Dead Friend Buried Beneath Christmas Presents: Patty White Accused Of Murder

Patty White

Police arrested a woman they said killed her friend and hid her body under a pile of Christmas presents in Florida, TV station WBTV reports.

Then, the suspect, Patty White, hightailed it back to her home in South Carolina, making withdrawals with the dead woman's ATM cards along the way, according to TV station WJXT.

Police accuse White, 40, of beating and strangling Michele O'Dowd, 67, in the older woman's apartment. O'Dowd was found dead by her twin brother on Friday, who looked for her when she didn't show up for work according to FirstCoastNews.com.

The debit card transaction enabled Jacksonville police to easily track White. Surveillance cameras at the ATMs supposedly recorded White getting cash, The Charlotte Observer says.

O'Dowd was described as a family friend of White. She invited White to move in with her a few months ago, but the the relationship soured and White returned to live in York, S.C. But White made another trip to O'Dowd's home last week in what authorities describe as a robbery attempt gone wrong, according to WBTV.

The deceased woman's apartment was ransacked.

York City Police, teaming up with Jacksonville cops, pulled over a car on Friday where White was the passenger, TV station WBTV says. York City police say they brought White to a station house where they say she confessed the murder and robbery to Jacksonville detectives.

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Obama Urges Congress To Extend Payroll Tax Cut

Barack Obama, President of U.S.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama pressured Republicans in Congress on Monday to extend a payroll tax cut, saying the economic recovery is "still fragile" and middle class families need the money.

"My message to Congress is this: Keep your word to the American people and don't raise taxes on them right now. Now's not the time to slam on the brakes. Now's the time to step on the gas," Obama said at the White House. He said despite a decline in the unemployment rate to 8.6 percent in November, "our recovery is still fragile" and the nation's economy could be hurt by economic turbulence in Europe.

The president has been seeking an extension and expansion to the payroll tax cut that will expire at the end of the year. The White House says taxes on the average family would increase by $1,000 if the cuts are not extended.

To make its point, the White House went so far as to put up a countdown clock during spokesman Jay Carney's briefing to show when middle-class taxes would go up "if Congress doesn't act."

Some Republicans in Congress support the extension but the parties have been split on how to pay for it. Obama noted that House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell have expressed support for the extension, adding, "I hope the rest of their Republican colleagues come around."

Brendan Buck, a Boehner spokesman, said there was widespread support for extending the payroll tax cuts but if "the president wants to make progress he should insist that Senate Democrats remove the job-killing small business tax hike from their partisan proposal."

Senate Democrats have rolled out a compromise that would drop Obama's proposal to award the tax cut to employers, bringing the cost of the plan down.

Obama also said for Congress to end its work this year without extending unemployment insurance would be a "terrible mistake" and leave "1.3 million Americans out in the cold."

The White House has called for an extension of benefits that can cover up to 99 weeks for the long-term jobless. State unemployment insurance programs guarantees coverage for six months, but Congress approved additional benefits in 2008. Expiration of those payments would mean an average loss of nearly $300 in weekly income for more than 1 million households in January.

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Why Muslims more devout than others?

Muslims at Pray in Mosques

Conflict, theology and history make Muslims more religious than others, experts say

(CNN) – Every religion has its true believers and its doubters, its pious and its pragmatists, but new evidence suggests that Muslims tend to be more committed to their faith than other believers.

Muslims are much more likely than Christians and Hindus to say that their own faith is the only true path to paradise, according to a recent global survey, and they are more inclined to say their religion is an important part of their daily lives.

Muslims also have a much greater tendency to say their religion motivates them to do good works, said the survey, released over the summer by Ipsos-Mori, a British research company that polls around the world.

Islam is the world's second-largest religion - behind Christianity and ahead of Hinduism, the third largest. With some 1.5 billion followers and rising, Islam's influence may be growing even faster than its numbers as the Arab Spring topples long-reigning secular rulers and opens the way to religiously inspired political parties.

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But while there's no doubt about the importance of Islam, experts have different theories about why Muslims appear to be more religious than members of other global faiths - and contrasting views on whether to fear the depth of Muslims' commitment to their faith.

One explanation lies in current affairs, says Azyumardi Azra, an expert on Islam in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim majority country.

Many Muslims increasingly define themselves in contrast with what they see as the Christian West, says Azra, the director of the graduate school at the State Islamic University in Jakarta.

"When they confront the West that they perceive or misperceive as morally in decline, many Muslims feel that Islam is the best way of life. Islam for them is the only salvation," he says.

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That feeling has become stronger since the September 11 attacks, as many Muslims believe there is a "growing conflict between Islam and the so-called West," he says.

"Unfortunately this growing attachment to Islam among Muslims in general has been used and abused by literal-minded Muslims and the jihadists for their own purposes," he says.

But other experts say that deep religious commitment doesn't necessarily lead to violence.

"Being more religious doesn't necessarily mean that they will become suicide bombers," says Ed Husain, a former radical Islamist who is now a Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

In fact, Husain argues that religious upbringing "could be an antidote" to radicalism.

American Muslim women who cover explain their choice

The people most likely to become Islamist radicals, he says, are those who were raised without a religious education and came to Islam later, as "born-agains."

Muslims raised with a grounding in their religion are better able to resist the distortions of Islam peddled by recruiters to radical causes, some experts like Husain argue, making them less likely to turn to violence.

But he agrees that Muslims are strongly attached to their faith, and says the reason lies in the religion itself.

"Muslims have this mindset that we alone possess the final truth," Husain says.

Muslims believe "Jews and Christians went before us and Mohammed was the last prophet," says Husain, whose book "The Islamist" chronicles his experiences with radicals. "Our prophet aimed to nullify the message of the previous prophets."

The depth of the Muslim commitment to Islam is not only a matter of theology and current events, but of education and history, as well, other experts say.

"Where religion is linked into the state institutions, where religion is deeply ingrained from childhood, you are getting this feeling that 'My way is the only way,'" says Fiyaz Mughal, the director of Faith Matters, a conflict-resolution organization in London.

The Ipsos-Mori survey results included two countries with a strong link between religion and the state: Legally Muslim Saudi Arabia, which calls itself the guardian of Islam's two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina; and Indonesia, home of the world's largest Muslim population.

The third majority Muslim country in the study is Turkey, which has a very different relationship with religion. It was founded after World War I as a legally secular country. But despite generations of trying to separate mosque and state, Turkey is now governed by an Islam-inspired party, the AKP.

Turkey's experience shows how difficult it can be to untangle government and religion in Muslim majority countries and helps explain the Muslim commitment to their religion, says Azyumardi Azra, the Indonesia expert.

He notes that there has been no "Enlightenment" in Islam as there was in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, weakening the link between church and state in many Christian countries.

"Muslim communities have never experienced intense secularization that took place in Europe and the West in general," says Azra. "So Islam is still adhered to very strongly."

But it's not only the link between mosque and state in many Muslim majority countries that ties followers to their faith, says professor Akbar Ahmed, a former Pakistani diplomat who has written a book about Islam around the world.

Like Christians who wear "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelets, many Muslims feel a deep personal connection to the founder of their faith, the prophet Muhammad, he says.

Muhammad isn't simply a historical figure to them, but rather a personal inspiration to hundreds of millions of people around the world today.

"When a Muslim is fasting or is asked to give charity or behave in a certain way, he is constantly reminded of the example set by the prophet many centuries ago," argues Ahmed, the author of "Journey Into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization."

His book is based on interviews with Muslims around the world, and one thing he found wherever he traveled was admiration for Muhammad.

