U.S. extends travel warning to Mexico

Washington ((News Today) - The U.S. State Department on Thursday extended a travel warning that had been issued for Mexico because of the region's high level of drug and gang violence.

The State Department warning also notes that the authorized departure of family members of U.S. government personnel from U.S. consulates in the northern Mexico border cities of Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros has been extended.

The State Department issued similar warnings in March and April.

The Mexican government said in April that more than 22,700 people have been killed in drug-related violence since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon declared war on narcotraffickers.

"While most victims of violence are Mexican citizens associated with criminal activity, the security situation poses serious risks for U.S. citizens, as well," the State Department warning says.

Much of the recent violence has occurred in northern Mexico, where two drug cartels have been waging a bloody war since January.

The area, which borders Texas, has seen ferocious fighting between the Zetas and Gulf cartels after a recent gangland slaying. Hours-long gun battles are common, and U.S. officials were forced earlier this year to temporarily close the consulate in Reynosa, a city in Tamaulipas state.

Ciudad Juarez remains the most violent city in the nation, though.

"Since 2006, three times as many people have been murdered in Ciudad Juarez, in the state of Chihuahua, across from El Paso, Texas, than in any other city in Mexico," the State Department travel warning says. "More than half of all Americans killed in Mexico in FY 2009 whose deaths were reported to the U.S. Embassy were killed in the border cities of Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana."

The State Department targets six Mexican states as particularly dangerous.

"Recent violent attacks and persistent security concerns have prompted the U.S. embassy to urge U.S. citizens to defer unnecessary travel to Michoacan and Tamaulipas, to parts of Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango and Coahuila and to advise U.S. citizens residing or traveling in those areas to exercise extreme caution," the warning says.

The latest trouble in Tamaulipas and neighboring Nuevo Leon state started January 18, when Gulf cartel members killed top Zeta lieutenant Victor Mendoza. The Zetas demanded that the Gulf cartel turn over the killers, but the narco group refused.

The Zetas, composed mostly of former elite military troops, had been the armed enforcers for the Gulf cartel since 2001. They have become more independent in recent years, and authorities say the all-out war between the two cartels indicates the split is permanent.

Source : CNN

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N. Korea's Kim, China's Hu to meet

(News Today) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is expected to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing on Thursday in a move that some hope will trigger the return of six-party denuclearization talks, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

Kim is believed to have arrived in China early Monday by train via the border city of Dandong, Yonhap reported earlier this week, citing unnamed sources in Seoul and Beijing.

His trip to the country comes as North Korea is seeking a conditional return to the six-party talks, Yonhap said, citing the terms as a peace treaty with the United States to end what North Korea considers a state of war on the Korean Peninsula, and the lifting of U.N. sanctions against North Korea.

"It is predicted that the summit talks between North Korea and China will be held on Thursday," Yonhap quoted an unnamed a source in Beijing as saying.

North Korea last year cut off the six-party talks also involving the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia, in anger over international criticism of its nuclear and missile tests.

Yonhap said Thursday's expected meeting may lead Pyongyang to rejoin the stalled talks in return for heavy economic aid from Beijing.

Source : CNN

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Accused killer says he killed Ohio couple in '77

New York (News Today) - A man who wrote about his life as a career criminal in his autobiography has confessed to a 33-year-old double homicide, authorities in Ohio said Tuesday.

Edward W. Edwards, 76, who is awaiting trial on murder charges in a separate case in Wisconsin, admitted killing a young Ohio couple in 1977, the Summit County prosecutor's office and the Norton, Ohio, police department announced in a statement.

According to police and prosecutors, Edwards said he killed William Lavaco, 21, and Judith Straub, 18. Their bodies were found in a Sterling, Ohio, park on August 8, 1977. Police said the couple had been shot point-blank in the neck with a 20-gauge shotgun.

Jeff Straub, who was 9 years old when his sister was killed, said he waited decades for this day. "After the first 10 years it was very improbable that there was ever going to be any justice in this case," Straub told CNN. "But I never completely gave up hope for Judy's sake."

Authorities said charges have not yet been filed against Edwards in the case as they are "reviewing their options" and have asked the public for help with information.

Detectives are trying to corroborate Edwards' confession, Norton Police Chief Thad Hete told CNN .

"Our investigators have taken the evidence that was retrieved from the crime scene in 1977 and are meeting with the crime lab to see if they can extract some DNA that matches that of Edwards," Hete said.

Years of not knowing who killed his sister haunted him and his family, Jeff Straub said.

