dismissible used: April 2013

Monday, April 29, 2013

Syrian premier escapes bomb attack in Damascus

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian fire fighters extinguishing burning cars after a car bomb exploded in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 29, 2013. State-run Syrian TV says the country's prime minister has escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy. The TV says Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was unhurt in the attack in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh. (AP Photo/SANA)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian fire fighters extinguishing burning cars after a car bomb exploded in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 29, 2013. State-run Syrian TV says the country's prime minister has escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy. Syrian TV says Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was unhurt in the attack in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh. (AP Photo/SANA)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows a Syrian man reacts after a car bomb exploded in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 29, 2013. State-run Syrian TV says the country's prime minister has escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy. Syrian TV says Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was unhurt in the attack. (AP Photo/SANA)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT -- This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrians carrying a charred body after a car bomb exploded in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 29, 2013. State-run Syrian TV says Prime Minister Wael al-Halqir has escaped unhurt in an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy. (AP Photo/SANA)

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? Syria's prime minister escaped an assassination attempt Monday when a bomb went off near his convoy in Damascus, state media reported, the latest attack targeting a top official in President Bashar Assad's regime.

Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was unhurt in the bombing in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, state TV said. The TV showed footage of heavily damaged cars and debris in the area as firefighters fought to extinguish a large blaze set off by the explosion.

The state SANA news agency said one person was killed and several were wounded in the blast.

The daring attack in the upscale neighborhood, which is home to many embassies and government officials, was another blow to the regime, exposing its vulnerability in the very seat of Assad's powerbase.

Syria's conflict started with largely peaceful anti-government protests in March 2011 but eventually turned into a civil war that has so far killed more than 70,000 people, according to the United Nations.

A Syrian government official told The Associated Press that an improvised explosive device was placed under a car that was parked in the area and was detonated as al-Halqi's car drove by. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The state-run Al-Ikhbariya station said al-Halqi went into a regular weekly meeting with an economic committee straight after the bombing and showed him sitting around a table in a room with several other officials.

The TV said it was showing the video as a proof that al-Halqi was not hurt. But the prime minister's comments after the meeting did not refer to Monday's blast and he was not asked about it by reporters, leaving doubts as to whether the footage was filmed before or after the bombing.

Al-Halqi condemned the blast, SANA said, adding that the attempt exposes how armed groups "are bankrupt" after the latest advances made by Syrian troops around the country.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday's bombing killed al-Halqi's bodyguard and that one of his drivers was in critical condition. The group relies on a network of activist around the country.

The brazen attack in the highly secure Mazzeh neighborhood took place only about 100 meters (yards) from the residence of the Swiss ambassador. The posh area is also home to a major military air base, and security forces sealed it off shortly after the blast, allowing only pedestrians to come close.

At the scene of the bombing, damaged cars were surrounded by debris, their seats soaked with blood. A blackened shell of a school bus was left standing. A man told state TV that none of the students on board were hurt because the explosion went off shortly after they had left the bus and headed into the school.

The attack was not the first targeting a high official in the Syrian capital over the past year.

On July 18, a blast at the Syrian national security building in Damascus during a meeting of Cabinet ministers killed top four officials, including the defense minister and his deputy, who was Assad's brother-in-law. That attack also wounded the interior minister.

In December, a car bomb targeted the Interior Ministry in Damascus, killing several people and wounding more than 20, including Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar. Initially, Syrian state media said al-Shaar was not hurt in the Dec. 12 blast. News of his wounds emerged a week later, after he was brought to neighboring Lebanon for medical treatment for a serious back injury.

Earlier in April, Ali Ballan, head of public relations at the Ministry of Social Affairs and a member of Syria's relief agency, was shot dead while dinning in a restaurant in Mazzeh.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday's attack.

Massive bombings like the one that struck the prime minister's convoy have been a trademark of Islamic radicals fighting alongside the Syrian rebels, raising concerns about the extremists' role in Syria's civil war.

Al-Halqi, a senior member of Assad's ruling Baath party, took office last year after his predecessor, Riad Hijab, defected to Jordan. Al-Halqi was Syria's health minister before taking the post. He is a member of Assad's ruling Baath party and hails from the southern city of Daraa, the birthplace of the Syrian uprising.

Elsewhere in Syria, the Observatory reported fighting Monday near the Damascus International Airport to the south of the capital. The group said there were also clashes in the northern neighborhood of Barzeh and shelling of the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, south of Damacus.

The Observatory and another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, reported clashes and air raids around the military helicopter base of Mannagh near the border with Turkey in the northern province of Aleppo. On Sunday, the Aleppo Media Center said that the rebels have seized 60 percent of the Mannagh air base.

Both groups also reported clashes and shelling Monday in the northwestern province of Idlib and the central region of Homs.

___

Associated Press writers Barbara Surk and Bassem Mroue contributed to this report from Beirut.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-29-Syria/id-ef082db9a6c449c0b65c2cadd10092de

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Obama jokes about radical 2nd term changes

President Barack Obama speaks at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Michael Douglas poses for a photo during the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama talks with Michael Clemente, Executive Vice President of Fox News, the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama looks to the podium during the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

First lady Michelle Obama, right, and late-night television host Conan O'Brien attend the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama joked Saturday about his plans for a radical second-term evolution from a "strapping young Muslim Socialist" to retiree golfer, all with a new hairstyle like first lady Michelle's.

Obama used this year's annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner to poke fun at himself and some of his political adversaries, asking if it was still possible to be brought down a peg after 4? years as commander-in-chief.

Entering to the rap track "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled, Obama joked about how re-election would allow him to unleash a radical agenda. But then he showed a picture of himself golfing on a mock magazine cover of "Senior Leisure."

"I'm not the strapping young Muslim Socialist that I used to be," the president remarked, and then recounted his recent 2-for-22 basketball shooting performance at the White House Easter Egg hunt.

