100 years on, Antarctic science going strong

This week, dozens of brave revelers ? the prime minister of Norway among them ? are converging on the South Pole to celebrate the historic trek of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, the first human to set foot there on Dec. 14, 1911.

Yet in an ironic twist, some might argue that it is the runner-up in the grueling contest whose legacy has proved more lasting.

British explorer Robert Falcon Scott, who reached the pole a month after Amundsen, died on his return march, unable to escape the tightening noose of the Antarctic winter. And although his oft-maligned tactics proved, in part, to be his undoing, Scott's insistence on bringing scientists on his expedition ? at great cost to himself ? helped spark a tradition of scientific inquiry in Antarctica that endures to this day, according to Ross MacPhee, curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and author of the book, "Race to The End: Amundsen, Scott, and the Attainment of the South Pole" (Sterling Innovation, 2010).

"Every scientist working in Antarctica today owes Scott something," MacPhee told OurAmazingPlanet in September. [ Images: Scott's Lost Photos ]

Science is now one of the primary drivers of human activity on the continent.

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Each year, when the perpetual daylight of austral summer begins, droves of scientists descend on Antarctica to study its biology, drill deep into its ice, and send airplanes soaring overhead to image what lies underneath its glaciers.

Nearly 30 countries operate more than 80 research stations around the continent, according to 2009 numbers from the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs.

A flurry of work is now under way on and around the continent.

Charismatic fauna
Some scientists come to study the unique crowds of marine life that gather near the nutrient-rich waters off the Antarctic coast in the comparatively balmy summer. Penguins may be the most beloved of the local animal pantheon, but studying these birds is nothing like a Disney movie.

"Penguins are not cuddly at all. They're really very strong and very feisty, and they don't like to be picked up, which we try not to do," said David Ainley, a marine ecologist who has been studying Ad?lie penguins in Antarctica since the late 1960s.

For decades, Ainley, now with the California-based ecological consulting firm H.T. Harvey & Associates, has researched why penguin populations are changing; some colonies have grown, others have shrunk. He said he's interested in answering a very basic question about life on our planet ? how do animals cope with their environment? ? and that penguins are the ideal research subject.

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"They're fairly large so you can put instruments on them and record their behavior," Ainley told OurAmazingPlanet just hours before he boarded a plane headed south.

In addition, he said, they're pretty easy to find. "Penguins are very visible," Ainley said. "In the Antarctic they don't have any place to hide. They don't live in burrows, and it's daylight all the time."

Biological time trip
While Ainley and his team spend their days on the rocky slopes of Antarctic islands, other scientists spend the austral summer on ships. David Barnes, with the British Antarctic Survey, spoke with OurAmazingPlanet from the RRS James Ross, a research vessel parked near the Antarctic Peninsula, the long finger of land that points toward South America.

Barnes said that his research focuses on trying to unlock the secrets of Antarctica's icy past, specifically how the reach of the massive West Antarctic Ice Sheet has changed from age to age. Scientists know it has been larger than it is now, and some suspect it has been smaller than it is now, but anything more exact is difficult to pin down.

"The problem is that every time there's an ice age it's wiped out everything ? so we don't really know where the last ice sheet got to," Barnes said. But there is another way to peek into the Antarctic's past: "Where we can't get good signals from glaciology or geology, biology has a cunning way of stepping in," he said.

Barnes looks at the genetic makeup of sea creatures around western Antarctica to determine how long populations have been isolated from one another by the ice.

"Genetics preserve a connection between species and populations, so by looking around Antarctica at various depths we can get an idea of whether that area used to be underneath an ice sheet," Barnes said.

That information can, in turn, help scientists figure out how the West Antarctic Ice Sheet behaved in climates past, and how it might behave in our warming world.

Ice life
Still other scientists will spend the austral summer living on the ice itself. Robert Bindschadler, a glaciologist and scientist emeritus with NASA, along with a small team of researchers, will spend six weeks sleeping in small tents on a floating plain of ice ? the Pine Island Glacier ice shelf ? the outlet of one of the largest and fastest moving glaciers in Antarctica.

