Pictures: Mass Grave of Children, Llamas Found in Dune

 The remains of 42 ancient sacrifice victims—their torn-out hearts replaced with fabric—have emerged from a seaside sand dune in Peru. ||||| Tulane University physical anthropologist John Verano has spent summers in Peru for the last 30 years, digging for ancient bones and solving their secrets. But his most recent work focuses on a unique archeological discovery: a ritual sacrifice of children and young llamas dating back 600 years.

 “This is unusual, and not what we’ve seen before,” Verano said, “especially on the coast of Peru.”

 In June he traveled to the Peruvian coastal village of Huanchaquito to assist with new excavations at the site where Gabriel Prieto, a Peruvian archeologist, in 2011 found the remains of 42 children who were sacrificed in a religious ceremony along with 76 llamas. The area was once part of the Chimú state, which dominated most of coastal Peru from about 1100 until 1470 A.D., when it was conquered by the Inca empire.

 This year, Prieto and Verano expanded the dig and completed the study of children’s remains excavated in 2011 with support from the National Geographic Society and the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane.

 Their latest excavation uncovered numerous additional sacrificial victims, which will allow for a more detailed reconstruction of this unusual event, Verano said. The researchers think that the sacrifice may have been an offering to the sea, or a response to severe flooding brought on by an El Niño event, and that the llamas may have been intended to transport the victims to the afterlife.

 “It’s not a place where you’d think to look,” Verano said of the site, located on a sandy ridge 100 yards from the beach. With erosion and construction disturbing the site, the villagers in Huanchaquito “noticed these bones coming out of the sand.”

 Some of Verano’s previous discoveries in Peru have revealed adults who were held captive and killed, “but usually not children,” he said.

 Multiple laboratories are analyzing bones and teeth discovered at the site. More details on the find and related studies will come later, Verano said. “What it means exactly, I’m not sure. But it is an exciting discovery.” ||||| At an excavation site on the Peruvian coast, Tulane anthropology professor John Verano, right, and PhD student Brittany Dement examine the remains of a child who was sacrificed and buried 600 years ago. Credit: John Verano Tulane University physical anthropologist John Verano has spent summers in Peru for the last 30 years, digging for ancient bones and solving their secrets. But his most recent work focuses on a unique archeological discovery: a ritual sacrifice of children and young llamas dating back 600 years.

 "This is unusual, and not what we've seen before," Verano said, "especially on the coast of Peru."

 In June he traveled to the Peruvian coastal village of Huanchaquito to assist with new excavations at the site where Gabriel Prieto, a Peruvian archeologist, in 2011 found the remains of 42 children who were sacrificed in a religious ceremony along with 76 llamas. The area was once part of the Chimú state, which dominated most of coastal Peru from about 1100 until 1470 A.D., when it was conquered by the Inca empire.

 This year, Prieto and Verano expanded the dig and completed the study of children's remains excavated in 2011 with support from the National Geographic Society and the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane.

 Their latest excavation uncovered numerous additional sacrificial victims, which will allow for a more detailed reconstruction of this unusual event, Verano said. The researchers think that the sacrifice may have been an offering to the sea, or a response to severe flooding brought on by an El Niño event, and that the llamas may have been intended to transport the victims to the afterlife.

 "It's not a place where you'd think to look," Verano said of the site, located on a sandy ridge 100 yards from the beach. With erosion and construction disturbing the site, the villagers in Huanchaquito "noticed these bones coming out of the sand."

 Some of Verano's previous discoveries in Peru have revealed adults who were held captive and killed, "but usually not children," he said.

 Multiple laboratories are analyzing bones and teeth discovered at the site. More details on the find and related studies will come later, Verano said. "What it means exactly, I'm not sure. But it is an exciting discovery."

 Explore further: Egyptologist sheds light on Tulane mummies |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Physical anthropologist John Verano has seen plenty while working in Peru over the last 30 years. What he came across this summer in the village of Huanchaquito, however, is "not what we've seen before, especially on the coast," he says. Locals noticed bones poking out of a sandy ridge in 2011, and Peruvian archaeologist Gabriel Prieto went to investigate. He was greeted with a shock: the remains of 42 children and 76 llamas sacrificed some 600 years ago in a ritual by the Chimú, who controlled part of coastal Peru from around 1100 until they were overthrown by the Inca in 1470, Phys.org reports. Verano and Prieto's expansion of the dig this summer added to the "exciting discovery" as even more remains were found. "It's not a place where you'd think to look," Tulane University's Verano says of the site, about 100 yards from a beach. He notes erosion and construction nearby helped reveal the forgotten remains. While Verano has come across the bodies of adults captured and killed in Peru, children are a rarity, he says. He explains the children may have been killed as a gift to the sea. (As Prieto explained to National Geographic in 2011, "In the north coast of Peru, the ocean is very closely tied to agriculture because the temperature of the water can determine whether there will be rain or not.") As for the llamas, the Chimú may have believed they would transport the children to the afterlife. The discovered bones and teeth are now being analyzed. (Other recent Peruvian discoveries include the world's highest Ice Age camp and ancient designs in the desert.)


– Big oil's lobbyists have lost a fight over cleaner gasoline: The EPA will require refiners to reduce the amount of sulfur to cut down on smog, reports the Washington Post. The cut is a sizable one, dropping the allowable limit by two-thirds from 30 parts per million to 10. Backers say the move will eventually save the US billions in health care costs, but the oil industry disputes that and says the only tangible result will be higher gas prices. Sulfur content already has come down drastically since 1994 from 300 parts per million, and an industry executive says getting the remaining "little buggers" out of there isn't worth the cost. Environmental groups pushed for the move, as did the auto industry, which argued that the lower limit will put the US in line with Japan and Europe, reports the Hill. Automakers are big fans of the change because it will make it easier for them to meet emissions standards nationwide. The Post quotes the leader of a clean-air group as saying the EPA decision will end up being the biggest such move of President Obama's second term. "There is not another air pollution control strategy that we know of that will produce as substantial, cost-effective and expeditious emissions reductions."

Expand this summary.

Automakers, at White House, parry oil industry on EPA rule

 By Ben Geman -

 An array of automakers and their lobbying groups are pressing the Obama administration to issue low-sulfur gasoline rules that face resistance from oil industry officials who call them costly and unneeded.

 Auto industry representatives met with White House Office of Management and Budget aides on March 22, where they offered backing for the Environmental Protection Agency’s planned “Tier 3” fuel and vehicle emissions rule.

 Two trade groups — the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, and Global Automakers — along with representatives from Toyota, Chrysler, Honda, Volkswagen, Mercedes and others, participated, according to the online meeting record.

 A joint presentation from the trade groups for the meeting calls the rules “critically important,” argues they will provide public health benefits, and calls them necessary for harmonization with California’s emissions rules.

 It also notes that auto mileage and greenhouse gas emissions rules that the Obama administration has already issued “anticipated nationwide availability of clean compatible fuels.”

 The meeting also included representatives from EPA, the White House Council on Environmental Quality and other departments.Oil refiners — who have also pressed OMB on the matter recently — have pushed back against the delayed EPA rules.Oil industry groups contend the rules will create billions of dollars in compliance costs while providing little benefit, noting that existing standards have already required steep cuts in the sulfur content of gasoline.American Petroleum Institute CEO Jack Gerard last year alleged that EPA is pushing ahead with tougher sulfur rules “without regard to the impacts on fuel prices.”But the automakers’ presentation argues that the costs for refiners to ratchet down sulfur content further have been “overstated.”It states that refiners are already producing ultra-low sulfur fuels in California and “much of the developed world,” noting the retail cap of 10 parts-per-million in Japan and the European Union.Click here for a list of meeting participants and the industry presentation. ||||| The Environmental Protection Agency will move ahead Friday with a rule requiring cleaner gasoline and lower-pollution vehicles nationwide, amounting to one of President Obama’s most significant air pollution initiatives, according to people briefed on the decision.

 The proposed standards would add less than a penny a gallon to the cost of gasoline while delivering an environmental benefit akin to taking 33 million cars off the road, according to a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement had not been made yet.

 Oil industry officials, however, said the cost would be at least double the administration’s estimate and could add up to 9 cents a gallon in some places.

 The proposed standards, which had been stuck in regulatory limbo since 2011, would reduce the amount of sulfur in U.S. gasoline by two-thirds and impose fleet-wide pollution limits on new vehicles by 2017.

 The Obama administration’s decision to go ahead with the regulations deals a political blow to the oil and gas industry, which had mobilized dozens of lawmakers in recent days to lobby the White House for a one-year delay.

 It also comes as the administration alarmed many environmentalists by weighing a delay in limits on greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants. Unlike the sulfur limits, the administration argued, the power plant limits could immediately hurt the struggling economy.

 While gasoline sulfur itself does not pose a public health threat, it hampers the effectiveness of catalytic converters, which in turn leads to greater tailpipe emissions. These emissions — nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide and fine particles — contribute to smog and soot, which can cause respiratory and heart disease.

 The proposed standards were first reported by The Washington Post on Thursday afternoon and confirmed by the administration Thursday night.

 The regulations are supported by environmental advocates, state regulators and even automobile companies, who would prefer uniform sulfur standards for fuel nationwide. But oil industry officials and their congressional allies say it will cost up to $10 billion to upgrade refineries and an additional $2.4 billion in annual operating costs.

