Kerry to Mideast to advance struggling Syria plan

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Secretary of State John Kerry is heading back to the Middle East this week to press his case for peace talks between Syrian rebels and President Bashar Assad's regime amid increasing signs the new U.S. strategy to halt the war is being undermined by Russia.

Kerry departs Monday for discussions with the sultan of Oman. He then goes to Jordan to gather with 10 of America's closest European and Arab partners to discuss how to advance a political transition and end more than two years of bloodshed in Syria, before traveling on to Israel.

For the Syria negotiations to succeed, the Obama administration is banking on Russia's help.

The U.S. and Russia have wrangled repeatedly while more than 70,000 Syrians have died, but they now say they're working together to start direct talks between Syria's government and the opposition in Geneva next month. Washington demands Assad's ouster, while Russia continues to provide the Syrian leader with military aid and diplomatic cover, but President Barack Obama this week said the meeting "may yield results."

The optimism echoes the message of Kerry, who during his Moscow visit earlier this month declared that the old Cold War foes, by rejuvenating Syrian peace hopes, were demonstrating how they "can accomplish great things together when the world needs it."

For all the heady talk of cooperation, however, Russia has continued to rebuff American demands that it cut off military support for Assad.

Moscow is preparing to give Syria state-of-the-art ground-to-air missile systems, Israeli officials say. It is beefing up its naval presence near its base in northwestern Syria, reports suggest. And, in the latest revelation, U.S. officials say Russia has provided the Assad regime with anti-ship cruise missiles.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the transfer of the advanced anti-ship missiles is "an unfortunate decision that will embolden the regime and prolong the suffering."

On the diplomatic front, the situation isn't much better. There, Russia has repeatedly blocked a proposal for an expanded Security Council trip to Turkey and Lebanon to study Syria's refugee crisis, according to U.N. diplomats.

The continued friction between Moscow on the one hand and Washington and its partners on the other comes as the Obama administration is evaluating a range of options, including military ones, to break the stalemate in Syria's civil war and respond to evidence that Assad's forces used small amounts of chemical weapons in two attacks in March. Obama previously declared chemical weapons use his "red line" for a more forceful American intervention, though Kerry and other U.S. officials have since suggested that no such step would be taken while the new peace push still has hope.

Russia's missiles support significantly boosts Syria's capability to target manned planes, drones and incoming missiles after its systems were easily circumvented in 2007 when Israeli jets bombed a suspected nuclear reactor site along the Euphrates River in northeastern Syria. Apparently successful Israeli strikes in recent weeks on weapons convoys to Hezbollah show the Syrian defenses are still far from impregnable, but the new weaponry adds further considerations as the United States tries to change Assad's calculation that he can prevail in Syria's civil war.

While more and better anti-missile systems wouldn't immediately change the fight between Syria's government and armed opposition, they would make it more dangerous for the U.S. and other governments to try to enforce a no-fly zone in the country or otherwise intervening militarily. And with Washington mulling over the options, the war continues. The refugee toll has topped 1.5 million people and much of the country has slipped into lawlessness.

Kerry's weeklong trip will also see him try to advance his two-month effort to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

The secretary has convinced the Arab world to help by sweetening its deal of universal recognition for the Jewish state if it pulls out of most of the territory in east Jerusalem and the West Bank that it conquered in the 1967 Mideast war. But he has struggled to gain any public concession from Israel, which was accused of taking steps last week to legalize four unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank. The Palestinians see that land as part of its future state.

Kerry also will travel to Ethiopia to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity, the precursor to today's African Union.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-mideast-advance-struggling-syria-plan-080859747.html

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Tea party looks to take advantage of moment

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? Is the tea party getting its groove back? Shouts of vindication from around the country suggest the movement's leaders certainly think so.

They say the IRS acknowledgement that it had targeted their groups for extra scrutiny ? a claim that tea party activists had made for years ? is helping pump new energy into the coalition. And they are trying to use that development, along with the ongoing controversy over the Benghazi, Libya, terrorist attacks and the Justice Department's secret seizure of journalists' phone records, to recruit new activists incensed about government overreach.

