The protests in Egypt have been inspired, in part, by the uprising in Tunisia that led to the overthrow of the government there. YouTube video has been a reliable source of news and images from Egypt. Here's a look at some moments caught on video.
Facebook finally provided a way to keep any random jerk in the café from hijacking your account. But you have to go out of your way to enable this protection, and you might have to wait. Still: Jump on this.
Facebook has at long last offered an option to use the encrypted "HTTPS" protocol, a feature it will begin rolling out today but won't finish for a "few weeks." You should check now if it's available, and sign up as soon as it is enabled for your account. The performance overhead is minor—zippy Gmail, for example, uses HTTPS for everything—and it's an important step to keep your Facebook account safe from being hijacked on an open or poorly secured wireless network.
By default, Facebook sends your access credentials in the clear, with no encryption whatsoever. Switching to HTTPS is important because a browser extension called Firesheep has made it especially easy for anyone sharing your open wireless network—at cafe or conference, for example—to sniff your credentials and freely access your account. One blogger sitting in a random New York Starbucks was able to steal 20-40 Facebook identities in half an hour. HTTPS solves this longstanding problem by encrypting your login cookies and other data; in fact the inventor of Firesheep made the software to encourage companies like Facebook to finally lock down their systems.
You can sign up for Facebook HTTPS by going to Account Settings and then selecting "Account Security," third from the bottom. Then click under "Secure Browsing" — if it's there. Facebook says everyone should have this by the end of the day, but in the meantime you might be missing the relevant option toggle.
(Reuters) - A suicide bombing in the arrivals hall of Moscow's main airport suggests Islamist militants have a new target -- the Kremlin's bid to attract foreign investors.
Monday's attack ripped through crowds at Domodedovo, the country's busiest airport, just two days before President Dmitry Medvedev pitches Russia to the world's business elite at Davos.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev speaks during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg June 18, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Alexander Demianchuk
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
"On the eve of Davos, the attack appears designed to undermine Russia's objective of becoming an international financial and cultural center," the director of consultancy Eurasia Group, Cliff Kupchan, said in a note to clients.
Medvedev is still due to speak at the investor forum in Switzerland on Wednesday. But the assault on Russia's main port of entry looks calculated to thwart his message. Several foreigners were among the 35 dead and 110 wounded.
"The terror attack will surely be a prominent topic at Davos, and some investors will wonder anew about Russia's safety," Kupchan said. "If the bombing did result from indigenous terror, this attack will cause reputational damage beyond the tragic loss of life."
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing but the attack bore the hallmarks of Islamist militants fighting in the mainly Muslim North Caucasus for a separate state.
Medvedev, who was propelled into the Kremlin's top job in 2008 by his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, is leading a drive to present Russia as a lucrative $1.4 trillion economy that is recovering from crisis and open for foreign investment.
Moscow has lured big names such as British oil major BP and U.S. food and drink giant PepsiCo to make big purchases in Russia over the past two months. More may follow.
But Russian officials had already been fighting an uphill battle to convince investors that endemic corruption, mounds of red tape and patchy rule of law are worth the rewards. Killing and maiming dozens at a major airport makes their jobs harder.
"It will create a perception of danger for Western visitors, as well as being a psychological blow for the Russian population," said analyst Matthew Clements at IHS Jane's in London.
DAMAGED IMAGE?
Aside from increasing concerns for personal safety among would-be investors, it also raises wider questions about the Kremlin's ability to run the world's most extensive country.
Nearly two decades after Chechen separatists first challenged Moscow rule following the collapse of Soviet Communism, and tens of thousands of deaths later, the Kremlin's problems in the mainly Muslim republics of the North Caucasus on Russia's southern flank are, if anything, increasing.
Poverty and radical Islam have inspired many young people. And no matter how much money the Kremlin pours in, or how many security measures are taken, analysts say the Kremlin has achieved very little. Violence is actually spreading.
Insurgency leader Doku Umarov last year vowed to bring his fight to Russia's heartland and to hit the energy and transport infrastructure which pumps the lifeblood of Russia's economy
The three remaining women of four whose bodies were found scattered over a desolate quarter-mile of grassy dunes on Long Island last month had worked as prostitutes, and the police said Monday that a serial killer was probably responsible for their deaths.
