US: More than 21 million affected by government data breach

US: More than 21 million affected by government data breach 
 

FILE - In this June 25, 2015, file photo, Office of Personnel Management (OPM) director Katherine Archuleta testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Obama administration says hackers stole Social Security numbers from more than 21 million people and took other sensitive information when government computer systems were compromised. The number affected by the breach is higher than the 14 million figure that investigators gave The Associated Press in June.

  

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hackers stole Social Security numbers, health histories and other highly sensitive data from more than 21 million people, the Obama administration said Thursday, acknowledging that the breach of U.S. government computer systems was far more severe than previously disclosed.

The scope of the data breach - believed to be the biggest in U.S. history - has grown dramatically since the government first disclosed earlier this year that hackers had gotten into the Office of Personnel Management's personnel database and stolen records for about 4.2 million people. Since then, the Obama administration has acknowledged a second, related breach of the systems housing private data that individuals submit during background investigations to obtain security clearances.

That second attack affected more than 19 million people who applied for clearances, as well as nearly 2 million of their spouses, housemates and others who never applied for security clearances, the administration said. Among the data the hackers stole: criminal, financial, health, employment and residency histories, as well as information about their families and acquaintances.

The new revelations drew indignation from members of Congress who have said the administration has not done enough to protect personal data in their systems, as well as calls for OPM Director Katherine Archuleta and her top deputies to resign. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, said Archuleta and her aides had "consciously ignored the warnings and failed to correct these weaknesses."

"Such incompetence is inexcusable," Chaffetz said in a statement.

House Republican leaders - Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Whip Steve Scalise - also called for Archuleta's resignation. Boehner said President Barack Obama must "take a strong stand against incompetence."

Some Democrats weighed in against Archuleta as well. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said, "It is time for her to step down, and I strongly urge the administration to choose new management with proven abilities to address a crisis of this magnitude with an appropriate sense of urgency and accountability."

Yet Archuleta insisted she would not step down. "I am committed to the work that I am doing," she said in a conference call with reporters. The White House, which had previously said Obama was confident in Archuleta's leadership, said there was no change in its position.

Archuleta said the hackers also obtained user names and passwords that prospective employees used to fill out their background investigation forms, as well as the contents of interviews conducted as part of those investigations. Yet the government insisted there were no indications that the hackers have used the data they stole.

Still, the government declined to say who was behind the attack.

Numerous U.S. lawmakers, including Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, have said China was behind the attack. But Michael Daniel, Obama's cybersecurity coordinator, said the government wasn't yet ready to say who was responsible.

"Just because we're not doing public attribution does not mean that we're not taking steps to deal with the matter," Daniel told reporters.

While officials would not point the finger at China, they acknowledged that the same party was responsible for both of the breaches, which took place in 2014 and early 2015. Investigators previously told The Associated Press that the U.S. government was increasingly confident that China's government, and not criminal hackers, was responsible for the extraordinary theft of personal information.

China has publicly denied involvement in the break-in.

The administration said it has stepped up its cybersecurity efforts by proposing new legislation, urging private industry to share more information about attacks and examining how the government conducts sensitive background investigations.

"Each and every one of us at OPM is committed to protecting the safety and the security of the info that is placed in our trust," Archuleta said. In early June, government employees received notice that OPM would offer credit-monitoring services and identity-theft insurance to those affected.

Meanwhile, the White House waited about a month before telling the public that hackers had stolen the personal information of millions of people associated with the government, people directly involved with the investigation told the AP last month.

FBI Director James Comey, in a briefing with reporters Thursday, described the scope of the OPM breach as "huge" and called it "a very big deal from a national-security perspective and a counterintelligence perspective."

"It's a treasure trove of information about everybody who has worked for, tried to work for, or works for the United States government," he said.

House narrowly passes No Child Left Behind rewrite

House narrowly passes No Child Left Behind rewrite 
 

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., looks to members of the media as she and other Senate Democrats speak to media after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 8, 2015. As the House moved forward with debate on the Bush-era No Child Left Behind education law rewrite, the Senate considered a version sponsored by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Murray.

  

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House narrowly passed a Republican-led rewrite of the Bush-era No Child Left Behind education law on Wednesday, voting to dramatically lessen the federal role in education policy for the nation's public schools.

The bill, sponsored by Minnesota Rep. John Kline, gives states and local school districts more control over assessing the performance of schools, teachers and their students. It also prohibits the federal government from requiring or encouraging specific sets of academic standards, such as Common Core, and allows federal money to follow low-income children to public schools of their choice, an issue known as portability.

The vote was 218-213, with no Democrats supporting the measure and 27 Republicans voting against it. Passage comes five months after conservatives forced GOP leaders to pull a similar bill just before a scheduled vote. This time around, conservatives had indicated they would support the legislation if they had the chance to offer amendments.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the bill fails to help struggling schools and the children they teach.

"House Republicans have chosen to take a bad bill and make it even worse," Duncan said in a statement. 

"Instead of supporting the schools and educators that need it most, this bill shifts resources away from them."

But the leader of the House, Speaker John Boehner, said the measure delivers much-needed education reform by replacing "top-down mandates with conservative reforms that empower the parents, teachers and administrators at the heart of our education system."

The House passed its legislation as the Senate rejected a proposal to turn federal aid for poor students over to the states, which could then let parents choose to spend the money in the public or private school they deem best for their child. The vote was 45-52, short of a majority and 15 shy of the 60 required.

Under current law, the money goes to school districts and generally stays in schools in the neighborhoods where the children live.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said the proposed change would "solve inequality in America by giving children the opportunity to attend a better school."

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who co-sponsored the bill, countered that the change would "retreat on our fundamental commitment to make sure that every child has access to a quality education."

Earlier in the House, some Republicans joined with Democrats to defeat a conservative-led attempt to let states completely opt out of No Child requirements without forfeiting federal money. That vote was 235-195.

Much like the House bill, the Senate measure also would whittle away the federal government's involvement in public schools.

Both would retain the annual reading and math tests outlined in No Child, but instead would let states - rather than the Department of Education - decide how to use the required assessments to measure school and teacher performance.

Alexander told reporters Wednesday that the House and Senate bills aren't that different, and the goal is to get legislation to President Barack Obama for his signature.

"We're not here to make a political speech. We're here to get a result and fix NCLB," he said.

No Child Left Behind, which expired in 2007, mandated annual testing in reading and math for students in grades three through eight and again in high school. Schools had to show student growth or face consequences. But critics complained that the law was rigid and overly ambitious and punitive, and said there was too much testing.

In 2012, the Obama administration began granting states waivers from meeting some of the requirements of the law after it began clear they would not be met. Forty-two states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia have been granted waivers.

