Australia’s largest lender collected fees from customers it knew had died, a major inquiry has heard. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) told a public hearing that some of its financial planners had billed services to deceased clients. In one case, an adviser collected fees from a former client for more than a decade. Australia is holding a royal commission – …

Perhaps the most surprising news surrounding the US, British and French strike on Syria Saturday morning was the report that the country’s Air Defense Force managed to shoot down just shy of 70% of the Western cruise missiles launched. Sputnik looks at how the Syrians managed to do it. The Western attack, executed this morning at 4:00 am Syrian time …

The US and its allies struck civil and military facilities in Syria, violating the UN Charter and international law, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, responding to the American-French-British intervention in Syria. Washington launched “an aggression against a sovereign state which is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism,” the statement from the president said. Putin stressed that the multi-national …

The substance used on Sergei Skripal was an agent called BZ, according to Swiss state Spiez lab, the Russian foreign minister said. The toxin was never produced in Russia, but was in service in the US, UK, and other NATO states. Sergei Skripal, a former Russian double agent, and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with an incapacitating toxin known as …

Children suffering in war have become tools for the West, with Nikki Haley stating that Russia’s hands are “covered in their blood” in Syria. However, the US seems to not mind “collateral damage” in the wars it’s backing. Speaking at the UN Security Council meeting following an alleged chemical attack in Syria, the US ambassador said that “the Russian regime, …

While many Facebook users’ hearts skipped a beat when the company’s founder was testifying before the US Congress on the Cambridge Analytica case, Twitterians were laughing their heads off, wondering if Zuckerberg was human. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has testified before Congress over a data breach scandal: the Cambridge Analytica consultancy firm managed to obtain the social network users’ private …

The Syrian Foreign Ministry has reacted to Trump’s tweet on “smart missiles” and plans on airstrikes, saying that it was not surprised by the “thoughtless” US escalation around the alleged chemical attack, according to the SANA. We are not surprised by such a thoughtless escalation by a regime like the United States regime, which sponsored terrorism in Syria and still …

At least 257 people have died as result of an Algerian military plane crash, the Algerian Defense Ministry reported Wednesday. The incident reportedly occurred at 8:00 a.m. local time, when a transportation aircraft crashed near the airport of the Algerian city of Blida, Boufarik province. Local authorities have deployed 130 members of the civil protection unit, 14 ambulances and 10 …

Russia has issued a thinly veiled threat after Britain gave it a deadline to answer accusations of involvement in a poisoning attack in Salisbury, but US and EU allies have expressed support for Britain condemning the attack. Prime Minister Theresa May had given Russia until midnight on Tuesday to explain how a Soviet-era nerve agent was used against a former …