Wikipedia founder backs UK man wanted by US

1 day

Staff report , AP

The founder of Wikipedia urged British officials on Monday to block the extradition of a 24-year-old British student wanted in the United States over alleged copyright offenses.?

Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales expressed support for Richard O'Dwyer, who was arrested at his university dorm in 2010 by British officers accompanied by agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. O'Dwyer's alleged crime was running a file-swapping website called TVShack.net, where users shared links to movies and television shows, many of them protected by copyright.

Wales said merely posting links is not a crime and urged citizens to stand up for their rights online.

"Richard O'Dwyer is the human face of the battle between the content industry and the interests of the general public," Wales said in an online petition posted on Change.org, adding that the student had always done his best to "play by the rules."

By midday Monday the petition to halt O'Dwyer's extradition had gained more than 20,400 signatures.

The Guardian newspaper has thrown its support behind O'Dwyer as well, saying in an editorial published Monday that his case was "unfair" and "absurd."?

In the United States, the Electronic Frontier Foundation?said it finds it "troubling" that the American government "is trying to haul a British citizen into?criminal court in the U.S. for running a website that probably doesn't?violate either U.S. law or U.K. law."

Mitch?Stoltz, staff attorney for the digital rights organization, told msnbc.com?that the government's actions in the case "send a dangerous message to other governments that websites?can be shut down and their operators threatened with prosecution in a?foreign country, no matter how tenuous the legal case. Surely the U.S.?government can come up with better ways to spend our tax dollars than?putting a British college student in jail for running what was, in?effect, a search engine."

Msnbc.com contributed to this report.

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Jenny McCarthy Bares All For Sixth Playboy Cover

Actress tells People her latest photos are 'a lot more sophisticated.'
By Kara Warner

Jenny McCarthy on the cover of Playboy magazine
Photo:

Actress/model/advocate Jenny McCarthy has once again set tongues wagging with her sixth appearance on the cover of Playboy. The blonde bombshell is featured on the cover of the July/August issue wearing nothing but some black knee-high tights and coordinating fingerless fishnet gloves. In addition to the cover photo, McCarthy appears in an eight-page photo spread inside the magazine, her seventh pictorial for Playboy.

The 39-year-old told People magazine that this particular photo shoot was particularly special because of the classy factor.

"I'm really proud of it," McCarthy told the magazine. "The pictures are really gorgeous and classy. They could be out of W magazine. They're really elegant. It's probably a lot more sophisticated than a lot of the stuff you'd see of people with their clothes on."

McCarthy made her Playboy debut in 1993 as a centerfold and later went on to be named Playmate of the Month and Playmate of the Year. Shortly thereafter MTV enlisted McCarthy to co-host our popular '90s dating show "Singled Out," which officially put the model/personality on the pop culture map. Entertainment Weekly deemed McCarthy "the Vanna White for the MTV generation," and praised her plucky, outspoken and signature touchy-feely hosting methods.

McCarthy parlayed her fame into multiple roles in television series and film, including two of her own self-titled sitcoms, but in recent years has become more well-known for her work as an activist for autism awareness, on behalf of her own autistic son Evan and the challenges and preconceptions associated with parenting autistic children. McCarthy also made headlines from her four-year relationship with Jim Carrey.

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Vicious wildfires spread to Colo. tourist centers

In this Saturday, June 23, 2012 photo provided by Darrell Spangler, a firefighter works the scene of a home being consumed by flames in Estes Park, Colo. As many as 21 structures were destroyed by the fire on Saturday. Eight separate wildfires are burning across Colorado, which is seeing record-breaking heat. (AP Photo/Darrell Spangler) MANDATORY CREDIT

In this Saturday, June 23, 2012 photo provided by Darrell Spangler, a firefighter works the scene of a home being consumed by flames in Estes Park, Colo. As many as 21 structures were destroyed by the fire on Saturday. Eight separate wildfires are burning across Colorado, which is seeing record-breaking heat. (AP Photo/Darrell Spangler) MANDATORY CREDIT

In this Saturday, June 23, 2012 photo provided by Darrell Spangler, fire consumes a home in Estes Park, Colo. As many as 21 structures were destroyed by the fire on Saturday. Eight separate wildfires are burning across Colorado, which is seeing record-breaking heat. (AP Photo/Darrell Spangler) MANDATORY CREDIT

