Al Qaeda in Yemen offers bounty for U.S. ambassador

DUBAI (Reuters) - The Yemen-based branch of al Qaeda has offered a bounty for anyone who kills the U.S. ambassador to Yemen or an American soldier in the impoverished Arab state, a group that monitors Islamist websites said.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said it was offering three kilograms of gold for the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa, Gerald Feierstein, the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group said, citing an audio released by militants.

AQAP will also pay 5 million rials ($23,350) to whoever kills any American soldier in Yemen, it said.

The offer, valid for six months, was made "to encourage our Muslim Ummah (nation), and to expand the circle of the jihad (holy war) by the masses," SITE said, citing the audio.

AQAP, mostly militants from Yemen and Saudi Arabia, is regarded by the United States as the most dangerous branch of the network founded by Osama bin Laden.

In September, AQAP urged Muslims to step up protests and kill U.S. diplomats in Muslim countries over a film denigrating the Prophet Mohammad, which it said was another chapter in the "crusader wars" against Islam.

The film provoked an outcry among Muslims, who deem any depiction of the Prophet as blasphemous and triggered violent attacks on embassies in countries in Asia and the Middle East.

Four U.S. officials including the ambassador to Libya were killed in the aftermath. The Pentagon said it had sent a platoon of Marines to Yemen after demonstrators stormed the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa.

A U.S. ally, Yemen is struggling against challenges on many fronts since mass protests forced veteran leader Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down in February after decades in power.

President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's government is trying to re-establish order and unify the army.

Washington, which has pursued a campaign of assassination by drone and missile against suspected al Qaeda members, backed a military offensive in May to recapture areas of Abyan province. But militants have struck back with a series of bombings and killings.

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal; editing by Todd Eastham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/al-qaeda-yemen-offers-bounty-u-ambassador-061010678.html

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How would you like to learn more about the fish export business ...

?

---

How would you like to learn more about the fish export business? Listen this morning at 9am as Rick Preuss and Lee Cohen conclude the year by talking with fish guy David Lass, a domestic importer and exporter. Then we'll talk with Arie Dezwart, president of Ruineman's Aquarium Inc, the primary distributor of exotic fish in Europe mostly from North and South America.

Learn about the process that brings living creatures from around the world to fish keepers world wide. A special year end Pet Expert Talk Show on 1320 am on the radio or tune in radio ap on your smart phone. You can also stream the show live on

http://www.wils1320.com

? ?

Source: http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/preuss-pets/how-would-you-like-learn-more-about-fish-export-business-25185/

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South Africa: Nelson Mandela convalesces at home

by Associated Press Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? South Africa's presidency says it has no updates on the condition of former leader Nelson Mandela, who is convalescing at home after a hospital stay and is reported to be doing better.

The South African Press Association quotes presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj as saying Saturday that he has no new information on 94-year-old Mandela, who was released from a hospital on Wednesday. The former president, who spent 27 years in prison under apartheid, was admitted Dec. 8 and received treatment for a lung infection.

He also had a procedure to remove gallstones.

Maharaj previously said doctors have noted progress in Mandela's condition but will continue to treat him at his home in the Johannesburg neighborhood of Houghton.

Source: http://romenews-tribune.com/bookmark/21270279

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BBQ on at Woodfire Grill

Matthew Schryer has fired up his open barbecue pit for his new restaurant venture.

Woodfire Grill has opened on Second Avenue South and features a barbecue pit stoked with hickory wood.

"It adds so much more flavour to the end product," said Schryer, who opened the eatery at the start of December.

Schryer said there are two Red Seal chefs on staff and a menu has been designed that includes a number gluten-free dishes and vegan choices to go along with the meat dishes.

Everything is made from scratch, including fresh soup every day.

Signature dishes include bacon-wrapped tenderloin and rib-eye steak that come with mashed or roasted potatoes and seasonal vegetables. There is a specialty cocktail menu that incorporates locally made Lucky Bastard gin and vodka and it also has an appetizer menu for those coming in for drinks and a snack.

Schryer gutted the old space and renovated to include a bar and fireplace along with the wood fire grill.

"You can come in and warm up your toes on a cold winter day," he said. "It is a warm, cozy, inviting place."

And the artwork that adorns the walls comes from local artists, who get 100 per cent of the profit if any work sells.

He said now is a great time to open downtown.

"Downtown has turned into a destination," he said, adding a lot of people who work downtown are spending more evenings there as well.

Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and supper from 5 p.m. to closing. You can eat in or takeout and catering is coming soon.

They take reservations, which are recommended on the weekends.

Woodfire Grill is open Monday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

? WOODFIRE GRILL

Owner: Matthew Schryer

Address: 152 Second Ave. South

Phone: 653-7437

Email: woodfiregrill@sasktel. net

International ManPower Inc. (IMP) has moved to Idylwyld Drive.

"We needed to double our space and have better access for our clients and staff," said co-owner Michael Lieffers. "We started small and have grown with our clients."

IMP helps solve staffing shortages with international workers, providing recruitment-to-settlement assistance and immigration to Canadian firms that are having labour shortages.

As part of the Mercan Group of Companies, IMP locates qualified people and helps with every step along the way.

"Employers can get help with regulations and procurement in a timely and professional manner," Lieffers said, adding staff are familiar with current provincial and federal government programs.

IMP also provides other services such as assisting foreign investors and entrepreneurs with the immigration process and business planning in Canada.

Besides Saskatoon, the Mercan Group has offices in Edmonton and Montreal in Canada, and in China, India, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, the United Kingdom, Mexico and the U.S.

Lieffers said right now the most sought-after people Saskatchewan employers are looking for are entry-level workers and those who work in the construction industry. Besides Saskatchewan, workers are also needed in Alberta, B.C. and the East Coast.

The Philippines is a great place to recruit because potential workers speak excellent English and have transferable skills, he said.

