Activists: Rebel groups clash in northern Syria

BEIRUT (AP) ? A wave of tit-for-tat kidnappings between rival Islamic militant groups in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo risks sparking large-scale internal fighting between rebels after clashes killed at least four militants earlier this week, activists said Saturday.

The director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said a coalition of rebel groups known as the Judicial Council had accused another armed opposition faction, the Ghurabaa al-Sham, of plundering factories in Aleppo's industrial neighborhood. Aleppo, Syria's largest city and a former commercial center, is split between rebel and government control.

Any internal fighting between rebels in the city would play into the hands of the regime, which is trying to tarnish the image of the opposition by saying it is dominated by extremists linked to al-Qaida network.

Aleppo, a city of 3 million that was once a bastion of support for President Bashar Assad, has been engulfed in heavy fighting since rebels launched an assault there in July and captured several neighborhoods. Over the past few weeks, regime forces have been pursuing an offensive in the city, mainly focused on pushing the rebels from around the international airport and a nearby military air base.

Abdul-Rahman said tensions among rebel factions have been rising in opposition-held areas, mostly on the eastern side of the city.

The two groups, the Judicial Council and the Ghurabaa al-Sham, clashed on Tuesday near Aleppo in fighting that left four members of the Judicial Council dead, Abldul-Rahman said. He added that the Judicial Council is now holding dozens of members of Ghurabaa al-Sham captive.

Aleppo-based activist Mohammed Saeed said Ghurabaa al-Sham withdrew its fighters from several neighborhoods, including the industrial area, and that it had released all of the Judicial Council members it had been holding captive.

"The situation is very tense in Aleppo," said Abdul-Rahman, who relies on a network of activists around the country. He said that Ghurabaa al-Sham has warned it will bring some of its members from outside the city to fight against the Judicial Council if its members are not freed.

Saeed said Ghurabaa al-Sham released all Judicial Council members it was holding while the other group refused to set free Ghuarbaa al-Sham members and is still holding them.

He added that the Judicial Council is an umbrella organization that includes the Tawheed Brigade, al-Sham Liberals and the al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra ? one of the most effective forces among the mosaic of rebel brigades fighting to topple Assad in Syria's civil war.

"There are fears that fighting (between rebels) might erupt in Aleppo," Saeed said by telephone.

In other parts of Syria, the Observatory reported that rebels captured several villages late Friday in the central province of Hama after weeks of fighting with government troops. It said the villages were inhabited by members of Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

It said the Alawite villages ? Tleisiyeh, Zaghba, Shaata and Balil ? are all on the eastern side of the central province. The Observatory said residents fled the area captured by rebels.

The uprising against Assad's rule that began in March 2011 quickly became an outlet for long-suppressed grievances, mostly by poor Sunnis from marginalized areas. It has since escalated into an outright civil war that killed more than 70,000 people according to the United Nations.

The conflict has grown increasingly sectarian, both in action and rhetoric.

Earlier this month, activists reported that troops and pro-government Alawite gunmen killed more than 100 people in Sunnis areas in the coastal city of Banias and the nearby town of Bayda. The violence in Banias and Bayda bears a close resemblance to two reported mass killings last year in Houla and Qubeir, Sunni villages surrounded by Alawite towns.

Many of the rebels trying to overthrow Assad today say they want to replace his government with an Islamic state.

The Syrian National Coalition, the main umbrella opposition group warned in a statement that government forces are currently imposing a siege and communications blackout on the towns of Halfaya and Aqrab in Hama.

"Civilians in those areas are now cut off from contact with the outside world, and lives are in extreme danger," the coalition said in a statement.

The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, reported intense clashes around the town of Qusair near the Lebanon border. Syrian opposition groups say members of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group are taking part in the fighting along with Assad's forces.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/activists-rebel-groups-clash-northern-syria-123614893.html

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French president signs gay marriage into law

PARIS (AP) ? France will see its first gay weddings within days, after French President Francois Hollande signed a law Saturday authorizing marriage and adoption by same-sex couples and ending months of nationwide protests and wrenching debate.

Hollande's office said he signed the bill Saturday morning, a day after the Constitutional Council struck down a challenge to the law and ruled it in line with France's constitution.

Hollande, a Socialist, had made legalizing gay marriage one of his campaign pledges last year. While polls for years have shown majority support for gay marriage in France, adoption by same-sex couples is more controversial.

The parliamentary debate exposed a deep conservatism and attachment to traditional families in France's rural core that is often eclipsed by and at odds with libertine Paris.

