Journalists and dissidents are under the microscope of intelligence agencies, Wikileaks revealed in its fourth SpyFiles series. A German software company that produces computer intrusion systems has supplied many secret agencies worldwide. The weaponized surveillance malware, popular among intelligence agencies for spying on “journalists, activists and political dissidents,” is produced by [...]

A federal judge on Thursday said oil giant BP acted with gross negligence ahead of the catastrophic 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico, paving the way for the corporation to pay perhaps billions of dollars in fines. “BP’s conduct was reckless,” United States District Judge Carl Barbier wrote in a decision handed down early Thursday from a federal courthouse in Louisiana. [...]

The Ukrainian crisis has two closely intertwined dimensions: a domestic one and an external one, both testifying to the failure to manage the process correctly. Both provide abundant material for a study in abject mismanagement, with the lessons of European history consigned to oblivion. [...]

Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia may soon enter a trilateral treaty on friendship and cooperation with further formation of a joint military bloc that would oppose NATO, a top diplomat has said. South Ossetia’s ambassador to Abkhazia, Oleg Botsiyev, told popular Russian daily Izvestia that the planned coalition would be modeled on NATO’s structure and be allied with another Moscow-led mil [...]

Anti-Englishness is driving the Scottish independence campaign, according to UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who says a split from England would fail to give Scots independence from EU bureaucrats in Brussels. Farage, who described PM David Cameron as epitomizing “all that the Scottish people viscerally loathe about England,” said he “has walked straight into a long-planned ambush.” [...]

Armenia has decided to hang its hat with its former Soviet ally Russia instead of joining a European free-trade agreement, President Serzh Sarksyan announced after meeting with Vladimir Putin. Armenia said it would join Russia in the Customs Union, as well as engage in the Eurasian integration process instead of negotiating a free trade agreement with the EU. [...]

Some 400 people have joined a protest camp in Newport to protest against NATO. The march comes ahead of next week's military summit that will see 60 world leaders descend on the area and is already causing considerable disruption to locals. "Nuclear NATO - no, thanks!" or "Iraq, Ukraine - no more wars" read the numerous placards as about 400 protesters took in a march on Saturday against the up [...]

Canadian honey producers have filed a class-action lawsuit against Bayer and Syngenta to recover losses dating as far back as 2006, claiming that neonicotinoids they produce and sell are killing bees and cause massive material damage. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of all Canadian beekeepers by honey producers Sun Parlor Honey Ltd. and Munro Honey alleges that Bayer Cropscience Inc. and Syngenta [...]

2014 has been the year of “Russian invasions”. But the farcical politicking and media charade surrounding Ukraine’s upheaval reminds us of the tale of Texas, and independent thinking too. Washington and Kiev would have us believe Russia invaded Poroshenko’s Ukraine. But Ukraine's Texicans* in the east have another story to tell. [...]

Britain has announced plans to erect a huge fence in the French port city of Calais. The steel fencing was previously used at a NATO summit. The move is part of the UK's campaign to deter illegal immigrants from entering the British Isles. Dubbed the "ring of steel," the barrier – which measures more than 12 miles long and nine feet high – was previously used at a NATO summit in South Wales [...]

For the past three years, Official Washington has viewed the Syrian civil war as “white-hatted” rebels against “black-hatted” President Assad, but finally some of the “gray-hatted” reality is breaking through, though perhaps too late, Robert Parry reports. By Robert Parry In late summer 2013, Official Washington was rushing to the judgment that the “evil” Syrian President Bas [...]

Ukraine's bid for closer ties with the west could come at a cost. With the IMF set to loan the country $17 billion, the deal could also see GMO crops grown in some of the most fertile lands on the continent, warns Frederic Mousseau. Very few, not least the Ukrainian population are aware of these details, but according to Mousseau, who is a Policy Director at The Oakland Institute, in return for [...]

The removal of Kiev's coup-imposed authorities from power is the only way to restore peace and stability in Ukraine, opposition leader and ex-presidential candidate Oleg Tsarev told RT. Tsarev has blamed Igor Kolomoisky, the Kiev-appointed Dnepropetrovsk region governor and oligarch, for making “quite a large” contribution to the current violence in Ukraine. [...]

Kiev intends to hold up the internationally-supervised Russian humanitarian aid convoy meant for East Ukraine for at least a week, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military said. Ukraine said the time is needed for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is contributing to the Moscow-initiated mission, to establish where the aid should go in the Ukrainian region engulfed by civi [...]

Support for Scottish independence has risen eight percentage points in a month, and momentum is firmly in its favor. Have the Scots now got the desire to become a nation once again? “A bheil Gàidhlig agaibh? Alba, táim in nGrá leát.” Only about 90,000 people will understand that question, or about two percent of the Scottish population, but the considerably larger (close to 2 million) n [...]

Russia and China plan to increase technology cooperation, with Moscow set to increase exports of software in exchange for data storage, Russia's Communications Minister said. Nikolay Nikiforov, head of Russia's Ministry of Communications, announced via Twitter that Russia and China have agreed to increase the supply of Chinese servers and storage systems and production in Russia, and to boost t [...]

Ukrainian forces ceded a strategic eastern airport to pro-Russian insurgents on Monday as the government in Kiev accused Moscow of launching a “great war” that could claim tens of thousands of lives. The sense of foreboding in Kiev came as European-mediated talks over the fast-escalating crisis opened in the Belarussian capital Minsk behind closed doors, attended by government, separatist a [...]

The recurring motif in discussions on the sidelines of the NATO summit taking place on September 4–5 in Wales is this: “But what can NATO do for Ukraine?” The presence of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at the gathering seems to indicate that the Western alliance has somehow made itself Ukraine’s guarantee power. But this is only true in a largely symbolic sense. In real terms, the [...]

Finland will not drop its plans to construct a nuclear power plant with Russia’s Rosatom. The project “will not shake Finland’s reputation” and “shouldn’t be mixed with politics,” Prime Minister Alexander Strubb told Radio Suomi. There are no differences in the Finnish government over the matter, the premier said. [...]

After sustained defensive combat against Ukrainian troops in the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk during August, rebels are now reporting of entrapping two large groups of Kiev troops and seizing military hardware in a counteroffensive. The main headquarters of the DPR army has made a decision to stop operations in small groups and form full-bodied independent military units, the [...]

Barack Obama says the "door to NATO membership will remain open" for new members, while also urging the organization to help strengthen Ukraine's military. Germany has promised to send non-lethal aid, such as bullet proof vests and medical supplies. Speaking in Estonia, Obama did not explicitly point to Ukraine when referring to expanding NATO membership to other nations. [...]

Polish closure of its airspace for the plane of the Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu will not go without an "appropriate response" as it caused a "real threat to flight safety," Russia's Foreign Ministry has stated. The diplomatic standoff on Friday took hours [...]