US oil rallies on upbeat Seaway pipeline reports

NEW YORK: US oil prices gained Tuesday as traders digested news of an easing chokepoint on the key Seaway pipeline serving Gulf Coast refineries.

A barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) settled at $96.66 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 80 cents.

In London, a barrel of European benchmark Brent crude settled at $117.52 on the Intercontinental Exchange, 14 cents higher.

The New York session was lackluster after traders came back to work following a long weekend. US markets were closed Monday for a public holiday.

Some analysts said trading volume remained thin because of a major gathering this week of oil traders in London.

WTI spent much of the morning near the break-even line, but picked up support later in the session as the S&P 500-stock index held onto gains.

"We were pretty much trading flat," said Carl Larry, a broker with Atlas Commodities, who cited the jump in equity markets as a factor in the oil rally.

Also lifting oil prices were media reports that the Seaway pipeline, which has been troubled by distribution problems of late, plans to pump 295,000 barrels a day between late February and the end of May.

The news on Seaway is "bullish" because Seaway's flow has at times fallen below 200,000 barrels a day, said Dominick Chirichella, an analyst of the Energy Management Institute.

Seaway has been seen as a critical component in addressing a glut of oil at the bottlenecked US hub in Cushing, Oklahoma. The pipeline's capacity was recently expanded to 400,000 barrels a day from 150,000 barrels, but the operator has encountered technical problems that have limited the volume.

"I don't think there's been one silver bullet" driving Tuesday's rally in oil prices, Chirichella said. "Just a lot of little things."

-AFP/ac

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Meghalaya 'fastest growing state', Sonia parrots PM

JOWAI: A stunning bit of 'news', which the people of this remote and impoverished northeastern state were hitherto unaware of, has been broken twice by the Congress leaders. First it was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who at an election rally in Shillong Friday last said Meghalaya was one of the "fastest growing" states in the country, followed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi parroting the same here on Tuesday.

"Meghalaya bears the proud distinction of being one of the fastest growing states not just in the northeast. This is a success, not just in social or financial terms but also in administrative terms. We have ushered in an era of peace, prosperity and stability that is unique in the history of Meghalaya," Sonia said while canvassing for her party for the February 23 assembly election.

She said the Congress led-UPA and Meghalaya government have worked "diligently and in earnest" to provide solid foundations of administration on which the people can build their lives. "Under the current government, Meghalaya has witnessed a very productive and peaceful period. In many ways, it has grown far more rapidly than most other states in the country," she iterated.

Sonia spoke on chief minister Mukul Sangma's pet project - the Integrated Basin Development and Livelihood Promotion Programme - as did PM Singh. Claiming that the state has seen a "major inflow" of investment, particularly in the fields of education and healthcare, Sonia said, "We have endeavoured to be a government that works for the uplift of the poor while simultaneously encouraging enterprise," she added.

Touching on the sensitive issue of illegal migration from across the border, she said, "We are aware that much still needs to be done, including on issues such as those related to immigration. We are at present engaging with the Bangladesh government to stem out illegal immigration that is of concern to you."

Not forgetting the burning issue of mining in Meghalaya, Sonia said she was aware that illegal mining is a threat to the environment of the state and added Congress has taken some measures in this direction.

"The people of Meghalaya have always reposed their trust in us and we have and will not ever breach that trust. That is why, I am here to ask you to give us the opportunity to continue in our efforts to give voice to your aspirations and dreams," the Congress president campaigned.

Addressing an election rally in Tura, Sonia showered praises on the Congress-led government in the state and sought a renewed mandate for the party.

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New Study Analyzes Heavy Metal Dancing

Parents may never understand their rock 'n' roll loving children, but scientists might. A study published online in arXiv this week seeks to explain the "mosh pit"—using physics.

To most scientists, heavy metal refers to elements on the lower end of the periodic table. But to Jesse Silverberg and Matt Bierbaum, doctoral students at Cornell University's department of Condensed Matter Physics, the aggressive music—and the violent dancing that accompanies it—could be a key to understanding extreme situations such as riots and panicked responses to disasters.

For the past two years, Silverberg and Bierbaum have studied "moshing," at heavy metal concerts, using theories of collective motion and the physical properties of gasses to better understand the chaos of metal fans' dancing.

Moshing, for those who have never attended a heavy metal show, is a form of dancing in which participants bump, jostle, and slam into one another. It's a form of social ritual that anthropologists have likened to spirit possession in its uncontrolled, dynamic, and often violent nature.

