French-led troops in Mali seize airport at Islamist bastion

BAMAKO: French-led troops Saturday seized the airport and a key bridge serving the Islamist stronghold of Gao in a major boost to a 16-day-old offensive to rout Al Qaeda-linked rebels from Mali's sprawling desert north.

The stunning advance came as the extremist Muslim group controlling Gao since June said it was ready for talks to free a 61-year-old French hostage kidnapped in November.

In a parallel movement, Chadian troops deployed in Mali's eastern neighbour Niger started rolling towards the border to join a contingent of Niger soldiers as part of African efforts to boost the French-led offensive.

"They are a very big contingent and they have tanks and four-wheel drives with machineguns," a Niger security source said.

It was not clear whether they were set to cross the border, which lies only 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Gao.

France on Saturday confirmed the capture of the airport and the Wanbary bridge at Gao but said fighting was continuing in Gao itself.

The airport is located about six kilometres east of Gao, while the bridge lies at the southern entrance to the town, held by the Al Qaeda-linked Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO).

Sources said earlier that the Islamists had left Gao in the wake of the French-led military offensive on January 11 to stop a triad of Al Qaeda-linked groups from pushing southward from their northern bastions towards Bamako.

An alliance of Tuareg rebels who wanted to declare an independent homeland in the north and hardline Islamist groups seized the northern towns of Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal in April last year.

The Islamist groups include MUJAO, Ansar Dine, a homegrown Islamist group, and Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, of which MUJAO is an offshoot.

The Islamists then sidelined the Tuaregs to implement their own Islamic agenda. Their harsh interpretation of sharia law has seen transgressors flogged, stoned and executed, and they have forbidden music and television and forced women to wear veils.

The MUJAO said it was ready for negotiations to release Gilberto Rodriguez Leal, a French national of Portuguese origin who was kidnapped in western Mali.

"The MUJAO is ready to negotiate the release of Gilberto," said spokesman Walid Abu Sarhaoui. "We Muslims can come to an understanding on the issue of war," he added, without elaborating.

West African defence chiefs meanwhile met to review the slow deployment of regional forces to bolster the French-led offensive against Islamists at an emergency meeting in Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan.

Although the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc has pledged more than 4,500 soldiers, their deployment has been delayed by financing and logistical problems.

Chad, which neighbours Mali and is not an ECOWAS member, has promised a total of 2,000 additional troops. They were sent to Niger to join 500 local troops to open a new front against the Islamists.

The Abidjan talks will determine exactly how many troops each country in the 15-nation bloc is willing to pledge but "particularly commit to deploying troops as quickly as possible," said Ivory Coast Defence Minister Paul Koffi Koffi.

The African Union said it would urge members to bolster the African force and seek support from the United Nations for the operation in the form of transport, medicine and field hospitals.

While a fraction of the African forces have arrived in Bamako and are slowly deploying elsewhere, the French and Malian forces have done all the fighting so far.

France has already deployed 2,300 troops to Mali and defence officials acknowledge the force will exceed the initially set upper limit of 2,500.

On Friday, the French and Malian forces captured Hombori, another northern town, in their advance on Gao.

To the centre, French-led forces who on Monday had recaptured the town of Diabaly were pushing northeast towards the town of Lere with the aim of taking control of Timbuktu, still further north.

Aid agencies have expressed increasing concern about the growing food crisis for civilians in the vast semi-arid north of Mali and the drought-stricken Sahel as a whole.

France has asked several Western countries and others to provide logistical support such as planes to allow aerial refuelling, sources close to Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

- AFP/al

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BJP govt in majority: Karnataka governor

BANGALORE: In a relief to ruling BJP that faced threats of instability, Karnataka governor HR Bhardwaj on Saturday said the Jagadish Shettar government still enjoyed majority after 13 party MLAs anounced their resignation, but he would order a floor test if he felt it has been reduced to minority.

