AP chief says phone probe makes news sources reluctant to talk

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Justice Department's seizure of phone records for journalists at the Associated Press is hurting the agency's ability to gather news, the wire service's Chief Executive and President Gary Pruitt said on Sunday.

"Officials that would normally talk to us and people we talk to in the normal course of news gathering are already saying to us that they're a little reluctant to talk to us," Pruitt said on CBS's "Face The Nation" program. "They fear that they will be monitored by the government."

The Justice Department told the AP on May 10 that it had earlier seized records of more than 20 of its phone lines for April and May 2012. The seizure was part of an investigation of media leaks about a foiled terrorism plot.

"Approximately a hundred journalists use these telephone lines as part of news gathering," Pruitt said. "And over the course of the two months of the records that they swept up, thousands upon thousands of news-gathering calls were made."

The White House has said that President Barack Obama learned about the Justice Department's record seizure from press reports and had no prior knowledge of the action. Obama's administration is fielding concerns on several incidents that raise questions about its transparency.

Pruitt said the Justice Department claimed an exception to its own rules that required them to notify the AP of such a record seizure by saying that such a disclosure would have posed a substantial threat to the investigation.

"But they have not explained why it would and we can't understand why it would," Pruitt said. "We never even had possession of these records, they were in the possession of our telephone service company and they couldn't be tampered with."

Government officials have told Reuters that the AP phone records were just one element in an ongoing sweeping U.S. government investigation into media leaks about a Yemen-based plot to bomb a U.S. airliner, prompted by a May 7, 2012 AP story about the operation to foil the plot.

"We don't question their right to conduct these sort of investigations," Pruitt said. "We think they went about it the wrong way, so sweeping, so secretively, so abusively and harassingly."

Pruitt said the AP would have sought to narrow the scope of the record seizure through courts had it been notified, instead of "the Justice Department acting on its own, being the judge, jury and executioner, in secret."

Reuters was one of nearly 50 news organizations that signed a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder complaining about the AP phone record seizures.

(Reporting by Alina Selyukh; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-chief-says-phone-probe-makes-news-sources-173716388.html

north korea news north korea news giuliana and bill giuliana and bill bill rancic nflx chicago blackhawks

Big bling free to celebs in Cannes 'gifting suites'

Celebs

Randee Dawn TODAY contributor

5 hours ago

Gather hundreds of celebrities and film executives on the French Riviera for the Cannes Film Festival and naturally, they need their glitter and glam.

One way the famous end up looking so good and so trendy is that often, they don't have to bring, or buy, their own fabulousness: They get special invitations to luxury "gifting suites" set up in hotel rooms at the film festival and can walk out with thousands of dollars of clothes and jewelry.

These rooms of swag aren't the only places where there's bling-related excitement to be found -- someone stole jewels meant for celebrities to wear on the red carpet straight from a hotel room very early on in the festival.

The Hollywood Reporter took a look inside some of these swag rooms stocked by famous brands including Chanel, Swarovski, Dior, and Jimmy Choo to find out what's up for grabs -- if you've got the right A-list name. Check out the video!

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/celebrities-visit-luxury-gifting-suites-cannes-walk-out-serious-swag-1C9983842

2012 grammy awards powerball results pebble beach golf beverly hilton roland martin whitney houston dead at 48 whitney houston dead 2012

Hofstra student killed by police during break-in

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) ? In what police are describing as a crime of opportunity, a wanted man with a criminal history dating nearly 15 years entered a front door that had been left open at a New York home near Hofstra University.

A short time later, the intruder, Dalton Smith, and a 21-year-old college junior, Andrea Rebello, were both dead. The two were killed early Friday by a Nassau County police officer who fired eight shots at the masked man, hitting him seven times but also accidentally hitting Rebello once in the head, Nassau County homicide squad Lt. John Azzata said Saturday.

Smith was holding Rebello in a headlock and pointing a gun at her head before he turned his gun at the officer, Azzata said, prompting the shooting.

"He kept saying, 'I'm going to kill her,' and then he pointed the gun at the police officer," Azzata said.

A loaded 9 mm handgun with a serial number scratched off was found at the scene, police said.

Nassau County Police Commissioner Thomas Dale said he had traveled to Rebello's Tarrytown, N.Y., home to explain to Rebello's parents what happened.

