U.S. Real Estate is Next to Boom; Just Ask Norway

Norway’s $660 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, plans to invest about $11 billion as it enters the U.S. real estate market.

The fund, mandated by the country’s finance ministry to eventually put 5 percent of assets in property, wants one-third of that, or 1.7 percent, to be in the U.S., said Yngve Slyngstad, chief executive officer of Oslo-based Norges Bank Investment Management, which oversees the pool. The fund held 0.3 percent in real estate, 60.3 percent in stocks and 39.4 percent in bonds as of the end of September, according to its quarterly report.

“The U.S. is the next real estate market to invest in,” Slyngstad said yesterday in an interview at Bloomberg LP’s headquarters in New York.

Sovereign wealth funds, or state-owned investment pools, are seeking to diversify their risk by expanding investments beyond stocks and bonds. China Investment Corp., which oversees about $482 billion in assets, in 2010 helped refinance a Manhattan office tower co-owned by private-equity firm Carlyle Group LP. (CG) Norway, seeking higher returns and lower risk after record losses in 2008, gave approval in 2010 for its fund to invest as much as 5 percent of its value in real estate over several years.

The fund is focusing on conservative property investments, such as large office complexes in major cities and developed malls, Slyngstad said in the interview. It has already bought commercial property in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Berlin and Sheffield in the U.K., and on Nov. 29 made its first real estate investment in Switzerland, buying a Zurich office complex from Credit Suisse Group AG (CS) for 1 billion Swiss francs ($1.08 billion).

Higher Yields

As sovereign wealth funds become more active buyers of real estate, investors such as Blackstone Group LP (BX) expect to increase sales of property holdings. New York-based Blackstone, the largest alternative-asset manager, has $54 billion of real estate assets, including office developments, shopping centers and hotel chains such as Hilton Worldwide Inc.

“The other trend that will be helpful for us to exit some of the larger things we own, particularly the higher-quality assets in the gateway cities, is the rise of the sovereign wealth fund,” Jonathan Gray, Blackstone’s global head of real estate, said last month at the Bloomberg Commercial Real Estate Conference in New York. “Sovereign wealth funds are enormous pools of capital around the world,” and real estate offers higher yields than government bonds, along with a hedge against inflation.

Largest Funds

More than 60 percent of sovereign wealth funds invest in real estate, either directly or indirectly through other funds, according to Preqin Ltd., the London-based research company. Larger government pools are more likely to make property investments, Preqin said in an April research note, with 83 percent of those managing at least $250 billion being active in the asset class.

Norway, Europe’s second-biggest oil and gas exporter, generates money for the fund from taxes on oil and gas, ownership of petroleum fields and dividends from its 67 percent stake in Statoil ASA (STL), the country’s largest energy company. The fund last month said it returned 4.7 percent in the third quarter, after a decline of 2.2 percent in the previous three months.

To contact the reporter on this story: Devin Banerjee in New York at dbanerjee2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-11-30/norway-wealth-fund-to-invest-11-billion-in-u-dot-s-dot-property

Five killed in collision of two small planes over Canada

Five people were killed Saturday when two small planes collided in the air northeast of Saskatoon, Canada, officials said. Both planes involved were single-engine aircraft. 

One was en route to La Ronge from Regina with a man and woman aboard, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said. The other was traveling to St. Brieux, Saskatchewan, where the crash occurred, from Calgary. Two men and a male juvenile were aboard, police said. 

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is investigating the crash.

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Peace negotiator, NATO troops killed in Afghanistan

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- An Afghan official involved in setting up peace talks with the Taliban was gunned down in Kabul on Sunday as Afghanistan announced plans to take control of security over more of its territory. Gunmen killed Moulavi Arsala Rahmani while he was on his way to work Sunday morning, the Afghan interior ministry said.

Rahmani was a senator and Cabinet minister in the former Taliban government when the Islamic militia ruled most of the country, but in recent years had been a senior member of the High Peace Council. Rahmani played a key role in efforts to bring Taliban leaders to the negotiation table. Authorities were searching for the attackers, the interior ministry said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the killing, praising Rahmani as a warrior-turned-politician "and a great pacifist." "Enemies of Afghanistan must know that every Afghan wants peace and progress in their country and, thus Mawlavi Arsala was not alone in this journey," Karzai said in a statement. The Taliban, which has been fighting government forces and U.S.-led NATO troops for more than a decade, announced recently that peace council members would be targets of its spring offensive.

But Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a text message Sunday that the group did not kill Rahmani. He died the same day that Afghanistan released a new list of areas in which responsibility for security will be transferred from U.S. and allied troops to Afghan forces. Those include the city of Kandahar, the Taliban's historical seat of power and until recently one of its strongholds.

 The rest of the list includes other volatile areas, including about half of the insurgent hotbed of Nurestan province, a third of violent Paktika province's districts and all of Uruzgan province, where departing Australian forces are active. The plan means Afghan officials will have control over more than 75% of their own territory, Gen. John Allen, the commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said Sunday. And NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said once the move is implemented, "transition will have begun in every one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, including every provincial capital."

"This is thanks to the courage and determination of the Afghan people, the Afghan security forces and ISAF, and it is a result of the progress we have already made," Rasmussen said in a statement. "Together, we are moving steadily closer to our shared goal: to see the Afghan forces fully in charge of their country's security by the end of 2014."

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Egypt's military backs transition; 11 killed in clashes

Egypt's military may hand over power to a civilian authority in the next three weeks should a presidential vote be decided in the first round, a spokesman for the armed forces chief of staff said Wednesday. "General Sami Anan said today during a meeting with political powers and parties that (the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces) looks forward to handing (over) power within the next three weeks if a president wins in the first phase of elections without runoffs," Maj. Alaa Al Iraq said. The move, he said, is meant to quash doubts of those who fear a lingering military rule and signal an intention to make good on the coming transition.

