The 2013 election continues to break voter turnout records. Some 3.6 million Israelis have already exercised their right to vote and polling stations are struggling to keep up with the flow of voters.

 The Central Elections Committee reported a high voter turnout compared to the same time at the past four election campaigns. The Central Elections Committee said that 63.7% of eligible voters have cast their ballots as of 8 pm, compared with 59.7% in the 2009 elections and 63.2% in 2006. Voting will continue until 10 pm.

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 The Central Elections Committee, which ran a campaign to encourage voting, was satisfied with the data. It is hoped that the 2013 election will break Israel's voting record.

 Polling stations across Israel opened on Tuesday at 7 am. A total of 5,656,705 eligible voters will be able to cast their ballots in 10,132 ballot boxes across Israel.

 Line in Tel Aviv polling station (Photo: Yaron Brener)

 Voting in Jerusalem (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

 A worker at a polling station in Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard remarked, "I worked during the previous elections as well and I can’t recall such a flow of voters, certainly not at this hour. We haven't had a single free moment since this morning."

 President Shimon Peres voted at the Charles E. Smith High School for the Arts in Jerusalem. "Today the state is asking citizens to vote for a free, beautiful, democratic country," he said after casting his ballot.

 He wished success to all the candidates and called on the public to exercise their right to vote.

 One in every four Israelis voted by 12 pm (Photo: EPA)

 Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino said that compared to previous elections, there were no unusual disturbances. "It really is a celebration of democracy," he said. Danino noted that police handled a few isolated incidents that did not disrupt voting.

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  ||||| What space has been devoted to the race has emphasized the lackluster nature of the campaign and its foregone conclusion.

 Obama and Netanyahu meeting in NY, Sept. 2011 Photo: Reuters

 WASHINGTON – It is possible that the American press would have paid more attention to the Israeli election had it not coincided with the installation of its own executive leadership.

 But it is unlikely.

 The vote in Israel falls one day after United States President Barack Obama’s second inauguration, which has dominated US media coverage over the past week. What space has been devoted to the race in Israel, has emphasized the lackluster nature of the campaign and its foregone conclusion – not exactly stop-the-presses kinds of stories.

 In perhaps the clearest sign that the elections have been viewed as less-than-gripping news cycle fodder, a recurrent theme in the relatively few stories that have been published here is what’s not being discussed in the campaign, rather than what is.

 Both The New York Times and Washington Post on Monday ran stories, well inside the paper, about the lack of debate on certain topics.

 In a Memo from the Middle East titled “An Unusual Election for Its Non-issues,” The Times detailed the lack of details being provided on policies, noting that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hadn’t even produced a formal platform.

 The Washington Post summed up its story with the headline: “In Israeli election, Iran issue avoided.”

 And if Israeli politicians aren’t tackling big issues with global implications, why would the media an ocean away pay them much heed? Iran, Syria, Al-Qaida remain major concerns in America.

 But in contrast to all these actors, who are driving new developments each day, Israel has remained static on these issues during the course of the election, and there is no sense that the elections have provided clues to what course the next government could take on these subjects.

 With Obama re-taking his place in the Oval Office and Netanyahu all-but-certain to remain prime minister, even the popular storyline of dysfunction and disagreement between the two leaders only makes for well-trod ground.

 Though the discord could well continue – and certainly the tensions over the announcement of construction plans in E-1, put forward by Netanyahu, at least in part to neutralize a political challenge on his right, point in that direction – it is also the case that after four years of sparring, the two wearied men could instead opt for accommodation.

 Then the media would have even fewer stories to write on the US-Israel relationship. ||||| TEL AVIV — A weakened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged Wednesday from Israel ’s national election likely to serve a third term, after voters on Tuesday gave a surprising second place to a new centrist party founded by a television celebrity who emphasized kitchen-table issues like class size and apartment prices.

 For Mr. Netanyahu, who entered the race an overwhelming favorite with no obvious challenger, the outcome was a humbling rebuke as his ticket lost seats in the new Parliament. Over all, his conservative team came in first, but it was the center, led by the political novice Yair Lapid, 49, that emerged newly invigorated, suggesting that at the very least Israel’s rightward tilt may be stalled.

 Mr. Lapid, a telegenic celebrity whose father made a splash with his own short-lived centrist party a decade ago, ran a campaign that resonated with the middle class. His signature issue is a call to integrate the ultra-Orthodox into the army and the work force.

 Perhaps as important, he also avoided antagonizing the right, having not emphasized traditional issues of the left, like the peace process. Like a large majority of the Israeli public, he supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but is skeptical of the Palestinian leadership’s willingness to negotiate seriously; he has called for a return to peace talks but has not made it a priority.

 Sensing his message of strength was not penetrating, Mr. Netanyahu posted a panicky message on Facebook before the polls closed, saying, “The Likud government is in danger, go vote for us for the sake of the country’s future.” Tuesday ended with Mr. Netanyahu reaching out again — this time to Mr. Lapid, Israel’s newest kingmaker, offering to work with him as part of the “broadest coalition possible.”

 Israel’s political hierarchy is only partly determined during an election. The next stage, when factions try to build a majority coalition, decides who will govern, how they will govern and for how long. While Mr. Lapid has signaled a willingness to work with Mr. Netanyahu, the ultimate coalition may bring together parties with such different ideologies and agendas that the result is paralysis.

 Still, for the center, it was a time of celebration.

 “The citizens of Israel today said no to politics of fear and hatred,” Mr. Lapid told an upscale crowd of supporters who had welcomed him with drums, dancing and popping Champagne corks. “They said no to the possibility that we might splinter off into sectors, and groups and tribes and narrow interest groups. They said no to extremists, and they said no to antidemocratic behavior.”

 With 99 percent of the ballots counted by Wednesday morning, the traditional blocs were evenly divided, with 60 Parliament seats for right-wing and religious parties, and 60 for center, left and Arab-dominated factions.

 Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud-Beiteinu ticket had 31 seats, followed by 19 for Mr. Lapid’s Yesh Atid and 15 for Labor. The ultra-Orthodox Shas party and the Jewish Home, which is dominated by religious-Zionists and advocates annexing the West Bank, each garnered 11 seats. Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua and the left-wing, pro-peace Meretz each got six, while the three Arab parties totaled 12. Kadima which won the most parliament seats – 28 – in the last election, had 2, having collapsed after briefly joining the Netanyahu coalition last year but failing to fulfill its promises. Votes of soldiers and a few other groups had yet to be counted and could change the balance.

 The prime minister called Mr. Lapid shortly after the polls closed at 10 p.m. Tuesday and, according to Israeli television reports, told him that they had great things to do together for the country. In his speech to a rowdy crowd of supporters here Wednesday morning, he said, “I see many partners.”

 Mr. Lapid indicated he was open to working with Mr. Netanyahu, saying the only way to face Israel’s challenges was “together.” But he added: “What is good for Israel is not in the possession of the right, and nor is it in the possession of the left. It lies in the possibility of creating here a real and decent center.” |||||

Write a summary.

– It's election day in Israel, but there's not a lot of intrigue: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is almost certain to win another term, although his ticket (a joint ticket combining his conservative Likud Party with the ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu) could lose as many as 10 of the seats it currently holds in Parliament, perhaps to Jewish Home, a party that is further to the right. Despite the foregone conclusion, YNetNews reports that the country is seeing its highest voter turnout since 1999, and the election could end up breaking voting records in Israel. The New York Times reports that voter participation had previously been dropping steadily, perhaps due to voter fatigue (Israel held five general elections, plus a direct ballot for prime minister, between 1992 and 2009); it was at less than 65% in 2009. This year, the Central Elections Committee ran a rousing voter drive, and President Shimon Peres urged everyone to vote. The Jerusalem Post notes that US media don't seem to care about the Israeli vote, perhaps because it falls on the day after President Obama's second inauguration. Most US coverage has focused on the less-than-exciting nature of the race and the lack of debate in Israel on some topics—for example, Netanyahu's failure to produce a formal platform.


FILE - In this Aug. 5, 2015 file photo, a forest grows back beneath a few uncut white pines several years after it was logged near Soubunge Mountain in northern Maine. In a study of suicide rates by occupation,... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this Aug. 5, 2015 file photo, a forest grows back beneath a few uncut white pines several years after it was logged near Soubunge Mountain in northern Maine. In a study of suicide rates by occupation,... (Associated Press)

 NEW YORK (AP) — Farmers, lumberjacks and fishermen have the highest suicide rate in the U.S., while librarians and educators have the lowest, according to a large study that found enormous differences across occupations.

 The study didn't explore the reasons behind the differences, but researchers found the highest suicide rates in manual laborers who work in isolation and face unsteady employment. High rates were also seen in carpenters, miners, electricians and people who work in construction. Mechanics were close behind.

 Dentists, doctors and other health care professionals had an 80 percent lower suicide rate than the farmers, fishermen and lumberjacks.

 Thursday's report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is perhaps the largest U.S. study to compare suicide rates among occupations. But it is not comprehensive. It only covers 17 states, looking at about 12,300 of the more than 40,000 suicide deaths reported in the entire nation in 2012.

 Because of the limited data, they could only calculate suicide rates for broad occupation categories, but not for specific jobs. The categories, which sometimes seem to group professions that have little to do with each other, like athletes and artists, are based on federal classifications used for collecting jobs-related data.

 So it's not clear what the suicide rate is just for farmers. Or for mathematicians. Or journalists.

 Suicide is the nation's 10th leading cause of death. Public attention often focuses on teens and college students, but the highest numbers and rates are in middle-aged adults. Suicide is far more common in males, and the rankings largely reflect the male suicide rates for each group.

 The highest female suicide rate was seen in the category that includes police, firefighters and corrections officers. The second highest rate for women was in the legal profession.

