A Hawaii-based US defense contractor is facing charges for giving classified defense information, including top secret information about nuclear weapons, to a 27-year-old Chinese woman that he had a romantic interest in. Benjamin Pierce Bishop, a 59-year-old Army Reserve lieutenant colonel who works as a civilian employee of a defense contractor at the US Pacific Command, was arrested at the command’s... 

The outcome of the biggest banking fraud case in Iran’s history was made official on February 18. According to Associated Press, four bankers have been sentenced to death in Iran for their role in a $2.6B scandal, while two more bankers were given life sentences, and 33 more accomplices will spend up to 25 years in jail, the chief prosecutor was quoted as saying. This is the biggest banking fraud... 

Unable to reach a deal with Congress, President Obama plans to use his power to exert executive actions against the will of lawmakers. The president will issue orders addressing controversial topics including cybersecurity. Although President Obama has issued fewer executive orders than any president in over 100 years, he is making extensive plans to change that, Washington Post reports quoting people... 

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has resigned his post. Israel’s combative foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, unexpectedly resigned on Friday after being indicted on corruption charges, throwing the country’s political system into uncertainty just five weeks before a general election. His resignation, a day after the attorney general, Yehuda Weinstein, charged him with fraud and breach... 

Brazilian authorities in Rio de Janeiro arrested over 60 police officers accused of bribery on December 4, 2012. Brazilian authorities have arrested 63 police officers accused of taking weekly bribes from drug gangs to not report any illegal activities committed by drug dealers in Rio de Janeiro. The policemen were taken into custody along with eleven drug dealers on Tuesday after a year-long bribery... 

A “doomsday prepper” in a rural area of Maryland became a target for police and the FBI after he told an undercover cop that he was “very irritated” about Barack Obama’s re-election, sparking an investigation that eventually led to 46-year-old Terry Porter being thrown in prison and having his home raided by 150 armed officers. The series of events began when an anonymous... 

The Fitch ratings agency has downgraded Argentina five notches, saying the country could default on its obligations to US creditors. That’s after a US judge ordered Argentina to set aside $ 1.3bn for debt repayment by December 15. The rating agency cut its long-term rating for Argentina to “CC” from “B,” with the short-term rating being cut to the level one step above default – to “C”... 

Italian police arrested four people for using a US nationalist online forum on November 16 and later banned access to the website in the entire country. The four nationalists are from Milan, Frosinone and Pescara and are accused of “inciting to racial-hatred”. The police has raided the homes of 17 other people, mostly in the north-eastern region of the country. The forum in question is... 

Egypt’s Constitutional Court is reportedly considering the possibility of impeaching President Mohamed Morsi for violating his oath and undermining the country’s constitutional foundations. ­According to a representative of the court, “the judges are prepared to exercise the right to shift the head of state after he flouted the laws and constitution,” local media reports. On Thursday,... 

Retiring US Congressman Ron Paul American Congressman Ron Paul has blasted the US ruling establishment as corrupt, bent on promoting wars, undermining liberties, and assassinating those it considers terrorists. Throughout a 50-minute address to the chamber of the US House of Representatives on Wednesday, the retiring Texas congressman questioned not only the fundamental well-being of his nation’s... 

Experts believe that the rumors about the failure of the arms contract between Russia and Iraq could be provoked. As Pravda.Ru reported, Western publications referred to a representative of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki who said that Iraq had decided to terminate the multi-billion dollar deal for the purchase of arms from Russia due to concerns about corruption. Iraqi Defense Minister Sadun... 

Cyprus may lose financial support from the EU due to “suspicious ties” with Russian oligarchs. According to information published in Spiegel magazine, the German Federal Intelligence Service suspects that the loan, which the EU and the IMF may give the country, will only sweeten the life of Russian businessmen who keep their money in Cyprus. It was written in Monday’s issue of Spiegel... 

President Obama wasn’t the only big winner on Tuesday: the Monsanto Co. and the billion-dollar business behind genetically modified foods were victorious in California, where a measure that would’ve required the labeling of GMOs lost at the polls. Proposition 37, a state-wide initiative that aimed to increase consumer awareness about the food industry’s growing use of genetically modified... 

Arrested members of Mexico’s Zetas drug cartel are presented to the press. The brutal Zetas drug cartel now has full control over Mexico’s northeastern province of Coahuila, and dominates all aspects of local criminal businesses. The Zetas has taken advantage of rampant political corruption, an intimidated and silent public as well as a complicit and profiting segment of the business elite to aggressively... 

A handful of international election monitors have touched down in the US to swing by polling places next month when voters cast ballots for the president, but officials in the state of Texas have issued them a warning: you’re not welcome. State Attorney General Greg Abbott has sent a scathing letter to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, threatening to arrest any of the election...