"One of the questions was, 'Who is your role model?' From Morocco to Indonesia, it was the prophet, the prophet, the prophet," says Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington.

But while Ahmed sees similar patterns across the Islamic world, Ed Husain, the former radical, said it was important to understand its diversity, as well.

"There is no monolithic religiosity - Muslims in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are following different versions of Islam," says Husain. "All we're seeing (in the survey) is an adherence to a faith."

Political scientist Farid Senzai, director of research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding in Washington, raised questions about the survey's findings.

"Look at the countries that are surveyed - Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Turkey," he says. "There are about 300 million Muslims in those three countries, (who make up) about 20% of Muslims globally."

Islam is "incredibly important" in Saudi Arabia, he says.

"But in Tunisia or Morocco you could have had a different result. It would have been nice if they had picked a few more Arab countries and had a bit more diversity," says Senzai.

The pollster, Ipsos-Mori, does monthly surveys in 24 countries, three of which are majority Muslim – Turkey, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. The other countries range from India to the United States, and Mexico to South Korea, and are the same each month, regardless of the subject the pollsters are investigating.

In the survey released in July, about six in 10 Muslims in the survey said their religion was the only way to salvation, while only a quarter of Hindus and two out of 10 Christians made that claim about their own faiths.

More than nine out of 10 Muslims said their faith was important in their lives, while the figure was 86% for Hindus and 66% for Christians.

Ipsos-Mori surveyed 18,473 adults via an online panel in April and released the findings in July. Results were weighted to make the results as representative as possible, but the pollster cautioned that because the survey was conducted online, it was harder to get representative results in poorer countries where internet access is not widespread.

CNN polling director Keating Holland also warns that in an "opt-in" survey, where respondents actively choose to participate, results tend to come from "people who are confident in their opinions and express them openly... not good for intensely private matters like faith or income or sex."

Online surveys in countries that are not entirely free are also open to the possibility that pollsters get "the approved response" in those nations, "where the people who are most likely to be willing to talk about such matters are the ones who hold, or at least verbalize, opinions that won't get them in trouble if they are expressed," Holland says.

That may have been an issue in Saudi Arabia, where respondents were given the choice of not answering questions on religion due to their potential sensitivity in the kingdom. The Saudi sample was the smallest, with 354 participants, meaning "findings for Saudi Arabia must be treated with caution," Ipsos-Mori said.

About 1,000 people participated in most countries, but sample sizes were smaller in the three majority Muslim countries and in eight other countries.

The survey participants did not reflect the true percentage of Christians and Muslims in the world. Christians were over-represented – as were people who said they had no religion – and Muslims were under-represented.

Nearly half the respondents identified themselves as Christian. Eleven percent were Muslim, 4% were Buddhist, 3% were Hindu and 3% were "other." A quarter said they had no religion and 6% refused to say.

Fiyaz Mughal, the interfaith expert, argues that even though the countries surveyed might not be representative of the entire Muslim world, the findings about Muslims rang broadly true. Muslims in different countries were committed to their faith for different reasons, he says.

"Saudi Arabia is an institutionally religious state. Indonesia has religion tied into its culture," says Mughal.

But Muslim immigrants to Europe also show strong ties to their religion, either as a defense mechanism in the face of a perceived threat, or because of an effort to cling to identity, he contends.

He detects a link between insular communities and commitment to faith regardless of what religion is involved. It is prevalent in Muslim Saudi Arabia, but he has seen it among Israeli Jews as well, he says.

"The Israeli Jewish perspective is that (the dispute with the Palestinians) is a conflict of land and religion which are integrally linked," Mughal says.

"What does play a role in that scenario is a sense of isolationism and seclusion in Israeli Jewish religious communities, a growing trend to say, 'Our way is the only way,'" he says.

Religious leaders of all faiths need to combat those kinds of attitudes because of the greater diversity people encounter in the world today, he argues.

They have a responsibility to teach their congregations "that if they are following a religion, it is not as brutal or exclusive as possible," Mughal says. "Things are changing. The world is a different place from what it was even 20 years ago."

Politicians, too, "need to take these issues quite seriously," he says.

"In the Middle East there are countries - the Saudi Arabias - where you need to be saying that diversity, while it may not be a part of the country, is something they have to deal with when moving in a globalized area," he says.

But Senzai, the political scientist, says that it's also important for the West to take the Muslim world on its own terms.

"Many Muslims want religion to play a role in politics," he says. "To assume that everyone around the world wants to be like the West - that they want liberal secular democracy - is an absurd idea."

– CNN's Nima Elbagir and Atika Shubert contributed to this report.


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Golf: American Tiger Woods won his first tournament in two years

Tiger Woods

AFP - American Tiger Woods found the colors on the golf course by winning Sunday in Thousand Oaks (California) the Chevron World Challenge, two weeks after helping the U.S. win in Australia the Presidents Cup.

His victory in Thousand Oaks is the first individual trophy for two years (Masters of Australia November 15, 2009). Shortly after, triggered the much-publicized sex scandal that cost him a divorce, the loss of many sponsors and also greatly altered the image of the world No.1 at the time.

This scandal, his many injuries the past two seasons and his decision to change his swing have contributed to make him fall beyond the 50th place worldwide and has accumulated against performance-worthy player with 14 Grand Slam victories that the world knew before.

This success, however, is to relativize the tournament because of Thousand Oaks, which organizes itself in favor of its foundation, is not an official event sanctioned by a major professional tour and only had 18 players.

But it does offer points for the world ranking and his opponents in California were not anonymous. Four of the first eleven players in the world were also present on the greens of Thousand Oaks (Americans Steve Stricker, Matt Kuchar, Nick Watney and Webb Simpson).

"It feels good," he soberly said Woods, who shackled 27 individual tournaments without a win. The Californian could not suppress a roar of joy after her successful birdie the final hole. With two birdies on holes n.17 and n.18, Woods erased a disbursement from a blow to compatriot Zach Johnson to win a step ahead with a total of 278.

"I screamed, said Woods. I won birdie-birdie by the last two holes when I was a late hit, we could not do better as a scenario," said one who should go back to 21st place worldwide. "It is under pressure, the last two holes, I hit three of my best shots of the week, it's really a good thing."

Johnson, former Masters champion, had taken control of the tournament after the third round Saturday, but Woods was able to find this killer instinct that he cultivated so well before his career takes an unexpected turn one evening in November 2009 with the accident car out of his home in Florida, followed by the revelation of his many extramarital affairs.

Woods made one last card of 69, three under par, to finish on a total of 278.

"The Tiger", 35, had already distinguished himself in late November, giving the point of victory in the U.S. at the Presidents Cup, won in Melbourne at the expense of the rest of the world (best non-European international players).

In early November, said Woods had to take "fun again" playing golf. He can look with more confidence towards the ultimate goal of his career beating the 18 major titles of Jack Nicklaus.

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Miss USA 2010, Rima Fakih, Arrested On Drunk Driving Charges

Rima Fakih, Miss USA of 2010

From the moment she received her Miss USA crown, Rima Fakih has been embroiled in controversies.

She initially grabbed headlines in 2010 when she became one of the only, if not the first, Arab American and Muslim to win the Miss U.S. crown. Hailing from Michigan since 2003, Fakih is a Lebanese immigrant who moved here when she was a baby and celebrates both Muslim and Christian faiths.

But despite the feel-good nature of her 2010 win, Fakih got caught up in scandal after scandal -- including a new one just last night.

