A look at the European market rally and discussing whether the ECB will announce the amount of debt they will buy, with Marchel Alexandrovich, Jefferies International and Maury Harris, UBS Investment Research.
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CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan ? U.S. Marines will march out of Afghanistan by the thousands next year, winding down combat in the Taliban heartland and testing the U.S. view that Afghan forces are capable of leading the fight against a battered but not yet beaten insurgency in the country's southwestern reaches, American military officers say.
At the same time, U.S. reinforcements will go to eastern Afghanistan in a bid to reverse recent gains by insurgents targeting Kabul, the capital.
Gen. James F. Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, said in an Associated Press interview that the number of Marines in Helmand province will drop "markedly" in 2012, and the role of those who stay will shift from countering the insurgency to training and advising Afghan security forces.
The change suggests an early exit from Afghanistan for the Marine Corps even as the prospects for solidifying their recent successes are uncertain.
"Am I OK with that? The answer is `yes,'" Amos said. "We can't stay in Afghanistan forever."
"Will it work? I don't know. But I know we'll do our part."
At stake is President Barack Obama's pledge to win in Afghanistan. He said during his 2008 campaign that the war was worth fighting and that he would get U.S. forces out of Iraq.
Facing a stalemate in Afghanistan in 2009, Obama ordered an extra 30,000 U.S. troops to the country, including about 10,000 Marines to Helmand province, in the belief that if the Taliban were to retake the government, al-Qaida soon would return to the land from which it plotted the Sept. 11 attacks.
Also at stake are the sacrifices of the nearly 300 Marines killed in Afghanistan over the past three years.
Weighing against prolonging the conflict is its unsustainable cost and what author and former Defense Department official Bing West has called its "grinding inconclusiveness."
In a series of pep talks to Marines in Helmand this past week, Amos said the Marine mission in Afghanistan would end in the next 12 months to 18 months. That is as much as two years before the December 2014 deadline, announced a year ago, for all U.S. and other foreign troops to leave the country.
"Savor being out here together," Amos told Marines on Thanksgiving at an outpost along the Helmand River called Fiddler's Green, "because it's going to be over" soon.
He was referring only to the Marines' role, which is limited mainly to Helmand, although there also are Marine special operations forces in western Afghanistan. The U.S. military efforts in Kandahar province and throughout the volatile eastern region are led by the Army, along with allied forces.
Amos stressed in his visits with groups of Marines that he is optimistic that Helmand's improved security will hold. On Saturday, he said "there is every reason to be optimistic" at this stage of the 10-year-old war.
For the past two years, Helmand and neighboring Kandahar have been the main focus of the U.S.-led effort to turn the tide against a resilient Taliban. In that period, the Taliban and other insurgent networks have grown bolder and more violent in the eastern provinces where they have the advantage of sanctuary across the border in Pakistan and where U.S. and NATO forces are spread more thinly than in the south.
During two days of visiting Marine outposts throughout Helmand this past week, Amos cited progress against the Taliban and was told by Marine commanders that plans are well under way to close U.S. bases, ship war equipment home and prepare for a major drawdown of Marines beginning next summer.
Amos declined to discuss the number of Marines expected to leave in 2012, but indications are that 10,000 or more may depart.
There are now about 19,400 Marines in Helmand, and that is due to fall to about 18,500 by the end of this year.
On Saturday, he told Marines on board the amphibious warship USS Bataan in the Gulf of Aden that Marines in Helmand now "smell success" and that their numbers in Helmand will drop "pretty dramatically" next year.
Marine Gen. John Allen, the top overall commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, was ordered by Obama last summer to pull out 10,000 U.S. forces by the end of this year and 23,000 more by the end of September 2012. That has driven the move to accelerate a transition to Afghan control.
Allen said in an interview Thursday that winding down the Marine combat mission in Helmand makes sense because security "has gotten so much better now." He said the pullout of 23,000 U.S. forces in 2012, including an unspecified number of Marines, probably will begin in the summer, which historically is the height of the fighting season in Afghanistan.
Allen said Afghan security forces, often criticized for weak battlefield performance, desertion and a lack of will, are closer to being ready to assume lead responsibility for their nation's defense than many people believe.
"The Afghan national security forces are better than they thought they were, and they're better than we thought they were," Allen said.
That is why he thinks it's safe to lessen the Marine's combat role in Helmand, reduce their numbers and put the Afghans in charge.
That approach also allows Allen to build up elsewhere. He said that in 2012 he will put more U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan, increase the number of U.S. special operations forces who are playing an important role in developing Afghan forces, and add intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance resources. He said he plans to add "several battalions" of U.S. forces in the east. He gave no specific troop number, but a battalion usually totals about 750.
"I'm going to put a lot more forces and capabilities into the east," he said. "The east is going to need some additional forces because our intent is to expand the security zone around Kabul."
The top Marine in Helmand, Maj. Gen. John Toolan, said he is not convinced that 2012 is the best time to shift the focus to eastern Afghanistan, where the Haqqani network has taken credit for a series of spectacular attacks recently, including suicide bombings inside Kabul, the heavily secured capital.
He said he believes the Taliban movement in southern Afghanistan is still the biggest threat to the viability of the central government.
Toolan said the Marines continue to make important progress against a Taliban whose leaders are showing signs of frustration and division.
"They're starting to break up," Toolan said. "There's still a lot to be done to see that these insurgents stay on their backs."
Stephen Biddle, a defense analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations who recently visited U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said there is a risk to putting the Afghans in the lead role in Helmand as early as 2012.
