The latest international news.
US will pursue whistleblower
WASHINGTON: Whistleblower Edward Snowden has disappeared as US lawmakers demand his immediate extradition from Hong Kong over his sensational leaking of an internet surveillance program.
Snowden, a 29-year-old technology expert working for a private firm subcontracted to the US National Security Agency, checked out of his Hong Kong hotel after revealing his identity to the British-based Guardian newspaper on Sunday.
The private contractor has become an instant hero for transparency advocates and libertarians around the globe following his exposure of the NSA’s worldwide monitoring of private users web traffic and phone records.
But the US government appeared to be gearing up to take action against Snowden on Monday with senior lawmakers branding his actions as “treason” and saying he should be extradited from Hong Kong as quickly as possible.
California’s Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein — chair of the Senate Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence — declined to go into specifics but said US authorities were vigorously pursuing Snowden.
“All the departments are proceeding, I think, aggressively,” Feinstein told US media, describing Snowden’s actions as “treason.”
Hong Kong has had an extradition agreement with the US for more than a decade.
Lawmakers from across the political spectrum lined up to demand Snowden’s speedy return to America as a Washington Post poll indicated that public opinion placed a higher importance on investigating possible terrorist threats rather than protecting an indidivual’s personal privacy.
Florida’s Democratic Senator, Bill Nelson, said Snowden should be prosecuted for treason.
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“This is not a whistleblower, I think this is an act of treason,” he said.
President Barack Obama’s spy chief, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, has described Snowden’s leaks as gravely damaging to US security, and referred the matter to the Justice Department, which has launched an investigation.
The White House declined to comment on the case, citing the ongoing probe.
But a spokesman confirmed that Clapper will carry out an assessment of the damage allegedly wrought by the leaks, and confirmed that Obama had been briefed by senior staff over the weekend about the revelations.
The case has also turned the spotlight on the United States’ widespread use of outside contractors for sensitive intelligence work; Snowden is a former low-level CIA employee now employed by private outfit Booz Allen Hamilton.
AFP
UN goal to halt spread of AIDS will be met
UNITED NATIONS: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the UN goal of stopping and reversing the spread of AIDS will be met by the target date of 2015.
But the UN chief told the General Assembly on Monday that despite the “important progress”, more must be done to target AIDS in countries and communities where it is still spreading – and this will require additional funds.
“In more than 56 states, we have stabilised the epidemic and reversed the rate of new infections,” Ban said.
He said more than half the people in low- and middle-income countries are receiving treatment, but antiretroviral therapy must be expanded.
“This is a human rights imperative and a public health necessity,” Ban said.
AP
US to allow morning-after pill for any age
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WASHINGTON: The Obama administration says it will comply with a judge’s order to allow women and girls of any age to purchase emergency contraception, ending its efforts to restrict the drug’s availability.
The reversal on the politically sensitive issue means that anyone, including young girls, will soon be able to purchase the popular Plan B One-Step morning-after pill over the counter, without a prescription.
President Barack Obama’s administration had fought against US District Court Judge Edward Korman’s order to make the drug more widely available after a more than decade-long court fight, warning of health and social dangers.
In a letter to US District Judge Edward Korman, US lawyers said the Food and Drug Administration is dropping its appeal.
Levonorgestrel-based emergency contraception contains the same active ingredients as birth control pills but at higher doses, and may prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours after unprotected intercourse.
‘Scorched earth’ tactics in Sudan
KHARTOUM: The Sudanese armed forces have burned and shot civilians to death in a “scorched earth” campaign against a rebel chief’s home district in Blue Nile state, Amnesty International says.
Satellite imagery confirms that the attacks in Blue Nile’s Ingessana Hills, the birthplace of rebel chairman Malik Agar, occurred in the first half of last year, the London-based watchdog said in a 74-page report on Tuesday.
Sudan’s army called the charges a fabrication.
The attacks were part of what appeared to be “a concerted attempt” to clear civilians from areas held by Agar’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, and to punish residents perceived to be supporting the rebels, the rights group said.
The Ingessana area, southwest of the state capital Ed Damazin, was particularly hard-hit, Amnesty said, after visiting rebel-held areas and interviewing refugees.
About 150,000 people have fled to South Sudan or Ethiopia since fighting began in September 2011.
“The army used scorched-earth tactics, destroying at least eight villages in the (Ingessana) area and probably many more,” Amnesty said.
“Sudanese forces would bomb and shell villages before invading and burning them down” after using indiscriminate firepower, it said.
“Civilians fled when the attacks began, but some of those who were unable to flee because of disability or age were burned alive in their homes or shot by soldiers.”
Amnesty’s Sudan researcher, Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, said in a statement that deliberately attacking civilians is a war crime.
AFP
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