Northeast Shuts Down as Blizzard Batters Millions

A blizzard of possibly historic proportions battered the Northeast Friday into Saturday, and forecasters feared as much as two feet of snow and strong winds could shut down densely populated cities such as New York and Boston, where cars were ordered off the streets.

State officials declared states of emergencies throughout the region, and utilities estimated more than a half-million customers were without power by late Friday night.

Some wondered if the storm could top Boston's all-time single-storm snowfall record of 27.6 inches, set in 2003.

By 9 p.m. Friday, according to the National Weather Service, the storm was spinning off the coast of Long Island, N.Y., and expected to move north-northeastward past New England's coast before its effects tapered off on Saturday afternoon.

"Storm total snowfall accumulations of 1 to 2 feet ... with locally higher amounts are possible across much of the Northeast," the National Weather Service said. "The heaviest snow is forecast to fall across parts of eastern Massachusetts ... Connecticut and Rhode Island where snowfall amounts higher than two feet are possible. In addition to the heavy snowfall ... wind gusts as high as 70 mph are possible ... especially near the coasts."

By 9 p.m. Friday, parts of Connecticut and New York had the highest actual snowfall totals listed by the National Weather Service, with 13 inches measured in Ogdensburg and East Setaukey, N.Y., and Lisbon and North Branford, Conn.

Peak wind gusts included a 71-mph measurement in Buzzards Bay, Mass., the National Weather Service said.

Power outages also were reported across the region. As of 11 p.m. Friday, for instance, approximately 300,000 Massachusetts customers were without power, ABC News station WCVB reported. Utilities also reported approximately 170,000 without power in Rhode Island, 30,000 in Connecticut and nearly 20,000 in New York.

The blizzard conditions came together after a storm from the west joined forces with one from the south to form a nor'easter.

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The storm showed the potential for such ferocity that, before it even hit with full force, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency Friday afternoon and signed an executive order banning vehicular traffic on roads in his state effective at 4 p.m. ET. It was believed that the last time the state enacted such a ban was during the blizzard of 1978. Violating the ban could result in a penalty of up to a year in jail and a $500 fine.

"[It] could definitely be a historic winter storm for the Northeast," said Adrienne Leptich of the National Weather Service in Upton, N.Y. "We're looking at very strong wind and heavy snow and we're also looking for some coastal flooding."

Airlines began shutting down operations Friday afternoon at major airports in the New York area as well as in Boston, Portland, Maine, Providence, R.I., and other Northeastern airports. By early evening Friday, more than 4,300 flights had been cancelled on Friday and Saturday, according to FlightAware. Airlines hoped to resume flights by Saturday afternoon, though normal schedules were not expected until Sunday.

The snow fell heavily Friday afternoon in New York City. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said clearing the roads was his main concern, and the city readied 1,700 snow plows and 250,000 tons of salt to clear the streets.

New York City was expecting up to 14 inches of snow, which started falling early this morning, though the heaviest amounts were expected to fall at night and into Saturday. Wind gusts of 55 mph were expected in New York City.

"Stay off the city streets. Stay out of your cars and stay at home while the worst of the storm is on us," Bloomberg said Friday.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy declared a state of emergency, deploying National Guard troops across the state to assist in rescues and other emergencies. Schools and state courthouses were closed, and all flights after 1:30 p.m. at Bradley Airport, north of Hartford, Conn., were cancelled. The state's largest utility companies planned for the possibility that 30 percent of customers -- more than 400,000 homes and businesses -- would lose power.

Malloy also directed drivers to stay off the state's major highways.

"Please stay off of 95, 91, 84, Merritt Parkway and any other limited-access road in the state," he said Friday evening.

PHOTOS: Northeast Braces for Snowstorm

Boston, Providence, R.I., Hartford, Conn., and other New England cities canceled school today.

"Stay off the streets of our city. Basically, stay home," Boston Mayor Tom Menino warned Thursday.

On Friday, Menino applauded the public's response.

"I'm very pleased with the compliance with the snow emergency," he said. "You drive down some of the roadways, you don't see one car."

Friday evening, Gov. Patrick also applauded the public's cooperation with the statewide vehicle ban, noting the clear roads were helping utility crews get their work done.

"It's been a great, great help and I thank everyone," Patrick said. "I know it's been an imposition."

As of 4:30 p.m. Friday, according to the Department of Defense, 837 National Guard soldiers and airmen under state control had been activated in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York in anticipation of the storm -- 552 in Massachusetts, 235 in Connecticut and 50 in New York. The extra hands were helping with roadways, transportation, making wellness checks on residents and other emergency services.

Beach erosion and coastal flooding was possible from New Jersey to Long Island, N.Y., and into New England coastal areas. It was feared some waves off the coast could reach more than 20 feet.

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Lawmakers divided on Postal Service plan

Lawmakers wrestled Thursday with how to address Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe’s announcement that the U.S. Postal Service plans to end Saturday mail delivery in August.

Donahoe moved to circumvent Congress’s long-standing resistance to the proposal for five-day delivery, a move the Postal Service thinks will save about $2 billion annually and help ease its financial losses. The agency lost $15.9 billion in the last fiscal year.

The postmaster took advantage of legislators’ own dysfunction over budget matters this week, gambling that lawmakers will not thwart his plan after Congress’s temporary spending measure expires March 27.

The spending plan includes language requiring six-day delivery, but lawmakers have not said whether they will insist on the language in the next spending bill.

It appeared Thursday that the issue was shaping up among lawmakers like the discussions over the automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration, which are set to kick in March 1.

Legislators questioned the legality of Donahoe’s plan and pointed fingers over Congress’s inability last year to achieve comprehensive postal reform, but none outlined a strategy to prevent the Postal Service’s effort.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said in a statement Thursday that such a drastic policy move requires congressional approval.

“The Postmaster General relied on flawed legal guidance to claim that he can circumvent Congress’s authority,” he said.

Reid also expressed frustration at lawmakers’ failure last year on postal reform. “This unfortunate scenario could have been wholly prevented if the House had passed the Senate’s bipartisan postal reform bill in the last Congress,” he said.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee and supported the Senate’s bill last year, said, “The Postal Service’s decision to eliminate Saturday delivery is inconsistent with current law and threatens to further jeopardize its customer base.”

Other Republicans applauded Donahoe.

Rep. Darrel Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which oversees the Postal Service, supports the plan. His office said the Postal Service could legally alter Saturday mail services despite any future provisions Congress might enact to require six-day delivery. “In its announced change, USPS is not eliminating a day of delivery, but rather altering what products are delivered on that day,” a spokesman said.

The Postal Service did not respond to requests for comment Thursday. Although it plans to end Saturday mail delivery, it has said that it will continue delivering packages on Saturdays and that post offices will be open to sell stamps and other materials. Post office boxes will receive mail on Saturdays, but magazines and some newspapers, catalogues and Netflix will not reach homes that day.

Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), who opposes Donahoe’s decision, said in an interview Thursday that he would fight any effort to remove the six-day-delivery requirement from the next spending bill. But he stopped short of saying he would vote against an appropriations bill that does not include the mandate.

“The future of the Postal Service is very important, but it has to be looked at in a broader context,” Sanders said.

Last year, the House and Senate produced competing bills to help staunch the Postal Service’s financial losses. The Senate approved legislation that would have delayed five-day mail delivery for two years while trying out other cost-saving tactics, but the House never voted on the measure. A House bill that would have ended Saturday delivery right away never reached the floor.

House Appropriations Chairman Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) said he had no idea what his committee would do about the postal plan.

Said Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.): “I think the problem is the will of the Congress has not been expressed. Congress has not acted, and I think that left a vacuum.”

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Malaysian state scales back Borneo dam plans

KUCHING, Malaysia: A Malaysian state minister Friday said the government would not push ahead with controversial plans to build 12 dams on Borneo island, after outrage from local tribes and environmentalists.

The proposals sparked fears that the dams would destroy pristine rainforests, endanger wildlife, and displace natives in Sarawak, a Malaysian state crossed by powerful rivers with rich jungle habitats.

"It is not a firm plan to build 12 dams. I don't think we will need that. We will only need four of them," James Masing, Sarawak's state minister of land development, told AFP in an interview.

Masing said the government was backing off in response to widespread criticism. Protests over the years have seen activists and locals staging blockades of roads into dam areas.

"I'm pleased that this type of thing (protests) takes place. Not all that we do is correct, and this shows we need to refine our plans and think again," he said.

