8
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said Sunday that the FBI is investigating in the United States and overseas to determine whether the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing received training that helped them carry out the attack. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is charged with joining with his older brother, Tamerlan, who's now dead, in setting off the shrapnel- packed pressure-cooker bombs. The bombs were triggered by a remote detonator of the kind used in remote-control toys, U.S. offi- cials have said. U.S. officials investigating the bombings have told The Associated Press that so far there is no evidence to date of a wider plot, including training, direction or funding for the attacks. A criminal complaint outlining federal charges against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev described him as holding a cellphone in his hand minutes before the first explosion. The brothers are ethnic Chechens from Russia who came to the United States about a decade ago with their par- ents. "I think given the level of sophistication of this device, the fact that the pressure cooker is a signature device that goes back to Pakistan, Afghanistan, leads me to believe - and the way they handled these devices and the tradecraft - ... that there was a trainer and the question is where is that trainer or trainers," said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, on "Fox News Sunday." "Are they overseas in the Chechen region or are they in the United States?" McCaul said. "In my conversations with the FBI, that's the big question. They've casted a wide net both overseas and in the United States to find out where this person is. But I think the experts all agree that there is someone who did train these two individuals." Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said he thought it's "probably true" that Circulated Weekly In Florida Volume 002 Issue 18 Established 2012 April 29, 2013 FBI CHECKING TRAINING ANGLE IN BOMBING the attack was not linked to a major group. But, he told CNN's "State of the Union," that there "may have been radicalizing influences" in the U.S. or abroad. "It does look like a lot of radi- calization was self-radicalization online, but we don't know the full answers yet." On ABC's "This Week," modera- tor George Stephanopoulos raised the question to the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee about FBI suspicions that the brothers had help in getting the bombs together. "Absolutely, and not only that, but in the self-radicalization process, you still need outside affirmation," respond- ed Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. "We still have persons of interest that we're working to find and identify and have conversations with," he added. At this point in the investigation, however, Sen. Claire McCaskill said there was no evidence that the brothers "were part of a larger organization, that they were, in fact, part of some kind of terror cell or any kind of direction." The Missouri Democrat, who's on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told CBS' "Face the Nation" that "it appears, at this point, based on the evidence, that it's the two of them." Homemade bombs built from pressure cookers have been a frequent weapon of militants in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen once published an online manual on how to make one. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was an ardent reader of jihadist web- sites and extremist propaganda, officials have said. He fre- quently looked at extremist sites, including Inspire magazine, an English-language online publication produced by al-Qaida's Yemen affiliate. In recent years, two would-be U.S. attackers reported receiving bomb-making training from foreign groups but failed to set off the explosives. WEEKLY NEWS DIGEST THE Visitors pause at a makeshift memorial in Copley Square for victims of the Boston Marathon bomb- ings, in Boston. Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, says he believes the Boston Marathon bombing suspects had some training in carrying out their attack. McCaul is citing the type of device used in the attack, the shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs, and the weapons' sophistication as signs of training. ZACH BRAFF RAISES $2M ON KICKSTARTER IN 3 DAYS FOR MOVIE NEW YORK (AP) -- Zach Braff has met his goal on Kickstarter, raising $2 million in three days to fund his follow-up to "Garden State." The actor-director's crowd-funding campaign follows Rob Thomas' wildly successful use of Kickstarter to finance a movie of the defunct TV series "Veronica Mars." Thomas pulled in $2 million in less than a day, eventually gathering more than $5.7 million in 30 days. But some observers have criticized Hollywood stars for using the Kickstarter website to dip into the pockets of their loyal fans. Braff has said this is the only way for him to direct his first film since "Garden State" with final cut and his desired casting. After passing his goal Saturday, the "Scrubs" star said on Twitter: "I will not let you down. Let's go make a killer movie." FREE BRANDON, Miss. (AP) -- The arrest of a 41-year-old Mississippi martial arts instructor in a case of poison-laced letters sent to President Barack Obama and others capped a week in which investigators initially zeroed in on a rival of James Everett Dutschke, then decided they had the wrong man. Federal authorities arrested Dutschke early Saturday at his home in Tupelo. He was charged with "knowingly develop- ing, producing, stockpiling, transferring, acquiring, retaining and possessing a biological agent, toxin and delivery system, for use as a weapon, to wit: ricin." U.S. attorney Felicia Adams and Daniel McMullen, the FBI agent in charge in Mississippi, made the announcement in a news release. Dutschke is expected to appear Monday in U.S. District Court in Oxford. Authorities said the hunt for a suspect revealed tie after small-town tie between the two men being investigated and the 80-year-old county judge who, along with Obama and U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, was among the tar- gets of the letters. Dutschke's house, business and vehicles in Tupelo were searched earlier in the week, often by crews in hazardous materials suits. He also had come under surveillance. M I S S I S S I P P I MAN CHARGED IN SUSPICIOUS LETTERS CASE NKOREA CHARGES US MAN IN PLOT TO OVERTHROW REGIME PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- North Korea announced Saturday that an American detained for nearly six months is being tried in the Supreme Court on charges of plotting to overthrow the gov- ernment, a crime that could draw the death penalty if he is convicted. The case involving Kenneth Bae, who has been in North Korean custody since early November, further complicates already fraught relations between Pyongyang and Washington following weeks of heightened rhetoric and tensions. The trial mirrors a similar situation in 2009, when the U.S. and North Korea were locked in a standoff over Pyongyang's decision to launch a long-range rocket and conduct an underground nuclear test. At the time, North Korea had custody of two American journalists, whose eventual release after being sentenced to 12 years of hard labor paved the way for diplomacy following months of ten- sions. Bae was arrested in early November in Rason, a special economic zone in North Korea's far northeastern region bordering China and Russia, according to official state media. In North Korean dispatches, Bae, a Korean American, is called Pae Jun Ho, the North Korean spelling of his Korean name. The exact nature of his alleged crimes has not been revealed, but North Korea accuses Bae, described as a tour operator, of seeking to overthrow North Korea's leader- ship. "In the process of investigation he admitted that he commit- ted crimes aimed to topple the DPRK with hostility toward it," the state-run Korean Central News Agency said Saturday. "His crimes were proved by evidence. He will soon be taken to the Supreme Court of the DPRK to face judgment." DPRK is the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. No timing for the verdict issued at the austere Supreme Court in Pyongyang was given. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. government is "aware of reports that a U.S. citizen will face trial in North Korea" and that officials from the Continued on page 6 Continued on page 6 Continued on page 3 Everett Dutschke stands in the street near his home in Tupelo, Miss., and waits for the FBI to arrive and search his home in connection with the sending of poisoned letters to President Barack Obama and others. FBI spokeswoman Deborah Madden says Dutschke, 41, was arrested Saturday, April 27, 2013, at his Tupelo home. U.S. Attorney Felicia C. Adams and Daniel McMullen, the FBI agent in charge in Mississippi, announced later Saturday that Dutschke has been charged with making and possessing ricin in the investigation into poison-laced letters sent to Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and 80-year- old Mississippi judge Sadie Holland.

