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Genetic analyses have so far yielded divergent results. Vilà, Savolainen, and colleagues (1997) concluded that the ancestors of dogs split off from other wolves between 75,000 and 135,000 years ago, while a subsequent analysis by Savolainen et al. (2002) indicated a "common origin from a single gene pool for all dog populations" between 40,000 and 15,000 years ago in East Asia.

The rapidity of this change has suggested to researchers a scenario of the origin of the domestic dog. Primitive people lived on the edge of survival which involved occasional food shortages, and would not have taken wolf pups and made pets of them. However, wolves would raid garbage dumps near human habitations. Wolves have a flight distance which they keep between themselves and a threatening creature. When a dump was approached by humans, some wolves would run a greater distance from the dump than others. Those that ran the shortest distance would return first, and obtain the greatest amount of food.

BOSTON – President Barack Obama's aunt buried her face in her hands and sobbed as she described her anguish that she no longer has contact with him and his family after the revelation she had been living illegally for years in the United States in public housing.
Zeituni Onyango (zay-TUH'-nee awn-YAHN'-goh) told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview that she is troubled that her immigration woes have made her a political liability to her nephew.
Onyango, the half sister of Obama's late father, says she has exiled herself from the family after attending Obama's inauguration because she didn't want to become fodder for his foes. Obama and his family have not reached out to her either, she said.
"Before, we were family. But right now, there is a lot of politics, and me, I am not interested in any politics at all," said Onyango, whose appeal for asylum from her native Kenya is before an immigration judge in Boston.
The Obamas are her only family in the United States, she said.
"It is very sad when such a thing happens. There are people, outsiders, you know, they come in between, they divide a family," she said last week. "It's not easy."
Onyango, 57, is protective of Obama and said she never asked him to intervene in her case and didn't tell him about her immigration difficulties.
"I carry my own cross," she said. "He has nothing to do with my problem."
The White House said Obama has had no involvement in his aunt's case and believes it should run its ordinary course.
Onyango helped care for the president's half brothers and sister while living with Barack Obama Sr. in Kenya. She moved to the United States in 2000 and applied for asylum in 2002, but her request was rejected and she was ordered deported in 2004.
However, she did not leave the country and continued to live in public housing in Boston. She had been a health care volunteer, but not since her status became public. She refused to discuss how she affords to live now or who is paying for her attorney.
Onyango said she previously had no trouble visiting Obama when he was state senator in Illinois or after he became U.S. senator, though she declined to discuss details of how often she had contact with Obama and his family. Her tiny apartment in a modest subsidized public housing complex for seniors and the disabled is adorned with photographs of her with Obama at the Illinois Statehouse, the president's official portrait, his family, the inauguration, her children and African wildlife.
She is disabled and learning to walk again after being paralyzed for more than three months due to an autoimmune disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome.
Her status as an illegal alien was revealed in October 2008, days before Obama was elected. Obama said he did not know his aunt was living in the U.S. illegally and said he believes the law should be followed.
A judge agreed to suspend Onyango's deportation order in December and reopened her asylum case. A hearing will be held in February, when Onyango can present her reasons for seeking asylum. The judge will then decide if she will be deported.
Her attorney, Margaret Wong, said that Onyango first applied for asylum due to violence in Kenya, an East African nation fractured by cycles of electoral violence every five years. People who seek asylum must show that they face persecution in their homeland on the basis of religion, race, nationality, political opinion or membership in a social group.
Immigration experts say Onyango's relationship to the president could strengthen her claim she would be subjected to danger at home.
Onyango declined to discuss the details of her case, citing the pending appeal.

She became angry when discussing Obama's half brother who wrote a semi-autobiographical novel about the abusive Kenyan father he shares with the president. She called Mark Ndesandjo, who lives in China, an opportunist eager to capitalize on his famous brother.

Ndesandjo, who wrote "Nairobi to Shenzhen," did not grow up with Obama. He has said he wrote the book in part to raise awareness of domestic violence. But Onyango said she was Ndesandjo's baby sitter while living with his father and never witnessed any abuse.

"He was only strict and argumentative, motivating one to do the best," she said, acknowledging that in those days in Kenya "it was politically correct to slap children to discipline them just as it was done elsewhere in the world."

She said Ndesandjo's claims against a man who died 27 years ago are unfair. The senior Obama had problems with alcohol and was difficult to live with sometimes because of his frustration over years of political persecution but wasn't a child abuser or wife beater, Onyango said.

She also denounced persistent allegations that Obama is not a natural-born American citizen, saying that she is angered by the "outrageous, absurd, calculated conspiratory claim" that he was born outside the United States and is ineligible to be president. She recalled receiving a letter and photos from Obama's father announcing his son's birth in Hawaii.

Onyango reserved special words of kindness for former President George W. Bush for a directive he put in place days before the election requiring federal agents get high-level approval to arrest fugitive immigrants, which directly affected Onyango. The directive made clear that U.S. officials worried about possible election implications of arresting Onyango.

She said she wants to thank Bush in person for the order, which gave her a measure of peace but was lifted weeks later.

"I loved President Bush," Onyango said while moving toward a framed photo of Bush and his wife standing with Barack and Michelle Obama at the White House on inauguration day. "He is my No. 1 man in my life because he helped me when I really needed that help."

WASHINGTON – After months of debate, President Barack Obama will spell out a costly Afghanistan war expansion to a skeptical public Tuesday night, coupling an infusion of as many as 35,000 more troops with a vow that there will be no endless U.S. commitment. His first orders have already been made: at least one group of Marines who will be in place by Christmas.
Obama has said that he prefers "not to hand off anything to the next president" and that his strategy will "put us on a path toward ending the war." But he doesn't plan to give any more exact timetable than that Tuesday night.
The president will end his 92-day review of the war with a nationally broadcast address in which he will lay out his revamped strategy from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. He spent part of Monday briefing foreign allies in a series of private meetings and phone calls.
Before Obama's call to Britain's Gordon Brown, the prime minister announced that 500 more U.K. troops would arrive in southern Afghanistan next month — making a British total of about 10,000 in the country. And French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose nation has more than 3,000 in Afghanistan, said French troops would stay "as long as necessary" to stabilize the country.
Obama's war escalation includes sending 30,000 to 35,000 more American forces into Afghanistan in a graduated deployment over the next year, on top of the 71,000 already there. There also will be a fresh focus on training Afghan forces to take over the fight and allow the Americans to leave.
He also will deliver a deeper explanation of why he believes the U.S. must continue to fight more than eight years after the war was started following the Sept. 11 attacks by al-Qaida terrorists based in Afghanistan. He will emphasize that Afghan security forces need more time, more schooling and more U.S. combat backup to be up to the job on their own, and he will make tougher demands on the governments of Pakistan as well as Afghanistan.
"This is not an open-ended commitment," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. "We are there to partner with the Afghans, to train the Afghan national security forces, the army and the police so that they can provide security for their country and wage a battle against an unpopular insurgency."
On a few of the bigger questions most on the minds of increasingly restive members of Congress and the public, such as how much the additional $30 billion to $35 billion cost will balloon the already skyrocketed federal deficit, how long the U.S. commitment will continue and how it will wind down, Obama was expected to make references without offering specifics.
Gibbs said detailed discussions on costs would be held later with lawmakers.
Even before explaining his decision, Obama told the military to begin executing the force increases. The commander in chief gave the deployment orders Sunday night, during an Oval Office meeting in which he told key military and White House advisers of his final decision.
At least one group of Marines is expected to deploy within two or three weeks of Obama's announcement and will be in Afghanistan by Christmas, military officials said. Larger deployments will begin early next year.
The initial infusion is a recognition by the administration that something tangible needs to happen quickly, officials said. The immediate addition of Marines will provide badly needed reinforcements for those fighting against Taliban gains in the southern Helmand province, and also could lend reassurance to both Afghans and a war-weary U.S. public.
Obama's overall review was launched Aug. 31, when Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, then the newly minted top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, delivered to Pentagon brass his assessment of the situation on the ground and what was needed to turn it around. McChrystal produced a separate resource request, first seen by Obama on Oct. 1. The president's review was anchored by 10 extensive war council meetings, starting on Sept. 13, that featured a debate between a counterinsurgency strategy focused on protecting the local population and building up the Afghanistan government or a more limited counterterrorism strategy.
The final product is neither, though it leans more toward counterinsurgency.
The length of the process drew sharp barbs. Less than two months in, Vice President Dick Cheney accused Obama of "dithering," beginning a drumbeat of criticism from Republicans. The White House shot back that the administration Cheney helped lead had given inordinate attention to Iraq while turning its back on Afghanistan.
But with U.S. casualties in Afghanistan sharply increasing and little sign of progress, the war Obama once liked to call one "of necessity," not choice, has grown less popular with the public and within his own Democratic Party. In recent days, leading Democrats have talked of setting tough conditions on deeper U.S. involvement, or even staging outright opposition.
The displeasure on both sides of the aisle is likely to be on display when congressional hearings on Obama's strategy get under way later in the week on Capitol Hill.
Obama spent much of Monday and Tuesday on the phone, outlining his plan — minus many specifics — for the leaders of France, Britain, Germany, Russia, China, India, Denmark, Poland and others. He also met in person at the White House with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

