Citing concerns over the NSA's wiretapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel and other top officials' phones, the German Interior Ministry announced Thursday that it will not renew its contract with Verizon to provide service for government ministries. As part of an effort to revamp its secure communications networks, the country will instead rely on Germany's Deutsche Telekom, Reuters reported. [...]

Russia's Sukhoi has rocked the 50th Paris Air Show at Le Bourget with the premiere of its cutting-edge Su-35 fighter. Super-maneuverable even for a Sukhoi, the Su-35 has been dubbed the "UFO" for its outstanding maneuverability. The Sukhoi Su-35 (NATO classification: Flanker E), Russia’s newest, super-maneuverable, multirole fighter jet has conducted its first training flight at the Paris Air Sh [...]

The US is aggressively pushing NATO allies in Europe towards sanctions, while some of them are resisting for their own economic interests because it is harmful to them, Sara Flounders, the head of the International Action Center told RT. [...]

Nearly three-quarters of Germans oppose having permanent NATO military bases in Poland and the Baltic states as a buffer against Russia, a new poll reveals. The opinion reflects a growing trend within Europe opposing further NATO eastern expansion. In the Forsa poll for the Internationale Politik magazine's latest edition slated for Friday, 74 percent of those surveyed were against the idea, while [...]

Russia and Austria have agreed on a joint company to construct the Austrian arm of the $45 billion South Stream gas pipeline project, which is expected to deliver 32 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to the country, bypassing Ukraine. [...]

Polish Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, has proven his "political realism" by comparing his country's relations with the US to unrewarding oral sex, the Russian Foreign ministry commented. In a leaked recording of a private conversation, Sikorski said that Warsaw’s alliance with Washington is worthless and even damaging as it “creates a false sense of security in Poland,” [...]

Cooperation between Germany's foreign intelligence service, the BND, and America's NSA is deeper than previously believed. German agents appear to have crossed into constitutionally questionable territory. Three months before Edward Snowden shocked the world with his revelations, members of NSA's "Special Source Operations department" [...]

An analysis of secret documents leaked by Edward Snowden demonstrates that the NSA is more active in Germany than anywhere else in Europe -- and that data collected here may have helped kill suspected terrorists. Just before Christmas 2005, an unexpected event disrupted the work of American spies in the south-central German city of Wiesbaden. [...]

The Phantom of the (tragic) Middle East Opera is back. A killer without a clue, he can'€™t be blamed for not being consistent. His most recent opus speaks for itself; like a Kabuki mask high on Earl Grey tea, the Phantom is eviscerated by his own mighty pen, actually sword. The fact that the Phantom keeps getting away with his vast desert of convoluted lies – [...]

Tony Blair'€™s essay on how the Middle East should blame its own religious dynamics for its troubles -€“ instead of Western attempts at intervention - has seen London Mayor Boris Johnson launch a scathing attack on the "€œunhinged"€ former PM. Johnson’s strong condemnation is a reaction to the arguments made in the former British Prime Minister’s piece entitled 'Iraq, Syria and the Mi [...]

A total of 13 aircraft suddenly vanished off radars for about 25 minutes on two occasions over Austria and neighboring countries, Austria's flight safety monitor said, calling for an EU probe into the "€œunprecedented" incidents. The flights vanished from air traffic controllers’ screens in Austria on June 5 and June 10 for 25 minutes each time, Marcus Pohanka of Austro Control – Austria’s [...]

Vice President Joe Biden undoubtedly ruffled some feathers in Germany on Tuesday when he suggested the country was "€œxenophobic"€ and much less accommodating to immigrants compared to the United States. Speaking at an event held by the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington, DC, Biden gave a speech in which he described three things the United States needs to do to “keep our e [...]

Elections to the European Parliament have brought groundbreaking changes in the structure of EU'€™s most powerful body: right wing parties along with Eurosceptics, an outsiders just a few years ago, have now taken the political scene. [...]

Germany’s Foreign Intelligence Agency (BND), in an effort to come clean in these compromised post-Snowden times, has revealed that a number of mysterious facilities dotting Germany are in fact used as spy stations. [...]

The EU has lost control of its foreign policy to Washington, France's National Front leader Marine Le Pen told RT, calling the bloc's diplomacy a "€œcatastrophe"€ in which no independent voice of reason could be heard. [...]

President Putin wished "€œBon appétit"€ to G7 leaders who patronized Russia – excluded from the club over Ukraine -€“ and set conditions it has to meet to restore ties with the West. Otherwise, Obama and his allies threatened, more sanctions would follow. [...]

Vladimir Putin faced a barrage of tricky questions from French media ahead of his meeting with world leaders at the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings. Here are his best replies on key issues: Ukraine, Crimea and relations with the US. [...]

Two Eastern European nations, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, have refused to host foreign troops and military bases. The prime ministers of both countries have consecutively spoken against the proposal voiced by US President Barack Obama. [...]

The European Central Bank lowered its deposit rate to -0.10% as the continent battles deflation after many failed monetary policy attempts. The European Central Bank cut its main refinancing rate to 0.15 percent from 0.25 percent, and the deposit rate from zero to -.10 percent, the first time the ECB has seen a negative rate and the first time a major central bank has crossed the zero threshold. [...]

President Obama has announced a plan to invest $1 billion in stepping up its military presence in Eastern Europe amid the Ukrainian crisis. The White House will send more troops and equipment to the region to "€œreaffirm"€ its commitment to NATO allies. [...]

Mercer has released their updated Quality of Living Survey for 2013. The survey analyzes 39 factors like political stability, cost of living, crime levels, pollution, and healthcare, which are important for future expats moving to the country. Europe dominated the top five list with just one city being from North America. [...]

Over one million people in Spain - the eurozone's fourth largest economy - haven't had a job since 2010, according to a report by Spain's National Statistics Institute. Although this number continues to rise, the government says it's witnessing recovery. [...]