Obama Presses Israel, Palestinians on West Bank

By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer Ben Feller, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Gingerly trying to advance Mideast peace, President Barack Obama on Thursday challenged Israel to stop settlement construction in the West Bank on the same day the Israelis rejected that demand. Obama pushed Palestinians for progress, too, deepening his personal involvement.

"I am confident that we can move this process forward," Obama said after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House. The president said that means both sides must "meet the obligations that they've already committed to" — an element of the peace effort that has proved elusive for years.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told The Associated Press after the session with Obama that no meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are on the horizon. He said there are no preconditions for such a meeting but "obligations" on Israel through the so-called road map for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Abbas said he is meeting his commitments under the road map and that Israel should do the same. He cited continued settlement construction as a commitment Israel is not meeting. Earlier in the day, Israel rejected blunt U.S. requests to freeze Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank, a territory that would make up the Palestinian state, along with the Gaza Strip, as part of a broader peace deal.

In strong language, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had said Wednesday that Obama wants a halt to all settlement construction, including "natural growth." Israel uses that term for new housing and other construction that it says will accommodate the growth of families living in existing settlements.

Israeli spokesman Mark Regev responded Thursday by saying some construction would go on."Normal life in those communities must be allowed to continue," he said, noting Israel has already agreed not to build new settlements and to remove some tiny, unauthorized settler outposts. Regev said the fate of the settlements would be determined in peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

With that as a backdrop, Obama said part of Israel's obligations include "stopping settlements." But he also struck a hopeful tone.

He said he had pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the settlement matter just last week at the White House, and that the Israeli leader needs to work through the issue with his own government."I think it's important not to assume the worst, but to assume the best," Obama said.

The president also pushed Palestinians to hold up their end, including increased security in the West Bank to give Israelis confidence in their safety.

Obama said he told Abbas the Palestinians must find a way to halt the incitement of anti-Israeli sentiments that are sometimes expressed in schools, mosques and public arenas. "All those things are impediments to peace," Obama said.

The Palestinian leader said "we are fully committed to all of our obligations" under the road map. Doing so, Abbas said, is "the only way to achieve the durable, comprehensive and just peace that we need and desire in the Middle East." Obama, like predecessor George W. Bush, embraces a multifaceted Mideast peace plan that calls for a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The president refused to set a timetable for such a nation but also noted he has not been slow to get involved in meeting with both sides and pushing the international community for help.

"We can't continue with the drift, with the increased fear and resentment on both sides, the sense of hopelessness around the situation that we've seen for many years now," Obama said. "We need to get this thing back on track."

Abbas is working to repackage a 2002 Saudi Arabian plan that called for Israel to give up land it has occupied since the 1967 war in exchange for normalized relations with Arab countries. Abbas gave Obama a document that would keep intact that requirement and also offer a way to monitor a required Israeli freeze on all settlement activity, a timetable for Israeli withdrawal and a realization of a two-state solution.

"The main purpose of presenting this document to President Obama is to help him in finding a mechanism to implement the Arab peace initiative," Abbas told the AP.

Asked about his impression of the meeting with Obama, Abbas said: "It was a serious and open meeting and President Obama seems determined on what he has said to us and to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu about the necessity of implementing the road map, and we have agreed to continue our communications."

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Obama affirmed to Abbas that Israel has an obligation to freeze settlement expansions, including natural growth.

The U.S. and much of the world consider the settlements an obstacle to peace because they are built on captured land the Palestinians claim for a future state. But successive U.S. administrations have done little to halt settlement activity.

Now more than 120 settlements dot the West Bank, and Palestinian officials say their growth makes it increasingly impossible to realize their dream of independence. More than 280,000 Israelis live in the settlements, in addition to more than 2 million Palestinians in the West Bank. An additional 180,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem, where the Palestinians hope to establish their capital.

Israelis will be anxiously watching Obama's June 4 speech in Cairo, where he will deliver a message to the Muslim world to try to repair relations that frayed badly under the Bush administration. Obama will also visit Saudi Arabia before he goes to Egypt.

