Over $430 billion were unlawfully taken out of Russia in the period from 2000 to 2017, Viktor Bondarev, the chairman of the Russian parliament's upper house's Defense and Security Committee, told Sputnik, citing independent estimates.

"According to independent estimates, in the period from 2000 to 2017 some $430.7 billion were taken out of our country. These enormous funds could have been invested in the development of our economy," Bondarev said.

France's ambassador has walked out of talks with fellow EU envoys over a lack of French translation, in a new demonstration of Paris pushing to curb the dominance of English in post-Brexit Brussels.

"The ambassador left the room to show his disapproval," one EU diplomat said of Philippe Leglise-Costa's decision to quit a meeting on Wednesday after discovering that no interpretation facilities would be provided for a new forum on the EU budget.

Officials said the format proposed for the new forum, to be launched during negotiations starting soon on a new seven-year EU budget, was one under which translators are not present in order to ease the logistics of calling informal discussions.

So the global capitalist ruling classes' War on Dissent is now in full swing. With their new and improved official narrative, "Democracy versus the Putin-Nazis," successfully implanted in the public consciousness, the corporatocracy have been focusing their efforts on delegitimizing any and all forms of deviation from their utterly absurd and increasingly paranoid version of reality.

The Democratic Party is suing Russia, the Trump campaign, and Wikileaks (seriously ... they've filed an actual lawsuit in an actual court of law an everything) for launching "an all-out assault on democracy" by publishing the DNC's emails, "an act of unprecedented treachery," according to Party Chairman Tom Perez. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, having already spent the last six years in a room in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid being arrested by the British authorities, extradited to the United States, and imprisoned for the remainder of his natural life, has been cut off from the outside world in order to prevent him from further "interfering" with democracy by expressing his opinions.

In Syria, where the "international community" has been battling the "global terrorist threat" by supporting moderate jihadist militias intent on overthrowing the government and establishing a fundamentalist theocracy, the corporate media have been hard at work sanctifying the official story of the "chemical weapons attack" in Douma. According to this story, Bashar al-Assad, an uncooperative brutal dictator whom the corporatocracy has been trying to replace with a more cooperative brutal dictator, dropped a lot of chlorine gas bombs (and possibly sarin, the deadly nerve agent), onto a house full of innocent babies. He did this on the eve of victory over those moderate jihadist militias the "international community" has been supporting in their eight-year attempt to take over his country, slaughter him and his entire family, mount their severed heads on spikes, implement nationwide Sharia law, and then go out hunting homosexuals and heretics to gruesomely behead on YouTube. The evacuation of these freedom fighters was already being negotiated, but Assad didn't want to miss his last chance to sadistically gas a lot of women and children and have the Western corporate media broadcast his war crimes throughout the world, or something more or less along those lines.

Students are not allowed to live with pets in dorms at Yale College - unless the pet happens to be an "emotional support animal."

Emotional support animals are allowable under University Policy 4400 on "a case-by-case basis in a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability."

Last year, there was only one registered support animal on Yale's campus, a kitten named Sawa, the Yale Daily News reported. There are currently 14 emotional support animals at Yale College, the liberal arts undergraduate campus for Yale University.

And that figure is expected to grow, said Sarah Chang, associate director of the Resource Office on Disabilities.

Gender segregation on public transport protects "vulnerable" people, the president of the controversial ISLAM party told RT. The group has previously said it hopes to create a "100-percent Islamic state" in Belgium.

Abdelhay Bakkali Tahiri, president of the conservative Muslim party in Belgium, joined the RT France team via videolink. The party's French acronym stands for "Integrity, Solidarity, Liberty, Authenticity, Morality."

Tahiri sought to justify one of the party's proposals, which aims to create a segregated zone for women on public transport. According to the politician, the measure would help to protect women, children and other "vulnerable groups" that may face aggressive behavior. "It is simply for the wellbeing of those people who use public transport,"he said.

The Saudi Foreign Minister had announced that Riyadh was willing to send troops to Syria as part of a wider international coalition if it receives an invitation to do so. He also expressed his opinion that Qatar must do the same.

Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Thani has branded Saudi Arabia's demands for Qatar to pay for US troops to remain in Syria and the sending of its troops before the US withdraws an attempt to influence public opinion in the Arab world, according to France 24 TV channel.

"This statement [by the Saudi Foreign Ministry] is not worthy of an answer. Qatar refutes the brainwashing of the public opinion in the Arab world in such a way," Qatar's Foreign and Prime Minister said.

Beaufort County Sheriff's Office deputies found 12 dead dogs at a Sea Pines home Tuesday afternoon after they received a report of multiple deceased animals inside and outside the home.

Beaufort County Animal Control also seized an additional 14 dogs from the residence, according to Capt. Bob Bromage of the Sheriff's Office.

Deputies were dispatched the home on Lands End Road around 2 p.m. after Sea Pines Security received a complaint about the dogs.

Two security officers said they had conducted a health and welfare check on the home and were unable to find the woman who lived there.

French President Emmanuel Macron was subjected to harsh criticism after he had welcomed representatives of the NGO Syria Charity at the Elysee Palace.

The founder of the organization SOS Chrétiens d'Orient, Benjamin Blanchard, accused the NGO of being "ideologized" and working only with a "certain share of Syrians, who have a well-defined political stance," while French MEP Patricia Lalonde told Sputnik France that "everyone knows about the ties, the Syria Charity maintains with the Muslim Brotherhood."

In an interview with Sputnik France, the Syria Charity President Mohammed Alolaiwy revealed the activists' "juvenile follies." Syria Charity, formerly known as "Pour une Syrie Libre" [For a Free Syria], started its journey after hearing reports about the situation in the country.

California crime is on the rise and many residents of the Golden State are now regretting the passage of a significant law implemented a few years ago that essentially emboldened criminals despite its good intentions.

In November 2014, California voted in favor of Prop 47, a law aimed at reducing charges from felonies to misdemeanors for drug and property crimes, including theft. The intention was to reduce the state's prison population and emphasize rehabilitation, helping drug addicts keep a felony off their record for what lawmakers view as minor crimes.

As long as the theft does not exceed $950 in value, it is charged as a misdemeanor, no matter how many prior offenses one has on their record. Shoplifting, receiving stolen property, writing bad checks, check forgery, and other theft such as car break-ins are now deemed as misdemeanors if under the $950 mark.

This law has had a dangerous ripple effect throughout the state and its courts have interpreted it broadly to uphold it despite law enforcement's opposition to this new reality.

Ahmad Abu Hussein, second Palestinian journalist to be killed by Israel while covering Gaza protests. He died April 25, 2018.

A second Palestinian journalist has died after being shot by Israeli forces while covering the Gaza protests. Ahmad abu Hussein, 24, succumbed yesterday in an Israeli hospital, 12 days after he was shot in the stomach while wearing a Press flak jacket on April 13. By one report, Abu Hussein was shot by an expanding bullet, from hundreds of meters away.