NPR News 2013-08-22 加文本

NPR News 2013-08-22

NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

The government is now allowing the pubic to see some court opinions that had previously tried to keep secret. The documents show that the National Security Agency illegally collected tens of thousands of e-mails that had no connection to terrorism. NPR's Tom Gjelten says the NSA argues that the violations of surveillance laws were incidental, not deliberate.

The documents are opinions written by the chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court set up by Congress to oversee the NSA's surveillance of phone calls and e-mails. In 2011, the court found that one aspect of that NSA program was illegal and unconstitutional. The opinion now declassified makes the court's concern clear: "For the first time the government has now advised the court that the volume and nature of the information it has been collecting is fundamentally different from what the court had been led to believe." The reference was to e-mails inadvertently collected because they were embedded in larger e-mail bundles the NSA had intercepted. Tom Gjelten, NPR News, Washington.

There were calls for a more transparent government at Bradley Manning’s trial in Fort Meade, Maryland. The Army private first class was sentenced today 35 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge for leaking reams of classified information to the website WikiLeaks. Attorney David Coombs says Manning was not a trader but a whistleblower.

"In order to close this gap, we need whistleblowers like Pfc. Manning, people who are not afraid to stand up and speak the truth and to risk their freedom for the ability to keep us informed."

But prosecutors say data Manning leaked endanger the lives of US Intelligence sources and diplomatic staff. Another soldier representing himself in his trial for the 2009 Fort Hood shootings in Texas declared today the defense rests. Major Nidal Hasan did not call witnesses. Closing arguments are tomorrow.

An Egyptian court has ordered the immediate release of former President Hosni Mubarak. Here's the latest from NPR's Leila Fadel.

The decision appears to be final, and officials in the prosecutor general's office say they won't appeal. Critics call the decision politicized. The position of the prosecutor general has long been seen as a tool for whoever is in power. The ousted autocrat will still be retried for his role in the killing of more than 900 protesters as well as his charges of corruption. But he'll be a free man while he's on trial if the decision holds. His release may cause an uproar among revolutionaries who rose up to force Mubarak's ouster. But Mostafa Hegazy, the political adviser to the president, says the return of tyranny is impossible. He says people must respect the rule of law and suggested that even if Mubarak is released, there could be other charges coming that put him back in prison. Leila Fadel, NPR News, Cairo.

US stocks down sharply with the Dow off 105 points at 14,898. You're listening to NPR News.

The Syrian government says allegations that it was responsible for a chemical attack on rebels today are ridiculous. It says the reports are merely trumped-up charges by an opposition that wants to mask heavy losses in the latest phase of Syria’s two-year-old civil war. Still, the head of the United Nations team that’s in Syria investigating previous reports of chemical weapons use is pushing to investigate today's alleged attack.

United Parcel Service reportedly plans to end its health care coverage for the spouses of about 15,000 non-union employees. As John Lawrence of member station WABE reports, UPS says it had no choice given new requirements under the Affordable Care Act.

Kaiser Health News says UPS won’t foot the bill for employee spouses if those spouses can get health insurance coverage from their own jobs. Kaiser Health News reporter Jay Hancock says his organization obtained internal documents from UPS. Based on those documents, Hancock says UPS will save an estimated 60 million dollars a year from dropping coverage for employee spouses. But he also says supporters of the Affordable Care Act say its opponents are using money as an excuse.

"People who back the Health Act argue the costs for big companies associated with the ACA are pretty minimal compared to what else is going on in health care. They discount Obamacare as a factor."

UPS neither confirmed nor denied the Kaiser Health News report. For NPR News, I'm John Lawrence in Atlanta.

Some panic in Mexico City today where buildings swayed from a 6.2-magnitude earthquake that struck 170 miles away. There were no reports of serious injuries or damages there where some people rushed out of their office buildings as the earthquake alarm sounded.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.