affordblog

Mandela's Long Journey: Nelson Mandela was a famed freedom fighter, but a man of his time

2012-03-15T06:43:00.000-07:00

Mandela's Long Journey: Nelson Mandela was a famed freedom fighter, but a man of his time

Announcements of former South African president Nelson Mandela's two-day visit to Israel this week masked a truly interesting story.

The JTA noted that the trip would boost South Africa-Israel relations, reported on his impressions of Israel and on his hopes for Mideast peace ("Take it from me, he said, Syria is "seeking a peaceful solution"), while Isranet added that prior to coming to Israel, Mandela had gone to Iran and Syria, and from Israel, would visit Gaza.

These are, of course, noteworthy facts, but they hardly even hint at the complex nature of the relationship between. …

Alaska lawmakers vote to subpoena Todd Palin

2012-03-15T04:17:00.000-07:00

The abuse of power investigation against Sarah Palin, Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate, took a potentially ominous turn for her party on Friday when state lawmakers voted to subpoena her husband.

Republican efforts to delay the probe until after the Nov. 4 election were thwarted when GOP State Sen. Charlie Huggins, who represents Palin's hometown of Wasilla, sided with Democrats. "Let's just get the facts on the table," said Huggins, who appeared in camouflage pants to vote during a break from moose hunting.

The Senate committee acted at the request of investigator Stephen Branchflower, who is gathering evidence on whether …

Customised from day one ; Before launching its Gujarati daily, it took feedback from over 1.2 million homes to understand what prospective readers wanted. And then it gave them just that.

2012-03-15T01:57:00.000-07:00

For organisations entering new markets and product segments it isessential to understand the unique needs of their potentialcustomers. Success in one geography does not always guaranteesuccess everywhere.

The task of entering a new market is made even more difficultwhen there are established players that present significantcompetition. Despite all odds, Dainik Bhaskar entered Gujarat with aGujarati daily (Divya Bhaskar) and became the #1 newspaper inAhmedabad on the day of the launch.

Until the early 2000s, Dainik Bhaskar was a Hindi languagenewspaper circulated in Madhya Pradesh, Jaipur in Rajasthan,Chandigarh in Punjab and Haryana. Given the need to grow in …

Search Suspended in Haiti Boat Disaster

2012-03-14T23:33:00.000-07:00

SOUTH DOCK, Turks and Caicos Islands - The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search Saturday for more than 40 missing Haitian migrants after local authorities said it was no longer needed as hopes faded of finding more survivors.

Several boats and helicopters belonging to the Turks and Caicos, near where the boat sank Friday, continued to search the Caribbean waters. But police Inspector Sharon Whitaker said Turks and Caicos officials may also suspend their search early Sunday if no more survivors or bodies are found.

Roughly 160 Haitian migrants were packed aboard a 25-foot boat when it ran into stormy weather before dawn Friday off the coast of this British territory. …

Dispute over archive leads Russia to nix art loans

2012-03-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (AP) — A decades-long dispute between Russia and an Orthodox Jewish group over ownership of holy texts collected for centuries by influential rabbis and seized by the Soviet Union has jolted the U.S. art world, threatening an end to major cultural loans between the two countries.

Russia has already frozen art loans to major American institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Houston Museum of Natural Science, fearing that its cultural property could be seized after the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Chabad-Lubavitch movement won a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in 2010 compelling the return of its texts.

The Met — and possibly other major lending …

US to resume ties with Indonesia's special forces

2012-03-14T18:52:00.000-07:00

The United States will cautiously resume cooperation with Indonesia's special forces while still pursuing reforms in the commando unit more than a decade after ties were severed over its alleged human rights abuses, officials said.

Both countries stressed that the Indonesian military had improved its human rights record, and American officials noted the decision required that those reform efforts continue.

Human rights activists, however, were skeptical that the special forces would be held accountable for past alleged abuses or would reform enough to prevent future abuse.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made the announcement Thursday after …

Protect children, not guns

2012-03-14T16:32:00.000-07:00

Is protecting our children important to us as a nation? On June 12, the Children's Defense Fund released our annual report on gun violence against children, Protect Children Not Guns. The report shows that the 2,827 children and teens who died from gun violence in 2003 - just one year - is higher than the number of American fighting men and women killed in hostile action in Iraq from 2003 to April 2006 three years. The bodies of young gunshot victims are streaming into urban hospital trauma centers on the frondines of an undeclared war on Americais children.

The children who die every year from gunshot wounds come from all racial groups and are all ages. Some of them are too young …

At least 11 reported dead in plane crash in Angola

2012-03-14T14:12:00.000-07:00

A twin-engine plane slammed into a mountain in rain and fog in Angola's central highlands, killing at least 11 people, state media reported.

