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Western states battled nasty winter weather that shut down major roads in Arizona and California, blasted Nevada with frigid winds and left an area of western Washington in a whiteout.

The storm systems across parts of the West dumped heavy snows in some mountainous regions Wednesday and soaking rains in lower elevations, cutting power to thousands and causing numerous traffic tie-ups and accidents.

The storms even intruded on the normally pleasant winter weather in the Phoenix desert area, delivering an hours-long chilly rain and leaving residents bracing for a rare below-freezing dip in temperatures Friday.

Snow and ice forced the closure of parts of Interstates 17 and 40, the two major thoroughfares in northern Arizona, stranding motorists south of Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.

“As far as I can see, it’s tail lights,” said Abel Gurrola, who was headed north on I-17 with his wife and three sons before the highway reopened Thursday morning.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety said it received more than 100 calls reporting slide-offs in a three-hour period, including semi trucks.

Snow also forced California transportation officials to close Interstate 15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, where winds were gusting to more than 40 mph. The freeway was shut down from Halloran Springs to the Nevada state line but reopened early Thursday with highway patrol officers escorting motorists.

Visibility was down to a half-mile around the Grand Canyon and a quarter-mile in Flagstaff, National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Breckenridge said.

A blizzard warning was issued in parts of eastern and southeastern Arizona, and forecasters warned the system would likely move into neighboring New Mexico on Thursday.

The latest round of rain to hit waterlogged California moved east, leaving powerful winds in its wake.

Gusts of more than 50 mph hit parts of northern Los Angeles County late Wednesday, with colder air and potentially damaging winds expected overnight.

The California Highway Patrol reported downed trees and tumbleweeds on various Los Angeles-area freeways and streets, making it treacherous for motorists.

One person was killed by a falling tree and a snowboarder was missing. The U.S. Coast Guard searched in strong winds and high seas for a 20-foot pleasure boat reported to be in distress with four people aboard.

Winds were even stronger further east.

The storm socked the Sierra Nevada with gusts topping 100 mph and more than a foot of snow, causing flight delays in Reno, and headaches for motorists.

Utility crews worked to restore power to more than 10,000 homes and businesses around South Lake Tahoe, Calif.

One of the strongest wind gusts was recorded at 105 mph at Mammoth Lakes ski resort.

Heavy snow and icy roads made travel tough in the Spokane area of eastern Washington, which was hit by 9 inches of snow, while knocking out power to 6,000 customers.

Blizzard conditions blew through Palouse, near the Idaho line. Wind gusts of more than 30 mph “will create whiteout conditions over the rural areas of the Palouse. Travel will be dangerous or impossible,” the National Weather Service said.

A camping Boy Scout troop had to be rescued after a snowstorm stranded them near Pocatello, Idaho. The seven boys and three adults had planned to spend Tuesday night at Lariat Cave but were unable to get out, Power County Sheriff Jim Jeffries said. They called for help Wednesday morning and responders brought them out by snowmobile several hours later.

Wyoming and Colorado didn’t escape the Western blitz.

Storms were expected to dump up to 2 feet of snow in Colorado’s mountains before things calm down Friday.

Jackson Hole, Wyo., had several inches of snow with higher totals in the mountains. Winter storm warnings were in effect from Yellowstone and Teton National Parks.

An American Airlines jet with 181 people on board went past the end of a snowy runway at Jackson Hole Airport. No one was hurt and no cause has yet been officially determined. The pilot blamed brake failure.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Tories may be born not made, claims a study that suggests people with right
wing views have a larger area of the brain associated with fear.

The brains of MPs and students were examined Photo: CORBIS

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent

5:00PM GMT 28 Dec 2010

Comments

Scientists have found that people with conservative views have brains with
larger amygdalas, almond shaped areas in the centre of the brain often
associated with anxiety and emotions.

On the otherhand, they have a smaller anterior cingulate, an area at the front
of the brain associated with courage and looking on the bright side of life.

The “exciting” correlation was found by scientists at University College
London who scanned the brains of two members of parliament and a number of
students.

They found that the size of the two areas of the brain directly related to the
political views of the volunteers.

However as they were all adults it was hard to say whether their brains had
been born that way or had developed through experience.

