19 Killed in Explosion at Refinery in Venezuela

Reuters

At least 53 were injured in the explosion at the Amuay oil refinery.

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CARACAS, Venezuela — An explosion at Venezuela’s biggest refinery early Saturday killed at least 19 people and injured more than 50 others in the deadliest disaster in years for the country’s crucial oil industry.

Balls of fire rose over the Amuay refinery, one of the largest in the world, in video posted on the Internet by residents who were nearby at the time.

Those killed included a 10-year-old boy, and at least 53 people were wounded, the governor of Falcon State, Stella Lugo, said on state television. She said firefighters had controlled the flames at the refinery, on the Paraguana Peninsula in western Venezuela, where large clouds of smoke were rising.

“The areas that had to be evacuated were evacuated,” Ms. Lugo said, according to the state-run Venezuelan News Agency. “The situation is controlled. Of course there is still a fire rising very high,” she said, but added that “specialists tell me there is no risk of another explosion.”

The blast occurred after 1 a.m. when a gas leak created a cloud that ignited, the oil minister, Rafael Ramirez, said. Some nearby houses were damaged in the blast, he said.

“That gas generated a cloud that later exploded and has caused fires in at least two tanks of the refinery and surrounding areas,” Mr. Ramirez said on state television. “The blast wave was of a significant magnitude.”

Images in state media showed the flames casting an orange glow against the night sky. One photograph showed an injured man being wheeled away on a stretcher.

Mr. Ramirez said workers would determine what caused the gas leak and were inspecting the damage. He said supplies of fuel had been cut off to the part of the refinery that was still in flames.

Troops were securing the area at the refinery, Ms. Lugo said.

Vice President Elias Jaua said on his Twitter account that the military had been deployed and that air ambulances had been sent to transport the wounded. The defense minister was traveling to the refinery along with Mr. Ramirez and other officials, Mr. Jaua said.

Amuay is part of the Paraguana Refinery Complex, which includes the adjacent Cardon refinery. Together, the two refineries process about 900,000 barrels of crude a day and 200,000 barrels of gasoline. It was unclear to what extent the explosion might affect oil shipments from Venezuela, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

New details on ill will between Empire State Building shooting victim, gunman

Investigators remove body of man they say was gunman from outside Empire State Building Friday (AFP/Getty Images)

(CBS News) NEW YORK -- New word is emerging about the relationship between the man shot to death outside New York's iconic Empire State Building Friday and the gunman.

They were the only ones killed when, police say, Jeffrey Johnson, 58, opened fire.

Nine others were injured.

Police are trying to determine what happened during their chaotic confrontation with the gunman, which lasted just eight seconds. There was chaos in the aftermath as bystanders were sent scrambling.

Construction worker Onner Camacho was laying stone during the morning rush hour right outside the landmark building when he heard gunshots and started running after police.

Multiple people shot near Empire State Building

"It was amazing," he says. "I've never seen anything like this in my life. All of a sudden - just shooting. Bam bam bam."

When it was over, the gunman lay dead.

Also dead, Steve Ercolino, his former colleague at Hazan Import Corp.

"During a downsizing at the company a year ago, Johnson was laid off," New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters. "In a dispute with one of the former employees of Hazan in front of the building, Johnson produced a pistol and fired at close range, striking his 41 year old victim in the head."

Nine bystanders were wounded. What's not clear is whether they were shot by the gunman or police trying to bring him down.

A law enforcement source tells CBS News Johnson blamed Ercolino for not supporting his work while he was at the company. And earlier this year, both men had filed harassment complaints with police -- against each other.

While streets were blocked off around the Empire State Building Friday - it's one of New York's biggest tourist attractions - it never shut down, and was open to visitors as usual Saturday.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-33816_162-57500327/new-details-on-ill-will-between-empire-state-building-shooting-victim-gunman/

Ne-Yo - Lazy Love (Explicit)

RITA ORA - How We Do (Party)

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Ku Klux Klan Leader's Monument Draws Ire of Alabama Residents

Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest was known for ordering the indiscriminate killing of surrendered African-American soldiers during the Civil War. 

