UK govt forced Guardian to destroy Snowden top secret files

The British government forced the Guardian to destroy files or face a court battle over its publication of US security secrets leaked by Edward Snowden, the paper's editor claimed today.

Alan Rusbridger (pic) said he was contacted by "a very senior government official claiming to represent the views of the prime minister" which led to two meetings in which "he demanded the return or destruction of all the material we were working on."

The paper was in the middle of publishing candid revelations about mass surveillance programmes conducted by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and its British counterpart, the GCHQ, after former US intelligence operative Snowden handed them thousands of documents.

Writing in today's Guardian, Rusbridger claimed authorities told him: "You've had your fun. Now we want the stuff back."

"There followed further meetings with shadowy Whitehall figures," he continued.

"The demand was the same: 'hand the Snowden material back or destroy it...You've had your debate. There's no need to write any more'."

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Encrypted email service thought used by Snowden shuts down

An encrypted email service believed to have been used by American fugitive Edward Snowden shut down abruptly yesterday amid a legal fight that appeared to involve US government attempts to win access to customer information.

"I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people, or walk away from nearly 10 years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit," Lavabit LLC owner Ladar Levison wrote in a letter that was posted on the Texas-based company's website yesterday.

Levison said he has decided to "suspend operations" but was barred from discussing the events over the past six weeks that led to his decision.

US President Barack Obama (L) meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the G8 Summit at Lough Erne in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland on June 17, 2013. Obama cancelled a meeting with Putin planned for next month in Moscow over frustration with Russia's asylum for fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, the White House said on August 7, 2013.

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Snowden waits in airport as US presses Moscow

Fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden (pic) today awaited permission to leave the Moscow airport where he has been stuck for over a month, as The United States stepped up pressure on Russia to send him back home.

Reports yesterday indicated that Russian authorities were preparing to let Snowden leave the transit zone of Sheremetyevo airport but then - in mysterious circumstances - he failed to emerge.

Snowden has applied for asylum in Russia and is now awaiting a document that would allow him to formally cross the border and move freely in Russia while his application is being considered - a prospect the United States has said would be "deeply disappointing".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke with US Secretary of State John Kerry about Snowden's case Wednesday but it was not clear if their discussion had an impact on the fugitive's fate.

Washington wants to put the 30-year-old former National Security Agency contractor on trial for revealing details of vast US surveillance programmes, but Moscow has rejected demands to hand him over.

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Spyware claims emerge in row over Chinese dissident at NYU

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When Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States in May last year he was given a fellowship at New York University, use of a Greenwich Village apartment, and a pile of gifts from supporters, including smartphones and an iPad.

But at least two of the gadgets presented to Chen as gifts may not have been quite what they seemed: They included software intended to spy on the blind dissident, according to Jerome Cohen, an NYU professor who has been Chen's mentor, and another source familiar with the episode.

Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng speaks to journalists following an appearance in New York May 3, 2013

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