clinteastwoodxy: 2013

Thursday, 6 June 2013

Google Hangouts Updates on Android With Improvements, New Gmail Finally Rolls Out to Everyone

gmail update

So Google does this ~~really annoying~~ thing now with app updates, where it slowly rolls them out rather than posting the newest build and letting everyone go grab it. We saw it with the new Gmail once it went live on Monday, and are seeing it today with Hangouts. Gmail?s big overhaul went live two days ago, but is now just becoming available to everyone this morning. So if you didn?t download and install it manually, be sure to check your device or head into the web Google Play store and install it.?

For Hangouts, it also received an update, at least according to the Play listing for it. The update fixes audio issues during video calls and improves performance ? it?s minor. But, you probably can?t download it because Google is slowly rolling it out. If you are in the lucky group, be sure to let us know how amazing the new performance is. The rest of us will sit here, annoyed.

Play Links: ?Hangouts | Gmail

Cheers Dan!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DroidLife/~3/2PJzHmaPz8s/

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The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: The Strongest Square

Sometimes you've just got to know when to leave bad enough alone.

Wednesday, 5 June 2013

Senators blast military response to sex assaults

Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, during the committee's hearing on pending legislation regarding sexual assaults in the military. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., top right, questions military leaders on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, as the committee investigates the growing epidemic of sexual assaults within the military. Fellow committee members are, from left, Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind. and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, right, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to investigate the growing epidemic of sexual assaults within the military. From right are, Dempsey, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, and Judge Advocate General of the Army Lt. Gen. Dana K. Chipman. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

As Congress investigates the growing epidemic of sexual assaults within the military, the Senate Armed Services Committee holds a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, to demand answers from top uniformed leaders about whether a drastic overhaul of the military justice system is needed. Fro right to left are: Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Brig. Gen. Richard C. Gross, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, Judge Advocate General of the Army Lt. Gen. Dana K. Chipman, Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James F. Amos, and Staff Judge Advocate to the Marine Corps Commandant Maj. Gen. Vaughn A. Ary. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

As Congress investigates the growing epidemic of sexual assaults within the military, the Senate Armed Services Committee holds a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, to demand answers from top uniformed leaders about whether a drastic overhaul of the military justice system is needed. From right to left are, Judge Advocate General of the Air Force Lt. Gen. Richard C. Harding, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, Judge Advocate General of the Navy Vice Adm. Nanette M. DeRenzi, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Brig. Gen. Richard C. Gross, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? U.S. senators dressed down senior military leaders Tuesday, led by female lawmakers, combat veterans and former prosecutors who insisted that sexual assault in the ranks has cost the services the trust and respect of the American people as well as the nation's men and women in uniform.

Summoned to Capitol Hill, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the beribboned four-star chiefs of the service branches conceded in an extraordinary hearing that they had faltered in dealing with sexual assault. One said assaults were "like a cancer" in the military.

But they strongly opposed congressional efforts to strip commanders of their traditional authority to decide whether to level charges in their units.

Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, especially the panel's seven female senators, grilled the chiefs about whether the military's mostly male leadership understands differences between relatively minor sexual offenses and serious crimes that deserve swift and decisive justice.

"Not every single commander necessarily wants women in the force. Not every single commander believes what a sexual assault is. Not every single commander can distinguish between a slap on the ass and a rape because they merge all of these crimes together," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.

Frustration among the senators seemed to boil over as they discussed recent high-profile cases and statistics on sexual assault that underscored the challenges the Defense Department and Congress face.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a Navy veteran of Vietnam, said a woman came to him the previous night and said her daughter wanted to join the military. She asked McCain if he could give his unqualified support to her.

"I could not," McCain said. "I cannot overstate my disgust and disappointment over the continued reports of sexual misconduct in our military. We've been talking about the issue for years, and talk is insufficient."

The committee is considering seven legislative proposals, including one introduced by Gillibrand that would deny commanders the authority to decide when criminal charges are filed and remove the ability of senior officers to convene courts-martial.

More than 40 senators are sponsors or co-sponsors of the proposals, several of which have overlapping provisions. A bill by Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., would provide any victims with a special military lawyer who would assist them throughout the process. Another, sponsored by Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, would require any service member found guilty of rape or sexual assault receive a minimum punishment of a dismissal or a dishonorable discharge. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced a bill with provisions that require commanders to submit reports of sex-related offenses to more senior officers within 24 hours.

Dempsey and the service chiefs warned against making the dramatic changes called for in Gillibrand's legislation. Removing commanders from the military justice process, Dempsey said, would undercut their ability to preserve good order and discipline in their units.

"We cannot simply legislate our way out of this problem," said Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army's chief of staff. "Without equivocation, I believe maintaining the central role of commander in our military justice system is absolutely critical to any solution."

But Gillibrand defended her proposal, which has garnered 18 co-sponsors in two weeks. She said victims of sexual assault are reluctant to report the crimes to their commanders because they fear their allegations will be dismissed and they might face retaliation. Aggressive reforms in the military's legal code are needed to force cultural changes, she said.

"You have lost the trust of the men and women who rely on you," Gillibrand said. "They're afraid to report. They think their careers will be over. They fear retaliation. They fear being blamed. That is our biggest challenge right there."

Dempsey and the service chiefs told the committee they back Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's April recommendation to change the Uniform Code of Military Justice and largely strip commanding officers of the power to toss out a military verdict. That change is included in several of the Senate proposals including Gillibrand's and is likely to be adopted by the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday in its version of the annual defense policy bill.

But Gillibrand and several other senators said that wasn't nearly enough.

Several members of the committee noted that American allies including Great Britain, Israel and Australia have already have taken serious cases outside the chain of command. The U.S. military leaders said they had just begun to study the changes to see how they might apply to this country.

The committee's Democratic chairman, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, opened the hearing by saying the problem of sexual assault "is of such a scope and magnitude that it has become a stain on our military." Levin has not endorsed any of the bills.

The military leaders didn't dispute Levin's assessment.

"Sexual assault and harassment are like a cancer within the force, a cancer that left untreated will destroy the fabric of our force," Odierno said. "It's imperative that we take a comprehensive approach to prevent attacks, to protect our people, and where appropriate, to prosecute wrongdoing and hold people accountable."

While acknowledging the problem and accepting that legislation is inevitable, the military leaders insisted that commanders keep their authority to handle serious offenses including sexual assault cases that occur in their units.

