Michelle Obama mourns slain teenager at Chicago funeral

CHICAGO — First lady Michelle Obama attended the funeral here Saturday of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who went to school only a mile from the Obama family home and was gunned down a few days after visiting Washington for President Obama’s second inauguration.

Obama did not know Pendleton, nor did scores of other political dignitaries who filed into the Greater Harvest Baptist Church in Chicago’s South Side for the service. But by returning to her home town of Chicago to honor Pendleton, the first lady spotlighted the everyday gun violence that plagues the nation’s biggest cities at a time when the president is pushing Congress to pass tougher gun laws.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan and White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett accompanied the first lady to the service. All three have long ties to the South Side.

Although the president did not travel here Saturday, the back of a glossy obituary program distributed to mourners included a handwritten note from him to Pendleton’s parents, Cleopatra and Nathaniel.

“Michelle and I just wanted you to know how heartbroken we are to have heard about Hadiya’s passing,” he wrote in the letter. “We know that no words from us can soothe the pain, but rest assured that we are praying for you, and that we will continue to work as hard as we can to end this senseless violence. God Bless, Barack Obama.”

As hundreds of people filed into the church Saturday morning, a heart-shaped pillow rested beside Pendleton’s casket, which was lined in purple, her favorite color. The pillow featured a smiling image of the girl, signed by “mom and dad.”

Some of Pendleton’s classmates and fellow majorettes in the King College Prep’s band wore their black and yellow warm-up suits and carried roses.

Pendleton was remembered as an honors student who enjoyed cheerleading, debate and volleyball. She loved eating Chinese food, cheeseburgers and Fig Newtons; her favorite class in school was Latin; and she aspired to major in pharmacology or journalism in college.

During the service, Eric Thomas, pastor at Greater Harvest Baptist Church, asked that God “let the family know — her parents know — that her life has not been in vain. Because of this day, there will be many others saved.”

President Obama has spoken out repeatedly about finding ways to end not only mass shootings like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., but also the daily gun violence on street corners in cities such as Chicago, the nation’s third-largest.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Rep. Danny Davis (Ill.), all Democrats, attended Saturday’s service, as did the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who stood at the front of the church near Pendleton’s casket for a while before taking his seat in the congregation.

Quinn mentioned Pendleton in his “State of the State” address this week, in which he called for tougher gun control measures. And Emanuel, who was President Obama’s first White House chief of staff before being elected mayor, has become emotional recently when talking about Chicago’s frighteningly high homicide rate.

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6.5-magnitude quake strikes off Solomon Islands

HONIARA: A 6.5-magnitude earthquake hit off the Solomon Islands on Sunday, the latest powerful aftershock following a 8.0-magnitude quake that sparked a tsunami four days ago, US seismologists said.

The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 8:02 am, 2102 GMT Saturday, 29 kilometres south-southwest of Lata, the main town on remote Ndende Island in the Santa Cruz Islands, which are part of the Solomons, at a depth of 18 kilometres.

It was the latest in a series of powerful aftershocks to hit the remote region since a deadly 8.0-magnitude earthquake Wednesday triggered a tsunami, killing at least 13 people, destroying villages and leaving thousands homeless.

The tremor was not expected to generate a widespread tsunami, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.

Geoscience Australia also measured it at 6.5 but centred at a greater depth of 36 kilometres.

A further 12 houses were reported destroyed following a 6.8 magnitude tremor Friday and another measuring 7.0, which sent villagers fleeing to higher ground in fear of another tsunami.

The Solomon Islands government has declared the outlying Santa Cruz Islands a disaster area as the aftershocks continue to hamper relief efforts.

Because of a fragile communications system, officials in the capital Honiara were struggling to get a clear picture of the extent of damage, but the Red Cross said food, water and shelter were a priority for quake-hit villages.

- AFP/jc

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After Afzal Guru's hanging, focus now on Rajoana

CHANDIGARH: With the hanging of Afzal Guru on Saturday, the focus is now on Balwant Singh Rajoana, sentenced to death in the assassination of former Punjab CM Beant Singh. The Akalis had virtually pulled Rajoana out of the jaws of death when Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal and his son and SAD president Sukhbir Badal had pleaded with the then President to defer the hanging, just two days before he was to be executed on March 31 last year. Rajoana had, however, refused to challenge the death sentence.

On Saturday, as the BJP upped its attack on the UPA for the "delay in hanging Guru," its ally, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), maintained silence. Both the Badals and the SAD spokesperson avoided queries from TOI on their stand regarding Rajoana.

The Congress, meanwhile, accused the BJP of "doublespeak" and dared SAD to clarify its stand on Rajoana. This Babbar Khalsa International terrorist who conspired to kill Beant Singh was awarded the death sentence by a CBI special court in July 2007 along with another terrorist, Jagtar Singh Hawara. The Punjab and Haryana high court had in October 2010 upheld Rajoana's death sentence, while changing the capital punishment meted out to Hawara to life imprisonment.

While Sukhbir Badal, who is also deputy CM, parried queries from TOI, Gagandeep Brar, special principal secretary to the CM said that he was indisposed and would not be able to comment. However, the CM did find time to meet a 21-member delegation from Iowa, US, on Saturday morning.

The Punjab Congress attacked the BJP, saying that its ally, SAD, was only trying to put roadblocks to a legal and constitutional process. "Rajoana should be meted out the justice due to him. The central government only agreed to have a look at his appeal but law must take its course. While sharing the stage at a function in Punjab, I had asked LK Advani the question on double standards. He refused to answer then as well," said Sunil Jakhar, leader of opposition in Punjab Assembly.

Other Congress leaders also attacked the BJP, saying it was during its rule that Parliament was attacked and that they were using a different yardstick for the assassination of Beant Singh who was a Congress CM.

Beant Singh was largely credited with wiping out terrorism from Punjab by dealing with terrorists with an iron hand along with supercop KPS Gill. He was assassinated by a human bomb, Dilawar Singh, at the high security Punjab civil secretariat here August 31, 1995. While Hawara was the mastermind of the assassination, Rajoana was the second human bomb to be used in case the first one failed.

There is also another militant, Devinder Pal Bhullar, who is on death row. He was found guilty of killing nine bystanders in a 1993 car bombing which was intended to kill Maninderjeet Singh Bitta, chairman of the All India Anti-Terrorist Front, and sentenced to death. He is also a suspect in two other terrorist attacks. His appeal against the conviction was dismissed by the Supreme Court on December 27, 2006, and his plea for clemency was rejected by President Pratibha Patil in May 2011.

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Pictures From Historic Northeast Blizzard

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  Shoveling Out

   
  Photograph by Robert F. Bukaty, AP
   

  A northeast blizzard dumped up to three feet of snow overnight Friday and brought hurricane-force wind gusts to areas between New York and Maine.

  The storm, dubbed “Nemo” by The Weather Channel, triggered evacuations along the Massachusetts coast and left hundreds of thousands without power. In this shot, Steve Hull digs his car out from a snowdrift in Portland, Maine on Saturday. (Read: What is a Blizzard, Anyway?)

  Heading out into the snow with your camera? Share your pictures with us, and we’ll post the best ones here.

