Last Update on June 18, 2013 07:10 GMT

IN THE NEWS: PRESIDENT OBAMA DEFENDS NSA SPY PROGRAMS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Until they were revealed earlier this month, few people knew about the National Security Agency's spying programs. But President Barack Obama is defending the programs as both legal and "transparent." In an interview on PBS, Obama said the surveillance can be considered transparent because there's a secret court set up by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that authorizes the two recently disclosed programs. One gathers U.S. phone records; the other tracks use of U.S.-based Internet servers by foreigners with possible links to terrorism. The president says he needs to assure Americans that their phone calls aren't being listened to, their texts aren't being monitored and that their emails "are not being read by some big brother somewhere."

On another subject, President Obama says there's a distinction between China's alleged intellectual property theft and what he calls "standard fare" spying on other countries. In the same PBS interview, Obama says every country engages in intelligence gathering. But he drew the line on the kind of snooping China's government is doing. The president pressed China's president on cyberhacking last week during a meeting in California.