 Both public health advocates and the administration say the ultimate cost would be much lower because of provisions giving refiners flexibility in complying with the standards. The EPA estimates annual health benefits of up to $23 billion by 2030.

 The agency surveyed 111 U.S. refineries and found 29 already can meet the sulfur standard or come close to it, 66 can reach it with modest modifications and 16 would require a major overhaul.

 The requirements also have the potential to cut major contributors to smog-forming ozone and pollution — nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, or soot — by 80 percent and 70 percent, respectively, according to the administration official.

 S. William Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, said the new standard could be “the most significant air pollution policy President Obama will adopt in his second term. . . . There is not another air pollution control strategy that we know of that will produce as substantial, cost-

 effective and expeditious emissions reductions.”

 Automakers have lobbied in favor of the rule in part because they must already meet stricter emissions standards in California.

 “Cleaner cars will need the cleaner fuels already on sale across Europe and Asia,” said Auto Alliance spokeswoman Gloria Bergquist, whose group represents a dozen automakers. “And the best part of these low sulfur fuels is that they provide clean air benefits to all 250 million vehicles on the road right away, from day one, at the gas pumps.”

 Charles T. Drevna, president for the American Fuel and Petroleum Manufacturers, said the EPA is not obligated under the Clean Air Act to reduce the sulfur content of gas any further. U.S. refiners have lowered gasoline sulfur nearly 90 percent since 2004, according to the association, from 300 to 30 parts per million.

 “Those remaining molecules of sulfur that are left, those little buggers don’t want to come out easily,” Drevna said. “We still believe that EPA has not demonstrated the need for this regulation.”

 Environmentalists and public-health advocates said reducing sulfur content is particularly important for more than a third of Americans who live in communities that do not meet federal air-quality standards. In Washington, for example, two-thirds of the nitrogen oxide pollution stems from passenger vehicles.

 Sixteen Democrats in the House and five in the Senate have appealed to the White House in recent days to delay the proposal for a year, while at least 60 congressional Republicans have objected to it.

 Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) told reporters in a call Thursday that if the EPA thinks new requirements are justified, “then they shouldn’t be afraid to lay their cards on the table” and allow at least a year for more public scrutiny.

 Bob Greco, group director for downstream and industry operations at the American Petroleum Institute, said the nation’s refiners are struggling to meet other federal environmental requirements, including renewable-fuel mandates.

 “Our industry is already facing a tsunami of regulations from EPA,” Greco said. “We’re just making it that much harder for refiners to compete globally and stay up and running.”

 The administration made several provisions for flexibility in the rule, including a three-year delay for small refiners, rewards for businesses who act early to reduce sulfur and a trading program for pollution credits, according to those familiar with the regulations. Backers say the standards will also generate new jobs in the refining and pollution-control industries.

 Critics remain skeptical. “They only amount to a stay of execution for the U.S. refining industry,” said Stephen Brown, vice president of government relations for Tesoro, a refiner and marketer of petroleum products.

 Janice Nolen, the American Lung Association’s head of national policy and advocacy, said the standards would translate into fewer cases of asthma, heart and lung disease, as well as fewer missed work days across the country.

 “There’s still a lot of pollution that these cars and vans and pickup trucks are producing,” Nolen said.

 Discuss this topic and other political issues in the politics discussion forums. |||||


Glamorously gaudy, a self-made postmodern diva stitched together from elements of Madonna, David Bowie, and Freddie Mercury, Lady Gaga was the first true millennial superstar. Mastering the constant connection of the Internet era, Gaga generated countless mini-sensations through her style, her videos, and her music, cultivating a devoted audience she dubbed "Little Monsters." But it wasn't just a cult that turned her 2008 manifesto The Fame into a self-fulfilling prophecy: Gaga crossed over into the mainstream, ushering out one pop epoch and kick-starting a new one, quickly making such turn-of-the-century stars as Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears seem old-fashioned, quite a trick for any artist to pull off, but especially impressive for an artist who specialized in repurposing the past -- particularly the '80s -- for present use, creating sustainable pop for a digital world.

 Perhaps unsurprisingly given her flair for grand gestures, Lady Gaga has deep roots in drama. Born Stefani Germanotta on March 28, 1986, the future Gaga played piano as a child and pursued musical theater in high school, regularly auditioning for New York-based television shows, notably landing a background role for a 2001 episode of The Sopranos. At the age of 17 she enrolled at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in their Collaborative Arts Project 21. As she studied, she continued to eke her way into show biz, winding up with an appearance on MTV's short-lived post-Punk'd reality show Boiling Points in 2005. Not long afterward, she left school so she could concentrate on her music, fronting a band called SGBand, which released two EPs prior to splitting. Germanotta then teamed with producer Rob Fusari, a collaboration that produced not only her stage name Lady Gaga, but recordings that led to her signing with Def Jam in the fall of 2006.

 Her association with Def Jam was short-lived: the label dropped her early in 2007. Gaga rebounded by working with performance artist Lady Starlight, the two developing the Lady Gaga & the Starlight Revue, a tongue-in-cheek neo-burlesque act that gained positive press and proved to be her last stop before signing with Interscope later in 2007. While at Interscope she created a bond with Akon, who convinced Interscope head Jimmy Iovine to have her co-sign with his Kon Live imprint, and Gaga began working with producer/songwriter RedOne, a union that led to the songs that would bring her fame: "Just Dance," "LoveGame," and "Poker Face." These songs formed the foundation of The Fame, the debut album that appeared in August 2008.

 Initially, Lady Gaga had greater success in Europe, thanks in large part to the "Just Dance" single, which earned club play in the U.S. and chart placement in other territories. Gaga's march toward the top of the American chart was slow but "Just Dance" reached the peak position in January 2009, followed swiftly by "Poker Face," the single that firmly pushed her into the mainstream, its popularity growing so large it often functioned as a punch line on TV in addition to winning a Grammy for Best Dance Recording. "LoveGame" and "Paparazzi" also appeared as singles before Gaga released The Fame Monster in time for the holiday season of 2009. The mini-LP, available separately and as a package with The Fame, contained the single "Bad Romance," whose popularity soon rivaled "Poker Face" and helped kick-start a stellar year for Gaga in 2010. That year, the hit singles "Bad Romance," "Alejandro," and the Beyoncé duet "Telephone," along with the successful Monster Ball Tour, put Lady Gaga front and center with the public as she worked on her sophomore album, announcing its May release on New Year's Day 2011.

 The steady march to the summer unveiling of Born This Way was preceded by the release of three singles: "Born This Way," "Judas," and "The Edge of Glory." All of them reached the Top Ten, and the empowerment anthem "Born This Way" hit number one soon after its release in February 2011. The accompanying album arrived to mixed reviews, but it eventually reached double-platinum status and produced subsequent hits with the Top Ten "You and I" as well as a Top 40 entry for "Marry the Night." A full remix of the album, naturally called Born This Way: The Remix, appeared at the end of the year, as did a holiday television special called A Very Gaga Thanksgiving and an accompanying EP, A Very Gaga Holiday.

 Gaga continued to promote Born This Way throughout 2012, appearing at various star-studded events and on television programs while continuing her international tour. The tour came to a halt in February of 2013, when she announced that she needed hip surgery to repair a labral tear. As she was healing, she worked on her third album, Artpop. Preceded by the Top Ten single "Applause" and the Top 15 follow-up "Do What U Want" (the latter a duet with R. Kelly), Artpop was released in early November 2013. The album explored familiar themes of fame, love, and empowerment. It debuted at number one in several countries, including the U.S.

 The release of Artpop coincided with an announcement that Gaga had parted company with Troy Carter, her manager of five years. Then, shortly after she embarked on the ArtRave tour in May 2014, it was revealed that Bobby Campbell -- her new manager -- had signed them both up to Artist Nation, the artist management division of Live Nation Entertainment. That same year, Gaga worked in collaboration with fellow New Yorker Tony Bennett on an album of jazz standards titled Cheek to Cheek, which was issued in September. Cheek to Cheek provided a jolt to Gaga's career. The album debuted at number one on Billboard's Top 200 and earned the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Album, its success opening the door to other snazzy showbiz gigs. First, she sang a tribute to The Sound of Music at the 2015 Academy Awards and, a year later, she was nominated for a Best Original Song Oscar for "Until It Happens to You," the tune she co-wrote with Diane Warren for the documentary The Hunting Ground. Gaga was also cast as a lead in the 2015-2016 season of American Horror Story, winning a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Elizabeth.

 She returned with new music on 2016's Joanne, which was inspired by her late aunt of the same name. Drawing on glam rock, disco, and folk, as well as dance-pop, the album featured an impressive list of collaborators, including Mark Ronson, Nile Rodgers, Father John Misty, Josh Homme, Florence Welsh, Tame Impala's Kevin Parker, and Beck. Featuring the singles "Perfect Illusion," "John Wayne," and "Million Reasons," the album debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 but quickly lost traction on the charts. It wasn't until February of 2017 when the success of her Super Bowl halftime show would set Joanne on the comeback trajectory. In addition to returning The Fame, Born This Way, and Artpop to the charts, the momentum from her performance landed Joanne at number two and "Million Reasons" at number four on the Hot 100. Before embarking on the Joanne World Tour, she issued the standalone single "The Cure" and the documentary Gaga: Five Foot Two, which partially focused on chronic physical ailments that would eventually cause the cancellation of the final stops of the world tour.

