Haiti quietly marks 3rd anniversary of quake

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti President Michel Martelly urged Haitians to recall the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives in a devastating earthquake three years ago, marking the disaster's anniversary Saturday with a simple ceremony.

Martelly also thanked other countries and international organizations for their help after the Jan. 12, 2010 disaster.

"Haitian people, hand in hand, we remember what has gone," Martelly said as a gigantic Haitian flag flew half-mast before him on the front lawn of the former National Palace, a pile of tangled steel reinforcement bars nearby. "Hand in hand, we're remembering, we're remembering Jan. 12."

Clad in black, several dozen senior government officials gathered where the elegant white palace had stood before it collapsed in the temblor and was later demolished. Foreign diplomats and Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova, earlier named by Martelly as one of Haiti's goodwill ambassadors, were also there.

Haiti's President Michel Martelly, left, U.N. special envoy to Haiti and former President Bill Clinton (center), and Haiti's first lady Sophia Martelly attend a memorial service for victims of the 2010 earthquake, at Titanyen, a mass burial site north of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013.

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AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery

In the speech, Martelly announced a government contest seeking designs for a monument to honor those who died in the quake. He also said the government had just released a new construction code aimed at ensuring new buildings are seismically resistant but didn't provide details.

Later in the day, Martelly, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and former U.S. president Bill Clinton placed a wreath at a mass burial site north of the capital of Port-au-Prince. Crosses that once spiked the makeshift grave have since vanished.

Haiti's previous presidential administration said 316,000 people were killed but no one really knows how many died. The disaster also displaced more than a million others.

A man sweeps an exposed tiled area of the earthquake-damaged Santa Ana Catholic church, where he now lives, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013.

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AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery

Most of the rubble created by the quake has since been carted away but more than 350,000 people still live in grim displacement camps.

Many people had hoped the reconstruction effort would have made more headway by now, but progress has been stymied by political paralysis, the scale of devastation and a trickle of aid.

Jan. 12 was observed as a national holiday the last two years to remember the quake. This year, the government said the day would no longer be a holiday but called for the Haitian flag to be flown at half-mast and for nightclubs and "similar establishments" to close.

The anniversary this year has been used by Haiti observers to criticize the reconstruction process and by foreign aid groups to promote their work and raise money.

But for some Haitians, it was just another day.

"We can't remain focused on Jan. 12th," said Asaie St. Louis, a 56-year-old teacher and devout church-goer, Bible in hand. "It's passed already."

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious

Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right.

"He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business and, the thing is: After he won the lottery and the next day later he passes away -- it's awkward. It raises some eyebrows."

The medical examiner initially ruled Urooj Khan, 46, an immigrant from India who owned dry-cleaning businesses in Chicago, died July 20, 2012, of natural causes. But after a family member demanded more tests, authorities in November found a lethal amount of cyanide in his blood, turning the case into a homicide investigation.

"When we found out there was cyanide in his blood after the extensive toxicology reports, we had to believe that ... somebody had to kill him," Minhaj Khan said. "It had to happen, because where can you get cyanide?"

In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners

Authorities could be one step closer to learning what happened to Urooj Khan. A judge Friday approved an order to exhume his body at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago as early as Thursday to perform further tests.

Lottery Winner Murdered: Widow Questioned By Police Watch Video

Moments after the court hearing, Urooj Khan's sister, Meraj Khan, remembered her brother as the kind of person who would've shared his jackpot with anyone. Speaking at the Cook County Courthouse, she hoped the exhumation would help the investigation.

"It's very hard because I wanted my brother to rest in peace, but then we have to have justice served," she said, according to ABC News station WLS in Chicago. "So if that's what it takes for him to bring justice and peace, then that's what needs to be done."

Khan reportedly did not have a will. With the investigation moving forward, his family is waging a legal fight against his widow, Shabana Ansari, 32, over more than $1 million, including Urooj Khan's lottery winnings, as well as his business and real estate holdings.

Khan's brother filed a petition Wednesday to a judge asking Citibank to release information about Khan's assets to "ultimately ensure" that [Khan's] minor daughter from a prior marriage "receives her proper share."

Ansari may have tried to cash the jackpot check after Khan's death, according to court documents, which also showed Urooj Khan's family is questioning if the couple was ever even legally married.

Ansari, Urooj Khan's second wife, who still works at the couple's dry cleaning business, has insisted they were married legally.

She has told reporters the night before her husband died, she cooked a traditional Indian meal for him and their family, including Khan's daughter and Ansari's father. Not feeling well, Khan retired early, Ansari told the Chicago Sun-Times, falling asleep in a chair, waking up in agony, then collapsing in the middle of the night. She said she called 911.

"It has been an incredibly hard time," she told ABC News earlier this week. "We went from being the happiest the day we got the check. It was the best sleep I've had. And then the next day, everything was gone.

"I am cooperating with the investigation," Ansari told ABC News. "I want the truth to come out."

Ansari has not been named a suspect, but her attorney, Steven Kozicki, said investigators did question her for more than four hours.

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Russia rejects Assad exit as precondition for Syria deal

MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia voiced support on Saturday for international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi but insisted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's exit cannot be a precondition for a deal to end the country's conflict.

Some 60,000 Syrians have been killed during the 21-month-old revolt and world powers are divided over how to stop the escalating bloodshed. Government aircraft bombed outer districts of Damascus on Saturday after being grounded for a week by stormy weather, opposition activists in the capital said.

A Russian Foreign Ministry statement following talks on Friday in Geneva with the United States and Brahimi reiterated calls for an end to violence in Syria, but there was no sign of a breakthrough.

Brahimi said the issue of Assad, who the United States, European powers and Gulf-led Arab states insist must step down to end the civil war, appeared to be a sticking point.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said: "As before, we firmly uphold the thesis that questions about Syria's future must be decided by the Syrians themselves, without interference from outside or the imposition of prepared recipes for development."

Russia has been Assad's most powerful international backer, joining with China to block three Western- and Arab-backed U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed to pressure him or push him from power. Assad can also rely on regional powerhouse Iran.

Russia called for "a political transition process" based on an agreement by foreign powers last June.

Brahimi, who is trying to build on that agreement, has met three times with senior Russian and U.S. diplomats since early December and met Assad in Damascus.

Russia and the United States disagreed over what the June agreement meant for Assad, with Washington saying it sent a clear signal he must go and Russia contending it did not.

Qatar on Saturday made a fresh call for an Arab force to end bloodshed in Syria if Brahimi's efforts fail, according to the Doha-based al Jazeera television.

"It is not a question of intervention in Syria in favor of one party against the other, but rather a force to preserve security," Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, said in an al Jazeera broadcast.

CONFLICT INTENSIFIES

Moscow has been reluctant to endorse the "Arab Spring" popular revolts of the last two years, saying they have increased instability in the Middle East and created a risk of radical Islamists seizing power.

Although Russia sells arms to Syria and rents one of its naval bases, the economic benefit of its support for Assad is minimal. Analysts say President Vladimir Putin wants to prevent the United States from using military force or support from the U.N. Security Council to bring down governments it opposes.

However, as rebels gain ground in the war, Russia has given indications it is preparing for Assad's possible exit, while continuing to insist he must not be forced out by foreign powers.

Opposition activists say a military escalation and the hardship of winter have accelerated the death toll.

Rebel forces have acquired more powerful anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons during attacks on Assad's military bases.

Assad's forces have employed increasing amounts of military hardware including Scud-type ballistic missiles in the past two months. New York-based Human Rights Watch said they had also used incendiary cluster bombs that are banned by most nations.

STALEMATE IN CITIES

The weeklong respite from aerial strikes has been marred by snow and thunderstorms that affected millions displaced by the conflict, which has now reached every region of Syria.

On Saturday, the skies were clear and jets and helicopters fired missiles and dropped bombs on a line of towns to the east of Damascus, where rebels have pushed out Assad's ground forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The British-based group, which is linked to the opposition, said it had no immediate information on casualties from the strikes on districts including Maleiha and farmland areas.

Rebels control large swathes of rural land around Syria but are stuck in a stalemate with Assad's forces in cities, where the army has reinforced positions.

