OSLO — Southern Norway is in the midst of a diaper shortage after a supermarket price war lured enterprising bulk shoppers from eastern Europe who have cleaned out the shelves, customs officials and retailers said.

Norway is one of the world's most expensive countries. However, supermarkets in the south trying to lure local customers by undercutting rivals on the price of "nappies" inadvertently made it profitable enough for residents of nearby countries to start trading in them.

"They buy every last diaper, I mean everything we have on the shelves, throw it in the back of their car and take them home, where they sell it for a nice profit," says Terje Ragnar Hansen, a regional director for retail chain Rema 1000.

"It's not stealing and it's not even criminal but it's a big problem ... they leave nothing for our regular customers.

Customers come into Norway from Sweden, drive along the coast to fill their cars, then take a ferry back to the continent, said Helge Breilid, the chief of customs in Kristiansand on Norway's southern coast.

Some have been stopped with diapers worth up to 50,000 crowns ($9,100), roughly 80,000 diapers, a legal shipment even though Norway is not part of the European Union.

"They told us that the only reason they came to Norway was to drive around and buy diapers to bring back home and resell," Breilid said.

"These people mainly come from Poland and Lithuania, and we have no reason to believe that they are part of any criminal gangs."

Norwegian diapers cost as little as 30 crowns ($5.47) for 50, less than half of the prevailing price in Lithuania. Coincidentally, the Internet is heaving with Lithuanian sellers advertising Norwegian diapers.

USAF Academy via AP

The U.S. Air Force has identified Capt. Lucas Gruenther, seen here in 2003, as the pilot of an F-16 fighter jet that went missing Monday on a training mission over the Adriatic Sea.

The body of a U.S. Air Force pilot whose F-16 fighter jet went missing Monday after it took off for a training exercise from Aviano Air Base, Italy, has been found in the Adriatic Sea.

According to a statement released by the family, the body of Capt. Lucas Gruenther, 32, was found Thursday afternoon.

"A compassionate husband, a loving son, and a devoted brother; Luc leaves behind a family who loves him dearly and a legacy of achievement," the statement reads. "We will never fully recover from our loss, but take heart in the knowledge that during his all-too-short time in this world, he made a significant difference in the lives of all whom he met."

The Air Force also issued a statement, offering condolences to the family.

"Captain Gruenther was an outstanding officer who epitomized what it means to be an Airman," said Brig. Gen. Scott J. Zobrist, 31st FW commander. "He was not only a first-rate pilot; he was an exceptional leader whose presence will be sorely missed."

The statement said Gruenther, an Air Force Academy graduate, had flown numerous combat sorties during a six month deployment to Afghanistan in 2011, and that a board of officers will investigate the incident.

Earlier in the week, fragments of carbon steel and other debris were found floating in the northern Adriatic. At the time, the Air Force said it believed the debris belonged to the wreckage of the missing aircraft and continued its search-and-rescue operation.

The family kept its hopes up, and in a blog post published on the base's website, his wife, Cassy, wrote: "If anyone could survive something like this, it would be Luc."

Officials then confirmed that Gruenther's drogue parachute and his helmet were among the debris found in the water. Cassy wrote that they remained optimistic, as they were told the helmet was found in good shape.

"That's why I know he's coming home," Cassy wrote in the blog post. "If he has his mind set on something, he will find a way to make it happen. He'll find a way; whatever he has to do."

NBC Bay Area said Gruenther was from Twaine Harte, Calif. He married his high school sweetheart, who is expecting the couple’s first child, Serene, in a few weeks.

The Gruenther family thanked "the many people who volunteered their time and resources to help bring Luc home." The search operation included aircraft and ships from the United States and Italy.

NBC New staff writer Kari Huus contributed to this report.

Anna Andersen / AP file

Icelandic teenager Blaer Bjarkardottir, 15, left, seen with her mother Bjork Eidsdottir, won the right to use her first name Thursday.

An Icelandic teenager referred to as "Girl" by the island nation’s authorities was finally given the right to use her own first name by a court Thursday, according to reports.

Blaer Bjarkardottir’s first name means "breeze" in Icelandic and was not on a list of approved names or otherwise permitted by the authorities.

The English-language website News of Iceland reported that the Icelandic Naming Committee had previously ruled that Blaer was only a man’s name.

But on Thursday a district court in Reykjavik ruled that it could also be used as a girl’s name, it added.

"I am very happy... Finally, I'll have the name 'Blaer' in my passport," the 15-year-old said, according to the Iceland Review Online, which added that her request for $3,950 in damages was rejected by the court.

Previously the authorities had recorded her first name in the National Registry as Stulka, which simply means girl.

According to the island.is website, which is run by the government, the "Personal Names Register" includes "all Icelandic names that have been approved," but people can apply for permission to use names not on the list.

Embarrassing names not allowed
Names must be "adaptable to the structure of the Icelandic language and spelling conventions" and also "not cause the bearer embarrassment."

"Girls should be given a female name and boys should be given male names. No person can have more than three personal names," it adds.

Blaer's mother, Bjork Eidsdottir, previously told The Associated Press that she had "no idea that the name wasn’t on the list" and only learned this after Blaer was baptized by a priest, who later told her he had mistakenly allowed it.

