Pythons pose rising threat in Everglades

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.?? A burgeoning population of huge pythons ? many of them pets that were turned loose by their owners when they got too big ? appears to be wiping out large numbers of raccoons, opossums, bobcats and other mammals in the Everglades, a study says.

The study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that sightings of medium-size mammals are down dramatically ? as much as 99 percent, in some cases ? in areas where pythons and other large, non-native constrictor snakes are known to be lurking.

Scientists fear the pythons could disrupt the food chain and upset the Everglades' environmental balance in ways difficult to predict.

"The effects of declining mammal populations on the overall Everglades ecosystem, which extends well beyond the national park boundaries, are likely profound," said John Willson, a research scientist at Virginia Tech University and co-author of the study.

Tens of thousands of Burmese pythons, which are native to Southeast Asia, are believed to be living in the Everglades, where they thrive in the warm, humid climate. While many were apparently released by their owners, others may have escaped from pet shops during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and have been reproducing ever since.

Can swallow alligators
Burmese pythons can grow to be 26 feet long and more than 200 pounds, and they have been known to swallow animals as large as alligators. They and other constrictor snakes kill their prey by coiling around it and suffocating it.

The National Park Service has counted 1,825 Burmese pythons that have been caught in and around Everglades National Park since 2000. Among the largest so far was a 156-pound, 16.4-foot snake captured earlier this month.

For the study, researchers drove 39,000 miles along Everglades-area roads from 2003 through 2011, counting wildlife spotted along the way and comparing the results with surveys conducted on the same routes in 1996 and 1997.

The researchers found staggering declines in animal sightings: a drop of 99.3 percent among raccoons, 98.9 percent for opossums, 94.1 percent for white-tailed deer and 87.5 percent for bobcats. Along roads where python populations are believed to be smaller, declines were lower but still notable.

Rabbits and foxes, which were commonly spotted in 1996 and 1997, were not seen at all in the later counts. Researchers noted slight increases in coyotes, Florida panthers, rodents and other mammals, but discounted that finding because so few were spotted overall.

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"The magnitude of these declines underscores the apparent incredible density of pythons in Everglades National Park," said Michael Dorcas, a professor at Davidson College in North Carolina and lead author of the study.

Prime suspect
Although scientists cannot definitively say the pythons are killing off the mammals, the snakes are the prime suspect. The increase in pythons coincides with the mammals' decrease, and the decline appears to grow in magnitude with the size of the snakes' population in an area. A single disease appears unlikely to be the cause since several species were affected.

The report says the effect on the overall ecosystem is hard to predict. Declines among bobcats and foxes, which eat rabbits, could be linked to pythons' feasting on rabbits. On the flip side, declines among raccoons, which eat eggs, may help some turtles, crocodiles and birds.

Scientists point with concern to what happened in Guam, where the invasive brown tree snake has killed off birds, bats and lizards that pollinated trees and flowers and dispersed seeds. That has led to declines in native trees, fish-eating birds and certain plants.

In 2010, Florida banned private ownership of Burmese pythons. Earlier this month, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a federal ban on the import of Burmese pythons and three other snakes.

Salazar said Monday that the study shows why such restrictions were needed.

"This study paints a stark picture of the real damage that Burmese pythons are causing to native wildlife and the Florida economy," he said.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46194981/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Cause sought for deadly Fla. highway pileup (AP)

GAINESVILLE, Fla. ? Steven R. Camps and some friends were driving home hours before dawn Sunday when they were suddenly drawn into a massive pileup on Florida's Interstate 75.

"You could hear cars hitting each other. People were crying. People were screaming. It was crazy," the Gainesville man said hours later. "If I could give you an idea of what it looked like, I would say it looked like the end of the world."

Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the horrific pileup south of Gainesville, where a long line of cars and trucks collided one after another on a dark highway so shrouded in haze and smoke that drivers were blinded. At least 10 people were killed and another 18 were taken to a nearby hospital, Shands at the University of Florida. As of Sunday night, six patients remained in the trauma center and three others admitted through the emergency room remained.

The interstate had been closed for a time before the accidents because of a mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire that may have been intentionally set. The decision to reopen it early Sunday will certainly be a focus of investigators, as will the question of how the fire may have started.

Authorities also must figure out when to reopen the southbound lanes of I-75, the north-south highway that runs virtually the entire length of Florida. Complicating matters is that some of the road's asphalt melted. The northbound lanes were reopened late Sunday afternoon.

"Our standard operating procedure is to get the road open as quickly as possible but let's not forget we have 10 people who are not with us today," Lt. Patrick Riordan, a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman, said Sunday evening. "So we are going to take our time assessing the situation."

The pileups happened around 3:45 a.m. Sunday on both sides of I-75. When rescuers first arrived, they could only listen for screams and moans because the poor visibility made it difficult to find victims in wreckage that was strewn for nearly a mile.

At least a dozen cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flames.

Hours later, twisted, burned-out vehicles were scattered across the pavement, with smoke still rising from the wreckage.

Cars appeared to have smashed into the big rigs and, in one case, a motor home. Some cars were crushed beneath the heavier trucks.

Reporters who were allowed to view the site saw bodies still inside a burned-out Grand Prix. One tractor-trailer was burned down to its skeleton, charred pages of books and magazines in its cargo area. And the tires of every vehicle had burned away, leaving only steel belts.

Before Camps hit the fog bank, a friend who was driving ahead of him in a separate vehicle called to warn of the road conditions. The friend said he had just seen an accident and urged Camps to be careful as he approached the Paynes Prairie area, just south of Gainesville.

A short time later, Camps said, traffic stopped along the northbound lanes.

"You couldn't see anything. People were pulling off the road," he said.

Camps said he began talking about the road conditions to a man in the car stopped next to him when another vehicle hit that man's car.

The man's vehicle was crushed under a semi-truck stopped in front of them. Camps said his car was hit twice, but he and another friend were able to jump out. They took cover in the grass on the shoulder of the road.

All around them, cars and trucks were on fire, and they could hear explosions as the vehicles burned.

"It was happening on both sides of the road, so there was nowhere to go. It blew my mind," he said, explaining that the scene "looked like someone was picking up cars and throwing them."

Authorities had not released the names of victims Sunday evening, but said one passenger car had four fatalities. A "tour bus-like" vehicle also was involved in the pileup, police said.

All six lanes of the interstate were closed most of Sunday as investigators surveyed the site and firefighters put out the last of the flames. Some traffic was being diverted onto U.S. 301 and State Road 27, Riordan said. The northbound lanes were reopened at about 5:30 p.m.

At some point before the pileup, police briefly closed the highway because of fog and smoke. The road was reopened when visibility improved, police said. Riordan said he was not sure how much time passed between the reopening of the highway and the first crash.

