March of the Riders

This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "March of the Riders"

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"I saw the traveler make his way toward the monolith,
That thin gash amidst the clouds;
An open seam between heaven and earth that eluded the Eye of God.

Or perhaps it had not; perhaps it beckoned from one realm
To the other, wedded And ruled as one;
For look how clean it splits the horizon 'twain, absorbs it,
Makes it Strange,
An indomitable beam,
A Tower of Heaven."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/llJSoYyNc98/viewtopic.php

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'No one wants this fight:' Ecuadoreans divided over Snowden asylum

Dolores Ochoa / AP

A vendor who sells roasted corn pushes her cart past a flower shop in Quito, Ecuador, on Wednesday. Unlike with China, Russia or Cuba, the Obama administration could swiftly hit Ecuador in the pocketbook by denying reduced tariffs on cut flowers, artichokes and broccoli if it grants Snowden's request for asylum.

By Mary Murray and Miguel Almaguer, NBC News

QUITO, Ecuador -- Ecuador, the South American country known for the Middle of the World -- a park honoring the Equator that boasts a yellow line painted on the ground said to be precisely at Earth?s midpoint -- is now becoming the center of an international chase for National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

Public opinion in Ecuador runs hot and cold on whether the country should extend political asylum to Snowden. While some admire their president for trying to stick it to the United States, others fear economic fallout if Snowden settles in Ecuador.

One Ecuadorean newspaper this week called the leaker a ?hot potato,? while another labeled him ?a spy.?

Luis Ortega, who makes his living working in tourism, believes political fighting of any kind is bad for business. His big question: ?Will Americans stop coming here??

The 25-year-old, who had just finished showing a tour group from Chicago around Quito?s World Heritage landmarks, said he was worried about his livelihood.

?I just got married and I can?t afford for my business to suffer,? he said.

Ecuador?s tourism industry generates more than $1 billion a year and is growing.

Jose Jacome / EPA file

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa smiles at the crowd during a military act at the presidential palace in Quito, Ecuador, on Wednesday. Correa announced that his government will decide with 'absolute sovereignty' on political asylum for Edward Snowden.

?Americans come here because we?re friends,? Ortega said. ?No one wants this fight.?

Rodrigo Espinosa shared that same point of view. He?s employed by a private security firm that caters to American business executives.

?Snowden is not our problem, so why are we sticking our nose into this business?? he said.

The concerns are not unfounded. On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, vowed to eliminate the preferential trade agreements in place under the Andean Trade Preference Act should Snowden, 29, gain asylum in Ecuador.

"Our government will not reward countries for bad behavior," Menendez said in a written statement. At the end of July, Congress must vote to renew the trade accord.

That message angered Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, an economist educated in the United States. In a tweet, Correa denounced the U.S. view as ?unjust? and ?immoral."

Heightening tensions further, Correa's representative on Thursday renounced the trade benefits and called the lower tariffs ?blackmail,? sarcastically suggesting that Washington instead use Ecuador?s share of $23 million for human rights training inside the United States.

"Ecuador does not accept pressure or threats from anyone, nor does it trade with its principles," said Fernando Alvarado, the communications secretary.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman told reporters in Washington that despite Alvarado's comments, Ecuador was still eligible for benefits under two different programs, Reuters reported.

Although China invests heavily in the region, the U.S. remains Ecuador's main trading partner, accounting for some 40 percent or about $9 billion of all exports.

Ecuador benefits heavily from its Andean trade program with the United States. An oil-rich country, Ecuador exported an estimated $5.4 billion worth of oil, as well as $166 million from its flower industry, $122 million of fruits and vegetables and $80 million of tuna to the United States in 2012.

In a country that battles a high poverty rate, the flower industry alone employs more than 100,000 workers, many of them women.?

Ecuadoreans like Dr. Catalina Nuncios applaud Alvarado's view and stand ready to welcome Snowden with open arms.

?We are Christians and cannot turn our back on this young man who needs our help,? said Nuncios, a pediatrician who voted for Correa twice. She said she felt offended by Menendez's statement.

President Obama remarks on the situation with admitted NSA leaker Edward Snowden, saying he has no plans to disrupt relations with Russia and China, nor to scramble jets to capture the "29-year-old hacker."

?No one can threaten us to toe their line," Nuncios said.

Engineering student Jesus Lombardi, who was born in Ecuador but raised in southern California, said he feels torn.

?The American part of me understands national security, but my Ecuadorean side is proud that Correa is putting my country on the map.?

As tensions escalate, Snowden remains in legal limbo somewhere in the Moscow airport.

Ecuadorean law is, in fact, hindering his case. Under the constitution, Snowden must make his asylum request in person either in the country or at an Ecuadorean embassy or consulate. And, according to local press reports, Snowden still does not possess a legal travel document that would allow him to board a flight to Quito.

NBC's Carlos Rigau and?Reuters contributed to this report.?

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N-1: Florida Auto Driving Requirements ? What Is It

Insurance has been spread around all around the globe in just about every and every sector. So you can express that it truly is of paramount great importance whether it is for anything at all which is essential, or be it for many liked ones. Insurance helps us to achieve satisfaction. A noteworthy example would be daily life insurance for your individual where by when the man or woman dies, a certain quantity of money is bequeathed on the cherished kinds. In the same way an essential piece of machinery or gadget is often insured against any kind of unintentional or intentional harm or tampering. If this equipment is often a car or truck, then auto insurance can work as a safety. For example if somebody bumps into your vehicle or even a nonchalant maniac decides to manhandle your car, you would be nervous. Just after the celebration, your vehicle is remaining battered and bruised. It could expense extravagant amounts of income to undone all that has absent erroneous along with the automobile.?