"Blaer is a perfectly Icelandic name," she added. "It seems like a basic human right to be able to name your child what you want, especially if it doesn't harm your child in any way."

People in Iceland are usually referred to by their first names — with even President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson addressed simply as Olafur.

Surnames are usually based on either their mother or father’s first name. Bjarkardottir means daughter of Bjork.

Professor Armann Jakobsson, of the University of Iceland’s faculty of Icelandic and comparative cultural studies, said he thought Blaer was "a good name" for a woman and "more or less established now."

He said Blaer was used as a female name in a novel by Iceland's Nobel Prize-winning author Halldor Laxness, prompting other people to use it.

A girl called 'mistake'?
Armann, the son of Jakob, said the decisions of the naming committee were at times "very controversial."

He said there were lots of urban myths about names in Iceland. Two female names that are allowed are Mist and Eyk, prompting jokes that a baby girl could be given a name that sounds like "mistake," he said, although he was unaware of an actual example.

"The average person doesn’t understand the logic behind the law. The average person thinks the committee should ban silly names, rather than foreign-sounding names," he said.

"I think the committee is really unpopular, but I think many people want to have laws about this," he added.

"But there are also people who criticize this and say there should be no laws about names, but then they say [people] should not be allowed to be called Satan or Lucifer … or a number."

Ben Nelms / Reuters, file

Women whose daughters are part of a missing women's inquiry in Canada cry during discussion of a report, titled 'Forsaken,' that examines the mishandling of the Robert Pickton serial killer case.

Sarah de Vries started running away when she was 13, in 1983. She lived in cheap apartments and grim hotels in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia -- places that would let a teenager turn tricks. Later, she got hooked on heroin.

Sarah's big sister, Maggie, remembers a bubbly, adorable baby. But life was not always easy. Of mixed race, with some black and aboriginal ancestry, Sarah was targeted by racist bullies, and sometimes felt disconnected from her white adoptive family.

In 1995, she wrote about how many women were missing from her neighborhood, Vancouver's rough Downtown Eastside.

"Am I next? Is he watching me now?" she wrote in a journal her sister published years later, after Sarah, too, disappeared. "Stalking me like a predator and its prey. Waiting, waiting for some perfect spot, time or my stupid mistake."

We know now that the Downtown Eastside was where serial killer Robert Pickton found his victims, picking up sex workers, killing them, and disposing of their bodies on his pig farm.

Investigators charged him with 26 murders, but only six counts went to trial. Found guilty in 2007, Pickton was jailed for life, the toughest sentence possible in Canada, which has no death penalty.

Vancouver police now admit they made mistakes probing the murders, and a public inquiry report released last month, titled "Forsaken," highlighted a "systemic bias" against the victims, paired with public indifference.

'Compelling information'
When Sarah de Vries went missing in 1998, her disappearance was one of many unsolved cases in the Downtown Eastside.

Vancouver police believed there had been an increase in disappearances but were unsure why. Some officers recognized a serial killer at work, but others clung to the idea that the women had just moved and did not want to be found.

A Vancouver police review from 2010 said the case was clear only in hindsight. But it also found that even in 1998 and 1999, police had "compelling information" pointing to Pickton: tales of bloody clothes and of a woman's body suspended in his barn.

Andy Clark / Reuters -- file

A supporter lights candles surrounding photos of murdered women outside the Missing Women's Commission of Inquiry in Vancouver, British Columbia on Dec. 17.

Pickton agreed to a search in 2000, but it was never done, and he was caught in 2002 only because of a separate weapons probe. DNA linked him to 33 of the Downtown Eastside's more than 60 missing women, including Sarah de Vries.

Vancouver police, who say they have made changes since 2002, have apologized: "We could have, and we should have, caught Pickton sooner," Chief Constable Jim Chu said in December.

Pickton's farm was in an area that is under the jurisdiction of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who have said they will study the inquiry report. They declined to comment on the case.

Canada is still wrestling with what the Pickton case means. It prompted questions about the fate of scores of other missing and murdered women, and in the years since Pickton's 2002 arrest, police have set up new task forces to investigate some of the disappearances.

One of these is the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Project E-Pana, which was asked to determine whether one or more serial killers had stalked young women along British Columbia's highways.

'Highway of Tears'
In northern British Columbia, so many women, many of them aboriginal, have gone missing along Highway 16 that their families call it the "Highway of Tears." Those cases, along with disappearances near two other highways in the province, are Project E-Pana's focus. The 18 cases it is dealing with date from 1969 to 2006.

But E-Pana, which police say they named for an Inuit goddess who cares for the dead, has not cracked any of the cases along Highway 16.

Gladys Radek, who grew up in northern British Columbia, said she has known about the disappearances since she was a girl. In 2005, her niece, 22-year-old Tamara Chipman, went missing.

"The RCMP have always been in denial that there is a Highway of Tears," she said.

Among Canada's major provinces, British Columbia has the lowest clearance rate -- 49 percent of the murders are unsolved, compared with 39 percent nationally -- perhaps because of the Highway of Tears and Downtown Eastside cases that remain open.

Aboriginal women are disproportionately likely to be murdered in Canada, and they were overrepresented among Pickton's suspected victims.

