Brazil began an investigation Monday into whether telecommunications firms operating in the country cooperated with the U.S. as part of a spying program that has collected data on billions of telephone and email conversations. Anatel, the government agency that regulates the telecom sector in Brazil, said in a note that it's working with federal police and other government agencies on the investigation.
Lawmakers in Brazil said Monday they want to question Washington's ambassador here about revelations that the United States has collected and stored the e-mail and telephone records of millions of Brazilians.
Brazil will demand an explanation from the United States over reports its citizens' electronic communications have been under surveillance by US spy agencies for at least a decade, foreign minister Antonio Patriota said on Sunday.
Presidents Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela said Friday they were willing to grant asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden. The NSA whistleblower has asked for asylum in several countries, including Nicaragua and Venezuela.
The US economy added a net 195,000 new jobs in June, official figures show. The figure was well above economists' expectations of 165,000. Revisions to data for April and May added a further 70,000 jobs to previous estimates. This means the jobless rate remained steady at 7.6% of the workforce, according to data from the Bureau of Labour Statistics.
Amidst Independence Day celebrations, US ambassador in Argentina Vilma Martínez bid farewell to her post after almost four years in office, assuring that the relationship between both countries “has been strengthened.”
Edward Snowden will not necessarily be granted asylum in Ecuador, and any travel aid given to him was purely accidental, the Ecuadorian President has said. He also rebuked WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for speaking on the part of Ecuador.
A sharp rise in the variety of legal designer drugs with names that entice young people into thinking they pose no risk is alarming from a public health standpoint, the United Nations drugs agency said.
Interview by James Stafford of Oilprice.com - If oil and gas is a profoundly dynamic phenomenon, then so too must be environmental risk and conflicts over natural resources—and we are not getting the full picture from the mainstream media, according to Michael T. Klare, professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College, TomDispatch blogger.
United States Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is putting investors on notice that the central bank is prepared to begin phasing out easing programs later this year.