Новости за 21.12.2017

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by journalist and author Daniel Lazare and investigative reporter Dave Lindorff.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Less than half a year is left before the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow will host the opening match of the most popular football competition held every 4 years – the FIFA World Cup.

A 62-year old man is facing charges of criminal contempt and aggravated harassment for allegedly bullying his son who is afraid of a Warner Bros cartoon character.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US Gymnastics is "disappointed" by a lawsuit filed against it by former artistic gymnast McKayla Maroney, but endorses speaking up against any abusive behavior, the organization said in a statement on Thursday.

The French authorities should not give in to the demand of prominent French personalities to stop RT France from broadcasting, which is "an insidious form of censorship," Philippe Leruth, the president of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), told Sputnik on Thursday.

The French authorities should not give in to the demand of prominent French personalities to stop RT France from broadcasting, which is "an insidious form of censorship," Philippe Leruth, the president of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), told Sputnik on Thursday.

North Korea has pledged to respond to the White House's accusations that Pyongyang was behind a major global cyberattack that infected hundreds of thousands of Windows computers around the globe in May.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan referred to the famous French motto of liberty, equality, and fraternity, as she commented on Thursday on the open letter of French activists asking the country's media regulator to suspend the license of the RT, which recently began broadcasting in France.

Karen Tobiasen, the staff manager of Nordea, has claimed she has been inspired by Adolf Hitler, a choice has raised many eyebrows in the light of mass layoffs by the Scandinavia's largest bank.

A ferry carrying more than 200 passengers has capsized off the Philippines in bad weather conditions, authorities told local media.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Turkish security forces have detained 55 people on suspicion of having ties to Daesh (outlawed in Russia) terrorist group during counterterrorism raids in Istanbul, the most populous city of the country, and in the western province of Izmir, the Anadolu news agency reported Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia's Investigative Committee has offered FIFA cooperation in the study of information provided by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on doping tests of Russian athletes, committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said Thursday.

A leader of India’s ruling political party Bhartiya Janta Party accused Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli and his wife, actress Anushka Sharma, of being “unpatriotic” for choosing Italy over India as their wedding destination, only to be slammed by the cricketer’s fans on Twitter.

LONDON (Sputnik) - The UK and Poland are expected to agree on boosting bilateral cooperation to counteract "Russian information operations," including via a joint strategic communications project, which is expected to cost each side 5 million pounds (approximately $7 million), UK Prime Minister Theresa May's office said in a statement on Thursday.

The tech giant has revealed why it has to intentionally reduce processor speed in “aging” versions of their smartphone line.

The tech giant has revealed why it has to intentionally reduce processor speed in “aging” versions of their smartphone line.

Lactalis, France's largest dairy producer, has withdrawn 720 baby food products from the shelves in France and a number of other countries, citing fears of Salmonella bacteria contamination.

Cotton farmers in southern India want Monsanto to compensate for the crop losses they incurred by using the American agri-tech company’s Bollgard-II technology that failed to contain pink bollworms and the Herbicide Tolerant (HT) variant of cotton seeds that are available on the grey market.

BUENOS AIRES (Sputnik) - Corruption activities might have taken place during repairs of Argentina's San Juan submarine that went missing in mid-November, lawyer Juan Jose Calandri told Sputnik.

The number of people infected with cholera in Yemen has exceeded one million, as more than 80 percent of the citizens are lacking the access to clean water, food supplies and healthcare, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday.

The humanitarian situation in war-devastated Yemen seems to have started showing signs of improving. Saudi Arabia is leading the coalition of countries supporting the national government against the Houthi movement.

A new UK-Poland defense treaty is expected to be proposed by the UK at a bilateral summit in Warsaw. The treaty will be only the second such bilateral agreement between Britain and a European ally.

British PM Theresa May is to visit Poland for a bilateral summit in the midst of a brewing crisis between Warsaw and Brussels which could strip the country of its voting rights at the EU level. While the EU has threatened Poland with sanctions, the PM is set to propose a new defense treaty boosting UK-Poland cooperation amidst tough Brexit talks.

A Kurdish-Norwegian man has been identified as responsible for the painful incident during a NATO exercise, in which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was portrayed as an enemy, causing a dramatic rift between the allies. This circumstance lends the incident a new dimension, triggering speculations of intentional provocation.

A scandal has rocked retailers in the UK, as several prominent UK companies have been criticized for selling real fur which was wrongly labeled as fake.