Facebook will preserve your aged photos using the tried-and-true freezer method, as billions of photos are headed for colder climates: a "cold storage" unit at Facebook's Prineville, Oregon data center.
Yesterday, the social network opened up the in-construction building to members of the media to demonstrate how it plans to make room in the fridge for the more than 350 million new photo uploads it sees each day, but still keep distant memories alive for revisiting.
Facebook currently houses 240 billion photos, a massive collection that consumes 7 billion petabytes per month. The cold storage process takes into account a photo's lifecycle to transfer a "cold" photo, or one that's transitioned from active moment to old memory, to a more efficient cold storage server.
The company plans to have the first of three 16,000-square-foot cold storage data hubs functioning by fall, according to The Oreganian. The paper paid a visit to the new data center yesterday and said the building is currently just a frame and a concrete pad.
Last month, Jay Parikh, Facebook's vice president of infrastructure, explained that the company's process for storing photos was too inefficient to support the active storage of billions of photos. The new cold storage rack, which will keep cold photos on ice, has eight times the storage capacity of a normal server, but consumes a quarter of the power.
In essence, the specialized units have been designed to let Facebook freeze photo memories and thaw them out when need be.
ST. LOUIS Blinding snow, at times accompanied by thunder and lightning, bombarded much of the nation's midsection Thursday, causing whiteout conditions, making major roadways all but impassable and shutting down schools and state legislatures.
Kansas was the epicenter of the winter storm, with parts of the state buried under 14 inches of powdery snow, but winter storm warnings stretched from eastern Colorado through Illinois. Freezing rain and sleet were forecast for southern Missouri, southern Illinois and Arkansas. St. Louis was expected to get all of the above — a treacherous mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain.
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Biggest storm in central U.S. in two years
CBS News weather consultant David Bernard reported on "CBS This Morning" Thursday that very heavy snow squalls were moving from Wichita, Kan., into Kansas City, Mo., where it looks like it's going to snow hard for about the entire day.
Forecast models show the snowstorm pivoting from southwest to northeast throughout the afternoon hours, so Wichita would see improvement late Thursday, but northeastern Kansas and most of Missouri would be looking at heavy snowfall until at least Thursday night, Bernard reports.
Several accidents were blamed on icy and slushy roadways, including two fatal accidents. Most schools in Kansas and Missouri, and many in neighboring states, were closed. Legislatures shut down early in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Nebraska and Iowa.
By midmorning Thursday, the snowfall was so heavy that Kansas City International Airport shut down. About 90 flights were also cancelled at Lambert Airport in St. Louis, where sleet and ice began falling late-morning.
"Thundersnow" accompanied the winter storm in parts of Kansas and Missouri, which National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Truett said is the result of an unstable air mass, much like a thunderstorm.
"Instead of pouring rain, it's pouring snow," Truett said. And pouring was a sound description, with snow falling at a rate of 1 1/2 to 2 inches per hour in some spots. Kansas City got 5 inches in two hours.
Snow totals passed the foot mark in many places: Monarch Pass, Colo., had 17 1/2 inches, Hutchinson, Kan., 14 inches and Wichita 13 inches. The National Weather Service said up to 18 inches of snow were possible in Kansas towns such as Salina, Russell and Great Bend.
With that in mind, Kansas transportation officials — and even the governor — urged people to simply stay home. Drivers were particularly warned away from the Kansas Turnpike, as whiteout conditions meant low visibility for the length of the turnpike, from Oklahoma to Kansas City.
Interstate 70, which runs the length of Kansas, was also snow-packed and icy. State transportation officials closed a 90-mile stretch of I-70 between Salina and Hays.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback closed executive offices, except for essential personnel.
"If you don't have to get out, just really, please, don't do it," Brownback said.
Some travelers gave up, filling hotels rather than skating across dangerous roadways.
At the Econo Lodge in WaKeeney, Kan., assistant manager Michael Tidball said the 48-room hotel was full by 10 p.m. Wednesday and that most guests were opting to stay an extra day. He said travelers reported that snow was freezing on their windshields faster than wipers could keep them clean.