A spokeswoman for the Florida Forest Service, Ludie Bond, said the fire began Saturday, and investigators were trying to determine whether the blaze had been intentionally set. She said there were no controlled burns in the area and no lightning.

Bond also said the fire had burned 62 acres and was contained but still burning Sunday. A similar fire nearby has been burning since mid-November because the dried vegetation is so thick and deep. No homes are threatened.

Four years ago, heavy fog and smoke were blamed for another serious crash.

In January 2008, four people were killed and 38 injured in a series of similar crashes on Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa, about 125 miles south of Sunday's crash. More than 70 vehicles were involved in those crashes, including one pileup that involved 40 vehicles.

___

Associated Press writer Freida Frisaro in Miami contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_re_us/us_deadly_interstate_crash

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At least 9 killed, 18 hurt?in Fla. highway pile-ups

GAINESVILLE, Fla.?? At least nine people died in crashes overnight apparently caused by fog and smoke from a wildfire along Interstate 75 in north Florida, authorities said Sunday.

A local hospital was treating 18 people for injuries. Their conditions were unclear.

At least four to five large commercial vehicles and 10 passenger vehicles were involved. Many were badly mangled.

"That's a very scary thing when you can't see anything and hear the squealing of tires and don't know if 2,000 pounds of metal is coming at you," The Gainesville Sun quoted Alachua County Sheriff's Sgt. Todd Kelly as saying.

"We just hit it, and you couldn't see anything," added Donna Henry, who was driving with friends when her car hit a guardrail and ended up sideways.

From the side of the road she heard more crashes. "Like 15 times somebody hit, from this side and that, north and south. It was bad."

In one crash, a pickup truck was left sitting atop a passenger car and both were up against the rear end of a FedEx tractor-trailer. All vehicles were burned out.

The pile-ups, on both north- and southbound lanes, happened around 3:45 a.m. Sunday on both sides of I-75 south of Gainesville.

All lanes of the interstate remained closed as investigators began their work examining the vehicles, many of them just burned shells.

The Florida Highway Patrol had closed the highway briefly earlier overnight because of a mixture of fog and smoke from a marsh fire in the Paynes Prairie area south of Gainesville.

The agency had several troopers driving along the stretch of I-75 to access the situation early Sunday.

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"When the visibility cleared, we reopened the road," said Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Patrick Riordan.

He said he was not sure how much time passed between the reopening of the highway and the first crash.

Riordan said this is the worst accident he's seen in his 27-year career with FHP.

Heavy fog and smoke were blamed for a deadly string of accidents four years ago. In January 2008, four people were killed and 38 injured similar crashes on Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa, about 125 miles south of Sunday's crash. More than 70 vehicles were involved in those crashes caused by fog and smoke, including one pile-up that involved 40 vehicles.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46181122/ns/us_news-life/

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Aperture 3.2

Since our review of Aperture 3.0 at its launch, Apple has been busy not only tightening the app by making it more stable and correcting minor glitches in specific cases, but also adding new capabilities like support for iCloud, iOS 5, and Lion multi-touch. Among an extremely capable field of pro photo-workflow software?especially Adobe Lightroom ($299, 4.5 stars), ACDSee Pro ($99.99, 4 stars), and the impressive newer arrival, CyberLink PhotoDirector ($99.99, 3.5 stars)?Aperture's smooth user interface, Faces and Places features, plentiful output options, and good camera raw support stand out. For Mac users who want a big step up in power from iPhoto, Aperture is a natural. But Lightroom goes further for the pro or very serious amateur, with not only the enforced workflow, but with specific lens-based corrections for geometry, vignetting, and chromatic aberration.

Aperture is available either from the Mac App Store for $79.99, or as a free trial downloadable from www.apple.com/aperture. It's a Mac-only application, so Windows and Linux users are out of luck, but are well served by Adobe's competing Lightroom, PCMag.com Editors' Choice photo workflow app, which is also available for the Mac. Another new Mac and Windows offering, Corel AfterShot ($99.99, 2.5 stars) has a ways to go before catching up with the two major players from Adobe and Apple.

Interface
Programs in Aperture's class are all about workflow. The progression is generally from importing and organizing to adjusting and editing to outputting your photos to print and web. Lightroom, ACDSee, AfterShot, and PhotoDirector take the approach of segmenting each of these phases of the workflow with different "modes" in tabs or buttons, usually along the lines of Organize, Edit, and Output. The progression often makes sense, but there are times when you may just want to jump around and perform an organizing action in the midst of photo editing.

Aperture is non-modal, meaning you can do just this, performing any action at any point in your process from its single Inspector panel. The tabs on this panel for Library, Metadata, and Adjustments, along with the interface's buttons and the app menu, give you access to everything in the program at any stage of the process. Your process will determine which is best for you: the more methodical types will prefer Lightroom's approach, while Aperture will better suit the more ADD types, who want to jump around between functions.

The modal approach will be comfortable for many photo pros, and it epitomizes an actual "workflow." But navigating Aperture's easy full-screen view, with optional "heads-up" display for the Inspector, becomes second nature pretty quickly. This new full-screen capability makes it easier to show nothing but your big glorious photo. Lightroom still has three levels of "full screen" and requires extra steps to hide all the panels and toolbars. However, neither Aperture nor Lightroom let me undock the panels the way ACDSee did.

Aperture lets you view your library as large thumbnails in full screen mode, and its thumbnail-size slider makes adjusting them easier than in Lightroom. Aperture also has a nice zoom with the mouse-wheel option. New support for OS X Lion gestures means you can pinch and unpinch on a trackpad to zoom in and out as well. Rotating and cropping also benefits from multitouch gestures. Another feature lacking in Lightroom but available in Aperture is the virtual Light Table; this lets you arrange photos in different sizes in a single view and save them as one PDF or JPG. I'm not sure how useful this is for most photographers, but it's been brought up on Adobe Lightroom forums by those who miss it.

Import and Organize
When you import photos from a memory card, Aperture saves files in its own area as "managed" photos, only accessible by Aperture, but you can save the images to a regular disk folder and have Aperture treat them as "referenced" files for editing. Any edits will be saved in Aperture's database, but the master images remain where you placed them on the drive. You can also export a managed file to a disk file visible in Finder. The raw import settings for my Canon EOS Rebel T1i turned out beautiful images. And the software can perform some image processing as it imports, such as applying adjustment presets, and even Apple ActionScripts that you can download from enthusiast sites.

Like most current photo-editing software, Aperture is "non-destructive," meaning it keeps a master of the original image you imported and saves your edits in a database. Any of your edited images is called a "version" (as opposed to the master?the original). I think Lightroom makes it a little easier to take snapshots and view before/after comparisons, though you can do this in Aperture through menus. Lightroom also makes it easier to see a split view of one side showing your original and the other your edited version. And while tethering my T1i worked flawlessly in Lightroom 3 beta, Aperture wouldn't play. I contacted Apple about this and assume it will support this most popular of DSLRs soon.

