Ala. college issues alert after armed person seen

WASHINGTON (AP) - A year after the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida is hobbled and hunted, too busy surviving for the moment to carry out another Sept. 11-style attack on U.S. soil.

But the terrorist network dreams still of payback, and U.S. counterterrorist officials warn that, in time, its offshoots may deliver.

A decade of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that has cost the U.S. about $1.28 trillion and 6,300 U.S. troops* lives has forced al-Qaida's affiliates to regroup, from Yemen to Iraq. Bin Laden's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, is thought to be hiding, out of U.S. reach, in Pakistan's mountains, just as bin Laden was for so many years.

"It's wishful thinking to say al-Qaida is on the brink of defeat," says Seth Jones, a Rand analyst and adviser to U.S. special operations forces. "They have increased global presence, the number of attacks by affiliates has risen, and in some places like Yemen, they've expanded control of territory."

It's a complicated, somewhat murky picture for Americans to grasp.

U.S. officials say bin Laden's old team is all but dismantled. But they say new branches are hitting Western targets and U.S. allies overseas, and still aspire to match their parent organization's milestone of Sept. 11, 2001.

The deadliest is in Yemen.

"They are continuing to try to again, carry out an attack against U.S. persons inside of Yemen, as well as against the homeland," White House counterterrorism advisor John Brennan said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

"We're working very closely with our Yemeni partners to track down all these leads," he said.

Brennan says there's no sign of an active revenge plot against U.S. targets, but U.S. citizens in Pakistan and beyond are being warned to be vigilant ahead of the May 2 anniversary of the night raid. U.S. helicopters swooped down on bin Laden's compound in the Pakistani army town of Abbottabad, killing him, one of his sons, two couriers and their wives.

The last view for Americans of the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks was that of a wizened old man sitting in front of an old television, wrapped in a blanket.

The world may never see photographic proof of his death. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington ruled last week that the Obama administration, under the Freedom of Information Act, would not have to turn over images of bin Laden during or after the raid.

"Verbal descriptions of the death and burial of Osama Bin Laden will have to suffice," Boasberg wrote in his ruling on the lawsuit by the public interest group Judicial Watch.

Bin Laden's killing and al-Qaida's stumbling efforts to regroup are now the national security centerpiece of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

The White House frequently cites the president's decision to approve the raid, with only a 50-50 chance that bin Laden was even at the compound. Obama could have gone down in history as the man who put the Navy SEALs and the relationship with Pakistan in jeopardy, while failing to catch the al-Qaida leader.

"Al-Qaida was and is our No. 1 enemy," White House spokesman Jay Carney said last week. "So it's a part of his foreign policy record, obviously, but it's also part of a very serious endeavor to keep our country safe."

How safe remains in question.

U.S. officials say al-Qaida is less able to carry out a complex attack like Sept. 11 and they rule out al-Qaida's ability to attack with weapons of mass destruction in the coming year. These officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they say publicly identifying themselves could make them a target of the terrorist group.

U.S. counterterrorist forces have killed roughly half of al-Qaida's top 20 leaders since the raid. That includes U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, killed by a drone in Yemen last September, less than six months after bin Laden's death.

Only a few of the original al-Qaida team remain, and most of the new names on the U.S. target lists are relative unknowns, officials say.

"The last terror attack was seven years ago in London and they haven't had any major attacks in the U.S." says Peter Bergen, an al-Qaida expert who once met bin Laden. "They are recruiting no-hopers and dead-enders."

Yet Zawahri is still out there. Though constantly hunted, he has managed to release 13 audio and video messages to followers since bin Laden's death, a near record-rate of release according to the IntelCenter, a private intelligence firm. He has urged followers to seize on the unrest left by the Arab Spring to build organizations and influence in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere, and back rebels in Syria - a call that U.S. intelligence officials say is being heeded.

U.S. attempts to deliver a "knockout punch" to Zawahri and his followers in Pakistan have been hamstrung by a breakdown in relations with Pakistan's government over the bin Laden raid.

Pakistani officials saw the raid as a violation of their sovereignty, made worse by a U.S. friendly fire attack that killed almost two dozen Pakistani troops on the border with Afghanistan last fall. Pakistan's parliament called for a redrafting of what the U.S. is allowed to do, and where.

CIA drone strikes in Pakistan's border area continue, but are limited to a relatively small area of the tribal region.

"Our efforts are focused on one small kill box and, we've hit them hard, but they still maintain a vital network throughout Pakistan" says Bill Roggio, editor of the Long War Journal, which tracks U.S. counterterrorism efforts worldwide.

Al-Qaida also takes shelter in Pakistan's urban areas, as shown by the bin Laden raid, and the CIA's efforts to search those areas is often blocked by the Pakistani intelligence service.

U.S. officials say they believe factions within the agency shelter and even fund al-Qaida's senior leaders and related militant groups such as the Haqqani network, which attacks U.S. troops in Afghanistan, from their Pakistani safe haven. Pakistan denies the charge.

Afghanistan is the temporary home to up to 100 al-Qaida fighters at any single time, U.S. officials say, adding that a steady series of U.S. special operations raids is essential to keeping them out. With the withdrawal of U.S. forces, U.S. counterterrorism officials fear al-Qaida could return.

By the numbers, al-Qaida's greatest presence is still greatest in Iraq, where intelligence officials estimate up to a 1,000 fighters have refocused their campaign from striking now-absent U.S. troops to hitting the country's Shiite-dominated government.

Yemen's al-Qaida of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is becoming a major draw for foreign fighters as it carves out a stronghold in the south of the country, easily defeating Yemeni forces preoccupied battling tribal and political unrest. The White House recently agreed to expanded drone strikes to give the CIA and the military greater leeway to target militant leaders.

This al-Qaida group has been a major threat since 2009, when one of its adherents tried to bring down a jetliner over Detroit.

Al-Qaida affiliates such as al-Shabab in Somalia are struggling to carry out attacks in the face of a stepped up CIA-U.S. military campaign, and a loss of popular support after blocking U.N. food aid to some 4 million starving Somalis, officials say.

But the group is kept afloat by a stream of cash, partly from piracy and kidnapping of the Somali coast. White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan told an audience of CIA officers that total ransom payments paid to Somali pirates increased from approximately $80 million in 2010 to $140 million in 2011, according to remarks obtained by The Associated Press.

Cutting off those finances by persuading companies and U.S. to stop paying up is now central to the terrorism-fighting effort.

So, too, is the strategy of fighting small, smartly and covertly, avoiding land invasions such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan that caused Muslim outrage and helped draw fresh recruits, says Rand's Jones.

Many U.S. officials cite the Yemen model as the way ahead: a small network of U.S. intelligence and military forces working with local forces to selectively target militants.

"The key challenge will be balancing aggressive counterterrorism operations with the risk of exacerbating the anti-Western global agenda" of al-Qaida and its affiliates, says Robert Cardillo, a senior official in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

In other words, adds Jones, "it is a war in which the side that kills the most civilians loses."

___

Kimberly Dozier can be reached at Twitter (at)kimberlydozier

Article from YAHOO NEWS

3 dead, 1 missing in yacht race crash off California coast

WASHINGTON (AP) - A year after the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida is hobbled and hunted, too busy surviving for the moment to carry out another Sept. 11-style attack on U.S. soil.

But the terrorist network dreams still of payback, and U.S. counterterrorist officials warn that, in time, its offshoots may deliver.

A decade of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that has cost the U.S. about $1.28 trillion and 6,300 U.S. troops* lives has forced al-Qaida's affiliates to regroup, from Yemen to Iraq. Bin Laden's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, is thought to be hiding, out of U.S. reach, in Pakistan's mountains, just as bin Laden was for so many years.

"It's wishful thinking to say al-Qaida is on the brink of defeat," says Seth Jones, a Rand analyst and adviser to U.S. special operations forces. "They have increased global presence, the number of attacks by affiliates has risen, and in some places like Yemen, they've expanded control of territory."

It's a complicated, somewhat murky picture for Americans to grasp.

U.S. officials say bin Laden's old team is all but dismantled. But they say new branches are hitting Western targets and U.S. allies overseas, and still aspire to match their parent organization's milestone of Sept. 11, 2001.

The deadliest is in Yemen.

