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New York Times reporter James Risen is fighting back against critics who have cast a skeptical eye on his Page One story yesterday about Afghanistan's mineral deposits. In an interview with Yahoo! News, Risen dismissed suspicions that the story was part of an orchestrated campaign to rescue the troubled American effort there and derided critical bloggers as pajama-clad layabouts with no reporting chops.

 Risen's story reported the findings of ongoing Pentagon research into the value Afghanistan's lithium, copper, iron, and other mineral deposits, and cited officials claiming that "the United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself."

 Risen's piece quickly drew fire from online reporters and writers (including this one), who pointed out that many of the story's purported revelations about Afghanistan's mineral reserves had been previously reported. They also questioned the timing of the story, coming as it did on the heels of a series of troubling reports about the stability of the Karzai government and one day before Gen. David Petraeus was scheduled to testify before Congress about the war.

 The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder wrote that the story "suggest[s] a broad and deliberate information operation designed to influence public opinion on the course of the war." Talking Points Memo's Josh Marshall wrote that "the timing of the revelation is enough to raise some suspicions in my mind." And Foreign Policy's Blake Hounshell wrote that "there's less to this scoop than meets the eye."

 Risen didn't take kindly to the blogospheric criticism. "Bloggers should do their own reporting instead of sitting around in their pajamas," Risen said.

 "The thing that amazes me is that the blogosphere thinks they can deconstruct other people's stories," Risen told Yahoo! News during an increasingly hostile interview, which he called back to apologize for almost immediately after it ended. "Do you even know anything about me? Maybe you were still in school when I broke the NSA story, I don't know. It was back when you were in kindergarten, I think." (Risen and fellow Times reporter Eric Lichtblau shared a 2006 Pulitzer Prize for their reporting on the Bush administration's secret wiretapping program; this reporter was 33 years old at the time.)

 Risen defended the article against claims that Afghanistan's mineral wealth was largely a matter of public knowledge prior to his story. "If it wasn't news, then why didn't anybody write about it?" he asked.

 In fact, McClatchy Newspapers reported last year that "the region is thought to hold some of the world's last major untapped deposits of iron, copper, gold, uranium, precious gems and other raw materials." In February, Agence France Presse quoted Afghan president Hamid Karzai, citing a U.S. Geological Survey study, claiming that his country had $1 trillion in mineral assets. Just last month, Karzai repeated the claim at a U.S. Institute of Peace event, saying the value was between $1 trillion and $3 trillion.

 "But no one picked up on it," Risen said. He explained that he based his report on the work of a Pentagon team led by Paul Brinkley, a deputy undersecretary of defense charged with rebuilding the Afghan economy. Using geological data from the Soviet era and USGS surveys conducted in 2006, Brinkley dispatched teams to Afghanistan last year to search for minerals on the ground. The data they've come back with, combined with internal Pentagon assessments that value the deposits at more than $900 billion, constitute news, according to Risen. (Those surveys are still under way, according to a briefing Brinkley gave yesterday.)

 "The question is how extensive it was," Risen said of the survey work. "The value of what Brinkley's team did was to put together and connect the dots on a lot of information that had been put on the shelf. And they did new research and came up with a lot of new data and put everything together in a more comprehensive way."

 So was the story a Pentagon plant, designed to show the American public a shiny metallic light at the end of the long tunnel that is the Afghan war, as skeptics allege? Risen said he heard about the Pentagon's efforts from Milt Bearden, a retired CIA officer who was active in Afghanistan in the 1980s. The men co-authored a book, "The Main Enemy," in 2003, and Bearden is now a consultant working with Brinkley's survey team.

 "Several months ago, Milt started telling me about what they were finding," Risen said. "At the beginning of the year, I said I wanted to do a story on it." At first both Bearden and Brinkley resisted, Risen said, but he eventually wore them down. "Milt convinced Brinkley to talk to me," he said, "and Brinkley convinced other Pentagon officials to go on the record. I think Milt realized that things were going so badly in Afghanistan that people would be willing to talk about this." In other words, according to Risen, he wasn't handed the story in a calculated leak. Calls and emails to Brinkley and to Eric Clark, a Pentagon public relations contractor who works with him, were not immediately returned.

 Minutes after making his initial angry comments about bloggers, Risen called back to apologize. "I was taken aback by some of the criticism, and didn't sleep well last night, and was upset about it. I apologize."

 —John Cook is a senior national reporter/blogger for Yahoo! News ||||| ink-stained wretches Cranky Times Reporter Lashes Out at Critical Bloggers

 With many online news outlets wondering whether a New York Times story on Afghanistan's mineral deposits was less a fresh discovery than a PR ploy by the Army, the story's author, James Risen, let loose on the brash, ignorant youngsters who dare to question him. "Do you even know anything about me?" he asked Yahoo News blogger John Cook, late of Gawker. "Maybe you were still in school when I broke the NSA story, I don't know. It was back when you were in kindergarten, I think."

 Cook also tweeted that Risen, falling back on hurtful stereotypes, said that bloggers who criticized the story were just "jerking off in their pajamas." Ouch, man. Ouch. That just shows how little Risen actually understands bloggers. We would never jerk off in our only article of clothing.

 Shortly after hanging up, Risen regained his composure and called back. "I was taken aback by some of the criticism, and didn't sleep well last night, and was upset about it," he said. "I apologize." Sounds like someone needs a nappy-poo.

 NYT reporter defends Afghan minerals piece, lashes out at critics [Newsroom/Yahoo] ||||| While it could take many years to develop a mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of war.

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 “There is stunning potential here,” Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said in an interview on Saturday. “There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant.”

 The value of the newly discovered mineral deposits dwarfs the size of Afghanistan’s existing war-bedraggled economy, which is based largely on opium production and narcotics trafficking as well as aid from the United States and other industrialized countries. Afghanistan’s gross domestic product is only about $12 billion.

 “This will become the backbone of the Afghan economy,” said Jalil Jumriany, an adviser to the Afghan minister of mines.

 American and Afghan officials agreed to discuss the mineral discoveries at a difficult moment in the war in Afghanistan. The American-led offensive in Marja in southern Afghanistan has achieved only limited gains. Meanwhile, charges of corruption and favoritism continue to plague the Karzai government, and Mr. Karzai seems increasingly embittered toward the White House.

 So the Obama administration is hungry for some positive news to come out of Afghanistan. Yet the American officials also recognize that the mineral discoveries will almost certainly have a double-edged impact.

 Instead of bringing peace, the newfound mineral wealth could lead the Taliban to battle even more fiercely to regain control of the country.

 The corruption that is already rampant in the Karzai government could also be amplified by the new wealth, particularly if a handful of well-connected oligarchs, some with personal ties to the president, gain control of the resources. Just last year, Afghanistan’s minister of mines was accused by American officials of accepting a $30 million bribe to award China the rights to develop its copper mine. The minister has since been replaced.

 Endless fights could erupt between the central government in Kabul and provincial and tribal leaders in mineral-rich districts. Afghanistan has a national mining law, written with the help of advisers from the World Bank, but it has never faced a serious challenge.

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 “No one has tested that law; no one knows how it will stand up in a fight between the central government and the provinces,” observed Paul A. Brinkley, deputy undersecretary of defense for business and leader of the Pentagon team that discovered the deposits.

 At the same time, American officials fear resource-hungry China will try to dominate the development of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth, which could upset the United States, given its heavy investment in the region. After winning the bid for its Aynak copper mine in Logar Province, China clearly wants more, American officials said.