"On the day on which the government comes into minority even with one MLA less, I will issue notice. Now, 13 MLAs have resigned but the government is still in majority," he told reporters as Shettar stood next to him after the Republic Day function here.

Bhardwaj said he would act according to the advice of Shettar as long as he was the Chief Minister, but wouldn't do so after his government had lost majority. "I will not do any unconstitutional work. I am watching," he said.

Question marks over the Shettar government's survival were raised after 13 MLAs loyal to Karnataka Janata Party chief and former BJP strongman BS Yeddyurappa announced their decision to quit assembly membership.

The MLA's bid to push the government into a corner, however, had been in vain as assembly speaker KG Bopaiah was not in station, an issue over which they cried foul and petitioned the Governor to whom they submitted copies of their resignation letters.

The governor's remarks come as a relief to the over six-month old Shettar Government as it has belied hopes, at least for the present, of Yeddyurappa to force the exit of the BJP Ministry ahead of assembly elections due in May.

Bhardwaj said today that Shettar was the Leader of the BJP legislature Party and it was left to him to take action on the issue of resignation by 13 MLAs.

Noting that the Assembly has been convened to meet from February 4 for the Budget session, Bhardwaj said he was studying the situation. "I hope Karnataka continues to function as per the Constitution and we (I and chief minister) will not rush through," he said.

Asked if he would direct Bopaiah to accept the resignation of 13 BJP legislators, he said said Speaker's was an independent and very high office and he cannot dictate terms.

To a query on Yeddyurappa's remarks that the state was facing a constitutional crisis following the resignation of the 13 MLAs, Bhardwaj said the government still enjoyed majority and it was left to Shettar to act in this regard.

"However, each day of the budget session is a test for the government. We should not say there is a constitutional crisis. We are living in a democracy which has been interpreted by the highest court of the land (Supreme Court in the SR Bommai case). I will not go against the Constitution."

Bhardwaj said he would be addressing the joint session of legislature as it is his obligation and a privilege to do so.

"But I am watching the situation minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour and day-by-day. I will protect the Constitution and he (Shettar) has assured me in this regard," he said.

Shettar said his government enjoyed majority and would present the budget. "There is no threat to my government. The governor has agreed to address the joint session."

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Pictures: The Story Behind Sun Dogs, Penitent Ice, and More

Photograph by Art Wolfe, Getty Images

If you want the beauty of winter without having to brave the bone-chilling temperatures blasting much of the United States this week, snuggle into a soft blanket, grab a warm beverage, and curl up with some of these natural frozen wonders.

Nieve penitente, or penitent snow, are collections of spires that resemble robed monks—or penitents. They are flattened columns of snow wider at the base than at the tip and can range in height from 3 to 20 feet (1 to 6 meters). The picture above shows the phenomenon in central Chile. (See pictures of the patterns in snow and ice.)

Nieve penitente tend to form in shallow valleys where the snow is deep and the sun doesn't shine at too steep an angle, said Kenneth Libbrecht, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena who studies ice crystal formation.

As the snow melts, dirt gets mixed in with the runoff and collects in little pools here and there, he said. Since the dirt is darker in color than the surrounding snow, the dirty areas melt faster "and you end up digging these pits," explained Libbrecht.

"They tend to form at high altitude," he said. But other than that, no one really knows the exact conditions that are needed to form penitent snow.

"They're fairly strong," Libbrecht said. "People have found [the spires] difficult to hike through."

—Jane J. Lee

Published January 25, 2013

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Cops Using More Private Cameras to Nab Suspects

Philadelphia detectives were able to quickly make an arrest in the murder and burning of a female pediatrician by viewing surveillance video of nearby stores and a hospital that captured the suspect entering the doctor's home and later getting into his truck.

In the hours after Dr. Melissa Ketunuti's body was found strangled and burning in her basement, city's Homicide Task Force collected surveillance footage from a coffee shop, drug store and hospital overlooking Ketunuti's block. It was footage taken from Ori Feibush's coffee shop that allowed cops to identify Smith.

