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Denmark retained the top spot in the rankings as the country perceived as most clean, while North Korea and Somalia were the worst performers, each scoring just eight on the TI scale to 100. The other top spots, from second to ninth, were occupied by Finland, Sweden, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore and Canada. In Transparency International's corruption perceptions index report for 2015, Nigeria ranked very low, at 136 out of 168 countries.

On Jan. 14, the National Park Service announced that Yosemite's iconic Ahwahnee Hotel will become the Majestic Yosemite Hotel on March 1. A news release explained that because of a trademark dispute with outgoing concessionaire Delaware North of Buffalo, N.Y., the Wawona Hotel will become Big Trees Lodge and Curry Village will become Half Dome Village. People readily saw a case of corporate greed. At Mother Jones, Kevin Drum posted a blog with a photo of company executives and the heading: "Meet the corporate suits who claim to own the trademark to 'Yosemite National Park.'" The next day, Drum conceded...

January 28, 2016 Byron York: GOP keeps door open for Trump to change mind; Trump says no by Byron York DES MOINES, Iowa - It's fair to say the Republican Party was stunned by Donald Trump's decision to boycott tonight's GOP presidential debate here in Des Moines. But because they were so surprised - never saw it coming - they realize they could be surprised again, and so are keeping the door open for Trump to change his mind and take part in the debate. Even after a full day to think about it, and even after Trump announced the...

First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter. Six days until Iowa, Trump is in clear command of GOP race These are words that most political observers, including us, didn't think we'd ever write six months ago: Less than a week before Iowa and two weeks before New Hampshire, Donald Trump is in clear control of the GOP presidential contest. If you don't want to take our word for it, just look at the polling out of Iowa, where Trump has topped...

How Tim Allen's 'Last Man Standing' Gets Away With Politically Incorrect Humor... ...As the ABC comedy prepares to mark its 100th episode threshold Jan. 29, its viewership is holding steady at 8.7 million, making the 20th Century Fox TV-produced multicam the No. 1 show in its Friday slot. THR sat down with the always irascible Tim Allen, 62, and talked about his return to network TV, how he relates to his right wing character and why he thinks Donald Trump "might be able to do the stuff that needs fixing." ...Why has the show gone after Hillary but not Trump?...

For election after election, contenders for the White House knew one thing they had to do to win Iowa's first-in-the-nation presidential caucus: pay homage to the state's corn ethanol industry. But a potential victory next week by Ted Cruz is threatening to explode that script...

This Monday, Iowa will kick off the 2016 presidential primary process. Iowans closely guard their station as residents of the first state in the union to voice their choice for the presidential nominee for the Republican and Democratic parties. Many of us non-Iowans are used to voting in primaries. For us, this means showing up on a certain day at our polling place between certain hours or sending in our absentee ballots before the primary date. In Iowa, the process works much differently. They caucus rather than vote. What does this mean? In the state's 99 counties, there exist 1,681...

Most uninsured Americans are sitting on the sidelines as sign-up season under the federal health law comes to a close, according to a new poll that signals the nation's historic gains in coverage are slowing. The survey released Thursday by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation finds that: -- Only 15 percent of the uninsured know this year's open enrollment deadline, which is Sunday. -- More than 7 in 10 say they have not tried to figure out if they qualify for the two main coverage expansions in the law, Medicaid and subsidized private health insurance. -- Only 1 in 100...

Politicians and environmentalists concerned about global warming are pushing policies to cut carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector. It's too bad they are pushing costly green energy technologies. ExxonMobil's annual energy report shows just how expensive it is to use green energy to cut CO2 emissions. Replacing coal power, for example, with wind or solar energy costs upwards of $100 and $200, respectively, per ton of CO2 reduced. That’s much more expensive than replacing coal with natural gas or simply improving vehicle engine efficiency. Pushing electric cars, however, is the most expensive way to reduce CO2 emissions, costing $800...

