The advanced Russian nuclear hypersonic glider entered combat service on Friday with the first regiment of Avangard-armed missiles now operational, the defense minister reported. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who reported the development to President Putin on Friday, said Avangard deployment was “a signatory event for the country and the armed forces.” [...]

The leadership of the chemical weapons watchdog took efforts to remove the paper trail of a dissenting report from Douma, Syria which pointed to a possible false flag operation there, leaked documents indicate.  In an internal email published by the transparency website WikiLeaks on Friday, a senior official from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) ordered that the doc [...]

On Friday, US President Donald Trump signed the FY2020 National Defence Authorisation Act into law, with its provisions including sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. A day later, the Treasury confirmed that the restrictions had snapped into place. [...]

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is going to be completed despite the latest US sanctions, former US diplomat Jim Jatras told RT, adding that the last-ditch attempt to derail its launch is a gesture of despair by Washington. [...]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to close US and NATO military bases in Turkey after the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Wednesday, approved a bill imposing sanctions on Ankara after its offensive in Syria and purchase of Russian S-400 missile systems. 'If necessary, we can close Incirlik, and we can close Kurecik", Erdogan told Turkish channel Haber TV on Sunday. [...]

Earlier US President Donald Trump enacted the $738 billion National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA), a military budget package for the coming year that includes sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on new US sanctions against the Nord Stream-2 and Turkish Stream pipelines, saying that the state, with its historically unpr [...]

India is upbeat following talks in the US, where political and defensive initiatives were laid out amid a climate of tension between the US and China. But can Washington be trusted to live up to its end of the bargain? Judging by Washington’s dismal track record for trashing treaties and agreements, it’s hard to imagine that American diplomats have much work to do these days. As many countries [...]

Allseas, a Swiss-Dutch company laying the Nord Stream 2 pipeline off the Danish coast, has announced it is suspending its work and will pull out of the project after being faced with an avalanche of sanctions by the US. The company, which operates two vessels installing deep-sea pipes for Nord Stream 2 on the bottom of the Baltic Sea, released its statement just before US President Donald Trump si [...]

‘A Hidden Life’ by Terrence Malick celebrates an Austrian farmer’s Christian principled opposition to Hitler, and any attempts to draw a parallel between the movie and anti-Trump resistance are myopic at best. The new film is the true story of Franz Jagerstatter, a Catholic farmer in Austria who is conscripted into the German Army during WWII and must choose between his conscience, and pledg [...]

Russian flagship carrier Aeroflot has formally canceled an order for 22 Boeing 787 Dreamliners valued at about $5.5 billion. This adds to the pressure on Boeing due to the grounding of 737 MAX jets after two recent crashes. The cancelation was not announced by either side but was buried in Boeing’s monthly order release. According to Reuters’ sources, the US plane maker faces the growing possi [...]

Chancellor Angela Merkel has insisted that Berlin will not give into pressure from Washington after the US Senate approved a bill sanctioning German companies working on a pipeline that will deliver natural gas from Russia. During Wednesday’s Q&A session in parliament, lawmakers asked Merkel about the possibility of the US slapping sanctions on German companies building the Nord Stream 2 pip [...]

The national carrier of Pakistan may purchase Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ-100) planes, according to Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov, who is currently in Islamabad on an official visit. “We interact directly with Pakistan Air. We have agreed that in January we will continue working on it, taking into account the fact that we must work out the destination network together with o [...]

Russia’s Roscongress Foundation and the Qatar Investment Promotion Agency have inked a document during the Doha Forum that sets up a joint working group for coordination of investment activities and business projects. The agreement was signed on Sunday, when a Russian delegation held a panel session titled ‘Developing the High-Tech Sector in Russia: Prospects for Venture Investment’ on the s [...]

Russia's space agency says it has developed a new way of allowing Soyuz spacecraft to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) three times faster, reducing fuel burn and the impact on cosmonauts. The innovation reduces the number of orbits a Soyuz craft makes around the Earth before reaching the ISS, Roscosmos explained. [...]

When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to close a vital airbase used by American forces, he wasn’t bluffing, and Washington should take his threats at face value, or risk losing a NATO ally, analysts say. [...]

Dozens of people were injured and hospitalized in Beirut during street battles between thousands of anti-government protesters and armed police amid a worsening political and economic crisis in Lebanon. Protesters hurled debris, bottles and fireworks while police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon to disperse the crowds on a second night of unrest in the capital this past weekend. [...]

As the US braces to slap sanctions on European firms building the last leg of the Russia-Germany Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a senior MP in Berlin argues that formal protests don’t work anymore – but a strong response could. [...]

Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara will not abandon the Russian S-400 air defence systems in order to buy American Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a statement that Ankara may insist that the US leave Incirlik air base if Washington goes ahead with the sanctions it has threatened in response to Turkey's purchase [...]

In mid-October, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported that fresh security requirements for telecommunications networks in Germany does not contain a clause to keep Huawei from taking part in the construction of 5G infrastructure. Washington has repeatedly warned Berlin over Huawei taking part in developing Germany’s 5G infrastructure. [...]

Washington has repeatedly threatened to sanction Turkey over its decision to buy the Russian air defense system, and moved to halt the delivery of F-35 fighter jets to Ankara over the purchase earlier this year. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has passed the 'Promoting American National Security and Preventing the Resurgence of ISIS Act', which includes sanctions against Turkey over its dec [...]

Former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl was left impressed with Russian President Vladimir Putin's gallant behavior after the two waltzed at Kneissl's headline-grabbing wedding last year. "President Putin is an old-school gentleman. He has a special kind of manners that we don't see enough today, including in Central Europe," the diplomat told TASS on Monday. [...]

The military aircraft, created in 1964 still remains faster than any other fighter plane even from the fourth and fifth generations. The world's fastest fighter jet, the MiG-25 (NATO reporting name Foxbat) frightened the US and its NATO allies when it was designed by the Soviet Union, according to the military-themed portal We Are the Mighty. [...]