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 [...]

NATO has announced that it is suspending all military and civilian cooperation with Russia over the Ukrainian crisis, the bloc said in a joint statement. "We have decided to suspend all practical civilian and military cooperation between NATO and Russia. [...]

Moscow will make Crimea a special economic zone with tax breaks to attract investors, Russian Prime Minister has announced at a government session in Crimea'€™s capital Simferopol.  “We made a decision to make Crimea a special economic zone,” Medvedev said. “Today the state duma began reviewing this legislation.” [...]

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 combat dolphins of Crimea will now serve the Russian Black Sea Fleet. They will assist divers in searching for sunken ships and lost underwater equipment, Russian naval forces said. The research facility called Kazachya Bukhta, not far from Sevastopol, which explores the military use of common bottlenose dolphins, the best-known member of the dolphin family, was founded back in 1965. [...]

In a unique hearing next week, the Israeli Supreme Court will be presented with a petition that reportedly contains evidence implicating a number of high ranking officials in war crimes during military operations in Lebanon and Gaza, Al Jazeera reports. [...]

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. [...]

Brazil'€™s public prosecutor wants to suspend use of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s pervasive herbicide Roundup. A recent study suggested glyphosate may be linked to a fatal kidney disease that has affected poor farming regions worldwide. [...]

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. [...]

The Ukrainian parliament is witnessing a second day of picketing, as hundreds of Right Sector activists pressure MPs to sack the interior minister. Earlier other protesters tried to force their way into Kiev’s Rada to stop a vote on austerity measures. [...]

“I'll make up a cause of war by ordering a missile attack on Turkey.” This leaked conversation is coming back to haunt the highest echelons of the Turkish government as it plans a provocation in Syria, while scrambling to contain social media internally. [...]

The West has not yet reached a stage where it will be ready to impose economic sanctions on Russia, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, stressing that she hopes for a political solution to the stalemate over Ukraine crisis. The chancellor said she is “not interested in escalation” of tensions with Russia, speaking after Wednesday meeting with the South Korean president in Berlin. [...]

US President Barack Obama addressed the ministers of the EU-US Summit in Brussels with high-sounding, candy-coated phrases in an apparent effort to mask deep strains in the transatlantic partnership. Very little of what Obama said in Brussels on Wednesday was any different from anything he’d already said before in Prague [...]

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. [...]