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After opening with several one-liners, and more smiles than we’ve seen from him in the damage-control-filled recent weeks, Obama delivered a serious message to the class of 2013.

During a speech rife with both personal and historical references, the president invoked a past full of challenges, often resulting from racism, but noted that African-Americans need to break free from that past to succeed in a globally competitive economy.

“I understand that there’s a common fraternity creed here at Morehouse: ‘Excuses are tools of the incompetent, used to build bridges to nowhere and monuments of nothingness,’” Obama said.

“We’ve got no time for excuses — not because the bitter legacies of slavery and segregation have vanished entirely; they have not. Not because racism and discrimination no longer exist; we know those are still out there. It’s just that in today’s hyperconnected, hypercompetitive world, with millions of young people from China and India and Brazil — many of whom started with a whole lot less than all of you did — all of them entering the global workforce alongside you, nobody is going to give you anything that you have not earned,” he said.

Opinion: What Obama must say to African-American grads

“Nobody cares how tough your upbringing was. Nobody cares if you suffered some discrimination. And moreover, you have to remember that whatever you’ve gone through, it pales in comparison to the hardships previous generations endured — and they overcame them. And if they overcame them, you can overcome them, too,” he said.

Morehouse valedictorian Betsegaw Tadele praised Obama for setting a strong example.

“There is no impossible. There is no unbelievable. There is no unachievable, if you have the audacity to hope,” Tadele said, paraphrasing the name of the president’s 2006 book, “The Audacity of Hope.”

Following Tadele — whom Obama jokingly called “a skinny guy with a funny name” — Obama reflected on how being an African-American has affected his personal journey.

“Whatever success I have achieved, whatever positions of leadership I’ve held, have depended less on Ivy League degrees or SAT scores or GPAs, and have instead been due to that sense of connection and empathy, the special obligation I felt, as a black man like you, to help those who need it most; people who didn’t have the opportunities that I had — because there, but for the grace of God, go I. I might have been in their shoes. I might have been in prison. I might have been unemployed. I might not have been able to support a family. And that motivates me,” the president said.

The president’s repeated mention of connection to the black community comes after blunt criticism from Morehouse alumnus Kevin Johnson, a pastor from Philadelphia, who criticized Obama in an April 14 editorial in the Philadelphia Tribune, calling him “a president for everyone, except black people.”

Johnson gave a baccalaureate sermon on Saturday as part of Morehouse’s graduation weekend.

The president’s speech on Sunday was well-received, though the crowd had to brave some thunder and lightning and endure pouring rain.

One awkward silence came when Obama slightly deviated from his prepared remarks. He was expected to say, “Be the best husband to your wife, or boyfriend to your partner.” However, instead, he said “Be the best husband to your wife, or your boyfriend, or your partner,” eliciting some clearly confused responses from the crowd.

Later, he noted that Morehouse men can set examples for other groups that have been subjected to discrimination: Hispanics, gays and lesbians, Muslims, and women.

“It is not just the African-American community that needs you. The country needs you. The world needs you. As Morehouse men, many of you know what it’s like to be an outsider; know what it’s like to be marginalized; know what it’s like to feel the sting of discrimination. And that’s an experience that a lot of Americans share,” he said.

Obama said his job, as president, is to advocate for policies that generate more opportunity for everyone, and he implored the Morehouse grads — and all Americans — to “advocate for an America where everyone has a fair shot in life.”

“There are some things, as black men, we can only do for ourselves. There are some things, as Morehouse men, that you are obliged to do for those still left behind. As graduates — as Morehouse men — you now wield something even more powerful than the diploma you are about to collect. And that’s the power of your example,” he said.

Obama finished his speech with another message not just to the newly minted Morehouse grads, but to all Americans — a message based on Martin Luther King’s refusal to be afraid.

“That’s what being an American is all about. Success may not come quickly or easily. But if you strive to do what’s right; if you work harder and dream bigger; if you set an example in your own lives and do your part to help meet the challenges of our times, then I am confident that, together, we will continue the never-ending task of perfecting our union,” he said.

And despite lots of big-picture talk about success and giving back, Obama made it clear that without appropriate focus on those closest to you, big-picture accomplishments mean little.

“Everything else is unfulfilled if we fail at family — if we fail at that responsibility. I know that when I am on my deathbed someday, I will not be thinking about any particular legislation I passed. I will not be thinking about a policy I promoted. I will not be thinking about the speech I gave. I will not be speaking about the Nobel Prize I received. I will be thinking about that walk I took with my daughters. I’ll be thinking about a lazy afternoon with my wife. I’ll be thinking about sitting around the dinner table, and seeing them happy and healthy and knowing they were loved. And I’ll be thinking about whether I did right by all of them.”

