Virginia Plane Crash: 'Air Force General' Dies

A pilot who died when his light aircraft crashed just a few metres away from a house was reportedly a US Air Force general.

The single-engine Cessna 210 came down in a field near a retirement community in Williamsburg, Virginia. There was no fire when it crashed.

State police confirmed that 54-year-old Joseph D Brown IV and his wife, 52-year-old Susan S Brown, were killed, along with their pet dog.

Mr Brown had reportedly clocked up more than 4,300 flying hours in his background with the USAF, mainly in B1s and B52s.

He also served combat time in operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom.

His official title was Major General of the Eisenhower School at Fort McNair, a premier Department of Defence national security training school in Washington, DC.

The pilot was supposed to land at the Williamsburg-Jamestown Airport but the light aircraft crashed about half a mile away.

The plane crashed nose first

Firefighters said the plane fell out of the sky with a hard impact, nose first.

It ended up about 20 metres from Nancy and Bruce Ward's home."I was in my bedroom, heard a thud," Mrs Ward said.

"One of neighbours came to my door. He asked if I had a fire extinguisher because a plane had just crashed by my house.

"That was the first I had heard of it. We saw a plane that had apparently hit a tree right next to our driveway. It had gone straight down into the ground. There was no sign of life."

"It was about 15 feet away from our driveway," said Bruce Ward. "There are about 15 people out here huddling trying to figure out how to proceed."

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen reported there were no injuries or damage to any property on the ground.

Firefighters used a rope to help pull the wreckage from nearby trees.

The cause has yet to be established.

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Fitch Strips UK Of AAA Rating On Debt Outlook

Ratings agency Fitch has stripped the UK of its AAA rating, citing a "weaker economic and fiscal outlook".

The agency placed the UK on an AA+ rating, following Moody's downgrade of UK debt in February.

A Fitch statement said: "The downgrade of the UK's sovereign ratings primarily reflects a weaker economic and fiscal outlook and hence the upward revision to Fitch's medium-term projections for UK budget deficits and government debt."

The downgrade will place further pressure on the Government ahead of next week's first quarter GDP figures, which will reveal if Britain has managed to avoid an unprecedented triple-dip recession.

The agency now expects Government debt to peak at 101% of GDP in 2015-16, only declining gradually in 2017-18. That is worse than its previous forecast of debt peaking at 97% of GDP and declining in 2016-17.

Fitch, which waited until stock markets had closed before announcing the downgrade, had already warned that Government failure to stabilise debt below 100% of GDP and set it on a firm downward path would trigger a downgrade.

Chancellor George Osborne had pledged to retain the UK's AAA status

The statement said: "Despite the UK's strong fiscal financing flexibility underpinned by its own currency with reserve currency status and the long average maturity of public debt, the fiscal space to absorb further adverse economic and financial shocks is no longer consistent with an AAA rating."

Fitch slashed the UK's growth forecast to 0.8% this year, from its earlier expectation of 1.5%. Next year it expects the UK economy to grow by 1.8%, down from its previous 2% forecast.

Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund also cut the UK's growth forecast growth from 1% to 0.7% this year and 2014's projection from 1.9% to 1.5%, noting the recovery was "progressing slowly".

IHS Global Insight economist Howard Archer said the downgrade was "no surprise" and is likely to have minimal market impact.

"Nevertheless, Fitch's move is another slap in the face for the government - particularly as the Chancellor (George Osborne) made keeping the AAA rating a key focus for the UK," he said.

Fellow ratings agency Standard & Poors held the UK's debt rating steady at AAA earlier this month, but warned over the economy's "negative outlook".

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Boston Residents Rejoice Over 'End Of Terror'

Boston Bomb Suspect In Custody

Updated: 5:14pm UK, Saturday 20 April 2013

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.

"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.

"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.

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.

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."

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.

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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London Marathon: More Cops After Boston Bombs

Hundreds of extra police officers will still be deployed for Sunday's London Marathon despite the hunt for the Boston bombers ending.

Security in the capital has been stepped up to reassure the 36,000 runners and tens of thousands of spectators in the wake of last Monday's explosions which killed three people and injured more than 180.

There will be a 40% increase in the number of officers on London's streets for the race compared with last year.

Westminster Council has also removed all litter bins from the route as a security measure.

Handlers work with sniffer dogs on The Mall ahead of the London Marathon

The Metropolitan Police is in close contact with the FBI and Boston officers but they say there is nothing to suggest any link with the bomb attacks and London.