Aperture lets you organize your images in several hierarchies?at the top level, your Library contains Projects, which can be subdivided into folders, albums, and Smart albums. Stacks is a feature in both Aperture and Lightroom that lets you group related photos, and both can auto-group photos into stacks based on the shots' timestamps. Aperture makes a bigger deal out of stacks, giving the feature its own menu (Lightroom offers a choice under its Photo menu). And Aperture has a nice expanding animation when you reveal a stack's photos.

Aperture offers all the extensive metadata support you could want?camera and EXIF, ratings, captions, keywords, and much more?including support for the standard IPTC Core spec. One thing I'm used to is right-clicking to get properties, but that's not an option in Aperture. For my Canon T1i, Aperture could show me the focus points, but Lightroom couldn't. A very complete filter dialog lets you view just photos that meet the criteria you want, though in a minor quibble, Lightroom makes it easier to filter by EXIF info such as which lens you used.

Aperture also now displays video and lets you do basic trimming, something Ligthroom users will have to wait for in version 4. I do wish it were easier to filter the library view by just video, though. The video editing like what you get on the iPhone?very basic. But it can be useful for slideshow presentations, and it's more than you get it Lightroom 3, which only displays videos in the betas I've seen so far.

iCloud Photo Stream
New for version 3.2 in Aperture, a Photo Stream entry appears by default in your Library tab in the side panel. The first time you click on this, you'll see a message asking whether you want to turn the feature on or not. After responded in the affirmative, a confirmation dialog appeared, telling me I had to enable iCloud in System Preferences. The relevant control panel opened, where I could sign into my Apple ID. After returning to Aperture and hitting the Turn on Photo Stream button, two project thumbnail trays appeared at the bottom of the window. My guess is that this was because I had iCloud Photo Stream syncing set up on a Windows PC, too, but shooting a couple more photos with my iPhone quickly populated both sets with the new photos.

By default, any photos I added to my Aperture Library were automatically added to Photo Stream, which wasn't a good thing for my storage limit. A complicated series of rules apply if you upload from multiple computers. One smart feature of Photo Stream is that it can make raw camera files viewable on your iPhone or iPad.

A striking point about Photo Stream (and in some ways iCloud as a whole) is that it's almost more generous with Windows PC users than with Mac users. The service works with all recent versions, including XP, Vista, and Windows 7, whereas only the latest version of Mac OS X is compatible: Leopard and even Snow Leopard users are less favored than Windows users.

Also, on Windows, you get a standard folder under My Photos for your Photo Stream, where on the Mac the folder is hidden, with the photos only accessible through iPhoto or Aperture. This means Lightroom users on Windows can point to this as an auto-import folder, so Lightroom has no Photo Stream disadvantage compared with Aperture.

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Sudan says to release ships seized from South Sudan (Reuters)

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) ? Sudan said on Saturday it would free tankers carrying cargoes of South Sudanese crude it had seized earlier this month, in a push to defuse a row over transit fees between former civil war foes that both depend on oil for almost all their income.

Landlocked South Sudan, which became independent in July after seceding from Sudan, has to use a northern pipeline and the port of Port Sudan to export its crude, and the two countries are in dispute over the transit fees it should pay.

The row heated up this month when Sudan said it was confiscating some of South Sudan's oil exports to make up for what it called unpaid fees. South Sudan retaliated by saying it would shut down its crude output by Saturday.

Oil is the lifeline of both countries' economies, and the south's secession left Khartoum with output of about 125,000 barrels per day and South Sudan with production that has fallen slightly to 350,000 bpd from 375,000 bpd in June.

Oil revenue is about 98 percent of South Sudan's income, and is vital if the government is to develop a country devastated by years of civil war and one of the world's poorest nations.

China is the biggest buyer of oil from the two countries, taking some 12.99 million barrels last year - five percent of overall 2011 crude imports by China, which is also the biggest investor in South Sudan's oilfields.

"President Bashir is ready to make this gesture. Sudan is going to release the vessels detained in Port Sudan," Sayed El-Khatib, deputy head of Sudan's negotiating team, told a media conference in the Ethiopian capital on Saturday.

"By taking this step, we expect the cover agreement to be signed, the shutdown to be halted, and the terms of the cover agreement to be respected," said El-Khatib. "Before the end of today, we could be able to sign the cover agreement. We, at least, are ready to sign."

A South Sudanese official, asked to comment, told Reuters: "We are studying the claim. We are waiting for confirmation from the shipping companies." He did not want to be named.

LEADERS FOUND NO ANSWER

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and South Sudan's President Salva Kiir met on the sidelines of a meeting of East African officials in Ethiopia on Friday, but failed to resolve their differences over the oil transit tariff.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, a broker between the two sides, met Bashir again on Saturday.

The row with Sudan has angered many in South Sudan, where independence, the result of a referendum following a 2005 peace accord, is often framed as the climax of a long struggle against political and economic marginalization by the north.

South Sudan's Kiir accused Khartoum of "looting" oil worth roughly $815 million and of building a tie-in pipeline to divert 120,000 barrels per day of southern oil flowing through the north.

Industry sources have said Sudan has sold at least one cargo of crude seized from South Sudan at a discount of millions of dollars to the official price charged by the South, and is offering more.

Awad Abdelfatah, undersecretary of Sudan's petroleum ministry, denied South Sudan's accusations of oil "theft."

"Since the 9th of July (South Sudan's independence day), we have opened our export line for them (South Sudan) without any hindrance," Abdelfatah told Reuters.

"We have been sending them invoices since that time and have been patient until the 1st of December. We decided then to take our dues. We didn't take anything more than what our invoice shows," Abdelfatah said.

Sudan's civil war, fought over issues of ethnicity, religion, ideology and oil, ebbed and flowed from 1955 to 2005 and caused the deaths of an estimated 2 million people. Southerners voted overwhelmingly for secession in a referendum in January 2011.

(Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Tim Pearce)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/wl_nm/us_sudan_oil

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Bisping continues to question Sonnen?s manhood over low testosterone

CHICAGO -- Maybe it's a good thing Michael Bisping and Chael Sonnen didn't have months to promote their fight tomorrow night on the UFC on Fox 2 at the United Center. One can only imagine the depths the trash talk would've sunk to.

Sonnen's testosterone replacement therapy is the popular subject this week for the Brit, who suggests that the American is less than a complete male. Early in the week on HDNet, Bisping alleged that Sonnen has a physical abnormality.

"[...] He's been submitted more times than I care to mention. Not to mention, the last time he lost a fight by submission, there were some issues involving performance enhancing drugs," Bisping said. "I don't know what the deal is. Apparently, he has one testicle. One testicle! This is why he uses performance enhancing drugs. He's gonna need more than one little ball to fight me next weekend!"

