Extreme heat from a massive supervolcano underneath Yellowstone National Park is melting a major roadway at the popular summertime tourist attraction. Park officials have closed the area to visitors. Firehole Lake Drive, a 3-mile-plus offshoot of the park’s Grand Loop that connects the Old Faithful geyser and the Madison Junction, is currently off limits. [...]

Hundreds marched through Washington DC and rallied at the Capitol on Sunday to protest plans for a new liquid natural gas (LNG) export facility in Maryland. Local residents fear possible environmental risks. The plan is to build a new terminal at the Cove Point, Maryland LNG facility, which could be used for exporting fuel to Asia. It’s proposed by a Virginia-based company, Dominion Resources, a [...]

The daughter of a man killed by an artillery shell fired by Kiev's forces in a quiet Russian town just across the border from Ukraine is still in shock. In a night of horror, she also had to save her 11-year-old brother from the bombing. Andrey Shulyatyev, a 46-year-old father of four, was killed on Sunday when an artillery shell from Ukraine hit his private house on the border, in the Rostov Regi [...]

Civil liberties groups are making a legal challenge against the alleged use of mass surveillance by UK intelligence services. The tribunal follows revelations about UK and US surveillance practices by former US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden. The groups involved intend to challenge the legality of alleged “interception, collection and use of communications” by GCHQ. [...]

As a never-ending stream of spy scandals put Washington-Berlin relations under unprecedented strain, Germans are increasingly asking themselves whether the country should be blindly following the US. A recent poll for Der Spiegel showed that up to 57 percent of Germans would like Berlin to conduct policies more independent from the US [...]

Thousands have fled northern Gaza after Israel warned residents to leave the area to avoid airstrikes. At least 167 people, mostly civilians, have already died as a result of Operation Protective Edge, which entered its sixth day on Sunday. Israel dropped leaflets in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya, located near the border with Israel, urging residents to leave the region by midday Sun [...]

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff symbolically handed over the World Cup to her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday, as Russia is set to host the 2018 tournament. The two were joined by FIFA president Sepp Blatter. The ceremony took place inside Maracana Stadium before the Germany-Argentina final in Rio de Janeiro. [...]

Germany has claimed a fourth World Cup crown in a 1-0 win against Argentina after extra time in the final in Rio de Janeiro. Substitute Mario Goetze was the hero, as he scored the only goal with seven minutes to go. With that triumph Germany has become the first European nation to win the trophy outside of their home continent, which led to jubilant scenes both on the pitch and back home, with mil [...]

"Degeneration into genocide!" As the Ukrainian President Poroshenko calls for the murder of 'hundreds' of rebels for each of his troops killed – more than Nazi Germany ordered as punitive reprisals in World War II; eyewitnesses report Kiev death squads going 'house to house,' executing all men under 35 on the spot, 'crucifying' babies and forcing their mothers to watch – unspeakable atrociti [...]

US secret services have recruited more than a dozen officials in various German government ministries to work as spies, with some of them working for the CIA for many years, a German tabloid reported on Sunday. Following previous espionage scandals in Germany, with several suspected US agents exposed in July, a report of more spies infiltrating German ministries was published by Bild am Sonntag, G [...]

An artillery shell from Ukraine has hit a private house in the Rostov region of Russia, killing a citizen and leaving two more injured. The Russian Foreign Ministry promises heavy consequences. Reportedly up to six mortar shells exploded on Sunday in the small Russian town of Donetsk, which has the same name as the Ukrainian city and is situated right on the Ukrainian border. [...]

At least 80 percent of all audio calls are gathered and stored by the NSA, whistleblower William Binney has revealed. The former code-breaker says the spy agency's ultimate aim is no less than total population control. [...]

The White House were given the heads up that UK authorities were to force The Guardian newspaper to destroy hard drives containing top secret NSA documents. Emails obtained by the Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) indicate that US intelligence officers including NSA chief Keith Alexander were notified about Britain’s intent to retrieve the classified papers. [...]

One hundred French celebrities have launched a campaign against the upcoming TAFTA deal between the US and Europe. The protesters say the new treaty will lower economic standards and bring a large influx of GMO products from the US. The petition dubbed: “Everyone against TAFTA” started on June 10 and has gathered over 5,500 signatures so far. [...]

John Emerson never stops smiling. On the evening of Friday, July 4 -- Independence Day -- the United States ambassador shook hands on the red carpet at a reception given by his embassy at Berlin's former Tempelhof Airport, which has since been transformed into a park. Emerson greeted his guests with a diplomat's practiced joviality. He faced an endless line of businesspeople, German government off [...]

In what amounts to a diplomatic earthquake, Berlin has asked the country's top CIA official to leave Germany. The measures comes in response to the second allegation in a week of a German government employee spying for the US. [...]

German authorities have carried out a raid on the residence of a defense ministry official suspected of passing secrets to the US, just one week after the arrest of a German intelligence officer who worked as a double agent. Officials from the Federal Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday that residential and office premises of the staff of the Federal Ministry of Defense in Berlin were searched on [...]

The next time you wolf down that Big Mac with large fries consider you may be affecting more than your own waistline. Scientists now say an unhealthy diet can be encoded into DNA, which is passed down to future generations. By now, most people have heard various negative things about a Western diet: it is too fatty, too salty and too sugary. [...]

Ukraine's gas bill has risen another $838 million, after Kiev failed to make a payment for 1.7 billion cubic meters of Russian gas supplied in the first half of June. “The deadline for paying June bills expired yesterday; we again didn’t receive the money from Naftogaz Ukraine. As a result Ukraine’s debt to Gazprom for the 1.7 billion cubic meters supplied from June 1 through June 16 rose to [...]

Two American officials have acknowledged that the Central Intelligence Agency played a part in the espionage operation involving a German man who was recently arrested for allegedly spying on behalf of the United States. In a report published on Monday, two unidentified government officials told Reuters of the CIA’s involvement in the operation [...]

Germany may scrap its decades-old policy of not spying on key NATO allies in response to the latest spy scandal, which exposed a German intelligence officer as a double-agent leaking secret documents to the US. After the defeat of Nazis in World War II, the new authorities of West Germany adopted a policy of turning a blind eye to the intelligence activities of some of the victors, [...]

A Russian MP claims the US kidnapped his son from the Maldives on bogus cyber-fraud charges and may be preparing to offer him as bait in a swap deal for Edward Snowden. Roman Seleznyov, 30, was arrested at Male international airport as he was about to board a flight to Moscow. [...]