Egyptians are expected to head to the polls May 23 in what will be the first presidential election since President Hosni Mubarak's ouster. It comes amid rising political tensions as officials work to craft a new constitution and Egyptians await the June 2 verdict in Mubarak's murder trial. Protesters, meanwhile, camped outside the Ministry of Defense for a fourth day to voice their anger about the disqualification of Islamist candidate Hazem Abu Ismael from the election.

They also want to disband the presidential election commission. Abu Ismael was disqualified because of evidence that his late mother had U.S. citizenship, an assertion he has denied, prompting his followers to protest the decision by the election commission. About 10 of the 23 presidential contenders have been disqualified, the head of the election committee said this month. Assailants targeted the protesters in Cairo early Wednesday, killing at least 11, medical sources said.

At least 100 people were injured, said Hisham Shiha, the deputy minister of health. It was unclear who the attackers were, but they were not wearing uniforms, witnesses said. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice said, "we're very concerned about the outbreak of violence," adding that the U.S considers it "important for elections to go forward as planned."

Fears of increased violence linger, observers say, as additional protesters marched from downtown to join the other demonstrators. The military dispatched a unit to attempt to restore calm. Protesters hurled rocks at the assailants, who responded with a steady barrage of rocks and Molotov cocktails. "Down with military rule!" the protesters chanted. Alaa Younis, who took part in the sit-in with some friends, said "dozens of military men dressed in plainclothes started pelting" them "with stones, cement blocks, and fired tear gas from rifles, so they were obviously security officers under cover."

 "We fought back with rocks until we noticed they escalated and fired birdshot. Many of us took refuge at one of two field hospitals," Younis said.

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Four players suspended in NFL bounty scandal

Four past or present New Orleans Saints players were suspended Wednesday by the National Football League for their roles in the "bountygate" scandal involving bonuses for trying to hurt opponents. The league announced that Scott Fujita, Anthony Hargrove, Will Smith and Jonathan Vilma were suspended without pay for varying lengths of time. The NFL previously suspended Saints coach Sean Payton for the 2012 season while levying an indefinite suspension on former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who was accused of masterminding the bonus program. 

Vilma, a linebacker who is still with the Saints, got suspended for a year, and teammate Smith, a defensive end, got a four-game suspension. Fujita, a linebacker with the Cleveland Browns, was suspended for three games while Hargrove, a defensive lineman now with the Green Bay Packers, got an eight-game suspension. "It is the obligation of everyone, including the players on the field, to ensure that rules designed to promote player safety, fair play, and the integrity of the game are adhered to and effectively and consistently enforced," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement announcing the suspensions. 

"Respect for the men that play the game starts with the way players conduct themselves with each other on the field." The statement said evidence reviewed by the league "demonstrated that from 2009-11 Saints players of their own accord pledged significant amounts of their own money toward bounties, that players accepted payments for 'cart-offs' and 'knockouts' of injured opposing players, and that the payout amounts doubled and tripled for playoff games." Vilma was a captain of the defensive unit under Williams and assisted in creating and funding the bounty program, the NFL statement said. 

"Multiple independent sources also confirmed that Vilma offered a specific bounty -- $10,000 in cash -- to any player who knocked Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner out of the 2009 Divisional Playoff Game and later pledged the same amount to anyone who knocked Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre out of the 2009 NFC Championship Game the following week," the statement said. Hargrove "actively participated in the program" as a Saint and obstructed the league's investigation by "being untruthful," the statement said, while Fujita pledged "a significant amount of money" to the program. Smith, a captain of the defensive unit, helped Williams with the program and pledged money for it, according to the statement. 

All four players can appeal the suspensions and would be entitled to a hearing and representation by counsel, the statement said. DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association, said the organization would help the players fight the suspensions. "After seeing the NFL's decision letters, the NFLPA has still not received any detailed or specific evidence from the league of these specific players' involvement in an alleged pay-to-injure program," Smith said in a statement. "We have made it clear that punishment without evidence is not fair. We have spoken with our players and their representatives and we will vigorously protect and pursue all options on their behalf."

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Myanmar's Suu Kyi takes oath of office

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sworn in Wednesday as a lawmaker for the first time, a key step in the country's recent shift toward democracy after decades of repressive military rule. Suu Kyi, a pro-democracy campaigner who spent years under house arrest, traveled to the parliament in the capital, Naypyidaw, to take up the seat she won in elections last month.

 She and 33 other newly elected members of her party, the National League for Democracy, took an oath of office for the lower house of parliament that they had initially refused to accept because of its wording, which called for protection of the country's constitution. The NLD considers the constitution undemocratic and has said it wants to change it.

 The party had asked the Myanmar authorities to adjust the wording of the oath to say that lawmakers would "abide by" the constitution rather than "protect" it. Suu Kyi and the other recently elected NLD members delayed their debuts in parliament over the issue, but the government of President Thein Sein, a former military official, made no sign of moving to accommodate the request. On Monday, Suu Kyi and the NLD backed down from the demand to have the wording changed, ending the impasse. Suu Kyi said she would take the oath "for the country and for the people."

She added that her decision had been encouraged by voters, parliament members and representatives of Myanmar's ethnic minority groups. Myanmar's authoritarian military rulers are loosening their grip on power after decades of stifling dissent and limiting freedoms. In the past 12 months, the government has pardoned hundreds of political prisoners, secured a cease-fire with Karen rebels and agreed to negotiate with other ethnic rebel groups.

 The success of Suu Kyi and her party at the by-elections last month -- the NLD won 43 seats, 34 of them in the lower house -- was welcomed by the United States and European Union as a sign of progress toward democracy. Her presence in parliament Wednesday illustrates the pace at which Myanmar is changing: She was released from house arrest less than a year and a half ago. Control of parliament will not change, but the entry of the NLD members nonetheless gives the party a notable presence.

Myanmar's legislature has 664 seats, more than 80% of which are still held by lawmakers aligned with the military-backed ruling group, the Union Solidarity and Development Party. Many Western governments have taken steps to ease sanctions on Myanmar, also known as Burma, in response to its political reforms. But international officials have also cautioned that the country still has a long way to go.

