EU court rules against Facebook over transatlantic data deal

Yahoo – AFP, 6 Oct 2015

The 'Safe Harbour' agreement reached by the United States and European 

Commission in 2000 was based on the premise that US laws offered similar 

privacy protection to those in the European Union (AFP Photo/Leon Neal)

Luxembourg (AFP) - The European Union's top court on Tuesday ruled that a key transatlantic data sharing deal relied on by companies such as Facebook was invalid in the light of spying revelations in the Edward Snowden scandal.

In a major blow to US tech firms, the court said the 2000 "Safe Harbour" agreement between the United States and the EU did not sufficiently guarantee the protection of Europeans' personal data and must be struck out.

The stunning decision stems from a David-and-Goliath complaint against social media giant Facebook lodged against Irish authorities by Max Schrems, an Austrian law student privacy campaigner.

Austrian right-to-privacy activist Max

 Schrems waits for the verdict at the

 European Court of Justice (SCJ) in 

Luxembourg on October 6, 2015

 (AFP Photo/John Thys)

"The Court of Justice declares that the (European) Commission’s US Safe Harbour Decision is invalid," the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg said in its three-page judgment.

The court said Irish authorities now had to decide whether transfer of data from Facebook's European subscribers to the United States should be suspended "on the ground that that country does not afford an adequate level of protection of personal data."

"YAY," Schrems tweeted after the judgment.

He later said in a statement that the decision was a "milestone when it comes to online privacy."

"It clarifies that mass surveillance violates our fundamental rights. This decision is a major blow for US global surveillance that heavily relies on private partners," he said.

Schrems filed the case against Ireland's data protection authority because Facebook's European headquarters are based there.

Major US web giants including Facebook and Apple have set up headquarters in Ireland to take advantage of favourable tax laws. Facebook data is then transferred to servers in the United States.

'Inaccurate assertions'

But Schrems had argued that the 15-year-old Safe Harbour deal is too weak to guarantee the privacy of European residents in the wake of details provided by former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor and whistleblower Snowden.

The data deal allows data transfers by thousands of businesses on the grounds that US laws offer similar protection to those in the 28-nation European Union.

The European Commission -- the executive arm of the EU -- is widely expected to announce the imminent agreement of a new version of the Safe Harbour pact with the United States.

There was no immediate reaction to the judgment from Washington, but last month the United States said an opinion by the EU court's top legal counsel which reached similar conclusions was based on "inaccurate assertions".

Former NSA contractor Edward 

Snowden leaked details of the vast

 surveillance programs (AFP Photo)

The case comes amid widespread tensions between Brussels and Washington on issues of regulation, with several EU anti-trust probes currently underway into US tech firms.

"The United States does not and has not engaged in indiscriminate surveillance of anyone, including ordinary European citizens," the US mission to Brussels said in a statement last week.

"We fully respect the European Union's legal process; however, we believe that it is essential to comment in this instance because the Advocate General's opinion rests on numerous inaccurate assertions about intelligence practices of the United States."

Snowden, who remains wanted by the United States and currently lives in Moscow, opened a Twitter account last week, just days before the judgment.

His revelations showed that the NSA's PRISM programme used Silicon Valley giants Apple, Google and Facebook to gather user data.

In the wake of the scandal, the EU and Washington began talks to revamp Safe Harbour.

Snowden awarded freedom of expression prize in Norway

Yahoo - AFP, 3 June 2015

Former security contractor Edward Snowden, pictured on March 18, 2015
 via a live video call, won a Norwegian prize for freedom of expression Tuesday
 and received yet another invitation to leave his exile and receive the award in
person (AFP Photo/Ole Spata)

Oslo (AFP) - Former security contractor Edward Snowden won a Norwegian prize for freedom of expression Tuesday and received yet another invitation to leave his exile and receive the award in person.

The Norwegian Academy of Literature and Freedom of Expression said the 31-year old fugitive had won the Bjornson Prize -- named after a Norwegian Nobel literature laureate -- "for his work protecting privacy and for shining a critical light on US surveillance of its citizens and others."