 It's not the first time a suicide problem has been noted for some of the jobs. In the 1980s, media reports detailed high suicide rates in Midwestern farmers. That was attributed to a tough economy and farmers use of pesticides that scientists have theorized may cause symptoms of depression.

 The CDC's occupational suicide list:

 1. Farmworkers, fishermen, lumberjacks, others in forestry or agriculture; 85 per 100,000.

 2. Carpenters, miners, electricians, construction trades; 53.

 3. Mechanics and those who do installation, maintenance, repair; 48.

 4. Factory and production workers; 35.

 5. Architects, engineers; 32

 6. Police, firefighters, corrections workers, others in protective services; 31.

 7. Artists, designers, entertainers, athletes, media; 24.

 8. Computer programmers, mathematicians, statisticians; 23.

 9. Transportation workers; 22

 10. Corporate executives and managers, advertising and public relations; 20

 11. Lawyers and workers in legal system; 19

 12. Doctors, dentists, and other health care professionals; 19

 13. Scientists and lab technicians; 17

 14. Accountants, others in business, financial operations; 16

 15. Nursing, medical assistants, health care support; 15

 16. Clergy, social workers, other social service workers; 14

 17. Real estate agents, telemarketers, sales; 13

 18. Building and ground, cleaning, maintenance; 13

 19. Cooks, food service workers; 13

 20. Childcare workers, barbers, animal trainers, personal care and service; 8

 21. Office workers, administrative support; 8

 22. Education, training, librarians; 8

 ___

 Online:

 CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr ||||| Analysis of 2012 National Violent Death Reporting System data from 17 states indicated that workers in the farming, fishing, and forestry occupational group had the highest rate of suicide (84.5 per 100,000), followed by workers in construction and extraction (53.3), and installation, maintenance, and repair (47.9). Among males, farming, fishing, and forestry also accounted for the highest rates of suicide (90.5 per 100,000), whereas the highest rate among females (14.1) was among workers in the protective service occupational group.

 In 2012, suicide was the 10th leading cause of death among persons aged ≥16 years in the United States, with approximately 40,000 suicide deaths reported among persons aged ≥16 years. From 2000 to 2012, rates of suicide for persons aged ≥16 years increased 21.1%, from 13.3 per 100,000 to 16.1. Understanding suicides by occupational group provides an opportunity for prevention, but such data have not been reported recently for a broad population or examined by sex and occupation classification.

 In 2012, approximately 40,000 suicides were reported in the United States, making suicide the 10th leading reported cause of death for persons aged ≥16 years (1). From 2000 to 2012, rates of suicide among persons in this age group increased 21.1%, from 13.3 per 100,000 to 16.1 (1). To inform suicide prevention efforts, CDC analyzed suicide by occupational group, by ascribing occupational codes to 12,312 suicides in 17 states in 2012 from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) (2). The frequency of suicide in different occupational groups was examined, and rates of suicide were calculated by sex and age group for these categories. Persons working in the farming, fishing, and forestry group had the highest rate of suicide overall (84.5 per 100,000 population) and among males (90.5); the highest rates of suicide among females occurred among those working in protective service occupations (14.1). Overall, the lowest rate of suicide (7.5) was found in the education, training, and library occupational group. Suicide prevention approaches directed toward persons aged ≥16 years that enhance social support, community connectedness, access to preventive services, and the reduction of stigma and barriers to help-seeking are needed.

 CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) collects information on violent deaths, including suicides, from multiple sources, including death certificates, coroner and medical examiner reports, and law enforcement reports, to monitor trends, understand violent death characteristics and risk factors, and inform prevention efforts (2). The most recent NVDRS data set available for analysis (2012) includes data from 17 states.*

 NVDRS Occupation Title and Industry Title fields were used to assign each suicide decedent to one of the major occupational groups defined by the national Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system (3). The decedent’s usual occupation at the time of death was coded, and each decedent was assigned to only one occupational group. Additional codes for decedents who were classified as homemakers/housewives, students, never worked/disabled (and not working), retired, prisoners, unemployed, and self-employed (unspecified industry) were created by the authors.

 Decedents were assigned to SOC codes using three steps. First, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Industry and Occupation Computerized Coding System (NIOCCS) (4) was applied to the 12,312 suicides in the data set, resulting in SOC codes for 5,532 (44.9%) decedents (Figure). NIOCCS matched the industry and occupation text fields to U.S. Census Industry and Occupation codes†; these were mapped to detailed SOC codes, which the authors collapsed into major SOC occupational groups. Next, a computer algorithm (developed based on a review of cases for which a SOC code was not provided by NIOCCS) was used to produce codes for an additional 4,572 (37.1%) decedents.§ Finally, manual coding by the authors was used for the remaining 2,208 (17.9%) decedents (Figure). For 729 (5.9%) decedents, the occupation fields were blank or lacked sufficient information; these were coded as “unknown.” Interrater reliability was assessed for a random 5% sample (635 decedents) of the data set, with resulting Cohen’s kappa coefficient of 0.87 (554 decedents); the remaining 81 decedents not in agreement were resolved through discussions among the authors.

 Descriptive data were analyzed, including the number of suicides and rates of suicide by occupational group. Occupational groups were stratified by sex, and rates of suicide were calculated for each group using denominators derived from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey March Supplement (5), which includes a question about the person’s primary occupation during the previous calendar year. Rates were not calculated for occupation codes created by the authors, because the Current Population Survey data set does not provide denominator data for these groups. U.S. child labor laws prohibit persons aged <16 years from working full-time; therefore, only decedents aged ≥16 years were included. SOC code 55 (i.e., military specific occupations) was not included in the analysis because it was not possible to reliably determine whether these decedents were on active duty or retired, or what occupation they held in the military. If a decedent had a specific coded job and was employed by the military, that decedent was coded according to the occupation (e.g., an engineer working for the military would be included in the “Architecture and engineering” occupational group).

 Among the 12,312 suicide decedents included in the 2012 data set, 9,509 (77.2%) were male, and 2,801 (22.8%) were female; information about sex was missing for two decedents (Table 1). Decedents ranged in age from 16 to 102 years; however, 84.5% were aged 16–64 years. Nearly one third of all suicides occurred among persons in the following four occupational groups: construction and extraction (1,324; 10.8%); management (1,049; 8.5%); production (953; 7.7%); and installation, maintenance, and repair (780; 6.3%) (Table 1). The highest proportion (22.7%) of suicides occurred among persons aged 45–54 years, and the lowest proportion (11.6%) occurred among persons aged 16–24 years (Table 1).

 Rates of suicide were highest in the following three occupational groups: farming, fishing, and forestry (84.5 suicides per 100,000 persons); construction and extraction (53.3); and installation, maintenance, and repair (47.9) (Table 2). Rates of suicide varied by sex, with higher rates among males than females in all occupational groups (Table 2). Among males, the highest suicide rates were among persons in the following three occupational groups: farming, fishing, and forestry (90.5 per 100,000); construction and extraction (52.5); and installation, maintenance, and repair (47.5). Among females, the highest suicide rates occurred among persons in the following three occupational groups: protective service occupations (e.g., law enforcement officers and firefighters) (14.1 per 100,000); legal (13.9); and healthcare practitioners and technical (13.3) (Table 2). |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Teachers and librarians have the lowest suicide rate while farmers and fishermen have the highest, according to a CDC study of 12,300 suicides in 17 states in 2012. Why the discrepancy? Researchers say "job-related isolation and demands, stressful work environments, and work-home imbalance, as well as socioeconomic inequities" likely play a role, per the AP. Here are the 10 fields as grouped by the CDC with the highest rates, based on the number of suicides per 100,000 workers: Farming, fishing, and forestry: 84.5 Carpenters, miners, electricians, construction trades: 53.3 Mechanics and those who do installation, maintenance, repair: 47.9 Factory and production workers: 34.5 Architecture and engineering: 32.2 Police, firefighters, corrections workers, others in protective services: 30.5 Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media: 24.3 Computer and mathematical: 23.3 Transportation workers: 22.3 Corporate executives and managers, advertising, and PR: 20.3 Click for the full list.


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Charlie Sheen is suing the porn actress who was with him on the night he damaged a room at New York City's Plaza Hotel for extortion, ABC News learned late Monday.

 The suit claims that actress Capri Anderson asked for $1 million to keep her story out of the press. It also claims Anderson stole a $165,000 watch from Sheen's hotel room.

 Anderson was not immediately available for comment on the suit.

 Anderson, who was found in Sheen's hotel bedroom when police responded to a call about a disorderly man in the hotel last month, filed a complaint against the actor today with the New York Police Department after detailing her experience to ABC News.

 Anderson told ABC News in her first interview that she was hired that night for $3,500 to escort Sheen to dinner, but that the night quickly turned violent in a room at The Plaza Hotel in New York. Sheen, she said, threatened to kill her and called her a "whore."

 "I never expected the night would unfold the way it did," she told "Good Morning America" today in an exclusive interview.

 "He definitely was growing more intense as the night grew and went on. It's hard to say being that it was my first time hanging out with him if it was normal of his everyday behavior or not," Anderson said. "He seemed like a very egotistical person."

 Anderson's police complaint accused Sheen of harassment in the second degree, an alleged violation that is less serious than a misdemeanor or a felony, police said.

 If the Manhattan district attorney decides to prosecute the case and Sheen is found guilty, the actor could face a maximum of 15 days in jail, though offenders often receive a conditional discharge with an order of protection for the victim.

 The day after the incident, which ended with police storming the room and taking Sheen to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, Anderson was contacted by the actor via text message, Anderson told "Nightline" in a separate interview, and offered $20,000 for her silence.

 "Just to not talk to anybody about it and go about my business," she said.

 "He apologized for his behavior and for the entire evening, I guess," she said. "The apology was very simple."

 Anderson said she texted Sheen back about the damage to her expensive purse.

