Edward Snowden is not booked to fly out of Moscow over the next three days, and with no valid passport, the NSA whistleblower might be stuck in airport limbo indefinitely.

The hot pursuit of Snowden has ground to a halt three days after the former CIA technician, wanted in the US on espionage charges, flew into Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport from Hong Kong.

Washington, which wants Snowden for leaking details of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) dragnet telephone …

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For employees of the United States government, blowing the whistle has long been a fraught decision. From Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the historic Pentagon Papers, to
Edward Snowden, America’s whistleblowers have faced varying personal and legal ramifications after the event.

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Australia and Japan will debate the right to hunt whales for scientific research in the Southern ocean in the International Court of Justice during the coming weeks. The first round got underway on Wednesday.

Australia accuses Japan of breaking an international moratorium on commercial whaling agreed in 1986, but which permits killing for scientific research. It is hiding behind, “the lab coat of science,” the Australian government lawyer told the court. Supporters want an emphatic judgement.

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The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has emerged as one of the Beltway’s most consistent advocates for the sale of advanced fighter jets to Taiwan. Previously undisclosed tax filings reveal that while issuing research reports and publishing articles on US-Taiwan relations, AEI received a $550,000 contribution from the government of Taiwan, a source of funding the think tank has never publicly acknowledged.
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In 2009, AEI, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, received the contribution from the Taipei Economic and …

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Protesters from two of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas took to the streets to demand investment in public services. They are calling too for the right to organise events in their neighbourhood without official authorisation. It is the latest street protest to hit the South American country.

The rally came as politicians struggled to deal with the raft of grievances behind the demos. President Dilma Rousseff has been told her proposal to hold a referendum asking Brazilians …

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It’s raining here, softly but firmly, and Wendy Davis is filibustering in Texas.

She’s speaking in a low, quiet voice in the other tab, talking about admitting privileges, standing quietly as Senators raise points of order, resuming her flood of speech flawlessly when the floor is returned to her. Her voice is calm and clear, measured, thoughtful, as she explains a subsection of SB5. My Twitter is flooded with commentary on Davis, on SB5, on reproductive …

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In a victory for marriage equality, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on Wednesday that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)–a federal law that deprived legally married same-sex couples of benefits given to other married couples–is unconstitutional and “a deprivation of equal liberty.”

Writing the majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, “DOMA is unconstitutional as a deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth Amendment.”

He continued:

DOMA singles …

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Yesterday an EU ruling came into force that may change the look of European fruit. While it will ultimately be up to each fruit provider, it seems that fruit stickers will decline and laser-etching will take its place.

But some may find the law disturbing. To be clear, the legislation does not state that fruit must be laser-etched—rather, it states that a ban on coating fruit in certain chemicals is now null and void. For three …

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The University of Massachusetts – Amherst compiled a list of the top 100 air polluters in America, the top 10 of which are shown here. Some of the top 10 polluters have, not surprisingly, very dirty skeletons in their closets. But others on this list are working to clean up their acts.

Although fossil fuel energy companies dominated the list, Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway and the federal government were in the top 5.

The list ranked polluters …

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June 24, 2013 |

If you’re like roughly half of your fellow Americans, you probably popped a multi this morning. As the slightly acrid taste lingered on your tongue, you felt good knowing that something so quick and easy would help safeguard your health.

Multivitamins are the most popular dietary supplement on Earth. But here’s the sobering reality: They may be simply useless—or worse.

For the last several years, a Mount Fuji of evidence has …

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