 In 2018, Gaga joined the cast of the remake of A Star Is Born and was one of the many high-profile artists featured on Elton John's tribute covers album, Revamp. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine ||||| Lady Gaga is on the promotional trail—and she's dressed to kill. Last night, she launched her newest album, ARTPOP, which boasts collaborations with all sorts of artists, and arrived at the launch party wearing nothing less than a flying dress. The brains behind the flying frock—think hexacopter-style aerial drone up top, attached to a platform with a fiberglass bodice and skirt—is TechHaus, part of the Haus of Gaga.

 The dress, which Gaga calls Volantis, seems to be a symbol of the voices of today's youth. "I wanted to make today about something even more important to me, and that something is the youth of the world," Gaga said. "Their minds are just so boundless. They're just so inspiring."

 Though details of the singer’s plans for the transport system were few, she told the crowd she believes Volantis has the potential to be a "real technology," but doesn’t plan on using it to hover above her Little Monsters at concerts anytime soon. "Hopefully she will be the future of many things," Gaga said of the contraption, which was designed by London-based firm Studio XO. "Most importantly today, we just want you to feel inspired."

 The singer appeared at the event alongside two of the artists she's been working with, Jeff Koons and Marina Abramovic. ARTPOP is being released later today and is already doing brisk business on iTunes.

 Additional reporting by J.J. McCorvey. ||||| In anticipation of her new album, ARTPOP, Lady Gaga plans to reach new heights, literally. As part of ArtRave, Gaga's fashion, music, art, and tech mash-up party tonight in a Brooklyn warehouse, Gaga will soar above her audiences in a flying dress called VOLANTIS.

 VOLANTIS was conceived by Studio XO in Gaga's TechHaus. It has six booms in a hex formation and is powered by 50 volts of batteries. The dress also has a carbon fiber molded casket designed to mimic a fitted couture dress. This futuristic machine will make Gaga fly.

 UPDATE NOV. 10 6:47 P.M. ET: Lady Gaga steps into VOLANTIS.

 UPDATE NOV. 10 6:58 P.M. ET: Gaga lifts off!

 RELATED: Lady Gaga's Top Art Moments

 RELATED: 10 Things No One Told You About Lady Gaga's artRave |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Wondering how Lady Gaga would ever top her meat dress or egg transport system? Well, she found a way last night, when she arrived at the launch party for her new album via ... flying dress. The dress, which she calls "Volantis," is by TechHaus, part of the singer's Haus of Gaga, Fast Company reports. The dress' flying apparatus is attached to a platform, on which Gaga stood, clad in a fiberglass bodice and skirt. It's powered by 50 volts of batteries, Complex reports. ARTPOP is out today.


Write a summary based on this article:

N.Y. Times keeps Cruz off bestseller list

 The New York Times informed HarperCollins this week that it will not include Ted Cruz's new biography on its forthcoming bestsellers list, despite the fact that the book has sold more copies in its first week than all but two of the Times' bestselling titles, the On Media blog has learned.

 Cruz's "A Time For Truth," published on June 30, sold 11,854 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen Bookscan's hardcover sale numbers. That's more than 18 of the 20 titles that will appear on the bestseller list for the week ending July 4. Aziz Ansari's "Modern Romance," which is #2 on the list, sold fewer than 10,000 copies. Ann Coulter's "Adios America," at #11, sold just over half as many copies.

 "A Time For Truth" has also sold more copies in a single week than Rand Paul's "Taking a Stand," which has been out for more than a month, and more than Marco Rubio's "American Dreams," which has been out for six months. It is currently #4 on the Wall Street Journal hardcover list, #4 on the Publisher's Weekly hardcover list, #4 on the Bookscan hardcover list, and #1 on the Conservative Book Club list.

 This week, HarperCollins, the book's publisher, sent a letter to The New York Times inquiring about Cruz's omission from the list, sources with knowledge of the situation said. The Times responded by telling HarperCollins that the book did not meet their criteria for inclusion.

 "We have uniform standards that we apply to our best seller list, which includes an analysis of book sales that goes beyond simply the number of books sold," Times spokesperson Eileen Murphy explained when asked about the omission. "This book didn't meet that standard this week."

 Asked to specify those standards, Murphy replied: "Our goal is that the list reflect authentic best sellers, so we look at and analyze not just numbers, but patterns of sales for every book."

 Both HarperCollins and the Cruz campaign declined to comment on the matter.

 Since late June, when the book was published, Cruz has toured the country holding signings, many of them at book stores that report to the Times' list. He has also made several media appearances, including on NBC's "Today" show, and published an excerpt from the book in POLITICO Magazine.

 UPDATE (9:42 p.m.): Murphy emailed late Thursday night to further clarify the reasoning behind the Times decision.

 "In the case of this book, the overwhelming preponderance of evidence was that sales were limited to strategic bulk purchases," she wrote.

 Follow @politico ||||| Crawl of outlinks from wikipedia.org started March, 2016. These files are currently not publicly accessible. Properties of this collection. It has been several years since the last time we did this. For this collection, several things were done: 1. Turned off duplicate detection. This collection will be complete, as there is a good chance we will share the data, and sharing data with pointers to random other collections, is a complex problem. 2. For the first time, did all the different wikis. The original runs were just against the enwiki. This one, the seed list was built from all 865 collections. ||||| No kidding.

 More from Politico:

 The New York Times informed HarperCollins this week that it will not include Ted Cruz’s new biography on its forthcoming bestsellers list, despite the fact that the book has sold more copies in its first week than all but two of the Times’ bestselling titles, the On Media blog has learned.

 Cruz’s “A Time For Truth,” published on June 30, sold 11,854 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen Bookscan’s hardcover sale numbers. That’s more than 18 of the 20 titles that will appear on the bestseller list for the week ending July 4. Aziz Ansari’s “Modern Romance,” which is #2 on the list, sold fewer than 10,000 copies. Ann Coulter’s “Adios America,” at #11, sold just over half as many copies as Cruz’s book.

 “A Time For Truth” has also sold more copies in a single week than Rand Paul’s “Taking a Stand,” which has been out for more than a month, and more than Marco Rubio’s “American Dreams,” which has been out for six months. It is currently #4 on the Wall Street Journal hardcover list, #4 on the Publisher’s Weekly hardcover list, #4 on the Bookscan hardcover list, and #1 on the Conservative Book Club list. |||||

– Ted Cruz sold nearly 12,000 copies of his biography A Time for Truth in its first week (it was published June 30), which in terms of raw numbers would make him No. 3 among this week's best sellers in the New York Times. But you won't see Cruz's name anywhere on the list, reports Politico. The Times told HarperCollins it wouldn't be including the book; it cites concerns about "strategic bulk purchases," suggesting the Cruz campaign is buying as many books as it can to goose the numbers. The newspaper has long kept its exact formula for determining which books make the cut under wraps, in part so people can't "rig the system," notes New York. Conservatives are lighting up Twitter with accusations of liberal bias, but New York says the Times has used this "bulk" rule previously—and it adds that Ann Coulter and Fox's Dana Perino are represented on the list.


Here is a news article: Add a location to your Tweets

 When you tweet with a location, Twitter stores that location. You can switch location on/off before each Tweet and always have the option to delete your location history. Learn more ||||| Story highlights Fishermen have taken 37 bottlenose dolphins to be sold into captivity, conservationists say

 Many of the 200 dolphins still in the cove in Taiji, Japan, will be slaughtered, they say

 Local officials have previously defended hunting of dolphins as a traditional practice

 Environmental activists say dolphin meat contains dangerously high levels of mercury

 More than 200 bottlenose dolphins spent a second day penned in a cove by Japanese fishermen, U.S. conservationists said Sunday, many of them stressed and bloodied from their attempts to escape.

 The dolphins will spend a third night without food or rest in Taiji Cove before the fishermen likely start to slaughter them Monday for meat, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said.

 Until now, the fishermen have focused on selecting dolphins to be sold into captivity at marine parks and aquariums in Japan and overseas, the conservation group said.

 Twenty-five dolphins, including a rare albino calf, were taken on Saturday "to a lifetime of imprisonment," and another 12 on Sunday, the group said. Two dolphins have died in the process.

 Environmental activists have been monitoring activities in the cove in southwest Japan, which is a focal point of the Taiji community's annual dolphin hunting season.

 Although the hunting of dolphins is widely condemned in the west, Japanese defend the practice as a local custom -- and say it is no different to the slaughter of other animals for meat.

 Caroline Kennedy, the recently installed U.S. ambassador to Japan, tweeted that she is "deeply concerned by inhumaneness of drive hunt dolphin killing."

 The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been live-streaming video of events in the cove and posting frequent updates on Twitter.

 "Many of the 200+ Bottlenose dolphins who are in still the cove are visibly bloody & injured from their attempts to escape the killers," one update Sunday said.

 Another appealed for people to do their part to end the demand for dolphins captured from the wild.

 "Dolphin slaughter in Taiji continues because of the captive trade. Please do not support aquariums & parks with marine mammals," it said.

 Opinion: Eat fish, kill a dolphin?

 Slaughter under tarpaulins

 The dolphins earmarked for slaughter include those with nicks or markings which make them less desirable as captives.

 The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society described how about 40 to 60 local fishermen work with nets to divide up the pod, whose initial numbers were estimated by the group at more than 250.

 "They tighten up the nets to bring each sub-group together then the skiffs push them toward the tarps. Under the tarps in the shallows is where the trainers work with the killers to select the 'prettiest' dolphins which will sell and make the best pay day for the hunters," the group said.