The suspect, an exterminator named Jason Smith, soon confessed to detectives, police said.

Lately a range of crimes have been solved by the seemingly ubiquitous security videos maintained by private companies or citizens, and investigators have been able to quickly apprehend suspects by obtaining the video, deftly turning private cameras into effective police resources.

Philadelphia Police Arrest Suspect in Doctor's Killing Watch Video

Pa. Doctor Killing: Person of Interest in Custody Watch Video

Private surveillance cameras have become so pervasive that the face of a suspect who allegedly shot a Bronx, N.Y., cab driver in a botched robbery on Jan. 14 was splashed throughout the media within days because the cabbie had rigged his vehicle with a camera.

The New York Police Department arrested Salvatore Perrone after he was caught on surveillance video recorded near two of three shopkeeper slayings in Brooklyn, N.Y., in November. He has since been charged with murder.

And in Mesa, Ariz., surveillance footage taken in November by resident Mitch Drum showed a man rolling on the ground trying to extinguish flames that had engulfed his shirt, which had caught fire while he was allegedly siphoning gas from a car by Drum's house. The man was arrested.

Though surveillance cameras have been a staple of security since a network of government operated cameras dubbed the "ring of steel" was introduced in London in the early 1990s, police have recently launched programs to partner with more businesses.

In Philadelphia, police have launched a program for businesses to register private cameras with the department. According to the SafeCam website, businesses will only be contacted when there is a criminal incident in the vicinity of the security camera. At that point, police will request a copy of the footage for their investigation.

"Businesses are saying, 'I have a camera at this location, and it may or may not be of use to you. It's a registration to say, 'feel free to call me,'" Sgt. Joseph Green told ABCNews.com

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ECB chief hails euro relaunch at Davos

DAVOS, Switzerland: The head of the European Central Bank said on Friday that the embattled euro had been relaunched but that more had to be done to boost the eurozone's recession-wracked economy.

Speaking to the world's top business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mario Draghi also said that austerity measures being taken in crisis-hit countries were "unavoidable" despite the impact on growth.

"If one has to find a common denominator... for defining why 2012 is going to be remembered, I think one would say it's the year of the relaunching of the euro," Draghi said in his well-attended and hotly anticipated speech.

Draghi outlined three "extraordinary" steps taken by European leaders and institutions to battle the three-year sovereign debt crisis that has pitched the 17-nation bloc into recession.

Governments have pushed through structural reforms with "urgency" and these are "now bearing fruit," said the ECB boss.

European leaders had recognised structural flaws inherent in the single currency and were now pushing for greater integration.

And finally, his own institution had undertaken actions that broke the monetary policy mould, including providing one trillion euros ($1.33 trillion) in liquidity for banks.

The ECB also announced a programme to buy the bonds of debt-wracked countries which had proved "very helpful" in reducing the perception that the euro was on the point of collapse, Draghi said.

However, he said it was too early to declare the battle over.

"Are we satisfied for that? I think to say the least, the jury is still out. Because all in all, we haven't seen an equal momentum on the real side of the economy and that's where we will have to do much more," he said.

Nevertheless, Draghi hailed what he called a period of "relative tranquility" on the financial markets and said: "All the indices point to a substantial improvement of financial conditions."

"It is a situation where you have what I called once positive contagion on the financial markets ... but we don't see this being transmitted into the real economy yet," complained the central banker.

He forecast that the euro area economy would "stabilise" at a "very low level of activity" this year, and predicted "a recovery in the second part of the year."

The European Central Bank has forecast the eurozone economy will contract by 0.3 percent this year but rebound to register GDP growth of 1.2 percent in 2014.

Draghi urged governments not to let up on the momentum of reforms just because the pressure from the markets had been reduced.

"We can have a positive development if national governments would persevere in their actions, both in fiscal consolidation but especially now in the field of structural reforms," he said.

Fiscal consolidation - or reducing debt and deficit mountains - was "unavoidable" he stressed, but he acknowledged that raising taxes and cutting spending tended to result in slower economic growth.

