US Seeks to Confirm Report of Terror Leader's Death

American military and intelligence officials said today they are attempting to confirm a report from the Chadian military of the death of al Qaeda leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the alleged mastermind of the deadly attack on an Algerian natural gas facility in January.

If the new report is confirmed, Belmokhtar's death would be a significant victory against a growing al Qaeda threat in northern Africa.

Belmokhtar's killing was announced on Chadian national television by armed forces spokesperson Gen. Zacharia Gobongue, who said Chadian troops "operating in northern Mali completely destroyed a terrorist base."

"The [death] toll included several dead terrorists, including their leader, Mokhtar Belmokhtar," he said.

However, an unidentified elected official in Mali told The Associated Press he doubted Belmokhtar had actually been killed and said he suspected the Chadian government of pushing the story to ease the loss of dozens of Chadian troops in operations in northern Africa.

SITE Intel Group/AP Photo

Belmokhtar is known as Mr. Marlboro because of the millions he made smuggling cigarettes across the Sahara, but in the last few months the one-eyed terrorist leader has become one of the most sought after terrorists in the world. The attack on the plant near In Amenas in eastern Algeria left dozens of Westerns and at least three Americans dead.

Belmokhtar had formed his own al Qaeda splinter group and announced he would use his wealth to finance more attacks against American and Western interests in the region and beyond.

The U.S. has badly wanted Belmokhtar stopped and actively helped in the search by French and African military units to find him, as well as another top al Qaeda leader who was reported killed yesterday.

After the Chadian announcement, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) said Belmokhtar's death, if confirmed, "would be a hard blow to the collection of jihadists operating across the region that are targeting American diplomats and energy workers."

Steve Wysocki, a plant worker who survived the attack in In Amenas thanked "military forces from around the world," especially the Chadian military, for bringing "this terrorist to an expedient justice."

"My family and I continue to mourn for our friends and colleagues who didn't make it home and pray for their families," Wysocki told ABC News.

The CIA has been after Belmokhtar since the early 1990s, Royce's statement said.

ABC News' Clayton Sandell contributed to this report.

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Second leak at North Sea oil platform forces evacuation

LONDON: An oil leak at a North Sea platform caused it to be partially evacuated on Saturday, its Middle East operator said, the second such incident at the installation in less than two months.

The Alpha Cormorant platform and the pipeline system it services were shut down as a precaution, operator Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) said in a statement.

The company said it had evacuated 71 of its 145 non-essential staff from the platform, situated 160 kilometres northeast of Lerwick on the Shetland Islands north of Britain, and that everyone was safe and well.

"TAQA Bratani can confirm that a hydrocarbon release detected in one of the Cormorant Alpha platform legs has now been contained, with no further hydrocarbon release," the company said.

"TAQA continues to monitor the situation on Cormorant Alpha and is working with its partners to have the Brent pipeline system operational as soon as possible."

The leak was discovered during maintenance work at 0940 GMT on Saturday morning, TAQA said.

The company said no oil was released into the environment during the leak.

A similar leak occurred at the platform on January 15, also causing the shutdown of the platform and the pipeline infrastructure.

Cormorant Alpha, which was built in 1978, handles about 90,000 barrels per day of crude oil, of which 42,600 are produced by TAQA.

- AFP/jc

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Butt-dial to 911 spoils alleged drug deal

Raleigh Reynolds, the accused butt-dialer.

None of us is immune from being our own worst enemy.

We find ways to sabotage ourselves that aren't even assuaged by years of visits to our psychologists.

The extremely openhearted may, therefore, find a certain at-oneness with an alleged drug dealer whose bottom may have caused him to be arrested.

As KGW-TV deals it, Raleigh Reynolds, 25, was allegedly about to participate in a narcotic business transaction.

Unfortunately (at least for him), police say a 911 dispatcher got to listen in on the proceedings, as Reynolods inadvertently called it in.

"It got a chuckle around the department because they don't make it that easy, usually," officer Aaron Christopherson told the police.

The 911 call was received just after midnight last Monday.

And the dialogue seemed somewhat incriminating. For example: "OK, cause I got 40 on me, so the only issue is seeing the product before I purchase."

