DUE MAY 22 - Don't forget: focus on Who? What? When? Where? How?

Hackers launched an attack on Facebook's 200 million users on Thursday, successfully gathering passwords from some of them in the latest campaign to prey on members of the popular social networking site.

Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said on Thursday that the site was in the process of cleaning up damage from the attack.

He said that Facebook was blocking compromised accounts.

Schnitt declined to say how many accounts had been compromised.

The hackers got passwords through what is known as a phishing attack, breaking into accounts of some Facebook members, then sending e-mails to friends and urging them to click on links to fake Web sites.

Those sites were designed to look like the Facebook home page. The victims were directed to log back in to the site, but actually logged into the one controlled by the hackers, unwittingly giving away their passwords.

The purpose of such attacks is generally identify theft and to spread spam.

The fake domains include www.151.im, www.121.im and www.123.im. Facebook has deleted all references to those domains.

Schnitt said that Facebook's security team believes the hackers intended to collect a large number of credentials, then use those accounts at a later time to send spam hawking fake pharmaceuticals and other goods to Facebook members.

The site fought off a similar attack two weeks ago, he said.

Privately held Facebook and rival social network MySpace, which is owned by News Corp, require senders of messages within the network to be members and hide user data from people who do not have accounts.

Because of that, users tend to be far less suspicious of messages they receive.

Hackers used a phishing attack last year to spread a malicious virus known as Koobface (a reference to Facebook).

It was downloaded onto Facebook members' PCs when they clicked on a link sent to them in an email that looked like it had been sent by a friend on Facebook.

 

 

DUE MAY 15 - No Current Events :)

 

DUE MAY 8 - Don't forget: focus on Who? What? When? Where? How?

To screen passengers for swine flu and other contagious diseases, some airports use thermal imaging cameras to see whether travelers have fevers, without having to stick thermometers in their mouths. So how do the cameras work?

The devices are just like regular cameras, except that instead of recording light that objects reflect, these cameras are sensitive to heat. They can even work in the dark.

Recordings from these cameras show up on video screens with hotter objects looking brighter.

The systems are very sensitive, measuring temperatures down to a fraction of a degree Fahrenheit, said Andrew Sarangan, an associate professor in the University of Dayton's electro-optics program.

Thermal cameras were rolled out during the SARS outbreak in 2002 and 2003, and airports in Singapore and China have been using them continuously since, said Alan Thomson, regional sales director at U.K.-based Irisys, a maker of thermal imaging devices.

Now manufacturers say they've noticed an uptick in orders in recent days.

"The phone hasn't stopped ringing," Thomson said.

In Mexico, which already has 10 such cameras, the transportation secretary, Juan Molinar, said Thursday that 40 more were being bought for the country's eight largest airports.

Of course, while the cameras can detect higher temperatures, they can't screen for swine flu itself. Someone running to catch a flight can have a higher body temperature.

A fever also does not necessarily mean someone is sick with swine flu, so airports need to do further screening once they spot passengers with high temperatures.

Irisys' cameras, which cost about $3,000, merge visual and thermal images to create a "heat picture" of a person. This image shows up on a screen on the back of the camera, much like the displays on consumer cameras.

A pointer automatically shows the hottest area in the picture, which is usually a person's face, mainly because it's not covered in clothes.

Tony Trunzo, senior vice president at Wilsonville, Ore.-based Flir Systems Inc., said his company has seen orders pick up not only from airports, but factory operators as well.

Flir's cameras have improved significantly since the SARS outbreak, Trunzo said. The cameras have a higher resolution, for example. They've gotten cheaper, too, though the company's cameras still range between $10,000 and $15,000.

Flir also has determined that it's best to screen one person at a time, instead of scanning a large crowd.

 

 

 

DUE MAY 1 - Don't forget: focus on Who? What? When? Where? How?

For the past 30 years, John Madden has given a voice to football's rough and tumble spirit. He also sold has given a face to one of the most successful video game franchises of all time. On April 16, Madden announced his retirement from broadcasting. Fans of the former Oakland Raiders football coach and colorful commentator will never forget his fun-loving manner and distinctive voice.

TONY DEJAK—AP John Madden was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006.

An Action-Packed Career

Madden was born in Minnesota and grew up in Northern California. As a young boy, he played several sports. Madden remembers taping together broken bats from a local semi-pro baseball team to use for batting practice. One of his first jobs was as a caddy. He was recruited to play football at the University of Oregon. Madden was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1958, but he suffered a career-ending knee injury during training camp.

Madden got his first coaching job in 1960. He served as head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969-1978. During that time, the Raiders never had a losing season, won their division seven times and the Super Bowl in 1977. Famous for his wild sideline gestures and unruly hair, Madden was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006.

