Storms leave 300,000 without power in Chicago area

Tuesday night's storms in the Chicago area blew trees and limbs onto vehicles and power lines.Rain and thunderstorms batter the areaSome in Illinois could go days without power More than 380 flights are canceled at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports

(CNN) -- More than 300,000 electric customers were without power early Wednesday morning in Chicago and its suburbs, electric company Commonwealth Edison said.

Spokesman Bennie Currie said while crews are working to restore power, it could take days to return service to all customers.

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"The severe storms that passed through our service territory caused extensive damage, which will result in a multiple day restoration effort," the electric company said in a statement.

The severe weather also caused travel problems in the Chicago area.

At O'Hare International Airport, 350 flights have been canceled, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation. The department also reported departure delays of up to two hours late Tuesday night.

Flights were delayed at Chicago's Midway Airport for up to two hours due to rain and thunderstorms, according the the city's aviation department. Thirty flights were canceled at that airport.

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Venezuela struggles with repeated power outages (AP)

By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Associated Press Christopher Toothaker, Associated Press – Mon Jun 13, 12:22 am ET

CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez accused his political rivals on Sunday of sabotaging the country's electricity grid and trying to pin the blame on his government for blackouts plaguing much of Venezuela.

Repeated power blackouts in recent months have affected areas stretching from Venezuela's western border with Colombia to eastern regions where hydroelectric dams produce roughly a third of the electricity that Venezuelans consume.

Many Venezuelans in affected areas appear to be growing impatient as government officials promise solutions to a problem that has persisted since 2009 despite billions of dollars in investment aimed at revamping the power grid.

Opposition leaders, meanwhile, are trying to capitalize, blaming Chavez for a faulty power grid and the repeated outages.

Chavez accused his foes of provoking the outages, without presenting evidence of sabotage.

"Sabotage, we have to be vigilant," Chavez said, speaking from Cuba during a a telephone interview broadcast on Sunday by the Caracas-based Telesur television network.

The president suggested that "a group of the right-wing, anti-nationalist opposition that is willing to do anything" is sabotaging the grid.

The most recent blackouts hit western Venezuela on Friday and Saturday, affecting several border states and the country's second-largest city, Maracaibo. The outages began Friday night with the failure of a transformer in Zulia state, officials said. Other transformers exploded before dawn Saturday, knocking out 3,000 megawatts and affecting the states of Zulia, Trujillo, Merida, Tachira and Barinas.

Aixa Lopez, director of the Committee for People Affected by Power Outages, a pressure group that monitors the extent of the problem, said blackouts — some of them lasting up to 20 hours — have repeatedly hit Caracas and at least 10 of Venezuela's 24 states in recent months.

Lopez said blackouts at hospitals have interrupted surgeries, damaged thousands of home appliances and disrupted activity at numerous businesses and public institutions, ranging from restaurants to schools. Several major outages in Caracas this year have shut down the subway and street lights, further aggravating traffic jams that snarl through streets, causing chaos in the bustling capital, she added.

"The situation is serious, and it's unacceptable," Lopez said.

Vice President Elias Jaua said earlier Sunday the state electric utility, Corpoelec, is working to restore power in regions hit by outages.

Jaua called for patience and urged residents of the sun-baked, sizzling state to reduce their use of air conditioning units.

"We call on the people of Zulia to use electricity in a responsible manner," Jaua told state TV. "We don't blame the people, but there's a reality, a consumption limit. If we pass the limit, the system collapses."

Zulia Gov. Pablo Perez responded angrily, saying the government — not consumers — should accept the blame for the blackouts.

"We are not the ones to blame," Perez told a televised news conference.

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In Yemen, a High-Stakes Power Game as Saleh Is in Limbo (Time.com)

For the first time in 13 days, a lull has descended upon the fierce fighting between armed tribesmen and forces loyal to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The consistent shelling and gunfire in the capital city of Sana'a have been replaced by a tense quiet, with most residents still choosing to stay in their homes or flee to ancestral villages.

After an attack on his presidential compound, Saleh, 69, is now lying in a Saudi hospital recovering from what U.S. officials said were burns to over 40% of his body. Should that statistic be accurate, it is unlikely a man of his age would be able to survive. That possibility has begun circulating among the anti-Saleh demonstrators. Dr. Hamaza Alshargabi, a physician who has been volunteering his services at the Change Square protest camp field hospital in Sana'a, treating bullet wounds, trauma, and asphyxiation from tear gas fumes, says that, based on the reports, the president's prognosis is dire. "A man that is nearly 70 such as the president would not be able to survive such severe injuries," says the doctor. (See photos of Yemen after Saleh is evacuated to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.)

Nevertheless, the Yemeni Government has pledged that Saleh will return as soon as he is able. In a statement, it declared that "Consistent with the nation's constitutional process, [His Excellency] Vice President Abdu Rabo Mansour Hadi is the acting president in charge of the caretaker government during President Saleh's temporary medical leave. President Saleh will return to Yemen from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to re-assume his duties soon after he recovers."

In the meantime, as Saleh's health hangs in the balance in Saudi Arabia, his home country sits in limbo as major power brokers look to make their bids for power in his absence. The president's son, Ahmed, commander of the country's Republican Guard, has taken up residence in the palace. While he relaxes in his father's seat of power, some say that Ahmed has neither the credibility nor the connections to hold the fractured nation together as his father did. "Saleh's boys don't have a chance at ruling Yemen," says Yemeni political analyst Abdul Ghani al-Iryani. "Even with all of Saleh's skills and connections, he was losing control of the country. However, the sticky issue is the manner of Saleh's return. Should Ahmed or his nephew Yahya [commander of the ostensibly loyal Central Security Forces] feel his exit is dishonorable, they may be compelled to take up arms again all that oppose their patriarch."

As for Saleh's deputy, Abd Rabo Mansur Hadi is a characteristically weak figure, with no units of the military loyal to him personally. In a statement he provided to the ruling party committee, the vice president, in a shaky voice, simply said that Saleh's return was imminent, refusing to accept the responsibilities of acting president. Hadi's obvious ambivalence to assume power was something glaringly obvious to Yemen's pro-democracy protesters. On Tuesday afternoon, they pounced on the opportunity to force the reluctant vice president to pass on his responsibilities to a transitional government. The demonstrators marched on his residence, just a few yards outside of the protest camp's borders. Thousands streamed out of the square, screaming "Stay out, Ali! Stay out!" (See the Middle East in revolt.)