But mostly, it tapped into deep discontent with the Socialist government, largely over Hollande's handling of the economy. Months of anti-gay marriage protests became a flashpoint for frustrations with Hollande, and occasionally degenerated into violence.

In addition, gay rights groups reported a rise in attacks on homosexuals as the parliamentary debate was under way. Protest organizers distanced themselves from the trouble-makers.

The opposition isn't ready to give up. It plans a protest May 26 that aims to parlay the success of the anti-gay marriage movement into a broader anti-Hollande one. Among those expected to attend is Jean-Francois Cope, the leader of the opposition UMP party, riven by divisions and struggling for direction since Nicolas Sarkozy lost the presidency last year.

Hollande warned that he wouldn't accept any disruption of France's first gay marriages.

One couple signed up Saturday to tie the knot on May 29 in the gay-friendly southern French city of Montpellier.

"We're very happy that today we can finally talk of love after all the talk of legislation and political battles," one of the future newlyweds, Vincent Autin, said on France-Info radio.

According to French law, couples must register to marry in city hall and wait at least 10 days before holding a ceremony so that anyone objecting to the union ? such as an existing spouse ? has time to intervene.

Marketing whizzes are already preparing lesbian and gay cake toppers, his-and-his wedding bands, and other services for France's gay weddings.

Despite the protests, the law passed easily in both houses of parliament, which are dominated by Hollande's Socialists. And the Constitutional Council said, "Marriage as a union between a man and a woman cannot be considered a fundamental principle."

France is the most populous country to have legal gay marriages, and the 14th country worldwide. In the United States, Minnesota became the 12th state in the country to legalize same-sex unions on Tuesday.

In neighboring Belgium, thousands of people took to the confetti-covered streets of Brussels to take part in an annual gay pride march on Saturday. Trucks blasting music and carrying dance floors made their way through cheering crowds. Belgium legalized gay marriage 10 years ago and permitted adoption for same-sex couples seven years ago.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-18-EU-France-Gay-Marriage/id-3f6f59650a9c41449ce6297ec402874b

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Foc.us headset claims to shock the brain for better gaming, we go forehead-on

We've seen a number of headsets tap into the mind, to geotag your mood, grant you remote control over gadgets or simply let you wiggle a pair of cat ears. None of those are quite like the foc.us, however, which serves up transcranial direct-current simulation (tDCS) -- a controversial form of neurosimulation that transmits current to a particular area of the brain. Originally used to help patients with brain injuries, tDCS has supposedly been found to increase cognitive performance in healthy adults. These claims haven't been proven yet though, and shocking your own cranium isn't exactly FDA approved.

Still, the foc.us is one of a few tDCS headsets designed for the consumer market and can, the inventor Michael Oxley claims, improve your working or short-term memory when the electrodes are placed on your prefrontal cortex. A low-intensity current is passed through the different nodes, exciting that part of the brain. Interestingly, Oxley is positioning it as a way to boost your video gaming prowess for the "ultimate gaming experience," a concept we found a little odd. That said, you don't actually have to wear the headset while shooting up bad guys or other brain-draining tasks. The idea behind the foc.us headset is to put it on your noggin, fire it up, and wait for around five to ten minutes, then take it off and go about your day. We did just that and all the gory details are after the break.

Gallery: foc.us

Filed under: Science

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/17/focus-headset-tdcs/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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High US Methane Levels Found in Cross-Country Drive

Ah, summertime ? the perfect excuse to set up a gas chromatograph in a rented camper and drive across the country sampling methane.

Or at least that's what a team of researchers did in the summer of 2010. The scientists drove across the southern United States and measured levels of methane in the atmosphere along the many roads and highways upon which they traveled.

In many areas, they found higher concentrations of methane than had previously been measured. That's a cause for concern because, among other reasons, methane traps more heat than carbon dioxide, making it a more potent greenhouse gas and thus of concern for global warming, according to a study detailing the trip?s findings and published recently in the journal Atmospheric Environment. (Although methane may be a more potent heat-trapper, carbon dioxide is still the main greenhouse gas of concern because there is much more of it in the atmosphere.)

The team attached a long hose to the front of their RV so their own exhaust fumes wouldn?t contaminate the results. The gas chromatograph onboard then measured the levels of methane along the drive.

"We tried to pass through urban areas during nighttime hours, to avoid being stuck in traffic and sampling mostly exhaust fumes," said Ira Leifer, study co-author and researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in a statement from the university. "Someone was always monitoring the chromatograph, and when we would see a strong signal, we would look to see what potential sources were in the area and modify the survey to investigate and, if possible, circumnavigate potential sources."