IMP is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

? INTERNATIONAL MANPOWER

Owners: Michael Lieffers and Jerry Morgan

Address: No. 1-305 Idylwyld Dr. North

Phone: 651-5335

Website: www.impcanada.ca

If you have purchased, started or moved a small business in Saskatoon within the last few months, let us know by calling 657-6293 or faxing 657-6437, attention Scott Larson. Submissions can also be emailed to slarson@thestarphoenix.com. Home-based and temporary businesses, as well as those without physical locations, will not be considered for publication. Businesses must be located in Saskatoon.

Source: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/business/Woodfire+Grill/7755683/story.html

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Wall Street Week Ahead: Cliff may be a fear, but debt ceiling much scarier

(Reuters) - Investors fearing a stock market plunge - if the United States tumbles off the "fiscal cliff" next week - may want to relax.

But they should be scared if a few weeks later, Washington fails to reach a deal to increase the nation's debt ceiling because that raises the threat of a default, another credit downgrade and a panic in the financial markets.

Market strategists say that while falling off the cliff for any lengthy period - which would lead to automatic tax hikes and stiff cuts in government spending - would badly hurt both consumer and business confidence, it would take some time for the U.S. economy to slide into recession. In the meantime, there would be plenty of chances for lawmakers to make amends by reversing some of the effects.

That has been reflected in a U.S. stock market that has still not shown signs of melting down. Instead, it has drifted lower and become more volatile.

In some ways, that has let Washington off the hook. In the past, a plunge in stock prices forced the hand of Congress, such as in the middle of the financial crisis in 2008.

"If this thing continues for a bit longer and the result is you get a U.S. debt downgrade ... the risk is not that you lose two-and-a-half percent, the risk is that you lose ten and a half," said Jonathan Golub, chief U.S. equity strategist at UBS Equity Research, in New York.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said this week that the United States will technically reach its debt limit at the end of the year.

INVESTORS WARY OF JANUARY

The White House has said it will not negotiate the debt ceiling as in 2011, when the fight over what was once a procedural matter preceded the first-ever downgrade of the U.S. credit rating. But it may be forced into such a battle again. A repeat of that war is most worrisome for markets.

Markets posted several days of sharp losses in the period surrounding the debt ceiling fight in 2011. Even after a bill to increase the ceiling passed, stocks plunged in what was seen as a vote of "no confidence" in Washington's ability to function, considering how close lawmakers came to a default.

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's lowered the U.S. sovereign rating to double-A-plus, citing Washington's legislative problems as one reason for the downgrade from triple-A status. The benchmark S&P 500 dropped 16 percent in a four-week period ending August 21, 2011.

"I think there will be a tremendous fight between Democrats and Republicans about the debt ceiling," said Jon Najarian, a co-founder of online brokerage TradeMonster.com, in Chicago.

"I think that is the biggest risk to the downside in January for the market and the U.S. economy."

There are some signs in the options market that investors are starting to eye the January period with more wariness. The CBOE Volatility Index, or the VIX, the market's preferred indicator of anxiety, has remained at relatively low levels throughout this process, though on Thursday it edged above 20 for the first time since July.

More notable is the action in VIX futures markets, which shows a sharper increase in expected volatility in January than in later-dated contracts. January VIX futures are up nearly 23 percent in the last seven trading days, compared with a 13 percent increase in March futures and an 8 percent increase in May futures. That's a sign of increasing near-term worry among market participants.

The CBOE Volatility Index closed on Friday at 22.72, gaining nearly 17 percent to end at its highest level since June as details emerged of a meeting on Friday afternoon of President Barack Obama with Senate and House leaders from both parties where the president offered proposals similar to those already rejected by Republicans. Stocks slid in late trading and equity futures continued that slide after cash markets closed.

"I was stunned Obama didn't have another plan, and that's absolutely why we sold off," said Mike Shea, a managing partner and trader at Direct Access Partners LLC, in New York.

Obama offered hope for a last-minute agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff after a meeting with congressional leaders, although he scolded Congress for leaving the problem unresolved until the 11th hour.

"The hour for immediate action is here," he told reporters at a White House briefing. "I'm modestly optimistic that an agreement can be achieved."

The U.S. House of Representatives is set to convene on Sunday and continue working through the New Year's Day holiday. Obama has proposed maintaining current tax rates for all but the highest earners.

Consumers don't appear at all traumatized by the fiscal cliff talks, as yet. Helping to bolster consumer confidence has been a continued recovery in the housing market and growth in the labor market, albeit slow.

The latest take on employment will be out next Friday, when the U.S. Labor Department's non-farm payrolls report is expected to show jobs growth of 145,000 for December, in line with recent growth.

Consumers will see their paychecks affected if lawmakers cannot broker a deal and tax rates rise, but the effect on spending is likely to be gradual.

PLAYING DEFENSE

Options strategists have noted an increase in positions to guard against weakness in defense stocks such as General Dynamics because those stocks would be affected by spending cuts set for that sector. Notably, though, the PHLX Defense Index is less than 1 percent away from an all-time high reached on December 20.

This underscores the view taken by most investors and strategists: One way or another, Washington will come to an agreement to offset some effects of the cliff. The result will not be entirely satisfying, but it will be enough to satisfy investors.

"Expectations are pretty low at this point, and yet the equity market hasn't reacted," said Carmine Grigoli, chief U.S. investment strategist at Mizuho Securities USA, in New York. "You're not going to see the markets react to anything with more than a 5 (percent) to 7 percent correction."

Save for a brief 3.6 percent drop in equity futures late on Thursday evening last week after House Speaker John Boehner had to cancel a scheduled vote on a tax-hike bill due to lack of Republican support, markets have not shown the same kind of volatility as in 2008 or 2011.

A gradual decline remains possible, Golub said, if business and consumer confidence continues to take a hit on the back of fiscal cliff worries. The Conference Board's measure of consumer confidence fell sharply in December, a drop blamed in part on the fiscal issues.

"If Congress came out and said that everything is off the table, yeah, that would be a short-term shock to the market, but that's not likely," said Richard Weiss, a Mountain View, California-based senior money manager at American Century Investments.

"Things will be resolved, just maybe not on a good time table. All else being equal, we see any further decline as a buying opportunity."