Angolan National Radio said there were no survivors among the 11 people on board the Beechcraft-200 when it crashed Saturday morning. State news agency Angop quoted civil aviation officials as saying 12 people were killed.

Officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The aircraft crashed near Huambo, a city 320 miles (500 kilometers) southeast of the capital, Luanda, media said.

An army team reached the crash site and reported no survivors, …

U.S. rule of law is Libya war casualty

2012-03-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

After U.S.-backed rebels entered Tripoli on Sunday, the Washington Post noted that NATO "has been anxious not to be seen acting as the rebel air force in a coordinated strategy" because its "United Nations mandate is limited to the protection of Libyan civilians." Still, a "senior NATO official" admitted, the alliance's firepower and intelligence sharing helped bring about "the collapse of the regime and its capability to direct its forces," so "the effect of what we were doing was not dissimilar."

No kidding. Since the U.S. and its allies began taking sides in Libya's civil war five months ago, it has been clear that protecting noncombatants was a pretext for overthrowing Moammar …

UK to expunge gay sex 'crimes'

2012-03-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

The United Kingdom is preparing legislation to expunge the "crimes" of adult men who were prosecuted for having consensual sex with adult men in earlier eras.

The slate will be wiped clean for men whose partners were at least 16 years old.

At present, such "crimes" must be disclosed when applying for certain jobs or volunteer positions.

England and Wales decriminalized gay sex …

Monarchs win 82-78 to close within a game of Lynx

2012-03-14T07:10:00.000-07:00

The Sacramento Monarchs shrugged off the effect of back-to-back road games with a 82-78 win over the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA on Thursday.

Nicole Powell and Crystal Kelly each scored 18 points as the Monarchs closed within a game of the Lynx in the Western Conference standings.

The Lynx are 1-12 in their past 13 games against Sacramento …

Job ProfilesâAdvanced Training/Experience

2012-03-14T04:50:00.000-07:00

Job Profiles—Advanced Training/Experience

Appraiser
Business Family and Consumer Scientist
Consumer Advocate
Dietitian and Nutritionist
Divorce Mediator

U.N. Experts Say Gitmo Should Be Closed

2012-03-14T02:08:00.000-07:00

GENEVA - U.N. human rights investigators criticized the United States on Thursday for failing to take steps to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison for terror suspects, which they say facilitates torture and violates international law.

In the first U.N.-sanctioned inquiry into U.S. practices at Guantanamo, the rights experts also criticized the Bush administration for a proposed law they said might permit torture in certain circumstances.

The experts presented their report on Guantanamo and its 450 detainees to the 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council, a summary of which was released earlier this year.

"We note with the greatest concern that the government has not taken any steps to close Guantanamo," the rights experts said in a joint statement read by Algerian Leila Zerrougui, a specialist on arbitrary detention. "Indeed, a new block has been built and is set to open this month."

The United States responded by saying it would like to one day close Guantanamo, but first needs to find alternative means of protection from suspected terrorists. It criticized the allegations as poorly founded and said detainees are treated humanely.

The experts criticized President Bush's proposal on a new law regarding how to treat dangerous terrorism subjects, saying it failed to uphold the absolute prohibition on torture and "might permit abuses depending on the circumstances."

Zerrougui said the proposed bill would ensure that detainees are still denied minimum standards for fair trials.

Warren W. Tichenor, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, criticized the experts for asserting "without real evidentiary support, conclusions they had clearly already reached."

"There is little indication that they considered seriously the voluminous information provided in writing by the U.S. government," Tichenor told the council, of which the United States is only an observer. "By contrast, the report treats second- and third-hand allegations from press reports and contacts with attorneys for the detainees as true."

The panel had sought access to Guantanamo Bay since 2002, but refused a U.S. offer for three experts to visit the camp in November after being told they could not interview detainees. They launched their investigation regardless after saying they had reliable accounts that suspected terror detainees being held there have been tortured.

The Red Cross said Wednesday its representatives will travel to Guantanamo to visit 14 high-level detainees connected to the Sept. 11 attacks, the USS Cole bombing or the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

The detainees - recently transferred from CIA custody to Guantanamo - will be made available to the Red Cross around Oct. 1, U.S. military officials said.

UK reality TV star fights cancer before cameras

2012-03-13T23:16:00.000-07:00

A brash British reality show star whose ups and downs captivated the nation is approaching her death the same way she has lived _ on television.

Given just months to live from cervical cancer that spread to her liver and bowels, 27-year-old Jade Goody sees no reason to turn the cameras off now.

Her first foray into the spotlight was in 2002, when she lost at strip poker on "Big Brother." She later went on to write her autobiography, star in fitness videos, release a perfume and appear on "Celebrity Big Brother," where she was accused of racism and bullying against Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty.

