Is Mexico City safe from drug cartel war -- or the next target?

Editor's note: This story is the third in an occasional series looking at the violence tied to Mexican drug cartels, their expanding global connections and how they affect people's daily lives. A previous article focused on the more than 5,300 people who've disappeared.

Mexico City (CNN) -- Near the ruins of an ancient Aztec temple, a woman shouting into a microphone claims Mexican society is crumbling.

"We are no longer free to walk in the streets because of what is happening," she yells.

Demonstrators behind her tape cardboard crosses to a fence in front of Mexico's National Palace. The names of slaying victims are scrawled with black magic marker on each one.

"I want the impunity to end," a leftist lawmaker says, blaming Mexican President Felipe Calderon's five-year-long crackdown on drug cartels for the surge in violence.

A handful of people clap. But throngs walk through Mexico City's massive central square without glancing in his direction.

In this sprawling metropolis, the brutal conflicts between drug cartels and government troops are both strangely absent and omnipresent. They are nowhere to be found and everywhere you look.

At a corner newsstand, the front page of a paper shows a dead man lying in a pool of blood. The cover of a magazine pictures people praying at a funeral.

At an airport gift shop, a book about beauty queens in the drug trade is only steps away from bottles of tequila and souvenir sombreros.

From the halls of his official residence here, President Calderon announced plans in late 2006 to deploy troops in a nationwide crackdown on drug cartels.

Here, too, a peace movement led by a poet whose son was slain has taken root, with protesters staging "caravan" demonstrations that go from the city's central square to some of the country's most violent areas.

But the gun battles, mass graves and fiery road blockades in other parts of the country aren't part of daily life in Mexico's capital.

Organ grinders, food vendors and street performers play to a constant stream of people who flood the sidewalks.

The city, once dogged by a reputation for being crime-ridden, has become a refuge.

"Just a decade ago people in Mexico City would say they wanted to leave and live in the surrounding states to have a more peaceful life. Today, paradoxically, Mexico City has become one of the safest places to live," Mexico City lawmaker Lizbeth Eugenia Rosas Montero said at a recent government meeting. "Now the people who live in the states spend their vacations in the capital to be away from the shootouts, kidnappings and executions."

But crime still creeps in to the heavily policed capital.

The densely populated city and surrounding state of Mexico are profitable turf for drug dealers. Local gangs fighting over sales fuel most drug-related violence there, says Ana Maria Salazar, a former Pentagon counternarcotics official who lives in Mexico City and hosts a weekly television program on the country's security issues..

Murder rates in Mexico's capital are half the national rate of 18 per 100,000 residents, and are lower than homicide rates in U.S. cities like New Orleans and Washington. But that hasn't stifled fears that something bigger could be brewing.

The city saw more than 120 killings related to organized crime between January and September last year, according to Mexico's Attorney General's Office. In the neighboring state of Mexico, the number was much higher, nearly 600.

"Mexico City, for whatever reason, has not been a battleground," Salazar says. "It could very easily become that."

Finding comfort in the chaos

Julia Alonso crammed as much as she could into a suitcase and headed for Mexico City last year.
Source-cnn

Ambush on Syrian police truck kills 14

(AP)

BEIRUT — At least 14 people were killed when multiple explosive devices struck a police truck transporting prisoners in a tense area of northwestern Syria on Saturday, the state-run news agency and an opposition group said.

The state news agency SANA blamed the attack on "terrorists" and said it occurred on the Idlib-Ariha highway, an area near the Turkish border that has witnessed intense fighting with army defectors recently.

Four bombs that went off in "two phases" hit the truck, and then attackers targeted an ambulance that arrived to assist the wounded, SANA reported.

Six policemen who were accompanying the prisoners were also wounded, some of them in critical condition, it said.

The British-based opposition activist group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed the incident Saturday and put the toll at 11 dead prisoners.

Syrians protest by thousands as violence goes on
Syria's opposition: "We will carry on"

Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the group, said the truck was hit by several roadside bombs, but it was not clear who was behind the attack.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but members of the so-called Free Syrian Army are known to be active in the area.

A Syria-based activist said the area has several army encampments and is full of roadside bombs planted to target army tanks passing by, adding that the truck carrying prisoners may not have been the intended target.

The activist spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The 10-month uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad has turned increasingly militarized and chaotic as more frustrated regime opponents and army defectors arm themselves and fight back against government forces.

The capital has seen three suicide bombings since late December which the government blamed on terrorist extremists.
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Snooki goes au naturel in makeup-free photo

(CBS) Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi ditched the layers of heavy makeup and hair products in a new photo she shared with fans.

The "Jersey Shore" star posted the fresh-faced picture on her Twitter account Thursday.

Pictures: "Jersey Shore"

"No make up day :) and [I don't care]" :)," she wrote.

The photo got so much positive feedback from her followers that she later tweeted, "Can I just say how amazing my fans/supporters are! You guys really know how to put a smile on my face! Love you all beyond words."

