Tag Archives: Russia

Al Jazeera reports: At least 58 people, including nine children, were killed in an air raid that released “toxic gas” on the rebel-held Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday, a monitor said. The attack caused many people to choke or faint, and some had foam coming from their mouths, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, citing medical …

Posted this morning by Human Rights Watch: The information published by Novaya Gazeta is consistent with the reports Human Rights Watch recently received from numerous trusted sources, including sources on the ground. The number of sources and the consistency of the stories leaves us with no doubt that these devastating developments have indeed occurred. LGBT Network in Russia opened a …

Whoa. The Washington Post reports: The United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladi­mir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump, according to U.S., European and Arab officials. The meeting took place around Jan. …

Newsweek reports: Russian authorities have pledged to investigate reported mass disappearances and deaths of gay locals in the region of Chechnya, after the regional government dismissed allegations made in Novaya Gazeta on Saturday, saying “you cannot detain… what simply does not exist.” According to the Russian investigative newspaper, authorities in the conservative and predominantly Muslim Chechen Republic have detained over …

The Independent reports: At least 10 people are believed to have died after two explosions on the Saint Petersburg subway. Pictures posted on social media show the door of a Metro train has been blown out in an explosion, which is reported to have involved shrapnel-filled devices. Other images showed passengers lying on the ground of a station platform. A …

Deadline recaps: John Oliver continued to open Last Week Tonight with an update on the continuing investigation of Donald Trump and Russia, aka “Stupid Watergate” –so named “because it has all the potential consequences of Watergate, but everyone involved is really stupid,” he explained. Many many question surround Nunes, Oliver noted. Why, for instance, did he make such a big …

The New York Times reports: First, two television reporters vanished. Then a waiter went missing. Over the past week, men ranging in age from 16 to 50 have disappeared from the streets of Chechnya. On Saturday, a leading Russian opposition newspaper confirmed a story already circulating among human rights activists: The Chechen authorities were arresting and killing gay men. While …

The New York Daily News reports: President Trump, after again ripping the “Fake News Media,” turned to Fox News for proof that he’s the victim in the probes of his administration’s alleged Russian ties. The President, in another Saturday morning tweetstorm, quoted a Fox story from a day earlier reporting that members of Trump’s team were identified in intelligence reports …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Saturday called for NBC News to devote more attention to his unproven claims that President Obama spied on him and stop covering the investigations into Russia’s interference in the election. It was not immediately apparent what NBC coverage Trump was taking issue with. Chuck Todd on Friday interviewed top Washington lawyer Abbe Lowell and …

From the Washington Examiner: White House press secretary Sean Spicer declined on Friday to say whether President Trump believes ousted national security advisor Mike Flynn is guilty of a crime, even though Trump said on Twitter that Flynn should seek immunity from the Senate Intelligence Committee before he testifies about Russia. Spicer was asked if Trump’s tweet means that Flynn …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump shouldn’t talk about whether former national security adviser Michael Flynn should be granted immunity, a top House Republican advised Friday. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) told Fox News he disagrees with the president’s characterization of the Russia investigation, as well as the commander in chief’s decision to comment on it. …

Inverse Culture reports: Donald Trump is the President of the United States. But if oddsmakers are right, there’s a good chance that he won’t hold office for that long. There are many reasons Trump could be impeached or resign before his first term ends. As of March 27, Trump’s odds of leaving office before his first term have increased to …

NBC News reports: A former top government official said the White House reminds him of a “runaway train” following the latest revelations Thursday about President Donald Trump’s ex-national security adviser. Mike Flynn, who served as the president’s national security adviser for three weeks, says he is willing to be interviewed about the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia in return …

Mediaite reports: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi believes that House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes may have been set up as a White House patsy. During a Friday morning appearance on Today, Pelosi called Nunes “a dupe,” for reportedly receiving intelligence about incidental collection of Trump team communications with the help of two White House staffers. “He was a dupe. He …

Huge news from the Wall Street Journal: Mike Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, has told the Federal Bureau of Investigation and congressional officials investigating the Trump campaign’s potential ties to Russia that he is willing to be interviewed in exchange for a grant of immunity from prosecution, according to officials with knowledge of the matter. As an …

Fox News anchor Shep Smith this afternoon accused Rep. Devin Nunes of being a “shill” for the White House. Raw Story reports: “Chairman Nunes claims he needed to be in a secure area,” Smith said, “He also refuses to give up his sources, though he has not denied that they came from inside the White House.” Nunes apparently told House …

The New York Times reports: A pair of White House officials played a role in providing Representative Devin Nunes of California, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, with the intelligence reports that showed President Trump and his associates were incidentally swept up in foreign surveillance by American spy agencies. The revelation that White House officials assisted in the …

CNN reports: The Senate intelligence committee has run a steady and low-key investigation into Russia’s interference in the US elections and communications with the campaign of President Donald Trump, but Thursday marks the panel’s first public hearing, which could offer some insights into where senators are thinking in private. There’s little chance that Thursday’s hearing will be as explosive as …

CNBC reports: American accusations that Russia interfered in last year’s U.S. elections are “lies” used for “domestic American politics”, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. “We said on numerous occasions and I reiterate that we are confident. And know for sure that opinion polls in the Unites States show that very many people are friendly towards the Russian Federation …

The Hill reports: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’s (R-Calif.) actions have damaged the integrity of his panel’s investigation into Russian election interference, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) says. “I think there has been so much tactics and strategy by the House chairman to support the president that the credibility of the House really is in shreds,” Merkley said Thursday on …