The US Treasury has warned of catastrophic effects if a political stalemate over raising the government’s debt limit forces a US default on its obligations. The federal government is expected to exhaust its cash reserves by October 17 and if US lawmakers do not reach an agreement to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, the government will not be able to pay its bills and will default on its legal... 

With NASA staff sent home and the Curiosity rover dozing off on Mars, former astronaut Tom Jones tells RT how the US government shutdown will affect the space agency’s projects and deadlines. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s 55th birthday celebrations on October 1 were marred as it [NASA] sustained one of the biggest blows of all the governmental agencies due to the stalemate... 

The White House budget director has ordered federal agencies to begin closing down after the Senate and the House of Representatives failed to reach an agreement on a budget plan to avert a government shutdown. “Agencies should now execute plans for an orderly shutdown due to the absence of appropriations,” Sylvia Mathews Burwell, director Of the White House Office of Management and Budget... 

In an address from the White House rose garden Tuesday afternoon, President Barack Obama blamed Republican lawmakers for triggering the first government shutdown in nearly two decades. Pres. Obama spoke on Tuesday roughly 12 hours after a longstanding budget stalemate on Capitol Hill caused a midnight shutdown impacting a number of government agencies and initiatives across the board. “At midnight... 

As a government shutdown looms over the federal budget in the United States, stocks in the country fall sharply and global investors cut allocation to US equities and bonds. All 10 main industries of Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped on Monday. Microsoft Corp. led the declines with a 1.1 percent fall among the largest companies while shares in finance, telephone and energy tumbled the most. Dow... 

It’s widely known that the NSA has taps connected to the various telco networks, thanks in large part to AT&T employee Mark Klein who blew the whistle on AT&T’s secret NSA room in San Francisco. What was unclear was exactly what kind of access the NSA had. Various groups like the EFF and CDT have both been asking the administration to finally come clean, in the name of transparency, if... 

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... 

Where’s My Water 2 has recently launched exclusively on Apple iPhone’s iOS platform, in a new Apple-only new fashion, ignoring hundreds of millions of Android users. Even though iPhone users account for only 13,60% of the world market share (as of Q2 2013), comparing to Android’s vast 79,50%, Disney has ignored these statistics and made a grave mistake. To make things worse, they... 

A new report written by Ambassador Andrei Krutskikh from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to Deputy Defense Minister Colonel General Oleg Ostapenko that is circulating in the Kremlin today warns that use of the new Apple iPhone 5 constitutes a “grave threat” to all Russian citizens in that merely by its use, “all users have given up their rights to the United States Government.” Ambassador... 

A US National Security Agency employee has abused the US government’s spying tools in order to intercept phone calls of nine foreign women. According to internal files of the US spying agency, the NSA agent intercepted the calls from 1998 to 2003 and twice collected communications of an American without ever being noticed by his managers. The illegal abuse of the NSA’s spying tools was disclosed... 

In its short-term government-funding bill, the US Senate will propose an end to a budget provision that protects genetically-modified seeds from litigation despite possible health risks. Called “The Monsanto Protection Act” by opponents, the budget rider shields biotech behemoths like Monsanto, Cargill and others from the threat of lawsuits and bars federal courts from intervening to force an... 

With the US debt ballooning to a new record of $16.7tln and the deadline to fix the ‘debt ceiling’ expiring on October 1, a default threat looms over the world’s largest economy. Experts agree the government will broaden its borrowing limit. The latest warning to Congress comes from the International Monetary Fund, who urged the US Congress to reach an agreement to raise its debt ceiling and... 

A new study conducted by the American researchers suggests that children’s afternoon short sleep grants them to have better learning power. The new study shows that naps are critical for memory consolidation and early learning among the kids particularly for those ones who are three to-five-year-olds. Sleep researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amhers say an hour-long nap after lunch boosts... 

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh says that the raid which killed Osama Bin Laden in 2011 is “one big lie” and that “not one word” of the Obama administration’s narrative on what happened is true. In a wide-ranging interview published today by the Guardian, Hersh savages the US media for failing to challenge the White House on a whole host of issues, from NSA spying, to drone...