National Guard in tornado-hit Mass. areas
SPRINGFIELD, Mass., June 2 (UPI) -- Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick ordered National Guard troops to help with search efforts in Springfield, hard hit by deadly tornadoes.
Declaring a state of emergency, Patrick said at least 19 communities in western and central Massachusetts reported damage from Wednesday's tornadoes and he asked community officials to close schools and keep non-emergency personnel home Thursday so crews could clear debris, The Boston Globe reported.
Officials said two deaths were reported in West Springfield, one in Springfield, and one in Brimfield.
"We are in an emergency situation," the governor said, noting officials reported instances of looting in Springfield and describing damage as extensive.
"We are hoping and praying and working as hard as possible to keep the fatalities limited to those [confirmed] four," he said.
Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency officials said by 8 p.m. Wednesday 20 communities reported tornado touchdowns. They said National Guard troops would help clearing trees and conducting wellness checks.
"We're accustomed to seeing one to three tornado warnings or watches a year," Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency spokesman Scott MacLeod said. "This is not a regular natural hazard we're faced with in Massachusetts. This is absolutely very serious."
Local government officials reported tornadoes in Springfield and neighboring communities blew out windows, toppled trees, flipped vehicles and ripped roofs off buildings.
Early Thursday, it was unclear how much damage had been done in Springfield, although officials said they received reports of destruction from every corner of the city, CNN reported.
"I can tell you the damage is extensive. It is very difficult getting around the city," Fire Commissioner Gary Cassanelli said. "The fire crews are having a tough time."
"We are in triage right now," Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno said late Wednesday. "We are in life-saving mode."
Power companies throughout Massachusetts reported more than 50,000 customers were without power by 9 p.m. and many live wires were down. Boston's Logan International Airport began stopping planes from landing shortly before 7 p.m.
"The description of the damage is heartbreaking, but I will do everything I can to make the recovery process start immediately," said Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., who represents the Springfield area.
In Monson, the Rev. Robert Marrone of the First Church of Monson said he could see the storm's destruction, the Springfield Republican reported.
"I can see the plywood of roofs, and see houses where most of the house is gone," said Marrone, adding that the winds tore off the church's steeple and clock. "The road that runs up in front of my house ... there're so many trees down, it's completely impassable."
Japan: Kan survives no-confidence motion
TOKYO, June 2 (UPI) -- Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan Thursday beat back a no-confidence motion by announcing ahead of a vote he would leave once the nuclear crisis is contained.
The embattled leader, who has been in office for only a year, had faced the no-confidence motion brought by opposition Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers unhappy with his handling of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, set off by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
His announcement to quit prior to the vote on the motion helped change the minds of several members of the lower house of parliament, Kyodo News reported.
"I want the younger generation to take over my duties after I fulfill the role I should play'' in containing the disaster and in the reconstruction effort, Kan told a meeting of his ruling party.
The BBC reported Thursday's developments gave Kan a few more months to remain in office, but the rebellion in his party may have further weakened him as some senior party members had indicated their support for the motion.
Romney enters with 'stronger organization'
STRATHAM, N.H., June 2 (UPI) -- Presumptive GOP front-runner Mitt Romney announces his U.S. presidential candidacy with a "leaner but stronger organization," his campaign spokeswoman said.
The former Massachusetts governor, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination for the second time, plans Thursday to enter the race at a chili cookout on a 300-acre farm owned by former New Hampshire House Speaker Doug Scamman and his wife, Stella.
The Bittersweet Farm announcement in Stratham, N.H., 50 miles southeast of a home Romney owns in Wolfeboro, N.H., is to take place around the same time former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- who is the subject of much speculation as to whether she will seek the nomination -- is scheduled to appear in Boston.
Palin is to arrive in New Hampshire later Thursday, as is former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, also said to be considering seeking the Republican nomination, who will headline a GOP fundraiser in Concord, N.H., The Wall Street Journal reported.
"We are a leaner but stronger organization" than in 2008, Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul told The Washington Post.
The tightly knit team isn't entirely by design, the Post said.
Some former supporters defected because, as much as they say they like and respect Romney, they are not convinced he can survive the Republican primary and beat Democratic President Barack Obama, the Post said.