"I want to use the occasion to deliver a broader message about how the United States can change for the better its relationship with the Muslim world," Obama said of his Egypt speech. "That will require, I think, a recognition on both the part of the United States as well as many majority Muslim countries about each other, a better sense of understanding, and I think possibilities to achieve common ground."

Obama 'Confident' on Two-State Solution

US President Barack Obama says he is confident that Israel will recognise that a two-state solution is in the best interests of its security.

Speaking after White House talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Mr Obama again urged Israel to freeze settlement expansion.Israel has insisted it will allow existing settlements to expand, despite pressure from Washington.

President Obama also said Palestinians must rein in anti-Israeli violence.For his part, Mr Abbas said he was committed to all obligations under the Mid-East peace plan "roadmap".

However, without a halt to Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinians have said there can be no progress towards peace.

'Israel's interests'

Mr Obama said he was a "strong believer in a two-state solution" and believed Israel would recognise that it was in the best interests of its long-term security.

He said it was important for all countries, but particularly Arab states, to be supportive of the two-state solution.

"I am confident that we can move this forward if all parties are ready to meet their obligations," he said.
Mr Abbas said the need for progress in the stalled process was urgent.

He added that "time is of the essence" - a phrase also used by Mr Obama.

He said that he had shared ideas with Mr Obama based on the 2003 peace plan and the 2002 Saudi peace plan supported by the Arab league.

Under the US-backed 2003 roadmap to peace, Israel is obliged to end all settlement activity, specifically including natural growth.

The plan also requires the Palestinian Authority to crack down on militants who seek to attack Israelis.

President Obama said he had been "very clear" in his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week on the need to "stop settlements".

Mr Netanyahu later said no new settlements would be built but natural growth in existing settlements should be allowed.

The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says Mr Obama's public reiteration of his view - a day after his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had laid it out only to have it shot down by the Israeli government - has raised eyebrows in Washington.

Ahead of his visit to the Middle East next week, Mr Obama has put Mr Netanyahu on notice that this White House has a firm agenda of its own, our correspondent adds.

Stalled talks

The White House meeting between the two leaders is part of an effort by the Obama administration to restart stalled peace talks.

Mr Obama has already met King Abdullah of Jordan and Mr Netanyahu. He plans to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on 4 June.

Earlier on Thursday, Mrs Clinton said Washington was pushing for a two-state solution in the Middle East as it was in the "best interests" of both the Palestinians and Israelis.

Speaking after a dinner with Mr Abbas, she said: "We believe strongly in a two-state solution."

However, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said on Thursday that Israel would continue to allow some construction in West Bank settlements despite US calls for a freeze on its work.He said the fate of the settlements should be decided in peace talks with the Palestinians.

Mike Tyson's Daughter Dies After Accident

Mike Tyson's four-year-old daughter died May 26 of injuries sustained in a freak home accident. The champion boxer immediately flew to Arizona.
Exodus Tyson was found Monday morning hanged from a cord that was connected to a treadmill in the family’s activity room in their Phoenix, Arizona home. She was discovered when her mother, who was cleaning in another room, sent the girl’s seven-year-old brother in to check on her.

Police are treating the case as an accident, saying it appears the child was playing on or near the treadmill and became tangled in the cord. The girl’s mother was administering CPR when paramedics arrived on the scene. Exodus died a day later of her injuries.

Tyson was in Las Vegas at the time of the incident but rushed to his daughter’s side upon being notified of the tragedy.

“Mike was very dedicated to that baby,'' said Sig Rogish, a longtime friend of Tyson and his former agent. “I think every parent's greatest fear is that they live beyond their children. I know Mike has had his troubles in his life, but he's always been a good father.”

The troubles Rogish refers to are numerous. Tyson’s father left the family when Mike was two; his mother died when he was 16. By the age of 13 he had been arrested 38 times, but was saved from a life on the streets after juvenile hall when a counselor discovered his boxing talent.

