Taliban "militants" in Afghanistan claim they have killed 19 US soldiers in an attack on a military convoy in the eastern province of Ghazni, Press TV reports. - A spokesman for the militant group said the attack was carried out on Monday in Khogyani District of the province. There has been no word of confirmation by the US military. Attacks on foreign troops are expected to rise in the coming months, as Taliban militants have announced the beginning of their ‘offensive’ across Afghanistan. The militant group said it would use “every possible tactic” to inflict casualties on Afghan and US-led forces. They specifically mentioned insider attacks.

The $1.5 billion in U.S. foreign aid slated for Egypt next year is in jeopardy after the Egyptian army deposed democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday. Section 508 of the decades-old Foreign Assistance Act stipulates that “none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available pursuant to this Act shall be obligated or expended to finance directly any assistance to any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by a military coup or decree.” A clause in the 2011 omnibus bill strengthens the provision, excluding from American aid any nation experiencing a “coup d’etat or decree in which the military plays a decisive role.” Although events in Egypt appear to conform perfectly to these criteria, it’s unclear whether the Obama administration will cut off revenue to the strategically important nation anytime soon.

PressTV: At least 53 pro-Morsi protesters killed in Cairo
Russia Today: Dozens dead as Egyptian Islamists rally to defend Morsi
Christof Lehmann: Putin warns against Civil War in Egypt after Ousting of Morsi

Question: Are German authorities or politicians involved in the monitoring system ?
Snowden: Yes of course. They (the NSA people -- ed.) are in cahoots with the Germans, as well as with the most other Western countries. We (in the U.S. intelligence apparatus -- ed.) warn the others, when someone we want to catch, uses one of their airports - and they then deliver them to us. The information on this, we can for example pull off of the monitored mobile phone of a suspected hacker’s girlfriend -- who used it in an entirely different country which has nothing to do with the case. The other authorities do not ask us where got the leads, and we do not ask them anything either. That way, they can protect their political staff from any backlash if it came out how massive the global violation of people’s privacy is.

Question: But now as details of this system are revealed, who will be put before a court over this?
Snowden: Before U.S. courts? You're not serious, are you? When the last large wiretapping scandal was investigated - the interception without a court order, which concerned millions of communications - that should really have led to the longest prison sentences in world history. However, then our highest representatives simply stopped the investigation. The question, who is to be accused, is theoretical, if the laws themselves are not respected. Laws are meant for people like you or me - but not for them.

Question: Does the NSA cooperate with other states like Israel?
Snowden: Yes, all the time. The NSA has a large section for that, called the FAD - Foreign Affairs Directorate.

Question: Did the NSA help to write the Stuxnet program? (Stuxnet is the computer worm that was deployed against the Iranian nuclear program.)
Snowden: NSA and Israel co-wrote it.

Fars News Agency: Snowden Interview: NSA 'In Bed Together with Germans'
Der Spiegel: NSA Ties Put German Intelligence in Tight Spot

PressTV: Snowden in danger of assassination by US forces - Former American contractor Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press years ago, is concerned about kidnapping or assassination of American whistleblower Edward Snowden by U.S. forces. “I hope that he finds a haven, as safe as possible from kidnapping or assassination by U.S. Special Operations forces, preferably where he can speak freely,” he wrote in an op-ed published by The Washington Post on Monday. He also expressed hope that “Snowden’s revelations will spark a movement to rescue our democracy, but he could not be part of that movement had he stayed here.” “There is zero chance that he would be allowed out on bail if he returned now and close to no chance that, had he not left the country, he would have been granted bail. Instead, he would be in a prison cell like Bradley Manning, incommunicado,” Ellsberg wrote. “Many people compare Edward Snowden to me unfavorably for leaving the country and seeking asylum, rather than facing trial as I did," he wrote. "I don't agree. The country I stayed in was a different America, a long time ago."

Brazil has expressed serious concerns over a report which says the United States has been spying on Brazilian companies and individuals for a decade. - Brazil’s O Globo newspaper reported on Sunday that the US National Security Agency (NSA) has collected data on billions of telephone and email conversations in the South American country. The Globo report said that information released by US surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden reveals that the number of telephone and email messages logged by the NSA in the 10-year period was near to the 2.3 billion captured in the US. Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota expressed "deep concern at the report that electronic and telephone communications of Brazilian citizens are being the object of espionage by organs of American intelligence.”

Russia Today: NSA spying targeted BRICS

Glenn Greenwald: The NSA's mass and indiscriminate spying on Brazilians - As it does in many non-adversarial countries, the surveillance agency is bulk collecting the communications of millions of citizens of Brazil - As the headline suggests, the crux of the main article details how the NSA has, for years, systematically tapped into the Brazilian telecommunication network and indiscriminately intercepted, collected and stored the email and telephone records of millions of Brazilians. The story follows an article in Der Spiegel last week, written by Laura Poitras and reporters from that paper, detailing the NSA's mass and indiscriminate collection of the electronic communications of millions of Germans. There are many more populations of non-adversarial countries which have been subjected to the same type of mass surveillance net by the NSA: indeed, the list of those which haven't been are shorter than those which have. The claim that any other nation is engaging in anything remotely approaching indiscriminate worldwide surveillance of this sort is baseless.

