Herbal Viagra actually contains the real thing

IF IT looks too good to be true, it probably is. Several "herbal remedies" for erectile dysfunction sold online actually contain the active ingredient from Viagra.

Michael Lamb at Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania, and colleagues purchased 10 popular "natural" uplifting remedies on the internet and tested them for the presence of sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra. They found the compound, or a similar synthetic drug, in seven of the 10 products – cause for concern because it can be dangerous for people with some medical conditions.

Lamb's work was presented last week at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences meeting in Washington DC.

This article appeared in print under the headline "Herbal Viagra gets a synthetic boost"

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3 dead in new Bangladesh war crimes protests: police

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh: Bangladesh police on Saturday opened fire at Islamists protesting the conviction for war crimes of one of their leaders, killing three people outside the port city of Chittagong.

The deaths brought the total number killed since a war crimes tribunal delivered its first verdict on January 21 to at least 56, according to police figures.

The number includes 40 who have died in the last three days, since Jamaat-e-Islami party vice president Delwar Hossain Sayedee was sentenced to death, police said.

Sayedee was found guilty on Thursday of murder, religious persecution and rape during the 1971 independence war, triggering violent clashes between rampaging Jamaat supporters and police across the country.

The 73-year-old firebrand preacher was the third person to be convicted by the war crimes tribunal, whose verdicts have been met by outrage from Islamists.

The Islamists say the process is more about settling scores than delivering justice.

The latest violence came a day after the United States called for calm in the impoverished South Asian nation.

"While engaging in a peaceful protest is a fundamental democratic right, we believe violence is never the answer," US State Department deputy acting spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters in Washington.

But he stressed the United States believes "it is important to bring justice to those who have committed war crimes and atrocities" while ensuring that the trials be "free, fair, transparent".

In the new clashes, police said they fired live rounds after hundreds of student activists of Jamaat barricaded a key highway and attacked officers with stones and sticks as they tried to clear the road.

"We were forced to open fire. Three people were killed in the clashes," senior Chittagong police official Rabiul Islam told AFP, adding 10 people, including policemen, were wounded.

The war crimes trials of a dozen Jamaat and main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leaders have opened old wounds and divided the nation.

The opposition has accused the government of staging a witchhunt.

The government, which says the war claimed three million lives, rejects the claims and accuses Jamaat leaders of being part of pro-Pakistani militias blamed for much of the carnage during the 1971 independence war.

Independent estimates put the death toll from the war in which Bangladesh won its independence from Pakistan at a much lower figure of 300,000 to 500,000.

- AFP/ck

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U.S. to 'rain mice' on tree snakes

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Fla. man presumed dead after sinkhole opens under his bed

SEFFNER, Fla. A man was missing and feared dead early Friday after a large sinkhole opened under the bedroom of a house near Tampa.

Jeff Bush is presumed dead after a sinkhole opened under his bed.

/

CBS

His brother says Jeff Bush screamed for help before he disappeared.

The 36-year-old man's brother, Jeremy Bush, told rescue crews he heard a loud crash around 11 p.m. Thursday, then heard his brother screaming for help.

"When he got there, there was no bedroom left," Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico said. "There was no furniture. All he saw was a piece of the mattress sticking up."

Jeremy Bush called 911 and frantically tried to help his brother Jeff. He said he jumped into the hole and dirt was quickly up to his neck.

"The floor was still giving in and the dirt was still going down, but I didn't care. I wanted to save my brother," Jeremy said. "But I just couldn't do nothing."

An arriving deputy pulled Jeremy Bush from the still-collapsing house.

28 Photos

Sinkholes

"I reached down and was able to actually able to get him by his hand and pull him out of the hole," Hillsborough County Sheriff's Deputy Douglas Duvall said. "The hole was collapsing. At that time, we left the house."

Engineers worked to determine the size of the sinkhole. At the surface, officials estimated it was about 30 feet across. Below the surface, officials believed it was 100 feet wide.

"The entire house is on the sinkhole," Damico said.

Hillsborough County Fire Chief Ron Rogers told a news briefing that extra-sensitive listening devices and cameras were inserted into the sinkhole. "They did not detect any signs of life," he said.

By early Friday, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue officials determined the home had become too unstable to continue rescue efforts.

Neighbors on both sides of the home have been evacuated.

Sinkholes are common in seaside Florida, whose underlying limestone and dolomite can be worn away by water and chemicals, then collapse.

Engineers condemned the house, reports CBS Tampa affiliate WTSP.

From the outside of the small, sky blue house, nothing appeared wrong. There wear no cracks and the only sign something was amiss was the yellow caution tape circling the house.

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokesman Larry McKinnon said authorities asked sinkhole and engineering experts, and they were using equipment to see if the ground can support the weight of heavy machinery needed for the recovery effort.

Jeremy Bush stood in a neighbor's yard across the street from the house Friday and recounted the harrowing collapse.

"He was screaming my name. I could swear I heard him hollering my name to help him," he said of his brother Jeff.

Jeremy Bush's wife and his 2-year-old daughter were also inside the house. "She keeps asking where her Uncle Jeff is," he said. "I lost everything. I work so hard to support my wife and kid and I lost everything."

Janell Wheeler told the Tampa Bay Times newspaper she was inside the house with four other adults and a child when the sinkhole opened.

"It sounded like a car hit my house," she said.

The rest of the family went to a hotel but she stayed behind, sleeping in her car.

"I just want my nephew," she said through tears.

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Obama Signs Order to Begin Sequester Cuts

President Obama and congressional leaders today failed to reach a breakthrough to avert a sweeping package of automatic spending cuts, setting into motion $85 billion of across-the-board belt-tightening that neither had wanted to see.

President Obama officially initiated the cuts with an order to agencies Friday evening.

He had met for just over an hour at the White House Friday morning with Republican leaders House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Democratic allies, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Vice President Joe Biden.

But the parties emerged from their first face-to-face meeting of the year resigned to see the cuts take hold at midnight.

"This is not a win for anybody," Obama lamented in a statement to reporters after the meeting. "This is a loss for the American people."

READ MORE: 6 Questions (and Answers) About the Sequester

Officials have said the spending reductions immediately take effect Saturday but that the pain from reduced government services and furloughs of tens of thousands of federal employees would be felt gradually in the weeks ahead.

Sequestration Deadline: Obama Meets With Leaders Watch Video

Sequester Countdown: The Reality of Budget Cuts Watch Video

Federal agencies, including Homeland Security, the Pentagon, Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Education, have all prepared to notify employees that they will have to take one unpaid day off per week through the end of the year.

The staffing trims could slow many government services, including airport screenings, air traffic control, and law enforcement investigations and prosecutions. Spending on education programs and health services for low-income families will also get clipped.

"It is absolutely true that this is not going to precipitate the crisis" that would have been caused by the so-called fiscal cliff, Obama said. "But people are going to be hurt. The economy will not grow as quickly as it would have. Unemployment will not go down as quickly as it would have. And there are lives behind that. And it's real."

The sticking point in the debate over the automatic cuts -- known as sequester -- has remained the same between the parties for more than a year since the cuts were first proposed: whether to include more new tax revenue in a broad deficit reduction plan.