His short-lived marriage to actress Robin Givens ended amidst allegations of physical and emotional abuse and mental illness. He was convicted of raping a beauty queen and spent three years in prison for the crime. He was stripped of his boxing license for a year after biting off a chunk of Evander Holyfield’s ear during a match, went to prison again on new assault charges, filed for bankruptcy in 2003 after squandering nearly $300 million -- around the same time his second marriage ended due to his reported infidelities -- and was arrested again in 2006 on charges of DUI and felony drug possession.

Tyson knows his life has been one big tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. In 2005 he told USA Today:

"My whole life has been a waste -- I've been a failure. I just want to escape. I'm really embarrassed with myself and my life. I want to be a missionary. I think I could do that while keeping my dignity without letting people know they chased me out of the country. I want to get this part of my life over as soon as possible. In this country nothing good is going to come of me. People put me so high; I wanted to tear that image down."

Huge Blast Rocks Pakistani City

Rescuers are searching the rubble of a police building in the Pakistani city of Lahore after a bomb attack killed at least 23 people and injured 200.

Gunmen reportedly opened fire on guards before detonating a car bomb which flattened the emergency response building at police HQ.

Nearby offices of the ISI intelligence service were also damaged.

The interior ministry chief linked the attack to Taliban insurgents whom troops are battling in the Swat valley.
"Enemies of Pakistan who want to destabilise the country are coming here after their defeat in Swat," Rehman Malik said."There is a war and this is a war for our survival," he added.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack but the authorities have been worried about possible retaliation for their offensive in Swat, the BBC's Barbara Plett reports.

Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna condemned the attack and sent condolences to the bereaved."We hope that Pakistan and India would join hands together to fight this terror," he said in Delhi.

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband condemned the "atrocity" in Lahore and said Britain was "committed to standing shoulder by shoulder with Pakistan in days of need".

'They started firing'

Up to 30 people were killed when the bomb went off mid-morning local time, reports say.
Twelve policemen and a child are among those killed, Pakistani satellite TV channel Geo News reports.

Sajjad Bhutta, a senior government official in Lahore, told reporters that a car carrying several gunmen had pulled up in a street between the emergency response building and the ISI offices.

"As some people came out from that vehicle and started firing at the ISI office, the guards from inside that building returned fire," he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

"As the firing continued, the car suddenly exploded."

Issam Ahmed, a journalist with the Dawn newspaper in Lahore who arrived at the scene about 20 minutes after the blast, told the BBC he could still hear shooting in the area.

A least two arrests were made.

Rescue workers were seen clambering over a pile of concrete which was all that remained of the emergency response headquarters.

They were able to drag out several of the injured. Semi-conscious policemen could be seen being carried out in blood-stained uniforms.

Debris was scattered on the road outside. Officials were seen rushing towards the buildings to cordon off the area.

The blast also destroyed several cars parked or standing on the main Mall Road opposite the police building.

Bulldozers and other heavy lifting equipment were brought in as many people were feared trapped under the debris.

Distraught women could be seen looking for news of missing relatives.

'Surreal scene'

Zubair Bukhari, a BBC News website reader in Lahore, described hearing the explosion: "I was sitting in my office on Lawrence Road [about 500m from the site] when a huge explosion rocked our entire building.


ATTACKS ON LAHORE THIS YEAR
3 March: Gunmen kill six police guards in an ambush on the Sri Lanka cricket team
30 March: Gunmen attack a police academy, killing eight people
27 May: A car bomb attack on police buildings kills at least 23

Hunt for Lahore cricket attackers
Siege at Pakistan police academy

"Glass windows shattered to pieces and the ceiling came down on the floor. I ran outside the building to nearby Jinnah Garden. I could hear gunfire which lasted for about 10 minutes and then I saw ambulance and police rushed to the scene."

Matthias Gattermeier, an Austrian reader also in Lahore, said his office building had been shaken so hard he thought it would collapse.

"We first thought the explosion happened far closer by, but the blast was just so massive," he said."I ran out of the building and saw a surreal huge ring of white smoke rise into [the] air. Within minutes police and military blocked the streets. Disaster units and emergency are going in and out every minute. The streets are full of people."

In previous attacks, a Lahore police college was attacked on 30 March with eight people killed, and weeks before that militants attacked the Sri Lanka cricket team in the city, killing six police guards.

