Thai deputy PM dies of suspected heart problem

BANGKOK: Thai deputy prime minister and minister of tourism and sports Chumpol Silpa-archa, aged 72, died on Monday of a suspected heart problem, his party said.

Chumpol, the leader of the Chart Thai Pattana Party -- a member of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's ruling coalition -- was admitted to hospital with breathing problems on December 17.

"We received news that he passed away this morning," Chart Thai Pattana spokesman Vachara Kannikar said.

"We don't know the cause of death yet but I think it could be linked to his heart problem."

He was one of several deputy premiers serving under Yingluck.

- AFP/al

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Midwest faces frostbite threat

By Ben Brumfield, CNN

updated 3:57 AM EST, Mon January 21, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Frostbite can occur in as little as 10 minutes in extreme wind chill, the CDC warns


• Monday's highs in North Dakota and Minnesota will stay below zero


• Extreme cold is dangerous to people with heart conditions

(CNN) -- Frigid temperatures in Minnesota and North Dakota this week will have residents thinking they've been living in the tropics all season.

Nighttime temperatures plummeted to 2 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday night.

As if that's not enough, they will take another dive early Monday, this time to minus 28.

The National Weather Service warned that strong winds would dunk the mercury in the upper plains states and plunge wind chill factors to as low as minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

High temperatures Monday are predicted to stay below zero.

The Centers for Disease Control warns people in extremely cold areas to stay in heated rooms and keep outdoor trips brief.

At 30 below zero, frostbite can occur in as little as 10 minutes with the slightest winds, and in five minutes in a brisk breeze, the CDC warns. Newborns, the elderly and the homeless can quickly fall victim to hypothermia.

"Cold weather puts an extra strain on the heart," the CDC said, and overexertion can become even more dangerous to those with heart conditions in the Arctic cold.

Although such deep freezes are potentially deadly, they are not uncommon in the upper midsection of the United States. The North Dakota Department of Emergency Services said it did not deploy additional staffing because of the weather.

CNN's Jessica Jordan contributed to this report.

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Obamas Share the Love, Even for Michelle's Bangs

Jan 20, 2013 10:49pm

(Charles Dharapak/AP Photo)

President Obama used the first public remarks of his second term to address what he called the “most significant” event of this weekend: his wife’s much-talked-about new haircut.

“I love her bangs,” Obama told supporters at an inaugural reception at the National Building Museum. “She looks good. She always looks good.”

First lady Michelle Obama, wearing a black sequined cocktail dress and showcasing her new hairdo, also heaped compliments on her husband.

“Let me tell you, it has just been a true thrill to watch this handsome, charming individual grow into the man and the president that he is,” she said, as she reached out to playfully touch the president’s face, sparking laughter from the crowd.

Praising his compassion and courage, the first lady introduced the president as the “love of her life.”

Obama, who was sworn in for a second term in a small White House ceremony earlier today, kept his remarks short, noting he has another big speech to deliver Monday.

“There are a limited amount of good lines and you don’t want to use them all up tonight,” he joked.

Because the Constitutionally mandated date for the inauguration, Jan. 20, fell on a Sunday this year, the traditional, public ceremony was delayed until Monday.

Saving the best for his official inaugural address, the president instead dedicated the bulk of his remarks to thanking supporters for their hard work and dedication to getting him re-elected.

“You understood this was not just about a candidate; it was not just about Joe Biden or Barack Obama. This was about us, who we are as a nation, what values we cherish, how hard we’re willing to fight to make sure that those values live not just for today but for future generations,” he said.

“All of you here understood and were committed to the basic notion that when we put our shoulders to the wheel of history, it moves… It moves forward. And that’s part of what we celebrate when we come together for inauguration,” he said.

SHOWS: World News

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Earth may be crashing through dark matter walls

Earth is constantly crashing through huge walls of dark matter, and we already have the tools to detect them. That's the conclusion of physicists who say the universe may be filled with a patchwork quilt of force fields created shortly after the big bang.

Observations of how mass clumps in space suggest that about 86 per cent of all matter is invisible dark matter, which interacts with ordinary matter mainly through gravity. The most popular theory is that dark matter is made of weakly interacting massive particles.