A 30-second silence will be held as a mark of respect before the start of the men's elite race and mass start, and runners are being encouraged to wear black ribbons.

The race's chief executive insisted the bloody events in Massachusetts will not put off spectators or runners taking part in the 26.2-mile event.

Nick Bitel told Sky News: "There will be some more security measures around but it will still be the same carnival atmosphere that we have tried to engender.

"I think people will see that on the day and hopefully that will be reflected in the support they want to give runners.

"We've got to get the balance right and I'm sure that with our partners in the police we'll be able to do that."

Mo Farah's participation has been a boost for the marathon, say organisers

Double Olympic champion Mo Farah plans to run only half the race, which some people have criticised, accusing him of cashing in on his status.

But Bitel said: "Having him around has given everyone a boost... and that has been needed this week after the events in Boston".

The exact point on the course where Farah will come to a halt, shortly after Tower Bridge, remains a mystery, but he has promised there is no chance at all of him going all the way to The Mall.

Events in the US city reached a dramatic climax as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was apprehended following an exchange of gunfire with police after being found hiding in a boat in a back yard in Watertown.

He was taken away on a stretcher and was admitted to hospital in a serious condition with unspecified injuries.

His brother and suspected co-bomber Tamerlan died after a shoot-out with officers earlier in the day.

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Planning Reforms To Give Neighbours A Say

Plans to relax planning laws covering the building of extensions are to be changed to allow neighbours to have a say if they object.

The original proposals led to a rebellion by 16 Tory MPs and eight Liberal Democrats in the Commons on Tuesday following warnings that they would trigger disputes between neighbours.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has now written to MPs setting out a "light-touch neighbours' consultation scheme" for building work which will not require planning permission under the new rules.

Eric Pickles: Proposing a 'light-touch neighbours' consultation scheme'

Ministers announced last year that they intended a three-year relaxation of the depth of allowed single-storey extensions from 4m (13ft 1.5in) to 8m (26ft 3in) for detached houses and from 3m (9ft 10in) to 6m (19ft 8in) for all other houses.

In his letter to MPs, Mr Pickles said: "I believe colleagues' key concern has been about potential effect on neighbours' amenity, and the lack of any say for those neighbours.

"I propose we tackle this head on. We will seek to move ahead with these new permitted householder development rights, but introduce a new light-touch neighbours' consultation scheme."

Under the revised scheme homeowners wishing to build extensions under the new powers would notify their council with the details and the local authority would then inform the adjoining neighbours.

If the neighbours do not object the development can proceed, but if they do raise concerns the council will have to consider whether it had an "unacceptable impact on neighbours' amenity".

If councillors decided it was necessary the proposed extension could be considered by a planning committee.

Mr Pickles said the approach would build consensus, ensure uncontroversial projects were fast-tracked and save householders money.

In an attempt to win over rebels he said the scheme was similar to proposals set out in 2007 by Zac Goldsmith, a ringleader of the Commons revolt.

The Growth and Infrastructure Bill containing the measures is in its final stages in Parliament and the changes will be introduced in the Lords on Monday.

Mr Pickles told MPs: "I hope this shows that we have listened constructively and made a targeted and common sense improvement."

But Mike Jones, chairman of the Local Government Association's environment and housing board, said there were "serious questions" about the new system.

He said: "Councils have been calling for the right of neighbours to have a say to be protected, and we are pleased that Government is listening.

"However, there are serious questions to be answered as to how this new separate scheme will work in practice.

"Government needs to clarify how this new scheme, which will require planning departments to dedicate a significant amount of time and resources, will be paid for at a time when local authorities are already facing significant cuts to their budgets."

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George Osborne Urged To Rethink Economic Plan

Lagarde's Support For Osborne

Updated: 4:29pm UK, Saturday 20 April 2013

By Ed Conway, Economics Editor

A few weeks ago, eagle-eyed Twitter users would have noticed a rather unusual tweet from one household name to another.

"Welcome to Twitter @George_Osborne," read the public message from @Lagarde, "see you in two weeks at the 2013 IMF/WB spring meetings in Washington, DC".

It was, it turns out, the only personal tweet that Christine Lagarde sent to any other finance minister in the run-up to this past week's Spring Meetings in Washington DC.

This is no coincidence. Lagarde and Osborne really are good friends. They talk regularly (and not just on Twitter); they have a genuinely warm personal and professional relationship.

