Section: Newsweek (USA)
Russia Suffers Sixth Military Aircraft Crash in Six Weeks
The Russian air force has suffered its sixth crash in as many weeks after a Tupolev Tu-95MS Bear strategic bomber failed whilst on a training flight in Russia’s far-eastern Khabarovskiy region. Russia has suffered a series of military aircraft crashes this summer, since a MiG29 ‘Fulcrum’ and Su-34 ‘Fullback’ fighter...
Ukrainian President: ‘Record Number’ of Russian Troops on Border
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said there are a “record number” of Russian troops on his country’s border with Russia. Speaking on Ukrainian television, Poroshenko said that the information came from NATO, U.S. and E.U. sources as well as Ukrainian intelligence. Reports of an increasing Russian presence on the border...
Kerry Doesn’t View Russia as an ‘Existential Threat,’ State Department Says
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry does not agree with the Marine Corps general nominated to be America’s next top uniformed commander that Russia poses an existential threat to the United States, a spokesman said on Friday. On Thursday, Marine General Joseph Dunford told lawmakers weighing his nomination to be...
Russian Navy Practices Anti-Submarine Combat in Baltic and Arctic
The Russian navy has practiced anti-submarine combat in both the Baltic Sea and the Arctic Barents Sea in consecutive drills, as its naval reinforcement in the two regions continues. Russia’s military drills from all branches of the armed forces have increased this year, since Moscow was put under sanctions by the United States and the...
U.K. Government Commits to Increase in Defense Spending Over Next Five Years
British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne today pledged to meet the 2 percent NATO defense spending target and has guaranteed in real terms to increase defense spending in the U.K. over the next five years. Making the announcement today as part of his first post-election budget – the first purely Conservative budget since 1996...
Young Kiev Police Recruits Cause a Stir on Social Media
As part of the project to restore citizens’ faith in the police service, the Ukrainian government has recruited a number of young and attractive new officers to the force, who now spend their time patrolling the streets of Kiev… and taking a lot of selfies with passers by. The new administration fired many of the older officers...
Dutch Police Hunt Missing ‘Sex Rabbi’ Wanted in Israel
A rabbi and leader of a conservative Jewish movement has gone on the run in the Netherlands to avoid extradition to Israel over accusations of sexual assault. Rabbi Eliezer Berland stands accused of sexually assaulting four female followers and a 15-year-old girl and was arrested on arrival at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam last September....
BRICS Summit Firms Up Plans for New Development Bank
Russian president Vladimir Putin has received the leaders and delegations of Brazil, India, China and South Africa at a summit today, where the world’s five emerging economies committed to a series of joint political and economic decisions. The event is hosted in the remote Russian city of Ufa with a high importance for the host country...
Russian Parliament Creates a “Patriotic Stop-List”
On Wednesday, 156 out of 170 members of the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, voted to create a “patriotic stop-list” that will include 12 nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, which legislators believe pose a potential threat to Russia. The Federation Council is now officially asking the Prosecutor...
Ukraine: Is the Retreat of Russian-Backed Rebels for Real?
A thunderstorm loomed over Mariupol on the afternoon of July 6. To the north, the sky turned dark and a cool prestorm breeze kicked up as the sounds of distant thunder began to roll in. A waitress at the Natalka coffee shop on Prospekt Lenina smiled and said, “It’s only a storm. Not artillery.” After a nearly five-month-long standoff,...
