21 killed in clash of Filipino extremists, rebels

A member of the Moro National Liberation Front, who signed peace with the government more than a decade ago, is rushed for treatment after being wounded in a pursuit of al-Qaida-linked militants who allegedly still in captivity foreign nationals as hostages in the volatile island of Jolo, Sulu province in southern Philippines, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013. On Saturday, two Filipino members of a Jordanian TV journalist's crew believed to have been kidnapped by the al-Qaida-linked militants in June, were freed but Jordanian journalist Baker Abdulla Atyani is believed to still be held by the gunmen. (AP Photo/Nickee Butlangan)

A member of the Moro National Liberation Front, who signed peace with the government more than a decade ago, is rushed for treatment after being wounded in a pursuit of al-Qaida-linked militants who allegedly still in captivity foreign nationals as hostages in the volatile island of Jolo, Sulu province in southern Philippines, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013. On Saturday, two Filipino members of a Jordanian TV journalist's crew believed to have been kidnapped by the al-Qaida-linked militants in June, were freed but Jordanian journalist Baker Abdulla Atyani is believed to still be held by the gunmen. (AP Photo/Nickee Butlangan)

Roland Letriro, left, and Ramel Vela, Filipino members of a Jordanian TV journalist's crew believed to have been kidnapped by al-Qaida-linked militants in June, recuperate in a hospital Sunday ,Feb. 3, 2013 after being freed the night before on the volatile island of Jolo, Sulu province in southern Philippines. Policemen found frail-looking cameraman Vela and audio technician Letriro late Saturday and brought them to the hospital in southern Sulu province, where they were kidnapped in June along with Jordanian Baker Abdulla Atyani, provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Antonio Freyra said. Atyani is believed to still be held by the gunmen.(AP Photo/Nickee Butlangan)

Roland Letriro, center, and Ramel Vela, Filipino members of a Jordanian TV journalist's crew believed to have been kidnapped by the al-Qaida-linked militants in June, talk to a police officer in their hospital room Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013, after being freed the night before on the volatile island of Jolo, Sulu province in southern Philippines. Policemen found frail-looking cameraman Vela and audio technician Letriro late Saturday and brought them to a hospital in southern Sulu province, where they were kidnapped in June along with Jordanian Baker Abdulla Atyani, provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Antonio Freyra said. Atyani is believed to still be held by the gunmen.(AP Photo/Nickee Butlangan)

Ramel Vela, one of two Filipino members of a Jordanian TV journalist's crew believed to have been kidnapped by al-Qaida-linked militants in June, is interviewed by a police officer in his hospital room Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013, after being freed the night before on the volatile island of Jolo, Sulu province in southern Philippines. Policemen found frail-looking cameraman Ramel Vela and audio technician Roland Letriro late Saturday and brought them to a hospital in southern Sulu province, where they were kidnapped in June along with Jordanian Baker Abdulla Atyani, provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Antonio Freyra said. Atyani is believed to still be held by the gunmen.(AP Photo/Nickee Butlangan)

MANILA, Philippines (AP) ? Al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf militants clashed fiercely with a larger rebel group they had long coexisted with, leaving at least 21 combatants dead in the southern Philippines, police said Monday.

A commander with the Moro National Liberation Front, which has an autonomy deal with the government, said his group battled Abu Sayyaf gunmen Sunday after the Abu Sayyaf refused to free several foreign hostages it has held in jungle lairs for months, including a Jordanian TV journalist and two European men. The militants did release two Filipino hostages who were found by police Saturday.

Eight Moro rebels and at least 13 Abu Sayyaf militants were killed in the clashes in in the jungle-clad mountains of Sulu province's Patikul town, where hundreds of armed fighters of the Moro National Liberation Front have encamped in the last three weeks to pressure the extremists to free their kidnap victims and end other acts of banditry.

There has been no word on what happened to the Abu Sayyaf's captives amid the fighting, Sulu provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Antonio Freyra said.

The fighting subsided Monday after Abu Sayyaf gunmen split into smaller groups, with a large group seen fleeing from Patikul to an adjacent town. But the clashes could erupt again, Freyra said.