Curiously, men loyal to the most prominent military defector to the protesters' side, General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, had surrounded the vice president's home and stopped the protesters from reaching the gates of his palatial estate. After setting up camp and pledging to stage a sit-in for 24 hours, the protesters were dispersed by the soldiers who had protected them since March. It appears as if Mohsen may have chosen to use Hadi as his surrogate in the political maneuverings - and provided him with the requisite military protection to be part of the game.

The Al-Ahmar family and the Hashid tribal confederation they control, while quieted for now, still maintain their positions in northern Sana'a. (General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar is not related to the al-Ahmar family that dominates the tribal militia.) Surrounding the Al-Hasaba area of the capital are checkpoints manned by tribesmen brandishing AK-47's, RPK heavy machine guns, Dragunov sniper rifles, RPG's, and shoulder mounted missile launchers. Their ammunition vests are quite nearly bursting at the seams - gun barrels bearing down on traffic in the distance from bunkers built with sandbags stacked seven high.

The tribesmen communicate through CB radio handsets, directing forces and coordinating with commanders to allow certain supply trucks to move into the area. "Traffic has picked up towards the south, send more men to the checkpoint," said one tribesman on his radio, sniper rifle slung over his shoulder.

Throughout the city lies proof of the tit-for-tat combat between Saleh loyalists and anti-regime forces. In front of the home Sadeq al-Ahmar, Hashid's most prominent sheikh, lies twisted metal that has fallen from the headquarters of Yemenia Airways, the state run airline. The 10-story building had been shelled over the last few days by Saleh loyalists. Its windows have been blown out and parts of the building's facade litter the street.

Meanwhile, the headquarters of Saleh's ruling party, the General People's Congress, is located within the territory that was taken by the tribesmen. An enormous portrait of President Saleh adorns the entrance of the building, peering over a high stone wall, pock marked with bullet holes. Two sandbag bunkers housing 10 tribesmen now block the entrance to the building, "Get out" spray-painted in Arabic on the heavily fortified front gate of the building. The more appropriate slogan now may be "Stay out."

Read "Why It's Too Soon to Celebrate in Yemen."

See "Yemen on the Brink of Civil War."

View this article on Time.com

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New Composites Could Revolutionize Wireless Power (LiveScience.com)

Jason Schreier, InnovationNewsDaily Contributor
LiveScience.com Jason Schreier, Innovationnewsdaily Contributor
livescience.com – Thu Jun 2, 9:25 pm ET

You might be reading this on a wireless Internet connection, and whether you're on a laptop or an iPhone, you're most likely relying on a battery or plugged into a wall outlet.

Another path for your power — wireless charging — is far less efficient, but a Duke University study may change that.

The study says "metamaterials" — a term it uses for composite materials with unique properties — could facilitate the wireless transfer of power to electrical devices with much less waste. While much electricity can be lost during the transfer from power source to device by a wireless charger, metamaterials would keep much of that energy intact as they conduct and refocus it.

One example of a metamaterial, the study says, would be an array of copper conducting loops. Users would place the array at a given point between the device and its power source, and electricity would be transferred directly through it.

Metamaterials could have real-world applications within two to three years, said Yaroslav Urzhumov, an assistant professor who headed the Duke study.

While there are a number of wireless charging devices on the market — including the popular Powermat, which offers wireless charging for phones and iPods — Urzhumov says using metamaterials would allow for a significant increase in both range and power.

"Our proposition is an extension of the magnetic induction-based, near-field coupling technology," Urzhumov told InnovationNewsDaily. "It is based on the same fundamental principle, Faraday's law of induction; however, it ramps up the power-transfer efficiency by increasing the mutual inductive coupling between the transmitter and the receiver."

By ramping up the efficiency, metamaterials could help charge bigger appliances and gadgets, including electric automobiles, Urzhumov said. They could even allow people to charge devices underwater.

An advantage of metamaterials, Urzhumov said, would be to combat the problem of corrosion. "Exposing metals to the aggressively oxidizing environment leads to fast corrosion and subsequent loss of contact," he said.

Even with such a breakthrough, though, Urzhumov thinks wireless electricity will remain a niche sector.

"I don't think electrical power transfer will be 100 percent wireless, ever," Urzhumov said. "We know that the most efficient power-transfer device is a good old conductor."

This story was provided by InnovationNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow InnovationNewsDaily on Twitter @News_Innovation, or on Facebook.

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Yemen's Saleh likely out of power this year: report (Reuters)

DUBAI (Reuters) – President Ali Abdullah Saleh is unlikely to stay in power through 2011 but violence in Yemen will increase while he clings on, a report said on Wednesday.

Global powers have been pressing Saleh to sign a Gulf-mediated deal to step down and stem spreading chaos in civil-war-threatened Yemen, a haven for al Qaeda militants and neighbor to the world's biggest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia.

"Saleh is unlikely to survive 2011 as president of Yemen; however the likelihood of a managed transition is decreasing, and an attempt to forcibly oust Saleh from power is becoming more likely," the Eurasia Group said in a report.

This week, there have been three main flashpoints in the country -- fighting in the capital, government troops gunning down protesters in Taiz in the south and a battle with al Qaeda and Islamic militants in the coastal city of Zinjibar.

The political risk think-tank said the most likely outcome for the crisis is for Saleh leaving power through a political deal he brokers from a position of weakness, or being ousted by force by breakaway military groups and tribal leaders.

The report cautioned: "Saleh leaving power early does not result in a functional Yemeni state that can reassert control over the country in the short term."

Saleh, a wily politician who has ruled the impoverished country for nearly 33 years, has faced months of street protests calling for his ouster while his forces have battled powerful tribal groups who have aligned themselves with the protesters.

GULF NEIGHBOURS EXASPERATED

Members of his military and government started to abandon him in March after his troops killed dozens of protesters.

The breakaway military groups have called on others in the army to join them in opposition to the government but have not engaged in any major fighting with forces loyal to Saleh.

