After losing a seven-year legal battle, James Risen, a reporter for The New York Times, reluctantly took the witness stand in federal court here on Monday, but refused to answer any questions that could help the Justice Department identify his confidential sources. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/06/us/james-risen-in-tense-testimony-refuses-to-offer-clues-on-sources.html?ref=us Mr. Risen said he would not say anything to help prosecutors bolster […]

A botched coup attempt in the tiny West African nation of Gambia last week reached into the American heartland on Monday with criminal charges against two United States citizens, accused in federal court of helping to finance, lead and arm the plotters. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/06/world/africa/two-americans-charged-in-foiled-gambia-coup.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes The Justice Department said in Washington that the American defendants, both of […]

Its first attempt to develop genetically engineered grass ended disastrously for the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. The grass escaped into the wild from test plots in Oregon in 2003, dooming the chances that the government would approve the product for commercial use. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/02/business/energy-environment/a-gray-area-in-regulation-of-genetically-modified-crops.html?ref=us Yet Scotts is once again developing genetically modified grass that would need less […]

A member of the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) hacker network claims to have cloned a thumbprint of a German politician by using commercial software and images taken at a news conference.  http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30623611 Jan Krissler says he replicated the fingerprint of defence minister Ursula von der Leyen using pictures taken with a “standard photo camera”. Mr […]

Data that helped hackers access Sony’s internal network came from another group targeting the firm’s gaming network, reports the Washington Post. In an interview, a self-proclaimed Lizard Squad member said it had given stolen data to the Guardians of Peace. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30632711 The GoP has carried out several attacks on Sony in a bid to halt […]

The year 2014 was the deadliest year yet in Syria’s four-year conflict, with over 76,000 killed, activists say. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30648181 The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 17,790 of the dead were civilians, including 3,501 children. Meanwhile more than 15,000 died in conflicts in Iraq in 2014, making it that country’s worst year since 2007. […]

Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders says he’ll decide by March whether to launch a 2016 presidential campaign and, if so, whether he’ll seek the Democratic nomination. Either way, Sanders says he wouldn’t run just to nudge the debate to the left.  http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DEM_2016_SANDERS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT “I don’t want to do it unless I can do it well,” he […]

Russia said on Wednesday NATO was turning Ukraine into a “frontline of confrontation” and threatened to sever remaining ties with the Atlantic military alliance if Ukraine’s hopes of joining it were realized. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/24/us-ukraine-crisis-russia-nato-idUSKBN0K20J920141224?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter The Kiev parliament’s renunciation of Ukraine’s neutral status on Tuesday in pursuit of NATO membership has outraged Moscow and deepened the worst […]