Obama looks to past to set course for future

News Analysis

President Obama is a student of history - it was no coincidence that he formally announced his run to become the first African-American president back in 2007 at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, where Abraham Lincoln delivered his "house divided" speech in 1858 - and his inaugural address today drew an unmistakable line between the nation's past and its prospects for the future.




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President Obama's second inaugural speech



The president opened his remarks by referencing Lincoln's words from that speech, stating that America came to realize at that point in history that "no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free." He grounded his remarks in the Declaration of Independence's claim that "all men are created equal," tying it to both the American Revolution and rules mandating that there is fair play in the free market, to the need for a great nation to "protect its people from life's worst hazards and misfortune."

Later, he again invoked the declaration - though this time, he referred to the notion that "all of us are created equal" - before referencing three landmark moments in the battle for civil rights: The Seneca Falls Convention for women's rights, the clashes in Selma for African-American rights and the riots at New York's Stonewall Inn for gay rights. (The speech marked the first presidential inaugural in which LGBT rights have been referenced.)

He then pivoted from the triumphs of the past to the necessity of continuing the fight, calling for equal pay for women, equal rights for gay men and women, an elimination of long lines to vote, better treatment of immigrants, and, in an indirect reference to his desire to pass gun control legislation, the necessity of children from Detroit to Appalachia to Newtown to know "that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm."




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Brinkley on inaugural address: "A great civil rights speech"



At five separate moments in his second inaugural address, delivered to an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 people at the Capitol, Mr. Obama uttered the words "We, the people" - the opening words to the preamble of the Constitution. Those words were deployed to underscore the president's argument that Americans need to recognize that we are all in it together - and that while America celebrates initiative and enterprise, "preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action."

"For the American people can no more meet the demands of today's world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias," he said. "No single person can train all the math and science teachers we'll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation, and one people." He went on to add that "we are made for this moment, and we will seize it - so long as we seize it together."

That idea underscored the positions Mr. Obama reiterated during the speech, which at times came closer to a policy-oriented State of the Union Address than an inaugural, which historically tends to be more about soaring rhetoric. (The president will offer his State of the Union on February 12.) In addition to arguing that economic inequality hampers the nation's success, he said that the future depends on harnessing "new ideas and technology to remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder, learn more, and reach higher."

"We do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few," said the president. "We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us, at any time, may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other - through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security - these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great."

Mr. Obama also fit a call for a renewed focus on fighting climate change - an issue largely absent from his first-term agenda - into the notion of collective action for the common good, saying that "the failure to [address it] would betray our children and future generations."




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Axelrod on Obama's vision for economy



In addition to climate change, Mr. Obama's second term agenda involves pushing passage of gun control and immigration legislation, overseeing the further implementation of the health care law, winding down the war in Afghanistan, and continuing to try to find some way to come to a major agreement with Republicans to address the nation's massive debt and deficit.

He has signaled that to accomplish these goals, he will take a more confrontational approach with Republicans than he did in his first term -- an approach illustrated by his recent refusal to negotiate on raising the debt limit. His inaugural address offered little in the way of appeals for Washington bipartisanship; instead, Mr. Obama called on Americans in and out of the nation's capitol to come together to help the nation stay on the right path, even if the results are sometimes "imperfect."

"Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time - but it does require us to act in our time," he said. "For now decisions are upon us, and we cannot afford delay."

It was an appeal grounded in the notion that America's strength comes from all its citizens, no matter their status. And it was offered by a president who knows the debt he owes to history - a president who sees himself both as a symbol of American progress and a vessel to keep it moving forward.

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Inauguration: 7.5 Things You Should Have Seen


A presidential inauguration is a big, long event that lasts all day and into the night–and who has time to really watch it? People have jobs, ones that don’t let you off for a federal holiday.


Everyone (or, at least, some) will be talking about it, which means potential embarrassment for anyone who doesn’t know what happened. Thankfully, ABC employs  news professionals stationed in Washington, D.C., to pay attention to these kinds of things and boil off some of the less noteworthy or interesting stuff, presenting you with short videos of everything that really mattered. Or at least the things a lot of people were talking about.


