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বুধবার, ৩১ জুলাই, ২০১৩
Obama asks Graham, McCain to travel to Egypt
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., center, is surrounded by reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 30, 2013, during a roll call. Graham said on Tuesday that President Barack Obama has asked him and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. to travel to Egypt to urge the military to move ahead on elections. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., center, is surrounded by reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 30, 2013, during a roll call. Graham said on Tuesday that President Barack Obama has asked him and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. to travel to Egypt to urge the military to move ahead on elections. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
FILE - In this July 18, 2013 file photo, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, talks with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. on Capitol Hill in Washington. Graham says President Barack Obama has asked him and Sen. McCain to travel to Egypt to urge the military to move ahead on elections. Graham told reporters on Tuesday that the two senators were trying to work out the logistics of the trip. He said they want to deliver a unified message that the military should allow new elections. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and John McCain have been asked by President Barack Obama to travel to Egypt next week to urge the military to move ahead on new elections, the senators said Tuesday.
Egypt has been roiled by deadly protests since President Mohammed Morsi was toppled in a military coup on July 3, developments that have threatened the $1.5 billion in annual U.S. military and economic aid to the Arab world's most populous country. Responding to reporters' questions Tuesday about an attempt to cut off the aid, Graham offered up word that Obama has sought the help of the two lawmakers.
"The president asked Sen. McCain and myself to go to Egypt next week, so we're trying to find a way to get there," Graham said. "So we can go over and reinforce in a bipartisan fashion the message that we have to move to civilian control, that the military is going to have to, you know, allow the country to have new elections and move toward an inclusive, democratic approach."
Graham said the two senators were trying to work out the logistics of the trip at the same time Congress was scheduled to begin its summer recess. McCain provided few details on the trip, but he said that he and Graham would try to assist in the reconciliation process in Egypt.
"The place is in turmoil, obviously," the Arizona senator said. "We have credibility with everybody there, all the different factions there."
Graham said the stakes were high. "If Egypt goes and Israel is surrounded by more and more radical regimes ... we'll regret not doing everything possible to keep Egypt on track as a stable society," the South Carolina senator told reporters.
Graham said the idea of "maybe us going if things deteriorate" in Egypt was first discussed at a July 17 meeting at the White House. McCain and Graham sat down for nearly two hours for a wide ranging national security discussion with Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and National Security Adviser Susan Rice.
Obama contacted Graham about the trip, although the president specifically requested that McCain, who was Obama's opponent in the 2008 election, go too, McCain said.
Graham said the goal was to deliver a unified message that "jailing the opposition is more and more like a coup."
Last week, the Obama administration told lawmakers that it won't declare Egypt's government overthrow a coup, which would prompt the automatic suspension of American assistance programs under U.S. law. The administration fears that halting such funding could imperil programs that help to secure Israel's border and fight weapons smuggling into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
The White House declined to comment about a possible trip.
The Senate was scheduled to vote Wednesday on a measure by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that would end aid to Egypt, shifting the money to crumbling bridges in this country.
"We tell other countries to follow the rule of law, yet our own administration fails to do so. Sending money to Egypt under their current military coups is illegal," Paul said in a statement. "Instead of illegally sending that money overseas, we are better off spending that money at home."
Graham said a vote now could send the wrong signal.
"If you cut off aid, that's a destabilizing event," Graham said, while a vote for aid would "give people the impression everything's fine."
Asked whether the Paul bill might pass, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said: "I hope not."
"I do agree we need to comply with laws that we have in our country," he told reporters, adding that Congress may change the coup restrictions in September to give the president waiver authority to continue providing aid. "Right now, in the middle of this volatile situation, we need to be a voice of calm."
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, has called for halting assistance to Egypt, but he said Paul's proposal was "too extreme."
"I'm in favor of suspension," Levin said. But he would support gradual resumption of aid as the government "lives up to the commitments that they make in the constitution, having a diverse Cabinet, having elections according to the six-month schedule."
___
Associated Press writers Richard Lardner and Bradley Klapper contributed to this report.
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Israel, Palestinians dispute format of Washington peace talks
By Dan Williams and Ali Sawafta
JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian officials put forward clashing formats for peace talks due to resume in Washington on Monday for the first time in nearly three years after intense U.S. mediation.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is due to bring the negotiators together in the evening and on Tuesday to renew talks that broke down in 2010 over Israel's settlement of occupied land where Palestinians seek a state.
Previous attempts to resolve the decades-old conflict had sought to ward off deadlock and the risk of knock-on violence by tackling easier disputes first and deferring the most emotional ones like the fate of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.
This time "all of the issues that are at the core of a permanent accord will be negotiated simultaneously", Silvan Shalom, a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netayahu's cabinet and rightist Likud party, told Israel's Army Radio.
The Palestinians, with international backing, want their future state to have borders approximating the boundaries of the West Bank, adjacent East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip before Israel captured them in the 1967 Middle East war.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, a top official in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's umbrella Palestine Liberation Organisation, said the U.S. letter of invitation to the Washington talks had not specified which disputes were to be discussed.
But Abed Rabbo told Voice of Palestine radio the talks "will begin, in principle, on the issues of borders and security".
Netanyahu had resisted Abbas's calls to accept the 1967 border formula before talks resumed. Shalom said that the Israeli position would help keep the talks, which are slated to last nine months, comprehensive.
CONCESSIONS
"Had the matter of borders and territory been given over, what incentive would they (Palestinians) have had to make concessions on the matter of refugees or Jerusalem?" Shalom asked.
Israel deems all of Jerusalem its capital - a status rejected internationally - and wants to keep West Bank settlement blocs under any peace accord. It quit Gaza in 2005 and that enclave is now ruled by Hamas Islamists hostile to the Jewish state and opposed to Abbas's peace strategy.
Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war at Israel's founding, along with millions of their descendants, claim the right to return to their original homes in what is now Israel. The Israelis rule that out as demographic suicide, saying the refugees should resettle in a future Palestine or elsewhere.
Netanyahu says any peace accord must safeguard Israel, which has often clashed with Hamas in Gaza and fears the Islamist movement could gain ground in the West Bank. Kerry has also described Israel's security as "paramount".
