U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed American teacher Marc Fogel to the White House late Tuesday after Fogel was freed from Russia where he had been detained since August 2021 for bringing medically prescribed marijuana into the country. “I feel like the luckiest man on Earth right now,” Fogel said as he stood next to Trump. … Read more
WASHINGTON — Russia released American schoolteacher Marc Fogel on Tuesday following an unannounced visit to Moscow by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and he was headed for a White House welcome, U.S. President Donald Trump said. The release of 63-year-old Fogel, who had been detained in Russia since August 2021 and was serving a 14-year … Read more
The U.S. State Department has determined that dual U.S.-Russian national Ksenia Karelina, also known as Ksenia Khavana, was wrongfully detained in Russia. Karelina was jailed by a Russian court for 12 years for donating $51 to a Ukrainian charity. The new determination will enable U.S. authorities to operate more actively in securing her release. Karelina’s … Read more
A new wave of US sanctions against the Russian oil sector is unlikely to impact the Kremlin’s oil trade with India, Russia’s First Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin said, terming the sanctions as “illegal”. Last month, the US slapped new sanctions against Russia’s energy trade. The sanctions targeted Russian oil producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas … Read more
WASHINGTON — The U.S., U.K. and Australia on Tuesday sanctioned a Russian web-hosting services provider and two Russian men who administer the service in support of Russian ransomware syndicate LockBit. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and its U.K. and Australian counterparts sanctioned Zservers, a Russia-based bulletproof hosting services provider — which is … Read more
Washington, United States: The Justice Department is scaling back policing of foreign interests operating in the United States, ending criminal enforcement of a law used to snare bad actors seeking to influence politics and elections on behalf of foreign governments. In a memo sent to staff Wednesday, US Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed she had … Read more
Moscow: The Kremlin on Thursday removed the head of Russia’s space agency after a tenure of less than three years that was scarred by the spectacular failure of Russia’s first mission to the moon in 47 years. In a statement, the Kremlin said Yuri Borisov, who had headed Roscosmos since July 2022, had been relieved … Read more
Damascus: Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday travelled to Saudi Arabia for his first international visit since the toppling of the Bashar al-Assad regime– a move signalling Damascus’ likely shift away from Iran as its main regional ally. Accompanied by his foreign minister Asaad al-Shaiban, Sharaa, who was once aligned with al-Qaida, arrived in … Read more
New Delhi: The Ukraine military has added a powerful unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to its arsenal. It’s capable of flying up to 2,000 km, carrying a 250-kg bomb, and returning to base. The new drone could be the most potent reusable UAV deployed in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. On Friday, the Ukrainian military’s unmanned systems … Read more
New Delhi: US President Donald Trump on Friday issued a warning to BRICS nations, threatening 100 per cent tariffs on their exports if they attempt to replace the US dollar as the dominant currency in international trade. Trump has repeatedly expressed his stance against de-dollarisation, warning that BRICS countries must maintain the US dollar’s role … Read more
New Delhi: As global tensions rise and climate threats loom, the Doomsday Clock, a symbol of humanity’s precarious position, has been moved to 89 seconds before midnight – the closest it’s ever been to a catastrophe. This alarming shift is a “warning” from a panel of international scientists, who cite a range of escalating threats, … Read more
A new school textbook that likens Russia’s war in Ukraine to the Soviet struggle against the Nazis and says Russia was “forced” to send troops into Ukraine was presented in Moscow on Monday. President Vladimir Putin casts the war, which Moscow officially calls a “Special Military Operation”, as a difficult but necessary fight against a … Read more