Paternos Issue Report, Challenge Freeh's Findings

A report commissioned by Joe Paterno's family says the late coach did nothing wrong in his handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal and portrays the late Hall of Fame coach as the victim of a "rush to injustice" created by former FBI director Louis Freeh's investigation of the case for Penn State.

The family's critique, released Sunday, argues that the findings of the Freeh report published last July were unsupported by the facts.

Former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, one of the experts assembled by the family's lawyer to review Freeh's report last year to Penn State, called the document was fundamentally flawed and incomplete.

Freeh's report reached "inaccurate and unfounded findings related to Mr. Paterno and its numerous process-oriented deficiencies was a rush to injustice and calls into question" the investigation's credibility, Thornburgh was quoted as saying.

In a statement released Sunday through a spokesman, Freeh defended his work.

"I stand by our conclusion that four of the most powerful people at Penn State failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade," he said.

Paterno's family released what it billed as an exhaustive response to Freeh's work, based on independent analyses, on the website paterno.com.

Patrick Smith/Getty Images|Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo

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"We conclude that the observations as to Joe Paterno in the Freeh report are unfounded, and have done a disservice not only to Joe Paterno and the university community," the family's report said, "but also to the victims of Jerry Sandusky and the critical mission of educating the public on the dangers of child sexual victimization."

Freeh's findings also implicated former administrators in university president Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley and retired vice president Gary Schultz. Less than two weeks after the Freeh report was released in July, the NCAA acted with uncharacteristic speed in levying massive sanctions against the football program for the scandal.

"Taking into account the available witness statements and evidence, it is more reasonable to conclude that, in order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity, the most powerful leaders at Penn State University — Messrs. Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley — repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky's child abuse" from authorities, trustees and the university community, Freeh wrote in releasing the report.

The former administrators have vehemently denied the allegations. So, too, has Paterno's family, though it reserved more extensive comment until its own report was complete.

The counter-offensive began in earnest this weekend. The family's findings said that Paterno:

— Never asked or told anyone not to investigate an allegation made against Sandusky 12 years ago, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2001.

— Never asked or told former administrators not to report the 2001 allegation.

— And never asked or told anyone not to discuss or hide information reported by graduate assistant Mike McQueary about the 2001 allegation.

"Paterno reported the information to his superior(s) pursuant to his understanding of university protocol and relied upon them to investigate and report as appropriate," the family's analysis said.

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Netanyahu to discuss Iran, Syria, Palestinians with Obama

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Iran's nuclear ambitions, the civil war in Syria and stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts will top the agenda of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

"It is a very important visit that will emphasize the strong alliance between Israel and the United States," Netanyahu, who has had a testy relationship with Obama, told his cabinet.

The White House announced on Tuesday that Obama plans to visit Israel, the West Bank and Jordan this spring, raising prospects of a new U.S. push to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts frozen for the past two years.

The White House gave no exact dates for the trip, Obama's first to Israel since taking office. Israel's Channel 10 television station cited unnamed sources in Washington last week saying the visit to Israel would start on March 20.

In public remarks at the cabinet session, Netanyahu put Iran at the top of his list of talking points with Obama and referred only in general terms to peace efforts with the Palestinians, stopping short of setting a revival of bilateral negotiations as a specific goal of the visit.

"The president and I spoke about this visit and agreed that we would discuss three main issues ... Iran's attempt to arm itself with nuclear weapons, the unstable situation in Syria ... and the efforts to advance the diplomatic process of peace between the Palestinians and us," Netanyahu said.

U.S.-hosted negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in September 2010 in a dispute over Israeli settlement-building in the occupied West Bank, land captured in a 1967 war and which Palestinians seek as part of a future state that includes Gaza and East Jerusalem.

Obama and Netanyahu discussed the coming trip in a January 28 telephone call.

COALITION TALKS

The visit will take place only after Netanyahu puts together a new governing coalition following his narrower-than-expected victory in Israel's January 22 election.

