Russia is ready to retaliate with counter sanctions against the EU and US if they go ahead with economic measures against Russia over tension in Crimea, the Russian Economic Ministry has said. “We hope that there will only be targeted political sanctions, and not a broad package affecting economic trade,” Deputy Economic Development Minister Aleksey Likhachev said. “Our sanctions will be,... 

Officials said the cause of the blast was a gas leak, though there was no evidence of that yet. NYC Mayor de Blasio confirmed that a gas leak triggered an explosion which destroyed two buildings in Upper Manhattan Wednesday morning at around 9:31 a.m. EST. Over half a dozen people have now been confirmed dead and over 74 injured. More than 250 members from the New York Fire Department (FDNY) have been... 

Thousands of teachers and government workers have taken to the streets of Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, calling for a pay rise. Members of the Argentine Workers Federation, the South American country’s largest trade union, marched on Wednesday outside the Casa Rosada Government House at Plaza de Mayo square in central Buenos Aires. The protesters urged the government to double the... 

Grainy footage apparently shows Russian tanks on the way to the Donetsk region border. Ukraine warned last night that 80,000 Russian troops were massing on its borders and could invade – as world leaders told Vladimir Putin to back off. A senior security chief in Kiev said Moscow could launch a full-scale invasion and Russian troops would be in the Ukrainian capital within ‘two or three hours’... 

Australia has announced plans to buy a fleet of giant US drones to help patrol the nation’s borders, monitoring energy infrastructure and attempts to enter the country illegally. On Thursday, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the Triton Unmanned Aerial Vehicles would be based in the southern city of Adelaide, AFP reported. “These aircraft will patrol Australia’s vast ocean... 

A New York hospital warned 4,247 people of potential exposure to hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV after authorities discovered a risk of potential blood contamination. In the letter dated February 22, South Nassau Communities Hospital said the patients may have received insulin from an insulin pen reservoir – not the pen’s single-use disposable needle – that may have been used with more... 

Yet more previously secret surveillance operations waged by the United States National Security Agency were made public Wednesday morning thanks to leaked documents supplied by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The files — published first by The Intercept this week and dissected over the course of a 3,000-word article attributed to journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ryan Gallagher — bring to... 

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal Saudi Arabia has threatened to block Qatar by land and sea amid a simmering row between the two Arab states over Doha’s links with the Muslim Brotherhood and the role of al-Jazeera television station. According to a report published by US-based newspaper Huffington Post, the threats were made during a private meeting between the foreign ministers of the... 

It has been well reported that China’s cities have some of the worst pollution problems in the world, with smog so thick that it is hard to see through. The Chinese government’s solution is actually to use drones that will disperse chemtrails into the air. This has been reported in state sponsored media and admitted by the government. They claim that the chemtrails will actually work to disperse... 

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has called for the full reoccupation of the besieged Gaza Strip amid rising tensions in the region. Lieberman made the remarks on Israel’s Channel 2 television following a retaliatory attack by Palestinian resistance movement, Islamic Jihad, against the Israeli regime earlier on Wednesday. “Following an attack like this — a barrage of more than... 

In a confidence-building step, Russia’s Defense Ministry has given permission for a surveillance flight by Ukraine over Russian territory near the border between the countries. Kiev had claimed Moscow was building up its military presence there. “The Ukrainians have asked for an unscheduled observation flight over our territory,” Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov told reporters in Moscow. Russia... 

Former Libyan premier, Ali Zeidan. The Libyan parliament has ousted Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, after military forces failed to prevent the escape of a North Korea-flagged tanker laden with crude oil. A total of 124 lawmakers out of 194 in attendance at the General National Congress (GNC) passed a vote of no-confidence – four more than the majority required – to oust Zeidan, MPs said on Tuesday. The... 

Meteorologist Jeff Tilly recently did an interview with CBS News explaining how his cloud seeding rain generator would be equipped on drones by the end of 2014 Tilly maintains his invention will eliminate some of the current drought issues farmers have been experiencing in recent months. According to Tilly, the drones will be able to deploy tiny particulates of silver iodide into cloud systems, causing... 

Jordanian lawyers protest outside the Justice Ministry on March 12, 2014. Jordan says Israel was fully responsible for the fatal shooting of a Palestinian-Jordanian judge at the country’s border crossing with the occupied West Bank. In a Tuesday address to the parliament, Jordan’s Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour called the shooting a hideous crime, for which Israel was “completely responsible”. “Jordan... 

Washington’s decision to provide financial aid to the coup-appointed government of Ukraine goes against the US laws, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said, urging American politicians to think about the consequences of supporting the radicals in Kiev. Ukraine’s ousted president, Viktor Yanukovich, said on Tuesday that the US plans to loan $1 billion to the country’s new authorities are illegal. “Indeed,...