Saleh has also exasperated his rich Gulf Arab neighbors by three times agreeing to step down, only to pull out of a power transition plan at the last minute.

Analysts are worried that the instability in Yemen could embolden the al Qaeda wing in the country, which has targeted the United States and Saudi Arabia.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a ceasefire between Saleh's forces and a powerful tribal group, after street fighting between the two last week killed at least 115 people.

"The Secretary-General is gravely concerned about the reports of excessive use of force by Yemeni security forces against unarmed demonstrators in Taiz and the escalating fighting in Sana and other cities leaving scores of civilians dead, wounded and displaced," he said in a statement.

(Additional reporting by Lou Charbonneau at the United Nations)

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Germany turns back on nuclear power (The Christian Science Monitor)

Frankfurt – In a move officials called "irreversible," German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right coalition agreed Monday to phase out nuclear power by 2022, setting Europe’s biggest economy the formidable challenge of finding a replacement for 20 percent of its current energy supply.

The government's decision comes after a 17-member ethics panel appointed after the Fukushima nuclear accident recommended giving Germany a "10-year exit corridor" to change its ways and go nuclear free. The panel, which included a Roman Catholic bishop and industrial and scientific leaders, called for keeping the seven oldest nuclear plants shut down after the Japan disaster off the grid and gradually switching off the other 10. But their report, released today, said weening Germany off nuclear power won't be successful "without efforts of all segments of the political, business and societal world."

"It has to happen sooner or later," says Miranda Schreurs, chair of the Brussels-based European Environmental Sustainable Development Advisor Council, a network of advisors appointed by 16 European countries.

"If Germany does it first, it will become the technological leader globally, it will be the country that others turn to for advice, for equipment, it can set the standards for others.This decision gives Germany planning certainty and stability: If you know that you have a 10 year window to replace 20 percent of your electricity supply, it gives society a chance to come to terms with the decision, to start thinking about it."

Last fall, Merkel had called for Germany to get 80 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2050. Today's announcement increases the pressure to make that happen faster than planned.

RECOMMENDED: Is nuclear energy a safe idea? Seven reasons to abandon nuclear power and five reasons why it's safe and reliable.

To rely more on sun and wind power, Germany must expand its energy grid to bring green energy from its windy northern coast to its sunny south. That will entail building what experts say could be an estimated 3,000 kilometers of 260-feet-high power-lines through some of Germany's most picturesque landscapes with a pricetag of billions of Euros in the coming decades.

"We have to have a new approach to the supply network, energy efficiency, renewable energy and also long-term monitoring of the process," Merkel told reporters today. She stressed the importance of lifestyle changes to consume less energy.

Some are skeptical that Germany will achieve its goal, and point out that it remains heavily reliant on coal-fired and gas-fired power plants. They predict that Germany's abandonment of nuclear power will lead to greater reliance on fossil fuels. Last year, about 25 percent of Germany's power was produced with coal.

Germany's "electricity will be more expensive and polluting,” French Industry Minister Eric Besson predicted in a statement. France is a major proponent of nuclear power. So far, Germany has been compensating for its closure of domestic nuclear plants in part by importing nuclear power, most from France.

A big test of whether Germany can go the green route will happen in the southern state of Baden Wurttemberg, which has just sworn in the country's first Green state governor, says Marcel Vietor, climate and energy specialist at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin says. There, most residents are anti-nuclear, but many are also opposed to an "Energie Autobahn" that could disfigure their rolling hills. Car-maker Daimler Benz fears the new decision could hurt German industry.

"There is a long way to go but it’s doable," says Claudia Kemfert, an energy economist at the German Economist Institute in Berlin, who called the green sector "a growth machine for the German economy for the next decades."

Encouraging, she said, is that all parties in Germany now agree on the need to get out of nuclear. From "a historical perspective, that’s a completely new situation," says Kemfert.

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Storms blast southern Michigan, leave many without power

(CNN) -- Severe storms pounded south-central Michigan Sunday, knocking out power to more than 100,000 customers and cutting a path of destruction through the city of Battle Creek, officials said.

"The storms hit our business corridor and residential area the hardest," said Mike McKenzie, Battle Creek's emergency services director. "There are numerous trees on houses and cars, widespread power outages and a lot of businesses damaged."

The severe weather hit Battle Creek late Sunday afternoon, kicking up winds in excess of 80 mph, according to McKenzie, who said no major injuries had been reported.

In Calhoun County, where Battle Creek is located, some 29,000 customers of Consumers Power were without electricity late Sunday, company spokesman Jay Jacobs said. Throughout the states, 104,000 customers of the utility were without power.

Severe weather also raked the Chicago area, forcing the cancellation of 450 flights, according to a media official at O'Hare International Airport.

CNN's Rick Martin and Greg Morrison contributed to this report

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Power outage delays flights in Minneapolis-St. Paul

Concourses used by Delta affected since 8 a.m. CDTThe problem is now isolated to one concourseJet bridges can't be used

(CNN) -- Delta Airlines had to cancel 250 flights on Saturday due to the power outage at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, a company spokeswoman said.

Betsy Talton of Delta Airlines said the airline is working to rebook passengers as soon as possible.

Airport Public Affairs Manager Melissa Scovronski said the outage, which began at 8 a.m. CDT, impacted concourses A, B, C and D in Terminal 1, occupied by Delta Air Lines.

By Saturday night, power was restored to concourses A, C and D, and the problem was isolated to 16 gates in concourse B, according to Scovronski.

Scovronski said some flights may still be affected by the outage Sunday morning and urged Delta passengers to contact the airline before arriving at the airport.

The cause of the outage has not been pinpointed yet.

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Gaddafi's fall from power inevitable, Obama says (Reuters)

WASHINGTON/TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Only Muammar Gaddafi's exit from power will allow Libya a democratic transition and the clock is ticking on his four-decade rule, U.S. President Barack Obama said.

NATO said on Friday it had sunk eight of Gaddafi's warships as military and diplomatic pressure builds on the Libyan leader, whose departure Obama described as "inevitable."

Obama was speaking in an address on the Middle East and North Africa where uprisings this year have toppled authoritarian rulers in Tunisia and Egypt and inspired the Libyan revolt.

