Some foreign hostages said killed in Algeria assault

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria said several hostages were killed on Thursday when its forces stormed a remote desert gas plant occupied by Islamist militants in retaliation for French intervention in Mali, and local sources said six foreigners were among the dead.

Amid reports of many more casualties in one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades, Western leaders expressed anger they had not been consulted before the operation and scrambled for word of their citizens. Some eight hours after the army assault began, Algerian state media said it was over.

Americans, Britons, Norwegians, French, Romanians and an Austrian, were among those taken, their countries said.

Algeria said its troops had been forced to act to free them due to the "diehard" attitude of their captors.

"When the terrorist group insisted on leaving the facility, taking the foreign hostages with them to neighboring states, the order was issued to special units to attack the position where the terrorists were entrenched," the government spokesman, Communication Minister, Mohamed Said told the state news agency.

The standoff began when gunmen calling themselves the Battalion of Blood stormed the natural gas facility early on Wednesday morning. They said they were holding 41 foreigners and demanded a halt to a French military operation against fellow al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants in neighboring Mali.

Said said the military operation, which Western officials were told had begun around noon (6:00 a.m. EST) on Thursday, resulted in "the liberation of a large number of hostages and the destruction of a large number of terrorists".

The raid increased fears jihadist militants could launch further attacks in Algeria, a vast desert country with large oil and gas reserves that is only just recovering from a protracted conflict with Islamist rebels during the 1990s which cost an estimated 200,000 lives.

A local source told Reuters six foreign hostages were killed along with eight captors when the Algerian military fired on a vehicle being used by the gunmen.

He said 40 Algerians and three foreigners were freed by the army as it continued its operation into Thursday evening. An Algerian security source said earlier that 25 foreign hostages had escaped.

Algeria's official APS news agency said about half the foreign hostages had been freed and about 600 Algerian workers at the site, under less tight guard, had managed to escape.

MILITANTS KNEW THEIR WAY AROUND

In a rare eyewitness account of Wednesday's raid, a local man who had escaped from the facility told Reuters the militants appeared to have good inside knowledge of the layout of the complex and used the language of radical Islam.

"The terrorists told us at the very start that they would not hurt Muslims but were only interested in the Christians and infidels," Abdelkader, 53, said by telephone from his home in the nearby town of In Amenas. "We will kill them, they said."

Mauritanian agency ANI and Qatar-based Al Jazeera said that 34 of the captives and 15 of their captors had been killed when government forces fired from helicopters at a vehicle.

Those death tolls, far higher than confirmed by the local source, would contradict the reports that large numbers of foreigners escaped alive. On Thursday evening, ANI said it had lost its previously regular contact with the kidnappers.

Britain and Norway, whose oil firms BP and Statoil run the plant jointly with the Algerian state oil company, said they had been informed by the Algerian authorities that a military operation was under way.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said people should prepare for bad news about the hostages. He earlier called his Algerian counterpart to express his concern at what he called a "very grave and serious" situation, Cameron's spokesman said.

"The Algerians are aware that we would have preferred to have been consulted in advance," the spokesman added.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said he had been told by his Algerian counterpart the action had started at around noon. He said they had tried to find a solution through the night, but that it had not worked.

"The Algerian prime minister said they felt they had no choice but to go in now," he said.

RAISING THE STAKES

The incident dramatically raises the stakes in the French military campaign in neighboring Mali, where hundreds of French paratroopers and marines are launching a ground offensive against Islamist rebels after air strikes began last week.

"What is happening in Algeria justifies all the more the decision I made in the name of France to intervene in Mali in line with the U.N. charter," French President Francois Hollande said, adding that things seemed to have taken a "dramatic" turn and he was still seeking details.

He said earlier that an unspecified number of French nationals were among the hostages. A French national was also among the hostage takers, a local source told Reuters. A large number of people from the former French colony live in France.

Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia said the kidnappers were led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a veteran Islamist guerrilla who fought in Afghanistan and set up his own group in the Sahara after falling out with other local al Qaeda leaders.

A holy warrior-cum-smuggler dubbed "The Uncatchable" by French intelligence and "Mister Marlboro" by some locals for his illicit cigarette-running business, Belmokhtar's links to those who seized towns across northern Mali last year are unclear.

A local source told Reuters the hostage takers had blown up a petrol filling station at the plant.

NUMBERS UNCONFIRMED

The precise number and nationalities of foreign hostages could not be confirmed, with some countries reluctant to release information that could be useful to the captors.

Britain said one of its citizens was killed in the initial storming on Wednesday and "a number" of others were held.

The militants had said seven Americans were among their hostages. The White House said it believed Americans were among those held but U.S. officials could not confirm the number. "This is an ongoing situation and we are seeking clarity," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters, expressing concern about the reported loss of lives.

Statoil said it had no word on nine of its Norwegian staff who had been held but that three Algerian employees were now free. BP said some of its staff were held but would not say how many or their nationalities.

Japanese media said five workers from Japanese engineering firm JGC Corp. were held, a number the company did not confirm. Vienna said one hostage was Austrian, Dublin said one Irish hostage had been freed and Bucharest said an unspecified number of those held were Romanian.

BP, Statoil and Spanish oil company Cepsa all said they had begun to evacuate personnel from elsewhere in Algeria, an OPEC member.

Hollande has received public backing from Western and African allies who fear that al Qaeda, flush with men and arms from the defeated forces of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, is building a desert haven in Mali, a poor country helpless to combat fighters who seized its northern oasis towns last year.

However, there is also some concern in Washington and other capitals that the French action in Mali could provoke a backlash worse than the initial threat by militants in the remote Sahara.

The militants, communicating through established contacts with media in neighboring Mauritania, said on Wednesday they had dozens of men armed with mortars and anti-aircraft missiles in the compound and had rigged it with explosives.

They condemned Algeria's secularist government for letting French warplanes fly over its territory to Mali and shutting its border to Malian refugees.

The attack in Algeria did not stop France from pressing on with its campaign in Mali. It said on Thursday it now had 1,400 troops on the ground in Mali, and combat was under way against the rebels that it first began targeting from the air last week.

The French action last week came as a surprise but received widespread international support in public. Neighboring African countries planning to provide ground troops for a U.N. force by September have said they will move faster to deploy them.

Nigeria, the strongest regional power, sent 162 soldiers on Thursday, the first of an anticipated 906.

A day after launching the campaign in Mali, Hollande also ordered a failed rescue in Somalia on Saturday to free a French hostage held by al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants since 2009. Al Shabaab said on Thursday it had executed hostage Denis Allex. France said it believed he died in the rescue.

(Additional reporting by Ali Abdelatti in Cairo, Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, Mohammed Abbas in London and Padraic Halpin in Writing by Peter Graff, Giles Elgood and Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

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US to recognise first Somali government in 20 years

WASHINGTON: The United States will on Thursday recognise the first Somali government in two decades, heralding a significant shift in ties since the deadly 1993 attack on US helicopters over Mogadishu.

The beginning of the new chapter will come when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton exchanges diplomatic notes with visiting Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, a top US official said Wednesday.

"The visit here this week of the new Somalian president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud represents a significant change in the security and political situation on the ground in Somalia and our relationship with that country," Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson told journalists.

It will be Clinton's first meeting with the new Somali leader who was only elected in September, and was relatively unknown outside his country.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991. Two years later, Americans were shocked by scenes of US soldiers being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu after Somali militants shot down two Black Hawk helicopters. Eighteen Americans died, and 80 were wounded.

However, a new Somali administration took office last year, ending eight years of transitional rule by a corruption-riddled government.

And in recent months, a 17,000-strong African Union force, fighting alongside government troops and Ethiopian soldiers, finally wrested a string of key towns from the control of Islamist Shebab insurgents.

Carson hailed recent US policies on Somalia, and praised the work of African nations through the African Union force in Somalia AMISOM, which helped oust the militants from their last major stronghold of Kismayo in September.

"This has been a major, major success. We are long way from where we were on October 3, 1993 when Black Hawk down occurred in Mogadishu," Carson said.

"Significant progress has been made in stabilising the country and in helping to break-up and defeat al-Shebab. Much more needs to be done but we think enormous progress has been made," he added.

Carson has repeatedly stressed that the success in Somalia should be seen as a model for African-led peacekeeping forces in the region.

A university lecturer, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud defied predictions and was chosen by lawmakers as Somalia's new president from among a dozen hopefuls in September elections.

Clinton swiftly congratulated him on his win, which was hailed by the US administration as "an important milestone" for the country.

His party described the new president as the architect of Somali civil society, and unlike many Somali politicians he is not part of the diaspora.

But he inherits an ongoing war, a humanitarian crisis, feeble institutions and deeply entrenched warlordism. Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels, who still control vast swathes of the country, dismissed his election as illegitimate.

The US move on Thursday will open doors to the country, which will also be the focus of a new international conference to be hosted in Britain in May.

"This will build on last year's successful meeting in London to help sustain international support for the progress being made by the Somali government," a spokeswoman for the office of British Prime Minister David Cameron said.

A US official, who asked to remain anonymous, said no official American aid package would be unveiled at the State Department meeting on Thursday.

However "the fact that we recognise a government there would allow us to do things through USAID we have not been able to do before," he said.

"The fact that we recognise them as the legitimate government would allow the World Bank and the IMF to do things that they had not been able to do before."

- AFP/jc

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A connection between video games and real-world violence?

President Obama announces his administration's new gun law proposals in the Eisenhower Executive Office building January 16, 2013 in Washington, DC.

(Credit:
Getty Images)

During a press conference unveiling his proposals for new gun control regulations earlier today, President Obama said he will ask Congress for $10 million to fund a study on the impact of video games and "media images" by the Centers for Disease Control.

It's a reasonable enough request. Gaming industry groups have said they'd welcome serious scientific research into the issue, though it's entirely unclear what the results of that research will lead to. And after what happened in Newtown, Conn., everyone -- from video game makers to movie producers to local news outlets to gun manufacturers -- should be engaged in serious soul searching.

But don't expect new revelations when it comes to video games. Psychologists have for years been looking at whether there are links between the fantasy violence of video games and, with rare exceptions, haven't found a connection. In 2010, the Review of General Psychology, which is the American Psychological Association's journal, published a special issue on the topic. While one psychologist did connect fantasy and real-world violence in certain personalities, the most compelling research found that link for the rest of society to be, at best, specious.

Christopher Ferguson, of Texas A&M International University, argued in one paper that "the negative effects of violent games have been exaggerated by some elements of the scientific community, fitting with past cycles of media-focused moral panics." To put it in historical perspective, Ferguson wrote, the Greek philosopher Plato worried about the deleterious effect of poetry on youths. Hand wringers have been worrying about the impact of movies since there have been movies. And to put in my generation's terms, parent groups worried that the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons would turn teens into axe-wielding occultists. I can say with some certainty that none of the socially challenged junior high kids with whom I played D&D turned into axe-wielding occultists.

But what about those "certain" personalities? Researchers generally believe people with psychopath tendencies (not, notably, people with autism) can at least be impacted by video game violence. That's the same personality, mind you, that most think shouldn't have access to dangerous weapons.

Basically, the research done so far validates common sense. If your kid has violent tendencies or indicates he or she has a low level of empathy (psychologists say a good indication of this is often cruelty to animals), then it would be wise to keep them away from violent games, violent images, and -- most of all -- weapons. Like I said...common sense.

Kate Edwards, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, said in a statement this afternoon that her group welcomes the research, assuming it will not be limited to gaming:

"We especially encourage the new research to explore all aspects of violence in media, including their potential benefits. For example, recent research shows a steam valve effect in which violent video gameplay helps release stress and aggression before it can lead to violence. Others studies have indicated that recent declines in real world violence can be attributed in part to potentially violent people spending more time looking for thrills in video games instead of on the streets."

Gaming reduces violence? Believe it or not, the psychology journal I mentioned did cite some research indicating that could be the case.

So that's the scientific and industry side of all this. The personal side is different. It's different for anyone who doesn't want their kids to see movies that glorify violence. It's different for anyone who isn't the most enthusiastic apologist for shoot-em-up games. Like many other parents I find first-person shooter games repellent. I grew up in a Pennsylvania household where learning how to use a hunting rifle was as natural as learning how to ride a bike. Still, the blood-splattering violence (particularly when you, the gamer, are the one responsible for that blood) in some video games makes me cringe.

Are those game allowed in my house? Nope. But as with discussions of violence in movies and ridiculing local news teams who travel to another state to get a bloody story to lead the nightly report, we're talking about personal taste, not science. And there's a difference between dangerous and distasteful.

Let's hope folks in Washington who set policy and create laws also know the difference.

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13 home buying tips for 2013

(MoneyWatch) Although housing prices started to rebound last year and are expected to continue rising in 2013, it's still a buyer's market. Prices remain 30 percent below their peak before the housing crash and mortgage rates hovering at all-time lows. If you are ready to jump in to the real estate market, here are 13 house-hunting tips for 2013.

1. Run the numbers. Put together a financial plan to determine whether you can really afford to buy. After all, just because it's a good time to purchase a home doesn't mean it's a good time for YOU to buy. It's important to understand how much home you can afford and whether home ownership might preclude you from addressing other important financial issues in your life.

2. Save 20 percent for a down payment. I'm not a huge fan of putting down less than that amount (although the Federal Housing Administration allows it). Keep your downpayment fund in cash or cash equivalent accounts, so that market movements don't thwart your plans.

3. Use this great "rent vs. buy" calculator from the New York Times. Renting might still be the better deal in your area.

4. Be an informed buyer. You're not going to buy a house simply because there's a pretty photo posted online, but you can conduct a lot of price research. That said, there's nothing better than talking to people in the neighborhood for "on the ground" intelligence.

5. Obtain a copy of your credit report. If you haven't done so in a while, go to AnnualCreditReport.com and request your free copy. It's important that you correct any errors on the report before you start the mortgage process.

6. Get pre-approved for a mortgage. Pre-approval is a good gut check on your price range for a home. Gone are the days that banks will fork over cash to anyone with a heartbeat. The best way to start is to ask friends for referrals from mortgage brokers and to shop around with banks and credit unions. Make sure to compare apples to apples and to ask the broker about your total costs to you at closing. You should also know that once you actually find a home, the mortgage process is on the same pain level as a root canal, only it requires more patience and there's no Novocain. You'll need to dig up tons of paperwork and fair warning -- there will be multiple requests for even more documents as you move toward closing. Eventually, you will need "commitment letter," which details the terms of your loan approval.

7. Find an agent. As much as everyone complains about realtors, I still think that it's tough to go through the home buying process alone. In some markets, buyers' brokers are available, but the most important qualities in brokers are honesty, experience, good connections with other agents, and good referrals from buyers like you. Remember that most agents represent the seller, not the buyer.

8. Hire a real estate attorney. This is a major transaction in your life, so don't try to save money when it comes to legal fees. Even if your mortgage company provides a lawyer, hire your own to help draft all documents and to ensure that your interests are being represented at every step of the process.

9. Get an appraisal. An appraisal will determine the market value of the property and ultimately will be used by your lender to determine the amount of your loan. You have a legal right to get a copy of this and will want a copy for your records.

10. Schedule a home inspection. Think you've found your dream house? Maybe, but unless you have an engineer walk through the premises with you, you might be buying a new roof in a couple of years. Don't get freaked out if a problem arises during the inspection; it can often be addressed with a simple adjustment in price. It's imperative to protect yourself, so don't blow off this important step.

11. Start with a fair offer. The offer should be based on similar houses sold in the neighborhood in the past six months. Your agent will help you with the process, but the offer should include the price you're willing to pay for the house, your financing terms and contingencies such as specifying what will happen if any problems come up during the inspection.

12. Purchase homeowners insurance. If you are a life-long renter, this can be an eye-opener in terms of cost. Make sure that you understand the difference between insuring the structure and insuring the contents. And if you are buying property that is close to water, make sure that you have an agent who can help you enroll in the national flood insurance program.

13. Review your HUD statement BEFORE closing. The government document provides basic details about the involved parties and a lot of numbers. Mistakes do occur, which is why it is vital that you review the statement and confirm that everything is correct.

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Obama Unveils Sweeping Plan to Curb Gun Violence

Flanked by four children from across the country, President Obama today unveiled a sweeping plan to curb gun violence in America through an extensive package of legislation and executive actions not seen since the 1960s.

Obama is asking Congress to implement mandatory background checks for all gun purchases, including private sales; reinstate a ban on some assault-style weapons; ban high-capacity magazines holding more than 10 rounds; and crackdown on illicit weapons trafficking.

The president's proposal also includes new initiatives for school safety, including a call for more federal aid to states for hiring so-called school resource officers (police), counselors and psychologists, and improved access to mental health care.

Obama also initiated 23 executive actions on gun violence, policy directives not needing congressional approval. Among them is a directive to federal agencies to beef up the national criminal background-check system and a memorandum lifting a freeze on gun violence research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"I intend to use whatever weight this office holds to make them a reality," Obama said at a midday news conference. "If there's even one thing that we can do to reduce this violence, if there's even one life that can be saved, then we have an obligation to try.

"And I'm going to do my part."

The announcement comes one month after a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., left 26 dead, including 20 children. Obama called it the worst moment of his presidency and promised "meaningful action" in response.

Maqndel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

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The proposals were the work of an Obama-appointed task force, led by Vice President Joe Biden, that held 22 meetings on gun violence in the past three weeks. The group received input from more than 220 organizations and dozens of elected officials, a senior administration official said.

As part of the push, Obama nominated a new director for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which leads enforcement of federal gun laws and has been without a confirmed director for six years. The president appointed acting director Todd Jones, the U.S. attorney for Minnesota, to the post, if the Senate confirms him.

The administration's plan calls for aid to states for the hiring of more school resource officers, counselors and psychologists. Obama also directed the Department of Education to ensure all schools have improved emergency-response plans.

He also called on Congress to make it illegal to possess or transfer armor-piercing bullets; it's now only illegal to produce them.

"To make a real and lasting difference, Congress must act," Obama said. "And Congress must act soon."

Officials said some of the legislative measures Obama outlined could be introduced on Capitol Hill next week. The pricetag for Obama's entire package is $500 million, the White House said.

"House committees of jurisdiction will review these recommendations," a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said in response to Obama's announcement. "And if the Senate passes a bill, we will also take a look at that."

The proposals are already being met with stiff opposition from gun rights advocates, led by the National Rifle Association, which overnight released a scathing ad attacking the president as an "elitist hypocrite."

"Are the president's kids more important than yours?" the narrator of the NRA ad says. "Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools, when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school?"

Obama has questioned the value of placing more armed guards at schools around the country, although his proposal does call for placement of more police officers at public schools. The NRA opposes most of the other gun restrictions Obama has proposed.

"Keeping our children and society safe remains our top priority," the NRA said in a statement after Obama's announcement.

"Attacking firearms and ignoring children is not a solution to the crisis we face as a nation," the group said. "Only honest, law-abiding gun owners will be affected and our children will remain vulnerable to the inevitability of more tragedy."

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Dozens held after Islamists attack Algerian gas field

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Islamist militants attacked a gas field in Algeria on Wednesday, claiming to have kidnapped up to 41 foreigners including seven Americans in a dawn raid in retaliation for France's intervention in Mali, according to regional media reports.

The raiders were also reported to have killed three people, including a Briton and a French national.

An al Qaeda affiliated group said the raid had been carried out because of Algeria's decision to allow France to use its air space for attacks against Islamists in Mali, where French forces have been in action against al Qaeda-linked militants since last week.

The attack in southern Algeria also raised fears that the French action in Mali could prompt further Islamist revenge attacks on Western targets in Africa, where al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) operates across borders in the Sahara desert, and in Europe.

AQIM said it had carried out Wednesday's raid on the In Amenas gas facility in OPEC member Algeria, Mauritania's ANI news agency reported.

The Algerian interior ministry said: "A terrorist group, heavily armed and using three vehicles, launched an attack this Wednesday at 5 a.m. against a Sonatrach base in Tigantourine, near In Amenas, about 100 km (60 miles) from the Algerian and Libyan border."

"The Algerian authorities will not respond to the demands of the terrorists and will not negotiate," Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia was quoted as saying by official news agency APS.

The gas field is operated by a joint venture including BP, Norwegian oil firm Statoil and Algerian state company Sonatrach.

ARMED MEN

BP said armed men were still occupying facilities at the gas field, which produces 9 billion cubic meters of gas a year(160,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day), more than a tenth of the country's overall gas output, and 60,000 barrels a day of condensate.

"The site was attacked and occupied by a group of unidentified armed people at about 0500 UK time. Contact with the site is extremely difficult, but we understand that armed individuals are still occupying the In Amenas operations site," it said.

A spokesman for BP said it usually had fewer than 20 people working at the site but would not be drawn on whether there were any talks with the hostage takers. He said: "Obviously we are doing everything we can to make sure our people are okay."

APS said a Briton and an Algerian security guard had been killed and seven people were injured. A French national was also killed in the attack, a local source said.

Also among those reported kidnapped by various sources were five Japanese nationals working for the Japanese engineering firm JGC Corp, a French national, an Austrian, an Irishman, and a number of Britons.

The U.S. State Department said it believed some U.S. citizens were also among the hostages, while Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said 13 employees of Statoil, a minority shareholder in the gas venture, were being held.

A member of an Islamist group styling itself the "Blood Battalion" was quoted by Mauritanian media as saying that five of the hostages were being held at the gas facility and 36 were in a housing area. APS said the Islamist raiders had freed Algerians working at the gas facility, though Regis Arnoux, head of French company CIS Catering, told JDD weekly newspaper that 150 Algerian employees of his company were being held at the site.

"The operation was in response to the blatant interference by Algeria and the opening of its air space to French aircraft to bomb northern Mali," the Islamist spokesman told Mauritania's ANI news agency.

ANI, which has regular direct contact with Islamists, said that fighters under the command of Mokhtar Belmokhtar were holding the foreigners.

Interior Minister Kablia also told APS that Belmokhtar was leading the group of about 20 individuals, whom he said were not from Mali, Libya or "any other neighboring state".

Belmokhtar, dubbed by French intelligence as "the uncatchable", for years commanded al Qaeda fighters in the Sahara before setting up his own armed Islamist group late last year after an apparent fallout with other militant leaders.

The Algerian army was in the area of the gas facility, according to French and Algerian sources.

ANI reported that the Islamists said they were surrounded by Algerian forces and warned that any attempt to free the hostages would lead to a "tragic end". One of the hostage takers told ANI that the perimeter of the site had been mined.

SECURITY IMPLICATIONS

The attack was the first time in years that Islamist militants are known to have launched an attack on an Algerian energy facility.

The attack could have implications for security across the whole of Algeria's energy sector, which supplies about a quarter of Europe's natural gas imports and exports millions of barrels of crude oil each year.

Such an attack would require a large and heavily armed insurgent force with a degree of freedom to move around, all elements that al Qaeda has not previously had.

However, the conflict in neighboring Libya in 2011 changed the balance of force. Security experts say al Qaeda was able to obtain arms, including heavy weapons, from the looted arsenals of former leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The five Japanese work for the engineering firm JGC Corporation, Jiji news agency reported, quoting company officials. JGC has a deal with Sonatrach-BP-Statoil Association for work in gas production at In Amenas.

A reporter for Japan's NHK television managed to call a JGC worker in Algeria.

The worker said he got a phone call from a colleague at the gas field. "It was around 6 a.m. this morning. He said that he had been hearing gunshots for about 20 minutes. I wasn't able to get through to him since."

French troops launched their first ground operation against Islamist rebels in Mali on Wednesday in an action to dislodge from a strategic town al Qaeda-linked fighters who have resisted six days of air strikes.

(Additional reporting by Catherine Bremer and John Irish in Paris, Laurent Prieur in Nouakchott, Andrew Osborn in London, Balazs Koranyi in Oslo, Antoni Slodkowski in Tokyo, Raissa Kasolowsky in Abu Dhabi and Christian Lowe in Warsaw; Editing by Giles Elgood and Will Waterman)

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Thousands commemorate Kurds slain in France

VILLIERS-LE-BEL: Thousands of mourners gathered in the French capital on Tuesday to pay an emotional final tribute to three female Kurdish activists who were shot dead there last week.

Coffins containing the bodies of the three women and draped in the Kurdish flag were carried by female pall-bearers into a community centre in the Paris suburb of Villiers-le-Bel.

They were then placed on an altar surrounded by candles and wreaths in the yellow, red and green of the Kurdish flag before black-clad mourners, many of them clutching a single rose, filed past.

Photographs of the three women, Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Soylemez were placed in front of their coffins for a ceremony attended by Kurds from all over Europe.

"We are here to ensure their commitment to the cause they fought for will not be forgotten," said 20-year-old Jiyan.

Fellow mourner Guler Biger wiped away tears and added: "May their killers be found soon."

The bodies of the three women were found inside a Kurdish information centre in Paris last Thursday. They had all been shot repeatedly in the head in what French authorities have described as an execution.

Victim Sakine Cansiz was a founding member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the other two women also had links to the outlawed group, which has been fighting for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey for nearly three decades.

The killings could have been linked to ongoing negotiations between the Turkish authorities and jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan that have raised hopes of a deal to end the conflict.

The negotiations are controversial with hardliners on both sides and one theory is that the murders may have been designed to derail the talks.

Kurdish activists believe the killings must have been the work of Turkish extremists while Turkey has suggested an internal PKK feud is a more likely explanation.

French police are investigating the possibility of a link to PKK fundraising activities, some of which have been described as extortion.

The women's coffins are due to be flown to Turkey on Wednesday for burial in their native towns or villages in the southeast of the country.

- AFP/jc

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The flu shot: What's stockpiled, why to get one now

Get a flu vaccine, it's not too late.

That's the recommendation being urged by federal health officials, local doctors and most experts who are commenting on this year's flu epidemic. But what exactly is in the flu vaccine, what forms does it come in, and why should we get vaccinated if there's still a chance we can get sick?

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Flu hits epidemic levels

Last week, the flu reached "epidemic levels," with 7.3 percent of all U.S. deaths caused by flu and pneumonia. Government estimates show 47 states are reporting widespread illness -- meaning at least 50 percent of its counties or subregions are reporting infections -- and high activity of influenza-like illness has been reported in 24 states and New York City. Officials expressed hope the flu may have peaked in some regions, but noted the severity of flu season is unpredictable.

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Calif. stockpiles flu vaccine to prevent epidemic

That's why people are being urged to get the flu vaccine, which the government calls the best way to prevent flu.

A new flu vaccine is developed every year in an attempt to provide the best chances to reduce risk of getting the flu or spreading the illness to others. So even for those who feel they won't get sick from the flu, experts note they should still get vaccinated because they may pass flu on to other people who are more at risk, such as young children, the elderly or persons with other medical conditions that weaken immunity.

The vaccines protect against infection and illness caused by the three influenza viruses -- or strains -- that a panel selects each year based on research that indicates which will be most common this season.

Play Video

Flu vaccine: Does it work?

This year's vaccine contains two influenza A strains and one influenza B strain, Dr. William Schaffner, the chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University who was immediate-past president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, told CBSNews.com Tuesday. The A strains include an H1N1 strain similar to the one that caused a 2009 "swine flu" pandemic and a new H3N2 strain that is actually the strain that is causing most of the damage now, according to Schaffner, who served on the CDC panel that helped pick which strains would go into this year's vaccine.

"So that was a bull's-eye hit," he said.

The influenza B strain included in the vaccine is similar to a 2010 strain, but Schaffner said there is typically more than one B strain "smoldering" during flu season. While this vaccine targets one of them, he said, there's another strain out there causing about 6 to 8 percent of the disease, and this year's vaccine won't protect flu caused by that virus.

However, just because you get vaccinated doesn't mean you'll evade the flu.

A recent CDC study found this year's vaccine is about 62 percent effective, meaning it will prevent disease completely 62 percent of the time, according to Schaffner.

"It means that the glass is more than half full," he said. "It's not a perfect vaccine, but a good vaccine."

Even when the flu vaccine does not prevent a person from getting sick, it can lead to milder illness or prevent complications including pneumonia and even death.

Once vaccinated, the body takes about two weeks to develop flu-fighting antibodies, meaning people are still at risk for flu after they get the vaccine. That's why experts recommend vaccination early in the fall before flu season -- which typically peaks in late January or February -- gets under way. The vaccine's protection lasts through the spring, according to the CDC, so people need to get it every year. People who already got vaccinated this fall should not try to get another flu shot amid the reports of a flu epidemic.

There are two types of flu vaccines available for Americans, according to the CDC: the "flu shot" and the nasal spray vaccine. A flu shot contains a killed flu virus that is given with a needle, typically in the arm. All people ages 6 months and older, including healthy people, those with chronic medical conditions and pregnant women are recommended to get a flu shot.

This year, there are three different types of flu shots available. A regular flu shot approved for people ages 6 months and older, a high-dose flu shot designed for people 65 and older (the higher dose is meant to give the elderly better protection because immunity weakens with age) and an intradermal flu shot approved for people 18 to 64 years of age that is injected into the skin, rather than the muscle as is typical for the other shot formulations. The latter shot has a needle 90 percent smaller than those used for typical flu shots, and may cause redness but not the soreness that may accompany the regular flu shot's deeper muscle injections.

As for FluMist nasal sprays, these vaccines are made with live, weakened flu viruses that enter the body by being pumped through the nose. The viruses in the nasal spray vaccine do not actually cause the flu even though they are "live," because they are designed to only work in cooler temperatures of the nose and not warmer areas like the lungs. This vaccine is approved for use in healthy people ages 2 through 49 who are not pregnant and don't suffer from egg allergies or other chronic medical conditions. Schaffner noted children sometimes prefer these vaccines because doctors don't have to bring out needles; some adults prefer the sprays for that same reason, he said.

Generally, people who should not get vaccinated include those who are allergic to chicken eggs or have had a severe reaction to influenza vaccination in the past, children younger than 6 months of age and people who are already sick with a fever, who should wait to recover before they are vaccinated. People with Guillain-Barr? Syndrome, a severe illness that could lead to muscle weakness and paralysis, should also speak to a doctor to help decide whether to take the vaccine.

Some critics have taken issue with the vaccine being only 62 percent effective, or the fact that many people who have taken it are still getting sick.

Dr. Adam Stracher, director of the primary care division of the Weill Cornell Physician Organization at Weill Cornell Medical College, told CBSNews.com that the vaccine is safe, and a much better option than not getting any vaccine.

"While it may not be 100 percent effective, even in those patients who get the flu after getting the flu vaccine, they tend to have a milder illness than patients who haven't gotten the flu vaccine," he said.

Stracher adds that despite some common fears it's impossible to get the actual flu from the vaccine because it's only made of a component of the virus,  but people can feel aches or a low-grade fever following vaccination as a response to a foreign protein being injected into the body.

Schaffner adds that less than 1 percent of people get a fever from the shot, and the nasal spray vaccine may lead to a runny nose or sore throat, but none of these things are considered a serious flu infection. He was blunt when assessing the common fears that the flu shot can cause the flu:

"That's malarkey," he said.

Improvements to the vaccine may also be on the horizon to improve future formulations.

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Widespread flu found in 47 states

CDC officials have discussed some potential improvements coming down the pike, including a quadrivalent vaccine that protects against four flu strains instead of three, and new cell-based flu vaccines, Flucelvax, which recently became FDA-approved in November.

