This satellite image dated April 25 shows Ukrainian armored vehicles positioned near the city of Slavyansk, eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian tanks and armored vehicles have been stationed en masse around the Donetsk region city of Slavyansk, satellite images leaked to media reveal. A Russian defense source says that artillery and rocket systems have also been deployed to the area. RIA Novosti on Saturday... 

For the first time in five years Standard & Poor’s has cut Russia’s credit rating to ‘BBB-‘, just above junk status. It warns the tension in Ukraine and ‘significant’ capital outflow could mean another downgrade. Moscow says it is “politically motivated.” “In our view, the tense geopolitical situation between Russia and Ukraine could see additional... 

A Russian Yak-130 combat training jet. The war of words between the United States and Russia has heated up over Crimea and eastern Ukraine with US military officials now saying that Russian fighter jets crossed into Ukrainian airspace several times over the past 24 hours. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists about the issue, said... 

Post-communist countries within the EU are losing population faster than Russia, Mark Adomanis, a Forbes blogger argued in his article. American economist Lyndon LaRouche pointed out that as of 2012 the population of 14 European countries has decreased. He called the EU’s policy in the field of demography a policy of “genocide,” and Russian expert Irina Rudneva agreed with him. Mark... 

The Russian government says allegations regarding the use of chemicals by forces of the Syrian government are false and fabricated. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday that Moscow had proof against the allegations by France and the United States that Syrian forces may have used industrial chemicals on a militant-held village in Hama province this month. “Accusations against... 

Washington is pushing Venezuela towards a “civil war” because it wants access to the country’s rich oil reserves, Bolivian President Evo Morales has warned. The Venezuelan government has also accused the US of fomenting a coup d’état. Addressing over 3,000 young people at a Latin American Youth Summit in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz, Morales branded the US an “empire” with its eye... 

The chairman of the United States Federal Communications Commission is attempting to refute recent reports that suggest that the FCC is on track to terminate the basic principle of net neutrality. News articles first emerged on Wednesday evening this week indicating that a draft FCC document includes new rules that would allow Internet Service Providers, or ISPs, to give preferential treatment to... 

US Secretary of State John Kerry US Secretary of State John Kerry has issued a stern and final warning to Russia to help de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine or face more sanctions. “The window to change course is closing. The world will make sure the costs for Russia will only grow” if Russia refuses to change course, Kerry said late Thursday. Kerry’s warning came after Ukraine used lethal force... 

Moscow’s refusal to acquiesce to NATO over Ukraine signals new cold war. Top diplomat Christopher R. Hill says that Russia’s response to the Ukraine crisis means that Moscow has betrayed the “new world order” it has been a part of for the last 25 years. In a piece for the influential Project Syndicate publication, Hill, a former US ambassador to Iraq and Korea, writes that Russia’s annexation... 

Ukraine’s Acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia Ukraine acting foreign minister says Kiev is ready to fight Russian troops if Moscow deploys forces to the country. “The Ukrainian people and Ukrainian army are ready to do this. Ukraine will confront Russia. We will defend our land. We will defend our territory,” the Associated Press quoted Andriy Deshchytsia as saying. The Ukrainian official... 

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has signed a new law into effect – nicknamed the “guns everywhere bill” – that allows individuals to carry weapons into bars, schools, and even some churches and government buildings. Officially titled the “Safe Carry Protection Act of 2014,” the bill easily sailed through the state legislature and was signed by Deal on Wednesday. The bill doesn’t officially... 

There have been 26 nuclear-scale asteroid explosions in the Earth’s atmosphere between 2001 and 2013, according to a new report. The most powerful of the impacts was dozens of times the magnitude of the atom bomb that devastated Hiroshima, Japan in 1945. Most of the asteroid explosions occurred much too high in the atmosphere to do any damage on the ground, according to findings by the Nuclear Test... 

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan Armenia has dismissed Turkey’s condolences over the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman troops during the First World War. On Thursday, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan did not acknowledge Ankara’s move and instead accused Turkey of showing “utter denial” in failing to recognize the massacre as genocide. “The Armenian genocide… is alive as far... 

Critics of the newly proposed ‘Hate Crime Reporting Act of 2014′ have slammed the bill as a “dangerous” threat to free speech, warning that the legislation would hand an obscure federal agency “chilling” powers to restrict the First Amendment. Introduced earlier this week by Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), the ‘Hate Crime Reporting Act of 2014′ (S.2219), along with its companion bill in... 

Russia holds military drills near the Ukrainian border as a response to Kiev’s using armed forces against pro-Russian protestors and NATO’s recent European exercises. Russia’s military drills came on Thursday after President Vladimir Putin accused Kiev of using armed forces against protesters in Ukraine’s eastern regions. Earlier on Thursday Ukrainian troops entered the eastern city...