WASHINGTON (AP) --The U.S. and some of its alliesare considering plans toincrease anti-piracy operationsalong Africa's west coast,spurred on by concerns thatmoney from the attacks is fund-ing a Nigerian-based insurgentgroup that is linked to one of al-Qaida's most dangerous affili-ates.

Piracy in the Gulf ofGuinea has escalated over thepast year, and senior U.S.defense and counter-piracy offi-cials say allied leaders areweighing whether beefed upenforcement efforts that workedagainst pirates off the Somaliacoast might also be needed inthe waters off Nigeria.

There has been growing coordination betweenNigeria-based Boko Haram and al-Qaida in the IslamicMaghreb (AQIM), which was linked to the attack on theU.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, lastSeptember that killed four Americans, including theambassador. Military leaders say AQIM has become thewealthiest al-Qaida offshoot and an increasing terroristthreat to the region.

It has long been difficult to track whether there are ter-rorist ties to piracy in the waters off Africa. But officials areworried that even if Boko Haram insurgents aren't directlyinvolved in the attacks off Nigeria and Cameroon, theymay be reaping some of the profits and using the moneyfor ongoing terrorist training or weapons.

No final decisions have been made on how counter-piracy operations could be increased in that region, andbudget restrictions could hamper that effort, said the offi-cials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because theywere not authorized to talk about emerging discussionsbetween senior U.S. military commanders and other inter-national leaders.

Circulated Weekly In Florida Volume 002 Issue 13 Established 2012 March 25, 2013

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But officials say the solutioncould include continued work andcounter-piracy training with Africannations. The U.S. participated lastmonth in a maritime exercise withEuropean and African partners inthe Gulf of Guinea.

"Maritime partnerships andmaritime security and safety areincreasingly important in the Gulf ofGuinea region to combat a varietyof challenges including maritimecrime, illicit trafficking and piracy,"said Gen. Carter Ham, head of U.S.Africa Command.

In recent weeks, Ham andother U.S. military commandershave bluntly warned Congress that

the terrorist threat from northern Africa has become farmore worrisome.

"If the threat that is present in Africa is left unad-dressed, it will over time grow to an increasingly danger-ous and imminent threat to U.S. interests, and certainlycould develop into a threat that threatens us in otherplaces," Ham told Congress earlier this month. "We'vealready seen from some places in Africa, individuals that -from Nigeria, for example - attempt to enter our countrywith explosives."

Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea has escalated from low-level armed robberies to hijackings and cargo thefts andkidnappings. Last year, London-based Lloyd's MarketAssociation - an umbrella group of insurers - listed oil-richNigeria, neighboring Benin and nearby waters in thesame risk category as Somalia.

Pirates have been more willing to use violence in theirrobberies, at times targeting the crew for ransom. Andexperts suggest that many of the pirates come fromNigeria, where corrupt law enforcement allows criminalityto thrive and there's a bustling black market for stolen

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A crew of U.S. sailors and Nigerian special forcesfighters prepares to board the NNS Burutu for atraining exercise off the Nigerian coast. The U.S.Navy offered training to the Nigerian navy as worriesmount of increasingly violent pirate attacks along theWest African coast. The U.S. and some of its alliesare considering plans to increase anti-piracy opera-tions along Africa’s west coast, spurred on by con-cerns that money from the attacks is funding aNigerian-based insurgent group that is linked to oneof al-Qaida’s most dangerous affiliates

B R I T I S H T E E N A G EW H I Z STRIKES DEALW I T H Y A H O OLONDON (AP) -- Oneof Britain's youngestInternet entrepreneurshas hit the jackpot afterselling his top-sellingmobile applicationSummly to searchgiant Yahoo.

Seventeen-year-old Nick d'Aloisio, who dreamedup the idea for the content-shortening programwhen he was studying for his exams, said he wassurprised by the deal. As with its other recentacquisitions, Yahoo didn't disclose how much it ispaying for Summly, although British newspaperssuggested the deal's value at several million dol-lars.

"I would have never imagined being in this positionso suddenly," he wrote on his website, before

FREE

BANGKOK (AP) -- The multi-billion-dollar trade in illegalwildlife - clandestine traffickingthat has driven iconic crea-tures like the tiger to near-extinction - is also threateningthe survival of great apes, a

new U.N. report says.

Endangered chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas andbonobos are disappearing from the wild in frighteningnumbers, as private owners pay top dollar for exoticpets, while disreputable zoos, amusement parks andtraveling circuses clamor for smuggled primates toentertain audiences.

More than 22,000 great apes are estimated to havebeen traded illegally over a seven-year period ending in2011. That's about 3,000 a year; more than half arechimpanzees, the U.N. report said.

"These great apes make up an important part of our nat-ural heritage. But as with all things of value, great apesare used by man for commercial profit and the illegaltrafficking of the species constitutes a serious threat totheir existence," Henri Djombo, a government ministerfrom the Republic of Congo, was quoted as saying.

The U.N. report paints a dire picture of the fight to pro-tect vulnerable and dwindling flora and fauna fromorganized criminal networks that often have the upperhand.

Apes are hunted in their own habitats, which are con-centrated in central and western Africa, by sophisticatedsmugglers who transport them on private cargo planesusing small airstrips in the African bush. Their destina-tion is usually the Middle East and Asia.