Abed Rabbo said Israel and the United States had been conferring about security without including the Palestinians.
"This is a big shortcoming in the Israeli and the American behavior because they are not discussing their bilateral security, they are discussing a central and a fundamental issue of ours and it concerns our future as a whole," he said.
After months of intensive and discreet mediation, Kerry announced on July 19 in Amman, Jordan, that the parties had laid the groundwork to resume negotiations on the so-called "final status" issues that must be resolved to end the dispute.
"The meetings in Washington will mark the beginning of these talks," Kerry spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. "They will serve as an opportunity to develop a procedural work plan for how the parties can proceed with the negotiations in the coming months."
In what it dubbed a goodwill gesture required to restart diplomacy, the Israeli cabinet on Sunday approved the release of 104 long-serving Palestinian security prisoners in stages. Thousands more Palestinians remain in Israeli jails.
(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-palestinian-peace-talks-resume-three-years-002836072.html
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মঙ্গলবার, ৩০ জুলাই, ২০১৩
Sequestration and fuel reserves: Storing carbon dioxide to release liquid fuels
[unable to retrieve full-text content]A technique for trapping the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide deep underground could at the same be used to release the last fraction of natural gas liquids from ailing reservoirs, thus offsetting some of the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels, experts say.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/5NNIXseRT7M/130730163140.htm
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Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to resume after three years
By Arshad Mohammed and Ori Lewis
WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel and the Palestinians plan to resume peace negotiations this week for the first time in nearly three years after an intense effort by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to bring them back to the table.
The talks are scheduled to resume in Washington on Monday evening and Tuesday and will be conducted by senior aides to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the State Department said.
"Both leaders have demonstrated a willingness to make difficult decisions that have been instrumental in getting to this point. We are grateful for their leadership," Kerry said in a statement.
Middle East analysts voiced skepticism that the talks might lead to a peace treaty to end the more than six-decade conflict that has defied two decades of U.S. efforts to broker a solution.
Still, the resumption of negotiations is a rare moment of good news in the Middle East for the Obama administration, which has struggled to formulate a policy to try to end the civil war in Syria or to facilitate a democratic transition in Egypt.
Even getting the Israelis and the Palestinians to agree to resume talks required great effort by Kerry, who made six peace-making trips to the region in the last four months - an unusual amount of time - to coax the two sides back.
The last piece of the puzzle came together when the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday approved the release of 104 Palestinian prisoners, with 13 ministers voting for the release, seven against and two abstaining, an Israeli official said.
In another sign of possible momentum, Martin Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel who directs the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, is expected to be named as the new U.S. envoy for Middle East peace, possibly as early as Monday, a source familiar with the matter said.
OBAMA'S INVOLVEMENT NEEDED?
The last round of direct negotiations broke down in late 2010 in a dispute over Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank, land that Israel seized in a 1967 war, along with the Gaza Strip, which the Palestinians want for a state.
It is unclear how the United States hopes to bridge the core issues in the dispute, including borders, the future of Jewish settlements on the West Bank, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem.
While commending Kerry for his determination, Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, said President Barack Obama would have to get involved if the talks were ultimately to succeed and the United States would have to offer its own ideas for a solution.
"At some point, the central player in this saga is not going to be Netanyahu, it's not going to be Abu Mazen (Abbas), it's not going to be John Kerry, it's going to be Barack Obama," he said. "So far, it's not clear that ... the president is prepared to take the kind of risk that would move this forward."
The State Department said the initial talks were planned for 8 p.m. on Monday at an iftar - the evening meal at which Muslims break their daily Ramadan fast - that Kerry will host at the State Department. They are to be followed by talks on Tuesday.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki suggested the talks in Washington would be to chart a path forward, rather than to leap directly into the thorny issues that need to be resolved.
After his latest round of shuttle diplomacy, Kerry announced on July 19 in Amman, Jordan, that the parties had laid the ground to resume negotiations on the so-called "final status" issues that must be resolved to end the dispute.
"The meetings in Washington will mark the beginning of these talks," Psaki said. "They will serve as an opportunity to develop a procedural work plan for how the parties can proceed with the negotiations in the coming months."
PRISONER DEAL
Earlier on Sunday, Netanyahu had urged divided rightists in his Cabinet to back the prisoner deal.
"This moment is not easy for me, is not easy for the Cabinet ministers, and is not easy especially for the bereaved families, whose feelings I understand," he said when the Cabinet met, referring to families who have lost members in militant attacks.
"But there are moments in which tough decisions must be made for the good of the nation and this is one of those moments."
Israeli Channel 1 television said prisoners would be released in three stages, depending on progress in the talks, with a group of Israeli citizens left until the last stage.
Abbas has demanded the release of prisoners held since before a 1993 interim peace accord took effect. Israel has jailed thousands more Palestinians since then, many for carrying out deadly attacks.
The prisoner release would allow Netanyahu to sidestep other Palestinian demands, such as a halt to Jewish settlement expansion and a guarantee that negotiations over borders will be based on boundaries from before the 1967 Middle East war, when Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
Hundreds of protesters from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) staged a rally against the resumption of peace talks, clashing with police in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the seat of Abbas's Palestinian Authority.
PFLP activists also demonstrated in Gaza and chanted: "Listen Abbas, our land is not for sale. ... The (Palestinian) cause will never be resolved except by the rifle."
Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. peace negotiator who works for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars think tank in Washington, said he was impressed by Kerry's tenacity.
"He has invested so much in this now, and even through expectations are so low, he is in an investment trap, he really can't let it fail now," Miller said. "Which means he'll have to go to extreme lengths to keep this thing afloat."
(Additional reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem, Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Editing by Alistair Lyon, Stacey Joyce and Paul Simao)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-palestinian-peace-talks-resume-three-years-002836072.html
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সোমবার, ২৯ জুলাই, ২০১৩
Cannes jewel heist: $53 million in diamonds, jewels stolen from hotel
Cannes jewel heist saw $53 million in diamonds and other precious gems stolen from a hotel on the French Riviera. The Cannes jewel heist is the latest in a series of?several brazen jewelry thefts in Europe in recent years.