(Wall St Week Ahead runs every Friday. Questions or comments on this column can be emailed to: david.gaffen(at)thomsonreuters.com)

(Reporting by Edward Krudy and Ryan Vlastelica in New York and Doris Frankel in Chicago; Writing by David Gaffen; Editing by Martin Howell, Steve Orlofsky and Jan Paschal)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wall-street-week-ahead-cliff-may-fear-debt-150342441--sector.html

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Bill Loosens Rules for Sharing What You've Watched on Netflix

Legislation that would allow services such as Netflix to facilitate "frictionless sharing" of a user's viewing history via Facebook or other online services is awaiting President Obama's signature. The U.S. Senate passed the update to the 1988 law late last week; the same bill cleared the House days earlier.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/27033f8e/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C769680Bhtml/story01.htm

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Telling History vs. Making Art: Fictions and Histories | Scholars and ...

Final part of a?series

?[H]istory and historical fiction,? says historian Paul Ashdown, ?are alternate ways of telling stories about the past.??In that context, Ulysses S. Grant spoke more truth than he realized when he said ?Wars produce many stories of fiction.?

Aside from yarn-spun anecdotes about apple-tree surrenders and lemon-sucking generals, war also produces ?stories of fiction? in a literal way as a source of inspiration: ?An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,??The Red Badge of Courage, Gone with the Wind, Shiloh, The Killer Angels. Both kinds of stories present themselves as true, and both may even be based on facts. ?Fact and fiction comingle, reminding us that history, like news, is only a part of the story.??Art, too, offers another part of the story.

Ashdown points specifically at Charles Frazier?s novel?Cold Mountain, which is based very loosely on the real story of William Pinkney Inman, an ancestor of Frazier?s. Facts on Inman were scarce. All Frazier knew for certain about him ?could be written on the back of a postcard.????Facts? could not begin to tell the real story,? Frazier wrote in the book, ?and you could tell such things on and on and yet no more get to the full truth of the war than you could get to the full truth of an old sow bear?s life by following her sign through the woods.?

Starting with those few scant facts, though, and then tapping into other resources, Frazier began inventing a story. ?By making use of folklore, yarn, legend, myth, and what we can know of history, Frazier shows that although we can never know all that happened, or why it happened, we can at least obliquely participate in a continuing story,? Ashdown says.

Frazier?s story grew beyond the facts, which he was willing to sacrifice in service to the larger truth. For instance, he chose to drop Inman?s first and middle names. ?The use of the last name throughout the book suggests?a mythic universalism,? says Ashdown. ?The point is not so much to detach Inman from the past as it is to detach him from William P. Inman and historicity.?

Coal Black Horse, about a 14-year-old boy?s journey to manhood as he travels from western Virginia to get his father from the battlefield at Gettysburg, does something similar. Because author Robert Olmstead avoids almost all mention of specific places, his protagonist, Robey, travels across a mythic landscape, which suits the novel well because of the slightly surreal quality of the characters. Facts would ground the world too much. Olmstead doesn?t even mention Gettysburg by name until page 145?two-thirds of the way through the book?s 218 pages?well after Robey has arrived on site and well after the battle.

Conversely, a writer can deluge a reader with facts, as Paulette Jiles does in?Enemy Women, a novel about the Civil War?s guerilla conflict in Missouri. Jiles quotes extensively from?Inside War: The Guerilla Conflict in Missouri, 1861-1865?by Michael J. Fellman, which she includes as epigrams before each chapter as a way to provide background information and context. While those facts allow her to avoid exposition of her own, they still disrupt the flow of her narrative and interfere with her authorial voice. Facts, at least as Jiles uses them, can become too much.

As a historical story gets further from the facts, the harder it is to take the work seriously as history, but the easier it is to accept purely in terms of entertainment value. Nowhere is this more evident in the burgeoning science fiction subgenre of ?alternative history.? Harry Turtledove?s?Guns of the South, for instance, which pays meticulous attention to accuracy with its discussion of firearms and aspects of daily life, is clearly ?alternative history? because of time travelers who bring A-K 47s to Robert E. Lee?s army from Apartheid-era South Africa. I know historians who think the premise is ludicrous, but they never accuse the book of trying to dress itself up as history, either.

Other alternative histories of the war typically hinge on ?what ifs? less outlandish: in Turtledove?s?How Few Remain, the Federal army never finds the ?Lost Order? that outlines Lee?s plans for invasion into Pennsylvania; in Newt Gingrich and William Forestchen?s?Gettysburg, Lee takes Longstreet?s advice and swings southward to better ground after the first day of fighting in Gettysburg; Peter Tsouras?s?Gettysburg?gives the battle a full reimagining while Douglas Gibboney?s?Stonewall Jackson at Gettysburg?puts the legendary General in the thick of it; Kevin Wilmott?s biting satiric film?C.S.A.explores modern America if the entire country, not just the South, had legalized slavery. An author with no less prestige than MacKinlay Kantor, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his Civil War prison novel?Andersonville, imagined?If the South Had Won the Civil War, basing his plot twist on a horseback riding accident that kills Union General Ulysses S. Grant.

Gingrich calls alternative history ?a way of breathing life back into the adventure, to reopen the book on page one,? but he?insists that in order for them to be of any value beyond mere escapism,??internal logic, consistency, and a rigid adherence to reality must still be maintained. Otherwise, we fall off the track and it becomes an exercise in fantasy.? For instance, he says an aggressive George McClellan would?ve probably won Antietam, but McClellan was??driven far more by his fear of failure than by the dream of success.? To write his character any other way ?is a denial of everything we know about him and becomes an exercise in fantasy.? Likewise, the ?magic bullet? scenario?Grant dying in a horseback riding accident, Jackson surviving Chancellorsville, Lincoln?s mother not dying of the milk sickness?is little more than an exercise in fantasy.

I mention these alternate histories only as a way of probing the outer boundaries of history and fiction, where art clearly stands as art and facts are clearly false. At the other end, I could likewise cite James McPherson?s Pulitzer-winning?Battle Cry of Freedom?or Drew Gilpin Faust?s?This Republic of Suffering?as examples that clearly stand in the realm of history and where facts are clearly true. One pole privileges story over fact, the other fact over story. Somewhere in between rest the examples I?ve discussed in this series. All of them, fiction and nonfiction alike, strive to strike a balance between fact and story in the service of a particular truth.