Wally Oppal, whose inquiry produced the "Forsaken" report, recommended that British Columbia's government replace the patchwork of police jurisdictions in the Vancouver area with a regional force. He said geographic isolation, poor transit and poverty in the north of the province have put women and girls at particular risk.

The matter is urgent, he wrote: "Serial predators are committing violence today; that is an inescapable fact."

Ahmad Gharabli / AFP - Getty Images

A Palestinian activist fixes a flag near a proposed new encampment in the West Bank on Jan 20.

Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank violate Palestinian human rights and must be withdrawn, United Nations investigators said Thursday — a move described by observers as "unprecedented."

An international report by the U.N. Human Rights Council said Israel is "committing serious breaches of its obligations under the right to self-determination and under humanitarian law."

All settlers must begin to withdraw from the occupied territories, the report said. It echoed the earlier claim of Palestinians that the the practices of settlers could be considered possible war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

Israel, which did not cooperate with the investigation, dismissed the document as "biased" and said it would "only hamper efforts to find a sustainable solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict."

Tel Aviv-based Haaretz said the "unprecedented" conclusion was the U.N.’s "harshest condemnation of Israeli policy in West Bank since 1967."

About 250 settlements in the West Bank have been established since 1967 and they hold an estimated 520,000 settlers, the U.N. said.

Palestinians claim the settlements hamper Palestinian access to farm lands.

The report [PDF link], led by French judge Christine Chanet and summarized in a news release in Geneva on Thursday, said:

"Israel must, in compliance with article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, cease all settlement activities without preconditions. It must immediately initiate a process of withdrawal of all settlers from the OPT (occupied Palestinian territories).

These violations are all interrelated, forming part of an overall pattern of breaches that are characterised principally by the denial of the right to self-determination and systemic discrimination against the Palestinian people which occur on a daily basis.

Since 1967, Israeli governments have openly led, directly participated in, and had full control of the planning, construction, development, consolidation and encouragement of settlements, the report states."

Asma Jahangir, one of the authors of the report, said: "We are today calling on the government of Israel to ensure full accountability for all violations, put an end to the policy of impunity and to ensure justice for all victims."

Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement refuting the findings, according to the Jerusalem Post. "The Human Rights Council has sadly distinguished itself by its systematical, one-sided and biased approach towards Israel. This latest report is yet another unfortunate reminder of such approach," the newspaper quoted the ministry as saying.

Hanan Ashrawi, a top official with the Palestinian Liberation Organization, told Reuters: "This is incredible. We are extremely heartened by this principled and candid assessment of Israeli violations...This report clearly states the Israel is not just violating the 4th Geneva Convention, but places Israel in liability to the Rome Statute under the jurisdiction of the ICC."

Related:

Israel faces European backlash over decision to expand settlements

US slams Israel's decision to expand settlements

Israeli court throws out family's lawsuit over death of US activist Rachel Corrie

EPA

Paramedics tend to some of the people injured when two trains collided near Pretoria, South Africa, on Thursday.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — At least 150 people were injured on Thursday when two commuter trains collided near the South African capital of Pretoria, authorities said.

The accident occurred when a train crashed into a stationary locomotive near Attridgeville, a suburb west of Pretoria.

"Many are walking wounded and already left. There are 20 people in serious condition and one, the driver of the second train, is in a critical condition," local emergency services spokesman Johan Pieterse said.

Officials said that children were among the wounded.

TOKYO — A member of one of Japan's infamous "yakuza" organized crime syndicates has been arrested for illegally sending men to work at a construction company helping to clean-up the area around the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant, police said Thursday.

Yoshinori Arai, 40, who allegedly belongs to the Sumiyoshikai crime group, was detained after he sent three workers to do decontamination work without proper permits in November, according to Yamagata police.

The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported the three men aged in their 50s were paid about $164 to $186 a day, mainly for cutting grass and other decontamination work.  A third of the pay went to Arai, according to the report.

Police said they were also investigating a similar case involving 10 other workers allegedly sent to the area in December.

Related:

Worker at Japan's tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant: Firm sent crews into danger

Slideshow: Devastation in Japan after quake

BEIRUT — Israel's air force launched a rare airstrike on a military site inside Syria, the Syrian government and U.S. and regional security officials said Wednesday, adding a potentially flammable new element to regional tensions already heightened by Syria's civil war.

Regional security officials said the jets targeted a site near the Lebanese border, and a Syrian army statement said it destroyed a military research center northwest of the capital Damascus. They appeared to be discussing the same incident.

The strike, which occurred overnight Tuesday, appeared to be the latest salvo in Israel's long-running effort to disrupt the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah's quest to build an arsenal capable of defending against Israel's air force and spreading destruction inside the Jewish state from just over its northern border.

The regional security officials said Israel had been planning in recent days to hit a Syrian shipment of weapons bound for Hezbollah, which is neighboring Lebanon's most powerful military force and committed to Israel's destruction. They said the shipment included sophisticated Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles whose acquisition by Hezbollah would be "game-changing" by allowing it to blunt Israel's air power.

The strike may have halted that transfer.

The Israeli military and a Hezbollah spokesman both declined to comment, and Syria denied the existence of any such shipment.

