Pictures: Wildfires Scorch Australia Amid Record Heat

Photograph by Jo Giuliani, European Pressphoto Agency

Smoke from a wildfire mushrooms over a beach in Forcett, Tasmania, on January 4. (See more wildfire pictures.)

Wildfires have engulfed southeastern Australia, including the island state of Tasmania, in recent days, fueled by dry conditions and temperatures as high as 113ºF (45ºC), the Associated Press reported. (Read "Australia's Dry Run" inNational Geographic magazine.)

No deaths have been reported, though a hundred people are unaccounted for in the town of Dunalley, where the blazes destroyed 90 homes.

"You don't get conditions worse than this," New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told the AP.

"We are at the catastrophic level, and clearly in those areas leaving early is your safest option."

Published January 8, 2013

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CIA Nominee May Have 'Zero Dark Thirty' Problem

Navy SEALs are seen fighting through a dust storm in the new thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty." (Columbia Pictures/AP Photo)

There’s only one White House staffer portrayed in the new movie “Zero Dark Thirty,” and it is someone described in the credits as “National Security Advisor.”

It’s a position that’s possibly filled in real life by John Brennan, the president’s counterterrorism advisor, who President Obama nominated Jan. 7 to be director of C.I.A.. The character in the movie, with references to the C.I.A’s involvement in the flawed intelligence on weapons of mass destruction that led the U.S. into war in Iraq, explains to a frustrated agency representative the difficulty of the president’s decision in acting on partial intelligence.

Spoiler alert: The president does ultimately act on that partial intelligence and Osama bin Laden is nabbed.

The character in real life – Brennan – has been opposed by some for his work at the C.I.A. under President Bush and the “enhanced interrogation” policies like waterboarding that also play a prominent role in the movie.

President Obama makes a cameo in the movie in the form of a “60 Minutes” interview in which he declares that, “America doesn’t torture, and I’m gonna make sure that we don’t torture.”

That declaration is viewed, in the film, by a table full of CIA agents in Pakistan who have been involved in “enhanced” interrogations.

The U.S. used waterboarding on three al Qaeda detainees at secret prisons run by the CIA.  It  ended the practice of using secret prisons in September of 2006 under President Bush and in 2009 President Obama signed executive orders in his first days in office that banned of the use of waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation” techniques.

But that was after the techniques had already scuttled Brennan’s first chance to head the CIA.  Brennan wasn’t nominated to be CIA director back in the early days of the Obama administration, but he was widely considered to be a front-runner for the job. ABC’s Jake Tapper reported at the time that Brennan withdrew his name for consideration and most of the opposition came as a result of his work at the C.I.A. when those techniques were in use.

And there is indication that they will make his nomination difficult this year.

“I appreciate John Brennan’s long record of service to our nation, but I have many questions and concerns about his nomination to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, especially what role he played in the so-called enhanced interrogation programs while serving at the CIA during the last administration, as well as his public defense of those programs,” said Sen. John McCain after Brennan was nominated Monday.  ”I plan to examine this aspect of Mr. Brennan’s record very closely as I consider his nomination.”

The movie has certainly brought “enhanced interrogation” – it’s critics call it torture – back into the conversation about the war on terror, as ABC’s Lee Ferran reported Monday:

Last week three high-powered senators, Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D.-Calif.), Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D.-Mich.) and 2008 Presidential candidate John McCain (R.-Ariz.), revealed they had written two letters to Morell in December demanding to know what impact the CIA may have had on the depiction of enhanced interrogation in the film and whether the agency “misled” the filmmakers into thinking the tactic was effective.

“As you know, the film depicts CIA officers repeatedly torturing detainees. The film then credits CIA detainees subjected to coercive interrogation techniques as providing critical lead information on the courier that led to the [bin Laden] compound,” one letter says. “The CIA cannot be held accountable for how the Agency and its activities are portrayed in film, but we are nonetheless concerned, given the CIA’s cooperation with the filmmakers and the narrative’s consistency with past public misstatements by former senior CIA officials, that the filmmakers could have been misled by information they were provided by the CIA.”

Brennan, for his part, has said he opposed torture techniques, as Jake Tapper reported back in 2008 when Brennan removed his name from consideration for the C.I.A. job in 2008.

In a letter released to the media, apparently by Brennan or someone operating on Brennan’s behalf, the former CIA official wrote, “It has been immaterial to the critics that I have been a strong opponent of many of the policies of the Bush Administration such as the preemptive war in Iraq and coercive interrogation tactics, too include waterboarding. The fact that I was not involved in the decision making process for any of these controversial policies and actions has been ignored. Indeed, my criticism of these policies within government circles why I was twice considered for more senior-level positions in the current Administration only to be rebuffed by the White House.”

