U.S. seeks Snowden's extradition, urges Hong Kong to act quickly

By Steve Holland and Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Saturday it wants Hong Kong to extradite Edward Snowden and urged it to act quickly, paving the way for what could be a lengthy legal battle to prosecute the former National Security Agency contractor on espionage charges.

Legal sources say Snowden, who is believed to be hiding in Hong Kong, has sought legal representation from human rights lawyers since leaking details about secret U.S. surveillance activities to news media.

"If Hong Kong doesn't act soon, it will complicate our bilateral relations and raise questions about Hong Kong's commitment to the rule of law," a senior Obama administration official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon told CBS News the United States had a "good case" to bring Snowden back to America to face trial and expected Hong Kong to comply with its extradition treaty.

"We have gone to the Hong Kong authorities seeking extradition of Snowden back to the United States," Donilon said.

He added that U.S. law enforcement officials were in a "conversation" with Hong Kong authorities about the issue.

A senior U.S. law enforcement source said extradition "can, of course, be a lengthy legal process" but expressed optimism that Snowden would be sent back to the United States.

The South China Morning Post reported that Snowden was not detained or in police protection - as reported elsewhere - and instead he was in a "safe place" somewhere in Hong Kong.

The paper also quoted Snowden offering new details about America's spy activities, including accusations of U.S. hacking of Chinese mobile phone companies and targeting China's top Tsinghua University.

"The NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS (texting) data," Snowden was quoted by the newspaper as saying in a June 12 interview.

Documents previously leaked by Snowden revealed that the NSA has access to vast amounts of internet data such as emails, chat rooms and video from large companies, including Facebook and Google, under a government program known as Prism.

They also showed that the government had worked through the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to gather so-called metadata - such as the time, duration and telephone numbers called - on all calls carried by service providers such as Verizon.

On Friday, the Guardian newspaper, citing documents shared by Snowden, said Britain's spy agency GCHQ had tapped fiber-optic cables that carry international phone and internet traffic and is sharing vast quantities of personal information with the NSA.

ESPIONAGE CHARGES

The United States charged Snowden with theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence to an unauthorized person, according to the June 14 criminal complaint made public on Friday.

The latter two offenses fall under the U.S. Espionage Act and carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison.

Scores of Americans have been sent back home from Hong Kong to face trial under the extradition treaty. But the process can take years, lawyers say, and Snowden's case could be particularly complex.

America's use of the Espionage Act against Snowden has fueled debate among legal experts about whether that could complicate his extradition, since the treaty includes an exception for political offenses and Hong Kong courts may choose to shield him from prosecution.

Snowden says he leaked the details of the classified U.S. surveillance to expose abusive and illegal programs that trampled on citizens' privacy rights.

President Barack Obama and his intelligence chiefs have vigorously defended the programs, saying they are regulated by law and that Congress was notified. They say the programs have been used to thwart militant plots and do not target Americans' personal lives.

Stephen Vladeck, a professor at American University's Washington College of Law who studies national security issues, said there is no clear definition of what constitutes a political offense under the treaty.

"My intuition says it'll be easier for Snowden to argue espionage is a political offense than (the U.S. charge of) theft of government property," Vladeck said.

Should he return to the United States, Snowden would face trial in a federal court in Virginia that has a long track record of hearing cases related to national security and also to cyber crime.

In the past 20 years, the U.S. government has racked up remarkable success rates in winning convictions or guilty pleas from people brought before the federal court in Virginia who were accused of espionage or terrorism. Because of its speed, the court is considered a "rocket docket.

(Additional reporting by James Pomfret, Venus Wu and Grace Li in Hong Kong, Diane Bartz in Washington and Nate Raymond in New York.; Writing by Phil Stewart.; Editing by Eric Beech and Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-files-espionage-charges-against-snowden-over-leaks-015108216.html

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Prescription Drugs: 7 Out Of 10 Americans Take At Least One, Study Finds

A new study from Mayo Clinic researchers reveals how many Americans are on prescription drugs -- and it's a lot of us.