But Obama's most dramatic shift for the next four years appeared to be aesthetic. He presented a montage of shots featuring him with bangs similar to those sometimes sported by his wife.

Obama closed by noting the nation's recent tragedies in Massachusetts and Texas, praising Americans of all stripes from first responders to local journalists for serving the public good.

Saturday night's banquet not far from the White House attracted the usual assortment of stars from Hollywood and beyond. Actors Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Claire Danes, who play government characters on series, were among the attendees, as was Korean entertainer Psy. Several Cabinet members, governors and members of Congress were present.

And despite coming at a somber time, nearly two weeks after the deadly Boston Marathon bombing and 10 days after a devastating fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, the president and political allies and rivals alike took the opportunity to enjoy some humor. Late-night talk-show host Conan O'Brien headlined the event.

Some of Obama's jokes came at his Republican rivals' expense. He asked that the GOP's minority outreach begin with him as a "trial run" and said he'd take his recent charm offensive with Republicans on the road, including to a book-burning event with Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson would have had better success getting Obama out of office if he simply offered the president $100 million to drop out of last year's race, Obama quipped.

And on the 2016 election, the president noted in self-referential irony that potential Republican candidate Sen. Marco Rubio wasn't qualified because he hasn't even served a full term in the Senate. Obama served less than four years of his six-year Senate term before he was elected president in 2008.

The gala also was an opportunity for six journalists, including Associated Press White House Correspondent Julie Pace, to be honored for their coverage of the presidency and national issues.

The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza won the Aldo Beckman Award, which recognizes excellence in the coverage of the presidency.

Pace won the Merriman Smith Award for a print journalist for coverage on deadline.

ABC's Terry Moran was the winner of the broadcast Merriman Smith Award for deadline reporting.

Reporters Jim Morris, Chris Hamby and Ronnie Greene of the Center for Public Integrity won the Edgar A. Poe Award for coverage of issues of national significance.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-04-28-Obama-Correspondents/id-1a7e0adf2fe942a09d0e7c06006139d2

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Join Me at the #ScottValues Twitter Party May 7 - A Mom's ...

#ScottValueLogo

This mommy loves a good deal. ?I will scour the Sunday paper looking for coupons and deals at my local stores in order to save a little bit of money on my household expenses. ?I find a way to get quality products at great discounts. ?That is why I love?Scott? Shared Values. ??Scott? Shared Values is?a program that offers consumers unique deals, coupons and rewards. ?To get started saving, all you have to do is sign up for their free program. ?There is even a current promotion at Walmart where if you purchase Scott Towels and Bath Tissue you can receive a $4 Vudu coupon! ?That is enough for one free Vudu movie. ?All this and I am getting a quality bath tissue and paper towel for my family.

We will be talking about the?Scott? Shared Values program and the Walmart promotion online at a Twitter Party on May 7th!

Who To Follow: ?Host:??@amomsimpression?& Co Hosts: ?@JanetGoingCrazy?and?@cbTweetChat

Where: ?Twitter.com using the hashtag?#ScottValues

Custom Tweet Grid:?http://cbi.as/zn6fz

When: ?May 7, 2013??from ?1-2 pm EST

Prizes:??$400 in Walmart Gift Cards?? (4 $100 Gift Cards)

RSVP:??RSVP Below

Help us spread the word by tweeting:

Learn about the #ScottValues reward program & Win $400 in Walmart GC?s at a Twitter Party 5/7 1pm ET. ?RSVP?http://cbi.as/sijb3?#cbias

I am a member of the Collective Bias? Social Fabric? Community. I am being compensated to host this party as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias? #cbias #SocialFabric

Official Rules:

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. VOID WHERE TAXED, PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW. Subject to Official Rules. Open only to residents of the United States.

Enter by RSVPing for the Twitter party on the link above, be actively participating in the party and are using the hashtag #ScottValues. To be eligible, entries must be received by 1:55 p.m. EST except that mail in entries must be mailed separately and postmarked by May 3, 2013. To enter without purchase, hand write your name, completed address, age and telephone number on a 3?x5? card and mail it to Collective Bias, 205 S. Main Street, Ste. 1, Bentonville, AR 72712.

Prizes will be limited to 4- $100 Walmart Gift Cards and will be given away at 15m, 30m, 45m and 60m during the 1 hour duration of the party on May 7, 2013. All winners will be chosen using random.org from the RSVP link and winners must be present and participating in the party using the hashtag #ScottValues at the time that they are drawn as a winner. Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received. Winner will be notified via Twitter @ message by @JanetGoingCrazy during the party on May 7, 2013 and must respond to @JanetGoingCrazy within 5 minutes of being selected to claim their prize. All entries will be eligible for any unclaimed prizes after the close of the Twitter party via random drawing held on May 21, 2013.

To obtain a copy of the Official Rules, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Collective Bias, 205 S. Main Street, Ste. 1, Bentonville, AR 72712.

SPONSORS: Collective Bias, 205 S. Main Street, Ste. 1, Bentonville, AR 72712

All winners will be chosen using random.org from the RSVP link and winners must be present and participating in the party at the time that they are drawn as a winner. There is a limit of 1 (one) prize per household during the party. Please allow 4-6 weeks for prize fulfillment.