  Published February 9, 2013

  
  











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  Bus Stop

  Photograph by Robert F. Bukaty, AP

  In Portland, Maine, riders wait at a bus stop where windows filled up with snow on Friday night.

  Published February 9, 2013

  
  











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  On the Farm

  Photograph by Matthew Cavanaugh, European Pressphoto Agency

  A pair of calves munch it up on Saturday at Eden Pond Farm in Leyden, Massachusetts.

  Published February 9, 2013

  
  











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  Boston’s Icicles

  Photograph by Mario Tama, Getty Images

  In Boston, Massachusetts, which saw more than two feet of snow by Saturday, icicles cling to a window.

  Published February 9, 2013

  
  











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  Coastal Snow

  Photograph by Greg Derr, Patriot Ledger/AP

  Homes along the South River in Scituate, Massachusetts are coated in wet snow. Storm surge from Nemo forced evacuations along the Bay State's coast and flooded area roads.

  Published February 9, 2013

  
  











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  Cold Fire

  Photograph by Elise Amendola, AP

  Firefighters respond to a four-alarm blaze in a Wilmington, Massachusetts apartment building amid Friday’s snow.

  Published February 9, 2013

  
  











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  Salt Depot

  Photograph by Mary Altaffer, AP

  Workers use tractors to pile up snow on Friday in a New York depot. The blizzard temporarily closed New York City’s airports, which reopened Saturday morning.

  Published February 9, 2013

  
  











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  Central Park Sledding

  Photograph by Carlo Allegri, Reuters

  Adults and kids with sleds arrive in New York’s Central Park on Saturday.

  Published February 9, 2013

  
  

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Great Energy Challenge Blog

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After Blizzard, Northeast Begins to Dig Out

The Northeast began the arduous process of cleaning up after a fierce storm swept through the region leaving behind up to three feet of snow in some areas.

By early this morning, 650,000 homes and businesses were without power and at least five deaths were being blamed on the storm: three in Canada, one in New York and one in Connecticut, The Associated Press reported.

The storm dumped snow from New Jersey to Maine, affecting more than 25 million people, with more than two feet falling in areas of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. The Postal Service closed post offices and suspended mail delivery today in New England.

As the storm waned, officials in the hardest hit areas cautioned residents to remain indoors and off the roads to ease the clean-up.

Massachusetts was hard hit by the storm, with more than two feet of snow in Boston and even more in coastal areas. State police and national guard troops helped rescue more than 50 stranded motorists and even helped deliver a baby girl, according to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

Patrick enacted the first statewide driving ban since the 1978 blizzard, which left 27 inches of snow and killed dozens. The ban was to be lifted at 4 p.m. today, the governor said.

However, Patrick cautioned residents to act with extreme caution even after the ban is over.

"Stay inside and be patient," Patrick said.

In Massachusetts a boy reportedly died of carbon monoxide poisoning as he helped his father shovel snow on Saturday, according to ABCNews.com affiliate WCVB-TV in Boston.

For residents along the coast, the waning snowfall didn't mean the end of the storm. Storm surges along the Massachusetts coastline forced some residents out of their homes Saturday morning.

"We've got 20-foot waves crashing and flooding some homes," Bob Connors on Plum Island told WCVB. "We have power and heat and all that. We just have a very angry ocean. In my 33 years, I've never seen the seas this high."

Darren McCollester/Getty Images

Blizzard Shuts Down Parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts Watch Video

Blizzard 2013: Power Outages for Hundreds of Thousands of People Watch Video

Blizzard 2013: Northeast Transportation Network Shut Down Watch Video

FULL COVERAGE: Blizzard of 2013

In Connecticut, Gov. Dannel Malloy declared a state of emergency and closed all roads in the state. The state police responded to more than 1,600 calls over the last 24 hours and the governor called up an additional 270 National Guard members.

"If you're not an emergency personnel that's required to be somewhere, stay home," Malloy said.

Overnight, snow fell at a rate of up to five to six inches per hour in parts of Connecticut. In Milford, more than 38 inches of snow had fallen by this morning.

In Fairfield, Conn. firefighters and police officers on the day shift were unable to make it to work, so the overnight shift remained on duty.

PHOTOS: Blizzard Hits Northeast

The wind and snow started affecting the region during the Friday night commute.

In Cumberland, Maine, the conditions led to a 19-car pile-up and in New York, hundreds of commuters were stranded on the snowy Long Island Expressway. Police and firefighters were still working to free motorists early this morning.

"The biggest problem that we're having is that people are not staying on the main portion or the middle section of the roadway and veering to the shoulders, which are not plowed," said Lt. Daniel Meyer from the Suffolk County Police Highway Patrol.

In New York, authorities are digging out hundreds of cars that got stuck overnight on the Long Island Expressway.

Bob Griffith of Syosset, N.Y., said he tried leave early to escape the storm, but instead ended up stuck in the snow by the side of the road.

"I tried to play it smart in that I started early in the day, when it was raining," said Griffith. "But the weather beat us to the punch."

Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone said the snow had wreaked havoc on the roadways.

"I saw state plows stuck on the side of the road. I've never seen anything like this before," Bellone said.

However, some New York residents, who survived the wrath of Hurricane Sandy, were rattled by having to face another large and potentially dangerous storm system with hurricane force winds and flooding.

"How many storms of the century can you have in six months?" said Larry Racioppo, a resident of the hard hit Rockaway neighborhood in Queens, New York.

READ: Weather NYC: Blizzard Threatens Rockaways, Ravaged by Sandy

Snowfall Totals

In New York, a little more than 11 inches fell in the city.

By this morning, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said nearly all of the primary roads had been plowed and the department of sanitation anticipated that all roads would be plowed by the end of the day.

"It looks like we dodged a bullet, but keep in mind winter is not over," said Bloomberg.

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Obama pays tribute to Leon Panetta at the Pentagon chief’s farewell ceremony

President Obama paid tribute Friday to outgoing Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, hailing him for presiding over victories against terrorists and the expansion of opportunity in the U.S. armed forces.

In a speech at Fort Myer, Va., for the “Armed Forces Farewell Tribute” to Panetta, the president called the Pentagon chief “a man who hasn’t simply lived up to the American dream but has helped to protect it for all of us.”

He told Panetta, who served as CIA director before taking the helm at the Pentagon, “Your leadership of the CIA will forever be remembered for the b lows that we struck against al-Qaeda” and for “delivering justice to Osama bin Laden.”

Obama added: “Because we believe in opportunity for all Americans, the tenure of Secretary Panetta” as defense chief “will be remembered for historic progress in welcoming more of our fellow citizens to military service.” He referred to the 2011 repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that barred openly gay people from serving in the military, and to the lifting last month of a ban on women in combat positions.

Obama spoke after a ceremony featuring military bands and honor guards, including the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps clad in red coats and tricornered hats.

“I’ve witnessed a new generation of Americans ask themselves what they could do for their country,” Panetta said after being introduced by Obama.

“We’ve kept pressure on al-Qaeda, and we’re going after extremists wherever they may hide,” he said. “We have shown the world — we have shown the world — that nobody attacks the United States of America and gets away with it.”

Panetta formally announced his retirement early last month, and Obama nominated Chuck Hagel, a Republican former senator from Nebraska, to replace him. Hagel’s nomination has run into stiff opposition from Senate Republicans, who accused him of being insufficiently supportive of Israel and soft on Iran during an eight-hour confirmation hearing last week.