?People interested in the Civil War become obsessed with facts and don?t have much patience with fiction,? Ashdown says.?They criticize art for being ?unfactual? (just as artists criticize history for being ?boring?). Before they insist on sacrificing art on the altar of fact, though, they?d do well to keep in mind the lesson Grant knew well: facts themselves are hard things to hold on to and can be interpreted into all sorts of happy and unhappy truths. His favored view of the war?s meaning, the Union Cause, faded from collective memory. The Reconciliation Cause subsumed the Emancipation Clause even as it itself was co-opted by the Lost Cause. Truths compete with truths.

?Today, professional historians call truth ?Interpretation,?? historian Joan Waugh says?but what interpretations are true? What?kinds?of interpretations lead to the best kinds of truth? What truths are true?

What to do with facts and how to interpret those facts into truths are central issues for storytellers of all sorts, whether historians or novelists, documentarians or feature filmmakers. ?Historical sense and poetic sense should not, in the end, be contradictory,? Robert Penn Warren said, ?for if poetry is the little myth we make, history is the big myth we live, and in our living, constantly remake.?

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Source: http://scholarsandrogues.com/2012/12/28/telling-history-vs-making-art-fictions-and-histories/

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Storm-damaged New York hospital partially reopens its doors

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City partially reopened its inpatient facilities on Thursday, nearly two months after it was flooded by Superstorm Sandy and sustained damages that could exceed $1 billion.

Storm damage in New Jersey, New York City's outer boroughs and New York state's Long Island captured most of the world's attention after the second-costliest hurricane in U.S. history made landfall on October 29, obscuring much of the damage sustained in Manhattan.

The emergency department at the Manhattan hospital could remain closed until the end of 2013.

At the height of the storm, the hospital was forced to evacuate its 322 patients, including 20 babies in intensive care, when it lost power and its rooftop back-up generators shut down because flooding knocked out fuel tanks in the basement.

Other major hospitals in Manhattan were also badly damaged.

Bellevue Hospital Center, one of the country's oldest hospitals and the city's main trauma treatment center, said this week that it was receiving ambulances for the first time since Sandy struck, and that full services were not expected until early February.

Recovery was still under way in other parts of Manhattan. About 10 percent of office space in downtown Manhattan, which includes the Financial District around Wall Street, was still closed as of late last week, according to a report by the real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle.

DAMAGE ESTIMATE OVER $1 BLN

As of Thursday, NYU Langone said it could once again perform surgery on patients that would involve overnight stays, and that its intensive care and neurology units were open. More than 50 inpatients were being seen on Thursday, a spokeswoman said.

Other services, such as its labor wards and pediatric and cancer departments, would reopen on January 14.

The hospital's emergency department on the ground floor was under construction as part of an expansion program when the storm hit, and the damage was still being repaired, the hospital's statement said. In the meantime, the hospital has set up a temporary urgent care center that will receive walk-in patients and redirect more serious cases to other places in the city.

The hospital resumed some outpatient services within a week of the storm.

The total cost of repairing damaged infrastructure and replacing state-of-the-art medical equipment was likely to exceed $1 billion, a spokeswoman said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, had already allocated $114 million, she said, and the hospital was waiting to see how much would be covered by insurance.

Images of critically ill patients being evacuated in the stormy darkness at NYU Langone and, the following day, the evacuation of some 725 patients from the nearby Bellevue, prompted concerns from some emergency experts that hospitals in New York and elsewhere are not prepared for times when the hospital itself is affected by a disaster.

Bellevue, though still closed to inpatients, has been operating outpatient clinics, walk-in emergency care and pharmacy services since November 19.

(Editing by Daniel Trotta and Jan Paschal)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/storm-damaged-york-hospital-partially-reopens-doors-201445642.html

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Afghan bomber attacks near major US base near Pakistan border, killing 4

NATO forces and foreign civilians have been increasingly attacked by rogue Afghan military and police, eroding trust between the allies.

By Amir Shah,?The Associated Press / December 26, 2012

An Afghan policeman stands guard at the back of a police vehicle following a suicide attack near the gate of a U. military base in Khost, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday.

Nishanuddin Khan/AP

Enlarge

A vehicle driven by a suicide bomber exploded at the gate of a major US military base in eastern Afghanistan?on Wednesday, killing the attacker and three Afghans, Afghan police said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

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Police Gen. Abdul Qayum Baqizai said a local guard who questioned the vehicle driver at the gate of Camp Chapman was killed along with two civilians and the assailant. The camp is located adjacent to the airport of the capital of Khost Province, which borders Pakistan.

Chapman and nearby Camp Salerno had been frequently targeted by militants in the past, but violent incidents have decreased considerably in recent months.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an e-mail that the bomber targeted Afghan police manning the gate and Afghans working for the Americans entering the base. He claimed high casualties were inflicted.

NATO operates with more than 100,000 troops in the country, including some 66,000 American forces. It is handing most combat operations over to the Afghans in preparation for a pullout from?Afghanistan?in 2014. Militant groups, including the Taliban, rarely face NATO troops head-on and rely mainly on roadside bombs and suicide attacks.

NATO forces and foreign civilians have also been increasingly attacked by rogue Afghan military and police, eroding trust between the allies.

On Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said a policewoman who killed an American contractor in Kabul a day earlier was a native Iranian who came to?Afghanistan?and displayed "unstable behavior" but had no known links to militants.

The policewoman, identified as Sgt. Nargas, shot Joseph Griffin, of Mansfield, Georgia, on Monday, in the first such shooting by a woman in the spate of insider attacks. Nargas walked into a heavily-guarded compound in the heart of Kabul, confronted Griffin and shot him once with her pistol.

The US-based security firm DynCorp International said on its website that Griffin was a US military veteran who earlier worked with law enforcement agencies in the United States. In Kabul, he was under contract to the NATO military command to advise the Afghan police force.