Source: http://amomsimpression.com/2013/04/28/join-me-at-the-scottvalues-twitter-party-may-7/

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Friday, April 26, 2013

Google Glass Easter Egg Introduces You To The Entire Team In A Panoramic Image Controlled By Your Head's Movement

As more developers are receiving their pair of Google Glass, the tinkering with the device is heating up. One developer found a very interesting easter egg within Glass itself, which introduces you to the entire Glass team. The steps to reproduce it are fairly simple: Settings -> Device info -> View licenses -> Tap the touchpad 9 times -> Tap Meet Team Here’s a video demo, including the neat sounds that happen as you keep tapping: The neat part about the photo is that you can see the entire 360-degree panoramic image by moving your head around. This was hard to show in the MyGlass screencast, since it lags a little bit. We’ve learned that Mike LeBeau, Senior Software Engineer for Google X, is the one who dropped the hidden gem into Glass’ software. He’s appeared on TechCrunch before in a <a target="_blank" href="“>hilarious Google blooper reel. The team photo has Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, front and center. I’m sure that more of these easter eggs will pop up over time, but this one is particularly cool since it’s the first time that I’ve seen a panoramic image on the device since I started using it. This functionality could be something that isn’t exposed in the Mirror API as of yet, but once it is, it’ll be a fun one.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/1o4bEsC-3jQ/

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Bangladesh collapse toll at 194; many still trapped

SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) ? With deep cracks visible in the walls, police had ordered a Bangladesh garment building evacuated the day before its deadly collapse, but the factories flouted the order and kept more than 2,000 people working, officials said Thursday. At least 194 people died when a huge section of the eight-story building splintered into a pile of concrete.

The disaster in the Dhaka suburb of Savar came less than five months after a blaze killed 112 people in a garment factory and underscored the unsafe conditions faced by Bangladesh's garment workers, who produce clothes for brands worn around the world. Some of the companies in the building that fell say their customers include retail giants such as Wal-Mart.

Hundreds of rescuers, some crawling through the maze of rubble in search of survivors and corpses, worked through the night and into Thursday amid the cries of the trapped and the wails of workers' relatives gathered outside the building, called Rana Plaza, which housed numerous garment factories and a handful of other companies.

An Associated Press cameraman who went into the rubble with rescue workers spoke briefly to a man pinned face down in the darkness between concrete slabs and next to two corpses. Mohammad Altab pleaded for help, but they were unable to free him.

"Save us, brother. I beg you, brother. I want to live," moaned Altab, a garment worker. "It's so painful here ... I have two little children."

Another survivor, whose voice could be heard from deep in the rubble, wept as he called for help.

"We want to live brother; it's hard to remain alive here. It would have been better to die than enduring such pain to live on. We want to live. Please save us," the man cried.

After the cracks were reported Tuesday, managers of a local bank that also had an office in the building evacuated their workers. The garment factories, though, kept working, ignoring the instructions of the local industrial police, said Mostafizur Rahman, a director of that paramilitary police force.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association had also asked the factories to suspend work starting Wednesday morning, hours before the collapse.

"After we got the crack reports, we asked them to suspend work until further examination, but they did not pay heed," said Atiqul Islam, the group's president.

On Thursday morning, the odor of rotting bodies wafted through holes cut into the building. Junior minister for Home Affairs, Shamsul Haque, said that by late Thursday morning a total of 2,000 people had been rescued from the wreckage.

Brig. Gen. Mohammed Siddiqul Alam Shikder, who is overseeing army rescue teams, said the death toll had climbed to 194 as of Thursday afternoon.

Dozens of bodies, their faces covered, were laid outside a local school building so relatives could identify them. Thousands of workers' family members gathered outside the building, waiting for news, as thousands of garment workers from nearby factories took to the streets across the industrial zone in protest.

Shikder said rescue operations were progressing slowly and carefully, so that as many survivors as possible could be saved.

He said rescue teams were standing by with heavy equipment and would "start bulldozing the debris once we get closer to the end of the operation. But now we are careful."

He also said the size of the crowd was interfering with getting more rescuers to the scene.

"We are ready with about 1,000 soldiers and rescue workers from other departments. But a huge crowd is obstructing our effort," he said.

The garment manufacturers' group said the factories in the building employed 3,122 workers but it was not clear how many were in the building when it collapsed.

Searchers worked through the night to probe the jumbled mass of concrete with drills or their bare hands, passing water and flashlights to people pinned inside.

"I gave them whistles, water, torchlights. I heard them cry," said fire official Abul Khayer late Wednesday, as he prepared to work late into the night.

Abdur Rahim, an employee who worked on the fifth floor, said a factory manager gave assurances that the cracks in the building were no cause for concern, so employees went inside.

"After about an hour or so, the building collapsed suddenly," Rahim said. The next thing he remembered was regaining consciousness outside.

On a visit to the site, Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir told reporters the building had violated construction codes and that "the culprits would be punished."

Abdul Halim, an official with the engineering department in Savar, said the owner was originally allowed to construct a five-story building but he added another three stories illegally.

Local police chief Mohammed Asaduzzaman said police and the government's Capital Development Authority have filed separate cases of negligence against the building owner.

Habibur Rahman, police superintendent of the Dhaka district, identified the owner as Mohammed Sohel Rana, a local leader of ruling Awami League's youth front. Rahman said police were also looking for the owners of the garment factories.

Among the garment makers in the building were Phantom Apparels, Phantom Tac, Ether Tex, New Wave Style and New Wave Bottoms. Altogether, they produced several million shirts, pants and other garments a year. The New Wave companies, according to their website, make clothing for major brands including North American retailers The Children's Place and Dress Barn, Britain's Primark, Spain's Mango and Italy's Benetton. Ether Tex said Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, was one of its customers.

Many of the retailers distanced themselves from the disaster, saying they were not involved with the factories at the time of the collapse or had not recently ordered garments from them. Only Primark acknowledged it was using a factory in Rana Plaza.

Benetton said in an email to The Associated Press that people involved in the collapse were not Benetton suppliers. Wal-Mart said it was investigating and Mango said it had only discussed production of a test sample of clothing with one of the factories.

The Savar suburb is home to dozens of garment factories. The collapse was even deadlier than the November factory fire that drew international attention to working conditions in Bangladesh's $20 billion-a-year textile industry. The country has about 4,000 garment factories and exports clothes to leading Western retailers, and the industry wields vast power in the South Asian nation.