The White House insists there must be higher tax revenue, through elimination of tax loopholes and deductions that benefit wealthier Americans and corporations. Republicans seek an approach of spending cuts only, with an emphasis on entitlement programs. It's a deep divide that both sides have proven unable to bridge.

"This discussion about revenue, in my view, is over," Boehner told reporters after the meeting. "It's about taking on the spending problem here in Washington."

Boehner: No New Taxes to Avert Sequester

Boehner says any elimination of tax loopholes or deductions should be part of a broader tax code overhaul aimed at lowering rates overall, not to offset spending cuts in the sequester.

Obama countered today that he's willing to "take on the problem where it exists, on entitlements, and do some things that my own party doesn't like."

But he says Republicans must be willing to eliminate some tax loopholes as part of a deal.

"They refuse to budge on closing a single wasteful loophole to help reduce the deficit," Obama said. "We can and must replace these cuts with a more balanced approach that asks something from everybody."

Can anything more be done by either side to reach a middle ground?

The president today claimed he's done all he can. "I am not a dictator, I'm the president," Obama said.

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Space gold rush should not be a free-for-all

We need a consensus on regulations surrounding space mining if it’s to enrich us all

EVER since we took our first steps out of Africa, human exploration has been driven by the desire to secure resources. Now our attention is turning to space.

The motivation for deep-space travel is shifting from discovery to economics. The past year has seen a flurry of proposals aimed at bringing celestial riches down to Earth. No doubt this will make a few billionaires even wealthier, but we all stand to gain: the mineral bounty and spin-off technologies could enrich us all.

But before the miners start firing up their rockets, we should pause for thought. At first glance, space mining seems to sidestep most environmental concerns: there is (probably!) no life on asteroids, and thus no habitats to trash. But its consequences – both here on Earth and in space – merit careful consideration.

Part of this is about principles. Some will argue that space's "magnificent desolation" is not ours to despoil, just as they argue that our own planet's poles should remain pristine. Others will suggest that glutting ourselves on space's riches is not an acceptable alternative to developing more sustainable ways of earthly life.

History suggests that those will be hard lines to hold, and it may be difficult to persuade the public that such barren environments are worth preserving. After all, they exist in vast abundance, and even fewer people will experience them than have walked through Antarctica's icy landscapes.

There's also the emerging off-world economy to consider. The resources that are valuable in orbit and beyond may be very different to those we prize on Earth (see "Space miners hope to build first off-Earth economy"). Questions of their stewardship have barely been broached – and the relevant legal and regulatory framework is fragmentary, to put it mildly.

Space miners, like their earthly counterparts, are often reluctant to engage with such questions. One speaker at last week's space-mining forum in Sydney, Australia, concluded with a plea that regulation should be avoided. But miners have much to gain from a broad agreement on the for-profit exploitation of space. Without consensus, claims will be disputed, investments risky, and the gains made insecure. It is in all of our long-term interests to seek one out.

This article appeared in print under the headline "Taming the final frontier"

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Bertelsmann buys out KKR in music rights business BMG

FRANKFURT: German media giant Bertelsmann said Friday it has agreed to buy out the US investment fund KKR in their jointly-owned music rights management company BMG for an undisclosed sum.

Bertelsmann said in a statement it will acquire the 51-percent stake that KKR has held in BMG since 2009, finally bringing the unit back under full ownership.

BMG was originally set up in 2008 and KKR acquired its 51-percent stake in 2009.

According to the Financial Times last week, the estimated cost of the deal is around 500 million euros ($654 million).

The deal is still subject to regulatory approval, but is scheduled to close "during the first half of this year," the statement said.

Bertelsmann said BMG manages the rights to more than one million songs, including works by such artists as Bruno Mars, Duran Duran, Gossip, Johnny Cash, and Will.i.am.

It also represents the master rights -- composition and recording -- of artists such as Brian Ferry, Nena and Anastacia.

"This is a great day for Bertelsmann. We are bringing the music home to our group. We are happy to have BMG as our own company again," said Bertelsmann chief executive Thomas Rabe.

Rabe said KKR had been a good partner, but taking full ownership of BMG was "an important step in putting Bertelsmann's growth strategy into practice," Rabe said.

-AFP/sb

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Racy mag cover features Kim, Kanye

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Fierce wildfire outside L.A. approached homes

Wildfire approaches homes in Riverside County, Calif., outside Los Angeles, Feb. 28, 2013. / KCBS-TV/CBS

RIVERSIDE, Calif. Flames from a ferocious wildfire burned palm trees along residential streets and came very close to homes in Riverside County, but dying winds helped firefighters stop its progress.

County Fire spokeswoman Jody Hageman said residents from two streets were told to evacuate Thursday night at the peak of the fire that burned about 150 acres in and around Rancho Jurupa Regional Park, some 60 miles east of Los Angeles. It was 20 percent contained after about three hours. The mandatory evacuation was later changed to voluntary, reports CBS Los Angeles station KCBS-TV.

Embers from the flames landed on palm trees and people's homes , KCBS says.

Some 2,000 customers were without power at one point, but it was restored to everyone by about 11 p.m. local time, the station adds.

About 200 firefighters helped by helicopters took on the blaze, whose bright flames and huge plumes of smoke were visible from long distances.

There were no reports of any injuries or homes or buildings burning.

The National Weather Service issued an advisory for gusty offshore winds in Riverside County that will be in effect until Saturday.

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Sequestration: Surrender is in the Air

The budget ax is about to fall, and there's little lawmakers in Washington are doing to stop it.

Despite a parade of dire warnings from the White House, an $85 billion package of deep automatic spending cuts appears poised to take effect at the stroke of midnight on Friday.

The cuts – known in Washington-speak as the sequester – will hit every federal budget, from defense to education, and even the president's own staff.

On Capitol Hill, Senate Democrats and Republicans each staged votes Thursday aimed at substituting the indiscriminate across-the-board cuts with more sensible ones. Democrats also called for including new tax revenue in the mix. Both measures failed.

Lleaders on both sides publicly conceded that the effort was largely for show, with little chance the opposing chamber would embrace the other's plan. They will discuss their differences with President Obama at the White House on Friday.

"It isn't a plan at all, it's a gimmick," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said today of the Democrats' legislation.

"Republicans call the plan flexibility" in how the cuts are made, said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "Let's call it what it is. It is a punt."

The budget crisis is the product of a longstanding failure of Congress and the White House to compromise on plans for deficit reduction. The sequester itself, enacted in late 2011, was intended to be so unpalatable as to help force a deal.

Eric Holder Says Sequester Makes America Less Safe Watch Video

Eric Holder Sounds Sequester Alarm: Exclusive Watch Video

Sequestration: Democrats, Republicans Play Blame Game Watch Video

Republicans and Democrats, however, remain gridlocked over the issue of taxes.

Obama has mandated that any steps to offset the automatic cuts must include new tax revenue through the elimination of loopholes and deductions. House Speaker John Boehner and the GOP insist the approach should be spending cuts-only, modifying the package to make it more reasonable.

"Do we want to close loopholes? We sure do. But if we are going to do tax reform, it should focus on creating jobs, not funding more government," House Speaker John Boehner said, explaining his opposition to Obama's plan.