The government mooted plans for the dams as part of an industrial development drive to boost the resource-rich state's backward economy.

But the now-complete Bakun mega-dam deep in the interior has been dogged for years by allegations of corruption in construction contracts, the flooding of a huge swathe of rainforest and displacement of thousands of local tribespeople.

Besides Bakun, another dam at Murum is nearing completion and two others are in the planning stages.

The four dams -- at Bakun, Murum, Baleh and Baram -- are already expected to put out nearly 6,000 megawatts of power, six times what Sarawak currently uses, Masing said.

"The protests are becoming more vocal on the ground so (the dam rethink) is a very good development for me," said Peter Kallang, member of a Sarawak tribe and chairman of SAVE Rivers, an NGO that has campaigned against the dams.

However, he said plans for the Baram and Baleh dams should be scrapped as well, noting that the Baram dam would displace about 20,000 people, compared to about 10,000 at Bakun, and destroy irreplaceable forest.

He said SAVE Rivers last month organised a floating protest along the Baram river that cruised down river for three days and was met with support along the way by local tribespeople.

The Swiss-based jungle-protection group Bruno Manser Fund says about 90 percent of Sarawak's rainforests have been damaged as the state government has opened up virgin forest to loggers and palm-oil plantations.

Critics also allege chief minister Taib Mahmud, who has ruled Sarawak since 1981, has enriched himself and his family through corrupt timber and other dealings, and have called the dams white elephants.

Taib has dismissed the corruption allegations.

Critics of Taib accuse the federal government of failing to act against him because his tight control of Sarawak has kept it a vital ruling coalition stronghold.

- AFP

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Sri Lankan president's visit to India: Tirupati on high alert amid protests

TIRUPATI/CHENNAI: A thick security blanket has been thrown over this temple town in the wake of reports that some Tamil Nadu-based outfits may create trouble during the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday evening, police said.

The Vaiko-led MDMK party, which blames Rajapaksa for the plight of Tamils in the last phase of conflict between the Lankan Army and rebel LTTE, has announced staging black flag protest at Tirupati against the leader's visit there.

Various pro-Tamil groups including DMK-led TESO have also announced protests elsewhere.

Unprecedented security arrangements have been put in place at the airport, across the 15 km road from the airport leading to the foot of the hills called Alipiri and the 18 km long hill route leading to Tirumala, the hill abode of Lord Venkateswara, police sources said.

Rajapaksa would offer prayers in the wee hours on Saturday, temple sources said, adding, he would also take part in the 'Suprabhatha recitation ritual by priests at the sanctum sanctorum.

Rajapaksa would arrive at the airport on Friday evening on a 17-hour pilgrimage by a Sri Lankan special flight and immediately proceed to the hills by road, and stay overnight at the tightly guarded Sri Padmavathi guest house, the sources said.

He had last visited the shrine on April 2, 2011.

Karunanidhi leads protests
DMK chief M Karunanidhi led a statewide protest in Chennai against the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to India, accusing him of making efforts to "annihilate" the Tamils in the island republic.

Wearing black shirt, the protesters gathered under the banner of the Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation, which Karunanidhi had revived some months ago, and shouted slogans against Rajapaksa, who is on a pilgrimage to Tirupati and Bodh Gaya.

Karunanidhi charged the Lankan President with attempting to not only to "annihilate" the Tamil population but also erase the Tamil language.

Party treasurer MK Stalin and other senior party leaders were present.

Effigies of Rajapaksa were burnt and lawyers boycotted courts in some parts of the state, protesting the visit.

Karunanidhi had said on Thursday that the Centre should realize at least now that the island government was not keeping its promises after the Sri Lankan President had ruled out autonomy for Tamil areas.

"Now TESO was issuing a severe caution (by black flag demonstration), Rajapaksa should correct himself, and Centre also take steps to protect Tamils," Karunanidhi had said.

Addressing the 65th Independence Day celebrations on Monday, the Lankan President had ruled out greater political autonomy for Tamils, saying ethnicity-based division was "not practical" as people live together in unity and there were no racial or religious differences.

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Asteroid to Make Closest Flyby in History

Talk about too close for comfort. In a rare cosmic encounter, an asteroid will barnstorm Earth next week, missing our planet by a mere 17,200 miles (27,700 kilometers).

