Israel is taking every effort on a regular basis to prevent its opponents from acquiring advanced weaponry, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

The statement comes a day after a Syrian military source told Sputnik that the Arab republic's air defenses had repelled Israel's missile attack targeting the area close to Damascus International Airport.

Shortly after the report, a spokeswoman for the Israeli army declined the Sputnik request for comments, which is the country's established practice.


"Israel is constantly working to prevent our enemies from arming themselves with advanced weaponry. Our red lines are as sharp as ever and our determination to enforce them is stronger than ever," Netanyahu said in the run-up to the weekly cabinet meeting, as quoted by his press service.

The conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch has filed an ethics complaint against New Jersey Democrat Senator Cory Booker.

Last week, Booker violated rules of the U.S. Senate during confirmation hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Booker admitted his wrongdoing because he was trying to look like a hero for leftists. He said at the time that he would accept the consequences for doing so. Well, here you go Senator Spartacus.

The scapegoating of Russia, which is actively promoted by the West, is "inexcusable" as it pushes the world back into the Cold War era and puts it on the brink of a disaster, Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire has warned.

Russia has become the latest victim of the blame game hysteria, which the US and its western allies engage in to justify their ever-increasing military spending, Maguire wrote in an opinion piece. "All armies must have an enemy to deem them necessary," she said, adding that people "must be convinced that there is need for action to safeguard the freedom of their country."

What also apparently drives the Western elites mad is the prospect of losing their perceived superiority and global hegemony in the view of the new rising powers such as Russia and China, the peace activist said. "Do we honestly believe that the Western allies are going to give up their power? My suggestion is: not easily," Maguire wrote.


"The old dying empires will fight tooth and nail to protect their financial interests such as the petrol dollar and the many benefits that come through their power over poverty-stricken countries," she warned.

"The demonization of Russia is, I believe, one of the most dangerous things that is happening in our world today," Maguire said as she denounced the "scapegoating of Russia" as an "inexcusable game" while saying the amount of propaganda spread by the western media is literally "a throwback to the Cold War era." She also called on people to wake up to the real results of the West's self-declared fight for freedom, which left millions in despair but greatly benefited the elites that "financially gained from war."

American scientists may be collecting the genes of ethnic Chinese people for the purpose of developing genetically engineered bioweapons, reports China National Defence, a military newspaper sponsored by the PLA Daily of the People's Liberation Army.

Earlier this year, Japanese media revealed that the United States government had tested crop-killing bioweapons in Okinawa as well as on Taiwanese and American soil during the 1960s and early 1970s. Despite the multilateral Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention that came into effect in 1975, many countries such as the US and Israel continue to operate bioweapon programs, the China National Defence report said.

The newspaper claims the US military is developing a genetic weapon through a secret R&D; project, with alleged participants claiming that the genes of Chinese, European Caucasians and Arabs are all part of the research. A large number of non-military organizations are also said to be participating in the US gene battle project in the hope of developing drugs and food that will mutate the genetic structure of certain people groups, the paper added.

A Chinese Air Force officer on Saturday accused the U.S. government of creating the new strain of bird flu now afflicting parts of China as a biological warfare attack.

People's Liberation Army Sr. Col. Dai Xu said the United States released the H7N9 bird flu virus into China in an act of biological warfare, according to a posting on his blog on Saturday.

The charge was first reported in the state-run Guangzhou newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily and then picked up by several news outlets in Asia.

State Department spokesman Jason Rebholz dismissed the claim. "There is absolutely no truth to these allegations," he told the Washington Free Beacon.

Seven deaths from the bird flu outbreak were reported as of Tuesday in state-run Chinese media. As many as 24 people reportedly were infected by the disease in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui.

While the identities of the alleged suspects in the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal were released days ago, the British media now claim that two more individuals are wanted.

UK authorities are looking for a medic, nicknamed Dr. Novichok, and a fourth individual who allegedly helped Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov perpetrate the attack on former GRU colonel Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in March, the Sunday Mirror reported.

"It's believed they could have met a handler who was working at the embassy and a fourth, the medic, might have had oversight of the whole thing to make sure they didn't risk ruining the operation by getting themselves contaminated," the Sunday Mirror cited an unnamed government source as saying.

The insider claims that the duo could have met with the two other suspects after checking into the City Stay Hotel in East London.

More and more countries in Asia and Europe are seeking an alternative to the US dollar as Washington has been undermining trust in what has been the world's main reserve currency over years, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Rossiya 1 TV channel Sunday.

"All of a sudden, the country, which issues the US dollar, starts making steps which are shattering trust in this reserve currency. More and more countries, not only in the East but also in Europe, start mulling ways to minimize their dependence on the US dollar. They suddenly realize: A. it is possible, B. it should be done, and C. save yourself if you can, it should be done as soon as possible," Peskov said.

The former Ukrainian economy minister said that one could "reduce Russia to dust". Political scientist Vladimir Kireev has expressed his opinion on why Ukrainian politicians allow themselves to make such aggressive statements.

Former Ukrainian economy minister Viktor Suslov says it is possible to "reduce Russia to dust" if the country does not have nuclear weapons. The politician made this statement in an interview with channel 112 Ukraine when he talked about the Vostok 2018 maneuvers.

According to the former minister, Russia's military exercises are intended to prevent other countries from having military conflicts with it.

"If Russia were not a nuclear power, everything would have been solved in a much simpler way: NATO would have reduced Russia to dust a long time ago, so they demonstrate their muscles to show that this would hardly stand, at least, today," Suslov said.

A newly reported comment made by former FBI attorney Lisa Page during her May testimony to Congress has revealed a "momentous fact," according to The Hill's John Solomon: after nine months of investigations - which included the use of a well-paid spy to infiltrate the Trump campaign, The FBI had no clue whether there was any collusion between Trumpworld and Russia when the case was handed over to special counsel Robert Mueller.

"It's a reflection of us still not knowing," Page told Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) when questioned about texts she and Strzok exchanged in May 2017 as Robert Mueller was being named a special prosecutor to take over the Russia investigation.

With that statement, Page acknowledged a momentous fact: After nine months of using some of the most awesome surveillance powers afforded to U.S. intelligence, the FBI still had not made a case connecting Trump or his campaign to Russia's election meddling.

Page opined further, acknowledging "it still existed in the scope of possibility that there would be literally nothing" to connect Trump and Russia, no matter what Mueller or the FBI did. -The Hill

Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon told German Business news:

"The assets of the 6th US fleet are well positioned to respond to a variety of critical missions in the eastern Mediterranean. We do so in accordance with international law and practice to maintain naval presence across the seas, avert aggression, and promote regional peace and stability. However, the Russian navy has constantly built up a large contingent of warships near Syria, with more than a dozen ships, many of which are equipped with KALIBR missiles. The Russians claimed that this was a military exercise they had declared completed. So the question remains Why is the presence of the Russian navy still increasing in the region? Is there another reason? The United States and its allies are deeply concerned about the terrible humanitarian crisis that would ensue if the Syrian regime, with Russian support, launched an attack on the densely populated Idlib province. The Assad regime and its operational supporter, Russia, are fully responsible for the humanitarian consequences of an Idlib offensive. "

The USS Mount Whitney , the flagship of the US Sixth Fleet, sailed for Thessaloniki in Greece.

Furthermore, the USS Carney is currently located in the eastern Mediterranean. She patrols with the "Chevalier Paul". This is announced by the US Naval Forces Europe via Twitter .