Russia’s Energomash Research and Production Association (the manufacturer of space rocket engines) has transferred another batch of three RD-180 engines to the United States for their use on US Atlas launch vehicles, the Energomash press office reported on Monday. "Three RD-180 engines have been delivered to the American customers. Representatives of Pratt&Whitney, United Launch Alliance and RD AMROSS have signed technical certificates on the engines," the press office said in a statement. This has been the third acceptance since the beginning of the year, Energomash said. Four RD-180 engines were transferred to the US customers in April and four more in October, the statement says. As NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations William Gerstenmaier told TASS earlier, the US space agency intends to further use Russian-made RD-180 engines on its Atlas carrier rockets.

If you didn’t understand that Elon Musk doesn’t quite “get” what being a public company is about, and how not to commit securities fraud from his funding secured tweet, the litany of lawsuits he has catalyzed or his downright insane behavior over the last year, you may be one of the few who were not shocked by his appearance on 60 Minutes Sunday night when he took to a national stage to laugh in the face of $35,000 Model 3 reservation holders and (again) belittle and insult the Securities and Exchange Commission, with whom he recently entered into a settlement with.

The Astra-06 apparatus developed by specialists of Russian Space Systems (RSS) was used for the first time as additional telemetric equipment aboard the manned Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on December 3, the company’s press office reported on Monday. "During the spacecraft’s flight, the Astra was undergoing flight tests, measuring quickly changing parameters. After the tests are over and its performance characteristics are confirmed, the new system is expected to be used aboard promising spaceships," the press office said in a statement. The Astra system is maximally adapted for the telemetric image (telemetric data package) requirements while its modular configuration gives the system extra flexibility for mounting it on existing and future launch vehicles. The system’s universal nature stems from the technology of its assembly from modules, the statement says. "The Astra’s design allows installing it aboard carrier rockets and other space vehicles.

The space radiation effect during an inter-planetary flight to the Red Planet will reduce the cosmonauts’ lifespan by 2.5 years, according to the materials released at the 17th conference on space biology and medicine in Moscow on Monday. "For a two-year length of the expedition’s flight to Mars and back, the aggregate radiation risk during the cosmonauts’ lifespan irrespective of their age under the RR [radiation risk] protection of 20 g/sq. cm will measure 7.5%, while the average upcoming lifespan will decrease by 2.5 years," the report says.

Izvestia: Kerch Strait incident not hindering progression of Nord Stream 2. The construction of Nord Stream 2 is being carried out strictly according to its approved schedule, the company’s official representative operating the project Nord Stream 2 AG Jens Muller told Izvestia. He noted that by the end of November, around 300 km of pipeline had been laid along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. According to Russian Senator Vladimir Dzhabarov, as for US attempts under various pretexts to undermine the construction of the gas pipeline, they are being made to clear the market for supplies of American shale gas. The European Parliament, in turn, said that the Russian project will ensure reliable gas supplies to EU countries. New requirements by the United States and some European countries to stop the implementation of the pipeline did not affect its construction, the Nord Stream 2 AG company, responsible for the project, told Izvestia.

Cooperation between Russian and Ukrainian intelligence services is impossible in the current conditions, Sergei Naryshkin, chief of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, said on Sunday. "After the state coup in that country, under the current authorities, such cooperation is impossible," he said in an interview with the Deistvuyushchiye Litsa (Political Actors) with Nailya Asker-zade on the Rossiya-1 television channel. The two countries’ intelligence services used to maintain cooperation relations before 2014, he noted.

National Geographic has become synonymous with photography, with the magazine always showcasing the outstanding beauty and wonder of our planet. So naturally, their annual photo contest is a prestigious and hotly-contested event, with judges having thousands of breathtaking images to narrow down, to find the eventual winners.

The riots in France have been blamed on one thing: a new carbon tax that Macron wanted to put upon the people. That's what the French government is telling us and that is what the media is echoing.

But on closer examination, the problem is far, far deeper than taxes. Here are some things you may not know about the situation that has pushed the French people over the edge.

