Expedition 36 ..[ 3125 ]

Expedition 36 Soyuz Launch

A Soyuz rocket with Expedition 36/37 Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Flight Engineers Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Karen Nyberg of NASA, onboard, launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station. Yurchikhin, Nyberg and Parmitano will remain aboard the station until mid-November, 2013.
Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Notification ...[ 3124 ]

Notification 
Was absent due to an accident (fall) from 12/5 to 24/5 when left the hospital after surgery on the left hip, having temporarily disabling problems.
-
Γνωστοποίηση
Απουσίασα λόγω ατυχήματος (πέσιμο) από τις 12/5 μεχρι 24/5 οπότε εξήλθα  από το νοσοκομείο κατόπιν επέμβασης στον ΑΡ  γοφό, εχοντας  προσωρινά κινητικά προβλήματα.

Genoa: ship brought down a tower. ...[ 3123 ]

Several dead after cargo ship collides with Genoa port tower

50-metre tower at entrance to Italian city's Old Port collapses, leaving several dead and missing

• John Hooper in Rome// 

• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 8 May 2013 13.59 BST

Click and see the VIDEO

Link to video: Genoa cargo ship crash: search for survivors .
.
Up to 10 people are feared dead after a container ship smashed into the 50-metre (170ft) port tower of Genoa, bringing it crashing down.
Four people, including a pilot and two coast guards, are confirmed drowned. On Wednesday morning, the death toll was reported to have climbed to seven. Another three people were missing.
.
Some of the victims were pulled from the vast quantity of rubble that landed partly on the quayside and partly in the water after the accident. The tower stood at the entrance to the so-called Old Port near the centre of Genoa.
.
Mud churned up by the falling masonry made conditions unusually difficult for fire brigade and coast guard divers who worked through the night in an attempt to find survivors, the rescue services said. Some of the missing were thought to have been in the tower's lift at the moment of impact.
.
During the night, the sound was heard, from deep inside the rubble, of a mobile telephone ringing. But the ringing stopped after a short while, before the searchers could use the call to pinpoint the telephone.
Four people were reported injured, two of them seriously.
.
 

The port tower at Genoa before a container ship smashed into it.

 Photograph: Massimo Cebrelli/AFP/Getty Images 

.  A security guard at the port who declined to give his name was reported as saying he was on duty at a checkpoint when two young men came racing past shouting: "The tower! The tower!" He added: "I went out and the tower was no longer there. In its place, there were the bows of a ship."
According to other accounts, however, it was the stern of the vessel – a 40,594-tonne container ship – that brought down the tower. The ship involved in the collision was the Jolly Nero ("Black Joker"), belonging to Ignazio Messina & C.
.
Stefano Messina, the managing director, said: "We are very upset – more than that. It is something that has never happened before. We are distraught."
The head of the port authority, Luigi Merlo, said the ship was coming out of the port when it struck the tower. There was no obvious explanation for the disaster, he said. "It was a perfect evening. The sea was calm. There was no wind. Visibility was perfect." But he added: "The manoeuvre ought not to have been carried out in that area."
.
One theory voiced on Wednesday was that one of the Jolly Nero's two engines might have jammed, making the ship impossible to control.
The coast guards operating from Genoa's imposing port tower were responsible for the northern sector of the Tyrrhenian sea. Radar installed in the operations room at the top of the tower could detect ships up to 40 nautical miles away. The tower hosted the offices of the coast guard and the pilots who guided ships in and out of the port.-

Diamonds..for ever, ...[ 3122 ]

$50M diamond heist in Belgium leads to 31 arrests

Robbers impersonating police staged airport diamond heist in February

The Associated Press

Posted: May 8, 2013 6:53 AM ET

Last Updated: May 8, 2013 4:06 PM ET

Passengers planes are parked on the tarmac of Zaventem's international airport near Brussels, scene of one of the biggest heists the industry has seen. (Eric Vidal/Reuters)

