Before leaving Hong Kong, Edward J. Snowden sought answers from the government about the consequences of his decisions.
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Quotation of the Day: "I think telling the story about male victims is the key to changing the culture of the military." — Anuradha K. Bhagwati, executive director of the Service Women’s Action Network, on reports that the majority of service members who are sexually assaulted are men.
In Debate Over Military Sexual Assault, Men Are Overlooked Victims
www.nytimes.com
In its latest report on sexual assault, the Pentagon estimated that 53 percent involved attacks on men, mostly by other men.
In Debate Over Military Sexual Assault, Men Are Overlooked Victims
www.nytimes.com
In its latest report on sexual assault, the Pentagon estimated that 53 percent involved attacks on men, mostly by other men.
Cuba might be trying to keep its word to the US.
Taking Note: Edward Snowden’s Mad Dashby By DAVID FIRESTONE
He is diminishing himself by seeking asylum in countries that have their own agendas.
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Berlusconi Sentenced to 7 Years in Sex Caseby By RACHEL DONADIO
Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian leader, was expected to appeal a court ruling that he paid for sex with a minor.
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The source added that a gynaecologist had confirmed sexual contact took place.
Russian media, citing sources close to the investigation, said the woman had attended the club for the first time to see a concert by a group called Zelenka Band, and was "dragged off to a secluded place" there by her attacker. After the alleged assault, she reportedly went back with police to examine CCTV footage but was unable to identify her attacker.
A spokesman for the British Embassy in Moscow said: "We can confirm an incident [took place] involving a British national in Russia on June 15. We are providing consular assistance." The discrepancy in dates could not be immediately explained.
A man who answered a phone number listed on the Sexton club's website said there was no one available to comment. He said he believed Mr Zaldostanov was presently out of the country.
Earlier, Mr Zaldostanov told the popular Russian website Life News that "nothing happened in the club".
"Nobody raped anyone here," he was quoted as saying.
It is not the first time the Night Wolves have been drawn into controversy. Last year a member of the group was shot dead during a violent confrontation with a rival group, the Three Roads.
The clash was said at the time to be rooted in the smaller club's reluctance to endorse the Night Wolves' high-profile support of the Kremlin.
Earlier this year, Mr Putin awarded Mr Zaldostanov with the prestigious Order of Honour at a ceremony at Novo-Ogarevo, the president's residence outside Moscow. The state medal was given for the biker's "active work in patriotic upbringing of the young" and for helping search for the remains of dead World War Two soldiers.
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Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Barack Obama and Vladimir V. Putin during the Group of 8 conference in Northern Ireland.
Published: June 18, 2013
Obama and Putin Signal a More Businesslike Path
19 Jun 2013 — USA
President Barack Obama and President Vladimir Putin have agreed that they would create a working group on improving trade and investment to be led by US Vice President Joseph Biden and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Obama said: ”We had extensive discussions about how we can further deepen our economic and commercial relationships. I think we are poised to increase both trade and investment between our two countries. And that can create jobs and business opportunities, both for Russians and Americans.”
Source: The New York Times
An internet cafe in Moscow. Foreign websites should all be forced to be subject to Russian laws, a United Russia MP says. Photograph: Denis Sinyakov/AFP/Getty Images
A prominent Russian MP has called on the country to boost its "digital sovereignty" and wean its citizens off foreign websites following revelations that the US was operating surveillance systems to spy on foreigners' electronic communications.
Sergei Zheleznyak, a member of the ruling United Russia party and deputy speaker of the lower house of parliament, wrote in a column published on Wednesday that the revelations, leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden, should prompt Russia to re-strategise its approach to the internet.
He said he would introduce legislation this autumn to create a "national server", which analysts say would require foreign websites to register on Russian territory, thus giving the Kremlin's own security services "backdoor" access.
Russia has been seeking ways to address the skyrocketing growth of social networks such as Twitter and Facebook in the country, particularly following street protests that accompanied Vladimir Putin's return to the Kremlin last year.
"The US, which presents itself as a bastion of democracy, has in fact been carrying out minute-by-minute surveillance of tens of millions of citizens of Russia and other countries," Zheleznyak wrote in the online journal Ekonomika i Zhizn (Economics and Life).
"All the main internet companies that were formed in the US are involved in this ugly story, and these companies operate on the territory of our country."
Referring to the Duma's recent adoption of an anti-gay law, Zheleznyak continued: "The Americans reproach us for curbing the propaganda of sodomy among kids and then stick their noses into the personal correspondence of tens of millions of Russian citizens."
Zheleznyak said that "naive Russian users" of social media were "actually being cynically used" in order to have their information, including financial information, gathered and stored. He said Russia should conduct a "thorough investigation of American companies' and intelligence agencies' illegal access to the private information of Russian citizens".
"I think we must secure the digital sovereignty of our country. The world is changing," Zheleznyak wrote. He proposed creating a national "server network" that would include "personal data and information" and subject all websites to Russian laws.
Andrei Soldatov, an analyst who focuses on the Russian security services and internet, said: "It seems that the NSA scandal makes a perfect excuse for the Russian authorities to launch a campaign to bring global web platforms such as Gmail, Facebook or Twitter under Russian jurisdiction – either requiring them to be accessible in Russia by the domain extension '.ru', or obliging them to be hosted on Russian territory. In this case the services would be required to build backdoors for the Russian secret services."
Zheleznyak also said the Kremlin should boost support of the Russian web industry. "We must create our own information products, and not use others'," he wrote.
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