US missile defense shield to counter NKorea threat

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, Wednesday, April 3, 2013. Hagel warned of sharply deeper cuts to personnel, health care and weapons systems across his department, in order to put the brakes on spiraling costs and reshape the military for leaner budgets and new challenges. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, Wednesday, April 3, 2013. Hagel warned of sharply deeper cuts to personnel, health care and weapons systems across his department, in order to put the brakes on spiraling costs and reshape the military for leaner budgets and new challenges. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, Wednesday, April 3, 2013. Hagel warned of sharply deeper cuts to personnel, health care and weapons systems across his department, in order to put the brakes on spiraling costs and reshape the military for leaner budgets and new challenges. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Pentagon said Wednesday it was deploying a missile defense shield to Guam to protect the U.S. and its allies in the region in response to increasingly hostile rhetoric from North Korea. The North renewed its threat to launch a nuclear attack on the United States.

The threat issued by the General Staff of the Korean People's Army capped a week of psychological warfare and military muscle moves by both sides that have rattled the region.

On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced it will deploy a land-based, high-altitude missile defense system to Guam to strengthen the Asia-Pacific region's protections against a possible attack.

Pyongyang, for its part, said that America's ever-escalating hostile policy toward North Korea "will be smashed" by the North's nuclear strike and the "merciless operation" of its armed forces.

"The U.S. had better ponder over the prevailing grave situation," said the translated statement, which was issued before the Pentagon announced plans to send a missile defense shield to Guam.

The Pentagon had no immediate reaction to the latest statement, but earlier Wednesday Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel labeled North Korea's rhetoric as a real, clear danger and threat to the U.S. and its Asia-Pacific allies. And he said the U.S. is doing all it can to defuse the situation, echoing comments a day earlier by Secretary of State John Kerry.

"Some of the actions they've taken over the last few weeks present a real and clear danger and threat to the interests, certainly of our allies, starting with South Korea and Japan and also the threats that the North Koreans have leveled directly at the United States regarding our base in Guam, threatened Hawaii, threatened the West Coast of the United States," Hagel said.

He said he believes that the U.S. has had a "measured, responsible, serious responses to those threats."

Deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System is the latest step the U.S. has taken to bolster forces in the region in a far-reaching show of force aimed at countering the North Korean threat.

In recent months, North Korea has taken a series of actions Washington deemed provocative, including an underground nuclear test in February and a rocket launch in December that put a satellite into space and demonstrated mastery of some of the technologies needed to produce a long-range nuclear missile. Then, several weeks ago, the North threatened to pre-emptively attack the U.S.

In response, the Pentagon announced it would enhance missile defenses based on the U.S. West Coast, and it highlighted the deployment of B-52 and B-2 bombers, as well as two F-22 stealth fighters, to South Korea as part of an annual military exercise.

As the exchange of rhetoric grew, U.S. officials this week said the Navy would keep the USS Decatur, a destroyer armed with missile defense systems, near the Korean peninsula for an unspecified period of time. Another destroyer, the USS John S. McCain, was shifted to the waters off the southwest coast of the Korean peninsula.

Tensions have flared many times in the six decades since a truce halted the 1950-53 Korean War, but the stakes are higher now that a defiant North Korea appears to have moved closer to building a nuclear bomb that could not only threaten the South and other U.S. allies in Asia but possibly, one day, even reach U.S. territory.

Even without nuclear arms, the communist North poses enough artillery within range of Seoul to devastate large parts of the capital before U.S. and South Korea could fully respond. The U.S. has about 28,500 troops in the South, and it could call on an array of air, ground and naval forces to reinforce the peninsula from elsewhere in Asia and the Pacific.

U.S. officials have said that the Pentagon's military response to Pyongyang's threats has so far been aimed more at assuring South Korea and other allies in the region that America is committed to their security. U.S. military leaders also have said that despite the escalating rhetoric, they have seen nothing to suggest that North Korea is making any military moves to back up its threats.

Hagel told an audience at the National Defense University that there is a path to peace on the troubled Korean peninsula, but it doesn't include making nuclear threats or taking provocative actions.

The land-based THAAD missile defense system includes a truck-mounted launcher, tracking radar, interceptor missiles, and an integrated fire control system. The Pentagon said the system will boost defenses for American citizens in Guam, a U.S. territory, and U.S. forces stationed there.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-03-US-Hagel-Korea/id-bf3260f79c8a49cc91a1a22c8188a475

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It's still the economy, not the environment

Allison Linn , NBC News ? ? ? 4 hrs.