State TV said government forces had repelled an attack by terrorists - a term it uses for the armed opposition - on Aleppo's international airport, now used as a helicopter base.

Reuters cannot independently confirm reports due to severe reporting restrictions imposed by the Syrian authorities and security constraints.

On Friday, rebels seized control of one of Syria's largest helicopter bases, Taftanaz in Idlib province, their first capture of a military airfield.

Eight-six people were killed on Friday, including 30 civilians, the Syrian Observatory said.

(Writing by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer and Doina Chiacu)

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French air power stops Mali Islamist advance

BAMAKO: Mali's army took back a key town from Islamist rebels Saturday aided by French air power, opening a dramatic new phase in the conflict that France's leader declared is a battle against terrorism.

International momentum to wrest northern Mali back from the control of Al-Qaeda-linked groups built after the French air raids helped reclaim the front-line town of Konna, with Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal each pledging 500 troops to an African force tasked with regaining the north.

France's President Francois Hollande declared "Operation Serval" a success, saying French air power -- deployed on Friday to stop the rebel onslaught -- had "served to halt our adversaries," and that the intervention had "only one goal which is the fight against terrorism."

"Our foes have suffered heavy losses," he said.

The battle left dozens of dead rebels strewn across the area, according to witnesses and the Malian military.

France's forces suffered one casualty, a pilot killed carrying out air raids, said French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Hollande, who has struggled on the domestic front and seen his popularity hit record lows, said French forces would remain involved as long as necessary.

He sent the UN Security Council a letter asking to speed up plans to send a 3,300-strong African force into Mali.

Hollande also said that following the intervention he had ordered tightened security at home, saying France "has to take all necessary precautions" in the face of a terrorist threat.

The collapse of a nation formerly seen as a democratic success story in the region has sparked fears that northern Mali could become a launchpad for global terrorist attacks.

The Malian army said it was in full control of Konna after spending much of Saturday flushing out the last pockets of resistance following the battle, one of the worst clashes since the start of the crisis and the most significant setback inflicted on the Islamists.

Insurgents seized the town -- which is some 700 kilometres (400 miles) northeast of Bamako -- on Thursday, threatening to advance on the capital.

US officials said Washington might support France's sudden military intervention.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he welcomed the "military assistance France has provided to the Malian Government, at their request", and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso praised the "courageous action by French troops".

But Russia's Africa envoy, Mikhail Margelov, lashed out at the French move.

"African residents aside, no one else can or should solve the continent's problems," Margelov said.

Around 60 Islamists including women in veils protested outside the French embassy in London against the intervention, holding placards that read "French army, you will pay" and "Sharia is the only solution for Mali".

Malian residents however thanked France for its support.

"The French really saved us," said thirty-something Moussa Toure in Bamako -- a remark echoed by others, including Mali's interim president, Dioncounda Traore.

France also said it had deployed troops in the capital to protect the former colonial ruler's 6,000-strong expatriate community.

The capital has remained under government control throughout the crisis, which erupted in the wake of a March 22 coup that ousted democratically elected president Amadou Toumani Toure, creating a power vacuum that allowed the Islamists to seize the vast desert north.

Since seizing the territory, about the size of France, the Islamists have destroyed centuries-old Muslim mausoleums they see as heretical and imposed an extreme form of Islamic law in the main towns, flogging, amputating and sometimes executing accused transgressors.

First regional troops could arrive Sunday

Mali's armed forces had been in disarray since the coup and seemed powerless against a rebellion of seasoned fighters, but France's shock intervention tipped the power balance.

"The helicopters struck the insurgents' vehicles, which dispersed," a Malian military source said.

In the wake of the battle, West African nations sped up preparations to send troops to join the fight against the Islamists.

Ivory Coast's African Integration Minister Ally Coulibaly said the mission was being rapidly pushed forward and that the first troops could arrive as early as Sunday.

An unclear number of West African military personnel were already on the ground in Mali.

The UN Security Council has approved a 3,300-strong African force to help Mali defeat the rebels, but it had not been expected to deploy before September.

Mali's interim administration however warned it could not afford to wait months for a game-changer.

With the situation evolving rapidly, the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced late Friday it had authorised the immediate deployment of troops.

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki meanwhile said his country was becoming a corridor to deliver arms once used to fight former Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi's regime to Islamists in Mali.

"The situation in Mali has always worried us because we have begun to understand that our 'jihadists', quote unquote, have ties with these terrorist forces," Marzouki said.

His comments came as the premiers of Algeria, Libya and Tunisia sealed a pact to secure their borders against arms trafficking.

-AFP/ac

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Scientist: Hawking is 'brain in a vat'

The generally accepted form of wishing someone a happy birthday is to sing to the lucky person. Or perhaps buy him or her a gift.

A less accepted form is to compare the birthday person to Darth Vader and suggest he or she is merely a "brain in a vat."

Still, Helene Mialet, a UC Berkeley anthropologist of science, chose the path slightly less trodden.

Writing in Wired, she offered that perhaps Hawking should be referred to as Obi-Wan refers to Darth Vader: "More machine than man."

She went on to suggest that the eminent physicist's beautiful mind is made beautiful only with large amounts of external assistance:

He is delegated across numerous other bodies: technicians, students, assistants, and of course, machines. Hawking's "genius," far from being the product of his mind alone, is in fact profoundly located, material, and collective in nature.

Some might imagine that this was mere invective, placed strategically to assist the career of Helene Mialet.

However, she insists that she followed him closely and talked to all those who assist him in his daily life.

It's not that he is similar to a superstar, with an entourage feeding his every whim. She explained:

Hawking isn't just issuing remote commands and expressed desires, his entire body and even his entire identity have become the property of a collective human-machine network. He is what I call a distributed centered-subject: a brain in a vat, living through the world outside the vat.

More Technically Incorrect

Somehow, she believes that the members of Hawking's entourage "complete his thoughts through their work."

Perhaps Millet hasn't spent enough time with many Hollywood stars, whose thoughts would never be complete -- might never even begin -- without those who manage their lives.

The Daily Mail naturally found representatives of the Motor Neurone Disease Association to call her comments "dehumanizing."

However, she ended by suggesting we are all, in some sense, disabled. Without Google, without books, without people, we're just entities thinking aloud and hoping we'll be heard, understood, and even improved.

Still, anyone who has followed Hawking's colorful personal life -- or indeed, seen him in a recent auto insurance ad -- might conclude that he is very human indeed.

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CDC: Flu grips 47 states; vaccine found 62% effective

Flu activity continues to rise in the U.S., according to new surveillance statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday.

Forty-seven states have now reported widespread influenza activity, according to the CDC's latest FluView report, three more states than officials estimated Wednesday. Two more children have died since last week's report, raising the total to 20 kids who have succumbed to the virus. It is still too soon to predict the severity of this flu season compared to previous ones, CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden told reporters during a conference call Thursday.

"The only thing predictable about flu is that it's unpredictable," said Frieden.

9 Photos

Flu season in U.S. strikes early

The report covers the week of Dec. 30 through Jan. 5, and the CDC releases a revision every Friday.

Twenty-four states and New York City have experienced high influenza activity, with 16 states reporting moderate activity. Last week's report showed high activity in 29 states. The CDC hopes this means that some states have already seen flu peaks and cases are waning, however, Frieden said that trends are harder to predict during the holiday season, when people may be less likely to see a doctor. Data in coming weeks may provide a clearer picture that some states are over the worst. CDC officials however did note that the West coast has not shown high flu activity and may be on the upswing, and in the South and Southeast -- where flu activity was reported early -- the disease may have already peaked and data now show declines in cases. A complete look at how your state stacks up can be found on the CDC's website.

From Oct. 1 of 2012 through the report, an estimated 13.3 per 100,000 people were hospitalized with flu. The hardest hit group were adults ages 65 and older. Adults with underlying conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity and lung disease (excluding asthma) were more likely to be hospitalized.

Underlying conditions like asthma, neurological disorders or diseases that weaken the immune system were commonly reported in hospitalized kids; however, more than 40 percent of them did not have an underlying medical condition.

