The country with the largest mineral reserves in the world, Russia, is the second top exporter of rare earth minerals. Its natural resources are estimated at tens of trillions of dollars. It has abundant supplies of oil, natural gas, timber and valuable minerals, such as copper, diamonds, lead, zinc, bauxite, nickel, tin, mercury, gold and silver. [...]

A lawsuit has reportedly been filed against the US Treasury Department, alleging that some 150 NGOs sent as much as $280 billion worth of tax-deductible donations to Israel in the past 20 years. According to a report by Al Jazeera, the donations were "pass-throughs" to support the Israeli army and settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories which had been ruled illegal by the UN. [...]

US President Donald Trump told reporters in the Rose Garden on Friday that he has considered using emergency powers to build his vision of a border wall along the US' southern border with Mexico. [...]

The UN Library has created a media storm by publishing information about its most borrowed book of 2015. Titled ‘Heads of State and State Officials for International Crimes,’ the publication advises world leaders on how to literally get away with murder. [...]

The US will begin its withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia on February 2, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Andrea Thompson told NATO officials in Brussels. [...]

Russian combat aircraft carried out over 300 missions in Syria since the beginning of 2016, hitting about 1,100 terrorist targets in ten provinces, the Russian General Staff said Monday. "With the help of the Russian aviation the Syrian Democratic Forces under the command of Ayman Flyat al-Ganim continue the advance on the Daesh capital — Raqqa. They have taken control over al-Salhiya, Rdzhem [...]

VIENNA (Sputnik) - Austria supports Macedonia as well as other Western Balkan countries on their path toward EU membership, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Wednesday, following talks with Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev in Vienna. [...]

In his final State of the Union address, Barack Obama refrained from unveiling major policy initiatives, offering instead his bold vision for America's future, but the speech, apparently meant to be uplifting, has apparently mixed some fact with fiction. In his speech, Obama painted a picture /* */ Continues Here... [...]

After self-proclaimed leader of Venezuela Juan Guaido said he might 'authorize' a US military intervention, he was rebuffed by Congressman Ro Khanna, who told him he doesn’t get to make the call on "US military interventions." [...]

After the incidents of sexual assault in Cologne, Germany on New Year’s Eve committed by Muslim refugees against German women, feminist apologetic have acquired renewed vigor in the European debate. Pundits and politicians assure the public that refugee males now storming the gates of Europe from the Middle East, Northern Africa and Central Asia will be required to learn that Western women ar [...]

US President Donald Trump will use his executive authority to declare a national emergency in order to secure border wall funding, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed in a statement on 14 February. Sputnik discussed this issue with with Dr. Clodagh Harrington, Associate Professor of American Politics, at De Montfort University. [...]

The 2008 Wall Street crash resulted from a combination of unrestrained greed and political contempt for government regulators who might have prevented the devastation. In The Big Short, the tale is told from the perspective of a few players who saw the inevitable and made money on the crash, writes James DiEugenio. If you read Michael Lewis’s book The Big Short or see the movie by the same na [...]

President James Monroe would probably have been appalled to see how his policy of protecting the peoples of the Americas from European colonizers mutated into a self-issued license to intervene into other nations’ affairs. [...]

Germany has been giving “financial incentives” to the embassies of some African countries to accept asylum seekers from third states who have been rejected by Germany without the consent of the migrants, a refugee aid organization claims. [...]

Berlin seems to be losing patience with the US ambassador who didn’t mince his words over German defense spending. A high-ranking MP demanded that the envoy be sent home because he acts “like an occupation commissioner.” [...]

The Copenhagen City Council on Tuesday is expected to approve a vote to divest the city's investment fund, worth 6.9 billion kroner, or roughly $1 billion USD, from all its fossil fuels holdings. If the vote passes, the Danish capital will sell off its stocks and bonds in coal, oil, and gas in its continued effort to become "the world’s first CO2-neutral capital by 2025," Mayor Frank Jensen told [...]

Washington risks losing the Turkish arms market if it continues to delay the delivery of F-35s agreed upon with Ankara, as Turkey can simply switch to buying warplanes from Russia, RT was told. [...]

Raw Milk Sales May Soon Be Legal in New Jersey . New bill moving through legislature will legalize raw milk sales. Assemblymen John DiMiao (R-Dist. 23) introduced Assembly Bill 696 (A696) on Jan. 27. The legislation would allow holders of a raw milk permit “to sell, offer for sale or otherwise make available raw milk directly to consumers but only at the farm or property where the raw milk is [...]

After three weeks of flashy and outrageous campaigning, comedian Volodymyr Zelensky and incumbent president Petro Poroshenko are facing off in a battle for the country’s top job. [...]

The magnitude of Hillary Clinton’s New Hampshire drubbing has establishment Democrats wringing their hands as it dawns on them that no candidate in modern U.S. political history has bounced back from a 22-point loss in that first-in-the-nation primary to win the White House, reports Robert Parry. [...]

President Vladimir Putin said the suggestion by Ukraine’s president-elect to give Ukrainian citizenship to Russians “suffering from an authoritarian regime” is “a good thing,” which would only bring the kindred nations closer. [...]

The Syrian government has accepted the terms of a ceasefire deal announced by the US and Russia, a foreign ministry source said, as cited by Sana news agency. But Damascus wants the fight against terrorists such as Islamic State to continue. [...]