"You knew the killer was out there and you didn't know where," he said. "I wondered if they could possibly be here in the same store or driving down the same street. You just wonder: Could that be the person that possibly killed my sister?"

Chief Hete said his investigation is in its earliest stages. "We're nowhere near the finish line in this case," Hete said. "His admissions and his statements will be looked at thoroughly. For peace of mind, it's imperative that we exhaust all our resources."

Edwards wrote an autobiography in 1972 titled, "Metamorphosis of a Criminal: The True Life Story of Ed Edwards." The book chronicled his criminal activities, which included robbery, theft and arson, according to police.

He is awaiting trial in Wisconsin in June for the 1980 slayings of two 19-year-olds, whose bodies were found in a cornfield, authorities said.

While Edwards is getting attention, Jeff Straub wants people to know about his sister Judy.

"This subject, he's getting a lot of publicity now and telling his side of the story, but Judy can't be here so I have to be strong and represent her ... so that she would be proud of me," Straub said.

"She was an all-American girl. She had blond hair, blue eyes, very pretty girl," Straub said. "At the funeral I remember people were lined up out the door and down the street."

"Everybody loved her, I had never heard anybody say a bad word about her," he said, adding that he "couldn't ask for a sister you could be more proud of."

Source : CNN

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Abbas wary over planned talks with Israel

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (News Terupdate) - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says he is ready for a new round of peace talks with Israel, but he harbors a jaded view of the exercise.

In an interview with CNN Monday, Abbas said he will be grappling with an Israeli government he calls "radical and stubborn" and even promises to end talks If Israel builds more settlements.

"We have (a) very hard time in convincing the Israeli administration of the need to withdraw from the territories, the need to solve the Jerusalem issue and the situation involving the refugees," Abbas said in Abu Dhabi.

"If you remember, during the previous meetings, we informed the U.S. administration that we agreed on what they called the proximity talks. But what happened was that Israel provoked the U.S. administration and roused all of us by announcing their plan to build 1,600 settlements in Jerusalem."

Over the weekend, the Arab League endorsed indirect or "proximity" peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, a development welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It is unclear if and when the talks would start.

"Until this moment, we can't say that it will start but there are indications," said Abbas. "These indications started when the American administration offered commitments or let's say assurances that there will not be any acts of provocation during these talks.

"We accepted this assurance and we went with that to the Arab League, to the Arab League peace initiative committee and they endorsed it."

Procedurally, the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee needs to approve the start of negotiations, and Abbas said negotiations will begin when the Palestinian leadership gives its go-ahead.

He expects to meet Friday with George Mitchell, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East. Abbas -- who said the United States is the only broker of talks -- said he will inform Mitchell of any Palestinian decision regarding talks.

If talks are approved, they will be held in the time and manner proposed by the envoy, Abbas said.

Water, borders, the settlements, the refugees, Jerusalem, security and Palestinian prisoners are issues that must be on the agenda, he said.

Abbas said the talks will end if Israeli settlement-building continues or restarts.

Abbas envisions two states based on the pre-war June 1967 borders with some changes that would lead to an agreement.

"Let us talk about the vision of the two states. What does it mean to have a two-state solution?" he said. "Israel needs to stop these activities and not push us to face their reality on the ground where they keep claiming that it is their land."

He said the issue of Jerusalem is key.

"All of the international entities say that East Jerusalem is an occupied territory, therefore East Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Palestine,"

Asked what would happen if the new negotiations fail, he said "will have to reassess."

Abbas is hoping that the United States can foster good relations with both the Israelis and Palestinians and help them move forward.

"I don't want bad relations between the U.S. and the Israelis. I want a good U.S. relation with Israel and Palestine that can have its say."

Asked whether Palestinians can negotiate when there is much disagreement between them, with Hamas controlling Gaza and Fatah prevailing in the West Bank, Abbas said he speaks "on behalf of all of the Palestinians."

"Let us not talk about things before they happen. I represent the PLO and the PLO talks on behalf of all the Palestinian people in the West Bank, Gaza and abroad. They are the one entitled to sign treaties with everyone."

When asked whether Hamas would reject Abbas' stance, he said it wouldn't.

"This is what every Hamas official says: that the PLO is the one who is responsible when it comes to the negotiations. This is why I can go ahead with the negotiations and I don't have to wait for a final national reconciliation with Hamas."

Asked how Palestinians can control rockets being launched by militants into Israel, Abbas said, "There are no rockets."