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Flu outbreak swamps hospitals nationwide

Hospitals around the country have reported influxes of flu patients. In Chicago, several hospitals had to divert ambulances while one Pennsylvania hospital had to set up tents to deal with the extra patients.

Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency medicine physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told CBSNews.com Friday that his hospital set up additional treatment areas for flu patients.

"Many patients seem to have more severe illness this year as opposed to last year," Glatter said in an email. "In fact, a number of patients have required mechanical ventilation (respirator) due to difficulty breathing. We have also seen a number of children under the age of 5 with severe symptoms including muscle aches along with vomiting."

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Mass. hospital nearing full capacity with flu patients

The CDC does not track adult death rates -- state health departments do -- but about 24,000 die each year from influenza.

The CDC said the predominant virus causing flu nationwide is influenza A (H3N2), followed by influenza B viruses. Cases of H1N1, or "swine flu," -- the virus behind a 2009 pandemic -- have rarely been seen.

The CDC also released a new study Jan. 11 in its journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, that found this year's flu vaccine is about 62 percent effective. That means a person who takes the shot is 62 percent less likely to have to go to a doctor to get treated for flu. That's based on test results collected from 1,155 children and adults who reported to doctors with respiratory infections.

The agency still says this year's vaccine matches well to 90 percent of the strains that are out there, and recommends everyone over the age of 6 months gets a flu shot.

"Today, the flu vaccine is still by far the best prevention we have," said Frieden.

"However, these early [vaccine effectiveness] estimates underscore that some vaccinated persons will become infected with influenza," wrote the CDC researchers. "Therefore, antiviral medications should be used as recommended for treatment in patients, regardless of vaccination status."

Prescription drugs such as Tamiflu (generic name oseltamivir) and Relenza (generic name zanamivir) are usually prescribed for about five days, although people who are hospitalized may need to take the medicine longer. The drugs can reduce symptoms and shorten the time people are sick by one to two days, in addition to helping prevent more serious flu complications like pneumonia, according to the CDC.

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Exhumation Approved

A judge has approved the exhumation of the Chicago lottery winner who died of cyanide poisoning.

Judge Susan Coleman of the Probate Division of the Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois today approved the county medical examiner's request to exhume the body of Urooj Khan at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.

Khan, 46, died July 20, 2012, from what was initially believed to be natural causes. But a family member whose identity has yet to be revealed asked the medical examiner's office to re-examine the cause of death, which was subsequently determined to be cyanide poisoning.

The office did so by retesting fluid samples that had been taken from Khan's body, including tests for cyanide and strychnine.

In explaining the request for exhumation, Chief Medical Examiner Stephen Cina has said, "If or when this goes to court, it would be nice to have all the data possible."

The Chicago businessman had won a $1 million lottery jackpot -- before taxes -- the month before he died.

In Photos: Biggest Lotto Winners

In the latest legal twist, Khan's brother filed a petition Wednesday to a judge asking Citibank to release information about Khan's assets to "ultimately ensure" that [Khan's] minor daughter "receives her proper share." Khan reportedly did not have a will.

He left behind a widow, Shabana Ansari, 32, and a teenage daughter from his first marriage. Ansari and Khan reportedly married 12 years ago in India.

Andrew A. Nelles/Chicago Sun-Times via AP Photo

Authorities questioned Ansari in November and searched the home she shared with Khan. She and her attorney, Al Haroon Husain, say she had nothing to do with his death.

"It's sad that I lost my husband," she told ABC News. "I love him and I miss him. That's all I can say."

The siblings of the poisoned lottery winner have pursued legal action to protect their niece's share of her late father's estate. They also questioned whether he and Ansari were legally married, but Ansari's attorney said she has a marriage certificate from India that is valid in the United States.

ImTiaz Khan, 56, Khan's brother, and Meraj Khan, 37, their sister, had won a court order to freeze the lottery winnings after Ansari cashed the check.

Husain said Ansari cashed the lottery check after it was mailed to the home, which she did not request.

The lottery check, about $425,000 in cash, was issued July 19 by the Illinois Comptroller's Office, then mailed, according to Brad Hahn, spokesman for the Comptroller's Office. Hahn said it was cashed Aug. 15, nearly a month after Khan's death, but he did not know who cashed it.

The judge later approved Ansari's competing claim as an administrator of the estate.

"I don't care what they talk [sic]," Ansari told ABC News of what her in-laws are saying.

Ansari said she was married to Khan but declined to comment to ABC News about cashing the check after his death, although The Associated Press has reported that she denied removing any of the assets.

Meraj Khan filed in September to become the legal guardian of her niece. After the judge asked the 17-year old daughter with whom she wished to live, she chose her aunt and has been there since November, Husain said.

Neither sibling has petitioned to obtain a share of the dead man's estate, which is estimated to be $1.2 million in lottery winnings, real estate, Khan's laundry business and automobiles.

Neither the attorney for ImTiaz Khan nor the two siblings has responded to requests for comment.

A status hearing on the future of the estate is scheduled for Jan. 24, according to the AP.

ABC News' Alex Perez and Matthew Jaffe contributed to this report.

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Obama, Karzai agree to speed up Afghan military transition

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed on Friday to speed up the handover of combat operations in Afghanistan to Afghan forces this year, underscoring Obama's determination to move decisively to wind down the long, unpopular war.

Signaling a narrowing of differences, Karzai appeared to give ground in White House talks on U.S. demands for immunity from prosecution for any U.S. troops who stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014, a concession that could allow Obama to keep at least a small residual force there.

Both leaders also threw their support behind tentative Afghan reconciliation efforts with Taliban insurgents. They each voiced support for the establishment of a Taliban political office in the Gulf state of Qatar in hopes of bringing insurgents to inter-Afghan talks.

Karzai's visit, which follows a year of growing strains in U.S.-Afghan ties, comes amid stepped-up deliberations in Washington over the size and scope of the U.S. military role in Afghanistan once the NATO-led combat mission concludes at the end of next year.

The Obama administration has been considering a residual force of between 3,000 and 9,000 troops in Afghanistan to conduct counterterrorism operations while providing training and assistance for Afghan forces.

But a top Obama aide said this week that the administration does not rule out a complete withdrawal after 2014, a move that some experts say would be disastrous for the still-fragile Afghan government and its fledgling security apparatus.

Saying that Afghan forces were being trained and were "stepping up" faster than expected, Obama said Afghan troops would take over the lead in combat missions across the country this spring, rather than waiting until the summer, as was originally planned.

"Starting this spring, our troops will have a different mission: training, advising, assisting Afghan forces," Obama said. "It will be a historic moment and another step toward full Afghan sovereignty."

There are some 66,000 U.S. troops currently in Afghanistan. NATO allies have also been steadily reducing their troop numbers there with the aim of ending the foreign combat role in 2014, despite doubts about the ability of Afghan forces to shoulder full responsibility for security.

Obama said final decisions on this year's troop reductions and the post-2014 U.S. military role were still months away, but his comments raised the prospects of an accelerated withdrawal timetable as the security transition proceeds.

Precisely how much of an acceleration was unclear.

For his part, Karzai voiced satisfaction over Obama's agreement to turn over control of detention centers to Afghan authorities, a source of dispute between their countries.

The two leaders, who have had a tense relationship in the past, stood side by side in the White House East Room, nodding occasionally as the other spoke.

Obama once called Afghanistan a "war of necessity," but he is heading into a second term looking for an orderly way out of the conflict, which was sparked by the September 11, 2001 attacks by al Qaeda on the United States.

(Additional reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Warren Strobel and David Brunnstrom)

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Oil prices slip on profit taking

NEW YORK: World oil prices fell Friday as investors booked profits from the previous day's rally amid sluggish global economic growth.

New York's main West Texas Intermediate (WTI) contract, light sweet crude for February, settled 26 cents lower at $93.56 a barrel.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February closed at $110.64 a barrel, down $1.25 from Thursday's close.

"Today we simply could be seeing profit taking as the oil markets have rallied over the last three weeks," Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates.

Traders were facing an overbought market with no significant news to take prices higher, Robert Yawger of Mizuho Securities said.

He noted that WTI had hit the highest level in several months on Thursday, at $94.70 a barrel. The surge was largely driven by upbeat trade data from China, the world's second-biggest oil consumer.

