Help us help you. The New York Times takes a look at many GOP groups up with ads backing bipartisan immigration reform, with American Action Network set to go up with ads supporting the Senate bill that passed last week, and a group led by former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Americans for a Conservative Direction, that's running ad in Iowa, in part to help back Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, under assail by some on the right for his support for the bill that provides a path to citizenship. The Times notes that "many of the most powerful and well-financed forces in the party are moving to provide cover for the Florida senator and Republicans like him who are pushing to overhaul the nation’s immigration system. Their message: if we ever want to take back the White House, we have to stop devouring our own."
No country for Snowden. "Fugitive Edward Snowden has withdrawn his request for Russian political asylum, a presidential spokesman said Tuesday, apparently because he was unwilling to go along with President Vladimir Putin’s requirement that he stop any activity damaging to the United States," the Washington Post reports. The Wall Street Journal reports that "Oliver Stone and a group of other celebrities are apparently trying to help National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden win asylum from Ecuador."
Egyptian protests continue. "The Egyptian foreign minister was reported Tuesday to be the latest in wave of high-ranking officials to quit the government following days of mass protests that have shaken President Mohamed Morsi’s hold on power, and the president denied that a 48-hour ultimatum by the country’s powerful military signaled an imminent coup," the New York Times reports. "As the nation braced for further displays of mass dissent, other state institutions also offered fresh challenges to Mr. Morsi’s rule, with a court ruling to remove a top prosecutor, Talaat Abdallah, whom Mr. Morsi appointed soon after coming to power last year."
Udall brother missing. "Search-and-rescue crews are combing the Wind River Range of Wyoming, looking for Randy Udall, the 61-year-old brother of " Democratic Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado, "who has not returned from a solo backpack trip," the Denver Post reports. According to the Sublette County Sheriff's office, he was supposed to have returned on June 26th, and officials were notified on June 28th. Search and rescue crews "coordinated a search Friday with resources that included ground teams and aerial sweeps with two helicopters," and "the search continued over the weekend with assistance from the U.S. Forest Service."