Turkey says tests confirm leftist bombed U.S. embassy

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A member of a Turkish leftist group that accuses Washington of using Turkey as its "slave" carried out a suicide bomb attack on the U.S. embassy, the Ankara governor's office cited DNA tests as showing on Saturday.

Ecevit Sanli, a member of the leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C), blew himself up in a perimeter gatehouse on Friday as he tried to enter the embassy, also killing a Turkish security guard.

The DHKP-C, virulently anti-American and listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and Turkey, claimed responsibility in a statement on the internet in which it said Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was a U.S. "puppet".

"Murderer America! You will not run away from people's rage," the statement on "The People's Cry" website said, next to a picture of Sanli wearing a black beret and military-style clothes and with an explosives belt around his waist.

It warned Erdogan that he too was a target.

Turkey is an important U.S. ally in the Middle East with common interests ranging from energy security to counter-terrorism. Leftist groups including the DHKP-C strongly oppose what they see as imperialist U.S. influence over their nation.

DNA tests confirmed that Sanli was the bomber, the Ankara governor's office said. It said he had fled Turkey a decade ago and was wanted by the authorities.

Born in 1973 in the Black Sea port city of Ordu, Sanli was jailed in 1997 for attacks on a police station and a military staff college in Istanbul, but his sentence was deferred after he fell sick during a hunger strike. He was never re-jailed.

Condemned to life in prison in 2002, he fled the country a year later, officials said. Interior Minister Muammer Guler said he had re-entered Turkey using false documents.

Erdogan, who said hours after the attack that the DHKP-C were responsible, met his interior and foreign ministers as well as the head of the army and state security service in Istanbul on Saturday to discuss the bombing.

Three people were detained in Istanbul and Ankara in connection with the attack, state broadcaster TRT said.

The White House condemned the bombing as an "act of terror", while the U.N. Security Council described it as a heinous act. U.S. officials said on Friday the DHKP-C were the main suspects but did not exclude other possibilities.

Islamist radicals, extreme left-wing groups, ultra-nationalists and Kurdish militants have all carried out attacks in Turkey in the past.

SYRIA

The DHKP-C statement called on Washington to remove Patriot missiles, due to go operational on Monday as part of a NATO defense system, from Turkish soil.

The missiles are being deployed alongside systems from Germany and the Netherlands to guard Turkey, a NATO member, against a spillover of the war in neighboring Syria.

"Our action is for the independence of our country, which has become a new slave of America," the statement said.

Turkey has been one of the leading advocates of foreign intervention to end the civil war in Syria and has become one of President Bashar al-Assad's harshest critics, a stance groups such as the DHKP-C view as submission to an imperialist agenda.

"Organizations of the sectarian sort like the DHKP-C have been gaining ground as a result of circumstances surrounding the Syrian civil war," security analyst Nihat Ali Ozcan wrote in a column in Turkey's Daily News.

The Ankara attack was the second on a U.S. mission in four months. On September 11, 2012, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three American personnel were killed in an Islamist militant attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The DHKP-C was responsible for the assassination of two U.S. military contractors in the early 1990s in protest against the first Gulf War, and it fired rockets at the U.S. consulate in Istanbul in 1992, according to the U.S. State Department.

It has been blamed for previous suicide attacks, including one in 2001 that killed two police officers and a tourist in Istanbul's central Taksim Square. It has carried out a series of deadly attacks on police stations in the last six months.

Friday's attack may have come in retaliation for an operation against the DHKP-C last month in which Turkish police detained 85 people. A court subsequently remanded 38 of them in custody over links to the group.

(Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Nuke safety chief questioned over Fukushima: report

TOKYO: Japanese police have questioned a former head of the nuclear safety body regarding possible criminal charges over the Fukushima nuclear crisis, a news report said Sunday.

Prosecutors have interviewed Haruki Madarame, former chief of the Nuclear Safety Commission who was responsible for giving the government technical advice about the crisis, NHK quoted sources as saying.

It said Madarame appeared voluntarily for questioning and was apparently asked to explain how he dealt with the disaster.

Fukushima residents have filed a criminal complaint with prosecutors against Madarame on suspicion of professional negligence which resulted in deaths and injuries, the public broadcaster said.

The complaint alleges that Madarame was responsible for a delay in announcing data predicting how radiation would spread from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, it said.

It also reportedly faults him for failing to take necessary measures to shield the plant against the tsunami in the first place.

NHK said prosecutors have separately questioned executives of plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co including former chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, but it was uncertain if individuals could be charged over the disaster.

The huge tsunami of March 2011, which was triggered by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, crashed into the Fukushima power station and swamped cooling systems, sparking meltdowns.

The reactors were out of control for months, spewing radiation over a wide area and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.

Japanese experts said they brought the wrecked units under control in December 2011. But melted fuel remains inside their cores and their full decommissioning and cleaning-up is expected to take decades.

In July last year a parliamentary report said Fukushima was a man-made disaster caused by Japan's culture of "reflexive obedience" and not just by the tsunami that hit the plant.

TEPCO has admitted it had played down known tsunami risks for fear of the political, financial and reputational cost. It says no one was died as a direct result of radiation.

-AFP/ac

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How Boeing's 777-300ER could help save American Airlines

American Airlines hopes its rise back to profitability and relevance can get a big jump start with the launch of all-new livery, and Boeing's 777-300ER. It is the first U.S. carrier to fly the plane, the most successful twin-engine aircraft in the world.

(Credit:
Chris Sloan/Airchive.com)

It has become the world's most-successful twin-engine airplane, but until now, no U.S. carrier has flown Boeing's 777-300ER. But with the launch on Thursday of its Dallas to Sao Paolo, Brazil flight, American Airlines has broken new ground, and is now depending on its fledgling 777-300ER fleet to re-earn its once legendary wings. And make it a lot of money.

Among the many passengers aboard the inaugural flight to Sao Paolo was Chris Sloan, an aviation writer who often flies on the most notable planes in the skies. Sloan, who previously shared his impressions of the inaugural Boeing 787 Dreamliner commercial flight with CNET, has once again let us in on what it's like to be among the first people aboard a notable, world-class airplane.

As Sloan notes, the past few years have not been kind to American Airlines. The carrier has gone through bankruptcy, seats becoming unbolted, a disastrous crash, and more.

But the airline is doing its best to come back from the dead, and the launch of service aboard the 777-300ER, as well as the roll-out of all-new livery, show that American can't be counted out.

As Sloan wrote:

In an era of smaller airliners, American inaugurated the 777-300, the largest new airliner by a U.S. carrier since the last Boeing 747-400s entered service with U.S. airliners in the late 1990s. Built to handle up to 386 passengers and fly up to 7,825 nautical miles, American's 777-300ER is the first plane flown by a U.S. carrier to feature a stand-up bar since the 1970s, Sloan wrote. American flies the aircraft in a 304-passenger, four-class and six-cabin configuration.

This inaugural, flight 963, from Dallas/Ft. Worth to São Paulo, Brazil in the author's view is one of the most significant in the airline industry in years because it is about something much bigger than just the launch of a new airliner, it's about the re-birth of a proud American institution that happens to bear the name of our country - American Airlines.

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Town mourns for slain bus driver amid Ala. standoff

Updated 9:45 PM ET

MIDLAND CITY, Ala. As the police standoff with an Alabama man accused of holding a 5-year-old boy hostage continued Saturday, a nearby community prepared to bury the beloved bus driver who was shot to death trying to protect children on his bus when the episode began days earlier.

Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, who was known around town as Chuck, was described by folks in his hometown of Newton as a humble hero. Hundreds of people attended a viewing service for Poland on Saturday evening. His funeral was set for Sunday afternoon.

"I believe that if he had to do it all over again tomorrow, he would," said Poland's sister-in-law, Lavern Skipper, earlier Saturday. "He would do it for those children."

Play Video

Ala. hostage standoff: New info on kidnapper

Authorities said Jim Lee Dykes boarded a stopped school bus filled with 21 children Tuesday afternoon and demanded two boys between 6 and 8 years old. When Poland tried to block his way, the gunman shot him several times and took one 5-year-old boy — who police say remains in an underground bunker with Dykes.

Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said in a briefing with reporters Saturday that Dykes has told them he has blankets and an electric heater in the bunker on his property. Authorities have set up a command post at a church and have been communicating with Dykes through a ventilation pipe to the underground bunker.

Olson also said Dykes has allowed police to deliver coloring books, medication and toys for the boy.

"I want to thank him for taking care of our boy," Olson said. "That's very important."

The shooting and abduction took place in Midland City, a small town near Dothan, Ala., in the state's southeastern corner.

Newton is about three miles away, a small hamlet with fewer than 2,000 residents. It sits amid cotton farms and rolling hills sprinkled with red earth; most of the residents commute to Dothan or to a nearby Army post.

William Lisenby, a school bus driver who also taught Sunday School with Poland, was flanked by other area bus drivers as he arrived at Saturday night's viewing service for his friend at a local funeral home.

Lisenby spoke in Biblical terms when referring to Poland.

Bus driver Charles Albert Poland Jr. is seen in this undated picture released by the Dale County Board of Education.

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AP Photo/Dale County Board of Education

"If you'll notice the similarities there, of what Chuck did was the same thing that Jesus Christ did. These children, even though they were not Chuck's, he laid down his life to defend those children. My hat's off to him for that."

"He was a bus driver just like we are," Lisenby said. "But for the grace of God that could have been us."

Others spoke of the loss of a good man, and their hope that the little boy being held captive is alive and well and will be released soon.

"The community is real concerned," said Fred McNab, mayor of Pinckard, Ala. "You can tell by the food that's been carried over there to the church. It's just devastating. We want it to come to a resolution. We want to save that little child."

Earlier Saturday, local residents remembered Poland as a friendly, giving person.

"He's probably the nicest guy you'll ever meet," said Lonnie Daniels, the 69-year-old owner of the NAPA Auto Parts store, one of three establishments in town that was open Saturday.

Daniels last saw his friend Tuesday morning, when Poland agreed to buy a car from him. The two men shook hands and closed the deal "like gentlemen," Daniels said. Poland was to return after working his bus route to pay for the car.

"He never came back," Daniels said quietly.

Play Video

Ala. hostage crisis: Behind-the-scenes of a negotiation

Daniels said Poland had been married to his wife for 43 years. Poland was from Idaho, but his wife was from Newton. The couple lived there for decades in a small mobile home, and Poland enjoyed gardening and clearing brush from his property.

"I knew that he was always there if I needed," said Daniels, adding that Poland was an excellent mechanic with an array of tools that he lent to people in town.

Neighbors and friends said Poland did various acts of kindness for people in town, from fixing someone's tractor to tilling the garden of a neighbor who had a heart attack.

"You don't owe me anything," Poland once told a recipient of his good deed. "You're my neighbor."

Skipper said Poland and his wife would often sit on their porch, drinking coffee, praying and reading the Bible.

"They loved to be together," Skipper said.

On Saturday morning, Poland's wife wasn't home. A rack of worn trucker's caps sat on hooks on the porch, and two freshly baked pies were laid atop a cooler.

The victim's son, Aaron Poland, told NBC News that he wasn't surprised by his father's act to protect the kids on the bus.

"He considered them his children," Poland said, choking back tears. "And I know that's the reason why my dad took those shots, for his children, just like he would do for me and my sister."

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Gun Violence 'Depletes Precious Natural Resource'

It took the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, to prompt lawmakers to call for stricter gun legislation. But the reality is that in a city like Chicago, where 515 murders took place last year and more than 100 shooting incidents have occurred since January 1, gun violence is an ongoing issue and it has been for years. Only, these shootings have become so common that they don't make national headlines.

"We lost a classroom full of children in Connecticut which sparked national outrage that needs to be translated into action, but in Chicago, we sometimes lose a dozen or more young people every weekend," Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Illinois), who serves the Chicago area, said in a statement. "Too many bullets and too many guns are killing the next generation and we have got to make it stop."

Gutierrez, like many others, believe that any debate about gun violence shouldn't just take into account mass shootings that make headline news. It should also consider the chronic gun violence that takes place on a daily basis across the U.S.

In Chicago's case, many of the victims are young minorities growing up in poor, gang-ridden neighborhoods on the south and west side of the city.

Just earlier this week a 15-year-old girl who performed at President Barack Obama's recent inauguration was gunned down, The Washington Post reported.

The teen, Hadiya Pendleton, was hanging out in a park with about a dozen other young people when she was shot. Two other victims were reportedly wounded. By all accounts she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Reports indicate that the gunman was not even aiming at her.

And Pendleton is just the latest example. Chicago police officer Ron Holt lost his son, Blair, to gun violence in the spring of 2007. The 16-year-old was shot and killed while riding a bus after school.

Holt now works with young people in the community, particularly minorities at an increased risk of engaging in dangerous behavior, to encourage them to focus on their education instead of turning to violence.

"I explain to them that if they continue to ascribe to this diabolical idea of resolving conflict with firearms they're depleting the most precious natural resource in the community, and that is them," Holt said.

What's clear is that the root of the gun problem is not just the guns. There are several factors that play a role, many of which are rarely discussed. For example, for minority youth living in urban communities characterized by poverty, violence, particularly gun violence, tends to be chronic. And the groups largely impacted tend to be African American and Hispanic.

A lot of that has to do with acculturation, according to Rahsmia Zatar, executive director of Strong Youth, a gang prevention and intervention organization. There is a sense that it's difficult to move beyond one's cultural sphere.

As a result, minorities often tend to gravitate toward other young minorities in similar situations, and turn to violence to gain a sense of control, however false it really is.

Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo

"It's easy to fall victim to feeling a sense of empowerment through violence," Zatar said. "They feel they have limited opportunities and they don't have a sense of 'I can achieve,' [or] that there is something here for me that's better."

According to the 2011 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 30 percent of Chicago's African-American population and nearly 27 percent of Hispanics live below the poverty line. Perhaps more importantly, blacks and whites remain largely segregated, with African-Americans making up the vast majority of neighborhoods in the south, and whites comprising most of the north. Latinos are somewhat more mixed, often living in "buffer" communities between blacks and whites, which could exacerbate the pressure to conform to two cultures, neither of which is entirely comfortable.

These various enclaves also suffer from a distinct gang problem. Chicago Police Commissioner Garry McCarthy told Reuters the city is plagued by the breakup of larger more established gangs into new factions that are fighting over everything from turf to money.

Then there's the city's illicit gun issue, which is bigger than New York's or Los Angeles' despite strict laws to limit weapons. Gun shops are actually outlawed in Chicago, as are assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Handguns were even banned until 2010.

Still, in a place like Chicago it's handguns doing the most damage. According to statistics from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, most of the guns they recovered in Illinois were pistols, followed by revolvers and rifles. Machine guns come in a distant sixth.

Why so many guns? Gun laws in neighboring communities are not as strict, and firearms make their way into the city. According to a recent article by The New York Times, officials "seized 7,400 guns [in Chicago] in crimes or unpermitted uses last year (compared with 3,285 in New York City), and have confiscated 574 guns just since Jan. 1 — 124 of them last week alone."

And while Chicago residents are required to report the loss or theft of a handgun, that same law does not apply to all of Illinois, so a stolen firearm could easily make its way into Chicago without the owner ever reporting it missing.

The dynamics created in poor minority communities like those in Chicago combined with the sheer number of guns that make their way into such a city bear out in the overall statistics.

According to the Bureau of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey, African Americans were disproportionately represented among homicide victims and offenders between 1980 and 2008. They were six times more likely than whites to be homicide victims and seven times more likely than whites to commit homicides.

Latinos don't fare much better. According to the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic advocacy organization, "Today in America, every three hours a young person is killed by firearm violence. Every 14 hours, that teen or child is Latino."

Young Latinos are especially likely to be impacted by gang violence in places like Chicago. Nationally, Hispanics are also more likely than non-Hispanics to be victims of violent crimes committed by gang members.

The impact of guns on the Latino community may explain why they're inclined to favor increased gun control. According to the Pew Research Center, while 57 percent of whites think it's more important to protect the rights of Americans to own guns than to protect gun ownership, only 29 percent of Latinos feel the same way.