Tim Evans of Citi Futures said rising US petroleum product inventories were to blame for Friday's price weakness.

"The rally of the past few weeks largely ignored the rising stocks," he said.

-AFP/ac

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New malware exploiting Java 7 in Windows and Unix systems

A new Trojan horse called Mal/JavaJar-B has been found that exploits a vulnerability in Oracle's Java 7 and affects even the latest version of the runtime (7u10).

The exploit has been described by Sophos as a zero-day attack since it has been found being actively used in malware before developers have had a chance to investigate and patch it. The exploit is currently under review at the National Vulnerability Database and has been given an ID number CVE-2013-0422, where it is still described as relatively unknown:

"Unspecified vulnerability in Oracle Java 7 Update 10 and earlier allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unknown vectors, possibly related to "permissions of certain Java classes," as exploited in the wild in January 2013, and as demonstrated by Blackhole and Nuclear Pack."

The malware has currently been seen attacking Windows, Linux and Unix systems, and while so far has not focused on OS X, may be able to do so given OS X is largely similar to Unix and Java is cross-platform. Additionally, the exploit is currently being distributed in the competing exploit kits "Blackhole" and "NuclearPack," making it far more convenient to criminal malware developers to use.

Even though the exploit has not been seen in OS X, Apple has taken steps to block it by issuing an update to its built-in XProtect system to block the current version of the Java 7 runtime and require users install an as of yet unreleased version of the Java runtime (release b19). Additionally, the U.S. Department of Defense has issued an advisory to disable Java on systems that have it installed.

Luckily with the latest versions of Java, users who need to keep it active can change a couple of settings to help secure their systems. Go to the Java Control Panel that is installed along with the runtime, and in the Security section uncheck the option to "Enable Java content in the browser," which will disable the browser plug-in. This will prevent the inadvertent execution of exploits that may be stumbled upon when browsing the Web, and is a recommended setting for most people to do. If you need to see a Java applet on the Web, then you can always temporarily re-enable the plug-in.

The second setting is to increase the security level of the Java runtime, which can also be done in the same Security section of the Java Control Panel. The default security level is Medium, but you can increase this to High or Very High. At the High level, Java will prompt you for approval before running any unsigned Java code, and at the Very High level all Java code will require such approval, regardless of whether or not it is signed.

Since this threat is Java-based, it will only affect systems that have Java installed. Most platforms do not come with Java, but if you have installed it and do not need or regularly use it, you might consider removing it from your system. While Java is convenient for legitimate developers, its conveniences also help malware developers spread their harmful practices to multiple platforms.

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Student shot at Calif. high school by classmate

Updated at 4:14 p.m. ET

TAFT, Calif. A 16-year-old student armed with a shotgun walked into class in a rural California high school on Thursday and shot one student, fired at another but missed, and then was talked into surrendering by a teacher and another staff member, officials said.

The teen victim was in critical but stable condition, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood told a press conference. The sheriff said the teacher suffered a minor pellet wound to the head but declined treatment.

When the shots were fired, the teacher began trying to get the more than two dozen students out a back door and also engaged the shooter in conversation to distract him, Youngblood said. A campus supervisor responding to a call of shots fired also began talking to him.

"They talked him into putting the shotgun down," Youngblood said.

The sheriff said that at one point the shooter told the teacher, "I don't want to shoot you" and named the person he wanted to shoot.

The shooter may have had up to 20 shotgun rounds in his pockets, he said.

Officials said there's usually an armed officer on campus but the person wasn't there because he was snowed in. Taft police officers arrived within 60 seconds of first reports.

The shooting occurred about 9 a.m. at Taft Union High School in a community of fewer than 10,000 people amid oil and natural gas production fields about 120 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

The shooting happened on the second floor of the school's science building around 9 a.m., according to CBS affiliate KBAK in Bakersfield.

As word spread, Dayna Hopper rushed to the school to pick up her son Joseph Sorensen, 16, and daughter, Cheryle Pryor, 15, who had called from Cheryle's cellphone.

"I panicked. I wanted to puke and just get here," Dayna Hopper told The Bakersfield Californian.

KERO-TV Bakersfield reported that the station received phone calls from people inside the school who hid in closets.

The bell had just rung at a nearby school when teachers began shouting for students to get inside buildings, and the principal used an intercom to tell students to stay inside, Felicity Reich, 13, a student at Lincoln Junior High School, told the newspaper.

Shaken, she held the hand of her mother, Ellie Reich, as she spoke.

The student who was shot at the high school was flown to a hospital in Bakersfield, said Ray Pruitt, spokesman for the Kern County Sheriff's Department.

About 900 students are enrolled at the high school, which includes 9th through 12th grades.

Masses of parents headed to the school football field to find their children, and officials at other schools took action to protect their students as well, the newspaper said.

The Taft shooting came less than a month after a gunman massacred 20 children and six women at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., then killed himself.

That shooting prompted President Barack Obama to promise new efforts to curb gun violence. Vice President Joe Biden, who was placed in charge of the initiative, said he would deliver new policy proposals to the president by next week.

At the state Capitol, Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, said the thoughts and prayers of legislators were with the people at the Taft school.

"It really is just another very sad moment as we deal with the ongoing reality of gun violence that has captured so much of our attention this last year," Perez said.

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Jodi Arias' Lies Detailed at Murder Trial

Jodi Arias lied about her relationship with Travis Alexander, where she was when Alexander was killed, and even where she worked as a bartender, according to the case laid out by prosecutors in her murder trial.

Prosecutors opened the fifth day of her trial by using Arias' receipts for food, gas and a car rental that essentially tracked her movements in the days before and after Alexander's murder on June 4, 2008.

The testimony today also showed that Arias had lied to her new boyfriend Ryan Burns about working at a bar called Margaritaville in her hometown of Yreka, Calif.

"Is there any restaurant in Yreka called Margaritaville? Has there ever been?" prosecutor Juan Martinez asked Nathaniel Mendes, a former detective with the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office in California.

"No, sir," Mendes replied.

The testimony is apparently intended to bolster the prosecution's portrayal of Arias as a serial liar who continually denied her involvement in Alexander's death until she eventually confessed to killing him months after his bloody body was found at his home in Mesa, Ariz.

Arias, now 32, is accused of murdering Alexander, a former lover, by stabbing him 27 times, slashing his throat and shooting him in the head in June 2008. She could face the death penalty if convicted of a "heinous and depraved" crime.

Jodi Arias Trial: Jurors See Photos of Bloody Handprint Watch Video

Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Who Is the Alleged Killer? Watch Video

Jodi Arias Trial: Defense Claims Victim Was Sex Deviant Watch Video

Jodi Arias Trial: Watch Live

Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Full Coverage

Photos of Key Players and Evidence in the Jodi Arias Murder Trial

Arias claims Alexander was a controlling and abusive "sexual deviant" who she was forced to kill in self-defense.

But in testimony today and Wednesday, prosecutors pointed out several lies Arias told around the time she killed Alexander.

Mendes testified that Arias worked at a restaurant called Casa Ramos in Yreka, not a Margaritaville bar that she told Burns. Mendes also went over receipts showing that Arias rented a car the day before she killed Alexander, and noted that she went to a rental outfit 90 miles from her hometown despite two businesses that rented cars in Yreka.

Arias told friends and investigators that she rented a car to go on a road trip to visit Burns, in West Jordan, Utah, on June 3, 2008. She showed up to Burns' house a day late with cuts on her hands, but told Burns that she got lost driving and that the cuts were from broken glass at her Margaritaville bar tending job, according to Burn's testimony Wednesday.

The trail of receipts showed that Arias drove from California to Alexander's hometown of Mesa on Tuesday, June 4, 2008.

There, the pair had sex and took sexually graphic photos of one another, according to photographs and the opening statement of Arias' lawyer. Shortly after the tryst, Arias killed Alexander, both sides agree.

Burns testified that Arias never mentioned going to Alexander's house when she arrived at his home in Utah. He said he did not know that Arias and Alexander were still sexually involved, and that she told him they had broken up.

When she arrived at his home, just 24 hours after killing Alexander, she seemed "normal," he said. The pair kissed and cuddled, and went out with Burns' friends, where she laughed and made conversation.