Americans are still prioritizing getting green over going green, but the gap is narrowing.

A new Gallup poll finds that 48 percent of Americans think economic growth should be given priority even if the environment suffers somewhat. In contrast, 43 percent say the environment should get priority even at the risk of curbing economic growth.

The trend toward prioritizing the economy over the environment began in 2008, as the start of the Great Recession. At a high in 2011, 54 percent of Americans were favoring the economic growth over environmental protection.

The trend has since turned somewhat in favor of the environment. But Americans? attitudes about the environment are still a far cry from what they were in 2000, when two-thirds of Americans thought the environment should take priority over economic growth.

The more recent recession officially ended in July of 2009, but economic growth has been slow. Although new jobs are being created each month, the unemployment rate has remained relatively high and millions of Americans are still out of work. That has left many fretting more about bringing home a paycheck than saving the environment.

The poll of 1,022 Americans, which was conducted in early March, also found that 4 percent thought they should have equal priority while 5 percent had no opinion. The poll had a sampling margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Gallup did find that the issue divided along party lines. Republicans were much more likely to favor economic growth over environmental protection. For the first time since 2008, Democrats polled this year were more likely to favor environmental protection.

Related: Have you been hit hard by a career mistake?

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Conn. reaches deal on tough gun laws after Newtown

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) ? Connecticut lawmakers announced a deal Monday on what they called some of the toughest gun laws in the country that were proposed after the December mass shooting in the state, including a ban on new high-capacity ammunition magazines like the ones used in the massacre that left 20 children and six educators dead.

The proposal includes new registration requirements for existing magazines that carry 10 or more bullets, something of a disappointment for some family members of Newtown victims who wanted an outright ban on the possession of all high-capacity magazines and traveled to the state Capitol on Monday to ask lawmakers for it.

The package also creates what lawmakers said is the nation's first statewide dangerous weapon offender registry, creates a new "ammunition eligibility certificate," imposes immediate universal background checks for all firearms sales, and extends the state's assault weapons ban to 100 new types of firearms and requires that a weapon have only one of several features in order to be banned.

The newly banned weapons could no longer be bought or sold in Connecticut, and those legally owned already would have to be registered with the state, just like the high-capacity magazines.

"No gun owner will lose their gun," said House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero Jr., a Norwalk Republican. "No gun owner will lose their magazines."

The bill also addresses mental health and school security measures.

The shooting Dec. 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School reignited the gun debate in the country and led to calls for increased gun control legislation on the federal and state levels. While some other states, including neighboring New York, have strengthened their gun laws, momentum has stalled in Congress, whose members were urged by President Barack Obama last week not to forget the shooting and to capitalize on the best chance in years to stem gun violence.

Connecticut should be seen as an example for lawmakers elsewhere, said Senate President Donald E. Williams Jr., a Brooklyn Democrat.

"In Connecticut, we've broken the mold," he said. "Democrats and Republicans were able to come to an agreement on a strong, comprehensive bill. That is a message that should resound in 49 other states and in Washington, D.C. And the message is: We can get it done here and they should get it done in their respective states and nationally in Congress."

The proposal was revealed to rank-and-file lawmakers Monday after weeks of bipartisan, closed-door negotiations among legislative leaders. A vote was expected Wednesday in the General Assembly, where Democrats control both chambers, making passage all but assured. The bill would then be sent to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who has helped lead efforts to strengthen the state's gun laws but has not yet signed off on the proposed legislation.

Earlier in the day on Monday, Malloy voiced support for the Newtown families and their desire to ban the possession of large-capacity magazines.

Ron Pinciaro, executive director of Connecticut Against Gun Violence, said his group will live with the lawmakers' decision not to ban them as other states have done. He said the leaders made their decision based on what was politically feasible.

"We have to be satisfied. There are still other things that we want, we'll be back for in later sessions," he said. "But for now, it's a good thing."

Robert Crook, executive director of the Connecticut Coalition of Sportsmen, contended the bill would not have changed what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where the gunman fired off 154 shots with a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle within five minutes. He went through six 30-round magazines, though half were not completely empty, and police said he had three other 30-round magazines in addition to one in the rifle.