 "I was shocked and upset that he would even approach me again," she said on "GMA."

 Sheen's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this allegation or Anderson's announcement that she would be filing a complaint.

 Capri Anderson on Sheen's Behavior: 'He Started Throwing Things'

 Anderson said she spent most of the dinner on Oct. 25 speaking with Sheen's ex-wife, Denise Richards. After Richards left the dinner and the rest of the group -- Anderson and Sheen included -- went out for drinks, Anderson said she was asked by a friend of Sheen's' to escort him to his hotel room and make sure he stayed there.

 "At this point he was fairly intoxicated," she said.

 "I was sitting on the edge of a coffee table and he was serving us both drinks and he was snorting something," Anderson said, adding that she doesn't know what he was using, but that it was a "white powdery substance."

 "There was a little bit of romance, if you will," she said. "In the moment a lot happened."

 But with her dress removed, Anderson, who admitted she was in the room willingly, said things took a turn for the worse.

 "When I became really uncomfortable is when he put his hands around my neck," she said.

 Anderson said Sheen became incensed when she begged for him to release her.

 "He started throwing things. He threw a lamp. That was the first thing he picked up," Anderson said, her voice cracking. "And he threw it across the room at me."

 "When he started throwing things at me I became shocked, scared," Anderson said.

 Charlie Sheen's lawyer Yale Galanter responded to Anderson's allegations Sunday night in a statement to ABC News.

 "Ms. Capri never made any allegation of wrongful conduct on the part of Mr. Sheen the night of the incident. She has posted on her website that she was 'fine' after the incident but if you wanted to see more of her enter the web site for money," Galanter said. "We will defend this lawsuit vigorously and will never pay her a dime. These allegations against Mr. Sheen are completely false, and are a blatant attempt to cash in on his celebrity."

 Anderson's lawyer, Keith Davidson, told "Good Morning America" that he could not confirm or deny that he or anyone from Anderson's team had been in contact with Sheen's camp about a possible settlement.

 A civil suit against sheen is also expected to be filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court.

 Anderson told "Nightline" that she feared for her life.

 "He was, from the beginning of the night, very loud and he had no hesitations when it came to using derogatory language or cuss words," she said to Ashleigh Banfield in the "Nightline" interview, adding that "towards the latter half of the night, it got really bad. He started yelling racial slurs."

 "He threw the lamp against the wall in my direction … And once the lamp flew, it was like there was just stuff coming from every angle. He was just -- anything he could pick up, he was trashing the place," she said.

 Photos obtained by TMZ show a rumpled bed and strewn chairs. One of the chair legs appears to be broken.

 Sheen's Lawyer: We 'Will Never Pay Her a Dime'

 When police officers arrived at the famed luxury hotel, they found Anderson locked in the bathroom of Sheen's suite. Police said the room had been trashed. Sheen was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

 "He was calling me a whore a lot. And he was yelling things like, you F-ing bitch. If you don't come out here, I'm going to kill you. If I get in there, you're going to be sorry. If I get in there, you ... whore, you whore, whore. Like he just keep screaming and slamming on the door," she said.

 Anderson also tells "Nightline" that she did not know Sheen's children were on the same floor in the hotel.

 "How did you feel when you saw that?" asked Banfield.

 "Kind of like same feelings, like is this guy a joke, is he kidding me?" Anderson said. "And, you know, just I entertain the thought, you know, but knew ultimately it wasn't the right decision."

 Anderson told "Good Morning America" she was never paid the $3,500 she was promised for attending the dinner with Sheen.

 Click here to return to the "Good Morning America" website.

 ABC News' Michael S. James contributed to this report. ||||| Capri Anderson Describes Infamous Night With Charlie Sheen

 Email This Adult film star Capri Anderson was with

 In an

 "Towards the latter half of the night, it got really bad. He started yelling racial slurs," she continued. "But it wasn't until he put his hands around my neck that I really thought to myself, you have gotten yourself in a bad, bad situation."

 "I'm not going to stand down and be completely walked over, mistreated. My whole life has been changed," she adds of the incident. Adult film star Capri Anderson was with Charlie Sheen the night of his breakdown in a New York City hotel room, and now she's telling her story.In an interview with both 'Good Morning America' and ABC's 'Nightline,' Anderson recalls what happened. "He was, from the beginning of the night, very loud and he had no hesitations when it came to using derogatory language or cuss words," she said of Charlie."Towards the latter half of the night, it got really bad. He started yelling racial slurs," she continued. "But it wasn't until he put his hands around my neck that I really thought to myself, you have gotten yourself in a bad, bad situation.""I'm not going to stand down and be completely walked over, mistreated. My whole life has been changed," she adds of the incident.

 She condemns Sheen for his alleged actions. "I think that this story and this treatment sends a message in itself and this is clearly something that's not right. It's not right to hurt people. It's not right to scare people. It's not right to carry on with such disregard for the people around you."Anderson plans to file charges against the 'Two and a Half Men' star, according to her attorney. She is suing for battery, assault and false imprisonment.The actor's attorney, Yale Galanter, has responded to the adult film star. "Ms. Capri never made any allegation of wrongful conduct on the part of Mr. Sheen the night of the incident. She has posted on her website that she was 'fine' after the incident, but if you wanted to see more of her enter the web site for money. We will defend this lawsuit vigorously and will never pay her a dime. These allegations against Mr. Sheen are completely false, and are an blatant attempt to cash in on his celebrity," Galanter said.On the night in question, Sheen was reportedly found by police naked after having trashed his room at the Plaza Hotel. |||||

– If you thought you'd seen the last of Capri Anderson, the porn star (and rumored prostitute) police found hiding in the bathroom after Charlie Sheen's latest rampage, think again. She's filing a criminal report as well as a civil complaint alleging assault and false imprisonment, she tells Good Morning America. She claims she was offered $3,500 to make a "paid appearance" at a dinner party with Sheen, but went back to his room of her own free will (she denies she was expecting to be paid $12,000 for sex), which is where things got ugly. "There was a little bit of romance if you will," she says, but "it became really uncomfortable ... when he put his hands around my neck. At that point things began to rapidly ... fall apart and get out of hand." When she started to leave, "he started throwing things. He threw a lamp, that was the first thing he picked up." She fled for the bathroom when she saw him pick up something shiny, "an envelope opener maybe, a knife." She claims she didn't report the assault to the police when they arrived because she was "embarrassed" and wanted to go home. Click here for more from the interview.


– The App Center Facebook announced last month is open for business. The phased rollout will ultimately give all its US users access to 600 apps, like Pinterest and Draw Something, reports TechCrunch. Unlike Apple's App Store and Google Play, though, Facebook's App Center is more of a discovery hub, taking users to Apple or Google or elsewhere to download the apps. And, of course, Facebook's App Center puts the emphasis on sharing, recommending apps based on what your friends are using. Some early reaction: "In a sense, it’s a defining moment in the world of apps," writes Mike Isaac at All Things D. "Unlike the Google Play app repository or Apple's App Store, Facebook’s App Center relies in part on social discovery. And it’s in line with Facebook’s overall philosophy: Everything should be social." While noting the App Center should spur Facebook users to spend more time using the social network, "the focus on mobile apps is likely to attract criticism from those who see them as harmful to the future of the open web," notes Josh Halliday for the Guardian. "Conceptually, App Center seems like a winner to me," writes Jaymar Cabebe at CNet. "I found its recommendations helpful and the Friends' apps list very interesting, to say the least. On the other hand, the interface still has some kinks to work out, especially on mobile devices."

Expand this summary.

Okay folks, we’re live at Facebook’s press event for… sure enough, its new mobile App Center, the one that started leaking out earlier today. The company shared most of the details about how the store will work during a May press announcement, but to review: it’ll be one central store for finding any app across web, iOS, Android, mobile web, etc. You’ll get app suggestions based on ratings and what your friends play, similar to previous recommendation features that Facebook has provided over the years. And, paid apps are also part of the deal.

 We’re following up with further details, but for now, here’s the official announcement.

 The App Center is launching tonight with more than 600 social apps, including Nike+ GPS, Ubisoft Ghost Recon Commander, Stitcher Radio, Draw Something, and Pinterest.

 Each person will have a personalized experience in the App Center, with recommendations based on the apps they and their friends use, whether that be games or fashion, food, fitness, travel, or other lifestyle apps.

 You’ll only see high quality apps in the App Center, based on user ratings and engagement.

 The App Center is available on mobile via the Facebook apps for iOS and Android, or by accessing Facebook.com on mobile.

 Stats: ||||| Facebook has launched an app store, similar to that for the Apple iPhone, in a bid to turn the social network into a key entertainment platform online.

 The network announced its "App Centre" in a blogpost late on Thursday, confirming its first major move into a booming market of gaming, lifestyle and productivity applications.

 The app store will be available only to US users from Friday, opening to each of Facebook's 901 million users in the coming weeks. It will feature 600 apps, including the popular Draw Something and Pinterest, and new games such as Jetpack Joyride and Ghosts of Mistwood.

 "The App Centre gives you personalised recommendations, and lets you browse the apps your friends use," said Facebook's Matt Wyndowe in the blogpost.

 "It only lists high-quality apps, based on feedback from people who use the app."

 The move is designed to keep Facebook users on the social network for longer, giving them less reason to leave the site for a rival platform.

 However, the focus on mobile apps is likely to attract criticism from those who see them as harmful to the future of the open web. Facebook has already faced criticism from internet rivals such as Google for its so-called "walled garden" approach to what can and cannot be released on its platform.

 The app store will be available on Facebook's iOS and Android apps, as well as on the main website. Users can send an app on the website to be downloaded onto their mobile device.

 Apps have quickly become a part of daily life for smartphone owners across the globe. Ushered in by Apple's iPhone and, later, by Google's Android and other mobile operating systems, an estimated 31bn apps were downloaded to mobile devices last year, according to industry analyst Juniper Research.

