Patriots’ defense writes alternate ending for Super Bowl

PHOENIX — Vince Wilfork was on the field when the Patriots defense let the Giants drive for the game-winning touchdown in the Super Bowl seven years ago.

He was on the field again three years ago when New England’s defense again couldn’t stop Eli Manning from leading the Giants down the field for the game-winning score in the final minutes.

This time, Wilfork and the defense finally got their redemption.

“To be a defensive player, to be on the field and put a stamp on it for us, that’s the most amazing feeling right now,” Wilfork said shortly after New England’s wild 28-24 win over the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX. “All year, we talked as a defense that we wanted to make plays when it counted. We wanted our teammates to count on us.”

And they delivered.

It took a total team effort, of course, to keep Seattle off the scoreboard for the final 19:54 of the game. After the Seahawks took a 24-14 lead, they gained just one first down on their next three possessions and punted all three times.

But the key play — the one Patriots fans will tell their grandkids about — was rookie Malcolm Butler’s interception in the end zone on second and goal from the 1 with 26 seconds left in the game.

“He just went down in history,” safety Patrick Chung said.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll will be second-guessed for eternity for calling a pass on second down from the 1-yard line, especially with Marshawn Lynch running so well. Lynch rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown Sunday, and he had just rushed for 4 yards on the previous play.

“I think everybody was expecting run when you have Marshawn Lynch,” linebacker Dont’a Hightower said.

Everyone except Carroll and Butler, that is. Carroll explained that he didn’t like the matchup against New England’s goal-line package, which had a lot of beef up front — Wilfork, Alan Branch, Chris Jones, Sealver Siliga, Rob Ninkovich, Jamie Collins, Akeem Ayers, and Hightower. Carroll viewed second and 1 as almost a throw-away play, and if the Seahawks didn’t score there, he planned on running the ball on third and fourth down.

“It’s not the right matchup for us to run the football, so on second down we throw the ball, really, to kind of waste that play,” Carroll said. “No second thoughts or no hesitation in that at all.”

And credit Butler and the Patriots for doing their homework. They noticed the Seahawks came out in their three-receiver set, with Jermaine Kearse and Ricardo Lockette stacked on the right side.

“In preparation I remembered the formation they were in — two receiver stack. I just knew they were running a pick route,” Butler said.

Sure enough, Kearse ran a clear-out, and Lockette tried to run a quick slant underneath him. But Butler jumped the play perfectly and beat Lockette to the football, hauling in the interception and holding on for dear life. It was the first NFL interception for Butler, an undrafted rookie out of West Alabama, and he couldn’t have picked a better time for it.

“Goal line, three cornerbacks, you know they’re going to throw it,” Butler said. “I had a feeling I was going to make a big play, but not that big.”

“Boy, this is a hard thing to take,” Carroll said.

The script was different in this Super Bowl, but it almost finished like the last two. Just two plays before his interception, Butler was almost the Super Bowl goat, allowing a 33-yard pass to Kearse that he tipped in the air, was bobbled several times, and miraculously fell into Kearse’s lap. This was David Tyree, all over again.

Two plays later, though, Butler flipped the script.

“We call him ‘Scrap,’ because the first time we saw him, he was just so scrappy, around the ball the whole time,” Wilfork said of Butler. “That moment with him making that play, it’s just a fairytale end to the book because of what he’s done all year for us.”

The final sequence perfectly encapsulated the Patriots’ defensive performance on Sunday night — bad plays followed by spectacular plays. The Patriots completely shut down the Seahawks in the first quarter, holding them to just 15 yards of offense, while Wilson didn’t complete his first pass until less than six minutes remained in the second quarter. The Patriots did a good job of keeping Wilson in the pocket, and did a good job of swarming to Lynch.

But the Seahawks woke up in the second quarter thanks to unheralded receiver Chris Matthews, a former Arena and Canadian league player who entered Sunday’s game with zero career NFL catches.

