The head of the National Security Agency, Army General Keith Alexander, is defending U.S. surveillance programs amid a wave of outrage across Europe.  Alexander faced a mixed reaction from lawmakers on Capitol Hill at a House hearing Tuesday.

As VOA correspondent,Cindy Saine,reports.

On Capitol Hill, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence held an open hearing on possible changes to NSA spying programs. NSA chief Keith Alexander was on the defensive, saying the people at the NSA are proud patriots who work hard to keep the United States and Europe safe from real terrorist threats.
 
“But what we do not do is spy unlawfully on Americans, or for that matter, spy indiscriminately on the citizens of any country,” said Alexander.

Alexander denied the NSA is collecting the phone records of millions of French and Spanish citizens.

Cindy Saine,VOA News,CAPITOL HILL.

Egyptian authorities have taken another senior member of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood into custody, continuing a crackdown against the group following the military ouster of president Mohamed Morsi.

Hundreds of Brotherhood leaders, including Mr. Morsi, have been arrested since July and charged with inciting violence. The deposed leader's supporters have carried out mass protests demanding he be reinstated. Some of the demonstrations have turned violent.

More than 1,000 people, mostly Islamists, have been killed in the clashes.

Israel freed 26 more Palestinian prisoners Tuesday, as part of a U.S.-brokered deal to revive peace talks.

The 26 were given a hero's welcome as they returned to the West Bank and Gaza. Crowds hoisted the former prisoners on their shoulders as music blasted and friends and relatives danced.

This was the second of a four-stage release of 104 Palestinians. The first group was freed in August.

The 100-day countdown to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics began Tuesday. While several events took place in Russia, the host for the Games that officially open February 7, the United States Olympic Committee held a special event in New York City as well.

VOA's Parke Brewer found this report.

Five huge Olympic rings were installed at Sochi's main train station to mark 100 days until the Opening Ceremonies for the 22nd Winter Olympics that take place in the city on the coast of the Black Sea. And after the Olympic torch relay passed through the historic suburbs of St. Petersburg on Monday, the flame was flown for its stop Tuesday in Kaliningrad, in the westernmost region of Russia.

New International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Monday. Putin was quoted by Reuters as saying Russia will work to make sure "participants and guests feel comfortable in Sochi, regardless of nationality, race or sexual orientation."

I'm Parke Brewer,VOA sports.

Reports from Beijing say Chinese authorities believe a car crash that killed five people Monday in Beijing's Tiananmen Square was a deliberate act by people from the troubled region of Xinjiang.

In reports published Tuesday, the sources did not say whether those involved were ethnic Uighurs, a mostly Muslim minority indigenous to Xinjiang.

A group of South Korean lawmakers traveled to a North Korean border village Wednesday to visit a jointly run industrial park that recently reopened following months of military tensions.

The 21 lawmakers and several Unification Ministry officials are expected to meet with South Korean businessmen during their first visit to the Kaesong industrial complex, which lies 10 kilometers inside North Korea.

The facility was shut down in April after the North pulled its 53,000 workers during a time of unusually tense relations following Pyongyang's third nuclear test.

The head of a U.N. commission investigating human rights in North Korea says evidence points to "large-scale patterns of systematic and gross human rights violations" in that country.

Michael Kirby told reporters in New York Tuesday that testimony from witnesses and survivors was so shocking it moved commission members to tears.

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