Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/130160
8A Daily News – Tuesday, May 14, 2013 WORLD BRIEFING Obama Philadelphia condemns abortion IRS targeting doctor guilty WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama of murder tried to swat down a pair of brewing controversies Monday, denouncing as ''outrageous'' the targeting of conservative political groups by the federal IRS but angrily denying any administration cover-up after last year's deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya. Simultaneous investigations — and demands by Republicans for more — have put the White House on the defensive, emboldened GOP lawmakers and threatened to overtake a second-term Obama agenda already off to a rocky start. During a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, the normally even-keeled Obama appeared agitated over the resurgent investigation into the September attack at a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi. He dismissed the Republicandriven effort as a ''sideshow'' that dishonors the four Americans who were killed, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. ''There's no there there,'' Obama declared in his first public comments since GOP lawmakers launched new hearings on the matter. ''The fact that this keeps on getting churned up, frankly, has a whole lot to do with political motivations.'' Seeking to keep another controversy from spinning out of control, the president rebuked the IRS for scrutinizing the tax-exempt status of groups with conservative titles such as ''Tea Party'' or ''Patriot'' in their names. Those responsible, Obama said, must be held ''fully accountable.'' PHILADELPHIA (AP) — An abortion doctor was convicted Monday of firstdegree murder and could face execution in the deaths of three babies who were delivered alive and then killed with scissors at his grimy, ''house of horrors'' clinic. In a case that became a grisly flashpoint in the nation's abortion debate, Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72, was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of an abortion patient. He was cleared in the death of a fourth baby, who prosecutors say let out a whimper before the doctor cut the spinal cord. Gosnell, who portrayed himself as an advocate for poor and desperate women in an impoverished West Philadelphia neighborhood, appeared hopeful before the verdict was read and calm afterward. The jury reached its verdict on its 10th day of deliberations. It will return May 21 to hear evidence on whether Gosnell should get the death penalty. Gosnell attorney Jack McMahon called it a ''very difficult case'' to defend and said there was ''a little bit of feeling on the defense part of what salmon must feel swimming upstream.'' Government subpoenas, obtains wide set of phone records WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a ''massive and unprecedented intrusion'' into how news organizations gather the news. The records obtained by the Justice Department listed outgoing calls for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP. It was not clear if the records also included incoming calls or the duration of calls. In all, the government seized the records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The exact number of journalists who used the phone lines during that period is unknown but more than 100 journalists work in the offices where phone records were targeted, on a wide array of stories about government and other matters. In a letter of protest sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, AP President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt said the government sought and obtained information far beyond anything that could be justified by any specific investigation. He demanded the return of the phone records and destruction of all copies. ''There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These records potentially masked police. The young men, both members of the 18th Street gang, had been shot in the head, their hands bound so tightly the cords cut to the bone. That was shortly after three members of 18th Street were detained by armed, masked men and taken to a police station. Two men with no criminal history were released, but their friend disappeared without any record of his detention. A month after the AP reported that an 18th Street gang leader and his girlfriend vanished from police custody, they are still missing. reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP's newsgathering operations, and disclose information about AP's activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know,'' Pruitt said. OJ Simpson returns to Las Vegas LAS VEGAS (AP) — The shackles and blue prison garb seemed to weigh down O.J. Simpson as he returned to a Las Vegas courtroom on Monday to ask for a new trial in the armed robbery-kidnapping case that sent him to prison in 2008. Looking grayer and heavier, the 65-year-old former football star and TV pitchman was flanked by guards as he nodded and raised his eyebrows to acknowledge people he recognized in the audience. A marshal had warned onlookers not to try to communicate with Simpson, and no words were exchanged. Still, a close friend saw a flash of the old, magnetic Simpson personality. ''Not much muscle tone,'' observed Sherman White, a former NFL defensive lineman, teammate and friend of Simpson since they both played for the Buffalo Bills. ''But you saw a little of the O.J. pizazz when he came in.'' Family members recount Honduran police raids TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — At least five times in the last few months, members of a Honduras street gang were killed or went missing just after runins with the U.S.-supported national police, The Associated Press has determined, feeding accusations that they were victims of federal death squads. In a country with the highest homicide rate in the world and where only a fraction of crimes are prosecuted, the victims' families say the police are literally getting away with murder. In March, two mothers discovered the bodies of their sons after the men had called in a panic to say they were surrounded by armed, Deadly car bomb strikes civilian area in eastern Libyan city TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — A deadly car bomb exploded Monday near a hospital in a busy area packed with civilians in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, destroying part of the facility, officials said. Officials gave conflicting casualty figures, with death tolls ranging from three to 10 in the chaotic aftermath of the attack. Benghazi, which was the birthplace of the revolution that led to the ouster of dictator Moammar Gadhafi, has suffered a series of assassinations and other attacks, including the Sept. 11 assaults on the U.S. diplomatic mission that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The oil-rich North African nation is still largely dominated by militias, many including fighters who battled Gadhafi's forces during the 2011 civil war, and many attacks are blamed on them as infighting is rampant in the battle for control. Through the Newspapers in Education program, area classrooms receive the Red Bluff Daily News every day thanks to the generosity of these local businesses & individuals. TEHAMA COUNTY DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF 885 NTY S I N C E 1 TEHAMA COU E VOICE OF THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING NEWSPAPERS • MODERN CLEANERS • DR. ASATO & MARTIN • WARNER ELECTRIC • RED BLUFF AUTO DISMANTLING • OLIVE CITY QUICK LUBE • WALMART • CORNING AUTO CENTER • NORTH MAIN AUTOMOTIVE • TEHAMA CO. DEPT. 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