"Hamas reached an understanding that the rockets are wrong and that the rockets are not a national act," a stance he calls a "very good thing."

"There are no rockets and I can say it in all honesty that there is no true military resistance anymore," he said.

Abbas said he doesn't support any idea of unilaterally declaring a Palestinian state.

"There is no use for us to declare a state and be alone and the result will be that it will not be recognized by all the countries all over the world."

Source : CNN

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Analysis: 'Slain' Taliban leader garners attention in Pakistan

(News Terupdate) - For three months, Hakimullah Mehsud was supposedly dead, killed in a U.S. drone attack in the mountains of Pakistan, according to Pakistani officials.

Then word came last week from intelligence sources in Pakistan that he had not after all been killed, that he had been injured but not seriously.

And within days of that news, not one but two messages followed from Mehsud himself, both purportedly recorded in April. They warned of imminent attacks by the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, on unspecified targets in the United States.

U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials remain very skeptical about any TTP involvement in the weekend's attempted car bombing in New York. One senior official said it would be "an enormous surprise" if they were involved.

The TTP has shown little appetite or capability for operating beyond Pakistan and Afghanistan, though it was linked to a suicide bombing plot that unfolded in Spain and was broken up in 2008.

But Mehsud is back in action, courting publicity again.

Whether he is still the leader of the TTP is an open question.

Last week, while U.S. officials said they still weren't sure whether he was dead or alive, Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell said, "I certainly have seen no evidence that [Mehsud] is operational today or is executing or exerting authority over the Pakistan Taliban as he once did. So I don't know if that reflects him being alive or dead, but he clearly is not running the Pakistani Taliban anymore."

But in light of the video that surfaced over the weekend, that assessment may have to be revisited.

Mehsud's résumé reads like that of the "fast-track" jihadist.

He is about 30 years old and charismatic on camera in a way similar to fugitive U.S. preacher Anwar al-Awlaki. He comes from a clan in the restive South Waziristan area of Pakistan that has a long record of involvement in jihad.

The FATA Research Center in Pakistan, which has tracked his career closely, says his two brothers were killed fighting Pakistani troops in South Waziristan in 2008.

Mehsud himself joined the TTP in 2003 and fought in Afghanistan before becoming spokesman for the leader of the group, Baitullah Mehsud, say analysts in Pakistan.

But in the age of drone attacks, the life expectancy of a Taliban commander is uncertain. Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a drone strike in 2009, and Hakimullah Mehsud succeeded him.

He had shown considerable flair for military operations, and according to Mansur Khan Mahsud, director of the FATA Research Center in Islamabad, he had a fearsome reputation.

"Temperamentally, Hakimullah was a hothead. He angered very easily, did not tolerate opposition and was reputed to be arrogant and prone to emotional outbursts," Mahsud wrote in Foreign Policy. "He was rumored to have shot several men, including some in the Taliban, who disagreed with his orders."

As leader of the TTP, Mehsud's greatest "achievement" was orchestrating the suicide bombing of the CIA base in Khost at the end of last year, which killed seven CIA employees and contractors. A man identified by Pakistani officials as Mehsud appeared with the suicide bomber in a video that was released soon after the attack.

"This is a message to the enemies of the [Muslim] nation: the CIA and Jordanian intelligence services," the bomber said, with Mehsud at his side.

Mehsud's well-documented love of the camera nearly cost him his life. He became a top target for retribution by the United States.

On January 15, he was wounded in a drone attack. Subsequently, U.S. and Pakistani officials said intelligence reports indicated that it was virtually certain that he had died of his wounds. Local tribal chiefs even reported attending his funeral. The Taliban persistently denied that he had been killed.

At the time of the reports, U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said of Mehsud: "He's a very bad person. He either is or was a very bad person, and either way, he's as bad a person as there has been in this region for a long time."

For now, it seems, we need to revert to the present tense in describing Hakimullah Mehsud.

Source : CNN

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Pakistani man convicted for 2008 Mumbai siege

Mumbai, India (News Terupdate) - An Indian court handed down a guilty verdict Monday in the case of the only surviving gunman from the 2008 siege in Mumbai.

Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani, was found guilty of murder, conspiracy and waging war on India. Two Indian nationals accused of conspiracy were acquitted.

A judge is expected to sentence Kasab on Tuesday. He could receive the death penalty or a life sentence.

India blamed the attacks on the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a Pakistan-based terror group allied with al Qaeda.

