N E WORLEANS (AP) --BP PLC closed thebook on the JusticeDepartment's crimi-nal probe of its role inthe DeepwaterHorizon disaster andGulf oil spill Tuesday,when a federal judgeagreed to let theLondon-based oilgiant plead guilty tom a n s l a u g h t e rcharges for thedeaths of 11 rig work-ers and pay a record$4 billion in penalties.

What the pleadeal approved byU.S. District Judge Sarah Vance doesn't resolve, though,is the federal government's civil claims against BP. Thecompany could pay billions more for environmental dam-age from its 2010 spill.

Vance noted that the company already has rackedup more than $24 billion in spill-related expenses and hasestimated it will pay a total of $42 billion to fully resolve itsliability for the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

The judge said the $4 billion criminal settlement is"just punishment" for BP, even though the company couldhave paid far more without going broke. In accepting thedeal, Vance also cited the risk that a trial could result in amuch lower fine for BP, one potentially capped by law at$8.2 million.

The criminal settlement calls for BP to pay nearly $1.3billion in fines. The largest previous corporate criminalpenalty assessed by the Justice Department was a $1.2billion fine against drug maker Pfizer in 2009.

The plea deal also includes payments of nearly $2.4billion to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and$350 million to the National Academy of Sciences. Thetwo groups will administer the money to fund Gulf restora-tion and oil spill prevention projects.

The $4 billion in total penalties are 160 times greaterthan the $25 million fine that Exxon paid for the 1989Valdez spill in Alaska, Vance noted.

Before she ruled, the judge heard an apology from aBP executive and emotional testimony from relatives ofthe 11 workers who died when BP's blown-out Macondowell triggered an explosion on the rig and started the spill.

"I've heard and I truly understand your feelings andthe losses you suffered," Vance told the family members.

Keith Jones, whose 28-year-old son, Gordon, died inthe rig explosion, said $4 billion isn't adequate punish-ment.

"It is petty cash to BP," he told Vance. "Their stockwent up after this plea deal was announced."

Billy Anderson, whose 35-year-old son, Jason, ofMidfield, Texas, died in the blast, recalled the trauma of

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watching the disasterplay out on television.

"These men suf-fered a horrendousdeath," he said."They were basicallycremated alive andnot at their choice."

BP agreed inNovember to pleadguilty to chargesinvolving the workers'deaths and for lyingto Congress aboutthe size of the spillfrom its broken well,which spewed morethan 200 million gal-lons of oil. Much of it

ended up in the Gulf and soiled the shorelines of severalstates. The company could have withdrawn from theagreement if Vance had rejected it.

BP America vice president Luke Keller apologized tothe relatives of the workers who died and for the spill'senvironmental damage to the Gulf Coast.

"BP knows there is nothing we can say to diminishtheir loss," he said. "The lives lost and those foreverchanged will stay with us. We are truly sorry."

Most of the families of rig workers who were killed orinjured in the explosion already have settled their claimsagainst BP, through a process separate from this pleadeal.

Courtney Kemp-Robertson, whose 27-year-old hus-band, Roy Wyatt Kemp, of Jonesville, La., died on the rig,said workers had referred to it as the "well from hell"before the explosion.

"By cutting corners, they gambled with the lives of126 crew members to save a few dollars," she told thejudge before turning to address Keller. "They gambledand you lost."

A series of government investigations have blamedthe April 20, 2010, blowout on time-saving, cost-cuttingdecisions by BP and its partners on the drilling project.

Vance told victims' relatives who were in court thatshe read their "truly gut-wrenching" written statementsand factored their words into her decision. She also saidshe believes BP executives should have personally apol-ogized to family members long before Tuesday's hearing.

"I think BP should have done that out of basic human-ity," she said.

BP also has separately agreed to a settlement withlawyers for Gulf Coast residents and businesses whoclaim the spill cost them money. BP estimates the dealwith private attorneys will cost the company roughly $7.8billion.

In a court filing before the hearing, attorneys for BPand the Justice Department argued that the plea agree-

JUDGE OKS $4B BP OILSPILL CRIMINAL

SETTLEMENT'BP PLC closed the book on the Justice

Department's criminal probe of its role in theDeepwater Horizon disaster and Gulf oil spill.

Page 1

GORE HITS CORPORATEMEDIA, DEFENDS CUR-

RENT TV SALE

Al Gore, who takes aim in his new book at thecorporate media for "suffocating the free flowof ideas," on Tuesday defended the sale of histelevision channel to Al-Jazeera. Page 2

LEAFY GREENS TOP FOODPOISONING SOURCE

About 1 in 5 illnesses were linked to leafy greenvegetables. Page 3

KENTUCKY ACCIDENTSTATISTICS

Accident Statistics from Kentucky Departmentof Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Page 4

KENTUCKY ACCIDENTREPORTS

This Weeks Accident Reports from Variouscountys in Kentucky. Page 5

EGYPT ARMY CHIEF WARNSSTATE COULD COLLAPSE

Residents of this Mediterranean coastal cityburying their dead from Egypt's wave of polit-ical violence. Page 6

MEXICO'S NEW PRESIDENTMOSTLY MUM ONDRUG VIOLENCE

Enrique Pena Nieto took office promising toreduce violent crime, the killings linked toMexico's drug cartels continue unabated.