TMZ reports that the beauty queen was arrested in Highland Park, Michigan on Saturday for suspicion of drunk driving. Fakih tried to deny the incident initially, tweeting on Saturday, "Let's clear things up now.... I'm NOT in Michigan and I'm NOT in jail! Wrong Fakih."

But Doraid Elder, her attorney, told the Detroit Free Press, "Unfortunately she was." The tweet has since disappeared and Elder commented that Fakih is "very saddened and very apologetic for the situation that she is in right now."

We should say so, given the trouble she's gotten in before. Just the day after winning the Miss USA title, Rima was exposed as a former pole dancer by radio show MojoInTheMorning.com, which posted photos of the pageant winner participating in the "Stripper 101" contest at a Detroit gentlemen's club three years earlier. She later came under fire for some late-night partying, which doesn't seem like a big deal to us but had some critics wagging their fingers.

Now she's actually gotten into trouble with the law. But her lawyer tells the Detroit Free Press that the arrest was based merely on "allegations." Further investigation by the Highland Park police will happen tomorrow.

In the meantime, take a look at the pure, unblemished moment in time when Rima Fakih won her Miss U.S. crown. 

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Iran claims to have brought down U.S. spy drone

UAV

U.S.-led forces say UAV went missing in western Afghanistan

The United States on Sunday appeared to give credence to Iranian state media reports that Iran had come into possession of a downed U.S. surveillance drone.

The American-led International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) in Afghanistan issued a brief statement Sunday saying that an unarmed U.S. reconnaissance aircraft had gone missing while on a mission in western Afghanistan late last week.

"The UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] to which the Iranians are referring may be a U.S. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western Afghanistan last week," the ISAF public affairs office said in the statement sent to Yahoo News and other media outlets Sunday, in response to queries on the Iranian reports. "The operators of the UAV lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status."

The semi-official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported Sunday that Iran's armed forces had brought down a U.S. spy drone in the east of the country.

Citing an "informed military official" the IRNA report "noted that the unmanned craft is of the type 'RQ170,' which was slightly damaged [and] is currently in the hands of the Iranian forces."

While the IRNA headline described the U.S. spy drone as having been "shot down," an Iranian military official quoted on Iranian state television claimed that an Iranian military cyber-warfare unit "managed to take over controls of the drone and bring it down," the Washington Post's Thomas Erdbrink noted. That latter account would seem to be more in line with the description given by ISAF of the spy drone operators having "lost control" of it in western Afghanistan last week.

American officials disputed that the drone had been shot down. One unidentified U.S. official told the Wall Street Journal the drone may have been suffering mechanical difficulties.

However, there have been previous reported incidents that have highlighted vulnerabilities in the security of U.S. drone information systems.

The United States Air Force acknowledged in October that a computer virus had infected the computer system at Creech Air Force base in Nevada that is used to remotely operate Predator and Reaper drones. In 2009, an Iraqi insurgent hacked into a U.S. drone down-link, which is not usually encrypted, cyber security expert James Lewis, a former Reagan administration official with the Center for Strategic and Institutional Studies, told Yahoo News last month.

"Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations," the Wall Street Journal's Siobhan Gorman, Yochi Dreazen and August Cole reported in December 2009.

"Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected communications link in some of the remotely flown planes' systems," the Journal report said. "Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber -- available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet -- to regularly capture drone video feeds, according to a person familiar with reports on the matter."

The unarmed stealth drone Iran claims to have brought down, the RQ-170 Sentinel, is manufactured by Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Program, based in Palmdale, California.

Until 2009, the U.S. Air Force would say little about the model, despite reported sightings of it on the tarmac at Kandahar International Airport, Afghanistan since 2007.  A December 2009 photo of the RQ-170 posted on aviation websites, however, prompted the Air Force to at least acknowledge the plane's existence, Military Times' Michael Hoffman reported in 2009:

"For two years, the RQ-170 has been the Air Force's Bigfoot," Hoffman wrote. "Photos and drawings of the stealthy UAV, also called the 'Beast of Kandahar,' have surfaced, producing shrugs and no-comments from service officials. In early December, a clear photograph of the jet's left side appeared on aviation Web sites, perhaps prompting the Air Force to 'fess up."

However, Air Force officials have not explained what the stealth aircraft is doing in Afghanistan given the fact that the Taliban has no air force or radar, Hoffman noted.

"Experts such as Phil Finnegan, a UAV analyst at the Teal Group, an aerospace consulting firm, suggest the stealth capabilities are being used to fly in nearby countries," Hoffman wrote. "Neighboring Iran has an air force and air defense system that would require stealth technology to penetrate."

The RQ-170 was also reportedly used in U.S. surveillance surrounding the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan last May.

The RQ-170 reportedly does not use the most sophisticated U.S. military technology because as a single engine UAV, it was judged to have a higher likelihood of occasionally going down.

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Michelle Parker Missing: Ex-Fiance Dale Smith Not Involved In His Second Wife's Death

Michelle Parker

The case of missing Florida mom Michelle Parker is quickly becoming the focus of national headlines and talking head TV shows. As a result, growing attention has been focused on Parker's ex-fiance, Dale Smith.

While there is no mistaking the fact that Smith has a history of arrests and has been named a prime suspect in Parker's case, not all of the details of his past that have been made public by the media are particularly relevant to his former fiancee's disappearance. As a result, there is increasing suspicion that Smith may have been involved in the death of his second wife, Shannon Smith, but the suspicions surrounding his fiancee's death may be leading many to overlook the facts.

Smith married Shannon Kathleen Collins-Smith on Feb. 7, 2000, roughly one year after he divorced his first wife, Amanda Pernice, because their marriage, according to court documents obtained by HuffPost Crime, was "irretrievably broken."

At the time of his second marriage, Dale Smith was a U.S. Marine, stationed in Beaufort, S.C.

The marriage quickly soured, and on Sept. 15, 2000, Shannon Smith was treated for a head injury at Port Royal Naval Hospital in Beaufort. Dale Smith was arrested for criminal domestic battery.

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According to court documents, Dale Smith told police that he had been in a bar fight that night and that his wife became angry when he came home and told her about it.

"He stated that she got mad and started slapping him in the face and calling him a drunk. ... He said he then grabbed her by the leg and [dragged] her outside. Once he had her outside he said she hit her head on the railing to the apartment and started to bleed," the police report reads.

Smith said he took his wife to the hospital, after stopping along the way to pick up two friends.

Shannon Smith told police that her husband had initiated the altercation, and "threw her against the metal railing." The report further states that Dale Smith "made many comments about wanting to die for hurting his wife." He was determined to have been the primary aggressor, according to the report, because "no visible red or finger marks were noted on his face."

According to court records, Dale Smith was later convicted by a general court martial on domestic violence and drug-related charges. While in the stockade, Dale Smith was charged by military authorities with a drug violation "in reference to an on-going military investigation involving the illegal drug ecstasy and other controlled substances."

Dale and Shannon Smith separated, and she moved to Orlando, Fla., where she began working as a personal trainer.

In April 2001, Shannon Smith died during a party at a friend's house. Some reports have suggested that Smith's death was suspicious and point to blunt-force trauma that she suffered.

According to the medical examiner, Smith died from methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or ecstasy) intoxication, and her manner of death was "accidental."

A witness who was inside the home at the time of Shannon Smith's death indicated she may have been having sexual relations with another man inside the home.

"Leonard told Deputy [Richard] Hartsuff that when he woke he found Shannon Smith lying in bed with him unconscious with blood on her nose," the police report states.