23

33

Unlike the brilliant thieves in Ocean's Eleven, it appears that those behind the clockwork-precision, $50 million US diamond heist at Brussels Airport may not get a Hollywood ending.
After three months of virtual silence on the matter, authorities struck this week, detaining at least 31 people in a three-nation sweep and recovering so many diamonds from the loot Antwerp traders lost that they are still figuring out the exact value.
.
Officials said that among the people held in Belgium, France and Switzerland on Tuesday and Wednesday are some with violent criminal pasts; the one person held in France is believed to have been one of the robbers at the airport. The evidence seized includes large sums of cash, precious stones and luxury cars.
.
"It was a total surprise for us," said Caroline De Wolf of the Antwerp World Diamond Center, whose traders lost millions in the Feb. 18 heist. "But we were delighted when we heard."
.
Six to eight people were detained in Geneva, and 24 in and around Brussels. It was unclear exactly what roles each suspect may have played..Some 250 policemen were involved in the dawn raid in the Belgian capital, and many of the two dozen suspects were being interrogated late Wednesday. It could take at least another day before it's clear how many will be placed under arrest, said Anja Bijnens, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office.
.
Perhaps the most important discovery was in Geneva of stones that could immediately be linked to the cache spirited away from the airport.
That theft ranks among the biggest diamond heists of recent times, and many liken it to the plot of the 2001 Vegas heist movie, Ocean's Eleven, which stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, for its clinically clean execution.
.
"In Switzerland, we have found diamonds that we can already say are coming from the heist, and in Belgium large amounts of money have been found. And the investigation is still ongoing," said Jean-Marc Meilleur, a spokesman for the Brussels prosecutor's office. He said police had also found luxury cars.
.
Meilleur was scant on detail, yielding no clues as to how police got on the trail of the suspects.
In Geneva, prosecutors said in a statement that "a very large quantity of diamonds was seized" during the sweep "coming from the spectacular heist at Brussels airport." While Belgian authorities spoke of six detentions in Switzerland, Geneva prosecutors put it at eight, including a businessman and a lawyer.
.
The value of the diamonds recovered was still being estimated. It was unclear how many of the other stolen diamonds are still missing.
The Feb. 18 heist was stunning and brazen.
The stones from the global diamond center of Antwerp had been loaded on a plane bound for Zurich when robbers, dressed in dark police clothing and hoods, drove through a hole they had cut in the airport fence in two black cars with blue police lights flashing.
.
They drove onto the tarmac, approached the plane, brandished machine guns, offloaded the diamonds, then left in an operation that barely took five minutes. Later that night, investigators found the charred remains of a van most likely used in the heist.
.
Despite this week's developments, De Wolf of the Antwerp World Diamond Center said that a full resolution could still be some time off.
.
`'When they were stolen, the diamonds were all in different parcels. Maybe now they have all been mixed up," De Wolf said. "You need quite a bit of expertise to check them all — size, color, purity. It doesn't happen in one-two-three."

Sounding Rockets...[ 3121 ]

Sounding Rockets Launch from the Marshall Islands

Red and white vapor clouds filled the skies over the Marshall Islands as part of NASA’s Equatorial Vortex Experiment (EVEX). The red cloud was formed by the release of lithium vapor and the white tracer clouds were formed by the release of trimethyl aluminum (TMA). These clouds allowed scientists on the ground from various locations in the Marshall Islands to observe the neutral winds in the ionosphere.

The EVEX was successfully conducted during the early morning hours on May 7 from Roi Namur, Republic of the Marshall Islands. A NASA Terrier-Oriole sounding rocket was launched at 3:39 a.m. EDT and was followed by a launch of Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket 90 seconds later. Preliminary indications are that both rockets released their vapor clouds of lithium or trimethyl aluminum, which were observed from various locations in the area, and all science instruments on the rockets worked as planned.

Image Credit: NASA/John Grant

Bulgarian honor bid in DC...[ 3120 ]

Bulgarian honor bid in DC stirs Holocaust debate

ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press, By ERIC TUCKER and RANDY HERSCHAFT, Associated Press

Updated 1:25 am, Tuesday, May 7, 2013

• 
  This photo provided by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, shows Aleksander Belev, center, facing camera, the Bulgarian Commissioner for Jewish Questions, overseeing the deportation of Macedonian Jews from Bulgarian occupied Skopje, Yugoslavia, in March 1943. 
  .
  German soldiers can be seen at left. A request by the Bulgarian Embassy to name a Washington street intersection after a favorite native son, a man credited with helping save the country’s Jewish population from deportation, has gotten tangled up in a broader debate about whether Bulgaria is accurately accounting for the actions of its leaders during the Holocaust. 
  .
  A tense exchange between the embassy and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has played out behind the scenes as the D.C. Council prepares to consider honoring Dimitar Peshev this month. The debate underscores not only the complexities of Holocaust history but also the difficulty countries can face reconciling the heroic deeds of an individual during World War II with the record of a nation as a whole.
   Photo: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Via Central Zionist Archive