The Tazreen factory that caught fire lacked emergency exits, and its owner said only three floors of the eight-story building were legally built. Surviving employees said gates had been locked and managers had told them to go back to work after the fire alarm went off.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/death-toll-bangladesh-building-collapse-194-091836304--finance.html

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Samsung to block access to app store in Iran

Potential customers try out Samsung mobile phones in a store in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 25, 2013. Iranian users of Samsung mobile applications are saying they have been notified that their access to the company's online store will be denied from May 22. Samsung said it cannot provide access to the store in Iran because of "legal barriers." (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Potential customers try out Samsung cell phones in a store in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 25, 2013. Iranian users of Samsung mobile applications are saying they have been notified that their access to the company's online store will be denied from May 22. In the message, Samsung said it cannot provide access to the store in Iran because of "legal barriers." (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Potential customers try out Samsung mobile phone and tablet computer, in a store, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 25, 2013. Iranian users of Samsung mobile applications are saying they have been notified that their access to the company's online store will be denied from May 22. Samsung said it cannot provide access to the store in Iran because of "legal barriers." (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A potential customer tries out a Samsung mobile phone in a store in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 25, 2013. Iranian users of Samsung mobile applications are saying they have been notified that their access to the company's online store will be denied from May 22. In the message, Samsung said it cannot provide access to the store in Iran because of "legal barriers." (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iranian users of Samsung mobile applications said Thursday that the company had notified them that they will no longer have access to the company's online store as of May 22.

The move is seen as part of international sanctions on the country over its disputed nuclear program. The West has imposed banking and insurance sanctions on Iran since it suspects Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

At a Tehran shopping mall, owners of mobile phones and tablets said Thursday that they had received the message via email from the company late the night before. Retailers said they had no power over the decision.

"We have heard about it, but we are only responsible for hardware here, not software and apps," shopkeeper Bijan Ashtiani said.

In the message, Samsung said that it cannot provide access to the store, known as Samsung Apps, in Iran because of "legal barriers." It apologized to customers in emailed statement seen by the Associated Press on Thursday.

Samsung's offices in Tehran could not be immediately reached for comment due to the weekend there, and its headquarters in South Korea did not immediately respond to a request.

The decision quickly provoked ire on social media.

"Samsung is to stop its apps in Iran, oh how we appreciate our officials," wrote Bahareh, a Twitter user blaming Tehran's policy. Another, named Armin, pointed at the technology giant itself, saying: "Now, Samsung's sanctions honor us as well!"

Samsung spokesman Chris Jung in Seoul said the company is still looking into the matter and could not confirm any details.

Unlike Apple, Microsoft and Adobe, Samsung has provided localized services to Iranians in their native Persian language. In 2012, Finnish communications giant Nokia stopped its services in the country.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-04-26-ML-Iran-Samsung/id-d4c51ab0de304174bf2516798f492232

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Can the friend of my friend be my enemy?

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Just as humans can follow complex social situations in deciding who to befriend or to abandon, it turns out that animals use the same level of sophistication in judging social configurations, according to a new study that advances our understanding of the structure of animal social networks.

The study, which appears today in the journal Animal Behaviour, is the first in which researchers applied a long-standing theory in social psychology called "structural balance," which is used to analyze human relationships, to an animal population to better understand the mechanisms that determine the structure of animal social groups. Researchers analyzed social bonds in behavioral data from a long-term study of the rock hyrax, a small mammal that lives in colonies across Africa and the Middle East.

Structural balance theory considers the positive or negative ties between three individuals, or triads, and suggests that "the friend of my enemy is my enemy" triangle is more stable and should be more common than "the friend of my friend is my enemy" triangle. Another configuration, "the friend of my friend is my friend," is considered to also be a stable configuration in the social network. The last possible triangle, "the enemy of my enemy is my enemy," presages an unstable state, according to the theory.

The potential power of structural balance theory is its ability to predict patterns in the structure of the whole social network and also predict changes that occur over time, as unstable triads are expected to change to stable ones.

"We all live in social networks of some kind, either online or offline, and we are interested in understanding how these groups form and dissolve and their internal dynamics, but while studying these human dynamics is important, it's also very difficult and in many cases impractical. So we study how sociality evolved in animals, which might offer us some insights into our own social behavior. And indeed, the structural balance theory that was developed to study human behavior appears to be relevant in animals as well," said the study's lead author Amiyaal Ilany, a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis.

In the study, the hyraxes tended to form balanced triads and changed unbalanced triads to balanced triads over time. However, new individuals in the population ? new pups or males that migrate into the network ? introduced social instability by often forming unbalanced triads, causing the network as a whole to retain some level of instability. The study also found that contrary to classical structural balance theory, the "enemy of my enemy is my enemy" configuration was actually a stable configuration. The results suggest that structural balance may play a role in the evolution of social structures by selecting against specific configurations. Structural balance may also serve as a psychological mechanism that allows specific social structures to exist and that prevents cooperation between members of different groups.

The authors suggest that structural balance may be prevalent in other species as well.

"The results indicated that changes in social relationships are dependent not only on two individuals, but significantly on third parties, which underscores the importance of structural balance theory in explaining the evolution of complex natural social systems," Ilany said, who was a doctoral student at Tel Aviv University when the research was begun.

###

National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS): http://www.nimbios.org/

Thanks to National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127867/Can_the_friend_of_my_friend_be_my_enemy_

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Nokia announces Asha 210: a colorful QWERTY with a social heart, we go hands-on (video)

The last time we saw new members of the Asha family they eschewed the usual QWERTY keyboard, opting instead for a full touchscreen. The newly announced (and previously teased) Asha 210, however, returns to the more tactile input method, and brings a healthy splash of color (five different ones, to be precise) plus a dual-SIM option along for the ride. As before, social networks feature heavily, but the focus clearly remains on low-end and developing markets. We know Nokia can do budget (and do it well), but is a full keyboard, a design update, and a dedicated WhatsApp button (all costing $72 SIM-free, excluding taxes when it lands late Q2) enough to make it appeal to anyone beyond the entry-level social addicts? Nokia was kind enough to show us the devices first hand, so head on past the break to see if we thought so.

