Activist blames Beijing for NYU exit

17 June 2013 Last updated at 00:22 ET

Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng has linked his departure from New York University to "unrelenting pressure" from Beijing.

Mr Chen has been a fellow at NYU since mid-2012. He is to leave this month.

The activist caused a diplomatic flurry last year when he fled house arrest and went to the US embassy in Beijing. He was later allowed to go to the US.

NYU has rejected his claim, saying his fellowship had always been expected to last a year at most.

"As early as last August and September, the Chinese Communists had already begun to apply great, unrelenting pressure on New York University, so much so that after we had been in the United States just three to four months, NYU was already starting to discuss our departure with us," Mr Chen said in a statement.

Beijing authorities wanted "to make me so busy trying to earn a living that I don't have time for human rights advocacy, but this is not going to happen", he said.

NYU spokesman John Beckman said Mr Chen's claims were "both false and contradicted by the well-established facts".

"Mr Chen's fellowship at NYU and its conclusion have had nothing to do with the Chinese government. All fellowships come to an end," he said in a statement.

NYU last week rejected a report by the New York Post linking Mr Chen's departure to its planned satellite campus in Shanghai, which is due to open in September.

Prof Jerome Cohen, a NYU law professor who had helped broker Mr Chen's fellowship at the university, said last week that the arrangement had always been a short-term one to help Mr Chen and his immediate family "get their feet on the ground and transition to a more permanent position".

Mr Chen is reported to be in talks with two US institutions about a possible position.

The self-taught lawyer had campaigned against forced abortions under China's one-child policy, but was jailed for four years in 2006 for disrupting traffic and damaging property.

He was placed under house arrest after his release in 2010, until his high-profile escape in April 2012.

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VIDEO: G8: Obamas arrive on Air Force One

US President Barack Obama has arrived in Northern Ireland with his family ahead of the G8 summit in County Fermanagh.

Air Force One touched down at Belfast International Airport at about 08:35 BST on Monday.

President Obama will attend an engagement in Belfast city centre before travelling to the Enniskillen summit, which begins later.

The First Lady, and her daughters Sasha and Malia, will travel to the Republic of Ireland, where they'll visit Dublin's Trinity College and Gaiety Theatre.

The BBC's Jane Hill reports

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Superman flies to top of box office

17 June 2013 Last updated at 04:33 ET

Superman movie Man of Steel has soared to the top of the North American box office, making $113m (£71.9m) in its opening weekend, early estimates have suggested.

The film stars British actor Henry Cavill as the superhero alongside Amy Adams as news reporter, Lois Lane.

"They finally got the Superman formula right," said box office analyst for Hollywood.com, Paul Dergarabedian.

"Superhero movies really are the bread and butter of the summer box office."

Continue reading the main story

1. Man of Steel - $113m (£71.9m)

2. This is the End - $20.5m(£13.04m)

3. Now You See Me - $10.3m (£6.5m)

4. Fast & Furious 6 - $9.4m (£5.9m)

5. The Purge - $8.2m (£5.2m)

Source: Hollywood.com

Man of Steel scored the biggest opening for June, beating the previous record held by Toy Story 3, which made $110.3 million when it opened in 2010.

The comedy This Is the End debuted in second place.

It stars Seth Rogen, James Franco and Jonah Hill as versions of themselves trapped in a mansion during the apocalypse.

It opened on Wednesday and has earned $32.8m (£20.8m) so far, having only cost $32m (£20.3m) to make.

About $20m of the box office receipts came over the weekend.

"To have this amount of money in the bank with its cost of production, good reviews and word of mouth really puts our feet on solid ground," said Rory Bruer, Sony's president of worldwide distribution.

Man of Steel will be up against some stiff competition next week when Brad Pitt zombie thriller World War Z and the Disney-Pixar's prequel Monsters University are released.

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Montreal mayor in 'corruption' probe

17 June 2013 Last updated at 11:41 ET

Montreal's mayor has been arrested by Quebec's anti-corruption unit on fraud charges, months after his predecessor resigned amid corruption allegations.

