WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A contractor at the National Security Agency who leaked details of top-secret U.S. surveillance programs dropped out of sight in Hong Kong on Monday ahead of a likely push by the U.S. government to have him sent back to the United States to face charges.

Edward Snowden, 29, who provided the information for published reports last week that revealed the NSA's broad monitoring of phone call and Internet data from large companies such as Google and Facebook, checked out of his Hong Kong hotel hours after going public in a video released on Sunday by Britain's Guardian newspaper.

The disclosures by Snowden have sent shockwaves across Washington, where several lawmakers called on Monday for the extradition and prosecution of the ex-CIA employee who was behind one of the most significant security leaks in U.S. history.

There were some signs, however, that Snowden's stance against government surveillance and his defense of personal privacy was resonating with at least some Americans.

Supporters flocked to Snowden's aid on the Internet - more than 25,000 people signed an online petition urging Obama to pardon Snowden even before he has been charged. A separate effort on Facebook to raise funds for Snowden's legal defense netted nearly $8,000 in just a few hours.

In Hong Kong, officials were cautious in discussing a spy drama that could entangle U.S.-China relations just a few days after U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at a summit in California where cyber security was a prime topic.

Snowden told the Guardian that he went to Hong Kong in hopes it would be a place where he might be able to resist U.S. prosecution attempts, although the former British colony has an extradition treaty with the United States.

On Monday, some local officials suggested that Snowden might have miscalculated.

"We do have bilateral agreements with the U.S. and we are duty-bound to comply with these agreements. Hong Kong is not a legal vacuum, as Mr. Snowden might have thought," said Regina Ip, a Hong Kong lawmaker and former security secretary.

Snowden said he turned over the documents to The Washington Post and the Guardian in order to expose the NSA's vast surveillance of phone and Internet data.

The former technical assistant at the CIA, who had been working at the NSA as an employee of contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, said he became disenchanted with Obama for continuing the surveillance policies of George W. Bush, Obama's predecessor.

"I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things ... I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded," Snowden told the Guardian, which published the video interview with him, dated June 6, on its website.

In Washington, several members of Congress and intelligence officials showed little sympathy for Snowden's argument. The U.S. Justice Department already is in the initial stages of a criminal investigation.

"Anyone responsible for leaking classified information should be punished to the fullest extent of the law," said Republican Mike Rogers, chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.

'A SACRED TRUST'

James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, told NBC that the leaks "violate a sacred trust for this country. The damage that these revelations incur are huge."

Some lawmakers were more cautious, however, saying the surveillance programs revealed by the Guardian and The Post raised concerns not just about citizens' privacy, but also whether the Obama administration had done enough to keep Congress informed about such surveillance, as required by law.

"The government does not need to know more about what we are doing. We need to know more about what the government is doing," said Ron Paul, a former House member and unsuccessful Republican presidential candidate in 2012 who has long said that the U.S. government is too intrusive into Americans' daily lives.

"We should be thankful for individuals like Edward Snowden," Paul said.

At the White House on Monday, Obama spokesman Jay Carney sidestepped questions about Snowden. Responding to questions about the White House's efforts to brief Congress about the NSA's surveillance programs, a senior administration official released a list of 22 briefings that had been conducted for lawmakers over a 14-month span.

There will be more briefings on Tuesday, when a half-dozen national security, law enforcement and intelligence officials will meet with House members. The Senate will be briefed on Thursday.

Snowden, who the Guardian said had been working at the NSA for four years as a contractor for outside companies, told the Guardian he had copied the secret documents at the NSA office in Hawaii three weeks ago and had told his supervisor that he needed "a couple of weeks" off for epilepsy treatments. He flew to Hong Kong on May 20.

Staff at a luxury hotel in Hong Kong told Reuters that Snowden had checked out at noon on Monday. Ewen MacAskill, a Guardian journalist, said later in the day that Snowden was still in Hong Kong.