"Time is working against Gaddafi. He does not have control over his country. The opposition has organized a legitimate and credible Interim Council," Obama said in Washington on Thursday.

"When Gaddafi inevitably leaves or is forced from power, decades of provocation will come to an end and the transition to a democratic Libya can proceed," he said, defending his decision to take military action against the Libyan leader's government.

Three months into the unrest, rebels control eastern Libya and pockets in the west but the conflict has reached a stalemate as rebel attempts to advance on Tripoli have stalled.

Obama's comments echoed NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen who said military and political pressure was weakening Gaddafi and would eventually topple him.

"Obama is still delusional," Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said. "He believes the lies that his own government and media spread around the world...It's not Obama who decides whether Muammar Gaddafi leaves Libya or not. It's the Libyan people."

Tripoli however reiterated a ceasefire offer, saying forces were ready to withdraw from cities if the rebels laid down arms. But the rebels have rejected all advances so far, saying they cannot trust Gaddafi and insisting on his departure.

A series of apparent high-level defections suggest Gaddafi is struggling to hold his inner circle together. Libya's top oil official Shokri Ghanem has left and not been heard from for days although his name has appeared on a list on a flight to Vienna.

Tripoli says he is on an official visit to Europe but Tunisian and rebel sources say he has defected.

Senegal late on Thursday recognized Libya's Benghazi-based rebels as the legitimate opposition and said they should be given international support to lead transition to democratic elections.

VESSELS HIT

Acting under a U.N. mandate, NATO allies including France, Britain and the United States are conducting air strikes that aim to stop Gaddafi using military force against civilians.

NATO aircraft sank eight warships in overnight attacks on the ports of Tripoli, Al Khums and Sirte, the alliance said.

Libyan officials took journalists to Tripoli port where a small ship spewed smoke and flames, and cast doubt on whether boats targeted by NATO had been involved in fighting.

Mohammad Ahmad Rashed, general manager of Tripoli's port, said six boats had been hit by missiles.

The boats, five belonging to the coastguard and a larger naval vessel, had been undergoing maintenance since before the start of the fighting, he told reporters, adding that the port was still functional and capable of handling commercial traffic,

NATO bombs struck Tripoli, Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte and Zlitan east of the capital, state TV said late on Thursday.

It also showed footage of Gaddafi meeting a Libyan politician in Tripoli. Government spokesman Ibrahim said the politician had been in a delegation that met Russian officials in Moscow to explore possibilities for a ceasefire.

The footage zoomed in on a TV screen in the room that showed Thursday's date displayed in the corner.

Gaddafi was last seen on May 11 when state TV showed him meeting tribal leaders in Tripoli. NATO bombed his compound the next day, and a day later TV broadcast an audio clip in which he taunted NATO and said the alliance could not kill him.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Brussels; David Lewis in Dakar, Isabel Coles in Cairo, Souhail Karam in Rabat, Writing by Sylvia Westall)

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Source: Yemen al Qaeda seeking power

U.S. official: "They are using the death of bin Laden ... to bolster their own image"It is not clear how much loyalty the group might have to al Qaeda's "caretaker" leaderSaif al-Adel is al Qaeda's interim head, says a source with knowledge of the group

Washington (CNN) -- The Yemeni wing of al Qaeda is trying to position itself for greater power and influence, a sign of an evolving power struggle in the militant group since the killing of Osama bin Laden, a U.S. official told CNN Wednesday.

"They are using the death of bin Laden as a way to bolster their own image," the U.S. official told CNN. The source declined to be identified because of the sensitive intelligence information that has led to this assessment.

The move by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, comes as the core of al Qaeda named a "caretaker" leader to replace bin Laden. CNN contributor Peter Bergen reported that Saif al-Adel, who was once an Egyptian special forces officer, has been chosen by a council, according to a source with detailed knowledge of the group's inner workings.

But al Qaeda affiliates such as AQAP have yet to swear loyalty to al-Adel. The U.S. official said there are already indications AQAP is sending messages and issuing statements using bin Laden's death as a rallying cry to seek money, recruits and any resources it can get. AQAP is headquartered in Yemen.

"They are definitely trying to take advantage of the situation," the official said. "They are certainly trying to find a way to make lemonade out of lemon." The official noted that bin Laden was viewed as the 'inspiration" for AQAP attacks, and it is not certain how much loyalty the group might have to any new al Qaeda leader.

The United States has long felt that AQAP is a growing threat. One of its leaders, the American-born Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, has inspired attacks against the United States.

"They are clearly trying to improve their capabilities," as they were even before bin Laden's death, the official said. He noted the death of bin Laden, coming on the heels of the growing civil unrest in Yemen, gives the group the opportunity to both bolster its image and operate more freely.

"We have seen a steady progression of al Qaeda presence in Yemen and efforts by them to organize and become more efficient," the official said.

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Yemen opposition says power transition deal agreed (Reuters)

SANAA (Reuters) – Yemen's president and opposition agreed on Wednesday to sign a Gulf-brokered deal for a transition of power with slight modifications after intervention from U.S. and European diplomats, an opposition official said.

The deal, which the opposition said would be signed later on Wednesday, would ease entrenched President Ali Abdullah Saleh out of power within a month after a nearly 33-year rule in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state.

"After American, European and Gulf efforts, there was agreement by the president on the Gulf initiative after simple changes, and the signing will be today," opposition official Yahya Abu Usbua said.

Al Arabiya television quoted an adviser to the Yemeni president as confirming the signing would take place on Wednesday.

The United States and oil giant Saudi Arabia, both targets of foiled attacks from al Qaeda's Yemen wing, are keen to see an end to Yemen's political stalemate, fearing continued chaos could give the militant group more room to operate freely.

Abdullatif al-Zayani, the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, has been in capital Sanaa since Saturday trying to revive the GCC-brokered deal that Qatar, one of its six members, backed out of citing stalling and "lack of wisdom."

Saleh, a shrewd political survivor who has outlasted previous opponents' attempts to challenge his power, indicated in April he would sign the Gulf deal, but refused to put his name to it in the final hours.

He said at the time he would only sign in his capacity as ruling party leader, not as president.

