Netanyahu: Flotilla raid was self defense

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says commandos who raided a Gaza aid flotilla, killing nine and injuring dozens of others, were under attack and acting in self defense.

Netanyahu spoke after a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The Israeli leader was cutting short his visit in Canada Monday and canceling a visit planned Tuesday with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington so that he could return home.

Netanyahu says Israel wanted to check the cargo to ensure it contained no weapons.

He says this was done successfully with five ships, but the sixth did not cooperate.

He says hundreds of people on …

NCAA Division I Basketball Conference Tournaments

America East Conference

At The Events Center

Vestal, N.Y.

First Round

Friday, March 3

Maryland-Baltimore County vs. Stony Brook, 7 p.m.

Quarterfinals

Saturday, March 4

Binghamton vs. Maine, Noon

Boston University vs. Vermont, 2:30 p.m.

Albany, N.Y. vs. Maryland-Baltimore County-Stony Brook winner, 6p.m.

Hartford vs. New Hampshire, 8:30 p.m.

Semifinals

Sunday, March 5

Binghamton-Maine winner vs. Boston University-Vermont winner, Noon

Albany-UMBC-Stony Brook winner vs. Hartford-New Hampshire winner,2:30 p.m.

Championship

At Higher Seed

Saturday, March …

Republicans debate immigration before largely Hispanic audience

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain told a Spanish language television audience during a primary debate that harsh immigration rhetoric voiced by some Republicans have driven Hispanics away from the party.

McCain has stood apart from most of his Republican rivals because he supported changing immigration laws and creating a path for citizenship for illegal immigrants.

"I think some of the rhetoric that many Hispanics hear about illegal immigration makes some of them believe that we are not in favor of or seek the support of Hispanic citizens in this country," the Arizona senator said Sunday evening after the moderator noted that the …

Sox convince Putz to join the bullpen

Thanks to the recruiting tactics of White Sox reliever Matt Thornton -- and $3 million -- the Sox announced Friday they've signed veteran right-handed reliever J.J. Putz to a one-year deal with incentives for 2010.

The Sox, who are looking to make their bullpen more formidable, are hoping Putz's elbow isn't a problem after he had surgery to remove bone spurs while playing for the New York Mets last season. He became a free agent this offseason when the Mets declined to pick up his 2010 option.

The Sun-Times reported Tuesday that general manager Ken Williams had Thornton working on recruiting Putz, 32 -- his close friend for more than 10 years -- similar to the way reliever …

Popolo 'aiakeakua

Solanum sandwicense

Status	Endangered
Listed	February 25, 1994
Family	Solanaceae (Nightshade)
Description	Large sprawling shrub with oval leaves, and up to 40 white flowers, grouped in threes, with a purplish stripe.
Habitat	Open, sunny areas at higher elevations in diverse lowland and drier portions of montane mesic forests.
Threats	Feral pigs, alien plants, human impact, natural disaster, low populations.
Range	Hawaii

Description

Popolo 'aiakeakua (Solanum sandwicense ) is a large sprawling shrub in the nightshade family (Solanaceae) that grows up to 13 ft (4 m) high. The younger branches are more densely hairy than older branches. The oval leaves are usually 4-6 in (10-15 cm) long and 2-5.5 in (5-14 cm) wide and have up to four lobes along the margins. Leaf stalks are 0.8-1.6 in (2-4 cm) long. On the flowering stem, a few to as many as 40 flowers are grouped in threes, with each flower on a stalk that is about 0.6 in (1.5 cm) long and is bent at the end so that the flower faces downward. The corolla is white with a faint purplish stripe, and each lobe is curved somewhat backward. Stamens are attached low on the corolla tube, with anthers curved inward. The fruit is a berry 0.5-0.6 in (1.3-1.5 cm) in diameter and black when ripe. This species differs from others in the genus in having dense hairs on young plant parts, a greater height, and its lack of prickles.

Habitat

S. sandwicense is typically found in open, sunny areas at elevations of 2,500-4,000 ft (760-1,220 m) in diverse lowland to montane mesic forests, and occasionally in wet forests. Associated vegetation includes koa, 'ohi'a, uluhe, and wet forest plants such as kopiko, ho'i'o, and the more common Melicope species (alani).

Distribution

S. sandwicense was known historically from widely scattered populations throughout the Waianae Mountains and southern portions of the Koolau Mountains on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. On the island of Kauai, this species was known from locations in the Kokee regions bounded by Kalalau Valley to the north, Milolii Ridge to the west, and Kawaikoi to the east, extending southward to the Hanapepe River.

This species is now known on Oahu from a single population on privately owned land in what is now Honouliuli Preserve. One other population was destroyed by a landslide in 1986. The Kauai populations are on private and state land and most are from Kokee and Na Pali Coast State Park. Of the 12 known historical populations, only four are currently extant; these number about 20 plants.

Threats

The major threats to populations on Kauai are habitat degradation by feral pigs and competition with alien plants, especially banana poka, prickly Florida blackberry, strawberry guava, kahili ginger, and Japanese honeysuckle. S. sandwicense is also threatened by fire, overcollecting by scientists, and stochastic extinction and reduced reproductive vigor as a result of limited numbers.

All Oahu populations except one are now apparently extinct, the result of habitat being destroyed by urbanization, landslides, feral pigs, and alien weeds.

Conservation and Recovery

S. sandwicense has been successfully propagated and then cultivated by the Lyon Arboretum, the National Tropical Botanical Garden, and the Waimea Arboretum. Holdings at Lyon Arboretum through 1995 consisted of 12 plants in the tissue culture lab. Through the same year, the National Tropical Botanical Garden had seeds in short-term storage as well as plants growing in their garden, while Waimea Arboretum had two plants.