U.S. officials confirmed the strike, saying it hit a convoy of trucks, but gave no further information.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The strike follows decades of enmity between Israel and allies Syria and Hezbollah, which consider the Jewish state their mortal enemy. The situation has been further complicated by the civil war raging in Syria between the forces of President Bashar Assad and hundreds of rebel brigades seeking his ouster.

The war has sapped Assad's power and threatens to deprive Hezbollah of a key supporter, in addition to its land corridor to Iran. The two countries provide Hezbollah with the bulk of its funding and arms.

Many in Israel worry that has Assad's regime loses power, it could strike back by transferring chemical or advanced weapons to Hezbollah.

Israel and Hezbollah fought an inconclusive 34-day war in 2006 that left 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead.

While the border has been largely quiet since, the struggle has taken other forms. Hezbollah has accused Israel of assassinating a top commander, and Israel has blamed Hezbollah for attacks on Jewish sites abroad. In October, Hezbollah launched an Iranian-made reconnaissance drone over Israel, using the incident to brag about its expanding capabilities.

Israeli officials believe that despite their best efforts, Hezbollah's arsenal has markedly improved since 2006, now boasting tens of thousands of rockets and missiles and the ability to strike almost anywhere inside Israel.

Israel suspects that Damascus obtained a battery of SA-17s from Russia after an alleged Israeli airstrike in 2007 that destroyed an unfinished Syrian nuclear reactor.

Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of the dangers of Syria's "deadly weapons" and warned that the country is "increasingly coming apart."

The same day, Israel moved a battery of its new "Iron Dome" rocket defense system to the northern city of Haifa, which was battered by Hezbollah rocket fire in the 2006 war. The Israeli army called that move "routine."

Syria, however, cast the strike in a different light, portraying as linked to the country's civil war, which  blames on terrorists carrying out an international conspiracy to destroy the country.

A military statement read aloud on state TV Wednesday said low-flying Israeli jets crossed into Syria over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and bombed a military research center in the area of Jamraya, northwest of the capital, Damascus.

The strike destroyed the center and damaged a nearby building, killing two workers and wounding five others, it said.

The military denied the existence of any convoy bound for Lebanon, saying the center was responsible for "raising the level of resistance and self-defense" of Syria's military.

"This proves that Israel is the instigator, beneficiary and sometimes executor of the terrorist acts targeting Syria and its people," the statement said.

Despite its icy relations with Assad, Israel has remained on the sidelines of efforts to topple him, while keeping up defenses against possible attacks from the regime.

Israeli defense officials have carefully monitored Syria's chemical weapons, fearing Assad could deploy them or lose control of them to extremist fighters among the rebels.

President Barack Obama has called the use of chemical weapons a "red line" whose crossing could prompt direct U.S. intervention, though U.S. officials have said Syria's stockpiles still appear to be under government control.

The strike was Israel's first inside Syria since September 2007, when its warplanes destroyed a site in Syria that the U.N. nuclear watchdog deemed likely to be a nuclear reactor. Syria denied the claim, saying the building was a non-nuclear military site.

Syria allowed international inspectors to visit the bombed site in 2008 but it has refused to allow nuclear inspectors new access. This has heightened suspicions that Syria has something to hide, along with its decision to level the destroyed structure and build on its site.

In 2006, Israeli warplanes flew over Assad's palace in a show of force after Syrian-backed militants captured an Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip.

And in 2003, Israeli warplanes attacked a suspected militant training camp just north of the Syrian capital, in response to an Islamic Jihad suicide bombing in the city of Haifa that killed 21 Israelis.

Syria vowed to retaliate for both attacks, but never did.

In May 2011, only two months after the uprising against Assad started, hundreds of Palestinians overran the tightly controlled Syria-Israeli frontier in a move widely thought to have been facilitated by the Assad regime to divert the world's gaze from his growing troubles at home.

Related:

Analysis: Israeli attack in Syria could trigger Iran reaction

A powerful earthquake hit central-northern Chile on Wednesday afternoon, shaking buildings as far away as the capital, Santiago, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Initial reports suggested spotty damage near the epicenter, but there was no word yet on injuries.

The quake, a magnitude 6.8, struck at a depth of 28.4 miles, 63 miles southwest of mining town Copiapo and 364 miles north of Santiago at 5:15 p.m. (3:15 p.m. ET), the USGS said.

Employees reached by phone at the Diego de Almagro Hotel in downtown Copiapo, Chile, said there is damage in the city, including some collapsed homes, but they had no news of injuries.

"We felt it hard and then panic spread," said hotel owner Atilio Bianchi.

Diego de Almagro, the largest hotel in the city, suffered only minor damage, and no one there was hurt, according to Leonor, a front desk clerk.

"It was scary when the furniture started moving," she said.

In February 2010, a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit just off the coast of central-southern Chile, triggering a tsunami that devastated several coastal communities and killed hundreds of people. The wave caused damage as far away as San Diego, Calif., and Tohoku, Japan.

Wednesday's quake did not match the conditions needed to cause a tsunami in the Pacific, Reuters reported.

Copiapo became the focus of global attention in October 2010, when 33 miners were trapped for 70 days in a nearby copper mine before an international team was able to rescue them.

Reuters contributed to this report.

