Andrei Rublev is one of the Russian tennis players banned from the Wimbledon tournament. He defeated world number one Novak Djokovic in the Serbia Open 2022 final in Belgrade today. Rublev, who is only eighth in the world rankings, beat his opponent 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 6-0.

The International Boxing Association (IBA) has canceled the suspension of Russian and Belarusian athletes, a message posted on the official website of the organization says. The board of directors of the association voted for the admission of boxers from Russia and Belarus to international competitions. The decisions comes into force immediately, the IBA said. "The IBA strongly believes that politics shouldn't have any influence on sports. Hence, all athletes should be given equal conditions. Respecting its own autonomy as the international sports federation, the IBA shall remain politically neutral and independent,” the organization said in a statement.

Formula 1 (F1) has been striving to become more environmentally friendly in recent years while still remaining relevant beyond the race track. The series has included more technology that is seen in street cars, such as small-displacement engines with turbos and hybridization. However, F1's CEO, Stefano Domenicali, has said in an interview with an Italian paper that the series will "never go electric." F1 sees synthetic fuels, also known as e-fuels, as the future of the series. These lab-created fuels are already in limited production but come with an extreme cost. However, this is not a problem for motorsport. F1's goal is to have e-fuels powering the grid by 2026 and then working towards finding a way to use them in passenger cars as combustion bans start to take effect in nations in the 2030s, just as F1 hopes to become carbon neutral.

According to Al Arabiya, frequent use of wireless headphones may lead to oncology. Prolonged use of Bluetooth headphones increases the risk of developing tumors in the body and may also contribute to miscarriages in women. In this regard, experts recommend limiting the use of wireless headphones while exercising, watching TV, and in other situations. However, it is worth noting that specialists also emphasized that smartphones and X-ray radiation can cause greater harm to the human body.

Jon Jones, US champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) responded to Russian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Islam Makhachev, who criticised promotion's ratings. "Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Criticism comes with territory. I want to encourage the young fighters to beat some of my records instead of using their lips. Now thats gangsta,” Jones wrote in a message posted on social media. Jones is the current UFC heavyweight champion. He tops the ranking of the promotion's best fighters regardless of weight categories (P4P). During his career, the fighter won 27 victories and suffered one loss. Another fight with his participation was declared invalid.

President of Turkey's Ankaragucu football club, Faruk Koca, punched referee Halil Umut Meler in the face after the match of the 15th round of the Super League, Sabah Spor reports. Faruk Koca punched the referee in the face knocking him down on the lawn. Several other men ran up to the referee the next moment and kicked him in the head. The incident occurred after the final whistle. According to Koca, he wanted to spit the referee in the face, but decided to hit him not too hard. The referee was hospitalised.

The head of the All-Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation, Irina Viner, announced that her athletes would no longer compete at international tournaments in a neutral status, TASS reports. According to Viner, until recently Russian athletes could only count on one place in victory at the Games. "What's the point of that? There's no flag, no anthem, no communication, no fans, but there's special uniforms and special music. It would be a shame if we go there. This would be very humiliating for Russia. Russian rhythmic gymnasts will not go there for certain. We will never again perform without the Russian flag and anthem," said Viner.

14-year-old figure skater Maria Simonova was rushed to hospital after she fell on ice hard during a tournament in Moscow. Male skater dropped Simonova while holding her on support. The girl fell hard on ice and hit her head. After the fall, she was able to get up and finish the programme. She did not come to the traditional kiss-and-cry room after the performance and asked for help.

With the Russian Championship frozen out until March, the main focus this week is on the English Premiership, where Chelsea FC recovered a buffer of two points against main rival Manchester City. In Spain, Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid leads as the striker waits to hear whether he has won his second successive Ballon d'Or and in Serie A in Italy has become a two-horse race. I present this year the latest updates in four competitions: the National Championships, the Champions and Europa Leagues and the Qualifiers for UEFA 2016 in France, as well as all the matches played for our readers to follow the evolution of the competitions. UEFA National Championships 2014-2015

What is wrong with Real Madrid? Every two to three years, or so, the team collapses. They don't run on the ball, they certainly don't run off the ball, they look miserable, they seem to have problems in the boot room. When you are paid that sort of salary, you eat the grass every single match. Not Real Madrid. I present this year the latest updates in four competitions: the National Championships, the Champions and Europa Leagues and the Qualifiers for UEFA 2016 in France, as well as all the matches played for our readers to follow the evolution of the competitions. UEFA National Championships 2014-2015

