U.S. Wraps Up Persian Gulf Maneuver ,The United States wrapped up a massive military exercise in the Persian Gulf Wednesday, putting on a show of strength for Iran even as the United Arab Emirates became the second Gulf nation to declare it would not take part in any attack on the Islamic Republic.

The U.S. has denied any intention to attack. But the public refusals of two allies to help could affect U.S. military options or require shifting of resources if tensions did seriously escalate.

Qatar - home to 6,500 U.S. troops and the enormous al-Udeid Air Base, headquarters of all American air operations in the Middle East - said earlier this month it would not permit an attack on Iran from its soil.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, a loose alliance of Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the Emirates, has called on all its members not to support any U.S. action against Iran.

The United States has close to 40,000 troops in the Gulf, including 25,000 in Kuwait, 3,000 in Bahrain, 1,300 in the United Arab Emirates and a few hundred in Oman and Saudi Arabia, according to figures from the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center.

Gulf Arab nations are increasingly uneasy with the United States' tough stance against Iran, fearing any outbreak of hostilities could bring Iranian retaliation. All lie within distance of Iranian missiles.

Also, Iran has booming trade and tourism links and full diplomatic ties with the Emirates and most Gulf countries.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Navy wrapped up its largest show of force in the Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, with 15 ships, 125 aircraft and 13,000 sailors in an exercise a few dozen miles off Iran's coast.

The maneuvers were meant to show "the commitment of the U.S. to stability and security in the region," said Rear Adm. Kevin Quinn, commander of Strike Group Three - which includes the USS John C. Stennis.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown said the U.S. Gulf maneuvers were defensive in nature, aimed at keeping open the sea lanes that carry two-fifths of the world's oil shipments.

"We're not looking for any kind of confrontation with Iran," Brown said. "The purpose of the exercise is to ensure that no one miscalculates about our commitment to security and stability in the Gulf."

But some U.S. allies were clearly aiming to make it clear they don't want to be caught in the middle if the situation escalates.

"We have assured the brothers in Iran ... that we are not a party in its dispute with the United States," said United Arab Emirates Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyana in a statement carried on the Emirates news agency WAM. "We will not allow any force to use our territories for military, security and espionage activities against Iran."

The Emirates "refuses to use its territorial lands, air or waters for aggression against any other country," Khalifa said.

That could prevent the U.S. Air Force from flying intelligence missions over Iran with its squadron of U-2 and Global Hawk spy planes based at al-Dhafra Air Base near the Emirates capital, Abu Dhabi.

The U.S. Air Force said Wednesday it had not altered air operations in response to Sheik Khalifa's statement.

Air Force Lt. Col. Mike Pierson, based in Qatar, declined to say whether U-2s were flying missions over Iran, but said the Air Force only operated in international airspace or over countries that had granted permission.

In the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Turkey denied access to Turkish territory, forcing U.S. military planners to adjust their plans and to forgo opening a northern front. The refusal ushered in a tense period in Turkish-American relations.

___

Krane reported from Dubai and Calderwood from aboard the USS Stennis.

Love pizza? Cook it well before dinner time,New York - Cooking whole wheat pizza crust at slightly higher temperatures, for just a bit longer, can substantially pump up its antioxidant content, according to new study results presented at the 233rd annual meeting of the American Chemical Society.

"This is something people can really do at home," Dr Liangli Lucy Yu of the University of Maryland in College Park told reporters. "You don't have to have extra cost, you don't have to have extra effort."

Because pizza crust is one of the most widely eaten whole wheat foods in the US, Yu and Jeffrey Moore, a doctoral student in food chemistry, investigated whether changes in dough fermentation and cooking times, as well as cooking temperatures, might also change its antioxidant content.

The researchers tested dough made from two different wheat varieties. Increasing cooking temperature from 400 to 550 degrees Fahrenheit increased antioxidant content by as much as 82 percent, while extending cooking times from seven to 14 minutes boosted antioxidant levels by up to 60 percent. When Lu and Moore allowed the dough to ferment longer, up to 48 hours, antioxidant content as much as doubled.