The opposition, whose coalition includes Islamists and leftists, said that among the minor modifications in the deal were changes in who would sign and in what capacity for the opposition and for the government.

"The president will sign for the government in his capacity as president of the republic and as head of the ruling party," Abu Usbua said.

Protesters, frustrated that three months of street protests have failed to dislodge Saleh, want the 69-year-old leader out immediately and have said they will step up their campaign by marching on government buildings, a move that brought new bloodshed last week as security forces fired to stop them.

Protesters blocked the entrance of the red Sea port of Hudaida, Yemen's second largest port, blocking traffic from entering or leaving, protesters said. The cities of Ibb, Taiz and Hadramout were brought to a standstill as most workers complied with a strike aimed at pressuring Saleh to leave.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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Japan PM: must review oversight of nuclear power (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) – Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on Wednesday that Japan needs to fundamentally rethink how nuclear power is regulated but sidestepped the question of how big a role atomic energy would play in the country's future.

Japan is trying to contain a crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11 knocked out the plant's cooling systems, leading to radiation leaks.

"We need to fully consider what needs to be done to enhance the safety of nuclear power," Kan told a news conference.

Kan, under fire for his handling of the nuclear crisis, also said he would allow nuclear plants that are currently shut down for inspection to restart once they meet emergency safety standards.

(Reporting by Yoko Nishikawa, Shinichi Saoshiro, and Linda Sieg; Editing by Edmund Klamann and Joseph Radford)

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Save power with the help of a friendly UFO (Yahoo! News)

We all know that we're supposed to fully power off our devices to save energy, rather than simply putting them in standby or sleep mode, but power consumption can be a tricky thing to visualize. A new energy management tool called the UFO Power Center is designed to help with that, and uses your iPhone or iPad to give you a precise measurement of how much power your gadgets are utilizing.

The UFO provides 4 standard power outlets that can be used with whatever you desire. The unit then connects to your home's wifi network and syncs up with your iPhone or iPad running the free UFO Energy app. From your handheld device, you can monitor the power usage of each of the four outlets, allowing you to determine what is using the most power. You can also cut off power to an outlet at any time, and even set roles for each device, linking the power of one device to whether its "Master" device is powered up as well.

The power center even offers visual cues to let you know where your power consumption ranks, glowing a pleasant green when power usage is at a minimum, and beaming a bright red when you're really sucking up the power. The UFO Power Center carries a $99 price tag, but with the power it can help you save, it could pay for itself in short order.

Visible Energy via Electronic House

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Twitter feed lawsuit underscores power of a tweet (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO – When Adorian Deck was home sick from high school, he entertained himself like countless other teenagers have in recent years: He started a Twitter account.

Unlike other teenagers, Deck's account became a sensation. Deck, under the handle (at)OMGFacts, tweeted random bits of celebrity gossip and quirky trivia. In less than a year, he had attracted more than 300,000 followers.

Now Deck, 17, is suing a business partner who promised to take OMG Facts to the next level, but who the Northern California teen says deceived him into turning over the rights to his creation.

"It was kind of a slow process of realizing what exactly was going on," Deck said. "I was starting to lose more and more control."

A federal lawsuit over rights to a Twitter feed might sound like a case of bringing a grenade launcher to a squirrel hunt. But the court fight over OMG Facts reminds that the power of a tweet can extend well beyond 140 characters.

For both sides, the dispute is not so much over who can claim any of the more than 5,500 tweets to the (at)OMGFacts account as who owns the rights to the potentially lucrative OMG Facts brand.

Emerson Spartz, 24, the defendant in the case, declined to comment on the ownership issue directly because of the pending litigation. But he says OMG Facts would have nowhere near its current popularity without his efforts.

Spartz first caught the media's attention as the founder of mugglenet.com, one of the world's most popular Harry Potter fan sites, which he started when he was 12. He went on to start Spartz Inc., an Internet media company that oversees a network of sites aimed at a young audience.

Spartz says that since partnering with Deck in February 2010, Spartz Inc. built a popular OMG Facts website, developed a heavily subscribed YouTube channel and researched and wrote nearly every tweet on (at)OMGFacts.

"Mr. Deck has hardly lifted a finger throughout most of the growth of OMG Facts, but people have been telling him he's a genius for so long now that he's starting to believe it," Spartz said.

Deck disputes that he stopped tweeting. Undisputed is the ongoing surge in (at)OMGFacts' popularity.

Since Spartz got involved, (at)OMGFacts grew from fewer than 400,000 followers to nearly 1.9 million followers, making the feed the 126th most followed account out of more than 200 million Twitter users, according to Twitter statistics website twittercounter.com. The (at)OMGFacts feed ranks just below musician and would-be Haitian presidential candidate Wyclef Jean and just above actor Peter Facinelli, who appeared in the Twilight movies.

A large number of Twitter followers can feed not just egos but bank accounts. Top tweeters like Kim Kardashian (7.4 million followers) can command $10,000 per tweet to endorse a product.

Regulators have recognized a tweet's power. The Federal Trade Commission requires bloggers, including Twitter users, to disclose when they are being paid to endorse products.

Mixing tweets, money and the law can raise other complex issues. When rapper 50 Cent (4.5 million followers) in January posted praise of a penny stock in which he was an investor, shares of H & H Imports Inc. skyrocketed. The hot tip led to speculation that the Securities and Exchange Commission might investigate, though no such probe was ever confirmed.

In Chicago, a property management company filed a libel lawsuit against a tenant who complained on Twitter about a roof leak that led to mold in her apartment. A judge dismissed the suit last year.

Politics can further complicate Twitter clashes. Twitter's one-time practice of suggesting new users follow certain prominent tweeters drew the attention of California's campaign watchdog when several 2010 Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls appeared on the list but no Republicans. Twitter put an end to the feature.

Along with the potential of Twitter's outsize influence to lead to legal entanglements, the OMG Facts case highlights the tricky question of who can claim to own a tweet.

Because tweets are so short, it can be hard to compose them in a way that earns them full copyright protection, said Eric Goldman, a professor of Internet and intellectual property law at Santa Clara Law School.

"Copyright protects the ways in which we express ourselves," Goldman said. "It doesn't protect the underlying facts or ideas we are expressing."

