Rural California community on lockdown as killer sought

VALLEY SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) ? A region of oak-studded hills in California, where big-city dwellers come to get away from crime, was on lockdown Monday, two days after a mysterious intruder stabbed an 8-year-old girl to death at home before being spotted by her 12-year-old brother.

With the suspect still on the loose, some of the kids in this enclave nestled in the Sierra Nevada foothills were hunkering down after school at James Barci's ranch.

"Nobody is staying alone," said Barci, a truck driver and parent volunteer at Jenny Lind Elementary School, where victim Leila Fowler was a popular third-grader. "I told my work I'm not coming in, and I'm just going to have all of my kids' friends at the house until this is over."

The apparently random attack has the tightknit community on edge. Parents such as Barci spontaneously showed up Monday at the school of 500 students to give hugs or tie purple and pink ribbons ? Leila's favorite colors ? to trees on campus.

Later Monday, authorities identified the girl's parents while also saying a witness saw a person running from the family home that had a similar description of a man who fled from the home when the girl's brother confronted him.

In a hastily called news conference, Calaveras County sheriff's Capt. Jim Macedo identified the father of Leila Fowler as Barney Fowler and the mother as Krystal Walters.

The names of the parents hadn't previously been released.

As Macedo spoke, Fowler and Walters ? both solemn and declining to speak, and with Walters near tears at times ? stood in the background. Macedo said Leila's parents wanted to convey their requests that their privacy be respected, but also that a memorial fund had been set up for their daughter. A vigil is also planned for Tuesday night.

No suspects have been named, but officials said a second witness saw someone with a description similar to one provided by Leila's brother of a man who ran from the home when the boy confronted him.

Investigators have also checked registered sex offenders in the area and parolees.

In a pastoral place where fat horses swish their tails in knee-high grass and few people had ever bothered to lock their doors, residents now say their guns are loaded.

"My husband wanted me to put one in my car so I'd have it in my hand when I entered the house," Tabatha Camden said as she dropped off a neighbor's children at the school. "I drew the line at that. We've always had one gun loaded in the house at all times, but now we have four."

The sheriff's office has released little information about the killing other than a vague description of a man with long gray hair. Calaveras County Deputy Coroner Steve Moore said the girl died from multiple stab wounds.

The Fowler family's hillside street is blocked off as a crime scene, since nobody knows for sure how the intruder arrived or where he went.

Violent crime is so rare in the community of 7,400 people that even law enforcement officers have to stop and think when asked about the last time there was a stranger killing in the area.

"Probably five years ago was the last one I can remember," said Officer Rebecca Myers of the California Highway Patrol, who was assigned to block access to the neighborhood of one-acre ranchettes.

The killing of the little girl known for her sweet smile, generous hugs and friendly demeanor has hit the community hard. It's a place where parents read about tragedies in other places and give thanks that they live in Calaveras County, which makes the news only when the jumping frog contest celebrated by Mark Twain is taking place at the county fair.

"I don't know how our children are going to adjust to this," said Kathryn Danielli, who moved here from Stockton with her sixth-grade daughter to escape crime.

Danielli was among about 20 parents who drove their children to school then stayed to lend support. Sheriff's deputies patrolled the area and sheriff's volunteers stood guard at the entrance.

"Everybody up here who has kids moved up here because your kids can go outside and play," said Kim Hoeke, who moved from Antioch in the San Francisco Bay area seven years ago.

Calaveras Unified School District Superintendent Mark Campbell said at least two therapy dogs and 10 counselors were on hand for students, teachers and staff to guide them through the grieving process.

Campbell said he met with Leila's parents Monday when they came to the school to thank teachers and staff for the support they had offered.

The parents were at a Little League game at the time their daughter was attacked, Campbell said. Leila's brother found her and notified the father, who called 911 and went home, he said.

Part of the school-guided grieving process included classrooms taking turns writing notes to Leila and hanging them on the fence at the entrance to the school. They came in somber groups and attached their notes one by one.

"Dear Leila: You were a fun person and very smart. I enjoyed being around you every minute," one girl wrote.

"I know you are in heaven looking down at us but you will always be in my heart," wrote another.

Campbell said officers will have a presence at the school at until the case is resolved.

The suspect is the subject of a broad manhunt by the sheriff's departments of Calaveras and surrounding counties, the California Highway Patrol and the state Department of Justice. Sheriff's officials say investigators collected fingerprints and what they believe is DNA from the home on Sunday.

"Our normal has changed and we will move forth and heal by coming together, as we all are here today," said Linda Stoes, whose daughter dressed in purple Monday to honor her friend. "Our perspectives have changed forever."

___

AP writer Terry Collins contributed to this story from San Francisco.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rural-calif-community-lockdown-killer-sought-223919213.html

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Analysis: No good military options for U.S. in Syria

By Phil Stewart and Peter Apps

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite President Barack Obama's pledge that Syria's use of chemical weapons is a "game changer" for the United States, he is unlikely to turn to military options quickly and would want allies joining him in any intervention.

Possible military choices range from limited one-off missile strikes from ships - one of the less complicated scenarios - to bolder operations like carving out no-fly safe zones.

One of the most politically unpalatable possibilities envisions sending tens of thousands of U.S. forces to help secure Syrian chemical weapons.

Obama has so far opposed limited steps, like arming anti-government rebels, but pressure to deepen U.S. involvement in Syria's civil war has grown since Thursday's White House announcement that President Bashar al-Assad likely used chemical weapons.

After fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Pentagon is wary of U.S. involvement in Syria. The president's top uniformed military adviser, General Martin Dempsey, said last month he could not see a U.S. military option with an "understandable outcome" there.

"There's a lot of analysis to be done before reaching any major decisions that would push U.S. policy more in the direction of military options," a senior U.S. official told Reuters.

That caution is understandable, given the experience of Iraq where the United States went to war based on bad intelligence about weapons of mass destruction. The Pentagon has made repeated warnings of the enormous risks and limitations of using American military might in Syria's civil war.

STRIKES, NO-FLY ZONE

One form of military intervention that could to some extent limit U.S. and allied involvement in Syria's war would be one-off strikes on pro-Assad forces or infrastructure tied to chemical weapons use. Given Syria's air defenses, planners may choose to fire missiles from ships at sea.