Holt would certainly like to see something change. Several days after his son was killed, he received a voicemail. It was then-Senator Barack Obama. The young lawmaker had called Holt to express his condolences and to promise that if there was anything he could do in the future to help curb gun violence, he was prepared to do it. The two never spoke on the phone, but Holt remembers the message.

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Suicide bomber kills guard at U.S. embassy in Turkey

ANKARA (Reuters) - A far-leftist suicide bomber killed a Turkish security guard at the U.S. embassy in Ankara on Friday, officials said, blowing open an entrance and sending debris flying through the air.

The attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body after entering an embassy gatehouse. The blast could be heard a mile away. A lower leg and other human remains lay on the street.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said the bomber was a member of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), a far-left group which is virulently anti-U.S. and anti-NATO and is listed as a terrorist organisation by Washington.

The White House said the suicide attack was an "act of terror" but that the motivation was unclear. U.S. officials said the DHKP-C were the main suspects but did not exclude other possibilities.

Islamist radicals, extreme left-wing groups, ultra-nationalists and Kurdish militants have all carried out attacks in Turkey in the past. There was no claim of responsibility.

"The suicide bomber was ripped apart and one or two citizens from the special security team passed away," said Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

"This event shows that we need to fight together everywhere in the world against these terrorist elements," he said.

In New York, the U.N. Security Council strongly condemned the attack as a heinous act.

Turkish media reports identified the bomber as DHKP-C member Ecevit Sanli, who was involved in attacks on a police station and a military staff college in Istanbul in 1997.

KEY ALLY

Turkey is a key U.S. ally in the Middle East with common interests ranging from energy security to counter-terrorism and has been one of the leading advocates of foreign intervention to end the conflict in neighboring Syria.

Around 400 U.S. soldiers have arrived in Turkey over the past few weeks to operate Patriot anti-missile batteries meant to defend against any spillover of Syria's civil war, part of a NATO deployment due to be fully operational in the coming days.

The DHKP-C was responsible for the assassination of two U.S. military contractors in the early 1990s in protest against the first Gulf War and launched rockets at the U.S. consulate in Istanbul in 1992, according to the U.S. State Department.

Deemed a terrorist organisation by both the United States and Turkey, the DHKP-C has been blamed for suicide attacks in the past, including one in 2001 that killed two police officers and a tourist in Istanbul's central Taksim Square.

The group, formed in 1978, has carried out a series of deadly attacks on police stations in the last six months.

The attack may have come in retaliation for an operation against the DHKP-C last month in which Turkish police detained 85 people. A court subsequently remanded 38 of them in custody over links to the group.

"HUGE EXPLOSION"

U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone emerged through the main gate of the embassy shortly after the explosion to address reporters, flanked by a security detail as a Turkish police helicopter hovered overhead.

"We're very sad of course that we lost one of our Turkish guards at the gate," Ricciardone said, describing the victim as a "hero" and thanking Turkish authorities for a prompt response.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland condemned the attack on the checkpoint on the perimeter of the embassy and said several U.S. and Turkish staff were injured by debris.

"The level of security protection at our facility in Ankara ensured that there were not significantly more deaths and injuries than there could have been," she told reporters.

It was the second attack on a U.S. mission in four months. On September 11, 2012, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three American personnel were killed in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The attack in Benghazi, blamed on al Qaeda-affiliated militants, sparked a political furore in Washington over accusations that U.S. missions were not adequately safeguarded.

A well-known Turkish journalist, Didem Tuncay, who was on her way in to the embassy to meet Ricciardone when the attack took place, was in a critical condition in hospital.

"It was a huge explosion. I was sitting in my shop when it happened. I saw what looked like a body part on the ground," said travel agent Kamiyar Barnos, whose shop window was shattered around 100 meters away from the blast.

CALL FOR VIGILANCE

The U.S. consulate in Istanbul warned its citizens to be vigilant and to avoid large gatherings, while the British mission in Istanbul called on British businesses to tighten security after what it called a "suspected terrorist attack".

In 2008, Turkish gunmen with suspected links to al Qaeda, opened fire on the U.S. consulate in Istanbul, killing three Turkish policemen. The gunmen died in the subsequent firefight.

The most serious bombings in Turkey occurred in November 2003, when car bombs shattered two synagogues, killing 30 people and wounding 146. Part of the HSBC Bank headquarters was destroyed and the British consulate was damaged in two more explosions that killed 32 people less than a week later. Authorities said those attacks bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda.

(Additional reporting by Daren Butler and Ayla Jean Yackley in Istanbul, Mohammed Arshad and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Stephen Powell and Sandra Maler)

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SMU holds inaugural service learning symposium

SINGAPORE: Filial piety, being less self-centred and not taking family for granted -- these were some of the topics discussed at the Singapore Management University's inaugural service learning symposium on Saturday.

Service learning is a method to get students to participate and learn in community projects.

Some 300 students from secondary and tertiary institutions gathered at SMU to share their thoughts on social responsibility and community service.

-CNA/ac

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Powertrekk fuel cell charger to be released in Spring

Along with a fuel cell puck, the PowerTrekk gives your iPhone a bit of juice. Just add water.

(Credit:
Lynn La/CNET)

While it's been circulating around at trade shows for a while, including Mobile World Congress 2011 and CES 2012, the PowerTrekk phone charger is slated to finally come to the U.S. at the end of this quarter.

Although the $229 device is peddled as a charger that can simply juice up your phone on water alone, it's not quite that simple.

To use the PowerTrekk, you also have to purchase a $4 PowerTrekk Pukk. Once you add a small amount of water (about half a shot), and add a one-time-use Pukk, the latter will immediately begin separating the hydrogen from the water, using it as fuel to charge your handset.

Each Pukk will produces 2.5 watts at 5 volts, which is good for about one full iPhone charge. If there is electricity available, however, you can also charge the separate internal battery in the PowerTrekk so it can power your phone later on.

Power your phone in an emergency

When I handled the unit at iWorld in San Francisco, it was indeed very lightweight despite its industrial look, and in a situation where there is no sun, I can see it coming in handy.

However, there is much debate about how useful a product like this can be. Not only is it rather cumbersome in shape, but you'll need to continually buy more Pukks in order to use the device multiple times. Compared to solar chargers and chargers that run on kinetic energy, this can become wasteful and pricey.

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Twitter: 250,000 users' data compromised in hacking attacks

#1157946: Twitter bird logo, social networking and microblogging service, graphic element on white / AP Graphics

Twitter said today that it recently detected a series of attempts to hack into user data, and that the attackers may have successfully absconded with some users' information.

In a blog post Friday afternoon, Twitter explained the situation, and the steps it has taken to fight off the hackers.

This week, we detected unusual access patterns that led to us identifying unauthorized access attempts to Twitter user data. We discovered one live attack and were able to shut it down in process moments later. However, our investigation has thus far indicated that the attackers may have had access to limited user information - usernames, email addresses, session tokens and encrypted/salted versions of passwords - for approximately 250,000 users. As a precautionary security measure, we have reset passwords and revoked session tokens for these accounts. If your account was one of them, you will have recently received (or will shortly) an email from us at the address associated with your Twitter account notifying you that you will need to create a new password. Your old password will not work when you try to log in to Twitter.

Twitter said in the post that a very small number of users were affected by the hacking, but it encouraged everyone who uses the service to ensure that they are practicing "good password hygiene, on Twitter and elsewhere on the Internet." Among its suggestions: using unique passwords of at least ten characters, including a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. Based on attacks on other high-profile tech and media companies, Twitter also said it is recommending the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's recent advisory on disabling Java, among other precautions.

This attack was not the work of amateurs, and we do not believe it was an isolated incident. The attackers were extremely sophisticated, and we believe other companies and organizations have also been recently similarly attacked. For that reason we felt that it was important to publicize this attack while we still gather information, and we are helping government and federal law enforcement in their effort to find and prosecute these attackers to make the Internet safer for all users.