Netanyahu, who heads the right-wing Likud party, has begun talks with prospective political partners and still has up to five weeks to complete the process.

Citing the dangers Israel faces from the "earthquake that is happening around us", a reference to Arab upheaval in the region and the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, Netanyahu said Obama's visit now was particularly important.

Obama's tensions with Netanyahu have been aggravated by the Israeli leader's demands for U.S. "red lines" on Iran's nuclear program - something the president has resisted, though he has said military options are on the table if sanctions and diplomacy fail.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that Tehran would not negotiate about its nuclear program under pressure, and would talk to its adversaries only if they stopped "pointing the gun".

Iran dismisses Western suspicions that its nuclear program is aimed at building weapons. Israel is widely believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal.

Netanyahu has insisted he will stick to the red line laid down in September, when he told the United Nations that Iran should not have enough enriched uranium to make even a single warhead.

He gave a rough deadline of summer 2013, and Israeli political commentators have speculated that Obama had opted to visit Israel before that date to caution Netanyahu against any go-it-alone attack against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Obama visited Israel as a presidential candidate in 2008 but drew Republican criticism for not travelling there in his first term. His Republican predecessor, former President George W. Bush, also waited until his second term to go to Israel.

(Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

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Three Korean doctors slain in north Nigeria: police

KANO, Nigeria: Men armed with knives slit the throats of three South Korean doctors in a pre-dawn attack Sunday in a volatile town in northeastern Nigeria in the latest in a spate of killings of foreigners in recent months, police said.

The attack in Potiskum also came just two days after gunmen killed at least 10 people in horrifying attacks on two Nigerian polio clinics in a new blow to the campaign to wipe out disease, but it was not clear if the incidents were related.

Yobe State police commissioner Sanusi Rufa'i would not say if the Islamist group Boko Haram, which has been active in Potiskum, was responsible for Sunday's killings, but that the attack was being investigated.

He said unknown attackers scaled the fence of an apartment housing the three doctors at around 1:00 am and slit their throats, initially describing the victims as Chinese.

"Further investigations have shown that the victims were Korean nationals and not Chinese as earlier stated. They were doctors from South Korea," Rufa'i told AFP, in comments confirmed by a senior military official in the state.

Residents said the Koreans, whose bodies were found by neighbours, were employees of the state ministry of health and had been living in the city for one year.

In Seoul, the foreign ministry said it was checking the reports, but noted that few Koreans live in the town.

"The chance that the slain would be Koreans is not high," a foreign ministry official told Yonhap news agency. "But we are checking further related situations via diverse channels."

A local resident said the bodies of the Koreans were found in their room by neighbours who alerted security agents,

"People became worried when the doctors did not open their door in the morning," one resident who did not want to be named told AFP.

He said the victims had their throats slit, but it was not immediately clear if the assailants also came with guns.

"It is still premature to point any accusing fingers but we have commenced an investigation to unravel the killings," said Rufa'i, adding: "No arrest has been made."

Sunday's attack was the latest in a spate of killings of foreigners, especially Chinese nationals, in the country's restive northeast.

In November, gunmen shot dead two Chinese construction workers in nearby Borno State, the stronghold of the Boko Haram extremists.

Three other Chinese nationals have also been killed in separate attacks in the region.

Although no group claimed responsibility for the attacks, they were similar to previous strikes against foreigners by Boko Haram.

Violence linked to Boko Haram is believed to have left some 3,000 people dead since 2009, including killings by the security forces.

The killings in Potiskum, which lies about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the state capital Damaturu, followed attacks on other health workers in the northern city of Kano on Friday.

Nine women and a man were shot dead in two separate attacks in Kano after a local cleric denounced polio vaccination campaigns and some local radio stations aired conspiracy theories about the vaccine being a Western plot to harm Muslims.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan condemned Friday's killings, describing them as "dastardly terrorist attacks" and vowed to track down the perpetrators.

