Opponents of Arizona immigration law march on state Capitol, supporters plan evening rally

PHOENIX Thousands of people from around the country marched to the Arizona state Capitol on Saturday to protest the state’s tough new crackdown on illegal immigration.Opponents of the law suspended their boycott against Arizona and bused in protesters from around the country. Organizers said the demonstration could bring in as many as 50,000 people.Midtown Phoenix buzzed with protesters carrying signs and American flags. Dozens of police officers were on standby along the route of the five-mile march, and helicopters hovered overhead.

Protesters braved temperatures that were forecast to reach 95 degrees by mid-afternoon. Some used umbrellas or cardboard signs to protect their faces from the sun. Volunteers handed out water bottles from the beds of pickup trucks, and organizers set up three water stations along the route.Supporters of the law expect to draw thousands to a rally of their own Saturday evening at a baseball stadium in suburban Tempe, encouraging like-minded Americans to “buycott” Arizona by planning vacations in the state.

Critics of the law, set to take effect July 29, say it unfairly targets Hispanics and could lead to racial profiling. Its supporters say Arizona is trying to enforce immigration laws because the federal government has failed to do so.The law requires that police conducting traffic stops or questioning people about possible legal violations ask them about their immigration status if there is “reasonable suspicion” that they’re in the country illegally.

Supporters of the law insist racial profiling will not be tolerated, but civil rights leaders worry that officers will still rely on assumptions that illegal immigrants are Hispanic.Luis Jimenez, a 33-year-old college professor who lives in South Hadley, Mass., said the law will force police officers to spend much of their time on immigration violations instead of patrolling neighborhoods or dealing with violent crime.

The law also makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally or to impede traffic while hiring day laborers, regardless of the worker’s immigration status.”You’re saying to the cop: ‘Go pick up that day laborer. Don’t worry about that guy committing crimes,'” said Jimenez, a naturalized citizen from Mexico who grew up in Phoenix.

Alfonso Martinez, a 38-year-old Phoenix carpenter and father of three children who are American citizens, said he’s been living illegally in the United States for 21 years while trying to get legal status.”If they stop me and they find my status, who’s going to feed my kids? Who’s going to keep working hard for them?” he said, keeping a careful eye on his 6-year-old daughter as his wife pushed their 4-year-old girl in a stroller. Their 13-year-old son walked ahead of them.

Some opponents of the law have encouraged people to cancel conventions in the state and avoid doing business with Arizona-based companies, hoping the economic pressure forces lawmakers to repeal the law.But Alfredo Gutierrez, chairman of the boycott committee of Hispanic civil rights group Somos America, said the boycott doesn’t apply to people coming to resist the law. Opponents said they secured warehouse space for people to sleep on cots instead of staying in hotels.

“The point was to be here for this march to show support for these folks, then we’re out,” said Jose Vargas, a union representative for New York City teachers. “We’re not spending a dime here.”Supporters of the law sought to counteract the economic damage of boycotts by bringing supporters into the state.”Arizona, we feel, is America’s Alamo in the fight against illegal and dangerous entry into the United States,” said Gina Loudon of St. Louis, who is organizing the “buycott.”

“Our border guards and all of Arizona law enforcement are the undermanned, under-gunned, taxed-to-the-limit front-line defenders trying to hold back the invasion,” she said.In San Francisco, groups planned to protest at the Arizona Diamondbacks’ game against the Giants Saturday night. (AP)

Health experts on Wednesday raised concern about the growing use of smokeless tobacco by teenagers

Health experts on Wednesday raised concern about the growing use of smokeless tobacco by teenagers, and suggested its use by Major League Baseball players is influencing young people to take up the cancer-causing habit.The use of smokeless tobacco, chewing tobacco and snuff, by teens has risen in recent years, reversing a trend toward declining use of all tobacco products by teens, Terry Pechacek of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told a U.S. congressional panel. He said data to be released in the next few months will show an increase mainly among white and Hispanic young males.

“Across the nation … we are seeing an uptick,” Pechacek told the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce health subcommittee. “This uptick has been going on for several years now.”Health experts say smokeless tobacco can cause cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus and pancreas. Pechacek said the CDC is concerned that high school students perceive smokeless tobacco to be safer than cigarettes.

