Snowden's return to US could be legal battle

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The criminal case against Edward Snowden could turn into a prolonged legal battle before the former contractor who says he revealed two highly classified surveillance programs ever appears in a U.S. courtroom to answer espionage charges.

A formal extradition request to bring Snowden to the United States from Hong Kong could drag through appeal courts for years and would pit Beijing against Washington at a time China tries to deflect U.S. accusations that it carries out extensive surveillance on American government and commercial operations.

It is not known whether the U.S. government has made a formal extradition request, and the Hong Kong government had no immediate reaction to the charges against Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who admitted providing information to the news media about the programs. Police Commissioner Andy Tsang told reporters only that the case would be dealt with according to the law. A police statement said it was "inappropriate" for the police to comment on the case.

A one-page criminal complaint against Snowden was unsealed Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Va., part of the Eastern District of Virginia where his former employer, government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, is headquartered, in McLean. He is charged with unauthorized communication of national defense information, willful communication of classified communications intelligence information and theft of government property. The first two are under the Espionage Act and each of the three crimes carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on conviction.

The complaint is dated June 14, five days after Snowden's name first surfaced as the person who had leaked to the news media that the NSA, in two highly classified surveillance programs, gathered telephone and Internet records to ferret out terror plots.

Snowden told the South China Morning Post in an interview published Saturday on its website that he hoped to stay in the autonomous region of China because he has faith in "the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate."

A prominent former politician in Hong Kong, Martin Lee, the founding chairman of the Democratic Party, said he doubted whether Beijing would intervene yet.

"Beijing would only intervene according to my understanding at the last stage. If the magistrate said there is enough to extradite, then Mr. Snowden can then appeal," he said.

Lee said Beijing could then decide at the end of the appeal process if it wanted Snowden extradited or not.

If formal extradition is pursued, Snowden could contest it on grounds of political persecution.

Hong Kong lawyer Mark Sutherland said that the filing of a refugee, torture or inhuman punishment claim acts as an automatic bar on any extradition proceedings until those claims can be assessed.

"Some asylum seekers came to Hong Kong 10 years ago and still haven't had their protection claims assessed," Sutherland said.

Hong Kong lawmakers said that the Chinese government should make the final decision on whether Snowden should be extradited to the United States.

Outspoken legislator Leung Kwok-hung said Beijing should instruct Hong Kong to protect Snowden from extradition before his case gets dragged through the court system.

Leung urged the people of Hong Kong to "take to the streets to protect Snowden."

The Obama administration has now used the Espionage Act in seven criminal cases in an unprecedented effort to stem leaks. In one of them, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning acknowledged he sent more than 700,000 battlefield reports, diplomatic cables and other materials to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. His military trial is underway.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, welcomed the charges against Snowden.

"I've always thought this was a treasonous act," he said in a statement. "I hope Hong Kong's government will take him into custody and extradite him to the U.S."

But the Government Accountability Project, a whistle-blower advocacy group, said Snowden should be shielded from prosecution by whistle-blower protection laws.

"He disclosed information about a secret program that he reasonably believed to be illegal, and his actions alone brought about the long-overdue national debate about the proper balance between privacy and civil liberties, on the one hand, and national security on the other," the group said in a statement.

Michael di Pretoro, a retired 30-year veteran with the FBI who served from 1990 to 1994 as the legal liaison officer at the American consulate in Hong Kong, said "relations between U.S. and Hong Kong law enforcement personnel are historically quite good."

"In my time, I felt the degree of cooperation was outstanding to the extent that I almost felt I was in an FBI field office," di Pretoro said.

The U.S. and Hong Kong have a standing agreement on the surrender of fugitives. However, Snowden's appeal rights could drag out any extradition proceeding.

The success or failure of any extradition proceeding depends on what the suspect is charged with under U.S. law and how it corresponds to Hong Kong law under the treaty. In order for Hong Kong officials to honor the extradition request, they have to have some applicable statute under their law that corresponds with a violation of U.S. law.

Disclosure of the criminal complaint came as President Barack Obama held his first meeting with a privacy and civil liberties board and as his intelligence chief sought ways to help Americans understand more about sweeping government surveillance efforts exposed by Snowden.

The five members of the little-known Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board met with Obama for an hour in the White House Situation Room, questioning the president on the two NSA programs that have stoked controversy.

