Detonating the Earth takes about as much energy as the sun puts out in a week.

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But the FBI said the detonating system and method of initiation for the devices are still unknown.

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The U.S. military was believed to be detonating large ammunition dumps, Holmes reported.

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Writing in the Guardian, Lucy Winkett, who would have been in line to become a woman bishop, said the synod was "detonating its credibility with contemporary Britain".

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Still, a number of things could go wrong from a fuse malfunctioning, a problem with the barrel's assembly to a round prematurely detonating inside the tube, he said.

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The use of AIT scanners has increased since the Christmas Day 2009 attempt by Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab to blow up a plane over Detroit by detonating plastic explosives hidden in his underwear.

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The Scotland Yard report, by a team assisting Pakistani investigators examining the slaying, acknowledged "speculation that two individuals were directly involved in the attack, " with one firing a gun and another detonating a bomb.

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