Arms producer Kalashnikov and oil giant Rosneft are among Russian companies hit by a new round of EU sanctions, which have come into effect Friday morning upon being published in the EU Official Journal. The sanctions target the finance, energy and defense sectors. The union has restricted three Russian energy companies from raising long-term debt on European capital markets – Rosneft, Transn [...]

A highly-placed Defense Ministry official says that Russia may be forced to match the US Conventional Prompt Global Strike (CPGS) doctrine, which prescribes that a non-nuclear US missile must be able to hit any target on Earth within one hour. “Russia is capable of and will have to develop a similar system,” Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said during a public discussion of the Russian [...]

A federal judge ruled that the General Services Administration (GSA) wrongly infringed on the First Amendment rights of Occupy Eugene protesters by severely restricting the hours and days they were allowed to demonstrate. The group, an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement, sued the GSA for denying a permit so its members could protest in a public plaza in Eugene, Oregon in 2012. [...]

When Yahoo didn’t comply with a National Security Agency request to hand over user data under the PRISM surveillance program, the US government threatened it with daily fines of $250K, the company has revealed. Ron Bell, Yahoo’s general counsel, said in a blog post, that the company “refused to comply with what we viewed as unconstitutional and overbroad surveillance and challenged the US [...]

The EU “does not see or is unwilling to see” Russia’s efforts to establish peace in Ukraine, Moscow said in response to the bloc's new sanctions. Despite Brussels’ “non-constructive” policy, Moscow is committed to help implement the peace plan. “We are sorry that the European Union has adopted a new round of sanctions. We have repeatedly expressed our discontent with the previousl [...]

Moscow will take “appropriate measures” in response to possible new sanctions from the European Union, the Russian Foreign Ministry's spokesperson said. “On many levels, the Russian leadership has made it clear that we’ll take adequate measures and our response will be absolutely comparable with the actions by the EU,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman said at briefing in Moscow. [...]

Exclusive: More than seven weeks after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed in eastern Ukraine killing 298 people, a preliminary report failed to address the mystery of who shot the plane down. The Dutch investigators didn’t even try to sort through conflicting allegations and evidence, writes Robert Parry. Beyond confirming that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 apparently was shot down on July 17, [...]

From 1618 to 1648 Europe was torn apart by a devastating and ruthless war. It was waged with fanaticism nourished by religious extremism absolving soldiers from atrocities because it was God’s will and done in God’s name. Out of this debacle came the Westphalian system giving rise to the nation-state. Fundamentally the conflict was about who should have the right to define ethics, norms, va [...]

Prime Minister David Cameron is supportive of President Obama'€™s decision to authorize US airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria, Downing Street has confirmed. While UK government officials claim there are currently no plans for Britain to engage in airstrikes in Syria, such military action has not been ruled out in the future. [...]

Members from both sides of the US political spectrum say a Yes vote in Scotland's independence referendum may compromise the UK-US strategic relationship. A weakening of Washington's top military ally and the fate of the UK's nuclear arsenal are key. Representative Bradley Sherman [D-CA], who has vocally opposed the prospect of Scotland breaking away from the UK, said America’s foreign policy [...]

Banks worldwide are warning of the financial folly that would follow Scotland's decision to exit the United Kingdom. Scotland's big banks talk of relocating to London, and other businesses are watching currency and economic ripples as the decision nears. Scotland’s population of 5 million will go to the polls on September 18 to decide whether or not to break its 307-year union with the United [...]

The European Commission has suspended its aid to European farmers hit by the Russian import ban. The amount of submitted claims for some products is several times higher than EU’s annual trade with Russia, with some sources blaming Poland for the exaggerations. [...]

Anti-Englishness is driving the Scottish independence campaign, according to UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who says a split from England would fail to give Scots independence from EU bureaucrats in Brussels. Farage, who described PM David Cameron as epitomizing “all that the Scottish people viscerally loathe about England,” said he “has walked straight into a long-planned ambush.” [...]

France may take part in the US bombing campaign in Iraq aimed at crippling the Islamic State militant group if it would be called upon. "In Iraq... we support the formation of an inclusive government. We will participate if necessary in an aerial military action," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Wednesday in a speech in Paris. [...]

European Commission head Herman Van Rompuy confirmed the EU will unleash a new round of sanctions against Russia on September 12. The economic sanctions will reportedly target Russia's energy, finance, and defense sectors. The new limitations will come into effect after they are published in the official journal of the European Union on Friday. [...]

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht wants to see oil and natural gas exports from the US to Europe included in the forthcoming transatlantic trade deal which will create the world's largest free trade zone. Europe wants US oil and gas to help offset its dependence on Russian energy. About 30 percent of Europe’s total gas requirement comes from Russia, approximately half of that is vulnerable [...]

The majority of German citizens, for the first time in history, insist on less dependence on the United States in terms of their national security and diplomacy, according to a major survey released by the German Marshall Fund think-tank. The study published on Wednesday shows that most Germans want their country to take a more independent position from the United States, especially on issues a [...]

A"truly" international investigation of the Malaysia Airlines MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine is required, Russia's UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin, said, adding that there are too many blank spots in the newly released Dutch report on the tragedy. The document, released by the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) on Tuesday, said that the Malaysian Boeing-777 crash was the result of structural damage caused by a l [...]

The battalion's far-right volunteers' desire to 'bring the fight to Kiev' is a danger to post-conflict stability. "I have nothing against Russian nationalists, or a great Russia," said Dmitry, as we sped through the dark Mariupol night in a pickup truck, a machine gunner positioned in the back. "But Putin's not even a Russian. Putin's a Jew." [...]

The American fast-food giant witnessed a sharp decline in global profits in August, hit by the closure of its restaurants across Russia and a "rotten meat" scandal in China. McDonald’s earnings slid with stores open at least 13 months taking a worse-than-expected hit in August, falling 3.7 percent, the Oak Brook, Illinois-based hamburger chain said in astatementon Wednesday. This is the bigge [...]

The Russian president is starting his visit to Tajikistan to take part in a major SCO summit, discussing ways to boost cooperation and also the political bloc's policies regarding the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization unites Russia, China and ex-Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, all of which are Russia’s allies in trade, poli [...]

Ukraine's state-controlled gas transit company says Poland cut off reverse flows to Ukraine, alleging that a quarter of Russian gas imports to Poland went missing. Gazprom said it continues to supply the same amount of gas as previously. Uktransgaz CEO Igor Prokopiv accused Russia of reducing supplies to "disrupt reverse deliveries" from Poland. [...]