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Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Syracuse fires assistant basketball coach Fine
FILE - In this March 25, 2010, file photo, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, left, and associate head basketball coach Bernie Fine sit on the bench at the end an NCAA West Regional semifinal college basketball game against Butler in Salt Lake City. Fine was fired Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011, in the wake of an investigation of child molestation allegations against him. In statement released Sunday night, Kevin Quinn, the school's senior vice president for public affairs, says Fine has been "terminated, effective immediately." (AP Photo/Steve C. Wilson, File)
FILE - In this March 25, 2010, file photo, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, left, and associate head basketball coach Bernie Fine sit on the bench at the end an NCAA West Regional semifinal college basketball game against Butler in Salt Lake City. Fine was fired Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011, in the wake of an investigation of child molestation allegations against him. In statement released Sunday night, Kevin Quinn, the school's senior vice president for public affairs, says Fine has been "terminated, effective immediately." (AP Photo/Steve C. Wilson, File)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) ? Bernie Fine was fired Sunday by Syracuse University after a third man accused the assistant basketball coach of molesting him nine years ago.
"At the direction of Chancellor Cantor, Bernie Fine's employment with Syracuse University has been terminated, effective immediately," Kevin Quinn, the school's senior vice president for public affairs, said in a statement.
The 65-year-old Fine was in his 36th season at his alma mater. He had the longest active streak of consecutive seasons at one school among assistant coaches in Division I.
Zach Tomaselli, 23, of Lewiston, Maine, said Sunday that he told police that Fine molested him in 2002 in a Pittsburgh hotel room. He said Fine touched him "multiple" times in that one incident.
He was the third accuser to come forward in the investigation of child molestation allegations against Fine.
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said he supported the university's decision to fire his longtime assistant and expressed regret for his initial statements that might have been "insensitive to victims of abuse.
"The allegations that have come forth today are disturbing and deeply troubling," Boeheim said in a statement released by the school. "I am personally very shocked because I have never witnessed any of the activities that have been alleged. I believe the university took the appropriate step tonight. What is most important is that this matter be fully investigated and that anyone with information be supported to come forward so that the truth can be found. I deeply regret any statements I made that might have inhibited that from occurring or been insensitive to victims of abuse."
Two former Syracuse ball boys were the first to accuse Fine, who has called the allegations "patently false."
Tomaselli, who faces sexual assault charges in Maine involving a 14-year-old boy, said during a telephone interview with The Associated Press that he signed an affidavit accusing Fine following a meeting with Syracuse police last week in Albany.
Tomaselli's father, meanwhile, maintains his son is lying.
Bobby Davis, now 39, told ESPN that Fine molested him beginning in 1984 and that the sexual contact continued until he was around 27. A ball boy for six years, Davis told ESPN that the abuse occurred at Fine's home, at Syracuse basketball facilities and on team road trips, including the 1987 Final Four.
Davis' stepbrother, Mike Lang, 45, who also was a ball boy, told ESPN that Fine began molesting him while he was in fifth or sixth grade.
When the accusations first became public Nov. 17, Boeheim adamantly defended his lifelong friend.
In an interview that day with the Post-Standard, Boeheim attacked Davis' reasons for going public with his accusations.
"The Penn State thing came out, and the kid behind this is trying to get money," Boeheim said. "He's tried before. And now he's trying again. If he gets this, he's going to sue the university and Bernie. What do you think is going to happen at Penn State? You know how much money is going to be involved in civil suits? I'd say about $50 million. That's what this is about. Money."
No one answered the door at the Fine home Sunday. Before Fine's firing, his attorneys released a statement saying Fine would not comment beyond his initial statement.
"Any comment from him would only invite and perpetuate ancient and suspect claims," attorneys Donald Martin and Karl Sleight said. "Mr. Fine remains hopeful of a credible and expeditious review of the relevant issues by law enforcement authorities."
Tomaselli said the scandal at Penn State involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky prompted him to come forward. Sandusky is accused in a grand jury indictment of sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year period.
Amid the child sex-abuse scandal, Penn State's trustees ousted longtime football coach Joe Paterno and university President Graham Spanier. The trustees said Spanier and Paterno, who is not the target of any criminal investigation, failed to act after a graduate assistant claimed he saw Sandusky sexually abusing a young boy in a campus shower in 2002. Former school administrators Tim Curley ? who is on administrative leave ? and Gary Schultz are charged with not properly alerting authorities to suspected abuse and with perjury. They maintain their innocence.