Page 7

JAPAN LAUNCHES 2INTELLIGENCESATELLITES NA

Japan launched two intelligence satellites intoorbit on Sunday amid growing concerns thatNorth Korea is planning to test more rockets..

Page 8

DISTANT RURAL AREASMAY FEEL CITIES' HEAT

AsHeat rising up from cities such as New York, Parisand Tokyo might be remotely warming up winters faraway. Page 8

WEEKLY NEWS DIGESTTHE

In this April 21, 2010 aerial file photo taken in the Gulf of Mexico more than 50miles southeast of Venice, La., the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is seen burning.A U.S. judge on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, approved an agreement for British oilgiant BP PLC to plead guilty to manslaughter and other charges and pay arecord $4 billion in criminal penalties for the company's role in the 2010 oil dis-aster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Continued on page 3

2 Legal Street News Monday January 28, 2013

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G O R E H I T S C O R P O R A T EM E D I A , D E F E N D SC U R R E N T T V S A L E

N A S H V I L L E ,Tenn. (AP) -- Al Gore,who takes aim in hisnew book at the corpo-rate media for "suffo-cating the free flow ofideas," on Tuesdaydefended the sale of histelevision channel toA l - J a z e e r a .

The Qatar govern-ment-owned news net-work earlier this monthstruck a deal to buyCurrent TV, the cablenews network co-founded by the formervice president. Theprice tag was $500 mil-lion.

Gore told The Associated Press that he had no reserva-tions about selling the channel to Al-Jazeera, which has wonU.S. journalism prizes but has been criticized by some for ananti-American bias. The new owner plans to gradually trans-form Current into a network called Al-Jazeera America.

"They're commercial-free, they're hard-hitting," he saidin a phone interview. "They're very respected and capable,and their climate coverage has been outstanding, in-depth,extensive, far more so than any network currently on the airin the U.S."

The 64-year-old Gore said he considers Current TV,which was largely outflanked by MSNBC in its effort to bea liberal alternative to Fox News Channel, to have been asuccess.

"We won every major award in television journalism,and we were profitable each year," said Gore, who has ahome in Nashville. "But it's difficult for an independent net-work to compete in an age of conglomerate."

In a new 592-page book titled, "The Future: Six Driversof Global Change," Gore makes only a fleeting reference toAl-Jazeera, calling it "the feisty and relatively independentsatellite television channel" that played a key role in bring-ing about the Arab Spring.

Gore in the book likens the influence of money in thepolitical process to a "slow-motion corporate coup d'etat thatthreatens to destroy the integrity and functioning ofAmerican democracy."

"Corporations are not people," Gore said in the inter-view. "Might doesn't make right. Money is not speech. Andthose who advocate the dominance of American politics bylarge corporations, special interests and anonymous donorsare working against the original design by our founders."

"Our democracy has been hacked," he said.

Corporations haveenlisted politicians andlobbyists to furthertheir goals and havealso "recruited a fifthcolumn in the FourthEstate," he said in theb o o k .

"The one-way,advertising-dominatedcong lomera te -con-trolled television medi-um has been suffocat-ing the free flow ofideas necessary forgenuine self-determi-nation," he writes.

The Internet pro-vides a path for break-

ing the corporate stranglehold on the media, Gore said in theinterview, as it "is less vulnerable to the dominance of spe-cial interests, because individual voices play a larger andmore influential role."

Gore, who won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for hisefforts to raise awareness about climate change, also calls fora carbon tax, though he acknowledged that passage does notappear to be imminent.

"Well, I wouldn't go to Vegas and bet on it right now,"he said. "But neither would I say that it's impossible ... Theday has passed when we can use the earth's atmosphere as anopen sewer."

"Yes it's tough, because we've been relying on these fos-sil fuels for 150 years. But the cost of solar and wind is com-ing down rapidly and energy efficiency saves money while itreduces pollution," he said. "And we need to move in thatdirection quickly."

Gore, who represented Tennessee in the U.S. Senate andHouse before he was tapped by President Bill Clinton as hisrunning mate, blames procedural rules in the Senate forblocking popular measures.

"I fully appreciate the virtues of the filibuster, but it'sgotten so out of control that I do think that it needs to bedialed back significantly," he said. "It has been abused to thepoint where American democracy is paralyzed.

"Nothing can pass the Senate that is opposed by specialinterests," he said. "And that's not right."

Gore points out in the introduction of his book that as a"recovering politician," the chances of his returning to pub-lic office become slimmer the more time passes. Gore wonmore popular votes than George W. Bush in the 2000 presi-dential contest, but was defeated in the electoral college afterthe Supreme Court stopped a hotly debated recount in

ormer U.S. Vice President Al Gore talks during an interview, Tuesday, Jan.29, 2013 in New York. Gore, who takes aim in his new book at the corporatemedia for "suffocating the free flow of ideas," on Tuesday defended the saleof his own television channel to Al-Jazeera. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

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P E A C E E N V O Y S A Y S S Y R I AI S ' B E I N G D E S T R O Y E D '

Street News Monday, January 28, 2013 3

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The international envoy toSyria told the Security Council on Tuesday that "Syria isbeing destroyed bit by bit" and his mediation effort can-not go forward unless the council unites to push theSyrian government and opposition forces toward somecompromise.