CNN’s Tom Dunlavey contributed to this report

MOSCOW (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon voiced concern on Sunday over North Korea’s launch of short-range missiles, urging Pyonyang to refrain from further launches and return to stalled nuclear talks with world powers.

Ban, who spoke to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti during a visit to Moscow, called North Korea’s launch of three short-range missiles from its east coast on Saturday a “provocative action”.

“We are very worried over North Korea’s provocative action,” he told RIA in comments translated into Russian.

“I hope North Korea will refrain from further such actions,” Ban said. “They must soon return to talks and lower tensions.”

The U.N. chief also called on Russia to exert its influence to help steer North Korea back to nuclear talks.

Launches by the North of short-range missiles are not uncommon but, after warnings from the communist state of impending nuclear war, such actions raised concerns about regional security and prompted Western powers to urge restraint.

Tension on the Korean peninsula has subsided in the past month, having run high for several weeks after Pyongyang’s third nuclear test in February.

(Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Alison Williams)

A tourist magnet and a fuel exporter, Aruba is an autonomous territory of the Netherlands. It lies off South America's Caribbean coast.

Away from the beaches, hotels and casinos, much of the island is desert-like. A strong indigenous heritage, colonisation and Latin America's influence have given it a distinctive social and linguistic character.

Aruba is one of the most prosperous territories in the Caribbean. A gold rush in the 1820s triggered an economic boom and mining went on for almost a century until reserves were exhausted. In the 1920s a petroleum refinery was opened at the port of San Nicolaas.

The money generated by the refinery raised living standards, but its temporary closure in 1985 – amid a global petroleum glut – sparked an economic crisis. Aruba has since invested in tourism, which has become its economic mainstay.

Lying close to the South American mainland, Aruba is susceptible to drug smuggling and illegal immigration. The territory has passed laws to combat money-laundering.

Independence has been widely debated, and the idea was endorsed by voters in 1977. In 1986 Aruba pulled out of the Netherlands Antilles – a federation of Dutch Caribbean territories – and obtained separate status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Plans for full independence by 1996 were shelved at a meeting in The Hague in 1994. The Dutch government controls defence and foreign affairs and the island's government handles local matters.

Colonised by the Dutch in the 17th century, Aruba was controlled by the British for a short time during the Napoleonic Wars.

A British child who died in a pool at a hotel in the Egypt has been named as five-year-old Chloe Johnson from Forest Hill, south London.

A spokeswoman for First Choice said: "First Choice can sadly confirm that a child has died while staying at the Coral Sea Waterworld hotel in Egypt. The incident occurred in a pool in the hotel's waterpark."

She continued: "In partnership with the hotelier, our resort team are working to understand how the incident occurred, and we will be carrying out a full and thorough investigation.

"At this time our priority is to provide support to the family."

Mr Khalil said the hotel and First Choice had organised for investigators from the UK to fly to the country to try to uncover what happened.

He added: "The hotel is waiting to finalise its investigation into what happened together with the official investigation of the Egyptian district attorney and Egyptian police.

"We want to see the facts and the most important fact here is that our hearts and souls are with the family and with little Chloe.

"We have moved them from the scene of the hotel so they can at least not be in premises where the accident happened."

He added: "When the investigation concludes we will be able to give answers."

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are aware of the death of a British national in Sharm el-Sheikh on 17 May. We are providing consular assistance to the family at this difficult time."

According to its website, the Coral Sea Waterworld resort is located on a beach in Nabq Bay, and has 369 rooms.

About one million tourists from the UK visited Egypt last year, according to travel association ABTA.

But the number of British visitors has dropped by about half a million since the start of the political unrest which came with the Arab Spring in 2011.

An ABTA spokeswoman said there had been no particular concerns regarding water parks in the region in recent times.

"There is a lot of focus on health and safety in water parks because they are often visited by families with children and major tour operators will have very strict criteria in place," she said.

OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) – Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc invests in dozens of businesses, and a new book tries to explain it all to young readers, from A to Z.

Two Omaha residents, author Nancy Rips and illustrator Tom Kerr, have teamed up on “My First Berkshire ABC” to teach children about one of the world’s best-known companies, and a little about the local billionaire behind it.

More than 1,000 copies were sold at Berkshire’s annual meeting on Saturday, which draws thousands of people to Omaha, and where Buffett has a say on what gets sold.

