Sen. wants review of NSA programs
Sen. wants review of NSA programs
WASHINGTON
Sen. Diane Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Monday called for a “total review of all intelligence programs” after allegations that the National Security Agency eavesdropped on the German chancellor — the latest revelation in a spying scandal that has strained long-standing alliances.
The NSA’s program of spying on the foreign leaders already was damaging relations with some of the closest U.S. allies. German officials said Monday that the U.S. could lose access to an important law-enforcement tool used to track terrorist money flows.
As possible leverage, German authorities cited last week’s nonbinding resolution by the European Parliament to suspend a post-9/11 agreement allowing the Americans access to bank-transfer data to track the flow of terrorist money.
Study: Flu can kill child within days
Even healthy children can come down with a case of flu severe enough to kill them in a matter of days, according to a new report from researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Children who were in good health before contracting influenza seemed to progress from infection to death more rapidly than children with high-risk medical conditions, the researchers reported in a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
The finding is based on the first analysis of all flu deaths among children since the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System began tracking such cases in October 2004. In the eight years through September 2012, there were 830 laboratory-confirmed deaths from flu.
Official: Strike kills key Somali militant
WASHINGTON
A U.S. drone attacked a vehicle in southern Somalia on Monday and killed a senior member of al-Shabab, the militant group that claimed responsibility for the deadly assault on a shopping mall in Kenya last month, a U.S. official said.
The drone attack is believed to have killed two men riding in the car, including Ibrahim Ali Abdi, a Somali the U.S. official described as an explosives expert who had helped carry out suicide attacks and bombings against a United Nations facility, embassies and other targets in Somalia since 2008.
Judge: Abortion law unconstitutional
AUSTIN, Texas
A federal judge determined Monday that new Texas abortion restrictions place an unconstitutional burden on women seeking to end a pregnancy, a ruling that keeps open dozens of abortion clinics across the state while officials appeal.
The ruling by District Judge Lee Yeakel came one day before key parts of the law the Legislature approved in July were set to take effect. Lawyers for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers argued in their lawsuit that a provision requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital less than 30 miles away would have effectively shuttered about a third of the state’s 38 clinics that perform abortions.
High winds in SW
TRACY, Calif.
A storm blasted the Southwest with powerful wind gusts, snow and rain Monday, knocking over big rigs on a stretch of California highway, toppling trees in Las Vegas and causing dust storm warnings in some areas.
It was a gusty prelude to a storm that was forecast to drop more than a foot of snow in mountainous areas of Utah. A foot already had fallen in the upper elevations of the Sierra Nevada, and a 103 mph gust blew across the mountains near Lake Tahoe.
Combined dispatches