One program collects billions of U.S. phone records. The second gathers audio, video, email, photographic and Internet search usage of foreign nationals overseas, and probably some Americans in the process, who use major Internet service providers, such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Yahoo.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/snowdens-return-us-could-legal-battle-200441742.html

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Plane with wing walker crashes at Ohio show; 2 die

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) ? A plane carrying a wing walker crashed Saturday at an air show and exploded into flames, killing the pilot and stunt walker instantly, authorities said.

Dayton International Airport spokeswoman Linda Hughes and Ohio State Highway Patrol Lt. Anne Ralston confirmed the deaths to The Associated Press.

The crash happened at around 12:45 p.m. at the Vectren Air Show near Dayton. No spectators were injured.

The show has been canceled for the remainder of the day. The names of those killed weren't released immediately, but a video posted on WHIO-TV showing the flight and crash identified the performer as wing walker Jane Wicker. A schedule posted on the event's website also had Wicker scheduled to perform.

The video shows the plane turn upside-down as Wicker sits on top of the wing. The plane then tilts and crashes to the ground, exploding into flames as spectators scream.

"All of a sudden I heard screaming and looked up and there was a fireball," spectator Stan Thayer of Wilmington, Ohio, told WHIO.

Wicker's website says she responded to a classified ad from the Flying Circus Airshow in Bealteton, Va., in 1990, for a wing walking position, thinking it would be fun.

She told WDTN-TV in an interview this week that her signature move as hanging underneath the plane's wing by her feet and sit on the bottom of the airplane while it's upside-down.

"I'm never nervous or scared because I know if I do everything as I usually do, everything's going to be just fine," she told the station.

In 2007, veteran stunt pilot Jim LeRoy was killed at the Dayton show when his biplane crashed and burned.

Organizers were presenting a trimmed-down show and expected smaller crowds at Dayton after the Air Force Thunderbirds and other military participants pulled out this year because of federal budget cuts.

The air show, one of the country's oldest, usually draws around 70,000 people and has a $3.2 million impact on the local economy. Without military aircraft and support, the show expected attendance to be off 30 percent or more.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/plane-wing-walker-crashes-ohio-show-2-die-181933614.html

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Kennedys light flame in Ireland to mark iconic JFK trip

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Relatives of President John F. Kennedy lit a flame in Ireland on Saturday to mark the anniversary of his 1963 visit to the country, a landmark in its post-independence history.

Kennedy's visit, just five months before his assassination, was the first by a serving U.S. president and cemented the strong links between the nations forged by waves of emigration.

One of the men to make the long journey over the Atlantic was the president's own great-grandfather Patrick who left New Ross in southeast Ireland for the United States in 1848 during the potato famine.

On Saturday, Irish premier Enda Kenny joined thousands in the county Wexford town to mark the anniversary with the president's sister Jean Kennedy Smith and daughter Caroline Kennedy.

"President Kennedy's 1963 visit to Ireland remains one of the iconic moments of 20th century Ireland," Kenny said. "The powerful symbolism, memorable speeches and the warmth of the interaction between this Irish American President and the Irish public had an impact on both."

Using a torch lit from the eternal flame at Kennedy's grave at Arlington cemetery, Kenny, Jean Kennedy Smith and Caroline Kennedy together lit an "emigrant flame" in New Ross to commemorate the millions of Irish who fled poverty and hard lives at home.

The 1963 visit brought a touch of glamour to Ireland, then still a poor country at the margins of Europe that was struggling to escape from the shadow of larger neighbor Britain, from which it won independence in 1921.

Witnesses still remember Kennedy's youthfulness and charisma and the way he joined in the singing of a ballad about a 1798 revolt against the British.

It was part of a wider tour of Europe that included Kennedy's historic call for liberty in his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech that encouraged frightened citizens of the western side of the city after the Berlin Wall was erected.

It has some parallels with Barack Obama's trip to Europe this week. The current president has Irish ancestors and while he attended a G8 summit in Northern Ireland, his wife and daughters attracted crowds of onlookers during a visit to Dublin and lunch with U2 singer Bono.

The Irish vote helped to sweep Kennedy to power in 1960 and Obama learned to play that card when he was an Illinois senator seeking votes on the streets of Chicago, where he regularly participated in the St Patrick's Day parade.

"There was no visit that my father made as president that meant more to him that his visit to Ireland," Caroline Kennedy said outside the small cottage where her great-great-grandfather was born and where her father sipped tea with relatives half a century ago.