 Although most apps are free to download, the still-nascent medium is delivering significant revenues for hugely popular games such as Angry Birds. Juniper Research predicts that by 2016 mobile apps will generate $52bn of revenues – 75% from smartphones and 25% from tablets. ||||| The social network just unveiled its App Center, and it's accessible on iOS and Android devices, as well as through the Web on Facebook.com. Here's what you can expect to see.

 (Credit: Facebook)

 Facebook's App Center has arrived, and it's got more than 600 apps in tow, including big hitters like Pinterest, Draw Something, Nike+, Path, and Ghost Recon. Let's take a look at how it all works.

 The first thing you should know is that App Center is not a Facebook marketplace akin to Google Play or Apple's App Store. Rather, it's a hub for discovering new and interesting apps based on your Facebook activity and your friends' activity. In fact, whenever App Center recommends a mobile app, it actually links out to Google Play and iTunes so you can easily download it.

 On the Web, you can access the App Center through a bookmark on the top left of your news feed page. Once you're in, you are greeted, front and center, with recommended apps and friends' apps. Also, along the left is a menu of categories like Games, Entertainment, Music, and News, through which you can browse.

 App Center recommends apps based on the apps that you are already using. The more apps you use with Facebook log-in, the more attuned it will be to your tastes. The Friends' apps section also shows you recommendations, but these are based on, you guessed it, the apps that your friends are using.

 Once you find an app you're interested in, you can click through to get all the details. If you'd like, you can also play it right then and there (if it's a Web app) or send an iTunes or Google Play link to your mobile device (for mobile apps). This latter feature is hugely convenient, but when using it, be sure to check what platform the mobile app is available for first. Case in point, I was able to send a Pinterest app link to my Android phone, when in fact, Pinterest is only available on iOS. This caused a Google Play error on my phone. Perhaps a more prominent display of the platform compatibility would help, because as it is now, that information is tucked away at the bottom of the app details page.

 (Credit: Facebook)

 Meanwhile, on a mobile device the App Center provides a significantly pared-down experience. In fact, it looks quite different from the desktop App Center, which, to me, was a bit disorienting. The App Center on mobile opens up directly to your Friends' apps, but on the phone it's called "Social Picks." Top Apps is another section that you can explore, which lists the most popular mobile apps for Facebook users.

 One thing that needs work on the mobile interface is browsing. You can browse through Apps or Games, and that's about it. There are no other categories to help you navigate, like there are on the full desktop version of App Center.

 Conceptually, App Center seems like a winner to me. I found its recommendations helpful and the Friends' apps list very interesting, to say the least. All that said, I can honestly say that I'll use it. Still, the interface has some kinks to work out, especially on mobile devices.

 If you can't find App Center yet (it is gradually rolling out to users over the next few weeks), you can go to facebook.com/appcenter on your desktop browser or m.facebook.com/appcenter on your mobile device to try it now. |||||


– The Taliban today admitted to kidnapping a female Scottish aid worker in Afghanistan, and offered to trade her for the release of Aafia Siddiqui, the Pakistani ex-MIT student sentenced to 86 years in prison last week for trying to kill FBI officers. Siddiqui’s sentence set off a wave of protests in Pakistan, with the prime minister calling her a “daughter of the nation” and vowing to bring her home, according to Aol News. “We are lucky that we abducted this British woman so soon after the ruthless ruling by an American court on Aafia Siddiqui,” a Taliban commander told the Afghan Islamic Press, according to the Daily Mail. “We will demand the release of Siddiqui in exchange for her.” The Scottish woman was abducted yesterday morning when gunmen intercepted her convoy. Local tribal elders are helping to organize a large search operation. For more on the mysteries surrounding Siddiqui, click here.

Expand this summary.

Taliban 'want to swap kidnapped British aid worker for Pakistani scientist jailed in the U.S.'

 Unnamed woman is Scottish and in her 30

 Militants claiming to have kidnapped a female British aid worker are believed to be demanding an exchange for the jailed Pakistani scientist Aafia Siddiqui.

 The doctor, who was working for a charity, was travelling with three Afghan men in a two-vehicle convoy when they were ambushed yesterday morning.

 At first the Taliban said it was not responsible for the adbuction, but a local commander named as Mohammed Osman, today claimed he had taken the group.

 Osman told the Afghan Islamic Press: 'We are lucky that we abducted this British woman so soon after the ruthless ruling by an American court on Aafia Siddiqui.

 'We will demand the release of Siddqui in exchange for her.'

 Bleak: Kunar Province in Afghanistan where the British woman was taken

 An FBI photo of Siddiqui. The neuroscientist, was jailed for 86 years last week by a New York court for the attempted murder of U.S. agents and soldiers who were trying to interrogate her in Afghanistan

 Siddiqui, a 38-year-old mother-of-three neuroscientist, was jailed for 86 years last week by a New York court for the attempted murder of U.S. agents and soldiers who were trying to interrogate her in Afghanistan

 The British embassy in Kabul would not discuss the report.

 Meanwhile, an extensive search is being carried out for the unnamed Scottish woman who was led away on foot by her captors despite a firefight with local police.

 The attack comes barely a month after British doctor Dr Karen Woo, 36, was shot dead in an ambush in which eight foreign aid workers and two Afghans were killed.

 The motive for the latest kidnapping is not clear but insurgent involvement is likely as the Taliban usually take foreigners alive.

 It is believed that the doctor worked for a U.S. charity, Development Alternatives International (DAI), which implements agricultural projects on behalf of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

 She is believed to be in her 30s and has spent several years working in Afghanistan.

 The group were attacked as they travelled from Kunar province to Jalalabad, a rugged region close to the border with Pakistan which is a known Taliban stronghold.

 The group were attacked as they travelled to Jalalabad, a rugged region close to the border with Pakistan which is a known Taliban stronghold

 It is understood the woman and her travel companions – two drivers and a guard – were on their way to an opening ceremony for a canal rehabilitation project in the Narang district of Kunar. Police chief in Kunar, General Abdul Saboor Allahyar, said gunmen intercepted the woman’s convoy at around 11am.

 A major search operation was under way with the assistance of tribal elders.

 DAI spokesman Steven O’Connor confirmed the organisation was treating the incident as a ‘suspected abduction’ and resolving it was their ‘absolute first priority’.

 The kidnap comes barely a month after British doctor Dr Karen Woo (pictured) was shot dead in an ambush

 ‘The evidence does not point towards them getting lost,’ he said.

 ‘The woman who appears to have been kidnapped is one of our veterans. She is a complete professional and has many years of experience.’

 The Foreign Office confirmed last night that a British national was missing in Afghanistan.

 A spokesman said: ‘We are working with other international agencies to investigate these reports urgently.’

 A Taliban spokesman said he was unaware of the kidnapping.

 Kunar is an area held by the Taliban where a number of foreign nationals have been kidnapped in recent years.

 The Taliban claimed responsibility for Dr Woo’s death, saying she had been ‘preaching Christianity’ – a claim dismissed by family and friends who say she was not religious.

 However there are suspicions that bandits may have been responsible, as the victims had been robbed when their bodies were found.

 Two French journalists were seized last December to the north-east of Kabul, but were later released.

 British general says Obama's withdrawal deadline is 'overstated'

 A top NATO commander in Afghanistan said today there should be no rush to withdraw alliance forces in 2011 because once they are gone, it would be much harder to send them back if necessary.

 Lieutenant-General Nick Parker, second-in-command of the International Security Assistance Force behind U.S. General David Petraeus, also said the significance of a July 2011 U.S. withdrawal date had been overemphasised.

 Lieutenant-General Nick Parker says the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan should not be rushed

 'What we must not do is pull back and go blind, because it then becomes extremely difficult to re-intervene, if you need to,' Parker told reporters in London through a satellite link from Afghanistan.

 'What we've got to do is to thin back and then reinvest some of that dividend into other areas so there is a sense of continuing commitment. It's not a sort of rush for the exit,' he added.

 Almost 150,000 foreign troops, mostly American, are fighting a now nine-year NATO-led war against Taliban insurgents.

 This year has been the deadliest for foreign forces, and pressure in participating countries has mounted for troops to be withdrawn.

 'It is entirely reasonable for there to be some drawdown of some sort, although I suggest that all the indicators I've heard is that this is not as significant as some people choose to make it out to be,' Parker said.

 'I suspect ... some domestic politics in certain countries where it's being overstated,' he later added.

 Parker said he had no knowledge of the scale of a possible U.S. drawdown next year, but said media reports had cited about 2,000, a figure he said was 'not a subject of strategic significance.'

 For British troops, Parker said he was confident that by July, more Afghan forces would be sufficiently capable to take over on the front line and for more British troops to act as a 'reactive' enabling force or be redeployed where needed.

 He declined to comment on the prospect of withdrawal.