Tell us: Do you think Snooki looks better sans makeup?
Source-cbsnews

U.S. chopper crashes in Afghanistan; 6 dead

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A NATO helicopter has crashed in southern Afghanistan, killing six members of the international military force, the U.S.-led coalition said Friday.

Sources in Afghanistan and Washington tell CBS News it was a U.S. Marine CH-53 helicopter that crashed, and a U.S. military official tells the Associated Press that all those killed were Marines, but the coalition has not officially disclosed the nationalities of the victims. Details of such incidents are generally kept private until the families of the dead are notified.

CBS News is still seeking independent confirmation on the nationalities of the crash victims.

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The rise of (un)friendly fire in Afghanistan
Special section: Afghanistan, 10 Years Later

The cause is still being investigated, but a coalition statement said there was no enemy activity in the area at the time of Thursday's crash, which brought the number of international forces killed in Afghanistan this month to 24.

CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark reports that some military sources are pointing to a likely mechanical failure, but they say it's too early to determine exactly what brought the helicopter down in the Taliban-dominated area.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for bringing the helicopter down in a statement to CBS News, but Clark says the militant group often exaggerates claims of military success. NATO has denied any Taliban involvement.

It was the deadliest crash in Afghanistan since August, when 30 American troops died after a Chinook helicopter was apparently shot down in Wardak province in the center of the country.

The helicopter crash occurred on the same day that a rogue Afghan soldier opened fire on French troops in the country on a training mission, killing four and leading French President Nicolas Sarkozy to immediately halt all training operations in Afghanistan. He also said he may consider pulling all French troops out of the country sooner than planned.

Meanwhile, a suicide car bomber killed at least seven civilians Thursday outside a crowded gate at Kandahar Air Field, a sprawling base for U.S. and NATO operations in the south. The Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility, saying they were targeting a NATO convoy.

It was the second suicide bombing in as many days in southern Afghanistan, officials said. The coalition said no NATO troops were killed Thursday. It does not disclose information about wounded troops.

The Taliban have been stepping up attacks in southern Afghanistan, the birthplace of the insurgency, with a wave of bombings and the assassinations of three local Afghan officials this week. The violence comes even as the U.S. is moving ahead with plans for negotiating with the Taliban to try to end the 10-year-old war in Afghanistan.

Source-cbsnews

Central America's bloody drug problem

Editor's note: Mitchell Koss has produced documentaries and segments for PBS, National Geographic, MTV, Nova, Current TV, Channel One News and ABC News, and has worked in more than 60 countries. Koss produced "Narco Wars," reported by CNN's Kaj Larsen, which premieres at 8 p.m. ET Sunday, January 22, on CNN Presents.

San Pedro Sula, Honduras (CNN) -- Flanked by police officers with assault rifles, and riding down a highway in the back of a police pickup, police commissioner Julian Hernandez explains the difficult task of fighting crime.

"The United Nations recommends that a city of this size have 4,000 officers," he says. "But I only have 1,000."

Overrun by drug violence, San Pedro Sula is the second-largest and most violent city in Honduras -- a country that's the current murder capital of the world.

At the end of the first day of shooting for CNN's "Narco Wars" report, we had arranged to meet the commissioner, expecting a quick interview. Instead, Hernandez jumped into the back of the police truck, taking correspondent Kaj Larsen and the rest of the CNN team onto the streets of San Pedro Sula, a manufacturing city with relatively good infrastructure.

A convoy of other police vehicles joined us as we set off into the city. But instead of a tour, we began following a beat-up maroon truck. A chase ensued. Finally, on the outskirts of the city, we surrounded the vehicle. Its three occupants were pulled out at gunpoint and forced to lie on the highway. We were amazed to capture this all on camera, given how most serious crimes here go unsolved.

In the next moment, the three were standing up, smiling. It turned out the police had staged the takedown to show us their tactics.

A minute later, a call came in, and we were back in a police pickup, heading to the scene of a real crime: another body dumped, another group of neighbors who hadn't seen anything or heard anything, another killing where there wasn't going to be a dramatic chase ending with arrests.

Welcome to the most violent region on earth.

Getting away with murder

Americans are well aware of Mexico's drug war and the horrific violence that takes place a stone's throw away from the United States.


But narco-trafficking and violence aren't just co

nfined to Mexico.

In fact, Honduras, El Salvador, Belize, Guatemala and Panama all had higher per-capita murder rates than Mexico in 2010.

CNN's "Narco Wars" focuses on Honduras and Guatemala because these two countries have become the key corridor for cocaine coming to the United States from South America. This has coincided with a dramatic spike in homicide rates, according to the United Nations. In Honduras, homicides have more than doubled between 2005 and 2010, the United Nations reports. As a result, the U.S. Peace Corps last weekend pulled more than 150 of its volunteers out of Honduras while it reviews the security situation there.

Almost every murder in these Central American countries goes unsolved. The impunity rate -- the rate of serious crimes that go unsolved -- is extremely high, estimated by the United Nations to be 98% in Guatemala.

