March 2009 Archives

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The actor best known as "Borat" tricked the Alabama National Guard into allowing him onto a post, giving him a military uniform and briefly letting him train -- all, supposedly, for a German TV documentary.

The ruse, which included comedian Sacha Baron Cohen exposing his thong underwear while changing clothes, was going well until a young cadet recognized Cohen and notified older officers who weren't familiar with the actor.

"It's an embarrassment to the Alabama National Guard," Staff Sgt. Katrina Timmons said Monday. "Since then we have put in protocols to make sure this doesn't happen again."

A film crew pulled the stunt Feb. 13 at the Alabama Military Academy, which trains officer candidates from across the nation. The school is located at the Army's old Fort McClellan in Anniston, about 65 miles east of Birmingham.

Footage from the visit could be included in Cohen's upcoming movie featuring his character Bruno, a gay Austrian fashion writer. The reported title is "Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America For The Purpose Of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable In The Presence Of A Gay Foreigner In A Mesh T-Shirt."

Cohen's spokesman, Matthew Labov, declined comment.

Guard officials who let Cohen and his crew into the Alabama base initially believed they were helping foreign journalists.

"They called and said they were a German affiliate of a TV station doing a documentary on what it was like to be in officer candidate school," said Timmons. "They wanted to know if they could come here and embed one person for a few hours up to a day."

Military officials met Cohen and his crew at the gate.

"He was treated like a member of the media and escorted around. He was put in a uniform like he requested to allow him to get a taste of what it was like to be an officer candidate," she said.

The actor's schtick should sound familiar. Cohen portrayed uncouth journalist Borat Sagdiyev in the 2006 hit "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," in which he traveled the United States fooling people with gags.

The film included a scene shot at a dinner party in suburban Birmingham.

The number of Medal of Honor recipients from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan can be counted on one hand.

Each of the five acted spontaneously and heroically to save the lives of comrades. Each exemplified the medal's criteria of "gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of one's own life above and beyond the call of duty."

• Account lockout policies are being tripped.
• Automatic Updates, Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS), Windows Defender, and Error Reporting Services are disabled.
• Domain controllers respond slowly to client requests.
• The network is congested.
• Various security-related Web sites cannot be accessed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Don't expect any change soon to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy about gays in the military.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says both he and President Barack Obama have "a lot on our plates right now." As Gates puts it, "let's push that one down the road a little bit."

The White House has said Obama has begun consulting with Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on how to lift the ban. Gates says that dialogue has not really progressed very far at this point in the administration.

The Pentagon policy was put in place after President Bill Clinton tried to lift the ban on gay service members in 1993.

The policy refers to the military practice of not asking recruits their sexual orientation. In turn, service members are banned from saying they are gay or bisexual, engaging in homosexual activity or trying to marry a member of the same sex.

Gates appeared on "Fox News Sunday."

And by the way, I'm not just talking about Windows XP and Vista. I'm having the same problem with Windows 7 though, to be fair, the new operating system is still in beta so it's possible that Microsoft could amaze and delight me by fixing this in the final version.

I can understand why it takes at least some time for a PC to boot from a power-off situation because the operating system and some software and drivers have to be copied from storage into memory. But I can't understand why it takes more than a few seconds for the computer or one of its applications to shut down. I realize that sometimes there is a bit of housekeeping to do in the form of closing files but--give me a break--should that really have to take up to five minutes? And there have been countless times in my experience when it simply never shuts down, forcing me to hold the power button for several seconds. I've even had laptops that were so stubborn that I had to remove the battery to turn them off.

I'm particularly annoyed at how Windows often fails to terminate programs that have crashed. In theory, pressing Ctrl Alt and Delete to bring up the Task Manager followed by clicking End Task should simply stop the program and return you to the operating system. But that doesn't always work. Sometimes the program just hangs there forever, sometimes it quits after a random period of time and sometimes the entire computer just crashes. Imagine if you had a lamp in your house that was malfunctioning and the only way to turn it off was to turn off all the power to your house from the main breaker.

I haven't raised this particular issue with people at Microsoft, but a couple of years ago- when I was researching a story for The New York Times on technology energy hogs, the standard response from folks in Redmond was to blame third party applications and drivers for the fact that Windows machines often fail to properly go to or wake up from from sleep mode. Third party applications may very well be to blame, but it's no excuse. One of Windows strongest selling points is its ability to work with software and hardware from thousands of sources so it seems to me that a company with the resources and experience of Microsoft should have by now figured out how to handle errant programs and drivers.

I do like many of the improvements in Windows 7 and appreciate that it boots a little faster and--at least on my machine--seems better at going to sleep and waking up. Now all I want is the ability to turn off the darn machine and terminate a misbehaving program without having to dedicate my entire afternoon to the task.

KABUL, Reuters (March 27) - An Afghan army soldier shot dead two U.S. servicemen and wounded a third before killing himself in northeast Afghanistan on Friday, U.S. military said.

The Afghan soldier fired at the U.S. soldiers, killing one and wounding two others, one of whom died later, it said in a statement.

"One coalition service member was killed ... another died of wounds and a third was wounded by an Afghan National Army soldier who reportedly fired upon them," it said. "The Afghan National Army soldier reportedly killed himself immediately after the incident."

The incident occurred at about 2:20 p.m. (6:20 a.m. EDT), before President Barack Obama unveiled the results of his administration's strategy review of Afghanistan, which includes strengthening Afghanistan's national security forces.

The training of the Afghan army and police is being undertaken by U.S. forces.

The U.S. statement quoted Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak as saying the incident was being investigated and "full corrective action" would be taken.

No further information was available from U.S. military. Similar incidents have occurred in the past in Afghanistan, where about 70,000 foreign troops are fighting a growing Taliban insurgency.

Obama's new strategy for Afghanistan set out as its key objective the defeat of al Qaeda militants there and in Pakistan who he said were plotting new attacks on the United States.

Officer Robert Powell also drew his gun during the March 18 incident involving Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats in the Dallas suburb of Plano, police said.

Moats

"I can screw you over," he said at one point in the videotaped incident. When another officer came with word that Moats' mother-in-law was indeed dying, Powell's response was: "All right. I'm almost done."

Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle apologized to the family and announced that Powell would be on paid leave pending an internal investigation.

"When we at the command staff reviewed the tape, we were embarrassed, disappointed," Kunkle said. "It's hard to find the right word and still be professional in my role as the police chief. But the behavior was not appropriate."

Powell, 25, a three-year member of the force, stopped Moats' SUV outside Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano after Moats rolled through a red light.

Police officials said Powell told his commanders he believed he was doing his job, and that he drew his gun but did not point it. Kunkle said Powell was not necessarily acting improperly when he pulled his weapon out, but that once he realized what was happening should have put the gun back, apologized and offered to help the family in any way.

"His behavior, in my opinion, did not exhibit the common sense, the discretion, the compassion that we expect our officers to exhibit," Kunkle said.

Moats' wife, who was in the car along with other relatives, said Powell pointed his weapon at her.

"He was pointing a gun at me as soon as I got out of the car," Tamishia Moats told The Dallas Morning News.

Ryan Moats told KRLD-FM in Dallas in a phone interview Thursday that after the officer pointed the gun at his wife, he pointed it at him. "I just tried to stay as still as possible to not scare him or do anything to make him react," he said.

He earlier told the newspaper he thought Powell should be fired but backed off that in his radio interview.

"All I know is what he did was wrong," Moats said. "He stole a moment away from me that I can never get back. I'm really not the judge on what should happen to him."

The Moats family did not immediately return messages left by The Associated Press. Powell did not respond to requests for comment through the Dallas police union.

Video from a dashboard camera inside the officer's vehicle, obtained by Dallas-Fort Worth station WFAA-TV, revealed an intense exchange in which the officer threatened to jail Moats.

He ordered Tamishia Moats, 27, to get back in the SUV, but after pausing for a few seconds, she and another woman rushed into the hospital. She was by the side of her mother, 45-year-old Jonetta Collinsworth, when she died a short time later from breast cancer.

"Get in there," said Powell, yelling at Tamishia Moats as she exited the vehicle. "Let me see your hands!"

"Excuse me, my mom is dying," Tamishia Moats said. "Do you understand?"

Ryan Moats explained that he waited until there was no traffic before proceeding through the red light. When Powell asked for proof of insurance, Moats grew more agitated and told the officer to go find it.

"My mother-in-law is dying! Right now! You're wasting my time!" Moats yelled. "I don't understand why you can't understand that."

As they argued, the officer got irritated.

"Shut your mouth," the officer said. "You can either settle down and cooperate or I can just take you to jail for running a red light."

By the time the 26-year-old NFL player received a ticket and a lecture from Powell, about 13 minutes had passed. When he and Collinsworth's father entered the hospital, they learned Collinsworth was dead.

Earl Jackson, Collinsworth's father, said he knew what Powell was doing was wrong. "This guy, he wouldn't listen to nobody," Jackson said in an interview with Dallas-Fort Worth station KDFW-TV.

Moats said he wouldn't have had a problem with the officer giving him a ticket after letting him go into the hospital.

"I don't know what he was thinking," he told KRLD-FM. "Basically, I was just shocked. I was very shocked that he wasn't budging on it. I even said I can't believe that this was happening."

Kunkle said the video showed that Moats and his wife "exercised extraordinary patience, restraint in dealing with the behavior of our officer."

"At no time did Mr. Moats identify himself as an NFL football player or expect any kind of special consideration," Kunkle said. "He handled himself very, very well."

The Moats family, who are black, said they can't help but think that race might have played a part in the white officer's behavior.

"I think he should lose his job," Ryan Moats said.

When the exchange was at its most contentious, Powell said he could tow Moats' SUV if he didn't have insurance and that he could arrest him for fleeing because he didn't immediately stop when Powell turned on his sirens. The pursuit lasted a little more than a minute.

"I can screw you over," Powell said. "I'd rather not do that. Your attitude will dictate everything that happens."

The ticket issued to Moats was dismissed, Dallas police spokesman Lt. Andy Harvey said.

Texans spokesman Kevin Cooper said the team had no comment.

Moats, a third-round draft choice of the Philadelphia Eagles in 2005 out of Louisiana Tech, was cut by the Eagles in August and later signed with the Texans. In three seasons as a backup, he's rushed for 441 yards and scored four touchdowns.

He was a standout at Bishop Lynch High School, a private school in Dallas, rushing for more than 2,600 yards and 33 touchdowns as a senior.

• Pre-heat your oven to 475F
• Allow your Prime Rib roast to reach room temperature before preparing
• Find a baking pan that provides for catching the fat drippings

• ~5 Garlic cloves
• Your favorite horse radish (we prefer the natural/raw/HOT)
• Ground black pepper
• Kosher or Sea salt (we prefer Sea Salt)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• A bit of dry white wine
• 1 Tbsp of flour
• 2 Cups beef broth

DojoSec Monthly Briefings - February 2009 - Joseph McCray

Note: Strong Language!

March 26, 2009 (Computerworld) Dell Inc. announced on Tuesday a new PC that, among its other impressive specs, can be upgraded to sport as much as 192GB of ultrafast DDR3 RAM.

The Precision T7500 sports 12 memory slots, each of which can take a PC10600 stick (1333 MHz) of up to 16GB.

Most new desktop PCs have two to four RAM slots that can take up to 4GB modules of DDR2 memory that runs between 400 MHz and 1066 MHz in speed.

Not a high-end gamer PC, the Precision T7500 workstation (which starts at $1,800) is aimed at video game designers, engineers and digital animators.

