911 dispatcher helps Michigan man deliver baby

ANN ABROR, Mich. (AP) ? A woman who didn't expect to give birth until mid-July delivered a healthy baby girl along a Michigan roadway with help from her husband and coaching from a 911 dispatcher.

Nicole Culwell, of Howell, was heading to St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor Hospital on Monday with her husband, Matthew, when she realized she wouldn't make it in time. So her husband pulled over along U.S. 23 in the Ann Arbor area, and Susannah was born, AnnArbor.com reported.

"He was great and stayed calm about it," Nicole Culwell said of her husband. "I don't even really remember her being born. I just remember holding her after and patting her back to make sure she was breathing."

The Culwells were about 10 minutes from the hospital when they stopped, and a 911 dispatcher talked them through the delivery.

"You can see the baby's head coming out," Matthew Culwell tells dispatcher Carol Lellis at the beginning of the call, a recording of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

Later, he says: "Oh my God. The baby's out. The baby's out," before asking Lellis: "What do I do?"

Matthew Culwell said it was a "huge relief" to hear the cries of his new daughter along the roadside. Help soon showed up, and a firefighter cut the umbilical cord before Nicole Culwell and the baby were transported to the hospital with her husband driving behind them.

"It's not often that you get to see your name as the person who made the delivery on your daughter's birth certificate," Matthew Culwell said.

Lellis told WDIV-TV that hearing the cry was a relief to her as well, because that assured her the baby would be OK. She said she was honored to be part of the couple's big day, and she wanted to wish the new parents good luck ahead.

Nicole Culwell said she was in denial earlier Monday about being so close to having her baby, because her due date was July 14. She said she went into labor around 5 a.m., and by 9:30 a.m. the couple decided to begin the roughly 40-minute drive to the hospital.

"I just kept thinking 'No, this can't happen,'" Nicole Culwell said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-06-28-Roadside%20Delivery-Michigan/id-1e8e319e875c4e2db81266f35fe797a3

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Mauritius business confidence takes a hit in Q2

PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - Business confidence in Mauritius fell in the second quarter of 2013, a survey of leading private companies showed on Thursday, knocked by festering economic uncertainty at home thanks to anaemic growth in its main European export markets.

The quarterly index, run by the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), dropped 4.5 percent to 87.5 points in the three months to June.

"These results indicate that we are in a period of continued uncertainty. And without any long term visibility it could suggest that our economic performance would be lower in the second quarter 2013 compared to a year ago," Renganaden Padayachy, an economist at the chamber, told a news conference.

Statistics Mauritius On Wednesday trimmed its growth forecast for this year to 3.3 percent from an earlier estimate of 3.5 percent. It cited an anticipated sharp contraction in the construction industry as well as slower growth in financial services and technology.

The Indian Ocean island's central bank has called growth "below trend" this year. The economy expanded 3.7 percent year-on-year in the first quarter against 3.1 percent in 2012.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mauritius-business-confidence-takes-hit-q2-084557661.html

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Obama yet to have African legacy like predecessors

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) ? President Barack Obama is receiving the embrace you might expect for a long-lost son on his return to his father's home continent, even as he has yet to leave a lasting policy legacy for Africa on the scale of his two predecessors.

Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush passed innovative Africa initiatives while in the White House and passionately continue their development work in the region in their presidential afterlife. Obama's efforts here have not been so ambitious, despite his personal ties to the continent.

His first major tour of Africa as president is coming just now, in his fifth year, while Bush and Clinton are frequent fliers to Africa. Bush even will be in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, next week at the same time as Obama, although they have no plans to meet. Instead, their wives plan to appear together at a summit on empowering African women organized by the George W. Bush Institute, with the former president in attendance.

For Obama, one potentially memorable aspect of this trip -- a meeting with former South African president and anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela -- remained in doubt. Obama was en route from Dakar Senegal to Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday where Mandela was hospitalized in critical condition.

Obama, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, said it was uncertain whether he would get an opportunity to see the 94-year-old Mandela, a personal hero to the president.

"I don't need a photo-op, and the last thing I want to do is to be in any way obtrusive at a time when the family is concerned about Nelson Mandela's condition," he said.

In French-speaking Senegal, Africa's westernmost country, spirited crowds greeted Obama on his visit, with revelers frequently breaking into song and dance at the sight of the first African-American president. However thrilled they were to see him, many said they wish his visits weren't so rare.

"Two visits in five years, it's not enough," said Faye Mbissine, a 30-year-old nanny who took an early morning bus to come see Obama on Thursday outside the presidential palace. "We hope that he can come more."

Manougou Nbodj, a 21-year-old student, said he hopes Obama will bring American resources like jobs and health care. "If Obama can work with Macky Sall the way that George Bush worked with Africa before him, then we will be happy," he said, referring to the Senegalese president.

One of Bush's chief foreign policy successes was his aid to Africa, including AIDS relief credited with saving millions of lives and grants to reward developing countries for good governance. Bush followed on momentum on African policy that began under Clinton, who allowed several dozen sub-Saharan countries to export to the U.S. duty-free.

Obama has continued the Bush and Clinton programs during tough economic times. But his signature Africa policy thus far has been food security, through less prominent programs designed to address hunger with policy reforms and private investment in agriculture.