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Florida Auto insurance provides you with the necessary reimbursements if the authenticity within your claim is proved. Auto insurance in fact is incredibly beneficial. Several states allow it to be mandatory for an individual to situation auto insurance once a person purchases an auto. Usually she or he will not be authorized to cruise as a result of community roads. Some administrations have a superior prepare for those unwilling to pursue Florida auto insurance. They might shell out a tax that is proportional to your volume of gas their car or truck consumes. This is pretty useful because it indicates automobiles that toiled a lot more will righteously get better positive aspects. Australia, one example is includes a excellent method via which the high quality is gathered together with license money for just a car or truck. In India particular instances are excluded in the sphere of auto insurance like should the hurt towards the automobile is because of driving though drunk, or because of a war, or as a result of mechanical difficulties. Apart from covering the car, auto insurance also insures versus injury for the insured party although while in the car. Auto insurance compensates for damage finished to third parties just like a stranger?s car, or system. The insured get together will receive money if your car is set ablaze by an individual else, or if components are stolen in the auto. You can find a payment called surplus, which an insured party is liable to accrue and pay in the circumstance of damage carried out to the car. Typically they are really essential to pay it to the garage or workshop exactly where the vehicle gets restored. When the incident was their fault then the excess payment won't be reimbursed. With greater made use of of automobile, insurance organizations are having benefits due to the fact car insurance is essential when you have auto or every other auto and wish to include that in opposition to injury, theft, and at times fix at the same time. But there are several insurance organizations which make use of this increase in automobile marketplace and charging more rates than generally you should shell out. For that typical gentleman do require some car insurance conserving tips to have cheaper insurance for identical protection sum. So click the link for getting some preserving tips which may really allows one particular to save lots of on rates to pay possibly month to month or yearly. It?s very necessary to sustain credit score scores if you go and visit official site, as it has essential aspect to perform if you go for car insurance. Nearly each business considers your credit rating score when you will get any Florida auto insurance. So it is rather critical to examine your credit score score papers and if you will find any blunders get hold of them. Beforehand, it is very important to possess duplicate in hand prior to going to buy Florida Car insurance and browse it diligently, as it has considerable role within your browsing. For those who have terrible credit history score as a consequence of some unavoidable purpose then it is rather important to pick corporation which does not look at your credit rating ranking. There are several insurance sellers in industry which really do not think about your credit rating score. They only take into account your driving history. So if you've got worst credit ratings then go for insurers which really do not take into account it in calculating premiums. And it truly is also essential to keep up good driving history at the same time, simply because that is certainly pretty vital variable. Nearly every single organization considers this as best issue. So it is actually improved to keep up good driving record to get superior coverage and lessen premiums. These Florida car insurance personal savings tips let you to substantially reduce your premiums volume for identical protection. As soon as you visit official site, you are going to recognize that much more important think about calculation of premium is your perform heritage. Insurers do talk to you for papers which guidance your working heritage, since from that they occur to be aware of about regularity with premium payments, so bad doing the job record could increase quality by unimaginable charge. Now I am telling with regards to the most important point. For those who live with somebody who have criminal document or convicted of driving below impact (DUI) then it might goes versus you and Florida auto insurance charges within this make a difference might be better than the primary stage. So you'll find so many unfamiliar and stunning variables which can maximize your insurance quality if not inside your favor. For additional specifics look at the authority web-site about the insurance strategies. Until you can go another internet sites to pick up the insurance, but Florida auto insurance rates that time could vary from enterprise to organization. So search before you leap.?

Source: https://n-1.cc/blog/view/1692919/florida-auto-driving-requirements-%E2%80%93-what-is-it

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Firefox gets a new logo, rolls out desktop and Android Beta updates

Firefox is an ever evolving beast, and that includes both its friendly orange fox logo, and its Beta channel browser. Today Mozilla unveiled the fourth Firefox logo, a (slightly) less textured and glossy icon for its favored web browser -- and if you're . Meanwhile, the latest update for for Firefox Beta brings access to the company's Social API and, consequently, Share buttons to the platform -- so Facebook fanatics can have one-click sharing of images, articles, videos and links from the Firefox toolbar. The new Beta is also getting a Mixed Content Blocker that prevents HTTP (read: nonsecure) content from loading on HTTPS websites. Plus, there's a new Network Monitor feature to let devs see how quickly individual page components load and optimizations for OS X 10.7 that enable its scrollbar style and and the scroll bounce behavior Apple fans love.

Oh, and for you mobile fans, the Android Beta was updated today, too. Now, it's got an auto-hide Awesome Bar, a URL autocomplete function and an updated RSS feed reader that allows you to add feeds to with a long press on the aforementioned Awesome Bar. Pretty awesome, gents, now let's get these Beta features into a full release, and it'll be really awesome.

Filed under: Internet, Software

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Source: Mozilla Future Releases blog (1), (2), Mozilla about:pixels blog

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/27/firefox-gets-a-new-logo-rolls-out-desktop-and-android-beta-upda/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Egypt's Mursi offers to listen, opponents unimpressed

By Yasmine Saleh and Alastair Macdonald

CAIRO (Reuters) - President Mohamed Mursi offered opponents a say in amending Egypt's constitution, but railed against "enemies" he accused of undermining the new democracy in a defiant speech ahead of mass protests planned to demand that he step down.

As the Islamist head of state ended a marathon televised address early on Thursday, liberals said they had heard nothing new, including any offer to include them in committees to draft institutional reforms and study "national reconciliation".

Opposition plans to stage a huge protest on Sunday, when Mursi completes a year as Egypt's first freely elected leader, were unchanged. After two people were killed in factional street fighting on Wednesday, the risk remains of a violent showdown, as Islamists also plan to rally in force.

Instability in the biggest Arab nation could send shocks well beyond its borders. It has long been an ally of the United States, which still funds Egypt's armed forces heavily.

The army, for decades the arbiter of Egyptian politics, has warned it may step back in to keep order. The head of the armed forces had a front-row seat in the audience for Mursi's speech in Cairo, which lasted nearly three hours.

General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was promoted by Mursi, has warned feuding politicians that if they fail to forge consensus and violence runs out of control, then troops would intervene.

Mursi offered a diagnosis of Egypt's problems since the revolution of 2011 that, with military help, forced out Hosni Mubarak. "Political polarization and conflict has reached a stage that threatens our nascent democratic experience and threatens to put the whole nation in a state of paralysis and chaos," he said.

He acknowledged unspecified "errors" and promised reforms to help Egypt's fast-growing young population; he spoke of cutting unemployment and raising the minimum wage but blamed opponents for the instability that has driven the economy into crisis.

But unmoved liberal opponents mocked the length of his speech, his personal attacks on public figures and the cheering of the partisan audience seen on national television.

"Our demand was early presidential elections and since that was not addressed anywhere in the speech then our response will be on the streets on June 30," said Mahmoud Badr, the founder of the campaign to demonstrate on that date, the first anniversary of Mursi's inauguration. "I hope he'll be watching."

Badr, a 28-year-old journalist who launched a petition for Mursi's removal under the slogan "Tamarud-Rebel!", says it has gathered 15 million signatures in two months. "I feel ashamed that this man has become a president of my state," he said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in Kuwait, said: "Egypt is historically a critical country to this region ... Our hope is that all those interested parties who are preparing to demonstrate will do so in a peaceful and responsible way, that builds the future of Egypt, doesn't tear it down."

"SABOTAGE"

Mixing anger and humor in his speech, Mursi drew cheers from Islamist supporters in the audience by slamming liberal opponents he said had rejected offers of dialogue and poured venom on "sabotage" by Mubarak loyalists who wanted to "turn back the clock".

"I took responsibility for a country mired in corruption and was faced with a war to make me fail," he said, naming senior officials, including judges and the former premier he beat in last year's election, as well as neighborhood "thugs". He also slammed some owners of hostile media, accusing one of tax fraud.