• #1 Information Security Crime Investigator/Forensics Expert
• #2 System, Network, and/or Web Penetration Tester
• #3 Forensic Analyst
• #4 Incident Responder
• #5 Security Architect
• #6 Malware Analyst
• #7 Network Security Engineer
• #8 Security Analyst
• #9 Computer Crime Investigator
• #10 CISO/ISO or Director of Security
• #11 Application Penetration Tester
• #12 Security Operations Center Analyst
• #13 Prosecutor Specializing in Information Security Crime
• #14 Technical Director and Deputy CISO
• #15 Intrusion Analyst
• #16 Vulnerability Researcher/ Exploit Developer
• #17 Security Auditor
• #18 Security-savvy Software Developer
• #19 Security Maven in an Application Developer Organization
• #20 Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Analyst/Manager

(CNN) -- Erik Roberts, an Army sergeant who was wounded in Iraq, underwent his 13th surgery recently to save his right leg from amputation. Imagine his shock when he got a bill for $3,000 for his treatment.

Army Sgt. Erik Roberts was badly wounded in Iraq with two comrades in April 2006.

"I just thought it was bull---- that I'm getting billed for being wounded in Iraq doing my job. I always put the mission first, and now that I was wounded in Iraq, they're sending me bills," he said.

"I put my life on the line and I was wounded in combat, and I came back and they're not going to take care of my medical bills?"

It's a level of outrage shared by his mother, as well as the doctor who performed the surgery.

"It's hard to understand why we're not taking care of guys like Erik whose injuries are clearly related to their service. They deserve the best care of anybody," said Dr. William Obremskey, an Air Force veteran and surgeon at Vanderbilt Orthopaedics in Nashville, Tennessee.

"For him to be responsible for $3,000, I think, is a little ridiculous or is uncalled for, particularly in this situation."

His mother, Robin Roberts, put it more succinctly: "Why should any soldier pay one penny of a medical bill from injuries that occurred while they were fighting in a war? That's what really frustrates me."

The Department of Veterans Affairs has now decided to pay his bill, but only after prodding from a U.S. senator who got involved after CNN brought it to his attention.

Roberts, of Warren, Ohio, is one of more than 31,100 U.S. troops to have been wounded in Iraq. An additional 4,262 have died in the war.

Roberts was wounded April 25, 2006, when roadside bombs tore through his Humvee in western Baghdad. Heat from the flames ignited the Humvee's ammunition, which popped off all around. See Roberts describe getting blown up »

Roberts and his buddies, A.J. Jefferson and Luke Murphy, were badly wounded and bleeding on the ground after jumping the from the burning vehicle. They were saved by comrades who rushed to help them.

"The truck automatically filled with smoke. There was fire coming from the middle of the truck. And I just feel my whole right side just like kind of explode," Roberts said. "I thought at that moment that my life was over, so I started praying."

All three soldiers survived the attack, but Murphy lost his leg. Days later, on his 23rd birthday, Roberts returned to the States. He underwent a series of life-saving surgeries, including 12 different ones to repair his fractured right leg. A metal rod was inserted in his upper leg to help the fracture heal.

He retired from the Army in October 2007, because of his war injuries, and enrolled in college last fall at Youngstown State University, majoring in finance and minoring in economics.

But in December, he says, a golf ball-sized lump appeared on his wounded leg. He says he went to a Veterans Affairs hospital and was told not to worry about it.

A few days later, he says, he went to the emergency room after the lump flared up more. A doctor there, he says, told him that the leg was badly infected and that it might have to be amputated.

Desperate for help, his mother contacted the Army surgeon who had saved her son's life two years earlier. That doctor referred him to Obremskey, the Vanderbilt surgeon.

The Robertses say the VA did not approve of them going outside the system. Erik Roberts says he had no choice -- it was have surgery or potentially lose his leg.

"I thought my leg was more important than the usual bureaucratic mess," he said.

His leg was saved. The $3,000 billed to Roberts wasn't for the surgery itself. It's a portion of the bill for six weeks of daily antibiotics to prevent the infection from coming back. His private insurance plan picked up the majority of the $90,000 in costs.

Roberts has been administering the drugs himself -- up to seven IVs a day, with a nurse coming to his home once a week to check on him. At one point, his mom says, the insurance company suggested the war veteran should be put in a nursing home to receive the round-the-clock antibiotics.

"Now why would you want to put an injured soldier who is 25 years old in a nursing home to get IVs?" Robin Roberts said. "He said, 'Send me home and teach me to do it myself.' "

Roberts has also paid for his travel expenses from Ohio to Tennessee for treatment. He fears how much of the $57,000 surgery bill he will owe and how much he might be billed for his emergency room visit in December.

His schooling has been put on hold because of his surgery and lengthy recovery.

"These soldiers and young men and women fight for our country and our freedom, only to come back to have to fight for their health and their life back in the United States," Robin Roberts said.

Dr. Obremskey said it's "frustrating" to hear about cases like Roberts'. He says the lesson from Roberts' story is "pretty obvious."

"If they're injured in the service to our country, we should continue to take care of them even if they are discharged from active duty because of their injuries. Some mechanism ought to be available for them to obtain whatever care they need," Obremskey said.

CNN on Wednesday contacted the office of Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Roberts' home state of Ohio who serves on the Senate's VA committee. Brown's office had not heard of Roberts' case, but immediately reached out to the soldier and alerted the VA about his situation.

In less than 24 hours, the VA got back to CNN. "The VA will be paying the bill," said VA spokesman Sean Nelson.

Brown's office issued a written statement, applauding the decision. "Sen. Brown is pleased to hear that Mr. Roberts will not have out-of-pocket costs for a service-connected injury. However, he believes it should not take the intervention of a U.S. senator for our veterans to receive the care they've been promised."

Roberts said he appreciates the help. Despite everything he's experienced, Roberts -- who went into the Army just after high school -- said he would never trade in being a member of the 101st Airborne.

The January airstrike in the desert northwest of Port Sudan, which Israel refuses to comment on, reportedly killed 39 people riding in 17 trucks.

The attack, which Paris's Sudan Tribune called an "embarrassment" to Sudan's government, also exposed a network that stretches from Iran through the Persian Gulf and Yemen to Sudan, Egypt and Hamas-ruled Gaza, said analysts, including U.S. terrorism and security expert Reva Bhalla.

Around the time of the attack, Bhalla suggested Lebanon's militant Hezbollah Shiite movement was involved in the Iranian-created arms network, The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday.

"You'll have a bunch of Hezbollah agents who will procure arms through Sudan," said Bhalla, director of geopolitical analysts at Strategic Forecasting Inc., an Austin, Texas, private intelligence agency.

"They'll enter Egypt under forged documents, pay off disgruntled Bedouins in the Sinai with things like light arms, cash, Lebanese hashish -- which they can sell in the black market -- and pay off Egyptian security guards as well so that they can travel covertly into Gaza to pass off the weapons shipments through Hamas' pretty extensive underground tunnel network," Bhalla said at the time.

Before conducting its airstrike, Israel learned of plans to move weapons through Sudan north toward Egypt and then through the Sinai into the Gaza Strip, CBS News reported.

Utah:

_Protect more than 250,000 acres of wilderness in and near Zion National Park.

The Omnibus Public Lands Management Act, which cleared the Senate last week, was approved by a margin of 285 to 140 and has been sent to President Obama for his signature.

The bill would officially designate land in California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia as wilderness. That means no logging, mining, drilling, or even vehicles.

The Associated Press details the provisions by state. They include setting aside more than 450,00 acres of wilderness near Santa Clarita, Calif., and along the California-Nevada border, nearly 250,000 acres of Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park, 517,000 acres in Idaho's Owyhee Canyonlands, and more than 250,000 acres of wilderness in and near Utah's Zion National Park.

Environmentalists are hailing the measure. Upon passage of the bill, this blogger's email inbox was flooded with press releases.

William H. Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society was quoted as saying:

"This is a monumental day for wilderness and for all Americans who enjoy the great outdoors. With passage of this bill, Congress has made a great gift to present and future generations of Americans. These special places make our communities better places to live, clean our air and water for free, and provide ecological resilience in the face of climate change. They're also great places to hike and camp and fish with family and friends, of course."

And here's Dave Jenkins, director of government affairs for Republicans for Environmental Protection:

"This bill is the most important conservation legislation that Congress has passed in many years. We are especially pleased that 38 Republicans from all parts of the country supported this bill. It's a powerful demonstration of the good that can be accomplished for our country when Republicans return to their roots as the party of conservation."

Of course, not all were thrilled about the bill. The AP notes that opponents of the measure, mostly Republicans, called the bill a "land grab."

The news agency quotes Rep. Doc Hastings, a Washington Republican who argued that the bill would deprive the US of much-needed energy development.

"Our nation can't afford to shut down the creation of jobs for jobless Americans, and we can't afford to become even more dependent on foreign sources of energy," Hastings said.

The bill "even locks up federal lands from renewable energy production, including wind and solar," he said.

Note: Retrieved this from Armyranger.com:

(CNN) -- An Indonesian fisherman has been killed by Komodo dragons after he was attacked while trespassing on a remote island in search of fruit, officials said Tuesday.

Muhamad Anwar, 32, bled to death on his way to hospital after being mauled by the reptiles at Loh Sriaya, in eastern Indonesia's Komodo National Park, the park's general manager Fransiskus Harum told CNN.

"The fisherman was inside the park when he went looking for sugar-apples. The area was forbidden for people to enter as there are a lot of wild dragons," Harum said.

Other fisherman took Anwar to a clinic on nearby Flores Island, east of Bali, but he was declared dead on arrival, he added.

Komodo dragons, the world's heaviest lizards, can grow up to 3 meters (10 feet) in length and have a toxic bite that they use to kill prey such as buffalo, returning to feast when the animal succumbs to the poison.

Despite their ungainly appearance, the carnivorous reptiles can run as fast as a dog in short bursts, jump up on their hind legs, and kill animals with a blow of their powerful tails.

Attacks on humans are rare, but Monday's incident is the latest in a series in which the monster lizards -- which have forked tongues and fearsome claws --have killed or injured people.

Last month a park ranger survived after a Komodo dragon climbed the ladder into his hut and savaged his hand and foot. In 2007 an eight-year-old boy died after being mauled.

In June last year, a group of divers who were stranded on an island in the national park -- the dragons' only natural habitat -- had to fend off several attacks from the reptiles before they were rescued.

Park rangers also tell the cautionary tale of a Swiss tourist who vanished leaving nothing but a pair of spectacles and a camera after an encounter with the dragons several years ago.

An endangered species, Komodo are believed to number less than 4,000 in the wild. Access to their habitat is restricted, but tourists can get permits to see them in the wild within the National Park.

All visitors are accompanied by rangers, about 70 of whom are deployed across the park's 60,000 hectares of vegetation and 120,000 hectares of ocean.

Despite a threat of poachers, Komodo dragon numbers are believed to have stabilized in recent years, bolstered by successful breeding campaigns in captivity.

Note: This is the machine I decided to purchase (albeit in camo) instead of the 2009 model. No discernable difference except a larger base price on the 2009.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An Air Force F-22A fighter jet crashed Wednesday near Edwards Air Force Base in California, Air Force officials said.

An F-22A fighter jet similar to this one crashed Wednesday during a test mission in California.

The single-seater crashed about 10:30 a.m. for unknown reasons, the officials said.

The status of the pilot was unknown.

At $150 million apiece, the F-22A is the most expensive Air Force fighter.

The fighter was on a test mission when it crashed about 35 miles northeast of Edwards AFB, where it was stationed, the Air Force said in a news release.

In 2004, an F-22 Raptor crashed on a training mission in the Nevada desert. The pilot ejected and was not hurt, though the jet was destroyed.

The plane was designed in the 1980s to provide a stealthy method to enter Soviet air space and strike Soviet bombers if the USSR attempted a nuclear strike.

Once the Cold War ended, the Air Force found a new mission for the F-22 as a long-range fighter with a sophisticated stealth design and state-of-the-art equipment that no other plane could rival.

However, the rising cost of the plane and numerous design and software problems threatened the program, which was almost killed by Congress.

Morning Edition, March 24, 2009 · Sometime during the first week in April, North Korea is expected to launch a three-stage, long-range rocket for only the third time in its history.

The North Koreans say the rocket is purely civilian in nature, designed to put a satellite in orbit. But suspicions have grown that this launch may actually be a test of a long-range ballistic missile.

