2nd blizzard in less than week slams Plains region

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — National Weather Service officials in Kansas and Oklahoma issued blizzard warnings and watches through late Monday as the storm packing snow and high winds tracked eastward across West Texas toward Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. Forecasters warned of possible tornadoes in the southeast.

Snow covered Amarillo, Texas, where forecasters said up to 18 inches could fall, accompanied by wind gusts up to 65 mph. Paul Braun, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Transport, said whiteout conditions and drifting snow had made all roads in the Texas Panhandle impassable. Authorities closed Interstate 40 from Amarillo to the Oklahoma state line and Interstate 27 from Lubbock to 60 miles beyond Amarillo.

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"It's just a good day to stay home," Braun said. "This is one of the worst ones we've had for a while."

The weather service issued a blizzard warning for the Oklahoma Panhandle and counties along the Kansas border, warning that travel in the area would be "very dangerous" until Tuesday morning with near zero visibility and drifting snow.

Texas officials called in the National Guard to respond to emergency calls and help stranded motorists after Department of Public Safety troopers found roads impassable.

Billy Brown, a farmer in the town of Panhandle about 30 miles northeast of Amarillo, said the snow was coming down so hard that he could only see for about 100 feet and that it was forming drifts up to 3 feet deep. The whiteout forced all vehicles from the roads — even the snow plows, he said.

"You can't see anything," Brown said. "I've got some farm equipment out there I can't see at all — plows and tractors."

But he said the snow would bring some relief to the drought-stricken region. Wheat stubble still in the ground after the last harvest will act as a conduit for the snow, which will seep into the soil and provide much-needed moisture when he plants cotton and grain sorghum in the coming months.

"We have been super dry," Brown said. "This is just a good old fashioned blizzard. We were overdue for one."

In Lubbock early Monday winds whipped fallen snow off roof tops and the ground, adding to visibility woes. Streets were snow-packed and icy.

In Oklahoma, forecasters said up to 16 inches of snow could accumulate in some areas, with wind gusts reaching up to 55 mph. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol closed all highways in the state's Panhandle, citing slick roads and limited visibility. Trooper Betsy Randolph said the patrol advised its non-essential personnel to stay home until Wednesday.

About a dozen flights were canceled at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City. The Chicago Department of Aviation reported normal operations at Midway and O'Hare — the bellwether air hub of the Midwest.

Blowing snow took Donna Lloyd by surprise in Guymon in the Oklahoma Panhandle.

"The wind is not usually like this," said Lloyd, who manages a Wes-T-Go convenience store. "Our front door keeps freezing shut."

Kerri Lewis, a convenience store manager in nearby Woodward, said she expected to be snowed in, especially as most of the roads out of town were already closed.

"You can't hardly see across the street," Lewis said. "I'm pretty much stuck."

Announcing a snow emergency in Woodward County, Emergency Management Director Matt Lehenbauer said almost two feet of snow was forecast for the area.

"Conditions are just treacherous right now," he said. "It's even dangerous for road-clearing crews to be out."

Several motorists had reported being stranded, but so far there hadn't been serious accidents, he added.

In Wichita, Kan., officials said they had barely recovered from last week's storm that dumped up to 18 inches of snow.

Joe Pajor, deputy director of public works in Wichita, told The Wichita Eagle that sand and salt supplies were low and that the city's strategy might just be to plow snow into the center of arterial streets and cut traffic to one lane in each direction. He said the city wouldn't begin to use its limited sand and salt supply until the snow stopped falling and plowing was under way.

Steve Corfidi, meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said the storm also will affect southern states and could spawn tornadoes Tuesday in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and Georgia.

By Monday morning, several inches of snow had fallen on much of West Texas and the Texas Panhandle, where forecasters predicted more than a foot could fall. The incoming storm sent Amarillo residents running out for last-minute supplies. Mario Delgado, 57, needed milk.

"I got all the good stuff like soup and peanut butter the other day," Delgado told the Amarillo Globe-News. "We're used to it here."

He added: "As long as you got plenty of clothes and the right kind of shoes, you'll be alright."