A monument built to honor Confederate general, slave owner and Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, Nathan Bedford Forrest, is rousing up some in Alabama who say Forrest is no hero.

Despite protests and public objection to the monument, two confederate advocacy groups, Friends of Forrest and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, have banded together to replace the stolen bust and will add a pedestal and fencing to prevent future vandalism. NBC News reports:

“Though Forrest was one of the Confederacy’s better generals and their best cavalry leader, he was an “extreme racist,” Mark Pitcavage, an expert of military history and right-wing extremism at the Anti-Defamation League, told NBC News.

... But, Malika Sanders-Fortier, who described herself as a community leader in Selma, has started a petition calling for the city council to remove the monument.

"Monuments celebrating violent racism and intolerance have no place in this country, let alone in a city like Selma, where the families of those attacked by the Klan still live," she wrote in her petition, which had collected more than 15,000 signatures as of Wednesday."

http://www.bet.com/news/national/2012/08/24/ku-klux-klan-leader-monument-draws-ire-of-alabama-residents.html 

Usher Granted Full Custody of Sons

The R&B singer's bitter battle with ex-wife Tameka Raymond has come to a close.

After a long, drawn out court battle with his ex-wife, Tameka Raymond, Usher was awarded full primary custody of their two sons, according to RadarOnline.com.

The R&B crooner and Tameka have been embroiled in a lengthy courtroom battle over their boys, Usher Vand Naviyd, that has often gotten ugly. After Usher filed for divorce in 2009, following two years of marriage, the legal wrangling between the two included allegations of drugs, cheating, excessive partying and child neglect.

Losing custody of her sons is yet another devastating loss to Usher’s former wife. Tameka’s 11-year-old son from a prior relationship, Kile Glover, died in a tragic jet skiing accident this summer. But despite the passing of her son, Raymond soldiered on to fight for custody of her children with Usher.

Official documents in the court ruling have yet to be released, but check into BET.com for more updates on this breaking story.

http://www.bet.com/news/celebrities/2012/08/24/usher-granted-full-custody-of-sons.html

Should HIV Testing Be Routine?

Think about the last time that you got a physical exam at the doctor’s office. Yes, they took your blood and tested you for high cholesterol and diabetes. But did you assume that you were being tested for HIV, too?

Unless you specifically asked to be tested, most likely you weren’t. Public officials are concerned because currently there are over 300,000 people living with HIV in America who don’t know they are infected. Researchers say that one way to reach these folks is to make HIV tests as routine and as accessible as annual physical exams.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government-endorsed group of clinicians and scientists, is considering making HIV-testing routine by the year’s end. Currently, the CDC recommends that all people ages 13-64 should be tested for HIV once as a means to reach more people and destigmatize testing, yet it’s really been up to the doctor to reach out to patients and talk about the need for testing.

In 2005, the panel voted against routine testing, according to Medical Daily.

"We did not find that evidence at that time compelling enough to say that we were confident that more people would benefit than the people who had HIV detected," said Dr. Michael LeFevre, co-chair of the task force.

"Obviously that was seven years ago," he said, noting that new scientific evidence has since emerged showing that the very treatment of infected people can help prevent them from passing on the disease. He said that will be factored into the panel's recommendation this fall.

There are questions about the cost of testing people who are believed to not be at risk for the disease.Medical Daily wrote:

Researchers at Stanford University estimate that over a 20-year period, expanding HIV testing to the general U.S. population would reach $27 billion dollars.

A more cost-effective solution proposed by the researchers, and in line with CDC recommendations, would be to do a one-time screening of the general population, followed up by annual testing in areas with greater prevalence of the disease.

Such a strategy would prevent an estimated 212,000 new infections and even lead to long-term healthcare savings, when the lifetime cost of $367,000 for HIV treatment is considered.