Snowden, a former analyst at the US National Security Agency, has lived in exile in Russia since 2013 after revealing mass spying programmes by the United States and its allies.

The US administration has branded him a hacker and a traitor who endangered lives by revealing the extent of the NSA spying program.

The academy requested assurances from the Norwegian government that Snowden would not be extradited to the US if he travelled to Norway to receive the 100,000 kroner ($12,700, 11,500 euros) prize money in person on September 5.

Norway's justice ministry said it was up to immigration authorities, who indicated they would consider any entry request when and if they received one.

A State Department spokeswoman, Marie Harf, said she would not speculate on whether Washington would ask for Snowden's extradition.

But she warned: "We would advise any government that there's only one place he should travel, and that's back here to the US to face the charges he faces."

She said the charges against Snowden were "very serious," adding that "if he had the courage of his convictions that he claims, he would come face justice here in the US."

News of the award came on the day that US Senate passed landmark legislation limiting the powers of the National Security Agency, where Snowden had worked, in a move he hailed as "historic."

Snowden was awarded Sweden's Right Livelihood Award in 2014 but chose to accept it by video link rather than leaving his exile in Russia.

He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the second year in a row. The Nobel will be awarded in Oslo on October 9.

Right Livelihood Award to Snowden

Moscow-exiled US whistleblower Edward Snowden and British Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger are to receive the Right Livelihood Award. They're among five persons awarded Sweden's "alternative Nobel prize."

Deutsche Welle, 24 Sep 2014

The Stockholm-based Right Livelihood Award Foundation on Wednesday praised Snowden, a former US intelligence agent, for "revealing the unprecedented extent of state surveillance."

Rusbridger was forced to destroy data

It said Rusbridger, the editor in chief of Britain's The Guardian newspaper, also won the award for "responsible journalism in the public interest.

"None of them could have done what they did without the other, " said foundation director Ole von Uexkull.

The announcement, originally set for Thursday, was brought forward, after a leak by Swedish broadcaster SVT.

Foundation denied access

Von Uexkull, the nephew of Jacob von Uexkull who founded the prize in 1980, said all winners had been invited to a December 1 award ceremony in Stockholm.

Discussions on "potential" travel arrangements for Snowden, who remains exiled in Russia, would be held with the Swedish government, von Uexkull said.

He added that the foundation had been denied access to the Swedish foreign ministry's media room, where award ceremonies have been held since 1995.

Three other winners

Snowden, who is wanted by the US for exposing mass data collection by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and Rusbridger are honorary winners, meaning they will not receive the award's customary 500,000 kronor (54,500 euros).

The other three prize winners, named to receive the monetary award, are Pakistani human rights lawyer Asma Jahanger, Sri Lankan rights activist Basil Fernando and US environmentalist Bill McKibbben.

Jahanger is a human rights lawyer who has defended women, children, religious minorities and the poor in Pakistan, the award citation said.

Fernando, originally from Sri Lanka, led the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission for nearly two decades and now serves as its director of policy and programs.

McKibben is founder of 350.org, a grass-roots environmental movement aimed at spurring action to fight climate change.

lpj/kms (dpa, AFP, AP)

Europe's boss: Merkel turns 60

Angela Merkel has presided over a time of great influence and economic success. Germany has assumed a more prominent role in the world - and its unassuming chancellor has become a political heavyweight.

Deutsche Welle, 17 July 2014

Angela Merkel, Europe's leader? Just a few years ago, this didn't seem likely. On the contrary, in the first few years of her nearly nine-year tenure as chancellor, the question was often asked whether a woman from the former East Germany could be fitting for the post.

But German Hollywood director Roland Emmerich was apparently convinced of her capabilities quite early on. In his 2009 blockbuster "2012," humanity has to be saved from annihilation in Noah ark-like ships. The Europe ship is helmed by a Merkel-like chancellor who speaks in the name of the other states. Yet, in reality, it wasn't even clear Merkel would be returned to power in the 2009 election as the film was being created.

It turned out that Emmerich's assessment was correct: Merkel became one of the leading voices in Europe. In the May 28 issue of "Forbes" magazine, she was named the world's most powerful woman - for the fourth year in a row. "Time" magazine has named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world for the sixth time.

Merkel's promise

Of course, this would not have been possible without national success. She enjoys a good reputation in Germany and tops the popularity scale for politicians published by news magazine "Der Spiegel."

 Angela Merkel and former German
Chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1991

Once the underling of former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, Merkel is now a leading politician

Young people, and not just voters or members of her party, the Christian Democratic Union, see her as a role model. Reasons given for this include Merkel's authenticity: she hasn't changed much despite having gained power.

She is what she is, at times aloof or displaying silent, pursed-lip disapproval. She is rather unemotional and ever-focused on the task at hand. She is no show-off.

Outwardly as well, she radiates stability: she has only very cautiously made changes to her clothing and hair, which she famously used to cut herself. She offered herself to Germans as a dependable pilot through crisis years. Her key message was: After the crisis, things will be even better for Germany than before.

Her plan has worked out: Unemployment numbers are down and Germany has continued to grow economically. Merkel is now in her third term as chancellor - an undisputed leader of her party, which she has molded over the years according to her preferences.

Some cringe at the question of who could fill her shoes, since there is no obvious answer. Perhaps it could be the current defense minister, Ursula von der Leyen, although she is controversial even within her own party.

Simply put, governance in Germany has become synonymous with Angela Merkel.

From problem child to model student

Step by step, Merkel - who had holds a degree in physics - has increased her power, in Germany and beyond. Once Germany had overcome the worst part of the crisis, Merkel took to the European stage. She modified her message to include all of Europe. She zeroed in in a void within the European Union: a lack of politicians who wanted to, or could, take the reins.

Merkel is not afraid to have her
say in international affairs

Of course, she had to take some hits along the way. But, as in Germany, her opponents disappeared over time for different reasons. With German economic might once more behind her, Merkel's voice gained weight in Europe, even though as the largest contributor to the EU budget, Germany's voice was already powerful.

Over the course of the crisis, the gap between Europe's largest economic power and the other national economies increased once again. Germany - which at the turn of the millennium was considered a "problem child" - has become the continent's model student. And in this role it has more right to give direction to others. Merkel and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble have been doing this in their dealings with the eurozone crisis, guided by the conviction that European bailout funds can only go to finance-stricken countries if these agree to large-scale reforms.

This approach has been recently praised by Hillary Clinton, the likely front-runner in the 2016 US presidential election. When asked in a German talk show why she thought Merkel has become so powerful, Clinton replied by saying Merkel had successfully led Europe through the financial and debt crisis. A number of other politicians around the world see it the same way.

New responsibilities

Germany is striving for a balanced budget, even as southern European countries are still inturmoil from the eurozone crisis. But in the course of the Ukraine crisis and the NSA scandal, including the most recent spying affair, Germany has gained a yet more prominent role on the international stage.

Supported by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Merkel mediated between Moscow, Kyiv, Berlin, Brussels and Washington. This prevented a large-scale escalation of the Ukraine crisis and softened the economic consequences through a level-headed approach to sanctions. Just like in the eurozone crisis, Merkel took the lead to resolve the situation.

Despite the Ukraine crisis,
Merkel speaks to Putin

Now, Germany has been the only country to set up an inquiry to investigate the scale of espionage by intelligence agencies. The German government recently expelled the top CIA representative in Germany. Merkel is walking the fine like between attracting America's attention to German issues and maintaining good transatlantic relations.

Future plans under wraps

For some time now, a rumor has been going around in Berlin's political circles that Merkel would like to find a new role when her present term in office ends in 2017. One of the options mentioned is UN Secretary-General. Merkel has denied this, clearly not wanting to discuss such possibilities for political and strategic reasons. But it is an imaginable scenario - and the UN is allegedly keen to find a leader who could push through necessary reforms.

At this stage, Merkel is silent about her plans for the seventh decade of her life. Perhaps Emmerich's latest film - the sequel to the science fiction hit "Independence Day" - will provide an answer. The movie doesn't deal with national, European or international problems, but with intergalactic ones.