Boehner, McConnell, Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will huddle with Obama at the White House on Friday for the first face-to-face meeting of the group this year.

"There are no preconditions to a meeting like this," White House spokesman Jay Carney said today. "The immediate purpose of the meeting is to discuss the imminent sequester deadline and to avert it."

Even if the leaders reach a deal, there's almost no chance a compromise could be enacted before the deadline. Lawmakers are expected to recess later today for a long weekend in their districts.

What will be the short-term impact of the automatic cuts?

Officials say it will be a gradual, "rolling impact" with limited visible impact across the country in the first few weeks that the cuts are allowed to stand.

Over the long term, however, the Congressional Budget Office and independent economic analysts have warned sequester could lead to economic contraction and possibly a recession.

"This is going to be a big hit on the economy," Obama said Wednesday night.

"It means that you have fewer customers with money in their pockets ready to buy your goods and services. It means that the global economy will be weaker," he said. "And the worst part of it is, it's entirely unnecessary."

Both sides say that if the cuts take effect, the next best chance for a resolution could come next month when the parties need to enact a new federal budget. Government funding runs out on March 27, raising the specter of a federal shutdown if they still can't reach a deal.

"As we anticipate an across-the-board budget cuts across our land, we still expect to see your goodness prevail, O God, " Senate Chaplain Barry Black prayed on the Senate floor this morning, "and save us from ourselves."

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Bacteria defeat antibiotics they have never met before

BACTERIA that resist antibiotics are a growing problem worldwide, but one we thought we could limit or even reverse by better control of the drugs. This may be a forlorn hope: some bacteria that have never seen an antibiotic can evolve resistance, and even thrive on it.

Bacteria usually become resistant if they are exposed to drug levels too low to kill them off, but high enough to favour the survival of resistant mutants. Such resistance is growing and could make TB and other diseases untreatable again.

The prevailing notion was that bacteria acquire and maintain resistance genes at a cost. So by carefully controlling antibiotics, resistance should not emerge by itself – and should die out as soon as the antibiotic is withdrawn and resistance is no longer an advantage.

Maybe not. Olivier Tenaillon at Denis Diderot University, Paris, and colleagues were studying bacterial evolution by exposing Escherichia coli to high temperatures and little food. Unexpectedly, some bacteria spontaneously became resistant to the antibiotic rifampicin, even though they had never encountered it. The mutation that helped them deal with environmental stress just happened to confer resistance to the drug, used to treat TB and meningitis (BMC Evolutionary Biology, doi.org/kks).

"Our work suggests that selective pressure other than antibiotics may drive resistance," says Tenaillon.

Moreover, bacteria with the mutation grew 20 per cent faster than otherwise-identical bacteria – a first for a resistance mutation.

It only had this beneficial effect in the heat-adapted strain, says Arjan de Visser of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, who was not involved in the study. But, he adds, "these results are a cautionary tale for the use of antibiotics – resistance may come without costs [to bacteria]".

This article appeared in print under the headline "Bacteria defeat antibiotics they have never met"

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Sony sells Tokyo office building for US$1.2b

TOKYO: Sony said on Thursday it has sold one of its main buildings in Tokyo for US$1.2 billion as the embattled Japanese electronics giant offloads assets to help repair its tattered balance sheet.

The news comes after the company in January announced the sale of its US headquarters in Manhattan for more than US$1.0 billion while this month it also sold part of its online medical services unit.

Sony said its had sold the 25-storey central Tokyo building, which houses its television unit, to Nippon Building Fund and an unnamed Japanese institutional investor for 111 billion yen (US$1.2 billion) and would earn it a profit of 41 billion yen.

"Sony is transforming its business portfolio and reorganising its assets in an effort to strengthen its corporate structure," the company said in a statement. "This sale was conducted as a part of this reorganisation."

Sony said it would remain in the central Tokyo building for five years under a leasing agreement.

Earlier this month, the firm said it would book a US$1.2-billion gain from selling part of an online medical services unit, as it eyes a full-year profit after four years in the red.

Sony has announced a massive corporate overhaul that includes thousands of job cuts, the sale of a chemical division and an investment in Olympus to tap the camera and medical equipment maker's strong foothold in the global market for endoscopes.

The maker of Bravia televisions and PlayStation games consoles lost 456.66 billion yen in the last fiscal year, but says it is on track for a 20-billion-yen net profit in the year to March.

Last week, Sony announced it would launch its PlayStation 4 system as it faces increasing competition from cheap -- or sometimes free -- downloadable video games for smartphones and tablets.

The company's hard times saw its stock value tumble below 1,000 yen a share last year, for the first time since the era of the Walkman.

The stock has since come back, with Sony shares up 3.56 per cent at 1,338 yen on Thursday in Tokyo.

Japan's electronics sector has suffered a myriad of problems, including a strong yen, slowing demand in key export markets, fierce competition especially in the struggling TV division and strategic mistakes.

The industry has been awash in huge losses and credit rating downgrades, with rival Sharp saying last year it would put up real estate as collateral for bank loans -- including its Osaka headquarters -- to stay afloat.

- AFP/xq

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Medicare paid billions to sub-par nursing homes: HHS

SAN FRANCISCO Medicare paid billions in taxpayer dollars to nursing homes nationwide that were not meeting basic requirements to look after their residents, government investigators have found.

The report, released Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general, said Medicare paid about $5.1 billion for patients to stay in skilled nursing facilities that failed to meet federal quality of care rules in 2009, in some cases resulting in dangerous and neglectful conditions.

One out of every three times patients wound up in nursing homes that year, they landed in facilities that failed to follow basic care requirements laid out by the federal agency that administers Medicare, investigators estimated.

By law, nursing homes need to write up care plans specially tailored for each resident, so doctors, nurses, therapists and all other caregivers are on the same page about how to help residents reach the highest possible levels of physical, mental and psychological well-being.

Not only are residents often going without the crucial help they need, but the government could be spending taxpayer money on facilities that could endanger people's health, the report concluded. The findings come as concerns about health care quality and costs are garnering heightened attention as the Obama administration implements the nation's sweeping health care overhaul.

"These findings raise concerns about what Medicare is paying for," the report said.

Investigators estimate that in one out of five stays, patients' health problems weren't addressed in the care plans, falling far short of government directives. For example, one home made no plans to monitor a patient's use of two anti-psychotic drugs and one depression medication, even though the drugs could have serious side effects.

In other cases, residents got therapy they didn't need, which the report said was in the nursing homes' financial interest because they would be reimbursed at a higher rate by Medicare.

In one example, a patient kept getting physical and occupational therapy even though the care plan said all the health goals had been met, the report said.

The Office of Inspector General's report was based on medical records from 190 patient visits to nursing homes in 42 states that lasted at least three weeks, which investigators said gave them a statistically valid sample of Medicare beneficiaries' experiences in skilled nursing facilities.

That sample represents about 1.1 million patient visits to nursing homes nationwide in 2009, the most recent year for which data was available, according to the review.