"I felt obligated as a police commissioner and as a parent to inform them as soon as all the forensic results were completed," Dale said.

The veteran police officer, who was not identified, has about 12 years of experience on the Nassau County police force and previously spent several years as a New York City police officer, Dale said.

The officer is currently out on sick leave. He will be the focus of an internal police investigation once the criminal investigation is completed, which is standard police procedure in any officer-involved shooting, the commissioner said.

The shooting came just days before the school's commencement ceremonies, which are scheduled for Sunday.

A university spokeswoman said students will be handed white ribbons to wear in memory of Rebello. The shooting, which took place just steps from campus, has cast a pall over the university community as it geared up for commencement.

Earlier Saturday, police announced that Smith, 30, had been wanted on a parole violation related to a first-degree robbery conviction. A warrant was issued for Smith on April 25 for absconding from parole, police said.

Smith had what police described as "an extensive criminal history," which included arrests for robbery in the first degree in 1999, promoting prison contraband in the second degree in 2000, robbery in the first degree in 2003, assault in the second degree in 2003 and robbery in the second degree in 2003.

Rebello was in the two-story home in Uniondale, N.Y., with her twin sister Jessica, a third woman and a man when Smith, wearing a ski mask, walked into the house through an open front door, Azzata said.

The door was left open after someone had moved a car that was blocking a driveway, Azzata said.

When Smith entered, he demanded valuables and was told they were upstairs, Azzata said.

Smith, apparently unsatisfied with the valuables upstairs, asked if any of the four had a bank account and could withdraw money, Azzata said. The intruder then allowed the unidentified woman to leave and collect money from an ATM, telling her she had only eight minutes to come back with cash before he killed one of her friends, Azzata said.

The woman left for the bank and called 911, according to Azzata.

Minutes later, two police officers arrived at the home and found Rebello's twin sister Jessica running out of the front door and the male guest hiding behind a couch on the first floor, Azzata said.

One of the officers entered the home and encountered Smith holding onto Rebello in a headlock, coming down the stairs, Azzata said. Smith pulled Rebello closer and started moving backward toward a rear door of the house, pointing the gun at her head before eventually threatening the officer, Azzata said.

The Rev. Osvaldo Franklin, who gave Rebello and her twin their first communions, on Saturday night told The Associated Press their mother, Nella, couldn't even speak to him earlier in the day.

"She was so devastated," said Franklin. "She's just crying. We have to pray for Andrea, to pray for Jessica because she needs help."

Franklin said a funeral is scheduled for Wednesday at Teresa of Avila Church in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., and will be in Portuguese.

"The family's a very good family, they have very good values," he said. "They are a very good, very devoted family."

___

Associated Press writer Jake Pearson in New York contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hofstra-student-killed-police-during-break-065118864.html

george zimmerman website edmund fitzgerald uss enterprise white house easter egg roll 2012 andy cohen andy cohen mozambique

Aid group: Syrian refugees face dire health risks

BEIRUT (AP) ? An international aid organization is appealing for more funds to help Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan, saying warmer weather will increase health risks due to lack of shelter, water and basic sanitation.

Oxfam says it needs $53 million dollars to improve access to water and proper sanitation for Syrian refugees. So far the aid group has received $10.6 million dollars.

The Britain-based group said in a statement Monday that diarrhea and skin infections have already been noted among refugees in Jordan and Lebanon. The two countries host the bulk of 1.5 million Syrians who have fled the civil war at home, seeking shelter in neighboring countries.

Oxfam says it needs the funds quickly as temperatures are expected to soar in the region in the coming weeks.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/aid-group-syrian-refugees-face-dire-health-risks-062310708.html

missouri primary minnesota caucus knowshon moreno knowshon moreno sovereign citizen komen chrome for android

Online Dating: Find Your FaceMate Matches Mates By Facial Features

Divorc?es may be looking for love in all the wrong places.

Online dating site Find Your FaceMate sets out to match prospective mates based on similar facial features, which, according to site founder Christina Bloom, is a good sign of compatibility.

"I believe that people are attracted to people with similar facial features," Bloom said in an interview with IBTimes TV (see above).

According to the site, scientists' findings "prove that passion is subconsciously ignited when we spot someone whose facial features are similar to our own."