Leonard told police that he tried to revive Shannon Smith and carried her into a shower, placing her on a ceramic tiled built-in-corner seat.

"Leonard stated that when he stepped away from Shannon Smith, she fell from the seat, striking her head on a tile floor," the report continues. "Leonard contacted emergency medical services ... when he was unable to wake Shannon Smith."

In October 2001, Detective Charles Deisler wrote a follow-up report to the case in which he noted, "Numerous in-person attempts have been made to question Leonard at his residence concerning the events leading to the death of Shannon Smith. ... He has refused to discuss the case beyond what he provided in his written statement and has repeatedly referred me to his attorney."

No one has reported yet, however, that Dale Smith, according to police documents, was not in the state of Florida at the time of his wife's death. Indeed, he was still in a South Carolina military stockade. Smith's attorney's office confirmed this information to The Huffington Post on Friday.

While Dale Smith has had other run-ins with the law, it is exceptionally improbable that he was involved in the death of his second wife.

Meanwhile, police are still trying to locate Smith's former fiance.

Parker, 33, vanished on Nov. 17, the same day that her appearance with Smith aired on "The People's Court." The couple was in dispute over a $5,000 engagement ring. After hearing both sides, Judge Marilyn Milian ordered Parker to pay Smith $2,500.

A few hours after the episode aired, Parker dropped her 3-year-old twins off at Smith's condo for scheduled visitation. Parker's 2008 black Hummer H3 was found the following day in a parking lot on the west side of Orlando. Decals for Parker's Glow mobile tanning business had been removed from the windows, police said.

Attorney Mark NeJame speaks during a news conference about his client Dale Smith in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011. Smith has been identified by the Orlando Police Department as the primary suspect in the disappearance of Michelle Parker.

Police initially said that Smith was cooperating and was not considered a suspect, but during a press conference on Monday Orlando Police Chief Paul Rooney named Smith as the primary suspect in Parker's disappearance. Rooney did not elaborate on why Smith was considered a suspect, but detectives have said he has refused to take a polygraph test.

Smith's lawyer, Mark NeJame, has not responded to multiple requests for comment from The Huffington Post.

According to a former FBI agent who has worked on dozens of missing-person cases, significant others are often the first looked at as suspects or as persons of interest.

"People are generally not victims of random acts of violence when you are talking about a disappearance or something of this nature," said Harold Copus, now head of Copus Security Consultants in Atlanta. "When you are looking at this from the position of an investigator, you have to determine who had the most access to the person. It's usually a significant other or spouse, so naturally you focus on those people first."

Copus cautioned that, while the perpetrator is most often known to the victim, he or she may still have been a random target. "You can't ignore the possibility," he said.

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U.S. ambassador turns salesman in China

U.S. President, and Ambassador to China

(Reuters) - Businessmen in sober suits leapt to their feet, jostling with cameras and mobile phones to snap a quick shot as the new U.S. ambassador to China strode to the podium at a hotel ballroom in Jinan, in coastal Shandong province.

Nine hours later, after a speech on energy cooperation, signing ceremonies for deals of a few million dollars each, and dinner with the governor, he was back on the train to Beijing.

This is how Gary Locke, the first Chinese-American ambassador to Beijing and a local celebrity, is trying to raise U.S. sales in China -- deal by deal, ballroom by hotel ballroom, in cities most Americans have never heard of.

While every U.S. ambassador has put in a plug for American goods and services, Locke takes the effort to a new level. The former commerce secretary has hit the pavement in six provincial cities to try to narrow the trade deficit that gives his boss, President Barack Obama, political heartburn.

"Certainly these trips can help publicize the great products and services made in America that could help meet the needs of China but at the same time create jobs in America," Locke told Reuters as the train sped through fields of winter wheat.

"You may not get immediate sales, or the amount of sales from these initial transactions might be small. But really you need to track the growth of these sales, these exports by these American companies over the next several years."

The effort is needed, say U.S. businesses, which often complain about China's opaque markets and the difficulty of selling to the Chinese government and state-owned businesses.

"I'm not aware that previous ambassadors have actually led trade missions organized in the U.S. around China," said Christian Murck, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China. "It reflects a personal commitment."

American exports to China rose by nearly a third to $91.9 billion in 2010, reversing a fall in sales the previous year, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. But they are still dwarfed by Chinese exports to the United States of $365 billion.

FROM COFFEE TO CHEMICALS

Even before he arrived in China, Locke made a splash. A photo of him wearing a backpack and buying a coffee in the airport Starbucks drew enthusiastic online comments from Chinese used to seeing their own officials flanked by guards and aides.

Locke, who does not speak Mandarin, has turned his celebrity to promoting everything from machines to energy-saving lights.

The wares displayed at folding tables under the Jinan Hotel's crystal chandeliers were nothing a consumer could touch. While American stores are filled with goods made in China, the companies accompanying Locke to Jinan included specialty chemicals and equipment makers, with products designed to upgrade China's inefficient and polluting energy sector.

Small firms in particular find it hard to meet the right person or figure out when tenders are issued, let alone sell products that are often pricier than the Chinese competitor.

But Locke retains the salesman's optimism. "Everyone that has exported to China reports that what may have started off small builds over time, such that we've seen phenomenal increases in exports from the United States to China," he said.

Trade missions like these are very much Chinese affairs, with the local representatives of the American firms greeting clients effusively in Mandarin. The signing ceremony, as always, was replete with hostesses in red, a champagne toast and piped music on endless repeat.

The buffet lunch featured dishes like kelp with garlic, lotus root with ginger and pork lung in spicy sauce.

Locke's presence meant the Shandong governor was there, and the chance for a meal with both drew many of the hard-to-reach bosses of state-owned companies.

"Lots of our customers are refineries in Shandong, and it's hard to meet them. Heads of state-owned enterprises are hard to access," said X.D. Hu, China managing director for specialty chemicals maker Albemarle Corp.

Two of his major clients showed up after the Shandong government sent out invitations for the event.

"They care less about the U.S. ambassador, but the chance to meet the Shandong governor is very exciting for them."

Shandong, one of China's largest provinces in terms of both population and economy, is famously business-oriented. But with its private factories hit hard by the global slowdown, more sales growth has to come from the state-owned sector.

The Jinan trip is the first of five trade missions, each focused on a specific industry, that Locke has pledged to lead.

On the train back to Beijing, embassy staffers were already planning how to make the next one bigger and better.

"Too often U.S. ambassadors get stuck in the geopolitics, things like nuclear negotiations," said James McGregor, senior consultant for APCO Worldwide in Beijing.

"But they should be out promoting American business. That's what the Europeans and Japanese do."

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Military of China denounces U.S.-Australia defense upgrade

Geng Yansheng,

(Reuters) - China's military denounced the United States and Australia on Wednesday for upgrading military ties, warning that such moves could erode trust and fan Cold War-era antagonism.

Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng made the warning about a plan unveiled in mid-November by U.S. President Barack Obama and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to form a de facto base in north Australia for up to 2,500 U.S. Marines.

Geng's comments came on the same day Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd was reported as backing the formation of a security pact with India and the United States, another step that could fuel China's worries of being fenced in by wary neighbors.

"Military alliances are a product of history, but we believe any strengthening and expansion of military alliances is an expression of the Cold War mentality," Geng said in answer to a question about the U.S.-Australian announcement, according to a transcript on the ministry's website (www.mod.gov.cn.).

"This is not in keeping with the tide of the era of peace, development and cooperation and does not help to enhance mutual trust and cooperation between countries in the region, and could ultimately harm the common interests of all concerned," he said.