Madden retired from coaching after the 1978 season. He wrote a best-selling book in 1984, titled Hey, Wait a Minute (I wrote a book!). In 1979, Madden took a position as a commentator for CBS. He immediately found success. Over the course of his career, Madden covered football for CBS, Fox and ABC, winning 16 Emmy Awards. Due to a fear of flying he developed in middle age, Madden drove between games in a specially designed Greyhound bus, The Madden Cruiser.

In 1988, Madden lent his name to the Electronic Arts video game John Madden Football. The franchise was later renamed Madden NFL. It has sold over 70 million copies.

A New Chapter

The 2008 Super Bowl, a thrilling game that was decided in the final seconds, was Madden's last game as a football announcer. It was the perfect end to his exciting career. "The last game I did was the Super Bowl, which was pretty good," Madden said. "But that wasn't planned. I didn't say, 'I want to go out on a high note.'"

He says he is retiring because he wants to spend more time with his family, not because he stopped having fun. "I enjoyed the game and the players and the coaches and the film and the travel and everything," Madden says.

 

 

DUE APRIL 24

Pirates commandeered a United States-flagged container ship with 20 American crew members off the coast of Somalia on Wednesday, in what appeared to be the first time an American-crewed ship was seized by pirates in the area.

The container ship, the Maersk Alabama, was carrying thousands of tons of relief aid to the Kenyan port of Mombasa, the company that owns the ship said.

The ship was taken by pirates at about 7:30 a.m. local time, 280 miles southeast of the Somali city of Eyl, a known haven for pirates, a spokesman for the United States Navy said. The ship is owned and operated by Maersk Line Limited, a United States subsidiary of A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, the Danish shipping giant.

The Maersk Alabama was at least the sixth commercial ship commandeered by pirates in the last week off the Horn of Africa, one of the most notoriously lawless zones on the high seas, where pirates have been operating with near impunity despite efforts by many nations, including the United States, to intimidate them with naval warship patrols.

There was no additional information immediately available about the crew, the company said in a statement.

“Our initial concern is to ensure proper support of the crew and assistance to their families,” the Maersk statement said.

While Maersk Line Limited, based in Norfolk, Virginia, is one of the Department of Defense’s primary shipping contractors, it was not under contract with the Defense Department at the time of its hijacking, said Lt. Stephanie Murdock, a spokeswoman with the Navy’s Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain.

The 508-foot long ship was carrying food and other agricultural materials from Djibouti, according to a company representative in Denmark who did not give her name because she was not authorized to give information to the press. The final destination of the ship’s cargo was unclear. The ship, built in Taiwan in 1998, can carry more than 1,100 20-foot containers and was deployed in Maersk Line’s East Africa service network, the company said.

There have been more than 50 pirate attacks this year off of the Somali coast, with the bulk of the attacks occurring in the Gulf of Aden, which separates the Arabian peninsula from the Horn of Africa. Sixteen ships with more than 200 crew remain in pirate custody, most of them docked a few miles off the Somali coast while ransom negotiations with the ship owners take place, said Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman with the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

About 15 international naval vessels, including three American Navy ships, now patrol the pirate-infested waters, many under an American-led task force created to combat piracy.

At the time of the attack on the Maersk Alabama, the closest patrol vessel was some 300 nautical miles away, the Navy said. Most of the patrol vessels are concentrated in the Gulf of Aden, and as a result, the pirates have expanded their reach into the open seas. The Navy would not comment on whether its patrol boats were now following the hijacked vessel.

“It’s that old saying: Where the cops aren’t, the criminals are going to go,” Lieutenant Christensen said. “We patrol an area of more than one million square miles. The simple fact of the matter is that we can’t be everywhere at one time.”

Piracy has become a multi-million dollar business in Somalia, a nation that has limped along since 1991 without a functioning central government. A captured Ukrainian arms freighter hijacked off Somalia’s coast in 2008, for example, was released in February when its owners paid $3.2 million in cash, dropped by parachute.

Armed with automatic weapons, the pirates often attack the large merchant ships from small speed boats, then scale the towering ship hulls with hooks and ropes and overtake the merchant crews, which are generally unarmed.

To extend their reach from shore, the pirates have begun operating from floating outposts known as “mother ships” — often captured fishing trawlers that can serve as bases for the smaller speedboats as they lie in wait. The crews are generally not harmed by the pirates.

Lieutenant Christensen said he “could not recall” another episode involving the capture of an American ship by Somali pirates. Noel Choong, head of the Piracy Reporting Center at the International Maritime Bureau, in Kuala Lumpur, said that no such occurrences had been reported “for the past three or four years — at least.”