On Friday, Obama toured displays in small thatched booths at his hotel grounds on a bluff overlooking the ocean, meeting with farmers and entrepreneurs who are using new methods and technologies to advance the cause of food security.

"This is a moral imperative," he said. "I believe that Africa is rising and it wants to partner with us not to be dependent but to be self-sufficient.

Witney Schneidman, former deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said Obama's efforts are not like Bush's AIDS initiative "where you put people on a medicine to save their lives ? very, extremely important. This is more of a structural change, and I think that's going to take time."

Under Clinton and Bush "you had this major funding, major attention, major initiatives going to Africa, and then President Obama came in, and there was a sense of stall, in a way," said Jennifer Cooke, director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She said that's understandable as he grappled with wars and an economic crisis, and she gave Obama credit for working diplomatically with African governments in his first term.

But, she said, "they weren't big, splashy initiatives that got peoples' attention either in Africa or here at home, and no big money and no big ideas that really helped define what Obama was about in Africa."

That's a disappointed those who were expecting more from the first African-American president, especially after his speech during a brief stopover in Ghana his first summer in office, in which he spoke personally of his father's life in Kenya and declared "a new moment of great promise" in Africa. "I have the blood of Africa within me," Obama said.

Schneidman argued that Obama's personal connection may also have been an impediment to deeper engagement in his first term. "The whole birther movement here in the U.S. that was sort of questioning his place of birth to begin with ... I think it was a real constraint on dealing with Africa," Schneidman said.

Mwangi Kimenyi, a Kenyan who directs the Brookings Institutions' Africa Growth Initiative, said Obama may be a victim of misplaced sky-high expectations on the continent when he was first elected.

"Africans still consider Clinton their president," Kimenyi said. "If you go to Africa and mention Clinton ? I mean, he is a hero, even today. I don't think President Obama is going to approach the level of President Clinton at all, in terms of respect, in terms of what they feel, and it's partly because, as one whose family is from Africa, the expectations were rather high."

"There is not that feeling that, you know, we have our son there," Kimenyi said. "There's probably more reference of a prodigal son than a, you know, son."

Clinton first drew extensive attention to Africa in 1998 when he made the longest trip ever by a U.S. president, with stops in six countries that had never before been visited by any occupant of the Oval Office.

Bush's trip this week is his third in 19 months to promote his Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon partnership to combat breast and cervical cancer in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. On this visit, he and his wife, Laura, plan to help renovate a cervical cancer screening and treatment clinic in Zambia before heading to Tanzania for the African First Ladies Summit advocating investment in programs for women and girls.

"Frankly, Africa is a place that we had not yet been able to devote significant presidential time and attention to," Obama foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes said. "And there's nothing that can make an impact more in terms of our foreign policy and our economic and security interests than the president of the United States coming and demonstrating the importance of our commitment to this region."

___

Associated Press writer Robbie Corey-Boulet contributed to this report.

___

Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-yet-african-legacy-predecessors-071731058.html

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Ruling a boon for gay couples with foreign spouse

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? After being interviewed by a federal immigration officer earlier this year, Catriona Dowling was told her Irish spouse would have been given a green card ? if she were a man.

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that married gay couples should have equal federal standing with all other married Americans, Dowling is eagerly awaiting the life-changing approval of the couple's application.

The court's decision was met with euphoria by binational same-sex couples who were unable to obtain green cards or other immigration benefits awarded to heterosexuals. In some cases, couples moved abroad to stay together, faced the prospect of deportation or hopped from visa to visa to remain in the country legally.

The ruling means Dowling and spouse Cathy Davis won't have to worry when they take their three children to visit family in Ireland. They can dip into savings to spruce up their Boulder, Colo., home, knowing they'll be staying there and they can enroll the kids in soccer this fall.

"You don't know how heavy it is weighing on you until it's gone," the 55-year-old information technology manager said Thursday, recounting how she and Davis cried when the ruling came down as pajama-clad neighbors stopped by to celebrate the news. "It's this huge wave of relief."

Hours after the ruling found the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, the U.S. government announced it would start extending immigration benefits to gay married couples. Homeland Security officials declined to provide additional details.

About 32,000 same-sex couples in the United States have one partner who is an American citizen and another from a foreign country, said Gary Gates, a demographer at the University of California, Los Angeles Law School's Williams Institute. It isn't clear how many of those couples are married or how many might seek immigration benefits.

"Numerically, it is a very, very modest impact," Gates said. "But I think it's very important in the sense many of these stories are in fact couples who have been perhaps together for a while and have kids together and they lived for some time fearing they would have to separate."

Heterosexual Americans have long been able to sponsor husbands or wives for green cards to live in the United States. Same-sex couples were not able to obtain these immigration benefits, or a number of other federal benefits, because the 1996 law prohibited the U.S. government from recognizing their marriages ? until this week's ruling.

In recent years, binational gay and lesbian couples have stepped up their fight for immigration benefits and achieved some limited success as legal challenges to the law wound through the courts.

In some cases, immigration judges held off deporting a foreign spouse. In others, couples tried to get green cards, were denied and appealed the decision, hoping the Supreme Court decision would favor them.

Some couples held off applying for green cards to see how the court would rule. Los Angeles-based immigration lawyer Lavi Soloway said he had more than 100 immigration petitions ready to file on Wednesday.