 "But the process is brutal and stressful. Some of them die from injuries incurred during the manhandling or simply the stress."

 Once the slaughter begins, it will turn the water in the cove red with blood, as documented in footage captured by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in the past.

 The fishermen will "kill the 'undesirable' dolphins (those with nicks and scars) under the tarps to hide from our cameras when that time comes," the group said.

 Officials say criticism is biased, unfair

 CNN has been unable to reach anyone at the town office for Taiji, a community of about 3,000 that juts into the Pacific Ocean, or the local fishermen's union for comment.

 But local officials have reacted angrily in the past to Western criticism of what they say is a traditional practice dating back centuries.

 A 2009 Oscar-nominated documentary film, "The Cove," brought the issue of dolphin hunting in Taiji to the fore with bloody scenes of dolphin slaughter.

 The Wakayama Prefecture, where Taiji is, condemned the film in an online response as distorted, biased and unfair to the fishermen.

 "The Taiji dolphin fishery has been a target of repeated psychological harassment and interference by aggressive foreign animal protection organizations," it said.

 "Taiji dolphin fishermen are just conducting a legal fishing activity in their traditional way in full accordance with regulations and rules under the supervision of both the national and the prefectural governments. Therefore, we believe there are no reasons to criticize the Taiji dolphin fishery."

 The Japanese practice of whale hunting has also put it in conflict with the views of much of the world.

 Japan's fleet carries out an annual whale hunt despite a worldwide moratorium, taking advantage of a loophole in the law that permits the killing of the mammals for scientific research. Whale meat is commonly available for consumption in Japan.

 Environmental activists warn that dolphin meat, also sold for consumption in Japan, contains dangerously high levels of mercury and other toxins.

 CNN first learned about this story through a CNN iReport posted by Martha Brock, an environmental attorney and activist in Georgia. "There are activists around the world that are calling the embassy and the press, but I knew I couldn't do much, so I wrote this iReport," she said. ||||| Richard O'Barry was the man who captured and trained the dolphins for the television show Flipper (1964). O'Barry's view of cetaceans in captivity changed from that experience when as the last straw he saw that one of the dolphins playing Flipper - her name being Kathy - basically committed suicide in his arms because of the stress of being in captivity. Since that time, he has become one of the leading advocates against cetaceans in captivity and for the preservation of cetaceans in the wild. O'Barry and filmmaker 'Louie Psihoyos (I)' go about trying to expose one of what they see as the most cruel acts against wild dolphins in the world in Taiji, Japan, where dolphins are routinely corralled, either to be sold alive to aquariums and marine parks, or slaughtered for meat. The primary secluded cove where this activity is taking place is heavily guarded. O'Barry and Psihoyos are well known as enemies by the authorities in Taiji, the authorities who will use whatever tactic to expel the... Written by Huggo |||||
A summary of this is?

– More than 200 bottlenose dolphins await their deaths in Japan's Taiji cove—made infamous in 2009 documentary The Cove—and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is doing its best to draw attention and outrage to the annual slaughter. As CNN reports, Japanese fishermen herded a pod of 250 or so dolphins into the cove on Friday; a total of 37 dolphins, including an albino calf, have been separated from the larger group to be sold to aquariums, or as Sea Shepherd calls it, "a lifetime of imprisonment." It doesn't sound like a peaceful process: Two dolphins have been killed. Slaughter of the rest, which will be harvested for their meat, is expected to begin tomorrow. Sea Shepherd has been live-streaming video and tweeting from Taiji, with one update today reading, "Many of the 200+ Bottlenose dolphins who are in still the cove are visibly bloody & injured from their attempts to escape the killers." They've attracted the attention of new US ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, who tweeted that she was "deeply concerned by inhumaneness of drive hunt dolphin killing."


Summarize this article:

An anti-Islam group in the Dallas, Texas, suburb of Irving publicized the names and addresses of over 60 Muslims and Muslim "sympathizers" on its Facebook page.

 The Bureau of American Islamic Relations’ post targets those who spoke out against a controversial Irving City Council vote on Islamic tribunals. In March, the council backed a state bill that would limit Muslim influence.

 Mayor Beth Van Duyne accused Irving's Muslim community of using Sharia law to bypass state and federal legislation to mediate disputes through an Islamic tribunal. The Islamic Center of Irving issued a statement that denies the existence of a Sharia court but confirms the existence of a tribunal.

 BAIR describes itself on its Facebook page as an "organization that stands in opposition (on all levels)" to Islamic groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

 Alia Salem, executive director of the Dallas/Fort Worth branch of CAIR, said the publication marked the first time she had felt slightly alarmed over anti-Islamic sentiment. “As bad as things have gotten in the past, and especially recently, this is the first time where I see people taking this public," she told the Dallas Morning News.

 Others on the list fear the consequences of their personal information getting into the wrong hands.

 The post has yet to be taken down from Facebook, which goes against the website's Community Standards. Facebook policy is to remove content when it presents a "genuine risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety."

 Neither Facebook nor the Irving Police Department immediately returned requests for comment.

 BAIR also protested outside of Irving's mosque Saturday, where they toted shotguns and held signs that stated, "Stop the Islamization of America" and "The solution to Islamic terrorism."

 BAIR spokesman David Wright said they were also protesting Syrian refugees coming to America and that he believes that people are scared.

 "They're scared to say anything about it," he told Fox 4 News. They're scared to come out to a place like this and stand in front of a mosque and protest Islam.

 "People should recognize that we are peaceful and we are a group of self defense minded people. There's nothing wrong with that."

 There has been an alarming increase in Islamophobic incidents since the Nov. 13 attacks on Paris. A mosque in Pflugerville, Texas, was defaced with feces and torn pages of the Quran. In Ontario, Canada, was police said a mosque was deliberately set on fire.

 CAIR said in a statement that it has received more reports about acts of Islamophobic discrimination, intimidation, threats, and violence targeting American Muslims -- or those perceived to be Muslim -- and Islamic institutions in the week and a half since the Paris attacks "than during any other limited period of time since the 9/11 terror attacks."

 Irving also happens to be the home of Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old boy of Sudanese origin whose homemade clock was mistaken for a bomb at school.

 Also on HuffPost: ||||| Today’s armed protest at the Irving Mosque…. More photos and news articles to come. Posted by BAIR on Saturday, November 21, 2015

 Days after organizing an armed protest outside the Islamic Center of Irving, Tex., the spokesman for a local anti-Islam group published the names and addresses “of every Muslim and Muslim sympathizer that stood up for … Sharia tribunals in Irving,” according to the the Dallas Morning News.

 Posted to Facebook on Wednesday by David Wright III, the list has since been removed, the Morning News reported.

 The list was copy-pasted from an Irving city document containing the personal information of people who signed up to speak against a state bill targeting the influence of Islam in America, according to the Morning News.

 Wright was identified by the newspaper as the spokesman for the Bureau of American Islamic Relations (BAIR) — a play on the name of a leading Muslim advocacy group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Last weekend, several members of the group — including Wright — protested in front of the Islamic Center of Irving, a mosque in the Dallas suburb where a ninth-grader was arrested for bringing to school what some thought looked like a homemade bomb but was actually a homemade clock.

 As The Washington Post’s Justin Moyer wrote of the protesters: “They had guns. They had a flag. They had a Ted Cruz sign and one that read ‘Stop the Islamization of America.'”

 “It’s a boiling pot,” one man told the local Fox affiliate. “The kettle … the top on this kettle is on really, really tight, and it is going to blow.”

 Meanwhile, in Texas, there was an armed protest outside a mosque https://t.co/SXiXw249oK pic.twitter.com/XG9BHMTr2g — i100 (@thei100) November 26, 2015

 [Armed protesters gather outside mosque in clock kid’s home town]

 On his personal Facebook page, Wright wrote this week: “We should stop being afraid to be who we are! We like to have guns designed to kill people that pose a threat in a very efficient manner.”

 He added: “My gun is an assault weapon, it is for the sole purpose of assaulting anyone who tries to hurt or kill me or mine. Why is that wrong? How is that bad? Its a weapon designed to assault people not animals so… I can’t think of any other way to explain it.”

 A 20 year old protestor who didn't want to be identified because he's enlisting in the military geeks out on his gun pic.twitter.com/2tcSmK6G5b — Avi Selk (@aviselk) November 21, 2015

 The members of the armed group that gathered outside the mosque said they were moved to protest after the Paris attacks, the Dallas Morning News noted in an editorial slamming the move.

 “AR-15s at a place of worship? That is out of bounds, and it shows how very close we are to chaos,” the editorial reads.

 Editorial: Armed protest at Irving mosque out of bounds | @DMNOpinion https://t.co/ReFcjqozN4 pic.twitter.com/CDq3HQ2A8V — Dallas Morning News (@dallasnews) November 24, 2015

 This is far from Irving’s first Islam-related controversy. The city earned international attention in September when 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed was arrested for his homemade clock that was mistaken for a bomb. The teenager subsequently received support from President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google, among others, and his family is now seeking $15 million from the city.

 [The history of anti-Islam controversy in Ahmed Mohamed’s Texas city]

 Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne also attracted the national spotlight this year, when she railed against what she described as a “Sharia Law Court” in her city. Critics say Van Duyne blew out of proportion a voluntary and non-binding dispute mediation service.