 Another complication is that because Afghanistan has never had much heavy industry before, it has little or no history of environmental protection either. “The big question is, can this be developed in a responsible way, in a way that is environmentally and socially responsible?” Mr. Brinkley said. “No one knows how this will work.”

 With virtually no mining industry or infrastructure in place today, it will take decades for Afghanistan to exploit its mineral wealth fully. “This is a country that has no mining culture,” said Jack Medlin, a geologist in the United States Geological Survey’s international affairs program. “They’ve had some small artisanal mines, but now there could be some very, very large mines that will require more than just a gold pan.”

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 The mineral deposits are scattered throughout the country, including in the southern and eastern regions along the border with Pakistan that have had some of the most intense combat in the American-led war against the Taliban insurgency.

 The Pentagon task force has already started trying to help the Afghans set up a system to deal with mineral development. International accounting firms that have expertise in mining contracts have been hired to consult with the Afghan Ministry of Mines, and technical data is being prepared to turn over to multinational mining companies and other potential foreign investors. The Pentagon is helping Afghan officials arrange to start seeking bids on mineral rights by next fall, officials said.

 “The Ministry of Mines is not ready to handle this,” Mr. Brinkley said. “We are trying to help them get ready.”

 Like much of the recent history of the country, the story of the discovery of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth is one of missed opportunities and the distractions of war.

 In 2004, American geologists, sent to Afghanistan as part of a broader reconstruction effort, stumbled across an intriguing series of old charts and data at the library of the Afghan Geological Survey in Kabul that hinted at major mineral deposits in the country. They soon learned that the data had been collected by Soviet mining experts during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, but cast aside when the Soviets withdrew in 1989.

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 During the chaos of the 1990s, when Afghanistan was mired in civil war and later ruled by the Taliban, a small group of Afghan geologists protected the charts by taking them home, and returned them to the Geological Survey’s library only after the American invasion and the ouster of the Taliban in 2001.

 “There were maps, but the development did not take place, because you had 30 to 35 years of war,” said Ahmad Hujabre, an Afghan engineer who worked for the Ministry of Mines in the 1970s.

 Armed with the old Russian charts, the United States Geological Survey began a series of aerial surveys of Afghanistan’s mineral resources in 2006, using advanced gravity and magnetic measuring equipment attached to an old Navy Orion P-3 aircraft that flew over about 70 percent of the country.

 The data from those flights was so promising that in 2007, the geologists returned for an even more sophisticated study, using an old British bomber equipped with instruments that offered a three-dimensional profile of mineral deposits below the earth’s surface. It was the most comprehensive geologic survey of Afghanistan ever conducted.

 The handful of American geologists who pored over the new data said the results were astonishing.

 But the results gathered dust for two more years, ignored by officials in both the American and Afghan governments. In 2009, a Pentagon task force that had created business development programs in Iraq was transferred to Afghanistan, and came upon the geological data. Until then, no one besides the geologists had bothered to look at the information — and no one had sought to translate the technical data to measure the potential economic value of the mineral deposits.

 Soon, the Pentagon business development task force brought in teams of American mining experts to validate the survey’s findings, and then briefed Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Mr. Karzai.

 So far, the biggest mineral deposits discovered are of iron and copper, and the quantities are large enough to make Afghanistan a major world producer of both, United States officials said. Other finds include large deposits of niobium, a soft metal used in producing superconducting steel, rare earth elements and large gold deposits in Pashtun areas of southern Afghanistan.

 Just this month, American geologists working with the Pentagon team have been conducting ground surveys on dry salt lakes in western Afghanistan where they believe there are large deposits of lithium. Pentagon officials said that their initial analysis at one location in Ghazni Province showed the potential for lithium deposits as large of those of Bolivia, which now has the world’s largest known lithium reserves.

 For the geologists who are now scouring some of the most remote stretches of Afghanistan to complete the technical studies necessary before the international bidding process is begun, there is a growing sense that they are in the midst of one of the great discoveries of their careers.

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 “On the ground, it’s very, very, promising,” Mr. Medlin said. “Actually, it’s pretty amazing.” |||||

– New York Times reporter James Risen is not a big fan of bloggers. Yahoo News blogger John Cook, formerly of Gawker, learned this when he called Risen to ask about criticism of his recent story on Afghan mineral deposits. (Original story here; sample of criticism here.) "Do you even know anything about me?" Risen asked. "Maybe you were still in school when I broke the NSA story, I don't know. It was back when you were in kindergarten, I think." (Risen shared a Pulitzer in 2006 for a story on secret wiretapping. Cook was age 33.) "The thing that amazes me is that the blogosphere thinks they can deconstruct other people's stories," Risen continued. And while a tamer version of this line appeared on Yahoo News, Cook tweeted that Risen accused bloggers of sitting around and "jerking off in their pajamas," reports New York magazine. Minutes after hanging up, Risen called back. "I was taken aback by some of the criticism, and didn't sleep well last night, and was upset about it. I apologize."


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– Apparently there are places even South Park fears to tread. After getting a death threat from the jihadist website RevolutionMuslim.com, the show pulled the prophet Mohammed out of this week's episode, bleeping out all mention of his name, putting “censored” banners over parts of the episode and, where necessary, replacing him with Santa Claus in a bear suit, the Huffington Post reports. Here's the deal: last week's episode (which you can see a clip of here) mocked the taboo against showing the prophet Mohammed, having him show up first hidden inside a U-Haul, and then inside a bear costume. This week's episode was to continue that story. It's unclear whether the extra censorship is intended to appease the irony-challenged folks at RevolutionMuslim or mock them. South Park, incidentally, has tackled the issue before, and even depicted Mohammed on screen once with impunity.

Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| Cartoon Wars Part I

 Cartman and Kyle are at war over the popular cartoon, "Family Guy." When the creators of the show announce that they will show the image of the prophet Muhammad, the network threatens to ban the episode. Cartman sees this as his chance to get "Family Guy" off the air for good. The two boys embark upon a mad chase across the country and the fate of "Family Guy" lies with whichever boy reaches Hollywood first. |||||


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– In a rare bit of good news in the animal conservation world, scientists say they vastly lowballed the penguin population on Antarctica. The off-base estimate pertains to Adelie penguins—that's the adorable Happy Feet variety—and it turns out there are 3.6 million more of them than previously thought, reports the Huffington Post Australia. A team of Australian, Japanese, and French scientists now think there are 5.9 million of these birds occupying a 3,100-mile stretch of east Antarctica. From that projection, they pegged the total Adelie penguin population on the continent at 14 million to 16 million. The Adelies, named after the wife of the French explorer who discovered them in 1840, are only found on Antarctica and its islands. So why did their number take such a leap? "The reason it's higher is we have incorporated the non-breeding component of the population," says Aussie ecologist Dr. Louise Emmerson. What that means is that while the breeding birds migrate to the island to do the deed and then sit on eggs, making them easy to count, non-breeders are "off foraging out in the water where we can't see them," she says. It turns out the non-breeders were more numerous. How did the experts revise their count? They used aerial surveillance and land-based counting methods, and they studied penguin droppings to ballpark the amount of food the tuxedoed ones consume: an estimated 213,000 tons of krill and 21,000 tons of fish during the breeding season, per the AFP. The findings could help inform conservation efforts for marine and land animals, per the Australian. (What happened to 150K missing penguins?)

Adelie penguins, slick and efficient swimmers, live on the Antarctic continent and on many small, surrounding coastal islands Almost six million Adelie penguins are living in East Antarctica, more than double the number previously thought, scientists said Wednesday in findings that have implications for conservation.