American satellites are watching the launch site carefully to determine North Korea's true intentions.

Preparations have been under way for weeks at Musudan-ni in North Korea for the launch of a rocket, known as the Taepodong-2. The activity at the site provoked concern in the U.S. that the North Koreans were preparing to test a long-range missile that might have the capability one day to deliver a warhead on U.S. territory.

But recently, the North Korean government has taken steps that point to an attempt to put a satellite into orbit, says Mitchell Reiss, vice provost at the College of William and Mary and former head of policy planning at the State Department.

"There's a context in which this launch is going to take place. And so far, the North Koreans are trying very hard to manipulate and shape the context to persuade everybody that this is a civilian-based space launch vehicle," he says.

Earlier this month, North Korea notified international organizations that it intends to launch the rocket between April 4 and 8, on a trajectory east from North Korea. It has warned ships and aircraft to avoid that flight path during those days.

The North Korean actions have been persuasive, says Jack Pritchard, president of the Korea Economic Institute.

"I do think that they are going to attempt to launch a satellite of some form," he says.

Recently, the U.S. director of national intelligence, Adm. Dennis Blair, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he had reached the same conclusion.

"I tend to believe that the North Koreans announced that they are going to do a space launch, and I believe that that's what they intend. I could be wrong, but that would be my estimate," he said.

Still, uncertainties persist. The North Koreans are assembling the rocket inside a long covered building, out of sight. They will disassemble it, bring the parts out to the launch pad, and reassemble it there. Erecting the rocket on the launch pad will take three days, and it will take another two days to fill it with liquid fuel.

Satellite photos of the rocket on the launch pad will not be available until then.

The rocket will be highly vulnerable to attack once it's been reassembled, hardly a sign that this is a military test launch. But many analysts say civilian and military launches are quite similar, according to Evans Revere, president of the Korea Society.

"Whether it's a satellite launch or something else, what they are essentially doing here is developing the launch vehicle, the same launch vehicle that could be used to launch a warhead of some sort at one of its neighbors or even the United States at some point down the line," he says.

Experts in rocketry say there are significant differences between a space launch vehicle and a long-range missile. Their trajectories are quite different, and that makes for different stresses on the rocket.

With its assortment of sensors in space and radars in Japan, Alaska and at sea, the United States will know within the first minute whether the North Koreans really are trying to put a satellite in orbit.

There has been much talk of using American missile defense interceptors to destroy the North Korean rocket, but such an attempt would be considered only if it was on a flight path to reach U.S. territory. North Korea has said that would constitute an act of war.

Pritchard, of the Korea Economic Institute, believes the North Korean rocket is highly unlikely to pose a threat to the U.S.

"There's no public, nor do I understand, any classified information that suggests that there is any type of warhead, conventional or otherwise. So the potential for this being a risk to U.S. security is not there, as far as we know," he says.

There also is great concern in Japan about this rocket because it will overfly Japanese territory.

Reiss, of the College of William and Mary, believes that everybody ought to take a deep breath and use diplomacy to get North Korea back to the bargaining table over its nuclear weapons and its missile development.

"What we need to do is to think very clearly about what level of threat this space launch vehicle really presents to us, make sure that our allies don't overreact, then try to think through exactly what it is that we want from the North Koreans in the future," he advises.

This will be only the third time North Korea has launched a Taepodong-2. In 1998, Pyongyang claimed it put a satellite in orbit, but there has been no proof of that. In 2006, there was a missile test, but it exploded 45 seconds after launch.

NPR.org, March 24, 2009 · China is calling for a new global currency controlled by the International Monetary Fund, stepping up pressure ahead of a London summit of global leaders for changes to a financial system dominated by the U.S. dollar and Western governments.

The comments, in an essay by the Chinese central bank governor released late Monday, reflect Beijing's growing assertiveness in economic affairs. China is expected to press for developing countries to have a bigger say in finance when leaders of the Group of 20 major economies meet April 2 in London to discuss the global crisis.

Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan's essay did not mention the dollar by name but said the crisis showed the dangers of relying on one nation's currency for international payments. In an unusual step, the essay was published in both Chinese and English, making clear it was meant for an international audience.

"The crisis called again for creative reform of the existing international monetary system towards an international reserve currency," Zhou wrote.

A reserve currency is the unit in which a government holds its reserves. But Zhou said the proposed new currency also should be used for trade, investment, pricing commodities and corporate bookkeeping.

Beijing has long been uneasy about relying on the dollar for the bulk of its trade and to store foreign reserves. Premier Wen Jiabao publicly appealed to Washington this month to avoid any steps in response to the crisis that might erode the value of the dollar and Beijing's estimated $1 trillion holdings in Treasuries and other U.S. government debt.

The currency should be based on shares in the IMF held by its 185 member nations, known as special drawing rights, or SDRs, the essay said. The Washington-based IMF advises governments on economic policy and lends money to help with balance-of-payments problems.

Some economists have suggested creating a new reserve currency to reduce reliance on the dollar but acknowledge it would face major obstacles. It would require acceptance from nations that have long used the dollar and hold huge stockpiles of the U.S. currency.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Late-night talker David Letterman married his longtime girlfriend, Regina Lasko, last week, according to a transcript of the taping of his Monday night show.

Late-night host David Letterman says he "avoided getting married for ... 23 years."

The wedding was at the courthouse in Choteau, Montana, on Thursday, he said, according to quotes from CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman" provided to CNN by Letterman's publicist, Tom Keaney.

"Regina and I began dating in February of 1986, and I said, 'Well, things are going pretty good, let's just see what happens in about 10 years ...," he joked during the taping.

"I had avoided getting married pretty good [sic] for, like, 23 years, and ... honestly, whether this happened or not, I secretly felt that men who were married admired me -- like I was the last of the real gunslingers."

Lasko is a former "Late Show" staffer. The couple have a son, Harry.

Letterman told his audience that the wedding almost didn't happen after the couple, son in tow, got their pickup truck stuck in the mud on the way to the ceremony.

"So I get out of the truck and I walk two miles back to the house into a 50 mph wind. It's not Beverly Hills, it's Montana, for God's sakes,' " he said. "And the whole way, I'm thinking, 'See, smartass? See? See? You try to get married, this is what happens.' "

Update to a story listed here about two weeks ago:

MIDVALE -- Sporting goods store Sportsman's Warehouse has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The Midvale-based company is worth about $436 million, and it owes its creditors $452 million.

Sportsman's CEO said in court papers filed Saturday the company was "another retailer victim of the worldwide-global recession."

Earlier this month, the company announced it was closing 23 stores across the country and selling another 15. No Utah stores are affected.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has responded to U.S. President Barack Obama's offer of better relations by demanding policy changes from Washington, but the Islamic state is not closing the door to a possible thaw in ties with its old foe.

Iran wants the United States to show concrete change in its behavior toward it, for example by handing back frozen assets, but Tehran is not pursuing "eternal hostility," said Professor Mohammad Marandi at Tehran University.

"I think they (the Iranian leadership) are quite willing to have better relations if the Americans are serious," said Marandi, who heads North American studies at the university.

A day after Obama held out the prospect of a "new beginning" of diplomatic engagement, Iran's top authority spoke at length on Saturday about its grievances against the United States and said he saw no real policy shift yet by the new administration.

But Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, also added in his speech at Iran's most prominent religious shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad: "You change, our behavior will change."

Marandi said Khamenei did not dismiss Obama's overture but was "effectively saying that this is simply not enough, that the United States must take concrete steps toward decreasing tension with Iran."

Iran and the United States have not had diplomatic ties for three decades and are now embroiled in a dispute over Tehran's nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at making bombs. Iran denies the charge.

Saeed Laylaz, editor of business daily Sarmayeh and an outspoken political commentator, said Khamenei in his speech had sent a "counter-offer" to the United States following Obama's video message on Friday to mark the Iranian New Year. "I think he opened the doors to the United States," Laylaz said.

FROZEN ASSETS

After taking office in January, Obama talked of extending a hand of peace to Tehran if it "unclenches its fist," in contrast to his predecessor George W. Bush, who branded Iran part of an "axis of evil" and spearheaded a drive to isolate it.

In his warmest offer yet of a fresh start in relations, Obama said in Friday's video message: "The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations."

But Khamenei made clear more than a change in U.S. rhetoric was needed, saying the United States was "hated in the world" and should stop interfering in other countries.

He also spoke of "oppressive sanctions" imposed on the Islamic Republic, Iranian assets frozen in the United States and Washington's backing of Israel, which Tehran does not recognize.

"Khamenei suggested a very clear way for Obama's administration, how they can start real action about Iran," Laylaz said.

Marandi said the United States could make a significant move by giving back Iranian assets blocked after a group of Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

Analysts have said Iran is setting tough conditions for dialogue to buy time. Adding to uncertainty, it holds a presidential election in June that could strengthen moderate voices backing detente over more hardline opponents.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has demanded Washington apologize for decades of "crimes" against Iran. Tehran also says it cannot let down its guard as long as U.S. troops are on its borders in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But Professor Hamidreza Jalaiepour, who teaches political sociology in Tehran, said Khamenei had delivered a pragmatic message rather than one based on ideology on Saturday.

If the United States eased sanctions imposed on Iran or released frozen funds, Iran was likely to respond, for example in helping to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan, he said.

(CNN) -- A U.S. Navy submarine collided with a Navy amphibious ship Friday in the Strait of Hormuz, mildly injuring 15 sailors, according to the commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet.

The submarine USS Hartford and amphibious ship USS New Orleans are shown in Navy photos.

The submarine, the USS Hartford, collided with the USS New Orleans about 1 a.m. in the strait, which runs between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. It is one of the busiest commercial routes for oil tankers.

Fifteen aboard the Hartford were injured but returned to duty, according to a news release.

Both vessels are operating on their own power.

The nuclear propulsion plant on the 362-foot-long sub was not damaged, but "New Orleans suffered a ruptured fuel tank, which resulted in an oil spill of approximately 25,000 gallons of diesel fuel marine," the release said.

(CNN) -- Thousands of taxpayers across the country aren't getting their refund or stimulus checks because criminals have stolen their Social Security numbers in an identity theft scam, CNN has learned.

Some victims don't learn about identity theft until the IRS questions them about income in their name.

"We see a lot of activity right now, because clearly folks who are trying to perpetrate a fraud have to get their claims in early before a true taxpayer files their return," said Nina Olsen, the national taxpayer advocate for the Internal Revenue Service.

Olsen, whose independent office is set up to help taxpayers, said her office fielded several thousand complaints this year connected to the scam. The Federal Trade Commission reported that approximately 50,000 taxpayers complained about tax fraud and employment-related identity theft during 2006, compared with 18,000 in 2002.

"It's a huge nightmare," Olsen said. "Basically, their life can be taken over by just about every approach, trying to prove that they are who they are and other people are not. And when you think about how central the Social Security number is to banking, to credit, to school applications, for financial aid, just for everything you can think of -- plus your taxes -- it has a significant impact on a person's life."

That's what happened to Brenton King, a 25-year-old father and student from Orem, Utah.

King said he was 17 when someone stole his wallet at a ski resort. Over the past four years, at least five people have used his Social Security number to report income. And since the criminals earned income on his number and never paid taxes, he and his wife, Jennifer, can't get any tax refunds from the IRS or their government stimulus check even though he reported the theft several years ago to police and the IRS.

Under the government's economic stimulus plan, 130 million people were supposed to received tax rebate checks from $300 and up last year.

"We want to put that money in the bank," Jennifer King said. "We want to be able to put money down on a home."

The Kings said the ordeal has been frustrating because they know when they file their tax return every year that they won't get the money back that they are owed. Initially, they said, it was difficult dealing with the IRS, which they said made Brenton feel as if he were the criminal.

"The fear is it will happen for the rest of our lives," Brenton King said.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, said it takes the IRS an average of about a year "to sort out who is the real taxpayer."

