Article:

Just back from a trip to Iraq, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa said on Sunday the government in Baghdad is “still quite delusional” about the urgency of the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

 “They're still talking about long-term training before they're ready to fight,” the California Republican said an ABC’s “This Week.”

 Issa said he was ready to vote to authorize the U.S. military campaign against ISIL — something President Barack Obama has requested. “The fact is we're already there,” Issa said. “We've had to be there.”

 Issa also said Iraqis — not Americans — should be the ones engaging in ground combat against ISIL. The Kurds were up to the challenge, he said.

 “I have no doubt whatsoever that the Kurds will fight,” he said. “All they need is our air support and our technical know-how, and they will do it.” ||||| Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday "hats off" to President Barack Obama, predicting that he would get a "political victory" on a fiscal cliff deal.

 "Hats off to the president," Graham (R-S.C.) said on Fox News Sunday. "He stood his ground. He's going to get tax rate increases... It will be a political victory for the president."

 But don't think the Republican senator from South Carolina is agreeing with Obama. Graham said that lawmakers have "done little" of going to the way of Greece, which is struggling economically. Obama and Democrats say that they have an electoral mandate to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans because Obama campaigned on it before he was reelected.

 "The president won. The president campaigned on raising rates and he's going to get a rate increase," Graham said.

 Read more about: Barack Obama, Lindsey Graham, Fox News Sunday, Fiscal Cliff ||||| Tthere are better than 50/50 odds of lawmakers reaching a deal on the so-called fiscal cliff, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) predicted on Sunday.

 "There's a real possibility of a deal. I've been a legislator for 37 years, and I've watched how these things work. On these big, big agreements, they almost always happen at the last minute. Neither side likes to give up its position," Schumer said on ABC's "This Week."

 "They eyeball each other until the very end. But then, each side, realizing that the alternative is worse, comes to an agreement," he explained. "So while an agreement is hardly a certainty, I certainly wouldn't rule it out at this last minute."

 "Give me your odds. I said 50/50," said host Jonathan Karl, filling in for George Stephanopoulos.

 "I think a little higher than that," Schumer said.

 Read more about: Chuck Schumer, Fiscal Cliff ||||| While much of the nation is transfixed by the tax hikes and spending cuts that will kick in if the nation goes over the fiscal cliff, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack warns that there are other cliff issues being overlooked: the farm bill.

 Vilsack said that unless Congress can pass a farm bill, the agricultural sector of the economy will be devastated, and that will have ripple effects felt by almost every American.

 "Consumers, when they go in the grocery store, are going to be a bit shocked when instead of seeing $3.60 a gallon for milk, they see $7 a gallon for milk," he said during an interview broadcast Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "And that’s going to ripple throughout all of the commodities if this thing goes on for an extended period of time."

 The farm bill is set to expire on Jan. 1, and Congress has yet to agree on an extension or replacement. Vilsack said the impacts will also affect renewable energy, such as biofuels, agricultural exports, conservation programs and farmers' markets. And he said efforts to slash funding for the food stamp program are misguided.

 Vilsack said 92 percent of food stamp recipients are seniors, the disabled or children of working families.

 “It’s an important program. It’s misunderstood,” he said. "When you understand who you're helping here, then it becomes a little bit more difficult to advocate for significant and massive cuts as some have suggested.”

 Read more about: Tom Vilsack, Farm Bill, Milk ||||| Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) says he spoke Sunday morning with senators working on a deal to avert the fiscal cliff and they have yet to reach an agreement.

 “There is no deal yet. I continue to hope for a bipartisan agreement,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

 "We’re trying to line up a Rubik’s cube right now, and we're not there yet. We’re meeting later today. This is going to continue, I think, on until tomorrow."

 Barrasso jumped on President Barack Obama for “outsourcing” the fix to Congress.

 “What we’re seeing here is a monumental failure of presidential leadership," Barrasso said. "The president's the only person with a pen who can sign this. And it’s the president’s responsibility to work on something that the House will pass, the Senate will pass and that he will sign. But he is outsourcing this.

 “He continues to campaign and lecture when he ought to be focusing on the number one problem that hurts us as a country, which is our debt.”

 Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) jumped in to defend the president, saying Democrats are united on a plan to extend middle class taxes and Republicans are standing in the way.

 Read more about: Barack Obama, John Barrasso, Fiscal Cliff, Donald Edwards ||||| Sen. Dianne Feinstein said on Sunday that America needs to "bite the bullet" on gun control reform in the wake of the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

 "America has to bite the bullet of what these incidents mean to our people, to our nation and our nation's standing in the world," Feinstein said on "Fox News Sunday." "When you have someone walking in and slaying in the most brutal way 6-year-olds, something is really wrong."

 Feinstein is set to introduce gun-control legislation that would enact stricter background checks and gun registration laws in wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, in which authorities say Adam Lanza, 20, killed 20 children and six others at the elementary school.

 "This is one effort and other things we should do to try to put weapons under some kind of appropriate authority," she said.

 Read more about: Dianne Feinstein, Gun Control, Connecticut School Shooting |||||
What is a summary?

– President Obama wasn't the only show on the Sunday dial today: On the eve of the fiscal cliff, Lindsey Graham was upbeat about the chances of a deal, telling Fox News they were "exceedingly good." "Hats off to the president," said Graham, according to Politico. "He stood his ground. He's going to get tax rate increases. It will be a political victory for the president." John Barrasso wasn't nearly so positive, saying, "We’re trying to line up a Rubik’s cube right now, and we're not there yet." He blamed Obama for "outsourcing" negotiations to Congress, calling it "a monumental failure of presidential leadership." Elsewhere on your Sunday dial, as per Politico: Chuck Schumer on the cliff: "I've been a legislator for 37 years, and I've watched how these things work. On these big, big agreements, they almost always happen at the last minute. Neither side likes to give up its position. But then, each side, realizing that the alternative is worse, comes to an agreement. So while an agreement is hardly a certainty, I certainly wouldn't rule it out at this last minute." Dianne Feinstein on gun control: "America has to bite the bullet of what these incidents mean to our people, to our nation and our nation's standing in the world. When you have someone walking in and slaying in the most brutal way, 6-year-olds, something is really wrong." Tom Vilsack on that other (farm bill) 'cliff:' "Consumers are going to be shocked when instead of seeing $3.60 a gallon for milk, they see $7 a gallon for milk. And that’s going to ripple throughout all of the commodities if this thing goes on for an extended period of time."


A blood pattern analysis of the Shroud of Turin has revealed that there's just absolutely no way the stains could have been made by a body laying flat on the fabric.

 A pair of researchers have found that the blood-like splotches on the linen cloth are inconsistent with each other - some can only have occurred by a person standing upright, while another is completely unrealistic.

 The famous length of fabric, which bears the image of a man, has long been thought to be the cloth that once wrapped the body of Christian figurehead Jesus of Nazareth. The imprint is said to have been transferred during the three days his body was interred.

 Scientific analysis has not yet yielded an answer as to how the image was created on the fabric, but several reddish stains consistent with the reported crucifixion wounds of Jesus of Nazareth contain iron oxide - which could be from pigment, or could be from blood.

 However, radiocarbon techniques have dated the shroud to between 1260 and 1390 CE.

 The weave and the fabricweave and the fabric are both consistent with the Jesus of Nazareth time frame, as well as the Middle Ages; analysis of the cloth shows inconclusive evidence for pigment; and research determining a Middle Eastern provenance for pollen found on the cloth was later disavowed by one of its authors.

 Radiocarbon dating notwithstanding, it would be fascinating to know exactly how the shroud was made; and, if it's real, it could reveal new information about crucifixion techniques. Because evidence for the shroud's authenticity has been so inconclusive, there has been recent scientific interest in using forensic techniques to investigate it.

 This is where forensic anthropologist Matteo Borrini of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK and organic chemist Luigi Garlaschelli of the Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Pseudosciences enter the picture.

 Rather than testing the substance itself, the researchers used a live subject and a mannequin to analyse the blood flow on wounds on the left hand, the forearms, the "lance wound" in the torso, and blood stains around the figure's waist.

 The technique is called Bloodstain Pattern Analysis; for this, they used two types of blood: human blood donated for the research, and synthetic blood with the same fluid properties.

 The researchers studied the flow for different positions: on the back of the hand in contact with wood, to observe the pattern left on the hand; on the left forearm, with blood trickling from the hand, in a standing position, and again in a supine (lying on the back) position with the hand covering the groin, as seen on the shroud.

 They also investigated the short trickles on the back of the left hand; and the blood over the spear wound, as well as the lumbar region, thought to be blood flow from that wound.

 The wood test was inconclusive, but the blood flow tests show that the shroud is a mess.

 For starters, the trickles on the back of the hand and the flow along the arm occurred at two completely different angles.

 The trickles from the hand as seen on the shroud occurred in the tests with the arms at a 45 degree angle, but that just doesn't work for the supposed position of the body.

 "The angle between the arm and the body must be greater than 80° and smaller than 100° in order for the rivulets to flow from the wrist toward the elbow on the outer part of the forearm, as it appears on the Shroud," the researchers wrote in their paper.

 (Borrini & Garlaschelli/Journal of Forensic Science)

 The spear wound bled in a direction consistent with the Shroud image when the test subject was upright, as would occur if the victim were pierced while hanging crucified, but with one key difference: it formed rivulets, rather than a solidly filled stain.

 As for the lower back stain, the scientists could not replicate it at all.

