Tornadoes and violent storms ripped through seven Southern states, killing at least 295 people and causing billions of dollars of damage in some of the deadliest twisters in U.S. history. President Barack Obama described the loss of life as "heartbreaking" and called the damage to homes and businesses "nothing short of catastrophic." He promised strong federal support for rebuilding. Over several days this week, the powerful tornadoes -- more than 160 reported in total -- combined with storms to cut a swath of destruction heading west to east. It was the worst U.S. natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which killed up to 1,800 people. In some areas, air max 2011 whole neighborhoods were flattened, cars flipped over and trees and power lines felled, leaving tangled wreckage. While rescue officials searched for survivors, some who sheltered in bathtubs, closets and basements told of miraculous escapes. "I made it. I got in a closet, put a pillow over my face and held on for dear life because it started sucking me up," said Angela Smith of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, one of the worst-hit cities. [ID:nN28264790] In Birmingham, Alabama, also hard hit, Police Chief A.C. Roper said rescue workers sifted through rubble "hand to hand" on Thursday to pull people from destroyed homes. "We even rescued two babies, one that was trapped in a crib when the house fell down on top of the baby," Roper said in an interview on PBS NewsHour. Tornadoes are a regular feature of life in the U.S. South and Midwest, but they are rarely so devastating. Wednesday was the deadliest day of tornadoes in the United States since 310 people lost their lives on April 3, 1974. Given the apparent destruction, insurance experts were wary of estimating damage costs, but believed they would run into the billions of dollars, with the worst impact concentrated in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. "In terms of the ground-up damage and quite possibly the insured damage, this event will be of historic proportions," Jose Miranda, an executive with the catastrophe risk modeling firm EQECAT, told Reuters. We have right now 194 fatalities (in Alabama) that we know," state Governor Robert Bentley told a news conference. "That is a major, major disaster," said Bentley, who earlier also reported "massive destruction of property." "We have neighborhoods that have basically been removed from the map," Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox told Fox News. In preliminary estimates, other states' officials reported 32 killed in Mississippi, 34 in Tennessee, 11 in Arkansas, 14 in Georgia, eight in Virginia and two in Louisiana. The mile (1.6 km)-wide monster twister that tore on Wednesday through Tuscaloosa, home to the University of Alabama, may have been the biggest ever to hit the state, AccuWeather.com meteorologist Josh Nagelberg said. Obama said he would visit Alabama on Friday to view damage and meet the governor. Obama declared a state of emergency for Alabama and ordered federal aid. "I want every American who has been affected by this disaster to know that the federal government will do everything we can to help you recover, and we will stand with you as you rebuild," Obama said at the White House. Miranda said estimated costs would be "in the same ballpark" as an Oklahoma City tornado outbreak in 1999 that caused $1.58 billion of damage and a 2003 tornado outbreak in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma that caused $4.5 billion of damage. The Browns Ferry nuclear power plant in Alabama was expected to be shut for days, possibly weeks, as workers repaired damaged transmission lines. [ID:nN28262530] But the backup systems worked as intended to prevent a partial meltdown like the nuclear disaster in Japan. The rampaging tornadoes and violent storms destroyed 200 chicken houses that held up to 4 million chickens in Alabama, the No. 3 U.S. chicken producer. [ID:nN28278192] They also battered a local coal mine. [ID:nN28279160] Up to 1 million people in Alabama were left without power. Daimler (DAIGn.DE) said it had shut down its Mercedes-Benz vehicle assembly plant in Tuscaloosa until Monday due to the tornadoes, but the plant itself sustained only minor damage. 'SOUNDED LIKE CHAIN-SAW' Some of the worst devastation occurred in Tuscaloosa, a town of about 95,000 in the west-central part of Alabama, where at least 37 people were killed, including some students. "It sounded like a chain-saw. You could hear the debris hitting things. All I have left is a few clothes and tools that were too heavy for the storm to pick up. It doesn't seem real," said student Steve Niven, 24. "I can buy new things but you cannot replace the people. I feel sorry for those who lost loved ones," Niven told Reuters. The campus of the University of Alabama, home of the famous Crimson Tide football team, was not badly damaged, but some students were killed off campus, Bentley said. Shops, shopping malls, drug stores, gas stations and dry cleaners were all flattened in one section of Tuscaloosa. Alabama's governor declared a state of emergency and deployed 2,000 National Guard members. Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia also declared states of emergency. Among the Alabama counties affected was Jefferson, which is struggling to avert what would be the largest bankruptcy in municipal history over a $3.2 billion bond debt.