Two hours in, he offered an olive branch - an invitation to party leaders to meet as soon as Thursday to start work on an all-party committee to prepare amendments to the constitution.

Pushed through in a referendum late last year, the constitution has been a prime target of opposition complaints that Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood is using its ability to mobilize an organized electoral base to disregard the opinions of others.

Mursi also proposed a "national reconciliation" committee that would include Muslim and Christian clerics. Minorities and secular Egyptians worry he will subject them to Islamic laws.

Urging peaceful protests - and warning "violence will only lead to violence" - he urged opponents to focus on parliamentary elections rather than on "undemocratic" demands to overturn his election on the streets. "I say to the opposition, the road to change is clear," he said. "Our hands are extended."

OPPOSITION DEFIANT

Khaled Dawoud, the spokesman of the coalition of liberal parties that back the petition campaign, said Mursi's call for cooperation was not new and would not be taken seriously. "I am more determined than ever to go out on June 30 to demand the removal of an absolutely irresponsible president," he said.

"A boring speech that said nothing," concluded leftist former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi.

A few thousand people milled around Cairo's Tahrir Square, the cradle of the revolution, many waving soccer-style red cards reading "Out!"

Ayman Anwar, a 55-year old computer engineer, stood with his wife Azaa staring at a screen on the traffic interchange set up to show Mursi's speech.

"I didn't come out tonight to listen," he said. "I came out because I'm angry. No one could have imagined that this would happen to Egypt. We've replaced one dictator with another."

Before Mursi spoke, two people were killed and more than 200 were treated for injuries in the city of Mansoura, north of Cairo, when Islamist supporters clashed with their opponents.

Overnight, there were also skirmishes in Alexandria when youths approached a rally of Mursi supporters in the city.

Fears of a violent stand-off in the streets between Mursi's Islamist supporters and a broad coalition of the disaffected have led people to stock up on food. Long lines of cars outside fuel stations have snarled roads in Cairo and other cities.

Islamists plan a major rally in Cairo and some opposition groups say they, too, may take to the streets before Sunday.

(Reporting by Shaimaa Fayed, Patrick Werr, Asmaa Alsharif, Tom Perry, Maggie Fick, Yasmine Saleh, Omar Fahmy, Alexander Dziadosz and Shadia Nasralla.; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; editing by Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mursi-offers-constitution-change-protests-003633323.html

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WSJ: Google working on an Android-powered game system, smart watch and new Nexus Q

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google might make another foray into living room hardware as it's currently developing an Android powered gaming console. Since that's just not enough of a rumor bomb, the talkative "people familiar with the matter" also claim a wristwatch and followup to its "postponed" Nexus Q project are on the way. If you believe the rumors, its reason for jumping into all these categories is to beat products Apple is reportedly developing in the same categories, with at least one of them launching this fall. Finally, the leaks indicate Google's next major Android update will be "tailored to low-cost devices in developing countries." Companies like Ouya, Mad Catz, Pebble and GEAK probably think Mountain View is already late to the party, but official OS-level support and heavily marketed hardware could take these segments to the next level.

Filed under: Gaming, Google

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Source: Wall Street Journal

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/27/wsj-google-android-game-console/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Page Not Found - Yahoo!

Please check the URL for proper spelling and capitalization. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Yahoo!, try visiting the Yahoo! homepage or look through a list of Yahoo!'s online services.

Please try Yahoo Help Central if you need more assistance.

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Blackhawks fan celebrate another Stanley Cup

CHICAGO (AP) ? The victorious Chicago Blackhawks brought the Stanley Cup home Tuesday and proceeded to take it on a pub crawl, with scores of ecstatic fans flocking to taverns and restaurants in hopes of catching a glimpse of their beloved players and the sacred trophy awarded to the NHL champion.

Many fans, bleary eyed from staying up the night before to watch Game 6, looked to the skies for TV news helicopters that would alert them they were on the right track. Others set themselves up at bars, hoping the rumors from friends or Twitter might turn out to be true.

"We've been packed since 7 this morning." said Brad Tice, general manager of The Pony on Chicago's North Side. "In 2010 (the last time the Blackhawks won the cup) it came here, and players hang out here and live in the neighborhood, so everyone is hoping it will show up."

In suburban Oak Brook, fans descended on a restaurant said to be a favorite spot of Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. By midafternoon, the cup hadn't shown up at either spot.

The trophy that turns into a drinking buddy once it is awarded to the National Hockey League champions had already put in a pretty full day. Though it hadn't made it to the runway of a strip club or the bottom of a swimming pool ? just two of the many players have taken it over the years ? it did get in an early morning limousine ride.

After the plane trip from Boston following the Blackhawks' 3-2 series-clinching win over the Bruins, the players were greeted at the tarmac at O'Hare International Airport with a water cannon salute from about a dozen fire trucks and police cars, all with their lights flashing.

Veteran forward Michal Handzus was the first player to emerge from the aircraft shortly after 4 a.m., hoisting the 35-pound cup above his head with both hands and shaking it several times. Guests, police officers and firemen cheered at the bottom of the stairs. Players, coaches and team officials mingled with the crowd for about 10 minutes before heading for the city to continue the party that began in Chicago shortly after the team stunned Boston by scoring twice in a 17-second span during the final 1:16 of the game.

There was a stop at a Harry Caray's restaurant in Rosemont ? the same first stop the Blackhawks made after winning the championship in 2010. There were more than 1,000 fans waiting, and players took turns hoisting the cup over their heads to screams of excitement.

"I was in shock. ... I jumped up so high that I stubbed my toe," Frank Espinoza told WBBM radio at Harry Caray's, recalling the late goals. "I didn't realize it until the game was over; I felt a pain in my toe afterward."

The Scout bar in the South Loop area of downtown was the next stop, as team members greeted cheering fans outside with high-fives before filing into the bar.

"My (5-year-old) son stayed up to watch the game but I told him he could go over there if it was packed and we looked outside and it was packed so we went," said Ekta Joshi after she and her son, Kabil, went over to cheer the players.

Because she and her husband know people who work there, she was one of the lucky few to be allowed inside, where they met some players and the coach.

"He got a few autographs on his hat and I'm sure he's showing it off at school now," Joshi said.

After that stop, the cup made it out to the United Center. But after a couple hours, Twitter heated up again with word that it was on the move again.

___

Freelance writer Matt Carlson contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blackhawks-fan-celebrate-another-stanley-cup-191156088.html

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Texas abortion bill falls after challenge

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Despite barely beating a midnight deadline, hundreds of jeering protesters helped stop Texas lawmakers from passing one of the toughest abortion measures in the country.

As the protesters raised the noise to deafening levels in the Texas Senate chamber late Tuesday, Republicans scrambled to gather their colleagues at the podium for a stroke-of-midnight vote.

