Pictures: Civil War Shipwreck Revealed by Sonar

Photograph by Jesse Cancelmo

A fishing net, likely only decades old, drapes over machinery that once connected the Hatteras' pistons to its paddle wheels, said Delgado.

From archived documents, the NOAA archaeologist learned that Blake, the ship's commander, surrendered as his ship was sinking. "It was listing to port, [or the left]," Delgado said. The Alabama took the wounded and the rest of the crew and put them in irons.

The officers were allowed to keep their swords and wander the deck as long as they promised not to lead an uprising against the Alabama's crew, he added.

From there, the Alabama dropped off their captives in Jamaica, leaving them to make their own way back to the U.S.

Delgado wants to dig even further into the crew of the Hatteras. He'd like see if members of the public recognize any of the names on his list of crew members and can give him background on the men.

"That's why I do archaeology," he said.

(Read about other Civil War battlefields in National Geographic magazine.)

Published January 11, 2013

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious













Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right.


"He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business and, the thing is: After he won the lottery and the next day later he passes away -- it's awkward. It raises some eyebrows."


The medical examiner initially ruled Urooj Khan, 46, an immigrant from India who owned dry-cleaning businesses in Chicago, died July 20, 2012, of natural causes. But after a family member demanded more tests, authorities in November found a lethal amount of cyanide in his blood, turning the case into a homicide investigation.


"When we found out there was cyanide in his blood after the extensive toxicology reports, we had to believe that ... somebody had to kill him," Minhaj Khan said. "It had to happen, because where can you get cyanide?"


In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners


Authorities could be one step closer to learning what happened to Urooj Khan. A judge Friday approved an order to exhume his body at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago as early as Thursday to perform further tests.








Lottery Winner Murdered: Widow Questioned By Police Watch Video









Moments after the court hearing, Urooj Khan's sister, Meraj Khan, remembered her brother as the kind of person who would've shared his jackpot with anyone. Speaking at the Cook County Courthouse, she hoped the exhumation would help the investigation.


"It's very hard because I wanted my brother to rest in peace, but then we have to have justice served," she said, according to ABC News station WLS in Chicago. "So if that's what it takes for him to bring justice and peace, then that's what needs to be done."


Khan reportedly did not have a will. With the investigation moving forward, his family is waging a legal fight against his widow, Shabana Ansari, 32, over more than $1 million, including Urooj Khan's lottery winnings, as well as his business and real estate holdings.


Khan's brother filed a petition Wednesday to a judge asking Citibank to release information about Khan's assets to "ultimately ensure" that [Khan's] minor daughter from a prior marriage "receives her proper share."


Ansari may have tried to cash the jackpot check after Khan's death, according to court documents, which also showed Urooj Khan's family is questioning if the couple was ever even legally married.


Ansari, Urooj Khan's second wife, who still works at the couple's dry cleaning business, has insisted they were married legally.


She has told reporters the night before her husband died, she cooked a traditional Indian meal for him and their family, including Khan's daughter and Ansari's father. Not feeling well, Khan retired early, Ansari told the Chicago Sun-Times, falling asleep in a chair, waking up in agony, then collapsing in the middle of the night. She said she called 911.


"It has been an incredibly hard time," she told ABC News earlier this week. "We went from being the happiest the day we got the check. It was the best sleep I've had. And then the next day, everything was gone.


"I am cooperating with the investigation," Ansari told ABC News. "I want the truth to come out."


Ansari has not been named a suspect, but her attorney, Steven Kozicki, said investigators did question her for more than four hours.






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Jay Rockefeller, likely the last of a political dynasty



Political bloodlines, he had.


But the great American electoral dynasty that abruptly announced its end Friday, or at least signaled what looks to be a long, long pause, always evoked more. That name on the ballot — Rockefeller — meant money. It meant epic-scale success. It meant everything.

And it meant that Jay Rockefeller wasn’t ever going to be just some Democratic senator from West Virginia. Rockefeller, who said Friday that he would not seek reelection in 2014 after nearly three decades in the Senate, was always going to be the oil titan John D. Rockefeller’s great-grandson, too. One of the heirs to a legendary fortune.

“He’s proud of being a Rockefeller. He talks about his uncles and his grandfather, about that legacy. It’s an important part of who he is and how he thinks about himself,” Rockefeller’s longtime political adviser, Geoff Garin, said in an interview. “He found a way to be a Rockefeller that was about serving people.”

Dynasties like these roll across American political history. Not just Rockefellers, but Adamses and Kennedys and Bushes. A nation formed to escape power granted as a birthright still embraces power that follows the contours of a family tree. Voters even expect it, and so do political scions.

“It’s so predictable!” said Stephen Hess, a Brookings Institution senior fellow emeritus and author of the book “America’s Political Dynasties.” “It’s daddy’s business and increasingly it’ll be mommy’s business, too.”

