Ohio air show resumes after stuntwoman, pilot die

CINCINNATI (AP) ? An air show in southwestern Ohio reopened with a moment of silence Sunday, a day after a pilot and wing walker died in a horrifying, fiery crash in front of thousands of spectators.

The Vectren Air Show near Dayton, which closed right after Saturday's crash, resumed Sunday in honor of pilot Charlie Schwenker and veteran stuntwoman Jane Wicker, both of Virginia.

"As a pilot, you accept the fact that accidents do happen ? it's an accepted risk we take," said John King, president of the Flying Circus Airshow, which employed Wicker.

"They were both dedicated to flying and the act. They were true, ultimate professionals," King said. "I don't know of anyone who could have done any better than what they were doing."

Wicker and Schwenker were killed when their plane crashed in front of spectators who screamed in shock as the aircraft became engulfed in flames. No one else was hurt.

Video of the crash showed their plane gliding through the sky before abruptly rolled over, crashing and exploding into flames. Wicker, performing at the Dayton show for the first time, had been sitting atop the 450 HP Stearmans.

The decision to resume the show a day after the crash was an emotional one supported by Wicker's ex-husband, said air show general manager Brenda Kerfoot.

"He said, 'This is what Jane and Charlie would have wanted,'" Kerfoot said. "'They want you to have a safe show and go out there and do what you do best.'"

Wicker, 44, who lived in Bristow, Va., was a mother of two boys and engaged to be married, Kerfoot said.

"She was a well-rounded, delightful woman who was passionate about aviation," said Kerfoot. "She was in the business for a very long time and was well-loved by the air show community; she would certainly have wanted the show to go on."

Schwenker, 64, of Oakton, Va., was married.

The cause of the crash is unclear and the conclusion of an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board likely will take months. The NTSB planned a mid-afternoon news conference Sunday to discuss the accident.

Wicker's website says she responded to a classified ad from the Flying Circus Airshow in Bealeton, Va., in 1990, for a wing-walking position, thinking it would be fun. She was a contract employee who worked as a Federal Aviation Administration budget analyst, the FAA said.

In one post on Wicker's site, the stuntwoman explains what she loved most about her job.

"There is nothing that feels more exhilarating or freer to me than the wind and sky rushing by me as the earth rolls around my head," the post says. "I'm alive up there. To soar like a bird and touch the sky puts me in a place where I feel I totally belong. It's the only thing I've done that I've never questioned, never hesitated about and always felt was my destiny."

She also answered a question she said she got frequently: What about the risk?

"I feel safer on the wing of my airplane than I do driving to the airport," she wrote. "Why? Because I'm in control of those risks and not at the mercy of those other drivers."

A program for the air show touted Wicker as a performer of "heart-stopping" feats who did moves that "no other wing walker is brave enough to try."

"Wing riding is not for this damsel; her wing walking style is the real thing," the program said. "With no safety line and no parachute, Jane amazes the crowd by climbing, walking, and hanging all over her beautiful ... aircraft.

"Spectators are sure to gasp as this daredevil demonstrates in true form the unbelievable art of wing walking," it says.

On the video of the crash, an announcer narrates as Wicker's plane glides through the air.

"Keep an eye on Jane. Keep an eye on Charlie. Watch this! Jane Wicker, sitting on top of the world," the announcer said, right before the plane makes a quick turn and nosedive.

Some spectators said they knew something was wrong because the plane was flying low and slow.

Thanh Tran, of Fairfield, said he could see a look of concern on Wicker's face just before the plane went down.

"She looked very scared," he said. "Then the airplane crashed on the ground. After that, it was terrible, man ... very terrible."

In 2011, wing walker Todd Green fell 200 feet to his death at an air show in Michigan while performing a stunt in which he grabbed the skid of a helicopter.

In 2007, veteran stunt pilot Jim LeRoy was killed at the Dayton show when his biplane slammed into the runway while performing loop-to-loops and caught fire.

Still, King said, in the four decades since Flying Circus started, many kids have been so inspired watching the show that they later became military and commercial pilots.

"Our show takes them back to the barnstorming era of air shows," he said. "It's amazing how many people have taken up aviation careers because of their first exposure to the Flying Circus."

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Online:

Raw video of crash: http://bit.ly/11Vf7JA

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Associated Press writer Verena Dobnik in New York contributed to this report.

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Follow Amanda Lee Myers on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AmandaLeeAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-air-show-resumes-stuntwoman-pilot-die-131204772.html

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UK austerity 'still needed to avoid economic relapse' - Osborne

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's economy could fall back into crisis if the government abandons its austerity programme, Chancellor George Osborne said on Sunday as he raced against the clock to finalise the latest round of departmental cuts.

Three days before he announces ministries' spending limits for 2015-16, Osborne said the budget deficit was still too high and he was committed to finding savings worth 11.5 billion pounds.