In this photo provided by Darrell Spangler, rubble smolders Sunday, June 24, 2012, from a home consumed by fire a day earlier, in Estes Park, Colo. As many as 21 structures were destroyed by the fire on Saturday. Eight separate wildfires are burning across Colorado, which is seeing record-breaking heat. (AP Photo/Darrell Spangler) MANDATORY CREDIT

The evening sky glows orange as smoke and flames from the Waldo Canyon Fire has consumed 2500 acres west of Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs, Colo. on Saturday, June 23, 2012. The fire is zero percent contained. Voluntary and mandatory evacuations were taking place across the west side of Colorado Springs. Tankers were dropping fire retardant in front of the advancing flames. ( AP Photo/Bryan Oller)

A giant plume from the Waldo Canyon Fire hovers high above Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs, Colo. on Saturday, June 23, 2012. The fire is zero percent contained and has consumed 2500 acres. Voluntary and mandatory evacuations were taking place across the west side of Colorado Springs. Tankers were dropping fire retardant in front of the advancing flames. ( AP Photo/Bryan Oller)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) ? Wildfires damaged more than a dozen Colorado homes over the weekend and forced evacuations for thousands more while shrouding top state tourist destinations in smoke and emptying hotels and campgrounds ahead of the Fourth of July holiday.

Colorado is having its worst wildfire season in a decade, with more than a half dozen forest fires burning across the state's parched terrain. One of the newest fires, a blaze near Colorado Springs, grew to more than 3 square miles Sunday after erupting just a day earlier and prompting evacuation orders for 11,000 residents and an unknown number of tourists.

The fire sent plumes of gray and white smoke over the area that obscured at times Pikes Peak, the most-summited high-elevation mountain in the nation and inspiration for the song "America The Beautiful."

Winds had started to push smoke away from Colorado Springs and evacuations orders were lifted for the 5,000 residents of nearby Manitou Springs, but area residents and tourists still watched nervously as haze wrapped around the peak.

"We're used to flooding and tornadoes, nothing like this," said Amanda Rice, who recently moved to the area from Rock Falls, Ill. Rice, her husband, four children and dog. They left a Manitou Springs hotel late Saturday.

Rice, scared when she saw flames, took her family to the evacuation center before she was told to go.

"It was just this God-awful orange glow. It was surreal. It honestly looked like hell was opening up," Rice said Sunday.

Even while other large fires burn across the West, Colorado's blazes have demanded half the nation's firefighting fleet, according to Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. He said C-130 military transport planes from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs would begin assisting Monday.

"People recognize this is going to take a big push" to extinguish, Hickenlooper said Sunday from a Colorado Springs grocery store, where volunteers were passing out burritos, sandwiches and drinks to 350 firefighters working near Pikes Peak.

A statewide ban on open campfires and private fireworks has been in place for more than a week.

While no homes were reported damaged in the Colorado Springs-area fire, a forest fire near Rocky Mountain National Park destroyed structures near the mountain community of Estes Park. The Larimer County Sheriff's Office said Sunday that 22 homes and 2 outbuildings had been burned.

The Estes Park destroyed vacation cabins and closed the most commonly used entrance to the park. Clouds of smoke blew toward the 102-year-old Stanley Hotel that inspired Stephen King to write "The Shining."

Also over the weekend, residents of a subdivision near the northern Colorado city of Fort Collins learned that 57 more homes in their neighborhood had been lost to High Park fire, which already had claimed 191 homes, authorities said.

The High Park Fire is the second-largest wildfire and among the most expensive in Colorado's history. It has scorched more than 130 square miles and was just 45 percent contained on Sunday, The Denver Post reported.

With Colorado midway through its worst wildfire season in a decade, travelers have seen some of their favorite sites closed to the public, obscured by smoke and haze. Some travelers were awoken with evacuation orders.

Families planning whitewater rafting trips or visits to the stunning red-rock formations in Garden of the Gods park in Colorado Springs were instead spending their vacations passing out bottled water and setting up cots in evacuee centers.

They included Mark Stein of Morristown, N.J., whose family arrived after midnight Sunday at their Manitou Springs hotel for a week of whitewater rafting and sightseeing.

"We were sleeping for 15 minutes when they started knocking on the door ? a day from hell," Stein said of the day of travel. With his wife and two sons, Stein spent the first night of his vacation setting up cots for more than 200 evacuees who slept at the school.

