The Bachelor
Tierra LiCausi and Sean Lowe
Rick Rowell/ABC
"She's sincere," Chris Harrison told PEOPLE Thursday. "People will think [the way she acts is] fake or it's made up. It's not. This is how she goes about finding a man. Once you shine a light on it and put a camera on it, it's not attractive, but that's how she does it."
And apparently she's found one! (Just not Bachelor Sean Lowe.)
"I can't wait to talk to her next week at the Women Tell All," Harrison said of LiCausi's engagement while attending the Club SI Swimsuit party at Vegas's 1 OAK. "It's not to back the bus over her. I kind of want to know what she sees."
Harrison is well aware of the public perception of LiCausi, but he can't rank her in terms of "all time Bachelor villains".
"She was her own character so I don't think I can rank them," he said. "I think it's the way she went out put the cherry on top when she said, 'No one's gonna take my sparkle away'. You just can't top that."
BOSTON (AP) — What happens to fish that swim in waters tainted by traces of drugs that people take? When it's an anti-anxiety drug, they become hyper, anti-social and aggressive, a study found. They even get the munchies.
It may sound funny, but it could threaten the fish population and upset the delicate dynamics of the marine environment, scientists say.
The findings, published online Thursday in the journal Science, add to the mounting evidence that minuscule amounts of medicines in rivers and streams can alter the biology and behavior of fish and other marine animals.
"I think people are starting to understand that pharmaceuticals are environmental contaminants," said Dana Kolpin, a researcher for the U.S. Geological Survey who is familiar with the study.
Calling their results alarming, the Swedish researchers who did the study suspect the little drugged fish could become easier targets for bigger fish because they are more likely to venture alone into unfamiliar places.
"We know that in a predator-prey relation, increased boldness and activity combined with decreased sociality ... means you're going to be somebody's lunch quite soon," said Gregory Moller, a toxicologist at the University of Idaho and Washington State University. "It removes the natural balance."
Researchers around the world have been taking a close look at the effects of pharmaceuticals in extremely low concentrations, measured in parts per billion. Such drugs have turned up in waterways in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere over the past decade.
They come mostly from humans and farm animals; the drugs pass through their bodies in unmetabolized form. These drug traces are then piped to water treatment plants, which are not designed to remove them from the cleaned water that flows back into streams and rivers.
The Associated Press first reported in 2008 that the drinking water of at least 51 million Americans carries low concentrations of many common drugs. The findings were based on questionnaires sent to water utilities, which reported the presence of antibiotics, sedatives, sex hormones and other drugs.
The news reports led to congressional hearings and legislation, more water testing and more public disclosure. To this day, though, there are no mandatory U.S. limits on pharmaceuticals in waterways.
The research team at Sweden's Umea University used minute concentrations of 2 parts per billion of the anti-anxiety drug oxazepam, similar to concentrations found in real waters. The drug belongs to a widely used class of medicines known as benzodiazepines that includes Valium and Librium.
The team put young wild European perch into an aquarium, exposed them to these highly diluted drugs and then carefully measured feeding, schooling, movement and hiding behavior. They found that drug-exposed fish moved more, fed more aggressively, hid less and tended to school less than unexposed fish. On average, the drugged fish were more than twice as active as the others, researcher Micael Jonsson said. The effects were more pronounced at higher drug concentrations.
"Our first thought is, this is like a person diagnosed with ADHD," said Jonsson, referring to attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder. "They become asocial and more active than they should be."
Tomas Brodin, another member of the research team, called the drug's environmental impact a global problem. "We find these concentrations or close to them all over the world, and it's quite possible or even probable that these behavioral effects are taking place as we speak," he said Thursday in Boston at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Most previous research on trace drugs and marine life has focused on biological changes, such as male fish that take on female characteristics. However, a 2009 study found that tiny concentrations of antidepressants made fathead minnows more vulnerable to predators.
It is not clear exactly how long-term drug exposure, beyond the seven days in this study, would affect real fish in real rivers and streams. The Swedish researchers argue that the drug-induced changes could jeopardize populations of this sport and commercial fish, which lives in both fresh and brackish water.