 They attempted it with both bleeding from a supine position, as well as a test subject that had been standing and then laid on its back, and nothing managed to produce a "blood belt" in the lower back.

 "Assuming that the red stains on the Turin linen are actually blood from the crucifixion wounds, the results of the experiments demonstrate that the alleged flowing patterns from different areas of the body are not consistent with each other.

 "Even supposing possible different episodes of bleeding (e.g., movements of the body, postmortem bleeding), these are not only non-documented, but also, as for the lumbar stains, they appear to be unrealistic," the researchers wrote.

 "The inconsistencies identified by the authors seem not only to point against their own reality, but against the authenticity of the Shroud itself, suggesting that the Turin linen was an artistic or 'didactic' representation from the XIV century."

 That doesn't mean the show is entirely over yet: until scientists are able to figure out exactly how the image was formed on the fabric, it's going to remain a tantalising scientific mystery.

 Their findings have been published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences. ||||| The Shroud of Turin, which has been revered by some Christians as the burial cloth of Jesus, could be a fake, according to a new forensic investigation.

 The investigation into the bloodstain pattern on the cloth was reported Tuesday in the Journal of Forensic Sciences and is apparently the first such analysis of the controversial shroud.

 Held in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, the shroud shows the image of a crucified man and has been analyzed and scrutinized for many, many years. The Vatican regards it as an icon, rather than a religious relic—and the church has never weighed in on its authenticity nor officially rejected it.

 In 2015, more than 2 million people saw the Shroud of Turin, which is 14-feet-long, 3.5-feet-wide and kept in a bulletproof, climate-controlled case. The cloth has long been the subject of debate and study.

 Researchers concluded that the linen seems to be patched with bloodstains from a standing model, not a crucified man or a facedown corpse, reports BuzzFeed News, adding evidence to claims that it is a fraud.

 “This is the kind of forensic work done all the time in police investigations,” Matteo Borrini, a forensic scientist at Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom, told BuzzFeed News. “Even a crucified or hanging person should leave a distinct blood pattern on the cloth, which would be fascinating information to have.”

 Borrini and his colleagues used real and synthetic blood samples to conduct seven different tests on different body parts depicted on the fabric. By pumping blood onto a model at wound points shown on the shroud, researchers could compare the angle that gravity pulled the liquid against the direction depicted on the linen. They found bloodstains that were inconsistent with any single pose, which seems to suggest a standing model was used to imprint the patterns.

 11-MILLION-TON ICEBERG THREATENS TO INUNDATE TINY GREENLAND VILLAGE WITH TSUNAMI

 If it was truly the death shroud of someone hung on a cross, or pulled down from one for burial, Borrini said, “the bloodstains shouldn’t be so inconsistent.”

 BuzzFeed reports that researchers found forearm rivulets matched an arm held straight out around 90 degrees to the side, for example, while the hand marks matched an arm held out at about 45 degrees. Some hand bloodstains traced angles at odds with each other as well, off by as much as 10 degrees. A simulated spear wound in the chest ran in completely different patterns than the one on the shroud, whether standing or prone. “This is just not what happens to a person on a cross,” Borrini said.

 “Overall, the approach is founded in science and the methodology sound,” bloodstain pattern expert Jonathyn Priest of Bevel, Gardner and Associates Inc. told BuzzFeed News.

 However, Priest cautioned that the conclusions were based on body parts held in a fixed position, rather than accounting for carrying a body, cleaning a body, or preparing a body for burial, which might bear more study.

 “The fact that flowing bloodstains exist at all on a deceased body that was reportedly cleaned also raises questions,” he added.

 Although this latest research is not definitive, generations of the faithful will continue to be fascinated by the Shroud of Turin. ||||| “This is just not what happens to a person on a cross,” said a forensic investigator.

 Gerard Julien / AFP / Getty Images Pope John Paul II prays at the Turin Cathedral of St. John the Baptist before the controversial Turin shroud.

 The Shroud of Turin, long considered by some to be the burial cloth of Jesus, has inconsistent bloodstain patterns that suggest it is a fake, a new forensic investigation has found. Held in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, the shroud bears an image of a crucified man. It has been analyzed for decades, to some controversy, with radiocarbon dating determining its origin to be between 1260 and 1390. It is regarded by the Vatican as an icon, rather than a genuine religious relic. More than 2 million people came to see the shroud during a three-month display in 2015, including Pope Francis. The bloodstain pattern investigation reported on Tuesday by the Journal of Forensic Sciences is the first such analysis of the cloth, looking at its purported blood splatters and their alignment to each other in a kind of crime scene analysis. The researchers concluded that the linen appears patched with bloodstains from a standing model, not a crucified man or facedown corpse, adding to evidence that the shroud is a medieval fraud. “This is the kind of forensic work done all the time in police investigations,” Matteo Borrini, a forensic scientist at Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom, told BuzzFeed News. “Even a crucified or hanging person should leave a distinct blood pattern on the cloth, which would be fascinating information to have.”

 Borrini conducted the analysis with chemist Luigi Garlaschelli of the University of Pavia in Italy, using real and synthetic blood samples on cloth to test the orientation of stains on the better-defined left side of the cloth (they also compared the two liquids to see if they flowed the same way). They hoped to answer a debate over whether the crucifixion depicted on the cloth was T-shaped, Y-shaped, or some other manner of ancient Roman execution.

 Instead, they found that the bloodstains are inconsistent with any one pose, suggesting that a standing model was used to imprint the patterns at different angles for the hands, chest, and back. If it were a death shroud of a bleeding, executed person, hung on a cross, or pulled down from one for burial, Borrini said, “the bloodstains shouldn’t be so inconsistent.” In the analysis, the two researchers conducted seven different bloodstain tests on different body parts depicted on the fabric: the hand, forearm, chest, and lower back, along with a belt of blood (whether it is actually blood or paint pigments is another disputed forensic question) at the waist. By pumping blood onto a model at wound points depicted on the shroud, they could compare the angle that gravity pulled the liquid against the direction seen on the linen. They discovered the angle at which gravity would pull blood dripping from a body in the way seen on the shroud varied with the body part: The forearm rivulets corresponded to an arm held straight out around 90 degrees to the side, for example, while the hand marks matched an arm held out at about 45 degrees. Some hand bloodstains traced angles at odds with each other as well, off by as much as 10 degrees. A simulated spear wound in the chest ran in completely different patterns than the one on the shroud, whether standing or prone. “This is just not what happens to a person on a cross,” Borrini said.

 Luigi Garlaschelli / Via youtube.com A screengrab of the research. |||||

Write a summary.

– The Shroud of Turin is supposedly the burial cloth that was wrapped around Jesus after his crucifixion; bloodstains on the linen shroud, which are said to have been transferred to it during the three days Jesus was in the tomb, form the image of a crucified man. But a new study reported in the Journal of Forensic Sciences finds the bloodstain image was likely faked. Researchers looking at the blood spatter found that the stains appeared to come from someone standing up, rather than someone who was flat on the fabric, Science Alert reports. As the researchers put it, the stains are "totally unrealistic" when compared to what they should look like. The shroud, which is held in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Italy, is considered an icon, as opposed to a genuine religious relic, by the Vatican; Fox News notes "the church has never weighed in on its authenticity." "This is the kind of forensic work done all the time in police investigations," the forensic scientist who conducted the analysis tells BuzzFeed News. "Even a crucified or hanging person should leave a distinct blood pattern on the cloth, which would be fascinating information to have." The study found inconsistent staining, with researchers concluding multiple poses were used to create the bloodstains—a standing model was likely used to imprint patterns on the cloth at various angles for various body parts. Another bloodstain pattern expert notes that more research could be done to see whether cleaning a body or preparing it for burial might account for the inconsistent staining, though he notes that the stains do appear to have come from flowing blood, meaning a heart that was beating at the time the stains were made. (See previous stories in the real-or-fake debate here.)


– Syria is being flooded by al-Qaeda fighters crossing in from Iraq "to help, to liaise, to carry out terrorist attacks," according to "solid information and intelligence" obtained by the Iraqi government, reports Reuters. Further, Iraq's foreign minister today noted that the warning about the al-Qaeda flow is nothing new—Baghdad has apparently been telling Damascus about it for years, reports the AP. In other Syria news: Don't expect to see UN monitors back in Syria anytime soon. The New York Times reports that the officer in charge of the observers today explained that the violence had hit "unprecedented levels," and that until there is an actual cease-fire, it will be impossible to restart the mission, which was put on ice in mid-June. Following yesterday's news that the bodies of the pilots flying the Turkish jet downed by Syria had been found: Al-Jazeera adds that the US deep-sea exploration vessel that found them was the E/V Nautilus, owned by explorer Robert Ballard ... who discovered the Titanic's wreck in 1985. And WikiLeaks is once again making waves for something other than Julian Assange's legal mess: It today started releasing some 2.4 million Syrian emails.

Expand this summary.

Speaking to reporters in Damascus, Maj. Gen. Robert Mood of Norway, who commands the United Nations monitors, told reporters on Thursday that “the escalation of violence, allow me to say to an unprecedented level, obstructed our ability to observe, verify, report as well as assist in local dialogue.”

 It would be impossible to revive his mission without a cease-fire, General Mood said. But, in the third installment of an interview which Turkey’s Cumhuriyet newspaper has published this week, Mr. Assad showed no readiness to heed either cease-fire calls or a plan proposed by Kofi Annan, the special envoy on Syria, for a transitional government.