Researchers at the National Hansen's Disease Program in Baton Rouge, La. -- a federal government program that studies leprosy and treats 3,600 Americans with the disease -- announced Wednesday that they had figured out the source of some mysterious cases of the illness in the Southern United States. Patients got leprosy from contact with wild armadillos. The team's study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, used cutting-edge genetic techniques to look for similarities in strains of the disease infecting armadillos and people in the region. gucci outlet It found striking similarities, concluding that the data strongly implicated armadillos as a source of human infection. While this marks the first time scientists have documented critters giving people the disease -- which is now easily treatable -- it's hardly the first time armadillos and people have crossed paths when it comes to leprosy research. Indeed, for the better part of 50 years, researchers have depended on armadillos to study leprosy and its effects on humans. That's because the bacterium that causes leprosy, Mycobacterium leprae, is a bit of a weakling, and can't be grown in a dish the way many others can. Back in the 1960s, laboratory scientists sought other species that they might be able to use to cultivate the bug. Because it was known that M. leprae thrived in parts of the human body with a low temperature -- notably, in the extremities -- investigators tried infecting a number of creatures with low body temperatures with the bacterium. After making attempts on frogs, catfish, snakes and other animals, they eventually stumbled upon the one beast on earth, other than people, that harbors M. leprae naturally: the nine-banded armadillo, which has a body temperature of about 91 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Labs studying leprosy have depended on the armadillo ever since. People avoiding leprosy might want to keep their distance, however.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke signaled the Fed will maintain its record monetary stimulus after ending large-scale bond purchases in June, while the need to contain inflation means further easing is unlikely. “It’s not clear that we can get substantial improvements in payrolls without some additional inflation risk,” Bernanke said at his first press conference following a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. “Ultimately, if -- if inflation persists or if inflation expectations begin to move, then there’s no substitute for action,” Bernanke said. “We would have to respond.” Stocks extended gains, air max 2011 the dollar weakened and Treasuries fell after Bernanke reinforced the view of the FOMC, which released its policy statement today, that borrowing costs are likely to stay low for “an extended period.” The panel agreed to finish $600 billion of Treasury purchases in June and said surging commodity prices will probably have a transitory effect on inflation. Bernanke said the Fed would initially hold its balance sheet steady after completing the purchases. “We are going to continue to reinvest maturing securities, both Treasuries and MBS, so the amount of securities that we hold will remain” approximately constant, he said, referring to mortgage-backed securities. “The amount of monetary policy easing should remain constant going forward from June.” Stocks, Dollar The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.6 percent to 1,355.66 in New York after falling as much as 0.2 percent before the Fed’s statement. The dollar weakened to $1.4788 per euro, falling for a seventh-straight day in its longest slump in two years. Gold for June delivery advanced as much as 1.8 percent to a record $1,530.70 an ounce. Ten-year Treasury yields rose five basis points to 3.36 percent. “Bernanke and others are providing clear signals that no additional easing is coming, but that they’re not prepared to start tightening anytime soon,” said Paul Ballew, a former Fed economist and senior vice president at Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. in Columbus, Ohio. The Fed left its benchmark interest rate in a range of zero to 0.25 percent, where it’s been since December 2008. Bernanke said that when the Fed makes the “extended period” pledge it means there will likely be no tightening of policy “for a couple of