In countries like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates andLebanon, great apes are purchased to display as showpieces in private gardens and menageries.

In Asia, the animals are typically destined for public zoosand amusement parks. China is a main destination forgorillas and chimpanzees. Thailand and Cambodia haverecorded cases of orangutans being used for entertain-ment in "clumsy boxing matches," the report said.

Lax enforcement and corruption make it easy to smug-gle the animals through African cities like Nairobi,

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F A L L S I N M A R C HWASHINGTON(AP) -- Americansare less confidentin the economythan they were lastmonth as massivegovernment spend-ing cuts havestoked economic

uncertainty.

It's just the latest swing in the way Americans feelabout the economy. Their views have fluctuatedbetween optimism and angst over the months asthey've weighed an advancing stock market andhousing recovery against new economic chal-lenges.

The Conference Board, a New York-based privateresearch group, said Tuesday that its ConsumerConfidence Index fell in March to 59.7 from arevised reading of 68 in February and the 68.7 thatanalysts polled by research firm FactSet expected.Confidence is still far off from the 90 reading thatindicates a healthy economy.

The index is closely watched by economistsbecause it makes a monthly gauge of howAmericans are feeling about their jobs, incomesand other bread-and-butter issues. That's importantbecause consumer spending accounts for 70 per-cent of U.S. economic activity.

Anxiety about $85 billion in across-the-board gov-ernment spending cuts that took effect March 1caused the decline in the index, the group said.The spending reductions, which were triggeredafter Congress and the White House failed toresolve a budget impasse, have "created uncertain-ty regarding the economic outlook," Lynn Franco,the Conference Board's director of economic indi-cators, said in a statement

Congress and the Obama administration reached adeal on Jan. 1 to prevent income taxes from risingon most Americans. But they allowed a temporarycut in Social Security taxes to expire. For a workerearning $50,000 a year, take-home pay will shrink

Continued on page 6Continued on page 7

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NICOSIA, Cyprus(AP) -- Cypriot busi-nesses were underincreasing strain tokeep running onTuesday after financialauthorities stretchedthe country's bank clo-sure into a secondweek amid fears thatdepositors will rush todrain their accounts.

All but two of thecountry's largestlenders had been due toreopen Tuesday, afterbeing shut since March16 while politiciansfigured out how toraise the funds neces-sary for Cyprus toqualify for an interna-tional bailout.

Under the deal for a 10 billion euro ($12.9 billion) res-cue clinched in Brussels early Monday, Cyprus agreed toslash its oversized banking sector and inflict hefty losseson large depositors in troubled banks.

After initially saying most financial institutions wouldreopen Tuesday, the country's central bank made a surprisereversal just before midnight, announcing all banks wouldremain closed until Thursday.

The announcement followed a broadcast by the coun-try's president, Nicos Anastasiades, who told Cypriots thatthe central bank would impose some limits on financialtransactions, but assured the public that restrictions wouldnot be permanent.

"It is a very temporary measure, which will graduallybe relaxed," Anastasiades said.

Under the new Cyprus bailout plan, the bulk of thefunds will be raised by forcing losses on accounts of morethan 100,000 euros ($129,000) in the country's second-largest lender, Laiki, with the remainder coming from taxincreases and privatizations.

The bank will be dissolved immediately into a so-called bad bank containing its uninsured deposits and toxicassets, with the guaranteed deposits being transferred tothe nation's biggest lender, Bank of Cyprus.

Deposits at Bank of Cyprus above 100,000 euros willbe frozen until it becomes clear whether or to what extentthey will also be forced to take losses. Those funds willeventually be converted into bank shares. It's not yet clearhow severe the losses will be to Laiki's large bank depositholders, but analysts have estimated investors might loseup to 40 percent of their money.

A top European Central Bank official, Benoit Coeure,who sits on the bank's six-member executive board, toldFrance's Europe 1 Tuesday that the plan to keep the banksclosed was sensible as "there is still a lot of work to do onthe ground".

"One bank must be shut, and the two big banks mustbe merged and to do that, the Cypriot central bank has con-sidered it better to keep the banks closed."

Nonetheless businesses have already been feeling the

brunt of the cashcrunch, unable to paysalaries and suppliersas Cypriots hasslashed spending tokeep as much moneyon them in light of allthe uncertainty sur-rounding the banks.

The banks' clo-sure has been felt inthe country's importantshipping industry,which contributesabout 5 percent or 800million euros ($1 bil-lion) to the economy.

Cyprus ranks 10thin the world in terms ofthe number if ocean-going vessels flying its

flag, and it in the top five of countries with the largest num-ber of ship management companies.

"This is destructive for us," said an official withCyprus-based shipping company EDT Offshore, whospoke on condition of anonymity because his company didnot authorize him to speak to the media.

"We have to pay our crews' salaries and that's$500,000, while we have to pay as much for our office staffby March 28 and we don't have access to our bankaccounts," the official said. "These are people who need topay their bills, have obligations to meet."

The official explained that authorities in the Greekport of Piraeus have prevented one of three EDT ships toleave until the company pays it port dues. That means theship can't fulfill its contract with clients, meaning possiblelosses for the company which has a fleet of 18 vessels.