 The series of excerpts from the interview, conducted last Sunday in Damascus, has provided a rare insight into Mr. Assad’s thinking both on his plight at home and on regional relationships, strained by the action of Syrian gunners who shot down a Turkish warplane over the Mediterranean last month.

 Turkey's military said in a statement on Thursday that the bodies of the two pilots, found a day earlier at the bottom of the eastern Mediterranean 8.6 nautical miles from Syria's shoreline, were recovered and sent to the Turkish town of Malatya, home to their air base, where the doomed F-4 Phantom took off on its final mission June 22. A memorial service was planned there for Friday.

 The military statement also included photographs of what were described as 31 pieces of their downed plane recovered in the search, which was aided by Robert Ballard, the American undersea explorer and his vessel, the Nautilus, perhaps best known for discovering the remains of the Titanic in 1985.

 Turkey says Syria brought down the plane over international waters, but Syria says it was in Syrian airspace at the time.

 In discussing the incident with Cumhuriyet, Mr. Assad also ranged over the broader issue of his survival through 16 months of uprising, his determination to put down the revolt and his insistence that he has the support of the bulk of Syrians.

 Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters.

 “Everybody was calculating that I would fall in a small amount of time,” Mr. Assad told the newspaper. “They all miscalculated.”

 Advertisement Continue reading the main story

 His country, he said, was under attack by Islamist militants sponsored by Arab adversaries and faced the hostility of both the West and neighboring Turkey, a NATO member with whom Mr. Assad once had friendly relations.

 “The big game targeting Syria is much bigger than we expected,” Mr. Assad said. “The aim is to break up Syria or trigger a civil war. The fight against terrorism will continue decisively in the face of this. And we will defeat terror.”

 “The overwhelming majority of the people think like me on this subject,” he said.

 Mr. Assad referred to the shah of Iran, who was overthrown by the Islamic revolution in 1979, but said his own position was different because he has popular support among Syrians.

 The shah, he said, “led the most important country in the region, he had a powerful army and was supported by the whole world. So was he able to stand up against the people? No.”

 “If I had been in the same situation, that is if I didn’t have the people behind me, I could not have resisted. I would have been overthrown. How come I’m still standing?,” Mr. Assad was quoted as saying.

 In the first part of the interview published on Tuesday, Mr. Assad seemed to be seeking to repair regional tensions, saying he regretted the downing of the Turkish plane but repeating Syria’s version of what had happened.

 But he sounded far less conciliatory in the second part on Wednesday, bitterly criticizing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, who is now a leading voice in the international calls for Mr. Assad to resign.

 Asked if he had burned his bridges with Mr. Erdogan, Mr. Assad replied, “Yes, almost.”

 Mr. Assad’s contention that outside terrorist agitators are responsible for the violence in Syria was partly corroborated on Tuesday by the claims of the Al Nusra Front, a shadowy group that aligns itself with Al Qaeda, that it was responsible for a number of attacks on pro-government targets in Syria last month, including the killing of seven people at a television station on June 27.

 In Internet chatter reported by the SITE jihadist monitoring group in Washington, Al Nusra said its fighters had attacked the station to make the Assad government “taste from the cup of torture.” ||||| Iraq's foreign minister says the government has "solid information and intelligence" about al-Qaida militants infiltrating Syria from Iraq to carry out attacks.

 Hoshyar Zebari told reporters Thursday that authorities are worried about a spillover of violence from Syria to the rest of the Mideast.

 He said Baghdad has for years warned Damascus about al-Qaida traffic between Iraq and Syria.

 Zebari says a recent increase in violence in Iraq also could hurt foreign investment as the country tries to pull out of years of sectarian violence.

 He blames a months-long political crisis in Iraq for the surge of deadly attacks over the last month. ||||| BAGHDAD Iraq has "solid information" that al Qaeda militants are crossing from Iraq into Syria to carry out attacks and has sent reinforcements to the border, the foreign minister said on Thursday.

 Hoshiyar Zebari said al Qaeda "operational officers" appeared to be moving through old smuggling routes carrying weapons.

 "We have solid information and intelligence that members of al Qaeda terrorist networks have gone in the other direction, to Syria, to help, to liaise, to carry out terrorist attacks," he told a news conference in Baghdad.

 Syria says that a 16-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad is not a popular revolt but a "terrorist" conspiracy funded and directed from abroad, not least by the wealthy Gulf monarchies of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

 Assad, who belongs to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, also says much of the violence in Syria bears the fingerprints of al Qaeda and its Sunni Muslim Islamist ideology.

 Iraq has reinforced security along its 680 km (422 miles) desert border with Syria, making it the most heavily guarded Iraqi frontier, Zebari said.

 "Most of the suicide bombers, foreign fighters, elements of al Qaeda used to slip into Iraq from Syria. So they know the routes and the connections. It does not mean that these operations are done regularly in an organized way," he said.

 "This is our main concern - about the spillover, about extremist groups taking root in neighboring countries, to have a base," Zebari added.

 Al Qaeda operatives were communicating through underground networks of militants, he said.

 U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said he believes al Qaeda was responsible for two suicide car bombs in Damascus in May that killed at least 55 people.

 Iraq's al Qaeda wing has claimed some of the recent bombings against Shi'ites in Iraq as it tries to stoke tensions following the withdrawal of U.S. troops in December.

 (Editing by Alessandra Rizzo) |||||


Article:
Apple's officially off the hook.

 The US Department of Justice, with the help of a third party, has successfully accessed data on a phone used by a terrorist in December's attack in San Bernardino, California, the agency revealed in a court filing Monday. It said it no longer needs Apple's assistance in unlocking the iPhone 5C used by Syed Farook, and it has asked Riverside, California-based US Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym to vacate her order compelling Apple to assist in the case.

 The move Monday ends the legal battle between Apple and the FBI in this particular case, but it doesn't end the overarching battle about privacy and security. There are hundreds of other iPhones that law enforcement agencies around the country want unlocked, opening Apple to potential litigation across the US. And the government's success at accessing data on the iPhone also raises some concerns about the security of Apple's devices.

 "We sought an order compelling Apple to help unlock the phone to fulfill a solemn commitment to the victims of the San Bernardino shooting -- that we will not rest until we have fully pursued every investigative lead related to the vicious attack," Eileen M. Decker, US attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement. "Although this step in the investigation is now complete, we will continue to explore every lead, and seek any appropriate legal process, to ensure our investigation collects all of the evidence related to this terrorist attack."

 After the filing, Apple reiterated its belief that the FBI's demand for a backdoor was "wrong and would set a dangerous precedent" and said that "this case should never have been brought."

 "Apple believes deeply that people in the United States and around the world deserve data protection, security and privacy," Apple said in a statement. "Sacrificing one for the other only puts people and countries at greater risk."

 Last week, the Justice Department asked a judge to call off last Tuesday's hearing over whether Apple should have to make software that lets the FBI unlock an iPhone 5C connected to the San Bernardino attack. In a surprise revelation the day before the hearing, the government said an unnamed outside party had given investigators a method that might provide access to the phone's data. It wanted time to explore the alternative way to get into the iPhone.

 Monday's move by the Justice Department ends the legal tussle between the tech titan and the government over a single iPhone, which has spun out into a broader debate with much more at stake. Technology companies and rights groups argue that strong encryption, which scrambles data so it can only be read by the right person, is needed to keep people safe and protect privacy. Law enforcement argues it can't fight crimes unless it has access to information on mobile devices.

 Now playing: Watch this: FBI drops Apple court case after unlocking terrorist's...

 Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi said Monday that "it remains a priority for the government to ensure that law enforcement can obtain crucial digital information to protect national security and public safety, either with cooperation from relevant parties, or through the court system when cooperation fails. We will continue to pursue all available options for this mission, including seeking the cooperation of manufacturers and relying upon the creativity of both the public and private sectors."

 Monday's news raises questions about the security of Apple's devices and how the Justice Department was able to break into the phone. The FBI hasn't said what company it's working with or what method it used to access the data. Cellebrite, a privately held Israeli company that specializes in transferring and extracting data from phones, has been named in some reports as the third party helping the FBI unlock the iPhone, but neither the FBI nor Cellebrite has confirmed the reports.

 A law enforcement official, speaking Monday with reporters on the condition of anonymity, declined to specify how the FBI got into the phone or what company helped it gain access. The official also declined to say whether the method works on other iPhones besides Farook's iPhone 5C, and it wouldn't say if the FBI would tell Apple about how it got into the phone.

 "We cannot comment on the possibility of future disclosures to Apple," the official said. But the official, when asked about how the case will impact the government's relationship with Apple going forward, said the FBI's "goal is always to work cooperatively with Apple."

 Still, if the FBI was able to hack into the iPhone 5C, it could mean other iPhones aren't as secure as believed.

 "Although this averts the possibility of a further court decision that imperils Apple, it makes it clear that there is a security flaw in that generation of the OS," said Joshua Rich, a partner at Chicago-based law firm McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff. "Apple now will have to try to pinpoint the flaw and fix it -- most likely, without much help from the US government in showing how it got in. So while this resolution averts a crisis, it means Apple has more work to do."

 Updated at 4 p.m. PT: Adds comments from law enforcement official.

 Updated at 6:40 p.m. PT: With Apple's statement.

 Apple Status report ||||| According to a new court filing, government prosecutors have formally asked a federal judge to cancel her prior order that would have compelled Apple to assist efforts to unlock a seized iPhone linked to the San Bernardino attacks in late 2015.