Russian federal TV channels may refuse to broadcast the 2018 Winter Olympics from South Korean Pyeongchang should the Russian delegation be suspended, the Vedomosti newspaper wrote. For the time being, Russia's three major TV channels - Channel One, Rossiya-1 (part of VGTRK) and Match TV (part of Gazprom Media) plan to broadcast Winter Olympics from South Korea. Yet, if the Russian national team is excluded from the Games, Channel One and Rossiya-1 will most likely refuse to broadcast the Olympics. Naturally, Russian people watch Olympic Games to support Russian athletes in the first place. If no Russian athletes take part in the Games, the audience of the major sports event of this winter will decease sharply, representatives of the above-mentioned channels say. It makes no sense for major channels to pay millions of dollars for the rights to broadcast the Games, if they make no money from advertising because of low ratings.

The miracle did not happen. In the morning of February 9, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced that it was dismissing the appeals from 47 Russian athletes against the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The athletes were in a dispute regarding the decision of the IOC not to invite them to participate in the Games in Pyeongchang. The judges decided that there was nothing to abolish because the IOC did not apply sanctions against the Russians, but distributed gifts in the form of invitations instead. A nice game of words, behind which both the IOC and WADA with their dirty deeds could hide comfortably. The IOC firmly believed that only clean Russian athletes would be able to take part in the winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. However, we will see plenty of "unclean" athletes in South Korea, albeit from other countries. Suffice it to recall German biathlonist Denise Herrmann and Polish skier Poland Justyna Kowalczyk. Both of them had been caught in doping. Christopher Del Bosco of Canada will perform in ski-cross, even though his doping test showed traces of marijuana. The position of the IOC is two-faced and cynical, and its slogans about the purity of sports are needed for something else.Elite sports have been corrupt with doping for many years, and WADA would have been set up otherwise. Big sport events always mean big money involved. How easier is it for IOC and WADA officials to make champions of the people, who had their medals supported with a nice and special thank you from sponsors? Suspending competitors appears to be a great favour to do. Russia a convenient target for WADA and IOC Russia turned out to be a very convenient target. First off, Russian athletes would always win whole baskets of medals at all Olympic competitions. Secondly, Russia remains under the sanctions of Western countries, which means that no one will stand up for Russia, and we can see it with our own eyes. This is not conspiracy - this is plain business.Most importantly, one can never find the one who bears the blame. When WADA president Craig Reedie was asked whether he would like to leave his cozy office after CAS proved the innocence of the Russians, implying that WADA had soiled itself, Reedie simply said that WADA had nothing to do with it and shifted the blame for the IOC. Why is WADA so obsessed with Russian athletes only? Why not check athletes from other countries, the Norwegians, for example? Norwegians breaking doping rules The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), announced without any hesitation that the national team of Norway took bags of different medications for asthma to South Korea. In particular, it goes about more than 6,000 doses! There are sick athletes in other teams, but the Swedes, the Finns and the Germans hope to get by with a considerably lower amount of doses. Interestingly, journalists of Swedish SVT television channel established that since 1992, Norwegian asthmatic athletes had won every seven out of ten Olympic medals since 1992. In Russia, children with asthma are not allowed to sports training on the level of youth sports schools. It is hard to make champions out of sick children, whose lives depend on medications. One may assume that Norway has a different approach to children's sports, implicating that the Norwegians are good at bypassing anti-doping rules.At the end of last summer, Norwegian TV channel T2 aired a report, in which former skiers of the national team said that doctors had over-medicalised them with asthma medications for prophylactic purposes. It is an open secret that regular intake of such drugs contributes to muscle growth. Famous skier Martin Sundby will apparently be the first one, who will need many doses of asthma drugs in Pyeongchang. The Olympic medalist was taking the medicine for anabolic and fat burning effects.It has been 1.5 years since January 2015 till the time when Sundby was "punished" for his rampant craving for drugs. Yet, Sundby was taking medications, collecting the money and winning the medals and that his is probably proud of. He had to return some afterwards, but the most ridiculous part of the whole story is that it took CAS a whole winter to study Sundby's addiction, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport eventually suspended the Norwegian skier for two summer (!) months. How absurd is that?