A policeman is seen at the Carlton hotel, in Cannes, southern France, the scene of a daylight raid, Sunday, July 28, 2013. A staggering 40 million euro ($53 million) worth of jewels and diamonds were stolen Sunday in a Cannes jewelry heist, one of Europe's biggest jewelry heists recent years, police said. The French Riviera hotel was hosting a temporary jewelry exhibit over the summer of the prestigious Leviev diamond house, which is owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev.
Lionel Cironneau/AP
EnlargeA staggering 40 million euro ($53 million) worth of diamonds and other?jewels?was stolen Sunday from the Carlton Intercontinental Hotel in?Cannes, in one of Europe's biggest jewelry heists in recent years, police said. One expert noted the crime follows recent jail escapes by members of the notorious "Pink Panther"?jewel?thief gang.
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The hotel in the sweltering French Riviera was hosting a temporary jewelry exhibit over the summer from the prestigious Leviev diamond house, which is owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev.
A police spokesman said the theft took place around noon, but he could not confirm local media reports that the robber was a single gunman who stuffed a suitcase with the gems before making a swift exit. The spokesman spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter on the record.
The luxury Carlton hotel featured prominently in Alfred Hitchcok's "To Catch a Thief," which starred Cary Grant as a reformed burglar chasing a?jewel?thief. It is situated on the exclusive Promenade de la Croisette that stretches a mile and a half (2.4 kilometers) along the French Riviera, and is thronged by the rich and famous throughout the year. The hotel's position provides not only a beautiful view of the sea but also an easy getaway for potential?jewel?thieves along the long stretch of road.
"It's a huge theft. Anytime you talk about a heist with many millions of dollars it turns heads and feeds the imagination," said Jonathan Sazonoff, U.S. editor for the Museum Security Network website and an authority on high-value crime.
He said the likelihood of recovering the stolen diamonds and?jewels?is slim, because the thieves can easily sell them. "The fear is, if you're dealing with high-quality minerals, it's hard to get them back," Sazonoff said. "They can be broken up and so they can be easily smuggled and sold."
The valuable gems were supposed to be on public display until the end of August. It was not immediately clear how many pieces were stolen.
Leviev, in a brief statement, said: "Company officials are cooperating with local authorities investigating the loss and are relieved that no one was injured in the robbery."
Several police officers were placed in front of the Carlton exhibition room ? near a Cartier diamond boutique ? to prevent the dozens of journalists and photographers from getting a look at the scene of the crime.
Hotel officials would not comment, and attempts to get comments from Leviev or his company were not immediately successful.
Europe has been struck by several brazen jewelry thefts in recent years, some of which have involved tens of millions of dollars in treasure.
On Feb. 18 in Belgium, some $50 million worth of diamonds were stolen. In that heist, robbers targeted stones from the global diamond center of Antwerp that had been loaded on a plane headed to Zurich. Authorities have since detained dozens of people and recovered much of the items stolen in that operation.
Five years ago, in December 2008, armed robbers wearing women's wigs and clothing made off with diamond rings, gem-studded bracelets and other jewelry said then to be worth $108 million from a Harry Winston boutique in Paris.
Also in 2008 ? in February of that year ? in a scene reminiscent of the movie "The Italian Job," masked thieves drilled a tunnel into a Damiani jewelry company showroom in Milan, Italy. They tied up the staff with plastic cable and sticky tape, then made off with gold, diamonds and rubies worth some $20 million. The robbers had been digging for several weeks from a building under construction next door.
Cannes?appears to be a favorite target this year ? in May it was struck by other two highly publicized jewelry heists during the?CannesFilm Festival.
In the first theft, robbers stole about $1 million worth of?jewels?after ripping a safe from the wall of a hotel room. In the second, thieves outsmarted 80 security guards in an exclusive hotel and grabbed a De Grisogono necklace that creators said is worth 2 million euros ($2.6 million).
Sazonoff said it is normal for robbers to gravitate to a place like?Cannes, whose glimmering harbor and glamorous film festival attract the world's rich and famous. "Why do thieves target?Cannes? It's simple ... On the Cote d'Azur, it's where the monied people flow," he said.
Sazonoff also said police would likely probe whether Sunday's heist is linked to recent jail escapes by alleged members of the Pink Panther?jewel?thief gang.
On Thursday, gang member Milan Poparic escaped his Swiss prison after accomplices rammed a gate and overpowered guards with bursts from their AK-47s, police said.
Police say the Pink Panther network's members are prime suspects in a series of daring thefts. According to Interpol, the group has targeted luxury watch and jewelry stores in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the United States, netting more than ?330 million (?285m) since 1999.
Poparic is the third member of the Pink Panthers to escape from a Swiss prison in as many months, according to Vaud police.
"The brazen drama of it is their style... The possibility of the reemergence of the Pink Panther gang is very troubling and taken seriously by law enforcement worldwide," Sazonoff said. "The theft of high value diamonds is exactly what they do, so it's not a great leap to assume they are on the warpath again. They are a crime wave waiting to happen."
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Pfizer to internally split generic, branded drugs operations
(Reuters) - Pfizer Inc on Monday said it plans to internally separate its commercial operations into three business segments, including two units that sell patent-protected branded drugs and one that sells generic medicines.
The largest U.S. drugmaker said the changes will go into effect in January in countries that do not require a consultation with labor unions.
Pfizer earlier this year said it would begin separately examining the finances and marketing of its patent-protected drug business, which it calls its "innovative" business, and its generic operation, which it calls its "value" business, as a possible prelude to selling off the generic business in coming years.
One of the businesses will include drugs expected to have patent protection beyond 2015, and generally include the treatment areas of inflammation, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic, neuroscience and pain, rare diseases and women's and men's health. It will be headed by Geno Germano, who will be president of the Innovative Products Group.
The other "innovative" business will include vaccines, cancer and consumer healthcare, Pfizer said in a release. It will be headed by Amy Schulman as president of Vaccines, Oncology and Consumer Healthcare.
Many industry analysts have been urging Pfizer to spin off its lower-profit generics business, as the company has spun off its nutritional products and animal health businesses in recent years, to focus more intently on its core, more lucrative branded pharmaceuticals business.
