Midnight sun: How to get 24-hour solar power

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Football: Beckham is training at Arsenal, Wenger reveals

LONDON: Former England midfielder David Beckham has been training with Arsenal, the club's manager Arsene Wenger has confirmed, but rejected reports that he could sign.

"He called me. He has asked to come here and to work on his fitness. He has not done anything for a long, long time," Wenger said of Beckham, who is without a club after leaving Los Angeles Galaxy at the end of last Major League Soccer season.

"It's purely for fitness. There's no speculation about signing or anything."

Where Beckham, who made his name with Manchester United and has also played for Real Madrid and AC Milan, continues his career has still to be decided.

The 37-year-old, who won 115 England caps, was a key figure in the successful bid to bring the Olympics and Paralympics to London last year.

And if his football career is now over, he could yet find himself with plenty of offers of promotional work.

Beckham also played a prominent role in the delegation sent to Singapore which helped to secure the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games for London and if he does not continue his football career, there are many avenues for the future.

With Wenger playing down the possibility of Beckham signing on a permanent basis he was asked what benefit there is for Arsenal.

He said: "Nothing. To help somebody.

"We are open for people who behave well when they come here."

Despite his United connection, this is not the first time Beckham has trained with Arsenal, having spent some time training with the London club in January 2008 during a break from the MLS season.

He also trained with Arsenal in late 2010, before he trained with Tottenham in January 2011, while this year his sons have been training with Chelsea.

Former Gunners Thierry Henry and Sol Campbell have also returned to Arsenal for training stints.

- AFP/al

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BlackBerry 10 launch: What we know, what we expect

RIM CEO Thorsten Heins at a BlackBerry event last year.

(Credit:
Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

Yes, it's true. After several frustrating delays, Research In Motion is ready to formally pull back the curtain on its next-generation BlackBerry 10 operating system and its first wholly new BlackBerry in a year and a half.

Whether RIM has enough up its sleeves to really wow the public remains to be seen. But there's no question that the company has everything riding on the success of BlackBerry 10. A hit would inject life into RIM and offer proof that it has a place in an industry that it once dominated -- while failure could accelerate a breakup or sale of the business.

There's no doubt that the interest level surrounding RIM has picked up considerably, with industry watchers drawn in by either the potential comeback story or the prospect of a train wreck. Investors seem willing to bet on the company -- its shares have more than doubled in the past six months (although they fell 7.8 percent to $16.24 yesterday). Juxtapose that with Apple, whose stock has lost a quarter of its value in the same time period.

The optimism is a stark contrast from the long stretch RIM endured over the past few years as its market share eroded and executives had more excuses than results. After acquiring QNX in April 2010, then co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie bungled and delayed the transition to the next-generation platform. Even current CEO Thorsten Heins had to push back the debut from the end of last year to early this year because of the complexities of the move.

Despite the swing in sentiment, there remains skeptics. Ovum analyst Jan Dawson doesn't believe BlackBerry 10 will save RIM.

"RIM continues to face the twin demons of consumer-driven buying power and a chronic inability to appeal to mature market consumers," Dawson said. "There is nothing in what we've seen so far of BB10 that suggests it will conquer the second of these demons, and the first is utterly out of RIM's control."

Shares were down yesterday on fears RIM may not actually be able to pull a comeback off.

Even so, the launch date is finally here. CNET breaks down what we know, what we expect, and what we hope for.

What we know:

Thanks to an early look at the BlackBerry 10 operating system at prior conferences and through pre-release trial devices, there's already a good picture of what it will look like.

A demo unit using BlackBerry 10.

(Credit:
Lynn La/CNET)

There are a few key features RIM executives will likely focus on. One is BlackBerry Hub, or a central location for e-mail, messages, and social and status updates. Another is "Flow," which enables easier navigation and multi-tasking between apps. Another is BlackBerry Balance, which RIM hopes will win over corporate IT managers. Balance allows the device to carry two personalities, a secure one for work, and a personal one for family and friends.

