Iskander high-precision missile system in place during military exercises. The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed media reports on the deployment of short-range Iskander missiles in the country’s west, near its borders with the Baltic states and NATO members, saying that it does not violate international agreements. German newspaper Bild wrote this weekend that Russia stationed several Iskander... 

Belgium’s Senate has supported the bill allowing to extend mercy-killing to children found to be terminally-ill. Opponents of the proposed measure argue that what cries out to be taken for an “act of compassion” is in fact an “act of irresponsibility”. On Thursday, the upper house voted 50 in favor of the proposed measure, with only 17 against it. The bill allows terminally-ill... 

The Catalan regional parliament has set November next year for a referendum on the Spanish province’s independence. The government in Madrid blandly said the vote won’t happen, but activists wonder how it might be stopped. Catalonia’s four pro-independence parties, which hold a majority in the regional parliament, announced Thursday that the rich industrial Spanish province will hold a referendum... 

Russia will not allow any nation to dominate it in military terms, the Russian president said. Some nations are developing new kinds of weapons, which may tip the global strategic balance, but Russia knows how to counter them. “Let no one have illusions that he can achieve military superiority over Russia. We will never allow it,” Vladimir Putin said in a speech to the Federal Assembly, the joint... 

Spaniards wait in line at a government employment office in the Madrid suburb of Santa Eugenia. Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) says the country’s population is shrinking at an accelerating pace amid soaring unemployment. The INE said on Tuesday that nearly 260,000 people moved from the crisis-hit country in the first half of 2013, while only 134,312 migrated to the country. This left... 

The war of words between the United States and Russia over plans for a NATO missile defense system in Europe continued today, with Russian President Vladimir Putin vowing to never allow power to gain military superiority over Moscow. “No one should entertain any illusions regarding their chances of asserting military superiority over Russia, we will never allow that to happen….thanks to our military... 

Protesters clash with riot police in Kiev on December 10, 2013. Russian legislators have expressed concern over the interference of Western countries in the internal affairs of Ukraine. Reacting to the growing anti-government protests in Ukraine, members of Russia’s State Duma announced in a Tuesday statement that Kiev’s geopolitical choice is an internal and sovereign right of its people. The... 

Deputy PM says Moscow “preparing a response” to U.S. plans for missile shield in Europe. Addressing the threat posed by plans by the United States to install a missile defense system in Europe, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin today asserted that Russia would respond with nuclear weapons if it was targeted by conventional American missiles. Rogozin’s comments arrive just a day... 

Masked anti-government protesters toppled the monument to Vladimir Lenin in Kiev on Sunday pulling him down with steel ropes, and smashing the granite figure with sledgehammers. A huge crowd queued to get a piece of the statue. A group of protesters singing the national hymn of Ukraine then hoisted the national flag on the vacant pedestal, as the passing cars were honking in support of the act and... 

WikiLeaks founder and journalist, Julian Assange, has marked the third year spent in detention in UK under constant threat of extradition to Sweden. On December 7, 2010 Assange was taken into custody after voluntarily attending a British police station. He spent 10 days behind bars, before being released on bail with a residence requirement at Ellingham Hall in Norfolk, England. The journalist is... 

City Hall building in central London, which St Martins, the property investment arm of the Kuwaiti government, had been considering to buy for the More London development alongside Tower Bridge. A Kuwaiti company has reportedly bought More London, a premier real estate asset in London, for approximately 1.7 billion British pounds. London Bridge Holdings sold More London to Kuwaiti firm St Martins Property... 

US energy giant Chevron has resumed its search for shale gas in north-eastern Romania after hundreds of riot police reportedly brutally removed a bunch of villagers who had been camping out at the site protesting the company’s plan. Back in October, Chevron suspended its plans to drill an exploration well for shale gas in the village of Pungesti – which is believed to be sitting on vast reserves... 

Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne says the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 7.2 percent from 2008 to 2009, adding that the drop wiped £112 billion off the UK’s economy. Making his Autumn Statement before lawmakers at the House of Commons, Osborne stressed that the country could not stop fighting for its recovery as a reassessment by the Office for National Statistics... 

The question of who lives at the expense of whom in the EU and who owes whom, migrants to the local population, or vice versa, is the most discussed in Europe. The issue is not foreign to the UK that has been promoting its policy of multiculturalism for many years. Pravda.Ru talked to experts to find out whether this policy was advantageous. Britain in recent decades has been flooded with immigrants... 

Speculation has been raised that Pope Francis has been venturing out of the Vatican at night, disguised as a priest and meeting with the homeless in Rome. In a recent interview with Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, who has headed up the centuries-old position of seeking out the poor handing out alms for the Catholic Church, Krajewski seemed to imply that Pope Francis has been joining him on his nightly...