Russia rules out Snowden expulsion, rejects U.S. "ravings"

By Alexei Anishchuk and Thomas Grove

MOSCOW/NAANTALI, Finland (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin confirmed on Tuesday a former U.S. spy agency contractor sought by the United States was in the transit area of a Moscow airport but ruled out handing him over to Washington, dismissing U.S. criticisms as "ravings and rubbish".

In his first public comments since the fugitive flew in on Sunday, he appeared to make light of the affair around Edward Snowden, whose flight from U.S. authorities is becoming an increasing embarrassment for President Barack Obama. Asked by a journalist about the affair, he smiled fleetingly.

"I myself would prefer not to deal with these issues. It's like shearing a piglet: there's a lot of squealing, but there's little wool," he told a news conference in Finland.

His refusal to hand back Snowden risked deepening a rift with the United States that has also sucked in China and threatens relations between countries that may be essential in settling global conflicts including the Syrian war.

Putin said the 30-year-old American was in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and, not having gone through passport control, was free to leave.

"The sooner he chooses his final destination, the better it would be for us and for himself," Putin said.

Snowden has applied for asylum in Ecuador but Quito has said it is still considering the application and the United States is trying to persuade the governments of countries where he might head to hand him over. His plans remain unclear.

"He has not crossed the state's border, and therefore does not need a visa. And any accusations against Russia (of aiding him) are ravings and rubbish," Putin said in response to a question at a news conference during a visit to Finland.

Washington has gone to great lengths to try to ensure Snowden has nowhere to go to seek refuge. But Putin said Russia had no extradition treaty with the United States and suggested Moscow would expel Snowden only if he were a criminal.

"Thank God, Mr Snowden committed no crimes on the territory of the Russian Federation," Putin said in the garden of a presidential residence, with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto beside him.

Putin said he hoped relations with the United States would not be affected by the affair but his words seemed to rebuff U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking only hours earlier.

"It is accurate there is not an extradition treaty between Russia and the United states, but there are standards of behaviour between sovereign nations," Kerry said, in Jeddah.

There has been speculation in the Russian media that Snowden may be talking to the FSB and could be involved in a prisoner swap. Putin said Russian security agencies "never worked with... Snowden and are not working with him today".

TALKS

The U.S. State Department said diplomats and Justice Department officials were talking to Russia, suggesting they sought a deal to secure his return to face espionage charges.

Snowden, charged with disclosing secret U.S. surveillance programmes, left Hong Kong for Moscow on Sunday and the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group said he was headed for Ecuador.

Journalists camped out at the airport have not spotted him inside, or leaving, the transit area. He has not registered at a hotel in the transit zone, hotel sources say.

A receptionist at the Capsule Hotel "Air Express", a complex of 47 basic rooms furnished predominantly with grey carpets and grey walls, said Snowden had turned up on Sunday, looked at the price list and then left.

U.S. officials admonished Beijing and Moscow on Monday for allowing Snowden to escape their clutches but the United States' partners on the U.N. Security Council, already at odds with Washington over the conflict in Syria, hit back indignantly.

"The United States' criticism of China's central government is baseless. China absolutely cannot accept it," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in Beijing, also dismissing U.S. criticism of Hong Kong, a Chinese territory, for letting Snowden leave.

WIKILEAKS

Putin also went on to praise WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is also a fugitive from U.S. justice, and questioned whether he or Snowden should be treated as criminals.

"Ask yourself: should such people be handed over to be imprisoned or not?" said Putin, who last week was smarting at being isolated over Syria at a summit of the G8 industrial powers and sees Washington as an overzealous global policeman.

Fallout from a protracted wrangle over Snowden could be far-reaching, as Russia, the United States and China hold veto powers at the U.N. Security Council and their broad agreement could be vital to any settlement in Syria.

International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said on Tuesday he was pessimistic an international conference on Syria could take place in July as hoped and urged Russia and the United States to help contain a conflict which has killed almost 100,000 people.

The Sheremetyevo airport transit area is Russian sovereign territory, but Russia says that in staying there Snowden has not formally entered the country. Going through passport control might implicate Putin in helping a fugitive.

Snowden is travelling on a refugee document of passage provided by Ecuador, WikiLeaks said.

U.S. officials said intelligence agencies were concerned they did not know how much sensitive material Snowden had and that he may have taken more documents than initially estimated which could get into the hands of foreign intelligence.

(This story refiles to adjust translation in paragraph 3) (Additional reporting Gabriela Baczynska and Lidia Kelly in Moscow, Alexandra Valencia in Quito, Mark Felsenthal, Paul Eckert and Mark Hosenball in Washington and Katya Golubkova in Havana, Writing by Elizabeth Piper and Timothy Heritage, editing by Ralph Boulton)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-presses-russia-mystery-over-snowden-deepens-015914306.html

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Gunmen kill police officer, driver in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) ? Police say gunmen on motorcycles have killed a mid-ranking police officer and his driver in northwest Pakistan.

