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ByGregoryKatz The Associated Press LONDON Five days after a Russian jetliner broke apart high above the Si- nai, Russia and Egypt on Thursday dismissed West- ern suggestions that a ter- rorist bomb may have caused the crash that killed 224 people, saying the spec- ulation was a rush to judg- ment. British Prime Minis- ter David Cameron, who spoke to the presidents of both countries in the very public dispute, said he had grounded all British flights to and from the Sinai Pen- insula because of "intel- ligence and information" indicating a bomb was the probable reason a Metro- jet Airbus A321-200 plane had crashed Saturday in the desert. British and U.S. officials, guided primarily by intel- ligence intercepts and sat- ellite imagery, have sug- gested gingerly it might have been the work of the extremist Islamic State group and its affiliates in the Sinai. "We don't know for cer- tain that it was a terrorist bomb ... (but it's a) strong possibility," Cameron said. Egyptian President Ab- del-Fattah el-Sissi later stood beside him at a news conference following an awkward meeting. Cam- eron also spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin to explain that concern for the safety of British citizens had led the government to go pub- lic with its suspicions about a bomb. Russia and Egypt insist the investigation into the crash must run its course before any conclusion is reached. The Metrojet plane crashed 23 minutes after taking off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for St. Peters- burg with mostly Russians aboard. The dispute arose af- ter the U.S. and Brit- ish intelligence was dis- closed Wednesday, just as el-Sissi was heading to London on a previously planned visit — his first as president. Russia complained that intelligence gathered by London and Washington about its jetliner has not been made available. If Britain had informa- tion about a bomb on the plane, it's "really shocking" that hasn't been shared with Russia, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, speak- ing in Moscow. British officials declined to say what intelligence was shared with other countries. U.S. and British lead- ers have stopped short of a categorical assignment of blame in the crash, but Cameron said it is "more likely than not" that the cause was a bomb. JETLINER Ru ss ia , Eg yp t di sm is s notions bomb caused crash THOMASHARTWELL—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Russian tourists check in as they prepare to depart for St.Petersburg, Russia from Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, south Sinai, Egypt, on Thursday. The Associated Press KABUL, AFGHANISTAN Wounded Taliban fight- ers were being treated in a Doctors Without Bor- ders hospital in north- ern Afghanistan that was bombed by U.S. forces last month, but there were no armed men or fighting in the area at the time, the charity said Thursday, as it released the results of an internal probe into the incident. The report by the inter- national medical charity, known by its French acro- nym MSF, confirmed that U.S. forces had the exact coordinates of the clinic before launching an aer- ial assault on Oct. 3 that killed 30 people, including doctors and patients. The bombing lasted for more than an hour, dur- ing which time "patients burned in their beds, med- ical staff were decapitated and lost limbs, and others were shot by the circling AC130 gunship while flee- ing the burning building," the report says. President Barack Obama apologized for the attack. The U.S. military said the airstrike, requested by Af- ghan forces, was a mistake. But MSF general direc- tor Christopher Stokes said "a mistake is quite hard to believe and understand." The report, based on inter- views with around 60 MSF staff, confirmed earlier ac- counts by the group. MSF treats anyone wounded in armed conflict without regard to political affiliation, Stokes said. He said a "no weapons" policy was upheld at the hospi- tal in the northern city of Kunduz. Acting Afghan De- fense Minister Masoom Stanekzai, in a recent inter- view with The Associated Press, said the hospital was being used as a command center for Taliban militants who seized the city on Sept. 28. The militants held Kun- duz for three days before being driven back by a gov- ernment counteroffensive. At least two U.S. and NATO military investiga- tionsintothehospitalbomb- ing are underway, though it is unclear when the results will be made public. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has so far ordered at least two reports, but one is only focused on what led to theTalibantakeoverofKun- duz, according to Western and Afghan officials famil- iar with its content. The MSF report says the group received a call on Oct. 1 from a U.S. official in Washington asking if there were a "large number of Taliban 'holed up' in the Kunduz clinic or any other MSF locations." Stokes said the official was with the Defense Department. AFGHANISTAN AIRSTRIKE Probe finds no armed men in clinic bombed by US SUSAN WALSH — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE White House press secretary Josh Earnest uses a graphic to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) during the daily briefing at the White House. By Paul Wiseman and Elaine Kurtenbach The Associated Press WASHINGTON Details of a sweeping Pacific Rim trade deal released Thursday set the stage for a raucous de- bate in the U.S. Congress but also may provide reas- surances to those who wor- ried the agreement could gut protections for the en- vironment, public health and labor. The text of the Trans Pacific Partnership agree- ment between the U.S. and 11 other countries including Japan and Mexico runs to 30 chapters and hundreds of pages. It is mind-bog- gling in its detail, laying out plans for the handling of trade in everything from zinc dust to railway sleep- ers and live eels. Governments of the 12 member countries released the complete text online