All four women whose bodies were found in the dunes — one was identified last week — had advertised for clients through Craigslist and other online services, and were in their 20s, the Suffolk County Police commissioner, Richard Dormer, said in a telephone interview after a news conference with the county district attorney, Thomas Spota.
Suffolk County Police Department, via Associated Press
The three remaining women whose bodies were found scattered near Gilgo Beach, N.Y., were identified as, from top, Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes and Amber Lynn Costello.
The Suffolk police gave the identities of the three women as Maureen Brainard-Barnes of Norwich, Conn., 25; Melissa Barthelemy, 24, who had been living in the Bronx but was originally from the Buffalo area; and Amber Lynn Costello, 27, who was last seen in North Babylon on Long Island.
“Certainly, it has all the hallmarks of a serial killer,” Mr. Dormer said. “Because of the four bodies all found in the same location, they were all connected through the Internet, and the escort, prostitution thing.”
He said that investigators had not yet made any arrests. He declined to comment about whether they were searching for any suspects. “That’s part of the investigation,” he said. “We have made significant progress, and we do have leads.”
A police dog scouring the bluffs and dunes near Gilgo Beach, N.Y., in a training exercise found the skeletal remains of one body on Dec. 11, and the remains of the other three bodies were found on Dec. 13. “They were dumped at different times — that’s apparent,” Mr. Dormer said.
The police identified the first of the four bodies last week: that of Megan Waterman, 22, from Scarborough, Maine, who had advertised as an escort on Craigslist and had disappeared last spring.
To identify the other three, medical examiners in Suffolk County worked with forensic anthropologists from the New York City medical examiner’s office, which, a spokeswoman said, has the largest DNA lab in the country.
Ms. Brainard-Barnes had been missing since July 9, 2007. In a statement released on Monday, Norwich police said she had gone to New York City that day and was expected to return to Norwich the next day but did not.
The Suffolk County police said that Ms. Barthelemy disappeared from the Bronx on July 12, 2009, and that Ms. Costello was last seen on Sept. 2, 2010.
(CNN) -- At least nine homes in the Ohio village of Fairport Harbor caught fire Monday after an increase in gas line pressure, the mayor's office said.
Authorities scrambled to shut off gas service amid reports of gas fumes in the air.
Lake County Sheriff Daniel Dunlap said that as of about 8:40 a.m., gas service had been shut off and all the fires were believed to be out.
Authorities have scrambled to cut off gas service Monday in Fairport Harbor, Ohio, after five homes burned.
Police initially had said they would attempt to evacuate up to 3,000 people in the village. However, Major Frank Sarosy called off the evacuation, saying it would be too chaotic to get residents out of the village through only three exits. Residents were asked to turn off their gas from the outside and remain in their homes, the statement said.
Gas began flowing at a higher rate than normal because of a problem in the pressure line, and that caused the fires, the mayor's office said in a written statement. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
All 17 of the county's fire departments were called out. The initial call came in about 7 a.m. ET, Dunlap said.
Fairport Harbor is about 30 miles east of Cleveland on the shores of Lake Erie.
Moscow (CNN) -- Terrorists detonated a bomb at Moscow's busiest airport on Monday, killing 35 people and wounding 152, Russian authorities said.
President Dmitry Medvedev, who called the bombing a terrorist attack, ordered additional security at airports and transportation hubs around the country, and Moscow police went on high alert in case of additional bombs.
The explosion occurred about 4:30 p.m. at the entrance of the international arrivals section of Domodedovo Airport, Itar-Tass said, citing a spokeswoman for the Russian Investigative Committee, Tatyana Morozova.
State TV aired video of the smoke-filled terminal, including what appeared to be bodies and luggage on the ground.
The Russian National Anti-Terrorist Committee said 35 people were dead and 152 had been wounded in the explosion.
State TV, citing Russian authorities, said the bombing was the act of a suicide bomber who stuffed a homemade bomb with small metal objects to make it more deadly, then activated it in a crowded area where many people were waiting for arriving passengers. CNN could not independently verify those claims.
A heavy police presence remained outside the airport nearly four hours after the explosion, and more than 10 ambulances left the airport with lights flashing and sirens screeching.
Incoming flights scheduled to land at Domodedovo were being diverted to Moscow's other airports, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo, Russian TV said.
However, airport spokeswoman Yelena Galanova told Russian state TV that the airport was "operating as usual."