Prosecutors have also played recorded phone conversations between detectives and Arias in the weeks after Alexander's body was found. She can be heard lying multiple times to investigators as they ask about the last time she spoke with Alexander and her trip to Utah.

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String of bombings kill 101, injure 200 in Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least 101 people were killed in bombings in two Pakistani cities on Thursday in one of the country's bloodiest days in recent years, officials said, with most casualties caused by sectarian attacks in Quetta.

The bombings underscored the myriad threats Pakistani security forces face from homegrown Sunni extremist groups, the Taliban insurgency in the northwest and the less well-known Baloch insurgency in the southwest.

On Thursday evening, two coordinated explosions killed at least 69 people and injured more than 100 in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, said Deputy Inspector of Police Hamid Shakil.

The first attack, in a crowded snooker hall, was a suicide bombing, local residents said. About ten minutes later, a car bomb exploded, they said. Five policemen and a cameraman were among the dead from that blast.

The attacks happened in a predominately Shia neighborhood and banned sectarian group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility. The extremist Sunni group targets Shias, who make up about 20 percent of Pakistani's population.

Targeted killings and bombings of Shia communities are common in Pakistan, and rights groups say hundreds of Shia were killed last year. Militant groups in Balochistan frequently bomb or shoot Shia passengers on buses travelling to neighboring Iran.

The killers are rarely caught and some Shia activists say militants work alongside elements of Pakistan's security forces, who see them as a potential bulwark against neighboring India.

Many Pakistanis fear their nation could become the site of a regional power struggle between Saudi Arabia, source of funding for Sunni extremist groups, and Iran, which is largely Shia.

But sectarian tensions are not the only source of violence.

The United Baloch Army claimed responsibility for a blast in Quetta's market earlier in the day. It killed 11 people and injured more than 40, mostly vegetable sellers and secondhand clothes dealers, police officer Zubair Mehmood said. A child was also killed.

The group is one of several fighting for independence for Balochistan, an arid, impoverished region with substantial gas, copper and gold reserves, which constitutes just under half of Pakistan's territory and is home to about 8 million of the country's population of 180 million.

SWAT BOMBING

In another incident Thursday, 21 were killed and more than 60 injured in a bombing when people gathered to hear a religious leader speak in Mingora, the largest city in the northwestern province of Swat, police and officials at the Saidu Sharif hospital said.

"The death toll may rise as some of the injured are in critical condition and we are receiving more and more injured people," said Dr. Niaz Mohammad.

It has been more than two years since a militant attack has claimed that many lives in Swat.

The mountainous region, formerly a tourist destination, has been administered by the Pakistani army since their 2009 offensive drove out Taliban militants who had taken control.

But Talibans retain the ability to attack in Swat and shot schoolgirl campaigner Malala Yousufzai in Mingora last October.

A Taliban spokesman said they were not responsible for Thursday's bombing.

(Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar, Pakistan; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Jason Webb)

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Bombs kill 92 in Pakistan's Quetta: police

QUETTA: Bomb attacks killed 92 people in Pakistan's city of Quetta on Thursday, as twin suicide bombers targeted a snooker hall frequented by Shiites in the deadliest single attack in the country for nearly two years.

At least 81 people were killed and 121 wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the crowded club in an area of the southwestern city dominated by members of the Shiite Muslim community, a senior police officer said.

It was one of the worst single attacks ever on the minority community, which account for around 20 per cent of Pakistan's 180-million strong population.

It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since twin suicide bombers killed 98 people outside a police training centre in the northwestern town of Shabqadar on May 13, 2011 -- shortly after US troops killed Osama bin Laden.

The double suicide blasts came hours after a bomb ripped through a security forces' vehicle in a crowded part of the city, killing 11 people and wounding dozens more.

At the snooker club the first suicide bomber struck inside the building, then 10 minutes later an attacker in a car outside blew himself up as police, media workers and rescue teams rushed to the site, said officer Mir Zubair Mehmood.

"The death toll has risen to 81 so far," senior police official Mir Zubair Mehmood told a news conference, putting the number of wounded at 121.

"Both (attacks) were (carried out by) suicide bombers and the death toll could rise further," he added.

Mehmood said the dead also included nine police personnel and a local television camera man. Several rescue workers were also killed in the attacks, he said.

The snooker club is frequented mostly by Shiites, police said.

According to the US-based Human Rights Watch, 2012 was the deadliest year on record for Shiites in Pakistan.

The organisation late Thursday called the government's failure to protect the community, which accounts for around 20 per cent of the population, "reprehensible and amounts to complicity in the barbaric slaughter of Pakistani citizens".

People were seen wailing and crying beside the bodies lying on the ground, an AFP photographer said.

The bombings damaged several shops and nearby buildings. At least four vehicles of local ambulance service were destroyed. The blast site was also littered with the belongings of the victims.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Quetta has been a flashpoint for attacks against Shiites, in particular those from the ethnic Hazara minority, as well as suffering from attacks linked to a separatist insurgency and Islamist militancy.

Police said the attacks disrupted power supplies and plunged the area into darkness that hampered rescue work.

Quetta is the capital of the province of Baluchistan, one of the most deprived parts of Pakistan but rich in natural gas and mineral deposits on the Afghan and Iranian borders.

In the earlier attack bombers had targeted Frontier Corps personnel, planting their device underneath an FC vehicle, a senior police investigator said.

"At least one FC personnel was killed and 10 others wounded, two of them seriously," FC spokesman Murtaza Baig told AFP.

Bomb disposal official Abdul Razzaq said the bomb, packed with 20 to 25 kilograms of explosives, was detonated by remote control.

"I went out of my shop and saw a thick cloud of dust. I was very scared and saw people screaming in panic. There were dead bodies and injured people shouting for help," said Allah Dad, a local shopkeeper.

In the northwestern Swat valley on Thursday a gas cylinder blast at a religious gathering killed 22 people and wounded more than 80, officials said, prompting a probe into possible sabotage.

The explosion took place at a weekly meeting of the local Tableeghi Jamaat (preachers' party) at its centre on the outskirts of Mingora, the main town in the district, regional police chief Akhtar Hayat said.

It was the deadliest blast in Swat since the Pakistan army declared it back under government control in July 2009 following a two-year Taliban-led insurgency in the valley.

- AFP/jc

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ZTE gets more love from the carriers

The Grand S may mark ZTE's coming-out party in the U.S.

(Credit:
Lynn La/CNET)

LAS VEGAS -- When the head of ZTE's North American business, Lixin Cheng, approached the U.S. carriers about building smartphones more than two years ago, he was met with skepticism.

During Cheng's meetings here at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the carrier executives have told him: "Show me more."

It's indicative of the tremendous strides that ZTE has made in its relationships with the carriers, even as its brand continues to fly under the radar for consumers. After toiling in relative anonymity for the last two years building low-end and mass-market smartphones, the company seems poised to have a bigger impact in 2013.

Take the debut of the ZTE Grand S at
CES. It's the latest flagship smartphone from the Chinese company, and it comes with all of the buzz-worthy specifications for a thin design. Typically, a high-end phone from an unknown vendor like ZTE would never make it to U.S. shores, but Cheng confirmed that the Grand S would launch here later this year.

He declined to specify when or with which carrier partner.

Looking ahead, Cheng said that U.S. carrier executives have been impressed with the 2014 concept models ZTE has shown off.

"There was a wow factor when they saw them," he said, adding that the executives pushed to make sure ZTE weren't holding anything back for one of their rivals.

ZTE has largely made smartphones that carried the wireless providers' brand, or were made to fit a specific low price. Early in the process, the carriers dictated a lot of the specifications and details that went into a product. But more recently, ZTE has had a lot more input into the development process.

"Before, they dominated the discussion," Cheng said. "They trust us more now."

Meet ZTE's new flagship phone, the Grand S

While ZTE phones are abundant at the top-tier carrier stores, Cheng said many of the carriers use ZTE phones as their benchmark device for testing.

The carriers like ZTE because of the shorter development process for its phones. Cheng said it takes six to eight months from the design of a phone to launch, compared with the typical development time of 12 to 18 months.