The traditional method to create a vaccine involves virus samples being injected into specialized chicken eggs which are then incubated. Egg fluids are later harvested and purified into the vaccine. The new technology involves small amounts of virus which is placed into fermenting tanks with nutrients and animal cells. The virus is then deactivated, purified and put into vaccine vials, a method officials believe is faster than egg-based production and could speed up manufacturing in the event of a pandemic.

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Report: Flu vaccine production slow, outdated

In December, Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease specialist who has studied medical records and flu studies dating back to the 1930s, told CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano that growing viruses in chicken eggs is slow, inexact and outdated.

"If we don't change our current vaccines, we will have some protection, but we will in two ways miss two very important goals: one, protecting old people at the highest risk of death and two, when the next pandemic emerges, we will miss the opportunity to protect against pandemic," he said at the time. Despite his concerns, he recommended people get the vaccine because it's safe, and some protection is better than none.

Schaffner also mentioned that doctors are investigating "universal" flu vaccines that would be capable of preventing all flu strains that people would only need to get once every 10 years. Dr. Francis Collins, chief of the National Institutes of Health, confirmed the vaccine's development in Dec. 2011.

However, until then, people should get the current vaccine which is safe, said Schaffner, who paraphrased Voltaire for his message:

"Waiting for perfection is the greatest enemy of the current good," he said.

The CDC noted during a conference call last week that there are spot shortages of this year's vaccine based on some reports it has received. The agency's website directs people to the HealthMap Vaccine Finder where people can plug in their zip code. Users are also asked to report any vaccine shortages they may experience through this website or tweet @vaccinefinder on Twitter with the hashtag #vaxshortage.

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Secret Revealed: Facebook Announces New Tool

How you search Facebook is about to change. In fact, just the act of searching Facebook is probably about to start.

Facebook is trying to give Google a run for its money, with a new product called "Graph Search." It turns some of the personal information people have shared on Facebook into a powerful searchable database.

For the social network's 170 million users in the U.S., it's bound to change the way people interact with their Facebook friends. It also could mean lots more time wasted at work.

Facebook allowed ABC News "Nightline" behind the scenes ahead of today's product launch, an event shrouded in secrecy and rife with speculation. Company officials had sent out a tantalizingly vague invitation: "Come and see what we're building."

IMAGES: Screenshots of Graph Search and the offices where it was built

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has long wanted to develop a social search engine, even hinting back in September that one might be in the works. The new feature gives users the ability to easily search across the network and their friends' information. Company officials say they believe it has the potential to transform the way people use Facebook.

Graph Search: What Is It?
Until now, the search bar you saw when you logged in to your Facebook page wasn't very powerful. You could only search for Timelines -- your friends' pages, other peoples' public pages and business or product pages.

But now, after close to a year and a half of development, the new "Graph Search" will allow you to search and discover more about your friends and other information that's been put on the world's largest social site.

Inside the Crucial 24 Hours Before Facebook's Graph Search Launch: Watch Tonight at 12:35 a.m. on ABC News "Nightline"

The new tool, available only to a limited set of U.S. users at first, turns key information that nearly a billion people have shared on the site -- including photos, places, and things they "like" -- into a searchable database tailored to your individual social network.

The new tool allows you to search across your friends' Timelines, without having to go to each of their Timeline pages to find out if they like a specific place or thing.

"I can just type in a short, simple phrase, like friends who like soccer and live nearby," Facebook product manager Kate O'Neill, told ABC News "Nightline" in an exclusive behind-the-scenes interview. "And now I'm getting the exact group of people that I'm looking for, so I can play soccer and ask them if they want to kick the ball around with me after work." O'Neill was able to narrow down the search in a demonstration only to show women.

MORE: Guide to Facebook's New Privacy Settings

The tool can search your friends' publicly shared interests, photos, places and connections. O'Neill showed ABC News how you can search for different musical artists and see which of your friends like them. She also showed how you can search a company and see which of your friends, or friends of your friends, work there. Additionally, you can search for photos of a specific place -- like Big Sur -- and the Graph Search will return images your friends might have taken of the location.

Right now, you can't search for things that were shared in a Timeline post or an event. However, O'Neill confirmed that this would be added to Graph Search later.

Privacy and Opting Out
The new product raises obvious privacy questions. Will personal information now pop up in the Graph Search, even if you never wanted to share it? How about those photos you never wanted to have on Facebook in the first place, or the ones you thought you were sharing only with your close friends?

"[Privacy] is something, of course, we care a lot about, and so from the very beginning we made it so that you can only search for the things that you can already see on Facebook," Tom Stocky, one of the lead Graph Search senior engineers, told "Nightline."

Stocky also pointed ABC News to Facebook's recent privacy tool changes, which allow you better to see what personal information your friends and others can see on Facebook. O'Neill showed the new Activity Log tools as well as the photo "untag" tool, which lets you contact others who might have a photo of you posted that you'd wish they'd take down.

When asked if users can opt out of the new search in general, Stocky said that they can choose to change the privacy settings on each of their pieces of content.

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France to stay in Mali until stability restored

BAMAKO/DUBAI (Reuters) - France will end its intervention in Mali only once stability has returned to the West African country, French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday, raising the prospects of a costly, drawn-out operation against al Qaeda-linked rebels.

Paris has poured hundreds of soldiers into Mali and carried out air raids since Friday in the northern half of the country, which Western and regional states fear could become a base for attacks by Islamist militants in Africa and Europe.