"They are continuing to try to again, carry out an attack against U.S. persons inside of Yemen, as well as against the homeland," White House counterterrorism advisor John Brennan said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

"We're working very closely with our Yemeni partners to track down all these leads," he said.

Brennan says there's no sign of an active revenge plot against U.S. targets, but U.S. citizens in Pakistan and beyond are being warned to be vigilant ahead of the May 2 anniversary of the night raid. U.S. helicopters swooped down on bin Laden's compound in the Pakistani army town of Abbottabad, killing him, one of his sons, two couriers and their wives.

The last view for Americans of the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks was that of a wizened old man sitting in front of an old television, wrapped in a blanket.

The world may never see photographic proof of his death. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington ruled last week that the Obama administration, under the Freedom of Information Act, would not have to turn over images of bin Laden during or after the raid.

"Verbal descriptions of the death and burial of Osama Bin Laden will have to suffice," Boasberg wrote in his ruling on the lawsuit by the public interest group Judicial Watch.

Bin Laden's killing and al-Qaida's stumbling efforts to regroup are now the national security centerpiece of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

The White House frequently cites the president's decision to approve the raid, with only a 50-50 chance that bin Laden was even at the compound. Obama could have gone down in history as the man who put the Navy SEALs and the relationship with Pakistan in jeopardy, while failing to catch the al-Qaida leader.

"Al-Qaida was and is our No. 1 enemy," White House spokesman Jay Carney said last week. "So it's a part of his foreign policy record, obviously, but it's also part of a very serious endeavor to keep our country safe."

How safe remains in question.

U.S. officials say al-Qaida is less able to carry out a complex attack like Sept. 11 and they rule out al-Qaida's ability to attack with weapons of mass destruction in the coming year. These officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they say publicly identifying themselves could make them a target of the terrorist group.

U.S. counterterrorist forces have killed roughly half of al-Qaida's top 20 leaders since the raid. That includes U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, killed by a drone in Yemen last September, less than six months after bin Laden's death.

Only a few of the original al-Qaida team remain, and most of the new names on the U.S. target lists are relative unknowns, officials say.

"The last terror attack was seven years ago in London and they haven't had any major attacks in the U.S." says Peter Bergen, an al-Qaida expert who once met bin Laden. "They are recruiting no-hopers and dead-enders."

Yet Zawahri is still out there. Though constantly hunted, he has managed to release 13 audio and video messages to followers since bin Laden's death, a near record-rate of release according to the IntelCenter, a private intelligence firm. He has urged followers to seize on the unrest left by the Arab Spring to build organizations and influence in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere, and back rebels in Syria - a call that U.S. intelligence officials say is being heeded.

U.S. attempts to deliver a "knockout punch" to Zawahri and his followers in Pakistan have been hamstrung by a breakdown in relations with Pakistan's government over the bin Laden raid.

Pakistani officials saw the raid as a violation of their sovereignty, made worse by a U.S. friendly fire attack that killed almost two dozen Pakistani troops on the border with Afghanistan last fall. Pakistan's parliament called for a redrafting of what the U.S. is allowed to do, and where.

CIA drone strikes in Pakistan's border area continue, but are limited to a relatively small area of the tribal region.

"Our efforts are focused on one small kill box and, we've hit them hard, but they still maintain a vital network throughout Pakistan" says Bill Roggio, editor of the Long War Journal, which tracks U.S. counterterrorism efforts worldwide.

Al-Qaida also takes shelter in Pakistan's urban areas, as shown by the bin Laden raid, and the CIA's efforts to search those areas is often blocked by the Pakistani intelligence service.

U.S. officials say they believe factions within the agency shelter and even fund al-Qaida's senior leaders and related militant groups such as the Haqqani network, which attacks U.S. troops in Afghanistan, from their Pakistani safe haven. Pakistan denies the charge.

Afghanistan is the temporary home to up to 100 al-Qaida fighters at any single time, U.S. officials say, adding that a steady series of U.S. special operations raids is essential to keeping them out. With the withdrawal of U.S. forces, U.S. counterterrorism officials fear al-Qaida could return.

By the numbers, al-Qaida's greatest presence is still greatest in Iraq, where intelligence officials estimate up to a 1,000 fighters have refocused their campaign from striking now-absent U.S. troops to hitting the country's Shiite-dominated government.

Yemen's al-Qaida of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is becoming a major draw for foreign fighters as it carves out a stronghold in the south of the country, easily defeating Yemeni forces preoccupied battling tribal and political unrest. The White House recently agreed to expanded drone strikes to give the CIA and the military greater leeway to target militant leaders.

This al-Qaida group has been a major threat since 2009, when one of its adherents tried to bring down a jetliner over Detroit.

Al-Qaida affiliates such as al-Shabab in Somalia are struggling to carry out attacks in the face of a stepped up CIA-U.S. military campaign, and a loss of popular support after blocking U.N. food aid to some 4 million starving Somalis, officials say.

But the group is kept afloat by a stream of cash, partly from piracy and kidnapping of the Somali coast. White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan told an audience of CIA officers that total ransom payments paid to Somali pirates increased from approximately $80 million in 2010 to $140 million in 2011, according to remarks obtained by The Associated Press.

Cutting off those finances by persuading companies and U.S. to stop paying up is now central to the terrorism-fighting effort.

So, too, is the strategy of fighting small, smartly and covertly, avoiding land invasions such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan that caused Muslim outrage and helped draw fresh recruits, says Rand's Jones.

Many U.S. officials cite the Yemen model as the way ahead: a small network of U.S. intelligence and military forces working with local forces to selectively target militants.

"The key challenge will be balancing aggressive counterterrorism operations with the risk of exacerbating the anti-Western global agenda" of al-Qaida and its affiliates, says Robert Cardillo, a senior official in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

In other words, adds Jones, "it is a war in which the side that kills the most civilians loses."

___

Kimberly Dozier can be reached at Twitter (at)kimberlydozier

Article from YAHOO NEWS

Mind-Blowing Grilled Cheese

Seamus Mullen, a chef and owner of the New York City-based restaurant Tertulia, was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in 2007.

He turned to traditional medicine to alleviate his symptoms, which worked quickly.

“I would get a tremendous pain in my joint, whether it was in my shoulder or my wrist or my knee â€" it would get very swollen, and it would hurt more than you can imagine,” Mullen said.

Mullen was a finalist on the Food Network's Next Iron Chef, but a RA flare-up made it difficult for him to finish the show.

He began to question whether the food he ate was affecting his symptoms.

“Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, and our immune system directly responds to the food that we eat,” Mullen said. “We are what we eat â€" literally.”

Foods to feel better 
So Mullen started experimenting with the foods he loved â€" and it turned out his favorites made him feel healthier.

That's how his book, Hero Foods: How Cooking With Delicious Things Can Make Us Feel Better was created.

"I'd rather have vitamin A, E, all these important vitamins coming from greens instead of from a pill and having my liver process it,” Mullen said. ‘So, I'd rather get all the nutrients I need through a balanced diet instead of through a supplement."

" . . . our immune system directly responds to the food that we eat. We are what we eat â€" literally."

- Seamus Mullen, chef and restaurant owner

Mullen likes to use leafy greens when he is cooking, like kale and parsley.

Mushrooms also make the list of ‘hero foods,' both fresh and dried, since they contain immune-boosting properties.

"My feeling is that I have an autoimmune disease (and) my immune system is constantly misfiring and causing issues in my joints,” Mullen said. “Everything I can do to bolster my immune system, to strengthen it, and put it in a better position the better."

He said eggs are ‘hero foods' because of their high concentration of protein and omega-3 fatty acids.

Anchovies get a bad rap, he added, but if prepared correctly, they are healthy and tasty.

"Anchovies are really important for your joints,” Mullen said.  “I'd rather eat anchovies than take a bunch of glucosamine pills in the morning. This, to me, is the natural way to take care of my joints."

Mullen, whose book is featured on Rachael Ray's website, said he wasn't ready to let go of his dreams at the age of 38 â€" so he's fighting the RA battle with every step he takes.

He offers recipes on Ray's site, as well as tips to dealing with RA.