"In the meantime, the victim's tax accounts get frozen," Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a written statement. "The IRS issues no refund. The money that the taxpayer was planning on doesn't come. The taxpayer waits in tax limbo, for months and months."

Baucus, who led a hearing into the issue in 2008, said other taxpayers don't learn that they are victims of identity theft until years later.

"Victims first realize that other people are using their identities when the IRS contacts them. The IRS asks them why they did not report the income that appears on W-2 forms with their names on them," he said.

And Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on Baucus' committee, said the IRS doesn't do enough to combat tax-related identity theft.

He said the IRS does not prosecute, "and that's not very helpful. It sends a signal that you get a free pass if you're using IRS instruments."

But IRS spokesman Dean Patterson called preventing identity theft "a top priority" for federal tax collectors and said, "we are committing significant resources to address the challenges posed in protecting taxpayers' identity information."

"We have established a special unit dedicated to resolving tax issues incurred by identity theft victims and special tracking codes to monitor returns and prevent further fraud," Patterson said in a written statement. "Potential identity theft victims can contact the IRS if they suspect fraud."

The IRS said it "vigorously prosecutes identity thieves to the fullest extent of the law using tax-related laws that result in the toughest penalties possible." The agency said it was unable to provide details of how many cases it prosecuted, however.

In the meantime, the Kings have signed up with Lifelock, a private company that helps identity-theft victims. Todd Davis, the company's CEO, said cases like theirs are "like getting a disease that's incurable."

China effectively ended a stand-off with the United States that began when its naval vessels harassed an American surveillance ship and attributed the reduction in tension directly to President Barack Obama.

Just a day earlier, Beijing said that it would boost patrols in the South China Sea, converting decommissioned naval ships and possibly drafting in fishing boats to protect its interests in the disputed area.

However, a front-page article today in the China Daily headlined "Sino-US sea stand-off appears to have ended" signalled a change of tone. Top commanders had no plans to increase the People's Liberation Army military presence in the South China Sea, it said.

Li Jie, a senior researcher at he Chinese Navy's Military Academy, offered remarks that demonstrated Beijing's apparent eagerness to move forward without an embarrassing climbdown by indicating that it believed that the US military may have acted without Washington's approval.

He told the China Daily: "It is time to call an end to it. It might be that the US military wanted to flex its muscles but the Barack Obama Administration managed to bring the situation under control for the good of both countries."

The Pentagon revealed this month that one of its unarmed maritime surveillance ships had been harassed by five Chinese naval boats in waters about 75 miles (120km) off the southern Chinese island of Hainan. China said that the US ship was engaged in spying. The Pentagon then raised the stakes by sending in a destroyer to protect the USNS Impeccable as it carried out its surveys in the region.

In the confrontation the US ship sprayed Chinese vessels with their fire hoses as they approached within metres, prompting the Chinese sailors to strip down to their underwear.

Zhang Tuosheng, director of the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies, said that neither side wanted to see the incident blow up. "This is because both sides have so many areas they share interests in."

The US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, has indicated that diplomatic efforts may have made it unnecessary to send out any more warship escorts for surveillance vessels.

China's more conciliatory approach may indicate that it has achieved the aim of showing the United States that the modernisation of its navy has made it a force to be reckoned with in its regional waters.

A region of atolls, islands and reefs in the South China is disputed by China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, and the area is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. More than half the globe's oil tanker traffic passes through the South China Sea as it offers the shortest route between the Pacific and Indian oceans for ships bringing energy from the Middle East to China and Japan.

Both the United States and China may have been reluctant to allow the surveillance boat incident to result in heightened tensions at the start of the Obama Administration and just as both countries struggle to cope with the world financial crisis.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Russian military aircraft flew just 500 feet over two U.S. Navy ships this week as the ships participated in a joint military exercise with South Korea in the Sea of Japan, according to U.S. military officials.

Two Russian Ilyushin IL-38 maritime patrol aircraft flew only 500 feet above a U.S. aircraft carrier.

On Monday, two Russian Ilyushin IL-38 maritime patrol aircraft, known as "Mays," overflew the U.S. aircraft carrier Stennis while it was in international waters in the Sea of Japan.

The Russian aircraft flew about 500 feet over the ship, lower than other flights the Russians have made over U.S. ships in the past year.

The USS Stennis was about 80 miles east of Pohang, South Korea, participating in the joint military exercise when the flyover occurred.

On Tuesday, the USS Blue Ridge, a lead command and control ship, and the Stennis were overflown by two Russian "Bear" long-range bombers multiple times, according to U.S. military officials.

The Bears overflew the ships at about 2,000 feet, officials said.

U.S. military officials said that in both cases, U.S. Navy F/A-18 fighters met up with the Russian aircraft about 70 nautical miles from the U.S. ships and flew alongside them until they left the area.

On both days, U.S. aircraft tried contacting the Russian planes on international air frequency radio channels, but the Russian pilots did not respond, officials said.

The last time Russian planes flew over a U.S. Navy ship was February 2008, when two Bears flew 2,000 feet over the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz south of Japan.

Russian long-range flights skirting U.S. or other nations' boundaries have also been common over the last year.

EXCLUSIVE: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently told a group of both legal and illegal immigrants and their families that enforcement of existing immigration laws, as currently practiced, is "un-American."

The speaker, condemning raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, referred to the immigrants she was addressing as "very, very patriotic."

"Who in this country would not want to change a policy of kicking in doors in the middle of the night and sending a parent away from their families?" Pelosi told a mostly Hispanic gathering at St. Anthony's Church in San Francisco.

Video: Click here to view the video of Pelosi speaking.

"It must be stopped....What value system is that? I think it's un-American. I think it's un-American."

Pelosi said she was invited to the church by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., as part of his 17-city, cross-country tour called United Families, which he says is intended to put a human face on the immigration debate.

"We think that families are the cornerstone of our society and our nation, and an immigration system should preserve those families, not destroy them," Gutierrez told FOX News Capitol Hill Producer Chad Pergram on Tuesday.

The congressman is collecting petitions that ask President Obama to "stop the immigration raids and deportations that are tearing our marriages, families and children apart." He is expected to present those petitions when Hispanic members of Congress meet with the President Wednesday.

Click here for more video from FOX News.

On Saturday night, Pelosi joined Gutierrez before a cheering crowd at St. Anthony's chanting, "Si se puede," or "Yes we can."

Referring to work site enforcement actions by ICE agents, Pelosi said, "We have to have a change in policy and practice and again ... I can't say enough, the raids must end. The raids must end.

"You are special people. You're here on a Saturday night to take responsibility for our country's future. That makes you very, very patriotic."

"I was embarrassed by what she said," said Rick Oltman, with Californians for Population Stabilization, an anti-illegal immigrant group. "Exhorting illegal aliens for taking responsibility for our country's future.... In fact, sitting there in the audience.... I really resented that comment."

"I think it was pandering to the crowd but also insulting to American citizens who consider themselves to be patriotic, who obey the rule of law," said Oltman, who shot a video of the rally.

President Obama, after an uproar by veterans groups, has scrapped a plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs for the treatment of troops injured in service.

"In considering the third-party billing issue, the administration was seeking to maximize the resources available for veterans," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday in a written statement. "However, the president listened to concerns raised by the [veteran service organizations] that this might, under certain circumstances, affect veterans' and their families' ability to access health care.

"Therefore, the president has instructed that its consideration be dropped," Gibbs said.

Obama met with 11 veterans service organizations on Monday and explained his plan to increase funding for Veterans Affairs by $25 billion over five years and bring more than 500,000 eligible veterans of modest income into the VA health care system by 2013.

But the American Legion, the nation's largest veterans group, said the president's plan would have increased premiums, made insurance unaffordable for veterans and imposed a massive hardship on military families. It could have also prevented small businesses from hiring veterans who have large health care needs, the group said.

The American Legion applauded Obama's decision to drop the plan on Wednesday.

"We are glad that President Obama listened to the strong objections raised by The American Legion and veterans everywhere about this unfair plan," Cmdr. David K. Rehbein of the American Legion said. "We thank the administration for its proposed increase in the VA budget and we are always available to assist by providing guidance to ensure a veterans health are system that is worthy of the heroes that use it."

The American Legion wants the existing system to remain in place. Service-related injuries currently are treated and paid for by the government. The American Legion has proposed that Medicare reimburse the VA for the treatment of veterans.

WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Wednesday that over the next two years, he would all but eliminate an unpopular practice that has prevented thousands of active duty soldiers and reservists from leaving military service on time if they were scheduled to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan.

More than 13,000 Army personnel remain unable to exit from military service under the policy, in place since 2004, and known as "stop-loss." Mr. Gates said the practice was "breaking faith" with those in uniform, and announced a timetable that would cut the numbers affected in half by next June, and virtually eliminate them by March 2011.

He revealed his decision on the evening of the sixth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq, where more than 140,000 American troops are still deployed.

Mr. Gates cautioned that "scores," but not thousands, of Army personnel might continue to be affected by the policy if they had skills that were particularly important to the war effort. He said retroactive pay benefits would be awarded those who fell under the policy.

Mr. Gates also announced personnel decisions to assure continuity for the Obama administration. The defense secretary said he had recommended to the president that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, and the vice chairman, Gen. James Cartwright, be re-appointed to a second two-year term in their posts.

At its core, the stop-loss policy meant that all troops headed to Iraq and Afghanistan would remain in service throughout their unit's deployment -- even if the time on an individual soldier's enlistment contract expired before the deployment ended. It also prevented the movement of soldiers who wished to remain in service but had intended to change positions within the military or attend a military school.

A list of thousands of user names and passwords for Comcast customers was removed from document sharing Web site Scribd on Monday, two months after it was posted there.

Scribd removed the list of more than 8,000 passwords and user names after being contacted by Brad Stone at The New York Times. Stone wrote that he was contacted by a Comcast customer who happened across the list after doing a search on his own e-mail address on search engine Pipl.

Comcast spokeswoman Jennifer Khoury told The New York Times that the list was probably compiled from phishing or some other related type of attack and not from inside Comcast.

Comcast is freezing the e-mail accounts of customers whose data was exposed and is contacting them, she said.

Half of the items are duplicates, so only about 4,000 customers had information exposed, according to Comcast.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. fighter jets in Iraq have shot down an unmanned Iranian spy drone aircraft, the U.S. military said Monday.

The Iranian aircraft had been flying in Iraqi airspace for 70 minutes before being shot down 60 miles northeast of Baghdad last month, the military said.

"This was not an accident on the part of the Iranians," the U.S. military said in a statement. "The [drone] was in Iraqi airspace for nearly one hour and 10 minutes and well inside Iraqi territory before it was engaged."

Two F-16 fighter jets followed the drone for about an hour before shooting it down, a Pentagon official said.

The drone had no weapons and was strictly a spy aircraft, the official told CNN.

The U.S. military has taken ownership of the drone, which the Pentagon official said is in "pretty good shape."

Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, declined to comment on the allegation and most major state-run media outlets in Iran did not carry news of any incident involving an Iranian drone.

The Bush administration regularly accused Iran of meddling in Iraq and arming fighters, and in 2002 President George W. Bush put Iran in his "axis of evil."

MOSCOW - A top Russian military official has confirmed that the Kremlin is thinking of parking some of its strategic bombers in Cuba or Venezuela, within easy range of the continental United States.

That's just one of several options currently under discussion in Moscow that, if carried out, would see Russia's armed forces take up positions around the world on a scale unseen since the cold war ended almost two decades ago.

Venezuelan President Hugo "Chavez has proposed to us a whole island with an airfield that we can use for temporary basing of strategic bombers," Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, chief of Russia's strategic aviation forces, told journalists on Saturday.

"There are four or five airfields in Cuba with 4,000-meter-long runways, which absolutely suit us," he added. "If the two chiefs of state display such a political will, we are ready to fly there."

In late 2007 Russia resumed its cold war-era bomber patrols along the North American coast, using lumbering 1950s-vintage turboprop Tu-95 Bear bombers as well as a few needle-nosed supersonic Tu-160s, which were introduced in the 1980s.