A briefing for dozens of lawmakers was planned for Tuesday afternoon, just before Obama left for New York to give his speech against a military backdrop.

He also was to call Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari — two leaders on whom the success of the plan will depend heavily.

In Afghanistan, rampant government corruption and inefficiency have made U.S. success much harder. Obama was expected to place tough conditions on Karzai's government, along with endorsing a stepped-up training program for the Afghan armed forces in line with recommendations this fall by U.S. trainers.

That schedule would expand the Afghan army to 134,000 troops by next fall, three years earlier than once envisioned.

The president faces a tricker task in talking tough on Pakistan.

Though extremist fighters and al-Qaida leaders are believed to be based in its western region near the border with Afghanistan, public scoldings from Washington can hurt as well as help Pakistani efforts because of pervasive anti-American sentiment. The U.S. cannot send troops into Pakistan, and rarely discusses the anti-terrorist missile strikes conducted inside Pakistan from U.S. drones.

Military officials said the speech is expected to include several references to Iraq, where the United States still has more than 100,000 troops. The strain of maintaining that overseas war machine has stretched the Army and Marine Corps and limited Obama's options.

He is expected to at least implicitly pledge not to return to the worst days of the Iraq war, when the Army was resorted to 15-month tours with little time at home between deployments and when National Guard and reserve troops were subjected to lengthy tours.

___

Associated Press writers Anne Gearan, Pamela Hess and Robert Burns contributed to this report.

Ownership of the fence varies. In some parts of the country all boundaries are shared; in other parts of the country you may own the boundary on the left-hand or right-hand side, however, only the title deeds can be depended on to tell you which side is yours. (A 'T' symbol indicates who is the owner). It used to be normal for the cladding to be on the non-owners side (enabling access to the posts for the owner when repairs need doing), but increasingly this cannot be depended on.

Where a fence or hedge has an adjacent ditch, the ditch is normally in the same ownership as the hedge or fence, with the ownership boundary being the edge of the ditch furthest from the fence or hedge. The principle of the rule is that an owner digging a boundary ditch will normally dig it up to the very edge of their land, and must then pile the spoil on their own side of the ditch to avoid trespassing on their neighbour. They may then erect a fence or hedge on the spoil, leaving the ditch on its far side. Exceptions often occur, for example where a plot of land derives from subdivision of a larger one along the centre line of a previously existing ditch or other feature.

Fort Worth Fence

Read Jackie K. Cooper's other articles on HuffingtonPost.com

What is it with George Clooney! How can one actor star in so many box office bombs and still be Hollywood's darling? Since 2003 this "leading man" has starred in such failures as "Intolerable Cruelty," "Syriana," "The Good German," "Leatherheads" and "Burn After Reading." The only major hit he has had in his career is the "Ocean's Eleven" series, Yet Hollywood keeps putting his name at the head of the list of desirable actors.

In his latest film "The Men Who Stare At Goats" he once again puts himself front and center in a lifeless, lethargic movie. He plays Lyn Cassady, a so-called psychic or new age soldier. He allegedly can kill goats with a single stare, control his opponents with his state of mind, and do other wonderful things.

This all comes to light when Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor), a reporter, learns of an organization within the military that is trying new ways of warfare. Cassady is supposed to be the current best of the bunch. His claim to fame is that he was mentored by the ultimate new age guru Bill Django (Jeff Bridges).

Through a series of misadventures Wilton ends up in Iraq with Cassady who is on a mission of sorts. Every situation in which they are involved causes Bob's impression of Cassady's abilities to rise or fall. At times his story seems credible and at others it sounds completely ridiculous. This is also how the movie comes off.

The film is played for comical effect but never is totally humorous. There are a few chuckles here and there but the story (which is supposedly based on true events) is so stupid it turns the audience off.

Clooney never captures the sincerity or the believability of his character. Maybe the part is just poorly written but Clooney does nothing to enhance the role. Bridges is back playing a drugged out guy stuck in the high flying sixties or seventies. It is a throwback to his role as "The Dude" in "The Big Lebowski" but not as enjoyable.

McGregor is really the star of the film but he looks totally lost in his role. He seems to be unable to figure out what is going on and so the audience doesn't comprehend it all either. It is McGregor's worst performance in years.

The film is rated R for profanity, violence and brief nudity.

There will certainly be a hard core of fans who will love this Clooney tune, but most will see it as another flop for the actor. It isn't funny; it isn't enlightening; it isn't dramatic; it is just a mess. This film highlights the loony in Clooney and the Ewww in Ewan.

I scored "The Men Who Stare At Goats" a psychic 3 out of 10.