Thousands of African troops are due to take over the offensive but regional armies are scrambling to accelerate the operation - initially not expected for months and brought forward by France's bombing campaign aimed at stopping a rebel advance on a strategic town last week.

"We have one goal. To ensure that when we leave, when we end our intervention, Mali is safe, has legitimate authorities, an electoral process and there are no more terrorists threatening its territory," Hollande told a news conference during a visit to the United Arab Emirates.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, accompanying Hollande, said the offensive against the Malian rebels could take some time, and the current French level of involvement could last weeks. Elections, however, would take months to organize.

French aircraft earlier hit rebels with fresh air strikes and a column of dozens of French armored vehicles rumbled into the dusty riverside capital of Bamako overnight, bringing to about 750 the number of French troops in Mali.

Paris has said it plans to deploy 2,500 soldiers in its former colony to bolster the Malian army and work with the intervention force provided by West African states.

West African defense chiefs met in Bamako on Tuesday to approve plans for speeding up the deployment of 3,300 regional troops, foreseen in a United Nations-backed intervention plan to be led by Africans.

Nigeria pledged to deploy soldiers within 24 hours and Belgium said it was sending transport planes and helicopters to help, but West Africa's armies need time to become operational.

Mali's north, a vast and inhospitable area of desert and rugged mountains the size of Texas, was seized last year by an Islamist alliance combining al Qaeda's north African wing AQIM with splinter group MUJWA and the home-grown Ansar Dine rebels.

Any delay in following up on the French air bombardments of Islamist bases and fuel depots with a ground offensive could allow the insurgents to slip away into the desert and mountains, regroup and counter-attack.

The rebels, who French officials say are mobile and well-armed, have shown they can hit back, dislodging government forces from Diabaly, 350 km (220 miles) from Bamako on Monday.

Residents said the town was still under Islamist control on Tuesday despite a number of air strikes that shook houses.

An eye witness near Segou, to the south, told Reuters he had seen 20 French Special Forces soldiers driving toward Diabaly.

Malians have largely welcomed the French intervention, having seen their army suffer a series of defeats by the rebels.

"With the arrival of the French, we have started to see the situation on the front evolve in our favor," said Aba Sanare, a resident of Bamako.

QUESTIONS OVER READINESS

Aboudou Toure Cheaka, a senior regional official in Bamako, said the West African troops would be on the ground in a week.

The original timetable for the 3,300-strong U.N.-sanctioned African force - to be backed by western logistics, money and intelligence services - did not initially foresee full deployment before September due to logistical constraints.

Senegal, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria and Guinea have all offered troops. Col. Mohammed Yerima, spokesman for Nigeria's defense ministry, said the first 190 soldiers would be dispatched within 24 hours.

But Nigeria, which is due to lead the mission, has already cautioned that even if some troops arrive in Mali soon, their training and equipping will take more time.

Sub-Saharan Africa's top oil producer, which already has peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur and is fighting a bloody and difficult insurgency at home against Islamist sect Boko Haram, could struggle to deliver on its troop commitment of 900 men.

One senior government adviser in Nigeria said the Mali deployment was stretching the country's military.

"The whole thing's a mess. We don't have any troops with experience of those extreme conditions, even of how to keep all that sand from ruining your equipment. And we're facing battle-hardened guys who live in those dunes," the adviser said, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject.

FRENCH LINING UP SUPPORT

France, which has repeatedly said it has abandoned its role as the policeman of its former African colonies, said on Monday that the U.S., Canada, Denmark and Germany had also offered logistical support.

Fabius has said Gulf Arab states would help the Mali campaign while Belgium said on Tuesday it would send two C130 transport planes and two medical helicopters to Mali following a request from Paris.

A meeting of donors for the operation was expected to be held in Addis Ababa at the end of January.

Security experts have warned that the multinational intervention in Mali, couched in terms of a campaign by governments against "terrorism", could provoke a jihadist backlash against France and the West, and African allies.

U.S. officials have warned of links between AQIM, Boko Haram in Nigeria and al Shabaab Islamic militants fighting in Somalia.

Al Shabaab, which foiled a French effort at the weekend to rescue a French secret agent it was holding hostage, urged Muslims around the world to rise up against what it called "Christian" attacks against Islam.

"Our brothers in Mali, show patience and tolerance and you will win. War planes never liberate a land," Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, al Shabaab's spokesman, said on a rebel-run website.

U.S. officials said Washington was sharing information with French forces in Mali and considering providing logistics, surveillance and airlift capability.

"We have made a commitment that al Qaeda is not going to find any place to hide," U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters as he began a visit to Europe. Panetta later said the U.S. had no plans to send troops to Mali.

"I don't know what the French endgame is for this. What is their goal? It reminds me of our initial move into Afghanistan," a U.S. military source told Reuters.

"Air strikes are fine. But pretty soon you run out of easy targets. Then what do you do? What do you do when they head up into the mountains?"

(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau and Raissa Kasolowsky in Abu Dhabi; Felix Onuah in Abuja and Tim Cocks in Lagos; Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu; Michelle Nichols Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations; Richard Valdmanis in Dakar; Joe Bavier in Abidjan; Jan Vermeylen in Brussels; Writing by Pascal Fletcher and David Lewis; editing by Richard Valdmanis and Giles Elgood)

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