The furious reaction in Washington to Turkey’s receipt of the Russian S-400 air defence system is motivated by several factors – all of which spell a heavy blow to US strategic interests. After two years of American bullying and threats, Turkey has finally gone ahead and taken delivery of the S-400 system this week. [...]

The Spanish frigate was part of a US-led naval group that was sent to the Persian Gulf shortly before Tehran announced the suspension of some of its obligations under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal on 8 May. The move came exactly a year after the US unilaterally left the deal, also reinstating harsh anti-Iranian sanctions. [...]

The trade volume between Russia and China is expected to continue to accelerate and reach new heights, doubling the current record level of $108 billion, the Russian economy ministry says. [...]

Chinese telecom giant Huawei has secured more than 50 commercial contracts for 5G across the world, according to the company’s board member and Senior Vice President Catherine Chen, who was cited by news agency Xinhua. [...]

Police in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh arrested a cleric who allegedly raped a nine-year-old girl on mosque premises while the local imam was away on leave. The cleric later publicly admitted his guilt. [...]

Turkey has blasted the US decision to kick it out of the F-35 fighter jet program, in response to Ankara buying Russian S-400 air defense systems, as a mistake that will cause permanent damage to the US-Turkish relations. [...]

The Pentagon is actively contemplating the use of nuclear weapons to win wars that need not be fought in the first place. As expected, opposition to the US nuclear doctrine is almost non-existent in the mainstream media. [...]

In a report detailing NATO’s deterrence policy, a Canadian senator for the Defence and Security Committee of the alliance’s Parliamentary Assembly accidentally revealed several sites the US uses to store its weapons of mass destruction in Europe. The list includes bases in Turkey, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium. [...]

In the West, at least, everyone has become massively aware of the extent of coercion and exploitation in sexual relations, says Slavoj Žižek. [...]

When traditionally stable institutions like Deutsche Bank find themselves in trouble, it’s a signal that the world’s financial system will face big problems down the road, legendary investor Jim Rogers has told RT. [...]

Italy’s Deputy PM Matteo Salvini has said that an investigation into a “Ukrainian group’s” plot to kill him was what led to a major seizure of weapons, including an air-to-air missile and neo-Nazi memorabilia, by police this week. [...]

Iranian forces came to the aid of an oil tanker stranded in the Persian Gulf, a foreign ministry spokesman has said. The tanker is presumed to be the same Panama-registered vessel missing from radar screens since Saturday. [...]

Iran is right. The way to save the international nuclear accord on Iran is for all parties to honor it and to implement normal trading relations. That would also permit de-escalation of dangerous war tensions in the Gulf. [...]

The US has called an emergency meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog after Iran’s uranium stockpile exceeded the 2015 nuclear deal’s limits. That’s the same body whose reports of Iran’s compliance Washington has ignored for years. [...]

Austria has voted to ban glyphosate, the main ingredient in Bayer-Monsanto’s notorious Roundup weedkiller, becoming the first EU country to outlaw the chemical, creating a PR disaster for the troubled German company. [...]

A special trade channel that will allow European firms to bypass American sanctions on Iran is operational - that was the outcome of the meeting between the countries who signed the nuclear deal ditched by US. [...]

Washington has unleashed a fresh barrage of threats against Tehran, with US President Donald Trump warning it against “playing with fire” and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo branding it a “top sponsor of terrorism.” Fresh from rekindling his strange bromance with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, Trump has returned to his war-mongering ways, leveling a vague new warning at Iran. [...]

The already-strained relationship between Tehran and Washington ties worsened on 20 June, when Iran said that it had downed a US drone over Iranian soil. US President Trump then tweeted that he had halted a military strike against Iran 10 minutes before it was set to be carried out, upon learning that some 150 Iranians might die in the attack. [...]

Some Norwegian politicians believe the uncertainty surrounding the price of the US F-35 fighter jets, the new backbone of the country's air force, is “absurd”. To settle an ongoing dispute surrounding the cost of F-35s once and for all, the Norwegian parliament's control and constitutional committee has asked Defence Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen to name the price for the fighter jets based on t [...]

The United States earlier threatened to remove Turkey from it's F-35 program after Ankara refused to scrap a deal with Russia to buy Moscow's cutting-edge S-400 missile systems, which Washington claimed could compromise US-made aircraft. [...]

Concerns are growing in the Trump administration over Turkey and India's adamant decision to buy the Russian-made S-400. Indian military observer Rakesh Krishnan Simha and UK-based geopolitical analyst Adam Garrie have shared their views on whether Washington will make New Delhi an offer it won't be able to refuse in order to nix the S-400 deal. [...]

The president earlier threatened to slap tariffs on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese goods coming into the United States unless Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to meet with him at the G20 meeting in Osaka, Japan to hammer out a trade deal favourable to Washington. [...]