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FBI official says NSA programs helped foil NYSE bombing plot

Thomson ReutersJune 18, 2013 12:03

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government's surveillance of telephone and Internet communications foiled plots including one to bomb the New York Stock Exchange, Sean Joyce, the deputy FBI director, said on Tuesday. While monitoring a known extremist in Yemen, intelligence agents "were able to detect a nascent plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange," he said in testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence committee during a hearing on National Security Agency data gathering programs.

Americans say NSA leaker should be prosecuted

Agence France-PresseJune 18, 2013 10:01

A majority of Americans say the former government contractor who leaked information about a vast US electronic surveillance program should be prosecuted, a poll showed Tuesday. The USA Today/Pew Research Center poll taken Wednesday through Sunday found 54 percent in favor of prosecuting Edward Snowden, the former contractor for the National Security Agency. Some 38 percent in the poll said Snowden should not be prosecuted.

Perjury trial sees notorious video of Dziekanski's fatal Taser confrontation

The Canadian PressJune 17, 2013 15:30

VANCOUVER - One of the four RCMP officers involved in Robert Dziekanski's death sat in court Monday with his head bowed as his perjury trial watched the now-infamous video of the confrontation that left the Polish man dead. The amateur recording, released a month after Dziekanski was stunned with a Taser at Vancouver's airport in October 2007, fuelled a debate about Taser use and prompted a public inquiry in which the shaky video clip became a key piece of evidence.

Union workers, riot police face off in Turkish capital

Thomson ReutersJune 17, 2013 07:41

ANKARA (Reuters) - Riot police backed by water cannon warned around 1,000 trade union workers to stop blocking a major avenue in the centre of the capital Ankara on Monday or face intervention, a Reuters witness said. The workers were trying to march towards the central Kizilay district, waving flags and chanting slogans, as part of a national strike called by several labor groups in support of anti-government protests.

German spy service plans more online surveillance

Agence France-PresseJune 16, 2013 09:30

Germany's foreign intelligence service plans a major expansion of Internet surveillance despite deep unease over revelations of US online spying, Der Spiegel news weekly reported Sunday. Spiegel said that the BND planned a 100 million euro ($130 million) programme over the next five years to expand web monitoring with up to 100 new staff members on a "technical reconnaissance" team.

Surveillance leak could strain US-China ties

Agence France-PresseJune 13, 2013 04:30

The disclosure of a huge US electronic surveillance programme will test US-China relations already strained by Washington's accusations of cyber-spying by Beijing, state media said on Thursday. Chinese media had remained relatively quiet during a public holiday about bombshell revelations by a former US government subcontractor of massive phone and Internet spying. Adding to the diplomatic complications, the 29-year-old source of the information, Edward Snowden, has flown to the semi-autonomous Chinese city of Hong Kong and vowed to resist extradition.

Police statement would violate officer's rights at Taser perjury trial: lawyer

The Canadian PressJune 12, 2013 17:46

VANCOUVER - The rights of an RCMP officer involved in Robert Dziekanski's death would be violated if a statement he made to homicide investigators is admitted into his perjury trial, his lawyer argued Wednesday as she attempted to keep a key piece of the Crown's evidence out of the case. Const. Bill Bentley is accused of lying six times at the public inquiry that examined what happened when Dziekanski was stunned with a Taser at Vancouver's airport. Bentley was among four officers who confronted Dziekanski, and all four have been charged with perjury.

Mounties group sets up legal aid program for accused RCMP officers

The Canadian PressJune 12, 2013 17:44

RICHMOND, B.C. - The association that represents Mounties says new federal legislation will give RCMP commissioner Bob Paulson the power to be "judge, jury and executioner" of officers accused of wrongdoing. The Mounted Police Professional Association announced a legal aid program on Wednesday to cover the costs of legal advice and lawyers for accused officers.

Italy's overcrowded prisons close to collapse

Thomson ReutersJune 12, 2013 13:38

By Barry Moody ROME (Reuters) - Gazing at the glories of Rome from its best viewpoint on the Janiculum Hill, the cluster of old buildings immediately below and to the left look like yet another of the Holy City's hundreds of churches. The reality is less romantic. The buildings are the historic Regina Coeli or Queen of Heaven jail - a long, long way from paradise for prisoners crammed inside in conditions which even senior Italian officials say have made Italy's prisons a national disgrace.

Officers who confronted Dziekanski with Taser weren't suspects: investigator

The Canadian PressJune 11, 2013 17:34

VANCOUVER - None of the four RCMP officers involved in Robert Dziekanski's death were considered potential suspects by the homicide investigators who were brought in to review the in-custody death, the perjury trial for one of the Mounties heard Tuesday. In fact, the officers were told the incident likely wasn't "going to be a big deal" and weren't given a standard warning before they were interviewed that their statements could be used as evidence, the court heard.