meetings, probably, before action.” “Unfortunately, the reason we use this vaguer terminology is that we don’t know with certainty how quickly response will be required,” he said. Record Stimulus When the Fed begins unwinding its record monetary stimulus, “it’s very likely that an early step would be to stop reinvesting all or part of the securities which are maturing,” he said. “That step, though a relatively modest step, does constitute a policy tightening,” Bernanke said. Policy makers, in a release after the statement, lowered their forecasts for economic growth this year and raised estimates for a key gauge of inflation that excludes volatile food and energy prices. The projections of governors and regional bank presidents were released three weeks sooner than prior practice. The range of estimates for growth this year was cut to 3.1 percent to 3.3 percent, from 3.4 percent to 3.9 percent in January. Estimates for the personal consumption expenditures index, minus food and energy, ranged from 1.3 percent to 1.6 percent, up from a prior range of 1 percent to 1.3 percent. Unemployment Forecasts Fed officials’ central tendency forecast for the average unemployment rate in the final three months of 2011 fell to 8.4 percent to 8.7 percent versus 8.8 percent to 9.0 percent in January. Their estimate for unemployment at the end of 2012 was in a range of 7.6 percent to 7.9 percent versus 7.6 percent to 8.1 percent in January. “The labor market is improving gradually,” Bernanke said at the press conference. “The longer it goes on, the more confident we are.” “We are digging ourselves out of a deep hole,” Bernanke said, referring to the jobs lost during the recession. The Fed’s commitment to record stimulus contrasts with the interest-rate increase this month by the European Central Bank and tightening this year by the biggest emerging-market economies, including China, Brazil and India, which face faster inflation. First Briefings Bernanke became the first Fed chairman to conduct a press briefing following an FOMC decision when he took the microphone at the Fed’s headquarters. His counterparts in Europe, Japan, the U.K. and Canada already hold regular news conferences. The press conference, broadcast on television and the central bank’s website, marks one of Bernanke’s biggest efforts to improve the Fed’s connections with the public and demystify the institution, which as recently as 1993 didn’t announce its monetary-policy decisions. Bernanke said in February that the central bank was weighing benefits of more transparency against the risk that his remarks would trigger unwanted fluctuations in financial markets. Increases in employment and inflation are helping drive calls to tighten credit. Payrolls have increased by an average 149,000 a month for the past six months, while the unemployment rate has dropped by 1 percentage point since November to 8.8 percent, a two-year low. Food and beverage prices rose in the first quarter by the most since 2008, based on the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index, while the cost of regular-unleaded gasoline has increased by 26 percent this year to $3.88 a gallon as of yesterday. The increases helped slow U.S. growth to a 2 percent pace in the first quarter, according to the median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News, from 3.1 percent in the prior period. The government releases preliminary figures tomorrow. Bernanke said policy makers believe the reasons behind a slowdown during the first quarter do not appear to be long- lasting. “I would say roughly most of the slowdown in the first quarter is viewed by most on the committee as transitory,” he said. The Commerce Department’s personal consumption expenditures price index, excluding food and energy, rose 0.9 percent in February from a year earlier. Policy makers have a long-run goal for total inflation of about 1.6 percent to 2 percent annually. Economists say the Fed is at least a few months away from starting to reverse the stimulus. Most of the 44 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News from April 20 to April 25 said the central bank this year will probably halt its policy of replacing maturing mortgage debt with Treasuries. The majority of respondents also said the Fed will announce a plan next year of selling mortgage bonds and Treasuries among its assets.

