US President Barack Obama called Boston mayor Tom Menino and Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick to offer federal assistance in responding to explosions that rocked the end of the Boston Marathon.

AT least 122 firearms from a botched US undercover operation have been found at crime scenes in Mexico or intercepted en route to drug cartels there, according to a Republican congressional report issued last night.

The bombing of the government building in Oslo has evoked memories of Timothy McVeigh’s attack on the Oklahoma City federal building 16 years ago.

INVESTIGATORS were keeping their distance yesterday from the site of a fireworks blast that killed four people, worried not all of the $20,000 worth of explosives had detonated.