Resveratrol Supplements: The Best Way To Get Resveratrol?

Submitted by Matt Anderson

Do you know why resveratrol supplements are the best way to get resveratrol for anti aging? Be sure to read this article to find out. If you're looking to improve your health and maintain your youth, you most likely have heard of resveratrol. But do you have to drink 1000 bottles of red wine a day? Luckily there's another way.

Resveratrol, a potent antioxidant thought to help prevent age related diseases, assist in increasing energy and quality of life is receiving a lot of attention. Resveratrol is found naturally in a number of plants and food sources. However, it is quickly being shown that the most effective way to get enough resveratrol is through supplement form. Let’s examine why this is.

Sources of Resveratrol
First, let’s take a look at the sources of resveratrol. Resveratrol is most widely known for being a component in red wine. This is because this polyphenol is found in the skins and seeds of grapes. Red wine has a much higher concentration than white because red wine is fermented with the skins of the grapes. You can also get some resveratrol from grapes through drinking its juice or just plain and simply eating the grapes with the skin on.

Resveratrol is also found in some berries that you just may already be eating. Fruits such as blueberries, cranberries and mulberries all contain resveratrol. You will also find resveratrol in peanuts and peanut butter. Before you start consuming red wine, drinking grape juice, eating tons of berries and peanut butter for your lunch every day, you should know that all of these sources contain small and varying amounts of resveratrol.

Dosage of Resveratrol

While red wine has the highest concentration, it carries with it other health risks like alcoholism and liver disease. In order to get enough resveratrol to make a difference you would have to consumer the above mentioned berries as pretty much your only food source and the same with peanut butter. You won't get enough resveratrol this way.

Don’t panic, it is actually pretty easy to get your daily intake of resveratrol, as it now comes as resveratrol supplements with much higher concentrations of resveratrol than any of the food sources. Most resveratrol supplements are composed of Japanese knotweed, the most potent form of resveratrol currently known. Consuming it in supplement form is the most popular way to get resveratrol.

Resveratrol Supplements

There are a variety of knotweed resveratrol supplements on the market as well as red wine supplements. The supplements made from red wine do tend to be a bit more costly, because they are more expensive to make. You will want to make sure you search out for a reputable brand for your resveratrol supplement and find one that is right for you.

As with all supplements you should speak with your doctor to help you determine what the best supplement form is for you. Resveratrol supplements are a way to get a potent form of resveratrol that is effective, and convenient in capsule form. Find one that has quality ingredients, good testimonials, is effective, has been tested by labs, has good price and a company guarantee.

So there youy have it.

As you can see, resveratrol supplements are becoming a very popular anti aging supplement. Because of its many benefits both reported and from research studies, it's known everywhere as the top anti aging breakthrough in recnet years. If you're interested in healthy aging and anti aging, then find out more about the top resveratrol supplement products and see the benefits for yourself.

Want to reverse the effects of aging? Then see this review of the latest anti aging treatments and supplements that have been featured on Oprah, 60 Minutes and the New York Times and see what the benefits are of these top anti aging supplements including the resveratrol red wine or red grape pill as it is so called. Want anti aging with the top resveratrol supplements or vitamin pills? Then get your trial offer of trans resveratrol supplements here in this recent review by Matt Anderson.

Russia Alarmed Over New EU Pact

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned the European Union not to turn a proposed partnership with former Soviet countries against Russia.

He was speaking at the end of a Russia-EU summit held against a background of deep divisions over security, trade and energy supplies. A BBC correspondent in Moscow says the biggest concern at the summit was over Russian gas supplies to Europe. Deliveries were halted in January due to Moscow's price dispute with Ukraine.

Russia's war with Georgia last year was also high on the agenda of the summit in the Russian far eastern city of Khabarovsk. 'Anti-Russian bent'
"We would not want the Eastern Partnership to turn into partnership against Russia. There are various examples," Mr Mevedev told a news conference at the end of the summit. "I would simply not want this partnership to consolidate certain individual states, which are of an anti-Russian bent, with other European states," he said.