WIMPs should also interact with ordinary matter via the weak nuclear force, and their presence should have slight but measurable effects. However, years of searches for WIMPs have been coming up empty.

"So far nothing is found, and I feel like it's time to broaden the scope of our search," says Maxim Pospelov of the University of Victoria in Canada. "What we propose is to look for some other signatures."

Bubbly cosmos

Pospelov and colleagues have been examining a theory that at least some of the universe's dark matter is tied up in structures called domain walls, akin to the boundaries between tightly packed bubbles. The idea is that the hot early universe was full of an exotic force field that varied randomly. As the universe expanded and cooled, the field froze, leaving a patchwork of domains, each with its own distinct value for the field.

Having different fields sit next to each other requires energy to be stored within the domain walls. Mass and energy are interchangeable, so on a large scale a network of domain walls can look like concentrations of mass – that is, like dark matter, says Pospelov.

If the grid of domain walls is packed tightly enough – say, if the width of the domains is several hundred times the distance between Earth and the sun – Earth should pass through a domain wall once every few years. "As a human, you wouldn't feel a thing," says Pospelov. "You will go through the wall without noticing." But magnetometers – devices that, as the name suggests, measure magnetic fields – could detect the walls, say Pospelov and colleagues in a new study. Although the field inside a domain would not affect a magnetometer, the device would sense the change when Earth passes through a domain wall.

Dark matter walls have not been detected yet because anyone using a single magnetometer would find the readings swamped by noise, Pospelov says. "You'd never be able to say if it's because the Earth went through a bizarre magnetic field or if a grad student dropped their iPhone or something," he says.

Network needed

Finding the walls will require a network of at least five detectors spread around the world, Pospelov suggests. Colleagues in Poland and California have already built one magnetometer each and have shown that they are sensitive enough for the scheme to work.

Domain walls wouldn't account for all the dark matter in the universe, but they could explain why finding particles of the stuff has been such a challenge, says Pospelov.

If domain walls are found, the news might come as a relief to physicists still waiting for WIMPs to show up. Earlier this month, for instance, a team working with a detector in Russia that has been running for more than 24 years announced that they have yet to see any sign of these dark matter candidates.

Douglas Finkbeiner of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who was not involved in Pospelov's study, isn't yet convinced that dark matter walls exist. But he is glad that physicists are keeping an open mind about alternatives to WIMPs.

"We've looked for WIMP dark matter in so many ways," he says. "At some point you have to ask, are we totally on the wrong track?"

Journal reference: Physical Review Letters, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.021803

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Malaysian prime minister to make rare visit to Gaza

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will visit Gaza this week, an official said Sunday, in what would be a rare visit by a foreign leader to the impoverished Palestinian territory.

Najib will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Anifah Aman and other officials on the one-day visit on Tuesday, an aide to the prime minister told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The aide declined to give details of the visit or its purpose, saying an official statement would be issued on Monday.

Mainly Muslim Malaysia has long been a staunch supporter of the Palestinians' aspirations to statehood. It does not have diplomatic ties with Israel.

During the conflict in Gaza last November, Najib urged international powers to influence Israel to halt what he called its military aggression against the Palestinians.

The prime minister had said Malaysia was deeply concerned at the crisis and ready to help in any way possible. He urged Hamas, the Islamic movement which runs Gaza, to refrain from action that would cause the conflict to worsen.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ended the November 14-21 fighting. The conflict left 177 Palestinians dead -- including about 100 civilians -- as well as six Israelis -- four civilians and two soldiers.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamid bin Khalifa al-Thani made a landmark trip last October to Gaza, the first such visit by a head of state since Hamas took over the territory in 2007.

- AFP/ck

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5 hurt in 3 gun show shootings

An injured person is taken from the North Carolina State Fairgrounds after being wounded in a gun accident on Saturday.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: A man shoots business partner with a gun he bought at an Ohio show, police say


• A shotgun goes off as its owner unfastens its case at a N.C. gun show, wounding 3


• 1 man shoots himself with his semi-automatic in Indiana, police say


• All three shootings are deemed accidental by authorities

(CNN) -- At least five people -- three in North Carolina, one in Indiana and one in Ohio -- were injured after weapons went off at gun shows Saturday, officials said, at a time when there's been renewed discussion about private gun sales at such shows.