It was the first major bloody confrontation between the two insurgent groups, which have coexisted for years and at times were suspected of collaborating on kidnappings and backing each other in clashes against government troops in predominantly Muslim Sulu.

Moro National Liberation Front commander Khabir Malik said his group had taken the initiative to seek the freedom of the hostages to help the government clean up the image of Sulu, where the Abu Sayyaf has carried out deadly bombings, kidnappings and beheadings, primarily in the early 2000s.

Over the weekend, Abu Sayyaf militants freed two Filipinos who worked for veteran Jordanian journalist Baker Abdulla Atyani. But the militants kept Atyani himself and other foreign hostages, including two European bird watchers, a Japanese treasure hunter and a Malaysian man. At least one Filipino resident of Sulu remains with the Abu Sayyaf, police said.

Cameraman Ramel Vela and audio technician Roland Letriro, who had spent eight months in captivity, told the police that they last saw Atyani five days after they were taken into Abu Sayyaf custody, when the militants separated him from them. Atyani traveled with the two in June to Sulu, a predominantly Muslim province 950 kilometers (590 miles) south of Manila, to do a documentary on the country's volatile south.

Atyani has gained prominence for having interviewed Osama bin Laden and his aides in Afghanistan about three months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The Abu Sayyaf is an extremist offshoot of a Muslim rebellion that has been raging in the predominantly Catholic nation's south for decades. U.S.-backed military offensives have crippled it in recent years, but it remains a national security threat. Washington has listed the group, which has about 380 armed fighters, as a terrorist organization.

Moro National Liberation Front rebels signed a peace deal with the government in 1996 that did not require them to disarm. They have settled back to their Sulu communities but have clashed with government troops periodically while negotiating for more concessions.

The group's stature has been overshadowed in recent years by the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is currently engaged in Malaysian-brokered talks with the government to expand and seek more power and resources for an existing Muslim autonomous region in the south.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-03-Philippines-Hostages%20Freed/id-64970a39e97942f09513ddbddb6d21dd

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Texas shooting suspect was Iraq war veteran

GLEN ROSE, Texas (AP) ? The 25-year-old man charged with murdering former Navy SEAL and "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle and his friend at a Texas gun range was an Iraq war veteran.

The U.S. military confirmed Sunday that Eddie Ray Routh was in the Marines from June 2006 to January 2010. He was deployed to Iraq in 2007.

Routh is charged with two counts of capital murder. He's accused of killing 38-year-old Kyle and 35-year-old Chad Littlefield at the Rough Creek Lodge shooting range Saturday evening.

Officer Kyle Roberts at the Erath County Jail said Routh is being held on $3 million bond. Roberts did not have information on information on whether Routh had a lawyer. No one answered the door at Routh's home.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-shooting-suspect-iraq-war-veteran-191345275.html

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Afghan official: Roadside bomb kills family of 5

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) ? An Afghan government official says a roadside bomb has killed a family of five in the south of the country.

The administrator for Miyanishin district in Helmand province, Shah Mahmood Shafa, says the family was driving through the district in a Toyota Corolla Saturday night when their car struck a bomb. He did not say if the explosion had targeted them, or how the bomb was detonated.

Shafa says two of the dead were young children.

Insurgent roadside bombs and landmines are considered among the most dangerous weapons in Afghanistan for civilians.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghan-official-roadside-bomb-kills-family-5-064437471.html

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cinder block steps - DIY Home Improvement, Remodeling & Repair ...

Not all concrete block are 7-5/8" high. I lived in area where 8" nominally thick (actually 7-5/8" thick) block were available in 3-5/8", 5", 5-5/8" 7-5/8" and 8" heights.

It varies with the quality and of local suppliers and there many other 7-5/8" thick solid units made in 1'-5/8", 2-5/8", 3-5/8", 5-5/8", 7-5/8", 9-5/8" heights.

All it takes is a few questions to a good supplier.

Dick

Source: http://www.houserepairtalk.com/f17/cinder-block-steps-15497/

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Energy Efficiency vs. Using Less | Sustainable Cities Collective

In its basic definition, efficiency relates to a given amount of energy or effort it takes to?accomplish?a certain task relative to the least possible amount. It is true that a more efficient system/solution/product will use less energy than a less efficient counterpart, but in order to gauge its place within the topic of sustainability we have to ground the term and its use in realistic conditions. What we end up with is that ?efficiency? is a much more incomplete thought than most people treat it. As an idea, it is a component of a direction more than a solution.