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Article extracted from telegraph.co.uk

A record number of pilgrims from around the world have gathered in Bethlehem on Christmas Day in the largest celebration this West Bank town has seen in a decade.

Pilgrims were assembling around the Church of the Nativity, built on the site where tradition holds Jesus was born, for prayers Saturday morning.

The Israeli military put the number of pilgrims this year at over 100,000, compared to about 50,000 last year.

Warm weather, a virtual halt in Israeli-Palestinian violence and an economic revival in the West Bank have added to the holiday cheer.

Only one-third of Bethlehem’s 50,000 residents are Christian, down from about 75% in the 1950s. The rest are Muslims.

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Registered sex offenders are getting jobs in schools as teachers, administrators, volunteers and contractors, despite state laws that prohibit them from contact with children, a government watchdog report says.

And school officials in some states enable misconduct to continue by ignoring red flags during hiring or by covering up the firing of sexual offenders, according to the report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

The report, obtained by USA TODAY, is based on a review of 15 cases in 11 states over the last decade involving people with histories of sexual misconduct working in public or private schools. Of those, 11 offenders had previously targeted children, and six abused more children in their new positions.

About 35 states have laws restricting offenders from schools, and most states require criminal history checks, though specifics vary widely, the report found. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., who requested the investigation, urged states to strengthen laws or pass a law if they don’t have them.

“These children were put in this unsafe position because adults in charge of their well-being failed to do their job,” says Miller, outgoing chair of the House education committee. “Parents have a right to believe that their children are safe” in schools.

An Education Department study estimates that millions of kids in kindergarten through 12th grade are victims of sexual misconduct by a school employee at some point. The GAO report also notes most sexual abuse of children goes unreported. In one study it cites, 232 child molesters admitted to molesting a total of 17,000 victims, often without ever being caught.

How offenders slipped through the cracks:

• A teacher/coach who was forced to resign from an Ohio school because of inappropriate contact with girls was hired by a neighboring district, where he was eventually convicted for sexual battery against a sixth-grade girl. The superintendent at his first school had called him an “outstanding teacher” in a recommendation letter.

• Several Louisiana schools hired a registered sex offender, whose Texas teaching certificate had been revoked, without doing a criminal history check. A warrant is out for his arrest on charges of engaging in sexual conversations with a student at one school.

• An Arizona public school skipped the required criminal history check even though the applicant disclosed he had committed a dangerous crime against a child. He was later convicted for having sexual contact with a girl.

• In three cases, schools failed to ask about troubling application responses. For example, a California charter school hired an administrator who had left blank a question about previous felony convictions; he had been convicted of a felony sex offense against a minor.

When questioned by investigators about why such lapses occur, officials typically said the time and costs associated with background checks made it hard to monitor applicants. Fear of lawsuits also was a factor.

Charol Shakeshaft, a Virginia Commonwealth University professor who researches the topic, said school personnel aren’t trained in how to recognize and deal with such misconduct. “Parents, teachers, students and administrators don’t really know how to handle it. Districts don’t think it’s a high probability. So people just don’t learn what they’re supposed to do and what the procedures are. There is hardly any education done on this.”

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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix stripped a major hospital of its affiliation with the church Tuesday because of a surgery that ended a woman’s pregnancy to save her life.

Bishop Thomas Olmsted called the 2009 procedure an abortion and said St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center — recognized internationally for its neurology and neurosurgery practices — violated ethical and religious directives of the national Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“In the decision to abort, the equal dignity of mother and her baby were not both upheld,” Olmsted said at a news conference announcing the decision. “The mother had a disease that needed to be treated. But instead of treating the disease, St. Joseph’s medical staff and ethics committee decided that the healthy, 11-week-old baby should be directly killed.”

CHALLENGE: Catholic Church’s role in care at hospital debated

St. Joseph’s does not receive direct funding from the church, but in addition to losing its Catholic endorsement, the 697-bed hospital will no longer be able to celebrate Mass and must remove the Blessed Sacrament from its chapel.

In a statement, St. Joseph’s President Linda Hunt said the hospital will comply with Olmsted’s decision, but she defended its actions.

