's no words for it.

Mourners gather for a candle light vigil at a church in West

"It is a small community, and everyone knows the first responders, because anytime there's anything going on, the fire department is right there - all volunteer."

One victim Ms Rodarte knew and whose name has been released was Kenny Harris, a 52-year-old captain in the Dallas Fire Department who lived south of West. He was off duty at the time but responded to the fire to help, according to a statement from the city of Dallas.

West's landscape is likely to be altered permanently after an area four to five blocks in radius was levelled by the blast. An apartment complex was badly shattered, a school set ablaze, and a nursing home was left in ruins.

Residents have been kept out of a large swathe of West, where search and rescue teams continue to pick through the rubble.

A massive plume of smoke filled the Texas sky after the blast

Some with permission have made forays closer to the destruction and came back stunned - and it is possible other residents will be allowed to retrieve some personal belongings on Friday, emergency workers said.

Texas attorney general Greg Abbott said: "I had an expectation of what I would see, but what I saw went beyond my expectations in a bad way. It is very disturbing to see the site."

Firefighter Darryl Hall, from Thorndale, about 50 miles away from West, was one of the rescue workers helping with the house-to-house search.

He said: "People's lives are devastated here. It's hard to imagine."

A team from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives still had not been able to begin investigating the scene because it remained unsafe, agency spokeswoman Franceska Perot said.

The West Fertilizer Co facility stores and distributes anhydrous ammonia, a fertiliser that can be directly injected into soil, and a blender and mixer of other fertilisers.

A nearby football pitch served as a makeshift triage in the aftermath

Records reviewed by the AP news agency show the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration fined West Fertilizer $10,000 last summer for safety violations that included planning to transport anhydrous ammonia without a security plan.

An inspector also found the plant's ammonia tanks were not properly labelled.

In a risk-management plan filed with the Environmental Protection Agency about a year earlier, the company said it was not handling flammable materials and did not have sprinklers, water-deluge systems, blast walls, fire walls or other safety mechanisms in place at the plant.

State officials require all facilities that handle anhydrous ammonia to have sprinklers and other safety measures because it is a flammable substance, according to Mike Wilson, head of air permitting for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

But inspectors would not necessarily check for such mechanisms, and it is not known whether they did when the West plant was last inspected in 2006, said Ramiro Garcia, head of enforcement and compliance.

That inspection followed a complaint about a strong ammonia smell, which the company resolved by obtaining a new permit, said the commission's executive director Zak Covar.

He said no other complaints had been filed with the state since then, so there have not been additional inspections.

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Arab Al Qaeda Cell Is Arrested In UAE

Arab members of an al Qaeda cell allegedly plotting attacks in the United Arab Emirates have been arrested.

Authorities in the Gulf State said the seven were various Arab nationalities and had been recruiting, financing and providing logistical support to the terror organisation.

State news agency WAM also reported that the group had sought to expand their activities to other countries in the region.            

"The cell was planning actions that would target the country's security and the safety of its citizens and residents, and was carrying out recruitment, and promoting the actions of al Qaeda," WAM said.            

"It was also supplying it [al Qaeda] with money and providing logistical support and seeking to expand its activities to some regional countries."  

The gang will be questioned and put on trial, the statement added.

The US-allied UAE is a federation of seven emirates and a major trading hub that has supported Western efforts to counter militancy in the region.

Its population, estimated at over eight million, comprises nearly 90% foreigners lured by work opportunities in the wealthy country.

Dubai is the largest city in the United Arab Emirates

It has been spared any attack by al Qaeda and other insurgency groups but some of its emirates have seen a rise in Islamist sentiment in recent years.

In December, the UAE said it had arrested a cell of UAE and Saudi Arabian members of a "deviant group" which was planning to carry out militant attacks in both countries and other states.

The phrase "the deviant group" is often used by authorities in Saudi Arabia to describe al Qaeda members.      

Diplomats in the region have said the December arrests were related mostly to Islamist activity in Yemen.            

There was no immediate word whether they were related to the arrests on Thursday.     

In 2010, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a merger of al Qaeda's Yemeni and Saudi branches, said it was behind a plot to send two parcel bombs to the US.

The bombs were intercepted in Britain and the UAE emirate of Dubai.            

