Fighting erupts after car bombing in Mali

Malian soldiers backed by French fighter jets battled Islamist rebels in Timbuktu on Sunday after insurgents used a car bomb as cover to infiltrate the northern desert town, sources said.

The French-led offensive in Mali has pushed a mix of Islamists out of their northern strongholds and remote mountain bases but the militants have hit back with several suicide attacks and guerilla-style raids.

At least one Malian soldier was killed and four injured in Sunday's fighting in the ancient Saharan trading hub 1,000 km (600 miles) north of the capital Bamako, according to a Mali government communique issued on Sunday evening.

It said that 21 Islamist rebels were also killed.

"It started after a suicide car bombing around 2200, that served to distract the military and allow a group of jihadists to infiltrate the city by night," said Mali army Captain Modibo Naman Traore.

Bilal Toure, a member of Timbuktu's crisis committee set up after the town was recaptured from Islamist control in January, said he saw a French plane firing on the rebel positions. He said fighting had died down since nightfall.

"The situation settled down after around 1900 but everyone is still staying indoors," he said.

The attack reflected the challenge of securing Mali as France prepares to reduce its troop presence and hand over to the ill-equipped Malian army and a more than 7,000-strong regional African force.

Mali's defense ministry said on Saturday that two Nigerian soldiers in the regional African force were killed when their convoy struck a mine outside Ansongo, near the Niger border.

France launched its intervention in Mali in January to halt an advance by northern al Qaeda-linked rebels towards Bamako.

President Francois Hollande said on Thursday that France will reduce its troop numbers in Mali to 2,000 by July and to 1,000 by the end of the year, down from 4,000 at present.

The West African former colony is to hold presidential and legislative elections in July - vital steps to stabilizing the gold- and cotton-producer after a military coup a year ago paved the way for the northern rebel takeover.

South African official: Mandela better from pneumonia

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nelson Mandela is breathing "without difficulty" after having a procedure to clear fluid in his lung area that was caused by pneumonia, the spokesman for South Africa's president said Saturday. Mandela, the 94-year-old former president and anti-apartheid leader, had a recurrence of pneumonia, said presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj. South African officials had previously not specified that Mandela had pneumonia, saying instead that he had a lung infection. Mandela's medical team reported that the increasingly frail ex-leader "had developed a pleural effusion which was tapped," Zuma's office said in a statement. "This has resulted in him now being able to breathe without difficulty. He continues to respond to treatment and is comfortable." The president's office thanked all who have prayed for Mandela and his family and have sent messages of support. Mandela was admitted to a hospital near midnight Wednesday night in the capital, Pretoria. It was his third trip to a hospital since December, when he was treated for a lung infection and also had a procedure to remove gallstones. Earlier this month, he spent a night in a hospital for what officials said was a scheduled medical test. Mandela became South Africa's first black president in 1994 after elections were held, bringing an end to the system of white racist rule known as apartheid. He had spent 27 years in prison under the apartheid regime and after his release in 1990 was widely credited with averting even greater bloodshed by helping the country in the transition to democratic rule.

 

Herschel Walker tells soldiers: 'Don't be afraid to ask for help'