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Official: Steps being taken to combat body-bomb threat

Steps were being taken to guard against a new threat of "body bombs" planted inside passengers aboard flights heading to the United States from overseas, a government official with knowledge of the threat said Tuesday. Authorities have increased aviation security, especially on air carriers heading to the United States from the United Kingdom, other parts of Europe and the Middle East in the days surrounding the one-year anniversary of the death of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, said the official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the information and to protect the specifics of how the risk came to light. 

ABC reported on Monday officials fear al Qaeda may soon attempt to explode United States-bound aircraft with the body bombs. The body bomb threat has surfaced before, but the renewed concern is based on new information originating overseas, the official said. Details of the threat have been shared among intelligence agencies in the United States and the United Kingdom within the past two weeks, the official said An FBI official declined comment on the information, but said, "the FBI takes all threat stream information seriously and runs it down to the best of our ability with all available resources." Department of Homeland Security spokesman Peter Boogaard said Monday authorities have "no indication of any specific, credible threats or plots against the United States tied to the bin Laden anniversary." Navy SEALs killed bin Laden during a raid on a Pakistani compound on May 2, 2011. 

"DHS will continue to monitor intelligence reporting and respond appropriately to protect the American people from an ever-evolving threat picture, and as always, encourage the public and our partners in law enforcement and the private sector to remain vigilant in promptly reporting any suspicious activities," he added, declining comment on the ABC report. 

Speaking before the ABC story was published, a separate law enforcement official claimed not to know of any security increases but said each locality makes its own decision. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, similarly said that there is "no intelligence to indicate a credible threat" of attack to coincide with the anniversary of bin Laden's death. Body bombs gained worldwide attention in 2009 when al Qaeda's chief bomb-maker, Ibrahim al-Asiri, built a device containing around 100 grams of PETN, a difficult-to-detect powdery explosive, that was designed to be inserted inside the rectum of a suicide bomber.

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President Obama's humor goes to the 'dogs' during annual dinner

The humor at the 98th annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner went to the dogs. President Barack Obama poked fun Saturday at everything, from the Secret Service scandal to the lavish spending by the Government Services Administration, to the upcoming general election. However, it was a spoof about Mitt Romney and his dog Seamus that highlighted the president's monologue. The joke recalled a political ad released by the Newt Gingrich campaign that took aim at Romney for admitting he once put his family dog in a cage and perched it on the top of his car.

"I know everybody is predicting a nasty election, and thankfully, we've all agreed that families are off-limits," the president said. "Dogs, however, are apparently fair game." The president's punch line: An ad by a phony Super PAC that featured Romney on Air Force One with a dog cage on top of the aircraft and promoted dog freedoms, while warning of Obama's policy of dog socialism.

"Under his leadership, man's best friend has been forced into automobiles. Imagine the European-style socialism that he has planned for the next four years," the spoof ad said. The president even poked fun at himself over recent criticism by the Romney campaign about revelations in his book, "Dreams From My Father," where he revealed he was fed dog meat as a boy in Indonesia.

"That's pretty rough. But I can take it, because my stepfather always told me, it's a boy-eat-dog world out there," Obama said. The president referred to former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's recent guest hosting on "Today," saying it "reminds me of an old saying -- What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? A pit bull is delicious."

The dinner was Obama's fourth as president. It has been a ritual in Washington since 1920, when it was first held to boost communication between the press and the president. Journalists and news organizations were well-represented at the affair, and they brought famous faces in tow

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Texas couple pen a 'bucket list' for their baby with fatal illness

Mike and Laura Canahuati's blog about their nearly 6-month-old daughter, who is expected to die by age 2 because of a genetic disorder, began as an efficient way to keep family and close friends in touch about baby Avery's health. But when Mike Canahuati came upon the idea of writing a "bucket list" for his infant child -- a list of things to do before death normally drafted for adults -- his blog went viral, now with more than 1 million page views. His imagined "bucket list" -- written as though Avery will make it past age 2 and experience life's milestones as a healthy girl -- is so sensitively penned that many of his readers are convinced that it's mom, not dad, typing the entries, said 31-year-old Mike Canahuati, of Bellaire, Texas, near Houston.

"A lot of people when they post on there, they say 'you and your husband.' They obviously assume Laura is writing it," dad said. Read the Canahuatis' blog The bucket list's entries are lighthearted, humorous and decidedly hopeful, though Avery has Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type One, the worst order of an incurable disease caused by a genetic defect that attacks the muscles, especially the respiratory system. Only Type Zero is worse, but that usually occurs with fetuses, the couple said. One in 6,000 babies is born with one of four types of SMA, according to the Canahuatis, whose daughter was diagnosed on Good Friday. One in 40 people are carriers of the gene, and the Canahuatis had a 1-in-1,600 chance of both being carriers -- which they believe they are, the couple said.

Writing in the first person as if his daughter is the author, Mike Canahuati creates new bucket lists during the week on the family's averycan.blogspot.com website or their "Avery's Bucket List" Facebook page, such as this one:
1. Wake up smiling
2. Have a bad hair day
3. Ride in an ambulance
4. Get picked up by a fireman
5. Meet a fan
6. Talk to mommy & daddy
7. Eat a cupcake & a Blow Pop
8. Play with Play-Dough
9. Play a practical joke on someone

The lists imagine the parents living out a normal life with Avery through her teen years and beyond.

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Bobby Brown sentenced to probation in alcohol-related driving incident

Singer Bobby Brown pleaded no contest Wednesday to driving with a blood alcohol content of .08% or higher and was sentenced to 36 months of probation, his attorney said.

 The charge to which he pleaded no contest is a violation of the California vehicle code, the attorney said. In Los Angeles County Superior Court, prosecutors dismissed two other counts against him -- a drunk driving charge and a suspended driver's license charge -- said Brown lawyer Tiffany Feder.

Brown was also sentenced to one day in jail -- which he already served -- and must undergo a 90-day alcohol treatment program, Feder said. Brown didn't appear in court, Feder said. Brown, 43, showed signs of intoxication and failed a field sobriety test during the traffic stop last month in the Reseda area of Los Angeles County, California, Highway Patrol spokeswoman Tiana Reed said.