This article originally appeared on CNET under the headline "Twitter says 250,000 users' data compromised in hacking attacks"

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Gov's Handling of Sandusky Case Under Investigation

The newly-elected attorney general of Pennsylvania is going after the state's governor, Tom Corbett, who was attorney general when child sex allegations against Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky were first brought forward.

Kathleen Kane, a Democrat who was sworn in as attorney general on Jan. 15, said that she will name a special prosecutor in the coming days to investigate Corbett's handling of the Sandusky case. Corbett is a Republican.

The investigation will look specifically at why it took the attorney general's office three years to bring criminal charges against Sandusky while he continued to have access to children.

"Attorney General Kane will appoint a special prosecutor to lead the office's internal investigation into how the Sandusky child abuse investigation was handled by the Office of the Attorney General," Kane's office said in a statement released today.

Corbett's attorney general's office was first notified of the allegations against Sandusky in 2008 when a high school student told his mother and school that Sandusky had molested him. The local district attorney passed the allegation on to the attorney general, then Corbett. Corbett convened a grand jury.

Mario Tama; Patrick Smith/Getty Images

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It wasn't until 2011 that sex abuse charges were filed against Sandusky while Corbett had since become governor. Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of sex abuse in June 2012.

The charges sent shockwaves throughout Pennsylvania, as Penn State's president, two top officials, and legendary coach Joe Paterno all lost their jobs over the scandal.

"Why did it take 33 months to get Sandusky off the streets? Was the use of a grand jury the right decision? Why were there so few resources dedicated to the investigation? Were the best practices implemented?" the statement from Kane's office read.

"At the end of this investigation, we will know the answers to these questions and be able to tell the people of Pennsylvania the facts and give them answers that they deserve," the statement said.

Describing an interview Kane gave the New York Times, the Times said Kane suggested that Corbett did not want to upset voters or donors in the Penn State community before his gubernatorial run in 2009.

Corbett has denied those suggestions. His office did not immediately return calls for comment.

Kane's office preemptively fought back against the idea that the investigation is politically motivated. Kane, a Democrat, defeated the incumbent attorney general, Linda Kelly, a Republican in November 2011. Corbett is a Republican.

"The speculation that this is about politics is insane," a staff member in Kane's office told ABC News today. "You go anywhere in Pennsylvania and anywhere across the country and you'll find individuals asking, 'why did it take three years? Why was there a grand jury? Why make these kids talk to 30 different people about what happened?"

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Explosion at Mexican oil giant Pemex headquarters kills 25

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A powerful explosion rocked the Mexico City headquarters of state-owned oil giant Pemex on Thursday, killing at least 25 people, injuring more than 100 and trapping others inside.

The mid-afternoon blast shattered the lower floors of the downtown tower, throwing debris into the streets and sending frightened workers running outside.

A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said preliminary findings suggested the blast was caused by a gas boiler exploding in a Pemex building next to the tower. But the cause was still being investigated, the official added.

The explosion was the latest in a series of safety problems to hit Mexico's national oil monopoly.

Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said the blast killed at least 25 people, up from a previous count of 14, and injured 100. Dozens of employees were believed to be still trapped inside, and rescue workers said the death toll at the Pemex skyscraper could keep rising.

Mauricio Parra, a paramedic at the scene, said he believed at least 20 people had died and that 100 could be trapped at the offices of Pemex, a national institution that President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration has pledged to reform this year.

Police quickly cordoned off the building, and television images showed the explosion caused major damage to the ground floor and blew out windows on the lower floors of the tower.

"You could feel it all through the building," said Mario Guzman, a Pemex worker who was on the 10th floor of the building, which is more than 50 floors high.

First mistaking the blast for an earthquake, Guzman, who said he escaped after running down the stairs, feared the building would collapse on top of him and his colleagues, "and that we would end up like a sandwich."

Several witnesses said the blast came from the neighboring Pemex building. Pemex said initially the tower was evacuated due to a problem with its electricity supply. It then said there had been an explosion, but did not say what caused it.

Earlier in the evening, Pena Nieto, who took office in December, went to the scene of the blast and said it would be thoroughly investigated. He vowed to apply "the force of the law" if anyone was found to be responsible for it.

Mexican news network Milenio said security officials after the explosion carried out a precautionary search of Congress for explosive devices, but found nothing.

Helicopters buzzed around the building and lines of fire trucks sped to the entrance, while emergency workers ferried injured people through wreckage strewn on the street.

Search-and-rescue dogs were sent into the skyscraper, a Mexico City landmark that sports a distinctive "hat" on top. Pemex published a list of 105 workers who were being treated for injuries in hospitals.

DEADLY ACCIDENTS

Some families of people working in the tower were impatient for news about missing relatives.

Gloria Garcia, 53, herself a Pemex worker who was not in the building during the explosion, came to see if she could track down her son, who worked in one of the floors hit.

"I'm calling his phone and he's not answering," Garcia said, weeping as she called repeatedly on her phone. "Nobody knows anything. They won't let me through. I want to see my son whatever state he's in."

Pemex has experienced a number of deadly accidents in recent years and lesser safety problems have been a regular occurrence. In September, 30 people died after an explosion at a Pemex natural gas facility in northern Mexico.

More than 300 were killed when a Pemex natural gas plant on the outskirts of Mexico City exploded in 1984.

Eight years later, about 200 people were killed and 1,500 injured after a series of underground gas explosions in Guadalajara, Mexico's second biggest city. An official investigation found Pemex was partly to blame.

Alberto Islas, a security analyst at consultancy Risk Evaluation, said the explosion at the Pemex offices was another blot against the company's safety record.

"We've seen this time and again at Pemex. They don't have a well-integrated policy," Islas said, noting it would probably take several hours before investigators would be able to determine the cause of the explosion.

Pemex, a symbol of Mexican self-sufficiency since the oil industry was nationalized in 1938, has been held back by inefficiency and corruption and by the burden it shoulders of providing about a third of federal tax revenues.

Pena Nieto has pledged to open up the company to more private investment to improve its performance.

(Additional reporting by Krista Hughes, Cyntia Barrera, Gabriel Stargardter and Liz Diaz; Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Kieran Murray and Peter Cooney)

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Death toll in Mexico oil firm blast rises to 25

MEXICO CITY - A huge blast rocked the headquarters of Mexican state-owned oil giant Pemex on Thursday, killing at least 25 people, injuring 100 and leaving rescuers scrambling to find survivors into the night.

Smoke billowed skyward as people fled the 54-floor Mexico City skyscraper, with some of those hurt in the blast being carried out on stretchers and office chairs, as witnesses recalled an earthquake-like rumble shaking the floor.

Windows broke on several lower floors, scattering debris. The company said the cause of the deadly incident was under investigation and declared that any reports on the origin of the blast amounted to speculation.

Officials said the blast ripped through an annex at around 3:40 pm (2140 GMT), causing severe damage to three floors. Witnesses said a roof connecting the annex to the tower collapsed. Thousands of people were evacuated.

As night fell, floodlights shone on the rubble and two cranes were brought to help rescuers find survivors.

Almost six hours after the blast, President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Twitter that "one more person was rescued alive in the rubble."

"I don't have any conclusive report on the cause, which is why I insist against any speculation," Pena Nieto told reporters after visiting the site.

A spokesman for the civil protection agency said there was an apparent "accumulation of gas" in an electrical supply room, but the exact cause of the blast has yet to be confirmed.

Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong told a news conference that 17 women and eight men had died, and that 101 people had been injured.

Almost eight hours after the blast, he said it was hard to know if anybody was still trapped in the rubble.

Pena Nieto ordered that the rescue continue "to the last piece of debris, to be sure that there is not one single person trapped under," the minister said.

Emergency workers with rescue dogs, helicopters and several ambulances were at the scene in the capital, a city that is equipped to handle earthquakes.

Pemex said on Twitter that the explosion hit the ground floor and mezzanine of the tower's annex.

"We had two minutes to leave the building. I was headed to the pharmacy when the windows broke. It was a deafening noise," Astrid Garcia Trevino, who worked in the annex, told AFP. "The floor shook as if it was an earthquake."

Some witnesses told local media that a number of people were trapped in rubble.