"It was the Sandusky stuff that came out that really made me think about it," Tomaselli said in the phone interview. "A lot of people were slamming ESPN and Bobby for saying anything. I wanted to come out. ... It made me sick to see all that support for Fine at that point. I was positive he was guilty."
Tomaselli told the Post-Standard that he didn't ask Syracuse police or federal authorities for help in getting the criminal charges dismissed against him in Maine.
Tomaselli was arrested in April on 11 warrants charging gross sexual assault, tampering with a victim, two counts of unlawful sexual contact, five counts of visual sexual aggression against a child and unlawful sexual touching and unlawful sexual contact, Lewiston police said Sunday. They did not say what led to the charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
Tomaselli told the Post-Standard he met Fine after he and his father, Fred, attended a Syracuse autograph session on campus in late 2001.
The newspaper reported that Fine later called Tomaselli's parents to arrange for Tomaselli to go to Pittsburgh with the athletic department staff on a chartered bus, spend the night in Fine's hotel room and attend the team's game on Jan. 22, 2002.
Tomaselli told the Post-Standard that he had dinner with the team, then returned to the hotel room where he accused Fine of putting porn on the TV and fondling him in bed.
Tomaselli attended the basketball game the next day, sitting several rows behind the bench, and rode the chartered bus back to Syracuse, the newspaper reported.
"The one time there was multiple incidents in that one night, but there was only one night that he ever sexually abused me," Tomaselli told the AP.
However, during a phone interview with the AP, Fred Tomaselli said: "I'm 100 percent sure that Bernie Fine was never in contact with Zach. He never went to Pittsburgh to a game, never been to that arena."
"I brought him to a couple of games in Syracuse. We always sat in the nosebleed section and left after the game. He never stayed for any overnighters and never even got within shouting distance of Bernie."
During his long career with Syracuse, Fine tutored the likes of Derrick Coleman, LeRon Ellis and John Wallace in his role of working with post players. Coleman was the top pick in the 1990 NBA draft, Ellis was the Clippers' 22nd overall choice in 1991, and Wallace was picked 18th in 1996 by the New York Knicks.
Boeheim and Fine met at Syracuse University in 1963, when Fine was student manager of the basketball team. Fine graduated in 1967 with a degree in personal and industrial relations and went into business for himself.
In 1970, Fine was named basketball and football coach at Lincoln Junior High in Syracuse and went to Henninger High School the next year as the junior varsity basketball coach. He became varsity basketball coach in 1975. When Boeheim was chosen to succeed Roy Danforth at Syracuse in 1976 Boeheim offered Fine a job as an assistant.
Fine was an integral part of the staff that guided Syracuse to the national championship in 2003. During his tenure the Orange also made two other appearances in the NCAA title game, losing in 1987 to Indiana and in 1996 to Kentucky. He also guided the U.S. Maccabiah team to a silver medal at the 1993 World Maccabiah Games in Israel and has served as director of a successful basketball camp in the Northeast.
The Post-Standard also reported that Zach Tomaselli was invited by Fine to a party at his home after the Syracuse-Pitt game on Feb. 1, 2003 ? a game where Zach Tomaselli said Fine arranged seats for him and his father several rows behind the bench.
Tomaselli told the newspaper his father, who was unable to attend the party, allowed him to go to Fine's house and stay the night.
While there, Tomaselli told the AP, Fine asked him to get into bed and that Fine's wife, Laurie, was there when it happened.
"I told them (police) that Laurie was standing right there when Bernie asked me to sleep in a bed. Laurie knew all about it," he said during the phone interview.
On Sunday, ESPN played an audiotape, obtained and recorded by Davis, of an October 2002 telephone conversation between him and Laurie Fine.
Davis told ESPN he made the recording, which also has been given to Syracuse police, without her knowledge because he knew he needed proof for the police to believe his accusations. ESPN said it hired a voice recognition expert to verify the voice on the tape and the network said it was determined to be that of Laurie Fine.
Davis also acknowledged in an interview with ESPN that he and Laurie Fine had a sexual relationship when he was 18, and that he eventually told Bernie Fine about it.