"They can register magazines and do all the rest of this stuff. It isn't going to do anything," he said.

Gun owners, who've packed public hearings at the state Capitol in recent months, voicing their opposition to various gun control measures, are concerned they've been showing up "for virtually nothing" after learning about the bill, Crook said.

"Clearly we've made our point," Crook said. "But I don't know what anybody can do at this point in time."

Six relatives of Newtown victims visited the Capitol on Monday, asking lawmakers to ban existing high-capacity magazines. Some handed out cards with photographs of their slain children.

Allowing magazines that carry 10 or more bullets to remain in the hands of gun owners would leave a gaping loophole in the law, said Mark Barden, whose 7-year-old son, Daniel, was killed in the shooting.

"It doesn't prevent someone from going out of the state to purchase them and then bring them back. There's no way to track when they were purchased, so they can say, 'I had this before,'" Barden said. "So it's a big loophole."

Barden and other victims' family members who visited the statehouse earlier on Monday did not immediately respond to messages seeking their reactions to the agreement.

Jake McGuigan, a spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which is based in Newtown, said he wouldn't comment on the proposal until he saw it in the writing, but he questioned the mechanics of a registry for magazines.

"How will they register a magazine? It seems a little weird," he said.

___

Associated Press writers Stephen Kalin, Stephen Singer and Michael Melia contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/conn-reaches-deal-tough-gun-laws-newtown-221504941.html

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Firefox G-Fox: Plush Edition (hands-on)

With the introduction of Google's Chrome and stepped-up games from the likes of Internet Explorer and Safari, Firefox is arguably not quite the darling of the browser wars it was when it first hit the scene in 2003. And while Mozilla has certainly made progress on that front, the organization understands that diversifying is an important factor in the future success of the company, first through Thunderbird and more recently through the Firefox OS, a mobile operating system targeted toward users in developing nations. G-Fox, meanwhile, marks a decidedly different direction for the foundation, which has made its name in the world of software. It's an adorable attempt, perhaps, to take the world's bedrooms and playrooms by storm.

The plush is the real-world port of G-Fox, Mozilla Online China's large-headed, big-eyed take on the American mascot, Kit. The fox was first spotted in the wild at last year's Mobile Asia Expo in Shanghai. Mozilla Online wasn't talking it up too much at the event, but naturally, we couldn't wait to get our hands on an early build. And for a first-generation product in a new space, we have to say, in the whole time we've been playing around with G-Fox, we've yet to encounter a single crash or slowdown in spite of extensive squeezing, head patting and tossing up in the air, adorably.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/01/g-fox/

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'Buckwild' star Shain Gandee dead at 21

MTV

By Ree Hines, TODAY contributor

Updated at 1:55 p.m. ET:?Shain Gandee, a star on the MTV reality program "Buckwild," has died, NBC affiliate WSAZ confirmed on Monday.

The 21-year-old and his uncle, David Gandee, were reported missing on Sunday according to the Kanawha County Sheriff's Office. The two were said to have been last seen at a Sissonville, W. Va., bar around 3 a.m., and they then planned to go four-wheeling.

---

According to Kanawha County Commission President Ken Carper, the bodies of Shain and two others were found in a truck in Sissonville on Monday.

There's no word yet on the identities of the other two people.

Family members began to search for Shain and his uncle on Sunday before officially reporting them missing.

Shain, along with "Buckwild" co-star Shae Bradley, appeared on TODAY in January, to defend their then-new show from critics who feared their on-screen antics would reinforce negative stereotypes about West Virginians.

Shain's defense of the show now strikes a sad tone. "You only live once, so live it up," he said.

MTV was reportedly filming a second season of the show at the time of Shain's death.

In a statement to TODAY, MTV said, "We are shocked and saddened by the terrible news about Shain Gandee, and those involved in this tragic incident. We are waiting for more information but at this time, our main concern is for the Gandee family and their friends. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. Shain had a magnetic personality, with a passion for life that touched everyone he met and we will miss him dearly."

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Police suspect drug use in Calif. Wal-Mart crash

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) ? Police said Monday they suspect a man was on drugs when he rammed his car through the front of a Wal-Mart in California and began assaulting customers, injuring four people.

Haamid Ade Zaid, 33, of Seaside was being held without bail at the Santa Clara County Jail for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon, hit and run, being under the influence of drugs, and resisting arrest, San Jose police Officer Albert Morales said.