Reelz rescues Miss USA pageant, dropped by NBC in Trump flap

Reelz rescues Miss USA pageant, dropped by NBC in Trump flap 
 

FILE - In this June 16, 2013, file photo, Donald Trump, left, and Miss Connecticut USA Erin Brady pose onstage after Brady won the 2013 Miss USA pageant in Las Vegas. The Reelz channel said Thursday, July 2, 2015, it will carry Trump's Miss USA pageant that was dropped by NBC after Trump made critical comments about immigrants from Mexico

   

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Miss USA pageant, left without a TV home following blowback against co-owner Donald Trump over his comments on Mexican immigrants, has been rescued by the Reelz channel.

Reelz CEO Stan E. Hubbard said in a statement Thursday that the cable and satellite channel acquired the rights because of a belief that the pageant and the women who compete in it "are an integral part of American tradition."

"As one of only a few independent networks, we decided to exercise our own voice and committed ourselves to bringing this pageant to American viewers everywhere," Hubbard said.

While Reelz, which reaches 70 million homes, said it considered the interests of Miss USA contestants, the host city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and viewers in making its decision, it made no mention of Trump or the hot water he's found himself in since he announced his presidential bid in June.

In an interview, Hubbard said the pageant is the issue, not Trump. He said the billionaire won't make any money off the telecast.

"I completely understand why millions of people were offended by what Donald Trump said. I think his comments were incredibly insensitive and wrong. I disagree with them completely and totally," Hubbard said, adding, "I also believe this pageant is as nonpolitical" as an event can be.

In his June presidential campaign announcement, Trump said that some Mexican immigrants to the U.S. bring drugs and crime, and some are rapists. NBC, Trump's partner in the Miss USA pageant, cited his comments when it cut business ties with him and dropped its pageant telecast.

That left Miss USA adrift and created an opening for Reelz.

Hubbard said the license fee negotiated with the pageant was well below market value for such events and so small that it "won't put even a dent in the production costs" shouldered by the pageant. He declined to specify the amount.

"The point is that people who were offended want to make sure he's (Trump) not going to profit from our decision," and that won't happen, Hubbard said.

Trump declined to comment on the Reelz acquisition.

The pageant also won't make money from commercial spots; any revenue will go to Reelz. Hubbard said it will be a scramble to sign advertisers both because of timing and the controversy surrounding the pageant.

This isn't the first time Reelz has gone its own way. When the History channel dropped "The Kennedys" miniseries that had been made for it, saying it didn't fit its brand, Reelz aired it in 2011 and was rewarded with record channel ratings and awards attention.

Reelz said the Miss USA pageant will be televised July 12, its originally scheduled date on NBC. The pageant will have to scramble after a mass exodus of performers, hosts and judges who cited opposition to Trump's views as the reason.

Hubbard said he's optimistic the telecast will be "loaded with talent and heavy entertainment value," and said he'd prefer to see a Hispanic host.

Rapper Flo Rida had been the highest profile performer scheduled for Miss USA, and his representative confirmed Wednesday that he wouldn't perform. Country singer Craig Wayne Boyd, winner of "The Voice" last year, and pop singer Natalie La Rose also dropped out. There were no more announced performers.

In a Miss USA news release last month, the judges were listed as HGTV star Jonathan Scott, country singer Jessie James Decker, E! News anchor Terrence Jenkins, TV host and former Miss Universe winner Zuleyka Rivera and Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith.

Of that quintet, only Decker's name was listed as a judge by Miss USA on its website Wednesday. That's the day Smith dropped out.

The pageant lost both of its co-hosts, Cheryl Burke of "Dancing With the Stars" and MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts, on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Jeannie Mai, who hosted a show on the Style Network, was listed as a show host.

Last week, the hosts of the now-abandoned Univision Spanish-language simulcast, Roselyn Sanchez and Cristian de la Fuente, said they wouldn't take part in it.

Trump's campaign comments struck many Latinos as insensitive, and Univision's decision last week to back out of televising Miss USA and break off its business ties with Trump led to a cascade of others following suit. Trump responded by suing Univision on Tuesday.

Aside from the pageant world, there has growing fallout on other fronts for the GOP presidential hopeful and businessman.

On Wednesday, the Macy's department store chain, which carried a Donald Trump menswear line, said it was "distressed" by Trump's remarks and was ending its relationship with him.

Trump said in a statement that he had decided to end his relationship with Macy's because of pressure on them by outside sources.

"Both Macy's and NBC totally caved at the first sight of potential difficulty with special interest groups who are nothing more than professional agitators," Trump said.

Also on Wednesday, New York City officials said they were reviewing the city's contracts with Trump in light of his comments, and Mayor Bill de Blasio issued a statement calling them "disgusting and offensive," adding that "this hateful language has no place in our city."

The Trump Organization currently operates several city concessions, including a golf course, ice skating rink and carousel.

Representatives for Trump did not respond Wednesday to an email seeking comment on the city's review.

The PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, USGA and PGA of America also on Wednesday distanced themselves from Trump in a statement and said his remarks were "inconsistent with our strong commitment to an inclusive and welcoming environment in the game of golf."

Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico, the nation's only Latina governor and a rising star in the Republican party, added her voice Wednesday to criticism of the GOP presidential hopeful, denouncing his comments as "horrible."

Overcoming hostilities, US and Cuba to open embassies

Overcoming hostilities, US and Cuba to open embassies
 

In this May 8, 2015 photo, a fisherman cycles past the U.S. Interests Section building, behind right, along the Malecon in Havana, Cuba. President Barack Obama announced on Wednesday, July 1, 2015 that the U.S. and Cuba will reopen their embassies in Havana and Washington, heralding a "new chapter" in relations after a half-century of hostility.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After more than a half-century of hostility, the United States and Cuba declared Wednesday they will reopen embassies in each other's capitals this month, marking a historic full restoration of diplomatic relations between the Cold War foes.

For President Barack Obama, the opening of the U.S. Embassy in the heart of Havana is one of the most tangible demonstrations of his long-standing pledge to engage directly with U.S. adversaries. Heralding the embassy agreement, Obama declared: "This is what change looks like."

Cuban television broadcast Obama's statement live, underscoring the new spirit. In a letter to Obama, Cuban President Raul Castro praised the embassy announcement as a way to "develop respectful relations and cooperation between our peoples and governments."

Despite the historic step, the U.S. and Cuba are still grappling with deep divisions and mistrust.

The U.S. is particularly concerned about Cuba's reputed human rights violations. Cuba is demanding an end to the U.S. economic embargo, the return of the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay and a halt to U.S. radio and TV broadcasts aimed at the island.

Obama wants Congress to lift the embargo, but staunch Republican opposition makes that unlikely in the near future. Republicans, as well as a handful of Democrats, say Obama is prematurely rewarding an oppressive government that jails dissidents and silences political opponents.