Higher temperatures and longer cooking and fermentation times increase wheat's antioxidant content because more nutrients are released from the wheat's bran coating, Yu noted in an interview. It's unlikely the same effect would be seen with non-whole wheat crusts, she added, given that refined flour doesn't contain wheat bran.

Students and faculty who tasted the pizza crust found it "highly acceptable", Yu said.

The study represents one of many "little things you can do at home to make your food better", she noted, such as storing vegetables properly.

For those trying this at home, she added, it's key to keep a careful eye on the oven so the crust won't burn.

Asking questions gets you noticed,A minder shadows me as I chat to the director of the Nubian Museum. The most innocuous of inquiries, the most aboveboard of assignments pique the interest of security agencies across the Middle East. In Egypt, television journalists know this all too well. I experienced it once again, first hand, while filming this month's edition of Inside the Middle East.

Since first traveling to Upper Egypt in 1991, I'd always been curious about the ancient Nubian community. Distinct in their traditional dialect and ethnicity, the Nubians, who once ruled over the rich and lush land on the banks of the Nile, have become exiles of sorts in their own country.

A series of floods from the construction of dams on the mighty Nile displaced up to a million Nubians over the last generation. The government relocated many of them in the early '60s, sometimes deep into the desert, far from their ancestral homeland. Their Nile culture has drowned under the water of the river that made their glory for a period thousands of years ago.

We spoke to an old man who remembered what life was like in Nubian villages before the floods. In the open-air patio of a government-provided home, he energetically showed me deeds of his family property and spoke of the difficulty of adjusting to a more urban lifestyle.

"The children," he said remembering his days as a school principal, "don't draw colorful pictures anymore. Not the way they used to."

His wife, sitting on a wooden bench behind him, nodded "no" when I asked if all Nubians had been compensated fairly for the homes they were forced to abandon.


I interview a Nubian tribal leader


Then, the old man started changing his story. Life for Nubians was actually wonderful, he said with verve; they had all been given a fair swap for their property. The schools, he added, were top-notch.

It wasn't making sense; and then, I knew.

I turned around and saw a government minder taking notes. Leaning against a wall, behind the camera, the young man Egyptian authorities had "assigned" to our television crew was busy writing away.

I asked a few more questions and ended the interview. It was pointless to go on. The old man did not want to appear overly critical of the authorities. In Egypt, as in many countries in the Middle East, that can get you in trouble.

Later, I took the minder aside:

"Why are you taking notes?" I asked.

"Does it bother you?" he replied, smiling.

I wasn't smiling.

"Yes, actually, it does."

His expression turned serious. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an official ID card.

"Look," he says pointing to his picture, thinking I was questioning his credentials, rather than complaining that his presence was a nuisance.

The following day, a man who'd helped us on the ground in Aswan was called in to a local police station for questioning. We immediately called the police chief and dictated our shooting permit numbers over the phone, finally convincing the authorities that our contact had nothing to hide.

Add to that the checkpoints and the questions from soldiers calling their superiors. During this trip, I would hear fragments of conversations from the window of our van.

"Americans ... Tourism ... Yes sir."

This isn’t unusual in Egypt or anywhere else in the Middle East. Sometimes, information ministries don’t impose minders, but when they do, the "escorts" are simply following orders. In the end, I even warmed to the young man assigned to us in Upper Egypt. Young, shy, with a pencil mustache and a soft smile, he was easy to like. Others have been more intrusive and more aggressive.

In the end, we get around them. When conducting interviews, we make sure they're out of earshot. When alone, we spend that time speaking to ordinary people on the street. For more sensitive stories, we shoot interviews in hotels. In other words, we can report accurately and fairly, but the presence of minders is a constant reminder that we are being watched and that our presence is deemed a threat.