"When a ruling like this comes down, it is not simply changing the reality for people today," he said. "It is changing the reality for couples who have been together for 30 or 40 years and have never been able to resolve this issue."

The ruling could also spur some gay couples to marry. Until now, some held off for fear that immigration officials might reject their applications for short-term visas to work or study in the United States if they learned they intended to stay in the country as the spouse of an American.

It may also bring some U.S. citizens home.

Martha McDevitt-Pugh, 54, said she hopes she'll soon be able to return to Northern California to be closer to her ailing 84-year-old mother. McDevitt-Pugh married her wife, Lin, 12 years ago in the Netherlands, knowing they couldn't live together in the United States at the time.

"The point is, we now have a choice," said McDevitt-Pugh, who founded the group Love Exiles for gay and lesbian couples who moved abroad to stay together. "We have a house here, we have a base here ? we're not going to completely abandon the Netherlands, but we want to be able to spend extended periods of time in the U.S."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ruling-boon-gay-couples-foreign-spouse-185515623.html

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Obama jabs Russia, China on failure to extradite Snowden

By Jeff Mason and Mark Felsenthal

DAKAR (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday he would not start "wheeling and dealing" with China and Russia over a U.S. request to extradite former American spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Obama, who appeared concerned that the case would overshadow a three-country tour of Africa that he began in Senegal, also dismissed suggestions that the United States might try to intercept Snowden if he were allowed to depart Moscow by air.

"No, I'm not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker," he told a news conference in Dakar, a note of disdain in his voice. Snowden turned 30 last week.

Obama said regular legal channels should suffice to handle the U.S. request that Snowden, who left Hong Kong for Moscow, be returned. Obama said he had not yet spoken to China's President Xi Jinping or Russian President Vladimir Putin about the issue.

"I have not called President Xi personally or President Putin personally and the reason is ... number one, I shouldn't have to," Obama said sharply.

"Number two, we've got a whole lot of business that we do with China and Russia, and I'm not going to have one case of a suspect who we're trying to extradite suddenly being elevated to the point where I've got to start doing wheeling and dealing and trading on a whole host of other issues," he said.

Snowden fled the United States to Hong Kong this month after leaking details of secret U.S. government surveillance programs, then flew to Moscow on Sunday. He had been expected to fly on to Havana on Monday but did not board the aircraft.

The American, who faces espionage charges in the United States and has asked Ecuador for political asylum, has not been seen since his arrival in Moscow. Russian officials said he remained in a transit area at Sheremetyevo airport.

CHINA, ECUADOR HIT BACK

Snowden's case has raised tensions between the United States and both China and Russia. On Thursday, Beijing accused Washington of hypocrisy on the issue of cyber security.

Obama's remarks seemed calibrated to exert pressure without leading to lasting damage in ties with either country.

Andy Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, said Obama was trying to play down the Snowden saga and minimize the impact on the United States.

"The more the administration can play it down, the more latitude they'll have in the diplomatic arena to work out a deal for him," he said.

Obama predicted there would be a made-for-TV movie about the ongoing saga, but indicated that damage to U.S. interests was largely limited to revelations from Snowden's initial leak.

"I continue to be concerned about the other documents that he may have," Obama said. "That's part of the reason why we'd like to have Mr. Snowden in custody."

Snowden's revelations of widespread snooping by the U.S. National Security Agency in China and Hong Kong have given Beijing considerable ammunition in an area that has been a major irritant between the countries.

China's defense ministry said the U.S. government surveillance program known as Prism "has revealed the concerned country's true face and hypocritical behavior". It did not name the country.

"This 'double standard' approach is not conducive to peace and security in cyber space," ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told reporters, according to state news agency Xinhua.

In Ecuador's capital Quito, the government said it was waiving preferential rights under a U.S. trade agreement to demonstrate its principled stand on Snowden's asylum request.

In a deliberately cheeky touch from the leftist government of President Rafael Correa, Ecuador also offered a multi-million donation for human rights training in the United States.

Ecuadorean officials added that the U.S. fugitive's case had not been processed because he had not yet reached any of its diplomatic missions.

"USEFUL" CONVERSATIONS

Obama said the United States expected all countries who were considering asylum requests for the former contractor to follow international law.

In Washington, the U.S. State Department warned of "grave difficulties" for U.S.-Ecuador relations if the Andean country were to grant Snowden asylum, but gave no specifics.

The White House said last week that Hong Kong's decision to let Snowden leave would hurt U.S.-China relations. Its rhetoric on Russia has been somewhat less harsh.

Obama acknowledged that the United States did not have an extradition treaty with Russia, but he said such a treaty was not necessary to resolve all of the issues involved.

He characterized conversations between Washington and Moscow as "useful" and said the United States would continue to press.

Putin has rejected U.S. calls to expel Snowden to the United States and said on Tuesday the fugitive should choose his destination and leave the airport as soon as possible. Ecuador has said it could take weeks to decide on his asylum request.

Washington is focused on how former Booz Allen Hamilton systems administrator Snowden gained access to National Security Agency secrets while working at a facility in Hawaii.

Obama said the leaks exposed "pretty significant vulnerabilities" at the NSA that had to be resolved.

In Baltimore, NSA Director Keith Alexander said the leaks had caused "significant and irreversible damage" and hurt the United States as well as its allies.