“We will also take a real look into the lives of people who have various kinds of hardships, and have overcome adversity to find inspirations,” Mullen said on the website. “These people will remind us every day that no matter how hard we have it, how much pain we feel, we can go on."

Article from FOXNEWS

Setting the World on Fire

MAIDEN, NC â€" Most people asked would recommend having some sort of diploma or degree before starting a business. But that didn't stop 13 year-old Nolan Bebber from starting his own hot sauce business from the comfort of his parent's kitchen.

“I was sitting in a restaurant and I picked up a bottle of hot sauce and I looked at the ingredients and it was pretty simple,” said Bebber. “I thought I could do better.”

Growing up glued to TV cooking shows, Nolan felt comfortable in the kitchen and in October he started selling his hot sauce at a local church event and around town. It quickly skyrocketed.

“It's turned into more than a hobby now, it's actually work,” said Nolan's father, Michael Bebber.

After the hot sauce became so popular so quickly, they began dealing with the legalities of having a small business.

“We decided to make it more legitimate so now he does have a North Carolina State Incorporation,” said his father. He also has a website, a Facebook page, his own label, and trademark.

Nolan is a full-time, straight-A student who makes sure to take care of his chores and homework before getting to work on his hot sauce. He spends almost every afternoon in the kitchen preparing the sauce. He has created four different hot sauce flavors so far, all varying in different degrees of hot.

But he eventually wants to go beyond the hot sauce empire. “I've been thinking about barbeque sauce,” said Nolan.

The sauce has been shipped all over the world, including to Canada, Brazil, and Russia.

Michael Bebber said they never anticipated this kind of success. “It's really skyrocketed to 245 orders of different quantities in 4 or 5 days,” he said.

The company started when Nolan's father loaned him $56, drove him to the grocery store (Nolan isn't old enough to drive yet), and let him pick out ingredients to make his sauce.

That $56 was just enough to get his company off the ground. They haven't looked back since.

Mary Quinn O'Connor is part of the Junior Reporter program at Fox News. Get more information on the Junior Reporters Program here.

Article from FOXNEWS

Secrets of The Mustang

• 1964 1/2 Ford MustangFord

The Ford Mustang is an April baby, debuting at the New York World's Fair in April 1964. It's become one of America's best-loved automotive nameplates. But there are a few things about the legendary Mustang that most people don't know. Here are five of them:

1. Ford had used the Mustang name before on a car: The Mustang I of 1962 was a mid-engine concept car with a strange little V-4 engine. It shared almost nothing with the car that eventually became famous other than the soon-to-be famous name.
2. Ford couldn't call it the Mustang in Germany: A scooter company of all things held the rights to the name “Mustang” in Germany and Ford declined to purchase the rights for a reputedly paltry $10,000, Thus, the Mustang was known as the Ford T5 in Germany.
3. It was named after a WWII fighter plane, not a wild horse: It is generally believed that the Mustang acquired its name from the wild unbroken North American horse known as a Mustang. In truth, the car was named for the famous air war-winning North American P-51 Mustang, the WWII mount of famed test pilot and ace Chuck Yeager.
4. Toyota copied it: At the 1971 Tokyo Motor Show, more than a few eyebrows were raised when Toyota raised the curtain on its new Celica liftback. Several observers commented that it was essentially a 2/3 scale replica of the 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback.
5. Ford nearly killed it off: In the late 1980s, Ford toyed with the notion of killing off the Mustang in favor of the Mazda-based sporty car the Ford Probe. Mustang fans became incensed at the notion of a Japanese-engineered front wheel-drive car with no V-8 option replacing their beloved Mustang. Fortunately for all of us who worship the 2005 redesign of the Mustang and all of the wonderful variants that it has spawned, it didn't happen.

Click here to ride shotgun in a Shelby Mustang GT500

Article from FOXNEWS

German held after trying to pay taxi ride with cannabis

LONDON (AP) - Surface-to-air missiles could be stationed on the rooftops of an apartment block in east London as part of Britain's air defenses for the Olympics, the country's military confirmed Sunday.

Around 700 people living at the building in Bow - about 2 miles (3.2km) from London's Olympic Stadium - have been contacted and warned that the weapons and about 10 troops are likely to be based at the site for around two months.

In a leaflet sent to residents, the ministry said the venue offered an uncluttered "view of the surrounding areas and the entire sky above the Olympic park."

Troops plan to conduct tests next week at the building, an upmarket gated apartment complex, to determine if the high velocity surface-to-air missiles will be stationed on a water tower attached to the site's roof.

Britain has previously confirmed that up to 13,500 troops are being deployed on land, at sea and in the air to help protect the Olympics alongside police and security guards. Defense Secretary Philip Hammond has said Typhoon fighter jets, helicopters, two warships and bomb disposal experts will also be on duty as part of the security operation.

"As announced before Christmas, ground-based air defense systems could be deployed as part of a multilayered air security plan for the Olympics, including fast jets and helicopters, which will protect the skies over London during the games," the defense ministry said in a statement.

"Based on military advice we have identified a number of sites and, alongside colleagues from the Metropolitan Police, are talking to local authorities and relevant landowners to help minimize the impact of any temporary deployments."

However, the ministry insisted that "no final decision on whether or not to deploy ground-based air defense systems for the games has been taken."

Resident Brian Whelan said those who live at the site were wary over the plan.

"From the few people I've spoken to, and the security we have here, they're not happy about it," he said. "I don't think it needs to be here at all."

The leaflet sent to residents insisted there would be no hazard to those living in the building.

It said the missile system would be "only authorized for active use following specific orders from the highest levels of government in response to a confirmed and extreme security threat."

Article from YAHOO NEWS

Navy nears deal to help avoid California power shortages

WASHINGTON (AP) - Once a tense rivalry, the relationship between President Barack Obama and Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton has evolved into a genuine political and policy partnership. Both sides have a strong incentive in making the alliance work, especially in an election year.

For Obama, Bill Clinton is a fundraising juggernaut, a powerful reminder to voters that a Democrat ran the White House the last time the economy was thriving. For the spotlight-loving former president, stronger ties with the White House and campaign headquarters mean he gets a hand in shaping the future of the party he led for nearly a decade.

Obama's re-election campaign has put Bill Clinton on notice that he will be used as a top surrogate, further evidence of how far the two camps have come since the bitter days of the 2008 Democratic primary between Obama and Hillary Clinton, now his secretary of state.

On Sunday evening in northern Virginia, the current and former president planned to make the first of three joint appearances at fundraisers for Obama's campaign.

The host? Terry McAuliffe, a close adviser to both Clintons and one of the most ardent protectors of their political brand.

"It makes absolutely clear that, to the extent that there were different wings of the Democratic party, there is now one wing of the Democratic party," said Chris Lehane, a Clinton backer. "And it's the president's party."

Clinton's willingness to be a good soldier for the Obama campaign could end up paying political dividends for his wife, who is frequently talked about in party circles as a potential presidential candidate in 2016 despite her repeated denials. Hillary Clinton has benefited enormously from her partnership with Obama, with her popularity skyrocketing during her time in his Cabinet.

Democrats say the overt signs of unity between the Clintons and Obama put the president at a distinct advantage over likely Republican nominee Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor must soothe the wounds from his GOP primary fight and figure out whether the last Republican president, George W. Bush, will have a role in the 2012 race.

Discussions are under way at Romney's Boston headquarters about the degree to which Bush will participate, if at all, in the general election. Many Republicans are reluctant to publicly associate with Bush, who left office deeply unpopular, especially as the Obama campaign seeks to tie Romney to Bush's economic and foreign policy positions.

While Obama and the Clintons are rarely described as friends, people close to them say the relationship has warmed significantly since the 2008 nomination contest. In that race, the former president slammed Obama's candidacy as a "fairy tale" while Obama sarcastically told Hillary Clinton that she was "likable enough."

The thaw started as a matter of political necessity: Their party was desperate to retake the White House after eight years of Republican rule. Hillary Clinton offered Obama a gracious endorsement, both Clintons campaigned for Obama, and the newly elected president picked his former rival to be America's chief diplomat.

It took longer for Obama's relationship with Bill Clinton to soften as the two men found common ground in the pressures of the presidency.

"There are not very many people who understand what it's like to live in the White House and bear those burdens," said Karen Finney, a Democratic strategist who worked in the Clinton White House. "Bill and Hillary Clinton are two of those people."