 Apple had publicly said in court that it would resist all efforts to force its compliance. Last week, however, the hearing between prosecutors and Apple was postponed less than 24 hours before it was set to take place, because the Department of Justice said it was evaluating a new method to access the phone's data.

 "The government has now successfully accessed the data stored on [terrorist Syed Rizwan] Farook’s iPhone and therefore no longer requires the assistance from Apple Inc.," prosecutors wrote in the Monday filing, which does not explain precisely what was done. The government has also not explained what, if any data was recovered.

 Thom Mrozek, a DOJ spokesman, did not respond to Ars' questions as to whether this technique would be disclosed to the court, to Apple, or even to the public.

 Apple did not immediately respond to Ars' request for comment.

 In a Monday evening call with reporters, a law enforcement official who was granted anonymity, said that the DOJ would not comment on the possibility of future disclosures to Apple, adding that it would also not explain what data was accessed, nor what non-government entity helped prosecutors. He also said that the FBI would continue to assist state and local law enforcement partners in lawfully accessing data held on mobile devices—suggesting that this technical and legal tactic could continue in the future.

 The DOJ had previously told the judge they needed this new version of iOS as a way to get into the seized iPhone 5C that was used by Farook. The iOS 9 phone was encrypted with a four-digit passcode, and investigators were afraid that if they enter the wrong passcode 10 times, it would auto-delete all the data on the phone. The initial order would have forced Apple to create a customized version of iOS that would disable this lockout feature, enabling the government to brute force passcodes until it could get in.

 The government relied on its interpretation of an obscure 18th-century law known as the All Writs Act, which allows courts to compel people and companies to do certain actions. Last month, Apple put forward its first formal legal arguments, based on a rejection of a 1977 Supreme Court decision United States v. New York Telephone, the prominent case that relies on the All Writs Act. There, authorities demanded that the utility implement a surveillance tool known as a pen register trap and trace device to investigate a gambling operation.

 "This shows that Apple was right all along that it was not necessary for the government to make it weaken its encryption to get what it needed pursuant to its warrant," Neil Richards, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, told Ars. "It’s an implicit concession by the government that its All Writs Act argument wasn’t a good one."

 Last Friday, Jonathan Zdziarski, a well-known iOS security and forensics expert, detailed a NAND mirroring attack, which demonstrates "how copying back disk content could allow for unlimited passcode attempts." ||||| Case 5:16-cm-00010-SP Document 209 Filed 03/28/16 Page 1 of 2 Page ID #:3188

 1

 2

 3

 4

 5

 6

 7

 8

 9

 EILEEN M. DECKER

 United States Attorney

 PATRICIA A. DONAHUE

 Assistant United States Attorney

 Chief, National Security Division

 TRACY L. WILKISON (California Bar No. 184948)

 Chief, Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section

 Assistant United States Attorney

 1500 United States Courthouse

 312 North Spring Street

 Los Angeles, California 90012

 Telephone: (213) 894-2400

 Facsimile: (213) 894-8601

 Email:

 Tracy.Wilkison@usdoj.gov

 Attorneys for Applicant

 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

 10

 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

 11

 FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

 12

 13

 14

 IN THE MATTER OF THE SEARCH

 OF AN APPLE IPHONE SEIZED

 DURING THE EXECUTION OF A

 SEARCH WARRANT ON A BLACK

 LEXUS IS300, CALIFORNIA

 LICENSE PLATE #5KGD203

 ED No. CM 16-10 (SP)

 GOVERNMENT’S STATUS REPORT

 15

 16

 17

 18

 19

 20

 21

 22

 23

 24

 25

 26

 27

 28

 Applicant United States of America, by and through its counsel of record, the

 United States Attorney for the Central District of California, hereby files this status

 report called for by the Court’s order issued on March 21, 2016. (CR 199.)

 The government has now successfully accessed the data stored on Farook’s

 iPhone and therefore no longer requires the assistance from Apple Inc. mandated by

 Court’s Order Compelling Apple Inc. to Assist Agents in Search dated February 16,

 2016.

 Case 5:16-cm-00010-SP Document 209 Filed 03/28/16 Page 2 of 2 Page ID #:3189

 1

 2

 Accordingly, the government hereby requests that the Order Compelling Apple

 Inc. to Assist Agents in Search dated February 16, 2016 be vacated.

 3

 4

 5

 6

 7

 8

 Dated: March 28, 2016

 Respectfully submitted,

 EILEEN M. DECKER

 United States Attorney

 PATRICIA A. DONAHUE

 Assistant United States Attorney

 Chief, National Security Division

 9

 10

 11

 12

 13

 14

 15

 16

 17

 18

 19

 20

 21

 22

 23

 24

 25

 26

 27

 28

 TRACY L. WILKISON

 Assistant United States Attorney

 Attorneys for Applicant

 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ||||| The Department of Justice on Monday filed to withdraw a legal action compelling Apple's assistance in unlocking an iPhone linked to last year's San Bernardino shootings, saying it successfully gained access to, and extracted data from, the target device.

 The Justice Department has moved to vacate a California court order compelling Apple provide aid in an ongoing FBI investigation into the San Bernardino shootings. With a working exploit, law enforcement agents no longer require help from the iPhone maker and cannot —or need to —assert the All Writs Act to force Apple's assistance."The government has now successfully accessed the data stored on Farook's iPhone and therefore no longer requires the assistance from Apple Inc. mandated by Court's Order Compelling Apple Inc. to Assist Agents in Search dated February 16, 2016," the government said in a court filing.An unnamed government official informed USA Today of the Justice Department's plans on Monday , more than one week before federal prosecutors in the case are due to update the court on the efficacy of a third-party unlock method presented earlier this month . Court reporter Dan Levine of Reuters confirmed the decision on Twitter."It remains a priority for the government to ensure that law enforcement can obtain crucial digital information to protect national security and public safety, either with cooperation from relevant parties, or through the court system when cooperation fails," said DOJ spokesperson Melanie Newman in a statement to BuzzFeed News. "We will continue to pursue all available options for this mission, including seeking the cooperation of manufacturers and relying upon the creativity of both the public and private sectors."Apple in February was ordered by a federal magistrate judge to comply with FBI demands for assistance in unlocking an iPhone tied to San Bernardino terror suspect Syed Rizwan Farook. The company resisted, arguing that the creation of a software workaround weakens the security of millions of iOS devices around the world and had implications on the public's right to privacy.Due to its high-profile nature, the case spilled over into the public arena, sparking a contentious debate over the proper balance between civil rights and national security. The stakes were high for both sides, as an FBI win would set valuable precedent in asserting AWA as an effective evidence gathering tool, while Apple would gain protections against the same if it won.In a last minute twist just one day prior to an initial evidentiary hearing, federal prosecutors called for a delay after being presented a potential workaround from an outside party. It appears the method is effective, rendering all prior arguments moot.With a working iOS exploit in the wild, focus is bound to shift toward Apple. The company's assertions, which rested on the premise of a nigh unhackable operating system, have been upended by today's development. Not only does Apple need to recover from the inevitable PR debacle, but it must also work to secure its devices against an attack method that could be aired in public as court evidence.The government has not yet determined whether or not it will furnish details of the vulnerability to Apple engineers, and it is not clear that the company is entitled to such information.Aside from its prepared statements, the DOJ made no substantial comments on the matter during a media conference call, saying that releasing details on the exploit would be premature. Apple did not comment on today's news.Apple has issued a brief statement, as reported by BuzzFeed's John Paczkowski:"From the beginning, we objected to the FBI's demand that Apple build a backdoor into the iPhone because we believed it was wrong and would set a dangerous precedent. As a result of the government's dismissal, neither of these occurred. This case should never have been brought.We will continue to help law enforcement with their investigations, as we have done all along, and we will continue to increase the security of our products as the threats and attacks on our data become more frequent and more sophisticated.Apple believes deeply that people in the States and around the world deserve data protection, security and privacy. Sacrificing one for the other only puts people and countries at greater risk.This case raised issues which deserve a national conversation about our civil liberties, and our collective security and privacy. Apple remains committed to participating in that discussion." |||||Summary:

– The FBI said Monday it successfully used a mysterious technique without Apple Inc.'s help to hack into the iPhone used by a gunman in a mass shooting in California, effectively ending a pitched court battle between the Obama administration and one of the world's leading technology companies. The government asked a federal judge to vacate a disputed order forcing Apple to help the FBI break into the iPhone, saying it was no longer necessary. The court filing in US District Court for the Central District of California provided no details about how the FBI did it or who showed it how (some reports say the Israeli company Cellebrite hacked the iPhone, CNET reports, and this blog apparently shows how to do it). Apple did not immediately comment on the development. The surprise development also punctured the temporary perception that Apple's security might have been good enough to keep consumers' personal information safe even from the US government—with the tremendous resources it can expend when it wants to uncover something. The FBI used the technique to access data on an iPhone used by gunman Syed Farook, who died with his wife in a gun battle with police after they killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif., in December. "This shows that Apple was right all along that it was not necessary for the government to make it weaken its encryption to get what it needed pursuant to its warrant," a law professor tells Ars Technica. But Apple now has to handle "the inevitable PR debacle" and consider that the hacking method "could be aired in public as court evidence," says Apple Insider.