"He didn't have a plan. He thought out in great detail leaking the documents and then deciding rather than being anonymous, he'd go public. So he thought that out in great detail. But his plans after that have always been vague," MacAskill said.

"I'd imagine there's now going to be a real battle between Washington and Beijing and civil rights groups as to his future," MacAskill said. "He'd like to seek asylum in a friendly country but I'm not sure if that's possible or not."

HONG KONG ASYLUM POLICY 'IN LIMBO'

Legally speaking, where does Snowden go from here?

If Snowden is charged on criminal counts as many lawmakers and officials expect, the focus will turn to the extradition treaty that the United States and Hong Kong signed in 1996, a year before the former British colony was returned to China.

The treaty, which allows for the exchange of criminal suspects in a formal process that also may involve the Chinese government, went into effect in 1998.

It says that Hong Kong authorities can hold a U.S. suspect for up to 60 days after the United States submits a request indicating there is probable cause to believe the suspect violated U.S. law. In Snowden's case, such a request could lead Hong Kong authorities to hold him while Washington prepares a formal extradition request.

Snowden could try to stay in Hong Kong by seeking political asylum. Simon Young, a professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, said there are strong protections for people making asylum claims under Hong Kong's extradition laws.

A decision this year by Hong Kong's High Court requires the government to create a new standard for reviewing asylum applications, putting the cases on hold until the new system is finished.

"He's come really at probably the best moment in time because our asylum laws are in a state of limbo," Young said.

MORE REVELATIONS TO COME?

Snowden's revelations launched a broad national debate on privacy rights and the limits of security programs in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

On Monday, Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian's lead reporter on the Snowden case, used Twitter to chide Clapper for claiming that Snowden's disclosures harmed national security. Greenwald also suggested that there were more revelations to come.

"Clapper: leaks "literally gut-wrenching" - "huge, grave damage" - save some melodrama and rhetoric for coming stories. You'll need it," Greenwald tweeted.

Many members of Congress have expressed support for the surveillance program but raised questions about whether it should be more tightly supervised and scaled back.

"In my mind, things that may have been appropriate in the aftermath of 9/11 and in the weeks and months and even years after that, may no longer be appropriate today," Republican Representative Luke Messer of Indiana said on MSNBC.

Some officials said the U.S. government might need to reconsider how much it relies on outside defense contractors who are given top security clearances. As of October 2012, about 483,000 government contractors has top-secret security clearances, according to a report issued in January by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

"We do need to take another, closer look at how we control information and how good we are at identifying what people are doing with that information," said Stewart Baker, former general counsel at the NSA and former assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security.

(Additional reporting by James Pomfret, David Ingram, Mark Hosenball, Susan Heavey, Patricia Zengerle; Editing by David Lindsey, Jim Loney and Mohammad Zargham)

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PlayStation enthusiasts recently , and while the movement received widespread media coverage and attention from Sony executives, no questions were answered. The gamers, who originated from popular gaming forum NeoGAF, are at in again and this time are targeting executives from both Microsoft and Sony before the two companies take the stage at the Electronic Entertainment Expo later this month.

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Beginning on the morning of June 5th, Xbox and PlayStation gamers will deliver Microsoft and Sony a simple message: Let gamers play games anywhere, whether at a friends house or their own, and let them sell and buy games wherever they please.

The movement will use the hashtag #PS4NoDRM and #XboxOneNoDRM on social media in the hopes of grabbing the attention of others. Members are also encouraged to reach out to executives through Twitter, email or by any other means to have their voices heard. The Electronic Entertainment Expo is scheduled to take place from June 11th to June 13th in Los Angeles.

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DUBLIN, Ohio (Reuters) - Trying to trust unpredictable winds was the biggest problem for the players in Saturday's third round at the Memorial Tournament, as Americans Matt Kuchar and Kevin Chappell found out to their cost.

Kuchar bogeyed the par-five 15th after his three-wood second shot drifted unexpectedly to the right of the green, ending up in a creek he never realized was there.