“There are no reports that any of the crew is injured,” Mr. Choong said. “Normally, the pirates would treat the crew well.”

“The Somali pirates are now actually venturing very far out from the coast,” Mr. Choong said, “up to 500 nautical miles.”

DUE APRIL 3 - DON'T FORGET THERE ARE 3 CURRENT EVENTS - CHECK THE OTHER LINKS UNDER "CURRENT EVENTS" TOO!

Due May 23

In a commencement address before a record crowd of about 10,000 people, the Nobel laureate said there had already been two "special generations" of Americans: the one that founded the country and the one that defeated fascism during World War II.

"You, I hope and expect, will be called upon to be part of the third hero generation in American history," by countering the threat of global warming, he said.

"We face a planetary emergency," Gore said. "The concentrations of global warming pollution have been rising at an unprecedented pace and have now given the planet a fever."

Carnegie Mellon had provided "great leadership in confronting what I regard as the most serious crisis our civilization has ever confronted," partly by becoming a major buyer of retail wind power, he said.

Alternative energy sources such as the sun and wind can replace fossil fuels, Gore said, but "we need one ingredient that you represent. We need political will; we need your dedication; we need your hearts."

Another speaker at the ceremony was Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon professor with terminal cancer whose inspiring "last lecture" about childhood dreams made him an Internet video sensation.

Pausch said he was told in August it was unlikely he would live for more than six more months, but that he was now surviving into his ninth month.

"We don't beat the reaper by living longer, we beat the reaper by living well and living fully," he said. "I think the only advice I can give you on how to live your life well is, first off, remember ... it's not the things we do in life that we regret on our deathbed, it is the things we do not."

What matters, he said, is that he can look back and say, "pretty much any time I got a chance to do something cool, I tried to grab for it, and that's where my solace comes from."

Gore, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, received an honorary doctorate in humane letters.

Due May 15

It is only a breathless Hollywood script: treasure-hunter Indiana Jones races with German archaeologists to track down the fabled Ark of the Covenant, the chest that held the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were etched.

Now German researchers claim to have found the remains of the palace of the Queen of Sheba — and an altar that may have held the Ark.

The discovery, announced by the University of Hamburg last week, has stirred skeptical rumblings from the archaeological community.

The location of the Ark, indeed its existence, has been a source of controversy for centuries.

Regarded as the most precious treasure of ancient Judaism, it is at the heart of a debate about whether archaeology should chronicle the rise and fall of civilizations or explore the boundaries between myth and ancient history.

Professor Helmut Ziegert, of the archaeological institute at the University of Hamburg, has been supervising a dig in Aksum, northern Ethiopia, since 1999.

"From the dating, its position and the details that we have found, I am sure that this is the palace," he said.

The palace, that is, of the Queen of Sheba, who is believed to have lived in the 10th century B.C.

After she died, her son and successor, Menelek, replaced the palace with a temple dedicated to Sirius.

The German researchers believe that the Ark was taken from Jerusalem by the queen — who had a liaison with King Solomon — and built into the altar to Sirius.

"The results we have suggest that a Cult of Sothis developed in Ethiopia with the arrival of Judaism and the Ark of the Covenant, and continued until 600 A.D.," an announcement by the University of Hamburg on behalf of the research team said.

Sothis is the ancient Greek name for the star Sirius.

The Ark was made, according to the Bible, of gold-plated acacia wood and topped with two golden angels. It is said to be a source of great power. In about 586 B.C., when the Babylonians conquered the Israelites, the Ark vanished.

For many centuries finding it has been one of the great quests — inspiration not only for the 1981 film "Raiders of the Lost Ark," but also for countries seeking to position themselves in the mainstream of ancient civilization.

Many archaeologists believe that their profession should not be in the business of myth-chasing. Even if the Ark were found, it would be impossible to establish scientifically whether it was the original receptacle for the Ten Commandments.

Iris Gerlach of the German Archaeological Institute in Sanaa, Yemen, believes the religious centre of Sheba is in present-day Yemen.

Although she does not go head-to-head with her colleague Professor Ziegert, the message is clear: A relic such as the Ark would have been stored in an important religious city rather than in Aksum.

Quest goes on

— The location of the Ark has been put in Egypt, Zimbabwe and even Ireland, where the Hill of Tara was excavated

— The Ethiopian holy town of Aksum is regarded as a more credible site

— Ethiopians believe that it is defended by monks in the church of St. Mary of Zion and is seen only by the guardian of the Ark, making it impossible to verify

Due May 9

They can't fetch the paper or curl up in your lap yet, but a Pittsburgh-area researcher may have found a way to make pet fish more interesting.