A full day of paying attention to President Obama’s second Inauguration leads one of those professionals to offer these 7 1/2 things:


1. Beyonce Sang the National Anthem


Boy, howdy! Did she ever? Beyonce has essentially become the Obama’s go-to female performer: She recorded a music video for Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative in 2011, and she performed at the president’s last inauguration in 2009. Her velvety, soulful “Star Spangled Banner” is getting good reviews.




2. Kelly Clarkson Also Sang


Kelly Clarkson is not as “in” with the First Couple as Beyonce seems to be, but they let her sing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” and she did a pretty good job with it. This was kind of weird, though, because at one point she said she loved Ron Paul, although she later said she would vote for Obama.




3.  Obama Talked About Gay Rights


This may not seem shocking since more than half the country, including President Obama, supports gay marriage. But the president made a point of mentioning gay rights during his speech, equating the struggles of the LGBT community with those of  past civil rights movements, and in doing so made history.


He name-checked Stonewall, the New York City bar that was raided by police in 1969 sparking riots to protest the anti-gay crackdown. And he actually used the word “gay”: “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well,” Obama said in his address.


Plenty of inaugural addresses have been chock full of rhetoric about freedom and equality, but in the last four years, the political culture surrounding gay rights has changed significantly, as more states legalized same-sex marriage and as broad swaths of the country got more comfortable with homosexuality in general. Obama’s “evolution” on gay marriage, and now his inaugural address, have helped signify that change.




4. Joe Biden Made Jokes and Shook Hands With People


Could we expect anything less?


Here’s how the Vice President toasting Sen. Chuck Schumer instead of President Obama at the big luncheon:  ”I raise my glass to a man who never, never, never operates out of fear, only operates out of confidence, and a guy–I’m toasting you, Chuck.” Watch it:



And here he is, scurrying around and jovially shaking hands with people along the parade route:




5. Richard Blanco Read a Poem That Was Sort of Whitman-esque, But Not Entirely


Cuban-born Richard Blanco became America’s first openly gay, Latino Inauguration poet. He read a nine-stanza poem entitled “One Today,” which set a kind of unifying American tableau scene.




6. Obama and Michelle Walked Around Outside The Limo


President Obama walked part of the parade route, from the Capitol to the White House, with Michelle. They waved to people. It is not entirely abnormal for a president to do this at an inaugural parade. But they walked quite a ways.




7. John Boehner: ‘Godspeed’


The speaker of the House presented American flags to Obama and Biden, telling them: “To you gentlemen, I say congratulations and Godspeed.”




7 1/2. Sasha and Malia Were There. 


Obama’s daughters, Sasha and Malia, were there. They didn’t really do much, but they did wear coats of different shades of purple that got a lot of  attention on Twitter.


Reports of the daughters looking at smartphones and applying lip gloss highlighted their day. As did this .gif of Sasha yawning.

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Quadruple DNA helix discovered in human cells








































Sixty years after James Watson and Francis Crick established that DNA forms a double helix, a quadruple-stranded DNA helix has turned up.













Quadruple helices that intertwine four, rather than two, DNA strands had been made in the laboratory, but were regarded as curiosities as there was no evidence that they existed in nature. Now, they have been identified in a range of human cancer cells.












The four-stranded packages of DNA, dubbed G-quadruplexes, are formed by the interaction of four guanine bases that together form a square. They appear to be transitory structures, and were most abundant when cells were poised to divide. They appeared in the core of chromosomes and also in telomeres, the caps on the tips of chromosomes that protect them from damage.












Because cancer cells divide so rapidly, and often have defects in their telomeres, the quadruple helix might be a feature unique to cancer cells. If so, any treatments that target them will not harm healthy cells.












"I hope our discovery challenges the dogma that we really understand DNA structure because Watson and Crick solved it in 1953," says Shankar Balasubramanian of the University of Cambridge, UK.











