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The huge explosion that flattened homes and killed two people on Nov. 10 in Indianapolis is now being investigated as a homicide case, authorities said at a press conference Monday night. Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry appealed to the public for information about a white van that was seen in the area, NBC affiliate WTHR reported. He said the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting with the case. "While the fire investigation has been progressing, there has been a parallel investigation, not solely focusing on the cause of the explosion but focusing on individuals who may...

The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search for two workers who have been missing since Friday's explosion on their oil and gas production platform off Louisiana's coast, the government said Saturday. Four other workers were in critical but stable condition after suffering large second- and third-degree burns.. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said Saturday it has established a seven-member team to investigate the explosion and fire. "Witnesses will be interviewed, and documents containing the work procedures for the construction project will be reviewed,"

Splintered beams and boards on a piece of charred earth were all that remained Sunday where at least two Indianapolis homes were leveled in a blast that killed two people and rendered homes for blocks uninhabitable. A backhoe raked through the rubble in the middle-class subdivision as clusters of firefighters and rescue workers weary from a long, chaotic day that began late the night before waited for their next assignment. The two-story, brick-faced homes on either side of those demolished by the blast were ruins. One home's roof was gone, a blackened husk left behind. On the other side of...

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - The investigation into an explosion on the south side of Indianapolis could take weeks, an official with Citizens Energy said on Sunday. Two people were killed, and more than a dozen homes were damaged or destroyed after a large explosion rocked a south side neighborhood late Saturday night. The Indianapolis Fire Department says the explosion happened in the 8400 block of Fieldfare Way, which is in a subdivision just off of Sherman Avenue south of Stop 11 Road. Citizens Energy shut off gas to all the homes in the subdivision and investigated potential gas issues in the...

Deadly gas tanker explosion at overpass in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Death toll up to 26.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- Emergency crews on the scene after a PNL train derailed on a portion of CSX track off Dixie Highway near Katherine Station Road. Dispatchers confirmed it is a Level 3 Hazmat situation. A Level 3 Hazmat is described as a substantial quantity of hazardous materials, posing significant risk to public health and the environment, requiring a major response. The train was hauling more than 30 cars. Major Tim Robbins of the Lake Dreamland Fire Department said eight cars are off the track. Crews said some of the cars are carrying potentially dangerous chemicals: Hyrdogen chloride, hydro...

DNA sequencing of 36 complete Y chromosomes has uncovered a previously unknown population explosion that occurred 40 to 50 thousand years ago, between the first expansion of modern humans out of Africa 60 to 70 thousand years ago and the Neolithic expansions of people in several parts of the world starting 10 thousand years ago. This is the first time researchers have used the information from large-scale DNA sequencing to create an accurate family tree of the Y chromosome, from which the inferences about human population history could be made. "We have always considered the expansion of humans out of...

BURLEY, Idaho -- Fire officials believe it was spontaneous combustion that made a gun room explode at the home of an Idaho state lawmaker last weekend. The blast sent Representative Fred Wood's wife to a burn center in Salt Lake City on Saturday night. Burley Fire Chief Keith Martin believes a gun room below Fred and Amy Wood's house exploded after rags with gun cleaning chemicals on them sat in a garbage bin and slowly produced enough heat to ignite on fire. “He cleaned his guns, and we are thinking maybe the cleaning solvent and the rags that he used...

NEW YORK — Sure, the economy is adding jobs these days…but most of those positions pay pretty poorly. Some 58% of the jobs created during the recovery have been low-wage positions, according to a new report by the National Employment Law Project. Only 22% have been mid-wage jobs and 20% higher-wage positions. These low-wage jobs pay $13.83 an hour or less. “The recovery continues to be skewed toward low-wage jobs, reinforcing the rise in inequality and America’s deficit of good jobs,” said Annette Bernhardt, NELP’s policy co-director. “While there’s understandably a lot of focus on getting employment back

Energy: Oil is rising sharply from two disasters in the Caribbean region — one, a fierce storm, and the other a massive blast at the world's second-largest refinery in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. Only one was perfectly preventable. When the strongman cracked the whip on Venezuela's oil industry in 2003, firing 20,000 experienced oil managers from state-owned Petroleo de Venezuela (PDVSA) to break a strike he admitted he had provoked, he insisted that merit didn't matter anymore, only political loyalty. "There will be no more meritocracy," he told his cheering red-shirts. That philosophy has been laid out in all its glory...

