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8A Daily News – Thursday, June 13, 2013 WORLD BRIEFING NSA director: surveillance programs disrupted dozens of terrorist attacks WASHINGTON (AP) — The director of the National Security Agency said Wednesday that once-secret surveillance programs disrupted dozens of terrorist attacks, explicitly describing for Congress how the programs worked in collecting Americans' phone records and tapping into their Internet activity. Vigorously defending the programs, Gen. Keith Alexander said the public needs to know how the programs operate amid growing concerns that government efforts to secure the nation are encroaching on Americans' privacy and civil liberties. ''I do think it's important that we get this right and I want the American people to know that we're trying to be transparent here, protect civil liberties and privacy but also the security of this country,'' Alexander told a Senate panel. Alexander said he will provide additional information to the Senate Intelligence Committee in closed session on Thursday and hopes to have as many details as possible within a week. He said he wants the information to be checked first by other agencies to ensure that the details are correct. But he also warned that disclosures about the secret programs have eroded agency capabilities and, as a result, U.S. allies and Americans won't be as safe as they were two weeks ago. Lawsuits challenging government surveillance face legal obstacles WASHINGTON (AP) — The government's massive collection of Americans' phone records is drawing protests and lawsuits from civil liberties groups, but major legal obstacles stand in the way. Among them are government claims that national security secrets will be revealed if the cases are allowed to proceed, and Supreme Court rulings that telephone records, as opposed to conversations, are not private to begin with. Justices have written recently about the complex issues of privacy in the digital age, and the high court could have the last word on challenges filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and others. The Obama administration has said the collection of phone records — telephone numbers and the time and length of calls — is necessary to protect Americans from terrorism and that it does not trample on their privacy. The National Security Agency collects millions of phone records from the United States each day, but says it only accesses them if there is a known connection to terrorism. The ACLU this week filed the most significant lawsuit against the phone record collection program so far. The suit demands that the courts put an end to the program and order the administration to purge the records it has collected. Conservative lawyer Larry Klayman also has filed suit over the program. Before either suit gets a full-blown court hearing, the administration could try to employ two powerful legal tools it has used in the past to block challenges to closely held surveillance programs. 13 days — an early sign that the proposal hadn't defused the demonstrators' concerns. Word of such a referendum came after Erdogan hosted talks with a small group of activists. Many civil society groups behind the protests boycotted those talks in the capital, Ankara, saying they weren't invited and that the attendees didn't represent them. The discussion was the first sign that Erdogan was looking for an exit from the showdown, and came hours after some European leaders expressed concern about strong-arm Turkish police tactics and hopes that the prime minister would soften his stance. After the meeting, a spokesman for Erdogan's Islamic-rooted party announced the referendum proposal at a news conference. Syrian extremist rebel fighters raid a Shiite Top military village in leader says retaliation BEIRUT (AP) — Syri- Army special an rebels, including Sunni extremists, stormed a vil- forces never lage and battled proregime militiamen, killing told to stand more than 60 Shiite fighters and civilians in an down after attack steeped in the sectarian hatreds that Benghazi increasingly characterize the civil war, activists said Wednesday. In the raid, which comes at a time when the West is worried that extremists are increasingly joining the rebellion, the victorious fighters raised black Sunni Islamist flags over the eastern village of Hatla. In amateur videos, the fighters — some wearing al-Qaida-style headbands — vented anti-Shiite slurs and fired in the air. ''The homes of the infidel Shiites were burned,'' the voice behind the camera in one video shouted as smoke rose in the background from several houses. In another video, the fighters pulled blankets off corpses to show them off, one with a wound to the head. A gunman talking to the camera gloated, saying, ''This is your end, dogs.'' The videos appeared genuine and conformed with other Associated Press reporting on the events depicted. The attack Tuesday on Hatla, in Syria's Deir elZour region near Iraq, underlined the increasingly sectarian nature of the conflict. WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday that four members of Army special forces in Tripoli were never told to stand down after last year's deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, disputing a former top diplomat's claim that the unit might have helped Americans under siege. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey said timing and the need for the unit to help with casualties from Benghazi resulted in orders for the special forces to remain in Tripoli. Four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, died in two separate attacks several hours apart on the night of Sept. 11. Gregory Hicks, a former diplomat in Tripoli at the time of the attack, told a House panel last month that the unit was told to stand down. Dempsey said that was not the case. ''They weren't told to stand down. A 'stand down' means don't do anything,'' he said. ''They were told that the mission they were asked to perform was not in Benghazi, but was at Tripoli airport.'' Party official: Turkish gov't A threat brewing from open to Iowa to Midreferendum ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's government on Atlantic: Wednesday offered a first concrete gesture aimed at massive ending nearly two weeks of street protests, propos- storms, strong ing a referendum on a development project in winds, hail Istanbul that triggered demonstrations that have become the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's 10-year tenure. Despite the offer, protesters continued to converge on Istanbul's Taksim Squire, the epicenter of repeated clashes between riot police firing tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets, and stone-throwing youths for CHICAGO (AP) — An unusually massive line of storms packing hail, lightning and tree-toppling winds was rolling through the Midwest on Wednesday and could affect more than one in five Americans from Iowa to Maryland. Meteorologists were even about the possibility of a weather event called a derecho (deh-RAY'choh), which