Scores of corpses are still being dug up from the ruins of Raqqa, one year after its US-backed liberation from IS, but the West is seemingly in no rush to help the community recover. RT takes a look at the city’s plight. Once a prosperous and vibrant place, Raqqa emerged from the 2017 liberation operation with 90 percent of its buildings blasted into ruin. [...]

Vienna has vowed not to accept any agreements which come at Austria's expense amid a deal on migrant policy reached in neighboring Germany between Chancellor Angela Merkel and Interior Minister Horst Seehofer. Cloppenburg regional parliament MP Michael Klitzing says migration is just part of a much wider, possibly irresolvable problem for Merkel. [...]

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) Party is continuing its efforts to repatriate Syrian refugees, formally urging the German federal government and the EU to lift their debilitating economic sanctions against the Arab Republic. [...]

The Syrian Army has gotten its hands on another huge cache of weapons and ammunition, including US-made TOW anti-tank missile systems, chemical warfare, minesweeping and communications equipment and even armored vehicles. Some of the supplies appear to be brand new, as if militants did not get the chance to use them against government forces. [...]

Ahead of July’s NATO summit, the US President fueled the buzz about the row within the bloc over agreed-upon military spending targets, as he sent his letters of discontent to several European leaders, including Chancellor Angela Merkel. In response, Germany’s military chief lectured Trump on what alliance means and played down his rebuke. [...]

The war in Syria has lasted more than seven years, bringing with it a devastation and bloodshed which has thrown a prosperous and stable Middle Eastern nation into chaos and uncertainty. In the West we are used to reading a history of such conflicts written by the victor. [...]

US President Donald Trump has issued another warning to the EU, threatening to slap the bloc’s automakers with 20 percent tax levies unless trade barriers placed on American corporations are lifted. The warning comes two days after US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said that the White House had not made any decision on whether to extend the tariffs which had recently been introduced on other [...]

China can damage US economy in a full-scale trade war if it is willing to take the pain. The threat of a full-scale trade war between the US and China has dominated the news in recent weeks. The countries have exchanged import tariffs on each other's goods, and are threatening further protective steps. [...]

The White House's tough trade practices and sanctions policies may finally backfire on the US, prompting holders of US debt to dump American Treasuries. The move could have a serious impact on the decades-long leadership of the US dollar. Russia and China are dumping their US Treasury debt holdings amid Washington's sanctions and tariff spree. [...]

Turkey didn’t acquire the Russian-built S-400 air defense systems for them to collect dust and may use them, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, adding the purchase was to reduce Ankara’s dependency on US arms supplies. “We will not just buy the S-400s and place them in a storehouse. We will use them if need be,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, as quoted by Hurr [...]

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) commonly factors in all kinds of risks when allocating the country's reserves, said the CBR chief, commenting on a major sell-off of US Treasury bonds. “We pursue the policy of safe and diversified holdings,” CBR Governor Elvira Nabiullina said while answering questions before Russia's lower house of parliament. [...]

As many as eight civilians were killed in the northeastern Syrian province of Hasakah in an airstrike carried out by the US-led international coalition, local media reported citing a local source. "The 'international coalition’ has committed another massacre, which killed eight members of a family in Dib-Haddadj village on the south-east of the Hasakah province," the source said, as quoted by th [...]

The US government is slated to receive one of two batches of Russian-made rocket engines in the second quarter of 2018, according to a leading Russian rocket designer, at nearly the same point when the newly created US Space Force is being established as a new branch of the US armed forces. [...]

Turkey will find alternatives after the US Senate's decision to suspend Ankara's participation in the F-35 fighter jet production program, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, after the US Senate decided to stop the jet deliveries over Ankara's intention to buy S-400s. [...]

These measures will only affect products that have analogues in Russia, Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Maxim Oreshkin said. "Because the US continues to apply protective measures in the form of additional import duties on steel and aluminum and refuses to provide compensation for Russia's losses, Russia is using its WTO rights and introducing balancing measures with re [...]

Despite facing years of sanctions from the US and EU, the Russian economy is growing again thanks to a winning formula of low debt and high reserves. The sovereign debt of Russia is a fraction of that in developed countries like the UK or US. Russia’s foreign debt now stands at $525 billion, compared to $7.5 trillion in Britain, $5 trillion in France, $4.8 trillion in Germany, and an eye-waterin [...]

Beijing’s retaliatory measures against US tariffs can include penalties on oil coming to China from America. A cut in Chinese purchases of US oil may benefit Iran’s sales and anger Washington. “The Chinese may just replace some of the American oil with Iranian crude,” said John Driscoll, director of consultancy JTD Energy Services, as quoted by Reuters. [...]

Moscow and Delhi are seeking to bypass US sanctions by using the rupee and the ruble in facilitating military deals, according to Indian daily, the Economic Times. The paper reports that US sanctions are hampering $2 billion in defense deals between Russia and India, as payments are getting stuck. [...]

US Senators have voted to block the sale of F-35s to Turkey, slamming their NATO ally for plans to buy Russian S-400 missile batteries. Ankara warned of “an alternative” should the deal be called off. The first of the 100 US-made F-35 fighter jets were to be delivered to Turkey on June 21 but now the whole deal might be off as the US Senators voted to kill the sale. [...]

It was the dogs what done it. The picture of the "pile of canine corpses on the streets of Russia killed in the name of the world cup," I mean. Or at least the thousands of people who had retweeted the image thought so, before it turned out the dead dogs were Pakistani, killed for public health reasons in Karachi five years before. [...]

US President Donald Trump's introduction of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the EU will force them to build new trade ties, professor at Aalto University and CUHK, Carl F. Fey, told RT. “US actions will surely push the EU to strengthen trade relationships with other countries such as China. Russia, being a near neighbor could also benefit,” he told RT, adding � [...]

An anti-terrorism probe has been opened into death threats Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz received on social media after his government announced a crackdown on hate preaching and “political Islam.” The Austrian government’s decision to close seven mosques and expel as many as 60 imams as part of their campaign against radicalization has provoked a wave of outrage online. [...]