Author: RT

Alysa Liu vs. Kamila Valieva: Battle of the season to unfold at 2020 World Junior Figure Skating Championships With the season-ending junior figure skating event kicking off in Estonia next week, the main intrigue of the tournament is, who will win the ladies competition – Kamila Valieva or Alysa Liu? The two immensely talented skaters are set to make their debut at the Junior Worlds which will run from March 2 to 8 in Tallinn. READ MORE: Ballerina on ice: Meet Kamila Valieva – the up & coming Russian star aiming to dethrone figure skating leaders Rising Russian star Valieva has already established herself as one of the most technically-gifted skaters with her mesmerizing, Picasso-inspired routine ‘Girl on the ball’ already being called a masterpi...

Turkish military shoots down 2 Syrian jets as Syria fends off Turkey’s drone attack Turkey has shot down two Syrian warplanes in Idlib as part of its offensive in the area. The Syrian Army destroyed several Turkish drones on the same day Turkey’s UAVs penetrated Syria’s airspace well beyond Idlib. Turkish fighter jets intercepted two Syrian warplanes over Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib and shot them down, the state-run SANA news outlet reported, adding that both planes’ crews ejected and parachuted to safety. The Turkish Defense Ministry confirmed it shot down two Syrian Su-24 bombers after one of its combat drones was destroyed by Syrian air defenses. SANA reported that several Turkish unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) violated Syrian airspace ...

'Oh s**t!' Joseph Benavidez's wife Megan Olivi reacts as he loses title fight to Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Norfolk (VIDEO) TV cameras captured the stunned reaction of UFC broadcaster and wife of flyweight contender Joseph Benavidez as he fell to a shock defeat in his title fight at UFC Norfolk. Olivi is well known in the sport of MMA as a regular face of UFC programming. She often hosts fan Q&A sessions, and is a regular face on ESPN's live UFC broadcasts. But as well as being a well-liked and respected part of the MMA community as a media member, Olivi is also the wife of longtime UFC flyweight contender Benavidez, and the pair are often seen hanging out during fight weeks, even when Benavidez isn't competing. This weekend, however, was a little...

OSCE condemns harassment of Russian agency journalists in Turkey amid reported detention over ‘professional activity’ The OSCE’s media freedom spokesman condemned the harassment of three employees of Sputnik Turkey in Ankara. Contact with the journalists was lost as they went to the police after being accosted by nationalists. Three Sputnik employees were confronted in their apartments in Ankara on Saturday night by groups of angry people who accused them of being traitors to the country. Nobody was hurt in the altercations, but after they turned to the police to investigate the incident, they went missing and have not been heard from since. Sources in Ankara’s legal organizations as well as relatives of the journalists told Sputnik News that the de...

Calm down! WHO tells global markets not to panic after coronavirus wipes trillion off stocks After a sea of red swept through the global markets, resulting in the worst week since the 2008 global financial crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO) has called on investors to stop panicking and focus on facts. "Global markets… should calm down and try to see the reality," the World Health Organization's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told CNBC on Sunday. "We need to go into the numbers, we need to go into the facts, and do the right thing instead of panicking. Panic and fear is the worst." According to the official, the world still has a chance to contain the rapid spread of the deadly coronavirus which has already claimed the lives of...

Sputnik Turkey editor-in-chief detained by police, becomes 4th Russian news agency staffer in custody after nationalists' attacks Russian news agency Sputnik has reported that police have entered its Istanbul office. Meanwhile, it is confirmed that Sputnik Turkey's editor-in-chief has been detained. The arrest of Mahir Boztepe, the head of Sputnik’s Turkish branch, was confirmed by RT and Sputnik editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan. The agency said its chief was taken to the Istanbul Police Department’s main office. This new development brings the number of detained Sputnik employees in Turkey to four. Earlier three agency staff members, who had been targeted by Turkish nationalists on Saturday and turned to police for help, ended up in custody. ...

Coronavirus fears: Spring Grand Sumo Tournament to be held behind closed doors for the 1st time in history The Spring Grand Sumo Tournament which is set to take place in Japan next week will be held without spectators for the first time in history, as the country battles the spread of the deadly coronavirus. The Japan Sumo Association’s (JSA) board of directors announced the decision during Sunday’s extraordinary session in Osaka, turning down proposals to cancel or postpone the event. READ MORE: Coronavirus grounds Russian gymnasts as team bosses rule out Milwaukee and Tokyo World Cup events The move comes after the Japanese government’s request to consider cancelling mass gatherings in an attempt to prevent the virus from spreading further, with 9...

Almost 10,000 migrants ‘stopped at Greek border’, but some have managed to slip through (VIDEO) The Greek government said almost 10,000 people were prevented from crossing into the country from Turkey on Saturday. Though stopped at the gate, the migrants are attempting to cut through the border fence or cross the river. Thousands of people in Turkey rushed to the border with Greece after the government in Ankara announced this week that it will no longer stop them. Athens responded by closing the border crossing and deploying riot police and soldiers to halt the wave. Around 9,600 attempts were made to cross the border on Saturday alone, Greek Deputy Defense minister Alkiviadis Stefanis told the media. The UN’s International Organization for Migrati...

Iran says US has no legal right to sign peace deal with Taliban and determine future of Afghanistan Iran has said that, despite cutting a deal with the Taliban, the US has absolutely no right to decide Afghanistan's future, and that intra-Afghan peace talks should be supervised by the UN, not Washington. Tehran views Washington's actions as "an attempt to legitimize the presence of troops in Afghanistan," the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday. The United States lacks the legal standing to sign a peace deal or determine the future of Afghanistan. We believe that the United Nations has the appropriate authority to facilitate intra-Afghan negotiations, as well as to monitor them, and ensure that the agreement is implemented. The ministry said tha...

Guaido says Venezuelan government tried to ASSASSINATE him after gunman spotted at opposition rally Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has accused the government of trying to murder him, after a masked gunman was photographed at his rally and motorcycle-riding attackers reportedly shot up his motorcade. The incident took place at an opposition rally in the city of Barquisimeto in Venezuela’s northwestern Lara state on Saturday. Though no videos of the confrontation are available, a few photos from the scene were provided to the media by Guaido’s team. They show an unidentified dark-clad man in a helmet pointing a gun toward a group of opposition activists and politicians, including Guaido. The gunman’s face was covered with a cloth. ...