Another focal point will be its improved virtual keyboard. Gone are the days of the click-screen debacle of the BlackBerry Storm. The virtual keyboard promises to be smarter than rival versions, and includes a second heat-map layer that remembers how you press the individual keys, and whether you tend to be right or left of the actual key itself. The phone is also supposed to remember and suggest commonly used words and words already used in the document.

The keyboard was a highlight at a past conference, but RIM will have to show off more than that.

"RIM really needs to wow the audience," said RBC Capital analyst Mark Sue.

RIM will unveil two BlackBerry devices at the event, a full touchscreen device and a second full-keyboard version. The phones, which CNET spent limited time with a few months ago, will stack up nicely with the specifications of rival smartphones, including display resolution, pixel density, memory, and a 4G LTE connection.

On the app front, BlackBerry 10 will launch with 70,000 apps, the most applications available during launch, the company boasts. Still, that library pales in comparison to the available iOS and
Android apps in the market.

What we expect (and hope for):

With all the buzz about carrier excitement and support, we expect some details on launch partners, availability, and perhaps even pricing.

The two BlackBerrys are rumored to carry the names Z10 (for the touchscreen version) and X10 (for the keyboard version). The Z10 is expected to launch first, with the X10 following shortly. The first phone is reportedly going to hit the market in February.

Nokia's launch of the
Lumia 920 and 820 was mired a bit by the lack of details over availability, and we expect (and hope) that RIM will do better. But, given the carrier's preference to be involved with product announcements, the availability info may be limited.

The wireless carriers aren't expected to play a big role in the event -- it'll be all RIM's show. As a result, perhaps the announcement of carrier partners might be a little wishful thinking.

RIM will likely show off a taste of its marketing campaign, which will play a crucial role in convincing smartphone owners that BlackBerrys are worth buying again. The company said it can sell into its current base of just under 80 million users, but the truth is it will need to attract new consumers to thrive. RIM will need to be able to quickly communicate any benefits or advantages it has over the competition, and it needs its carrier partners to be on the same page.

The company is already poised to air a commercial during the Super Bowl, so it appears ready to go big with its campaign. The burning question: Will it be able to get that cool factor again?

Meet the man who would make BlackBerry apps cool

RIM has been talking up the ease with which developers can write or port over apps to the BlackBerry 10 platform, so the company will need to prove that it has the top-tier apps people want in a mobile operating system.

Will heavy-hitters such as Rovio and Electronic Arts show up? Hopefully, we'll get quick answers in the presentation.

Heins could pull a rabbit out of his hat and tease a
tablet successor to the PlayBook. The statement touting the upcoming Super Bowl ad did state smartphones and tablets, so you never know.

Lastly, we are also hoping for BlackBerrys to take home. Nothing convinces a skeptical horde of tech journalists that a company is ready for prime time like having demo units ready to take home.

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Space Pictures This Week: Martian Gas, Cloud Trails

Image courtesy SDO/NASA

The sun is more than meets the eye, and researchers should know. They've equipped telescopes on Earth and in space with instruments that view the sun in at least ten different wavelengths of light, some of which are represented in this collage compiled by NASA and released January 22. (See more pictures of the sun.)

By viewing the different wavelengths of light given off by the sun, researchers can monitor its surface and atmosphere, picking up on activity that can create space weather.

If directed towards Earth, that weather can disrupt satellite communications and electronics—and result in spectacular auroras. (Read an article on solar storms in National Geographic magazine.)

The surface of the sun contains material at about 10,000°F (5,700°C), which gives off yellow-green light. Atoms at 11 million°F (6.3 million°C) gives off ultraviolet light, which scientists use to observe solar flares in the sun's corona. There are even instruments that image wavelengths of light highlighting the sun's magnetic field lines.

—Jane J. Lee

Published January 28, 2013

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5 Years Later, What's New on Immigration Reform?