"We hope that the parties concerned will do more that is beneficial to the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region, and not the contrary."

But the Chinese spokesman indicated that Beijing was not shunning Washington. Chinese and U.S. defense officials, led by Under Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy, will hold talks in Beijing next Wednesday, Geng told the briefing.

Earlier this month, Obama told Asia-Pacific leaders that the United States was "here to stay," announced the plans to set up the de facto military base in north Australia and chided China for trying to prevent discussion of its South China Sea territorial disputes at regional forums.

The Chinese Ministry of Defense is the public mouthpiece of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), but foreign reporters are not allowed to attend its briefings.

COOPERATION OR CONFRONTATION?

Although falling short of full-throated condemnation of the U.S.-Australian move, Geng's words were tougher than earlier reaction from China's Foreign Ministry, which said Washington and Canberra should focus on cooperating with Beijing.

Geng said the idea raised by U.S. and Australian officials of advancing "integrated air and sea combat" amounted to "trumpeting confrontation and sacrificing others' security for the sake of one's own security."

Chinese President Hu Jintao has made clear that he wants to avoid repeating the rifts that soured ties with Washington in the first half of 2011. Hu retires from power late next year, when the U.S. is focused on its presidential race, making China's leaders especially reluctant to risk distracting rows.

Beijing is also still licking its wounds from last year, when loud maritime disputes with Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines and other neighbors fanned suspicions about China's intentions.

Chinese military officers have, however, sometimes taken a tougher stance on security worries than civilian officials.

Earlier this week, PLA Major General Luo Yuan, well-known for his hawkish views, warned that Obama's regional push showed that the United States wanted to encircle China.

The comments from Australian Foreign Minister Rudd could also magnify such fears among Chinese observers.

A new trilateral pact bringing in India into a U.S.-Australian security tent was worth exploring because "from little things big things grow," Kevin Rudd said in an interview with the Australian Financial Review newspaper.

"The response from the Indian government has really been quite positive," said Rudd.

The idea of an Australian, Indian and U.S. trilateral security dialogue, in part to counter China's rising might, has been pushed by a trio of think-tanks in all three countries, but has yet to be adopted by any government.

At a briefing in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei did not comment directly on Rudd's statement.

"China hopes that countries in the region will do more to promote regional peace, stability and development," Hong said in answer to a question about the proposal.

India's Foreign Ministry did not comment on Rudd's statement. But Indian analysts said Delhi was likely to be cool on the idea, partly out of reluctance to risk riling China.

"The Indian political establishment has always been wary of the idea of a military alliance," said Uday Bhaskar, the head of the National Maritime Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank.

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Wall St. rallies on central banks' help for Europe

Central Bank

(Reuters) - Stocks surged on Wednesday after major central banks agreed to make cheaper dollar loans for struggling European banks to prevent the euro-zone debt woes from turning into a full-blown credit crisis.

The Dow posted its best day since March 2009 after the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and other major central banks stepped in to head off escalating funding pressures that threaten the key arteries of the world's financial system.

The S&P 500 scored its best daily percentage gain since August.

The central banks' liquidity move touched off a buying frenzy in financial shares. The S&P financial sector index gained 6.6 percent, with Bank of America the most actively traded stock. The stock jumped 7.3 percent to $5.44 on more than 420 million shares traded.

The drama in Europe kept the U.S. stock market on a roller-coaster ride throughout the month. For November, the S&P ended down just 0.5 percent, but the month was marked by sharp daily swings.

"You don't have to fix everything, you have to be on a path towards fixing things," said Tobias Levkovich, chief U.S. equity strategist at Citigroup in New York.

"Markets will reward you for the efforts you are making as long as you are moving in the right direction. It's the carrot and the stick; you get rewarded when you do the right thing, and you get punished when you do the wrong thing."

The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 490.05 points, or 4.24 percent, to end at 12,045.68. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 51.77 points, or 4.33 percent, to 1,246.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index soared 104.83 points, or 4.17 percent, to close at 2,620.34.

The Dow scored its largest daily gain -- in terms of points and percentage -- since March 23, 2009.

The S&P 500 posted its best daily percentage advance since August 11.

For the month, the Dow gained 0.8 percent, while the Nasdaq slid 2.4 percent.

Other economically sensitive sectors, including energy, materials and industrials, also were strong performers for the day.

Copper and oil futures rose sharply, while the S&P materials sector index jumped 5.9 percent.

The central banks' actions were intended to ensure that European banks, facing a credit crunch, have enough funding amid the euro zone's worsening sovereign debt crisis.

The moves followed an unexpected cut in bank reserve requirements in China, intended to boost an economy running at its weakest pace since 2009.

Among the banks, shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co gained 8.4 percent to $30.97, its biggest daily percentage gain since May 2009.

The gains in financial shares came despite Standard & Poor's move to cut the credit ratings of 15 big banks, mostly in Europe and the United States, late on Tuesday.

Further encouraging investors, the latest U.S. data suggested the U.S. economy was moving more solidly toward recovery. The U.S. private sector added the most jobs in nearly a year in November, while business activity in the U.S. Midwest grew faster than expected in November.

The day's volume was high, with nearly 10 billion shares changing hands during the day on U.S. exchanges compared with the daily average of 7.96 billion shares.

Advancers beat decliners on the NYSE by nearly 7 to 1 and on the Nasdaq, by about 5 to 1.

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Jackson doctor called suicidal after verdict

Dr.Conrad Murray

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge's stern voice broke the silence of a Los Angeles courtroom: "Money for madness medicine," he said before sentencing Dr. Conrad Murray to the maximum four years behind bars for Michael Jackson's death.

"Absolutely no sense of fault, and is and remains dangerous" to the community, Judge Michael Pastor said as he delivered a nearly half-hour tongue lashing that denounced Murray as a greedy, remorseless physician whose gross negligence killed the King of Pop.

Pastor said Murray sold out his profession for a promised fee of $150,000 a month and accused Murray of committing a "horrific violation of trust" when he agreed to give Jackson a powerful anesthetic every night as an unorthodox cure for insomnia.

Murray will likely serve less than two years in county jail, not state prison, because of California's overcrowded prisons and jails. Sheriff's officials said he will be housed in a one-man cell and be kept away from other inmates.

The tall, imposing Murray, who has been in jail for three weeks, was allowed to change into street clothes — a charcoal gray suit and white shirt — for court. But he wore prison issue white socks and soft slippers.

Jackson's family said in a statement read in court that they were not seeking revenge but a stiff sentence for Murray that served as a warning to opportunistic doctors. Afterward, they said they were pleased with the judge's sentence.

"We're going to be a family. We're going to move forward. We're going to tour, play the music and miss him," brother Jermaine Jackson said.

After sentencing, Murray mouthed the words "I love you" to his mother and girlfriend in the courtroom. Murray's mother, Milta Rush, sat alone on a bench in the courthouse hallway.

"My son is not what they charged him to be," she said quietly. "He was a gentle child from the time he was small."

Of her son's future, she said, "God is in charge."

Murray, 58, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after a six-week trial that presented the most detailed account yet of Jackson's final hours, a story of the performer's anguish over being unable to sleep.

Pastor was relentless in his bashing of Murray, saying the physician lied repeatedly and abandoned Jackson when he was at his most vulnerable — under the anesthesia that Murray administered in an unorthodox effort to induce sleep.

"It should be made very clear that experimental medicine is not going to be tolerated, and Mr. Jackson was an experiment," he said.