 Research by an Australian, French and Japanese team used aerial and ground surveys, tagging and resighting data and automated camera images over several breeding seasons, which allowed them to come up with the new figure.

 They focused on a 5,000 kilometre (3,100 mile) stretch of coastline, estimating it was home to 5.9 million birds—some 3.6 million more than previously thought. On this basis, they estimate a likely global population of 14 to 16 million.

 Before, population estimates only took into account breeding pairs, said Australian Antarctic Division seabird ecologist Louise Emmerson.

 "Non-breeding birds are harder to count because they are out foraging at sea, rather than nesting in colonies on land," she said.

 "However, our study in East Antarctica has shown that non-breeding Adelie penguins may be as, or more, abundant than the breeders.

 "These birds are an important reservoir of future breeders and estimating their numbers ensures we better understand the entire population's foraging needs."

 Adelie penguins, slick and efficient swimmers, live on the Antarctic continent and on many small, surrounding coastal islands. They spend the winter offshore in the seas surrounding the pack ice.

 Seabird ecologist Colin Southwell said the research had implications for conservation, with more birds potentially interacting with humans in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean than previously thought.

 He said the rocky, ice-free areas preferred by penguins for nesting were also favoured by research stations due to ease of resupply.

 "There are currently nine permanently occupied research stations in the ice-free areas of East Antarctica and we found over one million birds breed within 10 kilometres of a station," he said.

 "By identifying significant penguin breeding populations near stations we can better identify which areas may need enhanced protection into the future."

 The study also estimated the amount of krill and fish needed to support the Adelie penguin population, prey that is also sought after by seals and whales.

 "An estimated 193,500 tonnes of krill and 18,800 tonnes of fish are eaten during the breeding season by Adelie penguins breeding in East Antarctica," Emmerson said.

 This information will now be used by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources to set sustainable krill fishery catch limits.

 Explore further: Adelie penguin numbers may expand as glaciers retreat ||||| Hey, we all make mistakes. The key is how you recover from them.

 Antarctic scientists wildly underestimated the number of Adélie penguins in just one part of Antarctica by, oh, a paltry 3.6 million or so. But the good news is they're back on track now, and are well on the way to a better understanding of the birds.

 Adélies were named after the wife of an 1840s French explorer. Unlike most other penguin species, they live only on the frozen continent and nearby small islands. But how many of them are there?

 You squawkin' to me?

 Well, scientists now believe there are 5.9 million penguins on a 5,000 km stretch of coastline in east Antarctica alone. Extrapolating from that, their best guess is 14 to 16 million birds in the whole of Antarctica.

 Previous estimates had the east Antarctic population at closer to 2.3 million. So how did a team of French, Japanese and Australian scientists suddenly find an extra 3.6 million flipper flappers?

 Australian Antarctic Division seabird ecologist Dr Louise Emmerson had the answer to that on Wednesday.

 "The reason it's higher is we have incorporated the non-breeding component of the population," she said.

 "The non-breeders are essentially an invisible component of the population. The breeders are very well behaved. They come to the islands and sit around on eggs and we can count them easily. But these non-breeders are foraging out in the water where we can't see them. They may visit from time to time but they are essentially invisible to us."

 Have you got any regurgitated chips to go with that, mum?

 Using a pretty nifty combination of aerial surveillance and a range of land-based counting methods, scientists were at last able to compile a comprehensive survey of these avian tiny tuxedoes. You might say that where these Adélies are concerned, at long last the scientists could have had it all.

 The research also estimated the amount of food needed to support the Adélie penguin population. Adélies eat small fish, jellyfish and krill -- the tiny crustaceans which are a key element of the Antarctic food chain.

 Anyone smell something a bit fishy?

 "An estimated 193,500 tonnes of krill and 18,800 tonnes of fish are eaten during the breeding season by Adélie penguins breeding in East Antarctica," Dr Emmerson said.

 The dietary information will be used by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources to set sustainable krill fishery catch limits.

 But how did scientists survey what the penguins eat?

 Ah, well a key element of collecting the data was examining penguin poo. So next time you think you're having a bad afternoon, remember that you could be standing around in minus 10 closely examining penguin faeces.

 ALSO ON HUFFPOST AUSTRALIA |||||


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– A decades-old murder mystery has finally come to some sort of an end. Following a judge's Wednesday ruling, a death certificate has been issued for Lord Lucan, who the New York Times recounts as "a dashing British aristocrat" last seen on Nov. 7, 1974—the day that his children's nanny was found dead, allegedly by his hand. The BBC recalls the crime: Sandra Rivett was beaten to death in the family's London home and her body left in the basement; Lord Lucan's estranged wife was also attacked but got away, fleeing to a neighboring pub and yelling "He’s in the house! He’s murdered the nanny!" per the Times. Lady Lucan named her then 39-year-old husband as the attacker, saying he had thought she was Rivett, reports USA Today. A June 1975 inquest named him as Rivett's murderer, except the man born Richard John Bingham was never officially seen again after that night; a car he had borrowed from a friend was later found, blood-stained and abandoned. The sightings and theories kept flowing, though: in Melbourne, Australia, and France within the first year; employed as a waiter in San Francisco; backpacking on Mount Etna; dying in Goa in 1996. Just last Saturday came a story from an old gambling friend, who says he was told that the lord shot himself and had his body fed to a tiger. Lucan was declared dead in 1996, but the rub was that son George Bingham was unable to take on his title, preventing him from assuming his father's seat in the House of Lords. The death certificate now allows for that.

George Bingham, son of the infamous British aristocrat Lord Lucan, reacts as he leaves the High Court in central London on Feb. 3, 2016. A British judge officially declared the infamous aristocrat Lord Lucan dead, nearly 42 years after the playboy aristocrat disappeared following the murder of his children's nanny in an unsolved mystery. (Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS, AFP/Getty Images)

 LONDON — A judge has granted a death certificate to the son of Lord Lucan, an aristocrat who disappeared more than 40 years ago, bringing a form of closure to one of the most mysterious cases to enthrall the British public.

 George Bingham can now become the Eighth Earl of Lucan, following the ruling at the High Court in London on Wednesday.

 His father Lord Lucan, born Richard John Bingham, vanished in Nov. 1974 at the age of 39 after Sandra Rivett, his children's nanny, was bludgeoned to death at his home in London. Lucan's estranged wife Lady Lucan was also assaulted but managed to escape. She said Lucan was the attacker and mistook Rivett for her, according to media reports.

 Lord Lucan's car was found abandoned near the southern English coast. He was declared Rivett’s killer by a jury at an inquest in 1975.

 Over the years, sightings have been reported of Lucan in places including Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, none of them verified. Some people believe he committed suicide by drowning himself in the English Channel.

 The latest twist in the decades-old mystery surrounding the fate of Lord Lucan https://t.co/DyDQ8pvUgk — The Telegraph (@Telegraph) January 30, 2016

 Lucan was declared dead by the High Court in 1999, which Bingham said didn't prove death "for all purposes." His application for the death certificate was made under the Presumption of Death Act, which came into force in 2014. Rivett's son Neil Berriman had opposed the application according to media reports, telling the Daily Mail that if Lucan was still alive, he should be prosecuted.

 Speaking to Britain’s Press Association after the ruling, George Bingham said: "I am very happy with the judgment of the court in this matter. It has been a very long time coming."

 Berriman told the news agency after the judgement Wednesday: "I think he's (Lucan) dead. It is fantastic and I am very pleased for him (Bingham)."