The Air Force's top officer, Gen. Mark Welsh, said, "Commanders having the authority to hold airmen criminally accountable for misconduct ... is crucial to building combat-ready, disciplined units."

But, their voices rising, female members of the committee complained that the military's reporting process fails to recognize the seriousness of rape.

"This isn't about sex," said McCaskill, a former county prosecutor in Missouri. "This is about assaultive domination and violence. And as long as those two get mushed together, you all are not going to be as successful as you need to be at getting after the most insidious part of this, which is the predators in your ranks that are sullying the great name of our American military."

The Pentagon estimated in a recent report that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, up from an estimated 19,000 assaults in 2011, based on an anonymous survey of military personnel. While the number of sexual assaults that members of the military actually reported rose 6 percent to 3,374 in 2012, thousands of victims were still unwilling to come forward despite new oversight and assistance programs aimed at curbing the crimes, the report said.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., suggested that youth is partly to blame for the problem. "The young folks that are coming into each of your services are anywhere from 17 to 22 or 23," he said. "The hormone level created by nature sets in place the possibility for these types of things to occur." But Chambliss also said the military and Congress need to do far more to stop sexual assaults from occurring.

Commanders and senior enlisted troops are ultimately responsible for ensuring that their units don't develop climates conducive to sexual assaults and harassment. But Dempsey said that he and other military leaders haven't kept their fingers on the pulse of their units as closely as they should over the past decade due to the heavy pace of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I think I took my eye off the ball a bit in the commands that I had," said Dempsey, who spent more than three years as a commander in Iraq.

Dempsey also said in response to a question from McCain that there are gaps in the way the services screen prospective recruits that could allow an individual with a history of sex-related crimes to join.

"There are currently, in my judgment, inadequate protections for precluding that from happening," Dempsey told McCain. "So a sex offender could, in fact, find their way into the armed forces of the United States."

The committee's hearing, which lasted nearly eight hours with testimony from three different panels of witnesses, came as a string of incidents has raised doubts about how aggressively the services are acting to change their cultures and eradicate sexual assaults.

Last week, the Pentagon said the U.S. Naval Academy is investigating allegations that three football team members sexually assaulted a female midshipman at an off-campus house more than a year ago. A lawyer for the woman says she was "ostracized" on campus after she reported it.

In recent weeks, a soldier at the U.S. Military Academy was charged with secretly photographing women, including in a bathroom. The Air Force officer who led the service's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response unit was arrested on charges of groping a woman. And the manager of the Army's sexual assault response program at Fort Campbell, Ky., was relieved of his post after his arrest in a domestic dispute with his ex-wife.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-06-04-Military%20Sexual%20Assault/id-76fa13e5ef6648449917ed40a1c7dffe

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Cronut: flaky idea hasn't crossed the border - Montreal Gazette

MONTREAL - Well, the big New York cronut fad is three weeks old now, and I still haven?t heard of a single version anywhere in Canada. Really, what?s wrong with this country?

The cronut, invention of Big Apple baker Dominique Ansel, is croissant dough in a doughnut shape, deep-fried, injected with vanilla cream, iced, rolled in sugar, and garnished with crystallized rose petals.

It has many flaky layers, many calories, and a short shelf life. Produced in small batches, it sells out daily.

This being N.Y., there?s already a black (resale) market; it?s only a matter of time until there are fist fights, not to mention gunplay. Also I imagine there?s already a race between copycats, on one hand, and a ban by Mayor Mike Bloomberg, on the other.

Daniel Radcliffe wants babies ?before my 30s,? he told Time Out: London. ?I like the idea of being a youngish parent so I?ve got energy.? And he?s ?definitely going to be one of those parents who pushes their kids? to play sports.

Parenthood, he said, has given various friends ?a sense of purpose that up

till now I only really get from work. I want that.?

Nobody knows whom he?s dating. He?s 23.

This must sting: Naomi Campbell broke up with Russian real-estate tycoon Vladislav Doronin in April. Now he and Luo Zilin, a model Campbell mentored on her TV program The Face, have been photographed smooching on holiday in Spain, says the Daily Mail.

Meanwhile Luo has been dropped by N.Y.-based MIX Model Management, for ?ongoing unprofessional conduct?? ? no details offered.

Luo denies fooling around with Doronin, despite the photos: ??No, I?m not dating Vlad,? she tweeted. ?No, I?m not his ?side chick,? no, didn?t (bad word). No, I?m not an escort, nor have I ever been.?

Vlad?s 50. Naomi?s 42. Luo is 25.

Remember Brad Pitt?s 1997 movie Seven Years in Tibet? Well, the Chinese government apparently does: censors there have still not approved Brad?s new zombie picture World War Z, reports thewrap.com.

Without the Chinese market, the $200 million flick can hardly get into the black. It opens everywhere else this month; if China delays it, pirated versions will wreck the eventual box-office haul there.

Seven Years in Tibet made the Dalai Lama look good and the Chinese Army bad; Beijing complained ? and remembered.

Paramount made some pre-emptive cuts to World War Z, to ease access to China; originally the zombie epidemic started there. But still, no approval.

As thewrap.com notes, Chinese officials don?t like zombies, anyway: depictions of magic, horror, and the like are discouraged.

Pia Zadora is back in the news, but not in a good way.

Pia was a fixture in this space in the mid-?80s: a ?sex kitten? type whose rich husband, Israeli businessman Rik Riklis, kept trying ? and failing ? to buy her showbiz stardom.

She got into the police news Saturday in Las Vegas, where she lives with current hubby Mike Jeffries, a police detective. She was arrested on suspicion of domestic battery; that?s all we know so far.

She?s 61.

camillimail@gmail.com

Source: http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/celebrity/Doug+Camilli+Cronut+flaky+idea+hasn+crossed/8476071/story.html

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Missouri mansions invite the public inside | Christian Davies Antiques

Three mansions in Missouri are now open to the public, revealing the secrets of how the owners had lived. Preserved with original antique furniture and belongings, the houses provide an insight into the lives of the owners. Southeast Missouri is where visitors will discover the Hunter-Dawson mansion, set out as it would have been in the 1860s. Bothwell Lodge State Historic Site is perched high up on a north bluff of Sedalia, looking just as it did in 1929 when the owner died. The home of Thomas Hart Benton and his wife Rita Piacenza still displays the paint brushes, canvases and paints of the owner.