"The most proportional response (to limited chemical weapons use) would be a strike on the units responsible, whether artillery or airfields," said Jeffrey White, a former senior official at the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency and a Middle East expert who is now a defense fellow at the Washington Institute For Near East Policy.

"It would demonstrate to Assad that there is a cost to using these weapons - the problem so far is that there's been no cost to the regime from their actions."

It is not clear how the Syrian government would respond and if it would try to retaliate militarily against the U.S. forces in the region. U.S. military involvement would also upset Russia which has a naval facility on Syria's Mediterranean coast.

Another option that the Pentagon has examined involves the creation, ostensibly in support of Turkey and Jordan, of humanitarian safe areas that would also be no-fly zones off limits to the Syrian air force - an option favored by lawmakers including Senator John McCain of Arizona.

This would involve taking down Syrian air defenses and destroying Syrian artillery from a certain distance beyond those zones, to protect them from incoming fire.

Advocates, including in Congress, say a safe zone inside Syria along the Turkish border, for example, would give needed space for rebels and allow the West to increase support for those anti-Assad forces it can vet.

Still, as officials, including Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, have warned, once established, a safe zone would tie the United States more closely to Syria's messy conflict. Assad would almost certainly react.

"Once you set up a military no-fly zone or safe zone, you're on a slippery slope, mission creep and before you know it, you have boots on the ground," said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst and Middle East expert at the Brookings Institution.

"Or you end up like Libya where you don't really have a control mechanism for the end-game, should you end up with chaos."

The U.S. military has also completed planning for going into Syria and securing its chemical weapons under different scenarios, including one in which Assad falls from power and his forces disintegrate, leaving weapons sites vulnerable to pillaging.

The U.S. fears anti-Assad Islamist rebels affiliated to al Qaeda could grab the chemical weapons but a U.S. intervention into Syria to get the arms would require tens of thousands of American troops.

Asked if he was confident the U.S. military could secure Syria's chemical weapons stock, Dempsey told Congress: "Not as I sit here today simply because they have been moving it and the number of sites is quite numerous."

IS THERE A WILLING COALITION?

Obama said on Friday that he would seek to mobilize the international community around Syria, as he attempts to determine whether pro-Assad forces used chemical weapons.

British and French officials have long made it clear their countries might be willing to join in any U.S.-led action under the right circumstances.

But Hagel warned last week that "no international or regional consensus on supporting armed intervention now exists." Once a fervent advocate of foreign intervention in Syria, Turkey has grown frustrated with the fractured opposition to Assad and with international disunity.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has ruled out Western military intervention and U.S. Admiral James Stavridis, NATO's supreme allied commander, cautioned last month that the alliance would need agreement in the region and among NATO members as well as a U.N. Security Council resolution - something that looks unlikely given probable opposition from Russia and China.

The Pentagon has focused over the past year on synchronizing defense planning on Syria, including with Britain, France and Canada.

It is also enhancing its military presence in Jordan by ordering some 200 Army planners into Jordan to focus on Syria scenarios. That would be a better group to coordinate any military or humanitarian action than the ad-hoc U.S. military team previously in Jordan.

Obama met Jordan's King Abdullah at the White House on Friday and Hagel traveled to Jordan this week, as well as to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

"It seems increasingly clear that the Obama administration is feeling pressure to act," said Mona Yacoubian, a former State Department official and now a Syria expert at the Stimson Center in Washington.

"But they will likely seek two things: conclusive evidence and multilateral support/participation in whatever action (they) choose, which I think would be limited, targeted air strike."

(Editing by Alistair Bell and Sandra Maler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-no-good-military-options-u-syria-194944588.html

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Lawmaker: FBI checking training angle in bombing

FILE - In this Saturday, April 27, 2013 file photo, visitors pause at a makeshift memorial in Copley Square for victims of the Boston Marathon bombings, in Boston. Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, says he believes the Boston Marathon bombing suspects had some training in carrying out their attack. McCaul is citing the type of device used in the attack, the shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs, and the weapons' sophistication as signs of training. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, April 27, 2013 file photo, visitors pause at a makeshift memorial in Copley Square for victims of the Boston Marathon bombings, in Boston. Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, says he believes the Boston Marathon bombing suspects had some training in carrying out their attack. McCaul is citing the type of device used in the attack, the shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs, and the weapons' sophistication as signs of training. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010 file photo, House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct ranking member Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, arrives for a closed door executive session on Capitol Hill in Washington. McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, says he believes the Boston Marathon bombing suspects had some training in carrying out their attack. McCaul is citing the type of device used in the attack, the shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs, and the weapons' sophistication as signs of training. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

FILE - This file image from a Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security joint bulletin issued to law enforcement and obtained by The Associated Press, shows the remains of a pressure cooker that the FBI says was part of one of the bombs that exploded during the Boston Marathon. Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, says he believes the Boston Marathon bombing suspects had some training in carrying out their attack. McCaul is citing the type of device used in the attack, the shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs, and the weapons' sophistication as signs of training. (AP Photo/FBI, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said Sunday that the FBI is investigating in the United States and overseas to determine whether the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing received training that helped them carry out the attack.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is charged with joining with his older brother, Tamerlan, who's now dead, in setting off the shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs. The bombs were triggered by a remote detonator of the kind used in remote-control toys, U.S. officials have said.

U.S. officials investigating the bombings have told The Associated Press that so far there is no evidence to date of a wider plot, including training, direction or funding for the attacks.

A criminal complaint outlining federal charges against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev described him as holding a cellphone in his hand minutes before the first explosion.

The brothers are ethnic Chechens from Russia who came to the United States about a decade ago with their parents.

"I think given the level of sophistication of this device, the fact that the pressure cooker is a signature device that goes back to Pakistan, Afghanistan, leads me to believe ? and the way they handled these devices and the tradecraft ? ... that there was a trainer and the question is where is that trainer or trainers," said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, on "Fox News Sunday."

"Are they overseas in the Chechen region or are they in the United States?" McCaul said. "In my conversations with the FBI, that's the big question. They've casted a wide net both overseas and in the United States to find out where this person is. But I think the experts all agree that there is someone who did train these two individuals."

