India has approved a $5.43 billion deal to purchase S-400 Triumf anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia, despite US threats of sanctions against New Delhi, local media reported, citing government sources.

The Cabinet Committee on Security, chaired by PM Narendra Modi, has cleared the "game-changing acquisition" on Wednesday, according to the Times of India. The move comes ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit early next month.

The Indian Air Force (IAF), which operates the country's air defenses, is expected to receive first S-400 squadron within 24 months after the contract's signing. The rest will be delivered within the next 4-5 years.

Because of the US Government's repeated threats to start World War III against Russia on Syrian territory if Russia will assist Syria's Government to eliminate the jihadists who control Syria's Idlib province, Russia's Government agreed, on September 17th, with Turkey's Government, that Turkey's Government will control Idlib, which is Syria's most jihadist-friendly province.

Consequently, the threatened US-and-allied bombing campaign to overthrow Syria's Government and replace it with one that would be controlled by the royal family of Saudi Arabia (the Sauds)has been placed on hold, because such a bombing campaign would now mean the US going to war against not only Syria's Government and Russia's Government and Iran's Government, but also against Turkey's Government, which is a NATO member and (because of its location) has been an essential part of the American Empire.

Turkey is thus now balanced on a knife's edge, between the US and its allies (representing the Saud family) on the one side, versus Russia and its allies (representing the anti-Saud alliance) on the other.

Russia's unexpected decision to supply Syria with S-300 surface-to-air missile systems and to integrate Syria's air defense within the Russian command calls for a quick reassessment of our views. It turned out that Russia is able to learn and respond in an unanticipated way. Yes, in the immediate aftermath of the Il-20 downing, the Russian reaction had been weak. The Russians agreed with Israelis that the plane had been hit by a Syrian S-200 missile. They provided the Israeli military with an opportunity to offer and defend their version of events, while Putin spoke of a "tragic chain of events", apparently exculpating his Israeli partner.

I must admit I had thought that the Russians would accept the Israeli explanations, and the case would rest. This was the view of pro-Kremlin writers and bloggers, and they often know the mind of the Russian authorities. These guys and gals do not get their instructions directly from the Kremlin, nor do they have a consistent view of Russian interests nor an opinion of their own; usually they try to guess what the Kremlin will do next and build a defense line for it. If you watch them, you'll get an idea of what the expectation.

They took a rather pro-Israeli line. Whoever called for a stronger response to the Israeli provocation, was called an "anti-Semite firebrand". This is not as deadly a marker in Russia as it is in the West, but it still is not a great compliment, either. Some pro-Kremlin writers blamed the Syrians; so did the liberal opposition to Putin. Julia Latynina, the pet Russian writer of Western liberals, a Putin nemesis, a recipient of the Defender of Freedom Award, with hundreds of references in the Guardian and the New York Times, called the Syrians - "apes". (The Russian anti-Putin liberals are racist beyond belief but they love Jews).

A pro-Kremlin English-language writer said that the Iranians (sic!) were to be blamed; perhaps they pushed the button and destroyed the Il. And Syrians surely were guilty as hell. He also ferociously attacked the experts who spoke of Israeli responsibility and called them "antisemites". The chief editors of the Russian semi-official media apparently thought Putin wanted to forget about the whole business of the downed Il-20 as fast as possible. They promptly erased it from their agenda. Incredibly, on the next day the Russian media was practically free from any reference to the disaster. Only the hard old men of the opposition grumbled in their marginal online journals: "We are lost," "Putin obeys his oligarchs," "The Jewish lobby in Moscow won", "Putin cares more of his Jewish friends than of the Russian soldiers". But they were premature.

Not one of the more than 140 Palestinian protesters, journalists or medics killed during the mass protests along Gaza's eastern boundary since 30 March were armed when they were targeted by Israeli occupation forces.

That point was stressed by the Gaza-based human rights group Al Mezan during a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.

Human Rights Watch meanwhile told the council that it "has not documented instances where protesters posed an imminent threat to life."