All three mansions are left just as they would have been, with most of the original possessions like furniture left intact. Marvellous displays of antique furniture, books and art are available for visitors to learn how the owners would have lived their life. The owner of the Hunter-Dawson mansion died before construction was completed, leaving his wife and children to move in alone. The house stayed in the family until 1958. The centrepiece of the house is a centre table housed in the room that would have been a parlour, with elaborate carving and finish.

Interest in the three mansions shows that items of furniture from the period, including tables and antique dining chairs , are still relevant. Ribble Valley has reputable antique dealers who will be happy to demonstrate fine antique furniture, and who may also be able to provide some of the history of an item.

No comments yet.

Source: http://blog.christiandaviesantiques.co.uk/missouri-mansions-invite-the-public-inside-3343.html

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AP Source: Obama nominating 3 to US appeals court

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama plans to jointly name three nominees to the federal appeals court in Washington, a White House official said Monday, setting up a Senate battle with Republicans who say the influential court doesn't need more judges.

The official said Obama plans to announce his nomination of Patricia Ann Millett, Cornelia Pillard and Robert Leon Wilkins on Tuesday in the Rose Garden, a joint announcement that is part of an aggressive new push in a years-long partisan fight to make his imprint on the court. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity discuss the nominees ahead of the announcement without clearance to do so on the record.

Pillard is a Georgetown University law professor, Millet is an appeals lawyer in Washington and Wilkins is a judge on the U.S. District Court in Washington. They would fill three vacancies currently on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, often called the second-highest court in the nation because of its influence.

The court has nationwide and even international impact, since many cases relate to the balance of power in Washington and review of actions by federal agencies that affect health, safety and the environment. The D.C. circuit also is grooming grounds for the Supreme Court, with four current justices having served on it.

The nominees might not raise partisan rancor on their own ? Millet worked in the George W. Bush administration, while Wilkins was confirmed without opposition in Obama's first term. But the D.C. Circuit is at the center of a years-long struggle between Obama and Senate Republicans.

Congress has authorized 11 judgeships for the D.C. circuit, but Republicans are questioning whether the court is busy enough to justify filling them. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, has introduced legislation to eliminate one seat, move one to the 11th circuit based in Atlanta and move another to the 2nd Circuit based in New York. He says the workloads in those two circuits are much heavier than in Washington.

The legislation is a non-starter in the Democratic-controlled Senate, but signals that Republicans are going to fight Obama's nominees. "It's hard to imagine the rationale for nominating three judges at once for this court given the many vacant emergency seats across the country, unless your goal is to pack the court to advance a certain policy agenda," Grassley said in a statement Monday night.

The White House has objected sharply to that legislation and noted that Republicans voted to fill those vacancies when President George W. Bush made the nominations.

The White House has been frustrated by the successful blocking of one of Obama's nominees to the circuit and by key decisions there recently against Obama's agenda. The circuit overturned the administration's regulation clamping down on power plant pollution that crosses state lines, rejected its attempt to require large graphic health warnings on cigarette packages and found that Obama exceeded his power in bypassing the Senate to make recess appointments.

Although Obama also has gotten some victories from the D.C. circuit, which upheld his health care law and his administration's rule on greenhouse gases, he was stymied in his attempts to add his own nominees to its bench until two weeks ago. Obama's first offering, Caitlin Halligan, waited two and a half years before withdrawing her nomination in March with Republicans blocking a vote on her confirmation. Obama's second nominee ? Sri Srinivasan, who had bipartisan credentials after arguing appeals for both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations ? won confirmation May 23.

With Srinivasan's confirmation, the circuit now has four Democratic appointees and four Republican appointees among the active judges. But another six senior judges on semi-retired status regularly hear cases, and five of those were nominated by Republican presidents.

Obama's three new nominees, two white women and a black man, contribute to a White House commitment to bring diversity to the federal bench historically dominated by white men. But the nominees don't bring much in the way of academic diversity ? all three are graduates of Obama's alma mater, Harvard Law School.

Pillard is an experienced Supreme Court litigator who worked for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund before joining the solicitor general's office in 1994. She left to join the faculty at Georgetown in 1997, but returned for two years at the Justice Department in end of the Clinton administration. She still appears before the Supreme Court from her position at Georgetown.

Millet worked with Pillard in the solicitor general's office beginning in 1996, but stayed through most of the Bush administration before leaving in 2007 to join private practice. Millet has argued cases in nearly every federal appeals court and gone 32 times before the Supreme Court, the second-highest number of high court appearances of any female attorney. She's currently a partner at the Washington firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where she heads the firm's Supreme Court practice.

Wilkins has been a federal judge since 2010, when the Senate approved Obama's nomination of him to the U.S. District Court in Washington. He was a public defender in Washington before helping to establish the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and then going to work for nine years in private practice.

___

Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-obama-nominating-3-us-appeals-court-213340148.html

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Cameras in the Future Might Not Need Lenses

Every camera you've ever used in your life has a lens that focuses incoming photons on to a light-sensitive surface. But in the future, cameras might not need lenses at all, and this Bell Labs prototype illustrates how this could be done for cheap.

Friday, 31 May 2013

Wildfire north of L.A. sparks evacuations

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) ? A fast-growing wildfire was burning out of control Thursday night near power stations and utility lines north of Los Angeles and homes in a mountain community were being evacuated, officials said.

The fire in the Angeles National Forest surged to 1,000 acres after burning for about four hours, the U.S. Forest Service said, sending out big clouds of black smoke amid temperatures in the high 80s and winds gusting at more than 20 mph.

"The growth potential of this fire is great. It's burning medium to thick brush on steep slopes," said Sherry Rollman, a forest service spokeswoman.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was helping residents evacuate in the community of Green Valley. It was not clear how many homes are threatened, but about 1,000 people live in the area.

Both Southern California Edison and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said the fire was threatening their facilities and they were monitoring the blaze for potential outages, though none had been reported. Power was being rerouted away from the threatened lines.

The blaze broke out at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday, just north of Powerhouse No. 1, a hydroelectric plant near the LA aqueduct that was the first to bring municipal power to the city and has been operating for nearly a century.

One structure has burned but it was not immediately clear what it was.

Further north near Santa Barbara, a fire that burned nearly 2,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest and forced the evacuation of thousands of campers when it broke out on Memorial Day was fully contained Thursday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wildfire-sparked-near-power-stations-north-la-012818398.html

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Chicago Sun-Times lays off photography staff

CHICAGO (AP) ? The Chicago Sun-Times has laid off its entire full-time photography staff.

