Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/133431
4B Daily News – Thursday, May 30, 2013 WORLD BRIEFING heart trauma on Cullen Finnerty, Lake County Sheriff Robert Hilts said. Finnerty's body was discovered Tuesday in woods in western Michigan, 65 miles north of Grand Rapids, following a search by dozens of people, including former teammates, coaches and current players at Grand Valley State University in Allendale. The 30-year-old was with his relatives on a holiday weekend at a cottage in Lake County's Webber Township. He disappeared Sunday while fishing a river separately from other relatives. The autopsy ''ruled out anything real obvious,'' Hilts said in a phone interview. ''There was nothing that stood out as to the cause of death. ... We're glad there is no foul play found at this time.'' Lawyer says soldier charged in Afghan massacre will plead guilty to avoid death SEATTLE (AP) — The Army staff sergeant charged with slaughtering 16 villagers during one of the worst atrocities of the Afghanistan war has agreed to plead guilty in a deal to avoid the death penalty, his attorney told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is scheduled to enter guilty pleas to charges of premeditated murder June 5 at Joint Base LewisMcChord south of Seattle, said lawyer John Henry Browne. A sentencing-phase trial set for September will determine whether he is sentenced to life in prison with or without the possibility of parole. The judge and the commanding general at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, where Bales is being held, must approve a plea deal. ''The judge will be asking questions of Sgt. Bales about what he did, what he remembers and his state of mind,'' Browne said. ''The deal that has been worked out ... is they take the death penalty off the table, and he pleads as charged, pretty much.'' An army spokesman, Maj. Gary Dangerfield, confirmed that a plea hearing is scheduled in the case for June 5, but said he could not immediately provide other details. Browne previously indicated Bales remembered little from the night of the massacre, and he said that was true in the early days after the attack. But as further details and records emerged, Bales began to remember what he did, the lawyer said, and he will admit to ''very specific facts'' about the shootings. Health law surprise: Many private policies could be canceled because they don't measure up WASHINGTON (AP) — Many people who buy their own health insurance could get surprises in the mail this fall: cancellation notices because their current policies aren't up to the basic standards of President Barack Obama's health care law. They, and some small businesses, will have to find replacement plans — and that has some state insurance officials worried about consumer confusion. Rollout of the Affordable Care Act is going full speed ahead, despite repeal efforts by congressional Republicans. New insurance markets called exchanges are to open in every state this fall. Middle-class consumers who don't get coverage on the job will be able to pick private health plans, while lowincome people will be steered to an expanded version of Medicaid in states that accept it. The goal is to cover most of the nation's nearly 50 million uninsured, but even Obama says there will be bumps in the road. And discontinued insurance plans could be another bump. Also, it doesn't seem to square with one of the president's best known promises about his health care overhaul: ''If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan.'' Syrian official says Assad will be president until 2014 BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's foreign minister laid out a hard line Wednesday, saying Bashar Assad will remain president at least until elections in 2014 and might seek another term, conditions that will make it difficult for the opposition to agree to U.N.-sponsored talks on ending Firing of head of Egypt's opera sparks cultural fight amid artists' worries AP photo Graduating Air Force 2nd Lieutenants throw their caps into the air at the completion of the commencement ceremony for the class of 2013, at the U.S. Air Force Academy, in Colorado, Wednesday. In the background, a group of WWII warplanes do a flyover. the civil war. Any deal reached in such talks would have to be put to a referendum, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem added in a TV interview, introducing a new condition that could complicate efforts by the U.S. and Russia to bring both sides together at an international conference in Geneva, possibly next month. Drawing a tough line of its own, the main exile-based political group, the Syrian National Coalition, reiterated that any negotiations require ''the head of the regime, security and military leadership to step down and be excluded from the political process.'' While the Assad regime has agreed in principle to attend peace talks, the opposition has not, insisting it first get international guarantees on the agenda and timetable. The coalition has been meeting for the past week in Turkey but spent most of that time arguing about membership issues, rather than making a decision about Geneva. In his wide-ranging comments, al-Moallem, an Assad stalwart with decades in top positions, reflected a new confidence by the government. The regime had seemed near collapse during a rebel offensive last summer but has scored a number of battlefield successes in recent weeks. Latest Syria developments BEIRUT (AP) — Here are the latest developments in the Syria crisis: — Syria's foreign minister and the main Western-backed opposition group issue terms that would make it difficult for U.S.-Russian sponsored peace talks on ending Syria's civil war to succeed. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem insists Bashar Assad will remain Syria's president at least until elections in 2014. He says that any deal reached in the proposed Geneva conference would have to be put to a referendum at home. The opposition Syrian National Coalition demands weapons and international guarantees that Assad would step down ahead of any talks. — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Syria is ''disintegrating'' and urges international support for the U.S.