Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/146135
8A Daily News – Thursday, July 25, 2013 WORLD BRIEFING Showdown looming on privacy against security Snowden's lawyer says NSA leaker staying in Russia WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House on Wednesday weighed whether to end the National Security Agency's authority to collect hundreds of millions of Americans' phone records as the fight pitting privacy rights against the government's efforts to thwart terrorism got a new airing. A showdown vote, expected late in the day, marked the first chance for lawmakers to take a stand on the secret surveillance program since former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden leaked classified documents last month that spelled out the monumental scope of the government's activities. The issue created unusual political coalitions in Washington, with the Obama administration, national security leaders in Congress and the Republican establishment facing off against libertarian-leaning conservatives and some liberal Democrats. With a flurry of letters, statements and tweets, both sides lobbied furiously in the hours prior to the vote in the Republican-controlled House. The director of national intelligence, James Clapper, warned against dismantling a critical intelligence tool. Republican Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, chief sponsor of the effort, said it was designed to end the indiscriminate collection of Americans' phone records. MOSCOW (AP) — National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, who fled to Moscow's airport a month ago, aims to stay in Russia for the near future and learn the country's culture and language, his lawyer said Wednesday. To get him started, Anatoly Kucherena said he gave Snowden a copy of "Crime and Punishment," Dostoyevsky's lengthy novel about the torment and redemption of a man who thought himself outside the law. "I am not talking about the similarity of inner contradictions," Kucherena said after meeting Snowden in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo international airport, where Snowden has apparently been marooned since arriving from Hong Kong on June 23. The day's developments left the White House — and nearly everyone else — "seeking clarity" about the status of the man who revealed details of an NSA program to monitor Internet and telephone communications. When Snowden first arrived at Sheremetyevo, he was believed to be planning just to transfer to a flight to Cuba and then to Venezuela to seek asylum. But the United States, which wants him returned for prosecution, canceled his passport, stranding him. He hasn't been seen in public since, although he met with human rights activists and lawyers July 12. AP photo Chincoteague Ponies swim across Virginia's Assateague Channel in a heavy downpour on Wednesday during the 88th Annual Chincoteague Pony Swim. A portion of the herd will be auctioned on Thursday. Newest royal to be George Alexander Louis LONDON (AP) — The little prince was in need of a name, and now, by George, he's got one. Make that three: George Alexander Louis. The announcement Wednesday that Prince William and his wife, Kate, had selected a moniker steeped in British history came as royal officials said the new parents were seeking quiet family time away from the flashbulbs and frenzy that accompanied the birth of their first child. While the news put to rest intense speculation over what name the couple would choose, the extreme interest around it illustrated how the 2-dayold future heir is already on his way to a lifetime of fanfare and public glare. Kensington Palace said 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. OF ED. • FIDELITY NATIONAL TITLE CO. • JOHN WHEELER LOGGING, INC. • TRIPLE R GAS • RED BLUFF VISION CENTER • DUDLEY'S EXCAVATING, INC. • HINKLE ROOFING & CONST. • RED BLUFF HEALTH CARE • TEHAMA ESTATES • BRETNEY SUTTERFIELD • ETZLER FINANCIAL & INSURANCE • OLIVE CITY TAX PROFESSIONALS • PLACER TITLE COMPANY • AIRPORT AUTO REPAIR • KAY STEPHENS, MD • GREENWASTE OF TEHAMA • LOUISIANA PACIFIC CORP. • STEVE'S BACKHOE SERVICE Please help sponsor a classroom subscription Call Kathy at (530) 527-2151 to find out how. William and Kate were "delighted to announce" their son's name, adding that the baby will be known as "His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge." Dozens feared dead as passenger train derails in Spain MADRID (AP) — A train derailed in northwestern Spain on Wednesday night, toppling passenger cars on their sides and leaving at least one torn open as smoke rose into the air. Dozens were feared dead, with possibly even more injured. Authorities did not immediately release casualty figures. But a photographer at the scene said he saw dozens of what appeared to be dead bodies being extracted from the wreck by emergency workers. Spanish National TV showed footage of what appeared to be several bodies covered by blankets alongside the tracks next to the damaged train wagons. The photographer, Xabier Martinez, told The Associated Press that he also spoke to two injured train passengers who said they felt a strong vibration before the derailing. The accident occurred on high-speed tracks near the train station in Santiago de Compostola, 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of El Ferrol. Rescue workers were seen in the television images caring for people still inside some of the wagons. Weiner faces growing calls to withdraw NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony Weiner pressed ahead with his bid for mayor Wednesday despite growing calls for him to drop out over a new sexting scandal, saying the campaign is too important to abandon over "embarrassing personal things" becoming public. Rivals, newspaper editorial pages and at least one former New York congressional colleague urged the Democrat to quit the race a day after he acknowledged exchanging raunchy messages and photos online even after the same sort of behavior destroyed his congressional career two years ago. "I think he should pull out of the race. I think he needs serious psychiatric help," Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y. Weiner brushed off such calls as he prepared to testify at a public housing hearing and participate in a candidate forum in the evening. "I have posited this whole campaign on a bet, and that is that, at the end of the day, citizens are more interested in the challenge they face in their lives than in anything that I have done, embarrassing, in my past," he told an encampment of reporters as he left his Manhattan home in the morning. Detroit's woes reveal tension between state pension laws, federal laws As the once-proud city of Detroit humbles itself in bankruptcy court, its financial future may hinge on this key question: Is the city obliged to its past? Or can Detroit renege on its promises to thousands of retirees for the sake of its present city services? The legal question at the heart of Detroit's bankruptcy filing has never definitively been answered by the nation's highest courts. But it could become increasingly important as cities from coast to coast are grappling with shortfalls in pension funds that left unchecked could force cutbacks to police, firefighters and other essential city services. On Wednesday, the federal judge overseeing Detroit's bankruptcy ruled that city employees could not go to state courts to keep their pensions out of the bankruptcy case. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes said he would hear the pensioners' arguments in his court. Some cities, like Detroit, are located in states where pension benefits are guaranteed in full according to state constitutions, statutes or court precedent. Yet Detroit's emergency manager is asserting that those guarantees go away in federal bankruptcy court, leaving retirees in the same pool as numerous other creditors who may get mere cents for each dollar they are owed. "There's not a lot of previous case law that tells us what's going to happen here," said Paul Secunda, a Marquette University law professor who specializes in labor and benefits issues. Fears in response to Zimmerman verdict prove overblown The predictions were dire: Black people would burn and loot America's cities if George Zimmerman was found not guilty. White people everywhere would be attacked in revenge for the killing of Trayvon Martin. Judging from watercooler conversations, social media and viral emails, many people took these warnings seriously — yet they proved to be largely wrong. Community leaders and scholars say the overwhelmingly peaceful response to the Zimmerman verdict reflects increased opportunities for African-Americans, the powerful image of a black president voicing frustration with the verdict, and the modern ability to create change through activism and social media rather than a brick.