"It was dramatic. The building was shaking and suddenly there was debris. We couldn't even see the people next to us," Pemex employee and union member Cristian Obele told reporters.

"Windows broke, people were injured and a lot of people were in shock," an unidentified worker told the Televisa channel, describing the impact of the "very strong explosion."

Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera and several top federal officials headed to the scene, as authorities closed off the avenue in front of the tower.

"I deeply regret the death of Pemex workers," Pena Nieto said on Twitter. "The priority at the moment is to help the injured and protect the people working there."

Pemex, the world's fourth-largest crude producer with around 2.5 million barrels per day, said the administrative centre would remain closed "until further notice," after it had earlier been evacuated due to a power failure.

The company has experienced deadly accidents at its oil and gas facilities in the past. Last year, a huge explosion killed 30 people at a gas plant near the northern city of Reynosa, close to the US border.

The previous worst incident took place in December 2010, when an oil pipeline exploded after it was punctured by thieves in the central town of San Martin Texmelucan, leaving 29 dead and injuring more than 50.

In October 2007, 21 Pemex workers died during a gas leak on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Most drowned when they jumped into the sea in panic.

- AFP/ir

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Microsoft's tablet blip versus Android's boom

Android-based tablets like Amazon's Kindle Fire are becoming very popular just as Microsoft enters the tablet market.

(Credit:
Amazon)

As Android tablet shipments surge, probably the best thing that can be said about Microsoft is that it's not going away.

Android
tablet shipments totaled about 30 million in the fourth quarter, IDC reported today. And that number (total market) jumps to 50 million if you throw in Apple's
iPad.

"There is no question that Microsoft is in this tablet race to compete for the long haul," an IDC analyst said today in a statement, trying to put Microsoft's tablet debut into perspective.

In fact, that's probably about as positive a statement that can be made at the moment.

Then this: "Reaction to the company's Surface with Windows RT tablet was muted at best," IDC added.

Muted in this case amounts to 900,000 units shipped "into the channel."

So, how does that compare with other major vendors just entering the market? Amazon shipped about 4.7 million Kindle Fire tablets in the fourth quarter of 2011 when that $199 tablet debuted.

And Asus, which makes Google's
Nexus 7 tablet, shipped 3.1 million tablets in the fourth quarter of 2012, the quarter after the Nexus 7's debut. Many if not most of those are undoubtedly the Nexus 7.

Throw in the market totals that IDC reported today (Amazon shipped about 6 million last quarter and Samsung almost 8 million) and it's clear that Android tablets are not only leaving a bigger footprint in the market but are also even eroding Apple's share.

That leaves Microsoft as a blip amid an Android boom.

How does Microsoft gain on Android? Lower prices might help.

"We believe that Microsoft and its partners need to quickly adjust to the market realities of smaller screens and lower prices," IDC said.

And what about the long haul? "In the long run, consumers may grow to believe that high-end computing tablets with desktop operating systems are worth a higher premium than other tablets," IDC added.

That could indeed be a long haul.

Will Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 Surface Pro with laptop-like performance sell in large numbers? We'll see. But with a starting price of $899, it's certainly not a bargain compared with Android tablets.

(Credit:
Microsoft)

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Investigators eye slain Texas prosecutor's cases

(CBS) KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas -- Authorities in Kaufman County, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, are looking into past criminal cases and those that were on the calendar of Chief Prosecutor Mark Hasse, who was shot dead Thursday morning in a parking lot across from the county courthouse, CBS DFW reported.

Kaufman Police Chief Chris Aulbaugh told the station that Hasse's shooting appears to have been a targeted attack and that authorities have no elevated concern for the general public.

The motive is unknown, but investigators are looking at Hasse's cases, which have included drug dealers and organized crime.

Officials responding to the scene where authorities say Mark Hasse was shot and killed near the North Texas county courthouse where he worked on Jan. 31, 2013

Officials confirmed that Hasse, 57, was shot in the parking lot of the department of motor vehicles. He was transported to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Officials said Hasse was walking to his office, from the parking lot, Thursday morning when he was assaulted by an unknown person and "shot multiple times." He was a Kaufman County District Attorney since July of 2010.

Authorities believe that at least one person -- possibly two -- were involved in the shooting. State troopers have confirmed that an all points bulletin has been put out for two males, wearing all black clothing and some type of vests, possibly tactical, CBS DFW reported.

Chief Aulbaugh said, "We had some witnesses that saw an individual fleeing the area on foot and getting into a vehicle." That vehicle is described as a possibly dark brown or silver-colored sedan, similar to a Ford Taurus, with no license plates.

"This is a horrible situation, just a tragedy," County Judge Bruce Wood told CBS News' Anna Werner. "We'd see him in the hallways every day, and he was just an outstanding person and a very well-respected prosecutor."

"This takes it to a whole new level -- your police and your front-line people is understandable, but this? This takes it to a whole new level," Judge Wood said.

Hasse's boss, Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McClellan, said Hasse has prosecuted hundreds of cases. He was asked by CBS News' Werner what hurt the most about the killing.

"That I can't get the guys who did it. Because I would really love to,'' said McClellan.

Attacks on U.S. prosecutors are rare. Contacted by CBS News, the National District Attorneys Association knew of only seven examples between 1967 and 2004.

Investigators are asking that anyone with information about the shooting, suspects or the vehicle call police. Kaufman County Crime Stoppers is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.

A local Kaufman business is also offering $10,000 to anyone providing information in the case.

Officials from the Kaufman Police Department, Sheriff's Department and the Texas Rangers are all working the case.

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Arias' Lawyer Shows Ex-Boyfriend's Lewd Photos

Accused murderer Jodi Arias was kept away from the Mormon friends of her lover Travis Alexander and their torrid sex affair was kept secret by Alexander, even as he sent lewd photos of himself to her online, according to court testimony today.

The testimony in Arias' trial for killing Alexander in 2008 was intended to bolster the defense's argument that she killed him in self defense, that Alexander was a sexual deviant who treated Arias as his "dirty little secret."

Arias' attorneys introduced as evidence photos that Alexander took of his penis and sent to Arias, part of a string of graphic messages and sexual phone calls the two engaged in while Alexander, an elder in the Mormon church, was supposed to be chaste.

Today's witness was the latest in a string called by the defense, including Alexander's former girlfriend Lisa Daidone, who told the court that Alexander had professed to be a virgin.

Daniel Freeman continued his testimony today, describing how he was a friend of both Arias and Alexander but that Alexander kept Arias distanced from his Mormon pals.

"Travis had made more friends at (the Mormon) ward, and had (Ultimate Fighting Championship) fight nights at his house many times, and Jodi was in town, but she wasn't there," Freeman said.

"There was that group of friends, them and Jodi, two different groups, and so Lisa [Daidone] and friends from church were there, but Jodi wasn't there," Freeman said.

Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Former Boyfriend Takes Stand Watch Video

Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Defense's First Day of Witnesses Watch Video

Alexander's behavior, the defense hopes to prove, shows that he mistreated Arias.

Arias, 32, is on trial for murdering Alexander, whom she dated for a year and continued to have a sexual relationship for a year after that. Her attorneys claim that Alexander was abusive and controlling toward Arias, and that she was forced to kill him.

Freeman described how he took a trip with his sister, Alexander, and Arias, and how Alexander had asked him to come along so that he and Arias "would not get physical."

"I don't know that I can say he didn't want to be alone with her, but he liked that when I was there, and my sister was there. They weren't as physical," Freeman said.

Freeman admitted that he had no idea Alexander and Arias had been having a sexual relationship the entire time they were together. He said Alexander never mentioned that to his friends.

In fact, Freeman noted that Alexander was considered to be a church elder when he baptized Arias into the Church of Latter-Day Saints. Both a church elder and a convert were expected to abide by the church's strict law of chastity, which banned any sexual relations outside of marriage.

"One thing people give up in this baptism process was sex," prosecutor Juan Martinez said. "Did you know she was having oral sex with Mr. Alexander at the time of her baptism? Would that be an insincere baptism?"

"She would not be ready to be baptized in that case," Freeman said.

"You were asked about Miss Arias, whether she was worthy of baptism if she was performing oral sex, but what about the elder receiving oral sex?" defense attorney Kirk Nurmi said.