I hadn't been aware that merely seeing a product was ever enough before purchasing. Though that does help to avoid buying, say, a wooden iPad.

More Technically Incorrect

The recorded butt-dial continued like this: "Yah, I definitely need a 40...and please let it be good. I'm so tired of getting ripped off."

The dispatcher concluded that it was unlikely that the conversation was about a 40-shot frappucino.

So, with the help of GPS technology, the call was traced to a back alley in Molalla, Ore., conveniently just one block from the police station.

The two suspects, a man and a woman, allegedly declared that no, they didn't have a cell phone.

However, the Molalla police have quite some IQ. They spoke loudly and, lo, the dispatcher could hear their voices.

Police allege that the drug involved was meth and Reynolds was charged with multiple felonies.

There is no record of what type of cell phone might have been the police informant.

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Fla. man presumed dead after sinkhole opens under his bed

SEFFNER, Fla. A man was missing and feared dead early Friday after a large sinkhole opened under the bedroom of a house near Tampa.

Jeff Bush is presumed dead after a sinkhole opened under his bed.

/

CBS

His brother says Jeff Bush screamed for help before he disappeared.

The 36-year-old man's brother, Jeremy Bush, told rescue crews he heard a loud crash around 11 p.m. Thursday, then heard his brother screaming for help.

"When he got there, there was no bedroom left," Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico said. "There was no furniture. All he saw was a piece of the mattress sticking up."

Jeremy Bush called 911 and frantically tried to help his brother Jeff. He said he jumped into the hole and dirt was quickly up to his neck.

"The floor was still giving in and the dirt was still going down, but I didn't care. I wanted to save my brother," Jeremy said. "But I just couldn't do nothing."

An arriving deputy pulled Jeremy Bush from the still-collapsing house.

28 Photos

Sinkholes

"I reached down and was able to actually able to get him by his hand and pull him out of the hole," Hillsborough County Sheriff's Deputy Douglas Duvall said. "The hole was collapsing. At that time, we left the house."

Engineers worked to determine the size of the sinkhole. At the surface, officials estimated it was about 30 feet across. Below the surface, officials believed it was 100 feet wide.

"The entire house is on the sinkhole," Damico said.

Hillsborough County Fire Chief Ron Rogers told a news briefing that extra-sensitive listening devices and cameras were inserted into the sinkhole. "They did not detect any signs of life," he said.

By early Friday, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue officials determined the home had become too unstable to continue rescue efforts.

Neighbors on both sides of the home have been evacuated.

Sinkholes are common in seaside Florida, whose underlying limestone and dolomite can be worn away by water and chemicals, then collapse.

Engineers condemned the house, reports CBS Tampa affiliate WTSP.

From the outside of the small, sky blue house, nothing appeared wrong. There wear no cracks and the only sign something was amiss was the yellow caution tape circling the house.

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokesman Larry McKinnon said authorities asked sinkhole and engineering experts, and they were using equipment to see if the ground can support the weight of heavy machinery needed for the recovery effort.

Jeremy Bush stood in a neighbor's yard across the street from the house Friday and recounted the harrowing collapse.

"He was screaming my name. I could swear I heard him hollering my name to help him," he said of his brother Jeff.

Jeremy Bush's wife and his 2-year-old daughter were also inside the house. "She keeps asking where her Uncle Jeff is," he said. "I lost everything. I work so hard to support my wife and kid and I lost everything."

Janell Wheeler told the Tampa Bay Times newspaper she was inside the house with four other adults and a child when the sinkhole opened.

"It sounded like a car hit my house," she said.

The rest of the family went to a hotel but she stayed behind, sleeping in her car.

"I just want my nephew," she said through tears.

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Sequester Begins But Govt. Shutdown Looks Unlikely

Mar 1, 2013 4:13pm

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Imag

It may not be readily obvious from the blizzard of news out there today on the “sequester,” but a government shutdown became significantly less likely today, even as the automatic budget cuts barreled ahead toward reality.

What happened? Both sides – Republicans and Democrats – basically seem to have agreed that as they will continue to fight out the $85 billion in automatic budget cuts starting to take effect today, they will not allow that disagreement to jeopardize full funding for the federal government. That funding is now scheduled to expire March 27.

