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Saturday, August 3, 2013 – Daily News 3B WORLD BRIEFING states. "It is not yet clear whether the cases reported from other states are all part of the same outbreak," the agency said in a statement. "The investigation of increased cases of cyclosporiasis in other states continues." The FDA traced illnesses from the restaurants to Taylor Farms de Mexico, a processor of food service salads. The agency said its investigation has not implicated packaged salad sold in grocery stores. US declares a worldwide travel warning WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States issued an extraordinary global travel warning to Americans Friday about the threat of an al-Qaida attack and closed down 21 embassies and consulates across the Muslim world for the weekend. The alert was the first of its kind since an announcement preceding the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This one comes with the scars still fresh from last year's deadly Sept. 11 attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, and with the Obama administration and Congress determined to prevent any similar breach of an American Embassy or consulate. "There is a significant threat stream and we're reacting to it," said Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He told ABC News in an interview to be aired Sunday that the threat was "more specific" than previous ones and the "intent is to attack Western, not just U.S. interests." The State Department warning urged American travelers to take extra precautions overseas, citing potential dangers involved with public transportation systems and other prime sites for tourists and noting that previous terrorist attacks have centered on subway and rail networks as well as airplanes and boats. It suggested travelers sign up for State Department alerts and register with U.S. consulates in the countries they visit. The statement said that al-Qaida or its allies might target either U.S. government or private American interests. The alert expires on Aug. 31. Divided and discourteous, Congress shows few actions WASHINGTON (AP) — The accomplishments are few, the chaos plentiful in the 113th Congress, a discourteous model of divided government now beginning a five-week break. "Have senators sit down and shut up, OK?" Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blurted out on Thursday as lawmakers milled about noisily at a time Sen. Susan Collins was trying to speak. There was political calculation even in that. Democrats knew the Maine Republican was about rip into her own party's leadership, and wanted to make sure her indictment could be heard. Across the Capitol, unsteady bookends tell the story of the House's first seven months in this two-year term. Internal dissent among Republicans nearly toppled Speaker John Boehner when lawmakers first convened in January. And leadership's grip is no surer now: A routine spending bill was pulled from the floor this week, two days before the monthlong August break, for fear it would fall in a crossfire between opposing GOP factions. A few weeks earlier, Boehner suggested a new standard for Congress. "We should not be judged on how many new laws we create. We ought to be judged on how many laws that we repeal," he said as Republicans voted for the 38th and 39th time since 2011 to repeal or otherwise neuter the health care law known as Obamacare. Senate bill presses NSA for numbers on phone record collection WASHINGTON (AP) — Exactly how many phone records of Americans does the National Security Agency collect in its massive surveillance program? Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, tucked a provision into the 2014 fiscal year defense spending bill that would require the NSA to report to Congress — within 90 days after the legislation becomes law — on the precise number of phone records collected, the total reviewed by NSA employees and all bulk collection activities, including how much they cost and when they began. The NSA also would have to provide Congress with a list of potential terrorist attacks that have been thwarted due to the information obtained through the sweeping data collection program. The Senate Appropriations Committee backed the report request on Thursday in voting for the overall bill. It first Senate effort aimed at the program since revelations two months ago that the NSA was collecting hundreds of millions of Americans' phone records as part of an effort to combat terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks. The disclosure has revived the debate — in the nation and Congress — over whether secret national security programs encroach on Americans' privacy rights. Skeptics wary of the program are pressing for changes though wholesale revisions are unlikely as surveillance efforts have the strong support of the Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate. Security forces to cordon off pro-Morsi sit-in sites CAIRO (AP) — Authorities outlined plans Friday to break up two sitins by supporters of deposed President Mohammed Morsi, saying they would set up a cordon around the protest sites, and riot police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators threatening a TV complex. Morsi backers also showed their defiance by briefly setting up a third camp near the airport, but later folded their tents and left. The military-backed interim government seeks to end a political stalemate that has paralyzed Egypt and deeply divided the country. Supporters of Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood say they will not disperse until he is returned to power. The second-ranking U.S. diplomat arrived in the Egyptian capital for talks on the political crisis, as Secretary of State John Kerry warned both sides that "the last thing we want is more violence." Also Friday, Amnesty International reported cases of alleged killings and torture at the hands of Morsi supporters inside the protest camps, saying that one man had his throat cut and another was stabbed to death. FDA links stomach illnesses in IA, NE to 2 restaurant chains WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration says an outbreak of stomach illnesses in Iowa and Nebraska is linked to salad mix served at Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants in those