The most casualties came at the Dixie Gun and Knife Show in Raleigh, where attendees bolted -- with at least one woman wiping out in the frenetic scene -- when gunfire rang out around 1 p.m., as seen on video captured by CNN affiliate WRAL.

Police later explained that a a 36-year-old man from Wilmington, North Carolina, was unfastening the case of his 12-gauge shotgun on a table near the show entrance when it accidentally discharged. The man planned to sell the shotgun at the show.

The bird shot ended up injuring three people. One was a sheriff's deputy, who suffered a slight injury to his hand and was treated and released at a local hospital before returning immediately to work, said Joel Keith, chief of police of the North Carolina State Fair.

A 54-year-old woman from Benson, North Carolina, was being treated a wound to her right torso at a local hospital, and a 50-year-old man from Durham, North Carolina, was treated for an injured left hand, Keith told reporters.

"I want to emphasize that this is an accident," Keith said.

That said, Wake County sheriff's investigators and the local prosecutor will determine whether to file charges against the gun's owner, authorities said.

Sheriff Donnie Harrison said he was unsure whether it was legal to bring a loaded gun on state fairgrounds. However, when the state fair is held in October, it is illegal to bring a loaded gun to the fairground because of the large crowds, authorities said.

"This is state property. That's something we're looking into," Harrison told reporters. "It's early right now."

The shooting prompted police to ban any private gun sales -- in which visitors bring their firearms to sell at the gun show -- for the remainder of the two-day show, which concludes Sunday, Keith said. He added there wouldn't be any private gun sales on fairgrounds for the indefinite future.

The gun show was closed after the shooting and will reopen Sunday. At that point, show vendors can continue to sell firearms, which are already secured inside the show, Keith said.

"If we thought if it was a problem or a hazard, we wouldn't have this show," Keith said about private gun sales at the show. "I'm sure there isn't anybody who hates this more than the guy who owned this weapon."

Man shoots business partner with semi-automatic handgun

A person is in stable condition at a northern Ohio hospital after being shot by his business partner at a gun show run by Conrad and Dowdell Productions, said Medina police Chief Patrick Berarducci.

The original owner of the Taurus semi-automatic 9 mm handgun used in the shooting brought the firearm into the show fully loaded. This is despite the policy of searches to make sure all guns are not loaded and rendered safe before others can handle them.

The man who bought the gun told police that he took it out, then accidentally fired it, said Berarducci. A single bullet ended up going into the arm and thigh of this man's business partner.

Authorities don't know who brought the loaded firearm into the gun show and sold it, added the police chief. They'll file a request with the federal ATF to track this person down.

The victim, meanwhile, is in good spirits with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Berarducci.

And in Indianapolis, a man walking out of the Indy 1500 Gun and Knife Show shot himself in the hand as he was loading his .45-caliber semi-automatic firearm, Indiana State Police said in a statement.

The 54-year-old Indianapolis man was sent to Wishard Hospital for treatment after being "slightly" injured.

"The investigation determined the shooting to be accidental, and no charges will be filed," police said.

Shootings occur as gun debate rages

Reforming private gun sales -- at shows or anywhere else -- is among the changes that President Barack Obama is now seeking by requiring background checks.

The president has called for action in the wake of last month's shooting at a school in Newtown, Connecticut, which left 27 people -- 20 of them children age 7 or younger -- dead. Gun control activists have likewise pushed for changes, while gun rights advocates have said restrictions on gun sales are unnecessary and in defiance of their Second Amendment rights.

Currently, federal law requires background checks on gun sales by federally licensed firearms dealers, who are often among the vendors at gun shows.

Saturday's incidents occurred on 'Gun Appreciation Day," an event led by a gun rights group that urged Americans to "go to your local gun store, gun range or gun show with your Constitution, American flags and your 'Hands off my Guns' sign to send a loud and clear message."

Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, last Sunday issued a statement predicting this event would drive up sales of things like "assault-style rifles," which have already "skyrocketed" in the wake of the Newtown mass shooting.