"If you throw them into the deep end and put them in the lead in really tough neighborhoods you run the risk that they get their noses bloodied early in ways that could make it hard for them to recover because they lose confidence," Biddle said in an interview in Washington. On the other hand, if the U.S. and its allies wait until 2013 or 2014 to hand off to the Afghans in the most challenging areas, there would be less chance to bail them out.
"It's a dilemma with no obvious solution to it," he said.
___
Robert Burns can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/robertburnsAP
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CARACAS, Venezuela ? President Hugo Chavez's government began repatriating Venezuela's gold reserves from European banks Friday as the first shipment arrived on a flight from Paris.
Troops guarded the shipment in a caravan of at least five armored vehicles that carried the gold to the Central Bank in Caracas.
A group of government supporters cheered and waved flags as the caravan passed, with soldiers holding their rifles at the ready. Two light tanks escorted the shipment.
Chavez announced in August that his government would retrieve more than 211 tons of gold held in U.S. and European banks.
Chavez announced earlier Friday that the first of the gold was on its way.
"It's coming to the place it never should have left. ... The vaults of the Central Bank of Venezuela, not the bank of London or the bank of the United States," Chavez said. "It's our gold."
He said that previously the gold was held in Britain. He didn't specify the bank nor say how much was in the shipment.
The leftist president has said his decision to repatriate the gold reserves is aimed at helping to protect the oil-producing country from economic troubles in the United States and Europe.
Economist Pedro Palma, who is a professor at the Institute of Higher Studies of Administration, said he saw no economic justification for moving the gold.
"From the economic point view, it is the same to have it here as in England. The reserves will not change because of this," Palma said.
Chavez's opponents have called the plan costly and ill-advised.
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Seems like Big G updates its browser of choice with fresh features every time we turn around, and one of Google's own, dev advocate Paul Kinlan, revealed that another spate of upgrades are arriving for Chrome early next year. The headliner is plug-and-play support for gamepads, but native support for cameras, microphones and open-source video chat app WebRTC are on the docket too -- features that give Chrome some considerable gaming chops when combined with its existing WebGL and HTML 5 prowess and, he says, could bring OnLive to the web without plugins. If you thought Angry Birds on a browser was a great, we can't wait to see what's in store when a proper controller and integrated video chat are involved.Chrome to gain plug and play gamepad support and WebRTC video chat in 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Don't blame the tryptophan in your Thanksgiving turkey. The post-dinner drowsiness probably results from carbs and alcohol
?| November 23, 2011?|
Image: boblin/iStockphoto
'Tis the season for giving thanks and sharing blame. The supercomittee, the White House, "the One Percent," Greece, Italy -- the accusations seem to be swirling everywhere this fall. So in the spirit of sharing guilt, we thought it might be fun to ask a physician, Dr. Howard Markel of the University of Michigan, to help us re-examine a more classic case of finger-pointing: Is turkey the sole culprit behind our drowsy spells after Thanksgiving dinner? Or are other side dishes in on the act, too?
NewsHour: Can we blame it on the bird?
Dr. Markel: Most people blame it on simply stuffing one's stomach with too much food. More medically-minded folks cite the myth that a huge meal causes a diversion of the blood supply to the gastrointestinal system as it digests all that turkey, dressing, potatoes, and pumpkin pie. But in reality, the blood that is diverted tends to come from skeletal muscle tissue and is helped along by the heart's ability to increase the volume of blood pumped forward with each beat. In fact, the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain is rigidly controlled by the cardiovascular system and does not drop after any meal.
More recently, chemists have suggested that the post-feast drowsiness was caused by the high levels of an amino acid called L-tryptophan contained in turkey meat. (There was even a "Seinfeld" episode about trying to get someone to sleep by feeding them turkey.) But even though the turkey does contain high levels of L-tryptophan, it is comparable to that contained in many other meats that we consume. Moreover, in order for L-tryptophan to really make you sleepy, you need to take it on an empty stomach and without ingesting any other types of amino acids or protein. But there is a lot of protein in the average slice of turkey, and it's usually not the only dish being served.
So what is the real medical answer? It may well have to do with the other foods that are served at the Thanksgiving table, particularly those dishes rich in carbohydrates. Laboratory studies in both animals and human beings have demonstrated that carbohydrate-rich meals triggers the pancreas to release of insulin, the hormone that helps us breakdown and utilize sugar. But insulin also stimulates the muscles to take in large neutral branched-chain amino acids but not tryptophan, which is an aromatic amino acid. This results in a far greater ratio of L-tryptophan to branch-chained amino acids in the blood, and eventually, in the cerebral spinal fluid, the body fluid that bathes and cushions the spinal cord and brain. And now here's the climax of all this organic chemistry and human physiology: the brain converts the L-tryptophan into serotonin that is eventually metabolized by the pineal gland into melatonin, a substance many travelers know as nature's sleeping pill.
By the way, another sleep inducer that accompanies many Thanksgiving meals is alcohol. Too much of any spirit, wine or beer is bound to make you sleepy, at best, and grouchy or a dangerous driver at worst. So enjoy the meal, watch the carbohydrates and limit your alcohol intake for a safe Thanksgiving.
This article is reprinted with permission from PBS NewsHour. It was first published on November 23, 2011.
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=55cbe90e6b8c568c5169399e55b6bfe7
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MANAMA, Bahrain ? Bahrain suggested Thursday that it has classified evidence that Iran was linked to Shiite-led protests in the Gulf kingdom despite an independent commission that said it found nothing to back the claims.