 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1SXKMso ||||| Lord Lucan's body was fed to a tiger after he shot himself, a member of the missing peer's gambling set has claimed, the latest twist in the decades-old mystery surrounding the fate of the aristocrat.

 The account comes days before a procedural hearing at the High Court to determine whether a death certificate should finally be issued for Lucan.

 The Eton-educated 7th Earl of Lucan vanished after Sandra Rivett, nanny to his three children , was found murdered at his family home in Belgravia on November 7, 1974. He is said to have mistaken her for his wife Veronica and bludgeoned her to death.

 Three days later, the peer's blood-soaked car was found abandoned in Newhaven, East Sussex, and an inquest jury declared him to be Miss Rivett's killer a year later.

 His disappearance sparked speculation that he fled abroad , where various sightings have been reported over the years.

 Photo: Rex

 Now, more than four decades later, a member of the set of wealthy gamblers to which Lord ‘Lucky’ Lucan belonged has given a grisly account of what is said to have happened to the peer.

 In an interview with MailOnline, Philippe Marcq says he was told by Stephen Raphael, another regular at the Clermont Club in Mayfair, shortly after Lucan's disappearance that the peer travelled to a private zoo in Kent owned by his close friend John Aspinall.

 According to 73-year-old Mr Marcq, Raphael claimed he was among a group of friends at Howletts zoo who discussed with Lucan about what he should do next.

 The peer was said to be concerned that he would never see his children again and his wife would get both them and the family trust.

 Lucan’s estranged wife Veronica, the Countess of Lucan, had filed for divorce two years earlier and had successfully fought him for custody of their children.

 Mr Marcq told the newspaper: "They told him: 'Look, it is absolutely terrible what happened. You are a murderer. You tried to kill your wife out of desperation for your children and so they would be free from her influence.

 "But what you have done makes absolutely sure she will be in control of your children for years to come - you are a murderer and you are going to be in a cell for the next 30 years'.”

 Photo: REX

 He was advised the only way to avoid this was for him to vanish without a trace. His friends allegedly told him that, without proof of death, probate could not be granted on his estate for at least seven years - by which time his children would be old enough to look after their own affairs.

 They allegedly dismissed the idea that he flee abroad, saying he was not cut out for a life on the run and he would be returned to the UK.

 Instead, Mr Marcq said a pistol was placed in front of Lucan, who picked it up, went into the next room, and shot himself. The body was then fed to a tiger named Zorra.

 "I was stunned when Stephen told me this, absolutely stunned,’ Mr Marcq said.

 "But I believed what he told me 100 percent ...I felt sworn to secrecy. It was a secret I could not betray - and, until now, I have not."

 According to MailOnline, Mr Marcq is the source of an allegation that emerged during an earlier High Court hearing to determine whether a death certificate should be issued for Lucan, allowing his son George, now Lord Bingham, to adopt his father's surname and title.

 Photo: Alpha Press

 During the hearing, David Vann, an amateur detective who has spent years investigating the peer's disappearance, claimed a member of Lucan's gambling set had emailed him to say he had evidence that Lucan had taken his own life and had never left the country.

 No more details were given, but Mr Vann has said he planned to interview the writer of the email and submit a statement to the full hearing.

 Mr Marcq said he hoped to bring closure to the mystery. However, his account raises a number of questions, none of which can be answered given the principal people said to be involved are all dead.

 Photo: Eddie Mulholland/The Telegraph

 Few facts of the fateful night is known. After killing Miss Rivett, Lucan is suspected of beating his wife over the head, before she managed to escape and raise the alarm.

 Lucan is known to have then driven 42 miles to the home of his friends Ian and Susie Maxwell-Scott, in the Sussex village of Uckfield.

 Mrs Maxwell-Scott was thought to be the last person to see Lucan alive. He left in the early hours of the next day.

 Photo: Keystone Pictures USA / Alamy

 Police reportedly investigated the tiger theory at the time after Aspinall’s mother, Lady Osborne (the grandmother of Chancellor George Osborne) told them: "The last I heard of him (Lucan), he was being fed to the tigers at my son’s zoo."

 When police visited Howletts, Aspinall is said to have responded: "My tigers are only fed the choicest cuts - do you really think they’re going to eat stringy old Lucky?"

 A week after Miss Rivett's body was found, Aspinall, who ran the Clermont Club in Mayfair, told ITV News At Ten: "I find it difficult to imagine him in Brazil or Haiti as a fugitive.

 "I don’t think he has the capacity to adapt. He is a man of enormous virtue and honour. He could rely on many friends to help with advice."

 "I don’t think he has the capacity to adapt. He is a man of enormous virtue and honour. He could rely on many friends to help with advice" John Aspinall

 James Wilson, a fellow member of the Clermont set, told The Telegraph last month he believed Lucan had killed himself - but by drowning himself rather than with a gun.

 He said his instinct led him to believe that his friend decided he had only two paths he could take.

 “John Lucan was a gambler. He gambled on successfully killing his wife and being able to hide her body and get away with murder," Mr Wilson said.

 “But when it went terribly wrong he must have realised he only had two options open to him; hand himself in or kill himself. Having lost the gamble he chose the latter.

 "I believe he parked his car at Newhaven, where he had a boat, weighed himself down and jumped over the side and he’s now at the bottom of the harbour.” ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Lord Bingham, Lord Lucan's son: "I've heard bizarre theories about my father"

 Lord Lucan is now presumed to be dead, a High Court judge has ruled.

 A death certificate has been issued 42 years after the peer vanished when his children's nanny Sandra Rivett was bludgeoned to death in London.

 He was declared dead in 1999, despite dozens of unverified sightings, but the new ruling gives his son the right to inherit the family title.

 His son, Lord Bingham, said: "I am very happy with the judgment of the court in this matter."

 More on this story and other news from London

 Speaking outside the court, he added: "It has been a very long time coming."

 Ms Rivett's son, 49-year-old Neil Berriman said: "I think [Lucan is] dead. It is fantastic and I am very pleased for [Bingham]."

 Image copyright Desmond O'Neill Image caption Lord Lucan in 1971

 Lucan disappeared the night Ms Rivett was murdered at 46 Lower Belgrave St, Belgravia, on 7 November, 1974.

 He drove to a friend's house in East Sussex in a borrowed car, which was later found abandoned in Newhaven with bloodstains inside.

 The mystery of his whereabouts excited decades of speculation.

 'Admitted crime'

 Lady Lucan said at the time of the killing that her husband admitted committing the crime, although he said it was a mistake. It has been reported that she believes Lucan jumped to his death from a ferry leaving Newhaven.

 The first reported sightings of Lucan occurred soon after the murder. In January 1975 he was supposedly spotted in Melbourne, Australia, and five months later he was apparently spotted in France.

 Image copyright PA Image caption Sandra Rivett was bludgeoned to death in 1974

 Police in Cape Town went so far as to check fingerprints on a beer glass, reputedly held by the peer.

 In 2012, Lucan's brother Hugh Bingham said he was "sure" the missing peer fled to Africa following the nanny's murder. But he then said he was unsure if his sibling was alive or dead.

 'Tasteless' theories

 The author of one book claimed an intruder murdered the nanny and attacked Lady Lucan. In another book, a former senior Scotland Yard detective said that Lucan fled to Goa where he lived a hippy lifestyle as Barry Halpin until his death in 1996.

 Other "sightings" of Lucan located him in an ex-Nazi colony in Paraguay, a sheep station in the Australian outback, backpacking on Mount Etna and working as a waiter in San Francisco.