Water toxins specialist Anne McElroy of Stony Brook University in New York agreed: "These lower chronic exposures that may alter things like animals' mating behavior or its ability to catch food or its ability to avoid being eaten — over time, that could really affect a population."
Another possibility, the researchers said, is that more aggressive feeding by the perch on zooplankton could reduce the numbers of these tiny creatures. Since zooplankton feed on algae, a drop in their numbers could allow algae to grow unchecked. That, in turn, could choke other marine life.
The Swedish team said it is highly unlikely people would be harmed by eating such drug-exposed fish. Jonsson said a person would have to eat 4 tons of perch to consume the equivalent of a single pill.
Researchers said more work is needed to develop better ways of removing drugs from water at treatment plants. They also said unused drugs should be brought to take-back programs where they exist, instead of being flushed down the toilet. And they called on pharmaceutical companies to work on "greener" drugs that degrade more easily.
Sandoz, one of three companies approved to sell oxazepam in the U.S., "shares society's desire to protect the environment and takes steps to minimize the environmental impact of its products over their life cycle," spokeswoman Julie Masow said in an emailed statement. She provided no details.
___
Online:
Overview of the drug: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a682050.html
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 dipped in a late decline on Friday as Wal-Mart dropped following a report of a weak start to February sales, though the index just barely extended its streak of weekly gains to seven.
Equities were little changed for much of the session, with investors finding few reasons to make big bets following an extended rally on Wall Street, but stocks turned lower in afternoon action.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc
"When a retailer of this size comes out with this kind of lousy news, the whole market can fall off, especially on a Friday afternoon," said Mike Shea, trader at Direct Access Partners in New York. "However, I'm not worried that this is indicative of any larger macro issue with retail."
Equities have struggled for direction recently, with major indexes moving only slightly in the past several sessions. The S&P didn't end a session with a move greater than 0.2 percent at all this week.
The benchmark index, up 6.6 percent so far this year, is facing strong technical resistance near the 1,525 level. But investors, expecting the index to advance further in the quarter, have held back from locking in profits.
"There's no news that suggests the strong underpinning for stocks isn't appropriate. We may have gotten ahead of ourselves, but there's also an absence of bad news," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia.
Many investors are starting to look ahead to a debate in Washington over sequestration, automatic across-the-board spending cuts put in place as part of a larger congressional budget fight. The cuts are due to kick in March 1 unless lawmakers agree to an alternative.
"This had been far enough out to not yet become an impediment for stocks, but it will start to move into the forefront and cause people to take a bit of a jaundiced eye towards the market," said Luschini, who helps oversee about $54 billion in assets.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 11.27 points, or 0.08 percent, at 13,984.66. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 0.32 points, or 0.02 percent, at 1,521.70. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 1.51 points, or 0.05 percent, at 3,200.17.
For the week, both the Dow and Nasdaq fell 0.1 percent while the S&P rose 0.1 percent in its seventh straight week of gains, a period during which the index rose 8.4 percent. The last such seven-week run was between December 2010 and January 2011.
The New York Federal Reserve said manufacturing in New York state expanded for the first time in seven months, while Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary reading of consumer sentiment rose from the prior month and beat expectations.
But U.S. manufacturing fell in January after a rise in the prior month.
Wall Street's gain thus far in 2013 has largely been driven by strong corporate earnings, while data indicated some weakening in economic conditions.
A surge in merger and acquisition activity, with more than $158 billion in deals announced so far in 2013, has given further support to the equity market as it points to healthy valuations and bets on the economic outlook.
Herbalife
MeadWestvaco Corp
Burger King Worldwide
Oil service stocks declined, weighed by a 5.1 percent drop in shares of Transocean
Slightly more stocks fell than rose on the New York Stock Exchange while about 50 percent of Nasdaq shares ended lower. About 6.69 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and NYSE MKT, above the daily average so far this year of about 6.48 billion shares.
(Editing by Nick Zieminski)
Video posted on YouTube on Friday appeared to catch an explosion caused by a meteor streaking over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk.