“You need something to bring home to your kids and grandkids to explain Berkshire,” Rips, who has also written three books about Jewish holidays, said in a joint interview with Kerr.

Most pages show companies that Berkshire owns or invests in.

G, for example, is for “Geico,” and features the car insurer’s talking gecko. And W is for “Wells Fargo”, and features the bank’s familiar stagecoach.

The book’s theme changed at Buffett’s suggestion.

“Our first effort was things like, ‘S is for sharing. Mr. Buffett believes in sharing. K is for being kind,’” Rips said.

“I got an email back from Warren saying, it’s too laudatory, they will lampoon him in the news,” she continued. “And I wrote a whole new proposal: A is for Acme (Brick), B is for Borsheim’s (jewelry), C is for Clayton Homes, D is for Dairy Queen. I got an email back: ‘You’re in the show.’”

Kerr has worked at many newspapers and drew McGruff, the Crime Dog for the National Crime Prevention Council.

“Part of what Warren talks about is investing in things that you know,” he said. “Virtually everything in here is something that somebody can relate to and touch and understand.”

Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger is shown under “Q,” stamping boxes of “quality” merchandise.

Rips and Kerr have not heard from Buffett on whether he likes the book. Buffett’s assistant Carrie Sova had no comment on that question.

Kerr depicted Buffett just four times, including on the cover holding his usual Cherry Coke.

“This book is not all about Warren Buffett,” Kerr said. “I picked my spots. He’s so synonymous with Dairy Queen that I wanted him there, and obviously on the cover with Coca-Cola.”

“Cherry Coke,” Rips interjected.

“Yep,” Kerr said. “She had me change that.”

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Patricia Reaney and Vicki Allen)

Eighty thousand years ago the Earth began to cool, marking the start of the last Ice Age. Experts are still discovering how the big freeze affected the giant mammals which prowled its dramatically changing landscape.

Despite the notoriety of the sabretooth cat's seven-inch fangs, it may actually have been its muscular forelimbs and large paws which made it so deadly.

Watch episode one of Ice Age Giants on BBC Two at 20:00 BST on Sunday 19 May and afterwards on the BBC iPlayer.

Bank of Palestine (BOP) held its 47th ordinary annual General Assembly Meeting (AGM) on Friday, April 26, 2013 at the bank’s headquarters in Ramallah and in Gaza via video conference.

The General Assembly approved the board of directors’ report, the financial statements for the year 2012, the external auditor’s report, and the board of directors’ remuneration.

The General Assembly endorsed the recommendation of BOP’s board of directors to distribute $26,050,000 from realized profits to shareholders as follows (in proportion to each shareholder’s ownership in paid capital as of April 25, 2013):

- $16m as stock dividend raising the bank’s paid-up capital to $150m.
- $10,050,000 as cash dividend.

The General Assembly also appointed Ernst & Young as the external auditor for the financial year 2013 and authorized the bank’s board of directors’ to appropriate the auditor’s remuneration.

In his speech, Chairman and General Manager, Hashim Shawa, stated, “2012 was not a very easy year due to the political unrest that Palestine witnessed last year, however, Bank of Palestine, proved to be resilient. In 2012, BOP’s profits before tax reached $49,966,888 an increase of 19.34% compared with 2011. The bank’s net profit reached $38,347,397 – for the year 2012; an increase of 12.85% compared with 2011. As at the end of 2012, Bank of Palestine’s total assets reached $2,004,494,095 – maintaining the top rank as the largest Palestinian company in terms of financial assets, total shareholders’ equity reached $220,973,909, an increase of 13.67% compared with 2011, and paid-up capital also increased by 11.67% to reach $134,000,000. During this period, the bank’s market share has also significantly increased to reach 23.75% and 20.79% in loans and deposits respectively, compared with 20.5% and 18.6% in 2011; deposits reached $1.55bn, an increase of 19.89% compared with 2011 and the loans portfolio reached $976m compared with $720m at the end of 2011; an increase of 35.58%. NPLs at BOP decreased to reach only 1.61% in 2012.”

