Arias' Lawyer Shows Ex-Boyfriend's Lewd Photos

Accused murderer Jodi Arias was kept away from the Mormon friends of her lover Travis Alexander and their torrid sex affair was kept secret by Alexander, even as he sent lewd photos of himself to her online, according to court testimony today.

The testimony in Arias' trial for killing Alexander in 2008 was intended to bolster the defense's argument that she killed him in self defense, that Alexander was a sexual deviant who treated Arias as his "dirty little secret."

Arias' attorneys introduced as evidence photos that Alexander took of his penis and sent to Arias, part of a string of graphic messages and sexual phone calls the two engaged in while Alexander, an elder in the Mormon church, was supposed to be chaste.

Today's witness was the latest in a string called by the defense, including Alexander's former girlfriend Lisa Daidone, who told the court that Alexander had professed to be a virgin.

Daniel Freeman continued his testimony today, describing how he was a friend of both Arias and Alexander but that Alexander kept Arias distanced from his Mormon pals.

"Travis had made more friends at (the Mormon) ward, and had (Ultimate Fighting Championship) fight nights at his house many times, and Jodi was in town, but she wasn't there," Freeman said.

"There was that group of friends, them and Jodi, two different groups, and so Lisa [Daidone] and friends from church were there, but Jodi wasn't there," Freeman said.

Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Former Boyfriend Takes Stand Watch Video

Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Defense's First Day of Witnesses Watch Video

Alexander's behavior, the defense hopes to prove, shows that he mistreated Arias.

Arias, 32, is on trial for murdering Alexander, whom she dated for a year and continued to have a sexual relationship for a year after that. Her attorneys claim that Alexander was abusive and controlling toward Arias, and that she was forced to kill him.

Freeman described how he took a trip with his sister, Alexander, and Arias, and how Alexander had asked him to come along so that he and Arias "would not get physical."

"I don't know that I can say he didn't want to be alone with her, but he liked that when I was there, and my sister was there. They weren't as physical," Freeman said.

Freeman admitted that he had no idea Alexander and Arias had been having a sexual relationship the entire time they were together. He said Alexander never mentioned that to his friends.

In fact, Freeman noted that Alexander was considered to be a church elder when he baptized Arias into the Church of Latter-Day Saints. Both a church elder and a convert were expected to abide by the church's strict law of chastity, which banned any sexual relations outside of marriage.

"One thing people give up in this baptism process was sex," prosecutor Juan Martinez said. "Did you know she was having oral sex with Mr. Alexander at the time of her baptism? Would that be an insincere baptism?"

"She would not be ready to be baptized in that case," Freeman said.

"You were asked about Miss Arias, whether she was worthy of baptism if she was performing oral sex, but what about the elder receiving oral sex?" defense attorney Kirk Nurmi said.

"They would not be worthy of performing that ordinance at that time until they had gone through repentance," Freeman said. "They would go to a discipline council and could face excommunication or a probation period or have their priesthood removed."

Freeman said that Alexander never confessed to having a sexual relationship with Arias.

Freeman's testimony came on the third day of the defense's attempt to paint Alexander as a controlling, sex-obsessed liar who was cruel to Arias. Other witnesses have said that Alexander cheated on other women he dated with Arias, and lied to his friends and family about their relationship.

The defense also had Freeman point out that Alexander was strong and fit. They are expected to conclude that Alexander was physically threatening Arias when she killed him.

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Malaysian conglomerate confident of turning loss-making Lotus around

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian conglomerate DRB HICOM is confident it can turn around loss-making sports car manufacturer Lotus in two to three years.

The company recently dispelled rumours it's selling off the British motoring legend by setting up its first regional showroom in Asia.

Spanning over 10,000 square metres, the Lotus flagship showroom located along Kuala Lumpur's Penchala Link is a haven for its fans.

On display are Lotus' latest sports car models, including its Formula One race car.

It also features the widest selection of Lotus accessories and merchandise, as well as a service centre, a club house, and a gallery documenting the iconic British brand's 60-year history.

