Friday, June 28, 2013

3rd man held in Aaron Hernandez murder probe; Puma drops NFL star

Law enforcement officials have confirmed that Aaron Hernandez, who has been charged in the murder of Odin Lloyd, is also being investigated for two 2012 murders. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports and NBC legal analyst Lisa Bloom discusses the revelations.

By Richard Esposito and Erin McClam, NBC News

A third man was in custody Friday in Florida in an expanding murder investigation swirling around Aaron Hernandez, the star NFL tight end accused of orchestrating the shooting death of a friend.

Massachusetts State Police

Ernest Wallace, 41, known as ?Fish,? turned himself in in the Miami suburb of Miramar, police said. Massachusetts police had said they were seeking him as an accessory after murder, and that he was considered armed and dangerous. They were on their way to Florida to pick him up, NBC affiliate WHDH in Boston reported.

Hernandez, an All-Pro who was released by the New England Patriots after his arrest earlier this week, is charged with first-degree murder in the execution of the friend, Odin Lloyd. He was denied a second request for bail Thursday.

Sources told NBC News that he was being investigated in another case ? the drive-by killings of two men in Boston last year. The men were shot to death in an SUV after leaving a nightclub.

Hernandez, who is being held in a Massachusetts jail, lost a second endorsement deal Thursday. The Puma sportswear company, which signed Hernandez to a two-year deal in April, told CNBC it was ending the relationship ?in light of the current situation.? CytoSport, maker of the Muscle Milk supplement drink, dropped Hernandez as a pitchman last week.

Authorities have said Hernandez took part in Lloyd?s killing in the early hours of June 17 after summoning two friends from out of state. Lloyd?s body was found in an industrial park near Hernandez?s home in North Attleborough, Mass. Hernandez has pleaded not guilty.

Connecticut authorities said Thursday that they had charged another man in connection with Lloyd?s killing ? Carlos Ortiz of Bristol, the city where Hernandez grew up. He was charged as a fugitive and agreed to return to Massachusetts, authorities said.

Authorities have not spelled out the connection they believe Wallace and Ortiz have to the killing. They have said Lloyd was killed by two shots fired from someone standing above him, but they have not said who they believe pulled the trigger.

Ortiz was being held on $1.5 million bail. His public defender declined comment on Thursday.

Prosecutors say that text messages ? including from Lloyd to his sister when he was worried about his safety ? and surveillance video are part of their case against Hernandez. The judge who denied his second request for bail, Renee Dupuis of Superior Court in Fall River, described the state?s case as ?circumstantial but very, very strong.?

Prosecutors said they had uncovered four new pieces of evidence in less than 24 hours after searching a condo leased by Hernandez. They said they had found ammunition, a clip and a picture of Hernandez with a Glock handgun.

William McCauley, an assistant district attorney, also said that Hernandez had interfered with the investigation by home surveillance-camera video and instructing his girlfriend not to talk to investigators.

?The evidence of his guilt is overwhelming,? prosecutor William McCauley said.

Hernandez?s lawyers argued that he deserved bail because of his upstanding character and clean record, and because he was not a risk to flee. They noted that he stayed put last week, when rumors circulated that Hernandez was about to be arrested.

Related:?

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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Texts, video cited in charges against Hernandez

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, left, stands with his attorney Michael Fee, right, during arraignment in Attleboro District Court Wednesday, June 26, in Attleboro, Mass. Hernandez was charged with murdering Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits, whose body was found June 17 in an industrial park in North Attleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/The Sun Chronicle, Mike George, Pool)

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, left, stands with his attorney Michael Fee, right, during arraignment in Attleboro District Court Wednesday, June 26, in Attleboro, Mass. Hernandez was charged with murdering Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits, whose body was found June 17 in an industrial park in North Attleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/The Sun Chronicle, Mike George, Pool)

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, left, stands with his attorney Michael Fee, right, during arraignment in Attleboro District Court Wednesday, June 26, in Attleboro, Mass. Hernandez was charged with murdering Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits, whose body was found June 17 in an industrial park in North Attleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/The Sun Chronicle, Mike George, Pool)

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, left, stands with his attorney Michael Fee, right, during arraignment in Attleboro District Court Wednesday, June 26, in Attleboro, Mass. Hernandez was charged with murdering Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits, whose body was found June 17 in an industrial park in North Attleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/The Sun Chronicle, Mike George, Pool)

