France approves 'Big Brother' surveillance powers despite UN concern

UN says powers given to intelligence agencies, which include phone-tapping and computer-hacking, are 'excessively broad' and intrusive

France's highest authority on constitutional matters has approved a controversial bill that gives the state sweeping new powers to spy on citizens.

The constitutional council made only minor tweaks to the legislation, which human rights and privacy campaigners, as well as the United Nations, have described as paving the way for "very intrusive" surveillance and state-approved eavesdropping and computer-hacking.