Welcome to Overnight News Digest, where the usual crew, consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors jlms qkw, maggiejean, wader, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir, Bentliberal, Oke, Interceptor7, and ScottyUrb, guest editor annetteboardman, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent, along with anyone else who reads and comments, informs and entertains you with tonight's news.
Tonight's featured story comes from Reuters.
Texas House approves sweeping abortion restrictions
By Corrie MacLaggan
AUSTIN, Texas | Wed Jul 10, 2013 9:32am EDT
(Reuters) - The Texas House of Representatives approved sweeping abortion restrictions on Tuesday, including a ban after 20 weeks of pregnancy and tougher standards for clinics that perform the procedure.
The vote of 98-49 came after a full day of sometimes emotional debate. Before the measure can head to the state Senate, it needs a final vote from the House, which is expected on Wednesday.
The House approved the same proposal during a previous special session of the legislature, but it failed to pass in the Senate after Democratic Senator Wendy Davis staged an 11-hour filibuster that gained national attention.
Follow over the jump for the rest of tonight's news.
International News
Infighting threatens Egypt transition plan, army orders arrests
By Yasmine Saleh and Mike Collett-White
CAIRO | Wed Jul 10, 2013 8:28pm EDT
(Reuters) - Political infighting threatened to stall Egypt's transition plans on Thursday, as the military cracked down on Muslim Brotherhood leaders it blames for inciting a clash in Cairo in which troops shot and killed 53 protesters.
Monday's violence between supporters of ousted President Mohamed Mursi, Egypt's first freely elected leader toppled by the army last week, and soldiers at a military compound has opened deep fissures in the Arab world's most populous country.
On Wednesday, Egypt's public prosecutor ordered the arrest of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and several other senior Islamists, evoking memories of when the movement was repressed under autocratic former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in 2011.
U.S.-China talks cover cyber issues, currency, Chinese reform
By Paul Eckert and Anna Yukhananov
WASHINGTON | Wed Jul 10, 2013 7:01pm EDT
(Reuters) - U.S. officials appealed to China's self-interest on Wednesday with calls for deeper economic reforms including changes to the exchange rate policy and a halt to cyber theft of trade secrets - actions they said would benefit both nations.
Vice President Joe Biden launched the annual U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue by stressing the shared stakes and responsibility to support the global economy.
"The next steps that China needs to take for its own economy happen to be in the interests of the United States as well," he said as the two-day talks opened in Washington.
Insight: Quebec train set too few brakes, with deadly result
By Joshua Schneyer and Cezary Podkul
Wed Jul 10, 2013 10:06pm EDT
(Reuters) - The handbrake is the railroad industry's ultimate fail-safe mechanism. It is supposed to help avert disasters like the one that engulfed a Canadian town on Saturday, when a runaway train loaded with oil hurtled downhill, derailed and exploded, leaving 50 people dead or missing.
The railroad initially blamed the catastrophe on the failure of the train's pneumatic airbrakes after an engine fire, but the company acknowledged on Wednesday that the train's engineer did not apply an adequate number of handbrakes to hold the train in place, and failed to comply with regulations.
A Reuters review of Canadian and U.S. regulations found that rail operators are given considerable leeway to decide how many handbrakes are sufficient for any given train, depending on track conditions and the weight of the cargo.
Colombia demands answers on U.S. spying as Latin America seethes
By Helen Murphy
BOGOTA | Wed Jul 10, 2013 3:52pm EDT
(Reuters) - Colombia called for answers from Washington on Wednesday after revelations the United States had spied on the Andean nation, its closest military ally in Latin America, as anger mounted in the region over U.S. intelligence gathering.
Colombia's foreign ministry said it "registered with concern" reports of an "unauthorized data collection program" in a brief statement overnight, and asked that the U.S. government give an account of its actions through its Bogota embassy.
"In rejecting the acts of espionage that violate people's rights to privacy as well as the international conventions on telecommunication, Colombia requests the corresponding explanations from the United States government through its ambassador to Colombia," the foreign ministry said.