"When we fall in love (or meet our facial feature match) the neurological response in the brain triggers a release of endorphins and other mood enhancing chemicals that puts being in love in a category all on its own," the site continues.

But does the science work? Kerri Johnson, an assistant psychology professor at UCLA, told Good Morning America that "there is evidence that general liking improves when people look like you," but that the research points to pairs that have similar levels of attractiveness, and not necessarily similar facial features.

In other words, the jury is out!

Watch the video above for more on this dating site, then weigh in: would you use this service to find love after divorce?

Keep in touch! Check out HuffPost Divorce on Facebook and Twitter.

Related on HuffPost:

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/19/online-dating-find-your-f_n_3295087.html

buckeye west side story final four 2012 bridesmaids winning lottery numbers megamillions winner kansas jayhawks

Memorial Day countdown: Will the Jersey Shore be ready?

Sometimes, numbers are the only way to tell the true tale of a disaster incomprehensible in scale and indescribable in words. For the victims of Hurricane Sandy, those numbers paint a bleak picture. The storm is estimated to have caused between $50 billion?and $71 billion?in damage along the Eastern Seaboard over the course of a few days. ?

Along the Jersey Shore, the storm caused an estimated $37 billion?in damage. The wounds caused by Sandy's landfall are still fresh for many of the towns along the Jersey Shore hardest hit by the storm, but business owners, residents and towns are beginning to return to normalcy. One of the biggest steps in that return is opening in time for Memorial Day. Despite all the challenges of the past months, business owners and mayors insist they will be ready for the peak summer season.

The importance of being open for business in time for the summer cannot be overestimated ? not only for those towns, but for the state as well. Estimates?place the economic impact of Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May counties ? those lining the Atlantic Ocean? at around $19 billion, representing more than half of the state?s entire tourism industry.

[Jersey Shore: One Family's Boardwalk Empire]

For business owners, those tourism dollars have a much bigger and more immediate impact.?

"You have 100 days to make your money for the whole year," said Lou Cirigliano, director of operations at Casino Pier and Breakwater Beach?in Seaside Heights, N.J. "It is not like a business open all year. We are open from Memorial Day to Labor Day to make as much money as you need to support yourself for the rest of the year,? he said. ?If you lose any of that time, it has a ripple effect, for sure."

Casino Pier has been fighting that ripple effect since it was forever linked to Sandy on the night the storm made landfall. The amusement park ? which has been a fixture on the Seaside boardwalk since 1960 ? became the indelible image of Hurricane Sandy when its Jet Star roller coaster fell into the Atlantic Ocean intact. Casino Pier lost not only the coaster, but also more than 250 feet of pier ? 200 feet of pier on the north side and 50 feet of pier on the south side ? along with most of its rides and amusements.?

Despite the destruction, the company will be open ? albeit in a limited manner ? in time for the summer season. Casino Pier will be missing the part of the pier that bore the greatest brunt of the damage from the storm, and the company is optimistic that half of its 38 rides ? along with arcade games, games of chance and food stands ? will be ready for the summer season. ? ??

"We have seen a ton of people commenting on our Facebook posts about the new rides and how much they want to come back," said Maria Mastoris, marketing director for Casino Pier and Breakwater Beach. "I think that people are optimistic, and they are seeing progress with the town's part of the boardwalk which is open. It is going to be different, but come Memorial Day, people will see we are ready."

"We were proud of our location before, but we are going to show the world that Casino Pier is back and better than ever," said Cirigliano. "There is no reason why you shouldn?t come here or back to Seaside, and you will be more than happy when you do. This is our livelihood, and we are putting our sweat into it. We may have had a bump in the road, but we will come back better than ever."

Other business owners on the Seaside boardwalk are also optimistic about returning.?

Vinny Scuzzese, owner of Vinny's Games, has been operating his two stands on Ocean Terrace instead of on the Seaside boardwalk since January. ?

"My building survived; as soon as there is a boardwalk, I can reopen," Scuzzese said. "I have some damage to my roof and awning from the wind, but I am waiting on insurance money, which is taking forever."

Indeed, a large challenge for business owners in their fight to reopen is the abysmal response of insurance companies in the aftermath of the storm. The businesses interviewed for this story all reported that delays in payment from insurance companies have slowed their recovery efforts. Other businesses have had their recovery plans derailed completely, as their location in a prime flood area makes them uninsurable.

