Only miles from the scenic vistas and celebrity mansions that draw sightseers from around the globe — but a world away from the glitz and glamour — a bus tour is rolling through the dark side of the city’s gang turf.

Passengers paying $65 a head Saturday signed waivers acknowledging they could be crime victims and put their fate in the hands of tattooed ex-gang members who say they have negotiated a cease-fire among rivals in the most violent gangland in America.

If that sounds daunting, consider the challenge facing organizers of LA Gang Tours: trying to build a thriving venture that provides a glimpse into gang life while also trying to convince people that gang-plagued communities are not as hopeless as movies depict. Read the full story

Do you know why Richard Branson was in such a hurry to unveil SpaceShipTwo last week? It’s not because he loves cool toys — it’s because he was worried an inventor who’s created a personal UFO would steal his thunder.

Or at least, that’s what a new press release from UFO guru Luke Fortune claims. Fortune, an inventor, has put the plans and patents to allow you to build your own laser-fusion-powered UFO online for free. Read the full story

SANTIAGO: A judge has ruled that the former Chilean president Eduardo Frei Montalva was assassinated nearly 30 years ago and the murder covered up by people linked to the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.

Frei, who preceded Salvador Allende as Chile’s president and later became a leading critic of the military dictatorship, died in 1982. An autopsy report blamed septic shock after stomach hernia surgery, but a new autopsy made public this year by University of Chile pathologists identified two chemicals in his body that attack the digestive system. One of them is used in mustard gas and the other is found in rat poison. Read the full story

In a spectacular snafu, the Transportation Security Administration stupidly posted an entire airport screening procedures manual on a government website. The 93-page document included details on special screening rules for diplomats, CIA and law enforcement officers; a list of items for which screening is not required (like wheelchairs, casts, orthopedic shoes); and the fun fact that during peak travel times, TSA screeners who check IDs only use black lights to authenticate 25% of documents. Some of these secrets were revealed because, apparently, somebody erroneously believed they were redacted. But The Wandering Aramean blog, which discovered the oopsy, explains why that didn’t work:

They apparently don’t understand how redaction works in the electronic document world. See, rather than actually removing the offending text from the document they just drew a black box on top of it. Turns out that PDF documents don’t really care about the black box like that and the actual content of the document is still in the file. Read the full story

NEW YORK – Brazil has recently generated positive headlines with its 2016 Olympic bid victory, as well as its increased economic and political visibility.

Based on current economic trends, it could be one of the world’s five biggest economies — along with China, the United States, India and Japan — by the middle of this century, according to The Economist.

Yet, the evidence of progress has been marred by the nation’s troubling crime statistics — and reports of unlawful methods employed by the security forces. Read the full story

Meteorologists said the snow storm closing in on the Iowa City area will create a “truly life-threatening situation,” in the next few days.

The snow storm is expected to drop more than a foot of snow on the Iowa City area, follow it up with blizzard conditions and leave bitter cold in its wake.

“Everything you can expect in the worst of winter weather is coming our way in the next few days,” said Andy Ervin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities. Read the full story

Cairo, December 2nd, 2009 – Egypt’s leading Egyptologist, Dr Zahi Hawass, has revealed that an excavation team under his charge are investigating an ancient tomb at the centre of claims regarding the alleged discovery of a cave underworld beneath the Pyramids of Giza.

In August British writer and explorer Andrew Collins announced that he had rediscovered the entrance to a previously unexplored cave system, entered via a mysterious tomb several hundred meters west of the Great Pyramid.

The cave entrance was found following clues left in the 200-year-old memoirs of British diplomat and explorer Henry Salt, who recorded how in 1817 he and Italian explorer Giovanni Caviglia had investigated cave “catacombs” at Giza for a distance of “several hundred yards” before coming across a “spacious” chamber. Read the full story

1. Don’t

2. Drive slower

3. Don’t tail gate. And don’t drive beside people.

4. Beware of bridges (over and under), declines, and inclines.

5. If you lose traction and there is snow nearby, try to veer toward the snow gently. Read the full story

It looks more like the Starship Enterprise sinking in the sea – but this huge vertical vessel could be the future of ocean exploration.

Called the SeaOrbiter, the huge 51m (167ft) structure is set to be the world’s first vertical ship allowing man a revolutionary view of life below the surface.

Although currently only a prototype its inventor Jacques Rougerie thinks his international oceanographic station will soon be setting sail. Read the full story

Did you know that LA sits on top of the third largest oil field in the country? Did you know oil rigs are scattered covertly throughout the city, placed near schools, malls and even a farmer’s market? HuffPost Green did not know about this until we watched this awesome short from Palladium Boots about the secret, underground network of the LA oilfields and rigs hidden in plain sight as fake office buildings and flower-painted sculptures.