Propofol is supposed to be used in hospital settings and has never been approved for sleep treatments, yet Murray acknowledged giving it to Jackson then leaving the room on the day the singer died.

As for defense arguments that Jackson tempted his own fate when he demanded propofol, Pastor said, "Dr. Murray could have walked away and said no as countless others did. But Dr. Murray was intrigued with the prospect of this money-for-madness medicine."

Pastor said Murray was motivated by a desire for "money, fame and prestige" and cared more about himself than Jackson.

The doctor was deeply in debt when he agreed to serve as Jackson's personal physician for $150,000 a month during his comeback tour. The singer, however, died before Murray received any money.

"There are those who feel Dr. Murray is a saint and those who feel he is the devil," Pastor said. "He is neither. He is a human being who caused the death of another human being."

Defense attorney Ed Chernoff implored Pastor to look at Murray's life and give him credit for a career of good works. "I do wonder whether the court considers the book of a man's life, not just one chapter," Chernoff said.

The judge responded: "I accept Mr. Chernoff's invitation to read the whole book of Dr. Murray's life. But I also read the book of Michael Jackson's life, including the sad final chapter of Dr. Murray's treatment of Michael Jackson."

Chernoff suggested that Murray is being punished enough by the stigma of having caused Jackson's death. "Whether Dr. Murray is a barista or a greeter at Walmart, he is still the man that killed Michael Jackson," he said.

The judge said one of the most disturbing aspects of Murray's case was a slurred recording of Jackson recovered from the doctor's cell phone. His speech was barely intelligible and Murray would say later Jackson was under the influence of propofol.

Pastor suggested Murray might have been planning to use it to blackmail Jackson if there was a falling out between them. "That tape recording was Dr. Murray's insurance policy," Pastor said.

Defense attorneys never explained in court why he recorded Jackson six weeks before his death. In the recording, Jackson talked about the importance of making his shows on the comeback tour "phenomenal."

Jackson's death in June 2009 stunned the world, as did the ensuing investigation that led to Murray being charged in February 2010.

Murray declined to testify during his trial but did participate in a documentary in which he said he didn't consider himself guilty of any crime and blamed Jackson for entrapping him into administering the propofol doses.

"Yikes," the judge said. "Talk about blaming the victim!"

Murray's attorneys presented 34 letters from relatives, friends and former patients to win a lighter sentence. They described Murray's compassion as a doctor, including accepting lower payments from his mostly poor patients.

In their sentencing memorandum, prosecutors cited Murray's statements to advocate for the maximum term. They also want him to pay restitution to the singer's three children — Prince, Paris and Blanket.

The exact amount Murray has to pay will be determined at a hearing in January.

In the meantime, sheriff's officials said Murray will serve a little less than two years behind bars. A recent change in California law requires Murray to serve his sentence in county jail rather than state prison.

District Attorney Steve Cooley said he was considering asking Pastor to modify the sentence to classify the crime as a serious felony warranting incarceration in state prison.

"This is going to be a real test of our criminal justice system to see if it's meaningful at all," Cooley said.

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United States duo Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland win World Cup Golf 2011

Golf 2011

World Cup 2011: Final-round leaderboard

    * -24: U.S.
    * -22: England, Germany
    * -21: Australia, Scotland, Ireland
    * Selected others: -20: Wales, Netherlands
    * -19: Spain, Korea

United States duo Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland hit six birdies in a closing 67 to win the World Cup by two shots.

The Americans eroded the overnight two-stroke lead held by Ireland's Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell in China, with birdies on the first two holes.

Four more birdies lifted them to 24 under as Ireland faded with four bogeys in a level-par 72 to stay 21 under.

England's Ian Poulter and Justin Rose carded a nine-under-par 63 to finish second alongside Germany on 22 under.

"We were a little subdued [after the third round] and neither of us were much company," admitted Poulter.

"We stayed in our own rooms, and kind of rightly so as four under par in fourball was very disappointing.

"But to go and shoot nine under par in foursomes is crazy."

Poulter and Rose sank four birdies on the front nine and finished with two birdies and an eagle in their last four holes as they recorded the lowest score of the final round at the Mission Hills course on the southern Chinese island of Hainan.

But although they caught and passed McIlroy and McDowell, who had held an eight-shot advantage over the Englishmen going into the final round, they were unable to match the Americans.

Kuchar and Woodland played solid, rather than spectacular, golf in the alternate shot foursomes format as they finished with a five-under-par 67 to record the United States's first victory in the tournament since Tiger Woods and David Duval teamed up in 2000.

"You think of all the sporting events, and you think of all the teams that become world champions, and in golf there are not that many opportunities to be world champions," said Kuchar.

"So to represent the United States of America and become world champions just feels great."

Their only blip was a bogey on the par-three 11th, but that dropped shot was wiped out on the 12th with a sixth birdie of the round following on the 13th.

In contrast, McIlroy and McDowell, who led by three on the back nine two years but were beaten to the title by Italian brothers Francesco and Edoardo Molinari, again struggled on the final day.

They mixed two bogies with two birdies on the front nine to fall two behind the Americans.

A birdie on the 10th brought them within one shot of the lead, but a bogey on 12 checked their progress and another shot went on the par-three 15th after McDowell's tee shot plugged under the lip of a greenside bunker.

McIlroy could only blast the ball a few feet out of the sand but when his playing partner missed the 25-foot par putt, their challenge was effectively ended.

They finished joint fourth with Australia, Netherlands and Scottish pair Martin Laird and Stephen Gallacher who closed with eight birdies in a six-under-par 66.

German duo Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka did not drop a shot over the last two rounds and played the final 18 holes in a three-under 69, sinking a lengthy par putt at the last to ensure they finished joint second.

The World Cup used to be held annually but was switched to biennial after 2009 to accommodate golf's inclusion in the 2016 Olympic Games.

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The Largest Pacific Octopus At The National Zoo

Octupas

WASHINGTON -- There's a new giant Pacific octopus at the National Zoo. Sadly, only kids age 5 to 15 can enter The Washington Post's contest to name the new octopus (or else we might have some of our own suggestions).

The giant Pacific octopus is the largest octopus in the world -- it can grow up to 600 pounds; the zoo's new octopus is about the size of a grapefruit now. Giant Pacific octopuses -- the plural of octopus is octopuses, octopi or octopodes, as you like -- are quite intelligent, change color to blend in with their environments and usually live around four years. (Strangely, according to researchers, it's possible that giant Pacific octopuses could live longer if their optic glands were removed.) As the name suggests, the giant Pacific octopus is found in the Pacific -- in the northern part of the ocean, at depths of up to 2,500 feet.

The zoo had another giant Pacific octopus, acquired in 2010, named Octavius. She was about four years old when she died on Nov. 4.

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Cowboys cheerleader knocked over by Witten forced off Twitter

Melissa Kellerman

Cheerleader Melissa Kellerman was barely into the middle part of her 15 minutes of fame when the Dallas Cowboys pulled the plug.

Kellerman, a 22-year-old student in her fourth year with the team, became a national sensation on Thanksgiving when she was accidentally tackled on the sideline by Cowboys tight end Jason Witten.

CNBC's Darren Rovell reported that Kellerman was forced to delete her Twitter account after posting two messages on Friday morning about the incident. Her Tweets were good-natured and innocuous.

Those were pretty much the perfect tweets: Clever, self-deprecating and a bit funny. (We'll even ignore the winking emoticons.) Why did she have to delete her Twitter account? Do the Cowboys believe cheerleaders are only to be seen, not heard?