"There have been no departure delays. We were shut for only about 20 minutes after the explosion," she told state TV.
MADISON, AL -- Yes, that cherry red Corvette behind you does have flashing blue lights. So pull over because you know you can't outrun it.
Thursday, Madison police debuted the shiny sports car as the newest addition to its fleet of cruisers. The car was donated by Jeff and Nilmini Thompson, owners of Systems, Products and Solutions.
Eric Schultz / The Huntsville TimesMadison police Lt. John Stringer stands next to the department's newest police cruiser, a donated 2010 Chevrolet Corvette.
When the couple decided they wanted to give back to their local police department, Chief Larry Muncey said Jeff Thompson's memory of the D.A.R.E. car growing up birthed the idea of the new red Corvette.
"So often, kids see nice cars and it makes an impression," Muncey said. "In lower economic areas, they associate nice cars with drug dealers."
But the department's Corvette now shows kids the "American Dream," Muncey said.
"These are two business owners who started their own business and now have the income to donate an $80,000 car," he said.
The lights, computers, TVs and other technology used in the car were all donated by area businesses, costing the police department nothing, Muncey said. The car is a fully-functioning patrol car and will be used for traffic stops and other patrols, but its main focus will be community outreach, said Lt. John Stringer, Madison's community resource officer.
"The Thompsons wanted to build relationships between their police department the community they live in," Stringer said. "This car will open up conversation between kids and police as well as adults and police."
Open dialogue is key in police work, he said.
"We can't do our job without the community's involvement," Stringer said. The car will also be used in school outreach, local parades and other community events.
"We want to be out there talking to people, because we're part of this community, too," he said. "A major part of what we do as police officers is solving problems and communicating with the public.
The results from a large bedbug study at Ohio State University have been revealed - and they don't look good. According to scientists, bedbugs are turning into super bedbugs by becoming resistant to most common pesticides.
Compared to ten years ago, bedbugs are one thousand times more resistant to chemicals that used to kill them - and are less prone to stress from heat, cold and dehydration.
Even more alarming is that bedbugs in New York City are 250 times more resistant to pesticides than bugs from Florida - which explains why New York has such a massive bedbug problem at the moment.
The report from Ohio State is quite complex, but certainly worth a read if you like waking up in the middle of the night from bedbug nightmares.
Check out this article for more tips on how to detect and remove bedbugs - by taking basic precautions, you may be able to prevent spreading the infestation.
Regret the big game you talked on New Year's Eve? Bragged to all your friends that you were going to quit this bad habit or start that productive activity? And now a few weeks have passed and you're starting to rationalize why it is okay to break that resolution? Sound familiar?
Here are the Top 5 New Year's Resolution that you've probably already broken.
It turns out work sucks a little bit more without all those 5-minute breaks. And really, why do you need to quit now? Medical science will probably have a cure for lung cancer by the time you get it, and, according to the tobacco execs, nobody has made the link between cigs and lung cancer anyway. You can just quit for lent, or when you move into your new apartment, or when you have kids.
First you have to get to the gym, then you have to take off 20 layers of clothes, then get dressed in unflattering work-out attire, then realize how out-of-shape you really are, then put the 20 layers of clothes back on while you are sill sweating, and finally go outside to have the sweat freeze to your face. Sounded a little better in theory, right? Besides you only joined because you wanted to take a few classes, but they all conflict with your work schedule. I mean it's much easier to make smug comments about how you are too busy and successful to have time to work-out than it is to actually work-out.
But you just got a Droid or an iPhone, and how are you suppose to get your monies worth if you don't use the Facebook App? Social media is the way of the future, and more companies are becoming active on it. If you quit now you will be behind the curve and it will be bad for your career. Also, MySpace just laid off 1/2 their staff because of people like you, so stop ruining the economy and reactivate your profile. See, that was easy to rationalize.
Look, it's not your fault that all the good vegetables and fruits aren't in season right now. It's Jewel-Osco and Mother Nature's fault you can't eat healthily like you told everyone who would listen on New Years Eve. I mean with all the preservatives they have to use in fruits and veggies this time of year, it would be healthier to simply eat red meat and empty carbs. Dropping an extra few lbs that can be covered up with a sweater is not worth the risk of cancer that comes with all those preservatives. Seriously, have you tasted fat free hot chocolate? It's gross and dick to take off the shelves when it could go to a nice family of diabetics.