Authorities said Kasab was trained by the organization, which was banned in Pakistan in 2002 after an attack on India's parliament. The group denied responsibility.

The Mumbai attack derailed a fragile peace process between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan for about 15 months.

Top diplomats from the two South Asian rivals met in February this year in a fresh bid to resume their dialogue.

More than 160 people were killed in Mumbai in November 2008, as 10 men attacked buildings including the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower and Oberoi-Trident hotels, the city's historic Victoria Terminus train station, and the Jewish cultural center, Chabad House.

The assault lasted three days.

Kasab was photographed holding an assault weapon during the attacks.

Indian forces killed nine suspects in the attack. Their bodies were embalmed and kept in a hospital morgue as some local Muslim groups refused them a burial in their graveyards, saying the attackers were not true followers of Islam.

An Indian official in Maharastra state, where Mumbai is located, said a burial took place in January this year. He did not give the date or the exact location of what he described as a secret funeral.

Source : CNN

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Report: North Korean leader may be in China

(News Terupdate) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is believed to be in China, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.

Quoting unnamed sources in Seoul and Beijing, Yonhap said Kim is believed to have arrived in the Chinese border city of Dandong early Monday by train and to be heading to the port city of Dalian.

The South Korean government was trying to confirm details, Yonhap said.

A visit by Kim to China has long been anticipated in Seoul and Washington, according to Yonhap, with the hope that the visit would be followed by a North Korean announcement that it would be returning to the so-called six-party talks on denuclearization.

Kim, who is said to be afraid of flying, has visited China four times since 2000, by train only, according to Yonhap.

The North has said it will not return to the nuclear negotiations until the removal of the U.N. sanctions and the start of discussions for a peace treaty on the Korean Peninsula. Meanwhile, there are suspicions in South Korea that the North may be behind the sinking of a South Korean warship on March 26 that killed 46 South Korean sailors.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan earlier said his country will oppose resuming the nuclear negotiations if the communist North is found to have been involved in the sinking of the 1,200-ton warship, Cheonan, because the North "must be made to pay for its actions," according to Yonhap.

The nuclear talks, involving both South and North Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia, were last held in December 2008.

Source : CNN

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Whistle Blower Susno Possibly Named Suspect

Jakarta, Indonesia (News Today) - Lawyers of case brokerage whistle blower Susno Duaji, a former National Police chief detective, expressed concern on Thursday that police investigators will name him a suspect.

"There is an indication that Susno will be named a suspect and detained. There are rumors to that effect. So, it is just logical if we are worried," M. Assegaf, one of Susno’s lawyers, said at the Police Headquarters on Thursday.

Susno Duadji became popular for having revealed a Rp25 billion-worth tax fraud case involving rogue tax official Gayus Tambunan and made a public statement suggesting that case brokering practices were rife in the police force.

Apart from rumors that the former chief of the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) would be named a suspect, his lawyers were also suspicious about the police summons which did not contain the name of a suspect.

Susno did not show up for questioning as a witness on Thursday because the summons did not include the name of a suspect. Assegaf said his client was reluctant to come to the national police headquarters because the summons did not specifically mention the names of the suspects in the case for which he was to be questioned.

"Our client is very sorry for not being able to meet the police’s summons," he said.

Assegaf said members of Susno Duadji’s lawyers’ team had met with the National Police’s chief detective, Commissioner General Ito Sumardi, to ask him about the absence of the suspects’ names in the summons. He said previous police questioning processes were conducted professionally but there were indications the police would later name Susno a suspect and arrest him.

"It has become a rumor. Of course, we are concerned," he said.

In the meantime, Chief Criminal Investigator Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi said that police independent investigators had the authority to change Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji’s status from witness to suspect and to detain him.

"There is a rule which stipulates that the team of independent investigators has the full right to carry out investigation, including naming Pak (Mr) Susno a suspect and detain him," Ito said.

Comr. Gen. Ito made the statement in connection with the failure of Susno Duadji to meet the police’s first summons on Thursday and the fear of Susno’s lawyers that their client would be named a suspect and detained.

The independent investigators would have questioned former chief Susno Duadji at Police Headquarters on Thursday in connection with tax official Gayus Tambunan tax fraud case and alleged money embezzlement at PT Salma Arowana Lestari. Because he did not show up on Thursday at the police headquarters for examinations, investigators sent Susono a second summons on Thursday for questioning on Monday.

"The summons was sent on Thursday," Police Headquarters’ Spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said.