A Call for Saving Energy

There are many environmental voices that champion opportunities for our culture to use increased efficiency as a way to reduce the amount of energy and resources that we sacrifice. Amory Lovins famously claimed that Americans have the opportunity to cut their energy use by 30% merely through efficiency measures alone. In 2009, the McKinsey & Company issued a report claiming that not only that ?the US economy has the potential to reduce annual non-transportation energy consumption by roughly 23 percent by 2020,? but that it was financially in our best interest to do so by ?eliminating more than $1.2 trillion in waste?well beyond the $520 billion upfront investment (not including program costs) that would be required.?

This is why the idea of efficiency is so attractive. It is presented as a solution that is not only currently good for the environment, but also is cash flow positive for us in the long run. Even better yet, if efficiency can be baked into things like products, infrastructure or the built environment then perhaps we don?t really have to change much at all. What?s not to like? Onward with efficiency!

But there?s a danger to these kinds of mindsets and the misconceptions that they promote for sustainability. As I have lectured about in the past, the most important aspect of sustainability that I try to impart on others is that sustainability is not a technological fix to supplement a wasteful lifestyle. This is incredibly important. This doesn?t mean that using compact fluorescents, plug-in hybrids, rechargeable battees or EnergyStar appliances is unsustainable, but it means that these things do not embody sustainability. Sustainability is the lifestyle. It is the mindset of using what we need?which for most of us is less than what we use now?in order to help maintain a level of resource balance.

This reality ends up presenting itself in how our culture has responded to cases of increased efficiency in the past. Take some of the large energy-consuming items in the American home for example. The Department of Energy has regulated the efficiency requirements for certain household items since oil embargo in 1973 (perhaps one of the first times that American energy use was called into question on the national level). Since then, things like furnaces, hot water heaters, air conditioning units and heat pumps need to achieve certain levels of energy efficiency in order to be code compliant. The thought would be that it would help make homes more efficient over time, helping us to use less energy as a country? but such is not the case. Despite these efficiency increases, the energy consumption of Americans has remained flat ever since.

Courtesy of Terrapin Bright Green

Butter?s in the Fridge

Another great example is a look at refrigerators in America.?If we start with a fridge from 1947, the data suggests that the size of refrigerators has increased over 250% over half a century. However, after peaking around 1974, the energy used by the appliance has decreased to the point of nearly reaching parity with its ancestry of the late 40?s. Despite an increase in size, the energy load of our fridges can be nearly the same 50 years later due to an 25-fold increase in efficiency. Good stuff, no? Proponents like Lovins would call this a win-win, saying we can use efficiency to lower our energy footprint even as we increase capacity.

But according to New Yorker writer David Owens, not so fast. In his book, The Conundrum?(I highly recommend it), Owens outlines some of the indirect repercussions of increased efficiency in refrigeration. I?ve taken some of his assertions into an Intercon diagram below.

The first caveat to this efficiency story is it?s important to remember that while fridges have gotten more efficient it is not uncommon for houses to have increased their cooling load beyond a single fridge. A separate chest freezer, back-up fridge or even wine coolers are all increasingly normal.?Also, just because a household replaces their kitchen fridge with a newer model doesn?t mean the old fridge is retired. These older counterparts often find homes as back-up cold storage in basements or garages to keep spare beverages ready for things like football games or beer pong. While perhaps a net increase in enjoyment, it also constitutes a net increase in energy.

As refrigeration has gotten cheaper and easier, it has spread across our commercial landscape as well. Owens asserts that gas stations of today have the same amount of cold storage that grocery stores had in the 50?s and 60?s.

Let?s not forget the contents of these evolving appliances as well. The potential kicker in this equation is that as food capacity and reliability has grown, so has our assumption that food will last longer inside the fridge. As a result, our culture ends up throwing away more food that ultimately goes bad despite staying cold. Since 1975 our food waste has increased by 50% to the point that we now throw away 40-50% of the food that we grow. How does that factor into energy??Our food is incredibly energy intensive. Wasted food represents resources required for fertilizer and pesticides (both petroleum based), harvesting, packaging, transportation and the cooling in both the stores and in our homes. Not to mention that rotting food is the primary source of methane in landfills, a potent greenhouse gas. So in the end, has our increased efficiency actually saved us energy in the long run? It?s certainly debatable.