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Israel says it successfully tests new missile defense

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel carried out a successful test of its upgraded Arrow interceptor system on Monday, which is designed to destroy in space the kind of missiles held by Syria and Iran, theIsraeli Defense Ministry said.

The U.S.-backed Arrow III system deploys "kamikaze" satellites that target ballistic missiles above the earth's atmosphere, hitting them high enough to allow for any non-conventional warheads to disintegrate safely.

Monday's test was the first live flight for the Arrow III, but did not involve the interception of any target.

"The test examined for the first time the capabilities and the performance of the new Arrow III, considered to be the most innovative and revolutionary interceptor in the world," the Defense Ministry said.

A ministry official said the test, which was conducted from a site along Israel's Mediterranean coast and lasted six and a half minutes, was "100 percent successful".

In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "Israel's hand is always outstretched in peace but we are also prepared for other eventualities. In this vein, I praise the successful test of the Arrow III."

Designers say the system has proved a success in up to 90 percent of previous tests.

"The success of the test is an important milestone in the operational capabilities of the state of Israel to be able to defend itself against threats in the region," the ministry statement added.

But the ministry official said the timing of the test, which took months to prepare, was not related to current tensions with Iran or Syria. He said Israel plans another flight test followed by a simulated interception in space over the Mediterranean.

U.S. BACKING

Arrow is the long-range segment in Israel's three-tier missile shield. This also includes the successfully deployed "Iron Dome", which targets short-range rockets and projectiles, and the mid-range "David's Sling", still under development. They can be deployed alongside other U.S. systems.

Officials say that if Arrow failed to hit an incoming missile at high altitude, there would still be time to destroy it with other systems before it hit its intended target.

The Pentagon and the U.S. firm Boeing are partners in Arrow. Washington has described its support for Israeli missile interceptors as a means of reassuring Israel, which in the past has launched preventative wars against perceived threats, that it has a more passive means of defending itself.

Israel has accused Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons and has hinted it might strike the Islamic Republic in an effort to halt its atomic program.

Boeing thinks that potential clients for the system may include India, Singapore and South Korea.

"As we prove out that technology, and show that it's not only affordable but effective, we think there will be additional global market opportunities for that capability," Dennis Muilenburg, chief executive of Boeing's Defense, space and security arm, told Reuters last year.

The United States and Israel have been developing Arrow jointly since 1988. Boeing's counterpart on the project is state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries.

The U.S. financial contribution to progressively improved versions of the Arrow system tops $1 billion, the Congressional Research Service said in a March 2012 report to lawmakers.

(Reporting by Dan Williams; Editing by Jeffrey Heller)

Syria says it's ready for talks with armed rebels

MOSCOW (AP) — Syria is ready to hold talks with the armed opposition trying to topple President Bashar Assad, the country's foreign minister said Monday, in the government's most advanced offer yet to try to resolve the 2-year-old civil war through negotiations.

Walid al-Moallem did not say whether rebel fighters would first have to lay down their arms before negotiations could begin, a key sticking point in the past. Still, the proposal marked the first time that a high-ranking Syrian official has stated publicly that the government would meet with opposition fighters.

"We're ready for a dialogue with anyone who's willing for it," al-Moallem said in Moscow ahead of talks with his Russian counterpart, "even with those who carry arms. We are confident that reforms will come about not with the help of bloodshed but through dialogue."

One rebel commander welcomed the idea of talks, but only on the condition that Assad and those who are responsible for the bloodshed are put on trial.

Syria's 23-month-old conflict, which has killed more than 70,000 people and destroyed many of the country's cities, has repeatedly confounded international efforts to bring the parties together to end the bloodshed. Russia, a close ally of Assad and his regime's chief international advocate, offered last Wednesday, in concert with the Arab League, to broker talks between the rebels and the government.

The proposal — which the Kremlin would be unlikely to float publicly without first securing word from Damascus that it would indeed take part — suggested the regime could be warming to the idea of a settlement as it struggles to hold territory and win back ground it has lost to the rebels.

Syria's rebels have scored several tactical victories in recent weeks, capturing the nation's largest hydroelectric dam and overtaking airbases in the northeast. In Damascus, they have advanced from their strongholds in the suburbs into neighborhoods in the northeast and southern rim of the capital, while peppering the center of the city with mortar rounds for days.

On Thursday, a huge bomb blast near the ruling Baath party headquarters in Damascus killed at least 53 people, according to state media.

While the momentum may be subtly shifting in the rebels' direction, the regime's grip on Damascus remains firm, and Assad's fall is far from imminent — or certain.

Ahead of the meeting with al-Moallem, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov repeated his call for Syria to negotiate with the opposition, saying that "the situation in Syria is at a crossroads now." He also warned that further fighting could lead to "the breakup of the Syrian state."

Past government offers for talks with the opposition have included a host of conditions, such as demanding that the rebels first lay down their arms. Those proposals have been swiftly rejected by both activists outside the country and rebels on the ground.

The prospect of negotiating with the armed opposition is made all the more difficult by the fractured status of those fighting to topple the regime. There are dozens of armed brigades and groups across the country and no unified command.

The head of one group, Free Syrian Army chief Gen. Salim Idriss, said he is "ready to take part in dialogue within specific frameworks," but then rattled off conditions that the regime has rejected in the past.

"There needs to be a clear decision on the resignation of the head of the criminal gang, Bashar Assad, and for those who participated in the killing of the Syrian people to be put on trial," Idriss told pan-Arab Al-Arabiya TV.

He said the government must agree to stop all kinds of violence and to hand over power, saying that "as rebels, this is our bottom line."

Both sides in the conflict in recent weeks have floated offers and counter-offers to hold talks to resolve the crisis.

In a speech in January, Assad offered to lead a national dialogue to end the bloodshed, but said he would not talk with the armed opposition and vowed to keep on fighting. The opposition rejected the proposal.

This month, the leader of the Syrian National Coalition, the umbrella group for opposition parties, said he would be open to discussions with the regime that could pave the way for Assad's departure, but that the government must first release tens of thousands of detainees. The government refused, and even members within the Coalition balked at the idea of talks.

Speaking to reporters Monday in Cairo, SNC chief Mouaz al-Khatib accused the regime of procrastinating and said it had derailed his dialogue offer by not responding to the Coalition's conditions.

"We are always open to initiatives that stop the killing and destruction but the regime rejected the simplest of humanitarian conditions. We have asked that the regime start by releasing women prisoners and there was no response," he said. "This regime must understand that the Syrian people do not want it anymore."

Countries in the region have watched the Syrian conflict with trepidation, fearful that the bloodshed could drag in neighboring states.

Turkey, which has taken in tens of thousands of Syrian refugees and has exchanged fire across the border with government troops, is among those most concerned about the fallout.

Speaking to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accused Damascus of using "every instrument to turn the legitimate struggle of the Syrian people into a sectarian war which would engulf the entire region in flames."

"The longer this regime is allowed to wage its campaign of violence, the harder it will be to prevent such a dreadful eventuality," he added.

Meanwhile, the fighting inside Syria rages on.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group reported heavy clashes Monday outside a police academy in Khan al-Asal just outside Aleppo.

Rebels backed by captured tanks launched a fresh offensive on the facility on Sunday. Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said at least 13 rebels and five regime troops were killed in the fighting.

In another part of Aleppo, rebels downed a military helicopter near the Mennegh airport, where there have been fierce clashes for months.

A video posted online by activists shows a missile being fired, a trail of white smoke and then the aircraft going up in flames. Voices in the background shout "God is great" as a man raises both hands in the air in celebration.

The video appeared to be authentic and corresponds to other AP reporting.

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British Cardinal to skip papal conclave

FILE - A Thursday Sept. 16, 2010 photo from files showing Cardinal Keith Patrick O'Brien speaking to the media in Edinburgh, Scotland. Cardinal O'Brien resigned Monday Feb 25, 2013 due to allegations of misconduct. (AP Photo/Scott Campbell, File)

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Britain's highest-ranking Catholic leader, says he is resigning as archbishop in the wake of misconduct allegations and will be skipping the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI.