"Get them out!" Sen. Donna Campbell shouted to a security guard, pointing to the thundering crowd in the gallery overhead that had already been screaming for more than 10 minutes.

"Time is running out," Campbell pleaded. "I want them out of here!"

It didn't work. The noise never stopped and despite barely beating the midnight end-of-session deadline with a vote to pass the bill, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said the chaos in the chamber prevented him from formally signing it before the deadline passed, effectively killing it.

Dewhurst denounced the protesters as an "unruly mob." Democrats who urged them on called the outburst democracy in action.

In either point of view, a raucous crowd of chanting, singing, shouting demonstrators effectively took over the Texas Capitol and blocked a bill that abortion rights groups warned would close most abortion clinics in the state.

"They were asking for their voices to be heard," said Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, who spent nearly 11 hours trying to filibuster the bill before the outburst. "The results speak for themselves."

The final outcome took several hours to sort out.

Initially, Republicans insisted the vote started before the midnight deadline and passed the bill that Democrats spent the day trying to kill. But after official computer records and printouts of the voting record showed the vote took place Wednesday, and then were changed to read Tuesday, senators retreated into a private meeting to reach a conclusion.

At 3 a.m., Dewhurst emerged from the meeting still insisting the 19-10 vote was in time, but said, "with all the ruckus and noise going on, I couldn't sign the bill" and declared it dead.

He denounced the more than 400 protesters who staged what they called "a people's filibuster" from 11:45 p.m. to well past midnight. He denied mishandling the debate.

"I didn't lose control (of the chamber). We had an unruly mob," Dewhurst said. He even hinted that Gov. Rick Perry may immediately call another 30-day special session, adding: "It's over. It's been fun. But see you soon."

Many of the protesters had flocked to the normally quiet Capitol to support Davis, who gained national attention and a mention from President Barack Obama's campaign Twitter account. Her Twitter following went from 1,200 in the morning to more than 20,000 by Tuesday night.

"My back hurts. I don't have a lot of words left," Davis said when it was over and she was showered with cheers by activists who stayed at the Capitol to see her. "It shows the determination and spirit of Texas women."

Davis' mission was cut short but her effort ultimately helped Democrats earn a rare victory in a Legislature dominated by Republicans for more than a decade.

"It's a bad bill," said Sen. Kirk Watson of Austin, leader of the Senate Democrats.

The bill would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and force many clinics that perform the procedure to upgrade their facilities and be classified as ambulatory surgical centers. Also, doctors would be required to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles ? a tall order in rural communities.

If signed into law, the measures would have closed almost every abortion clinic in Texas, a state 773 miles wide and 790 miles long with 26 million people. A woman living along the Mexico border or in West Texas would have to drive hundreds of miles to obtain an abortion if the law passed. The law's provision that abortions be performed at surgical centers means only five of Texas' 42 abortion clinics are currently designated to remain in operation.

Republicans and anti-abortion groups insisted their goal was to improve women's health care, but also acknowledged wanting clinics to close.

"If this passes, abortion would be virtually banned in the state of Texas, and many women could be forced to resort to dangerous and unsafe measures," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund and daughter of the late former Texas governor Ann Richards.

The showdown came after Davis had slogged her way through about 11 hours of speaking while Senate Republicans ? and several House members ? watched and listened for any slipup that would allow them to end the filibuster and call a vote.

Democrats chose Davis, of Fort Worth, to lead the effort because of her background; she had her first child as a teenager and went on to graduate from Harvard Law School.

Rules stipulated she remain standing, not lean on her desk or take any breaks ? even for meals or to use the bathroom. But she also was required to stay on topic, and Republicans pointed out a mistake and later protested again when another lawmaker helped her with a back brace.

Lawmakers can vote to end a filibuster after three sustained points of order. As tension mounted over Davis' speech and the dwindling clock, Campbell, a first-term lawmaker from New Braunfels, made the call on the third violation, sparking nearly two hours of debate on how to handle it.

After much back and forth and senators shouting over each other, the Republican majority forced a vote to end the filibuster minutes before midnight, sparking the raucous response from protesters.

Senate security and several Department of Public Safety state troopers tried to quiet the crowd but were simply outnumbered and had no hope of stopping the outburst.

Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, blamed the confusion surrounding the final vote on the demonstrators and Democratic senators who urged them on.

"Had that not happened, everyone would have known," what was happening, Patrick said.

Standing next to him was Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, a Democrat.

"This is democracy," Hinojosa said. "They have a right to speak."

___

Senate Bill 5: http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/history.aspx?LegSess=831&Bill=SB5

___

Follow Jim Vertuno on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JimVertuno .

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/cltomlinson

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-abortion-bill-falls-challenge-124527318.html

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Reader recommendation: Wolf Hall

Monitor readers share their favorite book picks.

Hillary Mantel's award-winning novel on Thomas Cromwell, Wolf Hall, gives a more sympathetic rendition of Thomas (not Oliver) Cromwell, chief advisor to King Henry VIII, than most historians accord him. The book is written in excellent prose, built on modern and early English languages. It flags a little at the end but is an excellent read. Mantel's second book of this trilogy "Bring up the Bodies," won the Booker prize but I have not read it yet.

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Russia rejects US demand for Snowden's extradition

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russia's foreign minister on Tuesday bluntly rejected U.S. demands to extradite National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, who has apparently stopped in Moscow while trying to evade U.S. justice, saying that Snowden hasn't crossed the Russian border.

Sergey Lavrov insisted that Russia has nothing to do with him or his travel plans. Lavrov wouldn't say where Snowden is, but he angrily lashed out at the U.S. for demanding his extradition and warnings of negative consequences if Moscow fails to comply.

"We consider the attempts to accuse Russia of violation of U.S. laws and even some sort of conspiracy, which on top of all that are accompanied by threats, as absolutely ungrounded and unacceptable," Lavrov said. "There are no legal grounds for such conduct of U.S. officials, and we proceed from that."

U.S and Ecuadorean officials said they believed Snowden was still in Russia, where he fled Sunday after weeks of hiding out in Hong Kong following his disclosure of the broad scope of two highly classified counterterror surveillance programs to two newspapers. The programs collect vast amounts of Americans' phone records and worldwide online data in the name of national security.

Lavrov claimed that the Russian government has only found out about Snowden's flight from Hong Kong from news reports.

"We have no relation to Mr. Snowden, his relations with the American justice or his travel around the world," Lavrov said. "He chooses his route himself, and we have learned about it from the media."

Snowden booked a seat on a Havana-bound flight from Moscow Monday en route to Venezuela and then possible asylum in Ecuador, but he didn't show up on the plane. Russian news reports said he has remained at a transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, but he hasn't been seen there by the media.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has embraced Snowden and WikiLeaks experts are believed to be assisting him in arranging asylum.