But Brennan did defend the practice in news media interviews when he described the actions of C.I.A. director George Tenet. This is what Brennan told CBS’s Harry Smith about enhanced interrogation in 2007: “The CIA has acknowledged that it has detained about 100 terrorists since 9/11, and about a third of them have been subjected to what the CIA refers to as enhanced interrogation tactics, and only a small proportion of those have in fact been subjected to the most serious types of enhanced procedures….There have been a lot of information that has come out from these interrogation procedures that the agency has in fact used against the real hard-core terrorists. It has saved lives. And let’s not forget, these are hardened terrorists who have been responsible for 9/11, who have shown no remorse at all for the deaths of 3,000 innocents.”

Brennan has also spoken out in support of “rendition” – the practice where the U.S. government captures terror suspects in one country and relocates them to another. That’s a practice still employed by the Obama administration, according to a recent Washington Post investigation.

Related: Watch Martha Raddatz’s Nightline interview with ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Director Kathryn Bigelow:

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Football: Italy pledges action on football racists

MILAN: Italian interior minister Annamaria Cancellieri on Monday called for "more incisive" action to be taken to end the abuse of non-white players by racist fans.

Cancellieri was speaking after AC Milan's Kevin-Prince Boateng last week responded to racist chants by a small group of fans during a friendly against fourth division side Pro Patria by storming off the pitch.

He was followed by his team-mates, prompting a global outpouring of applause for the German-born Ghanaian international's stance against racist supporters.

Police have identified six Pro Patria supporters suspected of racist chanting and later Monday they were facing a five-year stadium ban.

One of the six suspects was identified by police thanks to television pictures as the Councillor for Sports and Youth Policy of the City of Corbetta near Milan, Riccardo Grittini.

All six were card-carrying fans of Pro Patria, one of whom worked in one of the club's bars.

According to ANSA news agency, all six have admitted being part of the crowd which verbally abused Milan's players but claim not to have uniquely targeted Milan's non-white players.

Sepp Blatter, the president of world football's governing body FIFA, hit out at Boateng's decision to force the suspension of last week's friendly, setting him at odds with AC Milan owner-president, Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Both FIFA and UEFA have previously warned against players walking off the pitch in protest, and Blatter said: "Walk off? No. I don't think that is the solution."

Cancellieri said Boateng's stance was a "nice gesture" but told Radio 24 Monday that a "more comprehensive strategy" needed to be put in place to avoid games being decided by "a minority of racists".

"This episode drew attention to a phenomenon which is unfortunately widespread and, as such, we have to be more serious about dealing with it," Cancellieri said.

At Rome's Olympic Stadium on Saturday some sections of Lazio's crowd were heard making monkey noises at Cagliari's Colombian striker Victor Ibarbo. The majority of the home crowd jeered and whistled to drown out the racists.

The regulations regarding the suspension of matches in such circumstances remain unclear and is a potential minefield for the football authorities, who would either have to replay matches or award victory to the team being victimised.

Cancellieri suggested that if "only a small group of fans" were involved in racist chanting games "should not be suspended".

"Fans involved in racist chanting should be hit very hard and must be removed from the stadium," she said. "If, however, the phenomenon is more widespread the game must be suspended by whoever is responsible for keeping public order."

There have been suggestions that police officials, who already attend football games in Italy's Serie A, could play a bigger role in deciding whether football games are suspended or not due to racist chanting.

Cancellieri said a meeting would be held between Italy's chief of police and the president of Serie A later this week to discuss ways to eliminate abusive fans from matches without necessarily forcing stoppages.

Berlusconi, meanwhile, said he disagreed with Blatter's appraisal of Boateng's gesture after vowing last week that his players would do the same again in a similar situation and calling the scenes at Pro Patria "disgraceful".

"I am of the opposite opinion. I congratulated the players for their courage in standing up to this abhorrent incident," he told Tgcom24, which is part of his Mediaset group.

"Football reflects society and should be something positive; teams should shown an example to the rest of society. What happened in the stadium should not be dismissed, it has done a lot of damage including to the reputation of Italy."

- AFP/jc

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Pune entrepreneur-activist writes to NCW, seeks action against Asaram Bapu

NEW DELHI: A Pune-based entrepreneur and activist Tehseen Poonawalla on Monday urged the National Commission for Women (NCW) to act against spiritual guru Asaram Bapu for blaming the 23-year-old gang-rape victim for the crime and derogatory remarks about women in general.

