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Newsfeed WASHINGTON TheUnited States has deployed 80 mil- itary personnel to Chad to help locate the nearly 300 girls kidnapped in Ni- geria last month, Presi- dent Barack Obama said Wednesday. Obama, in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and the Senate, no- tified lawmakers about the latest steps underway to as- sist in the return of the ab- ducted girls. Obama said the service members will help with in- telligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft for missions over northern Ni- geria and the nearby region. He says the force will stay in Chad until its support is no longer necessary. Chad shares a portion of its western border with northeastern Nigeria. According to Lt. Col. Myles Caggins, the 80 U.S. military personnel will help expand drone searches of the region. About 40 of the troops make up the launch and recovering teams for the drone being deployed there and the other 40 make up the security force for the team. Caggins said this lat- est deployment will not in- volve ground searches by the troops. INTERNATIONAL AID 80UStroopshelpseek kidnapped teen girls WASHINGTON Instantly on the attack, allies of Repub- lican leader Mitch McCon- nell launched a televised bar- rage against newly minted Democratic challenger Al- ison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky's high-stakes Sen- ate race on Wednesday, a day after primaries in sev- eral states that also set up a Republican runoff in Georgia and left tea party insurgents still scratching for a break- through triumph. Grimes countered with a new ad of her own, promis- ing Kentucky's voters, "no matter who the president is, I won't answer to him, I'll only answer to you." It marked a quick attempt to neutralize McConnell's as- sertion that she would serve as a rubber stamp for Presi- dent Barack Obama. The exchange under- scored the president's un- popularity in Kentucky, where a recent Courier- Journal Bluegrass poll of registered voters found that only 29 percent of those sur- veyed had a favorable opin- ion of him and 57 percent had an unfavorable one. Mc- Connell's ratings after 30 years in office are almost as bad, the poll said, 29 percent favorable and 49 percent un- favorable. CAMPAIGN TV ad war off to quick start in Kentucky SHANGHAI China signed a landmark $400 billion deal Wednesday to buy natu- ral gas from Russia, binding Moscow more closely to Bei- jing at a time when President Vladimir Putin's relations with the West have deterio- rated to the lowest point ever. China's president also called for an Asian security arrangement that would in- clude Russia and Iran and exclude the United States. The 30-year gas deal, worked out during a two-day visit by Putin to China, gives Moscow an economic boost at a time when Washing- ton and the European Union have imposed sanctions against Russia and Europe has threatened to cut its gas imports to punish the Krem- lin over the crisis in Ukraine. The agreement enables Russia to expand the market for its gas, which now goes mostly to Europe. It "opened the door for Russia to enter into Asia's gas market," said Keun- Wook Paik, senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Politically, the deal pro- vides "breathing space for Russia," Paik said. "Russia, and Putin, can demonstrate it's not completely isolated because of the Ukraine crisis. ENERGY China signs 30-year deal for natural gas WASHINGTON GOP-drafted legislation that would impose cuts on Amtrak repairs, tran- sit projects, and a transpor- tation grant program cham- pioned by President Barack Obama sailed through a key House panel on Wednesday. The $52 billion measure maintains funding for com- munity development block grants popular with local governments and fully funds an upgrade to the Federal Aviation Administration's NextGen air traffic con- trol system. But it cuts from Obama's request for housing subsidies for the poor and could lengthen waiting lists of poor people seeking hous- ing vouchers. The Appropri- ations Committee approved the measure by a nearly party-line 28-21 vote after Democrats complained of cuts to programs they favor. The House panel's vote came as its Senate counter- part was preparing to launch bills funding agriculture and food programs, the Veterans Administration, and military base construction projects. At issue are the 12 annual spending bills allocating the about $1.1 trillion portion of the approximately $3.7 tril- lion federal budget that is approved by Congress each year. INFRASTRUCTURE House panel approves cuts to transportation WASHINGTON Akhil Reku- lapelli has his life mapped out. The 14-year-old wants to attend Stanford University and become a doctor, proba- bly a surgeon. But he knows it will be a while before he achieves anything as satisfying as his victory Wednesday in the National Geographic Bee, which came after a close call last year (plac- ing fourth) and a lifelong in- terest in nations, cities, cul- tures and history. "I probably want to be the head of a department at a hospital, try to gradu- ate at the top of my class, but I think, right now, this is probably the biggest accom- plishment I'll ever achieve in probably 20, 30 years," said Akhil, an eighth-grader from Sterling, Virginia. "It'll be a while." Akhil outlasted nine other finalists and answered all three questions correctly in a one-on-one showdown with his youngest rival, 11-year- old Ameya Mujumdar, of Tampa, Florida. The decisive question: What African country is building a new capital called Oyala in the rain forest, 65 miles east of the current capital, Bala? The answer: Equatorial Guinea. ACHIEVEMENTS Geography bee win fulfills longtime dream By Tom Hays The Associated Press NEW YORK A slice of the New York City area main- stream — a police officer, a fire department paramedic, a rabbi, a nurse, a Boy Scout leader — used the Internet to anonymously collect and trade child pornography, fed- eral officials said Wednesday. The six were among at least 70 men and one woman charged in a five-week oper- ation by the Homeland Se- curity Investigations arm of U.S. Immigration and Cus- toms Enforcement. Federal officials, who planned to an- nounce the arrests a news conference later Wednesday, call it one of the largest local roundups ever of people who collect images of children having sex — and a stark re- minder that they come from all segments of society. Consuming child porn "is not something that is just done by unemployed drift- ers who live in their par- ent's basement," said James Hayes of ICE's New York of- fice. "If this operation does anything, it puts the lie to the belief that the people who do this are not productive mem- bers of society." Authorities say an alarm- ing number of the defen- dants had access to young children, though there were no reports of abuse. The Boy Scout leader also coached a youth baseball team. The rabbi home-schooled his children and others. Another person had hidden cameras used to secretly film his chil- dren's friends. One defendant was al- readyon bailfollowing his ar- rest last year on charges he used the Internet to direct women to record sex acts with young children. Court papers allege he "indicated the last video he had down- loaded and viewed depicted a mother sexually abusing her 3- or 4-year-old child." Authorities say advances in technology and computer capacity have allowed child- porncollectorstomoreeasily amass vast troves of images and to exchange files with each other directly. The New Yorkeffortresultedinthesei- zure of nearly 600 desktop and laptop computers, tab- lets, smartphones and other devices containing a total of 175 terabytes of storage. Agents are still examin- ing the devices to locate and catalog evidence, an ardu- ous task that could result in more arrests. The National Center for Missing and Ex- ploited Children also will use its analysts to review the im- ages to see whether it can identify children using da- tabases of known victims. CHILD PORN BUST Rabbi,Scoutleader,policeofficeramong71arrested JASONDECROW—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Hard drives, computers and other electronic devices seized as part of Operation Caireen, a sweeping investigation into the anonymous trading of child porn over the Internet, are displayed. proudlyannouncethe 2014TehamaCounty Medical Guide Areference guide to North State medical professionals and related medical services available toTehama County residents. 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