“It’s pretty obvious that the political knives were out for Chuck Hagel,” Panetta said in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

In one of his final acts as defense secretary, Panetta testified Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee about attacks on U.S. compounds in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans in September. Responding to questions, he and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said they favored supplying weapons to Syrian rebels, a position that put them at odds with the White House.

Panetta also warned that the United States risks becoming a “second-rate power” if automatic spending cuts known as the “sequester” take effect as currently scheduled March 1 in the absence of a deficit-reduction deal to avert them, the Associated Press reported.

If that happens, he said, the U.S. military would face its worst readiness crisis in more than a decade. A forced budget cut of $42.7 billion from March through September, on top of $487 billion in defense reductions already mandated over the next 10 years, would leave the armed forces “hollow,” Panetta said.

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Football: Second-half rally sees PSG go six points clear

PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain shook off a lacklustre first half to defeat Bastia 3-1 on Friday and go six points clear at the top of Ligue 1 in a morale-boosting win ahead of their Champions League duty next week.

PSG, who will tackle Valencia on Tuesday in the first leg of their last 16 tie in Europe, moved onto 51 points, taking their recent run to 12 matches without defeat in all competitions.

Jeremy Menez, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ezequiel Lavezzi were all on target for PSG although Wahbi Khazri's 83rd-minute free-kick from 30 metres, which made the score 2-1, meant goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu's proud unbeaten record ended at the 947-minute mark.

"We earned and took three points which was our objective," said PSG coach Carlo Ancelotti.

"It's true that the first half wasn't very good, the second half was different. We can look forward to our next match with confidence."

Menez put PSG ahead in the 56th minute with Ibrahimovic, who had started on the bench for the first time in his Ligue 1 career, making it 2-0 with a 71st-minute penalty.

After Khazri's thunderbolt, Argentina international Lavezzi settled PSG's nerves with an 89th-minute goal to put the pressure back on second-place Lyon who welcome Lille on Sunday.

Ancelotti insisted that Ibrahimovic had no arguments over being demoted to the bench.

"It wasn't hard to convince Ibra, he understands that there are always risks of injuries and we need to avoid that," said the coach.

- AFP/de

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Power put off by mistake, IGI Airport radars go dead

NEW DELHI: Skilled air traffic controllers at IGI Airport averted disaster on Friday afternoon after radar screens at the airport's ATC tower went blank for 45 minutes because electricians on routine maintenance duty had inadvertently switched off the main power button.

The power shutdown caused both primary and back-up radar systems to go dead. These systems give the complete coordinates - such as altitude, speed and horizontal separation - of all aircraft over vast stretches of north India, and are essential guiding tools to avoid mid-air collisions. When the screens went blank, one aircraft was in its final descent over IGI.

ATC officials saved the day by manually bringing in arriving aircraft. All departing aircraft were asked to remain on the ground. An Air India and a Jet Airways aircraft were even given priority landing after the pilots reported fuel shortage. No plane was asked to go around the airport.

The Maharaja just got a firsthand taste of why passengers are not exactly enamoured by its services. On Thursday-Friday midnight, 11 of the 63 staff who were supposed to be present at Delhi's terminal 3 were missing and only 16 of the 25 check-in counters that should have been open were actually functional. As a result, the usual check-in time of two to three minutes per passenger was almost seven to eight minutes.

The airline came to know of this ground reality - something that passengers have been complaining of for years - when the management kicked off a new practice of sending its senior officials as decoy passengers to airports from IGI on Thursday night. The team that went to IGI Airport's terminal 3 gave a detailed report to the management which has now decided to make such surprise checks a regular practice at all airports across the country.

"Our ground handling joint venture agency, AISATS, services a number of airlines. It seems their employees reserve their best for other airlines and not for handling AI flyers. The team found there were no floor walkers at T3 on Thursday-Friday midnight to escort passengers to their aircraft. The check-in time was longer that the global average of two to three minutes," said a source. Wheelchairs, which are required by physically challenged and aged flyers right from the time they alight from their cars at the airport, were to be found at check-in counters!

The airline is also trying to strengthen its other perceived weakness: on time performance.

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From Our Vault: Busy Postman on Break, 1951

The United States Post Office announced this week that it intends to stop Saturday letter delivery beginning in August, 32 years after Congress mandated a sixth day of mail service.

First class mail volume has been dropping by about five billion pieces annually since 2007. And the USPS operated almost $16 billion dollars in the red in 2012.

In the 1950s, when this photo was taken, the federal agency was more flush with money. Five hundred thousand employees carried 54 billion items when National Geographic magazine published the article "Everyone's Servant, the Post Office" in July of 1954. Mail volume had doubled since the previous decade, and was growing at a rate of about seven percent a year.

This photo from 1951 didn't make it into that article, landing instead in the National Geographic image archive. Working during the postal boom years, this mailman delivering to houses in Hays, Kansas, likely didn't have time to notice the slight.

National Geographic photographer John E. Fletcher explained the mailman's decision to lunch in a mailbox in a note on the back of the photo.

"He told me that a new regulation from the Washington headquarters of the U.S. Post Office required that postmen while on delivery at noontime must stop and have their lunch at the spot, rather than taking time off to go home and eat," Fletcher wrote.

"This mailman told me that each day his wife would drive to this particular corner and meet him and hand him his lunch box," he continued. "The most convenient spot that he could find to eat his lunch was to open a storage mail box, get himself comfortably seated, and eat his lunch right on the street corner."

Editor's note: This is the first in a series of pieces that looks at the news through the lens of the National Geographic photo archives.

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Blizzard of 2013 May Bring More Than 2 Feet of Snow

A blizzard of possibly historic proportions is set to strike the Northeast, starting today and could bring more than two feet of snow and strong winds that could shut down densely populated cities such as Boston and New York City.

A storm from the west will join forces with one from the south to form a nor'easter that will sit and spin just off the East Coast, affecting more than 43 million Americans. Wind gusts will reach 50 to 60 mph from Philadelphia to Boston.

"[It] could definitely be a historic winter storm for the Northeast," Adrienne Leptich of the National Weather Service in Upton, N.Y., said. "We're looking at very strong wind and heavy snow and we're also looking for some coastal flooding."

The snow began falling in New York City shortly before 7 a.m. ET. The snow is expected to mix with some sleet and then turn back into snow after 3 p.m.

Airlines have started shutting down operations between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. at major airports in the New York area as well as in Boston, Portland, Maine, Providence, and other Northeastern airports. More than 4,000 flights have been cancelled on Friday and Saturday, according to FlightAware. Airlines hope to resume flights by Saturday afternoon.

New York City is expecting up to 14 inches, which is expected to start this morning with the heaviest amounts falling at night and into Saturday. Wind gusts of 55 mph are expected in New York City and Cape Cod, Mass., could possibly see 75 mph gusts.

PHOTOS: Northeast Braces for Snowstorm

Weather Forecast: Northeast Braces for Monster Blizzard Watch Video

Winter Storm to Hit Northeast With Winds and Snow Watch Video

Boston, Providence, R.I., Hartford, Conn., and other New England cities canceled school today. Boston and other parts of New England could see more than 2 feet of snow by Saturday.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency Friday afternoon and announced a ban on all traffic from roads after 4 p.m. It is believed that the last time the state enacted such a ban was during the blizzard of 1978.