 Daniela Relph, BBC News at the High Court

 Today a new Lord Lucan left the High Court.

 George Bingham had won his fight to have a death certificate issued for his father allowing him to use the family name. He now becomes Lord Lucan in addition to the eighth Earl of Lucan.

 He had always said this legal process had been about gaining "closure." Speaking outside the High Court he accepted that some would view the title Lord Lucan as a tainted title but it was his family name and he wanted the right to use it.

 Next to him in court sat Neil Berriman, the son of Sandra Rivett, the nanny brutally killed in the Lucan family home in November 1974. The pair have struck up a friendship based on their shared history.

 Although Neil Berriman did not object to today's legal ruling, he said he still feels strongly that his mother is the forgotten victim who is still awaiting justice.

 Outside the court, George Bingham - now the 8th Earl - said: "I've heard the most bizarre range of theories, some of them reasonably tasteless.

 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Lord Lucan on his wedding day in 1963

 "My own personal view, and it was one I took as an eight-year-old boy, is that he has unfortunately been dead since that time.

 "In the circumstances I would think it possible that he saw his life at an end, regardless of guilt or otherwise, being dragged through the courts and the media would have destroyed his personal life, his career and the chances of getting the custody of his children back. And that may well have pushed a man to end his own life, but I have no idea."

 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption I can't move on yet, says murdered nanny's son

 Also speaking outside the court, Mr Berriman said the case remained shrouded in mystery.

 "I personally, along with other people I worked with on this case, know that the convenient drowning, shooting that night, of Lord Lucan is not true.

 "Maybe the police know more than they let on. But at the end we have to get to the truth and justice for Sandra. A horrible death, a young woman beaten - my mother.

 "There is no getting away from the fact that, whatever happened that night, Lord Lucan is guilty of something in my eyes."

 Timeline

 18 December 1934 Richard John Bingham is born in London into an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family

 1963 Marries Veronica Duncan, with whom he has three children

 Marries Veronica Duncan, with whom he has three children 1964 Ascends to the earldom on the death of his father

 1972 Their marriage collapses and Lucan moves out of the family home at 46 Lower Belgrave St, London. He loses a custody battle and accrues gambling losses

 November 7 1974 The children's nanny Sandra Rivett is found dead. Her attacker also beat Lady Lucan severely before she managed to escape and raise the alarm at a nearby pub. Lucan drives to a friend's house in Sussex in a borrowed Ford Corsair, which is later found abandoned in Newhaven. Friends receive letters in which he claims to have interrupted a fight during "a traumatic night of unbelievable coincidence" and says "the circumstantial evidence against me is strong". Police mount a search but find no further trace of him

 June 1975 Lucan is named as Ms Rivett's killer at the inquest into her death. Lady Lucan identifies him as her attacker

 1999 His family is granted probate over Lord Lucan's estate, but no death certificate is issued and Lucan's son Lord Bingham is refused permission to take his father's seat in the House of Lords

 2014 The Presumption of Death Act enables Lord Bingham to apply to have Lucan declared dead so he can inherit the family title. |||||


Summarize this article:

The outcome of Wednesday's sentencing hearing is not in doubt: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will be formally condemned to die for his role in the Boston Marathon bombings.

 But hours ahead of the hearing, which will feature up to 20 victims of the 2013 attack once again baring their anguish, one question remains unanswered: Will he break his silence?

 Defense lawyers have not indicated whether Tsarnaev, 21, plans to accept the opportunity to address the court before the death sentence is officially imposed.

 During the trial, the public only heard from Tsarnaev indirectly.

 Sister Helen Prejean, a death penalty opponent, told the jury that she met with Tsarnaev five times and believed he was genuinely sorry for the carnage — three dead and more than 200 injured.

 "No one deserves to suffer like they did," she quoted him as saying.

 Prosecutors, on the other hand, played video they said suggested a lack of remorse; it showed him giving the middle finger to a security camera in a holding cell.

 Video recorded in a jail cell in 2013 a few months after the bombing shows Dzhokhar Tsarnaev flashing his middle finger to the camera.

 Legal experts say there is little upside to Tsarnaev making a statement.

 "I would be very surprised if he speaks," said Stephen Jones, who represented Timothy McVeigh, who was sentenced to death and later executed for the Oklahoma City bombing.

 "Generally, I don't advise clients to make a statement unless they are articulate and it sounds like them and doesn't sound like it was written by lawyers."

 McVeigh didn't take Jones' advice. When the judge asked if he had anything to say, he referenced a 1928 Supreme Court case over government wiretapping and privacy rights.

 "If the court please, I wish to use the words of Justice Brandeis dissenting in Olmstead to speak for me," he said. "He wrote, 'Our Government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example.' That's all I have."

 "Whatever would be said, I think, would be viewed as too little, too late."

 Other convicted terrorists have used their time for diatribes.

 "God curse America. And God save Osama bin Laden. You will never get him," Zacarias Moussaoui said when he was sentenced to life in prison in 2006 for conspiracy as part of the 9/11 attacks.

 Abu Hamza, the London preacher sentenced to life earlier this year for training Al Qaeda terrorists, proclaimed his innocence and complained about the conditions he would face in prison.

 "My concern is to make sure it is not a back door for crucifixion, not a back door for torture," said Hamza, who had one eye, hooks for hands, and diabetes. "Security issues should not be used to confiscate human rights issues."

 Related: Bombing Survivors Call Death Verdict 'Justice'

 David Hoose, a Massachusetts defense lawyer, told the Associated Press that Tsarnaev should keep his mouth shut.

 “I don’t think there’s anything to be gained by it at this point. Whatever would be said, I think, would be viewed as too little, too late,” Hoose said. ||||| BOSTON (AP/CBS) — Will he finally speak?

 Lawyers for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have said he feels remorse for the deadly attack, but the public has never heard directly from him. When he is formally sentenced Wednesday to death, he will be given an opportunity to address the court, but it’s not clear if he’ll take it.

 Legal experts say Tsarnaev, 21, has little or nothing to gain by speaking since the judge is required to impose the death sentence recommended by the jury. Some wonder, though, whether he could decide to apologize or even make a political statement.

 The 2013 twin bombings carried out by Tsarnaev and his late brother killed three people and injured more than 260, including 18 people who lost legs. The brothers also killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer days later.

 In a message Tsarnaev scrawled inside a boat he hid in before he was captured, Tsarnaev said the attack was meant as retaliation against the U.S. for its actions in Muslim countries. During his trial, a Roman Catholic nun who visited Tsarnaev in prison said he expressed sympathy for the victims of the bombings.

 “He said emphatically, ‘No one deserves to suffer like they did,'” said Sister Helen Prejean, a staunch death penalty opponent made famous in the 1995 film “Dead Man Walking.”

 Tsarnaev’s lawyers told the jury those words show that Tsarnaev is sorry for what he did, but some experts said it is impossible to know what he meant, given his impassive demeanor throughout the trial.

 “He’s somewhat of an enigma at this point. No one really knows what he will do,” said attorney David Hoose, who represented veterans hospital nurse Kristen Gilbert in her 2003 federal death penalty trial for killing four patients. Gilbert received a life sentence.

 More than 20 bombing victims are expected to speak during Tsarnaev’s sentencing hearing, including family members of those who died and people who were injured in the explosions.

 Bombing survivor Celeste Corcoran told WBZ that neither she nor her daughter Sydney, who was also injured, will be attending Tsarnaev’s Wednesday sentencing.

 “It would only add stress to our lives and wouldn’t make any impact on him,” Celeste Corcoran said. “He is not worthy of our time or any more of our tears. To us, he is already dead.”