“If we are presented with a situation in which a pregnancy threatens a woman’s life, our first priority is to save both patients. If that is not possible, we will always save the life we can save, and that is what we did in this case,” Hunt said. “Morally, ethically, and legally, we simply cannot stand by and let someone die whose life we might be able to save.”

The woman is in her 20s had a history of abnormally high blood pressure when she learned of her pregnancy. After she was admitted to the hospital with worsening symptoms, doctors determined her risk of death was nearly 100%.

The hospital’s ethics team concluded the pregnancy could be ended under the church’s ethical directives because “the goal was not to end the pregnancy but save the mother’s life,” the hospital said.

Hunt said, “St. Joseph’s will continue through our words and deeds to carry out the healing ministry of Jesus.”

Olmsted’s announcement came after months of talks between the Diocese, the hospital and the hospital’s parent company, Catholic Healthcare West.

“Unfortunately, subsequent communications with leadership at St. Joseph’s and (Catholic Healthcare West) have only eroded my confidence about their commitment to the church’s ethical and religious directives for healthcare,” Olmsted said. “They have not addressed in an adequate manner the scandal caused by the abortion.”

He said he recently learned that Catholic Healthcare West also is responsible for contraceptive counseling, voluntary sterilization, and other practices he said violate the ethical and religious directives.

According to The Arizona Republic, the other violations, he said, are taking place under the auspices of the Mercy Care Plan, a nonprofit health insurance plan for poor patients who qualify under the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System.

Olmstead said St. Joseph’s has not been communicative, allowing him to have input into such decisions. He added that he only recently learned of the Mercy Care Plan, and that hospital officials were unaware the plan violated Catholic directives.

The Rev. John Ehrich, the bishop’s top medical ethics consultant, said St. Joseph’s was not directly providing contraceptives and sterilizations, but that it was complicit in facilitating the procedures.

St. Joseph’s is home to the Barrow Neurological Institute, where musician Bret Michaels was treated after he suffered a brain hemorrhage in April. The institute includes the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center.

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The house Paul Nunes and his wife, Elizabeth Waller, bought 25 years ago in Fairport, N.Y., is filled with family memories, including the pencil lines on one wall tracking his daughters’ growth. But the 110-year-old house doesn’t have an easy way for Waller, 57, to get around with her worsening arthritis.

So the couple bought a smaller house nearby and are having it rehabilitated to become what Nunes called “age-friendly,” from wider doorways to a bathroom shower that does not have any lip or edge to step over.

The idea behind aging in place — making changes to a home to accommodate an aging resident — is not new. But the idea is getting increased attention as the USA’s 76 million Baby Boomers grow older.

“They are now entering that age where they’re dealing with their aging parents and with their own aging,” says Elinor Ginzler, senior vice president for livable communities at the AARP, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons.

An AARP survey earlier this year found 33% of adults ages 45 and up have made changes to their current home to stay there longer.

And a National Association of Home Builders survey done in fall 2009 found that such design features as step-free entrances, levered door handles instead of knobs, electrical outlets higher from the floor and enough clearance in kitchens and washrooms for wheelchairs were becoming commonplace in new home construction and remodeling jobs.

“Whenever we do a remodel, like a bathroom, we always suggest some of the aging-in-place products and making the doors a little wider, putting grab bars in showers,” says Donna Shirey of Shirey Contracting in Issaquah, Wash., chair of the home builders’ remodeling wing.

“We want this to become the way homes are in America,” Ginzler says. And with products such as grab bars in showers being designed to look less institutional and more decorative, she says, “the stigma around many of these products is going away.”

Demand for remodeling and construction work to accommodate older residents has grown, as has competition, says Mike Leary, founder of Rochester, N.Y., firm Access Lifts & Ramps. And demand is expected to continue to grow. “If my kids stay in the business, they’ll be the ones to make out well,” Leary says. “They’ll be taking care of me. I’m in the middle of the Baby Boomers.”

The cost of aging-in-place steps can run from inexpensive — such as replacing doorknobs with door levers or using high-enough wattage light bulbs around stairs to eliminate shadows — to thousands of dollars, Ginzler says.

