Abilene Reporter-News: Morning state, national, international headlines, July 14

TOP STORIES

DEBT SHOWDOWN

WASHINGTON Amid new warnings and fresh signs of strain, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders are entering a perilous debt-limit endgame. The president, declaring "enough is enough," is demanding that budget negotiators find common ground by week's end even as the Senate's top Republican gained followers for his own last-ditch scheme to avoid a government default. By Jim Kuhnhenn.

AP photos.

DEBT SHOWDOWN-COMPUTER GAME Computer game gives people shot at managing budget.

BRITAIN-PHONE HACKING

LONDON The former deputy editor of the News of the World is arrested in the widening investigation into phone hacking at the defunct tabloid whose owner, Rupert Murdoch, came under more pressure to answer lawmakers' questions about the scandal. By Robert Barr.

AP photos.

INDIA-EXPLOSIONS

MUMBAI, India There are no immediate suspects in the triple bombing that killed 17 people in India's financial capital and the attack came without warning, the country's top security official says, while shell-shocked residents lambasted the government for the apparent intelligence breakdown. By Nirmala George.

AP photos, video.

FOOD MARKETING-CHILDREN

WASHINGTON The nation's largest food companies say they will cut back on marketing unhealthier foods to children, proposing their own set of advertising standards after rejecting similar guidelines proposed by the federal government. By Mary Clare Jalonick.

AP photo.

ARAB SPRING STALLED

CAIRO A protester's hand-drawn map of the Arab Spring shows black target symbols over each country hit by uprisings since Egypt's rebellion five months ago. But the bull's-eyes could easily be replaced with question marks as the groundswell for change has splintered into scattered and indecisive conflicts that have left thousands dead and Western policy makers juggling roles from NATO airstrikes in Libya to worried bystanders in Syria and Yemen. By Brian Murphy and Barbara Surk.

AP photos, video.

TUNISIA-TOURISM BLUES Tunisia's economy staggers as regional unrest keeps tourists away from the beaches. AP photos.

SYRIA Syrian activists say eight people killed in past 24 hours.

LIBYA-DIPLOMACY Turkey to propose "road map" to end Libyan crisis at Istanbul meeting.

EGYPT Mubarak denies ordering the killing of protesters during Egypt's uprising. AP photos.

WWCUP-FRANCE-US

MOENCHENGLADBACH, Germany Somehow, the Americans seem to find a way to win. And more often than not, Abby Wambach has something to do with it. With time running out and France giving the United States all it could handle and then some, Wambach's winner in the 79th minute put her teammates at ease and set off celebrations on two continents. The 3-1 victory has the Americans in the World Cup final. By National Writer Nancy Armour.

AP photos, videos.

NATIONAL

CALIFORNIA-CARMAGEDDON

LOS ANGELES Thousands of doctors and nurses will bunk out at hospitals this weekend, the city's emergency operations center will open and residents are stocking up on food. The crisis? An 11-mile stretch of Interstate 405 a vital artery that snakes through Southern California is shutting down for 53 hours early Saturday for repairs, no exceptions, and the closure promises to generate gridlock rarely seen even in California's car-dependent culture. By Daisy Nguyen.

AP photos.

MISSING BOY

NEW YORK Funeral services are held for 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky, who disappeared as he walked home alone from day camp. Police have charged 35-year-old Levi Aron, who lives in Leiby's Borough Park neighborhood, with second degree murder. By Colleen Long.

AP photos, videos.

BETTY FORD FUNERAL

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. Hundreds of people who admired former First Lady Betty Ford are expected to gather along the route from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum to the Episcopal church where she is to be memorialized for a final time. Ford will be buried Thursday in the city where she grew up and wed the man who became the only president from Michigan. By Kathy Barks Hoffman.

AP photo.

WHITEY BULGER-COMPANION Girlfriend of ex-Boston crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger offers glimpse of her defense to fugitive harboring charge.

KIDNAPPED GIRL FOUND Prosecutors release videos by Jaycee Dugard captors showing children in playground. AP photos.