Jackie K. Cooperwww.jackiekcooper.com

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George Clooney, New Age, Psychics, The Dude

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WASHINGTON – Eight years after the 9/11 attacks brought a new focus on security at airplane maintenance facilities, and six years after Congress first required action, the government still hasn't tightened its vigilance.
Concerned that terrorists might use a repair station to sabotage airliners, Congress in 2003 passed a law ordering the Transportation Security Administration to come up with security requirements for repair facilities, and gave the agency eight months to do it.
In 2007, after no rule had materialized, Congress again passed a law ordering TSA to put security requirements in place within one year. That deadline expired in August 2008.
This week, faced with a congressional hearing Wednesday on the issue, TSA finally posted a proposed rule to its Web site rather than wait for publication in the Federal Register. Officials acknowledged they wanted to get it out ahead of the hearing.
It's still not a done deal.
Industry and other interested parties will have 60 days to comment on the proposal once it's published, and there is no telling when it will take effect. It's not unusual for there to be a gap of months or years between the proposal of a regulation and issuance of a final rule.
Aviation maintenance and security experts who reviewed TSA's proposal told The Associated Press that it prescribes the kind of security program common in industry and throughout government: A qualified security program chief, photo identification for employees, controlled access to airplanes and parts, a secure facility or property perimeter and background checks of employees.
"These (security) concerns are not new, they have long known been known by the government. Why it has taken so long for them to act defies logic," said John Goglia, who was the first Federal Aviation Administration-certified mechanic to serve on the National Transportation Safety Board.
TSA could have at anytime copied the generally tight security programs in place in the European Union, he said.
So far there haven't been any incidents involving U.S. airliners that have been tied to security lapses at repair stations, but safety experts said the lack of security standards remains a glaring concern.
TSA spokesman Greg Soule said it took time for the agency to craft a rule that takes into account the diversity of the 4,100 domestic and 700 foreign repair stations certified to work on U.S.-registered aircraft. The stations range from small businesses that are miles from airports and work on specialized parts like seatbelts to huge hangars and warehouses inside airport grounds.
He said the agency already provides guidance to repair stations on security "best practices," but can't inspect or certify their security programs without regulations setting standards for them to meet.
Airlines used to perform nearly all the major maintenance and repair work on their planes at their own facilities using their own mechanics, electricians and other workers. Over the last two decades, though, airlines have increasingly outsourced the work to private repair stations that use cheaper, nonunion labor. A survey released last year by Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel found that nine major airlines outsource about 70 percent of their major maintenance work, with more than a quarter of the work performed at foreign repair stations, from China to Singapore to El Salvador.
Lawmakers and labor unions complain that the non-airline repair facilities don't get as much oversight as in-house shops. They say that's especially true of foreign repair stations, where it's more difficult — and sometimes impossible — for FAA to conduct surprise inspections. In some countries, because of privacy laws or incomplete record keeping, thorough screening of mechanics and other repair station employees can be difficult. Extending that screening to subcontractors who supply parts and services can be even more daunting.
Even at U.S. repair stations, checking the backgrounds of workers native to countries that don't readily share information like Cuba and Yemen has raised concern.
The government doesn't have the kind of regulatory regime in place to track security through the international maze of contractors and subcontractors that has developed in recent years, said Ed Wytkind, president of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department.
"If you don't have standards in place that set the bar at a high level of what you expect these facilities to do in the safety and security arena, you are sort of leaving it to chance that you might have bad apple, you might have shabby practices or, God forbid, you have a security breech," Wytkind said.
FAA certification of new repair stations has been frozen since last year, when TSA missed its second congressional deadline.

Industry officials say security fears are overblown. They say many repair stations, including foreign stations, are within the secure perimeters of airports. They also say there are more FAA-certified repair stations in Europe, where security standards are generally high, than in any other region outside the U.S.

"You hear that it's a wild West out there, but it really isn't," said Matt Hallett, director of government affairs at the Aeronautical Repair Station Association. "This is an industry that takes security and safety very, very seriously. It hasn't sat idly by waiting for TSA."

___

On the Net:

Transportation Security Administration http://www.tsa.gov/assets/pdf/nprm(underscore)aircraftrepair.pdf

(This version CORRECTS in 13th paragraph to El Salvador.)

SAN ANTONIO – Richard Martin keeps a rearview mirror on his desk to prevent co-workers from startling him in his cubicle. The walls are papered with sticky notes to help him remember things, and he wears noise-canceling headphones to keep his easily distracted mind focused.
Martin, an Army veteran who was nearly blown up on three occasions in Iraq, once feared that post-traumatic stress disorder and a brain injury would keep him from holding down a civilian job, despite years of corporate experience and an MBA.
"Here I am with this background and I'm having problems with my memory," said Martin, a 48-year-old engineer and former National Guard major who now works for Northrop Grumman, helping to devise ways to thwart remote-detonated bombs.
The defense contractor recruited him through its hiring program for severely wounded veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. The company consulted occupational nurses on how to help him do his job without becoming overly nervous when someone, say, drops a heavy object. Martin figured out other tricks, like the headphones, on his own.
But Martin is one of the lucky ones.
Army officials say many new veterans suffering from PTSD and brain injuries struggle to find and keep a civilian job. Advocates say many employers don't know how to accommodate veterans with these "invisible wounds" and worry that they cannot do the job and might even "go postal" someday.
"There is a stigma attached to the invisible wounds, and it's largely borne out of ignorance," said David Autry, a spokesman for Disabled American Veterans. "There's a fear that somebody will go off the deep end."
The Army's Wounded Warrior Program, which helps veterans adjust to civilian life, has been reaching out to employers to educate them and encourage them to hire former soldiers with invisible wounds.
It conducts briefings to brace potential employers for soldiers who might not be able to work regular hours or might startle too easily, suffer outbursts or require time off for counseling.
About 90 severely wounded veterans have found work with the help of the Wounded Warrior Program since it began offering job assistance last year, though the Army does not break that down by injury type.
The severely wounded soldiers now returning from the wars suffer primarily from PTSD and severe brain injuries rather than lost limbs. About a third, or 1,950, of the 5,400 soldiers and veterans in the Wounded Warrior Program have PTSD as their primary injury, while about 970 are in the program because of brain injuries. About 770 are amputees.
For the invisibly wounded, the losses can be as minor as slight memory lapses and as severe as debilitating flashbacks and a hair-trigger temper. Some have blurred vision and difficulty concentrating.
Disabled soldiers qualify for disability payments, but those are often barely enough to live on, and many want to work, if only for their self-respect. The problem is that many employers are far less prepared to take on former military personnel with mental and cognitive disabilities than those with burns or lost limbs.
"Employers find it easier to accommodate those physical disabilities. They can get special equipment," said Sue Maloney, who works with veterans in the Wounded Warrior Program in the Seattle area. But "you can't always see the wounds or the injuries."
Kyle Salisbury, 21, went to work shortly after he retired from the Army last year with a brain injury caused by two large blasts in as many days.
His employer was excited about hiring a wounded Iraq veteran, but Salisbury often could not work because of severe headaches. A second job driving a truck did not work out either because of his occasional nausea and blurred vision. He quit both jobs.
"Right now my job prospects are zero," said Salisbury, who lives with his wife and 3-year-old nephew in Bellingham, Wash. He is attending community college while he decides what to do next.
With less than $3,000 a month in disability payments, "the bills take up all the money," he said. "I definitely don't live a worry-free life."

The transition for Martin, who works in Clearfield, Utah, appears to have been easier. He said minor adjustments to his office, combined with a Blackberry, rehab and medication, have allowed him to function well. He learned about the noise-canceling headphones from a fellow passenger on an airplane.

Karen Stang, manager of Northrop Grumman's hiring program, said that adjustments had to be made for veterans with PTSD or brain injuries, but company managers are happy with the new hires.

The company consults with occupational nurses about what accommodations should be made and encourages veterans to be honest about what they need.

"Give them a chance," Stang said she tells other employers. "Really, look at what they bring as far as skills and help them manage their disability so they can succeed in their job."