The announcement of a proposal for immigration reform inspired renewed excitement for some involved in the fight Monday, but other players in the debate felt a sense of déjà vu.

Monday afternoon, senators introduced a framework of changes previewed over the weekend, with President Obama and a secret group from the House of Representatives expected soon to follow suit.

The press conference was held by Senators Chuck Schumer, John McCain, Dick Durbin, Lindsey Graham, Bob Menendez, Marco Rubio, Michael Bennet and Jeff Flake. Menendez called it "meaningful and comprehensive" immigration reform.

But former Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., who worked on this same issue under President George W. Bush in 2007, said this proposal "is a lot like what we did five years ago -- remarkably so."

Martinez said it puts "a little more emphasis" on dealing with legal immigrants who overstay their visas, shifts from framing the policies as reuniting families to rewarding skilled laborers, and the phrase "guest worker" -- which was a point of contention then -- is now absent.

But in terms of things like creating a path to citizenship and requiring an electronic verification system for employers to determine an applicant's legal status, "All of these things are exactly what we did before," Martinez said.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo| Susan Walsh/AP Photo

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To Martinez, this replay is a good thing. He said a "political evolution" and a new appreciation for Hispanic voters created a positive climate for reforms this time around.

But Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform said he is not impressed.

"It's essentially the same legislation that was offered and rejected in 2007," Mehlman told ABC News."It includes nothing for the primary constituency -- namely the American public. It's all based on what the immigrants and particularly the illegal immigrants want and what employers want."

The two plans focused on achieving bipartisan support, molding immigration law to meet the needs of the economy, and the condition that reform would only happen simultaneously with the strengthening of border security.

The difference, according to immigration lawyer Cori Alonso-Yoder of immigrant-focused non-profit Ayuda, is the messaging in this proposal.

"The message is very helpful to people who are used to hearing a not-welcoming tone towards immigrants," Alonso-Yoder said Monday. "I think that's sort of what distinguishes this from efforts that we saw in 2006, 2007 things that I think were more harsh on immigrants."

This time around the plan alludes to racial profiling and human trafficking, two issues Alonso-Yoder said her clients "confront on a daily basis and are dealing with on a daily basis."

Related: 'Dreamers' React to the New Immigration Reform Framework

She said she believes the intent in this legislation is good and that it will have some success -- at least outside of the House of Representatives.

"My concern is just seeing how this will all sort of play out in a system that is already filled with patchwork fixes, and how deep this reform will go, how broad it will sweep," Alonso-Yoder said.

The collapse of President George W. Bush's 2007 immigration bill may be a bad sign for Obama -- who is expected to announce his own plan today -- and others hoping to change the immigration system.

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Stellar performances finally gain the limelight

Michael Brooks, consultant

(Image: Five Finger Yamanaka/courtesy of Phil Ross)

In Heart of Darkness, Jeremiah P. Ostriker and Simon Mitton add new stars to the constellation of astronomy to tell the subject's full history

WE HAVE all heard of the Hubble Space Telescope, named after Edwin Hubble, but where is the Tinsley telescope?

Beatrice Tinsley was an excellent astronomer, but her career was stymied by an establishment set against giving a salary to the wife of an academic - even if she was also a gifted scientist. Tinsley made at least two vital contributions to our understanding of the universe's history, but she had to divorce her husband and grant him custody of the children to get any recognition of her talents.

In Heart of Darkness, Jeremiah Ostriker and Simon Mitton explore modern cosmology while recasting what they term the "simple linear parade of heroes" of standard accounts. Among the uncelebrated stars of cosmology they discuss, Tinsley shines brightest, but there are others: Milton Humason, a poorly educated mule-driver and janitor who assisted Hubble in his observations, and Vesto Slipher, who, despite working in the shadow of a boss obsessed with finding evidence for Martian civilisations, made the first observations that told us about the expansion of the universe.