The message is clear from its parent company DRB HICOM that Lotus is not for sale.

In fact, it has invested US$2.5 million to set up a regional flagship showroom and service centre, and set ambitious sales targets, as it officially launched two new models.

They are the Exige S and the Elise S, with a price range of between US$110,000 and US$150,000.

There's also the Evora, which offers a manual and an auto version.

Lotus, which is owned by Malaysia's national car manufacturer Proton, aims to sell up to 3,500 of these cars this year, especially in North America, China, Japan and Middle East markets.

It has so far received 600 orders.

The Chairman of Lotus Group International is a car enthusiast, and he is determined to nurse the heavily-indebted legendary sports car manufacturer back to health.

Mr Mohd Khamil Jamil, Chairman of Lotus Group International, said: "No doubt that the damage or whatever the situation at Lotus was quite severe, but nothing is short of repair. We reckon that with the expertise we have at Lotus and the expertise that we have in Proton, we can work together and synergize and make Lotus into a profitable company which is commercially driven.

"Unfortunately, during the 15 or 16 years or so that Proton had gotten Lotus within their wings, they have not explored as much as possible to make use of whatever benefits they could derive from Lotus."

On how much time needed to turn around the company and to stop Lotus from bleeding, Mr Mohd Khamil said certain culture and practices entrenched in Lotus needs to be changed.

"Right now, I think we have reduced quite substantially in terms of overheads alone. We have reduced by more than one million pounds a month. And I believe with the astute management by the team now, we can reduce it even further. At the end of the day, I reckon that we may take about two to three years for us to ensure that Lotus can be sustainable," he said.

With a new management at the helm, Lotus aims to slash its costs by 25 per cent, and rev up its marketing campaigns to improve its visibility and sales worldwide.

- CNA/de

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Vishwaroopam may be released soon, compromise on the cards

CHENNAI: Kamal Haasan's 'Vishwaroopam' may soon be released in Tamil Nadu, as the actor and the government appear to be inching towards a compromise.

Two press conferences - one by Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and the other by a group of film artists - in quick succession on Thursday afternoon gave enough indication that Vishwaroopam may come out of the tangle.

The first bench of the Madras high court had on Wednesday stalled the release of the movie hardly 15 hours after a single judge bench had allowed it. Following protests by some Muslim groups, the state government has been arguing that the movie could trigger law and order problems across the state.

On Thursday, some film artists and the chief minister spoke separately to the media. Jayalalithaa said there was no political motive behind the government decision to prevent the movie's release.

"The actor could thrash out the differences with the protesting Muslim groups and the government would clear the decks for the film's release. We don't want to harm Kamal or infringe on his freedom of expression," she added.

Soon after the chief minister's press conference, a few Tamil film directors and actors met the press at Kamal's office to indicate that Kamal was open to the idea of a compromise.

"We are ready to talk," said Charuhasan, Kamal's brother and partner in his production house which claims to have pumped in Rs95 crore into 'Vishwaroopam.' actor Radikaa Sarathkumar, wife of South Indian Film Artistes' Association president Sarathkumar, suggested that Kamal initiated the talks as the chief minister had suggested. On Facebook, actor Aravind Swamy posted: " Appreciate the Hon CM's candid talk and the direction given to solve the Viswaroopam crisis. We can see the light now."

Sources said veteran actor Sivakumar, who is seen to be close to Jayalalilthaa, has been playing the prime mediator since Wednesday, when an emotional Kamal threatened to leave Tamil Nadu and the country for a place where he could work in peace. Moments before the first bench stalled the movie release, Kamal had presented a few Muslim leaders with whom he said he had struck a compromise and agreed to remove some scenes from the film. "But he wasn't cowed down by the threat from other quarters," said an insider. "He remained firm that he would go ahead with the release in other states and forego Tamil Nadu since the whole issue has been politicized."

The source said Sivakumar and Radikaa stepped in to reason with Kamal that even if the court gave an order in his favour, the going may get tough as theatre owners could be threatened to stop screening. "A lot of people including directors Mani Ratnam and Bharathiraja have been talking to Kamal, and he seems to have understood the need to initiate talks with the protestors," said a film industry source.