In Egypt a few weeks ago, 22-year-old blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil was imprisoned for four years for criticizing President Hosni Moubarak and "insulting Islam." All the while, opposition politicians complain proposed constitutional changes will further choke the democratic process in Egypt.

Dissenting voices are not easily tolerated within one of America's strongest allies in the Arab world.

In the Middle East, asking questions gets you noticed.

-- From Hala Gorani, CNN International Anchor

Panel accuses Egyptian government of fraud in referendum,: A state-appointed human rights body accused the Egyptian government of fraud Tuesday, saying that workers in the public sector had been forced to vote in a referendum on constitutional change. But the government said the people had overwhelmingly endorsed the amendments.

Justice Minister Mamdouh Marei said at a news conference that the yes vote in the referendum Monday on 34 constitutional amendments was 75.9 percent, but only 27 percent of the 36 million voters had cast ballots.

Opposition groups had urged voters to boycott the referendum, saying the amendments were a setback to democracy because they increased the president's security powers and the chances of electoral fraud.

President Hosni Mubarak greeted the results announced Tuesday as a victory for the people and promised further unspecified political reform. He did not mention the low turnout.

But the National Council for Human Rights, a state-appointed body headed by a former UN secretary general, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, reported numerous flaws.


"Voter lists were inaccurate, some civil society monitors were prevented from observing some polling stations, local authorities in some provinces organized mass voting, and some electoral officials intervened in the voting process and sometimes filled in ballots," the council said in a statement. "Mass voting" is Egyptian parlance for busing state workers to the polling station.

"The most important and dangerous aspect of the referendum was the low turnout despite a big media campaign in the three preceding days," the council said. The official turnout was 2 percent higher than in the contested 2005 legislative elections.

Rights groups had predicted a low turnout and many polling stations were nearly deserted for most of the day.

One of the leaders of Kifaya, an opposition group that took a leading role in the boycott campaign, scoffed at the declared results.

"In Egypt nobody believes the official figures, only if he is insane," said Abdel-Halim Qandil. "And, supposing that I am insane and I believed these figures, they would mean that the government's popularity has halved," he said, referring to the fact that the government declared a turnout of 54 percent in the 2005 referendum and turnout of 27 percent Monday.

Mubarak had rushed the 34 amendments into law, holding the referendum only seven days after the Parliament approved them, leaving many voters uninformed. The amendments abolish emergency laws, allow election supervision by an independent commission and ban political parties based on religion. Mubarak said Sunday the changes would "give a new push to political party activity" and "stop the exploitation of religion and illegal political behavior."

Marei said 9,701,833 people had voted, or 27.1 percent of the country's 35,865,660 eligible voters. The yes vote was 75.9 percent and the no vote 24.1 percent.

How to Protect Your Plastic,Free Credit Report,and Score Instantly!,Experian Credit Report
Recent Thefts of Credit- and Debit-Card Information Highlight Need for Consumer Caution; Beware of Unbranded ATMs,Debit-card use is soaring, but a series of recent scams highlights the growing risk of fraud to consumers who use the method of payment.

Thieves are always inventing new ways to steal consumers' account information, whether they use debit or credit cards. But debit cards typically put consumers at greater financial risk because they offer less legal protection than credit cards in the event of loss. And because debit cards access funds directly from your bank account, the money is missing while you sort out any theft, which could mean bounced checks, late fees and other problems.

Consumers who like the convenience of debit cards can take steps to protect themselves. These include keeping an eye on your card, if possible, when paying at places like restaurants and gas stations. Suspicious-looking ATMs, usually unbranded machines in convenience stores and the like, can also be targets for scams. You should safeguard your PIN, including shielding your hands when entering the numbers, because of other types of fraud that involve stealing your PIN number using hidden cameras and then taking your card.