But Matthews is the Seahawks’ biggest target at 6 feet 5 inches, and used every inch to his advantage. Matched up on Kyle Arrington, listed 7 inches shorter, Matthews caught a 44-yard jump ball in the second quarter and a 45-yarder in the third quarter to help Seattle crawl back into the game and eventually take the lead. He also caught a jump ball over Logan Ryan, listed at 6 inches shorter, for an 11-yard touchdown catch right before the half.

So the Patriots did what they do best — make halftime adjustments. Arrington and Ryan were taken out of the game in the third quarter, and Brandon Browner, the NFL’s tallest cornerback at 6-4, was moved over to Matthews.

“Kyle, no disrespect to my buddy, but that was just a mismatch,” Browner said. “Kyle was actually in good position, but the guy got him by a whole foot. I just said, ‘Let me get him. I match his size.’ ” 

With Browner matching him inch-for-inch, Matthews didn’t have another catch.

“I just match up well with big guys,” he said.

The Patriots were as stunned as everyone when Kearse made his circus catch late in the fourth quarter.

“My mom said she stopped watching in the last two minutes and just prayed,” safety Devin McCourty said.

But they fought through adversity all season, and stressed to each other in the huddle to do it one more time, and to just make one more play.

“We never lost faith, we never stopped believing,” Wilfork said. “To win the Super Bowl by a defensive stop, I’m telling you, it’s priceless.”

Hackers posing as beautiful women to steal intel

Hackers posing as beautiful women sent 'selfies' to Syrian rebels on Skype... and stole battle plans with hidden viruses.

Hackers targeted Syrian rebels with online 'honey traps' by posing as beautiful women to steal battle plans and the identity of defectors, a security firm has said.

A report by U.S. cybersecurity firm FireEye tracked hacking operations in late 2013 and early 2014 that targeted Syrian opposition fighters, media activists and humanitarian aid workers.

FireEye said it was unclear whether the information stolen from the Syrian opposition had been passed onto the Syrian government and who the hackers were working for.

But the hacked material included a detailed opposition military plan for an attack in 2013 on the town of Khirbet Ghazaleh, strategically located in southern Daraa province.

The town had been under rebel control but was seized by regime troops in May 2013. Rebels have been unable to recapture it since.

Despite the high-tech tools used in the cyber attack, the hackers relied on a well-worn tactic: the 'honey trap.'

Targets were contacted on the chat and online phone service Skype by hackers posing as pro-opposition women.

They would ask the target whether they were on a smartphone or computer, apparently in a bid to tailor their attacks.

Then they would send their victim a photo of themselves loaded with malware that penetrated their personal files and stole information. The method was particularly effective because Syrian opposition members were often sharing computers, meaning one machine yielded information from multiple victims.

The material stolen covered extraordinary levels of detail, including the blood types of fighters and the timing of a handover of anti-tank missiles.

But not all of it related to warfare, with information about refugees, opposition media strategy and the inner workings of opposition political structures also included.

Most of the stolen material was created between May 2013 and December 2013, though some of it dated back to 2012 and as recently as January 2014. The hackers also used other tactics, including creating fake social media accounts and Syrian opposition websites that encouraged visitors to click on links that would infect their computers.

The report said: 'The hackers stole a cache of critical documents and Skype conversations revealing the Syrian opposition's strategy, tactical battle plans, supply needs, and troves of personal information and chat sessions.'

The hacking provided 'actionable military intelligence for an immediate battlefield advantage' in the case of the planned Khirbet Ghazaleh attack.

It captured 'the type of insight that can thwart a vital supply route, reveal a planned ambush and identify and track key individuals.' FireEye was unable to identify where the hackers it tracked were based, but it noted that their servers were outside of Syria and their tools and tactics differed from previous Syrian hackers.

The report's revelations are just the latest evidence of the stealth cyberwar that has accompanied the fighting in Syria's bloody conflict. Pro-government hackers identifying themselves as the Syrian Electronic Army have carried out high-profile attacks against the websites and social media accounts of media outlets and politicians.