The Kremlin refrains from commenting on new data on the case against Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, since it does not know anything about the individuals involved in it and is generally tired of following such investigations in the US conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has told reporters. "I can offer no comment on the issue. Frankly speaking, we are pretty tired of following these breathtaking investigations," the Kremlin spokesman said answering a question about new accusations against Manafort. "We do not even know those individuals who are mentioned in the probe, so I have nothing more to say here."

Armenian citizens are voting for a "revolutionary majority" in the new parliament, acting PM of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan told reporters on Monday. "The citizens of our country are voting for a revolutionary majority, and they are doing it in a calm environment. The elections are clear and transparent. And we have to get used to the fact that since now, there will be no incidents during the elections. Times of turbulent elections are behind us," he said. Pashinyan noted that so far, Armenia’s former leading party, the Republican Party, has not received enough votes to hold any parliamentary seats. "If there had been transparent elections in Armenia in the last 18 years, then the Republican Party of Armenia would barely get the passing percent. We have said it repeatedly, and now we see the results with our own eyes," the acting PM stated.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is ready to organize a humanitarian mission in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Kazakhstan’s Khabar news agency on Sunday. “As far as I’m concerned, it is an objective fact that some of our allies, including Kazakhstan and Armenia, are taking part both in peacekeeping missions that are not sanctioned by the United Nations (say, in Afghanistan) and in full-fleged United Nations missions (for instance in Kosovo), but take no part in the efforts towards stabilizing the situation in Syria,” he said. “In Afghanistan, it is a NATO operation. In Syria, we are ready to organize a CSTO humanitarian mission. The first steps in this direction are being made.” “Not long ago, we worked out a joint operation with our Armenian colleagues to deliver Armenian humanitarian assistance to Syria using Russian planes.

A big number of assault drones that can be used to stage provocations with chemical weapons have been delivered by Ukrainian troops to an area near Gorlovka, Daniil Bezsonov, a spokesman for the defense ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), on Sunday. "We have received reliable reconnaissance data that a great number of assault drones of the Warmate-1 and Bayraktar types have been delivered by railway transport to the Gorlovka direction. Drones of the later type, manufactured jointly by Turkey and Ukraine, are capable of carrying of up to 70 kilograms. The Ukrainian authorities have recently boasted of buying drones of this type," the Donetsk News Agency quoted him as saying. According to Bezsonov, these drones are meant to be used to stage provocations in Donbass and attack vital facilities in the DPR.

There was no attack on the Damascus international airport, the airport continues to function normally, the SANA news agency informed on Monday, citing sources in the airport. "There has been no attack on the airport. It is functioning normally," the agency’s source said. Earlier, Arab media reported of Syrian air defense forces repelling an air attack in the area of the Damascus international airport. No other details were provided. The SANA news agency was the first to report the attack, however, it later deleted the message. Pro-government Syrian media provided no comment on this information.

Combat engineers of the Southern Military District from the Volgograd Region have destroyed Great Patriotic War (WWII) mines found near the village of Grachi, Gorodishchensky district, the Southern Military District’s press service reported on Monday. "The Volgograd Region’s military registration and enlistment office sent an application for demining to the motorized rifle brigade. The dangerous discoveries dating back to the Great Patriotic War were found during agricultural works," the report says. The combat engineers determined that the detected 77 explosive devices are 82-mm mortar rounds of a Red Army artillery unit which were used in the Battle of Stalingrad. The unearthed munitions were destroyed at the Prudboi Range. The Southern Military District’s combat engineers have demined more than 3 tonnes of explosive objects dating back to the Great Patriotic Ware since early 2018.

Statements about Russia’s alleged involvement in the French protests are nothing but slander, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "Any statements about Russia’s alleged involvement are nothing but slander," he said when asked to comment on media reports about alleged foreign involvement in the Yellow Vest protests in France. In particular, The Times said, citing sources, that Russia could be the force behind in the protests. Peskov stressed that "Russia considers these developments to be France’s domestic affair." "We have never interfered in the domestic affairs of other countries, including France, as we place much importance on the development of bilateral relations and both countries have been working rather hard to that end," the Russian presidential spokesman added. Peskov also pointed out that Russia respected France’s sovereignty. "We are grateful when France responds in kind," he stressed.