Last Updated, 4:31 p.m. As our colleagues Ellen Barry and Andrew Kramer report, Russians recorded video of bright objects, apparently debris from a meteor, “streaking through the sky in western Siberia early on Friday, accompanied by a boom that damaged buildings across a vast area of territory.” Hundreds of injuries were reported, mainly from breaking glass.
Video recorded from the dashboard camera of a car in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk on Friday.
Video said to have been recorded on Friday in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk as a meteor passed low overhead. An explosion can be heard clearly at the seven-minute mark of the video.
The video clips, many recorded from cars on the dashboard cameras that are popular in Russia, quickly spread from social networks to Russian news sites. While it was not possible to confirm the authenticity of all of the clips posted online, several tracked closely with witness accounts and each other.
Dashboard-camera footage appeared to record a meteor plunging to Earth on Friday in Russia.
Video uploaded to YouTube on Friday was said to have been recorded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk (although the camera’s time stamp displays an earlier date).
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported, “The Russian fireball is the largest reported since 1908, when a fireball hit Tunguska, Siberia.”
The fireball entered the atmosphere at about 40,000 mph (18 kilometers per second). The impact time was 7:20:26 p.m. PST, or 10:20:26 p.m. EST on Feb. 14 (3:20:26 UTC on Feb. 15), and the energy released by the impact was in the hundreds of kilotons.
Based on the duration of the event, it was a very shallow entry. It was larger than the fireball over Indonesia on Oct. 8, 2009. Measurements are still coming in, and a more precise measure of the energy may be available later. The size of the object before hitting the atmosphere was about 49 feet (15 meters) and had a mass of about 7,000 tons.
Later in the day, NASA released more information about the meteor.
Our colleague Henry Fountain reminds us of the vastly greater impact of what’s known as The Tunguska Event on 1908.
Several clips showed a flaming object streaking through the sky and a burst of blinding light followed by a smoke trail. One, shot by a driver named Alexander Mezentsev, showed a bright light over a city street in Chelyabinsk, a city of 1 million about 900 miles east of Moscow.
One clip, recorded on a street in Chelyabinsk, appeared to capture the chaotic aftermath of the event, as glass shattered after the shock wave and people shouted and tried to make sense of what was happening.
Video said to have been recorded in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk on Friday after a meteor passed overhead.
A very loud explosion could be heard about 25 seconds into another video, apparently recorded on a phone in the same city by a blogger named Sergey Hametov.
Video said to have been recorded on Friday in Chelyabinsk appeared to capture a loud explosion.
“There was panic. People had no idea what was happening,” Mr. Hametov told The Associated Press. “We saw a big burst of light, then went outside to see what it was and we heard a really loud, thundering sound.”
The blast, and breaking glass, was also captured about 70 seconds into another clip, which showed very clear images of the smoke trail after the meteor passed by.
Video posted on YouTube on Friday showed a smoke trail and a loud explosion after a meteor passed over Siberia.
Another video, shot from the window of a building, seemed to capture the long trail of smoke after the object passed through the sky.
Video posted on YouTube Friday appeared to show the trail of a meteor fragment in the sky.
Several clips also showed what bloggers said was the damage caused by the sonic boom.
Damage to a school in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia, said to have been caused by the sonic boom from a meteor.
Video of what was described as damage caused by the sonic boom after a meteor passed over Russia on Friday.
As Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports, a blinding flash of light was captured by traffic cameras on top of buildings in Nizhny Tagil, around 220 miles north of Chelyabinsk.
A blinding flash of light was captured by Web cameras in Nizhny Tagil, north of Chelyabinsk
Another view of the meteor streaking across the sky in Nizhniy Tagil was captured on a driver’s dashboard camera.
Video of a meteor from a dashboard camera in the Russian town of Nizhniy Tagil.
Our colleague William Broad from The Times Science desk will be explaining what likely caused today’s spectacular event and answering questions on The Lede later today.
Almost immediately after the spectacular images appeared online, Russian bloggers started making comic alterations, adding aliens and President Vladimir V. Putin to the pictures.