When Obama's health care bill was in trouble, he and his staff, which included several veterans of the Clinton White House, called on the former president for help. In late 2009 and early 2010, Bill Clinton went to Capitol Hill to rally support and worked the phones with wary Democratic lawmakers.

After the Democratic party was battered in the 2010 elections, Obama called in Clinton for an Oval Office meeting. Afterward, the two made an impromptu appearance in the White House briefing room to talk to reporters. When Obama had to leave for a holiday party, Clinton stuck around, relishing in the attention and the give-and-take with the press.

That day in the briefing room underscored what some Democrats see as their one major worry in pairing Obama with Clinton too often. The ease with which Clinton connects with a range of audiences can call attention to the challenge Obama sometimes faces in doing the same thing.

But that certainly hasn't stopped the Obama campaign from seeking Clinton's help in winning a second term, and Clinton has made it clear he is ready and willing.

Obama's campaign advisers have sat down with Clinton for strategy and advice-seeking sessions, and the former president had a prominent role in movie produced by the campaign in which he promoted, among other things, Obama's decision to order the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

"There is no better Democratic ally than President Clinton," said Jim Messina, Obama's campaign manager.

The next stop on the Obama-Clinton fundraising tour comes later this spring in New York City. Democrats say they expect to see the former president on the campaign trail, probably holding rallies in pivotal battleground states. The size of his role, they say, depends on how close the race becomes.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Article from YAHOO NEWS

Rescuer finds shattered debris in fatal sailboat race wreck

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Navy is nearing a first-time agreement to reduce electricity use at its sprawling San Diego-area bases, if power runs short in Southern California this summer.

The Navy is San Diego Gas & Electric's largest customer, and the deal is intended to diminish the threat of blackouts while the San Onofre nuclear plant remains offline.

Under the agreement, the Navy would temporarily reduce its energy consumption if supplies get scarce, in exchange for savings on rates. The utility has similar agreements with large industrial customers that can slash demand for power at critical times.

State officials have warned of rotating blackouts this summer in Southern California if a heat wave hits while the ailing reactors remain dark, though activists say adequate reserves are on hand.

Great Social Moments: White House Correspondents' Dinner 2012 http://t.co/8giCM7H1 #whcd @storify

Our D.C. bureau killed it. This marks @YahooNews' 1st year at the White House Correspondents' Dinner: http://t.co/YU4CLqyO #whcd

50 Best Instagrams from the White House Correspondents' Dinner http://t.co/MZodUvqo #whcd #nerdprom

Article from YAHOO NEWS

Study: Secondhand smoke permeates many apt. buildings

ENSENADA, Mexico (AP) A sailor who pulled two dead bodies from coastal waters off California and Mexico during a sailboat race said Sunday that he found debris smashed in so many pieces that it looked like the vessel had gone through a blender.

Eric Lamb said both bodies were covered with scrapes and bruises and one had severe head trauma.

Lamb was working safety patrol Saturday morning when he came across the debris roughly nine hours after the crash occurred. He called the Coast Guard for help.

Two race participants who were in the area at the time of the crash also told The Associated Press on Sunday that they saw a tanker or heard warnings on their radios.

The boat apparently collided at night with a much larger vessel, leaving three crew members dead and one missing, a sailing organization said early Sunday. It was the state's second ocean racing tragedy this month.

The 37-foot Aegean, carrying a crew of four, was reported missing Saturday during a 125-mile Newport Beach, Calif. to Ensenada, Mexico yacht race, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The Newport Ocean Sailing Association, the race organizer, said the accident occurred late Friday or early Saturday several miles off the coast near the ocean border of the two countries.

''It appeared the damage was not inflicted by an explosion but by a collision with a ship much larger than the 37-foot vessel,'' association spokesman Rich Roberts said in a news release early Sunday.

Race officials believe there are few other possibilities for what caused the accident, Roberts later told The AP, speaking by phone from Ensenada.

He said details were still scarce but it was possible that if the smaller boat was bobbing around in light wind, the crew might not have been able to get out of the way of a larger ship, perhaps a freighter. The race goes through shipping lanes and it's possible for a large ship to hit a sailboat and not even know it, especially at night, he said.

Roberts said a race tracking system indicated that the boat disappeared about 1:30 a.m. PDT Saturday.

A Coast Guard search turned up the boat's wreckage, including the rear transom with the boat's name on it, the association release said.

Three crew members of the sailboat were found dead and a search was under way early Sunday for the fourth. Coast Guard boats and two aircraft as well as Mexican navy and civilian vessels were involved.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Henry Dunphy said early Sunday that searchers were focusing on an area about 10 miles off the Mexican coast and about 10 miles south of U.S. waters.

The names of the dead were not released pending notification of next of kin.

The Aegean is registered to Theo Mavromatis, 49, of Redondo Beach. The race association didn't know if he was aboard the boat during the race. Marina Sailing in Redondo Beach lists a boat named Aegean, which matches the model and length of the missing vessel, among the boats it rents out for $325 a day.

A woman answering a call at a number listed for Mavromatis declined to speak Sunday morning.

The Newport Beach Patch website posted a photo that shows the crew at the start of the race Friday. Four men in royal blue T-shirts are on the deck as the boat cuts through calm waters. One man is waving and another appears to be smiling.

Other yachts near the Coronado Islands in Mexico - four small, mostly uninhabited islands - reported seeing debris Saturday morning. Searchers in the afternoon found the bodies and debris from the Aegean, whose home port is Redondo Beach, Dunphy said

Two of the dead were recovered by a civilian boat, while the third was found by a Coast Guard helicopter.

Dunphy said conditions were fine for sailing, with good visibility and moderate ocean swells of 6-to-8 feet.

A total of 210 boats were registered in the 65th annual yacht race, according to the Newport Ocean Sailing Association's website. The race started off from Newport Beach on Friday and many boats finished in Ensenada Saturday.

About 50 people gathered in morning fog Sunday at the Ensenada marina to watch the final arrivals. A notice tacked to a bulletin board alongside the racing times informed spectators of the tragedy.

The association's commodore told the AP that he didn't know the members of the Aegean or how many people were aboard.

''This has never happened in the entire 65 years of the race that I'm aware of,'' Chuck Iverson said. ''We're all shocked by this whole event.''

The deaths come two weeks after five sailors died in the waters off Northern California when their 38-foot yacht was hit by powerful waves, smashed into rocks and capsized during a race. Three sailors survived the wreck and the body of another was quickly recovered. Four remained missing until one body was recovered last Thursday.

The deadly accident near the Farallon Islands, about 27 miles west of San Francisco, prompted the Coast Guard to temporarily stop races in ocean waters outside San Francisco Bay. The Coast Guard said the suspension will allow it and the offshore racing community to study the accident and race procedures to determine whether changes are needed to improve safety. U.S. Sailing, the governing body of yacht racing, is leading the safety review, which is expected to be completed within the next month.

---

AP reporters Bernie Wilson in San Diego and Daisy Nguyen in Los Angeles contributed

.

Article from YAHOO NEWS

U.S. troops synch hi-tech and nomad intel in Kony hunt

BEIJING (AP) - The surprising escape of a blind legal activist from house arrest to the presumed custody of U.S. diplomats is buoying China's embattled dissident community even as the government lashes out, detaining those who helped him and squelching mention of his name on the Internet.

The flight of Chen Guangcheng, a campaigner for disabled rights and against coercive family planning, is a challenge for China's authoritarian government and, if it's confirmed he is in U.S. custody, for Washington too. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell began a hurried mission to Beijing on Sunday to smooth the way for annual talks involving his boss, Hillary Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and scores of officials.

Though Chen - a self-taught legal activist described by friends and supporters as calm and charismatic - hardly seems a threat, security forces and officials have reacted angrily, detaining several of his supporters and a nephew who fought with officials after the escape was discovered is on the run.

Police showed up at the home of veteran activists Zeng Jinyan and Hu Jia, who met with Chen last week while he was hiding in Beijing. Police took Hu away Saturday for 24 hours. They questioned Zeng for about a half-hour at home, sounding, she said, "very unhappy" about Chen's flight.

"They were really irritated," Zeng said. "It was a big shock for them."