 'Is this July 2011 deadline an over-optimistic target to have capable Afghan forces taking over the front line from the coalition? This is a personal assessment; I don't think it is,' he added. ||||| Sponsored Links

 (Sept. 24) -- Pakistan's prime minister called a female scientist convicted of opening fire on U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan a "daughter of the nation" today and vowed to bring the so-called " Lady al-Qaida " back home to Pakistan.Many Pakistanis are angry at their government for failing to intervene in the case of Aafia Siddiqui, a 38-year-old Pakistani neuroscientist and mother of three who was sentenced Thursday to 86 years in a U.S. federal prison. Demonstrations erupted after mosque prayers today in at least four Pakistani cities. Prime Minister Yousef Reza Gilani sought to tap into that anger in a speech to Parliament, which unanimously adopted a resolution calling for Siddiqui's repatriation."We all are united, and we want the daughter of the nation to come back to Pakistan," Gilani said, according to Dawn News . "I fought for her, my lawyer fought for her and now I will take up this matter on a political level."While he spoke, dozens of protesters took to the streets of the northwestern city of Peshawar, burning tires and shouting slogans against Gilani as well as "Down with America!" Some threw their shoes at a portrait of President Barack Obama, Dawn also reported Gilani had authorized the Pakistani government to pay $2 million for Siddiqui's U.S. defense team and personally appealed to Washington for her release, saying such a move would "improve the U.S. image in Pakistan."Interior Minister Rehman Malik phoned Siddiqui's family to express sympathy after her sentencing and said the government would try its best to win her freedom, the Pakistani newspaper The Nation reported . Siddiqui's sister also met with Gilani today, the South Asian News Agency reported Siddiqui is believed to have lived in the U.S. from 1991 to 2002 and holds neuroscience degrees from Brandeis University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. U.S. authorities say she returned to Pakistan after marrying an al-Qaida operative related to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks.She was arrested in Afghanistan after police there found explosives and notes referring to a "mass casualty attack" with lists of New York landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street and the Brooklyn Bridge. Siddiqui claims she was held incommunicado in Afghanistan for five years.In 2008, she grabbed a soldier's rifle and opened fire on FBI agents in Afghanistan as they tried to interrogate her. She exclaimed "her intent and desire to kill Americans" during the shooting, according to her indictment. Her lawyers claimed it was a spontaneous "freakout" that had more to do with mental illness than al-Qaida, The Guardian reported . The FBI agents survived.The incident put Siddiqui near the top of the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists. A jury in New York convicted her this past February and sentenced her Thursday to 86 years behind bars.Many Pakistanis are convinced Siddiqui is innocent and believe U.S. agents kidnapped and tortured her for years. Local media have speculated about why American authorities believed she was guilty and acknowledged that Siddiqui might have made self-incriminating statements in court."Aafia Siddiqui hurt her case in court by publicly speaking against Jews and America and also by giving evidence that proved she had learnt how to use guns while studying in Boston," reported the Associated Press of Pakistan , a Pakistani news agency. ||||| (Sept. 23) -- A federal judge in New York sentenced Pakistani scientist Aafia Siddiqui to 86 years in prison today for the attempted murder of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan In February, a jury convicted the 38-year-old woman on seven counts of attempted murder, for grabbing a soldier's assault rifle and opening fire on FBI agents as they tried to interrogate her. According to the indictment, Siddiqui "exclaimed her desire and intent to kill Americans" during the shooting.U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement today that Siddiqui will face "the stiff consequences of her violent actions." Siddiqui though, says she is innocent.Afghan police arrested Siddiqui after they found bomb-making materials, notes referring to a "mass casualty attack" and a list of landmarks in New York that included the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street and the Brooklyn Bridge. She had also listed underwater bombs as a way to attack "enemies."Siddiqui, who lived in the United States from 1991 to 2002, was at least partly American-trained and received degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University in neuroscience, The Wall Street Journal reported today. Prosecutors said she received training in firearms during her time in Boston.In court today, Siddiqui appealed to her supporters to forgive her enemies. "Forgive everybody in my case," she said, according to the New York Daily News . "And also forgive Judge Berman."In Pakistan , though, where many say Siddiqui has been wrongly accused, hundreds took to the streets of Karachi today to protest the United States and call for her release.At her sentencing, Siddiqui said she didn't want any violence to ensue. "Tell the Muslims, please don't get emotional," she said, according to The Associated Press . "I do not want any violence in my name."Her defense lawyers had argued that she was mentally ill, but Siddiqui herself disputed these claims. ||||| Sponsored Links

 (Sept. 23) -- The judge who sentenced "Lady al-Qaida" Aafia Siddiqui to 86 years in prison referred to her as an " enigma ."U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman sentenced the 38-year-old mother of three on Thursday for her conviction for trying to kill American officers and FBI agents in Afghanistan a day after she was arrested by Afghan police outside a mosque in Ghazni on suspicion she was a suicide bomber.Siddiqui has a degree in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Brandeis University. In 2004, Attorney General John Ashcroft put her on his "Deadly Seven" list of most wanted terrorists. But by then, she had already disappeared.Below is a look at the five strangest mysteries surrounding her.She disappeared on March 30, 2003, after getting into a cab with her three children in Karachi, Pakistan , and didn't surface until July 17, 2008, when she was arrested in Afghanistan with her 11-year-old son, Ahmed. After her arrest, she allegedly told U.S. officials that she had been on her way to the airport to visit an uncle in Islamabad when she was kidnapped by American intelligence , drugged and taken to a secret prison where she was tortured. Her mother told the BBC that two days after Siddiqui dropped out of sight, a man in a motorcycle helmet showed up at her house and told her to keep quiet if she ever wanted to see her daughter and grandchildren again.The CIA denies that it ever arrested Siddiqui. To make matters more confusing, she has also claimed variously that she was kidnapped by Pakistani intelligence and that she was working as an agent for Pakistani intelligence, according to Time Prisoners at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan claimed there was a woman detained there whose screams and sobs would keep them awake at night. She was nicknamed the " Grey Lady of Bagram " by British journalist and activist Yvonne Ridley. The Bagram inmates said she was referred to as " Prisoner 650 ." They reportedly went on a hunger strike in 2005 to protest her treatment.After Siddiqui graduated from MIT in 1995, her parents arranged for her to marry Muhammad Amjad Khan, a Pakistani anesthesiologist who worked in Boston. Khan was questioned by the FBI after 9/11 because he had purchased night-vision goggles, military manuals and body armor. He explained that they were for big-game hunting in Pakistan, according to Der Spiegel. The couple moved back to Pakistan soon afterward, and in 2002 they divorced while Siddiqui was pregnant with their third child.When she was arrested in 2008, she told FBI investigators that she had remarried Ammar al-Baluchi, also known as Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, one of the five accused 9/11 plotters and the nephew of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Al-Baluchi was arrested in Pakistan in 2003, one month after he had married Siddiqui, according to a psychologist working for her defense lawyers. He is being held at Guantanamo. Siddiqui's family denies that they are married, according to the BBC In 2004, a United Nations report said that Siddiqui had traveled to Liberia in July 2001 to purchase blood diamonds worth $19 million for al-Qaida, though the information was never verified, according to Der Spiegel.A key question before and during Siddiqui's trial in New York was whether she was mentally sound. Berman decided she was fit to stand trial , though her attorneys had tried to convince him otherwise. Psychological experts on both sides testified with conflicting views of her mental stability, with some saying she was faking her mental illness.Today, when her lawyers asked for leniency from Berman, claiming their client suffers from schizophrenia, Siddiqui threw her hands in the air and said, "I do not have any mental illness," according to The Wall Street Journal Her trial this winter was punctuated with similar outbursts and strange exclamations, some of which resulted in her removal. She told the judge in January that she did not want any Jewish jurors and expected them to be biologically tested to ensure a fair trial.At her hearing Thursday, Siddiqui said she had evidence that Israel was behind the Sept. 11 attacks. But she also had a message of peace, telling the audience not to get angry and to "forgive Judge Berman." She said she didn't want "any bloodshed," only "to make peace and end the wars" and that she had been treated well while in the American prison. |||||


News article:

“It’s a big breakthrough,” said Paul F. Walker, an arms control expert with the environmental group Green Cross International who has helped in efforts to demilitarize the American and Russian chemical weapons stockpiles since the 1990s. “Even though Libya’s chemical stockpile was relatively small, the effort to destroy it was very difficult because of weather, geography and because it’s a dangerous area with warring tribes, increasing the risks of theft and diversion,” he said.

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 Libya’s last two tons of chemical weapons were dwarfed by the 1,300 tons that Syria has agreed to destroy. But American and international arms experts say the need for easily transportable and efficient technology to wipe out the Libyan arms became a model for the Syria program now underway.

 For Libya’s fragile transitional government, such collaboration with the West on security matters is a delicate issue. It gives the country’s leaders desperately needed assistance to defuse internal threats, but also risks accusations of compromising national sovereignty.

 Asked about the American efforts to destroy the chemical weapons, Libyan security officials in Tripoli initially issued sweeping denials. One later briefly acknowledged the operation on the condition of anonymity, and then officials stopped returning phone calls.

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 On Sunday, the White House said that it would ensure that the Syrian government complied with an accord to give up its chemical arsenal despite missed deadlines and delays in carrying out the deal.

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 The White House chief of staff, Denis McDonough, said on the CBS News program “Face the Nation” that the deal was “not falling apart, but we would like to see it proceed much more quickly than it is.”

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 The disposal of the last of Libya’s chemical weapons closes a chapter that Colonel Qaddafi began in early 2004, when his government turned over a vast cache of nuclear technology and chemical stockpiles to the United States, Britain and international nuclear inspectors.

 At that time, Libya declared for destruction 24.7 metric tons of sulfur mustard, a syrupy liquid that when loaded into bombs or artillery shells and exploded creates a toxic mist that penetrates clothing, burns and blisters exposed skin, and can kill with large doses or if left untreated. The chemical was used extensively in World War I.

 Libya had destroyed about half of these stocks when civil war broke out in 2011. Western spy agencies closely monitored the destruction site in the Libyan desert to ensure the stockpiles were not pilfered by insurgents.

 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 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.

 When the new government took control in Tripoli that fall, it signaled its intent to finish the job. Libyan officials also surprised Western inspectors by announcing the discovery in November 2011 and February 2012 of two hidden caches of mustard, or nearly two tons, that had not been declared by Colonel Qaddafi’s government. That brought the total declared amount of chemical to 26.3 tons.

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 Unlike the majority of Libya’s mustard agents, which were stored in large, bulky containers, the new caches were already armed and loaded into 517 artillery shells, 45 plastic sleeves for rocket launchings and eight 500-pound bombs.

