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NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil took another dive Wednesday, plunging to five-year lows amid mounting evidence that global supplies are far outstripping demand. The U.S. Energy Department reported a surprise increase in domestic oil inventories and OPEC projected that demand for its crude would sink next year to levels not seen in more than a decade. Benchmark U.S. crude slumped 4.5 percent, or $2.88, to close at $60.94 a barrel on Wednesday. Prices have not been that low since July of 2009. U.S crude prices have fallen 17 percent in two weeks and are now 43 percent...

Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blasted Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, his soon-to-be successor, and other Republicans, vowing Democrats will wage "a new battle" with the GOP when the Senate reconvenes on Jan. 6. “Is there enough they can do to help Wall Street? I don’t think so. Big banks? I don’t think so,” Reid told the New York Times in an exit interview published Wednesday. “That’s where the new battle is going to be.” The 75-year-old Nevada Democrat said Republicans are at odds with Americans when it comes to environmental protection laws. “They want to eviscerate Clean Air, Clean...

In a surprise move CEO Donald Thompson of McDonald’s Restaurants announced they had reached an agreement with the SEIU and would start paying its workers a “Living Wage” of $15.00 per hour the first of October. Mr. Thompson issued a press release stating, “As a company we realize we have been negligent in paying our employees a real living wage for the last 60 years, so in the spirit of social well-being, we have decided to comply with the wishes of the White House and the SEIU.” The Service Employees International Union spokesman, Seymour Pecunia, said that he “was very...

Wal-Mart Stores plans to say goodbye to the minimum wage. The huge retailer’s chief executive, Doug McMillon, said Wednesday that the company plans to end minimum-wage pay for its workers in the future. “It is our intention over time that we will be in a situation where we don’t pay minimum wage at all,” he said. That plan would put Wal-Mart in a league with Costco Wholesale and Gap Inc. among employers committing to pay workers more than the minimum wage. President Barack Obama has publicly saluted Costco, Gap and several small businesses for voluntarily raising starting pay. The federal...

An Ebola strike began at LaGuardia Airport in New York City over fears of contracting the deadly virus. The airport workers strike currently involves only Terminal D workers, but air travel could still be impacted by the walk-off and protests. The AirServ company includes thousands of workers at five major United States airports. Representatives from the company told the media that LaGuardia Terminal D workers initiated the Ebola strike due to “documented health and safety violations.” Related complaints have also been filed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration – OSHA. Ebola has become a particular concern for the...

New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio has captured the attention of both constituents and political rivals by campaigning against racial profiling by the police and being a vocal proponent of fiscal egalitarianism in the country's wealthiest city. However, there are several aspects of the City Hall hopeful’s personal life that remain unknown to many New Yorkers. 1. He's a Red Sox fan. The New York Yankees have historically kept a tight grip on City Hall, claiming numerous mayors as tried-and-true pinstripes fans, but the mayoral candidate with strong chances of winning the seat confessed to being a...

<p>This year will set a record for expatriations by U.S. taxpayers, with at least a 33% increase from the previous high in 2011.</p> <p>The Treasury Department published the names of 560 people who either were U.S. citizens renouncing their citizenship or long-term residents who turned in their green cards during the third quarter.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week, although the level still appeared to point to healing in the nation's job market. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased by 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 360,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The reading was likely clouded by seasonal factors. The Labor Department can have a tough time seasonally adjusting claims in early July because many factories shut down during that period for retooling, but the scheduling for the shutdowns varies from year to year. A Labor Department analyst said there was...

Judicial Watch has released documents showing the latest abuse of power by the Department of Justice (DOJ): helping “organize and manage rallies and protests against George Zimmerman.” Whatever one may think about the guilt or innocence of Zimmerman in his ongoing trial, we should all agree that the chief law enforcement agency of the federal government should not be involved in stage-managing public protests. Yet according to the documents obtained by Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act request, the Community Relations Service at Eric Holder’s DOJ “deployed to Sanford, FL, to work marches, demonstrations, and rallies related to...

They’re narcissistic. Apathetic. Pampered. And addicted to their four-inch screens. If you believe the conventional wisdom about the millennial generation — those 16 to 34 years of age, by most calculations — you’ve got considerable reason to worry about the future of the U.S. economy. Millennials show far less interest in buying cars, homes and other big-ticket items than their parents did at the same age, which has generated an intense effort among companies that produce those things to crack the code of these crazy kids and figure out how to sell them stuff. But the millennials may not be...