For Hess, each dynasty takes on a different aura. There were the “crafty” Roosevelts, headlined by a couple of presidents — Franklin Delano and Theodore — and his favorites, the Tafts, whose standout, William Howard, was about the “nicest” guy ever to occupy the Oval Office, in Hess’s estimation, and who also managed to become chief justice of the Supreme Court.

The Rockefellers were almost incidental dynasty builders, Hess said. “That generation — the robber barons, if you want to call them that — wasn’t interested in politics. Politics was something you could marry into.”

Indeed, John D. Rockefeller’s only son married the daughter of Nelson Aldrich, a prominent Republican senator of the late 1800s and early 1900s who wielded tremendous influence over monetary policies. Their son, Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller, became governor of New York and was Gerald R. Ford’s vice president. Another son, Winthrop Rockefeller, became governor of Arkansas.

“My great-grandfather, John D. Rockefeller, worked at it very, very hard. There’s an ethic in the Rockefeller family of hard work,” Jay Rockefeller wrote in an e-mail late Friday. “It’s expected that everybody work hard. And there has been a tradition of public service.”

John D. “Jay” Rockefeller IV entered politics unconventionally, drawn into that sphere by his experiences as a volunteer for VISTA (the precursor of Americorps) in Emmons, W.Va., a small coal mining town. “Coming to West Virginia was life-changing for him,” Garin said. “West Virginia exposed him to a whole new world that broadened his world; and in a lot of respects it gave his career a defining purpose.”

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WoW! fund to be enhanced






SINGAPORE: The Manpower Ministry will be enhancing the Work-Life Works! (WoW!) fund this year.

Channel NewsAsia understands that the review of the fund is in its final stages.

It was set up in 2004 to encourage employers to better support their employees' need for work-life balance.

A spokesperson from the ministry told Channel NewsAsia that details of the enhancement may come together with the announcement of an improved Marriage and Parenthood package expected this month.

Good work-life balance is a key factor to help singles get married and couples have babies.

A recent survey on marriage and parenthood suggests that companies can play a part in improving the work environment.

Associate Professor Paulin Straughan, a sociologist from the National University of Singapore, believes it is important to have flexibility in the workplace.

She said: "I think if we are able to normalise flexibility in the workplace, several good things will happen. If you have an employer who looks after your needs so well, you are very unlikely to jump ship - even if times are no good and bonuses are not so high."

Flexible work arrangements include telecommuting and flexi-time, and the government provides companies incentives like the WoW! fund to introduce such work-life strategies.

Giving an update, the Manpower Ministry said so far, over 850 companies have benefited from the WoW! fund and a total of about S$15 million has been disbursed.

However, the push to improve work-life balance through flexible arrangements is progressing slowly.

A report from the MOM last month showed just over four in 10 employers said they provide such arrangements - up from 38 per cent in 2011.

Associate Professor Straughan stressed the need to encourage more trust between employers and employees, "so that we can work very hard when we are at work, finish our job, our responsibilities for the day and then come home and work hard at home and enjoy our family life".

Companies, especially the small and medium enterprises, realise this. They believe it is necessary to embrace work-life strategies as part of the company's culture.

Chan Chong Beng, president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, said: "In the old days, SME owners never feel comfortable if they don't see their staff but people are accepting that this is the next phase of working environment.

"Work-life balance or flexi-work should be part and parcel of the nature of employment as we move along. First, there is a labour shortage. Secondly, SMEs will have to find ways to compete and retain workers. Otherwise, they will lose out."

The Manpower Ministry is also exploring the possibility of extending the Flexi-works! scheme which expired at the end of last month.

The scheme is aimed at helping companies recruit economically inactive individuals who want to re-enter the workforce. It supports the costs of implementing flexible work arrangements.

- CNA/ir



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Four stamps released on Vivekananda's 150th birth anniversary

JAMMU: (PTI) The Department of Posts (DoP) here today released four special postage stamps and the First Day Cover on Swami Vivekananda on his 150th birth anniversary.

Chief postmaster general Jammu and Kashmir John Samuel today released the stamps and cover on Vivekananda at a simple but impressive function held at Gandhi Nagar Head Post Office here today.

These stamps have been brought out by India Post to commemorate the 150th Birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda whom the world acknowledges as great visionary, philosopher and thinker.

The stamps and the first day cover were presented to Swami Girijashananda, Secretary Swami Rama Krishna Mission by CPMG.

Speaking on the occasion John Samuel said the relevance of Vivekananda's philosophy has been accepted by the entire world and release of postage on Swami is the best way to communicate his teachings among the common masses.