Police officer Mohammed Ibrahim Khan says Amanullah Khan, a deputy superintendent, and his driver were killed Monday in the main northwest city of Peshawar. Khan was in charge of the traffic police in Peshawar.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion will likely fall on the Pakistani Taliban.

The group is based in Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region along the border with Afghanistan and has been waging a bloody insurgency against the government for years.

Peshawar is located on the edge of the tribal region and has been hit by hundreds of attacks over the years.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gunmen-kill-police-officer-driver-pakistan-055507452.html

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Boost for cars or bust? Ethanol debate heats up

WASHINGTON (AP) ? It's a dilemma for drivers: Do they choose a gasoline that's cheaper and cleaner even if, as opponents say, it could damage older cars and motorcycles?

That's the peril and promise of a high-ethanol blend of gasoline known as E15. The fuel contains 15 percent ethanol, well above the current 10 percent norm sold at most U.S. gas stations.

The higher ethanol blend is currently sold in just fewer than two dozen stations in the Midwest, but could spread to other regions as the Obama administration considers whether to require more ethanol in gasoline.

As a result, there's a feverish lobbying campaign by both oil and ethanol interests that has spread from Congress to the White House and the Supreme Court.

On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge by the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry's chief lobbying group, to block sales of E15. The justices left in place a federal appeals court ruling that dismissed challenges by the oil industry group and trade associations representing food producers, restaurants and others.

Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy, an ethanol industry group, hailed the decision as victory for U.S. consumer, who will now have greater choice at the pump.

"Now that the final word has been issued, I hope that oil companies will begin to work with biofuel producers to help bring new blends into the marketplace that allow for consumer choice and savings," Buis said.

The API had argued that E15 was dangerous for older cars.

Putting fuel with up to 15 percent ethanol into older cars and trucks "could leave millions of consumers with broken down cars and high repair bills," said Bob Greco, a senior API official who has met with the White House on ethanol issues.

The ethanol industry counters that there have been no documented cases of engine breakdowns caused by the high-ethanol blend since limited sales of E15 began last year.

"This is another example of oil companies unnecessarily scaring people, and it's just flat-out wrong," said Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol industry group.

The dispute over E15 is the latest flashpoint in a long-standing battle over the Renewable Fuel Standard, approved by Congress in 2005 and amended in 2007. The law requires refiners to blend increasing amounts of ethanol into gasoline each year as a way to decrease reliance on fossil fuels and lower greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a 16.5 billion-gallon production requirement for ethanol and other gasoline alternatives this year, up from 15.2 billion gallons last year. By 2022, the law calls for more than double that amount.

Biofuel advocates and supporters in Congress say the law has helped create more than 400,000 jobs, revitalized rural economies and helped lower foreign oil imports by more than 30 percent while reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

But the oil industry, refiners and some environmental groups say the standard imposes an unnecessary economic burden on consumers. Using automotive fuel that comes from corn also has significant consequences for agriculture, putting upward pressure on food prices, critics say.

"The ever increasing ethanol mandate has become unsustainable, causing a looming crisis for gasoline consumers," said the API's Greco. "We're at the point where refiners are being pressured to put unsafe levels of ethanol in gasoline, which could damage vehicles, harm consumers and wreak havoc on our economy."

Along with the E15 court case, the API and refiners have swarmed Capitol Hill and the White House to try to have the current mandate waived or repealed.

Charles Drevna, president of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, which represents refineries, accused the EPA of putting politics ahead of science.

An EPA official told Congress earlier this month that the agency does not require use of E15, but believes it is safe for cars built since 2001.

"The government is not saying 'go ahead' " and put E15 in all cars, said Christopher Grundler, of the EPA's director of the office of transportation and air quality. "The government is saying this is legal fuel to sell if the market demands it and there are people who wish to sell it."

Ethanol supporters say E15 is cheaper than conventional gasoline and offers similar mileage to E10, the version that is sold in most U.S. stations.

Scott Zaremba, who owns a chain of gas stations in Kansas, scoffs at claims that E15 would damage older cars. "In the real world I've had zero problems" with engine breakdowns, said Zaremba, whose station in Lawrence, Kan., was the first in the nation to offer E15 last year.

But Zaremba said he had to stop selling the fuel this spring after his gasoline supplier, Phillips 66, told him he could no longer sell the E15 fuel from his regular black fuel hoses. The company said the aim was to distinguish E15 from other gasoline with less ethanol, but Zaremba said the real goal was to discourage use of E15. New pumps cost more than $100,000.

The American Automobile Association, for now, sides with the oil industry. The motoring club says the government should halt sales of E15 until additional testing allows ethanol producers and automakers to agree on which vehicles can safely use E15 while ensuring that consumers are adequately informed of risks.

A spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents 12 major car makers, said E15 gas is more corrosive and the EPA approved it before it could be fully tested.

Older cars were "never designed to use E15," spokeswoman Gloria Bergquist said. Use of the fuel over time could create significant engine problems, she said.

The API cites engine problems discovered during a study it commissioned last year, but the Energy Department called the research flawed and said it included engines with known durability issues.

For now, E15 remains a regional anomaly. About 20 stations currently offer the fuel in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

___

Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-06-24-US-EPA-Ethanol/id-0db7df23319641b8b80b0b0348a128ee

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NSA Surveillance Scandal: Snowden a No-Show On His Flight To Cuba

11:56 AM?Edward Snowden's seat on the Russian airliner to Cuba was empty today, with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange announcing that the NSA whistleblower is safe but giving no other details. Snowden is seeking political asylum in Ecuador after fleeing Hong Kong and reportedly arriving in Moscow on Sunday. Washington has revoked Snowden's U.S. passport and Secretary of State John Kerry is demanding that the Russians hand over the former intelligence contractor. Snowden 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...

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/W7Bp-dfhGJ0/nsa-surveillance-scandal-snowden-a-no-show-on-his-flig-511588927

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Germany investigates commander of Nazi-led unit

BERLIN (AP) ? German prosecutors said Monday that they opened a formal preliminary investigation of a Minnesota man who was a commander of a Nazi-led unit during World War II, to determine whether there is enough evidence to bring charges and seek his extradition.

The Associated Press found that 94-year-old Michael Karkoc entered the U.S. in 1949 by lying to American authorities about his role in the SS-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion, which is accused of torching villages and killing civilians in Poland. AP's evidence indicates that Karkoc was in the area of the massacres, although no records link him directly to atrocities.

Kurt Schrimm, the head of the special German prosecutors' office responsible for investigating Nazi-era crimes, said prosecutors "have opened a preliminary investigation procedure to examine the matter (and) seek documentation." It was unclear how long their examination might take.

Schrimm's office is responsible for determining whether there is enough evidence against alleged Nazi war criminals for state prosecutors to proceed with a full investigation and possible charges. The only charges that can be brought in such cases are murder and accessory to murder, as all other offenses fall under the statute of limitations under German law.

Germany has taken the position that people involved in Nazi crimes must be prosecuted, no matter how old or infirm, as it did in the case of retired Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk, who died last year at age 91 while appealing his conviction as a guard at the Sobibor death camp.

Poland's National Remembrance Institute, which investigates Nazi and Soviet crimes, has said prosecutors are reviewing files on Karkoc's unit for any evidence that would justify charges and an extradition request.

It says the files were gathered during separate investigations into the killings of civilians in the village of Chlaniow, in southeastern Poland, and into Nazi suppression of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against German occupation. The AP found documentation showing that Karkoc's unit was involved in both.

Karkoc's son, Andriy Karkos, has said that his father "was never a Nazi," and pointed to the portion of the AP story that said records don't show Karkoc had a direct hand in war crimes. He has said the family won't comment further until it has obtained its own documents and reviewed witnesses and sources.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/germany-investigates-commander-nazi-led-unit-124902653.html

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Digital 3-D atlas of brain reveals tiny details

NEW YORK (AP) ? Scientists have a new brain atlas to help them study their favorite organ. It's a digital, three-dimensional model called "BigBrain."

Its resolution is finer than a human hair, so it can reveal clusters of brain cells and even some large individual cells. It is being made available to scientists around the world.

To make the atlas, researchers sliced a cadaver brain from a 65-year-old woman into 7,400 thin sections, stained them to reveal tiny features, and photographed each one. Then they used computers to combine the data into a 3-D digital model.

The idea of thin-slicing a brain to study its anatomy is not new. In fact, complete bodies of a man and a woman were sliced and photographed about 20 years ago to create an anatomy reference called the Visible Human Project.

For the new brain-mapping project, the researchers chose the woman's brain for no special reason other than it was basically healthy, said Katrin Amunts of Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf in Germany.

She is lead author of a report on the atlas published Thursday in the journal Science. Scientists have begun mapping data from other brain studies onto the new model to gain new insights, said senior author Karl Zilles of the Juelich Aachen Research Alliance in Juelich, Germany.

___

Science: http://www.sciencemag.org

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/digital-3-d-atlas-brain-reveals-tiny-details-183100483.html

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Keen On? Silicon Valley: How We Need To Scale Down Our Self-Regard And Grow Up

Oh dear, it hasn't been a good few weeks for Silicon Valley. And leading the charge in this Silicon Valley bashing is the New Yorker staff writer and award-winning author George Packer. In both his new book, The Unwinding, and particularly in his recent New Yorker story "Change The World", Packer warns that the love affair is over and Silicon Valley has lost its resonance with the rest of America.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/_QU_K7Qn4UM/

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