"I believe the irresponsible release of classified information will have a long-term detrimental impact on the intelligence community's ability to detect future attacks," Alexander told the AFCEA International Cyber Symposium.

"I worry there will be more leaks."

(Additional reporting by Brian Ellsworth and Alexandra Valencia in Quito, Lidia Kelly in Moscow, Sui-Lee Wee in Beijing, Deborah Charles in Baltimore and Steve Holland and Laura MacInnis in Washington; Writing by Jeff Mason; Editing by Mike Collett-White)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-jabs-russia-china-failure-extradite-snowden-142851006.html

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Google Street View Go Way, Way Up (Voice Of America)

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NSA Leaker Snowden Leaves Hong Kong (Voice Of America)

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White House: "We expect" Hong Kong to comply with Snowden extradition (cbsnews)

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IT?S THE ARTS with Unqualified Offerings (Unqualified Offerings)

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Hack a Bicycle Helmet To Hunt Down Citi Bike Stations

Now that New York has finally joined the rest of the world with a city-wide bike rental program, users are finding great ways to further improve the service. Including Adafruit's Becky Stern who retrofitted a run-of-the-mill bike helmet with a wicked LED light show and a handy indicator that lets riders find the nearest Citi Bike station?ensuring they always get their ride back on time.

Just like with most Adafruit projects, there's a complete tutorial on how to build your own. Odds are, you're not going to find what you need to build the helmet floating around your kitchen's utility drawer, but all of the components are available through Adafruit's catalog, including an Arduino-compatible FLORA board, a GPS module, and an accelerator/compass sensor.

When completed not only does the helmet put on an impressive light show, alerting drivers and other riders to your presence, it also uses a set of LEDs above the rider's eyes to direct them forward, back, left, or right towards the nearest Citi Bike station depending on where they're riding in New York. [Adafruit Learning Technologies via Laughing Squid]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/hack-a-bicycle-helmet-to-hunt-down-citi-bike-stations-530447339

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Photos of the Day (Powerlineblog)

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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 immediately released, 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.

Another spectator, Shawn Warwick of New Knoxville, told the Dayton Daily News that he was watching the flight through binoculars.

"I noticed it was upside-down really close to the ground. She was sitting on the bottom of the plane," he said. "I saw it just go right into the ground and explode."

Wicker's website says she responded to a classified ad from the Flying Circus Airshow in Bealeton, Va., in 1990, for a wing-walking position, thinking it would be fun. Her full-time job was as a budget analyst for the Federal Aviation Administration, according to her website.

She told WDTN-TV in an interview this week that her signature move was hanging underneath the plane's wing by her feet and sitting 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.

Wicker wrote on her website that she had never had any close calls.

"What you see us do out there is after an enormous amount of practice and fine tuning, not to mention the airplane goes through microscopic care. It is a managed risk and that is what keeps us alive," she wrote.

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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House votes due on crop subsidies, food stamps

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The House is expected to vote Thursday on cuts to government farm subsidies and food stamps as lawmakers move toward passage of a five-year, half trillion-dollar farm bill.

Republican leaders have said they want to finish voting on the bill Thursday. Supporters have been working this week to shore up support for the measure as members of both parties have signaled opposition to the legislation's $2 billion cut in food stamps.

Many Republicans say the cut is not enough; the food stamp program has doubled in cost over the last five years to almost $80 billion a year and now helps to feed 1 in 7 Americans. Liberals oppose any reductions in food stamps, contending that the House plan could remove as many as 2 million needy recipients from the rolls.

The chamber rejected an attempt by Democrats Wednesday to eliminate the $2 billion in cuts and instead slash subsidy payments to farmers. Republican attempts to impose new work requirements on the program and make the cuts even deeper are expected Thursday, along with other amendments that would overhaul sugar and dairy subsidies and cut federally-subsidized crop insurance.

The outcome of those votes could affect the vote on final passage of the bill, which is expected to come Thursday.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., sped the chamber through consideration of almost all of lawmakers' 103 amendments to the legislation Wednesday night. The House at one point adopted 38 amendments at once in a single vote.

The House debated an amendment Wednesday by Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., to limit government help for crop insurance paid to wealthy farmers and limit the subsidies the government gives to crop insurance companies. The vote on that amendment was postponed until Thursday.

The House bill, which would cut around $4 billion a year in overall spending on farm and nutrition programs, expands crop insurance programs and creates a new kind of crop insurance that kicks in before farmers' paid policies do.

But Kind and other Democrats say the bill should cut more from farm subsidies like crop insurance and less from food stamps.

Opposition to farm subsidies has been growing among Republicans, some of whom are expected to vote for the Kind amendment. Conservative groups have been lobbying aggressively against the bill.

Conservatives have also proposed the amendments that would reduce sugar supports and overhaul the dairy subsidies, both of which could turn lawmakers from certain regions of the country against the bill.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has said he will vote for the bill but has taken the unusual step of openly lobbying colleagues to support the amendment overhauling dairy programs, which could threaten the bill's passage

"After serving on the House Agriculture Committee for 16 years, and representing a number of farmers and ranchers in Ohio, I can tell you: our Soviet-style dairy programs are in dire need of reform," Boehner wrote in a letter sent Thursday morning to his colleagues.