The ministry spokesman, Sediq Sediqi, told a news conference that Nargas, who uses one name like many in the country, was born in Tehran, where she married an Afghan. She moved to the country 10 years ago, after her husband obtained fake documents enabling her to live and work there.

A mother of four in her early 30s, she joined the police five years ago, held various positions and had a clean record, he said. Sediqi produced an Iranian passport that he said was found at her home.

No militant group has claimed responsibility for the killing.

The chief investigator of the case, Police Gen. Mohammad Zahir, said that during interrogation, the policewoman said she had plans to kill either the Kabul governor, city police chief or Zahir himself, but when she realized that penetrating the last security cordons to reach them would be too difficult, she saw "a foreigner" and turned her weapon on him.

There have been 60 insider attacks this year against foreign military and civilian personnel, compared to 21 in 2011. This surge presents another looming security issue as NATO prepares to pull out almost all of its forces by 2014, putting the war against the Taliban and other militant groups largely in the hands of the Afghans.

More than 50 Afghan members of the government's security forces also have died this year in attacks by their own colleagues. The Taliban claims such incidents reflect a growing popular opposition to the foreign military presence and the Kabul government.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/Fr6baCddyeM/Afghan-bomber-attacks-near-major-US-base-near-Pakistan-border-killing-4

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Consumer confidence falls to 4-month low

11 hrs.

Reuters

Consumer confidence fell to a four-month low in December as a looming budget crisis sapped what had been a growing sense of optimism about the economy, a private sector report released on Thursday showed.?

The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes fell to 65.1 from a downwardly revised 71.5 in November. Economists had expected a reading of 70.0, according to a Reuters poll.?

November's number was originally reported as 73.7.?

While the present situation index rose to 62.8 from an upwardly revised 57.4, its highest in more than four years, the overall survey suggested most consumers expect things to worsen.?

"Consumers' expectations retreated sharply in December resulting in a decline in the overall index," Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said in a statement. "The sudden turnaround was most likely caused by uncertainty surrounding the oncoming fiscal cliff."?

The fiscal cliff refers to $600 billion of automatic tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect in January unless Congress acts to stop them. President Barack Obama and Republican leaders have failed to agree to a long-term deficit reduction deal that would avert the situation.?

The expectations index fell to 66.5 from a downwardly revised 80.9. December's reading was the lowest in more than a year.?

Franco said a similar pullback in consumer expectations was seen in August 2011, when political bickering over raising the U.S. debt ceiling led to a sharp drop in the stock market.?

Consumers' labor market outlook also turned a bit more pessimistic. The "jobs hard to get" index fell to 35.6 percent from a revised 37.4 percent the month before, but the "jobs plentiful" index also fell to 10.3 percent from 11.0 percent.?

Consumers' expectations for inflation in the coming 12 months held steady this month at 5.6 percent.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/cliff-worries-push-consumer-confidence-4-month-low-1C7750594

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Desert Storm commander Norman Schwarzkopf dies

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Truth is, retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf didn't care much for his popular "Stormin' Norman" nickname.

The seemingly no-nonsense Desert Storm commander's reputed temper with aides and subordinates supposedly earned him that rough-and-ready moniker. But others around the general, who died Thursday in Tampa, Fla., at age 78 from complications from pneumonia, knew him as a friendly, talkative and even jovial figure who preferred the somewhat milder sobriquet given by his troops: "The Bear."

That one perhaps suited him better later in his life, when he supported various national causes and children's charities while eschewing the spotlight and resisting efforts to draft him to run for political office.

He lived out a quiet retirement in Tampa, where he'd served his last military assignment and where an elementary school bearing his name is testament to his standing in the community.

Schwarzkopf capped an illustrious military career by commanding the U.S.-led international coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait in 1991 ? but he'd managed to keep a low profile in the public debate over the second Gulf War against Iraq, saying at one point that he doubted victory would be as easy as the White House and the Pentagon predicted.

Schwarzkopf was named commander in chief of U.S. Central Command at Tampa's MacDill Air Force Base in 1988, overseeing the headquarters for U.S. military and security concerns in nearly two dozen countries stretching across the Middle East to Afghanistan and the rest of central Asia, plus Pakistan.

When Saddam invaded Kuwait two years later to punish it for allegedly stealing Iraqi oil reserves, Schwarzkopf commanded Operation Desert Storm, the coalition of some 30 countries organized by President George H.W. Bush that succeeded in driving the Iraqis out.

At the peak of his postwar national celebrity, Schwarzkopf ? a self-proclaimed political independent ? rejected suggestions that he run for office, and remained far more private than other generals, although he did serve briefly as a military commentator for NBC.

While focused primarily on charitable enterprises in his later years, he campaigned for President George W. Bush in 2000, but was ambivalent about the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In early 2003 he told The Washington Post that the outcome was an unknown: "What is postwar Iraq going to look like, with the Kurds and the Sunnis and the Shiites? That's a huge question, to my mind. It really should be part of the overall campaign plan."

Initially Schwarzkopf had endorsed the invasion, saying he was convinced that Secretary of State Colin Powell had given the United Nations powerful evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. After that proved false, he said decisions to go to war should depend on what U.N. weapons inspectors found.

He seldom spoke up during the conflict, but in late 2004 he sharply criticized Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the Pentagon for mistakes that included erroneous judgments about Iraq and inadequate training for Army reservists sent there.

"In the final analysis I think we are behind schedule. ... I don't think we counted on it turning into jihad (holy war)," he said in an NBC interview.

Schwarzkopf was born Aug. 24, 1934, in Trenton, N.J., where his father, Col. H. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., founder and commander of the New Jersey State Police, was then leading the investigation of the Lindbergh kidnap case. That investigation ended with the arrest and 1936 execution of German-born carpenter Richard Hauptmann for murdering famed aviator Charles Lindbergh's infant son.

The elder Schwarzkopf was named Herbert, but when the son was asked what his "H'' stood for, he would reply, "H."

As a teenager Norman accompanied his father to Iran, where the elder Schwarzkopf trained the Iran's national police force and was an adviser to Reza Pahlavi, the young Shah of Iran.