Fans from all over the world continue coming to Russia for the World Cup. In Moscow, football fans paralyzed many pedestrian streets having arranged mass festivities there. Most fans gathered on Nikolskaya Street, which is adjacent to Red Square. Crowds of football fans gathered on Nikolskaya Street to support their national teams. Russia is welcoming fans of all ages - one can see elderly people holding hands, young people partying and even young parents with children. Light garlands above the street created a very special atmosphere of a football carnival against the background of facades of historical buildings covered with flags of the countries participating in the championship.Representatives of Latin and South America predictably turned out to be most active football fans, for whom football is a religion. Peruvians and Mexicans attracted people's attention by performing  national dances and playing traditional musical instruments. Fans from Argentina gathered the largest number of fans around themselves as they were singing the national anthem in unison, infecting everyone around with football fever.The Moscow police were behaving in a very friendly way with foreign guests, but were firmly suppressing all attempts of the latter to drink alcoholic beverages in public places. Of course, unpleasant incidents are unavoidable, and foreign football fans already appear in crime reports. In St. Petersburg, a fan from Morocco was robbed after visiting the festival of FIFA fans on Konyushennaya Square. On the way back, the man found that he lost 2,500 euros and his iPhone 7. The loss was evaluated at about 200,000 rubles. The Moroccan fan could only speak Arabic, and it took police officers a lot of time to understand what he was trying to say.On June 11, a Chinese woman reported the loss of a designer backpack and an amount of money worth 3,000 dollars. The same day, an American man addressed the police saying that he was left without cash. A 25-year-old Egyptian reported the loss of his luggage. The young man could not overcome the language barrier and resorted to the help of his friend, who could speak English. It turned out that the men forgot about their bag with tickets inside as they were stunned with views of St. Petersburg. In Kaliningrad, Nigerian football fans asked local authorities permission to bring live chickens to the stadium. The authorities had to decline. For Nigerian fans, a chicken is their mascot that they bring to every venue.  They did not specify what they needed the chickens for, although it is generally believed that African football fans usually practice various magic rituals during football matches, and chickens are widely used in Africa for sacrifice. Nigeria will play against Croatia in Kaliningrad on June 16. World Cup 2018 scheduleJune 14thGroup A. Moscow, "Luzhniki". Russia - Saudi Arabia 18:00June 15thGroup A. Ekaterinburg. Egypt - Uruguay 15:00Group B. St. Petersburg. Morocco - Iran 18:00Group B. Sochi. Portugal - Spain 21:00June 16thGroup S. Kazan. France - Australia 13:00Group D. Moscow, "Spartacus." Argentina - Iceland 16:00Group S. Saransk. Peru - Denmark 19:00Group D. Kaliningrad. Croatia - Nigeria 22:00June 17Group E. Samara. Costa Rica - Serbia 15:00Group F. Moscow, "Luzhniki". Germany - Mexico 18:00Group E. Rostov-on-Don. Brazil - Switzerland 21:00June, 18thGroup F. Nizhny Novgorod. Sweden - South Korea 15:00Group G. Sochi. Belgium - Panama 18:00Group G. Volgograd. Tunisia - England 21:00June 19Group H. Saransk. Colombia - Japan 15:00Group H. Moscow, "Spartacus." Poland - Senegal 18:00Group A. St. Petersburg. Russia to Egypt 21:00June 20thGroup B. Moscow, "Luzhniki". Portugal - Morocco 15:00Group A. Rostov-on-Don. Uruguay - Saudi Arabia 18:00Group B. Kazan. Iran - Spain 21:0021st of JuneGroup S. Samara. Denmark-Australia 15:00Group C. Ekaterinburg. France - Peru 18:00Group D. Nizhny Novgorod. Argentina - Croatia 21:0022nd of JuneGroup E. St. Petersburg. Brazil - Costa Rica 15:00Group D. Volgograd. Nigeria - Iceland 18:00Group E. Kaliningrad. Switzerland - Serbia 21:00June 23Group G. Moscow, "Spartacus." Belgium - Tunisia 15:00Group F. Rostov-on-Don. South Korea - Mexico 18:00Group F. Sochi. Germany - Sweden 21:00June 24Group G. Nizhny Novgorod. England - Panama 15:00Group H. Ekaterinburg. Japan - Senegal 18:00Group H. Kazan. Poland - Colombia 21:00June 25thGroup A. Volgograd. Saudi Arabia - Egypt 17:00Group A. Samara. Uruguay - Russia 17:00Group B. Kaliningrad. Spain - Morocco 21:00Group B. Saransk. Iran - Portugal 21:00June 26thGroup C. Moscow, "Luzhniki". Denmark-France 17:00Group S. Sochi. Australia - Peru 17:00Group D. St. Petersburg. Nigeria - Argentina 21:00Group D. Rostov-on-Don. Iceland - Croatia 21:0027th of JuneGroup F. Kazan. South Korea - Germany 17:00Group F. Ekaterinburg. Mexico - Sweden 17:00Group E. Moscow, "Spartacus." Brazil - Serbia 21:00Group E. Nizhny Novgorod. Switzerland - Costa Rica 21:00June 28thGroup H. Volgograd. Japan - Poland 17:00Group H. Samara. Senegal - Colombia 17:00Group G. Kaliningrad. England - Belgium 21:00Group G. Saransk. Panama - Tunisia 21:00Playoff schedule30 June1/8 finals. Kazan. C1-D2 17:001/8 finals. Sochi. 1A - 2B 21:00July 11/8 finals. Moscow, the Luzhniki Stadium. B1 - A2 17:001/8 finals. Nizhny Novgorod. D1 - C2 21:002 July1/8 finals. Samara. E1 - F2 17:001/8 finals. Rostov-on-Don. G1 - H2 21:003 July1/8 finals. St. Petersburg. F1 - E2 17:001/8 finals. Moscow, "Spartacus." H1 - G2 21:006 July1/4 finals. Nizhny Novgorod. (A1-B2) - (C1-D2) 17:001/4 finals. Kazan. (E1 - F2) - (G1 - H2) 21:00July 7th1/4 finals. Samara. (F1 - E2) - (H1 - G2) 17:001/4 finals. Sochi. (B1-A2) - (D1-C2) 21:0010 July1/2 finals. St. Petersburg. 9pmJuly 11th1/2 finals. Moscow, the Luzhniki Stadium. 9pmthe 14 th of JulyMatch for third place. St. Petersburg. 5pmJuly 15The final. Moscow, Luzhniki 18:00

