American spying overseas has proven so worrisome that one U.S. ally is considering ditching email and using typewriters to communicate classified information that can’t be intercepted electronically. Germany, whose government officials and citizens were angered last year upon learning the NSA had spied on them, is thinking seriously about embracing pre-computer technology. Some people are so concerned that they meet in person over coffee to keep conversations private.   read more

Tariq Khdeir of Tampa, Florida, was in Jerusalem outside the home of his slain cousin, Mohammed Tariq Khdeir of Tampa, Florida, was in Jerusalem outside the home of his slain cousin, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, who was bludgeoned and burned alive by assailants on July 2. Six Israelis have been arrested in connection with the brutal murder.. During the protest over Mohammed Abu Khdeir’s death, Israeli police apprehended Tariq Khdeir and hit him repeatedly until he fell unconscious.   read more

Due to reckless industrial development, huge swaths of Chinese acreage contain harmful heavy metals, including cadmium, arsenic, lead, nickel and mercury. As much of 20% of China’s arable land is polluted in this manner. As for Chinese produce labeled “organic,” it’s unclear that eating that is healthier than consuming locally grown, non-organic foods. Organic crops are often fertilized with animal manure that could be contaminated with heavy metals.   read more

The scheming by BNP Paribas—which occurred over an eight-year period—assisted interests in Iran, Sudan and Cuba in conducting business subject to sanctions imposed by Washington. The bank continued to violate the law even after being warned by its own lawyers that its conduct was illegal. Legal experts hailed the agreement, noting its size for punishing such a large financial institution.   read more

While re-affirming an established rule that government immunity prevents the Border Patrol from being sued, the judges ruled that the agent was legally liable for the killing because his actions exceeded his authority. “No reasonable officer would have understood Agent Mesa’s alleged conduct to be lawful,” they wrote in their decision.   read more

The panel, which included former members of Democratic and Republican administrations, also criticized the administration for not conducting an analysis of whether the use of drones for secret killings is worth the price. “A serious counterterrorism strategy needs to consider carefully, and constantly reassess, the balance between kinetic action [use of force] and other counterterrorism tools, and the potential unintended consequences of increased reliance on lethal UAVs,” the report said.   read more

Of the 188 countries in the world, only three have no paid family leave—Papua New Guinea, Oman and the U.S., according to a new report from the International Labour Organization (ILO). The other 185 governments have adopted laws authorizing mothers, and in 78 cases even fathers, to take time off and still receive paychecks while caring for newborns or other relatives.   read more

With the blessing of the Department of Commerce, two oil firms are now planning to ship ultra-light oil to foreign buyers. Industry experts say the deals represent a real change in U.S. export policy, even though technically the petroleum is not unrefined crude oil, which hasn’t been sold to overseas interests since the mid-1970s. The White House, though, insists the sales do not mean the administration has shifted U.S. policy on the issue.   read more

With only seven votes to spare (310-303), Presbyterian Church U.S.A.’s (PC(USA) governing body voted last week to divest $21 million from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions. The corporations have reportedly provided Israel with means to destroy Palestinian homes, operate border checkpoints, and develop border barriers between it and Gaza. The church’s decision also included statements affirming the church’s belief in Israel’s right to exist.   read more

The numbers are a sharp increase, with much of it coming as a result of the fighting in Syria. In 2008, Syria was the country hosting the second-largest number of refugees. Now, it’s the second-largest refugee=producing nation, trailing only Afghanistan. More than half of all refugees worldwide come from those two nations, along with Somalia. The countries hosting the most refugees are Pakistan, with 1.6 million, and Iran, with almost 900,000.   read more

Caitlan Coleman was taken hostage in October 2012 by the Taliban with her husband, Canadian Joshua Boyle, while they were traveling through Afghanistan. Coleman was pregnant at the time and gave birth while in captivity. Boyle’s ex-wife, Zaynab Khadr, is the sister of the only Canadian to be held at Guantánamo Bay, Omar Khadr, who was transferred to Canadian custody in 2012.   read more

Keeping the baptism a secret was vital, Doe says, because under some interpretations of Islamic law, Christian converts can be punished by beheading. Such a threat became very real for the plaintiff after Syrian militants saw the conversion notice and took him prisoner. He alleges that he was tortured, stabbed, shot and nearly had his head cut off before escaping.   read more

Presumably in response to the attacks, the U.S. hit suspected militants on June 11 and 12 in two different locations, Miramshah and Dande Darpa Khel. The latter was the site of a notorious U.S. drone strike on September 8, 2008 that killed 23 people, including eight children, as well as other strikes since then. The latest airstrikes reportedly killed a total of 16 people in North Waziristan.   read more

It has been two decades since the cartographers at National Geographic had to make so many changes to its world map. In the early 1990s, the dissolution of the Soviet Union resulted in many lines being redrawn. This time, it was the retreat of the Arctic ice sheet that had mapmakers putting in overtime. This doesn’t come as a surprise to scientists who have recorded a 12% reduction in the ice sheet since the late 1970s.   read more

The U.S. has 7.1 million millionaires, with China a distant second at 2.4 million. Together, that’s 9.5 million out of 16.3 million millionaires on the planet. China accounts for 19% of the world’s total population and the U.S. only 4.4%. The worldwide total of millionaires went up significantly from only two years ago, when there were 13.7 million.   read more

In terms of total profits of U.S. subsidiaries held overseas, the leaders are Netherlands at $127 billion, Bermuda with $94 billion and Ireland at $87 billion. U.S. companies have hidden so much of their profits in foreign bank accounts that the sums in question are more than the entire gross domestic products of some of these tax-haven nations.   read more