The ACN Morning Report -- Friday May 10, 2013

ASSAD SEEKS HEZBOLLAH SUPPORT -- BANGLADESH BUILDING COLLAPSE DEATH TOLL RISES -- NORTH KOREA LAYS OUT CASE AGAINST JAILED AMERICAN -- U.S. NOT SEEKING PERMANENT BASES IN AFGHANISTAN -- OHIO SUSPECT'S RELATIVES SAY HE BEAT THEM -- 7 YEAR OLD BOSTON BOMBING VICTIM HAS 11TH SURGERY -- RAND PAUL, JEB BUSH, MARCO RUBIO AND PAUL RYAN -- GAY MARRIAGE BILL HEADS TO MINN. SENATE -- 3D PRINTED LIBERATOR GUN ATTRACTS TENS OF THOUSANDS

AFTER SYRIA, ASSAD SEEKS HEZBOLLAH SUPPORT

Screenshot Photo

Israel’s alleged attack against Syria seems to have led President Bashar Assad to hunker down and more fully align his regime with the Iran-Hezbollah axis. As he fights for his regime’s survival, holding on to what some analysts say could become an Alawite ministate, he is publicly moving to a more hostile position vis-à-vis Israel and the West.

Assad told a local Lebanese paper that Syria was becoming a resistance state similar to the one Hezbollah has created in Lebanon.

DEATH TOLL FROM BANGLADESH BUILDING COLLAPSE TOPS 1,000

CNN

Dhaka, Bangladesh (CNN) -- More than two weeks after a building in Bangladesh housing factories full of garment workers caved in, the death toll from the South Asian nation's deadliest industrial disaster has surpassed 1,000, authorities said Friday.

For the 17th day, rescue and recovery workers are searching through the nine-story building's tangled wreckage in Savar, a suburb of the capital, Dhaka. During the first several days of dangerous and painstaking work, they got more than 2,400 people out of the rubble alive.

NORTH KOREA DETAILS CHARGES AGAINST JAILED AMERICAN

Reuters

North Korea provided more detail on the alleged activities of jailed American Kenneth Bae early Friday, accusing him of a multiyear effort to foment opposition to the regime that appears to darken prospects for his release.

One thing that wasn’t a surprise was apparent confirmation of his involvement in missionary work, something that has seen other Korean-Americans detained in North Korea in recent years.

SPOKESMAN: U.S. NOT SEEKING PERMANENT BASES IN AFGHANISTAN

WASHINGTON, May 9 (Xinhua) -- The United States is not seeking permanent military bases in Afghanistan, and any future American presence in the country will be possible only at the invitation of the Afghan government, White House spokesman Jay Carney said here on Thursday.

The spokesman echoed what U.S. President Barack Obama said in response to a statement made by Afghan President Hamid Karzai earlier in the day about Washington's intention to set up nine military bases across the Asian nation after the exit of most U.S. and NATO combat troops by the end of 2014.

OHIO MAN'S EX-RELATIVES SAY HE BEAT THEM, KEPT MANNEQUIN IN HOME

AP

CLEVELAND –  The man accused of holding three women captive for a decade in his Cleveland home terrorized the mother of his children, frequently beating her, playing twisted psychological games and locking her indoors in the years before their relationship disintegrated, her relatives say.

Several relatives of Grimilda Figueroa, who left Ariel Castro years ago and died after a long illness last year, painted a nightmarish portrait of Castro's family life as authorities made public horrifying details of the abuse endured by the imprisoned women.

 SISTER OF BOSTON BOY KILLED IN BOMBING HAS 11TH SURGERY

AP

Jane Richard, the wounded 7-year-old sister of the boy killed in the Boston Marathon bombings, had a crucial 11th surgery Wednesday night but faces more operations to prepare her for an artificial leg, the family said Thursday.

Doctors at Boston Children's Hospital finally closed the wound where one bomb tore off her left leg below the knee April 15, the Richard family wrote on its Tumblr page. She will eventually be fitted with a prosthetic device.

GOP'S RAND PAUL STEPS TOWARD 2016 RUN, JOINS GROWING FIELD

AP

DES MOINES, Iowa — Sen. Rand Paul says he’s only “considering” running for president. But he’s doing much more than mull it over.

The Kentucky Republican is unabashedly clearing a path to seek the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, with a series of early voting state visits, a beefed-up political operation and a deliberate plan to appeal to mainstream voters and raise his national profile.