The department has already released two stamps on Vivekananda in 1963 and 1993. Further special stamp has also been released on Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Tamilnadu in 1996.

Sri Lanka post has also issued a special stamp on Vivekananda in 1997.

Department is bringing out number of stamps every year on popular themes and during the last year it has brought stamps on festival of lights Deepawali, Lighthouses of India, London Olympics, Shekawati Painintings, 800th Urs of Dargah Sharif, Ajmer, Civil Aviation Centenary, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, he said.

Chief Postmaster General also informed Department will be bringing out stamps on the Basilica of Vailankanni ( Tamil Nadu) during the January-2013.

The new stamps and first day cover released are available at Philatelic Bureau, Gandhi Nagar Head Post Office in Jammu and Srinagar GPO in Srinagar, he said.

Philatelists and others who are interested in getting stamps on regular basis may deposit rupees 200 towards philately deposit account and the stamps will be sent to them every month through registered post and the postage will be free, he said.

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Pictures: Civil War Shipwreck Revealed by Sonar

Photograph by Jesse Cancelmo

A fishing net, likely only decades old, drapes over machinery that once connected the Hatteras' pistons to its paddle wheels, said Delgado.

From archived documents, the NOAA archaeologist learned that Blake, the ship's commander, surrendered as his ship was sinking. "It was listing to port, [or the left]," Delgado said. The Alabama took the wounded and the rest of the crew and put them in irons.

The officers were allowed to keep their swords and wander the deck as long as they promised not to lead an uprising against the Alabama's crew, he added.

From there, the Alabama dropped off their captives in Jamaica, leaving them to make their own way back to the U.S.

Delgado wants to dig even further into the crew of the Hatteras. He'd like see if members of the public recognize any of the names on his list of crew members and can give him background on the men.

"That's why I do archaeology," he said.

(Read about other Civil War battlefields in National Geographic magazine.)

Published January 11, 2013

Read More..

CDC: Flu Outbreak Could Be Waning













The flu season appears to be waning in some parts of the country, but that doesn't mean it won't make a comeback in the next few weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


Five fewer states reported high flu activity levels in the first week of January than the 29 that reported high activity levels in the last week of December, according to the CDC's weekly flu report. This week, 24 states reported high illness levels, 16 reported moderate levels, five reported low levels and one reported minimal levels, suggesting that the flu season peaked in the last week of December.


"It may be decreasing in some areas, but that's hard to predict," CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said in a Friday morning teleconference. "Trends only in the next week or two will show whether we have in fact crossed the peak."


The flu season usually peaks in February or March, not December, said Dr. Jon Abramson, who specializes in pediatric infectious diseases at Wake Forest Baptist Health in North Carolina. He said the season started early with a dominant H3N2 strain, which was last seen a decade ago, in 2002-03. That year, the flu season also ended early.


Click here to see how this flu season stacks up against other years.






Cheryl Evans/The Arizona Republic/AP Photo













Increasing Flu Cases: Best Measures to Ensure Your Family's Health Watch Video







Because of the holiday season, Frieden said the data may have been skewed.


For instance, Connecticut appeared to be having a lighter flu season than other northeastern states at the end of December, but the state said it could have been a result of college winter break. College student health centers account for a large percentage of flu reports in Connecticut, but they've been closed since the fall semester ended, said William Gerrish, a spokesman for the state's department of public health.


The flu season arrived about a month early this year in parts of the South and the East, but it may only just be starting to take hold of states in the West, Frieden said. California is still showing "minimal" flu on the CDC's map, but that doesn't mean it will stay that way.


Click here to read about how flu has little to do with cold weather.


"It's not surprising. Influenza ebbs and flows during the flu season," Frieden said. "The only thing predictable about the flu is that it is unpredictable."


Dr. William Schaffner, chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., said he was expecting California's seeming good luck with the flu to be over this week.


"Flu is fickle, we say," Schaffner said. "Influenza can be spotty. It can be more severe in one community than another for reasons incompletely understood."


Early CDC estimates indicate that this year's flu vaccine is 62 percent effective, meaning people who have been vaccinated are 62 percent less likely to need to see a doctor for flu treatment, Frieden said.


Although the shot has been generally believed to be more effective for children than adults, there's not enough data this year to draw conclusions yet.


"The flu vaccine is far from perfect, but it's still by far the best tool we have to prevent flu," Frieden said, adding that most of the 130 million vaccine doses have already been administered. "We're hearing of shortages of the vaccine, so if you haven't been vaccinated and want to be, it's better late than never."



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Bibles used by King, Lincoln to be part of Obama’s second inauguration



President Obama will put his hand over King’s well-worn Bible at his public swearing-in at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 21, the holiday celebrating the birthday of the slain civil rights leader. King’s Bible will be stacked with the burgundy velvet and gilded Bible used by President Abraham Lincoln at his first inauguration.