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Germany asks top US spy in Berlin to leave country amid undercover agent investigation

The German government has advised that it will expel the top US spy in Germany. The move comes in response to the discovery that two US agents were working under cover in Germany's secret intelligence agency.

Deutsche Welle, 10 July 2014

The head of the German parliamentary board overseeing the secret services, Clemens Binninger, announced on Thursday that the head of the CIA's Germany station would be asked to leave. The decision is designed to demonstrate Germany's anger at the discovery of two US spies in Germany's foreign intelligence service, the BND.

The first operative, who was working under cover in the German intelligence service, was arrested a week ago. He admitted to passing over 200 documents to the CIA - the United State's foreign intelligence agency - for 25,000 euros ($34,000). The double agent worked for the BND for two years.

Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that police raided properties in the Berlin area on "initial suspicion of activity for an intelligence agency."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday told the United States that trust was crucial between the two allies.

"More trust can mean more security," Merkel said.

"From my point of view, spying on allies... is a waste of energy," she said.

She said priorities should include dealing with challenges in Syria and fighting terrorists and that confidence between allies should be strengthened.

crh/mh (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)

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Merkel describes latest allegations of US spying on Germany as "serious"

Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed concern about reports that a German intelligence officer worked as a double agent for the United States. Bilateral ties had already been strained by reports of snooping by the NSA.

Deutsche Welle, 7 July 2014

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Beijing on Monday, the chancellor said that if the reports that an employee of Germany's BND intelligence service passed information on to a US contact proved to be true, it would be a "serious case."

Merkel added that she would regard this as "a clear contradiction as to what I regard as trusting cooperation between agencies and partners."

According to the DPA news agency, the employee in question, a 31-year-old man who was arrested last Wednesday, has admitted to passing on more than 200 documents to US intelligence agencies in return for a total of 25,000 euros ($34,000) over a period of two years.

The BND has said the documents that were passed on contained no sensitive information.

Case under investigation

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, meanwhile, rejected opposition calls for Berlin to expel the US ambassador to Germany. Steinmeier told reporters at a press conference in the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator, than no further action would be taken until the results of an investigation into the matter were known.

On Friday, the German foreign office called in the US ambassador to express Berlin's displeasure.

Whatever the ambassador told foreign office officials does not appear to have satisfied them, as the controversy showed no sign of dying down by Monday morning.

"I expect now for everyone to assist in the speedy clarification of the accusations, and quick and clear statements, also by the US," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in comments published in Monday's edition of the mass-circulation Bild newspaper.

On Sunday, even German President Joachim Gauck, whose role is largely ceremonial, weighed in on the issue.

"If it really is the case that a service has been using an employee from our service in this way, we have to say: 'That is enough'," the former Protestant pastor and human rights campaigner in the former communist East Germany said.

There has still been no official comment on the issue from the United States.

"We continue to decline comment," Caitlin Hayden, spokesman for the US National Security Council said on Sunday.

NSA hangover

The allegations against the BND employee come with bilateral relations between Germany and the US still strained over revelations by former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden.

Among the allegations were that the NSA not only conducted mass surveillance on German citizens, but also hacked into Chancellor Merkel's cellular phone.

pfd/tj (dpa, Reuters)

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Germany NSA's main target, claims ex-staffer

Germany became the NSA's "number one" spying zone after the 2001 attacks by al Qaeda on New York, says a former NSA staffer. Thomas Drake told the news magazine Spiegel that the US saw it could no longer rely on Germany.

Deutsche Welle, 29 June 2014

Drake, an NSA executive turned whistleblower, said the US National Security Agency (NSA) wanted to punish Germany to a "certain extent" for failing to notice that an al-Qaeda terrorist cell had planned the attack series from Hamburg.

The cell led by Mohammed Atta and recruited by the late al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden from Afghanistan rammed airliners into New York's twin towers and the Pentagon near Washington on September 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people.

Drake, who is to testify next Thursday to the German parliament's NSA inquiry committee, said the NSA decided it could "no longer" trust Germany because the cell had "lived, trained and communicated" unnoticed by the German intelligence authorities.