states and supplied by a Mexican farm. The outbreak of cyclospora infections has sickened more than 400 people in 16 states. The agency says it is working to determine whether the salad mix is the source of illnesses in the other 14 HELP WANTED AUTO ROUTES DRIVERS WANTED RED BLUFF & CORNING AREAS Must be 21 or older & bondable. Call or apply in person Circulation Dept. Red Bluff Daily News (530) 527-2151 ext 128 DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY Mass. man pleads not guilty in poisoning WOBURN, Mass. (AP) — A man who said he had been extorted by James "Whitey" Bulger and hoped to testify at his trial was given iced coffee laced with cyanide that killed him, authorities said Friday, and a Massachusetts man was charged with attempted murder in his death. The poisoning was apparently unrelated to the case of reputed gangster Bulger, though the body of the potential witness, Stephen Rakes, was found July 17 in the woods in suburban Boston the day after he learned he would not be called to testify. Investigators found that the suspect in Rakes' death, 69-year-old William Camuti of Sudbury, owed Rakes money and acted alone, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said. Camuti pleaded not guilty to the charge and was being held without bail until a Tuesday hearing. A message seeking comment was left with his attorney. A murder charge has not been filed because the medical examiner is still waiting for test results. GOP leaders in key states slow the antiabortion push MILWAUKEE (AP) — Abortion is still legal but getting one in many states will be difficult if laws passed this year are upheld by the courts. In a march through conservative legislatures, anti-abortion Republicans passed a wave of new restrictions that would sharply limit when a woman could terminate a pregnancy and where she could go to do so. The push brought the anti-abortion movement closer to a key milestone, in which the procedure would become largely inaccessible in the threefifths of the country controlled by Republicans even if still technically legal under Roe vs. Wade. But rather than continuing to roll across the GOP heartland in synch with the pro-life movement's plan, the effort may now be hitting a wall. The obstacle comes not from opposing Democrats but from GOP leaders who believe pressing further is a mistake for a party trying to soften its harder edges after election losses last year. The resisting Republicans include governors and top legislators in more than a half-dozen states, including some of the largest and most politically competitive in the party's 30-state coalition. They are digging in to stop the barrage of abortion proposals, hoping to better cultivate voters not enamored with the GOP's social agenda. "It's a huge mistake if your ear is not in tune where people are," said Republican state Sen. Dale Schultz in Wisconsin, who is trying to fend off more abortion legislation in the state's GOP-controlled legislature, even though he says he personally supports it. "And we were pushing people too fast. All we're going to do is panic people and this is going to blow up if we don't begin to moderate on some of this stuff." Miss. requires umbilical cord blood from some teen moms JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — If a girl younger than 16 gives birth and won't name the father, a new Mississippi law — likely the first of its kind in the country — says authorities must collect umbilical cord blood and run DNA tests to prove paternity as a step toward prosecuting statutory rape cases. Supporters say the law is intended to chip away at Mississippi's teen pregnan- cy rate, which has long been one of the highest in the nation. But critics say that though the procedure is painless, it invades the medical privacy of the mother, father and baby. And questions abound: At roughly $1,000 a pop, who will pay for the DNA tests in the country's poorest state? Even after test results arrive, can prosecutors compel a potential father to submit his own DNA and possibly implicate himself in a crime? How long will the state keep the DNA on file? Republican Gov. Phil Bryant says the DNA tests could lead to prosecution of grown men who have sex with underage girls. "It is to stop children from being raped," said Bryant, who started his career as a deputy sheriff in the 1970s. "One of the things that go on in this state that's always haunted me when I was a law-enforcement officer is seeing the 14- and 15-year-old girl that is raped by the neighbor next door and down the street." US economy adds modest 162K jobs WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy is steadily adding jobs — just not at a consistently strong pace. July's modest gain of 162,000 jobs was the smallest since March. And most of the job growth came in lower-paying industries or part-time work. The unemployment rate fell from 7.6 percent to a 41⁄2-year low of 7.4 percent, still well above the 5 percent to 6 percent typical of a healthy economy. The rate fell because more Americans said they were working, though some people stopped looking for a job and were no longer counted as unemployed. All told, Friday's report from the Labor Department pointed to a less-than-robust job market. It suggested that the economy's subpar growth and modest consumer spending are making many businesses cautious about hiring. The report is bound to be a key factor in the Federal Reserve's decision on whether to slow its bond purchases in September, as many economists have predicted it will do. Some think July's weaker hiring could make the Fed hold off on any pullback in its bond buying, which has helped keep long-term borrowing costs down. Attention local business operators! Tehama County-Wide WED AUG 14 through SAT AUG 17 The Daily News has created discounted ad packages for these dates only to make it easy for Tehama County businesses and professionals to say THANK YOU to local shoppers for their support! Ad Deadline: Thursday, August 8 Window Posters and advance promotion of participating pusinesses in the paper, and online Contact your Daily News advertising representative today! DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY www.redbluffdailynews.com Gayla Eckels: 527-2151 x108 geckels@redbluffdailynews.com Suzy Noble: 527-2151 x103 snoble@redbluffdailynews.com