U.S. military will conduct an anti-submarine warfare exercise with South Korea early next month

The U.S. military will conduct an anti-submarine warfare exercise with South Korea early next month, sending a message to the North that Washington is committed to defending its ally, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the joint exercise, which is likely to annoy regional power China, would be conducted off the western coast of the Korean Peninsula and was aimed at defending against “sub-surface” attacks, particularly following the sinking of one of the south’s warships in March.

“This exercise certainly sends a clear message to North Korea that the U.S. is committed to the defense of the Republic of Korea,” Whitman told reporters. “Our commitment is unequivocal.”Asked about China’s likely negative reaction, Whitman said Beijing had no reason to view the joint series of exercises as a threat to its security.

“These exercises are intended to deter North Korea from future destabilizing attacks such as that which occurred with Cheonan,” he said, referring to the sinking of the South Korean warship earlier this year, which was blamed on Pyongyang.The North has denied involvement in the sinking of the Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors, and sees the latest string of joint exercises as a provocation by its neighbor and Washington.After Seoul competed drills near a disputed maritime border off the west coast this month, the North retaliated by firing a barrage of artillery shells in the same area.

SUCCESSION JITTERS

Relations across the divided peninsula have become more fraught following the attack on the Cheonan and there also is growing concern in Washington over the North’s increasingly unpredictable behavior.U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week that recent provocations by the North should be seen in the context of tensions surrounding the succession of leader Kim Jong-il, who is expected to hand over power to his youngest son.

Gates said Kim’s youngest son was probably seeking to “earn his stripes” with the North Korean military and he was concerned that there were more attacks ahead.The latest military exercise, planned for early September, followed a visit by Gates and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Seoul last month, Whitman said.The exercise will focus on anti-submarine warfare tactics, techniques and procedures and was designed specifically to improve the readiness and proficiency of U.S. and South Korean forces against potential sub-surface attacks, he said.Whitman said the exercise was still in the planning stages and declined to provide details on which U.S. ships might be involved or the scope or length of the exercise.As the North’s only major ally, China has called the U.S. drills a threat to both its security and regional stability.After a joint U.S.-South Korea naval drill in the Sea of Japan last month, China conducted its own heavily publicized military exercises.(Reuters)

Icelandic volcano forced airports in Ireland to close for a fourth day

SHANNON, Ireland, May 7 Ash drifting from an Icelandic volcano forced airports in Ireland to close for a fourth day Friday, disrupting plans for thousands of air travelers.Airports in Shannon, Sligo, Knock, Gal way, Donegal and Kerry were temporarily closed because of a huge ash cloud drifting from recent activity in Eyjafjallajoekull volcano, CNN reported.”The restrictions are required as the increased level of recent volcanic activity has created a massive ash cloud stretching 1,000 miles long and 700 miles wide,” the Irish Aviation Authority said.

Northerly winds were keeping most of the ash cloud over the Atlantic Ocean, the IAA statement said, but the size of the cloud has increased and “is encroaching on Irish airspace along the west coast of Ireland.”Airports in Ireland, Northern Ireland and western Scotland were closed earlier this week because of the ash. Last month, ash from the volcanic eruption disrupted European air travel for six days.

Euro control, Europe’s air traffic management agency, said the ash accumulation poses a new navigational obstacle because the cloud is climbing to 35,000 feet into the typical cruising altitude of transatlantic aircraft, The Daily Telegraph reported. Until recently, the ash was below 20,000 feet.Euro control said Thursday it would reroute flights between Europe and North America to avoid flying over the ash cloud off Ireland’s west coast.(UPI)

Is there anything you'd like to know about tsunamis?

SEASIDE, Ore. Amid the hundreds of people who walked up and down the promenade overlooking the Oregon coast at Seaside on Saturday was one man on a mission.”Is there anything you’d like to know about tsunamis?” Patrick Corcoran said as he approached passersby toting shopping bags or walking their dogs.In many cases, the answer was yes. Thus began a series of impromptu lectures on big waves, subduction zones and the real tsunami danger in the Pacific Northwest: not far-off quakes, but close-up ones.”These distant-event tsunamis are really nothing, and we tend to overemphasize them,” Corcoran said. “If people come away from this thinking tsunamis on the Oregon coast mean licking ice cream cones and strolling on the promenade here, that’s a terrible mistake.”Corcoran is an education and outreach specialist with Oregon State University’s Oregon Sea Grant program. He works with coastal communities on tsunami preparation.

With the media attention from Saturday’s massive earthquake in Chile and the tsunami that it spawned sure to attract gawkers to the coast, Corcoran figured it would be a “teachable moment.”The National Weather Service issued an advisory that covered the West Coast indicating a tsunami capable of producing strong currents or waves was expected. It was canceled by early evening, and amid typical swells of around 8 feet and a falling tide on Saturday afternoon, few effects from the tsunami were visible in Seaside or elsewhere in the Northwest.The western edge of the Cascadia subduction zone lies just off the Pacific Coast and runs from Mendocino, Calif., all the way up to Vancouver Island. The last major quake off the coast was 310 years ago, Corcoran said. They come every 330 years on average.Such a quake could easily send a 60- to 90-foot wall of water onto shore within half an hour, he said.

There was no danger of that on Saturday, but police and Coast Guard helicopters shooed people off the beach repeatedly. As soon as they were gone everyone went back on the sand, Corcoran said.He urged people to learn the difference between the distant tsunamis and the close-up ones – “We’re going to be Chile, not Hawaii,” he said – and plan in advance a spot on high ground to meet with loved ones if a big wave does come.”When the earth shakes it’s too late to be looking for your map,” he said