Supporters of California's Proposition 8, which bans gay marriage, filed a motion Monday seeking to reinstate the law because the judge who overturned the ban recently disclosed he is gay and in a relationship. In a brief filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for a group defending Proposition 8 called ProtectMarriage.com argued that U.S. air max 2011 District Judge Vaughn Walker failed to disclose before the trial his own 10-year same-sex relationship and should have recused himself from the case. Andy Pugno, general counsel for the group, said that federal law requires a judge to disqualify himself if he has any personal interest in the outcome of the case or if there are circumstances which might cause a judge's impartiality to be reasonably questioned. "The American people have a right to a fair judicial process, free from even the appearance of bias or prejudice," Mr. Pugno said in a statement. The brief claimed that Judge Walker is a "judge in his own case" because he has a potential interest in marrying his own partner. Only if Judge Walker "had unequivocally disavowed any interest in marrying his partner could the parties and the public be confident that he did not have a direct personal interest in the outcome of the case," it said. Chad Griffin, board president of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which is fighting the ban in court on behalf of two same-sex couples who want to marry, said the proponents of Proposition 8 "are grasping at straws because they have no legal case." He added: "They're attacking the judge because they disagree with his decision." Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law, said that no U.S. court had ever ruled that a judge's personal identity was sufficient reason for disqualification. "I think it is offensive to say that a judge can't hear this case because he is gay or lesbian," he said. "By that reasoning, a black judge couldn't have heard challenges to segregation law." Judge Walker ruled last summer that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional because it violates the constitutional protections of equal protection and due process. Judge Walker, who retired in February, couldn't be reached for comment Monday. While his sexuality had long been a topic of speculation, Judge Walker addressed it directly in an interview with court reporters in early April. Judge Walker, who was assigned the case at random, told reporters that he never considered recusing himself and that it wouldn't be appropriate for any judge's sexual orientation, ethnicity or gender to stop him or her from presiding over a case. Early last year, when speculation about Judge Walker's sexuality first emerged in the media, no lawyer from either side of the case mentioned it in court. The case is now with the Ninth Circuit, which has heard oral arguments and is expected to rule later this year.

Three weeks ago, Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Kirstie Alley hit the ballroom floor. Read on to find out if history repeated itself or if another pair had a similar fate. This time perennial leaders Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff suffered the mishap when Smirnoff tripped over Macchio and fell during their paso doble to "Everybody Dance" by C + C Music Factory. But they quickly recovered and ended the evening – dedicated to songs you feel guilty about loving gucci outlet – with a respectable 24 points, making them more than safe going into Tuesday's eliminations. "I'm proud of you, and you should be proud of yourself," said judge Len Goodman, and Bruno Tonioli gushed, "Once you got back on it, there was no stopping you." Kendra Wilkinson, meanwhile, may have danced well enough to last at least another week, shimmying and shaking a samba with Louis Van Amstel to Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca," garnering 25 to keep them out of last place (that is now occupied by Chris Jericho). "Oh, my god, whoa," gushed Carrie Ann Inaba. "That was a guilty pleasure, my dear. … You were in your element." But the night belonged to Romeo and pro partner Chelsie Hightower, whose waltz to the Titanic theme "My Heart Will Go On" ended with them spontaneously kissing each other on the lips (Hightower says it wasn't part of the choreography.) They also got the season's first perfect 10, from Inaba, on their way to 28 points for a night-leading tie with Chelsea Kane and an injury-hobbled Mark Ballas. "Every once in awhile in a season, magic happens," says Inaba. "That was magic." Hines Ward and Kym Johnson remained strong, collecting 27 points with a Viennese Waltz to "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men, though the judges got boos for suggesting Hines was still a little stilted and self-conscious. Alley and Chmerkovskiy also had a good night with their Samba to "… Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears. They got a 26 and high praise from Goodman. "This season has been a season of misadventures," the judge said. "You haven't fulfilled the potential I saw in you week one – until now."