Boehner has said he has concerns about the overall legislation but wants to get the farm bill to House and Senate negotiators for a potential deal. Aside from his concerns on the dairy program, he said the change in policy is better than doing nothing.

The House is also scheduled to vote on an amendment to reduce food stamp benefits if Congress fails to pass a farm bill. Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, said he offered the amendment to create more of a sense of urgency among Democrats.

"Right now, they're on the take side, and they're not part of the process," Conaway said. Conaway and other members of the House Agriculture Committee have been scrambling to find enough votes for the bill, which could falter without Democratic support in the Republican-controlled House.

For several decades, farm bills have combined farm subsidies and food stamps in an effort by sponsors to attract urban votes for a mostly rural bill. But that coalition is now shaky, as conservatives have insisted on cuts to food stamps.

Other amendments adopted by voice vote late Wednesday chipped away at food stamps. The House adopted an amendment to require drug tests for food stamp recipients, angering Democrats who said the tests would be demeaning to applicants. Lawmakers also adopted an amendment that would end a 2004 U.S.-Mexico agreement to educate Mexican-Americans about food stamps. More amendments to scale back the program are expected.

Also Wednesday, the House voted to delay sweeping food safety rules proposed by the Food and Drug Administration earlier this year.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., says the bill is necessary to avoid farm crises and that it has some of the biggest reforms in decades. It would eliminate $5 billion a year in direct payments, subsidies that are paid to farmers whether they grow crops or not. The measure would also expand crop insurance and make it easier for rice and peanut farmers to collect subsidies.

Lucas and Republican leaders have worked behind the scenes to prevent most major challenges to the expanded subsidies on the House floor in an effort to smooth the bill's passage.

The Senate passed its version of the farm bill last week, with about $2.4 billion a year in overall cuts and a $400 million annual decrease in food stamps ? one-fifth of the House bill's food stamp cuts.

___

Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/house-votes-due-crop-subsidies-food-stamps-131516913.html

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Tips On Do-it-yourself Home Improvement | TATLIBAL HABER / BLOG

Would you like to be doing your residence for the 1st home improvement task? You most likely do not know how to begin. The following tips can make any redecorating undertaking manage a very little faster and better.

Do not let any function before signing an appropriate agreement. You need to go ahead and take deal considered from a attorney.

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quick loan online Help make your home a lot more power efficient by placing conditions striping in your doorways and entry doors. This can be a low-cost approach to help make your home.It will also make these drafts that constantly appear to display on cold in the house.

Consider including insulating material in your up coming spherical of home improvements. Use the opportunity include weather strip protection around doors and windows. Your power bill may well be more efficiently when you weatherize your house. This may save money on your power bills.

Don?t make your mistake of convinced that your professional can do this respect. Maintain most of every invoice or commitment concerning the project. This can turn out to be extremely helpful if you and your contractor.

Close crevices and openings which one can find around your property, along with protecting against little bugs from going into your property. Use caulk to seal off up windows frames, windows and also electric powered outlets. When caulk dries, insects may have trouble getting into and atmosphere may have trouble receiving out.

Unless you check with before the undertaking starts, it could be to late for folks to devote. You also probably have difficulties concluding work, which can generate problems for backyard projects that depend upon excellent conditions.

The proper illumination can considerably affect an area. Brilliant bedrooms seem nice and pleasing surroundings. You possibly can make an area happier by merely installing far more lumination. Including lighting into a previously dark areas can boost the entire home.

http://www.inyourwardrobe.co.uk/members/josecvh/activity/37792/ http://www.caituo.cn/activity/p/286/ Changing your older house windows for power efficient home windows can give your house a great fresh look, and insects out while in summertime. This redecorating project can be extremely gratifying for everyone who determines to get it done.

You can enhance your home?s worth and boost its curb appeal by adding substantial-gloss fresh paint on the shutters and doorway. Properties clad in lighter in weight-hued vinyl or brick actually look good with blue and red-colored paints while dark-colored exteriors usually love darker greens or deeply tone around the door.

When you don?t want to invest several hours dealing with your grass or employ someone to make it happen, consider setting up a lawn that is certainly low maintenance. This typically requires rock and roll mattresses that include plants and flowers which need little normal water. This will likely eradicate a lot of time and expenses on h2o.

Put in a pergola to provide personality to your residence some persona.

An air conditioner is essential in lots of areas throughout the United states It could be disguised with a few nice latticework or perhaps a trellis. You may also vegetation some thing looking at it, but bear in mind to vegetation it a minumum of one ft . from the model.

House owners must not employ unlicensed building contractors that happen to be unlicensed. All companies to get some sort of recognition. While these demands tend not to ensure licensed contractor competency, legislation does call for them.

http://www.dottw.com/?q=node/87945 http://truenub.com/groups/pay-out-working-day-loans-utilize-currently-for-prompt-income-advance/ Work out how extended you intend on keeping yourself in your house. It possibly isn?t the best choice to spend a lot of money creating adjustments if you don?t anticipate keeping yourself there for very long. You might like to repair issues, nevertheless keep key enhancements or makeovers on the long lasting manager.

If you wish to do renovations outside the house, make sure that your undertaking and style work nicely with all of your area with regards to personality or concept. If your home is an eyesore, it can be harder to offer it.

Be flexible with the home restoration jobs. You might have a day in your mind, but at times it could take longer. You might simply have a small amount of money for anything, but sometimes you might want to spend a bit more.