Ice shelves, which ring the continent, appear to be a key player in the increasing and alarming rate at which glaciers in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet are melting and raising sea levels in recent years, Bindschadler said. But getting direct observations of how this is happening is a challenge. Satellite imaging and data provide some details, but the continent is remote, and its long, brutal winter permits scientists to work there for only about three months a year, [ Stunning Photos of Antarctic Ice ]

Observations indicate that comparatively warm ocean water is lapping away at the ice shelves, which, as they weaken, allow glaciers to slide into the sea at a faster and faster clip ? yet the direct mechanisms remain hidden from view.

"Satellites have taken us really far, but they can't give us the answers to what's going on underneath," Bindschadler said. To that end, his team will spend its days drilling several ?holes through nearly a third of a mile (500 meters) of ice to drop sensors into the sea below to measure variations in temperature and currents.

Some scientists conduct their research from the air, working aboard planes equipped with imaging technology that can peer beneath the ice. ? NASA's IceBridge project focuses on the western half of the continent, while other international collaborations focus on the far larger yet more stable eastern half.

Ice work if you can get it
Other research must be done on the ground. Scientists are drilling deep into the ice to collect signatures of past climate trapped inside, or looking for microbes that dwell in it. The race to drill down to the more than 200 freshwater lakes that pepper the continent is another tantalizing quest..

Some researchers work in Antarctica because the frigid continent, free of a native human population or meddling flora and fauna, provides a kind of natural laboratory.

"In most ecosystems you have plants all over the place, and they do a lot of things to complicate the system," said Byron Adams, a professor at Brigham Young University who studies the nematodes and other tiny creatures that are found in the few patches of ice-free soil in the Antarctic.

Still other researchers take advantage of the high altitude and clear air to peer through telescopes into distant space and the early universe.

At about 1.5 times the size of the United States, Antarctica has plenty of scientific real estate to go around.

At the heart of much of the research is the question of how the continent's ice is responding to climate change. Antarctica is home to some of the most dramatic effects of climate change seen anywhere on Earth, from melting glaciers to increasing winds to warming temperatures. The Antarctic Peninsula has warmed several times faster than the global average rate.

"We're asking really fundamental questions about how ecosystems respond to a changing climate, and ultimately the goal is to be able to make predictions about this," Adams told OurAmazingPlanet.

Despite the challenges ? bone-chilling winds, constant sunlight, extreme isolation and ever-changing weather ? many scientists said working in Antarctica is worth the hardship and the long hours spent packing as much work into an expedition as possible. Although it's not for everyone, they cautioned, the work can be deeply satisfying, breeding a sense of camaraderie that can last a lifetime.

"When you're out in the deep field, and you're only living with what you brought, and the plane turns and leaves, that's the Antarctica I prefer," Bindschadler said. "You really are in a different world."

Reach Andrea Mustain at amustain@techmedianetwork.com. Follow her on Twitter @AndreaMustain. Follow OurAmazingPlanet for the latest in Earth science and exploration news on Twitter @OAPlanet and on Facebook.

? 2011 OurAmazingPlanet. All rights reserved. More from OurAmazingPlanet.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45673001/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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World juniors: Canada's Gallagher proud of Alberta roots

CALGARY ? Brendan Gallagher can?t call Edmonton home these days, but it?s where his heart is.

?I lived there till I was 12,? the 19-year-old forward said shortly after being named to Team Canada?s team for the 2012 IIHF world junior championship.

Originally from Sherwood Park, Alta., Gallagher said he holds on tightly to the memories he has of his former hometown. His family now lives in Tsawwassen, B.C.

?I call myself an Albertan. I stick with my Edmonton ties, I?m pretty proud of my Edmonton ways ? no, Sherwood Park, say that, not Edmonton,? he said, a smile glued to his face. ?It?s pretty special to be able to (play) in front of your friends and family.?

Those friends and family are still in Edmonton or are headed back there over the holidays, waiting to watch Gallagher take part in the tournament, which gets underway on Boxing Day at Rexall Place.

?It?s going to be really special for me,? he said. ?I have tons of family that still lives there and obviously they?re going to be supporting me, and my family is coming down from Vancouver, so to be playing in Edmonton, it?s something you kind of dream about and you don?t think it?s real when it really happens.?

A member of the Western Hockey League?s Vancouver Giants (he?ll play under Giants head coach Don Hay at the tourney) and a Montreal Canadiens prospect, Gallagher will by far the happiest person you?ll see when Canada takes the ice this month.