Here, the odds are overwhelming that someone can literally get away with murder.

True, there are other places where the impunity rate is high, such as parts of Mexico where its drug war rages. But in Mexico, the casualties are the result of a drug war that began with known, organized cartels fighting each other.

In Central America, officials estimate that drug dealing is a factor in 60% of the killings, but it's not always clear who's killing whom and why. Perhaps a murder is related to a big shipment of cocaine. Or maybe it's over a $50 drug sale on the sidewalk.

Origins of a drug war

It started 30 years ago when hundreds of thousands of Central Americans began immigrating to the United States, many of them illegally. Some ended up in Los Angeles, then the street gang capital of the United States, if not the world. Some of the immigrants' children grew up and became gang members. They formed two large gangs, Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, and 18th Street. The neighborhoods where these gangs were based became active areas for the Los Angeles Police Department's homicide division in the 1990s.

It was as if Central America's civil wars in the 1980s had moved north.

So the United States deported many of these gang members back to Central America. As a result, Mara Salvatrucha and 18th Street, originally from Los Angeles, became Central American gangs. The region began to suffer an explosion of robberies, extortion cases and murders perpetrated by gang members.

The threat was so serious that in 2004, the FBI set up a task force to fight these transnational street gangs across the United States, Mexico and Central America. By 2005, homicides in Honduras had risen to nearly 2,500 a year.

With the United States working hard to stop trafficking in the Caribbean and South America, Central America -- with its disruptive violence and high rate of impunity -- became an attractive alternative route.

How Colombia is busting its cartels

Former Cali drug cartel member speaks out

By 2011, the DEA estimated that 25 tons of cocaine a month were moving through Honduras. And there were close to 7,000 homicides there, a 250% increase in half a dozen years. Homicides in neighboring El Salvador reportedly rose to the highest level since that country's civil war of the 1980s.

Of course, those are just numbers. On the ground, the increasing level of violence has created a kind of prison.

When the sun goes down in San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, people retreat to their homes as if it were 4 a.m. Large sections of city become deserted, and armed guards are everywhere.

Forget ideology: It's all about dollars

It's easy to say the increase in drug trafficking in Central America caused the spike in violence. But it's not entirely clear. Some analysts say they believe the instability and violence created by the deported gang members paved the way for drug traffickers.

What is clear is that in the 1980s, the region suffered from civil wars that were ideological in nature. In Guatemala and El Salvador, Marxist guerrillas were fighting governments that were allies of the United States. Honduras was relatively more peaceful -- but not entirely as government forces battled Marxist insurgents to a smaller extent. These were classic Cold War conflicts as the West and the Soviet bloc squared off.

After the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991 and the acceleration of globalization, a new symmetry has seemed to shape the violence in Honduras and Guatemala. Now combatants are fighting over dollars from the lucrative drug trade, which could make it more difficult to establish a long-lasting peace.

If we look at Mexico's more clear-cut narco war, consider the situation in Tijuana. In the fall of 2008, Tijuana was a city under siege, a ghostly place. Its public areas were largely deserted after dark. Two years later, the city was bustling again, with new restaurants open, people out and about, and civic life restored. While there are still travel advisories -- including from the United States -- warning visitors to exercise caution in Tijuana, there is a relative peace that authorities publicly credit to their efforts to defeat the cartels.

The authorities publicly credited the relative peace in Tijuana to their efforts to defeat the cartels. People whispered that either the warring cartels had made a truce, or that "one entity has prevailed," the Sinaloa Cartel, Mexico's largest and most dominant, reclaiming its hegemony.

The violence in Guatemala and Honduras seems less organized, so the path to peace appears less clear. Guatemala has seen some success with pilot programs designed to fight official corruption and to convince citizens to cooperate with authorities. Honduras, with a relatively weak government, so far seems to have little in the way of effective programs to end the violence.

Back in San Pedro Sula, on our first morning there, we visited a violence reduction center supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Half a dozen or so police officers carrying assault rifles trailed behind for security as the people at the center walked us a quarter mile down a dusty road to a soccer field that represented their greatest triumph.

The field used to be deserted because of gang violence in the neighborhood. After negotiating with the gangs, they reached an agreement allowing youth soccer leagues to use the field during the day. This fragile coexistence -- sharing a soccer field with drug gangs -- could be a small step toward what Honduras and its neighbors must do to create peace in Central America.
Source-cnn 

Afghan suicide attack kills seven at Kandahar airport

Earlier this month, a series of blasts killed at least 12 people in the city.

Officials say Thursday's attack - which happened at about 13:15 local time (08:45 GMT) - was aimed at foreign forces stationed at the airfield.

Police initially said the suicide bomber had arrived on foot, but the interior ministry later said the attacker had been driving a Toyota Corolla.

Zalmai Ayubi, a spokesman for Kandahar's provincial governor, said eight other civilians had been injured, including two children.
'Dust everywhere'

Gates to the larger US bases in Afghanistan are often crowded with trucks waiting to deliver goods as well as local residents going to or from work on the compounds.
Map

A truck driver, named only as Safiullah, said he had been waiting his turn to enter the base when the blast occurred.