The Democratic National Committee created an online "yearbook" of prominent 2008 Romney supporters who stepped away from his 2012 candidacy.
The DNC Web site shows photos of prominent conservatives including U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and American Conservative Union Chairman Al Cardenas.
Romney, 64, seeks to shape his campaign around themes of building the economy and restoring jobs. He argues his business background makes him the strongest nominee to take on Obama in next year's general election.
Romney holds a joint law and master of business administration degree from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School and was chief executive officer of Boston management-consulting firm Bain & Co.
He co-founded and headed a spin-off private-equity investment firm, Bain Capital LLC, which became highly profitable and gave Romney sufficient personal wealth to help fund all of his subsequent political campaigns.
Romney did not attend the Republican presidential debate last month in South Carolina. Party officials said they expected he would participate in the second debate June 13 in New Hampshire.
Jaycee Dugard's captors to be sentenced
PLACERVILLE, Calif., June 2 (UPI) -- The California couple who pleaded guilty to kidnapping 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard two decades ago learn how long they will be in jail for the abduction.
Phillip and Nancy Garrido were scheduled to be sentenced to lengthy terms Thursday in El Dorado Superior Court, The Sacramento Bee reported. Phillip Garrido, 60, a lifelong sexual predator and drug abuser, is to be sentenced to 431 years to life. His wife, 55-year-old Nancy Garrido, will be sentenced to 36 years to life and won't be eligible for parole for 31 years.
"I'm still waiting to hear whether Jaycee will be coming or not," said Stephen Tapson, Nancy Garrido's attorney. "I'd like to be able to alert my client as to how many people are going to be calling her 'evil.'"
The couple pleaded guilty in April to the June 10, 1991, abduction of Dugard, who was taken while she was walking to a school bus stop near her home in Myers. She disappeared for 18 years, becoming a sex slave to Phillip Garrido for part of that time.
Judge Douglas Phimister also scheduled a hearing on a request by the Bee and other media outlets seeking access to Dugard's testimony before the grand jury. El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson, however, has tried to keep the transcripts sealed.
Pierson said that "the media is clearly entitled to access, just not unfettered access to the most private and repugnant details of the rape of an 11-year-old child."
However, attorney Karl Olson, representing the media, said Pierson's argument is undercut by the law, which states such transcripts should be unsealed once they cannot affect a case, and by Pierson's previous position that the media "is clearly entitled to access, just not yet," the Bee reported.
Olson said, Dugard's book, "A Stolen Life," will be launched nationwide in July.
"The media reviews, both in the press and on national television, have called it a 'raw and powerful' memoir," Olson wrote in court papers. "Based upon the press release for the book, it has been called a 'tell all' by Fox News and others."
The Garridos also are opposed to allowing publication of the testimony, as is Dugard's camp, which says it wants to spare Dugard and the two children she gave birth to from the potential trauma.
ISI denies involvement in reporter's death
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 2 (UPI) -- Pakistan's main intelligence agency, under pressure over the killing of journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad, firmly denied any involvement.
Pakistan's News International newspaper reported that, in a rare statement issued through the state-run media, an unidentified official of the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate said the agency will help "bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice."
The statement said ISI officials had met Shahzad last October to discuss a story the 40-year-old investigative reporters had written that month, the newspaper said. The ISI official, as quoted by the state-run media, denied making any threats to the journalist, whose death he called a "source of concern for the entire nation," The New York Times reported.
Shahzad, who had reported on al-Qaida and militancy in Pakistan, was buried Wednesday in Karachi, in a service that was attended by many, including fellow journalists.
Reports have said he was abducted Sunday from Islamabad, where he lived. His body was found in another town, about 100 miles away.
The Voice of America said Shahzad, prior to his death, had told a rights group representative about being threatened by people in the intelligence field, leading to allegations that the ISI was behind his death.
"We will not allow this to happen, we will not let them shut our voices down," fellow journalist Azhar Abbas was quoted as saying, adding: "We may lose more lives because this place has become a very dangerous place for journalists. But our fight will continue …"
VOA quoted Bob Dietz of the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York as showing a long list of journalists killed in Pakistan to its president but saying nothing much has been done.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has condemned Shahzad's killing, while welcoming the investigation into his death.
