U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) are advocating reforms to the USA PATRIOT Act and related surveillance laws as part of the reauthorization of expiring provisions that the Senate will consider later this year. Feingold and Durbin have informed the Attorney General and the Chairmen of the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees…
Police told to ignore human rights ruling over DNA database
Chief constables across England and Wales have been told to ignore a landmark ruling by the European court of human rights and carry on adding the DNA profiles of tens of thousands of innocent people to a national DNA database. Senior police officers have also been “strongly advised” that it is “vitally important” that they…
Defrocked pastor sues Christian dating site
A Church of Sweden minister has demanded compensation from a Christian dating site after he was stripped of his clerical collar for insulting a number of the site’s female users. The operators of the 7EHimlen (“Seventh Heaven”) site kept copies of the pastor’s online comments and passed them on to his superiors at the cathedral…
UBS tax settlement delayed
The U.S. and Switzerland need at least five more days to negotiate settlement of a Justice Department lawsuit against UBS AG seeking the names of Americans suspected of evading taxes through 52,000 secret Swiss accounts. U.S. District Judge Alan Gold in Miami today agreed to a request by Justice Department attorney Stuart Gibson to reschedule…