Some of the numerous videos that quickly emerged of the incident highlighted a distinctly Russian phenomenon: the viral dashboard-cam clip. As the blogger Marina Galperina explained last year, they are commonplace in Russia partly because of the dangerous driving conditions that lead to so many accidents, and with an unreliable police force such cameras can provide valuable evidence after a crash.
The conditions of Russian roads are perilous, with insane gridlock in cities and gigantic ditches, endless swamps and severe wintry emptiness on the back roads and highways. Then there are large, lawless areas you don’t just ride into, the police with a penchant for extortion and deeply frustrated drivers who want to smash your face.
Psychopaths are abundant on Russian roads. You best not cut anyone off or undertake some other type of maneuver that might inconvenience the 200-pound, six-foot-five brawling children you see on YouTube hopping out of their SUVs with their dukes up. They will go ballistic in a snap, drive in front of you, brake suddenly, block you off, jump out and run towards your vehicle. Next thing you start getting punches in your face because your didn’t roll up your windows, or getting pulled out of the car and beaten because you didn’t lock the doors.
These fights happen all the time and you can’t really press charges. Point to your broken nose or smashed windows all you want. The Russian courts don’t like verbal claims. They do, however, like to send people to jail for battery and property destruction if there’s definite video proof.
One popular video posted on YouTube last year appeared to show just such a fight being prevented by a man facing down another driver clutching a baseball bat by pointing out that any attack on him would be recorded on his dashboard-cam.
Video of a confrontation between two Russian drivers recorded last year on a dashboard-cam.
Just last month, video recorded by a Russian driver on a dashboard-cam showed a tank suddenly cutting across a highway.
Last month, a Russian driver recorded video of a tank cutting across a highway.
The meteor that streaked across the Russian skies came from almost the opposite direction as 2012 DA14, the larger asteroid that missed Earth on Friday. That both showed up on the same day was just cosmic coincidence.
“There is no relation there,” said Paul Chodas, a scientist at NASA’s Near-Earth Object program office.
At the Grammys he made our screens go sepia tone, and now, in his new, black-and-white, David Fincher-directed music video for the much hyped comeback single “Suit & Tie,” Justin Timberlake continues to try and prove that he’s a classy neo-Rat Pack star. That is, he’s a classy neo-Rat Pack star with a nearly naked women writhing around him and lot of “cool” modern conveniences like his iPad. See, JT gets rolled, via bed, into a soundstage-type area reading such a device:
RELATED: David Fincher Is Directing the Ridiculous Justin Timberlake Music Video
Before he starts performing the song at a venue that appears to be Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl, JT and Jay-Z are just kind of chilling, because remember these are two improbably famous bros with a lot of fancy amenities:
RELATED: The 2012 Gossip Stories We Loved
There are references to Singin’ in the Rain-type films:
RELATED: Dr. Dre and the Lucrative Business of Not Rapping
And then, later on, hot girls in puddles on a stage because such is the life of Justin Timberlake, apparently:
Watch the entire video here, and remember it was directed by Fincher, so they all probably did a million takes of every shot:
Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News
I felt an army of support that was with me through this whole "cancer" time. When you're in the midst of dark, stress-filled moments, it's hard to comprehend how many people out there are either going through the same/similar thing or want to help support you while you are in your fight.
Once last week's blog went up, my heart was overfilled with love and gratitude for y'all. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart, thank you so very much for your sweet congratulations and encouraging words. I don't know how to repay you, but will try to brainstorm and find brilliant ways to do so.
This may seem weird, but I feel a connection with so many people who have left comments or Tweeted me about their own struggles and shared their stories. I feel we have this cool community of people that support one another and it lifts my heart.
Given that it's Valentine's Day, I wish I could drop those cool lil' Valentine's Day cards, the ones that have the lollipop attached, into your tin foiled decorated V-Day shoe boxes ... you remember like the ones we used to make in kindergarten.
So ... Will you be my Valentine?
I feel on Cloud Nine right now! I know I won't get that 100% cancer-free card, but I know I am not going anywhere! The remaining tests/chemo treatments, etc. are just precaution. It feels unreal to have this "Go live your life" card, and I want to live it up to the very fullest!
