A new Texas law signed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott prohibits cities and towns from imposing local ordinances to prevent fracking and other potentially environmentally harmful oil and natural gas activities. In debating the law, Texas lawmakers emphasized the state’s successful development of oil and gas for more than 100 years. [...]

The Central Bank of Russia is taking effective steps to stabilize the national currency and the economic situation as a whole, according to the Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Min Zhu. “I think the Russian Central Bank is reacting adequately to the current situation,” the banker said at a conference on doing business with the BRICS countries in Washington o [...]

At least one civilian has been killed in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk after an army shell hit an apartment building amid intense fire on rebel positions. An RT correspondent says the city has seen one of its worst shellings in months. “There was fire, shelling for about two hours and it was almost non-stop…blast after blast, you could feel the vibrations from the explosions, kilome [...]

The majority of Europeans - UK, French, German and Greek residents among them - distrust mainstream media coverage of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, a recent poll targeting over 4,000 people, reveals. Greeks appear to have showed the least faith in their domestic media, with a total of 76 percent saying they were ‘fairly’ or ‘totally distrustful’ of mainstream reports on Ukraine. [...]

Ukraine's government has submitted to parliament a bill allowing the introduction of a moratorium on foreign debt payments. This is to protect state assets in case of an "attack" from dishonest lenders, and to help the ailing economy out of crisis. "To protect the interests of the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian government today has introduced to the Rada a bill that would give the government t [...]

Early video of Sanders gives nice background on his political beliefs. As Independent Senator Bernie Sanders ramps up his campaign for the presidency, his focus has been on issues like economic inequality, the corrupting influence of money in [...]

The Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) is an enigma: most of what we know about it comes from the brutal media apparatus of the IS itself. It lets everyone see executions and war the terrorists are waging – but still, how does life go under jihadist rule? One man decided to find out for himself, spending 10 days in the ‘capital city’ of the IS and coming back alive. Today, investigative jo [...]

The war was no mere mistake: The Bush administration wanted a war and concocted the intelligence. "Mistakes were made" just doesn't get at the truth about how America was coerced into the disastrous war in Iraq,and the horrific consequences that are still unfolding. [...]

The Royal Navy has launched an investigation into whistleblower William McNeilly, who exposed horrid security lapses in UK's trident nuclear program which make it easier for intruders to access some secured areas than enter "most nightclubs." UK authorities are “concerned for the whereabouts” of the 25-year old whistleblower, who went absent without leave and cooperated with WikiLeaks to po [...]

Despite pretty talk about “democracy” and “human rights,” U.S. leaders have become the world’s chief purveyors of chaos and death – from Vietnam through Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine and many other unfortunate nations, a dangerous dilemma addressed by John Chuckman. When I think of America’s place in the world today, the image that comes to mind is of a very large animal, perhaps a [...]

One year into the Ukrainian crisis, Washington reveals a desire to jump on the bandwagon of the Minsk peace accords - brokered by France and Germany. Not bad news, after all, but when it comes from Victoria Nuland... News that US Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Sochi to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and President Putin came as only a small surprise this week. [...]

Thousands have been marching in Okinawa and across Japan in protest against the planned relocation of a US military base in Okinawa. The protesters criticized the Japanese government, who appear to be turning a deaf ear to the locals. The protests began on Friday with about 1,200 people in Okinawa, as the island marked the 43rd anniversary of its reversion to Japanese sovereignty, and continued [...]

Decades of letting neocons dictate a hawkish foreign policy have put the American Republic in profound danger, just as presidents from George Washington to Dwight Eisenhower predicted, warnings that Americans must finally take to heart, says ex-U.S. diplomat William R. Polk. In The Financial Times of April 23, Philip Stephens begins a perceptive article with the obvious statement that “It is [...]

Exclusive: Jeb Bush’s stumbling start to his presidential bid has refocused attention on Official Washington’s favorite excuse for the illegal, aggressive and disastrous war in Iraq – that it was just a case of “bad intelligence.” But that isn’t what the real history shows, as ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern recalls. Presidential aspirant Jeb Bush this week may have damaged his chances [...]

This week US relations with Saudi Arabia cool down, while heating up with Russia and Iran. Is the US considering a sweeping change to foreign policy? Saudi King Salman chose not to attend a joint US-Gulf State meeting this week set to deal with the possibility of giving Gulf States a missile defense system to ward off a nuclear-powered Iran. [...]

Over 35,000 people from northern England have signed a petition, asking to join future independent Scotland and sever from London. It says ‘the northerners’ have more bonds with Scotland than with “the ideologies of the London-centric south.” “The deliberations in Westminster are becoming increasingly irrelevant to the north of England,” says an online petition to the UK Government [...]

Warsaw has paid €230,000 to two former inmates of CIA "black site" prisons, which used to be on Poland's territory - a move that has raised questions in the country. "Poland has fulfilled the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights," Deputy Foreign Minister Rafał Trzaskowski said on Thursday, RIA Novosti reports. [...]

Ukrainian nationalists accused of having links to Nazi Germany have been legalized, praised as freedom fighters and granted social benefits in legislation signed by president Poroshenko as part of so-called "de-communisation" package of laws. Such paramilitary groups as Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), as well as other underground groups that [...]

You really couldn't make it up, could you? Serial warmonger and unsuccessful US Presidential candidate Senator John McCain has been offered a post as an adviser to Ukraine's "Chocolate King" President Petro Poroshenko. He was supposed to join other neocon rejects such as Georgia’s fugitive ex-President (and famous tie-eater) Mikhail Saakashvili and the ex-Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt. [...]

Award-winning Serbian director and musician Emir Kusturica believes that when Washington eventually starts World War III, RT will become one of its first and primary targets, being an extremely powerful weapon challenging US state propaganda. In an article published by the Serbian daily Politika, Kusturica has aligned RT with Russia’s most powerful weapons, specifically the SS-18, an intercon [...]

The US House has approved a $612-billion measure to fund the military. The Obama administration and many Democrats opposed the defense policy bill for its alleged budgeting "gimmicks," as well as its provisions for arming Ukrainian forces. The House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2016 by a vote of 269 to 151. [...]

Russia is set to ramp up its military presence in Crimea, the country’s envoy to the Alliance said justifying the move by NATO’s “stepping up activities” in Eastern Europe. The envoy also urged the US to pull out its nuclear weapons stationed in Europe. "Naturally, we will increase our forces in Crimea because NATO countries have stepped up their activities… in the immediate vicinity [...]