The allegations of Iranian involvement in the kingdom's 10-month-old unrest have been central to Gulf policies during the region's largest Arab Spring uprising, including the decision to send a Saudi-led military force to reinforce Bahrain's embattled Sunni monarchy.
But the findings of a special commission that investigated Bahrain's turmoil ? contained in a 500-page report issued Wednesday ? were a direct slap at fears by the Western-allied Gulf states that Shiite power Iran seeks to use Bahrain as a foothold to try to undermine the region's Sunni Arab regimes.
The official Bahrain News Agency said national security concerns prevented sharing all intelligence on Iran, which has sharply denounced the crackdowns on Bahrain's Shiite majority but insists it has no direct ties to the conflict.
The news agency also repeated statements by Bahrain's king that Iranian propaganda has fueled the bloodshed and clashes on the strategic island, which is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. Earlier this month, Bahrain claimed it dismantled an Iranian-linked terror cell that plotted attacks on high-profile targets including the Saudi Embassy.
The special commission's report ? authorized by Bahrain's rulers in a bid to ease tensions ? was dominated by details of abuses including torture, excessive force and legal shortcomings under a special security court.
At least 35 people have been killed in violence related to the uprising, including several members of the security forces.
Bahrain's Shiites comprise about 70 percent of the island nation's 525,000 citizens. They have complained of widespread discrimination such as being blocked from top government or military posts. The monarchy has offered some concessions, but refused to bow to protest demands to surrender control of all top positions and main policies.
Many of the report's conclusions had been previously noted by rights groups and opposition activists. But the burden fell on Bahrain's authorities to prove their charges of Iranian links to the protests.
The report said evidence presented by Bahrain's government "does not establish a discernible link between specific incidents" during the time period studied from February and March.
The commission noted that most of the government's claims on Iranian involvement related to alleged intelligence operations, making them impossible to independently investigate.
But Bahrain's king, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, lashed back at the findings, insisting Tehran's role was clear to "all who have eyes and ears."
He pointed to Iran's Arabic-language broadcasts that "fueled the flames of sectarian strife," but gave no details on the extent of possible secret intelligence that was not shared.
Bahrain is a critical U.S. ally and Washington has taken a cautious line: Urging Bahrain's leaders to open more dialogue with the opposition, but avoiding too much public pressure.
In Washington, the White House on Wednesday commended the king for appointing the commission and said in a statement that it is "incumbent upon the government of Bahrain to hold accountable those responsible for human rights violations and put in place institutional changes to ensure that such abuses do not happen again."
A statement by the European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, urged Bahraini authorities to "open a new chapter ... of national reconciliation."
___
Murphy reported from Dubai.
___
Online: http://files.bici.org.bh/BICIreportEN.pdf
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ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2011) ? Studies have shown that people who are overweight in middle age are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease decades later than people at normal weight, yet researchers have also found that people in the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease are more likely to have a lower body mass index (BMI). A current study examines this relationship between Alzheimer's disease and BMI.
The study, published in the November 22, 2011, print issue of Neurology?, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, examined 506 people with advanced brain imaging techniques and analyses of cerebrospinal fluid to look for biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease, which can be present years before the first symptoms begin. The participants, who were part of the Alzheimer's Disease. Neuroimaging Initiative, included people with no memory problems, people with mild cognitive impairment, or mild memory problems, and people with Alzheimer's disease.
The study found that in people with no memory or thinking problems and in people with mild cognitive impairment, those who had the Alzheimer's biomarkers were also more likely to have a lower BMI than those who did not have the biomarkers.
For example, 85 percent of the people with mild cognitive impairment who had a BMI below 25 had signs of the beta-amyloid plaques in their brains that are a hallmark of the disease, compared to 48 percent of those with mild cognitive impairment who were overweight. The relationship was also found in people with no memory or thinking problems.
"These results suggest Alzheimer's disease brain changes are associated with systemic metabolic changes in the very earliest phases of the disease," said study author Jeffrey M. Burns, MD, MS, of the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. "This might be due to damage in the area of the brain called the hypothalamus that plays a role in regulating energy metabolism and food intake. Further studies should investigate whether this relationship reflects a systemic response to an unrecognized disease or a long-standing trait that predisposes a person to developing the disease."
The study was supported by the University of Kansas Alzheimer Disease Center, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development.
The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 24,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, brain injury, Parkinson's disease and epilepsy.
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Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121193923.htm
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Game publisher Square Enix iPhone and iPod touch next month. Originally released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo, Chrono Trigger is hailed by many as a landmark game for its unique story and mechanics. Players travel through time via mysterious portals, gathering a party of memorable characters across different epochs and learning of their mysterious interconnections -- all in a bid to save the world from a future of destruction.
[More from Mashable: Hands-on With Infinity Blade 2: The iPhone 4S?s First Graphics Test]
Members of your party develop new skills as they fight together in combinations of three, and the deeds you do in one time period (e.g. the Middle Ages) affect circumstances in others (e.g. 2300 A.D.). With surprising plot twists and multiple endings, the game has heart and depth seen in few of its contemporary titles.
[More from Mashable: 10 Best iPhone Action Games]
The game has been re-released previously on the Sony Playstation, the Nintendo DS, and most recently on the Wii's virtual console. The journey to iOS is one more step in the very gradual opening of Square's illustrious back catalog.
Square released some images showing the game's new touch interface. Besides a necessarily revamped UI, the original graphics appear to be intact.
The price and a specific release date have yet to be announced, though Square writes that fans will be able to get their thumbs on it "before the end of December." If you haven't experienced Chrono Trigger (or want to relive its 16-bit glory), mark your calendar and check the App Store. If the port is true to the original, you won't be disappointed.