WASHINGTON (AP) — A request to name a Washington, D.C., intersection after a Bulgarian politician credited with helping save the country's Jewish population during World War II has hit an unexpected bump.
.
The request by the Bulgarian Embassy tapped into a broader debate about how accurately the country is accounting for its past.
.
The embassy wants to honor Dimitar Peshev, a former vice president of Parliament who helped prevent the deportation of tens of thousands of Bulgarian Jews.
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The D.C. Council asked the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to review the embassy's letter. The museum says neither the letter nor a recent declaration from the Bulgarian government tells the complete story.
.
The debate underscores the challenge of reconciling the heroic deeds of an individual during World War II with the record of his nation.

Plane crash at Madrid air show..[ 3119 ]

Plane crash at Madrid air show - video

. theguardian // Monday 6 May 2013

Amateur footage shows a plane crashing into a hangar during an air show in Madrid on Sunday. 

The 34-year-old pilot dies in the crash. He was reportedly a commander who took part in operations in Libya.

 He is flying a vintage 1950s HA-200 Saeta at an aerial acrobatics show at Cuatrovientos airfield when the plane takes a sudden nosedive

Laser Geodynamics Satellite...[ 3118 ]

LAGEOS I, 1976

 

The LAGEOS I, Laser Geodynamics Satellite, was launched on May 4, 1976 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The two-foot diameter, 900-pound satellite orbited the Earth from pole to pole and measured the movements of the Earth's surface relative to earthquakes, continental drift, and other geophysical phenomena.

The mirrored surface of the satellite precisely reflected laser beams from ground stations for accurate ranging measurements. Scientists at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. came up with the idea for the satellite and built it at the Marshall Center.

Image Credit: NASA/MSFC

"Maximum performance takeoff" ?...[ 3117 ]

'Confluence of circumstances' in fiery Bagram plane crash?

By Tom Watkins, CNN

May 3, 2013 -- Updated 2150 GMT (0550 HKT)

Viral video provides clues to 747 crash

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• "It really is nauseating to look at," pilot says of plane crash video
• National Air Cargo "will not speculate as to the cause of the accident"
• Military vehicles were "properly loaded and secured," company says

(CNN) -- Four days after a U.S. civilian-operated cargo jet plunged into the ground shortly after takeoff from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, killing all seven people aboard, one expert said that a number of factors likely were involved in the incident.
.

"Accidents, of which this was among the worst that I've ever seen, are typically a confluence of circumstances of seemingly unrelated events, which all coalesce to create a disaster," said Arthur Rosenberg, a pilot, engineer and partner in the New York-based law firm, Soberman & Rosenberg.

.

The doomed plane's final moments appear to have been captured by a dashboard camera inside a vehicle on the base.

.

The approximately three-minute video shows what appears to be the National Airlines jet starting its climb at 11:20 a.m. local time Monday from the base.

.

National Air Cargo, the parent of National Airlines, said the flight had refueled at Bagram en route from Camp Bastian, a British military base in Afghanistan, to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

.

 

Multiple factors to examine in 747 probe

 .

National said the aircraft had landed uneventfully in Bagram and no additional cargo or people were taken on there, it said.

Prior to departure, the cargo was reinspected, it added.

.

"The cargo contained within the aircraft was properly loaded and secured, and had passed all necessary inspections prior to departing Camp Bastian," the company said in a statement posted on its website.

.

It identified the crew members as two pilots, two first officers, a loadmaster and two people involved in maintenance.

U.S. military plane crashes in Kyrgyzstan

The pilots were likely doing a "maximum performance takeoff" in an attempt to climb to altitude as quickly as possible, thereby limiting exposure to any attempts to shoot it down, Rosenberg said Friday, citing the jet's pitch attitude, which he said appeared higher than normal.

.