But Russian generals complain that in the absence of refueling and maintenance facilities in the western hemisphere, the planes are able to remain as little as half an hour on station before beginning the long flight back to their bases in Russia.

As the Monitor reported recently (see story here), two Tu-160s visited Venezuela last September as part of joint war games that included a large flotilla of Russian warships and a visit to the region by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Last week, the two Georgian breakaway statelets of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, whose de facto independence was established by Russian military intervention against Georgia last summer, offered long-term leases for the construction of Russian military bases on their territory. South Ossetia has offered basing rights to Moscow for 99 years, while Akhazia says it is ready to lease facilities for 49 years. Russian media reports suggest those bases, housing thousands of troops and naval facilities on the Black Sea, are likely to be completed by year`s end.

The two statelets' self-declared independence has been recognized only by Russia and Nicaragua, while Georgia, with the support of most Western countries, insists that it has full sovereignty over the territories under international law.

"Russian troops are the only factor supporting the independence of South Ossetia, which is why they should stay there for a long time," Alexander Khramchikhin, an expert at the independent Institute for Military and Political Analysis, told the Moscow daily Novye Izvestia last week.

And Moscow has recently been in talks with former Soviet allies about re-establishing cold war-era naval bases at Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam and Tartus in Syria (see the Monitor's recent story here) as well as taking steps to beef up its own regional security alliance with several countries of the ex-USSR.

But some experts suggest that the noises coming out of Moscow about basing nuclear bombers in Cuba or Venezuela could be just a propaganda gimmick in advance of forthcoming US-Russian negotiations for a new strategic accord (story on treaty discussions here).

"Talking about building Russian bases near the US is a good way to get Washington's attention, and drive home the point that this is exactly what they've been doing to us for years," says Irina Zvigelskaya, an expert with the independent Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Moscow.

She says that Moscow still has an institutional memory of the stinging diplomatic defeat suffered by the USSR in 1962, after Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev deployed medium-range nuclear missiles in Cuba, and no one in the Kremlin today is likely to repeat that mistake. But for Moscow, she adds, US intentions to station strategic anti-missile weapons near Russia's borders and the continuing Washington-backed drive to include Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, are seen as similar encroachments on Russia's strategic comfort zone.

"We are hopefully going to see some rethinking of the US-Russian relationship, and so we are positioning our arguments. The talk of basing Russian bombers in Cuba is more of a bargaining ploy than a real plan," Ms. Zvigelskaya says.

Lawmaker: Army fired 11 in Jan. as openly gay

WASHINGTON -- The Army fired 11 soldiers in January for violating the military's policy that gay service members must keep their sexuality hidden, according to a Virginia congressman.

Democratic Rep. Jim Moran said he has requested monthly updates from the Pentagon on the impact of the policy until it is repealed. In a statement released on Thursday, Moran said the discharged soldiers included an intelligence collector, a military police officer, four infantry personnel, a health care specialist, a motor-transport operator and a water-treatment specialist.

"How many more good soldiers are we willing to lose due to a bad policy that makes us less safe and secure?" asked Moran, a member of the House panel that oversees military spending.

The Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy was instituted after President Bill Clinton tried to lift the ban on gay service members in 1993. It refers to the military practice of not asking recruits their sexual orientation. In turn, service members are banned from saying they are gay or bisexual, engaging in homosexual activity or trying to marry a member of the same sex.

The military discharged nearly 10,000 service members under the policy in a 10-year period, from 1997 to 2007. The number fired each year dropped sharply after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, when forces were stretched thin. Whereas more than 1,200 were dismissed in 2000 and again in 2001 for violating the policy, about half as many -- 627 -- were fired in 2007.

The Pentagon has not released its 2008 figures.

The White House has said President Barack Obama has begun consulting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen on how to lift the ban. But the administration won't say how soon that might happen or whether a group of experts will be commissioned to study the issue in-depth, as some Democrats have suggested.

Likewise, Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill support repealing the ban but have not promised to press the issue immediately.

A Kentucky man has been charged after allegedly persuading an 11-year-old girl to send nude pictures of herself while they played video games online via their PlayStation 3 consoles, according to reports.

Police have charged Anthony Scott O'Shea, 24, of Somerset, Ky., with promoting child pornography, online solicitation of a minor, and sexual performance of a child, the Houston Chronicle reported Saturday. Because the girl lives in the Houston area, O'Shea faces extradition to Texas.

The Chronicle cited court documents stating that O'Shea met the girl while they were playing Warhawk via the PS3's online network late last year. Over several weeks, he persuaded her to send him photos and to perform for him via a Webcam. According to police, he shared the photos with others online. The girl told police the man "kept pressuring her for more pictures and wanted to set up a meeting with her in order to engage in sexual activity," the Chronicle said.

First Lady at Fort Bragg

Supporting military families, she has said, is an issue "close to her heart."

And on her first solo out-of-town trip as first lady, Michelle Obama yesterday went to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, where soldiers greeted her with cheers. She talked with troops, posed for pictures and gave hugs, according to a pool report, before a private lunch with 20 relatives of service members and five volunteers who help support soldiers and their families.

The visit to Fort Bragg, her office said, is part of her campaign to meet military spouses and learn about support services that are available to military families.

Obama has said that more national attention must be paid to the plight of military families, and she has made their needs one of her signature issues.

Last week at the women's center at Arlington National Cemetery, Obama said military families have a special strength, noting that military service doesn't stop with the person wearing the uniform.

"They are mothers and fathers who have lost their beloved children to war," Obama said. "They are husbands and wives keeping the family on track while their wives and husbands are deployed, on duty. They are grandparents, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers who are taking care of children while single moms or dads in uniform are away."

She continued: "See, military families have done their duty, and we as a grateful nation must do ours. We must do everything in our power to honor them by supporting them."

Support for military families remains a top issue for President Obama as well as the first lady. During the presidential campaign, Michelle Obama often met with families who, she said, "are left behind when our men and women go off to serve."

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- Japan said Friday that it could shoot down the satellite that North Korean officials said they plan to launch.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura says it has the right to shoot down the satellite.

"Japan is legally able to shoot down the object to secure safety if it looks like it will fall on to Japan," Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said during a news conference.

North Korea had informed an international organization that it plans to launch a satellite. The announcement has triggered international consternation. U.S. and South Korean officials have long said the North is actually preparing to test-fire a long-range missile under the guise of a satellite launch.

The missile, Taepodong-2, is thought to have an intended range of about 4,200 miles (6,700 kilometers), which -- if true -- could give it the capability of striking Alaska or Hawaii.

A U.N. Security Council resolution in 2006 banned North Korea from conducting ballistic missile testing. Japanese officials said they could shoot down the object whether it is a missile or a satellite.

"As the U.N. resolutions prohibit (North Korea) from engaging in ballistic missile activities, we still consider it to be a violation of a technical aspect, even if (the North) claims it is a satellite. We will discuss the matter with related countries based on this view," said Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone.

As Vivek Kundra, President Obama's choice for U.S. chief information officer, was speaking about government transparency at the Washington, D.C., convention center on Thursday morning, his former offices a few blocks away were being raided by the FBI.

Until Obama's appointment last week, Kundra was the District of Columbia's chief technology officer. The FBI raid coincided with two arrests as part of a bribery sting--Yusuf Acar, 40, and Sushil Bansal, 41.

An administration official tells our sister news organization, CBS News, that Kundra has taken a leave of absence from his new position as the federal government's CIO until the FBI investigation is sorted out.

At an arraignment in federal court Thursday afternoon, Acar was charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, wire fraud, conflict of interest, and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. He was ordered to be held without bond until a hearing Tuesday because prosecutors said he posed a flight risk.

Bansal was charged with conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, though prosecutors said a plea agreement could possibly be reached in his case. He was released after Thursday's arraignment but ordered not to conduct overseas financial transactions or leave the Washington metropolitan area.

Acar worked for Kundra as an information systems security officer with responsibility for government contracts. A number of requests for bids (PDF) posted on the District's Web site list Acar as "responsible for general administration of the contract" and "responsible for the day-to-day monitoring and supervision of the contract, of ensuring that the work conforms to the requirements of this contract."

Bansal previously worked as a project manager for the D.C. government and then founded a consulting firm called Advanced Integrated Technologies Corporation. AITC is a D.C.-government certified contractor with multiple contracts with the city, including one for "information technology services" worth $10 million.

AITC says that its contracts with the city of Washington, D.C., include technical support and network administration for the DMV's driver licensing system and that the city purchased McAfee anti-spyware licenses from AITC.

The FBI affidavit in support of their arrest said Acar and Bansal conspired to defraud the District of Columbia Government and commit bribery through a variety of schemes. In one such alleged scheme, a vendor such as AITC would bill the D.C. government for a higher number of goods than it would provide. A CTO official like Acar would allegedly falsely certify that the greater quantity was actually received, so the vendor would be paid more than necessary and the co-conspirators could split the proceeds.

Kundra's speech at the FOSE 2009 summit on Thursday focused on government transparency. He said: "We also want to tap into the ingenuity of the American people, lowering the cost of government operations, engaging citizens, and radical transparency ultimately pulls the citizens of the United States closer to the government."

"Imagine the vast depository of information the federal government has and what people could do if they had access to it--how it could change the engagement model and help create a more perfect union," he said.

The FBI and U.S. Attorney's office were not immediately available for comment. Kundra's last day in the District government was March 4.

During the FBI raid, most of the employees were told to go home, with others segregated into a waiting room, according to a report by WTOP radio.

Update 11:22 a.m. PDT: Kundra is not a target of the investigation, a spokeswoman for Washington's mayor said, according to Reuters. The U.S. Attorney's office has told us to expect more information soon.

Update 2:55 p.m. PDT: More information added from FBI affidavit.

Update 4:43 p.m. PDT: Added information about Kundra taking a leave of absence.

If indeed this is accurate, it can only be described as zealot-like political correctness that prevents authorities from cleaning these people up! 35+ known compounds?

"I don't think anybody has any idea of what the motive is," said Clay King, mayor of Samson, Alabama, where some of the shootings took place. "The whole community is still in shock."

King -- who spoke to CNN's "American Morning" -- said he knew the shooter, Michael McLendon, and all of the victims.

"I coached him in both T-ball and Little League Baseball along with my two sons," he said of the shooter.

By the time McLendon ended his rampage, he had fatally shot his mother and set fire to her house, and killed his grandparents, his aunt and uncle, the wife and child of a sheriff's deputy, and three other people, according to King and the coroners of the two counties where the shootings occurred.

"He was shooting at just ordinary people going about their business," said Alabama state Sen. Harri Anne Smith.

Smith represents Geneva County, where all but one of the victims were killed. Smith said she had been briefed about the incident by state and local law enforcement. Watch CNN's Sean Callebs say who was shot first »

By early Wednesday, authorities were still trying to piece together the chronology of events and the motive for McLendon's actions.

Though they have identified all the victims, they withheld releasing their names until they could notify family members.

The shooting started about 4 p.m. at a house that McLendon shared with his mother, Lisa, in the town of Kinston, near the Florida border in Coffee County.

A passerby found the house on fire and alerted authorities. Inside, firefighters found the bodies of Lisa McLendon and four dogs, said county Coroner Robert Preachers.

The mother had been shot, he said.

The gunman then went east into Geneva County. There, he shot his grandfather, grandmother, uncle and aunt as they sat on a porch in the nearby town of Samson, said Geneva Coroner Max Motley.

The wife of a sheriff's deputy who lived in a house across the street was also killed, along with her toddler, Motley said. Both were shot.

A second child was airlifted to a hospital in Florida in critical condition, authorities said.

"I can't describe what happened, why it happened," Geneva County Sheriff Greg Ward told CNN affiliate WTVY. "It's just a sad day for Geneva County." Watch Sheriff Ward talk about the shootings »

McLendon, armed with a semiautomatic weapon, allegedly also fatally shot a man who lived in a mobile home in his family members' yard, Motley said.