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said he thought it's "probably true" that the attack was not linked to a major group. But, he told CNN's "State of the Union," that there "may have been radicalizing influences" in the U.S. or abroad. "It does look like a lot of radicalization was self-radicalization online, but we don't know the full answers yet."

On ABC's "This Week," moderator George Stephanopoulos raised the question to the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee about FBI suspicions that the brothers had help in getting the bombs together.

"Absolutely, and not only that, but in the self-radicalization process, you still need outside affirmation," responded Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.

"We still have persons of interest that we're working to find and identify and have conversations with," he added.

At this point in the investigation, however, Sen. Claire McCaskill said there was no evidence that the brothers "were part of a larger organization, that they were, in fact, part of some kind of terror cell or any kind of direction."

The Missouri Democrat, who's on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told CBS' "Face the Nation" that "it appears, at this point, based on the evidence, that it's the two of them."

Homemade bombs built from pressure cookers have been a frequent weapon of militants in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen once published an online manual on how to make one.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was an ardent reader of jihadist websites and extremist propaganda, officials have said. He frequently looked at extremist sites, including Inspire magazine, an English-language online publication produced by al-Qaida's Yemen affiliate.

In recent years, two would-be U.S. attackers reported receiving bomb-making training from foreign groups but failed to set off the explosives.

A Nigerian man was given a mandatory life sentence for trying to blow up a packed jetliner on Christmas Day 2009 with a bomb sewn into his underwear. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had tried to set off the bomb minutes before the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight landed.

The device didn't work as planned, but it still produced smoke, flame and panic. He told authorities that he trained in Yemen under the eye of Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical American-born cleric and one of the best-known al-Qaida figures.

A U.S. drone strike in Yemen killed al-Awlaki in 2011.

In 2010, a Pakistani immigrant who tried to detonate a car bomb in New York's Times Square also received a life sentence. Faisal Shazad said the Pakistan Taliban provided him with more than $15,000 and five days of explosives training.

The bomb was made of fireworks fertilizer, propane tanks and gasoline canisters. Explosives experts said the fertilizer wasn't the right grade and the fireworks weren't powerful enough to set off the intended chain reaction.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-28-Boston%20Marathon-Congress/id-8a6376da8014442fa115039bb649d7bc

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Dot Earth Blog: An Earth Scientist Explores the Biggest Climate Threat: Fear

Here?s a ?Your Dot? contribution pushing back against apocalyptic depictions of the collision between humans and the climate system ? written by Peter B. Kelemen, the Arthur D. Storke Professor and vice chair in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University. Keleman has done a lot of interesting work on possible ways to capture carbon dioxide from air (none being easy or cheap):

Fear Itself

?We already know it is too late to reverse the planet?s transformation, and we know what is going to happen next ? superstorms, super-droughts, super-pandemics, massive population displacement, water scarcity, desertification and all the rest. Massive destruction, displacement and despair. Our worst fears are already upon us. The reality is far worse than anyone has imagined.?

These phrases are distilled from ?Writing at the End,? an essay by Nathaniel Rich in Sunday?s New York Times Book Review. They capture its doomsday ethos, and its breathtaking certainty. Rich, a novelist, is sure he knows the causes of our present ills, and the nature of the near future. He probably feels that he learned this from the 98 percent of climate scientists who ? famously ? agree on some things. I am part of that community; we agree that human greenhouse gas emissions are having a huge, negative effect on global climate. But I don?t agree with Nathaniel Rich.

Apocalyptic warnings sell newspapers, power Web sites, and are surprisingly good for marketing. Beyond the media, in the sciences and social sciences, if your research predicts a scary outcome, your name gets in the news, your grants get funded, and you feel like Paul Revere (though you might be Chicken Little). It?s a heady experience.

Meanwhile, my children are fearful of, and almost paralyzed by, the prospect of an inevitable, dystopian future. They would like to contribute to avoiding calamity, but they don?t see where to start, and they are told it is too late to begin. And my children are lucky, in a stable home, among the 3 percent, talented, athletic, well educated. In the face of an overarching climate of fear, people with less opportunity find there is nothing they can do to help avoid ?destruction, displacement and despair.?

However, climate catastrophe is not inevitable, let alone irreversible. Of course, it could happen. It is logical to expect that, as atmospheric greenhouse gases increase and the world warms up, the extra energy in the atmosphere and oceans will move things around in unusual ways for which we are not prepared. The costs will likely be very high. We should work to avoid this, for simple, practical reasons.? Avoiding emissions now will be far less expensive than capturing carbon dioxide from air in the future. But the future is unpredictable, our mistakes are correctable, and there is plenty of reason for optimism about what people can accomplish in the face of necessity.

Throughout the past 10 to 20 years, despite many obstacles, worldwide wind and solar energy generation have grown exponentially, at more than 24 and 33 percent per year, respectively. They still constitute a small share of total energy production ? not surprisingly, since they still cost more than other sources. A carbon tax would help to even the playing field, factoring in the likely damage due to greenhouse gas emissions. This is overdue. But my point here is that, despite the obstacles, some segments of society are sufficiently farsighted to invest in the future, even at a present-day premium. It is happening.

The current boom in natural gas production, based on hydraulic fracture, is fiercely opposed by many environmentalists. It?s true that low gas prices are endangering segments of the renewable power industry in the United States. Carbon dioxide emissions from burning gas are a fraction of those from coal combustion, but gas wells and pipelines leak, so it?s not clear whether switching to gas really reduces greenhouse emissions. However ? even including the cost of carbon capture and storage ? the U.S. Energy Information Administration?s 2012 Annual Energy Outlook predicts that five years from now gas-fired power will be less expensive than wind, and about half the cost of state-of-the-art solar power. [All the reports are here.]

Gas-fired power plants are a nimble addition to the overall energy grid. They are relatively easy to switch on and off, compensating for asynchronous variation in wind speed and sunlight on the one hand, and power consumption on the other. And the increasing supply of home-grown hydrocarbons is changing the global strategic picture in positive ways. All of these topics are debatable, but it is wrong to portray the discussion as a contest between good and evil, or assert that the pro-gas path will inevitably lead to disaster. No one can know all the answers.