Assange on Monday declined to discuss where Snowden was but said he was only passing through Russia and had applied for asylum in Ecuador, Iceland and possibly other countries.

Ecuador's foreign minister hailed Snowden on Monday as "a man attempting to bring light and transparency to facts that affect everyone's fundamental liberties."

The decision whether to grant Snowden the asylum he has requested is a choice between "betraying the citizens of the world or betraying certain powerful elites in a specific country," Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told reporters while visiting Vietnam. He said Tuesday that he didn't know Snowden's exact whereabouts.

A high-ranking Ecuadorean official told The Associated Press that Russia and Ecuador were discussing where Snowden could go, and the process could take days. He also said Ecuador's ambassador to Moscow had not seen or spoken to Snowden. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the U.S. had made demands to "a series of governments," including Ecuador, that Snowden be barred from any international travel other than to be returned to the U.S. The U.S. has revoked Snowden's passport.

Secretary of State John Kerry urged Moscow to "do the right thing" and turn over Snowden.

"We're following all the appropriate legal channels and working with various other countries to make sure that the rule of law is observed," President Barack Obama told reporters when asked if he was confident that Russia would expel Snowden.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the U.S. was expecting the Russians "to look at the options available to them to expel Mr. Snowden back to the United States to face justice for the crimes with which he is charged."

Some experts said it was likely the Russian spy agencies were questioning Snowden on what he knew about U.S. electronic espionage against Moscow.

"If Russian special services hadn't shown interest in Snowden, they would have been utterly unprofessional," Igor Korotchenko, a former colonel in Russia's top military command turned security analyst, said on state Rossiya 24 television.

The Kremlin has previously said Russia would be ready to consider Snowden's request for asylum.

Snowden is a former CIA employee who later was hired as a contractor for the NSA. In that job, he gained access to documents that he gave to The Guardian and The Washington Post to expose what he contends are privacy violations by an authoritarian government.

Snowden also told the South China Morning Post that "the NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS data." He is believed to have more than 200 additional sensitive documents in laptops he is carrying.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-rejects-us-demand-snowdens-extradition-092352868.html

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US consumer confidence at five-year high in June

In this Wednesday, May 15, 2013 photo, pedestrians walk in and out of the Walgreens flagship store in the Empire State Building, in New York. The private Conference Board reports on consumer confidence for June, on Tuesday, June 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In this Wednesday, May 15, 2013 photo, pedestrians walk in and out of the Walgreens flagship store in the Empire State Building, in New York. The private Conference Board reports on consumer confidence for June, on Tuesday, June 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Americans' confidence in the economy rose to its highest level in more than five years, bolstered by a more optimistic outlook for hiring.

The Conference Board, a New York-based private research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index jumped to 81.4 in June. That's the best reading since January 2008. And it is up from May's reading of 74.3, which was revised slightly downward from 76.2.

Consumers' confidence in the economy is watched closely because their spending accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.

The report shows consumers are more positive about current economic conditions and have a more optimistic view of the economy and job market in the next six months.

Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at the Conference Board, said that "suggests the pace of growth is unlikely to slow in the short-term, and may even moderately pick up."

Employers added 175,000 jobs in May, nearly matching the average monthly gain for the past year. That's enough to slowly lower the unemployment rate. The rate ticked up to 7.6 percent last month but has fallen 0.6 percentage points in the past year.

More Americans see signs of hiring taking place. Nearly 12 percent describe the number of jobs available as "plentiful," the most since September 2008.

And nearly 20 percent of consumers expect there will be more jobs in six months, while only 16.1 percent expect fewer jobs. That's the first time those expecting more jobs have outnumbered those expecting fewer since February 2012.

Rising home prices are also likely making Americans feel wealthier and more confident about spending. Home prices jumped 12.1 percent in April compared with a year ago, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index, also released Tuesday.

Slightly more consumers said they planned to buy a car in the next six months. The percentage saying they planned to buy a home also ticked up.

Americans have been resilient this year, despite tax increases and steep government spending cuts. Consumer spending rose at the fastest pace in two years in the first three months of the year. That helped the overall economy grow at a 2.4 percent annual pace during the January-March quarter.

Economists forecast that overall economic growth is slowing to a 2 percent annual pace in the April-June quarter, in part because they expect consumers have eased up on spending from the robust first-quarter pace.

Despite the recent gains, the confidence index remains well below the 90 reading that indicates a healthy economy ? a level it hasn't reached since the Great Recession began in December 2007.

So far, reports on consumer spending for the second quarter have been mixed. In April, consumer spending fell as income was unchanged. But spending appears to have rebounded in May, based on a preliminary report on retail sales. Americans spent more on cars, home improvements and sporting goods, boosting retail sales 0.6 percent.

The Commerce Department will release a more complete report on May consumer spending and income on Thursday.

The Conference Board survey is conducted in the first half of the month. So the June report didn't capture the impact of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments last week after the Fed's policy meeting.

Bernanke said the Fed could begin to slow its bond purchases by the end of the year. Since then, stocks have plunged and interest rates have spiked.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-06-25-US-Consumer-Confidence/id-b58d7b0f298147b89ad83b92d5072083

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Raw live results: June 24, 2013

All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2013 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2013 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2013-06-24/wwe-raw-results

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Militants kill 9 foreign tourists, 1 Pakistani

ISLAMABAD (AP) ? At least a dozen Islamic militants wearing police uniforms shot to death nine foreign tourists and one Pakistani before dawn Sunday as they were visiting one of the world's highest mountains in a remote area of northern Pakistan that has been largely peaceful, officials said.

The foreigners who were killed included five Ukrainians, three Chinese and one Russian, said Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. One Chinese tourist was wounded in the attack and was rescued, he said.

The local branch of the Taliban took responsibility for the killings, saying it was to avenge the death of a leader killed in a recent U.S. drone strike.

The shooting was one of the worst attacks on foreigners in Pakistan in recent years and is likely to damage the country's already struggling tourism industry. Pakistan's mountainous north ? considered until now relatively safe ? is one of the main attractions in a country beset with insurgency and other political instability.

The attack took place at the base camp of Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain in the world at 8,126 meters (26,660 feet). Nanga Parbat is notoriously difficult to climb and is known as the "killer mountain" because of numerous mountaineering deaths in the past. It's unclear if the tourists were planning to climb the mountain or were just visiting the base camp, which is located in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan.

The gunmen were wearing uniforms used by the Gilgit Scouts, a paramilitary police force that patrols the area, said the interior minister. The attackers abducted two local guides to find their way to the remote base camp. One of the guides was killed in the shooting, and the other has been detained and is being questioned, said Khan.