ROLLER COASTER DEATH Disabled soldier killed on upstate New York roller coaster mixed humor with tenacity while rebuilding life.

POLITICS

GIULIANI-2012

CONCORD, N.H. Rudy Giuliani isn't convinced that any of the declared Republican presidential contenders can defeat Obama. Until he is, Giuliani says he won't rule out a run of his own. By Steve Peoples.

AP photos planned.

WASHINGTON

US-CLINTON Libya first item on packed agenda as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton kicks off round-the-world diplomatic tour. AP photo.

INTERNATIONAL

JAMAICA-BLUE LAGOON

PORT ANTONIO, Jamaica In a lush corner of Jamaica, a skirmish is under way over a spring-fed lagoon on a coast that was once a hideaway for the rich and famous and a setting for a film starring Brooke Shields. The Blue Lagoon's shore already is marred by an abandoned restaurant and a crumbling helicopter pad, and a new development is alarming conservationists who are trying to save one of Jamaica's most gorgeous natural attractions. By David McFadden.

AP photos.

AFGHANISTAN Suicide bomber strikes memorial service for Afghan president's slain half brother, killing four.

SCIENCE

MALAYSIA-ELUSIVE TOAD

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia Scientists scouring the mountains of Borneo spotted a species of toads last seen by European explorers in 1924, providing the world with the first photographs of the colorful, spindly legged creature, a researcher says.

AP photo.

BUSINESS

NETFLIX-WHY THE PRICE HIKE?

NEW YORK Why is Netflix raising its prices? In part, because the company miscalculated how many people still want to receive DVDs by mail each month, a more expensive service to provide compared to its streamed Internet videos. By Business Writer Chip Cutter.

AP photos.

FORECLOSURE RATES Report: Delays in bank processing push likely U.S. foreclosures until 2012, stalling recovery. AP photo.

ENTERTAINMENT

EMMY NOMINATIONS

LOS ANGELES Emmy voters have a chance to flaunt their risk-taking side with the upcoming nominations. Among the candidates for an Emmy bid is HBO's fantasy adventure "Game of Thrones," which faces a TV academy history of resisting genre programs. By Lynn Elber.

AP photos.

REMEMBERING HARRY CHAPIN

HUNTINGTON, N.Y. Before there was Band Aid or Live Aid, a We Are the World or Hands Across America, there was singer-songwriter Harry Chapin lobbying for change in Congress, pestering an already convinced President Carter to establish a commission on world hunger, and passing the hat for donations at concerts large and small. By Frank Eltman.

AP photos.

GETTING ATTENTION

SEVERED PENIS Prosecutors say an argument over houseguests led a California woman to cut off her estranged husband's penis and put it down a garbage disposal. AP photos.

SPAIN-RUNNING OF THE BULLS No one gored in fast, final running of the bulls at Spain's San Fermin festival. AP photo.

CLEMENS-STEROIDS Attorneys for pitching great Roger Clemens questioning whether House probe into star's drug use exceeded authority.

JETER-FAN-BASEBALL CARD Fan who returned Derek Jeter's ball from 3,000th hit to get his own baseball card. AP photos.

BLOW HOLE-MAUI Tourists saw California man playing near Maui blow hole moments before wave knocked him down. AP photo.

SULLIVAN THEATER BREAK-IN Second break-in at "Late Show" theater in New York; man breaks door glass, gets inside vestibule. AP photo.

TEXAS

PERRY-VETS

SAN ANTONIO Gov. Rick Perry is in San Antonio touting a recently passed bill aimed at helping veterans. He'll be ceremonially signing the new law, which is intended to help vets get college credit for military training. Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, the San Antonio Democrat who authored the legislation, will join Perry to tout the College Credit for Heroes program. The bill signing is only ceremonial. Perry signed the legislation into law last month. By April Castro.

Eds: Will be updated after 11 a.m. CDT speech.

DROUGHT-CATTLE DEATHS

LUBBOCK, Texas The unrelenting Texas drought has produced a cruelly ironic twist: cattle dying from too much water. Agriculture officials in parched Texas said there are no hard numbers on how many head of cattle have died but reports of deaths from too much water or too little are showing up across the nation's leading cattle production state. "They over drink because they're thirsty," said Dr. Robert Sprowls of the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory in Amarillo. "Once they fill up on water it happens pretty quickly." By Betsy Blaney.