U.S. News
Privacy fears grow as Obama weighs expanded gun-buyer database
By Roberta Rampton
WASHINGTON | Tue Jul 9, 2013 4:43pm EDT
(Reuters) - Mental health advocates are worried that the privacy of people who have received treatment for their illnesses could be jeopardized by a White House push to expand a database used to run background checks on gun buyers.
President Barack Obama said he wants to see state governments contribute more names of people barred from buying guns to the database, part of a sweeping set of executive actions he announced after a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December.
The database, called the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, is used by gun dealers to check whether a potential buyer is prohibited from owning a gun.
Exclusive: U.S. Air Force sees no wrongdoing by Booz Allen in Snowden matter
By Andrea Shalal-Esa
WASHINGTON | Wed Jul 10, 2013 9:57pm EDT
(Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force said it sees no evidence that a defense contractor that employed Edward Snowden is responsible for his disclosure of classified U.S. information, a finding that allows the company to continue doing business with the Pentagon.
Snowden, who is wanted in the United States on espionage charges, revealed details of secret government surveillance programs. He is believed to be holed up in the transit area at a Moscow airport, where he arrived on June 23 from Hong Kong.
The Air Force said Booz Allen Hamilton, also known as BAH, notified it about the Snowden case as required under an administrative agreement signed after another ethics lapse in 2012.
Accused Boston Marathon bomber pleads 'not guilty' to attack
By Scott Malone and Daniel Lovering
BOSTON | Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:42pm EDT
(Reuters) - Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, with his arm in a cast, accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev pleaded "not guilty" to committing the worst mass-casualty attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, a crime that could bring him the death penalty.
Appearing in court for the first time, the 19-year-old ethnic Chechen - a naturalized U.S. citizen - spoke clearly, answering seven times that he was "not guilty" and occasionally glancing back at the gallery, where survivors and victims' relatives were watching.
Tsarnaev is charged with killing three people and injuring about 264 others by setting off homemade bombs - pressure-cookers filled with explosives, nails and ball bearings - assembled by him and his older brother, Tamerlan. Prosecutors say the brothers placed backpacks containing the bombs among the spectators near the finish line of the race on April 15.
House Republicans divided on immigration reform
By Thomas Ferraro and Rachelle Younglai
WASHINGTON | Wed Jul 10, 2013 8:35pm EDT
(Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives emerged from an immigration meeting on Wednesday divided over whether to help the 11 million undocumented people living in the United States, but eager to bolster border security.
Several lawmakers said there appeared to be no consensus over calls for granting legal status to the 11 million, many of whom have lived in the United States for years, after a 2 1/2-hour closed-door session.
"We have a disagreement inside here," said Republican Representative Steve King, who guessed that his colleagues were split "50/50" on whether any of the undocumented residents should get legal status.
Eyeing a comeback, Spitzer takes lead in NYC comptroller's race
By Edith Honan
NEW YORK | Wed Jul 10, 2013 9:08pm EDT
(Reuters) - Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who is attempting a political comeback five years after resigning from office in a prostitution scandal, is leading the race to be New York City's next comptroller, according to a poll released on Wednesday.
Spitzer's reputation as the "Sheriff of Wall Street" was eclipsed in 2008 by the scandal that earned him the tabloid moniker, "Love Guv." He startled the city's political establishment on Sunday when he announced he was launching a campaign.
With two months to go before the September 10 Democratic primary, Spitzer is leading Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer 42 to 33 percent, according to the NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll.
Unmanned jet lands aboard U.S. Navy carrier in historic first
By David Alexander
ABOARD THE USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH | Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:26pm EDT
(Reuters) - An unmanned U.S. jet carried out a maneuver on Wednesday long considered the most challenging in naval aviation - landing aboard an aircraft carrier - in a milestone that lifted expectations about basing drones with reconnaissance and strike capabilities on ships.
A Northrop Grumman X-47B aircraft nicknamed "Salty Dog 502" slipped out of a cloudy sky off the Virginia coast after a flight from Patuxent River Naval Air Station and dropped its tailhook to snag an arresting cable on the deck of the USS George H.W. Bush sailing in the Atlantic Ocean.
"It's not often that you get a chance to see the future, but that's what we got to do today," said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who witnessed the landing and likened it to the first manned aircraft landing on a carrier a century ago.