One of my closest girlfriends, Alicia Quarles, happens to be the New York correspondent for E! News, and we started laughing about how we react so differently with good and bad news.
When I was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in June, I was very stoic during my interview with Alicia. I didn't want to "break" in fear that I couldn't put myself together again. Alicia, on the other hand, whom I have known since college, couldn't help but tear up as she said, "It's just not fair" while she asked questions about my second battle with ovarian cancer.
Cut to last week and Alicia interviewed me this time about my cancer remission news. As soon as I started talking, my voice cracked and all of the emotions I held back in the first interview came out and tears trailed down my face. It was that moment I realized "I am alive and am not going anywhere!"
Diem Brown
Matt Sayles / Invision
I never understood the "happy tears" thing until that moment. I laughed as I begun to dry my wet cheeks saying, "Yeah they are! Now, how do you make these suckers stop flowing?"
I hope everyone experiences a "happy tears" moment, as it's the oddest but most wonderful feeling in the world!
So on this beautiful Valentine's Day I also want you to know that you have an army of people who love you. You might not be able to see it, but you affect more people than you will ever realize. Trust me, put yourself and your heart out there for friends, family, and even for support groups online. Some of the people who can build you up the most could be people online whom you will never meet.
I know this was a cheesy "love blog," but I feel so alive and I feel this overwhelming gratitude and love for y'all! Thank you, thank you, thank you – and
Happy Valentine's Day!
BOSTON (AP) — What happens to fish that swim in waters tainted by traces of drugs that people take? When it's an anti-anxiety drug, they become hyper, anti-social and aggressive, a study found. They even get the munchies.
It may sound funny, but it could threaten the fish population and upset the delicate dynamics of the marine environment, scientists say.
The findings, published online Thursday in the journal Science, add to the mounting evidence that minuscule amounts of medicines in rivers and streams can alter the biology and behavior of fish and other marine animals.
"I think people are starting to understand that pharmaceuticals are environmental contaminants," said Dana Kolpin, a researcher for the U.S. Geological Survey who is familiar with the study.
Calling their results alarming, the Swedish researchers who did the study suspect the little drugged fish could become easier targets for bigger fish because they are more likely to venture alone into unfamiliar places.
"We know that in a predator-prey relation, increased boldness and activity combined with decreased sociality ... means you're going to be somebody's lunch quite soon," said Gregory Moller, a toxicologist at the University of Idaho and Washington State University. "It removes the natural balance."
Researchers around the world have been taking a close look at the effects of pharmaceuticals in extremely low concentrations, measured in parts per billion. Such drugs have turned up in waterways in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere over the past decade.
They come mostly from humans and farm animals; the drugs pass through their bodies in unmetabolized form. These drug traces are then piped to water treatment plants, which are not designed to remove them from the cleaned water that flows back into streams and rivers.
The Associated Press first reported in 2008 that the drinking water of at least 51 million Americans carries low concentrations of many common drugs. The findings were based on questionnaires sent to water utilities, which reported the presence of antibiotics, sedatives, sex hormones and other drugs.
The news reports led to congressional hearings and legislation, more water testing and more public disclosure. To this day, though, there are no mandatory U.S. limits on pharmaceuticals in waterways.
The research team at Sweden's Umea University used minute concentrations of 2 parts per billion of the anti-anxiety drug oxazepam, similar to concentrations found in real waters. The drug belongs to a widely used class of medicines known as benzodiazepines that includes Valium and Librium.
The team put young wild European perch into an aquarium, exposed them to these highly diluted drugs and then carefully measured feeding, schooling, movement and hiding behavior. They found that drug-exposed fish moved more, fed more aggressively, hid less and tended to school less than unexposed fish. On average, the drugged fish were more than twice as active as the others, researcher Micael Jonsson said. The effects were more pronounced at higher drug concentrations.
"Our first thought is, this is like a person diagnosed with ADHD," said Jonsson, referring to attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder. "They become asocial and more active than they should be."
