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International

Brazil judge rejects hacking

accusation against Greenwald

SAO PAULO (AP) — A judge in Brazil’s capital on Thursday dismissed accusations that journalist Glenn Greenwald was involved in hacking phones of officials, following weeks of criticism that his prosecution would infringe on constitutional protections for the press.

Prosecutors last month leveled accusations that Greenwald helped a group of six people hack into phones of hundreds of local authorities, saying his actions amounted to criminal association and illegal interception of communications.

Since last year, Greenwald’s online media outlet The Intercept Brasil has published a series of excerpts from private conversations on a messaging app involving current Justice Minister Sérgio Moro.

The attempt by prosecutors to criminalize Greenwald’s work had prompted swift backlash from national and foreign journalist associations, freedom of expression advocates and Brazil’s national bar association.

Those groups said prosecutors were abusing their power to persecute Greenwald, an attorney-turned-journalist who lives with his husband and children in Rio de Janeiro. Greenwald’s lawyers called the allegations “bizarre” and said they challenged a previous ruling in the case by the Brazilian Supreme Court protecting freedom of the press.

Some 200 migrants at Serbia-Hungary

border seeking entry

KELEBIJA, Serbia (AP) — About 200 hundred migrants, including children, gathered Thursday at Serbia’s border with Hungary to demand to be allowed entry into the European Union country.

Braving freezing evening weather and biting winds, the migrants camped at the Kelebija border crossing, blocking traffic. Wrapped in blankets or sleeping bags, many migrants were lying or sitting on the ground, holding their personal belongings close by.

The children shouted “Open borders!” while some of the migrant banners read “we are refugees, not criminals” or “we are running from war, not hunger.” The border crossing was closed to traffic.

There are several thousands migrants, who are fleeing war and poverty in their countries, stuck in the Balkans while seeking to move to the more prosperous nations in Western Europe. Hungary has erected two rows of wire fences at the border to prevent their entry.

“We ask European Union to open the borders, please, please open borders,” said Amr Abohatem from Yemen. “They should ask our governments why people come here!”

Most migrants in Serbia spend months in the state camps and attempt to cross the borders several times. They often rely on people smugglers to help them cross to Hungary or another EU member state, Croatia.

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