Israel has validated its unlawful conduct "after presenting a gross distortion of international law" to its high court, Nils Mollema, representing Al Mezan, stated. Its military's "investigation into some of the protest deaths is expected to find that none of the incidents involved violations of open fire orders."

Former Australian Ambassador Alexander Downer evaded questions during a recent BBC interview regarding suggestions made by George Papadopoulos that Downer may have been recording his conversations in an effort to spy on the then-Trump campaign volunteer.

The answers to those questions would be significant because they would reveal the extent of other nation's efforts in cooperating with the FBI's counterintelligence operation on President Donald Trump's campaign, say U.S. officials that spoke to SaraACarter.com. The information - if it was used - would be part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant's package of evidence presented to the secret court, said one former and one current U.S. official.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews and Labour Friends of Israel have attacked Labour for passing a motion at their conference that calls for "a freeze of UK Government arms sales to Israel," labeling the move "irresponsible."

Marie van der Zyl, the president of the board of deputies, insisted that UK arms sales to Israel were a crucial part of "military cooperation" between the two countries. She described Labour's position as "irresponsible" and "misguided," warning the move could "endanger British civilians and assets in both the Middle East and in the UK," the Jerusalem Post reports.

The UN General Assembly is a place where world leaders tend to keep things refined and play it cool, but there are always some entertaining exceptions - and this year, French President Emmanuel Macron was happy to do the honors.

Banging his fist passionately on the rostrum, Macron warned that "nationalism always leads to defeat" in what was immediately understood to be a thinly veiled rebuke of US President Donald Trump, who had spoken shortly before him.

The speeches from the two leaders were quite literally worlds apart. Macron sounded the alarm about multilateralism and dialogue falling apart, which he said would lead "directly to isolation and conflict" to the detriment of everyone, "even in the end, those who thought they were strongest." Meanwhile, Trump rejected a globalist ideology and promised never to surrender US sovereignty to an "unelected, unaccountable global bureaucracy."

It was the battle of the globalists v the nationalists - but was the French leader's display enough to outdo one of the most notorious UN meltdowns?

A hypersonic anti-aircraft missile with a range of over 300km will be part of the arsenal of the Su-57, Russia's most-advanced multipurpose fighter jet. The weapon is meant to take out high-value targets with impunity.

The Su-57 is Russia's first 5th-generation aircraft, designed to be a formidable threat to major air powers such as the US. It is normally expected to carry weapons in its internal bays, to reduce radar cross-section and avoid compromising its stealth capabilities. But larger missiles may be carried externally at a hardpoint, and one of those will be the R-37M, a missile with a greater range than anything the US aircraft would have at their disposal.

The R-37M is an upgraded version of the missile that came into service in 1985. The older variant is among the larger air-to-air missiles, measuring 4.2 meters in length and 600kg in weight, suitable only for bigger aircraft like the Mig-31BM interceptor.

He arrived late and left early, but otherwise Donald Trump was affable enough as moonlighting chair of the UN Security Council. The same cannot be said of the speeches delivered by the members - including Trump himself.

The US, which currently holds the monthly rotating presidency at the UNSC, tried to pretend that this was a broader session about non-proliferation to avoid having to invite Tehran's representatives (Trump gave the game away last week when he tweeted that he was "chairing a meeting on Iran").

But as the day before in front of the General Assembly, the Islamic Republic was yet again the target Trump unloaded at, and the reason he lent his weight to the appearance instead of sending Nikki Haley or Mike Pompeo in his stead.

Trade turnover between Russia and China has been rapidly growing and is expected to reach $100 billion this year, according to the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moscow seeks to double the figure in the next six years.

"It is planned to increase Russia's trade with China to $200 billion and Chinese investment in the Russian economy to $15 billion," said a document for the government's activities for the period up to 2024.

The document, released on Thursday, also envisages boosting trade with other countries. Russia's trade with India may reach $30 billion by 2024. Trade with the Middle East and North African nations is expected to amount to $50 billion, while trade with sub-Saharan countries could hit $7 billion, and Latin America, $20 billion.