Overall, the review raises questions about whether the system is allowing homes to get paid for poor quality services that may be harming residents, investigators said, and recommended that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services tie payments to homes' abilities to meet basic care requirements. The report also recommended that the agency strengthen its regulations and ramp up its oversight. The review did not name individual homes, nor did it estimate the number of patients who had been mistreated, but instead looked at the overall number of stays in which problems arose.

In response, the agency agreed that it should consider tying Medicare reimbursements to homes' provision of good care. CMS also said in written comments that it is reviewing its own regulations to improve enforcement at the homes.

"Medicare has made significant changes to the way we pay providers thanks to the health care law, to reward better quality care," Medicare spokesman Brian Cook said in a statement to The Associated Press. "We are taking steps to make sure these facilities have the resources to improve the quality of their care, and make sure Medicare is paying for the quality of care that beneficiaries are entitled to."

CMS hires state-level agencies to survey the homes and make sure they are complying with federal law, and can require correction plans, deny payment or end a contract with a home if major deficiencies come to light. The agency also said it would follow up on potential enforcement at the homes featured in the report.

Greg Crist, a Washington-based spokeswoman for the American Health Care Association, which represents the largest share of skilled nursing facilities nationwide, said overall, nursing home operators are well regulated and follow federal guidelines, but added that he could not fully comment on the report's conclusions without having had the chance to read it.

"Our members begin every treatment with the individual's personal health needs at the forefront. This is a hands-on process, involving doctors and even family members in an effort to enhance the health outcome of the patient," Crist said.

Virginia Fichera, who has relatives in two nursing homes in New York, said she would welcome a greater push for accountability at skilled nursing facilities.

"Once you're in a nursing home, if things don't go right, you're really a prisoner," said Fichera, a retired professor in Sterling, N.Y. "As a concerned relative, you just want to know the care is good, and if there are problems, why they are happening and when they'll be fixed."

Once residents are ready to go back home or transfer to another facility, federal law also requires that the homes write special plans to make sure patients are safely discharged.

Investigators found the homes didn't always do what was needed to ensure a smooth transition.

In nearly one-third of cases, facilities also did not provide enough information when the patient moved to another setting, the report found.

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Arias Prosecutor Too Combative, Experts Say

He has barked, yelled, been sarcastic and demanded answers from accused murderer Jodi Arias this week.

And in doing so, prosecutor Juan Martinez and his aggressive antics may be turning off the jury he is hoping to convince that Arias killed her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander in June 2008, experts told ABCNews.com today.

"Martinez is his own worst enemy," Mel McDonald, a prominent Phoenix defense attorney and former judge, told ABC News. "He takes it to the point where it's ad nauseam. You have difficulty recognizing when he's driving the point home because he's always angry and pushy and pacing around the courtroom. He loses the effectiveness, rather than build it up."

"He's like a rabid dog and believes you've got to go to everybody's throat," he said.

"If they convict her and give her death, they do it in spite of Juan, not because of him," McDonald added.

Martinez's needling style was on display again today as he pestered Arias to admit that she willingly participated in kinky sex with Alexander, though she previously testified that she only succumbed to his erotic fantasies to please him.

Arias, now 32, and Alexander, who was 27 at the time of his death, dated for a year and continued to sleep together for another year following their break-up.

Arias drove to his house in Mesa, Ariz., in June 2008, had sex with him, they took nude photos together and she killed him in his shower. She claims it was in self-defense. If convicted, Arias could face the death penalty.

Jodi Arias, Prosecutor Butt Heads in Cross-Examination Watch Video

Jodi Arias Maintains She 'Felt Like a Prostitute' Watch Video

Jodi Arias Admits to Killing Man, Lying to Police Watch Video

Martinez also attempted to point out inconsistencies in her story of the killing, bickering with her over details about her journey from Yreka, Calif., to Mesa, Ariz., including why she borrowed gas cans from an ex-boyfriend, when she allegedly took naps and got lost while driving, and why she spontaneously decided to visit Alexander at his home in Mesa for a sexual liaison.

"I want to know what you're talking about," Arias said to Martinez at one point.

"No, I'm asking you," he yelled.

Later, he bellowed, "Am I asking you if you're telling the truth?"

"I don't know," Arias said, firing back at him. "Are you?"

During three days of cross examining Arias this week, Martinez has spent hours going back and forth with the defendant over word choice, her memory, and her answers to his questions.

"Everyone who takes witness stand for defense is an enemy," McDonald said. "He prides himself on being able to work by rarely referring to his notes, but what he's giving up in that is that there's so much time he wastes on stupid comments. A lot of what I've heard is utterly objectionable."

Martinez's behavior has spurred frequent objections of "witness badgering" from Arias' attorney Kirk Nurmi, who at one point Tuesday stood up in court and appealed to the judge to have a conference with all of the attorneys before questioning continued. Judge Sherry Stephens at one point admonished Martinez and Arias for speaking over one another.

Andy Hill, a former spokesperson for the Phoenix police department, and Steven Pitt, a forensic psychiatrist who has testified as an expert witness at many trials in the Phoenix area, both said that despite his aggressive style, Martinez would likely succeed in obtaining a guilty verdict.

"When it comes to cross examination, one size does not fit all," said Pitt. "But if you set aside the incessant sparring, what the prosecutor I believe is effectively doing is pointing out the various inconsistencies in the defendant's version of events."

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We need a piece of Mars to continue search for life

THERE'S no need to cry over spilt chemicals. Thanks to an accident inside one of its instruments, NASA's Curiosity rover has detected the presence of a substance called perchlorate in Martian soil (see "Curiosity's spills add thrills to the Mars life hunt").

Not exactly earth-shattering, you might think. But it adds a new twist to the most controversial chapter in Martian history: did the Viking landers detect life?

This is a question that has divided the Viking missions' researchers for almost three decades. One group has resolutely stuck to its guns that the landers detected signs of life. Equally adamant is a second group who say they absolutely did not – a view that has always been the official version of events.

The unexpected discovery of perchlorate supplies a legitimate reason to reopen the debate. Perchlorate is an oxidising agent that destroys organic molecules. Its presence could finally explain the disputed results.

The episode highlights another important issue. Curiosity is a sophisticated machine, but there is only so much soil chemistry we can do from millions of kilometres away. A sample return mission must be a priority.

This article appeared in print under the headline "We need a piece of Mars"

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Australian cyclone crossing Western Australian coast

SYDNEY: A tropical cyclone hit Australia's resource-rich northwest coast Wednesday, bringing winds of up to 165 kilometres (102 miles) an hour as it crossed the shore near the tiny community of Pardoo.

Severe tropical cyclone Rusty had been sitting offshore for several days, slowly intensifying as it edged towards the Pilbara coast and bringing heavy rain and gale-force winds to the iron ore region.

"It is in the process of crossing," Neil Bennett from Australia's Bureau of Meteorology told AFP just after 0700 GMT, adding it was too soon to say whether it had caused any damage.

"Wind gusts in excess of 165 kilometres an hour are in that area."

Bennett said the storm had been downgraded from a category 4 storm, just one notch short of the top category, to a category 3.

The bureau had expected Rusty to make landfall close to Port Hedland, 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) north of Perth, but Bennett said the major iron ore port appeared to have escaped the full brunt of the storm.

"It looks as if Hedland has dodged the bullet, so to speak, because the worst of the winds are away from Hedland," he said.

"Hedland though has been experiencing a constant period of gale-force winds for over 36 hours now. And that's unprecedented (for that area)."

While the storm has been downgraded, its eye has also contracted from being about 80 kilometres wide on Tuesday to about 50 kilometres by the time it crossed land.

Authorities had warned residents to move out of the storm's path or seek shelter. Resident Ian Badger said he was seeking refuge at the Pardoo Roadhouse, about 120 kilometres from Port Hedland.

"It's just a matter of hanging on," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"The amount of water that's around is a bit worrying. The ground is very sodden, very soft. As soon as you get a get a bit of strong wind, trees start going over."

The weather bureau expects the cyclone to move slowly in a south-southeasterly direction, gradually downgrading to a category 1 storm by Thursday afternoon and a tropical low the following day.

Australia's major iron ore export ports have been shut for several days anticipating Rusty's approach. Hundreds of people have been forced to evacuate their homes in the sparsely populated but cyclone-prone area.

Global iron ore giants including BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group have all shut down or scaled back operations due to the storm.

-AFP/fl

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Peru: 'Missing' U.S. couple found, but family wants proof

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Peru's tourism minister say Jamie Neal and Garrett Hand were found in the Amazon


• Hand's mother says she won't believe the news until she hears directly from her son


• Family and friends have not been able to reach the couple since January


• Some areas they planned to visit are out of cell phone and Internet reach

(CNN) -- An American couple that went missing on a bike trek through Peru has been spotted "safe and sound," the South American country's top tourism official said Tuesday.

Jamie Neal and Garrett Hand are heading upstream in a small boat on a jungle river, said Jose Luis Silva, Peru's minister of tourism and commerce.

"They're currently in a remote, paradise-like region of the Peruvian Amazon, which is difficult to access," he told CNN.

But even as authorities trumpeted the news, Hand's mother said in a statement that she won't believe it until she hears directly from her son.

"We have not heard from them since January 25, nor have they accessed bank accounts since that time," mother Francine Fitzgerald said. "We have only the worst to consider as to why."

The couple, who hail from the San Francisco area, left last November and began a series of social media posts chronicling the trip of their dreams -- a four-month bike adventure through South America.

"Will be riding my bike in other countries and out of contact for 4 months!" Neal wrote in a November Facebook post before flying with Hand to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

But for weeks, the couple shared photos online from their trek through Argentina, Chile and Peru, showing themselves posing beside their bikes on remote mountain roads, camping out in tents and smiling at the beach.

In late January, however, their Internet postings stopped and calls to their cell phones went unanswered. Family members say no one has been able to get in touch with them since then.

Fitzgerald said both the U.S. Embassy in Peru and the country's interior ministry have called to say that Neal and Hand were spotted.

But that's not enough, she said.

"Let me reiterate, until we have PROOF OF LIFE, we cannot celebrate these rumors and sightings," she wrote on a Facebook page set up to facilitate a search for the couple. "Proof of life is my son's voice on the phone and a picture of him holding the missing poster."

Silva told CNN that the tourism ministry learned of the couple's location from police, who received a report from a clinic in the town of Angoteros after sending out a nationwide alert about the missing couple.

The ministry will send a hydroplane tomorrow to shoot video of the couple and provide proof they're doing OK, he said.

"They have no idea of the commotion they have caused in the media," he said, "because they simply can't communicate with family from where they currently are."

Neal and Hand, both 25, according to a family flyer, were last seen in Lima, the Peruvian capital. But some of the areas they planned to visit are out of cell phone and Internet reach.

The Peruvian National Police earlier told CNN that the manager of a hostel in Pucallpa, where the couple stayed, confirmed to a police investigator they reached the jungle city in early February.

The manager of Arco Iris Amazonica, a small hotel in the rain forest city of Iquitos, told police the couple stayed there on February 16 and told him they planned to travel to the town of Naplo, a 15-day trek.

Peru is known for the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu, located in the Cusco region, which attract hundreds of thousands of international travelers each year.

Two weeks ago, the U.S. Embassy in Lima issued a security message warning Americans of "a potential kidnapping threat in the Cusco area."

"The Embassy has received information that members of a criminal organization may be planning to kidnap U.S. citizen tourists in the Cusco and Machu Picchu area," the message said.

But it also clarified that "thousands of U.S. citizens routinely travel to the Cusco region without undue incident. The U.S. Embassy remains confident of the Peruvian government's efforts to ensure the safety of all tourists in the region."

Peru's tourism minister said Tuesday that he was "deeply concerned" about the negative impact of reports of the missing American couple.

The reason the couple has been out of touch for so long has nothing to do with any crime, he said.

"These two young people have fallen in love with Peru," Silva said. "They have visited off-the-beaten-path places and it seems like they're having a blast -- so much so that they have forgotten to communicate with their families."

CNN's Catherine E. Shoichet and Tom Watkins contributed to this report.

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Two cops, suspect dead in Calif. shootings

Updated 1:50 a.m. EST

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. Two police officers were shot and killed Tuesday while investigating a sexual assault, and a suspect was also fatally shot, authorities said.

Santa Cruz police Chief Kevin Vogel says Sgt. Loren Butch Baker and Detective Elizabeth Butler were gunned down in mid-afternoon Tuesday as they followed up on a sexual assault investigation. He says Baker was a 28-year veteran of the department and Butler had been with the department 10 years. Vogel says Baker was married and the father of two daughters, while Butler leaves behind two young sons.

A suspect, identified as 35-year-old Jeremy Goulet, was shot and killed a short time later while authorities were pursuing the gunman, the Santa Cruz County sheriff's office said.

Residents on the adjoining streets where the shootings occurred received an automatic police call warning them to stay locked inside. About half an hour later, more than a dozen semi-automatic shots echoed down the streets in a brief shootout that killed the suspect.

Witnesses described hearing a "multitude of gunfire" - with 20 or more shots fired during that gun battle between the suspect and law enforcement, reports CBS San Francisco station station KPIX-TV.

Police were going door-to-door in the neighborhood, searching homes, garages, even closets, although the sheriff said authorities didn't know if another suspect remained at large.

Police, sheriff's deputies and FBI agents filled intersections, some with guns drawn, in what is ordinarily a quiet, residential neighborhood in the community about 60 miles south of San Francisco.

A store clerk a few buildings away from the shooting said the barrage of gunfire was "terrifying."

"We ducked. We have big desks, so under the desks we went," said the clerk, who spoke on condition of anonymity and asked that her store not be identified because she feared for her safety.

She said she remained locked in her store hours after the shooting and was still scared.

Two schools were locked down during the shooting. The students were later evacuated by bus to the County Government Center about half a mile away.

As darkness fell, helicopters and light aircraft patrolled above the neighborhood, which is about a mile from downtown Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The campus of University of California, Santa Cruz, is about five miles away.

The city's mayor, Hilary Bryant, said in a statement that the city was shocked over the shootings.

"Tonight we are heartbroken at the loss of two of our finest police officers who were killed in the line of duty, protecting the community we love," the statement said. "This is an exceptionally shocking and sad day for Santa Cruz and our Police Department."