"The Obama administration is handing the Castros a lifetime dream of legitimacy without getting a thing for the Cuban people being oppressed by this brutal communist dictatorship," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Republican presidential contenders had their say, too. Sen. Marco Rubio, son of a Cuban immigrant, said Obama was making concessions to an "odious regime;" former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said the plan was "legitimizing the brutal Castro regime," and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said it was a "slap in the face of a close ally" to put an embassy in Havana before Jerusalem.

Indeed, the historic thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations is seen by the White House as a central part of the president's foreign policy legacy. Obama has long argued that the U.S. policy of isolating Cuba, a country just 90 miles south of Florida, has been ineffective in forcing the kind of change opponents demand.

"We don't have to be imprisoned by the past," Obama said..

The U.S. cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 after Fidel Castro's revolution. The U.S. spent decades trying to either overthrow the Cuban government or isolate the island, including toughening the embargo first imposed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

But after months of secret talks aided by the Vatican, the U.S. and Cuba announced in December that they were moving to end Cold War hostilities. Since then, officials have been locked in negotiations over terms for opening embassies.

While details of those terms remained vague, Obama administration officials said they were satisfied with the level of access Cubans will have to the U.S. Embassy and the level of restrictions placed on U.S. diplomats in Havana. While Americans won't have unfettered freedom of movement, officials said they would now only notify the Cuban government of travel outside of Havana, not seek permission.

The embassy restrictions are similar to those in countries run by authoritarian governments including China, Russia, Myanmar, Zimbabwe and Belarus.

Full diplomatic relations with be restored on July 20. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Cuba this summer to raise the U.S. flag over the embassy, the first trip to the island by the top American diplomat since 1945.

Obama did not nominate an ambassador Wednesday and there was no indication that he planned to do so quickly. White House officials acknowledged that an eventual nominee would likely face opposition from critics of the president's broader Cuba policy.

"It would be our strong preference that once an ambassador has been nominated, for that individual to be treated fairly by the United States Senate and confirmed in bipartisan fashion," Obama said.

Since the late 1970s, the United States and Cuba have operated diplomatic missions called interests sections in each other's capitals. The missions are technically under the protection of Switzerland, and do not enjoy the same status as embassies.

With diplomatic infrastructure already in place, administration officials said any efforts by Congress to block funding for an embassy would be unsuccessful in preventing an upgrade to the American post in Havana.

The Republican-led House Appropriations Committee voted last month to curb Obama administration efforts to work on an embassy in Cuba unless the White House certifies that Havana is meeting the terms of a 1996 law aimed at pushing the island nation's government toward democracy. That law's conditions include Cuba's extradition of people who are accused of crimes in the U.S.

In its budget request last February, the Obama administration asked Congress for $6 million in 2016 for the U.S. mission in Havana to "expand its presence and transition to embassy status to handle more extensive operations."

Even without specific congressional approval, the State Department could well be able to access the money it requested because agencies are permitted to shift relatively small amounts of money among budget accounts, according to congressional aides.

Same-sex marriage fight turns to clerks who refuse licenses

Same-sex marriage fight turns to clerks who refuse licenses 
 

Protesters waive a rainbow flag on the front lawn of the Rowan County Judicial Center, Tuesday, June 30, 2015, in Morehead, Ky. The protest was being held against Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who, due to the ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States and her own religious beliefs, has refused to issue any marriage licenses in the county.

  

MOREHEAD, Ky. (AP) -- Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis shut her blinds at work Tuesday to block the view of rainbow-clad protesters outside. They carried flowers and flags and signs saying "you don't own marriage." They chanted "do your job."

Moments later, she told a lesbian couple who walked in asking for a license to try another county.

Davis is among a handful of public officials across the Bible Belt so repulsed by the thought of enabling a same-sex marriage that they are defying the U.S. Supreme Court and refusing to issue a license to anyone, gay or straight.

"It's a deep-rooted conviction; my conscience won't allow me to do that," Davis told The Associated Press. 

"It goes against everything I hold dear, everything sacred in my life."

Some judges and clerks in Alabama and Texas have done the same, ordering their offices in the name of religious liberty and free speech to issue no marriage licenses at all.

Legal experts are dubious that religious freedom arguments will protect public officials who not only refuse to participate due to their own beliefs, but also decline to make accommodations so that others who don't object can serve the public instead.

Two things can happen if a Kentucky clerk won't issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple: They can resign, or go to jail, said Sam Marcosson, a constitutional law professor at the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville.

"If it means that you simply cannot fulfill your duties because of your religious beliefs, what is required of you is that you can no longer hold that office," Marcosson said. "That applies to a judge, that applies to a senator, that applies to anyone who holds public office."

Clerks and probate judges hold the keys to marriage in counties around the country, and in many rural areas, there are few alternatives for hundreds of miles. Couples turned away could seek a court order, and a clerk who still refuses to issue a license could be jailed for contempt, Marcosson said.

They also risk criminal official misconduct charges, said Warren County Attorney Ann Milliken, president of the Kentucky County Attorneys Association. The misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail, is committed when a public servant "refrains from performing a duty imposed upon him by law or clearly inherent in the nature of his office."

Casey Davis, the clerk in Casey County, Kentucky, says he won't resign and he'd rather go to jail than issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple. None have yet come in to get one, he said.

After the Supreme Court declared that marriage is a constitutional right equally held by all Americans, clerks in Arkansas and Mississippi resigned Tuesday rather than be forced to sign the licenses of gays and lesbians. 

Linda Barnette, the circuit clerk in Grenada County, Mississippi, for 24 years, wrote in her resignation letter that she is a "follower of Christ" and that she chooses "to obey God rather than man."

Other reluctant Kentucky clerks gave up the fight on Tuesday.

Lawrence County Clerk Chris Jobe, who also serves as president of the Kentucky County Clerks Association, told The Courier-Journal in Louisville that he would resume issuing licenses for fear of being removed from office. Several other Kentucky clerks made similar concessions.

Even in Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana, where governors took the most vigorous stands against Friday's Supreme Court's ruling, clerks were issuing licenses.

But Davis stayed firm in denying one Tuesday to April Miller and Karen Roberts, a couple of 11 years who live in Morehead.

The office of Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway encouraged any couples who are turned away to seek private counsel. Miller and Roberts contacted the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky to represent them.

"This is where we live; we pay taxes here, we vote here. And we want to get married here," said Miller.

Outside Davis' office, drivers honked and waved, flew rainbow flags from their windows and shouted "love must win!"

But a small group also gathered to support Davis, demonstrating the stark divide that remains in the most theologically conservative stretches of the South and Midwest, where state leaders fought hard for years to prevent same-sex marriage.

"Our country is on the wrong path, we as a people no longer exalt God," said Dennis Buschman, who carried a Bible as he led a half-dozen people supporting the clerk's defiance. He called homosexuality an "abomination" and a "serious, serious sin."