For one half, Carmelo Anthony did his best Game 2 impression. The Knicks star did everything he could to keep his on-the-brink team alive. He hit long-distance threes, played a little point guard and did his part in rebounding the basketball, just as he did in his 42-point, 17-rebound performance last week. His 19 points at halftime Sunday accounted for exactly half of the Knicks' output to that point. In the end, though, the outcome was the same: Anthony's standout performance—32 points, nine rebounds and three assists—was left to stand largely on its own. And it wasn't enough to topple the Celtics. But Anthony, looking to the future, air yeezy said there was a greater takeaway point from the game and the series as a whole. "Tonight, we proved to a lot of people, short-handed or not, that we're gonna leave it all out there on the court," he said. "We did that. I'm sure we gained a lot of respect from a lot of people right now. "This is the first step of something great," he said, echoing what teammate Amar'e Stoudemire had said minutes before about the team's laying a foundation for a future title run. Anthony made mention of the fact that the Knicks had just two months to play together, leaving little time to develop chemistry. In between the comments from the two Knicks stars, Celtics forward Paul Pierce spoke to New York's basketball revival. He said the team's fight led the Celtics to shake hands with the Knicks on the court as the final seconds expired. "They earned our respect," Pierce said. "They have something the fans can get excited about. If you add a few more pieces, they aren't that far away." Both Stoudemire and Anthony were asked about uncertainty hanging over the club. Will team president Donnie Walsh and Coach Mike D'Antoni return? And what type of players should the management get in an effort to deepen the roster? The stars said it was out of their hands, but they said they have a responsibility to improve. "As a group, collectively, we have to come together and see where we are lacking and where we have to get stronger," Anthony said. "I am sure we will try to figure out, not just a playoff team, a championship caliber team."

Battles that cause seismic shifts in the balance of power between men and gods and change the world forever form the nucleus of Richard Wagner’s epic four-opera “Der Ring des Nibelungen.” In “Die Walküre” (“The Valkyrie”)—the second installment of the “Ring Cycle”—we begin to see the conflicts that lead directly to the final “twilight of the gods.” The opera calls on the orchestra and singers equally to tell its story—all the more reason for concern that Metropolitan Opera music director James Levine would be unable to conduct the premiere of Robert Lepage’s new production on Friday. But Levine pulled through the health problems that have plagued him recently, and the drama often played out most intensely in the orchestra. air max 2011 There were a few rough moments early on, and overall it wasn’t as tautly woven as the fall’s “Das Rheingold.” But the orchestra conveyed the work’s raw power stunningly. Act I flew by, with an intoxicating sweep given to its heady, sensual love arias. More affecting was the sting of the god ruler Wotan’s frustration in the tense whirling strings and penetrating brass culminating in the devastating rip of trumpets, trombones and cymbal when he bitterly accepted defeat. Even with the cachet of its notorious 45-ton set and a starry cast, onstage, the production was less consistent. For a fantastical opera, there wasn’t as much imagination in the sets as one might have hoped, the color palette was mostly drab, and singers were often forced unflatteringly far upstage. The singers’ performances, while all admirable in their theatrical commitment, were mixed in terms of total payoff. Still, “The Machine” of moving planks that dominated Lepage’s stage morphed into several eye-catching and unlikely formations. The trees of the forest in Act I had an impressive, rounded-out look courtesy of video image artist Boris Firquet and the snowy mountain and ring of fire that close the opera were artfully rendered. Having the planks jut out for the Valkyries to whip them like horses during their famous riding music added a bit of whimsy. As Siegmund, the illegitimate son of Wotan and a mortal woman, Jonas Kaufmann sang heroically with a sizeable tenor and an attractive mahogany timbre. His musicality shined and his high notes brought down the house. Eva-Marie Westbroek sang the first act as his twin sister and bride-to-be Sieglinde somewhat shakily but still displayed a jewel-like sound. Because of illness, Margaret Jane Wray replaced her for the subsequent two and gave a strong, solid performance. As their adversary Hunding, Hans-Peter K?nig contributed his booming bass effectively. As Wotan, Bryn Terfel’s rugged bass-baritone may not be the most godlike but he used it to his fullest advantage. His character’s desperation and bitterness in defeat, as well as his tender affection for his daughter Brünnhilde, were touching. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe was, as usual, a powerhouse as his commanding wife Fricka. Soprano Deborah Voigt fell attempting to mount “The Machine” during her entrance as Brünnhilde. To launch into her high-flying “Hojotoho” call from there must have been daunting and her top notes suffered. Her performance improved after that into a warm, endearing portrayal. Her sister Valkyries sounded fresh and robust and along with Kaufmann and Blythe, they were the vocal highlights of the production.

