In the first instance of a prominent politician taken down by the 11.5 million documents leaked in the Panama Papers, Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson resigned on Tuesday after fully 10 percent of Iceland's population rallied in protest of his wife's secret, offshore shell company holding millions. [...]

Big British banks have allegedly been helping the rich and powerful ferret away their wealth beyond the taxman’s reach for decades, according to explosive revelations in the Panama Papers. Some of the world’s biggest banks were implicated in the largest data leak in history on Monday, including Britain’s HSBC, Coutts, and Rothschild, and Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse. [...]

An investigation into a massive global oil bribery scandal has been launched by authorities in the US, Britain, and Australia, after leaked confidential files indicated that some of the world’s most powerful corporations were part of the racket. [...]

The whistle blower who exposed the totality of the America’s mass domestic surveillance program suggested that users should look to free and open source software to preserve their privacy. On Saturday, NSA whistle blower spoke to the Free Software Foundation’s LibrePlanet2016 conference [...]

The Bundesbank has announced plans to repatriate some of Germany’s gold reserves from abroad. At least half of the country’s gold would be transferred to Frankfurt by 2020, according to Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann. Weidmann says 366 tons of gold worth €11.5 billion have been delivered to Frankfurt so far. "There are now about 1,400 tons or 41.5 percent of our gold reserves here," t [...]

Environmental and consumer advocacy groups hailed decision by food manufacturer and called on Congress to follow suit. General Mills will start labeling genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in all its food products, thanks to Vermont's impending GMO law and the failure of the 'voluntary labeling' law in U.S. Congress this week. [...]

A nuclear engine currently being developed in Russia by the nuclear agency Rosatom and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) will allow a spaceship to reach Mars in an unprecedentedly short period of just 1.5 months, Rosatom’s General Director Sergei Kirienko said Wednesday. [...]

Patients in need of a kidney transplant have up to now been required to find a nearly-perfect match as the immune system tends to reject most transplanted organs. However, a recent study suggests that with a new approach transplants can come from any donor. The study showed that patients whose immune system was technically incompatible with the kidney transplant they received were more likely t [...]

Mercedes-Benz has congratulated BMW on their centenary with a friendly advertisement and a less benevolent hint. BMW received a “Happy 100th birthday!” message from its long-time domestic rival Mercedes-Benz in a cool little video posted on Facebook. /* */ The video’s opening showed the signature BMW grille, but in the next five seconds it became clear how [...]

The assembly of Russia’s Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket carrying an advanced Resurs-P Earth remote sensing satellite has been completed, Russian Roscosmos state corporation said in a statement on Wednesday. The rocket is expected to lift off on Saturday at 18:56 GMT. [...]

US authorities are expanding their investigation against German Volkswagen AG over emissions, media reported. The US Department of Justice is planning to apply the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act, FIRREA, which has been repeatedly used against banks after 2008 [...]

Orbital Sciences Corporation, the US maker of the Antares rocket, has ordered eight additional RD-181 engines under an option of the 2014 contract with Energomash, the Russian company announced. Antares was initially designed to use AJ26 engines in its first stage, which are refurbished Soviet NK-33 engines [...]

As the world's media attention is currently fixed on the conflict in Syria, and to a lesser extent Ukraine, there has been an ongoing economic conflict occurring against Russia. Economic sanctions against Russia have turned out to be a double edged sword, hurting European exporters and manufacturers as much as Russian importers and consumers. [...]

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt to lead Pentagon’s Innovation Advisory Board. On Wednesday, the Defense Department announced that former Google CEO Eric Schmidt will head the Pentagon’s new Innovation Advisory Board. Consisting of 12 executives, the board will be handpicked by Schmidt [...]

Three Russian airports share first place in the best European airport rankings by Airport Service Quality (ASQ), ahead of London’s Heathrow, Vienna and Zurich. The award winners are Moscow’s Sheremetyevo, St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo and Sochi Airport in Adler. [...]

The cost of a year’s worth of prescription drugs, on average, doubled from 2006 to 2013, according to a new report by AARP. The price hikes are hitting senior citizens the hardest because Social Security benefits aren’t keeping up. The average annual cost of prescription drugs widely used by the elderly increased from $5,571 in 2006 to $11,341 in 2013, according to the latest study on drug [...]

If western banks respond to Russia's bond offering, which will become an additional source of revenue for its economy, it will be a fatal signal for the West and a political fiasco for the US and EU, according to western media. Russia has announced plans to issue sovereign bonds worth $3 billion and has invited European, Chinese and US banks to bid for the issue. [...]

Presented below are five global corporations that are at the forefront of serving their countries in times of war and peace. BOEING The American corporation Boeing is one of the largest international industrial groups, specializing in the production of aviation, space and defense technology. The corporation was founded in the early twentieth century by William Boeing. [...]

Many Middle Eastern countries have repeatedly expressed their desire to purchase large shipments of Russian T-90 tanks. If not a direct opposition from Washington, this machine possibly would have become indispensable in Arab East and in Iran. [...]

A new White House plan to combat climate change and update transportation systems would impose a fee of $10 per barrel of oil to fund $300 billion in spending over the next decade. President Barack Obama is expected to make his case to Congress next week. Promoting a “21st century clean transportation system,” the Obama administration unveiled its transportation budget Thursday, first to [...]

Pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli ‒ the “most hated man in America,” who raised the price of an HIV treatment 5,500 percent ‒ remained silent during a congressional hearing on prescription drug prices. He later tweeted that politicians were “imbeciles.” Summoned before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to give testimony on his former company’s recent increases in [...]

"Academic research and scientists in this country are no longer deserving of the public trust," declared Marc Edwards, the Virginia Tech civil engineering professor who helped expose the Flint water crisis. In an interview published in the Chronicle of Higher Education on Tuesday, [...]