Snow ties up European planes, trains, roads

Battle over Syria's Aleppo airport intensifies

BEIRUT (AP) — New clashes erupted Tuesday in an intensifying battle for control over Aleppo's international airport and nearby military bases in Syria's north, activists said.

Rebels have tried for weeks to capture Aleppo's international airport and nearby air bases as part of their campaign to erode the regime's air supremacy in the 2-year-old conflict that the United Nations says has claimed more than 70,000 lives.

Rebels have made significant strategic advances in the north in the past months, capturing military bases, two dams on the Euphrates river and the city of Raqqa in the northwest — the first urban area to fall into opposition hands since the uprising against Assad's regime began in March 2011.

The rebels also control large swathes of land outside of Aleppo. The battle for the city itself, Syria's main commercial hub, is locked in a stalemate. Rebels pushed into the city in July and captured several neighborhoods and it has been a major battleground in the civil war ever since.

The army still holds large parts of Aleppo and maintains control over the airport, the country's second largest. Crucially, Syria's air space is firmly controlled by the regime in Damascus, which uses its warplanes to regularly bomb rebel strongholds.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said clashes erupted anew on Tuesday around the airport and rebels also intensified their assault on the Nairab and Mannagh air bases near the strategic facility, which has not been handling fights for weeks because of the fighting.

There were also intense clashes at another nearby airfield known as Kweiras, according to the Observatory, a Britain-based anti-regime group that relies on a network of activists on the ground.

Fighting also raged for a second day in the central city of Homs as rebels tried to take back the poor neighborhood of Baba Amr, which they lost to President Bashar Assad's troops a year ago.

Last year, government forces besieged Baba Amr for a month before rebel forces withdrew and the government seized control on March 1. Hundreds of people were killed in the siege.

On Sunday, rebels pushed back into Baba Amr and Syrian forces responded on Monday by firing heavy machine guns into the neighborhood, sending residents fleeing.

In Geneva, The U.N. food agency said the renewed violence in Baba Amr has forced at least 3,000 families to leave their homes in the contested area.

The World Food Program said in a statement that more than 1,000 of the displaced families have taken refuge in six schools in Homs and some 2,000 families are staying in public shelters or with relatives in different parts of the governorate.

It was unclear how much of the neighborhood rebels had seized or continued to hold after the latest fighting in the area.

In Kiev, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry confirmed that a Ukrainian journalist who was kidnapped in Syria is free after being held by rebels for more than 150 days.

Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebiynis said the reporter, Ankhar Kochneva, was expected to contact the Ukrainian embassy in Damascus later in the day.

Kochneva, who has written for Syrian and Russian newspapers, was kidnapped in western Syria on Oct. 9. Russian media reported she had been held by members of the Free Syrian Army opposition group. Perebiynis said he had no further information on her.

The Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda quoted Kochneva as saying she walked away from the house where she was held, skirted a rebel guard post and then walked about 15 kilometers (9 miles) through fields until finding a villager who helped her.

According to the newspaper, Kochneva said she was abducted near the city of Homs while riding in a taxi to Damascus.

The abductors released a video in which Kochneva said she was working as a Russian agent, but the newspaper quoted her as saying the recording was made under duress.

Russia is a staunch ally of Damascus, supplying the Assad regime with weapons and shielding his government from tougher U.N. sanctions.

_____

Erratic North Korea poses serious threat

WASHINGTON (AP) — An erratic North Korea, with its nuclear weapons and increasingly belligerent tone, poses a serious threat to the United States and East Asia nations, the director of National Intelligence warned Tuesday in the annual accounting of the threats worldwide.

In his extensive overview, James R. Clapper told Congress that a less decentralized terrorist network has significantly altered the threats while the Arab Spring uprising in the Middle East and North Africa has created spikes in the dangers facing American interests in the regions

The intelligence chief offered a sober assessment of threats from potential cyber attacks, weapons of mass destruction and the months-long civil war in Syria. North Korea, Iran and Syria stirred the most concern as the Obama administration and Congress weigh the effectiveness of sanctions against Pyongyang and Tehran.

Clapper testified just days after North Korea's communist regime said it was scuttling the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War and has maintained peace on the peninsula for more than half a century. The administration slapped sanctions against North Korea's primary exchange bank and several senior government officials.

North Korea, led by its young leader Kim Jong Un, has defied the international community in the last three months, testing a long-range missile and a third nuclear bomb.

"These programs demonstrate North Korea's commitment to develop long-range missile technology that could pose a direct threat to the United States, and its efforts to produce and market ballistic missiles raise broader regional and global security concerns," Clapper told the Senate Intelligence committee.