To make amends, she went to India last summer to star in its version of reality TV. It was there _ in a shocking diagnosis captured on television _ that she found out about her cancer.

"She's a kind of product of our time," said her publicist Max Clifford. "I suppose, when I started out, it was all about talent, but Jade was the one who proved that you don't need to have talent to be someone in Britain today. She's famous for just being herself."

Bald and gaunt from chemotherapy, pictures of Goody have been daily fodder in the British press since her cancer treatment failed recently. She says the publicity and profits made from selling her story will help her 4- and 5-year old sons and raise awareness of cervical cancer.

On Thursday, a television show will air her reaction to her terminal prognosis. On Sunday, they will capture her wedding to 21-year-old boyfriend, Jack Tweed, in a designer dress donated by Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed. The ceremony will be aired on cable television, and the photographs printed in OK! magazine. It's believed that she will have earned as much as one million pounds ($1.4 million) for her appearances in the past few weeks.

Her actual death is not expected to be televised or photographed.

"People will say I'm doing this for money," she told the Sun tabloid earlier this month. "And they're right. I am, but not to buy flash cars or big houses. It's for my sons' future."

Some have said Goody should spend time with her family rather than staying in the spotlight but most have praised her commitment to her sons and her effort to highlight the need for cervical smears, a simple test that can catch the treatable disease in its early stages.

"I may have questioned the wisdom of Jade treating the media as confidantes in her final days," wrote Allison Pearson in the conservative Daily Mail. "But I have nothing but respect for her decision to accumulate enough money for the boys to enjoy the very best education."

Goody's tortured childhood provided kindling for reality TV. She grew up in a tough part of London, the daughter of drug users. Her father, who served time in jail, died from a drug overdose.

She both fascinated and repelled Britain with her in-your-face attitude and willingness to share the details of her life. Her shallow education sometimes made her an object of ridicule, such as when she asked where the English region of East Anglia is located _ though she pronounced it "East Angular."

But there is admiration, too, for her sheer determination to make a better life for herself.

"It's very sad and indeed tragic that someone so young has got this deadly disease of cancer and it's very sad indeed that the treatment that has been given has not been successful," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at his monthly press conference Wednesday.

"I think everyone has their own ways of dealing with these problems and her determination to help her family is something that we've got to applaud," he said. "I wish her well and I wish her family well and I think the whole country will be worried and anxious about her health."

Even the Guardian newspaper _ which appeals to the left-leaning intelligentsia _ weighed in on Goody's decision to publicize her impending death, praising her in an editorial for confronting her own mortality.

"The ostentatious rituals of mourning and public graveyards of earlier eras are not part of modern life," the editorial said. "Today, morality is as finite as before, but has somehow been marginalized."

Goody's experience with cancer is not the first to have been documented on the pages of the British press or on television.

John Diamond, a journalist for the Times married at the time to celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, shared his own fight by collecting his experiences in a book called "C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too." He died in 2001.

In Bermondsey, the neighborhood near London Bridge where Goody grew up, residents still consider her one of their own. Nearly all support her choice to stay in the spotlight.

"She's like one of us. We all feel for her. It's not fair," said 40-year-old Janine Stacy, a special needs teacher. "It's totally her choice."

Clifford said that Jade could consider doing other deals after the wedding.

"We are in discussions to do a final documentary ... and she's very keen to do it, providing she's well enough to do it," Clifford said.

___

Associated Press Writer Dean Carson contributed to this report.

California jury convicts elderly women in murder conspiracy

2012-03-13T20:24:00.000-07:00

An elderly woman was convicted Wednesday of murdering two homeless men to collect insurance payouts, and she and a co-defendant were found guilty of counts involving conspiracy to murder for financial gain.

Partial verdicts were being read in the case against Helen Golay, 77, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 75. The judge decided to take five initial verdicts as the jury struggled with Rutterschmidt's murder counts.

Golay was convicted of the first-degree murders of Kenneth McDavid, 50, in 2005 and Paul Vados, 73, in 1999. Golay was also convicted of the conspiracy counts in both killings.

Rutterschmidt was convicted of conspiracy to murder McDavid for financial gain.

During the verdict readings, the jury was sent back into deliberations to clear up a finding that was unclear.

Prosecutors said the women collected $2.8 million (euro1.76 million) from insurance policies on the lives of two homeless men who were killed in staged hit-and-runs.

The prosecution is not seeking the death penalty.

Fugitive Philippine policemen captured in US

2012-03-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

Two former Philippine police officers accused in a politically motivated double homicide have been arrested in the U.S., authorities said Friday.

Authorities in the Philippines have charged Glenn Dumlao and Cesar Mancao with being among a group of officers who carried out the kidnapping and slaying of Salvador "Bubby" Dacer, a publicist who had represented top political figures.

Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, were snatched from a Manilla street in 2000. They were later found strangled in a creek bed. Their bodies had been doused with gasoline and burned. Investigators identified their corpses using dental records.

U.S. prosecutors said in court papers that Dumlao confessed his participation in the slaying to investigators in the Philippines, but later fled the country. He has been wanted since October of 2007.

Dumlao, 45, was arrested by U.S. immigration agents on Thursday outside his apartment in Patchogue, New York, a village about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of New York City.

Authorities said in court papers that he had been working as a house cleaner. A federal magistrate ordered him held without bail and scheduled his extradition hearing for Dec. 5. His court-appointed lawyer did not immediately return a phone call.

Mancao, 47, was arrested Thursday in Florida and was held at the Broward County Jail while awaiting a court appearance. The Associated Press was trying to determine whether he had a lawyer in either the U.S. or the Philippines who could comment on his case.

___

Associated Press Writer Curt Anderson in Miami contributed to this report.

Ex-1970s radical freed from US prison

2012-03-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

A former 1970s radical associated with the group that kidnapped newspaper heiress Patty Hearst finished her California prison sentence Tuesday, ending a legal drama that harkened back to a violent era of social unrest.

Sara Jane Olson, 62, was freed from the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla shortly after midnight and was allowed to serve her yearlong parole in Minnesota, the state she adopted during her 24 years as a fugitive.

Olson served seven years _ half her sentence _ after pleading guilty to helping place pipe bombs under Los Angeles Police Department patrol cars and participating in the deadly 1975 robbery of a bank in a Sacramento suburb.

The crimes took place while she was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, a relatively short-lived but violent group that sought to overthrow the government while engaging in killings, robberies and gun battles with police. Then she was Kathleen Soliah; she changed her name after fleeing to Minnesota.

Among the group's victims was 42-year-old Myrna Opsahl, a mother of four who was gunned down during the bank robbery.

"I'm just glad that the former SLA members were finally held accountable for the murder of my mom," Jon Opsahl, who is now living in Southern California, said Tuesday after hearing of Olson's release.

"It does finish out this chapter, and I hope it's the last chapter," he said. "I'm glad she's leaving the state."

Olson was released by mistake a year ago after California corrections officials miscalculated her parole date; she was re-arrested after spending five days with her family. Authorities now say she has served the proper seven-year sentence; she had been sentenced to 14 years but got time off for good behavior and prison work.

"She was definitely relieved that it all went smoothly," said David Nickerson, one of Olson's attorneys.

It wasn't immediately clear when Olson, who was known as Kathleen Soliah while a member of the SLA, would head back to St. Paul, Minnesota, where she lived during her years as a fugitive. She and her husband, Dr. Gerald "Fred" Peterson, were trying to make travel arrangements. A bouquet of flowers was left at the couple's home Tuesday morning, but no one was there to receive it.

Not everyone in Minnesota will be happy to see Olson return.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and police protective leagues in Los Angeles and St. Paul wrote Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, urging him to have Olson serve her parole in the state where she committed her crimes. Some Minnesota lawmakers also called for Olson to remain in California.

"I think today is a slap in the face of California law enforcement and (other) law enforcement," Los Angeles Police Protective League President Paul Weber said in an interview.

Schwarzenegger said he deferred the decision to the corrections department. Department spokeswoman Terry Thornton said parole decisions are intended to give former prisoners the best chance of reintegrating into society and avoiding re-arrest.

"Being with their family increases the chances that they will succeed on parole," she said.

More than 1,000 California parolees are being supervised in other states. They typically have a week to report to the state in which they will serve their parole.

Several hours after her release from the prison, which sits among orchards and vineyards about 150 miles southeast of San Francisco, Olson and her husband returned to a Madera County parole office to finish paperwork.

Neither her lawyers nor corrections officials would say where they went afterward, other than to say they were making arrangements to leave the state.

Olson's mother and younger sister declined to speak to reporters when they returned Tuesday afternoon to the family home in Palmdale, a working-class suburb in the high desert north of Los Angeles.

The sister, Martha Conaway, spoke later with The Associated Press. She said her sister disappeared from her life when she was in the seventh grade. While they did not know each other well, Conaway expressed relief that her sister was out of prison.

"We are just glad it's over," said Conaway, who alternately referred to her sister as Kathy and Sara.

The Symbionese Liberation Army was a band of mostly white, middle-class young people. In addition to the 1974 Hearst kidnapping, it claimed responsibility for assassinating Oakland Schools Superintendent Marcus Foster and was involved in a shootout with Los Angeles police officers that killed five SLA members.

In a sign of those turbulent times, the group adopted a seven-headed snake as its symbol and the slogan, "Death to the fascist insect that preys upon the life of the people."

