Isnin, 26 Ogos 2013

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Posted: 26 Aug 2013 04:31 PM PDT

NEW YORK: US stocks closed lower on Monday after Secretary of State John Kerry warned that the United States would demand "accountability" after an "obscene" chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 64.05 points (0.43 percent) at 14,946.46.

The broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 6.72 (0.40 percent) to 1,656.78 and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.22 (0.01 percent) to 3,657.57.

The markets ended firmly in the red after trading solidly higher for most of the day, but volumes were very low.

The sell-off came immediately after Kerry said the US was still examining evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Syria but left no doubt that Bashar al-Assad's regime would be blamed.

The top US diplomat said President Barack Obama would demand accountability for this "moral obscenity."

Stocks were under modest pressure after the Commerce Department reported new orders for durable manufactured goods plunged 7.3 percent in July, much sharper than the 5.0 percent drop expected.

"Traders continue to grapple with whether the US economy is strong enough to facilitate tapering of asset purchases by the Federal Reserve, which is set to meet in September," said Charles Schwab & Co. said.

But a spate of corporate activity sparked investor interest in the last week of summer before the long Labor Day weekend.

Shares in biotech giant Amgen soared 7.7 percent after it announced a US$10.4 billion deal to buy cancer-drug specialist Onyx Pharmaceuticals. Amgen sweetened its prior bid by US$4 per share to US$125. Onyx leaped 5.6 percent to US$123.49.

Chinese software firm Qihoo 360 Technology jumped 7.8 percent after reporting breakneck growth in second-quarter profits and revenues.

"Our PC security products already cover nearly 95 percent of Chinese PC Internet users, and our mobile security solutions cover approximately 70 percent of Chinese smartphone users, making Qihoo the indisputable leader in Internet security in China," Hongyi Zhou, the firm's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

Home-improvement retailer The Home Depot gained 2.1 percent, the strongest of the 30-stock Dow's four gainers.

Procter & Gamble was the laggard, falling 1.8 percent. Microsoft shed 1.7 percent, paring its 7 percent-plus gain Friday on news that chief executive Steve Ballmer will retire in 12 months. -- AFP

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Snipers fire on UN chemical weapons team in Syria - USA TODAY

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 08:10 AM PDT

A vehicle carrying U.N. chemical weapons investigators came under sniper fire Monday as it was heading toward the site of an alleged chemical attack last week that killed hundreds of people.

There were no reported injuries in the sniper attack in the Damascus suburb of Moadamiyeh, although one vehicle was disabled.

The Syrian government accused the rebels of firing at the team, while a rebel representative said a pro-government militia was behind the attack.

The shooting comes as U.S. naval forced move closer to Syria and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that any military intervention in Syria without a mandate from the U.N. would be a grave violation of international law.

The attack by snipers took place in the buffer zone area between rebel- and government-controlled territory.

"The first vehicle of the Chemical Weapons Investigation Team was deliberately shot at multiple times by unidentified snipers in the buffer zone area," saied Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

"As the car was no longer serviceable, the team returned safely back to the government checkpoint," the spokesperson said.

The eight-vehicle convoy included six vehicles carrying the U.N. experts, one with security forces and one ambulance.

Wassim al-Ahmad, a member of the Moadamiyeh local council, said five U.N. investigators eventually arrived at a makeshift hospital in the suburb, where doctors and about 100 people still with symptoms from the alleged chemical attack were brought in to meet with the U.N. team.

"They are late, they came six days late," he told the Associated Press via Skype from Moadamiyeh, referring to the time it took the U.N. team to arrive. "All the people have already been buried."

He also claimed that members of a pro-government militia known as the Popular Committees fired at the U.N. team.

Syrian activists and opposition leaders have said that 322 to 1,300 people were killed in the alleged chemical attack in the capital's western suburbs.

Syria agreed Sunday to allow a U.N. investigation into the alleged chemical weapons attack last week. A White House official said the offer comes too late.

The White House has concluded that there is "very little doubt" that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons in the attack, increasing the chances of a U.S. military strike.

The chemical weapons assessment is based on a variety of evidence and represents a broad consensus, according to a statement from a senior administration official.

The official requested anonymity; deliberations are ongoing and no decision has been reached about what to do.

U.S. defense officials told the Associated Press that the Navy had sent a fourth warship armed with ballistic missiles into the eastern Mediterranean Sea but without immediate orders for any missile launch into Syria.

Navy ships are capable of a variety of military actions, including launching Tomahawk cruise missiles as they did against Libya in 2011 as part of an international action that led to the overthrow of the Libyan government.

In his remarks at a news conference Monday, the Russian foreign minister appealed to the U.S. and other Western power to avoid "past mistakes" with any intervention in Syria. Lavrov said he had spoken by telephone with Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday about the Syrian crisis.