"I thought he was going to kill me, but I had to tell him," Davis said. "It didn't faze him one bit."
During the call to the woman, Davis repeatedly asks her what she knew about the alleged molestation.
"Do you think I'm the only one that he's ever done that to?" Davis asked.
"No ... I think there might have been others but it was geared to ... there was something about you," the woman on the tape said.
On the tape, she also says she knew "everything that went on."
"Bernie has issues, maybe that he's not aware of, but he has issues. ... And you trusted somebody you shouldn't have trusted ... "
During the call, Davis tells her he asked her husband in the late 1990s for $5,000 to help pay off his student loans.
"When he gave you the money, what does he want for that?" she asked.
He tells her that Fine wanted to engage in sexual activity in several ways.
"... And I'd try to go away, and he'd put his arm on top of my chest. He goes, 'If you want this money, you'll stay right here,'" Davis said.
"Right. Right," she said. "He just has a nasty attitude, because he didn't get his money, nor did he get what he wanted."
On Friday, federal authorities carried out a search at his Fine's suburban Syracuse home but declined to comment on what they were looking for.
New York State Police spokesman Jack Keller said troopers were called to assist the U.S. attorney's office at the search. At least six police vehicles were parked on the street during the search, which lasted around nine hours. Officers carted away three file cabinets and a computer for further examination.
___
Associated Press writers Glenn Adams in Augusta, Maine and Amy Fiscus in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Ravens gesture with their beaks to point out objects to each other
ScienceDaily (Nov. 29, 2011) ? Pointing and holding up objects in order to attract attention has so far only been observed in humans and our closest living relatives, the great apes. Simone Pika from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and Thomas Bugnyar from the University of Vienna, however, now provide the first evidence that ravens (Corvus corax) also use so called deictic gestures in order to test the interest of a potential partner or to strengthen an already existing bond.
From early childhood on, children frequently use distinct gestures to draw the attention of adults to external objects. So-called deictic gestures such as "pointing" ("look here") and "holding up of objects" ("take this") are used by children for the first time at the age of nine to twelve months, before they produce their first spoken words. Scientists believe that such gestures are based on relatively complex intelligence abilities and represent the starting point for the use of symbols and therefore also human language. Deictic gestures are thus milestones in the development of human speech.
Surprisingly, observations of comparable gestures in our closest living relatives, the great apes, are relatively rare. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in the Kibale National Park in Uganda, for example, use so-called directed scratches, to indicate distinct spots on their bodies to be groomed. Deictic gestures thus represent an extremely rare form of communication evolutionarily and have been suggested as confined to primates only.
According to the two researchers from Seewiesen and Vienna, however, such behaviour is not restricted to humans and great apes. For two years, Simone Pika und Thomas Bugnyar investigated the non-vocal behaviour of individually marked members of a wild raven community in the Cumberland Wildpark in Gr?nau, Austria. They observed that ravens use their beaks similar to hands to show and offer objects such as moss, stones and twigs. These distinct gestures were predominantly aimed at partners of the opposite sex and resulted in frequent orientation of recipients to the object and the signallers. Subsequently, the ravens interacted with each other, for example, by example billing or joint manipulation of the object.
Ravens are songbirds belonging to the corvid family like crows and magpies, and they surpass most of the other avian species in terms of intelligence. Their scores on various intelligence tests are similarly high than those of great apes. Ravens in particular can be characterized by complex intra-pair communication, relatively long-time periods to form bonds and a relatively high degree of cooperation between partners.
This new study shows that differentiated gestures have especially evolved in species with a high degree of collaborative abilities. "Gesture studies have too long focused on communicative skills of primates only. The mystery of the origins of human language, however, can only be solved if we look at the bigger picture and also consider the complexity of the communication systems of other animal groups" says Simone Pika from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology.
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Journal Reference:
- Simone Pika, Thomas Bugnyar. The use of referential gestures in ravens (Corvus corax) in the wild. Nature Communications, 2011; 2: 560 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1567
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111129112319.htm
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Stradivarius violin 'replicated'
28 November 2011
Last updated at 16:08 ET
A Stradivarius violin has been "recreated" using an X-ray scanner normally used to detect cancers and injuries, according to researchers.
The US-based group used a computerised axial tomography (CAT) scanner on the 307-year-old instrument to reveal its secrets.