Gallery: Nokia Asha 210 hands-on

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/FgFDD9xz5mg/

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Pacers' Paul George wins NBA's Most Improved Award

Indiana Pacers' Paul George (24) goes up for a dunk against Atlanta Hawks' Al Horford during the second half of Game 1 in the first round of the NBA basketball playoffs on Sunday, April 21, 2013, in Indianapolis. Indiana defeated Atlanta 107-90. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Indiana Pacers' Paul George, left, is congratulated by teammate George Hill following a scramble for a loose ball during the second half of Game 1 in the first round of the NBA basketball playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks, Sunday, April 21, 2013, in Indianapolis. Indiana defeated Atlanta 107-90. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Atlanta Hawks' Josh Smith (5) is defended by Indiana Pacers' Paul George during the second half of Game 1 in the first round of the NBA basketball playoffs Sunday, April 21, 2013, in Indianapolis. Indiana defeated Atlanta 107-90. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Indiana Pacers' Paul George, left, grabs a rebound from Atlanta Hawks' DeShawn Stevenson during the second half of Game 1 in the first round of the NBA basketball playoffs on Sunday, April 21, 2013, in Indianapolis. Indiana defeated Atlanta 107-90. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? Pacers forward Paul George spent the past summer turning himself into a better player.

Now he's planning to dedicate himself to becoming the NBA's best all-around player.

A few minutes after accepting the league's Most Improved Player Award, the 6-foot-9 swingman promised to work even harder to attain the biggest rewards of all ? an NBA title and perhaps an MVP.

"I think I can play at an MVP level. I think that's very much within reach," George said Tuesday. "For me, it's all about being consistent and having that aggressive mindset."

George has already emerged as one of the league's top young players, which explains his runaway victory in the balloting. He received 52 of 120 first-place votes and 311 points, more than double the total of New Orleans' Greivis Vasquez, who had 13 first-place votes and 146 points. Milwaukee's Larry Sanders was third with 141 points and was one of three players to receive 10 first-place votes.

As part of the award, a 2012 Kia Sorrento will be donated to the Hawthorne Community Center, George's hand-picked charity.

George is also expected to be one of the top vote-getters for the Defensive Player of the Year Award, an honor coach Frank Vogel lobbied hard for Tuesday.

The question is whether George has what it takes to challenge for the league's top individual honor.

"With the physical talent he has, with the drive he has, there's no ceiling for him," Vogel said.

If 2012-13 proved anything, it's that George is a man of his word.

Before leaving town after last season's Eastern Conference semifinal loss to LeBron James and eventual champion Miami, George walked into Vogel's office and promised to come back with a more aggressive mindset and as a more versatile scorer.

LeBron James' guidance helped him reach those goals.

The two worked out together in Las Vegas as the U.S. team prepared for the Olympics, but all the while George was watching and learning from the best ? not just James.

"It was huge. Me, growing up, idolizing guys like Kobe, watching his whole regimen, watching what time he got up to work out, watching what he was putting in his body," George said. "The younger guys, we was totally the opposite, so I had to kind of take notes and follow what they were doing."

The results impressed his teammates, coaches and many around the league.

George averaged 17.4 points and 7.6 rebounds this season, both career highs, and was the only player in the league with at least 140 steals and 50 blocks. He earned his first All-Star appearance, led Indiana to its first Central Division crown in nine years and became the fourth Pacers player to win the Most Improved Player Award since 2000. The others were Jalen Rose, Jermaine O'Neal and Danny Granger.

In 2011-12, George averaged 12.1 points and 5.6 rebounds and made just 19 of 52 shots from the field in the 4-2 playoff loss to the Heat.

Granger, for one, isn't surprised by George's success.

"I was working out with Paul and a couple of other players about five days before the (2010) draft and Larry Bird called and asked me what I thought about him. I told him, 'You better draft him,'" Granger said. "Sometimes you have talent viewing players and seeing what they can do for a team. He had that talent and, at 6-9, Paul possesses a lot of ability a lot of guys don't have."

The announcement came less than 48 hours after George played his most complete game of the season. He joined Mark Jackson as the only players in franchise history to record a triple double in the NBA playoffs. George finished with 23 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists in the Pacers' 107-90 Game 1 win over Atlanta ? giving Indiana its first 1-0 series lead since 2006. Game 2 is Wednesday night in Indy.

After showing steady improvement through each of his first two NBA seasons, George finally got his chance to lead when Granger went down with a left knee injury. Granger, Indiana's top scorer the previous five seasons, played in only five games.

So George took it upon himself to make up for the absence.

"He's a rare breed with his purity for the game and his willingness to play team basketball at both ends of the court and his drive to get better," Vogel said. "I think he was ready to explode whether Danny was in or out."

Despite shooting just 3 of 13 from the field Sunday, George made his first 17 foul shots to tie Reggie Miller's postseason mark for best free-throw percentage in a single game, then missed his 18th and final attempt.

Soon he was picking up his first big award.

He doesn't expect it to be his last.

"A lot of players don't get an opportunity to make the playoffs and have a team that can win the championship," George said. "Coach says all the time that this could be your last time in the playoffs. So I've really not focused on where I need to get better or thought about the offseason yet."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-04-23-BKN-NBA-Most-Improved-Player/id-11e7725ff4904f2bb2c47c27738df5f2

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Daily Rituals

Coffee has such a beneficial effect on creative activity that it should be no surprise that many artists have turned to stronger stimulants in search of bigger and more prolonged boosts. Indeed, amphetamines have their own semidistinguished artistic heritage, particularly among a swath of 20^th-century writers.