Former baseball player and sportscaster Joe Garagiola, a one-time user of chewing tobacco, said the league should ban the use of smokeless tobacco by players.”Like many other players I thought being a Major League player meant you had to chew,” Garagiola told the panel. He said he quit when his daughter asked him if he was going to die from it.”Get together guys, ban tobacco and anyone who uses it is penalized. Get it out of our game,” he said.

All tobacco products have been banned from the minor leagues since 1993. But extending the ban to the majors has to be done as part of a collective bargaining agreement with the players union, Robert Manfred, executive vice president for labor relations and human resource for Major League Baseball, told the committee.David Prouty, the chief labor counsel for the Major League Baseball Players Association, said the union opposes a ban.”We believe baseball players should not be prohibited from using substances that are perfectly legal and available to the general public,” he told the panel.

Prouty promised to discuss the issue with players to see if they would agree to include a ban in the next contract talks.Gregory Connolly, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, said research shows that about one-third of Major League players and one-quarter of minor league players report using chewing tobacco and moist snuff.”The use of smokeless tobacco by players has a powerful role model effect on youth particularly among young males in sport, some of whom ironically remain addicted in future careers as professional athletes,” Connolly said.He said teens often extol the virtues of smokeless tobacco on baseball social networking sites such as Facebook.(Reuters)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico Former Gitmo detainees help al-Qaida grow in Yemen

Abu al-Hareth Muhammad

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico As a prisoner at Guantanamo, Said Ali al-Shihri said he wanted freedom so he could go home to Saudi Arabia and work at his family’s furniture store.Instead, al-Shihri, who was released in 2007 under the Bush administration, is now deputy leader of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, a group that has claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day attempted bomb attack on a Detroit-bound airliner.His potential involvement in the terrorist plot has raised new opposition to releasing Guantanamo Bay inmates, complicating President Barack Obama’s pledge to close the military prison in Cuba. It also highlights the challenge of identifying the hard-core militants as the administration decides what to do with the remaining 198 prisoners.Like other former Guantanamo detainees who have rejoined al-Qaida in Yemen, al-Shihri, 36, won his release despite jihadist credentials such as, in his case, urban warfare training in Afghanistan.He later goaded the United States, saying Guantanamo only strengthened his anti-American convictions.

“By God, our imprisonment has only increased our persistence and adherence to our principles,” he said in a speech when al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula formed in Yemen in January 2009. It was included in a propaganda film for the group.Al-Shihri and another Saudi released from Guantanamo in 2006, Ibrahim Suleiman al-Rubaish, appear to have played significant roles in al-Qaida’s expanding offshoot in Yemen. While the extent of any involvement in the airliner plot is unclear, al-Rubaish, 30, is a theological adviser to the group and his writings and sermons are prominent in the group’s literature.

After the group’s first attack outside Yemen, a failed attempt on the Saudi counterterrorism chief in August, al-Rubaish cited the experience in Guantanamo as a motive.”They (Saudi officials) are the ones who came to Guantanamo, not to ask about us and reassure us, but to interrogate us and to provide the Americans with information – which was the reason for increased torture against some,” he said in an audio recording posted on the Internet.Pentagon figures indicate that al-Shihri and al-Rubaish are a small if dramatic minority among the released detainees: Overall, 14 percent of the more than 530 detainees transferred out of Guantanamo are confirmed or suspected to have been involved in terrorist activities since their release.

Still, three other Saudis released from Guantanamo under the Bush administration surfaced with al-Qaida in Yemen over the last year. They include field commander Abu al-Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi, who later surrendered and was handed over to Saudis, and two fighters who were killed by security forces: Youssef al-Shihri and Fahd Jutayli. All five men passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program praised by U.S. authorities before crossing the southern border into Yemen.At least one Yemeni from Guantanamo apparently rejoined the fight.

A Yemen Defense Ministry newspaper said last week that Hani al-Shulan, who was released in 2007, was killed in a Dec. 17 air strike that targeted suspected militants.At Guantanamo, some of the men had played down their links to terrorism.

Said al-Shihri, who is now formally known as the secretary general of the al-Qaida branch, told American investigators that he traveled to Afghanistan two weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks to aid refugees, according to documents released by the Pentagon.The file also says he received weapons training at a camp north of Kabul and was hospitalized in Pakistan for a month and a half after he was wounded by an airstrike.Although he allegedly met with extremists in Iran and helped them get into Afghanistan, he claimed he went to Iran to buy carpets for his store. He said that if released, he wanted to see a daughter born while he was at Guantanamo and try to work at the family store in Riyadh, according to the documents.In contrast, Youssef al-Shihri, who was killed in October near the Yemeni border with Saudi Arabia, openly declared rage against America to his captors at Guantanamo. He is not related to Said al-Shihri.

“The detainee stated he considers all Americans his enemy,” according to documents from his Guantanamo review hearings. “Since Americans are the detainee’s enemy, he will continue to fight them until he dies. The detainee pointed to the sky and told the interviewing agents that he will have a meeting with them in the next life.”The U.S. has repatriated 120 Saudi detainees from Guantanamo, including some still considered to pose a threat, in part because of confidence the Saudi government can minimize the risk. The Saudi rehabilitation program encourages returning detainees to abandon Islamic extremism and reintegrate into civilian life.

The deprogramming effort – built on reason, enticements and counseling – is part of a concerted Saudi government effort to counter extremist ideology. Returning detainees have lengthy talks with psychiatrists, Muslim clerics and sociologists at secure compounds with facilities such as gyms and swimming pools.Bruce Hoffman, a security studies professor at Georgetown University, stressed that the large majority of those going through the program have not rejoined extremist groups.

“It’s unrealistic to say none of them will return to terrorism,” he said. “Is two too many? I don’t know how to make that judgment. But you have to look at it in the broader perspective … There’s also a risk in imprisoning people for life and throwing away the key.”For the roughly 90 Yemeni detainees remaining at Guantanamo, the recent terror plot’s Yemeni roots will add new layers of scrutiny to any transfers. Repatriation talks with the Yemeni government have stalled for years over security issues, with the U.S. sending back only about 20 Yemenis out of concern over the impoverished nation’s ability to contain militants.

U.S. Congress members have called on the Obama administration to stop releasing any detainees to Yemen or other unstable countries.”I have read the classified biographies of the detainees to be released. They are dangerous people. I am troubled by every one of the detainees who is being sent back,” said U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, a Virginia Republican.Six Yemenis were sent home from Guantanamo in December, and detainees’ attorneys say about 35 more have already been cleared for release by an administration task force. They are the largest group left at Guantanamo, so finding new homes for them is key to Obama’s pledge to close the prison. Their attorneys are not optimistic about the transfers going through.

“I’m fearful that will grind to a halt after the events of Christmas Day,” said Rick Murphy, a Washington attorney who represents five Yemenis at Guantanamo.Obama has vowed not to release any detainee who would endanger the American people.A senior administration official said the U.S. has worked with Yemen’s government to ensure that “appropriate security measures” are taken when detainees are repatriated. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss bilateral talks.(AP)

JAKARTA,Indonesians bury popular former President Wahid

President Abdurrahman Wahid, center

JAKARTA, Indonesia Thousands of mourners thronged roads Thursday in Indonesia to say farewell to late President Abdurrahman Wahid, a beloved, one-eyed cleric who reached out to religious minorities in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.Wahid, who ruled for nearly two years of tumult as Indonesia embarked on a path to democracy in 1999 after three decades of dictatorship, died in a hospital Wednesday. He was 69.A memorial service was led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono before the burial in Wahid’s East Java hometown of Jombang, where about 10,000 supporters prayed over his remains, which were wrapped in white sheets.The televised service began a week of national mourning during which flags will be flown at half-staff. Some official New Year’s Eve celebrations were canceled.There was a massive outpouring of sentiment for a man whose open style, impromptu joke telling and naps during his own speeches endeared him to the masses. Weeping admirers lit candles and incense and said prayers at vigils held at mosques, churches, temples, schools and landmarks.Wahid, known fondly by his nickname Gus Dur, was a democratic reformer and proponent of moderate Islam who ultimately was unable to implement his ambitious ideas amid the financial and political chaos that dominated the vast island state of 235 million people during his presidency.

A White House statement said Wahid was “a pivotal figure” in Indonesia’s transition to free government who “will be remembered for his commitment to democratic principles, inclusive politics, and religious tolerance.”During his short term, from October 1999 to July 2001, Wahid led a broad coalition of unity but was eventually impeached after firing Yudhoyono, then a Cabinet minister, for refusing to declare a state of emergency when the army positioned tanks facing the Presidential Palace.

Wahid had been in the intensive care unit of Ciptomangunkusumo Hospital in Jakarta for the past week.The former president died during surgery to remove a blood clot in his heart, said professor Yusuf Misbach, head of his medical team. Wahid’s condition had deteriorated because of complications with diabetes and kidney failure, he said.

Wahid had struggled with illness for years and was confined to a wheelchair. Nearly blind, he also suffered serious kidney problems and diabetes.Presidential spokesman Julian Pasha noted Wahid’s widespread popularity, saying “we lost one of our greatest figures, who was very much loved by people from all walks of life.”

Abdurrahman Wahid, a long-serving head of the Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Islamic group, pushed for interfaith dialogue and accepted an invitation to visit Israel in October 1994.In 1997, he traveled to Tel Aviv where he jointly signed a peace charter promoted by the Simon Perez Institute, a courageous effort at diplomacy in a country that still has no formal diplomatic ties with the Jewish state.

“We have lost a true friend and a warrior for peace and mutual respect,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “As a devout Muslim with a following of tens of millions, Mr. Wahid was unafraid to condemn unambiguously terrorism in all its forms.””He was a very open person. … All minorities, underdogs or those suffering always felt secure with him. That was very extraordinary,” said Franz Magnis-Suseno, a Catholic priest. “He was a humanist. … For people like me, he emitted a friendly Islam that made us feel safe.”

Wahid was an opponent of Suharto in the dictator’s final years in power. Wahid attempted to establish a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate political killings, disappearances and massacres during Suharto’s 32-year rule, but political opposition was too great.Wahid was elected Indonesia’s third president on Oct. 20, 1999. While in office, he worked for peaceful solutions to secessionist movements in restive provinces such as Aceh and Papua.He visited East Timor after it became a new nation and apologized for human rights abuses committed by Indonesian forces during its brutal 24-year occupation.(AP)

BAGHDAD A bomb targeting a church in northern Iraq killed two men

Shiite Muslim men

BAGHDAD  A bomb targeting a church in northern Iraq killed two men and damaged the historic building Wednesday, a day before Christmas Eve services that will be heavily guarded for fear of more attacks on the country’s Christian minority.The bomb in the city of Mosul was hidden under sacks of baking flour in a handcart left 15 yards (meters) from the Mar Toma Church, or the Church of St. Thomas, a police officer said.

The officer said the two men killed were Muslims and that five other people were injured. A hospital official confirmed the casualties.Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information to news media.

“Instead of performing Christmas Mass in this church, we will be busy removing rubble and debris,” Hazim Ragheed, a priest at the church, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.The blast damaged the wooden doors, windows, some furniture and one of the walls of the church, which is more than 1,200 years old, Ragheed said. Services will be moved out of the church, but Ragheed did not say where they would be held.

“We demand that the government put an end to these repeated attacks,” Ragheed said.The blast occurred in an area where streets have been closed to cars and trucks to protect Mosul’s dwindling Christian population.

Iraqi defense officials warned earlier in the week that intelligence reports pointed to attacks during Christmas, leading the government to step up security near churches and Christian neighborhoods.Most of the increased security will be in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk, said Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari.

Christians have frequently been targeted since turmoil swept the country after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, although the attacks have ebbed with an overall drop in violence. Still, tens of thousands of Christians have fled; many who stayed were isolated in neighborhoods protected by barricades and checkpoints.A coordinated bombing campaign in 2004 targeted churches in the Iraqi capital and anti-Christian violence also flared in September 2007 after Pope Benedict XVI made comments perceived to be against Islam.

Churches, priests and businesses have been attacked by militants who denounce Christians as pro-American “crusaders.” Paulos Rahho, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul, was found dead in March 2008 after being abducted by gunmen after a Mass.

Also Wednesday, Iraqi forces increased security around the Shiite religious observance of Ashoura, which coincides with Christmas.Insurgents have routinely targeted pilgrims on their way to the southern holy city of Karbala during Ashoura, which marks the seventh-century death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hussein.More than 25,000 Iraqi police and soldiers have been assigned to protect pilgrims, said Karbala police Capt. Alaa Abbas Jaafar, a media spokesman.

Elsewhere, gunmen stormed a checkpoint Wednesday in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, killing four Iraqi police officers, two police officials said.

A bomb planted on a minibus killed two people and injured five in a Shiite neighborhood in north Baghdad, police and hospital officials said. Another bomb in Fallujah targeted an Anbar University professor but missed and killed the man’s brother, police said.

Water world planet discovered just 40 light years away

Water world

A steamy ‘waterworld‘ six times bigger than Earth has been discovered orbiting a faint star 40 light years away.The planet is believed to be too hot to sustain Earth-type life, but could consist of 75 per cent water. Evidence suggests it has an atmosphere, and astronomers believe it to be more Earth-like than any ‘exoplanet’ previously found outside the Solar System.The planet is classified as a ‘super-Earth‘, half-way in size between small rocky planets such the Earth and ice giants similar to Uranus and Neptune. Although its parent star is a dim ‘red dwarf’ 3,000 times less bright than our sun, it hugs the star so closely that its surface temperature is 200C.At a distance of just 1.3million miles, the planet makes one year-long orbit of the star every 38 hours.The planet was discovered circling the star GJ1214 with an array of small ground-based telescopes no larger than those used by many amateurs.

The MEarth Project employs eight identical 16-inch diameter telescopes monitoring a 2,000 red dwarf stars. Red dwarfs are the most common type of star in the Milky Way galaxy.The telescopes are looking for changes in brightness that might betray the presence of a planet crossing in front of a star. Red dwarfs lend themselves to this approach to planet finding because they are so faint.

By measuring the dip in brightness caused by the crossing, scientists can calculate a planet’s density and make an educated guess about its composition.The new planet, GJ1214b, is thought to be three-quarters water and ice and about one-quarter rock.

‘Despite its hot temperature, this appears to be a water world,’ Harvard-Smithsonian Center graduate student astronomer Zachory Berta, who discovered the planet, said.’It is much smaller, cooler and more Earth-like than any other known exoplanet.’

Water world close up

The scientists believe something besides the planet’s surface must be blocking light from the parent star – probably a surrounding atmosphere that may contain hydrogen and helium.Turning the Hubble Space Telescope towards the planet may allow astronomers to discover its composition.MEarth Project head Dr David Charbonneau said: ‘Since this planet is so close to Earth, Hubble should be able to detect the atmosphere and determine what it’s made of.That will make it the first super-Earth with a confirmed atmosphere – even though that atmosphere probably won’t be hospitable to life as we know it.‘The discovery was reported today in the journal Nature. In an accompanying article, renowned planet-hunter Professor Geoffrey Marcy, from the University of California, speculated about what the waterworld might be like.

He wrote: ‘It probably has an extraordinarily deep ocean, which would be liquid given its equilibrium surface temperature of some 190C due to heating from the host star. A sauna-like steam atmosphere is possible.’

35 tons of war weaponry from North Korea and the arrest of five foreigners

35 tons of war weaponry

BANGKOK The seizure in Thailand of some 35 tons of war weaponry from North Korea and the arrest of five foreigners charged with illegal possession of arms may prove a blow to efforts by the United States to negotiate a halt to Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, observers said Sunday.Thai authorities, reportedly acting on a tip from their American counterparts, impounded an Ilyushin 76 transport plane, carrying explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and components for surface-to-air missiles, during a refueling stop at Bangkok’s Don Muang airport Saturday. Four men from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus were detained.Thai authorities took the action because of a United Nations resolution banning the transport of certain weapons from or to North Korea, Thailand’s Foreign Ministry said.

The latest sanctions were imposed in June after the reclusive communist regime conducted a nuclear test and test-fired missiles. The sanctions were aimed at derailing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, but also banned the North’s sale of any conventional arms.

The seizure came just days after President Barack Obama’s special envoy made a rare three-day trip to North Korea on a mission to persuade Pyongyang to rejoin six-nation nuclear disarmament talks. Envoy Stephen Bosworth said the two sides had reached common understandings on the need to restart the talks.

“There is a possibility that the incident could have a negative effect on moves to get the North to rejoin the six-party talks and a U.S.-North Korea dialogue mood,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies.Thai Air Force spokesman Capt. Montol Suchookorn said the chartered cargo plane originated in North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, and requested to land at Don Muang airport to refuel.

