Government Officials

It has been 13 1/2 years since San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk was gunned down, along with Mayor George Moscone, in San Francisco City Hall. But Milk's remains have yet to find a final resting place, and for the last six years the ashes of the first avowed homosexual elected to office in California have sat in an urn in a corner of a vault in the office of the Congressional Cemetery here.

CAIRO - Egypt declared an end to its state of emergency Tuesday, nearly three months after it was imposed in the midst of nationwide protests that followed the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. The government announcement came after an Egyptian court ruled that the emergency decree issued Aug. 14 had expired. The government had previously announced that it would end two days later, on Thursday. The state of emergency was declared in the midst of a violent crackdown on two protest camps that were demanding Morsi's reinstatement as president.

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's leading newsmagazine says one of its investigative reporters has been threatened with kidnapping and possible death by government officials in the coastal state of Veracruz. Proceso magazine, in a statement posted on its website, said journalist Jorge Carrasco was in Veracruz this week reporting on the killing of another Proceso reporter there when he learned of the threats. (link in Spanish) “We have received information over the presumed intention of officials and former officials of the Veracruz state government to attack the physical integrity of the journalist,” the magazine said.

BEIJING - A powerful Chinese government official who oversees state-owned companies is the latest senior Communist Party official to come under investigation in what appears to be a concerted effort by President Xi Jinping to consolidate his power and push his economic agenda. Jiang Jiemin, 58, is a former head of China National Petroleum Co. who in March became head of the Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, a ministerial level position. A brief report released Sunday to the state media said he was under investigation for "serious disciplinary violations," which is code for corruption.

The number of swine flu cases continued its slow climb, reaching 263 in the United States and at least 937 in 19 countries worldwide, but both Mexican and U.S. authorities expressed cautious optimism Sunday that the outbreak may not be as severe as originally feared. U.S. officials continued to express confidence that the H1N1 virus was not unusually virulent, but they cautioned that the number of cases and deaths would rise. In Mexico, however, officials said the disease was on the decline.

Police who raided a birthday party thrown by a Chinese gangster got a surprise gift: 45 government officials among the guests. The raid targeted the leader of a gang implicated in a dozen killings and other crimes in Shaoyang, a city in Hunan province, according to police and the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily. Officials caught at the June 6 party thrown by Yao Zhihong for his son are suspected of protecting him, the report said.

Toyota Motor Corp. created a panel of former U.S. government officials to advise Japan's largest auto maker as it seeks to promote more women and minority managers and add minority-run dealerships in the biggest auto market. The seven-member North American Diversity Advisory Board will be chaired by Alexis Herman, Labor secretary in the Clinton administration, Toyota Senior Vice President Doug West said.

Los Angeles Councilman Richard Alatorre's illegal City Hall intervention on behalf of a company founded by his wife "goes to the heart" of the reason voters approved a landmark ethics reform law seven years ago, a top investigator in the case said Thursday.

My Samedi is chairman of the Cambodian Red Cross and dean of the country's only medical school. But in addition to his service in humanitarian causes, he is fast becoming one of Cambodia's richest men by renting five private houses to foreign relief agencies.

Tribal leaders and government officials agreed Friday to draw up a plan to improve cooperation and reduce violence on the troubled Soboba Indian reservation near San Jacinto where three people were killed in the last week. "The escalation of violence has produced bad blood between myself and the Sheriff's Department," Tribal Chairman Robert Salgado said at the start of the meeting held on the reservation, at the Country Club at Soboba Springs. "As the leader, you have to hold your cool.

A woman who was until recently Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar's deputy chief of staff has filed a workplace discrimination and sexual harassment complaint against the city and her former boss, according to information from the state agency that receives such complaints. Fahizah Alim, spokeswoman for the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, confirmed that a complaint was filed June 7 against Huizar by Francine Godoy, who left his office four months ago. The complaint, also filed against the city of Los Angeles, preserves Godoy's right to sue in the future.