"We were young and foolish. We felt we were committing an idealized, ideological action to obtain government-insured money and that we were not stealing from ordinary people," Olson wrote in an apology before her sentencing for the bank robbery. "In the end, we stole someone's life."

___

Associated Press writers Thomas Watkins in Palmdale and John Mone in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Mukasey Has Long Terror Resume

2012-03-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON - Retired judge Michael Mukasey is intimately familiar with the nation's legal battles over terrorism. He played a central role in such cases for over a decade - much of that time getting around-the-clock protection from armed guards.

Mukasey, 66, once worked as a reporter, but gave it up to pursue a career in law. He was nominated to the federal bench in 1987 by President Reagan and eventually became the chief judge of the high-profile Manhattan courthouse.

As such, he played a key role in the nation's response to the Sept. 11 attacks, which brought down the World Trade Center towers just blocks from Mukasey's courthouse.

In the days after the attacks, Mukasey and other New York judges worked behind closed doors, seeing some of the first material witnesses detained by federal authorities.

Civil liberties advocates contended the material witness cases amounted to an unconstitutional roundup, and an inspector general's report later found that many of the witnesses were subjected to physical and verbal abuse while held in a Brooklyn jail.

Mukasey also had a hand in one of the most hard-fought post-Sept. 11 terror cases: that of Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen who was arrested in 2002 on a supposed mission to detonate a "dirty bomb."

The judge appointed a lawyer to represent Padilla, but before a hearing on whether there was sufficient cause to detain Padilla, President Bush declared him an enemy combatant. That started a legal odyssey that ended with Padilla in a different federal court. He was convicted last month of murder conspiracy, and faces sentencing later this year.

Mukasey wrote an opinion piece recently in which he argued the Padilla case shows the current legal system is not well-equipped to aid a largely military effort to fight terrorists. He urged Congress to consider passing new laws to improve what he said was a mismatched legal system.

Mukasey handled terrorist cases for more than a decade.

In the 1996 sentencing of co-conspirators in a plot to blow up several New York City landmarks, Mukasey accused Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman of trying to spread death "in a scale unseen in this country since the Civil War." He then sentenced the blind sheik to life in prison.

There was a time when Bush administration officials held a dimmer view of Mukasey's handling of that case, partly because it took 1-1/2 years to reach trial, a massive undertaking with more than 150 witnesses and 1,500 exhibits. The case ended with 11 convictions.

After the 2001 attacks, the government transferred the most important terror defendant, Zacarias Moussaoui, from New York to Virginia, where they hoped the Virginia court's "rocket docket" would swiftly deliver the case to jurors more inclined to choose the death penalty.

Mukasey, then the chief judge in New York, had a caustic rejoinder to suggestions his courthouse was too slow to deal with terrorists.

"It's easy to have a rocket docket when you have horse-and-buggy cases," Mukasey said.

Like most judges with a long track record, Mukasey has also shot down some high-profile prosecutions.

Just last year, he ordered a mentally ill woman released from jail after she was charged with helping an Iraq spy agency under Saddam Hussein.

The judge rebuffed prosecutors who brought the charges, saying "there is no indication that (she) ever came close to influencing anyone, or could have."

Mukasey's long experience with terror suspects had consequences in his personal life: He and his wife were given around-the-clock protection from deputy U.S. marshals.

The protection given to Mukasey and another judge in New York City lasted at least eight years - far exceeding that of other federal judges around the country.

About three dozen deputies filed a grievance in 2005 complaining that the two judges and their spouses abused their position and compromised security by expecting their bodyguards "to carry groceries, luggage and golf clubs." If they objected, the protectees subjected them to "condescending comments," according to the grievance.

Mukasey may have made enemies, but he also made powerful friends.

He and his son, Marc Mukasey, are justice advisers to Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign. Marc Mukasey also works at Giuliani's law firm.

Michael Mukasey was the judge who swore in Mayor-elect Giuliani in 1994 and 1998.

He also has boosters among some of Bush's toughest Democratic critics. New York Sen. Charles Schumer had previously recommended Mukasey for the Supreme Court.

U.S. Officials Say Iraq Gripped by Fear

2012-03-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON - Iraq is a nation gripped by fear and struggling to meet security and political goals by September, U.S. officials cautioned from Baghdad on Thursday, dashing hopes in Congress that the country might turn a corner this summer. They said not to expect a solid judgment on the U.S. troop buildup until November.

"If there is one word, I would use to sum up the atmosphere in Iraq - on the streets, in the countryside, in the neighborhoods and at the national level - that word would be 'fear,'" Ryan Crocker, the top U.S. diplomat, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"For Iraq to move forward at any level, that fear is going to have to be replaced with some level of trust and confidence and that is what the effort at the national level is about," he added, speaking by video link from Baghdad.

In briefings given to the news media as well as members of Congress, officials warned that making those strides could take more time than initially thought. One military general said a solid military assessment probably will not happen until November.