Brown is the ex-husband of the late singer Whitney Houston.

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Stolen babies scandal haunts Spain

Sister Maria Gomez is an 87-year-old Catholic nun. This month, she appeared in a Spanish court escorted by police. She is accused of snatching an infant from her birth mother and putting the child up for an illegal adoption in 1982. Sister Maria Gomez flatly refused to testify and was jeered as she stepped outside the court. The elderly nun wearing a gray habit has become the face of what is known in Spain as Ninos Robados or Stolen Children.

Thousands of newborn babies -- according to groups working with the now-adult adoptees -- were taken from their mothers, straight out of hospitals, and sold to families desperate for children. At least 2,000 official cases have been filed with Spanish prosecutors, but some believe there could be tens of thousands more, dating as far back as the 1950s and continuing as recently as the 1990s.

So far, it seems the cases, from all across Spain, were individuals making money from misery rather than a nationally coordinated network or organized crime gangs. But of all these cases, only one person has been named as a suspect, Sister Maria Gomez.

One day after her appearance in court, she issued a statement denying the allegations saying they were deeply disgusting and that she has never known a single case of a newborn being taken from a mother through coercion or threats.

We traveled to Spain to talk to those parents who believe their children were stolen and some who believe they were taken from their birth parents.Juan Luis Moreno and Antonio Barroso grew up together as childhood friends. Their parents had different interests and different jobs, but the two families vacationed every year in the city of Zaragoza.

Decades later, when both were in their 40s, Moreno's dying father told his son the truth about those summer holidays: Both families were paying annual installments to a Catholic nun. He said the money paid for the illegal adoption of both boys as newborn babies.

"In fact, my dad was given a choice: boy or girl," Perez said. "They put it bluntly: This was a market for babies."

Moreno said his father told him he had paid roughly double the price of their family home, a huge sum for a working-class family.The truth angered both men so much that they tracked down the nun - not Sister Maria Gomez - who facilitated the illegal adoption and confronted her. At first she denied receiving any payments, but then slowly remembers both of their adopted parents.

Barroso said: "I was so angry and I threatened her: you're going to have problems. You're going to jail. It was the least I could do because I wanted to strangle her."

"Imagine! She tells you with all the coolness of the world. There were two for the Penedes region. Like we were chickens in the market. Like two kilos of tomatoes. What kind of a twisted mind is this?" asks Moreno .After that, Moreno and Barroso set up Anadir, an association for Spain's stolen children. The response has been overwhelming. Hundreds have contacted them in the hopes of finding their lost children or parents.

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First criminal charges filed in BP oil spill

A former BP engineer has been charged with destroying 200-plus text messages about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, including one concluding that the undersea gusher was far worse than reported at the time. Kurt Mix faces two counts of intentionally destroying evidence requested by authorities, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.


The charges mark the first criminal case brought in conjunction with the 2010 blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, which spewed nearly 5 million barrels of crude into the sea. Mix had been assigned to estimate the size of the spill, and one of the messages investigators recovered "includes real-time flow-rate analysis" during an effort to plug the damaged well.

That data contradicted the company's public statements about the ongoing disaster, according to an FBI agent's affidavit outlining the charges against him. The effort, called a "top kill," involved plugging the ruptured deep-sea well by pumping heavy drilling fluid into it from the surface, nearly a mile above. "Before Top Kill commenced, Mix and other engineers had concluded internally that Top Kill was unlikely to succeed if the flow rate was greater than 15,000 barrels of oil per day," the Justice Department said in a statement announcing the charges.

 On the first day of the operation, Mix sent a message back to his supervisor that read, "Too much flowrate -- over 15,000 and too large an orifice," an FBI affidavit outlining the charges states. That data indicated "that Top Kill was not working, contrary to BP's public statements at that time," the affidavit states. When the operation began, the publicly announced estimate of the spill by BP and federal agencies was 5,000 barrels a day, though BP had acknowledged the amount was likely higher.

 The day after Mix's message, the U.S. government raised its estimate of the spill amount to 12,000 barrels a day; two days later, BP announced that the "Top Kill" attempt had failed. According to the affidavit, an early estimate of the blowout Mix produced ranged from 64,000 barrels a day to 138,000; another ranged from 1,000 to 146,000 per day.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ultimately concluded that about 59,200 barrels of liquid oil a day flowed from the well before it was capped, making it the worst oil spill in U.S. history. In a statement issued Tuesday, BP said it was cooperating with Justice Department and other investigations into the spill, which lasted nearly three months.

The company had no comment on the allegations against Mix but said it "had clear policies requiring preservation of evidence in this case and has undertaken substantial and ongoing efforts to preserve evidence."

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Teen girls take more risks behind wheel, study finds

A new study suggests that teen girls are far more likely than boys to engage in distracted driving behavior. "There's a remarkable difference between boys and girls when it comes to distracting driving habits.

 In almost every category we surveyed ... girls are more likely to engage in dangerous or distracting behaviors by almost 15%," said Angela Patterson of Bridgestone Americas, which conducted the study. The overwhelming majority of teen girls who responded to the study said that changing music on car stereos and playing loud music while driving distracted them.

Eighty-three percent of teen girls also told researchers that having more than one passenger in the vehicle caused them to lose focus on the road. Teen uses social media to fight drunken driving While the majority of teens admitted they are most likely to fidget with a radio while driving, they see it as less dangerous than other factors causing accidents.

Teens perceive drunken driving, reading text messages and eating while driving, and having other passengers in the car as the biggest distractions for drivers their age. Only one-third of teens in the survey said they believe that talking on the phone while driving is "very dangerous." Twenty percent of teens admitted typing the occasional text message while driving.

Researchers suggest that for the most part, teens appear to be minimizing distractions while behind the wheel. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 16-year-olds have higher crash rates than drivers of any other age. But there's a downward trend in teen fatalities on the nation's highways. More than 3,400 teens died in motor vehicle crashes in 2009, but that death toll is 60% percent less than in 1975, according to the safety group.