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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Over the past few years, Facebook has partnered with a variety of handset makers to release smartphones and feature phones that deeply integrate the social network into software and hardware. These phones have sold poorly, though. Meanwhile iOS and Android are claiming more and more of the market such that they endanger Facebook's future, cramping its mobile platform and relegating it to just being an app.?Last year we wrote that Facebook was likely building a custom-version of Android, and now AllThingsD says Facebook is, and it that it will run on an HTC-made Facebook phone. A custom operating system could attract users with even deeper software integrations, and let Facebook monetize in-app payments. The company hopes that despite a lack of proof that users want such a thing, its phone will?sell well, and allow it more determination over the future of its mobile apps and platform.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/NYtD9xjS5UQ/
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Remember in The Fox and the Hound how Tod is a likeable, heroic fox that ends up saving the day in the end? He must be from a different breed of fox (the Disney breed?) than the ones you'll meet in Chicken Coup Remix HD, because these foxes are nothing but muderous, bloodthirsty creatures with only one goal in mind: eat all your brainless chickens.
Why do I call the chickens brainless (other than they fact they are)? Because while the cunning foxes are popping in and out of bushes surrounding your farm (great location, Farmer Bill), your chickens are aimlessly wandering around like dodo birds. Therefore, it's up to you to corral your feathered friends into their respective coops before they're dragged away and devoured.
To move a chicken, drag your finger across it. It's now hooked on you, and you're free to move it somewhere safer (like it's coop). If you drag chickens and roosters into the wrong coop, you lose "life," so to speak, and once you're down you alloted lives, your level ends.
There's also two other ways to lose a life: letting a fox escape with a chicken in its mouth or not getting a chicken into its approproate coop soon enough. The fox issue is easy, as you'll see the fox running off. The timing thing can be a little difficult, as it's only denoted by a colored exclamation point over your chicken's head. Green is ok, yellow is so-so, and red is imminent loss of cluck.
So how do we deal with these pesky foxes, anyway? For some reason, you want to drag those into the barn. Dragging is the same as with the chickens, but what the farmer intends to do with a farm full of hungry foxes is beyond me. (I try not to dig too deeply.) You'll know which one is the barn, too. It's the biggest and it has a picture of a fox on it.
What other challenges do you face? Obstacles and terrain vary in each level, starting off with an inconveniently placed tractor, then moving onto things like an actual fence. You'll have to stay light on your fingers if you're going to save all the chickens in time.
Scoring is pretty simple. Get chickens in their coop, get points. The more chickens you get in without losing one and your "chicken power" goes up. Chicken power adds onto the next chicken you save, and keeps growing until a chicken is lost. You can also chain like groups of chickens together for sweet bonuses (and to get a lot of stuff of screen at once).
If the screen becomes too cluttered, a simple pinch-to-zoom (out) motion will use one of your three bombs to clear everything off the screen and give you a moment to breathe.
And in case you're wondering the difference between the original and remix versions of Chicken Coup, an eagle-eyed Puppy Punch employee answered the question for me:
There are several differences between the original and the remix version. Among them are that Chicken Coup Remix HD has more levels than the original. We have optimized it to run a lot smoother and with less lag than the original. You are also able to pick up, drag, and drop Chickens & Foxes with more precision.
To top off an already impressive game, there's also OpenFeint support and achievements to be had, so don't think the game stops once you've maxed out every level. Puppy Punch Productions is going to keep adding in new levels, too, so the replayability factor is pretty high with this title.
Chicken Coup Remix HD is $1.99 in the Android Market. If you're ready to try life on the farm, we've got download links after the break.
 |  |
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/3N3IAycboio/story01.htm
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Scanner hobbyist Rick Hansen holds his scanner/Ham radio device at his home Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011, in Silver Spring, Md. In an effort to restrict access to their internal communications police departments around the nation are moving to encrypt them. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Scanner hobbyist Rick Hansen holds his scanner/Ham radio device at his home Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011, in Silver Spring, Md. In an effort to restrict access to their internal communications police departments around the nation are moving to encrypt them. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Scanner hobbyist Rick Hansen holds his scanner/Ham radio device at his home Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011, in Silver Spring, Md. In an effort to restrict access to their internal communications police departments around the nation are moving to encrypt them. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Scanner hobbyist Rick Hansen holds his scanner/Ham radio device at his home Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011, in Silver Spring, Md. In an effort to restrict access to their internal communications police departments around the nation are moving to encrypt them. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Scanner hobbyist Rick Hansen holds his scanner/Ham radio device at his home Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011, in Silver Spring, Md. In an effort to restrict access to their internal communications police departments around the nation are moving to encrypt them. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Police departments around the country are moving to shield their radio communications from the public as cheap, user-friendly technology has made it easy for anyone to use handheld devices to keep tabs on officers responding to crimes.
The practice of encryption has become increasingly common from Florida to New York and west to California, with law enforcement officials saying they want to keep criminals from using officers' internal chatter to evade them. But journalists and neighborhood watchdogs say open communications ensure that the public receives information as quickly as possible that can be vital to their safety.
D.C. police became one of the latest departments to adopt the practice this fall. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said recently that a group of burglars who police believe were following radio communications on their smartphones pulled off more than a dozen crimes before ultimately being arrested and that drug dealers fled a laundromat after a sergeant used his radio to call in other officers ? suggesting that they, too, might have been listening in.
