At least 76 people are dead today, overwhelmingly civilians and including gas many as 28 children, after a series of barrel bomb attacks against rebel-held districts in the contested northern Syrian city of Aleppo. The toll spans several strikes against at least 13 different districts, and the final count could be quite a bit higher, with some unconfirmed reports of tolls as high as 118.

The Syrian military is increasingly relying on barrel bombs in entrenched rebel areas in Aleppo. The makeshift munitions amount to little more than an oil barrel full of TNT, rolled out of the back of a helicopter. The bombs are powerful, but extremely inaccurate, and tend to careen off target quite often, which in densely populated territory is a recipe for high civilian casualties. Early reports had claimed Nusra fighters were working alongside the Islamic Front rebels, who are being courted by the US as the new “pro-West” faction. The locals haven’t mentioned Islamic Front in their accounts, however, claiming foreign fighters for Nusra were operating on their own.

Russia Today: Dozens killed including children in Aleppo airstrikes - Photos

Norwegian intelligence cooperated extensively with the US National Security Agency (NSA) to spy on Russian politicians, the country’s energy sector and other ‘civilian targets’ in the country. ● A top secret document obtained by the tabloid Dagbladet contained lists demonstrating how the Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS) had cooperated with the NSA and vice versa to spy on Russia, noting several instances in which the collaboration resulted in “success stories.” One portion of the memo titled "what the partner provides to NSA" includes several itemized points. The first point is entitled "Access to Russian targets in the Kola Peninsula," not far from Russia’s border with Norway and Finland. Although no specific targets are mentioned on the peninsula, which lies almost completely north of the Arctic Circle, it contains the highest concentration of nuclear weapons, reactors and facilities in Russia.The following point mentions mutual civilian targets, particularly those relating to Russian "energy policy." Under the heading "success stories," the NSA says it is working in partnership with the NIS "to expand and deepen the intelligence exchange, focusing on report sharing and target development on Russian political, natural resources and energy issues," the daily reports. The document also mentions that Russian politicians have been the targets of intelligence gathering operations, although no specific names are mentioned. Below the ice and cold waters of the Arctic Ocean are hidden vast natural reserves, including approximately 20 percent of oil reserves worldwide and around 30 percent of the planet’s natural gas. There are also believed to be deposits of platinum, gold and tin.

VoR: Norway spies on Russia for US

Whistleblower Edward Snowden has pledged to help Brazil investigate the NSA’s spying activities. Snowden said he had been asked by Brazilian senators for information on “suspected crimes against Brazilian citizens.” In an open letter published by Brazilian paper Folha de S.Paulo, the former CIA contractor promised to aid Brazil in a probe into the National Security Agency’s spying program in the country. David Miranda, the partner of journalist Glen Greenwald, published the English original of the letter on his Facebook page.

AP/The Big Story: Snowden: NSA's indiscriminate spying 'collapsing'
Forbes: An NSA Coworker Remembers The Real Edward Snowden: 'A Genius Among Geniuses'
Washington Post: Edward Snowden doesn’t show up once in Google’s list of top 2013 searches
VoR: Edward Snowden named the "Person of the Year" 2013
VoR: 'It seems unlikely that the Russians would turn Snowden to the US' - expert

United Nations Approves Internet Privacy Resolution. ● The United Nations’ human rights committee passed a “right to privacy” resolution that was sponsored by Germany and Brazil. The new document protects the right to privacy against illegal surveillance even in the online world. The resolution was built by the two countries, with contributions from other nations, in the fallout of the NSA scandal, stating specifically that governments and companies who deal with surveillance or data interception “may violate or abuse human rights.” Despite the already-long history of the Internet, this is the first time that human rights in the online medium are mentioned, pointing out that these should prevail, everywhere.

Common Dreams: 'Snowden Vindicated': Judge Rules Against 'Indiscriminate' NSA Spying
The Guardian: NSA phone surveillance program likely unconstitutional, federal judge rules

A federal judge in Washington, DC on Monday declared that the National Security Agency’s collection of telephone “metadata” from virtually every call made to, from or within the United States violates the Fourth Amendment, the constitutional provision protecting the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” Judge Richard J. Leon granted the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction, ordering the government to stop collecting data on their telephone calls and to destroy their call records. But he stayed his ruling pending an appeal by the Obama administration, which argued in court in defense of the program. This effectively allows the government to continue spying on the calls of the plaintiffs while the case winds its way through the federal appeals courts and, very likely, makes its way to the US Supreme Court, a process that could take years.

Israel ruled guilty of genocide; the nuclear elephant in that region; and the 'armies' recruited to doctor Wikipedia. Seek truth from facts with leading war crimes prosecutor Professor Francis Boyle, Asia Times correspondent Pepe Escobar, top saxophonist and former Israeli citizen Gilad Atzmon, and UN Human Rights Rapporteur Professor Richard Falk.

Kevin Barrett: In which I apply for Jewish status ■ The Palestinians are second-class citizens in their own homeland. I¡¯m starting to understand how they feel. If I were Jewish, I would dominate the media, largely control the US Congress, and completely own Hollywood. If I were Jewish, nobody could criticize me ¨C or my tribal settler colony in Occupied Palestine ¨C without being labeled anti-Semitic and forced to wear a "never work in this town again" yellow star. If I were Jewish, I could make sure that anybody who questions MY holocaust gets locked up the second they set foot in Europe, while I remain free to question all the other holocausts. I could extort my share of the billions of dollars generated by the ¡°no business like Shoah business¡± ¨C one of the most lucrative rackets on earth, so beautifully described in Norman Finkelstein's The Holocaust Industry. If I were Jewish, I would be a member of a group that earns ¨C on the average ¨C nearly twice the annual income of non-Jewish Americans. But most importantly of all, if I were Jewish, I could join the hundreds of brave and brilliant people on Masada2000's S.H.I.T. list of the "Self-Hating and Israel-Threatening." The generous folks at Masada2000 have kindly compiled a list of incredibly cool people who have the vision to see through the toxic smog of Zionist BS that we breathe every day, and the guts to stand up and speak out. One small catch: To be a S.H.I.T. list honoree, you have to be Jewish.