Understand The Times, International

January 24 - Witness Says He Saw Man Carrying Flaming Suitcase in Russian Airport Before Blast

Article: Misc.

A witness to the massive explosion that killed at least 35 people at Moscow's busiest airport Monday says he saw a man carrying a flaming suitcase seconds before the blast. "The guy standing next to me was torn to pieces," he added.

Russian officials said the blast killed 35 people and wounded 180. "From the preliminary information we have it was a terror attack," President Dmitry Medvedev told officials.

Amateur video posted on YouTube showed the international arrivals terminal at Domodedovo Airport engulfed by smoke and splattered with body parts after the mid-afternoon terror attack sprayed shrapnel, screws and ball bearings at passengers and workers. Hundreds of people were in the loosely guarded area at the time.

Medvedev said the explosion demonstrated that security regulations had been breached and ordered Moscow police to beef up security at Moscow's two other commercial airports and other key transport facilities, including the subway system, the target of past terror attacks.

In Washington, President Obama condemned the "outrageous act of terrorism against the Russian people" and offered assistance to Russian investigators.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was "deeply disturbed" by the reported terror attacks. "I strongly condemn it," he said on Twitter. "NATO and Russia stand together in the fight against terrorism."

Pettis and his team found that neonicotinoids were directly responsible for increasing bees' susceptibility to infectious diseases, even at levels so low that they are practically undetected. This fact alone debunks the myth perpetuated by Bayer and other neonicotinoid producers that the chemicals are safe when used "properly", because there, in fact, seems to be no proper or safe level.

"This new research from America confirms that at very, very low concentrations, neonicotinoid chemicals can make a honeybee vulnerable to fatal disease," said Matt Shardlow, director of the charity Buglife, to the Independent. "If these pesticides are causing large numbers of honeybees, bumblebees, solitary bees, hoverflies and moths to get sick and die from diseases they would otherwise have survived, then neonicotinoid chemicals could be the main cause of both colony collapse disorder and the loss of wild pollinator populations."