Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn blasts. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng
Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn blasts. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng

Thứ Ba, 16 tháng 4, 2013

Young boy, "dream daughter," Chinese citizen killed in Boston blasts

By Stephanie Simon and Tim McLaughlin

BOSTON (Reuters) - Neighbors gathered around a chalk rainbow on a sidewalk outside 8-year-old Martin Richard's home while friends of Krystle Campbell, 29, posted notes on Facebook, all grieving on Tuesday for two of the people killed in Monday's bombing at the Boston Marathon.

The third fatality was a Chinese citizen whose identity was not being made public at the request of the victim's family, the Chinese Consulate in New York said in a statement late on Tuesday.

The victim was a Boston University graduate student killed while watching the race with friends near the finish line.

Martin, who was a Little League baseball player, lived in the blue Victorian house in working-class Dorchester - a Boston neighborhood dotted with "Kids at Play" traffic signs and budding trees - with his parents Bill and Denise, sister Jane, 7, and brother Henry, 10.

"Very happy, happy-go-lucky," said Jane Sherman. Martin was afraid of her dog, a Rottweiler, she said, but he always gave her a cheerful greeting. "An outgoing, wonderful kid. This is a horrendous loss."

Bill Richard told the world in an email on Tuesday that his son had been killed when bombs exploded at the marathon finish line. Martin's mother and sister were seriously injured.

"My dear son Martin has died from injuries sustained in the attack on Boston," Bill Richard wrote. "My wife and daughter are both recovering from serious injuries. We thank our family and friends, those we know and those we have never met, for their thoughts and prayers."

The family released a photo of Martin at a hockey game, dressed in Boston Bruins regalia.

Campbell's friends remembered her outsized personality, passion for the Boston Red Sox baseball team, and the way she belted out Eminem and Rihanna's "Love the Way You Lie" every time she heard it on the radio.

"I am shocked, stunned, and besides myself," one friend wrote on Facebook. "You will be missed Krystle Campbell, but your big smile and twinkling blue eyes will live forever in our hearts and minds."

Along with the three people killed on Monday, at least 176 people were injured.

Michael McGlynn, mayor of Medford, Massachusetts, where Campbell grew up, said he confirmed her death with her father, William. "Mr. Campbell said that she certainly was a dream daughter, the daughter that every father dreams to have, and friends of hers said that she was eager about life," he said.

"She had a great sense of humor and freckles and red hair that brought her right to her Irish roots. She was someone who worked hard at everything she did."

"Another friend said she may have been a little loud at times but it was a loudness you loved," McGlynn said.

A wish for "Peace" written in chalk marked a memorial outside Martin's home. Drivers slowed as they approached it, paused, and made the sign of the cross.

Another neighbor, John Do, placed flowers there. A veteran of Vietnam's navy, he said the attack on the marathon was "even worse than what I saw on the battlefield - to do this to children - horrible." Do left in tears.

Marchell "Tiny" Watson and Margaret Admirand recalled the Richard children playing soccer and hockey on the lawn, chalking the sidewalk with rainbows and butterflies, and dressing in costumes for Halloween. "Can't you just see them up there kicking the ball on the lawn?" Watson asked.

"And their little sister running after them," Admirand said.

Watson said that for years Denise Richard had jogged up the hill, pushing her boys in a stroller, to bring Henry to school.

Martin, who recently celebrated his First Communion, had played flag football and was a member of the Savin Hill Little League team, neighbors said. Opening Day for the league was scheduled for next week. Savin Hill Little League president Tony King said Martin was "a very, very much loved little kid."

At Summer Shack, where Campbell had been a manager, she was known as a hard worker who devoted summers to the restaurant's food stands on islands in Boston Harbor. She took another food industry job several months ago for greater opportunities, said Stephanie Guerrier, who worked with Campbell at Summer Shack.

"She was honestly the most amazing person I've ever met," Guerrier said. "I'm not saying that because she's just passed. That's what she really was."

"Everybody that knew her loved her," Campbell's mother, Patty, said choking back tears during a news conference "She was always smiling. You couldn't ask for a better daughter."

