Brazilian Official Seeks Protection from U.S. Secret Surveillance of Phone, Email Records

Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com  A top Brazilian official has expressed anger over the U.S.’s secret surveillance of telephone and email conversations in his South American country, The USA Today reports. Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota said he’d learned that the NSA has subjected Brazilian residents to espionage through the widespread surveillance of phone and email records. The…

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U.S., Russia Try to Repair Decades of Distrust to Protect Each Other from Common Threats

Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Mutual distrust between the U.S. and Russia is threatening to jeopardize cooperation between the FBI and Russia’s Federal Security Service, the Washington Post reports. Cooperation over security threats is guarded and restrained, making it difficult for the two countries to share information about mutual safety concerns. The Boston Marathon bombing has prompted…

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Independent Reports Says U.S. Engaged in Torture

By SCOTT SHANE New York Times WASHINGTON — A nonpartisan, independent review of interrogation and detention programs in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks concludes that “it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture” and that the nation’s highest officials bore ultimate responsibility for it. The sweeping,…

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Halloweeen Posed Challenge to Border Authorities As Costumed Trick-Or-Treaters Cross Into U.S.

Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Ghosts, zombies, witches and princesses. The increasing number of wannabe trick-or-treaters who crossed the Mexican border into the U.S. on Halloween posed tricky challenges to custom inspectors, Fox News reports. Customs and Border Protection has had the painstaking responsiblity of verifying the identify of costumed travelers making their way to El Paso…

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