RELATED: President Obama, Congressional Leaders Fail to Avert Sequester Cuts

After the White House meeting this morning, House Speaker John Boehner said he would have the House vote next week to fund the full government – what’s known as a “continuing resolution.”

Boehner: “I did lay out that the House is going to move a continuing resolution next week to fund the government past March 27th, and I’m hopeful that we won’t have to deal with the threat of a government shutdown while we’re dealing with the sequester at the same time. The House will act next week, and I hope the Senate will follow suit.”

READ MORE: 6 Questions (and Answers) About the Sequester

Boehner’s office provided this read-out of the meeting: “The president and leaders agreed legislation should be enacted this month to prevent a government shutdown while we continue to work on a solution to replace the president’s sequester.”

The president was asked at his mini-news conference whether he would definitely sign such a bill, even if it keeps government going at the new, lower spending levels as this fight is resolved (or not).

RELATED: 57 Terrible Consequences of the Sequester

Obama’s response: “With respect to the budget and keeping the government open – I’ll try for our viewing audience to make sure that we’re not talking in Washington gobbledygook. What’s called the continuing resolution, which is essentially just an extension of last year’s budget into this year’s budget to make sure that basic government functions continue, I think it’s the right thing to do to make sure that we don’t have a government shutdown. And that’s preventable.”

So even as we moved toward the brink of sequester, the nation’s leaders took a step back from another, much larger cliff.

SHOWS: World News

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Assad forces take Aleppo village, reopening supply line

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces seized a village southeast of the city of Aleppo on Friday, reopening a supply line to the country's biggest city where they have been battling rebels for eight months, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the capture of Tel Shghaib marked the last step to creating a land supply route north into Aleppo from Hama province, crucial for Assad's forces who have lost control of part of the main north-south highway.

Rebels say they hold most of the city itself and nearly all the rural hinterland. But they have been unable to achieve a decisive victory and complain that they are outgunned and vulnerable to Assad's air force, artillery and ballistic missiles, which killed dozens of people in Aleppo last week.

The United States pledged direct but non-lethal aid to the rebels at a meeting in Rome on Thursday, disappointing Assad's opponents who had hoped for more tangible military support to tip the balance of forces on the ground.

Activists reported another day of fierce fighting around Aleppo, including the military airport at Nairab, three miles north of Tel Shghaib which Assad's forces retook.

"It's a significant gain for the regime," the British-based Observatory's director Rami Abdelrahman said of the army's push north, which reversed many rebel advances when they moved south into Hama from Aleppo province at the end of last year.

Further east, on the Iraqi frontier, government troops also managed to wrest back control of the Yarubiyah border crossing after insurgents seized it 24 hours earlier, he said.

SYRIA COULD FALL APART

The revolt against Assad, which erupted in March 2011 with mainly peaceful protests, has escalated into civil war between mainly Sunni Muslim forces and troops and militias loyal to Assad, from the minority Alawite community whose faith derives from Shi'ite Islam.

The United Nations says 70,000 people have been killed, nearly a million have fled the country and millions more have been displaced or need aid.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday that Syria, a major Arab state on the fault lines of broader Middle East conflict, would fall apart if the government and rebels keep fighting instead of seeking a negotiated peace.

"This is a very small window of opportunity which we strongly support and encourage them to use that. The opportunity may close soon," Ban said in Geneva.

The government and opposition have both edged away in recent weeks from their previous rejection of dialogue. Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on Monday the government would even talk to armed rebels and opposition coalition leader Moaz Alkhatib has said he is ready to meet Assad's representatives.

But Syrian officials say any serious talks must be on Syrian soil under state control, and have shown no readiness to discuss Assad's departure - the central demand of the opposition. For rebel fighters, who do not answer to exiled civilian opposition leaders, Assad's exit is a precondition for any negotiations.

"I continue to urge the Syrian parties to find their way to the negotiating table. The horrors of the last months and years prove beyond doubt: the military solution in Syria is leading to the dissolution of Syria," Ban said.

He also called on the U.N. Security Council, paralyzed by a standoff between the United States and European allies on one side, pushing for U.N. action against Assad, and Russia and China, who have backed Assad, to unite and address the crisis.

