Newly-released figures show that Italy’s economy is expected to shrink more than expected in 2013, continuing the country’s longest recession since the World War II. A report by Italy’s National Institute for Statistics (Istat) said on Monday that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) will contract by 1.8 percent compared to a previous estimate of 1.7 percent contraction. Istat... 

A London charity has imported steel containers from China and converted them into bargain basement homes, as part of a novel solution to try and solve homelessness amid soaring rents in the British capital. A hostel in east London has come up with the ingenious idea of converting a shipping container from China into a tiny low cost home for hard up and desperate Londoners. Although it’s only a steel... 

A Kuwaiti woman was arrested in Saudi Arabia for driving a car while taking her diabetic father to the hospital. The arrest comes just one week after Saudi women protested the driving ban in the conservative Gulf monarchy. The woman was driving a Chevrolet Epica with her father in the passenger seat when she was pulled over in an area located near the border with Kuwait, Saudi police told Kuwait Times... 

Human rights groups warn David Cameron against pressure on media over Snowden leaks. Human rights groups have raised concerns about pressure exerted by British Prime Minister David Cameron on media covering intelligence leaks from American whistleblower Edward Snowden. Some seventy rights organizations from across the world have written to Cameron to warn that the government’s reaction to media... 

The Paul Ciancia story is custom-made for the likes of the SPLC, Raw Story, and the rest of government-loving cheerleaders who are constantly on the lookout for “right-wing” predators to pin their hysterical false left-right paradigm theories on. On Saturday, the Southern Poverty Law Center put it all into focus for us. The LAX shooter “was carrying a one-page ‘manifesto’ that included... 

US President Barrack Obama has told his top aides during the 2012 presidential campaign that he is “really good at killing people”, according to a new book. The book titled “Double Down: Game Change 2012,” is written by journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. According to the book, the US president made the remarks while discussing country’s controversial assassination drone... 

In a closed session, the US Senate Intelligence Committee approved draft legislation that would codify into law the NSA’s bulk collection of domestic telephone metadata. The bill, sponsored by committee chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), cements bulk phone metadata collection into the business records provision (Section 215) of the Patriot Act, strengthening NSA surveillance legality allowed under... 

Aircraft experts and military aficionados have cause to rejoice now that Lockheed Martin has debuted the SR-72 unmanned spy plane, the long-awaited successor to the SR-71 Blackbird and potentially the first hypersonic craft to enter service. Plans for the SR-72 drone were first unveiled Friday in an Aviation Week article which revealed that Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works advanced development program... 

Malaysia has summoned the heads of US and Australian diplomatic missions in the country to protest at an alleged US-led spying network. Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said his country had summoned the US and Australian envoys to “hand over a protest note in response to the alleged spying activities carried out by the two embassies in Kuala Lumpur.” The Malaysian foreign minister... 

The Obama administration on Friday once again disrespected the Constitution by signing an executive order that circumvents Congress and the American people. The latest move defiantly ignores a decision by Congress in 2009 to not establish a cap-and-trade system that would have supposedly discouraged greenhouse-gas emissions. The Waxman-Markey bill passed the House but was defeated in the Senate.... 

The US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee has proposed a nearly half a billion dollar increase in military aid to Israel even as the United States is struggling with domestic economic issues. The committee approved $488 million last week to fund Israel’s development of two missile systems and to finance the purchase of extra batteries for 2014. The proposal must now be approved by... 

NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, is ready to go to Germany and testify over the US wiretapping of Angela Merkel’s phone on condition of granting him political asylum, a German MP who met Snowden has said. He also revealed the text of Snowden’s letter. Former contractor of the US National Security Agency, Snowden on Friday indicated he is ready to testify over the facts about the American snooping... 

Adamant Federal Reserve opponent Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) says he will put a hold on Janet Yellen’s nomination to head the central bank, insisting that a bill of his that would audit the Fed be considered by Congress first. United States President Barack Obama said earlier this month that he had chosen Yellen, the 67-year-old vice chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,... 

Dozens of people have been injured as thousands of supporters of the deposed president, Mohamed Morsi, hold anti-military demonstrations across Egypt, security sources say. The violence in the city of Dakahlia erupted after Morsi’s opponents attacked the Muslim Brotherhood supporters rallying against his trial that will be held on Monday. In another protest in Egypt’s second largest city of... 

On Monday, an alleged terrorist attack took place at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. A passenger vehicle crashed into the crowd and then burst into flames. Five people were killed, 38 injured and hospitalized. Some police sources associate the incident with the Uighurs, a Muslim separatist-minded population of China. Has jihad come to China? On Tuesday, Reuters agency, citing informed sources, reported...