Michael Applebaum faces 14 charges, including defrauding government.

In February, anti-corruption police raided city hall and the offices of a borough that Mr Applebaum once represented.

The arrest is the latest in a string of scandals surrounding Canadian local politics.

In the neighbouring province of Ontario, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denies allegations that he appeared in a video smoking crack cocaine.

Mr Applebaum, Montreal's first Anglophone mayor in 100 years, was arrested early on Monday at his home.

"The corruption and collusion will no longer be tolerated," Robert Lafreniere, head of the anti-corruption unit, told reporters. "No-one is above the law."

Mr Applebaum entered Montreal's city hall after former Mayor Gerald Tremblay resigned amid allegations relating to illegal donations. Mr Tremblay denies all wrongdoing.

Mr Applebaum began his term as interim mayor in November, vowing to fight corruption

The charges against him stem from alleged acts before he became city mayor, during the years when he served as borough mayor, 2006-11.

Officials offered few details, but said the charges are related to real estate projects in Montreal.

Two officials with ties to Mr Applebaum's borough, Cote-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grace, were also arrested by anti-corruption police on Monday.

Several Quebec leaders are calling for the mayor to resign.

His arrest comes a month after the mayor of nearby Laval was also detained on corruption charges.

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Arizona voting law invalidated

17 June 2013 Last updated at 15:33 ET

The US Supreme Court has ruled that states cannot force residents to show proof of American citizenship when they register to vote.

In a 7-2 decision, the justices ruled a 2004 Arizona law was trumped by federal law.

The Supreme Court said it was enough to ask prospective voters to tick a box on forms declaring they are US citizens, without demanding documentary proof.

It is Arizona's latest immigration-related law to reach the top court.

The state is in frequent legal clashes with the federal government over the issue.

Four states have similar laws and 12 more have been considering such measures.

In the majority ruling, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that a 1993 federal law designed to make it easier to register to vote took precedence over Arizona's requirement.

The 1993 law requires states to offer voter registration when a resident applies for a driver's licence or certain benefits.

On the federal form, applicants are asked to state under oath that they are US citizens, on penalty of perjury.

But Arizona argued such assurances were not enough in their state, which borders Mexico.

The state's 2004 law added a requirement that applicants provide a US birth certificate, passport or other proof of citizenship.

Justice Scalia said the federal law "precludes Arizona from requiring a federal form applicant to submit information beyond that required by the form itself".

Immigrant rights groups, who said the law put an undue burden on naturalised citizens, hailed the decision.

The ruling "sends a strong message that states cannot block their citizens from registering to vote by superimposing burdensome paperwork requirements on top of federal law," said Nina Perales of the Mexican American Legal Defence and Education Fund.

Part of the concern was that while the regular form can be mailed in, federal law prohibits copying naturalisation documents for proof of citizenship, forcing those citizens to apply in person.

Two of the court's more conservative members, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, dissented.

The US constitution "authorises states to determine the qualifications of voters in federal elections", Justice Thomas wrote in his dissent.

Kathy McKee, who led the push to have the requirement enacted into law, said the ruling would make it harder to combat voter fraud.

"To even suggest that the honour system works, really?" Ms McKee said. "You have to prove who you are just to use your charge card now."

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Fox News sued over on-air suicide

17 June 2013 Last updated at 17:53 ET

The mother of three children of a US man whose suicide was inadvertently broadcast live on Fox News Channel has sued the network, claiming infliction of emotional distress.

In September, JoDon Romero, 33, killed himself after an extended police chase.

Initially unaware of the man's identity, his three children later watched the broadcast on the internet.

The broadcaster has apologised for the "severe human error" that led to the death's airing.

Angela Rodriguez, the mother of JoDon Romero's children aged about nine, 13 and 15, wrote in a court filing in the US state of Arizona that the children suffered severe emotional and psychological trauma.

She is suing the broadcaster for unspecified damages.

On 28 September Romero shot himself in the head at the end of an hour-long police chase after stealing a car at gunpoint, as a news helicopter flew overhead. Police officials said he had a long criminal history and was wanted for parole violations.