Obama chose the Lincoln Bible for his inauguration in 2009, making him the first president to do so since it was initially used in 1861. President Harry S. Truman also used two Bibles, as did Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard M. Nixon.

The announcement about the Bibles, to be made publicly Thursday, is part of the slow unspooling of inaugural details that fascinates lovers of ceremonial Americana.

Presidential inaugurations have become more filled with rites, and such decisions are especially weighty now at a time when the White House is aware that Americans are struggling to come together.

King’s family said in a statement that he would be “deeply moved” to see Obama use the traveling Bible on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, “and we hope it can be a source of strength for the President as he begins his second term.”

“With the Inauguration less than two weeks away, we join Americans across the country in embracing this opportunity to celebrate how far we have come, honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. through service, and rededicate ourselves to the work ahead,” the statement added.

According to the Presidential Inaugural Committee, which organizes the swearing-in ceremony, King traveled with various books, including this Bible. “It was used for inspiration and preparing sermons and speeches, including during Dr. King’s time as pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church” in Montgomery, the committee said in a statement.

Obama and Vice President Biden will be sworn in privately on Sunday, Jan. 20 — the date required by the Constitution. For that first ceremony, Obama will use the family Bible of his wife’s family. According to the inaugural committee, that Bible “was a gift from the First Lady’s father, Fraser Robinson III, to his mother, LaVaughn Delores Robinson, on Mother’s Day in 1958. Mrs. Robinson was the first African-American woman manager of a Moody Bible Institute’s bookstore.” That Bible was the only one Michelle Obama’s grandmother used after that, a committee statement said.

For both the private and then the Monday public ceremonies, Biden will be sworn in with a Bible that has been in his family since 1893: a five-inch-thick volume with a Celtic cross on the cover. He also used it for his swearings-in as a U.S. senator and in 2009 as vice president.

Some aspects of the inaugural ceremony have changed slightly over the decades. Having official prayers offered dates only to the 1930s, historians say. But presidents have used Bibles to be sworn in since George Washington, even though the Constitution does not require it. The Constitution also does not require the phrase “So help me God” at the end, but that has become standard, said Donald Ritchie, the historian of the U.S. Senate.

He also noted that the image of the president’s spouse holding the Bible dates only to Lady Bird Johnson doing so in 1965.

Chief justices of the Supreme Court now traditionally deliver the oath, but Ritchie said any federal official can do so.

Several non-Christian members of Congress have recently used other scriptures, including Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, in 2007. The Minnesota Democrat used a Koran owned by Thomas Jefferson.

Obama veered from tradition in one key aspect of the ceremony: He invited Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of slain civil rights figure Medgar Evers, to deliver the invocation prayer. It will be the first time a woman, and a layperson rather than clergy, has done so.

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Malaysia prepares for joint opposition mega-rally






KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is preparing for a big rally on Saturday - what organisers are calling the People's Uprising rally.

It is the first of its kind, bringing together opposition parties and non-governmental organisations.

Dubbed the KL112, the mega rally this Saturday promises to be a historic event for the country.

The rally venue, Merdeka stadium, is a heritage site and the management has limited its capacity to no more than 30,000, even though organisers are expecting a million people.

Once the stadium reaches its saturation point, the crowd will have to gather outside the stadium at the parking lot as well as the adjacent Victoria field.

The organisers have paid US$30,000 to the management as deposit to use the venue and signed an agreement with the police to gather peacefully.

Rally goers must not bring children or they can be arrested and prosecuted.

Meanwhile, the Education Ministry has warned teachers and students not to participate in the so-called politically motivated rally.

Chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa also advised civil servants not to be involved in the rally.

Parents were told to discourage their children from attending.

Still, thousands of university and college students have confirmed their attendance.

In fact, they will be going for a pre-rally countdown on Friday evening at Kampong Baru, not too far from here.

On Saturday, they will be joining others at eight main gathering points in the city before making their way to Merdeka stadium for the People's Uprising rally, that is scheduled to go on between 2 and 5pm local time.

- CNA/xq



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Fire at ONGC, two dead

SIBSAGAR: (Assam) A massive fire swept through an unit of the ONGC at upper Assam's Sibsagar district killing two persons and destroying property worth lakhs of rupees, ONGC officials said.

The fire started from a part of the Group Gathering Stations (GGS) number 3 of ONGC's Assam Asset at Geleki in Sibsagar around midnight.

The fire rapidly spread through the entire GGS burning thousands of tonnes of oil.

It took many hours for the ONGC's fire department to douse the flame.

Bodies of two workers were found from the spot, though their names have not been disclosed so far.

The exact quantum of loss or the reason for the fire are yet to be ascertained.

Senior officials have rushed to the spot.

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