Why do some names last and others fade? As well as being a great astronomer, Hubble was a "showman", and a "comfortable celebrity", say Ostriker and Mitton. Tinsley, meanwhile, was diagnosed with cancer the year she finally made full professor (at Yale). She died four years later, aged 40. Like a supernova, she burned brightly but briefly. Hopefully, this thorough and inspiring book will secure her a place in cosmological history.

Not that Ostriker and Mitton's book is focused solely on people - quite the opposite. Relatively few biographical details are given: it is their scientific contributions that are explored - and with aplomb.

This is a strong, confident book, easily one of the best guides to why cosmologists make the claims they do. Yet for all their redistribution of credit, the cosmology that the authors set out remains uncontroversial. It is the universe that began in a singularity, passed through a period of rapid inflation, and is now dominated by dark matter and dark energy. The state of our knowledge, they say, represents a "stunning" accomplishment.

This is the dilemma of modern cosmology: what counts as success? Summing up, Ostriker and Mitton simultaneously cite a "pretty impressive list of successes" while acknowledging that cosmology is "profoundly incomplete". We don't know what caused the inflation, what constitutes dark matter or what lies behind dark energy. In the end, the authors settle for a declaration that there's plenty for future cosmologists to do.

If there is one flaw in this crystal clear book, it's a lack of depth in the discussion of the dark side of the universe. It provides the book's title and is supposed to account for 96 per cent of the universe, but is confined to two chapters towards the end. Alternatives to dark matter are dismissed in little more than a paragraph and compared to pre-Copernican efforts to keep the Earth at the centre of the cosmos. When many respected scientists support the continued search for alternatives, that seems somewhat disingenuous.

Were she still with us, Tinsley would no doubt argue that there are compelling reasons to believe in the existence of dark matter, but that there are good reasons to consider alternatives, too. Her unique contribution to cosmology was to persuade a dismissive establishment that galaxies change their properties over time. In so doing, she exposed a gaping hole in the cosmology of the 1970s. It was a supreme achievement, if unwelcome.

Clearly, if you want your name to go down in history (or onto a telescope) it's better to be a showman than a troublemaker. But if the history of science teaches us anything, it's that the troublemakers should be celebrated too.

Book information:
Heart of Darkness: Unraveling the mysteries of the invisible universe by Jeremiah P. Ostriker and Simon Mitton
Princeton University Press
£19.95/$27.95

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Football: Centralised training for S'pore team for 2013 SEA Games

SINGAPORE: Members of the LionsXII and the Courts Young Lions will form the bulk of the Singapore football squad for the 2013 SEA Games in Myanmar.

Despite its regional powerhouse status, Singapore has never won a gold medal in football at the SEA Games competition and the Lions are gunning to end the barren run in Myanmar this year.

To achieve that, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is looking to bring the teams together for centralised training ahead of the Games.

It is critical that the Young Lions and LionsXII have more playing time together.

This will allow selectors enough time to get the SEA Games team to gel and make changes before the December tournament.

FAS president Zainudin Nordin said: "If we are able to pick a suitable month where both calendar can fit in, why not. We can have a team going on a training programme that will put them into a single fighting unit. I think we will work hard towards that."

A good result at the 2013 SEA Games will continue the momentum from the 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup win where the Singapore team clinched a historic fourth ASEAN football title.

On Monday afternoon, the Courts Young Lions received a boost when its sponsor, Courts, decided to stick with the team for another year with a sponsorship deal estimated to be in the region of S$500,000.

The support will keep the focus on the youngsters and allow them to prove themselves, especially with better quality star players signed by some teams.

Courts Young Lions coach Aide Iskandar said: "The objective of the Courts Young Lions this year is to provide a platform, to create a wider pool of players for the coach to bring the team and to select the team for the 2013 SEA Games."

- CNA/fa

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Facebook's earnings: It's all about mobile

All eyes are again on Facebook as it prepares to report fourth-quarter earnings, a make-or-break event that will determine whether the social network can continue its remarkable recovery from a stock market coma induced by a disastrous initial public offering.