Beach erosion and coastal flooding is possible from New Jersey to Long Island, N.Y., and into New England coastal areas. Some waves off the coast could reach more than 20 feet.

"Stay off the streets of our city. Basically, stay home," Boston Mayor Tom Menino warned Thursday.

Blizzard warnings were posted for parts of New Jersey and New York's Long Island, as well as portions of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, including Hartford, New Haven, Conn., and Providence. The warnings extended into New Hampshire and Maine.

To the south, Philadelphia was looking at a possible 4 to 6 inches of snow.

Thousands of flights have already been canceled in anticipation of the storm. Amtrak said its Northeast trains will stop running this afternoon.

Bruce Sullivan of the National Weather Service says travel conditions will deteriorate fairly rapidly Friday night.

"The real concern here is there's going to be a lot of strong winds with this system and it's going to cause considerable blowing and drifting of snow," he said.

Parts of New York, still reeling from October's Superstorm Sandy, are still using tents and are worried how they will deal with the nor'easter.

"Hopefully, we can supply them with enough hot food to get them through before the storm starts," Staten Island hub coordinator Donna Graziano said.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said plows and 250,000 tons of salt were being put on standby.

"We hope forecasts are exaggerating the amount of snow, but you never can tell," Bloomberg said Thursday.

Residents of the Northeast have already begun to hit stores for groceries and tools to fight the mounting snow totals.

The fire department was called in to a grocery store in Salem, Mass., because there were too many people in the store Thursday afternoon trying to load up their carts with essential items.

"I'm going to try this roof melt stuff for the first time," Ian Watson of Belmont, Mass., said. "Just to prevent the ice dam. ... It's going be ugly on that roof."

ABC News' Max Golembo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Tennis: Injured Li Na out of Qatar Open

DOHA: China's Li Na has pulled out of next week's $2.3 million Qatar Open after failing to recover from the ankle injury she suffered in her Australian Open final defeat to Victoria Azarenka.

"Li Na has withdrawn from QatarTennis due to her ankle injury from the Australian Open final. #WTA #tennis," the WTA said on its Twitter account.

The Qatar Open starts on Monday.

- AFP/de

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Nanded police book Pravin Togadia for hate speech

AURANGABAD: The Nanded police on Thursday booked Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Pravin Togadia under various sections of the IPC for allegedly delivering a hate speech at Bhokar town in the district last month.

Deputy superintendent of police (Bhokar), Yashwant Solanke, told TOI on Thursday that Togadia is accused of making the provocative speech was made during a VHP programme at Bhokar on January 22. After examining excerpts of his speech, the Bhokar police inspector Pandit Munde registered a complaint against the VHP leader.

Solanke said that Togadia has been booked under Section 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and Section 505 (2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes). Inspector Pandit Munde, in-charge of the Bhokar police station, is investigating, said Solanke.

PTI adds: The Centre asked the Maharashtra government to book Togadia if he was found to be violating laws after probing the charges of hate speech.

The Maharashtra government ordered an inquiry into the speech even as state minorities affairs minister Naseem Khan demanded that a case be filed against Togadia. Minister of state for home R P N Singh said if Togadia's speech is inflammatory, the state government must take action against him.

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Severed Heads Were Sacrifices in Ancient Mexico

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of more than 150 skulls from an ancient shrine in central Mexico—evidence of one of the largest mass sacrifices of humans in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica.

The skulls, many facing east, lay beneath a crude, slightly elevated mound of crushed stone on what was once an artificial island in a vast shallow lake, now completely dry.

"The site is barely a bump on the horizon in the middle of nowhere," said lead archaeologist Christopher Morehart, of Georgia State University. And that was baffling. Previous evidence of such sacrifices came from grand pyramids in large ceremonial centers.

The discovery suggests that the site—near the town of Xaltocan (named after the ancient lake)—played a significant role in the political turmoil during the period between the years 650 and 800. The great city of Teotihuacan, only nine miles (15 kilometers) away, had suddenly begun to collapse, and the power it once exerted over the region was slipping away. Many experts believe this turn of events was triggered by a massive drought.

What followed was a time of  "political, cultural, and demographic change," according to Morehart, a National Geographic research grantee. As people left Teotihuacan and moved to the surrounding areas, new communities formed and new leaders competed for power. "There's a good chance that the sacrifices are related to these competitions," Morehart said.

The sacrificed individuals could even have been war captives—often the case in Mesoamerican cultures. The site itself was probably not a battlefield, though. It was a sacred space that was specially prepared for rituals.

The people who lived in this area appear to have performed elaborately choreographed rituals at the shrine before the fall of Teotihuacan, but they didn't include human sacrifice. Because of its water-bound location and the presence of freshwater springs nearby, the shrine was likely the site of ceremonies that petitioned gods associated with rain and fertility. Artifacts uncovered include clay images of Tlaloc, a rain god.

The rituals began to include sacrifices, though, as power struggles gripped the parched region. Morehart and his colleagues from the National University of Mexico believe that victims were first killed and dismembered. The body parts may then have been thrown into the lake, while the heads were carefully arranged and buried. Incense was burned during this ceremony, along with the resinous wood of pine trees. Flowers added their own perfume to the fragrant smoke, and foods such as ritually burned maize were presented as additional offerings.

Over the following centuries, new peoples arrived in the area and political power ebbed and shifted, yet the sacred nature of the site persisted. Morehart and his team found evidence for rituals here during both the Aztec and colonial periods, and they even came across a recent offering.

"As we were digging we found a black plastic bag. Inside was a hardboiled egg, a black candle, and some photos of people," he said. "It's a fascinating example of continued ritual activity in a place despite dramatic changes in social, political, and cultural contexts."

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Alleged Cop-Killer Has Calif. Region on Edge

Police officers across Southern California are on the defensive and scaling back their public exposure today, no longer responding to "barking-dog calls" and donning tactical gear outside police stations as former-cop-turned-alleged-gunman Christopher Dorner, armed and apparently on the hunt for cops, remains at large.

Dorner is suspected of killing one cop and two civilians during a rampage that began Sunday, injuring two other officers along the way.

Police departments have stationed officers in tactical gear outside police departments, stopped answering low-level calls and pulled motorcycle patrols off the road in order to protect officers who might be a target of Dorner's alleged rampage.

"The person we suspect of doing this is mobile, and with California's interstate highway system, every hour that goes by that's another 60 or 70 or 80 miles or greater circumference, it is a very wide net," Chief of Police Sergio Diaz of the Riverside police department said.

"We've made certain modifications of our deployments, our deviations today and I want to leave it at that, and also to our responses. We are concentrating on calls for service that are of a high priority, threats to public safety, we're not going to go on barking dog calls today," Diaz said.

Sgt. Rudy Lopez of the Los Angeles police department said Dorner is "believed to be armed and extremely dangerous."

Police have also put Dorner's license plate number and car description on highway signs, although they warn Dorner might have changed his license plate.