The poet W.H. Auden is probably the most famous example. He took a dose of Benzedrine (a brand name of amphetamine introduced in the United States in 1933) each morning the way many people take a daily multivitamin. At night, he used Seconal or another sedative to get to sleep. He continued this routine??the chemical life,? he called it?for 20 years, until the efficacy of the pills finally wore off. Auden regarded amphetamines as one of the ?labor-saving devices? in the ?mental kitchen,? alongside alcohol, coffee, and tobacco?although he was well aware that ?these mechanisms are very crude, liable to injure the cook, and constantly breaking down.?

Graham Greene had a similarly pragmatic approach to amphetamines. In 1939, while laboring on what he was certain would be his greatest novel, The Power and the Glory, Greene decided to also write one of his ?entertainments??melodramatic thrillers that lacked artistry but that he knew would make money. He worked on both books simultaneously, devoting his mornings to the thriller The Confidential Agent and his afternoons to The Power and the Glory. To keep it up, he took Benzedrine tablets twice daily, one upon waking and the other at midday. As a result he was able to write 2,000 words in the mornings alone, as opposed to his usual 500. After only six weeks, The Confidential Agent was completed and on its way to being published. (The Power and the Glory took four more months.)

Greene soon stopped taking the drug; not all writers had such self-control. In 1942 Ayn Rand took up Benzedrine to help her finish her debut novel, The Fountainhead. She had spent years planning and composing the first third of the novel; over the next 12 months, thanks to the new pills, she averaged a chapter a week. But the drug quickly became a crutch. Rand would continue to use amphetamines for the next three decades, even as her overuse led to mood swings, irritability, emotional outbursts, and paranoia?traits Rand was susceptible to even without drugs.

Jean-Paul Sartre was similarly dependent. In the 1950s, already exhausted from too much work on too little sleep?plus too much wine and cigarettes?the philosopher turned to Corydrane, a mix of amphetamine and aspirin then fashionable among Parisian students, intellectuals, and artists. The prescribed dose was one or two tablets in the morning and at noon. Sartre took 20 a day, beginning with his morning coffee, and slowly chewed one pill after another as he worked. For each tablet, he could produce a page or two of his second major philosophical work, The Critique of Dialectical Reason.

But perhaps the most notable case of amphetamine-fueled intellectual activity is Paul Erd?s, one of the most brilliant and prolific mathematicians of the 20^th century. As Paul Hoffman documents in The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, Erd?s was a fanatic workaholic who routinely put in 19-hour days, sleeping only a few hours a night. He owed his phenomenal stamina to espresso shots, caffeine tablets, and amphetamines?he took 10 to 20 milligrams of Benzedrine or Ritalin daily. Worried about his drug use, a friend once bet Erd?s that he wouldn?t be able to give up amphetamines for a month. Erd?s took the bet, and succeeded in going cold turkey for 30 days. When he came to collect his money, he told his friend, ?You?ve showed me I?m not an addict. But I didn?t get any work done. I?d get up in the morning and stare at a blank piece of paper. I?d have no ideas, just like an ordinary person. You?ve set mathematics back a month.? After the bet, Erd?s promptly resumed his amphetamine habit.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=544e3852c4528792a04dfd3a708054c7

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Bomb suspect influenced by mysterious radical

FILE - This combination of undated file photos shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. The FBI says the two brothers are the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, and are also responsible for killing an MIT police officer, critically injuring a transit officer in a firefight and throwing explosive devices at police during a getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left Tamerlan dead and Dzhokhar captured, late Friday, April 19, 2013. The ethnic Chechen brothers lived in Dagestan, which borders the Chechnya region in southern Russia. They lived near Boston and had been in the U.S. for about a decade, one of their uncles reported said. Since Monday, Boston has experienced five days of fear, beginning with the marathon bombing attack, an intense manhunt and much uncertainty ending in the death of one suspect and the capture of the other. (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun & Robin Young, File)

Ruslan Tsarni, the uncle of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, speaks with the media outside his home in Montgomery Village in Md. Friday, April, 19, 2013. Tsarni urged his nephew to turn himself in. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? In the years before the Boston Marathon bombings, Tamerlan Tsarnaev fell under the influence of a new friend, a Muslim convert who steered the religiously apathetic young man toward a strict strain of Islam, family members said.

Under the tutelage of a friend known to the Tsarnaev family only as Misha, Tamerlan gave up boxing and stopped studying music, his family said. He began opposing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He turned to websites and literature claiming that the CIA was behind the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and Jews controlled the world.

"Somehow, he just took his brain," said Tamerlan's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, who recalled conversations with Tamerlan's worried father about Misha's influence. Efforts over several days by The Associated Press to identify and interview Misha have been unsuccessful.

Tamerlan's relationship with Misha could be a clue in understanding the motives behind his religious transformation and, ultimately, the attack itself. Two U.S. officials say he had no tie to terrorist groups.

Throughout his religious makeover, Tamerlan maintained a strong influence over his siblings, including Dzhokhar, who investigators say carried out the deadly attack by his older brother's side, killing three and injuring 264 people.

"They all loved Tamerlan. He was the eldest one and he, in many ways, was the role model for his sisters and his brother," said Elmirza Khozhugov, 26, the ex-husband of Tamerlan's sister, Ailina. "You could always hear his younger brother and sisters say, 'Tamerlan said this,' and 'Tamerlan said that.' Dzhokhar loved him. He would do whatever Tamerlan would say.

"Even my ex-wife loved him so much and respected him so much," Khozhugov said. "I'd have arguments with her and if Tamerlan took my side, she would agree: 'OK, if Tamerlan said it.'"