Silverberg and Bierbaum say it can also be understood by applying models of gaseous particles. As these particles float in groups, they too run, bash, and slam into each other, sending the elements flying in chaotic patterns.

"We are interested in how humans behave in similar excited states," said Silverberg, "but it's not exactly ethical to start a riot for research."

Extreme Physics

Mosh pits provided the scientists with a way to observe excited collective movement without causing undue injury or death. Analyzing hours of recorded footage from concerts and making multiple field trips to music clubs, Silverberg and Bierbaum recognized the particulate physical patterns in the mosh pit.

Further, they differentiated two distinct forms of heavy metal dancing: the "mosh pit" itself, which follows the gaseous pattern, and the "circle pit" (where dancers run, smash, and dance in a circular rotation) within it, which adheres to a vortex pattern of particulate behavior.

Based on these observations, they created an interactive computer model depicting the behavior.

Animal Instincts

"Herd animals behave in very similar spirit—what physicists call 'flocking' behavior," said Bierbaum. (See "The Genius of Swarms," from the July 2007 issue of National Geographic magazine.)

As with groups of flying birds or schooling fish, simple rules can be applied to individuals in large groups—like moshers—to understand what seems to be very complex behavior. This makes modeling possible, allowing computers to re-create immense numbers of actions in a matter of seconds. These models can then be used to design spaces that would minimize trampling or injury, or to tailor responses to disasters like fires.

"The lessons we've learned in mosh pits [could be used] to build better stadiums, or movie theaters," Silverberg said.

James Sethna, one of the researchers' advising professors, hastened to add that his students' forays into heavy metal science "didn't start out for reasons of creating safer stadiums. We did it because it was cool and we wanted to know if we could explain human behavior—albeit slightly intoxicated behavior—without having to use complex [models]."

A longtime heavy metal fan himself, Silverberg shared which band produced the best results: "Killswitch Engage ... always gets the crowd nuts. Although of course everyone has their own favorites."

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Jodi Arias Emails Claim Ex Threatened 'Revenge'

Accused killer Jodi Arias described today a barrage of threatening text messages sent by her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in which he told her he would exact "revenge" on her soon.

The messages show a growing discord between the pair in April 2008, less than two months before Arias killed Alexander in a bloody attack that she claims was self-defense.

"Do not call back," Alexander wrote in one message read aloud in court today. "I'm sick of you playing stupid and dealing with your childish issues. Bitter feelings are brewing in me for you, and if it keeps up I fear I will have a genuine dislike for you before I have a revenge."

"You don't care about anything that doesn't involve you, and I'm sick of it, and I don't want to deal with any of it," he said. "It's wearing me out and if it continues, just like I have to give you motivation to tell me the truth I'll give you motivation to quit screwing with me," he said.

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Arias is charged with murder for Alexander's death, and could face the death penalty if convicted. In her six days on the stand so far during her trial, Arias has described increasingly aggressive behavior from Alexander, who would show his "wrath" by kicking her in the ribs, cursing at her, and calling her names when they argued. One attack broke one of her fingers, Arias said, showing the court a permanently bent finger.

In one text message conversation, Alexander threatens Arias with "punishment." She explained on the stand that Alexander became obsessive about the identity of a stranger who told Arias that Alexander was cheating. A woman dining at the restaurant where Arias worked allegedly stopped her, identified herself as Marie, and told Arias about Alexander and another woman. Arias said she never learned the woman's identity.

"After tomorrow it's going to be really bad for you. It's time to spit it out," read one text message from Alexander about the woman's identity.

"I promise you the punishment will be better than the lie," read another.

Watch the Jodi Arias Trial Live on ABCNews.com

The threatening texts and aggressive behavior drove Arias to move away from where Alexander lived in Mesa, Ariz., back to her hometown of Yreka, Calif., she said.

"I told him we need to spend more time apart, but not to get him out of my life. I wanted us to be able to have a friendship," she said.

But Alexander continued to have explosive reactions in their relationship, especially when he found out she was spending time with another man or sending messages to a romantic interest online.

"At this point it was just pure wrath," she said.

Arias, 32, is expected to testify this afternoon about the events leading up to the day in June 2008 in which she drove to Alexander's house, had sex with him, and then killed him.

The testimony comes as the trial enters its eighth week in Phoenix. The prosecution has laid out its argument accusing Arias of killing Alexander, her former lover, in a jealous rage that left him with 27 stab wounds, a slashed throat, and two bullets in his head. They say the murder was premeditated and that Arias lied about her behavior until she was cornered by evidence, and then changed her story to killing him in self-defense.