In coming years there will be plenty of big storms and deep droughts. They will come in unpredictable clumps, like the giant earthquakes that have been unusually frequent in the past decade. In the midst of this natural chaos, it is hard to discern whether the long-term frequency of destructive events is really increasing or not, and why. In the popular imagination, especially in this country, when something bad happens, someone is always to blame. But in the real world, stuff happens.

Over time, we will find out what will happen. As the costs and dangers of present trends become clear, people will react. Virtually the entire oil and gas industry was built in a century. Half of it has been constructed since 1980. Think of what we, and our children, can accomplish in the next century, starting with the next 30 years. I am optimistic about this. Climate, energy, and resource problems have solutions, and we can solve them when we muster the resolve to do so. This requires a costly commitment, which will only be made if most people believe a positive outcome is both attainable and worthwhile.

Therefore, the climate that worries me most is the climate of fear, the belief that our current trajectory leads inevitably to total disaster. This belief discourages constructive action, and can result in irrational acts by people in despair, individually, or as nations, willing to do anything to derail the juggernaut we are told is carrying us, inevitably, to destruction. Unlike environmental problems, it is less clear to me how we change this. But at least, those of us in science, social science and the media can seek to craft solutions and enlist engagement, rather than feeding fear. With hope comes action.

Source: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/27/an-earth-scientist-explores-the-biggest-climate-threat-fear/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Loughash Stock-judging event raises ?5,300 for Alzheimer's Society ...

Published 26 April 2013

The recent fifth annual charity stock-judging contest at Loughash Farm, Donemana was a huge success. Not only for local farming but also two local charities who help people to live well with dementia.

More than 250 farmers attended the stock-judging and social event on Saturday 16 February organised by the Harkin Brothers at their farm near Donemana.? Altogether the event raised a fantastic total of ?5,300 for Alzheimer's Society and a further ?2,000 for Altnagelvin Dementia Care. Thomas Harkin revealed that the annual charity contests have raised over ?30,000 to date. Thomas said;

'We chose dementia this year as so many people have a loved one with dementia or are being diagnosed themselves.? It is so important that every opportunity is taken to improve dementia care and support people to live well with dementia.? I would like to thank all those who made donations on the day and our sponsor RES (Renewable Energy Company) who donated ?1,000 to be shared between the two charities.'

Heather Lundy, Alzheimer's Society Community Fundraiser South & West said;

'We are extremely grateful to Thomas and the Harkin family, local farming community, supporters and sponsor RES for their generous support of Alzheimer's Society. As a charity, we rely on the generosity of individuals and communities across Northern Ireland to help us support people to live well with dementia today and fund research to find a cure for tomorrow.'

Pictured: Thomas Harkin and Heather Lundy

In Foyle anyone living with dementia, their carers and family can access support, please contact Micheal McIvor, Dementia Support Worker on 028 7134 8887.

If you're interested in fundraising in your local community then please call 028 9038 7774 or nifundraising@alzheimers.org.uk.?

Source: http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/news_article.php?newsID=1561

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NASA mission to study what disrupts radio waves

Apr. 26, 2013 ? A NASA-funded sounding rocket mission will launch from an atoll in the Pacific in the next few weeks to help scientists better understand and predict the electrical storms in Earth's upper atmosphere These storms can interfere with satellite communication and global positioning signals.

The mission, called EVEX, for the Equatorial Vortex Experiment, will launch two rockets for a twelve-minute journey through the equatorial ionosphere above the South Pacific. The launch window for the mission from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands is from April 27 to May 10, 2013.

The ionosphere is a crucial layer of charged particles surrounding our planet. This layer serves as the medium through which high frequency radio waves -- such as those sent down to the ground by global positioning system (GPS) satellites or, indeed, any satellite communicating with Earth -- travel. The ionosphere begins about 60 miles above the ground and is filled with electrons and ions, alongside the more familiar extension of our electrically neutral atmosphere. Governed by Earth's magnetic field, high-altitude winds, and incoming material and energy from the sun, the ionosphere can be calm in certain places or times of day, and quite turbulent at others.

This area of the ionosphere is known for calm days and tempestuous nights, times when the ionosphere becomes rippled like a funhouse mirror, disturbing radio signals, and introducing GPS errors of a half mile or more. The two rockets will measure events in two separate regions of the ionosphere to see how they work together to drive the ionosphere from placid and smooth to violently disturbed. Such information could ultimately lead to the ability to accurately forecast this important aspect of space weather.

"We're looking at the two highest regions of the equatorial ionosphere, called the E- and F- regions," says Erhan Kudeki, the principal investigator for the mission at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. "Violent ionospheric storms can occur in the equatorial F-region a few hours after sunset and if we can better understand what causes these storms, we'll be able to better mitigate their effects on communication and navigation systems."

The mission team will wait for the first signs of turbulence developing before launching both rockets. The research goal is to study whether turbulence at sunset in the E-region of the ionosphere could serve as a warning of storms in the higher F-region an hour or two later, so the team plans to launch on an evening when ground based radar shows the necessary turbulence in the E-region.

When the conditions are just right, the team will launch a rocket to travel up to a height of 220 miles. They will launch the second rocket two minutes later that will travel up to 120 miles. By staggering the timing of the launches, the two rockets will be able to gather data simultaneously at two altitudes through the ionosphere as they travel their independent trajectories. Before they splash down into the ocean, the two rockets will record data about the electric fields and the density of the charged particles in the region.

Each rocket will also release a stream of lithium or trimethylaluminum (TMA) that can be seen from the ground. When TMA is exposed to the air it turns into aluminum oxide, carbon dioxide and water vapor, all three of which occur naturally in the atmosphere Groups of scientists at various locations on the atoll will observe the lithium and TMA as it blows in the wind. Together, the observations can be triangulated to show how the neutral wind moved during the flight.

"Neutral winds are one of the hardest things to study," says Doug Rowland, an EVEX team member at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "One can't physically see the wind, and it is difficult to measure from the ground, so we use the TMA as a tracer."

The neutral winds are believed to be an important part of what causes the ionosphere storms. A mission called EQUIS-2 (Equatorial Ionospheric Study) held in Kwajalein in 2004, gathered data that hinted at a correlation between these neutral winds and the upper ionosphere. The theory is that near sunset, strong eastward neutral winds through the F-region, which begins at 120 miles up, may cause fine scale turbulence in the E-region as well as a strong current and vortex-like circulation in the F-region, leading one to two hours later to a kind of ionospheric storm called "spread F." The movement of spread F throughout the charged ionosphere involves bubbles of material rising up through the atmosphere, not unlike the way colored blobs move upward through a lava lamp due to differences in heat and density.