Despite the panel’s final decision, it’s crucial that African-Americans know their HIV status, but testing also has to be accessible.

While African-Americans make up 13 percent of the overall U.S. population, Blacks account for almost half of all HIV infections that are diagnosed each year. And to make matters worse, Blacks are more likely to be diagnosed with HIV and AIDS at the same time than any other racial group.

Late HIV testing is not only dangerous for the person living with HIV/AIDS, but for the entire Black community. People who are not on AIDS medications are more likely to unknowingly transmit the virus to their partners if they have unprotected sex.

Learn where you can get tested for HIV here.

http://www.bet.com/news/health/2012/08/24/should-hiv-testing-be-routine.html?ftcnt=HP_News

Killer of white supremacist gets life in South Africa

Eugene Terreblanche gives a press conference in 2004 after being released from prison in Potchefstroom

(CNN) -- A South African man was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for the killing of white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche, a lawyer in the case said.

Chris Mahlangu was convicted on four counts including murder, for which he got life, lawyer Zola Majavu said.

Terreblanche, the leader of the neo-Nazi Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (Afrikaner Resistance Movement, or AWB), was killed in April 2010 following an apparent dispute over wages with workers on his farm.

Terreblanche, 69, was bludgeoned with clubs and stabbed with a machete during the attack at his farm near Ventersdorp in South Africa's North West province, police said.

The trial began in October.

Police charged Mahlangu and a 16-year-old in the death. It was not immediately clear what sentence the minor got.

The AWB is best known for trying to block South Africa's effort to end apartheid. The group used terrorist tactics in a bid to stall the country's first all-race vote in 1994, killing more than 20 people in a wave of bombings on the eve of the elections.

Terreblanche was convicted of a 1996 attempted murder of a black man who worked as a security guard on his farm. He served about two-thirds of a five-year sentence.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/22/world/africa/south-africa-supremacist-case/index.html?hpt=iaf_c2

South Africa miners demand resolution of grievances

A woman mourns during a memorial service for the 44 people killed at Lonmin's Marikana mine on Thursday.

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Workers at another South African mine return to work
• NEW: They resume after the company starts talks to address their list of grievances
• The incident marks the latest labor discontent in the nation's mining heartland
• South Africans held memorial services Thursday for 44 killed in clashes at the Lonmin mine

Rustenburg, South Africa (CNN) -- Dozens of South African miners defied orders to work Friday after a deadline arrived for management to respond to their list of grievances.

About 100 workers at Anglo American Platinum in Rustenburg refused to work and demanded that the company address the list submitted a week ago.

The miners resumed work after management held talks with six people selected to represent the workers, the company said in a statement. The two sides plan to continue working on a resolution.

What's behind the Marikana massacre?

"We are pleased that the meeting ended on a positive note and would like to applaud our employees for acting in a manner that assured their safety and that of their colleagues," the company said in a statement. It did not say whether the talks yielded any results.

Tension, disbelief cloud mine dispute

Worker dissatisfaction in South Africa

S. Africa mine CFO: Violence shocked us

The incident marks the latest labor discontent in the nation's mining heartland in the northwest.

South Africans held memorial services nationwide Thursday for victims of clashes at the Lonmin Marikana mine. The strikes started as protests demanding higher wages, but escalated into one of the worst incidents of violence in post-apartheid South Africa.

The clashes left 44 people dead, including 34 killed when police opened fire on charging protesters on August 16. An additional 10 people, including police officers, died in days leading up to that.

A rivalry between two unions that wield a lot of power and influence in the nation added to the tension. The unions, accused of trying to outdo each other in negotiating wages, denied instigating the clashes.

In addition to the two companies, there are signs of labor discontent at nearby Bafokeng Rasimone Platinum Mine.