CLEAN AIR-POWER PLANTS

DALLAS The major electric power provider for much of North and West Texas is considering how to respond to new federal clean-air regulations, including closing or reducing operations at some of its coal-fired plants and coal mines, according to a regulatory filing. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Energy Future Holdings Corp. said it was considering the shutdowns or slowdowns, as well as seasonal or temporary shutdowns. The Dallas-based owner of Luminant Generation Co. also said it was considering the option of installing scrubbers to remove sulfur dioxide from plant emissions, or even switching fuels to fire the furnaces that generate the steam used to generate electric power. By Terry Wallace.

AFGHAN WOMEN MILITARY PILOTS

SAN ANTONIO For women in Afghanistan, said Masooma Hussaini, it's not like "it was in Taliban times." Her sisters are in school, women work in offices and, by next year, Hussaini and three other young women could be among their country's first females piloting military helicopters. Their training in the U.S. is significant. The Afghan military has a small but growing female rank, yet the skies are almost an exclusive province for men, except for one Afghan woman trained in the Soviet era. By Paul J. Weber.

AP Photos.

PRAYER DAY LAWSUIT-TEXAS

AUSTIN, Texas A group of atheists and agnostics have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to stop an evangelical Christian prayer event next month that was proposed and is endorsed by Texas' governor. The Freedom from Religion Foundation argues in its lawsuit filed in Houston that Republican Gov. Rick Perry's day of prayer and fasting would violate the constitutional ban on the government endorsing a religion. The event, which is called The Response and is billed as Christian-only, is scheduled for Aug. 6 at Houston's Reliant Stadium. The complaint alleges Perry violated the First Amendment's establishment clause by organizing, promoting and participating in the event. By Chris Tomlinson.

CLEMENS-STEROIDS

WASHINGTON Prosecutors said that needles and cotton balls Roger Clemens' former trainer says he used to inject the star pitcher tested positive for Clemens' DNA and anabolic steroids evidence the defense said was faked. Assistant U.S. attorney Steven Durham revealed the results during opening arguments in Clemens' trial on charges of lying to Congress about using performance-enhancing drugs. Clemens' attorney Rusty Hardin responded that he won't dispute the needles contain Clemens' DNA and steroids, but accused the trainer Brian McNamee of "mixing" it up. By Nedra Pickler and Mark Sherman.

AP Photos.

PIZZA DELIVERY-DEATH

FORT WORTH, Texas Domino's is being sued by the widow of a Texas employee who died a year after being robbed and beaten with a baseball bat by teens who lured the deliveryman to a vacant house. The lawsuit alleges the company was negligent in failing to follow safety procedures and seeks "all damages" available under state law to Fred Rein's widow, Jackie, plus exemplary and punitive damages. The suit filed Monday in Tarrant County names as defendants the local franchise and national corporation, including Mark of Excellence Pizza Co., Domino's Pizza and Domino's Pizza Franchising, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

WARDEN'S WIFE

MANGUM, Okla. A defense attorney have attacked the prosecution's evidence in the case of a former Oklahoma warden's wife accused of helping a convicted killer escape, alleging that crucial witnesses weren't questioned by investigators and vital evidence wasn't tested. Bobbi Louaine Parker is accused of helping Randolph Franklin Dial escape on Aug. 30, 1994, from the Oklahoma State Reformatory in Greer County where her husband, Randy Parker, was deputy warden. Prosecutors allege Bobbi Parker, 49, fell in love with Dial and became his mistress before helping him flee the prison and live in Texas for more than 10 years. They were found living in a mobile home at a chicken farm in East Texas in April 2005. Parker has pleaded not guilty to the felony charge and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. By Tim Talley.

Also:

OFFICER SHOT The condition of a West Texas police officer fighting for his life after he suffered a gunshot wound to the head has begun to show slight improvement.