Moscow has accused the 27-member bloc of creating new dividing lines in Europe by offering closer ties to six former Soviet republics.The EU last week launched the plan to forge close political and economic ties with the six countries in exchange for democratic reforms.

The Eastern Partnership Initiative is intended to bolster stability in the region, but without the prospect of eventual EU membership. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine have signed up to the initiative.

Worsening ties

President Medvedev said earlier that Khabarovsk - 6,000km (3,700 miles) from Moscow but just 30km from the Chinese border - had been chosen as the venue for the talks to allow the visitors to "appreciate Russia's greatness".

A year ago - when Mr Medvedev became Russia's new leader - there was hope that relations with the EU might gradually improve, the BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow says.

Instead, he says, they have got steadily worse. Relations plummeted after last year's brief war between Russia and Georgia.

Since then there has been another gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine which led to gas supplies to many European countries being cut off for two weeks in mid-winter.

There is also a growing battle over energy pipelines as the EU tries to find alternatives to its growing dependency on Russian gas.

Rapper Dolla Reportedly Shot, Killed Outside L.A. Shopping Mall

By Alynda Wheat

The Los Angeles Times reports that Atlanta-based rapper Dolla (né Anthony Burton II) was shot and killed outside of Los Angeles' Beverly Center shopping mall just after 3 p.m. PDT on Monday. Though the Los Angeles Police Dept. would not confirm the identity of the victim, the Times reports that Dolla's publicist, Sue Vannasing, confirmed to the newspaper that her client was shot outside the mall, while waiting with fellow rapper D.J. Shabbazz. Dolla is believed to be in his early twenties.

The shooting reportedly occurred during a group melee, possibly also involving a knife. Police have detained a person of interest, whom the LAPD would not name and said had not yet been arrested. Dolla is perhaps best known for the single "Feelin' Myself," which was featured in the 2006 dance film Step Up.

Sri Lanka: Tamil Tiger Rebel Chief Has Been Killed

By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer Ravi Nessman, Associated Press Writer.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka declared Monday it had crushed the Tamil Tiger rebels, killing their chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran, and ending his three-decade quest for an independent homeland for minority Tamils.

State television broke into its regular programming to announce Prabhakaran's death, and the government information department sent a text message to cell phones across the country confirming he was killed along with top deputies, Soosai and Pottu Amman.

The announcement sparked mass celebrations around the country, and people poured into the streets of Colombo dancing and singing.

The death of Prabhakaran (PRAH'-bah-ka-ran) has been seen as crucial in bringing closure to this war-wracked Indian Ocean island nation. If he had escaped, he could have used his large international smuggling network and the support of Tamil expatriates to spark a new round of guerrilla warfare here. His death in battle could still turn him into a martyr for other Tamil separatists.

Sri Lanka's army chief, Lt. Gen. Sareth Fonseka, said on television that his troops routed the last rebels from the northern war zone Monday morning and were working to identify Prabhakaran's body from among the dead.

"We can announce very responsibly that we have liberated the whole country from terrorism," he told state television. It was widely presumed Fonseka was waiting for President Mahinda Rajapaksa to announce Prabhakaran's death.

Fonseka and the commanders of the other security forces were scheduled to formally inform the president of the victory Monday evening.

Senior military officials said troops closed in on Prabhakaran and his final cadre early Monday.

He and his top deputies then drove an armor-plated van accompanied by a bus filled with rebel fighters toward approaching Sri Lankan forces, sparking a two-hour firefight, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Troops eventually fired a rocket at the van, ending the battle, they said. Troops pulled Prabhakaran's body from the van and identified it as that of the rebel leader, they said. The attack also killed Soosai, the head of the rebels' naval wing, and Pottu Amman, the group's feared intelligence commander, the officials said.

Suren Surendiran, a spokesman for the British Tamils' Forum, the largest organization for expatriate Tamils in Britain, said the community was in despair.

"The people are very somber and very saddened. But we are ever determined and resilient to continue our struggle for Eelam," he said, invoking the name of the Tamils hoped-for independent state. "We have to win the freedom and liberation of our people."

But in Colombo, which had suffered countless rebel bombings, people set of fireworks, danced and sang in the streets.

