Germany’s Foreign Intelligence Agency (BND), in an effort to come clean in these compromised post-Snowden times, has revealed that a number of mysterious facilities dotting Germany are in fact used as spy stations. Strike one in the victory column for the conspiracy theorists. After many years of denying it had any connection with organizations such as the Ionosphere Institute, and snubbing website... 

Felipe VI has become the new king of Spain after his father, King Juan Carlos, abdicated to pave the way for his son to take over as his successor. Felipe, 46, took the Spanish crown early Thursday as an act of parliament signed by his father came into force. Carlos,76, signed his abdication on Wednesday in a short ceremony in favor of his son. Carlos reigned as Spain’s king after 39 years. His... 

Pope Francis has called on “greedy” bankers to establish a stricter ethics code, and stop getting rich through financial market speculation. He attacked the practice of hedging as ‘intolerable’ equating it to stealing food from the poor. “It is increasingly intolerable that financial markets are shaping the destiny of peoples rather than serving their needs, or that the few derive... 

European Union Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger The European Union (EU) has warned of winter gas shortages after Russia and Ukraine failed to reach an agreement over their price dispute. European Union Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger warned on Monday that the 28-nation bloc could face gas shortages during the coming winter after Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine earlier in the day... 

The search for alien life may have received an important boost from scientists who have designed a new tool that can more effectively detect methane on other planets. Since living things produce the vast majority of the methane found on Earth, detecting the chemical compound on other planets would be the clearest, possibly easiest way to pinpoint worlds hospitable to extraterrestrial life. With the... 

It’s sad when one of the biggest ‘super powers’ can’t even export a quintessentially American food to another country because it is too toxic to eat. But apples treated with diphenylamine (DPA), a substance which keeps them from turning brown for months at a time when they are kept in storage, is now a sore spot for importers of American apples. DPA isn’t harmful all by itself, but it breaks... 

Ukrainian troops outside the town of Andreyevskoye near Slavyansk, Donetsk Region. NATO is preparing a package deal to ramp up the Ukrainian military because it ‘must adapt’ to Russia viewing it as an enemy, the outgoing chief of the military bloc said. The deal would be submitted to foreign ministers of members states later this month, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told El Pais... 

Scientific evidence achieved by the researchers of the University of Exeter has unveiled that keeping mobile phones in pockets increases the risk of infertility in men. The findings reveal that electromagnetic radiation of mobile phone significantly affect quality of sperm. The researchers suggest that keeping the device in trouser pocket lowered movement of sperm by 8 percent. Team of researchers... 

New research shows that deforestation imposes crisis in amount of available food for freshwater fish, resulting reduction in their size and consequently their population. The team of scientists from Canada and the UK found that where there was less forest cover or even no trees, the fish were undersized as well as with health problems. The study also indicated that the condition also influenced the... 

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has declared Sunday a day of mourning and vowed to punish those responsible for shooting down a military plane in the eastern part of the country. On Saturday, Poroshenko ordered a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council to be convened due to the deadly events near the eastern city of Lugansk. “Ukraine needs peace. However, the terrorists will receive... 

A Ukrainian military Il-76 jet. Forty-nine Ukrainian troops were killed when their military Il-76 transport jet was taken down by local militia forces just before it started its descent toward Lugansk Airport. Some military hardware and supplies were lost as well. The death toll was confirmed by the Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s office on Saturday morning in a statement, which said nine crew members... 

Self-awareness is the capacity to pay conscious attention to all aspects of yourself: to use sensory capacities such as sight, hearing and touch to provide accurate information about the external world; to use feelings such as thirst, hunger, nausea, dizziness and physical pain to provide accurate information about the state of your body and what it needs; to use memory to store and provide access... 

Residents of Slavyansk and its suburbs were awoken overnight on Thursday by what they say were incendiary bombs that were dropped on their city by Kiev’s military. Witnesses and local media reports suggested that the bombs might be phosphorous. Much of the village of Semyonovka, located in the Slavyansk suburbs, was set ablaze. Local residents told RT that the ground didn’t stop burning for... 

Experts are developing an assisted steering system, which comes to the drivers’ rescue in the nick of time, when they have even run out of chances to stamp on the brake pedal. The emergency steer assist (ESA) apparatus, which aids the driver in lateral vehicle guidance, is in development by German supplier TRW Automotive in cooperation with scientists from Dortmund Technical University. When required,... 

Russia has deployed 24 Baltic Fleet warships and vessels, along with heavy fighter jets and bombers, as reinforcement for military drills in the westernmost Kaliningrad region while NATO stages its own war games across the border. On Wednesday, Moscow deployed a grouping of 24 Baltic Fleet warships and vessels for military drills in its exclave on the Baltic Sea coast. The drills were launched on...