Magnitude 7.2 quake strikes Baja California

A strong earthquake south of the U.S.-Mexico border Sunday swayed high-rises in downtown Los Angeles and San Diego and was felt across Southern California and Arizona, knocking out power and breaking pipes in some areas but causing no major damage.

The 7.2-magnitude quake struck at 3:40 p.m. in Baja California, Mexico, about 19 miles southeast of Mexicali, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was initially reported as a magnitude-6.9 quake. The updated magnitude was still an estimate, according to USGS seismologist Lucy Jones.

The area was hit by magnitude-3.0 quakes all week.

"It's been quite a while since we've had an earthquake this large," Jones said. "The last time we had an earthquake this large in either Baja or California was in 1992 with the Landers Earthquake, which was 7.3."

The USGS reported three strong aftershocks within the hour, including a magnitude-5.1 jolt in the Imperial County desert east of San Diego. Magnitude-4.5 and magnitude-4.3 aftershocks were also reported.

The 7.2-magnitude quake was felt as far north as Santa Barbara, USGS seismologist Susan Potter said.

Strong shaking was reported in the Coachella Valley and Riverside. The earthquake rattled buildings on the west side of Los Angeles and in the San Fernando Valley, interrupting Easter dinners. Chandeliers swayed and wine jiggled in glasses.

In San Diego, there were reports of shattered windows, broken pipes and water main breaks in private buildings, but no reports of injuries, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Maurice Luque said.

Coronado Bridge over San Diego Bay was briefly closed by the California Highway Patrol as a precaution.

In Los Angeles, water sloshed out of residential swimming pools, the city fire department went on "earthquake status," and some stalled elevators were reported. No major damage was reported in Los Angeles or San Diego.

One woman called firefighters and said she was stuck in an elevator descending from the 34th floor in a building in Century City, but there was no way to immediately know if the breakdown was tied the quake, Los Angeles firefighter Eric Scott said.

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power spokeswoman Maryanne Pierson said there were no power outages anywhere in the city.

"It sounds like it's felt by at least 20 million people at this point," Jones said. "Most of Southern California felt this earthquake."

The quake was felt for about 40 seconds in Tijuana, Mexico, causing buildings to sway and knocking out power in parts of the city. Families celebrating Easter ran out of the homes, with children screaming and crying.

Baja California state Civil Protection Director Alfredo Escobedo said there were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage. But he said the assessment was ongoing.

In Arizona, 3,369 customers in the Yuma area had a "relatively momentary outage" from the quake, Arizona Public Service Company spokesman Don Wool said.

Only about 70 people were still without service in the rural Gadsden and Summerton areas. But Wool said he expected electricity to be restored there in about two hours.

He said the tremor was enough "to trip open some breakers, but we were able to manually close those very quickly."

Clint Norred, a spokesman for the Yuma, Ariz., Police Department, said the quake was very strong there but he'd heard no reports of injuries or major damage.

"In my house, it knocked a couple of things off the wall," he said.

His home lost power for about 15 minutes.

Yuma gets tremors from time to time he said, but Sunday's was "probably one of the better ones that I can remember, and I was born and raised here."

In the Phoenix area, Jacqueline Land said her king-sized bed in her second-floor apartment felt like a boat gently swaying on the ocean.

"I thought to myself, 'That can't be an earthquake. I'm in Arizona,'" the Northern California native said.

Mike Wong, who works at a journalism school in downtown Phoenix, said he was in his second-floor office getting some work done Sunday afternoon when he heard sounds and felt the building start to sway.

"I heard some cracking sounds, like Rice Krispies," coming from the building, he said. "I didn't think much of it, but I kept hearing it, and then I started feeling a shake. I thought, 'You know what? I think that might be an earthquake."

Wong said the swaying lasted for "just a few seconds," and he didn't notice any damage.

A dispatcher with the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department said the agency had not received any calls for service after the quake.

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Officials fear ship breaking apart on Barrier Reef