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Thechairman of the House HomelandSecurity Committee said Sundaythat the FBI is investigating in theUnited States and overseas todetermine whether the suspects inthe Boston Marathon bombingreceived training that helped themcarry out the attack.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, ischarged with joining with his olderbrother, Tamerlan, who's nowdead, in setting off the shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs.The bombs were triggered by aremote detonator of the kind usedin remote-control toys, U.S. offi-cials have said.

U.S. officials investigating thebombings have told The Associated Press that so far there isno evidence to date of a wider plot, including training, directionor funding for the attacks.

A criminal complaint outlining federal charges againstDzhokhar Tsarnaev described him as holding a cellphone inhis hand minutes before the first explosion.

The brothers are ethnic Chechens from Russia whocame to the United States about a decade ago with their par-ents.

"I think given the level of sophistication of this device, thefact that the pressure cooker is a signature device that goesback to Pakistan, Afghanistan, leads me to believe - and theway they handled these devices and the tradecraft - ... thatthere was a trainer and the question is where is that trainer ortrainers," said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, on "Fox NewsSunday."

"Are they overseas in the Chechen region or are they inthe United States?" McCaul said. "In my conversations with theFBI, that's the big question. They've casted a wide net bothoverseas and in the United States to find out where this personis. But I think the experts all agree that there is someone whodid train these two individuals."

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a member of the HouseIntelligence Committee, said he thought it's "probably true" that

Circulated Weekly In Florida Volume 002 Issue 18 Established 2012 April 29, 2013

F B I C H E C K I N G T R A I N I N GA N G L E I N B O M B I N G

the attack was not linked to a majorgroup. But, he told CNN's "State of theUnion," that there "may have beenradicalizing influences" in the U.S. orabroad. "It does look like a lot of radi-calization was self-radicalizationonline, but we don't know the fullanswers yet."

On ABC's "This Week," modera-tor George Stephanopoulos raisedthe question to the chairman of theHouse Intelligence Committee aboutFBI suspicions that the brothers hadhelp in getting the bombs together.

"Absolutely, and not only that, butin the self-radicalization process, youstill need outside affirmation," respond-ed Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.

"We still have persons of interest that we're working to findand identify and have conversations with," he added.

At this point in the investigation, however, Sen. ClaireMcCaskill said there was no evidence that the brothers "werepart of a larger organization, that they were, in fact, part of somekind of terror cell or any kind of direction."

The Missouri Democrat, who's on the Senate HomelandSecurity and Governmental Affairs Committee, told CBS'"Face the Nation" that "it appears, at this point, based on theevidence, that it's the two of them."

Homemade bombs built from pressure cookers havebeen a frequent weapon of militants in Afghanistan, India andPakistan. Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen once published anonline manual on how to make one.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was an ardent reader of jihadist web-sites and extremist propaganda, officials have said. He fre-quently looked at extremist sites, including Inspire magazine,an English-language online publication produced by al-Qaida'sYemen affiliate.

In recent years, two would-be U.S. attackers reportedreceiving bomb-making training from foreign groups but failedto set off the explosives.

WEEKLY NEWS DIGESTTH

E

Visitors pause at a makeshift memorial in CopleySquare for victims of the Boston Marathon bomb-ings, in Boston. Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairmanof the House Homeland Security Committee, sayshe believes the Boston Marathon bombing suspectshad some training in carrying out their attack.McCaul is citing the type of device used in theattack, the shrapnel-packed pressure-cookerbombs, and the weapons' sophistication as signs oftraining.

Z A C H B R A F F R A I S E S$2M ON KICKSTARTERIN 3 DAYS FOR M O V I E

NEW YORK (AP) -- Zach Braffhas met his goal on Kickstarter,raising $2 million in three days tofund his follow-up to "GardenState."

The actor-director's crowd-funding campaign followsRob Thomas' wildly successful use of Kickstarter tofinance a movie of the defunct TV series "VeronicaMars." Thomas pulled in $2 million in less than a day,eventually gathering more than $5.7 million in 30 days.

But some observers have criticized Hollywood stars forusing the Kickstarter website to dip into the pockets oftheir loyal fans. Braff has said this is the only way forhim to direct his first film since "Garden State" with finalcut and his desired casting.

After passing his goal Saturday, the "Scrubs" star saidon Twitter: "I will not let you down. Let's go make akiller movie."

FREE

BRANDON, Miss. (AP) -- The arrest of a 41-year-oldMississippi martial arts instructor in a case of poison-lacedletters sent to President Barack Obama and others capped aweek in which investigators initially zeroed in on a rival ofJames Everett Dutschke, then decided they had the wrongman.

Federal authorities arrested Dutschke early Saturday at hishome in Tupelo. He was charged with "knowingly develop-ing, producing, stockpiling, transferring, acquiring, retainingand possessing a biological agent, toxin and delivery system,for use as a weapon, to wit: ricin."

U.S. attorney Felicia Adams and Daniel McMullen, the FBIagent in charge in Mississippi, made the announcement in anews release. Dutschke is expected to appear Monday inU.S. District Court in Oxford.

Authorities said the hunt for a suspect revealed tie aftersmall-town tie between the two men being investigated andthe 80-year-old county judge who, along with Obama andU.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, was among the tar-gets of the letters.

Dutschke's house, business and vehicles in Tupelo weresearched earlier in the week, often by crews in hazardousmaterials suits. He also had come under surveillance.

M I S S I S S I P P IM A N C H A R G E DI N S U S P I C I O U SL E T T E R S C A S E

N K O R E A C H A R G E S U S M A N I NP L O T T O O V E R T H R O W R E G I M E

PYONGYANG, NorthKorea (AP) -- NorthKorea announcedSaturday that anAmerican detained fornearly six months isbeing tried in the

Supreme Courton charges of plottingto overthrow the gov-

ernment, a crime that could draw the death penalty if he isconvicted.

The case involving Kenneth Bae, who has been in NorthKorean custody since early November, further complicatesalready fraught relations between Pyongyang andWashington following weeks of heightened rhetoric andtensions.

The trial mirrors a similar situation in 2009, when the U.S.and North Korea were locked in a standoff overPyongyang's decision to launch a long-range rocket andconduct an underground nuclear test. At the time, NorthKorea had custody of two American journalists, whoseeventual release after being sentenced to 12 years of hardlabor paved the way for diplomacy following months of ten-sions.

Bae was arrested in early November in Rason, a specialeconomic zone in North Korea's far northeastern regionbordering China and Russia, according to official statemedia. In North Korean dispatches, Bae, a KoreanAmerican, is called Pae Jun Ho, the North Korean spellingof his Korean name.

The exact nature of his alleged crimes has not beenrevealed, but North Korea accuses Bae, described as atour operator, of seeking to overthrow North Korea's leader-ship.