It is just these moving blobs that can disrupt communications from satellites, so scientists would like to find a simple advance warning in the atmosphere that can be detected from the ground. Vortexes in the E-region can be spotted with the radar and could serve as an efficient telltale for radio-disturbing turbulence above -- if observations from a mission like EVEX show that they are, in fact, correlated. "Using radar and sounding rockets simultaneously as in this mission is the only way to gather complete information needed to understand the conjectured couplings of perturbations in these two regions of the equatorial ionosphere," says Kudecki. "There are plenty of radar data about these types of ionospheric storms, but the additional in-situ data to be provided by the EVEX rockets will be crucial in sorting out which theoretical models work best to explain what is really going on during these ionospheric storms."

With two sounding rockets, a multitude of ground radar sites, and instruments to measure a suite of information about both charged and neutral particles, scientists using EVEX data will be able to study the equatorial ionosphere as a system -- understanding how one characteristic effects another -- in a way that has never been done before.

To find out more about NASA's sounding rocket missions, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sounding-rockets/

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/UOAsEojbr4c/130426115659.htm

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ZTE's 2013 Q1 sees profits of $33 million despite three percent sales slide

ZTE has managed to break a run of two straight quarterly losses by posting a net profit of $33 million in its first 2013 financials. Unfortunately, the extra cash has come from selling a $133 million stake in surveillance firm Shenzhen ZNV, rather than any surge in handset popularity. A three percent fall in sales, project holdups, and squeezed margins have all helped to heap woes onto ZTE's plate -- not to mention the ongoing hostility from the folks in Congress.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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Source: Bloomberg

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/26/zte-2013-q1/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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NYC subway wireless goes live in 30 stations, Sprint and Verizon signing on soon

Wireless access in New York City's subway system has so far been limited, at best: two GSM carriers, one WiFi provider and six stations does not a full network make. Coverage is getting much wider, however, as Transit Wireless just flicked on access in 30 extra stations. While cellular service with this batch is still limited to AT&T and T-Mobile for now, it reaches a much wider swath of Manhattan that includes Times Square, Rockefeller Center and the Museum of Natural History. Those on CDMA carriers also won't be left hanging for long -- both Sprint and Verizon have nearly finished making deals to join the project, with Sprint aiming for service later this year. Although the deployment still leaves big holes in carrier support and geographic reach, it's a big leap for travelers with an urge to stay online while underground.

[Image credit: Retromoderns, Flickr]

Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation, Wireless, Networking, Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile

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Via: The Verge

Source: Governor Cuomo

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/25/nyc-subway-wireless-goes-live-in-30-new-stations/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Lebanon dragged in as Hezbollah joins Syria war

By Oliver Holmes

BAALBEK, Lebanon (Reuters) - Along north Lebanon's highways, the portraits of Hezbollah militants who have died in skirmishes with Israel are fading. But there are glistening photos of those killed in Hezbollah's new fight.

These men died in Syria, battling alongside the army of Hezbollah's close ally President Bashar al-Assad against rebel units in a conflict which has killed more than 70,000 people and risks reigniting Lebanon's 15-year sectarian civil war.

The Shi'ite Muslim group, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, is the most effective military body in Lebanon and its growing involvement in Syria's quagmire has angered Lebanese Sunni rebel sympathizers.

The Hezbollah stronghold of Baalbek, famed for its colossal Roman ruins, now feels like a garrison town. Hezbollah men in military fatigues and police outfits are everywhere. As are Jeeps and Chevrolets with blacked-out windows - the group's vehicles of choice.

On Wednesday afternoon, machine gun fire rang out through Baalbek's narrow streets, signaling the arrival of another dead Hezbollah fighter from Syria, 12 km (7 miles) to the east.

Around 30 of his comrades quickly aligned in the street and straightened their green berets, readying themselves to carry the corpse on their shoulders.

"We have one or two of these funerals every day in Baalbek," said a young electronics shopkeeper, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue.

A Hezbollah policeman in a polyester blue shirt told Reuters not to film the public funeral. "There are five or six Hezbollah martyrs every day from northern Lebanon," he said quietly, ushering the car away.

AN OPEN SECRET

Lebanon endured a military presence by its historically dominant neighbor for 29 years until 2005 and has tried to maintain a policy of "dissociation" from Syria's once-peaceful uprising against four decades of family rule that turned violent after Assad's men killed and arrested thousands.

But insulating Lebanon's four million people from Syria proved impossible; refugees flooded in, Sunni villagers along the border began giving shelter, food and medical care to Syrian rebels and rebel supporters in Lebanon sent guns and fighters across the border to fight Assad's troops.

With no command structure, how many is hard to establish, but 12 Lebanese gunmen were killed by the Syrian army near Homs in November and residents in the Lebanese coastal town of Tripoli, where Sunnis sporadically clash with Alawites, say some local Sunnis fight in Syria, too.

Assad has told Lebanon, where power is distributed between Sunni Muslims, Maronite Christians and Shi'ite Muslims, it must help him fight what he calls "foreign-backed terrorist groups".

His men have regularly fired mortars into Lebanon and occasionally entered in pursuit of fleeing Syrian rebels.

Hezbollah, which was formed as a resistance group to the Israeli occupation during Lebanon's own civil war between 1975 and 1990, has been called in to help.

It maintains that it is keeping its weapons and huge missile caches to defend the country, but fighting a foreign war has stretched the definition of the group's mandate, angering those Lebanese who want to distance the country from Syria.

Officially, Hezbollah denies fighting in Syria. Asked about the latest escalation in the border area, Ibrahim Mussawi, Hezbollah's media relations officer, said: "For two years it has been our official policy not to comment."

But the secret is an open one. Michael Young, an opinion writer for the Beirut-based Daily Star, said in a column on Thursday that the pressure is likely coming from Shi'ite Iran, Hezbollah's main financier and supporter of Assad, who is himself an Alawite, an offshoot of Shi'ism.