This one is the worst idea ever. First, way to pick a really tough month to quit drinking. You can't even get beer from the liquor store without it freezing on the way home. If you really want to impress people, quit drinking for the month of July when you have two weddings and 20 possible beach days. Way to sacrifice missing that rager over the MLK 3-day-weekend…. Second, you can’t possibly be quitting for health reasons because your liver is not going to notice that for one month in 2011 you didn’t booze, and it's not like you can put this month on layaway for lent in order to keep in JC’s good graces. Sorry, paying it forward doesn't work like that. Lastly, the Bears are currently in the heart of the playoffs, and you might as well be Stalin if you aren't going to drink and watch the Bears play America's game. Grow up.
5. Quitting Cigs It turns out work sucks a little bit more without all those 5-minute breaks. And really, why do you need to quit now? Medical science will probably have a cure for lung cancer by the time you get it, and, according to the tobacco execs, nobody has made the link between cigs and lung cancer anyway. You can just quit for lent, or when you move into your new apartment, or when you have kids.
HOUSTON (AP) — Doctors in Houston say they won't waste any time before starting therapy on wounded Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
She's under intensive care today at Texas Medical Center after a flawless trip from Arizona, where throngs of well-wishers gave her a farewell that brought a tearful smile from the congresswoman.
Her new team of doctors say they plan to start her therapy for a bullet wound to the brain immediately. She will be sent to the center's rehabilitation hospital, TIRR Memorial Hermann, after several days of evaluation.
One doctor says Giffords has "great rehabilitation potential." Dr. Gerardo Francisco, chief medical officer at Memorial Hermann says Giffords "will keep us busy, and we will keep her busy as well."
The first thing is to determine the extent of her injuries and the impact on her abilities to move and communicate.
Authorities say two students were shot Tuesday morning at a high school in Los Angeles. One person has been arrested.
Police believe the gunman, a black male wearing black clothing, is a student at Gardena High School, the school where the shooting occurred.
Jan. 18, 2011: Members of the LAPD gather outside Gardena High School in Gardena, Calif. According to officials, a number of students were wounded in a shooting at the school.
Police say one bullet was apparently fired accidentally hitting a 15-year-old boy in the neck and a 15-year-old girl in the head. The girl is in surgery at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, police say.
Sources reportedly told The Los Angeles Times that after the gun fired, the student who brought it to school apologized to his classmates before running out of the classroom.
A spokesman for the Los Angeles Unified School District reportedly told local news outlets that the shooting was accidental. District spokesman Robert Alaniz said the gun was brought to school in a backpack and went off when the student dropped it -- injuring the two victims with a single bullet.
AWOL Whiteman airman Kerby Barbe allegedly told his girlfriend that he'd critically injured a fellow airman and left him in Knob Noster State Park, which isn't far from Missouri's Whiteman Air Force Base. And that's exactly where authorities found the body of Airman 1st Class Luis Vazquez on Friday. He'd been missing for five days, and authorities are now investigating his death as a homicide, according to The Kansas City Star.
The story is definitely a bizarre one that started with Barbe and Vazquez not showing up at work on Monday, sending Air Force authorities searching for the men. They found Barbe in a wooded area of a subdivision in Blanco County, Texas; he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound as authorities surrounded him. Barbe reportedly had an assault rifle, 300 rounds of ammo and military body armor.
Reports at the time indicated that Barbe, 19, was suspected of killing Vazquez. Authorities are still working on determining Vazquez' cause of death, although he reportedly suffered a gunshot wound and was apparently dressed for winter.
(CNN) -- An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 struck Wednesday morning in a remote area of southwestern Pakistan, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
The earthquake occurred at 1:23 a.m. (3:23 p.m. Tuesday ET) at a depth of 84 kilometers (52 miles). It was centered 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Dalbandin; 255 kilometers (158 miles) west of Kalat; 310 kilometers (192 miles) east-southeast of Zahedan, Iran; and 1,020 kilometers (633 miles) west-southwest of Islamabad, Pakistan, the USGS said on its website.
The quake happened at 1:23 a.m. Wednesday about 28 miles west of Dalbandin, Pakistan
USGS initially reported the quake at 7.4. Quakes of 7.0 to 7.9 are classified as major; anything over 8.0 is classified as great.
In Dubai, a reporter said he felt a moderate shaking that lasted for about 30 seconds.
