French presidential candidate and leader of the right-wing National Front party Marine Le Pen is gaining more support, leading with 25 to 26 percent of the vote, according to the latest Ipsos Sopra Steria survey, carried out for Cevipof and Le Monde. [...]

When former CIA Director Michael Morell suggested in his op-ed for The Cipher Brief that Edward Snowden should be presented as the “perfect inauguration gift” from Vladimir Putin to Donald Trump, Russians seemed offended by this tip. In fact, so much so, that Snowden’s asylum was extended for three more years two just after Morell made his argument. [...]

In the opinion of US Senator Rand Paul, "somebody needs to go to jail" for the #GoldenShowerGate 'scandal' that never was. "Look, the Intelligence Community has [had] a great loss of credibility in the past few years," Senator Paul, a Kentucky Republican, said. [...]

If NASA intends to continue sending astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) or the moon, the space agency has little choice but to rely on Roscosmos’ Soyuz spacecraft, at least until 2019. On Tuesday, NASA filed a "presolicitation" requesting that private firms reach out to NASA if they can transport astronauts to and from the orbital research platform. [...]

Judging from how the mainstream media has characterized the legacy of Barack Obama so far, the outgoing president will be most remembered for his many rousing aspirational speeches and well-timed shows of emotion. His talent as a persuasive public communicator and the strength of his personal brand, bolstered by years of apple-shining from liberal magazines and newspapers, has been Obama’s mo [...]

Greece's national rail company TrainOSE has been sold to Italy's state railway group Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) for €45 million ($48.1 million). The sale is part of Greece’s €86 billion bailout agreed with international creditors two years ago. [...]

The European Union should maintain a “strong” and “independent” approach in foreign and domestic policy, regardless of who the current US President is, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz told RT. The official spoke following a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in which they discussed ties between the EU and Moscow. [...]

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden is legally eligible to obtain Russian citizenship, his lawyer said, after it was announced that his asylum status had been extended for 3 more years. “Essentially, he now has every reason to apply for [Russian] citizenship in the future, in a while, as the law [states] that one needs to spend no less than 5 years on the territory of Russia [to be granted c [...]

A senior Crimean official has told reporters that residents of the region would welcome a visit by French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, as well as other politicians who support Crimeans’ choice of reunification with Russia. [...]

Moscow and Ankara are carrying out their first joint military operation against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in the Syrian province of Aleppo, the Russian Defense Ministry has announced. [...]

Leaders and top officials from the UK, Germany, and France have “grossly interfered” in US internal affairs, “campaigned” for Hillary Clinton, and openly “demonized” Donald Trump, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. [...]

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, nominated to be the new US ambassador to the UN, told the Senate she would “always stand by Israel” and took a hard line on Russia, clashing with positions taken by President-elect Donald Trump. [...]

Julian Assange’s lawyers are "assessing" the situation, following Chelsea Manning’s commutation announcement and Assange’s comments that he’s willing to make a deal with the US should the whistleblower be granted clemency. [...]

Since becoming the US Commander-in-Chief in 2008, Barack Obama charted a thinly veiled anti-Russia course that many failed to anticipate or appreciate due to the media-generated hype of “hope and change” that accompanied his rise to power. [...]

Trump advisor Anthony Scaramucci says US sanctions against Russia have, in fact, united the nation around President Putin and his government, having the opposite effect to that desired by Washington, largely due to the toughness of “Russian culture.” [...]

Slovakia’s prime minister says the EU will make it very “painful” for the UK to leave, setting an example for other countries, reports Ameera David. RT’s Peter Oliver on the latest round of German regional elections, where the right-wing AFD party made more gains. Bianca Facchinei on research showing that Volkswagen may not actually be the worst polluter in Europe. Alex Mihailovich has the [...]

A military security system, which would include Russia, should be set up instead of NATO, Sahra Wagenknecht, leader of the German Left party said in an interview, echoing Trump’s recent statements on NATO. [...]

Iran says it rejects any participation by US representatives at the scheduled Syria peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan. Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he believes US and UN representatives should be invited to the meeting. [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he has no grounds to attack or protect US President-elect Donald Trump, since he does not know him personally. He added though that those behind the recent allegations against Trump have "no moral scruples." [...]

The F-35 stealth fighter jet suffers from hundreds of problems and won’t be fully combat-capable before 2020, says a scathing report from the Pentagon’s top evaluator. New issues keep cropping up, and fixing them all may cost over $1 billion. [...]

A human rights spokesperson for Chancellor Merkel’s CDU is quitting the conservative party citing sharp discontent with the government’s “political will” to let thousands of unidentified refugees in, despite the risk of terrorists slipping through as well. [...]

While the US continues to publicly accuse Russia of numerous hacking attacks without providing any proof, it actually actively uses its own advantages in cyberspace for surveillance and intelligence purposes, Russia’s security chief has said. [...]