Some lawmakers have been hoping that Iraq will show more signs of stability this summer, long before they gear up for the 2008 elections.

For months, Republicans in particular have regarded September as a pivotal point: If substantial gains could not be found by then, they say President Bush would have to rethink his military strategy, which relies on 158,000 U.S. troops.

"I'm not optimistic," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said of the September assessment after attending a classified briefing at the Pentagon by Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq.

Early Thursday morning, some 50 House members and 40 senators were bused to the Pentagon for separate question-and-answer sessions with the two officials, who were in Baghdad.

According to attendees, lawmakers were told that the political process was slow moving and that it would be very difficult for Iraq to meet its 18 reform goals in the next 45 days.

A recent administration progress report found Iraq was making some progress in eight areas.

In open testimony later in the day, Crocker downplayed the importance of meeting major reforms right away and said less ambitious goals, such as restoring electricity to a neighborhood, can be just as beneficial. Crocker also pointed toward political headway being made at the local level and said agreements there may inspire further cooperation among sects.

The much-cited benchmarks "do not serve as reliable measures of everything that is important - Iraqi attitudes toward each other and their willingness to work toward political reconciliation," he said.

Crocker also warned against a withdrawal of U.S. troops, contending such a move could increase sectarian attacks and create a "comfortable operating environment" for al-Qaida.

On the military front, Petraeus told members of Congress in the private meeting that he had seen some "tactical momentum" since infusing Baghdad with additional U.S. soldiers.

Petraeus' deputy in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, later told reporters he would need beyond September to tell if improvements represent long-term trends.

"In order to do a good assessment I need at least until November," he said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who attended the closed session at the Pentagon, said officials in Baghdad clearly do not see September as the turning point many do in Washington. Instead, she said, Crocker and Petraeus have described a process by which Iraq will slowly make enough progress to stand on its own.

Feinstein, D-Calif., and other Democrats say the only way to speed up the process is to put more pressure on the Iraqi government - specifically by beginning to withdraw U.S. military support.

"The bottom line is you have a government that is dysfunctional," she said.

Feinstein was not alone in voicing her skepticism. According to aides on Capitol Hill, Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., said in the private briefing that it seemed Iraq would miss its goals by September and asked frankly what the administration would do next.

The implication was that Congress, including GOP members who have loyally backed the war, will want to see a new tack if no improvement is made by then.

According to a senior defense official, Petraeus also was asked by members of Congress about challenges if he were told in the fall to begin withdrawing one U.S. brigade per month. Petraeus said he has to plan for such possibilities, taking into account how each move would impact other U.S. forces and the Iraqis.

Crocker told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he was not engaged in any contingency plans.

"The short answer is, I'm not aware of any effort and my focus is implementation of 'plan A,'" he said.

Democrats and several Republicans, including Sens. Richard Lugar of Indiana and George Voinovich of Ohio, say they think Bush should start planning for the inevitable.

"Regardless of what the (September) report says ... let's begin now to prepare for what comes next," said Lugar, the panel's ranking GOP member. "It is likely to be changes in military missions and force levels as the year proceeds."

Added Voinovich: "If I were president, "I'd put them (Iraqi politicians) in the room and say 'We're on the way out of there.'"

Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del., told Crocker to forget Democratic demands to end the war and listen to the Republicans because the U.S. was not sticking around in Iraq.

"Time is running out in a big way," he said.

---

Associated Press Writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

Please help me find my brother for Christmas

2012-03-13T04:39:00.000-07:00

A MOTHER-OF-THREE separated from her brother at six months old ishoping to be reunited with him this Christmas. Valerie Lock, 69,believes her real brother, Maurice Alan George Dobson, who was bornon October 25, 1941, is still living somewhere in Brentwood, thetown of his birth.

That she has only just started looking for the missing link toher past is largely down to the unhappy upbringing she experienced.

But now, 53 years after she discovered she was adopted, she isready to find him at last.

Mrs Lock, who lives in Forester Court, Billericay, said: "It'sjust that I'm getting old, and I wonder if there is anyone else outthere.

"If there is someone out there who is my brother, I'd like tomeet him.

"I'm just inquisitive. I just want to see what he is like.

"We could be passing each other in the street, for all I know.

"My aunt told me that he was a pretty thing with blond hair."

Mrs Lock started her search in October following a chanceconversation with a group of friends on a night out.

"We were talking about our lives," she said. "And I said I don'tknow who my real parents are because I was adopted, but I have abrother somewhere.

"My friend urged to me to start looking.

"Through the register office, using my own birth certificate as astarting point, we confirmed that I had a brother."

In fact her parents, Ernest and Eleanor Dobson, lived at 53 NorthRoad, Brentwood, when Maurice was born.

