Marine Le Pen’s loss of EU Parliament immunity is going to help her get elected: French people and other Europeans see it as a plot by the establishment to silence her, it shows the EU Parliament is undemocratic, says David Coburn, UKIP MEP. [...]

The European Parliament has passed a non-binding resolution calling on Brussels to force Americans to apply for visas before visiting Europe unless Washington adheres to a visa reciprocity policy and stops discriminating against eastern EU citizens. [...]

Ankara has partially blocked its participation in some NATO projects, including political events and military drills, amid a diplomatic row over the cancelation of Turkish rallies in several European countries. A spokeswoman for Ankara's mission to the military alliance said on Thursday that Turkey's withdrawal is only aimed at Austria. [...]

Deep and immediate cuts to National Institutes of Health and other agencies would amount to "throwing progress out the window" Lawmakers, scientists, and advocacy groups are decrying President Donald Trump's proposed cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), saying they represent another broken campaign promise and a "heartless" attack on critical medical research. [...]

On March 25, the leaders of the 27 EU member-states signed a declaration to “restart” the badly divided European Union. In an interview with Sputnik, Gian Micalessin, a military reporter with the Italian newspaper Il Giornale, spoke about the political crisis facing the EU and its future relations with Russia. [...]

Maine resident Garry Godfrey spent nine years on a transplant list, waiting for a new kidney. Then he was abruptly bumped off because of a hospital policy that forbids transplants for smokers of medical marijuana. [...]

The Russian military outlined the threats coming from a new missile defense system the United States is building across the world, explaining that Russia has to deliver an adequate response. Military expert Andrey Golovatyuk pointed out that Russia has reasons to be concerned. [...]

NATO is offering jobs to Russian-speaking actors ready to play civilians in the alliance’s military drills, according to a job advertisement on the official website for the city of Berlin. NATO is offering jobs to Russian-speaking actors ready to play civilians in the alliance’s military drills, according to a job advertisement on the official website for the city of Berlin. [...]

The ruble continues its seemingly unstoppable rally boosted by foreign investors seeking high yield returns. The currency has gained over 30 percent against the US dollar in just over a year. On Thursday, the ruble rose 0.4 percent versus the greenback and was trading at 56.35 at 7:35am GMT, and gained 0.6 percent to 60.60 against the euro.   [...]

The humanitarian plight of war-torn Mosul has “escalated to the limit,” with the Iraqi president comparing it to a “full-on catastrophe,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said. “It’s time to toll the alarm bells,” the official added.   [...]

At a news conference in the Turkish capital, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appeared to suggest the end of Bashar Assad’s presidency was no longer a prerequisite for a way out of the Syrian crisis, in a U-turn from Washington’s long-held policy. “I think the ... longer term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people,” said Tillerson at a joint conference with Tu [...]

Accusations that Russia interfered in last year's U.S. elections are "lies" used for "domestic American politics," Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. "We said on numerous occasions and I reiterate that we are confident … and know for sure that opinion polls in the United States show that very many people are … friendly towards the Russian Federation, and I'd like to tell these [...]

It sounds like something out of The Simpsons, a church that suddenly turns into a pub. Yes it is true - after every weekly holy mass service on a Sunday, the local church in a small town in Belgium, called Brielen, converts into a pub so that the parishioners can enjoy a glass of wine or beer with one another. [...]

Americans have shown that they strongly refute almost every aspect of the proposed budget of US President Donald Trump, a plan described as perfectly mirroring the agenda of his extremely wealthy cabinet members. A new Quinnipiac poll published Friday revealed that a wide majority of US citizens oppose the sweeping cuts proposed by Trump to popular long-term government programs. [...]

RT America has been nominated for a prestigious Emmy award that recognizes excellence in US journalism, the channel’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, told Sputnik on Thursday. The News & Documentary Emmy Awards are administered by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) to recognize outstanding achievement in broadcast journalism and documentary programming a [...]

Analysts in the US have called on the government to invest more in the Arctic in order to rival Russia's economic development there, but such a comparison is misplaced, Heather Exner-Pirot, Managing Editor of the Arctic Yearbook, told Radio Sputnik. [...]

The complex Obamacare system struggled to gain popularity, but now that Republicans are moving to replace it with a less generous program, many medical professionals are irate, reports Dennis J Bernstein. By Dennis J Bernstein President Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan are twisting congressional arms to get enough votes to push through repeal of the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a [...]

The anti-Russia hysteria gripping the Democratic Party marks a “trading places” moment as the Democrats embrace the New Cold War and the New McCarthyism, flipping the script on Republicans, writes Robert Parry. Caught up in the frenzy to delegitimize Donald Trump by blaming his victory on Russian meddling, national Democrats are finishing the transformation of their party from one that was [...]

US Army Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Mike Murray has told a Senate Armed Services subcommittee that the US faces falling behind other countries in the area of tank technology, saying that other nations, including Israel, the UK and particularly Russia are close to catching up. Russian observers ponder the significance of the general's remarks. [...]

Afghanistan has long been called the “graveyard of empires,” the site of failed invasions. But the U.S. – in its 15-plus-year endeavor – seems determined to dig its own grave there, as ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar describes. Fifteen years and counting. America’s longest war keeps getting longer. The very duration of the expedition, with an end no more in sight now than it had been [...]

The mainstream U.S. media obsesses over Russian “propaganda” yet the U.S. government created a “psyops” bureaucracy three decades ago to flood the world with dubious information, reports Robert Parry. Newly declassified documents from the Reagan presidential library help explain how the U.S. government developed its sophisticated psychological operations capabilities that – over the p [...]

How does the latest US decision to impose sanctions against eight more Russian companies play into the Trump administration’s promise to improve relations with Moscow? RT spoke with experts. The restrictive measures were introduced against such companies as Russia’s main weapons exporter Rosobornexport and Aviaexport over their alleged violation of US non-proliferation law concerning Iran, [...]