The blowing snow didn't stop everyone. Christy Walker, a waitress at the Polly Anna Cafe in Woodward, Okla., got stuck in the 8 inches of snow during her drive into work. But business in the western Oklahoma town was brisk, she said.
"It's affecting everybody who is hungry and wants to come out to eat," she said. "I'm extremely busy right now."
Areas in western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle also had up to 8 inches of snow by Thursday morning. Arkansas saw a mix of precipitation — some got a combination of hail, sleet and freezing rain, while others got up to 6 inches of snow. Forecasters warned that northern Arkansas could get a half-inch of ice accumulation.
Near the Nebraska-Kansas border, as much as 8 inches fell overnight, while western Nebraska saw about half of that amount, National Weather Service forecaster Shawn Jacobs said.
Two fatal accidents were attributed to winter weather on Wednesday. In Oklahoma, 18-year-old Cody Alexander of Alex, Okla., died when his pickup truck skidded on a slushy state highway into oncoming traffic and struck a truck. And in Nebraska, 19-year-old Kristina Leigh Anne Allen of Callaway died when a sport utility vehicle lost control in snowy, icy conditions, crossed the median and struck her car.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency Thursday morning and activated the State Emergency Operations Center. The declaration allows state agencies to coordinate directly with cities and counties to provide emergency services.
Kansas City-area roads were a mess. Portions of I-70 and I-35 were closed along with many other roads because of snow drifts and slippery conditions. The Missouri Department of Transportation said Interstate 44 near Springfield was completely covered with ice Thursday morning, and traffic was moving very slow.
In Jefferson City, Mo., off-duty police sergeant Randy Werner had been perched atop a hotel for more than 24 hours as a publicity stunt for a charitable fundraiser.
As large snowflakes pelted him in the face Thursday morning, Werner defiantly declared: "The weather's not bothering me, I can assure you."
He then acknowledged that was a lie.
"It's blustery," he said. Werner planned to cut his effort short, having raised less than a third of his goal.
The St. Louis region prepared with some uncertainty. Depending on the temperature and the trajectory of the storm, St. Louis could get snow, freezing rain, ice, sleet or all or some of the above. Crews were hoping to spread enough salt to keep at least the major roadways moving.
Alex Sosnowski, a meteorologist for Accuweather, said the storm will push off into the Great Lakes and central Appalachians, and freezing rain could make it as far east and south as North Carolina. He also said a "spin-off" storm was expected to create heavy snow in New England, and could push Boston to a February record.
Accuweather said that by the time the storm dies out, at least 24 states will be affected.
A drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas strip early this morning by the occupants of a Range Rover SUV, who shot at the occupants of a Maserati, caused a multi-car accident and car explosion that left three dead.
Police said that they believe a group of men riding in a black Range Rover Sport SUV pulled up alongside a Maserati around 4:20 a.m. today and fired shots into the car, striking the driver and passenger, according to Officer Jose Hernandez of the Las Vegas Metropolitan police department.
The Maserati then swerved through an intersection, hitting at least four other cars. One car that was struck, a taxi with a driver and passenger in it, caught on fire and burst into flames, trapping both occupants, Hernandez said.
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The SUV then fled the scene, according to cops.
The driver of the Maserati died from his gunshot wounds at University Medical Center shortly after the shooting, according to Sgt. John Sheahan.
The driver and passenger of the taxi both died in the car fire.
At least three individuals, including the passenger of the Maserati, were injured during the shooting and car crashes and are being treated at UMC hospital.
Police are scouring surveillance video from the area, including from the strip's major casinos, to try and identify the Range Rover and its occupants, according to police.
They do not yet know why the Range Rovers' occupants fired shots at the Maserati or whether the cars had local plates or were from out of state.
No bystanders were hit by gunfire, Hernandez said.
"We're currently looking for a black Range Rover Sport, with large black rims and some sort of dealership advertising or advertisement plates," Hernandez said. "This is an armed and dangerous vehicle."
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority had no immediate comment about the safety of tourists in the wake of the shooting today.
SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's government resigned on Wednesday after mass protests against high power prices and falling living standards, joining a long list of European administrations felled by austerity during four years of debt crisis.
Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, an ex-bodyguard who took power in 2009 on pledges to root out graft and raise incomes in the European Union's poorest member, faces a tough task of propping up eroding support ahead of an expected early election.
Wage and pension freezes and tax hikes have bitten deep in a country where earnings are less than half the EU average and tens of thousands of Bulgarians have rallied in protests that have turned violent, chanting "Mafia" and "Resign".
Moves by Borisov on Tuesday to blame foreign utility companies for the rise in the cost of heating homes was to no avail and an eleventh day of marches saw 15 people hospitalized and 25 arrested in clashes with police.
"My decision to resign will not be changed under any circumstances. I do not build roads so that blood is shed on them," said Borisov, who began his career guarding the Black Sea state's communist dictator Todor Zhivkov.
A karate black belt, Borisov has cultivated a Putin-like "can-do" image since he entered politics as Sofia mayor in 2005 and would connect with voters by showing up on the capital's rutted streets to oversee the repair of pot-holes.
But critics say he has often skirted due process, sometimes to the benefit of those close to him, and his swift policy U-turns have wounded the public's trust.
The spark for the protests was high electricity bills, after the government raised prices by 13 percent last July. But it quickly spilled over into wider frustration with Borisov and political elites with perceived links to shadowy businesses.
"He made my day," said student Borislav Hadzhiev in central Sofia, commenting on Borisov's resignation. "The truth is that we're living in an extremely poor country."
POLLS, PRICES
The prime minister's final desperate moves on Tuesday included cutting power prices and risking a diplomatic row with the Czech Republic by punishing companies including CEZ, moves which conflicted with EU norms on protection of investors and due process.
CEZ officials were hopeful on Wednesday that it would be able to avoid losing its distribution license after all and officials from the Bulgarian regulator said the company would not be punished if it dealt with breaches of procedure.
But shares in what is central Europe's largest publicly-listed company fell another 1 percent on Wednesday.
If pushed through, the fines for CEZ and two other foreign-owned firms will not encourage other investors in Bulgaria, who already have to navigate complicated bureaucracy and widespread corruption and organized crime to take advantage of Bulgaria's 10-percent flat tax rate.
Financial markets reacted negatively to the turbulence on Wednesday. The cost of insuring Bulgaria's debt rose to a three-month high and debt yields rose some 15 basis points, though the country's low deficit of 0.5 percent of gross domestic product means there is little risk to the lev currency's peg against the euro.
Borisov's interior minister indicated that elections originally planned for July would probably be pulled forward by saying that his rightist GERB party would not take part in talks to form a new government.
MILLIONS GONE
GERB's woes have echoes in another ex-communist EU member, Slovenia, where demonstrators have taken to the streets and added pressure to a crumbling conservative government.
A small crowd gathered in support of Borisov outside Sofia's parliament, which is expected to approve his resignation on Thursday, while bigger demonstrations against the premier were expected in the evening.
Unemployment in the country of 7.3 million is far from the highs hit in the decade after the end of communism but remains at 11.9 percent. Average salaries are stuck at around 800 levs ($550) a month and millions have emigrated, leaving swathes of the country depopulated and little hope for those who remain.
GERB's popularity has held up well and it still led in the latest polls before protests grew in size last weekend, but analysts say the opposition Socialists should draw strength from the demonstrations.
The leftists, successors to Bulgaria's communist party, have proposed tax cuts and wage hikes and are likely to raise questions about public finances if elected.
(Additional reporting by Angel Krasimirov; editing by Patrick Graham)
DUBAI: Petra Kvitova, the former Wimbledon champion from the Czech Republic, continued her exciting return to form here on Wednesday with a performance which edged her nearer the tenth title of her career.
Kvitova's brilliantly masked hitting eased her into the quarter-finals of the $2,000,000 Dubai Open with a 7-5, 7-6 (7/1) win over Ana Ivanovic, the former French Open champion from Serbia.