Valerie was born at Writtle Park, which records show was amilitary maternity hospital, on December 24, 1942.

Inquisitive Her search has now gone as far as it can - accordingto her own investigations Maurice lives in Brentwood, but he is ex-directory and she is now hoping to reach out to him through thepages of the Gazette.

It was not until she asked why fellow students had been bullyingher at The Billericay School as a youngster that she discovered shewas adopted.

She said: "My mother must have told one of their mothers. And shemust have said something in front of her children.

"It went round the school really fast. That really upset me.

"I've had a really terrible life. I feel bitterness towards myadoptive mother. Because as soon as she had children of her own, shedidn't want me.

"My aunt said my real mother gave me away like a bag of washing.

But it looks like she kept my brother. If he had been adopted hisname wouldn't be Dobson."

The active member of Billericay Methodist Church added: "I justhaven't bothered until now, but wouldn't anyone if they had foundout from their aunt at the age of 13 they were adopted.

"Whether he has lived in Brentwood all his life I don't know."But when I got the birth certificate I sobbed my eyes out.

"It may come as a shock to him. He might not know he has got asister. "It may open a can of worms. He might have children. Andthat would make me an aunt.

"As far as I know, we could be passing each other in the streetevery day.

"It's been a strange life, but there are people worse off thanme." Can you help Mrs Lock in her search? Contact the newsdesk on01245 603427 or email editorial@gazettenews.co.uk

Palmer, Mickelson reflect on Masters

2012-03-13T01:25:00.000-07:00

Arnold Palmer can appreciate a good rivalry, even if he's not part of it.

Palmer, whose duels with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player were memorable, shared some thoughts on this month's Masters on Tuesday. Angel Cabrera won the tournament, but not before Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson thrilled the crowd by playing their way back into contention while paired together in the final round at Augusta National.

"It wasn't planned. It happened. I think the fact that they were playing in Augusta and doing the things that they were doing ... I think that's what Augusta's all about," Palmer said of the Woods-Mickelson show. "I thought it was perfect. If you had set it up, you couldn't have set it up any better."

Palmer and Mickelson were both on hand at The Alotian Club outside Little Rock, appearing in conjunction with the Jackson T. Stephens Charitable Golf Tournament. Palmer spoke in the morning, and Mickelson put on a brief clinic in the afternoon for some youngsters.

The charity tournament was named after Jack Stephens, the late billionaire, philanthropist and former chief executive officer of Stephens Inc. He also was at one point the chairman of Augusta National.

Mickelson tied a Masters record with a 30 on the front nine of the final round, but he lost his momentum on the back nine and finished three shots behind. Woods was another shot back.

Cabrera ended up winning in a playoff over Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell.

"It was a fun day. I enjoyed the front nine a lot. The back nine I wish I had played better," Mickelson said. "I thought it was an amazing finish."

Before this year's Masters, there were concerns that Augusta National had become too tough. That wasn't an issue this year. Campbell set a Masters record by opening the tournament with five straight birdies, and the crowd was roaring throughout the final round.

On Tuesday, Mickelson was asked to re-enact his approach on the seventh hole, when he powered a shot around trees to about a foot from the hole to set up a birdie. He hit a high hook for the Alotian audience.

"This year, Augusta played easier than it's ever played," Mickelson said. "The greens were soft. I haven't seen that, ever. That shot that I hit on seven that stopped by the hole _ that ball normally wouldn't stop."

Hours earlier, Palmer had expressed a similar sentiment.

"It isn't as much fun when they're not making birdies and eagles at Augusta," Palmer said.

Palmer and Mickelson each took plenty of questions, including at least one that brought back some bad memories for Mickelson. He was asked by a youngster why he didn't use a driver at the start of last year's U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. He fell behind before bringing the driver back for the third round.

"Sometimes I'm an idiot," Mickelson joked.

NOTE

2012-03-12T22:27:00.000-07:00

A recent study by The Media Audit put Boise Weekly in the top 10 of alternative newsweeklies in the nation when it comes to reaching adults 18 and over. The study showed that when BW combines print distribution with our Web site, we're reaching more than 29 percent of Boise's adults.

As for the rest of you: We know where you live, and we're coming for you.

According to The Media Audit, some 38.8 million adults in 87 markets now read or visit the Web site of an alternative news-weekly like BW.

Don't flatter yourselves too much, but the auditors had some nice things to say about you readers of alternative papers like ours.

"We have observed that readers of alternative newsweeklies tend to be more computer savvy in terms of time spent online," said Bob Jordan, the president of International Demographics.

Savvy. We like savvy readers. We like the ones who keep us honest and the ones who push us to go further in our reporting. Not to get all Bubba on you, but we feel your pain, and we're working on it. We know you like to get lots of your news and information from the Web, so we started the BW Beat, our own daily version of the paper you now hold in your hands. We figured if other news outlets in town can run press releases verbatim and call it "news," we can, too. I wish I was kidding.

But we're doing more than that: We've got original reporting, breaking views and occasional tidbits we just can't keep to ourselves. Witness last week's news that the upscale blouserie Anthropologie is coming to Boise. You read it online first, at www. boiseweekly.com. Likewise our story about how North Dakota might outmaneuver Gov. CL. "Butch" Otter in an attempt to supply Cuba with potatoes. Ouch.

We're not done yet. Look for more Web advances in the coming weeks and months. But don't expect us to cannibalize the print edition just to get there. We're believers in the Web, but we're more fond of seeing people around town with copies of B W in their hands. We've got reports from 2006 saying that some 87,000 people in Boise read B W every week, and we're angling for more.

This week a posse of us will take leave of the B Wmothership here on 6th Street and head to Portland for the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies annual conference. I know what you're thinking: a conference? Not very alternative. Hey, we can wear a dorky name badge with the best of 'em, and we're hoping to learn some things from our brethren across the country. We'll give you the report when we return. Look on the Web.

- Shea Andersen

EA buys Chillingo, publisher of 'Angry Birds'

2012-03-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (AP) — Electronic Arts Inc. has snapped up Chillingo, the publisher behind the popular iPhone game of the moment, "Angry Birds." But the deal doesn't include the company that created the game and owns the rights to it, Rovio Mobile.

According to a person close to the deal, EA paid less than $20 million in cash for Chillingo, which is based in the U.K. This person requested anonymity because the figure isn't being made public.

EA spokeswoman Holly Rockwood confirmed the purchase but would not disclose a price or confirm whether it was under $20 million.

"By acquiring Chillingo, EA Mobile is increasing its market leadership on the Apple Platform as well as reaffirming its position as the world's leading wireless entertainment publisher," EA said in a statement.

"Angry Birds," which is also available on Android phones, was the second most popular iPhone game on Apple's App Store as of Wednesday afternoon. It costs 99 cents to download and the object is to catapult tiny birds at cartoon pigs protected in increasingly hard to break enclosures. Other games Chillingo publishes include "Cut the Rope," a popular puzzle game.

The deal follows Japanese mobile Internet company DeNA Co.'s recent acquisition of ngmoco, a privately held iPhone game developer, for about $400 million, and signals growing interest in this burgeoning space. And last fall EA bought social networking game maker Playfish for $275 million.

Shares of Redwood City, Calif.-based EA closed down 18 cents at $15.40.

U.S. Regains Dominance As a Track Superpower

2012-03-12T15:34:00.000-07:00

STUTTGART, Germany The United States is back as the world'sdominant track and field power.

With the breakup of the Soviet Union and the consolidation ofthe Germans into one team, the Americans have regained the positionthey held before those nations emerged strongly into the sport.

The Americans did it with an overpowering performance at theWorld Championships, which ended Sunday.

For the first time, the Americans finished atop the medalstandings, collecting 26 medals, half of them golds.

At the 1991 Tokyo Championships, the U.S. team also earned 26medals, 10 golds, but finished second in total medals to the SovietUnion's 28. This time, the Russian team got only 16 medals,including three golds, all won by women. However, other formerSoviet republics won nine more medals, adding up to 25 for what usedto be the USSR.

Germany, medals leader at the first two championships in 1983and 1987 with 30 and 34 medals, respectively - the totals acombination of the West and East German teams - wound up with 17medals in 1991 and only eight this time.

The biggest improvement for the United States team was among thewomen. After garnering a total of only six golds in the previousthree championships, they won five in this meet - Gail Devers with arare double in the 100-meter dash and the 100-meter hurdles, JearlMiles in the 400, Jackie Joyner-Kersee in the heptathlon and the1,600-meter relay team of Gwen Torrence, Maicel Malone, NatashaKaiser-Brown and Miles.

"I think it is a flavor of things to come for the women, becausethere are a lot of young women out there," U.S. women's coach ErnieGregoire said. "Most of our medalists are in their mid- to late 20s,and there's some good legs left under them."

The U.S. men's team also appears to have a solid future.

"We have some great, young talent coming up," said MichaelJohnson, the world 400-meter champion.

Young farmers party

2012-03-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

North Somerset Young Farmers are celebrating their 80thAnniversary this year.

On Friday, April 1, a dinner and dance is being held at CadburyHouse Hotel, Congresbury.

They would like as many previous members to join them in thiscelebration.

Tickets are now on sale and are priced at Pounds 30 each.

For more information about the event and tickets contact KirstyCarnell on 07788134635.

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NOTE

EA buys Chillingo, publisher of 'Angry Birds'

U.S. Regains Dominance As a Track Superpower

Young farmers party

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