A stair lift can run $3,000 to $4,000, while porch lifts might cost $6,000 to $8,000, Leary says.

Of the remodeling costs to his new home, Nunes says he is spending an estimated $30,000 to $40,000 on accommodating his wife’s — and eventually his — physical needs. When done late this year, all the main living space — the master bedroom, bathroom, laundry, kitchen, dining room and study — will be on the ground floor. And when the two move in, they will sell their current house, something he is dreading.

“It’s hard,” Nunes says. “The house becomes a family member, you live there that long. It’s the witness to your life.”

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Pakistan’s top spy agency denied speculation Saturday that it helped unmask the CIA’s station chief in Islamabad, dismissing speculation it was retaliating for a U.S. lawsuit linking Pakistan’s intelligence chief to the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, India.

The CIA ordered its station chief out of Pakistan because his life was threatened after a Pakistani lawsuit revealed his name. His recall comes at a delicate time, as the White House presses Islamabad to rid its lawless tribal regions of safe havens for militants fighting in Afghanistan, where the U.S. is grappling with an exit strategy.

The station chief’s name was revealed by a Pakistani man threatening to sue the CIA over the deaths of his son and brother in a 2009 U.S. missile strike. The attorney involved with the legal complaint said he learned the name from Pakistani journalists. Pakistan’s spy agencies have kept ties to a number of Pakistani journalists as a way to influence coverage.

Questions have arisen as to whether a civil lawsuit filed last month in Brooklyn in connection with the 2008 Mumbai attacks may have raised tensions with Pakistan and spurred it to retaliate. The lawsuit lists Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, as a defendant and accuses the ISI of nurturing terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks, which left 166 people dead.

A Pakistani intelligence official dismissed any claims of ISI involvement in exposing the CIA official as “a slur.” He declined to offer any comment on the Brooklyn lawsuit and said it was entirely possible Pakistani journalists simply figured out the station chief’s identity on their own.

Such “unfounded stories can create differences between the two organizations,” the Pakistani intelligence official warned.

He also said the CIA has not directly accused the ISI of any wrongdoing in the matter. Like other intelligence officials, he requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of his work and because he is not authorized to speak to media on the record.

The Associated Press learned about the station chief’s removal on Thursday but held the story until he was out of the region.

The CIA’s work is unusually difficult in Pakistan, an important but at times capricious counterterrorism ally.

The station chief in Islamabad operates as a virtual military commander in the U.S. war against al-Qaeda and other militant groups hidden along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The chief runs the Predator drone program targeting terrorists and handles some of the CIA’s most urgent and sensitive tips.

The station chief also collaborates closely with Pakistani intelligence. The alliance has led to strikes on key militant leaders but has also been marred by spats between the two agencies. During the first term of President George W. Bush’s administration, Pakistan almost expelled a previous CIA station chief in a dispute about intelligence sharing.

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Researchers who have studied a woman with a missing amygdala — the part of the brain believed to generate fear — report that their findings may help improve treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other anxiety disorders.

In perhaps the first human study confirming that the almond-shaped structure is crucial for triggering fear, researchers at the University of Iowa monitored a 44-year-old woman’s response to typically frightening stimuli such as snakes, spiders, horror films and a haunted house, and asked about traumatic experiences in her past.

The woman, identified as S.M., does not seem to fear a wide range of stimuli that would normally frighten most people. Scientists have been studying her for the past 20 years, and their prior research had already determined that the woman cannot recognize fear in others’ facial expressions.

S.M. suffers from an extremely rare disease that destroyed her amygdala. Future observations will determine if her condition affects anxiety levels for everyday stressors such as finance or health issues, said study author Justin Feinstein, a University of Iowa doctoral student studying clinical neuropsychology.

“Certainly, when it comes to fear, she’s missing it,” Feinstein said. “She’s so unique in her presentation.”

Researchers said the study, reported in the Dec. 16 issue of the journal Current Biology, could lead to new treatment strategies for PTSD and anxiety disorders. According to the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, more than 7.7 million Americans are affected by the condition, and a 2008 analysis predicted that 300,000 soldiers returning from combat in the Middle East would experience PTSD.

“Because of her brain damage, (the patient) appears to be immune to PTSD,” Feinstein said, noting that she is otherwise cognitively typical and experiences other emotions such as happiness and sadness.

In addition to recording her responses to spiders, snakes and other scary stimuli, the researchers measured her experience of fear using many standardized questionnaires that probed various aspects of the emotion, such as fear of death or fear of public speaking. She also carried a computerized emotion diary for three months that randomly asked her to rate her fear level throughout the day.

Perhaps most notable, Feinstein said, are her many near-misses with peril because of her inability to avoid dangerous circumstances. In one case, when she was 30, she approached a drugged out-looking man late one night who pulled a knife and threatened to kill her.

Because of her complete absence of fear, the woman — who heard a choir singing in a nearby church — responded, “If you’re going to kill me, you’re going to have to go through my God’s angels first.” The man abruptly let her go.

The mother of three was also seen by her children approaching and picking up a large snake near their home with no seeming regard for its ability to harm her, Feinstein said.

“Its a perfect example of the sort of situation she gets herself in that anyone without brain damage would be able to avoid,” Feinstein said. “With her brain damage, she’s so trusting, so approachable to everything. In hindsight, (her response to the man with the knife) may have saved her life because the guy got freaked out.”

Alicia Izquierdo, an assistant professor of psychology at California State University in Los Angeles, said the study results add to existing evidence that the amygdala should be targeted in developing therapies for phobias, anxiety disorders and PTSD, “where too much fear is a bad thing.”

“In small doses, fear is a good thing — it keeps us alive,” Izquierdo said. “For many years, we have known from studies in rodents and monkeys that the amygdala is necessary for the normal expression of fear. Those who study the amygdala in animals are limited, however … and can only speculate about what this brain region does for the experience of fear.”

“This is one reason why the study … is so meaningful: We can now say that the amygdala is important for the expression and the subjective experience of fear,” she added.

Feinstein said PTSD treatment tactics targeting the amygdala would not involve surgically removing or altering it. Rather, it is thought that the amygdala’s hyperactive response in frightening situations can be modified over time through repetitively doing things a patient considers scary.

“This prolonged exposure therapy involves approaching the things causing them distress and fear the most,” Feinstein said. “We don’t ever want to surgically alter this area.”

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Two groups of scientists are suggesting a sliver of hope for the future of polar bears in a warming world.

A study published online Wednesday rejects the often used concept of a “tipping point,” or point of no return, when it comes to sea ice and the big bear that has become the symbol of climate-change woes. The study optimistically suggests that if the world dramatically changed its steadily increasing emissions of greenhouse gases, a total loss of critical summer sea ice for the bears could be averted.

Another research group projects that even if global warming doesn’t slow — a more likely near-future scenario — a thin, icy refuge for the bears would still remain between Greenland and Canada.

A grim future for polar bears is one of the most tangible and poignant outcomes of global warming. Four years ago, federal researchers reported that two-thirds of the world’s polar bear habitat could vanish by mid-century. Other experts foresee an irreversible ice-free Arctic in the next few years as more likely.

The new study, which challenges the idea of a tipping point, says rapid ice loss could still happen, but there’s a chance that the threatened bears aren’t quite doomed.

USA TODAY INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: What causes global warming
USA TODAY PHOTO GALLERY: Polar bears

“There is something that can be done to save polar bears,” said lead author Steven Amstrup, the former senior polar bear scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska. “The problem is not irreversible.”

His research, published in Nature, shows there’s a steady relationship between greenhouse gas emissions, sea ice and polar bear habitat. As emissions rise, sea ice and polar bear habitat decline. But unlike previous research, there’s no drop-off tipping point in Amstrup’s models.

Essentially until all sea ice is gone permanently in the summer there is still a chance to prevent the worst-case, if global warming is stopped in time, Amstrup’s research shows.

“Such a tipping point would mean that future reductions in greenhouse gas emissions would do little to save the polar bear,” said Amstrup, who is now chief scientist for the conservation group Polar Bears International. “It seems clear that if people and leaders think that there’s nothing they can do, they will do nothing.”

Some experts called Amstrup too optimistic, but said his computer models made sense.