Dean Pomerleau, whose day job involves perfecting automotive crash-avoidance technology, and his young son Kyle claim to have trained goldfish, cichlids and Siamese fighting fish to swim though hoops, shoot baskets, dunk balls and score touchdowns.

"With the correct tools and the basic promise of a food reward, fish can very quickly learn complex tricks — like the limbo, slalom or playing fetch. Now people in the market for a dog might want to consider a fish instead," Dean Pomerleau said in a press release.

On his Fish School Web site, the elder Pomerleau says the idea came to him when Kyle won two goldfish at a school fair.

"After watching them for a couple weeks, we came to suspect that there was more going on in their little brains then most people give them credit for," he writes. "On a whim, we decided to see if we could train them to do tricks using techniques commonly used to train dolphins, dogs, and circus animals."

Apparently it worked, because the family has teamed up with R2 Solutions, a Los Angeles aquarium-accessory manufacturer, to market what they call the R2 Fish School Kit — "everything you will need to teach your fish amazing tricks."

Now if only they can train cats to clean their own litterboxes.

Due April 25

"At this moment, we need your help," the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said as he and Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky addressed reporters briefly before a closed-door meeting at the University of Michigan.

Dobriansky, who serves as special envoy for Tibet, said the meeting with the Dalai Lama provided a "timely opportunity" to discuss the conflict.

"The Bush administration has expressed concern about the situation in Tibet and has urged restraint," she said. "In particular, President Bush has been a steadfast supporter for the need for dialogue between His Holiness and Chinese leaders."

Dobriansky and the Dalai Lama have met more than 10 times since 2001, according to the State Department. They entered the room Monday holding hands, with the Dalai Lama saying, "I brought my longtime friend."

Demonstrators have disrupted legs of the Olympic torch relay in protest of China's treatment of the Dalai Lama's followers. He has denied Chinese claims that he and his followers have used the Olympics to foment unrest.

The Dalai Lama, who fled to India after a failed uprising in 1959 in Tibet, arrived in the United States on April 10.

He is scheduled to speak at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., on Tuesday and to return to India on Thursday.

Due April 4

As if the idea of colonoscopies didn't sound uncomfortable enough, now researchers are developing self-propelling probes that crawl inside the colon and grip its sides with the aid of sticky films.

Still, these slithery devices could lead to better, safer, more comfortable colonoscopies to help uncover cancerous polyps.

Cancer of the colon and rectum is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States and the nation's second most common cause of cancer death.

The chances of beating or avoiding this cancer greatly increase with early detection.

Colonoscopies see inside the colon by pushing an endoscope through it — a long tube equipped with lenses and light. The hope is to detect cancerous polyps early.

Although colonoscopies are considered relatively safe, there is a 1-in-500 risk the procedure could damage the colon.

Also, the discomfort often linked with pushing the device through the colon can lead to patients calling off colonoscopies before they are complete.

Instead of pushing an endoscope through the colon, researchers now are developing endoscopes that can pull themselves.

"By pulling themselves instead of being pushed from behind, there is no risk for stretching the colonic wall outward and causing painful cramps," explained researcher Dimitra Dodou, a chemical engineer at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

The main challenge to building such devices involves clutching onto the slippery walls of the colon in a way that does not damage them.

Dodou and her colleagues have found sticky films called mucoadhesives that could help such devices find the traction they need by sticking onto the mucus lining colon walls.

These adhesives already find use in techniques for delivering medicines into the body.

"Mucoadhesives are non-toxic," Dodou said. "Moreover, considering that the turnover time of intestinal mucus is estimated in the order of a few hours, eventual leftovers of mucoadhesive will be quickly washed away."

In experiments with snippets of pig colon, the researchers found tubes covered with mucoadhesives could stick well. They also found that different patterns clung better than others.

In principle, a device that could pull in or push out segments of itself — thus controlling how much of its adhesive surface it exposed — could grip or let go of the colon whenever appropriate. The device could then wriggle or climb up the colon.

Testing such mucoadhesives in live animals will be the ultimate test, Dodou said.

Living colons typically possess more mucous, although the laxatives given before colonoscopies reduce mucus levels, she explained.

Various groups have worked on self-propelled devices for quite some years now, "but none of them uses mucoadhesive," Dodou explained.

She and her colleagues suggest new design concepts for devices incorporating mucoadhesives online March 27 in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

MARCH 10

HSLDA stands for Home School Legal Defense Association

A California Court of Appeal recently decided that homeschooling is illegal in California unless a parent is a certified teacher.

The case arose in a confidential juvenile court proceeding. The family was represented by court-appointed attorneys and HSLDA did not become aware of the case until the Court of Appeal case was published on February 28, 2008.