Ai Xiaoming, a documentary film maker based in southern Guangzhou city, said Chen's escape has had the biggest emotional impact on Chinese rights advocates since jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize two years ago.

"There are many people now drinking toasts to him for the way he broke through his captivity, his difficulties, and pursued freedom," said Ai. "It's what we all want for ourselves in our hearts. Chen Guangcheng is an example to us. If a blind person can break out of the darkness to freedom, then everyone can."

China's state-controlled media have so far ignored the story despite its gripping narrative and the serious implications it could have on Sino-U.S. relations. Anything vaguely related to Chen has been blocked on Chinese social media sites, such as posts including or key word searches for Chen, Guangcheng, GC, or even the words "blind person."

The media blackout and online controls haven't prevented China's Internet savvy activist community from learning about or celebrating Chen's escape. After state television aired a rerun Saturday of the American prison break film "Shawshank Redemption," some gleefully tweeted that it was an indirect nod to Chen. "Shawshank Redemption" became a banned search term.

Chen's whereabouts have yet to be confirmed. Activists in China and overseas have said Chen is either under U.S. protection or in the U.S. Embassy.

Chen's escape comes as the Chinese leadership is already reeling, trying to heal divisions over the ousting of a powerful politician, Bo Xilai, and complete a once-a-decade transition to a new generation of leaders. As in Chen's case, the U.S. is implicated: Bo's ouster was precipitated by the sudden flight of an aide to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu.

While the aide, Wang Lijun, gave himself up to Chinese authorities - and though Republicans have criticized President Barack Obama for letting a valuable intelligence asset go - the incident and Chen's escape reaffirm long-held suspicions by Beijing that the U.S. wants to undermine the communist government. Late last week, the White House, in a reversal, said it was considering selling new warplanes to Taiwan - the democratic island China claims as a breakaway territory.

It's not known what Chen's intentions are: some say he wants to stay in China. But negotiating any exit from U.S. custody is likely to be difficult for the Obama administration. Beijing is likely to be wary of any concessions, fearing they might embolden other activists.

Without confirming if Chen is in U.S. hands, Obama's counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said the president would work to further human rights while preserving ties with Beijing.

"I think in all instances the president tries to balance our commitment to human rights, making sure that the people throughout the world have the ability to express themselves freely and openly, but also that we can continue to carry out our relationships with key countries overseas," Brennan said on the U.S. television news show "Fox News Sunday".

Complicating any negotiations over Chen is the treatment of his family. While Chen escaped a week ago from Dongshigu village and made it 600 kilometers (370 miles) northwest to Beijing, his wife and 6-year-old daughter were left behind. The whereabouts of several other relatives, including Chen's mother and brother, are unknown.

Seven lawyers have volunteered to defend Chen's nephew, Chen Kegui, who allegedly confronted and stabbed local officials who stormed his house in the middle of the night on Thursday in apparent retribution for the activist's escape.

One volunteer lawyer, Liu Weiguo, said he spoke with Kegui briefly Sunday afternoon via mobile phone. Kegui told the lawyer he was by a highway about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from his home village, penniless and hoping to find a local police station where he could turn himself in.

"Since he escaped, they haven't punished his persecutors in Shandong" province, said Zeng, the Beijing activist. "Instead it's the activists and supporters who have been detained or disappeared. It's very clear that Chen's supporters and family members are very vulnerable right now."

Among the activists still in custody are He Peirong, a Nanjing activist and Chen supporter who drove the blind lawyer's getaway car out of his home province of Shandong, and Guo Yushan, a Beijing scholar and rights advocate who aided Chen in the capital.

For a rural activist, Chen had gathered a wide following, a testament to what supporters describe as his generous spirit and determination to fight injustice. His exposure of forced abortions and sterilizations in his community so angered officials, they persecuted him, sending him to jail for four years and then upon his release confining him to his home, where he was isolated and occasionally beaten.

Civil rights lawyers, journalists, diplomats and even British actor Christian Bale have tried to penetrate the heavy security that has surrounded Chen for the last 20 months. Each time, hired guards drove them back, sometimes pelting outsiders with rocks and chasing them with cars.

For China's human rights defenders, Chen's dash to freedom was a bright spot after nearly two years of mounting harassment. Ai, the documentary filmmaker, said Chen's hardships have been unique but his aspirations for a more open society with greater legal protections are shared by many.

"We have jails inside ourselves that make us worry that we will be punished if we speak our minds because this society doesn't respect the rule of law and doesn't fully protect freedom of speech," she said. "Chen Guangcheng is a model, and he has shown us that we can break away from those fears."

Article from YAHOO NEWS

Fatal St. Louis tent collapse raises safety questions

ST. LOUIS (AP) - St. Louis officials are expected to more closely scrutinize the large tents commonly set up near downtown stadiums after one of the temporary structures collapsed in high winds Saturday, resulting in the death of an Illinois man and dozens of injuries after a baseball game.

Sam Dotson, a spokesman for Mayor Francis Slay, said it's unclear if adequate regulations were in place and being followed Saturday or if the disaster was simply the result of people not paying attention to severe weather warnings.

"This tent was inspected, but we need to make sure there weren't modifications to it," he said.

The fast-moving storm ripped a large beer tent at Kilroy's Sports Bar from its moorings and sent it and debris hurtling through the air about 80 minutes after the end of a St. Louis Cardinals game. Seventeen people in the tent were taken to hospitals and up to 100 of the 200 gathered were treated at the scene, which was near Busch Stadium.

St. Louis police spokeswoman Schron Jackson on Sunday identified the victim as 58-year-old Alfred Goodman of Waterloo, Ill., but she didn't provide a cause of death. Dotson said a medical examiner will do an autopsy Monday and a preliminary cause of death likely would be released sometime during the day.

Dotson declined to identify any of the injured, saying only that they were taken to various local hospitals. Officials initially said five people had been transported in critical condition, but later announced all had been upgraded to serious.

Questions about the tent's safety - especially in dangerous weather - remain unanswered.

Building Commissioner Frank Oswald said Kilroy's was granted a tent permit on April 11 and it passed inspection a couple days later. He said the city of St. Louis requires tents to be able to withstand winds up to 90 mph.

Dotson said Sunday that the wind gust that destroyed the tent - shattering the aluminum poles and blowing the structure onto nearby railroad tracks - was measured at over 70 mph.

"I don't know if the storms have gotten worse or if we've just become more sensitive after Joplin and the storms in the South," he said, referring to tornadoes that killed hundreds last year. "We've had severe weather downtown by the ballpark before. People need to be aware of their surroundings and have a plan. If there are storms or watches, what are you going to do?"

Oswald declined to speculate about whether the bar could face sanctions. He and Deputy Fire Chief John Altmann cautioned that patrons need to understand a tent is not a safe place to be in bad weather.

"Tents are temporary structures," Oswald said. "They are certainly not designed in any stretch of the imagination to handle weather like this."

Kilroy's owner, Art Randall, said Saturday that it took about five seconds for the wind to lift the tent and send it and much of what was inside airborne. Randall said he heard a boom and first thought a derailed train had struck the tent, but which he believes was a lightning strike.

"My wife had people in the beer cooler - we had the beer cooler loaded with injuries," Randall said. "It was a triage deal."

Most of the injuries were minor and included cuts, bruises and twisted ankles, Altmann said Saturday.

The St. Louis Cardinals held a moment of silence for the victims prior to Sunday's game against Milwaukee, and St. Louis outfielder Jon Jay acknowledged the incident on Twitter before the game Saturday.

"My prayers are with everyone affected by the unfortunate events at Kilroy's yesterday," he wrote.

About two hours after the tent was destroyed, another line of storms moved through the St. Louis area, carrying damaging winds and hail. Portions of Interstate 55 and Interstate 64 in the St. Louis area were closed for several hours late Saturday because of torrential rain.

Insurance adjusters were being flooded Sunday with thousands of calls from St. Louis-area home and car owners due to hail damage. One insurance adjuster told a client it would be at least a week before anyone could come and look at his car because of the number of claims coming in.

____

Bill Draper in Kansas City contributed to this report.

