In the news

Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor now living in Russia, said that during a televised call-in program with President Vladimir Putin he asked Putin whether Russia conducts mass surveillance on its own people so that Putin would be on the record denying it and so journalists can now challenge that statement.

Brian Devenny, a spokesman for the fast food chain Del Taco, said about 150 patrons in Santa Paula, Calif., will receive refunds after a technical glitch charged their debit and credit cards thousands of dollars for burritos, tacos and soft drinks.

Michelle Obama is to appear on the May 7 episode of the ABC country music drama Nashville to promote her Joining Forces initiative that supports military families.

Mark Valdez, 47, of Delta, Colo., and Kevin Keener, 43, of Anton, Colo., are facing homicide and hunting-related charges after authorities said a motorcyclist was killed in October when he ran into a rope and chain stretched across a Colorado highway that the men had attached to a pickup on one side to drag an elk carcass out of a field.

Patrick Farves, an 18-year-old student at Central York High School in York, Pa., received three days of in-school suspension for asking Miss America Nina Davuluri to the prom while she was at the school to talk about diversity and education.

John Allen Papelbon, 52, of Thornton, Colo., was given a 60-day suspended jail sentence followed by two years of probation and was ordered to pay $8,884 in restitution after pleading guilty to stealing the luggage of rocker Peter Frampton at Denver International Airport last year.

Mohammed Ibrahim, Egypt’s minister of antiquities, said a team of archaeologists has discovered two tombs that date to 600 B.C., and the mummy in one of them was buried with writing artifacts including reed pens and a bronze inkwell.

Darlene Tipton, an executive at Fox Cable Networks Group, was fired for using her company email account to plan aid for loved ones of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, with a Fox spokesman saying that Tipton’s actions violated company policy.

Mariola Zapalski of Chicago, who sued her doctor, Zbigniew Aniol, over a debilitating stroke she suffered after she began taking the birth-control drug Yasmin, was awarded $14 million.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 04/20/2014

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