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FBI Director Robert Mueller acknowledged Wednesday that his agency uses drones for surveillance on U.S. soil, but only on a "very, very minimal basis," he said. "We are in the early stages of doing that, and I will tell you that our footprint is very small, we have very few, and have limited use. And we're exploring not only the use, but the necessary guidelines for that use," Mueller, who is set to retire this year, said at a Senate hearing Wednesday. Although the use of government drones on U.S. soil is well-documented, with Homeland Security using them to help police the U.S.-Mexico border, Mueller said they are used for surveillance only "seldom." His remarks came amid a raging national debate over how much information the government should be able to gather in its law enforcement and anti-terrorism activities and how it should be allowed to collect it.
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"We're not in cahoots with the NSA," Google's top lawyer said Wednesday, as the search engine behemoth tries to assuage customers' fears that its email and Internet browsing history might be subject to government spying. David Drummond, the company's chief legal officer, made his appeal to Google users in a live web chat with The Guardian — which broke the story of the U.S. government's data surveillance programs with the help of contractor Edward Snowden's leaks this month — on Wednesday. He vehemently denied reports that the National Security Agency's data collection programs had given it "direct access" to Google servers, and he said the company only turns over data in response to "legitimate" requests relating to criminal or terror investigations. Drummond's remarks came a day after his company had sued in a secret intelligence court, claiming gag orders barring the company from informing customers of the data it is forced to turn over to the feds violates its First Amendment rights.
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Wednesday of the scope and dangerous of human trafficking in the U.S., two days after the feds raided a slew of 7-Elevens in New York and Virginia and charged their owners in a trafficking probe. Millions more victims slip past law enforcement every year, Kerry said Wednesday, as he released the State Departent's 2013 Trafficking in Persons report. According to that report, only about 40,000 victims have been identified in the past year, but the number of people trafficked worldwide at any one time can reach as high as 27 million. "That means we’re bringing to light only a mere fraction of those who are exploited in modern slavery," said an anti-trafficking official who penned the report's introduction. "That number, and the millions who remain unidentified, are the numbers that deserve our focus."
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The Dow closed down more than 200 points Wednesday, after stocks tumbled in the wake of hints from the Fed that it could wind down its current stimulus measures later this year. The Federal Reserve said that for now it will hold rates steady and keep up its bond-buying — but it also suggested it could wind down its easing toward the end of 2013 if the economy keeps improving, CNBC reported. The markets had been looking to the Fed's meeting and announcement Wednesday for clues to its future plans, after its earlier mixed signals to investors on what stimulus might be in store. Stocks fell sharply Wednesday after the announcements, and at Wednesday's news conference, Fed Chair Ben Bernanke refused to address questions about his future heading the Fed as his second term there nears its end.
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It's an awful shock. James Gandolfini was a fine actor, a Rutgers alum and a true Jersey guy. I was a huge fan of his and the character he played so authentically, Tony Soprano.
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HPV infections in American teen girls fell by more than half after the HPV vaccine was introduced in 2006, despite political controversy surrounding the vaccine, a study has found. The gains also happened even though just a third of teens aged 13 to 17 had the full series of shots to prevent HPV infection, said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 19,000 cancers caused by HPV infections occur in women in the U.S. each year, with cervical cancers the most common, according to the CDC. Vaccination is recommended starting at age 11 or 12. Frieden said the study should be a national "wake-up call" to "protect the next generation by increasing HPV vaccination rates."
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Fifty years after John F. Kennedy's famous speech in Berlin, President Barack Obama spoke Wednesday in front of the Brandenburg Gate, saying "our work is not yet done" on confronting global challenges. Speaking to a cheering crowd, Obama proposed reducing the American nuclear arsenal by as much as a third. "We may no longer live in fear of global annihilation, but so long as nuclear weapons exist, we are not truly safe," Obama said. He said the U.S. will seek cooperation with Russia for further cuts "to move beyond Cold War nuclear postures." Obama's visit came just a few days shy of JFK festivities which include photo exhibits, lectures, panel discussions and commemorations at Berlin's John F. Kennedy School to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's speech. This is Obama's first state visit to the German capital, though Berlin hosted a foreign policy address during his 2008 presidential campaign.
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Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Wednesday he will not participate in peace talks with the Taliban and accused the U.S. of "a contradiction" over its decision to meet with the militant group. He said Afghanistan would not take part "until the peace process is totally under Afghan control." Karzai earlier Wednesday announced he had suspended talks with the U.S. on a new security deal over how many troops should remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014 in protest of how the talks were announced. Government sources in Kabul told NBC News the Afghan leader was angered by the Taliban's decision to open a new office in Qatar under the name of the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" -- the name of its regime in the 1990s -- and fly its own flag outside.
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