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The day’s top national and international news
"Sopranos" Star James Gandolfini Dead at 51
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Possible Bones Found at Former "Goodfellas" Mobster Home
Julian Assange Says WikiLeaks Helping Snowden Gain Asylum in Iceland
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Wednesday that members of his anti-secrecy website have been in contact with self-proclaimed National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and are helping him seek asylum in Iceland, NBC News reported. Assange, who spoke from the Ecuadoran embassy in London on the one-year anniversary of his own asylum said his group has a "common cause" with Snowden, though he would not comment on whether he has personally spoken with the alleged whisle-blower.
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Fixing America's Failing Bridges Would Cost Billions
A new report from Transportation for America, less than a month since the Skagit River bridge collapse in Washington State, found more than 66,000 U.S. bridges are structurally deficient. Pennsylvania has the most bridges in need of repair, followed by Oklahoma, Iowa, Rhode Island and South Dakota.
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FBI Chief: We Use Drones in U.S. for Surveillance
FBI Director Robert Mueller acknowledged Wednesday that his agency uses drones for surveillance on U.S. soil, but only on a "very, very minimal basis," he said. "We are in the early stages of doing that, and I will tell you that our footprint is very small, we have very few, and have limited use. And we're exploring not only the use, but the necessary guidelines for that use," Mueller, who is set to retire this year, said at a Senate hearing Wednesday. Although the use of government drones on U.S. soil is well-documented, with Homeland Security using them to help police the U.S.-Mexico border, Mueller said they are used for surveillance only "seldom." His remarks came amid a raging national debate over how much information the government should be able to gather in its law enforcement and anti-terrorism activities and how it should be allowed to collect it.
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Mars Beyond Reach Without NASA Budget Boost
Mars could be permanently out of reach for NASA unless public officials treat exploration on the Red Planet with the same importance as the first mission to the moon, space industry experts say. Current budgetary constraints could mean that space explorers will never set foot on Mars, according to a Lockheed Martin official who spoke at a meeting with a House space subcommittee Wednesday. The current draft of the House's NASA budget asks the space agency to develop a roadmap that will define the technical capabilities needed to send humans to Mars in the near future. One of those intermediary steps could be another mission to the mood, which experts argue is not necessary for putting boots on Mars. The latest budget draft put NASA's funding at about $16.8 billion and authorizes the space agency to continue operations for another two years.
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Brazil Officials Reverse Subway, Bus Fare Hike
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A bus and subway fare hike in Brazil that sparked protests across the country have been reversed, NBC News reported. The move, however, would do little to abate the demonstrations as public outrage has moved well beyond fare hikes and into communal frustration over poor public services. Mayors for both Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro confirmed that the fare hike has been rescinded, but demonstrations continued in some parts of Brazil including Rio's sister city Niteroi, as protestors demand improvements to public services in exchange for tax hikes and rising prices. Protestors across the country are slamming the government for its corruption, inefficiency and for spending billions of dollars to host the World Cup and Olympics while other needs go unmet.
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North Carolina's Gov. Signs Law Aimed at Restarting Executions
North Carolina's governor signed a repeal to a law that has allowed death row inmates to seek a reduced sentence if they could prove that racial bias affected their punishment, NBC News reported. The Racial Justice Act, the only law of its kind in the country, has led to four inmates getting their death sentences changed to life in prison without parole after the law took effect in 2009. Republican Gov. Pat McCrory said repealing the law would remove "procedural roadblocks" that had kept North Carolina from executing anyone since 2006 despite there being 152 people on death row. Supporters of the measure slammed state leaders for ignoring widespread evidence of systemic racial bias, while critics said the measure brings about unnecessary costs and delays after nearly all death-row inmates, including whites, sought reprieve under the act.
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Wednesday, Jun 19, 2013 at 10:04 PM
It's an awful shock. James Gandolfini was a fine actor, a Rutgers alum and a true Jersey guy. I was a huge fan of his and the character he played so authentically, Tony Soprano.
Boston Bombing Victim Reunited With Man Who Saved Him
Rob Wheeler, who came to the aid of Ron Brassard during the Boston Marathon bombing, met up with him again at Brassard’s college graduation at Framingham State University.
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Thursday, Jun 20, 2013 at 1:00 AM
New Middle East Virus Spread in Hospitals
AP
A new deadly virus in the Middle East is prompting health officials to take special precautionary measures to prevent its spread in hospitals, NBC News reported. The virus, called MERS (for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus) is a distant cousin of SARS and is being transmitted between health care facilities. It is virtually undetectable because there is no great test for the virus yet, experts say. The virus has killed 38 of the 64 people infected and a special investigation into an outbreak in Saudi Arabia showed that 21 people were infected by person-to-person transmission.
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Google: "We're Not in Cahoots with the NSA"
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"We're not in cahoots with the NSA," Google's top lawyer said Wednesday, as the search engine behemoth tries to assuage customers' fears that its email and Internet browsing history might be subject to government spying. David Drummond, the company's chief legal officer, made his appeal to Google users in a live web chat with The Guardian — which broke the story of the U.S. government's data surveillance programs with the help of contractor Edward Snowden's leaks this month — on Wednesday. He vehemently denied reports that the National Security Agency's data collection programs had given it "direct access" to Google servers, and he said the company only turns over data in response to "legitimate" requests relating to criminal or terror investigations. Drummond's remarks came a day after his company had sued in a secret intelligence court, claiming gag orders barring the company from informing customers of the data it is forced to turn over to the feds violates its First Amendment rights.
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Wednesday, Jun 19, 2013 at 6:39 PM
Millions of Human Trafficking Victims Go Unidentified
AP
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Wednesday of the scope and dangerous of human trafficking in the U.S., two days after the feds raided a slew of 7-Elevens in New York and Virginia and charged their owners in a trafficking probe. Millions more victims slip past law enforcement every year, Kerry said Wednesday, as he released the State Departent's 2013 Trafficking in Persons report. According to that report, only about 40,000 victims have been identified in the past year, but the number of people trafficked worldwide at any one time can reach as high as 27 million. "That means we’re bringing to light only a mere fraction of those who are exploited in modern slavery," said an anti-trafficking official who penned the report's introduction. "That number, and the millions who remain unidentified, are the numbers that deserve our focus."
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Stocks Tumble on Doubts Over Fed's Stimulus Plans
AP
The Dow closed down more than 200 points Wednesday, after stocks tumbled in the wake of hints from the Fed that it could wind down its current stimulus measures later this year. The Federal Reserve said that for now it will hold rates steady and keep up its bond-buying — but it also suggested it could wind down its easing toward the end of 2013 if the economy keeps improving, CNBC reported. The markets had been looking to the Fed's meeting and announcement Wednesday for clues to its future plans, after its earlier mixed signals to investors on what stimulus might be in store. Stocks fell sharply Wednesday after the announcements, and at Wednesday's news conference, Fed Chair Ben Bernanke refused to address questions about his future heading the Fed as his second term there nears its end.
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2 Arrested in Plot to Use X-Ray Weapon
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- 'Sopranos' star James Gandolfini dies at 51
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- Possible Bones Found at Former "Goodfellas" Mobster Home
- North Carolina's Gov. Signs Law Aimed at Restarting Executions
- Fixing America's Failing Bridges Would Cost Billions
- Boston Bombing Victim Reunited With Man Who Saved Him
