President Barack Obama warned the United States must be wary of costly and difficult foreign interventions as calls mount for military action against Syria over alleged chemical warfare.

In an interview with CNN broadcast Friday, Obama said allegations of a new chemical weapons attack by government forces on Syrian civilians were of "grave concern."

But he also pointed out obstacles to US military action, a year after warning that the use of chemical arms in the vicious Syrian conflict would cross a US "red line."

He said Syrian opposition allegations that hundreds of people had been killed in a gas attack near Damascus this week were more serious than previous charges against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Obama said that US authorities were gathering information about the attack, which produced horrifying footage of dead children and victims gasping for air.

"What we've seen indicates clearly this is a big event, of grave concern," Obama said.

The president introduced a note of skepticism, however, to calls from critics like Republican Senator John McCain for US military strikes.

"I am sympathetic to Senator McCain's passion for helping people work through what is an extraordinarily difficult and heart-breaking situation," he said.

But Obama said Americans expect him to protect their long-term national security interests.

"Sometimes what we've seen is folks will call for immediate action, jumping into stuff that does not turn out well, gets us mired in very difficult situations," Obama said.

View gallery."

Image from the Syrian opposition's Shaam News Network shows a couple mourning ahead of funerals foll …

He warned that America could get "drawn into very expensive, difficult, costly interventions that actually breed more resentment in the region," he said.

The president also said that there were questions whether the United States would infringe international law if it attacked another country without a United Nations Security Council mandate.

And, after ending the Iraq war and as he brings troops home from Afghanistan, Obama noted the cost in US lives and financial resources of foreign military action.

"I'm reminded that there are costs and we have to take those into account as we try to work within an international framework to do everything we can to see Assad ousted," Obama said.

A senior US official told AFP that Obama's foreign policy team was considering a range of options to respond to the attack if it is proven to be the work of Syrian forces.

But the official said there were no discussions about setting up a no fly zone over Syria or on deploying ground forces.

That comment appeared to theoretically leave open the possibility of cruise missile strikes against Syrian military targets or munitions and artillery installations, or attacks from US planes launched from outside Syria.

Senior national security officials spent three-and-a-half hours at the White House on Thursday to discuss options for Obama.

Bernadette Meehan, a National Security Council spokeswoman, said Obama would wait until the facts of the attack were clear before acting.

"We are going to act very deliberately so that we're making decisions consistent with our national interest as well as our assessment of what can advance our objectives in Syria," she said.

View gallery."

Demonstrators calling for help from US President Obama for Syria, protest in front of the White Hous …

It was noticeable that Obama observed that the latest attack was on a much wider scale than a previous one which the United States adjudged to have used chemical weapons in Syria earlier this year.

On that occasion, Obama decided for the first time to send direct military aid to vetted Syrian rebels, though has declined to specify exactly what Washington is doing.

His words could be read as preparing the ground for some kind of US action, though likely it would fall short of the operations his hawkish critics would like to see.

Britain and France have said that they believe Syrian forces were behind the attack that killed hundreds of civilians outside Damascus.

France has suggested that some military action might be necessary.

Obama has ordered US intelligence agencies to conduct an investigation, and Washington has called for a UN team in Syria already probing previous claims of chemical weapons use to investigate the latest episode.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the Pentagon was updating target lists should Obama decide to use military force.

Possible operations could include cruise missile strikes, or see weapons fired from US warplanes outside Syrian airspace.

The New York Times said targets could include munitions and artillery batteries that could be used to launch chemical weapons as well as communications and support facilities.

The paper said the administration was split between those who favored action and less hawkish officials.

Syria has vigorously denied its forces were guilty of a chemical attack on the rebel-held area.

Russia on Friday said that mounting calls in Europe and elsewhere for the use of force against Syria were "unacceptable."

Obama: Syria allegations 'a grave concern'

The president calls reports of chemical attacks "a big event," but says U.S. will not hastily intervene.
Doesn't say 'red line' was crossed

TOKYO (AP) — Deep beneath Fukushima's crippled nuclear power station a massive underground reservoir of contaminated water that began spilling from the plant's reactors after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami has been creeping slowly toward the sea.