Ironically, afterwards, the NSA intensified its liaison with Germany's BND foreign intelligence service "because the NSA wanted to have more control over what your boys are doing here," Drake told Spiegel.

Ties 'unusally close'

Those became "unusually close," said the former NSA executive, adding that the liaison hardly differed from official exchanges under the decades-old " between the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

While US President Barack Obama had reassured German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the NSA no longer eavesdropped on her mobile phone, "all other Germans are apparently regarded by the NSA as suspects," the 57-year-old said.

Drake said Germany's ties dated back to the Cold War, with the NSA remaining the "master" in "this unequal relationship" that often resembled a one-way street.

"One of the elephants in the room - that no-one apparently sees - is Germany with its engineering expertise. It is extremely tempting to look at all of that; new products, new methods, new technologies," he said.

The NSA's "densely knit" network used electronic listening posts in Germany, Drake said.

"All of Europe's important, also economically important, data flows through Germany," he added.

Prosecute NSA, says lawyer

US lawyer Jesselyn Radack, who represents whistleblowers, also told Spiegel that Germany's federal prosecutions service should summon NSA officials responsible for surveillance in Germany.

"And, if they don't respond, then it should become more difficult for them to make a nice, small family trip to Europe, because they would then be sought under warrant," she said.

Radack claimed the true intention of the NSA's mass data gathering was to exercise broad control, not principly to avert terrorist attacks by finding the "needle in the haystack."

"It's about control over the population and economic espionage," she said.

Used official channels

After 2001, Drake used official channels within the NSA to air his disquiet about capabilities to breach citizens' privacy before going public from 2005. Serious charges later were dropped, but in 2011 he was convicted for a misdemeanor.

Drake was part of a 1990s data-collection development team. In January, he was among former NSA staffers who wrote to Obama recommending dramatic curbs on government surveillance of Americans' phone and internet usage.

ipj/tj (AP, AFP)

Germany cancels Verizon contract over snooping fear

BBC News, 26 June 2014

German Chancellor Angela Merkel types on a smartphone

Related Stories

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The German government has cancelled a contract with Verizon over concern that US firms may be giving data to US authorities.

Verizon has provided internet services to a number of German government departments and the current contract was due to run out in 2015.

The firm did not comment on the move.

There was anger in Germany over allegations that a US agency bugged Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone.

Earlier this month Germany announced an investigation into those allegations which were made by a former contractor of the US National Security Agency (NSA), Edward Snowden.

There is no suggestion that Verizon was involved, but the controversy has put pressure on US technology firms doing business in Germany.

High level security

German Interior Ministry spokesman Tobias Plate said: "There are indications that Verizon is legally required to provide certain things to the NSA, and that's one of the reasons the cooperation with Verizon won't continue".

"Furthermore, the ties revealed between foreign intelligence agencies and firms in the wake of the US National Security Agency affair, show that the German government needs a very high level of security for its critical networks," he said.

Verizon is the second biggest US telecoms company after AT&T.

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US to extend privacy protection rights to EU citizens

EU and human rights and privacy groups welcome pledge, which follows pressure in wake of Snowden revelations

theguardian.com, Ewen MacAskill, defence and security correspondent, Wednesday 25 June 2014

Eric Holder, the US attorney general. Photograph: Gary Cameron/Reuters

The Obama administration has caved in to pressure from the European Union in the wake of Edward Snowden's revelations on surveillance by promising to pass legislation granting European citizens many of the privacy protection rights enjoyed by US citizens.

The proposed law would apply to data on European citizens being transferred to the US for what Washington says is law enforcement purposes.

After the first Snowden revelations appeared in June last year, the Obama administration irritated many by insisting that while US citizens were protected by law from snooping by US spy agencies, this did not apply to non-Americans.

On Wednesday the US attorney general, Eric Holder, promised at a US-EU meeting of home affairs and justice ministers in Athens that legislation would be sent to Congress to extend the US Privacy Act to EU citizens.

The EU, as well as human rights and privacy groups, welcomed Holder's announcement but coupled it with expressions of scepticism, describing it as a vague promise.