Other businesses have also been hammered by thebank closures as they find themselves unable to pay sup-pliers or fulfill orders.

"Cash is definitely a problem," said Nicosia pharma-cist Lucy Santourian, counting out euro bills to a supplierwho had just brought in new supplies of baby formula andother products. "We normally pay 90 percent of our sup-pliers on credit, once a month at the end of the month. Nowmost are asking for cash only."

The retail market is sharply down too, shop ownerssay, with customers unwilling to spend on anything but thebasics while they have limited access to cash.

"The continuation of this uncertainty is pushing theeconomy deeper into recession, some businesses couldpossibly lose their clients, but we're hopeful once this situ-ation is sorted out, the market can rebound quickly," saidMichalis Pilikos, head of the Cyprus Employers andIndustrialists Federation.

Also Tuesday, the chairman of the board of Bank ofCyprus, Andreas Artemis, tendered his resignation, aspokesperson for the bank said.

The board of directors was to decide on whether toaccept the resignation later in the day, said the spokesper-son, speaking on condition of anonymity because a deci-sion had not yet been made.

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Cypriot students shout slogans near the presidential palace in capitalNicosia, on Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Banks across Cyprus remain firmlypadlocked Tuesday after financial authorities extended the country’s bankclosure, fearing worried depositors will rush to drain their accounts. Theshut-down is hammering businesses, which have been without access totheir funds for more than a week

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crude oil.

Typically, foreign companies operating in Nigeria'sNiger Delta pay cash ransoms to free their employeesafter negotiating down kidnappers' demands. Foreignhostages can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollarsapiece.

Lately, however, the attacks, which had traditionallyfocused on the Nigerian coast, have spread, hitting shipscarrying fuel from an Ivory Coast port. In January piratesmade off with about $5 million in cargo from a fuel-ladentanker near the port of Abidjan, and two weeks later aFrench-owned fuel tanker was hijacked in the same area.

Just days after that, three sailors were kidnapped offa U.K.-flagged ship off the coast of Nigeria, and late inFebruary six foreigners were taken off an energy compa-ny vessel in that same region.

The International Maritime Bureau has raised alarmsabout the Ivory Coast attacks, calling the first January inci-dent a "potential game changer" in piracy in the regionbecause was the farthest ever from Nigeria in the Gulf ofGuinea. And U.S. Navy Capt. Dave Rollo, who directedthe recent naval exercise in the Gulf of Guinea thatinvolved as many as 15 nations, said piracy in that area isnot just a regional crime issue, it's "a global problem."

Meanwhile, over the past year, piracy off Somalia'scoast has plummeted, as the U.S.-led enforcement effortbeefed up patrols and encouraged increased securitymeasures on ships transiting the region. After repeatedurgings from military commanders and other officials,

his country.

"I convey to you the greetings of the orphans, widows,the wounded, the detained and the homeless," al-Khatib told the gathering in an opulent hall in Doha.

He also defended the presence in Syria of foreignjihadis, saying the militants were there to help defend apeople under attack but adding that those more neededby their families in their own countries should leave.

"Is it the beards or the fact that they are foreigners?" heasked, referring to concern in the West and elsewherethat hard-line Islamic fighters are at the forefront of thebattle against the Syrian regime.

"Why is no one saying anything about the Iranian andRussian advisers and Hezbollah?" he asked, a refer-ence to opposition claims that the Syrian regime's mainallies are directly involved in the fighting.

Even as rebel fighters gain more territory on the groundin their fight against Assad's troops, their mostly exilepolitical leadership has been divided. Al-Khatibannounced his resignation on Sunday because of whathe described as restrictions on his work and frustrationwith the level of international aid for the opposition. Thecoalition rejected the resignation and al-Khatib said hewould discuss the issue later and represent the opposi-tion at the Qatar summit "in the name of the Syrian peo-ple."

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Khaled Saleh, a spokesman for the Syrian NationalCoalition, speaks during the opening session of the ArabLeague Summit in Doha, Qatar,

Also, Hitto's election as the head of the interim govern-ment was rejected by the opposition's military office,which said he was not a consensus figure. Some mem-bers have accused Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhoodof imposing their will on the Coalition.

In Damascus, the government on Tuesday blasted theArab League's move to allow the opposition to take itsseat at the Doha summit, portraying it as a selling-outof Arab identity to please Israel and the United States.

"The Arab League has blown up all its charters andpledges to preserve common Arab security, and theshameful decisions it has taken against the Syrian peo-ple since the beginning of the crisis and until now havesustained our conviction that it has exchanged its Arabidentity with a Zionist-American one," said an editorial inthe Al-Thawra newspaper, a government mouthpiece.

"The Syrians are fully aware that this is not a summit ofthe Arabs, and Arabism means nothing without Syria," itsaid, adding that recognizing the opposition "legitimizesterrorist acts that are committed overtly and blatantlyagainst the Syrians, their institutions and properties."

The government in Damascus says the conflict is aninternational conspiracy to weaken Syria being carriedout by terrorists on the ground.

Addressing the summit, Arab League chief NabilElaraby warned that the Syrian conflict would have"grave repercussions" on the whole region and blamedAssad's regime for the failure to end the strife.

A "political settlement of the Syrian crisis is the choicethat should be undertaken," he said.

