Straining to explain Washington’s eagerness for regime change in Caracas, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Cuba was already occupying Venezuela, misunderstood how democracy works, and claimed Iran had a presence in the country. [...]

The same US intelligence agencies that fed mainstream media the narrative about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction should be trusted when they say RT’s critical reporting is propaganda, according to a BBC-hosted panel on fake news. The four-person panel discussed the phenomenon of fake news on the sidelines of the Davos Economic Forum on Wednesday. Moderating the event was BBC host Zeinab Badawi. [...]

Venezuelan congressional chief and self-appointed interim president, Juan Guaido, must be acknowledged as such by the European Union, according to the US vice president. [...]

Even when temperatures drop below -60 degrees Celsius (-76 degrees Fahrenheit), life in Yakutia doesn’t stop. Check out these life hacks, that help local people continue their lives as normal during the notoriously severe Siberian winters. [...]

Relations between Russia and Ukraine have significantly deteriorated since Crimea's reunification with Russia in 2014, which has not been recognised by Ukraine or Western states, who subsequently imposed economic and political sanctions on Moscow. [...]

The group is calling for a rational drug policy based on promoting responsible cannabis use, rather than repression and arrest. The Confederation of German Criminal Officers (BDK) has called for the legalization of cannabis, saying that its ban makes no sense. "The prohibition of cannabis has historically been arbitrary and until today it has been neither intelligent, nor purposeful," [...]

Eight years after the conflict in Syria began, gloomy ‘how did it all go wrong for the West’ articles are appearing. Actually, there was no defeat for ‘the West’. The alternative to the Assad government prevailing was far worse. [...]

Indonesia finalizes a billion-dollar deal pertaining to the purchase of 11 Sukhoi Su-35 jets from Russia. According to Indonesian Defense Ministry spokesman Totok Sugiharto on Saturday, the contract, worth a total of $1.14 billion, was finalized by representatives from both countries in Jakarta. [...]

A recently published study on climate change predicts catastrophic changes to the planet’s ecology, even if global temperatures rise by only 1.5 degrees Celsius, a cap on warming the Paris Climate Accord aims to secure. [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied accusations he revived an arms race by unveiling Russia’s new nuclear deterrent. That was done by US President George W. Bush killing a 30-year-old missile treaty in 2002, he told NBC.  In an interview with NBC’s “Megyn Kelly Today” on Thursday, the Russian leader brushed off claims in the Western media that by introducing new nuclear-powered mi [...]

US President Donald Trump, who said he loved WikiLeaks during his election campaign, tried to distance himself from the arrest of Julian Assange, which was carried out by Britain on the request of the US. [...]

Putin declares that the long US attempt to gain nuclear superiority over Russia has failed and hopes Washington will “listen now.” By: Stephen F. Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian Studies and Politics at NYU and Princeton, and John Batchelor continue their (usually) weekly discussions of the new US-Russian Cold War. Tales of the New Cold War: PART 1 of 2: The New MAD [...]

In its second scathing critique of a high-ranking US figure in less than a week, Pyongyang has described demands by the US national security adviser, John Bolton, for proof that North Korea is in the process of denuclearisation as “nonsense". [...]

To cries of condemnation from the House of Commons, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded concrete evidence of Russian involvement in the poisoning of Skripal before taking action against Moscow, calling for cooperation and diplomacy instead. His views are supported by the Russian Embassy - and academics with expertise in chemical weapons. [...]

The American aviation giant has faced major problems since the fleet of its newest 737 MAX jets was grounded worldwide after two of its aircraft crashed, possibly due to a faulty sensor and an aggressive stall-prevention system, in just half a year. [...]

A new high-speed bullet train has been rolled out by the Central Japan Railway (JR Tokai). It will debut in 2020 on the Tokaido Shinkansen line, running between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka. According to JR Tokai, the new Shinkansen N700S or Shinkansen ‘Supreme’ train will be smarter, sleeker and quieter. [...]

Nicolaus Fest, an AfD legislator from Germany’s Bundestag, has subjected the brochure “60 Good Reasons for the EU”, published by the European Union, to a "fact check". In his analysis, Fest sees a stark contrast between how Brussels portrays itself and reality. [...]

A bitterly-fought political campaign to address the rapidly-growing homeless population in a wealthy southern California county points to the yawning inequality gap in the US. A wide-ranging plan in southern California's Orange County that was intended to relocate hundreds of homeless — including children, women and the elderly who had been forcefully kicked out of long-term camps by placing the [...]

The worsening trade conflict between the world’s two largest economies, the United States and China, could send the global economy into recession within three fiscal quarters, research by investment bank Morgan Stanley has found. [...]