Polling stations have closed in Ukraine’s self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk after a referendum on independence from the Kiev government. The turnout reached over 70 percent, according to organizers of the poll. The last polling stations in Lugansk and Donetsk regions wrapped up their work at 23:00 local time (20:00 GMT). There is no minimum voter turnout required for... 

Tensions have flared up on the Korean Peninsula as North Korea issued its latest nuclear threat two days after Seoul said Pyongyang was making final preparations to conduct its fourth nuclear test. North Korea has “clarified its resolute stand that it would take countermeasures including nuclear test to protect the sovereignty and dignity of the” country, the official Korean Central News Agency... 

Nearly 200 Subway branches across the UK and Ireland have cut out ham and bacon, selling only halal meat, in response to demand from their multicultural customers. Fast food giant Subway has removed ham and bacon from almost 200 outlets, and switched to halal meat alternatives in an attempt to please its Muslim customers. It has confirmed turkey ham and turkey rashers will be used instead in 185 of... 

The United States and European Union are causing an international scandal by committing genocide in east Ukraine, a political analyst tells Press TV. “[US Secretary of State] Mr. John Kerry and Victoria Nuland at the State Department and President [Barack] Obama, who seems to be just funking the issue, and also the EU apparatus like [British Foreign Minister] William Hague, they all should be ashamed... 

Satellite image of the North Crimean Canal Recent satellite images show that Kiev is deliberately trying to cut off Crimea peninsula’s water supply by building a dam. In the meantime Russian scientists are trying to find ways to supply Crimea with fresh water. Experts from the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources are developing ways to supply fresh water to the Crimea from the Kuban River in... 

A stunning memorandum originating from the Presidential Office relating to President Putin’s highly protected and secretive 4-day visit to the Valaam Monastery late last month has terrified the Kremlin today as it states that the massive nuclear war strike drills conducted this past week were “directly related” to a “vision” the President had in which he “saw” that Russia would soon... 

Russia has drafted a program for colonization of the moon, and plans to send the first expeditions to build a permanent lunar base in 2030, the Russian Izvestia daily said Thursday, citing an official document. “The moon is a space object for the future exploration by terrestrial civilization, and a geopolitical competition for the Moon’s natural resources may begin in the 21st century,” said... 

Girl power: The movie is released in the UK on April 23 and will be hitting US cinemas on April 25. (Screenshot from The Other Woman movie) The star of The Other Woman, a film about fidelity, claimed it was almost impossible for couples to stay married for life. Cameron, 41, said: “We can have all of these girlfriends, all of these friendships. I know with my girlfriends I do totally different things... 

Stephen Hawking has warned that artificial intelligence has the potential to be the downfall of mankind. ‘Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history,’ he said writing in the Independent. ‘Unfortunately, it might also be the last’. A sinister threat is brewing deep inside the technology laboratories of Silicon Valley. Artificial Intelligence, disguised... 

More than a decade after a Japanese soy sauce manufacturer said it had discovered a molecule in its sauce that could be used to fight HIV, the findings have been confirmed by university scientists. According to a team of virologists at the University of Missouri, a flavor-enhancing molecule found in soy sauce – called EFdA – is up to 70 times more powerful than typical drugs like Tenofovir, which... 

Washington has voiced support for the bloody crackdown on anti-coup activists in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, blaming Russia for inciting the violence there. In the meantime OSCE condemned the use of force by Kiev. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has condemned the actions of Ukrainian military in using force against pro-federalization activists and civilians in... 

Newly-released data show the industrial output in the UK and Italy, the second and the fourth largest European economies respectively, has fallen in March. The UK’s Office for National Statistics said on Friday that Britain’s industrial output declined by 0.1 percent for the month. The figure is considered a major drawback since the country saw a 0.8 percent growth in the previous month. This... 

The Malaysian government finally released a recording today with their report of the conversation between Malaysian Flight 370 and Air Traffic Control. I had the opportunity to listen to the recording and have several concerns from an audio forensic perspective: First, the very beginning of the recording is of high quality and the background ambiance and noise floor are very low. This is the quality... 

Regional authorities in eastern Ukraine have admitted that they cannot stop pro-Russia activists from holding an independence referendum. On Friday, the mayor’s office in Donetsk published a statement, saying the upcoming referendum, due to be held on Sunday, cannot be prevented. The statement said there were not enough police forces against the voting polls that would be set up in public sites... 

With Switzerland and Singapore joining 47 countries that have agreed to share data and tax information, tax evaders are likely to move to what is currently considered emerging frontier markets, Mike Ingram, market strategist from BGC Partners, told RT. On May 6, 34 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and 13 other countries signed a groundbreaking agreement on...