The Security Council has been divided over Syria formonths, with the United States, Britain, France and otherWestern powers backing the armed opposition and push-ing for resolutions that raised the threat of sanctions.Three times, Russia and China have cast vetoes to blockthose resolutions.

"I'm embarrassed to be repeating the same thing: Syriais being destroyed," Lakhdar Brahimi, the joint U.N.-ArabLeague envoy to Syria, said after closed-door consulta-tions with the Security Council.

Brahimi blamed both Syrian President Bashar Assad'sgovernment and the Western-backed opposition forces.

"Objectively, they are cooperating to destroy Syria. Syriais being destroyed bit by bit. And in destroying Syria, theregion is being pushed into a situation that is extremelybad, and extremely important for the entire world,"Brahimi said.

He said that is why the Security Council has a duty toovercome its divisions.

Brahimi suggested that the Security Council revisit theGeneva Communique of June 2012, a broad but ambigu-ous proposal endorsed by the Western powers andRussia to provide a basis for negotiations.

Assad's role in any transition government was a red lineduring the negotiations of the Geneva Communique, andwas left vague. The United States and Russia continueto disagree on Assad's role, though both signed off onthe communique.

Brahimi says the Security Council should now looktoward the provisions of the Geneva Communique as asolution.

"A very critical element is the creation of this governingbody, which is really a transition government, with fullexecutive powers," Brahimi said.

"I think there was a very clever creative ambiguity in thiscreation, but I told them that ambiguity has to be liftednow. Now you have to say what those full executive pow-ers would be. All the powers of state have got to go tothat government," he told reporters outside the council.

Without a council push on the Assad government andopposition, the Geneva Communique and his mediation

"cannot be implemented as it is."Brahimi addressed widespread rumors that he was aboutto quit, as his predecessor, former U.N. secretary-gener-al Kofi Annan, did last year when he ran into a similarimpasse.

"Am I going to resign? I am not a quitter," Brahimi said."The United Nations has no choice but to remainengaged with this problem, whether I am there or not.The moment I feel I am totally useless, I will not stay oneminute more.

"So if I'm doing it, it is because, maybe stupidly, I feel asense of duty," Brahimi said.

His pessimism extended to his assessment of the currentstate of negotiations:

"I'm trying to use some of my powers of conviction, withvery little success up till now," he said.

"You may have seen that the two parties are maybe a lit-tle more embarrassed to say that `We're going to achievevictory next week.' And both sides have started to say, `Ifthere is a political solution, perhaps we are willing to lis-ten, provided that political solution will give us 100 per-cent of what we want.

Continued from page 1

ment imposes "severe corporate punishment" and willdeter BP and other deep-water drilling companies fromallowing another disaster to occur.

The Justice Department has reached a separate set-tlement with rig owner Transocean Ltd. that resolves thegovernment's civil and criminal claims over the Swiss-based company's role in the disaster.

Transocean agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanorcharge of violating the Clean Water Act and pay $1.4 bil-lion in civil and criminal penalties. U.S. District Judge JaneTriche Milazzo has scheduled a Feb. 14 hearing to decidewhether to accept that criminal settlement. A differentjudge will decide whether to accept Transocean's civil set-tlement.

Many relatives of rig workers who died in the blastsubmitted written statements that were critical of BP'sdeal. Vance, however, said she couldn't get involved inplea negotiations and only could impose a sentence thatadheres to the agreed-upon terms if she accepted it.

Also killed were Aaron Dale "Bubba" Burkeen, 37, ofPhiladelphia, Miss.; Donald Clark, 49, of Newellton, La.;Stephen Ray Curtis, 40, of Georgetown, La.; KarlKleppinger Jr., 38, of Natchez, Miss.; Keith Blair Manuel,56, of Gonzales, La.; Dewey A. Revette, 48, of State Line,Miss.; Shane M. Roshto, 22, of Liberty, Miss.; and AdamWeise, 24, Yorktown, Texas.

In other criminal cases, four current or former BPemployees have been indicted. BP rig supervisors RobertKaluza and Donald Vidrine are charged with manslaugh-ter, accused of repeatedly disregarding abnormal high-pressure readings that should have been glaring indica-tions of trouble just before the blowout.

David Rainey, BP's former vice president of explo-ration for the Gulf of Mexico, was charged with withhold-ing information from Congress about the amount of oil thatwas gushing from the well.

Former BP engineer Kurt Mix was charged withdeleting text messages about the company's spillresponse.

L E A F Y G R E E N S T O P F O O DP O I S O N I N G S O U R C E

About 1 in 5 illnesses were linked to leafy green veg-etables - more than any other type of food. And nearlyhalf of all food poisonings were attributed to produce ingeneral, when illnesses from other fruits and vegetableswere added in.