In the late 1990s, the Kauai District of the State of Hawaii's Division of Forestry and Wildlife completed fencing in Kuia National Area Reserve; this fencing will protect the S. sandwicense population there.

The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii is planning on outplanting approximately 10 seedlings of this species in Honoutiuli Preserve on Oahu.

Contact

U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Regional Office, Division of Endangered Species
Eastside Federal Complex
911 N. E. 11th Ave.
Portland, Oregon 97232-4181
Telephone: (503) 231-6121
http://pacific.fws.gov/

Reference

U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1995. "Recovery Plan for the Kauai Plant Cluster." U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oreg. 270 pp.

Latest developments in Arab world's unrest

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SYRIA

Syrian troops push to the Turkish border in their sweep against a 3-month-old pro-democracy movement, sending panicked refugees, including children, rushing across the frontier to safe havens in Turkey. The European Union announces it is slapping new sanctions on the Syrian regime because of the "gravity of the situation," in which the Syrian opposition says 1,400 people have been killed in a relentless government crackdown.

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LIBYA

Supporters of Moammar Gadhafi rally in Tripoli after the Libyan leader lashes out at NATO over civilian casualties, calling the alliance "murderers" following an airstrike on the family home of a close associate. A few hundred supporters, most of them women, gather in the capital's Green Square hours after the late-night speech, vowing to defend the Libyan leader against rebels seeking to oust him and NATO forces giving them air support. Gadhafi also warns the alliance that its more than three-month mission in Libya is a "Crusader's campaign" that could come back to haunt the West.

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EGYPT

The outgoing Arab League chief says the Arab world's uprisings have set the region on a path of change. It is Amr Moussa's last speech Thursday to the 22-member organization before he leaves to run for president of Egypt. Moussa says the ongoing revolts will not be in vain, because "the Arab nation is on the right track."

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YEMEN

A senior U.S. diplomat pushing for a peaceful transfer of power in Yemen says that whichever side emerges from the four-month political crisis to lead the nation will cooperate with Washington in battling Yemen's al-Qaida branch. The Obama administration fears Yemen's turmoil will give al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula more room to operate freely and plot attacks on the West from the country's remote and mountainous reaches. The U.S. says the Yemen-based militants are now the terrorist network's No. 1 threat and has carried out expanded strikes against them with armed drones and warplanes.

Joint will may seem sensible, but it might cause problems

Q. My husband and I are thinking about making our wills. Wewill be leaving everything to the other and then to be equallydivided among our three children. Because the terms of each of ourwills are going to be exactly the same, wouldn't it be just as goodand perhaps somewhat easier and cheaper to prepare one joint will forthe both of us? I know it is possible, but lawyers seem to adviseagainst it.

Is there any valid reason against joint wills other than thatthe fees for two simple wills probably are more than for one simplewill?

A. There are several reasons, and a higher fee isn't one ofthem. In fact, with the simple wills you describe, to avoid thepossible problems that could arise with joint (or joint and mutualwills - they're not the same) wills, having it written might be morecomplicated and expensive than a pair of single wills.

First, when it comes to the writing of wills, the use of preciselanguage to spell out precise intentions is essential. For example,your statement, "We will be leaving everything to the other and thento be divided equally among our three children" is ambiguous. Do youwant to leave everything to the surviving spouse without any strings,with the surviving spouse leaving his or her estate to the threechildren? Or do you want to leave to the surviving spouse only alife estate in everything, with whatever is left upon the death ofthe surviving spouse going to the three children?

Or is it your intention that the surviving spouse is to geteverything without strings - which is probably what you do mean -with a further agreement between you and your husband that thesurviving spouse will leave his or her entire estate equally to thethree children? If this is your intention, is it also your intentionthat this agreement shall be irrevocable so that the surviving spousewould never be able to change his or her will if the circumstanceschange many years from now?

A joint will is simply two separate and distinct wills, usuallythose of husband and wife and usually with similar terms, written asone document. When the first spouse dies, the joint will as itpertains to the estate of the deceased spouse is probated. When thesurviving spouse dies, the part of the document pertaining to thesurviving spouse's estate is then probated.

The only difference between one joint will and two individualwills, besides saving a few sheets of paper, is the additional redtape caused if the surviving spouse has moved to anotherjurisdiction. Say the survivor's will has to be probated in Florida,but the will is part of the permanent files of the probate court herein Illinois. Surely this is no insurmountable problem, but avoidingthis possibility surely outweighs the saving of a few sheets ofpaper.

Of much greater importance is the possibility that someone couldinterpret the joint will as a joint and mutual will - and that couldcreate a big problem.

With a joint and mutual will, each of the testators has agreedthat this is how their individual estates shall be distributed upontheir deaths. It is a contract between the two of them, and upon thedeath of the first, the contract becomes binding on the survivor andthe will of the survivor has now become irrevocable.

Perhaps at the moment you don't care if your will as you nowplan it becomes irrevocable. But during the intervening yearsbetween the death of the first of you and the death of the survivor,conditions may have changed dramatically.

Furthermore, in the case of a large estate, a joint and mutualwill could have serious tax consequences because if the will isinterpreted as leaving the wife what would essentially be only a lifeestate in the property, with whatever is left going to the children,the IRS could take the position that the life estate bequest to thesurviving spouse does not qualify for the 100 percent maritaldeduction. This would subject the estate to taxes it might otherwisenot have to pay.

Send legal questions to Leonard Groupe, Chicago Sun-Times, 401 N.Wabash, Chicago 60611. Questions of general interest will beanswered in the column.