Shawa also mentioned several developments that took place in 2012, including; opening two new branches for the bank – Al-Masyoun branch in Ramallah, and a sub-branch in the industrial area in Betounya, maintaining its position as the leading bank in Palestine in terms of number of branches; completing the final stage of the risk management project, enhancing the bank’s risk management frameworks. The bank introduced several new products during the year; a mortgage product, a children’s savings campaign, a prepaid Visa card, and a small business loan for fishermen. In addition to launching the services of its subsidiary company PalPay, an electronic payment solutions gateway. BOP also pursued new sources of income by signing agreements with several Palestinian banks to issue credit cards for their clients. Moreover, as part of its holistic sustainability strategy, Bank of Palestine continued to contribute 5% of its annual net profit to corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Shawa ended by extending his gratitude to the shareholders for their continued confidence in the bank’s work, to the clients for their loyalty, to the employees for their award winning performance, and to the Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA) for its ongoing support and its efforts to improve the regulatory framework under which BOP operates and which contributes to the development of the Palestinian economy.

Story By: by Andy Carvin

Online activist Ali Abdulemam (right) is greeted in Manama, Bahrain, on Feb. 23, 2011, shortly after anti-government protests began. Wanted by the government, he went into hiding the following month. He escaped from Bahrain after two years underground and made his first public appearance Wednesday in Oslo, Norway.

The Arab world was aflame in March 2011. Longtime rulers in Tunisia and Egypt had been toppled. NATO was poised to attack Libyan government forces. The Syrian uprising was just beginning. And on the small island nation of Bahrain, the government was cracking down on pro-democracy protesters.

Across Bahrain, protest leaders were rounded up and some were quickly tried, convicted and sentenced to prison. The writing was on the wall for the leaders of the movement, including Ali Abdulemam.

He was perhaps the country’s most prominent online activist. More than a decade earlier, he had founded the first online forum critical of the Bahraini government, Bahrain Online.

Abdulemam, who went into hiding at that time, made his first public appearance in more than two years when he showed up at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway on Wednesday. He sat down with me and his friend, fellow activist Nasser Weddady, and recalled this nightmarish period.

Back in 2011, Weddady was watching the crackdown from afar in Boston and was worried about his friend.

“I began to see the telltale signs,” Weddady says. “My first concern was to get in touch with Ali, first of all to make sure he wasn’t detained and then to warn him. I called frantically in the middle of the night and basically told him, ‘Ali, get the hell out of Dodge. They are coming for everybody.’ But since then I’ve learned that this warning didn’t sink in with him.”

Across the table, Abdulemam smiles somewhat uncomfortably. “Well, it was 3 a.m.,” he says with a laugh. “Nasser woke me up; he called many times until I woke up. He told me they were raiding houses and you needed to get into hiding. I tried to explain to him, in the street it’s martial law, no one can go out. It was dark outside, no light at all. He just couldn’t listen; he just kept saying, ‘You have to get out now.’ So I said, ‘I’ll see what I can do.’ Then I continued sleeping.”

Going Underground

By next morning, though, Abdulemam realized the gravity of the situation. “When I woke up, I read the news that they raided the houses of most of the activists. So it wasn’t hard to expect them to come for me in the next few hours or days.”

“That night, I slept in another house,” Abdulemam continues. “The next morning I got the news that they raided my house. They turned it upside down. And then I made some contact to find a safer place.”

When Abdulemam arrived at that safe house, he had no idea that he would remain in complete hiding for more than two years.

For months, friends and colleagues searched for Ali to no avail. The government sentenced him to 15 years in jail in absentia. No one, including his family, knew what had happened to him. Abdulemam was off the grid.

Maintaining complete silence was difficult. The hardest part, he says, was being unable to help friends and colleagues as the government crackdown continued.

“It wasn’t easy,” Abdulemam says. “It’s like a heavy stone on my chest; I cannot breathe.”

A Major Crackdown

The crackdown continued after Abdulemam went into hiding. Several leaders of the opposition movement were arrested, tortured and given life sentences in jail. At least two of his friends were tortured to death by police, he says. Doctors who assisted injured protesters were fired and even arrested, according to human rights groups.

An independent commission documented 46 deaths and more than 500 cases of torture at the hands of the government. Government critics say no meaningful reforms have been undertaken despite the report.

Abdulemam eventually managed to reach out to Weddady and make what he described as “very, very restricted contact” with him.

“I got a message, without saying his name,” Weddady explains. “I immediately understood who this was, but my biggest fear was that I was talking to somebody under arrest, and that this was a way to further dig him deeper into a hole. So through our exchange, there were coded references to things that only the two of us would know. I was finally certain this was Ali Abdulemam.”