Moscow criticized Thursday's meeting in Rome of largely anti-Assad Western and Arab states for taking positions and steps which "directly encourage extremists" to topple the government by force.

But the Kremlin also said presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama had told their foreign ministers to keep in close touch and seek new initiatives to end Syria's civil war.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday Washington would provide non-lethal aid including medical supplies and food to rebel fighters, as well as $60 million to help the civilian opposition provide services including security, education and sanitation.

The European Union said it had amended sanctions on Syria to allow the supply of armored vehicles, non-lethal military equipment and technical aid.

The steps still fell well short of what rebels are looking for - more arms, and prompted the opposition to postpone a Saturday meeting where they had been due to choose a prime minister to head the administration of rebel-held territory.

Alkhatib said he was tired of hearing Western concerns over the growing role of Islamists in the Syrian rebel ranks - one of the main obstacles to greater military support, saying it paled into insignificance alongside the prolonged civilian suffering.

"Many sides...focus (more) on the length of the rebel fighter's beard than they do on the blood of the children being killed," he said, standing next to Kerry after their meeting.

(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Alissa de Carbonnel in Moscow; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Zionism row casts cloud over Kerry's Turkey visit

ANKARA: US Secretary of State John Kerry held talks with Turkey's leaders on the Syria crisis Friday amid a row over comments by the Turkish premier branding Zionism a "crime against humanity."

"Obviously we disagree with that, we find it objectionable," Kerry said at a joint press conference in Ankara, referring to a speech delivered by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that likened Zionism to fascism and anti-Semitism.

Kerry said he would raise the issue "very directly" with Erdogan and express Washington's hopes to see the two "vital allies" work together.

He met later Friday with Erdogan and had a "respectful but frank discussion of the prime minister's speech in Vienna," a senior State Department official said.

"The Secretary made US concerns very clear. The US and Turkish side agreed to stay in very close touch about the whole range of related issues, including their shared commitment to Middle East peace," the official said..

The top US diplomat's visit to Turkey came a day after Washington announced that it would for the first time provide direct aid to Syrian rebels in the form of food and medical supplies as well as $60 million in extra assistance to the political opposition.

But the discussions were overshadowed by renewed tension between Turkey and Israel, two major US allies, following comments Erdogan made earlier this week at a UN-sponsored forum in Vienna.

"As is the case for Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it is inevitable that Islamophobia be considered a crime against humanity," Erdogan said on Wednesday.

Kerry said it was essential for Turkey and Israel to rekindle their "historic cooperation" but the situation got more complicated "in the aftermath of the speech that we heard in Vienna."

Turkish-Israeli relations have remained in free fall since Israeli troops raided a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship in 2010, killing nine people.

"We have never made any hostile remarks against any nation," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in response to a question over Erdogan's remarks.

"If you want to talk about hostile you can call Israel's attitude that, after it killed nine civilians on high seas," he added.

"If some countries acted in a hostile way against our citizens' right to life, allow us to reserve our right to make a statement."

The incident strained bilateral military and diplomatic ties and left Washington in a bind to mend relations between its two key allies in the region.

Erdogan's comments were branded as "a dark and mendacious statement," by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while Washington said "characterisation of Zionism as a crime against humanity... is offensive and wrong."

A US official travelling with Kerry on his first trip abroad since taking over as secretary of state from Hillary Clinton said Washington was "dismayed" to hear Erdogan's remarks.

"This was particularly offensive frankly," said the official who requested anonymity.

Dealing with Syria, terrorism

As part of their agenda, Kerry and Davutoglu also discussed the nearly two-year civil war in neighbouring Syria which has killed at least 70,000 people according to the UN.

"Together we work to strengthen the Syrian opposition so that we are in a position now to be able to do more," Kerry said, adding that the US and Turkey were trying to reduce the money "flowing to Assad regime's war machine."

"There is no legitimacy in a regime that commits atrocity against its own people," he said.

Turkey, once a close ally of Syria, has joined the United States in its campaign to oust the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and has given shelter to Syrian rebels and to nearly 200,000 refugees along its volatile border.

In January, the US began deploying Patriot missiles, along with Germany and the Netherlands, as part of a NATO mission to protect Turkey from any spillover of the Syrian conflict.