In a letter to the NCW, Poonawalla asked the body to move court or register a police complaint against the godman for his statements.

Asaram's remarks amount to "gross violation of legal, constitutional and fundamental rights and the right to dignity" of the gang-rape victim brutalized by six men in Delhi, Poonawalla said.

His comments on women in general violate various provisions of the law, including Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act and Section 505 (2) of the IPC as they "falsely and unjustifiably stereotype and portray women to be manipulators and conspirators against men and attempts to create an ill-will and enmity between men and women", said Poonawalla.

Section 505 (2) of the IPC deals with sstatements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes and prescribes punishment of upto three years in jail.

Poonawalla also asked the NCW to issue an advisory to state governments and media to deny Asaram Bapu platform to propagate his "vitriolic beliefs and opinions".

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Wasp Larvae Practice Food Safety

From refrigeration and pasteurization to hand washing and health inspections, humans go to great lengths to prevent foodborne illnesses—and it turns out we're not alone. A new study reveals that the parasitic emerald cockroach wasp (Ampulex compressa) has developed its own food hygiene technique, cleansing its cockroach victim using a cocktail of antimicrobial liquids.

(Read a related article on food safety in National Geographic magazine.)

When reproducing, emerald cockroach wasp mothers attach one egg to the leg of an American cockroach (Periplaneta americana). Once the egg hatches, the larva bores a hole in the insect and moves inside. There, it feeds on the roach's internal organs before spinning a cocoon within the carcass and eventually emerging as an adult wasp. (Watch a related video on the parasitic black wasp.)

However, due to the cockroach's unsanitary living conditions, many bacteria, viruses, and fungi also make their home on the cockroach, infecting the young wasp's only food source and threatening its survival.

"It was clear that a species that feeds on these cockroaches had to protect its food and ... itself from foodborne illnesses," said Gudrun Herzner, an entomologist at the Institute of Zoology at the University of Regensburg in Germany and lead author on the study. "This [environment] was a good place to look for antimicrobial defense mechanisms." (Related: "Cockroach Brains May Hold New Antibiotics?")

A Potent Combination

Herzner and her team wanted to investigate just how these wasp larvae were protecting themselves from the microbes in their contaminated food source. So the team began collecting droplets of a liquid secreted by the larvae when inhabiting their hosts.

Analysis revealed that the two most prevalent chemicals in the secretion—mullein and micromolide—in combination were effective antimicrobial agents against bacteria commonly found on American cockroaches.

Though both compounds had been previously identified in other organisms, Herzner's study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was the first to find this specific combination of chemicals in the same source. "It seems that it's exactly this mixture [that gives] broad-spectrum protection from different kinds of bacteria," Herzner said.

This broad-spectrum strategy also prevents the development of bacterial resistance, similar to combination antibiotic therapy in humans. "[The wasps] virtually soak their cockroaches with these antimicrobial secretions, and in this way, they sanitize the cockroach," said Herzner.

An Ugly World

Parasitization, such as what the emerald cockroach wasp does to cockroaches, is very common in the insect world, said Jim Whitfield, professor of entomology at the University of Illinois, who was not involved with the study. "Almost every species of insect larva has some kind of parasite that attacks it ... It's a pretty ugly world out there if you're an insect larva," he said.

However, this wasp larva's specific method of defense is quite unique, Whitfield added.  "Normally the adult female wasp produces the compounds that protect the offspring, and not the larva itself. In this case, it sounds like it's the larva that produces it," he said.

The discovery of this antimicrobial combination could one day even be used in food safety techniques or antibiotic therapies for humans. In fact micromolide has been a promising lead compound against the microbe that causes tuberculosis, Herzner said.

She added that there could be other compounds, more potent and powerful than what the wasp larvae employ, out there right now. "Evolution might still be working to make an even better combination [for defense]," Herzner said. (Related: "Drug-Resistant Bacteria Found in 4-Million-Year-Old Cave.")

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Cops Break Down as They Describe Aurora Horror

Two veteran police officers broke down on the stand today during a preliminary hearing for accused movie theater gunman James Holmes, with one officer choking up when he described finding the body of a 6-year-old girl inside the theater.

Sgt. Gerald Jonsgaard needed a moment to compose himself as he described finding the little girl, Veronica Moser Sullivan, in the blood splattered theater in Aurora, Colo.

An officer felt for a pulse and thought Veronica was still alive, Jonsgaard said, but the officer then realized he was feeling his own pulse.

A preliminary hearing for Holmes began today in Colorado, with victims and families present. He is accused of killing 12 people and wounded dozens more in the movie theater massacre. One of Veronica's relatives likened attending the hearing to having to "face the devil."

