(Reuters) – China has told its banks to lend more in the final months of 2014 and relaxed enforcement of loan-to-deposit ratios to expand credit, sources told Reuters, as Beijing prepares to release data that could confirm the relentless slowing
The most senior judge in the EU has told Commission President Jean Claude Juncker that his job is to “defeat Euroscepticism”. Vassilios Skouris, the President of the Court of Justice, made his comments at an event which was supposed to
Aviation titan Boeing Co. will lay off 561 employees across its Southern California operation centers by February of next year. According to the Los Angeles Times, 253 people at Boeing’s Long Beach facilities will lose their jobs, while an additional
LONDON (Reuters) – A group of senior British lawmakers said on Wednesday that China’s refusal to allow them to visit Hong Kong was an insult and called on the government to formally summon China’s ambassador over the issue. Last month,
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister David Cameron wants a deal to end political deadlock in Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government over budget cuts this week, he said on Thursday. Britain called all-party talks nine weeks ago aimed at breaking the
MOSCOW (AP) — The ruble has fallen to a new all-time low, tracking the dive in the price of oil and reflecting the overall weakness of the Russian economy. Russia’s currency traded at 55.02 rubles to the dollar in early
Muslim parents have reacted angrily in a French town after the mayor announced it was ‘pork or nothing’ for school lunches, under the principles of the secular republic which dictates that religion should have no place in state institutions –
Pope Francis spoke Wednesday about the recent Vatican Synod on marriage and the family, in an effort to correct the false impression that some may have had of what was really going on and to calm fears that things were
The Coca-Cola Company in Liberia, through its Africa Foundation, has pledged to donate $200,000 worth of medical supplies to Liberia’s Ministry of Health in an effort to help thwart the deadly spread of the Ebola virus. The donations are being made in
If at first you don’t succeed, pretend you never tried. It’s the loser’s lament that the UN is singing right now at the COP 20 climate conference in Lima, Peru. Before the two-week gathering of Gaia worshippers opened, the UN
The latest Person of the Year award from Time Magazine is another one of those generic group deals where they salute a group or class of people, rather than a specific individual. Their rules have long allowed such citations, but
(Reuters) – Three journalists from the Syrian opposition television channel Orient News were killed in the southwest of the country when a missile hit their vehicle, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said late on Tuesday. The U.S.-based media advocacy
(Reuters) – A former Connecticut resident and Chinese citizen who allegedly worked on the F135 engine was charged with trying to take sensitive documents about military technology to China, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Tuesday. Yu Long was en
Conservatives are manoeuvring themselves into a four party deal that could see David Cameron remaining as Prime Minister even if he loses the election. According to sources at Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, senior Conservatives are trying to keep a
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says it will allow four companies to use drones that weigh less than 55 pounds for commercial use. The four companies–Trimble Navigation Ltd., VDOS Global LLC, Clayco Inc and Woolpert Inc.–say they plan to use
On December 9 Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) joined with Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America and Everytown for Gun Safety to suggest gun control is the way to honor victims of Sandy Hook. Rep.
