WORLD

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has placed 8,500 troops on “heightened preparedness to deploy” to Europe in case NATO decides to activate its rapid-response force over the ongoing situation in Ukraine, the Pentagon said Monday. The troops have been placed on “higher alert only” and “no final decision has been …

When it comes to hatred of Russia, its strongest proponents often defend themselves by claiming they hate the government, not the people. Disagreements with policy are, of course, understandable, but the truth is that many are simply xenophobic. Debates over a political decision or the competence of a particular figure …

Russia’s intention to deploy warships in marine exercises off the Irish coast has come under fire from Dublin, with the nation’s foreign minister arguing they are a step too far when tensions across Europe are so high. Speaking to reporters on Monday in Brussels, Simon Coveney said he had warned …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his government’s counterespionage operations have been refined, and it’s now time for foreign intelligence to take “offensive action” to protect the nation’s interests. Zelensky made the announcement in an address on Monday, the country’s annual Foreign Intelligence Day, praising the efforts of Ukrainian spies …

The world’s number one cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, has declined to nearly $33,000 on Monday, marking a daily drop of nearly 5%, according to data tracked by CoinDesk. The second most popular crypto, Ethereum, plunged 9.3% to $2,209 in a 24-hour span.  Earlier in the day, both tokens fell to their lowest …

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner may have passed on in 2017 at the age of 91, but there are still plenty of people with much to say about the man, evidenced in a new documentary in which he is accused of everything from sexual assault to bestiality. The 10-part A&E documentary …

The threat of energy sanctions against Russia, which could be imposed in the case of an invasion of Ukraine, may see the UK face record gas and petrol prices, British ministers have been warned, The Times has reported. According to the British newspaper, senior officials in Whitehall expect the Kremlin …

For the rest of the planet, World War II ended in 1945, but, for one foot soldier in the Imperial Japanese Army, it kept on going for another 28 years. It was early evening on January 24, 1972, when two CHamoru hunters checking their fish traps in the Talo’fo’fo river …

Two Steregushchiy-class ships of the Russian Baltic Fleet have been launched from their home port of Baltiysk to take part in large-scale navy exercises that are scheduled to last through February. The two vessels are the Soobrazitelnyy and the Stoikiy advanced multipurpose corvettes, the fleet’s press service said on Monday. …

NATO members will order more fleets and fighter planes into Eastern Europe amid a worsening standoff with Russia, with the bloc citing reports that Moscow is building up troops on its side of the Ukrainian border. In a statement issued on Monday, the US-led military faction’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg …