A headphone amp and USB digital-to-analog converter for just $99 each

The Schiit Magni and Modi (left) and Schiit Asgard (right).

(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg/CNET)

Schiit Audio's very first product, the Asgard headphone amplifier, left me shaken and stirred back in 2010. It sold for $249, looked and sounded amazing, and to top things off, it was made in the U.S. -- not just assembled here. Most of the Asgard's parts are sourced from U.S. companies.

The Asgard is still in company's product line, and it's still $249. But Schiit has grown since then, and now offers a full line of more expensive headphone amps and USB digital-to-analog converters (DACs) -- which is great. But the company's most recent offerings sell for just $99 each! The Magni headphone amp and the Modi DAC are also made in America, and they sound spectacular.

They're both the same ultra-compact size, just 5x3.5x1.25 inches, and they each weigh about a pound. Both feature an all-metal case, and the design looks pretty serious. The Magni amp puts out up to 1.2 watts, so it's considerably more powerful than your average AV receiver's headphone amp. And unlike those built-in headphone amps, the Magni is not a chip-based amp that costs 20 cents. Most headphones don't need all that power -- but some headphones, like my Hifiman HE-400s, really come alive with more potent amps.

Yes, what you plug your headphones into can make or break their sound. Heck, most $1,000 receivers have marginal headphone amps. (They're not a big priority for most buyers.) But the Magni's innards feature fully discrete FET/bipolar, Class AB circuitry. That means the Magni is built like a miniature high-end speaker amplifier. I don't know of another headphone amp built that way for less than $250, and most $250-$500 amps aren't built as well as the Magni. The amp has just one set of RCA analog inputs on its backside, and a 6.3mm headphone jack on the front panel.

The Magni amp uses an external wall wart power supply; the Modi DAC is powered via the USB 2.0 asynchronous input connection. The USB is the only digital input -- there's no coaxial or Toslink optical inputs, but there's a pair of RCA analog outputs on the rear panel. The DAC handles up to 96kHz/24-bit digital audio. The Modi features switched-capacitor filtering and an active filter section, so you can run long analog cables from the Modi back to your hi-fi system without any loss of quality.

I played the Magni and Modi together, and loved the sound. Like the bigger Schiit amps I've tested, the sound is rich, with lots of detail and oomph. I started with my old Sennheiser HD 580 and Grado RS-1 headphones, and moved onto the brand-new Yamaha PRO 500, Sony MDR-1R, Noontec Zoro, and Koss Porta Pro over-the-ear and on-ear headphones, plus a few in-ear models, including Ultimate Ears UE 900s. I have quite a few more expensive desktop amps on hand, including the other Schiits at my disposal. But there was nothing about the sound of the Magni/Modi combo that I found wanting. They deliver bona-fide high-end sound quality. A lot of desktop headphone amps aren't quiet enough to use with in-ear headphones, but the Magni is.

Then I compared the Modi with the $449 Schiit Bifrost DAC, and it was easy to hear the difference. The Modi is sweet and mellow and very tolerant of cruddy-sounding low bit-rate files and streaming audio sources. But when I played great-sounding CDs, the Bifrost was a lot more transparent and detailed. There's less standing between my ears and the music. But as I did the Modi vs. Bifrost shootout, my respect for the Magni amp's sound went up. The $99 amp easily resolved the differences between the two DACs over my Hifiman HE 400 headphones. Stepping up from the Magni to the Asgard produced similar improvement, but to a much smaller degree. The Magni would still be an outstanding value for double the price.

The Magni and Modi come with two-year warranties. That's twice the coverage of most desktop components in their price range. Schiit has a 15-day return policy, so you can still send it back for a refund if you're not happy with the sound, but there is a 15 percent restocking fee.

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Source: Armstrong will admit doping to Oprah

AUSTIN, Texas Lance Armstrong will make a limited confession to doping during his televised interview with Oprah Winfrey next week, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

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Anti-doping chief: Armstrong bullied witnesses

38 Photos

Lance Armstrong

Armstrong, who has long denied doping, will also offer an apology during the interview scheduled to be taped Monday at his home in Austin, Texas, according to the person who spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no authorization to speak publicly on the matter.

While not directly saying he would confess or apologize, Armstrong sent a text message to The Associated Press early Saturday that said: "I told her (Winfrey) to go wherever she wants and I'll answer the questions directly, honestly and candidly. That's all I can say."

A confession would be a dramatic break from more than 13 years of vehement denials from Armstrong that he took performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France seven times.

The interview is scheduled to be taped broadcast Thursday night on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Citing an anonymous source, USA Today reported that the disgraced cyclist plans to admit using performance-enhancing drugs, but likely will not get into details of the allegations outlined in a 2012 report by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that led to Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life from the sport.

The New York Times first reported last week that Armstrong was considering making a confession.

The 41-year-old Armstrong, who vehemently denied doping for years, has not spoken publicly about the USADA report that cast him as the leader of a sophisticated and brazen doping program on his U.S. Postal Service teams that included use of steroids, blood boosters and illegal blood transfusions.

Winfrey's network announced Tuesday that Armstrong agreed to a "no holds barred" interview with her.

A confession to Winfrey would come at a time when some of Armstrong's legal troubles appear to be clearing up.

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious

Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right.

"He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan said. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business and, the thing is: After he won the lottery and the next day later he passes away -- it's awkward. It raises some eyebrows."

The medical examiner initially ruled Urooj Khan, 46, an immigrant from India who owned dry-cleaning businesses in Chicago, died July 20, 2012, of natural causes. But after a family member demanded more tests, authorities in November found a lethal amount of cyanide in his blood, turning the case into a homicide investigation.

"When we found out there was cyanide in his blood after the extensive toxicology reports, we had to believe that ... somebody had to kill him," Minhaj Khan said. "It had to happen, because where can you get cyanide?"

In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners

Authorities could be one step closer to learning what happened to Urooj Khan. A judge Friday approved an order to exhume his body at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago as early as Thursday to perform further tests.

Lottery Winner Murdered: Widow Questioned By Police Watch Video

Moments after the court hearing, Urooj Khan's sister, Meraj Khan, remembered her brother as the kind of person who would've shared his jackpot with anyone. Speaking at the Cook County Courthouse, she hoped the exhumation would help the investigation.

"It's very hard because I wanted my brother to rest in peace, but then we have to have justice served," she said, according to ABC News station WLS in Chicago. "So if that's what it takes for him to bring justice and peace, then that's what needs to be done."

Khan reportedly did not have a will. With the investigation moving forward, his family is waging a legal fight against his widow, Shabana Ansari, 32, over more than $1 million, including Urooj Khan's lottery winnings, as well as his business and real estate holdings.

Khan's brother filed a petition Wednesday to a judge asking Citibank to release information about Khan's assets to "ultimately ensure" that [Khan's] minor daughter from a prior marriage "receives her proper share."

Ansari may have tried to cash the jackpot check after Khan's death, according to court documents, which also showed Urooj Khan's family is questioning if the couple was ever even legally married.

Ansari, Urooj Khan's second wife, who still works at the couple's dry cleaning business, has insisted they were married legally.

She has told reporters the night before her husband died, she cooked a traditional Indian meal for him and their family, including Khan's daughter and Ansari's father. Not feeling well, Khan retired early, Ansari told the Chicago Sun-Times, falling asleep in a chair, waking up in agony, then collapsing in the middle of the night. She said she called 911.

"It has been an incredibly hard time," she told ABC News earlier this week. "We went from being the happiest the day we got the check. It was the best sleep I've had. And then the next day, everything was gone.

"I am cooperating with the investigation," Ansari told ABC News. "I want the truth to come out."

Ansari has not been named a suspect, but her attorney, Steven Kozicki, said investigators did question her for more than four hours.

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Obama, Karzai accelerate end of U.S. combat role in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed on Friday to speed up the handover of combat operations in Afghanistan to Afghan forces, raising the prospect of an accelerated U.S. withdrawal from the country and underscoring Obama's determination to wind down a long, unpopular war.

Signaling a narrowing of differences, Karzai appeared to give ground in talks at the White House on U.S. demands for immunity from prosecution for any American troops who stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014, a concession that could allow Obama to keep at least a small residual force there.

Both leaders also threw their support behind tentative Afghan reconciliation efforts with Taliban insurgents, endorsing the establishment of a Taliban political office in Qatar in hopes of bringing insurgents to inter-Afghan talks.

Outwardly, at least, the meeting appeared to be something of a success for both men, who need to show their vastly different publics they are making progress in their goals for Afghanistan. There were no signs of the friction that has frequently marked Obama's relations with Karzai.

Karzai's visit came amid stepped-up deliberations in Washington over the size and scope of the U.S. military role in Afghanistan once the NATO-led combat mission concludes at the end of 2014.

"By the end of next year, 2014, the transition will be complete," Obama said at a news conference with Karzai standing at his side. "Afghans will have full responsibility for their security, and this war will come to a responsible end."

The Obama administration has been considering a residual force of between 3,000 and 9,000 troops - far fewer than some U.S. commanders propose - to conduct counterterrorism operations and to train and assist Afghan forces.

A top Obama aide said this week that the administration does not rule out a complete withdrawal after 2014, a move that some experts say would be disastrous for the weak Afghan central government and its fledgling security apparatus.

Obama on Friday left open the possibility of that so-called "zero option" when he several times used the word "if" to suggest that a post-2014 U.S. presence was far from guaranteed.

Insisting that Afghan forces were "stepping up" faster than expected, Obama said Afghan troops would take over the lead in combat missions across the country this spring, rather than waiting until the summer as originally planned. NATO troops will then assume a "support role," he said.

"It will be a historic moment and another step toward full Afghan sovereignty," Obama said.

Obama said final decisions on this year's troop cuts and the post-2014 U.S. military role were still months away, but his comments suggested he favors a stepped-up withdrawal timetable.

There are some 66,000 U.S. troops currently in Afghanistan. Washington's NATO allies have been steadily reducing their troop numbers as well despite doubts about the ability of Afghan forces to shoulder full responsibility for security.

'WAR OF NECESSITY'

Karzai voiced satisfaction over Obama's agreement to turn over control of detention centers to Afghan authorities, a source of dispute between their countries, although the White House released no details of the accord on that subject.

Obama once called Afghanistan a "war of necessity." But he is heading into a second term looking for an orderly way out of the conflict, which was sparked by the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States by an al Qaeda network harbored by Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.

He faces the challenge of pressing ahead with his re-election pledge to continue winding down the war while preparing the Afghan government to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence once most NATO forces are gone.

Former Senator Chuck Hagel, Obama's nominee to become defense secretary, is likely to favor a sizable troop reduction.

Karzai, meanwhile, is eager to show he is working to ensure Afghans regain full control of their territory after a foreign military presence of more than 11 years.

Asked whether the cost of the war in lives and money was worth it, Obama said: "We achieved our central goal ... or have come very close to achieving our central goal, which is to de-capacitate al Qaeda, to dismantle them, to make sure that they can't attack us again."

He added: "Have we achieved everything that some might have imagined us achieving in the best of scenarios? Probably not. This is a human enterprise, and you fall short of the ideal."

Obama made clear that unless the Afghan government agrees to legal immunity for U.S. troops, he would withdraw them all after 2014 - as happened in Iraq at the end of 2011.

Karzai, who criticized NATO over civilian deaths, said that with Obama's agreement to transfer detention centers and the planned withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghan villages, "I can go to the Afghan people and argue for immunity" in a bilateral security pact being negotiated.

Addressing students at Georgetown University later in the day, the Afghan leader predicted with certainty that the United States would keep a limited number of troops in Afghanistan after 2014, in part to battle al Qaeda and its affiliates.

"One of the reasons the United States will continue a limited presence in Afghanistan after 2014 in certain facilities in Afghanistan is because we have decided together to continue to fight against al Qaeda," Karzai said. "So there will be no respite in that."

Many of Obama's Republican opponents have criticized him for setting a withdrawal timetable and accuse him of undercutting the U.S. mission by reducing troop numbers too quickly.

Karzai and his U.S. partners have not always seen eye to eye, even though the American military has been crucial to preventing insurgent attempts to oust him.

In October, Karzai accused Washington of playing a double game by fighting the war in Afghan villages instead of going after insurgents who cross the border from neighboring Pakistan.

In Friday's news conference, Karzai did not back down from his previous comments that foreigners were responsible for some of the official corruption critics say is rampant in Afghanistan. But he acknowledged: "There is corruption in the Afghan government that we are fighting against."

Adding to tensions has been a rash of deadly "insider" attacks by Afghan soldiers and police against NATO-led troops training or working with them. U.S. forces have also been involved in a series of incidents that enraged Afghans, including burning Korans, which touched off days of rioting.

(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Mark Felsenthal, Jeff Mason, Phil Stewart, Tabassum Zakaria, David Alexander; Editing by Warren Strobel and Will Dunham)

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Several killed in failed French raid to free Somalia hostage

MOGADISHU: A French soldier and 17 Islamists were killed in a failed bid to free an intelligence officer captured in Somalia in 2009 and whose fate remained unclear, the defence minister said Saturday.

The overnight operation involving some 50 troops and at least five helicopters to free the intelligence agent, with the alias of Denis Allex, was launched by elite forces from the DGSE secret service, Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

"All indications are (that Allex was) killed by his captors," Le Drian told reporters, adding that one French soldier was killed and another missing. He had earlier spoken of two dead troops.

The Shebab, Al Qaeda's local franchise which has held the Frenchman for more than three years, denied Le Drian's assertion that Allex was killed by his captors during the raid and even claimed to have captured a member of the commando team.

"In the end, it will be the French citizens who will inevitably taste the bitter consequences of their government's devil-may-care attitude towards hostages," a Shebab statement said.

Le Drian said the raid in Bulomarer, some 110 kilometres (70 miles) south of Mogadishu, was sparked by the "intransigence of the terrorists who have refused to negotiate for three and a half years and were holding Denis Allex in inhuman conditions."

It came on the same day that French troops launched air strikes on Islamist militants in Mali, in west Africa, but the minister said the operations were not connected.

Allex is among nine French hostages in Africa of whom at least six are held by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

French President Francois Hollande expressed his great distress over the deaths and extended his condolences to the families of victims.

A French expert involved in several hostage negotiations said "talks with the Somali Islamists had become impossible due to the huge ransom demanded and the marked opposition of the Americans to the payment of ransom.

"Denis Allex became a human shield and an operation had become indispensable," the expert said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A source close to the case also speaking on condition of anonymity said the DGSE had been preparing a raid to free Allex for more than a year, adding they had "been cancelled at the last-minute three or four times as we did not have a solid confirmation of his location."

The Shebab statement said the French carried away "several" of their dead.

"The helicopters attacked a house... upon the assumption that Denis Allex was being held at that location, but owing to a fatal intelligence blunder, the rescue mission turned disastrously wrong.

"The injured French soldier is now in the custody of the mujahedeen and Allex still remains safe and far from the location of the battle," it said.

A Bulomarer resident, Idris Youssouf, told AFP: "We don't know exactly what happened because the attack took place at night, but this morning we saw several corpses including that of a white man.

"Three civilians were also killed in the gunfight," he said.

Allex was kidnapped in Somalia on Bastille day in July 2009 along with a colleague. The second hostage, named as Marc Aubriere, was freed in August in what the French government said was an escape.

The Al-Qaeda linked Shebab lost their main strongholds in the south and centre of the country following an offensive launched in mid-2011 by an African Union force, but they still control some rural areas.

Allex appeared in a video in June 2010 appealing to Paris to drop its support for the Somali government.

He last appeared in another video in October looking gaunt and calling on Hollande to work for his release.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991.

France has a recent history of botched operations, including a failed joint raid with Niger forces in 2011 that left both hostages dead, another in Mali that led to the hostage's execution.

In 2009, French commandos launched a raid to free a French family whose yacht had been hijacked by Somali pirates. They retook the boat but accidentally shot the father.

-AFP/ac

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4K TV, tablets, and timepieces at CES 2013 (week in review)

The Razer Edge gaming tablet

Forget about 3D TV -- this year's Consumer Electronics Show was all about 4K.

Sony got the ball rolling with the unveiling of new 55-inch and 65-inch 4K TVs, as well as the world's first 4K video distribution service, which offers native 4K movies from Sony Pictures and other 4K content creators. Additionally, the company also said it would be selling "4K mastered" Blu-ray discs this summer; they'll be standard 1080p resolution (not 4K), but supposedly look better than traditional Blu-rays.

The electronics giant unveiled a prototype 4K OLED TV at 56 inches, although little was said about it. Meanwhile, Panasonic displayed its own 4K OLED screen, which it claims is the world's biggest at less than half an inch thick. Panasonic also showed off a 4K tablet prototype that boasted a ridiculous 3,840x2,560-pixel resolution and 230 pixels per inch packed into a 20-inch IPS LED-backlit LCD display.

There were plenty -- plenty --of other stories at the Las Vegas show, but here's a brief roundup of some of the highlights:

•  Microsoft CEO crashes Qualcomm keynote at CES

•  Samsung shows off Youm flexible display

•  Scrappy Dish wows again at CES with TV anywhere push

•  Razer Edge gaming tablet becomes reality at CES

•  Actor, gadget fan Danny DeVito speaks with CNET at CES

•  Pebble watch is the smartest timepiece ever

More headlines

Amazon lets rip with AutoRip music service

When you buy an AutoRip-enabled CD, you automatically get the MP3 version for free, and those MP3 versions will be available via Amazon's Cloud Player.

•  Scoop: Amazon to launch auto rip, an effort to sex up CDs

Dish counters Sprint, makes $5.5B offer for Clearwire

The satellite TV provider's unsolicited offer for the wireless broadband company is more than 10 percent higher than Sprint's.

•  Sprint reportedly asks to partner with Dish

Google withdraws ITC patent claims against Microsoft

Motorola Mobility's parent drops two patents from its infringement case over video-coding patents used in Xboxes and smartphones.

•  Justice Department, Patent Office urge limiting sales bans

•  Sling Media sues Belkin, Monsoon for patent infringement

Iran said to be responsible for cyberattacks on U.S. banks

The massive wave of DDoS attacks that hit U.S. banks recently was thought to have been done by a fringe hacker group, however government officials now believe it was the work of Iran.

•  Iran develops software to control access to social networks

Congressman: Google FTC probe results were leaked illegally

News of the FTC's investigation into the search giant's business practices leaked a day before being made public. Now Rep. Darrell Issa is demanding an inquiry into the leaks.

•  Senator blasts leaks in FTC's Google investigation

•  Watchdog seeks FTC staff opinion on Google antitrust case

•  EU still unhappy with how Google shows search results

Microsoft to kill the Messenger on March 15

The tech titan plans to migrate users of the instant-messaging client to Skype, which it purchased in 2011.

•  Microsoft updates Skype for Windows with Outlook integration

T-Mobile rips up contract on unlimited data plan

In another example of its push into prepaid, the carrier is offering its unlimited plan without a contract.

•  T-Mobile expands iPhone-compatible 4G service, unveils HD voice

Netflix brings 3D, 'Super HD' video to some customers

The video streaming service adds a limited number of 3D movies to its library. The hitch? You can only access them if you've got an ISP that uses its Open Connect network.

•  Warner Bros. to bring 'Revolution,' 'Fringe' to Netflix

Google's Schmidt presses North Korean officials for open Web

The Web giant's executive chairman tells reporters that his private delegation warned officials that global Internet access is key to a developing economy.

•  In N. Korea, Google's Schmidt gets glimpse of Net

Also of note

•  Aereo to bring its TV service to 22 cities this year

•  Facebook invites media to event at HQ next week

•  Steve Ballmer bringing NBA's Kings to Seattle?

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Judge delays James Holmes arraignment to March

Last Updated 12:11 p.m. ET

CENTENNIAL, Colo. A judge on Friday delayed the arraignment of the man charged with the Colorado theater shooting until March.

District Judge William Sylvester ruled Thursday night that prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence to proceed with charges alleging that James Holmes killed 12 people and injured 70 others at a suburban Denver movie theater on July 20.

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James Holmes trial will proceed, according to Colo. judge

Holmes is charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder.

Holmes won't have to enter a plea until March 12 after the judge granted a defense motion to delay that proceeding.

A majority of the families of the victims objected to the delay.

A majority of the families of the victims objected to the delay.

Steve Hernandez, father of the slain Rebecca Wingo, was seated in the courtroom. At the end of the hearing he yelled out, "Rot in hell, Holmes!"

The judge reconvened court to address this outburst. Hernandez stood before the court and told the judge, "I meant no disrespect to the court or your honor." And then said, "I promise no further outbursts."

Prior to Mr. Hernandez's statement to the court, the judge told him, "I'm terribly sorry for your loss. I can only begin to imagine the emotions this must be raising."

Defense lawyers didn't give a reason for the delay.

One possible reason could be to seek a mental health evaluation by a doctor of their choosing. His lawyers have said Holmes is mentally ill, raising the possibility of an insanity defense.

If Holmes had entered an insanity plea, an evaluation would be done by state doctors.

Holmes' attorneys also objected to news media requests to bring cameras into the courtroom during the arraignment. Cameras have been barred from court since Holmes' initial appearance in July.

If Holmes, 25, is convicted of first-degree murder, he could face the death penalty. Prosecutors have not said whether they would pursue that sentence.

At a preliminary hearing this week, prosecution witnesses testified that Holmes spent weeks amassing an arsenal and planning the attack at a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises." They also detailed an elaborate setup at Holmes' apartment designed to explode at the same time as the theater attack several miles away.

Prosecution witnesses testified that Holmes began acquiring weapons in early May and by July 6 had two semi-automatic pistols, a shotgun, a semi-automatic rifle, 6,200 rounds of ammunition and high-capacity magazines that allow a shooter to fire more rounds without stopping to reload.

Holmes' lawyers called no witnesses this week. They have said he is mentally ill.

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Teen to Hero Teacher: 'I Don't Want to Shoot You'

A California teacher'sbrave conversation with a 16-year-old gunman who had opened fire on his classroom bullies allowed 28 other students to quickly escape what could have been a massacre.

Science teacher Ryan Heber calmly confronted the teenager after he shot and critically wounded a classmate, whom authorities say had bullied the boy for more than year at Taft Union High School.

"I don't want to shoot you," the teen gunman told Heber, who convinced the teen gunman to drop his weapon, a high power shotgun.

Responding to calls of shots fired, campus supervisor Kim Lee Fields arrived at the classroom and helped Heber talk the boy into giving up the weapon.

"This teacher and this counselor stood there face-to-face not knowing if he was going to shoot them," said Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood. "They probably expected the worst and hoped for the best, but they gave the students a chance to escape."

One student, who police say the shooter had targeted, was shot. He was airlifted to a hospital and remains in critical, but stable condition, Youngblood said. He is expected to undergo surgery today.

Two other students received minor injuries. One suffered hearing loss and another fell over a table while evacuating. Heber received a wound to his head from a stray pellet, police said.

Taft Midway Driller/Doug Keeler/AP Photo

Tennessee Teen Arrested Over School Shooting Threat Watch Video

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Police said the teen, whose name has not been made public because he is a minor, began plotting on Wednesday night to kill two students he felt had bullied him.

Authorities believe the suspect found his older brother's gun and brought it into the just before 9 a.m. on Thursday and went to Heber's second-floor classroom where a first period science class with 20 students was taking place.

"He planned the event," Youngblood said. "Certainly he believed that the two people he targeted had bullied him, in his mind. Whether that occurred or not we don't know yet."

The gunman entered the classroom and shot one of his classmates. Heber immediately began trying to talk him into handing over the gun, and evacuating the other students through the classroom's backdoor.

"The heroics of these two people goes without saying. ... They could have just as easily ... tried to get out of the classroom and left students, and they didn't," the sheriff said. "They knew not to let him leave the classroom with that shotgun."

The gunman was found with several rounds of additional ammunition in his pockets.

Within one minute of the shooting, a 911 call was placed and police arrived on the scene. An announcement was made placing the school on lockdown and warning teachers and students that the precautions were "not a drill."

The school had recently announced new safety procedures following last month's deadly shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school in which 20 young children were killed. Six school staffers, including the principal, were killed as they tried to protect the children from gunman Adam Lanza.

The school employs an armed security guard, but he was not on campus Thursday morning.

Youngblood said the student would be charged with attempted murder, but the district attorney would decide if he was to be tried as an adult.

Some 900 students attend Taft Union High School, located in Taft, Calif., a rural community in southern California.

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Syria rebels seize base as envoy holds talks

BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) - Rebels seized control of one of Syria's largest helicopter bases on Friday, opposition sources said, in their first capture of a military airfield used by President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Fighting raged across the country as international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi sought a political solution to Syria's civil war, meeting senior U.S. and Russian officials in Geneva.

But the two world powers are still deadlocked over Assad's fate in any transition.

The United States, which backs the 21-month-old revolt, says Assad can play no future role, while Syria's main arms supplier Russia said before the talks that his exit should not be a precondition for negotiations.

Syria is mired in bloodshed that has cost more than 60,000 lives and displaced millions of people. Severe winter weather is compounding their misery. The U.N. children's agency UNICEF says more than 2 million children are struggling to stay warm.

The capture of Taftanaz air base, after months of sporadic fighting, could help rebels solidify their hold on northern Syria, according to Rami Abdelrahman, head of the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

TACTICAL, NOT STRATEGIC GAIN

But Yezid Sayigh, at the Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut, said it was not a game-changer, noting that it had taken months for the rebels to overrun a base whose usefulness to the military was already compromised by the clashes around it.

"This is a tactical rather than a strategic gain," he said.

In Geneva, U.N.-Arab League envoy Brahimi's closed-door talks began with individual meetings with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov. He later held talks with both sides together.

A U.S. official said negotiations would focus on "creating the conditions to advance a political solution - specifically a transitional governing body".

Six months ago, world powers meeting in Geneva proposed a transitional government but left open Assad's role. Brahimi told Reuters on Wednesday that the Syrian leader could play no part in such a transition and suggested it was time he quit.

Responding a day later, Syria's foreign ministry berated the veteran Algerian diplomat as "flagrantly biased toward those who are conspiring against Syria and its people".

Russia has argued that outside powers should not decide who should take part in any transitional government.

"Only the Syrians themselves can agree on a model or the further development of their country," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.

REFUGEE MISERY

But Syrians seem too divided for any such agreement.

The umbrella opposition group abroad, the Syrian National Coalition, said on Friday it had proposed a transition plan that would kept government institutions intact at a meeting with diplomats in London this week. But the plan has received no public endorsement from the opposition's foreign backers.

With no end to fighting in sight, the misery of Syrian civilians has rapidly increased, especially with the advent of some of the worst winter conditions in years.

Saudi Arabia said it would send $10 million worth of aid to help Syrian refugees in Jordan, where torrential rain has flooded hundreds of tents in the Zaatari refugee camp.

A fierce storm that swept the region has raised concerns for 600,000 Syrian refugees who have fled to neighboring countries, as well as more than 2.5 million displaced inside Syria, many of whom live in flimsy tents at unofficial border camps.

Opposition activists report dozens of weather-related deaths in Syria in the last four days. UNICEF said refugee children are at risk because conditions have hampered access to services.

Earlier this week, another United Nations agency said around one million Syrians were going hungry. The World Food Programme cited difficulties entering conflict zones and said that the few government-approved aid agencies allowed to distribute aid were stretched to the limit.

The WFP said it supplying rations to about 1.5 million people in Syria each month, far short of the 2.5 million deemed to be in need.

(Additional reporting by Alexander Dzsiadosz in Beirut and Raissa Kasolowsky in Abu Dhabi; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

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Turkey blames internal feud as France hunts Kurd killers

PARIS: Police on Friday hunted the assassins of three Kurdish activists shot dead in Paris as Turkey said an internal feud in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was most likely behind the slayings.

The PKK meanwhile warned that it would hold France responsible if the killers are not quickly found, as Ankara asked for increased security to safeguard its missions in France.

French judicial sources said the three female activists, including founding PKK member Sakine Cansiz, were each shot at least three times in the head, giving further credence to the theory of an execution-style hit.

Autopsies on the bodies revealed that one of the women had been shot four times in the head and the other two shot three times, the sources said. A police source said that 7.65 mm bullets were found, indicating the use of automatic pistols.

The killings came days after Turkish media reported Turkey and the PKK leadership had agreed a roadmap to end the three-decade old insurgency that has claimed more than 45,000 lives.

The PKK, which took up arms in 1984 for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey, is considered a terrorist organisation by Ankara and much of the international community.

Experts have suggested a number of potential motives for the killings, including an attack by Turkish extremists and internal feuding within the PKK.

The three were found dead on Thursday at the Kurdistan Information Centre in the French capital's 10th district, after last being seen alive at the centre at midday on Wednesday.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the slayings bore the hallmarks of an internal feud, noting that the victims appeared to have given the killer or killers access to the centre.

"The place was protected not by one lock but many coded locks," Anatolia news agency quoted Erdogan as telling reporters. "Those three people opened it (the door). I do not assume they would open it to people they didn't know."

But the Turkish leader also upheld his earlier suggestion that the slayings could be aimed at derailing peace talks between Ankara and the PKK's jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan.

"The killings could be the result of an internal feud or steps aimed at disrupting the steps we are taking with good intentions," Erdogan said.

Experts have said potential internal feuding could be linked to the peace process or to other PKK activities, in particular conflicts over money.

A French judicial source said police are currently running 21 investigations into potentially illegal fundraising by the PKK.

The group raises funds through a "revolutionary tax" on Kurdish expatriates that authorities in several countries have condemned as extortion.

The PKK's military wing, the People's Defence Forces (HPG), said in a statement on its website that France would be held to account if no progress is made in the investigation.

"France has a responsibility to immediately shed light on the massacre," it said. "Or it will be held responsible for the murder of our comrades."

The PKK accused Ankara of trying to shift the blame on Kurds for what it called a "well-organised and professional political murder."

A Turkish diplomatic source meanwhile said Ankara had asked France to boost security at its missions. "We alerted our representations in France and the rest of Europe to be careful," the source added.

There are around 150,000 Kurds in France, the vast majority of them of Turkish origin.

-AFP/ac

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Cheap iPhone could reach half a billion potential customers, says analyst

How many customers would a cheap iPhone grab?

(Credit:
CNET)

A cheaper iPhone could tap into a world of potential sales of 580 million units, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.

Rumors have been flying lately that Apple will introduce a low-cost iPhone to reach out to developing markets and offer more competition to
Android. Assuming the rumors even prove true, Munster feels such a phone would provide a huge boost to Apple's market share.

"We believe that the high-end smartphone market (above $400 USD off contract) for [calendar year 2013] will be about 320 million units, of which we believe Apple will capture 50 percent market share," Munster said in an investors note out today. "We believe this means Apple is missing the other 65 percent of the market, or 580 million units, given its current product lineup without the lower priced phone."

As a result, the analyst thinks Apple will unveil a low-cost iPhone this year to address that missing 65 percent not served by its current iPhone lineup, representing 580 million potential units.

A cheap iPhone will hurt gross margins over the next few years, but the overall impact is likely to be less than 1 percent, Munster said. Even with the effect on margins, the analyst sees this as a prime opportunity for Apple. A lower-price iPhone will help Apple reach sales growth of 22 percent this year and 23 percent next year.

"We believe the opportunity for Apple is too large to miss as the low-end market is growing significantly faster than the high-end smartphone market," Munster added.

The analyst expects the low-cost iPhone to offer a lower-quality screen and case and potentially a slower processor than the current lineup.

What about the price?

A Bloomberg report out yesterday estimated a price range for the phone of $99 to $149. Munster believes Apple will sell the phone for as much $199, but at an off-contract price. At that level, the cheaper iPhone's core competition would be Android phones that sell for $99 to $199.

However, the price could be higher depending on the amount of storage offered.

"While we are assuming a $200 ASP (average selling price) for the lower priced phone, we also note that Apple may have multiple storage sizes like the current iPhone lineup, which could result in ASPs higher than the base level," Munster said. "If this were the case, it may blunt some of the effect on margins given the higher storage devices would carry a slightly better margin profile."

Rumors of a cheap iPhone revved up this week after both the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg claimed that Apple is prepping to launch such a device this year.

In December, Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said he thinks a low-cost iPhone is on the agenda for this summer with a price of $200 to $250. Last week, Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston added his voice, saying he believes Apple will unveil an "iPhone Mini" but not until next year at the earliest.

And what is Apple's response?

Phil Schiller, the company's senior VP of marketing, has more or less quashed the rumors. In a translation of an interview with the Shanghai Evening News yesterday, Schiller said that Apple will "not develop cheap smartphones in order to grab market share away."

(Schiller comment via 9to5Mac)

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Locals: Trapped whales freed with sea ice shift

Updated at 11:01 a.m. ET

MONTREAL About a dozen killer whales that were trapped under sea ice appeared to be free after the ice shifted, a leader of a northern Canada village said Thursday.

The animals' predicament in the frigid waters of Hudson Bay made international headlines, and locals had been planning a rescue operation with chainsaws and drills.

5 Photos

Killer whales trapped in Quebec ice

Tommy Palliser said two hunters from Inukjuak village reported that the waters had opened up around the area where the cornered whales had been bobbing frantically for air.

"They confirmed that the whales were no longer there and there was a lot of open water," said Palliser, a business adviser with the regional government.

"It's certainly good news — that's good news for the whales," he said.

The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans said it would send a helicopter to locate them, Isabelle Dubois of the Nunavik Tourism Association told CBS News.

Locals said the whales had been trapped around a single, truck-sized breathing hole for at least two days. A recent sudden drop in temperature may have caught the whales off guard, leaving them trapped under the ice.

Palliser said the winds seemed to shift overnight, pushing the floating ice further away from the shore.

The cornered animals were first seen Tuesday and appeared to have less energy by late Wednesday, Palliser said.

Inukjuak Mayor Peter Inukpuk has said Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans informed him that government icebreakers were too far from the area to smash the ice to free the whales.

Palliser said locals had agreed to try to enlarge the existing breathing hole and cut a second opening using chainsaws and drills.

"We certainly had our prayers with them last night during our meeting," he said.

Ice-trapped marine mammals are not unusual in the region.

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Whales Trapped Under Sea Ice Free Themselves

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Syria denounces peace envoy who hinted Assad must go

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria denounced international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi as "flagrantly biased" on Thursday, casting doubt on how long the U.N.-Arab League mediator can pursue his peace mission.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry was responding to remarks by Brahimi a day earlier in which he ruled out a role for President Bashar al-Assad in a transitional government and effectively called for the Baathist leader to quit.

"In Syria...what people are saying is that a family ruling for 40 years is a little bit too long," Brahimi told the BBC, referring to Assad, who inherited his post from his father Hafez al-Assad, who seized power in 1970 and ruled for 30 years.

"President Assad could take the lead in responding to the aspiration of his people rather than resisting it," the veteran Algerian diplomat said, hinting the Syrian leader should go.

The Foreign Ministry in Damascus said it was very surprised at Brahimi's comments, which showed "he is flagrantly biased for those who are conspiring against Syria and its people".

The ministry later said it was nevertheless still willing to work with the envoy to find a political solution to the crisis.

Brahimi has had no more success than his predecessor Kofi Annan in his quest to resolve the 21-month-old conflict in which more than 60,000 people have been killed.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague warned that violence in Syria might worsen and said the international community must "step up" its response if it does.

So far regional rivalries and divisions among big powers have stymied any concerted approach to the upheaval, one of the bloodiest to emerge from a series of revolts in the Arab world.

Russian and U.S. diplomats, who back opposing sides of the war, will meet Brahimi in Geneva on Friday.

Ahead of the meeting, Russia repeated its insistence that Assad must not be pushed from power by external forces and that his exit must not be a precondition for negotiations.

"Only the Syrians themselves can agree on a model or the further development of their country," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.

"MASK OF IMPARTIALITY"

Syria's al-Watan newspaper said Brahimi had removed his "mask of impartiality" to reveal his true face as a "a tool for the implementation of the policy of some Western countries".

On Sunday Assad, making his first public speech in six months, offered no concessions and said he would never talk to foes he branded terrorists and Western puppets.

As peace efforts floundered, rebels battled for a strategic air base for a second day, pursuing a civil war that had briefly receded for some Damascus residents who set aside their differences to play in a rare snowfall that blanketed the city.

For a few hours, people in the capital dropped their weapons for snowballs and traded hatred for giggles.

"Last night, for the first time in months, I heard laughter instead of shelling. Even the security forces put down their guns and helped us make a snowman," Iman, a resident of the central Shaalan neighborhood, said by Skype.

There was no respite on other battlefronts, with heavy fighting around the Taftanaz base in northwestern Syria, which insurgents are trying to capture to extend their grip on Idlib province and weaken Assad's control of the skies.

Rebels assaulted the airport's main buildings and armory using heavy guns, tanks and other weapons and appeared to have overrun half the area of the base, said Rami Abdelrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition group that monitors the conflict from abroad.

"Now, it's serious," he said.

The air base has been used to launch helicopter attacks in the region, and its loss would be a blow to the government's ability to defend its positions there, Abdelrahman said.

MISSILE LAUNCH

Insurgents have tried to take the base for months, but have been bolstered by the recent arrival of Islamist fighters including the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, he added.

There was no immediate government account of the fighting, which could not be confirmed independently.

Opposition forces have seized swathes of territory in northern Syria in recent months, but remain vulnerable to attack by the military's planes and helicopters - hence their strategy of trying to capture air bases such as the one at Taftanaz.

There was no word on whether the firing of a short-range ballistic missile inside Syria on Wednesday, reported by a NATO official, was linked to the fighting at Taftanaz.

NATO could not confirm the type of missile used, but the description fit the Scuds that are in the Syrian military's armory, the official added, describing the latest launch and similar ones last week as "reckless".

A NATO official said that since the start of December 2012, the alliance had detected at least 15 launches of unguided, short-range ballistic missile inside Syria.

Neither side has gained a clear military advantage in the war pitting mostly Sunni Muslim rebels against security forces dominated by Assad's minority, Shi'ite-linked Alawite sect.

The Observatory also reported fighting between rebels and troops in the Sayyida Zeinab area of Damascus, and air raids were reported in the capital's Maleiha area and eastern suburbs.

Despite some support from Sunni regional powers including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the rebels remain largely disorganized, fragmented and ill-equipped. Poor discipline, looting and insecurity in some insurgent-held areas have also eroded their support from civilians.

Turf wars between rebel units and with Kurdish groups have also beleaguered the armed opposition. On Thursday, a senior Islamist commander was assassinated near the border with Turkey, Syrian rebels and political opposition sources said.

Thaer al-Waqqas, northern commander of al-Farouq Brigades, had been suspected of involvement in the killing four months ago of a member of al-Nusra Front.

He was shot dead at a rebel position in the town of Sermin, a few kilometers from Turkey, the sources said.

(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes, Mariam Karouny and Erika Solomon in Beirut, Steve Gutterman in Moscow, Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman and Mohammed Abbas in London; Editing by Alistair Lyon and Jason Webb)

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Football: Adebayor included as Africa Cup squads named

JOHANNESBURG: Emmanuel Adebayor will play at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations after he was included in Togo's squad as the 16 sides finalised their 23-man squads.

Mahamadou Diarra will meanwhile miss the tournament, and a late-minute change left Brown Ideye thrilled and Nigeria team-mate Raheem Lawal devastated.

It was all part of the drama ahead of the January 19-February 10 tournament that will be played in five South African cities.

Tottenham striker and Togo captain Adebayor said last year he would shun the competition, citing security concerns after being part of the squad attacked in Angola ahead of the 2010 finals.

A player and an official were killed by separatists seeking independence for the oil-rich Cabinda enclave and Adebayor escaped injury by cowering under a bus seat.

As Tottenham, the Togo president and national football officials became involved in the saga, Adebayor refused to reveal his plans, and his inclusion became official only when the 23-man squad was named by coach Didier Six.

Perennial underachievers Togo are in the Rustenburg-based 'group of death' with title favourites Ivory Coast and other former champions Algeria and Tunisia and are given little hope of survival.

Mali, third last year and considered likely quarter-finalists after being drawn with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana and Niger, suffered a late setback when Fulham midfielder Diarra pulled out injured.

A recurring knee injury failed to heal, meaning the veteran will miss a second consecutive Cup of Nations, although the blow was cushioned by the return of another experienced midfielder, Mohamed Lamine Sissoko.

Turkey-based midfielder Lawal was included in a Nigerian squad leaked to the media a day before the final-squad deadline, only to be replaced by striker Ideye when it was officially announced.

Home-based players have traditionally been ignored by Super Eagles coaches, but Stephen Keshi has chosen six, including goalkeeper Chigozie Agbim and strikers Sunday Mba and Ejike Uzoenyi from Enugu Rangers.

Shock absentees from the 2012 tournament, Nigeria face defending champions Zambia and outsiders Burkina Faso and Ethiopia in Group C and are expected to make the knock-out phase at least.

Debutants Cape Verde made a couple of last-minute changes with injured midfielder Odair Fortes and unavailable striker Ze Luis replaced by Portugal-based pair Platini and Rambe.

Cape Verde face hosts South Africa in the January 19 opening fixture at the 90,000-seat Soccer City stadium in Soweto and also confront former champions Morocco and Angola in the first round.

- AFP/de

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iPhone on its way to T-Mobile in three to four months

The wait on Apple's iPhone is soon coming to an end at T-Mobile.

The carrier's chief executive John Legere told Reuters in an interview published today that the iPhone will come to T-Mobile "in three to four months." He didn't say exactly when the smartphone would be made available to his customers, but indicated that the iPhone will launch around the same time his company plans to eliminate subsidies.

Interestingly, T-Mobile is already home to iPhone customers. In an interview with CNET yesterday, the company's Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray said that there are now 1.9 million iPhones running on the T-Mobile network, and about 100,000 new Apple smartphones are coming in each month.

Accommodating those customers' desire for speedier wireless service is top of the T-Mobile list right now. The company is far behind its chief competitors, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, in terms of higher-speed mobile connectivity. T-Mobile announced yesterday that its HSPA+ network is available in 46 metro areas and covers about 126 million people. It hopes to cover 100 million people with 4G LTE by the middle of the year. Verizon has more than double that coverage.

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Super Bowl ads selling for more than $4 million

NEW YORK Super Bowl ads have sold for more than $4 million for some 30-second spots for this year's game.

All the commercials for the NFL championship Feb. 3 in New Orleans are sold out, CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves said Tuesday.

Companies paid an average of $3.5 million for a 30-second spot last year, the previous record for a number that keeps going up.

TV's biggest event averaged more than 111 million viewers in 2012. Marketers for everything from cars to yogurt used plenty of stars in last year's crop of ads.

For CBS, the entire company is taking part in promoting the Super Bowl. The network's telecasts will be headquartered in New Orleans' Jackson Square. The sets will be used by 15 different shows from nine CBS divisions, from the main network to cable channels to online to radio.

"We've never done anything like this before," CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus said.

That list includes the daytime show "The Talk," which will broadcast from the city the week leading up to the game to try to take advantage of the Super Bowl's large female viewership.

The Jackson Square shoots will give CBS plenty of opportunities to highlight New Orleans' recovery from Hurricane Katrina as the city hosts its first Super Bowl since the storm. Its coverage will include a special called "New Orleans: Let The Good Times Roll" hosted by musician Wynton Marsalis airing at noon on Super Bowl Sunday.

The halftime show will be by Beyonce. Moonves joked: "I actually wanted Janet Jackson."

The last time a female pop star performed at the half of a Super Bowl on CBS, Jackson had her breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction" in 2004. Moonves can laugh about it now, after the Supreme Court decided last summer not to consider reinstating the government's $550,000 fine on the network.

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Hospitals Flooded With Flu Patients

U.S. emergency rooms have been overwhelmed with flu patients, turning away some of them and others with non-life-threatening conditions for lack of space.

Forty-one states are battling widespread influenza outbreaks, including Illinois, where six people -- all older than 50 -- have died, according to the state's Department of Public Health.

At least 18 children in the country have died during this flu season, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The proportion of people seeing their doctor for flu-like symptoms jumped to 5.6 percent from 2.8 percent in the past month, according to the CDC.

Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago reported a 20 percent increase in flu patients every day. Northwestern Memorial was one of eight hospitals on bypass Monday and Tuesday, meaning it asked ambulances to take patients elsewhere if they could do so safely.

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Most of the hospitals have resumed normal operations, but could return to the bypass status if the influx of patients becomes too great.

"Northwestern Memorial Hospital is an extraordinarily busy hospital, and oftentimes during our busier months, in the summer, we will sometimes have to go on bypass," Northwestern Memorial's Dr. David Zich said. "We don't like it, the community doesn't like it, but sometimes it is necessary."

A tent outside Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township, Pa., was set up to tend to the overflowing number of flu cases.

A hospital in Ohio is requiring patients with the flu to wear masks to protect those who are not infected.

State health officials in Indiana have reported seven deaths. Five of the deaths occurred in people older than 65 and two younger than 18. The state will release another report later today.

Doctors are especially concerned about the elderly and children, where the flu can be deadly.

"Our office in the last two weeks has exploded with children," Dr. Gayle Smith, a pediatrician in Richmond, Va., said

It is the earliest flu season in a decade and, ABC News Chief Medical Editor Dr. Besser says, it's not too late to protect yourself from the outbreak.

"You have to think about an anti-viral, especially if you're elderly, a young child, a pregnant woman," Besser said.

"They're the people that are going to die from this. Tens of thousands of people die in a bad flu season. We're not taking it serious enough."

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Freed Iranians arrive in Damascus after prisoner swap

DAMASCUS/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Forty-eight Iranians freed by Syrian rebels in exchange for more than 2,000 civilian prisoners held by the Syrian government arrived in central Damascus on Wednesday, a Reuters witness reported.

The Syrian government has not referred to the prisoner swap and the whereabouts of the civilian prisoners was not immediately known.

Opposition groups accuse it of detaining tens of thousands of political prisoners during his 12 years in office and say those numbers have spiked sharply during the 21-month-old civil war.

The Syrian rebel al-Baraa brigade seized the Iranians in early August and initially threatened to kill them, saying they were members of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sent to fight for President Bashar al-Assad.

The Islamic Republic, one of his staunchest allies, denied this, saying they were Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims visiting shrines, and it asked Turkey and Qatar to use their connections with Syrian insurgents to help secure their release.

The freed Iranians arrived at a Damascus hotel in six small buses, looking tired but in good health, each carrying a white flower, and they were welcomed by Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Reza Sheibani. They did not speak to reporters.

Bulent Yildirim, head of the Turkish humanitarian aid agency IHH which helped broker the deal, told Reuters by telephone from Damascus shortly beforehand that the reciprocal release of 2,130 civilian prisoners - most of them Syrian but also including Turks and other foreign citizens - had begun.

Syrian government forces have struck local deals with rebel groups to trade prisoners but the release announced on Wednesday was the first time non-Syrians were freed in an exchange.

The Damascus government has periodically freed hundreds of prisoners during the conflict but always stressed such detainees "do not have blood on their hands."

Given the number of political prisoners held during the course of Assad's rule, missing persons became a key issue when street protests against him first erupted in March 2011.

Turkey is one of Assad's fiercest critics, a strong backer of his opponents and proponent of international intervention. It has denounced Iran's stance during the Syrian uprising, which has killed around 60,000 people according to a U.N. estimate.

Turkey, Gulf Arab states, the United States and European allies support the mainly Sunni Muslim Syrian rebels, while Shi'ite Iran supports Assad, whose Alawite minority is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

A pro-government newspaper said on December 31 that Syrian forces arrested four Turkish fighter pilots who were trying to sneak into a military airport with an armed group in the northern province of Aleppo.

The Damascus-based al-Watan newspaper said the arrests at the Koers military base, 24 km (15 miles) east of Aleppo city, proved "scandalous Turkish involvement" in Syria's crisis.

TURKEY, QATAR INTERVENE

The al-Baraa brigade, part of the umbrella rebel organization, the Free Syrian Army, said in October it would start killing the Iranians unless Assad freed Syrian opposition detainees and stopped shelling civilian areas.

But Qatar, following a request from Iran, urged the rebels not to carry out the threat.

Insurgents fighting to topple Assad accuse Iran of sending fighters from the Revolutionary Guards to help his forces crush the revolt, a charge the Islamic Republic denies.

The rebels now control wide areas of northern and eastern Syria, most of its border crossings with Turkey and a crescent of suburbs around the capital Damascus.

But Assad's government is still firmly entrenched in the capital and controls most of the densely populated southwest, the Mediterranean coast and the main north-south highway.

The IHH has been involved in previous negotiations in recent months to release prisoners, including two Turkish journalists and Syrian citizens, held in Syria.