The crisis began in March 2011 with protests demand-ing Assad's ouster. With a harsh government crack-down, the uprising steadily grew more violent until itbecame a full-fledged civil war. The United Nations esti-mates that more than 70,000 people have died so far inthe conflict.

The emir of Qatar, a tiny but super-rich nation that isassuming a growing regional role, proposed a "mini"Arab summit in Egypt to negotiate reconciliationbetween rival Palestinian factions, the Western-backedPresident Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement that con-trols the West Bank and the militant Hamas group,which rules the Gaza Strip.

He said the proposed summit would remain in sessionuntil an agreement is reached, including a timetable forthe creation of a transitional government to oversee leg-islative and presidential elections.

Sheik Hamad also proposed creating a $1 billion fundfor the defense of Jerusalem's Arab identity. Qatar, hesaid, would contribute $250 million and expects otherArab nations to come up with the rest.

"The Palestinian, Arab and Muslim rights in Jerusalemare not negotiable and Israel must realize this," he said.

The Qatari emir also called on fellow Arab nations tohelp Egypt overcome its economic difficulties.

"It the duty of all of us to offer support to the brotherlyArab Republic of Egypt under these circumstances," hesaid.

Qatar has been generous with Egypt to keep its econo-my afloat and the emir's call for others to help betrayedthe reluctance of other oil-rich nations to follow suit oroffer significant assistance.

However, when Egypt's Islamist president took the floorin the summit's evening session, he warned against for-eign meddling in his nation.

Mohammed Morsi said he would deal "firmly" and "deci-sively" with any foreign attempt to meddle in the affairsof his country, which has been mired in turmoil for mostof the two years since Hosni Mubarak's ouster.

"Anyone is tempted to do so will be decisively and firm-ly countered by us," Morsi said. "We don't accept any-one sticking his finger inside Egypt." But he didn't elab-orate.

Egypt is embroiled in a tug of war pitting Morsi and hisIslamist allies against a mostly secular and liberal oppo-sition. The crippling political impasse is compounded byeconomic woes and tenuous security.

shipping companies increased the use of armed guardsand took steps to better avoid and deter pirates.

According to data from the combined maritime force,nearly 50 ships were taken by pirates in 2010 in the Gulfof Aden and Somali Basin and there were another closeto 200 unsuccessful attempts. Last year, just seven shipswere pirated there along with 36 failed attacks.

Even as defense officials warn about the growingthreat, they acknowledge that increasing counter-piracyoperations around the Gulf of Guinea presents a numberof challenges.

In recent weeks, the U.S. Navy has had to postponeor cancel a number of ship deployments because ofbudget cuts, including a decision not to send the aircraftcarrier USS Harry S Truman to the Persian Gulf. The U.S.has maintained two carrier groups in the Gulf for much ofthe past two years, as tensions with Iran have escalated.

U.S. Africa Command has no ships of its own, so anyU.S. vessels needed for operations would have to comefrom other places, such as Europe or America.

And defense officials also note that it may be difficultto build as much international interest in the Gulf of Guineaattacks as those in the more heavily traveled shippinglanes on the northeastern side of the continent.

DOHA, Qatar (AP) -- Syrian opposition representativestook the country's seat for the first time at an ArabLeague summit that opened in Qatar on Tuesday, a sig-nificant diplomatic boost for the forces fighting PresidentBashar Assad's regime.

In a ceremonious entrance accompanied by applause,a delegation led by Mouaz al-Khatib, the former presi-dent of the main opposition alliance - the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition - took the seatsassigned for Syria at the invitation of Qatar's emir,Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Al-Khatib used the forum to call for a greater U.S. rolein aiding the rebels and said he had appealed toSecretary of State John Kerry to consider using NATOPatriot anti-missile batteries in Turkey to help defendnorthern Syria against strikes by Assad's forces.

The decision for the opposition to take Syria's seat wasmade at the recommendation of Arab foreign ministersearlier this week in the Qatari capital, Doha. The ArabLeague in 2011 suspended the Syrian government'smembership in the organization as punishment for theregime's crackdown on opponents.

The Qatari ruler, who chairs the summit, said the Syrianopposition deserves "this representation because of thepopular legitimacy they have won at home and thebroad support they won abroad and the historic rolethey have assumed in leading the revolution andpreparing for building the new Syria."

The diplomatic triumph and Qatar's praise, however,could not conceal the disarray within the top ranks ofthe Syrian opposition.

Besides al-Khatib, the Syrian delegation includedGhassan Hitto, recently elected prime minister of aplanned interim government to administer rebel-heldareas in Syria, and two prominent opposition figures,George Sabra and Suheir Atassi.

Addressing the gathering, al-Khatib thanked the ArabLeague for granting the seat to the opposition. "It is partof the restoration of legitimacy that the people of Syriahave long been robbed of," he said.

He lamented the inaction of several foreign govern-ments, which he did not name, toward the Syrian crisisand spoke emotionally of the suffering of the civilians in

P I R I T E SContinued from page 1

4 The Weekly News Digest, March 25, 2013 ___________________________________________________________

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F L O R I D A A C C I D E N T S T A T I S T I C S

by U.S. B-52 bombers during the recent military drills withSouth Korea.

The North's recent threats are seen partly as efforts tostrengthen internal loyalty to young leader Kim Jong Unand to build up his military credentials.

