In a secret US cable published online by WikiLeaks, former ambassador to Venezuela, William Brownfield, outlines a comprehensive plan to infiltrate and destabilize former President Hugo Chavez’ government. Dispatched in November of 2006 by Brownfield — now an Assistant Secretary of State — the document outlined his embassy’s five core objectives in Venezuela since 2004, which included:... 

A North Korean vehicle carrying a new missile passes by during a mass military parade in Pyongyang to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the late North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, April 15, 2013. The South Korean government says North Korea is likely to test-launch a missile this week. Kim Jang-Soo, director of national security for South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, said on Sunday that Pyongyang... 

One person has reportedly been killed and 66 wounded when clashes erupted outside a Coptic cathedral in Cairo after funeral prayers were held for four Christians killed in sectarian violence. There are conflicting reports on how exactly the clashes erupted. AFP, citing witnesses, writes that mourners who were chanting against the ruling Muslim Brotherhood were pelted with stones as they left the church.... 

Russian President Vladimir Putin Russian President Vladimir Putin says that the banking crisis in Cyprus has revealed the unreliability of Western financial institutions. In an interview on Friday with Germany’s state-owned ARD television before an April 7 visit to the European nation, Putin accused Cypriot and European Union leaders of undermining confidence in Europe’s banks by taxing deposits... 

South Korean soldiers man K-55 self-propelled howitzers at a military training field in the border city of Paju on April 5, 2013. North Korea has asked foreign embassies, including that of Russia, to consider the possibility of evacuation due to an upsurge of tensions on the Korean Peninsula. “A representative of the North Korean Foreign Ministry suggested that the Russian side examine the question... 

The United States has deployed chemical weapons and a battalion equipped to deal with nuclear and chemical attacks in South Korea. Japan has warned North Korea against its ‘provocative statements’ after Pyongyang stepped up its war rhetoric against the US threats. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Thursday, “Our government does not believe we should be pushed around and... 

North Korean army says it has final approval for nuclear attack on the US, the official KCNA news agency says. This comes shortly after the Pentagon said the US military prepares to deploy an advanced missile-defense system to Guam. “Merciless operation of its revolutionary armed forces in this regard has been finally examined and ratified,” said a spokesman for the General Staff of the... 

The holiest Jewish site in Syria – the 2,000-year-old Jobar Synagogue in Damascus – has been looted and burned, and its roof blown off. The Syrian army and rebel forces have both blamed each other for the demolition of the historic landmark. It is believed that the Jobar Synagogue, one of the world’s oldest, was built atop a cave where the Prophet Elijah once hid from persecution. One of the... 

Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland has released a public statement apologizing to the public for the passing of the Monsanto Protection Act, stating that the legislation was buried deep within a government spending bill that was required to ‘prevent a government shutdown’. Mikulski is the Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman, one who was ultimately responsible for passing the bill that... 

The guided missile destroyers USS Lassen (L) and USS Fitzgerald are seen at a South Korean naval port in Donghae, about 190 km east of Seoul, on March 9, 2013. The United States is shifting a guided-missile destroyer in the Pacific to waters off the Korean Peninsula as tensions mount with North Korea, a US military official say. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Monday that... 

An Israeli teenager has been sentenced to 14 days in jail, his eighth term in the past six months. He’s served more than 100 days for refusing to serve in the IDF and “participate in a cynical game,” referring to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. On Tuesday, conscientious objector Nathan Blanc came to the IDF Recruitment Bureau for the eighth time since November. There, at a military base... 

New North Korean Prime Minister Pak Pong Ju (L) shaking hands with then Chinese President Hu Jintao in 2005 North Korea has reappointed the economic reformist Pak Pong Ju as prime minister amid the country’s escalating tensions with South Korea which has placed the two neighbors in a “state of war.” Political analysts contend that the Monday appointment of Pak underlines the determination of... 

Julian Assange’s new political party is open for membership, WikiLeaks announced on Twitter on Saturday. The party must enlist 500 dues-paying members to officially register with the Australian Electoral Commission. The WikiLeaks party was created as part of Assange’s bid to become an Australian senator in September 2013 elections in Victoria State. At the moment the party has an initial 10-member... 

Forty-five years ago, on March 27, 1968, during a training flight on a standard fighter, Yuri Gagarin, the first man in history to make a flight into space, was killed. It seems that the official results of the investigation into the death of the cosmonaut were announced long time ago, but various (sometimes very questionable) theories of the tragic event still continue to emerge. Gagarin’s... 

Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Timerman with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Timerman has once again called on British authorities to enter talks over the Malvinas Islands at the United Nations. The request came on Tuesday, after Timerman along with other South American ministers met with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said the UK has declined the Argentinean...