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Government programs

Congress briefed on US surveillance programs
Dogged by fear and confusion about sweeping spy programs, intelligence officials sought to convince House lawmakers in an unusual briefing Tuesday ...
ACLU sues over NSA phone records program
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Obama administration Tuesday, asking the government to halt a phone-tracking program that collects the ...
NYC bomb plot details settle little in NSA debate
The Obama administration declassified a handful of details Tuesday that credited its PRISM Internet spying program with intercepting a key email that ...
German court weighs legality of ECB crisis measure
Top European financial officials testified Tuesday for and against a European Central Bank program that has been instrumental in calming the euro debt ...
Senate passes farm bill, moving debate to House
The last time Congress passed a farm bill, Democrats had control of the House and the food stamp program was about half the size it is today. That was ...
US secrets leaker has options to stay in Hong Kong
The American defense contractor who says he leaked information on classified U.S. surveillance programs could benefit from a quirk in Hong Kong law ...
US spy programs raise ire both home and abroad
The Obama administration faced fresh anger Monday at home and abroad over U.S. spy programs that track phone and Internet messages around the world ...
Merkel, Obama to discuss NSA surveillance program
Germany's chancellor will raise the issue of the U.S. National Security Agency's eavesdropping on European communications when she meets President ...
S&P boosts outlook for US gov't's long-term debt
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services upgraded its outlook Monday for the U.S. government's long-term debt. S&P cited the government's strengthened ...
Calif. raisin farmers win new day in court
The Supreme Court is giving California raisin producers a new day in court to object to a government program that aims to stabilize prices by ...
NSA contractor risks steep jail time for data leak
The man who gave classified documents to reporters, making public two sweeping U.S. surveillance programs and touching off a national debate on ...
How did secret phone program help foil NYC plot?
The government's broad programs to collect U.S. phone records and Internet traffic helped disrupt a 2009 plot to bomb the New York City subways, a ...
Globally, people resigned to little privacy online
U.S. government snooping does not surprise global Internet users, who say they already have few expectations of online privacy as governments ...
Denials in surveillance program require decoding
Google CEO Larry Page and Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg are denying reports that depict two of the Internet's most influential companies ...
US officials long denied massive data trawling
Top officials of the Bush and Obama administrations have repeatedly denied in recent years that the National Security Agency collected massive caches ...
Iowa gov. may need to OK Medicaid abortion funding
Catholic, anti-abortion Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad could soon find himself in an uncomfortable position: He may have to sign off on payments for every ...
Obama: Gov't records sweep not targeting Americans
President Barack Obama declared Friday that America is "going to have to make some choices" balancing privacy and security, launching a vigorous ...
Greek opposition: IMF mistake won't ease austerity
An admission from the International Monetary Fund this week that it mishandled the early stages of Greece's massive bailout will not lead to any ...
Health care thorny issue in immigration debate
Health care coverage for newly legalized immigrants is emerging as a thorny issue in Congress' drive to remake the nation's immigration system, posing ...
But wait, there's more: A domestic spying Q&A
Wait, there's more? Yes, this was the week that America's intelligence secrets spilled out: Classified court orders. Top secret Power Point slides.
Obama defends gov't surveillance programs
President Barack Obama is defending his government's secret surveillance, saying Congress has repeatedly authorized the collection of America's phone ...
Monumental phone-records monitoring is laid bare
A leaked document has laid bare the monumental scope of the government's surveillance of Americans' phone records — hundreds of millions of calls — ...
House passes $45B homeland security spending bill
The House on Thursday passed a $45 billion measure boosting the Homeland Security Department's budget by about 2 percent above spending levels imposed ...