Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

Houston was found unresponsive in her room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel Saturday afternoon.  Police say they found no obvious signs of criminal intent and are investigating the cause of death.

Some fans lit candles and others sang songs from the singer who provided the soundtrack to the lives of many who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s.

Two friends visiting from Chicago took the news hard.  Sue Doss says they have watched the singer's career highs and lows, and her struggle with drug abuse.

“I grew up with her, and I was just completely shocked because I was so happy when she turned her life around and got her life back on track and was making music again,"said Doss.  "And it's just very, very sad.”

Maya Pavliski fell in love with Houston's music as a child when she saw and heard the singer in the film The Bodyguard.  She says news of her death was not completely unexpected.

“We were surprised, but in a way we weren't because of the reputation she's had with her drug abuse for the last few years, and I was really hoping she was making progress but apparently not,” said Pavliski

Those who gathered here came to celebrate the singer and her music.  Rose Saleem is an immigrant from Guatemala who moved to the United States with her family as a child, when she discovered the songs of Whitney Houston.

“It was back in the 1980s, and all her songs are just memories and beautiful songs.  It's sad, it's really sad that she's gone," said Saleem.  "Too young, too.”

Two 18-year-old friends, Megan Budde and Emma Gines, also stopped to pay their respects.

Budde said, “She's so beautiful and I can't believe something like that would happen to her.  She's so young."

“She was a beautiful soul and it's so tragic that she died so young,” said Gines.

Daniel Davis also says he feels the loss of a talented singer that he grew up with.

“Celebrities are just reflections and mirrors of who we are and our collective dreams and aspirations, and so I think it really deeply affects us," said Davis. "We feel that sorrow on a personal level and kind of internalize it even though it's someone we've never known, but we feel like we've know them because of our shared experience.”

Music lover Michelle Grigsby says Whitney Houston was an inspiration.

“She had perfect pitch.  She was effortless.  She didn't even have to try.  And my heart goes out to her and her family.  I love her, and I hope her journey in the next world is going to be as much as she's given this planet,” said Grigsby.

The music industry will host its annual Grammy Awards Sunday, when fans can expect more tributes.  Industry legend Quincy Jones said in a statement that he is heartbroken at the loss of the singer, a six-time Grammy winner.

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Reactions to Houston's death continue to pour in, with legendary singer Tony Bennett telling CNN that Houston was the "greatest singer I ever heard."

Another legendary singer, Smokey Robinson, told the cable network, Houston was "one of the greatest singers to ever open her mouth."

Condolences and reactions from celebrities and everyday fans are also pouring in to social network sites.

Houston sold over 170 million albums and singles, making her one of the world's best-selling artists.  Her self-titled debut album, released in 1985, sold 25 million copies worldwide.

Her talent took her from music to movies, where she starred in hits like The Bodyguard and Waiting to Exhale.

In recent years, she struggled with drug and alcohol abuse.

She was married to singer Bobby Brown from 1992 to 2007.  They have a daughter.  Houston often blamed her troubled marriage on her husband, who was charged with domestic abuse in 1993.

Whitney Houston's musical prowess was not fluke. She was inspired by a host of singers, including her mother Cissy Houston, cousin Dionne Warwick, and Houston's godmother Aretha Franklin, who expressed shock at Whitney Houston's death.

Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP.

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The change of command ceremony for the U.S. Army corps in Europe last month had all the usual pomp and solemnity.  But the new commander knew that part of his job would be to cut his combat force in half.  The president's new defense strategy calls for removing two of the four U.S. Army combat brigades based in Europe.

With the U.S. defense budget being tightened, the plan is to focus on sea power and air capabilities that are more appropriate for the vast expanses of Asia and the Pacific Ocean, and on Special Forces for counter-terrorism missions.

The United States has gone to some lengths to reassure European allies that the U.S. commitment to their security remains strong. It will rotate troops through Europe for training, and it sent both Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to a security conference in Germany.

Secretary Panetta brought the same message to a defense ministers' meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels.  U.S. officials recognize there are still potential security threats in Europe, including Iran's missile and nuclear programs, but not the kind of threats that would likely require a response by ground forces.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says he is not concerned about the withdrawal of the two U.S. Army brigades.

But he told VOA European countries need to recognize the importance of the eastward shift of U.S. defense priorities.