Santa Cruz has faced a recent spate of violence, and community leaders had scheduled a downtown rally Tuesday to speak out against shootings. That and a city council meeting were canceled after teary-eyed city leaders learned of the deaths.

Those shootings include the killing of Pauly Silva, a 32-year-old martial arts instructor who was shot outside a popular downtown bar and restaurant on Feb. 9.

Two days later, a UC Santa Cruz student waiting at a bus stop was shot in the head during a robbery. She is recovering from her injuries.

Then on Feb. 17, a 21-year-old woman was raped and beaten on the UC Santa Cruz campus. Four days later, a Santa Cruz couple fought off two men who came in their home before dawn and threatened them with a sword.

Read More..

Inside Organized Retail Crime Raids

We used to call it shoplifting, but these days the foot soldiers of retail crime rings are known as boosters. Police even have an acronym for these operations: ORC, which stands for Organized Retail Crime.

"It's just like a Fortune 500 company," said Sergeant Eric Lee of the Gardena Police Department in Gardena, Calif. "All of this is just organized."

Watch the full story on "Nightline" TONIGHT at 12:35 a.m. ET

Police say big retail stores, from Walgreens to J.C. Penny, are getting hit by highly sophisticated shoplifting networks that steal and resell everything from underwear to razors to milk. According to the National Retail Federation, theft can amount to annual losses as high as a $37 billion for retail businesses.

"Every store in every city has to go through this," Lee said. "They wait until no one's paying attention and they walk out."

Tide detergent is currently a hot target because it is compact, expensive and easy to sell on the streets for profit, police said. The Street name: "liquid gold."

"Sometimes we get rings that just do alcohol," Lee said. "And then we get some that do just meat and seafood."

Investigators say boosters move the loot for cents on the dollar to fencing operations -- the black market resellers of the stolen goods -- which sell the stolen merchandise in plain sight in stores. Boosters, fencers, Mr. Bigs, all of those involved in these shoplifting operations can potentially make millions a year from boosting and re-selling stolen goods.

Craigslist Crackdown: Cops Go After Thieves Watch Video

And Mike Swett is on the case. A former Riverside County sheriff's deputy in Los Angeles, Swett was badly injured in a car wreck and now works as a full-time private investigator on the ORC beat who has worked with Target, Marshalls, T.J. Maxx. Stores hire him to do his own undercover police work, catching thieves before involving local law enforcement.

"Kind of like working a narcotics case, it's like you've got low-level, mid-level and then top dog," Swett said. "We like to go after the top dog and the only way to get to the top dog is mid-level first."

At his command center -- his apartment -- Swett showed off the boxes upon boxes of tapes and photographs he has collected, the fruits of countless silent stake-out hours.

Swett said he has been casing two joints in L.A. for months, both alleged to be mid-level fencing operations. "Nightline" was invited to ride along with him when he sent undercover agents in for a final reconnaissance mission.

At some stores and shopping malls, clerks do little to stop shoplifters and often let them run, which has contributed to the growing fencing operations.

"[The stores] don't want their employees to get injured," Swett said. "So oftentimes they will call the police, but by the time we get there they are already in their car and they are gone."

This leaves professional investigators like Swett to put the pieces together and bust open the gangs to lead over-stretched police departments to the prey.

When raid day arrived, a motorcade of squad cars departed from the Gardena, Calif., police department and pulled up to one fencing operation. Swett said the merchandise being sold was boosted goods.

"There is Victoria's Secret, expensive Victoria's Secret, the gift sets," he said, pointing down a line of tables. "J.C. Penny, Miramax, its real stuff not counterfeit."

He spotted a bottle of Katy Perry brand perfume, which usually retails for around $90 but one seller had it priced at $59.

Read More..

Today on New Scientist: 25 February 2013

First fruits of a groundbreaking art-science tie-up

A pioneering collaboration between two of London's most prestigious cultural institutions shows that sci-art has come of age

The great illusion of the self

Your mind's greatest trick is convincing you of your own reality. Discover the elaborate illusions involved and what they mean in our special feature

Stunning seeds: a biological meteor wreathed in flames

Some seeds have a look that evokes all-consuming fire, says an artist who captures their portraits with a flatbed scanner

Armband adds a twitch to gesture control

The Myo band turns electrical activity in the muscles of a user's forearm into gestures for controlling computers and other devices

Treat malware as biology to know it better

Treating computer viruses as a biological puzzle could help computer scientists get a better handle on the wide world of malware

Take my taxi to the moon

Susmita Mohanty, the founder of India's first private space company, Earth2Orbit, wants India to claim bigger piece of the space-launch pie

How electrodes in the brain block obsessive behaviour

Why deep brain stimulation can help people with OCD was a mystery, but now it seems the treatment fixes brain signalling well beyond the stimulated area

Ancient continent hides beneath Indian Ocean

The sands on Mauritius's beaches are older than the island itself, suggesting a hidden continent is the source

New blood test finds elusive fetal gene problem

Take parents' DNA and make a computer model of their fetus's genome - comparison with the real thing will show up problems that other tests miss

Amazon to open market in second-hand MP3s and e-books

A new market for second-hand digital downloads could let us hold virtual yard sales of our ever-growing piles of intangible possessions

People in a vegetative state may feel pain

Scans have revealed activity in areas of the brain responsible for the emotional aspects of pain in people thought to have no subjective awareness

Sewage solutions: Six alternative toilet technologies

Two-and-a-half billion people don't have access to sanitary toilets, but standard designs aren't an option without a sewer network. See some alternatives here

Rusty rocks reveal ancient origin of photosynthesis

Iron oxide in the world's oldest sedimentary rocks suggest photosynthesis evolved 370 million years earlier than we thought, not long after life began

Read More..

Asian markets mostly slip on Italy uncertainty

HONG KONG: Asian markets mostly fell on Tuesday, with dealers spooked by an election in Italy that left no clear winner, leading to political uncertainty and fresh fears about eurozone stability.

The dollar and euro extended the losses suffered in US trade as investors absorbed the Italian results, while there was also concern about the lack of progress in Washington to avoid spending cuts due to take effect on Friday.

Tokyo tumbled 2.26 percent, or 263.71 points, to 11,398.81, with profit-takers also moving in after the index enjoyed a big surge on Monday.

Sydney shed 1.03 percent, or 52.2 points, to 5,003.6, and Seoul lost 0.47 percent, or 9.51 points, to close at 2,000.01.

Shanghai tumbled 1.40 percent, or 32.48 points, to 2,293.34, while Hong Kong fell 1.32 percent, or 300.39 points, to 22,519.69.

Italy Tuesday looked headed for political deadlock as results from Sunday's election indicated there would be no clear winner, while the biggest gainer was a protest party run by a popular comedian.

The polls show that while the leftists won the lower house, the party run by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi had more seats in the upper house.

Investors fear the outcome will lead to political stalemate in the country and a possible return to the dark days of the region's financial crisis if austerity measures introduced to cut Rome's huge debt pile are reversed.

The developments in Italy sent a shiver through forex markets in New York, with the euro tumbling to $1.3065 and 120.12 yen.

In Asia, the single currency sat at $1.3045 and 119.70 yen, well down from the $1.3197 and 124.24 yen in Tokyo on Monday.

