10 things you need to know today: May 28, 2012

Veteran Gerald Williams salutes during a Memorial Day ceremony at Brig. General William C. Doyle Cemetery in Wrightstown, N.J. — (Image credit: AP Photo/Mel Evans)

1. FALLEN TROOPS HONORED AT HOME AND ABROAD

At a Memorial Day service in Kabul Monday, top U.S commanders in Afghanistan read a letter written by a 23-year-old soldier who was killed in the country earlier this year. U.S. Marine Sgt. William Stacey had written a letter for his family that was to be read in the event of his death and offer an explanation as to what he was fighting for. "There will be a child who will live because men left the security they enjoyed in their home to come to his," Stacey, who was on his fourth deployment to Afghanistan, wrote. President Obama will honor the country's fallen warriors with a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery and a visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to mark the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. [Associated Press]

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Just after midnight Monday, tropical storm Beryl made landfall near Jacksonville, Fla., with wind gusts of 73 mph. The storm is set to bring some six inches of rain to the region in the next few days and cause coastal flooding in parts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Beryl is expected, however, to weaken as it comes inland and will likely be downgraded to a tropical depression later today. [ABC News]

U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan arrived in Syria on Monday, three days after 108 people, many of them women and children, were slaughtered in Houla, a suburb of Homs. The U.N. Security Council convened Sunday and unanimously condemned the Syrian regime for its role in the massacre, noting the presence of government artillery and tank shellings. The Syrian government has denied involvement. Annan is set to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and senior officials. Calling the massacre "horrific" and "atrocious," the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, said Monday that the U.S. would be prepared to take military action if all diplomatic options are exhausted. [CNN, New York Times]

At an inquiry into British press standards launched in the wake of the News of the World phone hacking scandal, former Prime Minister Tony Blair said he had only a "working relationship" not a "cozy" one with Rupert Murdoch and his media empire. Blair is under scrutiny for maintaining a relationship that some say was "closer than was wise" with Murdoch and News International. He did admit to courting the support of Murdoch's newspapers and other media before elections. [Telegraph]

Legal experts say that prosecutors may have a hard time convincing jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that Pedro Hernandez murdered 6-year-old Etan Patz 33 years ago. While the 51-year-old gave a voluntary, signed confession, there's no body and little physical evidence in the case, and false confessions are fairly common. Hernandez is being held in a psychiatric ward, and, according to his court-appointed attorney, he is schizophrenic and bipolar and has long been on medication. [Associated Press]