"In the process of investigation he admitted that he commit-ted crimes aimed to topple the DPRK with hostility towardit," the state-run Korean Central News Agency saidSaturday. "His crimes were proved by evidence. He willsoon be taken to the Supreme Court of the DPRK to facejudgment."

DPRK is the acronym for North Korea's official name, theDemocratic People's Republic of Korea. No timing for theverdict issued at the austere Supreme Court in Pyongyangwas given.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said theU.S. government is "aware of reports that a U.S. citizen willface trial in North Korea" and that officials from the

Continued on page 6Continued on page 6

Continued on page 3

Everett Dutschke stands in the street near his home in Tupelo,Miss., and waits for the FBI to arrive and search his home inconnection with the sending of poisoned letters to PresidentBarack Obama and others. FBI spokeswoman Deborah Maddensays Dutschke, 41, was arrested Saturday, April 27, 2013, at hisTupelo home. U.S. Attorney Felicia C. Adams and DanielMcMullen, the FBI agent in charge in Mississippi, announcedlater Saturday that Dutschke has been charged with making andpossessing ricin in the investigation into poison-laced letterssent to Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and 80-year-old Mississippi judge Sadie Holland.

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I N V E S T I G A T O R S P U S H A H E A DI N B O S T O N B O M B I N G P R O B E

BOSTON (AP) -- With the

Boston marathon bombing sus-

pect in a prison hospital, investi-

gators are pushing forward in the

U.S. and abroad to piece together

the myriad details of a plot that

killed three people and injured

more than 260.

FBI agents have wrapped up

a two-day search at a landfill near

the University of Massachusetts

Dartmouth, where 19-year-old

suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was

a sophomore. FBI spokeswoman

Laura Eimiller wouldn't say what

investigators were looking for or

whether they recovered anything

from the landfill before the search

ended Friday.

A federal law enforcement official not authorized to

speak on the record about the investigation told The

Associated Press on the condition of anonymity on Friday

that the FBI was gathering evidence regarding "everything

imaginable."

Meanwhile, U.S. officials said the bombing suspects'

mother had been added to a federal terrorism database about

18 months before the April 15 attack - a disclosure that deep-

ens the mystery around the Tsarnaev family and marks the

first time American authorities have acknowledged that

Zubeidat Tsarnaeva was under investigation before the

tragedy.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is charged with joining with his

older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, now dead, in setting off the

shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs. The brothers are

ethnic Chechens from Russia who came to the United States

about a decade ago with their parents.

Investigators have said it appears the brothers were

angry about the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Two government officials, speaking on condition of

anonymity because they were not authorized to speak pub-

licly about the investigation, said the CIA had Zubeidat

Tsarnaeva's name added to the terror database along with that

of her son Tamerlan after Russia contacted the agency in

2011 with concerns that the two were religious militants.

About six months earlier, the FBI investigated mother

and son, also at Russia's request, one of the officials said. The

FBI found no ties to terrorism. Previously U.S. officials had

said only that the FBI investigated Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

In an interview from Russia, Tsarnaeva said Friday that

she has never been linked to terrorism.

"It's all lies and hypocrisy," she said from Dagestan. "I'm

sick and tired of all this nonsense that they make up about me

and my children. People know me as a regular person, and

I've never been mixed up in any criminal intentions, espe-

cially any linked to terrorism."

Tsarnaeva faces shoplifting charges in the U.S. over the

theft of more than $1,624 worth of women's clothing from a

Lord & Taylor department store in Natick in 2012.

Earlier this week, she said she has been assured by

lawyers that she would not be arrested if she traveled to the

U.S., but she said she was still deciding whether to go. The

suspects' father, Anzor Tsarnaev, said that he would leave

Russia soon for the United States to visit one son and lay the

other to rest.

A team of investigators from the U.S. Embassy in

Moscow questioned both parents

in Russia this week.

Late this week, Dzhohkar

Tsarnaev was taken from Beth

Israel Deaconess Medical Center,

where he was recovering from a

throat wound and other injuries

suffered during an attempt to

elude police, and was transferred

to the Federal Medical Center

Devens, about 40 miles from

Boston, the U.S. Marshals Service

said. The facility, at a former

Army base, treats federal prison-

ers.

"It's where he should be; he

doesn't need to be here anymore,"

said Beth Israel patient Linda

Zamansky, who thought his

absence could reduce stress on bombing victims who have

been recovering at the hospital under tight security.

Two college buddies of his - Azamat Tazhayakov and

Dias Kadyrbayev - have been interviewed at length, twice, by

FBI agents and have cooperated fully, said Kadyrbayev's

lawyer, Robert Stahl, a former federal prosecutor.

They were detained April 20 after being questioned in

connection with the attacks, but are not suspects, Stahl said.

They are being detained at a county jail in Boston for violat-

ing their student visas by not regularly attending classes, he

said.

The two, both students from Kazakhstan, had nothing to

do with the attack and had seen no hints that their friend har-

bored any violent or terrorist sympathies, Stahl said.

Meanwhile, New York's police commissioner said the

FBI was too slow to inform the city that the Boston Marathon

suspects had been planning to bomb Times Square days after

the attack at the race.

Federal investigators learned about the short-lived

scheme from a hospitalized Dzhokhar Tsarnaev during a bed-

side interrogation that began Sunday night and extended into

Monday morning, officials said. The information didn't reach

the New York Police Department until Wednesday night.

"We did express our concerns over the lag," said police

Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

The FBI had no comment Friday.

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This April 25, 2013 file photo shows the mother of thetwo Boston bombing suspects, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva,left, speaking at a news conference in Makhachkala,the southern Russian province of Dagestan. Two gov-ernment officials tell The Associated Press that U.S.intelligence agencies added the Boston bombing sus-pects' mother to a federal terrorism database about 18months before the attack. At right is her sister-in-lawMaryam

h t t p : / / w w w . n a t u r e . o r g WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama arguesthat his signature health care law is already benefitingmost Americans even if they don't know it.

The president says despite what he calls "sky is falling"predictions, the Affordable Care Act's provisions arealready in place for those with health insurance.

He says what's left is to help those Americans who don'thave health care coverage to obtain it. He acknowledgedthat is "a big undertaking" and predicted there could stillbe some glitches as the details are worked out.

Obama was speaking at a news conference Tuesday atthe White House.

O B A M A S AY S H I SHEALTH CARE LAWMOSTLY IN PLACE

Page 3: The Weekly News digest FL april 29

2 P O L I C E S H O T O U T S I D EI T A L I A N P R E M I E R ' S O F F I C E

The Weekly News Digest, April 29, 2013 3

attack `'has the appearance of being carried out by anunbalanced man" but she did not elaborate on the evi-dence for that claim. Until being sworn in Sunday,Cancellieri was the interior minister in charge of statepolice.

Sky TG24 TV quoted the man's brother as saying thealleged attacker had lost his job in a construction firmand was upset over marital problems.