"This is the defining moment to say 'I told you so,' " said Katrina Pierson, a Dallas-based tea party leader, who traveled to Washington last week as the three political headaches for President Barack Obama unfolded.

Luke Rogonjich, a tea party leader in Phoenix, called the trio of controversies a powerful confluence that bolsters the GOP's case against big government. "Suddenly, there are a lot of things pressing on the dam," said Rogonjich.

It's unclear whether a movement made up of disparate grassroots groups with no central body can take advantage of the moment and leverage it to grow stronger after a sub-par showing in last fall's election had called into question the movement's lasting impact. Republicans and Democrats alike say the tea party runs the risk of going too far in its criticism, which could once again open the door to Democratic efforts to paint it as an extreme arm of the GOP.

"Never underestimate the tea party's ability to overplay its hand," said Democratic strategist Mo Elleithee. "Just because there is universal agreement that the IRS went too far, that should not be misread as acceptance of the tea party's ideology of anger."

At the very least, furor over the IRS in particular is giving the tea party more visibility than it has had in months, and it's providing a new rallying cry for tea party organizers starting to plot how to influence the 2014 congressional elections.

The tax-agency scandal ? it has led to the acting IRS commissioner's ouster, a criminal investigation and Capitol Hill hearings ? seems to validate the tea party's long-held belief among supporters that government was trampling on them specifically, a claim dismissed by ousted commissioner Steven T. Miller. He has called the targeting "a mistake and not an act of partisanship."

Nevertheless, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., elected in 2010 with tea party backing, said the IRS scandal "confirms many of the feelings that led to the tea party movement in the first place."

"What's happened here is a reminder of, this is what happens when you expand government," he said in an interview with The Associated Press. "That and the disaster that is Obamacare is going to be a real catalyst in 2014 and beyond."

Tea party activists hope they also can drive support ahead of the elections by stoking widespread suspicions that the Obama administration and State Department are hiding key details about the September 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. The seizure of Associated Press phone records also plays into their argument that government is too intrusive.

Tea party activists have tried to take advantage of the issues that have put some of their central tenets ? limited government and civil liberties ? in the spotlight.

From around the country last week, they headed Washington to hold a news conference on the Capitol steps and meet with members of Congress. Those who stayed home jammed House and Senate phone lines with calls urging congressional action as the IRS saga unfolded. An email from Teaparty.org that was sent to activists proclaimed: "We've worked so hard these past few years and it's paying off! We're witnessing the unraveling of a presidency at an unprecedented rate."

Freedomworks, a national tea party group, spent the week circulating petitions for congressional hearings and encouraging leaders of local groups who believe they have been targeted by the IRS to include their story on a national database to build the case against the agency.

"Perhaps all this attention will break something loose," said Jim Chiodo, an activist from Holland, Mich.

It wasn't long ago that the tea party was the hot new political kid on the block, bursting onto the national scene during the contentious summer debate over health care in 2009. Over the next few years, the loosely affiliated conservatives and civil libertarians would leave their mark on the 2010 elections by helping Republican candidates win Senate races in Florida, Kentucky, Utah and Wisconsin and scores of House races.

Those victories resulted in House and Senate Republican caucuses getting pushed to the right in legislative battles, making life difficult for Obama and his Democrats in an era of divided government.

But the movement's success was muted in 2012 when Republicans nominated the establishment-backed Mitt Romney for president, though he did little to inspire the tea party. He lost, and so did many tea party-backed House and Senate candidates.

Now, tea party activists say they are emboldened and won't be afraid to recruit candidates to run in Republican primaries against incumbents who appear to go easy on the Obama administration, particularly in light of the IRS scandal.

"It's one of those issues we should just raise hell about," said Nashville Tea Party leader Ben Cunningham.

Some say they're now even more suspicious of government than before.

"I personally feel so vindicated," said Mark Falzon, a New Jersey tea party leader. But he added: "What's scaring me now is what's going on below the water line that we're not seeing."

Republicans say that the tea party will have an opportunity come 2014 to make its mark again, particularly with Obama not at the top of the ticket. Also, they say that with Obama's health care law going into effect and with the slew of latest controversies, they now have concrete issues to point to when arguing against government overreach.

"Suddenly, this is a very real demonstration of too much power ceded to government bureaucrats," said Matt Kibbe, president of Freedomworks. "This is no longer theoretical."