The cardinal said in a statement Monday that he will not attend because he doesn't want media attention focused on him during the important session in Rome.

Experts said the decision not to attend the papal conclave is unprecedented; never before has a cardinal stayed away from a conclave because of personal scandal, according to Vatican historian Ambrogio Piazzoni, the vice prefect of the Vatican library.

The Vatican confirmed that O'Brien had resigned as archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh. It was accepted under the code of canon law due to O'Brien's age; he turns 75 — the normal retirement age for bishops — on March 17.

He said in a statement that he is in "indifferent health" and that he had offered his resignation last November. A church statement says the pope accepted O'Brien's resignation on Feb. 18.

"Looking back over my years of ministry: For any good I have been able to do, I thank God. For any failures, I apologize to all whom I have offended," he said.

O'Brien has said through his spokesman that he is contesting allegations made Sunday in a British newspaper that three priests and a former priest have filed complaints to the Vatican alleging that the cardinal acted inappropriately with them.

The Observer newspaper did not name the priests, but it said their allegations date back to the 1980s. There were no details about the alleged inappropriate behavior.

The one-sentence Vatican statement issued Monday made no reference to those allegations.

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Sunday the complaints had been channeled through the office of the papal nuncio — the Vatican's ambassador — in London.

"The pope has been informed, and the question is in his hands," Lombardi said.

During a briefing with reporters at the Vatican last week, Piazzoni was asked about the campaign to keep Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony away from the voting because he covered up sexual abuse by priests.

Piazzoni said while in the past some cardinals have been impeded either by illness or by interference from their governments, none has stayed away because of a stain on his own reputation.

He noted that any decision would have to be approved by the full College of Cardinals, given that the main duty of a cardinal is to vote in a conclave.

"The thing that characterizes a cardinal is to be an elector of the pope," he told reporters.

Winfield reported from Rome.

NATO: No evidence for Afghan claim of misconduct

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan has so far found no evidence to support Afghan allegations of misconduct by American special forces in a strategic eastern province, the alliance's spokesman said on Monday.

German Gen. Gunter Katz said the International Security Assistance Force will work with the government to find a solution to the concerns of Afghans, but could not yet comment on the allegations that Afghans connected with U.S. special forces were involved in abuses that include torture, killings and illegal detentions.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday ordered all U.S. special forces to leave Wardak within two weeks and requested that their operations there cease immediately. The restive province, which neighboring Kabul province and is viewed as a gateway to the capital, has been the focus of counterinsurgency efforts in recent years.

On Sunday, the Afghan defense ministry said in a statement that it had "demanded the special forces evacuate the areas according to the timeline" given by Karzai.

The decision followed a meeting of Karzai's National Security Council during which Wardak provincial governor Abdul Majid Khogyani and local officials said that Afghans working with U.S. special forces were responsible for the disappearance of at least nine men and the murder of an Afghan university student. Khogyani and the other officials also presented allegations that the Afghans working for the American special forces were involved in abusive behavior.

The armed Afghans are not part of the Afghan security forces, the government has said, implying that they are members of secret militias working with the American special forces.

"Those Afghans in these armed groups who are working with the U.S. special forces, the defense minister asked for an explanation of who they are," presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi said late Sunday. "Those individuals should be handed over to the Afghan side so that we can further investigate."

Although a presidential statement suggested that U.S. forces could also be involved, the Afghan government said it mostly wanted to know about the armed Afghans — who have been blamed by local residents for the abuses.

"We take all allegations of misconduct seriously and go to great lengths to determine the facts surrounding them," Katz told reporters. "Over the past few weeks there have been various allegations of Special Forces conducting themselves in an unprofessional manner" in Wardak.

He added that "so far, we could not find evidence that would support these allegations."

Katz says that ISAF cannot comment until NATO meets to discuss the issue with the Afghan government.

"Until we have had a chance to speak to senior officials in the government of Afghanistan about this issue, I am not in a position to comment further on details regarding what has been said at the National Security Council," Katz said. "We will talk to Afghan officials in due course."

Sunday's order seems to have surprised both NATO and U.S. Forces Afghanistan, which is a separate command.