We are facing a unique crisis as our renewed vigor for attaining enlightenment clashes with our materialist based economy and fear-based politics. Is there a way we can reconcile our current systems with the new spiritual paradigms? If not, how can we reform them? Daniel Pinchbeck explores the cultural benefits of enlightenment [...]

With the US global surveillance program under scrutiny, what are the possible diplomatic and economic repercussions? Is France and Germany’s anger justified or is it being blown out of proportion? Why would the US spy on its allies? And is the US Department of Defense lying about economic espionage? [...]

This week saw the most extraordinary scene materialize in Washington DC. Nine-year-old Nabeela ur Rehman, from North Waziristan in the remote tribal region of Pakistan, arrived to a media blitz. She came to tell her own personal story to the nation, in front of the US Congress and national media, of drone horrors and the savagery of America’s secret assassinations overseas. [...]

President Barack Obamas approval rating has declined to an all-time low as public frustration with Washington and pessimism about the nations direction continue to grow, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Just 42 percent approve of the president’s job performance, which is down five points from earlier this month. By comparison, 51 percent disapprove of his job in office -- [...]

US President Barack Obama has called on the National Security Agency to halt spying on the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in conjunction with a review of surveillance activities, Reuters reported. A US official told the news agency that President Obama curbed the spying within the last few weeks. [...]

Whistleblower Edward Snowden has met with a German MP in Moscow. He passed a letter addressed to the German government and federal public prosecutor where he allegedly said he is ready to testify over Washington's probable wiretapping of Merkel'€™s phone. During the meeting, Snowden made it “clear that he knows a lot,” Greens lawmaker Hans-Christian Stroebele told ARD channel. [...]

German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere says Europe cannot return to normal business with the US following revelations that Washington spied on Chancellor Angela Merkel. “We can't simply return to business as usual,” de Maiziere said in a Thursday interview in response to a question about possible effects of the act of espionage [...]

Despite having front-door access to communications transmitted across the biggest Internet companies on Earth, the National Security Agency has been secretly tapping into the two largest online entities in the world, new leaked documents reveal. Those documents, supplied by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and obtained by the Washington Post, suggest that the US intelligence agency and its Bri [...]

China'€™s leadership will soon usher in bold reforms to support a domestic consumption-driven economic model, and globalizing the renminbi as an alternative store of wealth to the US dollar is at the center of the strategy. The scathing commentary published by China’s state-owned Xinhua news agency calling for a "de-Americanized world" was undoubtedly music to the ears of many in the developin [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been ranked the most powerful person in the world by Forbes. He topped the list of the 72 world figures that "€œmatter the most,"€ while US President Barack Obama was rated second. Putin’s Syria “chess match” that prevented the US strike, and his having the last word in the diplomatic row over the fugitive NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, didn’t [...]

Ecuador's president, one of the most vocal critics of Washington'€™s spying methods, has met for talks with Vladimir Putin in Moscow. His visit follows new NSA revelations which have brought US surveillance and Edward Snowden into the spotlight yet again. [...]

There will be no children in my future. Ever. Yes, I am married. Yes, my husband knows that I do not want children. Yes, we both realize we'€™re extremely fortunate to be able to elect to live child-free. He doesn’t want kids either. It’s part of the reason I married him. (That, and he has excellent hair.) He married me knowing that and also because I always clean the litter box. [...]

Amira Willighagen was blessed with a talent you simply need to see and hear to believe. Watch her audition - her angelic voice left everyone SPEECHLESS. Just Amazing! [...]

As the nation grows increasingly comfortable with marijuana use, the Obama Administration’s policy on the drug is somewhat incoherent. Only two states, Colorado and Washington, allow the recreational use of marijuana, and marijuana remains illegal under federal law. Nevertheless, a new Gallup polls suggests that Washington and Colorado are at the forefront of a national trend. Fully 58 percent o [...]

One of the National Security Agency's biggest defenders in Congress is suddenly at odds with the agency. There are lots of people wondering just what got into Dianne Feinstein that has her suddenly all hot and bothered over the NSA revelations (which, up until now, she's defended to the hilt.) [...]

The victims of a drone strike alleged to be launched last year by the United States spoke to members of Congress on Tuesday and urged the US government to stop killing civilians with weaponized unmanned aerial vehicles. Rafiq ur Rehman, a primary school teacher from North Waziristan, Pakistan, spoke through an interpreter on Capitol Hill [...]

The US government spending crisis has caused visible pain for research and innovation in America. Already this year, billions of dollars in federal cuts due to sequestration has affected federal grants for scientific research. But this problem is only the tip of a much bigger problem facing the redundant superpower. [...]

The White House says the controversial intelligence gathering procedures that have attracted international scrutiny in recent months may require "€œadditional constraints." Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, made the remark during a scheduled Monday afternoon briefing on the heels of the latest revelations made possible through the unauthorized [...]

Condemnation by Latin American panel comes as US fields worsening outrage from Spain and Germany over surveillance. The international surveillance crisis deepened as representatives from a Latin American human rights panel told US diplomats that oversight of the programs was "illusory". [...]