Freedom in the balance

September 24, 2013 - Daily News Briefing

Civil society needs protection from becoming a soft target, but it cannot pay for that protection with the loss of essential freedom.

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The number of immigrants crossing the border illegally into the US appears to be on the rise again after dropping during the recession. The total number of immigrants living in the US unlawfully edged up from 11.3 million in 2009 to 11.7 million last year, with those from countries other than Mexico at an apparent all-time high, according to a report released Monday by the Pew Research Center’s Hispanic Trends Project.

Angry Pakistani Christians on Monday denounced the deadliest attack ever in their country against members of their faith as the death toll from the church bombings the day before climbed to 85. A pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up amid hundreds of worshippers outside a historic church in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday.

Torrential monsoon rains hit the northwestern Philippines on Monday, triggering landslides and killing 20 people in areas already weakened by a powerful typhoon, and raising the death toll to 47 from storms across Asia.

US Airways and American Airlines are extending their merger deadline by a month to give themselves time for the antitrust trial scheduled for November. That trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 25. Their original agreement allowed either side to call off the merger on Dec. 17, but the trial might not be done by then. The new agreement extends that period until Jan. 18, or later if the court rules in favor of the airlines.

Apple says shoppers snapped up 9 million of its newest iPhones since the devices were launched Friday, and that demand is exceeding supply for the low-cost 5C and top-of-the-line 5S models.

US Navy officials are moving to close gaps in the security clearance process, recommending that all police reports involving an individual must be included when a background check is done. A week after Aaron Alexis, a former Navy reservist, gunned down 12 workers at the Washington Navy Yard, defense officials acknowledged that a lot of red flags were missed in his background, allowing him to maintain a secret security clearance and work as a Navy contractor despite a string of police and behavioral problems.

BlackBerry has agreed to a $4.7 billion sale to a group led by its largest shareholder, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., after new smart phones failed to turn the company around. The deal comes just days after the Canadian company announced plans to lay off 40 percent of its global workforce.

Facing a possible firing, Lois Lerner, the Internal Revenue Service official at the center of the agency’s tea party scandal, retired Monday, ending one chapter in a scandal that has engulfed the tax-collection agency since spring. While she was in charge, the agency acknowledged that agents improperly targeted tea party groups for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status during the 2010 and 2012 elections.

Compiled from wire service reports

Apple says shoppers snapped up 9 million of its newest iPhones since the devices were launched Friday, and that demand is exceeding supply for the low-cost 5C and top-of-the-line 5S models.

Compiled from wire service reports

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