President Vladimir Putin says it was "strange" to learn of the US reaction on a Russian letter to the leaders of EU's top gas-consuming nations, as it was in no way designed for Washington's eyes. US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki has accused Russia of reneging on an agreement that offered reduced gas prices to Kiev and using “energy as a tool of coercion against Ukraine. [...]
The current international poverty line of $1.25 per day used by the World Bank is "too low" and "artificial," say researchers from Bristol University, adding that the total number of poor people worldwide would increase by 30 percent in future. The World Bank’s “estimates are flawed” as the organization hasn’t used “different poverty measures” [...]
The EU is taking seriously President Vladimir Putin's letter to 18 European countries, in which he warned that Ukraine's debt crisis could affect gas transit from Russia, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. "There are many reasons to seriously take into account this message... and for Europe to deliver a joint European response,” Itar-Tass reported Merkel as saying. [...]
Vladimir Putin addressed a letter to the leaders of several European countries, to which Russian natural gas is supplied via Ukraine's territory. Ukraine’s economy in the past several months has been plummeting. Its industrial and construction sectors have also been declining sharply. Its budget deficit is mounting. [...]
Ukrainian McDonald's Ltd, a subsidary of the world's largest fast food chain, has temporarily closed its doors in Crimea because of "manufacturing reasons." “Due to reasons beyond the control of the company, business activities have been suspended in Simferopol, Sevastopol, and Yalta,” said a company statement posted on the Ukrainian website. [...]
Who would have thought a unitary superpower on Earth would accelerate a return to regionalism in place of globalization? For all those who deem ‘Financial Innovation’ to be an oxymoron, that brilliant invention the credit card springs to mind. [...]
Brazil's public prosecutor wants to suspend use of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsantoâs pervasive herbicide Roundup. A recent study suggested glyphosate may be linked to a fatal kidney disease that has affected poor farming regions worldwide. [...]
Solar energy now costs the same as conventionally generated electricity in Germany, Italy and Spain, a report has revealed. The research has warned, however, that high installation costs are impeding other countries from achieving grid parity. [...]
Malaysian airlines have announced beyond any reasonable doubt that flight MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board have survived. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has made an announcement, saying “It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean." [...]
Western sanctions might push Russia to deepen cooperation with BRICS states, in particular, to strengthen its ties with China, which will possibly turn out to be a big catastrophe for the US and the EU some time later. On March 18, the spokesperson for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, claimed in a BBC interview that Russia would switch to new partners in case of economic sanctions being imposed by the [...]
Google is doing its best to put a lid on the NSA's prying eyes by using enhanced encryption technology to make its flagship email service airtight. “Your email is important to you, and making sure it stays safe and always available is important to us,” Gmail engineering security chief, Nicolas Lidzborski, said in a blog post. [...]
Vienna is the first city in the world to be granted it's own URL domain suffix. Businesses and organisations associated with Vienna now have the chance to register websites with the ending '.wien', where you usually might have '.at' or '.com'. [...]
An effort to put a ballot initiative in front of Colorado voters regarding the labeling of genetically modified foods was allowed to proceed after the state Supreme Court dismissed a challenge by biotech and food industry outfits. For Initiative #48 to make it on the November ballot, supporters must now gather 86,105 petition signatures and turn them into the state by early August... [...]
Panama's government has put into operation the country's first solar plant at a cost of approximately $10 million, authorities said. The 2.4 MW plant, inaugurated Thursday by President Ricardo Martinelli at the Sarigua National Park in central Panama, was built with the support of the Italian government and Rome-based Enel Green Power... [...]
Twenty-six of the most powerful American corporations "such as Boeing, General Electric, and Verizon" paid no federal income tax from 2008 to 2012, according to a new report detailing how Fortune 500 companies exploit tax breaks and loopholes. [...]
A landmark legal battle between two farmers over alleged GM contamination has started in the Western Australian Supreme Court. The case is expected to determine GM farmersâ liability if their crops affect neighboring territories. [...]
A landless Chilean farmer has won a landmark lawsuit against Monsanto and thus exposed the dangers posed by the transnational corporation to the whole country. José Pizarro Montoya, a 38-year-old landless farmer from Melipilla (Santiago, Chile), and ex GMO producer (season 2009-2010) is the first and perhaps the only Latin American who has won a [&] [...]
The US military is testing a radical "smart rifle" that can automatically aim itself, it has been revealed. The army is believed to have acquired six $27,000 "smart rifles" from Texas firm Tracking Point. It uses a built in Linux computer to aim at a target, and can even "lock on" top targets and automatically track them. [...]
American vessel the Polar Star, the US Coast Guard's only active heavy polar icebreaker, is heading to the Antarctic to rescue over 120 crewmembers aboard Russian and Chinese ships trapped in heavy sea ice. [...]
The City Council in Denver, Colorado voted on Monday to permit residents to smoke marijuana on private property, even if others can see them doing so from the street or sidewalk. [...]
Billions of dollars annually are being used to fund operations conducted by the United States intelligence community, the likes of which allow the government to eavesdrop on emails, listen to world leadersâ phone calls and about everything in-between. [...]
Recent survey shows inequality in the US is at its new peak. The richest 1 percent of the population received almost a fifth of the national householdsâ income in 2012, thus breaking the previous record set in 1928. [...]
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