SNOWDEN INSISTS NSA OVERSTEPPING BOUNDS: WASHINGTON (AP) — NSA leaker Edward Snowden claims the spy agency gathers all communications into and out of the U.S. for analysis, despite NSA claims that it only targets foreign traffic. The fugitive systems analyst spoke in video released Monday, filmed by The Guardian in June in Hong Kong before Snowden fled to avoid extradition to the U.S. Snowden is believed to be stranded in a Moscow airport, trying to reach any country that has granted him asylum. Snowden also said NSA chief Gen. Keith Alexander lied to Congress by saying the agency could not determine how many U.S. communications are gathered — something Snowden says NSA auditing tool Boundless Informant does.
CONDITION OF HEINZ KERRY UPGRADED: BOSTON (AP) — Doctors evaluating Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, reported improvement in her condition Monday, according to the State Department, but few details were being disclosed about her illness. Heinz Kerry, 74, who is also heir to the Heinz ketchup fortune, was flown to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on Sunday after first being brought by ambulance to a hospital on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, where the couple has a home and often spends time during the summer. Heinz Kerry showed symptoms consistent with a seizure, said a person in close contact with the family who was not authorized to speak publicly about Heinz Kerry's condition and spoke on condition of anonymity. Doctors upgraded Heinz Kerry's condition from critical to fair Monday after conducting tests and she was undergoing further evaluation, Glen Johnson, a spokesman for Kerry, said in a statement.
ZIMMERMAN INVESTIGATOR BACK ON STAND: SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — The lead detective in George Zimmerman's second-degree murder case testified Monday that Trayvon Martin's father told him that screams for help on a 911 call weren't his son's. Officer Chris Serino was called by the defense to testify about a meeting with Martin's father in the days after the Miami teen was fatally shot by Zimmerman last year. At the meeting, when Tracy Martin listened to the 911 recording and was asked if it was his son, Tracy Martin said "no," Serino said. Under cross examination, prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda suggested that Tracy Martin may have been in denial about his son's death and uttered, 'no.' " The investigator's testimony was just the latest effort to determine who was crying for help on the 911 calls. Convincing the jury of whose voice is on the tapes is important to both sides because it would help jurors decide who was the aggressor in the confrontation that left Martin dead.
GIRL WHO GOT NEW LUNGS FALLS ILL: PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl who had a pair of adult-lung transplants after her parents sued to change national rules regarding organ donations has developed pneumonia in her right lung, which her mother described on Monday as "a large setback." Sarah Murnaghan's mother wrote on her Facebook page that after a "tough" day on Sunday, Sarah's condition had become more stable on Monday. She said her daughter's doctors believe the infection was caused by "aspirations from her belly," which is the entry of stomach contents into the lungs.
TODDLER WITH MAN-MADE WINDPIPE DIES: CHICAGO (AP) — A 2-year-old girl who was implanted with a windpipe grown from her own stem cells has died, three months after she became the youngest person to receive the experimental treatment. Hannah Warren died Saturday at Children's Hospital of Illinois in Peoria, hospital spokeswoman Shelli Dankoff said. The hospital said in a statement that Hannah couldn't "overcome additional health issues that were identified as her care progressed." Hannah's treatment was part of an ongoing scientific effort to develop lab-grown tissues and organs. Similar methods have been used to grow bladders, urethras and last year a girl in Sweden got a lab-made vein using her own stem cells and a cadaver vein.