More than 5,000 Iraqis have died in the violence in the country so far this year, a large proportion of them women and children suffering gruesome deaths at the hands of ISIS extremists and over-zealous security forces, says a detailed new UN report. [...]

Plotting to stage downing of an airliner & start a war is insane, except when 'Murica does it! Who in their right mind would risk provoking a war by staging the shoot down of an airliner? If you guessed Russia, then guess again. In 2005, a memo was leaked from a January 2003 meeting between President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair during which Bush, “considered provokin [...]

Russia urges an impartial and open investigation into the Malaysian Boeing 777 crash in Ukraine and an international commission to be set up. Addressing the UN, Russia's envoy Churkin said a probe into Ukraine's aviation authorities is also necessary. [...]

Some Western states and Kiev rushed to find Russian involvement in the MH17 crash having no evidence to back their claims, Russia's Deputy Defense Minister told RT. He invited Ukraine to answer 10 questions to prove their commitment to an impartial probe. Speaking to RT, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov has criticized Western countries for jumping to conclusions just “24 hours [...]

The Russian Defense Ministry has said that neither the Buk missile defense system, nor any other military equipment, has crossed the Russian border into Ukraine. Such border crossings “can’t be performed in secrecy,” the official representative for the Russian Defense Ministry told the journalists in Moscow. [...]

Revelations of the National Security Agency's global spy program, together with civil strife in Ukraine has severely damaged Barack Obama's popularity among Brazilians, Germans and Russians, a major US polling agency reported. Thanks to a series of global scandals, the United States in general, and its commander-in-chief in particular, [...]

The Association of European Businesses (AEB), a Moscow-based business lobby, said that new US sanctions against Russia have a more severe effect on European than on American business. The AEB says it “regrets” the US sanctions, and warns that they will stunt economic growth “not only in Russia”. [...]

On Thursday, when a Malaysian Airlines plane was apparently shot down over Ukraine, a Ukrainian Buk anti-aircraft missile battery was operational in the region, the Russian Defense Ministry said, contradicting Kiev's statements. The battery was deployed at a site from which it could have fired a missile at the airliner, the ministry said in a statement. It said radiation from the battery’s radar [...]

A six-day tour by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Latin America ended with a long anticipated creation of the BRICS bank and the signing of energy agreements, as Russia looks to build alliances to counter Western influence. The Latin America tour started with the visit to Cuba, where Putin signed a new agreement on oil exploration in Caribbean waters which contain most of the estimated 124 mil [...]

Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower, talks exclusively to Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief of the Guardian, and reporter Ewen MacAskill in Moscow. The 31-year-old former intelligence analyst discusses whether he is a Russian spy, his likely fate if he returns to the US and the relevance of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four in the age of Google. [...]

The Ukrainian military reportedly deployed a battery of Buk surface-to-air missile systems, capable of bringing down high-flying jets, to the Donetsk region the day before the Malaysian passenger plane crashed in the area. Itar-Tass and Interfax news agencies are citing a source familiar with the issue, who said that another battery of Buk systems is currently being prepared for shipment to Donets [...]

• 295 people on board plane that crashed in eastern Ukraine • Bodies and wreckage found near town of Grabovo • US officials say surface-to-air missile caused crash • Ukrainian, Russian and rebel leaders deny involvement. A Malaysian Airlines plane en route from Amsterdam to Malaysia has crashed in eastern Ukraine. There were 285 people and 15 crew members on board the Boeing-777 aircraft. [...]

Kiev's accusations that Russia shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet are "absurd," the Russian Ministry of Defense said. “This is absurd, like all previous accusations from Kiev officials concerning Russia’s Ministry of Defense,” a ministerial official told journalists on Thursday. [...]

A Malaysian Airlines' Boeing-777 has crashed over Ukraine, close to the border with Russia. The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Anton Geraschenko said the plane carrying 285 passengers and 15 crew members fell. [...]

Microsoft will cut a record 18,000 jobs next year, as the company's new CEO Satya Nadella seeks to boost efficiency, according to a company memo on Thursday. “The first step to building the right organization for our ambitions is to realign our workforce. [...]

Russia considers the latest package of sanctions against it issued by the US as revenge for the failure of Washington's schemes in Ukraine and blackmail. Moscow reserves the right to retaliate. [...]

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights believes the world owes a "great dea" to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, saying he should not face trial for his revelations of sweeping state surveillance as they have served the public interest. “Those who disclose human rights violations should be protected: we need them,” Commissioner Navi Pillay told reporters on Wednesday. [...]

A live interview with former Vice-President Dick Cheney and his family was marred by protesters accusing him of war crimes and torture. One protester tried to "arrest" the politician, but was taken away, as live video of the event went black. Cheney made a rare appearance, together with his wife Lynne and daughter Liz, on Monday to be interviewed by Politico's Mike Allen in Washington. [...]

Facial recognition surveillance software being tested by British cops that allows "faster than ever" data searching and tracking of subjects is raising concerns among privacy activists. NeoFace software analyses dozens of facial features from digital CCTV images or police body cameras and matching them with the 90,000 photos stored on Leicestershire Police's database, which had become the first un [...]