A coal-carrying ship that strayed outside a shipping lane and ran aground in protected waters was leaking oil on Australia's Great Barrier Reef and was in danger of breaking apart, officials said Sunday.
The Chinese Shen Neng 1 ran aground late Saturday on Douglas Shoals, a favorite pristine haunt for recreational fishing east of the Great Keppel Island tourist resort. The shoals — off the coast of Queensland state in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park — are in a protected part of the reef where shipping is restricted by environmental law.
Authorities fear an oil spill will damage the world's largest coral reef, which is off northeast Australia and listed as a World Heritage site.
The ship hit the reef at full speed, nine miles (15 kilometers) outside the shipping lane, State Premier Anna Bligh said.
A police boat was standing by to remove the 23 crew if the ship broke apart and an evacuation was necessary, she said.
Patches of oil were seen near the stricken ship early Sunday, but Maritime Safety Queensland reported no major loss from the 1,000 tons (950 metric tons) of oil on board.
"We are now very worried we might see further oil discharged from this ship," Bligh told reporters.
Maritime Safety Queensland general manager Patrick Quirk said the vessel was badly damaged on its port side.
"At one stage last night, we thought the ship was close to breaking up," he told reporters. "We are still very concerned about the ship."
"It is in danger of actually breaking a number of its main structures and breaking into a number of parts," he added.
A salvage contract had been signed, but the operation would be difficult and assessing the damage to the ship could take a week, Quirk said.
Bligh said she feared the salvage operation could spill more oil, which could reach the mainland coast within two days.
Local emergency crews were on standby to clean any oil that reached mainland beaches, she said.
Aircraft on Sunday began spraying a chemicals on the oil patches to disperse it, she said.
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett said authorities had been working through the night to determine what risks the ship posed to the environment.
"The government is very conscious of the importance of the Great Barrier Reef environment and ensuring that impacts on its ecology are effectively managed," Garrett said in a statement.
The 755 foot (230 meter) bulk carrier was carrying about 72,000 U.S. tons (65,000 metric tons) of coal to China and ran aground within hours of leaving the Queensland port of Gladstone.
Conservationists have expressed outrage that bulk carriers can travel through the reef without a marine pilot with local expertise.
"The state government is being blinded by royalties and their shortsightedness will go down in history as killing the reef," said Larissa Waters, spokeswoman for the Queensland Greens, an environmentally focused political party.
Bligh said the question of when ships should require a marine pilot on the reef was under review because of the increase in freight traffic that will flow from new gas and coal export contracts to China.
She said a separate inquiry would determine how the ship came to stray from its shipping lane.
Quirk said state authorities were seeking information about the effect the coal could have on the reef environment if the ship broke up before its cargo can be salvaged.

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2nd Moscow suicide bomber was teacher

The second Moscow suicide bomber may have been a 28-year-old school teacher from the southern province of Dagestan, a Russian newspaper reported Sunday, quoting the woman's father as saying he recognized her in a photograph.
Rasul Magomedov told Novaya Gazeta that an acquaintance sent him a photograph of the subway suicide bomber that has been widely circulated on the Internet.
"My wife and I immediately recognized our daughter Maryam," the newspaper quotes him as saying. "The last time my wife saw our daughter she was wearing the same red scarf as in the photograph."
Magomedov said his daughter, Maryam Sharilova, disappeared the day before the March 29 bombings that shocked Moscow, though he has no idea how she got to the city from their home in southern Russia.
The attack by two female suicide bombers killed 40 rush-hour commuters and wounded at least 121.
One of the bombers has been identified as the 17-year-old widow of a slain Islamic militant, also from Dagestan, one of several predominantly Muslim provinces in the North Caucasus.
Investigators were still trying to identify the second bomber and track down the organizers of the attack, for which a Chechen militant leader has claimed responsibility.
No officials were available to comment on the Novaya Gazeta report late Sunday.
The newspaper Kommersant, the first to identify the teenage bomber and publish her photograph, reported Friday that the second bomber had been tentatively identified as a 20-year-old woman from Chechnya, the widow of another militant leader who had recently been killed by security forces.
Magomedov told Novaya Gazeta that security forces recently told him his daughter was the wife of an Islamic militant. But when he asked his daughter, she told him she would never marry without his consent.
His daughter was a school teacher like both of her parents in their hometown of Balakhin and lived at home, he told the newspaper.
The subway suicide bombings were the first such attacks in Moscow since 2004 and refocused attention on the Muslim insurgency that for years has been confined to the North Caucasus.
Dagestan was the site of two suicide bombings on Wednesday that killed 12 people, mostly police officers. Another explosion there Thursday killed two suspected militants.
On Sunday, two powerful explosions derailed a cargo train, but no one was injured.
Dagestan is the epicenter of almost daily violence that has plagued Russia's the North Caucasus region for years following two separatist wars in neighboring Chechnya.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has vowed to "drag out of the sewer" the organizers of the subway bombings, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev promised "crueler" measures to crack down on terrorism.
Human rights groups and opposition figures accuse Russian federal forces and police of extrajudicial killings, abductions and abuses in the North Caucasus that has fueled the region's insurgency.

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Boston win over Cavs

After winning 60 games again, the Cleveland Cavaliers can’t afford to be overconfident. The Boston Celtics failed to capitalize after reaching the milestone last season, and have only regressed since.
The Cavaliers, the ninth franchise in league history to post consecutive 60-win seasons, can clinch home-court advantage throughout the playoffs with a win over the foundering Celtics on Sunday afternoon.
Cleveland earned its 60th victory Friday night, beating Atlanta 93-88. It’s the 18th time that a team has won at least 60 games in back-to-back seasons.