The dollar fetched 91.76 yen against 91.92 yen in New York, far off the 94.77 yen high seen Monday in Asia.

The split vote in Italy wiped out the yen's Monday losses that were fuelled by reports Japan's government is likely to nominate a man to run the central bank who is in favour of more aggressive monetary easing.

On Wall Street, the Dow tumbled 1.55 percent in its biggest single-day drop since November, while the S&P 500 dived 1.83 percent and the Nasdaq sank 1.44 percent.

Traders are also keeping an eye on US lawmakers to see if they can muster an agreement to avoid the imposition of $85 billion in budget cuts -- known as the sequester -- that will come in on Friday.

Analysts have warned that if less drastic cuts are not agreed, the still-fragile economy could slip back into recession.

Oil prices fell, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, dropping 85 cents to $92.26 a barrel in the afternoon and Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April shedding 85 cents to $113.59.

Gold was at $1,593.60 at 0805 GMT compared with $1,593.30 late Monday.

In other markets:

-- Taipei fell 0.84 percent, or 66.78 points, to 7,880.9.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co shed 1.43 percent to NT$103.5 while leading smartphone maker HTC was 0.36 percent higher at NT$276.5.

-- Manila closed 1.35 percent lower, giving up 90.66 points to 6,630.67.

SM Investments shed 1.37 percent to 1,010 pesos and Ayala Corp. fell 1.02 percent to 584 pesos, while SM Prime Holdings slid 1.60 percent to 18.50 pesos.

-- Wellington closed 0.30 percent, or 12.47 points, higher at 4,238.92.

Telecom rose 1.1 percent to NZ$2.32, Sky City added 0.5 percent to NZ$4.10 and Air New Zealand was up 4.7 percent at NZ$1.33.

- AFP/xq

Read More..

Family fights $474K hospital bill

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At least 19 tourists die in hot air balloon crash in Egypt

Updated 2:30 a.m. EST

LUXOR, Egypt A hot air balloon flying over Egypt's famed ancient city of Luxor caught fire and crashed into a sugar cane field on Tuesday, killing at least 19 foreign tourists, a security official said.

It was one of the worst crashes involving tourists in the country already struggling with a decimated tourism industry, two years after the 2011 uprising that ousted former leader Hosni Mubarak.

According to an Egyptian security official, the balloon carrying 21 tourists caught fire, which triggered an explosion in its gas canister, then plunged at least 1,000 feet from the sky. It crashed into a sugar cane field outside al-Dhabaa village just west of the city of Luxor, 320 miles south of Cairo, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The casualties included French, British, Chinese and Japanese nationals, the official said. Two survivors of the crash were taken to a local hospital with critical injuries. Local media reports say the survivors included the pilot.

Bodies of the dead tourists were scattered across the field around the remnants of the balloon. An Associated Press reporter at the crash site counted eight bodies as they were put into body bags and taken away.

Hot air ballooning, usually at sunrise over the Karnak and Luxor temples as well as the Valley of the Kings, is a popular pastime for tourists visiting Luxor.

Tourism is one of Egypt's economic pillars and main revenue of foreign currency.

The site of the accident has seen accidents in the past. In 2009, 16 tourists were injured when their balloon stuck a cell phone transmission. A year earlier, seven tourists were injured in a similar crash.

Read More..

Americans Targeted for Allegedly Running Underage Prostitution in Philippines

Arthur Benjamin is sitting at the edge of a small stage, wearing a lavender Hawaiian shirt and nursing a bottle of San Miguel Light beer. The 6-foot-6 mustachioed Texan lazily watches the half dozen or so girls dancing rather unenergetically around the stage's pole.

"I forgot your gift again, it's in the car," Benjamin says to one of the girls on stage, shouting above the pop music blaring from the speaker system.

The small, dingy bar, which Benjamin says he owns, is called Crow Bar. It's in a rundown part of the picturesque Subic Bay in the western Philippines, about a three hour drive from the capital, Manila. Home for 50 years to a United States naval base, Subic Bay has become synonymous with foreigners looking for sex in the long string of bars that line the main road along the coast.

Watch the full story on "Nightline" TONIGHT at 12:35 a.m. ET

The bars in this area are often packed with older foreign men ogling the young Filipina women available for the night for a "bar fine" of around 1,500 Filipino pesos, or just over $35. Many of the bars are owned and operated by Americans, often former military servicemen who either served on the base or whose ships docked here until the base was shuttered under political pressure in 1992.

Alleged Underage Prostitution in Philippines Watch Video

Authorities Raid Philippines Bar Suspected of Underage Prostitution Watch Video

Innocence for Sale: US Dollars Fund Philippines Sex Trade Watch Video

Most of the prostitutes working in the bars are indeed 18 or older. But in the Philippines, just a small scratch to the surface can reveal a layer of young, underage girls who have mostly come from impoverished rural provinces to sell their bodies to help support their families.

Benjamin, 49, is, according to his own statements, one of the countless foreigners who has moved beyond just having sex with underage girls to owning and operating a bar where girls in scantily-clad outfits flaunt their bodies for patrons.

"My wife recently found out that I have this place," he tells an ABC News "Nightline" team, unaware they are journalists and recording the conversation on tiny hidden cameras disguised as shirt buttons.

Benjamin said that a "disgruntled waitress" had written his wife on Facebook, detailing his activities in Subic Bay.

"She sent her this thing saying that I have underage girls who stayed with me, that I [have anal sex with them], I own a bar, I've got other girls that I'm putting through high school, all this other crap," he said.

"All of which is true," he laughed. "However, I have to deny."

He sends a text message summoning his current girlfriend, a petite dark-skinned girl called Jade, who he said is just 16 years old. Benjamin says he bought the bar for her about a year ago and while most still call it Crow Bar, he officially re-named it with her last name.

"She needed a place to stay, I needed a place to do her. I bought a bar for her," he says, explaining that she lives in a house out back by the beach.

"You're not going to find anything like this in the States, not as a guy my age," he said as he looked down at Jade. "Ain't going to happen."

Benjamin is the latest target of Father Shay Cullen, a Catholic priest with a thick Irish brogue and fluency in the local language, Tagalog. Through his non-profit center called Preda, he's been crusading against underage sex trafficking in the Philippines for 40 years.

Read More..

Take my taxi to the moon

Susmita Mohanty, the founder of India’s first private space company, Earth2Orbit, wants India to claim bigger piece of the space-launch pie

How active is India's space programme?
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), which was founded in 1969, launches rockets, builds and uses satellites extensively for earthly applications and has recently started planetary exploration. It tested its first astronaut capsule for atmospheric re-entry in 2007, and is planning to build a residential astronaut training facility. ISRO is also planning a lunar lander mission for 2014 and will launch a mission to Mars this year.

How does your company, Earth2Orbit, fit in with this programme?
We want to commercialise India's space capabilities, in particular the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. It is one of the world's most reliable in its class. I want to make it the rocket of choice for international satellite-makers looking to get to low Earth or sun-synchronous orbits. India could build and launch up to six each year, but currently launches only two. We need to step up to full throttle. The same goes for satellites and ground equipment. Over the next decade or two, I think India should be aiming for at least a quarter of the multibillion-dollar global space market, if not more.

