The FBI has shrugged off growing congressional anxiety over its surveillance of US citizens, claiming such programs could have foiled the 9-11 terrorist attacks and would prevent "another Boston".

He also rejected calls from technology companies such as Google to disclose the scale of the programs, saying even this information could help terrorists seeking to hide their communications.

The NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was condemned by US politicians and threatened with prosecution by the country's intelligence chief on Sunday after revealing himself as the Guardian's source for a series of explosive leaks on the NSA and cyber surveillance.

"If Edward Snowden did in fact leak the NSA data as he claims, the United States government must prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law and begin extradition proceedings at the earliest date," King, a New York Republican, said in a written statement. "The United States must make it clear that no country should be granting this individual asylum. This is a matter of extraordinary consequence to American intelligence."

News that the NSA has unfettered access to most of the leading Internet services inevitably has an international dimension. After all, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Google and the rest of the Naughty Nine all operate around the world, so spying on their users means spying on people everywhere.

New data protection rules currently being discussed by the European Union have come under fierce attack by US companies, who want them watered down. For the most part, they were succeeding, but it's possible that the revelations that the very same companies who have lobbied so hard to neuter EU regulations have allowed the NSA to access customer data may start to tip the balance the other way.

Without Safe Harbor status, no US company would be allowed to transfer personal data about Europeans out of the EU. It's unlikely that the European Commission would contemplate such a drastic move, but it's an indication of how high feelings are starting to run -- and this is only a few hours after the NSA story broke.

Today, 4 June, is the 24th anniversary of what China calls the “counterrevolutionary riot” in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

China doesn't announce which sites will be undergoing maintenance that conveniently coincides with the anniversary, so it's not possible to know which publishers will decide to opt for a bit of downtime today.

The Boston Marathon bombings show that immigration reform could endanger the public, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said Tuesday, speculating that the attack might have been perpetrated by an immigrant. In fact, law enforcement authorities have not named any suspect so far.

King has a long history of controversial statements on immigrants and is one of the most outspoken House opponents of immigration reform.

Portugal's prime minister has said a court ruling striking down parts of his government's budget means it will have to make other deep spending cuts.

Since tax increases were out of the question after the unprecedented increases already in the budget, he said, the only option was to cut back on other public services.

"After this decision by the Constitutional Court, it's not just the government's life that will become more difficult, it is the life of the Portuguese that will become more difficult and make the success of our national economic recovery more problematic.

The North Korean situation could spiral out of control, Russia has warned, after another day of inflamed rhetoric from Pyongyang.

North Korean state media reported leader Kim Jong-un "judged the time has come to settle accounts with the US imperialists".

North Korea has made multiple threats against both the US and South Korea in recent weeks, including warning of a "pre-emptive nuclear strike" on the US and the scrapping of the Korean War armistice.

Wind-up, solar-powered radios might seem like an excellent idea to help cash-strapped Zimbabwean villagers pass the long, dark evenings.

"A lot of people were taken to the police station and we were warned that those that would be found with the radios [in future] will disappear."

"It is very diabolic the taking of the radios, people are entitled to information about what is happening in the country… taking away these radios is to force them to listen to the ZBC, which they don't want to listen to," MDC spokesman Douglas Mwonzora told the BBC.

The central bank now says all will remain closed to ensure the whole banking system functions "smoothly".

The Cypriot government suggested that account holders with deposits of more than 100,000 euros should expect to lose about 30% of their balances.

Despite the Cypriot economy's relatively small size, many analysts had been concerned that the crisis would spread to the wider eurozone, had Cyprus been forced to give up the single currency.

The very concept of retirement is relatively new in the world of Communist politics. For decades, cadres were expected to follow an old party slogan by "working for the revolution with their last breath and last drop of blood".

Behind the scenes, retired leaders are busy but one rule is clear: they are expected to stay away from the country's history books.