Now, two-and-a-half years later, experts fear it is about to reach the Pacific and greatly worsen what is fast becoming a new crisis at Fukushima: the inability to contain vast quantities of radioactive water.

The looming crisis is potentially far greater than the discovery earlier this week of a leak from a tank used to store contaminated water used to cool the reactor cores. That 300-ton (80,000 gallon) leak is the fifth and most serious since the disaster of March 2011, when three of the plant's reactors melted down after a huge earthquake and tsunami knocked out the plant's power and cooling functions.

But experts believe the underground seepage from the reactor and turbine building area is much bigger and possibly more radioactive, confronting the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., with an invisible, chronic problem and few viable solutions. Many also believe it is another example of how TEPCO has repeatedly failed to acknowledge problems that it could almost certainly have foreseen — and taken action to mitigate before they got out of control.

It remains unclear what the impact of the contamination on the environment will be because the radioactivity will be diluted as it spreads further into the sea. Most fishing in the area is already banned, but fishermen in nearby Iwaki City were hoping to resume test catches next month following favorable sampling results. Those plans have been scrapped after news of the latest tank leak.

Monitoring of Fukushima increased over fears of mo …Play video."

"Nobody knows when this is going to end," said Masakazu Yabuki, a veteran fisherman in Iwaki, just south of the plant where scientists say contaminants are carried by the current. "We've suspected (leaks into the ocean) from the beginning ... TEPCO is making it very difficult for us to trust them."

To keep the melted nuclear fuel from overheating, TEPCO has rigged a makeshift system of pipes and hoses to funnel water into the broken reactors. The radioactive water is then treated and stored in the aboveground tanks that have now developed leaks. But far more leaks into the reactor basements during the cooling process — then through cracks into the surrounding earth and ground water.

Scientists, pointing to stubbornly high radioactive cesium levels in bottom-dwelling fish since the disaster, had for some time suspected the plant was leaking radioactive water into the ocean. TEPCO repeatedly denied that until last month, when it acknowledged contaminated water has been leaking into the ocean from early in the crisis. Even so, the company insists the seepage is coming from part of a network of maintenance tunnels, called trenches, near the coast, rather than underground water coming from the reactor area.

"So far, we don't have convincing data that confirm a leak from the turbine buildings. But we are open to consider any possible path of contamination," said TEPCO spokesman Yoshimi Hitosugi.

The turbine buildings at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant are about 150 meters (500 feet) from the ocean. According to a Japan Atomic Energy Agency document, the contaminated underground water is spreading toward the sea at a rate of about 4 meters (13 feet) a month.

Fishing banned off coast of FukushimaPlay video."

At that rate, "the water from that area is just about to reach the coast," if it hasn't already, said Atsunao Marui, an underground water expert at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology who is on a government committee studying the contaminated water problem. "We must contain the problem as quickly as possible."

TEPCO, nationalized and burdened with the astronomical cleanup costs, has been criticized for repeatedly lagging in attempts to tackle leakage problems. As a precautionary step, it has created chemical blockades in the ground along the coast to stop any possible leaks, but experts question their effectiveness. After a nearly two-year delay, construction of an offshore steel wall designed to contain contaminated water has begun.

The utility has also proposed building frozen walls — upside down comb-shaped sticks that refrigerate surrounding soil — into the ground around the reactor areas, but that still has to be tested and won't be ready until 2015 if proved successful.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier this month announced the government would intervene and provide funding for key projects to deal with the contaminated water problem.

"This is a race against the clock," said Toyoshi Fuketa, a commissioner on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

View gallery."

In this Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013 aerial photo, workers stand on storage tanks at the Fukushima Dai-ich …

Compounding TEPCO's problems is the new leak discovered this week. Most of the 300 tons is believed to have seeped into the ground, but some may have escaped into the sea through a rainwater gutter, said Zengo Aizawa, the company's executive vice president.

That, too, may be a harbinger of more problems ahead.

