Troop Withdrawal

President Petro Poroshenko said in Kiev that Russian troop withdrawal from Ukraine’s conflict zone has halted and urged for it to continue.

Poroshenko demanded that Russia and the rebels immediately release all prisoners. The rebels are preparing for a next swap of prisoners in two days, Interfax reported, citing Andrei Purgin, an official of the self-proclaimed Donetsk people’s republic.

Ukraine is “hoping” for special status within NATO and needs peace to restart investments and the economy, Poroshenko said, vowing to regain control of Crimea one day.

“There can be no compromise on territorial integrity and the independence of Ukraine,” he said.

Ukraine was preparing a law that envisions regional elections to be held alongside parliamentary elections next month that would also guarantee the use of the Russian language in the rebel-held areas, presidential adviser Yuriy Lutsenko told reporters.

The 28-member EU is offering to ease the sanctions once the Kremlin makes a good-faith effort to end the conflict.

oundup: Chinese, Russian presidents meet ahead of SCO summit

DUSHANBE, Sep 11, 2014 (Xinhua via COMTEX) --

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, met here Thursday ahead of the 14th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Recalling that he and Putin reached a series of consensuses in Shanghai and Fortaleza recently, which the two governments are vigorously implementing, Xi said China-Russia relations and cooperation in various fields are enjoying sound momentum.

Citing Putin's attendance at the ceremony marking the start of construction of the Russian part of the China-Russia East Route natural gas pipeline earlier this month, Xi said Putin's personal involvement embodies his great attention to bilateral energy cooperation and will play an exemplary role in deepening the overall practical cooperation between the two countries.

Xi noted that China and Russia are actively exploring cooperation in high-speed rail, have initiated cooperation in satellite navigation, and have scored new progress in large-scale cooperation projects, such as the joint development of long-range wide-body passenger jets and heavy-lift helicopters.

"I am willing to maintain close communication with you and help the two sides enhance mutual support, expand two-way openness and offer each other a helping hand, so as to jointly deal with external risks and challenges and realize our respective development and revitalization," Xi said.

On practical cooperation, Xi stressed that the two sides should continue to promote cooperation in strategic large-scale projects, launch the China-Russia West Route natural gas pipeline project as soon as possible, and lift bilateral energy cooperation to higher levels.

The two countries should also boost financial cooperation, expand currency swap and work together to build the BRICS development bank, added the Chinese president.

For his part, Putin said bilateral ties currently maintain sound momentum, with cooperation in various fields progressing smoothly in accordance with the consensuses and agreements the two sides have reached.

Expressing his satisfaction with the current economic and trade cooperation, Putin said he hopes that the two sides will continue to push forward major cooperation projects in such fields as oil and gas, nuclear energy, aviation, finance and infrastructure construction.

The China-Russia West Route natural gas pipeline project is mutually beneficial, said the Russian leader, adding that he attaches great importance to the project and its construction should be accelerated.

Noting that the current international and regional circumstances are unstable with increasing uncertainties, Putin suggested that China and Russia enhance coordination on international and regional affairs.

On the upcoming Dushanbe summit, the two leaders agreed that under the current situation, SCO members should strengthen unity, mutual trust and cooperation, and promote the simultaneous advancement of security and economy.

Also, the two leaders maintained that SCO countries should firmly crack down on the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism, and vigorously enhance practical cooperation in various fields, so as to make the SCO a reliable guarantee for the stability and development of its members.

Meanwhile, the two sides pledged to strengthen communication and coordination, increase input, and steer the development of the SCO forward in line with the common interests of the countries in the region.

China, Xi said, supports Russia taking over the rotating SCO presidency next year and hosting the 2015 SCO summit in the southwestern city of Ufa.

On the Ukraine crisis, Xi called on Ukraine to launch inclusive dialogues at an early date so as to reach a comprehensive political settlement of the crisis in the East European country.

China stands for resolving the Ukraine crisis through political means, said Xi, stressing that relevant parties should "trace to the source" and solve the crisis at its root.