Viviane Reding, the EU justice commissioner, said it was an important step in the right direction but added: "Words only matter if put into law. We are waiting for the legislative step."

Human rights groups said the US Privacy Act, in spite of being touted as a beacon for the rest of the world, had a relatively weak regulatory framework. They said Holder's pledge did not address many of the other issues raised by mass surveillance worldwide by the NSA and its partners, including Britain's GCHQ.

Speaking after the Athens meeting, the EU home affairs commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom, said: "EU-US relations have been strained lately in the aftermath of the Snowden revelations but we have worked very hard to restore trust."

Holder said: "The Obama administration is committed to seeking legislation that would ensure that … EU citizens would have the same right to seek judicial redress for intentional or wilful disclosures of protected information and for refusal to grant access or to rectify any errors in that information, as would a US citizen under the Privacy Act.

"This commitment, which has long been sought by the EU, reflects our resolve to move forward not only on the data protection and privacy agreement but on strengthening transatlantic ties."

The US and the EU have been negotiating for three years over personal data protection, but the discussions took on a new immediacy with the Snowden revelations.

Emotions have been strongest in Germany, given the history of mass surveillance by the Stasi, and this was compounded when it was revealed that the US had been snooping on Angela Merkel. The German government has pressed Obama, Holder and other members of the US administration to set out how they would curb spying on non-Americans.

Over the last year Obama has made repeated overtures to Merkel and other EU leaders only to be rebuffed. European governments, as well as the European parliament, has called for concrete action rather than just soft words. Even a speech in January in which Obama said he had asked Holder and the intelligence community to develop safeguards for foreign citizens met with scepticism.

Holder said the data protection agreement under discussion related to personal data shared with the US by European countries for law enforcement purposes. He framed it in the context of transnational crime and terrorism, in particular fighters travelling to and from Syria.

"One consistent theme ran through all our discussions: in a world of globalised crime and terrorism, we can protect our citizens only if we work together," Holder said. "At the same time, we must ensure that we continue our long tradition of protecting privacy in the law enforcement context."

Gus Hosein, executive director of Privacy International, said: "It is a good step forward. Nonetheless, there are three massive impediments to achieving equivalent protection under law. First, Congress needs to act on this and we haven't seen many positive steps on protecting non-Americans' rights."

Secondly, Hosein described the US Privacy Act as "an unfortunately weak legal regime" and, thirdly, he wanted worldwide privacy protections against what he said was the accumulation of massive amounts of data by US intelligence against non-Americans.

Cynthia Wong, senior internet researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: "It may be a small step in the right direction but much more needs to be done to address data protection in the US and to rein in the sheer scale of what the NSA is collecting."

German NSA investigative panel to allow Snowden to testify

Deutsche Welle, 8 May 2014

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is to testify before a German panel investigating the activities of the spy agency. However, the panel has not yet determined whether he may travel to Berlin for the hearing.

German lawmakers agreed to call on NSA-whistleblower to provide public testimony. The parliamentary committee, comprised of representatives from Germany's four parties in the Bundestag, announced the decision on Thursday after deliberating over the matter for roughly two hours.

The vote was unanimous, according to Martina Renner, the chairperson of Germany's Left party for the special committee.

Lawmakers involved the formal inquiry of NSA activities did not decide on Thursday, however, where the long-awaited hearing would take place.

Members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-left, center-right ruling coalition have proposed calling for Snowden to submit to questioning in a video conference from his current location in Moscow. However, members of the opposition – the Greens and the Left – want Snowden to come to Germany.

Angela Merkel's conservatives are strictly opposed to this, fearing that it would impact negatively on Berlin's relations with Washington, which has put out an international arrest warrant for Edward Snowden and would demand Germany extradite him to the US once he sets foot on German soil.

Merkel's coalition furthermore proposed the tentative date of July 3, according to Left party chairperson Renner said on Thursday.

Revelations of NSA amassing phone data from private German citizens, as well as of tapping Chancellor Merkel's cell phone have outraged the German public. The incident has also damaged US-German diplomatic relations, coinciding with efforts by the EU and US to agree on a transatlantic trade pact.

