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... 

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... 

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,... 

China has demanded explanation from the US after a report revealed that Australian embassies, including the one in Beijing, have been used in Washington’s spying operations. “China is extremely concerned about this report and demands that the United States offers a clarification and explanation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, told reporters on Thursday. “We... 

US President Barack Obama’s approval rating has declined to an all-time low, amid deep and widespread dissatisfaction with US political system and the nation’s direction, a new poll shows. For the first time since Obama emerged as a national political candidate, more Americans now view him negatively than positively, according to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Just 42 percent of Americans... 

A Washington state ballot measure to label food featuring genetically modified crops is under fire as food and chemical corporations pour millions of dollars against the campaign. On November 5, voters will head to the polls to decide whether or not to label food containing crops that have been genetically modified, but what started out as a landslide victory in the making has turned into a tight... 

The European Union is considering a possible imposition of sanctions on the United States as a response to Washington’s massive spying activities on its closest European allies. German officials said Monday that the EU is considering suspending a data-sharing agreement between the EU and the US. The agreement allows the United States access to funds transferred through the private, Belgium-based... 

President Obama was aware of NSA spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel since 2010, German media have revealed. An NSA spokeswoman later denied the allegations. According to German Bild am Sonntag newspaper, which cited US intelligence sources, National Security Agency chief Keith Alexander briefed Obama on the bugging operation against Merkel in 2010. “Obama did not halt the operation but... 

Hundreds of people rally in the US capital to denounce the National Security Agency’s massive surveillance programs as furor grows at home and abroad over the US government’s spying activities. Protesters marched in Washington DC from Union Station to Capitol Hill on Saturday, the anniversary of the Patriot Act, holding signs that said, “Stop mass surveillance,” “Thank you, Edward... 

Italian telephone and computer communications have been under surveillance by the US National Security Agency (NSA), Italy’s parliamentary intelligence committee has confirmed. A delegation of Italian lawmakers from the parliament’s COPASIR intelligence service monitoring committee, which went to Washington on an official visit to inquire about US overseas surveillance programs, found that millions... 

Mexico has condemned the recently-revealed acts of espionage conducted by US National Security Agency (NSA) on former Mexican President Felipe Calderon. “This practice (acts of spying carried out by NSA) is unacceptable, illegal and against Mexican and international law,” Mexican Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday. The condemnation came after German weekly news magazine Der... 

In the very days when a deep split in the US Congress threatened a US government debt default, the gold price should normally jump through the roof, yet the opposite was the case. It is worth a closer look why. Since August 1971, when US President Richard Nixon unilaterally tore up the Bretton Woods Treaty of 1944 and told the world that the Federal Reserve ‘gold window’ was permanently closed,... 

Just one day after President Barack Obama signed into law a bipartisan deal to end the government shutdown and avoid default, the US debt surged a record $328 billion, the first day the government was able to borrow money. Fasten your seatbelt, because the US debt rate is racing out of control and nobody seems to know where or when the spending will end: The US debt now equals $17.075 trillion, according... 

Standard & Poor’s says the shutdown in total cost the US economy $24 billion, or $1.5 billion per day, the rating agency said Wednesday. The agency also estimated the shutdown will pare fourth quarter GDP by 0.6 percent. Obama has signed legislation that will avoid a technical debt default, ending the 16-day partial shutdown of the government that has cost the world’s largest economy... 

US President Barack Obama has signed legislation passed by Congress Wednesday to temporarily lift the debt ceiling and end the government shutdown, averting the threat of default just hours before the October 17 deadline. The legislation funds the government through to January 15 and lifts the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling until February 7. The White House budget director, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, said...