Boko Haram has claimed to be fighting for the creation of an Islamic state, but its demands have shifted repeatedly and it is believed to include various factions. Criminal gangs and imitators are also suspected of carrying out violence under the guise of the group.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer, is divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.

- AFP/ck

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AktiMate Micro speakers, better than Bluetooth

The AktiMate Micro speakers in white

(Credit:
AktiMate)

To be honest, I've never heard a Bluetooth speaker I liked, because better sound was available from wired speakers, like the AktiMate Micro model. They're sold in pairs for $499, so you get true stereo sound, a rarity even with higher-end Bluetooth and most other wireless alternatives like the $600 Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air, $600 Bose SoundDock 10, or $399 Sonos Play:5. Those three are perfectly fine for what they are, but wired stereo speakers from Audioengine, Emotiva, and AktiMate sound better, much closer to what I hear from traditional hi-fi speakers. True, they're not as easy to move from room to room as those wireless models, so if mobility is a higher priority than sound, pick up a wireless speaker.

The AktiMate Micros have a proprietary 4-inch Kevlar woofer and a 1-inch soft-dome tweeter. The back panels have a slot port. The desktop-friendly design measures a tidy 5.7x7.87x9.45 inches, and they are available in high-gloss red, white, or black.

The left speaker houses an in-house-designed stereo 40-watt Class D amp that powers both speakers, a stereo analog 3.5mm input and a USB input, and on the front baffle, an input selector and rotary volume control. The built-in DAC tops out at 16-bit/48KHz audio, and it's not bad, but you can easily do better with an inexpensive external DAC, like my $99 Schiit Modi. Then again, the Micro's internal DAC is about average for a desktop speaker -- none of them are standouts -- but the Micro's DAC will certainly clobber the sound available from your computer's analog jacks.

The top of the left speaker also has a flip-open panel that reveals a 30-pin docking connector compatible with most older-generation iPhones and iPods, but not the latest Apple devices with the Lightning connector. The right speaker is passive and just has a pair of all-metal binding posts on the back panel.

I played my
iPod Classic, docked to the Micros, and was impressed by the speakers' clarity and resolution. Bass isn't as deep or full as from the Audioengine A5+ speakers, for comparison, but the Micros' low end is tauter and more precise. To maximize the speakers' bass output I put them near a wall, and that filled out the bottom a bit. The little guys play loud enough to fill a decent-size room.

I watched a few movies and was generally satisfied with the Micros' sound, but home theater bombast was in short supply. I don't see an easy way to add a subwoofer to the system, but the sound on straight dramas and comedies was very good. Dialogue was articulate and natural.

Comparing the Micros with my desktop reference Emotiva Airmotiv 4 speakers ($349/pair), the differences were readily apparent. The Airmotiv 4s make more bass, but the Micros were more dynamically alive. The Airmotiv 4s played louder and had superior treble extension, but the Micros were more open and had better soundstage depth. I like both speakers, but I'm sticking with my Emotivas.

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Officials: 5 dead in Canary Islands cruise ship accident

Updated 11:00 p.m. ET

MADRID A lifeboat from a cruise ship fell into the sea at port in Spain's Canary Islands, killing five people and injuring three others Sunday, officials said.

Thomson Cruises, a British company, issued a statement after the incident, saying it "is aware of an incident involving the ship's crew on board Thomson Majesty, in La Palma, Canary Islands this afternoon."

"We are working closely with the ship owners and managers, Louis Cruises, to determine exactly what has happened and provide assistance to those affected by the incident," the statement added.

A regional government statement said rescue personnel were called to the dockside at 1205 GMT (7:05 a.m. EST) after "a lifeboat with occupants had fallen overboard from a cruise ship docked at the pier of Santa Cruz port in La Palma." Spanish national broadcaster RTVE said an emergency training drill was taking place at the time of the accident.

A reporter at the dockside said all of those in the lifeboat at the time of the accident were crew members. Television images showed a small, white two-hulled lifeboat capsized beside the ship. It was not immediately clear if there were any other people in the lifeboat when it crashed into the sea, or whether the Thomson Majesty ship had any passengers on it.