MINNESOTA SENATE NEXT STOP FOR GAY MARRIAGE BILL

Photo: Jim Mone

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Gay marriage supporters in Minnesota are already in celebration mode after the state House's passage of the bill to legalize it, but there are a few more steps before it gets to the desk of Gov. Mark Dayton.

"It's not time to uncork the champagne yet. But it's chilling," said Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-Hopkins, at a spirited rally in the Capitol rotunda a few minutes after the House voted 75-59 to let same-sex couples start getting married in Minnesota come Aug. 1.

DOWNLOADS FOR 3D PRINTED LIBERATOR GUN REACHES 100,000

The blueprint used to produce a 3D-printed plastic gun has been downloaded about 100,000 times since going online earlier this week, according to Forbes.

Defense Distributed told the news site it was surprised by the amount of interest its Liberator gun had generated.

Earlier in the week, the company demonstrated the firearm being fired

But even before any more guns come off the DIY printing presses, there are moves afoot to ban it.

The ACN Morning Report -- Monday April 8, 2013

WikiLeaks Publishes 1.7 Million Records -- Palestinian Leader Warns Of Slipping Opportunity -- North Korea May Be Preparing Nuclear Test...Or Not -- US Diplomat To Afghanistan Killed -- A Deal On Immigration? One Senator Thinks So -- White House Asks GOP For Compromise -- Clinton Hints Clinton May Run in '16 -- China's Bird Flu Outbreak -- Gas Prices Are Dropping

WIKILEAKS PUBLISHES 1.7M DIPLOMATIC RECORDS

Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

WikiLeaks has published more than 1.7m US records covering diplomatic or intelligence reports on every country in the world.

The data, which has not been leaked, comprises diplomatic records from the beginning of 1973 to the end of 1976, covering a variety of diplomatic traffic including cables, intelligence reports and congressional correspondence.

PALESTINIAN LEADER WARNS WINDOW CLOSING FOR LASTING TWO-STATE SOLUTION 

Majdi Mohammed/AP

Time is running out on the two-state solution for Middle East peace and the current push to relaunch peace talks may be “the last opportunity,” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas warns.

In an interview with The Globe and Mail at his presidential compound in Ramallah, the Palestinian leader, in the midst of an intense round of international diplomacy aimed at reviving the moribund peace process, insisted he can make a deal, but time is slipping away. “I think there was some opportunities in the past, but unfortunately we missed these opportunities,” he said.

NORTH KOREA TESTS NOT IMMINENT SAYS SOUTH

Image Credit: GeoEye

A defence ministry spokesman said while activity had been detected at the Punggye-ri underground test site, it appeared to be routine.

South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae had earlier said there were indications a test was being prepared.

Meanwhile the North has said it is withdrawing all its workers from the shared Kaesong industrial complex.

FATHER: YOUNG US DIPLOMAT KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN DIED DOING WHAT SHE LOVED

(AP Photo/Courtesy of Tom Smedinghoff) (The Associated Press)

CHICAGO –  The family of an American diplomat who was among those killed in a terrorist attack in southern Afghanistan is taking solace in knowing she died doing what she loved.

Anne Smedinghoff, who was killed Saturday, was the first American diplomat to die on the job since last year's attack in Benghazi, Libya.

KEY US SENATOR SEES DEAL THIS WEEK ON IMMIGRATION

WASHINGTON (AP) — A noisy debate over the flawed U.S. immigration system begins in earnest this week as senators finalize a bipartisan bill to secure the border, allow tens of thousands of foreign workers into the country and grant eventual citizenship to the estimated 11 million people living here illegally.

Negotiators warned of struggles ahead, but all involved are optimistic that it's time to make the biggest changes to the nation's immigration laws in more than a quarter-century.

WHITE HOUSE ASKS GOP FOR COMPROMISE ON BUDGET DEAL

Associated Press

The Obama administration said Sunday that it is searching for rank-and-file Republicans willing to work with the president on a budget deal who “don’t think compromise is a dirty word.”

The outreach was made just days before President Obama plans to formally unveil his proposed 2014 federal budget, but details of the blueprint that leaked early have Republican leaders and Mr. Obama’s liberal base fuming.

HILLARY MAY RUN FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN 2016 HINTS BILL CLINTON

REUTERS

Washington: Hillary Clinton, the former Secretary of State, could run for the 2016 presidential elections, her husband Bill Clinton has hinted.

Bill Clinton, one of the most popular American presidents in recent past, added fuel to the speculation when at an event on Saturday night he said that the country would have some good choices in the 2016 presidential elections.

