Vladimir Putin’s simple-minded nature is to blame for the growing tensions between the US and Russia, Defense Secretary James Mattis has claimed, flexing his elite Marine Corps analytical skills. [...]

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Half of Americans believe President Donald Trump’s aggressive use of tariffs threatens the country’s economic prosperity and their own personal finances, a Quinnipiac University poll revealed on Monday. "Trump's trade policies are bad for the US economy, voters say 50 — 39 percent and bad for their personal financial situation, voters say 46 — 35 percent," a press re [...]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been shooting from the lip over the past week since the fatal shooting down of a Russian fighter jet. He truculently denied accusations of supporting terrorism, challenging Russia to prove it. Well, holy smoke Batman! Yes, Batman. Not the caped screen hero. [...]

Democracy is in discredit and is no longer a precondition to have a country’s economy prosper, Patrick Buchanan, an American politician who served as a top advisor to three US presidents, suggests. [...]

US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked Israel to evacuate the members of the controversial Western-backed White Helmets group from Syria, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has revealed. "President Trump and also Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, as well as others, requested us to help take out from Syria hundreds of White Helmets members,” Netanyahu said in a video [...]

The Mexican Supreme Court has ruled by a 4 to 1 vote that banning the consumption and cultivation of the cannabis plant violates fundamental human rights. The world is slowly but surely turning the page on one of the most fundamental rights we have on this Earth — the right to consume, cultivate and possess a plant. [...]

Businessmen from Saudi Arabia have expressed an interest in investing in Russia's Crimea, according to the region’s ministry of construction and architecture. "Representatives of the foreign [Saudi - Ed.] delegation expressed an interest in starting projects and setting up businesses in the republic," the ministry said, following a meeting with the Saudi businessmen. [...]

A good night’s sleep has traditionally been touted as beneficial – but you may want to set your alarm an hour early tomorrow. A new study says that longer sleeping times combined with sitting for too long are actually linked to higher mortality rates. [...]

Set up by scammers to trick users into thinking there is a new update for their WhatsApp, a downloadable malware has been promoted via spam messages on the mobile application. Messages warning against a fake update called 'WhatsApp Gold' and a video supposedly carrying a virus called "martinelli," have resurfaced online. Users would receive a notification saying: "If you know anyone using [...]

US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Russia at the request of the White House, with ending the Syrian conflict and countering terrorism dominating the agenda. The top US diplomat is also to hold a meeting with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. [...]

Donald Trump has shown an apparent willingness to put the brakes on US military aggression abroad, notably in the Middle East and Central Asia. Yet the announcement coincided with more military moves against Russia and China. [...]

A newly-leaked report on illegal oil sales by Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS/ISIL), which was ordered to be compiled by Norway, has revealed that most of the IS-smuggled oil has been destined for Turkey, where it is sold off at bargain low prices. [...]

The US' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) pulled out the receipts on global warming naysayers this week who've been claiming that the cold weather hitting parts of the nation brings climate change science into dispute. [...]

For years, a sense of disillusionment has been growing on the right. Now, the refugee crisis has magnified that frustration. Increasingly, people from the very center of society are identifying with the movement -- even as political debate coarsens and violence increases. By SPIEGEL Staff [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Middle East Director Sarah Leah Whitson is under fire from Jewish organizations after claiming Israel is meddling in UK domestic politics by whipping up a “manufactured” anti-Semitism crisis. [...]

Wishing others a peaceful New Year would seem to be a straightforward greeting for people of goodwill. Not if you’re a top US government official. Peace? Yeah, well, it’s complicated. This week US Secretary of State John Kerry reportedly phoned Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to firm up the forthcoming peace negotiations supposedly aimed at bringing an end to the Syrian conflict. [...]

Donald Trump, Mike Pence and John Bolton – best known for their “erratic and aggressive” traits – are a “toxic mixture” that leaves Europe less secure, a reputable German MP has warned. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government hoped that it could quietly wait for the Trump administration to end, but that was “a bitter illusion,” Jurgen Trittin, formerly minister for the environment [...]

While the liberal media is working on damage limitation as the fairy dust on its childlike delusions is blown away by the harsh winds of reality in places like Cologne, it is time for European nations to ask themselves whether they believe in their own right to exist. Just because post-WWII European liberals have been culturally neutered doesn’t mean that the armies of young men pouring in fr [...]

Citing the phantom menace of ‘Russian aggression’ amid Washington’s withdrawal from the INF treaty, the head of the US European Command has asked the Senate for more troops, jets, missiles and ships, to ‘defend’ European allies. [...]

Monitoring group Airwars has presented Britain’s defense secretary with evidence that could link multiple civilian deaths in Iraq to British airstrikes. The group’s director Chris Woods, an investigative journalist with expertise in conflict studies, has written to Defence Secretary Michael Fallon requesting an investigation into the allegations. [...]

A New York Times bestselling author is warning that Christians are in real danger of persecution - in America.And this warning comes from a surprising source, a prominent secular Jew. [...]

Amid a crisis that has poisoned the water supply of an entire city, authorities in Flint, Michigan are under renewed fire on Friday for sending out shut-off notices to residents who are behind on paying their water bills. Slammed as "ludicrous, the move comes as Republican Governor Rick Snyder finally asked President Obama to step in and declare a federal state of emergency. [...]