A former Los Angeles police officer and Navy reservist, Dorner released an online manifesto before the shooting saying that he was targeting law enforcement and would be hard to capture because of his knowledge of police tactics.

The Los Angeles police department has sent dozens of patrols to guard specific targets named in Dorner's manifesto, which cops say he posted online.

Dorner wrote a long letter posted to his Facebook page in which he explained that he had been wrongly fired from the Los Angeles police department and would take revenge on those that wronged him.

The fired California cop went to a yacht club near San Diego overnight where police say he attempted to steal a boat and flee to Mexico.

He aborted the attempted theft when the boat's propeller became entangled in a rope, law enforcement officials said. It was at that point he is believed to have headed to Riverside, where he allegedly shot two police officers.

"He pointed a handgun at the victim [at the yacht club] and demanded the boat," Lt. David Rohowits of the San Diego Police Department said.

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Police say the rifle marksman shot at four officers in two incidents overnight, hitting three of them: one in Corona, Calif., and the two in Riverside, Calif.

Lopez said two LAPD officers were in Corona on special detail to check on one of the individuals named in Dorner's manifesto and encountered Dorner. Dorner allegedly grazed one of them but missed the other.

"[This is an] extremely tense situation," Lopez said. "We call this a manhunt. We approach it cautiously because of the propensity of what has already happened."

After Dorner allegedly shot at LAPD officers in Corona, he fled and encountered two Riverside police officers stopped at a red light in their police car. Dorner used a rifle to shoot through their windshield, killing one officer and injuring the other.

The deceased officer was a 34-year-old, 11-year veteran of the police department. The injured officer, age 27, is expected to make a full recovery.

Diaz said that the names of the officers are being withheld to protect their families, who might be targeted by Dorner if the names are released.

"They were on routine patrol stopped at a stop light when they were ambushed," Lt. Guy Toussant of the Riverside police department said.

In the manifesto Dorner published online, he threatened at least 12 people by name, along with their families.

"Your lack of ethics and conspiring to wrong a just individual are over. Suppressing the truth will leave to deadly consequences for you and your family," Dorner wrote in his manifesto.

A badge and identification belonging to Dorner have been found in San Diego, according to San Diego police Sgt. Ray Battrick. Dorner's LAPD badge and ID were found by someone near the city's airport, and turned in to police overnight, The Associated Press reported.

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck said today that 40 protective details have been deployed to protect officers and their families.

"We are taking all measures possible to ensure safety of our officers and their families," he said.

Dorner is also believed to be responsible for the weekend slayings of an assistant women's college basketball coach and her fiancé in what cops believe are acts of revenge against the LAPD, as suggested in his online manifesto.

Lawrence was found slumped behind the wheel of his white Kia in the parking lot of their upscale apartment complex in Irvine Sunday and Quan was in the passenger seat.

"A particular interest at this point in the investigation is a multi-page manifesto in which the suspect has implicated himself in the slayings," Maggard said.

Police said Dorner's manifesto included threats against members of the LAPD. Police say they are taking extra measures to ensure the safety of officers and their families.

The document, allegedly posted on an Internet message board this week, apparently blames Quan's father, retired LAPD Capt. Randy Quan, for his firing from the department.

One passage from the manifesto reads, "I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty."

"I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own," it reads. "I'm terminating yours."

Dorner was with the department from 2005 until 2008, when he was fired for making false statements.

Randy Quan, who became a lawyer in retirement, represented Dorner in front of the Board of Rights, a tribunal that ruled against Dorner at the time of his dismissal, LAPD Capt. William Hayes told The Associated Press Wednesday night.

According to documents from a court of appeals hearing in October 2011, Dorner was fired from the LAPD after he made a complaint against his field-training officer, saying in the course of an arrest she had kicked a suspect who was a schizophrenic with severe dementia.

After an investigation, Dorner was fired for making false statements.

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Euro slips ahead of ECB meeting

NEW YORK: The euro slipped against the US dollar on Wednesday ahead of the European Central Bank's policy meeting, expected to keep monetary policy on hold.

Meanwhile, the Japanese currency pulled higher after hitting three-year lows on Tuesday.

The euro fell to $1.3519 at 2200 GMT, from $1.3582 late Tuesday, nearly two cents below its 14-month high of $1.3710 hit on Friday.

The slip came a day before ECB policymakers were to meet, with most analysts saying they will not undertake any more easing of monetary conditions despite worries about slow growth and the strengthening euro.

On Tuesday French President Francois Hollande urged a more managed euro, saying it should not be allowed to "fluctuate depending on the markets' mood."

"A single currency zone must have a foreign exchange policy, otherwise it will see an exchange rate imposed on it (by the markets) which is out of line with its real competitive position," he told the European parliament.

Also weighing on the euro was concerns about political instability in Spain, where the government is under attack over corruption allegations, and Italy, where former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, much distrusted by markets and Europe's technocrats, was gaining in election polls.

"There is enough uncertainty around Spanish and Italian politics to ensure that the next leg higher for the euro is delayed," said Kit Juckes of Societe Generale.

Hollande's plea came amid increased worries from around the world over a global currency war.

A key target of those worries, the Japanese yen, pulled higher on Wednesday a day after hitting three-year lows.

The yen sagged further on Tuesday following the announcement by Bank of Japan chief Masaaki Shirakawa that he would step down three weeks before his term ends, after butting heads with the new Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over monetary policy.

Abe wants the central bank to undertake more easing to reinflate the slumping economy.

But the yen edged higher Wednesday, with a dollar buying 93.57 yen, compared with 93.61 yen a day earlier.

The euro slipped to 126.46 yen from 127.13 yen.

The British pound was virtually unchanged at $1.5658; the dollar rose to 0.9101 Swiss francs from 0.9077 francs.

- AFP/de

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Rajnath Singh will contest again from Ghaziabad Lok Sabha seat

GHAZIABAD: Quelling speculations over its choice of candidate for the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha seat, the BJP in a meeting on Wednesday clarified that party president and sitting MP Rajnath Singh will contest the 2014 general elections from the constituency. The announcement has been made in the light of recent conjectures by rival political parties - particularly after Singh was elevated to the post of party president - that BJP would field a fresh candidate from Ghaziabad.

Singh, a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, had been elected to the Lok Sabha from Ghaziabad in the 2009 general elections after defeating his nearest rival, the Congress candidate Surendra Prakash Goel, by a margin of over 90,000 votes.

The BJP unit in Ghaziabad informed that ever since Singh was elected national president in January, rival political parties had launched systematic campaigns against him, fabricating theories that he would no longer contest from Ghaziabad.

"These rumours have been floated to wean away his vote base from the region. Opponents have developed cold feet over the prospect of Singh playing a major role at the centre if BJP forms the government after the general elections," said SP Singh, BJP (Mahanagar), Ghaziabad. "That's why Singh's name has been sealed for Ghaziabad well ahead of formally declaring the list for Uttar Pradesh," he added.

The BJP said chances of Singh moving out from Ghaziabad are even more remote because the party is looking ahead to increase its tally in western UP, including re-gaining the parliamentary seat of Gautam Budh Nagar, which had remained in the party's kitty continuously from 1991 to 2009. In 2009, BSP candidate Surendra Nagar had trounced BJP's Dr Mahesh Sharma to win the Gautam Budh Nagar seat.