"There was dust and smoke everywhere," he said.

"I got down on my knees. When the smoke lifted, I moved closer. I saw two children dead at the side of the road."

A Nato-led coalition of foreign forces has been in Afghanistan for more than a decade.

Last year, US President Barack Obama announced that tens of thousands of US forces would be withdrawn by 2013 - though 68,000 will remain of the current US force of 90,000.

Nato has started handing over security responsibility to Afghan forces in several provinces.

However, according to the UN, the number of casualties in continuing violence in Afghanistan has increased.

On Wednesday, a suicide attack and roadside bomb in Helmand province - which neighbours Kandahar to the west - killed 13 people.

A senior security official and tribal elder were among those killed by the roadside bomb, which the Taliban said it carried out.

Source-bbc

Mom Rapes, Videotapes Daughter to Teach Her About "Sex Ed"

SUNSHINE COAST, Australia -- A 37-year old woman has been sentenced to 4 years in jail for raping her daughter under the pretense of teaching the 11-year-old about sex.

The mother of four used her cell phone to videotape herself repeatedly raping her young daughter.

Click here to find out more!
And this was just one of many "lessons" the mother gave as part of a "bizarre sexual education," the presiding judge said.Judge John Robertson said the mother, through her "selfish criminal conduct", had deprived her daughter of the right to "a wholesome and loving relationship with her mother".

Prosecutors say the woman recently began a cyber-sex relationship with a man in Melbourne and became obsessed with sex.

They would send sexual videos to each other.The woman then began forcing her daughter to watch the sex videos she was making with the man, as part of a twisted effort to teach the young girl about sex.

"Your conduct toward your daughter involved a very serious breach of trust," Judge Robertson said.

The mother's name was not released to protect her daughter's identity.

Source-Ktla

Man Gropes 11-Year-Old Girl in Line at Ross Clothing Store

I

NDUSTRY, Calif. (KTLA) -- Sheriff's deputies are looking for a man they say sexually assaulted an 11-year-old girl last month while she waited in line at a local Ross clothing store.

It happened Dec. 8 at a Ross store at 1600 South Azusa Ave. in the City of Industry.

An unidentified man stood behind the girl in line, according to a news release issued by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
While the man waited behind the girl, he grabbed her buttocks and rubbed them for several seconds, according to the news release.

The girl's mother saw the contact while she walked up to meet her daughter in line and began yelling at the man.

The man left the store and quickly walked away, officials said.

Sheriff's officials don't know the man's name ,but store surveillance cameras captured his image.

He is described as a Latino man between 30 and 35-years-old, 5 feet 5 inches or 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing between 200 and 220 pounds.

Anyone with information on the man is urged to contact Special Victims Bureau Detective Alfonso Lopez at 562-619-2046 or Sergeant Nancy Drake at 562-619-1853.
Source-Ktla

IDG: 91% of IT and business professionals use iPad for work

On Monday, research firm IDG published a global survey examining Apple’s tablet in the business world. The survey found that 91% of IT and business professionals used their iPads for work, even though only a quarter of the devices had been supplied for corporate use. Like consumers, business professionals use the device for media consumption, but they use their devices on the road far more frequently than anywhere else. Some 79% of IT professionals said they always use their iPads on the road and 54% use the device at home. IDG notes that the iPad hasn’t really prompted the majority of IT and business professionals to abandon any other devices, however, with only 12% saying that their iPad has completely replaced their laptops and just 6% saying it has supplanted their PCs. However, 72% said they were using their notebooks less because of the iPad, with 83% of corporate users describing themselves as being loyal to Apple’s device.

    IDG Connect Report Shows 91% of Worldwide IT and Business Professionals Use Their iPad for Work Communication

    IDG Connect’s iPad for business survey based on interviews with IT and business professionals across every continent, reveals that more professionals always use their iPad for work communication than personal communication.

    Nearly a quarter of respondents even have their iPad supplied by work, a statistic which climbs sharply in continents like Africa (47%) and Europe (40%). In addition to this, a surprising 51% of those surveyed always use the device at work, almost as many who always use it at home (54%). This is especially true in the Middle East and Africa, where over 70% always use it at work and less than half always use it at home.

    The results also show stark changes in content consumption, and provide evidence that B2B marketers should tailor information to the tablet medium:

      *  97% of professionals use the iPad for reading
      *  70% + now buy fewer physical books and newspapers
      *  72% of iPad owners carry their laptop less
      * 66% say the iPad has partially or completely replaced their laptop
      * The survey revealed a robust loyalty to Apple with 83% globally stating they would not consider buying a different tablet device next time.