Draghi concluded with a plea to the global elite not to underestimate the euro area economy, despite its woes.

Notwithstanding the strife in weaker euro countries like Spain and Greece, the average levels of indicators such as productivity or inflation put the euro area in line with some of the best economies in the world, he said.

"We tend to forget the strength of the euro area economy."

- AFP/de

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Delhi gang rape has left our hearts empty and minds in turmoil, President Pranab Mukherjee says

NEW DELHI: Delhi gang-rape incident has left our hearts empty and minds in turmoil, President Pranab Mukherjee said in his address to the nation on the eve of 64th Republic Day.

Referring to the brutal gang-rape case, the President said, "When we brutalise a woman, we brutalise society".

He said in the death of the victim "we lost more than a valuable life, we lost a dream."

The President also had words of support for the young protesters who took to the streets in large numbers after the shocking incident.

"If young Indians feel outraged, can we blame our youth?" he asked in his address.

"Don't take our friendship for granted"

Sponsorship of terrorism through non-state actors is a matter of deep concern, President Pranab Mukherjee said making it clear to Pakistan that India is ready to offer a hand of friendship but that should not be taken for granted.

The President said in the recent past, serious atrocities on the line of control on Indian troops have been seen, an apparent reference to the beheading of an Indian soldier by Pakistan Army.

"Neighbours may have disagreements; tension can be a subtext of frontiers. But sponsorship of terrorism through non-state actors is a matter of deep concern to the entire nation," he said.

He said India believes in peace on the border and is always ready to offer a hand in the hope of friendship.

"But this hand should not be taken for granted," he said.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Deformed Dolphin Accepted Into New Family

In 2011, behavioral ecologists Alexander Wilson and Jens Krause of the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Germany were surprised to discover that a group of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus)—animals not usually known for forging bonds with other species—had taken in an adult bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).

The researchers observed the group in the ocean surrounding the Azores (map)—about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) off the coast of Lisbon, Portugal—for eight days as the dolphin traveled, foraged, and played with both the adult whales and their calves. When the dolphin rubbed its body against the whales, they would sometimes return the gesture.

Among terrestrial animals, cross-species interactions are not uncommon. These mostly temporary alliances are forged for foraging benefits and protection against predators, said Wilson.

They could also be satisfying a desire for the company of other animals, added marine biologist John Francis, vice president for research, conservation, and exploration at the National Geographic Society (the Society owns National Geographic News).

Photographs of dogs nursing tiger cubs, stories of a signing gorilla adopting a pet cat, and videos of a leopard caring for a baby baboon have long circulated the Web and caught national attention.

A Rare Alliance

And although dolphins are known for being sociable animals, Wilson called the alliance between sperm whale and bottlenose dolphin rare, as it has never, to his knowledge, been witnessed before.

This association may have started with something called bow riding, a common behavior among dolphins during which they ride the pressure waves generated by the bow of a ship or, in this case, whales, suggested Francis.

"Hanging around slower creatures to catch a ride might have been the first advantage [of such behavior]," he said, adding that this may have also started out as simply a playful encounter.

Wilson suggested that the dolphin's peculiar spinal shape made it more likely to initiate an interaction with the large and slow-moving whales. "Perhaps it could not keep up with or was picked on by other members of its dolphin group," he said in an email.

Default

But the "million-dollar question," as Wilson puts it, is why the whales accepted the lone dolphin. Among several theories presented in an upcoming paper in Aquatic Mammals describing the scientists' observations, they propose that the dolphin may have been regarded as nonthreatening and that it was accepted by default because of the way adult sperm whales "babysit" their calves.

Sperm whales alternate their dives between group members, always leaving one adult near the surface to watch the juveniles. "What is likely is that the presence of the calves—which cannot dive very deep or for very long—allowed the dolphin to maintain contact with the group," Wilson said.

