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8A Daily News – Thursday, June 6, 2013 WORLD BRIEFING gle national security poliObama cy of my presidency,'' including the renewed names UN U.S. focus on the Asiaregion Ambassador PacificAmerican and the tricky relationship with Russia. Susan Rice as TSA drops his national plan to allow security passengers to adviser WASHINGTON (AP) carry small — Defying Republican critics, President Barack knives, bats Obama named outspoken diplomat Susan Rice as his national security adviser Wednesday, giving her a larger voice in U.S. foreign policy despite accusations that she misled the nation in the aftermath of the deadly attack on Americans in Benghazi, Libya. The appointment, along with the nomination of human rights advocate Samantha Power to replace Rice as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, signals a shift by Obama toward advisers who favor more robust American intervention overseas for humanitarian purposes. But it's unclear whether that philosophy will alter the president's policies in Syria, where he has resisted pressure to use U.S. military force to stem that country's civil war. Rice's appointment provides a measure of redemption after the contentious Benghazi investigations forced her from consideration as Obama's second-term secretary of state. The president, who vigorously defended Rice from the GOP criticism at the time, lauded his close friend Wednesday as a ''patriot who puts her country first.'' ''Susan is a fierce champion for justice and human decency. But she's also mindful that we have to exercise our power wisely and deliberately,'' Obama said in a White House Rose Garden ceremony. The 48-year-old Rice takes the influential national security post in the president's inner circle from Tom Donilon, who is stepping down in July after more than four years in the Obama White House. The president credited Donilon with having ''shaped every sin- WASHINGTON (AP) — The Transportation Security Administration is abandoning a plan to allow passengers to carry small knives, souvenir bats, golf clubs and other sports equipment onto planes in the face of fierce congressional and industry opposition, the head of the agency said Wednesday. By scuttling the plan to drop the knives and sports equipment from TSA's list of prohibited items, the agency can focus its attention on other priorities, including expanding its Pre-Check program to identify ahead of time travelers who don't pose a security risk, TSA Administrator John Pistole told The Associated Press. Pistole had unveiled the proposal to loosen the rules for carry-ons in March, saying the knives and other items can't enable terrorists to cause a plane to crash. He said intercepting them takes time that would be better used searching for explosives and other more serious threats. TSA screeners confiscate over 2,000 of the small folding knives a day from passengers. Skeptical lawmakers, airlines, labor unions and some law enforcement groups complained that the knives and other items in the hands of the wrong passengers could be used to injure or even kill passengers and crew. Last month 145 House members signed a letter to Pistole asking him to keep in place the current policy prohibiting passengers from including the knives and other items in their carry-on bags. Flight attendant unions organized protests in Washington and at airports across the country. And Airlines for America, which represents major U.S. airlines, as well as top executives from some of the nation's largest airlines, came out against the plan. to hospitals with minor injuries, Ayers said. He said a 14th person was also found in the rubble, but he declined to comment on the person's condition. Soldier pleads guilty in Afghan massacre Fla. woman, 84, claims $590M jackpot JOINT BASE LEWISMCCHORD, Wash. (AP) — The American soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians, many of them women and children who were asleep in their villages, pleaded guilty to murder Wednesday and acknowledged to a judge that there was ''not a good reason in this world'' for his actions. Staff Sgt. Robert Bales' plea ensures that he will avoid the death penalty for the middle-ofthe night slayings that so inflamed tensions with the Afghan population that the American military suspended combat operations. Prosecutors say Bales slipped away before dawn on March 11, 2012, from his base in Kandahar Province. Armed with a 9 mm pistol and an M-4 rifle equipped with a grenade launcher, he attacked a village of mudwalled compounds called Alkozai, then returned and woke up a fellow soldier to tell him about it. The soldier didn't believe Bales and went back to sleep. Bales then left to attack a second village known as Najiban. Relatives of the victims were outraged at the idea that Bales could escape execution when they spoke to The Associated Press in April in Kandahar. TA L L A H A S S E E , Fla. (AP) — An 84year-old Florida woman who bought her Powerball ticket after another customer let her get ahead in line came forward Wednesday to claim the biggest undivided lottery jackpot in history: $590 million. Gloria C. MacKenzie, who lives in a modest, tin-roof house in Zephyrhills, where the sole winning ticket in the May 18 drawing was bought, took her prize in a lump sum of just over $370 million. After federal taxes, she is taking home about $270 million, lottery officials said. She did not speak to a crowd of reporters outside lottery headquarters, leaving quickly in a silver Ford Focus with her son and family friends. She was accompanied at the lottery offices by two unidentified attorneys. MacKenzie bought the winning ticket at a Publix supermarket in the town of about 13,300 people 30 miles northeast of Tampa. It is best known for the bottled spring water that bears its name — and now, for one of the biggest lottery winners of all time. The $590 million was the second-largest lottery jackpot in history, behind a $656 million Mega Millions prize in March 2012, but that sum was split, with three winning tickets. Rubio hears out House conservatives Syrian troops, Hezbollah in search of path forward capture WASHINGTON (AP) strategic town — Sen. Marco Rubio, RFla., sought support from House conservatives Wednesday for far-reaching immigration legislation, but many lawmakers and the DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY proudly announce the 2013 Tehama County Medical Guide A reference