Obama: Boston attacks act of terror

US President Barack Obama has branded the Boston bombings a "cowardly" act of terror, but says it is still unclear if a foreign or domestic group or individual was behind the attacks.

"This was a heinous and cowardly act," Obama said at the White House. "Any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians, it is an act of terror."

Obama said while the impact of the attacks near the finish line of the Boston marathon on Monday, which killed three people and wounded more than 170 others, were clear, the motives and the identify of those responsible was not.

"What we don't yet know, however, is who carried out this attack or why, whether it was planned and executed by a terrorist organisation, foreign or domestic, or was the act of a malevolent individual," he said.

But the president again vowed to bring whoever was behind the assault to justice, and warned that America would not be cowed by terrorism.

"We also know this - the American people refuse to be terrorised," he said.

In frank and direct language, Obama vowed to keep Americans up to speed with developments in the investigation and asked them to remain vigilant.

"What I have indicated to you is what we now know. We know it was bombs that were set off. We know that obviously they did some severe damage. We do not know who did them," he said.

"We don't have a sense of motive yet. So everything else at this point is speculation."

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Boston victims suffer amputations

THE victims of the Boston Marathon bombings were peppered with nails and pellets, doctors say, adding that the most severely wounded required amputation.

The twin blasts near the finish line in the northeastern US city on Monday claimed three lives and left more than 170 injured.

"This bomb obviously was placed probably low on the ground, and therefore lower extremity injuries are to be expected," said George Velmahos, chief of trauma surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Velmahos said eight patients were in severe condition, with four having undergone major surgery, mostly amputations of lower limbs.

But he added they were in stable condition "and thank God they are all alive."

"Many of them have severe wounds, mostly in the lower part of their bodies, wounds related to the blast effect of the bomb, as well as small metallic fragments that entered their body - pellets, shrapnel, nails," Velmahos told reporters.

Due to the nature of the injuries, the victims suffered rapid loss of blood, which hospital personnel were able to rapidly control, but Velhamos said that created other physiological problems.

He said surgeons amputated four limbs, and two others were at risk, but "I hope we will save those legs".

"They are in intensive care. They are in critical condition. But at this point we have stabilised their vital signs and their hemodynamic situation is under control," he said.

He said those who underwent amputations were so severely damaged by the blast that their limb was "beyond salvation."

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IMF cuts world growth forecast

THE IMF has cut its world growth forecast for 2013 as the eurozone recession continues to drag, but predicts growth overall will pick up in the second half of the year.

In its newest assessment of the global economy, the International Monetary Fund said world output would expand by 3.3 per cent this year, compared to the 3.5 per cent it predicted in January.

That left the pace of the world economic expansion virtually flat from 2012's 3.2 per cent, with slower-than-expected growth in the United States and prolonged stagnation in the euro area the key reasons behind the downgrade.

Despite some promising signs, though, the IMF expressed concerns over a global fragmentation between the dynamism of the emerging countries, the United States just puttering along in second gear, and the eurozone stagnating.

"We are in a better place but ... we're not out of the woods," said Olivier Blanchard, IMF chief economist, at a media conference.

The global crisis lender said that short-term risks still loomed especially in the eurozone, where Cyprus's fresh bailout and Italy's weaknesses could still spark fresh setbacks.

"The slump in the eurozone is worrisome," said Blanchard.

But the IMF also saw growth slower in large emerging economies like Russia, China, Brazil and India, underscoring the global sense of economic weakness.

"Global prospects have improved again but the road to recovery in the advanced economies will remain bumpy," the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook report.

"In the medium term, the key risks relate to adjustment fatigue, insufficient institutional reform, and prolonged stagnation in the euro area as well as high fiscal deficits and debt in the United States and Japan.

"In this setting, policymakers cannot afford to relax their efforts."

With immediate crises out of the way, the Fund stuck close to its previous estimate for global growth in 2014, predicting a 4.0 per cent expansion, "assuming that policymakers avoid setbacks and deliver on their commitments."

Generally prospects were better since last year after two of the largest short-term threats to the global recovery were defused: the threat of a breakup of the eurozone and a potentially sharp contraction in the United States driven by extreme budget cuts and tax hikes.

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Police took photos of Pistorius on mobiles

EVEN police officers clamoured to get photos of Oscar Pistorius on their mobile phones after the famed Olympic athlete was arrested for the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, South Africa's police minister says.

The former lead police investigator in the case has also revealed he had fears reporters were trying to buy pictures of key pieces of evidence from officers in the first few days after the shooting, including the toilet door through which Pistorius fired the shots that killed Steenkamp inside the athlete's home in the predawn hours of Valentine's Day.

The door was taken from inside the bathroom in Pistorius's house and put in "a body bag" and moved to a senior policeman's office after another officer came forward to say she'd been offered money to provide photographs of it to the media, former detective Hilton Botha said.

Botha did not name the media company or say how much money was offered, but said he was told the offer was from an international media company and was "in dollars".

South Africa's Star newspaper quoted Botha as telling it there was an offer of $US50,000 ($A49,000) for a photograph of the toilet door.

Botha said he had learned that South African reporters were also trying to buy photographs of evidence and the crime scene from police.

Police minister Nathi Mthethwa said 49 mobile phones were confiscated from officers at Boschkop police station in Pretoria after they were used to take photographs of Pistorius when he was being transferred between court and the station soon after his arrest. Mthethwa made the revelation in a written response to a question in parliament.

