Mauritania Could Lose Its Capital City to the Sea (OneWorld.net)

NOUAKCHOTT, June 28 (IPS) - For the past five years, water has been seeping out of the ground beneath parts of Nouakchott, undermining foundations and transforming some areas of the Mauritanian capital into uninhabitable marshes.

Tabara Gaye, a widow living in the Socogim PS neighbourhood of this coastal city, told IPS that her neighbours' house collapsed on Jun. 20. She is demanding urgent help from the government before this year's rainy season to pay for pumps and the cost of building embankments against the rising waters.

In 2007, limited flooding was observed in several places during the rainy season. But in January 2011, residents were forced to flee their homes when water began invading several neighbourhoods, including Socogim, Bagdad, Sebkha and Las Palmas. Murmurs of discontent gained strength until the clamour for compensation from the government and private developers who laid out the now-flooded sites spurred the government to act.

Mauritanian president Mohamed Abdelaziz personally visited the sites in April and set up an inter-ministerial committee to look into the problem, but the committee is yet to report back.

Retiree Moktar Kane, a victim of the flooding, says, "I spent 35 millions ouguiyas (around 138,000 dollars), to purchase a flood-prone plot. My neighbours and I, a total of 476 families, need a drain to drain waste water and runoff... or we want substantial compensation."

Compensation for Kane and his neighbours is out of the question, according to the developers, Iskan (the name means housing in Arabic). "The lots were allocated in 1982, and the water table then was at two metres," says Iskan's technical director, Med Ali. "All of Nouakchott finds itself below the water table. Only the government can settle this."

Recent studies by the government suggest that nearly 80 percent of the overall surface area of Nouakchott could be submerged in less than a decade - in 20 years at most. One scenario predicts the disappearance of the city by around 2050.

The director of environmental services, Ould Lefdal, explains it simply, "Nouakchott is located in a depression 50 centimetres below sea level. The sea is advancing towards the city at a rate of 25 metres per year."

Banimou Tlayor, from the local non-governmental organisation Action for Rational Management of the Environment, says that the city's port has changed the shape of the coast and that any rise in sea levels exposes Nouakchott to flooding.

In addition, the pumping of water from the Senegal River, a rise in the water table corresponding to rising sea levels in the Atlantic, and the absence of proper drainage are all playing a role.

Bamody DiakitA©, the coordinator of Nouakchott's Special Programme to Safeguard the City, says that 120,000 cubic metres of water from the river is treated for the city's fresh water supply, but a large part of this is lost to leaks in the antiquated pipe network. He says this, alongside the absence of a system of sewers and storm drains, is aggravating the phenomenon of the waters rising beneath the city.

The other contributing factor comes from the use of beach sand for construction, which - according to DiakitA© - has opened up 18 breaches in the coastal dune that protects inland areas from high seas.

The government has spent eight million dollars on the programme, the money going towards restoring the coastal dune as well as planting a green belt of protective vegetation.

Several studies have been carried out to assess how best to plug the gaps in the coastal dune. "The most feasible project - dredging the sea floor to reinforce the dune - will soon be put out to tender," says Diakite. He also acknowledged the serious deterioration of the natural environment near the Port of Nouakchott where 15 kilometres of the coastal bar has been destroyed by wind erosion; a Chinese firm is building a protective dike.

But Dr Marico Demba, head of the U.N.-financed Adaptation to Climate and Coastal Change Project in West Africa, fears that responding to the changes will call for resources greater than Mauritania possesses.

The situation - its gravity realised very late - is precarious. Residents of Nouakchott fear for the future of their capital. Everything depends on the evolution of the climate and the warming of the planet, says Lefdal.

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Mauritania Could Lose Its Capital City to the Sea (OneWorld.net)

NOUAKCHOTT, June 28 (IPS) - For the past five years, water has been seeping out of the ground beneath parts of Nouakchott, undermining foundations and transforming some areas of the Mauritanian capital into uninhabitable marshes.

Tabara Gaye, a widow living in the Socogim PS neighbourhood of this coastal city, told IPS that her neighbours' house collapsed on Jun. 20. She is demanding urgent help from the government before this year's rainy season to pay for pumps and the cost of building embankments against the rising waters.

In 2007, limited flooding was observed in several places during the rainy season. But in January 2011, residents were forced to flee their homes when water began invading several neighbourhoods, including Socogim, Bagdad, Sebkha and Las Palmas. Murmurs of discontent gained strength until the clamour for compensation from the government and private developers who laid out the now-flooded sites spurred the government to act.

Mauritanian president Mohamed Abdelaziz personally visited the sites in April and set up an inter-ministerial committee to look into the problem, but the committee is yet to report back.

Retiree Moktar Kane, a victim of the flooding, says, "I spent 35 millions ouguiyas (around 138,000 dollars), to purchase a flood-prone plot. My neighbours and I, a total of 476 families, need a drain to drain waste water and runoff... or we want substantial compensation."

Compensation for Kane and his neighbours is out of the question, according to the developers, Iskan (the name means housing in Arabic). "The lots were allocated in 1982, and the water table then was at two metres," says Iskan's technical director, Med Ali. "All of Nouakchott finds itself below the water table. Only the government can settle this."

Recent studies by the government suggest that nearly 80 percent of the overall surface area of Nouakchott could be submerged in less than a decade - in 20 years at most. One scenario predicts the disappearance of the city by around 2050.

The director of environmental services, Ould Lefdal, explains it simply, "Nouakchott is located in a depression 50 centimetres below sea level. The sea is advancing towards the city at a rate of 25 metres per year."

Banimou Tlayor, from the local non-governmental organisation Action for Rational Management of the Environment, says that the city's port has changed the shape of the coast and that any rise in sea levels exposes Nouakchott to flooding.

In addition, the pumping of water from the Senegal River, a rise in the water table corresponding to rising sea levels in the Atlantic, and the absence of proper drainage are all playing a role.

Bamody DiakitA©, the coordinator of Nouakchott's Special Programme to Safeguard the City, says that 120,000 cubic metres of water from the river is treated for the city's fresh water supply, but a large part of this is lost to leaks in the antiquated pipe network. He says this, alongside the absence of a system of sewers and storm drains, is aggravating the phenomenon of the waters rising beneath the city.

The other contributing factor comes from the use of beach sand for construction, which - according to DiakitA© - has opened up 18 breaches in the coastal dune that protects inland areas from high seas.

The government has spent eight million dollars on the programme, the money going towards restoring the coastal dune as well as planting a green belt of protective vegetation.

Several studies have been carried out to assess how best to plug the gaps in the coastal dune. "The most feasible project - dredging the sea floor to reinforce the dune - will soon be put out to tender," says Diakite. He also acknowledged the serious deterioration of the natural environment near the Port of Nouakchott where 15 kilometres of the coastal bar has been destroyed by wind erosion; a Chinese firm is building a protective dike.

But Dr Marico Demba, head of the U.N.-financed Adaptation to Climate and Coastal Change Project in West Africa, fears that responding to the changes will call for resources greater than Mauritania possesses.

The situation - its gravity realised very late - is precarious. Residents of Nouakchott fear for the future of their capital. Everything depends on the evolution of the climate and the warming of the planet, says Lefdal.

More background from OneWorld

Climate Change in Mauritania

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Myanmar government warns Suu Kyi planned tour could cause riots (Reuters)

YANGON (Reuters) – A possible tour of Myanmar by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi could cause riots, state media warned on Wednesday, implying she would be responsible for her own safety.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi is planning her first trip outside the former capital Yangon since she was freed from home detention last year just after elections to end army rule.

The military still effectively controls the government.

