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From the ill-fated Fyre Festival to Theranos to Juicero, the new book by Gabrielle Bluestone, “Hype: How Scammers, Grifters, and Con Artists Took Over the Internet — and Why We’re Following,” looks at the allure of some modern debacles. While reporting on (Billy) McFarland’s scams (I had realized) that the real meat wasn’t a recap of his crimes and how he did them but, rather, why they worked so well — and why so many people he had already duped once fell for it again just a few months later. Why were his victims, once burned, willing to take another chance on an offer that seemed way too good to be true? Why did experienced investors repeatedly give millions of dollars to a college dropout with no real product or sales record? Why did serious professionals, with decades in their industries, who knew or should have known that the original festival wasn’t going to happen, keep working toward its inevitable implosion? Why did

Russian tennis star Veronika Kudermetova has won the first singles title of her career – and her straight-sets victory over Montenegrin Danka Kovinic would have made her idol, UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov, a proud compatriot. Read Full Article at RT.com

Dozens of rockets take off over the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, celebrating the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's space flight

Ukraine has been making worldwide headlines in the past few weeks, with the government amassing military forces on the border of its breakaway republics in the country's east, and the president boasting that only Kiev's membership in NATO will guarantee the peace in the region.

Russia and China are frustrating the international response to the Myanmar crisis, a top European Union diplomat said on Sunday, as the death toll from a military crackdown climbed past 700.Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military removed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power on February 1.International efforts to stem the violence have so far failed to yield results, with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell saying on Sunday it was “no surprise” that Russia and China were blocking…

Biden previously shot down any hopes of "resetting" relations with Russia, which had been deteriorating for the past six years. However, he said he was ready to cooperate with Moscow on a certain number of issues, such as arms control and climate.

Actress and ex-MMA fighter Gina Carano has revisited her role as a Russian military sniper for the Soviet Army in a videogame – and offered her take on Covid-19, mandatory vaccinations, US president Joe Biden, masks and more. Read Full Article at RT.com

Joe Biden’s secretary of state had to defend the response of the previous Democratic administration to the 2014 crisis in Ukraine, suggesting that Barack Obama prevented Russia from “doing even more” to the country. Read Full Article at RT.com

Russia has offered Pakistan liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavov has revealed, as the South Asian nation is facing more gas shortages in the near future. Read Full Article at RT.com

Ali Abdelaziz, the manager of recently-retired UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, has a warning for any pro wrestlers hoping to tempt the Russian superstar into the WWE ring, saying that they would "get beat up for real". Read Full Article at RT.com

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will focus on systematic measures to support post-pandemic development in his annual address to the federal assembly on 21 April, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has upgraded its forecast for economic growth in Russia for the second time this year, and now expects GDP to gain as much as 3.8% in 2021. Read Full Article at RT.com

Nearly 47% of Czechs say that they are willing to be vaccinated with the Russian-made Sputnik V jab, provided it receives the greenlight from the country’s authorities, a new poll has revealed. Read Full Article at RT.com

A super power grid connecting all the countries of northeast Asia would make renewable energy as cheap and available as coal, according to a new study by Chinese scientists.As a region, northeast Asia, which comprises China, Russia, Mongolia, South Korea, North Korea and Japan, consumes about a third of the world’s energy and the industry estimates its annual electricity demand will double to 6.4 petawatt-hours by 2050.With the exception of North Korea, the five nations have signed a series of…

A group working with Russian high-tech developers has unveiled a facemask design that not only provides increased protection from Covid, but also makes breathing easier by using the same filter as in artificial lung ventilators. Read Full Article at RT.com

The iconic supermarket on Tverskaya Street in central Moscow first opened its doors 120 years ago.

The #MeToo movement's perceived achievements seemingly failed to protect Tara Reade after she came out with accusations against Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden. Her life then spiralled out of control.

The country’s official coronavirus death toll is 102,649. But at least 300,000 more people died last year during the pandemic than were reported in Russia’s most widely cited official statistics.

