"Chicago Tribune" Reader

"Chicago Tribune" Reader

Watchdog faults background check of NSA leaker

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 04:56 PM PDT

A banner supporting Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, is displayed at Central, Hong Kong's business district, Thursday, June 20, 2013. A WikiLeaks spokesman who claims to represent Snowden has reached out to government officials in Iceland about the potential of the NSA leaker applying for asylum in the Nordic country, officials there said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)WASHINGTON (AP) — A government watchdog testified Thursday there may have been problems with the security clearance background check conducted on the 29-year-old federal contractor who disclosed previously secret National Security Agency programs for collecting phone records and Internet data.

Drones on U.S. soil shouldn't surprise

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 12:47 PM PDT

Mueller: FBI uses drones for surveillanceThe FBI used them to watch a bunker where a boy was being held hostage.

GOP official resigns after name-calling incident

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 01:14 PM PDT

An Illinois GOP county chairman resigned today after likening former Miss America Erika Harold, who¿s challenging a sitting Republican congressman in next year's primary election, to a "street walker" whose "pimps" were Democrats and moderate Republicans.

Stocks extend slide as China heightens anxiety

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 05:00 PM PDT

Specialist John Urbanowicz works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, June 20, 2013. Financial markets are sliding after the Federal Reserve said it could end its huge bond-buying program by the middle of next year. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)NEW YORK (AP) — For investors, there was no place to go on Thursday.

FDA allows OTC morning-after pill, lifts age limit

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 03:53 PM PDT

FILE - This undated file photo provided by Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., shows a package of Plan B' One-Step, an emergency contraceptive. The morning-after pill is finally going over-the-counter. The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday, June 20, 2013, approved unrestricted sales of Plan B One-Step, lifting all age limits on the emergency contraceptive. The move came a week after the Obama administration ended months of back-and-forth legal battles by promising a federal judge it would take that step. (AP Photo/Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., File) NO SALESWASHINGTON (AP) — The morning-after pill is finally going over-the-counter.

Veterans speak out about talks with Taliban

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 02:29 PM PDT

Soldier's Reaction: If the Taliban Are Willing to Talk, Perhaps We Should, TooDavid Daly remembers sitting in a garden in Afghanistan two years ago and discussing military strategy with his counterparts in the Afghan army. At this point, the U.S. had spent a decade there. A Marine offered a tactical suggestion, one that made perfect sense to the Americans but not to the Afghans. Daly, then a [...]

Weiner defends response voter who used gay slur

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 02:34 PM PDT

Schumer Dodges Questions About Anthony Weiner's Mayoral BidArmed with laser pointer and several PowerPoint slides, former Rep. Anthony Weiner sought to distinguish himself Thursday as the only Democratic mayoral hopeful willing to embrace what he called the "big" and "bold" ideas with a speech calling for a dramatic transformation of the way New Yorkers receive their health care. But all it [...]

Christian group apologizes to gay community

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 02:36 PM PDT

The leader of Exodus International, a Christian ministry that worked to help people repress same-sex attraction, has apologized to the gay community for inflicting "years of undue suffering." He plans to close the organization while launching a new effort to promote reconciliation.

The numbers game muddies NSA surveillance debate

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 04:12 PM PDT

FILE - This Sept. 19, 2007 file photo shows the National Security Agency building at Fort Meade, Md. As many as one of every five worldwide terror threats picked up by U.S. government surveillance has been targeted on the United States, the Obama administration says. But officials are reluctant to say much more about the 50 plots they claim have been thwarted. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to win over public trust, the Obama administration has been throwing around a lot of numbers as it tries to describe — in as much detail as possible without jeopardizing national security — the terror plots it says were thwarted by the government's sweeping surveillance of U.S. communications.

Report: NSA can keep US records indefinitely

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 02:21 PM PDT

A banner supporting Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, is displayed at Central, Hong Kong's business district, Thursday, June 20, 2013. A WikiLeaks spokesman who claims to represent Snowden has reached out to government officials in Iceland about the potential of the NSA leaker applying for asylum in the Nordic country, officials there said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Security Agency can keep copies of intercepted communications from or about U.S. citizens if the material contains significant intelligence or evidence of crimes.

WHO study: Third of women suffer domestic violence

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 01:52 PM PDT

FILE - In this Tuesday, March 5, 2013 file photo people hold banners during a demonstration against domestic violence near Big Ben in London, in the lead up to International Women's Day. About a third of women worldwide have been physically or sexually assaulted by a former or current partner, according to the first major review of violence against women. In a series of papers released on Thursday June 20, 2013 by the World Health Organization and others, experts estimated nearly 40 percent of women killed worldwide were slain by an intimate partner and that being assaulted by a partner was the most common kind of violence experienced by women. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)LONDON (AP) — In the first major global review of violence against women, a series of reports released Thursday found that about a third of women have been physically or sexually assaulted by a former or current partner.

Obama nominating Comey as FBI director Friday

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 04:30 PM PDT

FILE - In this May 15, 2007 file photo, James Comey testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. The White House says President Barack Obama plans to announce Friday his new choice to lead the FBI in Comey, former President George W. Bush's No. 2 at the Justice Department. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Friday plans to nominate President George W. Bush's former No. 2 at the Justice Department, James Comey, to lead the FBI as the agency grapples with privacy debates over a host of recently exposed investigative tactics.