And in 2012, a British newspaper published what it said were 3,000 emails sent by President Bashar al-Assad and his wife, obtained by opposition hackers with the help of a government mole.

Sami Saleh, an opposition activist and hacker using a pseudonym, said such examples were rare because the opposition was generally too poorly-equipped and -backed to carry out major hacking operations.

'We mostly carry out defensive operations,' he told AFP, describing multiple cases where opposition commanders and politicians were targeted by hackers.

In one case, a commander in northwestern Idlib province downloaded a file meant to contain military maps, accidentally compromising his computer. 'The cyber-war is about half the war, without exaggeration,' Saleh said.

Hackers Use Old Lure on Web to Help Syrian Government

WASHINGTON — To the young Syrian rebel fighter, the Skype message in early December 2013 appeared to come from a woman in Lebanon, named Iman Almasri, interested in his cause. Her picture, in a small icon alongside her name, showed a fair-skinned 20-something in a black head covering, wearing sunglasses.

 They chatted online for nearly two hours, seemingly united in their opposition to the rule of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian leader still in power after a civil war that has taken more than 200,000 lives. Eventually saying she worked “in a programing company in Beirut,” the woman asked the fighter whether he was talking from his computer or his smartphone. He sent her a photo of himself and asked for another of her in return. She sent one immediately, apologizing that it was a few years old.

“Angel like,” he responded. “You drive me crazy.”

What the fighter did not know was that buried in the code of the second photo was a particularly potent piece of malware that copied files from his computer, including tactical battle plans and troves of information about him, his friends and fellow fighters. The woman was not a friendly chat partner, but a pro-Assad hacker — the photos all appear to have been plucked from the web.

The Syrian conflict has been marked by a very active, if only sporadically visible, cyberbattle that has engulfed all sides, one that is less dramatic than the barrel bombs, snipers and chemical weapons — but perhaps just as effective. The United States had deeply penetrated the web and phone systems in Syria a year before the Arab Spring uprisings spread throughout the country. And once it began, Mr. Assad’s digital warriors have been out in force, looking for any advantage that could keep him in power.

In this case, the fighter had fallen for the oldest scam on the Internet, one that helped Mr. Assad’s allies. The chat is drawn from a new study by the intelligence-gathering division of FireEye, a computer security firm, which has delved into the hidden corners of the Syrian conflict — one in which even a low-tech fighting force has figured out a way to use cyberespionage to its advantage. FireEye researchers found a collection of chats and documents while researching malware hidden in PDF documents, which are commonly used to share letters, books or other images. That quickly took them to the servers where the stolen data was stored.

Like the hackers who the United States says were working for North Korea when they attacked Sony Pictures in November, the assailants aiding Mr. Assad’s forces in this case took steps to hide their true identities.

The report says the pro-Assad hackers stole large caches of critical documents revealing the Syrian opposition’s strategy, tactical battle plans, supply requirements and data about the forces themselves — which could be used to track them down. But it is not evident how or whether this battlefield information was used.

“You’ve got a conflict with a lot of young, male fighters who keep their contacts and their operations on phones in their back pockets,” said one senior American intelligence official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss espionage matters. “And it’s clear Assad’s forces have the capability to drain all that out.”

Mr. Assad was also the victim of cyberattacks, but of a far more advanced nature.

A National Security Agency document dated June 2010, written by the agency’s chief of “Access and Target Development,” describes how the shipment of “computer network devices (servers, routers, etc.) being delivered to our targets throughout the world are intercepted” by the agency. The document, published recently by Der Spiegel, the German magazine, came from the huge trove taken by Edward J. Snowden; this one shows a photograph of N.S.A. workers slicing open a box of equipment from Cisco Systems, a major manufacturer of network equipment.

After being opened, electronic “beacon implants” were placed in the circuitry. One set of devices was “bound for the Syrian Telecommunications Establishment to be used as part of their Internet backbone,” the document reveals. To the delight of American intelligence agencies, they soon discovered they had access to the country’s cellphone network — enabling American officials to figure out who was calling whom, and from where.