Tagged with antibodies













Balasubramanian's team identified the four-stranded structures in cancer cells with the help of an antibody that attaches exclusively to G-quadruplexes. To stop them from unravelling into the ordinary DNA, they exposed the cells to pyridostatin, a molecule that traps quadruple helices wherever they form.












This enabled the researchers to count how many formed at each stage of cell multiplication. The G-quadruplexes were most abundant in the "S-phase" – when cells replicate their DNA just prior to dividing.












"I expect they will also exist in normal cells, but I predict that there will be differences with cancer cells," says Balasubramanian. His hunch is that the G-quadruplexes are triggered into action by chaotic genomic mutations and reorganisations typical of cancerous or precancerous cells.












"This research further highlights the potential for exploiting these unusual DNA structures to beat cancer, and the next part of this is to figure out how to target them in tumour cells," says Julie Sharp of Cancer Research UK, which funded the research.












Another important question that Balasubramanian's and other teams will try to answer is whether G-quadruplexes play a role in embryo development, and whether such a role is mistakenly reactivated in cancer cells. "We plan to find out whether the quaduplexes are a natural nuisance, or there by design," he says.












Journal reference: Nature Chemistry, DOI: 10.1038/NCHEM.1548


















































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Tennis: Kuznetsova upsets Wozniacki at Australian Open






MELBOURNE: Two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova upset Danish 10th seed and ex-world number one Caroline Wozniacki in a tense three-set battle to make the Australian Open last eight on Monday.

The experienced Russian won 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 and will meet either top seed Victoria Azarenka or Russian Elena Vesnina in the quarter-finals.

It was a courageous win by Kuznetsova, who at 75 is the lowest ranked player left in the tournament after an injury to her right knee forced her to miss a big chunk of 2012, spending two months on crutches.

The injury meant she missed all post-Wimbledon events last year including the US Open, which ended her streak of 40 straight Grand Slam appearances dating back to 2002 at Flushing Meadow.

But Kuznetsova, who won the 2004 US Open and 2009 French Open, said she was feeling fresh again and delighted to be in the quarter-finals.

"I'm really happy with the result because in the second set I got stuck a bit," she said. "But I came out fighting in the third, and it's great.

"After 10 years of travelling I was getting tired," she added of her time on tour. "But I'm feeling fresh again and very happy to be in the quarter-finals because I struggled last year."

It was Wozniacki who was struggling on Monday. Her preparations for Melbourne were hurt by going out early at both the Brisbane and Sydney International tournaments, and her lacklustre form continued in Melbourne.

It was Kuznetsova who knocked her out of Sydney in the second round and while both players held their opening serves, the Russian put the Dane under pressure with some aggressive groundstrokes in the third game.

She won a crucial advantage on the second break point to go 2-1 ahead and consolidated the break by holding serve.

Kuznetsova kept pressing and got a second break in the seventh game when Wozniacki smashed a forehand into the net. She served out for the set but against the run of play, Wozniacki broke for a 2-0 lead in the second set.

The Russian lost her momentum and the Dane pushed on to get another break and take the set in 33 minutes.

It set up a tense decider and the Russian came out refreshed, taking a break for 2-1 with Wozniacki's frustration clear as she slammed her racquet to the ground.

The Dane dug deep to immediately break back as Kuznetsova lashed a forehand wide. The set became a battle with each player desperately trying to outsmart the other.

Kutznetsova finally got the breakthrough when Wozniacki netted a forehand on her serve to hand the Russian a 5-4 lead and she served out for the match.

- AFP/al



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Stan 'The Man' Musial dies




Photo portrait of Stan Musial in the 1960s.




STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Musial played 22 years in the Major League, all with the St. Louis Cardinals

  • He retired in 1963 as, statistically, one of the best hitters in baseball history

  • He died Saturday evening of natural causes, his grandson says

  • Baseball commissioner, players, fans recall Musial as a great athlete and man




(CNN) -- He was simply "The Man."


Stanley Frank Musial made a name for himself as one of baseball's best hitters of all time on the field, as well as one of its greatest, most dignified ambassadors off it.


And now "Stan the Man" is gone. Musial died at his Ladue, Missouri, home surrounded by family, the Cardinals said in a statement. According to a post on his Twitter page, which is maintained by his grandson Brian Musial Schwarze, Musial died at 5:45 p.m. (6:45 p.m. ET) Saturday of natural causes.


He was 92.


"We have lost the most beloved member of the Cardinals family," said William DeWitt Jr., the club's chairman. "Stan Musial was the greatest player in Cardinals history and one of the best players in the history of baseball."


The Pennsylvania-born Musial transitioned from a lackluster pitcher to a stellar slugging outfielder, according to his biography on the National Baseball Hall of Fame's website.


The left-hander had a batting average above .300 17 times during his 22-year career -- all played with St. Louis -- and earned three National League Most Valuable Player awards as well as three World Series titles. The only blip came in 1945, in the thick of World War II, when he left baseball to join the U.S. Navy.




Stan Musial waves to fans during the 2012 National League Championship Series.



After the 1963 season, Musial retired with a .331 career batting average and as the National League's career leader in RBI, games played, runs scored, hits and doubles. He has since been surpassed in some of those categories, but he still ranks fourth in baseball history in total hits, behind only Pete Rose, Ty Cobb and Hank Aaron.


Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver dead


He also stood out for his grace and sportsmanship -- having never been ejected once by an umpire. In his retirement ceremony, then-Major League Commissioner Ford Frick referred to Musial as "baseball's perfect warrior, baseball's perfect knight."


In 1969, Musial was elected on his first try into the Hall of Fame, calling it "the greatest honor of the many that have been bestowed upon me."


During and after his playing career, Musial developed a special relationship with the St. Louis fan base, who knew him simply as "Stan the Man."


A bronze statue of him stands outside Busch Stadium, which is located in Musial Plaza along Stan Musial Drive.


He continued with the organization for more than 25 years after his playing days ended, serving as vice president and general manager.


And Musial was active in the community, contributing to causes such as the USO, the Senior Olympics, the Boy Scouts and Covenant House.









People we lost in 2013











HIDE CAPTION









"I have no hesitation to say that St. Louis is a great place in which to live and work," he said in his Hall of Fame induction speech. "We love St. Louis."


His fans returned the favor, revering him for his play as well as his character and commitment to the area.


"Cardinal Nation will never be the same. Rest in peace Stan 'The Man' Musial, the best Cardinal there ever was," wrote one woman, by the name of Elise, on Twitter.


Musial also stood tall outside eastern Missouri. He served between 1964 and 1967 as chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.


In 2011, President Barack Obama bestowed upon him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.


"Stan matched his hustle with humility," Obama said then. "Stan remains, to this day, an icon, untarnished; a beloved pillar of the community; a gentleman you'd want your kids to emulate."


Lillian, Musial's wife of 71 years, died last May -- a longlasting marriage that some people, online, called as admirable as anything that happened on the diamond.


Stan Musial's passing spurred an outpouring of condolences and praise. Commissioner Bud Selig described him as "a Hall of Famer in every sense" and "a true gentleman," former pitcher Curt Schilling called his life "a clinic in respect, integrity and honor," and current Cardinal Matt Holliday said it was "an honor to the same uniform."


The messages from fans were no less heartfelt.


Wrote Jason Lukehart, on Twitter: "In a week that's shown the dangers deifying athletes, Stan Musial's death reminds me that once in a great while, there's a man worthy of it."







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MLK's "content of character" quote inspires debate

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

This sentence spoken by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has been quoted countless times as expressing one of America's bedrock values, its language almost sounding like a constitutional amendment on equality.




20 Photos


Martin Luther King Jr.






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Martin Luther King III talks his father's legacy






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King, Civil Rights Act remembered



Yet today, 50 years after King shared this vision during his most famous speech, there is considerable disagreement over what it means.