 “Similar religious tribunals have existed for decades in the American Jewish and American Christian faith communities to resolve disputes, most especially within families,” the Islamic Center of Irving said in a statement at the time.

 Van Duyne subsequently encouraged the Irving City Council to endorse a state bill that critics said unfairly targeted Muslims. The names and addresses published this week belonged to individuals who signed up to speak against that bill at a city council meeting in March.

 Armed Demonstration in front of the Islamic Center of Irving focused on stopping "Islamization of America" pic.twitter.com/iRQI4eqPjO — Zahid Arab (@ZahidArabFox4) November 21, 2015

 “This is the first time I’ve been slightly alarmed,” Alia Salem, executive director of CAIR’s Dallas/Fort Worth branch, told the Dallas Morning News after the list was published. “As bad as things have gotten in the past, and especially recently, this is the first time where I see people taking this public.”

 Referring to those who spoke at the city council meeting, Salem said: “This is my job to deal with this kind of stuff. But for an everyday citizen who was just exerting their First Amendment rights and their right as an American to speak up and speak out, they were just being good citizens to show up and be a part of the democratic process. Now they are targets.”

 Read more:

 Why a ninth-grader’s arrest over a home-built clock struck a chord across America ||||| One final update… I can confirm that Facebook took down the list of names after getting complaints about it. That information from the BAIR spokesman and a complainant, who sent me this:

 Thanksgiving update by Avi Selk: The list of Muslim names and addresses has been removed from the armed group’s page, and BAIR spokesman David Wright’s personal Facebook page is either down or blocked. It’s unclear whether that was voluntary or the result of complaints about the list to Facebook (from the Huffington Post, among others.)

 It’s a bit late, anyway. Since we first reported the list’s existence 24 hours ago, it has made headlines from the Drudge Report to MSNBC—where host Chris Hayes spent several minutes last night detailing Irving’s intersections with an anti-Muslim fringe.

 Turns out, there’s no lack of what BAIR calls “Muslim sympathizers” in the country. RSVPs for a pro-Muslim rally have more than doubled in the last day, with nearly 250 people now committing to brave Saturday’s chilly rain to support Irving’s mosque.

 The imam of that mosque Facebooked an email from an “old lady school teacher” who offered to guard the building—one of hundreds of goodwill messages the imam said have poured in since a dozen BAIR members brought guns to the worship site last weekend.

 Meanwhile, a page set up specifically to troll BAIR has in a few days gained nearly as many likes as the anti-Muslim group itself.

 Group spokesman David Wright got into a running argument with the leader of the troll page yesterday—even as news of his list spread across the country—before finally becoming exasperated and signing off.

 On another Facebook page that still hosts the list and appears to belong to Wright (I can’t be 100% sure given all the trolling and the fact that he won’t answer messages), a post complains: “I am being attacked and smeared by the liberal media for legally exercising my 1st and 2nd Amendment rights and for using public data to defend my credibility when they make accusations against me. …

 “If we had a hit list and wanted to run down that list, you would have already seen it on the news.”

 Original post (Wednesday) by Julie Fancher and Avi Selk: The organizer of a recent armed anti-Muslim protest at an Irving mosque published the names and addresses of dozens of Muslims and “Muslim sympathizers” online Wednesday.

 David Wright III copied an Irving city document that included the personal information of people who signed up to speak before the City Council voted in March to support a state bill aimed at blocking Muslim influence.

 Wright, who organized Saturday’s armed protest against the “Islamization of America” outside the Irving Islamic Center, posted on Facebook “the name and address of every Muslim and Muslim sympathizer that stood up for … Sharia tribunals in Irving.”

 Multiple attempts to reach Wright for comment were not successful.

 Anthony Bond, an Irving activist who spoke against the state bill before the City Council, said he was shocked to find his name on the Facebook list.

 “We have a right to disagree, but we do not have the right to target and cause … harm just because we differ in our beliefs,” he said. “That is the goal of this post: to put a bulls-eye on the back of all the people that stood up against the so-called anti-Shariah law bill.”

 Bond said he had reported his concerns to Irving police.

 Irving police spokesman James McLellan said he was unaware of any complaints about the list.

 “If we do receive any contacts or concerns from anyone involved, then of course we will respond appropriately,” he said.

 Alia Salem, executive director of the Dallas/Fort Worth branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said she was “absolutely concerned” after finding her name on the list.

 “This is the first time I’ve been slightly alarmed,” she said. “As bad as things have gotten in the past, and especially recently, this is the first time where I see people taking this public.”

 Salem said that though she was concerned about her personal information being online, she didn’t want to place undue importance on the anti-Muslim protesters.

 “I don’t want to give them any credibility at all, but at the same time when you are publicizing people’s names … I’m trying to take this in stride,” she said. “It doesn’t seem to be getting much traction, and we are definitely getting support — people are horrified.”

 Salem said that she had talked to other people on the list who shared her concerns.

 “This is my job to deal with this kind of stuff,” she said. “But for an everyday citizen who was just exerting their First Amendment rights and their right as an American to speak up and speak out, they were just being good citizens to show up and be a part of the democratic process. Now they are targets.”

 She said she plans to discuss the situation with the FBI and Justice Department.

 “We don’t know what this could lead to,” she said.

 The list Wright posted also contained the names and addresses of people who supported the city’s efforts to limit Muslim influence.

 Jacqualea Cooley, who said she was unaware her name and address had been posted online, acknowledged Wright’s freedom to post the publicly available information. But she did express concerns.

 “If it gets into hands of the wrong people … some harm could be done,” she said. “… We have a very volatile Muslim community right now, I don’t know if there are people there that would act on information or not.”

 Cooley said some opponents had been misidentified as supporters of the city’s efforts, though she said the problems may have originated in the city’s records.

 “This is how misinformation gets out,” she said.

 Shortly before Wright posted the list online, he wrote on Facebook: “We should stop being afraid to be who we are! We like to have guns designed to kill people that pose a threat in a very efficient manner.”

 Wright and other members of his group, the Bureau on American Islamic Relations, say they carry guns only in self-defense and weren’t trying to intimidate anyone at Saturday’s protest. But they are convinced that the U.S. is due for violent conflict with Muslims.

 At Saturday’s protest, Wright said he’d chosen the Irving mosque in part because area Muslims had threatened to kill Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne — something The Dallas Morning News has found no evidence of.

 Van Duyne, who has frequently raised concerns about the spread of Islamic influence, said Wednesday that she was in no way affiliated with the group and declined to comment on the list.

 City Council member David Palmer said that though the names and addresses were public information, posting them online appeared to be an attempt to spread fear.

 “I don’t know why they would publish this other than for intimidation purposes,” he said. “And whether you’re pro or against, continue to speak your mind.”

 Palmer said he had stopped by Saturday’s rally after a mosque member raised concerns about the armed protesters.

 “I went out there … to observe,” he said. “I fully support their right to protest, their or anyone else really, to protest. What I felt uncomfortable about was that they needed to bring weapons to a place of worship.”

 Another rally is planned Saturday at the Islamic Center to protest Wright’s group and show support for area Muslims.

 “The mosque in Irving receives a lot of hate and ugliness,” said Tonya Cadenhead, an Irving resident who is organizing the event, which begins at noon at the mosque at 2555 Esters Road. “I decided to do something nice for them and show them not everyone has an ugly heart.”

 aselk@dallasnews.com;

 jfancher@dallasnews.com

 Twitter: @aviselk; @juliefancher |||||

– The group responsible for an armed anti-Muslim protest at a Dallas-area mosque last weekend posted a list containing the names and addresses of dozens of Muslims and "Muslim sympathizers" to Facebook on Wednesday, the Dallas Morning News reports. According to the Huffington Post, the list contained personal information about more than 60 people pulled from an official document of individuals who signed up to speak at a city council debate on "limiting Muslim influence" earlier this year. “This is the first time I’ve been slightly alarmed," the head of a local Islamic group tells the Morning News. "They were just being good citizens to show up and be a part of the democratic process. Now they are targets.” David Wright led the armed protest outside the Irving Islamic Center last weekend and appears to be behind the list, which has since been removed from Facebook, the Morning News reports. While Wright's organization, BAIR, states its intention isn't to intimidate anyone, people whose names were on the list say it couldn't have been meant for any other reason than to put a target on their backs. The Washington Post quotes a number of Facebook posts from Wright this week, including, "We like to have guns designed to kill people that pose a threat in a very efficient manner," and "My gun is an assault weapon ... It's a weapon designed to assault people not animals." The list may have backfired: The Morning News notes RSVPs for a pro-Muslim rally scheduled for Saturday at the mosque had more than doubled in 24 hours.


Article:

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. -- A promising start turned into a shocking disappointment Thursday for Tiger Woods, who made three double bogeys at Atlanta Athletic Club on his way to a 77 during the first round of the PGA Championship.

 Tiger Woods shared the lead at 3-under early Thursday, then struggled to a 77. Daniel Shirey/US Presswire

 The 7-over-par total left Woods tied for 129th place, well behind first-round leader Steve Stricker, who shot a 63, matching a major championship record.

 For Woods, who has won 14 major titles, it was among his worst performances.

 "I'm not down, I'm just very angry right now," Woods said after shooting his highest opening round in a major championship and highest ever at the PGA. "I thought I could play by feel, see the shot, hit the shot. I'm not at that point yet."

