The current administration is afraid of competition in the international arena in a number of directions, and behaves tougher than the Obama administration, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday. "It seems to me that despite President Trump's line during the election campaign, this legacy, unfortunately, has been preserved in the actions of the current US administration, [...]

The United States is afraid of fair competition in the energy sector, and is hampering the implementation of the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. [...]

An appearance by the two together would be seen as a global counterbalance to Trump’s isolationist ‘America first’ political rhetoric. Following a Friday announcement that German Chancellor Angela Merkel has forged a preliminary coalition agreement with center-left Social Democrats (SPD) in Berlin, officials have noted that the leader may travel to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, br [...]

Sixteen-year-old Ahed Tamimi may not be what Israelis had in mind when, over many years, they criticised Palestinians for not producing a Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela. Eventually, colonised peoples bring to the fore a figure best suited to challenge the rotten values at the core of the society oppressing them. Ahed is well qualified for the task. [...]

Ukraine’s hryvnia has hit rock bottom, now 34 against the euro. This is the lowest point for the Ukrainian currency ever tracked. The hryvnia has also plunged to a record low against the Russian ruble, trading at 4.99 hryvnia to 10 rubles. The Ukrainian currency is on its hat-trick against the US dollar. One dollar is worth 28.44 hryvnia; the historical record was 30.01 hryvnia in February 2015. [...]

Since the new Russia-China oil supply agreement took effect at the start of the year, PetroChina’s largest refinery has almost doubled the amount of Russian pipeline crude oil that it is processing. A senior industry source with direct knowledge of the volumes told Reuters, the 410,000-bpd PetroChina refinery in the northeast port city Dalian will process 260,000 bpd of Russian pipeline crude oi [...]

Hardly anyone will buy President Donald Trump’s explanation for his abruptly canceled visit to London next month. The real reason, no doubt, was to avoid embarrassing scenes of mass street protests marring his official welcome. Whatever has become of the so-called “special relationship”? [...]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has emerged a winner in the latest crisis around the Korean Peninsula, Russian president Vladimir Putin said. He believes Pyongyang is now trying to defuse tensions. [...]

Two Russian Syria-embedded journalists have put together a damning firsthand report on the true purpose of the secrecy-laden US military mission at At-Tanf, southern Syria. The Pentagon was forced to go into full public relations mode late last month amid fresh allegations by the Russian General Staff that US instructors were providing training assistance for some 350 ex-Daesh (ISIS) militant [...]

Twitter users have pointed out the irony of Donald Trump lamenting immigration from “s***hole countries” wishing to have “more people from places like Norway”: Why would Norwegians immigrate to the United States? Where people are far more likely to be shot, live in poverty, get no healthcare, get no paid parental leave or subsidized daycare, and see fewer women in political power. [...]

Donald Trump’s remarks on “s***hole countries” roused a righteous high-mindedness in his detractors. But a perusal of their own past quotes suggest they are quite capable of similar words – when one particular state is involved. [...]

Advanced weapon systems and lack of necessity for bases in foreign nations are key factors that will allow the Russian military to defend the nation, despite receiving far less funding than their US counterparts, Putin said. [...]

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has questioned the value of Britain’s ‘special relationship’ with the US, suggesting Washington is not actually the UK’s ‘most important ally,’ while criticizing Trump’s ‘endless offensive remarks.’ [...]

A passenger jet with over 160 on board slid off the runway in the Turkish city of Trabzon Saturday night and was left precariously perched atop a cliff edge, saved only by the freezing mud. "All 162 passengers, 2 pilots and 4 cabin crew have been disembarked safely from the aircraft. There has been no loss of life or injury to anyone on-board," [...]

The US-led coalition says it is helping to create a thousands-strong “Border Security Force” in Syria using Kurdish SDF militias. Washington's support, branded “unacceptable” by Ankara, is further straining bilateral ties. [...]

Moscow may act as mediator in the denuclearization talks between the two Koreas, as the nuclear issue affects Russia’s national interests, Leonid Slutsky, head of the State Duma’s International Affairs Committee, said. “It highly likely that efforts by international mediators will be required to promote the issue of denuclearization and the nuclear dossier" on the Korean peninsula, Slutsky s [...]

WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange has allegedly been issued an Ecuadorian ID in a bid to end his 5-year confinement. The UK Foreign Office reportedly rejected a request from Quito to grant the whistleblower diplomatic status. [...]

The Russian economy has recovered and is growing, according to President Vladimir Putin. Last year, Russian GDP grew after the recession of 2015 and 2016. The positive dynamic in the Russian economy goes on. We have a lower than expected budget deficit; our gold and foreign exchange reserves are growing.   [...]

The number of crimes committed by “foreigners” in Austria increased to 40 percent of the total in 2016, a new government report says. Interior Minister Herbert Kickl says a “strict asylum policy” is needed to tackle the issue. [...]

Russians are everywhere, and everything they do is an existential threat to democracy and the American way of life. So says the 200-page report published by Senate Democrats on behalf of one of the most outspoken Russia hawks. [...]

The CIA has been coordinating weapon deliveries on the Turkey-Syria border, German journalist Jurgen Todenhofer, who recently spoke with a Jabhat al-Nusra commander, told RT. He added that the US knows that the weapons it delivers to rebels end up with terrorists. [...]

The Pentagon said it is “concerned” about weapons falling into terrorists’ hands after Moscow said the drones used in the attacks on Russian bases in Syria could have only been supplied by a “technologically advanced state.” [...]