Looking at5: 2012

четверг, 15 марта 2012 г.

Hallâ€™s evaluation of Cutler: â€˜Jay is definitely a clownâ€™

Washington Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall was on the ball when he intercepted Jay Cutler four times in Week 7 last season at Soldier Field.

Not sure what Hall was on when he went on 106.7 The Fan last week in Washington and said:

''Jay is definitely a clown. I played against the kid one other time, and it was when I first went to Oakland, first game of the season, we played on a Monday night. [Broncos coach Mike] Shanahan was actually coaching. He's played against Al Davis so long, he knows what …

King memorial a fitting tribute

Guest Editorial

The formal dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Sunday was a fitting tribute to a man recognized as one of history's greatest leaders.

The dedication of the first memorial to an African American leader on the National Mall was done in a ceremony featuring an address by the nation's first African American president on the site where King delivered his I Have a Dream speech nearly a half-century ago.

The dedication comes after some early skirmishes and after organizers postponed the Aug. 28 dedication when Hurricane Irene threatened the Washington area.

There were some initial challenges to get over, such as who would sculpt …

Strong earthquake hits India's Andaman Islands, no damage reported

The Indian Meteorological Department says an earthquake of 6.7 magnitude has stuck the Andaman Islands of India's east coast

The office says the undersea quake struck at 1140 GMT on Friday.

S. M. Tiwari, a …

среда, 14 марта 2012 г.

Focus on dyslexia

Colerne: A specialist school for dyslexic pupils has hosted aconference for teachers to promote communication skills.

Researchers from University College London joined staff fromCalder House School in Colerne, including speech therapist RosLeather, to run workshops on the difficulties that dyslexic pupilsencounter in spoken and written …

Oddsmaker Jimmy `The Greek' Dead at 76

LAS VEGAS Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder, who parlayed oddsmakingskills and a gift for gab into national prominence before histelevision career crashed over ill-advised remarks about blackathletes, died Sunday.

Snyder, 76, died of heart failure at a Las Vegas hospital aftera long illness, longtime friend Tommy Manakides said.

Snyder, who at his peak was a colorful and often-quoted CBSSports commentator, lived his late years in virtual obscurity afterbeing fired by the network in 1988 for saying that black athleteswere superior to whites."He really just went downhill after that," longtime Las Vegasgambler Lem Banker said. "It was a shame. He was real bitter. Hegot a …

Dougherty, former TCU head coach, dead at 50

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Neil Dougherty, who coached the TCU basketball team for six seasons, has died. He was 50.

His death was announced Friday by the University of Kansas, where he once worked as an assistant. The school said he died Tuesday in Indianapolis.

Dougherty was most recently director of athlete and coach programs …

Afghan civilian deaths are rising, government says

Civilian casualties are rising in Afghanistan as U.S. and NATO reinforcements stream into the country as part of a military buildup to combat the resurgent Taliban, the Interior Ministry said Sunday.

There have been 173 civilian deaths in violence in Afghanistan from March 21 to April 21, marking a 33 percent increase over the same time period last year, the ministry said. A recent quarterly report by the U.S. office overseeing Afghanistan's rebuilding confirmed an increase in civilian deaths.

The ministry did not provide a breakdown of who was responsible for the fatalities.

Civilian deaths at the hands of U.S. and other international forces are …

Eye on the vibe; New Chicago transplant Frank Fontana asks: 'What do YOU think Chicago style is?' Your answer could bring his Sun-Times Chicago Style column to your house.

As a recent Chicago transplant and HGTV interior designer, Ican't help but ask this simple, yet seemingly hard to answerquestion: Does Chicago have a school of interior design all its own?

Through my private design business and work on "Design on aDime," I've had the opportunity to travel and live in manyprogressive cities and popular destinations across America. Eachcity had a real definitive sense of style. I have completed the"trifecta" as I like to call it -- the New York, Los Angeles andMiami triangle, each individually cutting edge in its style andrecognizable in its feel. Whether it was from the elements andtextiles available in that particular region, or the …

2 charged in LA in brutal beating of baseball fan

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Exonerating one suspect, police charged two other men Friday in the beating of a San Francisco Giants fan outside Dodger Stadium, accusing them of a savage attack that included cutting the victim's tongue and disfiguring his face.

The arrests came two months after an emotional Police Chief Charlie Beck trumpeted the arrest of the initial suspect in the attack on Bryan Stow, a paramedic who suffered a brain injury and remains hospitalized in serious condition.

Giovanni Ramirez, dismissed as a suspect Friday, had been arrested in May but never charged.

"In policing, it's just as important to exonerate the innocent as it is to implicate the guilty," Beck …

Officials: Polish ship with teens is in distress

LONDON (AP) — A Polish tall ship carrying 36 teenage sailors has lost both its masts in foul weather and is drifting off the coast of southern England, British coast guards said Friday. The teens don't appear to be in any immediate danger.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokeswoman Fiona Warren said that the Fryderyk Chopin, a vessel used to train young sailors, was drifting amid gale-force winds about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Britain's Isles of Scilly. Warren said the crew of 47 people includes 36 teenage cadets.

She added that two ships were arriving at the stricken ship's location "as we speak." …

Performing arts school opens in South Shore

Some children just need an outlet to shine, and performing arts is sometimes the answer. They express themselves and their talents are Nurtured, the founder of a South Side performing arts school said.

Rhea Henderson said the arts is an important avenue in helping today's youth find their footing in the world, and she set out to provide the services.

"Our youth are trying so desperately to find their own way and have their voices heard. The arts are an integral part of helping them find their way," Henderson said, adding that the school is another alternative for parents and their children once they get out of school each day.

With so much mayhem going on in the city …

Israel made lopsided swaps in past

Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to free a captured Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, both sides said Tuesday. It is not the first time Israel and Arab rivals have carried out such lopsided swaps:

—June 2008: In exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, Israel frees a Lebanese convicted in a fatal 1979 apartment house attack, four other Lebanese prisoners, an undisclosed number of Palestinian prisoners and dozens of bodies of Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

—January 2004: In a deal with Hezbollah, Israel trades 436 Arab prisoners and the bodies of 59 Lebanese fighters for an Israeli civilian and …

CinemaNow to Relaunch Music Video Site

LOS ANGELES - Online movie download site CinemaNow Inc. will revive its 2-year-old effort to sell music videos, hoping to fill a demand for content to be viewed on portable devices by increasing its inventory.

