Traces of explosive found on second plane in Russian
aviation disaster
MOSCOW ““ Russian investigators found explosive residue on
the wreckage of the second of two airliners that crashed minutes
apart, a security spokesman said Saturday, adding to evidence that
terrorists breached security at one of the country’s most
up-to-date airports.
The high explosive hexogen was found on the Tu-134 airliner that
went down Tuesday south of Moscow, said Sergei Ignatchenko,
spokesman for the Federal Security Service, Russia’s domestic
security agency.
Traces of the same explosive were found on the Tu-154 jetliner
that crashed near Rostov in southwestern Russia, officials said
Friday. The two planes took off from the same terminal at
Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport and went off radar screens within
minutes of each other hundreds of miles apart on different routes.
All 90 people on board died.
The discoveries pointed to terrorism as the cause of both
crashes “”mdash; suggesting that militants had succeeded in getting
bombs past airport security to attack Russia’s civil aviation
system, a vital industry in the vast nation.
Even in face of high oil prices, weak job growth, Fed
expected to raise rates again
JACKSON, Wyo. “”mdash; The job market may be in a funk and oil
prices may be in the stratosphere, but interest rates probably will
climb again in September because the Federal Reserve is confident
the economy’s “˜”˜soft patch” is
temporary.
At least that was the prevailing view at a meeting of top
central bank officials and their guests at the annual conference
put on by the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank.
The main topic of the meeting was the challenge faced by the
United States and other countries from a rapidly aging population.
Participants also discussed the economic fallout from soaring oil
prices.
Members of the interest-rate setting Federal Open Market
Committee were guarded in their comments about what may happen at
their Sept. 21 meeting. But these Fed board members and regional
Fed bank presidents did express confidence about the future of the
economy.