    Kathryn Cave, editor at IDG Connect International said “This research shows the tablet is fast becoming a true work device, provided by employers and used in the office for business communication. It also highlights some startling regional variations, emphasising the need for marketers to adapt content to local markets as well as new mediums.”
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Tangled Ever After (English Movie)

Director    Nathan Greno, Byron Howard
 Music    Kevin Kliesch
 Release Date    13-Jan-2012

About Movie:- Tangled Ever After is upcoming Walt Disney,s movie directed by Nathan Greno and  Byron Howard. Movie is about the Royal wedding of Rapunzel and Flynn. The Kingdom is in a festive mood as everyone gathers for the royal wedding of Rapunzel and Flynn. when Pascal and Maximus, as flower chameleon and ring bearer, respectively, lose the gold bands, a harried search and renewal task gets happening. As the anxious duo tries to find the rings before anyone discovers that they’re missing, they leave behind a trail of comical diarray that includes flying lanterns, a flock of doves, a wine barrel barricade and a very sticky finale. Will Maximus and Pascal save the day and make it to the church in time? And will they ever get Flynn’s nose right? Its all about Tangled Ever After……
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Mayor: Cruise ship rescue operations suspended

The U.S. Embassy in Italy, on its Twitter feed, said two of the 120 Americans who were aboard the ship still had not been accounted for. It was not clear Sunday as to the nationalities of other missing people, with CNN affiliates having reported Italians, Peruvians, Brazilians, French and Britons were all represented on the ship.

All 109 Russians on board have been accounted for, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced late Sunday.

There were fears the death toll could rise as rescuers searched the ship, which was nearly 50% submerged and had a gash in its hull, authorities said.

Questions and criticism continue about what caused the shipwreck and the adequacy of the response.

Speaking on Italian television, the ship's captain insisted the rocks that the Concordia hit were not marked on his map.

"On the nautical chart, it was marked just as water," Schettino said, adding that the ship was about 328 yards (300 meters) from shore.

But Nicastro, the Coast Guard spokesman, insisted that the waters where the ship ran aground were well-mapped. Local fishermen say the island coast of Giglio is known for its rocky sea floor.

"Every danger in this area is on the nautical chart," Nicastro said. "This is a place where a lot of people come for diving and sailing. ... All the dangers are known."

He said the Coast Guard was investigating why the ship took the course it did.

"We know where the ship was," he said. "We know it was too close to the island. ... We don't know why."

Italian prosecutors seized the ship's data recorders Saturday. Costa Cruses said Sunday that it can only access that information with authorities' permission.

Built in 2006, the Concordia had been on a Mediterranean cruise from Rome with stops in Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari and Palermo.

The ship was carrying about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members when it ran aground and began taking on water Friday night.

The crew kept going because they believed the vessel could continue sailing normally, said Nicastro, the Coast Guard spokesman. Realizing there was a significant safety problem, the commander steered the Costa Concordia closer toward the port of Giglio, he said.

Authorities are looking at why the ship didn't send a mayday during the accident.
Besides the two elderly people, the dead include two French tourists and a crew member from Peru, port authorities in Livorno said. One of the victims was a 65-year-old woman who died of a heart attack, authorities said.

Source-cnn

Fire Rips Through Building at ConocoPhillips Refinery

WILMINGTON, Calif. (KTLA) -- A fire ripped through an administrative building at the ConocoPhillips refinery in Wilmington early Monday morning.

The fire was reported around 4:22 a.m. in the 1600 block of W. Anaheim Street, just west of the 110 Freeway.

A passerby who saw a glow in one of the windows called 911, according to L.A. City Fire Capt. Jaime Moore.
When fire crews arrived at the scene, they encountered flames in the second-story of the building, which had already extended up into the attic, Moore said.

Structural stability was a major concern for firefighters, officials said, because the brick-and-mortar building is over 100 years old.

A portion of the roof collapsed early in the firefight, prompting fire crews to pull back and assume a defensive posture.

About 150 firefighters doused the building with heavy streams of water from ladder trucks.

No injuries were immediately reported.

The blaze was confined to the free-standing office building, and did not affect any other parts of the facility.
"It does not involve the refinery, so we do not have any danger to our residents nearby," Moore said.

Fire officials stressed that it was an ordinary structure fire, and did not involve any hazardous materials.

The LAFD was working in a unified command with ConocoPhillips to shut down utilities and monitor some computer equipment in the basement of the affected building.

Firefighters expected to be on scene for several hours until the fire was completely knocked down.

ConocoPhillips spokesperson Betsy Brien said the fire would not impact shipments or the refinery process.

"We do have contingency plans in place so we will be able to operate," Brien said.

There was no immediate word on a possible cause of the fire.

Source-ktla

Traditional Dances of Sri Lanka – Kandyan Dancing – Sbaragamuwa dances – Pahatharata dance – Wanni Dances

Dance was then initiated in Sri Lanka during the 4th century B.C for the purpose of expelling natural disasters, sickness and greet people and land. At the end of Polonnaruwa period (15th century A.D.), chola influence came into Sri Lanka and was adopted in Sri Lanka folk dancing.