Obama supporters continue to find out the hard way that the reality of Obamacare stands in stark contrast to the rhetorical promises of Obamacare. Case in point: Obama supporter Catherine Keefe. On Wednesday, the Washington Post published an essay by
Isil militants have published a document outlining how sex slaves can be treated, including with beatings and daily rapes. The pamphlet, which is dated Muharram 1436 (October/November 2014) and was printed by ISIS’s publishing house, Al-Himma Library, is titled Su’al
OUTSIDE OF DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) – Chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest), dozens of armed men in camouflage uniforms from Russia’s republic of Chechnya train in snow in a camp in the rebel-held east Ukraine. They say their “Death” unit
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Williams has waded into the debate on Britain’s membership of the European Union, voicing his support for the country remaining part of the bloc. The controversial cleric even indicated that he may be in favour
Saudi Arabian officials have arrested 135 individuals on terrorism charges following an Islamic State-supported attack last month in the country’s Eastern Province. In November, Islamic affiliated jihadis stormed a Shiite parade in the country, killing seven. The group has also
Grumpy Cat may be grumpy, but the cat’s owner, Tabatha Bundesen, may need a truck to cart the money earned by her famous feline, rumored at close to $100 million in the last two years. Bundesen denied the amount, according
Fighters who are battling the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group on the ground are running dangerously low on ammo, telling the media that they may only have a few days of ammunition reserves left before they become defenseless against the
A group of hackers calling themselves the Lizard Squad has claimed responsibility for knocking down Sony’s Playstation Network (PSN) for the majority of Sunday evening. Although Sony acknowledged that their PSN servers were down, the company did not make any
Ex-KGB agent Boris Karpichkov claims Russia ordered famed spy Anna Chapman to seduce NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in an effort to keep him in Moscow and tear out American secrets. A marriage would give him citizenship and would make him
(Reuters) – A policeman was killed while on duty southwest of the Bahraini capital Manama on Monday in what authorities described as a “terrorist” attack using a bomb made by Hezbollah. The Interior Ministry gave few details of the incident
(Reuters) – United Nations sanctions monitors have said photographs taken inside Iraq appear to confirm that the head of Iran’s elite military Quds Force, one of Iran’s most powerful people, has been in the country in violation of a U.N. travel ban.
Controversial MIT economics professor Jonathan Gruber, known to all except, apparently, himself as the “architect” of The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), apologized repeatedly for what he called his “series of inexcusable comments” in his testimony before the House Oversight and
Hackers who hit Sony Pictures Entertainment two weeks ago continue to torment the studio and its employees. The group of hackers, known only as the “Guardians of Peace,” most recently divulged a folder containing a list of celebrity aliases, according
On Monday, the Columbia, Missouri, school board voted to allow “select staff” to carry concealed handguns in public schools for use in the defense of their own lives and the lives of school children. According to KRCG 13, the staff
A Sacramento area woman who found a man’s cremated remains on the side of the road made it her mission to return them to the family. Ana Riddle left the Arden Fair Mall, then saw some objects on the side of
The inmates at San Quentin are often highly intelligent–and usually sociopathic. Due to its racial and gang related violence, the residents refer to California’s oldest prison as “The Arena.” But aided by 4,000 volunteers, many prisoners try to improve themselves
LONDON (Reuters) – A prominent female member of Britain’s anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) has accused its general secretary of sexual harassment five months before a national election, prompting the party to suspend him pending an investigation. The imbroglio is
There will be up to 1,000 more U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan after the end of this year, potentially raising the total to 10,800 instead of the 9,800 that President Obama said would be there by the beginning of 2015, outgoing
Most of the 275 inmates who escaped this weekend from a prison in the central Nigerian city of Minna, after the facility was attacked by gunmen, remain at large. Although the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram and al-Qaeda-linked
In another move that will surely generate controversy and conversation within Iraq’s sectarian political environment, over the weekend, former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki blamed the Kurdish leadership for “masterminding” the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) terror group’s takeover of the city
While Israel remained silent about its role in an alleged air raid into Syria on Sunday near Damascus, Syrian opposition sources maintained that an Israeli attack destroyed a storage facility holding anti-aircraft missiles and drones belonging to Hezbollah, reports The
In an extensive interview Sunday, Pope Francis said that much of the unrest generated by the recent Vatican marriage summit came from people only reading “some news in a newspaper, or an article,” rather than reading what the synod actually
Interpol (The International Criminal Police Organization) has requested the arrest of the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and global Sunni Islamist diaspora, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, whose radical past includes praising suicide bombers against innocents as martyrs and describing Nazi
(AFP) Seventy Ethiopian migrants have drowned after their boat sank near the entrance to the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, the Yemeni Interior Ministry said. The boat capsized off the port city of Al-Makha, near the Strait of