is a storm of KWIK KUTS Family Hair Salon 20 % ANY RETAIL off PRODUCT with any chemical service of $50 or more 2 Regular $ Haircut 00 off Reg. $13.95 Not good with other offers Expires 6/30/13 With coupon 1064 South Main St., Red Bluff • 529-3540 strong straight-line winds spanning at least 240 miles. The storms are also likely to generate tornadoes and cause power outages that will be followed by oppressive heat, said Russell Schneider, director of the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. The weather service issued tornado warnings in several counties in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. ''We're becoming increasingly concerned that a major severe weather event will unfold,'' Schneider said. ''The main thing is for folks to monitor conditions and have a plan for what to do if threatening weather approaches.'' For the first time this year, the center was using its highest alert level for parts of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. In Chicago, Wednesday night's White Sox game against the Toronto Blue Jays was postponed in anticipation of bad weather and airlines canceled more than 120 flights at O'Hare International Airport. Border security at issue as Senate debates immigration WASHINGTON (AP) — Bickering across a deep divide, supporters of immigration legislation pushed back hard Wednesday against Republican demands for tougher border security measures before millions living illegally in the country could take the first steps toward U.S. citizenship. Even uncontroversial changes were snared in the political crossfire that erupted on the first full day of debate on the measure, as the two sides failed to agree on terms for voting on seemingly non-controversial proposals such as granting tribal officials a place on a Border Oversight Task Force. Public polling shows general support both for tougher border security and for allowing those living in the United States to gain citizenship after meeting certain legal, financial and other conditions. On an issue as contentious as immigration, that made the intersection of the two a fertile ground for dispute. As drafted, the legislation ''authorizes a permanent legalization program for illegal immigrants regardless of whether the Mexican border is ever secured,'' said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. The Senate's second-ranking leader also wants other measures implemented, including a biometric system to check everyone departing the country at a sea or airport, that Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said could take a quartercentury to take effect fully. ''We cannot, should not and will not tell those who have waited in the shadows for so long that they should wait for 25 years,'' said Schumer, who was part of a bipartisan ''Gang of Eight'' group of senators who negotiated the bill's basic provisions and then protected it from major changes in the Judiciary Committee last month. qualify for an organ donation sparked debate over how organs are allocated was getting a double-lung transplant Wednesday after a match with an adult donor was made. Sarah Murnaghan, who suffers from severe cystic fibrosis, was receiving her new lungs Wednesday at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, family spokeswoman Maureen Garrity said. Murnaghan's relatives were ''beyond excited'' about the development but were ''keeping in mind that someone had to lose a family member and they're very aware of that and very appreciative,'' Garrity said. No other details about the donor are known, including whether the lungs came through the regular donor system or through public appeals. Murnaghan's health was deteriorating when a judge intervened last week, giving her a chance at the much larger list of organs from adult donors. ''Some people would look at this and say it's evidence that if you get a PR campaign, a congressman and federal judge to pay attention, you're going to have far greater access to a transplant, but I don't think that's true,'' said ethicist Arthur Caplan of the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York of the Murnaghans' public stance. Attorneys could get to delve deeper into potential jurors in AEG Live Zimmerman CEO murder trial SANFORD, Fla. (AP) describes — Attorneys trying to seat a jury in George Michael Zimmerman's trial for shooting an unarmed Jackson as teen stopped questioning a white man in his 20s forceful Wednesday after he gave answers that indicated he businessman wouldn't be impartial. The juror, known as ''R-39'' because potential panelists can be identified only by their numbers, said that ''murder is murder,'' even if it's self-defense. Zimmerman, 29, is pleading not guilty to second-degree murder, claiming he shot 17year-old Trayvon Martin last year in self-defense. A 44-day delay in Zimmerman's arrest last year led to protests around the U.S. They questioned whether the Sanford Police Department was seriously investigating the case of Martin, a black teen from the Miami area. Zimmerman, who was a neighborhood watch volunteer in his gated community of Sanford, identifies himself as Hispanic. The potential juror left the Florida courtroom without defense attorneys asking questions. Attorneys had interviewed two dozen potential jurors by the end of the third day of selection, including 10 on Wednesday. At least 70 jury candidates have been dismissed. Pa. girl gets adult lungs for transplant PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A 10-year-old girl whose efforts to LOS ANGELES (AP) — The head of AEG Live LLC told jurors Wednesday that he knew Michael Jackson as a sophisticated, forceful businessman and not the drugged-up performer who's been described throughout an ongoing civil trial filed over the singer's untimely death. Jackson was a far more complex figure than has been portrayed during the trial of a case filed by the singer's mother against AEG Live over her son's death, said Randy Philips, the company's president and CEO. Phillips said based on meetings he had with Jackson in 2008 and early 2009, he found Jackson to be a ''sophisticated man who had control of his life.'' The portrait of Jackson that's been presented to the jury during the seven-week trial has been inaccurate, Phillips said. Jackson was described by both sides in opening statements as struggling with prescription drug addiction throughout his life. Phillips said he disagreed with the descriptions of Jackson ''because he's been presented as drug-addled 5year-old. That was not the man I dealt with. The man I dealt with was forceful. Kind, but determined. He was a force.'' Sierra Sound Country Canine NEW & USED CD's Caring for the whole dog Special Orders Avail. Car Stereo Sales - Service Installation We make house calls! 226 So. Main St., Red Bluff 527-3735 Luxury Day Spa ALL PRICES INCLUDE: • Nail Clipping • Teeth Brushing • Ear Cleaning • UV Protection Finish $ 3.00 OFF for new clients (cannot be combined with any other offers) 530-526-9887 645 Antelope Blvd. • Suite 8 Red Bluff, Ca 96080 www.countrycaninedayspa.com