The US has poured aid into Yemen to stem the threat of attacks from AQAP and to try to prevent any spillover of violence into Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter.            

In August 2012, Saudi authorities arrested a group of suspected al Qaeda-linked militants - mostly Yemeni nationals - in Riyadh.       

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North Korea States Conditions For Nuclear Talks

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

North Korea has announced conditions it says would lead to negotiations with America and the subsequent denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Just a week after it threatened 'all out war' with its southern neighbour, the regime in North Korea said that talks about denuclearisation could start if the United States first removed its nuclear weapons from the region.

Standing firm: Kim Jong Un says sanctions must also be removed

Listing their conditions, the statement from the country's National Defence Commission said: "First, [the Americans and South Koreans] should immediately stop all their provocative acts against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and apologise for all of them.

"Second, they should give formal assurances before the world that they would not stage again such nuclear war drills to threaten or blackmail the DPRK.

"Third, they should make a decision to withdraw all nuclear war means from South Korea and its vicinity and give up their attempt to reintroduce them as their immediate duty.

"If the US and the southern enemies genuinely want dialogue and negotiation, they should take these steps."

The United States and South Korea are yet to respond to the conditions. Even if they are considered to be unacceptable, they at least suggest a willingness to negotiate on the behalf of the North.

North Korea had previously repeatedly said that any talks would only begin once it had been accepted by America as a nuclear state. The latest statement hints at a softening of that stance.

"The de-nuclearisation of the Korean peninsula can begin with the removal of the nuclear war tools dragged in by the US and it can lead to global nuclear disarmament," the North's National Defence Commission said in the statement released by the official KCNA news agency.

"Dialogue and war cannot co-exist. If the United States and the puppet South have the slightest desire to avoid the sledge-hammer blow of our army and the people ... and truly wish dialogue and negotiations, they must make the resolute decision," the statement said.

Crucially, the statement also called for the removal of United Nations sanctions against the country.

John Kerry has offered talks, but with conditions the North has rejected

"The sanctions resolutions by the UN Security Council that were fabricated with unjust reasons must be withdrawn," the North's top military body said in its statement.

The American Secretary of State, John Kerry, was in the region last weekend. He offered talks with the North but only on the pre-condition they abandon their nuclear weapon ambitions.

An anticipated missile test by North Korea has not yet materialised though it is believed that at least two medium to long range missiles remain primed and fuelled on launch pads in the country's North East.

The threat of a missile test was the culmination of weeks of alarming rhetoric from the North, robust military posturing from America and a genuine fear of a military clash between the two.

Joint South Korean and American military exercises on the peninsula are due to end this month, which is likely to reduce the tensions.

The latest round of United Nations sanctions were imposed on North Korea following its successful rocket launch in December and subsequent nuclear test in February.

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Rhino Heads Stolen By Gang From Irish Museum

Four stuffed rhinoceros heads complete with horns have been stolen from a museum storeroom in Ireland.

The artefacts are about 100 years old, National Museum of Ireland officials said, and are worth about 500,000 euros (£428,000).

Three men raided a warehouse in Swords, north of Dublin, on Wednesday night and tied up the lone security guard.

The man, who was not injured, later freed himself and raised the alarm.

The heads had been removed from display last year and put into storage to safeguard them from thieves.

The storage facility of the National Museum of Ireland

"We've never had to deal with something like that in our history, as far as I'm aware," said Nigel Monaghan, a keeper in the natural history division of the museum.

The heads and horns were originally trophies dating back to the early 1900s and preserved and mounted by taxidermists.

They included three black rhinos and one white rhino, all from Africa.

Based on their weight and black-market prices, the horns could be worth a total of 500,000 euros, museum officials said.

In East Asia rhino horn is believed to have healing properties

A museum spokesman said the horns "have probably been taken to supply the illegal trade in powdered horn that is used in traditional medicines in the Far East".

Some species of rhino are being hunted to the verge of extinction because their horns, in  powdered form, command high prices for use in traditional Asian medicine.

The horns are regarded as being worth more than their weight in gold on the black market.

This month, Officials at South Africa's national parks told Sky News that they were "under siege" from rhino poachers and that the animal risks extinction within decades if the killings go on at the current rate.

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