The Cavaliers are 60-16 after going 66-16 in 2008-09. Boston was the last team to do it, going 62-20 last season and 66-16 in 2007-08.
The Celtics, though, lost to Orlando in the second round of the ’09 playoffs. Boston (47-28) has not been able to maintain its level of play this season, sitting fourth in the Eastern Conference and failing to live up to its preseason billing as one of the Cavs’ top competitors for a spot in the NBA finals.
Anything less than a title would be considered a failure for Cleveland, which can secure home-court advantage throughout the playoffs with a win or a Lakers loss to San Antonio later in the day. The Cavs would be the first team to have the league’s best record in consecutive years since Chicago in 1995-96 and 1996-97.
Home-court advantage, though, didn’t help Cleveland avoid losing to Orlando in the conference finals last year.
“Our goals are much bigger than winning 60 games or clinching home court or anything like that,” forward LeBron James said. “But you can’t take something like that for granted. When those goals happen, you embrace it.”
James has averaged 34.7 points in three games against the Celtics this season, with the Cavs winning twice. Cleveland had lost nine straight at Boston - including four 2008 postseason games - before winning 108-88 on Feb. 25.
Anderson Varejao(notes), who had 17 points and 10 rebounds off the bench in that contest, may be back for the Cavs after missing three straight games with a sore left hamstring. The veteran big man, one of the team’s top defenders, is averaging 8.7 points and 7.8 rebounds.
J.J. Hickson has helped Cleveland overcome Varejao’s absence. Hickson, in his second year, has been much more consistent of late, averaging 14.4 points and 8.8 rebounds in his last five games.
“I think I’ve been playing a lot more in the fourth quarter, so not just the coaches trust me but my teammates trust me as well,” he said. “They trust me enough to pass me the ball in the fourth quarter.”
Boston had little trouble scoring in the paint against Houston on Friday night, holding a 64-26 edge in that category. That wasn’t enough to avoid a 119-114 loss in overtime - the Celtics’ season high-tying third in a row.
The Celtics faltered again defensively. Boston, allowing 94.8 points per game, was coming off a 109-104 loss to Oklahoma City on Wednesday.
“We’re not going to win a lot if we’re giving up 101 a night,” coach Doc Rivers said.
A bright spot for Boston was Rajon Rondo, who had 10 assists to surpass Hall of Famer Bob Cousy for the single-season franchise record. Rondo has 724 assists, topping Cousy’s 715 in 1959-60.
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Some Stars are back

Texas Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler is on the list. So are Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran of the New York Mets. Houston Astros first baseman Lance Berkman, Colorado Rockies closer Huston Street and Seattle Mariners pitcher Cliff Lee are right there, too.
You could field a pretty good team with the injured players sitting out opening day.
Josh Beckett and the Boston Red Sox host CC Sabathia and the World Series champion New York Yankees in the major league opener Sunday night, then baseball begins again in earnest with a full slate of games on Monday.
President Barack Obama is slated to throw out a ceremonial first pitch before the Washington Nationals host the National League champion Philadelphia Phillies, who begin the season with closer Brad Lidge, key setup man J.C. Romero and starter Joe Blanton on the disabled list
One day in, and Obama will have more time on the mound than three key pitchers on one of the NL's best teams.
"I'm going to be warming him up," Nationals catcher Ivan Rodriguez said of baseball's First Fan. "I'm going to take a picture with him, if he'll let me. It'll be exciting."
In Cincinnati, new St. Louis hitting coach Mark McGwire will get his first true test of what to expect on the road this year when the Cardinals face the Reds. McGwire admitted over the winter to using steroids and human growth hormone for part of his playing career.
"It's going to be really good," said McGwire, looking forward to the opener. "The potential of this team is really, really good."
The Rangers also think they're going to do well this season, as evidenced by team president Nolan Ryan's prediction of at least 92 victories. But they will be without Kinsler when they host the Toronto Blue Jays on opening day.
Kinsler, who had a career-high 31 homers and 86 RBIs last year, is on the disabled list with a high right ankle sprain and the Rangers are determined to be patient with him.
"You don't want something to just keep on recurring throughout the year," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "So we have to make sure it's right, and the good thing about it, Kinsler's in a good frame with that. He wants to come back one time, we want him to come back one time, and whatever amount of time that it takes to get that done, we're going to do it."
That's the theme when it comes to injuries this early in the season: Take care of it now so it doesn't become a yearlong problem.
"You've got to look at the big picture," Kansas City manager Trey Hillman said.
The Royals placed right-hander Gil Meche and infielders Alex Gordon and Josh Fields on the DL on Saturday. They also could be without switch-hitting infielder Alberto Callaspo (irritation in his right side), who is iffy for one of opening day's juiciest pitching matchups — AL Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke against Detroit ace Justin Verlander.
"If you really wanted to force the decision and roll the dice, I think it would be a bad decision on my part to start him against Verlander, hitting left-handed on opening day," Hillman said of Collaspo, his third-string third baseman behind Gordon and Fields.
There's no debating for Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, who will begin the year with 6-foot-11 Jon Rauch serving as closer after Joe Nathan was shelved for the season following right elbow surgery. Matt Guerrier, Jesse Crain and Jose Mijares also could help out if Rauch falters.
Minnesota is at the Los Angeles Angels for opening day in a matchup of defending division champions, and Gardenhire seems as anxious as anyone to see how the closer situation works out.
"Whether they can close or not, you're right there with me," Gardenhire said. "We're going to be sitting in the seats watching them pitch. Hopefully they can handle the situations. I have confidence in them and faith in them, but ninth inning's different. We'll have to see how they do."

