The presence of a radioactive, cancer-causing element has increased in parts of Pennsylvania where hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has been on the rise in recent years, according to a new study. Researchers with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said this week they’ve discovered a correlation between radon levels and fracking across the Keystone State. [...]

Plans to route 911 location calls via Russia's GLONASS satellite system have sparked national security concerns among some members of Congress, despite assurances that its use will be limited and it will help save lives in emergencies. [...]

A British couple have been left stranded in New York City for the next three months with a £130,000 ($200,000) medical bill after their son was born 11 weeks earlier than expected. Katie Amos, 30, and her fiancée Lee Johnston, 29, were not prepared for their son Dax to be born at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan during a Christmas trip to the city. The couple had planned the trip as a last ho [...]

Nearly half of all Britons are taking prescription medication on a regular basis according to new figures produced by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) According to the HSCIC, 50 percent of women and 43 percent of men are taking specialised drugs to combat physical and mental illnesses, with cholesterol-lowering statins and anti-depressants being among the most common drugs [...]

The number one crude oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has projected a $39 billion deficit in 2015. The impact of lower oil prices, along with the decision not to cut production, is putting pressure on the country’s finances. The figure was part of the endorsed 2015 budget, which was made public in a statement read out on state-run television on Thursday. [...]

Direct trade between India and Russia in rough diamonds is a diplomacy gem which was a Russian initiative buttressed by some quick decision-making by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The matter has been under discussion through the diplomatic channels between the two countries for quite some time and came up in a brief discussion between visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin and Modi during th [...]

So the EU “defeated” Putin by forcing him to cancel the South Stream pipeline. Thus ruled Western corporate media.  Nonsense. Facts on the ground spell otherwise. This “Pipelineistan” gambit will continue to send massive geopolitical shock waves all [...]

An elevator every 30 seconds will be a feature of future skyscrapers, promises German tech giant ThyssenKrupp. They have unveiled technology that allows more than one car in a single shaft and the lifts can go sideways as well as up and down. The company says its invention will revolutionize modern architecture, because central blocks of elevator shafts – a necessary element of today’s buil [...]

The mother of a victim killed in the Malaysian plane crash in eastern Ukraine has started legal proceedings to sue the Ukrainian authorities in the European Court of Human Rights, demanding about $1 million for pain and suffering. The mother of “Olga L.”, a German citizen, submitted her case against Ukraine to the European Court of Human Rights last week. She is demanding €800,000 (roughl [...]

Moscow and Riyadh both want to see oil prices react to market forces, and not to geopolitical muscle flexing, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, said Friday. “Saudi Arabia and Russia believe that pricing should be market-oriented and let supply and demand play the decisive role. [...]

The Russian ruble continued its fight back on Friday to move above 46 against the US dollar, as the price of Brent crude slid over the $80 per barrel threshold. The US dollar has fallen to 45.62 rubles Friday at 3PM Moscow time on the Moscow Exchange. The euro has fallen to 56.69 rubles. [...]

A whole parking lot's worth of luxury Rolls Royces, Bentleys and Mercedes Benzes went up in flames in downtown Moscow in the early hours of morning. Their estimated worth was about $3.3 million... and they may all be owned by the same person. Arson is suspected at this time, according to authorities. [...]

Vladimir Putin says the G20 must address global imbalances together, and economic isolation, especially in the case of sanctions, which not only leads nowhere but is a crude violation of international economic law. Here are the Russian president’s top takeaways he gave in an interview to TASS ahead of the G20 summit being held in Brisbane, Australia from November 14-15. [...]

Apple customers are being warned by computer security experts, including the United States government's own cyber squad, to watch out for a new bug affecting iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad. The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team, or US-CERT, said Thursday that users of mobile phones and tablets running Apple’s latest iOS software should be careful of what they click. [...]

Doing away with the US dollar and switching to ruble and yuan payments will significantly increase Russia and China's say in energy and financial markets, Vladimir Putin has said, adding that the first deals are already underway. In short the President said the US dollar has no future, and that the ruble and the yuan have better long-term prospects. [...]

MEPs have defeated a European Commission proposal to prevent member states from banning genetically modified crops on health and/or environmental grounds. [...]

The internet browser Mozilla is teaming up with Tor to give internet users greater security online. The new Polaris project is designed to combat internet censorship and make NSA like intrusion's a thing of the past. Edward Snowden’s revelations concerning the extent of the National Security Agency’s spying on the general public, hit computer and internet enthusiasts hard. A poll conducted [...]

A top US political consultant, dubbed "Dr. Evil", has been caught on tape at an industry conference, advising oil and gas execs to regard public policy as "endless war" and to play on people's fear and greed to lobby their interests. Richard Berman's speech, which he gave in June in Colorado Springs, was leaked to The New York Times by one of the participant's at the conference who said: "It ju [...]

NASA heavily relies on private companies for space-related travel, but recent accidents show that such firms cannot yet be fully trusted for the mission. The crashes hint at an increasing number of glitches that need to be fixed to ensure safety. Here are the top five crashes involving the aircrafts or rockets of NASA's private contractors. [...]

Russia, the world's second-largest producer of natural gas, has launched its first auction of natural gas on Friday at the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX). It will be Europe's largest natural gas trading post. The project is intended to create a more competitive market for natural gas prices, which at present are more-or-less tied to oil. Now, independent producers wil [...]

Marching across the world to inspire actions on the ecological crisis, thousands of anti-fracking activists in over a dozen countries united against what they call dirty energy technology, which contaminates groundwater and causes health problems. Over 250 events across all continents are taking place as part of the Global Frackdown day, organized to target fracking, a technique used to extract [...]

Airplane cabin cleaning crews at New York's LaGuardia International Airport began a 24-hour strike on Wednesday, citing, in part, possible exposure to the Ebola virus. Meanwhile, a poll found most Americans want flights banned from Ebola-ravaged areas. Around 200 Air Serv employees who work on domestic flights to LaGuardia began their strike on Wednesday evening. [...]