The officers wiped away tears as they described the horror they found inside of theater nine.

Officer Justin Grizzle recounted seeing bodies lying motionless on the floor, surrounded by so much blood he nearly slipped and fell.

Grizzle, a former paramedic, says ambulances had not yet made it to the theater, so he began loading victims into his patrol car and driving to the hospital.

"I knew I needed to get them to the hospital now, " Grizzle said, tearing up. "I didn't want anyone else to die."

Arapahoe County Sheriff/AP Photo

James Holmes Tries to Harm Himself, Sources Say Watch Video

Aurora, Colorado Gunman: Neuroscience PhD Student Watch Video

Grizzle drove six victims in four trips, saying that by the end there was so much blood in his patrol car he could hear it "sloshing around."

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

An officer who took the stand earlier today described Holmes as "relaxed" and "detached" when police confronted him just moments after the shooting stopped.

The first two officers to testify today described responding to the theater and spotting Holmes standing by his car at the rear of the theater on July 20, 2012. He allegedly opened fire in the crowded theater during the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."

Officer Jason Oviatt said he first thought Holmes was a cop because he was wearing a gas mask and helmet, but as he got closer realized he was not an officer and held Holmes at gunpoint.

Throughout the search and arrest, Holes was extremely compliant, the officer said.

"He was very, very relaxed," Oviatt said. "These were not normal reactions to anything. He seemed very detached from it all."

Oviatt said Holmes had extremely dilated pupils and smelled badly when he was arrested.

Officer Aaron Blue testified that Holmes volunteered that he had four guns and that there were "improvised explosive devices" in his apartment and that they would go off if the police triggered them.

Holmes was dressed for the court hearing in a red jumpsuit and has brown hair and a full beard. He did not show any reaction when the officers pointed him out in the courtroom.

This is the most important court hearing in the case so far, essentially a mini-trial as prosecutors present witness testimony and evidence—some never before heard—to outline their case against the former neuroscience student.

The hearing at the Arapahoe County District Court in Centennial, Colo., could last all week. At the end, Judge William Sylvester will decide whether the case will go to trial.

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Obama to nominate Chuck Hagel for defense secretary

President Obama plans to nominate former senator Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican and Vietnam veteran, to be secretary of defense on Monday, according to a person close to the process and a senior administration official.

The White House informed the Hagel camp over the weekend that Obama intends to announce the nomination at the White House on Monday.

The two people with knowledge of the process, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the nomination before Obama does, said key members of Congress were being being notified Sunday afternoon about the decision.

Hagel would add a well-known Republican to the president’s second-term Cabinet at a time when Obama, after a bitter presidential campaign, is looking to better bridge the partisan divide.

But Hagel’s expected nomination has drawn sharp criticism in recent weeks, particularly from Republicans who have questioned his commitment to Israel’s security.

The choice sets up a nomination fight Obama appeared unwilling to have over his preferred pick for secretary of state, Susan Rice, who pulled out of consideration for that job last month amid Republican complaints over her role in explaining the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, last year that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

In an appearance Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called Hagel’s selection “an in-your-face nomination.”

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that Hagel’s record would be given a fair shake in the Senate if he is nominated. McConnell stopped short of saying whether he was prepared to support or oppose his former colleague.

“He’s certainly been outspoken in foreign policy and defense over the years,” McConnell said on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos.” “The question we’ll be answering if he’s the nominee is: Do his views make sense for that particular job? I think he ought to be given a fair hearing, like any other nominee. And he will be.”

The Hagel announcement will begin what White House officials have said will probably be a busy week of announcements regarding who will fill out Obama’s second-term Cabinet and senior staff.

The president returned from a curtailed holiday in Hawaii on Sunday and will begin making a series of final personnel decisions delayed by the year-end negotiations with Congress over taxes and spending cuts.

Concerning the opposition that has arisen on the Hill before Hagel’s formal nomination, a senior administration official said Sunday that the White House expects Democrats to support the choice, as well as many Republicans who served with Hagel.

“Having a name floated and having one officially put forward are two different things,” the official said.

Hagel, who twice received the Purple Heart for wounds suffered in Vietnam, served in the U.S. Senate for two terms ending in 2009.

He was an outspoken and often-independent voice as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, breaking with many in his party to sharply criticize the management of the Iraq war after he initially supported the invasion.

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Football: Milan call on football powers to act on racism

MILAN: AC Milan have called for football's authorities to take an official stand against racism in the sport as the controversy surrounding Kevin-Prince Boateng's walk-off continued on Sunday.