“I wouldn’t say that we can rule out a tipping point, but it does show that a tipping point isn’t inevitable,” said Walt Meier, a senior scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo.

But that all hinges on reducing greenhouse gas emissions — carbon dioxide and other pollution from the burning of fossil fuels, said Mark Serreze, director of the center. “Time is running out. Humankind needs to make a choice,” he said.

Time has already run out, said Henry Jacoby, a management professor at MIT and founder of its MIT Global Change Joint Program.

Jacoby examined the computer models Amstrup used in his paper and said it is based on a “world that’s already long gone.” The two scenarios of emission reductions are points that the world has already passed or will pass in the next few years, Jacoby said.

After the global recession led to a one-year dip in carbon dioxide emissions, they are soaring again, according to a recent study. And vague international agreements made in Cancun last week and in Copenhagen last year don’t do enough, Jacoby said.

“Even given the pledges on the table, we don’t come close to what these guys use in their hopeful scenario,” he said.

Study co-author Eric DeWeaver of the National Science Foundation called the scenarios he used “plausible.”

But DeWeaver and Amstrup agree the polar bear is in deep trouble if emissions continue to rise as they are now.

A second study was to be presented Thursday at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco. That research considers a future in which global warming continues at the same pace.

And it shows that a belt from the northern archipelago of Canada to the northern tip of Greenland will likely still have ice because of various winds and currents.

The sea ice forms off Siberia in an area that’s called “the ice factory” and is blown to this belt, which is like an “ice cube tray,” said Robert Newton of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University.

That “sea ice refuge” will be good for polar bears and should continue for decades to come, maybe even into the next century, he said.

Just how many polar bears could live there still has to be figured out, according to the research by Newton and Stephanie Pfirman of Barnard College.

Amstrup’s study doesn’t downplay the nature of global warming and its effect on polar bears, especially if emissions increase.

“The changes that are occurring in the Arctic are going on at a much more rapid rate than elsewhere in the world,” Amstrup said. “So the changes that are occurring and affecting polar bears really foreshadow much more significant changes that are likely to occur worldwide.”

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was spending another day in a British prison Wednesday, after court officials said an appeal against the decision to grant him bail would not be heard for another 24 hours.

Officials at the High Court in London said the appeal by Swedish authorities would be heard at 1130 a.m. Thursday by a senior judge, Duncan Ouseley.

On Tuesday, a judge ordered Assange released on $316,000 bail, but Swedish prosecutors challenged the decision.

ASSANGE: WikiLeaks founder granted bail but stays in jail
WIKILEAKS ACTIONS: An act of cyberwar?

Assange has spent a week in prison following his surrender to British police over a Swedish sex-crimes warrant. He denies any wrongdoing but has refused to voluntarily surrender to Sweden’s request to extradite him for questioning.

Supporters of the 39-year-old Australian say the charges are trumped up and possibly politically motivated.

Assange’s British lawyer, Mark Stephens, said Wednesday that “somebody has it in for Julian Assange and we only can conjecture why.”

But lawyer Gemma Lindfield, acting for Sweden, told Tuesday’s hearing that Assange faced serious allegations and may abscond if granted bail.

She said he is accused of rape, molestation and unlawful coercion by two women for separate incidents in August. She said one had accused him of pinning her down and refusing to use a condom. A second woman says Assange had sex with her without a condom while he was a guest at her Stockholm home and she was asleep.

Assange has not been charged in Sweden. His lawyers say the allegations stem from a dispute over “consensual but unprotected sex” and argue that he has offered to make himself available for questioning via video link or in person in Britain.

LIndfield also rejected attempts to link Assange’s case with the work of WikiLeaks — which last month deeply angered U.S. officials by beginning to publish its trove of 250,000 secret U.S. diplomatic cables.

“This is not a case about WikiLeaks, rather a case about alleged serious offenses against two women,” Lindfield said.

District Judge Howard Riddle approved bail on condition Assange wear an electronic tag, stay at a specific address in southern England, report to police every evening and observe two four-hour curfews each day in addition to putting up the bond.

His lawyers are struggling to assemble the bail money, which the court wants to see up front and in cash. Stephens said he had about half the amount by Wednesday.

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