Facebook, Wall Street's one-time punching bag, went from zero to hero with its share price swelling more than 60 percent from $19 and change to more than $31 in the past three months. Even an investor-disappointing Graph Search announcement did little to sway the social network's upward momentum. Today, Facebook, while still below its IPO offer price of $38, looks surprisingly healthy at $31.54.

So what happens now? Wall Street's consensus is that the social network will report $1.52 billion in revenue and earnings per share of $0.15. Should Facebook miss or clobber the top line number, the stock will move, but more is at stake. Facebook needs to show that its milking more money from its growing mobile audience, that other cash-making strategies are truly working and, above all, keep the Street convinced that its business is on the right track.

Zero to hero in 90 days
Toward the end of October, Facebook looked like a dud. The social network's shares were trading at around half of its IPO price of $38. Investors and analysts had zero confidence in the company's ability to profit from users who were quickly shifting their attention from desktops to smartphones and
tablets. And there was fear that end-of-year lock-up expirations on those suddenly able to see pre-IPO shares would drive the stock price down further.

When Facebook reported its third-quarter earnings, however, the company proved to investors that it was serious about making money, particularly on mobile, where it now has 604 million monthly active users. Overall, mobile accounted for 14 percent of Facebook's advertising revenue, or roughly $152.6 million, in the third quarter. At the time, Facebook also said that it was making $3 million per day from so-called Sponsored Stories in the News Feed on mobile phones and tablets.

That mobile successes lessened the fear among investors that mobile was such a big risk for Facebook -- a fear that Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter says was overblown. "I've had a $35 target since July," he said. "I refuse to budge."

Ultimately, the fundamentals of the company have not changed in the past 90 days, Pachter said. Instead, fear around mobile subsided. CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally helped dose out the everything-is-A-OK meds when he stressed how strong Facebook was performing on mobile.

But what now?
Facebook is entering Wednesday's earnings report in a position of the strength.

The social network successfully mitigated sizable lock-up expirations in October, November, and December, which added 1.2 billion shares to the public pool. The company is also now in its seventh month of offering Sponsored Stories, or status updates from brands who pay to promote their stories in members' News Feed, which means it should be able to show dramatic revenue growth from the desktop- and mobile-friendly units. Facebook also pushed its Gifts products out to all U.S. members before the holiday, ramped up its efforts to allow developers to pitch people on their applications through mobile app install ads, and started charging to deliver messages to strangers.

Some of these products may each only contribute between $20 million to $100 million to Facebook's bottom line, Pachter said, but so long as Facebook shows that the percentage of advertising revenue derived is growing on mobile, investors will be pleased. Pachter predicts that Facebook will report 17 percent of advertising revenue from mobile products in the fourth quarter.

RBC Capital Markets identifies what it views as positive, negative, and neutral results for Facebook in the fourth quarter.

Of course, Wall Street wants to hear more about Graph Search. Analysts are particularly curious about the potential financial impact of the curated search tool, as detailed in RBC Capital Market's pre-release report on Facebook.

They also want to hear from Facebook about the Instagram privacy policy debacle and understand whether there has been a measured drop off in users or activity, and they want to be reassured that Facebook will keep its spending in check. Should Facebook not satisfy queries in these areas, the company could be in jeopardy of losing some of the ground its picked up in recent months.

"We continue to like Facebook shares and view the company as arguably the most under-levered name in the Internet sector," RBC concluded.

The firm identified positive, neutral, and negative results, as pictured above. Basically, Facebook will really bring home the bacon if it can surprise Wall Street with $1.54 billion in revenue, earnings per share greater than $0.15, more than $1.25 billion in ad revenue, and more than 640 million daily active users. Conversely, anything lower than $1.52 billion in total revenue and $0.14 earnings per share will be miss. RBC's financial estimates have Facebook sliding into position somewhere between the negative and neutral zones.