News analysis

Israelis understood something was up earlier this week when two of the country’s five Iron Dome anti-missile defense systems were moved north to protect Israel’s third largest town, Haifa. The government said the deployment was routine.

This was followed by a flurry of press reports, all quoting anonymous official sources, warning that Israel would not allow Syria and Hezbollah to cross its so-called "red lines."

That meant if Syria attempted to transfer any of its advanced rockets or non-conventional weaponry, such as chemical or biological agents, to Hezbollah, the Shiite militia in southern Lebanon, Israel would halt the move by force.

Ever since the start of the Arab Spring, Israel has had one overriding principle: Stay out. But when that principle came up against its "red lines," the military risk appears to have outweighed the political risk.

Wednesday night a convoy of trucks was attacked by warplanes in Syria, near the border with Lebanon, according to U.S. and regional officials. From Israel – silence. It is believed the convoy was carrying advanced Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles, which can hit multiple targets, including fighter jets, helicopters and drones, within 40 miles. They would remove Israel’s critical freedom of flight over Lebanon.

The stakes were raised later by what Syrian state television said was an attack by Israeli warplanes against a military research center northwest of the country's capital, Damascus. There was no confirmation that the target was an advanced weapons collection depot.

From Israel’s point of view, it would be better to stop these weapons from falling into the hands of what it calls terrorists, who could then intimidate all of northern Israel and much of the rest of the country, too, rather than wait for Hezbollah to get them and then have to respond. Prevention rather than reaction.

But the attack implies that Israel feels compelled to join the battle -- not to protect either side in the Syrian conflict but rather to protect its own security. And this move would send a clear message to Israel’s ultimate enemy, the regional power that backs both the Syrian regime and Hezbollah: Iran.

Iran has long threatened to destroy Israel, and Hezbollah is part of its arsenal. Israel choking off the supply of weapons to Hezbollah limits Iran’s future threat against Israel.

Israel never confirms these kinds of attacks. But a comment Tuesday from the head of Israel’s air force didn’t mince words. Major-General Amir Eshel said at a conference that Israel is involved in a “war between wars” and that "this campaign is 24/7, 365 days a year. We are taking action to reduce the immediate threats, to create better conditions in which we will be able to win the wars, when they happen."

Martin Fletcher is the author of "The List", "Breaking News" and "Walking Israel".

Related:

Israel hits weapons convoy on Syria-Lebanon border: Report

Courtesy HAZ / Michael Thomas

A ransom note signed by the "Cookie Monster" was sent to a German newspaper, along with a photograph of somebody dressed up as the "Sesame Street" character.

MAINZ, Germany — When a famous 44-pound metal cookie was stolen from outside a German factory, there was one obvious suspect. But few would have expected the Cookie Monster himself to claim responsibility for the crime.

The giant golden snack has been a landmark as part of a statue at leading cookie manufacturer Bahlsen's site in Hannover since 1913 until it vanished on Jan. 21.

This week, the first clue emerged when a ransom note made up of letters cut from newspapers and signed by the "Cookie Monster" was sent to a local newspaper.

The sender demanded that a shipment of cookies be sent to to a local children’s hospital. "The ones with milk chocolate, not the ones with dark chocolate or without chocolate," the letter read. 

And should the request not be fulfilled? "The golden cookie would be sent to the trash can of Oscar the Grouch," the ransom note warned.

An accompanying photo showed someone dressed up as the famous "Sesame Street" character taking a big bite from a golden cookie.

Investigators are unsure whether it is the actual metal cookie missing from Bahlsen or just a hoax. "The ransom note and the photo have been forwarded to criminalists for investigation," a police spokesman in Hannover said.

Police have received only one other tip: Witnesses reported having seen two men with a ladder working at the statue two weeks ago.

Experts say the theft of the cookie could be connected to rising thefts of metal across Germany, as the value of bronze, iron and other metals has gone up significantly. In recent years, thieves have stolen electric cables, bells and even train tracks in Germany and other European countries.

So far, there are only crumbly clues in the investigation, but the company has offered the equivalent of more than $1,300 for any information leading to the recovery of the historic golden cookie.

Company boss Werner Bahlsen made a public appeal for the return of the cookie in a Wednesday news conference, adding, "We refuse to be  blackmailed."

Keir Simmons / NBC News

Pablo Bizzi Mahmud, 20, lost 10 friends in the fire that tore through a nightclub in Santa Maria, Brazil, on Jan. 28, 2013. He is leading protests to demand better government safety standards.

SANTA MARIA, Brazil — Pablo Bizzi Mahmud might have died in the fire that tore through Kiss nightclub on Sunday morning, but the 20-year-old chose not to go. It turned out to be a fateful decision: 10 of his friends were among the 234 who died as flames and smoke engulfed the club before dawn.  

When asked if any of his friends survived that night he said no. "They were all killed," he said as he walked through the streets of his hometown, Santa Maria.

"I was born here, I know a lot of people here," he added. "Everybody knows someone who was there."

Mahmud's closest friend made it out but then went back in to help. He lost his life trying to rescue others. Another friend was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. He also perished.

Mahmud has never protested before but on Tuesday he led a march of around 1,000 people through Santa Maria to the mayor's office.

"Justice!" the protesters chanted in Portuguese.

"Police, government, give us justice!" Mahmud shouted to the crowd through a megaphone, his determination driven by his duty to the friends he lost.