The nationality or sex of those who died was not known, the statement said, adding that the injured were all men, two aged 30 and another, a Greek national, was 32 years old. The injuries weren't considered to be life-threatening.

The Canary Islands, as seen from space

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NASA/GSFC

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Storm Drops More Than 2 Feet of Snow on Northeast

A fierce winter storm brought blizzard conditions and hurricane force winds as the anticipated snowstorm descended across much of the Northeast overnight.

By early Saturday morning, 650,000 homes and businesses were without power and at least five deaths were being blamed on the storm, three in Canada, one in New York and one in Connecticut, The Associated Press reported.

The storm stretched from New Jersey to Maine, affecting more than 25 million people, with more than two feet of snow falling in areas of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.

FULL COVERAGE: Blizzard of 2013

In Connecticut, Gov. Dannel Malloy declared a state of emergency and closed all roads in the state. Overnight, snow fell at a rate of up to five to six inches per hour in parts of Connecticut.

In Milford, Conn. more than 38 inches of snow had fallen by Saturday morning.

"If you're not an emergency personnel that's required to be somewhere. Stay home," said Malloy.

In Fairfield, Conn. firefighters and police officers on the day shift were unable to make it to work, so the overnight shift remained on duty.

PHOTOS: Blizzard Hits Northeast

The wind and snow started affecting the region during the Friday night commute.

Darren McCollester/Getty Images

Blizzard Shuts Down Parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts Watch Video

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Blizzard 2013: Northeast Transportation Network Shut Down Watch Video

In Cumberland, Maine, the conditions led to a 19-car pile-up and in New York, hundreds of commuters were stranded on the snowy Long Island Expressway. Police were still working to free motorists early Saturday morning.

"The biggest problem that we're having is that people are not staying on the main portion or the middle section of the roadway and veering to the shoulders, which are not plowed," said Lieutenant Daniel Meyer from the Suffolk County Police Highway Patrol."The snow, I'm being told is already over two feet deep."

Bob Griffith of Syosset, N.Y. tried leave early to escape the storm, but instead ended up stuck in the snow by the side of the road.

"I tried to play it smart in that I started early in the day, when it was raining," said Griffith. "But the weather beat us to the punch."

Suffok County Executive Steven Bellone said the snow had wreaked havoc on the roadways.

"I saw state plows stuck on the side of the road. I've never seen anything like this before," Bellone said.

However, some New York residents, who survived the wrath of Hurricane Sandy, were rattled by having to face another large and potentially dangerous storm system with hurricane force winds and flooding.

"How many storms of the century can you have in six months?" said Larry Racioppo, a resident of the hard hit Rockaway neighborhood in Queens, New York.

READ: Weather NYC: Blizzard Threatens Rockaways, Ravaged by Sandy

Snowfall Totals

In Boston, over two feet of snow had fallen by Saturday morning and the National Weather Service anticipated up to three feet of snow could fall by the end of the storm. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick enacted the first statewide driving ban since the 1978 blizzard, which left 27 inches of snow and killed dozens. The archdiocese told parishioners that according to church law the responsibility to attend mass "does not apply where there is grave difficulty in fulfilling obligation."

In New York, a little more than 11 inches fell in the city.

By Saturday morning, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said nearly all of the primary roads had been plowed and the department of sanitation anticipated that all roads would be plowed by the end of the day.

"It looks like we dodged a bullet, but keep in mind winter is not over," said Bloomberg.

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Tunisian Islamists rally to show "power of street"

TUNIS (Reuters) - Thousands of Islamists marched in Tunis on Saturday in a show of strength, a day after the funeral of an assassinated secular politician drew the biggest crowds seen on the streets since Tunisia's uprising two years ago.

About 6,000 supporters of the ruling Ennahda movement rallied to back their leader Rachid al-Ghannouchi, who was the target of angry slogans raised by mourners at Friday's mass funeral of Chokri Belaid, a rights lawyer and opposition leader.