A very smart speech by Speaker Boehner

 By Ezra Klein

 If you spent the afternoon watching C-SPAN, as I did, you heard applause. A lot of it. Over and over again. And when John Boehner took the podium to be sworn in as Speaker of the House of Representatives, it swelled back up, and stayed there. No one Republican member of Congress wants to be the first to stop applauding the new speaker.

 Luckily, Boehner did it for them. “It’s still just me," he said with a smile.

 Traditionally, politicians overpromise in these moments. If you look back to Nancy Pelosi's speech upon becoming speaker in 2007, or Newt Gingrich's speech upon becoming speaker in 1995, you'll see broad, ambitious, ideologically-charged agendas. Gingrich wanted "to find a way to truly replace the current welfare state with an opportunity society." Pelosi sought "a new America that declares our energy independence, promotes domestic sources of renewable energy, and combats climate change."

 Boehner promised almost nothing at all. He certainly didn't set himself up as a foil to President Obama, or anoint himself leader of a new conservative moment in American politics. Rather, his speech had two themes: Humility, and comity. He called his chamber "the people's house," and said "we are carrying out their instructions." He spent a lot of time on the "scar tissue" that has built up under "some of the rituals that have come to characterize this institution under majorities Republican and Democratic alike." He promised a new era of openness and minority cooperation in the House. He emphasized his recognition that he held the gavel not because American liked him or his party, but because they were angry at the government and the Democrats who ran it.

 It was, I think, as smart a speech as I've seen a politician give -- in part because it was savvy about what it didn't say, which is a rare virtue in Washington. Of course, the speech is the easy part. The rules Boehner is pushing through the House make it vastly easier to increase the deficit through tax cuts, an outcome that won't sit well with Boehner's repeated pledge to hold down the debt. Moreover, Republicans are already having to break their rules to pursue the repeal of health-care reform without paying for it -- a procedural offense in favor of a symbolic vote that, in addition to increasing the deficit, won't exactly usher in a new era of respect and esteem between the two parties.

 That's to be expected, perhaps. Many speakers before Boehner have entered the House promising more openness and cooperation and given up on those promises when they began to conflict with more action. And Boehner himself has not always been able to "disagree without being disagreeable." It's when the going gets tough that speakers turn hard.

 So we'll see. But thus far, Boehner's political instincts have been quite impressive. The White House may have a more able opponent in him than they thought.

 Photo credit: Alex Brandon / AP. ||||| Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) today delivered the following remarks to the opening session of the 112th Congress. A link to the video and the full remarks as prepared are below:

 CLICK TO PLAY

 “Madam Speaker, thank you for your kind words, and thank you for your service. I’d like to welcome our new colleagues and their families. My own family is here as well: my wife, Debbie, our daughters, Lindsay and Tricia; my brothers and sisters, brothers-and-sisters-in-law, and their children.

 “I am honored and humbled to represent a great, hard-working community in Congress. The people of Ohio’s Eighth Congressional District continue to afford me the privilege to serve, for which I am deeply grateful.

 “We gather here today at a time of great challenges. Nearly one in ten of our neighbors are looking for work. Health care costs are still rising for families and small businesses. Our spending has caught up with us, and our debt will soon eclipse the size of our entire economy. Hard work and tough decisions will be required of the 112th Congress. No longer can we fall short. No longer can we kick the can down the road. The people voted to end business as usual, and today we begin carrying out their instructions.

 “In the Catholic faith, we enter into a season of service by having ashes marked on our foreheads. The ashes remind us that life in all its forms is fragile – our time on this Earth, fleeting. As the ashes are delivered, we hear those humbling words: ‘Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.’

 “The American people have humbled us. They have refreshed our memories as to just how temporary the privilege to serve is. They have reminded us that everything here is on loan from them. That includes this gavel, which I accept cheerfully and gratefully, knowing I am but its caretaker. After all, this is the people’s House. This is their Congress. It’s about them, not us. What they want is a government that is honest, accountable and responsive to their needs. A government that respects individual liberty, honors our heritage, and bows before the public it serves.

 “Let’s start with the rules package the House will consider today. If passed, it will change how this institution operates, with an emphasis on real transparency, greater accountability, and a renewed focus on the Constitution. Our aim will be to give government back to the people. In seeking this goal, we will part with some of the rituals that have come to characterize this institution under majorities Republican and Democratic alike. We will dispense with the conventional wisdom that bigger bills are always better; that fast legislating is good legislating; that allowing additional amendments and open debate makes the legislative process ‘less efficient’ than our forefathers intended.

 “These misconceptions have been the basis for the rituals of modern Washington. The American people have not been well served by them. Today, mindful of the lessons of the past, we open a new chapter.

 “Legislators and the public will have three days to read bills before they come to a vote. Legislation will be more focused, properly scrutinized, and constitutionally sound. Committees, once bloated, will be smaller, with a renewed mission, including oversight. Old rules that have made it easy to increase spending will be replaced by new reforms that make it easier to cut spending. We will start by cutting Congress’ own budget.

 “Above all else, we will welcome the battle of ideas, encourage it, and engage in it – openly, honestly, and respectfully. As the chamber closest to the people, the House works best when it is allowed to work its will. I ask all members of this body to join me in recognizing this common truth.

 “To my colleagues in the majority, my message is this: we will honor our Pledge to America, built through a process of listening to the people, and we will stand firm on the Constitutional principles that built our party, and built a nation. We will do these things, however, in a manner that restores and respects the time-honored right of the minority to an honest debate and a fair, open process.

 “To my friends in the minority, I offer a commitment. Openness – once a tradition of this institution, but increasingly scarce in recent decades, will be the new standard. There were no open rules in the House in the last Congress. In this one, there will be many. With this restored openness, however, will come a restored responsibility. You will not have the right to willfully disrupt the proceedings of the People's House. But you will always have the right to a robust debate in open process that allows you to represent your constituents. . .to make your case, offer alternatives, and be heard.

 “In time, this framework will, I believe, restore the House of Representatives as a place where the people’s will is done. It will also, I hope, help rebuild trust among us and the people we serve, and in so doing, provide a guidepost for those who follow us in the service of our nation.

 “To our new members – Democratic and Republican – as you take the oath today, I know you will do so mindful of this shared goal, and the trust placed in you by your constituents. As Speaker, I view part of my job as helping each of you do your job well, regardless of party. My hope is that every new Member – and indeed, every Member – will be comfortable approaching me with matters of the House.

 “We will not always get it right. We will not always agree on what is right. A great deal of scar tissue has built up on both sides of the aisle. We cannot ignore that, nor should we. My belief has always been, we can disagree without being disagreeable to each other. That’s why it is critical this institution operate in a manner that permits a free exchange of ideas, and resolves our honest differences through a fair debate and a fair vote. We may have different – sometimes, very different – ideas for how to go about achieving the common good, but it is our shared goal. It is why we serve.

 “Let us now move forward humble in our demeanor, steady in our principles, and dedicated to proving worthy of the trust and confidence that has been placed in us. If we brace ourselves to do our duty, and to do what we say we are going to do, there is no telling what together we can accomplish for the good of this great and honorable nation. More than a country, America is an idea, and it is our job to pass on to our posterity the blessings bestowed to us.

 “I wish you all the very best. Welcome to the people’s House. Welcome to the 112th Congress.” |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Incoming House speakers have a long tradition of overreaching in their opening speeches, writes Ezra Klein at the Washington Post. John Boehner took the opposite approach today with his themes of "humility and comity," and that's why Klein loved it. Boehner didn't gloat on behalf of himself or his party, and he didn't set himself up as the savior of conservatives or the "foil" to the White House. He even pledged to try to heal the "scar tissue" between the parties with more openness. "It was, I think, as smart a speech as I've seen a politician give—in part because it was savvy about what it didn't say, which is a rare virtue in Washington," writes Klein. Time will tell whether he can follow through, "but thus far, Boehner's political instincts have been quite impressive. The White House may have a more able opponent in him than they thought." Click here to read the full text of Boehner's speech.


Article Excerpt

 BOSTON—Extremist U.S. newspapers and other publications found in the apartment of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev reveal a broad interest in far-flung conspiracy theories, well beyond the Islamist radicalism authorities allege motivated the attack.

 Mr. Tsarnaev discovered some of the radical publications by chance. He had worked caring for a 67-year-old man who passed on the newspapers and his fringe beliefs long before Mr. Tsarnaev and his brother allegedly set off explosives that killed three people and injured hundreds more.

 Tamerlan Tsarnaev was 26 years old when he died on April 19 in a firefight with police. His 19-year-old ... ||||| Boston Marathon bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev befriended a brain-damaged anti-U.S. government conspiracy theorist through their mother's health care aide job years before the deadly attack, a lawyer said Tuesday.

 Attorney Jason Rosenberg, who represents the family of Donald Larking, said Larking shared publications with the brothers, especially Tamerlan, and discussed theories including that the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and the Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school shooting didn't happen or the U.S. government was behind them.

 The attorney said the Tsarnaev family had a relationship with the Larkings that started years ago when the brothers' mother began working as a personal care assistant for Larking's wife, a quadriplegic since birth.

 Rosenberg said Larking, who lives in West Newton, just west of Boston, was shot in the head in 1974 in an attempted robbery while working in a convenience store. He said Larking suffered brain damage that led to problems with his decision-making and judgment.

 Authorities say the Tsarnaev brothers orchestrated the April 15 marathon bombing, in which two pressure cookers loaded with shrapnel exploded near the race's finish line, killing three people and injuring more than 260 others. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev pleaded not guilty last month to charges including using a weapon of mass destruction to kill. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died after a shootout with police a few days after the bombing.