For months, Weddady kept Abdulemam’s secret to himself, giving no hint of what he knew. “Mutual friends would come to me and ask for news,” he says. “‘What’s up with Ali?’ they’d say. And the hardest thing was to look at them and say, ‘I dunno.’ “

Weddady discreetly began making contacts to see if anyone could help get him out of Bahrain. U.S. government officials were sympathetic, he says, but they told him that Bahrain was a sovereign country and Ali was a citizen of Bahrain, so there was little they could do.

A Rescue Plan

Weddady eventually made contact with Thor Halvorssen of the Human Rights Foundation. Halvorssen decided he would organize a rescue effort — and a bold one at that.

Taking a cue from the movie Argo, he put together a camera crew that would film a fake documentary in Bahrain. Just before leaving the country, Abdulemam would swap places with a lookalike member of the crew and, if all went well, he would escape.

The plan was within weeks of implementation when Weddady lost contact with Abdulemam.

“At one point, communication stopped,” Weddady says. “I went bananas.”

Little did he know at the time that yet another group of activists had agreed to smuggle Abdulemam out of the country. Neither of them would go into details about how the actual escape transpired — they’re both concerned it could compromise other activists from making similar escapes — but other news outlets including The Atlantic have reported that it involved hiding in a secret compartment inside a car and driving across the causeway that links Bahrain to Saudi Arabia.

After several harrowing days, Abdulemam made it to London, where the British government granted him political asylum. One of the first calls he made was to his friend Weddady.

“After a few days I was able to communicate with him,” Abdulemam says. “I had a feeling that they were working on something, but I didn’t know what it was. But he was with me from the beginning, so he should be the first one to know that I made it out.”

Meanwhile, Abdulemam made another phone call: to his wife and three children, who he hadn’t seen in two years. He’s now working to bring them to Britain.

“Hopefully we’ll be reunited very soon,” he says.

Grenada made world headlines in 1983 when a split in the governing left-wing party led to the overthrow and execution of the country's charismatic leader, Maurice Bishop, and provided the pretext for a US invasion of the islands.

Set against the background of Grenada's hitherto peaceful post-independence history, the event highlighted the country's contradictory character.

From one angle, Grenada has an "exotic" flavour which appeals especially to Westerners. Known as the "Spice Island", it is the world's second-largest producer of nutmeg and is a significant producer of mace, cinnamon, ginger and cloves.

It also boasts beautiful scenery, with picturesque and fertile valleys, rainforests, fast-flowing streams, hot springs, mountain lakes, a tropical climate and excellent beaches.

Growth in investment and tourism and a construction boom helped reduce unemployment in the 1990s, but the country was dealt a serious blow in 2004 when Hurricane Ivan swept through killing dozens of people, damaging 90% of the island's buildings and devastating the nutmeg crop.

Tourism has generated its own problems, in the form of threats to the rainforest and beach erosion caused by resort projects.

Ceuta and Melilla, fragments of Europe on north Africa's Mediterranean coast, came under Spanish control around 500 years ago.

Madrid says the urban enclaves are integral parts of Spain. They are surrounded by Morocco, which views the Spanish presence as anachronistic and claims sovereignty.

But improving relations were jeopardised in November 2007 by Spanish King Juan Carlos' II first visit to the territories in more than 30 years, which King Mohammed VI strongly condemned.

Spain also controls a scattering of islets along the north African coast, including uninhabited Perejil, which was at the centre of a spat in 2002 when Moroccan soldiers occupied it before being removed by the Spanish army.

More recently, differences over Ceuta and Melilla have not prevented a warming of relations between Morocco and Spain, particularly economic ones. Morocco's premier has advocated "neighbourly" talks on the issue.

With its rebuilt 15th century cathedral, shipyards and a fish-processing plant, Ceuta is viewed by Spain as the more strategically-valuable enclave. The town is a 90-minute ferry ride from mainland Spain.

Melilla, conquered in 1497, is a modern town with a distinctive old quarter.

The enclaves are surrounded by fences, intended to deter illegal immigrants. But Ceuta and Melilla are nonetheless used by many Africans as stepping-stones to Iberia. Many migrants are caught and some drown while attempting to make the sea crossing. People trafficking is common.

After a series of increasingly-desperate attempts by would-be immigrants to surmount the barriers in 2005, Spain and Morocco agreed to deploy extra troops to try to secure the borders.

Ceuta and Melilla are linked to Spain by ferry services to Malaga, Algeciras and Almeria. Borders and defence are controlled by Madrid. Tourism is an important money-earner with duty-free goods being a big draw for visitors.

Then came a breakthrough.