Many on the march were friends of the the mostly young people who died in the blaze.

Barbara Henriquez, 28, and Natalia Isaia, 30, knew five who died. They said they had many questions and few answers.

Slideshow: Nightclub fire in Brazil

Felipe Dana / AP

A fast-moving nightclub inferno claimed the lives of more than 230 people in southern Brazil.

Launch slideshow

"Brazil doesn't do anything about it," said protester Mariana Barros, 22. "It takes a long time to do anything. We can't wait 10 years — we need it now."

According to local fire chief Moises Fuchs, it's the laws that need to change, and fast. Brazil is hosting both the World Cup soccer tournament next year and the 2016 Olympics.

"We need stronger reforms on our safety regulations," Fuchs said. 

Questions for investigators include why there was no sprinkler system, no fire alarm and only one way out.

Police now believe a flare used during a live music performance inside the club was intended for outdoor use only and may have started the blaze. It is also feared that toxins in the smoke included cyanide and dioxin, making it all the more deadly.

These are all issues the young people of Santa Maria want addressed.

As the march slowed, Mahmud handed the megaphone to another protester and listened. Overwhelmed, he buried his face in the shoulder of a friend.

"I have a Facebook message from one of my friends who was there," Mahmud said. "He is saying let's go to Carnival this year."

Related:

Brazil club blaze survivor: 'An angel saved my life'

Brazil nightclub fire survivor: 'I felt her heart stop beating'

'Doomed to repeat history': Painful memories for survivors of '03 Rhode Island nightclub fire

Asmaa Waguih / Reuters

Protesters use slingshots to launch stones at police in Cairo, Tuesday.

News analysis

CAIRO — Egypt’s recent days of violence have focused attention on its political crisis — but the underlying cause remains an economy on the brink of collapse.

Rising prices of basic goods like bread, sugar and gasoline coupled with high rate of unemployment and a lack of social justice has created a lethal and combustible cocktail.

Add to this mix a stagnant political reform process and the lack of confidence in basic government services, including justice, and you can understand the frustration among many Egyptians.

Every few months there is an explosion of violence. The flames are put out by promises of reform or sometimes sheer exhaustion on the part of the protesters but the spark — deep and serious socio-economic problems — remains and that's why we see a repeat.

On Wednesday, Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi was on a day trip to Germany despite the fragile security situation in his country.

Turbulent years
The urgency of his mission — to secure economic assistance and assure the international community that this crisis is resolvable — underlines the deeper problems fueling the country’s cyclical unrest.

The immediate trigger for this week's clashes was a convergence of emotion surrounding the second anniversary of the revolution and anger at the passing of a death sentence on 21 defendants on trial following a soccer stadium riot last year.

With each round of violence, the call for Mohamed Morsi to step down continues.  But most of the country just wants stability - with or without Morsi. Egypt has undergone two of the most turbulent years in its modern history.

The majority of Egyptians will tell you what they want is to feel physically and financially secure. The country is still a few years away from achieving that security.

There is a serious lack of leadership from either the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government or the so-called opposition, whose divisions and failure to connect with the demands of the street is making it increasingly irrelevant. The opposition carries no political clout, even if its grievances are legitimate.

Time and money
Morsi has several options to resolve this crisis. Most are short-term measures that could defuse some of the anger and mistrust that has built up between his regime and the opposition and the protesters.

Slideshow: Tempers flare in Egypt

/

On the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, huge crowds take to the streets in five cities.

Launch slideshow

Longer-term measures to ease social pressures, particularly among the country’s youth, will take time and money — including international investment.

Egyptians tried the ballot box, but have not yet seen the change they yearn for.  So they are turning to the street to express their dissatisfaction.

Until the government finds a way to absorb and deal with the root cause of people's issues, unrest will continue putting yet more strain on the fragile economy.

In short, this is a race against time in which Egypt, first under the rule of the military, and now under the Muslim Brotherhood, has already wasted two years.

Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

Actor Richard Gere, right, puts an arm around Chen Guangcheng after the Chinese dissident was awarded the Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize in Washington on Tuesday. Next to Chen is his wife, Yuan Weijing, and adjacent to her is Lantos' widow, Annette Lantos.

BEIJING — Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng urged the United States to not put business interests ahead of Beijing's human rights abuses and to help end the Communist Party's "rule of thieves" at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., Tuesday.

"It is clearly difficult to shift attention away from issues of finance and the economy," Chen told the award ceremony's attendees in translated remarks read out in English by actor and noted Tibet advocate Richard Gere. "[But] remember that placing undue value on material life will cause a deficit in spiritual life."

The 41-year-old self-taught lawyer also urged the United States to hold fast to its founding principles such as democracy, human rights and freedom of speech when dealing with China.

Chen's words could well be making some American officials squirm. As the Chinese and U.S. economies become more interdependent, Beijing has applied pressure for the two countries to put aside human rights issues and focus on mutual business interests.

China is the United States' second-largest trading partner behind Canada, and growth has it poised to move into the top spot. Goods and services trade between the countries totaled $539 billion in 2011, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Chen is best known for his daring nighttime escape from 19 months of house detention in his native Shandong province in April. Despite breaking his leg during his dash for freedom, he managed to travel some 300 miles to Beijing, where he sought refuge at the U.S. Embassy.

