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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday dismissed allegations that Ukrainians could be behind the blasts that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea last year, and insisted the U.S. was to blame. Putin spoke after The New York Times, The Washington Post and German media published stories last week citing unidentified U.S. and other officials as saying there was evidence Ukraine, or at least Ukrainians, may have been responsible. The Ukrainian government has denied involvement.

Germany’s Die Zeit newspaper and German public broadcasters ARD and SWR reported that investigators believed five men and a woman used a yacht hired by a Ukrainian-owned company in Poland to carry out the attack. German federal prosecutors confirmed that a boat was searched in January but have not confirmed the reported findings.

Putin rejected the notion as “sheer nonsense.”

Khan tells Al Jazeera an arrest warrant is a politically motivated attempt to ‘remove him’ from upcoming elections.

Washington says ‘reckless’ Russian manoeuvers forced US to bring down MQ-9 drone, but Moscow denies collision occurred.

The UAV was flying towards the Russian border without a transponder active, in clear violation of the restricted area established for the conduct of the special military operation, the ministry said. Two interceptors were dispatched to investigate.  “As a result of sharp maneuvers around 9:30am Moscow time, the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle went into uncontrolled flight, lost altitude, and collided…

Florida governor and other leading conservative US presidential hopefuls express scepticism of Washington’s aid to Kyiv.

“In order to bring peace and stability closer, we, of course, need to show the consolidation of our society, composure. When the enemy sees that our society is strong, internally sound, consolidated, then, without any doubt, what we are striving for will happen: both success and victory,” Putin declared. Protecting Russians living in Ukraine from persecution by the Kiev regime remains among the top goals of Moscow, Putin reiterated, adding that he has repeatedly met people from Donbass who “are exactly the same as us.” Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow tried to build up solid and mutually beneficial ties with Kiev, but the efforts ultimately flopped, the president admitted. “Russia has been patiently trying for decades to mend relations with the modern Ukrainian state, but the situation changed in 2014, when a Western-prompted coup d’etat took place,” he said. Even after that, Moscow spent years trying to peacefully resolve the civil conflict in then-Ukrainian Donbass, he concluded.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has proposed the first federal limit on so-called “forever chemicals” in the country’s drinking water, a move officials said will save lives.

The proposal announced will limit per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS.

The substances have been linked to a range of health issues, including low birth weight and kidney cancer. They do not naturally degrade in the environment and are expensive to remove from water.

The Russian president has rubbished Western media reports that a “pro-Ukrainian group” was behind the attacks </p><div><p>Russian president Vladimir Putin has dismissed as<em> “nonsense”</em> recent claims that the attack on the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines might have been carried by <em>“Ukrainian activists.”</em> The president made the remarks on Tuesday during his visit to an aircraft plant in the capital city…

A US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper surveillance drone was brought down on Tuesday morning over the Black Sea, after what the European Command claimed as “an unsafe and unprofessional intercept” by two Russian jets. The “Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance” platform was “operating within international airspace” when the airplanes approached, EUCOM said in a statement. One of the Su-27s “struck the…

ilicon Valley Bank’s parent company and two senior executives are facing a class-action lawsuit in the United States, where shareholders have accused the financial institution of failing to disclose the risks that anticipated interest rate hikes would have on its business.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Northern District of California on Monday, is seeking unspecified damages from SVB Financial Group and its Chief Financial Officer Daniel Beck, as well as the bank’s Chief Executive Officer Greg Becker.

The bank collapsed and its assets were seized by the US government late last week after a mass withdrawal of funds by customers.

For President Xi Jinping, the Iran-Saudi deal is part of a grander political vision, and a nuts-and-bolts example of how he hopes to achieve it.

The vision is that China will ultimately displace the United States as the world’s leading power. The means to achieve it? Leveraging China’s economic clout to expand its financial, diplomatic, and military footprints worldwide.

The Mideast deal also underscores a key pillar of that approach. In explicit contrast to the United States, China is assuring its partners that “internal” issues – such as human rights – are irrelevant to its outreach and alliances.

Russia has its own financial messaging system, SPFS, which can act as a substitute for SWIFT in the domestic market. While its coverage is still much smaller than that of SWIFT – which boasts 11,000 financial organizations globally – the spread of SPFS has been gaining speed in recent months.

When asked about a spillover effect from the collapse of US lenders, which has led to a global stock rout, Peskov said problems in the American banking system cannot affect Russia in any way. “Our banking system, of course, has, let’s say, certain connections with some segments of the international financial system, but for the most part it is under illegal restrictions,” he said.

However, Peskov added that sanctions have been “a blessing in disguise” because Russia is “to a certain extent immune to the negative impact of the crisis that is now unfolding across the ocean.” 

The agency cited concerns over the lenders’ reliance on uninsured deposit funding and unrealized losses in their asset portfolios. “The review for downgrade reflects the extremely volatile funding conditions for some US banks exposed to the risk of uninsured deposit outflows,” it stated. Moody’s also slashed the debt ratings of collapsed New York-based Signature Bank deep into junk territory, withdrawing future ratings for the insolvent lender. The downgrades come while US bank stocks have continued to plummet despite the government’s measures to support lenders and prevent more bank runs. First Republic Bank has led the sell-off, with its share price nosediving more than 60% on Monday, forcing a brief halt in trading due to volatility. Western Alliance Bancorp lost over 47% while Zions Bancorp declined by about 26%. Dallas-based Comerica dropped 28% and UMB lost more than 15%.

“The problem is the bond market, and my prediction, I called Lehman Brothers years ago, and I think the next bank to go is Credit Suisse,” said the co-author of the best-selling book ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’, “because the bond market is crashing.” Kiyosaki explained on Monday that the bond market, which is bigger than the stock market, is the economy’s “biggest problem” and will put the US in “serious trouble.” “The US dollar is losing its hegemony in the world right now. So, they’re going to print more and more and more of this… trying to keep this thing from sinking,” he explained.

Economists see Lehman Brothers-style crisis as unlikely despite jitters following collapse of California-based lender.

Refusing to let Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky address the Academy Awards ceremony while handing an Oscar to a documentary about Russian activist Alexey Navalny means politics and movies do mix after all, adviser Mikhail Podoliak tweeted on Monday. “If Oscar is outside of politics how should we understand the documentary manifesto Navalny where internal Russian politics is overflowing?”