guide to North State medical professionals and related medical services available to Tehama County residents. • 7,000 in full-run distribution of The Daily News • 3,000 additional distribution through May, 2014: Red Bluff Chamber of Commerce office/Visitor Center Hotels at Rolling Hills Casino and Red Bluff area Advertisers receive copies for countertop distribution. • Online version of this special publication is posted on RedBluffDailyNews.com, all year long, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! This highly viewed online edition reached over 15,000 unique visitors during 2012…don't miss the opportunity to reach this audience for 2013! • Digital technology allows viewers to "turn pages" and even click from your ad to your website! Red Bluff and Tehama County Chambers, Tehama County and City of Red Bluff post this special edition on their websites. FOR A LINK TO OUR 2012 PUBLICATION: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/72523 Advertising and Copy Deadline: FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 2013 INSERTS: SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 2013 1/8 Pg ........................... $199.00 1/4 Pg ........................... $325.00 Half Pg..........................$485.00 Full Pg..........................$765.00 Advertising Rates (cost includes same-size adjacent space for promotional copy, provided by advertiser) emerged from their meeting deeply skeptical of any comprehensive bill with a pathway to citizenship for immigrants here illegally. It underscored the challenges ahead for the immigration bill and for Rubio himself as he ramps up his sales job to conservatives ahead of Senate floor debate on the legislation beginning next week. ''I cannot vote for a bill that gives amnesty to illegal aliens here in this country. Will not. I think there are a lot of conservatives that are in that position,'' said Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., after hearing from Rubio and other senators at a meeting in the basement of the Capitol organized by the Republican Study Committee, a group of House conservatives. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., said Rubio's presentation was ''unconvincing.'' And House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said that the Senate bill written by Rubio and seven other senators in a bipartisan group ''has a long way to go from the House perspective.'' Inside Front ................... $1150.00 Inside Back....................$1015.00 Back Cover....................$1275.00 Center Double Truck.....$2175.00 For space reservations, contact your Daily News Display Advertising Representative at (530) 527-2151 BAALBEK, Lebanon (AP) — Syrian troops and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies captured a strategic border town Wednesday after a grueling threeweek battle, dealing a severe blow to rebels and opening the door for President Bashar Assad's regime to seize back the country's central heartland. The regime triumph in Qusair, which Assad's forces had bombarded for months without success, demonstrates the potentially game-changing role of Hezbollah in Syria's civil war. The gain could also embolden Assad to push for allout military victory rather than participate in peace talks being promoted by the United States and Russia. The Shiite militant group lost dozens of fighters in the battle for Qusair, underlining its commitment in support of Assad's regime and edging the fight in Syria further into a regional sectarian conflict pitting the Middle East's Iranianbacked Shiite axis against Sunnis. Most of the armed rebels in Syria are members of the country's Sunni Muslim majority, while Assad has retained core support among the country's minorities, including his own Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, along with Christians and Shiite Muslims. The overt involvement by Hezbollah, which is heavily invested in the survival of the Damascus regime, has raised tensions considerably in Lebanon, where the militants have come under harsh criticism. Philadelphia building being demolished collapses PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A building that was being torn down collapsed with a thunderous boom Wednesday, raining bricks on a neighboring thrift store and injuring at least 13 people in an accident that witnesses said was bound to happen. Rescuers pulled a woman trapped amid the rubble of a Salvation Army thrift store after they heard her voice, city Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said, and the search for survivors continued hours after the 10:45 a.m. collapse on the edge of downtown. Rescuers used buckets and their bare hands to move bricks and rubble. ''We do not know how many people were actually in the thrift store this morning when the wall collapsed on the building,'' Mayor Michael Nutter said late Wednesday afternoon. ''So the search and rescue will continue ... until we literally get to the basement and have uncovered everything we can possibly uncover.'' Survivors were taken K-8 Bend Elementary School Now part of Evergreen Union School District • Standards-Based Instruction/Curriculum • Grades K-8 • Transitional Kindergartners Welcome • Small Class Sizes • Safe Rural Setting with Access to Large School Resources • Focus on Developing the Whole Child with High Academics & Behavioral Expectations • Support for ALL Learners • After School SERRF Program INTERDISTRICTS WELCOME Enroll Now 530-527-4648 Bend Elementary - 22270 Bend Ferry Rd. Red Bluff, CA. www.bend.evergreenusd.com Woman training for half-mara discovers pain is a baby girl DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — An aspiring half-marathon runner in Minnesota attributed her unbearable back pain to a two-hour training session. A day later, she was cradling a newborn. Trish Staine, 33, says she had no idea she was pregnant before Monday's surprise birth. The Duluth mother of three said she hadn't gained any weight or felt fetal movement in the months before. And besides, her husband had a vasectomy. ''I said 'no, no, that's impossible,' '' Staine said Wednesday from her Duluth hospital room. ''I definitely thought I was done having kids,'' she joked. Staine and her husband, John, have a daughter, 7, and a son, 11. She's also stepmother to John's three boys, ages 17, 19 and 20. Staine said she ran for about two hours Sunday in preparation for the Garry Bjorklund half-marathon on June 22.