Washington once again dominated the world market for munitions, maintaining its top global weapon sales rank since the 20th century end of the first Cold War. US President Donald Trump has opened the floodgates of worldwide gun delivery, as a new report notes over $80 billion in arms sales notifications delivered to Congress in fiscal 2017 — continuing a legacy of America as the largest weapon [...]

A new high-speed bullet train has been rolled out by the Central Japan Railway (JR Tokai). It will debut in 2020 on the Tokaido Shinkansen line, running between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka. According to JR Tokai, the new Shinkansen N700S or Shinkansen ‘Supreme’ train will be smarter, sleeker and quieter. [...]

Ukrainian police and radicals have blocked Russian diplomatic missions to prevent voters from participating in the presidential election. The move was condemned by Russian officials as a “blatant violation of international law.” [...]

KASSEL (Germany) (Sputnik) - Moscow was Berlin's only foreign partner that provided Germany with additional natural gas during the cold period in early March, Mario Mehren, the CEO of the Wintershall energy company, said. [...]

Russians are going to the polls on Sunday to elect their president, who will govern the country for the next six years. There are over 108 million eligible voters in Russia and nearly 2 million people can vote abroad. Radio Sputnik spoke with Tom McGregor, political analyst and Asia-Pacific commentator at China’s national TV broadcaster – CNTV. [...]

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has lashed out at Russia, saying that the country is “becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive,” and insisted that the alliance must improve its defensive capabilities in the face of Russia’s nuclear threat. [...]

For Markus Bergfeld, whose children were allegedly taken away from the family and poisoned with psychotropic drugs, Russia is the last resort, the ex-German officer told the Russian newspaper Daily Storm. [...]

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - A group of US lawmakers led by Senator Bob Menendez told the State Department in a letter that any sale of Russian S-400 air defense system should lead to new punitive measures as stipulated in the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). [...]

Some 42 percent of elderly US citizens have less than $10,000 put aside for their golden years, according to the report by a personal finance resource GoBankingRates, which polled over 1,000 adults last month. The survey, carried out for the third consecutive year, suggests that a lack of planning and savings, along with a longer life expectancy, may shatter people’s retirement dreams. [...]

Those colorfully-dressed workers making sure your US short-haul domestic flight is properly packed, safely inspected and flight-ready are not paid enough, frequently requiring social services to live. Although employer American Airlines posted a shareholder-pleasing $1.9 billion profit in 2017, many of its workers are scrambling at the poverty line, selling their blood and receiving food stamps [...]

The US, the world’s leading debtor nation, has reached another questionable milestone in its seemingly headlong rush into economic oblivion. The combined debt of the United States has topped $21 trillion for the first time, according to government statistics, following an announcement a mere six months ago that the debt had hit $20 trillion for the first time. [...]

A mere two weeks ago, British Prime Minister Theresa May was a very unpopular politician hated by everyone and their dog because of her disastrous Brexit negotiations. Now, she's the leader of a "nation under attack" and all her sins are forgotten. [...]

Better let a scandal slide than risk a nuclear war. Secretary of Defense James Mattis is implicated in one of the largest business scandals of the past decades, described by the Securities and Exchange Commission as an “elaborate, years-long fraud” through which Theranos, led by CEO Elizabeth Holmes and president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, “exaggerated or made false statements about the com [...]

Applying the principle of cui bono – who benefits? – to the case of Sergei Skripal might lead investigators away from the Kremlin as the prime suspect and towards Western intelligence agencies, argues James O’Neill. The suspected nerve agent attack upon former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, which also affected his daughter in the English city of Salisbury last Sunday, has give [...]

The declining human rights standards on display with the Haspel and Pompeo nominations are the latest in a long line of policy failures that include the Obama administration’s lack of prosecutions of Bush-era torture, Nat Parry notes. President Donald Trump’s nominations of Gina Haspel to lead the CIA and Mike Pompeo to be America’s top diplomat are the latest indications of steadily erod [...]

Three countries agree with Britain that "it was highly likely that Russia was responsible for the attack." President Donald Trump has consistently refused to punish Russia for its attacks on the United States and around the world — but that changed somewhat today. [...]

A first-ever full-scale audit of the Pentagon’s massive military budget promises details that may upset some, but according to government officials will be worth its nearly $1 billion price tag. According to US Department of Defense (DoD) undersecretary David Norquist, the ongoing audit of the Pentagon's books — the first ever for the enormous American military — will be worth the nearly $1 [...]

Central banks around the world have been building up their gold stockpiles to make sure they are stored on soil they can trust. The National Bank of Hungary (MNB) says it is bringing back three tons of the country’s gold reserves stored at the Bank of England in London, Gold Seek reported. The move to repatriate 130 million dollars’ worth of gold from Budapest previously stored on Britis [...]

The choice of former CIA director Mike Pompeo as secretary of state, America's vow to strike against the Syrian government again and UK PM Theresa May's groundless accusations against Russia this week are parts of one very disturbing trend, geopolitical analyst Phil Butler told Sputnik. [...]

Ukrainian MP Nadezhda Savchenko, who was lauded as a hero for her role in the Donbass military campaign and her prosecution in Russia, is now accused of plotting to blow up the national parliament in Kiev. [...]

France has undermined Theresa May’s attempts to garner support for punitive action against Russia, saying it wants more proof Moscow was behind the Salisbury poisoning. It accused the PM of engaging in “fantasy politics.” On Wednesday, May announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats and the suspension of bilateral talks. [...]

A regional lawmaker from Germany has called Western sanctions against Russia “counterproductive,” and said accepting the choice that the Crimean people made in 2014 could bring peace to Ukraine. “I think that the sanctions introduced after Crimea held its referendum and was reunited with Russia are counterproductive. [...]