"The U.S. defense strategy is a clear signal to European allies that they must take on proper parts of the responsibility for our common security," said Rasmussen.  "We operate against the backdrop of declining defense budgets because of economic austerity.  So we need to make more efficient use of resources through pooling and sharing of resources, through multinational cooperation instead of purely national solutions."

With the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan winding down over the next three years, the new defense strategy raises a different concern for one Brussels-based analyst.  Giles Merritt of the Security and Defense Agenda says European countries must ensure they still have influence in Washington, particularly regarding any future interventions like the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

"I think the Europeans see their interest as really remaining as close to the Americans as possible in order to be a restraining influence if nothing else," said Merritt.  "We must try and make U.S. decision-making much more multi-lateral than it has been."

The full impact of the shift of U.S. defense priorities toward Asia will not be felt for some years to come.  But it has European security officials and analysts thinking about and planning for a future in which their strongest ally, the United States, will increasingly be focusing elsewhere.

U.S. President Barack Obama is urging Congress to quickly approve a payroll tax cut extension for middle class workers to avert a tax hike at the end of the month.

During his weekly address Saturday, Obama encouraged citizens to contact their representatives to support the tax cuts for 160 million Americans.

The president says a family earning $50,000 could realize savings up to $1,000 a year with the tax cut extension.  President Obama says allowing a tax increase would represent self-inflicted wounds to the economic recovery.

In this week's Republican address, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell said he expects President Obama's budget being submitted to Congress Monday will contain tax increases that hurt job creation.  McDonnell also hailed what he says are the successes of Republican governors in lowering taxes and creating a climate to help businesses create new jobs.

_{Watch weekly Republican address:}

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.

U.S. President Barack Obama will welcome China’s Vice President Xi  Jinping to the White House on Tuesday.  Xi is expected to assume the presidency of China next year and the talks come amid major challenges in the U.S.-China relationship.

In Beijing, during the month of January, current and former U.S. and Chinese officials marked the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to China that paved the way for normal relations between the two countries.

Among those present was Vice President Xi Jinping, who provided a glimpse of the complex issues involved in Sino-American relations.

"We have maintained close dialogue in countering global challenges such as the international financial crisis and climate change, and dealing properly with regional hotspot issues, including the Korean Peninsula, the Iranian nuclear issue, the Middle East and South Asia," he said.  

Party chief

Xi is expected to become China’s Communist Party chief later this year and assume the country's presidency in 2013.   

He arrives at the White House about a year after a state visit by current Chinese president Hu Jintao.  In welcoming President Hu last year, President Obama emphasized the importance of cooperation between the Untied States and China.

"We have an enormous stake in each other’s success, in an interconnected world, in a global economy - nations, including our own, will be more prosperous and more secure when we work together," said Obama.

But there are major strains over trade and currency policy, human rights, Iran and North Korea.  China, along with Russia, recently vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria that Washington supported.

Trade

In his State of the Union Address last month, President Obama mentioned China when he vowed to crack down on unfair trade practices.

"The president is genuinely very angry at China's not playing by the rules, at domestic subsidies - all kinds of other things that put U.S. firms and other global firms at a disadvantage and work to China's unilateral advantage," said Kenneth Lieberthal, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at The Brookings Institution here in Washington.

Military presence

China is concerned about the United States enhancing its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, which is widely seen as a counterweight to growing Chinese assertiveness in the region.

David Lampton, head of the China Studies Program at The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, said Xi Jinping might offer further reassurances about China’s intentions when he visits the White House.

"I am fully confident after having just been in Beijing and talked to people there, they understand [that] alarming the rest of Asia is not good for them.  And I believe Vice President Xi's visit here in part is to reassure the world about the continuity that as Chinese power grows, it will not become more unreassuring and more threatening," said Lampton.

From Washington, Xi Jinping is expected to travel to the Midwestern state of Iowa and then to California before returning to China.

On Friday the president he has found a solution that will protect religious liberty but also ensure that women have access to free contraceptives.  

“No woman’s health should depend on who she is, or where she works, or how much money she makes," he said. "Every woman should be in control of the decisions that affect her own health. Period.”

The Obama administration’s health care reform act requires that employer insurance plans cover birth control. The rule exempts houses of worship, but religious-affiliated hospitals, universities and charities were not exempted.

That brought down strong criticism from the Roman Catholic Church, which objects to most birth control, and operates scores of universities, schools, hospitals and charities in the U.S.   

Women’s groups, liberal religious leaders and health advocates pressured Mr. Obama to stand firm.