The study, published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, shows that seven out of 10 Americans take at least one prescription drug. The most commonly prescribed drug is antibiotics -- taken by 17 percent of Americans -- followed by antidepressants and opioids -- each taken by 13 percent of Americans.

"Often when people talk about health conditions they're talking about chronic conditions such as heart disease or diabetes," study researcher Jennifer St. Sauver, Ph.D., who is a member of the Mayo Clinic Population Health Program, said in a statement. "However, the second most common prescription was for antidepressants -- that suggests mental health is a huge issue and is something we should focus on. And the third most common drugs were opioids, which is a bit concerning considering their addicting nature."

The findings are based on data from the Rochester Epidemiology Project, in which medical providers in Olmsted county, Minn. share their patients' medical records with researchers.

Other findings in the report:

- More than half of Americans take two prescription mediations, and 20 percent of Americans are on at least five prescription medications.
- The number of people taking prescription drugs has increased to 48 percent in 2007-2008, from 44 percent in 1999-2000.
- High blood pressure medications are prescribed to 11 percent of people in the study. However, prescriptions for this drug are only commonly prescribed to people age 30 and above.
- Vaccines are prescribed to 11 percent of people in the study.
- Vaccines, anti-asthma drugs and antibiotics are the most common kinds of drugs prescribed to people younger than 19.
- More women than men receive prescription medications.
- Antidepressant prescriptions are more common among women than men, and are most common among women ages 50 to 64 (an age group in which nearly 25 percent of women take antidepressants).

Related on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/19/prescription-drugs-prevalence-americans_n_3466801.html

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Republicans seek to end federal ethanol mandate | The Daily Caller

• 

Congressional Republicans are advocating the full repeal of the federal government?s ethanol mandate, which has been criticized for raising food and fuel prices, as well as forcing consumers to purchase a product.

?I think we need to get rid of [the Renewable Fuel Standard) and we need to think of a better way to handle this,? Oklahoma Republican Rep. James Lankford told The Daily Caller News Foundation. ?It is not that the fuel is economical, it?s not that the fuel is what the consumer wants, it?s that the federal government is requiring this much to be sold.?

?Whole companies have sprung to life knowing that?they have a potential of creating a product that the government mandates that everyone purchase,? Lankford told TheDC News Foundation, adding that the RFS should be repealed in such a way as to not totally disrupt the industry.

Earlier this year, it was reported that fuel refiners were hitting the ?blend wall? ? the point at which refiners refuse to blend more ethanol into the fuel supply. Bloomberg reported in March that refiners will come up 400 million gallons short of the Environmental Protection Agency?s 13.8 billion gallon blending mandate.

Currently, refiners blend 10 percent ethanol into the fuel supply, but the EPA has allowed a 15 percent blend since 2011. However, 15 percent ethanol-blended fuel ? E15 ? has been criticized by the oil industry as dangerous for some engines.

Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, told Congress last week that ?millions of automobiles could face engine and fuel systems damage? from E15 and that the fuel was ?an unnecessary risk to consumer safety, automobiles and small engines.?

RFS repeal has attracted staunch opposition from Democrats, the ethanol industry, and environmentalists.

?Keeping the renewable fuel standard on track is critical if America is to succeed in the clean energy race of the 21st Century,? said California Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier in a congressional hearing last week. ?We cannot just dig our heads in the sand here.?

?We didn?t build the oil industry overnight,? said Jeremy Martin, a senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists. ?Between now and 2015 we?re not going to build a cellulosic biofuel industry that?s the scale of the oil industry. We need a steady path forward.?

Some Republicans have also backed expanding the RFS to include ethanol produced from natural gas as a way to meet the federal mandate. Texas Republican Rep. Pete Olson? introduced such a bill, which is cosponsored by 10 Republicans.

Source: http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/15/republicans-seek-to-end-federal-ethanol-mandate/

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Microsoft just released data on its government requests (including FISA) too.