Speaking to Express.co.uk, Dr Oliver Davis, a reader of French Studies from the School of Modern Languages and Culture at the University of Warwick, said: “It seriously damages his reputation for technocratic competence and calls his political judgement into question.

“The fact that his government was clearly taken by surprise and thought it could tough out unrest but has now given way to it shows that he is not a good listener.

“This is how the government is already trying to present itself, after the recent U-turn, almost as psychotherapeutic listener attentive to the nation’s sufferings - but rather that he was not only rash in his earlier pronouncements but guilty of a major error of political judgement.

“This is without doubt the toughest challenge Emmanuel Macron has faced since being elected and probably the most serious political crisis to engulf France since the near-insurrection of Mai ’68.”

Moscow said the new Kinzhal ("Dagger"), a nuclear-capable air-launched ballistic missile, can hit speeds of up to Mach 10 and can perform evasive maneuvers that can render NATO’s US-led missile defense system completely "useless."

Norway, like its fellow EEA members not in the EU (Liechtenstein and Iceland), is a full member of the EU's Single Market. As a result, it must accept the directives of the Single Market.

These rules are decided upon by representatives of the EU member states in Brussels, having been set in train by the legislative machine of the European Commission.

But, being outside the EU, Norway has no say in them and no vote.

This point was made most forcibly by the former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg as a Remain campaigner in the 2016 referendum. He ridiculed the so-called 'Norway' option as 'fax democracy'.

Norway, he explained, is part of the Single Market 'but they have to wait by the fax machine for Brussels to send them the rules … we would be left powerless and voiceless, waiting, like the Norwegians, by the fax machine'.

The new documents, released under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal how the CIA experimented on both humans and animals using drugs, hypnosis and electronic devices as part of the top secret - and illegal - mind control project MKUltra.

Debt in itself is not necessarily just a tool to gain more wealth; it is also a tool to change and mold societies through financial leverage and disaster. To understand who is creating any fiscal downturn, and to understand who benefits from economic crisis, one only needs to consider who controls the debt.

The Transportation Security Administration has set out an alarming vision of pervasive biometric surveillance at airports, which cuts against the right to privacy, the “right to travel,” and the right to anonymous association with others.

The drug trade would not be monopolized by criminals without the DEA. The environment would be better protected without the EPA. Kids would be better educated without public schools. The opioid crisis wouldn’t exist without the FDA. The economy would be more stable without the Federal Reserve.

Gendarmes were supported by 12 gendarmerie Berliet VXB-170 armoured cars, complete with 7.62mm machine guns and a 56mm Alsetex Cougar grenade launchers.

The vehicles are designed to break down barricades and to advance on crowds during riots.

A total of 106 out of 109 squads of gendarmes mobilised across France, along with other paramilitaries groups such as the Republican Security Companies (CRS).

The Yellow Vests said their protests would continue indefinitely as they campaign for even more tax reductions.

There have been calls for a State of Emergency to be announced, and for the Army to take to the streets.

The current spate of Paris violence is considered the worst since the Spring of 1968, when President Charles de Gaulle’s government feared a full-blown revolution.

Although we cannot “touch” a belief, it certainly has a way of touching us.

The yellow jacket protests are over more than just a single, obnoxious tax. They arise from the failure of Western leaders, like Macron, to look out for the interests of their people as a whole instead of just their favored classes.

The enraged, resentful citizens in the streets of Paris and rural roads of the countryside have no interest in crowning a new king. But they are fed up with paying ever-rising climate taxes so their “betters” in the drawing rooms of Paris and Brussels can feel good about themselves and pad the wallets of their business cronies.

Dozens of students in the Paris suburb of Mantes-la-Jolie were made to kneel with their hands on their heads on Thursday, amid unrest that has spread to schools during three weeks of anti-government demonstrations. Protests at nearly 300 schools against stricter university entrance requirements have added to the unrest as Paris prepares for another weekend of gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protests

This vaccine has wrought havoc on the lives of young girls across the world.