"In my 18-year career I have never seen anything like this," Morales told the San Jose Mercury News. "After looking at some of the pictures, it's amazing he didn't hit anybody with the vehicle."

Calls to the store by The Associated Press were not immediately returned. It was open for business on Monday.

Zaid was arrested on Sunday after a red, Oldsmobile Cutlass crashed through the San Jose storefront and hit a beer display before stopping near the pharmacy.

The driver got out of the car with a blunt object and began attacking people, police said. No motive has been determined.

About 70 people were inside the store, near the scene of the crash. One sustained serious injuries.

Morales did not know the extent of the injuries to the other three people but said they were not life-threatening. A store employee was among those injured.

Two cars were struck in the parking lot before the car crashed into the store.

Customer Sharon Kaye told the Mercury News the driver sideswiped her car as he made several runs around the parking lot before driving between poles at the entrance of the store.

"At first, I thought I may have done something to anger him while driving," she said. "But then I realized he was out to get into the store."

After the crash, workers put up large boards to cover the automatic doors smashed by the car. The store remained shut down for several hours, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Kory Lundberg told the newspaper.

Shopper and witness Tianna Doan said the injured employee was a cashier who was hit with the blunt object and had a head injury.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-suspect-drug-calif-wal-mart-crash-202344628.html

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Uneasy calm in Kenya after court ruling on vote

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ? Kenyan police deployed forces Sunday in the capital and in the lakeside city of Kisumu to contain the continuing threat of violence after two people were killed in riots Saturday, officials said, but the country remained mostly peaceful after a court upheld Uhuru Kenyatta's election as president.

Rowdy youths in Nairobi's slums were still trying to protest the Supreme Court's ruling against Prime Minister Raila Odinga's challenge to the validity of Kenyatta's win, Moses Ombati, the deputy police chief for Nairobi, said Sunday. He said he hoped the presence of armed police would deter illegal protests like those that erupted Saturday immediately after the court's ruling.

"There is tension obviously, but with the deployment of officers we have done we don't anticipate anything," Ombati said.

Although losing candidate Odinga accepted the court's decision, some of his supporters reacted angrily to his loss, taking to the streets and engaging the police in running battles.

Two people were killed and five seriously injured Saturday in riots in Kisumu, Odinga's home region, said Ole Metito, police chief for Nyanza province. At least seven rioters are now in police custody for their alleged roles in the Kisumu violence, he said.

"There was chaos in places where people were throwing stones. Now we have officers monitoring the general situation," Metito said.

Kenyatta, who is to be sworn in on April 9, said late Saturday that he would be a president for all Kenyans and urged them to move past the election and build a nation "at peace with itself."

The March 4 election was described by many as the most complicated in Kenya's history. It pitted Kenyatta against Odinga, whose disputed loss in the 2007 election triggered postelection violence that killed more than 1,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands. Kenyatta faces criminal charges at the International Criminal Court for allegedly encouraging that postelection violence.

Kenyatta will become the second sitting African president to face charges at the Hague. William Ruto, his running mate, who is set to become Kenya's deputy president, faces similar charges. Both men deny any wrongdoing.

Unlike after the 2007 election, which degenerated into tribe-on-tribe violence, Kenya has been largely peaceful following these elections.

Odinga charged the presidential election was "tainted" by irregularities. Odinga's lawyers alleged in court that the electoral commission boosted Kenyatta's numbers at some polling stations, helping him to avoid a runoff election with Odinga. According to official figures, Kenyatta avoided a runoff by about 8,000 votes out of 12.3 million cast.

The Supreme Court decided that Kenyatta was validly elected and that the election was conducted in compliance with the constitution. The judges are expected to release a detailed judgment in two weeks.

Odinga said he accepted this verdict even though he regretted that some of the evidence produced by his lawyers had been disregarded.

"Casting doubt on the judgment of the court could lead to higher political and economic uncertainty, and make it more difficult for our country to move forward," he said Saturday after the verdict. "We must soldier on in our resolve to reform our politics and institutions. Respect for the supremacy of the constitution in resolving disputes between fellow citizens is the surest foundation of our democratic society. "

___

Muhumuza reported from Kampala, Uganda.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uneasy-calm-kenya-court-ruling-vote-093210892.html

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