"Her followers and supporters are gushing that the icon must keep in touch with the public. They seem willing to exploit the public. They also propagate that the government is responsible for security of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on her trip," a commentary in all three official newspapers said.

"We are deeply concerned that if Daw Aung San Suu Kyi makes trips to countryside regions, there may be chaos and riots, as evidenced by previous incidents," it added.

"Daw" is an honorific in Myanmar for women.

In 2003, in an episode now known as the Depayin Massacre, Suu Kyi's motorcade was attacked by pro-junta thugs and 70 of her supporters died in what was seen as an assassination attempt.

"The government has said that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is just an ordinary public member, so it will not restrict her from traveling and doing things in accordance with the law, but she shall honor the laws for the rule of law," the commentary read.

Suu Kyi, 66, has not announced any dates for the tour, nor an itinerary.

Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), was officially dissolved last year when it refused to register for elections held in November. Suu Kyi was released from seven years of house arrest a week after the vote.

Official media, which act as a mouthpiece for the government, also said on Wednesday the government had warned the NLD "not to harm peace and stability" and to respect the law.

"If they really want to accept and practice democracy effectively, they are to stop such acts that can harm peace and stability and the rule of law as well as the unity among the people including monks and service personnel," the letter said, according to state media.

NLD spokesman Nyan Win confirmed a letter had been received. "We got that letter yesterday but we still have not talked it over and decided what to do about it," he said.

The newspapers said the letter accused the party of keeping its headquarters and various offices open and organizing meetings even through it had been dissolved.

"Such acts are not only against the law but also tantamount to opposing the Hluttaws (legislature)," they said.

(Reporting by Aung Hla Tun; Editing by Alan Raybould and Daniel Magnowski)

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Captured fugitive 'Whitey' Bulger could be taken to Boston Friday

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Captured alleged mobster James "Whitey" Bulger may be moved back to Boston Friday to begin facing the numerous charges of murder and other crimes connected to what authorities say were his days as the leader of the Winter Hill Gang.

Bulger, who vanished in 1995 into lore and became the inspiration for the 2006 Martin Scorsese film "The Departed," was nabbed by the FBI Wednesday night in southern California.

Bulger was arrested with his longtime girlfriend Catherine Elizabeth Greig, 60, who was also charged in the case.

Sporting glasses and a white beard, Bulger appeared relaxed Thursday at a Los Angeles hearing. The FBI says Bulger could be extradited back to Boston as earlier as Friday.

Waiting in Boston will be the indictments he fled in 1995. Bulger, 81, faces 19 counts of murder along with conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, narcotics distribution and money-laundering charges, the FBI said.

Bulger, who was subject of a $2 million FBI reward, had been living in a Santa Monica apartment and was arrested outside it, the FBI said.

Acting on a tip, members of the Fugitive Task Force staked out the residence Wednesday and arrested Bulger and Greig, 60, who was inside the home, said FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers. Greig is suspected of harboring Bulger.

Neither put up a fight, authorities said. After the arrests, members of the Fugitive Task Force, which included the FBI and police, searched the apartment.

More than $800,000 in cash, 30 firearms and fake IDs were found in the apartment, the FBI said.

The tipster called the FBI's Los Angeles office on Tuesday, and the information led authorities to the apartment, Martinez said. He would not divulge the city from which the call came.

"We were not aware he was in L.A.," Martinez said of Bulger.

Asked by reporters if it was embarrassing to the FBI that Bulger, who reportedly used an alias, and Greig were hiding in plain sight, Martinez said, "I wouldn't say embarrassing. I would say challenging.

"It's not the first time that a fugitive has evaded justice for many years," Martinez continued. "But he was not able to be successful ultimately."

Federal prosecutors have portrayed Bulger as a violent and dangerous man whose criminal enterprise included gambling, extortion, loansharking, narcotics and the alleged murders of people who got in the way or knew too much.

Tipped off by an FBI agent about an impending racketeering indictment, Bulger disappeared. The search even reached Italy, where a reported sighting of the South Boston crime figure didn't pan out.

The end of the manhunt for one of the nation's most notorious gangsters came within days of the FBI launching a publicity campaign, airing ads about Greig in 14 markets across the country where the couple were known to have ties, authorities said. The arrests were a "direct result" of the media campaign, authorities said.

Some of the allegations go back 40 years, and it is unclear how many potential trial witnesses survive.

Carmen Ortiz, U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said she believes the death penalty is not an option in the federal charges Bulger faces in her district, but that she believes he could face the death penalty for two cases outside the district.

FBI Director Robert Mueller traveled to Boston on Thursday to meet and congratulate staff involved in Bulger's capture. Mueller was an assistant U.S. attorney in Boston in the 1980s, during the height of Bulger's reign.

Bulger -- known to alter his appearance through disguises -- was "considered armed and extremely dangerous," according to his description on the FBI's Most Wanted list. "He has a violent temper and is known to carry a knife at all times."

"He's definitely a legend back there," Jimmy LeBlanc, who lives in California and used to live in Boston, told CNN affiliate KABC. "You've heard all the stories, things he's done, corruption and all that. A lot of people said, 'Oh he's dead,' or maybe they don't want to see him get caught. He might take down the whole FBI if he starts talking."

The agent who tipped Bulger about an impending indictment, John Connolly, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for racketeering and obstruction of justice. Connolly was later also sentenced to 40 years in prison for a mob-related killing of a witness who was about to testify against Boston mob members.

Prosecutors said Connolly was corrupted by his two highest-ranking snitches: Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi.

Bulger's brother William, former president of the Massachusetts State Senate, released a brief comment Thursday. William Bulger stepped down as president of the University of Massachusetts in 2003 after months of pressure by then-Gov. Mitt Romney. He had accused Bulger of being evasive during congressional testimony about his fugitive brother's whereabouts.

"I wish to express my sympathy to all the families hurt by the calamitous circumstances of this case," William Bulger said,. "As the judicial process takes its course, I shall make no further comment at this time. Along with everyone else involved, I look forward to a resolution of this matter."

CNN's Carey Bodenheimer, Michael Martinez, Carol Cratty, Paul Vercammen, Josh Levs and Deborah Feyerick contributed to this report.

CNN

Chile's student protests could undermine president's approval (The Christian Science Monitor)

Santiago, Chile – Francisco Jorqueira, a Chilean student, says his private university is on strike, along with some 180 others across the country, to demand accountability after tuition rose from 3 million pesos last year (about $6,400) to 3.2 million pesos this year.

Mr. Jorqueira's father earns 800,000 pesos a month, meaning that his tuition now amounts to four months of his family's income, he said while handing out flyers for today's march and student strike, which saw an estimated 70,000 demonstrators hit the streets of Chile's capital, Santiago.

Jorquiera is one of thousands of students protesting the state of education in Chile, a movement that is gaining momentum and could turn into a political crisis for President Sebastian PiA±era.

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Students have called for a national student strike to demand an end to privatization and profiteering in education, more scholarships, and increased public support for secondary schools and universities. Loans currently charge 7 percent interest, and the law prohibits students and faculty from having any voice in university administration, Jorqueira says.

A challenge for PineraThe demonstrations add to a year of setbacks for the country's first conservative president since the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet ended in 1990. President Pinera’s approval rating fell to 36 percent in May, down from 63 percent seven months earlier in the wake of the successful rescue of trapped workers at an underground mine, according to pollster Adimark. The public widely opposes the government’s approval of a new dam complex in Patagonia, fare increases for public transport, and rising food prices.