Though BJP functionaries remained tight-lipped about the choice of their candidate for Gautam Budh Nagar, party sources informed that Rajnath's son, Pankaj Singh, is being considered to make his electoral debut from this seat.

As per sources, Pankaj Singh might be fielded in Gautam Buddh Nagar to consolidate on the overwhelming Thakur vote bank in the constituency.

"Besides, the party is also trying to cash in on the youth appeal of Pankaj Singh in Noida and Greater Noida," said a senior BJP member.

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Confirmed: Couch Potatoes Have Lower Sperm Counts

Men, here's another reason to work up a sweat: It boosts your sperm count.

According to new research, couch potatoes who watch lots of TV have fewer sperm than men who exercise moderately or vigorously each week.

Sperm count is a measure of semen quality, which has mysteriously declined in U.S. men in recent decades. Low sperm count is linked to infertility as well as testicular cancer, prostate cancer, and cardiovascular problems later in life.

(Related: "Deep-Voiced Men Have Lower Sperm Counts, Study Says.")

That's why scientists have been searching for ways that men can improve their sperm—including changing daily behaviors.

"We know little about how lifestyle may impact semen quality," said study leader Audrey Jane Gaskins, a doctoral student in nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Her discovery that two changeable behaviors—exercise and TV watching—"could have a big impact on sperm count is pretty exciting," she said.

"Impressive" Sperm Finds

For the study, Gaskins and colleagues asked 189 young men, mostly college students from the University of Rochester in New York, to fill out questionnaires on their physical activity, diet, stress, and other lifestyle factors.

Each man then provided a semen sample in a medical clinic. (See "Sperm Recognize 'Brothers,' Team Up for Speed.")

The results showed that the men who reported exercising more than 15 hours a week had 73 percent higher sperm counts than men who exercised fewer than 5 hours a week. And men who watched more than 20 hours of TV had 44 percent lower sperm counts than men who watched little to no TV.

These are "pretty impressive differences," said Gaskins, whose study appeared February 4 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The team also ruled out smoking and being overweight—two clinical causes of low sperm counts—as contributing factors among participants in its study.

Why couch potatoes produce less sperm is unknown, although there are two theories, Gaskins said. One is that exercise produces more antioxidant enzymes that can prevent a natural process called oxidative stress from damaging cell membranes in the body. This damage can disrupt the creation of new sperm cells. (Find out how a man produces 1,500 sperm a second.)

The other reason is somewhat controversial: That when men watch TV, their scrotums get squished against their bodies, making that region hotter and possibly preventing new sperm from being made.

Some research has shown that sperm production slows if the scrotum temperature rises 1.8 to 3.6ºF (1 to 2ºC) above normal body temperature, Gaskins said. But other studies have also shown that warmer scrotums have no bearing on sperm creation.

Get Moving, Men

But the study also raises some more questions about sperm count, experts noted.

Oddly, the sedentary subjects' sperm didn't show any changes in their physical structures or in how well they swam—two soft indicators of sperm health, noted Phillip Mucksavage, a urologist at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia who was not involved in the study. (See "Sperm Tracked in 3-D-A First.")

Though there are fewer of them, "the sperm that are there still look good."

Mucksavage added that the study's results would have been stronger if the scientists had found other sedentary activities—such as sitting at a computer or reading a book—had the same affect on sperm count as did watching TV.

What's more, said T. Mike Hsieh, a urologist at the University of California, San Diego, the study doesn't have any implications for fertility, one of the main reasons men are concerned about sperm count.

That's because one semen sample is not enough to determine fertility. That requires a more thorough analysis, including multiple semen samples and blood work, said Hsieh, who wasn't involved in the study.

It's not like if you "stop watching TV you'd go from infertile to fertile," he said.

But all the experts agreed on one thing: you should get active if you aren't already.

Said Hsieh: "I would use this as a piece of evidence to motivate my patients to get off the couch and start working out."

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Galaxy May Be Full of 'Second Earths'

You may look out on a starry night and get a lonely feeling, but astronomers now say our Milky Way galaxy may be thick with planets much like Earth -- perhaps 4.5 billion of them, according to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Astronomers looked at data from NASA's Kepler space telescope in orbit, and conclude that 6 percent of the red dwarf stars in the Milky Way probably have Earth-like, habitable planets. That's a lot by space standards, and since red dwarfs are very common -- they make up three out of four stars in our part of the galaxy -- we may have a lot more neighbors than we thought.

The nearest of them, astronomers said today, could be 13 light-years away -- not exactly commuting distance, since a light-year is six trillion miles, but a lot closer than most yellow stars like Earth's sun.

Video: Are We Alone? Kepler's Mission

David A. Aguilar/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

"We thought we would have to search vast distances to find an Earth-like planet. Now we realize another Earth is probably in our own backyard, waiting to be spotted," said Courtney Dressing, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center, in announcing the findings today. The results will be published in The Astrophysical Journal.

David Charbonneau, a co-author, said, "We now know the rate of occurrence of habitable planets around the most common stars in our galaxy. That rate implies that it will be significantly easier to search for life beyond the solar system than we previously thought."

Red dwarfs are older, smaller and dimmer than our sun, but a planet orbiting close to one could be sufficiently warmed to have liquid water. Dressing and her colleagues cited three possible planets that were spotted by Kepler, which was launched in 2009. One is 90 percent as large as Earth, and orbits its red sun in just 20 of our days.

There is no saying what such a world would actually be like; the Kepler probe can only show whether distant stars have objects periodically passing in front of them. But based on that, scientists can do some math and estimate the mass and orbit of these possible planets. So far, Kepler has spotted more than 2,700 of them in the small patch of sky it has been watching.

There are estimated to be 200 to 400 billion stars in the Milky Way -- which is probably a pretty average galaxy. So the new estimate implies a universe with tremendous numbers of Earth-like planets, far beyond our ability to count.

Pictures: Final Frontier: Images From the Distant Universe

Could they be friendly to life? There's no way to know yet, but space scientists say that if you have the right ingredients -- a planet the right size, temperatures that allow for liquid water, organic molecules and so forth -- and the chances may be good, even on a planet that is very different from ours.

"You don't need an Earth clone to have life," said Dressing.

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Strengthening security at the nation’s airports

Most people think of airport security as their walk through the metal detector and the eyeballing by transportation security officers (TSOs). Dan Liddell, whose job it is to protect the flying public at seven airports in central New York, instead sees 17 zones of worker responsibility and hundreds of different tasks.

In pursuit of safeguarding the public, Liddell, a federal security director based in Syracuse, has written a book that is now used to train TSOs. It’s called the “National Standardization Guide to Improving Security Effectiveness.” Tasks at each duty area have been inventoried and cataloged, and the “knowledge, values and skills” associated with the airport security jobs have been identified under what Liddell describes as a systems approach to training.

As important as it is to use X-ray machines and explosive trace-detection equipment and to have the correct rules and procedures in place, Liddell said transportation security relies on the skills of the people responsible for it.

“People performance is the cornerstone,” he said. “When I set out to improve things, I look at the people. I look at their proficiency, their skill in doing something and how well they’re doing that job.”