"They would not be worthy of performing that ordinance at that time until they had gone through repentance," Freeman said. "They would go to a discipline council and could face excommunication or a probation period or have their priesthood removed."

Freeman said that Alexander never confessed to having a sexual relationship with Arias.

Freeman's testimony came on the third day of the defense's attempt to paint Alexander as a controlling, sex-obsessed liar who was cruel to Arias. Other witnesses have said that Alexander cheated on other women he dated with Arias, and lied to his friends and family about their relationship.

The defense also had Freeman point out that Alexander was strong and fit. They are expected to conclude that Alexander was physically threatening Arias when she killed him.

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French troops deployed in last Mali rebel strongholds

DOUENTZA, Mali/PARIS (Reuters) - French troops seized the airport in Mali's northern town of Kidal, the last urban stronghold held by Islamist insurgents, as they moved to wrap up the first phase of a military operation to wrest northern Mali from rebel hands.

France has deployed some 4,500 troops in a three-week ground and air offensive to break the Islamist rebels' 10-month grip on major northern towns. The mission is aimed at heading off the risk of Mali being used as a springboard for jihadist attacks in the wider region or Europe.

The French military plans to gradually hand over to a larger African force, tasked with rooting out insurgents in their mountain redoubts near Algeria's border.

Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said French forces using planes and helicopters defied a sandstorm late on Tuesday to capture the airport but had been prevented by the bad weather from entering the town itself.

"The terrorist forces are pulling back to the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains which are difficult to access," Le Drian told a news conference. "There is support from Chadian and Nigerian troops coming from the south."

The deployment of French troops to remote Kidal puts them in direct contact with pro-autonomy Tuareg MNLA rebels, whose rebellion last year was hijacked by the Islamist radicals. Le Drian said France had established good relations with local Tuareg chieftains before sending in troops.

MNLA leaders say they are ready to fight al Qaeda but many Malians, including the powerful military top brass in the capital Bamako, blame them for the division of the country. They view Paris' liaisons with the Tuaregs with suspicion.

French and Malian troops retook the major Saharan trading towns of Gao and Timbuktu at the weekend.

There were fears that many thousands of priceless ancient manuscripts held in Timbuktu, a UNESCO World Heritage site, might have been lost during the rebel occupation, but experts said the bulk of the texts were safe.

The United States and European governments strongly support the Mali intervention and are providing logistical and surveillance backing but do not intend to send combat troops.

The MNLA rebels, who want greater autonomy for the desert north, said they had moved fighters into Kidal after Islamists left the town earlier this week.

"For the moment, there is a coordination with the French troops," said Moussa Ag Assarid, the MNLA spokesman in Paris.

A spokesman for the Malian army said its soldiers were securing Gao and Timbuktu and were not heading to Kidal.

The MNLA took up arms against the Bamako government a year ago, seeking to carve out a new independent desert state.

After initially fighting alongside the Islamists, by June they had been forced out by their better armed and financed former allies, who include al Qaeda North Africa's wing, AQIM, a splinter wing called MUJWA and Ansar Dine, a Malian group.

RISK OF ATTACKS, KIDNAPPINGS

As the French wind up the first phase of their offensive, doubts remain about just how quickly the U.N.-backed African intervention force can be fully deployed in Mali to hunt down the retreating al Qaeda-allied insurgents. Known as AFISMA, the force is now expected to exceed 8,000 troops.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France's military operation, codenamed Serval (Wildcat), was planned as a lightning mission lasting a few weeks.

"Liberating Gao and Timbuktu very quickly was part of the plan. Now it's up to the African countries to take over," he told the Le Parisien daily. "We decided to put in the means and the necessary number of soldiers to strike hard. But the French contingent will not stay like this. We will leave very quickly."

One French soldier has been killed in the mission, and Fabius warned that things could now get more difficult, as the offensive seeks to flush out insurgents with experience of fighting in the desert from their wilderness hideouts.

"We have to be careful. We are entering a complicated phase where the risks of attacks or kidnappings are extremely high. French interests are threatened throughout the entire Sahel."

An attack on the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria earlier this month by Islamist fighters opposing the French intervention in Mali led to the deaths of dozens of foreign hostages and raised fears of similar reprisal strikes across North and West Africa.

NEED FOR RECONCILIATION

The French operation has destroyed the Islamists' training camps and logistics bases but analysts say a long term solution for Mali hinges on finding a political settlement between the northern communities and the southern capital Bamako.

Interim President Dioncounda Traore said on Tuesday his government would aim to hold national elections on July 31. Paris is pushing strongly for Traore's government to hold talks with the MNLA, which has dropped its claims for independence.

"The Malian authorities must begin without delay talks with the legitimate representatives of the northern population and non-terrorist armed groups that recognize Mali's integrity," French Foreign ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said.

After months of being kept on the political sidelines, the MNLA said they were in contact with West African mediators who are trying to forge a national settlement to reunite Mali.

"We reiterate that we are ready to talk with Bamako and to find a political solution. We want self-determination, but all that will be up to negotiations which will determine at what level both parties can go," Ag Assarid said.

There have been cases in Gao and Timbuktu and other recaptured towns of reprisal attacks and looting of shops and residences belonging to Malian Tuaregs and Arabs suspected of sympathizing with the MNLA and the Islamist rebels.

(Additional reporting John Irish and Emmanuel Jarry in Paris, David Lewis and Pascal Fletcher in Dakar; Writing by David Lewis and Daniel Flynn; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Rosalind Russell)

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Basketball: Heat scorch Nets 105-85

NEW YORK: LeBron James and the NBA champion Miami Heat ended the Brooklyn Nets' home winning streak in emphatic style Wednesday with a 105-85 triumph at the Barclays Centre.

The Heat shot 51.8 percent from the field and made 11-of-19 from three-point range to notch their 13th straight victory over the Nets -- including a sweep of all three regular-season games on the schedule in this campaign.

Miami bounced back from a double-overtime loss at Boston on Sunday, and halted the Nets' eight-game home winning streak.

Hours after Nets forward Reggie Evans said during his team's morning shoot-around that the Heat's 2012 title was devalued because it came in a lockout-shortened season, the champs showed they remain a cut above.

James scored 24 points with nine rebounds and seven assists. Dwyane Wade added 21 points and Chris Bosh scored 16 for a Miami team that broke open a close game with a 36-14 third quarter.

Brook Lopez, named to the All-Star game in place of injured Rajon Rondo of Boston on Wednesday, scored 21 points and Joe Johnson contributed 16. But the Nets were undone by 19 turnovers, including eight in the key third period.

The Heat continue a four-game road trip on Friday at Indiana and wrap it up on Sunday at Toronto.

-AFP/fl

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IBM's Watson heads to school

To borrow from Hugh Gallagher's famous take on the university admissions essay, IBM's Watson computer has played Jeopardy with a Congressman, has offered medical advice to doctors, and has spoken with late-night TV stars. But it has not yet gone to college.

Till now, that is.

IBM announced today that it would, for the first time, be providing a modified version of a Watson system to a university: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

The system will "afford faculty and students an opportunity to find new uses for Watson and deepen the system's cognitive capabilities," Big Blue said in a press release.

Watson, of course, is the system that made a splash in 2011, when it crushed its human competitors on the Jeopardy game show. The system has, as IBM puts it, "a unique ability to understand the subtle nuances of human language, sift through vast amounts of data, and provide evidence-based answers to its human users' questions."

Since its Jeopardy triumph, Watson has been eyeballed for health-care duty -- including help with diagnosing cancer -- banking functions; and even telemarketing.

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Obama: "No doubt" Congress will pass immigration, gun bills

Play Video

Obama: "No doubt" gun, immigration bills will pass in coming months

There's more bipartisan support in Congress for comprehensive immigration reform than gun control legislation, President Obama said tonight during an interview with Univision, but qualified that even under his proposal, illegal immigrants shouldn't be harboring expectations that they'll be granted citizenship "manana."

"Even under our proposal, this is not a situation where overnight, suddenly people all find themselves as citizens," Mr. Obama told the Spanish-language television network. "They're going to have to go to the back of the line. We're going to have to clear out the existing line, backlogs we have in terms of illegal immigrants, because they did it the right way. We shouldn't punish them for breaking the law.