The Court could have restricted its decision to the facts before it, but instead, it issued a broad ruling that effectively outlaws home education in California. The Court also certified its decision for publication, which means that the decision can now be cited as legal authority by all other courts in California.

The family and their California counsel are planning to appeal to the Supreme Court of California, which could result in reversal.

Another option to keep homeschooling free in California is to petition the Supreme Court of California to “depublish” the opinion. If the opinion is “depublished” then it cannot be used by other California courts and this threat to homeschool freedom will be neutralized for other California homeschoolers.

HSLDA will be formally petitioning the California Supreme Court to depublish the opinion. We would like to show that many other people, both in California and across the country, care deeply about homeschool freedom in California.

A court ruling that California parents "do not have a constitutional right" to home-school their children has touched off anger and bewilderment throughout America's home-schooling community and prompted a denunciation from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

For a movement that has gained greater accommodation in recent years, a state appellate court decision last month is a setback that, if not overturned on appeal, could force some 166,000 home-schooled students in California to enroll in conventional schools. It may also prod California and other states with vague or nonexistent laws on home schooling to be more specific about what is allowed and what is required of home-schoolers.

California's education statutes, for instance, do not mention "home schooling," but officials have allowed the practice for decades. The appellate court, however, found that the state's laws have not been changed to allow home schooling since a case back in 1953 erected a major roadblock to the practice.

Governor Schwarzenegger said Friday he would go to the legislature if the ruling is not overturned.

"I could see this [ruling] being a real strong impetus for home-schoolers in California to get the legislature to change their laws.... Or I could see it being perhaps the beginning of other states wanting to look more closely both at their laws and current enforcement," says Kimberly Yuracko, a professor at Northwestern University's Law School in Chicago.

The number of students nationwide who are home-schooled is not known because 10 states are so hands-off they require no reporting at all, nor do parents always comply with reporting requirements. Estimates range from 1.1 million to 2.5 million home-schooled students, and the numbers are rising.

About half the states require more than simple notification from parents or guardians, such as testing, curriculum approval, or home visits. But such rules are dwindling – either explicitly or by lax enforcement, say experts. Home-school advocates worry the California case could bring more regulation or enforcement, or both.

"The overwhelming trend [among states] has been, home schooling works, OK, we'll release the reins a little bit," says Darren Jones, an attorney with the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). "California is a bellwether. Other states might look at this [case] and say this is something we might want to consider."

The case grew out of a home-schooled child's complaint of physical and emotional mistreatment by a parent. A lower court refused to remove the child to a school outside the home, arguing that parents had a right to home-school. The three appellate judges rejected this reasoning unanimously.

California law stipulates two main exemptions to compulsory public school: enrollment in a full-time private school or instruction from a credentialed tutor. Some home-schoolers enroll their children in independent study programs at private or public charter schools that allow students to work mostly from home. Officials have also allowed parents to declare their home a private school, a process requiring once-a-year filing of a short form.

In this case, the parents had enrolled their children in a private school under an arrangement that kept the kids at home except to take year-end tests. School officials said they visited the home about four times a year.

Writing for the appellate court, Justice H. Walter Croskey derided this arrangement as a "ruse" and also rejected the notion of home private schools by citing a 1953 California case.

"That case is older than dirt," says J. Michael Smith, head of the HSLDA. Subsequent California laws have tacitly acknowledged home private schools, as do 11 other states – three of which have fended off legal challenges on the issue, he says.

The bottom line for him is that California has no laws specifically mentioning home schooling and has in practice treated it as a form of private schooling.

MARCH 3

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said an even broader Gaza operation was possible, aimed at crushing militant rocket squads but also to "weaken the Hamas rule, in the right circumstances, even to bring it down."

The Palestinian death toll rose by 26, bringing the number killed to 114 since the latest bout of fighting erupted on Wednesday, according to Palestinian medical officials and militant groups. At least 54 Palestinians and two Israelis were killed on Saturday, the single deadliest day in more than seven years of fighting.

The Gaza onslaught has failed to protect southern Israel, where residents have faced repeated rocket attacks since 2001. Gaza militants fired more than 25 rockets at southern Israel Sunday, the military said, scoring direct hits on houses in the city of Ashkelon and the town of Sderot. Nine Israelis were injured, rescue services said.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said peace talks with Israel had been halted.

"For the time being, the negotiations are suspended because we have so many funerals," he said. It was unclear when the talks, relaunched last November at a U.S.-hosted summit, would resume.

The violence clouded an upcoming visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders have set a December target for concluding a final peace deal. But instead of promoting peace, Rice will likely spend her visit this week trying to put out the latest fire.

The Bush administration demanded a halt to the fighting.

"The violence needs to stop and the talks need to resume," Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said in Texas.