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 The new stockpiles immediately posed huge challenges for the fledgling Libyan government, which had no ability to destroy the combat-ready chemical weapons, as well as for its American and European allies called upon to help.

 The disposal site is deep in the desert, in an area where Islamist militants hostile to the West wield growing influence. It also sits on the front line of the struggle between Libya’s eastern and western provinces over political power and oil revenue. A defining issue in post-Qaddafi politics, the regional rivalry has often spilled out into armed blockades of the national highways and crucial oil-export terminals as well.

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 Using $45 million from the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program, which has helped rid the former Soviet Union of thousands of nuclear weapons since the end of the Cold War, the Pentagon and its Defense Threat Reduction Agency tapped the Parsons Corporation, a construction firm based in Pasadena, Calif., to work with Libya to oversee the rebuilding and safeguarding of the Libyan disposal site, which had been ransacked during the civil war.

 Remarkably, the mustard agents stored in bulk containers at the site were untouched and their inspection seals unbroken, American and international officials said. These have all been destroyed, too.

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 Canada donated $6 million to help restore water, sewage service and electricity to the site, and to build living quarters for Western and Libyan contractors. Germany agreed to fly international inspectors to the site.

 The project has relied on a custom-built device from Dynasafe, a Swedish company, to destroy the weapons. It is essentially a giant, high-tech oven called a static-detonation chamber. The munitions were fed through an automated loading system into a gas-tight chamber, where the toxic materials were vaporized at temperatures between 750 and 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Gases created in the process were scrubbed by special filters.

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 “The destruction of these munitions was a major undertaking in arduous, technically challenging circumstances,” Ahmet Uzumcu, the director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, whose inspectors supervised the destruction of the chemical weapons, said in a written statement.

 Although American officials acknowledge that Libya is awash with conventional arms, they expressed confidence that the vast Libyan desert holds no other secret caches of unconventional arms for jihadis to exploit.

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 Andrew C. Weber, assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical and biological defense programs, said, “This is the culmination of a major international effort to eliminate weapons of mass destruction from Libya and to ensure that they never fall into the hands of terrorists.” ||||| Image copyright Other

 Since Muammar Gaddafi's ignominious death at the hands of a rebel mob in October 2011 much has been written and said about him. But now a new film, with unprecedented access to those close to Gaddafi, provides a comprehensive study of Libya's brutal and contradictory long-time leader.

 Ali Aujali, Gaddafi's former ambassador to the United States, is an exceptionally charming man.

 Gaddafi and the airliners Image copyright AFP Pan Am flight 103 from London to New York destroyed by a bomb on 21 December 1988 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 259 people

 Abdelbaset al-Megrahi (pictured), was jailed for the bombing in 2001, released in August 2009 suffering from cancer and died in May 2012

 On 9 September 1989 UTA flight 772 was travelling from Brazzaville to Paris when it was blown up over the Sahara desert. All 156 passengers and 14 crew members were killed

 In 1999 a French court found six Libyans guilty in absentia of planting a bomb and sentenced them to life imprisonment

 On 22 December 1992 - four years and a day after Lockerbie - 157 people died when a Libyan airliner disintegrated as it came in to land in Tripoli

 There have been calls for the crash to be reinvestigated and now Ali Aujali has claimed Gaddafi was responsible The Gaddafi family tree UTA 772 memorial seen from space

 He is also something of a magician. He began his career in the Libyan diplomatic service a couple of years after Gaddafi seized power in 1969.

 In a series of postings from London to Latin America, he explained away the excesses of the Gaddafi regime. So I was rather surprised to sit with Mr Aujali surrounded by the staggeringly ornate Libyan embassy in Washington and hear him tear the colonel to pieces.

 Mr Aujali defected to the rebels in February 2011 and became their ambassador to the United States.

 According to him, there was literally nothing good about the man whose regime he had served most of his adult life.

 Secret after secret spilled out. We checked as many of his claims as we could.

 There were anecdotes we could not follow up, such as his claim that a young man had been tied to two cars and ripped in half after complaining that Gaddafi had had sex with his wife.

 But there were other claims we could check.

 One was that on 22 December 1992, almost four years to the day after Pan Am 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, a Libyan Arab Airlines 727 was shot down on Gaddafi's orders.

 A total of 157 people - Libyans and foreigners - had died.

 Its flight number, curiously, was 1103.

 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The wreckage of Flight 1103 on the outskirts of Tripoli

 After Gaddafi fell, the British wife of one of the victims tried to get the new Libyan government to open an enquiry.

 Reporters pieced together statements made by pilots of military jets in the area, air traffic controllers and airline employees.

 But what was important about Mr Aujali's statement to us was that it was the first time a true insider had spoken out.

 Was he sure? "100%," he said.

 A bomb with a timer had been placed on board the plane. When it failed to detonate, Gaddafi ordered the plane to be knocked out of the sky, near Tripoli airport.

 Find out more Image caption Ali Aujali switched sides in 2011, after representing Gaddafi for 40 years Watch Mad Dog: Gaddafi's Secret World on BBC Four at 22:00 GMT on Monday 3 February or catch it later on iPlayer. Mad Dog: Gaddafi's Secret World

 Why?

 Mr Aujali said his motive had been to show the West - via Libya's state-controlled media - how international sanctions imposed after Lockerbie were hurting ordinary Libyans.

 Unable to buy spare parts, the story went, Libyan Arab Airlines could not fly its planes safely. The dead were victims of what Gaddafi liked to represent to visitors as Western terrorism.

 The official explanation varied. Eventually the regime jailed the pilot of a Libyan Air Force MiG and his instructor, claiming they had collided with the plane.

 The instructor, Majid Tayari, agreed to meet us in a Tripoli hotel. There was no collision, he insisted. He saw part of the tail of the 727 hurtling towards him.

 Something hit the MiG from underneath, then fire broke out. Both pilots ejected. According to him the 727 had been hit first.

 Pieces of fuselage rained down at very high speed and punctured the skin of the MiG.

 Libyan Arab Airlines' air safety manager in 1992, Mahmud Tekalli, also disputes that a mid-air collision was the cause. He believes flight 1103 was deliberately destroyed.

 Image caption Frank Terpil ran a murder-for-hire business for Gaddafi until his cover was blown 30 years ago

 We went to the crash site and then negotiated our way past the militia guarding Tripoli airport.

 A back road runs past elderly planes.

 Off the road we found the wreckage of Flight 1103 in eerily good condition, protected by the desert climate, ready to lay bare its secrets to crash investigators.

 Mr Aujali was not the only insider we met on our travels.

 On a private island in the Pacific Ocean, we talked to Lutz Kayser, a German rocket designer who worked for Gaddafi in the 1980s.

 Mr Kayser says: "He was a very nice, modest person and I had the impression he was hiding his weakness behind a facade."

 Mr Kayser's wife, Susanne, says Gaddafi was "charming and could charm the birds out of the trees" but she said he later became disillusioned when he failed to set up a "utopia" in Libya.

 In Havana we interviewed Frank Terpil, an American fugitive from justice who ran a "Murder Incorporated" operation for Gaddafi in the 1970s, killing Libyan dissidents abroad.

 Mr Terpil said: "Gaddafi thought that anybody who was a dissident was going to be eliminated. He had contracts out on a bunch of people in London."

 Image caption Urs Tinner, who was tracked down to Switzerland, said he feared for his life

 And after pursuing him for months, we finally reached Urs Tinner, a Swiss engineer who worked for Abdul Qadeer Khan, once called the most dangerous man in the world.

 Mr Khan developed nuclear weapons for Pakistan and later offered nuclear technology to any country with the money to pay. Gaddafi was his most lucrative client.

 Mr Tinner says he was not aware Mr Khan was a "nuclear proliferator" but when he realised he tipped off the CIA, who intercepted a ship with final parts for a centrifuge.

 We also unearthed evidence of Gaddafi's sexual abuse of young girls.

 And one of his female bodyguards, who now lives in hiding, told us she ended up fearing him: "[One night] we were going to witness the execution of 17 students. They did not hang them. They shot them. We were forbidden to scream. We were ordered to cheer."

 Finally we found Gary Peters, an Australian bodyguard for the Gaddafi family, who had fled to Niger with the ex-leader's son Saadi, while Gaddafi made his last stand in Sirte. He said: "He stood to the last because he thought he could possibly reclaim his status."

 Watch Mad Dog: Gaddafi's Secret World on BBC Four on Monday 3 February at 22:00 GMT or catch it later on catch it later on the BBC iPlayer. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– The destruction of Syria's chemical weapons continues to hit delays—but a secret effort to rid Libya of chemical weapons has been a success, the New York Times reports. The US and Libya have been destroying what was left of Moammar Gadhafi's stockpile, including hundreds of weapons containing a mustard agent. The three-month project, which wiped out two tons of arms using what the Times calls a "giant, high-tech oven," ended last week. "It’s a big breakthrough," says an expert, noting that the process—a basis for the much larger effort in Syria—"was very difficult because of weather, geography, and because it's a dangerous area with warring tribes, increasing the risks of theft and diversion." In 2004, Gadhafi had provided some 24.7 metric tons of chemical weapons to the West for destruction, but only half were gone by the time civil war began in 2011. The post-Gadhafi Libyan government sought to rid itself of the remainder, as well as almost two tons of additional material it had found—agents already installed in bombs and artillery, the Times notes. The destruction effort, which used funds from the Pentagon as well as Canada, saw the weapons vaporized in an oven created by Swedish firm Dynasafe. Meanwhile, the BBC is airing old Gadhafi secrets in a special tonight; among them, a former ally who says the strongman ordered a plane shot down near Tripoli in 1992, killing 157 passengers in a demonstration against sanctions.


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The four young women killed Saturday when an alleged drunken driver plowed his pickup truck into the limousine they had hired for a celebratory day in the North Fork wine country all called the town of Smithtown home.

