NATO air strike kills fighter linked to Afghan hotel attack (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – NATO aircraft killed an insurgent leader linked to a deadly hotel attack in the Afghan capital this week, the coalition said on Thursday, a raid that raised questions about whether Afghan forces are ready for the looming security transition.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the Intercontinental, one of two major hotels used by foreigners and Afghan government officials, a rare night-time raid that began on Tuesday and ended five hours later with 12 killed.

However, the NATO-led Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network had also been involved in the assault by nine suicide bombers and gunmen.

ISAF identified the Haqqani network leader killed in an air strike as Ismail Jan, who it described as a deputy to the senior Haqqani commander in Afghanistan, Haji Mali Khan.

It said he and "several Haqqani fighters" were killed in the air strike in the Gardez district of Paktia province south of Kabul on Wednesday.

"The Haqqani network, in conjunction with Taliban operatives, was responsible for the Tuesday night attack on the Kabul Intercontinental hotel which killed 12 people, including a provincial judge," ISAF said in a statement.

The brazen raid came only a week after President Barack Obama announced a phased withdrawal of combat troops, with 10,000 to leave by the end of this year and another 23,000 by the end September 2012.

Obama's announcement preceded the start of a gradual transition of responsibility to Afghan forces from next month that will end with all foreign combat troops leaving Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

With that transition process to begin in seven areas next month, the hotel raid raised serious questions about whether Afghan forces, particularly the police, were ready to take over.

"It shows one of the concerns is that the Afghan security forces are growing in quantity, not in quality," said Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Kabul-based Afghanistan Analysts Network.

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The attack ended when snipers on board a NATO helicopter killed the last three attackers fighting from the roof of the hotel. Earlier television footage showed Afghan forces firing wildly into the air.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that some police had refused to fight back.

ISAF has been training members of the 126,000-strong Afghan National Police since 2009.

Afghan police, who will be at the front line of the security transition in villages and towns across Afghanistan, have long been viewed as inept and lagging behind the training of the better-equipped army, which had been the focus of training efforts since the Taliban were toppled in late 2001.

Violence has risen to record levels across Afghanistan over the past 18 months as NATO troops, especially U.S. forces, hit back against a growing insurgency, especially in the Taliban heartland in the south.

A quarterly report by the United Nations secretary-general to the Security Council about Afghanistan found that the number of security incidents since March had risen 51 percent on the same period in 2010, with suicide attacks rising sharply.

Attacks in the Taliban heartland of Kandahar were especially worrying. "The city of Kandahar and its surroundings registered the majority of the incidents during the reporting period, with a quarter of the overall attacks and more than half of all assassinations recorded countrywide," the report said.

But Ruttig said the attack also highlighted other problems confronting Afghanistan before the transition process, which also includes handing the running of civil institutions and projects over to Afghans, begins.

Not the least of those is the political paralysis that has gripped the country for months.

"The fact that neither NATO nor the Afghans were able to prevent it says something -- that transition needs to be something more than just security," Ruttig said of the hotel attack.

"Security forces are only part of transition. There also needs to be a strengthening of political institutions and, at the moment, the parliamentary crisis has brought politics to a standstill," he told Reuters.

Last week, a special poll court set up by a decree by President Hamid Karzai overturned the results for a quarter of the seats in parliament from elections last year, effectively throwing out 62 MPs who had been declared winners.

The move, and the court itself, have been branded unconstitutional and illegal by Afghan and Western officials and observers. Critics have said the court was set up by Karzai to further his own political agenda and silence opposition.

(Additional reporting by Alistair Scrutton; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

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Official: 4 sets of Long Island remains aren't linked to serial killer

Police divers search for human remains in waters near Point Lookout, New York, in April.NEW: The DA urges patience, saying the serial killer probe "is not an episode of 'CSI' "NEW: Three homicide cases are opened due to the new findings, none linked to a serial killerThe four sets of remains were found in March and April near where four others had beenTwo were dismembered, one was an Asian male and another a female toddler, says the DA

(CNN) -- The four sets of human remains most recently discovered on a Long Island beach don't appear to be related to four others discovered nearby that have been linked to a suspected serial killer, the Suffolk County district attorney said Monday.

The evidence suggests that perhaps two other killers dumped bodies along Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach, about 40 miles east of New York City. But they don't shed any light on the investigation into the person or people who authorities believe killed at least four sex workers whose bodies were found last December.

"This investigation is not an episode of 'CSI' or 'Criminal Minds' that is going to be solved in a one-hour period," District Attorney Thomas Spota said of the serial killer probe. "Most likely, it ... is going to take a very long period of time to complete."

The four latest sets of remains were found March 29 and April 4. Homicide cases are now open based on three of the four latest discoveries, according to the district attorney.

The first set of newly discovered remains include the head, hands and forearms of a woman Spota identified as Jessica Taylor. The rest of her body had been found in 2003 in Manorville, a community about 45 miles east on Long Island.

Like the four victims found last year, Taylor was a prostitute, the district attorney said. She had been working in Washington and had come up to New York City for a few days before going missing. Spota said that, despite extensive interviews, there were no suspects in her death and the case went cold -- until now.

More body parts -- a head, hands and a right foot -- were found slightly farther east along the parkway. While no name has been attached to them, Spota said they match with a body found in 2000, also in Manorville.

Both these two women's alleged killer or killers "went to extraordinary lengths to prevent the victims from being identified," said the district attorney, pointing to efforts to hide a tattoo on Taylor as an example. "This is clearly not so with any of the other remains."

The only set among those recently discovered that didn't show any signs of trauma is "the full skeletal remains" of what is thought to be a female toddler, according to Spota. This unidentified child, who was probably between 18 and 24 months old when she died, was wrapped in a blanket and deposited in the same stretch along the parkway. The county medical examiner has yet to indicate a cause of death in the girl's case, which isn't now considered a homicide.

