On Monday, a number of European countries, as well as the United States and Canada, announced they were expelling Russian diplomats over the Skripal case. Radio Sputnik discussed the significance of the diplomatic response by the Western powers with Srdja Trifkovic, a US journalist and writer on international affairs. [...]

BEIJING (Sputnik) – Liberalization of the Chinese banking legislation provides Russian banks with an opportunity to receive full-fledged licenses for their work in China, Russia's Trade Representative in the Asian country, Sergey Iniushin, told Sputnik. [...]

BP, the company behind the deadly Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster, the biggest in history, has claimed an oil spill off the South Australian coast would be a good thing, as the clean up would boost local economies. BP made the outlandish claim as part of its bid to drill for oil in the pristine Great Australian Blight. [...]

Tensions have spiked between Russia and the UK, following the doxing of personal information and pictures of state-funded media employees in both countries. So where will the escalating tensions lead? Sputnik has discussed the issue with Journalist Ollie Richardson. [...]

Earlier in the day, the US President took to Twitter to call for Russia to “get ready” for “nice and new and smart” missiles in Syria as a response to the alleged chemical attack in Douma – the tweet was followed by another one, urging Moscow to stop what he described as an “arms race.” After threatening to attack Syria, POTUS scaled back the rhetoric 40 minutes later with his  [...]

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. [...]

Orders for Russian-made weaponry surged significantly in 2017 with Russia’s state weapons exporter clinching deals worth $15 billion with 53 nations, according to the company’s director general and CEO Aleksandr Mikheev. The company’s order portfolio saw fresh growth after a 2016 decline, when Rosoboronexport signed contracts worth just $9.5 billion. The current stock of orders is reportedly [...]

A TSA agent has jumped off a hotel balcony inside Orlando International Airport in an apparent suicide. The incident saw panicked passengers rushing through checkpoints, causing nearly 100 flights to be cancelled. [...]

Just 12 hours after being confirmed as the 70th US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo began shuttling around the world to show that the State Department is back in business after a lull under Rex Tillerson. But what trajectory can we expect US diplomacy to take under the new chief who is a known advocate of bombing first, asking questions later? [...]

US State Secretary Mike Pompeo's quest to scare Hungary away from dealing with Russia and China appears to have turned sour, as Budapest said it's fed up with lectures about its foreign policy. [...]

A former footballer and sports broadcaster, Icke has been known since the 1990s as a professional conspiracy theorist, calling himself a "full time investigator into who and what is really controlling the world." He is the author of over 20 books and numerous DVDs, and has lectured in over 25 countries, speaking for up to 10 hours to audiences that cut across the political spectrum. Icke was a [...]

Ratings agency S&P Global said governments are continuing to run up huge debt levels and will borrow an equivalent of $7.78 trillion this year, which would be up 3.2 percent on 2018. That will come as another jump in borrowing to take the global mountain of sovereign debt to $50 trillion in 2019. [...]

Comedian Lee Camp on his show Redacted Tonight recalls the first-ever audit of the Pentagon, which is taking 2,400 auditors to do the job, trying to understand where $21 trillion in unsupported adjustments went. In his show, Camp recalled that a couple of years ago professor Mark Skidmore of Michigan State University heard Catherine Austin Fitts, former Assistant Secretary in the Department of Hou [...]

Hacktivist group Anonymous has reported that more than 5,500 Twitter accounts belonging to Islamic State have been taken down. It comes after the collective declared a “total war” on the militant group following the Paris attacks. Tweeting from its #OpParis account, Anonymous stated: “We report that more than 5500 Twitter account (sic) of #ISIS are now #down! #OpParis #Anonymous #ExpectU [...]

Following the defeat of the UK government over its Brexit deal on Tuesday and ahead of the decision on a no-deal exit on Wednesday, the EU27 hold a unanimous view, according to the Austrian Chancellor. [...]

In spite of US threats, the EU is all set to protect its economic interests in Iran and has started implementing a 1996 law that would prohibit European companies from complying with any sanctions the US would reintroduce against Tehran. “Europe should be grateful to President Trump, because thanks to him we have got rid of old illusions,” European Council President Donald Tusk said at the sta [...]

Remember those old ads showing a senior couple lounging on a warm beach, captioned “Let your money work for you”? Or the scene in Mary Poppins where young Michael is being advised to put his tuppence in the bank, so that it can compound into “all manner of private enterprise,” including “bonds, chattels, dividends, shares, shipyards, amalgamations . . . .”? [...]

Italy’s endorsement of China’s global integration model – the Belt and Road Initiative – has caused ructions in the transatlantic alliance and also between members of the European Union delineating the bloc’s North-South divide. [...]

About 40 leaders of the world's largest investment funds with total assets of over $13.5 trillion will participate in SPIEF 2018. They will discuss with President Putin the “unjustified” assumptions about isolating Russia. According to the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev, about 40 leaders of the world's largest investment funds from 20 countries with total assets of [...]

Ankara says the Russian Su-24 frontline bomber was downed after it violated Turkish airspace for 17 seconds. Russian military says the jet never entered Turkish territory and the F-16 fighter itself breached Syrian airspace. The Russian Su-24M tactical bomber performing a combat sortie over the territory of Syria in the vicinity of the Turkish border was brought down by a Turkish Air Force figh [...]

Saudi King Salman said he “absolutely rejects” any steps that would undermine Syrian sovereignty over the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, after US President Donald Trump recognized the area as Israeli territory. [...]

Thousands of naked women descended on an Irish beach to break the world’s record for the biggest group skinny dip. The ‘Strip and Dip’ event took place at the Maghermore Beach in Wicklow on Friday. Women from across Ireland and beyond gathered in an attempt to create biggest ever mass naked swim. [...]