Young Norman studied there and in Switzerland, Germany and Italy, then followed in his father's footsteps to West Point, graduating in 1956 with an engineering degree. After stints in the U.S. and abroad, he earned a master's degree in engineering at the University of Southern California and later taught missile engineering at West Point.

In 1966 he volunteered for Vietnam and served two tours, first as a U.S. adviser to South Vietnamese paratroops and later as a battalion commander in the U.S. Army's Americal Division. He earned three Silver Stars for valor ? including one for saving troops from a minefield ? plus a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and three Distinguished Service Medals.

While many career officers left military service embittered by Vietnam, Schwarzkopf was among those who opted to stay and help rebuild the tattered Army into a potent, modernized all-volunteer force.

After Saddam invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Schwarzkopf played a key diplomatic role by helping persuade Saudi Arabia's King Fahd to allow U.S. and other foreign troops to deploy on Saudi territory as a staging area for the war to come.

On Jan. 17, 1991, a five-month buildup called Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm as allied aircraft attacked Iraqi bases and Baghdad government facilities. The six-week aerial campaign climaxed with a massive ground offensive on Feb. 24-28, routing the Iraqis from Kuwait in 100 hours before U.S. officials called a halt.

Schwarzkopf said afterward he agreed with Bush's decision to stop the war rather than drive to Baghdad to capture Saddam, as his mission had been only to oust the Iraqis from Kuwait.

But in a desert tent meeting with vanquished Iraqi generals, he allowed a key concession on Iraq's use of helicopters, which later backfired by enabling Saddam to crack down more easily on rebellious Shiites and Kurds.

While he later avoided the public second-guessing by academics and think tank experts over the ambiguous outcome of the first Gulf War and its impact on the second Gulf War, he told The Washington Post in 2003, "You can't help but ... with 20/20 hindsight, go back and say, 'Look, had we done something different, we probably wouldn't be facing what we are facing today.'"

After retiring from the Army in 1992, Schwarzkopf wrote a best-selling autobiography, "It Doesn't Take A Hero." Of his Gulf War role, he said: "I like to say I'm not a hero. I was lucky enough to lead a very successful war." He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and honored with decorations from France, Britain, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain.

Schwarzkopf was a national spokesman for prostate cancer awareness and for Recovery of the Grizzly Bear, served on the Nature Conservancy board of governors and was active in various charities for chronically ill children.

"I may have made my reputation as a general in the Army and I'm very proud of that," he once told The Associated Press. "But I've always felt that I was more than one-dimensional. I'd like to think I'm a caring human being. ... It's nice to feel that you have a purpose."

Schwarzkopf and his wife, Brenda, had three children: Cynthia, Jessica and Christian.

___

Stacy was the AP's Tampa, Fla., correspondent when he prepared this report on Schwarzkopf's life; he now reports from the AP bureau in Columbus, Ohio. Associated Press writers Richard Pyle in New York and Jay Lindsay in Boston contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/desert-storm-commander-norman-schwarzkopf-dies-024850776--politics.html

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This Is the Exact Date When Our Computer World Ends

The world didn't end last Friday just like the world didn't end in the year 2000, with failing computers deleting bank accounts and crashing airplanes. That doesn't mean the world isn't going to end. It will. And if we keep our current operating systems, this is the exact date when all goes poof: 15:30:08 UTC on December 4th of the Year of Our Lord 292,277,026,596. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/E1ZgaZHg8RE/this-is-the-exact-date-when-our-computer-world-ends

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Transect China in Half the Time Aboard the World's Longest High-Speed Rail Line

High speed rail may be a quixotic public works project here in California but for China, it's a cornerstone of the country's transportation infrastructure. Yesterday, Chinese officials expanded that infrastructure by inaugurating the longest such rail line on Earth and announced plans for seven more. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Ns2sdsN7ONg/transect-china-in-half-the-time-aboard-the-worlds-longest-high+speed-rail-line

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The Top Newfound Species of 2012

Cercopithecus hamlyni.

Photos by Noel Rowe and Maurice Emetshu.

It?s been a great year for newly discovered wildlife. Some of the plants and animals documented for the first time come from places like Papua New Guinea that are teeming with species unknown to science. Others come from college-town backyards.

Scientists discovered Cercopithecus lomamiensis, also known as the lesula monkey, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The lesula has a striking expression, but the monkey?s unusual coloring was what helped scientists realize it might be a new species. The lesula is already endangered, in part due to local bush-meat hunting.

Auburn Tiger Trapdoor Spider

Myrmekiaphila tigris.

Photo by J. Bond.

This new species of spider, Myrmekiaphila tigris, was discovered in a backyard in Auburn, Ala. These spiders were once thought to belong to a different species. Some bad news for people with arachnophobia: Males wander the sidewalks in large groups in search of mates. Males die shortly after mating, but females live 15 to 20 years.

Paedophryne amanuensis.

Photo courtesy Rittmeyer EN et al/Wikimedia Commons.

Paedophryne amanuensis is not only the world?s smallest known frog but also the world?s smallest known vertebrate. Scientists found the species in Papua New Guinea. Adults range from 7 to 8 millimeters in length.

Anguilla Bank Skink Lizard

Anguilla Bank skink.

Photo by Karl Questel.

Scientists have discovered 24 new species of skinks in the Caribbean. The blue-tailed skink pictured above is the Anguilla Bank skink. Many of the newfound species are in danger of extinction because humans have introduced predatory animals into the island ecosystem.

Bythaelurus giddingsi.

Photo by John E. McCosker.

This little shark, called Bythaelurus giddingsi, looks like a cross between a shark and a catfish. Scientists found it in the Galapagos Islands.

Mimulus peregrines.

Photo by Dr. Mario Vallejo-Marin.

This beautiful flower, called Mimulus peregrines, was found in Scotland. Originally a hybrid of two other flowers, the monkey flower evolved to overcome infertility and reproduce on its own.

Reticulated Dragonet Fish

Callionymus reticulates.

Photo by Lars-Ove Loo.