TEXAS-POLICE CHASE Police frantically chased a woman speeding through three North Texas counties with two small children in the car with her.

TEXAS-CREEK ARREST A Florida man is in jail after police say he woke up punching after officers found him sleeping in a Texarkana, Texas, creek.

ARYAN BROTHERHOOD-KILLINGS A confidant of an East Texas man branded a "general" in a white-supremacist gang by prosecutors has gotten 10 years in prison for her part in a man's death.

DEAN FOODS-SETTLEMENT Dean Foods Co., one of the largest dairy distributors in the United States, says it has agreed to pay $140 million to settle a lawsuit over pricing with a group of dairy farmers in the Southeast.

PEOPLE-MINAJ-POLICE Records show police were called to a Dallas hotel after rapper Nicki Minaj argued with a friend, whom she said shoved a suitcase across her chin and lip.

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Abilene Reporter-News: Morning state, national, international headlines, June 14

TOP STORIES

REPUBLICANS-DEBATE-ANALYSIS

MANCHESTER, N.H. —If Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich and other Republican presidential hopefuls feel they need to close the gap on front-runner Mitt Romney, they didn’t show it at the New Hampshire debate.

BACHMANN-2012

ST. PAUL, Minn. — One hand clutches a crisply folded U.S. flag with a concealed weapons certification protruding. The other slides discreetly into a denim coat pocket. Behind the beaming state lawmaker looms a silhouette target with bullet holes square in the chest. Next to her nameplate is a "No New Taxes!" sticker. The photo taken during Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann’s initial run for Congress in 2006 captures her essence.

LIBYA

TRIPOLI, Libya — A NATO airstrike apparently has targeted the area near Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s compound in the capital Tripoli. A column of gray smoke could be seen rising from the area around Gadhafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound before dawn Tuesday. The explosion from the early morning strike could be felt at a hotel where journalists stay in the capital.

IRAQ

BAGHDAD — An Iraqi army official says eight people have been killed in an attack on a government compound. The assailants set off two car bombs outside a government compound in Baqouba 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. Gunmen then stormed the building and took hostages.

IRAQ-WEAPONS SALES — Iraqis nervous over impending US withdrawal stocking up on assault rifles, pistols.

MISSOURI RIVER FLOODING

HAMBURG, Iowa — Crews are working to build up a secondary barrier protecting a small Iowa town from the swollen Missouri River after floodwaters broke a massive hole in the main levee, increasing fears that the town could be left under several feet of standing water. Water spilling out of the 300-foot hole was moving across farmland on Monday and expected to arrive by Tuesday in the town of Hamburg.

OBAMA

MIAMI — President Barack Obama is making a rare presidential visit to Puerto Rico, the U.S. island territory, with an eye firmly placed on the Puerto Ricans back on the mainland who could help him deliver at least one key state during his 2012 re-election campaign.

NATIONAL

GAY MARRIAGE TRIAL

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge is expected to decide Tuesday whether a gay judge’s ruling to strike down California’s same-sex marriage ban should be overturned because he failed to divulge his own marital intentions before throwing out the voter-approved measure.

WESTERN WILDFIRES

LUNA, N.M. — The battles continue Tuesday to save a tiny New Mexico mountain town from a massive forest fire that has already driven thousands from their homes in Arizona. So far, residents of Luna are staying put, despite huge plumes of smoke that have been billowing above their homes for two weeks.

WIFE COLD CASES

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — To the outside world, Betty Neumar was a diminutive Georgia grandmother with a shock of white hair who operated beauty shops, attended church and raised money for charity. It wasn’t until North Carolina investigators in 2008 reopened a 25-year-old murder case that police discovered that Neumar had left behind a decades-long trail of five dead husbands in five states. Any hope of answering lingering questions of her husbands’ deaths — or the missing pieces of her life — faded Monday when Neumar died.

GROUND ZERO FIRE — Summations to start Tuesday in ground zero tower fire manslaughter trial; two firefighters died.

IRAQ CONTRACTOR-ASSAULT — A Texas woman’s claims she was raped in 2005 by co-workers in Iraq while employed by a former subsidiary of military contractor Halliburton Co. and held against her will when she tried to report the assault are about to go before a jury.