Point Blank is aimed at enhancing the combat readiness and tactical proficiency of the US, UK, and other Nato forces.

Former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard says there are no hard feeling between him and Roman Abramovich after he was sacked by the London club in January, while admitting he has also been in heavy demand from a string of new clubs. Read Full Article at RT.com

Austria may soon be purchasing Russia’s Sputnik V jab to give an “additional turbo boost” to its anti-Covid vaccination drive, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told the media in Vienna after negotiations with Moscow concluded. Read Full Article at RT.com

BAIKONUR (Sputnik) - A malfunction in the nose cone of the Soyuz launch vehicle led to an incident during the docking of Russia's Progress MS-16 cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) in February, the general director of the Progress space rocket centre, Dmitry Baranov, said on Saturday.

Hundreds of skiers and snowboarders have swapped their winter gear for shorts and bikinis during the end-of-the-season mountain festival in Russia's Sochi.

Amid a torrent of complaints at home, the BBC put out a special message to Russia, China and Iran, saying that its ‘round the clock coverage of Prince Philip’s death was completely normal, and actually in the public interest. Read Full Article at RT.com

VIENNA (Sputnik) - Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Saturday that the negotiations with Russia on the procurement of Sputnik V had come to an end and that there is a possibility for Vienna to purchase the vaccine.

Russia has tested its first post-Soviet large domestic airliner, the MC-21-300, in freezing conditions to see how it performs when covered with ice. Hours of tests have proven the jet can safely fly in harsh conditions. Read Full Article at RT.com

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Moscow urges Washington to take a more responsible approach toward the situation around Ukraine and not to escalate tensions that are currently seen in Donbass, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Sputnik.

With live TV cameras rolling, the president of Indonesia calmly took a seat in front of a wall of large fronded plants and rolled up his sleeve as a health-care worker readied the syringe. Dressed in a short-sleeved white shirt and comfortable-looking sneakers, Joko Widodo was the first person to get a COVID-19 vaccine when the rollout began with fanfare in that country in January. The shot that Widodo got on live television? A Chinese version made by a company called Sinovac Biotech. While the attention of western countries has been squarely focused on a handful of vaccines developed and tested in the U.S. and Europe — making household names out of Moderna, BioNTech and AstraZeneca — they are not the only ones rolling out around the globe. When the pandemic began, many countries started busily making or buying vaccines for themselves, a me-first approach that has now begun to give way to countries rolling out their homegrown doses to dozens of other

The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Saturday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available. 8:10 a.m.: As of Saturday, 572 patients with COVID related critical illness are now in critical care, according to Critical Care Services Ontario daily report. That’s 77 new admissions on Friday. The data, which is not made available publicly but was tweeted by Anthony Dale, the president of the Ontario Hospital Association, also says there was a total census of about 1,846 new admissions to ICUs yesterday. 8:09 a.m.: Ontario’s hospitals are confronting a crisis point in the pandemic as the ongoing crush of COVID-19 patients threatens to outpace their ability to cope. With a record 552 COVID-19 patients in ICUs — a number predicted to escalate to 600 within the next week — the province directed hospitals to postpone non-urgent procedures, including cancer and heart surgeries, for the first

Diana Avsaragova didn't take long to announce herself as a serious threat in the Bellator's women's flyweight division, needing under 30 seconds to finish opponent Tara Graff as the 22-year-old made her debut for the promotion. Read Full Article at RT.com

Tyson Fury has named Russia and Uzbekistan as two of the countries among " three or four big, big offers" for his anticipated bout with Anthony Joshua this year, which is expected to be one of the most lucrative fights in history. Read Full Article at RT.com

It’s been said that there are two very different Russias. The one 146 million live in and the version depicted by the anglophone media. Recent polling suggests that most Russians don’t share Western concerns about Alexey Navalny. Read Full Article at RT.com

In March, Russian gem miner Alrosa recorded a threefold year-on-year surge in sales of polished diamonds. At the same time, sales of rough diamonds more than doubled, according to the latest data revealed by the producer. Read Full Article at RT.com