Jabari Richards, a gun enthusiast, told WRAL at the Raleigh, North Carolina, show that he thought some reforms were wise.

"I think there should be background checks for everybody," Richards said, "because then you know they ... are capable of having a gun."

But another man at the Raleigh show said it was useless for Washington to step in.

"The gun laws that they have on the books aren't enforced, don't do any good," Al Galbraith said.

CNN's Stefan Simons and Maggie Schneider contributed to this report.

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Failed assassination attempt in Bulgaria - caught on tape

January 19, 2013 12:29 PM

In a failed assassination attempt on the leader of Bulgaria's ethnic Turkish party, Ahmed Dogan, a man is seen jumping out of the audience and onto the stage where Dogan is speaking. He then points the gun at Dogan's head and the gun reportedly misfires. The attacker is then tackled and beaten by security guards.

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Algeria Hostage Crisis Over, One American Dead

After the Algerian military's final assault on terrorists holding hostages at a gas complex, the four-day hostage crisis is over, but apparently with additional loss of life among the foreign hostages.

One American, Fred Buttaccio of Texas, has been confirmed dead by the U.S. State Department. Two more U.S. hostages remain unaccounted for, with growing concern among U.S. officials that they did not survive.

But another American, Mark Cobb of Corpus Christi, Texas is now confirmed as safe. Sources close to his family say Cobb, who is a senior manager of the facility, is safe and reportedly sent a text message " I'm alive."

Inside Algerian Hostage Crisis, One American Dead Watch Video

American Hostages Escape From Algeria Terrorists Watch Video

In a statement, President Obama said, "Today, the thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the families of all those who were killed and injured in the terrorist attack in Algeria. The blame for this tragedy rests with the terrorists who carried it out, and the United States condemns their actions in the strongest possible terms. ... This attack is another reminder of the threat posed by al Qaeda and other violent extremist groups in North Africa."

According to Algerian state media, 32 militants are dead and a total of 23 hostages perished during the four-day siege of the In Amenas facility in the Sahara. The Algerian Interior Ministry also says 107 foreign nationals who worked at the facility for BP and other firms were rescued or escaped from the al Qaeda-linked terrorists who took over the BP joint venture facility on Wednesday.

The Japanese government says it fears "very grave" news, with multiple casualties among the 10 Japanese citizens working at the In Amenas gas plant.

Five British nationals and one U.K. resident are either deceased or unaccounted for in the country, according to British Foreign Minister William Hague. Hague also said that the Algerians have reported that they are still trying to clear boobytraps from the site.

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NASA planet-hunter is injured and resting

Lisa Grossman, physical sciences reporter

(Image: NASA/Kepler mission/Wendy Stenzel)

NASA's planet-hunting Kepler telescope has put its search for alien Earths on hold while it rests a stressed reaction wheel.

The injured wheel normally helps to control the telescope's orientation, keeping it pointed continuously at the same patch of sky. Kepler stares at the thousands of stars in its field of view to watch for the telltale blinks that occur when a planet crosses in front of its star. It has found nearly 3000 potential planets outside our solar system since its launch in 2009, transforming the field of exoplanet research and raising hopes of someday finding alien life.

When it launched, Kepler had four reaction wheels: three to control its motion along each axis, and one spare. But last July, one wheel stopped turning. If the spacecraft loses a second wheel, the mission is over.

So when another wheel started showing signs of elevated friction on 7 January, the team decided to play it safe. After rotating the spacecraft failed to fix the problem, NASA announced yesterday that they're placing Kepler in safe mode for 10 days to give the wheel a chance to recover.

The hope is that the lubricating oil that helps the wheel's ball bearings run smoothly around a track will redistribute itself during the rest period.

The telescope can't take any science data while in safe mode. But if the wheel recovers on its own, Kepler's extended mission will run until 2016, leaving it plenty of time to make up for the lost days.

"Kepler is a statistical mission," says Charlie Sobeck, Kepler's deputy project manager at NASA's Ames Research Centre in Mountain View, California. "In the long run, as long as we make the observations, it doesn't matter a lot when we make the observations."