It's been kind of a tough month for vegetables. A contro-versy erupted when Taco Bell started airing a TV ad forits variety 12-pack of tacos, with a voiceover saying thatbringing a vegetable tray to a football party is "like punt-ing on fourth-and-1." It said that people secretly hateguests who bring vegetables to parties.

The fast-food chain on Monday announced it waspulling the commercial after receiving complaints that itdiscouraged people from eating vegetables.

Without actually saying so, the CDC report suggeststhat the Food and Drug Administration should devotemore staff time and other resources to inspection offruits and vegetables, said Michael Doyle, director ofthe University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety.

Earlier this month, the FDA released a proposed newrule for produce safety that would set new hygienestandards for farm workers and for trying to reduce con-tact with animal waste and dirty water.

Meanwhile, CDC officials emphasized that their reportshould not be seen as discouraging people from eatingvegetables.

Many of the vegetable-related illnesses come fromnorovirus, which is often spread by cooks and food han-dlers. So contamination sometimes has more to do withthe kitchen or restaurant it came from then the fooditself, Griffin noted.

Also, while vegetable-related illnesses were more com-mon, they were not the most dangerous. The largestproportion of foodborne illness deaths - about 1 in 5 -were due to poultry. That was partly because three bigoutbreaks more than 10 years ago linked to turkey delimeat.

But it was close. CDC estimated 277 poultry-relateddeaths in 1998-2008, compared to 236 vegetable-relat-ed deaths.

Fruits and nuts were credited with 96 additional deaths,making 334 total deaths for produce of all types. TheCDC estimated 417 deaths from all kinds of meat andpoultry, another 140 from dairy and 71 from eggs.

Red meat was once seen as one of the leading sourcesof food poisoning, partly because of a deadly outbreakof E. coli associated with hamburger. But Griffin andDoyle said there have been significant safety improve-ments in beef handling. In the study, beef was thesource of fewer than 4 percent of food-related deathsand fewer than 7 percent of illnesses.

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NEW YORK (AP) -- A big government study has fin-gered leafy greens like lettuce and spinach as the lead-ing source of food poisoning, a perhaps uncomfortableconclusion for health officials who want us to eat ourvegetables.

"Most meals are safe," said Dr. Patricia Griffin, a gov-ernment researcher and one of the study's authors whosaid the finding shouldn't discourage people from eatingproduce. Experts repeated often-heard advice: Be sureto wash those foods or cook them thoroughly.

While more people may have gotten sick from plants,more died from contaminated poultry, the study alsofound. The results were released Tuesday by theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.

Each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans - or 48 million peo-ple- gets sick from food poisoning. That includes128,000 hospitalization and 3,000 deaths, according toprevious CDC estimates.The new report is the most comprehensive CDC hasproduced on the sources of food poisoning, coveringthe years 1998 through 2008. It reflects the agency'sgrowing sophistication at monitoring illnesses and find-ing their source.

What jumped out at the researchers was the role fruitsand vegetables played in food poisonings, said Griffin,who heads the CDC office that handles foodborneinfection surveillance and analysis.

a lettuce worker washes romaine lettuce in Salinas, Calif.Leafy green vegetables were the leading source of foodpoisoning over an 11-year period, federal health officialssay

4 Legal Street News Monday January 28, 2013

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"My children told me not to vote for him," she said. "Ithought he was a faithful man who knows God. But heturned out to be not faithful and he doesn't know God. Imade a big mistake."

The city now feels under siege. Shops are closed.Fearing the violence, trucks have stopped bringing inproduce. Drivers refused to bring in oxygen supplies fora private hospital after their truck came under fire byunknown assailants, a worker at the hospital said. Thecity is awash with weapons and known criminals areseen on motorcycles brandishing automatic weapons.

Seaside hotels are totally empty during a mid-yearschool holiday when normally they are full of Egyptiantourists. Soot, shattered glass and burnt furniture arescattered outside police and army clubs which are locat-ed in front of the cemetery where slain protesters wereburied and which were attacked by protesters.

Tuesday evening, Morsi's office issued a statement say-ing the curfew and state of emergency could be lifted orshortened if the security situation improves, apparentlytrying to ease the anger.

Throughout the crisis, presidential officials and theBrotherhood have depicted the unrest as caused bythugs and supporters of Mubarak's regime - and theyhave suggested that the political opposition is using theturmoil to overturn the results of elections that Islamistshave repeatedly won the past year, bringing them topower.

The opposition contends the crisis is caused byBrotherhood attempts to monopolize power and can onlybe resolved if it makes major concessions to loosen itsgrip, including forming a national unity government andrewriting contentious parts of the Islamist-backed consti-tution.

The Brotherhood has dismissed those demands, andMorsi has instead invited the opposition to join a broaddialogue conference. The opposition has refused it asmere window dressing.

The army chief's comments suggested the military'simpatience with politicians' power struggles.

"The continuation of the conflict between the differentpolitical forces and their differences over how the countryshould be run could lead to the collapse of the state andthreaten future generations," el-Sissi said, speaking tomilitary cadets in comments posted on the armed forces'Facebook page.