National Airlines, which specializes in moving freight for the military and businesses, did not immediately return a call asking about whether the pilots had, in fact, performed such a takeoff.

About 12 seconds into the video, the Boeing 747-400 appears to stall, rolls from side to side, and drops.

.

At 23 seconds, the plane crashes nose first into the ground off the side of the road, erupting into a ball of orange flame and black smoke.

CNN cannot confirm the video's authenticity. It bears the date 2013/02/01, but date stamps can easily be inaccurate.

.

The cargo aboard ill-fated Flight NCR102 included five mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles that were being taken out of Afghanistan as part of the drawdown of U.S. forces, said Shirley Kaufman of National Air Cargo.

.

MRAPs can weigh 12 tons to 24 tons apiece, depending on the model, according to a 2011 Congressional Research Service report.

That would mean the MRAPs had a total weight of at least 60 tons, which is within the jet's specifications, according to Boeing.

If the takeoff had been rougher than usual, "it could have caused the cargo in the back of the plane to become loose," Rosenberg said. If that happened, and the cargo slid to the rear of the plane, it could have left the plane with an improper weight and balance, he said.

.

He compared that situation with what happens when a heavy person and a light person get on either end of a seesaw. "The light person is never going to get the heavy person off the ground," he said.

.

In the case of cargo that was not properly placed or secured, "You've got a big, heavy person at the end of the airplane, which outweighs the flight control's capacity to override that weight."

Rosenberg's law firm specializes in litigation stemming from plane crashes. He does not have direct knowledge from the investigation.

.

The critical role of the loadmaster in such flights was outlined in a posting published last month on Bagram's website.

.

"When you are a pilot flying a C-130 Hercules over potentially hostile territory, the last thing you need to worry about is whether your cargo is secure," it says. "That's why each sortie the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron flies includes two loadmasters."

.

They are responsible for checking all the systems in the rear of the aircraft and overseeing the loading of the cargo, then making sure it stays that way, it says.

.

"Upon takeoff, we'll be looking back at the cargo until we get off the ground, making sure none of the chains break or pop out," Airman 1st Class Michael Brown says in the airfield's story. "If they do, we let the pilots know... and we taxi back."

.

"There's a lot of trust that we put in our loadmasters," said Capt. Kenneth Pedersen, 774th EAS aircraft commander, in the same story. "They're pretty autonomous ... making sure the cargo is secure and loaded correctly."

.

Other possible contributors to the crash include malfunction of the flaps on the wings, or some other flight-control system or even a massive loss of power, Rosenberg said.

But Rosenberg said he considered the last possibility to be the least likely, given the redundancy built into the four-engine jet. "It's a fantastic plane," he said.

.

The video leaves no doubt that, whatever the cause, the plane wound up flying too slow to generate sufficient lift on the wings to keep the airplane aloft, he said.

.

"In all my years of being involved in aerospace and piloting and litigation, I have never, ever, ever seen such a dramatic crash sequence as this one," he said. "It really is nauseating to look at, a monster like that falling out of the sky. That's not supposed to happen."

.

Rosenberg predicted that the cockpit voice recorder and digital data recorder will provide investigators with the answers to the questions they are asking.

.

In its statement, National Air Cargo said it "will not speculate as to the cause of the accident," and that it was fully cooperating with authorities as the investigation continues.

Cargo plane crashes in Afghanistan...[ 3116 ]

Cargo plane crashes in Afghanistan, killing 7 Americans

By Holly Yan and Dave Alsup, CNN

May 1, 2013 -- Updated 1831 GMT (0231 HKT)

747 crash caught on video 

VIDEO -->>
-

.
(CNN) -- A cargo plane crashed in Afghanistan killing all seven crew members on board Monday.

All seven were U.S. citizens, the cargo carrier National Airlines said.

The crash happened shortly after takeoff from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, the U.S.-based company said. The Boeing 747-400 was en route to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

"This was a purely cargo flight and no passengers were aboard," a company statement said. "Cargo consisted of vehicles and routine general cargo."

Multiple factors to examine in 747 probe

Inside a firefight with the Taliban

Dangerous challenge for Afghan police

.

National specializes in moving freight for the military and businesses, as well as charter passenger service in the Middle East.

The cause of the crash has not been determined.

But Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said his group shot down the aircraft and that "several foreign soldiers were killed."

That claim could not be immediately verified. But in the past, the Taliban has exaggerated casualty figures.

.

"This is a devastating loss for our family and we'll work diligently with authorities to find the cause," National Airlines President Glen Joerger said in the statement.

.

"Our focus at this time is on the family members of those we've lost, and on assisting the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority in their investigations."

Six of the victims were from Michigan, National said, and they were identified as Brad Hasler, Jeremy Lipka, Jamie Brokaw, Rinku Summan, Michael Sheets and Gary Stockdale.

The other victim, Timothy Garrett, was from Kentucky.

May Day protestors...[ 3115 ]

Clashes Roil Istanbul as World Marks May Day

Turkish police clash with protestors at a May Day demonstration in Istanbul, May 1, 2013.

Selah Hennessy

May 01, 2013

LONDON — Police in Istanbul have clashed with May Day demonstrators. The protestors were trying to reach the main square, where a planned demonstration had been banned. Elsewhere in Europe, May Day rallies were peaceful.

In Istanbul, police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse demonstrators.

The government had banned a rally in Taksim Square, which is undergoing renovation. They said the ban was for security reasons, and clashes began after hundreds of people tried to bypass barricades around the square.

Ercan Karakas, a member of main opposition Republican People's Party, was there. He said May Day has been celebrated peacefully before by thousands of people and no one suffered, because May Day celebrations were not prohibited by the government. Prohibition, he said, always leads to clashes.

• 
  A May Day protester jumps away from a water cannon during clashes between riot police and protesters trying to break through barricades, Istanbul, Turkey, May 1, 2013.

   ..

International Workers' Day, which is commonly known as May Day, celebrates the international labor movement. It’s a national holiday in more than 80 countries around the world.

Elsewhere in Europe, demonstrations to mark the annual celebration went peacefully.

In Greece, workers marked May Day with demonstrations and a 24-hour strike that hit transport systems and hospitals. In the capital Athens, thousands protested against government spending cuts and tax hikes.

Kostas Tsikrikas, president of the Confederation of Civil Servants trade union, said his organization would continue to battle against austerity. He said Greeks will continue to fight to overturn this unfair and dead-end policy that is destroying millions of jobs on a national and European level and is driving large swathes of society to poverty and destruction.

The Greek government is implementing a tough austerity policy spurred by its international lenders.

Spain, Greece struggle

The European Union and the International Monetary Fund have pledged 240 billion euros - or nearly $320 billion - to Greece since 2010. Greece remains mired in trouble, however, and now is in its sixth year of recession.

Alexis Tsipras, leader of the opposition party Syriza, joined Wednesday’s protest. He said the government had gone too far with its austerity measures, and that it is the workers on the frontline who will rebuild the Greek economy.

In Spain, the two largest trade unions urged workers and the unemployed to join over 80 demonstrations.

It was reported this week that Europe’s unemployment rate has reached an all-time high. Within the 17 countries that use the euro, 12.1 percent of the population, or 19.2 million people, now are unemployed.

In Greece and Spain, the numbers were highest - hovering at about one-quarter of the population in each country.

Volcanic activity on Heard Island...[ 3114 ]

 Lava Flow on Mawson Peak, Heard Island 

In October 2012, satellites measured subtle signals that suggested volcanic activity on remote Heard Island. 
.
These images, captured several months later, show proof of an eruption on Mawson Peak.  
.
April 7, 2013, Mawson's steep-walled summit crater had filled, and a trickle of lava had spilled down the volcano’s southwestern flank. 
.
On April 20, the lava flow remained visible and had even widened slightly just below the summit.

These natural-color images were collected by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite.

• › Read More

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

Rallies in Europe on May Day...[ 3113 ]

Thousands rally against European austerity on May Day

By Clare Kane MADRID | Wed May 1, 2013 9:09am EDT
. 