Arias' attorneys are attempting to convince the jury that Alexander was a controlling, abusive "sexual deviant" who used Arias as his "sex slave."

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British PM seeks to deepen India ties amid graft scandal

NEW DELHI: British Prime Minister David Cameron was due to hold talks with Indian leaders Tuesday in pursuit of deeper trade ties as a widening corruption scandal threatened to overshadow his visit.

Cameron arrived Monday accompanied by the biggest-ever British overseas business delegation in the midst of a political storm over India's purchase of helicopters from Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland.

The premier, set for talks with his counterpart Manmohan Singh and President Pranab Mukherjee, is seeking like other Western powers to boost ties with the fast-growing region, and heaped praise on his hosts at the start of the three-day visit, calling India's rise one of the century's "great phenomena".

"Britain wants to be your partner of choice," Cameron told a business audience in Mumbai, the financial hub of the former British colony.

He said the two countries have the foundations for a "special relationship" -- a phrase British leaders traditionally uses to depict its US links.

But the helicopter scandal has taken the gloss off Cameron's second trip to India as he presses for a deeper trade relationship and greater access for British companies in one of the world's most dynamic economies.

After an investigation in Italy suggested kickbacks were paid via middlemen to secure the $748-million (560 million euro) deal, India has taken steps to scrap the contract for the 12 helicopters and started its own police inquiry.

Cameron was expected to face questions from Indian leaders about what Britain knows about inside aspects of the 2010 deal -- with the helicopters being manufactured in southwest England -- as the Indian government, buffeted by a string of graft scandals, is keen to be seen as tough on the latest controversy.

The British leader has targeted a doubling of annual bilateral trade with India, from 11.5 billion pounds ($17.8 billion) in 2010 to 23 billion pounds by the time he faces re-election in 2015.

Among his 100-plus delegation are British executives eyeing moves by the Indian government to open up the retail, airline, banking and insurance sectors to foreign investors.

Amid concerns about a drive to slash immigration numbers and fears that young Indians could be deterred from applying to study in Britain, Cameron stressed in Mumbai that there was no limit on the number of Indians who could study there.

He also announced a new same-day visa service for Indian business people, and said Britain would be "rewriting our rules on the high-level technology that we're prepared to share with our Indian partners".

Cameron was also expected to remind India of the merits of the part-British Eurofighter jet, which was competing for a $12-billion contract until last year. India chose France's Dassault Aviation for exclusive negotiations but the deal has still not been signed.

-AFP/ac

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Govt moves to block 55 Facebook pages on Afzal Guru

NEW DELHI: The government has asked internet service providers to block 55 Facebook pages related to Afzal Guru. The notice by the Department of Telecom was issued a day before internet services were restored in Kashmir Valley after remaining suspended for a week following Afzal's hanging. It was on the same day, February 14, that the notice ordering ISPs to block 73 web pages with content relating to a private management college, Indian Institute of Planning and Management, was issued.

Afzal Guru was convicted for his role in the December 2001 Parliament attack and hanged earlier this month. His hanging set off a spate of protests in Kashmir despite a week-long curfew in the Valley.

The list of 55 Facebook pages includes several support groups and fan pages for Afzal Guru in addition to a profile page of a Bahraini journalist and the Facebook page of a Kashmiri news portal.

The DoT spokesperson could not say who had requested for these pages to be blocked. Group coordinator on cyber laws, Gulshan Rai, who is authorized to send out block notices to ISPs could not be reached for comment.

The notice was not made public by the DoT. The IT Rules introduced in 2009 prohibit disclosure about processes involved in blocking of internet sites.

Delhi-based lawyer Apar Gupta said the move seemed to be "calculated" since it came just before restoration of internet services in the Valley. "Legally speaking, some of the pages for which the block has been called speak of avenging Guru's death. However, the notice does not specify the reasons why the block has been ordered. It gives an impression that the government has something to hide," said Gupta. "The government seems to be growing reliant on blocking as a mode of governance, which is worrying, said cyber lawyer Pavan Duggal.

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ChristianMingle Date Rape Victims Sought by Cops

A suspected rapist accused of sexually assaulting a woman he met on ChristianMingle.com may have used the dating site to prey on women while he traveled across the country, California police said today.

Sean Patrick Banks, 37, a former Navy sailor, used a fake name to contact a woman who he allegedly raped in November, cops in La Mesa, Calif., said. Investigators believe that he used additional aliases to contact other women on the popular website and police hope that if there are additional victims they will recognize Banks.