Inspect your deck ahead of the start of the summer time get together year goes into complete swing.There might be rotting wood that should get replaced. This will help you get ready for the beginning of summer season.

If the hardwood absolutely soaks in the water, it deserves far more water repellent. Make certain your deck is sealed just before winter months in order to keep it from receiving long-term damage.

Be sure you have duplicates of your own permit apps and examination records.Be sure to talk to your upcoming professional to make certain he is ready to provide all documentation you with everything.

This can be a terrific way to make certain you won?t get rid of city from it. Using a credit card works also since you can question the costs.

The major diy stores want your organization, so that they have sessions about each and every redecorating task from artwork to ceramic tile surface installation. Consider sessions and learn the basic principles prior to jump to your following redesigning venture.

In case a licensed contractor provides a funds discounted, don?t practice it. You would like to have got a pieces of paper path, to be unable to get reimbursed if something fails.

Incorporating a form of water filtration program to your house. This task might be done within several hours. Some filtering system products in shape perfectly beneath your sink.

The most effective home improvement projects are really creative it merely requires a single concept.If you need inspiration, take into account employing an indoor designer who may help you get started. Many people are educated on methods to make the project successful and templates with each other.

A huge number of homeowners elect to perform a task or projects for a variety of motives. Several residences have stuff that may be altered. By adding these recommendations into the research, it is possible to locate all of the right important information to pull off of a prosperous venture.

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Source: http://www.tatlibal.com/tips-on-do-it-yourself-home-improvement.html

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Facebook: We can now say more on user surveillance

FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011, file photo, a Facebook User Operations Safety Team worker looks at reviews at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Facebook's top attorney says that after a week of negotiations with U.S. security officials, the company is allowed to make new revelations about government orders for user data, Friday, June 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011, file photo, a Facebook User Operations Safety Team worker looks at reviews at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Facebook's top attorney says that after a week of negotiations with U.S. security officials, the company is allowed to make new revelations about government orders for user data, Friday, June 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) ? Facebook's top attorney said Friday night that after negotiations with national security officials the company has been given permission to make new but still very limited revelations about government orders to turn over user data.

Ted Ullyot, Facebook's general counsel, said in a statement Friday that Facebook is only allowed to talk about total numbers and must give no specifics. But he said the permission it has received is still unprecedented, and the company was lobbying to reveal more.

Using the new guidelines, Ullyot said Facebook received between 9,000 and 10,000 government requests from all government entities from local to federal in the last six months of 2012, on topics including missing children investigations, fugitive tracking and terrorist threats. The requests involved the accounts of between 18,000 and 19,000 Facebook users.

Facebook was not allowed to make public how many orders it received from a particular agency or on a particular subject. But the numbers do include all national security related requests including those submitted via national security letters and under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, which companies had not previously been allowed to reveal.

Ullyot said the company wanted to reveal the information because of "confusion and inaccurate reporting" on the issue, and to show that only "a tiny fraction of one percent" of its 1.1 billion users have been affected.

In a rare alliance, Facebook, Google and Microsoft Corp. have been pressuring the Obama administration to loosen their legal gag on government surveillance orders.

The companies have sought to distance themselves from the Internet dragnet code-named "PRISM" that was revealed in leaks last week.

Google said late Friday that it was waiting to be able to reveal more specific and meaningful information before releasing its surveillance figures.

"We have always believed that it's important to differentiate between different types of government requests," Google said in a statement. "We already publish criminal requests separately from National Security Letters. Lumping the two categories together would be a step back for users. Our request to the government is clear: to be able to publish aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA disclosures, separately."

An after-hours phone message left for Microsoft spokesman Pete Wootton was not immediately returned.

Facebook repeated recent assurances that the company scrutinizes every government request, and works aggressively to protect users' data. Facebook said it has a compliance rate of 79 percent on government requests.

"We frequently reject such requests outright, or require the government to substantially scale down its requests, or simply give the government much less data than it has requested," Ullyot said." And we respond only as required by law."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-06-15-NSA-Facebook/id-8f3ec1cc32a649f09a45b40f5a6ec76e

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Facebook Shares Numbers On Government Data Requests In Response To PRISM Reports

Facebook shared some details Friday night about how frequently it receives government requests for information.

Between June and December 2012, US government entities filed 9,000 to 10,000 requests for Facebook-user data, the company said in a statement posted on its press website. In those requests, the government sought information on a total of between 18,000 and 19,000 user accounts. Facebook has more than 1.1 billion monthly active users, according to the statement.

The move to share this information comes in response to reports in the Guardian and Washington Post that Facebook, along with eight other major tech companies, has been providing the National Security Agency access to data on its servers through a program called "PRISM." (Disclosure: AOL, which owns The Huffington Post, is among those accused of participating in PRISM.)

The company wrote in its statement:

We?ve reiterated in recent days that we scrutinize every government data request that we receive ? whether from state, local, federal, or foreign governments. We?ve also made clear that we aggressively protect our users? data when confronted with such requests: we frequently reject such requests outright, or require the government to substantially scale down its requests, or simply give the government much less data than it has requested. And we respond only as required by law.

But particularly in light of continued confusion and inaccurate reporting related to this issue, we?ve advocated for the ability to say even more.