Hardly. The team allows cameras to record cheerleader auditions for a reality show on CMT. It's alright when the team controls the message but not when a cheerleader begins to get a following and has the stage to herself? This should have been a win-win for everyone involved. Witten looked chivalrous when he helped up Kellerman, she became endearing with her laughter and positive attitude. Both the franchise and the cheerleaders looked good after this. Now, only Kellerman does.

The 22-year old South Carolina native is studying to become a teacher.

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Black Friday Sales Up Seven Percent Over 2010

Black Friday Shopping

The holiday shopping season got off to a strong start on Black Friday, with retail sales up 7 percent over last year, according to the most recent survey. Now stores just have to keep buyers coming back without the promise of door-buster savings.

Buyers spent $11.4 billion at retail stores and malls, up nearly $1 billion from last year, according to a Saturday report from ShopperTrak. It was the largest amount ever spent on the day that marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season, and the biggest year-over-year increase since 2007. Chicago-based ShopperTrak gathers data from 25,000 outlets across the U.S., including individual stores and shopping centers.

The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn. broke its Black Friday record for shoppers, thanks to a decision to open at midnight for the first time. Around 210,000 visitors came to the mall on Friday, up from 200,000 last year, according to mall spokeswoman Bridget Jewell.

Online shopping was strong as well, with a 24.3 percent increase in online spending on Black Friday, according to IBM, which tracks sales at 500 online retailers.

Bill Martin, who founded ShopperTrak, said he was surprised by the strong showing. He had expected the weak economy to dent consumer confidence and keep more shoppers out of the stores, or at least from spending much. Instead, he said, they responded to a blanket of promotions, from 60- and 70-percent off deals to door-buster savings on electronics.

"I'm pleased to see it. You can't have a great season without having a good Black Friday," Martin told The Associated Press in an interview.

Sales were also up 4 percent each in the two weeks leading up to Black Friday, as retailers started their promotions earlier than usual or extended their hours.

Still, he suspects things will quiet down this weekend, as promotions end and the buying frenzy subsides. ShopperTrak is expecting holiday sales to be up 3.3 percent this season. Retailers generally rely on sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas to make up 20 percent of their annual take.

There weren't many shoppers at Pioneer Place Mall in Portland, Ore., on Saturday.

"This is great, I'm glad I waited," said MaryJane Danan, who drove two hours from Corvallis, Ore., to go shopping with her teenage daughters. She stayed home on Black Friday because she thought the crowds would be huge. But she was surprised by how few people were out Saturday.

At Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, N.C., Mary Aker was forced to use valet parking Friday because she couldn't find a parking spot. But on Saturday, the pace had let up a little, so she and her husband came back to do some more shopping.

Aker, 58, a retired librarian, said she's spending about as much as she usually does for Christmas. But she's asking people what they want ahead of time to make sure everyone is happy.

At the same mall, sisters Patricia Harrington, Betty Thomas and Laverne Kelly had been shopping all weekend, starting with an all-nighter Thursday after Thanksgiving dinner. The sisters said things calmed down considerably by Friday and Saturday. They suspected a lot of people were shopping online, but they were also underwhelmed by the discounts.

"People are losing their jobs. They should have better deals," said Kelly, 50 and a customer service agent at FedEx.

"There are a lot of people out here but fewer bags," added Thomas, 52 and a health coordinator at a Raleigh hospital.

Thanksgiving weekend, particularly Black Friday, is huge for retailers. Over the past six years, Black Friday was the biggest sales day of the year, and it is expected to keep that crown this year, though shoppers seem to be procrastinating more every year and the fate of the holiday season is increasingly coming down to the last few days before Christmas.

Last year, the Thanksgiving shopping weekend accounted for 12.1 percent of overall holiday sales. Black Friday made up about half of that.

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Pakistan: NATO Helicopter Attack, 24 Troops Reportedly Dead

Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan blocked vital supply routes for U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan on Saturday after coalition helicopters and fighter jets allegedly killed 24 Pakistani troops at two posts along a mountainous frontier that serves as a safe haven for militants.

The incident was a major blow to American efforts to rebuild an already tattered alliance vital to winding down the 10-year-old Afghan war. Islamabad called the carnage in one of its tribal areas a "grave infringement" of the country's sovereignty and warned it could affect future cooperation with Washington, which is seeking Pakistan's help in bringing Afghan insurgents to the negotiating table.

A NATO spokesman said it was likely that coalition airstrikes caused Pakistani casualties, but an investigation was being conducted to determine the details. If confirmed, it would be the deadliest friendly fire incident by NATO against Pakistani troops since the Afghan war began a decade ago.

A prolonged closure of Pakistan's two Afghan border crossings to NATO supplies could cause serious problems for the coalition. The U.S., which is the largest member of the NATO force in Afghanistan, ships more than 30 percent of its non-lethal supplies through Pakistan. The coalition has alternative routes through Central Asia into northern Afghanistan, but they are costlier and less efficient.

Pakistan temporarily closed one of its Afghan crossings to NATO supplies last year after U.S. helicopters accidentally killed two Pakistani soldiers. Suspected militants took advantage of the impasse to launch attacks against stranded or rerouted trucks carrying NATO supplies. The government reopened the border after about 10 days when the U.S. apologized. NATO said at the time the relatively short closure did not significantly affect its ability to keep its troops supplied.

But the reported casualties are much greater this time, and the relationship between Pakistan and the U.S. has severely deteriorated over the last year, especially following the covert American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town in May. Islamabad was outraged it wasn't told about the operation beforehand.

The Pakistani army said Saturday that NATO helicopters and fighter jets carried out an "unprovoked" attack on two of its border posts in the Mohmand tribal area before dawn, killing 24 soldiers and wounding 13 others. The troops responded in self-defense "with all available weapons," an army statement said.

Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani condemned the attack, calling it a "blatant and unacceptable act," according to the statement.

A spokesman for NATO forces, Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, said Afghan and coalition troops were operating in the border area of eastern Afghanistan when "a tactical situation" prompted them to call in close air support. It is "highly likely" that the airstrikes caused Pakistani casualties, he told BBC television.

"My most sincere and personal heartfelt condolences go out to the families and loved ones of any members of Pakistan security forces who may have been killed or injured," said Gen. John Allen, the top overall commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, in a statement.

The border issue is a major source of tension between Islamabad and Washington, which is committed to withdrawing its combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Much of the violence in Afghanistan is carried out by insurgents who are based just across the border in Pakistan. Coalition forces are not allowed to cross the frontier to attack the militants. However, the militants sometimes fire artillery and rockets across the line, reportedly from locations close to Pakistani army posts.

American officials have repeatedly accused Pakistani forces of supporting - or turning a blind eye - to militants using its territory for cross-border attacks. But militants based in Afghanistan have also been attacking Pakistan recently, prompting complaints from Islamabad.

The two posts that were attacked Saturday were located about 1,000 feet apart on a mountain top and were set up recently to stop Pakistani Taliban militants holed up in Afghanistan from crossing the border and staging attacks, said local government and security officials.

There was no militant activity in the area when the alleged NATO attack occurred, local officials said. Some of the soldiers were standing guard, while others were asleep, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said map references of all of the force's border posts have been given to NATO several times.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani summoned U.S. Ambassador Cameron Munter to protest the alleged NATO strike, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. It said the attack was a "grave infringement of Pakistan's sovereignty" and could have serious repercussions on Pakistan's cooperation with NATO.

Munter said in a statement that he regretted any Pakistani deaths and promised to work closely with Islamabad to investigate the incident.