"The purpose of this attack was to give a message to the world that Pakistan is unsafe for travel," said the interior minister in a speech in the National Assembly, which passed a resolution condemning the incident. "The government will take all measures to ensure the safety of foreign tourists."

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack, saying their Jundul Hafsa group carried out the shooting as retaliation for the death of the Taliban's deputy leader, Waliur Rehman, in a U.S. drone attack on May 29.

"By killing foreigners, we wanted to give a message to the world to play their role in bringing an end to the drone attacks," Ahsan told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location.

At least a dozen gunmen were involved in the attack, local police officer Jahangir Khan said.

The attackers beat up the Pakistanis who were accompanying the tourists, took their money and tied them up, said a senior local government official. They checked the identities of the Pakistanis and shot to death one of them, possibly because he was a minority Shiite Muslim, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

Although Gilgit-Baltistan is a relatively peaceful area, it has experienced attacks by radical Sunni Muslims on Shiites in recent years.

The attackers took the money and passports from the foreigners and then gunned them down, said the official. It's unclear how the Chinese tourist who was rescued managed to avoid being killed. The base camp has basic wooden huts, but most tourists choose to sleep in their own tents.

Local police chief Barkat Ali said they first learned of the attack when one of the local guides called the police station around 1 a.m. on Sunday. The military airlifted the bodies to Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, Sunday afternoon.

"We hope Pakistani authorities will do their best to find the culprits of this crime," the Ukrainian ambassador to Pakistan, Volodymyr Lakomov, told reporters outside the hospital where the bodies were taken.

The Pakistani government condemned the "brutal act of terrorism" in a statement sent to reporters.

"Those who have committed this heinous crime seem to be attempting to disrupt the growing relations of Pakistan with China and other friendly countries," said a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry.

Pakistan has very close ties with neighboring China and is sensitive to any issue that could harm the relationship. Pakistani officials have reached out to representatives from China and Ukraine to convey their sympathies, the Foreign Ministry said.

Many foreign tourists stay away from Pakistan because of the perceived danger of visiting a country that is home to a large number of Islamic militant groups, such as the Taliban and al-Qaida, which mostly reside in the northwest near the Afghan border. A relatively small number of intrepid foreigners visit Gilgit-Baltistan during the summer to marvel at the peaks of the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges, including K2, the second highest mountain in the world.

Syed Mehdi Shah, the chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, condemned the attack and expressed fear that it would seriously damage the region's tourism industry.

"A lot of tourists come to this area in the summer, and our local people work to earn money from these people," said Shah. "This will not only affect our area, but will adversely affect all of Pakistan."

The area has been cordoned off by police and paramilitary soldiers, and a military helicopter was searching the area, said Shah.

"God willing we will find the perpetrators of this tragic incident," said Shah.

The government suspended the chief secretary and top police chief in Gilgit-Baltistan following the attack and ordered an inquiry into the incident, said Khan, the interior minister.

___

Associated Press writer Rasool Dawar contributed to this report from Peshawar, Pakistan.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/militants-kill-9-foreign-tourists-1-pakistani-083351537.html

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UK austerity 'still needed to avoid economic relapse' - Osborne

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's economy could fall back into crisis if the government abandons its austerity programme, Chancellor George Osborne said on Sunday as he raced against the clock to finalise the latest round of departmental cuts.

Three days before he announces ministries' spending limits for 2015-16, Osborne said the budget deficit was still too high and he was committed to finding savings worth 11.5 billion pounds.

"We are out of intensive care and our job now is to secure the recovery," Osborne told BBC television. "There certainly is a chance of a relapse if we abandon our economic plan."

The Conservative-led coalition government is sticking with its central economic policy of reducing a deficit that peaked at more than 11 percent of gross domestic product before it came to power in May 2010.

Despite tax rises and cuts, public borrowing has remained stubbornly high over the past year, and data on Friday showed public net debt climbed to record levels in May.

Asked how many of the 17 government departments had agreed to his spending plans, Osborne said only that the job was not finished and more work was needed before he unveils his spending review on Wednesday.

DEFENCE DEAL

A deal was reached with the defence department on Saturday, Osborne said, ending what analysts saw as one of the most difficult sets of negotiations.

General Peter Wall, the head of the army, said last week that more cuts would seriously damage the country's chances of success in future wars.

Osborne said the defence deal would see cuts to civilian staff numbers, while protecting Britain's military capability. However, he said there was no agreement with the business department, run by Vince Cable, a senior Liberal Democrat, the junior coalition partner.

Labour, which leads the Conservatives by around 10 points in the polls with the next election due to be held in 2015, accuses the coalition of choking the recovery with its austerity drive.

Labour finance spokesman Ed Balls said he would adopt Osborne's day-to-day spending limits for 2015-16 if his party were to win the election. However, he wanted the coalition to spend 10 billion pounds more on capital projects such as new roads.

Balls said he would be prepared to borrow more to finance extra capital expenditure, an admission Economic Secretary to the Treasury Sajid Javid held up as evidence that Labour couldn't be trusted to balance the books.

"Of course there's a case for doing that," Balls told BBC television. "If George Osborne had done that last year or the year before, we wouldn't have had such a flatlining economy."

(Editing by Greg Mahlich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-austerity-still-needed-avoid-economic-relapse-osborne-123048318.html

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NSA Surveillance Scandal: Snowden On the Run, Asks Ecuador for Asylum

Edward Snowden is reportedly seeking political asylum in Ecuador after arriving to Moscow today. Meanwhile, the US has revoked his passport. The former NSA contractor has been on the run since he first revealed details of Verizon's participation in a telecommunications industry program to store information on all telephone calls, and then broke news of the NSA/Silicon Valley PRISM system that watches over the whole Interent. Developing...

Sunday, June 23, 2013 1:00PM?Russian media has confirmed that Edward Snowden is now in Moscow after leaving his secret Hong Kong hideout. The same sources reported he has a ticket for an Aeroflot flight to Havana, Cuba, leaving tomorrow at 2PM.

Snowden's final destination may not be Havana, however. The current speculation is that he may go to Caracas after landing in Havana. Other rumors point to Iceland. Wikileaks claims his final destination is Ecuador. Julian Assange and his organization claim they are helping him.

Latest updates

U.K. Internet Spying & U.S. Drone Evidence

Friday, June 21, 2013 3:40 PM?The extent of the FBI's domestic drone spying is revealed by "drone licenses" released to the Electronic Freedom Foundation. News of the drone documents follow FBI Director Robert Mueller's admission to U.S. senators that drones are already spying on Americans on U.S. soil. The Guardian continues revealing details of the massive spying operations, with new evidence showing the U.K. intelligence services tapped into the same Internet pipelines fully monitored by the NSA.