Khozhugov said he was close to Tamerlan when he was married and they kept in touch for a while but drifted apart in the past two years or so. He spoke to the AP from his home in Almaty, Kazakhstan. A family member in the United States provided the contact information.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a police shootout Friday. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was charged Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill, and he could face the death penalty if convicted.

"Of course I was shocked and surprised that he was Suspect No. 1," Khozhugov said, recalling the days after the bombing when the FBI identified Tamerlan as the primary suspect. "But after a few hours of thinking about it, I thought it could be possible that he did it."

Based on preliminary written interviews with Dzhokar in his hospital bed, U.S. officials believe the brothers were motivated by their religious views. It has not been clear, however, what those views were.

As authorities try to piece together that information, they are touching on a question asked after so many terrorist plots: What turns someone into a terrorist?

The brothers emigrated in 2002 or 2003 from Dagestan, a Russian republic that has become an epicenter of the Islamic insurgency that spilled over from the region of Chechnya.

They were raised in a home that followed Sunni Islam, the religion's largest sect. They were not regulars at the mosque and rarely discussed religion, Khozhugov said.

Then, in 2008 or 2009, Tamerlan met Misha, a slightly older, heavyset bald man with a long reddish beard. Khozhugov didn't know where they'd met but believed they attended a Boston-area mosque together. Misha was an Armenian native and a convert to Islam and quickly began influencing his new friend, family members said.

Once, Khozhugov said, Misha came to the family home outside Boston and sat in the kitchen, chatting with Tamerlan for hours.

"Misha was telling him what is Islam, what is good in Islam, what is bad in Islam," said Khozhugov, who said he was present for the conversation. "This is the best religion and that's it. Mohammed said this and Mohammed said that."

The conversation continued until Tamerlan's father, Anzor, came home from work.

"It was late, like midnight," Khozhugov said. "His father comes in and says, 'Why is Misha here so late and still in our house?' He asked it politely. Tamerlan was so much into the conversation he didn't listen."

Khozhugov said Tamerlan's mother, Zubeidat, told him not to worry.

"'Don't interrupt them,'" Khozhugov recalled the mother saying. "'They're talking about religion and good things. Misha is teaching him to be good and nice.'"

As time went on, Tamerlan and his father argued about the young man's new beliefs.

"When Misha would start talking, Tamerlan would stop talking and listen. It upset his father because Tamerlan wouldn't listen to him as much," Khozhugov said. "He would listen to this guy from the mosque who was preaching to him."

Anzor became so concerned that he called his brother, worried about Misha's effects.

"I heard about nobody else but this convert," Tsarni said. "The seed for changing his views was planted right there in Cambridge."

It was not immediately clear whether the FBI has spoken to Misha or was attempting to.

Tsarnaev became an ardent reader of jihadist websites and extremist propaganda, two U.S. officials said. He read Inspire magazine, an English-language online publication produced by al-Qaida's Yemen affiliate.

Tamerlan loved music and, a few years ago, he sent Khozhugov a song he'd composed in English and Russian. He said he was about to start music school.

Six weeks later, the two men spoke on the phone. Khozhugov asked how school was going.

"I quit," Tamerlan said.

"Why did you quit?" Khozhugov asked. "You just started."

"Music is not really supported in Islam," he replied.

"Who told you that?"

"Misha said it's not really good to create music. It's not really good to listen to music," Tamerlan said, according to Khozhugov.

Tamerlan took an interest in Infowars, a conspiracy theory website. Khozhugov said Tamerlan was interested in finding a copy of the book "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," the classic anti-Semitic hoax, first published in Russia in 1903, that claims a Jewish plot to take over the world.

"He never said he hated America or he hated the Jews," Khozhugov said. "But he was fairly aggressive toward the policies of the U.S. toward countries with Muslim populations. He disliked the wars."

One of the brothers' neighbors, Albrecht Ammon, recently recalled an encounter in which Tamerlan argued about U.S. foreign policy, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and religion.

Ammon said Tamerlan described the Bible as a "cheap copy" of the Quran, used to justify wars with other countries.

"He had nothing against the American people," Ammon said. "He had something against the American government."

Khozhugov said Tamerlan did not know much about Islam beyond what he found online or what he heard from Misha.

"Misha was important," he said. "Tamerlan was searching for something. He was searching for something out there."

___

Associated Press writers Lara Jakes and Eileen Sullivan contributed to this report.

___

AP's Washington investigative team can be reached at DCinvestigations(at)ap.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-23-Boston%20Marathon-Radicalization/id-b972b1cc07c74c90a9fd88ecd5139726

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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Congress has questions for the FBI (CNN)

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Change diet, exercise habits at same time for best results, study says

Apr. 21, 2013 ? Most people know that the way to stay healthy is to exercise and eat right, but millions of Americans struggle to meet those goals, or even decide which to change first.

Now, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that focusing on changing exercise and diet at the same time gives a bigger boost than tackling them sequentially. They also found that focusing on changing diet first -- an approach that many weight-loss programs advocate -- may actually interfere with establishing a consistent exercise routine.

Their findings were published online April 21in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

"It may be particularly useful to start both at the same time," said Abby King, PhD, lead author of the study and a professor of health research and policy and of medicine. "If you need to start with one, consider starting with physical activity first."

The few published studies on how to introduce more than one shift in healthy habits report conflicting findings -- and few have looked at exercise and dietary change together. In examining the issue, the researchers also wanted to study people who specifically complained that the demands of their schedules didn't give them enough time to make healthy dietary and exercise choices. The reasoning was that if successful programs could be developed for these time-strapped individuals, they would likely work for others, as well.

Researchers split 200 initially inactive participants, ages 45 and older and with suboptimal diets, into four different groups. Each group received a different kind of telephone coaching. The first group learned to make changes to diet and exercise at the same time. The second group learned to make dietary changes first and didn't try changing their exercise habits until a few months later. The third group reversed that order and learned to change exercise habits before adding healthy dietary advice. The fourth group, for comparison, did not make any dietary or exercise changes, but was taught stress-management techniques. Researchers tracked participants' progress in all four groups for a year.