The police spokesman said Susno’s lawyer questioned the summons as it did not mention the name of the suspect nor the case over which Susno would be questioned, and that this was the reason his client had not met the summons. Edward Aritonang said the Code of Criminal Procedures (Kuhap) did not require a summons to mention the name of a suspect.

"In fact, Pak (Mr) Susno was to be questioned to identify or determine the suspect," the police headquarters’ spokesman said. The two-star general said the format of the second summons was the same as the first one, namely it did not contain the name of a suspect.

Edward said the questioning would be about the public remarks Susno had once made alleging there was a case-brokering network bigger than the one involving tax official Gayus Tambunan with Sjahril Djohan as the key player. When questioned by the police’s independent investigation team, Sjahril Djohan had linked Susno’s name with a money embezzlement case involving PT Salma Arowana Lesteri, which was doing an arowana breeding business.

Another member of Susno Duadji’s lawyers’ team, Ari Yusuf Amir, had previously said the police investigators assigned to question Susno on Thursday were the same as those who had quizzed him on April 20 and April 22. Police had so far quizzed Susno three times over the Gayus Tambunan and arowana fish cases.

Tambunan is now a suspect in tax fraud case worth Rp25 billion which also involved his lawyer, Haposan Hutagalung. During the April questioning, police questioned Susno about the arowana fish case because it might have involved Haposan Hutagalung and Sjahril Djohan. The latter was also allegedly involved in the Gayus Tambunan case.

The arowana fish case was related to a dispute between a Singaporean businessman (only identified as HKH) and his Indonesian counterpart (only identified as AS alias Am). HKH reportedly had given Rp100 billion to his Indonesian partner to engage in the arowana fish business in Pekanbaru, Riau Province. The Singaporean businessman had also handed over arowana fingerlings with a total value of Rp32 billion. The dispute occurred when he was still the national police’s chief detective.

On the summons for Susno’s questioning on Monday, Police Chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri has confirmed it. Danuri said a followup summons had to be issued to Susno Duadji who did not meet a first summons.

Danuri said that based on existing procedural rules, a second summons would be sent if the first summons was not fulfilled. If Susno remained defiant and did not meet the second summons, the third summons would be sent with an order to bring him to the police headquarters for questioning.

"It will depend on the investigators," the police chief said.

Source : kompas.com

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As oil spill nears Gulf Coast, experts issue dire warnings

Venice, Louisiana (News Terupdate) - Gulf coast residents braced Saturday for the arrival of a massive oil slick creeping toward shore as nearly a million feet of boom were deployed in an effort to protect precious estuaries and wildlife -- even as thousands of barrels of crude continued gushing into the water.

Landfall along the Mississippi River Delta and other Gulf areas was expected as early as Saturday.

"I'm pretty much on pause right now ... it's just a big waiting game," said David Boola, a fisherman who leads boat trips for tourists out of Venice, Louisiana.

But even as officials and residents wait for the oil to reach land, the slick has already taken a dramatic toll on life all along the Gulf Coast, bringing fishing and tourism to a halt in many places and threatening to cripple those industries for weeks to come.

"I'm extremely worried because I have customers that [have] already canceled trips," Boola told CNN Saturday. "I should be out taking people fishing today and I'm not. I'm not making money today. Or tomorrow. I'm worried about the now factor, you know?"

Government leaders echoed those fears.

"The oil that is leaking offshore, the oil that is coming onto our coast threatens more than just our wildlife, our fisheries, our coast," Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said at a Saturday press conference. "This oil literally threatens our way of life."

The oil company BP -- which operated the rig whose sinking caused the underwater oil gusher -- partnered with government officials to hold town hall meetings throughout the region Saturday to respond to concern about the spill's consequences.

But frustration was growing Saturday in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. At a town hall meeting in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, Mayor Stan Wright warned fishermen in the audience that outbursts would be met with arrest. The fishermen were told that they were not allowed to ask questions.

Jindal suggested the response to the oil slick has so far been inadequate, saying "we continue to be concerned with BP's ability to respond to this incident."

Jindal said he has been working with local officials to develop cleanup contingency plans, but needs funding approval from BP and authorization from the U.S. Coast Guard's incident commander to move forward.

"We need to empower our locals on the ground," he said.

"Now they're saying we are seeing sheens," hitting the coast, Jindal said Saturday, citing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "But they expect the heavier oil to be coming by tomorrow and Monday."

U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen -- who the Obama administration designated Saturday to lead response to the oil slick -- said that oil is likely to reach shorelines in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

"The real question is when," he said.