Such interceptions are still highly classified; the United States government has never discussed its access to the Assad communications network. But the FireEye report, which will be released on Monday, makes it clear that such “network exploitation” is now a routine part of even the most low-tech if brutal civil wars, and available to those operating on a shoestring budget.

And that is a new development. The theft of the rebel battle plans stands in contrast to the cybervandalism carried out in recent years by the Syrian Electronic Army, which American intelligence officials suspect is actually Iranian, and has conducted strikes against targets in the United States, including the website of The New York Times. But mostly these have been denial-of-service attacks, which are annoying but not potential game-changers on the battlefield.

Exactly who conducted the hacking on behalf of Mr. Assad’s forces remains a mystery, as does whether the stolen data was ever used by the Syrian military. One of the authors of the report, Nart Villeneuve, a threat intelligence analyst for the company, said that it was likely that the hackers were based in Lebanon — which would be the only true statement in the chat with the Syrian fighter. They used a computer server in Germany, where FireEye found many of their chats in unprotected directories. A handful of the targets of the Syrian operation were contacted in recent months by FireEye researchers. “They really didn’t understand what had happened,” Mr. Villeneuve said. “They didn’t know their computers and phones had been compromised.”

But if information was forwarded to Mr. Assad’s forces, it would have provided his troops or their allies with important intelligence and a critical battlefield advantage, according to analysts and Syrian military specialists.

“This activity, which takes place in the heat of a conflict, provides actionable military intelligence for an immediate battlefield advantage,” the FireEye report concluded. “It provides the type of insight that can thwart a vital supply route, reveal a planned ambush, and identify and track key individuals.”

By mid-2013, according to the information that FireEye recovered, 10 rebel groups fighting Mr. Assad’s regime were planning a major operation intended to reclaim from Syrian government forces a key portion of territory along a strategic north-south highway linking Damascus, the capital, with Jordan.

The plans called for retaking the town of Khirbet Ghazaleh, a strategic gateway to the major city of Daraa. In May 2013, Syrian troops had seized control of the town near the highway.

“The Assad regime’s biggest vulnerabilities over the last year have been in south Syria, so disrupting that operation would be key to the regime fending off an attack on Damascus from the south — the traditional route for invading armies,” said Andrew J. Tabler, a Syria specialist at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Mr. Tabler said he was not aware of the stolen information.

According to FireEye, which merged last year with the Mandiant Corporation, the company that has tracked Unit 61398, the Chinese Army’s hacking operation, the rebels shared photocopied battle plans, and in red ballpoint pen added defensive embankments, storing their plans electronically as pictures taken with their cellphones. They prepared for a battle involving 700 to 800 men, who were divided into groups to launch separate attacks, including an ambush. They used Google Earth to map their defensive lines and communicate grid coordinates.

They mapped locations for reserve fighters, staging areas and support personnel; settled on a field operations area; and planned supply routes for their forces, according to FireEye. Commanders received stern instructions not to make any “individual” decisions without approval from rebel superiors.

The battle details that the security service recovered are impressive. The rebels, who are not identified, would begin the attack with 120-millimeter mortar fire, followed by an assault against key Syrian Army locations. They drew up lists of men from each unit, with names, birth dates and other identifying information. But they stored them on their phones and laptops, and they were vulnerable to slightly customized versions of commercially available malware.

“It’s the democratization of intelligence,” said Laura Galante, a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst who now works for FireEye and oversaw the Syria work. “We in the private sector can see some of this, and adversaries can steal it in a wholesale way and understand the full picture of an operation.”

And perhaps they can even stop an operation. The retaking of Khirbet Ghazaleh never materialized, Syria analysts say. It is unclear whether Syrian authorities thwarted the plot before it could be carried out, or if the rebels aborted the plan, perhaps suspecting the hacking or for some other reason.

Obama Admits to Being Shaken, Emboldened by ISIS Beheading Videos

"I think it would affect anybody who has an ounce of humanity"

U.S. President Barack Obama said Sunday he has personally watched the graphic videos of Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) hostages being executed, saying they have helped catalyze the global community’s revulsion to the militant jihadist organization.