 Hoose said he can’t see any legal advantage for Tsarnaev to speak.

 “I don’t think there’s anything to be gained by it at this point. Whatever would be said, I think, would be viewed as too little, too late,” Hoose said.

 New York Law School professor Robert Blecker, a death penalty advocate, said any expression of remorse would not affect Tsarnaev’s sentence or his planned appeal but could help him if he decides to seek a commutation of his death sentence from the president.

 “If he desperately wanted to save his life and he were willing to express it now and then show a consistent pattern of remorse and good behavior, he would significantly strengthen his case later on,” Blecker said.

 President Bill Clinton commuted the sentence of David Ronald Chandler, the first person sentenced to death under the 1988 federal law that allowed capital punishment in drug-related killings. A gunman who said Chandler — an Alabama marijuana dealer — paid him $500 to kill another man later recanted his testimony. Clinton commuted his sentence to life without parole.

 Blecker said any speech by Tsarnaev would not jeopardize his appeal, which is likely to focus on an unsuccessful defense bid to move the trial because of the large number of people who knew someone connected to the marathon and the emotional impact the attack had in Massachusetts.

 The defense made it clear from the first day of the trial that its goal was not to win an acquittal but to save Tsarnaev’s life. “It was him,” attorney Judy Clarke said in opening statements, admitting Tsarnaev participated in the bombings.

 For Tsarnaev’s lawyers, the danger of him speaking is that it could backfire if he makes a political statement seeking to justify the bombings.

 “There’s no legal advantage to doing it, and I’m sure he’ll be advised not to,” said Robert Sheketoff, a Boston attorney who represented Gary Lee Sampson, who was sentenced to death after carjacking and killing two Massachusetts men and killing a third man in New Hampshire in 2001. Sampson’s death sentence was later overturned; he faces a new sentencing trial in September.

 Only three people have been executed under the federal death penalty since it was reinstated in 1988, including Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

 In a brief statement during his sentencing hearing, McVeigh didn’t express remorse but instead quoted a dissenting opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis in a wiretapping case: “Our Government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example.”

 “That’s all I have,” McVeigh said.

 (TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.) |||||

– A nun says Dzhokhar Tsarnaev expressed remorse, while prosecutors played video of him giving the finger to a security camera. But today, secondhand narratives and hand gestures may give way to words straight out of the Boston Marathon bomber's mouth during his sentencing, NBC News reports. Although defense lawyers are mum, the will-he-or-won't-he question has set off a debate over whether it's a smart idea for him to vocalize, say, his motives or apologies to victims' families, as the Los Angeles Times suggests. The lawyer who defended Timothy McVeigh, for one, thinks Tsarnaev shouldn't talk. "I would be very surprised if he speaks," he tells NBC. "Generally, I don't advise clients to make a statement unless they are articulate and it ... doesn't sound like it was written by lawyers." Adds another defense attorney, "I don't think there's anything to be gained by it at this point," he says. "Whatever would be said … would be viewed as too little, too late." But a law school prof tells CBS that Tsarnaev could take a long view: While an apology won't affect his sentence, it could give him leverage if he seeks to have his death sentence commuted by the president. Conversely, he could use his sentencing as a platform, like Zacarias Moussaoui, who issued taunts at his 2006 sentencing for conspiring on the 9/11 attacks: "God curse America. And God save Osama bin Laden. You will never get him." Who will likely be speaking today: bombing victims and their families, who will have the chance to give impact statements, the Times notes. (Tsarnaev didn't testify at his trial, but he did cry during one person's testimony.)


– Broadway's problem-plagued Spider-Man production was halted near the end of the show last night when a stunt double's flying harness snapped, dropping him two stories into a stage pit, according to witnesses The audience sat, horrified, as the empty harness swayed over their heads and a woman—likely lead actress Natalie Mendoza—began sobbing and screaming: "Call 911." Miraculously, the 31-year-old stuntman may not be seriously injured. "All signs were good as he was taken to the hospital," said a spokesman for the $65 million musical production, Turn Off the Dark, which is in previews. The rep said the performer fell about 10 feet, but audience members said it could have been as much as 30 feet, reports the New York Daily News. It was the third accident since previews started last month. An actor broke both wrists and another broke his foot doing a slingshot flying technique across the stage, and Mendoza got a concussion early this month when a rope struck her in the head. The play's opening has been delayed until February.

Expand this summary.

Injury strikes 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' musical again as stunt double takes plunge into pit

 Jacob Cohl 'Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark' is slated to open Feb. 7 after many delays.

 The curse of "Spider-Man" struck again Monday night when a stunt double in the star-crossed show was injured as he plunged from a platform into a pit below the stage.

 The unidentified 31-year-old actor, whose harness snapped, was taken to Bellevue Hospital. Cast members of "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" said he was taken out of the Foxwoods Theatre on W. 42nd St. on a gurney but didn't appear badly hurt.

 "All signs were good as he was taken to the hospital for observation," said Rick Miramontez, spokesman for the $65 million production, which is in previews.

 He said the actor fell several feet, but audience members described a 20- to 30-foot plunge. The mishap came about seven minutes before the show's end, when Spidey's love interest, Mary Jane, runs up a ramp, followed by the stunt double in a Spider-Man costume, and both jump off. Mary Jane's harness held, but the stunt man's didn't.

 Theatergoer Mike James of San Jose, Calif., said, "I'm pretty sure what wasn't supposed to happen is this guy topples off the stage ass over teakettle." He said the audience sat in stunned silence as the empty harness swung out over seats in the first few rows "and someone under the stage started screaming, 'Call 911!' "

 Tourist Terese DeLuca, 58, of Naples, Fla., said, "At first we thought it was part of the show."

 There was a blackout after the accident, audience members said, and a delay was announced, and later it was announced the performance was over.

 The theater is dark on Tuesdays, and Miramontez did not say whether tomorrow's shows would go on.

 It was the third accident since previews began last month. An actor and a dancer suffered broken bones while attempting to do the slingshot flying technique, and then actress Natalie Mendoza suffered a concussion during the show's Dec. 2 performance.

 The show's opening has been delayed by four weeks to Feb. 7 for artistic overhaul. ||||| After an actor performing in the Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” was injured during a performance Monday night, the show will postpone its scheduled matinee on Wednesday and resume performances on Wednesday night, according to a statement from a spokesman for the production. The actor, Christopher Tierney, was said to be in serious condition at Bellevue Hospital Center on Tuesday. Patrick Healy has more here.

 “OSHA, Actors Equity and the New York State Department of Labor have met with the Spider-Man company today to discuss additional safety protocols,” the statement said. “It was agreed that these measures would be enacted immediately.” The statement did not provide details of the new measures, and it was not clear who would take over for Mr. Tierney, a veteran dancer and stunt performers who plays the masked Spider-Man in some of the most complicated technical scenes of the musical. A later statement, from Actors’ Equity, said that it had been determined that the cause of the accident was “human error.”

 Theatergoers who attended Monday’s performance of “Spider-Man,” a $65 million musical featuring complicated aerial stunts, said that they saw a performer playing the title hero fall into a pit during the closing minutes of the show, and that some equipment fell into the audience when this occurred. A video of the performance showed a line holding the performer apparently snap.

 Mr. Tierney and other actors play Spider-Man throughout the show during various stunts and action sequences.

