On Sunday, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange addressed his supporters from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he’s been holed up for two months trying to avoid extradition to Sweden and perhaps the United States. He thanked Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa for granting him political asylum – and then pivoted toward the United States – urging President Obama to, “do the right thing.”

Assange said the United St

South Africa is reeling after police opened fire on striking miners Thursday, killing 34 people and wounding 78. The massacre caps off a week-long strike with workers demanding a monthly-salary increase from $625 to over $1,500 – and calls to nationalize South Africa’s mines.

Police defended their actions, saying non-lethal force like water cannons and tear gas was used first, but after miners wielding machetes rushed a police li

After being holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for almost two months, Julian Assange has been granted asylum by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa. Now the hard part begins. In an explosive announcement this morning, Ecuador’s foreign minister announced the asylum decision and blasted the U.K.

On Tuesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth District threw the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution out the window, ruling that police can track cell phone GPS data – and thus track you – without a warrant. The case of United States v.

This one happened on Monday in College Station, Texas – just blocks from Texas A&M University. The shooter - identified as 35-year-old Thomas Caffall - opened fire after he was served an eviction notice by a county constable. That constable, Brian Bachmann was killed in the shootout, as was a bystander. A police officer and another civilian were also shot and injured, and are in the hospital. The shooter,

The GOP ticket is set – Mitt Romney will be running for president alongside Republican Congressman from Wisconsin – Paul Ryan. Ryan is the powerful House Budget Committee Chairman who this year authored the most radical budget to ever pass the House of Representatives. Newt Gingrich referred to the Ryan Budget as “right-wing social engineering” – and it’s an appropriate description, since it decimates the poor – with more tha

New York City is poised to become the surveillance capital of America. On Wednesday, city officials unveiled a massive new surveillance system that they say will “revolutionize law enforcement.” The Domain Awareness System - as it’s called - gathers information from thousands of video cameras mounted around the city. And using maps, city records, arrest records, license plate readers, and 911 calls, it brings everything

On Tuesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that it would temporarily freeze any new licenses or renewal of licenses for nuclear power plants around the country. That decision by the NRC was prompted by a US Court of Appeals ruling back in June that the NRC has insufficiently dealt with the problem of nuclear waste material - thus violating the National Environmental Policy Act. Currently, the NRC provides license

Eight billion dollars is a lot of money, but a small price to pay to stay out of jail. As the New York Times reports today, corporations are on track to pay as much as $8 billion in fraud settlements this year to the U.S.

For the first time in recent history, humanitarian organizations are responding to three major food crises at once – one in West Africa, one in East Africa, and one in Yemen. Accelerating climate change and dwindling resources have created several severe food shortages – adding 43 million more people around the world to the ranks of those who will go hungry this year alone.

As Barbara Stocking, the chief executive with OxFam G

This time it was in Oak Creek Wisconsin where an, armed to the teeth gunman, walked into a Sikh temple and opened fire – killing six people. We may never know the shooter’s motivation since he was killed as well, but authorities are piecing together what looks to be a hate crime against Sikh worshippers – who’ve routinely been mistaken for Muslims and targeted for hate crimes since 9/11.

According to early reports – the shoot

It’s not SuperPACs that are buying our elections, it's so-called “social welfare” organizations. According to IRS law – 501c4 and 501c6 groups – what are known as social welfare organizations or trade associations – are allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money in our elections – and not disclose a single donor – just as long as they don’t explicitly call for the election or defeat of a particular politician.

In one day, Big Oil earns $342 million in profit, pays their CEOs $60,000 in salaries, spends more than $160,000 lobbying, and dumps a billion pounds of carbon pollution into our skies. All that in a single day. And what do we get out of it?

Congress went on recess this week leaving the United States Postal Service financial crisis, unresolved. At midnight tonight, the Postal Service will default on a $5.5 billion payment it owes to the Treasury Department. This default will not have any immediate effects on day-to-day operations at the Postal Service, but it highlights the financial troubles that the institution, which was created more than 200 years ago by Ben f

President Obama will likely become the first ever incumbent President to be outraised by his opponent in his re-election bid. And in a desperate attempt to even the playing field just slightly before November – the President has been forced to hold endless fundraisers. As the Center for American Progress reveals, President Obama has already held nearly 200 fundraisers during his first term in office. To put that in perspectiv