Secret court OKs continued surveillance
WASHINGTON – A secret U.S. intelligence court renewed an order Friday to continue forcing Verizon Communications to turn over hundreds of millions of telephone records to the government each day in its search for foreign terror or espionage suspects.
The order by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has been in place for years but must be renewed every three months. It was exposed in June after former National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden leaked details of two top secret U.S. surveillance programs that critics say violate privacy rights.
The order was set to expire Friday, and its renewal shows that the Obama administration and the court of 11 federal judges stand behind its legality.
Obama: Martin ‘could have been me’
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama grappled with the Trayvon Martin case in the most personal of terms Friday, telling Americans that the slain youth “could have been me 35 years ago” and urging them to do some soul searching about their attitudes on race.
The nation’s first black president said the nation needs to look for ways to move forward after the shooting and trial in Florida. And he said it may be time to take a hard look at “stand your ground” self-defense laws, questioning whether they contribute “to the kind of peace and security and order that we’d like to see.”
His appearance marked his first extended comments on the Martin case since neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman was acquitted last weekend of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in Martin’s death last year.
Tension rises in Egypt amid new protests
CAIRO – With the military beefing up security, tens of thousands took to the streets Friday in a determined push for the return to power of Egypt’s ousted Islamist leader, while Mohammed Morsi’s opponents staged rival rallies, raising fears of a fresh round of clashes.
The army warned it wouldn’t tolerate any violence and sent fighter jets screaming over the capital and helicopters hovering over the marches.
Publicizing their protests for days, Morsi’s supporters vowed Friday would be decisive in their campaign to try to reverse the military coup that removed the country’s first democratically elected president after a year in office, following massive protests against him.
Coroner: Teen in Asiana crash killed by vehicle
SAN MATEO, Calif. – A teenager survived the Asiana Airlines crash in San Francisco only to be struck and killed by a fire vehicle rushing to fight a blaze that broke out on the plane, authorities said Friday.
Ye Meng Yuan, 16, a Chinese student, died of multiple injuries from being run over by what officials believe was a special fire truck used to spread fire-suppressing foam.
It was unclear how the teenager got from the airplane to the spot where she was killed. Investigators believe she was down on the ground and not standing up during the “volatile” and “dangerous” aftermath of the plane crash, San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said.
The circumstances are being investigated by San Francisco police and the National Transportation Safety Board.
Study: Fracking didn’t taint water
PITTSBURGH – A landmark federal study of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, shows no evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up to contaminate drinking water aquifers at a western Pennsylvania drilling site, the Department of Energy said.
After a year of monitoring, the researchers found that the chemical-laced fluids used to free gas trapped deep below the surface stayed thousands of feet below the shallower areas that supply drinking water, geologist Richard Hammack said.
Associated Press
