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Malaysia has declared a state of emergency in the country's south after choking smog from slash-and-burn agriculture in neighboring Indonesia enveloped the region.

Residents in Muar and Ledang districts of Johor state have been told to stay indoors. This comes after a similar order in Singapore last week.

Smog from Indonesia is a perennial problem in Malaysia and Singapore, but the pollution levels this year have hit record levels. The fires in Indonesia are set by palm oil producers clearing jungle for new planting.

Malaysian officials on Sunday said the Pollution Standards Index in Muar and Ledang had topped 700, more than twice the 300 level considered dangerous.

It's gotten to the point the smog has become a political and diplomatic issue, straining relations between Indonesia and its neighbors.

The BBC says:

"Schools in the region have been ordered to remain closed. Local authorities have distributed face masks to residents.

Even in Kuala Lumpur, where smog levels have so far remained moderate, visibility is now strongly reduced and the smell of thick smoke hangs in the air, correspondents say.

Kuala Lumpur resident Raj Ahmed told the BBC: 'You wake up in the morning and you can smell burnt wood - you look out the window and there is constant smog clouding the major landmarks that you would ordinarily see.

'If you go outside, it's like constantly standing close to a small barbecue.'"

Sen. Marco Rubio has a problem. He has transformed from conservative hero to suspect in the eyes of many on the political right because he now supports "a path to citizenship" for people unlawfully in the U.S. after forcefully opposing it in 2010 when he was running for U.S. Senate.

The senator from Florida, who's considered to be a potential Republican presidential candidate, has tried to gloss over the shift. Unfortunately, he's getting called on it. By Factcheck.org. And by many conservatives, like those who booed his name when it was mentioned at a Tea Party rally this week on Capitol Hill. Or Ann Coulter, who said Friday the Senate shouldn't take up immigration until it becomes a Rubio-free body. Former Republican Rep. Allen West is even saying he might give Rubio a primary challenge over his immigration shift.

If Rubio does decide to make the run for president, he will certainly be attacked not only as a flip-flopper but for supporting a policy that's anathema to many conservatives. So, what's a senator to do?

Rubio has a few options, though they all have risks. Here are some possible approaches:

The people made me do it: Rubio could always say he decided to change his position to more accurately reflect the desires of his Florida constituency.

A Quinnipiac University poll released this week indicated that 58 percent of those surveyed agreed with the "path to citizenship" approach while 12 percent said people in the U.S. unlawfully should be allowed to stay, but not given citizenship. Only 24 percent were of the deport or self-deport persuasion.

Even among Florida Republicans, nearly half, 47 percent, supported a citizenship path with 15 percent being willing to let those here unlawfully stay but without allowing them to become citizens.

So Rubio could say he's merely trying to more faithfully reflect the views of Floridians. Isn't that what a lawmaker is supposed to do in a representative democracy?

The downside: This approach could open Rubio up to criticism that he's led by the polls. And few politicians are willing to openly admit that polling impacts their policy positions.

I've seen the light: This is where Rubio could borrow a page from Abraham Lincoln. In his response to journalist Horace Greeley, who harassed the 16th president for not being all-in on abolition, Lincoln famously said: "I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views."

Rubio could do a Lincoln and say his 2010 position on providing a path to citizenship was one such error. As a Republican, he could even cite Lincoln, the first Republican president, with some justification.

The downside: By conceding he was wrong before, Rubio would also be saying that many conservatives who hold his former position are wrong now.

He's already angered many in the party, so why add even more? Telling the voters who make up your party's base that they've got the policy exactly backward is a sure way to invite a Senate primary challenge, not to mention damage your fortunes in Iowa and some other early presidential election states where the base is very conservative.

Stand put: Rubio could go with the status quo, whistling past the reality that he has dramatically changed his position on the path-to-citizenship concept. In other words, he could tough it out.

Mitt Romney proved you can get the GOP nomination even though you take a position during your presidential run (i.e., anti-individual mandates in health care) you once supported.

The downside: While Romney captured the nomination, even then many conservatives never truly trusted him. Rubio could face something similar. Tweets with "Rubio" and "traitor" and "RINO" are already popping up with regularity.

Also, Romney was able to finesse the issue by saying he was against big, bad federal mandates, not state ones. It's difficult to see how Rubio could do a Romney on this one. He can't resort to the federal-state differences when it comes to providing a path to citizenship.

Whichever path he takes, Rubio can be certain that he will continue to be hammered by conservatives who actually took his 2010 words at face value when he said he always had and always would oppose what they call "amnesty."

Partly based on that position, conservatives and the Tea Party helped put him in the Senate. The ones who feel burned seem determined to make sure they're not the only ones who get singed in the deal.

A shabby old fishing port on the South Coast of Massachusetts was once known as the City That Lit the World. Its whale oil powered candles and lamps around the country.

Now, the city is trying to rekindle that flame with an alternative form of energy: offshore wind.