One good sign for parents and drivers sharing the road with teens is that the dangers of drinking and driving appear to be getting through to teens. Only 2% of females and 3% of males admitted to having alcohol play a part in their risky driving behaviors. Ninety-five percent of teens surveyed were aware that drinking and driving is very dangerous, the highest percentage of all the questions asked.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who has made the issue of distracted driving one of his top priorities, said, "As long as I'm secretary, we're going to continue every single day to put an end to this deadly problem."

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In tears, Jennifer Hudson testifies at trial of man accused of killing her relatives

Proceedings are set to resume Tuesday morning in the trial of the man accused of killing the mother, brother and nephew of the actress and singer Jennifer Hudson. On Monday, Hudson -- the prosecution's first witness -- broke down in tears several times on the stand as she remembered her family. She identified the defendant, William Balfour, the estranged husband of her sister, Julia. "None of us wanted her to marry him," she said.

 "We did not like how he treated her." Hudson, dressed in black, also testified about her relationship with her mother, saying she spoke with her every day and slept in the same bed with her until she was 16. Read a full transcript of Jennifer Hudson's testimony Through tears, she talked about the last time she saw her family together and the day she found out about the deaths.

 "I did everything in my power to get home," Hudson said. She testified that she identified her relatives' bodies for authorities. During cross-examination, the singer-actress returned to the subject of Balfour. "Where he was, I tried not to be," Hudson said. In the afternoon, her sister, Julia Hudson, took the stand. She said Balfour threatened to kill her family after she told him she didn't want to be with him. "'If you leave me, you'll be the last to die.

I'll kill your family first,' " she quoted him as saying. She also said Balfour was jealous of her son. Julia Hudson recounted arriving home the day of the killings, finding a bullet hole in the door and running inside. "I'm saying, 'Mama, mama, mama,'" she said. "She didn't answer." She testified that she ran screaming from the home after finding her mother lying in blood on the floor.

 When police asked her who could have done it, Julia Hudson said, she told them "William." Eighteen people have been selected to serve on the jury in the murder trial: 10 women and eight men. The group includes six alternates. The trial comes more than three years after Hudson's relatives were killed. Balfour is accused of fatally shooting Hudson's mother and brother inside their Chicago home in October 2008.

The body of Hudson's 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, was found three days later inside an abandoned vehicle. Balfour, Julian's stepfather, has also been charged with one count of home invasion. Julia Hudson testified that her main goal after the killings was finding her son. When she learned that he had been found dead, "I hollered, and I screamed," she recounted Monday.

The judge has said he expects the trial to last three to four weeks. Balfour was detained for questioning the day after the victims were found at the Chicago home. The authorities said at the time that they were holding Balfour for an unspecified parole violation, but he was indicted for murder two months later.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his lawyer has said in court that there is no forensic evidence linking him to the killings. Prosecutors have portrayed Balfour as a jealous man who murdered three people in a rage at the thought that his wife had a boyfriend.

The deaths took place a year after Hudson, who rose to fame as a contestant on "American Idol," won an Oscar for her role in the movie "Dreamgirls." In a recent interview with CNN's Piers Morgan, Hudson reflected on the life of her mother, Darnell Donerson.

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76 arrested in Capitol protest over Medicaid cuts

Washington (CNN) -- Seventy-six people, including actor Noah Wyle, were arrested Monday at a demonstration protesting cuts in Medicaid proposed by the House Republican leadership, authorities said. 

 Hundreds of demonstrators filled the ornate rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building for the protests. The 76 were arrested on suspicion of unlawful conduct and demonstrating in a Capitol building, police said. 

Wyle, formerly of "ER" and current star of "Falling Skies," was among those handcuffed and taken away. Police said he and most of the others would face a misdemeanor fine and be released after processing. 

 The rally against the proposed cuts in Medicaid was organized by ADAPT, the Americans with Disabilities for Attendant Programs Today. A statement handed out during the event called for "accountability," against the House's proposed one-third cut to federal Medicaid spending. 

"Today, I took part in an effort by ADAPT to bring attention to the Medicaid cuts that have been made by many states and are threatened to be made on a federal level," Wyle said in a statement. "To institutionalize a disabled American costs four times as much than to give assistance for independent living. This issue is about civil rights, not about medicine. 

People who have the ability to live in integrated, affordable and accessible housing should have the right to do so." The group wants House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) to require states to provide long-term alternatives to nursing homes and institutions that are often mandated by Medicaid rules. Instead of home and community support when she's older and unable to live on her own, protester Madeleine McMahan of Pennsylvania told CNN, "My generation? The Baby Boomers? 

we're looking at nursing homes if we don't do something about it." She spoke in handcuffs, waiting for police to escort her to an elevator for arrest processing. Also in handcuffs and a wheelchair, Denise McMullin-Powell of Delaware said lawmakers proposing the Medicaid cuts are "completely ignoring that we even exist in the stupid budget that they have." She said "it's worth getting arrested, it's worth dying for, but they're gonna kill us first because of the cuts. 

If we can't stay in our home, if we can't get the things we need through Medicaid, we will die in the streets without that type of thing." Wyle said, "This effort is to end the longstanding bias of the Medicaid system toward institutions and away from community care. The real shame is to see so many productive, intelligent people expending their energy on the fight for basic services to ensure their survival."

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Mystery surrounds deaths of 877 dolphins washed ashore in Peru

Environmental authorities are investigating the deaths of more than 800 dolphins that have washed up on the northern coast of Peru this year. 

The dolphins may have died from an outbreak of Morbillivirus or Brucella bacteria, said Peruvian Deputy Environment Minister Gabriel Quijandria, according to Peru's state-run Andina news agency. Speaking to CNN, he said he expects test results to be ready within the week. 

"Right now, the most probable hypothesis is that it's a virus outbreak," he said. 

Quijandria said Thursday that 877 dolphins have washed up in a 220-kilometer (137-mile) area from Punta Aguja to Lambayeque, in the north of the country. 