They then used the data recovered to build "nearly exact copies".
The team said the technique could be used to give musicians access to rare musical equipment.
Their findings have been presented to the Radiological Society of North America at a conference in Chicago.
GunshotRadiologist Steven Sirr first had the idea of using a CAT scanner to take images of violins in 1988.
He was an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota at the time and often brought his violin to his office to practise when it was quiet.
One weekend he was called to supervise the scan of a gunshot wound victim.
"I put the violin of the side on a table near the scanner and then after the patient went to surgery I turned round and saw my violin and thought - well it would be interesting to scan that," Dr Sirr told the BBC.
He had expected to see a wooden shell surrounded by air, but was proved wrong.
"There is a lot of anatomy - I'm used to evaluating anatomy in people and I saw a lot of detail that I had no understanding of, so I took the CT scan to my friend John Waddle, who is a violin maker, and I gave him the images," he said.
ReplicasOver the following years the two men scanned many hundreds of instruments, including guitars, mandolins and other violins.
Scans of the older instruments revealed worm holes, small cracks and other damage that helped create their distinctive sounds.
Eventually the two men borrowed a Stradivarius known as "Betts" from the US Library of Congress which still had an original label placed by its Italian creator, Antonio Stradivari, inside its body.
Teaming up with another violin maker, Steve Rossow, they proceeded to create three replicas.
Computer cutTo do this they took more than 1,000 CAT scan images from the original instrument and converted them into a file format used to resemble three-dimensional object in computer-aided design (CAD) software.
"We used the scans to determine the density of the woods that made up the violin - that could only otherwise be done if the violin was dissected and measured - and of course that would never happen," Dr Sirr said.
The files were then fed into a CNC (computer numerical control) machine. It used the data to carve the violins' back and front plates, neck and the "scroll" carving at the neck's end using various woods picked to match the originals as closely as possible.
These were then assembled and varnished by hand.
"The copies are amazingly similar to originals in their sound quality," said Dr Sirr.
"When we make the violin we copy the changes that have occurred over more than 300 years including the shifts in the wood - the small deformations in the front and back plates that occur over time because of the forces of the strings and the other parts of the violin."
Cheap classicsDr Sirr said he hoped to repeat the process with other antique instruments and hoped that his work would one day pave the way for students to have access to "nearly exact copies" of the originals.
The dean of the world-famous Juilliard school in New York, welcomed the possibility.
"Every string player graduating from any great conservatory faces an immense crisis of how do you obtain a violin that is at the level that you need to have a really first rate career," said Ara Guzelimian.
"With the inflation of prices of rare old violins - and obviously Stradivari at the top of that list - it's far out of the reach of anyone but investors and investment trusts. So if there was a way of putting a superb violin in the hands of a young violinist at a fraction of the cost it would be a huge step forward."
A well-preserved Stradivarius known as the Lady Blunt was sold in June for $15.9m (?10.2m) at a charity auction. That was more than four times the previous record price for an instrument made by the Italian craftsman.
ExperienceRenowned luthier Samuel Zygmuntowicz noted that violin makers have long studied Stradivari, Guarneri and other classic instruments to match their sound.
He said Dr Sirr's work may have helped democratise the process by making it possible for more people to study such antique violins. But he added that the most highly skilled luthiers would remain in demand.
"This process will streamline that effort to copy an instrument," said Mr Zygmuntowicz.
"But the very last stretch - the very last 2% - still involves exact judgements about relative thicknesses of the wood, the exact strength of the bracing, the exact varnishes and wood preparations and general optimising of the whole form.
So I would say a skilled maker with this in his hands could save himself a lot of work, and an unskilled maker would save himself a certain amount of education."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/technology-15926864
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B.o.B Drops E.P.I.C. Mixtape
Mixtape Daily looks at free Strange Clouds preview, E.P.I.C. (Every Play is Crucial), featuring Eminem, T.I. and Lil Wayne.
By Rob Markman
B.o.B
Photo: Michael Roman/FilmMagic
Mixtape Daily: Main Pick
Mixtape: E.P.I.C. (Every Play is Crucial)
Headliner: B.o.B
Representing: Atlanta
Real Spit: B.o.B is out of this world. From his underground 2009 single "I'll Be in the Sky" to his Hayley Williams-assisted hit "Airplanes," Bobby Ray has always fancied himself a different type of rap artist, and on his next LP, things will get stranger.