Kim "needs to show he has the guts. The best way to dothat is to use the military might that he commands," saidLee Yoon-gyu, a North Korea expert at Korea NationalDefense University in Seoul. "This paves the way forgreater praise for him if North Korea makes a provocationlater and claims victory."

Kim will eventually be compelled to do "somethingprovocative to prove the threats weren't empty," Lee said.

Meanwhile, websites and organizations run by NorthKorean defectors in South Korea said they suffered cyber-attacks on Tuesday, one week after computer systems atsome South Korean banks and TV networks were widelydisrupted.

Daily NK, which posts news about North Korea, said itexperienced a cyperattack, and South Korea's Yonhapnews agency said Free North Korea Radio also wasattacked.

Yonhap said a computer network used by seven local gov-ernments was also briefly attacked, as was a networkbelonging to broadcaster YTN.

Authorities have not confirmed who was behind lastweek's cyberattack but suspect North Korea.

At a ceremony marking the third anniversary of the war-ship sinking, new South Korean President Park Geun-hyeurged the North again to abandon its nuclear weaponsprogram. "Focusing its national strength on the develop-ment of nuclear weapons while its people are sufferingstarvation ... will only bring international isolation to them-selves," Park said in a televised speech at a nationalcemetery south of Seoul where the 46 sailors are buried.

6 The Weekly News Digest, March 25, 2013________________________________________________________

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea's militarywarned Tuesday that its artillery and rocket forces are attheir highest-level combat posture in the latest in a stringof bellicose threats aimed at South Korea and the UnitedStates.

The announcement came as South Koreans marked thethird anniversary of the sinking of a warship in which 46South Korean sailors died. Seoul says the ship was hit bya North Korean torpedo, while the North denies involve-ment.

Seoul's Defense Ministry said Tuesday it hasn't seen anysuspicious North Korean military activity and that officialsare analyzing the North's warning. Analysts say a directNorth Korean attack is extremely unlikely, especially dur-ing joint U.S.-South Korean military drills that end April 30,though there's some worry about a provocation after thetraining wraps up.

The rival Koreas have had several bloody naval skirmish-es in disputed Yellow Sea waters since 1999. InNovember 2010, a North Korean artillery strike on a SouthKorean island killed two marines and two civilians.

North Korea, angry over routine U.S.-South Korean drillsand recent U.N. sanctions punishing it for its Feb. 12nuclear test, has vowed to launch a nuclear strike againstthe United States and repeated its nearly two-decade-oldthreat to reduce Seoul to a "sea of fire." Despite the rheto-ric, outside weapons analysts have seen no proof thatNorth Korea has mastered the technology needed to builda warhead small enough to mount on a missile.

On Tuesday, the North Korean army's Supreme Commandsaid it will take "practical military action" to protect national

sovereignty and its leadership in response to what it calledU.S. and South Korean plots to attack.

The statement, carried by the North's official KoreanCentral News Agency, cited the participation of nuclear-capable B-52 bombers in South Korea-U.S. drills.

North Korea's field artillery forces - including strategicrocket and long-range artillery units that are "assigned tostrike bases of the U.S. imperialist aggressor troops in theU.S. mainland and on Hawaii and Guam and other opera-tional zones in the Pacific as well as all the enemy targetsin South Korea and its vicinity" - will be placed on "thehighest alert from this moment," the statement said.

Pentagon press secretary George Little said the threatwould only further isolate North Korea.

"North Korea's bellicose rhetoric and threats follow a well-worn pattern designed to raise tensions and intimidateothers," Little said. He said there have been three flights

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by about $1,000.

The Conference Board's survey was conductedfrom March 1 through March 14. The sharp declinein the March index was caused mainly by a drop inexpectations for the economy, though consumersalso were more pessimistic regarding current eco-nomic conditions, the group said. The number ofpeople anticipating more jobs in the months aheadfell to 12.3 percent from 16.1 percent, while thoseexpecting their incomes to increase slipped to 13.7percent from 15.8 percent.

Consumers also are again pessimistic about theshort-term outlook for the economy, the group said.The proportion of people expecting business condi-tions to improve over the next six months fell to14.4 percent from 18 percent a month earlier, whilethose expecting conditions to worsen rose to 18.3percent from 16.6 percent.

The index comes as Americans are seeing somesigns of an improving economy.

Stock prices have roughly doubled since June2009. And the job market, while still tough, isrebounding. Employers added 236,000 jobs inFebruary, driving the unemployment rate down to7.7 percent, its lowest level in more than fouryears. The gains signaled that companies are con-fident enough in the economy to intensify hiringeven in the face of tax increases and governmentspending cuts.

Americans spent more at retailers in Februarydespite the smaller paychecks, according to aCommerce Department report issued on March 13.Much of the increase in retail sales compared withJanuary reflected higher gasoline prices. But evenexcluding the volatile categories of gas, autos andbuilding supply stores, so-called core retail salesrose strongly.

The healthier-than-expected numbers promptedsome experts to revise their estimates of U.S. eco-nomic growth for the January-March quarter. Andthe Conference Board's measure of the U.S. econ-omy's health over the next six months, reported onThursday, increased in February from January.