"The people want Ennahda again," the Islamists chanted, waving Tunisian and party flags as they marched towards the Interior Ministry on Habib Bourguiba Avenue in the city centre.

The demonstration was dwarfed by the tens of thousands who had turned out in Tunis and other cities to honor Belaid and to protest against the Islamist-led government the day before, shouting slogans that included "We want a new revolution".

Belaid's killing by an unidentified gunman on Wednesday, Tunisia's first such political assassination in decades, has shaken a nation still seeking stability after the overthrow of veteran strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011.

The family of the slain politician has accused Ennahda of responsibility for his killing. The party denies any hand in it.

"We are here to support legitimacy, but if you prefer the power of the street, look at the streets today, we have this power," Lotfi Zitoun, an Ennahda leader, said in a speech to the Islamist demonstrators in Tunis.

Tunisia's political transition has been more peaceful than those in other Arab nations such as Egypt, Libya and Syria, but tensions are running high between Islamists elected to power and liberals who fear the loss of hard-won liberties.

FREEDOMS THREATENED

"We have gained things - the freedom of expression, the freedom to meet, to form organizations, parties, to work in the open," said Radhi Nasraoui, a veteran human rights campaigner.

"The problem is that these freedoms are still threatened, and there are attempts (by Islamists) to touch the gains of women," she told Reuters.

After Belaid's death, Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali promised to form a non-partisan, technocratic cabinet to run the country until an election could take place, despite complaints from within his own Ennahda party and its two junior non-Islamist coalition partners that he had failed to consult them.

Jebali told France 24 television on Saturday that he would resign if political parties refused to support his proposal, which he said was intended to "save the country from chaos".

The state news agency TAP said the prime minister would unveil his new government next week.

Secular groups have accused the Islamist-led government of a lax response to attacks by ultra-orthodox Salafi Islamists on cinemas, theatres, bars and individuals in recent months.

Prolonged political uncertainty and street unrest could damage an economy that relies on tourism. Unemployment and other economic grievances fuelled the revolt against Ben Ali in 2011.

Tunisia's stock exchange has fallen 3.32 percent since Belaid's assassination.

France, the former colonial power, ordered its schools in Tunis to stay closed on Friday and Saturday, warning its nationals to stay clear of potential flashpoints in the capital.

Some of the Islamist demonstrators shouted "France, out", in response to remarks by French Interior Minister Manuel Valls which were rejected by Jebali, the prime minister, on Friday.

"We must support all those who fight to maintain values and remain aware of the dangers of despotism, of Islamism that threatened those values today through obscurantism," Valls had said on Europe 1 radio on Thursday in comments on Tunisia.

"There is an Islamic fascism which is on the rise in many places."

Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem described Valls's remarks as "worrying and unfriendly".

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Horsemeat 'contamination' could date back to August: Findus

LONDON: French frozen food supplier Comigel told the Findus brand that "the contamination" of processed beef products with horsemeat could date back to August 2012, Findus said in a statement Saturday.

"Findus want to be absolutely explicit that they were not aware of any issue of contamination with horsemeat last year," it said in a statement.

"They were only made aware of a possible August 2012 date through a letter dated 2 February 2013 from the supplier Comigel.

"By then Findus was already conducting a full supply chain traceability review and had pro-actively initiated DNA testing."

The opposition Labour lawmaker Tom Watson earlier claimed he had been shown by a retailer a copy of a letter that Findus sent to them on Monday.

He published an extract on his website.

"Investigations have led one of our suppliers based in France to inform us in writing on 2nd February 2013 that the raw materials delivered since 1st August 2012 are likely to be non-conform and consequently the labelling on finished products is incorrect," it said.

Britain's Food Standards Agency regulator announced Thursday that 11 of 18 samples of Findus beef lasagne were found to contain between 60 and 100 per cent horsemeat.

Asked by AFP to comment on Britain's food minister fearing a criminal conspiracy, a Findus spokesman said: "That's part of our investigations. We need to understand how the meat got into the supply chain. That's something we are working on with Comigel, as the supplier."

