Russia has deployed its fleet of strategic bombers to double the volume of airstrikes on Islamist targets in Syria, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has announced. Vladimir Putin has ordered a cruiser to coordinate operations with French naval forces in the Mediterranean. [...]

Hacktivist group Anonymous has reported that more than 5,500 Twitter accounts belonging to Islamic State have been taken down. It comes after the collective declared a “total war” on the militant group following the Paris attacks. Tweeting from its #OpParis account, Anonymous stated: “We report that more than 5500 Twitter account (sic) of #ISIS are now #down! #OpParis #Anonymous #ExpectU [...]

In the wake of Friday’s Paris attacks, French social media users have been posting and reposting a catchphrase by Vladimir Putin, who famously called for terrorists to be “wasted… in the outhouse.” Some say they like this approach better than Hollande's “non-action” calls. [...]

The Russian military has launched airstrikes against the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa in Syria with cruise missiles from their ships in the Mediterranean Sea, France’s Le Monde newspaper said, citing a French official. The information that Russia has struck Islamic State positions in Raqqa has been also reported by a senior French government source, cited by Reuters. [...]

The Russian plane crash in Sinai, Egypt, was caused by a terrorist attack as traces of explosives have been found in the wreckage of the plane, Federal Security Service director Aleksandr Bortnikov told President Vladimir Putin. “We can say that that [Sinai plane crash] was a terror act,” Bortnikov told Putin. According to the FSB chief, experts analyzed passengers’ belongings as well a [...]

In a rare interview with Russian media outlets, RT among them, Syrian leader Bashar Assad spoke about global and domestic terrorism threats, the need for a united front against jihadism, Western propaganda about the refugee crisis and ways to bring peace to his war-torn nation. [...]

Thom discusses whether we’re at the beginning of a third Palestinian intifada with investigative journalist Zaid Jilani, Washington’s phony debt crisis with radio host Ari Rabin-Havt, and how people who order black coffee are more likely to be psychopaths with psychologist Dr. Frieda Birnbaum. In tonight's Daily Take, Thom discusses how Trump is right about George W. Bush not doing enough to p [...]

Whistleblowing organization WikiLeaks has published a trove of classified audio files indicating that the Bush and Obama appointees engaged in misappropriation of funds in a program intended to help disabled people find jobs. WikiLeaks had 30 hours of audio recordings related to a billion-dollar corruption scandal “with links to the White House,”the organization said in a tweet on Monday. [...]

Nearly 20 US governors announced they would block the acceptance of thousands of migrants into their states, after at least two perpetrators of the Paris terrorist attacks were revealed to have entered France posing as refugees. The terrorist attacks in France that killed at least 129 people and injured over 350 more came as Europe has been accepting hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing th [...]

President Vladimir Putin says he’s shared Russian intelligence data on Islamic State financing with his G20 colleagues: the terrorists appear to be financed from 40 countries, including some G20 member states. During the summit, “I provided examples based on our data on the financing of different Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) units by private individuals. [...]

France has carried out a massive airstrike on an Islamic State stronghold in Raqqa, Syria. It struck dozen’s of targets including a command and control center, training camp and munitions warehouse, the country’s defense ministry announced. Twelve French aircraft, including 10 fighter jets, took part in the country’s biggest air raid in Syria, the statement from the defense ministry read. [...]

In response to the deadly Paris attacks, the French military has deployed a further 1,000 troops to ensure safety on the capital’s streets. The military deployment comes amid French Defense Ministry’s promises to revise national security strategy. [...]

NATO has been dropping bombs for a very long time on the Arab people in the Middle East, says Richard Becker from the anti-war 'Answer' coalition. And that has consequences to the countries that launched such aggressive policies in this region, he adds. France is not the only player involved in tackling ISIS. Why was Paris chosen as the target once again in this act of terror? [...]

If the recent horror visited upon Beirut and Paris, as Islamic State/Daesh seeks to broaden its war against civilization, does not succeed in re-focusing the mind of the West when it comes to its role in the Middle East, then nothing will. For far too long Western governments and ideologues have performed the modern equivalent of fiddling while Rome burns when it comes to the conflict against I [...]

Coping with the terrorist threat and assisting refugees is only possible by combined efforts, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during an informal meeting of the leaders of the BRICS countries, which is running on the margins of the G20 summit in Antalya. "We all understand perfectly well that coping with the terrorist threat and helping millions of people who have lost their homes, is poss [...]

A day after the devastating terror attacks in Paris, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said his country’s intelligence services had warned governments of three countries, including France, that terrorists had chosen as primary targets. “Information has been obtained from Iraqi intelligence sources that the countries to be targeted soon are Europe in general, specifically France, as [...]

At the Democratic presidential debates Bernie Sanders blamed US policy in the Middle East for creating instability in the region. Martin O’Malley joined the criticism, while Hillary Clinton had a hard time defending her vote supporting the Iraq invasion. The trio of Democrat presidential nomination contenders met for the second debate in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday. [...]

Europe is close to reintroducing border checks throughout the continent after emergency talks on the refugee crisis collapsed when EU members and Shengen area states failed to reach agreement. European Council President Donald Tusk warned on Thursday time was running out to save the Schengen area – the open borders zone encompassing much of Europe. [...]

French President Hollande has declared a state of emergency across the country as Paris comes to grip with a series of terrorist attacks that led to the death of 127 people in the capital, which was placed under curfew for the first time since World War II. [...]