While it has long been clear that countries under US sanctions are more than motivated to turn their backs to the iconic greenbacks, the central bank’s interim review has shed some light on which economic zone Russia is intent to place its stake instead. [...]

Chinese investments in North America and Europe fell by 73 percent last year as a result of tightened US scrutiny of foreign takeover deals and Beijing’s restrictions on outbound investments. Data from law firm Baker & McKenzie showed that Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into the United States have also turned negative, falling to the lowest in seven years. [...]

Trade turnover between Russia and China soared by nearly 30 percent in 2018, reaching a record number of $107.06 billion, according to the latest report released by China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC). The agency noted that last year Russian imports of Chinese goods increased by 12 percent to $47.98 billion. [...]

Washington’s attempts to derail the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project to supply Russian natural gas to the European Union will definitely backfire, according to a geopolitical expert Dr. Pierre-Emmanuel Thomann. [...]

Donald Trump wasn’t bluffing when he vowed to cripple Turkey economically if it attacks Syria’s Kurds, analysts told RT. The move, however, would likely have serious negative repercussions for Washington. [...]

The cash-strapped US Coast Guard has quietly removed a “tip sheet” it had posted on its website suggesting that employees hold garage sales, babysit, or take up other odd jobs to make ends meet during the government shutdown. [...]

With Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) entering the 2020 presidential fray, establishment figures on both Right and Left are scrambling to smear the anti-war congresswoman with impeccable identity-politics bona fides. [...]

Integrity Initiative’s crusade to create a lockstep anti-Russia narrative in Europe and the US has hit a roadblock: According to the shadowy organization, Norwegians are too skeptical of US politics and not adequately anti-Russia. [...]

The current shutdown of the US government has become the longest in the nation’s history, as unpaid federal employees walk off the job in increasing numbers. An estimated 800,000 federal workers employed by the US government are starting to feel the pinch as Friday paychecks were missed and key travel security sectors — particularly in airports — are seeing walkouts, according to multiple re [...]

The US House of Representatives has endorsed legislation terminating a partial government shutdown in spite of President Donald Trump’s demand for border wall financing. Radio Sputnik has discussed the recent developments surrounding the government shutdown with Shane Hazel, a former US congressional candidate from the GOP. [...]

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has lashed out at the US for its position on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Former Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schroeder said Saturday that the US has its own energy interests in Europe, which explains the pressure Washington is exerting on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. [...]

The five-meter-high avalanche descended near Peak Sentis on the Schwagalp Pass as a result of heavy snowfall; the search for the missing is underway, according to Swiss German daily Tagblatt. An avalanche hit the restaurant of the Hotel Santis in Schwagalp in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in eastern Switzerland on Thursday, according to media reports. [...]

Earlier, UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson boasted that Britain's new fleet of F-35s served as a message to the country's "enemies", including Russia, not to "mess with" Britain. Moscow is perplexed by the militaristic tone taken by the UK Ministry of Defence, and will respond appropriately if Russia's security is threatened, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. [...]

Washington’s criticism of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project to deliver Russian gas to Europe bypassing transit countries has been strongly rejected by German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. [...]

Earth’s magnetic field, the basis for modern global navigation systems, is constantly in some state of flux. However, it now seems to be going haywire, pushing the North Pole closer to Siberia, and no one’s sure why. [...]

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the US a “force for good” in the Middle East. A closer look at the evidence reveals this to be the greatest lie ever told in the era of “fake news.” [...]

Where should I retire?" This is the question we hear most often at International Living, and every January we give you our most definitive answer in the form of our Annual Global Retirement Index. [...]

An international group of hackers is threatening to "bury" the US government with so-far-undisclosed sensational information regarding the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers. The hackers seem to be driven by economic motives rather than truth-seeking as they claim that the government can buy out potentially compromising data. [...]

The Central Bank of Russia has moved further away from reliance on the US dollar and has axed its share in the country’s foreign reserves to a historic low, transferring about $100 billion into euro, Japanese yen and Chinese yuan. [...]

One of the main concerns of any person looking to retire overseas is the quality of healthcare. Is it possible to get medical treatment as good as what’s available in the U.S. and Canada? The answer…a resounding yes. Sometimes it’s even better than what’s on offer at home, and at a more affordable price too. [...]

The USSR and then Russia on the one side and Japan on the other never signed a peace treaty after the end of the Second World War largely due to the unresolved issue of sovereignty over the Kuril Islands. [...]

Over 61,000 professional aircraft pilots are telling Trump to end the government shutdown, warning of security threats in US skies. With US President Donald Trump hunkered down in the White House tweeting his new "presidential harassment" slogan regarding the growing political opposition on Capitol Hill at the hands of a newly Democratic House of Representatives, US airline pilots have released on [...]