He also spoke of a "realistic threat" facing the nationfrom its mounting political, economic and social prob-lems.

El-Sissi was appointed by Morsi as military chief anddefense minister last autumn when the president side-

6 Legal Street News Monday January 28, 2013________________________________________________________

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PORT SAID, Egypt (AP) -- Residents of thisMediterranean coastal city burying their dead fromEgypt's wave of political violence vented their fury atEgypt's Islamist president and the Muslim Brotherhoodon Tuesday, demanding his ouster and virtually declaringa revolt against his rule, as the head of the militarywarned Egypt may collapse under the weight of its tur-moil.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi' strongly worded comments,his first since the crisis began, appeared aimed at push-ing both sides in Egypt's political divide to reconcile andfind a solution to the rapidly spreading protests and riotsacross much of the country the past six days.

But his breaking of his silence falls heaviest on PresidentMohammed Morsi, who has been unable to contain theunrest by trying a tough hand, as protesters defied hisdeclaration of a month-long state of emergency and cur-few in Port Said and two neighboring cities.

At least 60 people have been killed and hundreds injuredsince Thursday in clashes between police and protestersangry over what they call Islamists' moves to monopolizepower and failure to address the country's multiple woes.In his comments, el-Sissi signaled the military would notmove to put down protesters, saying troops are in a"grave predicament," forced to balance between "avoid-ing confrontation" with citizens and protecting state insti-tutions.

In Cairo on Tuesday, rock-throwing protesters clashedwith police firing tear gas for another day in battles thatescalated after nightfall near Tahrir Square. The mayhemforced the nearby U.S. Embassy to suspend public serv-ices Tuesday, and the night before masked men tried torob the neighboring five-star Semiramis Hotel, a Cairolandmark, trashing the lobby before being forced out.

Protesters in many cities around the country have battledpolice, cut off roads and railway lines and besieged gov-ernment offices and police stations. But the most dramat-ic fraying of state control has been in the three citiesalong the Suez Canal, particularly Port Said, at thecanal's Mediterranean end.

Violence exploded in Port Said on Saturday, leavingmore than 40 dead since. The provincial governor hasgone into hiding. Police are hunkered down. Tanks are inthe streets by government buildings, but army troopshave balked at enforcing Morsi's curfew order. Residentsin all three cities flouted the restrictions with huge march-es in the streets Monday and Tuesday night.

"The independent state of Port Said," proclaimed oneprotester's sign as thousands marched through the cityTuesday in funeral processions for two of those killed inthe unrest.

"Down, down with the rule of the Guide," mournerschanted, referring to the Brotherhood's top leader, knownas the general guide, who opponents see as the realpower behind Morsi's government.

Mourners carried images of young men shot to death bypolice and accused Morsi of ordering the security forcesto open fire. Many said the Islamist president should beput on trial like ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak, who wassentenced to life in prison in connection with the deathsof hundreds of protesters during the 2011 uprisingagainst his rule, though he has been granted a retrial onappeal.

"God wreak vengeance on Morsi, who gave the orders toshoot at the protesters of Port Said, the city that foughtthree countries," said Ayman Mohammed Abdel-Fatah,holding a picture of a slain 22-year-old relative who he

said was shot four times by police during protests out-side Port Said's prison.

"As long as the president's hands are stained in blood,he must leave," said Mohammed el-Assfouri, a lawyer,standing outside the Mariam mosque where mournersprayed for the dead.

Egypt's unrest began Thursday and accelerated the fol-lowing day when clashes erupted nationwide amidprotests by the opposition marking the two-year anniver-sary of the start of the uprising that toppled Mubarak.Port Said's violence was touched off Saturday when acourt issued death sentences against 21 people - mostlylocal soccer fans - over a bloody soccer riot in the city ayear ago. Youths infuriated by the verdicts marched inthe streets and clashed with police at a police stationand the prison.

The verdicts were seen by residents as unfairly targetingPort Said. They also tapped into a vein of resentment ina city of 600,000 that prides itself as a national symbol ofresistance after being on the front lines of multiple warswith Israel since 1956.

Many are convinced Morsi and the Brotherhood are try-ing to sideline the city because of a tradition of defyingauthority. They were further outraged when Morsi wenton TV Sunday night and declared the state of emergencyand curfew in Port Said, Suez and Ismailiya. Wagging hisfinger and shouting, Morsi supported the actions ofpolice in confronting the protesters and warned ofstronger measures if calm is not restored.

Mourners on Tuesday spoke of police on rooftops androving in armored vehicles firing wildly during the week-end mayhem around the police station and prison in thecity's al-Arab district, hitting bystanders blocks away. OnSunday, a funeral of some of those killed came under fire- residents blame police - causing panic as mournersdropped some of the bodies they were carrying on theground.

Ayman el-Sherbini said his 23-year-old brother Osamawas walking in the al-Arab district on the way to buy foodwhen a bullet hit him in the face, killing him. El-Sherbini,who wore the beard of a conservative Muslim, blamedMorsi and said his Islamist leadership had broughtshame on religious people. "Now people spit in the faceof anyone with a beard because of Morsi," he said.

