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U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) departs after a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 27, 2013. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama called Speaker of the House John Boehner by telephone on Thursday to discuss his deliberations on Syria, a spokesman for Boehner said, adding that more consultation with Congress and the U.S. public was needed.

The two discussed issues that Boehner raised in a letter to Obama on Wednesday, including the legal justification for any military strike, precedents a strike might set and the objectives and strategy for any action, he said.

"Only the president can answer these questions, and it is clear that further dialogue and consultation with Congress, as well as communication with the American public, will be needed," Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said in a statement.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle;Editing by Philip Barbara)

At least 41 people were killed Thursday in a bus crash west of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, the Kenyan Red Cross said.

"It is a horrible scene. Bodies are strewn all over," traffic police official Samuel Kimaru said by telephone from the scene near the town of Narok.

The bus was travelling from Nairobi to Homa Bay on the banks of Lake Victoria when it flew off the road, rolled over and plunged down a hill.

"It is difficult to tell exactly what happened but all indications point to speeding and possibly overloading," he said. "It is quite disturbing."

Police also told the Standard newspaper that the driver may have fallen asleep.

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A bus that crashed near the town of Narok, west of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, on August 29, 2013, i …

Police and the Kenyan Red Cross said they had confirmed 41 deaths. At least 27 other passenger had suffered "multiple injuries".

The Red Cross said the accident occurred shortly after 2:00 am (2300 GMT Wednesday) some 160 kilometres (100 miles) west of the capital.

Pictures from the organisation showed the bus in the bushes at the bottom of a hill, surrounded by debris and with its roof ripped off.

Kimaru said police had "a difficult time recovering the bodies because this place is hilly and bushy".

"We've dozens others injured and we are not certain how many because they were taken to various hospitals... we have officers checking with the hospitals," Kimaru said.

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A bus which crashed near the town of Narok, west of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, on August 29, 2013, …

He said it was unclear if the driver was dead or among the injured.

Kenyan roads are notoriously dangerous, with buses badly maintained and often overloaded so operators can maximise profits.

In February, 30 people died in a bus crash in the east of the country, and in July a school bus crash killed 20, most of them children.

Traffic regulations and fines were toughened late last year, although the local press continue to point at police corruption as a major problem.

Dozens die in Kenya bus crash

A bus traveling from Nairobi to Homa Bay flew off the road and plunged down a hill, causing at least 41 fatalities.
Driver may have fallen asleep

The US Navy has deployed a fifth destroyer to the eastern Mediterranean, a defense official told AFP on Thursday, as expectations grow of an imminent strike on Syria.

The USS Stout, a guided missile destroyer, is "in the Mediterranean, heading and moving east" to relieve the Mahan, said the official, who said both ships might remain in place for the time being.

Other destroyers in the region -- the Ramage, the Barry and the Gravely -- criss-cross the Mediterranean and could launch their Tomahawk missiles toward Syria if so directed by US President Barack Obama.

The defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not say how long the Mahan would stay in the area before returning to its home port of Norfolk, Virginia, which it left in December 2012.

It is normal for three destroyers to patrol the Mediterranean under the authority of the US Sixth Fleet, primarily in an anti-missile defense role.

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Sailors stand aboard destroyer USS Stout on May 8, 2013. The US Navy has deployed the ship, its fift …

The US Navy keeps as a closely guarded secret the number of Tomahawk missiles that each ship carries but it is estimated to be 45.

The US defense official also indicated that the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its escorts remain in the area of the US Fifth Fleet, which extends from the Red Sea to the Gulf and Arabian Sea.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, currently on a week-long trip to Southeast Asia, told the BBC that US forces were in place and "ready to go" if Obama gives the order but no such decision has yet been made.

A second defense official, however, said that while the Nimitz is being held, such a move should not not be linked to potential Syria options at this time.

Syria came up in a meeting between Hagel and South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-Jin, with both men voicing grave concern about the use of chemical weapons, a US defense official told reporters.

Hagel told Kim that gross violations of international law cannot go "unanswered", the official said.

America stands to spend $52.6 billion this year on an intelligence community that includes 107,035 employees — and can’t say whether Pakistan’s nuclear program is secure or what North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un is up to.

Those are some of the stark findings in a new Washington Post report that provides an unprecedented look inside the vast and growing "black budget" of the nation’s spy agencies, as well as some of their troubling blind spots.

The report, based on information leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, also provides new details about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

The Post says the intelligence community has five “critical” blind spots:

1. Pakistan’s nuclear weapons: America’s spies aren’t sure whether Pakistan's nuclear components are secure when they are being transported.

2. North Korea: The United States “has all but surrounded the nuclear-armed country with surveillance platforms,” the Post reports. That includes ground sensors to monitor seismic activity (a way to detect underground nuclear tests) and other methods meant to detect the construction of new nuclear sites.

“U.S. agencies seek to capture photos, air samples and infrared imagery ‘around the clock,’” the Post says. But there are troubling “gaps” in U.S. knowledge about North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs, and “analysts know virtually nothing about the intentions of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un,” the Post reports.

3. Russia: A quarter-century after the CIA failed to predict the collapse of the Soviet Union, American intelligence is not sure how Russian leaders would respond “to potentially destabilizing events in Moscow, such as large protests and terrorist attacks,” the report says.

4. China: The report said the “blank spots” include “the capabilities of China’s next generation fighter aircraft.”

5. Hezbollah: But the Post sheds little light on the precise concerns about the armed Lebanese movement, which opposes Israel.

The Post does offer some new details about the May 2011 bin Laden raid. It says that eight hours after American commandos killed the world’s most hunted man, a forensic intelligence laboratory run by the Defense Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan had confirmed his identity through DNA from his corpse.

Months later, in September, American intelligence agencies “scraped together” $2.5 million to work through a backlog of data pulled from bin Laden’s laptop. The cash paid for 36 computer workstations and overtime for staff, including linguists.

'Black budget' report reveals U.S. spy failings

Despite a $52 billion budget and 107,000 employees, America's intelligence network is in the dark about plenty.
Things we should know but don't

Erika Brannock, 29, lost her lower left leg in the Boston Marathon bombing this April.

The Maryland preschool teacher was waiting at the finish line for her mother to cross the finish line when the explosion changed her life forever.

Her injuries kept her away from her classroom for months.

This week, Brannock returned to school. She appeared at the opening of the brand-new Davenport Preschool in Towson, Maryland, where she's one of the 18 educators on staff teaching more than 100 kidsaged two to four.

Even though the school is new, Brannock is very familiar with the students registered to attend. And many of her young students were happy to see their favourite teacher again.

"He sees her and it's just Ms. Brannock. He doesn't care that she looks a little different,” said John Baker, the father of preschooler Henry. “It doesn't bother him at all. He's just happy to see her."

"It has definitely been a while since I've seen them,” Brannock told NECN. "They've all gotten so big since the last time I saw them. It's been a few months, but it's good to see them all."

She added, "As a teacher, it's really hard being away from your students... because they become your kids. So it's hard to be away from your kids 'cause they have your heart.'"

Poignant reunion for Boston bombing victim

Erika Brannock's injuries kept her from the classroom for months, but her pupils didn't forget their favorite teacher.
'They have your heart'