Osborne was the first major finance minister to endorse Lagarde for her post as managing director of the International Monetary Fund and she, in turn, has always been steadfastly and publicly supportive of his economic policy.

Last summer, Lagarde made a personal appearance at the UK Treasury to unveil the Fund's annual assessment of the British economy, and endorsed the Osborne economic plan.    

She memorably said that when she tried to imagine what the public finances would have looked like without the Chancellor's austerity measures, "I shiver."

Even as the Fund's professional assessment of the UK economy's health turned negative, Lagarde's support for Osborne has remained unwavering.

Earlier this week in Washington, the IMF chief economist, Olivier Blanchard (who, like Lagarde, is French) said Osborne would have to reduce the pace of his spending cuts, adding that the Chancellor was "playing with fire".

The World Economic Outlook said, in black and white, that "greater near-term flexibility in the path of fiscal adjustment" was necessary in the UK – economese for "you need to consider plan B".

And yet when asked about Britain, Lagarde offered a far more equivocal verdict: there was "nothing new" in the Fund's assessment that the UK should be ready to change course if and when economic growth disappointed - though she conceded that "the growth numbers are not particularly good."

This difference in tone has been useful for the Chancellor. When asked in a press briefing about Blanchard's criticism, Osborne quoted Lagarde's comments at length, saying that the chief economist was "just one voice".

However, the reality, according to a range of Fund insiders, is quite the contrary. They point out that the institutional IMF view is far closer to Blanchard's opinion than Lagarde's. That it is Lagarde who is the outlier.

In fact, some Fund officials were privately aghast when they heard Lagarde claim in that press conference that there was "nothing new" in the Fund's position on the UK.

One told me that within the Fund some were muttering that Lagarde's good relationship with the Chancellor - and her consequent efforts to be diplomatic - were undermining the overall message: that Britain must change course.

However, if there were any doubt about the Fund's true position, it has now been laid to rest by Lagarde's deputy, David Lipton. In an interview with Sky News, he said, explicitly, that when it comes to Britain's budget, "the pace of consolidation ought to be reconsidered".

The precise numbers, he signalled, would have to wait until the Fund's official survey begins next month, but the verdict could hardly be clearer.

The intervention is particularly significant given who it has come from. Lipton is not a household name; he is not on Twitter. But not only is he Lagarde's deputy, he is the man who will take her place to unveil the ominous findings of the IMF assessment in London next month. It's enough to make George Osborne shiver.

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Dreamliner Set To Be Cleared For Take-Off By US

US officials say they will lift the order grounding the Boeing 787 Dreamliner after accepting the manufacturer's revamped battery system.

But that move comes even though the root cause of battery failures that led to a fire on one plane and smoke on another remains unknown.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it would publish a notice next week lifting the three-month-old grounding order.

Boeing can then begin retrofitting planes with an enhanced lithium ion battery system.

Dreamliner flights could start back up within a week, the FAA told members of Congress.

An All Nippon Airways 787 made an emergency landing in January

The FAA last month let Boeing test the revamped system, which includes additional insulation around each of the battery's eight cells to prevent a short circuit or fire in one of the cells from spreading to others.

The new system also includes better venting of smoke and gas from inside the battery to outside the plane.

There is also a stronger box to hold the battery to ensure that if a fire were to occur, it would not spread to the rest of the plane.

Boeing has done 20 successful tests of the new system, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta told Congress earlier this week.

The scorched remains of a lithium-ion battery pack

The FAA's action will directly impact United Airlines and its six 787s. United is the only US airline with Dreamliners in its fleet.

But aviation authorities in other countries are expected to follow suit swiftly.

Boeing had delivered 50 planes to eight airlines in seven countries when a fire erupted in a battery aboard a Japan Airlines 787 parked at Boston's Logan International Airport on January 7.

The FAA and other authorities grounded the entire fleet after a second incident nine days later led to an emergency landing by an All Nippon Airways 787 in Japan.

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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.

"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.

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

"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.

"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.

This image appears to show the capture of Dzhokhar

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.

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.

An FBI officer stands in front of the boat

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.

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."

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.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been taken to hospital with serious injuries

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.

Residents cheered after the suspect was caught

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.

Thousands of officers combed the streets of Boston for Dzhokhar

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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Boston: Brothers Were 'Regular American Kids'

Described as "regular American kids", Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev arrived in the US around a decade ago.