Usman Zahid, a night manager at Serina Hotel in Quetta, Pakistan, felt the quake. He said it was "frightening" and estimated that it lasted about 20 seconds. It caused "broken glass in the kitchen" and caused the chandelier to swing, but caused no major damage, he said.
Twitter accounts in New Delhi, Jaipur and Dehradun -- all in India -- felt the quake. Twitter accounts in Bahrain said they felt the quake.
In Dubai, "I was just getting ready to go to bed," said Leone Lakhani in Dubai. She said she texted her friends in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.
"It's not uncommon for this region to have earthquakes," said Kurt Frankel of the Georgia Institute of Technology. It is where two tectonic plates come together, he said
Amy Chua’s email in-box has become the latest front in the mommy wars. Ever since Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, her warts-and-all book on parenting the Chinese way, inflamed the mommy-blogger universe with its publication last week, Chua has been under attack. “Oh. My. Gosh,” she says, when asked how many messages she gets each day. “I don’t know—300? 600?” Many of them are notes of praise and thanks, she says. But many are vicious. “There are death threats. And ‘Go back to China, you abusive monster.’ It’s much more overwhelming than I thought it would be.”
Courtesy of Penguin Press
Amy Chua's daughter Lulu, age 13.
Broadly speaking, Chua’s book is about how she endeavored to raise her two American girls, now teenagers, the way her Chinese-immigrant parents raised her. For Chua, a professor at Yale Law School, the Chinese way includes lots of rules and high expectations—and disciplinary techniques that can come across as cruel and unusual. She makes one daughter stand outside in the frigid winter weather—at age 3—for not practicing the piano as instructed, and she berates both for the sloppiness of the handmade cards they created for her birthday. The book has come to be seen as an indictment of the kind of permissive parenting that permeates the country’s affluent neighborhoods, where kids get trophies even when they lose and ice-cream sundaes just for making their beds.
Now it’s Chua who’s enduring the admonishments. On Internet discussion boards (prompted by a piece in The Wall Street Journal with the headline WHY CHINESE MOTHERS ARE SUPERIOR) her critics say that she has no regard for the plight of working families, that she values achievement and status above all, and that the parenting strategies she advocates produce weak-willed, self-loathing robots destined for the therapist’s couch. Chua, whose daughters enliven nearly every page of her book, tries not to take these attacks personally, but they upset her. Her girls are confident and happy, she says, but “I keep calling in, worried about them.” She’s glad her own mother, who advised against publishing the book and is on vacation in England, “doesn’t use the Internet very well.”
Chua wants to set the record straight: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is not a how-to book. It’s a memoir about her struggles with child rearing. She passes no judgment on anyone else. “I believe that there are many ways of being a good parent,” she says. “My husband”—who is Jewish American—“was raised in a very permissive, liberal family, and he came out great.” The chatterers, she says, fail to understand that her book acknowledges the limitations of the Chinese way. The narrative centers on Chua’s efforts to make musical prodigies out of her daughters by forcing them to practice three hours a day, minimum, starting in nursery school. With Sophia, the elder daughter, this authoritarian approach works beautifully: she begins winning competitions at 10. But Lulu, despite her musical gifts, rebels.
The climax of the book occurs in a restaurant, with 13-year-old Lulu screaming, “I hate the violin. I hate my life. I hate you, and I hate this family!” She throws a water glass to the floor, where it shatters. The tiger mother relents and gives Lulu permission to quit so she can spend more time playing tennis—a non-Chinese-mother-approved activity. “If there’s a takeaway from the book, it’s about a search for balance,” Chua says. “And maybe the dominant mainstream permissive Western model is not ideal, but nor is the extremely strict ‘only violin or piano.’ ” While she’s at it, Chua would also like people to know she’s funny and fun. “My kids actually quite like me,” she says.
Washington: US President Barack Obama's job approval ratings have improved over his handling of the January 8 shooting in Arizona.
According to latest polls, 78 per cent of Americans approve of the way Obama responded to the shootings and the message of national unity that he made at the memorial in Tucson last week.
According to the polls, 71 per cent of Republicans and conservatives evaluated his leadership positively.
Last November, in what was largely seen as a referendum on the President, the Democratic Party suffered a humiliating defeat in the midterm Congressional elections.
Arizona Democrat Gabrielle Giffords was gravely wounded in the January 8 shooting rampage. Eighteen others were also shot at, six of them died.
