Panel to investigate reports of spying
WASHINGTON – The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Wednesday his committee will look into a report the U.S. spied on the Israeli prime minister and in the process swept up communications with Congress.
Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of California told The Associated Press that he’s asked the director of National Intelligence and the head of the National Security Agency to come to Capitol Hill next week to brief lawmakers on the matter.
A report in The Wall Street Journal said that even after President Barack Obama announced two years ago he would limit spying on friendly heads of state, the NSA kept watch on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top Israeli officials.
In the process, the agency caught some conversations with U.S. lawmakers, according to the report.
Flooding gets worse in Missouri, Illinois
ST. LOUIS – As swollen rivers and streams pushed to heights not seen in nearly a quarter-century, officials in Missouri and Illinois helped residents get to higher ground Wednesday amid fears that already dire conditions could worsen as floodwaters began spilling over the federal levees protecting some communities and farmland.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Wednesday that nine levees had been topped by water, although some of those earthen barriers were meant to protect farmland rather than populated areas, so it wasn’t immediately clear how many homes were in jeopardy.
Nearly a dozen other levees considered at risk for “possible significant distress” were holding.
‘Affluenza’ teen won’t return to U.S. soon
MEXICO CITY – The Texas teenager known for using an “affluenza” defense in a fatal drunken-driving accident likely won’t return to the U.S. anytime soon because of a Mexican judge’s decision to delay his deportation Wednesday, but a Mexico immigration official said his mother was being flown to Los Angeles.
Richard Hunter, chief deputy for the U.S. Marshals Service in South Texas, said during a news conference in Houston that a three-day court injunction granted to Ethan Couch will likely take at least two weeks to resolve.
Later in the day, however, the teen’s mother, Tonya Couch, was put on a plane to be flown to Los Angeles.
Turkey says it foiled new terror attack
ANKARA, Turkey – With less than 48 hours left in 2015, Turkey on Wednesday became the latest country to announce the foiling of a holiday attack plot, detaining two suspected Islamic State militants believed to be planning suicide bombings during New Year celebrations in the capital city’s heart.
The men were detained in a raid on a house in the low-income Mamak neighborhood, where police seized a suicide vest armed with a bomb, a second explosive device that was fortified with ball bearings and metal sticks and concealed inside a backpack, as well as bomb-making equipment, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The state-run Anadolu Agency, quoting unnamed police and judiciary officials, said the would-be bombers had intended to blow themselves up during holiday festivities at bars and a shopping mall.
Associated Press