What do you think of the way spacecraft for carrying humans are currently designed?
The way the world aerospace industry is set up, it is closely linked to the defence sector – they share the technology, the tooling and the cumbersome contractual processes. Unlike commercial automobile or consumer-product companies, where the end user is the primary design driver, aerospace companies tend to please government customers. As a result, we often end up with over-engineered, under-designed crew craft with an exorbitant price tag.

How can we improve on these designs?
I want us to push the boundaries of technology and design and build intelligent spaceships – spaceships that think. Imagine if an international consortium of companies such as Apple, Samsung, Pininfarina, Space X and MIT Media Lab got together to design and build a spaceship! What would it look like? Could it think? Could it self-repair or self-clean? Would it challenge the crew?

The private sector is changing how we get into space. How has the X Prize contributed?
It created a tectonic shift in mindsets and showed how we can accelerate innovation in space exploration without having to spend taxpayer money. The first X Prize led to the first privately funded and designed spaceplane built by Burt Rutan. Then Richard Branson seized the opportunity: if all goes well, Virgin Galactic could fly more people to space in a year than the Russians or Americans have over the past 50 years!

What is next for space travel?
It barely takes 10 minutes to reach low Earth orbit. It probably takes longer for most urbanites to commute to work. I want to be able to "cab it" to low Earth orbit. I am dreaming of private astronaut taxis. The first generation will take paying passengers into orbit. The second generation will ferry us to the moon and Mars.

This article appeared in print under the headline "One minute with... Susmita Mohanty"

Profile

Susmita Mohanty is CEO of Earth2Orbit, which recently launched its first client satellite. She has worked at NASA and Boeing, and holds a PhD in aerospace architecture

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

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Revisit issue of investigation into police brutality after proceedings end: Indranee

SINGAPORE: Issues relating to the investigation of claims of police brutality by former SMRT bus drivers will be dealt with once relevant proceedings are over.

Senior Minister of State for Law, Indranee Rajah, said this in Parliament on Monday.

She was responding to a question by Non-Constituency Member of Parliament, Yee Jenn Jong.

Mr Yee asked whether the attempted retention and confiscation of a laptop, desktop computer and mobile phone belonging to a film maker was in accordance with requirements set out in the Criminal Procedure Code.

He also questioned what the legal basis is for the attempted confiscation.

Ms Indranee said the allegations of police brutality against the former SMRT drivers, which were posted on the website "Lianain Films" on 28 January, are serious allegations.

They are currently being investigated by the Police Internal Affairs Office.

She said notwithstanding these allegations, the drivers have indicated through their counsel that they intend to plead guilty to the criminal charges preferred against them.

Ms Indranee added that it is best that the issue is dealt with after all the relevant proceedings are over.

- CNA/ck

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'Crippling' winter storm belts Great Plains region (again)

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Flights in and out of Amarillo International Airport have been canceled


• NEW: Portions of I-40 and U.S. Highways 87 and 187 in Texas are closed


• Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is calling on drivers to stay off the road


• "This storm has the potential to be more dangerous than last week's storm," he says

(CNN) -- Call it winter weather, part two.

Just days after a storm walloped the Great Plains, a second one, bringing with it heavy snow and strong winds, was slamming the region early Monday, forcing airline cancellations and school closures from Colorado to Texas.

National Weather Service forecasters warned the storm was bringing potentially "life threatening" and "crippling" blizzard conditions with freezing temperatures to portions of southeast Kansas, northwest Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle overnight.

All flights in and out of Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport in Texas were canceled until noon on Monday.

"Nothing coming in or out until then at the earliest," airport spokesman Daryl Ware said.

A number of schools districts, senior centers and churches were closed in Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle until at least Tuesday, while some state and local offices were also being temporarily shuttered.

Fearing a repeat of last week's storm that brought more than 22 inches of snow to some places in Kansas, forcing the closure of airports and schools, the governor on Sunday extended a state of emergency declaration to include the new storm.

Kansas City is expecting 9 to 15 inches of snow Monday night into Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service, and officials are calling for residents to stay off the roads.

"This storm has the potential to be more dangerous than last week's storm," Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said late Sunday. "So, we ask you to stay off the road unless it's absolutely critical. If you have to be out, be prepared with a charged cell phone, an emergency kit with food, water, blankets, flares and a shovel."

'Call it a win'

Such forecasts raised alarms throughout the Plains, leading to crowded stores as residents prepared for the storm.

Amanda Roberts, an entrepreneur and blogger in Warrensburg, Missouri, hit the stores ahead of the storm that is expected to start hitting the state by late Monday.

"The snow has everyone stocking up on groceries," she said in a Twitter post. "Fresh produce is basically gone but I got the last gallon of chocolate milk. I call it a win."

Forecasters have upped their predictions for the amount of snow expected in northwest Oklahoma to 8 to 10 inches, with 15 inches in spots. This may be a shock to some, given that temperatures in places reached the mid-60s on Sunday.

"May see 4-6 foot drifts!" wrote National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Smith on Twitter. "Traveling is beyond discouraged!"

In Texas, the Department of Transportation closed portions of westbound I-40 from outside from Amarillo to Albuquerque, New Mexico, because of blizzard conditions.

The Texas Department of Public Safety, meanwhile, closed portions of U.S. Highways 87 and 187 due to overnight white out conditions expected to continue through Monday afternoon.

Salt truck drivers were on standby overnight in Oklahoma City.

"Well, we're pretty well prepared right now. We have 28 trucks loaded, plows on," Oklahoma City Emergency Management's Mike Love told CNN affiliate KWTV.

"We run our emergency snow route. We'll run that until it's free and clear. And if this stuff comes in like they're saying tomorrow, with these high winds, look forward to some drifting."

By early Monday, with more than 9 inches of snow reported in some areas of Denver, airline operations in the Colorado capital were working to return to normal a day after more than 200 of 1,500 flights had been canceled and hundreds more flights were delayed because of the weather, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Up to 19 inches of snow was reported in Jefferson, about 70 miles southwest of Denver.

Rain, flooding the issue in Southeast

While millions will see snow -- including Chicago, where 3 to 5 inches of snow and sleet are expected Tuesday -- rain may rule for the next few days in parts of the Southeast.

In Mobile, Alabama, on the Gulf Coast, residents prepared for the possibility of heavy rains and wind gusts as strong as 30 mph by Monday night.

The rain is part of a band affecting five Southeastern states where flash flood watches are in effect from Monday afternoon through Tuesday morning.

Some areas from Louisiana to South Carolina could see up to 4 inches of rain.

Record-setting February

Kansas City International Airport set a February 21 record of 9 inches of snow, 4 more inches than the amount that fell the same date in 2010. Monday might bring 6 to 10 more inches, forecasters said.

Kansas City is approaching its February snowfall record of 20.7 inches, set in 1960.

The state of Kansas is also still digging out in many places.

Wichita saw its second-highest storm snowfall total on record last week with 14.2 inches over two days, the National Weather Service said.

The town of Russell in the state's middle lay under a 22-inch layer of white by the time the storm roared by.

CNN's AnneClaire Stapleton and Judson Jones contributed to this report.

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