Sun-Times Media released a statement Thursday to The Associated Press confirming "the very difficult decision" to do away with the positions at the city's tabloid newspaper and its suburban sister publications.

The statement noted that the "business is changing rapidly" and audiences are "seeking more video content with their news."

The newspaper company's statement cited its efforts to bolster reporting capabilities with video and other multimedia elements and said the resulting restructuring of multimedia goes "across the network."

Steve Buyansky (beye-AN'-skee), a photo editor for three of the group's suburban newspapers, says about 30 photographers heard from Sun-Times editor Jim Kirk that they were laid off at a mandatory meeting Thursday morning.

He says the photographers are "in shock."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chicago-sun-times-lays-off-photography-staff-175916089.html

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Thursday, 30 May 2013

Early brain responses to words predict developmental outcomes in children with autism

May 29, 2013 ? The pattern of brain responses to words in 2-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder predicted the youngsters' linguistic, cognitive and adaptive skills at ages 4 and 6, according to a new study.

The findings, to be published May 29 in PLOS ONE, are among the first to demonstrate that a brain marker can predict future abilities in children with autism.

"We've shown that the brain's indicator of word learning in 2-year-olds already diagnosed with autism predicts their eventual skills on a broad set of cognitive and linguistic abilities and adaptive behaviors," said lead author Patricia Kuhl, co-director of the University of Washington's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences.

"This is true four years after the initial test, and regardless of the type of autism treatment the children received," she said.

In the study, 2-year-olds -- 24 with autism and 20 without -- listened to a mix of familiar and unfamiliar words while wearing an elastic cap that held sensors in place. The sensors measured brain responses to hearing words, known as event-related potentials.

The research team then divided the children with autism into two groups based on the severity of their social impairments and took a closer look at the brain responses. Youngsters with less severe symptoms had brain responses that were similar to the typically developing children, in that both groups exhibited a strong response to known words in a language area located in the temporal parietal region on the left side of the brain.

This suggests that the brains of children with less severe symptoms can process words in ways that are similar to children without the disorder.

In contrast, children with more severe social impairments showed brain responses more broadly over the right hemisphere, which is not seen in typically developing children of any age.

"We think this measure signals that the 2-year-old's brain has reorganized itself to process words. This reorganization depends on the child's ability to learn from social experiences," Kuhl said. She cautioned that identifying a neural marker that predicts future autism diagnoses with assurance is still a ways off.

The researchers also tested the children's language skills, cognitive abilities, and social and emotional development, beginning at age 2, then again at ages 4 and 6.

The children with autism received intensive treatment and, as a group, they improved on the behavioral tests over time. But the outcome for individual children varied widely and the more their brain responses to words at age 2 were like those of typically developing children, the more improvement in skills they showed by age 6.

In other studies, Kuhl has found that social interactions accelerate language learning in babies. Infants use social cues, such as tracking adults' eye movements to learn the names of things, and must be interested in people to learn in this way. Paying attention to people is a way for babies to sort through all that is happening around them and serves as a gate to know what is important.

But with autism, social impairments impede children's interest in, and ability to pick up on, social cues. They find themselves paying attention to many other things, especially objects as opposed to people.

"Social learning is what most humans are about," Kuhl said. "If your brain can learn from other people in a social context you have the capability to learn just about anything."

She hopes that the new findings will lead to brain measures that can be used much earlier in development -- at 12 months or younger -- to help identify children at risk for autism.

"This line of work may lead to new interventions applied early in development, when the brain shows its highest level of neural plasticity," Kuhl said.

Coauthors are Jeffrey Munson and Annette Estes, both at UW; Sharon Coffey-Corina, University of California, Davis; and Geraldine Dawson, Autism Speaks and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The research was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/X94xdaSnTU4/130529190724.htm

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Syrian opposition says no to peace talks in Geneva

The US and others had been hoping a united Syrian political opposition would attend peace talks in Geneva in June. But the opposition says they won't participate, and the Syrian civil war still rages.

By Tom A. Peter,?Correspondent / May 30, 2013

Civilians are seen, from a hole in sandbags, walking along a passageway separating the area controlled by Free Syrian Army fighters and the area controlled by the regime in Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr, Wednesday. Syria's opposition leaders announced on Thursday that they will not participate in peace talks in Geneva next month.

Aref Hretani/Reuters

Enlarge

Leaders of the Syrian opposition announced on Thursday that they will not participate in US and Russian sponsored peace talks that its planners were hoping would take place in Geneva, Switzerland in June.

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The news comes on the same day that the Syrian government said it had received S-300 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia meant to deter a potential foreign intervention.

These developments indicate little willingness from either side to seek out a political solution, as opposition and government forces dig in for the continuation of the nation?s bloody civil war.

Opposition officials spent days meeting in Istanbul this week to develop a unified negotiating strategy, pressed by US and French officials, before making the announcement. In addition to calling for an agreement to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power before they?ll engage in talks, opposition officials said they would not attend Geneva as long as Iranian and Hezbollah fighters are inside Syria and ?massacres are taking place.?

The decision follows a number of military setbacks for the Syrian opposition. Rebels appear to be on the brink of losing Qusayr, a strategically important town along the border of Lebanon, and a recent report by the German intelligence agency indicated that the Assad military is poised to make significant advances.

?If [the opposition] were in a significantly stronger position, perhaps there would be more of an openness, but it?s common sense that you don?t want to negotiate when you?re at your weakest and your opponents are at their strongest,? says Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center. ?There?s a broader existential moment here, that we?re talking about transition plans and reorienting the political opposition, and including more members, but all of that is moot if the rebels lose. I think it?s dawning on people now finally that the rebels might not actually win."

Deep divisions

Even before the opposition's decision to skip the talks in Geneva, few expected results. The Syrian National Coalition remained divided on a number of issues and lacked the support of many people inside Syria. Though the Syrian government agreed to attend the conference without conditions on Wednesday, it remained highly unlikely government officials would consider the rebel?s demand for Assad to step down as part of any political settlement.

With a negotiated settlement off the table for now, fighting throughout Syria is likely to intensify. This week, the European Union agreed not to renew a weapons embargo on Syria, paving the way for member states to send weapons to opposition forces.

In the US, a Senate bill to support the opposition is gaining traction. Senator John McCain, who has long called for increased American involvement in Syria, visited rebels inside the country on Monday. Now he says the US can provide weapons to rebels without them potentially falling into the wrong hands, which has long been a point of concern for many American officials.

Sami Moubayed, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center, says that despite the coalition?s decision today, peace talks are still possible.

?The more they bicker among themselves, the more credibility they are losing on the Syrian street. Even worse, the more they quarrel, the more people die," Mr. Moubayed says. "The latest fiasco at Istanbul, where they failed at expanding the alliance, only adds to Western fears of what post-Assad Syria would look like with such a disunited opposition. Painful concessions are required here, and one of them, no doubt, will be accepting the political process of Geneva."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/Z-rhjfsrv4Q/Syrian-opposition-says-no-to-peace-talks-in-Geneva

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Mich. authorities await autopsy results for ex-QB

FILE - In this Dec. 10, 2005, file photo, Grand Valley State quarterback Cullen Finnerty runs against Northwest Missouri State's Chris Termini during the first half of the NCAA Division II championship football game in Florence, Ala. Authorities say the former college football quarterback who went missing over the weekend has been found dead in Michigan. Lake County Undersheriff Dennis Robinson says Finnerty's body was found Tuesday night, May 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt, File)

FILE - In this May 29, 2008 file photo, Denver Broncos backup quarterback Cullen Finnerty stretches at the team's headquarters in Denver. Authorities are searching for Cullen Finnerty, a quarterback who led Grand Valley State to three Division II national football championships, after he failed to return from fishing near his northern Michigan cabin. The Lake County, Mich., sheriff's department says the search continued Monday evening, May 27, 2013 for the 30-year-old Finnerty, who didn't return Sunday night, May 26, 2013. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

FILE - In this Dec. 16, 2006, file photo, Grand Valley State quarter back Cullen Finnerty holds up the championship trophy with teammates after beating Northwest Missouri State 17-14 in the Division II championship football game in Florence, Ala. Authorities say the former college football quarterback who went missing over the weekend has been found dead in Michigan. Lake County Undersheriff Dennis Robinson says Finnerty's body was found Tuesday night, May 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

A Michigan State Police helicopter searches an area near the former GEO corrections facility in Baldwin, Mich., as searchers including former and current Grand Valley State University football players prepare to go out to look for former GVSU quarterback Cullen Finnerty in the Baldwin, Mich., area on Tuesday, May 28, 2013, after he went missing while on a fishing trip over the weekend on Baldwin River. Finnerty's body was found in Webber Township about a mile from where he disappeared, but authorities said no foul play was suspected. (AP Photo/Detroit Free Press, Ryan Garza) DETROIT NEWS OUT; NO SALES

Lake County Sheriff Bob Hilts, right, fills the media in during a press conference at the form GEO Correctional Facility in Baldwin, Mich., on Tuesday May 28, 2013 after the body of former Grand Valley State University quarterback Cullen Finnerty was found during a foot search half a mile north of where the boat was found after he went missing while on a fishing trip over the weekend on Baldwin River. (AP Photo/Detroit Free Press, Ryan Garza) DETROIT NEWS OUT; NO SALES

DETROIT (AP) ? A three-day search for one of the winningest college quarterbacks ever ended in a remote wooded area in Michigan, where authorities found his body and were left with a mystery of how he died.

Authorities were hoping autopsy results expected to be released Wednesday afternoon would provide some much-needed answers regarding the untimely passing of Cullen Finnerty.

The former Grand Valley State University quarterback went missing Sunday while fishing near his family's cottage. Finnerty's body was found in Webber Township, about a mile from where he disappeared, but authorities said no foul play was suspected.

Finnerty, 30, led Grand Valley State University to three Division II national titles and more than 50 wins during his four years as a starter in Allendale, Mich., last decade. His body was found about 8 p.m. Tuesday in woods within a mile of where he disappeared, said Lake County Undersheriff Dennis Robinson.

Robinson said the body was not in the water and was found in a wooded area in near the family's cottage.

The search drew scores of police and volunteers, including staff and players from Grand Valley State.

Finnerty last spoke to a family member Sunday night in a phone call in which he said "he was nervous about something," Sheriff Robert Hilts said. Based on that call, the family suspected "he might be having some kind of a mental episode ? that he was either afraid or something and ran off into the woods," Hilts said.

The sheriff said authorities had been tracking Finnerty's cellphone "until it went dead." The terrain made the search for the 6-foot-3, 230-pound ex-athlete difficult, Hilts said.

"This is the last river that I'd pick to fish," he said, citing logjams and dense brush. "And it's a very tough river to navigate."

Searchers from the sheriff's office, state police and area fire departments fanned out Tuesday across a square-mile area of Webber Township, which is about 65 miles north of Grand Rapids.

In addition, dozens of current and former Grand Valley State players, coaches and staff hopped on a bus and headed north to Lake County to lend a hand in the search effort.

Grand Valley coach Matt Mitchell, who was a defensive assistant when Finnerty led the Lakers to national titles in 2005 and 2006, as well as former Grand Valley coach and current Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chuck Martin were among those helping out.

Mitchell said Wednesday that he was "crushed" by Finnerty's death, especially considering the family he left behind.

"It was a pretty quiet bus ride home," the coach said.

Finnerty, who starred at Brighton High School, originally accepted an offer to play at the University of Toledo but transferred to Grand Valley after redshirting in 2001.

The dual-threat QB played for Grand Valley teams that won Division II titles in 2003, 2005 and 2006. He briefly was a member of the Baltimore Ravens and later the Denver Broncos.

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly was Grand Valley's coach during the 2003 national championship season.

"It's very chilling," Kelly said Tuesday, before Finnerty's body was found. "He led me to a national championship as a true freshman. When I left, coach Martin took over and won two more national championships. My heart goes out to the family and to his beautiful wife."

___

AP reporter Tom Coyne in South Bend, Ind., contributed to this story.