Tomas Brodin, another member of the research team, called the drug's environmental impact a global problem. "We find these concentrations or close to them all over the world, and it's quite possible or even probable that these behavioral effects are taking place as we speak," he said Thursday in Boston at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Most previous research on trace drugs and marine life has focused on biological changes, such as male fish that take on female characteristics. However, a 2009 study found that tiny concentrations of antidepressants made fathead minnows more vulnerable to predators.
It is not clear exactly how long-term drug exposure, beyond the seven days in this study, would affect real fish in real rivers and streams. The Swedish researchers argue that the drug-induced changes could jeopardize populations of this sport and commercial fish, which lives in both fresh and brackish water.
Water toxins specialist Anne McElroy of Stony Brook University in New York agreed: "These lower chronic exposures that may alter things like animals' mating behavior or its ability to catch food or its ability to avoid being eaten — over time, that could really affect a population."
Another possibility, the researchers said, is that more aggressive feeding by the perch on zooplankton could reduce the numbers of these tiny creatures. Since zooplankton feed on algae, a drop in their numbers could allow algae to grow unchecked. That, in turn, could choke other marine life.
The Swedish team said it is highly unlikely people would be harmed by eating such drug-exposed fish. Jonsson said a person would have to eat 4 tons of perch to consume the equivalent of a single pill.
Researchers said more work is needed to develop better ways of removing drugs from water at treatment plants. They also said unused drugs should be brought to take-back programs where they exist, instead of being flushed down the toilet. And they called on pharmaceutical companies to work on "greener" drugs that degrade more easily.
Sandoz, one of three companies approved to sell oxazepam in the U.S., "shares society's desire to protect the environment and takes steps to minimize the environmental impact of its products over their life cycle," spokeswoman Julie Masow said in an emailed statement. She provided no details.
___
Online:
Overview of the drug: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a682050.html
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 eked out a small gain for a third straight session on Thursday, helped by a flurry of merger activity, though investors see no catalysts to lift the market further with major averages near multi-year highs.
The market's slowed advance took the S&P 500 to its highest intraday level since November 2007 on Wednesday. While the index notched its third straight day of gains, none was more than 0.2 percent.
Shares of H.J. Heinz Co
Also supporting the market was data showing the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected in the latest week. The CBOE Volatility index <.vix> fell 2.4 percent, dropping to 12.67.
"While I'm not bearish, I don't see many upside motivations at these levels," said Donald Selkin, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York, who cited the low level of the VIX as a sign the market was overbought.
Equities have struggled to break above current levels where they have been hovering for almost two weeks. The S&P 500 is up more than 6 percent so far this year.
"We need to digest some of our gains to go higher, but people are so eager to buy on the dips that we're not even seeing dips anymore. People are just chasing the market higher," said Selkin, who helps oversee about $3 billion in assets.
Stocks fell earlier after a report the euro zone's gross domestic product contracted by the steepest amount since the first quarter of 2009. In addition, Japan's GDP shrank 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter, crushing expectations of a modest return to growth.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 9.52 points, or 0.07 percent, at 13,973.39. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 1.05 points, or 0.07 percent, at 1,521.38. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 1.78 points, or 0.06 percent, at 3,198.66.
Constellation Brands
American Airlines and US Airways Group
Weakness in Europe contributed to a 5 percent drop in revenue from the region for Cisco Systems
General Motors Co
Only five more stocks rose than fell on the New York Stock Exchange, while 51 percent of Nasdaq-listed shares closed higher.
Volume was light, with about 6.36 billion shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and NYSE MKT, below the daily average so far this year of about 6.48 billion shares.
(Editing by Nick Zieminski and Kenneth Barry)
Video posted on YouTube by activists in Bahrain showed a man confronting riot police officers after a young protester was shot and killed in the village of Al Daih on Thursday.
A Bahraini teenager was shot and killed during clashes with the kingdom’s security forces on Thursday, as protesters marked the second anniversary of the start of their movement calling for reforms on the Arab island.
Both rights activists and the interior ministry reported the young man’s death in the village of Al Daih, outside Manama, the capital. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights posted an image of a death certificate online that said Hussein Ali Ahmed, 16, was killed at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday by gunshot.