Some protesters confronted them.

"God did not elect her, I did," said Kevin Bass, a former police officer who arrived at the courthouse with his wife to support gay couples seeking licenses. "If she objects to doing her job, she can go."

As a police officer for 20 years, he said, he could not choose which laws he liked to enforce.

Inside the county building, Davis seemed worried. She showed the AP a curse-laden hate mail she received overnight. When she took her oath of office in January and promised to uphold the state constitution, gay marriage wasn't a part of the deal, she figures.

Davis would not say whether she'll quit her job to stand up for her beliefs, but vowed never to issue a marriage license to a gay couple.

"No man can put a harness on his conscience. That is protected by the Kentucky Constitution, the very Constitution I took an oath to uphold," she said.

Greece's bailout expires, country defaults on IMF payment

Greece's bailout expires, country defaults on IMF payment 
 

People stand in a queue to use an ATM outside a closed bank, next to a sign on the plant, bottom right, reading ''NO'' in Athens, Tuesday, June 30, 2015. It's crunch time for Greece, with the European part of its international bailout expiring Tuesday and with it any possible access to the remaining rescue loans it contains that it needs to pay its debts. As a result, the government is unlikely to repay a roughly 1.6 billion-euro ($1.87 billion) debt to the International Monetary Fund due Tuesday, too — a move that increases fears the country is heading to a messy default and potential exit from the euro currency.

 ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greece slipped deeper into its financial abyss after the bailout program it has relied on for five years expired at midnight Tuesday and the country failed to repay a loan due to the International Monetary Fund, deepening fears over whether it will be able to remain in the eurozone.

With its failure to repay the roughly 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) to the IMF, Greece became the first developed country to fall into arrears on payments to the fund. The last country to do so was Zimbabwe in 2001.

After Greece made a last-ditch effort to extend its bailout, eurozone finance ministers decided in a teleconference late Tuesday night that there was no way they could reach a deal before the deadline.

"It would be crazy to extend the program," said Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who heads the eurozone finance ministers' body known as the eurogroup. "So that cannot happen and will not happen."

"The program expires tonight," Dijsselbloem said.

The brinkmanship that has characterized Greece's bailout negotiations with its European creditors and the IMF rose several notches over the weekend, when Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced he would put a deal proposal by creditors to a referendum on Sunday and urged a "No" vote.

The move increased fears the country could soon fall out of the euro currency bloc and Greeks rushed to pull money out of ATMs, leading the government to shutter its banks Monday and impose restrictions on banking transactions for at least a week. Greeks are now limited to ATM withdrawals of 60 euros ($67) a day and cannot send money abroad or make international payments without special permission.

But in a surprise move late Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragasakis hinted that the government might be open to calling off the popular vote, saying it was a political decision.

The government decided on the referendum, he said on state television, "and it can make a decision on something else." It was unclear, however, how that would be possible as Parliament has already voted for it to go ahead.

With its economy teetering on the brink, Greece suffered its second sovereign downgrade in as many days when the Fitch ratings agency lowered it further into junk status, to just one notch above the level where it considers default inevitable.

The agency said the breakdown of negotiations "has significantly increased the risk that Greece will not be able to honor its debt obligations in the coming months, including bonds held by the private sector."

Fitch said it now considered a default on privately-held debt "probable."

Hopes for an 11th-hour deal were raised when the Greek side announced it had submitted a new proposal Tuesday afternoon, and the eurozone's 19 finance ministers held a teleconference to discuss it.

But those hopes were quickly dashed.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she ruled out further negotiations with Greece before Sunday's popular vote on whether to accept creditors' demands for budget reforms.

"Before the planned referendum is carried out, we will not negotiate over anything new," the dpa news agency quoted Merkel as saying.

Greece's latest offer involved a proposal to tap Europe's bailout fund - the so-called European Stability Mechanism, a pot of money set up after Greece's rescue programs to help countries in need.

Tsipras' office said the proposal was "for the full coverage of (Greece's) financing needs with the simultaneous restructuring of the debt." It did not provide details.

Dijsselbloem said the finance ministers would "study that request as we should" and that they would hold another conference call Wednesday.

Dragasakis, the Greek deputy prime minister, said the country's new proposal "narrows the differences further."

"We are making an additional effort," he said. "There are six points where this effort can be made. I don't want to get into specifics. But it includes pensions and labor issues."

 

European officials and Greek opposition parties have been adamant that a "No" vote on Sunday will mean Greece will leave the euro and possibly even the EU.

The government says this is scaremongering, and that a rejection of creditor demands will mean the country is in a better negotiating position.

In Athens, more than 10,000 "Yes" vote supporters gathered outside parliament despite a thunderstorm, chanting "Europe! Europe!"

Most huddled under umbrellas, including Athens resident Sofia Matthaiou.

"I don't know if we'll get a deal. But we have to press them to see reason," she said, referring to the government. "The creditors need to water down their positions too."

The protest came a day after thousands of government supporters advocating a "No" vote held a similar demonstration.

On Monday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker made a new offer to Greece. Under that proposal, Tsipras would need to accept the creditors' proposal that was on the table last weekend. He would also have to change his position on Sunday's referendum.

Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said the offer would also involve unspecified discussions on Athens's massive debt load of over 300 billion euros, or around 180 percent of GDP. The Greek side has long called for debt relief, saying its mountainous debt is unsustainable.

A Greek government official said Tsipras had spoken earlier in the day with Juncker, European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi and European Parliament president Martin Schulz.

Meanwhile, missing the IMF payment means Greece is cut off from new loans from the organization. And with its bailout program expiring, Greece will lose access to more than 16 billion euros ($18 billion) in financial support it has not yet tapped.

On the streets of Athens, long lines formed again at ATM machines as Greeks struggled with the new restrictions on banking transactions.

The elderly have been hit particularly hard, with tens of thousands of pensions unpaid as of Tuesday afternoon. Many also found themselves completely cut off from any cash as they do not have bank cards.

The finance ministry said it would open about 1,000 bank branches across the country for three days beginning Wednesday to allow pensioners without bank cards to make withdrawals. But the limit would be set at 120 euros for the whole week.

Boston Marathon bomber says he's sorry for the first time

Boston Marathon bomber says he's sorry for the first time 

In this courtroom sketch, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, right, stands before U.S. District Judge George O'Toole Jr. as he addresses the court during his sentencing, Wednesday, June 24, 2015, in federal court in Boston. Tsarnaev apologized to the victims and their loved ones for the first time Wednesday just before the judge formally sentenced him to death.

BOSTON (AP) -- Moments before a judge sentenced him to death, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev broke more than two years of silence Wednesday and apologized to the victims and their loved ones for the first time. "I pray for your relief, for your healing," he said.