Even when people have the skills to do their jobs, they don’t necessarily do them well each time, especially when conditions can vary with each day and every passenger. To keep performance high, TSOs are tested covertly at unexpected times. A banned item will be sent through a checkpoint and the reaction and activities that take place are monitored.

Whether or not TSOs spot contraband, everyone at that checkpoint during the test participates in an “after-action” review. “It’s the learning experience that’s relevant,” Liddell said. “We’re doing a review of actual performance and you can always improve.”

Liddell is sensitive to the pressure that airport security personnel face. TSOs have the tough of performing multiple tasks under constant camera surveillance and public scrutiny, often interacting with tired or irritated travelers. The testing and training helps them continually up their game.

Thirty airports around the country that helped test the training system and now use a version of it. Paul Armes, federal security director at Nashville International Airport, was interested in creating such a system with a colleague when they both worked in Arizona, but it “never got traction.”

When he learned about what Liddell was doing, he was eager to participate. “Typical of Dan, he built it himself and practiced it so he had hard metric results, and then he started reaching out to some of us, working with his counterparts around the country to get a good representative sample,” Armes said. “He sees things others don’t see sometimes and he has the capability to drill down into the details.”

Liddell began the “pretty long process” of analyzing how people were performing at checkpoints in 2009. He sat down with subject-matter experts to produce the task inventory he now uses. In 2010, he improved the review and reporting process that occurs after covert tests events and instituted the security practices he refined at the other New York airports he oversees, including Greater Binghamton, Ithaca and four others. “I love breaking it down,” he said. “I’ve got a quest for improvement.”

In a less sneaky version of the television show, “Undercover Boss,” Liddell went through the new-hire training program for his employees to understand as much as he could about the jobs and the training provided for them, he said.

If pursuing knowledge is in Liddell’s genes, it may be because his parents were both in education. His father was a high school principal and his mother was a fifth-grade teacher. His teaching manifested itself instead in the training realm, where he strives to educate security employees as effectively as possible, inside the classroom and out.

“It’s always a challenge to meet that right balance of really great effectiveness and really great efficiency,” he said. “There are always challenges. It’s what gets me up in the morning, trying to improve.”

This article was jointly prepared by the Partnership for Public Service, a group seeking to enhance the performance of the federal government, and washingtonpost.com. Go to http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/fedpage/players/ to read about other federal workers who are making a difference.

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Dell unveils private equity buyout worth US$24.4b

NEW YORK: Dell unveiled plans to go private Tuesday in a $24.4 billion deal giving founder Michael Dell a chance to reshape the former number one PC maker away from the spotlight of Wall Street.

"I believe this transaction will open an exciting new chapter for Dell, our customers and team members," Michael Dell said in unveiling the deal with equity investment firm Silver Lake, and backed by a $2 billion loan from Microsoft.

The company said it had signed "a definitive" agreement to give shareholders $13.65 per share in cash -- a premium of 25 percent over Dell's closing share price on January 11, before reports of the deal circulated.

The move, which would delist the company from stock markets, could ease some pressure on Dell, which is cash-rich but has seen profits slump, as it tries to reduce dependence on the slumping market for personal computers.

The plan is subject to several conditions, including a vote of unaffiliated stockholders.

It calls for a "go shop" period to allow shareholders to seek a better offer.

The company founder said Dell has made progress in its turnaround strategy "but we recognize that it will still take more time, investment and patience, and I believe our efforts will be better supported by partnering with Silver Lake in our shared vision."

"I am committed to this journey and I have put a substantial amount of my own capital at risk together with Silver Lake," he added.

Under terms of the deal, Michael Dell, who currently owns some 14 percent of Dell's common shares, would remain chairman and chief executive and boost his stake with "a substantial additional cash investment," a company statement said.

Additional cash for the deal will come from Silver Lake, a major tech investment group, and MSD Capital, a fund created to manage Michael Dell's investments.

The plan also calls for a $2 billion loan from Microsoft, rollover of existing debt, and financing committed by Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Credit Suisse and RBC Capital Markets.

Analysts have said the deal may give the company a chance to regain some footing in a market in which smartphones and tablets are overtaking laptop and desktop computers.

"Michael has been trying to turn Dell into a supplier of enterprise solutions for a long time," said Roger Kay, analyst with Endpoint Technologies.

"He has pleaded with Wall Street to give him time."

Kay told AFP that going private would make a transition easier by avoiding the spotlight of "ugly results," which could come from scaling back the PC business.

"The commodity PC business has been suffering," Kay said.

"Dell may probably keep the higher margin consumer lines, but maybe look at rest of the portfolio."

Kay added that Microsoft's participation in the deal suggests that Dell would remain in PCs and the Windows-based ecosystem.

Deutsche Bank's Chris Whitmore in a research note this week that Dell "would be free to execute his turnaround without the scrutiny of the public market" with "flexibility to do what he sees fit in order to drive long-term value."

The analyst added that Dell "could get more aggressive" in its enterprise software and cloud services, to make the company less dependent on PCs.

The Texas-based computer maker, which Dell started in his college dormitory room, once topped a market capitalization of $100 billion as the world's biggest PC producer.

Dell is now the number three global PC maker, behind Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo, according to the latest report from market tracker IDC, showing Dell's market share of 10.6 percent in the fourth quarter.

Rival HP said in a statement that Dell "has a very tough road ahead" with "an extended period of uncertainty and transition that will not be good for its customers," adding that HP "plans to take full advantage of that opportunity."

Microsoft's participation further clouds the role of the Windows software maker, which has begun its own hardware efforts with the Surface tablet.

Microsoft said in a statement it "is committed to the long-term success of the entire PC ecosystem and invests heavily in a variety of ways to build that ecosystem for the future."

-AFP/ac

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Rain, snow continues to disrupt life across northern Himalayan region

DEHRADUN/SHIMLA/SRINAGAR: Rescuers were on Tuesday rushed to rescue around 300 pilgrims and tourists stranded en route to Gangotri and Yamnotri in Uttarakhand due to the closure of roads following heavy snowfall across the region.

"We have sent teams to shift these stranded pilgrims and tourists to safer places and hope to rescue them speedily,'' an official said.

Elsewhere in the state, uninterrupted rain and snowfall triggered massive landslides and paralyzed normal life in Garhwal and Kumaon divisions. Reports said the landslides forced closure of 280-km Rishikesh-Gangotri road along with Rishikesh-Badrinath and Kedarnath yatra routes.

In Uttarkashi, the plunge in the mercury forced authorities to close schools for two days. Authorities in Pauri, Chamoli, Tehri and Pithoragarh are likely to follow suit.

Day temperatures dropped by 8 to 10 degrees in places likes Dehradun, Haridwar and Haldwani.

Dehradun Met director Anand Sahrma told TOI that more rain and snowfall was expected for next two days. ``We have sounded an alert urging people to move carefully especially while driving or trekking in hills due to possibility of more landslides.''

Normal life remained disrupted in Himachal Pradesh, where remote areas remained cut off from the outside world due to heavy snowfall. Intermittent rains and sleet along with icy winds lashed the state's lower reaches.

Authorities have sounded an avalanche threat in high altitude areas and advised people to stay indoors.

Manali experienced 60cm and was cut off while the Rohtang Pass recorded 150cm snow.