More than 80% of those dolphins were found in an advanced state of decomposition, making it difficult to study their deaths, according to Andina. 

Earlier last week, the Peruvian government put together a panel from different ministries to analyze a report by the Peruvian Sea Institute (IMARPE). Officials have been able to conclude that the dolphins' deaths were not due to lack of food, interaction with fisheries, poisoning with pesticides, biotoxin poisoning or contamination by heavy metals. 

"When you have something this large, my gut would tell me that there's something traumatic that happened," Sue Rocca, a marine biologist with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, told CNN. She floated a number of number of possibilities as to what could have killed the animals, including acoustic trauma, but concluded that investigators just don't know yet. 

"More investigation needs to be done," she said. 

The dolphin deaths in Peru are mark the third set of high-profile strandings in about two months. In February, 179 dolphins --108 of which were dead -- washed ashore in Cape Cod, in eastern United States, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Marine biologists are still trying to determine the cause of those deaths. In early March, amateur video taken from a beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, showed more than 30 dolphins on shore. In that instance, all dolphins were safely returned to the sea.

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Opiates killed 8 Americans in Afghanistan, Army records show

Eight American soldiers died of overdoses involving heroin, morphine or other opiates during deployments in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, according to U.S. Army investigative reports. 

The overdoses were revealed in documents detailing how the Army investigated a total of 56 soldiers, including the eight who fell victim to overdoses, on suspicion of possessing, using or distributing heroin and other opiates. 

At the same time, heroin use apparently is on the rise in the Army overall, as military statistics show that the number of soldiers testing positive for heroin has grown from 10 instances in fiscal year 2002 to 116 in fiscal year 2010. 

Army officials didn't respond to repeated requests for comment on Saturday. But records from the service's Criminal Investigation Command, obtained by the conservative legal group Judicial Watch, provided glimpses into how soldiers bought drugs from Afghan juveniles, an Afghan interpreter and in one case, an employee of a Defense Department contractor, who was eventually fired. 

The drug use is occurring in a country that is estimated to supply more than 90% of the world's opium, and the Taliban insurgency is believed to be stockpiling the drug to finance their activities, according to a 2009 U.N. study. While the records show some soldiers using heroin, much of the opiate abuse by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan involves prescription drugs such Percocet, the Army documents show. 

Judicial Watch obtained the documents under the Freedom of Information of Act and provided them to CNN. Spokesman Col. Gary Kolb of the International Security Assistance Force, the NATO-led command in Afghanistan, verified the documents to CNN on Saturday. 

One fatal overdose occurred in June 2010 at Forward Operating Base Blessing, after a soldier asked another soldier to buy black tar opium from a local Afghan outside the base's entry control point. The first soldier died after consuming the opium like chewing tobacco and smoking pieces of it in a cigarette, the documents show. The reports even show soldier lingo for the drug -- calling it "Afghani dip" in one case where three soldiers were accused of using the opiate, the Army investigative reports show.

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'America's oldest teen' Dick Clark dies

Broadcast icon Dick Clark, the longtime host of the influential "American Bandstand," has died, publicist Paul Shefrin said. He was 82.

Clark suffered a heart attack while at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica for an outpatient procedure, his publicist said Wednesday. "Attempts to resuscitate were unsuccessful."

The family has not yet decided whether there will be a public memorial service for the multifaceted Clark, although Shefrin said, "There will be no funeral."

Clark suffered what was then described as "a mild stroke" in December 2004, just months after announcing he had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

That stroke forced Clark to cut back on his on-camera work, including giving up the hosting duties for the "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" specials. He returned as a co-host with Ryan Seacrest on December 31, 2005.

Clark anguished each year over whether to continue appearing on the annual show because of limitations on his speech from the stroke, U.S. Rep. David Dreier, a longtime friend, told CNN Wednesday.

"But then he would get deluged by people who were stroke victims and other people who had infirmities and they were such admirers of his fighting spirit," said Dreier, R-California.

Share your memories of Dick Clark

Clark's "American Bandstand" work, which he began when it was a local TV show in Philadelphia in 1956, earned him the nickname "America's oldest living teenager." The dance show was picked up by ABC and broadcast nationally a year later.

"If you didn't go on 'American Bandstand,' you hadn't made it yet," singer Aretha Franklin told "AC360."

The savvy entrepreneur was a pioneer in introducing African-American and other performers to millions of young TV viewers. His audiences were integrated, among the first on television.

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Secret Service scandal raises question of macho culture, women agents

The scandal over allegations that Secret Service agents brought prostitutes to their hotel rooms in Colombia ahead of a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama keeps growing. And with it come awkward questions about whether a strong macho element in the culture of the U.S. Secret Service could pose a threat to security, and how women agents fit into the picture.

Journalist and commentator Kiri Blakeley asked in a blog post Tuesday why there are not more female Secret Service agents to counter this kind of bad behavior.

"The reason there should be more is simple: Women don't get into trouble the way men do," she wrote.

"Seriously, can you imagine a bunch of Secret Service gals going on a trip to Colombia, where they are scheduled to secure the environment for their boss, who happens to be, oh, the most powerful man in the world, and then hiring a bunch of call guys?" she asks.

The identities of the 11 Secret Service agents implicated in the investigation have not been disclosed, nor have those of as many as 10 U.S. military personnel also suspected of involvement. But it is widely assumed they are all men.

Three agents involved in scandal leave Secret Service

However, Jeffrey Robinson, who wrote "Standing Next to History: An Agent's Life Inside the Secret Service," with former senior special agent Joseph Petro, said the incident in Colombia should not cast doubts on the professionalism of Secret Service agents as a whole, whatever their gender.

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1 of alleged Tulsa killers says he's not racist, despite hate crime charge

An Oklahoma man said he doesn't hate African-Americans and counts some of them among his best friends. Murder and hate crime charges were filed on Friday accusing him and another man of killing three strangers because they were black.

