International Glance
The breach in U.S.-German relations seemed likely to widen Friday after a joint German newspaper and television investigation titled “Secret War” reported that American intelligence and military use this nation for “tapping, code cracking, recruiting informants, observing suspects, kidnapping and abducting foreign enemies.”
What’s more, the reports added: “The Germans have known all that for years.”
The reports come at a time when German-U.S. relations have been taking a beating. In June, documents released by former National Security Agency consultant Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA has spied on the electronic communications of tens of millions of Germans. In October, the news broke that the NSA had even been tapping the phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel for years, even before she became chancellor.
News report charges U.S. with conducting illegal operations from German soil
Fukushima residents may never go home, say Japanese officials
Japanese officials have admitted for the first time that thousands of people evacuated from areas near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may never be able to return home.
A report by members of the governing Liberal Democratic party [LDP] and its junior coalition partner urges the government to abandon its promise to all 160,000 evacuees that their irradiated homes will be fit to live in again.
The plan instead calls for financial support for displaced residents to move to new homes elsewhere, and for more state funding for the storage of huge quantities of radioactive waste being removed from the 12-mile evacuation zone around the plant.
Ultra-Orthodox rabbi fails to stop prayer service at Western Wall
Up to 1,000 Jewish women worshiped at Jerusalem's Western Wall Monday despite attempts by a group led by a rabbi to block the service, officials said.
A demonstration called by an ultra-Orthodox rabbi against the Women of the Wall's prayer service failed after fewer people than expected showed up, The Jerusalem Post reported.
No arrests or violence were reported but Women of the Wall said on its Facebook page men and boys harassed one of the board members of the female group, which aims to allow women to pray freely at one of Judaism's most sacred sites.
Germany 'should offer Edward Snowden asylum after NSA revelations'
An increasing number of public figures are calling for Edward Snowden to be offered asylum in Germany, with more than 50 asking Berlin to step up it support of the US whistleblower in the new edition of Der Spiegel magazine
Heiner Geissler, the former general secretary of Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, says in the appeal: "Snowden has done the western world a great service. It is now up to us to help him."
Reports: Barclays bank suspends 6 in rigging probe
Barclays bank has suspended six traders amid an investigation into whether international currency markets were rigged, the BBC, the Financial Times and other outlets reported Saturday.
Barclays, Britain's second-largest bank, revealed on Wednesday that it was the subject of an investigation by regulators in Britain and other countries over "possible attempts to manipulate certain benchmark currency exchange rates."
Secret memos reveal explicit nature of U.S., Pakistan agreement on drones
Despite repeatedly denouncing the CIA’s drone campaign, top officials in Pakistan’s government have for years secretly endorsed the program and routinely received classified briefings on strikes and casualty counts, according to top-secret CIA documents and Pakistani diplomatic memos obtained by The Washington Post.
The files describe dozens of drone attacks in Pakistan’s tribal region and include maps as well as before-and-after aerial photos of targeted compounds over a four-year stretch from 2008 to 2011 in which the campaign intensified dramatically.
Russian parliament to debate law to strip gay parents of custody of their children
RUSSIAN lawmakers will in February debate a bill that could see homosexual couples lose custody of their children, parliamentary documents showed Wednesday.
The debate will likely coincide with the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi which have already been marred by boycott calls over Russia's controversial new anti-gay legislation.
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