Turkey had requested the measure after several cross-border shelling incidents, including one in October that killed five civilians.

Kerry also attended a memorial ceremony in Ankara, in honour of the US embassy guard who was killed in a February 1 suicide attack claimed by the fiercely anti-US Marxist group the Revolutionary People's Liberation Front (DHKP-C).

"The United States stands strongly with Turkey, our NATO ally, in the fight against terrorism in all its forms," including DHKP-C, al-Qaeda and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Kerry said.

Also on the agenda during the talks was Washington's pressure for increasing sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear programme.

-AFP/ac

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Tips for increasing the longevity of your Mac

Regardless of whether you purchase it new, refurbished, or used, your Mac is likely a sizable investment that you might wish to keep running for as long as possible, not only because of the cost factor but also because of the time and effort it would take to migrate your data and workflow to a new system (even though Apple has made the latter quite easy if you have proper backups).

There are many ways your
Mac can get damaged, become outdated, or otherwise experience greater wear and tear from use that can shorten its lifespan. In most cases these will only have a little (if any) effect on the system but may help keep the system running longer and without problems or capacity limitations.

The physical

The first part of your Mac is the physical machine, which includes the logic boards and controllers, screen, keyboard, mouse, and other similar components. While peripherals like the keyboard and mouse can be replaced, it may be harder to do so for the components in the machine.

The machine itself
Of the considerations for ensuring a long-lasting Mac, the first begins before you even purchase it where you are offered options to configure your system. Apple offers a number of configure-to-order details including RAM capacity, processor speeds and types, and hard-drive size.

Apple periodically updates its maximum RAM offerings.

(Credit:
CNET)

While for the most part these should be relatively comparable, the faster you go and the more capacity you give the system the longer you will be able to use it before you need to upgrade. For RAM considerations I've usually recommended people get the minimal from Apple and then upgrade at a later date to save money; however, for some of Apple's systems such as the
MacBook Air and Retina
MacBook Pro this is not possible, so purchasing the ones with the most built-in RAM is recommended.

These same recommendations extend to hard drives and processors, especially for systems like the iMac that cannot be easily serviced (if at all in some cases). If you are offered the option to get a Core i5 versus a Core i7 processor for your system, then if you can afford it I would recommend the upgrade (which sometimes comes with the benefit of a faster graphics processor as well). Likewise, consider an SSD over Apple's Fusion Drive, and a Fusion Drive over a conventional hard drive for increased speed.

For hard drives, capacity is not so much an issue as you can always use an external storage device if needed, but the speed of your internal drive that holds your OS and applications is one of the biggest data bottlenecks in the whole system so buying the fastest one will keep your system running in top gear.

Power source care
Of the remaining details, perhaps one of the more common items to be damaged is the system's power supply, which being subject to relatively harsh and noisy wall power circuits can potentially break down over time. In addition, the external power supply for laptops may experience a greater degree of physical abuse that can eventually lead to a failure.

Apple's power adapters may be subject to wear with use, or be replaced with newer options.

(Credit:
Apple)

For power supplies, continued use is not too much of an issue, but surges and sudden power failures may disrupt the system and result in data corruption or broken components (hard drives or the power supply itself), so be sure to help protect your system by either turning it off when not in use, at least using a surge protected power strip, or better yet use a Uninterrupable Power Supply (UPS).

For laptop users, consider purchasing a second power supply for your system, especially since as new technologies become available the older ones may be phased out. For example, Apple recently released new Lightning connectors for iOS devices and a new MagSafe connection for its laptops. While the older MagSafe connections should be available for a while, over time they will be harder to find.

In addition to the power supply for laptops, be sure to take proper care of its batteries. For the health of the batteries, the best practice is to use them regularly (often enough to run through a full charge cycle about once per month) to help prevent dead spots that can reduce their overall capacity. Additionally, do not use them in extreme temperatures, and if you store system for a long period of time, be sure to charge the battery until it is half-full before doing so.

Battery calibration is not a necessary step for its health; however, it can be done regularly as a way to ensure the battery is regularly used.