?In Montreal, the reporters kept telling me I smiled too much,? he said. ?But I?m just happy with what I do. I have a great life and I?m not afraid to show it, I guess.?

Dream come true for Hamilton brothers

The first part of the dream came true for the Hamilton brothers. With Wednesday?s announcement, Dougie and Freddie Hamilton became just the second set of brothers to suit up for Canada in the same IIHF world junior championship.

It?s been 30 years since the scenario happened, when Randy and Mike Moller skated on the same junior squad in 1982.

Both Hamilton brothers suit up for the Ontario Hockey League?s Niagara IceDogs ? and, now, both could have a good chance of winning a gold medal together at the world juniors.

?You think of the positives,? said Dougie, a six-foot-four, 192-pound defenceman. ?You imagine this, you imagine him being here, sharing it together . . . but it definitely goes through your head, one of us not being here or maybe both of us. I think this is pretty special right now.

?This is almost surreal.?

Both were scratched during Tuesday?s clash against the Canadian Interuniversity Sport all-stars ? a good indication they were safe when the axe fell Wednesday.

?We didn?t have to worry about it (Tuesday) night,? Dougie said. ?So we didn?t have to lose any sleep. That was nice.

?I couldn?t ask for more.?

Smith-Pelly: Canada will be exciting to watch

There was much expected of Devante Smith-Pelly before he arrived in Calgary and stepped on the ice at Canada?s junior hockey selection camp.

Now, as an official member of Team Canada, the Anaheim Ducks winger is fully prepared to accept the responsibility of being a leader while he is on loan from the NHL.

?It?s exciting,? he said. ?Obviously this was my goal coming back. My role is just going to be a two-way guy who chips in offensively and plays physical. And also a leadership role with my experience from being in the NHL.?

Smith-Pelly?s talent and skill was on display early at Team Canada?s three-day camp. In the first scrimmage, the 19-year-old Scarborough, Ont., native was a one-man wrecking crew, scored, and otherwise completely set the tone.

He and winger Brett Connolly of the Tampa Bay Lightning are the only two NHLers on the roster.

?We?ll be a fast-paced physical team that will put the puck in the net,? Smith-Pelly said. ?We?ve got high-skilled guys, we?ve got physical guys, we?ve got a lot of two-way players.

?This team will be exciting to watch.?

Edmonton Journal and Calgary Herald

coleary@edmontonjournal.com

kodland@calgaryherald.com

with files from George Johnson

? Copyright (c) Postmedia News

Source: http://feeds.canada.com/~r/canwest/F260/~3/-oW_LhWxSVE/story.html

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Paul Farmer: International Health Is Equity Issue

60-Second Health | Health

After decades of working on health problems in Haiti and other poor countries, Paul Farmer suggests equity is the best way to better health. Katherine Harmon reports.

December 13, 2011

More 60-Second Health

Subscribe via iTunes

"In 1983, when I went to Haiti, the wave of sentiment that crashed over me was not just, gosh, this is appalling?it?s unfair."

Famous for his health work in Haiti, physician Paul Farmer.

"And then you started looking at what are the chief causes of morbidity and mortality? And you started seeing, really, measles? Bacterial pneumonia? Malaria? Childbirth? But all these things have been worked out again and again."

Farmer, a Harvard professor who co-founded the nonprofit Partners in Health, explained at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene meeting in Philadelphia, how that reaction should be an asset in the global battle for better health.

?If we don't have an equity strategy, then how can modern medicine and science participate meaningfully in responding to cancer in a globalized world? Same thing with cholera, same thing with AIDS, same thing with TB, same thing with hunger, on and on it goes?I believe science?scientists and doctors and nurses?ought to be at the forefront of that rights-based charge."

?Katherine Harmon

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]

Also see Paul Farmer's Prescription for Restoring Health in Haiti--and Beyond

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=f35501e6de4beab264139385b951df9b

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Live the Life of a College Cheerleader Through Her Eyes [Video]

Wanna know what it feels like to be a cheerleader? Sure you do! Thanks to an LSU cheerleader who attached a GoPro camera to her head while performing her usual round of stunts, jumps, twirls and chants, you finally can. It's dizzyingly impressive. More »

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Italian government approves austerity measures (AP)

MILAN ? Premier Mario Monti said Sunday his government of technocrats has approved a package of austerity and growth measures worth euro30 billion ($40.53 billion) to "reawaken" the Italian economy and help save the euro common currency from collapse.