___

Mike Householder can be reached at mhouseholder(at)ap.org and http://twitter.com/mikehouseholder

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-05-29-Missing%20Former%20Quarterback/id-0e6537b8afd44fe4875534ded1f20bec

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Now things could get more interesting for Federer

Switzerland's Roger Federer serves against India's Somdev Devvarman in their second round match of the French Open tennis tournament, at Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Wednesday, May 29, 2013. Federer won in three sets 6-2, 6-1, 6-1. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Switzerland's Roger Federer smiles as he plays against India's Somdev Devvarman in their second round match of the French Open tennis tournament, at Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Wednesday, May 29, 2013. Federer won in three sets 6-2, 6-1, 6-1. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

India's Somdev Devvarman returns against Switzerland's Roger Federer in their second round match of the French Open tennis tournament, at Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Wednesday, May 29, 2013. Federer won in three sets 6-2, 6-1, 6-1. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Serena Williams of the U.S. celebrates scoring a point against Caroline Garcia of France in their second round match of the French Open tennis tournament, at Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Wednesday, May 29, 2013. Williams won in two sets 6-1, 6-2.(AP Photo/Christophe Ena))

Caroline Garcia of France turns away after missing a return against Serena Williams of the U.S. in their second round match of the French Open tennis tournament, at Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Wednesday, May 29, 2013. Williams won in two sets 6-1, 6-2. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

PARIS (AP) ? Now things could get a little more interesting for Roger Federer.

After a pair of straightforward and straight-set victories at the French Open against qualifiers ranked outside the top 150, the 17-time major champion will face a seeded player, France's Julien Benneteau, who not only already beat Federer once this year but also came within two points of upsetting him at Wimbledon, of all places, in 2012.

"I think I'm playing OK," Federer said in something of an understatement, considering he's dropped 11 games through six sets so far. "Definitely think the next match is going to be sort of the big test for me, to see exactly where I stand."

There wasn't much trouble for Federer in the second round Wednesday, when he beat two-time NCAA singles champion Somdev Devvarman 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 in less than 1? hours.

It really was something of a laugher, especially with Federer serving at 4-0 in the final set. He hit a first serve well out, and both players waited for the linesman to make a call ? which he finally did, albeit after a long delay. Federer and Devvarman chuckled, looked at each other, and chuckled some more. As Federer prepared to hit his second serve, he needed to pause because he couldn't regain his composure.

Otherwise, little bothered Federer.

"You obviously know he's capable of doing certain things, and you try and make life as tough for him as possible," said Devvarman, who played college tennis at Virginia. "In my case today, I didn't execute. And sometimes even when I did, I feel like he came up with the better shot."

Federer accumulated a 54-12 edge in winners, in part by moving forward to the net on 30 points.

"I'm happy that I was playing offensive and aggressive tennis in the first two matches, because I had the opportunity, but I didn't back off and start to play passive tennis and wait for mistakes. So I took it to my opponent," said Federer, the 2009 French Open champion. "But really, I think I'll only know more after the Benneteau match, to be quite honest."

Then again, Benneteau might not quite be the same guy who took the first two sets against Federer before losing in five on the grass of the All England Club nearly a year ago. Or the one who has beaten Federer twice in six meetings, including 6-3, 7-5 in February on an indoor hard court at Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The 30th-seeded Benneteau dealt with pain in his thigh Wednesday during a topsy-turvy 7-6 (9), 7-5, 5-7, 0-6, 6-4 win against Tobias Kamke of Germany. Ahead by two sets and at 5-all in the third, Benneteau dropped 10 games in a row before righting himself.

Even putting that aside, Benneteau explained, "Obviously it's all pretty tricky, (playing) Federer. He breezed through the first two rounds. He plays very well. ... You know you're going to have to really ramp up a gear."

Same must be said when facing another past French Open champion, Serena Williams, who has been challenged about as much as Federer has.

Williams extended her career-high winning streak to 26 matches by defeating French wild-card entry Caroline Garcia 6-1, 6-2 Wednesday. A year after the only first-round Grand Slam exit of her career came in Paris, the American has lost four games in two matches.

Other women's winners included two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka and 2011 Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova ? who both finally got to play their rain-postponed first-round matches ? along with 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic and 2012 runner-up Sara Errani, who reached the third round. Former No. 1 and 2009 U.S. Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki, whose boyfriend is golf star Rory McIlroy, lost 7-6 (2), 6-3 to Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski.

No seeded men lost Wednesday, and so far only one of the top 16 has, No. 5 Tomas Berdych. Joining No. 2 Federer in the third round were No. 4 David Ferrer, No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 10 Marin Cilic, No. 11 Nicolas Almagro, No. 14 Milos Raonic, No. 15 Gilles Simon, and No. 18 Sam Querrey, an American who was 1-6 in his Roland Garros career before this year and 2-0 this week.

"I'm really excited. That was my goal coming in. I've never made it third round here," said Querrey, who faces Simon next, "so anything past there is great."

The man who eliminated Berdych, France's Gael Monfils, followed that up by beating Ernests Gulbis 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-2 ? and, much like a tourist, Monfils shot some video by which to remember the occasion.

During a changeover, Monfils got permission from the chair umpire to use his phone to film the fans doing the wave.

Monfils explained: "He tell me, 'Sure, you can.' So I say, 'OK, I will tape it, like, quick."

Later in the day, just as the Court Suzanne Lenglen crowd roared at the sight of Devvarman claiming one game when trailing 5-0 in his third set, the fans at Court Philippe Chatrier got loud when Garcia finally won a game after being down 5-0 in her first set.

"I need to work on my game to pose more problems for her next time I meet her," Garcia said.

Williams won 32 of 39 service points, and while that's become expected, she also showed tremendous touch with a perfect drop shot that barely cleared the net and nearly nestled right there in the clay in the second set's second game.

Williams raised her left fist and looked up in the stands, where her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, shook his right fist.

"I was, like, 'Yeah!' I only hit drop shots in practice," she said. "I never hit them in a match. ... It's not a go-to shot."

Garcia is ranked only 114th but much is expected of her. Against Maria Sharapova in the 2011 French Open, she won the first set and led 4-1 in the second before collapsing completely, losing the next 11 games and the match. Her performance was good enough to inspire Andy Murray to write on Twitter that Garcia "is going to be No. 1 in the world one day."

For now, it's Williams who holds that distinction in the rankings, and she certainly looks like someone intent on keeping it that way.

"It's important for me to win easily," said the 15-time major champion, who won the French Open in 2002. "It's also important for me to play well. If I play well, it will bode well for me at Roland Garros."

Speaking again in French to the crowd during a post-match interview, Williams was asked what she plans to work on in practice.

"I'd like to improve everything. My French, too," she said.

Williams said she studied French "a long time ago" so she could use the language while traveling in Africa ? and "I decided that I wanted to win the French Open and speak French for my acceptance speech."

A reporter wanted to know: That remains the plan?

"Still my plan," Williams replied.