 Rosenberg said Tuesday the Tsarnaev brothers got to know Larking while substituting for their mother sometimes by helping to care for his wife. The attorney said the brothers "were very helpful, very kind" to the couple and Larking shared his views with them as he found anti-U.S. government websites and became angrier and irrational.

 The attorney said Larking, who has many Jewish friends, also has literature that questions if the Holocaust happened.

 The lawyer's account first emerged in a Wall Street Journal article, which included Tamerlan Tsarnaev's former landlady talking about publications that had been in his Cambridge apartment.

 Landlady Joanna Herlihy told The Associated Press she salvaged publications after authorities had finished searching the apartment and items were discarded. She confirmed that among them were an Alabama-based publication that uses a Confederate flag on its website and a weekly publication that the Southern Poverty Law Center calls anti-Semitic.

 Rosenberg said Tuesday he doesn't think Larking helped the Tsarnaev brothers, ethnic Chechens from Russia, formulate ideas but may have made them believe others felt as they did.

 "(They) were seeing someone who was Caucasian and was born in America who was saying the same things," the attorney said.

 Rosenberg said he doesn't know if the Tsarnaev brothers understood how seriously Larking's brain was affected from the long-ago shooting. He said he's talked to Larking since the Boston Marathon bombing but doesn't think his friend comprehends what happened.

 The brothers took Larking to their mosque, and he converted to Islam and still attends the mosque, Rosenberg said.

 Larking seemed close to Tamerlan, and Tamerlan made sure to help Larking, who wears braces on his legs, when they attended the mosque together, said Nicole Mossalam, a spokeswoman for the Islamic Society of Boston mosque in Cambridge.

 Mossalam said it becomes obvious during conversation that Larking has a disability because he's unusually open and "childlike" and often says politically incorrect things without seeming to realize it.

 "He loves to sit down with people and talk, and there's basically no filter," she said.

 In a federal indictment in June, authorities alleged they found on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's computer a publication written by someone known as the Father of Global Jihad that advocates violence to terrorize Islam's perceived enemies.

 Prosecutors also alleged he downloaded an article from a publication that "glorifies martyrdom in the service of violent jihad" and a magazine that had directions for building bombs using pressure cookers. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Did a brain-damaged American help turn the Boston bombing suspects against the US? The far-right and conspiracy theorist publications found in Tamerlan Tsarnaev's apartment appear to have been supplied by an elderly man befriended by the brothers through their mother's job as a home health aide, the Wall Street Journal finds. A lawyer for the family of Donald Larking, a 67-year-old who suffered brain damage when he was shot in a robbery 40 years ago, says Larking was obsessed with conspiracy theories and shared publications with the brothers that questioned the Holocaust and accused the US or Israeli governments of being behind 9/11 and the Newtown school shooting. Larking also supplied the brothers with copies of a white supremacist newspaper published in Alabama. He became so close to Tamerlan that he converted to Islam and began attending the local mosque with him, says the lawyer, who stresses that the shooting badly impaired the elderly man's "awareness of the realities of the world" and his ability to make decisions, the AP reports. Larking, who still attends the mosque, has sunk into "depression and anger" since the Boston Marathon bombing and believes his friends were the victims of another conspiracy, the lawyer says.


Article:

The FDA is cracking down on a San Francisco man who gives away his spooj on the internet to people he meets through his website. So far, Trent Arsenault has helped 14 couples get pregnant. But not all of them are aware that Arsenault is turning his "donations" into a torrent of amateur porn.

 Scrawny 37-year-old tech worker Trent Arsenault was thrust into the spotlight after the FDA ordered him to shut down his one-man sperm bank because he's not following proper procedure. He landed on CNN, ABC News, Newsweek and more. Tapping into the Occupy Wall Street zeitgeist, he said part of his goal was to help the 99 percent who can't afford to visit a pricey sperm bank.

 Last month, Arsenault's attorneys filed a brief to throw out the order, arguing his personal sexual practices shouldn't be regulated by the government. Arsenault's cause has since been embraced by an astonishing spectrum of political and cultural crusaders. The Huffington Post drooled (ahem) over Arsenault's locally-sourced, organic sperm: "We can't think of a better biological father than Trent Arsenault. Would you really rather trust some no-name who came in a cup for $50?" Right-wingers frothed over another case of government over-reaching. Daddy bloggers just want to let the guy breed.

 But all the reports about Arsenault, not to mention his own website, leave out one fairly important fact. A longtime acquaintance of Arsenault's pointed out to us that Arsenault is extremely fond of posting explicit videos and pictures of his sperm donations on the web.

 Aresnault's two Xtube accounts (NSFW and NSFW) feature more than 100 videos of him masturbating into sterile collection cups, using unusual aids like a water polo ball and frozen packs of organic blueberries. (Trent exclusively drinks blueberry smoothies for breakfast and dinner to boost his sperm count.) Trent's something of a celebrity on Xtube: his videos have racked up a cumulative 3 million views. Even our slutty, NSFW friends over at Fleshbot took a shine to him.

 In a phone interview today, Arsenault explained that he considers himself a "donorsexual."

 "100% of my sexual energy is devoted to being a sperm donor," he said. "Having those videos helps my sex drive... which is critical to being a guy with a 200 sperm count able to help three childless couples in one month get pregnant."

 Arsenault also has a pair of picture sites. Trentnude.com is down for maintenance, but Google's cache shows it featured dozens of nude pictures including an entire gallery (NSFW) called "small penis." (Disheartening news for any Trent Jrs out there.) Then there's the gallery of Trent masturbating in an airplane lavatory, captioned with "Snakes on a Plane" jokes. Trendude.com is an underwear modeling site where the most-popular gallery has over 400,000 views.

 Arsenault admits that not all of the couples who have become pregnant with his children are aware of his x-rated activities. He doesn't take pains to hide it—his Xtube site links back to his official donor page—but he doesn't actively inform couples, either.

 "I don't make a point of trying to advertise that to women or couples because some people don't care to see," Arsenault said. He doesn't feel like he's deceiving his clientele, because the couples who have learned of his porn sites have been supportive. Some, he said, have even learned of him first through his adult work.

 Our tipster was appalled that Arsenault hasn't been informing potential parents about his sex sites. "They need to know the whole story," they said.

 But Trent obscures more than his porn sites in his donor material. His website boasts that he attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. What he leaves out is that he dropped out after about half a year in a rather bizarre fashion: by suddenly running away, hitchhiking to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and turning himself into the military prison there.

 Arsenault says he was fed up with "bullying" superiors at the academy after he complained about the treatment of women there.

 "I said OK, I'm just going to turn myself into prison and the government can imprison me for going AWOL," he said. (Instead, they put him on a plane back to Annapolis.)

 Our source also said Arsenault was urged to seek psychological help during his time at Annapolis—Arsenault denies this, saying he only had a brief, standard mental exam when he was discharged.

 Now, there's nothing wrong with shooting a bunch videos of yourself masturbating and uploading them to the internet, if that's your thing. But we do understand why a potential parent would want to be aware that half of their kids' genes are coming from a man with an apparently compulsive need to expose himself to strangers. Not to mention his odd past. Trent's elaborate official site is a masterpiece of marketing, presenting a picture of a squeaky-clean, all-American sailor which the media has been happy to reproduce. Consumers should know that Trent has another side.

 So go ahead and have Trent's kid. He seems fit and genetically solid, if pretty strange. But it's worth remembering that the first stage of your child's conception might be forever memorialized as jack-off material for internet strangers. ||||| Anderson Cooper goes beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind about the news. ||||| Submitted by: trent on Feb 8, 2011 - (Last updated: Dec 19, 2012)

 Summary:

 The cease manufacturing order was issued 01-Nov-2010 and is online at:

 http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/TissueSafety/ucm232852.htm

 Timeline:

 To contact your Senator or the FDA Commissioner to voice a concern, e-mail info is listed below.

 Margaret Hamburg, FDA Commissioner

 Click to e-mail her directly: margaret.hamburg@fda.hhs.gov

 Diane Feinstein, US Senator from California

 a.) Click this link: http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.Emailme

 b.) Choose Health as the Topic and fill out the form

 Barbara Boxer, US Senator from California

 a.) Click this link: http://boxer.senate.gov/en/contact/policycomments.cfm

 b.) Choose Health or Women's Issues as the Topic and fill out the form

 Outside of California: Below is a link to Senators for all 50 states: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm If you are not from California, couples anywhere in the USA could be affected, because the cease manufacturing of semen is based on federal law.

 Copies of the above referenced material:

 FDA Order to Cease Manufacturing - 01-Nov-2010

 online at http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/TissueSafety/ucm232852.htm

 Page 1 (PDF)

 Page 2

 Page 3

 Page 4

 Page 5

 A PDF of this same document is available here: FDA-order-to-cease-manufacturing-trentdonor-2010-1101.pdf

 Letter to FDA Commissioner - 28-Nov-2010

 Page 1 (PDF)

 Page 2

 Letter to CBER Compliance (PDF)

 Reply to Cease Manufacture / 486 Response 01-Nov-2010

 Page 1 (PDF)

 Page 2

 Inspection Observations 20-Sep-2010

 Signed Affadavit 17-Sep-2010

 Request for Extension to Reply 01-Oct-2010 ||||| By Debbie Emery – Radar Reporter

 A 36-year-old man has brought new meaning to the term “virgin birth” after revealing that he has fathered 14 children — despite never having sex.