Article from YAHOO NEWS

More families building their own tornado shelters

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - When deadly twisters chewed through the South and Midwest in 2011, thousands of people in the killers' paths had nowhere to hide. Now many of those families are taking an unusual extra step to be ready next time: adding tornado shelters to their homes.

A year after the storms, sales of small residential shelters known as safe rooms are surging across much of the nation, especially in hard-hit communities such as Montgomery and Tuscaloosa in Alabama and in Joplin, Mo., where twisters laid waste to entire neighborhoods.

Manufacturers can barely keep up with demand, and some states are offering grants and other financial incentives to help pay for the added protection and peace of mind.

Tom Cook didn't need convincing. When a 2008 tornado barreled toward his home in rural southwest Missouri, Cook, his wife and their teenage daughter sought refuge in a bathroom. It wasn't enough. His wife was killed.

Cook moved to nearby Joplin to rebuild, never imaging he would confront another monster twister. But he had a safe room installed in the garage just in case.

On May 22, Cook and his daughter huddled inside the small steel enclosure while an EF-5 tornado roared outside. They emerged unharmed, although the new house was gone.

"It was blown away completely - again," he said. "The only thing standing was that storm room."

Generations ago, homes across America's Tornado Alley often came equipped with storm cellars, usually a small concrete bunker buried in the backyard. Although some of those remain, they are largely relics of a bygone era. And basements are less common than they used to be, leaving many people with no refuge except maybe a bathtub or a room deep inside the house.

The renewed interest in shelters was stirred by last year's staggering death toll - 358 killed in the South and 161 dead in Joplin. So far this year, more than 60 people have perished in U.S. twisters.

Safe rooms feature thick steel walls and doors that can withstand winds up to 250 mph. They are typically windowless, with no light fixtures and no electricity - just a small, reinforced place to ride out the storm. Costs generally range from $3,500 to $6,000.

Sizes vary, but most hold only a few people. They can be bolted to the floor of a garage or custom-fitted to squeeze into a small space, even a closet. Some are so small occupants have to crawl inside. A few are buried in the yard like the old storm shelters of the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Before the twister devastated Joplin, the Neosho, Mo., safe room manufacturer called Twister Safe had four employees. Now it has 20.

"Business has probably quadrupled, at least," owner Enos Davis said. "We're selling 400 to 500 a year now, compared to maybe 100 before."

Twister Safe's spike in business is even more impressive in Missouri, which does not offer grant money for safe rooms, opting to use its share of federal disaster money for community shelters.

Missouri's choice spotlights a debate in states seeking better tornado protection: Is disaster aid better spent on safe rooms in individual homes or on larger public shelters designed to protect hundreds or thousands of people?

The downside of public shelters is getting there. Even with improvements in twister prediction, venturing out into a rapidly brewing storm is perilous.

"I wouldn't get my family into a car and run that risk," Joplin Assistant City Manager Sam Anselm said. "If you have the opportunity to put something in your house, that's what we would encourage folks to do."

In January, more than 50 people sought safety in a dome-shaped public shelter as a tornado ripped through Maplesville, Ala. No one was hurt.

"The shelter did what it was supposed to do," Mayor Aubrey Latham said.

Since 2005, 31 community shelters have been built in Missouri using FEMA funds, and nine others are under construction, according to Mike O'Connell of the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency.

That number is about to grow. Joplin voters earlier this month approved a $62 million bond issue that will be combined with insurance money and federal aid to build storm shelters at every school. The shelters will double as gyms, classrooms or kitchens.

After more than five dozen tornadoes struck Alabama on April 27, 2011, FEMA gave the state $17 million for safe rooms. More than 4,300 people filed applications for grants. Of those, nearly half have been approved. The others are still being reviewed.

"They absolutely save lives," said Art Faulkner, director of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

Alabama is also using $49 million in FEMA money for community shelters.

Following the 2011 tornadoes, nearly 6,200 applications were submitted to Mississippi's "A Safe Place to Go" program, which also uses FEMA funds. That was more requests than the program's $8 million could fund.

Among those who received money were Renee and Larry Seales of Smithville, Miss., where 16 people died in a 2011 twister, including both of Renee's parents. They built a dome-shaped bunker buried in their yard.

"I don't know how many have been put in Smithville, but it seems like every house has one," Renee Seales said.

Since 2009, nearly 16,000 people in Arkansas have received rebates of up to $1,000 to add residential safe rooms.

In Joplin, the state's preference for community shelters leaves residents to pay for safe rooms out of pocket. But for many, the cost is well worth it.

Last May, Debbie and Darrell Nichols hunched inside their safe room in the garage as soon as the tornado sirens began blaring. The roof of their neighbor's home came crashing through their kitchen, and it probably would have killed them. Inside the reinforced room, they were unhurt.

"We were holding hands and holding onto each other," Debbie Nichols said. "Then you hear the glass breaking and the roar, and your ears begin to pop. We walked out, and it was like a scene from 'The Wizard of Oz.'"

Betty Harryman was in a Joplin hospital about to have open-heart surgery when the twister hit. Her bad heart probably saved her life: Her home was leveled.

So when Harryman rebuilt, she added a small safe room where she keeps bottled water and a battery-operated light, fan and radio.

"After what happened," she said, "we thought it would be stupid not to have a safe room."

___

Mohr reported from Smithville and Jackson, Miss. Salter reported from St. Louis.

Article from YAHOO NEWS

6 Ways to Build Up Your Biceps

Your body has approximately 640 muscles, depending on who's counting. 

But just as your grade-school teacher gave special attention to the class "pets," you have an oversized affection for your biceps. They're relatively small as muscles go, and if your arm workouts don't rely much on biceps curls, they probably aren't growing much bigger. 

But muscle-heads like me have never stopped doing curls. I may not put many in the workouts at my site, StreamFit.com (we emphasize short, efficient routines for fat loss), but I've been known to throw some in at the end of my own training sessions. I truly believe that your biceps can't reach their full potential if you don't work them directly from time to time. Whether you agree or not, I'll bet you do some biceps work anyway, just to be on the safe side.

When you do, there's no reason to settle for garden-variety curls, not when your body has dozens of muscles willing to jump in and share the love. That's why I've provided six ways to upgrade one of the best arm exercises on the planet. They'll work your favorite bundles of contractile tissue while burning fat, training your core, improving your athletic power, and making you look like someone who probably was the teacher's favorite, even if you would never admit that to your classmates.

The Greatest Pushup Ever
 

1. Pushup-position hammer curl
How to do it: Grab a pair of dumbbells and assume a pushup position with your palms facing each other. Without moving your upper arm, curl the weight in your right hand toward your right shoulder. Lower it, and repeat with your left arm. Continue alternating right and left curls for 30 to 60 seconds. Add weight in subsequent workouts, but don't try to speed up the movement.

How it works
If you've done rows from a pushup position, this exercise will seem familiar. But by doing a curl instead of a row, you move the load farther from your center of gravity and base of support. Your core muscles, in turn, need to work harder to stabilize your spine, making this one of the best ab exercises you've probably never done.

5 Easy Steps To Reveal Your Muscle
 

2. Kneeling single-arm curl
How to do it: Select a dumbbell you can curl for no more than 5 reps or 15 seconds. Hold it in your non-dominant hand, palm in, and kneel. Keeping your elbow against your ribs, curl the weight, twisting your palm so it faces your shoulder at the top of the move. Do 3 reps a side as many times as you can in 5 minutes. Once you can go back and forth 10 times (30 total reps on each side), increase the weight.

How it works: Your biceps have two functions: to bend your elbows and supinate your forearms. Doing both with heavy weights and low reps leads to fast results. When you do these curls from a kneeling position, with the weight on one side, your obliques work overtime to keep you upright, giving you another way to target your core and biceps simultaneously.

Lift Smarter, Get Bigger
 

3. Split-jack curl
How to do it: Hold a pair of dumbbells at your sides, palms in, feet hip-width apart. Jump into a split stance-left leg forward-while curling the weights to your shoulders. Return to the starting position and repeat, landing with your right leg forward. Continue for 20 seconds or 10 reps. To make it harder, drop into a lunge as you land. For a fast, 4-minute cardio workout, rest 10 seconds after each set and do 8 sets.

