www.yourwestvalley.com | Daily News-Sun | TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013 A7

Obama defends U.S. spying on Europe

NEWS IN BRIEF

Washington (AP) • President Barack Obama had a simple answer to European outrage over new allegations that the U.S. spies on its allies: The Europeans do it, too.

Obama said Monday during his trip to Africa that every intelligence ser-vice in Europe, Asia and elsewhere does its best to understand the world bet-ter, and that goes beyond what they read in news-papers or watch on TV. It was an attempt to blunt European reaction to new revelations from Nation-al Security Agency leak-er Edward Snowden that the U.S. spies on European governments.

“If that weren’t the case, then there’d be no use for an intelligence service,” Obama told reporters in Tanzania.

“And I guarantee you that in European capitals, there are people who are interested in, if not what I had for breakfast, at least what my talking points might be should I end up meeting with their lead-ers,” Obama said. “That’s how intelligence services operate.”

TRAVELS

NSA leaker withdraws asylum request to RussiaMoscow (AP) • Edward Snowden’s attempts to seek refuge outside the United States hit hurdles today, af-ter Russian media report-ed he canceled his asylum bid in Russia and several European countries said such applications wouldn’t be considered if they were made from abroad.

Russian news agencies today quoted President Vladimir Putin’s spokes-man Dmitry Peskov as saying that Snowden with-drew his request when he learned about the terms Moscow has set out. Pu-tin said on Monday that Russia is ready to shel-ter Snowden as long as he stops leaking U.S. secrets.

At the same time, Pu-tin said he had no plans to turn over Snowden to the United States.

MIDEAST

U.S., Russia want transitional government for Syria Bandar Seri Begawan, Bru-nei (AP) • U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says both the U.S. and Russia are se-riously committed to hold-ing an international confer-ence to set up a transitional government to end the Syr-ian crisis.

Kerry says the two coun-tries both believe the meet-ing should take sooner rather than later, but acknowledged it might not be possible until August or later.

Kerry spoke outside the U.S. Embassy in Brunei af-ter a 90-minute-plus meet-ing with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of an Asian se-curity summit.

Russia has been a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad regime’s in the two-year civil war that has claimed more than 93,000 lives.

Kerry said the objectives of both countries remain the same — to “save the state of Syria and to mini-mize destruction.”

WEDGE ISSUES

Splits on immigration, marriage offer GOP previewWashington (AP) • Pivotal de-velopments on two cultur-al issues — immigration reform and gay marriage — offer an early preview of potential fault lines among Republicans weighing White House bids in 2016.

When the Senate ap-proved a comprehensive im-migration reform measure,

Sens. Marco Rubio of Flor-ida and Rand Paul of Ken-tucky voted in opposite di-rections amid divisions in the party over how to curb the fast-growing flow of La-tino voters to Democrats.

At the same time, the Su-preme Court rulings sup-porting gay marriage attract-ed broad criticism from most 2016 hopefuls, though Paul suggested that Republicans need to “agree to disagree on some of these issues.” That foreshadows likely fissures ahead, as Republican con-tenders face increasing pres-sure to show more tolerance toward gay marriage with many Republican voters in their 20s, 30s and 40s calling for acceptance.

Republican strategists say both topics serve as gateway issues for many voters. If the party’s tone on immigration or gay marriage sounds too intolerant, they say, it could prevent voters from listen-ing on other issues.

specialists like the 19 fatally trapped Sunday — a group of firefighters known as Hotshots called to face the nation’s fiercest wildfires.

With no way out, the Prescott-based crew did what they were trained to do: They unfurled their foil-lined, heat-resistant tarps and rushed to cover them-selves. But that last, desper-ate line of defense couldn’t save them.

The deaths of the Granite Mountain Hotshots marked the nation’s biggest loss of firefighters in a wildfire in 80 years. Only one mem-ber of the 20-person crew survived, and that was be-cause he was moving the unit’s truck at the time.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer called it “as dark a day as I can remember” and ordered flags flown at half-staff.

“I know that it is unbear-able for many of you, but it also is unbearable for me. I know the pain that everyone is trying to overcome and deal with today,” said Brew-er, her voice catching sev-eral times as she addressed reporters and residents at Prescott High School in the town of 40,000.

President Barack Obama called Brewer on Monday from Africa and reinforced his commitment to provid-ing necessary federal sup-port to battle the fire that spread to 13 square miles after destroying 50 homes. More than 200 homes were threatened in the town of 700 people.

Obama also offered his administration’s help to state officials investigating the tragedy, and predicted it will force government lead-ers to answer broader ques-tions about how they han-dle increasingly destructive and deadly wildfires.

Brewer said the blaze “exploded into a firestorm” that overran the crew.

The blaze grew from 200 acres to about 2,000 in a matter of hours.

Southwest incident team leader Clay Templin said the crew and its command-ers were following safety protocols, and it appears the fire’s erratic nature sim-ply overwhelmed them.

The Hotshot team had spent recent weeks fight-ing fires in New Mexico and Prescott before being called to Yarnell, entering the smoky wilderness over the weekend with back-packs, chainsaws and oth-er heavy gear to remove brush and trees as a heat wave across the Southwest sent temperatures into the triple digits.

Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo said he feared the worst when he received a call Sunday afternoon from someone assigned to the fire.

“All he said was, ‘We might have bad news. The entire Hotshot crew de-ployed their shelters,’” Fraijo said. “When we talk about deploying the shel-ters, that’s an automat-ic fear, absolutely. That’s a last-ditch effort to save yourself when you deploy your shelter.”

Prescott>> From page A1

A woman reacts as the national anthem is sung at the start of a memorial service Monday in Prescott. The service was for the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshot Crew firefighters who were killed Sunday, when an out-of-control blaze overtook the elite group. [AP Photo/Julie Jacobson]

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