"I can't believe this has happened," she added. "This doesn't make any sense."

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg, Scott Malone, Toni Reinhold)


View the original article here

Thứ Hai, 15 tháng 4, 2013

Deadly Boston blasts inspire reports of heroism

Medical workers help the injured at Boston Marathon (Charles Krupa/AP)Medical workers help the injured at the Boston Marathon. (Charles Krupa/AP)

Following the deadly blasts at the Boston Marathon, acts of heroism were shared on Twitter and the Web.

Some runners who crossed the finish line continued running to Massachusetts General Hospital to donate blood.

Others on Twitter praised the first responders and marathon employees who tended to the injured.

Blood donors came out in force following the explosions. According to the Red Cross, their donations helped enormously.

For more on how to help those affected by the blasts, check out this list from Take Part.


View the original article here

Thứ Hai, 25 tháng 3, 2013

What spring? Winter storm blasts Midwest

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Few signs of spring are being found in parts of the Midwest as a snowstorm tracks mostly along Interstate 70, bringing heavy snow and high winds.

The National Weather Service said parts of Colorado and northwest Kansas saw 10 to 15 inches of snow Saturday, and southwestern Nebraska had up to 7 inches.

The system moves east Sunday. A winter storm warning has been issued for much of central Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.

Five to 10 inches of snow is forecast along a line from Kansas City to St. Louis. Central Illinois and Indiana could see up to 10 inches overnight and into Monday morning.

But the system didn't affect the NCAA men's basketball championships in Kansas City. North Carolina coach Roy Williams said it was "no distraction."


View the original article here

Chủ Nhật, 10 tháng 3, 2013

Afghanistan's Karzai blasts U.S., marring Hagel visit

KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan Taliban and the United States have been holding talks in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday.

The Taliban suspended the talks one year ago, blaming "shaky, erratic and vague" U.S. statements.

The U.S. government has said it remained committed to political reconciliation involving talks with the Taliban but progress would require agreement between the Afghan government and the insurgents.

"Senior leaders of the Taliban and the Americans are engaged in talks in the Gulf state on a daily basis," Karzai told a gathering to mark International Women's Day.

But the Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid, denied that negotiations with the United States had resumed and said no progress had been made since they were suspended.

"The Taliban strongly rejects Karzai's comments," he said.

U.S. officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Kabul government has been pushing hard to get the Taliban to the negotiating table before most U.S.-led NATO combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014.

Afghan officials have not held direct talks with the militants, who were toppled in 2001 and have proven resilient after more than a decade of war with Western forces.

U.S. diplomats have been seeking to broaden exploratory talks with the Taliban that began clandestinely in Germany in late 2010 after the Taliban offered to open a representative office in Qatar.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is in Afghanistan to visit U.S. troops.

Hagel, who arrived on Friday for his first trip abroad as defense secretary, is also due to hold talks with Karzai, whose recent orders to curtail U.S. military activity highlights an often tense relationship with the 66,000 American forces here.

Hagel's visit also coincides with the passing of a deadline imposed by Karzai for U.S. special forces to leave the province of Wardak, after Karzai accused them of overseeing torture and killings in the area.

U.S. forces have denied involvement in any abuses and it was not clear if they were leaving Wardak by the deadline.

Regional power Pakistan indicated a few months ago that it would support the peace process by releasing Afghan Taliban detainees who may help promote the peace process.

But there have been no tangible signs the move advanced reconciliation.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Robert Birsel)


View the original article here

Thứ Ba, 5 tháng 3, 2013

President Obama blasts GOP on cuts

President Barack Obama promised Friday to push Republicans to accept increased tax revenues and confront Democrats who "violently disagree" with his calls for overhauling programs like Medicare as part of a grand bargain to replace painful automatic spending cuts known as sequestration.

Speaking in the White House briefing room after closed-door talks with Republican and Democratic leaders, Obama warned that those "dumb" cuts will hurt the fragile economic recovery.

"I’d like to think that I’ve still got some persuasive power," Obama said.

"Ultimately, I’m not a dictator, I’m the president," he underlined, saying it was beyond his power to "force Congress to do the right thing."


View the original article here