"Growing up in our family, nothing was a greater source of pride than our Irish heritage."

(Reporting by Sam Cage; Editing by Padraic Halpin and Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kennedys-light-flame-ireland-mark-iconic-jfk-trip-210717109.html

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Snowden to Face Espionage Charges (ABC News)

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Good Guard, Bad Guard

A lifeguard?s job isn't to be certified and be a good swimmer. Lifeguards get paid to think.

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

It?s June and hot outside and you head to the neighborhood pool for the day. The kids want to swim and you just want to be doing nothing for a while. Everyone files through the gate as you scan for an open lounge chair and your friends. The kids have sunscreen on, you have your book, and yes?Mike is the lifeguard on duty. You like Mike. He?s a good kid and always nice to yours and he doesn?t tolerate too much funny business. He?s been a lifeguard here for three seasons now, he?s Red Cross certified, and you have seen him in action. With cat-like reflexes and keen eyes, Mike has yanked more than his share of nonswimming kids out of the deep end. ?Why don?t their parents watch them more closely?? you think. Then you crack open your book as your strong-swimming kids head into the pool under the watchful eye of good old Mike.

Ten minutes later, your 12-year-old is standing over you, dripping onto your book and crying. He almost drowned, but your neighbor, Julie, saw it and got to him just in time. ?He took on a little water?you should have him checked out,? Julie says. Mike is walking over to you now, confused and visibly upset. He never saw a thing, and it happened right in front of him.

This scene happens all over the water-guarded world, and sometimes, the Julies aren?t there and the stories end much worse. And parents grieve and kids?really good kids, like Mike?are never the same again either. We look for someone to blame, of course, and good kids (most pool lifeguards are just that?kids) usually get it first. But the problem very often isn?t Mike?it?s Mike?s boss.

In the story above, which I saw happen at my apartment pool about 20 years ago, Mike had been on duty for two hours before the child that needed help entered the water, and he was the only guard on duty. The apartment complex wanted to lower its liability insurance and, y?know, be socially conscious, so they always had a lifeguard on duty. But lifeguards cost money, and they really only wanted to spend the money on one at a time. As suggested by the Red Cross, Mike got everyone out of the pool for 15 minutes every hour to take a ?surveillance break.? He would use this time to use the restroom and check the pool chemicals. Then he would get straight back to work.

Mike?s boss, the apartment complex manager (who doesn?t work on Saturdays) with no training or experience at all in lifeguarding, mistakenly thought that a lifeguard?s job is to be certified and be a good swimmer. But that is not at all what lifeguards get paid to do.

Lifeguards get paid to think.

Next time you are at your neighborhood pool or at the beach, I want you to try something. Stare at the water. Stare at the water and constantly move your eyes looking at every person in the water and evaluate them. You can?t take your eyes off the water or the people in it?not once. Do this for 30 minutes. It is exhausting. Visual imaging and scanning requires vigilance and taxes your brain enormously. Research suggests that it cannot be done without a substantial decrease in effectiveness for more than 30 minutes. And while a lifeguard?s attention can be reset (in a five to 10 minute break, according to Frank Pia, Ph.D.)?it must be a real and complete break. No other tasks or demands for attention.

After two hours of paying close attention to the pool, it is quite possible for a trained and certified and experienced lifeguard to look directly at a distressed swimmer, not make the connection in his tired brain, and move on to the next swimmer. It?s not his ?fault??it is the way the brain is wired and it can?t be undone. It can only be managed. By himself, the sole employee at a pool for four hours or more, a lifeguard cannot be effective.

Should your pool lifeguard be certified? You bet. Trained? Of course. Alone on the pool deck for more than 30 minutes regardless of the size of the pool? No way. Below is my personal list of things I look for (read: insist upon) before I let my children go into the water without my own eyes on them.

