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Close call coming: Averting the asteroid threat
Labels: WorldUS man kills bus driver, kidnaps child
Labels: Technology
WASHINGTON: A gunman boarded a school bus in the US state of Alabama, shot dead the driver and kidnapped a six-year-old, whom he is now holding in an underground bunker, local media reported Wednesday.
WSFA television said the man boarded the bus at around 3:40 pm Tuesday, shot the bus driver and took one of the children to an underground shelter, where police are currently communicating with him through a PVC pipe.
Police could not immediately be reached for comment, but Sergeant Rachel David of the Dothan Police Department confirmed to WSFA that an adult male had been shot during the incident and that the suspect was "not in custody".
"We are at the very beginning of this investigation," she said.
WSFA, a CNN affiliate, said area roads had been closed and three local school systems had cancelled classes on Wednesday over the hostage situation.
- AFP/al
Child hostage drama in Ala. after gunman kills school bus driver
Labels: HealthMIDLAND CITY, Ala. An unidentified man boarded a school bus, shot the driver several times, then escaped with a 6-year-old passenger, prompting an hours-long standoff with police that remained unresolved early Wednesday.
The Dale County Sheriff says the man shot the driver in Midland City on Tuesday after he refused to let the child off the bus. The driver later died of his wounds. His identity wasn't released.
The shooter took the child to an area behind a nearby church, and police were negotiating with him, authorities said.
Midland City police would not comment, and a call to the Dale City Sheriff's office was not answered Tuesday.
Authorities from multiple agencies were on the scene and nearby residents were evacuated from their homes as a precautionary measure, said Rachel David, a spokeswoman for the police department in the nearby town of Dothan.
"Authorities also confirmed the presence of a child at the scene but are giving no further information at this time," David said in a news release late Tuesday.
CBS Dothan, Ala. affiliate WTVY-TV reports the hostage is male and was being held in a storm shelter at the alleged gunman's home.
The station says the FBI has been called in, and area schools have cancelled Wednesday classes.
Clinton Talks 2016, Stands by Benghazi Testimony
Labels: Business
In her final television interview as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton told ABC's Cynthia McFadden that she is "flattered and honored" at the intense interest in whether she might run for president in 2016.
But Clinton maintained that right now she's "not focused" on a presidential campaign; instead she said she wants to return to a "normal" life when she steps down from office on Friday.
Watch Cynthia McFadden's full interview with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on "Nightline" tonight at 12:35 a.m. ET
Clinton's first order of business, she said, will be sleep.
"I hope I get to sleep in," she told McFadden with a laugh. "It will be the first time in many years. I have no office to go to, no schedule to keep, no work to do. That will probably last a few days then I will be up and going with my new projects," she said.
"I have been working or attending school full-time since I was 13. This is going to be new for me. I don't know how I'm going to react to it, to be honest."
PHOTOS: Hillary Clinton Through the Years: From Wellesley to the White House, and Beyond
Clinton has had no trouble articulating her reaction to what has arguably been the darkest chapter of her tenure as Secretary of State: the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed.
Hillary's Next Chapter: On Family and Future Watch Video
Secretary Clinton had a heated exchange with Republican Senator Ron Johnson during her five hours of testimony before Congress about the attack last week. Johnson accused the administration of misleading the American people about the cause of the attack, when UN Ambassador Susan Rice, on Sunday political talk shows, blamed it on protesters.
Clinton snapped back at Johnson, "Four Americans are dead. What difference does it make?" For that, she has been sharply criticized by some conservatives.
Clinton said she "absolutely" stands by her response to Johnson, maintaining that the administration has been transparent with the information it knew, when it was available. Clinton said partisan politics have no place in a response to a terrorist attack against Americans.
"I believe that we should in public life, whether you're in the administration or the Congress, de-politicize crisis and work together to figure out what happened, what we can do to prevent it and then put into place both the institutional changes and the budgetary changes that are necessary, " she said.
"When someone tries to put into a partisan lens, when they focus not on the fact that we have such a terrible event happening with four dead Americans but instead what did somebody say on a Sunday morning talk show? That to me is not in keeping with the seriousness of the issue and the obligation we all have as public servants"
FULL TRANSCRIPT: Sec. of State Hillary Clinton's "Nightline" Interview
Asked about her health, Clinton said her recent illness, concussion and blood clot were all a surprise.