His upcoming sophomore effort, Strange Clouds, aims to stretch the boundaries of music. "It's all about the fusion between the outer limits and the inner limits, from the sky to the ground; it's everything in between, above and below, so Strange Clouds, for me, it's my 'Twilight Zone,' " he told Mixtape Daily on the video set for his "Strange Clouds" single.
But before B.o.B embarks on that particular mission, he gave fans a taste of what they can expect from the new album Monday (November 28) when he dropped his newest mixtape, E.P.I.C. (Every Play is Crucial) on DatPiff. During the course of 15 tracks, Bob serves an array of tracks that showcase his multitude of musical abilities. He's spitting straight bars alongside Meek Mill and Playboy Tre on the title track, then experimenting with melody on "What Are We Doing."
The hard-as-nails "Boom Bap" is a hip-hop purist's dream: The drum-driven track unites the multiplatinum-selling T.I. with underground hero Mos Def, and together with Bobby Ray, they go in without need for a hook, MC'ing just for the sake of MC'ing. Things get even better on "Things Get Worse" with Eminem, as Slim Shady brings the ATLien into his world of hysterical celeb-bashing.
On "Welcome to the Jungle," B.o.B tackles the Throne's kinetic instrumental from their much-talked-about album. "Perfect Symetry" unites the "Nothin' on You" star with Atlanta's 2011 street king 2 Chainz — and then, of course, there is Lil Wayne on "Strange Clouds."
What a preview.
For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines.
Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1675029/bob-epic-mixtape.jhtml
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Obama re-election campaign releases its first ads, seeking volunteers for the long road ahead (Star Tribune)
$254 million Powerball winners step forward
ROCKY HILL, Conn.?? Members of a wealth management firm on Monday claimed a $254 million Powerball jackpot first announced on Nov. 2.
The 27-day mystery of who won ended when Greg Skidmore, Brandon Lacoff and Tim Davidson appeared at the Connecticut Lottery headquarters and revealed themselves as the trustees for a family trust created to handle the funds.
The Putnam Avenue Family Trust, named after the street address for Belpointe Asset Management, is taking the after-tax lump sum of $103.5 million in cash. It was not clear how many members are in the trust.
A lawyer for the trust said a "significant amount" will go to charity.
Davidson, a portfolio manager with Belpointe Asset Management, bought the $1 quick pick ticket at the Shippan Point Getty station in Stamford. The winning numbers were 12-14-34-39-46, Powerball 36.
The men did not speak at a news conference Monday morning, but Skidmore, who is president of Belpointe, was heard saying that "it feels good" to have won.
The jackpot was the largest ever won in Connecticut and the 12th biggest in Powerball history.
Lacoff is managing director of the firm.
? 2011 msnbc.com
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45465019/ns/us_news-wonderful_world/
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Monday, November 28, 2011
In unprecedented step, Arab League sanctions Syria (AP)
BEIRUT ? In an unprecedented move against an Arab nation, the Arab League on Sunday approved economic sanctions on Syria to pressure Damascus to end its deadly suppression of an 8-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad.
But even as world leaders abandon Assad, the regime has refused to ease a military assault on dissent that already has killed more than 3,500 people. On Sunday, Damascus slammed the sanctions as a betrayal of Arab solidarity and insisted a foreign conspiracy was behind the revolt, all but assuring more bloodshed will follow.
The sanctions are among the clearest signs yet of the isolation Syria is suffering because of the crackdown. Damascus has long boasted of being a powerhouse of Arab nationalism, but Assad has been abandoned by some of his closest allies and now his Arab neighbors. The growing movement against his regime could transform some of the most enduring alliances in the Middle East and beyond.
At a news conference in Cairo, Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim said 19 of the League's 22 member nations approved a series of tough punishments that include cutting off transactions with the Syrian central bank, halting Arab government funding for projects in Syria and freezing government assets. Those sanctions are to take effect immediately.
Other steps, including halting flights and imposing travel bans on some, as-yet unnamed Syrian officials, will come later after a committee reviews them.
"The Syrian people are being killed but we don't want this. Every Syrian official should not accept killing even one person," bin Jassim said. "Power is worth nothing while you stand as an enemy to your people."