"Myself and most of my friends gathered here have narrowly escaped bombs set off by the Tigers. Some of our friends were not lucky," said Lal Hettige, 47, a businessman celebrating in Colombo's outdoor market. "We are happy today to see the end of that ruthless terrorist organization and its heartless leader. We can live in peace after this."

The chubby, mustachioed Prabhakaran turned what was little more than a street gang in the late 1970s into one of the world's most feared insurgencies. He demanded unwavering loyalty and gave his followers vials of cyanide to wear around their necks and bite into in case of capture.

At the height of his power, he controlled a shadow state in northern Sri Lankan and commanded a force that including an infantry, backed by artillery, a significant naval wing and a nascent air force.

He also controlled a suicide squad known as the Black Tigers that was blamed for scores of deadly attacks. Though groups in Lebanon had used the tactic years earlier, the rebels would become infamous for perfecting it. The rebels were branded a terror group and condemned for forcibly conscripting child soldiers.

Earlier, the military announced it had killed several top rebel leaders, including Prabhakaran's son Charles Anthony, also a rebel leader. The military said special forces also found the bodies of the rebels' political wing leader, Balasingham Nadesan, the head of the rebels' peace secretariat, Seevaratnam Puleedevan, and one of the top military leaders, known as Ramesh.

The rebels have been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority after years of marginalization at the hands of the Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting.

Government forces ousted the rebels from their shadow state in the north in recent months and brought the group to its knees. Thousands of civilians were reportedly killed in the recent fighting.

Senior diplomats had appealed for a humanitarian cease-fire in recent weeks to safeguard the tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the war zone, but the government refused, and denied persistent reports it was shelling the densely populated war zone.

Diplomats in Brussels said Monday the European Union will endorse a call for an independent war crimes investigation into the killing of civilians in Sri Lanka. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because discussions were ongoing.

The rebels were also accused of using the civilians as human shields and shooting at some who fled.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband says there have been "very grave allegations" of war crimes on both sides of the conflict adding "they should be properly investigated."

The U.N. said 7,000 civilians were killed in the fighting between Jan. 20 and May 7. Health officials in the area said more than a 1,000 others were killed since then.

On Monday, more than a thousand angry Sri Lankans protested outside the British Embassy in Colombo, pelting it with rocks and eggs and burning an effigy of Miliband and throwing it inside the compound. Protesters held posters calling Miliband a "white Tiger," and several tried to climb the embassy's high walls.

Joining the Pack

By FRANK FERNANDEZ

DELTONA -- Whether you're a boy from Puerto Rico or Pennsylvania, there's something cool about a "blood circle".That dangerous-sounding geometry is what 8-year-old Elian Seda (yes, he's named after that Elian) was demonstrating recently at a meeting of Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts in Deltona.

Elian stretched out his arm while holding his folded pocketknife, then moved his arm in a circle around him, the blue knife tracing an imaginary circumference."A blood circle is a circle you have with your knife and make sure that nobody's there," Elian said. "And if somebody's there you have to tell them, if they can please move because you are going to use your knife and they could get cut."

For the Boy Scouts of America, Elian himself is a demonstration of a group the organization is trying to bring into the fold -- Hispanics. The Girl Scouts is also working to increase its number of Hispanics.

The importance of Hispanics is summed up by Christopher Luciano, executive director of the Boy Scouts' Tuscarora District, which includes Deltona, DeLand and Pierson, areas where Hispanic numbers are high.

"To be relevant for the next 100 years, we need to reach out to the growing Hispanic population," Luciano said in an interview last week.Leading that recruitment drive for the Boy Scouts in Central Florida is Eric Santiago. Santiago said he plans to visit churches throughout Volusia County and eventually Flagler to extol the virtues of scouting to Hispanic families. It's not always easy. Sometimes he has to debunk some misconceptions, such as Scouting is militaristic.

"A lot of people think that we are about shooting guns and we are not," Santiago said. "We are about trying to help our youth and instilling life-long values in them".Santiago added that immigration status is not significant.

