Lebanon's Defence Minister Elias Bou Saab has warned that the Lebanese Air Force will strike Israel's Ben Gurion airport in the event of a military conflict between the two states, the Jerusalem Post reported, citing Hezbollah's al-Manar news site. [...]

While the European Parliament elections are approaching with stakes being high, German MEP and former chairman of the National Democratic Party (NPD) Udo Voigt has spoken about the party's plans for the next legislative term, as well as its priorities and concerns. [...]

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Beijing will take all necessary measures to defend the rights and interests of Chinese companies. Sputnik talked about Huawei’s lawsuit against the US government with Andrew Leung, an independent China strategist based in Hong Kong. [...]

Renewed trade war fears are breathing life into the gold market, according to Phil Streible, senior market analyst at RJO Futures, who also pointed to growing investor fears over the possibility of a rate cut. “Potentially down the road, if equities slow down, and if the global economy slows down enough, you might see the Fed cut rates, that’s what’s breathing life right now into that gol [...]

A growing number of former Apple devotees in China have started switching from iPhones to domestic Huawei smartphones as trade and technology tensions escalate between Washington and Beijing. The South China Morning Post reported that consumers were spurred by a rising “nationalist sentiment” to support the Chinese tech giant which has been blacklisted by the US. [...]

US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus has warned Turkey about the “very negative consequences” their acquisition of the Russian S-400 missile defense systems will have if it goes ahead. The purchase of the surface-to-air missile defence systems will seriously affect the defence relations of the United States and NATO with Turkey, she said. [...]

Despite the trade war against China and numerous import tariffs imposed on a number of countries, the US trade deficit hit a 10-year high of $621 billion last year, the US Commerce Department reported. [...]

According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's Il-96-400 passenger airliner will allow Russian planes to win back the country's domestic air transportation market. [...]

The US has underestimated the consequences of the attack on Chinese telecom giant Huawei as it sends a strong signal for the rest of the world to avoid dealing with such an unstable partner, professor Richard Wolff believes. [...]

The US government's indictment of Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange on 17 additional charges under the Espionage Act has shocked and horrified journalists who are calling it an unprecedented attack on press freedom. [...]

The relationship between the US and Turkey has taken another gigantic hit. It appears Turkey has joined the other powerhouses of the Eastern world (Russia and China) by preparing for economic warfare against the US in the near future. Turkey And Iran Ditch The Dollar, Putin Smiles, And Trump Cries The Collapse of the American Empire? How the United States Created Vladimir Putin [...]

Russia's deputy defense minister has offered new details on the new hyper sonic missile announced by President Putin in a recent speech to lawmakers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_w_0zUs9ac [...]

In his Federal Assembly address last March, President Vladimir Putin for the first time unveiled an array of advanced Russian weapons, including the Poseidon nuclear-powered underwater drone torpedo, an intercontinental cruise missile and a hyper-sonic nuclear warhead. [...]

As Wall Street reels from the shock of a trade war exploding to new heights in the form of tariffs and counter tariffs, there’s another reality that is setting in — that China seems happy to walk away from trade talks. [...]

Nicolaus Fest, an AfD legislator from Germany’s Bundestag, has subjected the brochure “60 Good Reasons for the EU”, published by the European Union, to a "fact check". In his analysis, Fest sees a stark contrast between how Brussels portrays itself and reality. [...]

A US federal judge declined Wednesday to preliminarily enjoin a congressional subpoena for US President Donald Trump's financial records, ruling that Deutsche Bank was free to comply with the demand. [...]

A corruption scandal has Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s grip on power slipping by the day. With a no-confidence motion likely, can Austria’s right and left wings team up to boot the 32-year-old leader from office? [...]

The lull in the US-China trade war amid new flaring tensions over the arrest of Huawei finance chief can only backfire at Washington as Beijing holds a trump card, veteran stockbroker Peter Schiff has warned. [...]

US President Donald Trump has threatened Tehran that it would "the official end" if it fights in a tweet as Washington builds up its military presence close to Iran. It’s unclear what triggered the US leader as all the Iranian officials were saying in recent days is that they want to avoid a military confrontation with the US. [...]

The Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media has recently published what they say is a never-before-seen report by the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission on the alleged chemical attack in Syria’s Douma on 7 April 2018, showing that the entire incident was a false flag. [...]

President Trump is reportedly waiting for the Iranians to get on the phone and start talking business to resolve the dangerous looming military crisis in the Persian Gulf. Step One was for the US to pile on the threats of an “unrelenting” assault on the Islamic Republic. Step Two is for the US president to dangle an overture for dialogue with Tehran in order to avert war. [...]

Earlier this week, Facebook-owned WhatsApp announced it had rushed to patch up a security hole in its messaging service, which it believed had been exploited by the Israeli-owned NSO Group. [...]