The quote is used to support opposing views on politics, affirmative action and programs intended to help the disadvantaged. Just as the words of the nation's founders are parsed for modern meanings on guns and abortion, so are King's words used in debates over the proper place of race in America.

As we mark the King holiday, what might he ask of us in a time when both the president and a disproportionate number of people in poverty are black? Would King have wanted us to completely ignore race in a "color-blind" society? To consider race as one of many factors about a person? And how do we discern character?

For at least two of King's children, the future envisioned by the father has yet to arrive.

"I don't think we can ignore race," says Martin Luther King III.

"What my father is asking is to create the climate where every American can realize his or her dreams," he says. "Now what does that mean when you have 50 million people living in poverty?"

Bernice King doubts her father would seek to ignore differences.

"When he talked about the beloved community, he talked about everyone bringing their gifts, their talents, their cultural experiences," she says. "We live in a society where we may have differences, of course, but we learn to celebrate these differences."

The meaning of King's monumental quote is more complex today than in 1963 because "the unconscious signals have changed," says the historian Taylor Branch, author of the acclaimed trilogy "America in the King Years."

Fifty years ago, bigotry was widely accepted. Today, Branch says, even though prejudice is widely denounced, many people unconsciously pre-judge others.

"Unfortunately race in American history has been one area in which Americans kid themselves and pretend to be fair-minded when they really are not," says Branch, whose new book is "The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement."

Branch believes that today, King would ask people of all backgrounds - not just whites - to deepen their patriotism by leaving their comfort zones, reaching across barriers and learning about different people.

"To remember that we all have to stretch ourselves to build the ties that bind a democracy, which really is the source of our strength," Branch says.

Bernice King says her father is asking us "to get to a place - we're obviously not there - but to get to a place where the first thing that we utilize as a measurement is not someone's external designation, but it really is trying to look beyond that into the substance of a person in making certain decisions, to rid ourselves of those kinds of prejudices and biases that we often bring to decisions that we make."

That takes a lot of "psychological work," she says, adding, "He's really challenging us."

For many conservatives, the modern meaning of King's quote is clear: Special consideration for one racial or ethnic group is a violation of the dream.

The quote is like the Declaration of Independence, says Roger Clegg, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative think tank that studies race and ethnicity. In years past, he says, America may have needed to grow into the words, but today they must be obeyed to the letter.

"The Declaration of Independence says all men are created equal," Clegg says. "Nobody thinks it doesn't really mean what it says because Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. King gave a brilliant and moving quotation, and I think it says we should not be treating people differently on the basis of skin color."

Many others agree. King's quote has become a staple of conservative belief that "judged by the color of their skin" includes things such as unique appeals to certain voter groups, reserving government contracts for Hispanic-owned businesses, seeking more non-white corporate executives, or admitting black students to college with lower test scores.

In the latest issue of the Weekly Standard magazine, the quote appears in the lead of a book review titled "The Price Was High: Affirmative Action and the Betrayal of a Colorblind Society."

Considering race as a factor in affirmative action keeps the wounds of slavery and Jim Crow "sore and festering. It encourages beneficiaries to rely on ethnicity rather than self-improvement to get ahead," wrote the author, George Leef.

Last week, the RightWingNews.com blog included "The idea that everyone should be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin" in a list of "25 People, Places and Things Liberals Love to Hate."

"Conservatives feel they have embraced that quote completely. They are the embodiment of that quote but get no credit for doing it," says the author of the article, John Hawkins. "Liberals like the idea of the quote because it's the most famous thing Martin Luther King said, but they left the principles behind the quote behind a long time ago."


1/2


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Obamas Share the Love, Even for Michelle's Bangs


Jan 20, 2013 10:49pm







ap obamas 130120 wblog Obama Calls First Ladys Bangs Most Significant Event of Inaugural Weekend

(Charles Dharapak/AP Photo)


President Obama used the first public remarks of his second term to address what he called the “most significant” event of this weekend: his wife’s much-talked-about new haircut.


