Tag: Russia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller testifies to Congress on Wednesday at a pair of televised hearings that carry high stakes for President Donald Trump and Democrats who are split between impeaching him or moving on to the 2020 election. Mueller, whose inquiry detailed extensive contacts between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia at a time when Moscow was interfering in the 2016 election with hacking and propaganda, is set to appear beginning at 8:30 a.m. (1230...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Robert Mueller stayed mum for nearly two years in the face of repeated verbal attacks on his integrity by President Donald Trump and his conservative Republican allies in Congress. For the first time on Wednesday, the former U.S. special counsel will come face to face with some of his harshest critics in a hearing before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. Some members of the House Freedom Caucus, a conservative faction, sit on the committee and...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When Robert Mueller testifies to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, Democratic lawmakers are expected to try to pin down the former special counsel on a crucial question: did he intend for them to carry on where he left off in his investigation of President Donald Trump and the Russians? As Democrats craft their agenda heading into the 2020 elections in which the Republican president is seeking a second four-year term, they will be eager to hear...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia is determined to interfere in U.S. elections despite sanctions and other efforts to deter such actions before the next presidential election in 2020, FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday. “The Russians are absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections,” Wray said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Wray appeared at an oversight hearing a day before Robert Mueller, the former special counsel, was due to testify publicly before Congress about his two-year...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia is determined to interfere in U.S. elections, despite sanctions and other efforts to deter Moscow, FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday. “The Russians are absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections,” through a foreign influence campaign, Wray said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Wray was testifying at an oversight hearing a day before Robert Mueller, the former special counsel, was due to testify publicly before Congress about his two-year investigation of...

en.kremlin.ru In a lengthy sit-down interview with Russian president Vladimir Putin, award-winning director Oliver Stone said that a widely-criticized Russian law designed to keep pro-LGBTQ material away from minors seems «sensible.»The law, put into place in 2013, in theory only bans «propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships to minors.» In practice, however, it has been used to justify a broader crackdown on...

Being an openly LGBTQ person in Chechnya is risky as many people are subjected to great injustices because of their sexuality. Image via The Fight Mag. A bisexual Russian man who has since fled to a safe country was subjected to torture because he attempted to find evidence of the anti-LGBTQ purge happening in Chechnya, according to Gay Star News. LGBTQ people in Chechnya are being detained, beaten, and humiliated because of their sexuality and one man named Elbrus and his...

Russia has blocked access to a website that was named after and inspired by the horror franchise Saw. The website was used by homophobes and encouraged violence against the LGBTQ community. The website charged people 200 rubles, equivalent to US $3, to access its database and track down people who were reportedly LGBTQ. If someone wanted their name removed from the website, they had to pay 1,500 rubles, equivalent to US $23. The website, which was launched last year, referred to...

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France — which last summer fined Russia $2 billion for two decades of human rights abuses — has ordered Vladimir Putin’s government to cough up another $41K to three nonprofit LGBTQ groups. One of those groups is Sochi Pride House, an arm of Pride House International, whose aim was to provide a welcoming place for LGBTQ athletes and fans attending the 2014 Olympic Games, and to combat homophobia in sports....

Image via Instagram @LilNasX & @JonasBrothers Earlier this week, social media was overrun with the Aging Filter. On Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, internet users couldn’t escape the pictures of friends and celebrities altering their faces to look older. But a day or two ago, the conversation changed to concerns for personal and national security. After it was discovered that the app where this filter originated is owned by a Russian Company, many people started having flashbacks to the 2016 US Presidential...

Photo by Dimitri de Vries on Unsplash Two gay men are at the center of a trial because they adopted children in Russia. Russia’s Investigative Committee announced on Wednesday that it has opened an unprecedented criminal case against two Moscow social workers. The government is upset that the officials allowed a gay couple to adopt two boys back in 2010, according to AFP. “Nothing like this has happened before,” said lawyer Maksim Olenichev of Vykhod (Coming Out) support group based in the...

Russia has been ordered to pay three LGBTQ groups £38,850 for blocking them from becoming legal entities. The groups claim their applications to become legal entities were blocked by the country because their main aim is to promote LGBTQ rights. The three groups in question are Rainbow House, the Movement for Marriage Equality and the Sochi Pride House. The groups had attempted to register from between 2006 and 2011. In the ruling, the court unanimously found that Russia had discriminated against...

FaceApp is one of the most popular apps in the world right now, but privacy advocates are raising concerns about the information that it’s collecting. The app, which was developed by the Russian company Wireless Lab, lets users modify pictures of their faces to make them seem older, younger, as another gender, or hotter. But the data stored in the app isn’t as private as some people could think. The app uses a Facebook login, giving it access to users’ pictures,...

Families of 24 detained Ukrainian sailors have expressed pessimism over their potential release later today. A court in Moscow is set to decide whether to extend their custody. The two-dozen sailors were detained by the Russian Navy last November in the Kirch Strait, off the Crimean peninsula. The sailors and three of their navy vessels were fired upon and captured by Russia as they attempted to pass through the Kirch Strait, a narrow stretch of water that separates mainland Russia from...