The measures include immediate cuts to the costs of maintaining Italy's bulky political class as well as significant measures to fight tax evasion, Monti told a news conference following a three-hour Cabinet meeting.

As part of the political cost cuts, Monti said he would forego his salaries as premier and finance minister ? a move he said was a personal decision and not meant as an example for other ministers in the government, which was formed 2 1/2 weeks ago after Premier Silvio Berlusconi's resignation under market and political pressure.

The package also includes measures to spur growth and competition, while aiming to stamp out rampant nepotism. But it also raises the retirment age and the number of years of service to qualify for a full pension, steps strongly opposed by unions, and imposes new taxes on Italians' private wealth, including their homes, boats and luxury cars, measures that conservatives have protested.

"We gave a lot of weight to fairness, we had to distribute some of the sacrifices but we took a lot of care to distribute them in a fair way," Monti said.

Monti will outline the measures on Monday in addresses to both houses of Parliament, which must approve them. Monti said he will appeal to lawmakers' sense of responsibility.

The Berlusconi government stepped down due to its failure to get tough measures through a fractious Parliament, which remains intact, meaning fault lines could easily reopen.

"A lot depends on how well or not we explain to the citizens what we are trying to do," Monti said.

The premier, an economist who once was an EU commissioner, has been under extreme pressure to come up with speedy and credible measures that will persuade markets to stop betting against the common currency. Italian borrowing costs have spiked, which could spell disaster if Italy is unable to keep up on payments to service its enormous debt of euro1.9 trillion ($2.57 trillion), or 120 percent of its GDP.

Unlike Greece, Portugal and Ireland, which got bailouts after their borrowing rates skyrocketed, the eurozone's third-largest economy is considered to be too big to bail out. An Italian default would be disastrous for the 17-member eurozone and reverberate throughout the global economy.

Deputy Economic Minister Vittorio Grilli said the measures passed will ensure that Italy's budget will be balanced by 2013 through a 2 percent increase in value-added tax from the second half of 2012. Berlusconi's now-defunct government already raised the value-added tax from 20 percent to 21 percent as part of earlier measures.

In addition, the government adopted austerity measures worth euro20 billion and euro10 billion in measures aimed at boosting anemic Italian growth. They include pension reform, local government spending cuts, the reestablishment of a tax on a first house that was annulled by Berlusconi and new taxes on boats over 10 meters (30 feet) in length and on luxury cars, Grilli said.

At the same time, the measures will reduce the tax on the cost of employment, give fiscal breaks to companies that invest to grow their businesses and increase investments in local public transport.

Monti denied an impression that the measures mostly comprised new taxes.

"There are certainly taxes, we know that in Italy it is easier to reduce the deficit through new taxes than through cutting costs," Monti said. "But what we did, for example, in terms of rebalancing the pension goes in the right structural direction."

The government "made a particular effort to make sure that higher taxes did not affect the usual suspects," Monti said.

The premier spent the weekend briefing political parties, unions, business groups, consumer lobbies and others. Unions were particularly critical of the measures to reform the pension system, saying certain classes of workers, including those who do physical labor, shouldn't be forced to work extra years, and that women who enter the work force after raising children would have to work well into old age to meet seniority requirements.

The measures raise the pension age to 66 years for men in 2012 and for women by 2018, and also increases to 42 years and one month the years of service for a man to retire with full benefits, 41 years and one month for a woman. Labor Minister Elsa Fornero said it would be possible to retire earlier, "with a small penalty."

Fornero wiped away a tear when she said that the pension reform would require sacrifices, including a hold on inflation adjustments for larger pensions.

On the fight against tax evasion, Monti said there would be no more tax amnesties, a mechanism used frequently in the past to recover lost revenues. In addition, the measures imposed a 1.5 percent penalty on money that was repatriated in a recent scheme that allowed Italians who had concealed money abroad to repatriate it for a negligible 5 percent penalty.

The measures also limit cash transactions to payments under euro1,000 ? down from euro2,500. In Italy, paying in cash is common as a way to conceal transactions from the government and avoid paying the value-added tax.