It's a far simpler equation for Pachter, who views the social network with rose-colored glasses.

"[Facebook] has done everything right," he said, "and they will continue to do everything right."

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Doomed Dolphin Speaks to New York's Vibrant Wildlife

By the time New Yorkers spied a dolphin swimming through the superfund sludge of the Gowanus Canal last Friday, it was too late. The marine mammal didn't even survive long enough for a rescue plan to come together. First sighted on Friday afternoon, the dolphin perished at 6:00 p.m.

The reason the marine mammal died, and why the dolphin swam up the polluted waterway in the first place, is as yet unknown. But the sad story of the wayward creature highlights the strange nature of New York City, the global epitome of urbanity. Hidden within Gotham are native carnivores, marine mammals, and even species that have scarcely been seen before.

Marine mammals are arguably the most high-profile of New York City's wild residents and visitors. The Gowanus Canal dolphin was only the latest to venture within city limits. Just a month ago, a 60-foot-long finback whale (Balaenoptera physalus) became stranded in the Rockaway Inlet of Queens. The emaciated animal died the day after it was discovered.

There seems to be no singular reason explaining why marine mammals such as the Gowanus dolphin and Queens' finback whale wander up the city's rivers or strand on beaches. Each case is unique. But not all the city's marine mammal visitors suffer terrible fates.

In 2006, a hefty manatee (Trichechus spp.) took a long jaunt from its Florida home up the East Coast, including a detour down New York's Hudson River. The sirenian survived the trip, continuing on to Cape Cod before reportedly turning back south to a destination unknown. Hopefully the manatee didn't encounter any great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) on the return journey, a marine predator we know patrols the waters off New York.

Of course, New York City's whales, seals, and occasional manatee can only skirt the city along its shores and canals. You likely won't see a seal caterpillaring its way along Broadway.

Yet the city's interior also hosts a strange accumulation of wildlife, including native animals that are carving out spaces for themselves in the concrete corridors and exotic species that we have introduced to city life.

Coyotes (Canis latrans) may be the cleverest of New York City's hidden wildlife. Thanks to camera traps, and the occasional police chase through Lower Manhattan, researchers are keeping track of the wily canids and studying how they are so successfully taking up residence in many of the nation's cities. "Most small, urban parks will likely hold a pair and their offspring at most—coyotes are very territorial," said Cornell University ecologist Paul Curtis.

The secretive carnivorans bring a welcome element to urban neighborhoods—an appetite for rodents—and are experts at cracking open new niches alongside people.

Black bears (Ursus americanus) may be next. The bears have proliferated in northern New Jersey in recent years, and in 2010, a black bear came within three miles of the George Washington Bridge, a major thoroughfare between New Jersey and Manhattan. The bear obviously would have eschewed rush hour traffic and the tolls, but the local population is so bountiful that it's not unreasonable to think some enterprising bear might eventually wander into the big city.

Strangely, you may actually be more likely to run into a crocodylian predator in New York City than a black bear. New Yorkers have a nagging habit of importing—and losing-alligator—like caimans and other reptiles within the city.

In 2010, an 18-inch long caiman took refuge under a parked Datsun in Astoria, Queens. No one knows how the reptile wound up on the street, but given the trend of owners buying cute crocodylians and later dumping them, someone may have abandoned the poor little caiman.

This would hardly be the first time. In 2006, another little caiman was found in the leaf litter behind Brooklyn's Spring Creek Towers, while "Damon the Caiman" swam around a Central Park lake in the summer of 2001. These caimans are only some of the most famous—according to a New York Times report, the Brooklyn-based Animal Care and Control deals with about ten caimans each year.

Many other unusual and exotic animals have romped through New York. Under some of their most notable animal celebrities, the city's Parks and Recreation department lists guinea pigs, boa snakes, and even a tiger that escaped from a circus in 2004 and ran down Jackie Robinson Parkway before his owners were able to get him back.