"Whereas listeners used to be tied to stationary scanners, new technology has allowed people ? and especially criminals ? to listen to police communications on a smartphone from anywhere," Lanier testified at a D.C. Council committee hearing this month. "When a potential criminal can evade capture and learn, 'There's an app for that,' it's time to change our practices."
The transition to encryption has put police departments at odds with the news media, who say their newsgathering is impeded when they can't use scanners to monitor developing crimes and disasters. Journalists and scanner hobbyists argue that police departments already have the capability to communicate securely and should be able to adjust to the times without reverting to full encryption. And they say alert scanner listeners have even helped police solve crimes.
"If the police need to share sensitive information among themselves, they know how to do it," Phil Metlin, news director of WTTG-Fox 5, in Washington, said at the council hearing. "Special encrypted channels have been around for a long time; so have cellphones."
It's impossible to quantify the scope of the problem or to determine if the threat from scanners is as legitimate as police maintain ? or merely a speculative fear. It's certainly not a new concern ? after all, hobbyists have for years used scanners to track the activities of their local police department from their kitchen table.
David Schoenberger, a stay-at-home dad from Fredericksburg, Va., and scanner hobbyist, said he understands the chief's concerns ? to a point.
"I think they do need to encrypt the sensitive talk groups, like the vice and narcotics, but I disagree strongly with encrypting the routine dispatch and patrol talk groups. I don't think that's right," he said. "I think the public has a right to monitor them and find out what's going on around them. They pay the salaries and everything."
One iPhone app, Scanner 911, offers on its website the chance to "listen in while police, fire and EMS crews work day & night." Apple's iTunes store advertises several others. Though iPhones don't directly pick up police signals, users can listen to nearly real-time audio through Internet streaming services, said Matthew Blaze, director of the Distributed Systems Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania.
The cost of encryption varies. The Nassau County, N.Y., police department is in the final stages of a $50 million emergency communications upgrade that includes encryption and interoperability with other law enforcement agencies in the region, said Inspector Edmund Horace. Once the old system is taken down, Horace said, "You would not be able to discern what's being said on the air unless you had the proper equipment."
The Orange County, Fla., sheriff's office expects to be encrypted within months. Several police departments in the county are already encrypted, and more will follow suit to keep officers safe, said Bryan Rintoul, director of emergency communications for the sheriff's office.
In California, the Santa Monica police department has been fully encrypted for the past two years, enabling police to communicate more freely during high-risk calls, said spokesman Sgt. Richard Lewis.
Smaller communities like Garden City, Kan. ? with a population of roughly 27,000 ? are also converting.
"It was an unknown. There was no criminal act, but it concerns the officers when you see the same vehicle keep showing up at your scenes," said spokesman Sgt. Michael Reagle. "What is their intent when they keep showing up?"
The shift to encryption has occurred as departments replace old-fashioned analog radios with digital equipment that sends the voice signal over the air as a stream of bits and then reconstructs it into high-quality audio. Encrypted communication is generally only heard by listeners with an encryption key. Others might hear silence or garbled talk.
Still, full encryption is cumbersome and difficult to manage, especially for large law enforcement agencies that must keep track of who has the encryption key. The more individuals or neighboring agencies with access, the greater the risk that the secrecy of the system could be compromised and the harder it becomes to ensure that everyone who needs access has it, Blaze said.
"I would not be surprised if a lot of departments that do it would switch back to non-encryption. The practical difficulties of trying to maintain an encrypted system at scale start to become apparent," he said.
Some departments have studied full encryption but decided against it, including police in Greenwich, Conn.
"Because we've always retained the ability to encrypt traffic on a case-by-case basis when we need to, in a community like Greenwich, I think the transparency we achieve by allowing people to listen to our radio communications certainly outweighs any security concern we have," said Capt. Mark Kordick.
Some departments have tried to compromise. The Jacksonville, Fla., sheriff's office leased radios to the media, allowing them to listen to encrypted patrol channels. That practice ended last summer out of concern about maintaining the confidentiality of radio transmissions, said spokeswoman Lauri-Ellen Smith.
In D.C., Lanier says the department is stepping up efforts to advise the public of developing crimes through Facebook, Twitter and an email alert system. Officers will use an unencrypted channel starting next month to alert the public to traffic delays, said spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump. But the chief has refused to give radios to media organizations, which continue to assail the encryption.
"What about the truly terrifying crimes?" Metlin, the news director, asked at the hearing. "What if, God forbid, there is another act of terrorism here? It is our jobs to inform the public in times of emergency."
Rick Hansen says he's been listening to police communications since he was 13 or 14 and considers efforts to shut them off a way to make government less transparent. The Silver Spring, Md., man says they should use technology to keep sensitive information of the airwaves on a selective basis.
"Yes, it's a concern ? and it's something that can be addressed through proper procedures and processes as opposed to turning out the lights on everybody," he said.
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LOS ANGELES ? A yacht captain said on national TV Friday that he lied to investigators about Natalie Wood's mysterious death 30 years ago and blames the actress' husband at the time, Robert Wagner, for her drowning in the ocean off Southern California.
The circumstances of her death remain one of Hollywood's enduring mysteries and continue to create renewed intrigue, with homicide detectives unexpectedly re-opening the case Thursday that had long been classified as a tragic accident.
A Los Angeles County sheriff's detective will speak to reporters Friday about the decision to take another look at the Oscar-nominated actress' nighttime demise in the chilly waters off Southern California on Nov. 29, 1981. Wood drowned after spending several hours drinking on Catalina Island and a yacht with Wagner, fellow actor Christopher Walken and the ship's captain, Dennis Davern.
