Cyprus Mail www.cyprus-mail.com
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
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Explosions hit Boston race Deaths and injuries after massive blasts hit spectators at finishing line of famous marathon By Scott Malone and Tim McLaughlin
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WO EXPLOSIONS hit the Boston Marathon as runners crossed the finish line yesterday, killing at least two people and injuring 23 on a day when tens of thousands of people pack the streets to watch one of the world’s best known marathons. Boston police also reported another explosion at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, which is three miles from the marathon’s finishing line. “We are not certain that these incidents are related, but we are treating them as if they are,” Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis told a news conference. Boston police said two people were killed and 23 injured in the explosions on the marathon scene. Two high-level US law enforcement officials said one or more bombs were responsible for the explosions. “It sounded like a sonic boom. I haven’t stopped shaking yet,” said Melissa Stanley, who watched her daughter cross the finish line four minutes before the explosions. A fireball rose from behind spectators and a row of flags, video posted on the New York Post website showed. Other pictures showed blood stains on the ground and several people knocked down. Massachusetts General
Hospital was treating 19 victims of the explosion in its emergency room, six of them in critical condition, a spokeswoman said. Witnesses said two explosions hit as spectators were cheering on people finishing the Boston Marathon, which was first run in 1897. Reporters in the media centre heard two blasts. Mike Mitchell of Vancouver, Canada, a runner who had finished the race, said he was looking back at the finish line and saw a “massive explosion.” Smoke rose 50 feet in the air, Mitchell said. People began running and screaming after hearing the noise, Mitchell said. “Everybody freaked out,” Mitchell said. Ambulances, fire trucks and dozens of police vehicles converged at the finish line. US President Barack Obama was notified and directed his administration to provide whatever assistance was necessary, the White House said. Obama was being briefed by Homeland Security Adviser Lisa Monaco and other staff, the White House said. Authorities tightened security in Washington and New York. “Blood everywhere, victims carried out on stretchers. I saw someone lose their leg, people are crying,” the Boston Globe’s Steve Silva reported from the scene, the
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Chaos in the seconds after two bombs exploded near the finishing line of the Boston marathon
Cypriot bank depositors set to lose up to €8b LARGE depositors who kept their money in the two biggest Cypriot banks stand to lose up to €8.3 billion through the restructuring of the two institutions, a European Commission document showed. It is part of an estimated total €10.6 billion contribution from investors for restructuring the Cypriot banking sector, which also includes wiping out shareholders and bondholders in Laiki, or Popular, Bank as well as imposing losses on junior bondholders in the Bank of Cyprus and a deposit-for-equity swap. Cyprus will close Laiki, its second biggest bank, and restructure its biggest, Bank of Cyprus, in return for an interna-
tional loan of €10 billion over three years, without which the country would be unable to pay its debts. The Eurogroup decision on March 25 set the terms of the bailout, which included massive losses for uninsured depositors with over €100,000 in Laiki and Bank of Cyprus. In a first for the eurozone, the two banks’ depositors are being forced to contribute to the recapitalisation of the institutions, along with shareholders and bond holders. “The bail-in of uninsured depositors of Laiki and Bank of Cyprus will provide an estimated contribution to recapitalisa-
tion of €8.3 billion,” said the document, dated April 12 and marked “final”. In a footnote, it added: “This is a maximum estimate. The final amount will depend inter alia on the conversion under the debt-for-equity swap in Bank of Cyprus and the recoveries of Laiki Bank.” A Cyprus Central Bank source said yesterday, however, that the total amount of depositors’ contribution cannot be calculated until the government completes its list of those organisations and institutions exempted from the haircut in the two banks.
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