It sets her up with a last eight match against Agnieszka Radwanska, the defending champion, and who she has painful memories of as the Pole beat her in the end of year Istanbul tournament last year.
Kvitova's match was full of fine ground strokes between two players who are gradually regaining some of their former excellence after fitness problems.
It lurched unpredictably, first one way and then the other.
Kvitova led 5-1 in the first set and 5-3 in the second and both times Ivanovic increased her ratio of early attacks and worked her way back to parity.
However Kvitova's outstanding facility for disguise tipped the balance.
"From the forehand I can think about going for every point a hundred percent and make winners from that side," she said.
Radwanska had to work hard to get past Yulia Putintseva, an 18-year-old wild card player from Kazakhstan, by 7-5 6-3.
Radwanska acknowledged the promise of her opponent.
"I really want to see her, you know, in a couple of months, how she's gonna play and what her ranking is going to be," the world number four from Poland said.
Kvitova was not displeased with this quarter-final draw.
"I played her last time Istanbul and I lost to her," she said with a blunt look, which recalled that in the process she also lost her WTA Championship season-end title.
"I'm looking for revenge, for sure."
Both players title hopes were boosted after the withdrawal of world number one Serena Williams earlier on Wednesday with a back injury. This followed Monday's withdrawal of top-seeded Victoria Azarenka with a heel injury.
Another reason for Kvitova's fine form, which saw her lead Williams 4-1 in the final set in Doha last week, is the improvement in her physical fitness compared with last year.
"I changed my fitness coach," she says.
"So it's different exercises, and working on different muscles. I have to get used to that and continue with it and to show it on the court then."
Another who might capitalise on the absence of the top two is Caroline Wozniacki, the former world number one from Denmark who won the title here two years ago.
She also looked in good form as she overwhelmed Zheng Jie, the former Wimbledon semi-finalist from China, by 6-0, 6-1.
Wozniacki looks fitter too and is trying to reproduce the movement and consistency which got her to the top in 2010 and 2011.
She was asked to explain the curiosity of her father-coach Piotr coming on to court to offer advice despite her rampant first set performance.
"It's just because we practise a lot of things," said Wozniacki. "He gives me some pointers, about what I need to remember, what we have practiced, and what can still be improved.
"It doesn't matter if you win 6-0 or 6-3, at the end of the day you want to win but you also want to try a few of the things that you have been practising."
Wozniacki next plays Marion Bartoli, the former Wimbledon finalist from France, who enjoyed her second piece of rare luck in this tournament by receiving a walk-over from Williams.
Bartoli was earlier given a wild card into the tournament after submitting her entry late.
The legal war between Oracle and Google has been rather muted for the last several months, but there could be a major new twist in the case.
Reuters has reported that legal representatives for Microsoft told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a briefing yesterday that it would support Oracle.
We reached out to Oracle to confirm, but the Redwood Shores, Calif.-based corporation declined to comment.
Not many more details are available at this time, but it would seemingly line up with Microsoft's other patent-related lawsuits against Motorola Mobility, now a Google subsidiary.
To recall, Oracle originally sued Google in 2010 over copyright infringement related to the use of 37 Java APIs used on the Android mobile operating system.
Google argued they were free to use because the Java programming language is free to use, and the APIs are required to use the language. Oracle tried to make the case that Google had knowingly used the APIs without a license from Sun Microsystems, which was bought by Oracle in 2010.
But last spring, a federal jury at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco sided with Google on nearly all of the copyright claims as well as on all of the patent disputes.
At this point in the case, Oracle is working on an appeal after a federal judge rejected the Java owner's motion for a new trial. The two parties also met several times last summer to discuss damages.
In one instance, at a case management hearing in June, Oracle's legal team explained that it filed a stipulation in which Google was asked to pay $0 in statutory damages (in reference to the nine lines of code in the rangeCheck method and the test files) in order to move proceedings along faster as it works toward an appeal.
This story originally appeared at ZDNet under the headline "Microsoft teaming up with Oracle against Google in Java case?"
PRETORIA, South AfricaThe investigating officer in the Oscar Pistorius murder case made an error in his court testimony Wednesday when he identified a substance found in the athlete's bedroom as testosterone, the national prosecutor said.