Also to the carriers' liking, ZTE can produce the smartphones at a lower cost, meaning lower subsidies. At a time when the carriers are looking to get away from paying the pricey subsidy of the iPhone, ZTE presents an increasingly attractive option.

"We continue to position ourselves as the best [original equipment manufacture] partner," he said, adding he was more optimistic about this year's relationship with the carriers.

While its stock with the carriers may be rising, ZTE has zero pull with U.S. consumers. That's largely a result of its work building carrier-branded phones. The smartphones that do get the ZTE brand on them are offered at the smaller regional prepaid carriers.

The only real publicity ZTE has gotten recently was when the House Intelligence Committee said ZTE and Huawei poised a national security risk, a charge both companies have denied. The committee's report did specify that its concerns came from the infrastructure business, and not the mobile devices business.

ZTE has said, and Cheng confirmed again, that the company would not spend a lot of money attempting to build a brand in the U.S. The company instead would rely on carrier support, although he noted that it would employ viral marketing and social media tactics.

That was a large reason why ZTE held its press conference at CES; it wanted to get as a large a U.S. audience as possible for the debut of the Grand S.

Cheng expressed confidence that more people will get to know the ZTE name, and expects more phones launching in the U.S. to carry its logo.

"We're pretty new to the U.S. market, but we're growing very fast," he said.

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Hilda Solis stepping down as labor secretary

Hilda Solis announced that she is stepping down from her post as labor secretary, CBS News has confirmed. She sent a letter to President Obama today notifying him of her retirement.

Solis was nominated to the position the same day the president was inaugurated in 2009, serving through the president's entire first term. She ran the Labor Department during the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. The department, which calculates unemployment statistics, came under criticism during the presidential campaign for a steep drop in the jobless numbers from above 8 percent to below 8 percent right before Election Day.

President Obama called her "a critical member" of his economic team who has helped put "millions" of people back to work. "Hilda Solis has been a tireless champion for working families," the president wrote in a statement.

Before her current position, she was a member of Congress, representing California since 2001 but left that job to be the first Hispanic woman to run the agency.

The president must now name a replacement that must go through the Senate confirmation process. CBS News learned today that the president intends to nominate his chief of staff, Jack Lew, to run the Treasury Department.

Solis joins Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, CIA Director David Petraeus and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in stepping down from their cabinet-level posts.

A White House official says Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and Attorney General Eric Holder plan to remain in their positions.

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Arias Kissed New Beau Day After Killing Boyfriend

Jodi Arias drove to the home of her new romantic interest, kissed him, and laughed with his friends just 24 hours after she stabbed and shot her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander to death, according to court testimony today.

Ryan Burns, whom Arias met in the spring of 2008, took the stand today at the start of the fourth day of testimony in the trial.

Arias, 32, is accused of murdering Alexander, 30, her one-time boyfriend whom she continued to sleep with occasionally. She claims he was abusive and she stabbed and shot him in self-defense. Alexander's body was riddled with 27 knife wounds including a slashed throat and a bullet wound to the head.

WATCH LIVE: Jodi Arias Murder Trial

Burns, who met Arias at a business conference, exchanged frequent long phone calls and online conversations with Arias before inviting her to come visit him in West Jordan, Utah, in June. Arias lived in California at the time.

Arias has confessed to driving to Alexander's home in Mesa, Ariz., where she killed him, and then to Burns' home in Utah. She arrived at Burns's home 24 hours after she was expected there, telling him that she got lost, drove the wrong way on a freeway for a few hours, fell asleep for awhile, and then got lost again, Burns testified today.

Jodi Arias Trial: Defense Claims Victim Was Sex Deviant Watch Video

Ariz. Woman Faces Death Penalty in Boyfriend's Slaying Watch Video

Photos of Key Players and Evidence in the Jodi Arias Murder Trial

She never told him that she had confronted Alexander with a knife or gun and ended up killing him just hours before their date.

When she arrived, the pair quickly got physical, he testified.

"We went back to my house. We talked for awhile, and agreed that we were going to watch a movie. At some point we were talking and we kissed. Every time we started kissing it got a little more escalated. Our clothes never came off, but at some point she was kissing my neck, I was kissing hers, but our clothes never came off," he said.

Burns said that both he and Arias stopped kissing at the time, though they again became physically involved later in the evening when Arias climbed on top of Burns and began kissing him. Burns said that they stopped kissing because he did not want her to "regret the visit" because of her Mormon beliefs about sex.

He also told prosecutors upon questioning that Arias was physically strong.

"She's very fit," he said, describing their encounter when she climbed on top of him. "She's very strong. She has close to a six pack (of abs)."

Prosecutors likely asked about the strength of Arias because in testimony Tuesday Maricopa County medical examiner Kevin Horn said Alexander was stabbed so forcefully that the blade chipped his skull and his neck was cut all the way back to the spinal cord.

Burns, who is also a Mormon, said he noticed two bandages on Arias's hand when she arrived at his house, which she told him she got when a glass broke at her place of employment, Margaritaville.

During her visit, the pair also went to a business meeting and went out with Burns' friends where Burns described Arias as acting "shy" and a "little awkward."

"She was fine, she was laughing about simple little things like any other person. I never once felt like anything was wrong during the day. With a crowd she was a little awkward in social areas, but one on one she was very talkative and excitable," he said.

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Venezuela court endorses Chavez inauguration delay

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's top court endorsed the postponement of Hugo Chavez's inauguration this week and ruled on Wednesday that the cancer-stricken president and his deputy would continue in their roles, despite a cacophony of opposition complaints.

Critics had argued the 58-year-old's absence from his own swearing-in ceremony on January 10 meant a caretaker president must be appointed. Chavez has not been seen in public nor heard from in almost a month following surgery in Cuba.

"Right now we cannot say when, how or where the president will be sworn in," Supreme Court Chief Judge Luisa Morales told a news conference.

"As president re-elect there is no interruption of performance of duties ... The inauguration can be carried out at a later date before the Supreme Court."

The decision opens the door in theory for Chavez to remain in office for weeks or months more from a Cuban hospital bed - though there is no evidence he is even conscious.

It leaves the South American country in the hands of Vice President Nicolas Maduro, as de facto leader of the government.

The opposition say that is a brazen violation of the constitution, and that Maduro should leave office on Thursday when the current presidential term had been due to expire.

They say National Assembly boss Diosdado Cabello, another powerful Chavez ally, should take over the running of the country while new elections would be organized within 30 days.

Maduro would be the ruling Socialist Party's candidate.

Government leaders insist Chavez, 58, is fulfilling his duties as head of state, even though official medical bulletins say he suffered complications after the surgery, including a severe lung infection, and has had trouble breathing.

His resignation or death would transform politics in the OPEC nation, where he is revered by poor supporters thankful for his social largesse, but denounced by opponents as a dictator.

RALLY PLANNED FOR THURSDAY

Moody's Investors Service warned on Wednesday that Venezuela's sovereign credit rating, already at junk status, faces short-term risks over any political transition.

Prices of Venezuela's widely traded bonds have soared lately on Chavez's health woes, but dipped this week as investors' expectations of a quick government change apparently dimmed.

The president has undergone four operations, as well as weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, since being diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer in his pelvic area in June 2011.

He looked to have staged a remarkable recovery from the illness last year, winning a new six-year term at a hard-fought election in October. But within weeks of his victory he had to return to Havana for more treatment.

The government has called for a huge rally outside the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas on Thursday, and allied leaders including Uruguay's Jose Mujica and Bolivia's Evo Morales have said they will visit - despite Chavez's absence.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, a close friend, has announced plans to visit Chavez in Cuba on Friday.

The unprecedented silence by Chavez, who is well known for his hours-long rambling speeches, has convinced many Venezuelans that his 14 years in power may be coming to an end.

Unlike after his previous operations in Cuba, no photographs have been published of him recuperating, and social media in Venezuela is buzzing with rumors he is on life support.

Cabello, the pugnacious head of the National Assembly, has repeatedly ruled out taking over as caretaker president to order a new presidential election, saying Chavez remains in charge.

"Tomorrow we will all go to the Miraflores palace," he told a televised Socialist Party meeting on Wednesday. "The people will be invested as president. We are all Chavez!"

(Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga and Diego Ore; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

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US urges India, Pakistan to cool Kashmir tensions

WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday called on India and Pakistan to seek to cool tensions after Delhi accused the Pakistani army of beheading one of two Indian soldiers killed in Kashmir.

"Violence is not the answer for either country," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland insisted.

"We've been counselling both governments to de-escalate, to work through this issue, to continue the consultations between them at a high level that we understand are ongoing now."

Pakistan has insisted no such incident had taken place in the disputed Kashmir region and suggested a UN inquiry be held.

But India has denounced the "inhuman" treatment of the two soldiers killed two days after a Pakistani soldier was also slain in the area.

Tensions have blown up along the Line of Control, the de facto border in Kashmir, over the past week with the two incidents again highlighting the six-decade long dispute over the Himalayan region.

Washington has been working through its embassies in both countries to calm tensions, and urging both governments to talk to each other, Nuland said.

The UN observer force in Kashmir is investigating an incident in which Pakistan said one of its soldiers was killed, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters in New York. But he added no complaint has been made about the clash in which India alleged one of its soldiers was beheaded.

Nuland said that if both sides "can work it out themselves, that's obviously best. If both parties were interested in support from the UN... we'd obviously support that as well."

- AFP/jc

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Troubleshooting HTTPS timeouts in OS X Mountain Lion

After upgrading to Mountain Lion, some OS X users have run into what appears at first glance to be a DNS-related problem in which they can't access certain Web pages. While most Web connectivity seems to work just fine, when accessing special pages like HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) connections the connection times out, resulting in programs like
Safari claiming the server could not be contacted.

If you are having this problem, then try copying the server URL from your browser or other application and pinging it directly in the OS X Terminal using the following command:

If you can ping the server in the URL you are trying to reach, then the problem is likely not a DNS issue.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET)

ping www.cnet.com

If successful, the system will start listing the ping attempts to the hosts's IP address, along with the response times from the remote server. Such behavior would suggest the DNS configuration is not to blame, as the host name is resolvable and the host is online and responding. Therefore, the problem at hand may be related to a problem with how Mountain Lion is handling the network packet size for the connection to the remote system.

As with many forms of digital communication, network data is sent in packets to ensure integrity, so if one is corrupted it can be dropped and re-sent without having to send the entire communication string again. The packet contains header data and other "wrapper" information that determines how it is to be handled through routers along the way between systems, and then a data section that contains a small chunk of the usable data that is to be reassembled by the recipient computer.

It is optimal for a connection to use a packet size that is at the maximum transmission unit size of the network; however, small mismatches in the MTU settings for different devices may result in continually dropped packets for some connection attempts.

In an ideal situation, the network setup between both the recipient and sender will be tuned to the same MTU size, but in some instances even if they are tuned the use of a special protocol such as a security layer may add a few more bytes to each packet, resulting in it being larger than the set MTU size. This will result in the network splitting the packets, which in some instances may result in dropped packets if the split segments cannot be reassembled correctly.

Adjust the MTU size slightly to see if you can find a value that triggers a successful connection. Keeping the value as high as possible will ensure a more efficient connection.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET)

When this happens, an adjustment will need to be made to the network's MTU size so that the packets will be split differently and can be reassembled. Therefore, if you are finding that only some Web pages and other network communications within applications will not load the requested data, especially if the connection is secured, try adjusting your
Mac's MTU settings.

These settings are done individually for each network port you have set up in your Network system preferences. Select your active connection and click the Advanced button, followed by selecting the Hardware tab, and you should see an option to Configure your hardware. In this menu choose "Manually" and you will then be able to edit the MTU size. The standard for this size is 1,500, which is the maximum for many Wi-Fi and Ethernet protocols, but you can customize this to be between 1,280 and 1,500 if needed.

There are many recommendations for the MTU settings to use for various connection types (PPPoE, PPP, or direct Ethernet), and for the most part keeping this number as high as possible is recommended. Therefore, to troubleshoot a situation in which you appear to be dropping packets for a particular network connection, try dropping the MTU value by 2 bytes followed by testing your connection. If the connection still does not work, then repeat this and drop the MTU size by another 2 bytes, until hopefully you are able to load the requested data.

In addition to adjusting MTU size, you can try a different hardware connection to your router. While a direct Ethernet connection is an easy option, it is less convenient than Wi-Fi, and often people do not have available hard-line connections. Another approach is instead to use another Wi-Fi protocol if your router supports it. While many routers these days use the higher-speed 802.11n as their preferred protocol, for compatibility they do also include 802.11g and 802.11b support, which often offers more than enough speed for a standard broadband connection.

In routers that support these different protocols you will often have two radios (one at 2.4GHz and another at 5GHz), so consult your router's manual and enable both radios, and then try connecting your Mac to one and the other to see if you can see a difference in loading behavior.

---

Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or !
Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.

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Father of slain Tulsa twins: "My life's gone"

TULSA, Okla. Four women were found shot dead inside an apartment in south Tulsa on Monday afternoon, with a three-year-old boy as the only survivor, CBS affiliate KOTV Tulsa reported.

Now a father is coming to grips with losing his twin daughters, whom police identified as Rebeika Powell, 23, and Kayetie Melchor, 23, as among the four victims.

"My life's gone. My kids are gone," said Larry Powell.

Tulsa police said the four women were discovered around noon, within an hour of being shot. Aside from Powell and Melchor, the other two victims identified by police were Misty Nunley, 33, and Julie Jackson, 55. The three-year-old boy may have witnessed his mother's death.

"The little baby, you know, he had to sit there all day and look at what they did. How could you do something like that?" asked Larry Powell.

Powell's son died from the flu in 2003 and now his remaining children are gone. "You've got nothing left," said Powell. "All I've got are my two little grand kids and what am I going to do? Their parents are gone. My granddaughter is going crazy over there right now."

Neighbor Gail Barton knew some of the women who were killed. "They were all so lively and fun and beautiful, really were beautiful girls," she said and added: "To take such beauty and life away from so many people and to harm so many family members in the process and for what? Money?"

Police are still seeking a suspect and a motive for the crime.

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James Holmes' Elaborate Booby Trap Plan Revealed

A gasoline-soaked carpet, loud music and a remote control car were part of an elaborate plan by accused Aurora gunman James Holmes' to trick someone into triggering a blast that would destroy his apartment and lure police to the explosion while he shot up a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., according to court testimony today.

FBI agent Garrett Gumbinner told a Colorado court about Holmes' complex plans to booby trap his apartment. Gumbinner said he interviewed Holmes on July 20, hours after he killed 12 and wounded 58 during the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."

"He said he rigged the apartment to explode to get law enforcement to send resources to his apartment instead of the theater," Gumbinner said.

Click here for full coverage of the Aurora movie theater shooting.

His plan failed to prompt someone into triggering the bombs.

Gumbinner said Holmes had created two traps that would have set off the blast.

The apartment was rigged with a tripwire at the front door connected to a mixture of chemicals that would create heat, sparks and flame. Holmes had soaked the carpet with a gasoline mixture that was designed to be ignited by the tripwire, Gumbinner said.

"It would have caused fire and sparks," the agent said, and "would have made the entire apartment explode or catch fire."

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New Jersey Missing Teens: Body Pulled From Lake Watch Video

Holmes had set his computer to play 25 minutes of silence followed by loud music that he hoped would cause a disturbance loud enough that someone would call police, who would then respond and set off the explosion by entering the apartment.

Gumbinner said Holmes also told him he rigged a fuse between three glass jars that would explode. He filled the jars with a deadly homemade chemical mixture that would burn so hot it could not be extinguished with water.

Holmes set a second detonation system outside the building, the agent said.

Holmes, Gumbinner said, rigged one of the triggering devices, called a "pyro trip box" with a remote control. He then took the remote control outside and placed it on top of a white trash bag near the apartment building.

Next to the remote, Holmes placed a remote control car. Inside the trash bag, he put a portable stereo set to play 40 minutes of silence, followed by loud music, the agent said.

The plan, Gumbinner explained, was for someone to hear the music and be drawn to the remote control car with what appeared to be the remote control lying next to it. When that person picked up the remote to activate the car, he or she would have unknowingly triggered the explosion in the apartment.