The company first launched its "watchmusichere.com" site in 2005 with a small selection of music videos. That site never quite found an audience in part because the portable media devices that could play the videos never caught on.

With Apple Inc.'s iTunes music store finding some success in selling music videos and the increased number of portable media players, CinemaNow has decided to beef up its offerings and will relaunch by featuring videos from the Warner Music Group.

"We were a little bit premature," CinemaNow chief executive Curt Marvis said Monday.

The new site will offer videos for $1.99. The files are just below DVD quality. Only one file needs to be downloaded. It can be transferred to a total of three devices, such as a desktop computer, a laptop and a portable device running Windows Media software.

The videos will not play on the popular iPod video players or the upcoming iPhone from Apple.

"This year, consumers headed to the Web for short-form content in record numbers, and we see great potential in music video downloads," Marvis said.

The relaunched site will feature about 1,600 videos exclusively from Warner until July 21. After that, additional videos from Warner and from other major record labels will be added to the site, the company said.

Marvis said the files are designed to look good playing on a larger screen as well. Many portable players can connect to a TV either through a cable or a wireless connection.

CinemaNow not only faces competition from iTunes, but also from a number of sites, such as Yahoo Music, that stream music videos for free.

Marvis said people, especially rabid fans, will want to own higher quality versions.

"Because it's only $2, it's kind of an impulse buy," Marvis said.

CinemaNow is privately held. Among its investors are Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., Microsoft Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. and Blockbuster Inc.

---

On the Net:

http://www.watchmusichere.com

http://www.cinemanow.com

вторник, 13 марта 2012 г.

Sumo wrestlers clean after random doping tests

The Japan Sumo Association said Thursday that random doping tests given to wrestlers last month were all found to be negative.

The JSA started conducting random tests in April after second-division wrestler Wakakirin was arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana in January. Wakakirin was the first Japanese wrestler to be arrested in a marijuana case and the latest to be thrown out of the sumo world.

A total of 103 wrestlers, coaches and other sumo officials who underwent urine tests on April 22 all returned negative results, the JSA said. The wrestlers, including grand champion Asashoryu, were checked for three types of illegal drugs, including marijuana and methamphetamines.

New anti-doping rules were set by the JSA in late February so that all of the association's members could be tested without warning.

Some critics, however, say the tests were not strict enough as the heads of the various stables were warned two days in advance before wrestlers were summoned to Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan to be checked.

Poll: Obama maintains wide leads in Iowa and Wis.

THE POLL: KCCI-TV poll, presidential race in Iowa among likely voters. (7 electoral votes)

THE NUMBERS: Barack Obama 53 percent, John McCain 39 percent.

OF INTEREST: Most recent polls have shown Obama with double-digit leads in Iowa, but the candidates still have been focusing attention on the state. Obama is holding an outdoor rally in Des Moines on Friday, and GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has scheduled an event Monday in Dubuque. Palin and McCain also held events in Iowa last weekend.

THE DETAILS: Conducted Oct. 27-29 by Research 2000 by telephone with 600 likely voters. Margin of sampling error plus or minus 4 percentage points.

___

THE POLL: University of Wisconsin Badger Poll of 538 randomly selected adults in Wisconsin (10 electoral votes).

THE NUMBERS: Barack Obama 54 percent, John McCain 38 percent.

OF INTEREST: This marks the ninth poll this month showing Obama with a double-digit lead in Wisconsin. Obama was selected as better able to handle eight major issues identified, including the economy and foreign relations. Echoing other polls, the economy was named most often as the top issue with 48 percent saying Obama was better able to handle it compared with 29 percent for McCain.

DETAILS: Conducted Oct. 21-28 by landline telephone. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

MORE: http://www.uwsc.wisc.edu/BP27PressRelease1_pres08.pdf

Deaf girl: I was kept in UK cellar as sex slave

LONDON (AP) — Locked in a cellar where she was allegedly raped and beaten for nearly a decade, a young deaf and mute Pakistani woman told a U.K. court on Monday how she was trafficked into Britain and forced to work as a virtual slave.

The woman, whose age is not known, said she was around 10 when she was brought to the northern city of Manchester as a domestic servant in 2000. She cannot be identified for legal reasons.

A Pakistani couple — 83-year-old Ilyas Ashar and his wife, 66-year-old Tallat Ashar — are charged with false imprisonment, human trafficking, sexual offenses, violence and benefit fraud. Both have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Speaking through an interpreter and using sign language, the woman — thought to be 19 or in her 20s — described how she was allegedly hit with a rolling pin while forced to work for no money, made to sleep on a concrete floor in a bolted cellar and sexually abused.

When prosecutors showed her a picture of Ilyas Ashar, she said: "He's the one who has sex with me."

She said Ashar's wife would repeatedly strike her with her ring, sometimes when she made too much noise by setting dishes on the table.

"I would be down in the cellar, sitting alone and very upset," she said. "I would sit there for a long, long time, really upset and crying. I could not get out."

The girl was rescued after a joint police raid in 2009. It wasn't immediately clear if other government agencies were investigating the couple or why.

The couple are also accused of allegedly claiming benefits in her name but withholding any proceeds.

It isn't immediately clear how the couple were able to bring the girl to Britain.

The Border Agency, which falls under control of the Home Office, had no immediate comment as to how the girl would have been allowed into the country as a domestic servant or whether the matter was being investigated, but a spokeswoman said she would look into the matter.

The trial continues in Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester.

No Way Out: The Politics of Polish Jewry 1935-1939

Emanuel Melzer. No Way Out: The Politics of Polish Jewry 19351939. Monographs of the Hebrew Union College, Number 19. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, distributed by Wayne State University Press, 1997. xii, 235 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $39.95, cloth.

Emanuel Melzer's study No Way Out is an important addition to the literature on the history of the Jewish community in Poland in the critical years preceding the outbreak of World War II. First published in Hebrew under the title Ma'avak medini be-malkodet (The Political Struggle in a Trap), in 1982 by the Diaspora Research Institute of Tel-Aviv University, it is a condensed English translation of the original and updated with previously unavailable sources. Melzer based his work on the Polish-Jewish and Polish press as well as on materials drawn from archives in Europe, Israel and the United States. Included are also excerpts from debates held in the Sejm and the Senate and laws concerning the status of the Jewish community.