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Water bills go up in down economy as usage drops

The grim economy is hitting some consumers in the wallet in yet another way: their water bills.
Many water utilities are raising rates because water use is down, in part because manufacturers have closed or are cutting back, tourism has fallen and the real estate market is in the doldrums.
Water sales for the Kennebunk, Kennebunkport & Wells Water District in southern Maine fell 11 percent last year, to 1995 levels. The No. 1 reason is the sour economy, said superintendent Norm Labbe.
One of the utility's largest customers, a catalog printer, shut its doors last year, putting 374 people out of work. Tourism also has been down — meaning fewer tourists are taking showers and flushing toilets in the motels in the region's beachside communities.
"This is happening most everywhere. It's a regional thing, it's a national thing," Labbe said. "Many, many (water utilities) around the country are seeing decreases in revenues. Because if industry goes down, revenues go down."
A recent study by the Water Research Foundation, a Denver-based nonprofit, on the recession's impact on water utilities found that home foreclosures and business contractions have reduced water demand in many areas. Cities with high unemployment also have seen reduced water consumption as people move away in search of jobs, said Rob Renner, the foundation's executive director.
"It depends on where you are in the country. Regionally, the economy is better in some places than in others," he said.
Water companies for the most part get their money from customers. When water consumption goes up, revenues go up — but when consumption falls, so do revenues.
Water companies often raise rates to pay for high-priced capital expenditures, such as new water lines or treatment plant expansions. But they also have to hike rates when water use goes down to bring in enough money to pay their basic operating costs.
Water rates are based on a wide range of factors, such as infrastructure and water treatment costs as well as revenues from water use. When water use falls, that would be a reason to seek a rate increase, Renner said.
Water consumption can be influenced by the weather. In the Northeast, usage declined last summer in part because homeowners watered their lawns less with the rainy weather. The epic drought that gripped the Southeast in recent years also resulted in falling consumption as people were ordered to conserve water.
Nowadays, the bad economy is taking a toll.
Even after cutting costs 10 percent and laying off nine employees, the water utility in Mount Pleasant, S.C., recently raised rates 9 percent after its customer base and water sales tumbled. That amounts to about $50 a year for the average homeowner.
"We attribute our revenue decline to unoccupied homes due to foreclosures, and commercial businesses just going out of business," said Clay Duffie, Mount Pleasant Waterworks' general manager. "When you have fewer customers, you have less revenue."
At the same time, impact fees the utility collects from developers have dried up, from as much as $6 million a few years ago to $500,000 this fiscal year, Duffie said.
Mount Pleasant, outside of Charleston, has been one of the state's fastest-growing communities in the past 20 years, growing from about 30,000 to 65,000 residents. But development has come nearly to a halt with the down economy.
In New Jersey, the Sayreville water department recently raised rates 13 percent. One big reason was the department's biggest customer, a steel mill, suspended operations for several months because of lower demand for its products.
As a result, the water department's revenues fell $350,000 to $400,000, said Jeff Bertrand, the town's business administrator.
"That was because of the economy," Bertrand said. "Nobody was buying the rebar because nobody was doing construction."
And in California, water and sewer rates in tiny Davenport outside of Santa Cruz are going up because the economy has forced a shutdown of the local cement plant, built in 1906. Sewer rates will increase especially fast — up 74 percent to nearly $2,500 a year — because of the plant shutting down, said Rachel Lather of the Santa Cruz County Sanitation District.
When water rates go up, customers' bills might increase anywhere from a buck or two to $20 or more a month. That doesn't sound like it'll break the bank, but collectively the higher rates could amount to tens of millions of dollars.
And when jobs are scarce, every extra dollar hurts.
In the eastern Maine town of Baileyville along the Canadian border, residents faced the prospect of both lost jobs and higher water bills when the local pulp mill announced it was closing.
Baileyville's water utility proposed raising rates 80 percent after the Domtar Corp. mill, the utility's largest customer by far, said it would close because of the poor global economy. Domtar accounted for 52 percent of the utility's total sales, and residents would have seen their minimum quarterly bills go from $55 to nearly $97.
Domtar shut down last May, putting 300 employees out of work, but unexpectedly reopened two months later after business conditions improved. Even so, the Baileyville Utilities District had to raise rates 9 percent.
But the prospect of nearly doubled water rates when residents were losing their jobs was too much for Baileyville, a small town of about 1,500 people where employment largely revolves around the pulp mill.
"You've got to charge more when revenues go down," said water utility manager Gardner Ross. "But people don't have incomes coming in, so it's a double-whammy."