"I am sorry for the lives that I've taken, for the suffering that I've caused you, for the damage that I've done - irreparable damage," the 21-year-old former college student, speaking haltingly in his Russian accent, said after rising to his feet in the hushed federal courtroom.

After Tsarnaev said his piece, U.S. District Judge George O'Toole Jr. quoted Shakespeare's line "The evil that men do lives after them. The good is often interred with their bones."

"So it will be for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev," the judge said, telling Tsarnaev that no one will remember that his teachers were fond of him, that his friends found him fun to be with or that he showed compassion to disabled people.

"What will be remembered is that you murdered and maimed innocent people and that you did it willfully and intentionally," O'Toole said.

Tsarnaev looked down and rubbed his hands together as the judge pronounced his fate: execution, the punishment decided on by the jury last month for the attack that killed three people and wounded more than 260.

The apology came after Tsarnaev listened impassively for about three hours as a procession of 24 victims and survivors lashed out at him for his "cowardly" and "disgusting" acts and urged him to show some remorse at long last.

Tsarnaev assured the victims he was paying attention.

"All those who got up on that witness stand and that podium relayed to us, to me - I was listening - the suffering that was and the hardship that still is, with strength and with patience and with dignity," he said.

The outcome of the proceedings was never in doubt: The judge was required under law to impose the jury's death sentence for the April 15, 2013, attack that authorities said was retaliation for U.S. wars in Muslim lands.

The only real suspense was whether Tsarnaev would say anything when offered the chance to speak. And if so, would he show remorse? Or would he make a political statement and seek to justify the attack?

During his trial, he showed a trace of emotion only once, when he cried while his aunt was on the stand. And the only evidence of any remorse came from Sister Helen Prejean, the "Dead Man Walking" death penalty opponent, who quoted him as saying of the victims: "No one deserves to suffer like they did."

His apology was a five-minute address peppered with religious references and praise of Allah. He asked that Allah have mercy upon him and his dead brother and partner in crime, Tamerlan, but he made no mention of the motive for the bombing.

He paused several times as if struggling to maintain his composure. He faced the judge while speaking but addressed himself to the victims.

Tsarnaev admitted he carried out the bombing - "If there's any lingering doubt about that, let there be no more" - and added: "I did do it along with my brother."

Outside court, some bombing survivors said they doubted Tsarnaev's sincerity.

"It really does not change anything for me," Scott Weisberg said.

But another survivor, Henry Borgard, said: "I was actually really happy that he made the statement. I have forgiven him. I have come to a place of peace and I genuinely hope that he does as well."

U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said Tsarnaev left important things unsaid: "He didn't renounce terrorism. He didn't renounce violent extremism."

Tsarnaev will probably be sent to the death row unit at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, where Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was executed. It could take years or even decades for his appeals to work their way through the courts.

In May, the jury condemned the former college student to die for joining his older brother in setting off the two pressure-cooker bombs near the finish line and in killing an MIT police officer as they fled. Tamerlan, 26, was killed during the getaway.

At his sentencing, a somber-looking Tsarnaev, wearing a dark sport jacket with a collared shirt and no tie, sat between his lawyers, his chair turned toward the lectern from which the victims spoke. He picked at his beard and gazed downward most of the time, only occasionally looking at the victims.

"He can't possibly have had a soul to do such a horrible thing," said Karen Rand McWatters, who lost a leg in the attack and whose best friend, 29-year-old Krystle Campbell, was killed.

Campbell's mother, Patricia Campbell, looked across the room at Tsarnaev, seated about 20 feet away, and spoke directly to him.

"What you did to my daughter is disgusting," she said. "I don't know what to say to you. I think the jury did the right thing."

Rebekah Gregory, a Texas woman who lost a leg in the bombing, defiantly told Tsarnaev she is not his victim.

"While your intention was to destroy America, what you have really accomplished is actually quite the opposite - you've unified us," she said, staring directly at Tsarnaev as he looked down.

"We are Boston strong, we are America strong, and choosing to mess with us was a terrible idea. So how's that for your VICTIM impact statement?"

Bill Richard, whose 8-year-old son Martin was the youngest person killed in the bombing, noted that his family would have preferred that Tsarnaev receive a life sentence so that he could contemplate his crimes.

Richard said his family has chosen love, kindness and peace, adding: "That is what makes us different than him."

2nd prison employee arrested after inmates' brazen escape

2nd prison employee arrested after inmates' brazen escape 

This photo provided by the New York State Police shows Gene Palmer on Wednesday, June 24, 2015. The maximum-security prison guard is believed to have delivered tools inside frozen meat to two inmates before they escaped was arrested on Wednesday, authorities said.

BELLMONT, N.Y. (AP) -- A maximum-security prison guard believed to have delivered tools inside frozen meat to two inmates before they escaped was arrested on Wednesday, authorities said.

Gene Palmer appeared before a judge in Plattsburgh on Wednesday night to face charges of promoting prison contraband, tampering with physical evidence and official misconduct. He was held on $25,000 bail pending arraignment Thursday. Defense lawyer Andrew Brockway said he will plead not guilty.

Palmer worked at the Clinton County Correctional Facility in upstate Dannemora, where inmates David Sweat and Richard Matt were reported missing on June 6.

Sweat, 35, was serving a life sentence without parole for killing a sheriff's deputy. Matt, 48, was doing 25 years to life for the kidnapping, torture and hacksaw dismemberment of his former boss. Authorities say the inmates cut through the steel wall at the back of their cells, crawled down a catwalk, broke through a brick wall, cut their way into and out of a steam pipe and then sliced through the chain and lock on a manhole cover outside the prison.

Prison employee Joyce Mitchell also has been charged with helping them escape. Mitchell, a prison tailor shop instructor, has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody.

Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said Mitchell told investigators she smuggled hacksaw blades, a screwdriver and other tools into the prison by placing them in frozen hamburger meat. He said she then placed the meat in a refrigerator in the tailor shop where she worked and Palmer took the meat to Sweat and Matt, who were housed in a section where inmates are allowed to cook their own meals. The district attorney said the guard didn't know the tools were inside the meat.

Palmer had been placed on leave on Tuesday. At the time, his attorney told Plattsburgh television station WPTZ he was completely forthcoming during several hours of questioning on Saturday.

"I can 100 percent confirm that he did not know they were planning on breaking out of the prison," Brockway said.

Searchers hunting for the escaped killers Wednesday were contending with steep slopes, thick woods, sticky bogs, biting bugs and the possibility that the pair on the lam from prison for 19 days is armed.

Police said they remain almost 100 percent certain that Sweat and Matt spent time recently at a hunting camp about 20 miles west of the correctional facility near Owls Head. A hunter said he saw a figure bolting from the cabin on Saturday morning. But after days of intense searching with dogs and helicopters, police still had no substantiated sightings of Sweat and Matt.