Thursday, making public the specifics of an agree- ment that critics complain was forged in secrecy. The documents show the pact reached Oct. 5 in At- lanta after several years of talks is chock full of good intentions. Negotiators agreed to promote environ- mental sustainability, re- spect the rights and needs of indigenous peoples, and temper protections for drug patents with safeguards for public health and access to medicines. It also emphasizes the in- tention of the trading bloc to abide by earlier com- mitments made under the World Trade Organization and other international treaties. That's no guarantee the pact won't raise hackles with U.S. lawmakers who have questioned whether it will help U.S. exports and create jobs or just expose more American workers to low-wage competition, giv- ing multinational corpora- tions excessive power. Under a trade law passed earlier this year, President Barack Obama must give the public time to review the text before he signs the agreement and turns it over to Congress for approval. Lawmakers can't nitpick the deal with amendments. They must simply vote yes or no. Congress is likely to take up the issue next year in the heat of the presiden- tial election campaign. Obama faces fierce re- sistance to the deal from within his own Democratic Party. Hillary Rodham Clin- ton, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, has said she's against it. Her opposition may make it harder for Obama to round up votes. If all 12 countries have not ratified the agreement within two years, provi- sions allow for it to take ef- fect if six countries com- prising 85 percent of the GDP of the bloc have signed. That means U.S. ratification as the world's biggest econ- omy is essential. Apart from the U.S., Ja- pan and Mexico, countries in the trade pact are New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Peru, Canada, Brunei, Sin- gapore, Vietnam and Ma- laysia. The White House says the deal eliminates more than 18,000 taxes that countries impose on U.S. exports. The agreement also calls for la- bor protections such as en- suring that workers in mem- ber countries have the right to form unions. Those opposed to the deal contend it will force American workers to com- pete even more directly than they do now with workers in low-wage coun- tries such as Vietnam. They also complain that the agreement goes beyond traditional trade issues such as tariffs and import quotas and includes give- aways to powerful business lobbies. In response to U.S. pres- sure, TPP countries agreed to give drug companies about eight years of protec- tion from cheaper competi- tors for biologics, which are ultra-expensive medicines produced in living cells. The industry had sought 12 years protection. Details of Pacific trade deal released HUNDREDS OF PAGES By Joan Lowy The Associated Press WASHINGTON Despite years of warnings that the nation's roads, bridges and transit systems are falling apart and will bring night- marish congestion, the House on Thursday passed a six-year transportation bill that maintains the spending status quo. The bill, approved on a bipartisan vote of 363-64, authorizes $325 billion in spending through the 2021 federal budget year. But it provides money for only the first three years be- cause lawmakers couldn't agree on a way to pay for it all. The measure would continue current rates of spending, adjusted for in- flation. The bill is similar to a transportation bill passed by the Senate in July. Con- gressional leaders say they hope to quickly work out the differences between the two measures and send President Barack Obama a final bill before Thanks- giving. They also said they hope to find the money to pay for the last three years of the bill. "At the funding levels proposed in both the House and Senate bills, the result will be more traffic," said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. He has said $400 billion over six years is minimum needed to pre- vent matters from worsen- ing. Most lawmakers lauded the bill as a major accom- plishment because it would assure states and localities that they can count on fed- eral highway and transit aid for at least three years. It's hard to plan major con- struction projects when availability of federal aid is in doubt. The House and Senate bills are first long- term funding bills in about a decade. Since 2008, Congress has kept the federal Highway Trust Fund teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, unwill- ing to raise the federal 18.4 cents-a-gallon gasoline and 24.4-cent diesel taxes. The fuel taxes, the trust fund's main source of revenue, were last raised in 1993. Transportation aid has con- tinued through dozens of short-term extensions and transfers of money from the general treasury to make up the gap between revenues and spending. The House bill is filled with changes to transpor- tation policy that reflect the small-government, pro- business philosophy of the chamber's GOP majority. But it is also a compromise that Transportation and Infrastructure Commit- tee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., spent months nego- tiating with Rep. Peter De- Fazio of Oregon, the panel's top Democrat. As a result, the bill also includes many provisions sought by Dem- ocrats or supported by law- makers from both parties, and avoids some of the most divisive proposals. The bill will give the na- tion's infrastructure and its economy "a much needed shot in the arm," Shuster said. One change that gained wide support would direct $4.5 billion a year to inter- state highways and other roads designated as freight corridors to increase capac- ity and relieve bottlenecks, and a grant program of more than $700 million a year for nationally signif- icant highway and freight projects. TRANSPORTATION House votes to keep current highway spending level, ignores warnings 4,466 fans +18 this week FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2015 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 5 B