He did not know how long the investigation would take.

The spokesman said it was "still uncertain... where the meat exactly came from".

"The supplier has asked us to withdraw the raw material batches."

Findus said it was not taking part in the emergency food industry meeting taking place Saturday at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

"Findus did not receive an invitation to this summit. However they are aware that the Food and Drink Federation, of which they are a member, will be attending."

Sweden-based Findus has withdrawn various frozen meals from the market in France and Sweden.

- AFP/ck

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Poll: Do you listen to movies or TV over headphones?

I suppose it's still a fair assumption that more people listen to music than movies with headphones, but there has to be a growing audience listening to movies, TV shows, and YouTube videos via their headphones. Thanks to the booming popularity of tablets, might the ratio of movies-to-music listening time be moving away from music? Or not?

I watch a lot of movies at home with headphones on. They present a level of detail that you can get from speakers only when you play them really loud. With headphones, I don't have to crank the volume. They're also handy when other people in my apartment are sleeping.

If you watch movies or TV shows on an
iPad, headphones are the most likely way you'd listen. Some folks probably use a single Bluetooth speaker for movie sound with
tablets, but then again, if you have a decent home theater you're more likely to listen with speakers. Do you watch movies on your computer, and if you do, do you prefer headphones or speakers? Do your headphones sound better than your computer speakers? Of course, where you watch may skew the headphone vs. speaker preference one way or another.

Please share your movie vs. music listening over headphones experiences in the Comments section.

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Family of victim in gun range death defends outing

MIDLOTHIAN, Texas The man killed alongside a former Navy SEAL sniper at a Texas shooting range was helping his friend work with a troubled war veteran, and the outing was intended to be a "therapeutic situation," his relatives said Friday following his funeral.

Hundreds of people attended the service for Chad Littlefield, who along with his friend, "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle, was fatally shot last weekend. Authorities have said the former Marine they were trying to help suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and turned on the two men at the shooting range.

Littlefield's father-in-law, Tom Montgomery, defended the notion of helping troubled war veterans through target practice. He said Kyle regularly took veterans to the shooting range, and that Littlefield often assisted in efforts to help veterans.

"As a gesture of friendship, that's the only way I can describe it, he was asked to help Chris in this endeavor," Montgomery said. "I think this was a form of relaxation, a form of therapy."

Police say the suspect, 25-year-old Eddie Ray Routh, shot Littlefield and Kyle multiple times on Feb. 2 before fleeing. He later told his sister and brother-in-law that the men "were out shooting target practice and he couldn't trust them so he killed them before they could kill him," according to a search warrant. Routh is jailed a $3 million bail.

The men could not have anticipated Routh's actions, Montgomery said, adding that Littlefield enjoyed assisting Kyle with his nonprofit, which provided in-home fitness equipment to physically and emotionally wounded veterans.

Kyle, 38, established the nonprofit after leaving the Navy in 2009 following four tours of duty in Iraq, where he earned a reputation as one of the military's most lethal snipers. His wartime account, "American Sniper," was a best-seller.

"I have to believe that Chris Kyle with all his military background and specialized training was quite capable of reading people," Montgomery said.

Hundreds turned out Friday to honor Littlefield at First Baptist Church in Midlothian, near Dallas. Although Littlefield wasn't a member of the military, Patriot Guard Riders led the procession as a tribute to his efforts on behalf of veterans and formed a ring around the parking lot and church entrance. Hundreds of other people lined local streets to watch the procession pass.

Littlefield, who had a 7-year-old daughter with his wife Leanne, was remembered for his bedrock character.

"He was a man of deep commitment and character," the Rev. Kenny Lowman said during the service.

Montgomery said Littlefield and Kyle bonded a few years ago as soccer dads watching their children play, and that their families occasionally vacationed together.

"People develop these ethics over a lifetime," he said. "I think Chad was the type of person who developed them and did what was right, even when no one was looking."

A memorial service for Kyle is planned for Monday at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

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