Washington and its NATO allies have already spent over $110 million on “security assistance” to Ukraine and are considering increasing the “lethality” of the aid, a top US diplomat told a Congressional committee in an accusatory anti-Russia speech. [...]

Poland may follow the UK's lead and send military advisers to Ukraine to help train the country's troops. An aid to the Polish defense minister says a final decision will be made in March with the number expected to be under a hundred. Poland has been a staunch ally of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Warsaw says the number of military advisers will range from around a dozen to several [...]

ISIS’ plans to conquer Europe via Libya have been revealed in letters seen by an anti-terrorism group. Owing to its perfect location on the continental doorstep, the terrorists plan to ferry fighters from North Africa across the Mediterranean. The plans, analyzed by anti-terrorism British think tank Quilliam, outline a strategy to illegally ferry fighters across the sea from Libya into southe [...]

The German intelligence service estimates the real losses in the Ukrainian civil war at 50,000 dead (civilians and servicemen), which is nearly 10 times higher than reported by the Kiev authorities, German media report. The information comes from a source in German intelligence, who spoke to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAZ) newspaper. [...]

The US is partially responsible for Ukraine’s indiscriminate use of cluster bombs in the country’s east, US Senator John McCain told Russia’s Sputnik news agency. According to McCain, it is due to the US failing to send Kiev other arms. “I think that if we had provided them with the weapons they need, they wouldn’t have felt they had to use cluster bombs. [...]

The Russian military is putting the finishing touches to its very own heavy military UAV. The drone is part of a wider modernization effort, with the cutting-edge flagship S500 missile system coming in 2017. The drone “already exists,” according to Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov. [...]

The number of whistleblowers being retaliated against is increasing every year as former federal workers warn its almost impossible to raise grievances through official avenues within the government, a new report reveals. Among the employees and contractors working for the United States military and the American intelligence community, more than 8,700 have filed claims since 2001 in which they [...]

By the end of next year, Washington plans to station about 150 tanks and armored vehicles in Europe, according to a US military commander, who said the decision was made before the Ukrainian crisis strained Russia-US relations. Although no official announcement has been made as to where the armored tanks and vehicles will be stationed, possible locations include Poland, Romania or the Baltic St [...]

Russia is going to maintain its security "consistently and rigorously," President Vladimir Putin has said. And despite NATO's military buildup close to Russian borders, the national military doctrine will remain solely defensive, he said. The Russian president made the comments in a speech at the Ministry of Defense meeting at the newly established National Defense Control Center in Moscow. [...]

Two attempted terrorist attacks on the Crimean Prosecutor's Office have recently been prevented by members of the local People's Guard. So-called "prosecutie" Natalia Poklonskaya has also had previous threats. Two members of the guard prevented a couple of terrorist attacks that could have led to multiple casualties at Poklonskaya’s office, Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper reported Friday. [...]

Pope Francis has congratulated both the US and Cuba on restoring relations, as the Vatican together with Canada were confirmed to have played a significant role in the talks which broke 50 years of cold. The Vatican said that it was a key player in negotiations between the two countries, “resulting in solutions acceptable to both parties.” [...]

The so-called "torture report" released by the Senate this week contains only a fraction of the findings on how the CIA aimed to gather intelligence from detainees through interrogation. Still, it contains more than a few shocking revelations. According to the Senate committee’s findings released on Tuesday, the “enhanced interrogation techniques,” or EITs, used against foreign prisoners [...]

For the first time in two decades, through a spate of school shootings at the likes of Columbine, Colorado and Newtown, Connecticut, more Americans say it is more important to protect gun rights rather than to increase gun control, Pew Research found. Pew’s latest poll on American attitudes regarding gun rights found that 52 percent of respondents are more concerned about the protection of t [...]

Electronic equipment, including hard drives and a device operating the helicopter carrier's communications system, has been stolen off the Mistral ship built for Russia in the French port of Saint-Nazaire. An investigation into the case of the missing equipment has been launched, French media reported. “Sensitive material” could allegedly be stolen from one of the amphibious-assault vessels [...]

As a country with few socio-economic and political problems Ukraine has turned into a failed state torn by civil war and sectarian violence, with a lack of constitutional order and a destroyed economy, foreign affairs expert Nebojsa Malic told RT. Malic added that there has been a lot of talk about financial assistance for Ukraine but none of that has actually materialized. [...]

The CIA wants to erase tens of thousands of internal emails sent by most covert and counterterror officers after they leave the agency, leading US senators and transparency advocates to fear the plan would mean the loss of vital government records. The spy agency’s proposal, first submitted to the National Archives in January but only now revealed to the public, would mean only the emails of [...]

Apple customers are being warned by computer security experts, including the United States government's own cyber squad, to watch out for a new bug affecting iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad. The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team, or US-CERT, said Thursday that users of mobile phones and tablets running Apple’s latest iOS software should be careful of what they click. [...]

Police departments across California spent more than $45 million on surveillance equipment over the course of a decade with little to no legislative or public oversight - and without the public's knowledge, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU report, titled 'Making Smart Decisions about Surveillance: A Guide for Communities,' reveals how California law enforcement took adv [...]

Israel has said it's shutting the only two operating Gaza border crossings indefinitely. This comes a day after a projectile hit Israel from the strip, but caused no damage. Border closures threaten to isolate already devastated Gaza completely. The move will affect both the Kerem Shalom and Erez border crossings, Haartez reported, quoting Israel’s defense establishment. [...]

The self-proclaimed people'€™s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk are electing their leaders and MPs. The Kiev government has started criminal proceedings against elections in the southeast despite them being sanctioned by the Minsk peace deal. As soon as the polling stations opened at 8 am on Sunday morning, high voter activity was noted in both the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. [...]

The beleaguered Albuquerque Police Department in New Mexico has reached a deal with the Department of Justice to overhaul many of its practices. The reforms come amid protests fueled by the department fatally shooting nearly 30 people in four years. Sweeping in scope, the reforms involve new training and recruitment procedures and field supervision of officers, and will require the department t [...]

Moscow never put Kiev's right to develop closer ties with the EU into doubt, it only wanted to escape risks that Ukraine's economic integration into the European Union might have brought about, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. “I stress this: we never questioned Ukraine’s right to develop partnership with the EU,” Lavrov told the Verdens Gang (VG) Norwegian newspaper, when he [...]