Three days after the April 15 attack, the FBI identified the bombing suspects captured in surveillance images near the finish line, later identified as Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Suspect: Boston attack was payback for hits on Muslims

And a manhunt was on.

Hours after that FBI news conference, Boston and the rest of the country followed as the suspects allegedly shot and killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer in a failed attempt to seize his gun, carjacked a black Mercedes SUV whose driver cleverly escaped at a gas station, then fled to the Boston suburb of Watertown, where they were confronted by police.

Interactive map of the Boston attacks, manhunt

Now, almost a month later, two police sources have shed new light on exactly what happened when police confronted the two suspects in Watertown during the early hours of April 19, triggering a gun battle unlike anything recently seen on the streets of an American city.

Among the new details from the two police sources:

– Police fired nearly 300 rounds of ammunition within five to 10 minutes as they confronted the suspects — 100 more than initially reported. And that included one round that nearly killed Massachusetts Transit Police Officer Richard Donohue. (Others bullets struck the Tsarnaev brothers, seriously injuring Dzhokhar and contributing to the death of Tamerlan.)

– Tamerlan was the only brother armed with a handgun. The only other weapons they had were the homemade explosives that police say the brothers tossed out of the hijacked vehicle, including a few that detonated.

– Police accidentally fired on an unoccupied black SUV during the mayhem. “In the chaos, an officer or trooper (or some combination of personnel) mistook it for one of the two suspect vehicles,” David Procopio of the Massachusetts State Police told CNN.

Boston fire chief gets vote of ‘no confidence’ in handling of bombings

In the beginning, all police knew just before 11 p.m. Thursday, April 19, was that a man was down in Cambridge. They would later learn that MIT campus police officer Sean Collier had been shot and killed in his patrol car.

A short time later, at least half a dozen police agencies responded to a call from help from the Watertown Police Department, after an officer spotted two cars that the Tsarnaevs were driving.

The officers converged on the narrow residential intersection of Dexter and Laurel streets in Watertown. The Tsarnaev brothers were in the middle of the street, after lobbing the homemade explosives.

Law enforcement sources told CNN that the only other weapon the brothers had was a single handgun used by Tamerlan, but investigators have not confirmed that.

The final hours that paralyzed Boston

“We have not commented publicly on that and I’m not in a position to do so at this time,” Procopio said. “Obviously, that is part of the investigation.”

The extraordinary gun battle played out in front of Andrew Kitzenberg, who captured photos of the scene on his iPhone from his upstairs apartment on Dexter Street.

In one image taken by Kitzenberg, the two suspects are crouched behind the black SUV as they engage in gunfire. Kitzenberg said the two men had been transferring bags from a green sedan that one of the brothers drove to the scene.

At one point, Tamerlan approached police on foot, with explosives on his body and an explosive trigger, firing his handgun at the officers who returned fire, mortally wounding him. A police officer tackled him, then handcuffed him on the ground. Around the same time, Dzhokhar grabbed the wheel of the hijacked SUV and drove toward the police.

“As soon as the SUV turned around in the street,” Kitzenberg told CNN’s Drew Griffin, “it was accelerated gunfire.”

Source: Russia withheld details about Tsarnaev

At some point, Dzhokhar was shot and wounded. As he drove the SUV toward the officers who had restrained his brother, the police scrambled out of the way and Dzhokhar proceeds to drive over his brother.

Tamerlan later dies from the gunshot wound and the blunt force trauma of being run over, according to his death certificate.

Several hours later, a seriously injured Dzhokhar was arrested a few blocks away in Watertown, where he was hiding underneath a covered boat in someone’s backyard.

Massachusetts State Police and the Middlesex District Attorney’s office are investigating the entire sequence of events that night, beginning with Collier’s death in Cambridge.

“That shoot review, which is ongoing, will include examination of any potential friendly fire incidents,” Procopio said. While Donohue was the only officer seriously injured in the Watertown shooting, another officer was also grazed by a bullet.

In high-pressure situations, police often experience “contagion shooting,” a former Branford, Connecticut, police chief said. And that’s most likely what happened in Watertown.

What did suspected bomber’s widow know?

“If you look back at some of the other cases in the past, then it immediately causes a contagion and other people start shooting,” said John DeCarlo, now an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven.

The gunfight in Watertown was so intense that bullets came flying through a home about a half a block from the shooting scene.

“They landed right near our staircase, near the pedestal and the other near our closet,” said Harry Ohannesian, who showed CNN several bullet holes in his house. “They went through one, exited, went through another closet and landed under the staircase.”