There were differing local media reports about the plane’s destination, with some saying it was headed to Sri Lanka and others saying Pakistan.”I cannot disclose the destination of their plane because this involves national security. The government will provide more details on this,” Supisarn said.

North Korea has been widely accused of violating United Nations sanctions by selling weapons to nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America.Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi said Thailand made the seizure because of the U.N. sanctions.

“Once further details have been finalized, and all the proper checks have been made we will report all details to the United Nations sanctions committee,” he said.Police Col. Supisarn Pakdinarunart said the five men detained denied the arms possession charges and were refused bail. They will appear in court Monday.

Local press reports said Thai authorities were tipped off by their American counterparts about the cargo aboard the aircraft. U.S. Embassy spokesman Michael Turner said the embassy would not comment on the incident.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said it would take several days to obtain details on the incident, which would be reported to the United Nations, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

“People should not be alarmed because the government will ensure that the investigation will be carried out transparently. The government will be able to explain the situation to foreign countries,” Suthep said.

Thai authorities said the weapons were moved by trucks amid high security Saturday night from the airport to a military base in the nearby province of Nakhon Sawan.

Baek Seung-joo of the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses said the seizure demonstrated a U.S. intention to continue to enforce sanctions on the North while also engaging in dialogue.

Arms sales are a key source of hard currency for the impoverished North. Baek said the North is believed to have earned hundreds of millions of dollars every year by selling missiles, missile parts and other weapons to countries like Iran, Syria and Myanmar.

In August, the United Arab Emirates seized a Bahamas-flagged cargo ship bound for Iran with a cache of banned rocket-propelled grenades and other arms from North Korea, the first seizure since sanctions against North Korea were ramped up.

giant crocodiles from 100 million years

Rat Croc, Duck Croc and Pancake Croc. These are not the names of children’s cartoon characters, but giant crocodiles from 100 million years, ago, whose fossilised remains palaeontologists have unearthed in the Sahara.The crocodiles once ran and swam in present-day Niger and Morocco, when the region was covered by lush plains and broad rivers, as agile on land as they were in water.The palaeontologists say that the diverse array of fossils that they found offers important clues to why the ancestors of modern crocodiles survived while dinosaurs underwent mass extinction.The expedition, which began in 2000, found specimens of four new species, nicknamed Boar Croc, Pancake Croc, Duck Croc and Rat Croc. Many of the fossils were found lying on the surface of a remote, windswept stretch of rock and dunes.The discoveries, which are described today in the journal Zookeys, show that early crocodiles were much more varied in physique and behaviour than their modern ancestors.They were given nicknames by the scientists, based on their unusual physical features.

Boar Croc (Kaprosuchus saharicus) was a ferocious 20ft-long (6m) meat eater with an armoured snout for ramming and three sets of dagger-shaped fangs for slicing.Rat Croc (Araripesuchus rattoides) was 3ft long and used its bucktoothed lower jaw to dig for roots and grubs.Pancake Croc (Laganosuchus thaumastos) was a 20ft-long squat fish eater, with a 3ft-long flat head. It would have rested, motionless, for hours, waiting for prey to swim into its open jaws.

Duck Croc (Anatosuchus minor) was a 3ft upright species that ate fish, frogs and grubs. It had a broad, overhanging snout. Sensory areas on the snout helped it to root around shallow waters for prey.The team, led by Paul Sereno, of the University of Chicago, and Hans Larsson, of McGill University, Montreal, also found the most complete example of a previously discovered species, nicknamed Dog Croc. Dog Croc (Araripesuchus wegeneri) was a 3ft-long upright plant and grub eater with a soft, doglike forward-pointing nose.Yesterday Professor Sereno described Duck Croc as the “Pinocchio of crocs”, adding that its nose was more than just a physical flourish. Evidence of soft tissue in Duck Croc’s nose suggests that it had a highly advanced sense of smell.

Dr Larsson said: “We were surprised to discover so many species from the same time in the same place.”The fossils all date from about 100 million years ago, a time when dinosaurs still dominated the Earth.With the exception of the Pancake Croc, scientists believe all of the ancient species walked upright, like a land mammal, rather than with their limbs sprawled out to the sides and their bellies touching the ground.The animals would have been able to gallop on land, although scientists have not yet established how fast they were. Professor Sereno said: “We don’t think these animals were racehorses but they were pretty fast.“A human would have had a harder time outrunning them than they would a modern crocodile.”