“I love her bangs,” Obama told supporters at an inaugural reception at the National Building Museum. “She looks good. She always looks good.”



First lady Michelle Obama, wearing a black sequined cocktail dress and showcasing her new hairdo, also heaped compliments on her husband.


“Let me tell you, it has just been a true thrill to watch this handsome, charming individual grow into the man and the president that he is,” she said, as she reached out to playfully touch the president’s face, sparking laughter from the crowd.


Praising his compassion and courage, the first lady introduced the president as the “love of her life.”


Obama, who was sworn in for a second term in a small White House ceremony earlier today, kept his remarks short, noting he has another big speech to deliver Monday.


“There are a limited amount of good lines and you don’t want to use them all up tonight,” he joked.


Because the Constitutionally mandated date for the inauguration, Jan. 20, fell on a Sunday this year, the traditional, public ceremony was delayed until Monday.


Saving the best for his official inaugural address, the president instead dedicated the bulk of his remarks to thanking supporters for their hard work and dedication to getting him re-elected.


“You understood this was not just about a candidate; it was not just about Joe Biden or Barack Obama. This was about us, who we are as a nation, what values we cherish, how hard we’re willing to fight to make sure that those values live not just for today but for future generations,” he said.


“All of you here understood and were committed to the basic notion that when we put our shoulders to the wheel of history, it moves… It moves forward. And that’s part of what we celebrate when we come together for inauguration,” he said.



SHOWS: World News







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Earth may be crashing through dark matter walls



































Earth is constantly crashing through huge walls of dark matter, and we already have the tools to detect them. That's the conclusion of physicists who say the universe may be filled with a patchwork quilt of force fields created shortly after the big bang.












Observations of how mass clumps in space suggest that about 86 per cent of all matter is invisible dark matter, which interacts with ordinary matter mainly through gravity. The most popular theory is that dark matter is made of weakly interacting massive particles.











WIMPs should also interact with ordinary matter via the weak nuclear force, and their presence should have slight but measurable effects. However, years of searches for WIMPs have been coming up empty.













"So far nothing is found, and I feel like it's time to broaden the scope of our search," says Maxim Pospelov of the University of Victoria in Canada. "What we propose is to look for some other signatures."











Bubbly cosmos













Pospelov and colleagues have been examining a theory that at least some of the universe's dark matter is tied up in structures called domain walls, akin to the boundaries between tightly packed bubbles. The idea is that the hot early universe was full of an exotic force field that varied randomly. As the universe expanded and cooled, the field froze, leaving a patchwork of domains, each with its own distinct value for the field.












Having different fields sit next to each other requires energy to be stored within the domain walls. Mass and energy are interchangeable, so on a large scale a network of domain walls can look like concentrations of mass – that is, like dark matter, says Pospelov.












If the grid of domain walls is packed tightly enough – say, if the width of the domains is several hundred times the distance between Earth and the sun – Earth should pass through a domain wall once every few years. "As a human, you wouldn't feel a thing," says Pospelov. "You will go through the wall without noticing." But magnetometers – devices that, as the name suggests, measure magnetic fields – could detect the walls, say Pospelov and colleagues in a new study. Although the field inside a domain would not affect a magnetometer, the device would sense the change when Earth passes through a domain wall.












Dark matter walls have not been detected yet because anyone using a single magnetometer would find the readings swamped by noise, Pospelov says. "You'd never be able to say if it's because the Earth went through a bizarre magnetic field or if a grad student dropped their iPhone or something," he says.











Network needed













Finding the walls will require a network of at least five detectors spread around the world, Pospelov suggests. Colleagues in Poland and California have already built one magnetometer each and have shown that they are sensitive enough for the scheme to work.












Domain walls wouldn't account for all the dark matter in the universe, but they could explain why finding particles of the stuff has been such a challenge, says Pospelov.












If domain walls are found, the news might come as a relief to physicists still waiting for WIMPs to show up. Earlier this month, for instance, a team working with a detector in Russia that has been running for more than 24 years announced that they have yet to see any sign of these dark matter candidates.