The CDC teamed with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to look at data gathered across a state that has been thrust into the bullying spotlight, and a state that responded with one of the more strict anti-bullying laws nationwide. Both 15-year-old Phoebe Prince of South Hadley in 2010 and 11-year-old Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover of Springfield in 2009 committed suicide after repeated episodes of being bullied. Last weekend, in rural Minnesota, two best friends followed though with a suicide pact, both victims of bullying at school. The issue has become the rallying cry for parents and educators alike, with a number of different studies on the subject being published in the past year. The most recent, "Bullying Among Middle School and High School Students — Massachusetts, 2009," reports that 30 percent of high school and 40 percent of middle school students in Massachusetts admitted to being involved in or affected by bullying. One possible link suggested by the CDC is violence in the home. According to the study, 13.6 of middle school victims and 19.4 percent of bullies reported being "physically hurt by family member in past 12 months." supra shoes Of the high school students polled, 12.7 percent of victims and 13.6 percent of bullies reported the same. The report also suggested links between alcohol and drug use and needing to talk to someone other than family members about their feelings or problems.If the Maloofs still wanted to leave, they would be in the position of having to ask the same committee and league officials for approval. The only other option is the nuclear one: an antitrust suit. An official close to the Maloofs said they had been torn over the same issue: whether to move now or stay another season and then reassess their options. Strapped for cash with the family business, the Palms casino in Las Vegas, in dire financial straits and no faith in Sacramento officials, the Maloofs were intrigued by Anaheim's possibilities. Nevertheless, there was no missing how bad the timing was. Moving next season would mean bringing down a young Kings team that went 24-58 this season and finished 14th in the 15-team Western Conference. In addition, the looming possibility of an NBA lockout would threaten to shorten or cancel their debut season in Anaheim. Oklahoma City Thunder owner Clay Bennett, a member of the relocation committee, visited Sacramento this week and was received as royalty by city officials, Sacramento County officials and Darrell Steinberg, the president pro tempore of the State Senate, as well as Johnson, a former NBA star. Officials say Bennett's initial report noted that Johnson's pledge of $9.2 million in purchases of luxury suites and season tickets by local businesses has been exceeded. Suggesting the importance of the welcome, league officials contrasted the situation to the one in Seattle, where political support never materialized and the team — owned by Bennett — bolted to Oklahoma City in 2008.

In the photo, the middle-aged man is seated and leaning back, the pose and a couple bags next to him suggesting he's catching his after breath after a rigorous round of shopping. But investigators said Friday they consider the man as potentially involved in something sinister -- the planting of a pipe bomb and two propane tanks at Southwest Plaza Mall in Littleton, Colorado. The FBI Denver Joint Terrorism Task Force released three more photos of the gray-haired man, shown leaving the mall on a bus Tuesday night, several hours before the incident. They are the clearest views of the man seen wearing the same clothing on Wednesday, when the mall was evacuated after a related fire. Authorities told reporters at a news conference Thursday that the man they are seeking is a "person of interest." Friday, the description of him was bumped up to "possible suspect." Police asked for public help as they investigate the possible attempt to bomb the shopping center on the 12th anniversary of the shooting at nearby Columbine High School that left 12 students and a teacher dead at the hands of two other students, who then killed themselves. No evidence exists so 2011 air max far of a link to the Columbine shootings, Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink said, but he acknowledged the possibility was on the minds of law enforcement officials. "There's not a definite link that we have right now to anything at Columbine other than the date," Mink said, adding that the April 20 anniversary of the shootings "is fresh on everyone's mind." A security camera shows the man sought by authorities in the mall just minutes before a security guard extinguished the fire. Investigators say that fire may have been part of an attempt to detonate explosives. Mall store employee Marshall Wood told CNN Friday that he called security after seeing the fire in a panel in the