The president also said that his revised plan still gives women free access to contraceptive services. However, he is putting the responsibility for providing those services on insurance companies instead.   

“But if a woman’s employer is a charity or a hospital that has a religious objection to providing contraceptive services as part of their health plan, the insurance company, not the hospital, not the charity, will be required to reach out and offer the woman contraceptive care free of charge.”

Although some opposition Republican politicians remained critical of the new rule as a violation of U.S. guarantees of religious freedom, the Catholic Health Association, which represents Catholic hospitals approved of the compromise. Planned Parenthood, a reproductive health charity, also endorsed it Friday.  

The administration says the new rule does not require doctors to prescribe, or women to use, any birth control method that violates their religious beliefs.

The uproar has been a growing political problem for Mr. Obama, nine months before the presidential election. Catholic groups and some Democrats had joined Republicans in their opposition to the three-week-old rule.

The administration had originally given itself a year to work out the details of birth control coverage, but decided to accelerate a resolution.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

Some information for this report was provided by AP.

The researchers estimate that any asteroid passing within about 160 million kilometers of Sagittarius-A likely would meet the gruesome fate of being torn apart and vaporized as it is pulled into the black hole's inescapable void. The friction that occurs during the violent vaporization process generates the flare.

The scientists say asteroids measuring at least 10 kilometers across would be large enough to cause the type of X-ray flares Chandra observed. The flares last for a few hours with a level of brightness that ranges from a few times to nearly 100 times greater than the black hole's regular output.

The University of Leicester scientists calculate the Sagittarius-A black hole probably has gobbled up trillions of asteroids during its 10-billion-year life span.  

The new study is published in the journal, Nature.

In general, astronomers believe there is a black hole at the center of almost all galaxies in the universe. These monstrous galactic phenomena - known as supermassive black holes - are many billions of times the mass of the Sun.

The gravity of any black hole is so strong that nothing can escape, not even light.

Giving up his job and home, he took his life savings and planned a trip around the world, beginning with war-ravaged Nepal.  

Once there, he began a three-month stint volunteering at an orphanage. Eighteen small children were living in the Little Princes Children's Home near Kathmandu. Grennan’s volunteer job was to take care of those children and teach them English.

“I was very worried about it because I never really spent much time with children before," Grennan says. "As soon as I got into that world, I really enjoyed it. We became very, very close by the end of my time there.” <!--IMAGE-LEFT-->

That’s why he decided to return to Nepal a year later in 2006, as the civil war ended.

Grennan soon discovered those little children were not orphans.

“All these children had parents," he says. "They weren't orphans at all. These children had been actually taken because their parents feared that they would be abducted by the rebels. Their parents had actually paid these traffickers not knowing that the traffickers intended to sell their children. They thought they would take their children to protect them.”

Instead, he says, the children were sold and then abandoned.

Grennan estimates about 15,000 children were affected by this problem. That prompted him to embark on another journey - reconnecting trafficked Nepalese children with their families.

He established a non-profit group, Next Generation Nepal, in Kathmandu, and says the group has reconnected 300 Nepalese children with their relatives .

Nancy Wong has been a volunteer there since last August. She left her life in the United States behind to help make a difference for trafficked children.

Reuniting the children with their families is a process.   

“The first step is rescuing these kids from exploitation and securing them into a transit home," Wong says. "We do that in partnership with the government of Nepal.”

The second step is searching for the biological family.

“One example is, recently we reconnected a girl who has been separated from her family since she was two," Wong says. "We had no name. We had no idea what part of Nepal she’s from. But our fantastic integration managers guessed from her facial features that she’s approximately from this area and they literally went from village to village, from bus stop to tea shop to tea shop to restaurants, asking for any clue. And we finally found her uncle.”

Even after lost children are reunited with their biological families, NGN continues to be involved, monitoring the children's progress, ensuring they are integrating well, are going to school and are not being exploited at home.

Grennan chronicles his Nepal experience in his memoir, "Little Princes." He says he wrote the book not only to help raise awareness about child trafficking, but also to show that anyone can make a difference.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

The socially conservative Santorum is campaigning Wednesday in Texas after winning Tuesday's caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado, and the primary in Missouri. The wins raise pressure on Romney and emphasize his struggle to gain the support of the conservative Republican base.

