Russia

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'External Activity' Blamed for Egypt Crash

There was no distress call, airline says

(Newser) - An ominous development in Saturday's crash of a Russian plane in Egypt : The airline says pilot error or technical problems could not have caused the crash of Kogalymavia Flight 9268, leaving unspecified "external activity" in the air as the only possible cause, reports the BBC , which notes that...

No Survivors After Russian Jet Crashes in Egypt

ISIS claims responsibility for crash that killed 224

(Newser) - A Russian aircraft carrying 224 people, including 17 children, crashed Saturday in a remote mountainous region in the Sinai Peninsula about 20 minutes after taking off from a Red Sea resort popular with Russian tourists, the Egyptian government says. There were no survivors, according to the Russian Embassy in Cairo....

Family Has Been Stranded in Moscow Airport for 50 Days

Family says Russian authorities believe their visas are fake

(Newser) - For the past 50 days, a Syrian couple and their four children have spent almost every waking hour in a small corner of Moscow's airport. Until a week ago, the family—including three boys, aged 7 to 12, and a 3-year-old girl—also slept there, though Russian officials have...

UN: North Korea Obtains Foreign Cash in Cruel Way

Forced labor is a human rights violation one UN official wants brought before ICC

(Newser) - North Korea is saddled with sanctions for its nuclear testing , but Pyongyang has found at least one way to buck the system, the UN now acknowledges: bring in foreign currency via forced labor outside the country , reports CNN . And it's no small chunk of change the nation is said...

Mystery Surrounds First Russian Casualty in Syria

Teen's parents don't believe he killed himself

(Newser) - The only confirmed death so far in Russia's military involvement in Syria is turning out to be as controversial as the campaign itself. The body of 19-year-old Vadim Kostenko was returned to his parents in southern Russia on Tuesday, and they tell Reuters they don't believe Moscow's...

Cops: Speeding Russian Hearse Full of Illicit Caviar

(Newser) - Police in Russia's far east stopped a hearse speeding on a highway—only to find half a ton of caviar stashed inside. The Interior Ministry said on Tuesday the hearse was caught speeding on the road connecting Khabarovsk, not far from the Chinese border, to a city further north....

10K-Year-Old Extinct Species Found in Cave

These creatures once roamed alongside woolly mammoths

(Newser) - One of Earth's long-extinct and ancient predators has been found—wholly intact for the first time—in a cave in eastern Russia, the Siberian Times reports. According to the Academy of Sciences of Yakutia, two cave lion cubs were discovered this summer almost totally preserved by permafrost in the...

How Russia Could Take Down Our Internet

Officials fear Russian subs will cut deep-sea Internet cables

(Newser) - American officials fear Russia might sever underwater Internet cables during a possible conflict, plunging the West—including its governments, economies, and citizens—into chaos. More than a dozen officials tell the New York Times that concerns over cable-cutting are being voiced at the Pentagon, particularly after Russian submarines and spy...

Russian Official May Think Actor Kal Penn Is a Terrorist

'I can't stop laughing'

(Newser) - We're trying to figure out if the Russian ambassador to Britain is unfamiliar with—or a huge fan of—American stoner comedies from the mid-2000s after he used a photo of actor Kal Penn to illustrate a tweet about terrorists Wednesday. The Washington Post reports Alexander Yakovenko tweeted a...

Turkey Shoots Down Drone, but Whose Is It?

Russia denies ownership of drone, which Turkey says ignored warnings

(Newser) - Turkish jets shot down an unidentified drone that flew into Turkey's airspace at the border with Syria Friday. The drone was shot down after it ignored three warnings to leave, the Turkish military said, but didn't specify how it had relayed the warnings to the operators of the...

Is Syria a 'Proxy War' Between US, Russia?

It's American missiles versus Russian airstrikes

(Newser) - "We’re not going to make Syria into a proxy war between the United States and Russia," the Washington Post cites President Obama saying earlier this month. He might be the only person left who doesn't think it already is. "With the enhanced insurgent firepower and...

Shells Hit Russian Embassy During Syria 'Thank You' Rally

'Beloved leader' Putin is gaining fans in Iraq, Syria

(Newser) - Insurgents fired two shells at the Russian embassy in the Syrian capital as scores of pro-government supporters gathered outside the compound to thank Moscow for its intervention in Syria. An AP reporter was outside the embassy on Tuesday morning when the first shell slammed into the compound in central Damascus...

Russian Missiles 'Hit the Wrong Country'

Nonsense, Moscow says on Facebook

(Newser) - Russian cruise missiles fired from vessels in the Caspian Sea crashed in Iran instead of hitting their targets in Syria, according to CNN —but if they did, Iran is staying pretty quiet about it. US military monitors determined that at least four of Russia's new "Kaliber" missiles...

Writer Who Captured Chernobyl Disaster Wins Nobel

Svetlana Alexievich is known for journalistic style, eyewitness accounts

(Newser) - A Belarus writer known for what Swedish Academy judges called "her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time," won the Nobel Prize for Literature Thursday, the Guardian reports. Svetlana Alexievich, 67, has made her name by instilling a journalistic style heavy on eyewitness accounts...

Things Getting Tense Between US, Russia in Syrian Airspace

US fighter jets forced to reroute to avoid Russian aircraft

(Newser) - A Russian military aircraft was too close for comfort in the skies above Syria, forcing two US F-16s to move out of the way and scuttling their mission, CNN reports. The Pentagon made the announcement Wednesday but would only say the incident occurred in the past few days. All US...

Russia Is Firing on Syria From Ships Now, Too

Firepower supplements strikes from planes

(Newser) - In a demonstration of its new alliance with Syria, Russia says it launched 26 cruise missiles from warships in the Caspian Sea on Wednesday while also supporting the Syrian army's ground offensive with warplanes, the New York Times reports. According to the BBC , Russia claims those cruise missiles, which...

NATO Not Buying Russia's Turkish-Airspace Story

Turkey incursion was no accident, alliance's chief says

(Newser) - Russia is rapidly stepping up its involvement in Syria, and NATO is worried—especially by Russian violation of Turkish airspace . NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters Tuesday that he doesn't believe Moscow's claim that the incursions on a NATO member's airspace were a mistake, reports Reuters...

Russia Sending 'Volunteers' to Syria

NATO slams Moscow's violation of member's airspace

(Newser) - Russian "volunteers"—like those who helped Moscow seize control of Crimea—could soon be arriving in Syria in numbers large enough to make a big difference to the conflict. Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, chief of the Russian parliament's defense committee, told reporters on Monday that volunteers who had...

Turkey Scrambles Jets to Meet Russian Intruder

Country warns Moscow that Syria strikes are unacceptable

(Newser) - Turkey summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the violation of its airspace by a Russian warplane near the border with Syria over the weekend, and demanded that Moscow avoid future infringements, the Foreign Ministry said Monday. The Russian plane violated Turkey's airspace on Saturday, prompting Turkey to scramble two...

Assad: Russia Must Beat 'Terrorists' in Syria

Syrian dictator bashes Western leaders as 'lost'

(Newser) - Syria's President Bashar Assad said Sunday that the air campaign by Russia against "terrorists" in his country must succeed or the whole region will be destroyed, stressing that the fight against terrorism must precede a political process. In the interview with Iran's Khabar TV, Assad also accused...

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