Yet the student protests could be one of the biggest setbacks he faces. The current marches recall the deepest political crisis faced by the last government, under President Michelle Bachelet. Exactly five years ago, students went on strike in a series of actions known as the "penguin rebellion" and held marches with as many as 790,000 participants to protest lack of investment in education, with most of the complaints centering on high-school education.

What do the students want?The demonstrators have both economic and academic demands. They want increased public funding of universities, a year-round bus pass, full scholarships for lower- and middle-class students, and an increased role for the state in technical education, which is now handled by private institutes.

Academically, they want to end the use of a standardized test as the sole method of admission to the best universities. They also want technical institutes to offer liberal arts classes and are demanding guaranteed academic freedom. In addition, they are demanding more accessibility for people with disabilities.

To fund education, some marchers carry banners calling for the nationalization or increased taxation of the private-sector copper mines, which today produce more than half of the metal in this country.

While most demonstrators are peaceful, several student protests have devolved into violence in recent weeks. A march Wednesday ended with police on horseback and in armored vehicles chasing demonstrators around central Santiago. A group of students surrounded Education Minister Joaquin Lavin two weeks ago and began shoving, leading the minister to call for greater civility.

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Casey Anthony prosecution case could wrap this week

Orlando (CNN) -- The fourth week of Casey Anthony's capital murder trial could mark the close of the prosecution's case and the beginning of the defense.

Only a few prosecution witnesses remain, including a trace-evidence analyst and a tattoo artist Anthony visited in the weeks following her daughter's disappearance.

Over the weekend, an insect expert testified that tiny flies found in the trunk of the Orlando woman's car fit the theory that the body of her 2-year-old daughter was stored there -- perhaps for three to five days.

The flies suggest something began to decompose inside the trunk, but do not prove that the material was a human body, said Neal Haskell, a forensic entomologist from Saint Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana. Such flies will feed on many things, he said.

Based on his analysis of temperatures and the reproductive habits of the small flies found on paper towels that another scientist found were soaked in fluid from decomposition, Haskell said it appeared that whatever attracted the flies had been in the car for three to five days.

Defense attorney Jose Baez, in his cross-examination of Haskell, tried to show that the flies could have been attracted by common garbage or leftover food.

Haskell was the latest in a line of investigators and forensic experts called to the stand by prosecutors in an effort to prove their theory that Anthony, 25, killed her daughter Caylee by knocking her out with chloroform and taping her nose and mouth, putting the body in black garbage bags and storing it in the trunk before dumping her in woods near her home.

Caylee's death retold in vivid detail

Anthony faces seven counts in her daughter's death, including first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and misleading investigators. If convicted, she could face the death penalty.

She has pleaded not guilty. Her attorneys have said Caylee was not killed, but rather that she drowned in the family pool shortly after her family last reported seeing her and that Anthony and her father, George Anthony, panicked when they discovered the body and covered up her death. George Anthony rejected that scenario in his testimony the first week of the trial.

Saturday's testimony also included a crime scene investigator who collected a piece of Henkel brand duct tape from an area near where Caylee's skull was found.

Ronald Murdock, a forensics supervisor for the Orange County Sheriff's Office, also testified that despite a thorough search of the house, the only piece of Henkel duct tape investigators recovered from the home Anthony shared with her daughter and parents was attached to a gas can.

Last week, jurors saw graphic photos of Caylee's bones and heard testimony that they had been gnawed by animals as her body decomposed during as much as six months in the field.

They also watched a video superimposing an image of Caylee's skull over her living face and an outline of a strip of duct tape in an effort to prove tape could have been, in effect, the murder weapon, prosecutor Jeff Ashton said.

Baez tried to prevent jurors from seeing the presentation, which he called "disgusting." But Judge Belvin Perry ruled the role of duct tape in the girl's death is "highly relevant." He also rejected a defense motion for a mistrial based on the video at the close of Friday's session.

Initial estimates were for the trial, including the defense's case, to be over by the end of June.

In Session's Cara Hutt and Nancy Leung contributed to this report.

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Afghanistan Pullout: Could 30,000 Troops Head Home? (Time.com)

So the size of the U.S. troop pullout President Obama is slated to announce later this month now varies by an order of magnitude: those who want to preserve the gains earned over the past year are suggesting about 3,000 -- of the 100,000 U.S. troops now there -- would be about the right number to order home starting in July. But -- given American war weariness, the $100 billion annual cost of the war, and the recent killing of Osama bin Laden -- others in the Administration are advocating that up to 30,000 should head back to the U.S. That would return the number there to about 70,000, the total U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan before Obama ordered 30,000 reinforcements early last year.

While this decision is the President's alone to make, he is getting plenty of advice on what to do. Unfortunately, it conflicts. And, unspoken by Administration officials but always present -- kind of like gravity -- is the possibility it could affect his re-election chances next year. (See pictures of President Obama in Afghanistan.)

On one side, outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates -- now in Afghanistan -- publicly tilted to the 3,000 number on Saturday. "It seems to me that between the successes that we've already enjoyed and the increased capacity of the Afghan forces, we are a in a position - based on conditions on the ground...to consider some modest draw-downs beginning in July," he said in a press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. This counter-insurgency strategy -- which emphasizes winning over the people rather than killing the bad guys -- has had a pretty good year in Afghanistan. But it is boot-heavy.

Leon Panetta, Gates' successor -- who will be running the Pentagon in less than a month -- is now in charge of the CIA, and favors a stepped-up counter-terror campaign that would permit a bigger reduction. The increased use of special-operations forces and drone strikes that he and other counter-terror advocates support would allow more infantrymen and Marines to head for the exits. Vice President Joe Biden also supports this approach. (See the top 10 defining moments of the post-9/11 era.)

Of course, Panetta's successor come fall is going to be Army General Dave Petraeus, perhaps the Pentagon's leading counter-insurgency champion (he wrote the book, literally). So it's going to be interesting to watch how Petraeus, who will retire from the Army before taking the CIA post, threads the COIN-counter-terror needle.

But all this is mere tea leaf reading. Long-time Pentagon watchers found the most interesting thing over the weekend not the back-and-forth debate over U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, but the missile strikes next door in Pakistan. Despite Islamabad's repeated protests, those strikes continue. On Monday, three drone attacks in South Waziristan killed at least 18 people. In the not-too-distant future, they suggest, the Afghan war could look increasingly like that.

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Police could figure out Weiner guilt or innocence (AP)

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – Fri Jun 3, 12:01 am ET

NEW YORK – There's one way Rep. Anthony Weiner could show that he didn't send a salacious photo to a female college student from his Twitter account: Ask law enforcement to investigate.

The New York congressman has so far declined to ask for an investigation into the photo, saying it's not a worthy use of government resources. The U.S. Capitol Police said it would not launch an investigation unless requested.

In asking a private security firm to investigate instead, Weiner won't be able to prove his innocence by obtaining logs from Twitter showing where his account was accessed from. Twitter says it requires a subpoena or court order to hand over such information. A subpoena or court order would have to be initiated by police or the FBI, not private detectives.

The scandal, which erupted last weekend, has been fueled by Weiner's initial refusal to answer questions about it. Although he started explaining his side Wednesday in a series of media interviews, some of his answers were perplexing.

Weiner was clear about one thing: He says he didn't send the picture, which was addressed to one of his Twitter followers, identified by news outlets as Genette Cordova.

If he didn't send it, that points to someone else using his account at Twitter or at yFrog, the photo-sharing site that stored the picture, according to conservative website BigGovernment.com, which first reported on the tweet.

Sites such as Twitter usually keep logs of which Internet addresses are used to access an account, sort of like an online guestbook. It doesn't contain names, but these numerical Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses identify computers and phones.

