Beijing is hiking up tariffs on more than 128 US imports, including fruit and pork, as part of a tit-for-tat response to US President Donald Trump’s $60 billion package of tariffs imposed against China. The additional fares, which range from 15 to 25 percent, will take effect on Monday, the Chinese Finance Ministry said on their website. [...]

Trump's appointment of well-known neocons Mike Pompeo and John Bolton as the next Secretary of State and National Security Advisor respectively proves that he's decisively embraced the neoconservative faction of the "deep state". The President used to rail against people like Pompeo and Bolton, especially the latter because of his hawkish views towards Iraq, but now he's depending on both o [...]

The looming April 9 first day on the job for Republican superhawk John Bolton as US President Donald Trump’s hand-picked national security advisor - replacing three-star General H.R. McMaster - has the Pentagon bracing for trouble. [...]

Although German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas positively assessed the decision of European countries to expel Russian diplomats, he still expressed hope that Moscow and Berlin will remain partners. The expulsion of Russian diplomats from Germany should be taken merely as a sign of solidarity with the UK and other EU member states, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said. [...]

During his annual Good Friday prayer address to the faithful, Catholic Pope Francis stated that he is 'ashamed' of our planet, as it is "fractured by divisions and wars." Under tight security, the Pontiff presided over the ritual — attended by about 20,000 — at Rome's ancient Colosseum that commemorates the death of Jesus of Nazareth, the religion's most prominent avatar. [...]

The Wall Street Journal is accused by its employees of attempting to suppress its own story after a senior editor allegedly tried to bury a deep dive into the 2008 global financial crisis and its aftermath. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published on Tuesday a graphics-heavy in-depth study on the aftermath of the world-shaking 2008 financial crisis, particularly noting that banking and investmen [...]

Russia has completed the development of small-caliber ammunition for its fifth generation fighter Su-57 (PAK FA). Russia’s fifth generation Su-57 fighter jets will be armed with the newly-designed Drel air bomb, the deputy head of the Techmash Concern, Alexander Kochkin said. [...]

The Russian Embassy has warned of the growing anti-Russian sentiments in Britain in the wake of the increasing tensions surrounding the Skripal case. The Russian Embassy has called on its citizens to reconsider their plans of traveling to the UK as well as sending their children to study English in the UK. [...]

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - UK Home Office explanations aggravate doubts about real reasons behind the search on board the Russian passenger aircraft in London, the Russian embassy in the United Kingdom said in a Saturday statement. "This is a clear attempt by the Minister to divert attention from the provocative actions by British law enforcement officers who have tried to search the aircraft without [...]

More and more people in Italy are asking plastic surgeons to make them look like Barbie or Ken. Carlo Gasperoni, an associate professor in aesthetic surgery at the University of Rome Tor Vergata commented on the issue in an interview with Sputnik. [...]

Israeli officials have rallied behind the IDF after calls at home and abroad for an independent probe into its use of force against Palestinian protesters at the border of the Gaza Strip on Friday. Violence erupted during demonstrations on ‘Land Day,’ an annual Palestinian protest against Israeli settlements. [...]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched a blistering attack on Benjamin Netanyahu, calling his Israeli counterpart the “leader of a terrorist state” following the deadly shooting of protesters in Gaza. Erdogan made the comments at his party’s congress in southern Turkey. Addressing the event, the president slammed Netanyahu’s criticism of Turkey’s military operation in Syria. [...]

Fashion icon Vivienne Westwood sent a message of support on RT to her friend Julian Assange, whose Internet access was cut off by the Ecuadorian Embassy in the UK, calling him a “hero” and a “brilliant” man. Westwood hailed Julian Assange on RT after being asked why she decided to come to the Ecuadorian Embassy. Holding what appears to be a UK passport, Westwood said she wanted to make a s [...]

Vienna refused to expel Russian diplomats not because it feared reprisal, but because it stands for open dialogue, Austria’s foreign minister said, decrying the UK’s attempts to lure the country into taking “certain measures.” Austria refrained from expelling Russian diplomats earlier this week, in contrast to its EU neighbors, who chose to rely on the UK’s assertion that Russia was behi [...]

On Monday, a number of European countries, as well as the United States and Canada, announced they were expelling Russian diplomats over the Skripal case. Radio Sputnik discussed the significance of the diplomatic response by the Western powers with Srdja Trifkovic, a US journalist and writer on international affairs. [...]

Germany has issued a permit for the construction and operation of an offshore section of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Germany in the Baltic Sea. “The BSH [Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany] issued the permit for this approximately 30-kilometres-long route section in accordance with the Federal Mining Act,” the company in charge of the pr [...]

Conservative columnist and author Ann Coulter late Tuesday accused President Trump of being an "ignoramus" who is "not giving us what he promised" during a stinging attack at Columbia University. The former pro-Trump writer lambasted the president over a perceived failure to deliver on key immigration promises in comments reported by The Daily Beast. [...]

Leaders of the two US military branches have warned that China is “weaponizing capital” - buying strategically valuable land from other countries to give themselves a military edge to “win without fighting.” During a House of Representatives Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on Thursday, US Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer told lawmakers that the issue of Chinese land [...]

Syrian forces continue to discover new evidence about the types of weapons, facilities, and tactics used by Islamist militants during their occupation of East Ghouta. The Syrian military found the Israeli-made weapons in the town of Harasta, about 10 kilometers from central Damascus, according to a Press TV report citing Syrian state television. [...]

Russia's Kalashnikov Concern, which is known throughout the world for its production of reliable AK assault rifles, has reportedly decided to foray into fresh fields. The Russian defense manufacturing concern Kalashnikov has agreed with State Corporation Rostec to acquire 60 percent of the shares of the Molniya research and production association, which developed the first-ever Soviet space [...]

This week, in an article published on the UK government's official website addressed to European media, Johnson wrote about the upcoming fourth anniversary of what he referred to as "the events which led to the illegal annexation of Crimea." Responding to British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's recent article about Moscow's "seizure" of Crimea from Ukraine, the Russian Embassy in London h [...]

A former head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has dismissed claims that Russia was behind the Salisbury chemical attack. The expert added that Iran was most recently known to have Novichok – not Russia. While the US, Europe and other nations have taken part in a mass expulsion of Russian diplomats following the UK’s claims that the Kremlin is ‘culpable’ for the [...]