''Tonight was a victory for the voices of our party... conservatives and Tea Party people who are out there every single day and night in the vineyards building the conservative movement in this country... building the base of the Republican party... and building a voice for freedom in this land... thank you,'' said Santorum.

VOA's National Correspondent Jim Malone discusses the results:

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Tuesday's shake-up in the battle to take on Democratic U.S. President Barack Obama in November also dealt a blow to former House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich, who had previously been seen as the top alternative to Romney. Gingrich finished a distant third in Colorado and a distant fourth in Minnesota. He was not on the ballot in Missouri.

Gingrich is now focusing his attention on Ohio, which has begun early voting ahead of its primary on March 6, when about 10 states hold their nominating contests in an event known as "Super Tuesday."

Romney also is campaigning in a Super Tuesday state Wednesday, with events in Georgia. Despite his losses, Romney told a rally in Colorado Tuesday night that he still expects to be the Republican nominee.

"I want to congratulate Senator Santorum, wish him the very best, we will keep on campaigning down the road, but I expect to become our nominee with your help," said Romney.

Meanwhile, Texas Congressman Ron Paul celebrated his second place finish in Minnesota. Paul has no campaign events planned Wednesday.

With most of the Minnesota returns counted, Paul took 27 percent of the vote behind former Pennsylvania senator Santorum, who had 45 percent. Romney finished a distant third with 17 percent.

Santorum also pulled off an upset victory over Romney in the Colorado caucuses, winning more than 40 percent of the vote, compared to Romney's 35 percent.

The outcome was especially disappointing for Romney considering he won both Colorado and Minnesota in the 2008 Republican race.  

In the Missouri primary, with all the votes counted, Santorum won 55 percent of the vote, while Romney came in second with 25 percent and Paul finished third with 12 percent.

A total of 70 delegates are up for grabs in Colorado and Minnesota, although they will be awarded later at district and state conventions. Missouri's primary is non-binding, with no delegates at stake.

To be selected to face Obama in the November general election, a Republican needs to have the support of 1,144 delegates at the Republican nominating convention in Florida in August.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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Singing campfire songs has always been a big part of Girl Scouts.  It is a key component of the outdoor activities, like camping and hiking that are central to scouting.

Those are activities that Girl Scout Cassidy Lee Brookes, 10, of New Orleans likes.

"We go canoeing, we go camping, we do sing-alongs, we do all kinds of stuff," Brookes said.

Like all the scouts, Brookes wears a vest that is covered in badges she has earned by learning new skills.  One she earned for going on a camping trip.

"If you do camping you get badges and all kinds of stuff for cooking and cleaning, because you have to do everything on your own," Brookes added.  "You have to cook the food, you have to serve it.  So it is really fun."  

The scouting focus on the outdoors has remained for 100 years, but as women's role in society has changed, so too have the Girl Scouts.

Mania Gaver, 15, says scouting helps her get on the career ladder.

"It is giving us all of these different job options," said Gaver.  "To get patches you have to interview different people in different jobs, you can shadow like museum curators and stuff like that.  There are a lot of trips you can go on, service-wise and a lot of volunteer opportunities."

Juliette Gordon Low founded Girl Scouts in the U.S. in 1912, a few years after the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides organizations began in England.  Her goal was to help girls develop physically, mentally, and spiritually by bringing them out of isolated home environments and into community service and the open air.

Girl Scout Council chief executive Lidia Soto-Harmon says the founder faced many challenges.

"There were people that did not believe that girls should do anything more than learn how to bake and be at home, and here she was taking girls camping," noted Soto-Harmon.  "We have pictures of her with girls and machetes because when they would go camping, they really went out into the wilderness."

Soto-Harman says the development of Girl Scouts has not been easy, but she says despite the odds, the movement has survived and thrived.

Today more than 10 million girls participate in 145 countries from Argentina to Zambia.  There are 3 million girls and adult volunteers involved in Girl Scouts in the United States.

As Girl Scouts in the U.S. mark their 100th year, she says it is time to celebrate the past and look to the future.

"As we approach this 100th anniversary we are just bursting at the opportunity we have to really inspire a new generation of girls with the message of leadership, with the message of caring for the environment, with the message of being kind to others, respecting country.  These are values that we all share and that we need to celebrate," Soto-Harmon added.

She says there is a whole new century of Girl Scouts on its way.

The heady, early days of Egypt's Arab Spring blossomed in Tahrir Square in Cairo.