In Jammu & Kashmir, the lifeline Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained closed for the third day due to heavy snowfall and landslides. Over 400 vehicles and hundreds of passengers were stranded along the only surface route connecting the Valley with the outside world due to heavy snowfall and landslides.

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Life Found Deep Under Antarctic Ice For First Time?

For the first time, scientists believe they have collected life-forms from deep under the Antarctic ice.

Last week, a team found and collected microbes in a lake hidden under more than a half-mile of ice. (Related: "Race Is On to Find Life Under Antarctic Ice.")

Among other things, the discovery may shed light on what lies under the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

The newfound life-forms have little connection to life on the earth's surface and many apparently survive by "eating rocks," team member Brent Christner said in an interview from the U.S. McMurdo Station, after spending several weeks working at a remote field site at Lake Whillans.

That may explain how life on other celestial objects—such as on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn—survive in the absence of carbon.

"The conditions faced by organisms in Lake Whillans are quite parallel to what we think it would be like on those icy moons," Christner said.

"What we found tells us a lot about extreme life on Earth, and also how similar life might make a living beyond Earth."

Making a Living in Ice

A 50-member U.S. team broke through to the 20-square-mile (50-square-kilometer) subglacial lake on January 28, and had two days of 24-hour sunlight to bring up samples before the borehole began to close. A day of reaming the hole was followed by two more days of sample collection.

The scientists are now returning with a four-day haul of lake water, lake bottom sediments, and hundreds of dishes of living organisms that are being cultured for intensive study in the United States.

An early task will be to make sure the newfound microbes were not introduced while drilling through the ice into the lake, which involved a hot-water drilling technique designed to greatly reduce or eliminate any contamination that might come from other kerosene-based drilling technology, Christner said.

Christner said that a commonly used dye was added to the water to illuminate the DNA of the microscopic organisms, and a substantial green glow told scientists that microbes were indeed present. Many of the organisms are likely chemolithotrophs, which rely on inorganic compounds of iron, sulfur, and other elements for nourishment.

Montana State's John Priscu, chief biologist of the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) program, said lab work at the drill site determined that microbial cells were present—and that they were alive. (Take an Antarctic quiz.)

"I believe it is safe to say that subglacial lake beneath the Whillans Ice Stream supports a microbial assemblage that is growing within this dark and cold habitat" of 31 degrees Fahrenheit (-0.5 Celsius), he wrote in an email.

DNA sequencing in the U.S. "will tell us who they are and, together with other experiments, tell us how they make a living."

Hidden Lakes

The U.S. team is one of three digging into what is now known to be a vast system of lakes and streams deep below the surface of Antarctica. (See "Chain of Cascading Lakes Discovered Under Antarctica.")

A British team attempting to drill into much deeper Lake Ellsworth had to return home in December because of equipment failure, but a Russian team is also at work now retrieving a core of water from Lake Vostok.

With much fanfare, the Lake Vostok core was pulled up last year from more than 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) below the frigid surface. Vostok is much deeper and larger than any other Antarctic lake, and both it and Ellsworth lie under much colder ice and are believed to have less deep subsurface water flowing in and out than does Whillans.

The existence of subglacial lakes and streams in Antarctica is a relatively new discovery, and the size of this wet world under the ice has only been grasped in recent years. (See Antarctic pictures by National Geographic readers.)

Helen Fricker, a glaciologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a principal investigator of the Whillans team, first described Lake Whillans in 2007.

Using satellite data, she and her colleagues discovered a periodic rising and falling of the ice surface above the Whillans Ice Stream between 2003 and 2006, and concluded that a lake was likely underneath.

The dynamics of Antarctic ice has taken on a much greater significance in the era of global warming, since some 90 percent of Earth's fresh water sits on the continent.

Although the lakes themselves are not affected by warming, how they interact with the region's ice is important to predicting the future behavior of the ice sheets.

For instance, understanding whether the ice is moving more quickly toward the surrounding ocean is a key goal of the WISSARD project, which is part of a larger U.S. National Science Foundation project to understand the ice movements, glaciers, and biology of the ice sheet of West Antarctica.

More Work to Be Done

For Christner, a specialist in Antarctic biology at Louisiana State University, the work has only just begun. (Also see "Pictures: 'Extreme' Antarctic Science Revealed.")

Two labs were brought to the Whillans site by a caravan of trucks from McMurdo: One to perform a quick analysis of the lake water, and the other to examine sediment.

Christner's team is charged with culturing samples in dishes so they can be studied more extensively later. He said some of the microbe species, including bacteria and archaea, may be unique, but many may well be found elsewhere—at great ocean depths and deep underground.

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Sierra's Family Selling Photos to Cover Funeral, Kids

The family of Sarai Sierra, an amateur New York photographer slain while on a trip to Turkey, put her photos up for sale today and quickly sold enough photographs to pay forher funeral, the woman's brother said today.

The photos remain on sale and the profits will now be going to her two young sons, the family said.

Sierra, 33, was found bludgeoned to death near a highway in Istanbul on Saturday. Her iPhone and iPad, the tools she used to share her photos with her thousands of Instagram followers were reportedly missing.

The Staten Island mother of two traveled to Turkey alone on Jan. 7 after a friend had to cancel. It was Sierra's first overseas trip, and she kept in contact with her family the entire time, they said, sharing stories of her journey and posting photos online.

"Sarai's passion for photography and love for capturing the beauty we see in culture, architecture and scenery was her reason for traveling to Istanbul," her brother, David Jimenez, wrote on a website set up to sell his sister's photography.

Among the photos for sale are Istanbul sunsets, and shots of Sierra's beloved New York City.

Courtesy Sarai Sierra's family

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By this afternoon, Jimenez put out another message saying, "Hey Instacanvas, Thank you for all the support in purchasing Sarai's pictures. Quick update, all expenses for Sarai's funeral have been paid for! From here on out any picture of hers that you purchase will NOT be going towards her funeral. All funds will be going to her children. Thank you for your support. David"

Sierra had been scheduled to arrive home at Newark Liberty International Airport on Jan. 22. When her husband, Steven Sierra, called the airline, he was told his wife never boarded the flight from Istanbul.

Steven Sierra and Jimenez traveled to Istanbul to aid in the search.

An intense two week search for for Sarai Sierra ended when her battered body was found.

An autopsy was completed Sunday, but results aren't expected for three months. Turkish officials however said Sierra was killed by at least one fatal blow to her head.

A casket holding the Staten Island mother was taken to a Istanbul church Monday where it remains as Sierra's family makes arrangements to bring her home.

Turkish police hope DNA samples from 21 people being questioned in the case will be key to finding the perpetrators, state media reported. A motive is not yet clear.

"They're still investigating so they might think it might be a robbery, but they're not sure," said Betsy Jimenez, Sierra's mother, said Monday.

The family also faces the heartbreaking task of telling Sierra's two sons, ages 11 and 9, that their mother is dead.

The boys have been under the impression that their father has gone to Turkey to bring their mother home - alive.

"It's going to be the hardest thing he's ever going to have to do in his life," said Rep. Michael Grimm, (R-NY) who added that the Staten Island family isn't sure when Steven Sierra will be able to bring his wife's body home.

ABC News' Josh Haskell contributed to this report.

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