Special Report: How the Pentagon's payroll quagmire traps America's soldiers
By Scot J. Paltrow and Kelly Carr
EL PASO, Texas | Tue Jul 9, 2013 6:11pm EDT
(Reuters) - As Christmas 2011 approached, U.S. Army medic Shawn Aiken was once again locked in desperate battle with a formidable foe. Not insurgents in Iraq, or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan - enemies he had already encountered with distinguished bravery.
This time, he was up against the U.S. Defense Department.
Aiken, then 30 years old, was in his second month of physical and psychological reconstruction at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, after two tours of combat duty had left him shattered. His war-related afflictions included traumatic brain injury, severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), abnormal eye movements due to nerve damage, chronic pain, and a hip injury.
But the problem that loomed largest that holiday season was different. Aiken had no money.
Business and the Economy
Wall Street flat after Fed minutes, but Bernanke lifts futures
By Leah Schnurr
NEW YORK | Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:53pm EDT
(Reuters) - The Dow slipped and the S&P 500 edged up less than a point on Wednesday, interrupting a four-day rally, with investors trying to gauge when the Federal Reserve may scale back on its economic stimulus.
Minutes from the Federal Reserve's June policy meeting released on Wednesday afternoon showed many officials wanted more reassurance that the labor market was improving before reining in stimulus measures. Even so, consensus built within the Fed that there probably was the need to begin pulling back soon on its monthly bond buying.
The three major U.S. stock indexes recovered some ground immediately on the headlines following the release of the minutes. But those gains were short-lived as investors parsed the details of the minutes. The Dow closed slightly lower to break a four-day winning streak, while the broader S&P 500 eked out a tiny gain.
Apple colluded on e-book prices, judge finds
By Nate Raymond and Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK | Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:03pm EDT
(Reuters) - In a sweeping rejection of Apple Inc's strategy for selling electronic books on the Internet, a federal judge ruled that the company conspired with five major publishers to raise e-book prices.
U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan found "compelling evidence" that Apple violated federal antitrust law by playing a "central role" in a conspiracy with the publishers to eliminate retail price competition and raise e-book prices.
Wednesday's decision could expose Apple to substantial damages. It is a victory for the U.S. Department of Justice and the 33 U.S. states and territories that brought the civil antitrust case. The five publishers previously settled.
Smithfield CEO feels Senate heat over sale to China
By Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON | Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:40pm EDT
(Reuters) - U.S. senators sought answers from the head of Smithfield Foods (SFD.N) on Wednesday about whether the proposed sale of the Virginia ham maker to China's largest pork producer could hurt U.S. food safety and raise prices for American consumers.
Although there was no indication Congress would intervene to block the deal, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow said she was worried that it would undermine the long-term competitiveness of the U.S. pork industry by exporting valuable production techniques to China.
"This is a precedent-setting case and we owe it to consumers, producers and workers to ensure we are asking the right questions and evaluating the long-term implications," the Democrat said at the hearing with Smithfield President and CEO Larry Pope.
Ligher Side: Entertainment and Sports
Honoring opera to 'Star Wars,' Obama awards arts medals to 24
By Roberta Rampton
WASHINGTON | Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:23pm EDT
(Reuters) - Citing the power of artists and academics to open minds, President Barack Obama on Wednesday awarded 24 medals to people including "Star Wars" creator George Lucas and writer Joan Didion who he said touched his life and the lives of Americans.
"They challenge us to think and to question and to discover, to seek that inward significance," Obama said, awarding the winners of the National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House.
This year's winners included filmmaker George Lucas, creator of "Star Wars," whom Obama applauded for transforming movies.
Lions sign Stafford to three-year extension
by Steve Keating
Wed Jul 10, 2013 3:22pm EDT
(Reuters) - Quarterback Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions agreed to a three-year contract extension worth $53 million with $41.5 million guaranteed, the National Football League team said on Wednesday.
The first player taken in the 2009 NFL draft, Stafford already holds franchise single-season records for passing yards, touchdowns, completions and attempts.
Just 25 years old he could become the franchise's all-time passing leader this season if he tosses for at least 2,903 yards, which would surpass Bobby Layne's mark of 15,710.