The last of the recently discovered bodies was an unidentified male, thought to be Asian and in his late teens or early 20s. Spota said the medical examiner's office determined that he'd been dead for "years," and his skeleton shows "evidence of trauma, but the cause of death is radically different from all the other remains."

"What is now very clear is that the area in and around Gilgo Beach has been used to discard human remains for some period of time," Spota said. "But there is no evidence that all these remains are the result of a single killer."

Previously, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said that authorities believed one or more person was most likely responsible for the deaths of four women whose remains were found within a quarter-mile of each other in that same area last winter.

More still unidentified remains have been found as part of the serial killer investigation in nearby Nassau County. But police have yet to link those to any other case.

All the while, the woman who originally prompted the searches -- 23-year-old Shannan Gilbert -- remains missing.

The New Jersey woman was last seen in May 2010 while attending a private party at a home in the Oak Beach community. Like the four victims who were found in December and have been identified, Gilbert had advertised prostitution services on Websites such as Craigslist.

Dormer told reporters Monday that authorities haven't given up their search for her.

"We're still concerned about the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert," the police commissioner said. "We're going to continue our efforts to find her ... both for our investigation and for her family."

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Syria releases two Americans linked by state TV to spying

were picked up while taking photographs of demonstrations March 18, according to Syrian state media.

Syria's government-run TV has blamed foreigners, among others, for the unrest, and President Bashar Assad said this week that a "foreign conspiracy" was behind the protests.

Mohammed Radwan, 32, was accused of selling photos and video of demonstrations to a Colombian woman, according to the state-run news agency.

Pathik Root, 21, of Ripton, Vt., a student at Middlebury College, was studying Arabic in Damascus.

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Ex-Falcons lineman had brain disease linked to concussions

Chris and Shane Dronett, and their two children, Hayley and Berkley, in 2002. STORY HIGHLIGHTSScientists confirmed that ex-Falcons lineman had a brain disease linked to concussionResearchers believe the battering Shane Dronett took may explain his brain's deteriorationHis family reported troubling personality changes before his suicideEditor's Note: Dr. Sanjay Gupta gets a candid look at the mental deterioration of a former NFL player and the toll that chronic traumatic encephalopathy can take on a family on "Sanjay Gupta, M.D." at 7:30 a.m. ET Saturday and Sunday.

(CNN) -- Former NFL lineman Shane Dronett's transformation from an affable prankster, quick to flash a wry smile, to a person who was often frightened -- and frightening -- was subtle at first.

It began in 2006, with a bad dream.

"He woke up in the middle of the night and started screaming and told everyone to run out of the house," said Chris Dronett, Shane Dronett's wife. "He thought that someone was blowing up our house. It was very frightening."

Chris tried to dismiss the incident as isolated, except that two weeks later, there was another outburst, then another, until they were an almost-nightly occurrence. And as Shane's fear and paranoia began overwhelming him, so did episodes of confusion and rage that sometimes turned violent.

Only three years after retiring from the NFL in 2006, Shane was suffering. The tragic culmination of his pain came when he committed suicide in 2009 at 38.

Scientists at the Boston University School of Medicine's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy tested Shane's brain tissue and confirmed that before he died he was suffering with a brain disease -- chronic traumatic encephalopathy -- that seems to afflict football players.

"There is evidence of CTE in his brain making him yet another former NFL player who had definite CTE," said Chris Nowinski, co-director of the traumatic encephalopathy center. Nowinski said the center has found evidence of CTE in the brains of 13 of 14 former NFL players, including Dronett.

Usually found in much older dementia patients, CTE is an accumulation of an abnormal protein in the brain called tau, which is associated with repeated head traumas -- concussions or subconcussive hits -- that are not allowed to heal. CTE can also diminish brain tissue and is associated with memory loss, depression, impulsive behavior and rage.

Outrage comes out of nowhere

The Dronetts' daughter recalled an incident at a local burger joint: "He was ordering, and he got mad at (an employee) and just punched him in the face," said 16-year-old Hayley Dronett.

"He thought the guy was shaking the ice weird or something, and he took him down in the restaurant," added Chris.

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Alabama outbreak linked to pharmacy

The bacteria were found in bags used in intravenous feeding at six Alabama hospitals, state health officials said. STORY HIGHLIGHTSBacteria found in a bag in the pharmacy match bacteria in the blood of the victimsThe same bacteria were found on a water faucet in the pharmacyInvestigators' goal is to put together a probable chain of events (CNN) -- Alabama health officials seeking to find the source of bacteria suspected in the deaths of nine hospital patients and the sickening of 10 others announced Thursday they found the same bacteria in a pharmacy in Birmingham.

"Looking at the DNA fingerprints, that organism is an exact match of the organisms that the patients had, so we know it wasn't inserted after it left the pharmacy," Dr. Don Williamson told CNN.

The pharmacy, IV Meds, of Birmingham, had prepared the intravenous feeding solutions that were administered to all of the patients in six hospitals in the state. Bacteria in their blood matched bacteria in a bag of the suspect product found in the pharmacy, he said.

"Now it's just a matter of identifying the source of it from the pharmacy other than from the bag," said Dr. Mary McIntyre, a medical officer with the Bureau of Communicable Disease within the Alabama Department of Public Health. "That's still ongoing."

She said the same bacteria -- called Serratia marcescens -- were also found on a swab from a water faucet inside the pharmacy. McIntyre described IV Meds as a small business that had one full-time staff pharmacist. The company's website has been taken down and calls to the business have gone unanswered.

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