FILE - This Dec. 25, 2012 file photo taken by a sister and provided by the Boston Bandits football team shows Odin Lloyd, 27, whose body was found Monday, June 17, 2013 in an industrial park in North Attleborough, Mass. Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was arraigned Wednesday, June 26, 2013, on a charge of murdering Lloyd. (AP Photo/Lloyd family via the Boston Bandits, File)

Family of Odin Lloyd react during the arraignment of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez in Attleboro District Court Wednesday, June 26, in Attleboro, Mass. Hernandez was charged with murdering Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits, whose body was found June 17 in an industrial park in North Attleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/The Sun Chronicle, Mike George, Pool)

(AP) ? In the final minutes of his life, Odin Lloyd sent a series of texts to his sister.

"Did you see who I was with?" said the first, at 3:07 a.m. June 17. "Who?" she finally replied.

"NFL," he texted back, then added: "Just so you know."

It was 3:23 a.m. Moments later, Lloyd would be dead in what a prosecutor called an execution-style shooting orchestrated by New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez because his friend talked to the wrong people at a nightclub. Hernandez was charged Wednesday with murder.

Hernandez was cut from the NFL team less than two hours after he was arrested and led from his North Attleborough home in handcuffs, and nine days after Lloyd's body was discovered by a jogger in a remote area of an industrial park not far from Hernandez's home. The 2011 Pro Bowl selection had signed a five-year contract last summer with the Patriots worth $40 million.

His attorney, Michael Fee, called the case circumstantial during a Wednesday afternoon court hearing packed with reporters, curiosity seekers and police officers. Fee said there was a "rather hysterical atmosphere" surrounding the case and urged the judge to disregard his client's celebrity status as he asked for Hernandez, 23, to be released on bail.

The judge, though, ordered Hernandez held without bail on the murder charge and five weapons counts. If convicted, Hernandez could get life in prison without parole.

Hernandez stood impassively with his hands cuffed in front of him as Bristol County Assistant District Attorney Bill McCauley laid out a detailed timeline of the events, cobbled together from sources including witnesses, surveillance video, text messages and data from cellphone towers.

Lloyd, 27, a semi-pro football player with the Boston Bandits, had known Hernandez for about a year and was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee, the mother of Hernandez's 8-month-old baby, McCauley said.

On June 14, Lloyd went with Hernandez to a Boston club, Rumor. McCauley said Hernandez was upset Lloyd had talked to people there with whom Hernandez had trouble. He did not elaborate.

Two days later, McCauley said, on June 16, Hernandez texted two unidentified friends. He asked them to hurry to Massachusetts from Connecticut. At 9:05 p.m., a few minutes after the first message to his friends, Hernandez texted Lloyd to tell him he wanted to get together, McCauley said.

Later, surveillance footage from Hernandez's home showed his friends arrive and go inside. Hernandez, holding a gun, then told someone in the house he was upset and couldn't trust anyone anymore, the prosecutor said.

At 1:12 a.m., the three left in Hernandez's rented silver Nissan Altima, McCauley said. Cell towers tracked their movements to a gas station off the highway. There, he said, Hernandez bought blue Bubblicious gum.

At 2:32 a.m., they arrived outside Lloyd's home in Boston and texted him that they were there. McCauley said Lloyd's sister saw him get into Hernandez's car.

From there, surveillance cameras captured images of what the prosecutor said was Hernandez driving the silver Altima through Boston. As they drove back toward North Attleborough, Hernandez told Lloyd he was upset about what happened at the club and didn't trust him, McCauley said. That was when Lloyd began sending texts to his sister.

Surveillance video showed the car entering the industrial park and at 3:23 a.m. driving down a gravel road near where Lloyd's body was found. Four minutes later, McCauley said, the car emerged. During that period, employees working an overnight shift nearby heard several gunshots, McCauley said.

McCauley said Lloyd was shot multiple times, including twice from above as he was lying on the ground. He said five .45 caliber casings were found at the scene.

Authorities did not say who fired the shots or identify the two others with Hernandez.

At 3:29 a.m., surveillance at Hernandez's house showed him arriving, McCauley said.

"The defendant was walking through the house with a gun in his hand. That's captured on video," he said.

His friend is also seen holding a gun, and neither weapon has been found, McCauley said.