The rights group also added the young man’s name to a list of 88 fatalities since the protest movement began two year ago. According to the center, whose founder and current president have both been jailed for their part in the protest movement, 88 people have died since Feb. 14, 2011, including three police officers.
After the young man was shot, local activists uploaded graphic video and distressing photographs of the frantic attempts to save his life, despite a gaping wound in his chest.
One image posted online later was said to show the dead boy’s blood on a man’s shirt.
In another, a woman pushed a shopping cart filled with spent tear gas canisters fired at protesters during the clashes in the village.
Maj. Gen. Tariq Hassan Al Hassan, Bahrain’s chief of public security, acknowledged the death of a “rioter” in a statement that blamed protesters for “several incidents of violent attacks on police officers, attacks on citizens, destruction of property and blocking of roads.”
The police chief’s statement also defended the actions of his officers as necessary since the presence of protesters on the roads of the kingdom impeded the flow of traffic.
Police responded to restore order and clear roads. Traffic flowed freely in the vast majority of areas throughout the day.
When necessary, the police employed proportionate force to disperse violent crowds. Most incidents involved small groups of rioters who were quickly dispersed before they could amass into larger groups. During some of these dispersals, several police officers were injured. Some were injured severely and required hospital care.
The most violent group amassed at around 8 a.m. in the village of Daih, where 300 rioters assembled to attack police, who were deployed in the area, with rocks, steel rods and Molotov cocktails. Warning shots were fired but failed to disperse the advancing crowd who continued their attack. Officers discharged birdshot to defend themselves. At least one rioter was injured in the process. A short time later, a young man was pronounced dead at Salmaniya Medical Center.
The statement said that the death would be investigated and conveyed the police chief’s condolences to the family, while adding that he had “advised young men to avoid taking part in violent street activities and riots,” the day before.
International human rights groups have criticized Bahrain’s use of force in its crackdown on dissent.
Ahmed Al-haddad, who handles international relations for the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, posted an image on Twitter of what he said was an Italian-made shotgun used by the security forces to fire at demonstrators.
Thirteen of the country’s most prominent dissidents remain in jail after being convicted by a military tribunal of trying to overthrow the government. As our colleague Kareem Fahim reported last month, a court upheld their sentences of between five years and life in prison for their leadership roles in the protest movement.
The protests and clashes before and after the fatal shooting in Al Daih were extensively documented in photographs and video posted online by activist bloggers. In several photographs, protesters could be seen holding up cameraphones as they marched.
Mazen Mahdi, a Bahraini photojournalist, wrote on Twitter that he and other photographers were briefly detained while covering the protests.
Video posted online by activists later on Thursday showed the street fighting between rock-throwing protesters and officers who fired tear gas, shotgun pellets and stun grenades. Another raw clip showed a tense confrontation after the fatal shooting between an emotional man and riot police officers.
Activists posted more video online late Thursday that appeared to show the protesters regrouped on the streets after dark and chanted, “The People Want to Topple the Regime!”
Video posted online by activists in Bahrain appeared to show protesters on the streets of Al Daih on Thursday night.
Clashes south of the capital, in Sitra and Nuwaidrat, were also documented on video by activists calling themselves the Media Center for the Revolution in Bahrain (who add titles to their clips and what seems to be introductory music copied from videos posted online by The Associated Press).
In the video from Sitra, a police vehicle appeared to catch fire after protesters hurled Molotov cocktails at it.
The group’s footage of a clash in Nuwaidrat showed small numbers of protesters and the security forces facing off across flaming barricades
The monarchy’s police force continued its aggressive use of social media to combat perceptions that its use of violence in response to protests is disproportionate. The official interior ministry Twitter feed on Thursday featured two video clip uploaded to a police YouTube account on Thursday of “thugs” hurling Molotov cocktails at officers. One of the clips was recorded last week, the police said, the second was undated.
The police did not explain why these previously recorded video clips were not posted on YouTube until the day of the protest movement’s anniversary and did not immediately reply to a request for comment from The Lede.
Copyright © News acranial. All rights reserved.
Design 
And Business Directories