Designated 2012 DA14, the space rock is approximately 150 feet (45 meters) across, and astronomers are certain it will zip harmlessly past our planet on February 15—but not before making history. It will pass within the orbits of many communications satellites, making it the closest flyby on record. (Read about one of the largest asteroids to fly by Earth.)

"This is indeed a remarkably close approach for an asteroid this size," said Paul Chodas, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Near Earth Object (NEO) program office in Pasadena, California.

"We estimate that an asteroid of this size passes this close to the Earth only once every few decades."

The giant rock—half a football field wide—was first spotted by observers at the La Sagra Observatory in southern Spain a year ago, soon after it had just finished making a much more distant pass of the Earth at 2.6 million miles (4.3 million kilometers) away.

This time around however, on February15 at 2:24 pm EST, the asteroid will be passing uncomfortably close—ten times closer than the orbit of the moon—flying over the eastern Indian Ocean near Sumatra (map). (Watch: "Moon 101.")

Future Impact?

Chodas and his team have been keeping a close eye on the cosmic intruder, and orbital calculations of its trajectory show that there is no chance for impact.

But the researchers have not yet ruled out future chances of a collision. This is because asteroids of this size are too faint to be detected until they come quite close to the Earth, said Chodas.

"There is still a tiny chance that it might hit us on some future passage by the Earth; for example there is [a] 1-in-200,000 chance that it could hit us in the year 2080," he said.

"But even that tiny chance will probably go away within the week, as the asteroid's orbit gets tracked with greater and greater accuracy and we can eliminate that possibility."

Earth collision with an object of this size is expected to occur every 1,200 years on average, said Donald Yeomans, NEO program manager, at a NASA news conference this week.

DA14 has been getting closer and closer to Earth for quite a while—but this is the asteroid's closest approach in the past hundred years. And it probably won't get this close again for at least another century, added Yeomans.

While no Earth impact is possible next week, DA14 will pass 5,000 miles inside the ring of orbiting geosynchronous weather and communications satellites; so all eyes are watching the space rock's exact trajectory. (Learn about the history of satellites.)

"It's highly unlikely they will be threatened, but NASA is working with satellite providers, making them aware of the asteroid's pass," said Yeomans.

Packing a Punch

Experts say an impact from an object this size would have the explosive power of a few megatons of TNT, causing localized destruction—similar to what occurred in Siberia in 1908.

In what's known as the "Tunguska event," an asteroid is thought to have created an airburst explosion which flattened about 750 square miles (1,200 square kilometers) of a remote forested region in what is now northern Russia (map).

In comparison, an impact from an asteroid with a diameter of about half a mile (one kilometer) could temporarily change global climate and kill millions of people if it hit a populated area.

Timothy Spahr, director of the Minor Planet Center at Cambridge, Massachusetts, said that while small objects like DA14 could hit Earth once a millennia or so, the largest and most destructive impacts have already been catalogued.

"Objects of the size that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs have all been discovered," said Spahr. (Learn about what really happened to the dinosaurs.)

A survey of nearly 9,500 near-Earth objects half a mile (one kilometer) in diameter is nearly complete. Asteroid hunters expect to complete nearly half of a survey of asteroids several hundred feet in diameter in the coming years.

"With the existing assets we have, discovering asteroids rapidly and routinely, I continue to expect the world to be safe from impacts in the future," added Spahr.

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Door-to-Door Search for Suspected Cop Killer

More than 100 police officers were going door-to-door and searching for new tracks in the snow in the hopes of catching suspected cop killer Christopher Dorner overnight in Big Bear Lake, Calif., before he strikes again as laid out in his chilling online manifesto.

Police held a news conference late Thursday, alerting the residents near Big Bear Lake that Dorner was still on the loose after finding his truck burning around 12:45 p.m. local time.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said the authorities can't say for certain he's not in the area. More than half of the 400 homes in the area have been searched by police, who are traveling in two-man teams. Bachman urged people in the area to not answer the door, unless you know the person or law enforcement in uniform.

After discovering Dorner's burning truck near a Bear Mountain ski resort, police discovered tracks in the snow leading away from the vehicle. The truck has been taken to the San Bernardino County Sheriffs' crime lab.

