A Russian virologist who helped develop the country’s COVID vaccine has been found dead after an altercation with an intruder in his Moscow apartment, according to reports in local media. Andrey Botikov, one of 18 scientists who developed the Sputnik V vaccine at the Gamaleya National Research Center, was identified as the man who had […]
Category: Foreign
Russia’s warns West, ‘stay away from Moldova’
Russia told the West on Friday that it would view as an attack on itself any actions that threatened Russian peacekeepers in Moldova’s breakaway Transdniestria region, one day after Moscow accused Ukraine of planning an invasion. In Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejected Moscow’s assertion that Ukraine wanted to take over the region. The warning comes […]
Putin threatens to deploy Nuclear Missiles
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia would pay increased attention to boosting its nuclear forces by deploying a much delayed new intercontinental ballistic missile, rolling out hypersonic missiles and adding new nuclear submarines. A year since ordering the invasion of Ukraine, Putin has signalled he is ready to rip up the architecture of […]
Putin ups nuclear ante; cancels START Treaty
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Tuesday that Moscow was suspending its participation in the New START treaty — the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the United States — sharply upping the ante amid tensions with Washington over the fighting in Ukraine. Speaking in his state-of-the-nation address, Putin also said that Russia should stand […]
US warned Russia of Biden’s surprise Ukraine visit
U.S. officials warned Russia that President Biden was visiting the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv hours before he made the trip, the White House National Security Council revealed Monday. National security officials provided more details about Biden’s surprise trip to Ukraine on Monday, calling the trip unprecedented given the lack of U.S. military infrastructure in the […]
North Korea threatens strong response to US nuclear drills
North Korea has warned the United States and South Korea that planned military drills this month will be met with “unprecedentedly persistent and strong counteractions.” The hermit nation’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the threat Friday after South Korea and the U.S. announced joint military drills have been planned that will focus on addressing North […]
China claims US air balloons are flying over their airspace
High-altitude balloons from the U.S. have overflown China’s airspace “more than 10 times” in the past year, a Chinese official said on Monday. Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said the U.S. balloons “illegally overflew Chinese airspace” without the approval of relevant government departments, without elaborating. U.S. dirigibles operating in the airspace […]
Over 11,000 dead in Turkey/Syria earthquake
Thinly-stretched rescue teams worked through the night into Wednesday, pulling the living and dead from the rubble of thousands of buildings destroyed in Turkey and Syria by catastrophic earthquakes and aftershocks that have killed over 11,000. Amid calls for the Turkish government to send more help to the disaster zone, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan […]
Putin plans new Ukraine offensive as US approves more weapons
“We are again being threatened by German Leopard tanks,” Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Thursday on a visit to Volgograd, where he commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Red Army’s World War II victory over Nazi forces in Stalingrad. As he so often has in the past year, Putin made a direct comparison between his […]
Portuguese pooch is the world’s oldest dog
Two weeks after Guinness World Records announced a 23-year-old Chihuahua as the world’s oldest living dog, a much more senior canine came out of the woodwork to claim the title. Bobi is 30 years and 266 days old as of Feb. 1, according to Guinness. He is a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo, a livestock guardian […]
N. Korea says US drills are turning region into a ‘War Zone’
North Korea said on Thursday that drills by the United States and its allies have reached an “extreme red-line” and threaten to turn the peninsula into a “huge war arsenal and a more critical war zone.” The Foreign Ministry statement, carried by state news agency KCNA, said Pyongyang was not interested in dialogue as long […]
Canada experiments with decriminalising hard drugs
Canada’s province of British Columbia is starting a first-in-the-nation trial decriminalising small amounts of hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin. From Tuesday, adults can possess up to 2.5g of such drugs, as well as methamphetamine, fentanyl and morphine. Canada’s federal government granted the request by the west coast province to try out the three-year […]