In brief: Ukraine offers amnesty, law repeal to protesters

Kiev, Ukraine – An amnesty for anti-government protesters and a repeal of anti-protest measures were signed into law by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych Friday, a move seen as a major concession to demonstrators.

However, it was not clear if the repeal went far enough, as protesters rejected a key stipulation of the deal and the country’s military called for the government to take urgent measures for “stabilization and reconciliation.”

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry warned that the country’s territorial integrity is at risk if the situation escalates.

Former Knox boyfriend claims he wasn’t fleeing

Florence, Italy – Amanda Knox’s former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, insisted Friday he had no plans to flee his country when police apprehended him near the northeastern border with Austria and Slovenia, shortly after a murder conviction.

“I never thought about escaping. Not before, nor now,” Sollecito said through one of his lawyers, Luca Maori.

The ANSA news agency reported that Sollecito made a brief foray into Austria on Thursday, just as a Florence appeals court was preparing to convict him and Knox for the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher.

In a verdict issued late in the day, Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years in prison and banned from traveling abroad, while Knox, who stayed in the United States and was tried in absentia, was sentenced to 28 1/2 years.

Snowden leak shows Canada spying on wireless

Toronto – A secret document leaked by U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden shows Canada’s electronic spy agency used information gleaned from a free internet service at a Canadian airport to track the wireless devices of thousands of airline passengers.

The report indicates the Communications Security Establishment Canada was given information taken from wireless devices using the airport’s Wi-Fi system over a two-week period. It’s not clear which airport was involved.

The document shows the spy agency was then able to track travelers for a week or more as they showed up in other Wi-Fi locations in cities across Canada.

The Canadian Broadcast Corporation obtained the document and posted it to its website Friday.

The agency’s spokeswoman Lauri Sullivan said no Canadian or foreign travelers were tracked or targeted and no information was collected or used.

“The classified document in question is a technical presentation between specialists exploring mathematical models built on everyday scenarios to identify and locate foreign terrorist threats,” she said.