For his part, Putin briefed Xi on Russia's views and stances, and said Russia attaches importance to and appreciates China's stances and proposals on the Ukraine issue and is willing to maintain communication with China.

A cease-fire deal between Ukraine's government and insurgent leadership inked last week in Belarus is generally taking hold in Ukraine's restive east. The truce is expected to pave the way for a political solution to the Ukraine crisis and a permanent end to the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine.

Clashes between Ukrainian government troops and independence-seeking militias, which started in mid-April, have claimed about 3,000 lives, with hundreds of thousands of others displaced.

The China-Russia summit is the fourth meeting between Xi and Putin so far this year. Xi held talks with Putin in February before the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, and then in May during the fourth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia in Shanghai.

The two presidents met again in July in Brazil ahead of a summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Xi has held talks or met with Putin for nine times since he assumed the office of Chinese presidency in March 2013, which testifies to the high level and distinctiveness of China-Russia relations.

Both Xi and Putin will attend the 14th summit of the SCO slated for Thursday and Friday in the Tajik capital.

The SCO comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and has Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan as observers, and Belarus, Turkey and Sri Lanka as dialogue partners

THEGUARDIAN

US threatened Yahoo with $250,000 daily fine over NSA data refusal

Company releases 1,500 documents from failed suit against NSA over user data requests and cooperation with Prism compliance

The US government threatened to fine Yahoo $250,000 a day if it refused to hand over user data to the National Security Agency, according to court documents unsealed Thursday.

In a blogpost, the company said the 1,500 pages of once-secret documents shine further light on Yahoo’s previously disclosed clash with the NSA over access to its users’ data.

The papers outline Yahoo’s secret and ultimately unsuccessful legal battle to resist the government’s demands for the tech firm to cooperate with the NSA’s controversial Prism surveillance program, revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden last year.

“The released documents underscore how we had to fight every step of the way to challenge the US government’s surveillance efforts,” said company general counsel Ron Bell in a Tumblr post.

The US government amended a key law to demand user information from online services in 2007. When Yahoo was asked to hand over user data the company objected arguing the request was “unconstitutional and overbroad”.

Yahoo took its case to the foreign intelligence surveillance court, also known as the Fisa court, which oversees requests for surveillance orders in national security investigations. The secretive Fisa court provides the legal authorities that underpin the US government’s controversial surveillance programs. Yahoo lost its case, and an appeal.

Federal judge William Bryson, presiding judge of the foreign intelligence surveillance court of review, which reviews denials of applications for electronic surveillance warrants, unsealed the documents on Thursday.

Disclosures in the Guardian and the Washington Post about the Prism program, which was discontinued in 2011, prompted an international backlash over allegations of overreach in government surveillance and against the tech companies which cooperated with it.

“Despite the declassification and release, portions of the documents remain sealed and classified to this day, unknown even to our team. The released documents underscore how we had to fight every step of the way to challenge the US government’s surveillance efforts. At one point, the US government threatened the imposition of $250,000 in fines per day if we refused to comply,” wrote Bell.

“Our fight continues. We are still pushing for the FISC [Fisa court] to release materials from the 2007-2008 case in the lower court. The FISC indicated previously that it was waiting on the FISC-R ruling in relation to the 2008 appeal before moving forward. Now that the FISC-R [court of review] matter is resolved, we will work hard to make the materials from the FISC case public, as well.”

Almost all the major US tech firms including AOL, Apple, Google and Microsoft were listed by the NSA as participants in the program, which was run in conjunction with the NSA’s British equivalent, GCHQ.

Begun under the Bush administration the program collected information from the major tech companies under Section 702 of the Fisa Amendments Act. The NSA’s slides obtained by Snowden contained a briefing presentation which said Prism granted access to records such as emails, chat conversations, voice calls, documents and more.

Patrick Toomey, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s national security project, said he had not yet reviewed all the documents but that it appeared Yahoo “had challenged the warrantless wiretapping program more than any other of its competitors”.

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