A Distant History Of Wealth

New Bedford's glory days are long gone. The city suffers from a long list of woes — high crime, persistent unemployment and poor public schools.

For generations, the sea was New Bedford's lifeblood. Now, the water is still there, but the wealth is gone.

You can see just a glimmer of New Bedford's old opulence shining through its cobblestone streets and the whaling captains' old mansions.

"On the eve of the Civil War, New Bedford was the wealthiest city per capita in the United States," says Mayor Jon Mitchell. "New Bedford was to whaling what Detroit was to automobiles."

Striving For New Opportunities

On a chilly May morning, Mitchell joined state officials and local union representatives to break ground on the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal.

The port is being described as the first of its kind in the country — big enough to transport wind blades the length of a football field. Locals hope it will serve as the hub for the offshore wind industry and bring in jobs. New Bedford's current employment rate is among the worst in the state.

The Energy Department estimates that if the U.S. takes advantage of its wind potential by 2030, some 20,000 jobs could sprout up around the offshore wind industry.

A quarter of the nation's wind reserves lie just south of Martha's Vineyard, and New Bedford is the closest deep-water port. Mitchell says his city is sitting on the Saudi Arabia of wind.

"New Bedford is the biggest commercial fishing port in America," says Mitchell. "We know what we're doing out on the water."

Contagious Optimism

The mayor's optimism is rubbing off on Justin Silvia, who wakes up at 3:30 am to drive more than an hour to get to his job as a heavy equipment operator. He says he would love to find work closer to home so he could spend time with his three kids. He's trying to land himself a job on this port project.

"There's definitely a big buzz in the area as far as how many jobs it's going to create. I mean, the main focus is get as many New Bedford unemployed workers that are capable and trained properly," he says.

New Bedford is already working with Bristol Community College to secure grants that will train displaced workers.

Skepticism Remains — On The Water And Off

But not all of the folks on the water think offshore wind is the solution to all the city's troubles. Fishermen have been struggling to find work in recent years as the government declared certain waters off limits.

Tony Alvernaz is a fisherman in New Bedford. He wonders how fishermen will be able to navigate around giant wind turbines to find healthy fish.

"New Bedford has been a seafaring city for how many years, how many centuries? And so let's do away with that; let's bring on the wind farm. Is that the answer? I don't think so," he says.

Matt Kaplan, a wind analyst for IHS Emerging Energy Research in Cambridge, says it's a big bet. "Offshore wind will have to be tied to creating jobs in order to really be successful here because of the premium cost."

Kaplan says the problem is that no matter how strong the wind gusts blow, local utility companies have to be willing to pay a premium for pricey offshore wind energy. For now, there are federal subsidies that help nudge development along, but there is no guarantee that the government's helping hand will always be there.

Still, Kaplan said it helps that New Bedford is first in designing an offshore wind-friendly port.

"But whether that's going to make New Bedford the one-stop shop moving forward forever, for being the only port for offshore wind, I think it's a really tough call just because of the need to really create local jobs in each state that has one of these projects," Kaplan says.

Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid insist gun control legislation is not dead — they say they're strategizing on how to bring the issue back to the Senate floor.

Even if it does return, one proposal unlikely to survive is an assault-weapons ban. Military-style assault rifles now form a nearly $1 billion industry supported by gun owners who spend thousands of dollars collecting these firearms.

And while the gun-rights lobby keeps invoking the right of "self-defense" to defend Americans' right to buy these guns, home protection is low on the list of reasons gun enthusiasts keep buying military-style weapons.

'They Picture You As Some Kind Of Militant Freak'

There's a lot of name-calling in the gun control debate. Gun control advocates are slammed as the elitist, urban liberals who want to take everyone's guns away. Gun rights people are accused of being paranoid rednecks who think the government is out to get them. And then there are the special labels reserved for people who love their assault rifles.

"You know, they picture you as some kind of militant freak. And that's not me," says Mike Collins, who owns more than a dozen military-style rifles with his wife.

Collins wants you to understand something: He is a rational, intelligent, regular guy.

"I spent 27 years in the military," he says. "I defended this country all over the world. I've been in multiple combat tours. I'm not a nut. I'm not a crazy guy. I'm just a normal person who enjoys shooting."

And for Collins, target-practicing with an AR-15 is a hobby.

Next to Collins at the shooting range at Clark Brothers Gun Shop in Warrenton, Va., is Jason Glascock, who says if more Americans knew what it was like to shoot these weapons, they would see these guns can actually be good, clean fun.

"The AR — it's America's gun. It's what our troops carry. It's been our military firearm," Glascock says. "It's our, if you will, symbol around the world, this gun."

The fully automatic version of this gun — the M-16 — was introduced by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. The AR-15 is semiautomatic, which means you need to squeeze the trigger for each bullet.

Glascock was 3 years old when he started shooting a .22 caliber with his grandfather. By 5 years old, he moved on to shotguns. He started collecting military-style guns when he turned 18, and he just built an AR-15 for his 19-year-old son last Christmas.

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