Sonnen served a one-year suspension for not properly disclosing that he was undergoing testosterone replacement therapy before his UFC 117 fight in California. Bisping is not a fan of fighter using TRT.

"If Sonnen needs TRT, then he's is the wrong sport. If you need TRT, then perhaps you should be carrying a purse and a handbag, and wearing a dress," Bisping told The Telegraph's Gareth A. Davies. "This is a fight sport, and Alpha males shouldn't need testosterone from anywhere else."

Strangely enough, that quote emerged from a conversation where Bisping discussed using a sports psychologist. That topic could certainly open the door for some counter-fire from Sonnen. Stay tuned, there's still 30-plus hours until the fight.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/bisping-continues-sonnen-manhood-over-low-testoterone-194252587.html

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Obama administration reveals new ATF gun probe rules (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The Obama administration on Friday revealed new reforms undertaken to improve how it conducts undercover gun trafficking investigations in the wake of a botched operation in which scores of weapons disappeared.

The reforms require additional oversight of undercover operations, including those that involve more than 50 firearms, and, in most cases, ends the practice of paying gun dealers to serve as confidential informants.

Additionally, a new review committee has been established to monitor sensitive undercover cases or those that would have a "significant regional or national impact," according to the Justice Department.

The details were revealed just before Attorney General Eric Holder testifies on Thursday before members of the House of Representatives' Oversight and Government Reform Committee about the bungled operation known as "Fast and Furious."

The operation, run out of the Phoenix offices of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and U.S. Attorney's office was meant to follow the guns from the initial buyers along the U.S. border to violent drug cartel leaders in Mexico.

However ATF agents did not track the weapons after they were transferred from the initial buyer to others who smuggled them across the border. As many as 2,000 guns may have been sold under the operation.

Two AK-47 style weapons from that program were found in Arizona 18 miles from the border where a U.S. Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, was shot and killed during a December 2010 shootout with illegal immigrants.

A similar, smaller program was run during the Bush administration dubbed "Wide Receiver."

"We are undertaking key enhancements to existing department policies and procedures to ensure that mistakes like those that occurred in 'Wide Receiver' and 'Fast and Furious' are not repeated," Deputy Attorney General James Cole said in a letter to Congress.

Republicans have been demanding to know who in the Obama administration knew about the "Fast and Furious" operation and when. Holder and other senior ATF and Justice Department officials said they did not learn about it until early 2011.

(Reporting By Jeremy Pelofsky)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/pl_nm/us_usa_mexico_guns

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Politics of defense cuts: emphasize the positive

FILE In this Jan. 24, 2012 file photo, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is sen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The U.S. Army plans to slash the number of combat brigades from 45 to as low as 32, and broadly restructure its fighting force to save money and cut the size of the service by about 80,000 soldiers, according to U.S. officials familiar with the plans. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE In this Jan. 24, 2012 file photo, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is sen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The U.S. Army plans to slash the number of combat brigades from 45 to as low as 32, and broadly restructure its fighting force to save money and cut the size of the service by about 80,000 soldiers, according to U.S. officials familiar with the plans. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Pentagon is preparing to tighten its belt, but with an election-year battle looming in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wants to stress the positive: Parts of the budget devoted to reshaping the military to fit a new global strategy will actually get fatter, he says.

But that's unlikely to mollify Republicans who say President Barack Obama's plan will leave the Pentagon stretched too thin to handle potential security threats in the Middle East, Asia and beyond.

Panetta is expected to outline the main areas of proposed spending cuts and increases at a Pentagon news conference Thursday, more than two weeks before the Obama administration submits its 2013 budget proposal to Congress. He will be joined by Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for a presentation designed to highlight the military leadership's embrace of defense cuts.

Panetta and Dempsey are expected to cast the plan as one that reflects President Barack Obama's strategy for reorienting the military as it recovers from a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Prominent in the Obama plan is a renewed focus on Asia, where China's rapid military modernization has raised worry in Washington and rattled U.S. allies. That, along with continued security threats in the Middle East ? especially Iran ? is why Panetta wants to invest more in certain air and naval assets. He also is putting a focus on cybersecurity and commando forces like those who killed Osama bin Laden last May and who swooped into Somalia on Tuesday to rescue two hostages, including an American.

The Pentagon has embraced a proposal by special operations chief Adm. Bill McRaven to send more manpower and equipment to worldwide "Theater Special Operations Commands" to strike back wherever threats arise, according to a senior defense official who spoke to The Associated Press, and other current and former U.S. officials briefed on the program. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the details of the proposal are still being worked out, including how fast the changes could be made.

The stepped-up network would put top special operations personnel closer to the problems they face, better able to launch unilateral raids like this week's Somalia mission. McRaven also wants the newly invigorated commands to build new relationships with foreign armies to help them lead their own operations, the senior defense official said.

To save money, Panetta would reduce the size of Army and Marine Corps ground forces and shrink the U.S. presence in Europe, while maintaining a commitment to building missile defenses in Europe.

He also is expected to delay production of perhaps 100 or more of the F-35 Lightning II stealth attack planes that the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps are counting on to replace a portion of their aging aircraft fleets. The F-35 is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program. Nonetheless, it is among those that Panetta has publicly identified as central to a strategy for maintaining American air dominance.

According to defense officials, substantial budget savings will come from slowing ? but not eliminating ? programs. In the case of the F-35, Loren Thompson, defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, said there are no plans to cut the total number of fighters purchased ? which is about 2,400. Instead, the intention is to reduce the number bought each year over the next five years.

The construction of some Navy ships also may be stretched out over a longer period.

Panetta also has made clear the administration will resist any effort to shrink the Navy's fleet of aircraft carriers. He said last weekend while on board the fleet's oldest carrier, the USS Enterprise, that keeping 11 of the warships is a "long-term commitment" that Obama believes is important to keeping the peace.

"Our view is that the carriers, because of their presence, because of the power they represent, are a very important part of our ability to maintain power projection both in the Pacific and in the Middle East," he said.

Obama has said he hopes to further reduce the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, but Panetta is expected to make clear that the basic structure ? a "triad" of land, sea and air nuclear forces ? will be maintained. The Pentagon may find some savings by stretching out planned modernization programs.

The defense budget is being reshaped in the midst of a presidential contest in which Obama seeks to portray himself as a forward-looking commander in chief focusing on new security threats. Republicans want to cast him as weak on defense.

Obama has highlighted his national security successes ? the killing of Osama bin Laden, the death of senior al-Qaida leaders and the demise of Libya's Moammar Gadhafi ? to counter Republican criticism. He also has emphasized the completion of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq and the start of a drawdown in Afghanistan as turning points that offer new opportunities to scale back defense spending.

But several congressional Republicans see a political opening in challenging the reductions in projected military spending that the GOP and Obama agreed to last summer as part of a deal to raise the nation's borrowing authority. They've echoed Obama's potential presidential rivals Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, who plead for fiscal austerity but contend that sizable cuts would gut the military.

The defense budget this year is nearly $671 billion, including a base budget of $553 billion and $118 billion in war costs. Panetta is expected to announce on Wednesday that the administration's request for 2013 will drop to about $525 billion for the base budget. That is still far higher than the $480 billion base budget for the Pentagon in 2008, President George W. Bush's final year in office.

The administration's projected defense cuts would total nearly $490 billion over 10 years. If Congress fails to agree on other reductions in federal spending this year, the defense hit could double under automatic cuts that would take effect in January 2013.

Several Republicans argue that even the initial cuts totaling nearly $490 billion would "hollow" the military and costs tens of thousands of jobs nationwide, adding to an 8.5 percent unemployment rate that they already blame on the president's economic policies.

"While Secretary Panetta has conceded that our nation is now accepting more risk as a result of the budgetary vise squeezing the Pentagon, it remains unclear exactly what risks our nation is assuming," Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., a House Armed Services Committee member, said this week.

___

Associated Press writers Kimberly Dozier and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

___

Robert Burns can be reached on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/robertburnsAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-26-Defense%20Budget/id-9bdbebe238b246c88c73fb5f53e54739

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Cabbage Chemistry--Finding Acids and Bases

Colorful Cabbages: Use this veggie to test for acids and bases around the house--with colorful results! Image: iStockphoto/PacoRomero

Key concepts
Chemistry
Acids
Bases
Light

Introduction
You might have done experiments with well-labeled acids and bases in school, but have you ever wondered whether a certain food or chemical around the house is an acid or a base? You can find out using a red cabbage to make an indicator solution.

When two or more ingredients are entirely dissolved in one another, you have a solution. For example, mixing salt with water creates a clear solution, even though the salt is there and the solution tastes salty. When mixed with water, whether a chemical "donates" a charged particle (called an ion) to the solution?in this case, a hydrogen ion?or "accepts" one from it determines whether it's an acidic or basic solution. An indicator changes color when exposed to such a mixture, depending on whether the solution is acidic or basic.

Background
Acids are solutions that lose hydrogen ions and usually taste sour. Some very common household solutions are acids, such as citrus fruit juices and household vinegar. Bases are solutions that pull hydrogen ions out of solution and onto themselves, "accepting" them, and usually feel slippery. Bases have many practical uses. For example, "antacids" like TUMS are used to reduce the acidity in your stomach. Other bases make useful household cleaning products.

To tell if something is an acid or a base, you can use a chemical called an indicator. An indicator changes color when it encounters an acid or base. There are many different types of indicators, some that are liquids and others that are concentrated on little strips of "litmus" paper. Indicators can be extracted from many different sources, including the pigment of many plants. For example, red cabbages contain an indicator pigment molecule called flavin, which is a type of molecule called an anthocyanin. Very acidic solutions will turn an anthocyanin red whereas neutral solutions will make it purplish and basic solutions will turn it greenish-yellow. Consequently, the color an anthocyanin solution turns can be used to determine a solution's pH?a measure of how basic or acidic a solution is.

Materials
??? ?A small red cabbage
??? ?Pot of boiling water
??? ?Strainer
??? ?Two large bowls or pots
??? ?Grater
??? ?Tablespoon measurer
??? ?Large spoon (optional)
??? ?Three or more small, white paper cups (small, white paper drinking glasses or dishes will also work)
??? ?Goggles or other protective eyewear
??? ?Lemon or lime juice
??? ?Vinegar
??? ?Bleach-based cleaning product
??? ?Other foods to test, such as clear soda pop, baking soda solution, egg whites, tomatoes, cottage cheese (optional)

Preparation
??? ?Grate a small red cabbage. If you do not want to grate the entire cabbage, grating half of a cabbage should be enough. Put the fine, pulpy grated cabbage into a large bowl or pot.
??? ?Boil a pot of water. Use caution when handling the boiling water. Pour the boiling water into the bowl with the cabbage pulp until the water just covers the cabbage.
??? ?Leave the cabbage mixture steeping, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is room temperature. This should take at least half an hour. The liquid will become red or purplish-red in color.
??? ?Place a strainer over another large bowl or pot and pour the cabbage mixture through the strainer to remove the cabbage pulp. Press down on the pulp in the strainer, such as by using a large spoon, to squeeze more liquid out of the pulp.
??? ?In the bowl, you should now have only liquid that will either be purple or blue in color. This will be your indicator solution, which you will use to test the pH of different liquids.
??? ?Children should wear goggles or other protective eyewear and adults should supervise and use caution when handling bleach and vinegar, because they can irritate eyes and skin.

Procedure
??? ?Fill a small, white paper cup, drinking glass or white dish with one tablespoon of your cabbage-indicator solution. What is the color of your indicator solution?
??? ?Add drops of lemon or lime juice to the indicator solution until you see the solution change in color. Gently swirl the solution and make sure the color stays the same. What color did the solution become?
??? ?The color of the solution will change depending on its pH: Red color indicates the pH is 2; Purple indicates pH 4; Violet indicates pH 6; Blue indicates pH 8; Blue-green indicates pH 10; Greenish-yellow indicates pH 12.
??? ?Based on its color, what is the pH of the lemon or lime juice solution?
??? ?In another small, white paper cup, add one tablespoon of your original cabbage-indicator solution. Add drops of vinegar until you see the solution change color. What color did the vinegar solution become? What is the pH of the solution?
??? ?In a third small, white paper cup, add one tablespoon of your original cabbage-indicator solution. Handling it with caution, add drops of the bleach cleaning product until you see the solution change color. What color did the bleach solution become, and what does this indicate about its pH?
??? ?If you want to test the pH of other foods, again add one tablespoon of your original cabbage-indicator solution to a small, white paper cup and add drops of the food until you see the solution change color. If the food is not in liquid form, crush it or dissolve it in a small amount of water before adding it to the indicator solution. What color did the solution become, and what does this indicate about its pH?
??? ?Extra: There are other vegetables and fruits that can be used to make pH indicators as well: red onion, apple skins, blueberries, grape skins and plums. Which different sources of pigment produce the best indicators?
??? ?Extra: You can use an indicator solution to write secret messages. Just use full-strength lemon juice to write an invisible message on paper and let the message dry. To reveal the message, paint cabbage-indicator over the paper with a paintbrush.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=ffc7b81e7e076a253ea4bef5154eb642

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Sabine Hervy: A French President Not Born in France? Possible, But Not Likely in 2012!

Eva Joly, presidential candidate for the green party in France, was born in Norway. ?She has been attacked by the right wing for her strong Norwegian accent and her foreign origins.