Holmes also left rows of white powder on the floor, which Gumbinner said was ammonium chloride. The powder, Gumbinner believes, was meant "to scare us" and would have created a large amount of smoke if it had ignited.

Prosecutors showed several photographs of the devices in court.

Holmes legally bought thousands of bullets, four guns and chemicals, months before prosecutors say he opened fire on a crowded movie theater, an ATF agent testified today.

Click here for more details on his deadly arsenal.

Earlier in the day, prosecutors played two 911 calls in court, including the very first call from movie goer Kevin Quinonez as the shooting was still underway.

At least 30 rapid-fire gunshots could be heard in the background of the 27-second call, along with screaming.

"Gunshots?" Quinonez can be heard saying.

The dispatcher pleads with Quinonez to give the theater address, but the sound of gunshots and chaos drowns him out.

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U.S. does not rule out complete pullout from Afghanistan after 2014

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration does not rule out a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan after 2014, the White House said on Tuesday, just days before President Barack Obama is due to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The comments by U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes were the first signal that, despite initial recommendations by the top military commander in Afghanistan to keep as many as 15,000 troops in the country, the final decision may be to remove everyone, as happened in Iraq in 2011.

Asked about consideration of a so-called zero-option once the NATO combat mission ends at the end of 2014, Rhodes said: "That would be an option that we would consider."

"Because again, the president does not view these negotiations as having a goal of keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan," he added, saying the objective was to ensure the training and equipping of Afghan forces and combating al Qaeda.

Rhodes, lowering expectations of any breakthrough in the talks with Karzai at the White House on Friday, said it would be months before a final decision is made on troop levels.

In Iraq, Obama decided to pull out all U.S. forces after failing in negotiations with the Iraqi government to secure immunity for any U.S. troops who would remain behind.

The Obama administration is also insisting on immunity for any U.S. troops that remain in Afghanistan, and that unsettled question will figure in this week's talks between Obama and Karzai and their aides.

Jeffrey Dressler, an Afghanistan expert at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War who favors keeping a larger presence in Afghanistan, questioned what battlefield conditions would allow for a complete U.S. pullout.

"I can't tell that they're doing that as a negotiating position ... or if it is a no-kidding option," Dressler said. "If you ask me, I don't see how zero troops is in the national security interest of the United States."

U.S. officials have said privately that the White House had asked for options to be developed for keeping between 3,000 and 9,000 troops in the country, a lower range than was put forward initially by General John Allen, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan.

Allen suggested keeping between 6,000 and 15,000 troops in Afghanistan.

(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick and Phil Stewart; Editing by Eric Beech)

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Yemen says US drone strikes to continue

SANAA: Yemen's national security chief said on Tuesday that US drone strikes against Al-Qaeda targets will continue as the two governments keep up their counter-terrorism cooperation.

"The Yemeni-American cooperation, including the use of friendly aircraft, will continue," Ali Hassan al-Ahmadi told reporters in Sanaa.

"Yemen is one of the countries that joined the international alliance to combat terrorism after the September 11," 2001 attacks on the United States, he said.

Washington has been stepping up its support for Yemen's battle against militants of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which it regards as the most active and deadliest franchise of the global jihadist network.

US drone strikes in Yemen nearly tripled in 2012 compared to 2011, with 53 recorded against 18, according to the Washington-based think tank New America Foundation.

At least 14 Al-Qaeda suspects have been killed in Yemen since December 24, when attacks by the unmanned aircraft on targets in Al-Bayda and the eastern Hadramawt province were stepped up.

AQAP took advantage of the weakness of Yemen's central government during an uprising in 2011 against now ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, seizing large swathes of territory across the south.

But after a month-long offensive launched in May last year by Yemeni troops, most militants fled to the more lawless desert regions of the east.

According to Ahmadi, "terrorist elements of around 13 nationalities took part in killing Yemenis during the past period and have destroyed Abyan province, especially (its capital) Zinjibar which was completely destroyed."

Around 170,000 people fled Abyan after the militants seized much of the province, he added.

- AFP/jc

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Fewer booth bikinis at CES? Is that possible?

Is full-body Lycra the new booth garb?

(Credit:
Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

LAS VEGAS -- The readership here bathes in its sophistication.

It doesn't stoop to sexism. It believes the gratuitous use of the female body should be outlawed.

However, every year, it needs to be informed as to whether some company has decided to present scantily clad dancing girls in order to attract attendees to its wares.

Just, you know, for sociopolitical reasons.

In my duty as your representative, I stormed as many halls as my thighs could muster this morning. I kept one eye open for the sort of curious spectacles as that presented last year by robotics company TOSY.

Yes, bikini clad girls offering dulled dancing to hungover wanderers at 10:30 a.m.

I saw none. It doesn't mean they aren't here -- indeed, one diligent colleague says he saw some dancing girls on a stage in the South Hall.

However, an initial impression (which I reserve to change at a moment's notice) suggested that tech companies had managed to avoid at least some of the ultimate positions in crassness.

At least first thing in the morning.

The subject of so-called "booth babes" has tortured intact minds for some time. At last year's Computex in Taipei, women complained that tech companies had demanded they show more skin.

Conversely, at gaming expo ChinaJoy 2012, booth babes were banned, so as not to corrupt hitherto incorruptible teenage minds.

More Technically Incorrect

Of course, exhibitors at
CES aren't shy to present attractive women, especially in an attempt to offset less attractive spiels.

But as one colleague just remarked to me: "I think I've seen more fluorescent full body Lycra bodysuits here than in the summer Olympics track and field competition."

I talked to one lady in a fluorescent green bodysuit. She was at the Tylt booth. I asked her about her suit. She said it was very comfortable for a 12-hour stretch.

Perhaps I am indulging in wishful thinking. I want to believe that there is a different way. Sex doesn't always sell, even though the French think it does.

Some more trawling around the halls might prove that nothing has changed, that exhibitors were merely waiting for the afternoon to produce jiggers.

By the way, I have been asked by the wise and worldly to point out that ViewSonic had flooded its booth with chicks. The evidence is below.

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Newtown seen as factor in Ala. teen's bomb plot

PHENIX CITY, Ala. An Alabama teenager teen who described himself as a white supremacist made journal entries about a plot to bomb classmates three days after the Newtown school massacre and began building small homemade explosives, a sheriff said Monday.

Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor told The Associated Press that he believed the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary was a factor because the first date in the boy's journal describing the plan was Dec. 17 — three days after the Connecticut killings.

Seventeen-year-old Derek Shrout is charged with attempted assault after authorities say he planned to use homemade explosives to attack fellow students at Russell County High School.

Taylor said the boy told investigators that he's a white supremacist and five of the six students he named in his journal are black. The journal was found by a teacher, who turned it over to authorities.

A search of Shrout's home found about 25 small tobacco cans and two larger tins, all with holes drilled in them and containing pellets similar to BB's, reported CBS affiliate WRBL. Taylor said all they needed were black powder and fuses to become explosives. The journal also allegedly mentioned using firearms. The sheriff said Shrout's father owned a few household weapons, like a hunting rifle, a shotgun and a handgun.

"He just talks about some students, he specifically named six students and one faculty member and he talked about weapons and the amounts of ammunition for each weapon that he would use if he attacked the school," Taylor said.

The sheriff said he didn't believe the teen's initial claim that the journal was a work of fiction.

"When you go to his house and you start finding the actual devices that he talked about being made, no, it's not fiction anymore," Taylor said. "Those devices were — all they needed was the black powder and the fuse — he had put a lot of time and thought into that."

The teen, who is thin and wears glasses, said little during an initial court appearance Monday. District Judge David Johnson set bond at $75,000 and the teen's attorney said the family expected to post it by the end of the day for his release.

The judge ordered the teen not to contact anyone at his school, students or teachers, and not to use the Internet without parental supervision.

His attorney, Jeremy Armstrong, declined to discuss specifics of the case, but he did say that the talk of the case he has heard so far was "blown a little out of proportion."

"Our position is that our client had no intention to harm anybody," he said.

Seale is about 80 miles east of Montgomery.

More from CBS affiliate WRBL:

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