After meeting with Monti earlier Sunday, the head of Italy's industrial lobby said that the survival of the common euro currency depends on Italy's coming up with very strong austerity and growth measures ? followed by a concerted effort at the European level so that Italian sacrifices are not in vain.

Confindustria President Emma Marcegaglia described the measures as "very heavy."

The coming days "will decided if the euro will survive or not. The first move to save the euro is in Italian hands, with a very strong measures," Marcegaglia said. The measures will be "fundamental to saving Italy and to saving the euro."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111205/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_italy_financial_crisis

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Candy, cash _ al-Qaida implants itself in Africa

SOKOLO, Mali (AP) ? The first time the members of al-Qaida emerged from the forest, they politely said hello. Then the men carrying automatic weapons asked the frightened villagers if they could please take water from the well.

Before leaving, they rolled down the windows of their pickup truck and called over the children to give them chocolate.

That was 18 months ago, and since then, the bearded men in tunics like those worn by Osama bin Laden have returned for water every week. Each time they go to lengths to exchange greetings, ask for permission and act neighborly, according to locals, in the first intimate look at how al-Qaida tries to win over a village.

Besides candy, the men hand out cash. If a child is born, they bring baby clothes. If someone is ill, they prescribe medicine. When a boy was hospitalized, they dropped off plates of food and picked up the tab.

With almost no resistance, al-Qaida has implanted itself in Africa's soft tissue, choosing as its host one of the poorest nations on earth. The terrorist group has create a refuge in this remote land through a strategy of winning hearts and minds, described in rare detail by seven locals in regular contact with the cell. The villagers agreed to speak for the first time to an Associated Press team in the "red zone," deemed by most embassies to be too dangerous for foreigners to visit.

While al-Qaida's central command is in disarray and its leaders on the run following bin Laden's death six months ago, security experts say, the group's 5-year-old branch in Africa is flourishing. From bases like the one in the forest just north of here, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, is infiltrating local communities, recruiting fighters, running training camps and planning suicide attacks, according to diplomats and government officials.

Even as the mother franchise struggles financially, its African offshoot has raised an estimated $130 million in under a decade by kidnapping at least 50 Westerners in neighboring countries and holding them in camps in Mali for ransom. It has tripled in size from 100 combatants in 2006 to at least 300 today, say security experts. And its growing footprint, once limited to Algeria, now stretches from one end of the Sahara desert to the other, from Mauritania in the west to Mali in the east.

The group's stated aim is to become a player in global jihad, and suspected collaborators have been arrested throughout Europe, including in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, England and France. In September, the general responsible for U.S. military operations in Africa, Army Gen. Carter Ham, said AQIM now also poses a "significant threat" to the United States.

The answer to why the group has thrived can be found in this speck of a town, where homes are made of mud mixed with straw and families eke out a living either in the fields of rice to the south or in the immense forest of short, stout trees to its north.

It's here, under a canopy stretching over an area three times larger than the city of New York, that Sokolo's herders take their cattle. They avoid overgrazing by organizing themselves into eight units linked to each of the eight wells, labeled N1 through N8, along the 50-mile-long perimeter of the Wagadou forest. They pay $5 per year per head of cattle, and $3 per head of sheep, for the right to water their animals.

When the al-Qaida fighters showed up about 1? years ago with four to five jerrycans and asked for water, they signaled that they did not intend to plunder resources. They stood out in their tunics stopping a little below the knees, small turbans and beards, a foreign style of dress associated with the Gulf states and bin Laden.

"From the moment you lay eyes on them, you know that they're not Malian," said 45-year-old herder Amadou Maiga.

They started to come every four or five days in Land Cruisers, with Kalashnikovs slung over their shoulders. At first they stayed for no more than 15 to 20 minutes, said the villagers, including herders, a hunter and employees of the Malian Ministry of Husbandry who travel to the area to vaccinate animals and repair broken pumps. If on Monday they took water from one well, on Wednesday they would go to another, always varying their path.

Fousseyni Diakite, 51, a pump technician who travels twice a month to the forest to check the generators used to run the wells, first ran into the cell in May 2010, when he saw four men in Arab dress inside a Toyota Hilux truck, all with AK-47s at their feet.

He said the men come with medical supplies and try to find out if anyone is sick.

"There is one who is tall with a big chest ? he's Arab, possibly Algerian. He's known for having an ambulatory pharmacy. He goes from place to place giving treatment for free," Diakite said.