The ice being broken, the talks could well be a formality and the movie could release sooner than the scheduled hearing of the case next Wednesday.

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New Theory on How Homing Pigeons Find Home

Jane J. Lee

Homing pigeons (Columba livia) have been prized for their navigational abilities for thousands of years. They've served as messengers during war, as a means of long-distance communication, and as prized athletes in international races.

But there are places around the world that seem to confuse these birds—areas where they repeatedly vanish in the wrong direction or scatter on random headings rather than fly straight home, said Jon Hagstrum, a geophysicist who authored a study that may help researchers understand how homing pigeons navigate.

Hagstrum's paper, published online Wednesday in the Journal of Experimental Biology, proposes an intriguing theory for homing pigeon disorientation—that the birds are following ultralow frequency sounds back towards their lofts and that disruptions in their ability to "hear" home is what screws them up.

Called infrasound, these sound waves propagate at frequencies well below the range audible to people, but pigeons can pick them up, said Hagstrum, who works at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California.

"They're using sound to image the terrain [surrounding] their loft," he said. "It's like us visually recognizing our house using our eyes."

Homeward Bound?

For years, scientists have struggled to explain carrier pigeons' directional challenges in certain areas, known as release-site biases.

This "map" issue, or a pigeon's ability to tell where it is in relation to where it wants to go, is different from the bird's compass system, which tells it which direction it's headed in. (Learn about how other animals navigate.)

"We know a lot about pigeon compass systems, but what has been controversial, even to this day, has been their map [system]," said Cordula Mora, an animal behavior researcher at Bowling Green State University in Ohio who was not involved in the study.

Until now, the two main theories say that pigeons rely either on their sense of smell to find their way home or that they follow the Earth's magnetic field lines, she said.

If something screwed up their sense of smell or their ability to follow those fields, the thinking has been, that could explain why pigeons got lost in certain areas.

But neither explanation made sense to Hagstrum, a geologist who grew interested in pigeons after attending an undergraduate lecture by Cornell biologist William Keeton. Keeton, who studied homing pigeons' navigation abilities, described some release-site biases in his pigeons and Hagstrum was hooked.

"I was just stunned and amazed and fascinated," said Hagstrum. "I understand we don't get dark matter or quantum mechanics, but bird [navigation]?"

So Hagstrum decided to look at Keeton's pigeon release data from three sites in upstate New York. At Castor Hill and Jersey Hill, the birds would repeatedly fly in the wrong direction or head off randomly when trying to return to their loft at Cornell University, even though they had no problems at other locations. At a third site near the town of Weedsport, young pigeons would head off in a different direction from older birds.

There were also certain days when the Cornell pigeons could find their way back home from these areas without any problems.

At the same time, homing pigeons from other lofts released at Castor Hill, Jersey Hill, and near Weedsport, would fly home just fine.

Sound Shadows

Hagstrum knew that homing pigeons could hear sounds as low as 0.05 hertz, low enough to pick up infrasounds that were down around 0.1 or 0.2 hertz. So he decided to map out what these low-frequency sound waves would have looked like on an average day, and on the days when the pigeons could home correctly from Jersey Hill.

He found that due to atmospheric conditions and local terrain, Jersey Hill normally sits in a sound shadow in relation to the Cornell loft. Little to none of the infrasounds from the area around the loft reached Jersey Hill except on one day when changing wind patterns and temperature inversions permitted.

That happened to match a day when the Cornell pigeons had no problem returning home.

"I could see how the topography was affecting the sound and how the weather was affecting the sound [transmission]," Hagstrum said. "It started to explain all these mysteries."

The terrain between the loft and Jersey Hill, combined with normal atmospheric conditions, bounced infrasounds up and over these areas.

Some infrasound would still reach Castor Hill, but due to nearby hills and valleys, the sound waves approached from the west and southwest, even though the Cornell loft is situated south-southwest of Castor Hill.

Records show that younger, inexperienced pigeons released at Castor Hill would sometimes fly west while older birds headed southwest, presumably following infrasounds from their loft.