The researchers traversed cities, swamps and rural areas. They found the highest levels of methane in areas with refineries. As they crossed the Southwest and approached Houston, gas levels gradually increased, the news release noted. ?

They compared their notes with those from researchers at Germany's University of Bremen, who took measurements using the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite that could also measure methane concentrations over broad areas on the ground. The satellite readings matched their on-the-ground measurements.

Previous studies focused on "large-scale airborne data, which were challenging to separate from local sources," the UC Santa Barbara statement said. The combination of on-the-ground and aerial measurements used in this study helped determine the identity of the methane sources.

The findings could have implications for dealing with global warming."Methane is the strongest human greenhouse gas on a political or short timescale, and also has more bang for the buck in terms of addressing climate change," said Leifer. "This research supports other recent findings suggesting that fugitive emissions from fossil-fuel industrial activity actually are the largest methane source. This clearly indicates a need for efforts to focus on reducing these methane emissions."

Email?Douglas Main?or follow him on?Twitter?or?Google+. Follow us @livescience, ?Facebook?or ?Google+. Article originally on LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/high-us-methane-levels-found-cross-country-drive-212603215.html

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U.S. House lawmakers reach tentative deal to revamp immigration

By Richard Cowan and Rachelle Younglai

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives said on Thursday they had reached a tentative deal to revamp the immigration system, after disputes over a temporary worker program and healthcare benefits threatened to derail their efforts.

"We have essentially come to an agreement on all the major points," Democratic Representative John Yarmuth of Kentucky told reporters after a two-hour meeting with six other Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

The bipartisan group has been attempting to introduce an immigration bill for years. But disputes over border security, work visa numbers and healthcare provisions had grown to the point that there were fears some lawmakers might be on the verge of dropping out of the long negotiations.

Yarmuth said there were still some "loose ends," but said that they were not major disagreements.

None of the lawmakers would provide details of the deal to reporters.

The group had been arguing over the "triggers" that would define when additional border security steps under the legislation would be sufficient to start legalizing some of the 11 million unauthorized foreigners, sources said.

There was also disagreement over several other policy issues central to an immigration bill, including the number of foreign high-tech workers who would be allowed in, as well as low-skilled construction and service industry laborers.

A separate bipartisan bill is being debated in the Senate Judiciary Committee with the goal of bringing a bill before the full Senate next month.

That panel is struggling with the work visa program in the bill and is under intense pressure from technology companies to make it easier to hire foreign workers.

One of the members of the House group, Republican John Carter, repeatedly told reporters before the House meeting that there was no way the Senate bill would pass the Republican-controlled House.

Immediately following the November 6 elections, in which Hispanic voters roundly rejected Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, House Speaker John Boehner called on his party to pivot on immigration.

After years of blocking moves to put the 11 million on a pathway to citizenship that many conservatives call "amnesty," Boehner, the top elected U.S. Republican, urged his party to work for a major revamp of immigration laws.

While citing concerns on Thursday about the lack of progress in the House so far, Boehner said: "I continue to believe that the House ... needs to work its will. How we get there, we're still dealing with it."

STRATEGY DEBATE

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, has expressed his preference for doing individual bills tackling parts of the immigration policy problems, instead of a comprehensive approach.

But Democrats in both chambers have rejected such a strategy, saying it would indefinitely delay the pathway to citizenship for undocumented residents, many of whom have been in the United States for decades and are raising families here.

Besides policy disagreements, individual members of the House group have differed over whether it would be productive to unveil a House measure while the Senate is in the midst of debating its bill.

Democrats, for example, have been hesitant to embrace a more conservative House immigration bill, which they fear would undercut their fellow Democrats in the Senate.

(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Fred Barbash, Cynthia Osterman and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/house-group-reaches-tentative-deal-immigration-bill-lawmakers-223552153.html

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Google AirShow streams I/O live from several RC blimps (hands-on video)

Yes, there's a fleet of camera-equipped, remote-controlled blimps live-streaming a bird's-eye view of Google I/O on YouTube, right now. It's called Google AirShow and it's taken over the airspace within Moscone Center. We briefly chatted with Chris Miller, a software engineer with AKQA (the company that put the dirigibles together for Google), about the technology used in each aircraft. It all begins with an off-the-shelf model airship that's flown manually via standard a 2.4GHz radio. Each blimp is outfitted with a servo-controlled USB camera and 5GHz USB WiFi dongle which are both connected to a Raspberry Pi board running Debian, VLC and Python. A custom-designed Li-polymer battery system powers the on-board electronics. The webcam encodes video as motion-JPEG (720p, 30fps) and VLC generates a YouTube-compatible RTSP stream that's broadcast over WiFi. Python's used to pan the servo-controlled camera via the Raspberry Pi's PWM output. The result is pretty awesome. But don't just take our word for it -- check out the gallery and source link below, then watch our hands-on video after the break.