But Pfizer has said it will first need to closely analyze the operations of its patent-protected and generic drugs, as if they were distinct businesses, including audits of their financial operations, before deciding whether to split off the generic unit.
Pfizer's shares gained 21 cents to $29.58 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Maureen Bavdek)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pfizer-internally-split-generic-branded-drugs-operations-131446267.html
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Flossie: Tropical storm weakens en route to Hawaii
HONOLULU (AP) ? Weather officials say Tropical Storm Flossie is weakening as it slowly moves westward across the Pacific toward Hawaii, but it's is still expected to bring heavy rains and winds up to 60 mph when it reaches the state late Sunday night.
The National Weather Service said midday Sunday that Flossie could bring the possibility of flash flooding, mudslides, tornadoes and waterspouts.
The service issued a tropical storm warning for Oahu, Hawaii's most populous island with the city of Honolulu, to go along with previous warnings for the Big Island, Maui, Molokai and Lanai. The warning means the storm represents a threat to life and property.
The service also issued a tropical storm watch for Kauai and Niihau, a less severe notice, asking people to make a plan and pay attention to see if things get worse.
Officials warned people to cancel beach trips, finish necessary storm preparations and evacuate if asked by local officials.
State officials on Saturday closed trails and campgrounds on the Big Island, and warned people to avoid forest areas until Flossie clears.
"Hikers, campers or hunters should avoid trails, streams and back-country areas under these conditions," said William Aila Jr., chairman of the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
It's not immediately clear which island faces the most danger. The Big Island is the easternmost island in the archipelago, and likely the first in Flossie's path. Flossie's center was expected to pass near the Big Island and Maui on Monday morning and then south of Oahu several hours later.
The storm could drop up to 15 inches of rain to windward areas of Maui and Hawaii counties, and 6 to 10 inches in other areas, forecasters said. Up to a foot of rain could fall on windward Oahu and 4 to 8 inches in central and leeward areas. Kauai may see 2 to 4 inches of rain, with up to 6 inches on windward slopes.
Despite the system weakening, the current forecast keeps Flossie as a tropical storm through Wednesday.
___
Oskar Garcia can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oskargarcia
___
Associated Press writer Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/flossie-tropical-storm-weakens-en-route-hawaii-232557264.html
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রবিবার, ২৮ জুলাই, ২০১৩
The Rise Of Bloodsucking Insects You Can't Just Swat Away
The Asian tiger mosquito, an invasive, disease-carrying pest, was likely introduced to the United States from used tires shipped over from Asia.
Jim Newman/University of Florida/IFAS/APThe Asian tiger mosquito, an invasive, disease-carrying pest, was likely introduced to the United States from used tires shipped over from Asia.
Jim Newman/University of Florida/IFAS/APSteamy days, sultry nights and swarming bugs all make up the thrum of life in the heart of summer. But more and more, our summers are assaulted by the bloodsucking kind of bugs, namely mosquitoes and ticks.
More than a nuisance, new species can impact our health and indicate larger environmental trends.
Beautiful And Adaptable
One relative newcomer prowling the scene is the Asian tiger mosquito. Named for its unique markings, it is black with white stripes.
"It's actually ? if I could go out on a limb here ? a very beautiful mosquito," says entomologist Brian Allan, assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Stripes aside, the Asian tiger mosquito could also have been named for its aggressiveness, biting fast enough to escape swatting.
"It's also very adaptable in terms of the types of habitats it occupies; it can live inside of houses as well as outside," Allan says. And it thrives in tropical climates as well as temperate ones.
The Asian tiger mosquito probably came to this country in the 1980s, carried in the standing water found in used tires shipped from Asia.
Since its arrival, it's only been spreading, outcompeting native mosquitoes in urban and suburban areas in the South, the Midwest, on the East Coast and Hawaii.
Though still rare in this country, the Asian tiger mosquito has caused outbreaks of the dengue virus.
"Many diseases are starting to occur in places where they simply didn't occur previously," Allan says, including the West Nile virus.
Expanding Territory
Far more common than West Nile virus in the U.S. is Lyme disease.
"The distributions of ticks and the distributions of the pathogens they transmit to humans are increasing in many parts of North America," Allan says.
Notably, the blacklegged tick, better known as the deer tick, has been spreading.
"In recent history, it had two areas in which it generally occurred: the Northeastern United States and the upper-Midwest," Allan says.
But now those areas have grown so big they're practically touching.
Part of the problem are humans. As we take up more room, deer and mice ? tasty tick hosts ? are being pushed into our space, where they face fewer natural predators.
Another factor is climate change.
"Warmer winters could result in greater over-winter survival of both ticks and mosquitoes, and by that exacerbate the prevalence of disease in humans," Allan says.
Larger Than The Insects
But this expanding distribution of mosquitoes and ticks is emblematic of a bigger issue, he says.
"We are having a problem with invasive species of all varieties," he says, including plants, animals and bugs. "This is something of an overlooked crisis, in terms of its biological impact."
Global commerce, expanding development, even the pet trade, all are factors.
"They all in some sense or another tie to human globalization," Allan says, "and the point that human movements and human connectiveness are greater now than any point in human history."
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Driver: Bus brakes failed in Ind. crash; 3 dead
Indiana State Police investigators inspect the underside of a bus that crashed Saturday, July 27, 2013, on Indianapolis? far north side while carrying teenagers returning from a summer camp in Michigan. Three people were killed and 26 others were taken to local hospitals following the crash, which occurred when the bus exited an interstate ramp and crashed into a concrete retaining wall. Investigators don?t yet know what caused the crash about a mile from its destination, Colonial Hills Baptist Church. (AP Photo/Rick Callahan).
Indiana State Police investigators inspect the underside of a bus that crashed Saturday, July 27, 2013, on Indianapolis? far north side while carrying teenagers returning from a summer camp in Michigan. Three people were killed and 26 others were taken to local hospitals following the crash, which occurred when the bus exited an interstate ramp and crashed into a concrete retaining wall. Investigators don?t yet know what caused the crash about a mile from its destination, Colonial Hills Baptist Church. (AP Photo/Rick Callahan).