He added that the League aims to "to avoid any suffering for the Syrian people."
Iraq and Lebanon ? important trading partners for Syria ? abstained from the vote, which came after Damascus missed an Arab League deadline to agree to allow hundreds of observers into the country as part of a peace deal Syria agreed to early this month to end the crisis.
Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby said the bloc will reconsider the sanctions if Syria carries out the Arab-brokered plan, which includes pulling tanks from the streets and ending violence against civilians.
The regime, however, has shown no signs of easing its crackdown, and activist groups said more than 30 people were killed Sunday. The death toll was impossible to confirm. Syria has banned most foreign journalists and prevented independent reporting inside the country.
The Local Coordinating Committees, a coalition of Syrian activist groups, praised the sanctions but called for a mechanism to ensure compliance.
"The sanctions leave open the opportunity for the regime to commit fraud and strip the sanctions of any substance, thereby prolonging the suffering of the Syrian people at the hands of an oppressive and brutal regime," the group said.
The Arab League move is the latest in a growing wave of international pressure pushing Damascus to end its crackdown. The European Union and the United States already have imposed sanctions, the League has suspended Syria's membership and world leaders increasingly are calling on Assad to go. But as the crisis drags on, the violence appears to be spiraling out of control as attacks by army defectors increase and some protesters take up arms to protect themselves.
Syria has seen the bloodiest crackdown against the Arab Spring's eruption of protests, and has descended into a deadly grind. Though internationally isolated, Assad appears to have a firm grip on power with the loyalty of most of the armed forces, which in the past months have moved from city to city to put down uprisings. In each place, however, protests have resumed.
The escalating bloodshed has raised fears of civil war ? a worst-case scenario in a country that is a geographical and political keystone in the heart of the Middle East.
Syria borders five countries with whom it shares religious and ethnic minorities and, in Israel's case, a fragile truce. Its web of allegiances extends to Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement and Iran's Shiite theocracy. Chaos in Syria could send unsettling ripples across the region.
For now, Assad still has a strong bulwark to prevent his meeting the same fate as the leaders of Egypt, Tunisia or Libya anytime soon. His key advantages are the support of Russia and China, fear among many Syrians about a future without Assad, and the near-certainty that foreign militaries will stay away.
But the unrest is eviscerating the economy, threatening the business community and prosperous merchant classes that are key to propping up the regime. An influential bloc, the business leaders have long traded political freedoms for economic privileges.
The opposition has tried to rally these largely silent, but hugely important, sectors of society. But Assad's opponents have failed so far to galvanize support in Damascus and Aleppo ? the two economic centers in Syria.
Sunday's sanctions, however, could chip away at their resolve.
Since the revolt began, the regime has blamed the bloodshed on terrorists acting out a foreign conspiracy to divide and undermine Syria. The bloodshed has laid bare Syria's long-simmering sectarian tensions, with disturbing reports of Iraq-style sectarian killings.
Syria is an overwhelmingly Sunni country of 22 million, but Assad and the ruling elite belong to the minority Alawite sect. Assad, and his father before him, stacked key military posts with Alawites to meld the fates of the army and the regime ? a tactic aimed at compelling the army to fight to the death to protect the Assad family dynasty.
Until recently, most of the bloodshed was caused by security forces firing on mainly peaceful protests. Lately, there have been growing reports of army defectors and armed civilians fighting Assad's forces ? a development that some say plays into the regime's hands by giving government troops a pretext to crack down with overwhelming force.
___
Youssef reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Adam Schreck contributed from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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Pakistan retaliation leaves NATO drivers in limbo (AP)
PESHAWAR, Pakistan ? Stranded Pakistani truck drivers carrying fuel and other supplies to U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan said Sunday that they were exposed to attacks by Islamist militants, after Islamabad closed the country's border crossings in retaliation for coalition airstrikes that allegedly killed 24 Pakistani troops.
Suspected militants destroyed around 150 trucks and injured drivers and police a year ago after Pakistan closed one of its Afghan border crossings to NATO supplies for about 10 days in retaliation for a U.S. helicopter attack that accidentally killed two Pakistani soldiers.