The 75 square miles searchers focused on is on the northern edge of the sprawling Adirondack Park and includes woods so thick that visibility is only a few feet in some sections, authorities said. The woods also are dotted with hundreds of seasonal and hunting camps.

State police Maj. Charles Guess said Wednesday that authorities don't have confirmed evidence that a shotgun was stolen from the hunting cabin near Owls Head, but they've always assumed the escapees were armed. Weapons and ammunition are typically stored in camps, but not everyone keeps an inventory of their firearms, he said.

"Just about every cabin or outbuilding in the North Country has one or more shotguns or weapons, and we have since day one operated under the belief that these men are armed," Guess said. "They are extremely dangerous, they're cunning. Why wouldn't they try to arm themselves immediately upon escape?"

Guess said it was possible the pair left the area, but promised that the more than 1,000 officers involved would keep up the relentless search until the killers are captured.

"We don't want them to have a restful, peaceful night putting their head on any pillow," he said.

Obama says US racism 'not cured,' makes point with epithet

Obama says US racism 'not cured,' makes point with epithet 
 

President Barack Obama steps from Marine One in Pasadena, Calif., Friday, June 19, 2015, en route to tape a podcast interview with comedian Marc Maron.

  

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says the history of slavery and segregation is "still part of our DNA" in the United States, even if racial epithets no longer show up in polite conversation. He uttered the N-word in making his point.

In an interview, Obama talked about the debates over race and guns that have erupted after the arrest of a white man in the racially motivated shooting deaths of nine black church members in Charleston, South Carolina.

"Racism, we are not cured of it," Obama said. "And it's not just a matter of it not being polite to say nigger in public. That's not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It's not just a matter of overt discrimination. Societies don't, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior."

Obama's remarks came during an interview out Monday with comedian Marc Maron for his popular podcast, where coarse language is often part of the discussion. The president uttering a racial slur aloud stirred controversy, especially on social media, and White House spokesman Josh Earnest said later Monday that wasn't surprising.

Obama didn't plan in advance to use the word to be provocative, Earnest said, but was simply making a point during a casual, free-flowing interview. He said he didn't recall ever hearing the president say the racial slur aloud before, but noted that it did appear in his book, "Dreams from My Father."

The White House on Monday said Obama, would travel to Charleston on Friday to deliver the eulogy for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the pastor of the Emanuel AME Church and one of the victims of last week's shooting. First lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden also plan to attend. The Obamas knew the slain pastor, who also was a state senator and an early Obama supporter in the 2008 presidential campaign.

In the interview, Obama said while attitudes about race have improved significantly since he was born to a white mother and black father, the "legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost every institution of our lives, that casts a long shadow and that's still part of our DNA that's passed on."

Obama also expressed frustration that "the grip of the NRA on Congress is extremely strong" and prevented gun control from advancing in Congress after 20 children and six educators were massacred in a Connecticut elementary school in 2012.

"I will tell you, right after Sandy Hook, Newtown, when 20 6-year-olds are gunned down, and Congress literally does nothing - yes, that's the closest I came to feeling disgusted," he said. "I was pretty disgusted."

He said it's important to respect that hunting and sportsmanship are important to a lot of gun-owning Americans. "The question is just is there a way of accommodating that legitimate set of traditions with some common-sense stuff that prevents a 21-year-old who is angry about something or confused about something, or is racist, or is deranged from going into a gun store and suddenly is packing, and can do enormous harm," Obama said in a reference to suspect Dylann Storm Roof, whose purported 2,500-word hate-filled manifesto talked about white supremacy. Roof faces nine counts of murder in connection with Wednesday's shooting.

Obama sat for the interview Friday in Maron's Los Angeles garage studio - close to where the president attended Occidental College - and seemed to marvel at the absurdity of it. "If I thought to myself that when I was in college that I'd be in a garage a couple miles away from where I was living, doing an interview as president, with a comedian ... it's not possible to imagine," he said. But he said he did the interview because he wants to reach a nontraditional audience and "break out of these old patterns that our politics has fallen into" where "it's not this battle in a steel cage between one side and another."

With the campaign to replace him heating up, Obama said he thinks he would be a better candidate if he were running again, because although he's slowed down a little bit, "I know what I'm doing and I'm fearless."

"I've screwed up. I've been in the barrel tumbling down Niagara Falls. And I emerged and I lived. And that's always such a liberating feeling," he said.

Latest on church shooting: Lawmaker backs Miss. flag change

Latest on church shooting: Lawmaker backs Miss. flag change 

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, center, calls for legislators to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds during a news conference in the South Carolina State House in Columbia, S.C., Monday, June 22, 2015. Those surrounding her as she spoke included state legislators of both parties.

 

A top Mississippi lawmaker says the Confederate battle emblem is offensive and needs to be removed from the state flag.

Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn said Monday that remembering our past is important, "but that does not mean we must let it define us."

"As a Christian, I believe our state's flag has become a point of offense that needs to be removed. We need to begin having conversations about changing Mississippi's flag," Gunn, a leader in his local Baptist church, said in a statement.

Mississippi voters decided by a 2-to-1 margin in 2001 to keep the state flag used since 1894. One of its corners has a Confederate battle emblem.

---

7:50 p.m.

A bust Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general and an early leader in the Ku Klux Klan, still sits in an alcove outside the Senate chambers at the Tennessee statehouse.

Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers called for the bust to be removed Monday, days after nine people were gunned down in a historic black church in South Carolina. The shooting prompted calls from the governor and other leaders for the flag to be removed from the Statehouse there.

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, a Democrat from Tennessee, says the government should not promote "symbols of hate" and called for both to be removed.

Even though Forrest, a Tennessee native, was a Klan leader, the bust is inscribed with only "Confederate States Army." It has been at the Capitol for decades.

---

7 p.m.

The chairman of the Republican National Committee joined Gov. Nikki Haley in calling for the Confederate flag to be removed from the grounds of South Carolina's Statehouse.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus was among roughly 30 people of both parties standing behind Haley on Monday.

In the wake of the massacre in Charleston, Republican presidential hopefuls have been about the flag. South Carolina holds the South's first presidential primary. Asked whether Haley's decision makes it easier for GOP candidates, Priebus said, "It's not about Republican candidates because on the stage there was a group of bipartisan people."

On whether candidates talked to Haley, he said: "I don't know who was talking to who, but I can assure you there has been plenty of conversation going on for many days."

---

6:40 p.m.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley spent several hours on the phone with the head of the state's law enforcement agency in the hours after Wednesday's shooting that killed nine in a Charleston church.

Haley's office released her schedule for last week, which included six calls to State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel from 10:25 p.m. Wednesday to 2:45 a.m. Thursday. She then traveled to Charleston to meet with law enforcement and was at the news conference when they announced the arrest of the suspect late that morning.