In an interview with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie airing Monday on Today Show, Obama said watching the videos has affected him personally. On Saturday, the U.S. government confirmed the authenticity of a video showing the beheading of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.

“I think it’s fair to say that, anything related to these terrorist actions, I take a look at,” Obama said. “I think it would affect anybody who has an ounce of humanity. And it’s part of the reason why I think we’ve been so successful in organizing such a broad-based coalition.”

Referencing an American woman still being held by ISIS, Obama said the U.S. is doing anything possible to secure her release.

“Well, what we can say is that, as has been true of all the hostages, that we are deploying all the assets that we can, working with all the coalition allies that we can, to identify her location,” he said. “And we are in very close contact with the family trying to keep them updated.”

Hours after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Tom Frieden warned of the potential of a “large outbreak” of measles following increasing reports of the disease, Obama called on all parents to vaccinate their children.

“Measles is preventable,” Obama told Guthrie. “And I understand that there are families that, in some cases, are concerned about the effect of vaccinations. The science is, you know, pretty indisputable. We’ve looked at this again and again. There is every reason to get vaccinated, but there aren’t reasons to not.”

“You should get your kids vaccinated,” Obama continued. “It’s good for them and the challenge you have is if you have a certain group of kids who don’t get vaccinated, and if it grows large enough that a percentage of the population doesn’t get vaccinated and they’re the folks who can’t get vaccinated, small infants, for example, or people with certain vulnerabilities that can’t vaccinated, they suddenly become much more vulnerable.”

Obama to propose $3.99 trillion budget

WASHINGTON — President Obama is unveiling a $3.99 trillion budget that is "designed to bring middle class economics into the 21st Century," the White House announced Monday.

 The proposed budget "invests in helping working families make their paychecks go further, preparing hardworking Americans to earn higher wages, and creating the infrastructure that allows businesses to thrive and create good, high-paying jobs," the White House said in a statement.

To pay for new tax credits and other programs involving education, child care, paid leave, and new road and bridge construction, the budget calls for tax hikes on wealthier Americans by closing certain loopholes.

Congressional Republicans said the president's proposals — many of which leaked out in advance of Monday's announcement — involve too many tax hikes and high-spending programs.

"The president said in his State of the Union that the proposals in his budget would be 'filled with ideas that are practical, not partisan,' " said Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "Turns out that's not the case."

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said Sunday on NBC's Meet The Press that Obama is trying to "exploit envy economics. ... It may make for good politics. It doesn't make for good economic growth."

Modern presidential budget proposals are as much political documents as accounting ones, often declared "dead on arrival" in Congress by opposing political parties. The result has been a series of budget bills funding the government temporarily.

In a pre-Super Bowl interview Sunday on NBC, Obama said he is hopeful of getting Republican support for many of his proposals. For example, he said both parties agree on infrastructure spending; the dispute is over how to pay for it.

"My job is to present the right ideas," Obama told NBC, and if the Republicans have better ideas "they should present them."

Monday's proposed budget also calls for ending the automatic spending limits known as sequestration, the result of the 2011 stand-off over the debt limit. The plan calls for 7% increases over sequestration limits for national defense and domestic programs, according to the White House.

That includes defense spending of $561 billion, some $38 billion over sequestration levels. Defense priorities include the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, resisting Russian aggression in Ukraine, and a "good governance" project in Central America.

On Sunday, the White House said that the budget will include a six-year, $478 billion program to build and upgrade roads, bridges and other transit systems, to be financed by a one-time 14% tax on overseas profits.

The projected deficit for Obama's proposed budget is $474 billion, which officials said is only 2.5% of the gross domestic product.

In his weekend radio address, Obama said his budget is designed to "help working families' paychecks go farther by treating things like paid leave and child care like the economic priorities that they are. We'll offer Americans of every age the chance to upgrade their skills so they can earn higher wages."