Microsoft just released data on its government requests (including FISA) too. For the last six months last year, Microsoft received between 6,000 and 7,000 government requests affecting between 31,000 and 32,000 accounts. [Microsoft]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/microsoft-just-released-data-on-its-government-requests-513539952

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Joseph Farman, 82, Is Dead; Discovered Ozone Hole

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Mr. Farman?s single-minded and at times officially derided study of atmospheric changes in the Antarctic led to one of the most important environmental discoveries of the 20th century.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/science/earth/joseph-farman-82-is-dead-discovered-ozone-hole.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Publicist: Founding member of The Doors dies at 74

Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist and founding member of The Doors who had a dramatic impact on rock 'n' roll, has died. He was 74.

Publicist Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald says Manzarek died Monday at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his family. Robinson-Fitzgerald says his manager, Tom Vitorino, confirmed Manzarek died around 3:30 p.m. EDT. He had bile duct cancer.

Manzarek founded The Doors after meeting then-poet Jim Morrison in California. The band went on to become one of the most successful rock 'n' roll acts to emerge from the 1960s and continues to resonate with fans decades after Morrison's death brought an effective end to the band.

The Chicago native continued to remain active in music after Morrison's 1971 death. He briefly tried to hold the band together by serving as vocalist, but eventually the group fell apart. He played in other bands over the years, produced other acts, became an author and worked on films.

The Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Manzarek is among the most notable keyboard players in rock history. His lead-instrument work with the band at a time when the guitar often dominated added a distinct end-times flavor that matched Morrison's often out there imagery and persona.

The group is best known for hits like "L.A.Woman," ''Break On Through to the Other Side," ''The End" and "Light My Fire" ? a song particularly colored by his keyboard work ? and came to symbolize the decadence of Los Angeles as the counterculture grew in the U.S.

Manzarek is survived by his wife, Dorothy, his son Pablo and two brothers, Rick and James.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/publicist-founding-member-doors-dies-74-211838531.html

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93% The Sapphires

All Critics (124) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (115) | Rotten (9)

The harmonies they strike in this reality-inspired charmer are sweetly sublime.

You could drive an Abrams tank through the film's plot holes, but you'll likely be too busy enjoying yourself to bother.

"The Sapphires" feels like a movie you've already seen, but it's nonetheless thoroughly enjoyable, like a pop song that's no less infectious when you know every word.

"The Sapphires" sparkles with sass and Motown soul.

Sapphires is hardly a cinematic diamond mine. But this Commitments-style mashup of music and melodrama manages to entertain without demanding too much of its audience.

The mood is so charming and the music so inspiring that you continually cut it a break.

By-the-numbers in every sense of the word, the film tracks a tried-and-true sort of triumph while featuring renditions of soul classics so bursting with energy and joy you won't care that the originality meter is leaning on empty.

Even when it seems contrived The Sapphires is a feel-good movie in the most positive meaning of that term, thanks to the Motown music and O'Dowd's cheeky charm. Like the Four Tops, I loved every sugar pie, honey bunch moment. I can't help myself.

Unfortunately, it has been turned into a routine and uninspiring movie, following a tired, old formula the entire way.

A surefire crowdpleaser with all the ingredients for the type of little-movie-that-could sleeper success that Harvey Weinstein has nurtured in years and award seasons past.

You've seen this story before, but never pulled off with so much joie de vivre.

They can put a song across just like the Dreamgirls. What's not to like?

Exuberant but fairly formulaic.

Doesn't always mix its anti-prejudice message and its feel-good nostalgia with complete smoothness. But despite some ragged edges it provides a reasonably good time.

Director Wayne Blair -- another veteran of the stage show -- finds his footing during the film's many musical numbers.

Despite the prosaic plot and reserved approach taken by Blair, Briggs, and Thompson, it's tough to get cynical about such a warmhearted picture that strives to tell so uplifting a story.

A movie with enough melody and camaraderie to cover up its lack of originality.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_sapphires_2012/

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