The classical dance forms are associated with the performance of various rituals and ceremonies which are centuries old and are based on the folk religion and folk beliefs going back to times before the advent and acceptance of Buddhism by the Sinhalese people in the third century B.C. These rituals and ceremonies reflect the values, beliefs and customs of an agricultural civilization of Sri Lanka.

With the time, unique dancing forms were developed and varied from each other according to regional and local traditions. Today there are three principal dancing forms that can be seen in Sri Lanka.

Each of the style quite differ from each other from the dress, drums, songs and way of dancing and movements of hands, legs and fingers.

The drum used in Kandyan dancing is known as the GETA BERE, the drum in Ruhunu dancing as the YAK BERE, and drum in Saparagamu dancing as the DAVULA

Kandyan Dancing

Developed from the period of Kandyan kings. The dance imitates movements of animals as there are dancing of elephant and peacock, The costumes of Kandyan dancers are colorfull with white, red, yellow and black mixed. The male dancers with their bare chests decorated with exquisitely silver regalia and spectacular headgear; silver bangles are also worn on the arms and ankles. The performance is companied with hectic rhythms of drums called “gata beraya”. There are 18 main dances in Kandyan Style.

Sbaragamuwa dances

The dances are usually performed in Ratnapura, relating to the worshipping of God Saman much revered by local people. There are 32 main dances in Sabaragamiwa Style.�

Pahatharata dance

Dances in low country are highly ritualistic. This form of dance is performed to appease evil spirits which cause sickness. The dancers wear masks depicting many characters varied in forms of bird, demons, reptiles, etc. There are 18 main dances related to pahatharata style known as the Daha Ata Sanniya held to exorcise 18 types of diseases from the human body

Wanni Dances
Even though not popular a dance form exsit in nothern parts of Sri Lanka by veddha decedents. This form of Dancing involve only few steps and lots of rituals and singing.

Source-sandeshaya

Teenage Girl Sought in High School Soccer Player's Shooting Death

The motive for the shooting is still unknown.

"This was not a random shooting. This was definitely targeted toward a specific individual," said LAPD Det. Dave Peteque.

Police do not believe Rodriguez was in any trouble, and they say he was not involved in any gangs.

Rodriguez's mother says something did not seem right when her son answered a knock at the door, and that he seemed scared when he went outside.Friends and family say Rodriguez did not have a girlfriend. But neighbor Jose Mesa said he had seen him with a redhead recently.

"I had seen a red-haired girl in a green Ford Explorer with Panchito a few months back... I think that's probably the same one," Mesa said.

An emotional vigil was held for Rodriguez outside his home Thursday night, attended by about 100 people.

"Everybody looked up to him," Rodriguez's cousin, Zulema Ortega, said while wiping away tears.

"He was like the best cousin you could ask for. He was a good kid."

Rodriguez's classmates say they are stunned and saddened by the shooting.

"It doesn't make sense," one classmate told KTLA. "No one really disliked Pancho. It was impossible."

"I've played with him, for what, three years?" Rodriguez's friend Sergio Hernandez said. "Just a great kid... Funny... Always cracking jokes... Fun to be around."

"He loved to play the game," said Rodriguez's soccer coach, Ian Kogan."He cared a lot about the guys. He cared a lot about the school. He was a great kid. I loved him."

El Camino's Careers in Entertainment Academy is sponsoring a fundraiser to raise money for the Rodriguez family.

The fundraiser will be held January 22 at Woodland Hills Ice at 6100 Topanga Canyon Blvd.

For every person that attends, $5 from the admission price will be donated by the rink to help pay for funeral costs.
Source-ktla

Another 3-Foot Rat Found -- In A Bronx Foot Locker

THE BRONX (PIX11 NEWS)—
A second report of a gargantuan rat surfaced on Twitter Thursday, allegedly discovered in what appears to be the storage room of a Foot Locker in the Bronx.

The 3-foot beast might not be believable, except for a photo that was taken of a similar rat killed by a maintenance worker in August at the Marcy Houses in Brooklyn.

In that instance, experts hypothesized that it was a Gambian pouched rat that may have incorporated itself into the local NYC rat population. They were reportedly common pets, but imports were halted in 2003 after the Gambian rodent was linked to a Monkey pox outbreak.
According to residents of the Marcy Houses, several other gigantic rats have been seen, and it's possible they are breeding happily. Are we going to be seeing these rats in the subway next??

Source-ktla

Family Rescued After Van Pushed Off Balboa Island Ferry

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (KTLA) -- A mother, father and their two young children had to be rescued from the water Friday, after a collision sent their minivan off the Balboa Island Ferry.

The accident happened just after 9 a.m. on the Balboa Island side of the ferry crossing in Newport Harbor.

A black Mercedes was boarding the ferry when the driver accidentally accelerated, hitting the minivan and pushing it off the boat, according to witnesses.The Mercedes was left hanging precariously from the front of the ferry.

A ferry worker jumped into the water and helped the family get out of the van through its front windows, witnesses said.

Nobody was hurt.

Divers and a floating crane were brought in to pull the minivan out of the water.