___

Associated Press writers Steve Peoples in Boston and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Follow Thomas Beaumont on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Tom_Beaumont

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tea-party-looks-advantage-moment-131128674.html

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Mars rover Opportunity examines clay clues in rock

May 18, 2013 ? NASA's senior Mars rover, Opportunity, is driving to a new study area after a dramatic finish to 20 months on "Cape York" with examination of a rock intensely altered by water.

The fractured rock, called "Esperance," provides evidence about a wet ancient environment possibly favorable for life. The mission's principal investigator, Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., said, "Esperance was so important, we committed several weeks to getting this one measurement of it, even though we knew the clock was ticking."

The mission's engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., had set this week as a deadline for starting a drive toward "Solander Point," where the team plans to keep Opportunity working during its next Martian winter.

"What's so special about Esperance is that there was enough water not only for reactions that produced clay minerals, but also enough to flush out ions set loose by those reactions, so that Opportunity can clearly see the alteration," said Scott McLennan of the State University of New York, Stony Brook, a long-term planner for Opportunity's science team.

This rock's composition is unlike any other Opportunity has investigated during nine years on Mars -- higher in aluminum and silica, lower in calcium and iron.

The next destination, Solander Point, and the area Opportunity is leaving, Cape York, both are segments of the rim of Endeavour Crater, which spans 14 miles (22 kilometers) across. The planned driving route to Solander Point is about 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers). Cape York has been Opportunity's home since the rover arrived at the western edge of Endeavour in mid-2011 after a two-year trek from a smaller crater.

"Based on our current solar-array dust models, we intend to reach an area of 15 degrees northerly tilt before Opportunity's sixth Martian winter," said JPL's Scott Lever, mission manager. "Solander Point gives us that tilt and may allow us to move around quite a bit for winter science observations."

Northerly tilt increases output from the rover's solar panels during southern-hemisphere winter. Daily sunshine for Opportunity will reach winter minimum in February 2014. The rover needs to be on a favorable slope well before then.

The first drive away from Esperance covered 81.7 feet (24.9 meters) on May 14. Three days earlier, Opportunity finished exposing a patch of the rock's interior with the rock abrasion tool. The team used a camera and spectrometer on the robotic arm to examine Esperance.

The team identified Esperance while exploring a portion of Cape York where the Compact Reconnaissance Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter had detected a clay mineral. Clays typically form in wet environments that are not harshly acidic. For years, Opportunity had been finding evidence for ancient wet environments that were very acidic. The CRISM findings prompted the rover team to investigate the area where clay had been detected from orbit. There, they found an outcrop called "Whitewater Lake," containing a small amount of clay from alteration by exposure to water.

"There appears to have been extensive, but weak, alteration of Whitewater Lake, but intense alteration of Esperance along fractures that provided conduits for fluid flow," Squyres said. "Water that moved through fractures during this rock's history would have provided more favorable conditions for biology than any other wet environment recorded in rocks Opportunity has seen."

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project launched Opportunity to Mars on July 7, 2003, about a month after its twin rover, Spirit. Both were sent for three-month prime missions to study the history of wet environments on ancient Mars and continued working in extended missions. Spirit ceased operations in 2010.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. For more about Opportunity, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/rovers and http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov . You can follow the project on Twitter and on Facebook at: http://twitter.com/MarsRovers and http://www.facebook.com/mars.rovers .

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/LelUYtxz7xM/130518100641.htm

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What's Your Favorite Cheap Home-Cooked Meal?

Cooking at home can save you a lot of money, but you can also rack up a huge grocery bill learning to make certain dishes that don't always turn out better than their cheaper counterparts. What are your favorite inexpensive, home-cooked meals?

Personal finance blog Wise Bread shares a number of recipes that cost as little as $2 each to make. That seems a little on the excessively cheap side, however one of my favorite cheap meals?which comes out to about $2?is just rice, beans, and veggies. What's yours? Share a recipe if you've got it!

Best Money Tips: Dinner Recipes for $2 or Less | Wisebread

Photo by wavebreakmedia (Shutterstock).

