An election official goes through the steps to check voting machines for accuracy. Voters in Ohio and Kansas have said that some voting machines used in early voting are changing Romney votes for Obama, two separate reports said Wednesday. According to the Marion Star, early voter Joan Stevens tried to cast her ballot for Mitt Romney, but the machine kept defaulting to Barack Obama. “Upon selecting... 

Thousands of people hold a demonstration outside the Portuguese parliament in the capital Lisbon on October 31, 2012. Thousands of people have gathered outside the Portuguese parliament in Lisbon to protest against the assembly’s approval of the government’s 2013 draft austerity budget. The demonstration was staged on Wednesday after the parliament approved the draft bill, which proposes substantial... 

“Jill Stein has been released from jail,” says Tar Sands Blockade say in their Twitter Jill Stein, a presidential candidate from the Green Party, has been arrested in Texas while attempting to resupply protesters camping out in trees to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline, according to anti-pipeline activists. The Tar Sands Blockade activists said she was released soon after being taken to the Wood... 

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika (R) and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton brief the press following a meeting at the Mouradia Palace, Algiers, October 29, 2012. The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has met with Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to pressure his country to lend support to a potential military intervention in northern Mali. Clinton paid a one-day visit to the... 

How many people have ever been born? You’ve wondered this. You may have heard it said that there are more people alive today than have died in all of human history, but this is not true. According to calculations by demographer Carl Haub, about 107 billion people have been born up until now, and 100 billion of them are dead. You are among the lucky 6.5 per cent of humanity that is still alive. For... 

While high winds and rain brought on by superstorm Sandy tormented residents along much of the East Coast, the state of West Virginia was blanketed in a freak snowstorm as a result of the weather. Roughly a quarter of a million people across West Virginia lost power on Monday as Sandy caused extreme weather conditions across a large chunk of the US. More than a dozen counties across West Virginia... 

A new agency is about to appear in the rating business that will be created by the Russians, Chinese and Americans. The agency Universal Credit Rating Group that claims to be a global player, came into being in Beijing and is the joint brainchild of the Chinese rating agency Dagong Global, the American Egan-Jones, and Russian RusRating. Earlier, AFP reported that the Chinese rating agency Dagong planned... 

Swiss banking giant UBS has announced plans to slash some 10,000 jobs worldwide. The largest bank in Switzerland, UBS AG, has announced plans to cut about 10,000 jobs worldwide, as the economic crisis in the European country continues to worsen. “This decision has been a difficult one, particularly in a business such as ours that is all about its people. Some reductions will result from natural... 

Scores of Twitter users have flooded the social networking site announcing their plans to go on looting sprees once Hurricane Sandy makes landfall, as the New York National Guard announced it would put troops on duty in Long Island to prevent such activity. 1,175 New York National Guard troops have been mobilized to “provide command and control and logistical support” in New York City, Long Island,... 

Bahraini authorities have prohibited protest gatherings and rallies until further notice, a day after police cracked down heavily on demonstrators, once again during the 20-month fatality-riddled unrest. ­The statement made by the country’s Interior Ministry did not define precise measures that could be taken should new protests occur. A curfew and special military tribunals were introduced several... 

An Iranian patrol ship In line with the Islamic Republic of Iran’s strategy of expanding its naval presence in international waters, Iran Navy’s 22nd fleet of warships has called at a Sudanese northeastern port in the Red Sea. The fleet which comprises Kharg helicopter carrier and Admiral Naqdi destroyer arrived at the Sudanese port on Monday. The Navy’s 22nd fleet was dispatched to the coasts... 

Millions of Americans are preparing to lose electricity as Hurricane Sandy speeds up the East Coast, but downed power lines might be the least of their worries: the projected path of the storm has Sandy hitting as many as 26 nuclear plants. More than two dozen nuclear facilities up and down the East Coast could be ravaged by a storm expected to be of epic proportions this week. Arnie Gundersen, the... 

File photo shows veiled women holding signs during a protest by Muslim men and women in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek (Molenbeek-Saint-Jean), in Brussels. Two candidates from Islam Party have won their way to the local councils in two major districts of the Belgian capital Brussels. The local elections were held in Anderlecht and Molenbeek on Sunday. The party reportedly plans to field candidates for the regional... 

Two years ago, Greece missed the chance to extricate from the crisis with Russia’s help. Nowadays, Russian investments in the country grow and give air to breathe to economies of several regions of Greece, such as the north-east. Russian investors are especially attracted by cheap real estate, tourism and the property that they can buy from the state. “Greece should only give Russia the... 

Hurricane Sandy has forced evacuations all the way up Eastern Seaboard, though it has yet to make landfall. As many as 50 million people could end up in harm’s way, with New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Virginia already seeing flooding. ­The storm, which the National Hurricane Center now ranks as a category 1, is set to make landfall along the New Jersey coast Monday evening, with hurricane-force...