More surprises: Japan and Senegal Japan beat Colombia 2-1, the same result as the Senegal versus Poland game   

Does Russia want its athletes humiliated at the Olympic Games again? Will Russia boycott the Games this time? Olympic alternative to Russian national anthem In December 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) prohibited Russian athletes from performing at world championships and Olympic Games under the national flag and deprived them of the right to perform the Russian national anthem. To crown it all, Russia was deprived of the right to host such sports events too.A number of active Russian politicians started looking for an alternative to the Russian national anthem and picked up the idea for the Russian athletes to perform ​​the famous WWII song "Katyusha." Some of them were not even embarrassed by the fact that the IOC requires not to include any mentioning of any war or any war-related topic in the Games, including in opening and closing ceremonies. They apparently assumed that the rest of the world should accept World War II as an excuse for Russia's current problems. On March 13, 2021, CAS rejected the request from the Russian Olympic Committee to use the "Katyusha" song as a replacement for the Russian anthem at the upcoming Olympic Games in the summer of 2021 in Tokyo and in February 2022 in Beijing. The court clarified that the concept of "any anthem associated with Russia" applied to all songs associated with Russia. However, the court decision did not close the discussion in Russia anyway, and the search for the replacement for the Russian national anthem continues. Does Russia need the white flag in sports? This is strange indeed: if Russia can stand up against the world supremacist state in Syria, return territories in Europe, ignore the work in the Council of Europe and make harsh statements about its readiness to terminate relations with the European Union, then why not slam the door to the IOC?Why should Russia should feel humiliated to participate in the Olympics? Those who believe that one needs to think about the athletes and their most important sports competitions, may forget to think that it goes about Russian athletes being Russian citizens. Does Russia need athletes that do not want to sacrifice their achievements and victories for sake of their country's dignity? Or does Russia need to live up to the interests of a handful of athletes to the detriment of its own national interests and interests of millions of other Russian citizens, who are not thrilled at the whole idea of Russia's sports humiliation?

The main feature of Russia's prospective light tactical aircraft, also known as the Su-75, or Checkmate, is stealthiness, military expert Andrei Klintsevich said in an interview with News.ru. “The main feature of the Checkmate fighter is that this is a fifth-generation aircraft in terms of stealthiness. This is a single-engine jet meaning that it is quite cheap to manufacture. It will be an analogue of the Su-35 fighter, but it is still difficult to say what characteristics it will have. Currently, Russia pays priority to twin-engine technology to improve reliability and flight performance,” he said. According to the expert, modern aircraft become versatile platforms capable of performing fighter, interceptor or bomber missions.