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Kidnapped Army linguist returns home to San Diego

A U.S. Army linguist returned to his family in Southern California Saturday after more than two months in captivity in Baghdad, according to a National Guard spokeswoman.
Issa Salomi arrived home in San Diego and was "resting and beginning his adjustment back to normal life," Maj. Kimberly Holman said in an emailed statement.
"He wants to again share that he is healthy, is in good spirits and he adds that he is looking forward to a good home-cooked meal and a few good night's rest," Holman wrote.
Salomi, 60, arrived in Texas on Tuesday for medical tests and debriefings with Army officials at Fort Sam Houston.
Salomi has not made a public appearance since the Pentagon announced his release March 27, but issued a statement saying he was "safe, healthy and unharmed." He said it was one of the most satisfying moments of his life when his plane touched down on U.S. soil in San Antonio.
The family asked for privacy and planned no immediate public appearances or statements.
A Shiite extremist group claimed responsibility for the Jan. 23 kidnapping and posted a video online that showed a man wearing military fatigues, reading a list of demands for the release of militants, the prosecution of Blackwater guards and an immediate U.S. troop withdrawal.
The group issued a statement indicating Salomi's release came in exchange for the release by the Iraqi government of four of its members.
Asaib Ahl al-Haq, known in English as the League of the Righteous, said the four were freed "in response to our demands following the capture of the American officer" — a reference to Salomi, who was not identified by name.
But Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said he had no information about anyone being released in exchange for Salomi.
Salomi was raised in Baghdad as the youngest of four children and studied civil engineering in England. His father worked as a photographer for the Iraqi monarchy.
Salomi became a U.S. citizen and returned to Iraq in 2007 to work as a linguist for American troops, the Army says.

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Woods arrives at Augusta National

Tiger Woods is reacquainting himself with Augusta National.
He arrived without notice Sunday with about a dozen players on the new practice range. He was wearing a lavender shirt and sunglasses.
He chatted with Paul Casey and began hitting balls, then headed to the golf course for a practice round at the Masters. Casey declined to discuss their conversation, only that it was good to see him back.
It is rare for Woods to show up on a Sunday before the Masters. The tournament is his first since he was exposed for cheating on his wife.
His first news conference is Monday afternoon. With the course closed to everyone but members and media, this figured to be his last quiet day.

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Haitians face illegal entry charges in Vermont

The U.S. Border Patrol says it's arrested more than 100 people from Haiti for allegedly illegally entering Vermont from Canada since a massive earthquake devastated the Caribbean nation.
In the time since the Jan. 12 earthquake, officials say they've caught 114 Haitians in Vermont who crossed the border illegally.
Lawyers assigned to represent the Haitians told the Burlington Free Press that many are coming to the U.S. because they are desperate to be with relatives and loved ones after the quake killed family members in their home country.
Tristram Coffin, the U.S. attorney for Vermont, says he's not inclined to ease up on the charges because a deterrent is needed for people who try to enter this country illegally.

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World's tallest tower in Dubai reopens

The observation deck of the world's tallest skyscraper reopened Sunday in Dubai, two months after an elevator malfunction left visitors trapped more than 120 stories above the ground and forced it to close.
Dozens of tourists were lining up Sunday for tickets to take an elevator to the 124th floor of the half-mile-high Burj Khalifa, where the tower's observation deck is located.
The deck was shut in February after an elevator packed with visitors got stuck between floors for 45 minutes before rescuers dropped a ladder into the shaft so those inside could crawl out. Two months later, it's still unclear what caused the elevator to fail.
The accident proved a major embarrassment for Dubai, whose rulers hoped the Burj Khalifa, which officially opened in January, would be a major tourist draw and buoy the Gulf city-state as it struggles to revive its image as a cutting-edge Arab metropolis amid nagging questions about its financial health.
At 2,717 feet (828 meters), the tapering, silvery tower ranks as not only the world's highest skyscraper, but also the tallest freestanding structure in the world.
Its developer, Emaar Properties has not officially announced the observation deck's reopening. The firm handling Emaar's public relations did not immediately respond to calls from The AP.
The Burj Khalifa tower rises more than 160 stories, though the exact number of floors is not known. The observation deck is mostly enclosed, but it includes an outdoor terrace bordered by guard rails and is located about two-thirds of the way up.
The tower has 57 elevators. They are supplied by Farmington, Conn.-based Otis Elevator Co., part of United Technologies Corp. Otis spokesman Dilip Rangnekar previously told the AP that the installation is ongoing. On Sunday he did not respond to a request for details on the elevators' repairs or their safety.
Visitors to the observation deck use two dedicated elevators that whisk them from the base to the 124th viewing floor. The elevators can take up to 15 people each and run daily every half hour from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Because of its immense height, the Burj will have areas on levels 43, 76 and 123 known as "sky lobbies" where tenants will change from express elevators to local ones that stop on each floor.
The observation deck was the only part of the tower that opened in January and it boasts a view of Dubai's glimmering skyline, the sprawling desert and the emirate's Gulf shore. Work continues on the rest of the building's interior and the first tenants are supposed to move in soon.
Most visitors who paid the 100 dirhams ($27) for a 3-minute ride to the deck either didn't know about February's elevator malfunction or did not mind the ride's bumpy start.
"We feel fortunate to have gone up," said Sheetal Gulati, a tourist from the U.K. on a three-day trip to Dubai. "The view is very nice and worth seeing."
Emaar, the state-linked company that owns the tower, had little to say about February's accident. The company said nothing about an elevator malfunction at the time of the accident and did not provide details of any repairs or maintenance work on the elevators before the viewing deck reopened Sunday.
Burj Khalifa was designed by Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which has a long track record engineering some of the world's tallest buildings, including Chicago's Willis Tower, the tallest in the U.S. formerly known as the Sears Tower.