CHINA'S BIRD FLU OUTBREAK NOT CAUSE FOR PANIC: WHO

REUTERS

(Reuters) - A strain of bird flu that has been found in humans for the first time in eastern China is not a cause for panic, the World Health Organization said on Monday, as the number of people infected rose to 21, with six deaths.

The WHO praised China for mobilizing resources nationwide to combat the H7N9 flu strain by culling tens of thousands of birds and monitoring hundreds of people close to those infected.

GAS PRICES ARE GOING DOWN, AND THE TREND COULD CONTINUE

Photo Credit: Yakima Herald

The extra weekly cash incentive that Brad Hurd receives as a courier is tied to gas prices.

When gas prices were going up, his boss would have to cut those incentives to make up for the higher fuels costs for company vehicles, leading to a smaller paycheck for the Yakima resident.

But as gas prices in Yakima have dropped over the year, Hurd saw that incentive increase from $25 a week to $100.

The ACN Morning Report Thursday March 28, 2013

James Holmes To Plead Guilty -- Ashley Judd's Senate Outlook -- Microsoft Looks Past Windows 8 -- Casualties In Joint Nato-Afghan Operation -- Pakistani Girl Seals Book Deal -- Newtown Investigation Details Coming -- Loughner Details Released -- SCOTUS's Reluctance On Gay Marriage -- N. Korea Cuts Communications With South -- Obama Charm Offensive

JAMES HOLMES OFFERS TO PLEAD NOT GUILTY IN COLORADO MASSACRE

Pool Photo

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — James E. Holmes, accused of unleashing the Aurora movie theater massacre in July, has offered to plead guilty to killing 12 people and injuring 70 if prosecutors do not seek the death penalty.

In an unusual court filing, defense lawyers revealed Wednesday that they had made the standing offer weeks ago for Holmes to serve life in prison without possibility of parole for the July 20 mass shooting.

So far the prosecution has declined the offer, the document said.

Dist. Atty. George Brauchler of Colorado's 18th Judicial District is to announce Monday whether he will seek the death penalty. Capital punishment is rare in Colorado, with only three people on death row.

ASHLEY JUDD DECLINES KENTUCKY SENATE BID

Getty Images

ABC News’ Michael Falcone and Shushannah Walshe report:

After months of flirtation, actress Ashley Judd announced on Wednesday that she will not pursue a Senate bid against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

She made the announcement in a series of tweets late Wednesday afternoon:

“After serious and thorough contemplation, I realize that my responsibilities & energy at this time need to be focused on my family. Regretfully, I am currently unable to consider a campaign for the Senate. I have spoken to so many Kentuckians over these last few months who expressed their desire for a fighter for the people & new leader. While that won’t be me at this time, I will continue to work  as hard as I can to ensure the needs of Kentucky families are met by returning this Senate seat to whom it rightfully belongs: the people & their needs, dreams, and great potential. Thanks for even considering me as that person & know how much I love our Commonwealth. Thank you!”

A source familiar with Judd’s decision-making process said the news that Kentucky Secretary of State Allison Lundergan Grimes has also been considering a Senate run “gave her the space to really make a decision and decide what was best for her.”

MICROSOFT PREPARES WINDOWS BLUE

Microsoft has finally broken its silence about Blue, a code name that not only refers to a Windows 8 operating system update, but also encompasses a large swath of the software giant's product and services portfolio.

Apart from some fleeting job ads or casual mentions like the ones in a TechFest 2013 presentation featuring an upcoming version of the Fresh Paint app, Microsoft has largely remained mum on the topic of Blue. Lately, however, the company has been opening up a little.

After recounting some recent company milestones and accomplishments in a blog post, Microsoft's vice president of corporate communications, Frank X. Shaw, made one of the first official mentions of Blue. Just don't expect the code name to survive the journey to a commercial launch, he warned.

CIVILIANS KILLED IN JOINT NATO-AFGHAN EXERCISE

PAKISTANI GIRL SHOT BY TALIBAN SEALS BOOK DEAL

AP PHOTO

Malala Yousufzai will not go quietly.

The 15-year-old Pakistani activist was shot in the head at point-blank range by the Taliban for advocating girls' education. After a miraculous recovery, she returned to school in Britain last week, and today it was announced she will publish her life story in the memoir, I Am Malala.

The Guardian reported the deal was inked for around $3 million, though a spokesman for the publisher, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, would not confirm reports about the value of the deal.

SEARCH WARRANTS TO BE RELEASED FOR NEWTOWN INVESTIGATION

AP

NEW HAVEN, Conn. –  Search warrants used in the investigation of the Newtown school shooting are being released along with a statement from prosecutors about their work to unravel the motives of the 20-year-old gunman.

