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Political consulting group Cambridge Analytica used Russian researchers and shared data with companies linked to Russian intelligence, a whistleblower told a congressional hearing on interference in the 2016 US election Wednesday. Christopher Wylie, who leaked information on the British-based firm's hijacking of data on millions of Facebook users, told a Senate panel he believes Russian intelligence services had access to data harvested by the consultancy. Wylie told the panel that Russian-American researcher Aleksandr Kogan, who created an application to harvest Facebook user profile data, was working at the same time on Russian-funded projects, including "behavioral research." "This means that in...

Roughly 200 accounts from a suspected Chinese bot farm have quietly tried to influence Americans to oppose AI data centers on social media, X said Thursday night. Why it matters: The U.S. and China are racing to build the world's most advanced AI systems — and it appears Chinese propaganda has infiltrated American circles with the hope of slowing the U.S. down. Driving the news: The X Safety team probed suspected Chinese accounts involved in influence operations and identified 200,000 accounts, including 200 accounts "posting in a manner that could manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and energy policy,"...

Russia has been secretly supporting Iranian missile development since 2023, according to a report in the Financial Times on Tuesday.The goal of the program, codenamed C430L, was to help Iran develop missiles capable of taking out US Navy aircraft carriers in the Middle East.In particular, they aimed to develop a ramjet propulsion system that would allow Iranian missiles to fly at several times the speed of sound. Fast, low-flying missiles would give Western air defences less time to react increasing the impact of such an attack. The transfer of advanced missile technology would have required approval from the highest political...

An entire batch of Russian low Earth orbit satellites, intended to help create Moscow's version of Starlink, has failed to reach or remain at their anticipated altitudes just over a month after launch. The 16 Rassvet-3 satellites, launched on July 19, were originally supposed to orbit the Earth at an altitude of roughly 500 miles, according to the company developing the constellation, Bureau 1440. But publicly available US Space Force data shows that, as of Tuesday, the Rassvet-3 satellites are instead orbiting at altitudes of between 190 miles and 250 miles. Atmospheric drag at that altitude significantly shortens a satellite's...

The [Russian] Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Defense plan to launch a joint project in the coming weeks to identify future participants in the Special Military Operation [war in Ukraine] among high school seniors. “On this momentous day, September 1, I want to share some important and good news with you. We are beginning a search among high school seniors—students in their graduating classes—for reliable, patriotic, and conscientious young men and women who could strengthen our army and join the Special Military Operation shortly after graduating from high school. Over the course of the school year, we will...

Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged continued support for Iran on Tuesday as the United States launched a new round of strikes against Iranian targets, highlighting the increasingly close relationship between Moscow and Tehran as President Donald Trump intensifies military and economic pressure on the Islamic Republic. *** The Post reported that Pezeshkian thanked Putin for Russia's support and urged the two countries to work together to counter U.S. sanctions. Putin said Russia was providing Iran with assistance and essential goods, according to the Post's account of the meeting. The Kremlin's support for Tehran came as U.S. forces launched a new...

LONDON (Reuters) - Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky said he is planning a revolution in Russia to topple President Vladimir Putin, in comments published on Friday. "We need to use force to change this regime," Berezovsky, who has received asylum in Britain, told the Guardian newspaper. "It isn't possible to change this regime through democratic means. There can be no change without force, pressure." Asked if he was fomenting a revolution, he said: "You are absolutely correct." Berezovsky, a vocal critic of Putin, said he was in contact with members of Russia's political elite. He said these people -- who he...

A Russian deputy attorney general, who is thought to have directed Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya in her efforts abroad on behalf of Russia's government, reportedly died Wednesday night in a helicopter crash. The Daily Beast reported that Saak Albertovich Karapetyan was aboard an unauthorized helicopter flight, which crashed near the village of Vonyshevo, outside of Moscow. Karapetyan was reportedly behind Veselnitskaya's global efforts to lobby lawmakers to overturn anti-corruption acts such as the U.S. Magnitsky Act, which passed in 2012. The U.S. legislation is similar to others around the world which commemorate Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died while trying...

The leaders of China, Russia and India gathered with other heads of state in Kyrgyzstan on Monday for the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a group billed as a counterweight to U.S. global influence. Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are attending the events in Bishkek, the capital of the Central Asian nation. Putin met separately with Xi and Modi in two of the many bilateral sessions on the sidelines of the summit, Russian state media reported. Putin affirmed to Xi Moscow’s readiness to make the visa-free regime with China permanent,...

Oil giant Total has long played a dangerous game in Iran, Sudan and Burma. Now it's trying to get back into Iraq.Total S.A., The French oil major that has been in Iraq since 1927, isn't saying much these days about how it's going to maneuver its way back in. But that doesn't mean it can't dream. Word is that it has already had informal discussions with ExxonMobil about forming a joint venture to exploit Iraq's Majnoon and Nahr bin Umar oilfields as soon as a new Iraqi government is formed. Together those two fields have the potential to pump out...

