Donetsk People's Republic has proclaimed itself a sovereign state and has asked Moscow to consider its accession into Russia, the Republic'€™s council said. “We, the people of Donetsk, based on results of the May 11 referendum and the declaration of sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic, declare that from now on DPR is now a sovereign state,” Republic Co-Chairman Denis Pushilin said [...]

Washington finally found its new bogeyman: Osama Bin Putin. Russia's celebrations of the 69th anniversary of the defeat of fascism in World War II come just days after Ukrainian neo-fascists enacted an appalling Odessa massacre. For those who know their history, the graphic symbolism speaks for itself. [...]

A historic, long-term deal for the delivery of Russian gas to China that has been 10 years in the making is 98 percent ready, Russia'€™s Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky has said. All that's needed are the two countries'€™ signatures, he added. [...]

The results of referendums have been announced in Donetsk and Lugansk Regions, showing the majority of voters support self-rule, amid an intensified military operation by Kiev which resulted in several deaths. [...]

The US Strategic Command, the agency responsible for country'€™s nuclear arsenal, will hold large-scale war games this week that will include 10 B-52 Stratofortresses and up to six B-2 Spirit bombers, along with other military and government agencies. The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber built to carry nuclear weapons. [...]

About 400 elite mercenaries from the notorious US private security firm Academi (formerly Blackwater) are taking part in the Ukrainian military operation against anti-government protesters in southeastern regions of the country, German media reports. [...]

Fracking requires twice or three times as many truck trips per well as older oil and gas extraction techniques. That could be reason for drilling areas in US witnessing a significant spike in traffic fatalities, new analysis suggests. [...]

The referendum is in full swing in Ukraine's Donetsk and Lugansk regions, seeking independence from the central government. Local self-defense forces boosted security, fearing that Kiev could stage provocations to disrupt the self-determination vote. [...]

The Kiev junta is the product of West regime change in Ukraine, an analyst says. A political analyst says the West is covering up a massacre in the Ukrainian city of Odessa that was carried out by neo-Nazis receiving orders from certain people in power. [...]

When a teenager called the police to say he didn't™ want to live at his house anymore, a local police officer jumped into action. But instead of bringing Child Protective Services, he brought friendship and a bed. Cameron Simmons, a 13-year-old in Sumter, SC, called police after fighting with his mom and said he was upset and that he didn’t want to live with his family anymore, WIS-TV reports. [...]

While the Obama administration insists that supporting Ukrainian Presidential elections are vital to national interests, some members of the US political elite are questioning the costs of getting involved. During a two hour House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, the US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland shared her assessment of the US role in Ukraine's crisis and the upcoming presiden [...]

A German medical jet which was to be hired by RT TV channel in order to pick up RT'€™s stringer, critically wounded during a military operation in Mariupol, was denied landing in the eastern Ukrainian city, gripped by unrest. [...]

While Cliven Bundy supporters praised the armed individuals who came to the defense of the Nevada rancher in his land rights dispute with the federal government, the FBI is now investigating them for possible criminal offenses. The armed standoff between the Bureau of Land Management and Bundy – who has refused to pay $1 million in animal grazing fees the government claims he’s owned since the [...]

Kiev'€™s forces are using heavy weaponry and tanks in the eastern city of Mariupol to storm the local Interior Ministry building, where police have barricaded inside. After residents began flocking to the scene, Kiev fighters opened fire on civilians. [...]

Vermont will become the first state to enact a law requiring labels on foods with genetically modified ingredients after the governor signed the bill into law on Thursday afternoon. The bill will go into effect in July 2016. "I am proud of Vermont for being the first state in the nation to ensure that Vermonters will know what is in their food. [...]

The families of soldiers who lost their lives in Kiev'€™s "€œanti-terrorist operation'€" in the south-east of Ukraine will be compensated by 1 million hryvnas (around $86,000), pledges a charity, newly founded in Ukraine. The initiative to create a special foundation to support the injured troops and the families of the deceased soldiers came from the Dnepropetrovsk Region’s National Defens [...]

A senior Russian MP has suggested the Commonwealth of Independent States set up its own Court of Human Rights to investigate the events that led the current Kiev regime taking power and the actions of pro-Maidan radicals against federalization supporters. [...]

The IMF has approved a $17 billion loan to Ukraine. The first $3.2 billion tranche has arrived on Wednesday. It’s essential to identify the conditions attached to this Mafia-style “loan.” Nothing remotely similar to reviving the Ukrainian economy is in play. The scheme is inextricably linked to the IMF’s notorious, one-size-fits-all “structural adjustment” policy, known to hundreds of [...]

A report on human rights violations, law abuses, use of torture, inhuman treatment and other crimes in Ukraine from the end of November 2013 to the end of March 2014, a so called "€˜White Book"€™, has been presented by the Russian Foreign Ministry. The authors compiled their facts by carefully monitoring Ukrainian, Russian and some Western media reports. [...]