"...What we don't want to do is to create some vague prospect in the future that somehow comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship will happen manana," he continued, chuckling softly at the somewhat awkward injection of the Spanish word for "tomorrow." "But we have to put that in place at the outset, and make sure people are clear that this pathway is real and not just a fantasy for the future."

Asked whether he was in a standoff with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the son of Cuban immigrants who has said he will not support a bill that does not put border control ahead of a path to citizenship, Mr. Obama said no, but pointed out that the number of people crossing the border illegally has dropped "about 80 percent since 2000."

On Tuesday, the president delivered a speech in Las Vegas outlining his immigration plan and applauding a bipartisan group of eight senators that has offered up proposals as well. In an interview today with another Spanish language network, Telemundo, he specified that he's hoping immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship can be passed in the next six months, but "certainly this year."

Meanwhile, despite facing more resistance from the right on tightening gun laws, he said he has "no doubt" that Congress will be able to put through legislation on gun control, as well as immigration.

Play Video

Obama: Legalization for illegal immigrants won't happen "ma?ana"

"On the gun issue, you're starting to see gun owners, people who traditionally have opposed gun control, saying, 'You know what, when 20 of our children are shot by somebody who is disturbed, and when it is that easy to get these high-clip magazines that can fire off hundreds of shots in a few minutes, then it's time for us to do better job on background checks, to get control of these magazine clips, to really crack down on gun trafficking," Mr. Obama said in the Univision interview.

The Senate Judiciary Committee today held the first congressional hearing on gun violence since last month's massacre at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school, that left 20 children and six adults dead. Star witnesses included former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who survived a shot to the head two years ago during an assassination attempt that left six people dead, and her husband on one side, and NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre on the other.

Both gun control and immigration "will end up generating some opposition," the president said. "There will be passions on both sides. But I'm generally encouraged that the Senate seems to be having a serious conversation about these issues."

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No Device Eliminates Concussion Risk, Experts Say

As the long-term consequences of concussions become clearer, a cottage industry has popped up to sell athletes and worried parents products designed to mitigate risks of concussions that even helmets cannot prevent.

Despite the bold claims of some companies, however, many experts say the Holy Grail in contact sports -- a device that prevents concussions -- simply does not exist. Indeed, experts say, there is no proof that any current device significantly reduces the risk of concussions beyond the protections already provided by helmets.

"Nightline" found several products for sale online that aim to reduce the risk of concussions or even alert parents and coaches when a kid has supposedly taken a concussion-level hit. The claims the manufacturers make are often breathtakingly reassuring.

Concern about the risk of concussion is mounting at every level of the gridiron from the NFL to colleges and even high schools. Concussions are the most common injury among high school football players.

Jennifer Branin, whose son Tyler Branin is one of the stars of the Woodbridge Warriors high school football team in Irvine, Calif., said "it was scary" the first time he had a concussion.

"He had lost his balance on the field," she said. "He got up and tried to continue, but couldn't keep his balance."

Vanished Abroad: US Woman Missing in Turkey Watch Video

She said the effects of the concussion lingered, causing Tyler to miss a week of school and football practice. Even months later, he complained of difficulty concentrating in class.

Parents such as Jennifer Branin, who is president of the team's booster club, and her husband, Andy Branin, a former college football player himself, were looking for a way to support their son's desire to play football while also keeping him safe.

"He wants to play and, as a mom, you may want to put bubble-wrap around them and protect them forever, but that's not going to happen," she said.

So Jennifer Branin decided to do something. She raised money to buy the team helmet inserts by Unequal Technologies for added protection.

Unequal Technologies, one of the highest profile players in this new market, described its product explicitly on the box as "Concussion Reduction Technology," or "CRT." It is a strip of composite material including bullet-proof Kevlar that is designed to stick inside the helmet as a liner to the existing helmet pads.

Unequal Technologies uses its material in products ranging from padded sleeves to shin guards. The company counts NFL players and X-Games athletes among its fans.

On board as paid spokesmen are Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick and James Harrison, a linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Harrison is one of the hardest-hitting guys in the NFL and said he uses Unequal Technology's liners in his helmet.

"I don't know what it's made of but it works," Harrison says in one of Unequal's promotional videos. "I really don't feel like I'm taking a risk."

Vick wasn't wearing the CRT product when he suffered a season-ending concussion in November, but he has since promised that he will be wearing it when he returns to the field next season.

Rob Vito, founder and CEO of the Kennett Square, Pa.-based company, said he worked with scientists to create a military-grade composite material that can help protect athletes from all kinds of injuries from head to toe.

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Sixty-five people executed in Syria's Aleppo: activists

BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least 65 people were found shot dead with their hands bound in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Tuesday in a "new massacre" in the near two-year revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, activists said.

Opposition campaigners blamed the government but it was impossible to confirm who was responsible. Assad's forces and rebels have been battling in Syria's commercial hub since July and both have been accused of carrying out summary executions.

U.N.-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi told the U.N. Security Council "unprecedented levels of horror" had been reached in Syria, and that both the government and rebels had committed atrocious crimes, diplomats said.

He appealed to the 15-nation council to overcome its deadlock and take action to help end the civil war in which Syria is "breaking up before everyone's eyes".

More than 60,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the war, the longest and deadliest of the revolts that began throughout the Arab world two years ago.

The U.N. refugee agency said the fighting had forced more than 700,000 people to flee. World powers fear the conflict could envelop Syria's neighbors including Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, further destabilizing an already explosive region.

Opposition activists posted a video of at least 51 muddied male bodies alongside what they said was the Queiq River in Aleppo's rebel-held Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood.

The bodies had what looked like bullet wounds in their heads and some of the victims appeared to be young, possibly teenagers, dressed in jeans, shirts and trainers.

Aleppo-based opposition activists who asked not to be named for security reasons blamed pro-Assad militia fighters.

They said the men had been executed and dumped in the river before floating downstream into the rebel area. State media did not mention the incident.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which says it provides objective information about casualties on both sides of Syria's war from a network of monitors, said the footage was evidence of a new massacre and the death toll could rise as high as 80.

"They were killed only because they are Muslims," said a bearded man in another video said to have been filmed in central Bustan al-Qasr after the bodies were removed from the river. A pickup truck with a pile of corpses was parked behind him.

STALEMATE

It is hard for Reuters to verify such reports from inside Syria because of restrictions on independent media.

Rebels are stuck in a stalemate with government forces in Aleppo - Syria's most populous city which is divided roughly in half between the two sides.

The revolt started as a peaceful protest movement against more than four decades of rule by Assad and his family, but turned into an armed rebellion after a government crackdown.

About 712,000 Syrian refugees have registered in other countries in the region or are awaiting processing as of Tuesday, the U.N. refugee agency said.

"We have seen an unrelenting flow of refugees across all borders. We are running double shifts to register people," Sybella Wilkes, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told Reuters in Geneva.

The United Nations said it had received aid promises ahead of a donor conference in Kuwait on Wednesday where it is seeking $1.5 billion for refugees and people inside Syria. Washington announced an additional $155 million that its said brought the total U.S. humanitarian aid to the crisis to some $365 million.

Aid group Médecins Sans Frontières said the bulk of the current aid was going to government-controlled areas in Syria and called on donors to make sure they were even-handed.

MISSILES

In the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, insurgents including al Qaeda-linked Islamists captured a security agency after days of heavy fighting, according to an activist.

Some of the fighters were shown carrying a black flag with the Islamic declaration of faith and the name of the al-Nusra Front, which has ties to al Qaeda in neighboring Iraq.

The war has become heavily sectarian, with rebels who mostly come from the Sunni Muslim majority fighting an army whose top generals are mostly from Assad's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam. Assad has framed the revolt as a foreign-backed conspiracy and blames the West and Sunni Gulf states.

Fighting also took place in the northern town of Ras al-Ain, on the border with Turkey, between rebels and Kurdish militants, the Observatory said.

In Turkey, a second pair of Patriot missile batteries being sent by NATO countries are now operational, a German security official said.