Seat cushions, clothing and other objects line the pavement next to the wreckage of bus that crashed Saturday, July 27, 2013, on Indianapolis? far north side while carrying teenagers returning from a summer camp in Michigan. Three people were killed and 26 others were taken to local hospitals following the crash, which occurred when the bus exited an interstate ramp and crashed into a concrete retaining wall. Investigators don?t yet know what caused the crash about a mile from its destination, Colonial Hills Baptist Church. (AP Photo/Rick Callahan)
Indianapolis firefighters and State Police investigators survey the wreckage of a bus that crashed Saturday, July 27, 2013, on Indianapolis? far north side while carrying teenagers returning from a summer camp in Michigan. Three people were killed and 26 others were taken to local hospitals following the crash, which occurred when the bus exited an interstate ramp and crashed into a concrete retaining wall. Investigators don?t yet know what caused the crash about a mile from its destination, Colonial Hills Baptist Church. (AP Photo/Rick Callahan).
Indiana State Police investigators inspect the underside of a bus that crashed Saturday, July 27, 2013, on Indianapolis? far north side while carrying teenagers returning from a summer camp in Michigan. Three people were killed and 26 others were taken to local hospitals following the crash, which occurred when the bus exited an interstate ramp and crashed into a concrete retaining wall. Investigators don?t yet know what caused the crash about a mile from its destination, Colonial Hills Baptist Church. (AP Photo/Rick Callahan)
A firefighter spreads clean-up material after a bus crash Saturday, July 27, 2013 in Indianapolis. The Indianapolis Fire Department says three people were killed when a bus carrying teens from a church camp crashed on a busy thoroughfare near Interstate 465. The bus was carrying 40 passengers who are members of Colonial Hill Baptist Church and were returning from camp when the crash happened Saturday afternoon. (AP Photo/The Indianapolis Star, Michelle Pemberton) NO SALES
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? The brakes on the bus carrying teenagers home from a youth camp in northern Michigan failed as the vehicle exited the Indianapolis interstate, causing it to strike a retaining wall and flip on its side, according to a newspaper report Sunday.
Bus driver Dennis Mauer, 68, told the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police that the brakes failed and he wasn't able to keep the bus from crashing Saturday afternoon, the Indianapolis Star reported (http://indy.st/18KMasD ). Three people died and several were injured.
The investigation into the crash, which happened on an Interstate 465 exit ramp, is ongoing, authorities said. The bus was nearly finished with a 365-mile journey, overturning just a mile from the Colonial Hills Baptist Church.
At the church, parents were waiting to pick up their children after a weeklong camp filled with prayer, zip lines and basketball when a bus carrying younger campers pulled in, its passengers screaming.
Jeff Leffew, 44, of Fishers, had sent four daughters to Camp CoBeAc, near Prudenville, Mich. Only one daughter was on the bus that pulled into the parking lot, and he raced to the crash site in northern Indianapolis. What he found was a surreal scene, with clothing and other items strewn about and windows missing from the bus.
"You're just praying that it's not as bad as it looks," said Leffew, a deacon at the church.
His daughters escaped with just bumps and bruises, but others weren't as fortunate. Indianapolis fire officials said a husband and wife were dead at the scene, along with a third person whose age they didn't describe. Twenty-six people were taken to area hospitals, and one teenager remained in critical condition on Sunday.
Indianapolis Public Safety Director Troy Riggs called the crash a "great tragedy."
"They were not that far from home. ... That only adds to the tragedy," Riggs said at the crash scene. He said there was no indication that the driver had a medical emergency.
WTHR-TV reported the bus driver told witnesses his brakes failed. Indianapolis Fire Department Lt. Ato McTush said investigators had not determined whether the church-owned bus had mechanical issues.
Witnesses described a horrifying scene.
Duane Lloyd told WTHR that he heard a loud noise behind him as he was traveling near the intersection and saw the crash around 4:15 p.m. ? about the time youth pastor Chad Phelps had tweeted that the group would arrive at the church.
"I heard a skid. I looked back. I see this bus in the air and people falling out of the bus," Lloyd said. "I could have gone my whole life without seeing that."
He said people approached and tried to help.
"People were literally trying to lift the bus," Lloyd said. "You just try to do what you can do."
Sasha Sample, 28, told The Indianapolis Star some victims were lying in the road, while others were able to limp to the side.
"Everybody had boils and scrapes on them," she said. "People were trying to climb from under the bus."
Sample, a nurse, said she borrowed a belt to make a tourniquet for the bus driver's arm but wasn't able to help the man next to him, who was already dead.
"I couldn't do anything for him," Sample said. "So you triage. You help those you can."
Fire officials said 37 people were on the bus, and the injured included children and adults. Three teenagers were still at IU Health Methodist Hospital, spokeswoman Sally Winter said Sunday, including one in critical condition. Five teenagers remained at the Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health; a toddler had been treated and released.
Many of the patients had head, arm and leg injuries, fire officials said.
Families of the bus passengers gathered at the church Saturday evening to comfort each other and pray.
Mayor Greg Ballard described many as "remarkably positive" despite their sorrow, but said there will be difficult days ahead.
"Some of the teenagers are hurting pretty bad and you can see that in their faces," he said.
Bob Taylor, who retired as the church's pastor four years ago, said members of the congregation would come together Sunday and take comfort in their faith.
"Our church family will meet tomorrow and pray together and sing songs together and just trust the Lord to give his grace," he said.
___
Associated Press reporter Tom Murphy contributed to this story.
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Pitcher Tomohiro Anraku is the future of Japanese baseball - ESPN The Magazine
??The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Pitcher Tomohiro Anraku is the future of Japanese baseball - ESPN The Magazine
Great writing.
He threw virtually every pitch for Saibi at Koshien, including a 13-inning complete game in which he threw 232 pitches. But in the awful final, he fell apart, terrifyingly and completely, eventually losing 17-1, pulled only after he?d thrown his 772nd pitch over five games in nine days. His fastball was not nearly so fast; his curveball no longer broke; his slider stayed flat. Every one of his instruments abandoned him, and yet he had continued to throw until his precious right arm hung limp at his side. Don Nomura, the agent who represents Darvish, told Yahoo?s Jeff Passan that Anraku?s treatment was nothing less than child abuse, a sentiment shared by several American scouts. Those strong words traveled over the ocean and upset many in Japan, where if anyone saw Tomohiro Anraku as a victim, he was blessed to be one. In fact, he?s been given the most coveted and celebrated title of all. He is a kaibutsu.