The Syrian army has killed several notorious terrorists, including a Saudi national, and seized Israeli-made missiles during its military operations in Reef (outskirts of) Damascus on Friday, dispatches said. - The Syrian army units conducted a series of military operations in different parts of Reef Damascus, including Barzeh and al-Qaboun, on Friday. The army discovered and seized a cache of weapons, including Israeli-made LAV anti-tank missiles, during its operations, FNA dispatches said. Meantime, the army killed tens of armed rebels and injured dozens more in heavy clashes in Reef Damascus, the dispatches said, adding that notorious terrorists such as Ahmed Ali Bouz and Abdelhamid Idris were among those killed in Reef Damascus. The army also killed several other notorious terrorists, including Abdelrahman Alsan, Muhammad al-Naemeh, Naman al-Jassem, Belal Qatan, Mamdouh al-Sharif, Bashir al-Hussein, Ahmed al-Ajveh, Adnan Al-Madour and Majed al-Habour in other parts of Reef Idlib. Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against the Syrian police, border guards, statesmen, army and the civilians being reported across the country.

Russia called on the United Nation Security Council (UNSC) to probe reports that massive arms depots stockpiled by former Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi are making their way to foreign-sponsored militants in Syria. - "Russia applied to the UNSC Committee overseeing sanctions against Libya asking to initiate an investigation of the information (about the alleged arms supply to the Syrian opposition from Libya)…," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday, press tv reported. "If this information is correct, it means a severe violation of international embargo imposed on Libya," the statement added. On June 21, the New York Times reported that the evidence collected in Syria together with flight-control data and interviews with militia members, smugglers, militants, analysts and officials in several countries attest to the fact that a great deal of effort, spearheaded and financed by Qatar, is underway to transport arms from Libya to Syrian anti-government gunmen. The report further noted that Qatari C-17 cargo planes have landed at least three times in Libya this year, including flights from Mitiga International Airport in Tripoli on January 15 and February 1 as well as another that departed Benghazi on April 16.

At least 40 people remain missing a day after a train derailed in Quebec, ploughing into the city's busy downtown district and killing five people. - Police said a higher death toll was inevitable, and authorities feared the number might soar once they're able to reach the hardest-hit areas. Worries remained over the status of two oil-filled train cars. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper compared the area to a war zone and said about 30 buildings were incinerated. Quebec provincial police Sgt. Benoit Richard said only a small part of the devastated area had been searched Sunday, more than a day since the accident, because firefighters were making sure all fires were out. The train's 72 oil-filled tanker cars somehow came loose early Saturday morning, sped downhill nearly seven miles (11 kilometers) into the town, derailed and began exploding one by one. At least five exploded. “This is an unbelievable disaster,” said Harper, who toured the town Sunday. “This is an enormous area, 30 buildings just completely destroyed, for all intents and purposes incinerated. There isn't a family that is not affected by this.” The growing number of trains carrying crude oil in Canada and the United States had raised concerns of a major derailment.

When an event occurs that that fundamentally changes the dynamics of global geopolitics, there is one question above all others whose answer will most assuredly point to its perpetrators. That question is "Cui bono?". If those so indicted are in addition found to have had both motive and means then, as they say in the US, it's pretty much a slam-dunk. And so it is with the events of 9/11. Discounting the 'Official narrative' as the absurdity it so clearly is, there are just two organisations on the entire planet with the expertise, assets, access and political protection necessary to have both executed 9/11 and effected its cover-up to date (ie the means). Both are Intelligence Agencies - the CIA and Israel's Mossad - but only one had a compelling motive - Mossad. That motive dovetailed perfectly with the Neocon PNAC agenda, with it's explicitly stated need for "...a catastrophic and catalyzing event - like a new Pearl Harbor" [1] in order to mobilise US public opinion for already planned wars, the effects of which would be to destroy Israel's enemies. This article marshals evidence for the proposition that "Israel did it".

The official 2001 FBI docs on Urban Moving Systems and the 9-11-2001 Dancing Israelis incident

9/11 on Another World Is Possible

It’s safe to say that the NSA is pretty low on the list of most people’s favorite government organizations these days (if people even make lists like that), but recent reports are also calling into question Google’s credibility, as it seems the company’s Android mobile operating system has had some involvement with the NSA. According to a report by Bloomberg Businessweek, it turns out that the NSA has contributed some source code to Android. The NSA actually began working with Android in 2011 to help make the operating system more secure, and some of the code that it wrote already runs on a handful of Android devices, including the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One. Of course there will be questions raised as to NSA’s true intentions for contributing code to Android but, as Android Authority points out, anyone who is worried about NSA’s involvement can review the source code NSA wrote, as Android’s code is downloadable from Android’s website.

Fars News Agency: Android Phones: NSA Surveillance Using Flaws?

HOMS, Syrie – Très remonté par le nouvel échec de la coalition syrienne à se doter d’un chef, ce matin, à Istanbul, les amis autoproclamés de la Syrie n’en peuvent plus. François Hollande aurait aimé prendre sa kalachnikov en bandoulière, et débarquer en Syrie. Mais, le manque de courage qui le caractérise a fait le reste. Il a besoin de Barack Obama pour aboyer. Mais, le vrai dirigeant français du moment, l’homme à tout faire, le DJ Laurent Fabulous, laissera ses platines, un temps, pour apporter une cargaison de masques à gaz à Homs, où l’armée arabe syrienne "utilise…..des gaz toxiques", selon les terroristes, pour, semble-t-il, les déloger. Pire, ils parlent de…Napalm.