"When I got sick and fainted and hit my head I was so surprised, and I thought I would just get up and go to work. And thankfully I had very good medical care and doctors who said, 'No we'd better do an MRI, we'd better do this, we'd better do that,'" she said, calling herself "lucky."
"I know now how split second beset by a virus and dehydrated, what it can do to you."
Though she confirmed she is wearing special glasses to help with double vision, a lingering issue following her illness, Clinton said that she expects to be fully recovered and operating at "full speed" soon.
The Secretary told McFadden that if she does decide to run, she would have "no problem" making her health records public.
"Of course, that goes with the territory," she said.
Midnight sun: How to get 24-hour solar power
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Football: Beckham is training at Arsenal, Wenger reveals
Labels: Technology
LONDON: Former England midfielder David Beckham has been training with Arsenal, the club's manager Arsene Wenger has confirmed, but rejected reports that he could sign.
"He called me. He has asked to come here and to work on his fitness. He has not done anything for a long, long time," Wenger said of Beckham, who is without a club after leaving Los Angeles Galaxy at the end of last Major League Soccer season.
"It's purely for fitness. There's no speculation about signing or anything."
Beckham made his name with Manchester United and has also played for Real Madrid and AC Milan.
The 37-year-old, who won 115 England caps, was a key figure in the successful bid to bring the Olympics and Paralympics to London last year.
- AFP/al
Hear what Lebron said to Obama
Labels: Lifestyle
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Thick smog cloaks Beijing again
Labels: HealthBEIJING Dangerously high pollution levels shrouded Beijing in smog Tuesday for the second time in about two weeks, forcing airlines to cancel flights because of poor visibility and prompting the city government to warn residents to stay indoors.
The outlines of buildings in the capital receded into a white mist as pedestrians donned face masks to guard against the thick, caustic air.
The U.S. Embassy reported a level of PM2.5 -- one of the worst pollutants -- at 526 micrograms per cubic meter, or "beyond index," and more than 20 times higher than World Health Organization safety levels over a 24-hour period.
The Beijing city government advised residents to stay indoors as much as possible because the pollution was "severe." It said that, because there was no wind, the smog probably would not dissipate quickly.
Visibility was less than 109 yards in some areas of eastern China, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Air China cancelled 14 domestic flights in or out of the Beijing airport, and an airport in the eastern city of Qingdao was closed, cancelling 20 flights.
The disruptions come in the first week of the country's peak, six-week period for travel, linked to the Feb. 10 Lunar New Year. Every year, China's transport system bursts at the seams as tens of millions of people travel for the holiday, in the world's largest seasonal migration of people.
Celebrity real estate developer Pan Shiyi, who has previously pushed for cities to publish more detailed air quality data, called Tuesday for a "Clean Air Act" and said he would use his status as a delegate to the National People's Congress to propose such legislation.
In less than three hours, his post was forwarded more than 2,300 times and received 14,184 votes, with 99.1 percent in favor.
Beijing also had exceptionally high pollution two weeks ago, with the U.S. Embassy readings of PM2.5 reaching as high as 886 micrograms per cubic meter.
US Mom Missing in Turkey Took Side Trips
Labels: Business
Sarai Sierra, the New York mother who disappeared in Turkey while on a solo trip, took several side excursions out of the country, but stayed in contact with her family the entire time, a family friend told ABC News.
Turkish media reported today that police were trying to establish why Sierra visited Amsterdam and Munich. Police were also trying to establish the identity of a man Sierra, 33, was chatting with on the Internet, according to local media.
Rachel Norman, a family friend, said the man was a group tour guide from the Netherlands and said Sierra stayed in regular touch with her family in New York.
Steven Sierra, Sarai's husband, and David Jimenez, her brother, arrived in Istanbul today to aid in the search.
The men have been in contact with officials from the U.S. consulate in the country and plan to meet with them as soon as they open on Tuesday, Norman said.
After that, she said Sierra and Jimenez would meet with Turkish officials to discuss plans and search efforts.
Family of Sarai Sierra|AP Photo
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Sarai Sierra was supposed to fly back to the United States on Jan. 22, but she never showed up for her flight home.
Her two boys, ages 11 and 9, have not been told their mother is missing.
Sierra, an avid photographer, left New York on Jan. 7. It was her first overseas trip, and she decided to go ahead after a friend had to cancel, her family said.