The United States, Germany and the Netherlands each committed to sending two batteries and up to 400 soldiers to operate them after Ankara asked for help to bolster its air defenses against possible missile attack from Syria.

(Additional reporting by Sylvia Westall in Kuwait, Sabine Siebold in Berlin and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Robin Pomeroy)

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RIM faces make-or-break launch

NEW YORK: It's the moment of truth for BlackBerry maker Research in Motion.

The Canadian company Wednesday will officially launch the BlackBerry 10, an effort that some see as the company's last, best chance to remain a player in a smartphone market it once dominated.

RIM burst on the scene with the BlackBerry in 2003. That was long before the iPhone and other competing technologies emerged to steal control of the market from RIM with their more consumer-friendly smartphones.

The company boomed as the maker of "crackberries", a nickname stemming from the addiction the phones engendered in users.

But now, unless the Blackberry 10 is a hit, RIM faces becoming a footnote in an increasingly competitive market led by Apple and rivals who use Google's Android operating system.

"The importance of this launch cannot be overstated," said Ramon Llamas, an analyst at the research firm IDC, "There's going to be a lot of work that needs to be done to earn back respect."

RIM touts the system as a big change in smartphone technology.

"This is an entirely new operating system," said company spokesman Nick Manning, "We think it's the first entirely new mobile operating system in about five years."

RIM says the system will break new ground by allowing customers to flip between applications seamlessly and without first passing through a home page, to boost efficiency and multitasking.

Another key asset of BlackBerry 10 is what RIM dubbed the "BlackBerry balance", a system that allows users to separate professional communications and applications from music, photographs and other personal items.

Such an option means that if a user changes job, his or her former company can disable the device's corporate side without affecting personal data.

RIM's recent performance on Wall Street suggests the market is open to the BlackBerry 10. Shares have risen more than 30 percent since the start of the year, although they dropped back over the last two sessions.

Gartner analyst Phillip Redman said RIM still has a strong constituency of business users who prefer its hard keyboard and its reputation for strong network security.

While Redman doesn't think the BlackBerry 10 will surpass Apple's iPhone or Android products, the device "has great comeback potential", he wrote in a recent blog entry.

But others see only a modest opening for RIM given the cutthroat competition in the smartphone market.

"We don't buy the hype," Citi analyst Jim Suva said in a research note, pointing out that rivals such as China's Huawei are also entering the market.

Sterne, Agee & Leach analyst Shaw Wu noted that many of the high-end customers to which RIM is marketing have already migrated to other devices.

"We see the company getting a degree of traction in this higher end market, but doubt there is a return to its former glory," Wu said.

-AFP/fl

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Judge: Samsung didn't 'willfully' infringe Apple patents

U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh handed down some of her first post-trial rulings from the much publicized Apple v. Samsung patent case this evening.

In a 32-page order filed today, the judge said she predominantly agreed with the jury's decision that Samsung infringed on seven of Apple's design and utility patents. However, she disagreed with one finding -- that Samsung "willfully" infringed on Apple's patents.

What this means is that Apple will now be unable to triple its damage awards. If Koh had agreed with the jury on this decision, Apple could have collected up to as much as three times in damages from Samsung.

The trial between the two tech giants wrapped up in August after the jury awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages. However, the two sides have been duking it out over a final judgment on damages. Apple has been trying to tack on more than $500 million, while Samsung has been trying to shave off $600 million.

Koh wrote in her ruling that in order to find Samsung willfully infringed on the patents, Apple would have to prove "by clear and convincing evidence that the infringer acted despite an objectively high likelihood that its actions constituted infringement of a valid patent." Samsung has argued that it didn't think Apple's patents were valid and therefore didn't believe it was infringing. Koh has accepted Samsung's argument for the "willful" standard.

Despite Koh ruling that no "willful" infringement took place, she still maintains the jury's findings that Samsung did infringe on Apple's patents.

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Grandson of oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens dies in Texas

Updated 8:35 PM ET

FORT WORTH, Texas A 21-year-old grandson of Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens died Tuesday after being rushed to a hospital in Fort Worth, according to police and a family spokesman.

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Thomas Boone Pickens IV, who went by Ty, was a junior at Texas Christian University. Pickens' spokesman, Jay Rosser, called the death an "unspeakable family tragedy" and asked that the family be allowed to grieve in private.

As reported by CBS Station KTVT Dallas, the family issued a statement: "Ty's loss at such a young age is an unspeakable family tragedy for the entire Pickens family and his many friends. We mourn his passing and respectfully request that the family be allowed to grieve in private in this time of sorrow."

Neither Rosser nor Fort Worth police have said what may have caused the death.

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Thomas Boone "Ty" Pickens IV

Officers were dispatched after getting a report of a dead person at an off-campus location around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, police spokeswoman Cpl. Tracey Knight said. Police said Ty Pickens was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Knight said the Tarrant County medical examiner would determine the cause of death. She declined further comment.

T. Boone Pickens appears on "CBS This Morning," Aug. 23, 2012.

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The elder Pickens made much of his fortune in oil drilling but has since become an advocate for alternative energy. The 84-year-old also is active in politics and has donated millions of dollars to his alma mater, Oklahoma State University, and various other causes.

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Clinton Talks 2016, Stands by Benghazi Testimony

In her final television interview as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton told ABC's Cynthia McFadden that she is "flattered and honored" at the intense interest in whether she might run for president in 2016.

But Clinton maintained that right now she's "not focused" on a presidential campaign; instead she said she wants to return to a "normal" life when she steps down from office on Friday.

Watch Cynthia McFadden's full interview with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on "Nightline" tonight at 12:35 a.m. ET

Clinton's first order of business, she said, will be sleep.

"I hope I get to sleep in," she told McFadden with a laugh. "It will be the first time in many years. I have no office to go to, no schedule to keep, no work to do. That will probably last a few days then I will be up and going with my new projects," she said.

"I have been working or attending school full-time since I was 13. This is going to be new for me. I don't know how I'm going to react to it, to be honest."

PHOTOS: Hillary Clinton Through the Years: From Wellesley to the White House, and Beyond

Clinton has had no trouble articulating her reaction to what has arguably been the darkest chapter of her tenure as Secretary of State: the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed.

Final Farewell: Hillary Clinton Steps Down as Secretary of State Watch Video

Secretary Clinton had a heated exchange with Republican Senator Ron Johnson during her five hours of testimony before Congress about the attack last week. Johnson accused the administration of misleading the American people about the cause of the attack, when UN Ambassador Susan Rice, on Sunday political talk shows, blamed it on protesters.

Clinton snapped back at Johnson, "Four Americans are dead. What difference does it make?" For that, she has been sharply criticized by some conservatives.

Clinton said she "absolutely" stands by her response to Johnson, maintaining that the administration has been transparent with the information it knew, when it was available. Clinton said partisan politics have no place in a response to a terrorist attack against Americans.

"I believe that we should in public life, whether you're in the administration or the Congress, de-politicize crisis and work together to figure out what happened, what we can do to prevent it and then put into place both the institutional changes and the budgetary changes that are necessary, " she said.

"When someone tries to put into a partisan lens, when they focus not on the fact that we have such a terrible event happening with four dead Americans but instead what did somebody say on a Sunday morning talk show? That to me is not in keeping with the seriousness of the issue and the obligation we all have as public servants"

FULL TRANSCRIPT: Sec. of State Hillary Clinton's "Nightline" Interview

Asked about her health, Clinton said her recent illness, concussion and blood clot were all a surprise.

"When I got sick and fainted and hit my head I was so surprised, and I thought I would just get up and go to work. And thankfully I had very good medical care and doctors who said, 'No we'd better do an MRI, we'd better do this, we'd better do that,'" she said, calling herself "lucky."

"I know now how split second beset by a virus and dehydrated, what it can do to you."

Though she confirmed she is wearing special glasses to help with double vision, a lingering issue following her illness, Clinton said that she expects to be fully recovered and operating at "full speed" soon.

The Secretary told McFadden that if she does decide to run, she would have "no problem" making her health records public.

"Of course, that goes with the territory," she said.

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