(CNN) -- A 19-year-old man has been arrested in what prosecutors said was the "execution-style" killing of a Lakewood, New Jersey, police officer, authorities said Sunday.
Jahmell Crockam was in custody following an arrest overnight, said Thomas Hayes of the Ocean County, New Jersey, Prosecutor's Office. Authorities scheduled a news conference later Sunday morning to provide more details of the arrest.
Jahmell Crockam is charged with murder and illegal possession of a firearm, prosecutors say.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
19-year-old Jahmell Crockam was arrested overnight, authorities say
Crockam faces charges of murder and illegal possession of a firearm
Officer Christopher Matlosz was shot to death while sitting in his patrol car
Police on Saturday said they were seeking Crockam in the Friday afternoon death of officer Christopher Matlosz, 27. Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford said Saturday that Matlosz in his patrol car had pulled up next to a man on foot, and was talking with him while still in the car.
"The individual stepped back suddenly, pulled out a handgun and shot the officer three times," Ford said. "The officer's weapon was still in his holster. That is how quickly it happened."
Crockam is charged with murder and illegal possession of a firearm, Ford said Saturday. A judge set bail yesterday at $5 million cash in anticipation of his arrest, Hayes said.
About $117,000 in reward money was available for information leading to the suspect's arrest.
"What was a routine stop, what was a routine conversation ... suddenly turned deadly," Ford said. "And I think that indicates the danger that this person presents to the public."
Police were still determining Saturday whether Matlosz knew the suspect and what the two were discussing when the shooting occurred. Witnesses have told police that the exchange between the officer and the gunman appeared calm before the shooting.
Lakewood police and other authorities immediately launched a manhunt for the gunman, said Lakewood Police Chief Robert Lawson.
"He was one of our most popular officers. He was dedicated to his job," Lawson said of Matlosz. "He was the best of us."
Matlosz had worked for the police department for more than four years and was engaged to be married.
In a statement released by the police department Saturday night, his fiancee, Kelly Walsifer, said Matlosz was "my best friend and soul mate. ... In the last four years, we both lived our life to the fullest. He was my life and my world. He made me laugh, he made others laugh and we have been surrounded by the best of friends and coworkers throughout our time together."
Walsifer said Matlosz had just lost his father, "and now it brings me some peace to know that he is with him."
(CNN) -- The e-mail messages began filling astrologer Shelley Ackerman's inbox as soon as the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported the zodiac chart is off by about a month.
OMG I'm not a Leo help me with that
My daughter and her friends are very upset. Have they changed signs?
I'm not worried I KNOW I'm a true Scorp
Darling, what does this mean in our world? I couldn't be a Pisces
Ackerman, a New Yorker who has offered astrology services for more than two decades, says this is the first time she has seen such a strong reaction among her clients.
"Our identities are precious," she said. "If someone challenges our belief system, it's very threatening. You want to hold on to the fact 'at least I'm a Libra.' "
After news of the shifting zodiac signs went viral, some people may be rethinking their lucky lotto numbers or reassessing their spouse's compatibility.
A quarter of Americans believe the moon and the stars can affect a person's life, according to a Gallup poll. But so-called "new" news of the planets moving, and thereby shifting the zodiac signs, has been around for centuries, astrology experts say.
"This story is born periodically as if someone has discovered some truth. It's not news," said Jeff Jawer, an astrologer with Tarot.com, told CNN's This Just In news blog.
Astrology experts say the shift in zodiac signs does not apply to most Westerners, who follow the tropical zodiac, which is fixed to the seasons. In contrast, the Star Tribune article referred to the sidereal zodiac, which is fixed to constellations and is followed more in the East.
Despite the distinct differences, people took the news to heart. One CNN.com commenter, Michelle, wrote, "In all fairness, I never resembled my zodiac sign. I still don't believe in it, but my new sign describes me to a T. ... Again, I don't believe in it, but I never tried to fit into my 'old' sign of Libra, but I match Virgo exactly."
The news sparked the creation of Facebook groups such as "I Don't Want to Change My Zodiac Sign Ever" and "CHANGE BACK THE ZODIAC SIGN!!!" On Twitter, users fretted about what to do with their zodiac-themed tattoos. Even online greeting cards have popped up with the message: I'm sorry your new astrological sign has rendered your tattoo meaningless.
