China raised the maximum speed of its popular Beijing-Shanghai bullet trains up to 350 kph Tuesday, following years of restrictions amid safety concerns. China’s Fuxings have once again become the world’s fastest trains with the journey between Beijing and Shanghai being reduced from 5 hours and 45 minutes to 4 hours and 28 minutes.

US President Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office Monday after a two-week vacation rife with chaos — and the dark clouds plaguing his fledgling presidency show no signs of clearing up. Seven months after taking office the real estate magnate’s approval rating has plunged to a record low.

Scientists at Stanford University in California say they have found lithium – which can be used for batteries – in supervolcanoes. The lead author of the report, Tom Benson, said the discovery could be great news for “clean, green energy.”

Russian scientists and local oil field services companies claim to have created a technology for thermochemical gas fracturing that could be an alternative to hydraulic fracturing and could increase oil production by between 1.7 and 6 times, Russia’s news agency RIA Novosti reports, citing the University of Tyumen’s press service.

The Turkish Stream gas pipeline project will be implemented on time, regardless of the new US law that expands sanctions against Moscow, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Friday. Novak explained that the contracts concerning the construction of the gas pipeline were concluded, and the construction was underway.

Commenting on the recent statement of White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon that the US is at ‘economic war’ with China, Hong Kong-based political scientist Joseph Cheng explained to Sputnik that the US, in fact, can’t do much to prevent Beijing from growing into the world’s economic leader and why the two countries should avoid […]

Amid expectations of the US launching investigations into China’s alleged theft of American intellectual property as well as unfair trade practices, Beijing appears unmoved by the imminent probe while US businesses fear reprisals in case the row unintentionally escalates. Washington is expected to soon announce investigations into how China tackles copyright protection, protectionism and market […]

The United States will most likely fail to oust Russia as the main supplier of gas to Europe, according to the Russian envoy to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov. “And if even Americans supplied liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe free of charge, they simply would not have had enough opportunity to replace Russian supplies,” Chizhov […]

Apple boss Tim Cook has become the latest executive to speak out against US President Donald Trump over Charlottesville violent protests. Tim Cook has criticized Donald Trump and his handling of the violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday, August 12, after a white nationalist rally turned ugly.

The latest US sanctions targeting Russia’s oil and gas sector will cause Gazprom some headaches in building the new gas pipeline to Germany, experts say. However, US restrictions are unlikely to stop the project. “The price of any project automatically increases,” Tatiana Mitrova, director of the Skolkovo Energy Center told Reuters.

Here’s hoping there’s rent control in China: Employees at a factory that manufactures apparel for Ivanka Trump’s clothing business earn just $62 each week, for 60 hours of work, it has been revealed. There are 80 workers at the plant, which produces clothing for Ivanka Trump’s eponymous brand as well as for Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, The Washington […]

Boom Technology has raised $33 million to build and fly its first prototype. The company hopes to eventually build an aircraft that can travel from New York to London in three hours and fifteen minutes, less than half the time it would take on a conventional aircraft – and at a price that may surprise […]

The proposed enlargement of BRICS (BRICS Plus) with the inclusion of powerful emerging economies would help fill the void created by US trade protectionism, international analyst Adrian Zelaia told Sputnik. Having analyzed Beijing’s idea to bring Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Nigeria, South Korea, Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam into the BRICS group, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, […]

The extent of WikiLeaks’ latest exposure is surprising and shocking, Australian researcher David Glance told Radio Sputnik, suggesting that the leak has dealt a heavy blow to both the CIA’s image and US national security. Meanwhile, WikiLeaks signals that it has released less than one percent of its damning Vault 7.

WikiLeaks is holding a press conference following the release of the first part of ‘Vault 7,’ the largest archive of CIA-related classified documents yet. Follow the live feed to find out more. Notice that there seem to be interruptions with the stream.