Then, the surveillance system stopped recording, and footage was missing from the six to eight hours after the slaying, he said.

The afternoon of June 17, the prosecutor said, Hernandez returned the rental car, offering the attendant a piece of blue Bubblicious gum when he dropped it off. While cleaning the car, the attendant found a piece of blue Bubblicious gum and a shell casing, which he threw away. Police later searched the trash bin and found the gum and the casing. The prosecutor said it was tested and matched the casings found where Lloyd was killed.

As McCauley outlined the killing, Lloyd's family members cried and held each other. Two were so overcome that they had to leave the courtroom.

The Patriots said in a statement after Hernandez's arrest but before the murder charge was announced that cutting Hernandez was "the right thing to do."

"Words cannot express the disappointment we feel knowing that one of our players was arrested as a result of this investigation," it said.

Hernandez, originally from Bristol, Conn., was drafted by the Patriots in 2010 out of the University of Florida, where he was an All-American.

During the draft, one team said it wouldn't take him under any circumstances, and he was passed over by one club after another before New England picked him in the fourth round. Afterward, Hernandez said he had failed a drug test in college ? reportedly for marijuana ? and was up front with teams about it.

A Florida man filed a lawsuit last week claiming Hernandez shot him in the face after they argued at a strip club in February.

Hernandez became a father on Nov. 6 and said he intended to change his ways: "Now, another one is looking up to me. I can't just be young and reckless Aaron no more. I'm going to try to do the right things."

___

Associated Press writers Bridget Murphy in Boston and Howard Ulman in North Attleborough contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-27-Hernandez-Police/id-77a1132e687d417ab840a4fc2be1d099

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Lenovo IdeaPad S405


As a budget system, the Lenovo IdeaPad S405 comes with all the usual caveats: lower quality construction, fewer features, and good-enough hardware. That said, for an inexpensive laptop that will get you online and get you through your homework, the Lenovo IdeaPad S405 looks good, has passable performance, and does it all for an affordable price.

Design
The IdeaPad S405 looks sleek with a metallic finish, but it's superficial, with its 3.4 pound chassis made largely out of plastic. Measuring 0.83 by 13.2 by 9.5 inches (HWD), it is reasonably slim for a low-priced laptop, but the chassis flexes and bows noticeably whenever you pick up the laptop by the corner or type on the keyboard.

The 14-inch display offers standard 1,366-by-768 resolution, high enough for 720p video and side-by-side multitasking, but no support for full HD content. The TFT Color LCD display is best viewed head-on, as the viewing angles are quite narrow, and even when viewed at a slight angle?as one would when sharing a video with someone?I saw color distortion.

The keyboard, though made by Lenovo, doesn't feel as luxurious as on more expensive models, largely due to the all plastic construction. The keyboard flexes as you type, and the keys don't quite have the solid smooth feel experienced on other (pricier) IdeaPad laptops. That said, the sculpted keycaps and relatively smooth key movement is better than you'll get on most laptops in this price range.

The IdeaPad S405 is equipped with two-watt speakers and Dolby Advanced Audio v2, but sound quality was good, not great. When testing the bass with Silent Shout by the Knife, you could hear the bass, but it was empty. When testing treble and volume with Jimi Hendrix's Bold as Love instrumental, the speakers initially produced clear sound sound, but the clarity dropped off the higher the volume went. At full volume, there's enough oomph to fill a large room, but you won't be able to ignore the buzz that comes with it.

Features
The IdeaPad S405 is outfitted with a modest collection of ports, with two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port, an HDMI port, SD card slot, and a compact Ethernet port. While you also have 802.11n Wi-Fi, you won't find Bluetooth?that's one of the compromises you'll make for the lower price. Lenovo also has built in its OneKey Recovery, which gives you a single button to restore your system in the event of a crash or other problem.

The IdeaPad S405 features a 500GB, 5,400 rpm hard drive, which isn't particularly large, but is a common size in value-priced systems. You won't have all 500GB available out of the box, however, with space being occupied by the operating system?Windows 8 (64-bit)?a recovery partition, and several preinstalled programs. On the start screen you'll find several apps, like AccuWeather, Kindle Reader, Rara Music, Evernote, and a 60-day trial of Microsoft Office 2013. Dig in further on the desktop side and you'll also find McAfee Internet Security, Lenovo Cloud Storage (with SugarSync), and Nitro Pro PDF reader. Lenovo covers the IdeaPad S405 with a one-year limited warranty on parts and labor.