Weiner was tweeting on Friday night, when the picture was posted. If the log book shows that the post with the picture came from a different address than the one associated with his legitimate, hockey-related tweets, that would strongly suggest Weiner's innocence.

"Oftentimes, if there's a situation where an account has been taken over, we can tell that the IP address has changed — it's not the one we'd expect to find," said Lt. Charles Cohen, head of the cybercrime investigations at the Indiana State Police.

One obstacle is that websites don't have to keep logs of Internet addresses, and those that do keep them for differing amounts of time. Twitter and yFrog didn't respond Thursday to questions about how long they keep Internet address information.

The editorial board of the Daily News of New York said it believes Weiner when he denies sending the photograph, but it said his refusal to let law enforcement investigate is suspicious.

If Weiner did send the message, the use of yFrog could explain why it was visible to others, instead of just Cordova. Twitter allows users to send a "direct message" that is visible only to the recipient, much like an email. Yfrog doesn't offer that option. In a setup that could be confusing, it prompts users to send pictures to other Twitter users, but the resulting tweets aren't private.

Weiner has been equivocal about whether the photo is of him, leaving open the possibility that he shot the picture and uploaded it to his yFrog, where a hacker found it and tweeted it.

An examination of Weiner's computer or phone would probably show whether he shot the picture. It's also possible that yFrog has a copy of the picture, even though Weiner said he deleted it Friday night. The photo file could contain data that identifies the camera. Again, if it doesn't match Weiner's camera, he would be in the clear.

If the investigation does point to a hacker, identifying the culprit could be challenging, depending on how well he or she covered her tracks. Logs from Twitter or yFrog could yield an Internet address, but computers and phones switch Internet addresses regularly. Someone accessing the account from a public hot spot or a prepaid cellphone would be virtually untraceable, Cohen said.

Cohen has investigated cases of public officials who have had their Facebook accounts hacked by people who apparently got hold of their passwords. That can happen if someone uses a public computer and forgets to log out afterward, he said.

It's also possible a hacker could simply have guessed Weiner's password, either to Twitter or yFrog.

Hackers can also gain access to Twitter and Facebook accounts through the wireless signals of people who log in while on a public, unencrypted hot spot, Cohen said.

This became drastically easier last fall, when a programmer released a software add-on for the popular Firefox browser that provides automatic access to Facebook and Twitter accounts of nearby people. The software requires little technical know-how. The add-on doesn't expose passwords, but allows hackers to do whatever a user can do, such as post status updates, pictures and tweets.

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New Composites Could Revolutionize Wireless Power (LiveScience.com)

Jason Schreier, InnovationNewsDaily Contributor
LiveScience.com Jason Schreier, Innovationnewsdaily Contributor
livescience.com – Thu Jun 2, 9:25 pm ET

You might be reading this on a wireless Internet connection, and whether you're on a laptop or an iPhone, you're most likely relying on a battery or plugged into a wall outlet.

Another path for your power — wireless charging — is far less efficient, but a Duke University study may change that.

The study says "metamaterials" — a term it uses for composite materials with unique properties — could facilitate the wireless transfer of power to electrical devices with much less waste. While much electricity can be lost during the transfer from power source to device by a wireless charger, metamaterials would keep much of that energy intact as they conduct and refocus it.

One example of a metamaterial, the study says, would be an array of copper conducting loops. Users would place the array at a given point between the device and its power source, and electricity would be transferred directly through it.

Metamaterials could have real-world applications within two to three years, said Yaroslav Urzhumov, an assistant professor who headed the Duke study.

While there are a number of wireless charging devices on the market — including the popular Powermat, which offers wireless charging for phones and iPods — Urzhumov says using metamaterials would allow for a significant increase in both range and power.

"Our proposition is an extension of the magnetic induction-based, near-field coupling technology," Urzhumov told InnovationNewsDaily. "It is based on the same fundamental principle, Faraday's law of induction; however, it ramps up the power-transfer efficiency by increasing the mutual inductive coupling between the transmitter and the receiver."

By ramping up the efficiency, metamaterials could help charge bigger appliances and gadgets, including electric automobiles, Urzhumov said. They could even allow people to charge devices underwater.

An advantage of metamaterials, Urzhumov said, would be to combat the problem of corrosion. "Exposing metals to the aggressively oxidizing environment leads to fast corrosion and subsequent loss of contact," he said.

Even with such a breakthrough, though, Urzhumov thinks wireless electricity will remain a niche sector.

"I don't think electrical power transfer will be 100 percent wireless, ever," Urzhumov said. "We know that the most efficient power-transfer device is a good old conductor."

This story was provided by InnovationNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow InnovationNewsDaily on Twitter @News_Innovation, or on Facebook.

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Mladic could be sent to war crimes court in days (Reuters)

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia may send Ratko Mladic to face genocide charges in The Hague within four days, a justice official said on Monday, despite rallies by nationalists angry at the Bosnian Serb general's capture after 16 years on the run.

Security agents tracked the fugitive general to a messy Serbian farmhouse belonging to his cousin on Thursday. In so doing they removed a big obstacle to Serbia' bid to join the European Union.

The arrest angered nationalists in Serbia and the Bosnian Serb half of Bosnia.

In Bosnia, several thousand supporters rallied on Monday waving Serbian flags and carrying banners reading: "Keep on, our general, we are with you!" and "Shame on you Tadic! You did not betray Mladic, you betrayed the Serb people," a reference to Serbia's President Boris Tadic who ordered Mladic's arrest.

Mladic's lawyers argue the 69-year-old, found alone surrounded by medications, is mentally unstable and thus too sick to be extradited to the International Criminal Tribunal.

The Hague court indicted Mladic for genocide in the 43-month siege of Sarajevo and the massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica during the 1992-95 Bosnian war in 1995.

For seven years after that, Mladic lived openly at his home in Belgrade and often received visitors, Aleksandar Mihailovic, a friend who lived down the street, said on Monday.

"He lived normally until 2002," said Mihailovic, who built Mladic's house, told Reuters. "He loved songs, rakia, eating -- he was a very normal person."

DELAYING TACTICS

A Belgrade court ruled on Friday that Mladic was fit enough to face trial and served extradition papers. His lawyer Milos Saljic said he plans to appeal that decision "to prolong the extradition as long as possible".

He told reporters he had mailed it late in the day. "I expect the court to review the appeal tomorrow, at the earliest," he said.

The appeal court must respond and forward the final decision to the Justice Ministry which will then rule on the extradition straight away, a process that would take up to four days, said Slobodan Homen, a state secretary.

Vladimir Vukcevic, Serbia's chief war crimes prosecutor said: "I have seen Mladic and I believe he is fit for trial ... We will now focus on uncovering the entire network of his helpers."

Many Serbs admire Mladic as a dedicated military man who did not seek to enrich himself during the bitter civil war.

In Bosnia, demonstrators carried pictures and banners reading: "Keep on, our general, we are with you!" and "Shame on you Tadic! You did not betray Mladic, you betrayed the Serb people," a reference to Serbia's President Boris Tadic who ordered Mladic's arrest.

Bosnian Serb Republic President Milorad Dodik said he would raise funds to provide legal assistance to Bosnian Serb war crimes indictees, and expressed his support for the protests.

"The Serb Republic army was an expression of will of the Serb people in Bosnia which defended their survival, homes and rights," he said. "I will do my best to preserve the dignity and reputation of the Serb Republic army, which was an honorable military formation of utmost importance for Bosnian Serbs."

Bosnia remains deeply divided along ethnic lines.

Mladic's friend Mihailovic said the siege of Sarajevo, in which 10,000 died, was a legitimate military operation and as commander responsible for the entire war, Mladic could not have known about the details of the Srebrenica massacre.