"We are out of intensive care and our job now is to secure the recovery," Osborne told BBC television. "There certainly is a chance of a relapse if we abandon our economic plan."

The Conservative-led coalition government is sticking with its central economic policy of reducing a deficit that peaked at more than 11 percent of gross domestic product before it came to power in May 2010.

Despite tax rises and cuts, public borrowing has remained stubbornly high over the past year, and data on Friday showed public net debt climbed to record levels in May.

Asked how many of the 17 government departments had agreed to his spending plans, Osborne said only that the job was not finished and more work was needed before he unveils his spending review on Wednesday.

DEFENCE DEAL

A deal was reached with the defence department on Saturday, Osborne said, ending what analysts saw as one of the most difficult sets of negotiations.

General Peter Wall, the head of the army, said last week that more cuts would seriously damage the country's chances of success in future wars.

Osborne said the defence deal would see cuts to civilian staff numbers, while protecting Britain's military capability. However, he said there was no agreement with the business department, run by Vince Cable, a senior Liberal Democrat, the junior coalition partner.

Labour, which leads the Conservatives by around 10 points in the polls with the next election due to be held in 2015, accuses the coalition of choking the recovery with its austerity drive.

Labour finance spokesman Ed Balls said he would adopt Osborne's day-to-day spending limits for 2015-16 if his party were to win the election. However, he wanted the coalition to spend 10 billion pounds more on capital projects such as new roads.

Balls said he would be prepared to borrow more to finance extra capital expenditure, an admission Economic Secretary to the Treasury Sajid Javid held up as evidence that Labour couldn't be trusted to balance the books.

"Of course there's a case for doing that," Balls told BBC television. "If George Osborne had done that last year or the year before, we wouldn't have had such a flatlining economy."

(Editing by Greg Mahlich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-austerity-still-needed-avoid-economic-relapse-osborne-123048318.html

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Ecuador says it has received asylum request from Snowden

QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said on Sunday that former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden had asked Ecuador for asylum.

"The Government of Ecuador has received an asylum request from Edward J. #Snowden," Patino, who is on an official visit to Vietnam, said on Twitter.

Patino did not give additional details.

WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson confirmed that Snowden had requested asylum in Ecuador. The anti-secrecy website had earlier said it helped Snowden find "political asylum in a democratic country".

Ecuador has given political asylum to the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, who has spent more than a year holed up at Ecuador's embassy in London.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has said Assange is right to fear he might be sent from Sweden, where he is accused of sexual assault, to the United States to face charges over WikiLeaks' publication in 2010 of secret U.S. cables.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia in Quito and Kevin Liffey in London; writing by Daniel Wallis; editing by Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ecuador-says-received-asylum-request-snowden-164825938.html

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13 feared dead in bus crash in Montenegro

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) ? Officials say at least 13 people were killed and several were injured when a bus swayed off a bridge and plunged into a deep ravine in central Montenegro on Sunday.

Local Public Attorney Vojislav Grujic said the bus crashed some 30 kilometers north of the capital Podgorica. He said it is still unclear whether the bus is Romanian or Ukrainian.

The nationality of the passengers was not given.

Police said the bus plunged from a bridge over the Moraca river during a rain storm and crashed some 40 meters into the ravine. A helicopter was used in the rescue operation mounted by Montenegro police.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/13-feared-dead-bus-crash-montenegro-175948989.html

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PFT: Browns owner's legal woes continue

AP

Maybe ESPN should bring back Playmakers.? Not as a scripted show, but as a documentary.

At a time when a prominent NFL player faces apparently significant entanglement in a murder investigation, the league?s newest owner could eventually find himself facing a federal indictment.

According to Nate Rau of the Tennessean, Pilot Flying J executive Jay Stinnett stated in his plea agreement that ?senior management were aware of the rebate reduction scheme? that has resulted in five guilty pleas, with possibly more on the way.

The document, per Rau, doesn?t identify specific members of senior management.? The most senior member of management is Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, the CEO of Pilot Flying J.

Stinnett began cooperating with the federal government the same day the IRS and FBI showed up unannounced to search corporate headquarters, and other locations.? Stinnett agreed to cooperate with investigators and to testify in any court proceedings.

The investigation focuses on rebates and discounts that were not given to customers deemed too unsophisticated to realize they were being shorted.? Throughout the process, Haslam has downplayed the extent of the scam and denied any knowledge of it on his watch.