Boateng hit the headlines last week when he responded to racist chants by a small group of fans during a friendly against fourth division side Pro Patria by storming off the pitch.

He was followed by his team-mates, prompting a global outpouring of applause for the German-born Ghanaian international's decision.

World football's ruling FIFA had yet to make an official statement about the incident but in an interview from the United Arab Emirates on Sunday FIFA president Sepp Blatter said Boateng was "wrong" to have walked off the pitch.

Both FIFA and UEFA have previously warned against players walking off the pitch in protest, and Blatter told The National newspaper: "Walk off? No. I don't think that is the solution.

"I don't think you can run away. This issue is a very touchy subject, but I repeat there is zero tolerance of racism in the stadium; we have to go against that."

Milan reacted quickly, declaring: "AC Milan reiterates its firm stance against racism, in whatever shape or form, and calls on the national and international sports bodies to adopt and implement necessary and effective measures."

In the wake of the Boateng incident some observers, including former AC Milan star Clarence Seedorf, had warned that the decision to leave the pitch threatened to "empower" a racist minority.

At Rome's Olympic stadium on Saturday Seedorf's fears rung true when some sections of Lazio's crowd were heard making monkey noises at Cagliari's Colombian striker Victor Ibarbo.

Although the majority of the home crowd jeered and whistled to drown out the racists, Cagliari's director general Francesco Marroccu was forced eventually to inform the fourth official.

The referee halted play momentarily to speak to both team captains and order a message to be relayed over the tannoy to warn fans the game would be suspended if the chants continued.

Lazio went on to win 2-1, but this latest incident threatens to reinforce the Rome-based side's reputation for harbouring fans with far right sympathies.

Earlier this season Lazio were fined for racist chanting in a Europa League game against Tottenham -- the English club with arguably the biggest Jewish support in the Premier League.

Upon seeing television pictures of Saturday's game, Boateng posted on Twitter: "Sad to see these racist chants 2 days after @KPBofficial leads #ACMilan off pitch after receiving similar abuse. very sad!!!"

Lazio president Claudio Lotito claims he has "worked hard" to prevent such behaviour on the part of fans since taking over at the club, but could not vouch for every individual supporter.

He said: "Lazio is always singled out as a racist club, which is not true: we have several black players in our team.

"However we can't control the actions of individual supporters. I can't put a policeman on every fan when there are 30,000 in the stadium."

- AFP/jc

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Aadhaar must deliver all subsidy perks: Montek

NEW DELHI: Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, wants to deliver all welfare and subsidy benefits through Aadhaar-based cash transfer scheme, which is touted as UPA's "game-changer" for 2014 parliamentary polls.

Ahluwalia said that it would be left to the discretion of state governments to implement it as was done for FDI in multi-brand retail.

However, he maintained that the proposal to bring the entire gamut of benefits and subsidies, including those provided through the public distribution system (PDS) on Aadhaar platform, as his personal opinion.

The comment came at a time many Opposition-ruled states, including Chhattisgarh, have refused to bring PDS under Aadhar-based cash transfer scheme. Many social activists have also voiced concern over cash transfer in lieu of commodity subsidy that include food and fertilizer scheme.

Ahluwalia argued that while some CMs are opposed to bring commodity subsidy under the scheme, there are many like Delhi chief ministerSheila Dikshit who wants cash transfer to the beneficiaries instead of commodity.

Adopting a cautious approach, the UPA government launched its ambitious direct cash transfer scheme in 20 districts, instead of 43 as was announced earlier, on January 1.

The programme is covering a select 26 schemes such as educational scholarship for SC/ST and OBC, and widow pension.

It has also kept LPG also out of its ambit for now. The government has also kept out food, fertilizers, diesel and kerosene from the scheme's ambit.

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Best Pictures: 2012 Nat Geo Photo Contest Winners

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• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Winner: Places

  Photograph by Nenad Saljic

  A full moon illuminates the Matterhorn peak near Zermatt, Switzerland, in the winning image in the contest's Places category.

  Full moons occur every 29.5 days or so as the moon moves to the side of Earth directly opposite the sun, reflecting the sun's rays off its full face and appearing as a brilliant, perfectly circular disk.

  (Read more about full moons.)

  Published January 4, 2013

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Winner: People

  Photograph by Micah Albert

  A picture of women scavenging refuse from a landfill in Dandora, Kenya, is the winning image in the People category of the National Geographic Photo Contest.

  The Dandora landfill, located in eastern Nairobi, is one of the largest in Africa.

  Published January 4, 2013

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Photograph by Jason Ching

  Published January 4, 2013

  
  

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