He agreed to speak out after receiving the blessing of the Mladic family and some of his arguments could foreshadow the general's defense strategy. Srebrenica survivors say they saw Mladic moments before the executions.

Serbian authorities said they detained 180 people who had attacked police and injured 32 officers in Belgrade during a pro-Mladic rally on Sunday organised by the Serbian Radical Party, whose leader is on trial in The Hague.

Many of those at the rally were young people, some not even born during the Bosnian war.

Mladic's son and grandchildren, who live in Belgrade, visited him in prison on Monday. At the Sunday rally, Darko Mladic said his father was a defender of his people.

(Additional reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic and Snezana Kusovac in Belgrade and Reuters TV and Maja Zuvela in Sarajevo; editing by Jon Hemming and Elizabeth Fullerton)

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Mladic could be sent to war crimes court in 4 days (Reuters)

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia may send Ratko Mladic to face genocide charges in The Hague within four days, a justice official said on Monday, despite riots by nationalists angry at the Bosnian Serb general's capture after 16 years on the run.

Security agents tracked the fugitive general to a messy Serbian farmhouse on Thursday after tight surveillance on relatives and helpers and in so doing removed big obstacle to Serbia officially beginning its bid to join the European Union.

Mladic's lawyers argue the 69-year-old, found alone surrounded by medication, is mentally unstable and thus too sick to be extradited to the International Criminal Tribunal.

The Hague court has indicted Mladic for genocide in the 43-month siege of Sarajevo and the massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

But a Belgrade court ruled on Friday he was fit enough to face trial and served extradition papers.

Mladic's lawyer Milos Saljic said he plans to appeal that decision "to prolong the extradition as long as possible."

"I will mail it late this afternoon," he told reporters.

The appeal court must respond and forward the final decision to the Justice Ministry which will then rule on the extradition straightaway, a process that would take up to four days, said Slobodan Homen, a state secretary.

Vladimir Vukcevic, Serbia's chief war crimes prosecutor said: "I have seen Mladic and I believe he is fit for trial ... We will now focus on uncovering the entire network of his helpers."

Many Serbians admire Mladic as a dedicated military man who did not seek to enrich himself during the bitter civil war.

Serbian authorities said they detained 180 people who had attacked police and injured 32 officers during a rally on Sunday organised by the Serbian Radical Party, whose leader is on trial in The Hague.

Many of those at the rally in Belgrade were young people, some not even born during the Bosnian war.

Mladic's wife and son, who live in Belgrade, are expected to visit him in prison again on Monday. At the Sunday rally, Darko Mladic said his father was a defender of his people.

"Ratko Mladic is not a criminal, he did not order the killings. He defended his people in an honorable, fair and professional manner," he told protesters.

(Additional reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic and Snezana Kusovac; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Japan PM could face no-confidence motion (AFP)

TOKYO (AFP) – Japan's centre-left Prime Minister Naoto Kan, under fire for his handling of the response to the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, faces the threat of a no-confidence motion this week.

Although Kan's opponents have only a slim chance of rallying enough support for a successful motion in the Diet legislature, the move would be a fresh headache for the PM, who has been in office for less than a year.

Leaders of the main conservative opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its smaller ally the New Komeito party threatened the move on Friday against Kan, Japan's fifth prime minister in as many years.

A rebel powerbroker in Kan's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), Ichiro Ozawa, long dubbed the "Shadow Shogun", did not rule out supporting a move to oust Kan, according to an interview published by The Wall Street Journal.

Kan's approval ratings slipped below 20 percent shortly before the March 11 calamity, which sparked the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl and threw the country back into recession.

A political truce ended about a month after the disaster, and the LDP has rejected Kan's offer for it to join a national unity government.

Ichiro Aisawa, the LDP's Diet affairs chief, told a political talk show on Sunday: "Our party has decided to submit a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Naoto Kan... It won't be long before we submit it."

He said the LDP's president, Sadakazu Tanigaki, would make the final decision on timing.

The Kyodo news agency said the LDP would submit the motion on Thursday, a day after a debate on quake reconstruction.

Kan has taken some bold steps since the disaster, including shutting down a second quake-prone nuclear plant southwest of Tokyo, the Hamaoka plant, and announcing a radical energy policy review that stresses clean renewables.

But Kan's critics have faulted his handling of disaster relief and the slow pace of building temporary new homes for tens of thousands made homeless by the monster tsunami that hit the northern Pacific coast.

The DPJ's scandal-tainted veteran Ozawa -- who last year narrowly failed in an attempt to oust Kan as party president and premier -- told the Wall Street Journal that he was considering whether to back a move against the premier.

He told the paper he was "thinking about how to deal" with a no-confidence motion and said: "If the prime minister cannot implement policies, it's meaningless for him to stay in power".

"The sooner he is replaced, the better," Ozawa added.

If the motion were passed -- which would require scores of DPJ lower house lawmakers to defect to win a lower house majority -- the premier would have to either resign or call a snap election.

Ozawa, who years ago defected from the LDP, was indicted this year over an alleged violation of campaign-funding laws. He has maintained his innocence.

Asked about his political future, he said: "I'm an old soldier. Have you heard of General MacArthur's words, 'Old soldiers just fade away'? I was thinking about just fading away, but now I feel I have a bit more work to do."

Tomoaki Iwai, a Nihon University politics professor, said for now Kan's opponents would face an uphill battle in pushing through a no-confidence motion. "It will be very difficult," he told AFP.

"More than 80 DPJ members would be needed in order to pass the no-confidence motion against Kan, but I doubt so many people would have resolve that strong.... When Ozawa held a meeting recently with his DPJ supporters, only 60 people gathered."

He also said that the DPJ rebels would have to split away from the party and that this was unlikely because "Ozawa wants to take control of the DPJ".

"For Kan, if the motion is rejected, he would be able to avoid the most immediate crisis and would no longer need to dissolve parliament," said Iwai.

"He would still have to deal with some members who are unhappy about his administration inside the party, but a failed no-confidence motion may actually solidify his political standing somewhat."

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Iceland's volcanic ash over Britain could be gone tomorrow – but back Friday (The Christian Science Monitor)

London – British airspace is expected to return to normal tomorrow as the ash cloud caused by Iceland’s Grimsvotn volcano drifts away. But experts say conditions over the United Kingdom are likely to deteriorate again by week's end.

The latest report from the Met Office, Britain's weather forecaster, predicts that dense ash will return Friday, covering the whole of the UK. That would almost certainly mean every flight in and out of the UK will be grounded.

Much will depend on weather patterns and the power of the volcano, which has begun to dissipate since it erupted Saturday. Experts suggest that its ferocity is on par with last year’s Eyjafjallajokull’s eruption, which effectively shut down European airspace for six days, costing airlines nearly $2 billion and caused havoc for millions of passengers.

IN PICTURES: Grimsvotn volcano erupts

Today, 500 European flights were canceled, mostly in and out of Scotland and northern England, although there has been some minor disruption in Scandinavia, too.

A spokesman for the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) described the situation in Scotland today as a “significant disruption” but said it was “looking good for the next couple of days."

But he confirmed that if high-density ash returned to the UK Friday, major disruption will be likely. “Most UK operators have got an agreement to fly through medium-density ash, but with high-density ash, airlines don’t have that kind of safety case agreed with engine manufacturers. So while the new procedures will allow activity to take place in lower concentrations of ash, the worst-case scenario would mean nothing could take off or land.”

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In another development, a bitter row has broken out between Ryanair and the CAA after Ryanair’s boss, Michael O’Leary, claimed there was no volcanic ash in Scottish airspace at all. Mr. O’Leary said Ryanair had sent a test flight into the high ash concentration zone earlier today and that no evidence of ash had been found.