Despite the challenge of making multiple changes to their already-busy routines at once, those who began changing diet and exercise habits at the same time were most likely to meet national guidelines for exercise -- 150 minutes per week -- and nutrition: five to nine servings of fruit and vegetables daily, and keeping calories from saturated fats at 10 percent or less of their total intake.

Those who started with exercise first did a good job of meeting both the exercise and diet goals, though not quite as good as those who focused on diet and exercise simultaneously.

The participants who started with diet first did a good job meeting the dietary goals but didn't meet their exercise goals. King, who also is a senior researcher at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, speculates this is because changing diet and introducing exercise both have unique challenges. "With dietary habits, you have no choice; you have to eat," she said. "You don't have to find extra time to eat because it's already in your schedule. So the focus is more on substituting the right kinds of food to eat."

But, she said, finding time for exercise if you already have a busy schedule can be challenging. She pointed out that even the most successful group, those receiving the two behavioral health programs simultaneously, lagged behind in meeting the physical activity goal at first, though over the course of a year were eventually able to meet it.

King credits the way health educators explained the dietary and exercise advice to participants for their overall success and the study's high retention rate. They met with participants in person just once at the beginning of the one-year period. After that, they called once a month, spending as little as 10 to 15 minutes -- and no more than 40 minutes -- providing advice and support for diet and exercise.

For the participants, whose schedules and stressful lives had previously interfered with making healthy lifestyle choices, this approach worked, King said. She said that telephoning participants was a convenient and flexible way to provide personalized information. "These health behaviors aren't things that we change over a six-week period and then our job is done," she said. "They're things that people grapple with their whole lives, so to develop 'touches' of advice and support in a cost-efficient way is becoming more and more important."

Participants in this study were not actively trying to lose weight, just trying to develop healthy habits. King's next step is to test the same sequential-versus-simultaneous approaches among people who are trying to lose weight.

Other Stanford authors of the study include senior research scholar Cynthia Castro, PhD; statistical analyst David Ahn, PhD; and former postdoctoral scholars Matthew Buman, PhD, and Eric Hekler, PhD, (who are both now at Arizona State University) and Guido Urizar, PhD (now at Cal State Long Beach).

The study was supported by the National Institute on Aging (grant R01AG21010) and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (grant 5T32HL007034).

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University Medical Center. The original article was written by Rina Shaikh-Lesko.

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

Journal Reference:

King AC et al. Behavioral Impacts of Sequentially versus Simultaneously Delivered Dietary Plus Physical Activity Interventions: the CALM Trial. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 2013 DOI: 10.1007/s12160-013-9501-y

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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/gooWPdOXUec/130422101300.htm

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Kerry says doubling U.S. non-lethal aid to Syrian opposition

By David Brunnstrom

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that the United States would double its non-lethal aid to opposition forces in Syria to $250 million and that foreign backers had agreed to channel all future assistance through the rebels' Supreme Military Council.

Kerry stopped short of a U.S. pledge to supply weapons to insurgents fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that the rebels have sought.

But he said that the rebels' foreign backers were committed to continuing support to them and "there would have to be further announcements about the kind of support that that might be in the days ahead" if Syrian government forces failed to pursue a peaceful solution to the crisis.

Speaking after a meeting of the Syrian opposition and its 11 main foreign supporters in Istanbul, Kerry said the United States would provide an additional $123 million in non-lethal assistance to the rebels, bringing the total of this kind of U.S. help to $250 million.

Kerry urged other foreign backers to make similar pledges of assistance with the goal of reaching $1 billion in total international support.

A U.S. official said on Friday that new non-lethal U.S. aid could include for the first time battlefield support equipment such as body armor and night-vision goggles. U.S. officials have said in the past that the equipment could include armored vehicles and advanced communications equipment, but Kerry gave no specifics.

He said the United States would work with the Syrian opposition to determine how the money would be spent and added that Washington would also provide nearly $25 million in additional food aid.

Kerry said the foreign supporters had "all committed that the aid and assistance from every country will go through the (rebel) Supreme Military Command."

"Today, it's safe to say that we are really at a critical moment," Kerry said. "The stakes in Syria couldn't be more clear: Chemical weapons, the slaughter of people by ballistic missiles and other weapons of huge destruction. The potential of a whole country, a beautiful country with great people, being torn apart and perhaps breaking up into enclaves (with the) potential of sectarian violence which this region knows there is too much of.

"What we are trying to do is to avoid all of that. And we committed to - we recommitted - because we think there are some people who don't believe that we believe it, or are in fact are committed to it," he said.

Kerry referred to a statement issued after the meeting by Syria's main opposition National Coalition in which it pledged not to use chemical weapons, rejected "all forms of terrorism" and vowed that weapons it attains would not fall into the wrong hands.

In its declaration outlining its vision of a post-Assad Syria and issued following the "Friends of Syria" meeting with Western and Arab backers, the coalition also said it would not allow acts of revenge against any group in Syria.

The latest U.S. expansion of non-lethal aid follows Kerry's announcement in Rome in late February that Washington would shift policy to provide medical supplies and food directly to opposition fighters, an option it had previously rejected.

Despite pressure from some members of Congress and recommendations even from among his own advisers, U.S. President Barack Obama has refused to supply arms to the rebels, reflecting concern that such weapons would fall into the hands of Islamist militants in the ranks of the fractious insurgency.

However, even the limited new steps under consideration suggest that the White House, amid difficult internal debate, is continuing to move slowly toward a more direct role in bolstering the Syrian opposition.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar are among Arab states believed to be arming rebel factions.

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy, Eric Walsh and Paul Simao)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-says-doubling-u-non-lethal-aid-syrian-000555607.html

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