Banks lives in Del Mar, Calif., and is currently unemployed but previously "travelled frequently around various spots in the U.S." for work, widening the search for potential victims from Southern California to across the country, said La Mesa Police spokesman Lt. Matt Nicholass.

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"We're looking to see if there are any other victims," Nicholass told ABCNews.com. "We're trying to locate other victims who recognize him by his face, because they may not know his real name is Sean."

Cops accuse Banks of posing on the site as "Rylan Butterwood" and "Rylan Harbough."

His alleged use of fake names complicated police efforts to track him down after a La Mesa woman accused him of rape at her home in November on their first face-to-face date.

"La Mesa police tried to identify him for a couple of months," Nicholass said, adding that a break in the case came after ChristianMingle.com turned over computer records that helped cops identify Banks.

Banks was charged with two counts of rape and pleaded not guilty. He posted bond of $500,000 and was released. Calls to several numbers associated with Banks were not returned. Authorities did not know if he had obtained an attorney.

"We continue to assist the La Mesa police department with its investigation in every way possible. The safety and security of our members is extremely important to us," ChristianMingle.com said in a statement through spokeswoman Arielle Schechtman. "In addition to having experts manually review all profile content and photos, we have developed several proprietary, automated tools to ensure the highest possible level of safety and privacy for our communities."

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Confirmed: Dogs Sneak Food When People Aren't Looking

Many dog owners will swear their pups are up to something when out of view of watchful eyes. Shoes go missing, couches have mysterious teeth marks, and food disappears. They seem to disregard the word "no."

Now, a new study suggests dogs might understand people even better than we thought. (Related: "Animal Minds.")

The research shows that domestic dogs, when told not to snatch a piece of food, are more likely to disobey the command in a dark room than in a lit room.

This suggests that man's best friend is capable of understanding a human's point of view, said study leader Juliane Kaminski, a psychologist at the U.K.'s University of Portmouth.

"The one thing we can say is that dogs really have specialized skills in reading human communication," she said. "This is special in dogs." (Read "How to Build a Dog.")

Sneaky Canines

Kaminski and colleagues recruited 84 dogs, all of which were more than a year old, motivated by food, and comfortable with both strangers and dark rooms.

The team then set up experiments in which a person commanded a dog not to take a piece of food on the floor and repeated the commands in a room with different lighting scenarios ranging from fully lit to fully dark.

They found that the dogs were four times as likely to steal the food—and steal it more quickly—when the room was dark. (Take our dog quiz.)

"We were thinking what affected the dog was whether they saw the human, but seeing the human or not didn't affect the behavior," said Kaminski, whose study was published recently in the journal Animal Cognition.

Instead, she said, the dog's behavior depended on whether the food was in the light or not, suggesting that the dog made its decision based on whether the human could see them approaching the food.

"In a general sense, [Kaminski] and other researchers are interested in whether the dog has a theory of mind," said Alexandra Horowitz, head of the Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard University, who was not involved in the new study.

Something that all normal adult humans have, theory of mind is "an understanding that others have different perspective, knowledge, feelings than we do," said Horowitz, also the author of Inside of a Dog.

Smarter Than We Think

While research has previously been focused on our closer relatives—chimpanzees and bonobos—interest in dog cognition is increasing, thanks in part to owners wanting to know what their dogs are thinking. (Pictures: How smart are these animals?)

"The study of dog cognition suddenly began about 15 years ago," Horowitz said.

Part of the reason for that, said Brian Hare, director of the Duke Canine Cognition Lab and author of The Genius of Dogs, is that "science thought dogs were unremarkable."

But "dogs have a genius—years ago we didn't know what that was," said Hare, who was not involved in the new research. (See pictures of the the evolution of dogs, from wolf to woof.)

Many of the new dog studies are variations on research done with chimpanzees, bonobos, and even young children. Animal-cognition researchers are looking into dogs' ability to imitate, solve problems, or navigate social environments.

So just how much does your dog understand? It's much more than you—and science—probably thought.

Selectively bred as companions for thousands of years, dogs are especially attuned to human emotions—and, study leader Kaminski said, are better at reading human cues than even our closest mammalian relatives.

"There has been a physiological change in dogs because of domestication," Duke's Hare added. "Dogs want to bond with us in ways other species don't." (Related: "Dogs' Brains Reorganized by Breeding.")

While research reveals more and more insight into the minds of our furry best friends, Kaminski said, "We still don't know just how smart they are."

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Athletics: Pistorius cancels all future races to face murder charge

JOHANNESBURG: Oscar Pistorius has formally called off the races that were due in coming months in the face of charges of murdering his girlfriend on Valentine's Day, his manager said Sunday.