At some point, the gunman headed down state Highway 52, firing at least seven bullets into a state trooper's car. The trooper suffered minor injuries from shattered glass. Watch the aftermath of the shooting spree »

The final two victims were a woman killed at a Big-Little Store service station off the highway and a man outside the Samson Pipe and Supply store. Both victims were apparently shot at random, authorities said.

The gunman ended up at the Reliable Metal Products plant in Geneva, where police rammed his vehicle, forcing him to get out. He fired a 30-round burst with what appeared to be an M16 rifle, grazing Police Chief Frankie Lindsey with a bullet. Watch a timeline of the shootings »

"Then the subject entered the business. Within minutes, shots were heard. ... Law enforcement officers found him dead," state police Cpl. Steve Jarrett said.

The manufacturing plant is 12 miles from his mother's house.

Sheriff's officials say the gunman was a former employee of Reliable Metal, CNN affiliate WEAR-TV reported.

Col. Christopher Murphy, head of the Alabama Department of Public Safety, called the southern Alabama rampage "the worst that DPS has a memory of." Watch CNN's Anderson Cooper talk about the investigation »

BERLIN, March 11 -- A gunman dressed in black combat fatigues burst into a German high school Wednesday morning and launched a shooting rampage, killing 13 people before fleeing, authorities said.

Authorities said the 17-year-old suspect was fatally shot after commandeering a vehicle the city of Willenden and driving about 50 kilometers to another town, where he left the vehicle in the parking lot of a car dealership and killed two more people.

He then exchanged gunfire with police, injuring two officers, police said. It was not immediately clear whether the gunman was shot by police during that exchange or took his own life.

"He left the lot and was met by the police in an open area, near the dealership," said Fritz Mehl, a spokesman for the local police force. "Shots were exchanged. Two police officers were injured. The suspect was killed."

Wire services reported that State Interior Minister Heribert Rech said three teachers were among the dead. Police said 10 students were killed.

The gunman entered the secondary school building, where about 1,000 students ages 10 to 16 are enrolled, and began firing randomly about 9:30 a.m., police said.

Witnesses said students jumped from the windows of the school building after the gunman opened fire, wire services reported. Concerned parents quickly swarmed around the school, which was evacuated during the incident.

"He went into the school with a weapon and carried out a bloodbath," regional police chief Erwin Hetger told the Associated Press. "I've never seen anything like this in my life."

The gunman escaped the school and headed toward the Willenden city center, police said. Helicopters blanketed the area as authorities tried to pinpoint his location. Police evacuated the school and warned residents to exercise caution.

Television pictures showed dozens of heavily-armed black-clad SWAT teams entering the two-story white school building.

"Police are coming through the whole time. They're obviously looking all over town for him," Roberto Seifert, who works at a company located next to the school, told Reuters. "We've never had anything like this."

About 25,000 people live in Willenden, located in the state of Baden-Wuerttemburg, north of the Black Forest region in southwestern Germany.

Firearms are tightly regulated in Germany, but the country has been afflicted by other mass, lone-gunman shootings in the past several years.

In 2006, an 18-year-old student carrying explosives and rifles injured dozens of people in the northwestern German town of Emsdetten before killing himself. In 2002, a 19-year-old former student fatally shot 16 people at a high school in Erfurt, in eastern Germany, before taking his own life.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon said Monday that Chinese ships harassed a U.S. surveillance ship Sunday in the South China Sea in the latest of several instances of "increasingly aggressive conduct" in the past week.

The Pentagon says the USNS Impeccable, a surveillance ship, was on routine patrol in the South China Sea.

During the incident, five Chinese vessels "shadowed and aggressively maneuvered in dangerously close proximity to USNS Impeccable, in an apparent coordinated effort to harass the U.S. ocean surveillance ship while it was conducting routine operations in international waters," the Pentagon said in a written statement.

The crew members aboard the vessels, two of which were within 50 feet, waved Chinese flags and told the U.S. ship to leave the area, the statement said.

"Because the vessels' intentions were not known, Impeccable sprayed its fire hoses at one of the vessels in order to protect itself," the statement said. "The Chinese crewmembers disrobed to their underwear and continued closing to within 25 feet."

After the Impeccable alerted the Chinese ships "in a friendly manner" that it was seeking a safe path to depart the area, two of the Chinese ships stopped "directly ahead of USNS Impeccable, forcing Impeccable to conduct an emergency 'all stop' in order to avoid collision," the statement said.

"They dropped pieces of wood in the water directly in front of Impeccable's path."

A Pentagon spokesman called the incident "one of the most aggressive actions we've seen in some time. We will certainly let Chinese officials know of our displeasure at this reckless and dangerous maneuver."

He said the Chinese crew members used poles to try to snag the Impeccable's acoustic equipment in the water.

The Impeccable's crew is composed primarily of civilians, and the ship itself is not armed, the spokesman said.

No one at the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing answered CNN's telephone calls seeking comment, and there were no stories about the incident in Chinese media.

The 281.5-foot Impeccable is one of six surveillance ships that perform military survey operations, according to the Navy. It is an oceanographic ship that gathers underwater acoustic data, using sonar.

It has a maximum speed of 13 knots -- or about 15 mph -- but it travels 3 knots, or 3.5 mph, when towing its array of monitoring equipment. It carries a crew of 20 mariners, five technicians and as many as 20 Navy personnel.

The Chinese ships involved were a Navy intelligence collection ship, a Bureau of Maritime Fisheries Patrol Vessel, a State Oceanographic Administration patrol vessel, and two small Chinese-flagged trawlers, the statement said.

The Pentagon cited three previous instances of what it described as harassment, the first of which occurred Wednesday, when a Chinese Bureau of Fisheries Patrol vessel used a spotlight to illuminate the the ocean surveillance ship USNS Victorious.

In the incident, which occurred about 125 miles from China's coast in the Yellow Sea, the Chinese ship "crossed Victorious' bow at a range of about 1,400 yards" in darkness without notice or warning. The following day, a Chinese Y-12 maritime surveillance aircraft conducted 12 fly-bys of Victorious at an altitude of about 400 feet and a range of 500 yards.

The next day, a Chinese frigate approached Impeccable "and proceeded to cross its bow at a range of approximately 100 yards," which was followed less than two hours later by a Chinese Y-12 aircraft conducting 11 fly-bys of Impeccable at an altitude of 600 feet and a range of 100 to 300 feet, the statement said.

"The frigate then crossed Impeccable's bow yet again, this time at a range of approximately 400-500 yards without rendering courtesy or notice of her intentions."

(CNN) -- A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house, according to local media reports.

According to the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Watan, troubles for the woman, Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, began last year when a member of the religious police entered her house in the city of Al-Chamli and found her with two unrelated men, "Fahd" and "Hadian."

Fahd told the policeman that he had the right to be there, because Sawadi had breast-fed him as a baby and was therefore considered to be a son to her in Islam, according to Al-Watan. Fahd, 24, added that his friend Hadian was escorting him as he delivered bread for the elderly woman. The policeman then arrested both men.

Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam called Wahhabism and punishes unrelated men and women who are caught mingling.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, feared by many Saudis, is made up of several thousand religious policemen charged with duties such as enforcing dress codes, prayer times and segregation of the sexes. Under Saudi law, women face many restrictions, including a strict dress code and a ban on driving. Women also need to have a man's permission to travel.

Al Watan obtained the court's verdict and reported that it was partly based on the testimony of the religious police. In his ruling, the judge said it had been proved that Fahd is not the Sawadi's son through breastfeeding.

The court also doled out punishment to the two men. Fahd was sentenced to four months in prison and 40 lashes; Hadian was sentenced to six months in prison and 60 lashes. In a phone call with Al Watan, the judge declined to comment and suggested the newspaper review the case with the Ministry of Justice.

Sawadi told the newspaper that she will appeal, adding that Fahd is indeed her son through breastfeeding.

The case has sparked anger in Saudi Arabia.

"It's made everybody angry because this is like a grandmother," Saudi women's rights activist Wajeha Al-Huwaider told CNN. "Forty lashes -- how can she handle that pain? You cannot justify it."

This is not the first Saudi court case to cause controversy.

In 2007, a 19-year-old gang-rape victim in the Saudi city of Qatif was sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in prison for meeting with an unrelated male. The seven rapists, who had abducted the woman and man, received sentences ranging from 10 months to five years in prison. The case sparked international outrage and Saudi King Abdullah subsequently pardoned the "Qatif Girl" and the unrelated male.

Many Saudis are hopeful that the Ministry of Justice will be reformed. Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz announced in February a major Cabinet reshuffling in which many hard-line conservatives, including the head of the commission, were dismissed and replaced with younger, more moderate members.

The new appointments represented the largest shakeup since King Abdullah took power in 2005 and were welcomed in Saudi Arabia as progressive moves on the part of the king, whom many see as a reformer. Among ministers who've been replaced is the minister of justice.

The actions of the religious police have come under increased scrutiny in Saudi Arabia recently, as more and more Saudis urge that the commission's powers be limited. Last week, the religious police detained two male novelists for questioning after they tried to get the autograph of a female writer, Halima Muzfar, at a book fair in Riyadh, the capital of the kingdom.

Fox News

SEOUL, South Korea --  North Korea put its armed forces on standby Monday and threatened "a war" if anyone tries to shoot down what regional powers suspect is an imminent test-firing of a long-range missile.

Pyongyang also cut off a military hot line with the South, causing a complete shutdown of their border and stranding hundreds of South Koreans working in an industrial zone in the North Korean border city of Kaesong.

Monday's warning -- the latest barrage of threats from the communist regime -- came as U.S. and South Korean troops kicked off annual war games across the South, exercises the North has condemned as preparation for an invasion. Pyongyang last week threatened South Korean passenger planes flying near its airspace during the drills.

nalysts say the regime is trying to grab President Barack Obama's attention as his administration formulates its North Korea policy.

The North also indicated it was pushing ahead with plans to send a communications satellite into space, a provocative launch neighboring governments believe could be a cover for a long-range missile capable of reaching Alaska.

U.S. and Japanese officials have suggested they could shoot down a North Korean missile if necessary, further incensing Pyongyang.

"Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war," the general staff of the North's military said in a statement carried Monday by the official Korean Central News Agency.

Any interception will draw "a just retaliatory strike operation not only against all the interceptor means involved but against the strongholds" of the U.S., Japan and South Korea, it said.

The North has ordered military personnel "fully combat ready," KCNA said in a separate dispatch.

Obama's special envoy on North Korea again urged Pyongyang not to fire a missile, which he said would be an "extremely ill-advised" move.

"Whether they describe it as a satellite launch or something else makes no difference" since both would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution banning the North from ballistic activity, Stephen Bosworth told reporters after talks with his South Korean counterpart.

South Korea's Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae downplayed the North's threats as "rhetoric" but said the country's military was ready to deal with any contingencies.

Analysts say a satellite or missile launch could occur late this month or in early April when the North's new legislature, elected Sunday, is expected to convene its first session to confirm Kim Jong Il as leader.

Ties between the two Koreas have plunged since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office a year ago halting aid unless the North fulfills an international promise to dismantle its nuclear program.

In retaliation, North Korea suspended the reconciliation process and key joint projects with Seoul, and has stepped up the stream of belligerence toward the South.

Severing the military hot line for the duration of the 12-day joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises leaves the two Koreas without any means of communication at a time of heightened tensions.

The two Koreas use the hot line to exchange information about goods and people crossing into Kaesong. Its suspension halted traffic and stranded about 570 South Koreans who were working in Kaesong.

About 80 had planned to return to the South on Monday but were stuck there overnight since they cannot travel after nightfall. Earlier, some 700 South Koreans who intended to go to Kaesong on Monday were unable to cross the border, the Unification Ministry said.

All South Koreans in Kaesong are safe, the ministry said as it called on Pyongyang to restore the hot line immediately.