Border security: Boost for Senate immigration bill

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 02:00 PM PDT

FILE - In this June 6, 2013 file photo, Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., speaks during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing in Washington. Kirk said Thursday, June 20, 2013, he's been working with colleagues to craft immigration reform that's gaining momentum in the Senate. He says the measure will secure the U.S. border to the south and create a "tough but fair" path to citizenship. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — A breakthrough at hand, Republicans and Democrats reached for agreement Thursday on a costly, military-style surge to secure the leaky U.S.-Mexican border and clear the way for Senate passage of legislation giving millions of immigrants a chance at citizenship after years in America's shadows.

Brazil protesters struggle to define next steps

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 03:29 PM PDT

A protester holds a sign that reads in Portuguese "Hunger, misery and oppression and Brazil five time champions," a few miles from the soccer stadium where Nigeria and Uruguay will play in a Confederations Cup soccer game in Salvador, Brazil, Thursday, June 20, 2013. Beginning as protests against bus fare hikes, demonstrations have quickly ballooned to include broad middle-class outrage over the failure of governments to provide basic services and ensure public safety. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)SAO PAULO (AP) — After a week of mass protests, Brazilians won the world's attention and a pull-back on the subway and bus fare hikes that had first ignited their rage. But many say the real work is just beginning.

Obama taps former Bush deputy Attorney General for FBI post

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 01:21 PM PDT

DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL COMEY SPEAKS AT NEWS CONFERENCE ON CORPORATE FRAUD MATTER.President Barack Obama on Friday afternoon will formally announce his nomination of James Comey, President George W. Bush's deputy attorney general, to serve as the next director of the FBI, according to a White House official. It had been known for weeks that Comey had been chosen to succeed outgoing Director Robert Mueller. But a [...]

Markets are roiled by prospect of early Fed exit

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 01:15 PM PDT

Trader Geroge Ettinger, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, June 20, 2013. Financial markets are sliding after the Federal Reserve said it could end its huge bond-buying program by the middle of next year. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)NEW YORK (AP) — There was no let-up in the flight from stocks and bonds as traders reacted to news that the Federal Reserve could end its massive bond-buying program as next year and as China's manufacturing slowed.

Protesters gather in Brazil despite concessions

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 03:44 PM PDT

Police fires tear gas canisters to disperse a crowd a demonstrators near the Arena Fonte Nova soccer stadium before a Confederations Cup match between Uruguay and Nigeria in Salvador, Brazil, Thursday, June 20, 2013. Police shot tear gas canisters and rubber bullets to disperse a small crowd of protesters trying to break through a police barrier blocking one of the city's streets. Protesters gathered for a new wave of massive demonstrations in Brazil on Thursday.(AP Photo/Fernando Llano)SAO PAULO (AP) — Demonstrators took to the streets once again across Latin America's biggest country in a new wave of protests that have mobilized hundreds of thousands of people denouncing poor public services and government corruption.

Vandalism fails to shake coexistence in Arab town

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 01:13 PM PDT

FILE - An Israeli-Arab man and children are seen on a street next to Hebrew graffiti that reads, "Racism or assimilation" and "Arabs out," in the village of Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem, June 18, 2013. In a land rife with religious tension, the village of Abu Ghosh has proven to be an exception, but that tranquility was briefly disturbed this week when Abu Ghosh became the latest victim in a wave of hate crimes that has plagued Israel, when unknown assailants slashed the tires of more than two dozen cars and sprayed anti-Arab graffiti. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean, File)ABU GHOSH, Israel (AP) — In a land rife with religious tension, one town has proven to be an exception — Abu Ghosh has been a model of coexistence in Israel for more than 65 years. This week the Arab village nestled in the foothills of Jerusalem became the latest victim in a wave of crimes linked to Jewish extremists that has plagued Israel, raising concern that growing extremism on the fringes of society could spread.

AP PHOTOS: From Egypt's street, a new techno sound

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 02:09 PM PDT

In this Saturday, April 6, 2013 photo, Egyptian ladies dance during a "Mahraganat" Arabic word for "festivals," concert by music singers, in Cairo, Egypt. A new musical sound emerged from the underground in Egypt since the country's 2011 revolution, a rapid-fire electronic beat, mixed with hypnotic rhythms drawn from religious festivals and fired up with auto-tuned vocals. Besides getting club crowds dancing all night long, it has given a rebellious voice to long marginalized youth, telling stories of everyday life in beaten-down neighborhoods of Cairo. ( AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)CAIRO (AP) — "We tell the stories of our people, words that come up from our alleys, listen to me to understand" — from the Mahraganat song, "El-Rab El-Masri" (Egyptian Rap) by Sadat, Fifty and Haha.

Protestsers gather in Brazil despite concessions

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 12:12 PM PDT

A woman boards a bus at a bus stop in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, June 20, 2013. Leaders in Brazil's two biggest cities said Wednesday that they reversed an increase in bus and subway fares that ignited anti-government protests that have spread across the nation in the past week. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine)SAO PAULO (AP) — Protesters gathered for a new wave of massive demonstrations in Brazil on Thursday, extending the protests that have sent hundreds of thousands of people into the streets since last week to denounce poor public services and government corruption.