Both the CAA and British Transport Secretary Philip Hammond dismissed the claims. The CAA denied that any Ryanair flight had entered an area of high ash concentration this morning, while Mr. Hammond called Ryanair’s claims “irresponsible."

IN PICTURES: Grimsvotn volcano erupts

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Floodwaters could linger for weeks

Vicksburg, Mississippi (CNN) -- Residents eager to put behind a historic flood that submerged much of Vicksburg face a long and slow goodbye, forecasters said Friday, predicting that the river could remain out of its banks until at least mid-June.

The Mississippi River is not expected to return to its 43-foot flood stage in Vicksburg until after June 14, which is 46 days after it climbed out of its banks, said Amanda Roberts, a National Weather Service hydrologist said.

It crested at 57.1 feet Thursday, and the weather service predicts the crest will hold through at least Saturday morning in Vicksburg.

The flood also claimed the first victim in the state -- Vicksburg resident Walter Cook -- who died after being pulled from floodwaters, according to the Warren County coroner, who said Thursday it's not clear how Cook ended up in them.

For some, the cresting floodwaters, which damaged hundreds of homes and displaced 2,000 Vicksburg residents, was cause for relief. For others, it was a reason to celebrate.

Eddie Monsour, who owns a waterfront restaurant, threw a "River Crest Party" on Thursday night.

It was a big success, he said.

"Usually we've got a good crowd, but nothing like it is now. We're probably 200 people more than we usually are," Monsour told CNN affiliate WJTV.

"There's tourists here. People from all over the state just coming to see the water. They've never seen anything like it."

The patrons also included local evacuees such as Louise Roland of Eagle Lake.

"(I'm) just here to celebrate the river cresting," Roland said. "Hopefully, it'll start going down soon."

All but about a dozen of Eagle Lake's 600 residents evacuated, according to CNN affiliate WLBT.

"We talked about it and thought about it, but this really wasn't a decision at all," one of the holdouts, Cindy Roberson, told WLBT. "This is home, this is where our stuff is."

Local officials caution that some area residents may have to wait to return to their homes.

Flooded houses, they say, pose a variety of dangers, including debris, hazardous waster, gas leaks and the presence of snakes or other potentially dangerous animals forced out of their habitats and into residential areas by the rising floodwaters.

"Right now we're moving to the recovery stage," Vicksburg Mayor Paul Winfield told CNN.

"Our first priority, I believe, should be public safety, to continue to encourage our residents and onlookers to stay free of the water."

Winfield said that law enforcement officials are patrolling evacuated areas of the city to help ensure that abandoned homes and businesses aren't burglarized. Each flooded property must be "assessed" before an owner can return to it, he said.

Residents who live along the river should be vigilant, said Marty Pope, a senior hydrologist with the weather service.

Warren County, which includes Vicksburg, has "several hundred homes that have water" and about 2,000 residents have been displaced, Sheriff Martin Pace said.

County residents are accustomed to flooding and know what to do, but none have experienced it at this magnitude, according to Pace.

The river began cresting ahead of schedule Wednesday night probably because an old levee system in the Mississippi city of Greenville was breached May 13 and spread the flood's flow, Pope said.

The Mississippi River is more than 14 feet above flood stage at Vicksburg and more than a foot over the record set in the city in 1927.

Water levels in Natchez, a city about 70 miles south, are nearly 4 feet beyond the record, with the river at 61.9 feet Thursday night -- and the crest isn't expected to arrive until Saturday.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers kept a watchful eye on the Yazoo Backwater Levee, which residents near Vicksburg were counting on for protection. It is designed to keep water from backing into parts of the Yazoo River delta.

A slide was detected on the mainline Mississippi levee at Albemarle Lake, the Corps of Engineers said Thursday. It occurs when the integrity of a levee is undermined because dirt and sand are being eroded, said Corps spokeswoman Eileen Williamson.

"It will take about a full week to repair," she said.

Farther south, where the Mississippi River has not yet crested, residents were working to clear out their homes and find ways to get by.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has asked for federal assistance in grappling with flooding resulting from the Morganza Spillway, where 17 bays have been opened in hopes of sparing New Orleans further downstream.

Mandatory evacuations will be in effect Saturday -- beginning at midnight Friday -- in Butte La Rose, Happy Town and the Sherburne Wildlife Management Area, the St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office said.

By Saturday morning, "the area will be secured and no one will be allowed to enter," the parish said in a news release.

Officials said spillway gates are likely to be open for weeks. It will be weeks before the river falls below flood stage, allowing evacuees to return.

The flood is the most significant to hit the lower Mississippi River valley since at least 1937. It has affected nine states so far: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

CNN's Phil Gast and Ed Payne contributed to this report.

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Morganza Spillway could open as early as Saturday

Mississippi officials close boating activity in 14 counties hit by floodingArmy Corps of Engineers is expected to open the spillway once river flows hit a triggerThe Morganza Spillway has not been opened since 1973Opening the Morganza Spillway would flood the Atchafalaya River BasinWatch "The CMT Disaster Relief Concert," co-hosted by HLN's Robin Meade, to help raise money for victims recently devastated by storms, tornadoes and flooding in the Southeast. "Music Builds" airs Sunday night at 9 ET on HLN.

(CNN) -- With the opening of a major spillway all but certain in Louisiana, residents in the flood zone made preparations for the consequences of the decision.

In order to lower anticipated cresting levels along the rising Mississippi River and divert water from Baton Rouge and New Orleans, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could open the Morganza Spillway as early as Saturday.

The move would flood parts of low-lying south-central Louisiana.

"Right now, a lot of people are real nervous about it. It's sad," said Larry Doiron, a resident of Stephenville, a town that could face flooding because of the spillway's opening. "We need to have protection so that they don't flood us."

He said his subdivision would likely be fine, as it was built at a relatively high elevation, but that his neighbors were building additional levees and putting out sandbags.

Morgan City, which sits on the banks of the Atchafalaya River, could also see rising water if the spillway is opened.

"Really, we're just waiting," said Evie Bertaut, who has lived in Morgan City for 50 years.

Officials believe that the levees will protect the city from flooding, but some are taking preliminary precautions, she said. At Sacred Heart Church, where Bertaut works, people spent the day moving important documents such a baptismal, marriage and financial records to the second floor.

"Most people are getting their photographs together, things that you can't replace in case you have to go," she said.

The Mississippi River Commission has directed the Corps to operate the crucial spillway once river flows reach a certain trigger: 1.5 million cubic feet per second. Projections indicate the tipping point could be hit as early as Saturday evening, Jindal has said.

Opening the spillway would lower anticipated cresting levels along the lower Mississippi River and divert water from Baton Rouge and New Orleans but would flood much of low-lying south-central Louisiana. Seven parishes are expected to be affected by the opening -- Pointe Coupee, St. Landry, St. Martin, Iberia, Iberville, St. Mary and Terrebonne -- according to the Corps.

Earlier this week, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal predicted that if the Morganza Spillway were to open, 3,900 people and 2,600 structures would be impacted by the high water.

The Mississippi River Commission has advised a "slow opening," and the flood would spread gradually over several days, the Corps said.

The Morganza Spillway has not been opened since 1973.

"When we reach the trigger of 1.5 million cubic feet per second then we will in fact open that floodway and, again, take the pressure off the levee systems that are downstream from that particular structure," Col. Ed Fleming, the Corps of Engineers' district commander in New Orleans, told CNN's John King.