Performance
Lenovo IdeaPad S405 The Lenovo IdeaPad S405 uses a 2.1GHz AMD A6-4455M APU paired with 4GB of RAM. AMD uses a slightly different take on the CPU, which AMD calls the APU, which puts the processor and the accompanying graphics processor?an AMD Radeon HD 7500G?on the same chip die. This isn't the newest processor to begin with (this same processor was actually used in the HP Envy Sleekbook 6z-1000 last August), and when stacked against the Intel Core processors used in competing systems, like the Acer Aspire V5-571-6891 and Toshiba Satellite C875-S7340, it has a tough time keeping up. In Cinebench, the IdeaPad S405 scored 0.79 points, falling far behind the Acer V5-571-6891 (1.80 points) and Toshiba C875-S7340 (2.41 points). Even the similarly-equipped HP Envy Sleekbook 6z-1000 pulled ahead (0.87 points).

Lenovo IdeaPad S405

This performance gap was made all the more obvious in our Handbrake and Photoshop tests, which the IdeaPad S405 crawled through in 4 minutes 14 seconds and 11:33, respectively. By comparison the Lenovo G580 completed those same tasks in less than half the time (1:18 Handbrake; 5:32 Photoshop), and the Toshiba C875-S7340 wasn't far behind (1:28 Handbrake; 5:47 Photoshop). The IdeaPad S405 will be fine for light productivity and Web browsing, but it will slow down dramatically in any processor intensive application.

Despite the inclusion of the AMD Radeon HD 7500G graphics processor, the IdeaPad S405 had somewhat limited graphics capability. Though sufficient for Web browsing and video playback, gaming performance will be limited to online and casual games, not the high-performance games often associated with a discrete graphics card.

The IdeaPad S405's 4-cell lithium-ion battery did reasonably well in our battery rundown test, lasting 4 hours 7 minutes, identical to the class-leading Acer V5-571-6891 (4:07). This is actually one area where the IdeaPad S405 outperformed its rivals, with the Toshiba C875-S7340 lasting a mere 2:39.

Conclusion
Some value-priced laptops offer more than simple affordability, with features and components that belie the budget-friendly price. While these systems may cut corners with wobbly construction or a trimmed down feature set, they do so while still delivering adequate performance. The Lenovo IdeaPad S405 is definitely affordable, but it comes with too many shortcomings to recommend?the sluggish performance and limited capability are too much to give up for the price. For a similar price without the compromises, we recommend the Editors' Choice Lenovo G580.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/86_f3omB8RI/0,2817,2421038,00.asp

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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Op-Ed: Arts Education Is Critical to Student Success

Have you ever wondered what the world would look like if there were no artists? You would not have clothes, furniture, jewelry, electronics, transportation, cell phones, buildings, toys, or websites. The list goes on and on, yet art is often absent from our daily thoughts.

I teach a commercial art class. Last year I had a mother who took her daughter out of my class. She thanked me for teaching her daughter a nice hobby, but she wanted her to be able to get a real job.

Many people do not understand that art is a crucial component to a well-rounded education. Art education develops critical thinking, problem-solving and hand-eye coordination. It provides a vehicle to explore the possibilities and limitations of materials, and encourages children to use their imaginations. It is an outlet that lets children express how they feel, think, and view the world in ways they may not be able to say with words.


Visual arts teaches students that problems can have more than one solution, and questions can have more than one answer. Unlike academic curriculums in which correct answers and rules prevail, art is based on observational judgment rather than a scantron.

The National Art Education Association published the report?Learning in a Visual Age: The Critical Importance of Visual Arts Education. It states, ?Art education opens the possibility for creating new worlds, rather than simply accepting the world as it is?students learn a great deal in high-quality visual arts classes that is not captured on standardized tests? teaching students to be creative is a deliberate process, much like teaching students to be literate or to be able to solve mathematics problems.?

Years of research show that art education stimulates and develops the imagination and critical thinking, and refines cognitive and creative skills.


