Sharply criticizing NATO war games in Eastern Europe, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Bild am Sonntag newspaper that inflaming the standoff with Russia would endanger European security and increase risk of reviving an "old confrontation."

The ongoing large-scale Anakonda-16 NATO military maneuvers in Poland, simulating the repulsion of "Russian aggression" against the country, are counterproductive, Deutsche Welle cited German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier as telling Bild am Sonntag newspaper, in an interview to be published Sunday.

"Whoever believes that a symbolic tank parade on the alliance's eastern border will bring security is mistaken," Steinmeier said ahead of the upcoming NATO summit in Warsaw beginning July 8. "We are well-advised to not create pretexts to renew an old confrontation," he emphasized.

Deputy Secretary of Russia's Security Council said that Moscow will give a symmetrical and effective answer to any NATO build up along the Alliance's eastern borders.

Moscow will give a symmetrical and effective answer to any NATO's build up along the Alliance's eastern borders, Deputy Secretary of Russia's Security Council Yevgeny Lukyanov said Saturday.

"The answer always to any suggestions [of NATO] will be mostly symmetrical. That's why, there is nothing to worry too much about. The response is adequate, effective and cheap," Lukyanov told RIA Novosti on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

Russia and Asian countries should create a vast economic space, said President Vladimir Putin, speaking at the 20th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"With our partners we believe the Eurasian Economic Union may be one of the centers of a broader integration [with Asia]," said Putin on Friday.

The EEU is a trade bloc established in 2015 on the basis of the Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. It currently has five members: Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, while Tajikistan is a prospective member.

"We are suggesting the creation of a larger Eurasian partnership involving the Eurasian Economic Union and countries with which we have already had a close relationship: China, India, Pakistan, Iran," he added.

A year from now, Google, Amazon and Apple might be listening in on your living room. And you'll be glad of it.

All three of those companies are working on or have announced voice assistants that sit in people's houses and talk to them. The boxes - which function as speakers, and look like them too - are meant do everything from asking questions to operating various parts of peoples' houses.

They represent the future of technology, at least according to some people. And there is reason to be scared, maybe.

Many people are already terrified about the idea that any company is listening to them, through their phone. But it already happens, regularly - Google and Facebook both listen in on their users, for instance, using the sound to help find information but also to better target advertising.

In November, Russia was suspended from all track and field following an independent Wada report

A ban preventing Russian track and field athletes from participating in the Rio Olympics is to be upheld after accusations of state-sponsored doping, athletics' world governing body has announced.

In November, Russia was suspended from all track and field events following an independent report from the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) which revealed a culture of cheating and even included the accusation that secret services were involved.

A fresh Wada report on Wednesday made yet more damaging claims that Russian athletes have continued to fail anti-doping tests and stated that drug officers were faced with a lack of compliance when attempting to carry out their duties.

The Eastern front is being reinforced. Military replenishment delivery is carried out in the directions of Ukraine and the Baltic states for months. Like so many times before in their history, the USA is preparing for war once again with its loyal lieges, the foolish and corrupt Europeans, playing the role of support.

The deployment of troops in the name of peace and democracy is accompanied by an unprecedented lying and bashing campaign against Russia, its people and government. Western media, completely in the possession of US-loyal oligarchs, is being an utmost compliant helper to the agendas of the faschistic US-regime, day by day obediently spreading the crudest propaganda in the world.

Russia has not only managed to rise from rubble of the Soviet-era within a short time, but even developed with all its ambitions into a global power, albeit not enough, since behind the curtain there's a lot of other things going on. It's difficult to find trustworthy sources to cover the subject, however the alleged contract, signed between the Rothschilds and the Bolschewiks, when the latter took over in 1917, is claimed to run out either this, or next year.

Putin has no wish to prolong this contract, as it seems - even more, he wants to put cash generation back under state control. This adds up to circling messages of Russia wanting further to trade raw material exports in Ruble. Even the solution of founding an own central bank for the BRICS-states indicates these rumours being close to the truth.

But the raising of other powers is something the US-junta cannot tolerate at any cost. Especially when this very power becomes bold enough to get off the monetary and debt system, that has kept the entire world more or less under the heels of USA in order to enslave and plunder. Free competition of currencies? No way!

If Russia was really to establish an alternative currency system, then states and private persons could choose what system they trust more. There's really only one option, when deciding between western debt-money, created out of thin air, and a monetative system, covered by an economic performance of such a huge country, like Russia.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan envisioned himself the Sultan of a new Ottoman Empire, but now faces the bleak reality that he is the annoying little brother of the US and Europe who will never get his way.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced this week that NATO will expand its presence in the Mediterranean in order to stem the tide of Syrian refugees flowing from Turkey into Europe. Ankara has objected, feeling the alliance's resources could be put to better use elsewhere.

Turkish officials argue that NATO's limited resources should instead be directed towards combating 'Russian aggression' in a bid to hamstring the alliance's efforts to prevent human smuggling in the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece.

There are currently over six million refugees of the Syrian Civil War, with 2.75 million seeking shelter in neighboring Turkey. The country has become the single largest host nation of migrants fleeing the horrors of war and the threat of enslavement at the hands of Daesh extremists.

International Military Review - Syria, June 17

President Vladimir Putin has condemned the ban on Russian athletes' participation in the Rio Olympics as "unjust." Yet, he believes a "solution" can be found to the conflict, stressing that Russia will continue to fight doping.

"If someone in your family has committed a crime - would it be fair to prosecute all family members, including you personally? It's never been done anywhere, and the people who have no relation to violations, why should they suffer for others?" Putin asked the heads of the world's largest news agencies at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday, stressing that "responsibility must always be personified."

Speaking earlier at the forum, Putin called the decision of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to exclude Russia's track and field team from the upcoming summer Olympic Games part of "anti-Russia policies."

"If someone is trying to politicize something in this area, I think this is a big mistake," he stressed.

Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange warns more information will be published about Hillary Clinton, enough to indict her if the US government is courageous enough to do so, in what he predicts will be "a very big year" for the whistleblowing website.

Expressing concerns in an ITV interview about the Democratic presidential candidate, who he claims is monitoring him, Assange described Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump as an "unpredictable phenomenon", but predictably, given their divergent political views, didn't say if he preferred the billionaire to be president.

He was not asked if he supported Green Party candidate Jill Stein, even though she said she would immediately pardon Wikileaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning if elected.

"We have emails relating to Hillary Clinton which are pending publication," Assange told Peston on Sunday when asked if more of her leaked electronic communications would be published.