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White House braces unemployed for slow job rebound

Buoyed by good news on the jobs front, the White House claimed credit Sunday for reversing the downward economic spiral while bracing out-of-work Americans for a slow recovery.
The Obama administration also eased away from confrontation with China over its artificially low currency. The U.S. wants to encourage Beijing's help on nuclear proliferation and new penalties against Iran for its perceived attempts to build a bomb.
Given the depth and length of the recession, the White House wants to cool expectations of a rapid economic recovery before the November elections that will determine whether Democrats retain control of the House and Senate.
The administration's line is that there's steady, if slow, progress in repairing the economic ruin President Barack Obama repeatedly blames on his predecessor, Republican George W. Bush.
The economy added about 162,000 jobs in March, the most in nearly three years. A large percentage of the gains were temporary census workers hired by the federal government, and the unemployment rate held firm at 9.7 percent. The additional 123,000 private-sector jobs were the most since May 2007.
The economy is growing again, but at a pace unlikely to quickly replace the 8.4 million jobs erased in the recession that began in late 2007. More than 11 million people are drawing unemployment insurance benefits.
"We've got a long way to go," said Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council. "We've inherited a terrible situation, the most pressing economic problems since the Great Depression in our country."
Christina Romer, head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said consumers still face "a lot of head winds" from the financial crisis. For example, debt and credit difficulties are hampering stronger job growth.
They were echoing the words of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who said last week the administration was "very worried" about returning to a more normal jobless rate of around 5 percent.
Summers said Obama was preoccupied with creating jobs. "The trend has turned, but to get back to the surface, we've got a long way to go," Summers said.
As Obama moves on with his legislative agenda after victory on health care, Summers said he believed Congress would pass new oversight rules for the financial industry. The Wall Street meltdown was largely blamed for the recession and the near collapse of the global financial system.
"I expect that reform is going to pass," Summers said. Obama wants it on his desk within two weeks.
Arizona Sen. John Kyl, the No. 2 Senate GOP leader, accused Democrats of pulling out of bipartisan negotiations on the bill. Nonetheless, he said he thought there was "a substantial opportunity" for a bipartisan solution.
On the issue of Chinese currency manipulation, Summers denied that a delayed report to Congress amounted to a trade-off for Beijing's support for new penalties against Iran.
The report was due April 15 — just as China's president comes to Washington for a nuclear security summit. Geithner said Saturday it would come out after several high-level international meetings in the months ahead, when Washington would have the opportunity to continue pushing its position.
China keeps the value of its currency at an artificially low level, making its goods less expensive in the U.S. market and causing American exports to be too expensive for Chinese consumers. They result is an exploding U.S. trade deficit
The White House is pressing China and Russia, which normally oppose Iranian sanctions, to join the effort to punish Tehran. Iran is enriching uranium in violation of international agreements against nuclear proliferation; the Iranian government says its nuclear ambitions are limited to developing nuclear power for peaceful purposes.
The West, led by the United States, contends Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb, an outcome that Washington contends would launch an arms race in the Middle East.
As China began showing a readiness to join discussions on punishing Iran and President Hu Jintao committed to participating in Obama's nuclear proliferation conference this month, the administration eased back on the threat to label China as a currency manipulator and the imposition of trade restrictions.
Even as the report was delayed, Romer acknowledged the currency issue remained important.
"We think it (the value of the yuan) needs to be more influenced by market forces," she said. "I think there's no question of that. ... We're going to be working to, to get the kind of result that we want, which is something more in alignment."

David Mikael Taclino
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Suicide bombers target embassies in Iraq, kill 42