Look for the authorities to continue working their way up the Pilot Flying J ladder, prosecuting as far as the evidence will take them ? even if (or especially if) it takes them all the way to the top of the company.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/06/22/pilot-flying-j-exec-senior-management-knew-of-rebate-fraud/

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US to Hong Kong: Don't delay Snowden extradition

The front cover of a local magazine shows Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, in Hong Kong Saturday, June 22, 2013. Hong Kong was silent Saturday on whether the former National Security Agency contractor should be extradited to the United States now that he has been charged with espionage, but some legislators said the decision should be up to the Chinese government. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The front cover of a local magazine shows Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, in Hong Kong Saturday, June 22, 2013. Hong Kong was silent Saturday on whether the former National Security Agency contractor should be extradited to the United States now that he has been charged with espionage, but some legislators said the decision should be up to the Chinese government. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

This photo provided by The Guardian Newspaper in London shows Edward Snowden, who worked as a contract employee at the National Security Agency, in Hong Kong, Sunday, June 9, 2013. The man who told the world about the U.S. government?s gigantic data grab also talked a lot about himself. Mostly through his own words, a picture of Edward Snowden is emerging: fresh-faced computer whiz, high school and Army dropout, independent thinker, trustee of official secrets. And leaker on the lam. (AP Photo/The Guardian) MANDATORY CREDIT

A security guard stands in front of the Police headquarters in Hong Kong Saturday, June 22, 2013. Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, believed to be holed up in Hong Kong, has admitted providing information to the news media about two highly classified NSA surveillance programs. It is not known if the U.S. government has made a formal extradition request to Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong government had no immediate reaction to the charges against Snowden. Police Commissioner Andy Tsang, when was asked about the development, told reporters only that the case would be dealt with according to the law. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

David Medine, chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, is seen in front of the White House in Washington, Friday, June 21, 2013. President Barack Obama held his first meeting Friday with the board in the White House Situation Room. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration on Saturday sharply warned Hong Kong against slow-walking the extradition of Edward Snowden, reflecting concerns over a prolonged legal battle before the government contractor ever appears in a U.S. courtroom to answer espionage charges for revealing two highly classified surveillance programs.

A formal extradition request to bring Snowden to the United States from Hong Kong could drag through appeal courts for years and would pit Beijing against Washington at a time China tries to deflect U.S. accusations that it carries out extensive surveillance on American government and commercial operations.

The U.S. has contacted authorities in Hong Kong to seek Snowden's extradition, the National Security Council said Saturday in a statement. The NSC advises the president on national security.

"Hong Kong has been a historically good partner of the United States in law enforcement matters, and we expect them to comply with the treaty in this case," White House national security adviser Tom Donilon said in an interview with CBS News. He said the U.S. presented Hong Kong with a "good case for extradition."

However, a senior administration official issued a pointed warning that if Hong Kong doesn't act soon, "it will complicate our bilateral relations and raise questions about Hong Kong's commitment to the rule of law." The official was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and insisted on anonymity.

Hong Kong's government had no immediate reaction to the charges against Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who admitted providing information to the news media about the programs. Police Commissioner Andy Tsang told reporters only that the case would be dealt with according to the law. A police statement said it was "inappropriate" for the police to comment on the case.

A one-page criminal complaint against Snowden was unsealed Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Va., part of the Eastern District of Virginia where his former employer, government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, is headquartered, in McLean. He is charged with unauthorized communication of national defense information, willful communication of classified communications intelligence information and theft of government property. The first two are under the Espionage Act and each of the three crimes carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on conviction.

The complaint is dated June 14, five days after Snowden's name first surfaced as the person who had leaked to the news media that the NSA, in two highly classified surveillance programs, gathered telephone and Internet records to ferret out terror plots.

Snowden told the South China Morning Post in an interview published Saturday on its website that he hoped to stay in the autonomous region of China because he has faith in "the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate."

A prominent former politician in Hong Kong, Martin Lee, the founding chairman of the Democratic Party, said he doubted whether Beijing would intervene yet.

"Beijing would only intervene according to my understanding at the last stage. If the magistrate said there is enough to extradite, then Mr. Snowden can then appeal," he said.

Lee said Beijing could then decide at the end of the appeal process if it wanted Snowden extradited or not.

Snowden could contest extradition on grounds of political persecution.

Hong Kong lawyer Mark Sutherland said that the filing of a refugee, torture or inhuman punishment claim acts as an automatic bar on any extradition proceedings until those claims can be assessed.

"Some asylum seekers came to Hong Kong 10 years ago and still haven't had their protection claims assessed," Sutherland said.

Hong Kong lawmakers said that the Chinese government should make the final decision on whether Snowden should be extradited to the United States.

Outspoken legislator Leung Kwok-hung said Beijing should instruct Hong Kong to protect Snowden from extradition before his case gets dragged through the court system.

Leung urged the people of Hong Kong to "take to the streets to protect Snowden."

The Obama administration has now used the Espionage Act in seven criminal cases in an unprecedented effort to stem leaks. In one of them, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning acknowledged he sent more than 700,000 battlefield reports, diplomatic cables and other materials to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. His military trial is underway.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, welcomed the charges against Snowden.