 The limo passengers were "a group of women out celebrating an upcoming event," Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Elizabeth Miller said Sunday. "There was a bride" and she survived the wreck, Miller said. Friends and family of some of the women said the gathering was not a wedding celebration. Officials with the limousine company said the car was hired for a birthday.

 Miller spoke after the arraignment of pickup truck driver Steven Romeo, 55, of Southold at Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport, where he was admitted after the wreck. Romeo was charged with DWI, a misdemeanor, but ordered held on $500,000 cash bail or $1 million bond. He pleaded not guilty Sunday.

 Miller said charges likely would be upgraded. Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota and Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley are scheduled to hold a news conference at 12:30 p.m. Monday at the Southhold Town Police Department with updates about the investigation.

 Romeo, co-owner of Romeo Dimon Marine Service in Southold, is scheduled to appear in Southold Town Court on Friday. Miller did not disclose his blood-alcohol level or where he was before the crash.

 Family and friends on Sunday described the four women killed as vibrant and accomplished.

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 Amy Grabina, 23, of Commack was a "die-hard" Boston Red Sox fan. Stephanie Belli, 23, of Kings Park had studied business at Farmingdale State College.

 Lauren Baruch, 24, of Smithtown, was "unafraid to be the only one on the dance floor." Brittney Schulman, 23, of Smithtown graduated from SUNY Cortland last year and wanted to work in public relations in the fashion industry.

 Police identified their four friends who survived the crash as Joelle M. Dimonte, 25, of Elwood; Alicia Arundel, 24, of Setauket; Olga Lipets, 24, of Brooklyn, and Melissa Angela Crai, 23, of Scarsdale.

 The limo picked up the women at Baruch's home, her father said Sunday. Some of their cars remained at the home, Steven Baruch said.

 Witnesses on Saturday said Romeo was seen sitting in the back of the pickup right after the wreck, but police said he ran from the crash scene.

 Romeo's attorney, Dan O'Brien, offered condolences to the victims and said his client did not leave the scene of the wreck. Miller did not address whether Romeo had fled. "It's a tough situation," said O'Brien, who is based in Nesconset.

 Neither Romeo, who remained hospitalized, nor his business partner Kris Dimon could be reached for comment. Their marine services business was closed Sunday, and the answering system message was changed midday to remove Romeo's cellphone number.

 This map shows where a pickup truck plowed into a limo in Cutchogue on Saturday, July 18, 2015, leaving four women dead. This map shows where a pickup truck plowed into a limo in Cutchogue on Saturday, July 18, 2015, leaving four women dead.

 Also injured in the crash was limo driver Carlos Pino, 58, of Bethpage, who works for Ultimate Class Limousine in Hicksville. Pino has not been charged with any crime.

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 In a statement, company officials called the crash "a tragic accident on what should have been a happy day for a group of young women. We pray for the victims and for the families as they go though this unimaginable time."

 "We are in direct contact with all authorities and we are providing all information that they have requested for their investigation," Ultimate Class Limousine officials said in the statement.

 One of the last stops the limo took the women to was Vineyard 48, located on the south side of Route 48, just west of Depot Lane. The limo was trying to make a U-turn on Depot when Romeo's pickup broadsided its right side, officials said.

 Dimonte had surgery at Peconic Bay Medical Center Sunday and is in stable condition, according to Samantha Vigliotta, vice president of the center's foundation and external affairs. Arundel and Lipets were in fair condition at Stony Brook University Hospital Sunday night, according to spokesman Greg Filiano.

 Lipets' grandmother in Brooklyn, Lyubov Drurer, said Lipets was in surgery at Stony Brook Sunday. Lipets' mother, father, uncle, aunt, and boyfriend were by her side, Drurer said.

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 The crash was the second multifatal wreck on Long Island in a week. Three members of a Queens family -- the father and two young children -- died July 12 when their car was rear-ended by an alleged drunken driver on the Southern State Parkway at the exit for Robert Moses Causeway.

 The Cutchogue intersection where the limousine crash occurred has long been a worry to residents because of the convergence of vineyard-bound limousines making U-turns amid oncoming traffic on the rural road. It was not known if the limo cut in front of the truck, Southold Police Chief Martin Flatley said Saturday night.

 "He [the pickup truck driver] hit the brakes right before and he broadsided the limo right on the passenger side," he said.

 Flower bouquets had been placed in the roadway median at the crash site Sunday.

 William Rule, 64, was among those dropping off bouquets. He had picked lilies from his garden in Riverhead, he said.

 He said he did not know the victims but felt the tragedy was "so horrific" he needed to contribute to the growing memorial.

 "This traditionally had been a quiet area, not very busy," he said of the North Fork's vineyard region, but noted it has become "built up and more of an attraction." ||||| They were all 23 and 24 years old, their whole lives seemingly ahead of them.

 They were visiting the North Fork to celebrate a major event in one of their friend’s lives.

 Then, as the driver of the limousine they had booked to help keep them safe during a trip to local wineries attempted to make a U-turn on Route 48 and Depot Lane in Cutchogue, the lives of the four friends came to a tragic end Saturday.

 Steve Romeo, 55, of Southold was charged with driving while intoxicated after his pickup truck allegedly t-boned the limousine while traveling west along County Road 48 shortly after 5 p.m.

 The crash took the lives of Brittney Schulman, 23, of Smithtown; Lauren Baruch, 24, of Smithtown; Stephanie Belli, 23, of Kings Park; and Amy Grabina, 23, of Commack.

 Three of the victims died at the scene and the fourth died at Peconic Bay Medical Center, Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley said.

 Injured but surviving the crash were four additional passengers: Joelle Dimonti, 25, of Elwood; Melissa Crai, 23, of Scarsdale, N.Y.; Alicia Arundel, 24, of Setauket; and Olga Lipets, 24, of Brooklyn. The limousine driver, 58-year-old Carlos Pino of Bethpage, was treated for non-life threatening injuries at a Suffolk County hospital.

 The limo had just left Vineyard 48 and was heading east before Mr. Pino attempted the ill-fated turn.

 Fire crews from Cutchogue, Mattituck, East Marion, Greenport, Southold and Jamesport all responded to the scene. Two Suffolk County police helicopters assisted in the rescue, landing directly on Route 48, which remained closed in both directions for several hours. The road was open again by 11:40 p.m.

 The crash scene was devastating to those with the misfortune to drive past it Saturday.

 “As we came around, all we saw were bodies out the left side of the vehicle, hanging out,” said Lynne Lulfs, a Hampton Bays woman who witnessed the crash. “It was surreal; it did not look real.”

 Witnessing the tragedy hit home for Ms. Lulfs, who said her father died in a car accident when she was young.

 “This will resonate with us forever,” she said.

 People who live near the intersection said it’s a frequent spot for crashes. Ruth Urwand, who lives on Depot Lane, said she believes a regular stoplight should replace the blinking light that’s currently there.

 Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Elizabeth Miller said additional charges are expected in the case, as Mr. Romeo is currently facing just one misdemeanor drunk driving charge.

 “At this time we are continuing the investigation and looking at upgrading the charges significantly,” she said, adding that Mr. Romeo is due in Southold Town Justice Court Friday.

 When asked about the emotional state of his client, defense attorney Dan O’Brien of Nesconset said “It’s a tough, tough situation.” He declined to say where Mr. Romeo was headed at the time of the crash.

 Ms. Miller said one of the women was “a bride” and that the friends were celebrating “an upcoming event.”

 “I don’t believe it was a bridal party, but they were celebrating,” she said in reference to reports that the women were visiting the North Fork for a bachelorette party.

 News of the fatal crash led friends and family of the victims to post memories of them on social media.

 An anguished man who answered the phone at Ms. Baruch’s house Sunday afternoon declined to comment, saying only that he couldn’t talk.

 “I’m sorry,” he said.

 One Commack woman, who asked to be identified only as the mother of one of Ms. Grabina’s friends, said “She was such a vibrant girl.”

 “She tried everything,” the woman said. “She was young — a young girl. I can’t even imagine what her parents are going through right now.”

 According to her Facebook profile, Ms. Grabina graduated from Florida State University in 2014 and had been hired less than a month ago as a staff accountant at New York City firm Ernst & Young.

 Mr. Romeo pleaded not guilty at his bedside arraignment at Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport, where he is being treated for non-life threatening injuries. Southold Town Justice Rudolph Bruer set bail at $500,000 cash or $1 million bond.

 The Southold businessman was previously involved in a fatal accident in January 2014 at a construction site in Mattituck, where a 30-year-old worker was struck in the head and killed by a bucket that fell off of a skid-steer loader being operated by Mr. Romeo. He was not charged in that incident, but the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations and fined the business, in part because Mr. Romeo had not been trained to use the equipment he was operating.

 A wrongful death suit filed by the worker’s family against Romeo Dimon Marine and the owner of the construction site is pending in New York State Supreme Court, online court records show.

 A representative from Romeo Dimon Marine’s Southold office declined to comment on the fatal crash Sunday morning.

 “It’s a private matter,” he told a Suffolk Times reporter, declining to identify himself. “It has nothing to do with business. I have no comment. Nothing to say to you.”