Davern, skipper of the Splendour, told NBC's "Today" show on Friday that he made mistakes by not telling the truth about events leading to the Thanksgiving weekend death and had urged Los Angeles County sheriff's homicide investigators to reopen the case.
"Was the fight between Natalie Wood and her husband Robert Wagner what ultimately led to her death?" show host David Gregory asked.
"Yes," Davern replied.
"How so?"
"Like I said, that's going to be up to the investigators to decide," the captain said.
Davern said he believes Wagner had intentionally kept the investigation into Wood's death low profile and didn't do everything he could have done. When Gregory pressed Davern for supporting details, the captain said that was the duty of investigators.
The Associated Press could not immediately reach Davern Friday.
Wagner spokesman Alan Nierob said Friday a statement he released Thursday spoke for itself.
"Although no one in the Wagner family has heard from the LA County Sheriff's department about this matter, they fully support the efforts of the LA County Sheriff's Dept. and trust they will evaluate whether any new information relating to the death of Natalie Wood Wagner is valid, and that it comes from a credible source or sources other than those simply trying to profit from the 30 year anniversary of her tragic death," Nierob wrote in the statement.
Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said Thursday the renewed inquiry was prompted by unspecified new information about Woods' case. The Los Angeles Times reported that detectives were prompted to reopen it because of comments from Davern, who was recently interviewed for a collaboration between the magazine Vanity Fair and the television series "48 Hours Mystery."
In the magazine, Davern is quoted as saying that Wood and Wagner fought in their cabin before the actress disappeared. Coroner's officials ruled her death an accidental drowning, perhaps caused by her slipping off the boat while trying to tie down a dinghy.
Wood's death sparked tabloid speculation that foul play was involved, but Wagner and Wood's sister have dismissed any suggestion the actress' death was anything more than an accident. Coroner's officials at the time agreed, writing that Wood was "possibly attempting to board the dinghy and had fallen into the water, striking her face."
It is not the first time Davern has contradicted statements he and others made to investigators after Woods' death, and the magazine notes that he has told his story through tabloids and has been shopping for a book deal for years.
Sheriff's officials are also hoping for tips from the public that may shed new light on how Wood, who was afraid of being in the water, ended up drowning.
Wood, a three-time Oscar nominee famous for roles in "West Side Story," `'Rebel Without a Cause" and other Hollywood hits, was 43 when she died. She and Wagner, star of the TV series "Hart to Hart," were twice married, first in 1957 before divorcing six years later. They remarried in 1972.
Lana Wood wrote in a biography on her sister, "What happened is that Natalie drank too much that night."
Wagner wrote in a 2008 autobiography that he blamed himself for his wife's death.
He recounted the night of Wood's disappearance, during which the couple and Walken drank at a restaurant and on the boat. Wood went to the master cabin during an argument between her husband and Walken. The last time Wagner saw his wife, she was fixing her hair at a bathroom vanity and she shut the door.
Wagner wrote that despite various theories about what led Wood to the water, which she feared, it was impossible to know what exactly happened.
"Nobody knows," he wrote. "There are only two possibilities; either she was trying to get away from the argument, or she was trying to tie the dinghy. But the bottom line is that nobody knows exactly what happened."
Later in the book, Wagner wrote, "Did I blame myself? If I had been there, I could have done something. But I wasn't there. I didn't see her."
He wrote that he has never returned to Catalina Island.
Phone and email messages to Walken's publicist were not returned Thursday. Walken and Wood were co-stars in "Brainstorm," which was the actress' final big screen role.
___
AP reporter Alicia Rancilio contributed to this report.
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FILE - In this Oct. 14 2011 file photo American fugitive George Wright smiles while standing by the door of his house in Almocageme, outside Lisbon. A Lisbon court has denied a U.S. request for the extradition of captured American fugitive George Wright, his lawyer said Thursday, Nov, 17 2011. Wright spent seven years in a U.S. prison for a 1962 murder in New Jersey before escaping in 1970, and was on the run for 41 years until his arrest in Portugal in September 2011. Wright has been under house arrest for the past four weeks at his home near Lisbon, wearing an electronic tag that monitors his movements. (AP Photo/Armando Franca, file)
FILE - In this Oct. 14 2011 file photo American fugitive George Wright smiles while standing by the door of his house in Almocageme, outside Lisbon. A Lisbon court has denied a U.S. request for the extradition of captured American fugitive George Wright, his lawyer said Thursday, Nov, 17 2011. Wright spent seven years in a U.S. prison for a 1962 murder in New Jersey before escaping in 1970, and was on the run for 41 years until his arrest in Portugal in September 2011. Wright has been under house arrest for the past four weeks at his home near Lisbon, wearing an electronic tag that monitors his movements. (AP Photo/Armando Franca, file)
FILE - In this Oct. 28 2011 file photo Captured American fugitive George Wright shares a laugh with his wife Maria do Rosario Valente while having a cup of tea in the kitchen of their house, in Almocageme, outside Lisbon. A Lisbon court has denied a U.S. request for the extradition of captured American fugitive George Wright, his lawyer said Thursday, Nov, 17 2011. Wright spent seven years in a U.S. prison for a 1962 murder in New Jersey before escaping in 1970, and was on the run for 41 years until his arrest in Portugal in September 2011. Wright has been under house arrest for the past four weeks at his home near Lisbon, wearing an electronic tag that monitors his movements. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
LISBON, Portugal (AP) ? A Portuguese court on Thursday denied a U.S. request for the extradition of captured American fugitive George Wright, who spent 41 years on the lam in a journey that took him across three continents.