NSA and Silicon Valley In Same Business

Thursday, June 20, 3:25 PM?The National Security Agency wants information on everybody. Tech giants such as Facebook and Apple and Google have information on everybody. They're all in the same business, and the subject of this massive combined technology-intelligence operation is you. Using Prism, the NSA snatches all Internet traffic as it flows in and out of the United States, which violates the U.S. Constitution.

And it's not just data that flows between the California technology giants and the NSA. Facebook's former security chief, Max Kelly, left the social network to take a similar job with the National Security Agency.

Snowden's "Wargame," FBI Drones Over USA

Wednesday, June 19, 2013 3:39 PM?The veteran leaks site Cryptome.org calls Edward Snowden's NSA leaks part of a growing "wargame," while the FBI's director has admitted to the Senate that drones are currently spying on Americans from the skies above the United States.

Opinion

Some tech experts say all this should be expected, some say it's no big deal.

Others say it's a march to fascism. Is privacy officially dead?

The story so far...

In reverse chronological order

Tuesday, June 18, 10:45 PM?The surveillance of Americans' phone calls and Internet activity is "transparent," President Barack Obama said on television Monday night. The names of these secret programs revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden are turning up on job sites all over the Internet.

The NSA and FBI has had access to private accounts on Facebook, Microsoft, Google and Apple during the last six months, and appears to be expanding and extending online surveillance that first began with the controversial Patriot Act programs launched after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

Monday, June 17, 10:45 PM?Edward Snowden?the NSA contractor employee who revealed the secret US government spy program Prism on June 6?now says that more details are coming.

11:23 AM?Answering The Guardian readers' questions, Prism whistleblower Edward Snowden claims that more details are coming no matter what happens to him: "All I can say right now is the US Government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped."

10:42 AM?Today, Apple has admitted that the government obtained data from 9,000 to 10,000 devices as part of investigations on "robberies and other crimes, searching for missing children, trying to locate a patient with Alzheimer?s disease, or hoping to prevent a suicide." The company also claims it doesn't chat messages or videoconferences and that "it doesn't store Maps, location, or Siri data in any way that could identify you."

Saturday, June 15, 2013 3:00 PM?The Associate Press has numerous sources detailing that Prism's collaboration with tech companies is just the tip of the iceberg?the NSA actually captures every single bit of data that comes in and out the United States, storing it for analysis:

...larger NSA effort that snatches data as it passes through the fiber optic cables that make up the Internet's backbone. That program, which has been known for years, copies Internet traffic as it enters and leaves the United States, then routes it to the NSA for analysis.

Thursday, June 13, 2013 1:55 PM?The Silicon Valley giants are telling a very different story than the NSA, which explained in top secret Power Point presentations exactly how the data comes from the biggest Internet companies to the government's massive spying operations.

Patriot Or Traitor: Edward Snowden and the NSA Prism Surveillance Web

Wednesday, June 12, 2013, 7:25 PM?More Americans see Prism whistleblower Edward Snowden as a patriot than as a traitor, according to a new opinion poll. But the 29-year-old former intelligence contractor who leaked the details of the NSA's massive data mining operation is still unknown to most Americans?46% have no opinion on his motivations.

1:40 PM?Prism whistleblower Edward Snowden has resurfaced in Hong Kong, telling the South China Morning Post that he's "revealing criminality" and has no other motives. He plans to stay in Hong Kong and has more secrets to reveal.

Since the shocking revelations were revealed a week ago, Snowden has been vilified as a defector but also hailed by supporters such as WikiLeaks? Julian Assange.

?I?m neither traitor nor hero. I?m an American,? he said, adding that he was proud to be an American. ?I believe in freedom of expression. I acted in good faith but it is only right that the public form its own opinion.?

Snowden tells the Hong Kong paper, ?I will never feel safe."

Ron Paul Fears Edward Snowden Will Be Assassinated

Tuesday, June 11, 2013 11:39 PM?Congressman Ron Paul, the Texas Republican who first became a hero to young computer technicians in 2007, said today that he fears that the United States government will assassinate Edward Snowden using either a "cruise missile or a drone missile."

Google, Microsoft and Facebook released open letters today asking the U.S. government to get the tech firms off the hook for cooperating with widespread electronic spying on Americans by the biggest tech firms as revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

In Maryland, the father of Snowden's girlfriend described Snowden as a man of "strong convictions of right and wrong." But because Snowden is generally "shy and reserved," Jonathan Mills said he was shocked by the revelations.

Lindsay Mills, the 29-year-old girlfriend of Snowden, reportedly texted her father but did not reveal her whereabouts. Snowden disappeared from his Hong Kong hotel at least a day ago, and has yet to surface.

6:40 PM?While the world's attention turned to Edward Snowden's pole-dancing ballerina girlfriend today, the American Civil Liberties Union launched a legal backlash against the NSA and FBI's widespread domestic spying as Google and Apple sought permission from the U.S. government to disclose at least some of what's going on.

The ACLU lawsuit is the first challenge to the widespread phone company spying revealed by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old American who has single-handedly brought the nation's attention back to the long forgotten issue of constant surveillance.

2:31 PM?The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald wrote the shocking stories based on Snowden's leaks, but Greenwald knows firsthand that surveillance dragnets allegedy created to target foreign terrorists are just as easily?and clumsily?turned on U.S. citizens critical of an overreaching government that increasingly seems to exist only to protect itself from the nation it ostensibly serves. The Nation's Lee Fang describes what was revealed just two years ago:

Two years ago, a batch of stolen e-mails revealed a plot by a set of three defense contractors (Palantir Technologies, Berico Technologies, and HBGary Federal) to target activists, reporters, labor unions, and political organizations. The plans ? one concocted in concert with lawyers for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to sabotage left-leaning critics, like the Center for American Progress and the SEIU, and a separate proposal to "combat" WikiLeaks and its supporters, including Glenn Greenwald, on behalf of Bank of America ? fell apart after reports of their existence were published online. But the episode serves as a reminder that the expanding spy industry could use its government-backed cyber tools to harm ordinary Americans and political dissident groups.

The episode also shows that Greenwald, who helped Snowden expose massive spying efforts in the U.S., had been targetted by spy agency contractors in the past for supporting whistleblowers and WikiLeaks.

Majority of Americans Support NSA Spying

Monday, June 10, 2013 5:42 PM?NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has left his Hong Kong hotel as Republican members of Congress call for his extradition and the White House. The 29-year-old contractor for U.S. intelligence services provided details of Washington's decade-long spree of data collection on the phone calls and Internet use of all Americans, and now fears for his life.

Nearly 19,000 people have signed the "Pardon Edward Snowden" petition at WhiteHouse.gov. Daniel Ellsberg, whose life was upended by his decision to leak the Pentagon's bleak assessment of its war in Vietnam, today is praising Snowden's "conscience and patriotism."