Eastern Lines Surf Shop ? located at 16th Street and Ocean Avenue in Belmar, N.J. ? was denied money from insurance after pieces of the town's boardwalk slammed into its storefront and left more than two feet of sand and water in its first floor. Business owners Darby and Don Tarrant paid out-of-pocket to reopen their business and now are hoping the summer season will be strong to help them recover the costs.

The million-dollar question for Eastern Lines and other businesses hit by Sandy remains whether or not people will come back to the shore. Realtors?in the areas hardest hit by Sandy confirm there is an interest among renters in returning.

"I have had clients, and unfortunately, there is just not inventory for them," said Chris Katz, a broker for Coldwell Banker?in Monmouth County. "People want to come down to the Jersey Shore; I just don?t know how much stuff will be there for them. The interest is still there, but there is not a large inventory."

Other indicators, however, paint a different picture. Matt Doherty, mayor of Belmar, N.J.? which was 60 percent flooded and had 1,250 homes damaged by Sandy ? said so far, the evidence is positive. There?s reason for optimism: Seasonal beach-badge sales are up more than 30 percent year to date from last year?s season, which was the second busiest in the town's history.

What makes that number even more impressive is that the badges went on sale Dec. 1, 2012, when the beaches and 1.2-mile boardwalk were decimated in the aftermath of Sandy.?

"The boardwalk is part of the character of the town," said Doherty. "We have 140 small businesses in our community, all family owned ? no major corporations that are dependent upon tourism dollars in the summer to survive. One summer without tourists and those businesses would fail, and those families would be decimated. Without a boardwalk, we wouldn?t have a true summer."

That feeling was a driving force behind Belmar's decision to take one of the more aggressive approaches among Jersey Shore towns to repair the town?s boardwalk. The hard work has paid off as the boardwalk will be ready in time for summer, four months after the first pile was driven 25 feet into the sand. The move was not only critical to the physical recovery of the town, but it also provided a psychological boost to the town?s 140 small businesses.

With the boardwalk set to open in the coming days, Doherty has a message for Jersey Shore businesses: Be ready for the onslaught of visitors that the town normally attracts in the summer. Belmar, which is home to about 5,800 yearlong residents, generally sees its population grow to more than 60,000 residents during the summer.

"I have been telling businesses to be ready and be prepared for a busy summer," Doherty said. "Post Sandy, I think people want to be a part of the rebirth of the Jersey Shore. It is up to our business owners to provide an outstanding experience. As important as it was for the town to have the boardwalk ready, it is just as important for business owners to be ready ? or else this year will just be a flash in the pan."

This story was provided BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow David Mielach on Twitter @D_M89?.?Follow us?@bndarticles,?Facebook?or?Google+. Originally published on BusinessNewsDaily.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/memorial-day-countdown-jersey-shore-ready-105129501.html

zimmerman website miami marlins marlins marlins facebook buys instagram kevin systrom fibonacci sequence

Dan Pfeiffer Explains the IRS Scandal

White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer did a tour of the sunday shows to try and calm everyone down about this whole IRS targeting Tea Party groups scandal. He was the one tasked with assuring the masses that the White House knew nothing, that things will change in the future, and that heads will roll. On Fox News Sunday, Pfeiffer promised the administration would make sure "everyone who did anything wrong here is held accountable" before the dust settles. The IRS's next goal is to "fix the problem, make sure it never happens again and restore the public trust," Pfeiffer said. On CBS's Face the Nation, Pfeiffer defended the President's relative?naivet??about the scandal. "What would be an actual real scandal in Washington would be if the president had been involved or had interfered in an IRS investigation,"?Pfeiffer said. "You do nothing to interfere with an independent investigation and you do nothing to offer the appearance of interfering with investigations," he added. Only the administration did learn the facts, only then did they decide to respond. On ABC's This Week, Pfeiffer said the law was "irrelevant" to the fact that the activity was "outrageous and inexcusable." He explained: "What I mean is, whether it?s legal or illegal is not important to the fact that the conduct doesn?t matter. The Department of Justice has said they?re looking into the legality of this. The president is not going to wait for that. We have to make sure it doesn?t happen again, regardless of how that turns out." On NBC's Meet the Press, Pfeiffer finally went on the offensive and attacked Republicans for trying to make the IRS scandal into the biggest deal possible. He acknowledged the scandal as a "very real problem at the IRS," before launching into a scathing bit about Republican strategy. "We?ve seen this playbook from the Republicans before," Pfeiffer said. "What they want to do when they?re lacking a positive agenda is try to drag Washington into a swamp of partisan fishing expeditions, trumped-up hearings and false allegations. We?re not going to let that happen. The president?s got business to do for the American people."