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South Korean conservative activists burn cutout pictures of NorthKorean national founder the late Kim Il Sung, right, and lateleader Kim Jong Il during a rally to mark the third anniversary ofthe sinking of South Korean naval ship "Cheonan" which killed 46South Korean sailors, in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, March 26,2013. An explosion ripped apart the 1,200-ton warship, killing 46sailors near the maritime border with North Korea in 2010. A ban-ner reads: "Bomb at statue of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung."

WASHINGTON (AP) -- For months now, theUnited States has been training secular Syrianfighters in Jordan with the goal of bolsteringthe array of forces battling President BasharAssad's regime while at the same timestrengthening the hand of moderates amongthe country's fractured opposition, Americanand foreign officials said. They said the effortis ongoing.

The training has been taking place since latelast year at an unspecified location, concen-

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trating largely on Sunnis and tribal Bedouinswho formerly served as members of the Syrianarmy, officials told The Associated Press. Theforces aren't members of the leading rebelgroup, the Free Syrian Army, they said. TheU.S. and others fear the growing role ofextremist militia groups in the rebel ranks,including some linked to al-Qaida.

Officials said the operation is being run byU.S. intelligence. But those in Washingtonstressed that the U.S. was only providing non-lethal aid at this point, stopping short of a stepthat is being increasingly advocated by law-makers in Congress but which the Obamaadministration opposes.

Others such as Britain and France areinvolved, officials added, though it's unclearwhether any Western government is providingmateriel or other direct military support aftertwo years of civil war that, according to theUnited Nations, already has killed more than70,000 people.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymitybecause they weren't authorized to speak pub-licly about the program.

Officially, the Obama administration has beenvague on the subject of what type of militarytraining it may be providing, while insisting thatit is doing all it can - short of providingweapons to the rebels or engaging in its ownmilitary intervention - to hasten the demise ofthe Assad family's four-decade dictatorship.

US TRAINING SYRIAN MODERATES

I N J O R D A N : O F F I C I A L S

In this image taken from video obtained from the Ugarit News,which has been authenticated based on its contents and other APreporting, Free Syrian Army fighters aim their weapons duringclashes, in Damascus countryside, Syria on Monday, March 25,

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_____________________________________________________The Weekly News Digest, March 25, 2013 7

U S D A E X P A N D I N G P R O G R A M

T O F I G H T R U R A L P O V E R T Yfarm row crops such as soybeans and corn but, sev-eral years ago, learned of a USDA-funded programthat could help him build a well to irrigate more prof-itable specialty vegetable crops. Harris is bound by acontract with USDA to use the well for irrigation forthree years. After that, he can use the well as hesees fit.

Other small farmers from neighboring counties havecome to see his setup and get ideas for their ownprojects, Harris said.

"On an acre of land, through these programs youcould make more growing vegetables than you coulddoing row crops," he said.

In addition to increasing profits for farmers, specialtyvegetable gardens of the type Harris operates couldhelp reduce obesity rates in poor counties by increas-ing residents' access to better-quality healthy foods,Vilsack said.

In Sumter County, 74 percent of adults are consid-ered overweight or obese, compared to SouthCarolina's overall rate of 67.4 percent.

"The key to nutrition is access to foods that arehealthy and nutritionally dense," Vilsack said. If farm-ers grow more of their own fruits and vegetables, hesaid, "people don't have to rely on a conveniencestore that has a very limited set of offerings."

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- U.S. officials are expandinga program intended to reduce poverty and improvelife in rural areas through better access to federalfunding.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack was expected inSouth Carolina on Tuesday to announce the expan-sion of the so-called StrikeForce initiative, whichalready operates in 10 states. The program will nowalso be available in the Carolinas, the Dakotas,Alabama and Virginia.

The goal of StrikeForce is to help farmers, food pro-ducers and other businesses get access to money forprojects such as new wells, greenhouses, communitygardens, kitchen space, and summer meals for low-income school children. The money is often hard toaccess due to complicated grant applications,requirements for matching funds, and limited staffing.

"You just don't have the technical wherewithal, techni-cal assistance, in your city officials, council members,part-time mayors, even your city administrators, toknow what the federal programs are," Vilsack, a for-mer Iowa governor who is also an ex-mayor of asmall town in Iowa, told The Associated Press thisweek. "Oftentimes these programs have matchingrequirements. For small communities operating bythemselves, that is very difficult."

The USDA uses U.S. Census data to find areas with

poverty rates higher than 20 percent. The agencythen works with local officials and community-basedorganizations to publicize the program and reach outto potential applicants. Included in the secretary'sexpected stops Tuesday is Bamberg County, home toSouth Carolina's fourth-highest unemployment, at15.3 percent.

The money has already helped Larry Harris, who hasoperated a small farm in South Carolina's SumterCounty for about 15 years. Harris says he used to

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Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack speaks at Maine MedicalCenter, in this March, 14, 2013 file photo taken in Portland,Maine. Vilsack was expected in South Carolina on Tuesday toannounce the expansion of the so-called StrikeForce initiative, aprogram intended to reduce poverty and improve life in ruralareas, which already operates in 10 states. The program will nowalso be available in the Carolinas, the Dakotas, Alabama andVirginia.