What's more, Twitter by its very nature, which includes a button to "retweet" or repost another user's tweet to your own feed, may imply a right to reuse someone else's material.

The law gets murkier when talking about a collection of tweets, or the brand identity itself, as in the case of the OMG Facts lawsuit.

Deck's complaint contends that the contract he signed with Spartz was predatory and designed to dupe the teen into turning over his rights to the OMG Facts trademark without realizing what he was doing. Deck's attorney, Glenn Peterson of Roseville, argues that the intellectual property issues are moot in any case because California law allows individuals to disavow any contracts signed when they were minors.

Spartz counters that Deck's mother co-signed the contract as his legal guardian, and that Deck is simply hoping to exploit Spartz Inc.'s hard work for a quick gain.

"Among other things, this agreement was designed to protect against Mr. Deck walking away with what we created, which is exactly what he's trying to do," Spartz said.

Perhaps the only clear fact is that the law is still racing to evolve at the blistering pace of social media.

"We've had 600 years to develop the rules on books," Goldman said. "We've had less than five years to develop how those rules apply to tweets."

___

Online:

(at)OMGFacts: http://twitter.com/omgfacts

OMG Facts website: http://www.omg-facts.com

___

Follow Marcus Wohlsen on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MarcusWohlsen

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New president takes power in struggling Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Charismatic pop star-turned-president Michel Martelly took over Haiti on Saturday, promising to rebuild its earthquake-devastated capital, develop the long-neglected countryside and build a modern army.

Haiti's new President Michel Martelly stands with his wife Sophia and their children as the Haitian national anthem is played in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Saturday.

The 50-year-old performer known to Haitians as "Sweet Micky" was swept to power in a March 20 presidential runoff by Haitians tired of past leaders who failed to provide even basic services, such as decent roads, water and electricity in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.

Martelly was sworn in during a power outage in front of dozens of dignitaries including former U.S. president Bill Clinton, the U.N.'s special envoy to Haiti, and Edmond Mulet, head of the U.N. mission that has maintained order in Haiti since 2004. Also present was Desi Bouterse, the president of Suriname who is on trial for the 1982 executions of 15 political opponents.

Former Haiti President Rene Preval took off the presidential sash and put it on Martelly as they shook hands and embraced, but did not say anything to each other. Martelly's wife, Sophia, then came on stage and adjusted the sash as their four children joined them.

Martelly did not speak as he left Parliament for the National Palace, where was to deliver a speech.

Outside the gated Parliament, more than 1,000 Martelly supporters gathered.

"Today is a party for us, for the masses, because the country is destroyed," said Esaue Rene, a 28-year-old mechanic who has high hopes for Martelly. "I would like him to bring jobs so that people aren't sitting around in public plazas because they don't have anything else to do."

Martelly appealed to young voters like Rene because he is the antithesis of Preval, who is seen as aloof and uninspiring. Martelly is effusive and charming. He once joked that he'd dance naked atop the National Palace if he were elected president.

But the challenges Martelly faces in fulfilling his ambitious promises were clear Saturday. He was sworn in front of the country's collapsed National Palace and a shantytown filled with thousands of people displaced by last year's magnitude-7.0 earthquake that killed an estimated 230,000 people.

During his campaign, he promised to build houses in the capital; bring economic development to the countryside; provide universal education for children; develop agriculture; and replace the discredited armed forces with a modern army capable of responding to natural disasters. The previous discredited army was disbanded by ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1995.

Political observers say speeding up the multibillion-dollar reconstruction effort is paramount. That means Martelly's administration must make progress building houses for the more than 600,000 people still living in settlements; stem a cholera epidemic that threatens to spread during the rainy and hurricane seasons; and strengthen the judiciary. And a parliament controlled by political opponents from Preval's party could make passing bills difficult.

He must he do all this quickly.

"His administration will have to show progress fairly quickly in order to provide confidence to the population," said Mark Schneider, senior vice president of the International Crisis Group in Washington, D.C.

Martelly will lead a country still divided over the presidential election itself. He was initially excluded from the runoff in favor of a candidate backed by Preval, only to be restored after the international community challenged the results.

One sign of the division: Martelly's opponents have recently alleged that he holds dual Haitian-U.S. citizenship, which would disqualify him for the presidency. He denies the allegation.

In what some view as a reconciliation effort, Martelly has invited to the inauguration both Aristide and Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, the former dictator who made a surprise return to Haiti in January. Neither of them attended the swearing-in ceremony.

Since Duvalier came back, the ex-despot has been charged with embezzlement and human rights abuses, and advocacy groups have criticized Martelly for inviting him.

"Martelly's facing the need to knit together a polarized country," Schneider said. "Haiti just went through an election which was riven by discord, disagreement, and unhappiness. And given the makeup of the parliament, he has the major task of forging a national government."

In the weeks since Haitian authorities declared him the winner, Martelly has toured the countryside to learn more about reconstruction projects, announced ways to finance free education, and formed a transition team, led by Duvalier's former social affairs minister, Daniel Supplice.

Martelly was well-known as an entertainer. But what kind of leader he makes, many in Haiti aren't sure.

"He's unpredictable," said Patrick Elie, a defense minister under Aristide and an adviser to Preval. "He's got teeth that can both smile and bite. He's shown that."

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Japan won't abandon nuclear power

(AP) TOKYO (AP) —Japan will maintain atomic power as a major part of its energy policy despite the country's ongoing nuclear crisis at tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant, a top official said Sunday.

Residents watch Japanese Self-Defense Force soldiers take part in clean-up operations in the devastated town of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture on Sunday.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku also said the government has no plans to shut down any more functioning nuclear reactors other than three at the Hamaoka power plant in central Japan. The plant was asked Friday to halt the units until a seawall is built and backup systems are improved at Hamaoka.

"Our energy policy is to stick to nuclear power," Sengoku said on a weekly talk show on public broadcaster NHK.

He said Hamaoka was an exception and that the government's closure request Friday did not mean a departure from its nuclear-reliant policy.

Chubu Electric Power Co., which runs the three Hamaoka reactors, postponed its decision Saturday on the government's shutdown request.

The main concern is that shutting down the reactors would likely worsen power shortages expected this summer.