The two Koreas technically remain in a state of war since their three-year conflict ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, in 1953. Hundreds of thousands of troops are amassed on each side of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, making the Korean border one of the world's most heavily armed.

The United States, which has 28,5000 troops in South Korea, routinely holds military exercises with the South. Pyongyang routinely condemns them as rehearsals for invasion despite assurances from Seoul and Washington that the drills are defensive.

The exercises, which will involve some 26,000 U.S. troops, an unspecified number of South Korean soldiers and a U.S. aircraft carrier, are "not tied in any way to any political or real world event," Gen. Walter Sharp, commander of the U.S. troops, said Monday.

Ready to ruck it up?

And a parady in respone:

What the hell is wrong with these people?

A top federal cybersecurity official resigned this week in a letter sharply critical of what he described as a power grab by the National Security Agency.

Rod Beckström, director of Homeland Security's National Cybersecurity Center, said in his letter that NSA "effectively controls DHS cyber efforts through detailees, technology insertions," and has proposed moving some functions to the agency's Fort Meade, Md., headquarters.

Rod Beckstrom, director of the National Cyber Security Center, gives a keynote at Black Hat last year.

(Credit: Elinor Mills/CNET)

Beckström was picked for the job in March 2008 and reported to DHS secretaries Michael Chertoff and Janet Napolitano. His letter also took aim at DHS, saying the center "received only five weeks of funding" in the last year because of "roadblocks engineered within the department" and by the White House. (DHS has claimed that cybersecurity was one of Chertoff's "top four priorities for '08.")

The idea of the NSA taking over governmental cybersecurity efforts is not exactly new: it was discussed by a commission organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies last fall, and the agency already has some related responsibilities. Last week, Director of National Intelligence Admiral Dennis Blair suggested (PDF) to a House of Representatives committee that the NSA would be an appropriate body to take over cybersecurity efforts, saying "there are some wizards out there at Fort Meade who can do stuff."

But Beckström warned that would be a mistake and could significantly threaten "our democratic processes...if all top level government network security and monitoring are handled by any one organization."

Before taking the job at DHS, Beckström co-founded CATS Software, a derivatives and risk management software company, and co-founded Twiki.net, a company that supports open-source wikis. A DHS undersecretary is responsible for the agency's overall cybersecurity efforts.

The National Cyber Security Center has remained partially shrouded in secrecy, with the Bush administration last summer refusing to release information about its budget, what contractors will run it, or how its mission relates to Internet surveillance--on the grounds (PDF) that disclosure could endanger "operations essential to the interests of our nation."

Initially, the White House went so far as to claim (PDF) that the mere existence of the NCSC was classified.

(CNN) -- Nearly 7,000 Mexican soldiers and federal police arrived in the U.S.-Mexico border city of Ciudad Juarez this week to restore security to a city plagued by a long-standing, bloody drug war.

Random vehicle checkpoints, patrols of masked soldiers and police in SWAT gear are some of the signs of the massive military buildup ordered by Mexico's president, Ciudad Juarez police spokesman Jaime Torres Valadez said Thursday.

Another 1,500 soldiers are expected to join the 3,500 that rolled into Juarez earlier this week to support municipal police in street patrols and ultimately take control of their operations, Torres said.

In addition to the army troops, about 3,000 federal agents arrived to carry out investigations Torres likened to those of the FBI in the United States.

"They'll stay as long as necessary," Torres said, in the city across the border from El Paso, Texas.

Extreme violence among warring drug cartels and between them and the Mexican government has long plagued Juarez and the state of Chihuahua, but the situation has been getting worse.

Last month, the city's chief of police was obliged to quit after threats from organized crime to kill a policeman every day that he remained on the job.

And this week, the U.S. Consulate in Juarez specifically warned Americans to avoid an area southeast of the city.

"There has been a dramatic increase in drug related violence in the Guadalupe Bravo area and there is no indication that the situation will improve in the near future," the consulate said on its Web site. Watch how drug killings are making Americans wary of Mexico »

President Felipe Calderon's security cabinet met in the city last week to devise a strategy to combat narcotraffickers.

The federal government is footing the bill for the troops' wages and food, and the municipal government is paying for their gas and living expenses, Torres said.

Surveillance cameras will be installed throughout the city to help police stem executions and assassinations in the streets, scene of many of Juarez's 1,600 killings in 2008.

Police advised residents to carry identification with them at all times to ensure that encounters with law enforcement in the streets and at vehicle checkpoints proceed as quickly as possible, Torres said.

"It's necessary to keep the peace," Torres said in a telephone interview as he sat in his car, waiting in line at a police checkpoint. "For me, it's safe. If there are more soldiers, I feel safe."

But human rights advocates say the military presence creates a police state in a region where confidence in law enforcement is low.

"The increase in law enforcement brings elements that create an environment conducive to the violation of human rights," said José Luis Armendáriz González, president of the Chihuahua State Commission of Human Rights. "What are the limits of their power? The risk for wrongful detentions, raids of homes increases when there's no clear line."

Armendáriz said the focus on troop numbers detracts from improving the quality of investigation and crime-fighting techniques.

"We've been battling the criminal elements with force and gunfire for years now with few results," he said. "I believe it's necessary to pass to a second phase that focuses on intelligence and infiltrating the criminal organization to hit all levels."

Others say the stronger law enforcement presence is producing results.

"In the last seven days, we've had no more than five reported deaths. Before that, the average was six a day," Sen. Ramón Galindo Noriega said in an interview Wednesday.

"Maybe it's a coincidence, but I believe the presence has generated an environment of greater security and this is congruent with the numbers that we have this week."

Galindo, a lifelong Juarense who sends his children to schools in Juarez and owns businesses there, said more troops are the only answer to a problem that has transformed Juarez from a center of industry and commerce to a major battleground in the war among drug cartels.

"What we had before was a state that was under the control of crime. It was a state that didn't permit a normal life. People left, businesses closed. There was fear in the streets, an environment of fear that we had to take radical measures to eradicate," he said.

Note: I won the TigerTail late last year as a result of a contest the company was hosting. Great device!

Note: I do own a set of these and they are tough, resilient and good looking!

Note: I have yet to purchase one of these and still use the Kolpin 4gal flat packs. With the latest development and idiot caps on the new Kolpins however, I am looking forward to trying these out.

The Postal Service bought this 8,400-square-foot South Carolina home so an employee could relocate.

Postal Service spokesman Greg Frey said the home will be resold, as others have been.

"It's not like we threw away a million dollars," Frey told CNN. "We are hoping it's going to go for the appraised value."

But a real estate agent in the area said the home could be a tough sell in a depressed housing market -- and the USPS said it lost an average of more than $58,000 on the 500-plus homes its relocation program bought and sold in 2008.

The 8,400-square-foot, six-bedroom home on Lake Wateree, about 30 miles north of Columbia, is likely to be the last million-dollar home purchased by the Postal Service. A $1 million cap on homes eligible for the relocation program took effect in February, Frey said.

But the program has raised eyebrows among critics and is under scrutiny by the USPS inspector-general's office in the wake of a CNN investigation.

The South Carolina home belonged to Ronald Hopson, the former postmaster in Lexington, South Carolina, and his wife, Evelyn. The property includes five acres, four bathrooms, two half-baths and an indoor swimming pool.

Hopson is now the customer service manager for the USPS branch in Carrollton, Texas. He would not discuss the house and referred CNN to the service's press office for additional questions. But property records show that the house was purchased by the Postal Service's relocation contractor, Connecticut-based Cartus Relocation, in February.

Just weeks earlier, Postmaster General John Potter told a congressional subcommittee that the post office was considering cutting back mail delivery because of the economy.

"The Postal Service, like the rest of the economy, is experiencing a severe financial crisis, and I'm here today to ask for your help to protect America's postal system," Potter said.

He added that the post office has cut travel expenses and frozen executive salaries.

Faced with those cutbacks, Billie Bierer -- who owns the lot next door to Hopson's old home -- called the purchase "crazy."

"I mean, this should not be allowed in any company, and in this economy, things need to change," Bierer said.

The Postal Service is a semipublic corporation, chartered by the U.S. government but not supported by taxpayer funds. Corporate relocation services are a common executive perk in the corporate world, where companies typically buy a property from an employee who is transferring to another city and resell it later.

Some U.S. government agencies do the same thing, but with limits on how much they will spend. For example, the Food and Drug Administration limits its relocation assistance to homes under $330,000.

Frey said the average cost of the 1,022 homes purchased through the USPS relocation program in 2007 and 2008 was $257,874. Fifteen of those remain on the market, he said.

Of the 1,022, 14 cost between $1 million and $2.8 million. All of those have been sold, Frey said, but typically at a loss once closing costs, attorneys fees and commissions are paid.

In 2007, after the U.S. housing boom peaked, the USPS lost an average of $50,542 on each deal, he said. In 2008, with the market in full retreat, the average loss climbed to $58,397.

And in Lake Wateree, real estate agent David Beckroge said, buyers for million-dollar properties are hard to come by right now.

"That would be very tough," he said.

The purchase of Hopson's home drew criticism from Pete Sepp, vice president of the National Taxpayers Union, a Washington-based government watchdog group.

"At a time when the Postal Service is considering cutting back on delivery, raising stamp prices, perhaps even going to the federal government for a taxpayer bailout, this sends the wrong signal. It is likely to make customers very angry," Sepp said.

And Sen. Chuck Grassley, who has been a critic of the Postal Service relocation policy, has asked Postal Service Inspector-General David Williams to investigate the deal. A spokesman for Williams' office said it was conducting a preliminary review of the case.

"We need to know that the Postal Service is for the patrons of the Postal Service, the people that are buying stamps, the people that are supporting it, that they're getting their money's worth," said Grassley, R-Iowa.

It was a very strange world. Externally it had not changed too much, except perhaps that there were more paupers on the streets, but everything in his surroundings--the houses, the trees, the benches on the streets--had somehow suddenly grown old and decrepit. It wasn't possible to say that the essential nature of the world had changed either, because now it no longer had any essential nature. A frighteningly vague uncertainty dominated everything. Despite that, however, the streets were flooded with Mercedes and Toyotas carrying brawny types possessed of absolute confidence in themselves and in what was happening, and there was even, if one could believe the newspapers, some kind of foreign policy.³

(CNN) -- Robin Williams will undergo heart surgery, according to his publicist.

Actor-comedian Robin Williams was on an 80-city tour for his one-man show.

The 57-year-old actor and comedian postponed his one-man show tour and entered a hospital for testing this week after suffering a shortness of breath.

Williams will undergo an aortic valve replacement, the publicist said.

"I'm so touched by everyone's support and well wishes," Williams said in a statement. "This tour has been amazing fun and I can't wait to get back out on the road after a little tune-up."

The publicist would not say when or where the surgery will take place.

The surgery is similar to the procedure former first lady Barbara Bush underwent Wednesday. Bush's surgeon, Dr. Gerald Lawrie, described it as "a very routine procedure" from the doctors' perspective.

Williams was in the middle of an 80-city tour of his "Weapons of Self-Destruction" show, which is expected to resume in the fall, the publicist said.

His Web site says the shows "highlight Williams' trademark free associations and riffs on social and political absurdities."

Williams rose to fame in the mid-1970s as the childlike alien Mork, who first appeared on an episode of "Happy Days" and then was spun off into his own show, "Mork and Mindy." His manic standup comedy, combining impersonations, commentary, jokes and nonsense in high-speed profusion, was and remains his trademark.

Williams began his movie career with 1980's "Popeye," but succeeding films, such as 1982's "The World According to Garp" and 1984's "Moscow on the Hudson," countered his wild standup persona with quiet, pensive performances. (The performer had attended New York's famed Juilliard School to study drama in the 1970s, where one of his classmates was Christopher Reeve.)

It wasn't until 1987's "Good Morning, Vietnam," which managed to combine Williams' frenzied comedy style with more sober drama, that he broke through as a film star. He was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of "Vietnam's" DJ Adrian Cronauer.

