MIAMI, United States (AFP) by Leila MACOR Donald Trump sensationally challenged Russia on Wednesday to hack into Hillary Clinton’s emails as a furious Democratic campaign accused the Republican nominee of inviting foreign spies to meddle in the US presidential election. At a sweeping news conference, the New York billionaire tried to undermine his White House rival, astonishingly implied that Vladimir Putin used a racial slur against President Barack Obama and promised a heyday of US-Russian […]
Tag: Russia
FBI probes Democratic email hack, but is Russia to blame?
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) by Laurent BARTHELEMY The FBI announced Monday it was investigating the embarrassing hack of Democratic National Committee emails — a breach the Clinton campaign blamed on Russia, accusing Moscow of seeking to influence the US presidential election. The emails leaked by WikiLeaks, which reveal that party leaders sought to undermine the campaign of Hillary Clinton’s rival Bernie Sanders, threw the Democratic National Convention into disarray on its first day and prompted the […]
Russian wildfires put key climate resource at risk
by Maria ANTONOVA MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia’s practice of leaving massive wildfires to burn out of control in sprawling stretches of Siberia puts at risk a key global resource for absorbing climate-warming emissions: its trees. The blazes are consuming millions of hectares of pristine Boreal forests in Russia, which are second only to the world’s tropical jungles in capturing planet-warming carbon emissions. At the same time, the drier and harsher conditions associated with a […]
Olympics: Russia anger after Rio ban appeal rejected
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AFP) – by Agnès Pedrero in Lausanne and Ben Simon in Geneva The international sports tribunal on Thursday rejected an appeal by Russian athletes against a Rio Olympics ban amid mounting pressure for action over state-run doping in Russia. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling on track and field is seen as a key indicator as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) debates whether to order a blanket ban on Russia from the Rio […]
S. Korea to announce US anti-missile system site
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea will announce on Wednesday the site for an advanced US missile defense system, officials said, following strong objections from China and Russia accusing Washington of flexing military muscle in the region. The plan to deploy the powerful system, which fires projectiles to smash into enemy missiles, came last week after the United States placed North Korea’s “Supreme Leader” Kim Jong-Un on its sanctions blacklist for the first time. […]
Russia issues stern warning over US missiles in S.Korea
MOSKAU, Russia (AFP) — Russia warned Friday that the US deployment of an advanced missile defense system in South Korea would have “irreparable consequences”, echoing warnings by China of a threat to regional security. “The United States, supported by its partners, are continuing to build up the potential of the Asia-Pacific segment of the global anti-missile defense system, which undermines the established strategic balance in the (region) and beyond,” the foreign ministry said in a […]
Three astronauts blast off for ISS in upgraded Soyuz craft
by Vasily MAXIMOV BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AFP) — Three astronauts blasted off into the early morning sky in an upgraded Soyuz spacecraft from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome Thursday, heading towards the International Space Station. First-time astronauts Kathleen Rubins of NASA and Takuya Onishi of the Japanese space agency set off for a four-month mission at the ISS with Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin at around 0136 GMT. “All is well on board!” said mission control in comments relayed […]
14 children drown in Russia lake tragedy
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — At least 14 children on a summer camp in northeast Russia drowned when their boats capsized in a storm on a lake, investigators said Sunday. The accident happened overnight on Lake Syamozero, close to the border with Finland, according to Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for Russia’s investigative committee. “The investigators have finished examining the bodies of the 14 victims. They said that they were all born between 2002 and 2004. There […]
Putin says accepts U.S. is sole superpower, dilutes Trump praise
(REUTERS) President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he accepted the United States was probably still the world’s sole superpower and he was ready to work with whoever won the presidency, but didn’t want to be told how to live by Americans. Putin’s comments follow a rocky period in U.S.-Russia relations, which have been undermined by disagreements over issues such as Ukraine and Syria. Putin reiterated criticism of what he said was the misguided role […]
Russia cries foul, rest of world welcomes IAAF’s ban
Russia claimed the IAAF’s decision to continue its ban of Russian athletics on Friday was unfair and threatened legal action, while the rest of the world welcomed the move and urged the IOC not to go against it. “We are extremely disappointed by the IAAF’s decision, creating the unprecedented situation of a whole nation’s track and field athletes being banned from the Olympics,” said the Russian ministry of sport. “Clean athletes’ dreams are being […]
NATO to send troops to deter Russia, Putin orders snap checks
(REUTERS) Britain, Germany and the United States advanced plans on Tuesday to spearhead a new NATO force on Russia’s border from next year, and Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered snap checks on combat readiness across his armed forces. Weeks before a critical NATO summit in Warsaw, three of NATO’s biggest military powers said they would each command a battalion across the eastern flank to help deter any show of force such as that deployed by […]
Russia: We will respond to entry of U.S. naval vessel into Black Sea
(REUTERS) The Russian Foreign ministry said Moscow would respond to a U.S. naval ship’s entry into the Black Sea with unspecified measures, saying it and other deployments were designed to ratchet up tensions ahead of a NATO summit, the RIA news agency reported. Russian state media reported that the USS Porter, a U.S. naval destroyer, entered the Black Sea a few days ago on a routine deployment, a move it said raised hackles in […]