Russia has said its forces helped to repel Saturday's attempted coup in Niger. Explosions and gunfire rang out across capital, Niamey, early in the morning, including at a key military airbase and the presidential palace. Hours later, Niger's authorities said the rebellion had been contained. Nigerien forces had repelled the attack "with the assistance of servicemen of the African Corps of the Russian Ministry of Defence", the foreign ministry in Moscow said on Sunday. The ministry also said it would continue to support Niger in its fight against "extremists", but that the situation was now under the control of the...

Join me to support Free Republic some posts from this blog are reposted on 'Free Republic' FR can now be supported via Venmo... Newsdump Update: The military government in the African nation of Niger speaking of a mutiny by soldiers overnight... Newsdump Alert: Russia Hits Back After Weeks Of Ukrainian Attacks On Russian Warehouses... Iranian President Urges "That Trump Not Create Turmoil" And "Israel Does Not Cause Insecurity And Aggresson'... Here we are again your host the winner of the Daughters of the American Revolution American History Award. It's right on my high school graduation program. Well historic events to...

The presumed successor to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is currently in Russia, a report said Saturday.Four sources familiar with the movements of Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez confirmed her location to Reuters, although the news agency cited Russia’s foreign ministry as claiming the report was "fake."Earlier in the day, Rodriguez demanded in audio played on Venezuelan state TV that the U.S. provide "proof of life" for Maduro and his wife after President Donald Trump said the pair had been captured in a U.S. military operation. "We demand that President Donald Trump’s government provide immediate proof of life for President Maduro...

More than 113,000 Russians crossed into Georgia via the Upper Lars checkpoint last week amid growing fears the Kremlin is preparing to announce a new mobilization wave, Politico reported on Aug. 28. The spike in border crossings comes as the Kremlin undertakes increasingly aggressive recruitment measures, expands data collection on military reservists, and broadens the mandate for the National Guard, all of which have fueled speculation of an imminent call-up. Earlier, Ukraine's Presidential Office issued a warning on Aug. 27, saying that Russia plans to mobilize 600,000 recruits over 2026 and 2027, with 300,000 to be called up this year...

In Siberia, there is a huge crater commonly known as the gateway to hell. Scientists think they have a lot to learn about our planet’s future from this crater. Credit: Contains Modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2020 – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0 In the cold and unhospitable environment of Siberia, a giant hole is breaking open the land. This hole has the shape of a stingray, and it is viewable from space. The story of this “Gateway to Hell” in Siberia dates back to the Cold War, as shown by declassified imagery from the 1960s, when it was barely visible. Now,...

Did his attempt to curry favor with Iran work? One of the ways Hezbollah earns money — about one billion dollars a year — is by drug trafficking. It controls much of the sale of drugs sent from Colombia and Venezuela to customers in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. For eight years, beginning in 2008, a wide-ranging investigation by the Drug Enforcement Agency known as Project Cassandra uncovered how Hezbollah had transformed itself from a Middle Eastern political and military organization into an international crime syndicate, but Project Cassandra was shut down by the Obama administration, that...

In a bombshell report by POLITICO‘s Josh Meyer, the Obama administration is accused of protecting Hezbollah drug and human trafficking rings to help ensure a nuclear deal with Iran was achieved. POLITICO reports: Project Cassandra reached higher into the hierarchy of the conspiracy, Obama administration officials threw an increasingly insurmountable series of roadblocks in its way, according to interviews with dozens of participants who in many cases spoke for the first time about events shrouded in secrecy, and a review of government documents and court records. When Project Cassandra leaders sought approval for some significant investigations, prosecutions, arrests and financial...

Ratcliffe declassified an intel report revealing Ukrainian officials viewed Biden family business deals 'as evidence of a double-standard within the United States Government towards matters of corruption and political power' Then-Vice President Joe Biden in 2015 told the CIA he would "strongly prefer" an intelligence report documenting Ukrainian officials’ concerns with his family’s ties to "corrupt" business deals in the country "not be disseminated" — and so it wasn’t, according to a newly declassified email and records made public by the agency. CIA Director John Ratcliffe declassified the heavily redacted records, which he said he believes is an example of...

“ Several 'doomsday planes' were spotted circling above the US on Tuesday, just hours after the CIA director made a surprise visit to Moscow. Flight enthusiasts spotted at least five Boeing E-6 Mercury aircraft along the West Coast and in the central region of the nation. These giant unmarked planes, constructed using the frames of the Boeing 707, are built to survive a nuclear war and coordinate America's military response from the air if bases on the ground are attacked. Public flight trackers began following the aircraft at around 1:30pm EST, although the main planes appeared with blank or missing...

In this episode of What the Ship, we break down the top five maritime stories as of late August 2026. From high-stakes salvage operations in the Pacific to escalating economic warfare in the Black Sea, global shipping is facing unprecedented challenges. We look at how these regional disruptions are redrawing trade maps, spiking freight rates, and ultimately impacting global inflation. What the Ship (Ep 146) | Starship 40 & SLNC York Hormuz, Black Sea & Chokepoint Chaos | Containers 30:26 | What's Going on With Shipping? 713K subscribers | 34,153 views | August 24, 2026