Anraku is a monster. Anraku is a beast.
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Israeli cabinet to weigh prisoner release before Palestinian talks
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet will consider releasing more than 100 Arab prisoners held by Israel in order to boost prospects for talks expected with the Palestinians in Washington next week, Israeli officials said on Saturday.
Israel's agreement to free the inmates, held since before a 1993 interim accord with the Palestinians, is seen as critical to U.S. hopes of convening Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to resume peace talks that have been stalled since 2010.
Netanyahu has already agreed to free the prisoners, but wanted cabinet approval to help overcome qualms among Israelis about freeing inmates convicted of involvement in lethal attacks, Israeli officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
His plan calls for releasing them over at least four stages stretched over a nine-month period, the officials said.
Silvan Shalom, a senior cabinet minister, said on Friday the prospective release of prisoners with "blood on their hands" was "a difficult step, but you have to see the whole picture, which is a resumption of negotiations."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has demanded that Israel free the prisoners, all held for more than 20 years, as a condition for resuming negotiations.
Peace talks ran aground three years ago in a dispute over Jewish settlement building, which Palestinians say deprives them of land they need for a state.
The Israeli cabinet is also expected to name Netanyahu as head of a four-member senior cabinet team charged with reviewing the 100 or so prisoners slated for release, among thousands of Arabs incarcerated by Israel, the Israeli officials said.
SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY
After months of intense shuttle diplomacy by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Israeli and Palestinian officials have said their negotiators may meet next week in Washington, possibly as early as Tuesday.
But though two weeks have passed since Kerry announced he had laid the groundwork for a breakthrough, no formal date for renewing negotiations has been announced. The two sides still differ over core elements of a deal to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel on land Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Abbas had pressed for explicit guarantees that Israel would negotiate a withdrawal based on borders from before the 1967 war. Israel has resisted, insisting it would keep several settlement blocs and East Jerusalem, a city it annexed as part of its capital in a move never recognized internationally.
Netanyahu, who seeks peace talks without preconditions, needs to win over pro-settler hardliners in his cabinet, who oppose yielding any West Bank land. He hopes to persuade them to take steps for peace by promising legislation that would require him to hold a public vote before he could sign any peace deal.
He also hopes to present talks with Palestinians as a "strategic process to tighten relations with the United States", officials said. They said this was important in light of the threats posed by what both countries suspect is Iran's development of nuclear weapons - although Tehran denies that - and by spreading civil strife in Syria and Egypt.
Should he run into significant cabinet opposition, Netanyahu can also count on the support of the left-of-centre Labor party, which has said it would support any peacemaking moves in parliament.
(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-cabinet-weigh-prisoner-release-palestinian-talks-141332774.html
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বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৫ জুলাই, ২০১৩
The South Alabama Jaguars unveiled new football uniforms for their 2013 season Jaguars QB Ross Metheny said of the new duds T...
9:00 PM: After the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Boston Bruins to win the Stanley Cup, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick volunteered at a Chicago food bank on Tuesday to settle his bet with Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, who was also at the food bank.
8:45 PM: Russian Olympic pole vaulter & world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva says she will retire from the sport following next month's world championships in Moscow.
8:30 PM: The Seattle Mariners announced that manager Eric Wedge, who was released from the hospital Thursday, had suffered a mild stroke and will be out for at least through next week.
8:15 PM: WBAY-TV reports that more than 13,000 people showed up at Lambeau Field Wednesday for the Green Bay Packers' annual shareholders meeting. At the meeting, general manager Ted Thompson said that he "thanks God every day" that Mike McCarthy is the Packers' coach.
8:00 PM: University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff linebacker Lydell Hartford Jr. died early Tuesday morning after being accidentally shot by a 16-year-old friend. The teen reportedly found a pistol while both were in a car belonging to Hartford's mother.
7:45 PM: Butler County, Ohio soccer coach Craig Rhodis was arrested on charges of secretly videotaping two female players who were changing clothes in his home.
7:30 PM: Paralyzed football player Eric LeGrand shares a message of support he received from Adam Taliaferro, a former Penn State football player who broke his neck in a 2000 game but was eventually able to walk again.
7:15 PM: The Oneida Nation released a statement praising Art Monk & Darrell Green after the former Washington Redskins players said the team should "seriously consider" changing its name if Native Americans are offended.
7:00 PM: The Charlotte 49ers, who begin their first football season this year, have canceled their scheduled Nov. 16 game against Old Dominion after the Monarchs canceled their 2014 game. The 49ers have replaced the game with a Sept. 21 contest against James Madison.
6:45 PM: New England Patriots cornerback Alfonzo Dennard will be allowed to travel out of Nebraska for training camp. Dennard was arrested on drunk driving charges earlier this month, which prosecutors say violates his probation conditions from his arrest last year for assaulting an officer.
6:30 PM: The L.A. Dodgers have placed Matt Kemp on the 15-day disabled list with a left ankle sprain & have recalled Ted Lilly.
6:15 PM: Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman reports the Oklahoma City Thunder will re-sign guard Derek Fisher to a one-year deal.
6:00 PM: USC football coach Lane Kiffin said Wednesday about UCLA football coach Jim Mora: "I like Jim. So we spotted him 24 points last season." The Bruins defeated the Trojans 38-28 last year.
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5:30 PM: Australian football club St. Kilda said it would look into its treatment of players suffering concussions after defender Dylan Roberton gave a short & dazed interview during halftime of Saturday's game against Port Adelaide. Roberton suffered a big hit but was left in the game in the first half.
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Facebook reports $1.81 billion in revenue for Q2 2013, 1.15 billion monthly active users
Facebook saw its revenue grow year-over-year in its Q1 earnings reported in May, and that trend has continued for its second quarter. The company has just announced that it's pulled in $1.81 billion in revenue for Q2, beating analysts' expectations, while net income stood at $333 million. Of course, much of that money comes from ads: Facebook says that revenue from advertising now represents 88 percent of its total revenue, and that mobile advertising accounted for about 41 percent of its total advertising revenue for the quarter. Mark Zuckerberg highlighted that last bit in a statement, saying that "the work we've done to make mobile the best Facebook experience is showing good results and provides us with a solid foundation for the future."