Douglas Finkbeiner of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who was not involved in Pospelov's study, isn't yet convinced that dark matter walls exist. But he is glad that physicists are keeping an open mind about alternatives to WIMPs.












"We've looked for WIMP dark matter in so many ways," he says. "At some point you have to ask, are we totally on the wrong track?"












Journal reference: Physical Review Letters, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.021803


















































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Scope to expand health screening programmes for elderly: Koh Poh Koon






SINGAPORE: The People's Action Party (PAP) candidate for the Punggol East by-election Dr Koh Poh Koon said he plans to set up a wellness centre for the elderly to help senior residents age actively.

He said there is scope to expand health screening and preventive programmes for the elderly in the ward.

Dr Koh told reporters that plans are still in early stages but the centre will be built as part of the new Community Centre, to be located near Rivervale Plaza.

He said fundraising for the new centre has reached 50 per cent.

Dr Koh added that he will push forward on this effort if and when he is elected MP for the area.

- CNA/ck



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Algerian assault ends gas plant siege






STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Two Americans unaccounted for, senior U.S. official says

  • Obama says "scourge of terrorism" must be fought

  • Algerian state news: At least 55 people, including hostages and militants, have died

  • The militants targeted an eastern Algerian gas facility where many foreigners workers




(CNN) -- Algerian troops ended a hostage crisis at a remote gas facility Saturday with one last, bloody assault, Algerian and Western officials said, after three days of chaos and confusion left dozens dead and fanned fears of a new terror front in Africa.


At least 23 hostages and 32 "terrorists" were killed around the sprawling facility in eastern Algeria's desert, the Algerian interior ministry said Saturday. Some 685 Algerian workers and 107 foreigners have been freed, it said.


It is not clear just how many people are still unaccounted for. A senior U.S. official said two Americans were among that number.


The saga closed after a "final" assault, which itself contributed to the deaths of seven hostages and 11 militants, according to Algerian state media reports.


An Algerian Radio report did not specify the nationalities of those killed. CNN is unable to verify the state media figures on the deaths.










Afterward, Algeria's military continued to clear mines planted by militants, the official Algerian Press Service reported, citing the country's state-owned oil and gas company.


"While the site is still dangerous and there may be explosives that will need to be dealt with, the terrorist incident is now over," said British Prime Minister David Cameron, citing his conversation with his Algerian counterpart.


The militant siege caught the world's attention as it ensnared citizens from several nations and dragged on for days.


Algerian authorities said they believe the attack was revenge for allowing France to use Algerian airspace for an offensive against Islamist militants in neighboring Mali.


Whatever the rationale, the scale and gore of the terror has stirred world leaders to press for action beyond Algeria, especially with Islamic extremists asserting themselves more and more in recent weeks.


"Let me be clear: There is no justification for taking innocent life in this way," Cameron said. "Our determination is stronger than ever to work with allies ... around the world to root out and defeat this terrorist scourge and those who encourage it."


British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Algerian authorities "certainly worked very hard to try to save the lives of people from other countries. I think it's actually too early to pass judgment on (the Algerian military operation)."


U.S. President Barack Obama said his administration would work with other countries to "combat the scourge of terrorism in the region, which has claimed too many innocent lives. This attack is another reminder of the threat posed by al Qaeda and other violent extremist groups in North Africa."


In a statement, Obama said the United States will work with Algeria to prevent future such incidents.


Crisis highlights pressure, potential on Algeria


Algerian special forces moved in because the terrorists wanted to flee for Mali -- apparently to pressure France and others who have recently intervened in that country -- Algerian state TV reported Saturday.


The Islamic extremists also planned to blow up the gas installation, a threat that initially prompted Algeria to halt its military operation. The location was rigged to explode, with mines planted throughout, according to the senior U.S. official.


Algeria's status as Africa's largest natural gas producer, and as a major supplier of the product to Europe, heightens its importance to other nations and businesses who want to invest there. Yet that interest is coupled with pressure to make sure foreign nationals, and their business ventures, are safe.