___

On the Net:

Army Wounded Warrior Program: http://www.aw2.army.mil

Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Operation Impact: http://operationimpact.ms.northropgrumman.com/default.htm

WASHINGTON – The Army will conduct an internal investigation to examine whether it missed warning signs about Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the man accused of killing 13 people in the Nov. 5 shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, two newspapers reported Monday.
Citing anonymous officials, The Wall Street Journal said the probe would focus on Hasan's six years at Washington's Walter Reed Medical Center, where he worked as a psychiatrist before he was transferred to Fort Hood in July.
The Washington Post reported that Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army's chief of staff, is forming the investigative panel, which will look at Hasan's entire career to figure out whether warning signs were missed.
The doctors who oversaw Hasan's medical training had discussed at a meeting concerns about Hasan's overly zealous religious views and strange behavior months before the attack, a military official told The Associated Press last week. Hasan also was characterized as a mediocre student and lazy worker, but the doctors saw no evidence that he was violent or a threat. The military official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly about the meeting.
The FBI learned late last year of Hasan's repeated contact with a radical Muslim cleric in Yemen who encouraged Muslims to kill U.S. troops in Iraq. President Barack Obama already has ordered a review of all intelligence related to Hasan and whether the information was properly shared and acted upon within government agencies.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday will hold its first public hearing about the incident. Obama on Saturday urged Congress to hold off on any investigation, pleading for lawmakers to "resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater."
Lt. Col. Richard Spiegel, an Army spokesman, wouldn't confirm the Army probe but told the Journal: "We're going to take a hard look at ourselves and the non-criminal aspects of this case. We are still developing what that hard look is going to look like."

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) –
A plant that converts cow dung into energy for homes opened in the Netherlands Friday.

Manure from cows at a nearby dairy farm will be fermented along with grass and food industry residues, and the biogas released during the process will be used as fuel for the thermal plant's gas turbines.

The heat generated will be distributed to around 1,100 homes in the area around Leeuwarden in the north of the Netherlands, the plant's operator Essent said in a statement.

Firms in Europe and elsewhere have been investing in biogas plants and this is the second of its scale running on cow manure in the Netherlands. It follows another plant that Essent opened in January.

(Reporting by Catherine Hornby; Editing by Charles Dick)

CAIRO (AFP) –
Egypt must take immediate action to ensure there is no repeat of a 2008 rockslide that killed more than 100 residents of a Cairo shantytown, Amnesty International warned in a report on Tuesday.

"Thousands of Egypt?s poor are trapped by poverty and neglect that could ultimately end in their deaths," said Malcolm Smart, the global rights group's Middle East and Africa director.

"The government must urgently address the risks faced by those living in areas designated as ?unsafe? and find solutions by consulting with those directly affected."

A cliff face collapsed on dozens of homes in Cairo's Manshiyet Nasser slum on September 6, 2008, killing at least around 100 residents and injuring dozens of others.

At the time, residents blamed the disaster on work that had been going on for several weeks on the Moqattam plateau overlooking the shantytown, and said the authorities had been warned of the dangers of just such a disaster.

In its report, Amnesty called on Egyptian authorities to "alleviate the threats to lives in the 26 'unsafe areas' in Greater Cairo, and to protect the residents? rights to health and adequate housing."

"Denied an effective voice and largely ignored by those in power, many residents ... continue to live in fear on precarious hillsides or under high voltage power lines because they have nowhere else to go," it said.

Amnesty called on the authorities to properly investigate the incident and ensure such a tragedy is not repeated.

"The government must develop a comprehensive programme of action to address the risks faced by those living in ?unsafe areas? and to uphold their rights to life, health and adequate housing," said Smart.

Atlanta Georgia Construction Law

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain stability, and deliver justice. Working as a lawyer involves the practical application of abstract legal theories and knowledge to solve specific individualized problems, or to advance the interests of those who retain (i.e., hire) lawyers to perform legal services.

In others, the use of a lawyer is optional and banks, title companies, or realtors may be used instead.[50] In some civil law jurisdictions, real estate transactions are handled by civil law notaries.[51] In England and Wales a special class of legal professional, the Licensed Conveyancer is also allowed to carry out conveyancing services for reward.

Irvine Auto Body

Automobile repair shops can be specialty shops like muffler shops, transmission specialists, body shop, tire shops and automobile electrification shops. Examples include MAACO and AAMCO. There are also independently-owned specialists who work only on specific makes of cars, such as European car specialists and BMW repair specialists.

In the UK, a Garage does not typically specialize in one area of the vehicle.[citation needed] Instead, they tend to repair all mechanical and servicing requirements, the only specialty being body repair and painting.

BEIJING (AFP) –
The United States and China on Tuesday agreed to cooperate on a host of issues from climate change to North Korea as US President Barack Obama pledged positive and comprehensive ties with Beijing.

Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao also said they would work together to resolve trade frictions between the world's number one and three economies after their talks, the centrepiece of Obama's visit to the Asian giant.

In statements to the press, Obama said the two countries -- the world's top two emitters of greenhouse gases -- had "agreed to work toward a successful outcome" at crucial UN-backed climate change talks in Copenhagen next month.

"Our aim there is... not a partial accord or a political declaration, but rather an accord that covers all the issues in the negotiations and one that has immediate operational effect," the US leader said.

Hopes had dimmed for a statement on how to combat global warming, after officials said following a weekend Asia-Pacific summit in Singapore that it was unrealistic to expect leaders to reach a binding pact in the Danish capital.

But Obama seemed to suggest that a deal could still be on the table.

"As the two largest consumers and producers of energy, there can be no solution to this challenge without the efforts of both China and the United States," he said.

On trade, Hu told reporters the two sides would "continue to have consultations on an equal footing to properly resolve economic and trade frictions."

Washington has angered China in recent months by imposing tariffs on Chinese tyres and preliminary duties on some steel products. Beijing countered by launching its own probes into US car imports and chicken meat.

Trade seems likely to top the agenda following a series of tit-for-tat moves in recent months that has sparked angry accusations from Beijing that the United States is engaging in blatant protectionism.

On Monday, a Chinese commerce ministry spokesman lamented "an increasingly protective US". Hours later, US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke rejected those comments.

Obama is expected to counter by again urging China to reconsider the value of the yuan, which has been effectively pegged to the dollar since July 2008, when the global crisis hit key export markets for Chinese-made goods.

Washington has stopped short of calling China a currency manipulator, but has urged Beijing to relax its exchange rate regime, hinting that it keeps the value of the yuan artificially low to boost exports.

The two sides also announced Tuesday that Hu would pay an official visit to the United States some time next year on the invitation of Obama. The statement did not specify the timing of the visit.

On Tibet, a sensitive issue for Beijing, Obama said while the United States recognised China's sovereignty over the region, it hoped for an "early resumption" of talks between the Dalai Lama's representatives and Beijing.

Obama, criticised at home for not meeting the Dalai Lama during the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader's recent visit to Washington, has vowed to raise human rights issues with Beijing, but said he would do it without "rancour".

Their talks follow Obama's town hall-style meeting with students in Shanghai streamed live on the Internet on Monday where he acknowledged difficulties in China-US ties but said the two countries need not be adversaries.