The reticulated dragonet fish differs only slightly from other dragnet fish?it has only three spines on its gill cover instead of four, and it has a longer snout. But scientists rarely discover new species of fish in Sweden. Its scientific name is Callionymus reticulates.

Brookesia micra

Photograph courtesy Frank Glaw.

The Brookesia micra is the tiniest of four chameleons found this year in Madagascar. Adults are just over an inch long, making it one of the smallest known reptiles in the world.

Slow loris.

Photo courtesy Ch'ien C. Lee

Slow Loris
What was once thought to be a single species on the island of Borneo was split into four distinct slow loris species. The primates are nocturnal, tree-dwelling, and have a venomous bite.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=6fbcf6ad139d1ec76f007facc3e63f74

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Netflix Crippled On Christmas Eve By AWS Outages

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even those in the lighthearted holiday fare you were planning to watch on Netflix, which has been down since 1pm PST for some customers. Netflix confirmed the outage with a tweet on its official channel, though Netflix Cloud Architect Adrian Cockcroft said on Twitter that the service is still working on some devices.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/t4KWJwEQmFo/

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The editors review 2012: Finance: The year of the fine | The Economist

About Newsbook

In this blog, our correspondents respond to breaking news stories and provide comment and analysis. The blog takes its name from newsbooks, the 16th- and 17th-century precursors to newspapers, which covered battles, disasters, debates and sensational trials

Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2012/12/editors-review-2012-finance

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93% Zero Dark Thirty

All Critics (84) | Top Critics (25) | Fresh (78) | Rotten (6)

What it does in the course of telling a seminal story of our time is what contemporary films so rarely do, serve as brilliant provocation.

The genius of "Zero Dark Thirty" is that we feel exactly what those involved must have felt at the end. Not elation. Not the thrill of victory. Just relief.

A powerful, morally complicated work on an urgent subject. It is a film that deserves-that almost demands-to be seen and argued over.

Movies must move, and this one just lies there like a stack of paper from a classified government filing cabinet.

[Chastain's performance has] a lot of colors, and angles, and is guaranteed to be remembered come awards time. Maya's a real character, all right.

Kathryn Bigelow proves herself once again to be a master of heightened realism and narrative drive in this retelling of the decade-long search for Osama bin Laden.

The decision one has to make is whether it's worth sitting through the first two hours, that provide a fine antidote for insomnia, to see the final 37 minutes.

A masterful piece of action filmmaking that succeeds in generating enormous tension by dramatizing a recent historical event in spite of the fact that everyone knows how it will end.

What makes the movie so effective is its protagonist, a doggedly determined CIA agent played by Jessica Chastain, who never loses sight of her goal in spite of repeated setbacks and bouts of political in-fighting.

The problem at the center of Zero Dark Thirty is that knowing and not knowing constitute a process, a process in which people tell lies and get hurt, in which costs can be overwhelming.

With a protagonist you lack the desire to root for and subject matter that's been shoved down our throats in the 11 years since 9/11, This is one of the only films this year where battling heavy eyelids is more exciting than the film itself.

The result is a remarkably thorough, unexpectedly cinematic, two-and-half-hour chronicle of American persistence.

There is something definitive about Zero Dark Thirty as a piece of filmmaking, as though Bigelow is concluding the entire ordeal for us on the big screen, as a film that could well earn her yet another Oscar.

While the film may not be the best of the year, its true winner is Jessica Chastain's knock-out, Oscar-worthy performance.

Zero Dark Thirty is a skillful -- and somewhat cautious -- look at military bureaucracy. It's both hampered and elevated by its dependence on authenticity.

Don't mess with the chicks. Osama bin Laden did, and look what happened to him.

Kathryn Bigelow's painstaking account of the events that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden favors dramatization over character and suspense.

There's no more perfect title for a film this year, because it manages to suggest a witching hour, a veil of deadly secrecy, and a pinpoint-honed logistical operation all at once.

A feverishly thrilling, decade-spanning CIA procedural.

This is next-level filmmaking -- smart, brave and intense.

Zero Dark Thirty has nary a wasted scene and very little in the way of respite from the intensity and power of its story and execution.

Achieves something rare, presenting a hot-button subject-torture-without the usual moral nudging.

A tense, dramatic and lean film, which is a surprising thing to say about a movie with a near-three-hour running time.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/zero_dark_thirty/

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The Science Behind Santa's Christmas Eve Journey

With billions of children to visit in just one night, how does Santa make it to every house? And how does he fit down the chimney ? assuming your house has one. Astrophysicist Neil De Grasse Tyson talks to David Greene about the science of Santa.

Copyright ? 2012 National Public Radio. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, as we all know, has a very shiny nose. And so would you, if you were at the head of a team of reindeer bolting across the night sky, helping Santa deliver Christmas presents to two billion children in a single night. Now, to help us understand how Santa manages to pull this off every year, we're joined by a friend of this program, astrophysicist and science guru Professor Neil deGrasse Tyson. And happy holiday to you, Professor Tyson. Thanks for coming on again.

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Thank you. You know, you guys ask me about everything. Man.

GREENE: Well, you know everything. I mean, what do you want us to do? Well, this will be particularly interesting, I think, to a lot of people because it's - I mean, I'm sure that Santa employs some Christmas magic that's beyond our understanding to get all this done. But there must be some science involved, too, right?

TYSON: Well, a couple of things. Let's back up for a minute. So, Rudolph's nose...

GREENE: Right.

TYSON: ...now, to me, the word shiny means it reflects light. If you only reflect light, that's not really good to lead the way through the darkness of the night.

GREENE: 'Cause there's no light to reflect.

TYSON: You have to radiate light. So, let's presume that his nose actually radiating red light. Well, it turns out red light is ideal for getting through foggy, cloudy nights, because red light penetrates through fog better than blue light. And that's why, for example, they don't want you to put on your brights when you're driving through fog. The brights are bluer than your low beams. So, the fact that Rudolph has a red nose, that's awesome.

GREENE: You're saying Santa found the right reindeer.

TYSON: Yes, he did. Rudolph's brother, who had a blue nose, no. That would not have worked.