___

Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-05-29-French%20Open/id-76ea74a4238048e39101fe7d931e7ef7

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Deal of the Day ? 14? Dell Inspiron 14R Core i5 Touch laptop

Wednesday’s LogicBUY Deal is the configurable 14″ Dell?Inspiron 14R Core i5 Ivy Bridge laptop with touchscreen, starting at $599.99. ?Features: 1.8GHz 3rd Gen Core i5-3337U? CPU 6GB RAM 750GB hard drive Intel HD 4000 graphics 15-months McAfee SecurityCenter subscription and 90-day premium phone support $938.99 – $289 instant savings – $50 coupon code = $599.99 [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/05/29/deal-of-the-day-14-dell-inspiron-14r-core-i5-touch-laptop/

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Bachmann Will Not Run for Re-election (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

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Monday, 27 May 2013

Huge crowd cheers Argentine leader's 10-year rule

The government house is bathed in purple light as fireworks explode overhead during a government rally in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, May 25, 2013. Cristina Fernandez's government and supporters are celebrating 10 years since she and her late husband Nestor Kirchner have held office, and the 203th anniversary of the Argentina's May Revolution. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez gestures to supporters at a rally outside the government house in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, May 25, 2013. Fernandez's government and supporters are celebrating 10 years since she and her late husband Nestor Kirchner have held office, and the 203th anniversary of the Argentina's May Revolution. Her voice breaking, the president called it a victorious decade, "won not by a government but by the people." (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Supporters of Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez listen to her speak outside the government house in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, May 25, 2013. Fernandez's government and supporters are celebrating 10 years since she and her late husband Nestor Kirchner have held office, and the 203th anniversary of the Argentina's May Revolution. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez tries on a hat given to her by a supporter at a government event outside the government house in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, May 25, 2013. Fernandez's government and supporters are celebrating 10 years since she and her late husband have held office, and the 203th anniversary of the Argentina's May Revolution. This year's election will determine whether she has the votes in congress to undo constitutional term limits and extend her rule beyond 2015. But she suggested Saturday night that she won't try. She said ?I'm not eternal, nor do I want to be.? (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) ? Argentine President Cristina Fernandez rallied a huge crowd Saturday night celebrating the 10-year government that she and her late husband Nestor Kirchner began in 2003. Her voice breaking, she called it a victorious decade, "won not by a government but by the people."

This year's election will determine whether Fernandez has enough votes in congress to undo constitutional term limits and extend her rule beyond 2015. But she suggested Saturday night that she won't try. She said "I'm not eternal, nor do I want to be."

Putting human rights violators on trial and pushing to put more of Argentina's wealth in the hands of its poorest people will continue to be the pillars of this government, she said. "Equality is the grand symbol of this decade and of those to come," she vowed.

Her opponents took aim at the "decade won" theme, noting that the years of strong economic growth have ended, and saying that if this is what victory looks like, Argentina is in big trouble.

Whether the Kirchners' decade will be remembered for its historic achievements or its missed opportunities depends on whom you talk with in Argentina, where society is bitterly divided over their legacy.

Analysts consulted by The Associated Press said they deserve credit for fostering 7 percent average growth and restoring power to the presidency. Kirchner was inaugurated on May 25, 2003 at a chaotic time; the country was still suffering from its 2001 crisis, and poverty was extreme.

The Kirchners began an era of social inclusion, external debt reduction and state intervention that was the exact opposite of the privatization binge and anything-goes capitalism that characterized Argentina in the 1990s.

Ten years later and going it alone after her husband died of a heart attack, Fernandez has intensified her government's control over the economy and diverted billions of dollars more to subsidizing the poor.

"This is an extraordinarily significant decade in Argentine history," said philosopher Ricardo Forster, a supporter. The transformations have managed to enrich the social, cultural, political and economic life."

But Fernandez's approval ratings have dropped sharply recently amid rising inflation and crime, corruption allegations involving top appointees and allied businessmen; increasingly heavy-handed economic controls; and efforts to transform the justice system. Critics say the real goal is eliminating challengers to presidential power.

"This decade represents a tremendous missed opportunity, which you can see by looking at what other countries in the region have done with similar possibilities and limitations," said sociologist and attorney Roberto Gargarella, a government critic.

Thousands of citizens have joined a series of pot-banging protests in recent months, and the crowd gathering in the Plaza de Mayo to hear Fernandez speak Saturday night was intended to provide a powerful counterpoint. Hundreds of thousands of people were bused in by the "organized and united" network of pro-government groups, and their flags and huge TV screens were installed in nearby streets.

"This is the government I always dreamed of and fought for in the 1970s," said Paloma Perez Galdos, a 58-year-old bank worker. "It's time that we have a justice system for everyone, not just for the rich."

"Social inclusion" under the Kirchners has involved providing billions of dollars in cash welfare payments families with children and people working in the informal economy. The government has raised pensions and minimum wages, and directed vast amounts of government revenue to keep the economy moving.

"Unemployment has gone from 25 percent to 7 percent ten years later ... in an economy that grew as fast as China," said Ramiro Castineira, an economic analyst with the Econometrica firm.

Castineira and Gargarella disagree on many aspects of the Kirchners' legacy, but they both say intervening in the government statistics service in 2007 was a critical mistake. Ever since, official annual inflation has refused to budge over 10 percent, even as Argentine shoppers watch prices double and triple each year. Many other statistics based on consumer prices have become widely disregarded.

"All the numbers on unemployment, poverty, inflation and inequality are falsified," Gargarella said.

"Misrepresenting the numbers was a strong blow to market confidence; that raised the country risk and made it impossible for Argentina to take on foreign debt. That's why the government turned to expanding the money supply," Castineira agreed.

Since 2008, the government has sought to capture more of the windfall profits from soy exports. But that alone couldn't finance the spending, so it printed more money and changed currency and tax rules forcing businesses to keep profits inside Argentina. That dissuaded investors, spurred capital flight and pushed annual inflation to as much 30 percent right now, private analysts say.

Economic instability now threatens to undo much of what the Kirchners accomplished.

"Today it's clear that Argentina, under the leadership of the Kirchners, has not known how to take advantage of the opportunity that this first decade of the 21st century has represented for Latin America, which is the strongest growth in two centuries of history," political analyst Rosendo Fraga said. "Instead of taking the path of Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile and Uruguay, it's taking that of Venezuela."