The slim volume of 165 pages of text is augmented by 49 pages of notes, a thing that would satisfy the American historian Gertrude Himmelfarb, who in her work On Looking into the Abyss: Untimely Thoughts on Culture and Society, bemoaned the disappearance of footnotes in the now "politically correct" writing of history. Himself a survivor, Melzer makes a commendable effort to write sine ira et studio. He postulates that at the outbreak of World War II Polish Jews, having failed to unite in the face of common danger and deprived of a charismatic leader were left "to face the Nazi onslaught virtually alone" (p. 165).

The work covers the four years beginning with the death of Jozef Pilsudski and ending with the outbreak of the war, a period regarded as a turning point in the history of interwar Poland. Pilsudski's death had an important impact on the situation of Polish Jews. His idea of the superiority of the state over the nation in a multinational state where minorities, Ukrainians, Jews, Germans and Belarusians constituted one third of the population, would have allowed for the participation of non-Poles in the affairs of state. Pilsudski's party, the Sanacja, went along with this idea as long as he was alive. The situation changed under his successors. Roman Dmowski, an opponent and enemy of Pilsudski, envisioned Poland to be a state where sovereignty would be borne by Poles to the exclusion of the minorities. His party, the Endecja, was virulently antisemitic and determined to solve the Jewish Question first through exclusion and then elimination to be achieved through mass emigration.

Melzer mentions two more important developments that were to affect the position of Polish Jews. One was the Polish government's unilateral declaration renouncing its obligations as stipulated in the Minorities Treaty that was signed in June 1919 at Versailles and aimed at the protection of minorities. Following in 1934 came the non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and Poland and with it the rise of antisemitism latent in the government and people. The Roman Catholic Church, under the leadership of Cardinal Augustyn Hlond, was no friend of the Jews. The primate accused the Jews of "spreading atheism and revolutionary Bolshevism... [and] contributing to the decline of Polish morals" (p. 22). The lower clergy collaborated with the Endecja in spreading anti-Jewish propaganda.

Measures taken to destroy the Jewish community are discussed by Melzer in great detail. First came the economic boycott that resulted in one-third of the Jewish population being on one or another form of social assistance, financed internally by charitable organizations and funds received from Jews in Western Europe and the United States with the Joint Distribution Committee being the most active. Further developments in the fight against the Jews were the anti-Jewish riots, pogroms in the towns and cities that spilled over onto the university campuses, and the so-called infamous "ghetto-benches" designed for Jewish students. In describing the excesses perpetrated, Melzer emphasizes the lack of united leadership in the Jewish community. He gives credit to the Jewish local organizations and the grass root response to the events and to the stand made by Jewish students against the violence they faced from fellow students and/or faculty. Melzer does mention the attempts by members of the Polish left, in particular the PPS (Polish Socialist Party), to show solidarity with the Jews. Also some faculty members openly denounced the excesses as did the Prime Minister but this was of no avail. Melzer singles out one member of the faculty of Warsaw University, Professor Zygmunt Szymanowski who denounced the "ghetto benches" as relics of the Middle Ages (p. 75). However, no steps were taken by the authorities against the perpetrators. The leaders of the Ukrainian minority did express their sympathy with the plight of the Jews but not much help came from that group. The goal of the Ukrainian nationalist party, UNO, was now the establishment of independent Ukraine, and it considered Nazi Germany as its ally.

In face of all that was happening, the Jewish leadership failed in giving guidance and organization to the people. To explain that phenomenon, Melzer discusses in great detail the parties, their programmes, and their leaders. The Jewish political parties were divided into three camps. The largest was the Zionist camp and its aim was emigration to Palestine and the establishment there of a homeland for the Jews. The second was the Agudas Isroel camp of the Orthodox Jews who hoped against hope that there would be a place for the Jews in Poland and advocated working with the government. The last was the Bund that based its hopes on the solidarity of the working class and socialist ideology as a way of resolving the Jewish question. There were some smaller groups, among whom were the assimilationists who saw their future within Polish society. There were also Jewish members in the KPP (Polish Communist Party), but during the period under discussion that party was in decline. The lack of unity and collaboration among the parties was noted by the authorities and a report of the Ministry of the Interior stated that the Jewish political parties were "suffering from the absence of recognized authoritative leaders" (p. 13).

Melzer mentions attempts made on the part of two leaders whom he singles out as ones who well understood the plight of their compatriots. One was Vladimir (Zeev) Zhabotinsky, the leader of the Revisionist Party's New Zionist Organization who advocated emigration as a solution to the problem not only of the Polish Jews, but also of Jews from Eastern and East Central Europe. His idea of mass emigration was one that the majority of Polish Jews refused to accept. The other leader came from the General Zionists' camp. He was Moshe Kleinbaum who in 1937 warned the Jews that they were subjected to a policy of "secret extermination" and called for unity among the parties. With that in mind, he planned to organize a Congress of Polish Jews to speak for all segments of Polish Jewry. The Congress was to convene on March 13, 1938. In the end, the "Congress idea foundered on the rock of internal Jewish disunity" (p. 101).

Melzer ends his detailed discussion of Polish Jews in the crucial period of the years 1935 to 1939 maintaining that the failure to unite in the face of common danger and the lack of charismatic leadership was disastrous. Perhaps he should have also elaborated on the "Why." Melzer's work deserves to be included in readings assigned for courses on Polish history, Jewish history, and East European history. It will be of interest to the general reader.

[Author Affiliation]

T. Yedlin, University of Alberta

Experts: Alps Glaciers Will Melt by 2050

VIENNA, Austria - Glaciers will all but disappear from the Alps by 2050, scientists warned Monday, basing their bleak outlook on mounting evidence of slow but steady melting of the continental ice sheets.

In western Austria's Alpine province of Tyrol, glaciers have been shrinking by about 3 percent a year, said Roland Psenner of the University of Innsbruck's Institute for Ecology.

And 2050 is a conservative estimate, he said: If they keep melting at that rate, most glaciers could vanish by 2037.

"The future looks rather liquid," he said.