"Hezbollah's becoming cannon fodder for the Syrian regime, at Iran's request, is not something the party must relish," he wrote. "There is a price to pay for Hezbollah's pushing the boundaries of Lebanon's sectarian system to its limits. And this price may be the party's gradual destruction, or worse, a Lebanese sectarian civil war."

Late on Wednesday, prominent Syrian opposition figure Moaz Alkhatib issued a direct appeal to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to withdraw fighters from Syria to prevent sectarian war engulfing the Middle East.

"The blood of your sons in Lebanon should not be spilled fighting our oppressed sons in Syria," Alkhatib said in a video message, following days of heavy fighting in Syria's Homs border province where rebels say Hezbollah is most active.

"Hezbollah's intervention in Syria has complicated matters greatly," he said.

Alkhatib, a Sunni former preacher in Damascus, said Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims had to overcome "a thousand years of strife" between their communities, or risk an explosion of sectarian conflict reaching from Syria and Lebanon to Turkey and Iran.

But already there have been calls to arms by influential Sunni Muslim preachers in Lebanon against Hezbollah, the "Party of God", risking a return to Lebanese bloodshed.

One of the most outspoken, Ahmad al-Assir, urged his supporters to fight Hezbollah inside Syria to help rebel groups, many of whom are hardline Islamist.

And on Saturday, Syria's al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra front broadcast a statement on the opposition Orient Television, saying rebel brigades would "move the battle into Lebanon" if the Hezbollah-backed offensive in Homs continued.

The statement said rebels would use tanks and missiles to hit Baalbek and move fighters into Lebanese territory to attack Hezbollah there.

SYRIAN REBEL HATRED

Over the past two weeks, eight Grad rockets have landed in Shi'ite Hermel, a sprawling agricultural town of around 100,000 next to the Orontes river on Lebanon's border with Syria and about 45 km (28 miles) north of Baalbek.

One empty building was hit along Hermel's main thoroughfare, leaving a meter-wide hole. Another hit a house next to an orphanage further into the town and shrapnel pock-marked a nearby house. None have caused injuries, yet.

The mayor of Hermel, Hajj Saqr, said the missiles were fired by Syrian rebels, or as he calls them: "terrorists".

"If (the rebels) want change, then why do they fire into Lebanon?" he asked, saying Hermel has taken in 4,000 Syrian refugee families and helped the wounded.

"If the terrorists continue to attack and enter Lebanon, then we will protect ourselves," he said.

Saqr denied that men from his pro-Hezbollah town are making the 10 km (six mile) trip north to fight in Syria.

He said only that Lebanese citizens living just within Syria have set up their own civilian militia to protect themselves. Hezbollah also says its members in Lebanese-populated villages in Syria are "defending themselves."

But further up the road to Syria, lined with pictures of Assad and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, there is an evident military buildup. Hezbollah fighters are everywhere, some carrying big bags and walking north.

The group's private ambulance service runs back and forth across the Orontes. And as frogs croak by the river, a Syrian air force jet briefly enters Lebanese airspace before banking sharply and releasing two bombs on a town over the border.

(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lebanon-dragged-hezbollah-joins-syria-war-071508597.html

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Apple has space for 150 student scholarships at WWDC

If you're a student 13 years or older and you can't pony up the $1,599 for the standard registration fee for WWDC, fret not - Apple is once again offering student scholarships. This year they've set aside up to 150 tickets for aspiring student developers who want to come. (Getting to San Francisco and finding a place to stay is still up to you, though.)

To apply, you have to meet the eligibility requirements, so make sure to visit Apple's web site to make sure. Then you have to create an app that "should highlight development projects you?ve worked on, your educational and professional background, technical skills, and interests." The app can run on either iOS or OS X.

Apple will accept submissions from April 29th to May 2nd, so you don't have much time to get your app together. So put your nose to the grindstone and get going!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/tm9aydPVNPo/story01.htm

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Country Star Dierks Bentley & Wife Cassidy Expecting Baby #3

Country Star Dierks Bentley & Wife Cassidy Expecting Baby #3

Dierks Bentley is expanding his family! The Award-winning country star and his wife, Cassidy Black, are expecting their third child this fall. The 37-year-old country singer announced their baby news on Twitter Apr. 24. Bentley tweeted, “So my wife and I will be changing our family defensive strategy come the fall. Switching from man-to-man to ...

Country Star Dierks Bentley & Wife Cassidy Expecting Baby #3 Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/04/country-star-dierks-bentley-wife-cassidy-expecting-baby-3/

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The Real Instruction Manual For Your Shared Office Printer

Working in an office with other people is fraught with all kinds of tensions and politics*, but there is nothing more divisive than the humble shared printer. Here's the instruction manual they forgot to include in the box that behemoth of a color laser arrived in. [PHD Comics] More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/uIRRCCl3Bxs/the-real-instruction-manual-for-your-shared-office-printer

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Oh The Horror! Famished Silly Putty Devours Innocent Magnets

If you're old enough to remember the movie The Blob, starring a gelatinous, oozing menace that gooped its way across floors, slid under doors, attached itself to an exposed foot, hand, arm and then devoured its screaming victim without making even a swallowing sound ... If you liked The Blob, then feast your eyes on this: Joey Shanks' Killer Silly Putty ... It's real ? and it eats magnets! (You don't have to watch the whole thing to get the idea ...)

Well, let's say it "swallows" magnets. What you have here is, in fact, Silly Putty, but doctored with a healthy sprinkling of mixed iron oxide powder. Iron, as you know, likes magnets. Iron and magnets attract. So when Joey Shanks who runs a production company in Chapel Hill was making this for Scott Lawson's YouTube Science and Engineering Channel he put a boron neodymium magnet next to the iron-rich Silly Putty. The magnet and the iron bits couldn't resist each other, and because Silly Putty is a fluid, it pretty much flows over the magnet and appears to "swallow it."

In real life, it does this rather slowly, taking a half hour, sometimes more, but Joey sped up the footage to create the illusion of a gelatinous monster devouring a hunk of metal (or in one poignant scene, an innocent happy-faced metal-boy).

What happens to the metal once it's inside the putty? Does it dissolve in a stew of putty digestive juices? No. Magnet lovers rest easy ? it's in there, whole, like Jonah inside the whale.