Nuclear energy provides more than one-third of Japan's electricity. Since the March 11 disasters, buildings have reduced lighting, stores have trimmed service hours and subway operators have shut air conditioning to join a nationwide conservation effort.

The government has been reviewing the safety of the country's 54 atomic reactors since a March 11 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in the north. The disaster left more than 25,000 people dead or missing on the northeast coast and triggered the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.

The Hamaoka plant, which is about 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of Tokyo, in an area where a major quake is expected within decades, has been a major concern for years.

However, Sengoku said there is "no need to worry" about other plants in the country. "Scientifically, that's our conclusion at the moment," he said.

Chubu Electric executives failed to reach a decision Saturday over the shutdown request and will meet again after the weekend, company official Mikio Inomata said.

At issue is how to make up for the power shortages that would result from the shutdown of the three reactors. Inomata said they account for more than 10 percent of the company's power supply.

Chubu Electric has estimated maximum output of about 30 million kilowatts this summer with the three Hamaoka reactors running, with estimated demand of about 26 million kilowatts.

"It would be tight," Inomata said, adding that officials are discussing the possibility of boosting output from gas, oil and coal-fueled power plants and purchasing power from other utility companies.

The Hamaoka plant is a key power provider in central Japan, including nearby Aichi, home of Toyota Motor Corp.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Friday that the closure request was for the "people's safety."

He noted that experts estimate there is a 90 percent chance that a quake with a magnitude of 8.0 or higher will strike the region within 30 years.

"That makes Hamaoka an exceptional case," Kan told reporters Sunday, saying the plant is the only one subject to closure for a tsunami resistance upgrade. Kan also urged Chubu executives "to understand."

Residents of Shizuoka prefecture, where Hamaoka is located, have long demanded a shutdown of the plant's reactors. About 79,800 people live within a 6-mile (10-kilometer) radius of the complex.

Since the March 11 disasters, Chubu Electric has drawn up safety measures that include building a 40-foot-high (12-meter-high) seawall nearly a mile (1.5 kilometers) long over the next two to three years, company officials said. Chubu also promised to install additional emergency backup generators and other equipment and improve the water tightness of the reactor buildings.

The Hamaoka plant lacks a concrete sea barrier now. Sand hills between the ocean and the plant are about 32 to 50 feet (10 to 15 meters) high, deemed enough to defend against a tsunami around 26 feet (8 meters) high, officials said. The operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co., has said the tsunami that wrecked critical power and cooling systems there was at least 46 feet (14 meters) high.

On Sunday, the government approved TEPCO's plan to allow workers return to Fukushima Dai-ichi's No. 1 reactor building to install a new cooling system after leaving its main door open overnight for ventilation, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, spokesman for the Nuclear Industry and Safety Agency.

Radioactivity inside the building has fallen to levels deemed safe for people wearing protective suits to enter, Nishiyama said. Workers rapidly installed air filtering equipment in there Thursday — their first entry since shortly after the tsunami.

"We judge the environment has improved to one that allows people to enter and work," Nishiyama said.

TEPCO spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said some air may escape through the entrance but that radioactivity is low enough to cause no danger to health.

Workers will remove air-filtering ducts and machines, leaving holes on the wall unplugged and the main door open for eight hours until early Monday, when air monitoring staff are sent in for a final check.

———

Mari Yamaguchi can be reached at http://twitter.com/mariyamaguchi

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Yemeni power transfer deal in limbo

NEW: President Saleh's party "has no problem signing" the deal, a party official saysNEW: The head of the Gulf Cooperation Council will return to Sanaa within 72 hoursHe'd abruptly cut short a meeting Saturday, after Saleh made last-minute demandsAn opposition official says it won't send figures to Riyadh and says Saleh is insincere

(CNN) -- A key outside broker will return to Yemen this week hoping to salvage the power transfer deal that aims to end months of turmoil in the Middle Eastern nation, a senior ruling party official said Sunday.

Members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a regional coalition that helped broker the pact, will work this week on a solution to the crisis, according to the official. This includes a trip to Sanaa by the group's Secretary-General Abdullatif Al-Zayani He had abruptly left a meeting with President Ali Abdullah Saleh Saturday and appeared angry as he passed reporters on his way to his plane, according to a senior official in Saleh's General People's Congress party.

"Al-Zayani will be back in Yemen in the next 72 hours in an effort to end the crisis and convince both sides to sign the GCC proposal," the party official said.

Al-Zayani cut short this visit after Saleh made last-minute demands to move the pact's signing from Riyadh to Sanaa and his insistence that he'd sign it in his capacity as a leader of the ruling party and not as president.

Sunday was supposed to be a pivotal day in the process, with Saleh and opposition leaders once scheduled to go to Saudi Arabia to sign the initiative that they'd agreed to in principle at a meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council member state foreign ministers. State media in the United Arab Emirates reported that Foreign Minister H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan arrived in Riyadh on Sunday to head that meeting -- though he wasn't joined by key Yemeni figures most central to the deal.

The agreement stipulates that Saleh transfer power and leave office within 30 days of signing it. It also provides immunity for him and those who served in his regime and calls for a unity government to be formed within seven days.

But, in his meeting with Al-Zayani on Saturday, Saleh said a representative from his party and not he personally would go to Riyadh. A ruling party official explained that the president feared that a coup might take place, should he leave the nation.

That prompted leaders of the Joint Meeting Parties, the country's largest opposition bloc, to refuse to fly north themselves -- be it to sign any potential deal or even take part in the briefing by foreign ministers from around the region.

"Since President Saleh is not willing to sign the GCC proposal, there is no reason for the (opposition) to travel to Riyadh. We were going to sign and nothing else," said the opposition official, who is not authorized to speak to the media.

The official added, "The opposition will not travel until we get confirmation from the GCC that Saleh will sign, and has agreed to all the points of the proposal."

But later Sunday, the General People's Congress official insisted Saleh and his party remain committed to the agreement.

"The ruling party has no problem signing the GCC proposal, and President Saleh has welcomed it more than once," said this official.

And according to Saba, Yemen's state-run news agency, Saleh himself signalled he wanted the agreement carried out "as a whole" in a conversation with United Arab Emirates President Khalifa Bin Zayad al Nahyan.