How it works: With lighter weights, it's a good cardio drill that works your biceps. With heavier weights, it's a killer power-training exercise. The deeper you sink into a lunge and the faster you jump out of it, the more you target your fast-twitch muscle fibers. They're the biggest and strongest, and they have the greatest potential for growth.

Bolster Your Shoulders To Top Off The Perfect Upper Body
 

4. Resistance band jumping-jack hammer curl
How to do it: Stand with your feet together and centered on a looped resistance band, holding the top of the band with your palms facing each other. Curl the band toward your shoulders and jump out with both feet. Reverse the move to return to the starting position. Repeat for 20 seconds or 10 total reps. Do 8 sets, resting for 10 seconds between them. You can mix it up by alternating sets of curls and overhead presses (4 sets of each).

How it works: Jumping out against the band targets the hip muscles that provide stability during lunges and squats but that are rarely worked directly. Strengthening these muscles can improve the appearance of your lower body while also protecting your knees. Oh, and your biceps will get some work as well.

The Best Workouts For Men
 

5. Squat concentration curl
How to do it: Hold a pair of light dumbbells (10 to 15 pounds) and stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart and your toes pointed out slightly. Push your hips back and squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Keeping your weight on your heels, your elbows pressed against your inner thighs, and your palms facing each other, curl and lower the weights for 30 to 60 seconds. Do it one arm at a time to add an element of instability and increase the challenge to your core.

How it works: Sitting at a desk most of the day closes your hips, which can strain muscles in your thighs and lower back. This move forces your thighs out and opens up your hips. Pressing your upper arms against your thighs keeps the movement at your elbows, preventing other muscles from assisting.

The 3 Most Common Gym Mistakes

6. Eccentric curl
How to do it: Select a pair of dumbbells that are 5 to 10 pounds heavier than what you'd typically use for 5-rep sets. Hold them at your sides and assume an athletic stance, your feet hip-width apart and your ankles, knees, and hips slightly bent. "Cheat" the dumbbells to the top position with a dumbbell clean: Explosively stand up straight while bending your elbows to draw the weights to your shoulders. Take 5 seconds to lower the weights. Do 3 sets of 5 reps, resting 90 seconds between sets.

How it works: Your muscles can lower more weight than they can lift. That's why eccentric (or negative) reps, which lengthen muscles, can spark new growth. Plus, the dumbbell clean improves total-body power. Of all the exercises in this article, this one may be the best all-around biceps builder.

Think you're tough? We dare you to try these 15-minute muscle shredders!
 

Article from FOXNEWS

Defense at UK Olympics: Apartment Roof Missiles?

• April 29, 2012: People walk past gated residential flats in Bow, east London, where the Ministry of Defence have warned residents that surface-to-air missiles could be stationed on their rooftops during the London Olympics, 2012.AP

LONDON â€"  Surface-to-air missiles could be stationed on the rooftops of an apartment block in east London as part of Britain's air defenses for the Olympics, the country's military confirmed Sunday.

Around 700 people living at the building in Bow - about 2 miles from London's Olympic Stadium - have been contacted and warned that the weapons and about 10 troops are likely to be based at the site for around two months.

In a leaflet sent to residents, the ministry said the venue offered an uncluttered "view of the surrounding areas and the entire sky above the Olympic park."

Troops plan to conduct tests next week at the building, an upmarket gated apartment complex, to determine if the high velocity surface-to-air missiles will be stationed on a water tower attached to the site's roof.

Britain has previously confirmed that up to 13,500 troops are being deployed on land, at sea and in the air to help protect the Olympics alongside police and security guards. Defense Secretary Philip Hammond has said Typhoon fighter jets, helicopters, two warships and bomb disposal experts will also be on duty as part of the security operation.

"As announced before Christmas, ground-based air defense systems could be deployed as part of a multilayered air security plan for the Olympics, including fast jets and helicopters, which will protect the skies over London during the games," the defense ministry said in a statement.

"Based on military advice we have identified a number of sites and, alongside colleagues from the Metropolitan Police, are talking to local authorities and relevant landowners to help minimize the impact of any temporary deployments."

However, the ministry insisted that "no final decision on whether or not to deploy ground-based air defense systems for the games has been taken."

Resident Brian Whelan said those who live at the site were wary over the plan.

"From the few people I've spoken to, and the security we have here, they're not happy about it," he said. "I don't think it needs to be here at all."

The leaflet sent to residents insisted there would be no hazard to those living in the building.

It said the missile system would be "only authorized for active use following specific orders from the highest levels of government in response to a confirmed and extreme security threat."

Article from FOXNEWS

Blind lawyer\'s escape to overshadow US-China talks

WASHINGTON (AP) - Less than a week before annual U.S.-Chinese diplomatic and economic talks, relations between the powers risked sharply deteriorating Saturday with an escaped Chinese activist reportedly under American protection and a U.S. fighter jet sale to Taiwan now being considered.

Fellow activists say Chen Guangcheng, a blind lawyer who exposed forced abortions and sterilizations as part of China's one-child policy, fled house arrest a week ago and has sought protection at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Neither the U.S. nor Chinese government has confirmed the reports, but the saga looks set to overshadow this coming week's Strategic and Economic Dialogue in the Chinese capital. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are leading the U.S. side at the talks beginning Thursday.

A potential further complication is a letter from the White House director of legislative affairs, Rob Nabors, to Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, explaining that the Obama administration would consider selling new U.S. warplanes to Taiwan. A sale would infuriate China, which considers the island nation an integral part of its state even after their split more than six decades ago.

Chen's status and the fighter jets represent the latest strains in Washington and Beijing's up-and-down relationship in recent years. President Barack Obama has sought to "pivot" American military might and diplomatic energy toward Asia to improve America's standing in the region and check the expansion of Chinese power, and achieved mixed results.

The two issues underscore the fundamental disconnect between the world's No. 1 and No. 2 economies, the top importer and exporter, and the biggest military and the fastest developing, on issues from human rights and Taiwan to currency policy and combating nuclear-armed North Korea and potentially nuclear-armed Iran.

A Texas-based activist group that has been active in promoting Chen's case said China and the U.S. were discussing the fate of the 40-year-old.

"Chen is under U.S. protection and high-level talks are currently under way between U.S. and Chinese officials regarding Chen's status," said a statement from the ChinaAid Association. It cited a source close to the situation.

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing declined comment. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said he had no information on Chen's case.

The case is so sensitive that officials in Washington have been ordered not to say anything about it at all. That was underscored on Friday and Saturday by the absolute refusal of the White House to speak out on the matter and the State Department pretending that nothing unusual was afoot.

After making several public appeals this year for Chen's release, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland would say only that "we have spoken out about his case in the past."

"We have always had concerns about this case," she said Friday, adding: "I don't have anything current on this issue today."

The top U.S. diplomat for Asia, Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, originally was due in Beijing in the coming week, but he arrived early Sunday in the capital and did not speak to reporters. Earlier, department officials in Washington had ignored or declined to respond to questions about indications that Campbell had been dispatched earlier than planned ahead of the talks to smooth things over with the Chinese.

ChinaAid's founder, Bob Fu, said Chen's case was a benchmark for the United States and its human rights image around the world.

In February, a former regional chief of police, Wang Lijun, visited a U.S. consulate to raise concerns about the murder of a British businessman and possible links to powerful Chinese politician Bo Xilai. Wang expressed interest in seeking asylum with the U.S., but was turned away, raising eyebrows among Republican lawmakers in the United States.

Chen's case has become an embarrassment for Beijing. Fu and Chinese-based activists say he slipped away from his intensely guarded home on the night of April 22. His wife and 6-year-old daughter are still there.

Chen recorded a video as a direct address to Premier Wen Jiabao, condemning the treatment of him and his family and accusing local Communist Party officials by name. Activists sent the video Friday to the overseas Chinese news site Boxun.com, which posted part of it on YouTube.

If Chen is in the U.S. Embassy or with U.S. officials at another location, it is not known how he would be able to leave or where he could go without Chinese permission. There was no extra security outside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on Saturday.

In 1989, Fang Lizhi, whose speeches inspired student protesters throughout the 1980s, fled with his wife to the U.S. Embassy after China's military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement. He was forced to stay there for 13 months before China eventually let the couple leave the country. Once China's leading astrophysicist, he died April 7 at age 76 in Tucson, Ariz., where in exile he was a physics professor at the University of Arizona.