His escape to U.S. custody sparked a diplomatic maelstrom that eventually led to his negotiated release from the embassy to a Beijing hospital. Chen and his family were later granted permission to travel to New York University, where he could continue his legal studies out of the Chinese media spotlight.

Acquaintances 'have been threatened'

Chen accepted the Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize, named after the only Holocaust survivor to have served in the U.S. Congress. Lantos' background had a "profound resonance" in his heart as he remembered his experience, that of his relatives in China and that of other human rights advocates still in detention, Chen said.

"Recently, many friends and neighbors who I have been in touch with by phone have been taken into custody by the authorities for questioning," Chen said. "They have been threatened and made to describe what our conversations have been about."

Chen's nephew Chen Kegui was sentenced last month to three years in prison after he was found guilty of assaulting local officials with a knife. The family says that officials barged into Chen Kegui's home and that he had been acting in self-defense.

In sheltering Chen and helping to negotiate his exit to New York, the U.S. government outraged Beijing, which roundly rejects foreign involvement in its domestic affairs.

Chen's frequent speeches and interviews in the United States regularly make news among China watchers and human rights advocates, but in China his words are blocked and censored.

On China's popular Twitter-like service, Weibo, Chen's name has long been blocked and mention of his award Tuesday generated no comments.

Beijing is likely to have bristled at Chen receiving an American peace prize. State media gave no attention to his award and the Foreign Ministry did not issue a statement on it.

DOUENTZA, Mali — French troops took control on Wednesday of the airport of Mali's northeast town of Kidal, the last urban stronghold held by Islamist rebels, as they moved to wrap up the first phase of a military operation to wrest northern Mali from rebel hands.

A three-week ground and air offensive by French forces aimed at initially ending a 10-month Islamist rebel occupation of major towns is expected to eventually hand over to a larger African force.

The Africans' task will be rooting out insurgents hiding in the desert and mountains near Algeria's border.

"They (the French) arrived late last night and deployed in four planes and some helicopters," Haminy Belco Maiga, president of Kidal's regional assembly of Kidal, told Reuters.

However, the deployment of French troops to remote Kidal puts them in direct contact with pro-autonomy Tuareg MNLA rebels operating there.

The Tuaregs, whose separatist rebellion last year was hijacked by the Islamist radicals, say they are ready to fight al-Qaida, but many Malians blame them for triggering the collapse of democracy and division with their northern revolt.

France's military operation in its former West African colony involves around 3,500 troops on the ground backed by warplanes, helicopters and armored vehicles. It is aimed at heading off the risk of Mali being used as a springboard for jihadist attacks in the wider region or Europe.

French and Malian troops retook the major Saharan trading towns of Gao and Timbuktu at the weekend.

There were fears that many thousands of priceless ancient manuscripts held in Timbuktu, a UNESCO World Heritage site, might have been lost during the rebel occupation, but experts said the bulk of the texts were safe.

The United States and European governments strongly support the Mali intervention and are providing logistical and surveillance backing but do not intend to send combat troops.

The MNLA rebels, who want greater autonomy for the desert north, said they had moved fighters into Kidal after Islamists left the town earlier this week.

"For the moment, there is a coordination with the French troops," said Moussa Ag Assarid, the MNLA spokesman in Paris.

There were no reports of Malian government troops being in the town.

The MNLA took up arms against the Bamako government a year ago, seeking to carve out a new independent desert state.

Kambou Sia / AFP - Getty Images

People cheer as soldiers of Malian Col. Alaji Ag Gamou enter on Jan. 29, in Ansongo, a town south of the northern Malian city of Gao. Troops from Niger and Mali entered Ansongo on Jan. 29, which along with Gao was recaptured by French-led soldiers over the weekend in a lightning offensive against radicals holding Mali's north.

After initially fighting alongside the Islamists, by June they had been forced out by their better armed and financed former allies, who include al-Qaida North Africa's wing, AQIM, a splinter wing called MUJWA and Ansar Dine, a Malian group.

Risk of attacks, kidnappings
But as the French wind up the successful first phase of their offensive, doubts remain about just how quickly the U.N.-backed African intervention force, known as AFISMA and now expected to exceed 8,000 troops, can be fully deployed in Mali to hunt down the retreating al-Qaida-allied insurgents.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the French military operation, codenamed Serval (Wildcat), was planned to be a lightning mission that would last just a few weeks to avoid getting bogged down.

"Liberating Gao and Timbuktu very quickly was part of the plan. Now it's up to the African countries to take over," he told the Le Parisien daily. "We decided to put in the means and the necessary number of soldiers to strike hard. But the French contingent will not stay like this. We will leave very quickly."

Fabius warned that things could now get more difficult, as the offensive seeks to flush out insurgents with experience of fighting in the desert from their wilderness hideouts.

"We have to be careful. We are entering a complicated phase where the risks of attacks or kidnappings are extremely high. French interests are threatened throughout the entire Sahel."

An attack on the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria earlier this month by Islamist fighters opposing the French intervention in Mali led to the deaths of dozens of foreign hostages and raised fears of similar reprisal strikes across North and West Africa.