After the first call from Keel, the Republican governor called the minority leader, and the majority leader in the Senate. Democratic state Sen. Clementa Pinckney was pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church and one of nine people killed during Bible study in the church basement around 9 p.m. Wednesday.

Haley also spoke to President Barack Obama on Thursday and with Pinckney's widow on Friday, according to her schedule.

---

6:20 p.m.

Mississippi officials are divided over whether to erase the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag, even as South Carolina leaders are pushing to remove a free-standing battle flag that flies outside the state Capitol there.

Mississippi voters decided by a 2-to-1 margin in 2001 to keep the state flag that has been used since 1894. It features the Confederate battle emblem in the upper left corner: a blue X emblazoned with 13 white stars, set against a red field.

Republican Gov. Phil Bryant said Monday that he doesn't believe legislators "will act to supersede the will of the people on this issue."

Democratic Sen. Kenny Wayne Jones, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, says the Confederate emblem is a "symbol of hatred" that's often associated with racial violence.

---

6 p.m.

South Carolina House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford says he's confident after talking to members of both parties that the Confederate flag will be taken down from the Statehouse grounds within the next two months.

The Democrat made his comments Monday as members of his party and the GOP called on the flag to be removed, just days after police said a gunman opened fire inside a black church and killed nine people.

"A lot of people understand this is a moment we have to respond to," said Rep. Rick Quinn, a Republican and former House majority leader who said he will vote to take it down.

The biggest questions remaining may be how and when legislators take it up.

---

5 p.m.

Republican Gov. Nikki Haley has said that it's time to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds - and that if South Carolina legislators don't deal with the issue themselves as part of their special session focused on budget in the coming weeks, she's prepared to call them back for another special session.

Haley said Monday at a news conference that she's indicated her plan to the GOP-led House and Senate.

According to the terms of a 15-year-old deal that brought the flag from atop the Statehouse to a position outside to a monument for Confederate soldiers, moving the banner will require a two-thirds supermajority in both houses.

Haley reversed her position on the flag after a young white man who embraced it as a symbol of white supremacy was charged with murder in the deaths of nine black church members in Charleston.

Those surrounding her as she spoke included state legislators of both parties.

---

4:55 p.m.

Moments after the South Carolina governor's statement, fellow Republicans echoed her call for the Confederate flag to come down, from the head of the Republican Party to the top GOP lawmaker in the U.S. Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement: "The Confederate Battle Flag means different things to different people, but the fact that it continues to be a painful reminder of racial oppression to many suggests to me at least that it's time to move beyond it, and that the time for a state to fly it has long since passed. There should be no confusion in anyone's mind that as a people we're united in our determination to put that part of our history behind us."

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said "this flag has become too divisive and too hurtful for too many of our fellow Americans."

The remarks on the flag come after a young white man who embraced it as a symbol of white supremacy 

was charged with murder in the deaths of nine black church members in Charleston.

---

4:35 p.m.

The White House says President Barack Obama will travel to Charleston, South Carolina, on Friday to memorialize the victims of a shooting at a historic black church.

Obama will deliver the eulogy at the funeral services of Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the pastor of the Emanuel AME church where the shooting that killed nine people occurred.

Obama and first lady Michelle got to know the slain pastor, who also was state senator, during the 2008 presidential campaign. The first lady and Vice President Joe Biden will also attend the funeral.

 

Pinckney was an early Obama supporter.

Last week, Obama said the shootings show the need for a national reckoning on gun violence.

---

4:30 p.m.

Gov. Nikki Haley has said the Confederate flag should be removed from the Statehouse grounds, but she also says the symbol will always remain a part of South Carolina.

Haley said Monday at a news conference that whether the flag is at the Statehouse or in a museum, it will always be part of the soil of South Carolina.

She says some people see the flag as a memorial and a way to honor ancestors. She says that's not hate or racism.

The divisive symbol has flown in front of the state Capitol for 15 years after being moved from atop the Statehouse dome. Haley says its removal may sadden some in the state, but the time has come to take it down.

Haley reversed her position on the flag after a young white man who embraced it as a symbol of white supremacy was charged with murder in the deaths of nine black church members.

She says that man has a sick, twisted view of the flag.

---

4:25 p.m.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley says the Confederate flag should be removed from the Statehouse grounds, reversing her position on the divisive symbol.

The Republican's about-face Monday comes after a young white man who embraced the flag as a symbol of white supremacy was charged with murder in the deaths of nine black church members. The flag has flown in front of the state Capitol for 15 years after being moved from atop the Statehouse dome.

Haley was surrounded by Republicans and Democrats alike and received a loud applause and cheering when she made her announcement.

Haley said: "One hundred and fifty years after the end of the Civil War, the time has come."

The suspect in the church shootings, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, was photographed earlier holding Confederate flags. Police say he made racial insults at the church members during the shooting.

Supporters of the flag say it is a memorial to fallen Confederate soldiers, but opponents say it's a symbol of hate put atop the Statehouse dome to protest the civil rights movement.

---

3:10 p.m.

A person familiar with Republican Sen. Tim Scott's decision says he is calling for the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds.

Scott, of South Carolina, is the first African-American senator from the South since Reconstruction. He joins a growing number of calls for the flag to come down after a gunman opened fire in a historic black church, killing nine people.

The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Police say a young white man is responsible for the racially motivated attack at the church in Charleston.

---

Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Charleston contributed to this report.

2:45 p.m.

A person familiar with his decision says Sen. Lindsey Graham will call for the Confederate flag flying on the South Carolina Statehouse grounds to come down.

The person says Graham will do so later Monday afternoon. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity so as not to preclude Graham's announcement.

Some Charleston, South Carolina-area political and religious leaders have asked state lawmakers to remove the flag from South Carolina's capital grounds in the wake of last week's slaying of nine black people during a Bible study.

A white man, Dylann Roof, has been charged in the deaths.

Graham said this past weekend he was open to revisiting the decision to use the flag, but said on CNN, it "is a part of who we are."

---

Associated Press writer Steve Peoples in Washington contributed to this report.

2 p.m.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans says it plans to vigorously fight any effort to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of South Carolina's Statehouse.

The group says it was horrified at last week's shooting of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, allegedly by a white man who was photographed several times holding the Confederate flag and with other symbols of white supremacy.

In a statement, the group says there is "absolutely no link" between the massacre and the banner.

Leland Summers, South Carolina commander of the group, says the group is about heritage and history, not hate. He offered condolences to the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and says now is not the time to make political points.

Summers said the Sons of Confederate Veterans have 30,000 members nationwide that will fight any attempt to move the flag.

---

1:40 p.m.

The White House says President Barack Obama believes the Confederate flag should no longer be flown in 

Charleston, South Carolina, or elsewhere, but doesn't have authority over that decision.