Chen is widely admired by rights activists in China who last year publicized his case among ordinary Chinese and encouraged them to go to Dongshigu village and break the security cordon. Even Hollywood actor Christian Bale tried to visit, but was roughed up by locals paid to keep outsiders away

A self-taught lawyer blinded by fever in infancy, Chen served four years in prison for exposing forced abortions and sterilizations in his and surrounding villages. Since his release in September 2010, local officials confined him to his home. Amnesty International and other human rights groups say he was abused over the last 18 months.

But Washington will have to weigh its response at a time it is seeking China's help on many issues around the world, from trying to restrain North Korean and Iranian nuclear ambitions to forcing Syria's government into observing a cease-fire. There are also debates about currency and trade policy considered highly relevant to U.S. and global economic recovery.

Alongside Russia, China has brushed aside American pressure to raise the pressure on Syria despite repeated U.S. warnings that those in opposition will end up on the wrong side of history. China has shielded North Korea from tougher international action despite the reclusive communist government's continued nuclear activity and a series of provocations that nearly plunged the Korean peninsula into war two years ago.

The overtures have left Obama vulnerable to charges that he is being naive or too accommodating to China. Republican critics, including likely presidential nominee Mitt Romney, say the administration hasn't pressured China enough on issues vital to U.S. economic and strategic interests.

Since Obama took office, China's booming economy has driven global growth while the U.S. has struggled to emerge from its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Greater Chinese assertiveness has resulted in clashes with the U.S. over naval vessels in the Yellow Sea and American exporters trading with Taiwan; with Japan over fishing rights; and with Southeast Asian nations over claims to the resource-rich South China Sea.

But Washington has pushed back. To ease concerns posed by the threat of China-backed North Korea, the U.S. has strengthened military alliances with South Korea and Japan. By speaking out against China's maritime claims, it has improved ties with Southeast Asian nations fearful of an expansive and potentially belligerent Beijing.

U.S. relations with Vietnam and the Philippines in particular have benefited. Even reclusive Myanmar, long an international pariah protected by China's diplomatic sway, has initiated democratic and human rights reforms to improve its standing with the U.S. and the West. The U.S. also has led talks on a new regional trade pact that would exclude China.

With the Iraq war over and combat operations in Afghanistan ending over the next couple of years, Obama has recalibrated U.S. focus on Asia and its booming markets such as China, India and Indonesia. More than half of the world's population lives in Asia, which is seen as the future center of the world economy.

Previous rounds of the U.S.-China dialogue have been hailed as productive and have included new educational and scientific exchanges. But they haven't resolved points of contention over Taiwan, Tibet and human rights.

U.S. arms sales to Taiwan particularly rankle China, and the irritation could grow worse with the emergence of the White House letter.

China has 2,300 operational combat aircraft, against only 490 for Taiwan. In September, the U.S. turned down a Taiwanese request for 66 relatively advanced F-16 jet fighters, while agreeing to help Taiwan upgrade its existing F-16 fleet. Critics accused the White House of yielding to pressure from China.

China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. Despite improving relations over the past four years, China still threatens to attack across the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait if the democratic island seeks to declare independence.

Article from YAHOO NEWS

Strong Storm Causes Fatal Tent Collapse in Missouri

ST. LOUIS â€"  One person was confirmed dead and nearly 100 others injured Saturday when a tent collapsed near Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the man who died suffered a heart attack. It was not immediately known if he was injured in the collapse or whether the shock triggered the heart attack.

Severe weather and high winds blew through the area, causing the tent outside Kilroy's Bar to collapse, KDSK-TV reported. Portions of the Midwest had been under severe weather warning early Saturday afternoon.

Kilroy's owner Art Randall said things were flying through the air sideways and metal chairs were being flung across the beer garden by the storm.

Witnesses said the storm lasted several seconds and estimated the winds were between 60 to 80 mph.

Emergency officials said 16 people were taken to hospitals with injuries ranging from minor to very serious. KSDK reported that fire officials said five people were in critical condition and 100 people were treated at the scene.

KMOX reports St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson says a few hundred people were celebrating in the tent after the Cardinals' victory over the Milwaukee Brewers when the storm hit.

The National Weather Service posted a tornado warning for the St. Louis area Saturday, with a risk of baseball-sized hail.

The Associated Press and NewsCore contributed to this report.

Article from FOXNEWS

City workers unite to return wedding ring

A Boston woman who lost her wedding ring nearly two years ago was reunited with her ring on Friday after Department of Public Works' employees found the ring in the drain and made it their mission to return it to its rightful owner.

Maura Burke thought she had lost her diamond wedding band after it went down the drain Labor Day weekend in 2010. 

But DPW employees and Braintree, Mass., Mayor Joseph Sullivan worked together to perform the miracle return mission.

DPW employees reunite Braintree woman with wedding ring: MyFoxBOSTON.com

Maura married her husband Jim Burke 20 years ago in November of 1991. They exchanged wedding bands engraved with their initials “mjm to jmb,” as well as the date of their union.

Despite Maura's daily prayers, the ring never reappeared, and the search was deemed a lost cause.

Until DPW employees discovered the ring in the town's drainage system and went to great lengths in order to find its owner. The employees even went a step further and disinfected the ring.

The ring was turned over to the town and a discovery process of trying to find out whether the “mjm” initial married in 1991 could be matched in town records.
Sure enough…it did.

In fact, Mayor Sullivan attended the Burkes wedding. Mayor Sullivan went to the Burkes' home unannounced on Friday evening to return the prized possession.

Overwhelmed with joy, Maura broke down into tears. She plans on thanking the employees who found and returned her ring in person.

The Burkes are happily married with two children.

Click here for more on this story from MyFoxBoston. 

Article from FOXNEWS

Gay Conservatives Call Out Dan Savage for Bullying

BY TODD STARNES

The head of a national gay conservative group condemned what they called anti-bullying activist Dan Savage's “anti-Christian tirade” at a national high school journalism conference.

Savage, the founder of the “It Gets Better” anti-bullying project is facing criticism for delivering a Bible-bashing, profanity-laced speech to high school students attending a journalism conference sponsored by the National Scholastic Press Association and the Journalism Education Assocation.

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At one point Savage called Christian teenagers who walked out of the speech “pansy-assed.”

“We can learn to ignore the bullshit in the Bible about gay people - the same way we have learned to ignore the bullshit in the Bible about shellfish, about slavery, about dinner, about farming, about menstration about virginity about masturbation,” he told the young students. “We ignore bullshit in the Bible about all sorts of things.”

A video of the speech shows a number of teenagers walking out of the auditorium as he continued his attack on the Bible, calling it a “radically pro-slavery document.”

“You can tell the Bible guys in the hall they can come back now because I'm done beating up the Bible,” he said. “It's funny as someone who is on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the Bible how pansy-assed people react when you push back.'

Jimmy LaSalvia, executive director of GOProud, called those statements “outrageous” and demanded an apology.

“Dan Savage should apologize for his comments and should apologize to the high school students in attendance whom he called ‘pansy-asses,'” continued LaSalvia.  “It is ironic that someone whose claim to fame is fighting bullying would resort to bullying tactics in attacking high school students who were offended by his outrageous remarks.”

LaSalvia said people of faith should be treated with respect.

“Dan Savage's outrageous anti-Christian tirade hurts â€" not helps â€" the fight for gay rights in this country,” LaSalvia said in a statement. “There is nothing incompatible between being a Christian and believing that all people should be treated equally, and Dan Savage's attacks on Christianity only fuel those on the extremist fringe who oppose gay rights.”

Savage also attacked the Republican Party - and specifically Callista Gingrich, the wife of Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.

“The Bible says if a woman is not a virgin on her wedding night, she shall be dragged to her father's doorstep and stoned to death,” he said. “Callista Gingrich still lives.”

His speech was interrupted by students cheering and howling.

“There is no effort to amend state constitutions to make it legal to stone women to death on their wedding nights if they're not virgins - at least not yet,” Savage said. “We don't know where the GOP is going these days.”

“People are dying because people can't clear this one last hurdle,” he said. “They can't get past this one last thing in the Bible - about homosexuality.

Watch the entire video posted below:

Article from FOXNEWS