Women in face veils screamed anti-Morsi slogans in thefuneral march. One woman, Faten el-Tahan, a govern-ment worker in a conservative Muslim headscarf, saidshe wished her "hands were cut off" the day she votedfor Morsi in last year's presidential election.

E G Y P T A R M Y C H I E F W A R N SS T A T E C O U L D C O L L A P S E

Egyptian protesters clash with riot police near TahrirSquare, Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. Intensefighting for days around central Tahrir Square engulfedtwo landmark hotels and forced the U.S. Embassy to sus-pend public services.

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Florida.

So the book shouldn't be seen as a "manifesto" for afuture political campaign, he writes in the book.

But he's not shy about making a series of policy recom-mendations.

"We should have more progressive taxation, we shouldhave higher inheritance taxes. I've always believed that,"Gore said. "I advocated that during my political career and Icontinue to advocate it."

"We need to restore our democracy, we need to reformmarkets so they operate the way they're supposed to," hesaid. "And the U.S. leadership of the world needs to berestored."

G O R EContinued from page 1

_____________________________________________________Legal Street News Monday, January 21, 2013 7

M E X I C O ' S N E W P R E S I D E N T M O S T L YM U M O N D R U G V I O L E N C E

areas, a force that will take several years to build.Meanwhile he is keeping the military on thestreets, just as Calderon did.

The Pena Nieto government also said that it willonly talk about violence in terms of "hard data."

Eduardo Sánchez, the undersecretary for media inthe Interior Ministry, told Mexico's official newsagency last week that the federal government willno longer present detainees to the media or men-tion prisoners' aliases - be it "the Squirrel" or "ElBrad Pitt" - a highly criticized practice underCalderon.

The idea, Sanchez said, is to avoid glorifying vio-lence, which is already celebrated in some circlesthrough music and clothing styles.

"We don't want the youth in this country to feel likecrime is attractive or a good place in increase yoursocial economic status," Sanchez told localreporters last week.

He said the government has arrested 854 peoplefor drug-related crimes its first month in office, andsaid 69 criminals were killed in confrontations withthe armed forces. But he would not say to whichorganized crime groups they belonged or the cir-cumstances of their deaths or capture.

Carlos Reyes, spokesman for the congressionaldelegation of the opposition Democratic RevolutionParty, was critical of the new approach.

"The actions of the government need to be trans-parent in terms of being precise about the level ofthe problem and how you're going to address it,not evade or disguise it," he said.

Edna Jaime, director of the policy analysis firmMexico Evaluates, it's too early to criticize the newgovernment's approach.

"The dynamic of violence is not going to change ina month or a month and half," she said, thoughshe added that the government should have astrategy by now. The narrative will change "whenit's accompanied by real change," she added.

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Two months after PresidentEnrique Pena Nieto took office promising to reduceviolent crime, the killings linked to Mexico's drugcartels continue unabated.

Only the government's talk about them hasdropped.

Eighteen members of a band and its retinue werekidnapped and apparently slain over the weekendin the northern border state of Nuevo Leon by gun-men who asked them to name their cartel affiliationbefore they were shot and dumped in a well.Fourteen prisoners and nine guards died in anattempted prison escape in Durango state. Ninemen were slain Christmas eve in Sinaloa. In thestate of Mexico, which borders the capital, morethan a dozen bodies were found last week, somedismembered.

The difference under this administration is thatthere have been no major press conferencesannouncing more troops or federal police for drug-plagued hotspots. Gone are the regular parades ofnewly arrested drug suspects before the mediawith their weapons, cash or contraband.

Pena Nieto has been mum, instead touting educa-tion, fiscal and energy reforms. On Monday, hetold a summit of Latin American and Caribbeanleaders in Chile that he wants Mexico to focus onbeing a player in solving world and regional prob-lems.

Some political observers praise him for trying tochange the conversation and presenting an alter-native face of Mexico. Critics suggest the country'snew leaders believe that the best way to solve asecurity crisis is to create distractions.

"What Pena Nieto is doing is ... sweeping violenceunder the rug in hopes that no one notices," saidsecurity expert Jorge Chabat. "It can be effectivein the short term, until the violence becomes soobvious that you can't change the subject."

The Pena Nieto government declined to respondpublicly to the critics. But in an interview lastmonth with The Associated Press, he said hewould not put any goals or deadlines on his cam-paign against organized crime and would focus onprevention.

"That way we avoid generating fertile groundwhere violence and insecurity can keep growing,"Pena Nieto said.

Secretary of Interior Jose Osorio Chong had aclosed-door meeting with the governors ofMexico's central states about security on Monday.In a press conference afterward, he promised toincrease patrols along a highway system alreadybristling with military and police roadblocks andcheckpoints.

The apparent weekend killing of 18 members ofKombo Kolombia, which had played at a privateperformance late Thursday, was the largest masskidnapping and killing since 20 tourists disap-peared and were later found dead in 2011 near theresort city of Acapulco. Searchers this week werepulling bodies from a well in northern Mexico thatthey said likely belonged to the band.

An area known as the Laguna, where Coahuilaand Durango states meet, has been the scene of

numerous battles between factions of the Sinaloaand the Zetas cartels.