The loss of a Chinook helicopter carrying members of Navy SEAL Team Six made yesterday the deadliest single day in the entire Afghan War for the U.S., The New York Times reports. Here are the three most pressing questions that need to be answered after this attack. The loss of a helicopter carrying more than 20 U.S. special forces and as many as 8 other U.S. military service members is an unprecedented one in this war. The United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DevGru)—better known by its former name, Team 6-reportedly suffered the bulk of the casualties. The incident...

It's been a big week for Sports Illustrated. First, a blogger leaked the swimsuit issue's much-anticipated cover, upstaging David Letterman's big reveal on Monday. Now website Jezebel is calling out the men's magazine for using minorities as "props" in photos featuring models in bikinis posing in seven different continents. Sports Illustrated coverJezebel argues that the magazine is perpetuating racial stereotypes by drawing power and class lines between the Westernized models and the "primitive locals" and points to a long history of media using minorities as "extras", citing Nylon magazine, the Free People catalog, British Vogue, and J-Crew. Depending on...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will describe his plan for spurring the economy in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, offering proposals for investments in infrastructure, manufacturing, clean energy and education, a senior administration official said on Saturday. In the annual presidential address to Congress, Obama plans to show he has not lost sight of the economic woes of middle-class Americans - issues that dominated the 2012 election campaign but have been overshadowed recently by efforts to cut the deficit, overhaul immigration laws and curb gun violence. "The potential success of his second term is hugely dependent...

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE SUBJECT: Determination with Respect to the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 Pursuant to section 404 of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 (CSPA) (title IV, Public Law 110-457), I hereby determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive the application of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA with respect to Libya, South Sudan, and Yemen; and further determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive in part the application of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-eight innocent people, including 20 primary students, have been slaughtered in a mass shooting at an elementary school in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Their blood and tears demand no delay for the U.S. gun control. The massacre has triggered a new debate on gun control in the United States. However, this time, the public feels somewhat tired and helpless. The past six months have seen enough shooting rampages in the United States. Just three days ago, three people were shot dead at a shopping mall in Oregon. Two weeks ago, a football player shot...

As a freshman at Columbia University in 1970, future Attorney General Eric Holder participated in a five-day occupation of an abandoned Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) headquarters with a group of black students later described by the university’s Black Students’ Organization as “armed,” The Daily Caller has learned. Department of Justice spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler has not responded to questions from The Daily Caller about whether Holder himself was armed — and if so, with what sort of weapon. Holder was then among the leaders of the Student Afro-American Society (SAAS), which demanded that the former ROTC office be...

Three in four Americans feel they have little or nothing in common with Mitt Romney, while nearly 60 percent feel the same way about President Barack Obama, according to an Esquire/Yahoo! News poll. In the wake of Romney's remarks dismissing nearly half of Americans as self-identified victims who are dependent on government—videotaped at a donor event earlier this year and posted online this week by Mother Jones magazine—these new numbers are more bad news for a candidate struggling to connect with ordinary Americans. The margin of error for the survey, conducted shortly after the two national political conventions, is plus...

National Geographic Explorer’s Hall in Washington D.C. has hosted some of the most prestigious exhibits in America. Previous exhibits have included the Chinese terracotta warriors, as well as the James Caird, the lifeboat Sir Ernest Shackleton miraculously sailed from Antarctica to South Georgia Island in 1916. Currently it is hosting a curious exhibit through February 2013 entitled “1001 Inventions: Discover the Golden Age of Muslim Civilization.” This high tech, slickly produced exhibit explicitly seeks to debunk the “myth” that the dark ages were dark. The exhibit purports to provide examples of innovations from Muslim civilization, and some of the...

“I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes,” President Obama, September 12, 2008 Beginning January 1, 2013, ObamaCare imposes a 3.8% Medicare tax on unearned income of “high-income” taxpayers which could apply to proceeds from the sale of single family homes, townhouses, co-ops, condominiums, and even rental income, depending on your individual circumstances and any capital gains tax exclusions. Importantly, the “high income” thresholds are not...

America’s favorite cookie is stirring up more than milk today after Kraft Foods posted a gay pride Oreo on the cookie’s Facebook page. Oreo posted the photoshopped picture of an Oreo cookie stuffed with rainbow-colored layers of frosting Monday evening with the caption “Proudly support love!” Over the past 17 hours more than 157,000 people have “liked” the image, 40,000 people have shared it and 20,000 have commented on it. But while many of the comments were supportive, some Facebook users pledged to boycott the cookie because of the post. “I’ll never buy Oreo again,” one commenter wrote. “Disgusted...