The military build-up in Ukraine is creating the possibility for a major war. However, conflict remains unlikely for the simple reason that it is not in the self-interest of any protagonist. Nevertheless, that may not be enough. Read Full Article at RT.com

On this episode of Fault Lines, hosts Jamarl Thomas and Shane Stranahan talked about PBS whitewashing a former al-Qaeda leader, a new test on muons set to reshape modern physics, the latest on the USPS, the Amazon unionization vote in Alabama, and Biden's new personnel pick to stop Nord Stream 2.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A Russian MiG-31 fighter jet took off to intercept a US RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft over the Pacific Ocean, the Russian National Defence Control Centre said Saturday.

Russia has amassed more troops on the Ukrainian border than at any time since 2014. Western governments are asking: Why now?

The sending of US warships to the Black Sea is the latest in a series of extraordinarily provocative moves by NATO-backed Ukraine and the US in the crisis.

The Turkish government is debating whether to cancel a key international treaty, potentially allowing NATO to deploy warships directly to Russia’s Black Sea coast.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The deterioration of relations between Moscow and Washington will cost US citizens an additional $715 billion, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday, commenting on US President Joe Biden's proposal to increase the defense budget.

The first spaceflight by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin is a feat of humanity in itself and the Western public needs to know more about it, writer Stephen Walker said as he presented his new book at the Russian embassy in London. Read Full Article at RT.com

Former Aeroflot director and Russian exile Nikolai Glushkov was unlawfully killed, a coroner rules.

Shamil Zavurov, president of Eagle Fighting Championship, says that the fight league's backer, Khabib Nurmagomedov, is paving a path for a new generation of Russian fighters to make their mark at the top level of global MMA. Read Full Article at RT.com

American sailors have set course for the Black Sea, off the south coast of Russia, in a move widely seen as a show of support for Ukraine, where fighting between Kiev’s forces and separatist militias has worsened in recent weeks. Read Full Article at RT.com

Russian figure skating prodigy Alexandra Trusova has commented on suggestions by Western journalists that famed coach Eteri Tutberidze offers her skaters hormone blockers to keep their growing bodies from changing. Read Full Article at RT.com

A train station in the southern Russian village of Gayduck is to change its name, after a picture of its bilingual platform sign went viral. However, according to railway administrators, no complaints were actually submitted. Read Full Article at RT.com

ANKARA (Sputnik) - Two US warships, destroyers Roosevelt and Donald Cook, will pass through the Bosphorus into the Black Sea on 14-15 April amid the escalation of tensions between Russia and Ukraine, Turkish broadcaster NTV reported on Friday.

For an army given to masking its moves, surely the worst way to disguise a potential imminent invasion of a country is by overtly preparing for it.

Rising Russian MMA queen Diana Avsaragova says that she has drawn attention due to her stunning good looks but affirms that she is ready to prove that she is more than just a pretty face when she makes her Bellator bow. Read Full Article at RT.com

Despite their disagreements on Earth, Moscow and Washington enjoy friendly relations in outer space and their continued cooperation will help advance human exploration of the cosmos, a NASA administrator told RT. Read Full Article at RT.com

The White House is in talks to appoint a special envoy to lead negotiations on halting the construction of Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline Nord Stream 2, Politico reported this week, citing current and former US officials. Read Full Article at RT.com

Completing Nord Stream 2 will cost Kiev billions of dollars by ending Russia’s reliance on Ukraine for transporting gas, and therefore must be stopped, according to Aleksey Reznikov, the country’s deputy prime minister. Read Full Article at RT.com

A Russian who escaped from a hospital after being told to remain quarantined upon arriving from China at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, saying she was deprived of liberty. Read Full Article at RT.com

A return to fierce fighting in Eastern Ukraine would amount to a crisis on Russia’s doorstep, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has said, arguing that Moscow could be forced to intervene to prevent such a situation worsening. Read Full Article at RT.com

Joe Biden is reportedly reviewing his intelligence director's review of Russiagate claims and planning reprisals for the allegations of hacking, which may include the usual round of sanctions.

