Law

A U.S. federal judge has confirmed that the NSA’s infamous PRISM program does exist – allowing the agency to collect user data directly from major technology companies such as Yahoo, Google, Apple and Microsoft without the users’ knowledge and without a court order.  The stunning admission by the judge means that the PRISM program, originally leaked by Edward Snowden, has given the American government the ability to physically access the servers of numerous internet companies since 2007 in order to snoop on U.S. citizens.

In April 2015 nursing student Nichole Rolfe was fired from her job after she refused to lie to patients and push pro-vaccine propaganda to them, as directed by her teachers.  Nichole fought back against the college with a lawsuit. Baker College recently requested that the case be dismissed, but the judge presiding over the case denied the motion meaning that Nichole will finally be allowed to argue her case in front of a jury this summer.

French authorities are looking into the case of a woman who allegedly smuggled a baby on board an Air France flight. The small child aged between one and two years old was found hidden in carry-on luggage. The Evening Standard reports: The French company said in a statement the child was discovered on board the 1891 flight from Paris to Istanbul on Monday without a valid ticket. French website Planet.fr quoted a witness who said the child appeared to be about one or two years old. The passenger reportedly told the title: “The bag belonged to a woman sat near the back of the plane.

An FBI agent is under investigation after being caught lying about firing at Robert “LaVoy” Finicum twice, with authorities saying that the agent may have had help from four other FBI agents in covering up the incident and falsley claiming that the FBI did not shoot at LaVoy. All five FBI agents are part of an elite national unit and are under criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, led by Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

Investigative journalist Hicham Hamza was detained by French police last month after exposing Israel’s role in orchestrating the Paris Attacks on November 13, 2015.  Police charged Hamza with “violating judicial secrecy,” and have threatened him with potential prison time for a photo Hamza published online.