A federal judge said the agency’s decision to revoke a critical permit exceeded its authority and violated federal law.

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Court Reverses E.P.A., Saying Big Mining Project Can Proceed

If the homeland’s security were dependent on employee morale, we’d be in big trouble. Fortunately, the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security are committed to the agency’s mission, even as the agency fails to inspire them. Read full article > >

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Homeland Security’s morale is at code red

The decision by the Justice Department and the FBI to open an investigation into the slaying of an unarmed black teenager in Florida has spurred internal debate at the agency over whether the federal government could bring criminal charges in the case, which has sparked widespread protest. Read full article > >

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As Justice Department investigates shooting of Florida teen, doubts arise about federal charges

Hackers took “full functional control” of key Nasa computers in 2011, the agency’s inspector general tells a US congressional committee.

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Hackers controlled Nasa computers

Pressure against Google is mounting over the company’s questionable privacy practices. The Electronic Privacy Information Center on Tuesday pursued its lawsuit against the Federal Trade Commission — a move aimed at getting the agency to fine Google over a new policy that advocates say would violate user privacy. Read full article > >

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Pressure on Google over privacy problems mounts

The call from the Central Intelligence Agency came on a December afternoon in 2009 while Gary Anderson was skiing with his three children. It’s about your wife, the agency man said. Standing inside Eagle Rock ski lodge in Pennsylvania, Anderson pleaded for details. The CIA official said simply: Where are you? We’ll meet you. Read full article > >

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For CIA family, a deadly suicide bombing leads to painful divisions

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was escorted away from a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at the Nashville airport on Monday after declining to undergo an enhanced security pat-down, the agency said. He later completed the screening process and boarded a later flight. Read full article > >

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Sen. Rand Paul declines TSA pat-down, is escorted from security checkpoint

Ratings agency Moody’s is maintaining France’s top AAA credit rating for now, three days after it was downgraded by another agency.

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Moody’s keeps French AAA rating

A Pentagon pilot program that uses classified National Security Agency data to protect the computer networks of defense contractors has had some success but also has failed to meet some expectations, according to a study commissioned by the Defense Department. Read full article > >

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Cyber defense effort is mixed, study finds

A film has stirred up a dispute in Washington about the information that the filmmakers received from the Central Intelligence Agency and about the timing of the movie’s release.

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Film on Bin Laden Hunt Leads to Pentagon Investigation

The appointment of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finally gives the agency the legal standing to supervise payday lenders, money transfer agencies, credit bureaus and debt collectors.

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Appointment Clears Way for Consumer Financial Agency

A federal judge who has accused the Securities and Exchange Commission of negotiating weak settlements in Wall Street cases on Thursday accused the agency of misleading a federal appeals court. U.S. District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff said the SEC also withheld from him important information that he needed to do his job. Read full article > >

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Federal judge accuses SEC of misleading court

The National Institutes of Health has placed a temporary moratorium on new studies using chimpanzees, it announced Thursday in response to a report that marks nearly all medical research on chimpanzees as scientifically unjustified. “Effective immediately, NIH will not issue any new awards for chimpanzee research” as the agency puts in a place a committee to review research proposals, NIH Director Francis Collins said during a press briefing. Read full article > >

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NIH temporarily bans new chimpanzee research

Partisan warfare has erupted over Richard Cordray, Obama’s nominee to lead a new consumer finance watchdog, whom Republicans filibustered in the Senate last week, raising concerns that the agency would become a “ Stalinist ” enemy of Wall Street. But waiting in the wings is another Obama nominee who’s long raised hackles of the country’s biggest financial institutions. And this time, Republicans have resoundingly embraced him. Read full article > >

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Meet the big-bank critics Republicans love.

The government proposes the closure of 39 Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency regional offices, putting more than 1,200 jobs at risk.

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Job fears over DVLA closures plan