About 1,000 workers protested this week to voice their discontent over wages. They resumed work after a day.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/24/world/africa/south-africa-mine-protests/index.html?hpt=iaf_c1

Jury: Samsung should pay Apple more than $1 billion

A South Korea shop manager shows Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S mobile phone, right, and Apple's iPhone 3G.

(CNN) -- A federal jury in California on Friday recommended that Apple be awarded more than $1 billion in damages after finding Samsung was guilty of "willful" violations of a number of Apple's patents in the creation of its own mobile products.

The jury did not recommend awarding Samsung any money in its counterclaims that Apple had violated some of its patents. The judge and lawyers from both Apple and Samsung continued to discuss the jury forms late Friday afternoon.

"This is a huge win for Apple," Mark Lemley, a Stanford law professor, said over e-mail. "$1,051,855,000 is just large enough to make it the largest surviving patent verdict in history."

In aftermarket trading, Apple stock jumped more than $12 a share, to more than $675 a share.

Samsung said the verdict should be viewed "as a loss for the American consumer."

"It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices," the company said in a written statement. "It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners, or technology that is being improved every day by Samsung and other companies.

"Consumers have the right to choices, and they know what they are buying when they purchase Samsung products. This is not the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple's claims. Samsung will continue to innovate and offer choices for the consumer."

Apple praised the court for "sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn't right."

"The mountain of evidence presented during the trial showed that Samsung's copying went far deeper than even we knew," the company said in a statement.

Apple had asked for $2.7 billion in damages, claiming that Samsung "ripped off" its iPad and iPhone designs. Samsung countersued Apple for infringing on five of its patents and asked for $519 million.

A nine-person jury spent just two and a half days puzzling out its final verdict, with weeks of notes and memories of testimony, 109 pages of jury instructions, and boxes of evidence including a collection of contested smartphones and tablets as their guide.

The jurors had to complete a complicated 20-page verdict form filled with charts and yes or no answers to suss out exactly which device violated what patents and which companies were responsible. Finally, they had to do the calculations to determine the final damages amounts.

The lawsuit is the largest yet in the ongoing worldwide patent brawl between the two companies, which itself is just one battle in Apple's war against Google's Android mobile operating system. On August 24, a South Korean court found that both parties had infringed on each other's patents, banning the sale of the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, two iPad models and Samsung's Galaxy S2. Apple was ordered to pay Samsung $35,000 and Samsung to pay Apple $22,000.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/24/tech/mobile/apple-samsung-verdict/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

JetBlue, WestJet shrink legroom for coach seats

Think that airline seat is cramped now?

(CNN) -- Call it the incredible shrinking legroom, or call it an airline seating trend. Whatever you want to call it, tall travelers should take note.

JetBlue and Canada's WestJet are cutting legroom for some nonpremium seats. At the same time, they're increasing legroom for seats in higher-priced sections.

JetBlue, a longtime champion of legroom, still says it offers the "most legroom of any other carrier throughout coach." Now it's cutting leg distance from 33 inches to 32 inches in 11 rows aboard its fleet of 52 Embraer E190 planes.

The extra space will be taken up by two more rows of seats near the front of the cabin with 38 inches of legroom. The change puts JetBlue on track to rake in $150 million in additional revenue this year, says a spokeswoman.

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Southwest Airlines' profits soar

Alberta-based WestJet says it's making a similar change, cutting about an inch of legroom from its regular seats and adding four rows of seats with 36 inches across itsentire fleet of 737s by the end of the year.

The remaining rows will have "31 or 32 inches," the airline says, depending on various factors. The seat count will stay the same, except WestJet will add eight more seats to its 737-800s.

Traditionally known as a leisure airline, WestJet hopes the roomier seats will attract more business travelers. It started a new Toronto to New York La Guardia route in June.

"We know there are a lot of business travelers who are essentially flying in the back of larger aircraft that have first class and business cabins, but their companies don't support first class for business travel necessarily," says WestJet spokesman Robert Palmer. "Those people we think are looking for home."