When flying at full speed, Russia's state-of-the-art Avangard hypersonic vehicle is invisible to radar. “This is the only hypersonic unit in the world that can be used at intercontinental range and has a speed of Mach 28. In a nutshell, this is  a vehicle to deliver conventional or nuclear weapons that flies in the form of a fireball as its surface heats up to colossal temperatures at such speed producing plasma on the surface of the vehicle,” Yuri Knutov military expert, director of the Museum of Air Defense Forces Yuri Knutov told lenta.ru publication.  Plasma absorbs electromagnetic radiation making the unit invisible to radar, the expert added. 

State testing of the Stretta laser range system may begin in April, a source in the Russian military-industrial complex told TASS. "State tests of the Stretta system are to begin on April 1 of this year. They will last for about three months,” the source told the agency. There is no official confirmation to this information, though.

Residents of the Far East of Russia could observe the movement of a space object in the sky. It is believed that the phenomenon that eyewitnesses filmed on video was Comet Pons-Brooks. This comet nears the Earth once in every 71 years. Huge luminous stripes appeared in the evening sky above the Khabarovsk and other neighbouring regions of Russia. The luminous object split into parts and slowly moved in the sky. Some observers thought they saw a rocket take off, or the passage of a comet or meteorite.

Russian engineers developed a wireless headphone jammer that is going to be put to the test at railway crossings. Students from the Institute of Radio Engineering Systems and Control of Southern Federal University developed a jamming device that turns off wireless headphones at railway tracks. The micro-controller of the device detects the Bluetooth signal from the headphones in its range and reboots the 2.4 GHz frequency on which Bluetooth and Wi-Fi operate. This causes the sound in the headphones to disappear, and the person will be able to hear the train or the alarm at the crossing.

Astronomers at the University of Warsaw in Poland discovered a new Cepheid variable star. The newly discovered star, designated OGLE-GD-CEP-1884, has the longest pulsation period known for any variable of its type in the Milky Way Galaxy, an article published on the arXiv preprint server says. Cepheids are yellow giant and supergiant stars that change their brightness over time as a result of regular stellar pulsations. Given that their pulsation periods are closely related to their luminosity, astronomers use these stars to measure interstellar and intergalactic distances. Classic Cepheids, also known as Type I Cepheids, pulsate with highly regular periods ranging from a few days to months.

Boston Dynamics presented the new robot. The company refused from the old hydraulic platform to introduce the new electric one under the same name, Atlas. The new robot is completely electronic, there are no hydraulic systems involved. The new robot will be stronger and more maneuverable as all developments of the previous generation of the robot will be improved. The company is ambitious to introduce humanoid robots and create infrastructure for them, including software.

A powerful solar flare that caused a massive ejection of solar matter on June 2, 2024, may cause a very string magnetic storm on Earth. The plasma cloud will reach our planet on Tuesday, June 4th. The June 2 X-class flare (the most powerful one) has become the third highest-level flare in the past 24 hours caused by active region 3697. This area caused a powerful flare in 2017 and the strongest magnetic storm since 2005. A total of five X-class flares were recorded in just three days from the moment the area appeared on the side of the Sun facing the Earth. The most dangerous flare occurred on May 29, but the ejection passed by the planet.

The United States has stopped research into new cancer treatments in Russia, Andrey Kaprin, oncologist at the Russian Ministry of Health, General Director of the National Medical Research Center of Radiology said. According to the expert, the United States independently refused to continue research into new cancer therapy. In particular, the US stopped cooperation on protocols. The corresponding decision of the United States has not affected cancer patients in Russia. On the contrary, domestic fundamental science was given a powerful impetus for development, he noted. "The most important thing that we have come to realise is that we need to create our own,” said the oncologist.

China has unveiled its latest scientific development — a spheric police robot capable of pursuing criminals. The robot is equipped with artificial intelligence and can operate autonomously. Unlike Western analogues that are mostly used for surveillance purposes, the Chinese robot can effectively operate in a variety of conditions. The new Chinese robot can float and roll both on smooth asphalt and off-road terrain. Even dirt and height will not be an obstacle in its path. It can even fall from a height to continue its mission.  The robot is capable of confronting perpetrators and shooting nets to immobilise them until the human police arrive. It attacks opponents at speeds of up to 35 km/h, and also acts as part of a group with other robots. Its body is very hard to destroy. 

Chinese manned spacecraft Shenzhou-19 with three taikonauts on board was successfully launched into low-Earth orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, UDN Global reports. The spacecraft blasted off on October 29 at 23:27 Moscow time, or October 30 at 04:27 local time. A Long March 2 °F-19 launch vehicle was used for the liftoff. About ten minutes into the flight, the Shenzhou-19 manned spacecraft successfully separated from the rocket and flew into orbit. There are three crew members on board the Shenzhou-19. They will conduct 86 scientific experiments in space, including experiments in the field of medicine, biology, fundamental physics of microgravity, materials science and space technology, the agency notes.