Does it sink to the bottom? Or stay near an edge, "hoping" to escape? Turns out, according to blogger Phil Plait, astronomer, lecturer, writing for Slate, ("It's Alive! ALIIIVVVEEE") the magnet keeps moving, deeper and deeper into belly of the puttyish mass until it reaches equilibrium, until there's roughly the same amount of iron top, bottom, left and right, holding it in place:

The process continued until the magnet was in the center, because it's only then that the forces are balanced. Newton's Second Law of Motion states that an unbalanced force on a mass will cause it to accelerate (though in this case that acceleration is itself balanced by the viscosity of the Silly Putty, leaving very slow but constant motion; it's like terminal velocity). As long as there's more iron on one side of the magnet than the other, it'll move. So eventually it reached the center of mass of the putty wad and stopped.

Which is wonderful, because now you can imagine yourself, being pretty much iron-free (except for telltale traces in your blood) grabbing onto the putty, ripping it open, reaching in, and heroically rescuing the magnet from its horrible fate ... like the hunter who rescues Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandma by slicing open the Big Bad Wolf! This is a physics lesson where you get to be a superhero. Is there anything better?

Well, dark chocolate is better. But that's another post.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/04/23/178615004/oh-the-horror-famished-silly-putty-devours-innocent-magnets?ft=1&f=1007

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Obama's Fmr. Chief Economic Advisor On Bitcoin's Usefulness: ?Hahahaha. ROTFL?

Eighty-seven percent of the nation’s top economists think that the digital currency, Bitcoin, has “limited usefulness.”?Given the growing popularity of the enigmatic currency, the University of Chicago conducted its famous Initiative on Global Markets (IGM) poll of?38 of the world’s top economists, to see how experts felt about its longterm future. By far the best response came from the former Chairman of the President?s Council of Economic Advisers, Austan Goolsbee, who simply wrote, “Hahahaha. ROTFL.” Bitcoin is a digital currency designed by an anonymous programmer that is produced by “miners” who contribute expensive computing power to solving the mathematical puzzles necessary to bring more of the scarce currency into existence. Early speculators and anarchy-friendly buyers gave the crypto-currency an early boost, eventually earning it mainstream acceptance at popular websites, including the home of lonely netizens, OkCupid. Even after?months of wild swings?in value (from $205 to $105 during one day), more and more shops are starting to accept bitcoins alongside dollars.?(for an awesome explanation, see the Colbert Report video below): The Colbert Report Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive The Colbert Report Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive It appears that the nation’s top economists don’t have the same faith in Bitcoin as the proprietors of the online dating service. The overwhelming majority surveyed felt that Bitcoin’s crazy fluctuations will inherently “limit its usefulness.” Former editor of the prestigious American Economic Review, Judith Chevalier, wrote: “Unlike government issued fiat money, there is no guarantee it can be used to pay taxes or settle other obligations.” Of course, the expert crowd wasn’t unanimous. Stanford’s Caroline Hoxby wrote: “First part is right: value derives from belief others want to use it for trade. Second part is not obvious: beliefs could stabilize or not.” While this isn’t a glowing endorsement of the nascent currency, it’s worth noting that economists occasionally have difficulty predicting events, such as the massive recession that almost tanked the global economy. Still, people are investing their own money in Bitcoin. Question is, do you want to bet against 87 percent of top economists?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/tnYr2wEKOkM/

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Prescription Drug Abuse Up Among U.S. Teens: Survey | Health and ...

Health A-Z ? Healthy Living ? Weight Loss ? Eating ? Recipes ? Health News ? Inside Health Magazine ? Sweepstakes ? Health Mobile ? Site Map ? About Us ? Contact Us ? Free Newsletters ? Help ? Advertise with Health ? Click here for current ABC ?

Best Prices on all YOUR Health and Fitness Requirements! CLICK HERE

Source: http://www.16g.org/prescription-drug-abuse-up-among-u-s-teens-survey/

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Binge drinking in college can lead to heart disease later in life

Apr. 23, 2013 ? Frequent binge drinking in college can cause more than a hangover. Regularly consuming multiple drinks in a short window of time can cause immediate changes in circulation that increase an otherwise healthy young adult's risk of developing cardiovascular disease later in life, according to research published online today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

"Regular binge drinking is one of the most serious public health problems confronting our college campuses, and drinking on college campuses has become more pervasive and destructive," said Shane A. Phillips, PT, PhD, senior author and associate professor and associate head of physical therapy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Binge drinking is neurotoxic and our data support that there may be serious cardiovascular consequences in young adults."

College students age 18 to 25 years old have the highest rates of binge drinking episodes, with more than half engaging in binge drinking on a regular basis. Prior studies have found that binge drinking among adults age 40 to 60 years old is associated with an increase in risk for stroke, sudden cardiac death and heart attack, but the effect on younger adults has not been studied.

Researchers looked at two groups of healthy nonsmoking college students: those who had a history of binge drinking and those who abstained from alcohol. Binge drinking was defined as consuming five or more standard size drinks (12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, 1.5 ounces of 80 proof spirits or 8-9 ounces of malt liquor) in a two-hour period for males and four or more standard size drinks in a two-hour period for females. On average, the students who binge drink had six such episodes each month over four years. Abstainers were defined as having consumed no more than five drinks in the prior year.

Students were also questioned about their medical history, diet, history of family alcohol abuse and frequency of binge drinking.

The study found that the binge drinkers had impaired function in the two main cell types (endothelium and smooth muscle) that control blood flow. These vascular changes were equivalent to impairment found in individuals with a lifetime history of daily heavy alcohol consumption and can be a precursor for developing atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, and other cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke.

Binge drinkers were not found to have increased blood pressure or cholesterol, which are well-established risk factors for heart disease; however, both high blood pressure and cholesterol cause changes in vascular function similar to what the students demonstrated.

"It is important that young adults understand that binge drinking patterns are an extreme form of unhealthy or at-risk drinking and are associated with serious social and medical consequences," Mariann Piano, PhD, RN, co-author of the study and professor and head of the department of biobehavioral health science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said. "Discoveries and advances in many different areas of medical science have cautioned against the notion that youth protects against the adverse effects of bad lifestyle behaviors or choices."

