Brazil has strongly criticized Canada over reports of spying on the country’s mining and energy ministry. On Monday, President Dilma Rousseff said her country seeks explanations from Canadian officials over the issue. She added that new revelations about the espionage activities by the US and its allies prove that economic motives are behind the move. The president called on Washington and Ottawa... 

At least 92 people died in an incident where a boat carrying some 500 illegal immigrants caught fire and capsized near an Italian island in what seems like a never ending flood of illegal immigrants who desperately want to move to the EU. Emergency workers found 92 bodies, including those of two children and several women, after the deadly boat incident on Thursday, Italy’s news agency ANSA cited... 

The longstanding notion of US exceptionalism has deep roots in the American psyche, but as the world experiences a “tectonic shift in global geopolitics” the very idea of Washington’s superiority is being challenged, analyst Eric Draitser told RT. Earlier this week, President Barack Obama reaffirmed Washington’s desire to engage in the affairs of other states, particularly in the Middle... 

The Washington scholar who was cited by US leaders calling for a military strike on Syria, only to lose her job for fabricating her academic credentials, has been hired by the office of US Senator John McCain, Foreign Policy magazine reports. Elizabeth O’Bagy was formerly employed by the Institute for the Study of War, where she quickly became a respected voice on the ongoing conflict between Syrian... 

France has come under fire from the European Commission after Interior Minister Manuel Valls said Roma migrants “are due to return to their motherlands” because of their lifestyle, which is “in confrontation” with the French way of living. “They should return to Romania or Bulgaria and for that the European Union, with the Bulgarian and Romanian authorities, must ensure these populations... 

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff lambasted US spying on her country at Tuesday’s UN summit, calling it a “breach of international law.” She further warned that the NSA surveillance, revealed since June, threatened freedom of speech and democracy. “Meddling in such a manner in the lives and affairs of other countries is a breach of international law and as such it is an affront to the principles... 

A Muslim woman wearing a face veil distributes flyers against a cantonal vote on banning face-covering headgear in public places, in Lugano on September 18, 2013. Residents of Switzerland’s Italian-speaking region have voted to ban full-face veils, after similar laws against Muslims were enforced in France and Belgium. Results from a democratic referendum in the Swiss canton of Ticino on Sunday revealed... 

Just 10 days until a possible US government shutdown, the House of Representatives passed a bill that keeps the government open but defunds the 2010 affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. The House vote was 230-189. The Republican-drafted continuing resolution, or CR, keeps the government open until December 15. The CR would also cut spending on food stamps for the poor by $40 billion over 10 years. Republicans... 

Russian President Vladimir Putin Vladimir Putin, traditionally sharp-tongued and prickly, spoke about Syria, gay rights, and democracy at the Valdai Club political forum. During the two hour discussion, the leader said he has “not ruled out” running for a fourth presidential term. Putin addressed a wide range of topics at the Valdai International Discussion Club on Thursday, where over... 

The Canadian government has come under fire over a controversial series of regulations that allow spying on cell phone users, Press TV reports. Cell phone companies in Canada, bidding on new contracts, face rules that force them to allow Canadian authorities to spy on mobile phone users under an unpublicized accord. For almost 20 years, Canadian telecommunications companies have been told that one... 

View of the Israeli nuclear facility in the Negev Desert outside Dimona A newly released report in a US professional journal confirms that the Israeli regime possesses at least 80 operative nuclear warheads and has enough material to produce up to 190 more. The report published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, nuclear weapon proliferation experts Robert Norris and Hans Kristensen estimate... 

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem welcomes Russia’s offer to put its chemical weapons under international control The White House remains adamant about having Congress authorize the use of military force against the Syrian government, even as that country’s leader is reportedly weighing a deal that would involve relinquishing a stock pile of chemical weapons. Notwithstanding reports that... 

France’s Interior Minister Manuel Valls said that there was a need to review the country’s migration policy in relation to Africans and questioned the compatibility of Islam and democracy. France has long been assimilating immigrants, but in recent years the situation has changed, and the locals are now the ones that are asked to adjust. At a government meeting dedicated to the major challenges... 

If you committed a crime in your country of residence, go to London. London does not extradite. The British justice system is structured in such a way that offenders from any country except the United States can be granted asylum. This means not only shelter, but also the ability to live quietly, without looking back at the police. It is no accident that many oligarchs have a home in London. The UK... 

People don’t realize how corrupt science is. They need to know, because science is where the standards of rationality are set for the rest of society. A better realization of what’s going on in science should result in science being criticized for validity and evidence, like everything else in society. The best way to characterize the state of science is with examples. To start with something...