Cheney’s daughter running for Senate

Cheney’s daughter running for Senate

CHEYENNE, Wyo.

Saying it’s time for a new generation of leaders in Washington, Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, announced Tuesday she will run against Wyoming’s senior U.S. senator in next year’s Republican primary.

Cheney is taking on popular Sen. Mike Enzi, who announced almost simultaneously Tuesday his plans to seek a fourth, six-year term.

Liz Cheney, 46, is the elder of the two Cheney daughters. Married with five children, she was a resident of Virginia until recently. She and her husband bought a home last year in the posh northwest Wyoming community of Jackson Hole.

Coalition sues NSA

Environmental and human-rights activists, church leaders and gun- rights advocates found common ground Tuesday, filing a lawsuit against the federal government to halt a vast National Security Agency electronic- surveillance program.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Francisco by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is representing the unusually broad coalition of plaintiffs.

It seeks an injunction against the NSA, Justice Department, FBI and directors of the agencies, and challenges what the plaintiffs describe as an “illegal and unconstitutional program of dragnet electronic surveillance.”

New Cabinet takes office in Egypt

CAIRO

Egypt’s interim leader swore in a Cabinet on Tuesday that included women and Christians but no Islamists as the military-backed administration moved swiftly to formalize the new political order and present a more-liberal face that is markedly at odds with the deposed president and his supporters.

The changes came at a time of deep polarization and violence in Egypt, including new clashes that killed seven people as part of the continuing bloodshed that has marked the days following the armed-forces coup that swept President Mohammed Morsi from office and cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood.

‘Obesity gene’ linked to hunger hormone

LOS ANGELES

Researchers have further unraveled how a version of a gene linked to obesity risk causes people to gain weight — it makes them more likely to feel hungry after a meal and to prefer high-calorie foods.

Their study, published Monday in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, found that individuals who inherited the high-risk version of the FTO gene from both of their parents have higher levels of the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin in their bloodstream, which leaves them hungry even after eating. Real-time brain imaging also revealed that the FTO gene regulates the brain’s responses to ghrelin and to images of food.

“This possibly explains why some people are more sensitive to overweight and obesity than others,” said Dr. Jeremy Korman, a bariatric surgeon at Marina Weight Loss in Marina Del Rey, who was not part of the study.

Deadliest Ramadan

BAGHDAD

Ramadan this year is shaping up to be the deadliest in Iraq since a bloody insurgency and rampant sectarian killings pushed the country to the edge of civil war in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

Suicide attacks, car bombings and other violence have killed at least 169 Iraqis just seven days into the Islamic holy month. The death toll in the first week of Ramadan hasn’t been that high since 2007, intensifying fears that Iraq is slipping back into widespread chaos.

Combined dispatches