INTERNATIONAL

FOOD CRISIS-MOTHERS’ BURDEN

THUAN THANH, Vietnam — In her crude brick kitchen, Vo Thi Quan struggles to work a poor mother’s magic: creating a dinner out of next to nothing for her family. As world food prices surge to the highest levels ever recorded due to a combination of production constraints and rising demand from expanding middle classes, many poor families teeter on the edge, and it is the mothers who often quietly bear the brunt.

CHINA-INFLATION — China food costs push politically volatile inflation to 5.5 percent in May; June seen at 6 percent.

AFGHAN-THREE CUPS OF PRAGMATISM

KABUL, Afghanistan — Sakena Yacoobi is a builder of schools and clinics who says she hopes that educating women will help bring peace to Afghanistan. But she is no idealist. The 61-year-old Afghan woman first started refugee schools in Pakistan, then underground girls schools in Afghanistan under the Taliban. After that regime’s 2001 ouster, she opened scores of women’s centers teaching basic reading, math, sewing and health skills. Her programs now serve about 350,000 women and children a year.

AUSTRALIA-VOLCANIC ASH — Volcano ash halts flights to another Australian city; backlog at Melbourne could clear Tuesday.

SYRIA — Troops backed by tanks enter new towns near border with Turkey and Iraq.

YEMEN — Yemen president health stable but suffers throat problem, prime minister very critical.

SOMALIA — Somalia’s prime minister says he will not resign despite an agreement calling for his ouster.

ISRAEL-EGYPT — Israeli foreign minister says US-born Israeli arrested in Egypt is not a spy.

WASHINGTON

GATES INTERVIEW

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is disappointed and suspicious that militants in Pakistan apparently were tipped off that American intelligence officials had discovered two of their suspected bomb-making facilities, Defense Secretary Robert Gates says.

ETHANOL TAX CREDITS

WASHINGTON — With lawmakers desperately working to shave federal budget deficits, the Senate is debating a measure to eliminate ethanol tax credits that pay the oil industry $5 billion a year. The biggest defenders of the subsidies, however, include farm belt conservatives leading the charge for less government.

WEINER-TWITTER PHOTOS — With a defiant Rep. Anthony Weiner resisting calls to quit and President Barack Obama saying he’d resign if he were in Weiner’s shoes, House Democrats are wrestling with how to put the embarrassing online sex scandal behind them.

CONGRESS-SPENDING — In an otherwise lean budget year, the House is poised to boost funding for the medical needs of the nation’s veterans and increase funding for the military.

SUPREME COURT-SUMMER TRAVEL — For justices, in summertime, the living is easy, the travel deluxe: Aspen, Geneva, Rome and more. A Supreme Court Notebook.

ALSO GETTING ATTENTION

AIRLINES-BAG FEES — Airlines collected $5.7 billion in fees for checking bags, changing reservations last year.

GERMANY-AIRSHIP CRASH — Blimp crashes in Germany, killing pilot; 3 passengers escape.

ITALY-REFERENDUMS — Painful defeat for Berlusconi in Italian referendums on water, nuclear power.

SUPREME COURT-SUMMER TRAVEL — SUPREME COURT NOTEBOOK: For justices, in summertime, the living is easy; the travel deluxe.

COURTROOM DOG-CHILD WITNESS — Trained dogs provide calm, comfort for traumatized witnesses in tense courtroom settings.

STANLEY CUP — Boston Bruins chase Roberto Luongo from Game 6, force big finale in Stanley Cup finals.

TEXAS

IRAQ CONTRACTOR-ASSAULT

HOUSTON — A jury will hear opening statements Tuesday in a Texas woman’s federal lawsuit accusing co-workers of raping her in 2005 and holding her for hours in a shipping container while she working in Iraq for a former subsidiary of military contractor Halliburton Co. Jamie Leigh Jones, 26, is asking for unspecified damages in her suit against KBR Inc. and its former parent company. It also names Charles Bortz, a former KBR firefighter she alleges was one of her rapists. The trial could last up to three weeks.