Wilson doesn't believe the dolphin approached the sperm whales for help in protecting itself from predators, since there aren't many dolphin predators in the waters surrounding the Azores.

But Francis was not so quick to discount the idea. "I don't buy that there is no predator in the lifelong experience of the whales and dolphins frequenting the Azores," he said.

He suggested that it could be just as possible that the sperm whales accepted the dolphin for added protection against their own predators, like the killer whale (Orcinus orca), while traveling. "They see killer whales off the Azores, and while they may not be around regularly, it does not take a lot of encounters to make [other] whales defensive," he said.

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Alleged Doctor Killer Had Anger Issues, Friend Says

Jason Smith, the Philadelphia exterminator who police say showed up at the home of Dr. Melissa Ketunuti this week to solve her rodent problem before strangling her, was a problem child as an adolescent, a family friend told ABC News.

The family friend from many years ago, who asked for anonymity, said Smith, 36, had behavior and anger issues, and that he also liked to set things on fire.

After Smith and Ketunuti got into "some kind of argument" in Ketunuti's basement, he struck her, strangled her and set her on fire, according to police.

Smith reportedly admitted to the brutal slaying after hours of police questioning Wednesday night.
Smith told police that Ketunuti had "belittled" him, sources told ABC News affiliate WPVI-TV in Philadelphia

He snapped and apparently tried to hide any evidence by setting the 35-year-old doctor on fire with paper he lit in the kitchen, the station reported.

Philadelphia Police Department/AP Photo

Pa. Doctor Killing: Person of Interest in Custody Watch Video

Philadelphia Doctor's Murder Leaves Police Baffled Watch Video

"People like Mr. Smith basically walk around with a huge chip on their shoulder, and they feel so inadequate and so insecure that any perceived belittlement of them will set them off," ABC News consultant and former FBI agent Brad Garrett said.

Capt. James Clark of the Philadelphia Police Department said Smith's mood and clarity varied during his alleged confession.

"At some points, he was solemn. At other points, it was like he was in a fog," Clark said at a news conference.

Smith has been charged with murder, arson, abuse of a corpse and risking a catastrophe.

Ori Feibush, who owns a coffee shop near Ketunuti's street, said he and police pored over hours of surveillance video until they saw Ketunuti walking home from doing errands, with Smith steps behind her.

"Forty-five minutes later, we see this same guy walking past, but [he] looks a little more disheveled and he's got gloves on," Feibush told ABC News.

Police say that after the slaying, Smith circled Ketunuti's block twice, before heading off to another job.

Ketunuti was a doctor at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and had lived alone in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood of the city for about three years. Her family released a statement saying they are "devastated by this senseless act of violence."

"Melissa's friends from childhood, college, residency and elsewhere remember her many kindnesses, even during long hours, as well as her zest for life: traveling, running and spending time with friends and family," the statement said. "Melissa was a source of joy to everyone in her life. Her passing has left an enormous gap in our lives."

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OPM plans to shake up charity program raise concerns about reduced donations

The Office of Personnel Management wants to shake up the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), the charitable-giving system for federal employees, but in the process the agency could risk losing donors and reducing contributions.

One rule under review by the Obama administration would “eliminate the use of cash, check and money order contributions. Instead, all donations will be required to be made through electronic means.”

This could “streamline the operations,” as proposed rules from OPM suggest, but whether it also would “increase the effectiveness of the program to ensure its continued growth and success” is questionable.

The reason: In 2011, the last year for which OPM data are available, just 22 percent of the money pledged was donated electronically. Moreover, 88.4 percent of the donors did not make electronic contributions.

So, a move to electronic-only donations would seem to put CFC at risk of losing a majority of its donors. The proposal worries executives of some charitable organizations, even as they welcome other sections of the plan.

Federal employees contribute through the CFC to various charities. Donations exceeded $272 million in 2011. That’s a lot of money, but it represents a drop of almost $10 million from 2009, the high point.