Hagstrum's model found that infrasound normally arrived at the Weedsport site from the south. But one day of abnormal weather conditions, combined with a local river valley, resulted in infrasound that arrived at Weedsport from the Cornell loft from the southeast.

Multiple Maps

"What [Hagstrum] has found for those areas are a possible explanation for the [pigeon] behavior at these sites," said Bowling Green State's Mora. But she cautions against extrapolating these results to all homing pigeons.

Some of Mora's work supports the theory that homing pigeons use magnetic field lines to find their way home.

What homing pigeons are using as their map probably depends on where they're raised, she said. "In some places it may be infrasound, and in other places [a sense of smell] may be the way to go."

Hagstrum's next steps are to figure out how large an area the pigeons are listening to. He's also talking to the Navy and Air Force, who are interested in his work. "Right now we use GPS to navigate," he said. But if those satellites were compromised, "we'd be out of luck." Pigeons navigate from point to point without any problems, he said.

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No Device Eliminates Concussion Risk, Experts Say

As the long-term consequences of concussions become clearer, a cottage industry has popped up to sell athletes and worried parents products designed to mitigate risks of concussions that even helmets cannot prevent.

Despite the bold claims of some companies, however, many experts say the Holy Grail in contact sports -- a device that prevents concussions -- simply does not exist. Indeed, experts say, there is no proof that any current device significantly reduces the risk of concussions beyond the protections already provided by helmets.

"Nightline" found several products for sale online that aim to reduce the risk of concussions or even alert parents and coaches when a kid has supposedly taken a concussion-level hit. The claims the manufacturers make are often breathtakingly reassuring.

Concern about the risk of concussion is mounting at every level of the gridiron from the NFL to colleges and even high schools. Concussions are the most common injury among high school football players.

Jennifer Branin, whose son Tyler Branin is one of the stars of the Woodbridge Warriors high school football team in Irvine, Calif., said "it was scary" the first time he had a concussion.

"He had lost his balance on the field," she said. "He got up and tried to continue, but couldn't keep his balance."

Junior Seau Had Brain Disease, Researchers Say Watch Video

She said the effects of the concussion lingered, causing Tyler to miss a week of school and football practice. Even months later, he complained of difficulty concentrating in class.

Parents such as Jennifer Branin, who is president of the team's booster club, and her husband, Andy Branin, a former college football player himself, were looking for a way to support their son's desire to play football while also keeping him safe.

"He wants to play and, as a mom, you may want to put bubble-wrap around them and protect them forever, but that's not going to happen," she said.

So Jennifer Branin decided to do something. She raised money to buy the team helmet inserts by Unequal Technologies for added protection.

Unequal Technologies, one of the highest profile players in this new market, described its product explicitly on the box as "Concussion Reduction Technology," or "CRT." It is a strip of composite material including bullet-proof Kevlar that is designed to stick inside the helmet as a liner to the existing helmet pads.

Unequal Technologies uses its material in products ranging from padded sleeves to shin guards. The company counts NFL players and X-Games athletes among its fans.

On board as paid spokesmen are Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick and James Harrison, a linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Harrison is one of the hardest-hitting guys in the NFL and said he uses Unequal Technology's liners in his helmet.

"I don't know what it's made of but it works," Harrison says in one of Unequal's promotional videos. "I really don't feel like I'm taking a risk."

Vick wasn't wearing the CRT product when he suffered a season-ending concussion in November, but he has since promised that he will be wearing it when he returns to the field next season.

Rob Vito, founder and CEO of the Kennett Square, Pa.-based company, said he worked with scientists to create a military-grade composite material that can help protect athletes from all kinds of injuries from head to toe.

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Gabrielle Giffords to testify at Senate hearing on gun violence

Former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) is expected to testify Wednesday at a Senate hearing on gun violence, lending the emotional resonance of her experience with the issue to what had already promised to be a dramatic exchange between lawmakers and advocates for and against stricter gun-control laws.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold its first hearing on gun-related violence in 14 months on Wednesday morning, and observers expect that it will help set the tone for congressional debates over legislation introduced in the wake of the deadly shooting last month at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., that killed 26 people, including 20 young children.