The State of Mexico has had 70 slayings so farthis year, according to Gov. Eruviel Avila. LaFamilia has moved in from the neighboring state ofMichoacan and is fighting for territory with a small-er gang known as the United Warriors. Meanwhile,masked vigilantes patrol towns in the southernstate of Guerrero on the Pacific coast, where citi-zens have grown tired of organized crime usurpinglocal authority.

Communications expert Ruben Aguilar said thePena Nieto government is right to change thefocus from security, which had been the main topicthroughout the six-year administration of PresidentFelipe Calderon, who left office on Dec. 1.

"On the subject of security, President Calderonwent against all logic and turned it into the coun-try's only issue," said Aguilar, who was spokesmanfor previous President Vicente Fox. "The themeitself is addictive for the media, and generates anegative social mood."

It's difficult to say if drug violence has risenbecause the government no longer provides num-bers, something that started under Calderon, wholast released drug-war death statistics inSeptember 2011.

The newspaper Reforma, one of several mediaoutlets that count murders linked to organizedcrime, said that in December, the first month of thenew government, there were 755 drug-relatedkillings, compared to 699 in November. InCalderon's six-year term, some 70,000 people losttheir lives to drug violence, the newspaper report-ed, with at least 20,000 believed missing.

Pena Nieto's election marked the return to powerof the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI,which ran Mexico for 71 years. Under Calderon,violence exploded and cartels splintered. ManyMexicans believed drug violence would start towane with the return of the PRI, assuming it wouldnegotiate to keep the peace - something partyleaders have consistently denied.

Upon taking office Dec. 1, Pena Nieto announcedthat he would work to restore peace, saying thegovernment would change its security strategy toreducing murders, kidnappings and extortion morethan going after cartel leaders . He released asecurity plan that was not clearly different fromCalderon's. Among the few specifics was a plan toestablish a gendarmerie to patrol dangerous

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Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto laughs as he meets withmembers of the Economic Commission for Latin America andthe Caribbean in Santiago, Chile, Friday, Jan. 25, 2012. Leadersfrom the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean aregathering in Santiago for the CELAC-EU economic summit

OKYO (AP) -- Japan launched two intelligence satel-lites into orbit on Sunday amid growing concerns thatNorth Korea is planning to test more rockets of its ownand possibly conduct a nuclear test.

Officials say the launch Sunday of the domesticallyproduced HII-A rocket went smoothly and the satellites -an operational radar satellite and an experimental opticalprobe - appear to have reached orbit.

Japan began its intelligence satellite program afterNorth Korea fired a long-range missile over Japan's mainisland in 1998. North Korea conducted a launch lastmonth that it says carried a satellite into orbit but has beencondemned by the U.S. and others as a cover for its devel-opment of missile technology.

The latest Japanese launch was in the planning stageslong before the current increase in tensions with NorthKorea, but underscores Japan's longstanding wariness ofits isolated neighbor's abilities and intentions.

The radar satellite, which can provide intelligencethrough cloud cover and at night, is intended to augmenta network of several probes that Japan already has inorbit. The optical probe will be used to test future tech-nology and improvements that would allow Japan tostrengthen its surveillance capabilities.

Japan still relies on the United States for much of its

intelligence.

Its optical satellites are believed to be about as goodas commercial satellites, meaning they are able to detectobjects of about 40 centimeters (16 inches) in size fromtheir orbits. With the additional radar satellite, Japanhopes to be able to glean intelligence on any specifiedlocation once a day.

Japan, which hosts about 50,000 U.S. troops, is espe-cially concerned about North Korea because its mainislands are already within range of the North's missiles.Along with developing its own network of spy satellites,Japan has cooperated with Washington in establishing anelaborate missile defense shield.

North Korea's powerful National Defense

8 Legal Street News Monday, January 28, 2013

J A P A N L A U N C H E S 2I N T E L L I G E N C E S A T E L L I T E S

T W O S C I E N T I S T W I N N O B E LP R I z E F O R R E S E A R C H

BRUSSELS (AP) -- Two European science projects- one to map the intricacies of the human brain, theother to explore the extraordinary carbon-basedmaterial graphene - won an EU technology contestMonday, getting up to (EURO)1 billion ($1.34 billion)each over the next decade.

The projects were selected from 26 proposals.

"European's position as a knowledge superpowerdepends on thinking the unthinkable and exploitingthe best ideas," European Commission VicePresident Neelie Kroes said in a statement. "Thismulti-billion competition rewards home-grown scien-tific breakthroughs and shows that when we areambitious we can develop the best research inEurope."

The Human Brain Project will use supercomputers1,000 times more powerful than those today to cre-ate the most detailed model ever of the humanbrain. Then the project plans to simulate the effectsof drugs and treatments on the brain, for a betterunderstanding of neurological diseases and relatedailments.

In addition, the increased knowledge about how thebrain works - and how it manages billions of pro-cessing units and trillions of synapses while con-suming no more power than a light bulb -may leadto "a paradigm shift for computing," the EuropeanCommission, the European Union's executivebranch, said in a statement.