An aide to Foreign Minister Emma Bonino told reporters

FA C E B O O K C E O R E A P E D $ 2 . 3 BG A I N O N S T O C K O P T I O N S

A wounded Carabinieri paramilitary police officer lies onthe ground after being shot outside the Chigi Premier'soffice, in Rome, Sunday, April 28, 2013. Two paramilitarypolice officers were shot and wounded Sunday in acrowded square outside the Italian premier's office as thenew leader Enrico Letta was sworn in about a kilometer(half-mile) away. It was unclear if there was any connec-tion between the events.

at the presidential palace that the new Cabinet memberswere kept briefly inside for security reasons until it wasclear there was no immediate danger.

The new interior minister, Angelino Alfano, went to theRome hospital to visit the policeman who was woundedin the neck.

Sky said the alleged gunman was also taken to the hos-pital. The suspect was seen with a protective collararound his neck, indicating he might have been injured,

The shooting immediately sparked ugly memories of the1970s and 1980s, when domestic terrorism plagued Italyduring a time of high political tensions between right-wing and left-wing blocs.

The new Cabinet ministers were seen smiling in a groupphoto as news of the shooting broke and it was clearthey weren't immediately aware of the attack.

`'The news arrived after the swearing-in," said DarioFranceschini, one of the new ministers. `'Premier Letta isfollowing the situation."

Metal fencing closes off Chigi Square, which flanks Viadel Corso, one of Rome's most popular streets withstrollers. But the public can cross the square by showingidentification, although sometimes people cross it withoutbeing stopped. It was unclear if the assailant had askedpermission to enter the square.

Rome was jammed Sunday with tourists and residentsenjoying a warm sunny morning on the last day of a four-day weekend.

MOER ATTACKSContinued from page 1

ROME (AP) -- Italy's interior minister says the shootingthat seriously wounded two policemen in a square out-side the premier's office in Rome was a `'tragic criminalgesture by an unemployed man."

A female passer-by was slightly injured in the shooting,which happened just as Premier Enrico Letta and hisnew government were being sworn in Sunday elsewherein the city.

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told reporters thealleged gunman - Luigi Preiti, a 49-year-old Italian -wanted to kill himself after the shooting but ran out ofbullets. The minister says Preiti fired six shots.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check backsoon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Two Italian paramilitary policemen were shot and wound-ed Sunday in a crowded square outside the premier'soffice in Rome as Italy's new leader was being sworn inelsewhere in the city.

The shooting took place shortly after 11:30 a.m., just asPremier Enrico Letta and his Cabinet were taking theiroaths at the Quirinal presidential office.

Reporters inside the Chigi Palace press office, about akilometer (half-mile) away, heard the shots and racedoutside. An AP television producer saw the two woundedCarabinieri officers in the square outside the palace. Oneof them lay on the pavement with blood pouring out ofhis neck. About 10 bullets littered the square next to thepalace, which houses the offices of the premier andother government officials.

Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno said a third person, awoman who was passing by, was also injured. It wasunclear how, but the shooting produced panic in thesquare as people tried to flee.

It was not immediately clear if there was any connectionbetween the shooting and the swearing-in, but tensionshave been running high following inconclusive electionsin February that left Italy in political deadlock for weeks.Letta, 46, nailed down a coalition deal only a day earlierbetween his center-left forces and the conservative blocof ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

The suspected gunman, dressed in a dark business suit,was immediately grabbed by other police in the square,wrestled to the ground and then taken away. Italian newsreports said the man is Luigi Prieti, a 49-year-old manfrom the southern region of Calabria who now lives in thenorthern Piedmont region..

New Justice Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri said theSAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Facebook CEO MarkZuckerberg reaped a gain of nearly $2.3 billion lastyear when he exercised 60 million stock options justbefore the online social networking leader's initial pub-lic offering.

The windfall detailed in regulatory documents filedFriday saddled Zuckerberg, 28, with a massive tax bill.He raised the money to pay it by selling 30.2 millionFacebook Inc. shares for $38 apiece, or $1.1 billion, inthe IPO.

Facebook's stock hasn't closed above $38 since theIPO was completed last May. The shares gained 71cents Friday to close at $26.85.

The 29 percent decline from Facebook's IPO price hascost Zuckerberg nearly $7 billion on paper, based onthe 609.5 million shares of company stock that heowned as of March 31, according to the regulatory fil-ing. His current stake is still worth $16.4 billion.

Zuckerberg, who started Facebook in his HarvardUniversity dorm room in 2004, has indicated he has noimmediate plans to sell more stock.

The exercise of Zuckerberg's stock options and hissubsequent sale of shares in the IPO had been previ-ously disclosed. The proxy statement filed to announceFacebook's June 11 shareholder meeting is the firsttime that the magnitude of Zuckerberg's stock option

gain had been quantified.

The proxy also revealed that Zuckerberg's pay pack-age last year rose 16 percent because of increasedpersonal usage of jets chartered by the company aspart of his security program.

Zuckerberg's compensation last year totaled nearly $2million, up from $1.7 million last year. Of thoseamounts, $1.2 million covered the costs ofZuckerberg's personal air travel last year, up from$692,679 in 2011.

If not for the spike in travel costs, Zuckerberg's paywould have declined by 17 percent. His salary andbonus totaled $769,306 last year versus $928,833 in2011.

Zuckerberg will take a big pay cut this year. His annualsalary has been reduced to $1 and he will no longerreceive a bonus, according to Facebook's filing. Thatputs Zuckerberg's current cash compensation on thesame level as Google CEO and co-founder Larry Page,whose stake in his company is worth about $20 billion.

The Associated Press formula for determining an exec-utive's total compensation calculates salary, bonuses,perquisites, above-market interest that the companypays on deferred compensation and the estimatedvalue of stock and stock options awarded during theyear. The AP formula does not count changes in thepresent value of pension benefits or stock option gainssuch as those recognized by Zuckerberg did last year.

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A Nigerian man was given a mandatory life sentence fortrying to blow up a packed jetliner on Christmas Day 2009 witha bomb sewn into his underwear. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallabhad tried to set off the bomb minutes before the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight landed.

The device didn't work as planned, but it still producedsmoke, flame and panic. He told authorities that he trained inYemen under the eye of Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical American-born cleric and one of the best-known al-Qaida figures.

A U.S. drone strike in Yemen killed al-Awlaki in 2011.

In 2010, a Pakistani immigrant who tried to detonate a carbomb in New York's Times Square also received a life sen-tence. Faisal Shazad said the Pakistan Taliban provided himwith more than $15,000 and five days of explosives training.

The bomb was made of fireworks fertilizer, propane tanksand gasoline canisters. Explosives experts said the fertilizerwasn't the right grade and the fireworks weren't powerfulenough to set off the intended chain reaction.

