Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/160317
4B Daily News – Wednesday, August 28, 2013 WORLD BRIEFING Syria vows to US plans for defend itself missile DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Momentum strikes appeared to build Tuesday for Western military against Syria action against Syria, with the U.S. and France saying they are in position for a strike, while the government in Damascus vowed to use all possible measures to repel it. The prospect of a dramatic U.S.-led intervention into Syria's civil war stemmed from the West's assertion — still not endorsed by U.N. inspectors — that President Bashar Assad's government was responsible for an alleged chemical attack on civilians outside Damascus on Aug. 21 that the group Doctors Without Borders says killed 355 people. Assad denies the claim. The Arab League also threw its weight behind calls for punitive action, blaming the Syrian government for the attack and calling for those responsible to be brought to justice. British Prime Minister David Cameron recalled Parliament to hold an emergency vote Thursday on his country's response. It is unlikely that any international military action would begin before then. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said U.S. military forces stand ready to strike Syria at once if President Barack Obama gives the order, and French President Francois Hollande said France was ''ready to punish those who took the heinous decision to gas innocents.'' WASHINGTON (AP) — Questions are already swirling about the endgame as the Obama administration prepares for a likely strike against Syria as punishment for chemical weapons attacks in its civil war. National security experts and some U.S. officials question whether a limited strike can have any lasting impact on Syrian President Bashar Assad, or whether it will simply harden Assad's resolve. And it's not clear how much the military operation could help the beleaguered and splintered Syrian opposition, or lessen concerns that hard-line rebels may not support America if they do seize control of the country. A limited, short-term operation, however, may be a compromise between military leaders, who have warned against entering a civil war, and a White House determined to show that President Barack Obama meant it when he said last year that the use of chemical weapons would cross a red line. The broader objective is to damage the Syrian government's military and weapons enough to make it difficult to conduct more chemical weapons attacks, and to make Assad think twice about using chemical weapons again. Senior national security leaders met again at the White House on Tuesday as the administration moved closer to an almost certain attack on Syria in the coming days. The most likely military action would be to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles off U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea. The Navy last week moved a fourth destroyer into the eastern Mediterranean and it is expected that the British would also participate in an attack. Fort Hood gunman rests case in trial's penalty phase FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — The Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at Fort Hood decided not to call witnesses or testify Tuesday during his trial's penalty phase, which is his last chance to plead for his life before the jury begins deliberating whether to sentence him to death. Maj. Nidal Hasan rested his case without submitting any evidence to counter the emotional testimony from victims' relatives, who prosecutors hope convince jurors to hand down a rare military death sentence. The same jury convicted Hasan last week for the attack, which also wounded more than 30 people at the Texas military base. The judge dismissed jurors after Hasan declined to put up a defense. But she then asked Hasan more than two dozen questions in rapid fire, affirming that he knew what he was doing. His answers were succinct and just as rapid. ''It is my personal decision,'' he said. ''It is free and voluntary.'' The judge, Col. Tara Osborn, then read him several court opinions to back up her decision not to introduce evidence in Hasan's favor on her own. Experts say Sierra Nevada blaze ravaged quickly because of historic fire policies SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Unnaturally long intervals between wildfires and years of drought primed the Sierra Nevada for the explosive conflagration chewing up the rugged landscape on the edge of Yosemite National Park, forestry experts say. The fire had ravaged 282 square miles by Tuesday, the biggest in the Sierra's recorded history and one of the largest on record in California. Containment increased to 20 percent but some 4,500 structures remained threatened and firefighters were making stands at Tuolumne City and other mountain communities. The blaze was just 40 acres when it was discovered near a road in Stanislaus National Forest on Aug. 17, but firefighters had no chance of stopping it in the early days. Fueled by thick forest floor vegetation in steep river canyons, it exploded to 10,000 acres 36 hours later, then to 54,000 acres and 105,620 acres within the next two days. On its 11th day it had surpassed 179,400 acres, becoming the seventh-largest California wildfire in records dating to 1932. Some districts quit healthier school lunch program After just one year, some schools around the country are dropping out of the healthier new federal lunch program, complaining that so many students turned up their noses at meals packed with whole grains, fruits and vegetables that the cafeterias were losing money. Federal officials say they don't have exact numbers but have seen isolated reports of schools cutting ties with the $11 billion National School Lunch Program, which reimburses schools for meals served and gives them access to lower-priced food. Districts that rejected the program say the reimbursement was not enough to offset losses from students who began avoiding the lunch line and bringing food from home or, in some cases, going hungry. ''Some of the stuff we had to offer, they wouldn't eat,'' said Catlin, Ill., Superintendent Gary Lewis, whose district saw a 10 to 12 percent drop in lunch sales, translating to $30,000 lost under the program last year. ''So you sit there and watch the kids, and you know they're hungry at the end of the day, and that led to some behavior and some lack of attentiveness.'' Obama was 2 when Martin Luther King spoke WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama was 2 years old and growing up in Hawaii when Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his ''I Have a Dream'' speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Fifty years later, the nation's first black president will stand as the most high-profile example of the racial progress King espoused, delivering remarks Wednesday at a nationwide commemoration of the 1963 demonstration for jobs, economic justice and racial equality. Obama believes his success in attaining the nation's highest political office is a testament to the dedication of King and others, and that he would not be the current Oval Office occupant if it were not for their willingness to persevere through repeated imprisonments, bomb threats and blasts from billy clubs and fire hoses. ''When you are talking about Dr. King's speech at the March on Washington, you're talking about one of the maybe five greatest speeches in American history,'' Obama said in a radio interview Tuesday. ''And the words that he spoke at that particular moment, with so much at stake, and the way in which he captured the hopes and dreams of an entire generation I think is unmatched.'' In tribute, Obama keeps a bust of King in the Oval Office and a framed copy of the program from that historic day when 250,000 people gathered for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Within five years, the man Obama would later identify as one of his idols was dead, assassinated in April 1968 outside of a motel room in Memphis, Tenn. Newly released photos show bombing suspect Tsarnaev surrendered BOSTON (AP) — Dramatic new photos show the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, his face bloodied, climbing out of a boat in a suburban backyard as heavily armed police officers wait for him to drop to the ground. The images were among those a state police officer provided last month to Boston Magazine, which published some then and more on Tuesday. Sgt. Sean Murphy took photos the April night police cornered Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in a dry-docked boat in Watertown, just outside Boston. He wasn't authorized to release the photos but said he was angry about a Rolling Stone magazine cover he felt glamorized Tsarnaev. The new photos include more shots of Tsarnaev coming out of the boat, his head bloody and a red laser trained on his head. They also show him dropping to the ground, where officers and medical personnel rushed to treat him. Other photos show tense federal, state and local police officials meeting in a command center and SWAT teams gathering in the streets earlier in the day. Support your local teams! 49th Tehama County SHOOTOUT Red Bluff Spartans VS Corning Cardinals THE BIG GAME IS...Friday, September 20, 2013 Special magazine-size section of the newspaper published Thursday, September 19! Again this year! 500 Overrun for distribution at the Big Game! Featuring: Team Photos Varsity team Lineups Player Rosters Historical win-loss records Feature articles on school teams Full color Booster Page DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U NTY S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Call your advertising representative TODAY at (530) 527-2151 for more information Ad Options: Full Page: $400 Half Page: $210 Quarter Page: $120 Eighth Page: $70 Full Color: 20% of space cost SPONSOR A PLAYER: Only $50 per box Booster Page: Mini ads – Full color included: $40 Advertising Deadline: Thursday, September 12 Published in The Daily News: Thursday, September 19