 On Tuesday morning, news media representatives for “Spider-Man” did not immediately reply to an inquiry about the identity of the actor or his status. But the “Spider-Man” actress Natalie Mendoza, who plays the spider-goddess Arachne, wrote on her Twitter feed: “Please pray with me for my friend Chris, my superhero who quietly inspires me everyday with his spirit. A light in my heart went dim tonight.”

 Mr. Tierney sustained broken ribs and suffered some internal bleeding as a result of falling from the platform, according to a person familiar with his medical condition, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private medical information. It was not clear precisely how many feet he fell before landing. Julie Taymor, the musical’s director, visited with the actor in his hospital room on Tuesday. A spokesman for the production said early Tuesday afternoon that he had no details about the cause of the accident or steps that will be taken as a result of it to help insure the safety of the show’s performers.

 Safety inspectors with the New York State Department of Labor visited Broadway’s Foxwoods Theater on Tuesday morning to examine equipment that appeared to malfunction at Monday night’s performance and met with the musical’s lead producer, Michael Cohl. “We’ll be talking to the production team, checking the harnesses, cables, and other equipment, and trying to determine what happened, and we’ll have more information after that,” said a department spokesman, Leo Rosales, in a telephone interview on Tuesday morning.

 The labor department has signoff authority on productions with public performances, and had approved the show going forward with performances in November. A spokeswoman for Actors’ Equity, the union of theater actors and stage managers, said in a statement on Tuesday: “We were informed shortly after the accident during the performance of Spiderman. We are working in cooperation with the state and city Department of Labor on this situation. We don’t have a further statement at this time.”

 Actors’ Equity said later in an updated statement: “Actors’ Equity Association is working with management and the Department of Labor to ensure that performances will not resume until back-up safety measures are in place.”

 Steven Tartick, an audience member, said the accident occurred during a scene when Spider-Man is rescuing his love interest, Mary Jane, as she dangles from a rope attached to a bridge.

 Mr. Tartick said he saw the actor playing Spider-Man appear to trip and fall from the bridge, into an open pit at the end of the stage.

 “You heard screams,” Mr. Tartick said. “You heard a woman screaming and sobbing.”

 Mr. Tartick said there was a blackout, and then the house lights in the theater were restored. An announcement made in the theater first said there would be a delay in the performance. The announcement was then updated to say the show was over.

 Scott Smith and Matthew Smith, brothers who attended Monday’s “Spider-Man” performance, watched the show from the balcony of the Foxwoods Theater. In an interview outside the theater, Matthew Smith said: “It looked like it was supposed to happen. But he fell at a faster pace. It didn’t look right.”

 Brian Lynch, an audience member, described the scene at the Foxwoods Theater on his Twitter feed, writing: “Stopped short near end. Someone took nasty fall. Screaming. 911 called. No idea what happened, kicked audience out.” He added: “No joke. No explanation. MJ and Spidey took what seemed to be a planned fall into the stage pit. Then we heard MJ screaming.”

 Christine Bord, another eyewitness, described events outside the theater in a blog post on her Web site, onlocationvacations.com.

 In a telephone interview, Ms. Bord said two ambulances and a fire truck were already waiting outside the theater when most audience members exited. The actor was quickly brought out on a stretcher, wrapped in protective gear and wearing a neck brace. He acknowledged the crowd, which clapped for him before an ambulance took him away. Ms. Bord said this transpired in no more than five or 10 minutes.

 John Matthews/onlocationvacations.com

 The “Spider-Man” musical has faced several setbacks during its preview period, with one of its actresses suffering a concussion and two actors injured by a sling-shot technique meant to propel them across the stage. On Friday it was announced that “Spider-Man” was delaying its official opening by four weeks to Feb. 7 so that creative changes could be made to the show.

 A news media representative for “Spider-Man” said in an e-mail message Monday night: “An actor sustained an injury at tonight’s performance of ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.’ He fell several feet from a platform approximately seven minutes before the end of the performance, and the show was stopped. All signs were good as he was taken to the hospital for observation. We will have more news shortly.”

 Patrick Healy contributed reporting to this post. |||||


– The suspect behind a deadly terrorist attack on a St. Petersburg subway station was a 23-year-old man from a former Soviet republic in Central Asia who had links to Islamist radical groups, according to reports in the Russian media. Reuters reports that officials in Kyrgyzstan have identified the suspect as Akbarzhon Jalilov, a Russian citizen born in the city of Osh. Officials say the toll from the attack has now hit 14, with up to 50 others injured by a bomb that exploded on a train between Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations Monday afternoon. A second bomb left at a different station failed to explode. Investigators believe Jalilov may have planted that device before blowing himself up on the train. The subway driver is being praised for continuing to the next station after the bomb went off, making it easier for rescuers to reach the wounded. According to Russian reports, the second bomb, which was packed with shrapnel and disguised as a fire extinguisher, would have done more damage than the first. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Vladimir Putin, who was visiting St. Petersburg at the time of the bombing, met with security chiefs Monday night, the Guardian reports. Earlier, he laid flowers at the Tekhnologichesky station. President Trump denounced the attack as "absolutely a terrible thing" and White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the US is willing to provide support, the AP reports.

Expand this summary.

Russian police and emergency personnel block an area at the Tekhnologicheskaya metro station after explosion in St.Petersburg subway in St.Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 3, 2017. The subway in the... (Associated Press)

 Russian police and emergency personnel block an area at the Tekhnologicheskaya metro station after explosion in St.Petersburg subway in St.Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 3, 2017. The subway in the Russian city of St. Petersburg is reported an explosion on a subway train. (AP Photo/Yevgeny Kurskov) (Associated Press)

 ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — A bomb blast tore through a subway train deep under Russia's second-largest city Monday, killing 11 people and wounding more than 40 in a chaotic scene that left victims sprawled on a smoky platform. Hours later, anguish and fear rose again when police found and defused a shrapnel-packed explosive device at another St. Petersburg station.

 There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, his hometown. In the past two decades, Russian trains and planes have been frequent targets of terrorism, usually blamed on Islamic militants.

 News reports initially said police were searching for two suspects, and Russian state television showed a photo of one suspect wearing what appeared to be a skullcap characteristic of Russia's Muslim regions. However, the Interfax news agency later cited unspecified sources as saying police now suspect the blast was the work of a suicide bomber linked to radical Islamists.

 The National Anti-Terrorism Committee said it was looking for the "perpetrators and organizers of the terror attack."

 St. Petersburg, a major tourist destination famed for its imperial palaces and lavish art museums, had been spared previous attacks.

 "From now on, I will be scared to take the subway," said Marina Ilyina, 30, who brought flowers to the station where the train stopped after the bombing. "We in St. Petersburg thought we wouldn't be touched by that."

 The explosion occurred in midafternoon as the train traveled between stations on one of the city's north-south lines.

 The driver chose to continue on to the next stop, Technological Institute, a decision praised by the Investigative Committee as aiding evacuation efforts and reducing the danger to passengers who would have had to walk along the electrified tracks.

 The National Anti-Terrorism Committee said the death toll was 11, with another 45 people being treated for wounds in hospitals.

 Amateur video broadcast by Russian TV showed people lying on the platform of the Technological Institute station, and others bleeding and weeping just after the damaged train pulled in.

 "Everything was covered in smoke. There were a lot of firefighters," Maria Smirnova, a student on a train behind the stricken one, told independent TV station Dozhd.

 Within two hours of the blast, authorities had found and deactivated another bomb at another busy station, Vosstaniya Square, the anti-terror agency said. That station is a major transfer point for passengers on two lines and serves the railway station to Moscow.

 Russian law enforcement agencies confirmed the device was loaded with shrapnel, and the Interfax news agency said it contained up to 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of explosives.