The chaos in Watertown that led to the friendly fire shooting of Donohue can be compared to a war zone, DeCarlo explained.

“Things (that) occur in the very dynamic moments of a situation like this … are not necessarily — no matter how hard police work — what they are trained to do,” said the former police chief, noting that none of his remarks are intended as criticism of police.

Procopio concurred with that comparison:

“Considering the chaos and the battlefield conditions — where a pair of homicidal terrorists were firing shots and throwing bombs at police — the fact that friendly fire incidents might have occurred detracts nothing — not one bit — from the valor exhibited by the police officers and state troopers present that night,” the Massachusetts State Police spokesman said.

Timeline of the bombing, aftermath

Watch Anderson Cooper 360° weeknights 10pm ET. For the latest from AC360° click here.

A pathologist in India says post-mortem tests are still being conducted on an eight-year-old girl from Birmingham who died while on holiday there in April.

Gurkiren Kaur Loyal's parents said she died after having an injection as part of treatment for mild dehydration.

Her body was returned to England without its organs so doctors here were unable to establish a cause of death.

The Rajindra Hospital, in Patiala, where Gurkiren died, said her organs were still being prepared for tests.

Gurkiren became ill while visiting the Punjab with her family during the Easter holidays.

Her parents took her to a local doctor for treatment on 2 April, where they said she was given an injection of an unknown substance and fell ill immediately.

She was taken to hospital but died by the time she arrived.

The girl's body was flown back to the UK and sent to the Birmingham Coroner's Office for a post-mortem examination, which it was unable to carry out because her organs were missing.

The coroner's office has since written to the Foreign Office for help requesting a return of the organs.

Professor Manjit Singh Bal, from the hospital, said they were planning to carry out microscopic examinations on the eight-year-old's body parts.

He said he had retained her heart, lungs, brain and part of her liver at the department of pathology.

He said that the heart was enlarged and had an area of calcification.

Gurkiren had been diagnosed with a heart defect years earlier and had then had a stent fitted at Birmingham Children's Hospital.

Her mother Amrit Kaur Loyal, from Hockley, said a doctor in the UK had declared Gurkiren fit to travel to India.

She said the Indian GP who administered the injection did not answer her questions about what it contained and whether it was necessary.

Four men have been given prison sentences in the US state of Minnesota in connection with the recruitment of fighters for a Somali militant group.

Abdifatah Isse, Salah Ahmed and Ahmed Mahamud were jailed for three years by a federal judge after pleading guilty to providing material support to al-Shabab, a designated terrorist group.

Omer Mohamed was given 12 years for conspiracy to provide material support.

Prosecutors had recommended reduced sentences because the men co-operated.

Isse and Ahmed admitted travelling to Somalia in December 2007 and attending a training camp. They left the East African state in the spring of 2008 after having second thoughts.

Mahamud said he had helped raise money so that others could travel to Somalia.

Although Mohamed was not accused of travelling to Somalia, he admitted that he had helped some recruits get plane tickets.

He was characterised by prosecutors as a local leader, and witnesses at the trial of another defendant said he had used his knowledge of the Koran to convince young men to fight.

Mohamed's lawyer denied that he played any role in recruitment.

"These defendants, by providing material support to a designated terrorist organisation, broke both the law and the hearts of family members across the Twin Cities," the US Attorney for Minnesota, Todd Jones, said in a statement.

Al-Shabab means The Youth in Arabic. It emerged as the radical youth wing of Somalia's now-defunct Union of Islamic Courts in 2006, as it fought Ethiopian forces who had entered Somalia to back the weak interim government.

Although it has been removed from several key towns and cities by government forces, backed by troops from the African Union, al-Shabab still controls much of the country.

Somalia is widely regarded as a failed state, hit by numerous conflicts since the overthrow of long-serving ruler Siad Barre in 1991.

A new UN-backed government is the first one in more than two decades to be recognised by the US and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

At first sight, it seems unlikely – a continent most associated with war and famine producing globally significant scientific research.

"It has also become an attractive proposition for Africans to remain on home soil, rather than seek research opportunities abroad.

The Aids epidemic has ravaged major parts of the continent, but it was research led from Africa that made the connection in the 1980s between Aids, then prevalent among homosexual men in the US, and "slim disease" in Africa. HIV was the cause of both.

Since then, Africa has seen some of the most important work in combating HIV – from demonstrating and tackling mother-to-child transmission, to research among people who appear to have immunity to the disease.