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4 The Weekly News Digest, April 29, 2013 ___________________________________________________________

F L O R I D A A C C I D E N T S T A T I S T I C SData From the Official Website of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. www.flhsmv.gov

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F L O R I D A A C C I D E N T S T A T I S T I C S

http://www.aging-research.org

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Safety Equipment Use/Injury Levels

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online poker," Ultimate Gaming chairman Tom Breitlingsaid.

Several cash-hungry states are weighing legislation thatwould allow them to tap into what is expected to be amultibillion-dollar market. Some bills would legalize onlypoker, as Nevada has, while others would throw openthe gates to all casino games, including slots, as NewJersey and Delaware have done.

Earlier this year, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval approvedlegislation that gives him the ability to sign deals withother governors to facilitate interstate Internet gambling.

Online gamblers around the world currently wager anestimated $35 billion each year, according to theAmerican Gaming Association. A fully realized U.S.online poker market could generate $4.3 billion in rev-enue its first year, and $9.6 billion by year five, accordingto London-based research firm H2 Gambling Capital.

Still, with federal efforts to legalize Internet poker stalled,it may be a while before a critical mass of states linktogether to lure professional players back from overseasand drive up jackpots.

Nevada, a state of just 2.8 million, attracts 47 million visi-tors a year- more than the population of California. Butwho wants to go on vacation just to fire up their laptopand play some virtual cards?

"I think the real excitement will be when we get a verypopulous state like a California or a New York allowingthese companies to expand," ITG casino analystMatthew Jacob said. "But these changes often takelonger to occur than people assume. It requires a changein law and then it takes a while from when the law pass-es until the sites are up and running."

Prior says he intends to make Ultimate Poker profitablewithin a matter of years, in part through cross-promotionwith mixed martial arts giant Ultimate FightingChampionship. The companies share a common owner:Frank Fertitta III and his brother Lorenzo, who also ownStation Casinos Inc., an extensive chain that caters tolocals in Las Vegas.

6 The Weekly News Digest, April 29, 2013________________________________________________________

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Poker devotees will soon be able toskip the smoky casino and legally gamble their dollarsaway on the couch - at least in the state of Nevada.

A Las Vegas-based social gambling company is expect-ed to launch the first legal, real-money poker website inthe United States on Tuesday morning.

The site, run by Ultimate Gaming, will accept wagersonly from players in Nevada for now, but likely repre-sents the shape of things to come for gamblers acrossthe country.

Internet poker, never fully legal, has been strictly out-lawed since 2011, when the Department of Justiceseized the domain names of the largest offshore sitescatering to U.S. customers and blacked them out.

This crackdown, dubbed "black Friday," left poker fanat-ics with two options: They could either get dressed andvisit a visit a card room, or break the law and log into anoffshore site.

More recently, the federal government softened itsstance on Internet betting, and three states - NewJersey, Delaware and Nevada- have legalized some formof online wagering within their borders.

O N L I N E P O K E R I S B A C K : L E G A LW E B S I T E L A U N C H E S I N N V

Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang had visited Bae on Friday.She said she had no other information to share.

Because Washington and Pyongyang do not have diplo-matic relations, the Swedish Embassy in North Korea rep-resents the United States in legal proceedings.

Friends and colleagues described Bae as a devoutChristian from Washington state but based in the Chineseborder city of Dalian who traveled frequently to North Koreato feed the country's orphans.

At least three other Americans detained in recent yearsalso have been devout Christians. While North Korea'sconstitution guarantees freedom of religion, in practice onlysanctioned services are tolerated by the regime.

Under North Korea's criminal code, crimes against the statecan draw life imprisonment or the death sentence.

In 2009, American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Leewere sentenced to hard labor for trespassing and unspeci-fied hostile acts after being arrested near the border withChina and held for four months.

They were freed later that year to former President BillClinton, who flew to Pyongyang to negotiate their release ina visit that then-leader Kim Jong Il treated as a diplomaticcoup.

Including Ling and Lee, Bae is at least the sixth Americandetained in North Korea since 2009. The others eventuallywere deported or released.

"For North Korea, Bae is a bargaining chip in dealing withthe U.S.," said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North KoreanStudies at Dongguk University in Seoul, South Korea. "TheNorth will use him in a way that helps bring the U.S. totalks when the mood slowly turns toward dialogue."

As in 2009, Pyongyang is locked in a standoff with theObama administration over North Korea's drive to buildnuclear weapons.

Washington has led the campaign to punish Pyongyang forlaunching a long-range rocket in December and carryingout a nuclear test, its third, in February.

North Korea claims the need to build atomic weapons todefend itself against the United States, which has 28,500troops in South Korea and over the past two months hasbeen holding joint military drills with South Korea that haveincluded nuclear-capable stealth bombers and fighter jets.

Diplomats from China, South Korea, the U.S., Japan andRussia have been conferring in recent weeks to try to bringdown the rhetoric and find a way to rein in Pyongyangbefore a miscalculation in the region sparks real warfare.

South Korean defense officials said earlier in the monththat North Korea had moved a medium-range missiledesigned to strike U.S. territory to its east coast.

The Korean Peninsula remains in a technical state of warbecause the three-year Korean conflict ended in a truce,not a peace treaty, in 1953.

N O R T H K O R E AContinued from page 1

With Tuesday's launch, Nevada wins the race to bringTexas Hold `em back to the Internet.

"There was black Friday, and now we're going to have`trusting Tuesday,'" said Ultimate Gaming CEO TobinPrior. "Players won't have to worry if their money is safe.They are going to be able to play with people they cantrust and know the highest regulatory standards havebeen applied."

The site, UltimatePoker.com, will look familiar to anyonewho participated in the poker craze of the 2000s. Onlythe account setup and login process have changed.Instead of checking a box certifying they are older than18, players will have to endure a lengthy account setupprocess involving a Social Security number and aNevada address. Only those older than 21 will beallowed to play.

Ultimate Gaming and the two dozen other companies stillfine-tuning their Nevada poker sites hope they will winthe trust not only of players, but of regulators and politi-cians.

"It's an opportunity to show the world how to properly run

Dutschke's attorney, Lori Nail Basham, said she had no com-ment. Earlier this week she said that Dutschke was cooper-ating fully with investigators and Dutschke has insisted hehad nothing to do with the letters. He faces up to life inprison, if convicted.

He already had legal problems. Earlier this month, he plead-ed not guilty in state court to two child molestation chargesinvolving three girls younger than 16. He also was appealinga conviction on a different charge of indecent exposure. Hetold The Associated Press earlier this week that his lawyertold him not to comment on those cases.

The letters, which tests showed were tainted with ricin, weresent April 8 to Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi anda Mississippi judge, Sadie Holland.

Wicker spokesman Ryan Taylor said since the investigationwas ongoing, the senator couldn't comment.

Charges in the case had initially been filed against a 45-year-old Elvis impersonator, Paul Kevin Curtis, and then dropped.

Curtis was arrested on April 17 at his Corinth, Miss., home,but the charges were dropped six days later and Curtis, whosays he was framed, was released from jail.