Despite the high stakes, the team doesn't seem too worried.

"Each wheel has its own personality, and this particular wheel has been something of a free spirit," Sobeck says. "It's had elevated torques throughout the mission. This one is typical to what we've seen in the past, and if we had four good wheels we probably wouldn't have taken any action."

"I prefer to picture the spacecraft lounging at the shore of the cosmic ocean sipping a Mai Tai so that she'll be refreshed and rejuvenated for more discoveries," wrote Kepler co-investigator Natalie Batalha in an email.

The team will check up on the wheel on 27 January and return to doing science as soon as possible.

There are two exoplanet missions currently being considered for after Kepler is finished, says Doug Hudgins at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. One, TESS (Terrestrial Exoplanet Survey Satellite), would scan the entire sky for planets transiting the stars nearest to the sun. The other, FINESSE (Fast Infrared Exoplanet Spectroscopy Survey Explorer), would take spectra of planets as they passed in front of their stars as a way to probe their atmospheres.

The missions are being evaluated now, and NASA will probably select one this spring, Hudgins says. The winner will launch in 2017.

If Kepler goes down with its reaction wheel, that won't affect which mission wins, he adds. "That's a straight-up competition based on the merits of the two concept study reports."

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Tennis: Serena, Murray suck it up to reach sweet 16

MELBOURNE: Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka came through their first uncomfortable moments and Andy Murray was also tested before reaching the Australian Open's last 16 on Saturday.

Williams, eyeing a calendar-year Grand Slam, was broken for the first time in the tournament by Japanese number one Ayumi Morita, before recovering from 0-3 down in the second set to win 6-1, 6-3.

Defending champion Azarenka screamed at herself and thrashed her racquet before overcoming an unexpectedly stiff challenge by America's Jamie Hampton, who bravely played through severe back pain.

Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro, seeded six, became the tournament's biggest casualty when the 2009 US Open champion slumped to a five-set defeat to unseeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet also went through, and with Gilles Simon playing Gael Monfils later France was assured of having four men in the fourth round, equalling their best performance at the tournament.

In the most competitive day so far, Murray extended his Grand Slam winning streak to 10 matches but not before a thorough workout from hitting partner Berankis, and he let his frustrations show during the 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 win.

The world number three trailed by a break of serve in the second set and appeared agitated at various stages, hitting his racquet on the court and yelling at his courtside box.

Murray served for the match at 5-4 in the third set but Berankis, the world number 110, broke back. But the 22-year-old dropped his next service game and Murray made no mistake in his second attempt at closing the victory.

The Olympic and US Open champion will next face the winner of the all-French affair between Monfils and Simon.

"I was struggling," Murray said. "He (Berankis) was making me feel pretty frustrated. We know each other well and we have practised together. He was making me feel pretty uncomfortable out there."

Williams unleashed her fastest ever serve, a 207 kilometres per hour (128 mph) bullet which equalled a speed clocked in round two against Garbine Muguruza, as she subdued the challenge of Morita.

"I feel today was actually a really good match for me," said Williams, a five-time winner at Melbourne Park and holder of 15 Grand Slam titles.

"I was involved in a lot of longer points, something I definitely wanted. I feel good. I hope I can keep this level up and go higher."

Azarenka admitted she needed to improve "everything" to successfully defend her title after surviving a scare against injured American Hampton, who winced as she played and was close to tears from the pain.

"It was definitely tough," said Azarenka, who won 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 and next plays Elena Vesnina. She is on course to meet Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter-finals.

"It's always good to know you can battle through not playing well, not feeling great."

World number seven Del Potro won four titles last year and dropped just 13 games in the first two rounds, but he found Chardy in inspired form and couldn't recover after going two sets down, finally succumbing in five.

Italy's Andreas Seppi ousted 12th seed Marin Cilic, but Tsonga found it easier with a straight-sets win over Blaz Kavcic, who was on an IV drip just two days ago after playing a five-hour marathon in intense heat.

In the prime-time evening match, four-time champion Roger Federer was due to play Australian upstart Bernard Tomic as he seeks to extend his record number of Grand Slam titles to 18.

-AFP/ac

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