Suicide attackers detonated three car bombs in quick succession near foreign embassies in Baghdad on Sunday, killing more than 40 people in coordinated strikes that Iraqi officials said were intended to disrupt efforts to form a new government.
The bombings followed the execution-style killings of 24 villagers in a Sunni area two days earlier, a spike in violence that suggests insurgents are seizing on the political uncertainty after the recent election to try to destabilize the country as U.S. troops prepare to leave. No clear winner emerged from the March 7 vote.
Sunday's explosions went off within minutes of each other, starting shortly after 11 a.m. One struck near the Iranian Embassy and two others hit an area that houses several diplomatic missions, including the Egyptian Consulate and the German and Spanish embassies. It was not immediately known whether diplomatic staff were among the victims.
Authorities said they foiled two other attacks aimed at diplomatic targets by stopping the would-be bombers' vehicles and defusing the explosives.
Stunned victims in bloody clothes were loaded into ambulances as gray smoke rose over Baghdad.
"I saw children screaming," Hassan Karim, 32, who owns a clothing shop in Baghdad, told The Associated Press. "Cars were crashing into each other in streets, trying to find a way to flee."
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although multiple, coordinated bombings in the capital are a hallmark of al-Qaida in Iraq.
The violence suggests insurgents are trying to regroup in the political vacuum left after the elections.
Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's cross-sectarian bloc tapped into heavy Sunni support to come in just two seats ahead of the mainly Shiite list of the incumbent, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. But neither side has enough seats to govern alone, which means they are scrambling to cobble together enough parliamentary support to form a government.
Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the bombings were an attempt to inject more turmoil into the political scene as the election front-runners try to forge a coalition government.
"These terrorists will not be able to stop Iraqis and friends of the Iraqi people from building a free, secure and prosperous future," the ministry said.
Several Iraqi guards from the German and Egyptian missions were confirmed dead, authorities said. One police official said many of the victims were employees at a state-run bank near the Iranian Embassy. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The Spanish embassy building suffered "considerable damage" but nobody was injured, the Spanish government said.
The attackers wore suicide vests and drove cars laden with explosives, said Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for the city's operations command center. Guards at the Egyptian Consulate opened fire on one of the attackers as he drove toward them, but they were unable to stop him.
At least two other planned attacks were thwarted.
Security forces fatally shot a man wearing a suicide belt before he could detonate a fourth bomb-rigged car near the former Germany Embassy, which is now a bank, al-Moussawi said. A fifth would-be bomber was captured on his way to the area where two of the explosions happened, said a senior Iraqi security official. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The official said Iraqi forces were tipped off about a possible attack against diplomatic targets and had started beefing up security Saturday, which he credited with keeping the embassies from serious damage.
"We were fortunate they weren't able to reach their targets," the official said.
While overall violence has dropped considerably in Iraq since 2006 and 2007, the ability of insurgents to carry out well-planned attacks against prominent targets shows that significant security lapses remain. Many fear such attacks will complicate American efforts to speed up troop withdrawals in the coming months.
On Friday, gunmen trying to pass themselves off as U.S. and Iraqi soldiers raided a Sunni village outside Baghdad and killed at least 24 people in an execution-style attack, apparently targeting a Sunni group that revolted against al-Qaida in Iraq.
The killings were reminiscent of those that plagued Iraq at the height of the sectarian bloodshed of 2006 and 2007, when men, sometimes dressed in police or army uniforms, snatched people from their homes at night.
After Sunday's attacks, U.S. military spokesman Capt. Jay Ostrich said American forces, including explosives disposal teams, were assisting Iraqi troops at the government's request. He said the U.S. military is "ready to support any further requests for assistance" from Iraqi authorities.
Sunday's bombings were among the worst this year, but there have been deadlier attacks recently.
Late last month, twin bombings near a restaurant north of Baghdad killed 57. On Feb. 1, a female suicide bomber killed at least 54 people when she detonated explosives hidden beneath a cloak while mingling among Shiite pilgrims on the outskirts of Baghdad.
On Jan. 25, suicide bombings of three hotels favored by Western journalists killed more than 40 people, and on Dec. 8, a wave of coordinated attacks targeted high-profile government sites in Baghdad, killing at least 127.

David Mikael Taclino
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State TV says 9 rescued from flooded Chinese mine

Nine miners were pulled to safety early Monday after spending more than a week trapped in a flooded coal mine in northern China, and state television reported more survivors may be found.
The nine men — among 153 trapped since March 28 — were wrapped in blankets, placed in ambulances and rushed to a hospital where teams of doctors and nurses had been standing by for several days.
China Central Television said more people in the Wangjialing mine could still be alive, but did not give any details.
It showed images of the miners being taken into the hospital in Hejin city, about 40 minutes from the mine. Their eyes were covered to shield them from the bright lights. Some were hooked up to intravenous drips and were taken into the intensive care unit, but it was not known what condition they were in.
The nine had been trapped since workers broke a wall into a water-filled abandoned shaft, flooding the mine in Shanxi province in northern China. About 3,000 people have worked around the clock since then to pump out the water.
A glimmer of hope emerged Friday when rescuers heard knocking on a pipe that had been drilled into the mine. But no sounds were heard after that as workers frantically pumped water out and sent divers into the mine to scout conditions.
Finally, at 40 minutes past midnight Monday the first survivor was brought to the surface. A crowd of people outside the entrance of the mine shaft clapped as the miners were carried out.
Reporters who did not belong to state media were prevented from getting close to the site.
CCTV did not say how may other survivors there may be. The official Xinhua News Agency reported that swaying lamp lights were seen at the other side of a V-shaped shaft in the mine.
It said the bottom of the V-shaped shaft had emerged as the water level fell.
A preliminary investigation last week found that the mine's managers ignored water leaks before the accident, the State Administration of Work Safety said.
China's coal mines are the world's deadliest. Accidents killed 2,631 coal miners in China last year, down from 6,995 deaths in 2002, the most dangerous year on record, according to the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
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Defense Minister prepares Germans for Afghan 'war'