The U.S. wants Wright returned to serve the rest of his 15- to 30-year jail sentence for a 1962 killing in New Jersey. Wright was captured in Portugal in September after a fingerprint provided by U.S. authorities was matched to his in a national database the country maintains for all citizens and legal residents.
Wright's lawyer, Manuel Luis Ferreira, told The Associated Press that the judge accepted his arguments that Wright is now Portuguese and that the statute of limitations on the killing had expired. He declined to provide further details, saying he would hold a news conference later.
U.S. officials were "extremely disappointed" with the denial for extradition and "will review the decision and consult with Portuguese authorities to determine a path forward that results in Mr. Wright's return to the United States," according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon. The case could be appealed to a higher Portuguese court.
A Portuguese court official confirmed the extradition request was refused, but provided no details. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she wasn't authorized to discuss the case.
Portuguese court proceedings for extraditions and many other type of cases are conducted in secrecy with no public access to the proceedings, filings or decisions.
Wright spent seven years in a U.S. prison for the New Jersey murder before escaping in 1970, and was on the run for 41 years until his arrest.
Authorities say Wright and three associates had already committed multiple armed robberies on Nov. 23, 1962, when Walter Patterson, a decorated World War II veteran and father of two, was shot dead in his gas station in Wall, New Jersey.
Patterson's daughter, Ann, said in an email she hopes U.S. officials will appeal the case and insisted that the extradition attempt "has not all been done for nothing."
"The entire world now knows what this man did," she said.
Wright was captured in the seaside village where he has lived since 1993 less than an hour's drive from Lisbon, and was jailed for about two weeks. But a judge released him about a month ago under house arrest.
Ferreira previously told The AP he would argue Wright is now a Portuguese citizen and should be allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence in Portugal, where his wife and two grown children live. Sweeney has repeatedly declined to discuss the legal arguments for extradition presented by the U.S.
Wright got Portuguese citizenship through his 1991 marriage to a Portuguese woman and after the tiny West African nation Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony, gave him the new name of "Jose Luis Jorge dos Santos" complete with fake names for parents and made him a citizen.
The identity from Guinea-Bissau was granted after the country gave Wright political asylum in the 1980s, and that was accepted by Portugal when it granted him citizenship, according to his lawyer.
Wright broke out of Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, New Jersey, on Aug. 19, 1970.
He made his way to Detroit and became a militant in the Black Liberation Army. In 1972, Wright dressed as a priest and used an alias to hijack a Delta flight from Detroit to Miami along four others, police say.
After releasing the plane's 86 passengers for $1 million, the hijackers forced the plane to fly to Boston, then to Algeria, where the hijackers sought asylum.
Algeria gave the money and plane back to the U.S., and Wright and his comrades went underground in Europe. The other four were captured and convicted of hijacking in Paris, but Wright managed to avoid the dragnet and slipped away.
He met his future wife, Maria do Rosario Valente, in Lisbon in 1978. The couple moved in the early 1980s to Guinea-Bissau where Wright lived openly using his real name and socialized with U.S. diplomats and embassy personnel who told The AP they were unaware of his past.
His wife also did translation work for years for the U.S. Embassy in Bissau. They lived there until they moved back to Portugal in 1993 to a whitewashed house with terra-cotta roof tiles in the tiny town of Almocageme, 28 miles (45 kilometers) from Lisbon and close to broad Atlantic beaches.
Fluent in Portuguese, Wright worked a series of jobs in Portugal as decorative painter, nightclub bouncer and barbecue chicken restaurant manager.
____
Alan Clendenning in Madrid, Spain, and Geoff Mulhivill in Haddonfield, New Jersey contributed to this report.
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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia ? Claims that a nocturnal Asian lizard can be used to help treat the HIV virus have led to a sharp boom in smuggling of the reptile, putting it at risk, a conservation group said Tuesday.
Demand for the Tokay Gecko has skyrocketed in recent years after online blogs, newspaper articles and wildlife traders extolled the consumption of the lizard's tongue and internal organs as a miracle cure for HIV, TRAFFIC Southeast Asia said in a report.
TRAFFIC said such claims were unfounded and "indicative of an elaborate hoax." The Philippines' government in July also warned that using geckos to treat AIDS and impotence may put patients at risk.
"TRAFFIC is alarmed at the massive increase in trade of these geckos. If the trade continues to mushroom, it could take years to repair the damage currently being inflicted on gecko populations," said Chris R.Shepherd, TRAFFIC's regional deputy director.
The geckos, popular as pets in Asia, have long been used as traditional medicine for illnesses such as diabetes, asthma, skin disease and cancer, the report said. Their carcasses are dried up and ground into powder for consumption. In some parts of Asia, Tokay wine or whisky is consumed to boost energy.
The Tokay Gecko, which has distinct orange-spotted, blue-grey skin, can grow up to 15.7 inches (40 centimeters) in length. The reptiles feed on insects and worms, helping to regulate pests and maintain the ecosystem.
TRAFFIC said more than eight and a half tons of dried geckos were legally imported into the United States between 1998 and 2002 for use in traditional medicine. Huge numbers are traded within Asia and it said Malaysia has emerged as a key hub to meet demand, especially in China.
It said 1,000 geckos believed headed for Malaysia were recently seized in Cambodia, while a couple have been detained for trying to smuggle nearly a $1 million worth of lizards from Thailand to Malaysia. Customs officers in Indonesia's Java island also recently foiled a bid to smuggle dried Tokay Geckos bound for Hong Kong and China using expired permits.
Shepherd said the Tokay Gecko remained poorly protected by national legislation and called for the lizard to be protected under CITES, the international convention on endangered species, before it becomes extinct.