Avoid abuse
While it might be needless to say, avoiding physical abuse of the systems is another easy way to increase the longevity of Apple's systems. The aluminum Apple uses in its systems is durable and quite protective, but is not indestructible. If you travel with your system then consider using a case or cover that will help protect it, and also consider using a properly padded bag even if you use a case.

In addition to transport security, consider a keyboard slip cover for laptops to help protect the keys from wear. The keys on a MacBook keyboard have a slightly matte finish to them out the factory door, but over time with you pressing them the keys will become shiny as you wear down the top surface. In some cases the wear can be great enough so the symbol disappears making it difficult to type. One option instead of a slip cover is to get a set of transparent stickers to place on the keys that are showing any wear.

Lastly, be kind to the ports on your Mac. When peripherals are attached, the ports can be subject to torquing that in extreme conditions or over time may result in it no longer working, not being able to hold the inserted connection firmly, becoming mangled, or even being subject to shorting out and frying a component of the motherboard. This is easily done by inserting the incorrect plug into a port, so avoid fishing around blindly to insert a connection by feel.

Be aware of your touch
I've often noticed people hammering on keys when typing, or mashing a key or two in frustration, and while the keyboard ought to be able to take such treatment, it can only lead to faster wear. If your system is not working properly then clicking or tapping harder or faster will not fix the situation, and will only increase the chance of damaging the system. In some cases multiple presses during a frustrating hangup can even confuse the system more and make the matter worse.

In addition to using a gentle touch on the keyboard, avoid touching your display, especially if you have one with a matte finish. Apple's glossy glass displays are decently protected from touching, but matte displays can easily be poked and damaged.

Ensuring you have clean hands when using your system is another way to help increase its longevity. Grime and oils on hands can help wear down the surface of keys or simply contribute to dirt that gets into the keyboard and can potentially block a key or two from working.

Clean your system
Dirt and grime on a system will not necessarily hurt it, but over time it can become unsightly and may build up enough to cause a problem or two, so be sure to gently wipe away any grime in keyboards or around the edges of your display, but more importantly be sure the ports and vents are clear of dust or obstructions. It is very easy for dirt to get into these ports, and if you press a connection into them then you only jam the dust in farther, so be sure to check your data ports and clean them out.

For the vents on the system, use canned air or a vacuum cleaner to remove any dust that you see in them, as any reduction in the efficiency of these vents may lead to a system that more easily overheats. For Mac Pro systems, you can easily remove the cover and use canned air to blow around the fans and heat sinks to clear any dust accumulation (do this outside, as billowing clouds of dust can be irritating to live with).

Avoid hard shutoffs
Finally, unless your system is experiencing a crash or severe hangup, then avoid holding the power key to shut it off or unplugging it as this sudden interruption can be damaging to the system's logic boards and components. If you are finding the system is regularly crashing then try addressing this problem instead of resorting to always shutting your system down by yanking the plug or pressing the power key. There are numerous resources for helping find the source of hangs and crashes in OS X, including Apple's retail stores and its online discussion forum.

The logical

Besides taking care of your system's physical condition, consider lengthening its usefulness by maintaining its capabilities, security, and stability. Doing this not only involves the operating system and software that you use, but also considers any components and upgrades that are available for your system.

Software Update is available in the Apple menu.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET)

Upgrade software
While it can be argued that the features and details in the latest release of OS X may not suit your needs, at least be sure to update your current OS installation to its latest version, as this will ensure the best security and fixes to problems that people have been experiencing. Updating a system can easily be done by going to the Apple menu and choosing Software Update, where the system will check for and then install new versions of operating system software or Apple's supplied programs like iTunes, iPhoto, or iWork.

In addition to Apple's software, be sure to update any third-party software you have installed and keep those at their latest versions, not only to help maintain security but also to ensure compatibility with OS X. Most programs offer built-in updating features similar to Apple's software-update, and can be configured to check for updates on launch or on a regular schedule, so consider setting these up along with doing so for Apple's Software Update to ensure you are running the latest versions of all of your software.

Upgrade hardware
As you use your system and install new releases of OS X and upgrades to your software, you may find that the new software demands more out of your system and can result in a slower system. Therefore, as mentioned above for new systems consider the faster upgrades at purchase, but for older and used systems you can still consider similar upgrades to breathe new life into it and get you up and running faster without needing to purchase a new computer.