"I think it's the best vacation ever. This is what the real world is about. There's a lot of people that need help," Stein said.

Also Sunday, a brushfire that began near Elbert, about 50 miles southwest of Denver, quickly spread to about 60 acres, forcing the evacuation of about 100 residents.

Elsewhere, firefighters contended with windy and heat as they battled wildfires in Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

? In Utah, a 15-square-mile blaze around Fountain Green in Sanpete County was threatening more than 359 permanent structures and 213 mobile homes and travel trailers in four rural subdivisions, forcing about 1,000 people to flee. BLM says the human-caused fire erupted Saturday afternoon. Officials report progress on a 9-square-mile wildfire around Saratoga Springs, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City.

? In Montana, two wildfires were burning in the southwest part of the state, including the fast-moving Antelope Fire, which started Saturday afternoon about 10 miles north of Whitehall and had grown to 462 acres on Sunday. About 100 firefighters were battling that blaze.

? In Arizona, the U.S. Forest Service said Sunday that containment against the Pecos Fire, just outside of Young, is up to 50 percent and remains under 12,000 acres. Officials say many of the firefighting resources are being released to their home units or to other fire assignments.

Associated Press

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What we don't know CAN subvert you | Financial IQ

As if a new years of financial dismay weren't adequate proof, a new counsel confirms that personal financial organisation is not a cunning suit.

Consider this from a National Foundation for Credit Counseling 2012 financial certification survey.

* More than half of Americans don't have a budget.

* 42 percent gave their personal financial trust a problem of C, D or F.

* 80 percent authorized they could advantage from recommendation from a financial professional.

"The pivotal reason display Americans know that they don't know," celebrated Gail Cunningham, clamp tutor of membership and open family for a NFCC. "Personal financial is undoubtedly complex; it's a relocating target, and that's given they're giving themselves bad grades and 80 percent yearning for information."

But a information is available in benefit and it's free. Local residents can get their fill on financial certification in workshops around Western New York.

Community organizations, like a Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Buffalo, offer a unconstrained choice of classes - from budgeting to credit rebuilding to borrowing home loans - that can assistance we get your financial castle in order.

"A lot of people scholarly their doctrine and are essential closer amenity to their finances, generally given 2008 when a financial star came crashing down," celebrated Paul C. Atkinson, CEO of a Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Buffalo, one of a NFCC's some-more than 750 community-based offices around a country. "We've seen a doubling in a past twin years in a gathering attendance; it's useful information."

Yet even with a recession-fueled spike in attendance, a spin of glamour in financial certification classes during NFCC sites ancient doesn't taunt with a exclusive reason of a survey, Cunningham said.

"We should have lines outmost of a doors, and we don't," she said.

Cunningham celebrated people customarily don't know about a financial certification opportunities. And for those who can't make it to a class, personal financial organisation information can be found online, during libraries and other sources.

Cunningham celebrated many privately trust their financial situations are over salvageable, "but they are doing themselves and their families a immeasurable subvert by not reaching out for help."

To take advantage of a middle offerings, a call to 211 is a good starting infer to get information on courses in your community. Financial certification isn't customarily for those grappling with income issues, though.

"It's for anybody, absolutely," Atkinson said. "Ninety percent of a people who enroll don't have a problem; these are people who don't wish to debate up." There is an hourlong, budgeting class, "DollarsSense," open to people as youthful as core schoolers.

"If they learn it now, it will lift over into adulthood," Atkinson said. "It's undoubtedly one of a many infamous collection any youthful management can have."

The Consumer Credit Counseling Service's "DollarsSense" and other workshops are reason monthly during a plcae in West Seneca. Upon request, a staff will multitude sessions during outpost centers, churches and schools.

The Creating Assets, SavingsHope Coalition, a cadre of some-more than 60 outpost financial use organizations committed to assisting low- to moderate-income families, also offers on-site workshops, dispatches experts to outpost sites and provides one-on-one sessions.

The Belmont Housing Resources for Western New York is a CASH member, and it offers financial classes for a clients and a whole public.

"The proceed for workshops has augmenting in a final few years," celebrated Sandra Becker, comparison housing procession manager, "people are treacherous to get their ducks in a disagree for financial sustainability and homeownership."