A senior opposition official on Sunday accused Saleh of trying to torpedo the accord, particularly with his insistence he sign any agreement as a party but not government official.

"He has claimed to be Yemen's president for 33 years," said Sultan Atwani, a senior Joint Meeting Parties official. "And now he wants to deny that fact and be recognized as the head of the ruling GPC party."

The uncertainty over how and when the deal can be revived comes as massive countrywide protests that began in February continue to shake the impoverished and politically unstable nation.

Hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters poured out into the streets of at least 13 of the country's provinces on Saturday, all demanding that Saleh step down immediately.

CNN's Jennifer Fenton contributed to this report.

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Snooki taught Sen. McCain the power of Twitter

SenJohnMcCain -- that Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak needed to step down. The tweet went out to 1.7 million followers, which translated to more eyeballs on his position in less time it would have taken to send out a news release. All this in the midst of fast-moving developments in Egypt.

On another issue dear to McCain, the senator said he believes social media have "lessened" the power of money in politics.

Thanks to our Gannett colleague Chuck Raasch, who was at the breakfast and sent us McCain's quotes.

See photos of: John McCainTags:John McCainHosni MubarakSnooki .div-wrapper

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Storms, power outages roll through South

A tornado hit a Kentucky manufacturing plant on Monday. STORY HIGHLIGHTSSevere weather forces Tennessee school officials to hold students at day's end147,000 are without power in GeorgiaThe dire weather will continue through early Tuesday morningRELATED TOPICSTornadoesNational Weather ServiceGeorgia Power Company (CNN) -- Severe storms pummeled much of the South late Monday, with high winds downing power lines and plunging thousands of households in the dark in several states.

The National Weather Service issued tornado watches from the Gulf Coast to the Carolinas.

It said it received nearly 600 reports of severe winds across the southeast on Monday, 19 instances of suspected tornado-related damage and 72 reports of hail.

Reports of funnel clouds poured into the weather service's office from Sumner County, Tennessee, where the severe weather forced school officials to hold students at the end of the school day, reported CNN affiliate WZTV.

"It got so bad, I grabbed my son (and) got him in the closet," resident Chuck Carter told the station. "We always go to the closet when we think there is a tornado in the area."

In southern Kentucky, line of uprooted trees dotted damaged roads. No injuries were reported, however.

Melvin Pendley wondered how to repair his home, which had its roof blown off.

"The ceilings are collapsed in the bedroom and half the living room," he told CNN affiliate WBKO. "Half of the inside is still OK right now. With all this rain, we don't know what's going to happen now."

In Georgia, the storms knocked out power to 147,000 customers out statewide, Georgia Power said early Tuesday morning.

The dire weather will continue through Tuesday morning, with a moderate risk of severe thunderstorms across parts of eastern Tennessee, northwestern Georgia, central Alabama and southeastern Mississippi, the weather service said.

It also forecast a slight risk of severe thunderstorms across parts of the Lower Mississippi Valley, southern Appalachians, eastern Gulf Coast states and as far north as the mid-Atlantic states.

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Lawmakers Look for Foothold in Libya Debate Using Power of Purse

AP

Sen. Rand Paul speaks to a crowd in a Kentucky Senate committee room in Frankfort, Ky., on Feb. 22.

Congressional lawmakers, after watching from afar as the Obama administration sent U.S. forces into Libya, have started to weigh in with legislation aimed at exercising some control over the direction -- or at least the funding -- of the mission. 

After returning from recess, lawmakers are looking at drafting a proposal that would put Congress on record for or against U.S. military involvement. Those writing it want Congress to authorize the involvement, but they acknowledge such a debate would open the door for opponents who think President Obama overstepped his bounds and want to rein him in. 

So far, those skeptics have targeted the funding for the military operation. Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirmed Thursday that the mission had run up a $550 million bill as of Monday, and would continue to cost about $40 million a month, now that NATO has taken the lead. 

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, delivering a lengthy speech Thursday on the House floor, said he wants to offer an amendment to ban funding for the Libya campaign outright. 

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., just introduced a bill aimed at ensuring the Libya operation does not add to the deficit -- at a time when lawmakers are wrangling over how much to cut from the rest of the 2011 budget and try to slow the pace at which the country adds to its $14 trillion debt. 

The Bartlett proposal would require the president to provide Congress with a list of proposed cuts from the discretionary, non-military section of the budget to cover the military's expenses in Libya. 

The role of Congress is still unclear. Obama administration officials claim they don't need Congress' permission to launch what they describe as kinetic military activity. But critics, who want to know how the Libya action is different from war, have demanded a vote, and supporters of the president's actions have started to work on a resolution, to be on the safe side. 

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Thursday he is working with Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass, GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., to make sure any resolution they develop contains "language that can receive an overwhelming vote in the Senate. It would not be a good signal, otherwise." 

The group, which is working with the administration, has "not yet decided" whether the resolution will be a symbolic measure, known as a "sense of the Senate" resolution, or something binding. 

An aide to McCain said the group wants to introduce something "sooner rather than later," as there is a growing concern that some senators could introduce a resolution to force an end to the current mission in the north African nation. 

One of those skeptical senators, Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky, on Wednesday introduced a nonbinding resolution that states the president "does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation." 

Paul said earlier that the president's decision stood as a "very serious breach of our Constitution." 

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., acknowledged Tuesday that launching a debate on a resolution authorizing military force after the fact could open the door for opponents to rally against the resolution. But lawmakers are acting out of concern for the provisions of the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which states Congress, even after the fact, must formally declare war or authorize the use of force within 60 days. It provides flexibility in certain circumstances. 

Kerry said Thursday he's not sure if Congress needs to pass the resolution but said lawmakers are beginning to draft one. 

Meanwhile, Gates made clear Thursday that the Defense Department cannot afford to pay for the operation on its own and would likely need to request a supplement budget to fund the operation. 

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed concern Thursday that the conflict could inflame the deficit. 

"We find ourselves in a situation where Congress is debating cuts in domestic programs to make essential progress on the deficit, even as President Obama has initiated an expensive, open-ended military commitment in a country that his defense secretary says is not a vital interest," Lugar said in a statement.

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