The two most common options are to upgrade your system's RAM capacity to give your processor and applications adequate "desk space" in which to perform computations. While 8GB to 16GB of RAM should be adequate these days for most uses, in general the more RAM the better so get as much as you can afford. Just be sure to fully test your RAM once you have installed it to ensure it is working correctly, as bad RAM can be a major source of crashes and data corruption.

Other World Computing's Data Doubler offers a convenient way to put two drives in an older MacBook system.

(Credit:
Topher Kessler/CNET)

Also consider a faster storage medium such as an SSD in place of a conventional hard drive. For laptop systems you can replace older and unused optical drives with a secondary internal drive, giving yourself the options for increased capacity, dual-drive redundancy, an internal backup, options for implementing Apple's "Fusion" drive, and more.

To give a rough estimate, an 8GB RAM upgrade, a 240GB SSD, and an optical drive conversion kit for an old 2008 MacBook Pro will cost about $300 to $400 and will at times more than double the speed of your old system.

Finally, for Mac Pro systems you can upgrade the graphics card for increased graphics performance. While the offerings for this are relatively limited and a touch expensive, if needed the option to do so is out there.

Take care of slowdowns and other problems
Over time and depending on how it's used a Mac can develop odd problems or two that can lead to slowdowns, crashes, hangs, and other odd behaviors that can be a real burden to deal with. Sometimes the issues can be quite difficult to track down, but in general if you are experiencing odd problems there are some approaches you can quickly take to clear them up or at least help identify where the root of the problem may be.

To do this, first try running a general maintenance routine on your system to clear caches and other temporary items that if corrupted may lead to odd problems. Additionally, you can run through a general troubleshooting routine to help identify if the problem is systemwide, because of a third-party program or two, or rooted in your user account, which can greatly help if you need to communicate the problem to others for help.

Lastly, Apple's hardware test suite should be available to most Mac systems and can be used to test the system's RAM and internal sensors to see if a problem is occurring.

Time Machine offers options to back up to more than one drive.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET)

Back up regularly
A final consideration for increasing your Mac's longevity is to make continual backups. Your Mac's hardware is only half of the story, and your Mac experience lies mainly in your documents, settings, installed applications, and the entirety of your system's software environment. With proper backups, should an irrecoverable problem happen to your system then you can easily restore or migrate your data from the backup to a new system and be up and running as if nothing ever happened (minus the cash for a new system, of course).

Anything missed?
Do you have any tips or suggestions on keeping your Mac running the longest? If so then let us know in the comments.

---

Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or !
Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.

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Judge accepts Manning's guilty pleas in WikiLeaks case

Updated at 5:52 p.m. ET

FORT MEADE, Md. A U.S. Army judge has accepted an offer by a private to plead guilty to violating military regulations in the biggest leak of classified material in U.S. history.

Pfc. Bradley Manning admits to sending hundreds of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports, State Department diplomatic cables and other files to WikiLeaks while working as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad.

An Army judge accepted the pleas to 10 charges at a hearing Thursday. Manning could face a maximum of 20 years on those charges alone.

Prosecutors say they plan to move forward with an additional 12 charges against him, including aiding the enemy. That charge could carry a life sentence.

Earlier, Manning offered to plead guilty Thursday, saying he spilled the secrets to expose the American military's "bloodlust" in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was the first time Manning directly admitted leaking the material to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks and detailed the frustrations that led him to do it.

Sitting before a military judge, the slightly built 25-year-old soldier from Oklahoma read from a 35-page statement through his wire-rimmed glasses for more than an hour. He spoke quickly and evenly, showing little emotion even when he described how troubled he was by what he had seen.

"I believed that if the general public, especially the American public, had access to the information ... this could spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general," Manning said.

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WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning

Retired Lt. Col. Jeffrey Addicott, a former Army lawyer, told CBS Radio News that the defense's move was "pretty gutsy."

"Basically they're saying that they're willing to plead guilty to some of the offenses, recognizing that he understands the gravity of what he did, which will of course have an effect on himself on the mercy of the panel of the jury in terms of the sentencing process," said Addicott. "But he's not pleading guilty to everything, so he's kind of splitting the baby."

