US officials are making groundless assertions about Moscow’s involvement in the downing of flight MH17, former CIA and US State Department official Larry Johnson told RT. On July 29 Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) issued an open letter to President Obama calling him to immediately release the evidence on the Malaysian airplane downing in eastern Ukraine. [...]

US Senate report may confirm that Diego Garcia was used for extraordinary rendition after 9/11. The government stands accused of seeking to conceal Britain's role in extraordinary rendition, ahead of the release of a declassified intelligence report that exposes the use of torture at US secret prisons around the world. [...]

In the latest step by Washington to increase the pressure on Russia's border with Ukraine, the Obama administration has informed Congress that the US will train and arm the Ukrainian National Guard next year, the Pentagon said. "The Defense Department and State Department have notified Congress of our intent to use $19 million in global security contingency fund authority to train and equip fou [...]

The European Union has "quietly" agreed to lift restrictions supplying Kiev with military technology and equipment which can be used for the "repression" in the country, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "During a recent meeting of the Council of Europe in Brussels, leaders of EU member states agreed 'on the quiet' to remove restrictions on exports to Kiev of equipment that could be used for i [...]

Israel gets signals from the US that it can do whatever it wants, so Tel-Aviv keeps refurbishing its weapons so that it could kill more Gazans, independent researcher and writer Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich told RT. It seems that we are having incremental ceasefires for an incremental genocide. One has to understand the thinking that is behind all this as much as one does regret a single death; I do [...]

Potentially hundreds of thousands of people, including women and children, have been made homeless in just over three weeks, UNRWA spokesperson Christopher Gunnes told RT. ‘Only political actions and influence can make a difference in Gaza,’ Gunnes said. [...]

President Barack Obama made a rare acknowledgment during a Friday press briefing concerning the United States' past use of enhanced interrogation tactics in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. “In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, we did some things that were wrong. We did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks. We did things that were contrary to our val [...]

An old Soviet Tu-143 reconnaissance drone allegedly deployed by the Ukrainian army has crashed near Donetsk, with local militia - obviously not aware of what that monstrosity was - claiming in the video to have downed Kiev's weapon of mass destruction. The YouTube video of the downed drone claims the archaic unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was shot down “at approximatly 13:30 local time near Sh [...]

Moscow has upped the ante in its growing confrontation with Washington after releasing an incendiary statement, accusing the US of spinning and distorting facts to allege that Russia is testing a new cruise missile, banned by a landmark Cold War treaty. “Once again the US is trying (and again rather clumsily) to act as a mentor, for some reason pretending to possesses the truth in the last in [...]

Deadly, nearly untreatable superbugs known as CRE, dubbed "nightmare bacteria," have spread at an alarming rate throughout the southeastern region of the US in recent years, new research indicates. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have found cases of antibiotic-resistant CRE - or carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae - increased by at least a factor of five in community hospitals [...]

Recess begins without lawmakers acting on legislation to fund firefighting efforts in Oregon, Washington and California. President Obama had requested $615 million in emergency funding to help the U.S. Forest Service and Interior Department pay for firefighting efforts, and the Democratic-controlled Senate proposed a $2.7 billion spending bill to deal with both the wildfires and the influx of u [...]

The Senate overwhelmingly approved an emergency measure early Friday that could give $225 million in additional revenue to Israel for the country's Iron Dome missile defense system. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) received unanimous consent from his colleagues Friday morning when he asked them to consider approving the measure, The Hill reported. An attempt one day earlier by the S [...]

The West is tightening the financial screws on Moscow, but German companies are already feeling the kickback of a slowing Russian economy and weakening ruble. Russia is Europe’s third-largest trading partner, so a spluttering Russian economy, exacerbated by the Ukraine crisis, is seriously affecting German companies. In 2013, Germany exported 36 billion euro worth of goods to Russia. [...]

A doctor in Belgium has refused medical help to a 90-year-old Jewish woman with a fractured rib, saying that she needs to be sent to Gaza to "get rid of" the sharp pain she is suffering. “I’m not coming,” the physician said and hung up after receiving the call at 11pm Wednesday. [...]

NATO has confirmed that Ukrainian forces have started using powerful ballistic missiles against militants in the east of the country. Kiev previously denied the fact, revealed to DW television by NATO sources in Brussels. The use of missiles starting this week was first broken by CNN’s Barbara Starr on Wednesday, who cited “three sources” in the Pentagon who said that evidence had been ob [...]

The tragedy of WWI reminds us what excessive ambitions, an unwillingness to listen to each other and violations of liberties lead to, Russia's president said. He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the memorial to the Heroes of WWI in Moscow. According to Putin, the memorial is not only “a tribute to the great deeds,” but also a warning that “this peace is fragile.” [...]

Satellite images Kiev published as "proof"™ it didn't deploy anti-aircraft batteries around the MH17 crash site carry altered time-stamps and are from days after the MH17 tragedy, the Russian Defense Ministry has revealed. The images, which Kiev claims were taken by its satellites at the same time as those taken by Russian satellites, are neither Ukrainian nor authentic, according to a Moscow [...]

The U.S. empire economy no longer serves us — as it fades, we must choose our path forward. World history is filled with empires, e.g. the Roman and Byzantine empires, the European colonial empires, various ancient Iranian empires, the Arab Caliphate and Ottoman Empire, the Soviet Union to name a few. [...]

For the first time in American history, a chamber of Congress has authorized its leader to sue the President of the United States. In a 225-201 vote, the House of Representatives backed Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in his decision to file a lawsuit against President Obama over his handling of the Affordable Care Act. Boehner and other Republicans allege that Obama has flouted his constitutiona [...]

Peter Schiff says two catalysts this week could send gold prices higher. Despite the constant drumbeat of geopolitical turmoil, gold, which investors often buy in times of uncertainty, has fallen 6 percent from its March highs. But even with the sell-off, bullion's biggest gold bug isn't throwing in the towel anytime soon. [...]

The US has accused Moscow of violating a 1987 INF Treaty banning short and medium range ballistic and cruise missiles. Experts speculate whether Washington is nudging Moscow to pull out of a treaty to create a new "nuke bogey" and offer aegis to the EU. Washington says Russia has tested a prohibited ground-launched cruise missile thus breaching the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signe [...]

So Obama, Merkel, Cameron, Hollande and Renzi – let’s call them the Fab Five - got on a video conference call to muster their courage and “increase pressure” asking for a cease-fire in Gaza. Later in the day, Bibi delivers his answer, in plain language. He remains dead set on achieving his version of a Final Solution to Gaza. With or without “pressure”. [...]