Giffords, who was shot in January 2011 at point-blank range at an event in Tucson and suffered brain damage, is expected to testify alone at a witness table and take no questions from senators, according to a person familiar with her plans who was not authorized to talk publicly about them and spoke on the condition of anonymity. After Giffords leaves, five other invited witnesses — including Giffords’s husband, Mark Kelly — are expected to testify.

Giffords and Kelly are gun owners and support the Second Amendment, but this month they launched their own political group to take on the National Rifle Association and push for a new assault-weapons ban, universal background checks to close the “gun-show loophole,” and a ban on high-capacity magazines like the one used to kill six people and wound Giffords and 13 others in the Tucson shooting.

Since the shooting, Giffords has made limited public appearances and has sat for just two interviews with ABC News. She met with family members of the Newtown shooting victims this month before launching her new political organization.

On Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said he expects that the hearing will help senators draft a bill that could eventually be voted on by the full Senate.

“I’m tired about all the people who keep talking about all the legislation they have; I thought it might be nice for someone to actually have a hearing and do some legislation,” Leahy said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), reaffirming his support for the process, said Tuesday that “I’m going to do everything within my power to bring legislation dealing with gun and violence generally to the floor.”

Also testifying Wednesday will be NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, who is expected to tell lawmakers that the nation’s gun owners will oppose any attempts to pass new gun-control laws.

The NRA released LaPierre’s prepared testimony Tuesday. He is expected to restate the group’s opposition to a new federal ban on military-style assault weapons and federal background checks for most, if not all, firearms buyers.

“Law-abiding gun owners will not accept blame for the acts of violent or deranged criminals,” LaPierre’s prepared testimony states. “Nor do we believe the government should dictate what we can lawfully own and use to protect our families.”

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MINDEF signs contract with ST Engineering to construct naval vessels

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Defence Ministry (MINDEF) has signed a contract with Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd for the design and construction of eight new naval vessels.

MINDEF said it will replace the existing Fearless-class Patrol Vessels (PVs) in the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN).

The Patrol Vessels will reach the end of their operational lifespan in 2020 after being in service for more than 20 years.

MINDEF added that the new vessels will be equipped with enhanced combat systems and integrated communications suites that will help the Navy to undertake a wide range of maritime security operations.

This will enable it to more effectively, carry out its mission of safeguarding Singapore's vital sea lines of communication.

The first vessel is expected to be delivered in 2016 and all eight vessels will be fully operational by 2020.

- CNA/fa

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Kamal Haasan agrees to delete some scenes from 'Vishwaroopam'; court upholds ban

CHENNAI: Soon after making an emotional pitch about leaving Tamil Nadu and even India for a secular place, actor Kamal Haasan on Wednesday said he is ready to cut a few scenes from his movie 'Vishwaroopam'.

But, soon after his statement on a compromise with Muslim leaders, the Madras high court on Wednesday set aside a single judge order staying the government's prohibitory orders on film 'Vishwaroopam'. As a result, theatres cannot screen the film anywhere in Tamil Nadu.

"My Muslim family has reached out to me. They came and told me which portions they want removed, they told me the scenes they wanted cut and the words of Quran they wanted removed. They told me which are the scenes that would offend and could be removed," said the actor, who was flanked by Congress leader J M Haroon, lyricist Vairamuthu, and several film personalities.

"We are thankful that he has agreed to remove the Quran words from the film. He immediately came forward to delete the portions," said Haroon.

The actor added that the issue has been settled amicably. "There are no differences between me and my Muslim brothers. I am hearing some alarming news both from my fans and Muslim friends so far. Now it is up to the law enforcement and the justice department to ensure nothing happens to my Muslim brethren and others," he said, adding that the film is in praise of Muslims.

Earlier in the day, an emotional Kamal Haasan said that he is thinking of leaving Tamil Nadu for some other secular state in India as the problems over his movie Vishwaroopam's release continued.