Gallery: Google AirShow at I/O 2013

Filed under: Cameras, Misc, Transportation, Internet, Alt, Google

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Source: I/O AirShow 2013

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Research into carbon storage in Arctic tundra reveals unexpected insight into ecosystem resiliency

May 16, 2013 ? When UC Santa Barbara doctoral student Seeta Sistla and her adviser, environmental studies professor Josh Schimel, went north not long ago to study how long-term warming in the Arctic affects carbon storage, they had made certain assumptions.

"We expected that because of the long-term warming, we would have lost carbon stored in the soil to the atmosphere," said Schimel. The gradual warming, he explained, would accelerate decomposition on the upper layers of what would have previously been frozen or near-frozen earth, releasing the greenhouse gas into the air. Because high latitudes contain nearly half of all global soil carbon in their ancient permafrost -- permanently frozen soil -- even a few degrees' rise in temperature could be enough to release massive quantities, turning a carbon repository into a carbon emitter.

"The Arctic is the most rapidly warming biome on Earth, so understanding how permafrost soils are reacting to this change is of major concern globally," Sistla said.

To test their hypothesis, the researchers visited the longest-running climate warming study in the tundra, the U.S. Arctic Long-Term Ecological Research site at Toolik Lake in northern Alaska. This ecosystem-warming greenhouse experiment was started in 1989 to observe the effects of sustained warming on the Arctic environment.

What they initially found was typical of Arctic warming: low-lying, shallow-rooted vegetation giving way to taller plants with deeper roots; greater wood shrub dominance; and increased thaw depth. What they weren't expecting was that two decades of slow and steady warming had not changed the amounts of carbon in the soil, despite changes in vegetation and even the soil food web.

The answer to that mystery, according to Sistla, might be found in the finer workings of the ecosystem: Increased plant growth appears to have facilitated stabilizing feedbacks to soil carbon loss. Their research is published in the recent edition of the journal Nature.

"We hypothesize that net soil carbon hasn't changed after 20 years because warming-accelerated decomposition has been offset by increased carbon inputs to the soil due to a combination of increased plant growth and changing soil conditions," Sistla said.

The increased plant productivity, caused by the warmer temperatures -- on average 2 degrees Celsius in the air and 1 degree in the soil to the permafrost -- has increased plant litter inputs to the soil. Unexpectedly, the soils in the greenhouse experiment developed higher winter temperatures, while the summer warming effect declined.

"These changes reflect a complicated feedback," Sistla said. "Shrubs trap more snow than the lower-lying vegetation, creating warmer winter soil temperatures that further stimulate both decomposers and plant growth. Shrubs also increase summer shading, which appears to have reduced decomposer activity in the surface soil by reducing the greenhouse effect during the summer."

The increased plant growth and deeper thaw, meanwhile, also may have enabled increased carbon availability in the deeper mineral layer that overlies the permafrost. In fact, the researchers found the strongest biological effects of warming at depth, a "biotic awakening," with mineral soil decomposers showing more activity, along with the increased carbon stock at that level. "It's a surprising counterbalance," said Schimel. "It may be that those soil systems are not quite as vulnerable to warming as initially expected."

However, whether or not this phenomenon -- no net loss of soil carbon despite long-term warming -- is a transient phase that will eventually give way to increased decomposition activity and more carbon release, is not yet known. Future studies will include investigation into the mineral soil to determine the age of the carbon, which may in turn yield clues into how the carbon cycle is changing at depth, where the majority of tundra soil carbon is stored.

Funding for this study came from the National Science Foundation Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program, DOE Global Change Education Program Graduate Fellowship, a Leal Anne Kerry Mertes scholarship, and Explorer's Club.

According to Sistla and Schimel, this research paradigm validates the NSF LTER program's commitment to supporting long-term experiments, because it creates opportunities for younger scientists to observe effects and condition decades after experiments are established -- results that could not have been foreseen when the experiments were started.

Researchers participating in this study include John C. Moore and Rodney T. Simpson from Colorado State University, Fort Collins; Laura Gough from the University of Texas at Arlington; and Gaius R. Shaver from the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/qiBTk8MTiEs/130516142700.htm

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