Louisiana state and local officials braced for the possibility of major flooding in the Atchafalaya River Basin if, or when, federal authorities open the spillway north of Baton Rouge. They advised residents to expect road closings.

Meanwhile, in the Arkansas town of Helena, the river crested at 56.5 feet -- 12.5 feet above flood stage, according to the National Weather Service.

The river's slow pace has given emergency responders more time to prepare, forecasters said. But while the slow-moving water gives residents extra time to get ready, it also means that land could remain under water for some time.

Jindal urged southeastern Louisiana residents to evacuate.

"Now is the time to take action," he said.

The U.S. Coast Guard said floodwaters could close the Mississippi River to ships at the New Orleans port as early as Monday morning.

To help New Orleans, the Army Corps of Engineers said Friday that it will open 52 more bays at the Bonnet Carre Spillway just north of the city, diverting water into Lake Pontchartrain. That will mean a total of 264 bays will be open in the 350-bay spillway.

The National Weather Service said that as of Friday morning, the river was at 16.8 feet in New Orleans, just a fraction below flood stage. It is expected to crest May 23 at more than 19 feet. The New Orleans levees are built to withstand 20 feet, according to the weather service.

Upriver in Mississippi, the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks has closed all boating activity in counties affected by the recent flooding including: Adams, Bolivar, Claiborne, Coahoma, DeSoto, Jefferson, Humphreys, Issaquena, Sharkey, Tunica, Warren, Washington, Wilkinson and Yazoo.

In Vicksburg, Mississippi, Police Chief Walter Armstrong said 600 residents had been evacuated as of Thursday night. The river was expected to crest at 57.5 feet. Flood stage at Vicksburg, the level at which the river may begin flowing over its banks, is 43 feet.

Armstrong said he expected higher water Friday, with more homes affected. More than two dozen roads were closed and about 45 businesses will be closed by Friday.

Homes that were built between the levee and the Mississippi River were the first affected.

"We estimate that every home built on the river side of the levee from Memphis all the way to the Louisiana line is flooded," said Mike Womack, executive director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

Residents near Vicksburg counted on a levee for protection. In addition to the mainline levee along the river, starting near Vicksburg and extending northeast for more than 20 miles, a so-called backwater levee offers shelter.

The backwater levee is designed to keep water from backing into the Yazoo River delta and is designed lower than the mainline levee so that water can flow over it. That level is expected to be reached Monday, said Charlie Tindall, attorney for the Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners.

The backwater levee was being "armored" by a heavy plastic coating to prevent it from washing out, he said.

"There's a chance it might not make it through an over-topping event," said Mississippi Levee Board Chief Engineer Peter Nimod about the backwater levee. "There is a risk. We don't think it will break, but we want people to be prepared."

"It's hard to plan for a multi-100 year event," he said.

Nonetheless, 1.4 million acres in Mississippi, including 602,000 acres where crops are growing, could flood, said Rickey Grey of the state's Department of Agriculture.

Across the South and lower Midwest, floodwaters have covered about 3 million acres of farmland, eroding for many farmers what could have been a profitable year for corn, wheat, rice and cotton, officials said.

CNN's Mariano Castillo, Mia Aquino and Erica Henry contributed to this report.

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Arctic melting faster, could raise sea 5 feet by 2100

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Arctic ice is melting faster than expected and could raise the average global sea level by as much as five feet this century, an authoritative new report suggests.

The study by the international Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, or AMAP, is one of the most comprehensive updates on climate change in the Arctic, and builds on a similar assessment in 2005.

The full report will be delivered to foreign ministers of the eight Arctic nations next week, but an executive summary including the key findings was obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

It says that Arctic temperatures in the past six years were the highest since measurements began in 1880, and that feedback mechanisms believed to accelerate warming in the climate system have now started kicking in.

One mechanism involves the ocean absorbing more heat when it's not covered by ice, which reflects the sun's energy. That effect has been anticipated by scientists "but clear evidence for it has only been observed in the Arctic in the past five years," AMAP said.

The report also shatters some of the forecasts made in 2007 by the U.N.'s expert panel on climate change.

The cover of sea ice on the Arctic Ocean, for example, is shrinking faster than projected by the U.N. panel. The level of summer ice coverage has been at or near record lows every year since 2001, AMAP said, predicting that the Arctic Ocean will be nearly ice free in summer within 30-40 years.

Its assessment also said the U.N. panel was too conservative in estimating how much sea levels will rise ? one of the most closely watched aspects of global warming because of the potentially catastrophic impact on coastal cities and island nations.

The melting of Arctic glaciers and ice caps, including Greenland's massive ice sheet, are projected to help raise global sea levels by 35 to 63 inches (90-160 centimeters) by 2100, AMAP said, though it noted that the estimate was highly uncertain.

That's up from a 2007 projection of 7 to 23 inches (19-59 centimeters) by the U.N. panel, which didn't consider the dynamics of ice caps in the Arctic and Antarctica.

"The observed changes in sea ice on the Arctic Ocean, in the mass of the Greenland ice sheet and Arctic ice caps and glaciers over the past 10 years are dramatic and represent an obvious departure from the long-term patterns," AMAP said in the executive summary.

The organization's main function is to advise the nations surrounding the Arctic ? the U.S., Canada, Russia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland ? on threats to the Arctic environment.

The findings of its report ? Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost in the Arctic ? will be discussed by some of the scientists who helped compile it at a conference starting Wednesday in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.

In the past few years, scientists have steadily improved ways of measuring the loss of ice into the oceans.

In research reported in March in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, U.S. and European scientists used two independent methods to corroborate their findings: the on-the-ground measurement of ice thickness and movements using GPS stations and other tools, and the measurement of ice mass through gravity readings from satellites.

That team, led by Eric Rignot of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, projected that the accelerating melt of the vast Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets would itself raise sea levels by about 6 inches (15 centimeters) by 2050. Adding in other factors ? expansion of the oceans from warming and runoff from other glaciers worldwide ? would raise sea levels a total of some 13 inches (32 centimeters) by 2050, they said.

They did not project sea levels to 2100 because of long-range uncertainties.

Currents, winds and other forces would make sea-level rise vary globally, but Bangladesh, Florida and other such low-lying areas and coastal cities worldwide would be hard hit.

The AMAP report said melting glaciers and ice sheets worldwide have become the biggest contributor to sea level rise. Greenland's ice sheet alone accounted for more than 40 percent of the 0.12 inches (3.1 millimeters) of sea-level rise observed annually between 2003 and 2008, AMAP said.

It said the yearly mass loss from Greenland's ice sheet, which covers an area the size of Mexico, increased from 50 gigatons in 1995-2000 to more than 200 gigatons in 2004-2008.

Scientists are still debating how much of the changes observed in the Arctic are due to natural variances and how much to warming caused by the release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. AMAP projected that average fall and winter temperatures in the Arctic will climb by 5.4-10.8 F (3-6 C) by 2080, even if greenhouse gas emissions are lower than in the past decade.

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AP Special Correspondent Charles J. Hanley in New York contributed to this report.

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Minister: Egypt's Mubarak could face death penalty

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's justice minister says that ousted President Hosni Mubarak would face the death penalty if convicted of ordering the shooting of protesters during the uprisings that brought him down.

Mohammed el-Guindi told the daily Al-Ahram Saturday that Mubarak, his two sons and wife are also facing allegations of corruption.

He added that former first lady Suzanne Mubarak will be questioned for the first time in a few days over her illicit amassing of wealth.

El-Guindi blamed Mubarak for the country's widespread corruption during his almost 30-year-rule.