The Big Apple even contains species that have never been documented before. No, not the ballyhooed "Montauk Monster"—actually a rotted raccoon—but a distinct species of leopard frog. Described early this year, the cryptic amphibian was given away by its unique mating call.

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Victims' Cellphones Ring After Nightclub Fire

Coffins lined a gymnasium in Santa Maria, Brazil, today as family members tried to identify their loved ones after a fast-moving fire tore through a crowded nightclub Sunday morning, killing more than 230 people and injuring hundreds more.

A community gym near the popular Kiss nightclub has been converted to a temporary morgue were family members were led in one by one Sunday night and early this morning to identify the dead. Outside the gym police held up personal objects, including a black purse and blue high-heeled shoe, as people seeking information on loved ones crowded around, hoping not to recognize anything they were being shown.

"Doctors from other parts of Brazil were flown in to assist the medical side of this," BBC reporter Julia Carneiro told ABC News this morning. "One hundred people are injured and in hospital. Some have been flown to other cities that have better hospital capacity."

PHOTOS: Santa Maria, Brazil Nightclub Fire

Flames and smoke outraced a terrified crowd at the Kiss nightclub, located in the southern city of Santa Maria, shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday morning. Panicked partygoers tried to outrun flames and black, thick smoke, but the club appeared to have only one open exit, police Maj. Cleberson Braida Bastianello told The Associated Press.

Police confirmed that the toll had risen to 233 with the death of a hospitalized victim.

Hours after the fire, cellphones on the victims were ringing inside the still-smoldering nightclub as family members tried to contact their loved ones, Brazilian radio reporter Sara Bodowsky told "World News" anchor David Muir.

JEFFERSON BERNARDES/AFP/Getty Images

Brazil Nightclub Fire: Nearly 200 People Killed Watch Video

"It's really like a war zone in here. We have 232 bodies laid down, side by side, so the families go inside one by one. They look at the bodies," Bodowsky said.

The first funerals for the victims were scheduled to begin later today for those families who have identified their loved ones.

"It was terrible inside. It was like one of those films of the Holocaust, bodies piled atop one another," police inspector Sandro Meinerz said Sunday. "We had to use trucks to remove them. It took about six hours to take the bodies away."

Investigators believe the blaze began when a band's small pyrotechnics show ignited foam sound insulating material on the ceiling, releasing a putrid haze that caused scores of people to choke to death.

Survivors and police inspector Marcelo Arigony said security guards briefly tried to block people from exiting the club in the mass confusion and chaos moments after the fire began.

But Arigony said the guards didn't appear to block fleeing patrons for long. "It was chaotic and it doesn't seem to have been done in bad faith because several security guards also died," he told the AP.

Police Maj. Bastianello told the AP by telephone the death toll was likely made worse because the nightclub appeared to have just one exit through which patrons could exit.

A security guard told the newspaper Diaro de Santa Maria that the club was filled to capacity, with 1,000 to 2,000 people inside.

Meanwhile, people outside tried to break through walls to get in to save those trapped inside.

Michele Pereira told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that she was near the stage when members of the band lit some sort of flare.

"The band that was onstage began to use flares and, suddenly, they stopped the show and pointed them upward," she said. "At that point, the ceiling caught fire. It was really weak, but in a matter of seconds it spread."

Guitarist Rodrigo Martins told Radio Gaucha that the band, Gurizada Fandangueira, started playing at 2:15 a.m. "and we had played around five songs when I looked up and noticed the roof was burning."

"It might have happened because of the Sputnik, the machine we use to create a luminous effect with sparks. It's harmless, we never had any trouble with it," he said. "When the fire started, a guard passed us a fire extinguisher, the singer tried to use it but it wasn't working."

He confirmed that accordion player Danilo Jacques, 28, died, while the five other members made it out safely.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who was attending a summit with European Union leaders and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States in Chile, cut her trip short and returned home to Brazil Sunday.

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