Germany's defense minister on Sunday for the first time referred to military operations in Afghanistan as a war, while he promised to investigate a friendly fire clash that left six Afghan soldiers dead.
Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg broke a government taboo on the politically charged word, preparing Germans to expect more fighting by telling reporters: "Even if not everyone likes it, regarding what happens in parts of Afghanistan, one can colloquially refer to it as war."
German politicians have stopped short of using the word to refer to military operations in Afghanistan for fear of generating even more public opposition to a mission that is already deeply unpopular.
Some 4,000 German soldiers control the relatively peaceful north of Afghanistan, and 39 German soldiers have died in Afghanistan in the last nine years. Parts of the north have recently proven more volatile.
Friendly fire clashes on Friday left six Aghan soldiers dead, the same day three German troops died and eight were wounded in heavy fighting with insurgents.
"Operations there are and remain dangerous," Guttenberg said at a televised news conference in Bonn.
Guttenberg said the German prosecutor general has opened an investigation into the friendly fire incident. In addition, NATO's ISAF, the Afghan Defense Ministry and the defense department will investigate what happened, Guttenberg said.
Friday's attack on the German soldiers — carried out by an estimated 150 Taliban fighters — was "remarkable in its complexity" and involved several attacks in different locations, Guttenberg added.
The German troops were rushing to the scene of their comrades' fighting after nightfall and mistook the Afghan soldiers for insurgents, the military said. Guttenberg expressed his sympathy to the families and relatives of the Afghan soldiers killed by German soldiers.
Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed condolences to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and Guttenberg presented his apologies to his Afghan counterpart Abdul Rahim Wardak, he said.
Amid heavy fighting, friendly fire incidents "can never be excluded with absolute certainty," Guttenberg said.
Germany is still committed to building a secure Afghanistan, he said, noting that a failing state could have a destabilizing impact on Central Asia and Afghanistan's neighbors, Iran and nuclear-armed Pakistan.
Guttenberg has been inching closer to directly using the word "war" since becoming defense minister in October, refering to "conditions similar to a war." Guttenberg stressed Sunday that the word can only be used "colloquially" because the legal definition for a war would require two nations to be in armed conflict.
After more than eight years in Afghanistan, the government in February changed its official stance on the conflict from "stabilization mission" to "armed conflict."
Col. Ulrich Kirsch, the head of the German soldiers' union, has said that wording offers troops "increased legal security" because they may resort to force more easily.
Earlier on Sunday, development minister Dirk Niebel urged the public to show more understanding and support for their troops in Afghanistan, asking for "more comprehension for the need that they sometimes have to defend themselves preemptively."
Niebel met with German soldiers in Afghanistan on Saturday after visiting development projects and flew back to Germany on Sunday with three coffins from Friday's fighting near Kunduz.
The Kunduz region is also where German forces were sharply criticized last September when they ordered an airstrike on two tanker trucks that had been captured by the Taliban. Up to 142 people died, many of them civilians.
Retired General Harald Kujat, formerly the highest ranking German soldier and chairman of the NATO Military Committee, accused the government of "ignorance regarding the military's needs" for its operations in Afghanistan.
Kujat told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that crucial equipment for a successful mission was lacking and said more soldiers were needed. The current mandate — allowing a maximum of 5,000 soldiers — is a political compromise "which does not reflect the real operational needs," he was quoted as saying.
The government lacks a coherent strategy for its mission in Afghanistan, he said.
Guttenberg — without explicitly referring to Kujat — defended the German government's strategy and rejected criticism on the military's equipment, instead praising the soldiers professionalism in Friday's fighting.
Kujat — Germany's top soldier from 2000 to 2002 before moving to NATO — also said he expects more brazen attacks by the Taliban on the German military in northern Afghanistan.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
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Lebron, Wade Update

Considering what LeBron James has already done to help deliver an Olympic gold medal to the United States, he doesn’t understand how skipping this summer’s World Championships could keep him from playing in the 2012 London Games.
James said Wednesday that he’s “probably not” playing for Team USA this summer because of his impending free agency and a busy schedule. Dwyane Wade also is leaning toward not playing. USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo responded by telling Yahoo! Sports there will be no “free passes” to the 2012 London Olympics. Any player who skips prior USA Basketball commitments “without a legit issue, they do it with an understanding of the risk,” Colangelo said.
Those words didn’t sit well with James, who has played in two Olympics, a World Championships and a FIBA Americas Championships for the United States.
“Everyone in the United States of America understands the commitment these guys have made, including myself, since 2003,” James said Sunday. “I’m not trying to bash Jerry because he’s a good guy and I really respect him. But if he came out and said that, I don’t respect that because of the commitment we’ve given to the United States with a three-year commitment off the bat. We didn’t second-guess it at all. So if we are jeopardizing the opportunity to be on the team in London, I mean, what can we do? What can we do?”


David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
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Huggins consoles Butler in front of millions

Duke cruised to its 10th title-game appearance Saturday night, but the final score and the performances by Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith are as much of "highlight" as the human touch we saw from oft-surly WVU head coach Bob Huggins.
Huggins has said he's never coached a better combination of player and person than Da'Sean Butler, and as the senior's college career ended with a knee injury, Huggins came out, defended his player to the officials and had a touching moment with Butler as the All-Big East first-teamer lay helpless on the court.
It was emotional and extremely personal. The interaction between the two was a glimpse into a relationship that we rarely get to see on such a grand stage. But with tears in Butler's eyes and frustration in his body language, Huggins clasped his best player's head and got him through it. We may not get a more personal public moment from this year's tournament than this.
Huggins, clearly frustrated with how the play unfolded, also chastised official John Higgins by saying, sarcastically, "They [the Blue Devils] don't foul, right, John? They don't foul. All-American laying here and they don't foul."
David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

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