"I will look at all the states from Kashmir to Kerala excluding Tamil Nadu. If I don't find one which is secular, I will leave for another country. M F Hussain had to leave, now Haasan will have to," said the actor, whose movie's release was stopped by TN state government authorities last week after a few Muslim groups protested.

The actor told media on Wednesday that he will continue to make Tamil movies and love Tamilians even if he leaves India. "Only my passport will change," said Kamal.

Late on Tuesday night, Justice K Venkataraman had stayed the Tamil Nadu government's prohibitory orders, thereby paving the way for the film's release.

Soon after, top government lawyers rushed to the residence of Acting Chief Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and obtained permission to move an urgent appeal today. When the matter was taken up, the first bench comprising Justice Dharma Rao and Justice Aruna Jagadeesan wanted to know if Kamal's lawyers had approached the district collectors challenging their prohibitory orders. When the reply was in the negative, the court said that when the statue permits an officer to exercise a particular power that authority should be allowed to exercise it.

Pointing out that advocate-general sought to file a detailed counter, the judges said the counters could be filed by Monday, and the matter could be taken up by the single judge by Wednesday,

"You have only two options before you. Either approach the district collectors and appeal against their prohibitory orders or wait for the single judge to pass final orders in the matter.

Indicating that Kamal might approach the Supreme Court immediately, his senior counsel P S Raman wanted a copy of the order today itself. The plea was granted by the bench.

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Timbuktu’s vulnerable manuscripts are city’s "gold"

French and Malian troops surrounded Timbuktu on Monday and began combing the labyrinthine city for Islamist fighters. Witnesses, however, said the Islamists, who claim an affiliation to al Qaeda and had imposed a Taliban-style rule in the northern Malian city over the last ten months, slipped into the desert a few days earlier.

But before fleeing, the militants reportedly set fire to several buildings and many rare manuscripts. There are conflicting reports as to how many manuscripts were actually destroyed. (Video: Roots of the Mali Crisis.)

On Monday, Sky News posted an interview with a man identifying himself as an employee of the Ahmed Baba Institute, a government-run repository for rare books and manuscripts, the oldest of which date back to the city's founding in the 12th century. The man said some 3,000 of the institute's 20,000 manuscripts had been destroyed or looted by the Islamists.

Video showed what appeared to be a large pile of charred manuscripts and the special boxes made to preserve them in front of one of the institute's buildings.

However, a member of the University of Cape Town Timbuktu Manuscript Project told eNews Channel Africa on Tuesday that he had spoken with the director of the Ahmed Baba Institute, Mahmoud Zouber, who said that nearly all of its manuscripts had been removed from the buildings and taken to secure locations months earlier. (Read "The Telltale Scribes of Timbuktu" in National Geographic magazine.)

A Written Legacy

The written word is deeply rooted in Timbuktu's rich history. The city emerged as a wealthy center of trade, Islam, and learning during the 13th century, attracting a number of Sufi religious scholars. They in turn took on students, forming schools affiliated with's Timbuktu's three main mosques.

The scholars imported parchment and vellum manuscripts via the caravan system that connected northern Africa with the Mediterranean and Arabia. Wealthy families had the documents copied and illuminated by local scribes, building extensive libraries containing works of religion, art, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, history, geography, and culture.

"The manuscripts are the city's real gold," said Mohammed Aghali, a tour guide from Timbuktu. "The manuscripts, our mosques, and our history—these are our treasures. Without them, what is Timbuktu?"

This isn't the first time that an occupying army has threatened Timbuktu's cultural heritage. The Moroccan army invaded the city in 1591 to take control of the gold trade. In the process of securing the city, they killed or deported most of Timbuktu's scholars, including the city's most famous teacher, Ahmed Baba al Massufi, who was held in exile in Marrakesh for many years and forced to teach in a pasha's court. He finally returned to Timbuktu in 1611, and it is for him that the Ahmed Baba Institute was named.

Hiding the Texts

In addition to the Ahmed Baba Institute, Timbuktu is home to more than 60 private libraries, some with collections containing several thousand manuscripts and others with only a precious handful. (Read about the fall of Timbuktu.)