"I don't think this lady has a very far-reaching culture of French traditions, of French history and of French values." Last summer, this critical statement by the French Prime Minister Fran?ois Fillon triggered a controversy on the dual citizenship of Eva Joly, presidential candidate for the Green party in France. The prime minister had touched a nerve. There is a paradox here. In France, a foreign born citizen can stand for president. But when it happens, it's not all plain sailing. Eva Joly, 69, is the elected candidate for the Green party and she was born in Norway. She came to live in France when she was 20, married a Frenchman, had her children in France and worked almost all her life as a magistrate in our country. But people still doubt her capacity to lead France.

The very terms of this debate probably sound weird for an American audience. A French presidential candidate, not born in France? Yet, it's true: Unlike America, our Constitution allows naturalized citizens to run for president. In fact, having been brought up in France, I was a bit surprised to learn that the United States, considered here as a model of multiculturalism, still forbids "former foreigners" to run for the presidential election. I read some articles about Governor Schwarzenegger's "case." In spite of his amazing American career, he'll never be able to run for president of the U.S.A. Why? Because his parents were Austrian. And I thought "poor him" -- "Schwarzy" is probably as American as one can be.

This difference between our constitutions can easily be explained. The American one, (which states in its article 2, section 1 that "no person except a natural born citizen, or a Citizen of the United States at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President") was drawn up at the end of the 18th century. Our Constitution is younger - it only dates back to the 1950s -- and it has evolved a lot to reflect new political and social realities. Indeed, many politicians in France were born in former colonies: S?gol?ne Royal, the unlucky Socialist candidate in the 2007 election, was born in Senegal; two current presidential candidates were born in Morocco.

But behind this window dressing of open-mindedness, France remains ambivalent about the question of nationality. This is exactly why we're currently having this debate about Eva Joly, the first presidential candidate in French history to possess dual citizenship. On the 14th of July, our National Day, she put forward the outrageous idea that maybe -- maybe -- the military parade had become a little bit out of date... This was a proposition voted on and agreed by all the members of her party. Yet, she was the one attacked on her supposed "francophobia."

There are many other examples. When French President Sarkozy married the Franco-Italian model Carla Bruni, some people asked the first lady to give up her Italian citizenship. When he was elected, some media even reported Nicolas Sarkozy as the first president of "foreign origins" -- his father was Hungarian... But he himself was born in Paris.

Yet, French people could -- and may one day -- elect a president born outside France. With Eva Joly, some proud defenders of our language feel threatened by her accent. However, it's likely the real objections about her abilities lie elsewhere. Many people voted for her green party in previous elections. In the 2009 European elections, the Ecologists even polled 3.63 percent of the vote in France and won the same number of European parliament seats as the Socialists. But in 2012, there's no way these people will vote for Eva Joly. This has nothing to do with her Norwegian origins. It has to do with her radical and very different view of ecology, her strange position about alliances with the other left-wing parties and her uptight personality. Even in her own party, some members said they would vote for the Socialist candidate instead of her.

The "Joly case" doesn't mean French people will never vote for a naturalized citizen. It just means they need to find a competent one to vote for.

?

Follow Sabine Hervy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sabinehervy

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sabine-hervy/eva-joly-elections_b_1231820.html

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Slave port unearthed in Brazil

The Valongo Wharf in Rio de Janerio was the busiest of all slave ports in the Americas and has been buried for almost two centuries.

? A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.

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Not far from here at least 500,000 Africans took their first steps into slavery in colonial Brazil, which took in far more slaves than the United States and where now half of its 200 million citizens claim African descent.

The ?Cais do Valongo? ? the Valongo Wharf ? was the busiest of all slave ports in the Americas and has been buried for almost two centuries under subsequent infrastructure projects and dirt.

That is, until developers seeking to turn Rio?s shabby port neighborhood into a posh tourist center allowed teams of archaeologists to check out what was being unearthed.

?We knew we had found the wharf,? says archaeologist Tania Andrade Lima, showing a ramp made up of knobbly, uneven stones used by slaves. It lay beneath a layer of smoother cobblestones from a dock installed later for the arrival of a Portuguese royal.

Ms. Lima and other community leaders are creating a walking tour that will include the wharf, a nearby cemetery for Africans who died soon after their arrival, and a holding pen called the ?Lazareto,? derived from Jesus? parable about a beggar named Lazarus, where newly arrived Africans were checked for diseases.

The wharf alone is nearly 22,000 square feet. ?This gives a dimension to how huge the influx of slaves was,? says Lima.

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Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/C8HzhyUXmb0/Slave-port-unearthed-in-Brazil

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Natural gas price rebounds from 10-year low (AP)

NEW YORK ? Natural gas prices are rebounding from 10-year lows as producers cut back and colder weather forces homeowners to turn up the heat.

The price of natural gas futures rose Tuesday for the third straight trading day, adding 3 cents to finish at $2.55 per 1,000 cubic feet. The futures contract dropped as low as $2.32 on Thursday, the lowest since Feb. 25, 2002.Natural gas rose this week after one of the largest producers, Chesapeake Energy Corp., announced it would slow down production this year. And weather forecasts showed a chilly mix of rain and snow from the Southwest to the Great Lakes. More than half of homeowners use natural gas for heat, and investors are betting they'll need to crank up furnaces as temperatures drop.

Meanwhile, oil prices fell Tuesday as concerns about Europe's beleaguered economy focused again on Greece's massive debt and looming default. Greece's private creditors warned that European leaders were putting the region's financial stability at further risk by not committing enough money to the crisis.

Benchmark crude fell 63 cents to end at $98.95 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price foreign oil varieties that are imported by U.S. refineries, fell 55 cents to finish at $110.03 per barrel in London.

The price of natural gas has plunged as drillers expanded their reach in North America, tapping vast underground shale layers that are rich in gas and oil. Supplies in storage have grown well beyond the five-year average for this time of year. Prices are about 44 percent lower than at the same time last year, and experts say U.S. supplies will continue to test the country's storage capacity because of weak demand.

"You may reach a point this summer that you wouldn't get it all into storage," independent natural gas analyst Stephen Smith said. "If that happens, you're going to see an extreme weakness in natural gas prices."

Homeowners should eventually see lower heating bills, and in some cases lower electricity bills, as more utilities use cheap natural gas to run generators.

In the U.S., retail gasoline prices were flat Tuesday at a national average of $3.38 per gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. A gallon of regular is 15 cents higher than a month ago and 27 cents more than a year ago.

Drivers in the U.S. continue to buy less gasoline, according to MasterCard SpendingPulse. The report released Tuesday is based on credit card purchases as of Jan. 20. It estimates that the four-week average gasoline demand fell by nearly 4 percent when compared with the same period last year. Gasoline consumption has been dropping for 11 months straight, according to MasterCard SpendingPulse.

In other energy trading, heating oil rose a penny to end at $3.02 per gallon and gasoline futures rose about 3 cents to finish at $2.81 per gallon.

