The daily Astorian., March 21, 2017, Page 7A, Image 7

7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
WORLD IN BRIEF
Associated Press
Comey: FBI probes Trump-Russia
links, wiretap claims bogus
WASHINGTON — The FBI is investigating whether Donald
Trump’s associates coordinated with Russian officials in an effort
to sway the 2016 presidential election, Director James Comey
said Monday in an extraordinary public confirmation of a probe
the president has refused to acknowledge, dismissed as fake news
and blamed on Democrats.
In a bruising five-hour session, the FBI director also knocked
down Trump’s claim that his predecessor had wiretapped his
New York skyscraper, an assertion that has distracted White
House officials and frustrated fellow Republicans who acknowl-
edge they’ve seen no evidence to support it.
The revelation of the investigation of possible collusion with
Russians, and the first public confirmation of the wider probe that
began last summer, came in a remarkable hearing by one branch
of government examining serious allegations against another
branch and the new president’s election campaign.
Tight-lipped for the most part, Comey refused to offer details
on the scope, targets or timeline for the FBI investigation, which
could shadow the White House for months, if not years. The
director would not say whether the probe has turned up evidence
that Trump associates may have schemed with Russians during
a campaign marked by email hacking that investigators believe
was aimed at helping the Republican defeat Democrat Hillary
Clinton.
“I can promise you,” the FBI director vowed, “we will follow
the facts wherever they lead.”
Comey for the first time put himself publicly at odds with the
president by contradicting a series of recent tweets from Trump
that asserted his phones had been ordered tapped by President
Barack Obama during the campaign.
“With respect to the president’s tweets about alleged wiretap-
ping directed at him by the prior administration, I have no infor-
mation that supports those tweets, and we have looked carefully
inside the FBI,” Comey said. The same was true, he added, of the
Justice Department.
US, UK bar laptop carry-ons
from Mideast, N. Africa flights
WASHINGTON — The U.S. and British governments, citing
unspecified threats, are barring passengers on some international
flights from mostly Middle Eastern and North African coun-
tries from bringing laptops, tablets, electronic games and other
devices on board in carry-on bags.
Passengers flying to the United States from 10 airports in eight
countries will be allowed only cellphones and smartphones in
the passenger cabins, senior Trump administration officials said.
Larger electronic items must be checked.
The British security rules will affect flights from six countries
and will bar passengers from carrying “any phones, laptops or
tablets larger than a normal sized mobile or smartphone.”
The U.S. rules took effect today, and airlines will have until
early Saturday morning to implement them or face being barred
from flying to the United States, the officials said.
They said the decision was prompted by “evaluated intelli-
gence” about potential threats to airplanes bound for the United
States. The officials would not discuss the timing of the intelli-
gence or if any particular terror group is thought to be planning
an attack.
Trump administration officials briefed reporters on condition
they not be identified publicly. That was despite President Don-
ald Trump’s repeated insistence that anonymous sources should
not be trusted.
The electronics ban affects flights from international
airports to the U.S. from in Amman, Jordan; Kuwait City,
Kuwait; Cairo; Istanbul; Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;
Casablanca, Morocco; Doha, Qatar; and Dubai and Abu Dhabi
in the United Arab Emirates. About 50 flights a day, all on
foreign carriers, will be affected. The officials said no U.S.-
based airlines have nonstop flights from those cities to the United
States.
The British security rules will apply to flights from Turkey,
Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.
High court nominee to face
daylong questioning in Senate
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch
faces hours of questioning from senators as frustrated Democrats
are determined to press him on everything from abortion and
guns to his independence from President Donald Trump.
Republicans are unanimously supporting Gorsuch, and cer-
tain to give him what cover they can as he appears before the
Senate Judiciary Committee for Day 2 of his confirmation hear-
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Supreme Court Justice nominee Neil Gorsuch is sur-
rounded by photographers as he arrives on Capitol Hill in
Washington on Monday for his confirmation hearing be-
fore the Senate Judiciary Committee.
ings today. But Democrats made clear on the first day that they
were in no mood to “rubber stamp a nominee selected by extreme
interest groups and nominated by a president who lost the pop-
ular vote by nearly 3 million votes,” as Democratic Sen. Patrick
Leahy of Vermont put it.
Gorsuch himself sought to emphasize his strong belief in the
separation of powers in his opening statement, pledging to be
independent or “hang up the robe.” Seeking to take the edge off
Democratic complaints that he has favored the wealthy and pow-
erful in more than 10 years as a federal judge, the 49-year-old
Coloradan said he has tried to be a “neutral and independent”
judge and has ruled both for and against disabled students, pris-
oners and workers alleging civil rights violations.
“My decisions have never reflected a judgment about the peo-
ple before me, only my best judgment about the law and facts at
issue in each particular case,” Gorsuch said.
The first day of the hearing was given over to opening state-
ments, with questions saved for today, and Judiciary Chairman
Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, warned senators that the session could
last 10 hours or more.
Bottle refund going to 10 cents
in Oregon beginning April 1
SALEM — Starting on April 1, Oregonians will be able to
double the money they get back for recycling their old plas-
tic water bottles, soda cans and beer bottles at redemption sites
throughout the state.
A measure which requires payment of the 10-cent refund for
covered beverage containers beginning the first of the month,
regardless of refund value indicated on the container, was over-
whelmingly approved by the Oregon Senate on Monday and
heads to Gov. Kate Brown for her signature.