Since this story was first reported, we?ve been in discussions with U.S. national security authorities urging them to allow more transparency and flexibility around national security-related orders we are required to comply with. We?re pleased that as a result of our discussions, we can now include in a transparency report all U.S. national security-related requests (including FISA as well as National Security Letters) ? which until now no company has been permitted to do. As of today, the government will only authorize us to communicate about these numbers in aggregate, and as a range. This is progress, but we?re continuing to push for even more transparency, so that our users around the world can understand how infrequently we are asked to provide user data on national security grounds.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a message from his personal Facebook account denying that the social network is part of a secret NSA data-sharing program.

"Facebook is not and has never been part of any program to give the US or any other government direct access to our servers," Zuckerberg wrote. "We have never received a blanket request or court order from any government agency asking for information or metadata in bulk, like the one Verizon reportedly received. And if we did, we would fight it aggressively. We hadn't even heard of PRISM before yesterday."

On Tuesday, Google sent an open letter to Attorney General Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller requesting permission to make public details about the extent to which it has shared user information with the NSA.

AOL does not have any knowledge of the Prism program. It does not disclose user information to government agencies without a court order, subpoena or formal legal process, nor do we provide any government agency with access to our servers.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/14/facebook-government-data-requests_n_3445174.html

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Bruins' Horton set to play in Game 2

CHICAGO (AP) ? Boston Bruins forward Nathan Horton will play in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night, three days after he left the series opener with an injury.

Horton practiced with the team on Friday and participated in Boston's morning skate on Saturday.

"He feels really good," coach Claude Julien said. "He looked really good out there, the last two days. There's absolutely no reason he shouldn't play tonight."

Horton left with an unspecified upper body injury while Boston was on a power play during the first overtime of Chicago's 4-3 victory in Game 1. Horton skates with David Krejci and Milan Lucic on a formidable line that really hurt the Blackhawks on Wednesday night.

"I feel good," Horton said. "I'm ready."

Horton made a great pass to set up the first of Lucic's two goals in the series opener. The 28-year-old wing has seven goals and 11 assists in the playoffs.

He said he's not worried about being targeted by the Blackhawks.

"It's the playoffs," he said. "Everyone plays physical. Everyone plays strong."

Forward Jaromir Jagr did not participate in Boston's morning skate, but Julien said the 41-year-old veteran is fine.

"He's 100 percent. He's 41," Julien said with a grin.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-06-15-HKN-Stanley-Cup-Bruins/id-9b4c051f430949f1b3f728e5d4445763

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PFT: Titans' Johnson insists he's not selfish

Getty Images

The Bears spent the eighth overall pick in the 2001 NFL draft on wide receiver David Terrell, who was cut after four disappointing seasons in which he gained a total of 1,602 receiving yards. As a result, he?s largely viewed as a bust.

But Terrell doesn?t see it that way.

When the Chicago publication RedEye put Terrell on its list of the Bears? worst draft busts, Terrell contacted the author of the list to complain, saying that the real problem he faced in Chicago was a lack of good quarterbacks to get him the ball.

?I led the league for like the first four games with Rex Grossman at quarterback,? Terrell said of his final season in Chicago. ?Until Rex Grossman breaks his foot against Minnesota. Did you forget that? I think you musta? forgot about that. Man, I led the league in like every category basically until Rex broke his foot. When Rex broke his foot, after that, the season was over. I caught, I mean, I had nine different quarterbacks after Rex Grossman. I caught a ball from nine different quarterbacks in one year. Did you forget that??

For the record, while Terrell is right that the Bears had a string of bad quarterbacks in 2004, he?s wrong about some of the details. The Bears had four quarterbacks ? Grossman, Chad Hutchinson, Craig Krenzel and Jonathan Quinn ? in 2004, not nine. And while it?s true that Terrell played well with Grossman at the start of the season, catching 16 passes for 267 yards in the first four games, he was not leading the league in any statistical category (let alone ?every category?) at the time that Grossman went down.

But Terrell would have loved to have played with a passer like the Bears? current quarterback, Jay Cutler. Asked what he would have been willing to give for that, Terrell answered, ?I would have cut off both my balls. I?d give those up, no problem. You could have neutered me. I woulda been neutered with a smile.?

If that?s true, then no one can ever say Terrell wasn?t willing to sacrifice to win.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/06/12/chris-johnson-im-not-selfish/related/

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Feds: Bulger at center of murder, mayhem in Boston

FILE - This June 23, 2011 booking photo provided by the U.S. Marshals Service shows James "Whitey" Bulger, one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted fugitives, captured in Santa Monica, Calif., after 16 years on the run. Opening arguments in Bulger's trial begin Wednesday, June 12, 2013 in federal court in Boston. (AP Photo/ U.S. Marshals Service, File)

FILE - This June 23, 2011 booking photo provided by the U.S. Marshals Service shows James "Whitey" Bulger, one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted fugitives, captured in Santa Monica, Calif., after 16 years on the run. Opening arguments in Bulger's trial begin Wednesday, June 12, 2013 in federal court in Boston. (AP Photo/ U.S. Marshals Service, File)

This courtroom sketch depicts James "Whitey" Bulger during the first day of his racketeering trial in U.S. District Court in Boston, Wednesday, June 12, 2013. At right is defense attorney J.W. Carney, Jr. Bulger faces a long list of crimes, including extortion and playing a role in 19 killings. (AP Photo/Margaret Small)

