Because the Earth - as of yet the only known planet with life - orbits the sun, planetary systems around stars of similar size and type are logical targets for astronomers looking for extraterrestrials.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States should not want regime change in Moscow and needs to respect Russia's territorial integrity, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith said during remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations.

The ancient pterosaur—a flying reptile—existed 86 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period, an era which is often referred to as the last segment of the “Age of Dinosaurs.” The giant predator, which was about as large as a school bus, lived in what is now known as the Andes mountains in Argentina’s western Mendoza province.

The US economy is experiencing a major challenge: the country has mostly recovered from its COVID-19 outbreak, but rapid price increases are threatening to reverse that success. Inflation in the US is at its highest level since the early 1980s, and the Federal Reserve has responded with sharp interest rate hikes.

SIMFEROPOL (Sputnik) - The authorities of the Kherson Region will ask Russia to deploy a military base in the area, this will guarantee its security, Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the regional military-civilian administration, told Sputnik.

Earlier this month, the lone gunman who carried out a racially-motivated massacre of 10 Black people in Buffalo, New York, allegedly used the chat app Discord and streaming features on Twitch to upload information and real-time footage of his crime to the internet. Twitch, owned by Amazon, reportedly removed the content within two minutes.

Low revenue and continued lockdowns prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic in China have led to the company’s decision to exit the country. American company Airbnb is a service that enables property owners to rent out their homes to travelers.

Facebook has been under fire for the Cambridge Analytica data breach ever since the news about personal data being gathered for political purposes broke out in 2018. The Federal Trade Commission fined the corporation $5 billion the following year for violating privacy laws as a result of the incident.

Cyberweapons are a broad term that can be used to describe anything from keyloggers to ransomware, or to something that takes down an energy grid. With governments creating evermore powerful versions, fears are growing that they could end up in the hands of criminals.

After a major spike in diesel fuel prices, the Biden administration is considering releasing part of a special strategic reserve to alleviate the supply crunch. However, the shortage is caused by corporations chasing profits, not by production shortfalls, and critics say the move won’t amount to much.

According to the UN’s public health agency, contact tracing is key in controlling the spread of infectious disease pathogens such as the monkeypox virus, which has quickly spread across North America and Europe since last week. No deaths have been linked to the virus, but more than 200 confirmed and suspected cases have been identified.

Adam Smith wrote that the efficiency of markets relies on the free movement of goods. What happens when governments seize property in order to exert political pressure—or out of greed?

The ongoing legal battle between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard has raised issues regarding reputation, credibility, and abuse. Depp is suing Heard for defamation after she wrote an op-ed painting herself as a victim of domestic violence. Depp has vehemently denied these allegations, saying Heard was actually the abuser in their relationship.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s longtime adviser, Tal Gan-Zvi, announced he was stepping down as the prime minister’s chief of staff in the coming weeks.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia's critical infrastructure needs to eliminate dependence on goods supplied by Western countries, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has received a letter of Russia's Commissioner for Human Rights Tatiana Moskalkova calling for a meeting with Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine and will provide an answer to the request as soon as possible, the ICRC delegation in Moscow told Sputnik.

Recently, numerous Western media outlets and especially Ukrainian officials have been speculating about the Russian president's health, claiming that he is in the terminal stages of an unknown serious illness and that Putin will be gone any day now. The former chief of British intelligence has since decided to insert his two cents on the topic.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Active shooter incidents in the United States increased by more than 50% in 2021 compared to the previous year, the FBI said on Monday.

Once seen as a rising star in the GOP, Congressman Madison Cawthorn has been hit with multiple scandals. He first angered his own party by claiming that he was invited by other politicians to an orgy and that he had seen his colleagues do cocaine.

Last October, US President Joe Biden was forced to walk back a claim that “we have a commitment” to defend Taiwan in the event of an attack by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Since 1979, the US has kept “strategic ambiguity” about whether it would intervene militarily to prevent the autonomous island from being ruled by Beijing.