MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw military exercises near Crimea on Thursday, which included the launch of the hypersonic 'Kinzhal' missile, the TASS news agency reported. 
BEIRUT/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin met Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Tuesday, the Russian leader's second trip to Syria since Moscow intervened decisively on the Syrian president's behalf in a civil war. 
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) liked a tweet from a Russian-funded operative claiming that Iran, the world's most prolific state sponsor of terrorism, does not target civilians. 
Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) on Monday floated a conspiracy theory against President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite admitting she didn't have the facts to prove it.
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey could finalize terms for delivery of a second consignment of S-400 advanced missile defenses from Russia by April when the first batch will be ready to operate, Ankara's defense industry chief said on Friday. 
Economists at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund must feel pretty lucky these days. They work for just about the only institutions set up in the aftermath of Word War II that aren't in the middle of an identity crisis. From Turtle Bay to Brussels, from Washington to Vienna, the decay of the economic and security infrastructure of the postwar world has accelerated in recent weeks. The bad news: As the legacy of the twentieth century recedes into the past, the only twenty-first century alternatives on offer come from an authoritarian surveillance state. 
Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz said Wednesday that his report does not vindicate anyone who worked on the FISA application to surveil members of the Trump campaign, including former FBI director James Comey. 
A watchdog report ripped the FBI's handling of a request for court-ordered surveillance of a Trump campaign aide, identifying numerous inaccuracies and omissions in the department's application for a FISA warrant. 
The Trump administration may withdraw the United States from a key treaty with Russia that Moscow uses to conduct surveillance operations across the United States—but has repeatedly violated by denying the United States access to Russian airspace. 
Hillary Clinton still refuses to accept any personal responsibility for her failure to beat Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. The historically unsuccessful candidate told radio host Howard Stern on Wednesday that "other factors" were to blame for her loss. 