Post-traumatic stress disorder

Filed earlier this month, the suit against Fox News Channel and its parent company News Corp alleges that on that day, Romero's children heard rumours at school of a suicide on live television. They went home and searched for the footage on YouTube, only realising it was their father while watching.

Immediately following the broadcast of the death, the Fox News presenter apologised to the audience, saying the incident should have been censored using a delay. Subsequently, a Fox News executive also apologised and put the broadcast down to "severe human error".

Ms Rodriguez says her children "have been, and continue to be, severely traumatised" by the footage and have shown symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, including flashbacks and sleep disturbances.

She says the elder two children have not returned to school since their father's death.

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US reveals 'indefinite detainees'

18 June 2013 Last updated at 06:06 ET

The US has listed 46 inmates held at its military prison in Guantanamo Bay who it says it does not have the evidence to try but are too dangerous to release.

It revealed the men's names in response to a freedom of information request by the Miami Herald.

Most are from Yemen and Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama vowed last month to renew efforts to shut the prison. Lawyer Clifford Sloan has been appointed to oversee the closure.

Mr Sloan, whose appointment was officially announced on Monday, will be tasked with releasing detainees cleared for transfer.

Of the 166 detainees at Guantanamo in Cuba, 86 have been cleared for transfer if conditions can be met, including 56 from Yemen.

Hunger strike

The list of prisoners designated for indefinite detention was drawn up in 2010 but not made public.

It includes 26 Yemenis, 12 Afghans, three Saudis, two Kuwaitis, two Libyans, a Kenyan, a Moroccan and a Somali.

Two Afghans who were on the list have died, one of a heart attack and one who committed suicide.

The US says it either does not have sufficient evidence to try the men, or that the evidence it has is tainted by coercion or abuse.

After taking office in 2009, Mr Obama promised to close the prison within a year, but his plans to transfer detainees to maximum security prisons in the US and to try some detainees in the civilian justice system met fierce resistance from both parties in Congress.

More than 100 detainees have joined a hunger strike which began in early February to protest against the failure to end their detention without charge. Many have been held for more than a decade.

Officials say 44 of those are being force-fed through nasal tubes.

On Monday, five prisoners accused of helping orchestrate the 11 September 2001 attacks against the US returned to a military court in the Guantanamo camp for the first time since February, for a week of pre-trial hearings.

They include Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the attacks.

The government has requested that a trial to be scheduled in late 2014.

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Yahoo reveals US data requests

18 June 2013 Last updated at 06:21 ET

Yahoo is the latest company to reveal its dealings with the US authorities, following revelations about the Prism surveillance programme.

It said it had received between 12,000 and 13,000 US government requests for user data in the past year and a half.

Most of them had "concerned fraud, homicides, kidnappings, and other criminal investigations", it said.

Yahoo voiced frustration that it was unable to reveal the number of requests that had concerned national security.

It urged the government to "reconsider its stance on this issue".

"Like all companies, Yahoo cannot lawfully break out Fisa [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] request numbers at this time because those numbers are classified," it said in a blog post by chief executive Marissa Mayer and general counsel Ron Bell.

Under pressure

FISA is widely seen as the legislation under which Prism operated.

Earlier in the week Twitter also said it was important to be able to publish numbers of national security requests.

And Google said lumping police requests with national security requests was "a step back for users".

Tech firms have been under pressure to disclose information about data passed to the National Security Agency (NSA) since the Guardian and Washington Post revealed the existence of Prism - a programme giving the NSA access to user data held on the servers of tech firms including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, and Apple.

The NSA later confirmed the existence of the surveillance scheme as well as a separate phone-records programme, which it said had helped it thwart terrorist plots in the US and more than 20 other countries.

Rebuilding trust

Technology companies, which initially denied any knowledge of the Prism project, are now rushing to rebuild trust from users shocked at the idea that their data was viewable by the authorities.

Yahoo laid out plans to publish a twice-yearly global transparency report, the first of which will be issued "later this summer".

"Democracy demands accountability," the blog said.

"We appreciate - and do not take for granted- the trust you place in us."