Their skeletal remains suggest that the early crocodiles were already well-adapted swimmers, with agile tails and paddling claws.This early versatility may explain how crocodiles came to be the largest air-breathing survivors of the mass extinction event of about 65 million years ago that wiped out terrestrial dinosaurs. “Their amphibious talents in the past may be the key to understanding how they flourished in, and ultimately survived, the dinosaur era,” said Professor Sereno.Being semi-aquatic may have made it easier for them to scavenge from the carcasses of dead marine life. Modern crocodiles can live as scavengers and can survive for months without food.

http://www.youtube.com/v/mlc3ta_7S_M&rel=0&fs=1

These Stones Really are Rolling

These extraordinary pictures reveal a bizarre event that is puzzling the science world – rocks that glide across the desert. Amid the eerie silence and the 50C heat of California’s Death Valley these giant boulders appear to move smoothly – and unaided – across the desert.

The rocks, some as heavy as 17 stone, edge along in bizarre, straight-line patterns across the ultra-flat surface of the valley. They can travel more than 350 yards a year.

Scientists believe the phenomenon is caused by a coming together of specific weather conditions. Studies suggest a combination of 90mph winds, ice formations at night and thin layers of wet clay on the surface of the desert all help to push them along.

Photographer Mike Byrne, 40, has spent years documenting the stones’ mysterious movements. As his amazing pictures show these real-life rolling stones leave trails across the sand in places almost untouched by man.

He said: ‘Some of these rocks are as heavy as a person, it is really is strange to imagine them gliding across the desert like this.

‘They must be the original real-life rolling stones, they just keep moving through the sand and I don’t believe anyone has really 100 per cent worked it out yet.

‘Most of the stones are found on an old lake bed, known as the Racetrack Playa, where the ground is particularly flat.

‘It has been documented over the years and it is something very special to witness, although I know climatologists believe the phenomenon could disappear in a few years as the temps continue to rise.

‘One of the strongest theories about what the rocks move is that water rising from beneath the surface of the sand is pushed by the wind creating a surface the rocks can move along.’

Death Valley is the lowest point in the U.S., at 282ft below sea level. It is almost completely flat and holds the record for the second highest temperature ever recorded on earth, a blistering 58C.

In the 1990s a study by a team of scientists lead by Professor John Reid, from Hampshire College, Massachusetts, attempted to explain the rocks’ movement. His study concluded that the rocks may be moved when they become embedded in sheets of ice forming at night on the surface of the sand.

As the sand melts Prof Reid said that the rocks were moved along by the ice and wind, thus forming the patterns.

A neutron star is born: Stellar core just 12 miles across spotted 11,000 light years away

This supernova was captured by NASA Chandra X-Ray Observatory. The neutron star is the blue dot at the center of the picture

An infant neutron star, the super-dense core of a stellar explosion, has been observed for the first time.The 12.4 mile-wide object is the youngest object of its kind ever discovered, having appeared just 330 years ago.

It has been cloaked in mystery since it was identified as a powerful X-ray source in 1999. Astronomers  now know the source is a neutron star 11,000 light years from Earth at the center of the supernova Cassiopeia A.Neutron stars are the super-dense compact cores of massive stars whose outer shells have been blasted away in violent explosions at the end of their lives.Compressed tightly by gravity, they are composed almost entirely of neutrons, sub-atomic particles with no electric charge that form part of atoms.One teaspoonful of material from a neutron star would weigh a billion tonnes.

neutron star

Scientists are intrigued by the star’s carbon atmosphere which is just 10cm thick. This compares to our own atmosphere which is 100km

Astronomers studied the supernova using the Chandra X-ray space telescope launched by the American space agency NASA in 1999.

Every other neutron star identified by scientists has been much older. It is hoped the object will reveal more clues about the role exploding stars play in building the Universe.

Heavy elements flung out into space by supernovae end up in the rocks of planets such as the Earth. Even the human body is largely composed of stardust.

Professor Craig Heinke , from the University of Alberta in Canada, who co-led the new research published in the journal Nature, said: ‘The discovery helps us understand how neutron stars are born in violent supernova explosions.’This neutron star was born so hot that nuclear fusion happened on its surface, producing a carbon atmosphere just 10 centimeters thick.’(daily mail)