While markets are forecasting only a 10 percent chance of a global recession, Danish investment firm Saxo Bank puts the odds at over 60 percent. "Our main global macro outlook still maintains that recession is more likely than not in the near future (12 to 18 months) based on the global credit impulse having peaked simultaneously with global inflation," chief economist at Saxo Bank Steen Jakobs [...]

On March 25, the leaders of the 27 EU member-states signed a declaration to “restart” the badly divided European Union. In an interview with Sputnik, Gian Micalessin, a military reporter with the Italian newspaper Il Giornale, spoke about the political crisis facing the EU and its future relations with Russia. [...]

The ruble continues its seemingly unstoppable rally boosted by foreign investors seeking high yield returns. The currency has gained over 30 percent against the US dollar in just over a year. On Thursday, the ruble rose 0.4 percent versus the greenback and was trading at 56.35 at 7:35am GMT, and gained 0.6 percent to 60.60 against the euro.   [...]

Americans have shown that they strongly refute almost every aspect of the proposed budget of US President Donald Trump, a plan described as perfectly mirroring the agenda of his extremely wealthy cabinet members. A new Quinnipiac poll published Friday revealed that a wide majority of US citizens oppose the sweeping cuts proposed by Trump to popular long-term government programs. [...]

One-fifth of Medicare recipients are covered through Medicaid, including nursing homes and long-term care. The House Republican leadership’s Obamacare repeal bill will not only cause upwards of 24 million people to lose their health care coverage over the next decade, as the Congressional Budget Office has said, but it will also push millions of seniors already on the financial edge into deep an [...]

One in three American kids live in poverty, according to UNICEF. With 32.2 percent of children living below this line, the U.S. ranks 36th out of the 41 wealthy countries included in the UNICEF report. The United States ranks near the bottom of the pack of wealthy nations on a measure of child poverty. Nearly one third of U.S. children live in households with an income below 60 percent of the nati [...]

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko blamed Ukrainian radicals for Kiev having lost control over the situation in the eastern regions of Donbass. According to the Ukrainian leader, the blockade of Donbass by radicals risks plunging Ukraine into "anarchy" and violence. [...]

Dark Times are truly upon us. There will be an acceleration of acts of violence under the Trump administration and the conditions for eliminating this new stage of state violence will mean not only understanding the roots of neo-fascism in the United States, but also eliminating the economic, political, and cultural forces that produced it. [...]

On this week’s episode of On Contact, Chris Hedges is joined by Linh Dinh, author of “Postcards from the End of America”. Dinh traveled across the US lift up the voices of those who have been disappeared by our corporate state. RT Correspondent Anya Parampil reveals the stark statistics of those living in poverty in America. The Plight of the Underclass with Linh Dinh [...]

The rise of Donald Trump raises opportunities and perils regarding the prospects for societal transformation and change. On the one hand, reactionary forces have been emboldened, on issues from health care reform and deregulation to militarism and taxes. But times of crisis also provide opportunities to build toward progressive change over the mid-to-long-term. With that in mind, it’s worth refl [...]

Again an interview of Chris Hedges which goes back to 2013, but is above all interesting because Hedges explains how he moved from wanting to be a pastor to becoming a war reporter. He explains why he considers "liberals" have no direct contact with what they "prestend" to defend from afar. His first hand description of working directly with young people for whom violence was a way of life and his [...]

The major takeaway from the US Presidential election, and from the events which have shaped the first two weeks of Donald Trump’s Presidency - both his actions and the reactions of his opponents - is that America is tired. It is not difficult to see why since the US has for decades been behaving in a way that was guaranteed eventually to exhaust it. [...]

Greece's national rail company TrainOSE has been sold to Italy's state railway group Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) for €45 million ($48.1 million). The sale is part of Greece’s €86 billion bailout agreed with international creditors two years ago. [...]

Israel controls America, and Israel wants all the Middle East as a 'Greater Israel'. That's what it's all about. Why are the US and Israel so friendly anyway? That's a hugely controversial question. Though American support for Israel really is massive, including billions of dollars in aid and reliable diplomatic backing, experts disagree sharply on why. S ome possibilities include deep support fo [...]

AMERICAN EMPIRE is a documentary about the hidden forces that are controlling America and the world, and how it affects you, your children and your grandchildren. The best way to get the truth these days is not from the media. It’s from documentaries like this. In this gripping film people are willing to reveal information that is being withheld from the public. This film reveals the world as [...]

Finland's health and social affairs ministry wants to try out a basic income scheme to test the impact of unconditional cash payments on work incentives. The experiment aims to show if the measure can simplify the welfare benefits system and lower unemployment in the country. [...]

Federal data released Aug. 9 shows that Americans’ wages are dropping again, seven years after President Barack Obama declared the economy had recovered from the property-bubble — and three months before the 2016 election. [...]

Pope Francis surprised reporters on a flight from Krakow to the Vatican late Sunday when he blamed the "god of money" for extremist violence in Europe and the Middle East, saying that a ruthless global economy leads disenfranchised people to violence. [...]

In June, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) labelled Deutsche Bank as the most risky global financial institution. Experts do not believe the bank will suffer the same destiny as Lehman Brothers. But if it does this would be a global financial catastrophe. [...]

The Central Bank of Russia became the world's leading purchaser of gold when it bought 356,000 ounces of the precious metal in February, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). China took second place; its Central Bank purchased about 320,000 ounces of gold in February, according [...]

Don’t try to praise bestselling author, Peter Schiff, for accurately predicting the 2008/2009 crash. That is, because in his opinion, the financial crisis wasn’t the REAL crash… It was only a tremor before the big one hits. “Armageddon is inevitable,” says Peter. So will 2015 be the year when we finally run out of fools willing to lend to us? [...]

Last week, US President Barack Obama, US Vice President Joe Biden and Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Janet Yellen held a secret meeting at the White House, during which they discussed the US and global economy, an official statement released by the White House said. However, according to former US politician and political expert Ron Paul, the subject discussed behind closed doors could be m [...]