An Oklahoma couple is blaming a doctor’s advice for their recent shoplifting arrest. Jayson Harrison and Samantha Bevens were arrested for trying to steal $600 worth of items from a Broken Arrow Walmart, Fox 23 reports. After the couple’s arrest, they reportedly told police that they were seeing a doctor who told them to “pretend to shop” instead of stealing. According to Fox 23, they said the doctor told them to fill a shopping cart and leave it at the front of the store to fight the urge to steal. But, Harrison and Bevens ended up pushing the cart right...

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A lunch between the French and Iranian presidents in Paris was scrapped today because France refused to remove wine from the menu. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has been on a tour of Europe, signing billions of pounds worth of business deals with different nations, after economic sanctions against the country were lifted. He was due to dine with President Francois Hollande at an upmarket restaurant in the French capital.

Nano, a 20-year-old Norwegian woman, is featured by news outlet NRK P3 Verdens Rikeste Land, to reveal that she believes she's a cat trapped in a human's body. To live as her true self, Nano prefers to crawl on her hands and knees and communicate through meowing. She also claims she hates dogs ("Sometime I hiss when meeting dogs in the street," she says) but loves to sleep in sinks and on windowsills.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will be attending Donald Trump's Thursday night event, which is attempting to rival the GOP debate down the street in Iowa's capital city. According to a tweet, the 2016 candidate will participate in the undercard debate and then head off to Drake University, where Trump is holding his event after bolting from the debate as his disputes continue with Fox News and Megyn Kelly, who is set to co-moderate the event. Huckabee's announcement is part of a last ditch effort for the 2008 Iowa caucus victor to boost his standing with caucus-goers before Monday. Trump...

Real-estate mogul Donald Trump called the coming Fox News-hosted Republican debate a "total disaster" and shared a Twitter user's post that called Fox News host Megyn Kelly a "bimbo" during a raging series of tweets hours before he was set to boycott the Thursday-night debate. "The 'debate' tonight will be a total disaster — low ratings with advertisers and advertising rates dropping like a rock. I hate to see this," the Republican presidential front-runner wrote. The real-estate tycoon had told Fox host Bill O'Reilly on Wednesday night that he hoped Fox did "well," even though he said the network would...

An 18-year-old woman was shot on the Dan Ryan Expressway early Thursday morning, after getting into an argument with someone in another vehicle. Illinois State Police shut down the outbound lanes of the expressway for more than an hour while they investigated and searched for evidence, but no shell casings were found. Police said the woman was a passenger in a van whose occupants got into an argument with someone in a blue car at a gas station near 79th Street and Lafayette Avenue around 2:20 a.m. The victims then drove onto the southbound lanes of the Dan Ryan Expressway.

New NBC News/WSJ/Maris polls of IA, NH and SC show Trump winning all three for the GOP side. In Iowa, Trump has a 7 point lead over Cruz.

<p>WASHINGTON - Six people have been arrested after a man was assaulted on a Red Line train in an incident that may have involved up to 30 juveniles.</p> <p>The attack happened around 8:30 a.m. as the train stopped at the Gallery Place Metro station. Officers say 5 males and a female - all students at Woodrow Wilson High School in D.C. - punched the man in an assault described by Metro as a 'wolf pack attack.'</p>

Thursday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," host Joe Scarborough reacted to an interview hosted by Fox New Channel's Bill O'Reilly on the network's "The O'Reilly Factor" a night earlier with Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump. Scarborough mocked O'Reilly, who begged Trump to reconsider his decision not to appear in the network's GOP presidential debate in Des Moines, IA scheduled for later tonight.

On today's program, Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) confirmed they are willing to attend Trump's event tonight at Drake University. Asked if he would attend, Huckabee admitted, "we've put in a call to [Trump's] people and said that I'd be delighted to come." Though he has not heard back, Huckabee said, "if they say that they would be happy to have me, I'll be there." Santorum expressed an equal willingness to attend Trump's event tonight, revealing, "after the debate I'm not going to be doing anything, so, I guess, if it's a charitable thing for the...