WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will decide whether U.S. citizens can sue to challenge the government’s secret wiretapping of international phone calls and emails because they fear their privacy will be violated. Supreme Court to consider case on secret international
Supreme Court to consider case on secret
international wiretapping
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will decide whether U.S. citizens can sue to challenge the government’s secret wiretapping of international phone calls and emails because they fear their privacy will be violated.
The case, to be heard in the fall, will put a spotlight on a sweeping surveillance program that won congressional approval in the last year of President George W. Bush’s presidency as lawmakers sought to fight terrorism by increasing the government’s power to monitor electronic communication.
The justices agreed to hear an Obama administration appeal that argues the legal challenges should be thrown out on the grounds that no one can show his calls were intercepted.
Head of US nuclear safety agency to step down
WASHINGTON — The embattled chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission resigned Monday after a tumultuous three-year tenure in which he pushed for sweeping safety reforms but came under fire for an unyielding management style that fellow commissioners and agency employees described as bullying.
Gregory Jaczko stepped down ahead of a potentially blistering report due out soon from the agency’s inspector general, which has been investigating his actions for more than a year.
Jaczko, 41, led a strong response to the nuclear disaster in Japan and was a favorite of industry watchdogs, who called his emphasis on safety a refreshing change from previous agency chiefs who were close to the nuclear industry or who came from it.
Bombing in Yemen’s
capital kills scores
SANAA, Yemen — A suicide bomber targeted soldiers rehearsing Monday for a military parade here, killing as many as 112 people and signaling that Islamic extremists may be shifting their focus to Yemen’s capital after weeks of intense battles in outlying provinces with U.S.-backed government forces.
Al-Qaida affiliate Ansar al-Shariah claimed responsibility for the bombing in retaliation for American-assisted government offensives against its strongholds in southern Yemen. Unnerved by increased U.S. military and drone strikes, the militants struck directly at the heart of the new and fragile government of President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
The attack, in which at least 300 more people were injured, was the bloodiest in the capital in years and came a day after gunmen fired on a car carrying three U.S. civilian contractors training the Yemen coast guard in the Red Sea port of Hodeida. The Pentagon said the trio sustained minor injuries.
By wire sources
