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. [...]

The Ukrainian parliament is to debate a law on amnesty for Ukrainian troops who have committed war crimes in the course of military actions in Eastern Ukraine. Earlier, an Amnesty International report confirmed the facts of large-scale crimes. A bill on amnesty for military personnel who committed war crimes during the military crackdown in Eastern Ukraine was introduced in the Rada (the Ukrain [...]

A group of high-profile trade unions have backed a growing campaign opposed to a new transatlantic trade deal critics claim will make the privatization of Britain's National Health Service (NHS) irreversible. Three of the UK’s largest unions have tendered motions to the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Liverpool, outlining their opposition to the cross-border agreement currently being negotiated [...]

Printable solar panels are going to be available to us very soon and could power "entire skyscrapers," Australian researchers say. The very near future will see personal electronic charging transformed, but the potential is growing quickly. A team of 50 scientists in various fields worked for years to develop paper-thin, printable solar panels as part of the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consort [...]

Russia is not going to get involved in a new arms race, President Vladimir Putin said as he ordered his government to work out “balanced and realistic” defense strategy for 2016 through 2025. “Someone really wants to unleash a new arms race,” Russia’s president said at a meeting with senior defense industry officials. “We, of course, are not going to be involved in this race.” [...]

Ukraine may face epidemics of preventable diseases like polio due to a government failure to stockpile vaccines and organize inoculation, the UN's health body warned. The shortage is aggravated by devaluation and a planned ban on Russian drugs. The healthcare system of Ukraine was not in good shape to start with, and the political crisis and the subsequent civil war further damaged it, the Worl [...]

USA Today reports: “President Obama spends Tuesday soliciting congressional support for expanded military action against the insurgent group known as the Islamic State.” The Jacksonville Journal-Courier in Illinois reports today: “President Barack Obama’s plans to expand the U.S. military role against Islamic extremist groups could overstep his authority, according to a longtime Jackson [...]

Reddit, Netflix, Foursquare, Mozilla, Vimeo, and Wordpress are backing the ‘Internet Slowdown’ protest against proposed US regulations that would segregate internet surfing speeds and kill “net neutrality.” The September 10 protest features a revolving icon – symbolizing slow connectivity – illustrating how losing net neutrality would harm websites and other online services. [...]

Three of Britain's mainstream party leaders have temporarily abandoned their seats of power in Westminster to travel to Scotland. The trip is part of a last-ditch effort to sway Scottish opinion toward a "No"™ vote in the upcoming independence referendum. Journeying separately and addressing different audiences throughout Scotland on Wednesday, Prime Minister David Cameron, Liberal Democrat le [...]

The Austrian authorities have stopped two schoolgirls who were willing to leave the country and join the jihadists in the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). A third girl was planning to join them, but was stopped by her mother. A 14-year-old girl and her friend, 15, both from Vienna, were earlier reported missing, said Interior Ministry official Alexander Marakovits. [...]

An Amnesty International report has confirmed that war crimes including abductions, executions and extortion were committed by the Ukrainian Aidar battalion in Lugansk region, eastern Ukraine, an official from Russia's Foreign Ministry says. “The report confirms large-scale crimes, including war [crimes] made routinely and under the aegis of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, by the leaders [...]

After international summits end, there is always a collective sigh of relief. So it was with the NATO meeting in Wales that ended on September 5. All NATO leaders got something out of the Euro-Atlantic gathering, even if it wasn’t what they had wanted during the run-up to the summit. There were reassurances for NATO’s Eastern European members and promises of technical assistance to Ukraine [...]

The fragile cease-fire in Ukraine appears to be holding, but President Vladimir Putin still has the upper hand. Increasingly, it looks like he intends to establish a Russian protectorate in eastern Ukraine. In the morning, when he drives from his apartment across from the German Embassy to his office in the Kiev city hall, everything seems normal. Outdoor cafés are humming with activity and [...]

Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged Germany to increase spending to spur the eurozone's flagging economic recovery, and said that a number of structural reforms are needed to revive the bloc’s growth. "We think that public or private investment (in Germany) to finance infrastructure would be welcome," Lagarde told French daily Les Echos in an interview o [...]

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said the state-owned oil giant Rosneft could receive more than $40 billion in financial aid from the Russian government. The country’s largest crude producer may receive up to $40.6 billion (1.5 trillion rubles) in assistance from Russia’s National Welfare Fund. [...]

Argentina will receive the first tranche of yuan worth up to $1 billion in a massive currency swap with China before the end of this year. The deal will boost the troubled economy's foreign reserves. It comes as part of a loan worth $11 billion signed in July by Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during hisLatin America tour- shortly before t [...]

Surging support for Scottish independence saw the pound fall to a 10-month low. The head of the "Better Together" campaign, however, denies panic among the ranks despite a plan to grant Scotland more powers if Scots reject independence. The latest opinion poll, conducted by YouGov and the Sunday Times, put the pro-independence movement in the lead for [...]

Ukrainian and American naval forces are taking part in joint maritime drills dubbed Sea Breeze 2014, which began on Monday in the northwestern part of the Black Sea and will last till September 10. “Today in the north-west part of the Black Sea, we are beginning the joint Navy exercises of Ukraine and the US, known as ‘Sea Breeze 2014’. The exercises will continue until September 10. The [...]

Arms firms that provide core military components for drones deployed by the US to conduct covert strikes in violation of international law allegedly bought access to NATO's summit in Wales last week, a British human rights charity says. The defense companies concerned doled out up to £300,000 to ‘exhibit’ their military wares at the conference in Newport. Among the firms present were Gener [...]