Experts at a regional conference on the Alps, held annually in the mountain resort of Alpbach, stopped short of blaming global warming. But they called for a review of preventive measures to protect people living in valleys at risk of dangerous flooding.

Runoff from melting glaciers caused severe flooding that devastated parts of Switzerland in the summer of 2005.

Glacial melting is a global problem, according to the Zurich-based World Glacier Monitoring Service, which keeps tabs on 30 ice sheets in nine mountain ranges worldwide and says their average mass is steadily eroding.

Glaciers are the planet's largest source of fresh water after polar ice, which scientists say also is melting to 100-year lows. In Europe, they're also hugely popular with skiers and snowboarders seeking year-round thrills and help anchor a multimillion-dollar tourist industry.

In 2005, glacier thickness decreased by an average of 23 1/2 inches, and in 2004 by an average of 27 1/2 inches, the Swiss agency said, citing preliminary measurements. Since 1980, it said, Europe's glaciers have lost about 31 1/2 feet of ice. About 7 feet melted away in a single summer - 2003 - when a heat wave zapped much of Europe, said Michael Zemp, a glacier expert at the University of Zurich.

"What's important for a glacier is winter snow accumulation and a cold summer with not a lot of melting," Zemp said Monday in a telephone interview. "A bad year for a glacier is a dry winter and a hot summer, and these are the conditions we've been seeing."

"Glaciers have been in a general retreat worldwide since the end of the last Ice Age," he said.

Forecasting their demise is problematic "because we don't know what scenarios there will be, and there are a range of scenarios. This isn't a weather forecast. But we are seeing an accelerated glacial melting."

In the 13 years spanning 1991-2004, twice as much glacial ice melted away in Europe than in the 30 preceding years from 1961-1990, climatologists say.

To be sure, a few glaciers have more staying power: Switzerland's Great Aletsch Glacier is still more than a half-mile thick and seems destined to survive well into the 22nd century.

But data collected by aircraft and satellites since 2002 has shown that many of Earth's estimated 160,000 glaciers from the Rocky Mountains to the Himalayas have been shrinking.

Scientists say the phenomenon has been occurring for more than a century, suggesting that manmade emissions of carbon dioxide are combining with purely natural factors, such as a shift in jet streams pumping warmer air into traditionally cooler northern climes.

Even in Austria, a relatively sparsely populated country of 8.2 million people, passenger cars alone chug 11.4 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, the nation's leading automobile club said Monday.

It urged commuters to consider walking or cycling to work, and called on motorists to ease back, saying a recent study showed that 10 percent of drives covers less than a half-mile - a distance easily traveled on foot or with a bike.

Europeans, meanwhile, have fretted and sweated their way through an unusually balmy winter that has shattered temperature records and forced World Cup ski organizers to cancel competitions for lack of snow.

"Winter has been in a holding pattern," said Gerhard Baumgartner, a meteorologist with Austria's national weather service.

---

On the Net:

World Glacier Monitoring Service, http://www.geo.unizh.ch/wgms/index.html

Artist was master of minimal, conceptual styles

SOL LEWITT 1928-2007

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Sol LeWitt, an artist known for his dynamicwall paintings and as a founder of minimal and conceptual artstyles, died Sunday in New York, according to published reports.

The 78-year-old artist, who was born in Hartford and lived forthe past two decades in Chester, Conn., died from complications fromcancer, the New York Times and the Hartford Courant reported Monday.

Much of his art was based on variations of spheres, triangles andother basic geometric shapes. His sculptures commonly were based oncubes using precise, measured formats and carefully developedvariations.

Mr. LeWitt preferred to let his work speak for itself andfrequently avoided media attention.

"He never felt that art has to do with the personality of theperson who made it," Andrea Miller-Keller, a former Hartford curatorand longtime friend, told the Courant. "It's not about the starpower but about the art."

By the mid-1960s, Mr. LeWitt had begun to experiment with walldrawings. The idea was considered radical, in part because he knewthey would eventually be painted over and destroyed.

Mr. LeWitt's first wall drawing, part of a 1968 display in NewYork, was so striking that the gallery owner couldn't bear to paintover it. She insisted Mr.

LeWitt come and do it himself, which he did.

Mr. LeWitt, born in Hartford, was in the Army for two yearsduring the Korean War, serving in non-combat positions inCalifornia, Japan and Korea.

In 1953 he moved to New York and held a variety of short-termjobs, including working as a night receptionist at the Museum ofModern Art. His first solo art show was at the John Daniels Galleryin New York in 1965, and he taught at several New York art schools.

He is survived by a wife, Carol, and two daughters.

Lyon coach: Benzema could leave if money is right

Lyon coach Claude Puel says Karim Benzema could leave if a big offer is made and the France striker wants to move.

The 21-year-old Benzema is among Europe's most highly rated young players, with Real Madrid, Manchester United and Arsenal being linked with him.

"He's an exceptional player, but we also know the finances of a club. We will evaluate the situation when he resumes training on July 2," Lyon coach Claude Puel said Tuesday. "They say you can't hold back a player against his will but, faced with a huge transfer and the wishes of a player to leave, you have to consider everything."

Lyon would likely want about euro35 million ($49 million) for Benzema, who shot to fame when he scored a brilliant individual goal against Man United in the Champions League two seasons ago.

He has since broken into the French team, scoring six goals in 24 games. Puel hopes Benzema will stay for at least one more season, but accepts the a big offer could precipitate a quick move.

"He has said he wants to stay with us, a year ahead of the World Cup," Puel said. "If he has any wishes to leave, we will discuss this with him ... if there are any concrete offers, which is not the case for the time being."

Lyon has been linked with several strikers, including FC Porto's Lisandro Lopez and Toulouse's Andre-Pierre Gignac _ the French league's top scorer last season with 24 goals _ fueling speculation they could replace Benzema.

"It would be out of the question to lose him if one or two players of his caliber were not coming in," Puel said.

Bomb Rips Through Police Bus in Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan - A bomb ripped through a police bus in a crowded civilian area in Kabul on Sunday, leaving about 30 people dead or wounded, an official and witnesses said.

The police academy bus was carrying several recruits when the bomb went off inside it, leaving several dead, said Zalmai Khan, the deputy police chief of Kabul province.