The situation could be more dire this time because Pakistan, outraged at the alleged NATO attack before dawn Saturday, has closed both its crossings. Nearly 300 trucks carrying coalition supplies are now backed up at Torkham in the northwest Khyber tribal area and Chaman in southwestern Baluchistan province. Last year, Pakistan only closed Torkham.
"We are worried," said driver Saeed Khan. He spoke by telephone from the border terminal in Torkham. "This area is always vulnerable to attacks. Sometimes rockets are lobbed at us. Sometimes we are targeted by bombs."
Khan and hundreds of other drivers and their assistants barely slept Saturday night because they were worried about potential attacks, he said.
Some drivers said Pakistan had sent paramilitary troops to protect their convoys since the closures, but others were left without any additional protection. Even those who did receive troops did not feel safe.
"If there is an attack, what can five or six troops do? Nothing," said Niamatullah Khan, a fuel truck driver who was parked with 35 other vehicles at a restaurant about 125 miles (200 kilometers) from Chaman. "It is just a matter of some bullets or a bomb, and that's it."
NATO ships nearly 50 percent of its non-lethal supplies to its troops in Afghanistan through Pakistan. The trucks are periodically targeted by suspected militants as they travel through the country, and their occupants are sometimes killed. NATO has said these attacks do not significantly impact its ability to keep its troops supplied.
A prolonged closure of the border would, however. NATO has reduced the amount of supplies it ships through Pakistan from a high of around 80 percent of its total non-lethal supplies by using routes through Central Asia, but they are costly and less efficient. It would likely be difficult to increase significantly the amount of supplies shipped on these alternative routes in a short timeframe if Pakistan's borders remain closed.
Some critical supplies, including ammunition, are airlifted directly to Afghan air bases.
The decision to close the borders highlights the leverage Pakistan has over the U.S. and other NATO forces, but there is a potential cost to Islamabad as well. Pakistan relies on billions of dollars in American military and civilian aid, and that could be jeopardized if Islamabad blocks NATO supplies for long.
Pakistan eventually relented and reopened Torkham last year after the U.S. apologized. But the number of alleged casualties is much higher this time. The relationship between the two countries has also severely deteriorated over the past year, especially following the covert U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town in May. Pakistan was outraged because it wasn't told about the operation beforehand.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday that the alleged NATO attack negated all progress in improving the tattered alliance between the two countries.
The U.S. has constantly been frustrated by Pakistan as an ally, because of its unwillingness to target Taliban militants on its territory staging attacks against American troops in Afghanistan. But Washington still needs the country's help to try to push those same militants to the negotiating table.
Khar told Clinton in a phone call that the alleged NATO attack was unacceptable, showed complete disregard for human life and sparked rage within Pakistan, according a press release issued by the Pakistani prime minister's office.
In addition to closing its border crossings, Pakistan also responded by giving the U.S. 15 days to vacate an air base in Baluchistan used by American drones. The U.S. uses Shamsi Air Base to service drones that target al-Qaida and Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal region when they cannot return to their bases inside Afghanistan because of weather conditions or mechanical difficulty, said U.S. and Pakistani officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The Pakistani army said Saturday that NATO helicopters and fighter jets carried out an "unprovoked" attack on two of its border posts in the Mohmand tribal area before dawn, killing 24 soldiers and wounding 13 others.
Pakistan held funerals for the soldiers Sunday at the army's headquarters in Peshawar, the most important city in the country's northwest. Mourners, including Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, said prayers in front of caskets wrapped in green and white Pakistani flags.
A spokesman for NATO forces, Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, said Saturday that Afghan and coalition troops were operating in the border area of eastern Afghanistan when "a tactical situation" prompted them to call in close air support. It was "highly likely" that the airstrikes caused Pakistani casualties, but an investigation is being conducted to determine the details, he told BBC television.
U.S. officials have expressed their sympathies over the incident and have promised to work closely with Pakistan as NATO carries out its investigation.
In the meantime, truckers in Pakistan are wondering how long they will be stranded and whether they will make it through the ordeal with being attacked.
"Who knows what is going to happen," said Manzoor Agha, an oil tank driver stuck at the Chaman crossing. "We don't have any special security protection."
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Associated Press writers Abdul Sattar in Quetta, Pakistan, Matiullah Achakzai in Chaman, Deb Riechmann in Kabul and Sebastian Abbot in Islamabad contributed to this report.
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