Many people in academia, and the business world, still may think that art is a cute hobby for old ladies and not see it as benefiting other subjects. As an art teacher, I know and have seen how art benefits my students. In one art lesson, I can teach mathematics, language arts, history, and world culture before any student picks up a paintbrush. I tell my students that drawing and painting is easy; it is developing the thought process that is challenging.

Many people know of Da Vinci?s famous Mona Lisa?or The Last Supper, but they don?t know that he was also an architect, engineer, and a scientist.? Think about what inspired Da Vinci?s inventions and how he translated them through his artwork.

A blog post on Psychology Today raised a question about the benefits of the arts in other subjects: ?Let?s see what happens when we start throwing out all the science and technology that the arts have made possible. The fact is that the arts foster innovation?almost all Nobel laureates in the sciences actively engage in arts.?

Art education has many obstacles to overcome, not the least of which is how it?s devalued by often not being required for graduation.?It will continue to face these challenges until it becomes a necessary part of school curriculum.?


Related stories on TakePart:

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/op-ed-arts-education-critical-student-success-130000391.html

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IT?S THE ARTS with Unqualified Offerings (Unqualified Offerings)

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Chicken in Teen Diet May Ward Off Colon Cancer

Eating chicken during high school may reduce the risk of a precancerous condition that may develop into colon cancer, a new study finds.

In a study of nearly 20,000 women, those who ate more chicken during their teen years had lower risks of developing colorectal adenomas, which are benign tumors that may progress into colon cancer.

The researchers didn't find a direct relationship between red meat intake and adenomas, but the results showed that replacing one serving per day of red meat with one serving of poultry or fish may reduce the risks of rectal and advanced adenomas by about 40 percent.

"Among different cancers, colorectal cancer is the most influenced by diet," said study researcher Dr. Katharina Nimptsch. "Compared to something like smoking, diet is not a large cancer risk factor, but it does have an impact."

Previous research has found that a diet high in red and processed meat may increase risks of colon cancer. Other risk factors for developing colon cancer include heavy alcohol consumption, lack of exercise, as well as diabetes and a diet rich in fat.

However, previous studies have investigated diet during adulthood, rather than focusing on what people eat earlier in life, and their future cancer risk.

"Colorectal carcinogenesis is a long process that can take several decades, and the initial steps of carcinogenesis may occur at young ages," the researchers wrote in their study.

In the study, 19,771 women ages 34 to 51 answered questions about their diet during high school. Over the following 10 years, 1,494 of the women were diagnosed with colorectal adenomas. Of these adenomas, 305 were in an advanced stage.

"Our findings do not suggest an association between red meat intake during adolescence and colorectal adenomas later in life, but higher poultry intake during this time was associated with a lower risk of colorectal adenomas," the researchers said.

Eating more poultry and fish in adulthood didn't seem to change the risk, according to the study.

The researchers found it surprising that the results didn't show a link between red meat and the risk of adenomas, Nimptsch said. "When you look at the amount of meat people ate, it was really high." However, there were few women in the study who ate very little red meat; perhaps there was not enough variation to see a significant difference in risk, she said.

As with other observational studies, the findings cannot show a cause-and-effect relationship. "Before recommendations are made based on these findings, it is necessary that results are confirmed," Nimptsch said.

The results add to previous evidence that eating poultry may decrease risk of colon cancer. However, what mechanism might underlie the link remains unclear.

The study was published June 19 in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
?

Email Bahar Gholipour or follow her @alterwired. Follow?LiveScience?@livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chicken-teen-diet-may-ward-off-colon-cancer-140123085.html

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Monday, June 24, 2013

Russia defiant over NSA leaker

By Lidia Kelly and James Pomfret

MOSCOW/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Russia defied White House pressure on Monday to expel former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden to the United States before he flees Moscow on the next stop of his globe-crossing escape from U.S. prosecution.

Snowden, whose exposure of secret U.S. government surveillance raised questions about intrusions into private lives, was allowed to leave Hong Kong on Sunday after Washington asked the Chinese territory to arrest him on espionage charges.

The 30-year-old flew to Moscow as a transit stop before heading elsewhere, several sources said. But reports he would fly to Cuba were put in doubt when witnesses could not see him on the plane, despite heightened security before take-off.

Ecuador, which has sheltered the founder of the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy organization, Julian Assange, said it was considering Snowden's request for asylum. There is no direct flight to Quito from Moscow.