The focus then turned to Dutschke, who has ties to the for-

Continued from page 1

M I S S I S S I P P I mer suspect, the judge and the senator. Earlier in the week,as investigators searched his primary residence in Tupelo,Dutschke told AP: "I don't know how much more of this I cantake."

"I'm a patriotic American. I don't have any grudges againstanybody. ... I did not send the letters," Dutschke said.

Curtis' attorney, Christi McCoy, said Saturday: "We arerelieved but also saddened. This crime is nothing short ofdiabolical. I have seen a lot of meanness in the past twodecades, but this stops me in my tracks."

Some of the language in the letters was similar to posts onCurtis' Facebook page and they were signed, "I am KC andI approve this message." Curtis' signoff online was often sim-ilar.

Dutschke and Curtis were acquainted. Curtis said they hadtalked about possibly publishing a book on a conspiracy thatCurtis insists he has uncovered to sell body parts on a blackmarket. But he said they later had a feud.

Curtis' attorneys have said they believe their client was setup. An FBI agent testified that no evidence of ricin was foundin searches of Curtis' home. Curtis attorney Hal Neilson saidthe defense gave authorities a list of people who may havehad a reason to hurt Curtis and Dutschke came up.

Judge Holland also is a common link between the two men,and both know Wicker.

Holland was the presiding judge in a 2004 case in whichCurtis was accused of assaulting a Tupelo attorney a yearearlier. Holland sentenced him to six months in the countyjail. He served only part of the sentence, according to hisbrother.

And Holland's family has had political skirmishes withDutschke. Her son, Steve Holland, a Democratic state repre-sentative, said he thinks his mother's only other encounterwith Dutschke was at a rally in the town of Verona in 2007,when Dutschke ran as a Republican against Steve Holland.

Holland said his mother confronted Dutschke after he madea derogatory speech about the Holland family. She demand-ed that he apologize, which Holland says he did.

On Saturday, Steve Holland said he can't say for certain thatDutschke is the person who sent the letter to his mother butadded, "I feel confident the FBI knows what they are doing."

"We're ready for this long nightmare to be over," Holland toldAP.

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The home page for Ultimate Poker by the company UltimateGaming is seen on a computer screen at the company's head-quarters, Monday, April 29, 2013, in Las Vegas. The social gam-ing company is expected to launch the first legal, real-moneypoker site in the U.S. Tuesday morning. The Ultimate Gaming sitewill be available only to in players in Nevada, but likely representsthe shape of things to come for gamblers across the country.

Continued on page 7

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P Y O N G Y A N G G L I T T E R S B U TM O S T O F N K O R E A S T I L L D A R KPYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- The heart of this city, oncefamous for its Dickensian darkness, now pulsates with neon.

Glossy new construction downtown has altered the Pyongyangskyline. Inside supermarkets where shopgirls wear fauxFrench designer labels, people with money can buy Italianwine, Swiss chocolates, kiwifruit imported from New Zealandand fresh-baked croissants. They can get facials, lie in tanningbooths, play a round of mini golf or sip cappuccinos.

Nearly 2 million people are using cell phones. Computer shopscan't keep up with demand for North Korea's locally distributedtablet computer, popularly known here as "iPads." A shiny newcancer institute features a $900,000 X-ray machine importedfrom Europe.

Pyongyang has long been a city apart from the rest of NorthKorea, the showcase capital dubbed a "socialist fairyland" bystate media.

But a year after new leader Kim Jong Un promised publicly tobring an end to the "era of belt-tightening" and economic hard-ship in North Korea, the gap between the haves and have-notsso far has only grown with Pyongyang's transformation.

Beyond the paved main streets of the capital, life remainsgrindingly tough. Food is rationed, electricity is a preciouscommodity and people get around by walking, cycling or hop-ping into the backs of trucks. Most homes lack running wateror plumbing. Health care is free, but aid workers say medicineis in short supply.

---

For decades, North Korea seemed a country trapped in time.Rickety streetcars shuddered past concrete-block apartmentbuildings with broken window panes, chipping pastel paint andcrumbling front steps.

But since 2010, as part of the campaign to build a new city fortheir new leader, Pyongyang has been under construction.Scaffolding covers the fronts of scores of buildings across thecity. Red banners painted with slogan "At a breath" - implyingbreakneck work at a breathless pace - flutter from the skele-tons of skyscrapers built by soldiers.

Often, the soldiers are scrawny conscripts in thin canvassneakers piling bricks onto stretchers or hauling them by hand.In 2011, they set up temporary work camps along the TaedongRiver, makeshift shantytowns decorated by red flags.

Their work focused on downtown Changjon Street, where ram-shackle cottages were torn down to make way for department

stores, restaurants and high-rise apartments.

Today, the street would not look out of place in Seoul orShanghai. Indeed, many of the goods - Hershey's Kisses,Coca-Cola and Doritos - on sale at the new supermarket wereimported from China and Singapore.

"What is a `delicatessen'?" a North Korean asked as a butcherin a white chef's hat sliced tuna for takeaway sashimi beneatha deli sign written in English. Upstairs, baristas were servingItalian espressos, bakers were churning out baguettes andwhite wedding cakes.

---

One new Changjon Street resident, Mun Kang Sun, gave TheAssociated Press a tour of the apartment she and her hus-band were granted in recognition for her work at the Kim JongSuk Textile Factory.

A framed wedding portrait hangs on the wall above theirWestern-style bed. There's a washing machine in the bath-room, an IBM computer in the study and a 42-inch widescreenTV. AP was not allowed to visit other apartments to comparewhether the furnishings are typical for Pyongyang residents.

Orphaned as a child, Mun said she began working in factoriesat age 16. She earned the title "hero of the republic" afterexceeding her work quota by 200 percent for 13 years. Shesays she accomplished that by dashing around the factoryfloor operating four or five machines at once.

"When we heard the news that we'd get a nest where we canrest, and we got the key for our apartment and took a lookaround, we were totally shocked because the house is sonice," said her husband, Kim Hyok. "It's still hard to believethis is my home; it still feels like we're living in a hotel."

Though the apartment has faucets, old habits die hard. Thebathtub was still filled with water, a bucket bobbing in the tub,as in countless homes across the country where water ispumped from a well, carried in by hand and used sparingly.

---

Elsewhere in the city, aging buildings are getting upgraded.But most are still drafty, the walls poorly insulated, even in thecapital. Elevators and heat are rare. North Koreans are accus-tomed to wearing winter jackets and thermal underwearindoors from October to April.

Power cuts have been less frequent in Pyongyang since theopening of a hydroelectric power station to the northwest, butit's still common for the lights to go out in the middle of dinner.Most people just carry on drinking and eating.

Outside Pyongyang, nightfall comes early. In Ryonggang, westof the capital, lights were out as soon as the sun set. At oneinn, two women stood chatting quietly in a lobby lit with a can-dle as a shrill voice from a radio broadcast chortled from loud-speakers nearby.