While the intelligence community has figured that Pyongyang's nuclear efforts are designed for deterrence, worldwide prestige and coercive diplomacy, Clapper conceded that that the United States does not know what would be the trigger that would prompt North Korea to act to preserve Kim's regime.

Pressed during the hearing, Clapper said he was "very concerned" about Kim actions, which has included tough talk as well as a recent invitation to former basketball star Dennis Rodman.

"The rhetoric, while it is propaganda-laced, is also an indicator of their attitude and perhaps their intent," Clapper said. "So for my part, I am very concerned about what they might do. And they are certainly, if they chose ... could initiate a provocative action against the South."

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the general in charge of U.S. Strategic Command said he is "satisfied" that existing U.S. missile defenses can defend against a limited attack from North Korea.

Air Force Gen. Robert Kehler also said he is confident the country is adequately defended from a limited attack by Iran, "although we are not in the most optimum posture to do that today."

The Intelligence panel hearing also sought, in part, to rebuild some trust between the nation's topintelligence officials and senators who complain they have been refused administration documents and other information that are necessary for congressional oversight.

Joining Clapper at the witness table were newly minted CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director Robert Mueller, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen and Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research Philip Goldberg.

At one point, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., questioned Clapper on whether the National Security Agency is eavesdropping or otherwise collecting data on Americans in the U.S. The NSA generally monitors telephone and Internet traffic overseas, but was authorized by the Bush administration after Sept. 11 to collect data within the United States to track al-Qaida.

That program stopped in 2007 but fueled suspicions about whether a White House might trample Americans' civil and legal rights in the name of safeguarding against terrorists.

"Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?" Wyden asked Clapper.

"No, sir," Clapper answered.

"It does not?" Wyden pressed.

Clapper quickly and haltingly softened his answer. "Not wittingly," he said. "There are cases where they could, inadvertently perhaps, collect — but not wittingly."

The intelligence chief said that in Syria, President Bashar Assad's inability to quash the uprising increases the possibility that he will use chemical weapons against his people.

"We assess that an increasingly beleaguered regime, having found its escalation of violence through conventional means inadequate, might be prepared to use chemical weapons against the Syrian people," he said. "In addition, groups or individuals in Syria could gain access to chemical weapons-related material."

The United Nations estimates more than 70,000 people have been killed in the civil war, which started two years ago against Assad's rule. Clapper said Assad's days are number, but added that he did not know "how many days."

The intelligence chief said Iran has become so entrenched in Syria that it likely will have some sort of foothold in a post-Assad government.

In assessing Iran, the report stated flatly that Tehran is developing nuclear capabilities to enhance its security and influence and "give it the ability to develop a nuclear weapon." But the report stopped short of saying a decision has been made.

"We do not know if Iran will eventually decide to build nuclear weapons," the report said.

Clapper explained that in the last year, Iran has made progress in working toward producing weapons-grade uranium. However, the report said Iran "could not divert safeguarded material and produce a weapon-worth of weapons-grade uranium before this activity is discovered."

Last week, Gen. James Mattis, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, told Congress that sanctions and diplomatic efforts to stop Iran from gaining nuclear capabilities are not working, and added that Tehran has a history of denial and deceit.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, asked Clapper if he agreed with Mattis.

"Not completely. I think the ... the sanctions are having a huge impact on Iran. And I think clearly that that is going to have an influence on their decision-making calculus. And we see indications of that. But where I do agree, at least to this point, it is — the sanctions thus far have not induced a change in Iranian government policy."

Collins said that fact suggests Mattis was correct in saying that the sanctions are not working.

In his assessment, Clapper warned about the impact of automatic, across-the-board budget cuts that kicked in March 1, arguing that it will degrade the ability of the intelligence community.

The top U.S. intelligence chief said the budget cuts have jeopardized America's security and safety — and will only get worse over time. He said the reductions will shave about $4 billion from intelligence budgets. He said that amounted to about 10 percent of national intelligence programs.

Clapper said if the government is not careful, "we risk another damaging downward spiral."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the committee, pointed to successes in the war on terror — 105 terrorism-related arrests in the United States in the past four year and 438 convictions since Sept. 11, 2001.

___

New York cop convicted in cannibalism plot

NEW YORK (AP) — Police Officer Gilberto Valle's lawyers said he was just spinning sick and twisted fantasies for his own pleasure when he chatted online about abducting, roasting and eating women. A jury, though, decided he was deadly serious.

Valle, 28, was convicted Tuesday of conspiracy in a macabre case that opened a window on a shocking Internet world of cannibalism fetishists. He could get life in prison at sentencing June 19 but is likely to face much less.

