A.M. Links: Obama Defends Prisoner Swap, New NSA Chief Doubts Snowden a Spy, NASA Releases Picture of Universe

|


  • everywhere else
    NASA

    While in Poland, President Obama defended his decision to trade prisoners with the Taliban in order to secure the release of a soldier captured in Afghanistan, saying that it's what happens when wars wind down. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, however, was never listed as a prisoner of war. Obama will also meet with Ukraine's president elect, Petro Poroshenko, while in Poland.

  • Adm. Michael Rogers, the new head of the National Security Agency, says whistleblower Edward Snowden is probably not a Russian spy.
  • According to contract documents, the Secret Service is purchasing software that can detect sarcasm on the Internet. Great idea guys!
  • The results of the Mississippi Republican Senate primary, between the six-term senator Thad Cochrane and Chris McDaniel, a Tea Party challenger,  remain too close to call.
  • Former Egyptian army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi won the presidential election with 96 percent of the vote, according to the country's electoral authority.
  • NASA released a new panorama composite photo of the universe taken by the Hubble Space Telescope that includes ultraviolet light for the first time.
  • The pharmacologist who helped popularize MDMA, Alexander Shulgin, is dead at 88.

Follow Reason and Reason 24/7 on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. You can also get the top stories mailed to you—sign up here.