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 Top photo: The intersection of Depot Lane and Route 48 in Cutchogue where four women where killed when an alleged drunk driver plowed into the limo they were riding in on Saturday afternoon. (Credit: Vera Chinese)

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– The truck driver who left a bride-to-be critically injured and killed four of her friends in a horrific car crash yesterday has pleaded not guilty to drunk driving. Steven Romeo, 55, made the plea today from a Long Island hospital bed where he's recovering from injuries sustained in the crash, the New York Times reports. His bail is set at $1 million bond or $500,000 cash. "Right now, we’re continuing the investigation and looking into upgrading the charges significantly," says assistant DA Elizabeth Miller, who adds that the limo driver won't be charged. Meanwhile, Romeo's lawyer denied media reports that Romeo was driving drunk or fled the scene, but said little else. Details are emerging about the accident, in which a bride-to-be and seven of her friends were riding in a limousine just after 5pm on Route 48 in Cutchogue, NY. "I don’t believe it was a bridal party, but they were celebrating," Miller tells the Suffolk Times. The limo was negotiating a U-turn at a crossroad that has two flashing yellow lights going west and east to caution drivers, Newsday reports. That's when Romeo's pickup slammed into the limo with such force that it tore almost totally through the vehicle. An eyewitness says Romeo sat there, bloodied and incoherent, holding a water bottle. Dead in the crash are Lauren Baruch, 24, Stephanie Belli, 23, Amy R. Grabina, 23, and Brittney Schulman, 23. A local boat repairman, Romeo was involved in another fatality last year when a bucket fell off a skid-steer loader he was operating at a construction site, killing a 30-year-old worker—but while citations and fines were issued, Romeo wasn't charged, partly because he hadn't been trained to operate the equipment.


Here is a news article: Automatically Generated Transcript (may not be 100% accurate)

 00:01 Anybody who walks up and premeditated way with a rifle.

 00:08 And attacks somebody in uniform and purposely goes through parliament. His

 00:14 conduct is is is committing. By common sense standards terrorist act

 00:20 we will continue to have vigilance and aggressively. Take every step

 00:24 possible to do that and we will continue to intensify. Our

 00:29 law enforcement. Border protection. And Intel sharing relationship and efforts to

 00:35 do that I'm confident that we will come up with. Some

 00:39 tweaks some changes. Some additions. That will. Promote even greater security

 00:46 than we have today. There's no doubt that the events of

 00:49 Wednesday we're not just an attack on one soldier. An attack

 00:53 on one building they were attacked on our democracy there were

 00:56 terrorist attack.

  ||||| The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday announced heightened security measures at federal buildings in the District and nationwide, citing the recent shooting at the Canadian Parliament and threats from terrorist groups to attack the homeland.

 DHS officials emphasized that the step was precautionary and not based on any intelligence about a specific terrorist plot. Rather, they said, the shootings in Canada and other events such as the ongoing U.S. bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria dictated that more security would be a wise measure. The increased security started over the weekend but was only announced Tuesday because of its sensitivity, they said.

 “This is a precautionary step to safeguard U.S. government personnel and facilities, and the visitors to those facilities,’’ said a senior DHS official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The changes are “not based on any specific, credible information at this time indicating any active plot against government officials and law enforcement in the United States.’’

 Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced heightened security at federal buildings nationwide on Tuesday. (AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

 In announcing the raised security alert, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said: “The reasons for this action are self-evident: the continued public calls by terrorist organizations for attacks on the homeland and elsewhere, including against law enforcement and other government officials, and the acts of violence targeted at government personnel and installations in Canada and elsewhere recently. ‘’

 “Given world events,’’ Johnson said, “prudence dictates a heightened vigilance in the protection of U.S. government installations and our personnel.

 Johnson and other officials would not detail the new security measures or which government buildings will be affected, other than saying they will be buildings in D.C. and other major cities and locations around the country. “The precise actions we are taking and the precise locations at which we will enhance security is law-enforcement sensitive, will vary and shift from location to location, and will be continually re-evaluated,’’ Johnson said.

 The DHS action, which will be carried out by the Federal Protective Service — which guards more than 9,500 federal facilities passed through by 1.4 million visitors or occupants daily — followed last week’s shocking violence in Canada. In Ottawa, the capital, a gunman killed an honor guard soldier and then opened fire inside the nearby Parliament building.

 Gunfire rocked the core of Canada’s government and set off a chaotic scene across downtown Ottawa, in a country that rarely sees gun violence.

 President Obama condemned the violence, saying “Obviously we’re all shaken by it.” |||||
A summary of this is?

– Security has been beefed up at federal buildings across the country—not because of any specific threat, but because of "world events," the Department of Homeland Security says. The Federal Protective Service, which guards more than 9,500 federal courthouses and other buildings nationwide, boosted security measures over the weekend, days after a gunman made it into Canada's Parliament building, reports the Washington Post. "The reasons for this action are self-evident: the continued public calls by terrorist organizations for attacks on the homeland and elsewhere, including against law enforcement and other government officials, and the acts of violence targeted at government personnel and installations in Canada and elsewhere recently," DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement. The chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security hailed the move, while Johnson urged state and local security officials to also prepare for "potential small-scale attacks by a lone offender or a small group of individuals," USA Today reports.


KEYSTONE, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia Department of Transportation worker faces charges of driving a state snow plow while drunk.

 The McDowell County Sheriff's Department says Thomas Keith Henderson of Elkhorn was arrested late Wednesday during a traffic stop on Burke Mountain near Keystone.

 A criminal complaint says Deputy R.L. Jones stopped the snow plow because the driver's side headlight was out. The deputy smelled alcohol and saw that Jones' eyes were bloodshot and glassy.

 The sheriff's department says Henderson's blood alcohol level was 0.09. That's more than twice the 0.04 legal limit for commercial driver's license holders.

 DOT spokeswoman Carrie Bly confirmed Henderson is employed by the department. She says the DOT can't comment because it's an ongoing legal matter.

 A telephone listing for Henderson in the Elkhorn area couldn't be found. ||||| McDowell County Sheriff's Deputies arrested a snow plow driver on Wednesday night on charges of drunken driving.

 A deputy pulled over the West Virginia Division of Highways snow plow at 11:30 p.m. Jan. 29. The plow was on Route 6 at the top of Burke Mountain near Keystone at the time. According to the criminal complaint, the truck had a headlight that was not working. The deputy said when he spoke with the driver, Thomas Keith Henderson, he could smell alcohol on Henderson's breath. Henderson then was given a field sobriety test, which deputies said he failed.

 Henderson, 56, of Elkhorn was arrested and charged with DUI (CDL) and Defective Equipment. At the Welch Police Department, Henderson was given a breathalyzer test which registered his Blood Alcohol Content at .090. Deputies said that the legal limit for CDL operators is .04. That is half the legal limit for a standard drivers license, which is .08.

 Henderson was taken to the McDowell County holding unit. He was arraigned Thursday, Jan. 30. He was released on a $500 bond. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– DUI charges are bad enough. DUI charges while driving a state snow plow are liable to make a few headlines. That's the predicament for 56-year-old Thomas Henderson of West Virginia, who got pulled over by a deputy atop a mountain late one night this week, reports WOWK-TV. The deputy stopped the plow because one of its headlights was out, but then he smelled alcohol. Henderson failed a field sobriety test, then blew a .09, which is above the state's regular limit of .08, let alone the stricter limit of .04 for commercial drivers, notes AP.


Summarize this article:

Focused crawls are collections of frequently-updated webcrawl data from narrow (as opposed to broad or wide) web crawls, often focused on a single domain or subdomain. ||||| ENLARGE Photo: Twitter

 Bloomingdale’s, the luxury department store owned by Macy’s Inc., M 0.79 % is the latest advertiser to face an outpouring of criticism on the Web.

 Consumers have taken to social media this week to criticize an ad in Bloomingdale’s holiday catalog that some interpreted as encouraging date rape.

 The ad features a woman laughing with her head turned as a young man looks her way. The text reads: “Spike Your Best Friend’s Eggnog When They’re Not Looking.”

 There have been 3,868 comments on social media channels over the last 48 hours about the ad, according to data from social media analytics firm Networked Insights. The majority of the comments, Networked Insights said, are negative. Data shows that many of the online commentators have called the ad “creepy.”

 Bloomingdale’s has apologized for the ad. “In reflection of recent feedback, the copy we used in our current catalog was inappropriate and in poor taste. Bloomingdale’s sincerely apologizes for this error in judgment,” said the company in a statement.

 It’s unclear what the intention of the ad was, but branding experts say that marketers are under pressure to stand out amid the ever-increasing amount of advertising messages that consumers are being bombarded with every day. And even more is at stake heading into the all-important holiday shopping season.

 “Marketers have to work harder to get attention nowadays, but the more they try, the riskier it becomes,” said Jonah Disend, chief executive officer of Redscout, a branding firm owned by MDC Partners.

 Bloomingdale’s is the latest company to see how quickly controversy can spread thanks in part to social media. Earlier this week, consumers took to social media to complain about Starbuck’s new red holiday cups or to vent about the fact there was even a controversy.

 Write to Suzanne Vranica at suzanne.vranica@wsj.com |||||

– "Bloomingdale's must be pleased everyone is too distracted by red cups to notice its pro-roofie holiday ad," tweets one Washington Post writer. That's right, another company has found itself in some holiday hot water this week. The Wall Street Journal reports the Internet is in an uproar over an ad in the Bloomingdale's holiday catalog that appears to encourage date rape. The offending ad shows a laughing woman looking away as a man stares intently at her. The text reads: "Spike Your Best Friend's Eggnog When They're Not Looking." A social analytics firm found thousands of online comments made about the ad, mostly negative with the majority opinion apparently being "creepy." "Someone at Bloomingdale’s thought this ad was smart," a Mashable executive tweets. "I assume that person has been fired." But it's not just the Internet that has a problem with Bloomingdale's ad. "What is this? Some kind of business function they’re attending? This is the way we’re going to treat women in the workplace?” a gender studies professor tells the Post. “It’s sending the message that it is it okay to have sex with people who are incapable of consent." "I doubt the person who created this was consciously thinking about sexual assault," another expert says. "Male or female, whoever it was who came up with this—and the many people who okayed it—just don't get it." Bloomingdale's apologized for the ad in the wake of the uproar. “In reflection of recent feedback, the copy we used in our current catalog was inappropriate and in poor taste," the Journal quotes a company statement. "Bloomingdale’s sincerely apologizes for this error in judgment."