US court will not halt NSA phone spy programme before ban

No can do: A US court rejected a request by the American Civil Liberties Union for a preliminary injunction to immediately stop the NSA programme until the narrower scheme begins on Nov 29.

NEW YORK: A US appeals court refused to immediately halt the government's bulk collection of millions of Americans' phone records during a "transition" period to a new federal scheme that bans the controversial anti-terrorism surveillance. 

The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York said it would not disturb Congress' decision to provide a 180-day period for an "orderly transition" to a new, targeted surveillance system from the sweeping National Security Agency programme that the court found illegal on May 7.