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/SpbLAK2arI8/whats-your-favorite-cheap-home-cooked-meal-506253953

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Brussels, Berlin lukewarm on Hollande's euro zone vision

By Luke Baker

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European officials gave a lukewarm response to French President Francois Hollande's sweeping proposals for deeper euro zone integration on Friday, noting that many of his ideas were already in circulation.

In a 2-1/2-hour news conference at the Elysee Palace on Thursday, Hollande set out plans for an "economic government" for the 17 euro zone countries, including its own budget and a full-time president.

The sweeping vision also encompassed a harmonized tax system and the ability for the euro zone to borrow money by issuing its own bonds, a proposal that has been raised repeatedly over the past three years and been roundly rejected by Germany.

"It is my responsibility as the leader of a founder member of the European Union ... to pull Europe out of this torpor that has gripped it, and to reduce people's disenchantment with it," Hollande said, casting himself as something of a savior.

"If Europe stays in the state it is now, it could be the end of the project."

The European Commission, the EU executive which presented detailed plans for closer integration in a "blueprint" published last November, said it was pleased Hollande was engaged on the same issues, calling it "food for thought".

"We see that the Commission and France share the common ambition for Europe, a more integrated Europe from a political and economic point of view," Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly told reporters.

"We welcome their desire to get involved in this discussion regarding the economic deepening and political union, and their ideas are welcome, and we have our ideas, of course."

Other officials cast Hollande's comments as an attempt to regain the initiative in the European debate, after criticism in recent months that France has lost its voice in Europe and no longer has the same influence and stature as Germany.

Political analysts argue the EU can only function successfully when France and Germany, who fought two world wars before overcoming their differences to forge the foundations of the EU 60 years ago, stand together and work in consort.

But the economic malaise that has gripped France over the past two years, including slipping into recession at the start of this year, has undermined Hollande's clout and left the nation lagging Germany, the euro zone's largest economy.

"Everything we're hearing from Hollande we've already heard from (Nicolas) Sarkozy," said an EU official, referring to the former French president, who also talked about the need for an economic government and jointly issued euro zone debt.

"This really sounds like 'back to the future'. It's more about Hollande trying to have a voice, trying to regain the initiative on the European agenda, but there's nothing new."

FRENCH 'WINDOW-DRESSING'

More importantly, it does not appear that Hollande has much backing from Berlin for his vision, which includes the ambition of forging a full "political union" within two years.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman told a news conference that Hollande's proposal was "interesting and worth considering" but was essentially something the chancellor had been discussing with Sarkozy since 2011.

"It has been part of German thinking for a while anyway, and we have been working closely with France on it," Steffen Seibert told reporters.

On the specific idea of creating a separate budget for the euro zone, the German economy ministry urged caution, pointing out that it could limit the rights of the German parliament, something guaranteed to make it unacceptable to Berlin.

"I think we should exercise caution on this," said a spokesman.

Officials in Brussels, speaking on condition of anonymity because they did not want to be seen to be meddling in Franco-German relations, said they had no indications Merkel was suddenly more open to France's ideas than before.

"It's not as if Hollande has suddenly identified some new appetite in Berlin for euro zone debt issuance and a single euro zone president," said a diplomat from a leading member state.

"Hollande's proposals are not based on any new entente between Paris and Berlin, it's just pie in the sky ideas."

Economic commentator Wolfgang Munchau, in his daily commentary on EU news and affairs, described Hollande's plans as a desperate attempt to revive his flagging domestic popularity.

"Essentially, this is not about Europe at all but about French politics, an attempt to calm down French critics who want France's voice to be heard," he wrote.

"Hollande repeated ideas that are known to be no-go zones for Germany. So it looks like a window-dressing exercise with no real consequences."

