During a telephone conversation with Shinzo Abe, US President Barack Obama urged the Prime Minister of Japan to refrain from visiting Russia in May, but Abe has refused his request. Obama and Abe spoke by telephone February 9, discussing North Korea. Two days earlier the northern state had launched a long-range rocket, violating UN resolutions and alarming the international community. [...]

A corruption scandal has Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s grip on power slipping by the day. With a no-confidence motion likely, can Austria’s right and left wings team up to boot the 32-year-old leader from office? [...]

14 popular German beers were found to contain glyphosate, it can be assumed some less widespread beer brands might also contain harmful levels of the chemical agent, according to the Munich Environmental Institute. Amounts of herbicide allegedly capable of causing cancer have been [...]

A top-level Indian Air Force (IAF) team visited a Russian facility to check the MiG-29 fighter jets; later, it submitted a favourable report to IAF Headquarters, according to the news portal Print. [...]

The history of Clinton as Secretary of State really needs to be considered in discussing the implications of her ride towards the Democratic nomination and potentially the White House, says investigative journalist and historian Gareth Porter. The role that Hillary Clinton played as Secretary of State in the 2011 military intervention in Libya is getting new attention as dozens of officials fro [...]

Some Norwegian politicians believe the uncertainty surrounding the price of the US F-35 fighter jets, the new backbone of the country's air force, is “absurd”. To settle an ongoing dispute surrounding the cost of F-35s once and for all, the Norwegian parliament's control and constitutional committee has asked Defence Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen to name the price for the fighter jets based on t [...]

The South China Sea has turned into Asia's battleground for supremacy between Beijing and Washington, Richard Javad Heydarian, a specialist in Asian geopolitical affairs, notes, adding that the US decades-long naval hegemony in the region may soon vanish into thin air. [...]

Iranian secret services uncovered a 17-member spy ring working against the country, according to state-affiliated media. Some of the agents have been given capital punishment. [...]

According to German politician and member of the European Parliament Angelika Niebler, Turkey is not yet ready to join the EU and European countries need to think carefully about providing the Turks with any benefits. The EU should not forget about its own interests in order to please Turkey, the politician said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk. [...]

Venezuelans will be made to suffer under draconian sanctions until President Nicolas Maduro is forced out of office, journalist Aaron Maté told RT, describing the tactic as a page from Washington's “regime-change playbook.” [...]

Global political figures have welcomed the Russian military pullout from Syria, and while many have called the Kremlin’s decision “unexpected,” it is seen as clearing the way for dialogue while a truce in the five-year-old war is negotiated in Geneva. Acknowledging that five months of military campaigns have mostly succeeded in their primary objective of eliminating the immediate wider th [...]

Washington ending the INF arms control treaty has raised fears of a new “arms race.” This time it will be about more than just missiles, with China presenting strong competition to the US and Russia, a military expert tells RT. [...]

Syrians feel immense gratitude towards Russian military and Aerospace Forces with the popularity of Vladimir Putin soaring. The partial withdrawal of Russian troops from the country is a matter of concern for the Syrian community, but the faith in Moscow's help is unwavering, according to the US media. [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested Saudi Arabia should buy Russian air defense systems to protect its oil facilities from drone attacks, pointing to Iran and Turkey, who operate S-300 and S-400 missiles, respectively. [...]

The recapture of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra was the single biggest defeat for ISIS since it declared its caliphate, but the West does not seem interested. Why? Because then they’d have to give some credit to Russia. Indeed, it must have been a tough weekend for Western media’s favorite Syria pundits. [...]

Forecasting the imminent demise of European banks, an expert talks RT’s Keiser Report through last week’s repo market meltdown and what it may indicate. “The treasuries that settled last week didn’t go well on the funding market – the Fed had to step in and do a $75 billion repo facility on an overnight basis for these treasury securities,” [...]

Big British banks have allegedly been helping the rich and powerful ferret away their wealth beyond the taxman’s reach for decades, according to explosive revelations in the Panama Papers. Some of the world’s biggest banks were implicated in the largest data leak in history on Monday, including Britain’s HSBC, Coutts, and Rothschild, and Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse. [...]

A new survey from consultancy McKinsey & Co has found that a majority of banks globally may not be economically viable because their returns on equity aren’t keeping pace with costs. The study looked at 1,000 banks in developed and emerging countries and found that just over a third had made a return on capital of just 1.6 percent over the past three years. This compares to returns of j [...]

The Russian president has surprised the audience at a forum in St. Petersburg, by allowing his German language skills to shine. He stepped in as translator for the former West German Defense Secretary Willy Wimmer. Wimmer had something to say on the topic of the national idea and value system that identifies Russia. [...]

When Italy asked the world to help restore Venice after the worst flood in decades, some Russians didn’t waste time – donating one million euros in less than a day, the Italian ambassador to Russia has revealed. Italy's Pasquale Terracciano said that donations were made by “wealthy” individuals whose identities were not named. [...]

Appearing at the XXIV Assembly of the Foreign and Defense Policy Council on April 9, 2016, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov openly said the country was adopting a polycentric paradigm for its foreign policy: “…one can observe the general trends, and we are trying to reflect them in our basic doctrinal documents, including the National Security Strategy, the Foreign Policy Concept w [...]

One of the newest Russian airports, Platov International Airport in the city of Rostov-on-Don, has received the highest mark from the UK-based ranking organization Skytrax, becoming the first five-star Russian airport. Getting five stars from Skytrax is considered the most prestigious international award for airports and airlines. After a recent audit of the terminal, the organization added Platov [...]