Defense attorneys for James "Whitey" Bulger, J.W. Carney Jr., left, and Henry Brennan, right, leave U.S. District Court in Boston after the first day of Bulger's trial Wednesday, June 12, 2013. Bulger faces a long list of crimes, including extortion and playing a role in 19 killings. (AP Photo/Bill Sikes)

FILE - These 1953 file Boston police booking photos provided by The Boston Globe shows James "Whitey" Bulger after an arrest. Jury selection begins Tuesday, June 4, 2013 in federal court in Boston for Bulger's trial. He faces a long list of crimes, including playing a role in 19 killings. Bulger spent more than 16 years on the run before being captured in Santa Monica, Calif., in 2011. (AP Photo/Boston Police via The Boston Globe, File) WCVB-TV, thebostonchannel.com OUT.

FILE - These 1984 file photos released by the FBI shows James "Whitey" Bulger. Jury selection begins Tuesday, June 4, 2013 in federal court in Boston for Bulger's trial. He faces a long list of crimes, including playing a role in 19 killings. Bulger spent more than 16 years on the run before being captured in Santa Monica, Calif., in 2011. (AP Photo/FBI, file)

BOSTON (AP) ? Reputed gangster James "Whitey" Bulger was a "hands-on killer" responsible for "murder and mayhem" in Boston for almost 30 years, a federal prosecutor told a jury Wednesday as Bulger's highly anticipated racketeering trial began.

Bulger's lawyer acknowledged that Bulger made millions through drugs, illegal gambling and loan-sharking, but told the jury that three ex-mobsters who have pinned murders on Bulger cannot be believed. Each of the men received "extraordinary" deals from prosecutors in exchange for their cooperation, defense attorney J.W. Carney Jr. said.

The defense also denied prosecution claims that Bulger was an FBI informant for years and provided information on the rival New England Mafia.

Bulger, now 83, was one of the nation's most wanted fugitives when he fled Boston in 1994 after receiving a tip from his former FBI handler, John Connolly, that he was about to be indicted. He was finally captured in 2011 in Santa Monica, Calif., where he had been living with his longtime girlfriend in a rent-controlled apartment.

The defense went after the three once-loyal Bulger cohorts who are expected to be the prosecution's star witnesses: convicted hit man John Martorano, former Bulger partner Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi and former Bulger lieutenant Kevin Weeks.

Carney said Martorano, who served 12 years in prison after admitting to killing 20 people, was able to dictate the terms of his deal with prosecutors.

"The federal government was so desperate to have John Martorano testify ... they basically put their hands up in the air and said, 'Take anything you want,'" Carney said.

Kelly said Bulger headed the Winter Hill Gang, a violent group that "ran amok" in Boston for three decades, killing 19 people, extorting millions of dollars from drug dealers and other criminals, and corrupting police and FBI agents.

"At the center of all this murder and mayhem is one man ? the defendant in this case, James Bulger," Kelly said.

Kelly offered chilling details of several of the killings, including the 1984 shooting death of John McIntyre. Authorities say he was killed after Bulger learned he had become an informant.

Kelly said Bulger chained McIntyre to a chair, interrogated him at gunpoint for hours, then tried to strangle him with a rope, but it didn't kill him.

"Bulger asks him, 'You want one in the head?' and McIntyre says, 'Yes, please,'" Kelly said.

Bulger then shot McIntyre, he said.

Kelly also described how Bulger allegedly strangled two 26-year-old women: Debra Davis, Flemmi's girlfriend, and Deborah Hussey, daughter of Flemmi's common-law wife.

Flemmi has testified previously that he watched Bulger kill both women. Weeks testified that he was also present when Bulger killed Hussey.

Bulger, Kelly said, was a "hands-on killer who was the leader of an extensive criminal enterprise."

Bulger's lawyer, however, said Flemmi is the one who killed the women and decided to pin the murders on Bulger after Bulger fled Boston in 1994.

Carney said Bulger had no motive to kill Davis or Hussey, who were close to Flemmi, but not Bulger.

Carney insisted that Bulger was not an FBI informant but instead paid FBI agents to tip him off when he and his gang were being investigated or about to be indicted.

"James Bulger never, ever ? the evidence will show ? was an informant," Carney said.

Carney said it went against Bulger's Irish heritage to be an informant. He also said Bulger was not close enough to members of the local Mafia to provide any useful information to authorities.

Carney said former FBI agent John Connolly ? who was convicted of racketeering for tipping Bulger and Flemmi to an indictment ? fabricated a lengthy FBI informant file for Bulger to cover up the fact that he was regularly seen meeting with Bulger.

Kelly said Bulger's gang succeeded by instilling fear in other criminals and corrupting Connolly and other law enforcement officials.

"It was part of a strategy they had, and it worked for them," Kelly said.

Kelly slowly read the names of each of the 19 victims while showing their pictures to the jury.

The first prosecution witness, retired state police Lt. Robert Long, identified surveillance video and photos of Bulger taken during a 1980 investigation. The video showed Bulger meeting with various organized crime figures at an auto repair garage in Boston's North End.

Testimony was set to resume Thursday.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-12-Whitey%20Bulger/id-19d964924b0043c983ef26949d7429db

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