___

Follow Chris Kahn on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ChrisKahnAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices

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Afghanistan: Are the U.S.-Taliban Peace Talks Possible? (Time.com)

A large crystal chandelier cast a weak glow over U.S. special envoy Marc Grossman and Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin as they talked up the results of the envoys' two days of meetings with President Hamid Karzai on the question of peace talks with the Taliban. But the plaster near the ceiling of the Soviet-era ceremonial hall at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was warped and discolored from a leaky roof, and a newly installed heater hummed loudly in the background. Minutes after the press conference ended, the power cut out, leaving Afghan officials -- and the media -- in the dark, an eloquent commentary on the peace process itself: the trappings are there, but closer inspection reveals obvious flaws.

The main reason for Grossman's visit appears to have been to reassure Karzai and his government that they will play a key part in any peace process between the U.S. and the Taliban. But the most striking evidence that the main gears of the peace machine are out of sync came when the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan said that on his way to Kabul, he had had "the good fortune to visit Turkey, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and India" and that he had "found strong support for peace in Afghanistan." That statement was notable not for the countries mentioned, but for the key omission: Pakistan. (See photos of militants' attack of a NATO convoy in Pakistan.)

Last week, a spokesman for Pakistan's government told Reuters, "Ambassador Grossman asked to visit Pakistan, but we conveyed to him that it was not possible at the moment." Islamabad said it first had to complete a parliamentary review of the troubled bilateral relationship with Washington. Acknowledging the importance of Pakistan and perhaps signaling an effort to reduce tensions between the two countries, Grossman said that, "There really can't be a comprehensive peace process unless Pakistan is part of it," adding in a conciliatory tone and with a smile, "I would be happy to meet them at any time or any place."

And while the opening of a Taliban office in Doha has prompted some to talk of a peace process gaining momentum, Karzai's government last month withdrew its ambassador to Qatar because Kabul felt it was being cut out of the loop in talks between the emirate and the Taliban. Asked about the significance of the Taliban office in Qatar, Grossman answered that "nothing has been concluded" and "more work needs to be done." (See Polaroid photos taken by one soldier in Afghanistan.)

The U.S. envoy urged that "Qatar and Afghanistan need to be in direct contact with one another," and commended Karzai's government for welcoming a Qatari delegation to Afghanistan. Yet, right now, there is no Afghan ambassador in Doha or Qatari embassy in Kabul, and the two sides appear to talk past one another. Still, even if a Taliban office in Doha would establish the credentials of interlocutors who claim to speak for the movement's leadership, and even if Washington was able to get on the same page as both Pakistan and the Karzai government, Grossman emphasized repeatedly during the press conference that the Taliban have not yet committed to peace talks.

Grossman emphasized that "we also need to have a clear statement by the Afghan Taliban against international terrorism and in support of the peace process to end the armed conflict in Afghanistan."

So, just as a vast gap remains between the objectives of the Taliban and those of the U.S., there are also gaps between the U.S. and Afghanistan. While Deputy Foreign Minister Ludin said his government would support the transfer of Taliban prisoners from Guant?namo Bay to Qatar -- which has been mooted as an important opening gesture by the U.S. to launch a peace process -- Grossman said, "This is an issue in the United States of law, something on which we would want to consult our Congress," adding "for our side, no decisions have been made." And given the nest of issues that remains to be untangled before any significant progress becomes possible, talk of a peace process at this stage remains somewhat hypothetical.

See TIME's Pictures of the Week.

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/time/20120123/wl_time/08599210515000

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Medicare health insurance Supplement Insurance Really helps to ...

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Although millions are actually enrolled in Medicare health insurance in order to pay money for their healthcare needs, many stay unprotected simply as a result of insufficient understanding in regards to the intricacies from the Medicare program. One of the greatest misconceptions involves the Medicare health insurance ?pre-approved? amount. Medicare health insurance only pays for 80% of a standardised amount for techniques. That doesnt quit doctors from getting more; it just changes the burden of transaction onto the sufferer. Doctors can certainly still charge their own regular fee, Medicare can certainly still pay it is standard payment and its really for you to decide to create those ends satisfy. Getting the correct information is crucial for you to get the most away from Medicare, and Medicare health insurance supplement insurance any key to linking the gaps in Medicare health insurance coverage.

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Source: http://arkhamcity.org/index.php/2012/01/medicare-health-insurance-supplement-insurance-really-helps-to-make-sense-regarding-medicare-health-insurance/

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In bin Laden town, father mourns another militant

In this Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012 photo, plainclothes Pakistani security men stand outside the family house of al-Qaida militant Aslam Awan, who was killed in an American drone attack at a house along the Afghan border. On Jan. 14 at 8:12 pm, Khushal Khan's wife got a call on her cell phone. "Your son has been martyred," the voice said at the other end of the line. The man then rang off. Four days earlier, an American drone fired a missile at a house along the Afghan border just before midnight, killing Khan's youngest son, Aslam Awan, and three other suspected militants. American officials have since described Awan as an "external operations planner" for al-Qaida. British prosecutors in 2007 said he a member of a militant cell who had fought in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Aqeel Ahmed)

In this Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012 photo, plainclothes Pakistani security men stand outside the family house of al-Qaida militant Aslam Awan, who was killed in an American drone attack at a house along the Afghan border. On Jan. 14 at 8:12 pm, Khushal Khan's wife got a call on her cell phone. "Your son has been martyred," the voice said at the other end of the line. The man then rang off. Four days earlier, an American drone fired a missile at a house along the Afghan border just before midnight, killing Khan's youngest son, Aslam Awan, and three other suspected militants. American officials have since described Awan as an "external operations planner" for al-Qaida. British prosecutors in 2007 said he a member of a militant cell who had fought in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Aqeel Ahmed)

ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan (AP) ? On Jan. 14 at 8:12 p.m., Khushal Khan's wife got a call on her cell phone.

"Your son has been martyred," the voice said at the other end of the line. The man then hung up.

The end for Khan's youngest son, Aslam Awan, came when a drone piloted remotely from the United States fired a missile at a house along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. Awan was among four people killed, U.S. officials said this week, describing Awan as an "external operations planner" for al-Qaida. British authorities say he was a member of a militant cell in northern England who had fought in Afghanistan.

The Jan. 10 strike in the militant stronghold of North Waziristan that killed Awan was a victory for the CIA-led drone program at time when relations between Washington and Islamabad are very strained, in part by the missile strikes. It was one of the first drone attacks after a hiatus of some six weeks following a friendly fire incident in which U.S. forces killed 24 Pakistani border troops, nearly leading to a severing of ties with Islamabad.

The drone attacks generate anti-American sentiment inside Pakistan, but have been credited with significantly weakening al-Qaida in one of its global hubs.

For his family, the call came as a final curt word about the fate of a son they had heard little from in over a year.

Awan grew up in the northwestern Pakistani town of Abbottabad, a few kilometers away from the house where Osama bin Laden was slain. His father worked in a bank in Britain in the 70s and then in Abbottabad until he retired a few years ago. His four other sons remain in Britain, where they have prospered ? one is a surgeon, another is a doctor, the third an engineer and the fourth is a banker.

It seems doubtful Awan had any contact with bin Laden in the town. But Awan's background here reinforces a striking association between this well-ordered, wealthy Pakistani army town and al-Qaida militants, which began before bin Laden was killed here in May last year when a team of American commandos flew in from Afghanistan.

Now 75 and recovering from a heart operation, Khushal Khan answered questions Saturday from an Associated Press reporter in the garden of his house, making the most of some winter sun. He defended his son's memory against charges of militancy.

"I don't believe this is true, my son was not indulging in these things," he said. "It can't be correct."

Khan said Awan followed his brothers' footsteps and went to Britain in 2002 on a student visa.

Awan lived in Manchester for four years, during which time he joined a militant cell that aimed to bring Muslims to Pakistan for militant training, according to prosecutors at the time and a British media report. He told his father he was studying at Manchester University, but it's unclear whether he ever graduated.

The cell was headed by a British al-Qaida commander called Rangzieb Ahmed who was captured in Pakistan in 2006 and sent for trial in Britain, where he was sentenced to life in prison for directing terrorism, according to Britain's Daily Telegraph.

A letter he wrote a to a longtime friend and fellow Pakistani, Abdul Rahman, rhapsodized over the "fragrance of blood" from the battlefield of jihad and his commitment to militancy, according to prosecutors in the trial of Rahman, who was sentenced to six years in jail in 2007 for spreading terrorist propaganda in Manchester. It apparently referred to a stint fighting jihad in Afghanistan, but when that occurred is not known.

The judge said then Awan was believed to have left England for Afghanistan.

"Awan was very well connected to known extremists in the UK. It highlights that the threat is still there," said Valentina Soria, a terrorism researcher at the London-based Royal United Services Institute. "This group were not just wannabes, they were active and with links to al-Qaida central."

There are thought to be about 900,000 Pakistani Muslims in England ? many of them living in London and in northern cities. British authorities have said nearly all the plots and attacks on British soil have some connection to Pakistan.

Awan returned to Abbottabad in 2007, around the time that bin Laden was settling in to his large house, though that doesn't mean Awan was in touch with him or any of his couriers. U.S. officials have previously said the al-Qaida leader was cut off from the rest of his network and wasn't meeting other militants for security reasons.

Awan began to associate with Sipah-e-Sahaba, an extremist group that has a political wing as well links to al-Qaida, according to a police officer in the town who knows the family. The officer didn't give his name because he didn't want to be seen as adding to Khan's pain.

Khan said he last saw his son or heard his voice in 2010, when Awan asked for funds to build a house and they fought over the fact he wasn't working.

"That was the point when I had to forcefully ask him to go out earn some money," he said. "But my words hurt him, and he left home with only the clothes he was wearing."

Khan said he initially feared his son had been kidnapped when he didn't return or contact him. But after a few months, Awan called his wife and told her he was in Miran Shah, the largest town in North Waziristan. He said he was running a general store and dealing in second-hand clothes.

Local intelligence officials said Awan was known by the nom de guerre Abdullah Khurasani, and was highly prized in al-Qaida circles because of his education, computer skills and foreign contacts.

Al-Qaida, Taliban and other militants from around the world congregate for training and networking in North Waziristan, and Miran Shah is a key logistical base. The town is too dangerous for reporters to visit, but locals who have traveled there say hundreds of Pakistan and foreign militants live there openly, unmolested other than by the U.S. missile attacks on its outskirts. The Pakistani army says it doesn't have enough resources to launch an operation in the region.

The missile strike program began in earnest in 2009 and has been stepped up by the Obama administration.

Abbottabad is home to the Pakistan army's top military academy and hundreds of officers and soldiers live in what is one of the country's more secure towns. The fact that bin Laden hid there for so long in plain sight triggered intense international suspicions that the military was sheltering him.

Al-Qaida's No. 3, Abu Faraj al-Libi, lived in Abbottabad before his arrest in 2005 elsewhere in northwest Pakistan, American and Pakistani officials have said. Five months prior to the bin Laden raid, Indonesian al-Qaida operative Umar Patek was arrested in the town following the arrest of an al-Qaida courier who worked at the post office.

U.S. officials have said Patek's arrest in Abbottabad was a coincidence.

_____

Brummitt reported from Islamabad. Associated Press reporters Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Ishtiaq Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Zarar Khan in Islamabad and Raphael Satter in London contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-22-AS-Pakistan-Slain-Militant/id-384c8bf39ff84c3288bd831ffd2653e0

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Head found in Hollywood park ID'd, killer unclear (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Authorities have determined that a dismembered head and other body parts found in a rugged hillside park near the famed "Hollywood" sign are the remains of a man who lived in an a nearby apartment.

The victim was Hervey Medellin, a 66-year-old from Los Angeles, coroner's Lt. David Smith said Friday night.

Investigators, who are searching for suspects, served a search warrant on a Hollywood apartment in the area a day earlier, but it wasn't immediately clear if it was Medellin's apartment.

"They did serve a search warrant last night. They are following clues, and the case is progressing. Guys are working around the clock to find out who did it and find the rest of the body," police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said Friday.

He did not elaborate on why the warrant was served or what, if anything, detectives found.

"We don't want to give out too much information because the investigation is ongoing," Andrew Smith said.

Medellin's head was found Tuesday at Bronson Canyon Park, and police searchers discovered the hands and feet during a two-day search that ended Thursday. The park, a brushy, wooded expanse of rolling hills just below the Hollywood sign, reopened Friday.

Although police have concluded no other body parts were dumped in the park, visitors who find anything they believe are related to the victim's death should contact authorities, Smith said.

More than 120 police officers, firefighters and Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies searched 7 acres of the park after the head was discovered in a plastic grocery bag. The hands and feet were found nearby.

Police have said they believe the victim was killed elsewhere and his remains dumped just inside the park, which attracts hundreds of hikers and dog walkers on most days.

Although rustic, it is located just a short distance from film studios and other Hollywood attractions.

Police believe the body parts were left there no more than a day or two before the head was found because they had barely decomposed and had not been attacked by coyotes that roam through the park at night.

Authorities don't believe the Los Angeles case is connected to a case in Tucson, Ariz., where police found a torso on Jan. 6. They say if the two were related, the remains would have been more badly decomposed.

Medellin's head was found after the dog walker let one of the animals she was shepherding through the park off its leash and it began playing with a plastic bag. When it shook the bag, the head fell out.

Andrew Smith said whoever dumped the head had gone to some effort to conceal it.

"If it had not been for the dog walker, we might never have found it," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Bob Christie in Phoenix contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_re_us/us_human_head_found

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