The Navy has quietly lifted the suspension of a shipping contractor under investigation for possible fraud, allowing the company to compete for new work. In exchange, the company has agreed to pay for an independent audit that could help the Justice Department determine how much it may have overcharged the government. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/us/navy-contractor.html?hp Records show that […]

The Justice Department will pay for GPS tracking devices for children with autism or other conditions that put them at risk for fleeing their caregivers. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/30/nyregion/us-will-finance-devices-to-track-children-with-autism.html Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said on Wednesday that the federal government already provided grant money for devices to track seniors with Alzheimer’s and that the […]

Canada’s electronic spy agency collected data from travellers passing through a major airport, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reports. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25977620 The CSEC collected information captured from unsuspecting passengers’ wireless devices by the airport’s free wi-fi system over two-weeks, the report says. The revelations come from documents leaked by Edward Snowden, CBC says. The CSEC is […]

A device that would enable police to stop vehicles remotely is being considered by an EU-wide official working group, it has emerged. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25961096 The feasibility of such technology is being examined by members of the European Network of Law Enforcement Technology Services (Enlets). The technology could impact on both road safety and civil liberties. The […]

Grassroots opposition has caused a political storm in Denmark over plans to sell part of a state-owned energy company to Goldman Sachs. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25978060 Opponents are continuing to sign an online petition, which has collected nearly 200,000 signatures. The governing coalition of PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt has been undermined by the row over Dong Energy, with the […]

A leading activist in Ukraine’s street opposition who vanished for eight days says he was abducted and tortured before being left to die in the cold. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25977113 Dmytro Bulatov, who organised car protests for the opposition camped out in Kiev, is being treated in hospital after being found near the capital. Mr Bulatov says he […]

School officials in the US state of Utah have apologised after an employee confiscated and discarded the lunches of about 30 children whose parents were said to be in arrears on meal payments. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25972953 Outraged parents in Salt Lake City said the students at Uintah Elementary primary school had been humiliated. The school system has […]

Despite great strides in prevention and treatment, cancer rates remain high and may soon surpass heart disease as the leading cause of death in the United States. Increasingly, many experts believe that an important culprit may be our own medical practices: We are silently irradiating ourselves to death. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/opinion/we-are-giving-ourselves-cancer.html?hpw&rref=opinion The use of medical imaging with […]

Tests on the water supply in Charleston, W. Va., a week after a chemical spill tainted the city’s water system turned up traces of formaldehyde, suggesting that “there’s a lot more we don’t know” about the consequences of the spill, an environmental expert told a state legislative committee on Wednesday. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/30/us/tests-said-to-find-formaldehyde-in-west-virginia-tap-water.html?emc=eta1 That expert, Scott Simonton, […]

A US Congressman threatened to throw a reporter off a balcony after President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address and has now apologised for his actions. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25947520 New York Representative Michael Grimm said he would “break” a cable news journalist who brought up an investigation into his campaign funds. Mr Grimm said his behaviour […]

The number of US airmen embroiled in a nuclear cheating scandal has doubled to several dozen, officials speaking on condition of anonymity say. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/25936781 Thirty-four US Air Force officers in charge of launching nuclear missiles were suspended earlier this month. They are accused of cheating in monthly proficiency tests. The US Air Force said some […]

A former pediatrician has gone on trial accused of waterboarding an 11-year-old girl in the US state of Delaware. Melvin Morse, 60, is said to have held the face of his female companion’s daughter under a tap several times. Mr Morse has written several books on children’s near-death experiences and has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey […]

Video game developer Rovio has confirmed that hackers defaced its Angry Birds site with an image entitled Spying Birds, featuring an NSA logo. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25949341 The attack followed the publication of leaks that indicated the US spy agency and its British counterpart GCHQ had obtained data released by at least one of the Finnish firm’s games. […]

Lavabit, a private email service used by Edward Snowden, is in court appealing against a government order to hand over its encryption keys. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25930222 Founder Ladar Levison suspended his firm in the summer in protest over the order, believed to relate to the former US National Security Agency contractor. Lawyers will argue the orders was […]

YouTube video views, Facebook “likes” and Blogger visits are among activities GCHQ has monitored in real-time, according to the latest Snowden leaks. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25927844 Details of an alleged GCHQ programme codenamed Squeaky Dolphin have been published by NBC News. It reports that the UK intelligence agency showed off its abilities to the US National Security Agency […]

Egyptian prosecutors said on Wednesday that they were charging 20 journalists working for the Al Jazeera television network with conspiring with a terrorist group and broadcasting false images of “a civil war that raises alarms about the state’s collapse.” http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/01/30/world/middleeast/egypt.html?from=world The charges are the latest turn in a widening clampdown on public dissent by the […]

James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, told lawmakers Edward Snowden and his “accomplices” should return the trove of classified documents he took from the N.S.A. and that Mr. Snowden’s disclosures had done grave damage to the country’s security. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/01/30/us/politics/intelligence-chief-condemns-snowden-and-demands-return-of-data.html?from=homepage Mr. Clapper did not give specific examples to bolster his assessment about the […]

The former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden said that he sleeps well in Russia, where he enjoys temporary asylum, despite reading recently on Buzzfeed that some of his former colleagues in United States intelligence would like to kill him.  http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/thelede/2014/01/29/video-from-snowdens-german-tv-interview/?from=homepage “I don’t lose sleep because I’ve done what I feel I needed to […]

A federal analysis of 30 antibiotics used in animal feed found that the majority of them were likely to be contributing to the growing problem of bacterial infections that are resistant to treatment in people, according to documents released Monday by a health advocacy group. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/28/science/antibiotics-in-animals-tied-to-risk-of-human-infection.html?ref=us The analysis, conducted by the Food and Drug Administration […]

The Ukrainian parliament has voted overwhelmingly to annul controversial anti-protest legislation. The decision comes less than two weeks after the measures were introduced. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25923199?print=true The law, which banned the wearing of helmets by protesters and the blockading of public buildings, had helped fuel continuing anti-government demonstrations. In another move to appease the protesters, Ukraine’s Prime […]