Clark Brewster, lawyer for 19-year-old Jake England, told reporters Friday he would not comment specifically about the April 6 shootings that left three dead and two others wounded in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

He did show a video of an interview his team conducted and recorded with England from jail, in which the suspect described the trauma of watching first his father and then, nearly two years later, his girlfriend being shot dead a few feet away from him.

England also talked of growing up and living in North Tulsa, which has a large African-American community, and saying he had friends of all races.

"I always got along with everybody," he said in the tape, recorded Friday morning. "It didn't matter what color he was."

That view is starkly different from the portrayal of England offered by prosecutors, as well as in the probable cause affidavit that led to the arrest of him and 33-year-old Alvin Watts.

In addition to commenting on his girlfriend's suicide in January, England lamented his father's death exactly two years earlier "at the hands of a f--king n----r" in an April 5 message on his Facebook page.

England said in the jailhouse interview that he used those words "just to express how I was upset at the guy who shot my Dad" and they do not mean he was a racist.
Authorities say he and Watts went into a largely African-American section of Tulsa shortly after midnight and gunned down apparent strangers at four locations. Two men and one woman died after being shot in the chest -- with one of them found "lying face down" outside a funeral home -- while two others were shot and survived.
All the shooting victims are black. Police have identified Watts and England as white, though the probable cause affidavit released Friday noted England was a co-owner of a truck that had Cherokee Nation license plates.
Three Crime Stoppers tips helped lead authorities to the men, according to the affidavit. In the first, made last Saturday, a caller described England as "a racist (who) hates black males" and said he had "bragged about other shootings."

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Damaging tornadoes fail to materialize in upper Mississippi Valley

Threats of another perilous outbreak of tornadoes appeared to fizzle Sunday, a day after powerful storms tied to the same weather system tore through the Midwest and Plains states.

The National Weather Service had issued widespread tornado watches for several states including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Iowa and Illinois. And several big cities -- including St. Louis, Missouri; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota -- were thought to be in the line of another stream of powerful storms.

Yet while people in many of those areas experienced inclement weather and a handful of tornadoes were reported in several states, the impact paled compared to what others had experienced Saturday and into the early morning hours of Sunday.

Survivors in hard-hit Oklahoma town: 'We are truly blessed'

As of 10 p.m. CT, the service's Storm Prediction Center had received 10 reports of tornadoes on Sunday. Most of those were from mid-day -- the latest being a reported touchdown at 5:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. ET) in McLeod County in Minnesota -- but there was no immediate word of any significant damage during the day and night Sunday, especially in more populated located.

The numbers of reported twisters were well below the 122 that the weather service said happened Saturday.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback told CNN that "97 tornadoes touched down" in his state, a figure not yet confirmed by the National Weather Service.

Oklahoma was also hard-hit, with Gov. Mary Fallin declaring a state of emergency in 12 counties in order to help expedite resources.

All the deaths tied to the weekend storm were in Woodward, a small northern Oklahoma city of about 12,000 people about 85 miles west of Enid.

Frank Hobbie was confirmed dead along with two girls -- presumed to be Hobbie's 5- and 7-year-old daughters -- said medical examiner's office spokeswoman Amy Elliot. Woodward Mayor Roscoe Hill earlier said a father and his two children were inside their trailer at the Hidden Valley Mobile Home Park when the tornado rolled through and they were killed.

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Earthquake hits Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati

Bangalore, Apr 11: A major earthquake measuring 8.9 in Richter Scale shattered Sumatra region on Wednesday, Apr 11 and tremors were felt across India including Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati. 
People in Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati and other cities came out from their respective offices and houses. No casualties or loss have been reported yet. Tsunami alert has been issued across the Indian ocean. 
An 8.9 quake shook Indonesia's Aceh province issuing a tsunami warning. Tsunami alerts have been issued in 28 countries all across the world. The tsunami centre's warning said quakes of such a magnitude "have the potential to generate a widespread destructive tsunami that can affect coastlines across the entire Indian Ocean basin"


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Strong earthquake shakes buildings in Mexico City

MEXICO CITY (AP) – A strong earthquake struck a sparsely populated area in the mountains of western Mexico on Wednesday, and caused tall buildings to sway more than 200 miles away in Mexico City. People evacuated some buildings in the capital, but the city government said helicopter flights detected no signs of damage.

Authorities in Michoacan state, where the tremor was centered, also had no immediate reports of damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey initially reported a preliminary reading of 7.0 magnitude for the quake, but later downgraded it to 6.5.

A quake of that magnitude is capable of producing severe damage in an urban area, but this one occurred about 41 miles below the surface and a tremor's power to cause damage is often dissipated when it is so deep.

The USGS said the tremor was centered in Michoacan state 238 miles west-southwest of Mexico City and 88 miles northwest of the Pacific resort of Zihuantanejo.

Manuel Ortiz Rosete, the Michoacan state civil protection director, said no damage had been reported in major cities and coastal communities of the state.

Wednesday's tremor was the latest in a series of strong shakes to hit Mexico City since a powerful 7.4-magnitude quake hit southern Mexico three weeks ago, but this was not an aftershock of that one , USGS geophysicist Dale Grant said.

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Navy: 'Miracle' nobody died in Virginia jet crash

A U.S. Navy admiral said Saturday that the fiery crash of a fighter jet into apartment buildings in the military community of Virginia Beach matches his definition of a miracle.

No one was killed and everyone was accounted for one day after the accident.

"I don't speak for anybody's religious beliefs, but the mayor and I both agreed that if you want to define a miracle, what happened here yesterday meets that definition for me," Adm. John Harvey, the four-star head of the U.S. Fleet Forces Command, told reporters.

He said the Navy is investigating the crash, but noted it will take weeks to determine exactly what happened.

"We will not rush to judgment. We will get everything down. We will examine it carefully," he said. "We'll fix whatever went wrong."

A special victims fund is available to assist those whose homes or possessions were damaged or destroyed. More than two dozen people spent the night at a temporary shelter.