It's where thousands of Egyptians gathered daily - the square's wide expanse serving as a grand stage for the nation's democratic aspirations.

But as a new spring approaches, a new drama unfolds, just blocks away at the U.S. Embassy.

There several Americans are holed up, charged with undermining Egypt's democratic transition.

Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri defends the case against them, despite the risk of losing U.S. aid because of it. "Egypt will abide by the law and implement it. Egypt has known civilization for thousands of years, so it can never go back because there is or there is not aid," Mr. al-Ganzouri said.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Aaron Snipe says the Obama administration is deeply disappointed.

“The government of Egypt's decision to charge these Americans will have consequences. We think that we must remain engaged because we value this relationship with the Egyptian people and the Egyptian government. We've got differences, for sure, and there are some real challenges that we have got to overcome,” Snipe said.

Most of the Americans were in Cairo supporting an electoral process to choose new lawmakers following the uprising against Mr. Mubarak. U.S. officials say they were supporting elections, not specific candidates or parties.

But Egyptian Judge Sameh Abu Zaid says that's not true. "The activities were mainly political and concerned the training of political parties and rallying voters' support for one candidate or the other," Zaid said.

Prime Minister al-Ganzouri says the foreign groups interfered in Egyptian affairs. "What is happening has, to a great extent, a methodology, and there are those who are directing it, and I don't know why it is thus being directed. Is it for the purpose of toppling military rule? If so, what happens after that?," he said.

Brookings Institution visiting fellow Khaled elGindy says holdovers from the ousted Mubarark government are using the charges to distract from popular discontent in Cairo. “They have tried to pin the blame on outside influences, foreign agendas, and, basically, ginning up (creating) these conspiracy theories.  And so, over time, eventually they have had to put names and places on these conspiracy theories, and the convenient scapegoats are these NGOs, who, frankly, have been working in Egypt even before last year's uprising,” elGindy said.

U.S. officials say the case has broad implications for relations between Washington and Cairo - not only military assistance, but support for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks as well as efforts to end the violence in Syria.

Some information for this report was provided by AP.

Real picture

The criticism has come from U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis in an essay he wrote called Truth, Lies and Afghanistan: How Military Leaders Have Let Us Down, which appeared in the Armed Forces Journal - an independent publication on military affairs.

In it, Davis says his experiences in Afghanistan bore - in his words, "no resemblance to rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders about conditions on the ground."  He said he witnessed the absence of success at every level.  

U.S. officials say they have made significant progress against Taliban insurgents during the past year, and that well more than half of Afghanistan’s territory is under the control of Afghan security forces.

Opinions

At a Pentagon briefing Wednesday, the U.S. military’s number-two commander in Afghanistan Lieutenant General Curtis Scaparrotti answered Davis’ criticism, saying it was only one person’s opinion of the general situation.

“I am confident, in my personal view, that our outlook is accurate,” he said.

Scaparrotti says he does not doubt some of what Davis wrote, and he believes U.S. forces have work to do in training Afghan forces.

“These soldiers will fight, particularly at the company level," he said. "There is no question about that. They are going to be good enough as we build them to secure their country and to counter the insurgency that they are dealing with now. Will they be at the standard that we have for our soldiers? No. Not at least the conventional forces.”

Transition

Last week, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said U.S. forces would transition next year from a combat role to training Afghan soldiers and police. His remarks triggered criticism from some U.S. lawmakers who question whether Afghanistan is secure enough to begin that transition.

U.S. officials say Panetta’s statements did not deviate from previously set plans for a drawdown. They have faced further questions after the United nations reported last week that the number of civilian deaths in 2011 was the highest on record in the decade-long conflict, with 3,021 Afghan civilians killed as insurgents stepped up suicide and roadside bomb attacks.

In his remarks, Lieutenant General Scaparrotti said the U.S. military will start sending advisory teams this year to help Afghan forces take the lead in the fight against insurgents.  He said the aim is to give the Afghans enough to time to get trained before U.S. forces depart in 2014.

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To teach those students, Mr. Obama wants $80 million in the new government budget to train 100,000 new math and science teachers.

He also announced a $22 million initiative from private organizations and individuals to help train new instructors in science and math.

The president told the science fair participants they strengthen his faith in the country’s future.

“You guys inspire me," he said. "It is young people like you that make me so confident that America’s best days are still to come.”

The president is hoping that these young people and others like them can launch a return to America’s dominance of science and technology.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.