The budget proposes to raise tax revenue by closing loopholes on items involving carried interest, capital gains and trust funds.

Recent years have seen a government shutdown, near-shutdowns and a debt limit crisis, ending with the passage of resolutions that fund the government temporarily, as opposed to a specific budget.

Anyone involved in the process "would acknowledge that this is the beginning of a negotiation," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. "But it's important — budgets are important because they're a way that we can codify our values and our priorities."

The proposed budget released Monday also calls for full funding of the Department of Homeland Security for a year. While the current spending plan funds most of the government to the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, it finances homeland security only through February.

The reason: A GOP protest against the president's new immigration actions. The Republicans are trying to pressure Obama into changing actions that would defer deportations for some migrants in the country illegally.

Obama — who has said that the GOP wants to "play politics with our homeland security" — will speak about his proposed budget during a Monday event at the Department of Homeland Security.

Among the economic plans in the proposed budget:

• A child care tax credit of up to $3,000 a child.

• $750 million for a Department of Education preschool development program, an increase of $500 million.

• More than $3 billion for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.

• A $500 tax credit for "second earners" in working families.

• A program encouraging paid leave programs for employees.

• Two years of community college tuition for qualified students, a program that would cost $60 billion over 10 years.

• $1 billion for a "long-term, comprehensive strategy" to develop a Central America "that is fully democratic (and) provides greater economic opportunities."

Islamic State reveals it has smuggled THOUSANDS of extremists into Europe

AN OPERATIVE working for Islamic State has revealed the terror group has successfully smuggled thousands of covert Jihadists into Europe.

The Syrian operative claimed more than 4,000 covert ISIS gunmen had been smuggled into western nations – hidden amongst innocent refugees.

The ISIS smuggler, who is in his 30s with a trimmed jet-black beard, revealed the ongoing clandestine operation is a complete success.

"Just wait," he smiled.

The Islamic State operative spoke exclusively to BuzzFeed on the condition of anonymity and is believed to be the first to confirm plans to infiltrate western countries.

Islamic State, also referred to as IS and ISIS, is believed to be actively smuggling deadly gunmen across the sparsely-guarded 565-mile Turkish border and on to richer European nations, he revealed.

There are now more than 4,000 covert ISIS gunmen "ready" across the European Union, he claimed.

The operative said the undercover infiltration was the beginning of a larger plot to carry out revenge attacks in the West in retaliation for the US-led coalition airstrikes.

"If someone attacks me," he said "then for sure I will attack them back."

Islamic State extremists are taking advantage of developed nation's generosity towards refugees to infiltrate Europe, he said.

The lethal ISIS gunmen use local smugglers to blend in and travel amongst a huge tide of illegal migrants flooding Europe.

More than 1.5million refugees have fled into Turkey alone – desperate to escape the bloodshed in Syria.

From Turkish port cities like Izmir and Mersin, thousands of refugees venture across the Mediterranean aiming for Italy, he said.

Then the majority make for more welcoming nations like Sweden and Germany, turning themselves over to authorities and appealing for asylum.

"They are going like refugees," he said.

Two Turkish refugee-smugglers backed up the claims made by the ISIS Syrian operative.

One admitted to helping more than ten trained ISIS rebels infiltrate Europe under the guise of asylum seekers.

He said: "I’m sending some fighters who want to go and visit their families.

"Others just go to Europe to be ready."

The Syrian operative, a former member of his nation's security forces, said ISIS had ambitious plans ahead.

"It’s our dream that there should be a caliphate not only in Syria but in all the world," he said "and we will have it soon, God willing."

The operative agreed to a meeting at the urging of a former Free Syrian Army gunman who fought alongside him in the war.

The Syrian said he had been granted permission to attend the meeting by his superior in ISIS — a radical referred to by members of the group as an "emir."

"There are some things I’m allowed to tell you and some things I’m not," he said.

During the meeting, the operative said he believed future attacks would only target Western governments – not civilians.

Although details of terror plot are something over which he has little control, he claims.

The jihadist told Western followers if they had the opportunity to "shed a drop of blood" in Western countries – then they should do so.

Spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani also praised the recent terror attacks in Australia, Belgium and France.

"We repeat our call to Muslims in Europe, the infidel West, and everywhere to target the Crusaders in their home countries and wherever they find them," he said.

"We will be enemies, in front of God, to any Muslim who can shed a drop of blood of a Crusader and abstains from doing that with a bomb, bullet, knife, car, rock or even a kick or a punch."

A Turkish foreign ministry official said authorities were actively working to clamp down on refugee-smuggling.

He pointed out that since Europe accepts few refugees through legal channels, the demand for smuggling has increased.

"Illegal migration has been an important issue and Turkey is effectively fighting against it," the official, who declined to be named, confirmed.

"Of course the most effective way to put an end to all these problems would be immediate action by the international community to solve the Syrian conflict."

When asked about the smuggling of Islamic State operatives in boats of innocent refugees, the anonymous official said his government was unaware of the plot.

"We do not have that particular intelligence," he said.

"Turkey has been taking very tight measures against [ISIS] with all the capabilities the government has."

ISIS claims beheading of Iraqi security personnel

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group beheaded an Iraqi police officer and a soldier, the latest in a long series of atrocities committed by the jihadists, according to pictures posted online Sunday.

In one photo, a blindfolded man said to be a police lieutenant colonel kneels in a street in front of a row of gunmen.

A masked militant is then shown beheading the victim with a machete, after which his severed head is placed atop his body and the machete driven into his back.

Another photo shows an overweight masked militant apparently struggling to behead a man identified as a captured Iraqi soldier.

The caption says a second soldier was also beheaded, but his death is not shown.

The authenticity of the photos could not be independently confirmed.

ISIS spearheaded a sweeping militant offensive in June that overran large areas north and west of Baghdad, and also holds significant territory in neighboring Syria.

The brutal militant group has killed thousands of people in both countries, some of them in highly-choreographed videotaped sequences in which the victims are beheaded.

Iraqi security forces, backed by Kurdish troops, Shiite militias, Sunni tribesmen and a U.S.-led campaign of air strikes, have managed to regain some ground from ISIS.

But the jihadists still control significant territory, including three major cities.

'Kenji has died, and my heart is broken': Mother of Japanese hostage beheaded by Jihadi John grieves while Jordan still offers prisoner swap to save their pilot

• Jordanian pilot Mu'adh al-Kaseasbeh, 26, is thought to still be alive.
• ISIS video released last night allegedly show beheading of Kenji Goto
• Terror group had been trying to exchange Goto for Jordanian prisoner
• In new video fighter tells camera 'we have an entire army thirsty for blood'
• Mr Goto's body is then shown lying on desert floor in rocky gorge
• There was no mention of Mr al-Kaseasbeh in last night's ISIS video
• His family are now demanding Jordanian government take action
• Japanese PM Shinzo Abe said he will 'never forgive' killing of hostages

The family of the Japanese ISIS hostage who appeared in a video allegedly showing his beheading by British militant Jihadi John has paid tribute to his memory.
The mother and brother of journalist Kenji Goto, 47, spoke of their loss following confirmation that he had passed away, although the authenticity of the video has yet to be proven.

This comes as the Jordanian government has pledged to do 'everything it can' to save the pilot thought to still be held hostage by ISIS militants.

'Kenji has died, and my heart is broken. Facing such a tragic death, I'm just speechless,' Goto's mother Junko Ishido told reporters, adding that her son's death showed he was a kind gentle man, trying to save another hostage.

'I was hoping Kenji might be able to come home,' said Goto's brother, Junichi Goto, in a separate interview. 'I was hoping he would return and thank everyone for his rescue, but that's impossible, and I'm bitterly disappointed.'

Lt. Mu'adh al-Kaseasbeh, 26, has been held hostage since December, but last night's video, purporting to show Mr Goto's beheading, made no mention of him.

Earlier this week, the Jordanian government said it would give in to ISIS's demands and release a death-row al-Qaeda prisoner, in exchange for Mr al-Kaseasbeh.