S Y R I A N M O D E R AT E

White House spokesman Josh Earnest saidMonday the U.S. has "provided some logisticalnonlethal support that has also come in handyfor the Syrian rebels who are, again, fighting aregime that is not hesitating to use the militarymight of that regime against its own people.

"That is something we're going to continue towork to bring to an end," he told reporters.

It's unclear what effect the training has had inthe conflict. It has become a quagmire, withAssad's regime unable to snuff out the rebel-lion and Syria's opposition incapable thus farof delivering any serious blow to the rulinggovernment's grip on Damascus and controlover much of the country.

Some of the Syrians the U.S. is involved withare in turn training other Syrians inside thecountry, officials said.

They declined to provide more informationbecause they said that would go too deep intointelligence matters. Defense Department offi-cials insisted the Pentagon isn't involved withany military training or arms provisions to theSyrian rebels, either directly or indirectly. TheCIA declined to comment.

The New York Times reported Monday that theCIA helped Arab governments and Turkeysharply increase their military aid to Syria'sopposition in recent months, with secret airliftsof arms and equipment. It cited traffic data,officials in several countries and rebel com-manders, and said the airlift began on a smallscale a year ago but has expanded steadily to

more than 160 military cargo flights byJordanian, Saudi and Qatari planes landing atTurkish and Jordanian airports.

The training in Jordan, however, suggests theU.S. help is aimed somewhat at enhancing therebels' capacity in southern Syria, the birth-place of the revolution two years ago whenteenagers in the sleepy agricultural outpost ofDara'a scribbled graffiti on a wall and weretossed into jail, spurring Syria's own version ofan Arab Spring uprising. Much of the violencesince, however, has been in the northern partof the country, where rebels have scored sev-eral military successes after the Assad regimecracked down brutally on peaceful protesters.

Despite months of U.S. and international sup-port to build a cohesive political movement,Syria's fractured opposition is still struggling torally Syrians behind a common post-Assadvision. And the opposition coalition appears asmuch hampered by its political infighting as itsmilitary deficiencies against an Assad regimearsenal of tanks, fighter jets and Scud mis-siles.

The coalition's president, Mouaz al-Khatib,resigned his position Sunday because of whathe described as restrictions on his work andfrustration with the level of international aid.He said Monday he would still represent theopposition this week in Doha, where the Gulfstate of Qatar will host a two-day Arab Leaguesummit starting Tuesday.

Al-Khatib's resignation comes only days afterthe opposition chose Ghassan Hitto, a long-time Texas resident, to head its interim govern-ment after intense wrangling over posts andinfluence that U.S. officials say has strainedthe opposition's unity and caused frictionamong its primary benefactors Saudi Arabia,Qatar and Turkey.

It's also unclear how al-Khatib's departure willaffect the U.S. goal of political negotiationswith amenable members of the Assad regimeto end the civil war, given the moderatepreacher's support for talks. Much of theSyrian opposition, including Hitto, rejects suchtalks.

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The renovations on the papalapartment are finished, but Pope Francis has decided tostay put in the Vatican hotel for the time being.

The Vatican said Francis, who has long shunned fancydigs, told staff and guests of the Domus Sanctae Martaeon Tuesday that he had no plans to move out any timesoon. The occasion was the 7 a.m. Mass that Francishas celebrated each morning in the hotel chapel sincehis election March 13.

Francis has invited groups of guests to the daily Mass,including Vatican gardeners, street-sweepers, hotel work-ers and staff of the Vatican newspaper L'OsservatoreRomano.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi says it'snot clear how long the "experiment" of hotel living willlast but that Francis has at least moved into the papalsuite.

P O P E ' S H O U S E

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- A privately owned

cargo ship left the International Space Station with a full

science load Tuesday and aimed for a splashdown in the

Pacific.

Astronauts released the unmanned SpaceX capsule,

named Dragon, from the end of the space station's giant

robot arm. The parting occurred 250 miles over the

South Pacific and was a poignant moment for the three

space station residents, who had helped to snare the

Dragon three weeks earlier.

"Sad to see the Dragon go," astronaut Thomas

Marshburn told Mission Control. "Performed her job

beautifully. Heading back to her lair. Wish her all the best

for the splashdown today."

The Dragon was due to splash down off the Baja

California coast 5 1/2 hours after its space station depar-

ture. It will be transported by ship to Los Angeles and

then by truck to the SpaceX company's plant in

McGregor, Texas.

Within hours, NASA will retrieve the science samples

meticulously collected over the weeks and months by

space station astronauts, as well as experiments that

flew up with Dragon, such as flowering weeds and

mouse stem cells. Old space station equipment and

other items will be removed by SpaceX in McGregor. In

all, more than 1 ton of gear was loaded into the capsule.

Dragon's return to Earth was delayed one day by bad

weather in the splashdown zone.

The California-based SpaceX company launched the

Dragon from Cape Canaveral, Fla., at the beginning of

March. Mechanical trouble caused a one-day postpone-

ment in Dragon's arrival at the space station. SpaceX

flight controllers at company headquarters in Hawthorne,

Calif., managed to fix the problem within hours.

8 The Weekly News Digest, March 18, 2013 ___________________________________________________________

S P A C E X D R A G O N C A R G O S H I P

L E A V E S S P A C E S T A T I O N

W A R M S P R I N G

C O N T I N U E D D R O U G H T

P R E D I C T E D F O R U S

SpaceX - Space Exploration Technologies Corp. - is run

by billionaire Elon Musk, who made his fortune as a co-

creator of PayPal. He also owns the electric car maker

Tesla Motors.