The Oregon Legislature set a trigger for the deposit to increase
to 10 cents if the recycling rate fell below 80 percent for two con-
secutive years. Last year state officials said that had happened
and the increased bottle rate was set in motion.
Oregon was the first state to adopt a bottle refund bill back in
1971 as a way to encourage recycling. Ten other states have sim-
ilar laws, but only Michigan currently offers a 10-cent refund.
Train deaths in Washington
state return to normal numbers
TACOMA, Wash. — Figures released by Washington offi-
cials show that deaths on the state’s railroad tracks returned to
normal levels last year after reaching a high number in 2015.
The News Tribune reports that the Washington State Depart-
ment of Transportation released numbers last week showing that
13 people were killed statewide in 2016 in train-related incidents.
That’s down from 27 people killed in 2015. That year had the
most train-related deaths in the state since 2011, when 29 peo-
ple died.
Thirteen people were killed on the tracks in 2014 and three
have died so far in 2017.
State and railroad officials say they are relieved that 2016
numbers were down from 2015 but that the ultimate goal is to
have zero train-related deaths.
Thailand’s coin-eating turtle
dies of intestinal blockage
BANGKOK — Tourists used to toss coins at a green sea turtle
that lived in a pond in eastern Thailand, wishing for luck and lon-
gevity. But swallowing the shiny tidbits turned out to be a death
sentence for the reptile.
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6 PM
Martin McGuinness, Irish rebel
turned politician, dies at 66
DUBLIN — Martin McGuinness, the Irish Republican Army
commander who led his underground paramilitary movement
toward reconciliation with Britain, died today, his Sinn Fein party
announced.
Turning from rebel to peacemaker, McGuinness served as
Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister for a decade in a pow-
er-sharing government.
The party said he died following a short illness.
McGuinness suffered from amyloidosis, a rare disease with a
strain specific to Ireland’s northwest. The chemotherapy required
to combat the formation of organ-choking protein deposits
quickly sapped him of strength and forced him to start missing
government appointments.
“Throughout his life Martin showed great determination, dig-
nity and humility and it was no different during his short illness,”
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said.
Trump to Capitol in last-ditch
lobbying for health care bill
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is rallying sup-
port for the Republican health care overhaul by taking his case
directly to GOP lawmakers at the Capitol, two days before the
House plans a climactic vote that poses an important early test
for his presidency. Top House Republicans unveiled revisions to
their bill in hopes of nailing down support.
At a rally Monday night in Louisville, Kentucky, Trump
underscored what he called “the crucial House vote.”
“This is our long-awaited chance to finally get rid of
Obamacare,” he said of repealing former President Barack
Obama’s landmark law, a GOP goal since its 2010 enactment.
“We’re going to do it.”
Trump’s closed-door meeting with House Republicans was
coming as party leaders released 43 pages worth of changes to a
bill whose prospects remain dicey. Their proposals were largely
aimed at addressing dissent that their measure would leave many
older people with higher costs.
Included was an unusual approach: language paving the way
for the Senate, if it chooses, to make the bill’s tax credit more
generous for people age 50-64. Details in the documents released
were initially unclear, but one GOP lawmaker and an aide said
the plan sets aside $85 billion over 10 years for that purpose.
Venezuela’s troubles put US
heating oil charity in limbo
Venezuela’s economic turmoil has placed in limbo that coun-
try’s participation in a free heating oil program run by a Massa-
chusetts-based nonprofit that has helped hundreds of thousands
of people, signaling that the program may be kaput.
This marks the second consecutive winter that Venezuela’s
Citgo Petroleum Corp. has not contributed to the “Joe-4-Oil” pro-
gram, part of the nonprofit Citizens Energy created by business-
man and former Democratic Massachusetts Congressman Joseph
P. Kennedy II.
The decision by the subsidiary of the Venezuelan national oil
company coincides with plummeting oil prices and correspond-
ing economic problems in oil-rich Venezuela.
Kennedy said hopes of a late contribution have faded with
spring’s arrival this week.
“While this is not good news, it certainly isn’t surprising,” he
told The Associated Press.
LISTINGS
THE DAILY
ASTORIAN
A
After having nearly a thousand coins removed from its stom-
ach in a four-hour operation two weeks ago, the turtle — nick-
named “Omsin,” or “Piggy Bank,” — died today.
Omsin, estimated to be 25 years old, had been rescued by Thai
navy personnel who saw her visibly ailing in the seaside town of
Sattahip. She was then examined by a veterinarian, who found
the coins inside her stomach.
The story attracted international attention, and a public
clamor to ease Omsin’s plight ensued. The weight of the money
inside her had cracked her underside shell and threatened a fatal
infection.
The cause of death was intestinal obstruction that blocked
Omsin’s protein intake, while toxicity from the coins damaged
her immune system, said Dr. Roongroje Thanawongnuwech,
dean of the veterinary school at Chulalongkorn University.
The turtle had appeared to be doing well after the operation,
but a checkup Saturday revealed problems with her intestines.
Doctors performed a second, 2 1/2 hour-operation, but Omsin
never woke up and died this morning.
“She at least had the chance to swim freely and eat happily
before she passed,” said Dr. Nantarika Chansue, who led the team
that removed 915 coins weighing 11 pounds from her stomach
on March 6.
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