Harper's has published The Death of a Once Great City, Kevin Baker's beautifully written, 15,000 word, non-comprehensive list of all the ways that raising the rents in New York City (something that was enabled by the related phenomena of the increasing wealth of the global rich and the influence of property developers on New York City's planning) has squeezed all the juice out of the city, evicting its people and its businesses in favor of "land banked" condos and co-op units that serve as "an investment, a pied-à-terre, a bolt-hole, a strongbox" -- and whose only viable retail is chain pharmacies and ATMs.

Israeli warplanes on Monday conducted air strikes in the northern Gaza Strip in response to incendiary kites being sent into Israeli territory, the military said, as two Palestinians, including a 13 year old, died later in the day in distinct circumstances. Israel said it had carried out nine strikes targeting two Hamas compounds and one Hamas weapons manufacturing site and photos showed explosions lighting up the Gaza City skyline. Colourful kites decorated with flags, slogans and patterns have become a symbol of resistance in the face of overwhelming Israeli military force during weeks of demonstrations.

A 29-year-old former CIA computer engineer, Joshua Adam Schulte, was indicted Monday by the Department of Justice on charges of masterminding the largest leak of classified information in the spy agency's history.

Police in Sweden are attempting to downplay initial reports of terrorism after a man opened fire on a crowd during World Cup celebrations as the Swedish national team beat South Korea earlier in the day. As the story broke, multiple international headlines suggested a terror attack in progress related to World Cup play, with at least five people wounded in the southern city of Malmo. One man has reportedly died of his injuries in what's being described as a "mass shooting".

Of the eleven developed nations evaluated by the Commonwealth Fund, the United States comes in dead last on healthcare. Every three years, the Commonwealth Fund releases a report ranking the healthcare systems of 11 of the world’s developed nation. And every three years, it seems, the United States comes in dead last. Last released in 2017, the report showed for the sixth time that the U.S. healthcare system is in dire need of a makeover, citing the inequity of access as the most glaring problem.

In 2015, the Texas State government announced plans to create a "gold depository." At the time, we reported this could be a significant step toward wider use of gold and silver as legal tender by essentially creating a parallel banking system based on precious metals.  The basic idea has always been simple: create a place where gold and other precious metals could be stored. The implications, however, are for far ranging in that over time, such an institution has the potential to function as a bank that could potentially offer the ability to facilitate the use of gold as money.

Posting memes, remixes, and other similar content could soon be banned from the Web in the European Union, according to critics who are speaking out against a recently proposed copyright law. The law, known as the “Copyright Directive,” will be voted on later this month by the European Parliament, and lawmakers suggest that this will protect content creators in the Internet age. However, one of the primary reasons why the internet age has brought us so much innovation and novelty is because of the fact that such a large aggregate of people are able to share their ideas and build upon the ideas of others to create something uniquely special.

The appropriate response to the threat of a world war erupting in Syria is not really fear; it is unmitigated, howling rage at the western sociopaths who created this situation in the first place.

Trenton, New Jersey – Reports of a mass shooting at an arts festival in which at least 22 people were injured may have sounded like the perfect recipe to send anti-gun politicians and mainstream media pundits to their soapboxes to call for increased gun control, but instead, it has quietly disappeared from the headlines, and there are a few notable reasons why.

Banks are scared, and they should be. They’ve forgotten that the customer is king, and that this is a digital era where innovative new fintech companies have them surrounded. Digital and mobile payment platforms are replacing traditional banks and credit card systems. American frustration with the banking industry has led to record years of mounting complaints …

During a press conference Monday, Donald Trump announced that, as he hinted previously, he's ordering the Pentagon to "immediately" establish a "space force" as an independent service branch. That's right: Today might be the day that future generations look back on as the anniversary of the creation of the legendary US Space Force, guardians of intergalactic order.

In an unusual departure from its historical focus on health and medicine, the American Medical Association (AMA) is now calling for bans, confiscation, and forced registration of guns. Arguably political, the AMA’s proclamation mirrors the strict gun control measures found throughout the United Kingdom, which critics say are blatantly unconstitutional in the United States.

Longtime Trump operative and outspoken political pundit Roger Stone recently admitted to members of the special counsel that he now vaguely recalls meeting with a man by the name of Henry Greenberg back in May of 2016, who Stone says wanted $2 million in exchange for heavy dirt on Hillary Clinton during the run-up to the presidential election.

A controversial bill that criminalizes filming IDF soldiers has been advanced by an Israeli government committee. The Israeli Attorney General, however, said it would not withstand a constitutional review in its current form. The Ministerial Committee for Legislation, which determines the coalition government’s position on all pending bills, has green-lighted the legislation, which envisages penalties of up to five years in prison for anyone filming or publishing footage showing Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) with an aim to “harm [soldiers’] spirits.”

The Saudi embassy in the United States pointed the finger at Doctors Without Borders after the US-backed Saudi coalition bombed the medical humanitarian group’s newly constructed cholera treatment center in Yemen. The Saudi government circulated a misleading fax from a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) employee, to try to absolve itself of responsibility for the airstrike. I contacted MSF for clarification, and the organization said the fax is being misrepresented, and strongly condemned the “unacceptable attack on a medical facility.”

As the immigration controversy continues to escalate and children are pulled from their mother’s arms to be thrown in cages, psychopaths who abuse their authority are using this time to prey on the weak. One such case of this horrific abuse became evident this week in San Antonio as a police officer was caught repeatedly raping a toddler whilst threatening her undocumented mother with deportation if she spoke up about it.

Munich prosecutors have arrested Rupert Stadler, the head of Volkswagen’s luxury arm Audi over his alleged participation in the automaker’s emissions test cheating scandal three years ago. “As part of an investigation into diesel affairs and Audi engines, the Munich prosecutor’s office executed an arrest warrant against Mr Professor Rupert Stadler on June 18, 2018,” the Munich prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will visit neutral European neighbours Switzerland and Austria next month, the Swiss and Austrian governments said, on a trip overshadowed by the looming imposition of US economic sanctions on Tehran... “Discussions will focus on the latest developments regarding the Iran nuclear agreement,” it added. “The aim is to find ways of preserving the progress made as a result of the agreement and of ensuring the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in the region despite the decision of the USA to withdraw from it.”

Former chief of an Israeli spy service unit has said that the first cyber target in any future conflict with Iran should be its energy infrastructure. Speaking at a major cyber conference in Israel, former Unit 8200 chief Ehud Schnerosen referred to the energy sector as a “major pillar economy, state’s cardiovascular system.” “We should not attack water, food, healthcare on ethical grounds, and should not attack banks because of the potential butterfly effect,” he said. “The next 9/11 in cyber will be energy sector.”

Well, here's one way to solve a retirement payout funding crisis. Prime minister Dmitry Medvedev announced last Thursday that the Russian state pension age would be hiked from 60 to 65 for men by 2028 and from 55 to 63 for women by 2034. The World Bank estimates Russian male life expectancy at 66, while the CIA’s World Factbook had it at 65. Women can expect to live to about 77.