Assange launches political party in Australia
Melbourne, July 25
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for more than a year, today launched his political party in Australia to contest the general elections later this year.

US lawmakers reject effort to curb NSA phone surveillance
Washington, July 25
In a victory for the Obama administration, US lawmakers have narrowly defeated a bipartisan proposal to sharply curb the controversial phone surveillance programme that was exposed by fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.

Jinan, July 25
China charged disgraced senior politician Bo Xilai with bribery, abuse of power and corruption on Thursday, paving the way for a potentially divisive trial that President Xi Jinping will want smoothly handled as he pushes major economic reforms.

Bo, 64, could appear in a court in the eastern city of Jinan in Shandong province within weeks, capping the country’s biggest political scandal since the 1976 downfall of the Gang of Four at the end of the Cultural Revolution. He has not been seen in public for 17 months.

Xi, who formally took power in March, will be eager to put the Bo scandal behind him and have unstinted support from the Communist Party as he embarks on an ambitious rebalancing of the world’s second-largest economy. But the trial of Bo, a charismatic and well-loved leader to some and a power-hungry politician to others, could sharpen rifts.

Bo’s ouster exposed deep disagreements in the party between his leftist backers, who are nostalgic for the revolutionary era of Mao Zedong, and reformers, who advocate faster political and economic reforms. Bo committed serious crimes and will be indicted on the charges of bribery, embezzlement and power abuse, state news agency Xinhua quoted the indictment as saying. He had been informed of his legal rights and interviewed by prosecutors, it said. Bo, as a civil servant, took advantage of his position to seek profits for others and accepted an “extremely large amount” of money and properties, Xinhua said.

Bo is certain to be found guilty. His wife, Gu Kailai, and his former police chief, Wang Lijun, have both been convicted and jailed over the scandal, which stems from the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. The government in September last year accused Bo of corruption and of bending the law to hush up the murder.

China's prosecutors and courts come under Communist Party control and they are unlikely to challenge the party's previous accusations. Still, there were no really explosive charges, like plotting a coup, indicating the party wants to move on and not let Bo distract or deeply split them, said Joseph Cheng, a political scientist at Hong Kong's City University.

 — Reuters

Washington, July 25
The University of Northern Virginia has been ordered to shut down with immediate effect, leaving a large number of Indian students stranded and jeopardising their academic career.

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia in an order dated July 16, which was made public last week, said the University of Northern Virginia, which calls itself the most popular American university for students from India, “must cease operations immediately” as a post-secondary institution.

Given that the University of Northern Virginia (UNV) has a significantly large number of foreign students, mostly from India, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia has asked these students with F-1 visas to approach the Department of Homeland Security with issues related to immigration and optional practical training.

The now closed university has been asked to provide information regarding students’ academic and financial records.

UNV, which was once run by a chancellor who reportedly maintained a sex dungeon, was raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in July 2011.

At that time, the university had more than 2,000 students, majority of them being Indians.

At the time of university being ordered to shut down last week, there were around 500 students enrolled for various courses, with a significant number of them from India.— PTI

Washington, July 25
In a victory for the Obama administration, US lawmakers have narrowly defeated a bipartisan proposal to sharply curb the controversial phone surveillance programme that was exposed by fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.

In a 205-217 vote, the House of Representatives rejected an effort to restrict the National Security Agency's (NSA) ability to collect Americans' telephone records.

A coalition of libertarian, liberal and conservative lawmakers pushed for curbs on the blanket collection of those records, arguing that it was too broad and intrusive.

The rejected amendment would have blocked funding for the NSA programme which gathers details of every call made by or to a US phone, unless the records were part of a specific investigation.

It was introduced by Michigan Republican Justin Amash, who warned during the debate that the proposal's critics would “use the same tactic every government throughout history has used to justify its violation of rights: fear”. — PTI