Having evaded scientists due to its large and complex nature for long, bread wheat’s genome has finally yielded to sequencing. The International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium, as the international team of scientists who have been working on the problem is known, rendered a genetic blueprint of the plant on Thursday. The discovery promises development of more resistant and productive bread wheat... 

There are no words in the English lexicon which can properly summarize the horrors of events yesterday in Eastern Ukraine. Like all right-thinking people around the world I am aghast and I currently have a nauseating tightness in my stomach as I pen this. Since Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur came down in fragments on the blood-soaked soil of Ukraine, media, both old... 

Moscow will respond to NATO’s expansion towards Russia’s borders, President Vladimir Putin said at the emergency Security Council meeting in Moscow. Here are his key quotes on Russia’s defense, Western sanctions, and violence in eastern Ukraine. NATO forces have been increasing military presence in Eastern European countries bordering Russia and sending warships to the Baltic and Mediterranean... 

Russian scientists conducted a primary examination of the giant sinkhole in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District. The video of the bizarre hole on YouTube has received more than two million views in several days. As a result of the examination, the scientists concluded that the crater was of natural origin and did not appear either as a result of a manmade impact or the fall of a meteorite, the website... 

A British lawmaker says he would fire rockets into Israel if he lived in the besieged Gaza Strip, which has faced a deadly Israeli offensive for over two weeks. “The big question is – if I lived in Gaza would I fire a rocket? – probably yes,” Liberal Democrat member of parliament David Ward said in a message posted on Twitter on Tuesday. He added in a follow-up message that the West... 

State Duma deputies want to levy an additional tax on people with high personal incomes in order to finance the development of the new federation areas of Sevastopol and Crimea. The motion has been prepared by a group of MPs led by the Andrey Krutov of the center-left Fair Russia party. At the moment the group is completing consultations with legal experts and the bill will be submitted to the Lower... 

European Union (EU) foreign ministers have agreed on imposing tougher sanctions against Russian entities and individuals nearly one week after the downing of a Malaysian Airlines plane in Ukraine. On Wednesday, the ministers agreed to draft a new list of Russian entities and individuals by July 24 to be added to the 63 names already targeted by sanctions. The 28-member bloc says that the new sanctions... 

Why hasn’t Washington joined Russian President Putin in calling for an objective, non-politicized international investigation by experts of the case of the Malaysian jetliner? The Russian government continues to release facts, including satellite photos showing the presence of Ukrainian Buk anti-aircraft missiles in locations from which the airliner could have been brought down by the missile... 

​Overweight staff may be provided with larger office chairs, lifts and priority parking by their employers, following a European court judgment on Thursday. The chief legal adviser to the European Court of Justice, Niilo Jaaskinen, said it was ‘unlawful’ to discriminate against a person if their weight affects their work, as they would technically be classified as disabled. He also argued that... 

The establishment media has virtually ignored the carnage in eastern Ukraine while it focuses on the alleged shoot down of MH17. Vladimir Putin is widely condemned while the indiscriminate killings and ethnic cleansing of the Ukraine Security Service and military are left unmentioned. Since the regime’s crackdown on “terrorists,” in other words separatists in the eastern part of the country... 

The Russian military detected a Ukrainian SU-25 fighter jetgaining height towards the MH17 Boeing on the day of the catastrophe. Kiev must explain why the military jet was tracking the passenger airplane, the Russian Defense Ministry said. “A Ukraine Air Force military jet was detected gaining height, it’s distance from the Malaysian Boeing was 3 to 5km,” said the head of the Main Operations... 

The UK will tighten sanctions against Russia if Moscow does not help in investigating a Malaysian airliner crash in Ukraine, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said. On July 17, Malaysian Airline flight MH17, which was travelling to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, crashed, killing all 298 people on board. There is speculation that the Boeing 777 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile while flying... 

That Western media frequently and blatantly distort events and disquote officials with a view to manipulating public minds is no news; however, one “news agency”, the UK-based Reuters, has in recent times been repeatedly and unabashedly breaking new grounds in this regard. Just recently, Reuters sought to portray as mere allegation a United Nations report on a range of violations committed... 

Items presumed to be the data recorders from the crashed Malaysian plane have been found and delivered to Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, according to the leader of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk. “Aircraft parts looking like black boxes were found at the site of the plane crash. They are currently in Donetsk, in the People’s Republic’s (DPR) government headquarters, under my personal... 

Russian cities that want to develop their public transit systems will soon have a stellar option to buy. A sleek new black streetcar looks like something Darth Vader would pilot in Star Wars and promises new levels of comfort and safety to commuters. The R1, or Russia One, was developed by a subsidiary of Uralvagonzavod, a company best known for producing advanced Russian tanks. The prototype streetcar,...