(Reuters) - Workers hit by lower living standards and record high unemployment staged May Day protests across Europe on Wednesday, hoping to persuade euro zone governments of the case for easing austerity measures and boosting growth.
Thousands of protesters marched in Madrid, snaking up the Gran Via central shopping street, waving flags and carrying placards reading "austerity ruins and kills" and "reforms are robbery".
"The future of Spain looks terrible, we're going backwards with this government," said former civil servant Alicia Candelas, 54, who has been without a job for two years.
The Spanish economy has shrunk for seven consecutive quarters, and unemployment stands at a record 27 percent.
There had "never been a May 1 with more reason to take to the streets", said Candido Mendez, head of UGT, one of two main unions that called on workers and the unemployed to join more than 80 demonstrations across the country.
Trains and ferries were canceled in Greece, and bank and hospital staff walked off the job after the main public and private sector unions there called a 24-hour strike, the latest in a string of protests in a country in its sixth year of recession.
About 1,000 police officers were deployed in Athens, but the demonstration passed off peacefully, with about 5,000 striking workers, pensioners and students marching to parliament holding banners reading: "We won't become slaves, take to the streets!".
Earlier, hundreds of protesters affiliated with the Communist KKE party raised their arms in a clenched fist salute on Syntagma Square, scene of violent clashes between police and protesters during previous protests.
"The economy won't be resurrected by the bankrupt banks and the corrupt political system but by the workers and their fight," Alexis Tsipras, leader of the anti-bailout Syriza party, told protesters.
"Our message today is very clear: 'Enough with these policies which hurt people and make the poor poorer,'" said Ilias Iliopoulos, general secretary of public sector union ADEDY.
Turnout in Greece was lower than last year when 100,000 marched on Syntagma Square. The May 1 holiday falls a few days before Greek Orthodox Easter, so public schools were shut and many workers have left for holidays.
AUSTERITY VS GROWTH
Four heavily indebted euro zone countries - Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus - have received sovereign bailouts.
With little or no sign of growth in the euro zone, the European Central Bank is expected to cut interest rates to a record low 0.5 percent at its policy meeting on Thursday.
But analysts say that alone will do little to lift the euro zone out of recession, and several governments are now openly discussing policies to try to boost growth.
Italy's new Prime Minister Enrico Letta told Germany on Tuesday that his government would meet its budget commitments but expected Europe to drop its austerity mantra and do more to lift growth.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, seen by many in southern Europe as the champion of the euro zone's belt-tightening approach, struck a conciliatory tone, saying "budget consolidation and growth need not be contradictory".
Tens of thousands marched in Italy's major cities to demand government action to tackle unemployment - at 11.5 percent overall and 40 percent among the young - and an end to austerity and tax evasion. Most marches were peaceful, but demonstrators in Turin threw hollowed eggs filled with black paint at police.
.
Pope Francis made a May Day appeal for governments to tackle unemployment, as "work is fundamental to the dignity of a person".
"I think of how many, and not just young people, are unemployed, many times due to a purely economic conception of society, which seeks selfish profit, beyond the parameters of social justice," he told tens of thousands of people packed into St. Peter's Square for his weekly general audience.
.
Traditional May Day marches were also taking place outside the euro zone. In Russia, about 1.5 million people were expected to take part in parades, a fraction of the millions that used to march in Soviet times.

In Istanbul, Turkish riot police fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse crowds gathering for a rally on what has become a traditional labor holiday. A Reuters photographer said at least six people were injured in the clashes.
Thousands of police were stationed across the city center to block access to the main Taksim square.
.
Authorities often use force to prevent the rally in the city center, having this year denied trade unions permission to march on Taksim, saying construction work there would make it too dangerous.
Two officers were wounded by stones and metal objects thrown at police lines, state-run TRT television said.

Bomb attack in Russia's Dagestan...[ 3112 ]

Bomb attack in Russia's Dagestan, home to Boston suspects' parents, kills 2

 May 01, 2013// Associated Press

MAKHACHKALA, Russia –  Russian police say a bomb has exploded in a busy shopping area in the capital of the restive republic of Dagestan, killing at least two people.

.
A spokeswoman for the republic's Interior Ministry, Fatina Ubaidatova, says there were also an undetermined number of people injured in Wednesday's explosion. She did not have details on the force or construction of the bomb.

Dagestan is plagued by Islamic insurgents who frequently mount small attacks on police. 
 
The republic is home to the parents of the suspects in last month's Boston Marathon bombing. 
.
One of the suspects, who was killed in a shootout with Boston police, paid a long visit to Dagestan last year and investigators are probing whether he had contact with extremists there.-