WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US Department of Defense has no information regarding US nationals being taken hostage near the Syrian city of Deir Ez-Zor, Pentagon spokesperson Cmdr. Sean Robertson told Sputnik. Earlier on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Daesh* terrorists had recently begun expanding their presence on the left bank of the Euphrates river in Syria, taking nearly 700 peo [...]

A joint investigation headed by investigative journalist organization Corrective alongside French newspaper Le Monde and German broadcaster ARD uncovered a scandal involving "cum-ex" deals, which helped shareholders run off with profits at taxpayers' expense. [...]

VIENNA (Sputnik) - Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Thursday, commenting on Italy's 2019 draft budget, that Vienna had no intention to be accountable for someone else's debts and called on Rome to respect the euro convergence criteria, or the Maastricht criteria. [...]

New Avangard hypersonic glider warheads are just months away from entering military service, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, adding that Russia is the first in the world to develop the breakthrough technology. A hypersonic glider is a type of projectile that can fly and maneuver in the upper atmosphere at speeds of over Mach 5. [...]

The missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi appears to be dead, US President Donald Trump has told reporters, saying there would be “severe” consequences for whoever is behind it. [...]

Ukraine pursues the same policy against its own people that cost Georgia to lose territory after then-leader Mikhail Saakashvili’s war on Ossetia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, warning Kiev not to go down the same road. The Ukrainian authorities are not just leading the situation into a deadlock, they are pursuing an anti-state and anti-national policy,” the Russian leader said, speak [...]

"Flooding Europe with Democracy" | Public lecture at Vienna's University of Economics Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) is the largest business and ... in Europe, and it hosts 450 annual exchange students from 210 universities and 50 ... Students love to talk business at WU, but student activities, including sports ... With a public bus pass, you can not only get to class but [...]

Senior congressional lawmakers are calling for a radical overhaul in US relations with Saudi Arabia. But Trump’s indulgence to let Saudi rulers off the hook shows the strategic alliance is too important for US’ power interests. [...]

Journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s body was cut into pieces after his death at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago, a Turkish source has told CNN and Al Jazeera. The source told Al Jazeera that the murder took about seven minutes and said that Saudi forensics expert Saleh al-Tubaiqi dismembered Khashoggi’s body and asked his colleagues to listen to music while he did it. [...]

The US sanctions threat against Saudi Arabia will likely remain only a threat, analysts have told RT. The kingdom is a major buyer of American arms and is also a huge holder of US Treasury bonds which makes sanctions improbable. [...]

Washington’s aggressive policy against Moscow could be a sufficient reason behind the recent fall of the dollar’s share of global central-bank reserves, according to economist at US multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs.  Russia’s Central Bank has sold some $85 billion of its $150 billion holding of the US assets from April through June after the US Treasury Department announced new s [...]

The murder of columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul sparked international uproar. Germany says it will halt arms exports to Riyadh and calls on Western allies to follow suit. The Turkish president delivered a powerful statement claiming to have evidence that the operation was planned. Saudi Arabia's main ally, however, remains silent. Boris Malagurski asks why Washington is [...]

Although the Chinese government has not yet gone so far in the ever-escalating trade war as to sanction United States oil, imports are drying up anyway as Chinese buyers shy away from US crude. According to US Census Bureau data released last week, for the first time since 2016, China has halted purchases of US crude, importing zero barrels in August. [...]

Keen as ever on his idea of creating an American fighting force in space, US President Donald Trump has said it's a necessity for Washington, because its perceived top adversaries – Russia and China – are beating it to the punch. [...]

Construction is due to start on October 13 and will reportedly cover a number of French departments along the border. French authorities will set up a fence on the country’s border with Belgium to keep out the swine pest, which is spreading from the African continent, the French media outlet Republicain Lorrain reported, citing the prefect of the department Meurthe-et-Moselle. [...]

As China develops cutting-edge deep-sea surveillance, the nation’s navy is concurrently designing a satellite-mounted laser to locate and destroy enemy submarines. The satellite, which will be able to spot targets 500 meters below the surface, would also be used to gather data on the world's oceans, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported Monday. [...]

During operations to clear terrorist-controlled areas across the country in recent months, Syrian forces discovered countless caches of Western and Israeli-made weapons, munitions and supplies. Authorities in the town of Yalda, about 10 kilometers south of the Syrian capital, have discovered a large stock of weapons and ammunition carefully hidden inside a plastic water tank at a local farm [...]

The minister-president of the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania in northern Germany has lambasted critics of the gas pipeline project, who didn’t play with “open cards,” and rejected claims that the venture would make her country fully dependent of Russia as “nonsense.” [...]

ANKARA (Sputnik) – The Saudi authorities are not cooperating on the investigation into the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and in particular, are not letting Turkish prosecutors to the consulate building, Turkish Foreign Minister said on Saturday. [...]

Danish lawmakers have gone on the offensive against interference in public debate, sparking criticism that a new proposal, which could entail criminal liability for expressing opinions similar to those of Moscow, may become a step toward silencing public debate. According to a bill brought forward in local parliament, Danes could face a jail term if they voice dissent over the government's posi [...]

The statement came as the EU is struggling to negotiate refugee quotas and a common European framework to share responsibility for immigrant arrivals amid the ongoing migration crisis. Mass migration to the EU has actually planted a sort of a bomb under the bloc's architecture, and if the borders are not closed the current model will never be preserved, according to Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever [...]

The USS Harry Truman, a 104,000 ton Nimitz-class aircraft carrier capable of deploying some 90 combat and support aircraft, has entered the North Sea in preparation for Trident Juncture, a series of drills which are expected to become the largest alliance exercises in the region since the Cold War. [...]