In the early hours of Monday, Palestinians counted nine separate Israeli airstrikes all over Gaza, and five Hamas militants were killed. One attack was near the office of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who was not in the area at the time. The Israeli military said aircraft targeted weapons storage and manufacturing facilities.

Before midnight, Israel had moved additional ground forces and armored vehicles into northern Gaza, widening its area of operation to about a mile, witnesses and Palestinian security officials said. Also, aircraft attacked two metal workshops in northern Gaza, wounding 10, they said.

The military said two weapons caches were hit and that the troop rotations were routine. The Israeli ground troops pulled out of northern Gaza before daybreak Monday, the military said.

On Sunday, 11 Palestinians, including a 21-month-old girl, were killed, and 10 others died of earlier wounds or were found dead, Palestinian medical officials said.

Roughly half of those killed since Wednesday were civilians, medical officials said. On Saturday, Palestinian leaders called the killings "genocide" and a "holocaust."

"We are following the aggression against our people in Gaza," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters. He said he had contacted the U.N. Security Council, the EU and Arab leaders "to work to stop this aggression."

Abbas has wielded little influence in Gaza since Hamas vanquished his forces and took over last June. In a symbolic move, he donated blood for Gaza residents at his West Bank office.

The normally bustling streets of Gaza City were eerily empty. The sound of verses from the Muslim holy book, the Quran, sounding from mosque loudspeakers mingled with the roar of Israeli warplanes and unmanned drones in the sky.

Hundreds gathered outside Gaza hospitals waiting for bodies to be brought out of morgues for burial. Many, like schoolteacher Tawfek Shaban, a 44-year-old father of five, were holding small radios, listening to the news.

"Shame on the Arabs, shame on the Muslims, shame on humanity ... When will they act to stop Israel?" Shaban asked.

The reduced casualty count may have been the result of new measures imposed by Hamas. It told its fighters to use alleys for cover and avoid moving in large groups, ordered schools closed and set up roadblocks to keep civilians out of battle zones. In recent days, schoolchildren had left their studies to watch the fighting. The order forced children to stay at home.

The unrest spilled over to the West Bank, where Abbas and his Fatah faction run a rival government.

In the West Bank town of Hebron, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy was fatally shot in the chest during a protest against Israel, Palestinian medical officials said. It was the first death in the West Bank connected to the Gaza offensive.

An Israeli military spokesman said youths staged a "violent demonstration," throwing firebombs and putting soldiers at risk. Later about 2,000 angry Hamas supporters marched through the city streets, waving copies of the Quran and green Hamas flags. "Revenge. Revenge. Retaliate in Tel Aviv," the crowd chanted.

Schools and shops across the West Bank shut down to protest the operation in Gaza and there were demonstrations at traditional flashpoints like checkpoints, watchtowers and patrol routes.

In Ramallah, home to Abbas' government, club-wielding Palestinian security forces used tear gas and pushed back dozens of women demonstrating in support of Hamas. Security forces tried to stop TV crews filming and clubbed protesters, said Muhib Barghouthi, a photographer who was on scene.

The Gaza offensive also drew a chorus of international condemnation. The EU and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon accused Israel of using excessive force. The U.N. Security Council urged Israelis and Palestinians "to immediately cease all acts of violence."

At the weekly meeting of his Cabinet, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected the criticism.

"Nothing will prevent us from continuing operations to protect our citizens," he said. "No one has the moral right to preach to Israel for taking the elementary step of self-defense."

Olmert, commenting on the suspension of talks, said "attacking Hamas strengthens the chance for peace."

"I'm sure that beyond certain statements, the Palestinian leadership, the one with whom we want to achieve peace, also understands that," he said.

Israel regularly clashes with Gaza rocket squads, but it intensified its operations last week after militants fired salvos into Ashkelon, a city of 120,000 11 miles north of Gaza. By targeting a center like Ashkelon, only 25 miles from the metropolis of Tel Aviv, Hamas raised the stakes and added pressure on Israeli leaders to respond.

In Sderot, the town nearest Gaza which has suffered most of the rocket attacks over the past seven years, daily life has become almost unbearable. The rockets have killed 13, wounded dozens and caused millions of dollars in damage.

Egypt has cooperated with an Israeli blockade of Hamas in Gaza, but opened its sealed border crossing with the territory Sunday to allow some of the Palestinian wounded access to medical care.

Egypt sent 27 ambulances to the Rafah crossing to transfer between 150 to 200 wounded, said Imad Kharboush, a medical official at a hospital in el-Arish, near the Israeli border.

FEBRUARY 25

Films about psychopaths, greedy oilmen and corrupt lawyers failed to click with moviegoers, and they proved a turnoff to U.S. television viewers as this year's Oscars show hit record low ratings.