In other numbers, Facebook also reported that it has 1.15 billion monthly active users as of June 30th, while its daily active users stood at 669 million. Mobile users were again its biggest growth area, with 819 million users actively checking in on their mobile devices each month (up 51 percent compared to the same quarter in 2012), and 469 million active on a daily basis. We'll keep you posted on any additional developments that may come out of the company's earnings call in the next hour.
Update: Zuckerberg and co. didn't have much additional news to offer during the earning's call, although he did comment briefly on Facebook Home, which he described as a "seed we're planting," and something to look at over the long term.
Filed under: Facebook
Source: Facebook
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Slain boy's dad adds voice to help black men, boys
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The father of Trayvon Martin told black lawmakers Wednesday he is now dedicated to making sure people know who his 17-year-old really was and to prevent the trial of George Zimmerman, the man who shot him dead but was acquitted, to define the youth.
"I always say Trayvon was my hero. He saved my life. Not to be there in his time of need is real troublesome, not to be able to save my son's life," Tracy Martin said.
Martin opened comments by a panel of experts brought together by House members who formed the Congressional Caucus on Black Men and Boys to focus more attention on issues disproportionately affecting black men and boys. Some of those issues include unemployment, incarceration and racial profiling.
Trying to counter what he described as slander against his son, Martin said he wouldn't allow the verdict to sum up his son.
"I vow to do everything in my power not to give up the fight for him, not only the fight for Trayvon but for so many other young black and brown boys in this country," he said.
Congressional caucuses are made up of members of the House who share interest in a given issue and want to focus attention on it while suggesting possible legislative responses. They include special group caucuses such as the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Martin's appearance came a few days after President Barack Obama made remarks identifying himself with the plight of the Florida teenager who was shot and killed last year during a confrontation with Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer.
Zimmerman, 29, said he fired the deadly shot at the unarmed boy in self-defense, and he was acquitted July 13 of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges. The verdict sparked protests and calls for federal officials to charge Zimmerman with violating Trayvon Martin's civil rights. Federal officials are reviewing the case.
Eleanor Holmes Norton, the congressional delegate for Washington, D.C., and one of the panel's organizers, said in a news release that it is time for the nation and the African-American community "to bring our black men and boys to center stage."
"We seek a society that does not define black men and boys, but allows African-American males to define themselves," Norton said in opening remarks.
Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., co-chair of the new caucus, said the aim of the coalition is to keep highlighting issues that impact and influence the conditions of black males and keep the issue in front of people so there will be understanding.
For example, Davis said, there are few male African-American teachers in elementary and primary school, so some black boys never see someone who looks like them involved in education and thus grow up perceiving education as a female pursuit.
"Fifty years after the March on Washington, it is an unfortunate fact that today young black men are still more likely to be unemployed, to be expelled from school, to be stopped at random on the street because they have been profiled, to be sent to prison, to not have access to regular quality health care, or to have suffered gun violence," Davis stated in a news release.
The unemployment rate for black men 20 and over was 13 percent in June compared to 6.2 percent for white men in that age bracket. The unemployment rate for black males and females 16 to 19 years old was 43.6 percent last month, compared to 20.4 percent for whites, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Also on schedule to speak were David Johns, executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African-Americans; Georgetown University sociology professor Michael Eric Dyson and Kweisi Mfume (kwah-EE'-seh oom-FOO'-may), former Maryland Democratic congressman and former NAACP president.
Later this week, members of the Congressional Black Caucus were to convene a summit in Chicago to consider solutions to the issue of urban gun violence.
___
Follow Suzanne Gamboa on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/APsgamboa
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/slain-boys-dad-adds-voice-help-black-men-171745593.html
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William and Kate name new royal heir George
By Costas Pitas
LONDON (Reuters) - Prince William and his wife Kate have chosen three traditional royal names by calling their new-born baby boy George Alexander Louis, William's office said on Wednesday.
The baby, born on Monday to global media frenzy and third in line to the British throne, will be known as His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge, Kensington Palace said in a statement.
All three names had been among the favourites listed by British bookmakers, and the announcement was relatively quick by royal standards; it took a month for the name of Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, to be announced, and a week for William, his eldest son.
George has been the name of six British kings. The last, George VI, was the father of The Queen and reigned from 1936 to 1952.
Alexandra, the female form of Alexander, is one of the queen's middle names, and was also the name of the queen consort of King Edward VII at the start of the last century.
Louis is one of William's middle names, and was the given name of Prince Charles's mentor and great-uncle Louis Mountbatten, who was assassinated by Irish nationalist IRA guerrillas in 1979.
The baby's arrival on Monday triggered frenetic coverage from global media who had camped for days on the doorstep of the London hospital where he was born, as well as celebratory gun salutes and the illumination of London landmarks in blue.
The choice of name, relatively short by royal standards, does not necessarily mean the baby will eventually become King George VII. The queen's father was christened Albert, but chose to be crowned as George VI.
"It's interesting that they chose to go with just three names. It's almost as if the royal family is coming down with ordinary people, who tend to have fewer middle names than monarchs," historian Suzannah Lipscomb, told Sky News.
"It is a name that none can find any problems with. George itself can't be shortened in any obvious offensive way ... They've probably gone for something that is safe."
KEEPING IT SIMPLE
Some commentators said the names appeared to have no direct connection to Kate's side of the family.
"They've kept it very simple by not trying to represent all parts of the family," royal historian Tracy Borman told Sky News.
"I think there seems to be genuine joy, warmth and good feeling about this birth and the duke and duchess are so popular. People will be nothing but pleased."
The interest stirred by the birth has given a further boost to the royal family after the public's enthusiastic celebration last year of Queen Elizabeth's 60 years on the throne, and Kate and William's lavish Westminster Abbey wedding in 2011.