Source-ktla

3 Killed in Fiery Solo-Vehicle Crash in Paramount

PARAMOUNT, Calif. (KTLA) -- An investigation is underway into a solo-vehicle crash that left three people dead in Paramount.

The accident happened around 1 a.m. on Downey Avenue at Somerset Ranch Road.

Police say an SUV was traveling very fast -- perhaps up to 90 or 100 mph -- when the driver lost control.

The vehicle hit a curb, a light pole, a wall and a hydrant before catching fire.

Five of the six people inside the SUV were ejected. Three were killed, including the driver.

People inside nearby homes heard the terrible crash.

"I was just in my room on the phone and I heard just like a loud bang, and then I stepped out on my balcony and I just saw flames everywhere and a lot of smoke," one woman said.


Investigators say all of the people inside the car were in their 20s or 30s.

There were three men and three women, all of them friends.

Speed was definitely a factor in the crash, according to police.

It's not clear if alcohol may have been involved.

Authorities also say it's hard to tell if the driver and passengers were wearing seat belts, because the seat belts were burned in the fire.

Downey Ave. was expected to remain closed in the area of the crash until about 8 a.m.

Source-ktla

Iran, U.S. need a crisis exit ramp

Editor's note: Gary Sick served on the National Security Council staff under Presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan, and was the principal White House aide for Iran during the Iranian Revolution and the hostage crisis. Sick is a senior research scholar and adjunct professor of international affairs at Columbia University, a member of the board of Human Rights Watch in New York, and founding chair of its advisory committee on the Middle East and North Africa.

(CNN) -- When two important countries appear to be goading each other into a dangerous and meaningless war, it can be useful to take a deep breath, lay the rhetoric aside for a moment, and go back to basics.

The past several weeks have seen a sharp increase in the three-decade war of words between the United States and Iran. Iran has held maneuvers in the critical Strait of Hormuz, combined with threats to interrupt commerce there. The United States has lost its third drone over Iran, and unnamed parties are conducting an unprecedented covert campaign of cyberwar and assassinations inside Iran. Iran says it has broken up a U.S. spy ring and has condemned a U.S. citizen to death.

President Clinton launched U.S. sanctions against Iran's oil industry by executive order in the election year of 1995; at that time, Iran had not a single centrifuge turning. After a decade and a half of the United States and the international community's escalating sanctions, Iran has more than 8,000 centrifuges spinning and a substantial stock of low-enriched uranium. This is the very definition of a failed policy.

The U.S. Congress in December passed a defense authorization bill that included provisions intended to bring down the Central Bank of Iran. Although President Obama expressed reservations, he signed it into law. This latest U.S. sanctions package is openly intended to deprive Iran of its oil revenues. By prohibiting other countries from dealing with Iran's banks, it is intended to prevent Iran from selling its oil. That is the equivalent of an act of war -- a financial blockade of Iran's oil ports that would deprive Iran of more than half its budgetary revenues.

We should not be surprised that a country faced with economic warfare would remind the world that it, too, can create mischief. Iran cannot close the Strait of Hormuz for a prolonged period of time, but it is capable of impeding oil traffic out of the Persian Gulf for many months. The loss of its own oil exports would be the trigger for such action, which would drive up the price of oil to unforeseeable levels and risk a wider regional war.
Lawyer hired to represent Amir Hekmati
Oil and natural gas market outlook
Nuclear scientist killed in Iran

A war with Iran would not be surgical, brief, or one-sided. As memorably noted by Gen. Anthony Zinni, if you like Iraq and Afghanistan, you will love Iran. It is a huge country, well-defended, with a fierce sense of nationalism. No air campaign, even if prolonged, will end the problem. Regardless of how a conflict begins, it is most likely to end with lots of boots on the ground. A squad of special forces will not do the job.

Paradoxically, the quickest way to insure that the Iranians decide to go for a bomb may be to bomb them. The most predictable result of a military strike would be Iran's withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the ejection of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors and cameras that watch every step of the Iranian enrichment process.

Iran has a dreadful leadership. The surest way to rally the Iranian people around this corrupt and repressive system is for an external power to attack it.

In the past few days, we have been reminded by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta that Iran has made no decision to actually build a nuclear weapon. At the same time, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while denouncing Iran's decision to proceed with its deep underground enrichment facility near Qom, has forcefully reiterated the U.S. call for Iran to return to the nuclear negotiating table. In the midst of all the saber-rattling and the clamor of an election year, what is there to talk about?

A good place to begin would be the original U.S. offer to swap 20%-enriched fuel plates, to be used in Iran's research reactor, for Iranian enriched uranium. The fuel plates were originally a gift from the United States to be used in the production of medical isotopes. Iran tentatively agreed to such an offer in 2009, only to withdraw it in the face of domestic opposition. It later accepted the proposal in writing, guaranteed by Turkey and Brazil, only to have it rejected by the United States in 2010. Iran has since signaled its willingness to resume discussions without preconditions.