The US president also pushed for expanded political freedoms and spoke out against censorship in that meeting -- comments that were widely ignored by the tightly-controlled Chinese state media.

Obama was later to visit the Forbidden City and meet parliamentary speaker Wu Bangguo before a lavish state dinner hosted by Hu.

The US president wraps up his visit to China on Wednesday with talks with Premier Wen Jiabao and a visit to the Great Wall. He then heads to South Korea, the last stop on his four-country tour.

WASHINGTON (AFP) –
The Obama administration is pressing Afghan President Hamid Karzai to set up an anti-corruption commission, The New York Times said Tuesday.

The panel would establish "strict accountability" for national and provincial government officials, the Times reported, citing senior officials from US President Barack Obama's administration.

Some US and European officials are also seeking the arrests of what one US representative termed "the more blatantly corrupt" people in the Afghan government, it added.

"A couple of high-profile heads on a platter would be nice," a European diplomat involved in Afghanistan told the newspaper.

Among potential persons of interest was Ahmed Wali Karzai, the president's brother who is suspected of harboring important links to Afghanistan's booming illegal opium trade in the southern Taliban hotbed of Kandahar.

The Times also cited former defense minister Marshal Muhammad Qasim Fahim, a Karzai running mate suspected of drug trafficking, and General Abdul Rashid Dostum, a feared warlord accused of being involved in the killings of thousands of Taliban prisoners shortly after the US-led invasion in 2001.

The names, however, were not provided by US officials and were culled from the international community's "wish list," it said.

The issue of corruption has come up repeatedly during a series of meetings Obama has held to review his Afghanistan strategy as he weighs sending tens of thousands more US troops to the eight-year war, administration officials told the Times.

They characterized the number of US troops in Afghanistan as the biggest leverage Washington has with Karzai.

"The issue of the government's competence and legitimacy, and how that fits into our ability to succeed in Afghanistan, has been thoroughly discussed in these meetings," a senior US official told the newspaper.

"Because we're putting American and coalition troops on the line in part to make sure the government stands and has a chance to succeed, there has to be an effort on their part to improve their effectiveness and address corruption."

Lighting is the deliberate application of light to achieve some aesthetic or practical effect. Lighting includes use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and natural illumination of interiors from daylight. Daylighting (through windows, skylights, etc.) is often used as the main source of light during daytime in buildings given its low cost. Artificial lighting represents a major component of energy consumption, accounting for a significant part of all energy consumed worldwide.

Artificial lighting is most commonly provided today by electric lights, but gas lighting, candles, or oil lamps were used in the past, and still are used in certain situations. Proper lighting can enhance task performance or aesthetics, while there can be energy wastage and adverse health effects of lighting. Indoor lighting is a form of fixture or furnishing, and a key part of interior design. Lighting can also be an intrinsic component of landscaping.

LED Light Bulbs

LOS ANGELES – A team of California rocketeers has won a $1 million prize in a simulated lunar landing contest backed by NASA.
The X Prize Foundation said Monday that Mojave, Calif.-based Masten Space Systems had a better landing accuracy than was achieved by Armadillo Aerospace of Rockwall, Texas, which got $500,000 for second place.
The teams flew robotic rockets that had to rise more than 160 feet, stay aloft for at least 180 seconds while traveling to a rocky landing pad, and then fly back to the starting point.
The flight profile simulates what would be required to descend from lunar orbit, land on the moon and then lift off again to return to lunar orbit.
NASA put up $2 million in prizes for the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge as an incentive to spur development of technology by space entrepreneurs.
In a less-demanding lower level of the competition, Armadillo was first and won $350,000 while Masten got $150,000 for second place.
A father-son team called Unreasonable Rocket had unreasonable luck with two rockets during the weekend in Cantil, Calif. One rocket dubbed Blue Ball ran out of fuel in the lower level challenge. Its second rocket, Silver Ball, which was intended for the top level, was wrecked in a test while tethered to a crane.
Andrew Petro, NASA's Centennial Challenge program manager at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., said in a press release late Monday that the contest had the intended effect.
"These companies have demonstrated reusable vehicles with rapid turnaround and a surprising degree of precision in flight, and they have done all this at a much lower cost than many thought possible," he said.
NASA will present $1.65 million in prizes on Thursday. Armadillo's first-place award in the lower level competition was presented last year.
The X Prize Foundation managed the contest while Northrop Grumman provided support.
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On the Net:
Flight videos: http://www.xprize.org/
Masten: http://masten-space.com/
Armadillo: http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home

NEW ORLEANS – The Saints deactiviated starting linebacker Scott Fujita for a second straight game as New Orleans prepared to host the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night.
Fujita strained his left calf during a victory over the New York Giants in Week 6 and has not practiced since.
Troy Evans was slated to start in his place. Also inactive for New Orleans were cornerback Leigh Torrence and running back Lynell Hamilton, who practiced at fullback last week after Heath Evans was placed on injured reserve.
Atlanta deactivated running backs Jerious Norwood (right hip) and Jason Snelling (hamstring) and starting defensive tackle Thomas Johnson (calf). Johnson was replaced in the starting lineup by Trey Lewis.

PARIS – Vivendi SA says its former CEO Jean-Marie Messier and other former top executives have been ordered to stand trial on charges of misleading investors while they were transforming the once-stodgy water utility into a high-flying film, music and pay TV giant.
Vivendi said Thursday it was reviewing the order by investigating magistrate Jean-Marie d'Huy. The company is a plaintiff in the case.
The judge's decision to put Messier and six others on trial ignores a recommendation by Paris prosecutors that the case be thrown out.
The probe began in 2002 after a complaint by shareholders alleging the company misled investors into buying or holding Vivendi stock.
Others charged include ex-Vivendi executive vice president Edgar Bronfman, Jr. and former chief financial officer Guillaume Hannezo.