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Jerry Brown is poised to sign legislation that could reduce the public's access to basic government records that have long been used to scrutinize the actions of elected officials. The proposal, a late insert into the state budget that lawmakers passed last week, would allow local officials to opt out of parts of the California law that gives citizens access to government documents. Under that law, officials now must respond to a request for records from a member of the public within 10 days and are required to make the documents available electronically.

California's health insurance rates for a new state-run marketplace came in lower than expected this week, but one downside for many consumers will be far fewer doctors and hospitals to choose from. People who want UCLA Medical Center and its doctors in their health plan network next year, for instance, may have only one choice in California's exchange: Anthem Blue Cross. Another major insurer in the state-run market, Blue Shield of California, said its exchange customers will be restricted to 36% of its regular physician network statewide.

When the government obstructs the ability of a news organization to do its job, the most important victims are not journalists but readers. That's why long-standing guidelines set clear limits on how Justice Department prosecutors are expected to behave when interacting with the news media. "In recognition of the importance of freedom of the press to a free and democratic society," the government's own rules say, subpoenas for reporter's records or notes must be personally authorized by the attorney general, may be issued only after other sources are exhausted and are expected to be limited in scope to avoid gratuitous invasion into news gathering.

SHANGHAI - China is investigating a senior economic policymaker for alleged "serious disciplinary violations" - the highest-ranking central government official to be targeted in the new Chinese president's anti-corruption crackdown. The investigation of Liu Tienan, a deputy director of the powerful National Development and Reform Commission, was reported Sunday by the Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, according to China's official news agency. Although the commission provided no details, the terse statement came five months after accusations were made by a prominent Chinese investigative journalist that Liu had misrepresented his academic credentials and colluded with a private business for personal gain.

WASHINGTON - In the early-morning hours before he was arrested on suspicion of sending a poison-laced letter to the president of the United States, Paul Kevin Curtis was typing messages on his Facebook profile. Over the previous few days, the 45-year-old part-time singer had posted photos of fellow Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison impersonators, snapshots of buxom women and a certificate welcoming him to Mensa, a society for people with high IQs. At 5 a.m. Wednesday, about 12 hours before his arrest, he wrote, "I'm on the hidden front lines of a secret war. A war that is making Billions of dollars for corrupt mafia related organizations and people.

Cattle ranchers, conservationists, government regulators and others met for hours over two days, talking about how environmental issues could be resolved faster, cheaper and with less rancor. Some of the more than 250 people participating in the summit convened by the Western Governors' Assn. found common ground. Others didn't. "I saw skeptics come in. I see skeptics leaving," New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson said Saturday during a post-summit news conference.

It was the day after a particularly gruesome car bombing in downtown Baghdad and Iraqi government spokesman Laith Kubba was selling optimism. At a news briefing in the fortified Green Zone, the soft-spoken, British-educated Kubba asked Iraqi reporters to cover the country's progress as aggressively as they do the gore. "What will images of pools of blood or families suffering from the loss of a loved one prove?" he asked. Many of the reporters weren't biting.

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's leading newsmagazine says one of its investigative reporters has been threatened with kidnapping and possible death by government officials in the coastal state of Veracruz. Proceso magazine, in a statement posted on its website, said journalist Jorge Carrasco was in Veracruz this week reporting on the killing of another Proceso reporter there when he learned of the threats. (link in Spanish) “We have received information over the presumed intention of officials and former officials of the Veracruz state government to attack the physical integrity of the journalist,” the magazine said.

When the government came for his land, Doan Van Vuon fought back --  first with the law, then with a shotgun. The fish farmer used rifles and explosives to battle police and soldiers seizing his converted swampland, injuring several officers in the clash. His resistance made him a hero to dispossessed peasants fed up with losing property in Vietnam, where the government can confiscate farms and give little in return. Street protests erupted in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City over his case.