Ali Shah Paktiawal, Kabul police director of criminal investigation, said initial reports indicate dozens of policemen were feared dead.

Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said 30 people were killed or wounded.

The roof of the bus was blown off and officers were pulling a number of bodies from the wreckage, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. The explosion twisted the bus into a charred skeleton.

Fazel Rahim, a doctor from a nearby hospital, said 18 bodies were in the hospital courtyard, while 35 wounded were being treated inside the building.

"Most of the wounded are in serious condition," said Rahim, whose hands and white coat were covered in blood.

Wali Mohammad, an eyewitness who was driving his car just behind the bus, said "there were a lot killed and wounded, both police and civilian."

Mohammad said that he "saw a big fire and dust in front of me."

The blast happened at a crowded bus station, used by both police and civilians, near the Kabul governor's house.

понедельник, 12 марта 2012 г.

Use Boolean Searching to find what you want

Main Boolean Characters AND, NOT, OR Parentheses (or " ")

Proximity character (usually NEAR) Wildcard character (* or !)

If I walked into a crowded room at an AIChE meeting and asked, "how many people here know Boolean Searching?," a few people would probably raise their hands. And this may be for a very good reason - we are engineers, not librarians. But with the rise of the Internet and continued development of new and exciting Web sites and search engines for engineers, Boolean searching is something that all engineers should know something about.

Boolean searching is named after 19th-century mathematician George Boole. Boole created the branch of math known today as symbolic logic. Boolean searching is done by the use of symbols, and also is very logical.

When you log on to a search engine to search the internet (for more information see "Search the Internet More Efficiently," CEP, February 2001, p. 55) you usually simply type in words (the "search string") that you want to find. For instance, your search string might be "PET polymer." The search box usually doesn't care about how many words you put in or what order they are in - it simply searches the internet looking for the words you put into the box. Boolean searching, on the other hand, adds logic to the search string.

It should be noted that not all search engines accept Boolean searching, and most have a separate page specifically for "professional searchers" (i.e. those who know Boolean searching) that uses either partial or full Boolean searching. This is because in the past only professional searchers used Boolean searching. But it can be immensely helpful for engineers looking for information on the Internet. My favorite site that accepts Boolean Searching is ixquick (http://ixquick.com/). It is a meta-search engine, which means it will automatically search a lot of other search engines (such as Yahoo, Lycos, and others).

The Mechanics

Boolean searching simply uses logical words or characters (called "operators") to tell the search engine what to do with the words you enter. A simple example is "AND." If I enter a Boolean search for cat AND dog, the search engine will use the Boolean character AND to search for both cat and dog, and return pages that only include both of the words.

Similarly, "OR" can be used to find either of the words. For instance, cat OR dog only returns pages with either cat or dog on the page.

Finally, the third basic Boolean command is "NOT", which searches for the first word, but doesn't show any results that include the second. The search cat NOT dog will find pages that include cat, but none that include dog).

From these three choices (AND, OR, and NOT), it can be seen that AND is the most inclusive, and NOT is the most exclusive. It should be noted that many search engines will accept "+" or simply a space instead of AND, and "-" instead of NOT.

After you begin using these three basic Boolean search characters, you can refine your searches even more by adding parentheses and proximity operators. Parentheses (quotation marks " " in some search engines) do the same thing as in math - they group objects together. For instance, I can do the search (cat AND dog) NOT (bird OR fish). This will bring back all pages that contain the words cat and dog, but nothing that contains either the word bird or fish. Parentheses can add a lot of power to your Internet searching.

After you learn to use parentheses, you can move a step further by adding proximity operators. The most common proximity operator is NEAR. It will only find pages that have the words you type near each other. The exact definition of "near" varies from search engine to search engine - anywhere from 2 to 25 words apart is typical. For instance, (cat NEAR dog) will give you pages that have the words cat and dog in close proximity to each other in the text.

If you still cannot find what you are looking for after using all of these operators, try using the wildcard character. This character, which can be a ! or a *, depending on the search engine, tells the search engine that anything after that character in the word is acceptable.

For instance, "do*" will find the word dog (it will put a g in place of the *). But this will also find other words which start with "do," including doing, doer, does, doze, dozen, dork ... So you can see that if we are searching for "dog," this is a bad use of the wildcard character.

A good use of the wildcard character is when you don't know what tense or plurality the word is in. For instance, a search for "dog*" will bring back dog, dogs, doggie, etc. This may increase your chances of finding the resulting page that you are looking for.

While there are many other possible operators, these are the main ones that Boolean searching uses. Depending on the search engine, there will be many variations of this (for instance, one search engine uses NEARS to mean within 5 words). But the main idea of Boolean searching is the same - adding logic to the search string, so you can get better searching results.

With the use of Boolean searching, you should find that sifting through all of the information available on the Internet becomes easier and less time-consuming. Good luck, and good Boolean searching!

Excercise

Write a search string to find information about the following:

1. 12-stage distillation column (that exact phrase), using acetone or ketone, but nothing that has to do with DuPont.

2. Valve (or valves), for water, at a 200 psi pressure drop. 3. a vapor-liquid equilibrium chart for methanol-benzene

[Author Affiliation]

S. THALER has had considerable experience in the internet arena, culminating in his current position as Producer at eBusiness consulting firm Imaginet(division of J. Walter Thompson), and member ofthe Lutheran Social Services Information Technology Advisory Board. Prior to that, he developed an online research portal for Teltech.com, which won the CIO magazine's 50/50 Intranet awards. He is also a lead instructor with the Breakthrough Corporate Results program (http://www.BRCOR.com), and is a board member of ThermoDynamo (http://www.thermodynamo.com), an Engineering and IT Recruiting firm. Slava has a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota and is Chair of the Twin Cities AIChE local section. He can be reached by phone at (612) 242-4536 or by e-mail at SlavaThaler@yahoo.com

Megachurch pastor Rick Warren addresses US Muslims

Defying some of his fellow conservative Christian critics, one of the most prominent religious leaders in the country told several thousand American Muslims on Saturday that "the two largest faiths on the planet" must work together to combat stereotypes and solve global problems.

"Some problems are so big you have to team tackle them," evangelical megachurch pastor Rick Warren addressed the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America.

Warren said Muslims and Christians should be partners in working to end what he calls "the five global giants" of war, poverty, corruption, disease and illiteracy.