At least seven people, including two pilots who ejected safely, were injured in the crash. All were released from the hospital as of Saturday, said Harvey, and are in "good shape."

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell thanked those who acted in an hour of need.

"This amazing news follows the countless acts of bravery and selflessness that we witnessed yesterday," he said in a statement.

He said the crash response highlighted the character of the Navy, safety officials and the people of Virginia.

"We saw neighbors rushing to the assistance of neighbors, the Navy pilots waiting until the very last second to eject, citizens pulling the pilots to safety and treating them, and a successful and efficient coordinated response from first responders, the city and others," McDonnell said. "It was the very best of Virginia on display."

Among those who sprung into action was an off-duty Coast Guard member. Petty Officer 2nd Class Nick Beane was at a friend's house having lunch when the jet went down, according to a statement from the Coast Guard.

"My training kicked in," Beane said. "I saw the fire and explosion, and I knew I had to help."

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Suspects in deadly Tulsa shootings to make first court appearance

Two white men accused in a spate of shootings in predominantly black neighborhoods of Tulsa, Oklahoma, will make their first court appearance Monday, as authorities work to determine whether the violence that left three people dead was racially motivated.

Authorities are digging into the backgrounds of Jake England, 19, and Alvin Watts, 33, who are charged with three counts of murder and two counts of shooting with intent to kill in connection with last week's shootings that also wounded two people.

The pair was arrested early Sunday after a series of tips that led investigators to England's burned pickup, a vehicle that matched a description reported at the crime scenes, according to their arrest reports.

Local and federal authorities stopped short of categorizing the violence as a hate crime.

We have yet to analyze all the information to understand the motivations of these subjects in this case," said Jim Finch, the head of the FBI's Oklahoma office.

Police Chief Chuck Jordan said the investigation was still ongoing. "We are going to explore any possible motives," he told reporters Sunday afternoon.

As part of the investigation, authorities were examining England's use of a racial slur on his Facebook page to mark the anniversary of his father's 2010 killing.

A day before the shootings, England wrote on his Facebook page that it was the second anniversary of his father's death "at the hands of a f***ing nigger." The entry also noted his girlfriend's recent suicide.

While the relationship between England and Watts remained unclear, arrest reports said they shared the same address -- a home on the northern outskirts of Tulsa.

A couple arriving at the home on Sunday, who identified themselves as England's relatives, said England's father was shot to death in April 2010, and England had been left to care for his 6-month-old child after his girlfriend shot and killed herself in front of him a few months ago.

"His mind couldn't take it anymore, I guess," the man who called himself England's uncle said, adding, "I guess it just snapped his mind."

On England's Facebook page, a friend warned him not to "do anything stupid" after England posted a message Friday that read "It just mite be the time to call it quits."

"I hate to say it like that but I'm done if something does happen tonite be ready for another funeral later," England wrote.

"It's hard not to go off between that and sheran I'm gone in the head," he wrote, referring to his girlfriend. The Facebook page was taken down Sunday afternoon.

Investigators would not comment Sunday on any possible link between Friday's shootings and the death of England's father.

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Players react with disgust to Gregg Williams ordering Saints to target 49ers' heads, knees

In many ways, the "kill the head" speech by former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams sounds like typical pregame, fire-up-the-troops rhetoric, but former and current players say there are several instances where the now-suspended coach crossed the line.

The speech has added new fire to an already scalding scandal in which the NFL alleges that the Saints administered a bounty program aimed at taking out opposing players.

The day before the Saints' January 14 playoff clash with the San Francisco 49ers, Williams started his speech by instructing his team to never apologize for how they play. No big deal.

Williams goes on to say, "Kill the head, the body will die," a twist on the frequent tutelage of boxer "Smokin'" Joe Frazier. It sounds nefarious given the recent attention given to concussions in football, but it could probably be written off as normal locker room bravado.

Except, and this is a big except, Williams starts naming players by name, and what's more, he starts naming anatomy: tight end Vernon Davis' ankle, running back Frank Gore's head, quarterback Alex Smith's chin and wide receiver Michael Crabtree's "outside ACL."

Former Detroit Lions cornerback Lamar Campbell, who retired in 2004, told the Detroit Free Press that Williams' speech began like many that Campbell heard during his playing days. Listening to it made him reminisce at first.

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U.S. Coast Guard sinks Japanese boat washed away by tsunami

The shelling and sinking of a rust-stained fishing trawler in Alaskan waters ends its aimless voyage more than a year after a tsunami swept it off the east coast of Japan.

The U.S. Coast Guard said it opened fire on the roughly 200-foot trawler Thursday after it determined the "unmanned, unlit, unmarked vessel" posed a hazard to mariners and Alaska's marine environment.

The Ryou-Un Maru caught fire and capsized in more than 6,000 feet of water about 180 miles southwest of the port city of Sitka, said Petty Officer 1st Class David Mosley, a Coast Guard spokesman.

It was a dramatic end for the Japanese squid trawler. It was bound for a scrap yard before becoming part of a giant debris field generated by a tsunami that struck the island nation following a 9.0-magnitude earthquake on March 11, 2011.

"It's really one of the first significant pieces of tsunami debris to make its way across the Pacific Ocean," Mosley said.

The ship drifted undetected until late last month when a Canadian coastal air patrol spotted it several hundred miles off the Queen Charlotte Islands, an archipelago on the north coast of British Columbia.

It captured the imagination of the public, which followed the final days of "the ghost ship" in media reports and tracked its progress on Canadian and U.S. Coast Guard websites.

"I think it captured a lot of people because it survived. It was swept away by the tsunami. It's believed lost. It's forgotten about. And it spends an entire year at sea, a summer, a winter and it makes it all the way across the Pacific Ocean," Mosley said.

The Japan coast guard identified the trawler and its owner after Canadian officials provided the identification number on the hull of the ship. It was moored at Hachinohe in the Aomori prefecture when the tsunami hit last year.

The ship drifted into U.S. waters over the weekend, traveling about a mile per hour and making its way toward the rich fishing waters of the Gulf of Alaska, Mosley said

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