Medupe Simasiku, the spokesman for South Africa's National Prosecution Agency, told The Associated Press that it was too early to identify the substance as it was still undergoing laboratory tests.
"It is not certain (what it is) until the forensics." Simasiku said, adding that it wasn't certain if it was "a legal or an illegal medication for now."
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Pistorius case: Police say they found testosterone, needles in bathroom
19 Photos
Olympic athlete charged with murder
Detective Warrant Officer Hilton Botha, the investigating officer, said earlier in court during Pistorius' bail hearing that police found two boxes of testosterone and needles in the bedroom of the Olympic athlete, who is charged with premediated murder in the Feb. 14 shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
It was a mistake to identify the substance now, Simasiku said, as it was still unknown. He said the discovery of needles was in Botha's statement, however.
Pistorius denies murder, saying in an affidavit Tuesday that the Valentine's Day shooting was accidental because he thought there was an intruder in his house.
In response to Botha's claim, the defense said Wednesday, the second day of Pistorius' bail hearing at Pretoria Magistrate's Court, that the substance found was not a steroid or a banned substance but an herbal remedy.
Pistorius' lawyer Barry Roux had slammed Botha's testimony earlier, saying police "take every piece of evidence and try to extract the most possibly negative connotation and present it to the court."
International Paralympic Committee spokesman Craig Spence told the AP soon after the substance claims that Pistorius — the world's most famous disabled athlete — was drug tested twice in London last year by the IPC, on Aug. 25 and Sept. 8. Both test results were negative, Spence said.
The Aug. 25 test was an out-of-competition test, and the Sept. 8 one in-competition, a day before the end of the London Paralympics.
The International Olympic Committee said it didn't test Pistorius at the Olympics, but referred the AP to the IPC's negative tests. International athletics body the IAAF and the World Anti-Doping Agency would not comment because it was an ongoing legal case.
"Bearing in mind the ongoing police investigation, WADA must refrain from making any statement at present," WADA said.
Giving testimony, Botha said police made the discovery of testosterone in bedroom of the double-amputee runner and multiple Paralympic champion's upscale Pretoria house after the shooting of Steenkamp but offered no further details or explanation. State prosecutor Gerrie Nel also had to correct Botha when he initially called it "steroids."
Simasiku later told the AP that the detective, Botha, thought it was testosterone by reading the first few letters of the label.
Pistorius' lawyer Roux, said on questioning the detective — who has 16 years' experience as a detective and 24 years with the police — that it was not a banned substance and that police were trying to give the discovery a "negative connotation."
"It is an herbal remedy," Roux said. "It is not a steroid and it is not a banned substance."
The debate over the substance added another dramatic twist to a case that has already gripped the world's attention since Steenkamp's killing at Pistorius' home last Thursday.
Prosecutor Nel also had to clarify that police were not saying that Pistorius was using the substance, only that it was discovered along with the needles in his bedroom.
Pistorius said Tuesday in a written affidavit and read in court by Roux that he mistakenly killed model Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day when he fired four shots into a locked toilet door, hitting his girlfriend three times after thinking she was a dangerous intruder.
The prosecution claims Pistorius intended to kill the 29-year-old Steenkamp after they had a fight.
As prosecutors today outlined their case against South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius, providing details that they say indicates a premeditated act of murder against his girlfriend, his lawyers swatted at each bit of evidence on the dramatic second day of a bail hearing that will likely foreshadow the upcoming trial.
The Johannesburg courtroom sat riveted as police investigators said that Pistorius, a double-amputee who gained global acclaim for racing at the 2012 London Olympics, shot his girlfriend through a closed bathroom door at a high angle from which he had to be wearing his prosthetic legs.
Prosecutors insisted that Pistorius took a moment to put the legs on, indicating that he thought out and planned to kill Reeva Steenkamp, his model girlfriend, when he shot her three times through a closed bathroom door early on the morning of Valentine's Day.
There was a "deliberate aiming of shots at the toilet from about 1.5 meters [about 5 feet]," prosecutor Gerrie Nel said.