Read More About Chris Dorner's Allegations Against the LAPD

Bachman would not comment on Dorner's motive for leaving the car or its contents, citing the ongoing investigation. Police are no aware of Dorner having any ties to others in the area.

Christopher Dorner: Ex-Cop Wanted in Killing Spree Watch Video

Engaged California Couple Found Dead in Car Watch Video

She added that the search in the area would continue as long as the weather cooperates. However, a snowstorm was forecast for the area. About three choppers were being used overnight, but weather conditions were deteriorating, according to Bachman.

Dorner, a former Los Angeles police officer and Navy reservist, is suspected of killing one police officer and injured two others Thursday morning in Riverside, Calif. He was also accused of killing two civilians on Sunday. And he allegedly released an angry "manifesto" airing grievances against police and warning of coming violence toward cops.

In the manifesto Dorner published online, he threatened at least 12 people by name, along with their families.
"Your lack of ethics and conspiring to wrong a just individual are over. Suppressing the truth will leave to deadly consequences for you and your family," Dorner wrote in his manifesto.

One passage from the manifesto read, "I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty."

"I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own," it read. "I'm terminating yours."

Hours after the extensive manhunt dragged police to Big Bear Lake, CNN's Anderson Cooper said Dorner had sent him a package at his New York office that arrived on Feb. 1, though Cooper said he never knew about the package until Thursday. It contained a DVD of court testimony, with a Post-It note signed by Dorner claiming, "I never lied! Here is my vindication."

PHOTOS: Former LAPD Officer Suspected in Shootings

It also contained a keepsake coin bearing the name of former Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton that came wrapped in duct tape, Cooper said. The duct tape bore the note, "Thanks, but no thanks Will Bratton."

Bratton told Cooper on his program, "Anderson Cooper 360," that he believed he gave Dorner the coin as he was headed overseas for the Navy, Bratton's practice when officers got deployed abroad. Though a picture has surfaced of Bratton, in uniform, and Dorner, in fatigues, shaking hands, Bratton told Cooper he didn't recall Dorner or the meeting.

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In the Loop: Interior pick could watch, but not deliver, a State of the Union address

The nomination announcement Wednesday afternoon of Sally Jewell, chief executive of outdoor company REI, to be secretary of the interior would put her eighth in the line of presidential succession should anything happen to President Obama, Vice President Biden, House and Senate leaders and the top four Cabinet officials at State, Treasury, Defense and Justice.

Except for one problem: She was born in England — came here when she was 3 — and thus doesn’t qualify. She would hardly be the first Cabinet member in this situation.

Others affected by this in recent years include Bush II Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, born in Taiwan, and Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, born in Prague. Ditto Nixon’s German-born secretary of state, Henry Kissinger.

What this means is that, if confirmed, Jewell will be forced to attend every State of the Union address, because she’ll never be the “designated successor.”

On another note, if she gets the job, she’ll be overseeing some places with a history of sweatshops that could compete with REI. REI says that it manufactures gear and apparel around the world, including China, Taiwan and El Salvador, but that it prides itself as being quite scrupulous in monitoring working conditions at its suppliers.

But as head of the Interior Department, Jewell would have jurisdiction over a few U.S. territories — especially the Northern Marianas — that were criticized for years as havens for immigrant smuggling, prostitution and sweatshops. (Because they’re U.S. territories, the clothing made there can be labeled “Made in U.S.A.” and come in duty-free.)

An Interior official assured us, however, that congressionally mandated minimum-wage increases and “new global trade rules embraced by the U.S.” have taken care of the problem.

So, no sweat.

Straying pols, beware

Philandering politicos around town, start quaking in your wingtips. And maybe call your lawyer.

Fair warning:L.A.-based
Gloria Allred
, attorney to many a woman involved in a high-profile controversy, was sworn in this week as a member of the D.C. bar. Which means . . . well, not much, for the moment.

Allred tells us that she’s not working on any particular case that would bring her to our fair city. But she frequently does business here, she says, and rather than operate on a “pro hac vice” basis (meaning each time she comes before a D.C. judge, she gets a one-time waiver), she decided to go all in.

She didn’t have to take the D.C. bar exam but instead used a waiver process designed for lawyers already practicing in other states.