Neighbours recall the ethnic Chechen brothers riding bikes and skateboards on the street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they lived.

Former classmates expressed their surprise that the quiet, but popular and athletic brothers could be responsible for the twin bomb attack that killed three people, including an eight-year-old boy, and injured more than 180 others.

Despite having become a devout Muslim, Tamerlan married a Boston woman, Katherine Russell, from a Christian family and had a three-year-old daughter. Neighbours told the MailOnline that his 24-year-old wife had converted to Islam.

Dzhokhar, 19, attended the prestigious Cambridge Rindge & Latin school and had a place on the wrestling team.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev had ambitions to box for the US

In May 2011, his senior year, he was awarded a $2,500 scholarship from the city to pursue higher education. His success was even celebrated with a reception at city hall.

He attended the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, but the school would not say what he was studying.

The father of the suspects, Anzor Tsaraev, told The Associated Press his younger son was a second-year medical student.

"My son is a true angel," he said by telephone from the Russian city of Makhachkala. "He is such an intelligent boy. We expected him to come on holidays here."

Dzhokhar with a friend at his graduation

He added: "They were set up, they were set up! I saw it on television; they killed my older son Tamerlan." He ended the call angrily, saying: "Leave me alone, my son's been killed."

Dzhokhar's page on the Russian social networking site Vkontakte says that before moving to the US, he attended a school in the capital of Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim republic in Russia's North Caucasus. The men's uncle said they had been born in Kyrgyzstan.

Dzhokhar describes himself as speaking Chechen as well as English and Russian and says that his world view is "Islam".

Those who knew him have been stunned. The host of a Boston-based public radio programme, Robin Young, posted on Twitter a photo of her nephew with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, their arms around each other, at their graduation.

"Heartbreaking pic," Ms Young wrote.

Dzhokhar, in the white baseball cap, with brother Tamerland at the marathon

Tim Kelleher, a wrestling coach for a Boston school that competed in 2010 against Dzhokhar's team, said: "He was a tough, solid kid, just quiet."

Dzhokhar's brother, Tamerlan, 26, who died during the police shootout, was a keen participant in martial arts and boxing, even aspiring to fight on the US Olympic team.

 A local Massachusetts news article in 2004, quoted a boxer called Tamerlan as saying: "I like the USA. America has a lot of jobs. That's something Russia doesn't have. You have a chance to make money here if you are willing to work."

Tamerlan, who was identified in footage of the bombing as the suspect in the dark baseball cap, was reportedly arrested in 2009 for assaulting a girlfriend.

A young Dzhokhar: remembered as a 'regular American kid'

Despite assurances by former friends and neighbours that the brothers fitted in, Tamerlan wrote in a photo package that appeared in a Boston University student magazine in 2010: "I don't have a single American friend. I don't understand them."

He identified himself as a Muslim who was studying to become an engineer at the Bunker Hill Community College and said he did not drink or smoke, because "God said no alcohol". He said he hoped to fight for the US Olympic team and become an American.

Government officials said Tamerlan had travelled to Russia last year and spent six months there before returning to the US.

A YouTube user bearing the name Tamerlan Tsarnaev has posted a series of religious videos on the site. One extolled the prophesy of the Black Banners of Khurasan, which has been embraced by al Qaeda.

Other videos included those of the Australian Muslim preacher Feiz Mohammad, who preaches against the evils of Harry Potter.

His aunt Maret Tsarnaeva, who lives in Toronto, said he had recently become a devout Muslim who prayed five times a day.

She said: "He has a wife in Boston and from a Christian family, so you can't tie it to religion."

She said he had dropped out of university, causing his father great concern.

She said her brother had very high expectations for his sons, especially Tamerlan.

Before moving to Dagestan, the Tsarnaev family lived in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia. Leila Alieva, who went to school with Tamerlan Tsarnaev in the Kyrgyz town of Tokmok, remembered them as being an educated family.

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China Quake: 157 Killed In Sichuan Province

By Mark Stone, China correspondent

At least 157 people are believed to have been killed and more than 5,700 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 50kg 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.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague sent the condolences of the nation.

An aerial view of damaged houses Lushan county

Mr Hague said: "Today's events will no doubt bring back terrible memories of the catastrophic earthquake in the same province in 2008.

"My thoughts are also with the Chinese authorities and the emergency services as they continue their rescue efforts. We are in contact with local authorities through our Consulate-General in Chongqing and will continue to follow the situation closely." 

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

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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