DPRK Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui arrived in Vladivostok, Russia, on October 29. From Vladivostok, the minister traveled to Moscow, a message posted on the official Telegram channel of the Russian Embassy in North Korea said. The North Korean Foreign Minister is visiting Russia as part of the strategic dialogue that took place between the leaders of the two countries in the June 2024 summit. Choe Son-hui's visit to Moscow is taking place in the midst of discussions in the West about the alleged involvement of DPRK military personnel in combat operations in Ukraine. On October 18, South Korean intelligence said that 1,500 North Korean soldiers were already at Russian training grounds in the Far East, from where they would be sent to Ukraine. The intelligence service later reported a larger number — 3,000 soldiers.

The statement from former US President Donald Trump about the "destruction" of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline should be considered an element of the election campaign, Kremlin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. After the explosion of the gas pipeline, one thread survived, and Gazprom is ready to immediately start deliveries if Germany agrees to buy natural gas from Russia, Peskov said. "There is a surviving thread of Nord Stream 2, and it is ready to be launched, as President Putin said. Therefore, it is very difficult to guess what Mr. Trump had in mind here," Peskov concluded.

The United States is holding the 60th presidential election on Tuesday, November 5. US citizens also elect a vice president, 468 congressmen, governors of 11 states and representatives to local governments. The Democratic Party in the elections is represented by the current US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running for a seat in the Oval Office, and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Harris's running mate if she wins. Their Republican rivals are the 45th former US President Donald Trump and Ohio Senator James David Vance. By tradition, the elections first began at midnight in New Hampshire. Six out of six registered residents of Dixville Notch cast their ballots: three for Harris, three for Trump.

In addition to promises regarding domestic policy, the candidates in the current US presidential elections have released indicative statements about their attitude to major international conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have spoken about Russia as well to outline how they would build future relations with Moscow. Trump has repeatedly stated that he will quickly end the conflict in Ukraine should he return to the Oval Office. "I will literally call two people the same night that I am announced as the winner: Putin and Zelensky. We will make a deal within 24 hours," Trump said.

The processes that have been taken in Ukraine lately seem very curious. The Parliament of Ukraine, the Rada, is calling on Donald Trump to help end the war in order to hold parliamentary elections. In a nutshell, Ukrainian MPs beg him to intervene in Ukraine's internal affairs. "We will work with the Administration, with the elected Congress, the Senate… I don't think that the composition of the Parliament will change 100% there. Unfortunately, we at the Verkhovna Rada cannot change like that. But we would very much like, starting with Donald Trump, the elected president, and ending with Congress, the Senate, for them to do their utmost to enable us to be re-elected. This is our request, as deputies, to them…" Vice Speaker Kornienko said.

US President Joe Biden may take drastic actions before he resigns, Alexander Yakovenko, a member of the scientific council at the Security Council of the Russian Federation and former Russian Ambassador to the UK believes. "Biden and his administration are still in power as a lame duck. In December 2016, Barack Obama similarly decided to sharply aggravate relations with Russia by expelling 35 Russian diplomats. The same can be expected now, especially in Ukraine,” Yakovenko said. Trump will take up US foreign affairs before his inauguration while trying to push the current administration out of decision-making processes, Yakovenko suggested.

US President-elect Donald Trump allowed for a possibility of talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin after his victory in the US presidential election. He has already spoken with 70 world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but Putin was not among them, Trump said. "I think we'll talk," US President-elect Donald Trump said. In an interview with NBC, Trump also noted that he had agreed to have lunch with US President Joe Biden in the near future.

In Amsterdam, people with Palestinian flags attacked Israelis after a football match between local club Ajax and Tel Aviv's Maccabi. Masked men waving Palestinian flags attacked Israelis after the Israeli soccer team lost to Ajax in the Europa League. The attackers were chasing and beating Tel Aviv Maccabi fans throughout the night shouting "Free Palestine!" Click here to see more raw videos from Amsterdam