Allred cheered the fact that there were three women on the bench of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where she was sworn in during a Monday ceremony, along with plenty of fellow female lawyers. “That’s something you wouldn’t have seen when I was sworn in to the California bar 38 years ago,” she said.

Allred’s storied career has included going up against powerful men on behalf of the women who say they’ve been wronged. Clients have included
Sharon Bialek
, who accused former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual harassment, and
Natalie Khawam
, the sister of the woman who blew the whistle on CIA Director David Petraeus’s affair.

Should ne’er-do-well men around town worry now that Allred is poised to take on a local case at a moment’s notice? The typically bombastic lawyer’s unusually coy reply: “I’ll leave that to them to decide.”

Friendly fire

Seems no one is playing their position these days. On Wednesday, Sen. Ron Wyden
hinted that he might, maybe, possibly filibuster the nomination of White House counterterrorism adviser
John Brennan
to be CIA director for Wyden’s pal President Obama.

Apparently the Oregon Democrat is mighty upset about a new white paper from the Justice Department and wants more information about the legal justification for drone strikes against U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism. He’s promised to “pull out all the stops” to get what he’s looking for, Roll Call reports.

And for days there’s been will-they-or-won’t-they speculation that Republicans could potentially, perhaps filibuster the nomination of one of their own, former senator Chuck Hagel (Neb.) to be secretary of defense.

Which puts us in the topsy-turvy position of having a Democrat threaten a Democratic president’s nominee with filibuster, while Republicans warn they could do the same to a fellow Republican.

Never mind that it’s all posturing — filibusters of Cabinet nominees on either side are unlikely, or at least they’re unprecedented.

Which is good to remember before you pop something to relieve the vertigo.

With Emily Heil

The blog: washingtonpost.com/
intheloop. Twitter: @InTheLoopWP.

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Philippines' Aquino to visit rebel stronghold

MANILA: Philippine President Benigno Aquino will next week make a historic visit to the stronghold of the country's main Muslim rebel force in an effort to push forward peace talks, his office said on Thursday.

Aquino's trip on Monday to the outskirts of the 12,000-member Moro Islamic Liberation Front's (MILF's) main base in the country's south will be the first peace mission there by a president since the insurgency began in the 1970s.

Aquino and MILF chairman Murad Ebrahim will meet as they witness the launch of a social welfare project for mainly Muslim residents of communities where the rebels exert an influence, Aquino spokesman Ricky Carandang told AFP.

"It's not a formal meeting, but their presence will underscore the commitment and optimism that both sides have that a final resolution to the peace process will be achieved," he said.

"The launch of the social programmes will show concrete benefits of peace."

At the launch, health insurance cards will be distributed to residents, emergency jobs offered to adults and scholarships given to their children, Aquino's office said.

The MILF has been fighting since the 1970s for independence in Mindanao, the southern third of the mainly Catholic Philippines that the country's Muslim minority claim as their ancestral homeland.

An estimated 150,000 people have died in the conflict.

The MILF signed a "framework agreement" with Aquino's government in October last year committing both sides to form a new autonomous entity on Mindanao by 2016, when the president ends his six-year term.

The MILF vowed to give up its quest for an independent homeland in exchange for significant power and wealth-sharing in a new autonomous region.

Negotiators from both sides have been meeting in neighbouring Malaysia to thrash out what they described as contentious items in the plan.

Cabinet secretary Jose Almendras said Monday's event would be held at an MILF-run school that residents say is about half a kilometre (a third of a mile) from the main gate of the rebels' headquarters, Camp Darapanan.

"It's very close to the MILF camp," Almendras said.

MILF spokesman Mike Pasigan welcomed the imminent launch of the social welfare project.

"The programme will further strengthen the collaboration between the government and the MILF as we build on the gains of the peace process," he said in a statement.

-AFP/fl

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Narendra Modi is my friend, RSS chief says

ALLAHABAD: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat described Narendra Modi as his "friend" but side-stepped queries on the possible projection of the Gujarat chief minister as BJP's prime ministerial candidate, saying he was "not a political person".

"He is my friend", said Bhagwat on Thursday when asked by reporters what he thought of Narendra Modi.

However, when asked whether he supported the demand for projecting the Gujarat chief minister as the prime ministerial candidate, the RSS chief said, "I am not a political person.....I am not here on a political visit".