President Obama was presented with a range of military options as he huddled with his national security team Saturday to discuss Syria.

Military analysts say the likeliest option would be a punitive strike designed to send a message to the regime of Bashar Assad but that would not be designed to decapitate the regime or dramatically alter the course of the civil war raging there.

"Behavior modification would be the main objective rather than decisively shifting the situation on the ground or removing the regime," said Jeffrey White, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former Defense Intelligence Agency official.

Administration officials have been wary of any military intervention that would draw the United States into a lengthy commitment, and they have also expressed concerns that the collapse of the regime might lead to a failed state or the emergence of al-Qaeda affiliates.

Contributing: Jim Michael and Oren Dorell in Washington; Associated Press

Rim Fire sweeping toward Yosemite's Hetch Hetchy reservoir - San Jose Mercury News

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 08:37 AM PDT

With scant cooperation from Mother Nature, fire crews waged a battle with few gains Sunday against the giant Rim Fire, which voraciously consumed dry brush and trees as it marched toward the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park.

As of Sunday evening, the fire had burned 224 square miles -- more than the area occupied together by San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and Campbell. It remained only 7 percent contained. Nearly 2,850 firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service, Cal Fire and numerous local agencies were battling California's largest wildfire. Southerly afternoon winds up to 20 miles per hour pushed the fire north, said Cal Fire Captain Mike Mohler.

If there was any good news, it was that the

A contractor prepares to load a bulldozer onto a trailer as a smoke plume from the Rim Fire rises near Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2013. With winds gusting and flames jumping from treetop to treetop, hundreds of firefighters have been deployed to protect this and other communities in the path of the Rim Fire raging north of Yosemite National Park. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) ( Jae C. Hong )

predicted gusts up to 30 mph didn't materialize. But the bad news is that high temperatures, in the mid-80s Sunday, are expected to rise Monday.

"With the size of the fire and amount of ground we still have to cover, it's still a difficult fire," Mohler said. "We need Mother Nature to cooperate. Hopefully we'll turn the corner soon."

The Rim Fire also threatened communities to the south of Highway 120 in Mariposa County, with evacuation orders issued at 5 p.m. In addition, recommended evacuation remained in place for several mountain communities in Tuolumne County, including Camp Mather and San Jose Family Camp. The Red Cross was operating a shelter at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds in Sonora, said Carole Logue, a volunteer with the Tuolumne County Office of Emergency Services.

Bay Area threat

Aside from the rugged and hard-to-reach terrain, another difficulty is the blaze's tendency to burn the tops of trees, creating a "crown fire" with long, intense flames that skip across forested land faster than a wildfire that creeps along near the ground.

Courtesy of southerly winds, Yosemite National Park remains open and is relatively smoke-free, according to the park website. But the entrance from Highway 120 on the west side of the park, the White Wolf campground, the Hodgdon Meadow campground and the Hetch Hetchy backpackers' campground were closed as of Sunday evening.

Popular areas in the park such as Yosemite Valley, Glacier Point, Wawona, Mariposa Grove, Crane Flat and Tuolumne Meadows were open Sunday.

Although the Rim Fire is more than 100 miles from the Bay Area, it still could threaten San Francisco's electric supply if it damages the power system originating in O'Shaughnessy Dam at Hetch Hetchy reservoir. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has been forced to shut down two of its three hydroelectric power stations near Hetch Hetchy, and Gov. Jerry Brown has extended a state of emergency to include San Francisco because the reservoir is a major source of electricity and water for the city.

As fire leapfrogs across the vast, picturesque Sierra forests, moving from one treetop to the next, residents in the fire's path are moving animals and children to safety.

"Left everything"

The fire moved through San Jose Family Camp last week, consuming an outbuilding and 10 tents, said camp recreation Supervisor Art Catbagan. He said he was hoping that a group from Maybeck High in Berkeley, which evacuated on 15 minutes' notice, could return early this week to recover belongings.

"They left everything -- books, clothing, things on their beds. They even had food in the cafeteria they were getting ready to prepare," Catbagan said.

The fire has burned northeast away from Groveland, where smoke gave way to blue skies Sunday. But at Tuolumne City's Black Oak Casino in Tuolumne City, the slot machines were quiet as emergency workers took over nearly all of the resort's 148 hotel rooms.

"The casino is empty," said casino employee Jessie Dean, who left her four children at relatives' homes in the Central Valley. "Technically, the casino is open, but there's nobody there."

Hundreds of firefighters were deployed Sunday to protect Tuolumne City and other communities in the fire's path. Eight fire trucks and four bulldozers were deployed near Bunney's ranch on the west side of Mount Baldy, where two years of drought have created tinder-dry conditions.

The Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press contributed to this story. Contact Sharon Noguchi at 408-271-3775. Follow her at Twitter.com/NoguchiOnK12.

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Isnin, 26 Ogos 2013