Snowden, who first leaked the information to the media last June, is still wanted by the US on treason charges.

kms/rg (AFP, dpa)

Putin says Ukraine risks abyss, dialogue only solution

Yahoo – AFP, 17 April 2014

Russia's President Vladimir Putin gives his annual televised question-and-answer

session in Moscow (AFP Photo/Alexei Nikolosky)

Armed men gather beside armoured personnel carriers (APC) as they stand guard outside the regional state building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk, on April 16, 2014

Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused Ukraine's new authorities of driving the country towards the abyss but said that dialogue was the only way out of the intensifying crisis.

"Only through dialogue, through democratic procedures and not with the use of armed forces, tanks and planes can order be imposed in the country," Putin said at the start of a major nationwide phone-in broadcast on Russian television.

"It is very important today to think about how to get out of this situation and offer people a genuine dialogue and not one just for show," added Putin, saying he believed the talks opening Thursday in Geneva between top diplomats on the crisis were "extremely important".

Armed men gather beside armoured

 personnel carriers (APC) as they stand

 guard outside the regional state building

 in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk,

 on April 16, 2014 (AFP Photo/Genya

Savilov)

He accused the Ukrainian authorities who took over after the fall of president Viktor Yanukovych of driving the country to the abyss.

"I hope that they manage to understand towards what abyss the Kiev authorities are going, dragging with them the whole country," said Putin.

Putin slammed the Kiev government for launching a military operation against separatist activists who have seized official buildings across southeast Ukraine.

"This is one more serious crime by the current Kiev authorities," he said.

He also said it was "nonsense" to claim Russian forces were operating in the east of Ukraine, saying those involved in protest actions were "all local citizens".

"That is all nonsense," he said.

"In the east of Ukraine there are no Russian units. There are no special forces, no instructors. These are are local citizens," he said, adding this was proved by the fact the activists had "taken off their masks".

"I have told our Western partners that they (the activists) are going nowhere. They are the masters of this land. And they must be spoken to."

But Putin also explicitly acknowledged that Russian troops had operated in Crimea during and before the referendum that led to its annexation by Moscow from Ukraine. Previously he denied the soldiers were Russian, saying anyone could have bought military uniforms in a store.

"Our goal was to ensure the conditions for a free vote," Putin said, explaining who were the soldiers in uniforms without insignia who appeared in Crimea in late February.

"Behind the local defence forces were our soldiers. They acted correctly, but decisively and professionally," he said. "We had to protect people from possible use of weapons" on Ukrainian military bases.

Edward Snowden appears via video for Putin press conference. Screengrab

from Russia Today/YouTube

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Rousseff backs EU-Brazil cable project

Deutsche Welle, 24 February 2014

Brazil and the EU plan to establish a communications network complete with undersea cable to circumvent the US National Security Agency. It's the outcome of a visit to Brussels by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

Brazil and the EU welcomed on Monday a German proposal to create a European network to avert US surveillance. At a summit in Brussels, Rousseff said the joint project would "guarantee the neutrality" of the Internet.

Brazilian telecoms provider Telebras and Spain's IslaLink plan major shares in the cable project priced at $185 million (135 million euros). European and Brazilian pension funds would put up the remainder.

The cable would span the Atlantic Ocean, from the Portuguese capital Lisbon to Fortaleza in northeastern Brazil.

Last year, it emerged that the National Security Agency (NSA) had spied on Rousseff's email and phone communications. US President Barack Obama apologized to Merkel for surveillance of her mobile phone.

"We have to respect privacy, human rights and the sovereignty of nations. We don't want businesses to be spied upon," Rouseff told a news conference in the presence of top EU officials.

"We will continue to enhance data protection and global privacy standards," said President Herman Van Rompuy.

Brussels has since scrutinized EU-Us agreements on data transfers, demanding increased guarantees for the protection of data of citizens in the EU.

The EU is a major trading partner with Brazil, receiving more than 20 percent of Brazil's exports and accounting for a similar share of its imports.

Talks on a long-envisaged free-trade deal were however delayed at the summit, officials said.

ipj/dr (dpa, AFP, Reuters)

Access to one of the building's floors requires US
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