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WASHINGTON ? The GOP's image as a rigidly anti-tax party is softening. Spurred by federal debt worries in Congress, the shift conceivably could reshape the Republican Party's brand ahead of the 2012 elections, forcing tough decisions by its presidential candidates.
Some of the party's staunchest fiscal conservatives have surprised colleagues by saying targeted tax hikes are acceptable if they lead Democrats to accept deep government spending cuts.
Whether or not Congress' deficit-reduction talks succeed, the Republicans' offer has touched off a debate unlikely to end soon. The altered stance would upend party orthodoxy, which holds that deficits should be tamed entirely by spending cuts, with no tax increases.
In recent months, growing numbers of Republican lawmakers and strategists have grown wary of the no-exceptions position. They fear independent voters will abandon the GOP next year if it seems too rigid and beholden to tea partyers. They also worry that another deficit-reduction impasse will further erode Congress' image, and House Republicans might be handy election targets.
Some of those Republicans hope Democrats will agree to a deal that would include cuts to Medicare and, eventually, Social Security. Such a bargain might protect Republicans from so-called "Mediscare" attacks next fall, based on their embrace of an earlier GOP budget plan that would privatize and shrink Medicare for future beneficiaries.
Publicly, Republican lawmakers say they are motivated by the dire need to curb the deficit and reassure financial markets that the government can tax and spend responsibly.
Rep. Charles Bass, R-N.H., recently told NPR that he might renege on his pledge to oppose higher taxes, even if it hurts him politically. Bass said he also pledged to "defend America against enemies, both domestic and foreign. And I consider the debt crisis in this country to be a real threat to the future of America."
The Republican tax-hike overture has turned heads largely because its sponsors rank among Washington's best-known critics of tax increases. Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania is a former head of the conservative Club for Growth. Backers of his plan include Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, who holds similar stature among fiscal conservatives.
Both are members of the 12-person bipartisan "supercommittee" tasked with reaching a debt-reduction deal by next week.
Toomey's plan would raise $300 billion in new tax revenues while overhauling the federal tax code. Republican officials say it would drop the top tax rate on personal income to 28 percent from the current 35 percent. It would reduce or eliminate some well-known itemized deductions and reduce the corporate tax rate.
The plan also would extend the Bush-era tax cuts, now set to expire at the end of next year. Most Democrats oppose that idea. It also would trim cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients.
House Speaker John Boehner is among several top Republicans who have blessed Toomey's plan. Those avoiding a public position so far include House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
"The significance of someone as conservative as Senator Toomey putting forward a plan with revenue raisers cannot be overstated as proof of the willingness on our side to find a compromise solution," said Kyle Downey, spokesman for Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.
But congressional Democrats have not accepted Toomey's offer. They have called for greater revenue increases, and different priorities for spending cuts.
If the supercommittee fails to reach a $1.2 trillion deficit-cutting deal by Wednesday, automatic spending cuts totaling that amount would take effect beginning in 2013.
Republican presidential candidates have given varied responses to Toomey's tax overture.
"The contours that I'm hearing about are very similar to the program that I've put out," former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman told reporters in New Hampshire. If the plan phases out tax loopholes and deductions, lowers income tax rates, broadens the base and simplifies the code, "it's something that I could be in favor of," he said.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has avoided direct comment on Toomey's plan. A campaign spokeswoman said Romney "does not believe that more revenues and tax increases are the answer to our fiscal woes."
Texas Gov. Rick Perry "wants to look at details, but if those details include a tax increase, he's not going to be for it," a spokesman said.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has denounced the supercommittee process rather than the Toomey plan itself. "Secret negotiations among a handful of members will lead to a gigantic bill no one understands," Gingrich said Thursday.
At an Aug. 11 presidential debate, just before Perry entered the race, all those attending said they would reject a deficit-reduction plan if it included $10 in spending cuts for every $1 in new revenues.
Support for Toomey's plan, whether it bears fruit or not, suggests many Republican officials are more open to compromise. But hardly all.
Several conservative activists lambasted Toomey's plan, predicting a voter backlash if it becomes law. Radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt called it "an enormous breach of faith with the voters" who put Republicans back in control of the House in the 2010 elections.
A conservative Arizona website, Seeing Red AZ, called Toomey's move stunning. It said Toomey, "long a conservative icon, presents a disappointing caricature as he crosses the line by supporting this tax increase."
Other conservative Republicans, however, say Toomey's effort is a savvy approach that might gather momentum.
"Republicans are starting to think, whether right or not, that the first party to walk away from some or all of its orthodoxy to make a deal is going to reap a pretty significant benefit with the public," said Republican lobbyist Mike McKenna. "If you can bring in some new revenue and open up the discussion of entitlement reform, that's a political win and a policy win."
Several Republicans said Grover Norquist, the best-known anti-tax-hike activist, has lost clout in recent months. Norquist says an adamant stand against tax increases is vital to the Republican Party's brand, even if Democrats are willing to make deep spending cuts in return.
Numerous Republicans have openly defied Norquist lately.
Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia criticized him on a range of issues in a House floor speech last month. "Have we really reached a point where one person's demand for ideological purity is paralyzing Congress to the point that even a discussion of tax reform is viewed as breaking a no-tax pledge?" Wolf asked.
Boehner raised eyebrows recently when he referred to Norquist, a feared figure in some political circles, as "some random person."
___
Associated Press writers Steve Peoples in New Hampshire, Mike Glover in Iowa and David Espo in Washington contributed to this report.
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