 Woods started nicely Thursday morning, rolling in a birdie putt at the 10th hole (his first), then adding birdies at the 12th and 14th holes. At 3-under par through his first five holes, Woods was tied for the early lead.

 But he lost five shots against par on the next four holes, with double bogeys at the 15th and 18th. Tiger added five more bogeys on the front nine, including his third double bogey of the day, at No. 6.

 Woods, who tees off at 1:45 p.m. ET on Friday, is now in danger of seeing his PGA Tour season come to an early end. Woods has never missed the cut in 13 previous PGA Championships, but if he fails to finish among the top 70 and ties, he'll be headed home for the weekend.

 And that means he might not be seen again this year on the PGA Tour.

 Woods, 35, is 129th in FedEx Cup points and needs to be among the top 125 through next week's Wyndham Championship in order to advance to the first of four playoff events in two weeks. ||||| Tiger Woods staggers to an opening 77 at PGA Championship

 JOHNS CREEK, Ga.  One hour after he started, Tiger Woods was atop the leaderboard Thursday at the PGA Championship and felt like the Tiger of old. He never imagined he would end up with his worst score ever in the opening round of a major.

 He opened with three birdies in five holes. He followed with three double bogeys over the next 10 holes.

 Woods started out with his name high on the board, right next to Steve Stricker, who went on to tie a major championship record with 63. He wound up toward the bottom, next to John Daly and 57-year-old Jerry Pate, with a 77.

 It was his highest round in a major since Woods shot an 81 in the vicious wind and pelting rain of Muirfield in the third round of the British Open nine years ago.

 And it was no mystery to him how it all happened.

 "Got off to a great start today, was 3 under early, was having mechanical thoughts through those holes … and I thought, 'I can let it go' and play by instinct and feel," he said. "And it just screwed up my whole round. I'm not at that point where I can do that yet."

 Woods returned to competition last week and completed his first tournament since the Masters, staying away from golf until he was certain that injuries to his left leg would no longer cause him trouble.

 The head — not to mention his swing — still have plenty of work.

 Looking serious as ever when he walked onto the putting green to begin warming up, dressed in a deep coral shirt and blank pants, close to a Sunday look. Then came an 18-foot birdie putt on the opening hole, No. 10, an aggressive 5-wood from a blind shot in the pine straw on the par-5 12th, followed by a bunker shot from a plugged lie to 3 feet for another birdie.

 He hammered a drive more than 300 yards in the air on the 14th, leaving him a wedge to 3 feet for another birdie.

 "He's back!" a fan cried out from behind the green as Woods approached.

 Not quite.

 It was the highest opening round for Woods in any tournament since he shot 79 at the Australian Open in 1996. He is due to play Down Under again in November. At this rate, that might be his next tournament.

 Not since the final round at Bay Hill in 2007 had Woods made at least three double bogeys in one round. He started this carnage with a 4-iron on the 254-yard 15th hole that didn't look awful until it landed, just to the right of the green and into the pond.

 On the 18th, his tee shot flew into the bunker with such force that it buried into the side of the sand, and he did well to get it out sideways to the fairway. But he missed his target by some 30 yards on the next shot, into another bunker, and took another double bogey.

 His final double bogey came from a fairway bunker at No. 6, a shot he knew was bad as soon as he hit it. It landed in the middle of the pound, and then it was a matter of limiting the damage. He finished with a bogey from the bunker.

 Woods was in the sand a dozen times.

 He has talked about going back to his old swing while trying to learn a new one, and he said that was the case Thursday.

 "And that's what's frustrating," Woods said. "I thought I was playing well enough that I don't have to do that. I can just go out and there play and let it go and just play by feel — see the shot, hit the shot, feel it. And I'm not at that point yet. My same motor patterns get in there. I start fighting it and I couldn't get it back."

 Woods might not have much time left. He is No. 129 in the standings for the FedEx Cup playoffs that start in two weeks. If he misses the cut Friday — he has only done that twice in the majors — he would not be eligible for any PGA Tour events for six weeks.

 ***

 Tiger Woods' highest rounds as a pro:

 81: 2002 British Open, third round, Muirfield

 79: 1996 Australian Open, first round, The Australian

 78: 1998 Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, third round, Pebble Beach

 78: 1996 Tour Championship, second round, Southern Hills

 77: 2011 PGA Championship, first round, Atlanta Athletic Club

 77: 2010 Bridgestone Invitational, fourth round, Firestone CC

 77: 2002 Buick Invitational, second round, Torrey Pines (South)

 77: 1998 British Open, third round, Royal Birkdale

 77: 1998 Bay Hill Invitational, fourth round, Bay Hill

 77: 1997 Las Vegas Invitational, third round, TPC Summerlin

 Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to For more information about reprints & permissions , visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com . Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com |||||
What is a summary?

– Tiger Woods may be back in the game, but he’s not on his game. Woods suffered his worst round ever at the PGA Championship, struggling to 7-over-par 77. Much of his game was spent in water and on sand, with three double-bogeys and five bogeys, the AP reports. “I'm not down," he said afterward. "I'm really angry right now." The struggle came after a strong start: After the first five holes, Woods was tied for first. But double-bogeys at the 15th, 18th, and 6th holes helped leave him with the fifth-worst score. Now, his PGA Tour season could end tomorrow; it would be the first time he’d ever missed the PGA cut, ESPN notes. (Maybe he's still adjusting to his new caddie?) In front, meanwhile, was Steve Stricker, who ended up 7 under par with birdies at the 15th and 18th.


Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump's long-time confidant Keith Schiller privately testified that he rejected a Russian offer to send five women to then private-citizen Trump's hotel room during their 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant, according to multiple sources from both political parties with direct knowledge of the testimony.

 Schiller, Trump's former bodyguard and personal aide, testified that he took the offer as a joke, two of the sources said. On their way up to Trump's hotel room that night, Schiller told the billionaire businessman about the offer and Trump laughed it off, Schiller told the House intelligence committee earlier this week.

 After several minutes outside of Trump's door, which was Schiller's practice as Trump's security chief, he said he left.

 Members of the committee raised the matter because of salacious allegations laid out in a dossier compiled by former British agent Christopher Steele, an opposition research document funded by Democrats detailing alleged ties between Trump and his associates with Russians.

 During this week's closed-door hearing, House lawmakers walked through a Daily Caller article, which raised some of the allegations about Trump's Moscow trip from the dossier and discussed an alternative story involving Schiller's role in rejecting the Russian offer of sending prostitutes to Trump's room.

 The dossier's claims about Trump's activities in Moscow are some of the most incendiary claims in the memos compiled by Steele, which claimed that Russia obtained "kompromat," or dirt, on Trump to use as blackmail. Trump has long denounced the dossier and flatly denied its assertions.

 Stuart Sears, an attorney for Schiller, said the chairman and ranking member of the committee should investigate individuals leaking "misleading versions" of Schiller's testimony, calling the conduct "indefensible" and questioning the credibility of the House inquiry.

 "We are appalled by the leaks that are coming from partisan insiders from the House Intelligence Committee," Sears said in a statement. "It is outrageous that the very Committee that is conducting an investigation into leaks - purportedly in the public interest - is itself leaking information and defaming cooperative witnesses like Mr. Schiller."

 During the testimony with the House investigators, Schiller denied knowing about the salacious allegations contained in the dossier. He was also asked about a wide-range of issues, including meetings between Trump associates and Russians, and he denied having knowledge of many of those interactions, sources said.

 Moreover, he denied knowing about the deliberations around the firing of FBI Director James Comey, saying he was only called into deliver a letter with the news to the FBI.

 White House officials declined to comment.

 While Trump and the White House have long rejected the dossier as an attempt to discredit the presidency, the FBI has corroborated some information in the dossier and used it as justification to obtain a surveillance warrant on Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page, CNN has reported.

 But federal investigators have not verified the most salacious allegations regarding Trump's activities on his 2013 trip for the Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow.

 Schiller was asked about the Daily Caller article, and he confirmed a Russian made the offer to send the women to Trump's room which was raised around lunch-time, sources said. He was asked who made the offer, but he could not recall the identity of the individual, sources said.

 Multiple sources said the offer to send women to Trump's room came from a Russian who was accompanying Emin Agalarov, a pop star whose father is a billionaire oligarch close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and who worked with Trump to bring the pageant to Moscow. But Schiller said the offer did not come from Agalarov himself, the sources said, disputing the Daily Caller report on that matter.

 "Emin has no knowledge of that ever happening," said Scott Balber, an attorney for Agalarov.

 Dossier subject of controversy

 Trump has vehemently denied the allegations in the dossier since it was made public in January. At a press conference weeks before taking office, Trump said that he tells his staff before overseas trips, including to Russia, to "be very careful" in their hotel rooms because "you're gonna probably have cameras," and that they could end up on the news if they weren't cautious.

 Trump has also ramped up his attacks after it became public that the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee, through the law firm Perkins Coie, paid opposition research firm Fusion GPS to compile the material that led to the dossier.

 "Clinton campaign & DNC paid for research that led to the anti-Trump Fake News Dossier. The victim here is the President," Trump tweeted last month.

 Yet before Trump was inaugurated, Comey briefed Trump and outgoing President Barack Obama about the existence of the dossier.

 Additionally, Comey testified that Trump personally denied to him, on two occasions, that he participated in the salacious activities alleged in the dossier. This all came before Trump fired Comey in May.