Chappell was left scratching his head with a wedge in hand for his approach into the par-four 14th, not knowing where he should start the shot with water lurking to the right of the green while being totally confused by the wind direction.

"It's a 105-yard wedge shot," Chappell told reporters of the challenge after carding a four-under-par 68 to end a grueling day at Muirfield Village Golf Club in a tie for second on six-under 210, two strokes behind leader Kuchar.

"The flag is blowing towards the water, but the wind is right-to-left, maybe a little in right-to-left. And where do I have to start this ball to hit it close?"

Chappell's playing partners Charlie Wi and Scott Piercy both hit good wedge shots that were not affected by the wind.

"I hit one and it made a left-hand turn," said Chappell, lifting his eyebrows in disbelief. "It's tough to start that ball right of the flag. There's a grandstand there so the wind swirls a lot. It hits that and then shoots back the other way."

Chappell, still seeing his first PGA Tour victory after joining the U.S. circuit in 2011, had no doubt about the biggest challenge for the players on Saturday as winds gusted up to 32 mph.

"Just trusting that the wind was where it was supposed to be," he said. "There were multiple times you're seeing the wind blow the flag the opposite way as it's supposed to be."

"I kept saying, 'Wow, this is tough out here.' You hit a good shot and end up in a bad spot. What can I do?"

DAY OF SURVIVAL

Kuchar mixed five birdies with three bogeys to emerge at the top of the leaderboard after what he described as a day of survival, his biggest surprise coming with his second shot at 15.

"It was just going to take a full three-wood for me to get home," the five-times PGA Tour champion said of the task facing him on the par-five hole. "I thought no problem.

"With the pin on the left, you don't want to miss left. I want to make sure if I do anything, I miss right. I hit a really solid shot. It just took off really high. I thought that will be fine, it will just end up in the right greenside bunker."

However, Kuchar watched in horror as his ball kept leaking further right.

"With the wind blowing as hard as it was and as high as the ball got launched, it just kept drifting and found its way into a hazard I didn't even know existed over there," he said.

"I knew what the wind was doing. I just didn't realize that I hit it that high and the wind would take that much affect on it."

Tiger Woods, hunting a record sixth victory at the Memorial Tournament, struggled as much as anyone as he carded a 79 to match his second worst score as a professional.

Kuchar, though surprised, was not at all shocked after hearing about the world number one's nightmare round.

"It's understandable in these conditions," Kuchar said. "If you're not on good form, these conditions are really going to beat you up."

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Julian Linden)

Exchanges in Paris, Lisbon, Brussels and Amsterdam were affected by the unexplained glitch.

But NYSE Euronext spokeswoman Caroline Tourrier said all trading was normal by around 10:00 a.m. CET (0800 GMT) and that the New York exchange should not be affected when it opens.

Tourrier said the company still could not say what caused the glitch and that investigations were ongoing.

John Malkovich frolics to the music of Mozart in "The Giacomo Variations," a playful, frothy production which was envisioned as "a chamber opera play" by its creators. Written and directed by Michael Sturminger, the lighthearted work is being briefly presented by the Cherry Orchard Festival at New York City Center.

Reading aloud from his memoirs, legendary Venetian seducer Giacomo Casanova (Malkovich, languid and sardonic) looks back at some of his most memorable 18th-century liasons. Now elderly and pondering the meaning of his existence, he supervises the enactment of his memories through a series of lively vignettes based on well-known duets and arias by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Madcap liasons and mischievous flirtations are based on opera scenes first created by Mozart and one of his librettists, Lorenzo Da Ponte, primarily from "Cosi Fan Tutte," ''Le Nozze di Figaro" and "Don Giovanni." The musical concept is by Martin Haselbock, who conducts the Orchester Wiener Akademie with distinction.

As the famously roguish Casanova, Malkovich bears an imperious and occasionally self-mocking air, whether eloquently philosophizing, wading into the action himself, or merely watching his younger self carouse.