"The economic and industrial impact of such a shiftis potentially enormous," the commission said.

The leader of the project, Henry Markram, a profes-sor of neuroscience at the Ecole PolytechniqueFederale of Lausanne in Switzerland, said earlierthis month that it could not be undertaken withoutthis kind of funding.

"The pharmaceutical industry won't do this, comput-ing companies won't do this - there's too much fun-damental science," Markram said. "This is one proj-ect which absolutely needs public funding."

The other project will investigate the possible usesof graphene, the thinnest known material, whichconducts electricity far better than copper, is per-haps 300 times stronger than steel and has uniqueoptical properties. A sheet of it is one atom thick;scientists call it the first known two-dimensionalmaterial.

Important future uses include the development of fast,flexible and strong consumer electronics, bendablepersonal communication devises, lighter airplanes,cars that use less energy and artificial retinas.

The project will be led by professor Jari Kinaret of theChalmers University of Technology in Goteborg,Sweden.

"The story of graphene shows there is still wonder inscience," Kroes said Monday at a news conference."It's like a miracle."

In 2010, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded totwo scientists at the University of Manchester inBritain "for groundbreaking experiments regarding thetwo-dimensional material graphene."

"So, you've heard of Silicon Valley," Kroes said."`Where in Europe wants to be known as `GrapheneValley?' That's the billion-euro question I am putting toyou today."

Each of the projects will initially receive (EURO)54million ($73 million) from the European Union'sresearch budget, an amount that will be matched bynational governments and other sources. Furtherfunding will depend on whether they reach certainmilestones within the first 30 months, but over adecade it could total (EURO)1 billion ($1.34 million)each.

In this age of government austerity, the commissionpromised to monitor the projects carefully so theycontinue "to be an efficient use of taxpayers' money."

The winners were selected by a panel of 25 experts,including professors, scientists and Nobel winners.

Commission declared last week that the country wouldcarry out a nuclear test and launch more rockets in defi-ance of the U.N. Security Council's announcement that itwould punish Pyongyang for its long-range rocket test inDecember with more sanctions, calling it a violation of aban on nuclear and missile activity.

North Korea's state news agency said on Sunday thatleader Kim Jong Un vowed at a meeting of top securityand foreign officials to take "substantial and high-profileimportant state measures."

Two European science projects - one to map the intricacies ofthe human brain, the other to explore the extraordinary carbon-based material graphene — won an EU technology contestMonday, Jan. 28, 2013, getting up to euro1 billion ($1.34 billion)each over the next decade. The projects were selected from 26

D I S T A N TR U R A L A R E A SM A Y F E E LC I T I E S ' H E A TWASHINGTON (AP) -- Heat rising up from cities suchas New York, Paris and Tokyo might be remotelywarming up winters far away in some rural parts ofAlaska, Canada, and Siberia, a surprising study theo-rizes.

In an unusual twist, that same urban heat from build-ings and cars may be slightly cooling the autumns inmuch of the Western United States, Eastern Europeand the Mediterranean, according to the study pub-lished Sunday in the scientific journal Nature ClimateChange.

Meteorologists long have known that cities are warmerthan rural areas, with the heat of buildings and cars,along with asphalt and roofs that absorb heat. That'scalled the urban heat island effect and it's long beenthought that the heat stayed close to the cities.

But the study, based on a computer model and theNorthern Hemisphere, now suggests the heat doessomething else, albeit indirectly. It travels about half amile up into the air and then its energy changes thehigh-altitude currents in the atmosphere that dictateprevailing weather.

"Basically, it changes the flow." said Guang Zhang ofthe Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla,Calif. He wrote the paper with Aixue Hu at the NationalCenter for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

This doesn't change overall global temperature aver-ages significantly, unlike man-made greenhouse gasesthat cause global warming. Instead it redistributessome of the heat, the scientists said.

The changes seem to vary with the seasons and byregion because of the way air currents flow at differenttimes of the year. During the winter, the jet stream isaltered and weakened, keeping cold air closer to theArctic Circle and from dipping down as sharply, Huexplained.

The computer model showed that parts of Siberia andnorthwestern Canada may get, on average, an extra1.4 degrees to 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 to 1 degreeCelsius) during the winter, which "may not be a badthing," Zhang said. The effect isn't quite as much innorthern North Dakota and Minnesota, where tempera-tures might be about half a degree warmer (0.3degrees Celsius), and even less along the East Coast.

In contrast, Europe and the Pacific Northwest arecooled slightly in the winter from this effect. The jetstream changes prevent weather systems from bring-ing warmer air from the Atlantic to Europe and from thePacific to the U.S. Northwest, thus cooling those areasa bit, he said.

The biggest cooling occurs in the fall, but Hu said he'snot quite sure why that happens.

Several outside scientists said they were surprised bythe study results, calling the work "intriguing" and"clever." But they said it would have to be shown inmore than one computer model and in repeated experi-ments before they could accept this theory.

"It's an interesting and rationally carried out study," saidDavid Parker, climate monitoring chief of the UnitedKingdom meteorology office. "We must be cautiousuntil other models are used to test their hypothesis."