According to the investigators, more research is needed to determine if damage caused by binge drinking in young adulthood can be reversed before the onset of cardiovascular disease and to determine the timeframe for onset of disease.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American College of Cardiology, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/nutrition/~3/oGNW1F2-wWE/130423161905.htm

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Kerry: NATO needs plan for Syrian chemical weapons

BRUSSELS (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged NATO on Tuesday to prepare for the possible use of chemical weapons by Syria on the same day that a senior Israeli military intelligence official said Syrian President Bashar Assad had used such weapons last month in his battle against insurgents.

It was the first time Israel had accused the embattled Syrian leader of using his stockpile of nonconventional weapons.

The assessment, based on visual evidence, could raise pressure on the U.S. and other Western countries to intervene in Syria. Britain and France recently announced that they had evidence that Assad's government had used chemical weapons.

President Barack Obama has warned that the use of chemical weapons by Assad would be a "game changer" and has hinted that it could draw intervention.

But White House spokesman Jay Carney said while the administration is continuing to monitor and investigate whether the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons, it has "not come to the conclusion that there has been that use."

"But it is something that is of great concern to us, to our partners, and obviously unacceptable as the president made clear," Carney said.

Despite the deteriorating situation, NATO officials say there is virtually no chance the alliance will intervene in the civil war. More than 70,000 people have died in the conflict, according to the United Nations. The violence also has forced more than 1 million Syrians to seek safety abroad, and more are leaving by the day, burdening neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq.

On Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, the head of research and analysis in Israeli military intelligence, told a security conference in Tel Aviv that Assad had used chemical weapons multiple times. Among the incidents were attacks documented by the French and British near Damascus last month.

He cited images of people hurt, but gave no indication he had other evidence, such as soil samples, typically used to verify chemical weapons use.

"To the best of our professional understanding, the regime used lethal chemical weapons against the militants in a series of incidents over the past months, including the relatively famous incident of March 19," Brun said. "Shrunken pupils, foaming at the mouth and other signs indicate, in our view, that lethal chemical weapons were used."

He said sarin, a lethal nerve agent, was probably used. He also said the Syrian regime was using less lethal chemical weapons. And he appeared to lament the lack of response by the international community.

"The fact that chemical weapons were used without an appropriate response is a very disturbing development because it could signal that such a thing is legitimate," he said.

Israel, which borders Syria, has been warily watching the Syrian civil war since fighting erupted there in March 2011. Although Assad is a bitter enemy, Israel has been careful not to take sides, partly because the Assad family has kept the border with Israel quiet for 40 years and partly because of fears of what might happen if he were toppled.

Israeli officials are concerned that Assad's stockpile of chemical weapons and other advanced arms could reach the hands of his ally, the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, or Islamic extremist groups trying to oust him from Syria.

Kerry, attending his first meeting of NATO's governing body, the North Atlantic Council, as America's top diplomat, said contingency plans should be put in place to guard against the threat of a chemical strike. Turkey, a member of the military alliance, borders Syria and would be most at risk from such an attack. NATO has already deployed Patriot missile batteries in Turkey.

"Planning regarding Syria, such as what (NATO) has already done, is an appropriate undertaking for the alliance," Kerry told NATO foreign ministers. "We should also carefully and collectively consider how NATO is prepared to respond to protect its members from a Syrian threat, including any potential chemical weapons threat."

Speaking at a news conference after the meeting, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance is "extremely concerned about the use of ballistic missiles in Syria and the possible use of chemical weapons." However, he also noted that NATO has not been asked to intervene.

"There is no call for NATO to play a role, but if these challenges remain unaddressed they could directly affect our own security," he told reporters. "So we will continue to remain extremely vigilant."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in Brussels to talk with his counterparts from NATO countries, said Russia would want any investigation of whether chemical weapons have been used to be conducted by experts and concern only the specific report being investigated.

Speaking through a translator in a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Lavrov said that, in March, after each side in Syria's civil war accused the other of using chemical weapons in northern Aleppo province, the U.N. investigation became politicized and overly broad. Instead of sending experts to study the specific area and the specific allegation, Lavrov said investigators demanded access to all facilities in the country and the right to interview all Syrian citizens.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman George Little said the U.S. "continues to assess reports of chemical weapons use in Syria."

"The use of such weapons would be entirely unacceptable," he added.

Later in the day, Kerry appeared to try to soften his earlier remarks, saying he had no way of knowing what the facts were.

"I didn't ask for additional planning," he said. "I think it might have been the secretary general or somebody who commented that we may need to do some additional planning. But there is no specific request. What there was from me was a very clear statement about the threat of chemical weapons and the potential for chemical weapons generically to fall into bad hands."

He also said the Obama administration is "looking at every option that could possibly end the violence and usher in a political transition" and that plans need to be made now to ensure that there is no power vacuum when that takes place. He said increasing aid to the Syrian National Coalition and its military command, the Supreme Military Council, would be critical to that effort.

Many of NATO's 28 members also belong to the European Union, which on Monday lifted its oil embargo on Syria to provide more economic support to the rebels and is now considering easing an arms embargo on the country to allow weapons transfers to those fighting the Assad regime.

Kerry did not mention the possible easing of the EU embargo but he did say that NATO should begin to think about taking on a larger role in planning for a post-Assad Syria, particularly in dealing with the country's chemical weapons stockpiles.

The NATO ministers were also working Tuesday on defining how the alliance would support Afghan forces after 2014, when NATO will no longer have a combat role.

With next year's transition date looming, Kerry will host three-way talks in Brussels on Wednesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and top Pakistani officials aimed at speeding possible reconciliation talks with the Taliban and improving trust and cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

On the sidelines of the NATO meeting, Kerry met Lavrov to discuss a range of issues, including Syria. He also thanked Lavrov for Russian President Vladimir Putin's statement of condolence to the U.S. for last week's bombings at the Boston Marathon blamed on two ethnic Chechen brothers.

___

Associated Press writers Ariel David in Tel Aviv, Peter James Spielmann at the United Nations, and Kimberly Dozier and Julie Pace in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Don Melvin can be reached at https://twitter.com/Don_Melvin

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-nato-needs-plan-syrian-chemical-weapons-131108029.html

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