According to a new report, more than $2 trillion worth of profit generated by some of the biggest United States-baseds corporation is being held overseas where it's not subject to US income tax law. The report — published earlier this month by the Audit Analytics online intelligence service — has even this week managed to capture the attention of the head of the US Senate’s Finance Committee [...]

Being the head of state in Germany should bring undoubted benefits and influence. However, it wasn't enough for Angela Merkel, whose request to see her secret service file, compiled by the US National Security Agency, was denied. The request by Germany’s Interior Ministry to the NSA was made six months ago, after the American security organization had compiled over 300 reports on the chancellor, [...]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has slammed the West for "€œaggravating internal differences"€ in Ukraine. His ministry says Kiev should stop "€œblaming Moscow for all of your problems." Writing in the UK’s Guardian newspaper, the Russian official said that Western powers “have been trying to compel Ukraine to make a painful choice between east and west, further aggravating inter [...]

Sergei Lavrov: The west has been needlessly whipping up tension - if we don't co-operate soon, chaos may take hold, The profound and pervasive crisis in Ukraine is a matter of grave concern for Russia. [...]

Russia's barrage of sarcastic comments to the Obama administration, which is seeking to impose sanctions to change Moscow'€™s stance on Ukraine, has been enriched with a piece of advice to relax and look for inner tranquility. The comments came from Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, who was speaking with Interfax news agency about the worst period of tension between Russia and the US over [...]

Serious issues regarding constitutional law rose to the surface on Friday as a US federal judge dismissed a court case against the US government by families of three Americans killed in US drone strikes in Yemen. [...]

At least 1,000 protesters have gathered in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, the industrial capital of the region, demanding that authorities respect their right for self-determination by allowing them to stage a Crimea-style referendum. [...]

US officials on Friday slammed plans to construct an EU-centric communication system, designed to prevent emails and phone calls from being swept up by the NSA, warning that such a move is a violation of trade laws. Calling Europe’s proposal to build its own integrated communication system “draconian,” the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) said American tech companies, which are w [...]

A Senate report found that CIA officials lied to the government and public about its post-9/11 torture program, most notably by distorting intelligence gleaned from traditional interrogations as that attained by far more brutal methods. [...]

The United States government is investing tens of millions of dollars each year on offensive hacking operations in order to exploit vulnerabilities in the computers of its adversaries, Reuters reports. According to an in-depth article published Friday by journalist Joseph Menn, the US and its Department of Defense contractors are increasingly pursuing efforts to hack the computers of foreign compe [...]

The United States has suspended contact between NASA and its Russian counterpart over the ongoing situation in Ukraine. Only ongoing International Space Station cooperation will continue through the freeze in relations. NASA associate administrator Michael O’Brien said in a memo sent Wednesday that all missions with Russia’s Roscosmos are on hold indefinitely, UPI reports. [...]

US and European sanctions against Russia are designed to "€œpunish'€ its actions in Crimea. However, instead of forcing Russia into economic and political submission, the sanctions will spur the country to greater political and economic independence. [...]

Imperial soldiers cannot be judged. In Italy it'€™s almost impossible. In the last 15 months, the Italian Judiciary have asked to proceed against 113 American soldiers for various crimes, but the Italian minister of justice denied authorization in 91 cases. t works like this: when the US Army wants to judge a soldier in the USA who committed a crime in Italy, they have to ask the relevant Italia [...]

Following Congress'€™ decision to approve a $1 billion aid package to Ukraine last week, former libertarian Congressman Ron Paul has published an op-ed strongly criticizing it as a bad deal for both American taxpayers and Ukrainian citizens. In the column, published by Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, the iconic libertarian said the bill effectively puts the International Monetary Fu [...]

The NSA's data base contains information obtained during the surveillance of over a hundred world leaders, new leaks by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed. Der Spiegel has looked through a top secret presentation by NSA's Center for Content Extraction, which is responsible for automated analysis of all types of text data. [...]

A UN report hammers the United States'€™ human rights record, denouncing vast surveillance, ongoing unaccountability for torture, deadly drone strikes, one of the world's highest death penalty counts, and mass incarceration, among other black marks. [...]

The EU is a hurry to sign the long-awaited association treaty with Ukraine, while the new leaders in Kiev are turning to Washington for support. Whose interests were at stake during the Ukrainian revolution? Should the promises of the West be trusted by the new authorities? Sophie talks to former US intelligence officer Scott Rickard to find out the answers to these questions. [...]

Russia has denied any troop build-up on the Ukraine border, a claim voiced by President Barack Obama and Kiev officials. Moscow slammed the West for ignoring the results of recent fact-finding missions for the sake of political expediency. [...]

Barack Obama'€™s speech on Ukrainian crisis seems to have left the public confused as he claimed that Kosovo broke away from Serbia "€œafter a referendum"€. But attentive listeners quickly pointed Obama'€™s gaps in history -€“ there was no referendum in Kosovo. [...]