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 [...]

One of the epic miscarriages of justice of our time is unraveling: The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention – the international tribunal that adjudicates and decides whether governments comply with their human rights obligations – has ruled that Julian Assange has been detained unlawfully by Britain and Sweden. [...]

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 [...]

While Bernie Sanders narrowly lost the Iowa primary to rival Hillary Clinton, he soundly won in the fundraising game in January. The Clinton campaign said Thursday that it raised a total of $15 million in the year’s first month, falling short of Sanders’ $20 million raised during the same period. [...]

If you really want a lesson in how the Western popular press works, this is it. Without question, Germany is the leading power in Europe. ZDF is its state broadcaster and most popular channel. Together with sister network ARD; German's are obliged to pay €17.98 per month to fund it. [...]

More than four in five Germans believe Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government isn’t controlling the refugee crisis, and welcome tougher measures to deal with it, a poll by ARD Deutschlandtrend has suggested. The vast majority of the country's citizens disagree with Merkel’s refugee policy, according to the poll conducted last weekend. [...]

Developments on the Turkish-Syrian border give serious grounds to suspect that Ankara is planning a military invasion in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry has said. “We have serious grounds to suspect intensive preparations by Turkey for a military invasion on the territory of the sovereign state of Syria,” Major General Igor Konashenkov, Defense Ministry spokesman, told journalists. [...]

"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, [...]

By demanding a “revolution” to shift power away from Wall Street, Sen. Sanders is attracting millions of young Americans who want fundamental change. He’s also upsetting the Democratic establishment which favors only incremental “reforms” acceptable to corporate interests, as Norman Solomon notes. Forty-eight years ago, a serious insurrection jeopardized the power structure of the nat [...]

Dwight D. Eisenhower was a five-star general in charge of the Normandy Invasion and a popular two-term President of the United States. Today he would be called a “conspiracy theorist.” “This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. [...]

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) released a report titled Rigged Justice: How Weak Enforcement Lets Corporate Offenders Off Easy. The report, the first in an annual series on enforcement, highlights 20 of the most egregious civil and criminal [...]

As the United States begins to warn of the growing threat of Daesh in Libya, political analyst Hafsa Kara speaks to Radio Sputnik’s Loud & Clear about Washington’s role in destabilizing the North African nation – and the personal involvement of Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton. [...]

By carving Kosovo out of Yugoslavia Washington sowed a whirlwind for Europe to reap: Kosovo has turned into a de facto "mafia state," American author Justin Raimondo writes, citing German intelligence agency BND. Libya, Syria, Iraq and Kosovo have become grotesque monuments to Washington's [...]

Anything about the Iowa caucus is strange for the US or any other modern elections; it is an arcane process for a modern democracy to have, said Andrew Joyce, contributor to the Fusion news website. How common is it to decide election results through a coin toss? Is it fair? [...]

Ukraine’s minister for economic development and trade, Aivaras Abromavicius, who is one of several foreign experts in the government who was brought in to help Kiev with reforms, has announced his resignation, citing corruption levels in the state. [...]

The Pentagon’s claims that Russia and China are among the top challenges for the US is a justification to continue the flow of taxpayer’s money into major weapon systems and their corporate sponsors, Karen Kwiatkowski, retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel told RT. US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced Tuesday that the Pentagon will request a $582.7 billion defense budget in o [...]

EU sanctions against Russia have made no political progress and brought negative effects to Austria’s economy, said Austrian Vice-Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner during a visit to Moscow. We have over a thousand companies doing business with Russia from Austria, and another 500 Austrian firms working in Russia. 40,000 employees are being affected,” said Mitterlehner. [...]

The United States federal debt has surpassed $19 trillion for the first time in history according to the Treasury Department. However, the real figure could exceed $65 trillion, according to a former US Comptroller General. The official debt of $19 trillion represents almost $60,000 for every man, woman and child living in America today. [...]

Austrian police records in Vienna and the Styria district bordering Slovenia show the number of applications for handgun permits has risen fourfold in the past months, while firearms dealers say the number of weapons sales has skyrocketed. [...]

Is it just coincidence that shortly after Russia begins a successful bombing campaign against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) positions in Syria, US think-tanks suddenly called for American boots on the ground in the Arab Republic? The US military has some of the world’s most advanced surveillance technology, capable of identifying suspected terrorists and eliminating them with state-o [...]

Ezra Levant of TheRebel.Media reports that Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany, said there should be no limits for immigration from Islamic Middle East to Germany. With that, she started the stampede. No application forms, no proof - anyone who can make it gets thousands of dollars plus access to Germany’s existing welfare state. But you have to see this incredible video of a German woman wh [...]

Several sources are alleging improprieties. Though Hillary Clinton declared victory over Democratic rival Bernie Sanders in the Iowa caucuses early Tuesday morning, there were audible grumblings from multiple corners about the integrity of the vote tallies. [...]