The 80th anniversary edition of the Academy Awards, dominated by European stars and films that played poorly at the box office, averaged 32 million viewers, entering the record books on Monday as the least watched Oscar telecast ever.

The national viewer tally reported by Nielsen Media Research for ABC's live, three-hour-plus telecast on Sunday was down about 1 million viewers from the previous record low, set in 2003 when the Oscars were presented just after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq had begun.

The 2003 program was hosted by Steve Martin and featured the musical "Chicago" as best picture.

Sunday's broadcast, with comedian Jon Stewart making his second appearance as Oscar host, now ranks as the smallest U.S. TV audience for the Oscars since 1974, when actual viewer totals first became available.

The national household rating of 18.7 also marks the lowest level by that measure going back to the very first televised Oscars in 1953.

By contrast, the most watched Oscar broadcast on record was the 1998 show, when the box-office blockbuster "Titanic" sailed off with a record-tying 11 awards, including the prize for best picture. Some 55 million Americans tuned in that year.

LOW RATINGS, NO SURPRISE

The weak ratings for Sunday's broadcast came as no surprise given that many movies showcased this year -- "There Will Be Blood," "Michael Clayton," "Sweeney Todd," -- generated little enthusiasm among moviegoers despite critical raves.

The night's big winner, the grim, violent crime drama "No Country For Old Men," which claimed four awards including best picture and best drama, grossed a modest $64 million at the North American box office.

Only one movie among the five nominated for best picture, breakout comedy "Juno," crossed the $100 million box office market domestically. That film managed just one win for best original screenplay.

The Oscar ratings likely also suffered from the fact that all four acting awards this year went to European performers whose names are fairly obscure for American audiences and who appeared in movies that relatively few moviegoers saw.

The Oscars generally have drawn a bigger U.S. television audience in years when the big crowd pleasers at the multiplex, like "Titanic" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," figured prominently in the awards race.

Oscar producers already were bracing for low ratings due to an overall viewership slump in network TV this broadcast season, exacerbated by a glut of reruns and reality shows triggered by the recently settled Hollywood writers strike.

Still, the Academy Awards show ranks as the year's highest-rated entertainment special and a cash cow for Walt Disney Co.'s ABC, which raked in an average of $1.8 million for each 30-second spot, up 7 percent from a year ago.

JANUARY 28

A Mexican woman says she is "picking up the torch" from another illegal resident who became a symbol for immigration reform when she took shelter in a Chicago church for a year before being deported.

Flor Crisostomo, 28, who paid a smuggler to drive her across the U.S. border in 2000, spurned a deportation order Monday and moved into Adalberto United Methodist Church.

Crisostomo hopes her actions send a message similar to Elvira Arellano, who became a beacon of hope for millions of illegal immigrants and a lightning rod for those who saw her brazen refusal to leave the U.S. as proof of lax enforcement.

Arellano lived in an apartment on the church's upper floor for a year before leaving in August to visit Los Angeles, where immigration authorities arrested her and, within hours, deported her to Mexico.

Adalberto's pastor said no one pressured Crisostomo to take sanctuary at the church, which is in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood.

"It's unfortunate we have to do this. This church has other priorities, like helping the poor in this neighborhood," the Rev. Walter Coleman said. "But God didn't give us a choice. When God says do this, we say, 'Yes, sir!"'

Coleman complained that the push for immigration reform has stalled, saying even sympathetic politicians have put the sensitive issue on the back burner.

"So what are we supposed to do?" he said. "Who's moving this movement forward? It's not moving forward."

Crisostomo, who spoke through a translator, said she left Iguala Guerrero, Mexico, after she was unable to find a job that would allow her to buy enough food for her two boys and one girl, ages 9 to 14.

In July 2000 she paid a smuggler to take her across the border and spent three days lost in desert-like conditions before making it to Los Angeles, she said. A month later she arrived in Chicago, where she worked 10 hours a day, six days a week in an IFCO Systems site that made packing materials.

By last year, she earned about $360 a week, sending $300 to her children for food, clothes and school books, she said. To keep her own costs down, she lived with four other women in a two-bedroom Chicago apartment.

"My children's lives improve a lot as a result," she said. "It wasn't luxury. But it meant they could survive."

Immigration authorities raided more than 40 IFCO sites in the U.S. in 2006 and arrested Crisostomo, along with more than 1,100 other people. The Board of Immigration Appeals last year denied Crisostomo's appeal and told her to leave the United States by Monday.

Crisostomo said she did not know how long she would stay in the church, adding that she would keep busy by lobbying via phone, e-mails and letters on behalf of millions of illegal immigrants. The apartment, which is maintained by the church, includes a bedroom, office area and living room.