Bhagwat was speaking to mediapersons at the ongoing Mahakumbh congregation here during which he is likely to attend the "Dharm Sansad" of Sangh Parivar outfit Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

A section of BJP leaders have demanded that Modi be declared as the party's prime ministerial candidate.

VHP leader Ashok Singhal had on Wednesday said the Gujarat chief minister enjoys the same popularity as that of the first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru.

However, senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia had on Tuesday ducked queries on the likelihood of VHP pressing for projection of Modi as BJP's prime ministerial candidate.

"I will only say the VHP is committed to helping the Hindus achieve what is their due," he had said when asked about the possibility of VHP pitching for Modi as BJP's prime ministerial candidate.

On Singhal calling Modi "Hindu Hriday Samrat", he had said, "We are engaged in a collective effort. This is not the time to ponder over personal likes and dislikes".

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Humans Swap DNA More Readily Than They Swap Stories

Jane J. Lee

Once upon a time, someone in 14th-century Europe told a tale of two girls—a kind one who was rewarded for her manners and willingness to work hard, and an unkind girl who was punished for her greed and selfishness.

This version was part of a long line of variations that eventually spread throughout Europe, finding their way into the Brothers Grimm fairytales as Frau Holle, and even into Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. (Watch a video of the Frau Holle fairytale.)

In a new study, evolutionary psychologist Quentin Atkinson is using the popular tale of the kind and unkind girls to study how human culture differs within and between groups, and how easily the story moved from one group to another.

Atkinson, of the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and his co-authors employed tools normally used to study genetic variation within a species, such as people, to look at variations in this folktale throughout Europe.

The researchers found that there were significant differences in the folktale between ethnolinguistic groups—or groups bound together by language and ethnicity. From this, the scientists concluded that it's much harder for cultural information to move between groups than it is for genes.

The study, published February 5 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found that about 9 percent of the variation in the tale of the two girls occurred between ethnolinguistic groups. Previous studies looking at the genetic diversity across groups in Europe found levels of variation less than one percent.

For example, there's a part of the story in which the girls meet a witch who asks them to perform some chores. In different renditions of the tale, the meeting took place by a river, at the bottom of a well, or in a cave. Other versions had the girls meeting with three old men or the Virgin Mary, said Atkinson.

Conformity

Researchers have viewed human culture through the lens of genetics for decades, said Atkinson. "It's a fair comparison in the sense that it's just variation across human groups."

But unlike genes, which move into a population relatively easily and can propagate randomly, it's harder for new ideas to take hold in a group, he said. Even if a tale can bridge the "ethnolinguistic boundary," there are still forces that might work against a new cultural variation that wouldn't necessarily affect genes.

"Humans don't copy the ideas they hear randomly," Atkinson said. "We don't just choose ... the first story we hear and pass it on.

"We show what's called a conformist bias—we'll tend to aggregate across what we think everyone else in the population is doing," he explained. If someone comes along and tells a story a little differently, most likely, people will ignore those differences and tell the story like everyone else is telling it.

"That makes it more difficult for new ideas to come in," Atkinson said.

Cultural Boundaries

Atkinson and his colleagues found that if two versions of the folktale were found only six miles (ten kilometers) away from each other but came from different ethnolinguistic groups, such as the French and the Germans, then those versions were as different from each other as two versions taken from within the same group—say just the Germans—located 62 miles (100 kilometers) away from each other.

"To me, the take-home message is that cultural groups strongly constrain the flow of information, and this enables them to develop highly local cultural traditions and norms," said Mark Pagel, of the University of Reading in the U.K., who wasn't involved in the new study.

Pagel, who studies the evolution of human behavior, said by email that he views cultural groups almost like biological species. But these groups, which he calls "cultural survival vehicles," are more powerful in some ways than our genes.

That's because when immigrants from a particular cultural group move into a new one, they bring genetic diversity that, if the immigrants have children, get mixed around, changing the new population's gene pool. But the new population's culture doesn't necessarily change.

Atkinson plans to keep using the tools of the population-genetics trade to see if the patterns he found in the variations of the kind and unkind girls hold true for other folktale variants in Europe and around the world.

Humans do a lot of interesting things, Atkinson said. "[And] the most interesting things aren't coded in our DNA."

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