Kim Jong Jin's farm cottage in Hamhung has a generator,allowing him and his wife to watch DVDs at night on a TV theycarefully cover during the day with a frilly lace veil.

Their thimble of a home is simple but spotless, the paperedfloors clean enough to eat from. Water is piped into a well inthe kitchen. Heat comes from the traditional Korean "ondol"system of feeding an underground furnace with wood. Wasteis turned into methane gas for cooking. Food for the house-hold comes from the garden outside.

But not everyone lives in such relative comfort as the Kims,whose home government officials are willing to show off. Thereare stark signs of poverty across the country. A mother hud-dles over a child as she sits shivering by the side of the road.Barefoot boys in a village destroyed by floods scamper aboutdressed in little more than underwear. Sharp shoulders andsplotchy faces betray the gnawing hunger of young soldiers.

Beyond the paved, pocked highways that radiate fromPyongyang, there are few roads between the denuded moun-tains, just dirt paths that become dangerously muddy with rain-fall and treacherously slippery in winter. Villagers struggle toclear snow with makeshift shovels crafted out of planks ofwood.

Private cars are a rarity outside the capital, and gasoline isscarce. In Hamhung, North Korea's second-largest city, sol-diers cram into the backs of trucks powered by wood-burningstoves that send smoke billowing behind them.

Goods are strapped to the back of bicycles, from firewood todead pigs. Old men sit crouched by the side of the road withbike pumps, offering to fix flats. Oxen, and people, plod pastpulling carts.

The closest most may get to the capital in their lifetime is byseeing it on state TV. For them, Pyongyang would truly seemlike a fairyland.

---

Life in the North Korean countryside would be familiar to SouthKoreans old enough to recall the poverty in their nation justafter the Korean War. Indeed, into the 1970s, North Korea wasthe richer of the two Koreas.

Today, newly affluent South Korea has the world's 15th-largesteconomy. In North Korea, meanwhile, two-thirds of peoplestruggle to find their daily meal, according to the World FoodProgram.

North Koreans acknowledge the devastating economic loss ofthe Soviet safety net in the early 1990s. But they blame thecounty's growing international isolation on the U.S., its KoreanWar foe, which has led efforts to punish North Korea for devel-oping its nuclear weapons program.

Pyongyang instead has turned to fledgling trade with compa-nies in China, Singapore, Indonesia, Italy, Egypt and else-where. These joint ventures keep the shelves in the capitalstocked with goods, computer labs filled with PCs, streetscrowded with VWs, in spite of sanctions.

For years, foreign goods and customs were regarded withpracticed suspicion, even as they were secretly coveted. KimJong Un has addressed that curiosity by encouraging tradeand by quoting his father in saying North Korea is "looking outonto the world" - a country that must become familiar withinternational customs even if it continues to prefer its own.

Kim has not made it significantly easier for North Koreans totravel, channel surf or read travelogues posted online, but heis arranging to bring the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben to them inthe form of a miniature world park slated to open later thisyear.

The flow of cash and goods has created a burgeoning middleclass in the capital. Pyongyang now has a parade of fashion-istas in eye-popping belted jackets, sparkly barrettes clipped totheir hair, fingernails painted with a clear gloss. At oneEuropean-style restaurant last week, a young couple on a datesipped cocktails topped off with Maraschino cherries and feast-ed on pizza, their cellphones laid on the table.

At one beauty salon, the rage is for short cuts made popularby singers from the all-girl military Moranbong band who havejazzed up North Korea's staid performance scene with theirbobbed hair, little black dresses and electric guitars.

"There are so many young women asking to get their hairdone like them," hairstylist Chae Cho Yong said.

---

While the differences between the showcase capital and thehardscrabble countryside are growing starker, one thingremains the same: the authoritarian rule and the intricate webof laws governing life in the Stalinist state.

Even as they laugh, North Koreans calibrate their words.Criticism of the state and leadership is not only taboo but dan-gerous; when asked for their opinion, most people parrotphrases they've heard in state media, still the safest way toanswer questions in a country where state security remainstight and terrifying.

Very few have access to the Internet, cable TV, internationalphone lines. It's still illegal for them to interact without permis-sion with foreigners, who are kept on a tight leash and discour-aged from making impromptu visits to homes, shops, restau-rants and offices.

Around Chae, the cavernous barber shop was empty, not asingle customer in the brand new swivel seats.

An employee explained that most North Koreans are at weeklyideology study sessions on Saturdays, the only day of theweek foreigners are allowed inside.

In this April 22, 2013 photo, the sun rises over Juche Tower in Pyongyang,North Korea.

O N L I N E P O K E R

The Ultimate Poker logo has enjoyed prime placement inthe UFC fight octagon for months. The Ultimate PokerFacebook page, which steers fans to a zero-stakes ver-sion of the site, features a mix of UFC glamour shots andstock images of guys in hoodies staring into laptopscreens.

"When you look at the demographic of the UFC fan andthe online poker player, it's almost a perfect overlap,"Breitling said.

In the coming months, Ultimate Gaming will have toprove that its technology and 111 employees can preventminors and out-of-state players from wagering real dol-lars, and guard against money laundering.

It will also have to pay 6.75 percent of its revenue inNevada state taxes.

It's unclear how much of a boon the new market will beto the cash-strapped state. In 2012, the Pew Center onthe States analyzed 13 states that had recently legalizednew types of gambling, and found that more than two-thirds of "failed to live up to the initial promises or projec-tions."

The gambling industry is hoping the return of Internetpoker will revitalize interest in the game and help brickand mortar casinos capture a younger market.

The rise of Internet poker is generally credited with help-ing spark the poker fad of the last decade. The end ofonline gambling is thought to have helped quash interestin the game.

In the coming months, the industry will be watchingclosely to see if poker players come flocking back fromtheir new hobbies, replacement computer games andillegal offshore gambling sites.

"This is a really huge moment for our company, the stateof Nevada and the gaming community," Breitling said.

Continued from page 6

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BERLIN (AP) -- Nets, harpoons and suicide robots could

become weapons of choice to hunt down the space junk

threatening crucial communications satellites currently in

orbit round Earth, scientists said Thursday.

Even lasers that act like "Star Trek" tractor beams were

among the proposals put forward to protect some $100

billion worth of satellites from man-made cosmic

garbage.

"Whatever we do is going to be an expensive solution,"

Heiner Klinkrad, a space debris expert at the European

Space Agency, said at the end of an international confer-

ence on space debris in Darmstadt, Germany. "But one

has to compare the costs of what we are investing to

solve the problem as compared to losing the infrastruc-

ture that we have in orbit."

Experts estimate that about 27,000 objects measuring 10

centimeters (4 inches) or more are flying through orbit at

80 times the speed of a passenger jet, Klinkrad said.

Each one of those could destroy a satellite. And even

vastly smaller debris of just 1 millimeter - of which there

are about 160 million - can render sensitive space instru-

ments useless.