Pakistan moved quickly to close both its Afghan border crossings to NATO supplies, a reminder of the leverage the country has.

A Pakistani customs official told The Associated Press that he received verbal orders Saturday to stop all NATO supplies from crossing the border through Torkham in either direction. The operator of a terminal at the border where NATO trucks park before they cross confirmed the closure. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Saeed Ahmad, a spokesman for security forces at the other crossing in Chaman in southwest Pakistan, said that his crossing was also blocked following orders "from higher-ups."

The U.S., Pakistan, and Afghan militaries have long wrestled with the technical difficulties of patrolling a border that in many places is disputed or poorly marked. Saturday's incident took place a day after a meeting between NATO's Gen. Allen and Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Islamabad to discuss border operations.

The meeting tackled "coordination, communication and procedures ... aimed at enhancing border control on both sides," according to a statement from the Pakistani side.

The U.S. helicopter attack that killed two Pakistani soldiers on Sept. 30 of last year took place south of Mohmand in the Kurram tribal area. A joint U.S.-Pakistan investigation found that Pakistani soldiers fired at the two U.S. helicopters prior to the attack, a move the investigation team said was likely meant to notify the aircraft of their presence after they passed into Pakistani airspace several times.

A U.S. airstrike in June 2008 reportedly killed 11 Pakistani paramilitary troops during a clash between militants and coalition forces in the tribal region.

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NASA rover launched to seek out life clues on Mars

Video, Reuters

(Reuters) - An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Florida on Saturday, launching a $2.5 billion nuclear-powered NASA rover toward Mars to look for clues on what could sustain life on the Red Planet.

The 20-story-tall booster built by United Launch Alliance lifted off from its seaside launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 10:02 a.m. EST (3:02 p.m. GMT).

It soared through partly cloudy skies into space, carrying NASA's Mars Science Laboratory on a 354-million mile (556 million km), nearly nine-month journey to the planet.

"I think this mission is an important next step in NASA's overall goal to address the issue of life in the universe," lead scientist John Grotzinger, with the California Institute of Technology, told reporters shortly after the launch.

The car-sized rover, nicknamed Curiosity, is expected to touch down on August 6, 2012, to begin two years of detailed analysis of a 96-mile (154-km) wide impact basin near the Martian equator called Gale Crater.

The goal is to determine if Mars has or ever had environments to support life. It is the first astrobiology mission to Mars since the 1970s-era Viking probes.

Scientists chose the landing site because it has a three-mile-high (4.8-km high) mountain of what appears from orbital imagery and mineral analysis to be layers of rock piled up like the Grand Canyon, each layer testifying to a different period in Mars' history.

The rover has 17 cameras and 10 science instruments, including chemistry labs, to identify elements in soil and rock samples to be dug up by the probe's drill-tipped robotic arm.

'LONG SHOT'

The base of the crater's mountain has clays, evidence of a prolonged wet environment, and what appears to be minerals such as sulfates that likely were deposited as water evaporated.

Water is considered to be a key element for life, but not the only one.

Previous Mars probes, including the rovers Spirit and Opportunity, searched for signs of past surface water.

"We are not a life-detection mission," Grotzinger said. "We have no ability to detect life present on the surface of Mars. It's an intermediate mission between the search for water and future missions, which may undertake life detection."

With Curiosity, which is twice as long and three times heavier than its predecessors, NASA shifts its focus to look for other ingredients for life, including possibly organic carbon, the building block for life on Earth.

"It's a long shot, but we're going to try," Grotzinger said.

Launch is generally considered the riskiest part of a mission, but Curiosity's landing on Mars will not be without drama.

The 1,980-pound (898 kg) rover is too big for the airbag or thruster-rocket landings used on previous Mars probes, so engineers designed a rocket-powered "sky-crane" to gently lower Curiosity to the crater floor via a 43-foot (13-meter) cable.

"We call it the 'six-minutes of terror,'" said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, referring to the landing. "It is pretty scary, but my confidence level is really high."

Curiosity is powered by heat from the radioactive decay of plutonium. It is designed to last one Martian year, or 687 Earth days.

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Euro loses vs dollar for fourth straight week

Euro VS Dollar

(Reuters) - The euro fell to its lowest in more than seven weeks against the U.S. dollar on Friday and was poised to weaken further after a disappointing Italian bond auction stoked fears the euro zone crisis was deepening.

Italy paid a record 6.5 percent to borrow money over six months on Friday and its longer-term funding costs soared far above levels that are seen as sustainable. The rise in borrowing costs came even as the European Central Bank bought bonds in the secondary market.

Standard & Poor's added to those worries after the rating agency lowered Belgium's rating by a notch to AA and placed its credit outlook on negative.

Signs the euro zone debt crisis was threatening the region's biggest economies such as France and Germany have raised fears of a breakup of the 17-member currency bloc. Policymakers remained in disagreement over how to resolve the crisis, with Germany opposed to joint euro zone bonds and a bigger role for the ECB.

"There appears to be no credible plan in sight to solve the euro zone debt crisis. It shows that there are legs to the market view that the euro zone might be dismantled," said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Travelex Global Payments in Washington.

The euro fell 0.9 percent to $1.3226, having dropped as low as $1.3210, its lowest since October 4, according to Reuters data.

The U.S. Labor Department's monthly jobs data is due next Friday and if they fall short of expectations, the euro should retrace its four straight weeks of decline against the greenback.

"If we get a negative surprise, that could make the dollar vulnerable," Manimbo said.

Key support for the euro lies around $1.3144, the euro's October low, followed by $1.3045, the 61.8 percent retracement of its 2010-2011 rally.

The euro lost 2.1 percent this week after poor demand at a German bond auction on Wednesday.

Bidding for Italian debt was also lackluster on Friday. Italy's two-year yield rose to a euro-era high above 8 percent and 10-year yields traded above 7 percent, a level that is seen as unsustainable.

"The Italian auction was a disgrace this morning, It was worse than what the market had expected," said Thomas Molly, chief dealer at FX Solutions at Saddle River, New Jersey.

Belgian bonds also succumbed to pressure ahead of auctions next week. The 10-year Belgian government note yield edged up to 5.89 percent on Friday, up 3 basis points on the day and up almost 100 basis points on the week.

Strains in the money market for euro zone banks added to investor concerns. The euro/dollar one-year cross currency basis swap, which widens when lenders charge more for swapping euro interest payments on an underlying asset into dollars, was at minus 104 basis points -- close to expensive levels of minus 115 basis points in late 2008.

SWISS FRANC TUMBLES

The dollar rose versus a currency basket to its highest since early October at 79.702 .DXY as investors raised their holdings of the U.S. currency, undercutting the bids for Swiss franc.

"Unless we see firm action from European authorities, the market is betting the worst is about to happen and the dollar is therefore well bid on demand for liquidity," said Jane Foley, currency strategist at Rabobank.

Against the yen, the dollar rose 0.9 percent to 77.74 after hitting a two-week high of 77.79, according to Reuters data.

The euro hit a seven-week low of 102.46 yen based on Reuters data, before rebounding to 102.90, flat on the day.

The Swiss franc tumbled against the dollar and euro on speculation the Swiss National Bank may raise the ceiling on euro/Swiss franc from the current 1.20 level.

The dollar last traded up 1.2 percent at 0.9308 Swiss franc after approaching an 8-month high at 0.9330. It was on track for a gain of 1.3 percent this week, its fourth straight weekly advance.

The euro rose 0.4 percent to 1.2315 francs, after hitting a session high of 1.2380.

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