"Africa-based research has clearly contributed to the fact that in many countries there are now fewer deaths from Aids and fewer new HIV infections," said Peter Piot, the former director of UNAids.

The potential for Africa to play a big role in global science is there, but questions remain over research funding and the appropriateness of research led by foreign donors.

African solutions

Last year, the African Union set up a science and technology advisory panel to develop a more Africa-centred research and development environment.

Its co-chair, Harvard's professor of the Practice of International Development Calestous Juma, says: "As a latecomer, Africa is entering the field of global science facing major challenges but also opportunities.

"It can build on the vast quantities of scientific and technical knowledge available worldwide to solve local problems in fields such as agriculture, water, health, education and environment.

"The strategic focus for Africa should therefore be on generating research that has immediate local use. It is through such strategies that Africa will be able to make its own unique contributions to the global scientific enterprise.

"Achieving this goal will require a focus on building a new generation of research universities that are focused on problem-solving and have direct links with enterprises and local communities.

"While the focus in industrialised countries is 'science and technology', Africa's challenges call for 'technology and science'."

Certainly, the will is there. The key issue is how significant a part ideas from Africa will play within the future of global scientific research. On this, Justin Jonas is optimistic.

"The MeerKAT radio telescope, designed and being built by South Africa as an SKA precursor, will be the most powerful instrument in its class until the construction of the SKA," he says.

"Initiatives such as the SKA and MeerKAT change the image that the world has of Africa, and perhaps more importantly, the image Africans have of their own continent."

Science Africa, a BBC science festival from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, runs from 24 March to 29 March. Much of the content will be broadcast on the BBC World Service. All the scientists featured in this article will be speaking at the festival.

Your comments

Africa is an exporter of talent. Every year thousands of the best and brightest students leave to study at universities in Europe and America. Every intelligent young African dreams of getting a scholarship to study abroad. The focus of governments and NGOs is very much on basic education yet if more research was done in Africa everyone would benefit. Research attracts talent and money and inspires students at all levels. Africa shouldn't just focus on local problems but needs to aspire to be at the core of global science to stop the brain drain and make the best of its talent. Projects like the square kilometre array discussed in this BBC news item are just a start. Dave Kidd, Woldia, Ethiopia

Africa has been the birthplace of many in the science field including many doctors who are treating patients in the west. If all these talented people could be encouraged to stay home and the African governments equipped them to practice and complete their research from Africa, then we could take control of our own science. In the end progress hinges on government policy that encourages scientific innovation and research. Ambrose Kibuuka, Entebbe, Uganda

Yes, Africa should take control of its science. We have spent most of our time waiting and depending on the west to help develop Africa. This is demoralizing and has really gotten us nowhere. Why can't we as Africans accomplish this with our own volition? Leaders all over Africa need to rebuild our African pride and the faith of young Africans in their leaders, this is one way I think they could achieve this and gain a respectable place in the world as peers. KB, Milwaukee, USA

Julian Siddle deserves much credit for writing this article. It articulates a vision that will appeal to the competence and ingenuity of many Africans. The priority to find "African solutions" would bolster and diversify national economies currently too dependent on low-wages and unhealthy jobs in mining and oil industries designed primarily to benefit foreign investors. Jens A. Jorgensen, Brabant Wallon, Belgium

I completely agree with the idea that Africa will, in the not too distant future be a hub for science development but also in other fields. We have tried here in Kampala to develop a new approach to higher education by giving professionals an opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge by studying at home or in the office. The Virtual University of Uganda, a project we started in 2011, has proved, after one year of operation, to be hugely successful. Being the first fully online institution of higher learning in sub-Saharan Africa, it has given us an opportunity to develop new methods of learning and teaching. Well done BBC for this inspiring piece and I am sure that the BBC science festival from Makerere University will be a success! Professor Michel Lejeune, Kampala, Uganda

The science discussion is long overdue. Every culture can impact on science and technology, it is up to each community to take control of their destiny. We Africans have to take a second look at education. We must develop a culture that makes things, it is from there that we'll develop technical skills that will employ the population and power the economies. Joe Agu, Santa Clara, California, USA

There are two ways for Africa to develop its scientific potential. First, by exploiting the advantages offered by innovation. Here because of escalating research and development costs as well as shrinking budgets there is a need for solutions and products that are simple, less costly for everyday use. Secondly, we can target "knowledge outsourcing" and build a niche in that area, by undertaking to put our knowledge in solving costly processes for which knowledge costs in western economies are simply too much to sustain. Allan Okoth, Nairobi, Kenya