NASA is paying SpaceX to resupply the space station.

This was the second flight of a Dragon to the orbiting

outpost under the $1.6 billion contract, and the third

delivery mission altogether for SpaceX. The next flight is

slated for late fall.

A competitor, Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., plans

a test flight of its Antares rocket and a dummy payload

next month. That launch will be conducted from Wallops

Island, Va.

Russia, Japan and Europe also periodically send up sup-

plies, but SpaceX has the only craft capable of returning

goods. All the others burn up upon re-entry.

Three astronauts are aboard the space station right now.

They will be joined by three more following Thursday's

Soyuz launch from Kazakhstan.

With its space shuttles now museum pieces, NASA is

paying Russia to launch U.S. astronauts until SpaceX or

another American company comes up with spaceships

than can safely fly crews. Musk anticipates that happen-

ing by 2015.

G R E A T A P E S

This image provided by NASA-TV shows the SpaceX Dragoncommercial cargo craft as it is backed away from the InternationalSpace Station early Tuesday March 26, 2013 by the InternationalSpace Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm. The Dragon is expectedto splash down in the eastern Pacific ocean approximately 246miles off the coast of Baja Calif., later this morning.

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Kenya, and Khartoum, Sudan, which are traffickinghubs. Bangkok, the Thai capital, is a major hub for theorangutan trade.

Conditions are usually brutal. In February 2005, customsofficials at the Nairobi airport seized a large crate thathad arrived from Egypt. The crate held six chimpanzeesand four monkeys, stuffed into tiny compartments. Thecrate had been refused at the airport in Cairo, a well-known trafficking hub for shipment to the Middle East,and returned to Kenya. One chimp died of hunger andthirst.

The proliferation of logging and mining camps through-out Africa has also increased the demand for primatemeat. Adults and juveniles are killed for consumption,and their orphans are captured to sell into the live trade.Villagers also pluck primates out of rural areas to sell inthe cities.

Humans also have been encroaching upon and destroy-ing the primates' natural habitats, destroying their foresthomes to build infrastructure and for other purposes.That forces the animals to move into greater proximityand conflict with people.

Sometimes animals are even the victims of war.

Arrests are rare largely because authorities in Africa,where most great apes originate, do not have the polic-ing resources to cope with the criminal poaching net-works. Corruption is rampant and those in authoritysometimes are among those dealing in the illegal trade.Between 2005 and 2011, only 27 arrests were made inAfrica and Asia.

The Convention on International Trade in EndangeredSpecies of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) regulates thetrade of animals and plants to ensure their survival.Under the agreement, trade in great apes caught in thewild is illegal. But traffickers often get around that byfalsely declaring animals as bred in captivity.

The orangutan is the only great ape found in Asia. Onespecies, the Sumatran orangutan, is critically endan-gered, with its population having dropped by 80 percentover the last 75 years. Their numbers are in great perildue to the pace of land clearance and forest destructionfor industrial or agricultural use.

The report estimates that nearly all of the orangutan'snatural habitat will be disturbed or destroyed by the year2030.

"There are no wild spaces left for them," said DouglasCress, a co-author of the report and head of a U.N.sponsored program that works for the survival of greatapes. "There'll be nothing left at this rate. It's down tothe bone. If it disappears, they go, too."

thanking his family, his school - and his venturecapitalist backer Li Ka-Shing - for supporting him.

Summly works by condensing content so readerscan scroll through more information more quickly -useful for the small screens of smartphones.

The deal announced Monday is Yahoo's fifth smallacquisition in the past five months. All of them havebeen part of CEO Marissa Mayer's effort to attractmore engineers with expertise in building servicesfor smartphones and tablet computers, an increas-ingly important area of technology that she believesthe Internet company had been neglecting.

Although the Yahoo acquisition won't close untillater this spring, D'Aloisio said the Summly will nolonger be available. Summly's technology willreturn in other Yahoo products, he said.

D'Aloisio will work for Yahoo in its London office - inpart so that he can complete his high schoolexams. Two other Summly workers will join Yahooat its Sunnyvale, California, headquarters.

D'Aloisio is younger than Yahoo, which was incor-porated in March 1995.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Government forecasters saymuch of the United States can expect a warm springand persistent drought.

The National Weather Service said Thursday above-normal temperatures are predicted across most ofthe Lower 48 states and northern Alaska. The fore-cast also calls for little relief for the drought-strickenMidwest and Southwest. Currently, half the country isexperiencing moderate to exceptional drought.

Late snowmelt will bring a threat of river floodingalong the upper Mississippi. North Dakota is at themost risk of flooding from the Red River.

A cooler spring is predicted for the Pacific Northwestand northern Great Plains. Drier-than-normal condi-tions are on tap for the West and Gulf Coast. Hawaiiis expected to be cooler and drier than usual.

The spring outlook covers April, May and June.

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The sun sets behind the downtown Kansas City, Mo. skyline asabove average temperatures returned to the region Thursday,March 14, 2013. Government forecasters say much of theUnited States can expect a warm spring and persistent drought

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