They venture into the camps where the herders sleep at dusk and hand out cash to villagers who join them for prayers, he said ? bills of 10,000 West African francs (about $20), equal to nearly half the average monthly salary in Mali.

Most of the herders sleep in lean-to's in camps at the forest's edge. Because these are temporary settlements, they do not have mosques, unlike most villages in this nation twice the size of France that is 90 percent Muslim.

In Boulker, a hamlet near the forest, the fighters left 100,000 francs (around $200), instructing locals to buy supplies and build an adobe mosque, Diakite said.

"They said that for every population center with at least 10 people, there should be a mosque," he said.

Along with its poverty, Mali has an enormous geography and a weak central government ? not unlike Afghanistan, where bin Laden first used the charm offensive to secure the loyalty of the local people, said Noman Benotman, a former jihadist with links to al-Qaida, now an analyst at the London-based Quilliam Foundation.

"We used to teach our people about this. It's part of the military plan ? how to treat locals. This is the environment that keeps them alive," said Benotman, who first met bin Laden in Sudan and who spent years fighting alongside al-Qaida in Afghanistan. He said bin Laden gave his fighters specific instructions on how to conduct themselves: Don't argue about the price, just make the locals happy. Become "like oxygen" to them.

AQIM is taking the lesson to heart. Soon after they began taking water, one of the bearded fighters approached a shepherd at the pump to buy a ram. The fighters were looking to slaughter it to feed themselves. The shepherd offered it to him for free ? too afraid to ask for money, said Maiga, the man's friend.

But the stranger refused to take the ram without payment, and immediately handed over a generous sum.

"They seem to know all the prices ahead of time. They point to a ram and say, 'I'll buy that one for 30,000 cfa ($60),'" said Maiga, quoting the highest sum a herder could expect to get for a ram in these parts. "They never bargain."

AQIM grew out of the groups fighting the Algerian government in the 1990s, after the military canceled elections to stave off victory for an Islamist party. Over the next decade, they left a trail of destruction in Algeria. Around 2003, they sent an emissary to Iraq to meet an al-Qaida intermediary, according to Benotman. Three years later, the insurgents joined the terror family, in what second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri called "a blessed union."

Since then, their attacks have taken on the hallmarks of al-Qaida. A pair of explosions this August killed 18 people as they tore through the mess hall of Algeria's military academy, with the second bomb timed to hit emergency responders.

Al-Qaida in turn appears to be learning from its affiliates, which have used kidnappings for ransom in Algeria, Yemen, Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan. After bin Laden's death in May, investigators found files on his hard drive showing plans to turn to kidnapping to compensate for a decline in donations.

AQIM in particular has perfected what analysts call a "kidnap economy," drawing on its refuge in Mali, according to diplomats, hostage negotiators and government officials. In 2003, the group kidnapped and transported 32 mostly German tourists from southern Algeria to Mali, where, according to a member of Mali's parliament, they struck a deal with local authorities that is still in effect today.

"The agreement was, 'You don't hurt us, we won't hurt you,'" said the parliament member, formerly involved in hostage negotiations, who asked not to be identified because of the danger involved.

The government of Mali denies these accusations, but officials cited in diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks make the same assertion. The president of neighboring Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, told his American counterparts in 2009 that Mali is "at peace with AQIM to avoid attacks on its territory." Whereas the al-Qaida cell has captured more than 50 foreigners in Algeria, Niger and Mauritania, hardly any of the violence has touched Mali.

The cell has also managed to recruit local fighters, including 60 to 80 Tuaregs, the olive-skinned nomads who live in the Sahara desert, according to a security expert. And villagers say they have seen black-skinned sub-Saharan Africans in the pickups speaking the languages of Mali, Guinea and Nigeria.

"The situation in Mali is they have become locals ? they are not foreigners," said Benotman. "This is really, really very, very difficult to do, and it makes it very hard to get rid of them."

One thing still stands in al-Qaida's way: Its hardcore ideology does not gel with the moderate Islam practiced by Mali's nomads. Most of them said they were afraid, caught between need for the money al-Qaida offers and wariness of its extremist beliefs.

When bin Laden died, the members of the local cell went from well to well to ask people to pray for his soul, according to Amaye ag Ali Cisse, an employee of the Ministry of Husbandry who travels twice a month to the wells to oversee the vaccination of animals.

"Everyone is uncomfortable," he said. "This is a religion that doesn't belong to us."

The herders say the fighters have not tried to impose their ideology by force. Instead, they say that the AQIM members wait until they have seen a herder at least a few times before broaching the subject.

"It was the third time that I saw them that they started preaching to me," said Maiga. "They said that everything they do is in order to seek out God."

Herder Baba Ould Momo, 29, said he tries to come up with an excuse to leave when the pickup trucks arrive at the well, because he's afraid the terror cell will pull him in. He said they backed off when they noticed he wasn't interested.

"The first thing they try to do is invite people to join them in the forest. If they see that the person is wavering, it's then that they start preaching ? saying everything is transitory," said Momo, who like most of the herders wears plastic flip-flops, with a robe of wrinkled cloth. "But if the person is categorical in saying 'No,' they leave them alone."

In June, Mauritania and Mali led a rare joint attack on the al-Qaida cell in the Wagadou Forest. However, herders say that a week earlier, the al-Qaida fighters told them that an attack was imminent and that they had laid down land mines in the forest. Mauritania blames Malian officials for tipping off AQIM.

The herders said that for around two weeks, they didn't see the bearded fighters. Then they returned with a new fleet of Hilux pickup trucks, and with more men. Since then, the fighters' tracks have been all over the forest floor, in a map of constant movement, said 60-year-old hunter Cheickana Cisse. They no longer sleep in the same place.

Just as Cisse was taking a drink of water at the N7 pump on a recent evening, two pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft cannons and loaded with combatants drove up. The men had chains of ammunition strapped across their chests, and belts loaded with cartridges.

They laid their AK-47s in a circle on the ground to create a space to pray, like a symbolic mosque. One of them asked Cisse if he had heard of bin Laden.

"He said, 'We're like this with bin Laden,'" Cisse explained, intertwining his right and left index fingers like a link in a chain. "He said, 'We're al-Qaida.'"

The elderly hunter tried to slip away just as one of the fighters made the call to prayer.

"And they said, 'You? Aren't you going to pray?' They told me to come into the circle. I could feel them watching me," he said.

The men kneeled inside the circle of weapons. Four others guarded them, including one who climbed on the roof of the truck. Cisse tiptoed inside and began going through the prayer. "I kept stealing glances to see if they were doing the same moves as me," he said. "I know the words, but I was scared."

When the group had finished, the four who had kept vigil took their turn inside the circle. Cisse quietly walked away.

They didn't try to stop him.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-03-AF-Mali-Al-Qaida-in-the-Forest/id-b33f3174b4da4e4b97438532566f6fe4

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Jessica Simpson Flaunts Baby Bump in Animal-Print Outfits (omg!)

After showing off her growing belly in a tight red dress on Tuesday, Jessica Simpson is keeping up with her sexy pregnancy style.

PHOTOS: Jessica's chic maternity looks

The 31-year-old star stepped out in a curve-hugging, low-cut patterned dress with sister Ashlee and son Bronx in the Big Apple on Thursday.

PHOTOS: Aw! Jessica and her little sister Ashlee through the years

"I like wearing things more fitted," the Fashion Star mentor explained to Us Weekly earlier this month. "You want to show off your bump! It's just so fun. You don't want to wear muumuus so you can moo around town."

Later on, she changed into a short leopard-print Dolce & Gabbana number with sky-high platforms to celebrate the launch of her Jessica Simpson Girls line at Dylan's Candy Bar.

PHOTOS: Stars with their own fashion lines

"This is regular size. I don't think I?m going to fit into regular stuff for too much longer," she told Us at the event.

Get more Us! Follow us on Twitter, Friend us on Facebook, Subscribe to Us Weekly

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_jessica_simpson_flaunts_baby_bump_animal_print_outfits164916879/43785370/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/jessica-simpson-flaunts-baby-bump-animal-print-outfits-164916879.html

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The Cain Mutiny Gabfest

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Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=2ac33412c0a31ca346240b1bebbb484f

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New Flu Strain Makes Health Experts Nervous

News | Health

Is a new strain of H3N2 swine flu a danger to public health or just to the reputations of public health experts?