The leader of the Russian swimming team Yulia Efimova, who has been training in the US for more than 10 years, has said she would accept an American passport if the opportunity arises. Read Full Article at RT.com

The Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft launched on Friday to the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

A report produced by the Council of Europe has revealed that the number of people in Russian prisons has fallen from 574.8 to 356.1 per 100,000 residents in the last decade, meaning that the prison population has dropped by 38.1%. Read Full Article at RT.com

The action comes in the run-up to the International Day of the Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camp Prisoners, commemorated annually on 11 April. On this day in 1945, an uprising took place in the Buchenwald death camp.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - TikTok has expressed readiness to cooperate with the Russian authorities on identifying illegal content, Vasily Piskarev, the head of the Russian lower chamber's commission on investigation of foreign interference, said on Friday, praising the dialogue as constructive.

A Russian-made Soyuz rocket has lifted off from a cosmodrome in the Kazakh desert. It will now carry its crew – two Russians and one American – to the International Space Station, orbiting more than 400km above the Earth. Read Full Article at RT.com

One in every two Russians, according to the latest poll, will welcome the use of the digital ruble – the new form of national currency that is currently under development by the country’s central bank. Read Full Article at RT.com

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia's actions in the Arctic region do not pose any threat and do not violate international laws, and regional tensions only escalate due to the US military activities, the foreign ministry's spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said on Friday, commenting on US reports about Russia's "unprecedented military might in the Arctic."

BERLIN (Sputnik) - Possible deliveries of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V to Germany in the second or third quarters of this year could contribute to the vaccination campaign in the country but its registration in the European Union remains a condition for imports, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Friday.

The drop in international travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly reduced the number of migrant workers coming to Russia, meaning the country is now struggling to implement its extensive plans for development. Read Full Article at RT.com

A joint US-Russian crew aboard a Soyuz rocket launched successfully on Friday, heading for the International Space Station.

The US and its NATO allies are regularly engaged in exercises in the Black Sea, which occasionally involve forces from Ukraine and Georgia. Russia has repeatedly criticised such drills, saying they destabilise the situation in the region.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian Health Ministry has authorized phase 1 and 2 clinical trials of EpiVacCorona-N, one more coronavirus vaccine developed by the Vector research center, according to the ministry's register.

The launch of the ship is dedicated to the historic 1961 Vostok-1 mission, in which Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, as Russia celebrates the 60th anniversary of the first piloted spaceflight in history.

Earlier in March, US President Joe Biden answered in the affirmative when asked by an ABC interviewer whether he believed his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to be a "killer". While the words raised eyebrows, Putin responded with a smile, wishing Biden good health.

Slovakia says that Sputnik V doses it received did “not have the same characteristics and properties” as a version endorsed by a respected British medical journal.

Russia is being cautious due to having such a “restless” neighbor as Ukraine, a Kremlin spokesman said, rejecting Kiev’s claim that the military buildup at the border is an attempt to divert attention from Alexey Navalny’s case. Read Full Article at RT.com

A former governor of Russia’s Kemerovo Region has confessed he was so keen to support rumors of a ski resort town being inhabited by Yeti, he told officials to dress up in furs and roam the woods to try and “attract” tourists. Read Full Article at RT.com

If you need any more evidence that MMA fighters are built differently, consider the evidence of EFC star Uzair Abdurakov who SMILED in the cage after taking a thunderous kick which SHATTERED his leg in the cage. Read Full Article at RT.com

A senior Kremlin official issues a warning as tensions rise in eastern Ukraine.

You would think riling up one nuclear power is bad enough, but the United States seems intent on doubling the risk of starting a world war by gratuitously aggressing Russia and China simultaneously.