The warrants, which were to be released on Thursday, are related to searches of gunman Adam Lanza's home and car. They have been sealed under an order that expired Wednesday, and prosecutors have made few details available, despite pressure to do so.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has expressed concern about leaked information appearing in the news, and state lawmakers have requested a more complete accounting of the case as they address gun control and other issues raised by the shooting.

REPORTS DETAIL JARED LOUGHNER'S BEHAVIOR BEFORE SHOOTING

Pima County Sheriff's Department

TUCSON — In hindsight, the red flags seem to be everywhere.

By the time Jared Lee Loughner shot and killed six people, wounding 13 — including then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords — his parents had already taken away his shotgun, tested him for drugs and forbade him from using the family vehicle after dusk. Months earlier, officials at his community college had refused to allow him to return to campus until he passed a mental evaluation. Hours before he went on a shooting rampage, a Wal-Mart clerk had declined to sell him ammunition.

These details emerged Wednesday when authorities released nearly 3,000 pages of investigative reports, painting a picture of a man who had become unhinged and the people who had tried to intervene, worried he was a danger to himself and others.

JUSTICES SHOW RELUCTANCE ON BROAD GAY MARRIAGE RULING

WASHINGTON—Two days of arguments on same-sex marriage revealed a Supreme Court uneasy about making sweeping moves on gay rights and holding doubts about whether the cases belonged before the justices at all.

The arguments also brought to life more familiar fissures between the court's liberal and conservative wings. On Wednesday, liberal justices suggested that a 1996 federal law denying benefits to lawfully married same-sex couples was motivated by animus against gays, while Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative, challenged assertions that gays and lesbians need judicial protection from repressive majorities.

NORTH KOREA SAYS IT IS CUTTING TIES WITH SOUTH KOREA

CNN

The Obama administration on Wednesday slammed North Korea's pugnacious rants toward South Korea and the West and a U.S. intelligence official called the strident remarks worrisome.

"The ratcheting up of rhetoric is of concern to us," the official said.

The question is whether this is "just rhetoric," he said. Or, "are things happening behind the scenes indicating the blustering has something to it."

Another U.S. official said there is a lot of uncertainty about North Korea's intentions.

"North Korea is not a paper tiger so it wouldn't be smart to dismiss its provocative behavior as pure bluster," that official said.

OBAMA, SENATE REPUBLICANS PLAN SECOND DINNER

Getty Images

Senate Republicans and President Obama plan a second dinner next month to talk about such legislative items as the budget, immigration and gun control, officials said.

An aide to Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said Obama called Isakson this month and asked him to line up another dozen or so GOP senators who were not able to attend a similar dinner on March 6.

The purpose of the get-together now scheduled for April 10 is "to build on the first dinner," said Joan Kirchner, Isakson's deputy chief of staff.

The Morning Report -- Thursday, February 21, 2013

U.S. Military Milestone In Afghanistan -- Pentagon Braces For Sequester -- Keystone XL Oil Pipeline Jobs Dwindle -- Supreme Court To Take Up Donation Limits -- Mars Curiosity Rover Breakthrough -- Senator Fathers Son With Senator -- Skeleton Found On Mars? -- Stanford Raises $1 Billion

30 DAYS WITHOUT A U.S. MILITARY DEATH IN AFGHANISTAN 

Getty Images

A milestone was reached in Afghanistan Wednesday that has not happened in six years:  30 days without a U.S. military fatality.

It is the longest gap between U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan since February and March of 2007, when there was a similar 30 day gap.

The winter months in Afghanistan always see a relative reduction  in American military casualties as the cold weather and the elements restricts combat engagements.

But this winter season has seen one of the lowest casualty rates in years.

PENTAGON INFORMS CONGRESS OF 800 THOUSAND CIVILIAN WORKER FURLOUGHS

The Pentagon notified Congress on Wednesday it will be furloughing its civilian workforce of 800,000 employees if sequestration goes into effect March 1

defense officials have warned lawmakers that sequestration will devastate the military and lead to a hollow force, but the civilian furloughs will be one of the first major impacts felt by the across-the-board cuts.

The Pentagon furloughs will affect civilians across the country. Pentagon officials have said that civilians could face up to 22 days of furloughs, one per week, through the end of the fiscal year in September. The employees would receive 30 days' notice before being furloughed.

