Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, accused of planting bombs at the 2013 Boston Marathon, made a brief appearance in court Thursday, quietly telling the judge that he was satisfied with his lawyers. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/19/us/man-charged-in-boston-marathon-bombings-to-appear-in-court.html?ref=us  When the hearing was over, Mr. Tsarnaev was handcuffed and led away. At that point, a woman who had been seated in the area reserved […]

Turkey has issued an arrest warrant for U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who President Tayyip Erdogan accuses of seeking to overthrow him, state broadcaster TRT Haber reported on Friday. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2014/12/19/world/europe/19reuters-turkey-cleric.html?ref=world Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has been in open conflict with Erdogan since a corruption probe targeting the then-prime […]

Switzerland is introducing a negative interest rate on the deposits it holds for lenders, its central bank said on Thursday, moving to hold down the value of the Swiss franc amid the turmoil in global currency markets.  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/19/business/switzerland-central-bank-interest-rate.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0 The Swiss National Bank said in a statement from Zurich that it would begin charging banks 0.25 […]

For over half a century, the U.S. government’s schemes to overthrow the Castro government were, if not successful, always creative: the poisonous cigars, the exploding seashell, the secret Twitter-like service in Cuba.  http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7054b6291e5f41d29e4eb38fa3e989da/ill-fated-schemes-upend-castro President Barack Obama said Wednesday the U.S. will re-establish diplomatic ties with Cuba and bring change to the longstanding trade embargo. But […]

A pair of jeans containing material that blocks wireless signals is being developed in conjunction with anti-virus firm Norton. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30513497 The trousers are intended to stop thieves hacking into radio frequency identification (RFID) tagged passports or contactless payment cards. According to security experts this type of theft is a growing problem. The jeans are designed […]

The Obama administration overturned a ban preventing a wealthy, politically connected Ecuadorean woman from entering the United States after her family gave tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic campaigns, according to finance records and government officials. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/world/americas/ecuador-isaias-obama-campaign-robert-menendez-hillary-clinton.html?ref=us The woman, Estefanía Isaías, had been barred from coming to the United States after being caught fraudulently […]

With Russia already staggering under the weight of one of its worst financial crises in years, the United States signaled on Tuesday that it would further increase the economic pressure with a new raft of sanctions targeting the Russian defense, energy and banking industries. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/world/europe/obama-signing-russia-ukraine-sanctions-bill.html?ref=us President Obama said through a spokesman that he would sign […]

Former US Vice-President Dick Cheney made no apologies on Sunday for the US interrogation programme that he helped devise after the 9/11 attacks and expressed no regrets for any innocents who may have been harmed in the process. http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-30485999 Mr Cheney had said in an interview last week on Fox News that he considers the […]

Recent revelations about government-backed surveillance have prompted millions of people to do more to keep their data private, suggests a survey. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30492826 Many people now regularly change passwords or avoid certain websites or apps, said the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). It also found that 64% of the 23,000 people questioned are more worried […]

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura is suing the publisher of the book that a federal jury said defamed him. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/12/16/us/ap-us-sniper-author-ventura.html?ref=us Ventura was awarded $1.8 million in a lawsuit that alleged “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle made up claims in his book about punching Ventura after he made offensive comments about Navy SEALS at a California […]

A machine that administers sedatives recently began treating patients at a Seattle hospital. At a Silicon Valley hotel, a bellhop robot delivers items to people’s rooms. Last spring, a software algorithm wrote a breaking news article about an earthquake that The Los Angeles Times published.  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/16/upshot/as-robots-grow-smarter-american-workers-struggle-to-keep-up.html?smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0&abt=0002&abg=0 Although fears that technology will displace jobs are at […]

A nationwide strike in Belgium has brought air, rail and road transport to a standstill and forced many businesses to close. http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30475230 Hundreds of flights to and from Belgium have been cancelled, as well as Eurostar services to Brussels. The widespread industrial action is the latest in a series of strikes protesting against the new […]

The Russian rouble has dropped to a new low against the US dollar, as falling oil prices and Western sanctions continue to weigh on the country. http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30475236 As of Monday afternoon, it takes more than 60 roubles to buy a single dollar. The 60 mark is considered a “psychological barrier” for Russia’s national currency, says […]

An expression of concern by the environmental group Greenpeace about the carbon footprint was marred this week by real footprints — in a fragile, and restricted, landscape near the Nazca lines, ancient man-made designs etched in the Peruvian desert. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/13/world/americas/peru-is-indignant-after-greenpeace-makes-its-mark-on-ancient-site.html?ref=world&_r=0 The Peruvian authorities said activists from the group damaged a patch of desert when they […]

The US Senate has approved a new annual defence bill expanding the military campaign against Islamic State (IS). The bill approves a general Pentagon budget of $496bn (£316bn) plus $64bn for US wars abroad. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30459105 The measure also authorises the training and equipping of moderate Syrian rebel fighters for two years. The bill had already […]

With Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. facing a deadline over whether to force a reporter for The New York Times to testify in a leak trial, Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, has recommended that Mr. Holder approve a subpoena for another journalist, a reporter for CBS News. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/13/us/eric-holder-preet-bharara-richard-bonin-subpoena-testify-in-terrorism-trial.html?ref=us Mr. Bharara wants […]

Some companies have been called economic traitors for seeking to lower their tax bills by moving overseas. But life insurers are accomplishing the same goal without leaving the country, saving as much as $100 billion in federal taxes, much of it in the last several years. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/insurers-use-deals-to-avoid-as-much-as-100-billion-in-taxes/?ref=us The insurers are taking advantage of fierce competition […]

The web is becoming less free and more unequal, according to a report from the World Wide Web Foundation. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30432487 Its annual web index suggests web users are at increasing risk of government surveillance, with laws preventing mass snooping weak or non-existent in over 84% of countries. It also indicates that online censorship is on […]

The Kenyan parliament has passed a controversial bill aimed at “enhancing the authorities’ capacity” to deal with terrorism and security issues.  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30447088 Members of parliament engaged in heated debate on Thursday before the bill was passed, with the opposition saying the law would infringe basic human rights. They and human rights groups have said they […]

A majority of Americans say it is more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns than for the government to limit access to firearms, a Pew Research Center survey conducted this month found. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/us/gun-control-gun-rights-pew-survey.html?smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0 The center said that it was the first time in two decades of its surveys on attitudes about […]