Some 1,000 steel tanks built across the plant complex contain nearly 300,000 tons (300 million liters, 80 million gallons) of partially treated contaminated water. About 350 of them have rubber seams intended to last for only five years. Company spokesman Masayuki Ono said it plans to build additional tanks with welded seams that are more watertight, but will have to rely on rubber seams in the meantime.

Shinji Kinjo, a regulatory official in charge of the Fukushima disaster, said the rubber-seam tanks are mostly built in a rush when the contaminated water problem started, and often lacked adequate quality tests and require close attention.

Workers have already spotted two more questionable tanks during inspection Thursday.

"It's like a haunted house, one thing happening after another," said Nuclear Regulatory Agency Chairman Shunichi Tanaka said, referring to the spate of problems at the plant. "But we must take any steps that would reduce risks to avoid a fatal accident."

Leaks of highly contaminated water from the above-ground tanks aggravate the groundwater problem.

"Any contamination in the groundwater would eventually flow in to the ocean. That is very difficult to stop even with barriers," said Ken Buesseler, a marine chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. He found that radioactive cesium levels in most fish caught off the Fukushima coast hadn't declined in the year following the March 2011 disaster, suggesting that the contaminated water from the reactor-turbine areas is already leaking into the sea.

But TEPCO hasn't provided the details he and other scientists need to further assess the situation.

Zimmerman reportedly at the Kel-Tec firearms plant. (TMZ screenshot)

The attorney who helped murder defendant George Zimmerman win a controversial acquittal last month was frustrated to learn his client toured a gun factory on Thursday.

According to TMZ, the former neighborhood crime watchman visited Kel-Tec firearms, the company that manufactured the semi-automatic handgun Zimmerman used in the fatal confrontation with Trayvon Martin.

“We certainly would not have advised him to go to the factory that made the gun that he used to shoot Trayvon Martin through the heart,” Shawn Vincent, a spokesman for attorney Mark O’Mara, told Yahoo News. “That was not part of our public relations plan.”

News of Zimmerman’s visit to the gunmaker comes just six weeks after a jury found him not guilty in the 2012 shooting death of Martin, an unarmed black teenager in Sanford, Fla. The trial was televised to a wide audience, and his acquittal led to nationwide protests and prompted President Barack Obama to speak out on the case.

According to the TMZ story, Zimmerman got a personal tour of the Cocoa, Fla., facility from the son of Kel-Tec’s founder and owner. The story includes a picture of Zimmerman and a man wearing a Kel-Tec shirt. TMZ says it was taken on the assembly plant floor. The entertainment website reported that Zimmerman inquired about purchasing a tactical shotgun; however Kel-Tec’s website says the company doesn't sell firearms directly to the public.

Late Friday afternoon, Kel-Tec sent Yahoo News a statement “concerning this leaked bit of information by someone unassociated with Kel-Tec.”

“He simply wanted to see the manufacturing facility,” the statement said of Zimmerman's visit. “This is a common occurrence with our customer base that live close by or may be traveling through.”

The statement implied that Zimmerman specifically inquired about a tactical shotgun he is apparently interested in purchasing.

“The Kel-Tec KSG is one of the most desired products in the industry, and can be very difficult to acquire due to supply and demand,” the company said. “Many individuals like to come by the plant to actually see the product and how it is made.”

Kel-Tec, one of the country's largest producers of handguns, said it did not want to gain recognition because of Martin's death.

“Kel-Tec's thoughts and prayers go out to everyone whose lives were forever changed,” the statement said.

Zimmerman/Martin (AP/Family)

“Security is, has been, and continues to be of great concern to every member of our family for obvious reasons,” his brother, Robert Zimmerman, wrote in an email to Yahoo News.

O’Mara still represents Zimmerman on sanctions his firm filed against Florida prosecutors for allegedly withholding case discovery, and in a defamation lawsuit against NBC News. Vincent says O'Mara and Zimmerman are in contact about once a week.