Allen said Saturday that the government and BP's top priority is trying to stop the oil leak, but offered no timetable for when that goal might be achieved.

"We don't know how many days the discharge will continue to occur," he said.

Such reports darkened forecasts about the spill's environmental impact.

"This has the potential of being truly devastating," Tom McKenzie, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, told CNN.

Environmentalist Richard Charter of the Defenders of Wildlife organization said the magnitude of the oil leak could cause damage that would last decades.

"This event is a self-feeding fire," Charter told CNN. "It is so big and expanding so fast that it's pretty much beyond human response that can be effective. ... You're looking at a long-term poisoning of the area. Ultimately, this will have a multi-decade impact."

President Obama announced he will visit the oil spill area Sunday morning.

The oil spill started April 20, after an explosion on the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven oil rig workers remain missing and are presumed dead.

The rig sank April 22 about 50 miles (80 km) off the southeast coast of Louisiana, and the untapped wellhead is gushing about 5,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico, according to BP and government estimates. Some environmentalists say the amount could be much larger.

About 1.6 million gallons of oil have spilled since the explosion, the Coast Guard said.

BP said two Louisiana communities -- Venice and Port Fourchon -- will be the first places likely hit by the oil slick.

Nearly 2,000 personnel have joined the response effort, which includes 68 vessels, among them skimmers, tugs, barges and oil-recovery ships, officials said.

Crews worked through Friday night to dispense 3,000 gallons of sub-surface dispersant, officials said. The Coast Guard's Allen said that an initial test of dispersant released near the wellhead suggested the method could "significantly mitigate the amount [of oil] that makes it to the surface."

Such tests have never been done before, BP spokeswoman Marti Powers said. She said that the dispersants attach themselves to underwater concentrations of oil, causing the oil to sink to the bottom and dissipate.

While the dispersants can help dissipate oil slicks and help birds and other land-based or water-surface wildlife, the chemicals can hurt fish and other underwater species, environmentalist Charter said.

"The scale of the event and the likely duration of the event ... really leaves responders with no good options," Charter said. "While [dispersants] can protect terrestial wildlife ... out in the ocean they make toxic biocomponents available to the marine food chain."

Rapid response teams are staged to deploy to shorelines affected by the oil, federal officials said Saturday. The teams will evaluate and determine an appropriate clean-up effort to minimize impact on the environment.

In addition, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has approved Jindal's request to mobilize 6,000 National Guard troops.

Meanwhile, the Minerals Management Service has been in contact with all oil and gas operators in the oil spill area, officials said. Two platforms have stopped production and one has been evacuated as a safety measure, federal officials said in a release Saturday morning.

Federal officials have urged BP to beef up its response.

"We'll continue to urge BP to leverage additional assets," Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said Friday as she toured the area. "It is time for BP to supplement their current mobilization as the slick of oil moves toward shore."

Doug Suttles, chief operating officer of BP, said the company has had three priorities: stop the flow of oil, minimize its impact and keep the public informed.

"We've so far mounted the largest response effort ever done in the world," Suttles said. "We've utilized every technology available, we've applied every resource request. ... We welcome every new idea and every offer of support."

BP said it has been trying to stop the flow by using remote-controlled submarines to activate a valve atop the well. But the valve is not working, the energy company said.

As concerns about the spill's toll mount -- particularly in the commercial fishing industry, a critical $2.4 billion economic engine for the region -- Obama promised steps to prevent a similar disaster in the future.

The president asked Interior Secretary Ken Salazar "to conduct a thorough review of this incident and report back to me in 30 days on what, if any, additional precautions and technologies should be required to prevent accidents like this from happening again."

Federal officials, including the president, emphasized that BP is legally responsible for paying the costs of the response to and cleanup of the spill.

The cause of the blast on the Deepwater Horizon remains unknown.

Seventeen of the 126 people on the rig were injured in the blast, three of them critically. One person remained hospitalized Saturday, federal officials said.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is investigating.

Source : CNN

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Jesse James spotted without ring

(News Terupdate) - After a month at a treatment facility to deal with "personal issues," Jesse James was spotted back at his Los Angeles area home Monday. He was not wearing a wedding ring as he took his children to school.

James, 40, checked into the treatment center last month after his marriage to Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock went into a crisis amid reports that he had multiple affairs.

Bullock, 45, had remained out of sight until earlier this month when she was photographed hiking in Northern California, also not wearing her wedding ring.

Source : CNN

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