 "The President returned to the salacious material I had briefed him about on January 6, and, as he had done previously, expressed his disgust for the allegations and strongly denied them," Comey said about a dinner with Trump in late January. "He said he was considering ordering me to investigate the alleged incident to prove it didn't happen."

 Comey said Trump gave a more explicit denial in a March phone call. "He said he had nothing to do with Russia, had not been involved with hookers in Russia, and had always assumed he was being recorded when in Russia," Comey testified.

 A fateful Moscow trip

 Investigators probing potential Russia collusion asked Schiller to detail what happened during the 2013 Moscow trip when Trump was in charge of the Miss Universe pageant there.

 Trump brought the pageant to Moscow with the help of Aras and Emin Agalarov, the Azerbaijani-Russian billionaire oligarch and his pop-star son. The November 2013 event was held at one of their properties in Moscow.

 Video obtained by CNN in July shows Trump, Schiller, the Agalarovs and music publicist Rob Goldstone attending a July 2013 dinner in Las Vegas. The day after that gathering, the Trump Organization announced it would bring Miss Universe to Moscow. In June 2016, Goldstone connected with the President's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., at the request of Aras Agalarov to set up the meeting at Trump Tower with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.

 Close confidant to Trump

 Schiller, who is one of Trump's closest confidants, left the White House in September after serving as director of Oval Office operations.

 As a longtime adviser to Trump, Schiller has been present for some of the most controversial moments of Trump's political career.

 Trump dispatched Schiller in May to hand-deliver a letter to the FBI headquarters informing Comey of his termination, although Comey was in Los Angeles at the time.

 UPDATE: This story has been updated with comment from Emin Agalarov's attorney. ||||| Keith Schiller, Donald Trump's longtime head of security, told congressional investigators that he rejected an offer to send five women to Trump’s hotel room during a trip to Moscow ahead of the Miss Universe Pageant in 2013, sources tell ABC News.

 Interested in Donald Trump? Add Donald Trump as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Donald Trump news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest

 In a four hour-plus meeting with congressional investigators Tuesday, Schiller was questioned about the 2013 Moscow trip with Trump and the president's firing of former FBI Director James Comey.

 Sources say Schiller told Congress he believed the offer was a joke, and that he responded to the offer by saying Trump was "not interested."

 He told Trump about the exchange several hours later and the two laughed about it, Schiller told investigators, according to sources familiar with the interview.

 After walking Trump to his hotel room, Schiller reportedly told investigators he stayed outside the door for several minutes – his standard practice as Trump's security guard – before heading to his own room. He said did not see anyone enter Trump’s room.

 ABC News first reported on congressional investigators' interest in Schiller. A former New York city cop, Schiller has been at Donald Trump’s side for years.

 Schiller, who left his role as Trump’s director of Oval Office operations in September, hand-delivered Comey’s termination letter to FBI headquarters in May. He told investigators he did not know anything about Trump’s decision until he was asked to deliver the letter to the FBI.

 Schiller denied knowledge of the salacious allegations against Trump included in the unverified dossier produced by the investigative firm Fusion GPS, and did not provide investigators with many definitive answers about his time with Trump, according to several sources in the room for the interview.

 Trump has also denied those allegations himself, saying he knew there could be cameras hidden inside hotel rooms in Russia.

 “I was in Russia years ago with the Miss Universe contest which did very well,” Trump said. “And I told many people, be careful because you don’t want to see yourself on television, cameras all over the place.”

 Schiller’s attorney Stuart Sears declined to comment. |||||

Write a summary.

– President Trump's longtime bodyguard reportedly told Congress this week that Russians offered to send five women up to Trump's hotel room while he was in Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant in 2013. Sources with direct knowledge of Keith Schiller's testimony in front of the House intelligence committee this week confirmed the account to CNN, NBC News, and ABC News. Sources say Schiller, who had worked full-time for Trump since 2012, testified the offer was made by someone—he doesn't remember who—following a business meeting ahead of the pageant. He reportedly testified that he turned the offer down, believing it to be a joke. Sources say he later told Trump about the offer, and they both laughed about it. Committee members asked about the incident because of allegations made in a dossier compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British agent. Specifically, the dossier alleged a "salacious" encounter between Trump and prostitutes at his Moscow hotel that was secretly recorded. Sources say Schiller testified that Trump went to bed alone that night and that he waited for a few minutes outside Trump's door before going to bed himself. He reportedly said he couldn't be sure what happened after that, but he doubts Trump had any guests. Sources say Schiller testified he and Trump were aware of surveillance dangers posed by hotels in Moscow. Schiller's lawyer says "the versions of Mr. Schiller’s testimony being leaked to the press are blatantly false and misleading."


Here is a news article: The discovery of the bodies of Laci and Conner Peterson in April 2003 became a turning point in the investigation of Laci’s husband, Scott Peterson, for their murders. He was arrested days later and was convicted the following year, after which he was sentenced to die.

 But, as with so much else about the Laci Peterson case, what authorities say happened and how Scott continues to describe it sharply conflict — a divide that is detailed in the ongoing A&E docuseries The Murder of Laci Peterson.

 In an exclusive clip from the third episode, airing Tuesday night, both Scott and a detective on the case at the time recall how he reacted to learning that his wife and unborn son were found dead months after Laci vanished in December 2002 in Modesto, California.

 “We told Scott. [There was] very little reaction on Scott’s part,” retired Modesto detective Jon Buehler recalls in the clip, adding, “In my view, because he was the one who killed Laci, there’s no reason for him to have a lot of emotion because he knew what the results were gonna be.”

 • Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter

 Laci Peterson Family photo via The Modesto Bee/AP

 Scott Peterson in 2005 Justin Sullivan/AP

 Buehler’s memory echoes what he previously told PEOPLE in 2005 about informing Scott of the bodies.

 “He was not angry. He didn’t ask a whole bunch of questions,” he said then. “The only thing he said was, ‘Is that my wife and son?’ At that point it was sort of like, ‘Come on, Scott.’ So I said, ‘You know the answer to that question.’ Then he did fake sniffles [Buehler wiped his eyes and puts his head down to imitate Scott.] He said, ‘You told me what I needed to know.’ ”

 Scott — a man once described as a “manipulator” by one of the jurors who put him to death — remembers this pivotal moment in his life differently.

 As he explains in a call earlier this year from death row with his sister-in-law Janey Peterson, audio of which is in the clip above: “When they told me, I had just a terrible physical reaction. I mean it was a really emotional, physical reaction.”

 • PEOPLE’s special edition True Crime Stories: 35 Real Cases That Inspired the Show Law & Order is on sale now.

 “But I was in the car with those two detectives and I just stopped that,” Scott continues. “I wasn’t gonna let them see the emotions I was going through.”

 Despite a successful — if largely circumstantial — argument by prosecutors that Scott murdered his pregnant wife while he carried on an affair with unwitting lover Amber Frey, who later testified against him at trial, he and his family have always maintained his innocence.

 Not so, Laci’s mother told the Modesto Bee in April 2016: “There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that justice was served. Scott Peterson is guilty.”

 His case is still being appealed.

 The Murder of Laci Peterson continues Tuesday (10 p.m. ET) on A&E. ||||| In a new ABC documentary about her pregnant daughter’s 2002 murder, Laci Peterson’s mother recalls her own mental anguish over the realization that Laci’s husband, Scott Peterson, might have been involved in her disappearance.

 “It was very, very hard to even begin to suspect him, because in the back of my mind I kept thinking, what if he didn’t have anything to do with it?,” says Sharon Rocha in Truth and Lies: The Murder of Laci Peterson, which airs Thursday, September 14 (9 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET) on ABC. (An exclusive clip of the trailer is posted above.)

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 “I mean, it’s not like this is a total stranger that you might be suspecting,” she says. “This is somebody that’s been a member of your family for several years now, and it’s really, you know, the back and forth and the guilt about feeling this way, and how it may have an effect on the relationship with my daughter if I’m wrong.”

 “That’s the last person you want to think had anything to do with the disappearance of your daughter — her husband,” says Rocha. “The person that was a member of your family, somebody that you loved and cared about, and thought he felt the same way about your daughter. And knowing how she felt about him.”

 The eight-months pregnant Laci, 27, vanished from the couple’s Modesto, California, home on the morning of December 24, 2002. Her body and the fetus of the unborn son they had named Conner washed ashore in San Francisco Bay four months later.

 • PEOPLE’s special edition True Crime Stories: 35 Real Cases That Inspired the Show Law & Order is on sale now.

 The mystery and Scott’s headline-grabbing 2004 trial eventually exposed him as a killer with a mistress, Amber Frey. Frey’s emergence punctured Scott’s claim that his wife must have been taken and killed as she walked their dog while he was out that day on a solo fishing trip in the Bay.

 Laci Peterson Family photo via The Modesto Bee/AP

 Scott Peterson Justin Sullivan/AP

 Scott Seeking Retrial

 The two-hour ABC special — which also includes new interviews with investigators and those who covered the case — arrives as Scott Peterson continues to appeal the guilty verdict and death sentence he received 12 years ago. He currently is serving his time at San Quentin prison.

 In his latest request for a new trial, Scott’s current lawyers raise doubts about the defense mounted by his then-attorney, Mark Geragos, and allege that a juror who voted to convict him lied in order to be picked for the panel, reports The Modesto Bee.

 • Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

 In its 150-page response filed in court last month, according to the Bee, the California Attorney General’s Office counters that Peterson’s conviction resulted from “overwhelming evidence,” including:

 “[H]is expressed wanderlust and desire to to be responsibility-free, which he conveyed to his mistress as the birth of his son neared; buying a boat mere weeks before Laci’s appearance; ‘fishing’ with the wrong gear on Christmas Eve morning in inclement weather; surreptitious trips to the marina in various rented vehicles after Laci’s disappearance; lies to friends and family concerning his whereabouts; the sale of Laci’s car and inquiry into selling their home, including furnishings; subscribing to pornography channels while the search was ongoing; Laci’s and Conner’s bodies washing ashore not far from Peterson’s location on the bay; condition of the bodies correlat(ing) with the timing of Laci’s disappearance; and (Scott) Peterson’s disguised appearance and possession of survival gear and copious amounts of cash at the time of his arrest.”

 Mom Recounts Last Memory of Laci

 In the ABC documentary, Laci’s mother describes the last time she saw her.

 “She I and I were sitting side-by-side and Scott was sitting on the floor, and we were watching TV and she said the baby was kicking, so I put my hand on her stomach, because I’d never felt him kick,” says Rocha.

 “I still didn’t feel him kick even when she said that,” she says. “But she leaned over to me and she said, ‘Mom,’ she said ‘Scott doesn’t like to do this.’ She said, ‘I’ve asked him about, you know, feel my stomach when the baby kicks, and he never wants to touch my stomach.’”

 “That really, really bothered me,” she says, “and that was the last time I saw her.”

 The special also promises never-before-seen home video of Laci, excerpts from Scott’s pre-arrest interview with Diane Sawyer, and anchor Barbara Walters’ pre-conviction interview with Scott’s parents.

 Truth and Lies: The Murder of Laci Peterson airs Thursday, September 14 (9 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET) on ABC. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Sharon Rocha was sitting on the couch next to her pregnant daughter, Laci Peterson, when the 27-year-old said the baby was kicking. "I put my hand on her stomach, because I’d never felt him kick," Rocha says in a new ABC documentary about her daughter's murder, per People. "She leaned over to me and she said, 'Mom,' she said 'Scott doesn’t like to do this.' She said, 'I’ve asked him about, you know, feel my stomach when the baby kicks, and he never wants to touch my stomach.' That really, really bothered me. And that was the last time I saw her." Peterson, eight months pregnant, disappeared soon after on Christmas Eve in 2002; her body and that of the son she was carrying washed ashore in California four months later and her husband, Scott, was eventually convicted of her murder; he is still fighting his guilty verdict and death sentence. In the documentary, which debuts Sept. 14, Rocha says the realization that Scott may have had something to do with her daughter's disappearance was a difficult one to accept. "It’s not like this is a total stranger that you might be suspecting," she says. "This is somebody that’s been a member of your family for several years now, and it’s really, you know, the back and forth and the guilt about feeling this way, and how it may have an effect on the relationship with my daughter if I’m wrong." She adds that Scott had been a member of the family she "loved and cared about," and that knowing how Laci felt about him made her not want to consider him a suspect. A&E is also currently airing a series on Laci Peterson's murder; People reported last week that in that series Scott Peterson was recently heard describing the "terrible physical reaction" he claimed to have upon finding out his wife and son were dead.


As the crude crept closer to Florida, the risky effort to contain the nation's worst oil spill hit a snag Wednesday when a diamond-edged saw became stuck in a thick pipe on a blown-out well at the bottom of the Gulf.

 Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said the goal was to free the saw and finish the cut later in the day. This is the latest attempt to contain _ not plug _ the gusher. The best chance at stopping the leak is a relief well, which is at least two months from completion.

 "I don't think the issue is whether or not we can make the second cut. It's about how fine we can make it, how smooth we can make it," Allen said.

 If the cut is not as smooth as engineers would like, they would be forced to put a looser fitting cap on top of the oil spewing out. This cut-and-cap effort could temporarily increase the flow of oil by as much as 20 percent, though Allen said officials wouldn't know whether that had happened until the cut could be completed.

 Engineers may have to bring in a second saw awaiting on a boat, but it was not immediately clear how long that could delay the operation. Live video showed oil spewing out of the new cut, and crews were shooting chemicals to try to disperse the crude. The cap could be placed over the spill as early as Wednesday.

 The effort underwater was going on as oil drifted close to the Florida Panhandle's white sand beaches for the first time and investors ran from BP's stock for a second day, reacting to the company's weekend failure to plug the leak by shooting mud and cement into the well, known as the top kill.

 Meanwhile, President Barack Obama said in prepared remarks that it was time to roll back billions of dollars in tax breaks for oil companies and use the money for clean energy research and development. He said the catastrophic Gulf oil spill shows the country must move toward clean energy, tapping natural gas and nuclear power and eliminating tax breaks for big oil.

 The Justice Department also has announced it started criminal and civil probes into the spill, although the department did not name specific targets for prosecution.

 Shares in British-based BP PLC were down 3 percent early Wednesday before recovering in London trading, a day after a 13 percent fall. BP has lost $75 billion in market value since the spill started with an April 20 oil rig explosion and analysts expect damage claims to total billions more.

 In Florida, oil was about seven miles south of Pensacola Beach, Allen said.

 Thunderstorms were making it difficult to track the slick, Escambia County emergency director John Dosh said, and officials hoped the weather would clear so they could get an aerial view.

 It was raining and cloudy at the beach off and on. The four pirate flags on top of Peg Leg Pete's Oyster Bar on the beach where flapping eastward, which could send the oil closer to shore. Peg Leg Pete's is a beach institution frequented by boaters who pull up behind the restaurant in a cove off Pensacola Bay.

 It was a slow Memorial Day weekend. Hundreds of tourists enjoyed the turquoise waters, but it wasn't as busy as usual.

 "We are looking at a Wednesday to Friday shoreline impact, but there is a line of uncertainty that depends on the wave action and the winds," Dosh said.

 "Today we are in a monitoring mode."

 Emergency crews began scouring the beaches for oil and shoring up miles of boom, though choppy waters from thunderstorms could send the oil over the protective lines. County officials are using the boom to block oil from reaching inland waterways but plan to leave beaches unprotected because they are easier to clean up.

 "It's inevitable that we will see it on the beaches," said Keith Wilkins, deputy chief of neighborhood and community services for Escambia County.

 The oil has been spreading in the Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded six weeks ago, killing 11 workers and eventually sinking. The rig was being operated for BP, the largest oil and gas producer in the Gulf.

 Crude has already been reported along barrier islands in Alabama and Mississippi, and it has polluted some 125 miles of Louisiana coastline.

 Some 2,000 feet above the Chandeleur islands off the Louisiana coast, vast stretches of sheen meandered through the water, some reflecting pale rainbow colors. Farther away, swaths of oil was in various sizes and thickness _ from pale, barely detectable streams to rust-rimmed blue and purple patches that looked like giant bruises.

 "The problem is this oil now is really like a collection of smaller spills," Allen said during flight in a C-144.

 Allen, the national incident commander for the spill, said the threat of oil hitting the coast was shifting east and skimmer vessels would be working offshore to intercept as much crude as possible.

 Earlier this week, BP officials said they were concentrating cleanup efforts in Louisiana because they did not expect oil to reach other states. The company has set up floating hotels on barges to house cleanup crews closer to the Louisiana shores.

 In Venice, La., hundreds of oil response workers were grounded by storms and many local fishermen hired in the so-called vessels of opportunity program were sent home early. Venice is a major staging center for the oil response, with nearly 1,500 workers and dozens of boats in this small town in the marshes.

 "Boats were staged and ready to go" in case there was a break in the weather, said BP spokesman Mike Abendoff.

 Some work continued, including at a 32-acre site where an "employee village" is being built to eventually house as many as 1,500 workers in trailers. Abendoff hoped to start putting some workers there by early next week.

 More federal fishing waters were closed, too, another setback for one of the region's most important industries. More than one-third of federal waters were off-limits for fishing, along with hundreds of square miles of state waters.

 ___

 Bluestein reported from Covington, La. Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Pete Yost from Washington, Curt Anderson from Miami, Kevin McGill in Schriever, Melissa Nelson in Pensacola, Fla., Brian Skoloff in Port Fourchon, Mary Foster in Boothville, and Michael Kunzelman in New Orleans also contributed to this report. ||||| I made a hurtful and thoughtless comment on Sunday when I said that "I wanted my life back." When I read that recently, I was appalled. I apologize, especially to the families of the 11 men who lost their lives in this tragic accident. Those words don't represent how I feel about this tragedy, and certainly don't represent the hearts of the people of BP -- many of whom live and work in the Gulf -- who are doing everything they can to make things right. My first priority is doing all we can to restore the lives of the people of the Gulf region and their families -- to restore their lives, not mine. |||||

Write a summary.

– British Petroleum CEO Tony Hayward has been roundly bashed for his unfortunate "I'd like my life back" comment—lots of fishermen and coastal residents want their lives back, too, not to mention relatives of the 11 men killed in the initial explosion. Today, Hayward apologized, reports the Huffington Post. "I made a hurtful and thoughtless comment," he said. "When I read that recently, I was appalled. I apologize, especially to the families of the 11 men who lost their lives in this tragic accident." His statement continues: "Those words don't represent how I feel about this tragedy, and certainly don't represent the hearts of the people of BP. My first priority is doing all we can to restore the lives of the people of the Gulf region and their families—to restore their lives, not mine." In the meantime, that saw remains stuck, notes AP.