Boston marks 8 years since bombing
BOSTON — Boston marked eight years since the bombing at the 2013 Boston Marathon killed three people and injured scores of others on Thursday with quiet moments of reflection and small acts of kindness.
Acting Mayor Kim Janey visited fire stations that had been critical in the response to the attack, as well as the memorials marking the spots where the two pressure cooker bombs detonated near the downtown finish line of the storied race. Church bells tolled to mark a citywide moment of silence at 2:49 p.m., the time when the first bomb detonated, followed seconds later by the second explosion a few hundred yards away.
Janey observed the moment outside city hall. The city’s first female and Black mayor then joined Gov. Charlie Baker to lay a wreath at the site where 29-year-old Krystle Campbell, 23-year-old Lingzi Lu, and 8-year-old Martin Richard died.
HARTFORD, Conn. — U.S. veterans who were exposed to radiation while responding to a 1966 hydrogen bomb accident in Spain would be made eligible for disability benefits that have been denied to them for decades by the Department of Veterans Affairs, under legislation introduced in Congress on Thursday.
U.S. Sen. Richard
Blumenthal and U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, Connecticut Democrats who co-sponsored versions of the bill in the Senate and House, said it would amend current law to designate the veterans’ cleanup of the accident site in Palomares, Spain, as a “radiation risk activity,” which they said the VA has failed to do.
On Jan. 17, 1966, a U.S. B-52 bomber and a refueling plane crashed into each other during a refueling operation near the southern Spanish village of Palomares, killing seven of 11 crew members but no one on the ground. At the time, the U.S. was keeping nuclear-armed warplanes in the air near the Soviet border as the Cold War was in full swing.
The midair collision resulted in the release of four U.S. hydrogen bombs. None of the bombs exploded, but the plutonium-filled detonators on two went off, scattering 7 pounds of highly radioactive plutonium 239 across the landscape. It’s been called the worst radiation accident in U.S. history.
About 1,600 servicemen were sent to the crash site area to recover the weapons and clean up the contamination.
LONDON — Prince William and Prince Harry won’t walk side-by-side Saturday as they follow their grandfather’s coffin into the church ahead of Prince Philip’s funeral, minimizing the chances of any awkward moments between the brothers who are grappling with strained relations since Harry’s decision to step away from royal duties last year.
Buckingham Palace on Thursday released the broad outlines of the funeral program for Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, who died April 9 at 99. The palace revealed that William and Harry’s cousin, Peter Phillips, will walk between the princes as they escort the coffin to St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, west of London.
Prince Charles, the heir to the throne and the father of the princes, together with his sister, Princess Anne, will lead the 15-member procession.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s supreme leader on Wednesday dismissed initial offers at talks in Vienna to save Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal as “not worth looking at,” attempting to pressure world powers after an attack on the country’s main nuclear enrichment site.
The comments by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state in the Islamic Republic, came after a day that saw Iran’s president similarly ratchet up pressure over the accord. European powers meanwhile warned Tehran its actions were “particularly regrettable” and “dangerous.”
The talks already have been thrown into disarray by a weekend attack on Iran’s main Natanz nuclear enrichment site suspected to have been carried out by Israel. Tehran retaliated by announcing it would enrich uranium up to 60 percent — higher than it ever has before but still lower than weapons-grade levels of 90 percent. NEW DELHI — India’s two largest cities imposed stringent restrictions on movement and one planned to use hotels and banquet halls to treat coronavirus patients as new infections in the country shot past 200,000 Thursday amid a devastating surge that is straining a fragile health system.
The soaring cases and deaths come just months after India thought it had seen the worst of the pandemic — and have forced the country to delay exports of vaccines abroad. India is a major producer of COVID-19 shots, and its pivot to focus on domestic demand has weighed heavily on global efforts to end the pandemic.
New Delhi announced stay-at-home orders for the weekend, though essential workers will be able to move about if they have a pass from local authorities. Restaurants, malls, gyms and spas will be shut down. Movie theaters will close on weekends, but can operate on weekdays at a third of their capacity.
Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi’s top elected official, said that despite a rise in infections, 5,000 hospital beds are still available in the capital and more capacity is being added.