NURSES-RETALIATION

MIDLAND — Attorneys are to make their closing arguments in the trial of a West Texas sheriff accused of retaliating against two whistleblowing nurses who complained about his physician friend. The arguments come Tuesday in the trial of Winkler County Sheriff Robert Roberts after his attorneys rested their case. Roberts is charged with two felony counts of misusing official information and retaliation, along with a misdemeanor official oppression count. Convictions could mean up to 10 years in prison.

EL PASO-PARTNER BENEFITS

EL PASO — El Paso’s City Council is considering reinstating medical insurance benefits for domestic partners of municipal workers left uncovered by a referendum proposed by a local evangelist. The vote is scheduled for Tuesday. Voters decided in November to give benefits only to city employees, legal spouses and dependent children. That not only disqualified 19 gay couples but also about 100 other partners of employees, some retirees and workers not legally considered city employees.

BEAUTY QUEEN-CROWN DISPUTE

SAN ANTONIO — The runner-up who was briefly named Miss San Antonio after the pageant stripped the winner of her crown has decided not to compete for Miss Texas, avoiding a second showdown in a beauty queen battle that grabbed headlines nationwide. Organizers gave the crown to runner-up Ashley Dixon, 23, but she lost it in March, when a Bexar County jury reinstated Domonique Ramirez, 17, after a weeklong trial. The Miss Bexar County Organization, which runs the Miss San Antonio pageant, then gave Dixon the title of Miss Bexar County, which includes San Antonio. An attorney for the Miss Bexar County Organization said Dixon told Miss Texas organizers recently that she wouldn’t be competing.

RANGER GRAVE

HOUSTON — DNA testing has failed to confirm that human remains uncovered near a Central Texas cemetery belong to a legendary Texas Ranger killed in an Indian attack almost two centuries ago, the Texas Historical Commission said. DNA samples collected this year from a Falls County gravesite could not conclusively be matched to pioneer lawman James Coryell, although evidence unearthed suggests it is him, said James Bruseth, the commission’s archaeology division director and leader of the project.

POLYGAMIST LEADER — Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs is due in court Tuesday to determine if his oft-delayed trial will begin July 25, as scheduled.

TEXAS EXECUTION-APPEAL — A federal appeals court has reversed a ruling that ordered Texas to give a condemned serial killer a new punishment trial or agree to a life sentence.

IRAQ CONTRACTOR-APPEAL — A jury has been chosen in a trial stemming of a lawsuit from a Texas woman who says she was raped by co-workers in Iraq while working for a former Halliburton Co. subsidiary.

POLYGAMIST LEADER — Attorneys for polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs are asking for removal of the judge in his upcoming trial.

TEXAS-DEAD RAPIST — Investigators say a man has died while in the act of raping an elderly South Texas woman.

RADIO SHOW-FRAUD — A North Texas man who hosted a radio show and seminars on real estate investing but later confessed to fraud is going to prison and must repay $4.6 million.

JUVENILE CRIME LAW-TEXAS

DALLAS — Texas soon could provide teachers with detailed information about students’ criminal histories, opening juvenile files that always have been confidential and unavailable in most states. Spurred by the fatal stabbing of a high school teacher in 2009, the measure awaiting Gov. Rick Perry’s signature is adding to a debate over whether teacher safety should outweigh the rights of young offenders. Many juvenile justice experts say such disclosures won’t allow young people to move beyond early mistakes to lead normal lives, but some educators insist teachers are in too much danger.

IMMIGRATION

AUSTIN — Houston and Dallas law enforcement officials say they oppose legislation that would free up officers in so-called sanctuary cities to ask about the immigration status of anyone pulled over during a traffic stop, questioned as a witness or otherwise detained. Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland Jr. and Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez testified at a Senate hearing that the immigration bill the Legislature is likely to approve could make immigrants afraid to report crimes and cause the further crowding of jails.

ABORTION RULES LAWSUIT — A reproductive rights group has filed a lawsuit against a newly-signed Texas law requiring doctors to conduct a sonogram before performing an abortion.

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