Warren, founder of Saddleback Community Church in Orange County, California, is the author of "The Purpose Driven Life," which has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. His willingness to show support for U.S. Muslims is a huge gain for the community, which has endured intense scrutiny since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

A Southern Baptist, Warren has a record of upsetting fellow Christian conservatives by calling old-guard evangelical activists too partisan and narrowly focused. Ahead of his speech Saturday, bloggers who follow Warren had already denounced his appearance at the convention as cozying up to extremists.

Warren acknowledged the controversy during his 20-minute speech.

"It's easier to be an extremist of any kind because then you only have one group of people mad at you," he said. "But if you actually try to build relationships _ like invite an evangelical pastor to your gathering _ you'll get criticized for it. So will I."

In his speech, Warren also urged Muslims and Christians to speak out against stereotyping of any group and to respect each other even while disagreeing. Addressing Muslims who "have been in America for many generations now," he urged them to help "the newcomers learn what it means to be American."

Based in Plainfield, Indiana, ISNA is an umbrella organization for Muslim groups across the country. The annual convention, now in its 46th year, regularly draws more than 30,000 people for lectures, prayer and socializing.

Many in the crowd were drawn to the session by prominent Muslim scholars such as Sheik Hamza Yusuf of the Zaytuna Institute in Berkeley, California.

Ann Zahra, 42, said she had never heard of Warren before Saturday but agreed with much of his speech.

"The basics are the same," said Zahra, of McLean, Virginia "No religion teaches cruelty or disrespect or hatred."

___

AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll contributed to this report.

West Brom recovers to beat Sunderland 3-2

SUNDERLAND, England (AP) — West Bromwich Albion twice came from behind to beat struggling Sunderland 3-2 on Saturday and move up to 10th in the Premier League.

Sunderland ended a four-game run without a goal when West Brom defender Nicky Shorey headed Asamoah Gyan's cross into his own net but Peter Odemwingie tapped in an equalizer from close range in the 28th.

Phil Bardsley sent his side in at halftime with a 2-1 lead with a thumping drive, but the visitors kept up Roy Hodgson's unbeaten record as manager with second-half goals from Youssouf Mulumbu in the 54th and Paul Scharner in the 72nd.

Sunderland hasn't won in eight games and is six points clear of the relegation zone in 13th.

Funds Released for CTBTO Budget

Treaty Update

Some state signatories agreed to a one-time release of surplus funding to meet current year funding shortfalls for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) during commission meetings that took place Nov. 12-14 in Vienna. At the meeting, a 2008 budget at the same level as 2007 but adjusted for inflation also was approved. That budget is comprised of both dollars and euros: $56,587,200 and euro43,574,800.

Economic Growth Is Strongest in a Year

WASHINGTON - The economy popped out of its rut this spring and grew at the strongest pace in more than a year, giving President Bush something to crow about.

The best barometer of the country's economic fitness - gross domestic product - increased at a 3.4 percent annual rate in the second quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Businesses regained their appetite to spend and sold more good overseas, contributing to the improved performance. Stronger government spending also helped out.

Individuals, however, took a breather as they coped with high gasoline prices and the ill effects of the housing slump, including spiking foreclosures and late payments. The sour housing market continued to weigh on the economy but not nearly as much as it had in previous quarters.

Economic growth in the first three months of the year had slowed to a near crawl of just 0.6 percent, the slowest in more than four years.

At the White House, Bush was quick to hail the rebound in national economic activity. "I want the American people to take a good look at this economy of ours," boasted Bush, whose economic stewardship has received weak marks. "It's an economy that is large, flexible and resilient."

But Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called the bounce back "a temporary oasis." He fretted that problems with risky mortgages could drag on and hurt the housing market's ability to recover.

On Wall Street, stocks seesawed in afternoon trading Friday. One day earlier, the Dow Jones industrial average suffered its second biggest drop of the year, plunging by 311.50 points. The culprit: investors' heightened anxiety that troubles in the housing and home-mortgage markets could spread.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called the market turbulence a "wake-up call" to investors to re-examine their degree of risk. The economy's fundamentals, he stressed, remain solid.

"Lenders need to be very aware of the risks. Borrowers need to be aware of risks. I would submit people are more aware of those risks and the need for discipline today than maybe they were a month or two ago," Paulson said.

"So again let's keep our eye on the very strong underlying economy, which puts us in a position of strength," he added.

The second quarter's GDP was better than the 3.2 percent growth rate economists were expecting. It was the strongest showing since the first quarter of 2006, when the economy expanded at a brisk 4.8 percent pace. GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced in the United States.

Inflation - outside a burst in energy and food prices - moderated.

An inflation gauge closely watched by the Federal Reserve showed "core" prices - excluding food and energy - rose at a rate of just 1.4 percent in the second quarter. That was down sharply from a 2.4 percent pace in the first quarter and was the smallest increase in four years.

That should help ease some inflation concerns. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has said the biggest threat to the economy is if inflation doesn't recede as policymakers anticipate. Out-of-control prices are bad for the economy and the pocketbook. They eat into paychecks, erode purchasing power and reduce the value of investments.

The Fed has kept a key interest rate at 5.25 percent for more than a year. Economists predict that rate will stay where it is through the rest of 2007 now that the economy is gaining strength and underlying inflation is calming down.

Bush has been trying to counter weak public-approval ratings for his handling of the economy. Only 37 percent approve of his performance, close to a record low, according to a recent AP-Ipsos poll.

Problems in the troubled housing and mortgage markets have rattled investors in recent days. Friday's report showed that the ailing housing market is still crimping economic activity, but not as much as it had.

Investment in home building was cut by 9.3 percent, on an annualized basis, in the second quarter. That wasn't nearly as deep as the 16.3 percent annualized drop in the first quarter. It was the smallest cut in just over a year.

Businesses ramped up investment elsewhere.

They boosted their spending on new plants, buildings and other commercial construction at a whopping 22.1 percent rate, the most in 13 years. Investment on equipment and software posted a 2.3 percent growth rate, an improvement from a meager 0.3 percent growth rate in the first quarter.

"I think the confidence level of companies has come back. That's why there was a modest pickup in capital spending," said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.