WASHINGTON – Tens of thousands of people may have taken advantage of the first-time home buyer tax credit to defraud the government, an IRS watchdog office said Thursday, in testimony that could jeopardize efforts to extend the popular program.
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George told a House panel that more than 19,000 people filed 2008 tax returns or amended returns claiming the credit for homes they had not yet purchased. Those claims amounted to $139 million and it was not clear that the IRS planned to go back to verify that those purchases actually took place, he said.
George said his office had identified another $500 million in claims, by some 74,000 taxpayers, where there were indications of prior home ownership.
George's office said the IRS did not require taxpayers to provide documentation to substantiate the purchase of a home. They were told by the tax agency that it did not have the ability to accept such documentation electronically.
He told a House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee that they also found 580 taxpayers under the age of 18 who claimed $4 million in first-time home buyer credit. One was 4 years old.
George said that while the IRS has since taken steps to tighten oversight, "some key controls were missing to prevent an individual from erroneously or fraudulently claiming the credit."
Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., chairman of the subcommittee, said he was concerned that the quick IRS response to the new credit came at a cost. "There are possibly hundreds of millions of dollars that have been paid to taxpayers who are not entitled to the credit," he said.
The top Republican on the panel, Rep. Charles Boustany, Jr., of Louisiana, said that while the issue of extending the credit was not the purpose of the hearing, "every time Congress creates a new refundable credit ... the incentive for fraud is magnified."
Linda Stiff, IRS' deputy commissioner for services and enforcement, agreed that "any time that there is an opportunity to receive cash back it tends to attract people that might have an intent to defraud the government." The agency "recognizes that there is potential for both fraud and errors" when a new tax credit is enacted. She said the agency "will vigorously pursue those who filed fraudulent claims."
The home buyer credit was a key element of the $787 billion stimulus package enacted last February. Under the measure, low- and middle-income first-time home buyers purchasing a home between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30 of this year could claim a credit of up to $8,000 on their 2008 or 2009 income tax return.
The Internal Revenue Service says it has processed claims from more than 1.5 million individuals or families. The General Accountability Office, in a report to the subcommittee, said that represented about $10 billion in tax revenue.
With the program scheduled to expire in a month and the housing market's recovery still shaky, there have been various proposals in Congress to extend and expand it.
At one end, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., says the program should be extended for a month while lawmakers take another look at how it is being run. On the other end, Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., with the backing of banking committee chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., wants to extend it through next June 30, and expand it to include all home buyers, at an estimated cost of $16.7 billion.
Housing and Human Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, in testimony to Congress earlier this week, was noncommittal, saying the administration understands the urgency of the housing situation but wants to get a better grasp of the costs involved.
As of the end of September the IRS, according to the GAO report, has frozen more than 110,000 refunds pending civil or criminal examinations, identified 167 criminal schemes and commenced 115 criminal investigations.
George said the IRS has implemented computer programming to reject claims from people who have not yet purchased a new home. He also acknowledged that the agency has installed filters to catch claimants who had entered information on tax returns indicating they may have owned a home in the three previous years. Those could include deductions for home mortgage interest or real estate taxes.
George also noted that through late July his office had identified some 3,200 taxpayers claiming credits totaling more than $20.8 million on tax returns filed with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, an identifier that is used mainly by resident immigrants and does not indicate whether an individual is authorized to live or work in the U.S. The stimulus act specifically denies the credit to nonresident immigrants.
Stiff stressed that those claims flagged as potentially erroneous may be found, on further examination, to be legitimate.

While the program has widespread support in Congress, there are growing concerns about the costs. The cause, said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., "is a worthy one." But "I hope we can find ways to pay for it."

Critics have also characterized the program as a subsidy for people who would have bought a new home regardless of the tax credit. The National Association of Realtors has estimated that one-fourth of those who have claimed the credit, about 350,000, would not have purchased their homes without the credit.

Maggie Simpson from the animated television show The Simpsons is rarely separated from her pacifier, and her constant "suck, suck" sound has been one of the few sounds made by the baby.

As is the case with most other young children, infants are usually treated as special persons. Their social presence is different from that of adults, and they may be the focus of attention. Fees for transportation and entrance fees at locations such as amusement parks or museums are often waived. This special attention will wear out as the child grows older.

Natural Baby Products

BOSTON – The Boston Celtics have waived forward Mike Sweetney.
The release on Thursday of Sweetney, the ninth pick of the 2004 NBA draft out of Georgetown, was expected with the Celtics having a deep roster. Sweetney was out of the NBA last season after spending his first two seasons with the New York Knicks and the next two with the Chicago Bulls.
The 6-foot-8 Sweetney, 26, signed with Boston as a free agent on Sept. 28 and averaged 3.6 points, 1.2 rebounds and 6.4 minutes in five exhibition games.

When businesses need to raise money (called 'capital'), more laws come into play. A highly complex set of laws and regulations govern the offer and sale of investment securities (the means of raising money) in most Western countries. These regulations can require disclosure of a lot of specific financial and other information about the business and give buyers certain remedies. Because "securities" is a very broad term, most investment transactions will be potentially subject to these laws, unless a special exemption is available.

Patents and copyrights in the United States are largely governed by federal law, while trade secrets and trademarking are mostly a matter of state law. Because of the nature of intellectual property, a business needs protection in every jurisdiction in which they are concerned about competitors. Many countries are signatories to international treaties concerning intellectual property, and thus companies registered in these countries are subject to national laws bound by these treaties.

Business Valuations in NJ

WASHINGTON – Americans seem to be cooling toward global warming. Just 57 percent think there is solid evidence the world is getting warmer, down 20 points in just three years, a new poll says. And the share of people who believe pollution caused by humans is causing temperatures to rise has also taken a dip, even as the U.S. and world forums gear up for possible action against climate change.
In a poll of 1,500 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, released Thursday, the number of people saying there is strong scientific evidence that the Earth has gotten warmer over the past few decades is down from 71 percent in April of last year and from 77 percent when Pew started asking the question in 2006. The number of people who see the situation as a serious problem also has declined.
The steepest drop has occurred during the past year, as Congress and the Obama administration have taken steps to control heat-trapping emissions for the first time and international negotiations for a new treaty to slow global warming have been under way. At the same time, there has been mounting scientific evidence of climate change — from melting ice caps to the world's oceans hitting the highest monthly recorded temperatures this summer.
The poll was released a day after 18 scientific organizations wrote Congress to reaffirm the consensus behind global warming. A federal government report Thursday found that global warming is upsetting the Arctic's thermostat.
Only about a third, or 36 percent of the respondents, feel that human activities — such as pollution from power plants, factories and automobiles — are behind a temperature increase. That's down from 47 percent from 2006 through last year's poll.
"The priority that people give to pollution and environmental concerns and a whole host of other issues is down because of the economy and because of the focus on other things," suggested Andrew Kohut, the director of the research center, which conducted the poll from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4. "When the focus is on other things, people forget and see these issues as less grave."
Andrew Weaver, a professor of climate analysis at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, said politics could be drowning out scientific awareness.
"It's a combination of poor communication by scientists, a lousy summer in the Eastern United States, people mixing up weather and climate and a full-court press by public relations firms and lobby groups trying to instill a sense of uncertainty and confusion in the public," he said.
Political breakdowns in the survey underscore how tough it could be to enact a law limiting pollution emissions blamed for warming. While three-quarters of Democrats believe the evidence of a warming planet is solid, and nearly half believe the problem is serious, far fewer conservative and moderate Democrats see the problem as grave. Fifty-seven percent of Republicans say there is no solid evidence of global warming, up from 31 percent in early 2007.
Though there are exceptions, the vast majority of scientists agree that global warming is occurring and that the primary cause is a buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil and coal.
Jane Lubchenco, head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told a business group meeting at the White House Thursday: "The science is pretty clear that the climate challenge before us is very real. We're already seeing impacts of climate change in our own backyards."
Despite misgivings about the science, half the respondents still say they support limits on greenhouse gases, even if they could lead to higher energy prices. And a majority — 56 percent — feel the United States should join other countries in setting standards to address global climate change.
But many of the supporters of reducing pollution have heard little to nothing about cap-and-trade, the main mechanism for reducing greenhouse gases favored by the White House and central to legislation passed by the House and a bill the Senate will take up next week.
Under cap-and-trade, a price is put on each ton of pollution, and businesses can buy and sell permits to meet emissions limits.
"Perhaps the most interesting finding in this poll ... is that the more Americans learn about cap-and-trade, the more they oppose cap-and-trade," said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who opposes the Senate bill and has questioned global warming science.
Regional as well as political differences were detected in the polling.
People living in the Midwest and mountainous areas of the West are far less likely to view global warming as a serious problem and to support limits on greenhouse gases than those in the Northeast and on the West Coast. Both the House and Senate bills have been drafted by Democratic lawmakers from Massachusetts and California.
One of those lawmakers, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, told reporters Thursday that she was happy with the results, given the interests and industry groups fighting the bill.