Groups opposed to illegal immigration say the case is a direct challenge to federal authorities.

JANUARY 21

WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton accused Barack Obama Tuesday of “looking for a fight” in their rancorous debate and suggested her Democratic presidential rival acted out of frustration over campaign losses in New Hampshire and Nevada.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, Clinton said Obama came armed to Monday night’s debate with “rehearsed points” that he could use when needed. She added that her primary and caucus wins are forcing him to revise his sinking strategy.

“I think what we saw last night was that he’s very frustrated,” Clinton said. “He clearly came — he telegraphed it, he talked about it — he clearly came last night looking for a fight. He was determined and launched right in.”

Obama responded that honesty has always been his best defense, and he will use it to show he is the antidote to Clinton’s Washington insider approach.

“When it comes to Sen. Clinton’s remarks, I think it’s very clear that Sen. Clinton has and President Clinton have been spending the last month attacking me in ways that are not accurate,” Obama told reporters in a conference call. “If you get the kind of looseness with the facts that Sen. Clinton displayed and you’re willing to say anything to get a political or tactical advantage, that lowers people’s trust in government. It makes us cynical.”

Monday night’s debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., was the fieriest so far among the two leading Democratic presidential candidates. John Edwards also participated and lobbed a few grenades at Obama ahead of South Carolina’s Democratic primary on Saturday. A RealClearPolitics average of polls shows Obama 10.5 points ahead of Clinton, 42.8 to 32.3 percent with Edwards far behind at 14 percent.

At the debate, Obama and Clinton landed several rattling punches over each other’s prior business relationships, with the Illinois senator remarking that he was working to protect jobs from leaving the United States when Clinton was “a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart.”

In return, Clinton said she was fighting against the policies of Ronald Reagan when Obama was “representing your contributor, (Tony) Rezko, in his slum landlord business in inner city Chicago.”

JANUARY 14

According to the business press, a near majority of economists are now predicting recessions.

Recessions, especially in election years, bring calls for stimulus, and we are hearing those calls now.

But, those of us who keep a safe distance from these circles can still indulge. First, there should be no doubt that stimulus is needed, and almost certainly more than the $70-$100bn figure being tossed around. A reasonable target would be 1% of GDP, which would be almost $150bn in 2008. While any stimulus figure is somewhat arbitrary, the question is the relative risk of erring on the low or the high side. If we err on the low side, then we are not doing enough to support the economy and create jobs. If we err on the high side, ostensibly we would be creating too much demand and risking inflation.

House prices are currently falling at a rate that will destroy $2.2tn in value over the next year. This will not only wreak further havoc on the housing and mortgage market; it will also put a huge damper on consumer spending. Does anyone who knows the numbers believe that a stimulus equal to 1% of GDP will create excess demand in today's economy?

The second question is where to direct the stimulus. Some items are no-brainers. This list includes extending unemployment benefits to cover longer stretches of unemployment, aid to state and local governments to cover budget shortfalls and general tax rebates comparable to $300 per taxpayer check that was mailed out in the last recession.

However, we can also see the stimulus as a chance to get a foot in the door on advancing a green agenda designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the top of this list would be a generous tax credit for installing energy efficient improvements to homes or businesses. This one should also be a no-brainer since it could directly re-employ many of the workers laid off in the construction sector. While a similar programme had limited impact in 2004-2006, contractors will be far more energetic in pursuing this business now that the housing bubble has left them with few alternatives.

A second effective form of green stimulus would be to subsidise mass transit ridership. There are approximately 10 billion trips a year on buses, light rail or commuter rail trains. If the federal government gave transit agencies $10bn to reduce the average fare on these trips by $1, this would be a very quick way to get an additional $10bn into the hands of mass transit users. This would be a very progressive tax cut, which would also have the lasting benefit of promoting public transportation.

If we really want to think outside of the box, we can use some of the stimulus to promote pay-by-the-mile insurance policies. These insurance policies are green because they give drivers a strong disincentive to drive. If insurance were paid on a per mile basis, it would provide roughly the same disincentive to drive as a $2-per-gallon gas tax.

Suppose that the federal government paid a $300 subsidy for every pay-by-the-mile policy. This would give insurers a strong incentive to offer these policies and effectively put $300 in the pocket of every driver who switches to paying by the mile. While this policy would take somewhat longer to implement than the other two, the good news is that the recession is likely to be long enough that we could still benefit from the stimulus a year or two down the road.

There are many other ways to structure a stimulus so that it can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If we just accept the idea that it is possible to walk and chew gum at the same time, we can structure a stimulus package that also produces real gains for the environment.