Russia will be forced to protect the residents of Donbass if Ukraine launches full-scale hostilities against the region. That’s according to Dmitry Kozak, President Vladimir Putin’s deputy chief of staff, who is himself Ukrainian. Read Full Article at RT.com

The Russian national swimming championships in Kazan have proven that the country’s Olympic medal ambitions do not rest solely on Yulia Efimova, as dozens of other athletes recorded stunning results during the contest. Read Full Article at RT.com

The Hermitage Museum in Russia’s Saint Petersburg has received an official complaint from a government agency suggesting that its nude sculptures may have a bad influence on children and might have to be put in an adult-only room. Read Full Article at RT.com

Ukraine has gone from trying to reduce usage of Russian, and banning or curtailing media and art using the tongue, to now accusing Moscow of monopolising and culturally appropriating everything from Borsch to the writer Gogol. Read Full Article at RT.com

Canadian great Georges St-Pierre has admitted he still feels “the itch” to return to the octagon and would potentially have stepped out of retirement to face former Russian UFC lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov. Read Full Article at RT.com

Ukraine's President Zelensky hopes that NATO will assist Kiev in forcefully expelling Russia from Crimea and re-taking control of the breakaway Donbass. This dangerous fiction could lead to the destruction of his troubled country. Read Full Article at RT.com

Germany has made plans for bilateral talks with Moscow over possible deliveries of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, should the European Union opt to verify the Russian jab, with a view to Berlin receiving doses as fast as possible. Read Full Article at RT.com

Russia is carrying out a “slow-motion assassination” of the Kremlin critic, says Bill Browder, whose lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died in a Russian jail.

After completing an intelligence review of alleged Russian hostile actions against the US, which supposedly include interference in elections and hacking of government websites, the White House will impose new sanctions on Moscow. Read Full Article at RT.com

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia is prepared for any worst-case scenario in its relations with the United States, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, commenting on recent reports about a potential expulsion of diplomats and new sanctions.

In 2018 the British government accused the Kremlin of attempting to poison former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, who was convicted in 2006 of spying for the UK. The Russian authorities have categorically dismissed the accusations.

Despite claims Russia is the US’ key threat, the true danger to Americans is public health policy, according to Moscow’s Security Council chair, who says the Kremlin can’t be blamed for Washington’s poor response to Covid-19. Read Full Article at RT.com

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology Vector has started developing a new coronavirus vaccine in the form of nasal drops, which will help produce immunity right at the "entrance gate" of the infection, Vector General Director Rinat Maksyutov said in an interview with Sputnik.

NUR-SULTAN (Sputnik) - Russia has not received any official notifications from the United States regarding its position on the Open Skies Treaty, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.

BERLIN (Sputnik) - German Standing Committee on Vaccination Chairman Thomas Mertens approved on Thursday Bavaria's preliminary order of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, noting that the available information about the vaccine inspires optimism.

The health of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny is deteriorating as he keeps up his hunger strike in prison, his lawyers said on Wednesday, with US President Joe Biden’s administration saying it is “disturbed” by the reports.Last Wednesday President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent, who is serving two and a half years on embezzlement charges, launched a hunger strike to demand proper medical treatment for severe back pain and numbness in his legs.Members of Navalny’s defence team, who…

Israel and Russia on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on internal security matters.

Moscow is assessing its own fighting capacity and readiness, as Ukraine prepares for war and NATO conducts massive military exercises across Europe.

The Biden administration said it is "disturbed" by reports of swift deterioration in the health of Alexey Navalny, as campaigners called on the US to impose more sanctions to hold Moscow accountable for what Amnesty International said may be the "slow death" of the Russian opposition leader.

The Putin critic has been diagnosed with spinal hernias and his health is worsening, a lawyer says.

While the Pentagon has cried foul over Russian space-based devices it claims are weapons, the US has tested its own identical devices for years. Their claims have served as the alarmist foundations for justifying the creation of the US Space Force and the militarization of space.

Although US President Joe Biden quickly renewed the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty after taking office, he has done little to undo the prior administration’s withdrawal from a slew of international arms treaties, despite having spoken out against the moves when they occurred.

UFC star Conor McGregor has insulted former octagon rival Khabib Nurmagomedov on the third anniversary of the Russian becoming lightweight champion. Read Full Article at RT.com