"Today, to get 57 percent saying that the climate is warming is good, because today everybody is grumpy about everything," Boxer said. "Science will win the day in America. Science always wins the day."

Earlier polls, from different organizations, have not detected a growing skepticism about the science behind global warming.

Since 1997, the percentage of Americans that believe the Earth is heating up has remained constant — at around 80 percent — in polling done by Jon Krosnick of Stanford University. Krosnick, who has been conducting surveys on attitudes about global warming since 1993, was surprised by the Pew results.

He described the decline in the Pew results as "implausible," saying there is nothing that could have caused it.

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Associated Press Writers Seth Borenstein and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press: http://www.people-press.org

Beginner Piano Lessons

One of the major technical innovations that helped to create the sound of the modern piano was the use of a strong iron frame. Also called the "plate", the iron frame sits atop the soundboard, and serves as the primary bulwark against the force of string tension. The increased structural integrity of the iron frame allowed the use of thicker, tenser, and more numerous strings. In a modern grand the total string tension can approach 20 tons.

All else being equal, longer pianos with longer strings have better sound and lower inharmonicity of the strings. Inharmonicity is the degree to which the frequencies of overtones (known as partials, partial tones, or harmonics) depart from whole multiples of the fundamental frequency. Pianos with shorter, thicker, and stiffer strings (e.g., baby grands) have more inharmonicity.

GENEVA – The U.N. Human Rights Council voted Friday to endorse a Gaza war crimes report and send it to the Security Council, possibly setting up international prosecution of Israelis and Palestinians accused of war crimes.
The council approved a Palestinian-backed resolution after two days of debate on the Goldstone report, which it had commissioned following the Dec. 27-Jan. 18 conflict in which almost 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.
The resolution passed 25-6, with mostly developing countries in favor and the United States and five European countries — Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia and Ukraine _opposing.
Eleven mostly European and African countries abstained, while Britain, France and three other members of the 47-nation body declined to vote. Russia and China, two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, were among those voting yes.
"The clock on the report starts now," said Ibrahim Khraishi, the Palestinian Authority's U.N. ambassador in Geneva, adding that he hoped the Security Council in New York would take up the report.
If the report is considered by the 15-member Security Council, the U.S. is likely to use its veto to block any call for getting the International Criminal Court involved in the dispute over Gaza or taking action against Israel.
The 575-page report, compiled by an expert group led by Judge Richard Goldstone, concluded that Israel used disproportionate force, deliberately targeted civilians, used Palestinians as human shields and destroyed civilian infrastructure during its incursion into the Gaza Strip to root out Palestinian rocket squads.
It also accused Palestinian armed groups including Hamas of deliberately targeting civilians and trying to spread terror through rocket attacks on southern Israel.
In Ramallah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, welcomed Friday's vote.
"What is important now is to translate words into deeds in order to protect our people in the future from any new aggression," Nabil Abu Rdeneh said.
Israel and the U.S. called the Goldstone report "flawed" because it ignored Israel's right to defend its people from Palestinian rocket fire. They warned that the vote could jeopardize Middle East peace prospects.
Israel's foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, also said endorsing the report could have far-reaching consequences.
"Whoever votes in favor of endorsing the report must understand that next time it will be the soldiers and officers of NATO in Afghanistan, and then Russian soldiers and officers in Chechnya," Lieberman said late Thursday.
U.S. diplomat Douglas M. Griffiths told the council that Washington was disappointed with the outcome of the vote.
"We're focused on moving forward in the peace process and we feel that this is a distraction from that," Griffiths told The Associated Press.
The resolution — which also condemns recent Israeli actions in the Palestinian territories and East Jerusalem — endorses the report's recommendation that both sides in the conflict should show the Security Council within six months that they are carrying out credible investigations into alleged Gaza abuses. If they are not, the matter should then be referred to prosecutors at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo had no comment Friday on a possible war crimes probe into the Gaza conflict.
Prosecutors are analyzing a declaration in January in which the Palestinian Authority accepted the court's authority over territory it controls — something only sovereign nations are allowed to do.

Palestinians filed their recognition in the hope that if the court accepts it, Moreno Ocampo would then have jurisdiction to launch an investigation into war crimes committed by both sides during the Gaza conflict even without an order from the Security Council.

Israel does not accept the court's jurisdiction.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, urged both sides earlier this week "to carry out impartial, independent, prompt and effective investigations into reported violations of human rights and humanitarian law."

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Associated Press Writer Mike Corder in The Hague and Aron Heller in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

LAGOS (AFP) –
The rebel group that has brought chaos to Nigeria's oil producing region on Friday ended a 90-day ceasefire and warned the oil industry and military to brace for attacks.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has waged a three-year campaign demanding a bigger share of the oil wealth for the local population, severely cutting daily production. But the government says many of its fighters have laid down their arms in a recent amnesty.

MEND "resumes its hostilities against the Nigerian oil industry, the Nigerian armed forces and its collaborators with effect from 00:00hrs, Friday, October 16, 2009," the group said in a terse e-mail statement.

MEND ordered a ceasefire in July to allow for possible talks with President Umaru Yar'Adua's government. It set up a committee -- which included 1986 Nobel literature laureate Wole Soyinka -- to run negotiations, but no formal talks were held.

The group rejected a government amnesty offer describing it as a "charade", saying it failed to address the key issues of under-development and injustice in the Niger Delta.

The authorities say, however, that more than 8,000 militants laid down their arms and accepted the amnesty offer which ran from August 6 to October 4.

In the past three years Nigeria's oil output has been cut from 2.6 million barrels a day to 1.7 million currently. It has now been equalled by Angola as Africa's top exporter.

Dozens of foreign oil workers have been kidnapped by MEND and other groups in the Delta region. It has attacked pipelines and offshore facilities and even Lagos harbour.

But despite MEND's rejection of the amnesty, the government says there has been a good response.

Yar'Adua told an OPEC delegation on Wednesday that the amnesty had resulted in a return to peace to the south of the country. The government has faced severe pressure over the conflict because 90 percent of the country's earnings come from oil.

"The general amnesty I extended to all militants in the Niger Delta has led to the laying down of arms and a return of peace. Agitations are now over," he said.

But MEND said in a statement last week that the next phase of its struggle would be the most critical as it planned "to end 50 years of slavery of the people of the Niger Delta by the Nigerian government, a few individuals and the western oil companies once and for all."

It warned that future operations would be more destructive.

"In this next phase, we will burn down all attacked installations and no longer limit our attacks to the destruction of pipelines," it said in the statement.

The US embassy in Nigeria has called for restraint and dialogue to resolve the Niger Delta conflict.

"We note the efforts to date to advance dialogue in the Niger Delta. We hope that these efforts will continue and that restraint is exercised during this delicate period," a statement said on Tuesday.

NEW YORK – The lawyer for the wife of accused kidnapper and rapist Phillip Garrido says his client misses the children her husband allegedly fathered with his victim, and says she saw them all as a family.
Nancy Garrido's lawyer told CBS's "The Early Show" on Wednesday that his client says she loves the girls.
Authorities say Phillip Garrido fathered Jaycee Lee Dugard's two daughters, now 11 and 15.
The Garridos were arrested last week and charged in the kidnapping, rape and imprisonment of Dugard, who was 11 years old when she was snatched outside her home in 1991.
Lawyer Gilbert Maines also appeared on ABC and NBC on Wednesday, saying Nancy Garrido seemed distraught and frightened during his first meeting with her. But he says she realizes why she is in jail.