He admits it was easier being Herschel Walker, the Heisman Trophy winner. Easier being Herschel Walker, the All-Pro NFL running back. But now, as he stepped in front of a room packed with soldiers eager to hear his story, he was Herschel Walker, a man with mental health issues. And Walker's message was simple and to the point. "Don't be afraid to ask for help," he said. "I did." Mr. Walker, the 1982 Heisman winner while at the University of Georgia, said if he hadn't he would have killed someone. Probably his ex-wife. And probably a man who had failed to deliver a package on time. "I got my gun and I got in my car," Walker told an attentive audience. Fortunately for Walker, and for the unsuspecting delivery man, the former NFL running back saw something on the bumper sticker of the delivery van. It read, "Honk if you love Jesus." That jarred Walker out of his angered state. "That's when I realized I needed help," Walker said. Following treatment and counseling, Walker was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder. "When I came out years ago, I was hurting," Walker said. "No one ever saw it. No one knew I had problems. But I did. I said I'm not ashamed of who I am. I love who I am." But Walker needed a scary wake-up moment before he admitted he needed help. It required courage. "It was very tough asking for help," Walker said. "It's very difficult. I was totally confused. You know I'm Herschel Walker. I've won a Heisman Trophy. I won an NFL rushing title. How could I have a problem? That was it more than anything. Just admitting I had a problem. Even sometimes today I won't admit it." Walker recently talked an hour with soldiers at Fort Lewis, Wash., telling snippets of his life story, from when he was a child to when he was a highly recruited All-American running back coming out of high school in George. Walker, who played for the Dallas Cowboys and four other NFL teams from 1986 to when he retired in 1997, is comfortable in front of a crowd. Without using notes, he talked about the struggles he had as a kid in the classroom and on the playground. "My teacher told me I was special," Walker said, a broad smile breaking on his face. But it wasn't the kind of special he wanted. He said he was transferred to special education because he couldn't read well. At recess, kids made fun of him because he was overweight. Eventually, Walker, motivated by the anger he felt toward his teacher and his classmates making fun of him, began working out and studying hard. "This is going to freak you out," Walker told the crowd. "I told my mom the reason I started working out was because I wanted to break the necks of the people picking on me. I wanted to hurt them. I said I didn't want any teacher to put me down any more." So, Walker got up early in the morning to exercise and to study. He'd do pushups until his arms couldn't hold him. He'd run by himself until his lungs ached, working hard to turn his fat into muscle. "I had that anger in me," Walker said. It wasn't until Walker went to a counselor after his NFL career ended that he realized his emotional problems, that he had dual personalities that vary between a nice, likeable Walker to an angry, want-to-hurt-you Walker. "If you remember, every kid wanted to beat me up," Walker said. "I had teachers who said I was not good enough. So, I said I will become good enough. So I became this guy who became obsessed to become good enough. Now I sit down and tell people who I was. Now, I say, 'Do you know who I am?' " With a broad smile, Walker paused and panned the audience. He painted a picture of a desperate man, a man who didn't understand fear or pain. He talked of how he separated his shoulder in a game at the University of Georgia and insisting that the trainer pop it back into place while he was on the sidelines, and not in the locker room, as the trainer suggested. Off the field, Walker took unreasonable risks. "I was this guy who used to love playing Russian Roulette," Walker said. "People would say, 'What do you want to do? Kill yourself?' I'd say no. It was a game for me. Playing Russian Roulette showed how tough I was. I used to say to my ex-wife that I was going to kill her. Later, she told me that I had said that, and I didn't remember it." In front of a room packed with soldiers, Walker didn't hide behind his trophies. He revealed his hurting side. He then shared a message of hope with the soldiers, some of whom are having trouble adjusting after assignments in the Middle East. "I'm here today to [talk with] you if you're burdened, if you don't think you can make it," Walker said. "You've got problem? Talk with a friend. Get help. God loves you. I love you." Wives of soldiers in the audience began wiping tears. "We have the DNA of our Lord Jesus Christ," Walker said. "You're somebody. We all have problems. I finally saw that." In the past year, Walker has given several similar talks to soldiers across the country. He tells them that people like him with dissociative identity disorder (DID) have emotions beyond their control. He tells them how he created alternate personalities to deal with some of his problems. Those alternate personalities are often the result of profound abuse or a traumatic event in a person's life. Admitting he needed help wasn't easy. "But it's easier today," Walker said. "Years ago if you said you had a mental problem, it would be tough. Today there are so many leaders saying if you've got a problem go get help. Get treated." It's Walker's openness about his mental issues that the Army hopes will help hurting soldiers decide to make a call for help. "One of the things we combat in the military is the stigma that if you're really strong, you don't have problems," said Col. Dr. Dallas Homas, the commander of the Madigan Army Medical Center at Fort Lewis. And often if a soldier does admit to himself he has a problem, he doesn't tell anyone else. "I think what Herschel brings is a testimony that it's okay to admit that you have a problem," Colonel Homas said. "Her's a guy who is a super hero, who is brave enough to say, 'Hey, I've got a problem. I had a problem. I took it on, head on, and I'm better for it.' " In his book, "Breaking Free," Walker writes about his mental health issues. He's said if he could help just one person, then going public with his problem would be worth it. "[For] every individual out here who might be wrestling with an internal demon or a challenge, Herschel has shown them it's okay to go get help for it," Homas said. "Not many of our sports heroes are as giving, as selfless, as Christian as he is. He's a model for everyone to emulate."