Meanwhile, a solid majority of Americans surveyed by Pew Research Center say they're just fine with the constant surveillance of telephone calls and Internet use?56% of Americans support the illegal domestic spying, but only 27% of Americans claim to be closely following the scandal.

3:04 PM?Palantir, the Silicon Valley startup named for an evil all-seeing rock from Lord of the Rings reportedly behind the NSA's Prism program to spy on all Internet activity, takes the hobbit life very seriously. A company director explained in 2010 that a surveillance program called "Save the Shire" saw America's perceived enemies as orcs and dark wizards.

Sunday, June 9, 10:00PM?Edward Snowden: This is the man who told the world about PRISM, the NSA spy network capable of grabbing all your personal data?including private messages, photos and videos?with the help of America's top tech companies.

According to the Guardian, Snowden worked for the last four years at the National Security Agency. "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong," Snowden told The Guardian. ?I don?t want public attention because I don?t want the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the U.S. government is doing.?

Following the revelation of his identity, Edward Snowden was hiding in a Hong Kong hotel.

Despite Denials, Tech Companies Collaborated With NSA

Saturday, June 8, 3:30 PM?The Guardian has revealed the existence of a second NSA surveillance network. Its name is Boundless Informant and, unlike PRISM, it covers the entire planet. Unlike PRISM, however, this network doesn't capture the data but merely organizes it, indexing countries by the metadata obtained from local phone and computer networks.

3:10 AM?The New York Times says that Facebook, Google and Apple are collaborating with the NSA, rebutting the companies' carefully worded statements. According to their sources, companies like Facebook built specific systems so the government could easily request and access their data.

This information contradicts Zuckerberg's denial, posted on his Facebook page Friday afternoon, which has the vague sound of many, many lawyers parsing their own language:

Facebook is not and has never been part of any program to give the US or any other government direct access [added emphasis] to our servers. 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.

Google's Larry Page posted something that sounds remarkably similar to Zuckerberg's statement:

First, we have not joined any program that would give the U.S. government?or any other government?direct access [added emphasis] to our servers. Indeed, the U.S. government does not have direct access or a ?back door? to the information stored in our data centers. We had not heard of a program called PRISM until yesterday.

According to the Times, the key words here are direct access. The government didn't have a backdoor to access the data, but these companies built a system for them:

New York Times | Tech Companies Concede to Surveillance Program

[C]ompanies were essentially asked to erect a locked mailbox and give the government the key, people briefed on the negotiations said. Facebook, for instance, built such a system for requesting and sharing the information, they said.

Obama Says PRISM Exists To "Keep Us Safe"

Friday, June 7, 3:31 PM?A mysterious Facebook-connected startup called Palantir?a Lord of the Rings reference to a magical method of surveillance?appears to be the entity that runs the NSA's PRISM program just revealed to be spying on all Americans at all times, with Barack Obama's approval. Obama was in Silicon Valley this morning shaking down the tech billionaires for campaign money:

1:36 PM?Obama claimed the massive, unprecedented national surveillance system involves only "modest encroachments on privacy." As for any political fallout in Congress, Obama also made it clear that "your duly elected representatives have been consistently informed on exactly what we're doing."

12:41 AM?Barack Obama, speaking live in Silicon Valley right now, said the electronic snooping "helps protect us from terrorism" and insists all the eavesdropping of every mobile call, email, instant message and file attachment is completely legal. Obama is in San Jose raising campaign money from the Internet billionaires who allow the NSA to spy on all Americans.

11:18 AM?The nine major tech companies letting the U.S. government spy on all Americans all the time have denied being part of the wholesale surveillance program run by the National Security Agency and the FBI. The spies have full access to all Internet communications and mobile call data coming in and out of the United States and Britain?but the online collective known as Anonymous has already retaliated by dumping a huge trove of NSA documents on the Internet.

NSA Surveillance Program Is Called PRISM

Thursday, June 6, 2013 10:29 PM?The Washington Post reports that the NSA and FBI are working with the top nine U.S. tech companies?including Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Apple?to capture all your e-mails, photographs, audio, video, and documents, in addition to wiretapping all your calls.

Their spying system is called PRISM. As a response, hackers group Anonymous have published 13 secret US government documents, including documents about PRISM and the Department of Defense's Strategic Vision for controlling the internet.

Newly exposed proof that all the major telecommunication companies in America continue to hand over all phone data to the National Security Agency means that the White House's illegal mass wiretapping of people suspected of no crime has continued for a dozen years.

Along with monitoring of web traffic, email and searches through the major telecom carriers, all phone calls been wiretapped with full cooperation of the communications companies since at least 2001. That the practice is illegal hasn't stopped the White House or NSA from continuing the wholesale surveillance. Congress reliably moves to make illegal spying legal whenever there's a scandal like the current Verizon outrage.

White House Says Spying On Millions of Verizon Calls a "Critical Tool"

Wednesday, June 6, 2013 9:03 AM?America's spy agencies have had full access to US cellphone call data to and from Verizon customers since April, the Guardian reports. The Obama Administration is defending the National Security Agency phone spying as a "critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats to the United States."

The secret order was obtained by the British newspaper and reported Wednesday night.

Reuters | Obama administration defends phone record collection

The Obama administration on Thursday acknowledged that it is collecting a massive amount of telephone records from at least one carrier, reopening the debate over privacy even as it defended the practice as necessary to protect Americans against attack. Read...

AP | White House Defends Collecting Phone Records

The White House on Thursday defended the National Security Agency's need to collect telephone records of U.S. citizens, calling such information "a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats." Read...

Forbes | NSA's Verizon Spying Specifically Targeted at Americans

[T]he extent of the NSA?s surveillance shows that it has focused specifically on Americans, to the degree that its data collection has in at least one major spying incident explicitlyexcluded those outside the United States. Read...

CNN | Obama administration reacts to phone records report

A senior Obama administration official [...] stressed that the information acquired by the purported order "does not include the content of any communications or the name of any subscriber. It relates exclusively to metadata, such as a telephone number or the length of a call." Read...

Data from all incoming and outgoing calls is provided to the NSA under the top secret order, which the Washington Post describes as a "routine renewal of a similar order first issued in 2006." The White House did not specifically address the Verizon order this morning, but referred to at least one telecommunications company.

Past revelations of major U.S. telecommunications companies spying on Americans suspected of no crimes has shown that the other carriers have consistently opened their lines and data banks to America's spy agencies since 2001.

[Photos by the Associated Press and Getty Images. Illustrations by Front]

You're reading Front, the showcase for the very best, must-see stories and discussions in Gawker Media blogs and the Kinja universe. Follow us on Twitter.

Source: http://front.kinja.com/nsa-surveillance-scandal-snowden-on-the-run-asks-ecua-511588927

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