USA

CDC: US Life Expectancy Declines for Third Year, Drugs and Suicide to Blame
Life expectancy in the US has fallen for the third year in a row amid increasing drug overdose and suicide deaths. It’s the longest sustained decline since World War I and the Spanish Influenza pandemic, which killed tens of millions worldwide. [...]
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Federal Reserve Warns of Vulnerabilities in US Financial System
The Federal Reserve’s first ever “stability report” warned of a number of dangers to the entire US financial system that could exacerbate problems if the system as a whole sustains significant stress. The report, released Wednesday, illustrates a slew of vulnerabilities in the US financial system, including excessive asset valuations, historically high borrowing levels by US corporations and [...]
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Pentagon says Riyadh is too important to whip, rolls out $15bn THAAD arms deal instead
The US rarely has 'unblemished' partners so it will pour more defensive weapons into Saudi Arabia despite outrage over Khashoggi and Yemen, Pentagon chief James Mattis admitted as the nation handed the kingdom a big new deal. [...]
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‘We’ve never really seen anything like this’: US suicide rates hit 50-year peak
The US witnessed the most deaths in a single year, since official records began, in 2017, with suicide and drug overdose deaths soaring among an aging population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). [...]
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German Finance Ministry unaware that getting gold back from US is ‘becoming a hot topic’
For decades, the Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank and custodian of the country’s gold, has been storing over 1,200 tons of the precious metal worth nearly €50 billion in the New York vaults of the US Federal Reserve. [...]
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The Collapse of the American Empire?
The Agenda welcomes Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges, who over the past decade and a half has made his name as a columnist, activist and author. He's been a vociferous public critic of presidents on both sides of the American political spectrum, and his latest book, 'America, the Farewell Tour,' is nothing short of a full-throated throttling of the political, social, and cultural [...]
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‘Created Out of Thin Air’: Kiev, West Invented Azov Sea Issue to Pressure Moscow
The controversy around the Sea of ​​Azov has been created out of thin air as Kiev and its Western backers continue to search for new ways to apply pressure on Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said. [...]
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‘Oddly Enough’: Three Tankers With Russian LNG on Board Arrive in US – Moscow
The announcement comes after President Donald Trump welcomed the German government's intention to fund the construction of a terminal to supply liquefied natural gas from the United States, despite Berlin's plans to take part in the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. [...]
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Russia will check if Americans really went to the Moon – Roscosmos chief
Have the Americans been on the Moon or it’s just a hoax as conspiracy theorists claim? All questions will be answered when the Russian cosmonauts visit the Earth’s satellite, Russia’s space boss, promised. [...]
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Ex-US drone operator, Extinction Rebellion & Yemeni children dying from preventable causes
On this episode, we speak with Brandon Bryant, a former US drone operator, on the horrific realities he faced as a drone operator, the development and danger of autonomous drones, veterans’ mental health, and drone strikes on Yemen. Next, we cover the Extinction Rebellion protests with Clare Farrell. Finally, we discuss the plight of Yemeni children dying of preventable causes, with UNICEF’s M [...]
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Straight-talking Tulsi’s rising star means setting sun for Dem Party establishment
Tulsi Gabbard’s blistering criticism of President Trump over his pardon to Saudi Arabia has further elevated her prospect of becoming the standard bearer in the 2020 presidential election, shaking up the Dem Party establishment. [...]
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CIA Holds ‘Smoking Gun’ Phone Call of Saudi Crown Prince on Khashoggi – Reports
Riyadh has vehemently denied that the royal family, including Crown Prince bin Salman, has been involved in Khashoggi's murder. A total of 21 people have been detained on suspicion of ordering and carrying out the murder; five of them face the death penalty. [...]
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A Russian not becoming head of Interpol is bigger news than the person who did
Interpol’s new boss is South Korean Kim Jong-yang, although reading the gleeful mainstream coverage of the news, it’s much easier to find out who didn’t get the job — or more specifically, that the losing candidate was Russian. [...]
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Killers, drinkers & traumatized for life: What it means to be a US drone operator in ‘war on terror’
They sit in rooms resembling hi-tech shipping containers. Joysticks in hand, they spend hours watching grainy screens, displaying people in faraway lands going about their daily life — and they hold life and death in their hands. [...]
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Chances of US Recession Increase Amid Mounting Risks – Reports
Economic experts from major international financials, academic circles, and government agencies say the US is facing mounting risks of a recession due to elevated uncertainty in international trade, a possible slowdown in domestic investment, and rising costs of doing business. [...]
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Global Financial Markets Dive Following US Tech Stocks Crash
The continued fall of FAANG stocks – Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google – on Monday left the blue-chip basket of equities down almost $730 billion after a six-week sustained decline, stoking investor fears of the US technology sector entering a bear market. [...]
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Amnesty Starts Project to Let Netizens Track US Coalition’s Destruction of Raqqa
A prominent international watchdog has launched an online investigative project that will allow Internet users worldwide to track the destruction caused by the US-led coalition's bombardment of Syria's Raqqa in 2017 that has resulted in numerous civilian casualties and the city being nearly completely razed to the ground. [...]
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US Has Killed Half Million and Spent $6 Trillion on War Since 9/11 – Report
In the aftermath of the deadly 9/11 terrorist attacks, the US has spent over $5.9 trillion on wars abroad that have resulted in the deaths of an estimated 500,000 people, according to Costs of War, research published by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Rhode Island’s Brown University. [...]
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Trump reportedly ‘skeptical’ of CIA determination that Saudi Crown Prince ordered Khashoggi murder
"CIA doesn't just contradict the Saudis, but also the Trump WH." All the circumspection, laughter, and Trump administration statements that even at the time seemed bizarre and gullible, say critics, appear even more damning on Friday night after the Washington Post reported that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency believes the evidence shows that Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi [...]
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Here’s the biggest myth about the ’Trump economy’
Nearly every media outlet repeats this idea constantly, but it's just not true. With unemployment near record lows, President Donald Trump deserves substantial credit for the strength of the economy, right? This is a common refrain — and not just from Trump's allies. Many in the media point to the economy as a sign of Trump's strength, though these claims are often vague and unsupported. [...]
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US Accuses Moscow of ‘Aggression’ After Flying Spy Plane Near Russia’s Borders
Earlier, Moscow rejected US Navy complaints about a Russian Su-27 intercepting a US Navy EP-3 spy plane in an "unsafe manner." US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert has accused Russia of acting "recklessly in international airspace" over the Black Sea and called on Moscow to "cease its unsafe, irresponsible, and aggressive behavior" in a tweet Thursday morning. [...]
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CIA ‘concludes with high confidence’ Saudi Crown Prince ordered Khashoggi murder – Washington Post
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey last month, the CIA has concluded, according to a Washington Post report which cites anonymous sources. The US foreign espionage agency assessed with “high confidence” that the prince was behind the death of the Post columnist, the newspaper reported on Friday evening citing “peo [...]
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