The humanitarian group came to prominence in May 2010 when Israeli marines stormed its Mavi Marmara aid ship to enforce a naval blockade of the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip and killed nine Turks in clashes with activists on board.

(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes in Beirut and Marcus George in Dubai; Writing by Nick Tattersall)

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Hong Kong leader survives impeachment bid

HONG KONG: Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers failed in an unprecedented bid on Wednesday to impeach the city's embattled Beijing-backed leader, after they accused him of breaking housing laws and urged him to quit.

The city's first impeachment motion, which accused Leung Chun-ying of lying, dereliction of duty and serious breaches of the law in a row stemming from illegal structures at his luxury home, was denied after eight hours of debate.

The 27 pro-democracy lawmakers who signed the joint motion -- which they said was a symbolic move -- voted in favour, while 37 voted against in the 70-seat legislature which is dominated by pro-Beijing members.

Wednesday's vote followed a protest on New Year's Day in which tens of thousands took to the streets to urge Leung to quit and to press for greater democracy, 15 years after the city returned to Chinese rule.

The former British colony maintains a semi-autonomous status, with its own legal and judicial system, but cannot choose its leader through the popular vote.

Leung took office in July after he was picked by a 1,200-strong election committee dominated by pro-Beijing elites, amid rising anger over what many perceive to be China's meddling in local affairs.

China has said the chief executive could be directly elected in 2017 at the earliest, with the legislature following by 2020.

Unauthorised structures are a politically sensitive issue in the space-starved city of seven million and demonstrators have used the scandal to press for universal suffrage in choosing Hong Kong's leader.

Leung secured the chief executive role after criticising his rival Henry Tang over illegal structures at Tang's home.

But he has since acknowledged and apologised for structures at his own home which were built without planning permission.

Maverick lawmaker "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung, wearing a T-shirt reading "We topple a tyrant", accused the new leader of lying about his own structures during campaigning when he presented the impeachment motion earlier on Wednesday.

"He has used dishonest ways to win the election," he said.

Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, second in command in Leung's administration, said the motion was unnecessary and urged lawmakers to work together on policy and livelihood issues.

But Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau said the motion was a symbolic gesture to show the deepening public mistrust toward Leung, claiming the leader had "cheated his way to power".

"This is the first time we have a motion in the legislature to impeach a cheating chief executive," she said.

If the motion had been passed, the city's highest court would have had to initiate an investigation. At least two-thirds of the legislature would need to endorse a guilty finding before Leung could be removed from office.

Earlier, rival protesters traded barbs outside the legislature and security personnel had to step in at one point when an angry pro-government supporter charged towards the rival group, TV footage showed.

Leung's popularity ratings have fallen since the controversy, with discontent over issues including sky-high property prices and anti-Beijing sentiment remaining high.

- AFP/xq

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G-Tech soups up external storage with 7,200rpm hard drives

The G-Tech G-RAID Mini external hard drive.

(Credit:
G-Tech)

LAS VEGAS--Call it a minor upgrade, but that's what G-Technology has to offer this year at
CES.

The storage vendor, which is now part of Western Digital, announced at CES 2013 that it now ships all of its popular G-Technology G-Drive Mini and G-RAID Mini external storage products with high-speed 1TB, 2.5-inch 7,200rpm hard drives.

Thanks to this, the G-Drive Mini, a compact single-volume external drive, now offers up to 136MBps performance speed. The drive offers both USB 3.0 and FireWire 8000 connection types and is bus-powered. It's preformatted for
Mac and is now available in a 1TB model that costs $200.

The G-RAID Mini is a dual-volume external hard drive that offers RAID 0 (default) and RAID 1. RAID 0 is tuned for high-speed performance and maximum storage space, while the RAID 1 guards the data against a single drive failure at the expense of 50 percent of storage space. This drive also supports both USB 3.0 and FireWire. It's now available in a 2TB capacity and costs $450.

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Concordia capt. "painted worse than bin Laden"

Ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Costa Concordia disaster, in which 32 people were killed when the cruise ship ran aground off the Italian island of Giglio, the captain of the ship told an Italian newspaper that he "was painted worse than bin Laden."

82 Photos

Luxury cruise ship runs aground

Francesco Schettino said in an interview with the Turin newspaper La Stampa that he is tormented by the disaster.

"It is sincere pain from the bottom of my heart," he said.

The 950-foot-long Costa Concordia struck rocks and capsized on January 13 last year. Thirty-two people aboard were killed and hundreds injured in the panicked evacuation.

Prosecutors have accused Shettino of sailing the luxury liner too close to shore. He faces multiple charges of manslaughter and of abandoning ship during the evacuation of the 4,200 passengers and crew on board.

Italian media have referred to Schettino as "Captain Coward,"

He complained to the paper that the press' characterization of him and his actions "ridicules not just 30 years of my work, my experience in the whole world, but also the image of our country, which has been exposed to the criticism, often unjust, of the entire planet."

The Costa Concordia cruise ship is seen on its side near the Italian island of Giglio, January 7, 2013.

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FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images

Schettino - who told the paper that he did not intentionally abandon ship, but slipped and fell into a lifeboat when the Concordia listed to its side - says he may have made a mistake by sailing too close to land, but he was not given exact information, and should not be the only one to get the blame.

In fact, eight others (including the ship's first officer and four other crew members, and three members of a crisis unit set up by the cruise ship's owner) also face possible criminal charges following the Italian prosecutors' investigation, which concluded last month.

Play Video

Costa Concordia: Salvaging a shipwreck

Last Thursday at a Naples courtroom, Schettino brought a case against Costa Cruises, the ship's operator, for wrongful dismissal.

Efforts by salvage crews to right the ship are underway.

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Jodi Arias: Who Is the Admitted Killer?

Jodi Arias is a woman that many can't keep their eyes off of--a soft-spoken, small-framed 32-year-old who last year won a jailhouse Christmas caroling contest. But she is also an admitted killer who is now on trial in Arizona for the 2008 murder of her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander.

Sitting in a Maricopa County court, Arias, whose trial resumes today, cries every time prosecutors describe what she admits she did -- stab her one-time boyfriend Travis Alexander 27 times, slit his throat and shoot him in the head.

Arias grew up in the small city of Yreka, Calif. She dropped out of high school, but received her GED while in jail a few years ago. She was an aspiring photographer; her MySpace page includes several albums of pictures, one of which was called "In loving memory of Travis Alexander."

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"Jodi wanted nothing but to please Travis," defense attorney Jennifer Wilmot said in her opening statements, but added that there was another reality – that Arias was Alexander's "dirty little secret."

Arias' attorneys want the jury to believe she killed Alexander in June of 2008 in self defense, that he abused her, and she feared for her life when she attacked him in the shower of his Mesa, Ariz., home.

Alexander's family and friends say Arias was a stalker who killed him in cold blood. They say the 30-year-old was a successful businessman who overcame all the odds. His parents were drug addicts, and he grew up occasionally homeless until he converted to Mormonism and turned his life around.

Jodi Arias Trial: A Timeline of Events in the Arizona Murder Case

"He actually had everything going for him," said Dave Hall, one of Alexander's friends. "A beautiful home, a beautiful car, a great income."

Alexander kept a blog, and in a haunting last entry, just two weeks before his murder, he wrote about trying to find a wife.

"This type of dating to me is like a very long job interview," he wrote. "Desperately trying to find out if my date has an axe murderer penned up inside of her."

Alexander did date a killer. It's now up to the jury to decide if she killed in self defense.

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Tunisia frees man held over attack on U.S. consulate in Libya

Tunis (Reuters) - Tunisia has freed, for lack of evidence, a Tunisian man who had been suspected of involvement in an Islamist militant attack in Libya last year in which the U.S. ambassador was killed, his lawyer said on Tuesday.

Ali Harzi was one of two Tunisians named in October by the Daily Beast website as having been detained in Turkey over the violence in which Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other American officials were killed.

"The judge decided to free Harzi and he is free now," lawyer Anouar Awled Ali told Reuters. "The release came in response to our request to free him for lack of evidence and after he underwent the hearing with American investigators as a witness in the case."

A Tunisian justice ministry spokesman confirmed the release of Harzi but declined to elaborate.