Businesses also replenished their inventories in the second quarter, adding to overall economic growth. Stronger export growth helped the nation's trade picture and added to the economy's momentum.

Also contributing to the second quarter's rebound: Government spending increased at a 4.2 percent pace. That compared with a 0.5 percent annualized drop in the first quarter.

However, consumers, whose spending largely prevented the economy from stalling out in the first three months of this year, lost energy in the second quarter. They boosted spending at a pace of just 1.3 percent, the smallest since the final quarter of 2005.

High gas prices and fallout from the housing slump are beginning to take their toll on peoples' appetite to spend. Still, a solid jobs climate - the nation's unemployment rate is at a relatively low 4.5 percent - should help cushion some of the negative forces.

Some economists wondered whether the overall economic momentum can be sustained.

"With energy prices high, the housing market reeling and the stock market uncertain, is there really a reason to think growth will accelerate sharply?" asked Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors.

The government also issued annual revisions that showed the economy grew at an average annual rate of 3.2 percent from 2003 through 2006, or 0.3 percentage point less than previously estimated. The revisions are based on more complete data.

Last year the economy grew by 2.9 percent - slower than the 3.3 percent increase previously calculated. The new figure marked the weakest annual growth since 2003 and underscored the depth of the housing slump.

---

On the Net:

GDP report: http://www.bea.gov

6 Charged in Plot to Attack Army Post

FORT DIX, N.J. - Six foreign-born Muslims were arrested and accused Tuesday of plotting to attack the Army's Fort Dix and massacre scores of U.S. soldiers - a plot the FBI says was foiled when the men took a video of themselves firing assault weapons to a store to have the footage put onto a DVD.

The defendants, all men in their 20s from the former Yugoslavia and the Middle East, include a pizza deliveryman suspected of using his job to scout out the military base.

"Today we dodged a bullet. In fact, when you look at the type of weapons that this group was trying to purchase, we may have dodged a lot of bullets," said FBI agent J.P. Weiss.

"We had a group that was forming a platoon to take on an army. They identified their target, they did their reconnaissance. They had maps. And they were in the process of buying weapons. Luckily, we were able to stop that."

Authorities said there was no direct evidence connecting the men to any international terror organizations such as al-Qaida. But several of them said they were ready to kill and die "in the name of Allah," according to court papers.

Their goal was "to kill as many American soldiers as possible" in attacks with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and guns, prosecutors said.

Investigators said they infiltrated the group with an informant well over a year ago and bided their time while they secretly recorded the defendants, five of whom lived in Cherry Hill, a Philadelphia suburb about 20 miles from Fort Dix.

"This is what law enforcement is supposed to do in the post-9/11 era - stay one step ahead of those who are attempting to cause harm to innocent American citizens," U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said.

Weiss saluted the unidentified New Jersey store clerk who noticed the suspicious video as the "unsung hero" of the case. "That's why we're here today - because of the courage and heroism of that individual," the FBI agent said.

In addition to plotting the attack on Fort Dix, the defendants spoke of attacking a Navy installation in Philadelphia during the annual Army-Navy football game and conducted surveillance at other military installations in the region, prosecutors said.

One defendant, Eljvir Duka, was recorded as saying: "In the end, when it comes to defending your religion, when someone is trying attacks your religion, your way of life, then you go jihad."

The six were arrested Monday night trying to buy AK-47 assault weapons, M-16s and other weapons from an FBI informant, authorities said.

They appeared in federal court Tuesday in Camden and were ordered held without bail for a hearing Friday. Five were charged with conspiracy to kill U.S. military personnel; the sixth was charged with aiding and abetting illegal immigrants in obtaining weapons.

Four of the men were born in the former Yugoslavia, one was born in Jordan and one came from Turkey, authorities said. All had lived in the United States for years. Three were in the United States illegally; two had green cards allowing them to stay in this country permanently; and the sixth is a U.S. citizen.

One defendant, Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, spoke of using rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons to kill at least 100 soldiers, according to court documents.

"My intent is to hit a heavy concentration of soldiers," he was quoted as saying. "You hit four, five or six Humvees and light the whole place (up) and retreat completely without any losses."

"It doesn't matter to me whether I get locked up, arrested or get taken away," another defendant, Serdar Tatar, was alleged to have said. "Or I die, it doesn't matter. I'm doing it in the name of Allah."

The men trained by playing paintball in the woods in New Jersey and taking target practice at a firing range in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, where they had rented a house, authorities said.

They often watched terror training videos, clips featuring Osama bin Laden, a tape containing the last will and testament of some of the Sept. 11 hijackers, and tapes of armed attacks on U.S. military personnel, erupting in laughter when one plotter noted that a Marine's arm was blown off in an ambush, authorities said.

Asked if those arrested had any links to al-Qaida, White House spokesman Tony Snow said it appears "there is no direct evidence of a foreign terrorist tie."

The FBI's Weiss said the U.S. is seeing a "brand-new form of terrorism," involving smaller, more loosely defined groups that may not be connected to al-Qaida but are inspired by its ideology.

"These homegrown terrorists can prove to be as dangerous as any known group, if not more so. They operate under the radar," Weiss said.

In court documents, prosecutors said the suspects came to the attention of authorities in January 2006 when a Mount Laurel, N.J., shopkeeper alerted the FBI about a "disturbing" video he had been asked to copy onto a DVD.

The video showed 10 young men in their early 20s "shooting assault weapons at a firing range ... while calling for jihad and shouting in Arabic 'Allah Akbar' (God is great)," the complaint said. The 10 included six of those arrested, authorities said.

By March 2006, the group had been infiltrated by an informant who developed a relationship with Shnewer, and the informant secretly recorded meetings last August, according to court documents.

One of the suspects, Tatar, worked at his father's pizzeria and made deliveries to the base, using the opportunity to scout out Fort Dix for an attack, authorities said.

"Clearly, one of the guys had an intimate knowledge of the base from having been there delivering pizzas," Christie said.

The men also allegedly conducted surveillance at other area military installations, including Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, and a Philadelphia Coast Guard station.

Besides Shnewer, Tatar and Duka, the other three men were identified in court papers as Dritan Duka, Shain Duka and Agron Abdullahu.

Fort Dix is used to train soldiers, particularly reservists. It also housed refugees from Kosovo in 1999.