hallway behind the store. Wood said he noticed one or two small green propane canisters near the blaze. "Its pretty scary that it was right next to my store." Wood said he has seen surveillance photos of the man. "I wouldn't have thought twice if I saw him in the mall," Wood said. "He looked like a normal shopper or mall walker." Law enforcement officials Thursday released surveillance camera images of the man carrying a white plastic bag at the mall around noon Wednesday. He was in a part of the mall that the public does not usually access. A subsequent search turned up explosives, said Jacki Kelley of the Jefferson County Sheriff's office. "The propane tanks and the pipe bomb were literally together," she told reporters Wednesday night at a news conference. The mall was quickly evacuated and no one was hurt, authorities said. Mink said that the mall had been thoroughly searched and was allowed to reopen on Thursday. None of the authorities provided further information on the explosives found at the scene, saying they needed to interview more people and didn't want details reported in the media to influence any responses they might get. The situation could have been much worse, said Dave Joly, a spokesman for the FBI. "Depending (on) if it went off and actively combusted as what it was set to do, it could have been more serious than it was," he said at an earlier news conference, adding that it appeared that the pipe bomb was supposed to be a trigger to detonate the propane tanks. The person authorities want to talk to is described as a white male with gray hair and a silver mustache, the FBI said. He wore a dark cap with a light-colored logo on the front, a gray and white horizontally striped shirt, a dark jacket, jeans and dark-colored shoes.

The Syrian army deployed overnight in the flashpoint city of Homs, witnesses said, ahead of Friday prayers that have been marked by intensifying protests in the last five weeks against authoritarian rule. The prayers will test whether President Bashar al-Assad's decision Thursday to lift emergency law, imposed by his Baath Party when it took power in a coup 48 years ago, will defuse mass discontent with repression and corruption. Aided by his family and a pervasive security apparatus, Assad, 45, has absolute power in Syria. More than 220 protesters have been killed since pro- democracy protests erupted on March 18 in the southern city of Deraa, including air max 2011 21 protesters killed this week in Homs, rights campaigners say. A decree Assad signed Thursday that lifted emergency law is seen by the opposition as little more than symbolic, since other laws still give entrenched security forces wide powers. Human Right Watch said Assad "has the opportunity to prove his intentions by allowing (Friday's) protests to proceed without violent repression. "The reforms will only be meaningful if Syria's security services stop shooting, detaining, and torturing protesters," said Joe Stork, the group's deputy Middle East director. A rights activist said trucks carrying soldiers and vehicles equipped with machine guns were seen on the main highway from Damascus to Homs, a central city that has emerged as the new focal point of protests. ARMY PATROLS Residents organized neighborhood patrols after 21 protesters were shot dead Monday and Tuesday by security police and gunmen known as 'al-shabbiha'. Soldiers in groups of five patrolled the streets of Homs overnight on foot. Plain-clothed security police and security police wearing camouflage uniforms were also present, two witnesses said. "We are determined on totally peaceful protests... we rejoice at the downfall of the state of emergency. It was not lifted, it was toppled... With the help of God, we will embark on freedom," a comment on a Facebook page run by activists said. Emergency rule has been used since Assad's Baath Party seized power to justify arbitrary arrests and detention and a ban on all opposition. Assad's conciliatory move to lift the state of emergency followed a familiar pattern since the unrest began a month ago: pledges of reform are made before Friday when demonstrations are the strongest, and are usually followed by an intense crackdown. The authorities have blamed armed groups, infiltrators and Sunni Muslim militant organizations for provoking violence at demonstrations by firing on civilians and security forces. Western and other Arab countries have mostly muted their criticism of the killings in Syria for fear of destabilizing the country, which plays a strategic role in many of the conflicts in the Middle East. Syria is technically at war with Israel but has kept its Golan Heights front with the Jewish state quiet since a 1974 ceasefire. It has long borders with Iraq, and supports the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and the Shi'ite Hezbollah movement in neighboring Lebanon, also backed by Iran.