Former CIA contractor Edward Snowden has carried out one of the biggest leaks in US history, exposing a top-secret NSA surveillance program to the media. Leading tech companies were revealed to be involved in intelligence gathering through PRISM spy tool.<\/p>\n
\n 15:26 GMT:<\/b> A receptionist at the Honk Kong\u2019s Mira Hotel
\n told the Washington Post newspaper that a guest named, Edward
\n Snowden, has been staying there, but checked out on Monday.
\n
14:31 GMT:<\/b> New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has
\n cancelled a planned photo op with Hong Kong chief executive Leung
\n Chun-ying.\n <\/p>\n
“It would have been a circus, so we decided to catch up with
\n him another time,”<\/i> a mayoral spokesperson told the Guardian,
\n as Hong Kong is where whistleblower Edward Snowden fled.
\n <\/p>\n
\n On Sunday, the Guardian newspaper revealed the source behind its
\n series of publications on the US National Security Agency, which
\n became on the biggest leaks in US political history.\n <\/p>\n
Former CIA contractor, Edward Snowden, said that making the truth
\n public was \u201ca matter of principle\u201d<\/i> and he had no intention
\n to hide his identity. The 29-year-old then left America for Honk
\n Kong fearing prosecution by US authorities. \u00a0\n <\/p>\n
The top-secret documents, Snowden leaked to the journalists,
\n proved the existence of an extensive US National Security
\n Agency\u2019s spying program called PRISM, which was designed to
\n collect information about digital communications, allowing
\n real-time online surveillance of US citizens. The intelligence
\n was also revealed to be collected by and shared with other
\n governments.
\n <\/p>\n