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The government has been consulting with the internet industry over the proposal, which would require ISPs to store certain internet activities of all Australians – regardless of whether they have been suspected of wrongdoing – for law-enforcement agencies to access.

All parties to the consultations have been sworn to secrecy.

Industry sources have claimed that the controversial regime could go as far as collecting the individual web browsing history of every Australian internet user, a claim denied by the spokesman for Attorney-General Robert McClelland.

The exact details of the web browsing data the government wants ISPs to collect are contained in the document released to this website under FoI.

The document was handed out to the industry during a secret briefing it held with ISPs in March.

But from the censored document released, it is impossible to know how far the government is planning to take the policy.

Portfolios of sovereign five-year bonds were tested on trading books with banks needing to keep a Tier 1 capital ratio of 6 percent to pass, according to the Committee of European Banking Regulators, which is overseeing the exams. The stress tests assume a loss of 23.1 percent on Greek debt, 12.3 percent on Spanish bonds, 14 percent on Portuguese bonds and 4.7 percent on German state debt.

“The haircuts are applied to the trading book portfolios only, as no default assumption was considered,” according to a confidential European Central Bank document obtained by Bloomberg News dated July 22 and titled “EU Stress Test Exercise: Key Messages on Methodological Issues.”

European Union regulators are examining the strength of banks to determine if they can survive potential losses on sovereign-bond holdings. They are counting on the tests to reassure investors about the health of financial institutions from Germany’s WestLB AG and Bayerische Landesbank to Spanish savings banks as the debt crisis pummels the bonds of Greece, Spain and Portugal.

‘Lenient Treatment’

The department abandoned the practice after AP investigated. Inspectors from the department’s Office of Inspector General quietly conducted interviews with employees last week to determine whether political advisers acted improperly.

The Freedom of Information Act, the main tool forcing the government to be more open, is designed to be insulated from political considerations. But in July 2009, Homeland Security introduced a directive requiring a wide range of information to be vetted by political appointees for “awareness purposes,” no matter who requested it.

The government on Wednesday estimated fewer than 500 requests underwent such political scrutiny; the Homeland Security Department received about 103,000 total requests for information last fiscal year.

These special reviews at times delayed the release of information to Congress, watchdog groups and the news media for weeks beyond the usual wait, even though the directive specified the reviews should take no more than three days.

This, despite President Barack Obama’s statement that federal workers should “act promptly” under the information law and Attorney General Eric Holder’s assertion: “Unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles have no place in the new era of open government.”

The foot-dragging reached a point that officials worried the department would get sued, one e-mail shows.

“We need to make sure that we flip these ASAP so we can eliminate any lag in getting the responses to the requesters,” the agency’s director of disclosure, Catherine Papoi, wrote to two of Secretary Janet Napolitano’s staffers. “Under the statute, the requester now has the right to allege constructive denial and take us to court. Please advise soonest.”

Under the directive, career employees were ordered to provide Napolitano’s political staff with information about people who asked for records, such as where they lived and whether they were reporters, and details about their organizations.

If a member of Congress sought such documents, employees were told to specify Democrat or Republican.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department says Larry J. Richards was suffering brain, kidney and liver problems when he died Saturday at his home in Lake Arrowhead. He was 52.

Richards was a Marine reservist and sheriff’s detective in 2003 and 2004 when he allegedly helped leak Marine intelligence information from Camp Pendleton to an anti-terrorism task force he helped organize. He was later recalled to active Marine duty and was awaiting a military hearing.

Four other Marines have been convicted in the case.

The results are based on the findings of 338 in-market car shoppers surveyed last month on Kelley Blue Book’s website (kbb.com) and show that 74 percent of respondents plan to buy a car within the next six months; 67 percent of them opting for a used car and the remaining 33 percent planning to buy new.

Of these, 42 percent of used car shoppers and 20 percent of new car shoppers said they plan to pay cash for their next vehicle instead of going with a loan. Just three years ago, only 11 percent of new car buyers wanted to pay cash (there is no data for used car buyers).

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Flynn — a frequent traveller who has been strip-searched twice before — said this time was different. She said the women made her bend over a table, open her legs, and squat and cough. They asked her personal questions, like when she last had sex, Flynn said.

She fought back tears throughout the ordeal.

“I thought, if I start crying, they’re gonna think I’m guilty,” she said.

“As soon as they finished the strip search, I started bawling.”

One guard told her if she didn’t stop crying, she’d be detained, Flynn said. When she explained why she was crying, Flynn said a guard piped up: “How do you think I feel? I just had lunch. You make me feel sick.”

“It’s the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to me in my life,” said Flynn, who cried the whole way to Frankfurt. “It was totally demeaning and degrading. … I’ve done nothing wrong. Absolutely nothing wrong.”

As soon as she got to Spain, she called her father, Charlie Flynn, who reported what happened to CBSA.

CBSA launched an internal investigation, interviewing Shileen and the officers involved.