“From that perspective, we are George’s legal representation, but I don’t think he takes our advice on how he lives his life or what factories he decides to tour,” Vincent told Yahoo News. “We represented him in court. We got the verdict that we believe is just, and the rest of George’s life is up to George.”

But Vincent acknowledged that the timing of the factory tour was not well planned, especially since Zimmerman has become a lightning rod in the debate on gun and self defense rights.

“If you’re a public figure and you represent people’s opinion on those issues, then what you do in context is important for sure,” Vincent said.

Robert Zimmerman made no apologies for his brother's visit to Kel-Tec.

“Every criminal defendant is presumed innocent until or unless proven guilty,” he wrote to Yahoo News. “When a defendant is acquitted the presumption of innocence is maintained in our society. George is a free man and as such is entitled to visit, tour, frequent or patronize any business or locale he wishes.”

Attorney unhappy with Zimmerman

A lawyer who helped George Zimmerman win acquittal is upset that his client toured a gun factory.
Not part of our public relations plan'

Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist whose shooting rampage at Ft. Hood left 13 people dead, was convicted today by a jury of army officers, opening the door to a possible death sentence.

Hasan was found guilty on all counts, including 13 charges of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder.

Hasan, 42, a Muslim American who described himself as a "mujahedeen," or Muslim holy warrior, never denied shooting the unarmed soldiers and bystanders and initially attempted to plead guilty. The military, however, insisted he go to trial in order to be eligible for the death penalty.

Hasan had no visible reaction to the verdict, according to an Associated Press reporter in the courtroom.

The sentencing phase will begin Monday. All 13 jurors must vote for execution, or he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

View gallery."

Fort Hood Gunman Nidal Hasan Convicted, Could Face Death (ABC News)

The military spent four years and $5 million to ensure Hasan would be convicted and be eligible for a death sentence.

Executions in the military are rare. All death sentences are subject to automatic appeal, a process that can take decades. There are currently five inmates on the military's death row, but an active serviceman has not been executed since 1961.

Hasan, who defended himself, made the government's prosecution of him so easy his own standby attorneysaccused of him of cooperating to get himself executed.

Over the course of the three week trial, the government called 89 witnesses, none of whom the major cross-examined. He called none of his own witnesses and immediately rested his case when he had the chance to defend himself.

"It wasn't done under the heat of sudden passion," Hasan said before jurors began deliberating. "There was adequate provocation — that these were deploying soldiers that were going to engage in an illegal war."

Hasan admitted to entering a medical building at the base on Nov. 5, 2009, and opening fire on soldiers preparing for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. He yelled "Allahu akbar," Arabic for "God is great" before training a pistol with a laser sight on his victims, 12 of whom were soldiers.

Hasan was shot in the back when police officers responded. As a result, he is paralyzed and wheelchair bound.

View Gallery

Fort Hood shooter found guilty

Maj. Nidal Hasan was unanimously convicted of 13 premeditated murder counts for his 2009 shooting rampage.
Eligible for death penalty

ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT OVER THE PACIFIC (AP) — The Pentagon is moving naval forces closer to Syria in preparation for a possible decision by President Barack Obama to order military strikes, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel suggested on Friday.

Hagel declined to describe any specific movements of U.S. forces. He said Obama asked that the Pentagon to prepare military options for Syria and that some of those options "requires positioning our forces."

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

"The Defense Department has a responsibility to provide the president with options for contingencies, and that requires positioning our forces, positioning our assets, to be able to carry out different options — whatever options the president might choose," Hagel said.

He said the U.S. is coordinating with the international community to determine "what exactly did happen" in the reported use by the Syrian government of chemical weapons against civilians earlier this week.

"We're still assessing that," he said.

Hagel said a determination on the chemical attack should be made swiftly because "there may be another attack coming," although he added that "we don't know" whether that will happen.

Hagel said that although he is scheduled to spend the next week traveling in Southeast Asia, he will remain in contact with the White House about developments in Syria and planning for potential U.S. action.

U.S. Navy moves forces closer to Syria

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the president asked the Pentagon to prepare military options.
'Positioning our assets'