1. At least two lifeguards, or one guard and a supervisor or other staff member (helper), to keep everyone out of the water while the guard takes a real break.
2. The guard gets a real break every 30 minutes.
3. The guard knows to change his point of view of the pool often, never staying in the same spot for too long. Staying in the same spot decreases his attention span.
4. Minimal distractions for the guard: No earbuds in his ears, no cellphones, no eating while watching the water. (Talking is OK and in fact keeps guards alert, but eyes always on the water.)
5. I ask the guard to show me his cellphone. If he can do so without standing up and walking inside to get it?he?s fired. I?ll watch my own kids, thanks. If you see your lifeguard texting while he or she is supposed to be watching the pool, you do not have a lifeguard on duty.
6. In larger pools, multiple guards should rotate chairs or positions every 15 minutes. Again, changing the view is better for the attention span.
7. The guard has constant access to water (dehydration effects brain function) and is protected from sun exposure as much as practical.
8. The guard on duty is experienced. The Red Cross age requirement to be a ?certified lifeguard? is 15. Fifteen! Yes, they have to start sometime, but personally I am not prepared to make life-or-death thinking the sole responsibility of a 15-year-old, for their sake as much as anyone?s. They can work with and support a third-year veteran like Mike while they gain experience and actually see some distress vs. drowning scenarios first.

In the end?it really is about understanding the lifeguard?s job. They are there to prevent drowning. Drowning can happen in as little as 20 seconds, so a lifeguard?s primary job is to pay attention and think. They should be treated and managed and supervised in a way that supports that reality. They need breaks, they need no distraction, and they often need help?in addition to that Red Cross card they got two years ago.

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2013/06/how_do_i_know_if_my_pool_lifeguard_is_doing_a_good_job.html

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Morning Starts Your Day Off Right with Tons of Useful Information

iPad: If your iPad is within reach when you wake, Morning turns it into a dashboard packed with useful information you need to start your day off on the right foot. The weather, your to-dos, calendar appointments, news headlines, your estimated commute time, and more, are all in a Google Now-ish display.

Once installed, you can customize the display with up to eight different topics you want displayed on the main screen: weather, to-dos, calendar appointments, stocks, news headlines, commute and travel time, the current date and time, or a countdown timer. You can mix and match them anyway you like, and the display auto-sizes to accommodate them. For example, you can start your day with the current weather conditions, an overview of your to-do list, your meetings for the day, how long it'll take you to get to work, and have a timer in the corner so you'll see when it's time to press the plunger down on the French Press and pour your morning cup.

You can even customize the background colors and the specific information each panel displays so you see what you want to see. The app looks great, and is on sale for $3 to celebrate its launch (although they don't say what the full price will eventually be). The dev also notes that he has plans to add other apps and tools to Morning in the future, like updates from Twitter or Facebook, or your current steps or status from your fitness tracker. In any event, you can hit the link below to read more about the app or grab it from the iTunes App Store.

Morning ($3) | iTunes App Store via Morning

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/qJ2L0OgfXf4/morning-starts-your-day-off-right-with-tons-of-useful-i-523614475

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Lil Snupe Shooting: Suspect Identified In Rapper's Death

Louisiana police have identified Tony Holden as a suspect in the death of the 18-year-old Meek Mill prot?g?.
By Maurice Bobb

Tony Holden and Lil Snupe
Photo: Winnfield Police Dept./ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709448/lil-snupe-shooting-death-suspect.jhtml

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Oil rises above $94 as US supplies of crude drop

BANGKOK (AP) ? Oil rose above $94 per barrel Thursday on the heels of a big drop in U.S. oil supplies, but analysts didn't expect to see prices take off.

Benchmark oil for July delivery was up 55 cents to $94.29 per barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 43 cents to close at $93.74 a barrel the day before.

The Energy Department on Wednesday said U.S. crude oil inventories shrank by 6.3 million barrels in the week ended May 31, thanks to a sharp drop in imports. Analysts expected a drop of 1 million barrels. Separately, the American Petroleum Institute said stockpiles shrank by 464,000 to 387.3 million barrels. Tighter supplies tend to push oil prices higher.

Still, oil prices were expected to stay within a tight range for now, as supplies are ample and demand remains restrained by a tepid global economic recovery.

"The market has been stuck in neutral for some time and it's hard to see how any analyst can be as so bold to see a major move on the chart forming in the near term," said Carl Larry of Oil Outlooks and Opinions in a market commentary.

In other markets, Brent crude, a benchmark for many international oil varieties, rose 40 cents to $103.44 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:

? Wholesale gasoline rose 1.2 cents at $2.835 a gallon.

? Heating oil rose 1.1 cent to $2.866 per gallon.

? Natural gas was down 0.9 cent to $3.992 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oil-rises-above-94-us-supplies-crude-drop-090348608.html

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