 Trent Arsenault of Freemont, California, who first hit the headlines last year for running an illegal sperm bank, appears on Tuesday’s episode of Anderson, and RadarOnline.com has a sneak peak of his bombshell revelation.

 “I coined this term donor sexual and I’ll explain, it means 100 percent of my sexual energy is for producing sperm for childless couples to have babies,” Arsneault told host Anderson Cooper.

 PHOTOS: Cutest Celebrity Kids

 Currently being investigated by the FDA for running his private, one-man, unregulated sperm bank, where he has donated to more than 53 couples, the tech geek confirmed that he has never had sex.

 “I will probably be the 40-year-old virgin, except I’ll have 15 plus kids,” he explained.

 PHOTOS: Celebs Who Have Adopted Children

 When the audience exploded in a round of applause, bemused Cooper responded, “Why are you all applauding? I’m not sure what the applause line on that is.”

 Later in the show, Arsenault came face-to-face with one of his biological children, two-year-old daughter, Analise, for the first time.

 PHOTOS: Model Moms

 “It’s a thrill,” to meet her, he said. “I’m trying to not get too emotional. I’m just extremely happy that she’s healthy and in a loving home. I hope she has the gene of compassion and that her parents nurture that.”

 The full interview airs on Anderson on Tuesday. You can watch a video clip right here on RadarOnline.com.

 RELATED STORIES:

 Caylee Anthony’s Medical Examiner Says: ‘It Was Homicide Without A Doubt’

 Brad Pitt And Angelina Jolie Are ‘Racing To See Who Can Retire First’

 Betty White Proves She’s Young At Heart With New Prank Show

 Butt Implant Fake Doctor Victim Lets Anderson Cooper Feel The ‘Rocks In Her Face’ ||||| Thank you for visiting San Jose Mercury News. We are sorry the article that you requested is no longer available. Please search for this article in our archive search. ||||| Home » Trent's Profile Abstinence and sperm donation, sex, health and longevity Submitted by: trent on Jan 4, 2011 - (Last updated: Aug 4, 2011) According to the US HHS website, millions of dollars are spent on funding abstinence programs. Many recipients have asked Trent if he would be abstinent while donating, and Trent has had the perception and intuition throughout his adult life to know this would be an important quality of a donor. Article Quotes Canada 'Forces' Sex With Strangers for Sperm Donation The Stir (blog) - Christie Haskell - Dec 14, 2010

 "I'm not entirely sure what Health Canada expects to accomplish with their latest announcement. People who go through alternate avenues to get donor semen are likely already aware of the legal process and find it prohibitive and overly restrictive -- after all, if it were affordable and easy, who wouldn't go the legal route every time" Internet sperm trade risky: Health Canada "According to Canadian law you MUST be sexual partners in order to avoid legal action,"

 "Frankly, ever since the laws in Canada came into existence, egg donation in Canada — in Montreal at least — has ground to a virtual halt," says Dr. Seang Lin Tan Craigslist Sperm Donor Who Stalked Mom Part of Growing Dilemma - AOL Health - Sep 13, 2010 "She avoided using an anonymous donor because she wanted her child to know his dad. One of her friends jokingly suggested she try classified-ad site Craigslist." |||||
What is a summary?

– A 36-year-old California man who boasts he's an "organic" sperm donor and has fathered 14 children through his free donations, has never had sex, he has revealed. Silicon Valley computer security specialist Trent Arsenault tells Anderson Cooper today that he's a "donorsexual" who has committed "100% of my sexual energy for producing sperm for childless couples to have babies. So I don't have other activity outside of that." An incredulous Cooper asks: "So you do not have sex?" Arsenault responds: "I will probably be the 40-year-old virgin—except I'll have 15-plus kids." Arsenault's free sperm bank, operated out of his home, has been ordered to shut down by the US Food and Drug Administration for possible health violations. The FDA alleges that Arsenault hasn't taken the legally required precautions to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, reports the Mercury News. Arsenault claims the FDA is opposed to his one-man shop because the sperm is "fresh" instead of frozen, and hasn't been quarantined. "I'm helping people in need," he told the Huffington Post. "I'm not running a business here." To make everything a tad weirder, Arsenault touts the importance of "abstinence" during sperm production on his website. To top that, Gawker has dubbed Arsenault an "amateur porn star" for the explicit videos he has posted of him "donating sperm" (yep, into a cup) on the web. The program airs today.


Here is a news article: JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s biggest bank, will provide $100 million to help debt-ridden Detroit with housing repairs, blight removal, job training and economic development projects over the next five years, according to two people with direct knowledge of the plans.

 The investment, a mix of loans and grants, will add to a growing pile of money from outside private institutions as the city nears the final, painful stages of the nation’s largest municipal bankruptcy proceeding. Detroit filed for bankruptcy protection in July, with an estimated $18 billion in long-term debt. This summer, a federal judge will decide whether to approve a plan that would allow the city to exit bankruptcy court by mid-October.

 In recent days, the city has been lobbying to secure nearly $200 million in funding from Michigan lawmakers, who are wary of setting a precedent by using taxpayer dollars to bail out a major metropolis. If approved, the state funding would be part of a so-called grand bargain that would also include hundreds of millions of dollars from philanthropic foundations. The money would be used to cushion pension cuts for Detroit retirees and avert the sale of the city’s art collection. The Legislature is weighing a package of bills regarding the outside funding this week.

 JPMorgan’s support, previously reported by Detroit newspapers, will focus on city revitalization efforts and may help ease concerns by some legislators that Detroit could find itself in financial trouble again down the road. The institution’s chairman and chief executive, Jamie Dimon, will make a public announcement about the money with state and city officials on Wednesday. A spokesman for the bank would not discuss the matter before then.

 “The city’s challenges remain significant — unprecedented, in some regards — but JPMorgan Chase believes that Detroit has the ingredients and intrinsic strengths to reshape and rebuild a dynamic modern economy and make the city a great place to live, work and invest,” said a company document detailing how the $100 million would be spent, which The Detroit Free Press posted online on Tuesday. “We are committed to helping make that future a reality.”

 The bank will direct half of the money to community projects that would otherwise lack access to capital. It will put $25 million toward assisting groups like the Detroit Land Bank Authority and the Detroit Blight Removal Task Force, which have begun aggressive demolition campaigns to rid the city of its estimated 78,000 vacant structures. The rest will be diced up: $12.5 million for work-force training, $7 million for small-business assistance and $5.5 million toward economic growth projects such as a new streetcar system.

 The company announced another five-year initiative in December that infused $250 million into Detroit and other big cities for job-skills training. Both efforts come as JPMorgan emerges from a period of intense scrutiny. The bank reached a $13 billion settlement in November over its sale of questionable mortgage securities in the prelude to the financial crisis.

 Goldman Sachs, another bank that has been buffeted by regulatory woes, pledged $20 million to Detroit in November for job creation and economic development. ||||| When the head of the world's largest bank called the local billionaire bent on Detroit's revival, good things happened.

 JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon plans to be in Detroit today to announce a $100-million investment in the city that began several months ago with a phone call to billionaire Dan Gilbert, the Quicken Loans founder who owns or controls more than 40 downtown buildings.

 "Obviously, Detroit was having issues," Dimon told the Free Press this week in an exclusive interview. "I got together some of our senior people and said, 'What can we do that's really neat, that could be really ... |||||
A summary of this is?

– JPMorgan is moving to help a bankrupt city get back on its feet. The bank is putting $100 million, divided between loans and grants, toward Detroit's revitalization, the New York Times reports. The money is intended to help the city with an array of projects, including housing improvements, the demolition of some 70,000 empty buildings, and job training. "I think we can make this our finest moment," CEO Jamie Dimon told the Today show. Dimon rejects the idea that the bank's move has anything to do with a $13 billion settlement last year tied to the financial crisis. "We invest and develop communities around the world … That's what banks do." The effort began several months ago when Dimon contacted Quicken Loans boss Dan Gilbert, who has a large stake in downtown buildings, the Detroit Free Press reports. "No one’s forcing them to do this by any means," Gilbert says. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, for his part, calls the money a "significant start." Dimon's goal with the funding: "If it works, you'll have a healthy and vibrant economy, jobs and population, businesses will beget home ownership, better schools, and a completely revived city."


Article:
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Suspected kidnapper and murderer Ariel Castro was indicted again today on hundreds of new criminal charges, but without Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty calling for the death penalty.

 The 977-count indictment (read the full text of the charges in the document viewer below) adds charges for crimes that prosecutors contend Castro committed against Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight toward the end of a decade-long imprisonment in Castro's Seymour Avenue home.

 A previous 329-count indictment only extended from August 2002, the year prosecutors claim Knight was abducted, until February 2007.

 Prosecutors have accused Castro, 52, of kidnapping the women and raping them repeatedly in his home, where he sometimes kept them chained and rarely allowed them to leave the house.

 The new indictment includes 512 counts of kidnapping, 446 counts of rape, seven counts of gross sexual imposition, six counts of felonious assault, three counts of child endangerment and one count of possessing criminal tools.

 It also includes two counts of aggravated murder, which were among those charges carried over from the previous indictment, stemming from claims that Castro beat and tortured one of the women into miscarrying a child.

 "Today's indictment moves us closer to resolution of this gruesome case," McGinty stated in a written release. "Our investigation continues, as does our preparation for trial."

 Under Ohio law, McGinty can seek the death penalty for aggravated murder if it is coupled with a kidnapping charge. In 1996, the Ohio legislature passed a law that allows for an aggravated murder charge in cases where a pregnancy is unlawfully terminated.

 A capital review committee within McGinty's office met Thursday to discuss whether to pursue the death penalty against Castro. While such a specification is not included in today's indictment, prosecutors could seek to add it later, McGinty spokesman Joe Frolik said.

 Castro's attorneys Craig Weintraub and Jaye Schlachet issued a written statement expressing pleasure "that we were able to convince the prosecutor's office to not seek and obtain the death penalty in this new indictment."

 They stated further, "It is our hope that we can continue to work toward a resolution of this matter so that the women do not have to endure additional trauma."

 Weintraub elaborated during a phone interview that he and Schlachet submitted mitigating material to the capital review committee that, among other things, raised concerns about subjecting the three women to a trial and disclosing "the private nature of what occurred."

 Weintraub has said some of the charges against Castro cannot be refuted and that if the death penalty is not sought, a plea deal could be worked out.

 The prosecutor's office stated today that the capital review committee has not completed its evaluation.

 Death penalty experts believe McGinty would have a difficult time convincing a jury to sentence Castro to death for various reasons, including the ongoing debate over when life begins and whether killing a fetus is tantamount to murder.

 They also believe proving aggravated murder may be difficult without sufficient physical evidence to support testimony from the women.

 Another obstacle for McGinty could be the willingness of the three women to take the stand and expose themselves to potentially harsh cross-examination by Castro's defense lawyers, who are duty bound to represent their client to the fullest extent.

 "Do these young women want to testify? Can they testify," Case Western Reserve University senior law instructor Michael Benza asked rhetorically during a recent interview.

 Included in the evidence collected by the FBI is a diary that was kept by one of the women.

 Rob Glickman, a former judge and assistant prosecutor in Cuyahoga County, said McGinty and his advisers likely made their decision not to seek the death penalty based on the strength of the facts in the case and the willingness of the victims to go to trial.

 "I'm sure they made that decision in consultation with the victims," he said.

 Glickman said that given the extent of the charges against Castro, McGinty should have no problem convincing a judge to give Castro enough consecutive sentences for his crimes to keep him in prison for the rest of his life.

 A judge could also impose life without parole if prosecutors are able to prove aggravated murder, said Steve Dever, a former assistant county prosecutor under three previous administrations.

 Dever said it's not overkill to charge Castro with so many counts because it's McGinty's obligation to give the court a full accounting of what happened.

 "This is a crime that spanned over a considerable period of time," he said.

 As for the multiple kidnapping counts, Dever said, a prosecutor can make such a charge in connection with an individual criminal act, such as a rape, that required the restraint of one's liberty to carry out.

 Barry, DeJesus and Knight emerged from a decade of captivity on May 4 after Berry, with the help of neighbors, escaped with her 6-year-old daughter through the front door of Castro's home while he was away.

 Police responded to find DeJesus and Knight also in the house. All three had gone missing in the same area of west Cleveland about a decade ago and were largely presumed dead.

 Their seemingly miraculous rescue captivated the world, and national media outlets are still angling for what they hope is the first interview with the traumatized women.

 The women recently released a short youtube video during which they thanked supporters and conveyed an image of recovery.

 A fund set up on behalf of the women has received more than $1 million from 9,200 donors, with some of the money already being provided to the women and their families.

 Bruce Hennes, a spokesman for the women, declined to comment on today's news.

 Castro, who is being held in Cuyahoga County Jail, has appeared in court for pre-trial hearings, always with shackles on his wrists and ankles and with his head bowed.

 Judge Michael Russo recently ruled that Casto was competent to stand trial, based on a court-ordered evaluation and a stipulation by Castro's attorneys.

 Knight was 21 when she went missing in August of 2002. Berry was 16 when she disappeared in April 2003, while DeJesus was 14 when she failed to arrive home from Wilbur Wright school in April 2004.

 The trial is still scheduled to begin Aug. 5.

  ||||| A grand jury has issued a fresh indictment charging Ariel Castro with 977 counts relating to allegations that he held three women captive for about a decade in his Cleveland home, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office said Friday.

 The new indictment -- which adds 648 counts to the 329 on which he was indicted last month -- encompasses all the years of the women's captivity, whereas the previous indictment covered only the first four and a half years, the prosecutor's office said.

 Authorities said Castro abducted Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Georgina "Gina" DeJesus separately in a two-year period starting in 2002.

 The women, as well as Berry's 6-year-old daughter, who authorities say was fathered by Castro, were freed in May after one of the women shouted for help while Castro was away from his 1,400-square-foot home.

 Among the charges are two counts of aggravated murder, in which Castro is accused of intentionally causing the termination of a pregnancy.

 JUST WATCHED Cleveland kidnap victims: Thank you Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Cleveland kidnap victims: Thank you 01:50

 Castro also faces 512 counts of kidnapping, 446 counts of rape, seven counts of gross sexual imposition, six counts of felonious assault, three counts of child endangerment and one count of possessing criminal tools.

 He will be arraigned July 17. |||||Summary:

– Accused kidnapper Ariel Castro has had 648 new counts added to his indictment, bringing the grand total to 977. To break it down, the entire indictment is 576 pages, and includes: 512 counts of kidnapping, 446 counts of rape, seven counts of gross sexual imposition, six counts of felonious assault, three counts of child endangerment, two counts of aggravated murder (he is accused of unlawfully terminating the pregnancy of one of his captives), and one count of possessing criminal tools, the AP reports. The reason for all the new charges is that his previous indictment only covered the first four-and-a-half years that the three women were allegedly imprisoned in his house. The new indictment covers the entire period, reports CNN. Despite the added heft to the charges, prosecutors are still not seeking the death penalty—though the aggravated murder charges plus the kidnapping charges would allow them to under Ohio law, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. A spokesperson for the County Prosecutor says they still may. But by not seeking the death penalty, a plea deal could be worked out, which would spare the three women the emotional turmoil of going through a trial.


– Three people are missing in the wake of a massive mudslide that struck near Collbran, Colorado, last night. The slide was reported at around 6:15pm, after a day of rain that is believed to have helped cause the slide, the Denver Post reports. The caller "described hearing a noise that sounded much like a freight train," the sheriff's department said. The slide is an estimated 4 miles long, 2 miles wide, and 250 feet deep. "This slide is unbelievably big," one police officer said. The area is still considered unstable, and roadblocks have been set up to try to keep people away from it, the Denver Channel reports. Rescue crews are combing the area for anyone who may have been trapped in the slide. So far no structures have been reported as damaged, and no major roads have been affected. The area is so remote that it does not get cellphone service.

Expand this summary.

Areal Flood Advisory issued May 28 at 4:13AM MDT expiring May 29 at 9:30PM MDT in effect for: Grand, Jackson

 Flood Advisory issued May 28 at 4:21PM MDT expiring May 29 at 10:21PM MDT in effect for: Rio Blanco

 Flood Advisory issued May 28 at 3:57PM MDT expiring May 29 at 9:57PM MDT in effect for: Mesa

 Flood Advisory issued May 28 at 3:57PM MDT expiring May 29 at 9:57PM MDT in effect for: Mesa

 Flood Advisory issued May 28 at 3:37PM MDT expiring May 29 at 8:31PM MDT in effect for: Eagle

 Flood Advisory issued May 28 at 3:37PM MDT expiring May 29 at 8:31PM MDT in effect for: Eagle

 Flood Advisory issued May 28 at 2:31PM MDT expiring May 29 at 8:31PM MDT in effect for: Eagle

 Flood Warning issued May 28 at 1:42PM MDT expiring May 30 at 3:41PM MDT in effect for: Routt

 Flood Advisory issued May 28 at 12:10PM MDT expiring May 29 at 6:01PM MDT in effect for: Larimer

 Flood Advisory issued May 28 at 10:12AM MDT expiring June 2 at 12:00PM MDT in effect for: Weld

 Flood Warning issued May 28 at 10:00AM MDT expiring May 29 at 9:00AM MDT in effect for: Weld ||||| Three people are missing on Grand Mesa in western Colorado, possibly swept away by mudslide estimated at 2 miles wide, 4 miles long and 250 feet deep Sunday evening, according to the Mesa County Sheriff's Office.

 The people were not named but were said to be residents of the Collbran and Mesa areas.

 The slide is along Salt Creek Road, also known as 601/2 Road, near Vega State Park, east of Collbran, which is about 40 miles east of Grand Junction.

 The person who reported the slide to Mesa County sheriff's dispatch at about 6:15 p.m. "described hearing a noise that sounded much like a freight train that is attributed to the slide," the sheriff's department stated.

 "This slide is unbelievably big," Mesa County Lt. Phil Stratton said.

 Deputies described the slide area as unstable Sunday night, and they estimated an entire ridge had been sliding for most of the day. Heavy rain was believed to have contributed to the mudslide.

 Rescue crews with the Plateau Valley Fire Department were on the scene.

 The area is remote. No structures were reported damaged, but officials expected a more accurate assessment Monday morning. No major roads were affected.

 Cellphone service is not available in the area.

 People are discouraged from going into the area, and a road block has been established outside the mudslide perimeter for safety. The roadblock is set up at the intersection of Colorado 330 and Salt Creek Road, outside Collbran.

 Advertisement

 Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, jbunch@denverpost.com or twitter.com/joeybunch |||||