 

Why You Are Paying for Everyone's Flood Insurance

There are many, many compelling and urgent reasons to take decisive action to combat climate change. Here's one that's measurable by dollars added to our budget deficit. Actually by tens of billions of dollars. The soaring cost of private flood insurance is pricing so many coastal homeowners out of the market that the rest of the American taxpayers are having to bail them out – to the tune of $30 billion under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). With over $139 billion in storm, wildfire, drought, tornado and flood damages taking nearly 1 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012, the insurance industry is referring to last year as the second costliest year on record for U.S. climate-related disasters. And while insurers do include $12 billion worth of flood-related damages in their estimates, they aren't the ones getting stuck with most of the bill. It's us, the taxpayer. On a global basis, the insurance company Munich Re estimates that flooding represented 16 percent of total climate-related damages over the past decade, or $25 billion, on average, per year. Over that same period, insurers paid out on $3.75 billion per year, on average, or less than 15 percent of total flood-related costs. That percentage seems to be fairly representative as the total losses from floods along the Mississippi in 2011 were estimated at $4.6 billion with only $500 million (11 percent) covered by private insurers. So if insurers are only paying 10-15 percent of the bill, who actually does pay the cost of flood-related damage? The not-so-surprising answer is you and me, largely through the National Flood Insurance Program, which has nearly $1.3 trillion in policies outstanding. This program includes several state programs, such as the one for Florida (which has over 2 million policy holders and a face value of $475 billion) that had to be created as the rising cost of flooding was not being covered by private insurers. This massive federal program has nearly doubled in size over the past decade as private insurers have continued to shy away from making bets against Mother Nature when it comes to floods. And while the federal government has picked up the slack in terms of coverage, it has had a tough time balancing the premiums that are paid in with the heavy losses it has sustained from recent climate related events. In fact, following an estimated $12 billion in payout to 140,000 policy holders from Superstorm Sandy, the program is over $30 billion in debt and has Congress scratching its head about what to do about it since the private insurers have made it very clear this is not a business that they wish to be in. NFIP is insolvent because premiums don't reflect actual risks; and it's hard to make a case that climate-change-charged storms are not a big part of the reason why. In sum, the U.S. taxpayer is currently down $30 billion trying to provide insurance for coastal landowners that no longer have access to affordable private flood insurance. And that figure does not include the costs weathered by the state-based programs that have been set up due to a lack of private alternatives available to their residents. Taken together, these programs constitute a climate disruption tax that the U.S. consumer is being forced to pay to cover risks that the insurance industry, the true score-keepers on climate, won't touch.  As the costs of climate change continue to mount, it is becoming increasingly obvious that we can't afford not to act to rein in the carbon pollution that is supercharging storms and floods. Fortunately President Obama has a big opportunity to reduce emissions from power plants, America's biggest carbon polluters. Under a plan NRDC put forward in December, we could cut these emissions by 26 percent by 2020 and 34 percent by 2025 compared to 2005 levels. The plan provides great flexibility to states and utilities, and offers benefits to every American. Its benefits—worth between $25 and $60 billion in 2020 — far outweigh the plan's costs — about $4 billion. Implementing it will save tens of thousands of lives through reductions in air pollution. And it will drive investments in energy efficiency and clean energy that will create thousands of new jobs across the nation. Now that's an insurance premium worth paying. Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.