 Interfax cited an unidentified law enforcement official saying that investigators think the suspected suicide bomber left the bomb at the Vosstaniya Square station before blowing himself up on the train.

 The agency said authorities believe the suspect, a 23-year old who came from ex-Soviet Central Asia and was linked to radical Islamist groups, carried the explosive device onto the train in a rucksack.

 Asked about the report, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov wouldn't comment, saying it's up to law enforcement agencies to comment on details of the probe.

 The entire St. Petersburg subway system was shut down and evacuated, but partial service resumed after about six hours.

 Security was immediately tightened at all of the country's key transportation sites, Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee said. Moscow officials said that included the subway in the Russian capital.

 Putin, who meeting with the president of Belarus at the Constantine Palace on the city's outskirts, offered condolences on national television.

 "Law enforcement agencies and intelligence services are doing their best to establish the cause and give a full picture of what happened," a somber-looking Putin said.

 He later laid flowers outside the Technological Institute station, where the damaged train arrived after the explosion.

 Some residents of St. Petersburg, a city of 5 million, responded with both dismay and determination.

 "They won't succeed in breaking up our country. We are all citizens of one country despite various political views and religious beliefs," said 24-year-old Alexander Malikov, who brought flowers and candles to an improvised memorial outside one of the stations.

 The bombing drew widespread condemnation.

 President Donald Trump said it was "absolutely a terrible thing." White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the U.S. was prepared to offer assistance to Russia.

 Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group, which is backing Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces along with Russia, says the incident was the type of "terrorism" Russia was fighting in Syria.

 Most of the terrorist attacks in Russia have been connected to the insurgency in Chechnya and other Caucasus republics in the southern part of the country.

 The last confirmed attack was in October 2015 when Islamic State militants downed a Russian airliner heading from an Egyptian resort to St. Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board.

 The Dec. 25, 2016, crash of a Russian plane near the southern city of Sochi that killed 92 people, including members of the Red Army Choir, is widely believed to have been due to a bomb, but no official cause has been given.

 Two female suicide bombers killed 40 people and wounded more than 100 in the Moscow subway on March 29, 2010. Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov claimed responsibility for the attack, warning Russian leaders that "the war is coming to their cities."

 A Moscow-to-St. Petersburg train was bombed on Nov. 27, 2009, in an attack that left 26 dead and 100 injured. Umarov's group also said he ordered this attack.

 Russian airports also have been targeted. On Jan. 24, 2011, a suicide bomber blew himself up at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, killing 37 people and wounding 180. The same airport in August 2004 saw Islamic suicide bombers board two airplanes and bring them down, killing a total of 90 people.

 ___

 Heintz reported from Moscow. Vladimir Isachenkov and Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report. ||||| Police officers and security personnel stay inside a metro station following the St. Petersburg metro blast that took place on April 3, in Moscow, Russia April 5, 2017. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

 Flowers are pictured in front of the Spasskaya metro station in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Grigory Dukor

 ST PETERSBURG The main suspect in a suicide bombing on the St Petersburg metro that killed 14 people had rented an apartment in the city a month before the blast, neighbors and a building maintenance worker told Reuters on Wednesday.

 A day after Monday's attack, security officials raided the apartment and ordered other residents to leave -- a precaution often undertaken when police believe there may be explosives or bomb-making equipment inside.

 A witness who was present during the search, and who did not want to be identified, told Reuters she saw belongings packed into black bags and cardboard boxes, and household containers with an unidentified powder inside.

 The Investigative Committee, the state body leading the investigation, said footage from security cameras near the same building showed the suspect, Akbarzhon Jalilov, leaving home carrying a bag and a rucksack. It did not specify if that was on the day of the attack.

 Jalilov was born in 1995 in Kyrgyzstan, a mainly Muslim ex-Soviet republic in central Asia, and held a Russian passport.

 If it is proven that he was motivated by militant Islamist ideology, that will test Russian President Vladimir Putin's policy of military intervention in Syria.

 Some Russians may decide their country's intervention is making them a target for reprisal attacks by Islamists instead of making them safer as Putin had told them would happen.

 Jalilov moving into the rented apartment, in a Soviet-built nine-storey building in north-eastern St Petersburg, coincided with his return from a visit to his home city of Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan.

 Two Kyrgyz government sources told Reuters that Jalilov made the trip in February, leaving in early March on a flight to Moscow.

 Osh is part of the Fergana Valley, a fertile strip of land that straddles Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and is mainly populated by ethnic Uzbeks. It has a tradition of Islamist radicalism and hundreds of people have set out from the area to join Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

 Jalilov had previously lived in St Petersburg for several years. It was not clear where he had been living before his trip back to Osh, or why he moved to a new apartment.

 SILENT TENANT

 The apartment Jalilov rented in St Petersburg is about 20 km from the site of the explosion, in the center of the city.

 Neighbors at the building said that Jalilov had first moved into apartment 109 around a month ago. They said the young man they had seen around the building matched pictures of Jalilov released to Russian media since the bombing.

 "The apartment was always silent," said a resident of the same staircase, who gave her name as Margarita. "When the owner let (the apartment) I asked her and she said he was a decent guy and that I should call her if he makes noise."

 "But I never heard ... any music playing. Maybe he turned on the TV once."

 She said on one occasion about five people who appeared ethnically Russian had visited him, but there seemed nothing remarkable about that. A second resident also said Jalilov had been a tenant in the building.

 Security service officers arrived at the address on Tuesday, and ordered residents to vacate the building.

 The building maintenance worker, who asked not to be identified, said: "They forced open the apartment. There were various powders in jars. I could see that they had packed up his things. Lots in black bags, and two boxes."

 The Investigative Committee confirmed the search but a spokeswoman declined to give details about what they found.

 Jalilov's parents, who say they had not seen their son for a while, were due to fly into St Petersburg on Wednesday and a Reuters witness at Pulkovo airport reported heavy security.

 A middle-aged man and woman were escorted away after the flight arrived, the Reuters reporter said. Authorities refused to confirm that the couple were Jalilov's parents but the woman, in response to a Russian TV reporter's question, said she did not believe her son was the bomber.

 In the several years Jalilov spent living in Russia, he blended into the millions of migrants from central Asia, and led an outwardly secular lifestyle. His profile on VKontakte, the Russian equivalent of Facebook, showed he was interested in pop music, fast cars, and boxer Mike Tyson.

 His aunt, Surayo Jalilova, told Reuters in Osh: "We are speechless, we were all shocked, we never thought he could do something like this. He was the most obedient kid in the family, did well at school."

 Fatima Kadyrakhunova, who was his class teacher for four years at School no. 26 in Osh, said he was quiet and reserved, but did not excel at his studies.

 Six people of central Asian origin have been held on suspicion of recruiting for radical Islamist groups, but there is no proof linking the detainees to the metro bombing, Russian investigators said.

 Meanwhile authorities have beefed up security across major cities, with sniffer dogs and bag checks at several metro stations in Moscow.

 Putin touched on the attack at a previously scheduled meeting in Moscow with security service chiefs from ex-Soviet countries.

 "We see that, unfortunately, the situation is not getting better and the clearest confirmation of that is the recent tragic incident in St Petersburg," Putin said.

 "People died as a result of a terrorist act, many were hurt," he said.

 (Additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova and Svetlana Reiter in MOSCOW, Hulkar Isamova in OSH, Kyrgyzstan, and Olzhas Auyezov in ALMATY; Writing by Sujata Rao and Christian Lowe; Editing by Giles Elgood) |||||