Just Using Less

The simple change to the equation that makes it much more environmentally viable is pairing efficiency with a sustainable use of resources of materials?or rather a lack of use. If we each had only one efficient fridge that only stored food that we were actually going to eat then the gains would be more measurable. Efficiency only gives us the gains we choose to preserve and build from, but it also gives us an opportunity to consume more. The same can be said for most of our ?green? options today (low-flow fixtures, CFLs, geothermal heating and cooling, hybrid cars). Replacing a product with one that uses half as much energy that one in turn uses three times as much is a step back, not a step forward.

As disappointing as it may be, the solution to our environmental problems will most likely not be a technological fix. It will not be a product that makes it cheaper to consume. The prospect of efficiency should be taken as a supplement, a beginning to a more sustainable lifestyle, not a replacement for sustainability. At this stage in our cultural and technological evolution, lifestyle changes will gain us far more ground than trading one consumption path for another.

Source: http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/tcaine/118286/difference-between-efficiency-and-using-less

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Obama a skeet shooter? See new White House photo

In this photo released by the White House, President Barack Obama shoots clay targets on the range at Camp David, Md., Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012. The White House released a photo of Obama firing a gun, two days before he heads to Minnesota to discuss gun control. In a recent interview with The New Republic magazine, Obama said yes when asked if he has ever fired a gun. He said "we do skeet shooting all the time," except for his daughters, at Camp David. (AP Photo/The White House, Pete Souza)

In this photo released by the White House, President Barack Obama shoots clay targets on the range at Camp David, Md., Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012. The White House released a photo of Obama firing a gun, two days before he heads to Minnesota to discuss gun control. In a recent interview with The New Republic magazine, Obama said yes when asked if he has ever fired a gun. He said "we do skeet shooting all the time," except for his daughters, at Camp David. (AP Photo/The White House, Pete Souza)

FILE - In this Sept. 1, 1994 file photo, George W. Bush looks to the sky during a dove hunt in Hockley, Texas during his first Texas gubernatorial campaign. Anticipating some dove hunting on a 100-plus degree day during Sept. 2000, Bush explained that the birds could be marinated, but "I'm probably just going to throw them right on the grill." (AP Photo/File, David J. Phillip, file)

FILE - In this April 25, 1994 file photo, President Bill Clinton holds a Colt AR-15 rifle during a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, where he launched efforts to pass the assault weapons ban. Dayton, Ohio Police Lt. Randy Bean, whose fellow officer Steve Whalen was gunned down with an AR-15 in 1991, looks on at left. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook)

FILE - In this Oct. 25, 1992 file photo, U.S. President George H. Bush displays a rifle given to him as a gift, in Billings, Mont., as his chief of staff James Baker, left, watches during the campaign stop. Bush will continue campaigning at morning on Monday in Montana. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, file)

FILE - In this Feb. 28, 1944 file photo, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Allied invasion chief, fires a Browning light machine gun using his hip as a mount, during an inspection of an infantry unit in England. (AP Photo/file)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Two days before President Barack Obama's first trip outside Washington to promote his gun-control proposals, the White House tried to settle a brewing mystery when it released a photo to back his claim to be a skeet shooter.

Obama had set inquiring minds spinning when, in an interview with The New Republic magazine, he answered "yes" when asked if he had ever fired a gun. The admission came as a surprise to many.

"Yes, in fact, up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time," Obama said in the interview released last weekend, referring to the official presidential retreat in rural Maryland, which he last visited in October while campaigning for re-election. Asked whether the entire family participates, the president said: "Not the girls, but oftentimes guests of mine go up there."

Few could recall Obama ever talking about firing a gun or going skeet shooting "all the time."

The official White House photo released Saturday is dated Aug. 4, 2012. The caption says Obama is shooting clay targets on the range at Camp David. Obama is seen holding a gun against his left shoulder, his left index finger on the trigger and smoke coming from the barrel. He is wearing jeans, a dark blue, short-sleeved polo shirt, sunglasses and headphones.

