The U.S. foiled a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange because of the sweeping surveillance programs at the heart of a debate over national security and personal privacy, officials said Tuesday at a rare open hearing on intelligence led by lawmakers sympathetic to the spying.

Rio police fired tear gas and rubber bullets in clashes with protesting youths early Tuesday, after tens of thousands rallied in major Brazilian cities against the huge costs of hosting the 2014 World Cup.

U.S. President Barack Obama defended top secret National Security Agency spying programs as legal in a lengthy interview, and called them transparent — even though they are authorized in secret.

U.S. military leaders are ready to begin tearing down the remaining walls that have prevented women from holding thousands of combat and special operations jobs near the front lines.

Yahoo Inc. said U.S. law enforcement agencies made between 12,000 and 13,000 requests for data in the last six months, the latest in a series of disclosures by technology companies since intelligence leaks showed the extent of government data gathering efforts.

Federal agents revived the hunt for the remains of Jimmy Hoffa on Monday, digging around in a suburban Detroit field where a reputed Mafia captain says the Teamsters labor union boss' body was buried.

U.S. President Barack Obama hinted in an interview aired on Monday that he may be looking for a new chief of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, saying current Chairman Ben Bernanke has stayed a lot longer than he had originally planned.

Legions of New York City apartment dwellers will soon be asked — and may eventually be forced — to start collecting food scraps for composting, under Mayor Michael Bloomberg's latest bid to make the city greener.

A majority of Americans say the former government contractor who leaked information about a vast U.S. electronic surveillance program should be prosecuted, a poll showed Tuesday.

Rogue U.S. intelligence tech Edward Snowden issued a defiant rebuke to his critics in Washington on Monday and warned more leaks were on the way, declaring: “Truth is coming and it cannot be stopped.”