"He didn't take the flight (to Havana)," a source at Russia's national airline Aeroflot told Reuters.

As speculation mounted about where he would go next - Ecuador, Venezuela or Havana at a later date to escape the crowd of journalists on board Monday's flight - Washington was stung by Russian defiance.

Snowden's flight to Russia, which like China challenges U.S. dominance of global diplomacy, is an embarrassment to President Barack Obama who has tried to "reset" ties with Moscow and build a partnership with Beijing.

The White House said it expected the Russian government to send Snowden back to the United States and lodged "strong objections" to Hong Kong and China for letting him go.

But the Russian government ignored the appeal and President Vladimir Putin's press secretary denied any knowledge of Snowden's movements.

Asked if Snowden had spoken to the Russian authorities, Peskov said: "Overall, we have no information about him."

He declined comment on the expulsion request but other Russian officials said Moscow had no obligation to cooperate with Washington, after it passed legislation to impose visa bans and asset freezes on Russians accused of violating human rights.

U.S. HYPOCRISY

"Why should the United States expect restraint and understanding from Russia?" said Alexei Pushkov, the head of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house of parliament.

Putin has missed few chances to champion public figures who challenge Western governments and to portray Washington as an overzealous global policeman. But Russian leaders have not paraded Snowden before the cameras or trumpeted his arrival.

Since leaving Hong Kong, where he feared arrest and extradition, Snowden has been searching for a country that can guarantee his security.

Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino, on a trip to Vietnam, said Quito would analyze his asylum request with a "lot of responsibility". He was expected to hold a news conference around 7 p.m. (1200 GMT) in Hanoi.

A source at Aeroflot said on Sunday Snowden was booked on the flight due to depart for Havana on Monday at 2:05 p.m. (1005 GMT). But a correspondent aboard could not see him and the seat he was supposed to occupy, 17a, was taken by another passenger.

A State Department official said Washington had told countries in the Western Hemisphere that Snowden "should not be allowed to proceed in any further international travel, other than is necessary to return him to the United States".

Despite the Kremlin denials, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer said Putin had probably known about and approved Snowden's flight to Russia.

"Putin always seems almost eager to stick a finger in the eye of the United States," Schumer, a senior Senate Democrat, told CNN's "State of the Union". He also saw "the hand of Beijing" in Hong Kong's decision to let Snowden leave.

But taking the higher ground after being accused of hacking computers abroad, the Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed "grave concern" over Snowden's allegations that the United States had hacked computers in China.

It said it had taken up the issue with Washington.

CHILL

Some Russians have praised Snowden's revelations. Others fear a new chill in relations with the United States.

"We are a pretty stubborn country and so is the United States. Both are mighty countries, so I would say this has a good potential to turn into a big fuss in bilateral relations," said Ina Sosna, manager of a Moscow cleaning company.

"I guess it would be best if they just let him move on from Russia to avoid any more controversy over him being here."

Snowden was assisted in his escape by WikiLeaks, whose founder Assange said he had helped to arrange documents from Ecuador.

Ecuador, like Cuba and Venezuela, is a member of the ALBA bloc, an alliance of leftist governments in Latin America that pride themselves on their "anti-imperialist" credentials. The Quito government has been sheltering Assange at its London embassy for the past year.

The New York Times quoted Assange as saying in an interview that his group had arranged for Snowden to travel on a "special refugee document" issued by Ecuador last Monday.

U.S. sources said Washington had revoked Snowden's passport. WikiLeaks said diplomats and Sarah Harrison, a British legal researcher working for the anti-secrecy group, accompanied him.

Snowden, who had worked at a U.S. National Security Agency facility in Hawaii, had been hiding in Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to China in 1997, since leaking details about secret U.S. surveillance programs to news media.

Snowden has been charged with theft of federal government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence to an unauthorized person, with the latter two charges falling under the U.S. Espionage Act.

(Corrects Snowden's age from 29 to 30 in paragraph 3)

(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska and Alexei Anishchuk in Moscow, Martin Petty in Hanoi, Sui-Lee Weein in Beijing,; Andrew Cawthorne, Mario Naranjo and Daniel Wallis in Caracas, Alexandra Valencia in Quito and Mark Felsenthal, Paul Eckert and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Writing by Timothy Heritage and Elizabeth Piper, Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-warns-countries-against-snowden-travel-014740817.html

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