(Additional reporting by Stephen Brown and Andreas Rinke in Berlin and Paul Taylor in Paris; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/brussels-berlin-lukewarm-hollandes-euro-zone-vision-132649714.html

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NM mom: I followed instincts in chasing abductor

Melissa Torrez, 27, holds her 4-year-old daughter in her apartment in Albuquerque, N.M., Friday, May 17, 2013. Torrez chased down a man for miles and ran into his car Wednesday, May 15, after he abducted her daughter. She told The Associated Press her ?mother's instincts? kicked in when she launched her chase. Police later arrested 31-year-old David Hernandez and charged him with kidnapping and child abuse. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras)

Melissa Torrez, 27, holds her 4-year-old daughter in her apartment in Albuquerque, N.M., Friday, May 17, 2013. Torrez chased down a man for miles and ran into his car Wednesday, May 15, after he abducted her daughter. She told The Associated Press her ?mother's instincts? kicked in when she launched her chase. Police later arrested 31-year-old David Hernandez and charged him with kidnapping and child abuse. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras)

This undated photo provided by the Albuquerque police department shows David Hernandez, 31, who was arrested Thursday, May 16, 2013 on kidnapping charges. Police say a mother whose 4-year-old daughter was being abducted from an Albuquerque, N.M. apartment complex chased Hernandez on Wednesday and crashed her vehicle into his car, triggering a manhunt. The 4-year-old was found later, uninjured, police said. (AP Photo/Courtesy Albuquerque Police Department)

Melissa Torrez, 27, holds her 4-year-old daughter in her apartment in Albuquerque, N.M., Friday, May 17, 2013. Torrez chased down a man for miles and ran into his car Wednesday, May 15, after he abducted her daughter. She told The Associated Press her ?mother's instincts? kicked in when she launched her chase. Police later arrested 31-year-old David Hernandez and charged him with kidnapping and child abuse. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras)

This undated photo provided by the Albuquerque police department shows David Hernandez, 31, who was arrested Thursday, May 16, 2013 on kidnapping charges. Police say a mother whose 4-year-old daughter was being abducted from an Albuquerque, N.M. apartment complex chased Hernandez on Wednesday and crashed her vehicle into his car, triggering a manhunt. The 4-year-old was found later, uninjured, police said. (AP Photo/Courtesy Albuquerque Police Department)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) ? Melissa Torrez didn't even think when teenagers in her apartment complex said a man had just grabbed her 4-year-old girl and drove away.

She jumped in her car and began chasing the brown Buick through traffic, zigzagging on Interstate 40 at high speeds and staying with the car even as it bluffed trying to exit in an attempt to lose her.

Many called Torrez a hero after her story came out Wednesday. But Torrez said Friday that she was just a mother following her instincts.

"My mind went black. I grabbed my keys," said the 27-year-old mother of three. "I just got in my car and I ... went looking for her."

Torrez said she remained only focused on getting her daughter back and quickly drove around the complex as teenagers chased the suspected abductor, later identified by police as 31-year-old David Hernandez. The teenagers pointed out his whereabouts, she said.

Torrez said she eventually found a man in a brown Buick who led her on a high-speed chase throughout Albuquerque.

"I felt like I was flying ... as if I didn't have my soul or something," she said.

The frantic mom was able to corner the man in the Buick at an apartment complex with no exit. She said as she drove toward his vehicle, she lost control of her car and struck his car.

"I wasn't trying to hit it because I thought my daughter was inside," Torrez said.

Torrez said the man got out of the car and raised his hands but took off running when police arrived. She then ran toward the car to search for her daughter but the vehicle was empty. An empty infant car seat was the only thing left.

According to a police report, Hernandez pushed the 4-year-old out of the car at the Saint Anthony's Plaza Apartment complex shortly after the abduction "presumably once he noticed Torrez had been notified and was following him."

Authorities said the child was uninjured.

Torrez said she found out that her daughter was safe when neighbors called her.

Police arrested Hernandez the next day following a massive manhunt that involved Homeland Security Investigations and the newly created multiagency called Sexual Predator and Exploitation Enforcement Detail, or SPEED, a task force aimed at finding missing and abducted children.

Hernandez was charged with kidnapping and child abuse. He told reporters Thursday he was innocent.

It was unclear if he had an attorney.

Police were also investigating a possible connection to the abduction and sexual assault of a 6-year-old from the same apartment complex last week. The suspect in that case was described as a male in a silver or gray vehicle.

Torrez said the ordeal has left her on edge. "I'm overprotective, but I'm even more overprotective now," she said. "That's my baby."

___

Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-05-17-US-Mom-Chases-Abductor/id-3848892511724db28cfaa77afd2258b0

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