US authorities have informed the Netherlands of being unable to provide additional information about a missile fired at the Malaysian Airlines Boeing, МН17, apart from a document sent in 2014, presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis has stated at the resumed hearings in the MH17 case. "The court asked whether classified satellite images of the missile launch, presented to Dutch special servic [...]

The emergence of the first vaccine against the coronavirus infection has sparked interest across the globe, as the drug promises not only an end to COVID-19-related deaths, but also a path to restoring a country's economy. After almost half a year of the battle against the coronavirus, a real ray of hope has appeared with the announcement of the first COVID-19 vaccine being registered in [...]

Almost twenty years ago, the US Department of Defense was involved in dismantling a chemical research institute in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, where the Novichok nerve agent was tested, according to the New York Times. A New York Times article published back in 1999 has revealed that the US closely cooperated with the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan to decontaminate the Chem [...]

International law has gradually been replaced with trial by public opinion and states have become obsessed with narrative control. Information wars and “fake news” are the natural consequences and trust in the media is collapsing. Much focus is devoted to the polarization of media coverage in domestic politics, although what is the state of affairs in the coverage of international politics? [...]

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. [...]

Officials argue that social distancing rules and the pressure brought by the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may be contributing to the rise in the number of suicides among US military service members. US military suicide rates have increased by at least 20% this year, in comparison to the same period last year, with Defence Department officials considering the COVID-19 pandemic a potentia [...]

The pilot's death, preliminarily ruled a suicide, has reopened claims about his possible role in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in the summer of 2014. Vladislav Voloshin, the Ukrainian combat pilot which some Russian investigative journalists have accused of responsibility for the MH17 disaster, allegedly shot himself Sunday at his home. [...]

Moscow will adequately respond to Washington's deployment of intermediate and short-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC), Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said."If American missiles are deployed in APAC, and it was once again confirmed to me yesterday that such missiles would be deployed, then the range of these missiles would reach the Russian Federation, coveri [...]

The US military has admitted that the United States is lagging behind Russia and China when it comes to hypersonic weapons development, according to The Hill. "Right now we are helpless," Republican US Senator James Inhofe, who sits on the Armed Services Committee, was quoted by The Hill as saying. [...]

The Covid-19 virus had been active in Italy months before it was first officially detected, new research has found, raising further questions about the true origins, extent and actual duration of the ongoing pandemic. The new groundbreaking study, conducted by scientists with Milan Institute of Cancer and the University of Siena, was published this week by the Tumori Journal. The research is based [...]

With secrecy surrounding the condition of poisoned double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Russian bloggers noticed that somebody logged in to Yulia Skripal's social media page when she was reportedly in critical condition. [...]

President Trump spent $3 million for recounts in two Wisconsin counties after the election — but so far the end result is 132 more votes for Joe Biden. Those new votes, all from Milwaukee County, now add to Biden’s lead of nearly 20,600 votes in the state. A recount in Wisconsin’s largest county demanded by President Donald Trump’s election campaign ended on Friday with the pres [...]

From the Archives:  As President Trump faces opposition from his generals to pull U.S. troops from Syria, here's a look back to a similar fix another new president had gotten himself into, as Ray McGovern reported on March 28, 2009. I was wrong. I had been saying that it would be naïve to take too seriously presidential candidate Barack Obama’s rhetoric regarding the need to escalate the war [...]

With the vaccine not providing immediate immunity to the coronavirus, over two hundred Israeli citizens have been diagnosed with the disease days after getting the Pfizer/BioNTech jabs, local media reported. The number of those who got Covid-19 despite being vaccinated was at around 240 people, according to data from Channel 13 News. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which the Israeli health au [...]

"Smart missiles should fly toward terrorists, not legal governments": Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman said in response to Donald Trump's tweet. Radio Sputnik discussed Donald Trump’s warning to launch strikes against Syria with Mark Taliano, an independent investigative reporter and author of the book 'Voices from Syria'. [...]

The scandal surrounding alleged manipulation of scientific data in the chemical weapons watchdog the OPCW, ignored by both the organization and the mainstream media, is only getting worse with time, a pro-whistleblower group said. A new statement from whistleblower-supporting organization the Courage Foundation complains that the leadership of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemica [...]

More than 90 percent of Germans want better relations with Russia, while more than three-quarters think US President Donald Trump represents a greater threat to world peace than Vladimir Putin, a new poll says. Painting Russia as a boogeyman and a threat to the West has been the narrative of both the mainstream media and a number of Western states for some time. [...]

They might be sleek and shiny, but Apple’s flagship mobile phones just aren’t living up to their flashy label any more, Russia’s most prominent digital entrepreneur has said, blasting the US company for restricting user choice. Pavel Durov, the Russian-born businessman who founded both the Telegram messaging service and the popular VKontakte social network, turned fire on the California [...]

After a stern warning about a calm before an economic storm, investor Peter Schiff has accused the US Federal Reserve of being oblivious to the upcoming crash. Seeking Alpha quotes Schiff as saying that yields have risen to levels unseen since the last financial crisis a decade ago, with yield curves currently flattening. [...]

Twenty years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, US and allied troops are finally leaving Afghanistan as the Taliban seem set to return to power. This failure has created a generation of conservatives opposed to US interventionism. This week, when asked whether the US mission in Afghanistan was a failure as American and NATO troops handed over Bagram airfield to the Afghan army, President Joe B [...]

Russia has decided not to participate in the increase in the World Bank's lending capacity and with good reason, analysts told Sputnik, suggesting that it doesn't seem logical for Moscow to fund the institution amid the US-led sanctions spree aimed against Russia. The World Bank's assets are being directed to fund reforms beneficial to transnational corporations, including those from the US, Va [...]

Washington's disorganised and haphazard pull-out from Kabul comes in sharp contrast to how the USSR left the country in February 1989, says American independent journalist Max Parry, recalling how the US political establishment tried to create a Vietnam-style Afghan quagmire for the Soviets, but eventually fell into its own trap. On 15 August, the US hastily evacuated its embassy staff fr [...]