Youthful opera singers Sophie Klussmann and Daniel Schmutzhard perform multiple roles, although Kirsten Blaise substituted for Klussman with great comedic flair and lovely singing in a recent performance. Baritone Schmutzhard brings robust vigor to the youthful Casanova. Ingeborga Dapkunaite brings a delicate maturity and sense of mystery to her primary role as a former acquaintance of Casanova who chides him for past misdeeds.

Or maybe that's not what she's doing. But the plot doesn't really matter; it's enough that the atmosphere is suffused with sensuality and amusement.

Sumptuous costumes and set design by Renate Martin and Andreas Donhauser give a rich look to the production. Beautiful dresses and billowy layers of underclothing often litter the stage, casually discarded in the same way that the fickle Casanova left behind so many women after his conquests.

___

Online:

http://www.nycitycenter.org

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be liquidated within five years and replaced by an entity offering government reinsurance for mortgage-backed debt under draft legislation from a bipartisan group of U.S. senators.

To protect taxpayers from having to absorb losses incurred during periods of economic stress, the senators are considering requiring private financiers to take a first-loss position, according to the 100-page-plus draft bill obtained by Reuters on Tuesday.

The behind-the-scenes effort in the Senate to shutter the two government-sponsored enterprises is being led by Tennessee Republican Bob Corker and Virginia Democrat Mark Warner. Their work is viewed as a serious first step in a debate over the future of the housing finance system that could go on for years.

U.S. lawmakers across the political spectrum have a goal to reduce the government's role in housing finance, but disagree on how to find the right balance.

"We continue to believe that GSE reform may not cross the finish line until after the next president is inaugurated," Jaret Seiberg, a senior policy analyst at Guggenheim Securities wrote in a client note.

The discussion draft of the bill, circulating among senators in an effort to gain support, would establish a new federal mortgage insurer that charges and collects fees in exchange for providing catastrophic insurance.

The corporation would support securitization and act as a reinsurer. In the event of a default that exceeds the first-loss position of private stakeholders, the corporation would cover shortfalls in payment of principal and interest under the loans gone bad.

When Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are shuttered, the U.S. Treasury Department would be required to absorb their outstanding obligations, according to the draft. The two companies, which were seized by the government in 2008 as mounting mortgage losses threatened their solvency, own or back about half of all U.S. home loans.

The new government reinsurance entity, called the Federal Mortgage Insurance Corp., would offer a backstop on mortgage-backed securities in the event catastrophic losses swamped private creditors at a time of severe economic stress.

It would build a common securitization platform and also help community banks and smaller lenders who do not have the capacity to issue mortgage-backed securities on their own.

It would charge and collect fees designed to cover both its operating costs and to maintain a catastrophic fund.

PAYING FOR THE BAILOUT'

The draft bill, first reported by Bloomberg, said revenues from a liquidation of the two companies would first be used to repay the government for its stake in the companies, with any remaining funds going to junior preferred shareholders and finally common shareholders.

The government has an 80 percent stake in each firm, with the U.S. Treasury holding about $117.1 billion in Fannie Mae senior preferred shares and $72.3 billion in Freddie Mac senior preferred shares. It also has warrants to purchase common stock.

Many analysts said it was unlikely any funds would remain beyond what would be needed to repay the government.

Investors, including some hedge funds, have been buying up both common and junior preferred shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the hopes lawmakers will draft legislation that does not wipe out current shareholders.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have drawn almost $190 billion in taxpayer aid and, by the end of June, will have paid the Treasury about $132 billion in dividends.

The two companies buy mortgages and package them into securities, which they issue to investors with a guarantee. They also sell debt to help fund their mortgage purchases.

After years of red ink, they have now returned to profitability. The terms of their bailout do not allow them to buy back the government's stake, which means they will keep making dividend payments as long as they are profitable without ever recovering the loan amount.