Mubarak, 82, stepped down in February and was placed under arrest in the Sharm el-Sheikh hospital due to heart problems. At least 846 protesters have been killed during the uprising.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

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Minister: Egypt's Mubarak could face death penalty

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's justice minister says that ousted President Hosni Mubarak would face the death penalty if convicted of ordering the shooting of protesters during the uprisings that brought him down.

Mohammed el-Guindi told the daily Al-Ahram Saturday that Mubarak, his two sons and wife are also facing allegations of corruption.

He added that former first lady Suzanne Mubarak will be questioned for the first time in a few days over her illicit amassing of wealth.

El-Guindi blamed Mubarak for the country's widespread corruption during his almost 30-year-rule.

Mubarak, 82, stepped down in February and was placed under arrest in the Sharm el-Sheikh hospital due to heart problems. At least 846 protesters have been killed during the uprising.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

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Couch-potato kids could be risking their hearts

Young children who spend too much time watching TV or playing computer games have narrower eye arteries than kids who are more physically active, new Australian research reports.

By Brand X Pictures

Kids who spent more than an hour in daily outside activity had wider vessels, on average, than those spending less than half an hour outside.

By Brand X Pictures

Kids who spent more than an hour in daily outside activity had wider vessels, on average, than those spending less than half an hour outside.

Narrower arteries are a marker of future cardiovascular risk, and the narrower the vessels, the higher the risk, the experts said.

"Changes to the retinal vessels give a good idea of what is going on in the rest of the body, particularly the heart," said Dr. Bamini Gopinath, a senior research fellow at the University of Sydney, who conducted the research. "In adults, we've found that narrower retinal arteries signal increased risk of hypertension (high blood pressure) and heart disease."

Gopinath and her colleagues evaluated 1,492 six-year-olds in Sydney, tracking the hours they spent in both physical activity and sedentary pursuits.

The researchers took digital photos of the vasculature in the back of each child's eye and calculated the average vessel width.

Overall, the kids spent a daily average of 1.9 hours of screen time and 36 minutes of physical activity. But those kids who spent more than an hour in daily outside activity had wider vessels, on average, than those spending less than half an hour outside.

"We found that kids who spent more than one-and-a-half hours (in screen time) were more likely to have adverse effects on the retinal vessels," Gopinath said.

The narrowing associated with each hour of screen time was similar to the amount associated with a rise of 10 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) in systolic blood pressure (the top number) in kids, the researchers found.

So, how much physical activity is enough?

"It's hard to say based on the findings from this study, but we believe that the data shows that replacing one hour a day of screen time with physical activity could help in minimizing the unfavorable influence on the retinal vessels," Gopinath said.

The research looks at the effects of sedentary activity in a new way, according to Dr. Audina Berrocal, a pediatric retinal specialist at the University of Miami Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.

"When you look at the retina, it's an indicator of what is going on in your body," she said. "The health of the retinal vessels reflects overall cardiovascular health."

Berrocal stressed that parents should know it's not the TV or computer time affecting the retinal vessels, "it is the lack of exercise." And that lack of exercise often gets worse as screen time climbs.

"In reality what they are saying is, if you don't exercise, it is going to affect your vessels even as a child," she said.

While the research looks at cardiovascular risk in a new way, the message is an established one, Berrocal added. "What I think it tells you is what every parent knows. The more your child is outside moving and doing exercise, the healthier that child will be."

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Ratings Service Warns Politics Could Delay Budget Deal, Downgrades Outlook

Reuters

In this Feb. 14 photo, The National Debt Clock hangs from a building near Times Square in New York.

As the White House and lawmakers call for renewed cooperation to tackle the deficit, a leading rating agency isn't buying it. 

Standard & Poor's Ratings Service warned Monday that politics may be getting in the way of a budget compromise, and -- in an announcement which sent stocks tumbling -- said it was lowering the outlook for U.S. sovereign debt to "Negative" from "Stable" due to the risk posed by the growing deficit. 

Putting Washington on notice, S&P warned that it might be compelled to lower the country's rating if Congress can't reach a budget deal that brings the deficit under control. 

The announcement puts added pressure on lawmakers and the White House as they pitch dueling budget plans. Republicans called it a "wake-up call" to get spending under control. But the Obama administration disputed S&P's finding and said negotiators are, to the contrary, ready to bridge their differences. 

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the political process will outperform the agency's expectations, downplaying the significance of the announcement. 

"We see momentum going that way," a senior Treasury official told Fox Business Network, referring to the possibility of an agreement before the next election. "A lot is going on behind the scenes. ... I'm not saying it won't be messy." 

The official pointed to negotiations underway among a bipartisan group of senators, who are trying to produce a plan when Congress returns from recess. 

"Both political parties now agree that it is time to begin bringing down deficits as a share of GDP," Mary Miller, assistant secretary for financial markets at the Treasury Department, said in a written statement. "We believe S&P's negative outlook underestimates the ability of America's leaders to come together to address the difficult fiscal challenges facing the nation." 

The agency reaffirmed the investment-grade credit ratings on the United States' long-term and short-term debt. S&P says the U.S. has a high-income, diversified and flexible economy that has helped it to encourage growth while containing inflation. 

But the country's ballooning deficit could offset those positives over the next two years. The agency noted that the deficit grew to 11 percent of gross domestic income in 2009. That is much higher than the average of 2 percent to 5 percent in the previous six years. 

The statement from S&P reflected what it called the "significant risk" that deadlock in Washington could last through the 2012 elections, leaving the government without a medium-term deficit strategy for another several years. 

"Our negative outlook on our rating on the U.S. sovereign signals that we believe there is at least a one-in-three likelihood that we could lower our long-term rating on the U.S. within two years," S&P's credit analyst Nikola G. Swann said in a statement. "The outlook reflects our view of the increased risk that the political negotiations over when and how to address both the medium- and long-term fiscal challenges will persist until at least after national elections in 2012." 

Swann said a compromise that tackles the deficit could lead the ratings service to reverse its outlook. 

"Alternatively, the lack of such an agreement or a significant further fiscal deterioration for any reason could lead us to lower the rating," Swann added. 

Miller, though, said the economy is "strengthening as it emerges from the recent recession." And she pointed to the deficit-reduction plan outlined last week by President Obama in arguing that the country is ready to reverse course. 

"As the president said last week, addressing the current fiscal situation is well within our capacity as a country. He has initiated a bipartisan process that will allow us to make progress on a balanced approach to restoring fiscal responsibility," she said. 

The president outlined a plan he said would reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over 12 years. Republicans, though, said the plan relied too heavily on tax hikes and did not do enough to address entitlement spending. Republicans are pushing their own long-term budget proposal, which would overhaul Medicare and Medicaid, and are pushing for spending reforms as a condition for their support on raising the $14.3 trillion debt limit. 

The federal government is expected to hit that ceiling by next month, and the S&P announcement quickly became a political football in that debate Monday. 

Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., said the debate over the debt limit offers lawmakers the chance "to save the dollar and our economy." He said S&P offered a "stark warning" for the country if lawmakers "miss this chance or if Congress sends the president a blank check."

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., author of the Republicans' budget proposal, said the failure to reach an agreement threatens the country's "economic security" and continued to hammer the president for his deficit speech last week. 

"A campaign speech is no substitute for a serious, credible budget. The president and his party's leaders must put an end to empty promises and work with us to avert this looming economic crisis," Ryan said. 

But Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., issued a statement arguing that the announcement reinforces the need to approve the debt ceiling increase no matter what -- since failing to increase the debt limit could cause the country to default. 

"The markets have doubts about America's ability to get its fiscal house in order. And they are right," Welch said, adding that Republicans would unleash "the financial hounds of hell" if they play politics with the debt ceiling. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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