"This action was necessary after it came to light that photos were taken of a high profile individual who had been arrested," Mthethwa wrote in the reply to a question by South Africa's opposition party, the Democratic Alliance.

The minister said four "official" mobile phones and 45 private phones were taken from the officers six days after Pistorius's arrest. They could be used as evidence in possible disciplinary proceedings against the police officers.

Mthethwa did not reveal how many officers had taken photos of Pistorius or how many - if any - are facing disciplinary action.

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Australians escape injury in Boston bombs

AS the Australian contingent in Boston prepares to leave the shell-shocked city, the global hunt for the terrorist, or terrorists, responsible for detonating the two bombs packed with nails, pellets and other sharp objects at the marathon finish line continues.

Three people died, including eight-year-old Boston boy Martin Richard, and 176 were wounded on Monday, but it appears the many Australians competing or standing in the crowd escaped injury.

Dr George Velmahos, trauma chief at Massachusetts General Hospital, said his staff did not treat any Australians.

"As far as I know, all of them are Americans," Dr Velmahos told reporters.

There were 153 Australians registered to compete in what is America's oldest and most prestigious marathon, with many more family members and friends scattered along the route, but so far Australian consular staff in the US have not found Australian victims.

Australia's two-time gold medal-winning Paralympian Kurt Fearnley, who finished fifth in the Boston Marathon wheelchair race, remained defiant and is expected to compete in Sunday's London Marathon.

"Thanks for all of the notes," Fearnley Tweeted on Monday.

"Thoughts are with those who are injured and lost family.

"Off to London today.

"Love this race and feel for its people."

Two other prominent Australians who ran the marathon on Sunday, Gill Stapleton, head of Special Olympics Australia, and Helen Carmody, principal of exclusive Victorian girls' private school, Toorak College, said they would continue their US visit on Tuesday with a trip to New York.

No arrests have been made, but US President Barack Obama vowed to bring the terrorist, or terrorists, to justice.

"What we don't know however is who carried out this attack, or why, whether it was planned and executed by a terrorist organisation, foreign or domestic, or was the act of a malevolent individual," he said.

The search for answers and perpetrators will be global.

"This will be a worldwide investigation," Boston's FBI special agent in charge, Rick Deslauriers, told reporters.

"We will go where the evidence and leads take us.

"We will go to the ends of the Earth to identify the subject, or subjects, who are responsible for this despicable crime."

Authorities initially said they did not believe the bombs were packed with ball bearings or other sharp material aimed at causing severe injuries, but this was contradicted by two of Boston's top doctors who treated the many victims.

"There are a variety of sharp objects we found in their bodies," Dr Velmahos said.

"We removed pellets and nails."

Dr Ron Walls, an emergency physician from Brigham and Women's Hospital, said small ball bearings and nails were found embedded in victims.

"Clearly they were designed to be projectiles that were built into the device," he said.

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Iran quake kills 34 in Pakistan: officials

A POWERFUL earthquake in Iran has hit hundreds of homes in Pakistan, killing more than 30 people in a remote community close to the desert border, officials say.

The quake damaged mud houses in the town of Mashkail in Pakistan's Baluchistan province, state broadcaster PTV reported.

Two military helicopters carrying medical teams have been sent to the area, which lies just a few kilometres from the frontier, while paramilitary troops were being moved to supplement the relief efforts.

"At least 34 people have been killed and 80 others wounded in Mashkail," a local government official told AFP.

"The bodies are at the hospital and injured are being treated by army doctors. Paramilitary forces are busy in rescue work."

Tremors cracked government buildings in the area and PTV said President Asif Ali Zardari had expressed grief over the losses in Iran and Pakistan.

Iran's Seismological Centre said that the 7.5-magnitude quake struck at 3.14 pm (1044 GMT) in the country's southeast, close to the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan. The website of the US Geological Survey put the magnitude of the quake at 7.8.

Local hospital official Ashraf Baloch told AFP by telephone from Mashkail that several hundred houses had been damaged.

"The Washuk has been destroyed and also hundreds of houses have been damaged in surrounding villages," Baloch told AFP.

Mehdi Zare, an official at the Seismological Centre, told state television that the earthquake was unprecedented in 56 years.

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Eight new China bird flu victims critical

CHINA has reported eight new human cases of H7N9 bird flu, all of them in critical condition, bringing the total number across the country to 71, state media says.

The new cases occurred in eastern China, the focal point for the outbreak which has claimed 14 lives in the two weeks since Chinese authorities said they found the strain in humans for the first time.

Three of the new infections are in Jiangsu, according to state news agency Xinhua which cited the province's health department. They are a 21-year-old woman, and two men aged 56 and 72.

The other five were in Zhejiang, where three men and two women aged between 56 and 72 tested positive for the virus.

As of Tuesday, Zhejiang has confirmed 21 H7N9 cases, including two that have ended in death.

A seven-year-old girl in Beijing who tested positive for H7N9 in the capital's only reported case so far will be discharged from hospital on Wednesday, Xinhua said.

She has been treated for the past six days and is now testing negative for the virus.

A four-year-old boy who had tested positive was discharged from a Shanghai hospital on Wednesday, said Xinhua citing local health authorities.

He has been the only confirmed case to make a full recovery.

Health authorities in China say they do not know exactly how the virus is spreading, but it is believed to be crossing from birds to humans, prompting mass culls in several cities.

Experts fear the prospect of the virus mutating into a form easily transmissible between humans, which would have the potential to trigger a pandemic - but the WHO has said there is no evidence yet of such a development.

International experts are preparing to head to China to probe the outbreak, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.

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