Hilary Young, CEO of AstrologyDating.com, says she has been bombarded with texts and e-mails from worried customers. AstrologyDating.com is a matchmaking website out of San Francisco that pairs couples based on their readings.
"Everyone can relax," Young said. She added: "People ask me what does it mean for their personality. I expect it will be the same it was yesterday. You probably didn't wake up with a new personality."
Westerners are most familiar with sun signs, which became popular in the late 1800s when newspapers added horoscopes to attract readers, astrologers say. But sun signs alone are not considered reliable tools of prediction. Most astrologers say accurate readings require information such as time of birth, birth place and date of birth.
The biggest concern from Young's customers this week was the 13th sign, Ophiuchus, which was mentioned in the Star Tribune piece. The constellation is symbolized by a man wrestling a serpent. People were worried because so little is known about this 13th sign, she said.
Joseph O. Baker, assistant professor of sociology at East Tennessee State University, has studied why people become interested in their horoscopes and paranormal activity. He says people believe in astrology because it helps relieve uncertainty.
So will people stop believing in the "old" zodiac system?
Probably not.
"You can think of this as a disconfirmation of what we previously thought was true," he said. "If that happens and you have a lot invested in a particular belief system, it's unlikely to drop that belief system completely."
The Obama administration on Friday announced the broadest liberalization of travel to Cuba in a decade, making it easier for American students and religious and cultural groups to visit the Communist-ruled island.
It still will not be legal for ordinary American tourists to vacation in Cuba, which has been under a U.S. economic embargo for nearly 50 years.
But the measures will expand the categories of who is authorized to travel, which are currently restricted to Cuban Americans and a limited number of others. They also will allow U.S. citizens to send up to $2,000 a year to help Cubans support religious institutions or run small businesses.
"We see these changes as increasing people-to-people contact, helping strengthen Cuban civil society and, frankly, making Cuban people less dependent on the Cuban state," said a senior administration official, who briefed reporters on the condition his name was not used.
There are countless unanswered questions about why Jared Loughner allegedly went on a shooting rampage, but of this we can be sure: across America there are thousands of parents of older adolescents and young adults who are terrified that their child’s strange behavior, paranoid rants, drinking, drug abuse, conspiracy fantasies, and other red flags of mental illness will lead to violence—possibly against a public figure like Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, possibly against a family member. That most of these parents have no idea what to do is frightening enough. It’s a national scandal that, even if they succeed in getting their child mental-health care before tragedy strikes, the system is set up to thwart them at every turn.
Thousands of anguished parents face a system that thwarts them at every turn.
(Page 1 of 3)
Mamta Popat / AP-pool
Pallbearers place the casket carrying 9-year-old Christina Green in a hearse. She was the youngest victim in a shooting in Tucson.
“The mental-health-care ‘system’ in America is a broken system,” says Michael Fitzpatrick, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). “The system was already in crisis, and has become even less accessible over the last three years as state budgets for mental health—psychiatric beds [in hospitals], counseling, and other services—have been cut by $2 billion. States have eliminated 4,000 in-patient psychiatric beds.” NAMI’s Katrina Gay adds, “In many cases you can’t even get an evaluation for two to three months—and that’s assuming you know how to get one in the first place.”
The nightmare scenario begins when an adult child refuses to acknowledge that he or she may be suffering from a mental illness. (Parents can force a child under 18 to go to a physician, though persuasion is always more effective than coercion.) Yet often the signs are clear. There are changes in behavior: the child no longer has friends or engages in any activities, becomes socially isolated, stops bathing, dresses inappropriately, stops working or going to school. In Loughner’s case, fellow students and faculty at Pima Community College were terrified of his rants and incoherence, with one woman making sure she always sat by the door in the classroom they shared so she could make a quick escape. A second sign of mental illness is that moods change: the child becomes more irritable, angry, or depressed, or simply loses his or her spark. Finally, thoughts change, turning to the delusional and paranoid, such as Loughner’s belief that former friends were stalking him at 2 a.m., as The New York Times reported. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that a child is too young to suffer from mental illness: half of all cases first appear by age 14, and three quarters by age 24, found a 2009 report by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
Madison police Lt. John Stringer stands
The quake happened at 1:23 a.m. Wednesday about 28 miles west of Dalbandin, Pakistan
Mamta Popat / AP-pool