Read Oscar Pistorius' Full Statement to the Court
Nel said Pistorius fired four shots into the bathroom, hitting Steenkamp three times in the head, elbow, and hip.
Nel also said a witness would testify to hearing "non-stop talking, like shouting" in the early hours before the dawn shooting.
Oscar Pistorius: Defense Presents New Evidence Watch Video
'Blade Runner' Appears in Court to Hear Murder Charges Watch Video
Pistorius' lawyer, who argued Tuesday that the runner accidently fired on Steenkamp believing she was an intruder, assailed each bit of the prosecution's evidence, even getting a lead investigator to concede that police had not found anything to conclusively disprove the Olympian's story.
"[The angle] seems to me down. Fired down," Police officer Hilton Botha told the court, suggesting Pistorius was standing high up on his fake legs.
PHOTOS: Paralympics Champion Charged in Killing
But when pushed by defense lawyer Barry Roux, Botha admitted he did not know whether Pistorius was wearing the prosthetics.
When asked about the witness who allegedly heard yelling between Pistorius and Steenkamp, Botha admitted under cross-examination that the woman was about 600 yards -- six football fields -- away at the time.
When the prosecutor questioned Botha a second time, he backtracked to say the witness was actually much closer.
The prosecution showed a floor-plan of the couple's apartment and said there was no way for Pistorius to cross from one side of the bedroom toward the bathroom, or retrieve his hidden pistol, without realizing Steenkamp was not in bed.
"There's no other way of getting there," prosecutor Nel said.
The defense further suggested that Steenkamp had gone to the bathroom on her own, and not to flee from Pistorius, because her bladder was empty. Had she simply run there to hide at 3 am, it would have more likely been full, Roux said.
Asked by defense attorney Roux whether Steenkamp's body showed "any pattern of defensive wounds," suggesting she had put up a fight, Botha admitted it did not.
Prosecutors also said that they found two boxes of testosterone and needles in the bedroom, although the defense disputed the finding, calling the substance a "herbal remedy," not banned drugs or steroids.
Botha told the court today that he arrived at Pistorius' home at 4:15 a.m., Feb. 14, to find Steenkamp already dead, dressed in a white shorts and a black vest, and covered in towels. The first thing Pistorius told police was that "he thought it was a burglar," officials said.
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro would win a presidential vote should his boss Hugo Chavez's cancer force him out, according to the first survey this year on such a scenario in the South American OPEC nation.
Local pollster Hinterlaces gave Maduro 50 percent of potential votes, compared to 36 percent for opposition leader Henrique Capriles.
Chavez made a surprise return to Venezuela on Monday, more than two months after cancer surgery in Cuba, to continue treatment at home for the disease that is jeopardizing his 14-year socialist rule.
He has named Maduro, 50, a former bus driver and union activist, as his preferred successor.
Capriles, 40, a center-left state governor who lost to Chavez in a presidential vote last year, likely would run again.
Chavez still has not spoken in public since his December 11 operation in Cuba. Venezuelans were debating on Tuesday the various possible scenarios after his homecoming - from full recovery to resignation or even death from the cancer.
There was widespread expectation Chavez would soon be formally sworn in for his new six-year term at the Caracas military hospital where officials said he was staying. The January 10 ceremony was postponed while he was in Cuba.
"The president's timeline is strictly linked to his medical evolution and recovery," said Rodrigo Cabezas, a senior member of Chavez's ruling Socialist Party who, like other officials, would not comment on when he might be sworn in.
CAPRILES ANGRY
Should Chavez be forced out, Venezuela's constitution stipulates an election must be held within 30 days, giving Capriles and the opposition Democratic Unity coalition another chance to end the socialists' lengthy grip on power.
Capriles, who crossed swords with Hinterlaces at various points during the presidential election, again accused its director, Oscar Schemel, of bias in the latest survey.
"That man is not a pollster, he's on the government's payroll," Capriles told local TV.
"He said in December I would lose the Miranda governorship," he added, referring to his defeat of government heavyweight Elias Jaua, now foreign minister, in that local race.