Venezuela's largest oil refinery went up in flames Saturday, leaving 26 dead and some 80 people wounded, officials said. Among the dead was a 10-year-old boy and 17 members of the National Guard, who are stationed at a post at the Amuay complex. The refinery is one of the biggest in the world, producing 645,000 barrels of oil per day. Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez, president of the state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela oil company that runs the refinery complex said the blast occurred at 1:15 a.m. At least two storage tanks were ignited, and other facilities at the refinery were damaged...

Michigan siblings killed in gasoline-soaked bonfire explosion at high school graduation party A celebration ended in sadness Saturday night in St. Clair Township, when recent high school graduate Savannah Blewett and her older brother died in a large bonfire explosion. St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon said in a release that 27-year-old Christopher Blewett poured a large amount of gasoline on a two-story pile of wood in his backyard and, according to witnesses, invited his sister to light it on fire. When she did, the gasoline exploded, scattering wood up to 100 yards and blowing out windows in the back...

NASHVILLE -- As many as 5,000 people were evacuated on Tuesday night after an explosion at the Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville -- where hundreds of the nation's sheriffs are attending a conference. The blast occurred in a mechanical room at the convention center about 8:30pm local time, WSMV-TV reported, adding that no injuries had been reported. The convention center suffered significant damage from the blast and a Nashville Fire Department spokesperson told the station there was a smell of natural gas in the area. Gas was switched off in the building as officials responded to the scene.

More than 140 people were injured when gas-filled balloons exploded at a governing party campaign concert in the Armenian capital.

A portable meth lab exploded in an Oklahoma man's pants Friday during a scuffle with a state trooper. David Williams ran from a police officer who noticed a chemical smell as he was issuing a speeding ticket to the driver of the SUV that Williams was a passenger in, KOTV reported. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/27/portable-meth-lab-explodes-in-oklahoma-man-pants-police-say/#ixzz1tRBLh3Nj

Nearly eight minutes elapsed between when a social worker called 911 to report that Josh Powell's children were in danger and when sheriff's deputies were dispatched, emergency call logs show. The home was a gas-fueled inferno - with Powell and his two young boys inside - by the time officers were on their way. Several minutes of response time was lost when the priority of the dispatch Sunday was listed as "routine" instead of "emergency." There was nothing deputies could do when they arrived 14 minutes later. >>SNIP<< After getting it straight, the dispatcher told her someone would come, though...

our Palestinian Authority Arabs were injured Sunday afternoon in an explosion in Jabaliya, according to local sources in Hamas terrorist-ruled Gaza. The cause of the explosion was not revealed. Among the injured were a couple and their son, who were moderately wounded, the source said. The identity of the fourth injured party was also not revealed, nor were the circumstances surrounding the blast. Often in such cases, explosions are the result of a terrorism “work accident” in which terrorists are preparing weapons, rockets or other dangerous explosive materials for use in attacks against Israeli citizens. The IDF said there had...

Updated at 1:15 p.m. ET: The Obama administration is denying any role in the killing of an Iranian university professor working at a key nuclear facility. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the U.S. "had absolutely nothing to do" with Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan's death and the U.S. condemns "all acts of violence, including acts of violence like what is being reported today." Published at 9:46 am ET: Two assailants on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to the car of an Iranian university professor working at a key nuclear facility, killing him and wounding two people on Wednesday, a semiofficial...

Seven people, including foreign nationals, were killed, and more than a dozen wounded in another blast in Iran, this time at a steel plant. It is not known if the factory has any connection with Iran’s nuclear facilities. The explosion occurred Monday evening in the city of Yazd and comes after two previous blasts in the area of nuclear facilities. Yazd is located approximately 175 miles southeast of Isfahan, where an explosion severely damaged a uranium enrichment facility last month. Iranian stage television reported that five people were found dead on the scene at the steel plant and that another...

AN IRANIAN nuclear facility has been hit by a huge explosion, the second such blast in a month, prompting speculation that Tehran's military and atomic sites are under attack. Satellite imagery seen by The Times confirmed that a blast that rocked the city of Isfahan on Monday struck the uranium enrichment facility there, despite denials by Tehran. The images clearly showed billowing smoke and destruction, negating Iranian claims yesterday that no such explosion had taken place. Israeli intelligence officials told The Times that there was "no doubt" that the blast struck the nuclear facilities at Isfahan and that it was...