The United States Senate approved a landmark immigration bill Thursday afternoon after lawmakers in Washington voted 68-to-32 in favor of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. The Senate put its collective support behind the bill, a bipartisan effort that has been at the center of discussion on both sides of the aisle since it was introduced in Washington... 

Barack Obama is a “war criminal” and a “hypocrite,” an Irish politician has said in a damning attack on the US president. The MP slammed the Irish treatment of Obama during his G8 visit as akin to ‘prostituting’ Ireland for a “pat on the head.” Irish MP Clare Daly took no prisoners in her heated attack on the visit of the Obama family to Ireland during this year’s G8 summit, which... 

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been defeated by former Premier Kevin Rudd in a Labor Party leadership vote. Former Prime Minister Rudd won the vote of the Labor caucus 57 to 45, reports on Wednesday said. The prime minister is expected to resign on Thursday, before Rudd is sworn in. Gillard said a leadership vote for the Labor Party would be held... 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (center) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on an official state visit – Tuesday, June 25, 2013. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday he would consider granting asylum to former CIA leaker Edward Snowden. “We would consider it, because the asylum is a measure of humanitarian protection and is a mechanism of the international humanitarian law, which is popular... 

Russia’s nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky navy sailors attend a greeting ceremony for the Russian official delegation at Syria’s Mediterranean port of Tartus. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister says all personnel had been evacuated from the navy resupply base in Tartus, Syria, adding that not a single Russian military serviceman remained in the country. Mikhail Bogdanov made... 

The UK government has described as “illegal incursion” the entrance by a Spanish Guardia Civil vessel into British territorial waters around Gibraltar, local media reported. The incident is said to have happened on Sunday when the Guardia Civil vessel strayed into the territorial waters and an officer onboard the vessel fired a weapon. In a statement, Europe Minister David Lidington, strongly... 

More than 400 US soldiers are preparing for their deployment to Egypt in anticipation of violent protests, riots, and the possibility of having to protect the country’s border with Israel. Training at Fort Hood for a nine-month deployment in the “near future” concluded on June 20, KCEN-TV reports, noting that the soldiers encountered Molotov cocktails and “other dangerous items” in their... 

Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino The foreign minister of Ecuador says his country is considering a request for asylum from the National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden who is being persecuted by the United States. Ricardo Patino also questioned on Monday the concept of treason charges against NSA leaker Edward Snowden, adding that the alleged US surveillance program is a rights abuse... 

A large fleet named “Mol Comfort” carrying Arms for FSA from the U.S. has crashed in the Indian Ocean as it made its way from Singapore to Jeddah, on board were 4,500 containers loaded with arms for the Syrian rebels. MOL Comfort sank due to yet unclear reasons, sailing from Singapore to Jeddah and after that to North Europe, leaving behind hundreds of drifting containers and a huge aftershock... 

The US has gone from ‘model of human rights’ to manipulator of internet rights, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party wrote. China has struck back at the US over its allegations that Beijing allowed NSA leaker Edward Snowden to leave Hong Kong. The damning article in the overseas edition of the People’s Daily, the party’s official newspaper, came in response to Washington’s accusations... 

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to seven years in prison over a sex scandal and abuse of power. On Monday, an Italian court in Milan handed Berlusconi the prison term and a lifetime ban from holding public positions, after convicting him of inappropriate relations with an under-age girl and then using his influence... 

Ex-CIA contractor Edward Snowden was not seen aboard the plane to Havana on which he was reportedly traveling, reports RT’s correspondent on the flight. The plane has already landed in the Cuban capital. The Russian airline Aeroflot previously confirmed that Snowden had checked in for flight SU150 to Havana with two seats (17A and 17C) in his name. However, journalists on board the plane said there... 

At one time, it seems decades ago now, the general thinking in the USA was that President Barack Obama would jolt the American political system into actually doing something beneficial for its citizens rather than spying on them, building F-35 aircraft, upgrading nuclear weapons, spending trillions of dollars (US) on national security, cutting unemployment benefits/food stamps, fomenting war with... 

Washington says it expects the Russian government to ‘look at all options available’ to expel Edward Snowden to the US to face espionage charges. That’s after the White House expressed ‘disappointment’ China and Hong Kong didn’t detain the NSA leaker. “We expect the Russian government to look at all options available to expel Mr. Snowden back to the U.S. to... 

Russian president Vladimir Putin has said that Jews made up “80 to 85 percent of the first government of the Soviet Union” following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Putin’s speech, made on June 13 2013, was reported by the official Jewish Telegraphic Agency in an article six days later dealing with Putin’s visit to the Moscow “Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center.” According to the JTA...