Opinion surveys are notoriously controversial and divergent in Venezuela, with both sides routinely accusing pollsters of being in the pocket of the other. But Hinterlaces successfully forecast Chavez's win with 55 percent of the vote in October.
Its latest poll was of 1,230 people between January 30-February 9.
Polls last year showed Capriles - an energetic basketball-playing lawyer who admires Brazil's centrist mix of free-market economics with strong social welfare policies - as more popular than any of Chavez's senior allies.
But Chavez's personal blessing of Maduro, on the eve of his last cancer surgery, has transformed his status and made him the heir apparent for many of the president's supporters.
As de facto leader since mid-December, Maduro also has built up a stronger public profile, copying the president's techniques of endless live TV appearances, especially to inaugurate new public works or promote popular policies like subsidized food.
He lacks Chavez's charisma, however, and opponents have slammed him as a "poor imitation" and incompetent.
EMOTION
Local analyst Luis Vicente Leon said that should Chavez die, Maduro would benefit from the emotion unleashed among his millions of passionate supporters in Venezuela.
"The funeral wake for Chavez would merge into the election campaign," he told a local newspaper, noting how Argentine President Cristina Fernandez's popularity surged when her husband and predecessor Nestor Kirchner died in 2010.
Maduro already has implemented an unpopular devaluation of the local currency and said more economic measures are coming this week in what local economists view as austerity measures after blowout spending prior to last year's election.
In Caracas, the streets were quieter after tumultuous celebrations of Chavez's homecoming by supporters on Monday. A few journalists stood outside the military hospital.
Prayer vigils were planned in various parts of Venezuela.
"We hope Chavez will stay governing because he is a strong man," supporter Cristina Salcedo, 50, said in Caracas.
Student demonstrators who had chained themselves near the Cuban Embassy last week, demanding more information on Chavez's condition, called off their protest after his return.
Until photos were published of him on Friday, the president had not been seen by the public since his six-hour December 11 operation, the fourth since cancer was detected in mid-2011.
The government has said Chavez is breathing through a tracheal tube and struggling to speak.
Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived in Caracas on Tuesday in the hope of visiting his friend and fellow leftist.
(Additional reporting by Deisy Buitrago, Mario Naranjo, Girish Gupta in Caracas, Carlos Quiroga in La Paz; Editing by Bill Trott)
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry will visit nine countries in Europe and the Middle East starting Sunday as he undertakes his first foreign trip as top diplomat, the State Department said Tuesday.
Kerry will visit Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar through March 6, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.
Nuland said that the former senator's trip was partly a "listening tour," although in Rome he will take part in a meeting with the Syrian opposition and fellow countries that support the forces against President Bashar al-Assad.
"He'll look forward to hearing from the Syrian Opposition Coalition, what more they think we can do, and also to hear from counterparts who are deeply involved in supporting the opposition," Nuland said.
The newly installed US secretary of state will notably discuss Syria with regional players including Turkey, Egypt and Qatar, she said.
In Egypt, where tensions have been rising two years after the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak, Kerry will meet with political leaders as well as civil society "to encourage greater political consensus and moving forward on economic reforms," Nuland said.
Kerry will also meet in Cairo with Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, while in Riyadh he will also meet foreign ministers from Gulf Arab kingdoms.
He is not visiting Israel or the Palestinian territories. Nuland noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was still forming a government and said Kerry would join President Barack Obama on an upcoming visit to the Jewish state.
Nuland said that Kerry would speak in Paris about Mali, where France's military recently intervened to force out Islamists who had seized vast swathes of the African nation.
Kerry, who spent part of his youth in Germany, will use his stop in Berlin as "an opportunity to reconnect with the city in which he lived as a child" and meet with young Germans, Nuland said.
Kerry's first trip as secretary of state marks a sharp change from that of his predecessor Hillary Clinton, who headed to Asia in a sign of the new Obama administration's focus on the fast-growing region.
Nuland said that Kerry will visit Asia "early in his tenure" but that with any additional stops on the upcoming trip, "an already long excursion would be even longer."