Need for reconciliation
While the French operation has made destroying Islamist fighters, positions and assets with air strikes a priority, analysts say a long term solution for Mali hinges on finding a politicalsettlement between the northern communities and the southern capital Bamako.

Interim President Dioncounda Traore said on Tuesday his government would aim to hold national elections on July 31.

After months of being kept on the political sidelines, the MNLA said they were in contact with West African mediators who are trying to forge a national settlement to reunite Mali.

"We reiterate that we are ready to talk with Bamako and to find a political solution. We want self-determination, but all that will be up to negotiations which will determine at what level both parties can go," Ag Assarid said.

However, there have been cases in Gao and Timbuktu and other recaptured towns of reprisal attacks and looting of shops and residences belonging to Malian Tuaregs and Arabs suspected of sympathizing with the MNLA and the Islamist rebels.

France has called for international observers to be deployed to ensure human rights abuses are not committed.

"Reconciling the Tuaregs with their Malian co-citizens will be extremely complicated," said Francois Heisbourg, a special adviser at the Foundation for Strategic Research, a Paris-based think-tank.

Related:

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All forms of human life can be spotted traveling on London’s underground ‘Tube’ network, but there was a rare appearance Wednesday by Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla.

The heir to the throne made a journey on the system’s Metropolitan line to mark the 150th birthday of the Tube.

Unlike most commuters on the creaking system, the Royal couple were able to find a seat for their one-stop journey, because the train was empty, according to BBC reporter Peter Hunt.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, as the pair are formally known, traveled one stop westbound from Farringdon to Kings Cross.

It is the first time Charles has used the Tube in 33 years, according to the Daily Telegraph. The last time was in April 1979 when he opened the first stage of the then-new Jubilee line.

The royals were presented with special commemorative Oyster swipe cards by staff to use to open turnstiles at each end of their journey.

The cards were each loaded electronically to the value of £10, Hunt reported. However, neither needed to pay as everyone over the age of 60 is entitled to free travel on public transportation in London.

At Kings Cross, the couple returned above ground to the main line station where they saw a plaque marking ‘Platform 9 and ¾’ – the fictitious departure point for the Hogwarts Express in the Harry Potter novels.

A record 1.171 billion passenger journeys were made during the 2011-12 financial year, across a city-run network that now covers 249 miles and connects 270 stations on 12 lines.

It is a remarkable milestone for the network, carved from the hot clay beneath London’s streets and which survived the bombs of World War Two.

Abraham Lincoln was president when the world’s first subterranean passenger service opened between Paddington and Farringdon on Jan. 9, 1863.

Kiyoshi Ota / EPA

A husband shouts a message of love to his wife in a Tokyo park as part of an annual tradition in which normally reserved men declare their feelings in the most vocal manner.

TOKYO — Love was in the air in a Tokyo park as normally staid Japanese husbands gathered to scream out their feelings for their wives, promising gratitude and extra tight hugs.

With modesty and reticence traditionally valued over outspokenness, expressing deeper feelings such as love has long been hard in Japan.

That's why dozens of Japanese men gather once a year ahead of Jan. 31, which in Japanese is a play on the words for "beloved wife," to let their feelings fly.

"I'm sorry that I've gained weight over the last seven years," a suit-clad man yelled. "But that's because the meals you cook are so delicious."

The event, now in its fifth year, was thought up by Kiyotaka Yamana with the support of a local flower shop to urge Japanese men to show their affection in more explicit ways.

Kiyoshi Ota / EPA

Husbands, shouting in unison, declare their love for their wives as part of an event that urges normally staid Japanese men to show their romantic side.

"The economy is getting better in Japan, and I see a lot of Japanese married couples getting more active in deepening their relationships," Yamana said.

Yamana founded the Japan Aisaika Organization, which promotes a culture of "Aisaika" or "adoring husbands." The group's website says it created Beloved Wives Day to urge Japanese husbands to "get home by 8 p.m. and say thanks to their wives for all they do."

At Tuesday's event, wives in the audience laughed and clapped, especially when one man got down on his knees to offer his wife a bouquet.

"He's very fabulous and manly today," said Yuko Todo, 33, after husband Takeshi's performance. "It just reminded me how macho he used to be — I'd forgotten that in the eight years we've been married. My heart pounded."

Reuters, file

The ruins of the Khobar Towers military complex in Saudi Arabia after the June 1996 attack.

NEW YORK — The families of 17 U.S. servicemen killed in a 1996 bombing in Saudi Arabia linked to Iran can collect damages from Iran-funded accounts at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel in Manhattan ordered the bank, which did not oppose the motion, to hand over more than $260,000 in various accounts linked to Tehran, still a far cry from the full amount to which the families are entitled.

The families won a default judgment in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. against the Iranian government in 2006 for more than $250 million, an amount that was later increased to $337 million. Iran refused to defend the lawsuit in court, claiming it had sovereign immunity.

Billions of dollars in default judgments have been issued against Iran over the years, but plaintiffs have had little luck in collecting the money.

The accounts at the Bank of Tokyo's New York branch had been frozen pursuant to U.S. presidential executive orders and directives issued by the Treasury Department as assets controlled by companies linked to Iran.

In court papers, the bank described itself as a "disinterested stakeholder" and did not fight the request.

The bank is a unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

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