Albania’s football team is to be congratulated on some very entertaining football, taking the game to their powerful opponents in the most difficult group at UEFA 2024 Group B, the Group of Death. Spain, Italy, Croatia, and…Albania, present in the UEFA finals for only the second time (2016 was the first). Along with everyone else, when I saw the group, I groaned and said “Poor Albania, they are going to get thrashed”. Well, they didn’t. The game against Italy surprised and shocked everyone as the reigning champions were outplayed by a spirited Albania for much of the game, managing to hold on to their 2-.1 lead in a game which Albania should have drawn.  Spirit and grit For those who thought this was a fluke, they were wrong. This was already obvious in the first game with Albania’s passing and movement off the ball, the team spirit and what we call grit, saw wave after wave of Albanian attacks, intelligent attacks favouring incursions down both flanks or through the middle, depending on where there were better positioned players with all the Albanian team able to read the game as it developed. The passing was not only intelligent, it was accurate, fast-paced and sophisticated, denoting remarkable maturity.

The big loser in the French elections was not the far right. It's true that if it hadn't been for the spurious agreements between the New Popular Front and the Macronists, the National Regroupment would have grown even more. But the result of the second round is not exactly a victory for the left. After Marine Le Pen's RN led the first round of the elections, the leaders of the NFP fell into the trap of the French press and Emmanuel Macron, abandoning numerous candidates of their own to increase the chances of the neoliberal right linked to the Renaissance party beating the far right.  The French big bourgeoisie called for a "republican front" to create a "cordon sanitaire" made up of the left and the neoliberal right in order to prevent a landslide victory for the RN, which led to agreements in around 220 constituencies for the candidate with supposedly the least chance of winning the RN to abandon the race in favour of the candidate with the greatest chance. Except that most of the abandonments were by the NFP so that Macron's allies could beat Le Pen's allies, even though the NFP came second in the first round, far ahead of Macron's coalition.

After the Summer holidays, back to work. And what do we find? A worsening shock and horror story on Planet Dearth ‘24 Twenty-five years ago, as the new millennium approached, I, along with many others, was brimming with hope and optimism for the new century, expecting a multilateral approach to international affairs and the full implementation of the rule of law on the international stage. The warning sign, Albanian terrorists 9/11 had not yet happened. But Kosovo had and I suppose this was a tell-tale warning sign of what was already in motion, the behind-the-scenes scheming of a new world order controlled by those who pull the strings behind the scenes in Washington DC and therefore its troupe of yapping chihuahuas across the Pond.

Unethical, as amoral as it is immoral, puerile, unprofessional,  criminal, shallow, devious and Lite. Western foreign policy. In short, it is a policy which is puerile, Lite and criminal. When I was twelve years old in 1970, I wrote a letter to Leonid Brezhnev, warning the USSR that Western foreign policy was all of the above and if I remember correctly, I used exactly these same words. The answer from the Kremlin was a very polite and agreeable letter in which it was stated the Soviet Union followed international law and favoured a multilateral world in which everyone played by the same set of weights and measures, or words to that effect.

Not that long ago, the Teikovo missile unit (Guards Order of Kutuzov missile division) took mobile ground-based Yars missile systems for exercises. The manoeuvres included marches at a distance of up to 100 kilometers, dispersal and change of positions, organization of combat security and camouflage. The goal of the exercises was to improve the training and coherence of personnel of the Strategic Missile Forces.

On the first day of October, Iran fired more than 200 missiles at Israel. The missiles reached their targets in 10-12 minutes. According to the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces said, the attacks were conducted to hit Navatim and Netzarim air bases, where F-35 aircraft, radars and tank assembly centers are based. It is believed that Iran used new Fattah-2 hypersonic missiles for the attack. The hypersonic ballistic missile flies at a speed of about 6,000 km per hour (up to 5 Mach); its flight range amounts to 1,400 km.

Marginal result with diaspora fake votes calls the legitimacy of the constitutional referendum in Moldova into question. The next two weeks before the second round of the presidential elections will be dangerous. Constitutional referendum in Moldova is illegitimate The EU spent huge amounts of money to promote the idea of European course in Moldova. In a nutshell, the essence of this idea is about the "Anti-Russia" project: Visits of European ambassadors, "Citizens for Europe" rallies, campaign trips in blue minibuses, all kinds of concerts demonstrations and other events with blue flags. The pro-Western media machine was trying to convince the Moldovans that the idea of the European integration would receive the support of 70 percent of voters.

On October 8, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun announced that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, commonly known as North Korea) had transferred troops to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later announced that the DPRK had effectively become a party to the conflict. First reports about the transfer of North Korean troops to Ukraine appeared after Russia and the DPRK signed the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty. The parties agreed to immediately provide mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of them. Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukraine was in a state of war with the DPRK.

