United States

Missed intelligence was to blame for the outmanned Capitol defenders' failure to anticipate the violent mob that invaded the iconic building and halted certification of the presidential election on Jan. 6, the officials who were in charge of security that day said in their first public testimony on the insurrection.

Over 7.9 million people in Texas still had issues with their water supply as of Feb. 22 evening, authorities told Reuters, after a record-breaking freeze knocked out power stations last week.

The USA's Perseverance rover has successfully landed on Mars with a helicopter called Ingenuity strapped to its belly. The Mars 2020 mission is seen as a first step towards bringing samples of Martian rock back to Earth.

The government meets today, Friday, to approve the bills related to the national budget and the state social insurance budget for 2021. Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Thursday that the government deficit target remains set at 7.16%, specifying that, compared to the published version of the draft, there could be some changes in terms of allocations, with more commitment appropriations.

After seven months in space, NASA's Perseverance rover overcame a tense landing phase with a series of perfectly executed maneuvers to gently float down to the Martian soil on Feb. 18 and embark on its mission to search for signs of past life.

A crystal-clear lake in southeastern Turkey could shed light on "exciting" scientific research involving Mars, a senior official said on Feb. 18. 

After seven months of travel, NASA's rover Perseverance is preparing to land on Mars on Thursday, which will be the start of a years-long search for evidence of ancient microbiological life on the Red Planet.

The Mars 2020 mission, launched in late July from Florida, includes the largest vehicle ever sent there.

In the most caustic sign yet of deepening GOP divisions, former President Donald Trump blistered Mitch McConnell as a "political hack" on Feb. 16, days after the Senate's top Republican denounced him as the inciter of U.S. Capitol attack.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Feb. 15 that Congress will establish an independent, Sept. 11-style commission to look into the deadly insurrection that took place at the U.S. Capitol.

Former US President Donald Trump was acquitted by the Senate in his second impeachment trial. Fifty-seven senators voted to uphold the impeachment article submitted by the House, which accused the ex-president of inciting an insurrection in Washington on January 6, 2021, however, 67 votes were required for a conviction, Russian Vedomosti newspaper writes.