Here are some organizations that have ongoing workshops and training:

* Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Buffalo, 40 Gardenville Parkway, West Seneca; (716) 712-2064.

* HomeFront Buffalo, 780 Fillmore Ave.; (716) 856-2952.

* CASH Coalition, United Way of BuffaloErie County, 742 Delaware Ave.; for one-on-one mentoring and classification presentations, call Katie Lyons during (716) 887-2671.

* Jericho Road Ministries, 184 Barton St., training procession for refugees; (716) 348-3000.

* Belmont Housing Resources for WNY, 1195 Main St.; (716) 884-8026.

* ChildFamily Services, 330 Delaware Ave.; (716) 842-2750.

* Lt. Col. Matt Urban Hope Center, 385 Paderewski St.; (716) 893-7222

* Buffalo Federation of Neighborhood Centers, 97 Lemon St.; (716) 856-0363.

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Weirton July 4 parade plans set

WEIRTON - The Fourth of July is just around the corner and local residents are being called out to participate in Weirton's annual parade.

Each year, the city's Board of Parks and Recreation organizes the parade for the Fourth of July celebration prior to the Renaissance Weirton Festival, set to take place July 4.

Kevin Elias, programs director for the park board, said he would like to focus on making this year's parade a blow-out event. The theme for the 2012 Fourth of July Parade, according to Elias, is "Salute to Our History - Last Man Standing."

Elias said he feels it's important to send a message that Weirton continues to be filled with good people and community events. He said he has contacted each of the local high school bands, several area dance studios and several others wanting to participate in the city's showcase event.

The parade will begin at 10 a.m. along Main Street at the corner of Virginia Avenue proceeding south past the Millsop Community Center to Marland Heights Road.

Applications are still being accepted and anyone wanting to take part in the parade can do so by filling out an application at the Millsop Community Center or mail it to Weirton Fourth of July Parade, 3420 Main St., Weirton, W.Va. 26062.

There is no fee to participate.

For more information about the parade or to register, contact Elias at 797-5721.

(Dickson can be contacted at adickson@weirtondailytimes.com)

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Greek finance minister resigns, crisis deepens

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Islamist Morsi elected Egypt's president

CAIRO (AP) ? Islamist Mohammed Morsi was declared the winner Sunday in Egypt's first free presidential election in history, closing the tumultuous first phase of a democratic transition and opening a new struggle with the still-dominant military rulers who recently stripped the presidency of most of its powers.

In Tahrir Square, the birthplace of the uprising that ousted autocratic President Hosni Mubarak, joyous supporters of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood wept and kneeled on the ground in prayer when they heard the announcement on live television. They danced, set off fireworks and released doves in the air with Morsi's picture attached in celebrations not seen in the square since Mubarak was forced out on Feb. 11, 2011.

Many are looking now to see whether Morsi will try to take on the military and wrestle back the powers they took from his office just one week ago. Thousands vowed to remain in Tahrir to demand that the ruling generals reverse their decision.

In his first televised speech, the 60-year old U.S.-trained engineer called on Egyptians to unite and tried to reassure minority Christians, who mostly backed Morsi's rival Ahmed Shafiq because they feared Islamic rule.

He said he carries "a message of peace" to the world and pledged to preserve Egypt's international accords, a reference to the peace deal with Israel.

He also paid tribute to nearly 900 protesters killed in last year's uprising.

"I wouldn't have been here between your hands as the first elected president without ... the blood, the tears, and sacrifices of the martyrs," he said.

In the lengthy and redundant speech, Morsi appeared to be struggling to compose his sentences. Wearing a blue suit and tie, he looked stiff and uncomfortable and did not smile throughout as he read from a paper. He was non-confrontational and did not mention the last-minute power grab by the ruling military, instead praising the armed forces.

The White House congratulated Morsi and urged him to advance national unity as he forms a new government. White House press secretary Jay Carney said Morsi's victory is a milestone in Egypt's transition to democracy after decades of authoritarian rule under Mubarak. The Obama administration had expressed no public preference in the presidential race.

Left on the sidelines of the political drama are the liberal and secular youth groups that drove the uprising against Mubarak, left to wonder whether Egypt has taken a step towards becoming an Islamist state. Some grudgingly supported Morsi in the face of Shafiq, who was Mubarak's last prime minister, while others boycotted the vote.

