The cyber firm investigating allegations of a Moscow-sponsored attack on US Democratic Party servers has a history of linking "Russian hacking" with imaginary events. But just days ago, FBI Director James Comey heralded CrowdStrike as a "highly respected private company" before the Senate. [...]

On March 23, the GMHC, an AIDS service organization, is due to honor former President Bill Clinton, the founder of the Clinton Foundation, for his 15-year effort to battle HIV/AIDS. Speaking to Sputnik, Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel disclosed what really lay behind the charity's HIV/AIDS initiative. Do the Clintons deserve so much praise? [...]

The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has delayed the third review of its loan program to Ukraine, the Ukrainian Finance Ministry said Sunday. Earlier in March, IMF Communications Department Director Gerry Rice said the fund's directors planned to meet on March 20 to make the final decision on providing a new tranche of loans to Ukraine. [...]

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 [...]

WikiLeaks is holding a press conference following the release of the first part of 'Vault 7,' the largest archive of CIA-related classified documents yet. Follow the live feed to find out more. Notice that there seem to be interruptions with the stream. [...]

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. [...]

Brexiteer professor Ted Malloch, who is likely to become the United States ambassador to the European Union, has predicted the looming failure of the single European currency. [...]

Sure, everyone is guilty of paying for something they really don't need every now and then. But, the most financially successful people don't make a habit of it. In fact, that's one of their secrets of success. Generally speaking, successful people have good spending habits. They don't waste money on unnecessary fees, impulse buys and silly splurges. [...]

All of Ukraine's major creditors, from the World Bank to the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development, the European Investment Bank, and Germany's KfW Development Bank, are concerned about Kiev's inability to successfully absorb the funds that have been allocated to the country, a World Bank official working in Ukraine told local media. [...]

The label ‘conspiracy theorist’ is used by Western Establishment gatekeepers as a means of shutting down debate and smearing those who have the temerity to challenge elite-friendly narratives. As I argued in an Op-Edge last year, there's a great irony here. [...]

Near-zero interest rates are forcing investors to look for higher yields, and that could come from Russian corporate bonds, even though they are difficult to get under Western sanctions. Russian issuers were practically ousted from the world’s financial markets in early 2014 when European and US sanctions were introduced. [...]

A Dublin court has sent three former senior banking executives to jail for committing "sham transactions" in an effort to deceive customers and shareholders during the 2008 financial crisis."The trio will be among the first senior bankers globally to be jailed for their role in the collapse of a bank during the crisis," as Reuters reports. [...]

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. [...]

A stress test conducted a few days ago by the European Banking Authority confirmed a poor condition of many credit institutions in Europe. Italian banks and Germany’s Deutsche Bank are doing the worst. In recent months, Deutsche Bank shares have lost 25% of their value, French bank Société 23% [...]

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 [...]

Switzerland may become the first country in the world to introduce a universal basic income after Sunday’s referendum. If passed, every adult legally residing in the country would receive a monthly income of around $2,500, whether they work or not. [...]

Legal double standards are the norm in the U.S. – no jail for law-flouting Wall Street bankers but mass incarceration for average citizens, especially minorities, who get caught up in the prison-industrial-complex, as Michael Brenner describes. Illicit financial behavior has been decriminalized in the United States – for all practical purposes. [...]

The average tuition rate for a four-year college in the US is $38,600, and even more for a graduate degree. As a result, students often finish university hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. These grueling statistics have forced some students to seek out unique ways to pay their bills. One such student, Candice Kashani, who was facing an annual $50,000 in tuition and expenses, decided to j [...]

The anonymous source behind the Panama Papers stepped out of the shadows on Friday to offer justification for what has been called the biggest leak in history. The whistleblower's gender and name remain secret, as does their occupation. [...]

The Romanian hacker who claims to have breached Hillary Clinton’s e-mail server says he spoke with an FBI agent. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Romanian hacker Guccifer who claims to have breached Hillary Clinton’s e-mail server says he spoke with an agent from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) while being extradited to the United States. [...]

Former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in prison on Wednesday after a judge referred to him as a “serial child molester,” making him one of the highest-ranking politicians in US history to go to prison. Hastert, 74, pleaded guilty last year to paying $3.5 million in hush-money to a man to keep the molestation secret. [...]