KEYSTONE'S 'THOUSANDS' Of JOBS FALL TO 20

Bloomberg

TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone XL oil pipeline, heralded by supporters as a major job creator, will add few permanent positions once the $7 billion project is built.

The number of people needed to operate and maintain the 1,661-mile (2,673-kilometer) pipeline may be as few as 20, according to the U.S. State Department, or as many as a few hundred, according to TransCanada.

“I don’t see a big jobs impact,” Stephen Fuller, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia, said in an interview. “It gets the oil into refineries that already exist. It’s like replacing a bridge on the highway.”

JUSTICES TO HEAR APPEAL OF INDIVIDUAL DONATION LIMITS

Roll Call

WASHINGTON— The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to consider taking another step toward dismantling campaign finance laws, potentially freeing wealthy donors to give as much as they want in any election cycle and raising the possibility that it could overturn limits that apply to individual candidates as well.

In its landmark Citizens United decision, the court ruled in 2010 that corporations, unions and individuals could spend unlimited sums on campaign ads so long as they are independent of the candidates and political parties. That triggered the creation of so-called "super PACs," which can raise and spend huge sums on politics, so long as they are ostensibly independent of a candidate or party.

NASA CONFIRMS FIRST DRILLED MARS ROCK SAMPLE

NASA

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has relayed new images that confirm it has successfully obtained the first sample ever collected from the interior of a rock on another planet. No rover has ever drilled into a rock beyond Earth and collected a sample from its interior.

Transfer of the powdered-rock sample into an open scoop was visible for the first time in images received Wednesday at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

"Seeing the powder from the drill in the scoop allows us to verify for the first time the drill collected a sample as it bore into the rock," said JPL's Scott McCloskey, drill systems engineer for Curiosity. "Many of us have been working toward this day for years. Getting final confirmation of successful drilling is incredibly gratifying. For the sampling team, this is the equivalent of the landing team going crazy after the successful touchdown."

SENATOR FATHERS CHILD WITH DAUGHTER OF ANOTHER SENATOR

Getty Images

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Former Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico fathered a son outside of his marriage more than 30 years ago with the then-24-year-old daughter of a Senate colleague, the retired Republican has acknowledged.

The revelation stunned many who know the state's longest-serving senator as a family man who advocated honesty.

Domenici and Michelle Laxalt sent statements to the Albuquerque Journal identifying their son as Nevada attorney Adam Paul Laxalt. They said they decided to go public with their decades-old secret because they believed someone was about to reveal the information in an attempt to smear Domenici.

FOSSILIZED SKELETON FOUND ON MARS?

A video making the rounds on the web has alien hunters and Mars watchers excited with what looks remarkably like a fossilized skeleton of a lizard-like creature photographed by the Mars Curiosity rover. What is it?

Paranormal bulletin boards are on fire with still images, enhanced and enlarged, which do bear a striking resemblance to fossils of ancient creatures found on Earth.

The video, uploaded to YouTube on Feb. 19, is a vignette made from a single photo taken by Curiosity earlier in the month. The photo seems to show the outline of animal vertebrae snaking into what looks like a tail and exposed above the rocky Martian soil.

STATE UNIVERSITY RAISES RECORD BREAKING $1BN

Stanford University has become the first US college to raise more than $1bn (£650m) in a year.

The California institution ranked first in the 2012 Council for Aid to Education's survey, for the eighth straight year.

The report found that 3,500 US universities raised a total of $31bn, 2.3% more than the previous year.

The top 10 schools, including Harvard and Yale, accounted for 17% of the total fundraising efforts.

But the total was just short of the all-time record in 2008.

Afghanistan To Get Drones

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, just returning from a summit with President Barack Obama, has announced to the press that his nation will be joining the age of drones. While Karzai spoke on a broad range of issues perhaps the biggest piece of news is that Afghanistan will get unmanned reconnaissance drones from the United States Military. In addition the Afghan military will receive 20 helicopters four C-130 transport planes.

The Pentagon has said they are in talks with President Karzai to sell the aforementioned machinery as well as other military hardware but no agreement or date has been set. Sell may be a loose term: between 2006 and 2010 up to 90% of the Afghan government's public expenditures was paid for by the United States and other international donors. That according to the Government Accountability Office.

While most Americans read "Drone" and imagine a sleek sophisticated flying machine the reality of what the Afghani's will be getting is closer to a four pound surveillance drone, called a Raven Drone. The drone is launched by hand and can fly for about an hour.

Still the technology could be too much for the already strapped Afghan army. If the United States isn't there to help the Afghan forces utilize the machinery they could just be sitting on the runway.