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway (AFP) –
UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday urged world leaders to act now to halt global warming, as he saw first-hand its effects in the Arctic ahead of a key climate change summit in December.

The UN will organise a high-level international meeting in New York on September 22 to prepare for the Copenhagen summit.

In Copenhagen, world leaders will try to seal a new accord to fight climate change after the Kyoto Protocol requirements expire in 2012.

"I will tell world leaders that this is the time to act before it is too late," Ban told reporters during a visit to Norway's Svalbard archipelago, just 1,200 kilometres (745 miles) from the North Pole.

"The Arctic is similar to sending a canary into a coalmine -- this is a danger warning for the global climate," he said.

If world leaders fail to "take urgent action ... we will regret it deeply for the future of humanity and the future of the world," he added.

His comments came a day after he visited the Ny-Aalesund climate change research station in Svalbard and took a walk on the polar ice rim, saying he was "very much alarmed" by the rapid rate of melting ice.

Researchers studying atmospheric conditions in the Arctic had told him Tuesday that they had over the past two years suddenly seen a large increase in emissions of methane gas, one of the most aggressive greenhouse gases that contributes to global warming.

"This Arctic is the place where this global warming is happening much faster than any other region in the world. It looks like it's seemingly moving in slow motion but it's moving faster and faster. Much faster than expected," Ban said Tuesday.

Norwegian Environment Minister Erik Solheim, who accompanied the UN secretary general on his tour of the Arctic region, echoed Ban's concerns.

"There is absolutely no doubt of the challenge facing the world today. Hundreds of thousands of people will die if we don't act," he told a seminar attended by Ban at Longyearbyen University in Svalbard.

"The magnitude of the task is enormous," he added.

Speaking to AFP, Ban criticised world leaders for often acting in the interests of their own countries.

"Climate change affects everyone. It doesn't respect borders. So political leaders should act as world leaders," he said.

Earlier Wednesday, Ban toured a vault carved into the Arctic permafrost, filled with samples of the world's most important seeds in case food crops are wiped out by a catastrophe.

"The world faces many daunting challenges today, one of the greatest of which is how to feed a growing population in the context of climate change," a bundled-up Ban told reporters after he visited the site.

"The seeds stored here in Svalbard will help us do just that. Sustainable food production may not begin in this cold Arctic environment, but it does begin by conserving crop diversity," he said.

Aimed at safeguarding biodiversity in the face of climate change, wars and other natural and man-made disasters, the seed bank has the capacity to hold up to 4.5 million batches of seeds, or twice the number of crop varieties believed to exist in the world today.

The vault was inaugurated in February 2008, and so far some 25 international and national institutes from 22 countries have deposited some 400,000 batches of seeds, according to the Norwegian government.

Ban was to leave the Arctic later Wednesday.

EDINBURGH, Scotland – Britain did not want the Lockerbie bomber to die in a Scottish prison, Britain's foreign secretary acknowledged Wednesday, as Scotland's parliament resumed debate on the decision to free the terminally ill Libyan and let him die at home.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband defended Britain's government in a BBC interview following the release of confidential documents about discussions regarding convicted bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi. Miliband confirmed details that emerged in the documents, suggesting that the U.K. had not sought to have al-Megrahi serve out his life sentence.
"We did not want him to die in prison, no, we weren't seeking his death in prison," Miliband said.
The remarks, and the release of the documents, offer the first formal indication of the British government's thoughts on the release. The government had previously refused to be drawn into the issue, saying it was up to the government in Scotland to decide on justice issues.
Al-Megrahi, 57, was the only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people. Scotland freed him on compassionate grounds Aug. 20 after doctors said he had terminal cancer.
Opposition leader David Cameron immediately seized upon Miliband's remarks, demanding an investigation into the controversy.
"The prime minister and the government stand accused of double-dealing — saying one thing to the Libyans in private, refusing to express an opinion to the British public and indicating something else to the Americans," Cameron said. "That is why we need an inquiry to clear this matter up."
The British government released the documents Tuesday in an attempt to quell speculation that it had pushed al-Megrahi's release to boost economic cooperation with Libya. But the documents fanned more resentment in the United States, where al-Megrahi's release was vehemently opposed.
Britain has regional governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that are responsible for local issues but retains power over foreign policy.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said the decision to free al-Megrahi was Scotland's. He will now face increased pressure to say how he viewed Scotland's decision — a stand he was been reluctant to take because of domestic political pressure to keep regional issues separate from the national ones.
Al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in 2001 with a minimum term of 27 years. Releasing prisoners on compassionate grounds is a regular feature of Scottish justice for dying inmates.
Anger has been percolating on both sides of the Atlantic since al-Megrahi flew home to a hero's welcome in Libya.
The families of some American victims have said they were disgusted by the bomber's release, which was also sharply criticized by President Barack Obama, FBI director Robert Mueller and Attorney General Eric Holder.
U.S. Justice Department spokesman Richard Kolko said Tuesday that his department had "received assurances in the 1990s that al-Megrahi's full sentence would be served in Scotland."
The American statement seemed to contradict some of the released documents, including one from Britain's Foreign Office that said there was no categorical commitment given to the United States to keep al-Megrahi jailed.
During debate in the Scottish parliament Wednesday, Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said he had received "conflicting advice" from officials in London on what assurances Britain had given Libya and the United States.
"I still do not know the exact nature of the pretrial discussions or what may have been agreed between the Libyan and U.K. or any other governments," he said.
American victims' families reacted with fury to the disclosures.

"The fix has been in for a while," said Bob Monetti, whose 20-year-old brother Richard from Cherry Hill, N.J. was among those killed. "The U.K. has put incredible pressure on Scotland to do this thing, and they finally caved in."

As the more than a dozen documents dated between 2007 and 2009 were released, Libya marked the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought Col. Moammar Gadhafi to power — an extravaganza meant to celebrate the return of the former pariah state into the international fold after terrorism.

The disclosures followed claims in the British media that the British government struck a deal with Libyan authorities to include al-Megrahi in a prisoner transfer agreement because that was in Britain's best interests as a major oil deal was being negotiated.

Britain has growing economic interests in Libya — from oil exploration to financial services. Last year, British imports from Libya topped some 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion).

But the British government has repeatedly denied its role in the release and said there was no pressing commercial deal.

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Associated Press writers David Stringer and Jill Lawless in London, Devlin Barret in Washington, Alfred De Montesquiou in Tripoli, Libya, and Geoff Mulvihill in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

* Locked funds insurance is a little-known hybrid insurance policy jointly issued by governments and banks. It is used to protect public funds from tamper by unauthorized parties. In special cases, a government may authorize its use in protecting semi-private funds which are liable to tamper. The terms of this type of insurance are usually very strict. Therefore it is used only in extreme cases where maximum security of funds is required.

Insurance may also be purchased through an agent. Unlike a broker, who represents the policyholder, an agent represents the insurance company from whom the policyholder buys. An agent can represent more than one company.

Florida Life Insurance