His lawyers branded the outcome a "thought prosecution" that sets a dangerous precedent, while federal prosecutors said the verdict proved that Valle crossed the line from fantasy to reality and was genuinely bent on committing "grotesque crimes."

Valle slumped in his chair, dropped his head and wept when the verdict in what the tabloids dubbed the "Cannibal Cop" trial was announced after more than two days of deliberations: guilty of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and guilty of illegally using a police database.

The jurors left the courthouse without comment. Most did not immediately respond to emails and phone messages or declined to discuss the case.

Valle's mother, Elizabeth, shook her head.

"I'm in shock and want to be left alone," she said. As she sat on a wooden bench after almost everyone had left the courtroom, she said loudly: "This is going to kill my mother."

Prosecutors said Valle plotted in lusty, lip-smacking detail to abduct, torture and cannibalize six women he knew, including his wife. While none of the women were ever harmed — and only his wife discovered his schemes — prosecutors said he took concrete steps to carry out his plot.

They said the New York City police officer looked up potential targets on a restricted law enforcement database; searched the Internet for how to knock someone out with chloroform and where to get torture devices and other tools; and showed up on a woman's block after striking an agreement to kidnap her for $5,000 for a New Jersey man who wanted to rape and kill her. That man was also arrested and is awaiting trial.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement: "Today, a unanimous jury found that Gilberto Valle's detailed and specific plans to abduct women for the purpose of committing grotesque crimes were very real and that he was guilty as charged. The Internet is a forum for the free exchange of ideas, but it does not confer immunity for plotting crimes and taking steps to carry out those crimes."

The defense insisted all along that he was just fantasizing and never intended to harm any of the women.

"This was a thought prosecution," his attorney Julia Gatto said outside court after the verdict. "Obviously, the case involved thoughts that were unusual and bizarre and frankly very ugly. We think that the jury couldn't get past that and they never got to the law."

Another Valle lawyer, Robert Baum, said of the verdict: "It sets a dangerous precedent."

In one of the numerous online conversations shown to the jury, Valle told a man he met in a fetish chat room, "I want her to experience being cooked alive. She'll be trussed up like a turkey. ... She'll be terrified, screaming and crying."

In another exchange, Valle suggested a woman he knew would be easy prey because she lived alone. The men discussed cooking her, basted in olive oil, over an open fire and using her severed head as a centerpiece for a sit-down meal.

"I'm dying to eat some girl meat," Valle mused in yet another exchange.

During the trial, Valle's wife tearfully testified that she fled the couple's home with her baby and contacted the FBI after putting Internet tracking software on his computer and discovering what he was up to.

Members of the jury recoiled upon seeing what appeared to be mostly staged Internet images from a sexual fetish site Valle visited. The images included photos of wide-eyed women with apples stuffed in their mouths like roasted pigs and a video of a chained, naked woman screaming as flames appeared to scorch her crotch.

Marcellus McRae, a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles now in private practice, said it was a stretch by the defense to claim Valle was prosecuted for his thoughts because the jurors were required to find that he took one or more concrete steps to carry out the conspiracy.

"It's not just a thought crime. It's a thought-and-action crime and conviction," he said.

___

Save the Horses! Three Lawmakers Will Try to Ban Slaughter for Food

A trio of U.S. lawmakers is saying "no" to horse meat.

The U.S. is set to begin slaughtering horses again for the first time in six years, and recent news of Ikea sausages and British Taco Bell beef containing small amounts of horse has raised horse-meat alarm bells among the meat-consuming public.

Congress originally banned horse slaughter in 2006 by defunding USDA's horse-meat inspectors. But after the ban lapsed in 2011, a lawsuit and industry pressure has forced USDA to start inspecting again, and a company says it expects to open the first slaughterhouse in Roswell, N.M., within the next month and a half.

"These companies must still complete necessary technical requirements and FSIS [the Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service] must still complete its inspector training, but at that point, the Department will legally have no choice but to go forward with inspections, which is why we urge Congress to reinstate the ban," a USDA spokesperson told ABC News.

Enter Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Reps. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa., and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.

The three will introduce a bill on Wednesday that would put a stop to the pending horse slaughter.

The Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act, as the House version is dubbed, would not only ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption in the U.S. but would also prohibit shipping horses outside the U.S. for food slaughter. Unlike the appropriations rider that had prevented horse slaughter until now, the statutory ban would not expire.

The Humane Society of the United States and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will hold a press conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday with the three lawmakers, the two groups announced on Tuesday.

"Horses sent to slaughter are often subject to appalling, brutal treatment," Schakowsky said in a statement emailed to ABC News by a spokesperson. "We must fight those practices. The Safeguard American Food Exports Act of 2013 will ensure that these majestic animals are treated with the respect they deserve."