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Millions of Americans who use AT&T’s phone network are having their phone calls monitored by a surveillance program called Data Analytical Services (DAS), which has had coordination with federal and local law enforcement agencies. According to a document obtained by WIRED, DAS has been secretly collecting and analyzing over one trillion domestic phone records within the U.S. each year. The program used to be called Hemisphere and is run by AT&T in coordination with different agencies, according to Fox News. The program uses a technique known as chain analysis. This goes after those who have been in direct contact with...

The telecom giant is doing NSA-style work for law enforcement—without a warrant—and earning millions of dollars a year from taxpayers. Hemisphere is a secretive program run by AT&T that searches trillions of call records and analyzes cellular data to determine where a target is located, with whom he speaks, and potentially why. In 2013, Hemisphere was revealed by The New York Times and described only within a Powerpoint presentation made by the Drug Enforcement Administration. The Times described it as a “partnership” between AT&T and the U.S. government; the Justice Department said it was an essential, and prudently deployed, counter-narcotics...

This is how the New York Times describes a telephone surveillance program carried out by federal drug enforcement agencies: For at least six years, law enforcement officials working on a counternarcotics program have had routine access, using subpoenas, to an enormous AT&T database that contains the records of decades of Americans' phone calls -- parallel to but covering a far longer time than the National Security Agency's hotly disputed collection of phone call logs. Sounds ominous, but is it? The Hemisphere Project, a partnership between federal and local drug officials and AT&T that has not previously been reported, involves an...

In January 2007, the Chinese military launched a missile 500 miles into space, shattering an orbiting satellite. The assault was only a test that took out one of China's own weather satellites. But it sparked an international outcry over the country's willingness to use weapons in space. A spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council called the test "inconsistent" with efforts for international cooperation. Military experts have since become concerned that space could become the next battleground for global conflicts. Of particular concern is the lack of visibility with some missile strikes, such as China's in 2007. Some experts say...

Thousands of protesters greeted Mr Bush's arrival US President George Bush has met his Uruguayan counterpart, Tabare Vazquez, as part of his five-nation Latin American tour to promote trade.Mr Bush arrived in Montevideo from Brazil - where he signed a deal to develop alternative fuel sources. Uruguay is keen to sign free trade deals with the US, even if it means leaving the Mercosur trade bloc. The tour attracted protests in Brazil and about 5,000 protesters gathered in Uruguay for Mr Bush's visit. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is conducting his own tour of the region and addressed 40,000 anti-Bush...

!-- S IIMA --> Chavez attacked Bush in front of the Buenos Aires crowd It was the kind of situation that the Venezuelan leader, Hugo Chavez, loves - 40,000 flag-waving supporters joining him in hurling insults at the US President, George W Bush.He was at a football stadium in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, leading what he called an anti-imperialist rally to coincide with Mr Bush's arrival in neighbouring Uruguay. Most of the crowd were members of trade unions, left-wing and human rights organisations, those who already supported Mr Chavez and what he calls his brand of socialism for...

Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center Washington, D.C. Thank you all. (Applause.) Please be seated -- si ntese. Buenas tardes. Gracias por la bienevenida. For those of you not from Texas, that means, good afternoon. (Laughter.) And thank you for the welcome. I'm honored to be back again with the men and women of the Hispanic Chamber. I appreciate your hospitality. I'm pleased to report the economy of the United States is strong, and one of the reasons why is because the entrepreneurial spirit of America is strong. And the entrepreneurial spirit of America is represented in this room....

WASHINGTON, July 20, 2006 – The Brazilian military today assumed leadership of the Inter-American Defense Board, the military advisory board to the Organization of American States. Brazilian Brig. Gen. Jorge Armando Ribeiro (right), incoming chairman of the Inter-American Defense Board, Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary-general of the Organization of American States, and U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Keith M. Huber, outgoing chairman of the IADB, stand at attention during the IADB transfer of authority ceremony in Washington, D.C., July 20. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. In a ceremony at OAS headquarters here, Brazilian Brig. Gen. Jorge Armando Ribeiro...

WASHINGTON, May 19, 2006 – In a historic move, the U.S. is giving up its claim on the chairman position of the Inter-American Defense Board, the military advisory board to the Organization of American States. This change is coming about because in March, the OAS, the premiere political organization for the Western hemisphere, decided to officially recognize the IADB as part of its organization after more than 60 years, said Army Maj. Gen. Keith M. Huber, IADB chairman. The IADB, an international committee of defense officials, was created at a 1942 meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Huber said....

Watching the recent proceedings of China's National People's Congress — the country's legislature, if you believe China's constitution, which of course you should not — I got that sinking feeling I always get nowadays when I pay attention to Chinese affairs. Hearing the Communist-party hacks droning on about "safeguarding China's sovereignty and territorial integrity" (read: intimidating Taiwan) and "socialist modernization" (read: get rich by all means, citizen, but never forget who's running this show); watching the drilled "representatives" of the people applauding the wise decisions of the party in unison*... Sinking feeling. The words that go with the sinking feeling...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 January 04 A Magellanic Starfield Credit: Sally Heap, Eliot Malumuth, Phil Plait , Hubble Heritage Team, NASA Explanation: Stars of many types and colors are visible in this Hubble Space Telescope close-up of a starfield in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Over 10,000 stars are visible -- the brightest of which are giant stars. Were our Sun at the distance of these stars, about 170,000 light-years, it...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 December 22 Summer at the South Pole Credit & Copyright: Galileo Project, NASA Explanation: The December solstice brings the beginning of Winter to Earth's Northern Hemisphere and Summer time to the South! This view of Earth's Southern Hemisphere near the beginning of Summer was created using images from the Galileo spacecraft taken during its December 1990 flyby of our fair planet. Dramatically centered on the South Pole,...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 June 9 A Chamaeleon Sky Credit: FORS Team, 8.2-meter VLT Antu, ESO Explanation: A photogenic group of nebulae can be found toward Chamaeleon, a constellation visible predominantly in skies south of the Earth's equator. Celestial objects visible there include the blue reflection nebulas highlighted by thin dust surrounding the bright stars in the above image center. Toward the top and lower right, dark molecular clouds laced with...