Manning said he didn't think the information would harm the U.S. and he decided to release it because he was disturbed by the conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the seeming disregard by American troops for the lives of ordinary people.

"I felt we were risking so much for people who seemed unwilling to cooperate with us, leading to frustration and hatred on both sides," he said. "I began to become depressed at the situation we found ourselves mired in year after year. In attempting counterinsurgency operations, we became obsessed with capturing and killing human targets on lists."

He added: "I wanted the public to know that not everyone living in Iraq were targets to be neutralized."

Manning admitted sending hundreds of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports, State Department diplomatic cables, other classified records and two battlefield video clips to WikiLeaks in 2009 and 2010 while working as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad.

The battlefield reports were the first documents Manning decided to leak. He said he sent them to WikiLeaks after contacting The Washington Post and The New York Times. He said he felt a reporter at the Post didn't take him seriously, and a message he left for news tips at the Times was not returned.

In a statement, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sex-related charges, called the Times "cowards."

"The only safe way to get these cowards to publish anything is to get WikiLeaks to publish it first," Assange said.

Manning said he was appalled by a 2007 combat video of an aerial assault by a U.S. helicopter that killed 11 men, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver. The Pentagon concluded the troops mistook the camera equipment for weapons.

"The most alarming aspect of the video to me was the seemingly delightful bloodlust the aerial weapons team happened to have," Manning said, adding that the soldiers' actions "seemed similar to a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass."

As for the sensitive State Department cables, he said they "documented backdoor deals and criminality that didn't reflect the so-called leader of the free world."

"I thought these cables were a prime example of the need for a more open diplomacy," Manning said. "I believed that these cables would not damage the United States. However, I believed these cables would be embarrassing."

Manning said when he was on leave, he visited his boyfriend in the Boston area and said he asked him hypothetical questions about how to go about sharing the information he had. He said his boyfriend didn't really understand what he was talking about and that their relationship grew distant.

The Obama administration has said releasing the information threatened valuable military and diplomatic sources and strained America's relations with other governments. The administration has aggressively pursued individuals accused of leaking classified material, and Manning's is the highest-profile case.

Manning has been embraced by some left-leaning activists as a whistle-blowing hero whose actions exposed war crimes and helped trigger the Middle Eastern pro-democracy uprisings known as the Arab Spring in 2010.

In his statement, Assange called Manning "America's foremost political prisoner."

"Today's events confirm that," said Assange. "Both the U.N. and the U.S. military have formally found him to have been mistreated. All those involved in the persecution of Bradley Manning will find cause to reflect on their actions."

WikiLeaks did not immediately return a text message for comment on Manning's statement. The group has been careful never to confirm or deny whether he was the source of the documents it has posted online.

On its Twitter feed Thursday, WikiLeaks called Manning an "alleged source" and noted that he was detailing "what he says" were his dealings with the online organization.

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Obama Admin to Court: End Calif. Gay Marriage Ban

In a historic argument for gay rights, President Barack Obama on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to overturn California's same-sex marriage ban and turn a skeptical eye on similar prohibitions across the country.

The Obama administration's friend-of-the-court brief marked the first time a U.S. president has urged the high court to expand the right of gays and lesbians to wed. The filing unequivocally calls on the justices to strike down California's Proposition 8 ballot measure, although it stops short of the soaring rhetoric on marriage equality Obama expressed in his inaugural address in January.

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California is one of eight states that give gay couples all the benefits of marriage through civil unions or domestic partnership but don't allow them to wed. The denial of marriage to same-sex couples, "particularly where California at the same time grants same-sex partners all the substantive rights of marriage, violates equal protection," the administration said.

The administration's position, if adopted by the court, would likely result in gay marriage becoming legal in the seven other states: Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island.

In the longer term, the administration urges the justices to subject laws that discriminate on sexual orientation to more rigorous review than usual, a standard that would imperil other state bans on same-sex marriage.

The brief marks the president's most expansive view of gay marriage and signals that he is moving away from his previous assertion that states should determine their own marriage laws. Obama, a former constitutional law professor, signed off on the administration's legal argument last week following lengthy discussions with Attorney General Eric Holder and Solicitor General Donald Verrilli.

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