(Reporting By Margaret Chadbourn; editing by Andrew Hay)

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ASPEN, Colo. (AP) -- The image was chilling: Snowmobile rider Caleb Moore, launched over his handlebars on a backflip gone wrong, rolled down the landing hill with his 450-pound machine somersaulting behind him.

Run over by his sled, Moore lay on the snow for several minutes before being helped off the course. As of Wednesday, he was hospitalized in critical condition because of bleeding around his heart and a complication involving his brain.

Moore's was the worst accident at the Winter X Games, which wrapped up Sunday night after four days of competition, but it wasn't the only harrowing moment. The wipeouts included a runaway snowmobile that sent spectators scrambling.

Even the highlights were hardly tame. Snowboarding star Shaun White soared a competition record 24 feet into the air during the superpipe competition, and fellow boarder Elena Hight showed off a difficult trick called a"double alley-oop backside rodeo" that involved a couple of backflips and a 180-degree rotation. It had never been seen in a competition.

All that, plus Moore's crash, has some wondering whether dialing up the difficulty each year improves action sports or has simply made them too dangerous.

"Should we be asking these questions? We absolutely should be," said Dan Lebowitz, the executive director of Sport in Society at Northeastern University, which examines the role of sports to promote healthy development and social responsibility.

The people performing these superhuman feats "really are just human," he said. "How do we maintain safety in that progression when that progression sometimes pushes every envelope to some amazingly extreme point?"

Moore's injuries underscore the dangers at Winter X, which was filled with numerous cover-your-eyes crashes.

Halldor Helgason of Iceland over-rotated on a flip in the snowboard big air competition and had to be taken off on a sled with a concussion. Rose Battersby of New Zealand sustained a lumbar spine fracture in a wipeout during practice before the skiing slopestyle competition, which will be an Olympic sport next winter at the Sochi Games.

Then there was this: Summer X Games motocross champion turned snowmobile newcomer Jackson Strong tumbled off his machine during the best trick competition, the throttle sticking and the sled swerving toward fans as they scurried away. The machine came to a rest when it got tangled in some netting and no one was seriously hurt.

Such a scenario had already crossed the mind of Levi LaVallee, a snowmobiler who captured two gold medals only to be sidelined for the final two competitions after tearing a muscle in his back.

"I've always thought about, 'What happens if the thing tips over and the throttle sticks?'" LaVallee said. "It was good, though, because it showed that X Games has a good setup with the fencing."

Whether action sports are too dangerous is an issue that's been raised before.

When freestyle skier Sarah Burke died in a training accident a little more than a year ago in Park City, Utah, there were questions about the halfpipe. Before that, the sport was examined when snowboarder Kevin Pearce suffered a severe brain injury in a fall in the same pipe as Burke two years earlier. Pearce has recovered and served as an analyst at Winter X.

But in general, the athletes accept the risks and defend their disciplines.

"To lose Sarah was such a blow to this entire industry," said snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, who didn't compete this year as she recovers from a serious eye injury she suffered in training. "This sport brings so much joy, happiness and balance to my life and that far outweighs what could happen. You can't ever live your life with what could happen."

In a statement, X Games officials said they've paid close attention to safety issues over the event's 18-year history: "We've worked closely with athletes, risk management specialists, sport organizers and event managers to present the best possible experience for athletes and spectators. Further measures are constantly being evaluated."

Athletes say they prepare as best they can by trying out new tricks into foam pits and air bags set up at the bottom of courses. But even all the caution in the world can't prevent the fact that sometimes well-practiced maneuvers can go wrong in the air.

"You don't want to live your life in fear because of a situation," LaVallee said. "Look, I'm driving down the road right now and the worst-case scenario is a car could swerve over into my lane and run over me there it is, end of the road.

"That's kind of the same thing we think when we're competing. Hopefully, the preparation and countless hours of training and practicing will prevent the worst-case scenario from happening."

Tucker Hibbert the Shaun White of snowmobiling after winning his sixth straight SnoCross title just hopes casual fans understand that what they see on television is not true snowmobiling.