"It was her first time outside of the United States, and every day while she was there she pretty much kept in contact with us, letting us know what she was up to, where she was going, whether it be through texting or whether it be through video chat, she was touching base with us," Steven Sierra told ABC News before he departed for Istanbul.
But when it came time to pick her up from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, Sierra wasn't on board her scheduled flight.
Steven Sierra called United Airlines and was told his wife had never boarded the flight home.
Further investigation revealed she had left her passport, clothes, phone chargers and medical cards in her room at a hostel in Beyoglu, Turkey, he said.
The family is suspicious and said it is completely out of character for the happily married mother, who met her husband in church youth group, to disappear.
The U.S. Embassy in Turkey and the Turkish National Police are involved in the investigation, WABC-TV reported.
"They've been keeping us posted, from my understanding they've been looking into hospitals and sending out word to police stations over there," Steven Sierra said. "Maybe she's, you know, locked up, so they are doing what they can."
Stellar performances finally gain the limelight
Labels: WorldMichael Brooks, consultant
(Image: Five Finger Yamanaka/courtesy of Phil Ross)
In Heart of Darkness, Jeremiah P. Ostriker and Simon Mitton add new stars to the constellation of astronomy to tell the subject's full history
WE HAVE all heard of the Hubble Space Telescope, named after Edwin Hubble, but where is the Tinsley telescope?
Beatrice Tinsley was an excellent astronomer, but her career was stymied by an establishment set against giving a salary to the wife of an academic - even if she was also a gifted scientist. Tinsley made at least two vital contributions to our understanding of the universe's history, but she had to divorce her husband and grant him custody of the children to get any recognition of her talents.
In Heart of Darkness, Jeremiah Ostriker and Simon Mitton explore modern cosmology while recasting what they term the "simple linear parade of heroes" of standard accounts. Among the uncelebrated stars of cosmology they discuss, Tinsley shines brightest, but there are others: Milton Humason, a poorly educated mule-driver and janitor who assisted Hubble in his observations, and Vesto Slipher, who, despite working in the shadow of a boss obsessed with finding evidence for Martian civilisations, made the first observations that told us about the expansion of the universe.
Why do some names last and others fade? As well as being a great astronomer, Hubble was a "showman", and a "comfortable celebrity", say Ostriker and Mitton. Tinsley, meanwhile, was diagnosed with cancer the year she finally made full professor (at Yale). She died four years later, aged 40. Like a supernova, she burned brightly but briefly. Hopefully, this thorough and inspiring book will secure her a place in cosmological history.
Not that Ostriker and Mitton's book is focused solely on people - quite the opposite. Relatively few biographical details are given: it is their scientific contributions that are explored - and with aplomb.
This is a strong, confident book, easily one of the best guides to why cosmologists make the claims they do. Yet for all their redistribution of credit, the cosmology that the authors set out remains uncontroversial. It is the universe that began in a singularity, passed through a period of rapid inflation, and is now dominated by dark matter and dark energy. The state of our knowledge, they say, represents a "stunning" accomplishment.
This is the dilemma of modern cosmology: what counts as success? Summing up, Ostriker and Mitton simultaneously cite a "pretty impressive list of successes" while acknowledging that cosmology is "profoundly incomplete". We don't know what caused the inflation, what constitutes dark matter or what lies behind dark energy. In the end, the authors settle for a declaration that there's plenty for future cosmologists to do.
If there is one flaw in this crystal clear book, it's a lack of depth in the discussion of the dark side of the universe. It provides the book's title and is supposed to account for 96 per cent of the universe, but is confined to two chapters towards the end. Alternatives to dark matter are dismissed in little more than a paragraph and compared to pre-Copernican efforts to keep the Earth at the centre of the cosmos. When many respected scientists support the continued search for alternatives, that seems somewhat disingenuous.
Were she still with us, Tinsley would no doubt argue that there are compelling reasons to believe in the existence of dark matter, but that there are good reasons to consider alternatives, too. Her unique contribution to cosmology was to persuade a dismissive establishment that galaxies change their properties over time. In so doing, she exposed a gaping hole in the cosmology of the 1970s. It was a supreme achievement, if unwelcome.
Clearly, if you want your name to go down in history (or onto a telescope) it's better to be a showman than a troublemaker. But if the history of science teaches us anything, it's that the troublemakers should be celebrated too.
Book information:
Heart of Darkness: Unraveling the mysteries of the invisible universe by Jeremiah P. Ostriker and Simon Mitton
Princeton University Press
£19.95/$27.95
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