An OPM spokeswoman said the agency does not comment on rules under review. In the 53-page document that contains the proposed regulations, however, OPM Director John Berry wrote:

“These proposed changes will introduce efficiencies and cost savings into the CFC by leveraging technology that was not widely available just a few years ago. They will make the CFC more efficient, more transparent, more accountable and more relevant to Federal, Postal and military service personnel who want to make the biggest impact with their donations.”

Scott Jackson, chief executive of Global Impact, said electronic giving can save $14 a pledge, by reducing processing costs.

“That’s very, very powerful,” he added. How the change to electronic-only contributions might effect donations presents “important issues to work through,” he said. Global Impact administers the overseas campaign of the CFC.

Those issues leave Stephen M. Delfin “highly concerned.” He is president and chief executive of America’s Charities, a group that works with CFC organizations. Delfin said he is worried that the rules, previously reported by the Federal Times, could result in lower donations.

“You have to be careful,” he said. “Technology is not a panacea.”

Marshall Strauss, chief executive of the Workplace Giving Alliance, a consortium of CFC federations, agreed. Although he thinks “electronic donations are an excellent addition to the campaign,” he said he worries that relying solely on that “may dramatically reduce the number of people giving and the overall receipts of the campaign. Many thousands of people prefer to give by check or even cash, and we would hope the government would preserve these options.”

In addition to electronic-only giving, Delfin and others have concerns about a proposal to eliminate 184 local CFC committees in favor of fewer and larger regional panels.

This would require “a reduced number of Federal personnel for oversight purposes,” according to the plan.

But it also would diminish the sense of community that charitable leaders say is crucial in motivating individuals to give.

Dumping the local committees will shrink the “person-to-person feeling of the campaign, which is very, very important,” said Kalman Stein, president and CEO of EarthShare, which was recently selected to administer the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area.

Stein said that he doesn’t think OPM understands “how critical that local component is” and that he is “very concerned the campaign will decline precipitously” if the Local Federal Coordinating Committees are eliminated.

“Our history shows that more consolidation leads to less donations,” said Stein, who, along with Strauss, was a member of the CFC-50 Commission. The commission, formed in 2011 to mark CFC’s 50th anniversary, issued a report last year. A number of its recommendations were incorporated into OPM’s proposals.

But Stein said consolidating the local committees into regional ones would go “way beyond the commission’s recommendations.”

The commission said its 24 recommendations were designed to further encourage a “history of giving” by federal employees, who have “set the standard for workplace giving to charitable organizations.”

But the recent decrease in donations “is a cause for concern,” the report said.

Now there is concern that parts of the OPM plan could make the situation worse.

Previous columns by Joe Davidson are available at wapo.st/JoeDavidson.

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Taiwanese gets life sentence for election rally shooting

TAIPEI: Taiwan's supreme court ruled on Thursday that a man who opened fire at an election rally, killing one person and injuring a politician's son, must serve a life sentence.

The top court confirmed a decision last year by the high court, which convicted Lin Cheng-wei, 48, of attempted murder and illegal possession of firearms and sentenced him to life.

The high court had increased a 24-year sentence passed by a district court.

Lin, who had a criminal record, was arrested at the scene after opening fire at a campaign rally of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party in November 2010 near Taipei.

Lin claimed he had intended to shoot a KMT candidate with whom he had a personal dispute, but that he accidentally shot Sean Lien -- son of former vice-president Lien Chan -- in the face while he was on the stage.

Lien denied Lin's claim, insisting he himself was the target.

A man in the crowd was hit by the same bullet and died on the spot, only hours before voters went to the polls in local elections.

Lien was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery and released after ten days of treatment.

The incident revived painful memories of another election-eve shooting in 2004, when then-president Chen Shui-bian and his deputy Annette Lu were shot while campaigning for re-election.

Critics alleged that the 2004 shooting was staged to win sympathy for Chen, who eventually won by a razor-thin margin in a disputed election that plunged the island into political turmoil for months.

- AFP/xq

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