Other companies have been quick to rebut suggestions they simply hand over data whenever asked.

"Only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities," said Apple.

Facebook's general counsel Ted Ullyot said: "We aggressively protect our users' data when confronted with such requests; we frequently reject such requests outright, or require the government to substantially scale down its requests, or simply give the government much less data than it has requested."

So far disclosures have revealed:

• Apple received between 4,000 and 5,000 requests from federal, state and local authorities between December 2012 and May 2013
• Facebook received between 9,000 and 10,000 requests between July and December 2012
• Microsoft received between 6,000 and 7,000 requests between July and December 2012

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Father urges NSA leaker: 'Come home'

18 June 2013 Last updated at 07:28 ET

The father of Edward Snowden, the ex-CIA worker who leaked top secret information on US surveillance programmes, has issued a public plea urging his son to not commit "treason".

"I hope, I pray and ask that you will not release any secrets that could constitute treason," Lon Snowden said in an interview with Fox News.

He also asked his son, currently in hiding in Hong Kong, to "face justice".

But Edward Snowden has vowed to fight any extradition attempts by the US.

On Monday, the former intelligence contractor said US officials had destroyed any possibility of a fair trial by labelling him a traitor.

"The US government, just as they did with other whistleblowers, immediately and predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home, openly declaring me guilty of treason," wrote the 29-year-old in a live online chat.

Former Vice-President Dick Cheney has denounced Mr Snowden as a "traitor", while two influential members of the US Congress have accused the leaker of betraying his country.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

I would rather my son be a prisoner in the US than a free man in a country that [does] not have the kind of freedoms that we have"

End Quote Lon Snowden

'Man of principle'

Speaking to Fox News, Lon Snowden said he believed his son was a "man of principle".

"I know you're your own man and you're going to do what you feel you have to do," he said in a statement addressed to his son.

"I don't know what you've seen but I just ask that you measure what you're going to do and not release any more information."

Lon Snowden told the US broadcaster he was "saddened" by his son's decision to leak the information, but also criticised the US government's alleged surveillance programme.

"I don't want them reading my email. If we say, 'We're going to have to sacrifice our freedoms because of the threat of terrorism', well, the terrorists have already won," he said.

Continue reading the main story

Who is Edward Snowden?

• Age 29, grew up in North Carolina
• Joined army reserves in 2004, discharged four months later, says the Guardian
• First job at National Security Agency was as security guard
• Worked on IT security at the CIA
• Left CIA in 2009 for contract work at NSA for various firms including Booz Allen
• Called himself Verax, Latin for "speaking the truth", in exchanges with the Washington Post

But he added that he would prefer to see his son face time in prison than remain in Hong Kong.

"I would like to see Ed come home and face this," he said.

"I have faith in our justice system: I would rather my son be a prisoner in the US than a free man in a country that [does] not have the kind of freedoms that we have."

Edward Snowden fled to Hong Kong shortly before the scandal broke. His leaks revealed that US agencies had systematically gathered vast amounts of phone and web data.

He also alleged that US intelligence had been hacking into Chinese computer networks.

The contractor said he had decided to speak out after observing "a continuing litany of lies" from senior officials to Congress.

"The US government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me," he said.

Although the leaks have angered the US government, Mr Snowden has so far not been charged or faced an extradition request.

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News Corp in US 'phone hacking' suit

18 June 2013 Last updated at 09:07 ET

A former Hollywood stunt double has sued News Corp, accusing the company of hacking into her phone.

The suit, the first such claim from the US, was filed by Eunice Huthart, a former double for Hollywood star Angelina Jolie, the BBC has learnt.

In the suit, the Liverpool resident alleges messages from family, friends and Ms Jolie were intercepted and in some cases deleted.

News Corp did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a civil complaint filed on 13 June, Ms Huthart seeks damages for violations of federal and California laws and "intrusion into private affairs".

According to IMDB, Ms Huthart worked as Ms Jolie's stunt double on the films Wanted, Mr and Mrs Smith, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

In the court filing, she describes herself as a close friend of Ms Jolie, and says the pair "often travelled and socialised together".

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