The Olympic and Paralympic athlete was charged on Friday with the premeditated murder of 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp, who was shot dead at his luxury Pretoria home.

He had been contracted to compete in races in Australia, Brazil, Britain and the United States between March and May.

"I have decided that following these tragic events that we have no option but to cancel all future races that Oscar Pistorius had been contracted to compete in, to allow Oscar to concentrate on the upcoming legal proceedings," manager Peet van Zyl said.

Sponsors and partners would in the meantime maintain their contractual commitments awaiting the outcome of the legal process, said Van Zyl uin a statement.

Pistorius is accused of killing his girlfriend who was shot four times. Police reportedly found a bloodied cricket bat at the house, according to a local Sunday paper.

Pistorius' family denies he intentionally killed the blonde covergirl. His father said he had "zero doubt" his son had mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder and his 89-year-old grandmother told AFP the killing was accidental.

The family has said the 26-year-old, who is widely seen as an adrenaline junkie with a love for speed and guns, is "numb with shock as well as grief" over Steenkamp's death.

South Africa's independent City Press newspaper quoted police sources saying the investigators had found the cricket bat.

"There was lots of blood on the bat," one source said.

Police are probing whether the bat was used to assault Steenkamp, who was shot four times, including in the head, during the early hours of Thursday, or if she may have used it to defend herself, the newspaper said.

"The suspicion is that the first shot, in the bedroom, hit her in the hip. She then ran and hid herself in the toilet... He fired three more shots," the police source told City Press.

Authorities have rejected suggestions that Pistorius mistook Steenkamp for an intruder and on Sunday police spokesman Neville Malila refused to comment on the reports of the cricket bat.

"I don't know where they got it from, but they didn't get it from any official source in the police," Malila told AFP.

The newspaper described the case against Pistorius as "rock-solid".

Other reports suggested there had been an altercation between the two lovers that had spilled over from Wednesday night, when neighbours called security guards complaining about a "commotion" inside the Pistorius home.

The British Sunday People said a sobbing Pistorius had phoned his friend, Justin Divaris around 4:00 am (0200 GMT) on Thursday telling him "My baba, I've killed my baba (baby in Afrikaans). God take me away."

Pistorius was a national icon who inspired people around the world when he became the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympic Games last year.

His bail hearing on Tuesday will come the same day a funeral will be held for his slain girlfriend. He faces a life sentence if convicted of premeditated murder.

His father Henke Pistorius, 59, was quoted by Britain's Sunday Telegraph as saying the family had "zero doubt" his son shot Steenkamp on instinct after mistaking her for an intruder.

"When you are a sportsman, you act even more on instinct," he said. "It's instinct -- things happen and that's what you do."

When contacted by AFP, the father denied speaking to the Sunday Telegraph and refused to provide any further details. The newspaper's reporter Aislinn Laing confirmed she had spoken to the father on Saturday.

Echoing the family's line, Pistorius's 89-year-old grandmother also indicated the shooting had been accidental.

"I know it was a mistake anybody can make" Gertie Pistorius told AFP. "I have got my trust in my (grandson) and I have got my trust in the case, and I am sure things will go the right way" she said.

Police said there had been several previous domestic incidents at Pistorius's home.

Pistorius, who broke down sobbing in his first court appearance on Friday, has built up a powerful team of lawyers, medical specialists and public relations experts for his defence.

Stuart Higgins, a former editor of British tabloid The Sun, whose lengthy list of clients includes British Airways, Chelsea FC and Manchester United football club, will be handling public relations in the case.

One of the lawyers, Kenny Oldwage, acted for the driver in a 2010 accident that killed former president and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela's great-grandchild Zenani. The driver was acquitted.

-AFP/ac

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Cops may not oppose assitant director's bail application

MUMBAI: The Jogeshwari police are unlikely to oppose the bail plea of Bollywood assistant director Mark Samuel, who was remanded to seven days' police custody on charges of rash and drunk driving and not possessing a driving licence.

Samuel, an assistant director for the Salman Khan starrer Dabangg 2, will move the Bombay High Court on Monday, along with his friend, Vidushi Sood, for bail. The duo was also charged with abusing and assaulting policemen on duty who stopped them after a 15-minute chase last Friday in Jogeshwari.

Police officials said they had almost completed custodial interrogation of the couple and may not oppose their bail. "We will take a final decision on Monday," said senior inspector V R Damugade, Jogeshwari police station.

The police may also revoke Samuel's passport.

Several legal eagles had questioned the remand plea and subsequent need for seven-day police custody.

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