Morsi will now have to reassure them that he represents the whole country, not just Islamists, and will face enormous challenges after security and the economy badly deteriorated in the transition period.

Pro-democracy leader Mohammed ElBaradei urged unity after the results were announced.

"It is time we work all as Egyptians as part of a national consensus to build Egypt that is based on freedom and social justice," he wrote on his Twitter account.

The elections left the nation deeply polarized with one side backing Shafiq, who promised to provide stability and prevent Egypt from becoming a theocracy. Because of his military career, many saw him as the military's preferred candidate.

In the other camp are those eager for democratic change and backers of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood who were persecuted, jailed and banned under Mubarak but now find themselves one of the two most powerful groups in Egypt.

The other power center is the ruling military council that took power after the uprising and is headed by Mubarak's defense minister of 20 years.

Just one week ago, at the moment polls were closing in the presidential runoff, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) issued constitutional amendments that stripped the president's office of most of its major powers. The ruling generals made themselves the final arbiters over the most pressing issues still complicating the transition? such as writing the constitution, legislating, passing the state budget? and granted military police broad powers to detain civilians.

"I am happy the Brotherhood won because now the revolution will continue on the street against both of them, the Brotherhood and the SCAF," said Lobna Darwish, an activist who has boycotted the elections.

Also, a few days before that constitutional declaration, a court dissolved the freely elected parliament, which is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, leaving the military now in charge of legislating.

Brotherhood members and experts said the results were used a bargaining chip between the generals and the Brotherhood over the parameters of what appears to be a new power-sharing agreement. The country's new constitution is not written and the authorities of the president are not clear.

This is the first time modern Egypt will be headed by an Islamist and by a freely elected civilian. The country's last four presidents over the past six decades have all came from the ranks of the military.

"Congratulations because this means the end of the Mubarak state," said Shady el-Ghazali Harb, a prominent activist who was among the leaders of the protests in January and February last year.

The results of the elections were delayed for four days amid accusations of manipulation and foul play by both sides, raising political tensions in Egypt to a fever pitch.

The delay plunged the country into nerve-wrecking anticipation and pushed tensions to a fever pitch. Parallel mass rallies by Shafiq and Morsi supporters were held in different parts of Cairo and cut-throat media attacks by supporters of both swarmed TV shows. In the hours before the announcement of the winner, the fear of new violence was palpable.

Heavy security was deployed around the country, especially outside state institutions, in anticipation of possible violence. Workers were sent home early from jobs, jewelry stores closed for fear of looting and many were stocking up on food and forming long lines at cash machines in case new troubles began.

Morsi narrowly defeated Shafiq with 51.7 percent of the vote versus 48.3, by a margin of only 800,000 votes, the election commission said. Turnout was 51 percent.

Farouk Sultan, the head of the commission, described the elections as "an important phase in the end of building our nascent democratic experience."

Sultan went to pains to explain the more than 400 complaints presented by the two candidates challenging counting procedures and alleging attempts of rigging. It appeared to be an attempt to discredit claims that the election commission was biased in favor of Shafiq, the candidate perceived as backed by the military rulers.

The country is deeply divided between supporters of the Brotherhood, liberals and leftists who also decided to back them as a way to stand up to the military, and other secular forces that fear the domination of the Brotherhood, and grew critical of it in the past year. The small margin of victory for Morsi also sets him for a strong opposition from supporters of Shafiq, viewed as a representative of the old regime.

Naguib Sawiris, a Coptic Christian business tycoon who joined a liberal bloc in voicing opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood a day before the results were announced, said he expects the new president to send a reassuring message to Egypt's Christian minority who represent around 10 percent of the population of 85 million.

"There are fears of imposing an Islamic state ... where Christians don't have same rights," Sawiris told the private TV station CBC. Morsi "is required to prove the opposite. ... We don't want speeches or promises but in the coming period, it is about taking action. ... He was not our choice but we are accepting it is a democratic choice."

Hamdeen Sabahi, a leftist presidential candidate who came in a surprising third place in the first round of elections, asked Morsi to live up to his pledges to form a national coalition government and appoint presidential aides from different groups "that express the largest national consensus."

Khaled Abdel-Hamid, a leading leftist politician, said Morsi must fight to get his powers back or he will lose any popular support he may have garnered.

"If he fights to get his power back, we will support him. But if he doesn't fight back, then he is settling for siding with the military," he said.

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