Spokesman Josh Earnest says Obama has maintained for years that the Confederate flag "should be taken down and placed in a museum where it belongs," but recognizes it's an issue for individual states.

Some Charleston-area political and religious leaders are calling on state lawmakers to remove the flag from South Carolina's capital grounds after a white man killed nine black people during a Bible study last week.

Earnest says it's very clear what Obama thinks would be the appropriate action.

---

12:30 p.m.

A group of Charleston-area political and religious leaders are calling on state lawmakers to vote this week 

to remove the Confederate flag from South Carolina's capital grounds.

Officials including Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. and Democratic state Sen. Marlon Kimpson in North Charleston on Monday called on legislators to stay in session and vote as early as Tuesday to take down the flag from its place in front of the statehouse in Columbia.

The Rev. Nelson B Rivers III of the National Action Network said the flag should be removed before the body of state Sen. Clementa Pinckney lies in state at the Statehouse on Wednesday. Pinckney and eight other church members were shot to death last week as they attended Bible study at Emanuel African 

Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston.

Kimpson says he's informed state Senate leaders that there is a "growing chorus" of members interested in 

taking up a debate while lawmakers are in session to discuss the budget.

---

12:05 p.m.

South Carolina House Speaker Jay Lucas says moving the state forward from last week's shooting deaths at a historic black church in Charleston requires swiftly resolving the Confederate flag issue.

Lucas did not specify what he believes that resolution should be or how legislators could take it up.

The Legislature's regular session ended June 4. Legislators are expected to return later this week in a short, limited session to pass a budget compromise. Both chambers would have to give two-thirds approval just to take up anything new.

"The intense and difficult debate that took place in 2000 over the Confederate soldier flag was ultimately resolved by compromise. Wednesday's unspeakable tragedy has reignited a discussion on this sensitive issue," Lucas said in a statement.

South Carolina was the last state to fly the Confederate battle flag from its Statehouse dome until the 2000 compromise put a square version of the flag - the South Carolina Infantry Battle Flag - on a 30-foot flagpole at the Confederate Soldier Monument directly in front of the Statehouse, along one of Columbia's busiest streets.

Dylann Roof, who is white, has been charged in the deaths of the nine people in Charleston.

Gov. Nikki Haley has scheduled a news conference for later Monday. Her office has given no indication of what she will say.

---

10:45 a.m.

Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley says he has been overwhelmed but not surprised at the outpouring of donations for a fund he helped set up for the families of the victims of the Charleston shooting.

Riley said donations poured in to the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund and the Reverend Pinckney fund. City officials are still trying to figure out how much money the funds had Monday morning.

"I've got $110,000 in checks in my pocket. It's wonderful," Riley said.

The fund was set up after authorities say a white gunman opened fire on a black church in a racially motivated attack, killing nine people, including the Rev. Clementa Pinckney.

Riley says even in the darkest hours, as details started to come out about the shooting, he knew Charleston would show love instead of hate.

People can donate on the city's website: http://www.charleston-sc.gov

 

For cigarette smuggler, a perilous life under Islamic State

For cigarette smuggler, a perilous life under Islamic State

In this Monday, May 18, 2015 photo, Falah Abdullah Jamil poses for a portrait in Eski Mosul, northern Iraq. He was held as a prisoner by the Islamic State group for selling cigarettes - which are banned by the militants - and was tortured while in jail. When they found the contraband in his trunk, he said, "I swear, it's out of hunger," pleading with the IS fighters. He told them he was the only breadwinner for his extended family and was helping his neighbors as well.

  

ESKI MOSUL, Iraq (AP) -- It was a heart-racing moment. The cigarette smuggler was stuck in line at a checkpoint as, up ahead, Islamic State militants were searching cars. He was running a big risk: The militants have banned smoking and lighting up is punishable with a fine or broken finger. Selling cigarettes can be a death sentence.

Falah Abdullah Jamil, 30, relied on his quick wits and silver tongue.

When the fighters came to his vehicle at the checkpoint leading to his home village of Eski Mosul in northern Iraq, they asked what he had in his trunk.

"Nothing," he lied.

They popped open the trunk and found the 125 cartons of cigarettes he'd brought from Rabia, a town near the border with Syria.

"I swear, it's out of hunger," he said he pleaded with the men. The father of six told them he was the only 

breadwinner for his extended family and was helping his neighbors as well.

The fighters took him to the checkpoint commander, who warned Jamil he'd go to prison and his car would be confiscated. Jamil promised never to do it again. "Just let me go this time for the sake of my children," he said. "If I don't have money, what can I do? Should I steal? If I steal, you'll cut off my hand."

In an interview with The Associated Press in May, Jamil sat in his modest living room, describing how he survived nearly seven months of IS rule before the extremist group was run from town by Kurdish fighters.

The checkpoint commander ordered his subordinates out of the room, Jamil recalled. Once they were alone, he made his offer: "I will let you go if you give me cigarettes." Jamil asked him what brand. "Anything, just give me two cartons," the commander replied.

The commander "said he hadn't had a smoke for three days so when he saw the cigarettes, he was very happy," Jamil said with a laugh.

Iraqi civilians living under IS rule in Mosul, the group's biggest stronghold, told the AP that the militants actually control the cigarette black market, banning smoking in public while privately controlling the sale of cigarettes at an inflated price. They spoke anonymously for fear of retribution.

Saad Eidou, 25, a displaced Iraqi from the town of Sinjar near the Syrian border, said that like everyone else, militants smoke in private. The cigarettes come in through Syria, where movement in and out of Turkey and non-IS areas is easier.

"They brought in cigarettes from Syria, where you probably won't pay more than 250 dinars ($0.20) for a pack, but they were selling it here for 1,000 dinars ($0.80)," said Bilal Abdullah, another resident of Eski Mosul. With IS gone, he took deep draws from a cigarette in public as he spoke.

In another incident, Jamil said, he was accused of selling cigarettes by a member of the Hisba, the vice patrol that ruthlessly enforces the group's regulations. Jamil denied it profusely: "I told him, yes, I used to, but I stopped selling. I told him no one sells anymore since you have forbidden it."

The Hisba official asked if any cigarettes were in Jamil's house. Jamil said no.

"He said, `I will go and inspect your house, and if I find one pack of cigarettes I will execute you.'"

Jamil's bluff had just gotten more dangerous. He had 1,600 cartons of cigarettes hidden at home, he said with a wicked smile.

But he stuck by his story. "I told him, `Go ahead, I haven't got anything."

Apparently convinced, the Hisba official had him sign a document vowing to never sell cigarettes or risk execution.

"I signed it - but I sold again. I didn't stop," Jamil said. "We had no flour, no rice, no food. I have children, and it was winter and was cold and there was no oil, no gas. ... We were living a hellish tragedy."