Asked at Monday's press briefing how frequently Obama shoots skeet and whether photos of the outings existed, White House press secretary Jay Carney said he didn't know how often. Pictures may exist, he said, but he hadn't seen any.

"Why haven't we heard about it before?" Carney was asked.

"Because when he goes to Camp David, he goes to spend time with his family and friends and relax, not to produce photographs," Carney said.

Obama is accompanied almost everywhere by at least one White House photographer.

Carney did not immediately respond Saturday when asked to comment on the decision to release the photo. But it could be part of an effort to portray Obama as sympathetic to gun owners and opponents of his gun-control measures who argue the proposals would infringe on an individual's Second Amendment right to bear arms.

In the interview, which appears in the Feb. 11 issue of The New Republic, Obama said gun-control advocates should be better listeners in this latest debate over firearms in the U.S. He also declared his deep respect for the tradition of hunting in this country, which dates back generations.

"I have a profound respect for the traditions of hunting that trace back in this country for generations," Obama said. "And I think those who dismiss that out of hand make a big mistake. Part of being able to move this forward is understanding the reality of guns in urban areas are very different from the realities of guns in rural areas. And if you grew up and your dad gave you a hunting rifle when you were 10, and you went out and spent the day with him and your uncles, and that became part of your family's traditions, you can see why you'd be pretty protective of that."

"So it's trying to bridge those gaps that I think is going to be part of the biggest task over the next several months. And that means that advocates of gun control have to do a little more listening than they do sometimes," Obama said.

His gun control measures, which include a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, as well as universal background checks for anyone who wants to buy a firearm, have met some resistance on Capitol Hill and from opponents of tighter restrictions on access to guns, including the powerful National Rifle Association.

In Minneapolis on Monday, Obama plans to make remarks as well as discuss his proposals with local and law enforcement officials during a stop at the police department's special operations center. He's also expected to visit with community members to hear about their experiences with gun violence, the White House said.

Obama announced his proposals in mid-January, about a month after the Dec. 14 shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

___

Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-02-US-Obama-Guns/id-fd091cb9525843beb91d276630648a6c

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Exclusive: Obama leaning toward McCarthy for EPA chief - sources

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is leaning toward choosing Gina McCarthy, a top official in charge of air quality at the Environmental Protection Agency, to run the EPA in his second term, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

McCarthy, currently the assistant administrator for the EPA Office of Air and Radiation, would take on the top job as the agency leads Obama's push for measures to fight climate change.

McCarthy would replace Lisa Jackson, who said in December she planned to step down as EPA chief.

A final decision has not been made, and one source cautioned that Bob Perciasepe, Jackson's deputy, was still in the mix for the administrator post.

An announcement could still be a couple weeks away.

A Boston native, McCarthy came to Washington after serving as the top environmental regulator in Massachusetts and Connecticut under Democratic and Republican governors.

Former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, a Democrat, appointed her chair of a council to oversee a review of a proposed hazardous waste incinerator in the Boston area in 1990.

She later served as an environmental policy adviser to then-Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, and launched the state's first Climate Protection Action Plan. Romney was Obama's Republican opponent in the 2012 presidential election.

In 2004, McCarthy was appointed to head Connecticut's Department of Environmental Protection under then-Governor Jodi Rell, also a Republican, and helped lead the state into a carbon cap-and-trade system for Northeastern states, known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Her no-nonsense style could be an asset in dealing with Congress if Obama embarks on ambitious new measures to tackle climate change, which he signaled in his inaugural address.

"She's about the most frank high-level public servant you've ever met," said one former colleague, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"She's a good manager, she picks stuff up fast, and she's ... certainly not afraid of a battle. So if they are anticipating a very combative Congress, Gina can certainly hold her own."

McCarthy would bring more gender equality to Obama's revamped Cabinet. The president has faced criticism for appointing white men to vacancies at the departments of state, defense and treasury.

Asked for reaction, a White House spokesman said he did not have any personnel announcements to make.

(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton and Valerie Volcovici, Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-obama-leaning-toward-picking-mccarthy-epa-chief-205301146.html

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