By Helen Branswell ?| December 2, 2011?|

Image: Flickr/gilt gluttony

A new variant of an influenza virus that circulates in pigs has been jumping occasionally into people, providing a surprisingly early opportunity for public health officials to test out some of the lessons learned from the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.

Since the virus was first spotted in July, there have been 10 cases, all but one of which were children under the age of 10. (The exception was a 58-year-old.) All the cases have been in the U.S.; there have been no reports of this virus in people or pigs anywhere else

The most recent infections, in three young children in Iowa, almost certainly involved person-to-person spread. The Iowa cluster is likely larger?no one in the first child?s family had exposure to pigs, suggesting an unidentified person was the source of virus.

The cases leave public health authorities in the U.S. and elsewhere wondering if a new swine-origin flu virus is circulating at low levels among humans?and what needs to be done if that is indeed happening. (Read ?Flu Factories? in the January 2011 Scientific American (preview) to learn why health authorities fear the next pandemic virus may emerge as a result of industrial farming? practices.)

Given the mercurial nature of flu viruses?which can easily mutate into lethal pathogens?ignoring the new virus is not an option, even though to date there have been no deaths and most of the infections have produced only mild symptoms. But the widespread perception that the 2009 swine flu pandemic was much ado about nothing means health authorities risk further damage to their already battered credibility if they sound an alarm and this virus turns out to be a dud. And they know it.

The World Health Organization is working to be ready to react if needed, but wants to make sure it neither underplays or overplays its response to this potential new threat, which is technically known as a swine origin influenza A virus of the H3N2 subtype. The new virus has acquired the M gene of the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus; studies suggest that this gene may enhance transmissibility of the virus.

"We are closely following the information coming out of the U.S. And we just are making sure that if we need to be more active, we will be more active, or if we need to stand down we can do so,? says Keiji Fukuda, the UN health agency?s assistant director-general for health security and environment.

Among the things the WHO is working on is finding a scientifically correct yet politically sensitive name to call this virus. Sales of pork plunged in 2009 when the new H1N1 was identified as swine flu, a reference to the fact it was comprised mainly of genes from flu viruses that circulate in pigs.

This H3N2 poses similar naming challenges. There is already a human H3N2 ? a distant cousin of this pig virus ? so some way to differentiate the viruses is needed. Pork producers are concerned about how communications about the virus will be handled, admits Paul Sundberg, vice-president for science and technology for the National Pork Board, who says his group has already met with officials at the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control in Atlanta to discuss the naming challenge.

Fukuda says the WHO is trying to draw on the experience of 2009 as it maps out its response to the new virus. ?It frequently comes up as a question: ?What did we learn from that pandemic that we ought to be thinking about in terms of this situation???

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=2cfded483c4848c9bb5488c38574206a

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HTC Blames the Carriers for the Carrier IQ Spying Mess on HTC Phones [Video]

HTC has reached out to us with an official statement on why Carrier IQ aka the hidden software lurking and spying on you was on HTC phones. According to them, it's not HTC's fault at all! It's the stupid US carriers who require Carrier IQ. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/skg4zbdhgcw/htc-blames-the-carriers-for-the-carrier-iq-spying-mess-on-htc-phones

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Foursquare Adds Scoutmob To Its Growing List Of Deal Providers

Over the last year, Foursquare has been actively buddying up with the daily deal players. Groupon, LivingSocial, Gilt City, AT&T Interactive, BuyWithMe and Zozi all provide their daily deals to Foursquare. And today, Atlanta-based Scoutmob joins the ranks of deal sites partnering with the check-in champion, as Foursquare will today begin offering Scoutmob's 50 percent-plus discounted deals in 13 U.S. cities from the within Foursquare's mobile apps. Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley has said before that he thinks daily deal companies are version 1.0 of the tools merchants will eventually use to drive foot traffic to their stores. But, while daily deals are hot and companies are adopting them, there's obviously no use in resisting. The more daily deal sites that Foursquare partners with, the more localized and nearby deals it can display to its mobile users.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/3BjJZ1CdbjY/

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How to Get Free Google AdWords Coupon

I try this method many times and i got coupon every time, if you want to try this and you have to. but if you fail to get coupon me and Donanza will not take care of us definatly google and donanza have no affiliation with Me :-)

Want to Know More about me

Source: http://www.bukisa.com/how-to/get-free-google-adwords-coupon

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