You have to see to this to believe it.

Dozens of protesters in Sao Paulo demonstrated Thursday against President Shimon Peres’ visit to Brazil and Israel’s actions in Gaza.

“War criminal, go home” the protesters shouted at Peres as he arrived in the city to give speak at a conference of local industrialists. Some of demonstrators held signs equating Peres with Hitler; others waved Lebanese and Palestinian flags.

Earlier Thursday, Peres with the world-renowned Brazilian soccer player Ronaldo, and invited him to visit Israel for a friendly soccer match between Israeli and Palestinain children. Read the full story

One of the best annual meteor showers will peak in the pre-dawn hours Tuesday, and for some skywatchers the show could be quite impressive.

The best seats are in Asia, but North American observers should be treated to an above average performance of the Leonid meteor shower, weather permitting. The trick for all observers is to head outside in the wee hours of the morning – between 1 a.m. and dawn – regardless where you live.

The Leonids put on a solid show every year, if skies are clear and moonlight does not interfere. This year the moon is near its new phase, and not a factor. For anyone in the Northern Hemisphere with dark skies, away from urban and suburban lighting, the show should be worth getting up early to see. Read the full story

2009-11-12

MADRID — Spain wants EU naval forces to blockade three Somali ports used to launch pirate attacks against ships in the Indian Ocean, Defence Minister Carme Chacon said Wednesday.

She said Spain will call on European Union foreign and defence ministers to concentrate military efforts on blockading the ports at a meeting next Monday and Tuesday.

“We know that it is from these three ports that most, if not all, ‘mother ships’ used by pirates reach up to one thousand miles away from the coast — as they did yesterday — and carry out kidnappings far from the coast,” she told RNE public radio.

Chacon also said the pirate gangs “have ties to sophisticated law firms in London,” and she called for the international community to do more to track ransoms given to pirates to release hostages.

Several law firms in London, business capital of the world’s maritime industry, have handled piracy kidnap and ransom cases in recent years.

They help ship owners deal with the legal aspects of paying a ransom and engage private security contractors to negotiate with pirates and carry out the ransom drop.

Pirates on Monday launched their longest range hijack attempt to date by opening fire on the Hong Kong-flagged oil tanker BW Lion 1,000 nautical miles east of Mogadishu, the EU naval force in the region said.

The next day pirates attacked the Danish-flagged container ship Nelle Maersk, also some 1,000 nautical miles east of the Somali capital.

Both ships escaped their attackers but the incidents demonstrated how beefed-up security off the Somalia coast appears to be leading pirates to move deeper into the Indian Ocean and its shipping lanes linking Asia and Europe.

Chacon said the attacks so far from the Somalia coast were a “giant step” for the pirates who she said were becoming bolder.

The pirates usually use “mother ships” to sail hundreds of miles out to sea and then attack in small skiffs, sometimes using high-grade weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades.

“These are not romantic pirates which some may be led to imagine, they are authentic criminal organisations which are focused on kidnappings of all types merchant ships, fishing trawlers, ships belonging to the World Food Programme,” said Chacon.

The minister said Somali pirates were currently holding 12 boats and their crews hostage, including the Spanish trawler Alakrana which was seized with its 36 crew on October 2, as well as vessles from Britain, China and Malta.

The pirates are demanding four million dollars (2.6 million euros) ransom as well as the release of two suspected pirates who were detained a few days after the trawler was seized and brought to Spain to face trial.

The Spanish government has ruled out freeing the two suspects but Chacon said they could serve their sentence back in Somalia if found guilty of any crime.

A lawyer for one of the two detained suspected pirates, Javier Diaz Aparicio, told Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo he was trying to reach a plea bargain agreement with Spanish prosecutors.

In an interview with news radio Cadena Ser on Tuesday he suggested that his salary was being paid for by the interior ministry.

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Though journalists, international affairs professionals, travel lovers, and international businessmen are already well aware that Brazil is the country to watch, there are still many gringos who aren’t tuned in to Brazil’s ascent or don’t quite understand the country’s importance. This list is for those gringos.

10. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s cultural capital (but not the national capital – that’s Brasília) is an excellent urban case study when learning about the developing world. It shares certain characteristics with other developing cities that provides many important lessons and a useful perspective on urban conflicts, like inequality, violent crime, and drug trafficking, as well as positive changes like a growing middle class, increased purchasing power of the average consumer and social movements. Read the full story

Hurricane Ida weakened to a tropical storm today after the U.S. Gulf Coast braced itself for more troubling weather. In Nicaragua last week, Hurricane Ida destroyed homes, damaged schools and bridges as it moved through the Caribbean. Currently, the National Hurricane Center has a public advisory on its site.

“A tropical storm warning remains in effect from Grand Isle Louisiana eastward to the Aucilla River Florida … including New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain.”

U.S. airlines are alerting travelers that flights may be affected in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Here are some change policies listed on their websites:

Delta: States that you may make a one-time change to your ticket without fee if you are scheduled to travel to, from, or through the following destinations: Fort Walton, Fla. (VPS), Gulfport, Miss. (GPT), Mobile, Ala. (MOB), New Orleans, La. (MSY), Panama City, Fla. (PFN), Pensacola, Fla. (PNS) and Tallahassee, Fla. (TLH) for impacted travel on Nov.9-10. Read the  Delta Weather Alert page for Hurricane Ida for full details and restrictions. Contact: (800) 221-1212.

Continental: Offers the option to reschedule or re-route your travel once, without penalty, if you are ticketed to/from one of these cities with original travel dates on Nov. 9-11: New Orleans, La. (MSY), Baton Rouge, La. (BTR), Lafayette, La. (LFT), Lake Charles, La. (LCH), Gulfport/Biloxi, Miss. (GPT), Mobile, Ala. (MOB), Pensacola, Fla. (PNS), Fort Walton Beach, Fla. (VPS). If your flight has been cancelled, a refund to the original form of payment can be requested. Get full information about their re-accommodations policy here.

American Airlines: I couldn’t find a specific reference to Ida on its website. American does list a Hurricane Protection Policy for its travelers. It says it is valid for passengers ticketed for travel within the area and dates of a hurricane watch issued by the United States National Hurricane Center.

U.S. Airways: Waived the standard change fee, advance reservation and ticketing requirements for customers with travel to, from or through Mobile, Ala.; Fort Walton Beach, Fla.; Pensacola, Fla.; Tallahassee, Fla.; Gulfport/Biloxi, Miss. Nov. 9 – Nov. 11. See the travel advisory page for more information on its revised ticket policy.

— Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger

http://travel.latimes.com/

Located in Central Texas, Fort Hood is the Largest Active Duty Armored Post in the United States.

(CBS) Located just outside of Killen, Texas – about halfway between Austin and Waco – Fort Hood is the largest activity duty armored post in the United States. It is home to about 52,000 troops and according to Military.com, a military and veteran service organization, the total number of people working in the area for the armed services is about 300,000.

Fort Hood plays a major role in Army training and testing as well as developing new equipment and tactics. After 2001, terrorism became a major focus there as the base transitioned from being open to closed (although visitors are allowed to visit museums and other non-restricted parts of the base). Many Fort Hood units have been sent to Iraq and Afghanistan – the 4th Infantry Division was able to capture Saddam Hussein in 2003. Read the full story

Russia’s space agency is planning to build a new spaceship with a nuclear engine, its chief said Wednesday.

Anatoly Perminov told a government meeting Wednesday that the preliminary design could be ready by 2012. He said it will then take nine more years and 17 billion rubles ($600 million, 400 million euros) to build the ship.

“The implementation of this project will allow us to reach a new technological level surpassing foreign developments,” Perminov told a meeting which focused on communications and space technologies.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged the Cabinet to consider providing the necessary funding.

“It’s a very serious project,” Medvedev said. “We need to find the money.”

Perminov’s ambitious statement contrasted with the current state of the Russian space program, and sounded more like a plea for extra government funds than a detailed proposal.

Russia is using 40-year old Soyuz booster rockets and capsules to send crews to the International Space Station. Development of a replacement rocket and a prospective spaceship with a conventional propellant has dragged on with no end in sight.

Perminov described the proposed spaceship as a “unique breakthrough project,” but offered few details.

He said that the ship will have a megawatt-class nuclear reactor, as opposed to small nuclear reactors that powered Soviet satellites. The Cold-War era Soviet spy satellites had reactors which produced just a few kilowatts of power and had a lifespan of just about a year.

Perminov didn’t say what the new spaceship will be used for.

He and other officials have said that Russia needs a new spaceship to replace the old Soyuz for missions in Earth orbit, but they only have talked about a ship powered by a conventional rocket fuel so far.

Russian space agency also has mulled over prospective future missions to the moon and Mars, but hasn’t yet set a specific time frame yet.

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