RELATED: Snowe Won't Vote for the Ryan Medicare Plan, Either

Here's ABC:?

RELATED: Romney Wants to Keep Key Parts of Obamacare

Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames.

RELATED: Lindsey Graham and Hagel Make Nice (For Now)

And NBC:

RELATED: The People Who Are Actually Saying They Oppose Chuck Hagel

RELATED: Ryan Doesn't Know About 2016; Feinstein Believes in Assault Ban

Meanwhile, Rep. Paul Ryan was promising to continue the crusade against the IRS on Fox News Sunday. "Look, people have no trust that their government is being impartial," the Wisconsinite told Chris Matthews. "This is arrogance of power, abuse of power, to the nth degree, and we're going to get to the bottom of this." Ryan argued there was "credible evidence that donors were targeted, that the IRS leaked private information to the public, which served political purposes." There's something nefarious afoot at the IRS, Ryan thinks, and it all roads lead to Obamacare. Becasue, wait, what? "So there's so much more that we have just uncovered that we do not know the root causes of. And so to suggest that this is some bureaucratic snafu, that's been disproven, Chris," Ryan said. "The other point I'd say, as bad as this is, the person in charge of this bureaucratic snafu has now been put in charge of Obamacare." The former head of the tax exempt division,?Sarah Hall Ingram, is now moving to head the IRS's implementation of Obamacare. This is "rotten to the core," according to Ryan. "This is big government cronyism," he argues. "And this is not what hard-working taxpayers deserve. People deserve a government they can trust, that's honest, that's impartial, equality before the law, and that is not what we're getting here. And so to try to suggest that this is just bureaucratic snafus, we already know that's not true.?

Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn accused the Obama White House of practicing a "culture of cover-ups," on CBS's Face the Nation. He inquired in 2010 and 2011 for his constituents about whether or not they were being unfairly targeted. If the President somehow didn't know about the IRS overreach, it was "willful ignorance," Cornyn said. He said he wants to hold more hearings about the IRS scandal in the future. "We need to have a fair and respectful process and not put the cart before the horse," he said.

Meanwhile,?Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told Meet the Press's David Gregory there is "a culture of intimidation throughout the administration." He called the IRS "the most recent example." It's all part of an overall "nanny state" being run by the White House, he said. There's "an attitude that the government knows best: The nanny state is here to tell us all what to do. And if we start criticizing, you get targeted." McConnell signaled there could be more hearings on the way, too, when he claimed the investigation was just beginning. "I don't think we know what the facts are," he said. "... I'm not going to reach a conclusion about what we may find. But what we do know happened is they were targeting tea party groups. We know that."

On the other scandal front, Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz wants even more documents about Benghazi from the White House. This guy makes Lindsey Graham look modest. "People deserve the truth and the families deserve the truth," Chaffetz said on Face the Nation. "I can't imagine that this administration would say those same things about what happened in Boston where we had four people killed by a terrorist." (Yes, that comment is as head scratching as it looks. Chaffetz blamed a cover up for keeping the answers from the American people. "We weren't able to investigate," he said. "We still have terrorists that committed these attacks that are out there. They are on the loose. We don't know where they are."

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Hillary Clinton should have resigned as Secretary of State over what happened in Benghazi on CNN's State of the Union.?"[Clinton] should have resigned and accepted blame for it," Paul said. He explained that he's not so worried about the Benghazi talking points anymore, but that the outpost wasn't given more security. That was a "tragic mistake," he said. "We need to treat it more like Baghdad, that's an error of judgment the president and secretary of state made," Paul said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dan-pfeiffer-explains-irs-scandal-190937567.html

May the Fourth be with you James Righton finish line kentucky derby Iron Man 3 Emmett Till margaret thatcher