Sidi Ahmed, a reporter based in Timbuktu who recently fled to the Malian capital Bamako, said Monday that nearly all the libraries, including the world-renowned Mamma Haidara and the Fondo Kati libraries, had secreted their collections before the Islamist forces had taken the city.

"The people here have long memories," he said. "They are used to hiding their manuscripts. They go into the desert and bury them until it is safe."

Though it appears most of the manuscripts are safe, the Islamists' occupation took a heavy toll on Timbuktu.

Women were flogged for not covering their hair or wearing bright colors. Girls were forbidden from attending school, and boys were recruited into the fighters' ranks.

Music was banned. Local imams who dared speak out against the occupiers were barred from speaking in their mosques. In a move reminiscent of the Taliban's destruction of Afghanistan's famous Bamiyan Buddha sculptures, Islamist fighters bulldozed 14 ancient mud-brick mausoleums and cemeteries that held the remains of revered Sufi saints.

A spokesman for the Islamists said it was "un-Islamic" for locals to "worship idols."

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Clinton Talks 2016, Stands by Benghazi Testimony

In her final television interview as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton told ABC's Cynthia McFadden that she is "flattered and honored" at the intense interest in whether she might run for president in 2016.

But Clinton maintained that right now she's "not focused" on a presidential campaign; instead she said she wants to return to a "normal" life when she steps down from office on Friday.

Watch Cynthia McFadden's full interview with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on "Nightline" tonight at 12:35 a.m. ET

Clinton's first order of business, she said, will be sleep.

"I hope I get to sleep in," she told McFadden with a laugh. "It will be the first time in many years. I have no office to go to, no schedule to keep, no work to do. That will probably last a few days then I will be up and going with my new projects," she said.

"I have been working or attending school full-time since I was 13. This is going to be new for me. I don't know how I'm going to react to it, to be honest."

PHOTOS: Hillary Clinton Through the Years: From Wellesley to the White House, and Beyond

Clinton has had no trouble articulating her reaction to what has arguably been the darkest chapter of her tenure as Secretary of State: the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed.

Hillary's Next Chapter: On Family and Future Watch Video

Secretary Clinton had a heated exchange with Republican Senator Ron Johnson during her five hours of testimony before Congress about the attack last week. Johnson accused the administration of misleading the American people about the cause of the attack, when UN Ambassador Susan Rice, on Sunday political talk shows, blamed it on protesters.

Clinton snapped back at Johnson, "Four Americans are dead. What difference does it make?" For that, she has been sharply criticized by some conservatives.

Clinton said she "absolutely" stands by her response to Johnson, maintaining that the administration has been transparent with the information it knew, when it was available. Clinton said partisan politics have no place in a response to a terrorist attack against Americans.

"I believe that we should in public life, whether you're in the administration or the Congress, de-politicize crisis and work together to figure out what happened, what we can do to prevent it and then put into place both the institutional changes and the budgetary changes that are necessary, " she said.

"When someone tries to put into a partisan lens, when they focus not on the fact that we have such a terrible event happening with four dead Americans but instead what did somebody say on a Sunday morning talk show? That to me is not in keeping with the seriousness of the issue and the obligation we all have as public servants"

FULL TRANSCRIPT: Sec. of State Hillary Clinton's "Nightline" Interview

Asked about her health, Clinton said her recent illness, concussion and blood clot were all a surprise.

"When I got sick and fainted and hit my head I was so surprised, and I thought I would just get up and go to work. And thankfully I had very good medical care and doctors who said, 'No we'd better do an MRI, we'd better do this, we'd better do that,'" she said, calling herself "lucky."

"I know now how split second beset by a virus and dehydrated, what it can do to you."

Though she confirmed she is wearing special glasses to help with double vision, a lingering issue following her illness, Clinton said that she expects to be fully recovered and operating at "full speed" soon.

The Secretary told McFadden that if she does decide to run, she would have "no problem" making her health records public.

"Of course, that goes with the territory," she said.

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