GREENE: You know, Santa has to go really, really, really fast to get to all these places in the world. I mean, is there a sense for what he's doing?

TYSON: OK. So, now, yeah. So, it turns out if he traveled the speed of light, you know, light can encircle the Earth seven times in one second.

GREENE: Seven times in a second, OK.

TYSON: Yeah, light is awesome. Problem is: We all live within Earth's atmosphere. So, if you could go that fast through the atmosphere, then you'll just burn up. And I learned from speaking to an expert in comic book heroes that the Flash has atmospheric separators in front of him when he goes quickly from one place to another so that he does not burn up.

GREENE: So, Santa could have atmospheric separators, in theory.

TYSON: He could have atmospheric separators. So, now, you can go keep doing this calculation, have him go to every home. So, I realized that what he really needs is that - what they have in that movie "Monsters, Inc."

GREENE: Yeah.

TYSON: You remember that movie where...

GREENE: I do, but remind me.

TYSON: ...it's manufactured doors. And the door in the "Monsters, Inc." factory is the door of the children's closet. And you just carry the door home with you. You go through that door, and you show up in the kid's closet and terrorize them in their sleep, because they're monsters, of course.

GREENE: And if he can go in these secret doors in all the houses that don't have chimneys, I mean, that's - he's able to travel magically into a lot more homes.

TYSON: Yeah, so, in that point, it's not magic. But what "Monsters, Inc." never told you is that they're essentially wormholes.

GREENE: So it is possible that he's just up there doing kind of a lap around the Earth to kind of get the - do the photo shoot, and he's actually delivering all these presents in some other ways, using wormholes and other devices.

TYSON: Yeah, he could be up there just for show. You know NORAD, right?

GREENE: The military - the folks who track flying objects.

TYSON: Yes. These are the folks that track missiles coming in from the Cold War threat. After the Cold War, you know, they said: Well, what else are we going to do? So, at the 24th, you go to the NORAD website, and they track Santa from the North Pole, and it's where Santa is at all times.

GREENE: You know what's really interesting about all this, this could explain why the kids have never been able to catch him coming down the chimney. I mean, maybe he's got the kids distracted by that, and he's actually getting in in some other way.

TYSON: You know, that's brilliant. That's brilliant, because he has to keep telling people to look at the chimney, and then he sneaks in another way. He creates a distraction. Yeah, I'll go into that. That's - yeah.

GREENE: Yeah, let's work on that theory. Well, I hope you get everything you wish for. Neil deGrasse Tyson, thanks for talking to us, as always.

TYSON: Thank you. Always good to be on with you.

Copyright ? 2012 National Public Radio. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/12/24/167946053/the-science-behind-santas-christmas-eve-journey?ft=1&f=1007

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Five killed in Yemen clashes, brigadier shot dead

SANAA (Reuters) - At least five militants were killed and three soldiers wounded in Yemen on Tuesday in fighting near a damaged oil pipeline east of the capital Sanaa, a defense ministry official and residents said.

In a separate incident, two gunmen riding a motorbike shot dead Brigadier Fadel Mohammed Ali, an adviser to the minister of defense, outside the ministry's offices in Sanaa, a police source said. Further details were not immediately available.

The fighting in turbulent Maarib province broke out when government troops backed by air strikes tried to secure the pipeline and repair damage inflicted last month by local militants, the official said.

Yemen's oil and gas pipelines have repeatedly been sabotaged by Islamist fighters or tribesmen since an uprising erupted last year, causing fuel shortages and slashing export earnings for the impoverished country.

The country's stability is a leading security goal for the United States and Gulf Arab allies because of its strategic position next to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and shipping lanes, and because it is home to one of the most active wings of al Qaeda.

Under an agreement reached earlier this month between tribal chiefs and the government, tribes in Maarib were meant to stop militants from attacking the pipeline in return for a halt to air strikes in the area.

A local official said troops were deployed on Tuesday after tribesmen failed to secure the pipeline or to hand over fighters involved in the killings of 17 army officers and soldiers in an ambush earlier in December. They were killed while inspecting the pipeline.

The affiliation of the militants in Maarib is unclear. Local sources said some had links to al Qaeda, while others were involved in kidnapping foreigners to pressure the government to release jailed kinsmen.

OFFICER WOUNDED IN CAPITAL

Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has mounted operations in Saudi Arabia and attempted attacks against the United States, which has stepped up strikes by drones.

In a separate development, the ministry of defense said one man was arrested in Sanaa on Tuesday for planting a bomb in the car of an officer at the Central Security Forces. The attempt to blow up the car was foiled, the ministry said.

In another sign of growing lawlessness in the capital, Colonel Sameer al-Gharbani, an officer in the Republican Guard, was critically wounded in Sanaa in an attack by unidentified gunmen, a source at the Guard told Reuters.

Elsewhere in the city gunmen opened fire at the house of Transport Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed, wounding two of his guards, a transport ministry official said.

The string of attacks happened less than a week after President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi overhauled the armed forces as part of Gulf-brokered power-transfer plan that helped ease former President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power in February.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Mahmoud Habboush and William Maclean; Editing by Pravin Char)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/five-killed-yemen-clashes-brigadier-shot-dead-112810772.html

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Source: http://forums.ferra.ru/index.php?showtopic=53662

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Dead passenger found riding in Berlin underground

BERLIN (Reuters) - A 65-year-old man thought to be sleeping while sitting upright on a Berlin underground train as it cross-crossed the German capital was actually dead, police said on Sunday.

"It's tragic," a Berlin police spokeswoman said. "We don't know how long he was sitting dead on the train nor do we know the exact cause of death yet. There are no indications of foul play. He seems to have died of natural causes."

The man was found in the U-8 underground train line that runs all night at the Weinmeisterstrasse station at 5:45 a.m. when a rail worker tried wake the man up by gently shaking him. Medics were called in but could only pronounce the man dead.

A preliminary investigation showed no indications of the man being murdered. A more detailed autopsy is planned for Monday.

(Reporting By Erik Kirschbaum; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dead-passenger-found-riding-berlin-underground-114500002.html

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