"I've always thought this was a treasonous act," he said in a statement. "I hope Hong Kong's government will take him into custody and extradite him to the U.S."

But the Government Accountability Project, a whistle-blower advocacy group, said Snowden should be shielded from prosecution by whistle-blower protection laws.

"He disclosed information about a secret program that he reasonably believed to be illegal, and his actions alone brought about the long-overdue national debate about the proper balance between privacy and civil liberties, on the one hand, and national security on the other," the group said in a statement.

Michael di Pretoro, a retired 30-year veteran with the FBI who served from 1990 to 1994 as the legal liaison officer at the American consulate in Hong Kong, said "relations between U.S. and Hong Kong law enforcement personnel are historically quite good."

"In my time, I felt the degree of cooperation was outstanding to the extent that I almost felt I was in an FBI field office," di Pretoro said.

The U.S. and Hong Kong have a standing agreement on the surrender of fugitives. However, Snowden's appeal rights could drag out any extradition proceeding.

The success or failure of any extradition proceeding depends on what the suspect is charged with under U.S. law and how it corresponds to Hong Kong law under the treaty. In order for Hong Kong officials to honor the extradition request, they have to have some applicable statute under their law that corresponds with a violation of U.S. law.

Disclosure of the criminal complaint came as President Barack Obama held his first meeting with a privacy and civil liberties board and as his intelligence chief sought ways to help Americans understand more about sweeping government surveillance efforts exposed by Snowden.

The five members of the little-known Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board met with Obama for an hour in the White House Situation Room, questioning the president on the two NSA programs that have stoked controversy.

One program collects billions of U.S. phone records. The second gathers audio, video, email, photographic and Internet search usage of foreign nationals overseas, and probably some Americans in the process, who use major Internet service providers, such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Yahoo.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-22-NSA%20Surveillance/id-7200722a41044761a35223f163ed3a4c

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Russian censors target Olympic-themed art ahead of ... - World News

Courtesy Vasiliy Slonov

Artist Vasily Slonov's "Welcome! Sochi 2014" exhibition was shut down by authorities in the Russian city of Perm last week. The director of the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art was fired after he moved the images there.

By Albina Kovalyova, Producer, NBC News

One of Russia's most prominent modern art figures has been fired after refusing to allow an exhibit examining the darker side of the Sochi Olympics to be axed by censors.

Marat Guelman, a gallery curator, was dismissed as director of the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art after backing the controversial "Welcome! Sochi 2014" exhibit by?Vasily Slonov. It included images of the Olympic rings in barbed wire and as various colored nooses.?

Maksim Kimerling / Courtesy of Perm Museum of Conte

The "Welcome! Sochi 2014" exhibition shows the darker side of the Winter Olympics.

When the the exhibit was closed by Russian authorities last week during a cultural festival organized by Guelman, the well-known gallery curator moved the pictures to the museum.

Guelman posted on his Twitter page Wednesday that he had been fired by Igor Gladnev, the minister of culture for the Perm region.

"Gladnev just called me and confirmed the fact of my dismissal. The Ministry of Culture, it seems, has confused its role with that of the FSB [the former KGB]," Guelman wrote.

Russian Internet portal Lifenews also reported that authorities had raided Guelman?s former offices at the museum (link in Russian). It added that officials had launched a legal case into Slonov's works, alleging he had used Sochi 2014 symbols without permission.

"I had hoped that censorship was impossible and illegal," Guelman told NBC News. "The new trend of Russian politics is to divide everyone into groups of 'us' and 'them,' and the small liberal islands are getting even smaller."

Maksim Kimerling / Courtesy of Perm Museum of Conte

Artist Vasily Slonov poses with an artwork featuring Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin. Officials reportedly allege that he used the Sochi 2014 symbol without permission.

The Ministry of Culture did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Guelman's dismissal.

However, the "Welcome! Sochi 2014" works of Slonov remained on display at the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art on Thursday.

Sochi has become increasingly in the limelight ahead of next February's Winter Olympics with stories emerging about corruption and exploitation of migrant workers in the region. Sochi 2014?has become the most expensive of all Olympic Games to date at an estimated cost of $50 billion.?

Set in the Russian Urals, Perm was home to one of the most famous labor camps for political prisoners under Joseph Stalin - the gulag known as Perm 36.

However, the city had been trying to re-brand itself in recent years and has become a beacon of light for culture in addition to Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Mikhail Mordasov / AFP - Getty Images

The Winter Olympics arrive in Sochi on Feb. 7, 2014. A look at how the Russian city is shaping up for its moment in the spotlight.

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/21/19058345-russian-censors-target-olympic-themed-art-ahead-of-sochi-2014?lite

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