Chechen president says ban, which extends to EU leaders Barroso, Van Rompuy and Ashton, is response to US and EU 'state terrorism.' Although Russia has not responded to US sanctions over the Ukraine crisis by putting a travel ban on President Barack Obama, there is one part of the country he is now barred from entering: Chechnya. [...]

Kremlin accuses Brussels of believing in 'fairytales' as more Russians face travel ban and asset freeze. The EU has parachuted a team of security advisers into Kiev to assist the Ukrainian government in imposing the rule of law in rebel districts, in a provocative move likely to further inflame relations with Moscow. [...]

The United States and Europe last week announced the imposition of stronger sanctions against Russia in response to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. German industry may be among the losers. It wasn't that long ago that Kremlin officials could hardly avoid laughing when asked about the economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the West. As long as every NATO member state jealously sought to protect [...]

A 6 year-old boy from Florida born with right arm deficiency has received a prosthetic arm. Now climbing a tree and catching a ball will become easier for him. Students from Florida University made it on a 3D printer for just $350 in just 8 weeks. [...]

More than 40 Ukrainian soldiers have abandoned their military posts and crossed into Russian territory, stating that they refuse to fight against their own people, a Russian Federal Security Service spokesperson said. At least 41 Ukrainian soldiers have made it to Russian territory after asking self-defense forces for help, the spokesperson from the Federal Security Service’s Rostov region bo [...]

The current conflict in Ukraine provides a plethora of examples of the power of doublethink in shaping narratives in order to justify any actions, beliefs, and statements that are either untrue or so grossly distorted as to be entirely unbelievable. The novelist George Orwell coined the term doublethink in his classic dystopian novel 1984. He defined doublethink as “The power of holding two c [...]

After 20 years living in Switzerland, Scott Schmith renounced his American citizenship, to escape the obligation to report his income and assets to the US government. “I have nothing to hide. But I don’t want to be punished because I chose to live outside the United States,” said the new Swiss passport holder, a photographer who lives near Zurich. [...]

Over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel started its military operation in Gaza, officials said. As the 12-hour ceasefire approaches its end and body recovery continues in the Strip, world leaders are calling for an extension to the truce. Despite the 12-hour cease-fire between Hamas and Israel set for Saturday, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has urged the Palestinians, who earli [...]

Ukrainian troops fired internationally banned phosphorus bombs at Donetsk and Mandrykino in eastern Ukraine overnight, the Donetsk People’s Republic has said. “Ukraine’s Army uses phosphorus munitions during the shelling of Donetsk, Mandrykino on July 26, 2014,” the DNR said in its Twitter microblog Saturday. A YouTube video confirms the claims. A representative of Russia’s General [...]

Russian-made firearms are reportedly flying off the shelves of American gun stores after the United States Treasury Department announced sanctions last week against the maker of the popular AK-47 rifle. Kalashnikov Concern, the company responsible for the eponymous gas-operated 7.62 caliber assault rifle known largely around the world as the AK-47, is among the latest Russian-owned entities to [...]

The Ukrainian army is using indiscriminate Grad missiles to attack densely populated areas in Donetsk, which violates international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch alleged. It also blamed militia for taking cover in those areas. [...]

The United States military'€™s top commander said during a security summit this week that the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine has prompted the Pentagon to revisit old contingency plans unused since the days of the Cold War. [...]

A proposed multinational force to further secure the MH17 crash site in eastern Ukraine will now include over 100 armed Australian police and soldiers. The move comes shortly after 40 unarmed Dutchmen had been deployed to "€œfurther stabilize the area."€ The additional Australian personnel were discussed by Prime Minister Tony Abbott with President Putin, and will join a contingent of 90 A [...]

NSA surveillance controversy centered on U.S. fear that Europe's economic powerhouse will dump the dollar. Financial analyst Jim Willie sensationally claims that Germany is preparing to ditch the unipolar system backed by NATO and the U.S. in favor of joining the BRICS nations, and that this is why the NSA was caught spying on Angela Merkel and other German leaders. [...]

When we spend almost 30 times as much money locking youth up as educating them, how can we say that education matters? I'm tired of talk. Let's educate our kids. We say that education matters, yet California is ranked number 47 among the states in per pupil spending on education. [...]

Austrian officials say they are baffled to explain a UFO sighting in which dozens of people reported seeing between 50 and 100 objects flying in formation. The incident happened over the Aichfeld basin near the city of Knittelfeld in the southern Austrian state of Styria where eyewitness Juergen Trieb, 41, and his girlfriend Waltraud Kaliba, 40, managed to take this snap before the high speed o [...]

Yatseniuk quits as he berates parliament for failing to pass law to increase army financing and regulate country's energy situation. Ukraine's prime minister has resigned after the governing coalition collapsed, in a sign that five months after the Maidan protests led to a change of government, the country's political system is still beset by discord. [...]

With average annual growth rates of 8.5 percent, Panama’s per capita GDP has more than doubled over the past decade. This impressive growth performance has been driven by a steady rise in public and private investment in a stable economic environment buttressed by prudent policies. In its latest assessment of the Panamanian economy, the IMF said Panama’s economy continues to grow strongly, [...]

Entrepreneurism in American has been on the decline for at least 30 years, a new report suggests, and for the first time in three decades the number of business "deaths" in the United States exceeds that of "births." The report, published on Monday this week by economists from the Brookings Institute, examines business dynamism in America — or how the process by which firms are continually bo [...]

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has slashed its growth expectations for the world's biggest economy to 1.7 percent for the year, after a harsh winter crushed growth in the first quarter. In June, the Washington DC-based institution forecast US growth at 2 percent. The revised forecast is below last year’s 1.9 percent growth rate, and would be the slowest annual rate for the United St [...]

The White House is tracking visitors to its website, despite proudly promising that WhiteHouse.gov complies with federal privacy laws and does not use cookies. The AddThis tracker is present on every page on the site, according to EFF. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) studied the White House site for the new type of online tracking system after a new report by ProPublica found that the [...]

A German astronaut managed to capture the Gaza war zone from space while aboard the International Space Station. He called it his "saddest photo yet." Alexander Gerst, a German flight engineer, geophysicist and volcanologist, spread the news with a short tweet on Wednesday, as the ISS was on a flyby over Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. The image went viral. [...]