-Russian talks initiative. — The U.S., Turkey and Qatar push through a U.N. resolution demanding an inquiry into the fighting around the Syrian town of Qusair, near Lebanon, and condemnation of foreign fighters supporting Assad. The resolution, approved by a vote of 36-1 in the U.N. Human Rights Council, calls for urgent investigation into alleged abuses by government forces and Hezbollah fighters in Qusair. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says Syria's civil war is ''spilling out of control'' and represents a failure to protect citizens against war crimes and crimes against humanity that are now routine. — Britain sends a letter to the U.N.'s Ban with new information on three further incidents of alleged chemical weapons use by the Syrian government. US railroads are safer than ever but high-profile crashes disguise industry's record OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The nation's railroads are safer than ever, despite recent high-profile accidents like this week's fiery derailment in Maryland. Derailments and crossing accidents have steadily declined nationwide even as businesses have come to increasingly rely on trains to move their raw materials and products. The number of train accidents fell 43 percent to 1,712 between 2003 and last year, while the number of incidents at rail crossings dropped 34 percent to 1,960. And the total number of deaths declined 19 percent to 705 over the decade. Railroads have been investing in their equipment and track, their employee training and in technological tools to help detect problems before they can derail a train. Fewer derailments means fewer delayed deliveries and less need for railroads to re-route traffic for hours or even days. That all helps the industry's bottom line. ''There's a strong incentive in the industry to maintain and invest in infrastructure,'' said Allan Zarembski, an industry veteran who now leads the railroad engineering and safety program at the University of Delaware. US drone kills top Pakistani militant PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suspected U.S. drone strike killed the No. 2 commander of the Pakistani Taliban on Wednesday, Pakistani intelligence officials said, although the militant group denied he was dead. If confirmed, the death of Waliur Rehman would be a strong blow to the militant group responsible for hundreds of bombings and shootings across Pakistan. The United States has a $5 million bounty out on Rehman, who Washington has accused of involvement in the 2009 suicide attack on a U.S. base in Afghanistan that killed seven Americans working for the CIA. Missiles fired by a U.S. drone slammed into a house early Wednesday in Miran Shah, the main town of the North Waziristan tribal region, killing five people including Rehman, Pakistani officials said. Two officials said their informants in the field saw Rehman's body, while a third said intelligence authorities had intercepted communications between militants saying Rehman had been killed. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters. A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban denied the reports. Sheriff says no obvious cause of death after autopsy on former Grand Valley State QB DETROIT (AP) — A cause of death was not determined Wednesday after an autopsy on the body of a Michigan man who played Division II football and was one of the most successful quarterbacks in college history. There was no obvious sign of CAIRO (AP) — The Cairo Opera House has become a new battleground between supporters and opponents of Egypt's Islamist president, this time fighting over the direction of the Middle East's oldest music institution. The new culture minister fired the head of the opera house, part of a shakeup he said is aimed at injecting ''new blood'' across art and culture programs he says were stagnant and corrupt. But staffers are refusing any other boss to replace Enas AbdelDayem. Tuesday night, they protested outside her office, accusing the minister of bending to pressure from Islamists, and some held a sit in overnight to prevent any replacement from entering. Staffers have also closed the curtain on all performances. For the first time in the opera house's history, the opera Aida — composed by Giuseppe Verdi and debuted to the world in 1871 in Cairo— was cancelled in protest. Singers instead held up posters on stage that said, ''No to Brotherhoodization.'' ''In a stand against a detailed plan to destroy culture and fine arts in Egypt we decided as artists and management to abstain from performing tonight's Opera Aida,'' conductor Nayer Nagi announced from the stage Tuesday evening. He vowed the halt would go on until the culture minister, Alaa Abdel-Aziz, is removed. Bachmann to leave Congress ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann announced Wednesday that her fourth term in Congress will be her last, choosing to leave on her own terms after a dismal 18 months in which her presidential bid collapsed and she barely managed to retain her House seat. Bachmann, a leading figure in the tea party movement, discussed the decision in a Web video sent to supporters by email. She said her departure was unrelated to ethics inquiries stemming from the failed presidential run and ''was not influenced by any concerns about my being re-elected.'' After eight years in Washington, Bachmann left the door open to other political options, though she didn't say what those might be. She was traveling in Russia as part of a congressional delegation and was not available for interviews. It was a sudden turn for Bachmann, the foster-parent-turnedconservative politician whose climb to prominence roughly coincided with the rise of the tea party. She swiftly became a face of the movement and helped found the tea party caucus in the House. But she was also at risk of being left behind as the movement matured. Her departure is part of a larger shift in tea party personalities such as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Rep. Allen West of Florida and former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who have moved over into conservative organizations and commentary roles. They've slowly been replaced by a new round of tea party-backed lawmakers such as Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho.