Snowden Claims NSA Documents Show US Hacks China: Report

The Guardian via Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Alleged NSA leaker Edward Snowden claimed Wednesday to have evidence that the U.S. government has been hacking into Chinese computer networks since at least 2009 – an effort he said is part of the tens of thousands of hacking operations American cyber spies have launched around the world, according to a Hong Kong newspaper.

The newspaper, the South China Morning Post, reported it had conducted a lengthy interview with the 29-year-old former NSA contractor, who is hiding out in Hong Kong after revealing himself to be the source of a series of headline-grabbing stories about the National Security Agency's secret, vast surveillance programs. After their unveiling, those programs were acknowledged and defended by top Obama administration officials.

The Post said Snowden provided documents, which the paper described as "unverified," that he said showed U.S. cyber operations targeting a Hong Kong university, public officials and students in the Chinese city. The paper said the documents also indicate hacking attacks targeting mainland Chinese targets, but did not reveal information about Chinese military systems.

Snowden, a civilian contractor who worked at an NSA facility in Hawaii before his flight to Hong Kong, said he believed that overall the NSA had launched more than 61,000 hacking operations globally, including attempts to spy on hundreds of targets in Hong Kong and in mainland China.

"We hack network backbones -- like huge internet routers, basically -- that give us access to the communications of hundreds of thousands of computers without having to hack every single one," Snowden said, according to the paper. "Last week the American government happily operated in the shadows with no respect for the consent of the governed, but no longer."

Snowden told the paper he was releasing the new information to show the "hypocrisy of the U.S. government when it claims that it does not target civilian infrastructure, unlike its adversaries."

As U.S. officials said the Justice Department is preparing to bring charges against Snowden for the NSA leaks, Snowden said he has no plans to leave Hong Kong even though that country has an extradition treaty with the U.S.

"People who think I made a mistake in picking Hong Kong as a location misunderstand my intentions," he said. "I am not here to hide from justice; I am here to reveal criminality… My intention is to ask the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate."

As the South China Morning Post published its reports on Snowden, America's top cyber officials appeared before a Congressional committee to discuss American offensive and defensive cyber operations, including those recently revealed by The Guardian and The Washington Post apparently based on information from Snowden.

Previously, top U.S. officials have blamed the Chinese government for being behind "persistent" -- and somewhat successful -- attempts to hack into American government and private networks. In return, Chinese officials recently said their government has "mountains of data" pointing to the U.S. hacking them.

Last week, President Obama signed a directive calling for government cyber tools to be "integrated with the full array of national security tools we have at our disposal.” That statement was made after British newspaper The Guardian revealed the directive -- allegedly one of many tips that came from Snowden before he stepped from the shadows.

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Switzerland Questions US over CIA Drunk Driving Gambit

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The Swiss government has formally asked the U.S. for “clarification” on a claim from alleged National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden that CIA agents in Geneva pushed a banker to drink and drive as part of a dangerous recruitment ploy.

Snowden, the man who claims to have given top secret documents from the NSA’s vast surveillance programs to two major newspapers, briefly discusses the scheme in an interview with the U.K. newspaper The Guardian, saying it was a “formative” moment that led him to question the “rightness” of U.S. intelligence.

In an attempt to learn secret financial information, Snowden alleged that undercover CIA agents would get the banker drunk and “encourage” him to drive home in his car.  When the banker was eventually arrested for drunk driving, the CIA operatives offered to help him out of the jam, paving the way for recruitment as a source.

“Much of what I saw in Geneva really disillusioned me about how my government functions and what its impact is in the world,” Snowden told The Guardian.  “I realized that I was part of something that was doing far more harm than good.”

A spokesperson for Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs told ABC News the department had “taken note” of Snowden’s claims and has sent a “diplomatic note” to the U.S. Embassy in Bern asking “for clarification of the matter.”

“In accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Switzerland expects the members of the diplomatic missions in Bern and the members of the permanent mission in Geneva to comply with the laws and rules of the country of residence,” a statement from the foreign ministry read.

At the time of the alleged incident, Snowden said he was working undercover for the CIA in Geneva, maintaining computer network security.  The CIA has declined to comment on Snowden’s case, but the Swiss foreign ministry confirmed that he publicly held the position of “an attaché” with the permanent U.S. mission in Geneva from March 2007 to February 2009.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this report.

Snowden said he left the CIA in 2009 to work in the private sector for Dell and then with the technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton.  He had only been working for Booz as a contractor at an NSA facility in Hawaii for a few months when he skipped town for Hong Kong, allegedly taking secret NSA documents that he said revealed the U.S. government’s “horrifying” surveillance capability.

Snowden has not been seen since he checked out of a Hong Kong hotel room earlier this week, but on Wednesday, an English-language Hong Kong newspaper, the South China Morning Post, published a preview of a new interview the paper said it conducted with Snowden.

In the preview, Snowden addresses the raging debate over whether he is a hero or a traitor for his actions.  He said the answer is neither, but rather, “I’m an American.”

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Both Sides Hardening as Turkey's Civil Unrest Escalates

ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images(ISTANBUL) -- Neither Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan nor anti-government demonstrators showed signs of backing down Tuesday as riot police tried to drive protesters from Istanbul's Taksim Square, which has become the flashpoint for two weeks of civil unrest over the government's alleged move toward authoritarianism.

Police launched tear gas and water cannons at protesters, sending them scrambling out of Taksim Square, only to see them return later for more confrontations.

Erdogan has plans to meet with organizers on Wednesday but this latest display of the government's intolerance for social dissent could jeopardize the plans.

In a televised speech before parliament Tuesday, the prime minister said, "To those who...are at Taksim and elsewhere taking part in the demonstrations with sincere feelings: I call on you to leave those places and to end these incidents and I send you my love.  But for those who want to continue with the incidents I say, it's over.  As of now we have no tolerance for them."

Erdogan complained that what began as a peaceful protest against the redevelopment of Gezi Park has been hijacked by radical elements bent on destroying Turkey.

The Turkish Human Rights Foundation says four people have been killed, including one policeman, since the clashes began on May 31. 

With demonstrations taking place throughout the country, as many as 5,000 protesters have either been wounded or treated for tear gas exposure, while 600 police have received injuries.

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Mandela Remains Hospitalized for Fifth Straight Day

Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images(PRETORIA, South Africa) -- Former South African President Nelson Mandela is spending a fifth straight day in a Pretoria hospital after being admitted over the weekend with a recurring lung infection.

On Tuesday, South African President Jacob Zuma made an on-camera statement for the first time about Mandela, saying he met with doctors and that he's very confident in the care they're giving Mandela.

Zuma called Mandela's condition very serious but said that he has been stabilized.

Security continues to remain tight at the hospital where the 94-year-old civil rights leader is staying.  The South African police service has taken over security and are stationed at both entrances to the hospital, checking every car that enters the property.

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Retired Gen. John Allen on the Sacrifices of the Afghanistan War

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Gen. John Allen recently retired from the military following his post as the commander of the International Security Assistance Force, but the memories of the 561 troops who died under his command -- and the many thousands who were wounded -- have not left his mind.

“I think about them every day; I think about them at night,” Allen told ABC News.  “And there's a moment of reflection about those 561 empty chairs around dinner tables.”

He described the war in Afghanistan as “a conflict of sacrifice” and said his focus now is to make sure the country doesn’t forget those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

“That's a generational loss because the family will be different, the children will be different,” he said.  “That's why this war is so important for America … because every one of those losses has to mean something.”

During his time as a commander in Afghanistan, Allen attended scores of memorial services, sometimes as often as three times a week.  But he said there’s one service that haunts him most of all.

“We had a particular IED strike, and it killed some magnificent soldiers in one of our engineer units,” Allen said.  “The wife of one of the soldiers was in an adjacent unit, and she was with us in that ceremony.  And I'll remember her gripping the coffin, the flag-draped coffin, crying his name in the back of the C-130.  I'll never forget that, because there was the catastrophe of the loss playing out before our eyes in the belly of that cargo aircraft.”

As the United States and international forces increasingly have taken a support role to the Afghan forces this year, there has also been a surge in militant attacks in the country.  Allen said the spike in violence demonstrates that the Taliban’s influence is dwindling.

“I think the Taliban are fighting for their lives right now.  We've seen success by the Afghan National Security Forces continue,” Allen said.

“The other thing I think that the Taliban have recognized is that we're not going anywhere,” he added.

Although U.S. and international forces are ending their combat missions in Afghanistan at the end of 2014, Allen said there will continue to be “an international military presence in Afghanistan for a long time.”

“The narrative that the Taliban have continued to pursue is that the international community is abandoning Afghanistan,” he said.  “And what they're finding, to their grief, is that that narrative is false.”

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Afghan Civilian Deaths Soar in 2013

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(KABUL, Afghanistan) -- How are national forces in Afghanistan faring against the Taliban after taking over most of the security responsibilities from U.S. and NATO troops?

According to a new report by the United Nations, the effectiveness of Afghan soldiers and police leaves something to be desired.

The international body said that nearly 3,100 civilians were killed in war-related violence during the first five months of 2013, an increase of 24 percent from the same period one year ago.

Jan Kubis, the U.N.'s special representative for Afghanistan, remarked, "The situation of civilians in the country and conflict-related civilian casualties are, indeed, not going in the right direction.  On the contrary, the situation has worsened."

"All of this shows a continuing, strong disregard for the fate of civilians by the insurgents," Kubis said.

It also underscored worries that many Afghans have about how well their own forces can protect them when coalition forces withdraw their troops sometime in 2014, as presently scheduled.

The Taliban is expected to intensify its offensive in the run-up to foreign soldiers leaving Afghanistan as well as prior to next year's general elections, when voters pick a new president and parliament.

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British Politician Claims Syrian Rebels Dominated by Radical Islamists

Scott Peterson/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) -- A British lawmaker on the far right is warning that Syria's opposition forces have been taken over by radical Islamists who are only interested in committing terrorist acts.

Nick Griffin, who leads the British National Party, says he's on a fact-finding mission that has brought him to Damascus, where he claims to have witnessed the aftermath of Tuesday's suicide bomb assault in the center of the capital.

According to Griffin, the ongoing two-year conflict could result in Syria being transformed from a "stable secular state into an Iraq-style hell of sectarian hate."

While being invited with representatives from other countries by the Syrian government to observe the situation, a spokesman for Griffin insists the BNP leader is not acting as a mouthpiece for President Bashar al-Assad.

Nevertheless, Griffin disagrees with the British government's proposal to arm Syrian rebels, saying it was "More madness from the people who dragged us to costly war in Iraq & Afghan[istan]."

While most in Parliament don't agree with Griffin's far-right views, there are many members of Parliament who are opposed to arming rebels, contending that it will only escalate the conflict.

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Assange Tells Snowden to Seek Refuge in Latin America

LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images(LONDON) -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has some advice for Edward Snowden, the NSA leaker who revealed his identity on Sunday.

In a recent interview with CNN, Assange said that Snowden, who was last seen in Hong Kong, should go to Latin America, if he wants to avoid getting extradited to the U.S. The reason?

"Latin America has shown in the past 10 years, that it is really pushing for human rights. There is a very strong tradition of asylum," Assange said on Monday, from his London hideout.

Assange has some reasons to praise Latin America's governments. He has himself avoided extradition to Sweden (where he is wanted on sexual assault charges that he denies) by seeking refuge at Ecuador's embassy in London, where he has been holed up since June of last year.

Latin American governments have a very mixed record when it comes to the protection of free speech.

A few of them have even come up with some pretty creative ways of silencing their critics by attacking them with hefty fines, even with soccer broadcasts.

If any government in Latin America offers asylum to Snowden, it will probably be out of an interest to boost their anti-U.S. credentials, or falsely portray themselves as protectors of free speech.

In Ecuador, for example, some analysts say that President Rafael Correa used the decision to grant asylum to Assange as a way to boost his popularity in the months leading to his re-election, and also as a way to raise his standing among the international "anti-imperialism" crowd. The Ecuadorean government said that it granted asylum to Assange strictly on human rights grounds, arguing that charges against Assange in Sweden were politically motivated.

Snowden hasn't expressed any interest in going to Latin America for the moment. In his most recent interview with The Guardian he said that he was considering asylum in Iceland, due to its strict laws protecting freedom of speech.

Some media reports have said, however, that from Hong Kong, Snowden could easily move to several Asian countries, where he would be relatively safe from extradition.

Some of the options that have been mentioned: Myanmar, Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand and Russia, which has said that it would consider an asylum request. We'll have to see where Snowden surfaces next.

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Turkish Protesters Use Fireworks to Battle Cops

Lam Yik Fei/Getty Images(ISTANBUL, Turkey) -- Protesters in Turkey's ancient city of Istanbul fought running battles with police on Tuesday, sending fireworks into police lines while being forced back with tear gas, rubber bullets and a water cannon.

Earlier police had forced their way past improvised barricades to clear Taksim Square of protesters who had been occupying the area for the past 12 days in protest at the rule of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The protests have become the biggest test of his decade of power.

The protests have swelled from a peaceful demonstration into nationwide disturbances that have spread to 78 cities across the country. Demonstrators are challenging what they say is the prime minister's increasingly authoritarian style and his perceived attempts to impose a religious and conservative lifestyle in a country with secular laws.

Earlier in the day, Erdogan had made it clear that he had come to the end of his patience with the protesters, vowing to "end the actions" of the demonstrators, accusing them of damaging Turkey's image abroad.

During the afternoon, many of the protesters in Istanbul had fled into the adjacent Gezi Park, where hundreds have been camping out to stop developers from cutting down trees in the park.

Police moved in, while bulldozers began demolishing the barricades and the makeshift shelters. The clashes that followed saw police and protesters take and lose control of the square several times.

As night fell, massive plumes of tear gas billowed upward, and police fired water cannons. Thousands of defiant demonstrators swarmed back into Taksim Square, and were met by lines of riot police. Amid a violent game of cat and mouse, fires burned, protesters set off fireworks, threw stones and waved banners while water cannons drenched protesters, including a man in a wheelchair carrying a Turkish flag.

Unrest continued into the night as the mayor of Istanbul promised the authorities would continue "day or night to clear the square of marginal elements." Before the evening clashes, more than 300 people had been treated in a makeshift infirmary set up in a park at the center of the protest. Most were suffering from the effects of tear gas.

Turkey is one of the United States' key allies. Two weeks ago, Erdogan visited the White House and was hailed by President Obama as a friend of America. The president said the visit "reflected the importance of the partnership" he had been able to develop with Erdogan as an ally against Syria, and against Iran developing a nuclear weapons program. But in recent days, the United States has expressed "serious concerns" about what it described as "excessive use of force by police."

Four people, including a policeman, have died in two weeks of demonstrations. The Turkish Human Rights Foundation says around 5,000 people have been treated for injuries or the effects of tear gas.

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Massive Suicide Car Bomb Explodes Near Afghan Supreme Court

File photo. MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images(KABUL, Afghanistan) -- More than a dozen people have been killed in a massive blast from a suicide car bomb in Kabul Tuesday.

The target appears to have been the Afghan Supreme Court, which is down the road from the U.S. Embassy. The bomber drove to the rear entrance of the courthouse and detonated the device. The back entrance is a very public and crowded residential area. Many of the victims were residents or court workers leaving for the day.

“This didn't happen on the main road leading to the Afghan Supreme Court,” explained ABC’s Muhammad Lila from Kabul. “It happened at the back entrance and the back entrance is bordered by apartments, houses, where people were living and just living out their daily lives and going about their normal routines. So this has certainly shaken residents here in the city of Kabul.”

Since the area was so crowded at the time of the blast, the casualty count is expected to go up as the day progresses. Officials have confirmed between 14 to 16 fatalities and up to 40 have been injured. Many of the injured are in critical condition.

The U.S. Embassy is still under lockdown following the explosion.

No group has taken responsibility for the attack so far.

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