The description of the suspects as "Islamic militants" caused renewed worry among New Jersey's Muslim community. Hundreds of Muslim men from New Jersey were rounded up and detained in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks, but none were connected to that plot.

"If these people did something, then they deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law," said Sohail Mohammed, a lawyer who represented scores of detainees after the 2001 attacks. "But when the government says `Islamic militants,' it sends a message to the public that Islam and militancy are synonymous."

"Don't equate actions with religion," he said.

---

Associated Press Writers Matt Apuzzo and Ben Feller in Washington, Geoff Mulvihill in Mount Laurel, Tom Hester Jr. in Trenton and Jeffrey Gold in Newark contributed to this story.

среда, 7 марта 2012 г.

A Study on Water Utilization in Chinese Rural Areas1/RECHERCHE SUR L ' UTILISATION D'EAU DANS LES REGIONS RURALES CHINOISES

Abstract:

In China, because rural population is great and agriculture is very important in national economy, rural areas have becomes a main sphere of water consume. There exist the problems of water shortage and water waste in the countryside. The conflicts of water resource supply and demand between industry and agriculture are very conspicuous. Various factors that include ideology, finance, technology, management and policy restrict the rational and effective use of water resource. The survey on the villages of Jia Ge Zhuang and Yao Bai Zhuang in Ji County, Tianjin reflects these problems. The government tries to solve the problems by making laws and policies, as well as …

Little Rock shooter may have had other targets

A Muslim convert accused of killing a soldier outside a recruiting center may have been considering other targets including Jewish and Christian sites _ and had the firepower to carry out more attacks, according to law enforcement officials.

A joint FBI-Homeland Security intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press said officers found maps to Jewish organizations, a child care center, a Baptist church, a post office and military recruiting centers in the southeastern U.S. and New York and Philadelphia.

"Out of an abundance of caution, and in light of newly discovered information, the FBI cannot rule out additional subjects, targets, or the potential for inspired copycats who might act out in support of the original act," the intelligence assessment said.

Abdulhakim Muhammad, 23, of Little Rock, had targeted soldiers "because of what they had done to Muslims in the past," authorities said, saying he had said he wanted to "kill as many people in the Army as he could."

Muhammad was charged in state court Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to the shooting in a suburban Little Rock shopping center. FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said Wednesday that the bureau is also investigating, "which may result in additional federal charges and prosecution."

The FBI issued a statement saying Muhammad "conducted Internet searches related to different locations in several U.S. cities," and therefore the FBI and Homeland Security "provided an advisory message to our law enforcement partners on the situation.

"Out of an abundance of caution, the FBI contacted the appropriate individuals at those locations researched by Bledsoe. This message was intended for law enforcement; not the public and no further information will be released to the media at this time."

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said investigators found Google Earth images of various places, including Times Square.

In documents released Tuesday, authorities said they recovered Molotov cocktails, three guns and ammunition from Muhammad's truck after the attack.

Pvt. William Long, 23, was killed and Pvt. Quinton I. Ezeagwula, 18, was wounded. Both completed basic training recently and had never seen combat. They volunteered to help attract others into military service, and were shot as they smoked cigarettes outside the recruiting center.

Muhammad, who faces one count of capital murder and 16 counts of committing a terrorist act, could face the death penalty. He is being held without bond.

After the attack, investigators searched a computer connected to Muhammad and found research into multiple sites in different states, according to the memo. Other cities were Atlanta, Little Rock, Louisville, Ky., and Memphis, Tenn.

Investigators are working to determine if anyone else knew about Muhammad's intentions.

Police stopped Muhammad moments after the shootings on a highway that would have taken him to Memphis, where he lived until he moved to Little Rock in the last couple of months.

Search warrant affidavits showed that police recovered weapons and caches of ammunition from Muhammad's truck and apartment. Officers confiscated an SKS assault rifle believed to be used in the shootings, a .22-caliber rifle with a laser sight, other firearms, Molotov cocktails, homemade silencers and compact disks with Arabic writing on them.

The truck also held a plastic tub filled with bottles of water, "canned food, boxed food, bagged food and a butane lighter" and, incongruously, a golf score card.

Once in custody, one affidavit said, Muhammad told officers what he had wanted to accomplish.

"Mr. Muhammad ... advised that his intent was to kill as many people in the Army as he could," according to Little Rock police Detective Robert A. Martin.

During the court proceeding Tuesday, Deputy Prosecutor Scott Duncan said Muhammad told investigators that "he would have killed more soldiers had they been in the parking lot."

Muhammad had been under investigation by an FBI-led terrorism task force since he returned to the United States from Yemen last year, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official said Muhammad had been jailed in Yemen at some point for using a Somali passport. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation, spoke on condition of anonymity.

Muhammad, formerly known as Carlos Bledsoe, had moved to Little Rock this spring as his father, Melvin Bledsoe of Memphis, expanded a tour bus company. Muhammad was one of the drivers and served clients from a Hilton hotel in Little Rock.

Bledsoe's Twin City Tours had an airport shuttle for hotel guests and would also take patrons on tours of Little Rock and North Little Rock, Hilton general manager Bob Martorana said Tuesday.

Martorana said he knew Muhammad, who went by Hakim, and regularly saw him behind the wheel of a motorcoach since April, when the company expanded to Little Rock.

Bledsoe appears to be pulling back to Memphis. "They ceased operations as of yesterday," Martorana said.

"We were just given the direction by Mr. Bledsoe to remove everything. We just put it aside," he said. Martorana said he expects Bledsoe to pick up his materials next week.

An answering service picked up calls to Bledsoe's Little Rock office. A man answering the phone at the Memphis office said Bledsoe wasn't there and wouldn't comment on the business.

Muhammad is in protective custody at the Pulaski County jail. Prosecutor Larry Jegley said it could be nine weeks before his office receives the case file from police. Defendants have to be charged in circuit court within 60 business days of their first court appearance.

John Soos, a civilian spokesman for the Oklahoma City Recruiting Battalion, said Ezeagwula will likely be transferred to a military hospital for continued treatment and the Army was willing to provide a military funeral for Long.

___

Associated Press writers Eileen Sullivan and Devlin Barrett in Washington and Tom Hays in New York contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects spelling in credit line.)