The targeted plant in In Amenas, which is just 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of the Libyan border, is run by Algeria's state oil company, in cooperation with foreign firms such as Norway's Statoil and Britain's BP.


Saturday's last push there follows another one two days earlier, which spurred criticism from some countries that Algeria had unnecessarily endangered hostages' lives.


British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said Britain was still pressing the Algerian government for full details, while confirming the Saturday assault resulted in more deaths. He called the loss of life "appalling and unacceptable," laying blame solely on the terrorists.


Like Cameron, Norwegian foreign ministry spokesman Svein Michelsen confirmed that the Algerian military offensive was over, but did not offer further details.


Nations scramble to account for missing


The overall death toll could rise, Algerian state TV reports, as authorities are still combing the area.


Amid the uncertainty, individual nations are scrambling to find out what happened to their citizens. It is not clear how many hostages were seized by the Islamist militants in the first place.


Five Norwegians are missing while "eight are now safe," Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said.


Five British nationals and one UK resident are missing or feared dead in Algeria, Hague told reporters. This is in addition to one Briton, whose death was previously announced.


Colombia's president said a citizen was presumed dead.


The Scottish government said eight of its residents are safe.


There are no known French hostages unaccounted for, a Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday.


Three French nationals who were at the site are safe, the foreign ministry has said. One man -- identified as Yann Desjeux -- died after telling the French newspaper Sud Ouest on Thursday that he and 34 other hostages of nine different nationalities were well-treated.


Of the BP employees, 14 are safe, and four BP employees are still missing in Algeria, BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley said.


At least one American, identified as Frederick Buttaccio, is among the dead, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. The senior U.S. official told CNN that six freed Americans left Algeria and one remained.


One Romanian lost his life, a spokeswoman for the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told CNN on Saturday. Four other Romanians were freed.


And there are 14 Japanese unaccounted for, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.


Malaysia's state-run news agency reported Thursday that two of its citizens were held captive.


Dramatic tales of escape from terror


When the crisis began Wednesday, militants gathered the Westerners into a group and tied them up, survivors said. The kidnappers wielded AK-47 rifles and put explosive-laden vests on some hostages, according to a U.S. State Department official.


Some survivors described their harrowing escapes by rigging up disguises, sneaking to safety with locals, and in at least one case, running for his life with plastic explosives strapped around his neck.


That man was Stephen McFaul, who -- according to his brother Brian -- was among a group of hostages who had been blindfolded, gagged and then packed into five Jeeps on Thursday, during Algerian forces' first offensive.


An explosion "wiped out" four of the vehicles, while McFaul's vehicle crashed. He was able to get out and, eventually, contact his family.


"I haven't seen my mother move as fast in all my life, and my mother smile as much, hugging each other," Brian McFaul of Belfast, Northern Ireland, said upon his family hearing his brother was safe. "... You couldn't describe the feeling."


Al Qaeda-linked group offered prisoner-hostage exchange


A spokesman for Moktar Belmoktar, a longtime jihadist who leads the Brigade of the Masked Ones -- a militant group associated with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb -- reportedly offered to free U.S. hostages in exchange for two prisoners.


Behind the group claiming responsibility for the attack and kidnappings, he is known for seizing hostages and has long been targeted by French counterterrorism forces.


The prisoners are Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who orchestrated the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman jailed in the United States on terrorism charges, the spokesman said in an interview with a private Mauritanian news agency.


Nuland rejected the offer, restating U.S. policy of not negotiating with terrorists.


Opinion: Algeria situation is a wake-up call for the U.S.


CNN's Barbara Starr, Per Nyberg, Dan Rivers, Greg Botelho, Tricia Escobedo, Josh Rubin, Joe Sutton, Mitra Mobasherat, Saskya Vandoorne, Laura Perez Maestro, Saad Abedine, Elise Labott and Tim Lister contributed to this report, as did journalists Peter Taggart from Belfast and Said Ben Ali from Algiers.






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