Thomas Schildknecht, an astronomer at the University of

Bern, Switzerland, said it would be technically feasible to

send a satellite into space to capture objects with a net

and harpoon.

But more elaborate proposals could also work,

Schildknecht said. These include a satellite firing electri-

cally charged atoms - or ions - at an object to gradually

slow it down and thereby drag it back to Earth.

Ground-based lasers could be used in the same way,

though only for very small objects, he said.

For larger objects like ESA's 18,000-pound (8,100-kilo-

gram) Envisat, which broke down last year, a dedicated

robot could be built which would be sent on a suicide

8 The Weekly News Digest, April 29, 2013 ___________________________________________________________

N E T S , H A R P O O N S C O U L D B EU S E D T O H A U L I N S P A C E J U N K

mission to bring the satellite down safely. Such missions

could cost up to $200 million each.

"I'm confident that we will see demonstration missions in

the near future," said Schildknecht.

ESA says testing of new technologies for cleaning up

space needs to start soon because the amount of junk

spinning uncontrollably through orbit is growing.

Concerns about the risk of space junk increased in 2007,

when China's military shot down one of the country's

defunct weather satellites in a show of force, inadvertent-

ly spraying orbit with thousands of pieces of debris.

Klinkrad said 5-10 large objects need to be collected

each year to prevent what is known as the Kessler

Syndrome - when a few major collisions trigger a cas-

cade effect in which each crash vastly increases the

amount of dangerous debris in orbit.

So far, major collisions have been rare. In 2009, a pri-

vate communications satellite called Iridium 33 smashed

into the Russian military satellite Kosmos-2251, destroy-

ing both in the process. Scientists say it's only a matter

of time before the next one occurs, and smaller debris

may pose the biggest danger because they are harder to

track.

V I R G I N G A L A C T I C S P A C E S H I PM A K E S 1 S T P O W E R E D F L I G H T

MOJAVE, Calif. (AP) -- Virgin Galactic'sSpaceShipTwo made its first powered flight Monday,breaking the sound barrier in a test over the MojaveDesert that moves the company closer to its goal offlying paying passengers on brief hops into space.

"It couldn't have gone more smoothly," said SirRichard Branson, who owns the spaceline with AabarInvestments PJC of Abu Dhabi.

A special twin-fuselage jet carrying SpaceShipTwotook off at about 7:00 a.m. PDT, spent 45 minutesclimbing to an altitude of 48,000 feet and releasedthe spaceship. Pilot Mark Stucky and co-pilot MikeAlsbury then triggered SpaceShipTwo's rocketengine.

The engine burned for 16 seconds, propelling thespaceship to an altitude of 55,000 feet and a velocityof Mach 1.2, surpassing the speed of sound.SpaceShipTwo then glided to a safe landing atMojave Air and Space Port in the desert north of LosAngeles, said George Whitesides, Virgin Galactic'sCEO.

The 10-minute test flight was considered a major stepfor the program.

"Having spaceship and rocket perform together in theair is a long way toward getting into space," saidBranson, who watched from the ground. "A few moretest flights with slightly bigger burns every time, andthen we'll all be back here to watch it go into space."

Until Monday, SpaceShipTwo had only performedunpowered glide flights. Several powered flights are

planned this summer, culminating with a dash intospace targeted toward the end of the year.

SpaceShipTwo is a prototype commercial version ofSpaceShipOne, which in 2004 became the first pri-vately developed manned rocket to reach space.Since the historic flight, more than 500 aspiring spacetourists have paid $200,000 or plunked downdeposits, patiently waiting for a chance to float inweightlessness and view the Earth's curvature from62 miles up.

Branson initially predicted commercial flights wouldbegin in 2007, but a deadly explosion during groundtesting and longer-than-expected test flights pushedthe deadline back.

This photo provided by Virgin Galactic shows Virgin Galactic'sSpaceShipTwo under rocket power, its first ever since the pro-gram began in 2005. The spacecraft was dropped from its "moth-ership," WhiteKnightTwo, over Mojave, Calif., on Monday, April29, 2013. The spaceship, bankrolled by British tycoon Sir RichardBranson, made its first powered flight in a test that moves VirginGalactic toward its goal of flying into space later this year. WhileSpaceShipTwo did not break out of the atmosphere during thetest flight, it marked a significant milestone for Virgin Galactic,which intends to take passengers on suborbital joyrides

E U A I M S T O B E T T E R P R O T E C TB E E S F R O M P E S T I C I D E S

No date has been set for the first commercial flightfrom a custom-designed spaceport in New Mexico,but Virgin Galactic executives have said it will comeafter testing is complete and it secures approval fromthe government. Branson previously said the maidenpassenger flight will carry his family.

SpaceShipTwo was built by Mojave-based aerospaceresearch company Scaled Composites LLC, whichwas founded by cutting-edge aviation designer BurtRutan. His SpaceShipOne, funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, made three suborbital flights intospace - reaching altitudes of 62 miles (100 kilome-ters) or greater- and won the $10 million Ansari XPrize.

Beekeepers have reported an unusualdecline in bees over the past decade,particularly in Western Europe, accord-ing to the European Food SafetyAuthority. It says bees are criticallyimportant to the environment, sustain-ing biodiversity by providing pollinationfor a wide range of crops and wildplants - including most of the foodcrops in Europe.

Borg said bees contribute over 22 bil-lion euros ($29 billion) a year toEuropean agriculture.

In all, 15 EU nations were for therestrictions, eight were against andfour abstained. Borg said he still felt

confident in moving ahead because `'a majority of mem-ber states now support our proposal."

Environmentalists welcomed the move.

"Today's pesticide ban throws Europe's bees a vital life-line," said Iain Keith of the Avaaz environmental group.`'Europe is taking science seriously and must now putthe full ban in place to give bees the breathing spacethey need."

But major chemical companies, which were againstBorg's proposals, have questioned the scientific evidencefor such a ban.

The head of the EU Parliament's environmental commit-tee acknowledged that `'precise data is still lacking" butapplauded the consumer agency's action.

`'We shall now try to understand how exactly neonicoti-noids affect the behavior of bees," said Matthias Groote.

BRUSSELS (AP) -- The European Union plans to restrictthe use of three pesticides to better protect dwindlingbee populations.

The announcement Monday was cheered by environ-mentalists, disappointed chemical companies and cameafter the bloc's 27 nations failed to agree on a commonstand.

EU Consumer Commissioner Tonio Borg said his agencywill override the deadlock and move `'in the comingweeks" to restrict three neonicotinoid pesticides on plantsand cereals that attract bees. The measure takes effectDec. 1 for two years unless decisive new informationbecomes available.

Beekeepers protest next to a giant inflatable bee in front of theEuropean Council and Commission in Brussels, Monday, April 29,2013. EU Member States meet on Monday, to decide on a pro-posal by the European Commission to impose a 2-year moratori-um on neonicotinoid pesticides, which many scientists agree arethe driving force behind Europe's dramatic bee decline.