"Whether the children are here legally or not it's really irrelevant to us," Santiago said. "We just want to make sure that all the children here in the United States are provided an opportunity to have these experiences."

Santiago said that before he starts a scout troop he finds and trains bilingual leaders, so parents who don't speak English will not be intimidated."The scouting program is a true family program," Santiago said. "Our biggest challenge is reaching into those communities that wouldn't approach us mostly because of language."

The Girl Scouts of the Citrus Council has increased its number of Hispanics every year, said Pam Lennox, chief executive officer of the group covering Volusia, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Brevard and Seminole counties. Of the 18,000 girls in the council, 7 percent are Hispanic.

Lennox said the council will soon announce a committee of prominent Latino leaders to help increase Hispanic membership.

"There is not a high level of familiarity with Girl Scouting in our Latino culture so one of the things we do is to help raise awareness and let parents know the value of Girl Scouting," Lennox said.

Lennox said high-achieving women frequently say that their experience in Girl Scouts helped make them successful.

The Girl Scouts have had to make some adjustments. Hispanic families are less willing to send girls away on overnight excursions so the group is offering more one-day events, Lennox said.

The Girl Scouts organization is also aware of differences in Hispanic cultures. Lennox said she is from Southern California, where most Spanish speakers are Mexican. But in Central Florida, Hispanics hail from a greater variety of places, such as Central and South America and the Caribbean."It's not one Spanish-speaking culture in our area," she said. "They are multiple cultures."

For one thing, that means being careful with words, said Teresita Matos, coordinator for the Hispanic Initiative for the Citrus Council."We have to be very careful in the language we use," Matos said. "What means one thing for Puerto Ricans might mean something else to someone from Colombia."

For 39-year-old George Seda of Deltona, Scouting means continuing a family tradition.

"I was a Cub Scout and a Boy Scout when I was young in Puerto Rico," Seda said. "And I want my boys to have the same opportunity I had when I was young."

And they do. Gabriel, 12, and Diego, 10, are Boy Scouts, and Elian, 8, is a Cub Scout. (George Seda said he and his wife liked the name Elian, so they named their youngest child after the famous Cuban rafter.)

George Seda himself serves as a Scout leader."We teach the boys how to be more independent, how to be a leader and that's very important these days," Seda said. "I saw a big change in my older son since he joined the Boy Scouts and now he is a leader."

Pablo Lopez, 36, who is Puerto Rican and a leader with Troop 310, also believes Scouting will help make leaders out of his two sons, Esteban, 10, a Cub Scout, and Cristofer, 11, a Boy Scout.It will also help open tent flaps.

"When sometimes you speak to a person who is a business leader, when you say you are a Scout, their eyes brighten and they say 'yes, I was a Scout, I was an Eagle Scout,' " Lopez said. "You can see there was a leader. They always help you."

Esteban said one of the things he enjoys about Scouting is improvising some games when out in the woods. "You get to play with the sticks, we get to play swords with them," Esteban said.

Cristofer was showing signs of that leadership ability recently as he taught some younger Scouts how to tie a square knot. To help them remember, Cristofer held a rope in each hand and explained the process in terms of a pair of snakes hugging each other.

Ask Cristofer about recent Scouting activities he's enjoyed and serpents slither onto the scene again."We went to a snake museum and we saw a bunch of different snakes," Cristofer said.And what could be cooler than that -- except maybe blood circles.

Rotten Office Fridge Cleanup Sends 7 to Hospital

SAN JOSE, Calif. – An office worker cleaning a fridge full of rotten food created a smell so noxious that it sent seven co-workers to the hospital and made many others ill. Firefighters had to evacuate the AT&T building in downtown San Jose on Tuesday, after the flagrant fumes prompted someone to call 911. A hazmat team was called in.

What they found was an unplugged refrigerator that had been crammed with moldy food.

Authorities said an enterprising office worker had decided to clean it out, placing the food in a conference room while using two cleaning chemicals to scrub down the mess. The mixture of old lunches and disinfectant caused 28 people to need treatment for vomiting and nausea.

Authorities said the worker who cleaned the fridge didn't need treatment — she can't smell because of allergies.