WASHINGTON - The U.S. foiled a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange because of the sweeping surveillance programs at the heart of a debate over national security and personal privacy, officials said Tuesday at a rare open hearing on intelligence led by lawmakers sympathetic to the spying. The House Intelligence Committee hearing provided a venue for officials to defend the once-secret programs and did little probing of claims that the collection of people's phone records and Internet usage has disrupted dozens of terrorist plots. Few details were volunteered.

North Korean ruler Kim Jong-Un has reportedly given copies of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" to his top officials, urging them to study it as a leadership skills manual. Kim handed out translations of the German dictator's manifesto to select officials at the time of his birthday in January, reported New Focus International, an online news portal run by North Korean defectors. The report, sourced to an unnamed North Korean official working in China, was picked up by all major South Korean newspapers on Wednesday.

By Todd Benson SAO PAULO (Reuters) - President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday sought to defuse a massive protest movement sweeping Brazil, acknowledging the need for better public services and more responsive governance as demonstrations continued in some cities around the country. Speaking the morning after more than 200,000 Brazilians marched in over a half-dozen cities, Rousseff said her government remains committed to social change and is listening attentively to the many grievances expressed at the demonstrations.

If the young people of Brazil are in the street, it is no longer just to play football there, contrary to the popular image of a country fixated with 'futebol' to the point of obsession. Instead, they are capitalising on the Confederations Cup to demonstrate en masse and voice their indignation as representatives of a dissatisfied middle class that has swelled over the last decade.