"You're seeing the most extreme side of what we do," Hibbert said. "That's a lot different than what the average person does on a snowmobile."

Hibbert doesn't participate in events such as best trick because, "I just wasn't born with those skills. I sit back and watch those guys, enjoy what they do."

He paused.

"You just hate to see anyone crash, anyone get hurt," Hibbert said.

Moore was in the middle of an impressive run in the freestyle event when he caught the top of the hill that was serving as a landing area. He initially walked away with help and went to a hospital with a concussion.

Moore later developed bleeding around his heart and had surgery. His family said that Moore, of Krum, Texas, also had a complication involving his brain.

Colten Moore, Caleb's younger brother and defending champion in the event, separated his pelvis in a crash later that same night.

LaVallee is no stranger to horrific wipeouts.

While training for the "Red Bull: New Year. No Limits" daredevil series two years ago in Southern California, LaVallee lost control of his snowmobile high in the air and landed violently on his side, bouncing down the landing ramp. He broke ribs, cracked his pelvis, collapsed one lung and punctured the other.

But he returned the next year and jumped a record 412 feet, 6 inches.

"We're passionate about the sport that we're in," LaVallee said.

"Anyone who competes has that drive to succeed, to go bigger than the next person or be the first one to do it."

The mentality is similar throughout action sports, even if the bar keeps getting raised.

"There are going to be benchmarks set and people trying to exceed that benchmark," Lebowitz said. "That's just the essence of our society and our social culture."

"The discovery of non-harvested, GE (genetically engineered) wheat should not be used by America's trading partners to erect spurious, protectionist trade barriers ... in the absence of scientific evidence indicating that Oregon exports contain this strain of wheat," Sen. Roy Wyden, a Democrat, wrote to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack.

USDA could "co-ordinate closely" with the U.S. Trade Representative and the Department of State, among others, to "provide assurance and certainly to global wheat markets," Wyden said.

(Reporting by Ros Krasny; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Plenty.

Let me start with the drunks and new parents. Monday night I boarded a very delayed flight fromto . Behind me were four 20/30-somethings boisterously swigging from "coffee" cups. (Our gate was across from a Cantina and you could practically smell the tequila in their paper cups.)

As the boarding continued they grew increasingly animated. Their frenetic energy seemed to wind up not just each other but everyone around them. Fellow passengers were visibly agitated.

Just before the plane doors closed, a young couple came on with a sleeping baby. The last two open seats were amongst this motley crew.

Suddenly, everything changed.

The presence of the earnest and exhausted parents had an immediate calming effect on both the inebriated passengers and those around them. It was as if a mirror had been placed in the center of the plane to remind us all of our humanity.

Enter, Jo Piazza's delicious new book, .

To me, this book is the figurative version of the newborn's parents getting on the plane. It serves as a mirror reflecting back the reality what's in the "coffee" cups of the celebrity scene.

That got me wondering what other financial lessons the author of Celebrity, Inc. might have stumbled across while writing this fascinating book. Thankfully, Jo Piazza was willing to share with us...

Q: Of the celebrities you profile in Celebrity, Inc. whose money attitude were you most impressed with and why?

(2) What surprised you the most about the money habits you observed during your Celebrity, Inc. research?

(3) What personal finance lessons do you think the rest of us can take away from the way famous people live their lives?

In many ways our celebrity culture is like a group of chaotic drunk people. It lurches rapidly from one topic and fad to the next. In the heat of the excitement money can feel like no object. But the financial hangover of being, or trying to emulate, that lifestyle can result in a serious financial crash.

So pick up a copy of Celebrity, Inc. and tell me what you think. Does our national obsession with the lifestyles of the rich and famous ever cause you to do things with your money that you later regret?

[This post originally appeared at .] For more MoneyZen in your life, follow Manisha on Twitter aton Facebook ator sign up to receive Manisha's MoneyZen blog via email .