Russian space agency Roscosmos is considering building a spaceplane powered by a nuclear reactor, according to a memo obtained by a Russian news agency. The move could “reshape” the market for space launches, the document says. [...]

US hypocrisy over its self-righteous military attack on Syria over a recent alleged use of not-yet-verified chemical weapons in Douma raises the question: Is gassing bad, but OK for some countries? The reason for asking is the rush to judgment by the United States, Britain and France to bomb selected military locations in Syria, which these countries claim research and develop, manufacture and sto [...]

Donald Trump's decision to recognize Israel's annexation of the Syrian Golan has been met with condemnation by the international community, with the UN and Washington's Gulf and European allies slamming the move. [...]

Exports of Russian-produced aviation equipment surged by 46 percent in 2017 against the previous year, according to the latest report from the trade ministry. At the same time, production level in the sector grew by 12 percent to $7.538 billion. In 2017, Russian producers built and sold 133 planes and 213 helicopters, including SSJ-100 passenger planes, the twin-engine, two-seat fighter jet Su-30S [...]

As US crude exports soar, an unexpected issue is plaguing domestic producers, and it could completely derail the country’s oil boom. Two South Korean refiners have canceled the delivery of US crude oil cargoes that were due to arrive in January and February this year, Bloomberg reported earlier this week. [...]

President Xi Jinping shrewdly counters coming trade war with surprise offer to purchase America outright. President Donald Trump claimed on Monday that he working on “a huge deal with China that will bring more than $30 trillion into America. No president has ever done anything like this before and it’s all because of my tariff pressure! SMART!” In a series of tweets, Mr. Trump also called t [...]

Plus, other things that can help keep you mentally sharp. Call them magic mushrooms. Older people who eat more than two portions of mushrooms a week could cut their odds of having mild cognitive impairment (MCI) by 50%, according to a recent six-year study of Chinese men and women over age 60 that was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. [...]

The former boss of the NSA and CIA, Michael Hayden, predicts that the decision to re-impose sanctions on Iran despite protests from EU leaders will harm US relations with its allies and lead to a trans-Atlantic argument. Commenting to German media outlet Spiegel on the recent decision of the US president to abandon the 2015 JCPOA, the former head of the NSA and CIA, General Michael Hayden, stated: [...]

Nearly 20 US governors announced they would block the acceptance of thousands of migrants into their states, after at least two perpetrators of the Paris terrorist attacks were revealed to have entered France posing as refugees. The terrorist attacks in France that killed at least 129 people and injured over 350 more came as Europe has been accepting hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing th [...]

The volume of mutual trade between Russia and China finally reached $100 billion for the first time ever, according to Gao Feng, the Chinese commerce ministry's spokesman. [...]

Washington’s intention to re-impose the "toughest" sanctions on Iran appears to be playing into the hands of Chinese investors and oil futures traders, analysts have come to believe. Shanghai crude oil futures ISCc1 have recently seen a significant uptick in their trade volumes, which hit a record 250,000 lots last Wednesday, a day after Trump announced the US was withdrawing from the 2015 Iran [...]

The United States is continuing to buy Russian rocket engines which it once added to the list of sanctions, said Alexander Stadnik, Russia's trade representative to the US. The ban was lifted when the US realized its dependence on Russian rockets for its space program, according to him. [...]

Austrian Vice-Chancellor and leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) Heinz-Christian Strache announced earlier his resignation after he was purportedly filmed discussing what was described by the media as contracts with a Russian woman months before the 2017 election. [...]

Max Blumenthal, director and writer of ‘Killing Gaza,’ and Dan Cohen, the documentary’s editor and cinematographer, discuss their new production, which details Israeli war crimes committed against the people of Gaza. [...]

Turkey has taken responsibility for shooting down a Russian fighter jet near the border with neighboring Syria on Tuesday, as both Moscow and Ankara put forth conflicting narratives about what led to the incident which has sparked an emergency meeting of NATO allies and strong rebuke from Russian President Vladimir Putin. [...]

Lebanon's Defence Minister Elias Bou Saab has warned that the Lebanese Air Force will strike Israel's Ben Gurion airport in the event of a military conflict between the two states, the Jerusalem Post reported, citing Hezbollah's al-Manar news site. [...]

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia has cost the US taxpayer a whopping $17 million to date and returned no evidence of collusion. The investigation spent approximately $10 million between October 2017 and March this year, according to a Department of Justice report released Thursday. [...]

In what is a prime example of twisted logic, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Russia against using its ultra-modern S-400 air defense system to shoot down Turkish fighter jets if they violate Syrian airspace just days after Ankara brought down a Russian Su-24 bomber. Downing a Turkish warplane over Syrian territory would qualify as aggression, Erdogan told CNN in response to a question on [...]

Iran has shot down an American RQ-4 reconnaissance drone flying over Hormuzgan province, Tehran claims. The US military declined to comment. [...]

Donald Trump has unleashed a tsunami of internet snark after tweeting out praise for his self-declared writing abilities. The tweet, which included a rather untimely typo, even caught the eye of Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The US president, who has revolutionized the Art of the Tweet, took aim at the “Fake News” media and its preoccupation with “pouring over” his tweets in search of gramma [...]

President Erdogan's mistake in shooting down the Russian Su-24 bomber 'has waived the green light' for Russia to initiate a 'no-fly zone' by deploying additional fighter power and air defense systems in Syria, US columnist Jim W. Dean notes. The US-led coalition's recent provocation against the Russo-Syrian counter terrorism campaign has "put nothing but torpedoes into its own sinking internati [...]

The Spanish frigate was part of a US-led naval group that was sent to the Persian Gulf shortly before Tehran announced the suspension of some of its obligations under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal on 8 May. The move came exactly a year after the US unilaterally left the deal, also reinstating harsh anti-Iranian sanctions. [...]