The BRICS summit in Kazan has formalized Russia's leadership in real decolonization and creation of developed economies based on its own strength. First steps have been named and are clear to everyone. Russia accepted as a new leader in the world The fact that 32 heads of state and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres gathered in Kazan, Russia, during the times of the special military operation has demonstrated the decline of US influence in the world and the emergence of Russia as its leader. A country with 3.5 percent of global GDP in purchasing power parity was able to withstand harsh sanctions and three years of war with NATO at the hands of Ukrainians. The West that dominates the world economy with 40 percent is clearly losing the game to Russia on all fronts. It is about the ability, desire and readiness to defend one's national interests on the battlefield and mobilize one's economy. This is valued and respected in the world, and no one saw this in the Western camp.

It appears that the moment when Israel is going to strike Iran is getting closer. Ten US Air Force KC-135R tanker aircraft are heading towards the Middle East with at least 20 F-16 fighters escorting them. French all purpose landing ship L9013 Mistral arrived in Larnaca, Cyprus. US has transferred new combat aircraft to its base in Qatar. A curious event was noticed in the sky over Cambridge: three US tanker aircraft and a C-5M Super Galaxy military transport aircraft were spotted airborne. According to The New York Times, Iranian leader Ali Khamenei ordered the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic to prepare for a state of war with Israel. Khamenei instructed the army to present several plans of response to Israel's imminent attack on Iran, depending on the scale of the strike.

Vice-Presidential candidate Tim Walz has led a charmed life. This He-Man has been in more scrapes than a cheese grater and come out for the better. And while I might regale you with innumerable tales of his derring-do, we must stick to the highlight reel of that figure who no doubt would have been Head Coach of the Green Bay Packers had he not nobly sacrificed those ambitions to care for we urchins of a petrifying nation who needed him most.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was unaware of Russian President Vladimir Putin's plans to congratulate Donald Trump on his victory in the US presidential election. "As for congratulations, I am unaware of the president's plans to congratulate Trump on the election," he said, RIA Novosti reports. The voting in the US presidential election ended. Trump is leading by a solid margin while getting the majority of votes from both voters and electors.

Your author is a peculiar individual and not only for his love of Loly Hardcore. (Incidentally, VLAD, you keep giving speeches about repopulating Russia but no Loly on my doorstep yet…it was my understanding Russian shills were compensated spectacularly!?!…*sigh*…) Anyway — as your Humble Correspondent was reminiscing — the more I exist the more unusual I become.

In October 2024, Russia announced plans to significantly increase year-round shipping through the Northern Sea Route (NSR), aiming a boost in cargo volume to over 200 million tons annually by 2030 — a critical step in transforming the Arctic into a global trade corridor. With 2023's cargo volume already reaching 36.254 million tons, despite a slight dip this year so far mainly due to delays in launching major raw material projects like Arctic LNG 2, the route continues to demonstrate its growing role in Russia's trade and energy strategy. The Northern Sea Route, stretching across Russia's Arctic coastline, has long been eyed as a potential alternative to the Suez Canal for connecting Europe and Asia. With shorter transit times — promising to reduce the distance between Asia and Europe by 10 to 14 days compared to the Suez Canal route — and bypassing congested chokepoints, the NSR offers the promise of a more direct, efficient maritime route between the two continents. This October's decision is only the latest in a series of strategic moves by Russia to establish the NSR as a primary passage for international sea-based trade, catalyzed by Russia's growing ties with both China and India, who are actively seeking reliable access to the Arctic. Amid escalating tensions, particularly the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict, which has the potential to severely disrupt sea trade along the Suez Canal, the NSR's strategic importance becomes even more pronounced.

A Russian man who had been drifting for two months in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk with the bodies of his relatives was rescued. His boat was discovered by the crew of the fishing vessel "Angel". When the fishermen found the boat, the man was conscious and was even able to shout a few words. The first phrase spoken by the survivor was: "Not enough strength." In response, the crew of the vessel that found the man, a Sakhalin resident, said that they had taken this information into account and promised to save him quickly.

In Kazan, employees of several companies were asked not to use their old cars during the days of the BRICS summit. People were also asked to minimize the use of personal cars, since "their old, rusty and excessively loud cars will tarnish the look of the city," 116.ru reports. According to an unnamed employee of one of the companies, the management suggested that employees should use public transport and leave their personal cars in garages or at least park them further away. In addition, students of one of Kazan technical schools were advised not to drive their "rattlers with loud music on not to disgrace the city."