U.S. policy has been one of pressure leading to negotiations. Iran has also pursued a dual-track policy of threats combined with offers of negotiation. These policies have resulted in the prospect of a war that would be disastrous to all. What we need right now is a crisis exit ramp. Perhaps this is the moment to explore the negotiating track that both sides say they prefer.
Source-edition.cnn.com

About Chinese Food and Cooking

Chinese cuisine has become a staple world food, loved by people in all countries and of all walks of life. A third of the world’s population enjoys Chinese food every day, because it offers dishes that are known to be some of the tastiest and unique in the world. Although it started off in China, the trend of this oriental cuisine has become widespread in the Western world, exemplifying the quality and lovability of Chinese food.

"Have you eaten already?" is a popular greeting among the Chinese.

People of the Western culture appreciate Chinese food for its combination of superb taste and affordability. Instead of seeing it as a foreign food that is never to be understood and difficult to cook, it has become known that Chinese cuisine is in fact easy and convenient to make in the comfort of one’s own home. With all the basic ingredients of common dishes such as bean sprouts, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts available from any neighborhood supermarket, Chinese food has been localized for people everywhere. Instead of seeing it as a special treat, people can recreate the glamor of Chinese cuisine in their own kitchen.

In addition to being easy to make, the characteristic of Chinese food is that it brings a flavor to the table for everyone. From sweet and sour to spicy, from chicken to beef to pork, there is a huge variety of dishes that can be served. Not only is Chinese food tasty, but it packs a punch of nutrition too. Rich in vitamins and often steamed or stir fried, a Chinese dish requires minimum cooking time and retain maximum health value.

General Gao's Chicken

"Color, aroma and flavor are not the only the key elements in Chinese cooking; nutrition is also a priority."

Chinese Food Takeout BoxThe dishes of Chinese cuisine are recognized by many: Sweet and Sour Pork, Chinese dumpling, Kung Pao Chicken are popular favorites to be paired with Chow Mein noodles or Fried Rice. Here at Chinesefood-recipes.com you will find all of these tasty recipes, free for you to browse, enjoy and share. Sections such as Cooking Tips and Ingredients will make the journey faster and easier, getting you on your way to becoming an expert in Chinese cooking. Enjoy!

Chinese Stir Fry Noodles

Confucius (551-479 B.C.) said, "The path to your friend's heart and soul begins from your cooking.

Source-chinesefood-recipes

The Advantages of Organic Food You Are What You Eat

Do you really know what goes into your food?

Discover the advantages of organic food on this site and see exactly what producers have been adding to your fruit and vegetables to make it less healthy than a few years ago.

advantages of organic food graphic 1In the rush to produce more and more crops to satisfy growing demand producers have had to resort to using a cocktail of pesticides to control disease and insect attack.

Good news for their bank balances perhaps but not good news for your health, this is why you need to be informed of the advantages of organic food.

Did you know that if you consumed an average apple you would be eating over 30 pesticides, even after you have washed it?

The quality of food has definitely gone down since the second world war. For instance, research has shown that the levels of vitamin C in today's fruit bear no resemblance to the levels found in wartime fruit.

Organic food is known to contain 50% more nutrients, minerals and vitamins than produce that has been intensively farmed. Read more about this here.

You will have to eat more fruit nowadays to make up the deficiency, but unfortunately that means eating more chemicals, more potentially detrimental affects on your health eating something that should be good for you!

Also don't forget about the cocktail of anti-biotics and hormones that cattle and poultry are force fed.

What happens to those chemicals when the animal dies?

Digested and stored in human bodies is a possible answer, have you seen pictures of animals in severly cramped conditions in battery farms? It seems logical to think that if they are unhappy and cramped then their meat might well be of lower quality. It cannot be coincidence that we are seeing more and more free range or organically fed meat turning up in our supermarkets.

It just does not make sense to state that any animal kept in these conditions is healthy and produces high quality food.

If you are as worried as I am about the health of your family then you need to read the articles section and seriously consider converting your family to the organic lifestyle with the organic food information you are going to learn on this site.

advantages of organic food graphic 2Trust me, once you try some organic produce and taste an apple the way it should be, and perhaps how you recall it tasting in your youth, you will never go back to mass produced fruit again.

Sure there are issues with availability and cost but with a bit of research you should be able to find local stores who stock organic produce.

Also, do not forget about your local farmer, I'm sure you will be able to find one that has seen the light and opened up a farm shop to supply local residents.

You should be able to get some very keen prices from these shops, why not take a look around and see who is offering produce in your area?

Some more startling facts now. Every day we seem to be reading in the news about this or that chemical having been linked to another disease, lately I have read about links to:

    Cancer
    Obesity
    Altzheimer's
    Some birth defects

Not a nice list is it? There are probably others but if you think about it, how can it be okay for you to eat chemicals and not expect some form of reaction in your body? Our bodies are delicately balanced wonderful machines. Any form of foreign chemical is bound to cause irritation at the least.


Source-.organicfoodinfo