Other Williams films include "Awakenings" (1990), "The Fisher King" (1991), "Mrs. Doubtfire" (1993), "Good Will Hunting" (1997) and "Insomnia" (2002). He won a best supporting actor Oscar for "Good Will Hunting."

Williams has been active in charitable endeavors, most notably the Comic Relief program, which raises money for various causes.

Williams' current heart problems aren't the first time he's coped with health issues. In August 2006, the comedian and actor checked himself into an alcohol rehab center.

"After 20 years of sobriety, Robin Williams found himself drinking again and has decided to take proactive measures to deal with this for his own well-being and the well-being of his family," his publicist told CNN at the time.

All About Robin Williams

Prince appointed a new president and chief operating officer in a management shake-up he said was part of the company's "continued reorganization and self-improvement." It comes just a couple weeks after changing its name to Xe, pronounced like the letter "z," in an effort to repair its severely tarnished name and reputation.

"As many of you know, because we focus on continually improving our business that Xe is in the process of a comprehensive restructuring," Prince wrote in a note to employees and clients. "It is with pride in our many accomplishments and confidence in Xe's future that I announce my resignation as the company's Chief Executive Officer."

Joseph Yorio, recently a vice president at DHL and a former Army special forces officer, will serve as president, replacing retiring executive Gary Jackson. Danielle Esposito, who has worked within Xe for nearly 10 years, will be the new chief operating officer and executive vice president.

Prince, who will retain his position as chairman of the company but remove himself from the day-to-day operations, founded Blackwater in 1997, initially to provide training to law enforcement and military. But after Sept. 11, the bombing of the USS Cole and the start of the Iraq War, the company built a large presence in providing private security.

Prince is a Holland, Mich., native whose family fortune was made in the auto parts industry. His sister, Betsy DeVos, a former chairwoman of the Michigan GOP, is married to Dick DeVos, a Republican and Amway Corp. heir who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2006.

The company's lucrative contract to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq comprises about one-third of Xe's revenues, but the State Department announced it would not rehire the firm after its current contract with the company expires in May. The company has one other major security contract, details of which are classified.

Prince said in a January interview that losing the contract would be damaging.

"It would hurt us," Prince said at the time. "It would not be a mortal blow, but it would hurt us."

That said, executives have long bemoaned that the work in Iraq has cost the company. A 2007 shooting in Nisoor Square involving Blackwater guards drew outrage from politicians in Baghdad and Washington and demands that the company be banned from operating in Iraq.

Late last year, prosecutors charged five of the company's contractors - but not Blackwater itself - with manslaughter and weapons violations. In January, Iraqi officials said they would not give the company a license to operate.

In the meantime, Xe has been expanding into other lines of business. It has built a fleet of 76 aircraft that it has deployed to such hotspots as West Africa and Afghanistan.

The firm continues to expand training for law enforcement, with a renewed focus on international clients. Last year, some 25,000 civilians, law enforcement and military personnel were trained by the company.

Prince founded Blackwater with some of his former Navy SEAL colleagues. The company is headquartered in Moyock, about 150 miles northeast of Raleigh.

KUTV2

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - An asteroid about the size of one that blasted Siberia a century ago just buzzed by Earth.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported that the asteroid zoomed past Monday morning.

The asteroid named 2009 DD45 was about 48,800 miles from Earth. That is just twice the height of some telecommunications satellites and about a fifth of the distance to the Moon.

The space ball measured between 69 feet and 154 feet in diameter. The Planetary Society said that made it the same size as an asteroid that exploded over Siberia in 1908 and leveled more than 800 square miles of forest.

Most people probably didn't notice the cosmic close call. The asteroid was only spotted two days ago and at its closest point passed over the Pacific Ocean near Tahiti.

FoxNews

Conservative mega-host Rush Limbaugh disavows talk that he is
running the Republican Party -- and party members generally laugh off
the idea that a radio jockey is telling them what to do -- but efforts
by Democrats to cast the talkmeister as the man in charge may be
starting to stick. 

"It seems like Rush Limbaugh is the kind of he-who-must-be-obeyed these
days in the Republican Party," Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine told FOX News on Tuesday. 

Kaine and the DNC are hammering the theme that Limbaugh can't be crossed,
seizing on the apology Republican National Committee Chairman Michael
Steele made to the radio host on Monday. 

Steele apologized after drawing Limbaugh's wrath over the weekend
by calling the host's on-air style "incendiary" and "ugly." His criticism was aimed at Limbaugh's statements about wanting President Obama to fail. 

"As (Steele) then apologized ... it left a lot of us wondering who's really in charge,"
Kaine said, initially calling Steele "courageous" for standing up to Limbaugh. 

Limbaugh said on his radio show Tuesday that he's not in charge of the
Republican Party and doesn't want to be. "I would be embarrassed to say
that I'm in charge of the Republican Party in the sad-sack state that's
it's in," he said. "I might get out the hari-kari knife because I would
have presided over a failure that is embarrassing to the Republicans
and conservatives."

But as Democrats cast Limbaugh as enemy No. 1 and Republicans repeatedly
decline dares to cross him, Limbaugh appears to have no obstacles in
his path should he choose to steer the GOP ship. 

Seizing the bully pulpit for the moment, Limbaugh is steering what some call the
"party of no" into the "party of hell, no" -- urging conservatives to
dig in on their principles, and to root the Democratic administration
to fail. 

"The John McCain experiment of moderation clearly does not work," said
fellow talk show host Mike Gallagher. "We better stop this conciliatory reaching-across-the-aisle malarkey." 

On Tuesday, Limbaugh told his audience that he wants Obama's brand of "socialism" to fail -- not the country itself.

"Idon't want the economy to fail. That is why I am sticking my neck out
here. ... I am the one that is truly worried about this," he said.

The question of leadership in the Republican Party is a common and sensitive one, heightened by the stumbling of so many potential leaders. 

Conservatives say the moderate and tepid message by Sen. John McCain ruined his
bid for the presidency last year. 

Rising stars like Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist
scored at the bottom of a straw poll asking who should be the 2012 GOP
nominee for president -- held Saturday at the Conservative Political
Action Conference that Limbaugh headlined.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won the poll with 20 percent.
But he won it last year, too -- although he failed to win the hearts of primary voters. He won the straw poll right after he dropped out of the presidential race.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ranked second in this year's poll despite being
panned for last week's lackluster rebuttal to Obama's address to
Congress. Jindal had been hailed as another rising star and possibly
Republicans' answer to Obama.

"I'm a policy guy," Jindal told reporters Monday as he defended himself against
charges that he flunked the audition. 

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin inspired the base as McCain's running mate, but
she was dogged by accusations that she was unqualified and out of her league. She came in third in the straw poll, tying with Rep. Ron Paul, whose ultra-libertarian message makes many mainstream Republicans shudder.

In the CPAC straw poll, participants overwhelmingly picked Limbaugh as their favorite media personality. He was presented with the "Defender of the Constitution Award" at the event. 

South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson, who ran unsuccessfully against
Steele for RNC chairman, said leadership in the Republican Party is
clearly spread out among many people, not a single individual. 

"I'vealways said that you're not going to have one person lead the
Republican Party. It takes the Glenn Becks, the Rush Limbaughs, the
Sean Hannitys ... to help articulate the message," he said. "We've got
a lot of people out there." 

Dawson said governors like Palin and Jindal are still drawing a lot of
interest and support. And Romney, with his business background, is in a
position to come out on top given the big-government reaction to the
recession. 

"Look out for Mitt Romney. He's in an 'I told you so' position," Dawson said. Dawson said Limbaugh is no "kingmaker," but Steele would be misguided to think the party's leader has the recognition to make or break the GOP. 

"You can only name a handful of RNC chairmen," he said. 

Limbaugh said on his show that Steele is not in charge despite his declaration over
the weekend that he is the "de facto leader" of the party. 

"Michael, you are head of the RNC. You are not head of the Republican Party,"
Limbaugh said as he launched a lengthy on-air excoriation of the newly
elected chairman. "Tens of millions of conservatives and Republicans
have nothing to do with the RNC and right now they want nothing to do
with it, and when you call them asking them for money, they hang up on
you."

Limbaugh ridiculed Steele for trying to be a "talking head pundit" and "media
star" and relegated him to the level of GOP bureaucrat. He said Steele
"took the bait" of the liberal media by attacking him. 

So did Steele err by going after Rush in the first place? 

No question, said Gallagher. 

"It's a joke to pretend ... that Rush Limbaugh isn't one of the most prominent Republican voices in American today," he said. "There's a reason Michael Steele is now falling all over himself to apologize, because he made a mistake." 

He, too, said the GOP has room for more than one voice. But Steele's authority is not in question. 

"Rushis a prominent voice, Michael Steele is the chairman of the Republican
National Committee. They're not mutually exclusive," Gallagher said. 

Democratic strategist Maria Cardona said Steele should never have apologized because his criticism of Limbaugh is appealing to the moderate audience his party needs. 

"What he said about Rush Limbaugh, a lot of
people actually agree with," she said. "His apology hurt him."

Metasploit Project is a tool I'm using to test our external facing systems. Embedded is a YouTube video showing how this tool could be used.

Top 10 Ports

Top 10 Source IPs

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A soldier who reported for duty with her children in tow has been granted her request for a discharge, her lawyer said Monday.

Lisa Pagan was recalled to the Army after being honorably discharged four years ago.

Lisa Pagan, of Davidson, North Carolina, reported for duty Monday morning at Fort Benning, Georgia, with her two preschool children. She had been honorably discharged from active duty at the rank of specialist nearly four years ago but was recalled as part of the Individual Ready Reserve program.

The former Army truck driver asked for a reprieve from deployment because her husband travels for business and they would have no one to care for their children if she was sent overseas. Until Monday, her request had been denied.

Late Monday afternoon, Pagan's lawyer told CNN the Army would grant her request and begin the process of discharge again, this time for good.

"We are definitely heading in the right direction for Lisa and her family and her children," said Mark Waple, Pagan's attorney. "She has been told by her chain of command they plan on doing everything they can within reason to do this as expeditiously as possible."

Pagan enlisted in 2002 and was honorably discharged from active duty in June 2005. She was never deployed.

Before she left for Fort Benning, Pagan, 27, told CNN affiliate WCNC that her relatives weren't able to care for her children for various reasons, including her relatives' health.

She said her family couldn't afford having her husband give up his job. They would lose their house, she told the Charlotte, North Carolina-TV station.

"I'm a human being. I need to take care of my children. They don't have anybody else," Pagan told WCNC.

Since September 11, 2001, the Army has recalled about 25,000 soldiers. Nearly half requested a delay or a full exemption. Some just wanted to finish their school semester before reporting. Others had financial or medical problems that made it difficult to report for duty.

Skype plans to announce on Tuesday that it will be working with SpinVox to provide its users with voice-to-SMS messaging in four languages. This adds another option to Skype's messaging notifications for both Windows and Mac, which also includes a free e-mail notification or a simple SMS notification when a contact leaves a message.

Converting the messages from voice to text won't be cheap, however. Users will pay 25 cents per message, not including the standard Skype text message rate, and long voicemails could be spread out over as many as three messages. If the entire voicemail won't fit into three texts, then the message will be cut off. Also, if the message is garbled or otherwise unconvertible--because of poor signal quality, for example--SpinVox and Skype will still charge you for the failed conversion effort.

Words that cannot be understood will be converted into question marks or spaces in the body of the message. Fortunately for the cost-conscious, there are several options for cutting down on quickly running up a massive bill. Users can configure which of their Skype contacts will have their voice messages converted, so it's not an all-or-nothing deal. Messages will also only be sent after a 10-minute delay, so you don't have to worry about getting a text if you walk away from your desk for a few minutes. You'll have the option of configuring a maximum number of voicemail conversions per day, too. An obvious problem with that is missing that must-get voicemail, but at least the option will be there.

SpinVox with Skype will support English, Spanish, French, and German, and there are plans to incorporate SpinVox's current support for Italian and Portuguese, as well.