The monarchy's popularity sank to a low in the 1990s after a string of divorces and the death of William's mother, Diana, after which many said the royal family's response made it appear out of touch with public sentiment.
The left-leaning Guardian newspaper described the turnaround as "an incredible recovery", although its website offered readers a 'Republican' button to block out royal stories.
Most British newspapers devoted their front pages to big pictures of Tuesday's first photocall, with headlines such as "Hello World" and "Our Little Prince".
But after weeks of fevered coverage, the couple are expected to try to keep a low profile. They spent Wednesday at Kate's parents' home in the village of Bucklebury, in southern England.
The royal couple have been living in a remote part of Wales, where William works as a rescue helicopter pilot, but are expected to move later this year to London's Kensington Palace, William's childhood home.
Royal observers say William is determined to shield his son from the obsessive attention that plagued his mother Diana, pursued relentlessly by the media and killed in a car crash in 1997 after her car was chased by photographers.
"William knows only too well that his baby son will be the new favourite creature in the circus he grew up in," wrote Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson. "Every plan he and Kate have put in place is to protect him."
(The story removes superfluous word 'new' in first paragraph)
(Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/william-kate-keep-world-waiting-babys-name-130616049.html
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Facebook Stock Surges After It Beats Wall Street Expectations for Q2
The social network's stock rose double digits in after-hours trading after it released its earnings report
Facebook stock rose 15 percent in after-hours trading Wednesday after the social network released second quarter earnings that exceeded Wall Street forecast on both revenue and earnings per share.
Earnings per share rose $ 0.19 cents, while revenue jumped 53 percent from the same period a year ago to $1.81 billion. Analysts predicted $0.14 and $1.62 billion, respectively. In second quarter of 2012, Facebook's earnings per share was $0.12 and revenue was $1.18 billion.
Facebook also built on its Monthly Active Users and Mobile Monthly Active Users, reporting 1.15 billion and 819 million, respectively. Last quarter, that number was 1.11 billion and 751 million.
More to come...
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House GOP on health care: For repeal, not replace
WASHINGTON?Establishing a no-fly zone to protect Syrian rebels would require hundreds of U.S. aircraft at a cost as much as $1 billion per month and no assurance that it would change the momentum in the 2-year-old civil war, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday in a cautionary assessment of more aggressive American military action.
In a letter, Gen. Martin Dempsey outlined the risks, costs and benefits of five potential steps as the Obama administration weighs its next move to help the opposition battling the forces of President Bashar Assad. The sectarian conflict has killed an estimated 93,000 and displaced millions, prompting more calls on Capitol Hill for greater American action.
Dempsey said the decision to use force in Syria is not one to be taken lightly.
"It is no less than an act of war," he wrote. And once that decision is made, the U.S. has to be prepared for what may come next. "Deeper involvement is hard to avoid," he said.
The United States has been providing humanitarian assistance to the opposition seeking to overthrow the Assad government. The administration has recently taken steps to arm rebels with weapons and ammunition, a step welcomed by some in Congress but troubling to other lawmakers.
Separately, members of the House intelligence committee who had balked weeks ago at the Obama administration's first attempt to pay for lethal aid for the Syrian rebels said Monday that their concerns had largely been addressed.
"After much discussion and review, we got a consensus that we could move forward with what the administration's plans and intentions are in Syria consistent with committee reservations," Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the House panel, said in a statement.
At Dempsey's confirmation hearing last week for another two-year term, Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., had asked the general for his unclassified view of options for using U.S. military forces in Syria. Separately, Levin and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a member of the committee, had pressed Dempsey about possible actions in Syria and risks associated with Afghanistan.
Tara Andringa, a spokeswoman for Levin, said Monday that the senators are expecting a separate response from Dempsey to their letter.
Responding to Levin, Dempsey spelled out costs, ranging from millions to billions, for options ranging from training and armed vetted rebel groups, conducting limited strikes on Syria's air defenses, creating a no-fly zone, establishing a buffer zone and controlling Syria's massive stockpile of chemical weapons.
The military leader said that while these steps would help the opposition and pressure Assad's government, "we have learned from the past 10 years; however, that it is not enough to simply alter the balance of military power without careful consideration of what is necessary in order to preserve a functioning state."
Dempsey's reference was to the more than a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Joint Chiefs chairman said creation of a no-fly zone would neutralize Syria's air defenses. It would require "hundreds of ground and sea-based aircraft, intelligence and electronic warfare support, and enablers for refueling and communications. Estimated costs are $500 million initially, averaging as much as a billion dollars per month over the course of a year."
He said that while it would likely result in the "near total elimination" of Syria's ability to bomb opposition strongholds, the risks would be the loss of U.S. aircraft. That would mean recovery efforts for American personnel.
He added that such a step "may also fail to reduce the violence or shift the momentum because the regime relies overwhelmingly on surface fires?mortars, artillery and missiles."
Dempsey said creation of a buffer zone, most likely a geographic area across the border with Turkey or Jordan, would give opposition forces a place to organize and train. Such a move would require thousands of U.S. ground forces, even stationed outside Syria, to back up those defending the zones.
That combined with U.S. ground forces would prove costly, at more than $1 billion per month, he said.
"We must also understand risk-not just to our forces, but to our other global responsibilities. This is especially critical as we lose readiness due to budget cuts and fiscal uncertainty. Some options may not be feasible in time or cost without compromising our security elsewhere," Dempsey wrote.
Last week, McCain and Dempsey tangled at the Army general's confirmation hearing. The GOP lawmaker said he would block Dempsey's nomination until he got an adequate response from the senior military official.
McCain and Levin have been pushing for a more aggressive response by the Obama administration to the deadly civil war.
At the hearing, McCain asked Dempsey to provide his personal opinion on which approach in Syria carries greater risk for U.S. national security interests: continued limited action on the part of Washington, or more significant steps such as establishment of a no-fly zone and arming rebel forces with the weapons they need to stem the advance of Assad's forces.
Dempsey said he has provided President Barack Obama with options for the use of U.S. military force in Syria, but he declined to detail those choices.
"It would be inappropriate for me to try to influence the decision with me rendering an opinion in public about what kind of force we should use," Dempsey said.
???
Associated Press writer Richard Lardner contributed to this report.
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