Every year, we look back at our research to select the most memorable facts that illustrate important trends shaping our world. At Pew Research Center, the topics we analyze range from the specific subjects of video gaming and family caregivers to broader areas like political attitudes, global climate change and religious affiliation. It’s a hard task to select just 15, but here are some of o [...]

The landslide success of Emmanuel Macron’s party seems to be fading away as the party of his presidential rival, Marine Le Pen, is overtaking his ruling alliance six months ahead of European parliamentary elections, a poll shows. [...]

As the year draws to a close, it's worth noting a handful of progressive gains that people-power made possible: Feelin' the Bern Despite the lack of coverage in corporate media about the Vermont Independent and his presidential bit, Sen. Bernie Sanders and his call for a political revolution have resonated nationwide. [...]

US President Donald Trump’s no-show at a Saturday WW1 commemoration outside of Paris - on the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day - has resulted in rising criticism worldwide, according to reports. Adding to a growing wave of derision, a UK minister of defense expressed his critique of Trump's decision to avoid a key commemorative event on Saturday due to the rain. [...]

In its quest for world domination, which the White House has been pursuing for more than a century, it relied on two primary tools: the US dollar and military might. In order to prevent Washington from establishing complete global hegemony, certain countries have recently been revising their positions towards these two elements by developing alternative military alliances and by breaking with t [...]

The testy slap-down by US President Donald Trump to the idea of a European army was telling. Any notion of the Europeans stepping away from American "protection" would be anathema to Washington. That's because American power is not about "protecting" Europe. That's just the vainglorious, propaganda mythology. [...]

In a volatile world, predictions are a risky business. But they are required in the intelligence community where analysts are called on not only to assess what happened but to anticipate what will happen, a process that ex-CIA official Graham E. Fuller continues as he assesses his last year’s accuracy. [...]

For the first time, leaders of 21 Asia-Pacific economies have failed to issue a joint communique, as tensions between the US and China over trade and investment poisoned their annual summit. Pointing to the “two big giants in the room,” the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation’s (APEC) chair, Papua New Guinea (PNG) Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, informed Sunday’s closing news conference [...]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's migration policy has brought into question the German leader’s political future. What if Angela Merkel steps down? Experts weigh the pros and cons of the potential move. Angela Merkel's "open-door" refugee policy has already prompted fierce debate among the Chancellor's political opponents and ordinary Germans; the violent massive sex assault on women in Colo [...]

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. [...]

German tabloid Bild has accused starving residents of the Syrian town of Madaya of being “actors.” But RT's correspondent believes some media simply dislike what people suffering from malnutrition had to say about rebels selling off government aid. Last week RT’s Murad Gazdiev accompanied the Red Cross and the UN convoy that brought food to the besieged Syrian town of Madaya, some 44km no [...]

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). [...]

With wall-to-wall crowds, climbing poll numbers, and a wave of critical new endorsements, less than one week before the primary contests officially commence, Bernie Sanders is riding high. Two new polls out on Wednesday show that the senator from Vermont is not only holding fast on his lead in Iowa, but also continues to gain against frontrunner Hillary Clinton nationally. [...]

When the US lends money to African nations or invests into the continent, everything is fair and beneficial to all sides, but when other nations do so, it is practically colonialism 2.0, Washington’s new Africa Strategy says. [...]

The UN-sponsored Syrian peace talks, which began on Friday in Geneva, will be boycotted by the main Syrian opposition group which has insisted that Russia stop bombing its positions while negotiations are conducted. To appreciate how ridiculous these demands are, one would have to imagine a similar scenario taking place in the United States. [...]

As Washington continues detentions of Russians across the world the plight of those, who have already fallen into the clutches of the US authorities, raises suspicion about the true colors of the US justice system. In mid-December, yet another Russian citizen was detained outside of Russia's borders – this time in Finland – at the request of the United States, marking the latest episode in wha [...]

Syrian government forces make major battlefield gains against foreign-backed opposition. Simultaneously negotiators representing the main opposition groups refuse to return to peace talks in Geneva until their demands are met. Among those conditions were that the Syrian Army cease bombardments, in effect cease operations, in and around areas it has just recaptured. [...]

Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump's lawyer and a former NYC mayor, insisted that the media is allowed to publish hacked classified information for the purpose of informing the public. He drew parallels with the case of Hillary Clinton, who WikiLeaks claim received questions for the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primary debate with Bernie Sanders. [...]

Many Middle Eastern countries have repeatedly expressed their desire to purchase large shipments of Russian T-90 tanks. If not a direct opposition from Washington, this machine possibly would have become indispensable in Arab East and in Iran. [...]

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has lashed out at the US for its position on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Former Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schroeder said Saturday that the US has its own energy interests in Europe, which explains the pressure Washington is exerting on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. [...]

President Obama has a bee in his bonnet about Putin and he keeps denying the reality, Professor Stephen F. Cohen, who wrote The Nation article ‘The Obama administration recklessly escalates confrontation with Russia’, told RT’s Ed Schultz. [...]

Russia accused the US of hypocrisy over its instigation of a coup in Venezuela, saying such actions are in sharp contrast to the outrage which Americans express over alleged interference in their own domestic political affairs. [...]