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WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama on Monday sharply criticized China's plans for new rules on U.S. tech companies, urging Beijing to change the policy if it wants to do business with the United States. In an interview with Reuters, Obama said he was concerned about Beijing's plans for a far-reaching counterterrorism law that would require technology firms to hand over encryption keys, the passcodes that help protect data, and install security "backdoors" in their systems to give Chinese authorities surveillance access. "This is something that I've raised directly with President Xi," Obama said. "We have made it very clear to them that this is something they are going to have to change if they are to do business with the United States."

The Chinese government sees the rules as crucial to protect state and business secrets. Western companies say they reinforce increasingly onerous terms of doing business in the world's second-largest economy and heighten mistrust over cybersecurity between Washington and Beijing. A Chinese parliamentary body read a second draft of the country's first anti-terrorism law last week and is expected to adopt the legislation in the coming weeks or months.The initial draft, published by the National People's Congress late last year, requires companies to also keep servers and user data within China, supply law enforcement authorities with communications records and censor terrorism-related Internet content. The laws "would essentially force all foreign companies, including U.S. companies, to turn over to the Chinese government mechanisms where they can snoop and keep track of all the users of those services," Obama said. "As you might imagine tech companies are not going to be willing to do that," he said.

First published March 2 2015, 3:09 PM

Originally posted here:
Obama Criticizes China's Plans for New Tech Rules

The 21st Century Policing Task Force unveiled a report recommending greater use of officer-worn body cameras, improved collection of officer involved shooting data and sanctions on police departments using unnecessary military tactics and equipment, among dozens of other policy recommendations.

READ: White House warns Netanyahu not to reveal Iran talk details

After conducting seven listening sessions around the country, members of the task force issued 59 recommendations for how our communities can build stronger relationships with the police that serve them.

Obama praised the effort, but noted there's no one silver bullet for fixing the issue.

"There's been a lot of talk about body cameras as a silver bullet or a solution. I think the task force concluded that there is a role for technology to play in building additional trust and accountability, but it's not a panacea," Obama said. "It has to be embedded in a broader change in culture and a legal framework that ensures that people's privacy is respected and that not only police officers but the community themselves feel comfortable with how technologies are being used."

The report claimed law enforcement has become more effective over the last 20 years, but recent Gallup polls show public confidence in the police has flattened or decreased among minorities following the high-profile, officer-involved deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice.

The public would like more law enforcement to be more transparent, polls show, and that has prompted calls for officer-worn body camera to be the norm.

When officers wear body cameras, research shows there are 88% fewer incidents of use of force and 59% fewer complaints against officers. But complicating the issue is the fact that communities also still have privacy concerns about officers wearing cameras.

Greater transparency through body cameras would also improve data reporting, members of the task force said.

"There is no reason for us not to have this data available to use," said Charles Ramsey, who chaired the panel.

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Obama: Cop body cameras are no 'panacea'

Obama told Reuters that a deal with Iran to freeze its nuclear activity for at least 10 years, with verification measures, would be "far more effective in controlling their nuclear program than any military action we could take, any military action Israel could take and far more effective than sanctions will be."

He also said Netanyahu has been wrong before -- pointing to the 2013 interim deal with Iran.

"Netanyahu made all sorts of claims. This was going to be a terrible deal. This was going to result in Iran getting $50 billion worth of relief. Iran would not abide by the agreement. None of that has come true," Obama said. "It has turned out that in fact, during this period we've seen Iran not advance its program. In many ways, it's rolled back elements of its program."

Netanyahu, meanwhile, reaffirmed that the U.S.-Israeli relationship remains strong and, despite controversy surrounding his Tuesday address to Congress, said the two nations "will weather this current disagreement."

"Our friendship will weather the current disagreement as well, to grow even stronger in the future because we share the same dreams...because the values that unite us are much stronger than the differences that divide us," he said in his address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee annual policy conference, drawing enthusiastic applause from the crowd.

Polling has shown Americans disapprove of House Speaker John Boehner's move to invite Netanyahu to speak to Congress without notifying the White House. That, and the timing of the speech so close to the Israeli election, has critics accusing Boehner and Netanyahu of politicizing the issue of Iranian nuclear talks, and a growing number of Democrats are planning to boycott what they see as an attack on the president.

But in his address to AIPAC, the prime minister refuted those critics, insisting that his Tuesday speech is "not intended to inject Israel into the American partisan debate," and reaffirming his support for Obama.

"My speech is not intended to show any disrespect to Obama or the esteemed office that he holdsI have great respect for both," he said.

Netanyahu instead framed his Tuesday address as part of a "moral obligation" to sound the alarm on Iran, which he warned has "vowed to annihilate Israel, and if develops nuclear weapons, it can achieve that goal."

"As prime minister of Israel, I have a moral obligation to speak up in the face of these threats while there is time to avert them," he said.

Continued here:
Obama attacks Netanyahu's credibility

President Barack Obama in the Oval Office. Evan Vucci/AP hide caption

President Barack Obama in the Oval Office.

President Obama says reaching a long-term deal with Iran is the best way to assure that the country does not attain a nuclear weapon.

Obama made the comments in interview with Reuters, just a day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to speak to a joint meeting of Congress in which he will lay out his reasons for opposing a diplomatic deal with its enemy.

The wire service reports:

"'If, in fact, Iran is willing to agree to double-digit years of keeping their program where it is right now and, in fact, rolling back elements of it that currently exist ... if we've got that, and we've got a way of verifying that, there's no other steps we can take that would give us such assurance that they don't have a nuclear weapon,' he said.

"The U.S. goal is to make sure 'there's at least a year between us seeing them try to get a nuclear weapon and them actually being able to obtain one,' Obama said."

As we've reported, Netanyahu's speech has become greatly controversial. The White House said it was left out of its planning and eventually said Obama would not meet with Netanyahu because it did not want to appear like it was meddling with the country's upcoming elections.

Obama's National Security Adviser Susan Rice called the speech "destructive to the fabric of U.S.-Israeli ties."

Reuters asked Obama about that line.

Originally posted here:
Obama Says Iran Should Commit To 10-Year Freeze Of Nuclear Program

Texas judge blocks Obama #39;s immigration action
A federal judge in Texas has temporarily blocked President Obama #39;s executive action on immigration. CNN #39;s Joe Johns reports.

By: CNN

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Texas judge blocks Obama's immigration action - Video