A month ago, Harzi refused to be interviewed by visiting U.S. FBI investigators over the September 11 assault on the U.S. consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

The Daily Beast reported that shortly after the attacks began, Harzi posted an update on an unspecified social media site about the fighting.

It said Harzi was on his way to Syria when he was detained in Turkey at the behest of U.S. authorities, and that he was affiliated with a militant group in North Africa.

(Reporting by Tarek Amara; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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India says two soldiers killed in clash with Pakistan troops

SRINAGAR, India: Pakistani troops killed two Indian soldiers on Tuesday near the tense disputed border between the nuclear-armed neighbours in Kashmir and one of the bodies was badly mutilated, the Indian army said.

The firefight broke out at about noon on Tuesday (0630 GMT) after an Indian patrol discovered Pakistani troops about half a kilometre (1,600 feet) inside Indian territory, an army spokesman told AFP.

A ceasefire has been in place along the Line of Control that divides the countries since 2003, but it is periodically violated by both sides and Pakistan said Indian troops killed a Pakistani soldier on Sunday.

Relations had been slowly improving over the last few years following a rupture in their slow-moving peace process after the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, which were blamed by India on Pakistan-based militants.

"There was a firefight with Pakistani troops," army spokesman Rajesh Kalia told AFP from the mountainous Himalayan region.

"We lost two soldiers and one of them has been badly mutilated," he added, declining to give more details on the injuries.

"The intruders were regular (Pakistani) soldiers and they were 400-500 metres (1,300-1,600 feet) inside our territory," he said of the clash in Mendhar sector, 173 kilometres (107 miles) west by road from the city of Jammu.

In Islamabad, a Pakistan military spokesman denied what he called an "Indian allegation of unprovoked firing". He declined to elaborate.

On Sunday, Pakistan said Indian troops had crossed the Line of Control and stormed a military post. It said one Pakistani soldier was killed and another injured.

It lodged a formal protest with India on Monday over what it called an unprovoked attack.

India denied crossing the line, saying it had retaliated with small arms fire after Pakistani mortars hit a village home.

A foreign ministry spokesman said Indian troops had undertaken "controlled retaliation" on Sunday after "unprovoked firing" which damaged a civilian home.

The deaths are set to undermine recent efforts to improve relations, such as opening up trade and offering more lenient visa regimes which have been a feature of talks between senior political leaders from both sides.

Muslim-majority Kashmir is a Himalayan region which India and Pakistan both claim in full but rule in part. It was the cause of two of three wars between the neighbours since independence from Britain in 1947.

- AFP/fa

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Lexar announces its first XQD memory cards

Lexar's Professional XQD USB 3.0 Reader for reading XQD flash memory cards

(Credit:
Lexar)

Nikon photography pros will be happy to know there's a major new supplier of XQD flash-memory cards: Lexar.

Lexar's 64GB XQD flash memory card

(Credit:
Lexar)

They might not be so happy about the price for the new high-end format: a 1100X 64GB model costs $580, and a 32GB costs $300. At the
CES show today, the Micron subsidiary also announced a $45 USB 3.0 card reader for the new format.

Nikon's flagship D4 SLR uses the XQD cards, which before were available only from Sony. Lexar's 1100X models guarantee a 168MB/sec read speed, though write speeds are somewhat lower.

XQD is one of two formats vying to be the replacement for the venerable CompactFlash. Perversely, the CompactFlash Association is overseeing standardization of both. Nikon signed up for XQD, which is based on the PCI Express data-transfer technology, but Canon signed up for CFast 2.0, which uses the Serial ATA data-transfer technology.

Having two high-end flash card formats means the market is fragmented, making it harder for photographers to switch between camera models or use multiple brands. It also means shipment volumes of either format will be lower than if there were a unified standard, which typically translates into lower availability and higher cost.

Lexar's top rival, SanDisk, is making CFast 2.0 cards but not XQD cards.

Meanwhile, SD card is the victor of the mainstream flash-card market.

That victory doesn't mean SD is immune from stratospherically priced options for buyers who need to keep up with 3D video or other high-throughput demands, though.

Also at CES, Lexar also announced new high-performance SD cards. The Lexar Professional 600x SDXC UHS-I card comes in a 256GB size that costs $1,000.

Lexar's 256GB Professional 600x SDXC UHS-I flash memory card

(Credit:
Lexar)

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Aurora massacre prosecutors lay out case to judge

CENTENNIAL, Colo. Nearly six months after the Colorado movie theater massacre, prosecutors began laying out their case Monday against the former neuroscience graduate student accused in the rampage.

23 Photos

The Aurora shooting victims

Investigators say James Holmes wore body armor and a gas mask when he tossed two gas canisters and then opened fire during the midnight showing of the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises," killing 12 people and wounding dozens.

Whatever details emerge at the preliminary hearing, they will do so in a nation that has changed dramatically since the July 20 attack that pushed the problems of gun violence and mental illness into the forefront before receding.

That debate reignited last month when a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Conn., spawning calls for better psychiatric care, tougher gun laws and the arming of teachers.

The preliminary hearing, which is expected to last all week, will allow the judge to determine whether the prosecution's case is strong enough to warrant a trial.

CBS News senior legal analyst Andrew Cohen reports the prosecution has a low burden to meet at the hearing, but notes that the proceeding allows the defense an early chance to evaluate the strength of the state's case and to question law enforcement officials.

"It's likely to be dramatic and in many ways heartbreaking," Cohen told CBS Radio News. "The public will hear details for the first time about what police believe went on inside that theater. We could hear 911 tapes. There will likely be photos and video, and Holmes will be at the defense table through it all."

Holmes is charged with more than 160 counts, including murder and attempted murder.

Legal analysts say that evidence appears to be so strong that Holmes may well accept a plea agreement before trial.

In such cases, the preliminary hearing can set the stage for a deal by letting each side assess the other's strengths and weaknesses, said Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and now a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

They "are often the first step to resolving the case, a mini-trial so both sides can see the writing on the wall," she said.

In general, plea agreements help prosecutors avoid costly trials, give the accused a lesser sentence like life in prison rather than the death penalty, and spare the victims and their families from the trauma of going through a lengthy trial.

At this stage, prosecutors must only meet a "probable cause" standard — much lower than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard for a guilty verdict, said Mimi Wesson, a professor of law at the University of Colorado Law School.

Many of the survivors and family members of the dead are expected to attend the hearing, and court officials expect an overflow crowd of reporters and spectators.

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Aurora movie theater massacre pre-trial to begin

Chantel Blunk, whose husband, Jonathan Blunk, died in the attack, flew from Reno, Nev., to attend the hearing. She wanted to be there for the late father of their children and the other victims, CBS News correspondent Manuel Bojorquez reports.

"No matter what this guy did to everybody, you know, we're still going there and representing the people that were lost, that were hurt, and that he is not going to win," Blunk told Bojorquez. "You know, it's not about his name or remembering him. It's about the people that were taken away."

The hearing is the first extensive public disclosure of the evidence against Holmes. Three days after the shooting, District Judge William Sylvester forbade attorneys and investigators from discussing the case publicly, and many court documents have been filed under seal.

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Prosecutors: Holmes threatened university prof.

Play Video

Psychiatrist who treated Holmes testifies

It took this long to get to the preliminary hearing because lawyers have been debating what physical evidence should be made available to one side or the other, whether a psychiatrist who met with Holmes is barred from testimony by doctor-patient privilege, who was responsible for leaks to the media, and other issues.

Police say Holmes, now 25, had stockpiled weapons, ammunition, explosives and body armor. He was a first-year student in a Ph.D. neuroscience program at the University of Colorado, Denver, but he failed a year-end exam and withdrew in June, authorities have said.

The shootings happened six weeks later.

Federal authorities have said Holmes entered the theater with a ticket and is believed to have propped open a door, slipped out to his car and returned with his weapons. Police arrested him outside the theater shortly after the shootings ended.

Holmes' mental health could be a significant issue — and possibly a contentious one — in the preliminary hearing.

His attorneys have told the judge Holmes is mentally ill, but they have not said whether they plan to employ an insanity defense. He had seen a university psychiatrist, and his lawyers have said he tried to call the psychiatrist nine minutes before the killing began.

Defense lawyers have said they plan to call at least two people, described as "lay witnesses," who could testify about Holmes' mental health. Prosecutors asked Sylvester to block the witnesses, but he refused.

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