Many consumer groups simply recommend paying with credit cards, because these typically offer the greatest legal protections in the event of an unauthorized charge and generally limit consumer losses to $50 under federal law. By contrast, banks' policies on debit-card protections can vary, often depending on how soon you report any loss to the institution and whether or not you used your signature. Some banks and card issuers have beefed up their consumer-protection guarantees, though these can have exceptions.

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"When push comes to shove, you have better protections with a credit card than you will ever have with a debit card, regardless of what the banks say with their ads," says Jay Foley, co-executive director of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit group in San Diego. "Which would you rather do, argue with a credit card that a charge is erroneous, or argue with the bank to put money back in your account?"

Debit-card use has jumped about 20 percent a year since 1996, according to the Federal Reserve, and transactions using debit cards now outnumber those using credit cards. Banks have been pushing debit-card use, which topped $1 trillion last year, mainly to take market share away from payments for lower-priced items previously made with cash or checks. But debit-card fraud also is growing, to $662 million in 2005, up 21% from a year earlier, according to a recent report by PULSE EFT Associates, owned by Morgan Stanley.

A recent high-profile theft at several Stop & Shop markets in Rhode Island has drawn attention to the practice of "skimming," in which account data from cards' magnetic stripes are surreptitiously copied and later used to create counterfeit cards. For years, skimming has been a problem when paying at establishments such as restaurants, hotels and gas stations, where attendants swipe cards out of sight from customers.

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But in the Rhode Island incident, thieves stole customers' data in plain view by replacing checkout lane card-readers with bogus devices of their own. Four men have been arrested in the case. At Citizens Bank, one of the banks defrauded, according to the affidavit, at least $68,000 was stolen from customers' accounts. The bank says the funds were restored in compliance with federal law.

Still, debit cards offer a convenience that some consumers don't want to give up. Stacy Pena says she continues to use her debit card even though she lost $660 in unauthorized withdrawals from her Bank of America account in July. The California resident learned of the loss after two more unauthorized withdrawals in December. At that point, the bank closed her account and reimbursed her for the funds lost in December. But the bank so far has refused to refund the July loss, citing her delay in notification, she says.

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Ms. Pena says using her debit card keeps her from running up debt. "It is my main form of payment, but I'm going to be more vigilant about checking my statements now," she says. Bank of America declined to discuss Ms. Pena's situation.

Mounting concerns over card fraud have prompted some restaurant chains to try out new cashier systems. Hooters of America Inc. and Legal Sea Foods are introducing card-reading systems similar to those used in Europe that can be brought to a customer's table by the waitstaff, both to prevent skimming and for convenience. And Ruby Tuesday Inc. is launching a new point-of-sale checkout system that won't store any credit- or debit-card information, a precaution meant to prevent thieves from obtaining data by hacking or other means. The chain is one of the first to use a system that doesn't store account information to comply with new voluntary data-security standards adopted by a credit-card industry group.

Credit cards are regulated by federal fair-credit laws, which generally limit consumer responsibility for losses to $50 for unauthorized use. Many card issuers waive even that. Moreover, fraudulent charges are the bank's and the retailer's headache, not yours.

But debit cards are regulated by the law that governs electronic fund transfers. While losses are limited to $50 for unauthorized use reported within two business days, any losses reported after two days are limited to $500. If you report a loss more than 60 days after the bank transmits a statement that includes an unauthorized funds transfer, the bank doesn't have to reimburse you. As a result, cardholders can be liable for losses up to the entire balance in the account and their maximum overdraft line of credit.

A growing number of banks are touting "zero liability" protections to promote debit-card use, but there can be exceptions. Card issuers Visa USA and MasterCard Inc. offer their "zero liability" guarantees only to consumers who use their cards with a signature instead of a PIN. That can be difficult at times because retailers often steer consumers to enter their PINs on keypads. The reason: Banks get higher fees from merchants when consumers use debit cards with signatures, rather than PINs. Some banks may choose to offer zero-liability protection to PIN users, too. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s Chase bank, for instance, offers this protection to PIN-debit users if a fraud is reported within 60 days of receiving a bank statement.