NSA admits testing cellphone tracking
WASHINGTON – National Security Agency chief Gen. Keith Alexander revealed Wednesday that his spy agency once tested whether it could track Americans’ cellphone locations, in addition to its practice of sweeping broad information about calls made.
Alexander and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on proposed reforms to the NSA’s surveillance of phone and internet usage around the world, exposed in June by former NSA analyst Edward Snowden. But neither spy chief discussed proposed reforms; instead they were questioned about new potential abuses that have come to light since then.
Alexander denied a New York Times report published Saturday that said NSA searched social networks of Americans searching for foreign terror connections.
Ancient volcanoes discovered on Mars
LOS ANGELES – Scientists have discovered ancient supervolcanoes on Mars similar to the caldera that sits under Yellowstone National Park.
Volcanoes previously have been spotted on Mars, which is known to have been volcanically active billions of years ago.
What’s different about this supervolcano network is that it was found in the Martian northern highlands, a place not known to be active in the past.
The finding described in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature suggests that early Mars was more active than previously realized, and that such eruptions could have affected the red planet’s climate and atmosphere.
French court rejects racial-profiling claims
PARIS – A French court on Wednesday rejected claims that police identity checks on 13 people from minority groups were racist, saying officers didn’t overstep any legal boundaries.
The decision upended an unusual bid to rein in law enforcement officers often accused of racial profiling. The verdict followed a one-day trial in July billed as the first of its kind in France, and a sign that long-silent minorities are increasingly finding their voice. Lawyers for the plaintiffs pledged to appeal – up to the European Court of Human Rights if need be.
Anti-racism groups say that nonwhite French – particularly blacks or those of Arab origin – face routine discrimination that diminishes their chances of finding jobs, getting into nightclubs and carving out a place for themselves in mainstream society.
Such discrimination, they contend, also subjects minorities to humiliating public identity checks.
Associated Press