Earlier this year, Southwest announced similar legroom changes, with some seats moving about an inch closer together -- to 31 inches.

We checked in with our expert, who worked for the U.S. Air Force studying body measurements and airline seat design for decades.

Are you a window flier or aisle seater?

Dr. Kathleen Robinette says the key body measurement here isn't called "legroom," it's called the buttock-knee distance.

Technically, it's the measurement from the back of the butt to the front of the knee.

In fact, several factors come into play regarding legroom comfort.

Our butts squish in different amounts.
Kathleen Robinette, airline seating expert

"Our butts squish in different amounts depending on how much muscle and how much fat," says Robinette, who heads Oklahoma State University's department of design housing and merchandising. "Fat squishes more than muscle."

Also, our thighs compress somewhat, she says. "So that makes a difference in where your legs fall in the space -- as does how much the seat cushion compresses. All those factors interact with each other."

Typical legroom, known as "seat pitch" in the industry, measures between 31 to 35 inches.

Aboard Spirit Airlines, legroom in some rows measures about 28 inches. That's OK for Americans, but Dutch passengers might want to consider knee pads. "Twenty-eight inches wouldn't be long enough for the Dutch," Robinette jokes. "The Dutch are the tallest people in Europe. They're about five inches taller than your average American."

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/22/travel/airline-legroom/index.html?hpt=tr_c2

West Nile outbreak largest ever in U.S.

(CNN) -- The recent West Nile virus outbreak is the largest ever seen in the United States, according to new numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The number of cases so far this year is the highest recorded through August since the disease was first detected in the United States in 1999. As of Tuesday, 38 states had reported human infections.

The cases reported to the CDC as of Tuesday total 1,118, including 41 deaths. Arkansas, Michigan and Mississippi have each reported an additional death.

"The peak of West Nile virus epidemics usually occurs in mid-August, but it takes a couple of weeks for people to get sick, go to the doctor and get reported," said Dr. Lyle Petersen, the director of the CDC's Vector-Borne Infectious Disease Division. "Thus we expect many more cases to occur."

Fast facts on West Nile virus

Petersen said that the reason for the high number of cases this year is unclear, but that unusually warm weather could have fostered favorable conditions for the disease's transfer to humans.

About 75% of the cases are in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Dakota and Oklahoma. Texas has been at the epicenter of the outbreak, with 586 confirmed cases and 21 deaths, according to theTexas Department of State Health Services.

West Nile victim woke up paralyzed

Who's at risk for West Nile virus?

West Nile outbreak largest ever in U.S.

Protecting yourself from West Nile virus

Here are five things you need to know about West Nile virus:

1. Most mosquitoes do not carry West Nile.

In areas where mosquitoes carry the virus, only about one in 500 mosquitoes is infected, according to theConnecticut Mosquito Management Program.

2. Most people bit by West Nile mosquitoes do not get sick.

About 80% of people bit by a mosquito infected with the West Nile virus do not get sick, according to the CDC. About 20% will have relatively mild symptoms, such as fever, headache and vomiting. Symptoms can last for as short as a few days or as long as a few weeks. About one in 150 people infected with West Nile will develop a severe illness, which can include paralysis, coma or death.

3. You can help prevent West Nile with the "four Ds."

• Use mosquito repellent with DEET

• Dress in long pants and long sleeves

• Be especially careful at dusk and dawn

• Drain any standing water, such as kiddie pools or bird fountains, where mosquitoes like to breed.

4. People over 50 are most vulnerable.

Those older than 50 are the most likely to become severely ill with West Nile and should take special care to avoid mosquitoes, according to the CDC.

5. Seek medical care immediately if you have severe headaches or confusion.

If you develop symptoms of severe West Nile virus illness, such as unusually severe headaches or confusion, seek medical attention immediately, according to the CDC. Severe illness usually requires hospitalization. Milder cases improve on their own and do not necessarily require medical attention.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/22/health/west-nile-virus/index.html?hpt=he_t3