___

Associated Press Writer Damian Pachter contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-26-LT-Argentina-Kirchners'-Decade/id-e7c09a66bf0b41ffa9850e71c2e7cee5

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Sunday, 26 May 2013

Rockets hit south Beirut after Hezbollah vows Syria victory

By Dominic Evans

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two rockets hit a Shi'ite Muslim district of Beirut on Sunday, driving home the risk of spillover from Syria's civil war, after the head of Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah said it would keep fighting on the Syrian government's side until victory.

It was the first attack to apparently target Hezbollah's stronghold in the south of the Lebanese capital since the outbreak of the two-year conflict in neighboring Syria, which has sharply heightened Lebanon's own sectarian tensions.

The United States and Russia have proposed an international peace conference to douse a civil war that has killed more than 80,000 people, driven 1.5 million Syrians as refugees abroad and raised the specter of sectarian bloodshed in the wider region.

Syria's government will "in principle" attend the talks tentatively set for June in Geneva and believes it will be an opportunity to resolve the crisis, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said during a visit to Baghdad on Sunday.

But in an apparent rebuff of Western calls for President Bashar al-Assad to cede power as part of any deal on transition, Moualem said: "No power on earth can decide on the future of Syria. Only the Syrian people have the right to do so."

The U.S. and Russian foreign ministers, striving to refloat a plan for a political transition in Syria, were due to meet in Paris on Monday to work out the details.

Whether the exiled Syrian civilian opposition will take part in the envisaged peace talks - and be able to negotiate effectively, given their internal divisions and shaky rapport with rebels inside Syria - remains in doubt.

The United States has been prodding Assad's opponents to unite before the conference. But the Islamist-dominated coalition has been hamstrung by power struggles during talks going on in Istanbul aimed at broadening its representation and electing a cohesive leadership.

The talks stalled on Sunday in a factional dispute over proposals to dilute Qatar's influence on rebel forces, with Saudi Arabia angling to play a greater role now that Iranian-backed Hezbollah was openly fighting for Assad.

Some observers have viewed the commitment by Hezbollah to Assad's cause as indicating the Lebanese movement does not see the United States weighing in against it. Asked whether the militia's role might alter Washington's reluctance to arm the rebels, a spokesman for President Barack Obama said on Sunday:

"The calculus that the president is making is something that is regularly reviewed and updated ... Our involvement and our assistance to the opposition there has steadily increased."

European Union foreign ministers meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss British and French calls for them to ease an arms embargo in order to help the rebels obtain weapons. Some other EU states oppose the move, at least until after any peace talks.

CONFLICT AFFLICTING LEBANON

Syria's conflagration has polarized Lebanon, a country of four million, in whose 15-year civil war to 1990 Syria was a major player and where Syrian troops remained until 2005.

Lebanese Sunni Muslims support the mainly Sunni insurgency against Assad, and Shi'ite Hezbollah stands by the president, whose minority Alawite sect derives from Shi'ite Islam.

In Sunday's attack, one rocket landed in a car sales yard next to a busy road junction in south Beirut's Chiah neighborhood, and the other struck an apartment several hundred meters away, wounding five people, residents said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Brigadier Selim Idris, head of Syria's Western-backed rebel military command, told Al-Arabiya Television that his forces had not carried out the attack.

He urged rebels to keep their conflict inside Syria.

But another Syrian rebel, Ammar al-Wawi, told Lebanon's LBC Television the attack was a warning to authorities in Beirut to restrain Hezbollah. "In coming days we will do more than this. This is a warning to Hezbollah and the Lebanese government to keep Hezbollah's hands off Syria," he said.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had declared on Saturday night that his thousands of fighters were committed to the conflict against what he called radical Sunni Islamist rebels in Syria, whatever the cost.

"We will continue to the end of the road. We accept this responsibility and will accept all sacrifices and expected consequences of this position," he said in a televised speech on Saturday evening. "We will be the ones who bring victory."

Though numbering only in the thousands compared to the tens of thousands of troops and many more irregular Syrian militiamen that Assad can draw on, Hezbollah's fighters, seasoned in urban warfare against Israel as recently as 2006, are a potent force.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius condemned the violent spillover into Lebanon. "The war in Syria must not become the war in Lebanon," he told reporters in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Until recently, Nasrallah insisted that Hezbollah had not sent guerrillas to fight alongside Assad's forces.

Syrian government forces reinforced by Hezbollah launched an onslaught last week on Qusair, a rebel-controlled town close to the Lebanese border that rebels have used as a crucial supply corridor for weapons coming into the country.

For Assad, taking Qusair would help keep Damascus, the capital, connected to the Alawite coastal heartland and also hinder links between the rebel-held north and south of Syria.

Lebanese authorities, haunted by Lebanon's own civil war and torn by the same kind of sectarian rifts as Syria, have pursued a policy of "dissociation" from the Syrian turmoil.

But Hezbollah is arguably a stronger force than Beirut's government, which has been unable to stem the flow into Syria of Sunni gunmen who support the rebels or of Hezbollah fighters who back Assad. It has also struggled to absorb nearly half a million refugees coming the other way to escape the fighting.

At least 25 people have been killed in Tripoli in the north of Lebanon over the last week in Sunni-Alawite street fighting triggered in part by the battle for Qusair across the frontier.

In Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, residents said three rockets landed on Sunday close to the mainly Shi'ite border town of Hermel, without causing injuries. Rebels have targeted Hermel from inside Syria several times in recent weeks.

Nasrallah's speech was condemned by former prime minister Saad al-Hariri, a Sunni who said that Hezbollah, set up by Iran in the 1980s to fight Israeli occupation forces in south Lebanon, had abandoned anti-Israeli "resistance" in favor of sectarian conflict in Syria.

"The resistance is ending by your hand and your will," Hariri said in a statement. "The resistance announced its political and military suicide in Qusair."

Hariri is backed by Saudi Arabia, which along with other Sunni Muslim Gulf Arab monarchies has strongly supported the uprising against the Iranian-backed Assad.

The extent to which Hezbollah's support for Assad has alienated Sunni Arabs who admired its battles against Israel was demonstrated on Sunday when the foreign minister of Sunni-ruled Bahrain used unusually strong language to call Nasrallah a "terrorist" and said it was a "religious duty" to stop him.

(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Istanbul, Laila Bassam and Erika Solomon in Beirut, Ahmed Rasheed and Suadad al-Salhy in Baghdad and John Irish in Abu Dhabi; Writing by Mark Heinrich; Editing by Will Waterman and Alastair Macdonald)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rockets-hit-south-beirut-hezbollah-vows-syria-victory-000621219.html

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