Hours after the release of the video, the Jordanian government said it would 'do everything it can to save the life and secure the release' of Mr al-Kaseasbeh.

'All state organisations have been mobilised to secure the proof of life that we require so that he can be freed and returned to his home,' Government spokesman Mohammed al-Momeni said today.

Jordan said on Friday that it will only release Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, a failed suicide bomber currently on death row, if it gets proof Mr al-Kaseasbeh is alive.

Mr al-Momeni also condemned the murder of Japanese journalist Mr Goto after days of intensive efforts through intermediaries to save him. 'We spared no effort, in coordination with the Japanese government, to save his life,' Momeni said.

Mr al-Kaseasbeh's father, Safi al-Kassasbeh, today denounced the killing of Mr Goto saying the Jordanian 'government is responsible' for his son's fate.

Members of the al-Kaseasbeh tribe held a candlelight vigil in his home town of Karak, Jordan on Saturday, carrying posters with 'we are all Mu'adh,' written in Arabic.

An uncle of the pilot, Yassin Rawashda, said early Sunday that 'we want the government to tell us the truth.' He says the family also wants to know which direction negotiations are headed.

The government is also under domestic pressure to win the release of Mr al-Kaseasbeh, the first foreign pilot to be captured by ISIS since a U.S.-led military coalition began carrying out air strikes in Iraq and Syria in September.

Since his capture, there have been several protests in Jordan questioning the country's involvement in the fight against ISIS.

Hostage: The fate of Jordanian pilot Mu'adh al-Kasasibah, is still unknown Last Saturday an audio recording emerged purporting to be of Mr Goto explaining that Mr Yukawa had been killed, and again pleading for his release.

The voice claimed that ISIS had changed its demands, asking the Jordanian government for the release of al-Rishawi and threatening to kill Mr al-Kaseasbeh.

There was no mention of the fate of Mr al-Kaseasbeh in last night's footage, and Jordan has previously threatened to kill all of its ISIS hostages if he is harmed.

Jordan's government spokesman, Mohammed al-Momani, declined comment late Saturday on the video of Mr Goto's purported beheading.

The video seems to show the 47-year-old freelance journalist being beheaded by the ISIS militant fighter known as Jihadi John.

The 70-second clip shows Mr Goto kneeling in a rocky gorge while the masked murderer delivers a scripted message to the camera.

The killer then lowers his knife and the footage goes black, as is common in ISIS propaganda films. When the footage begins again Mr Goto's body is shown lying on the desert floor.

The fighter, who has a British accent, says: 'To the Japanese government: You, like your foolish allies in the Satanic coalition, have yet to understand that we, by Allah's grace, are an Islamic Caliphate with authority and power, an entire army thirsty for your blood.

'(Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo) Abe, because of your reckless decision to take part in an unwinnable war, this knife will not only slaughter Kenji, but will also carry on and cause carnage wherever your people are found.

'So let the nightmare for Japan begin.'

The Japanese government has strongly condemned the apparent killing and today ordered heightened security precautions Sunday and said it would persist with its non-military support for fighting terrorism.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said: 'I cannot help feeling strong indignation that an inhuman and despicable act of terrorism like this has been committed again.'

Japanese authorities have said the video is most likely genuine. A statement from a cabinet meeting of senior politicians said the footage 'has a high degree of credibility.'

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe added: 'I feel strong indignation at this inhumane and contemptible act of terrorism. I will never forgive these terrorists.'

'Japan will work with the international community to bring those responsible for this crime to justice,' he said, reiterating that Japan would not give in to terrorism.

Abe vowed to continue providing humanitarian aid to countries fighting the Islamic State extremists. Bowing to terrorist intimidation would prevent Japan from providing medical assistance and other aid it views as necessary for helping to restore stability in the region, he and other officials say.

On Saturday, President Barack Obama led global condemnation of the apparent slaying, deeming it a 'heinous murder' and saying the US stands in solidarity with Japan against the 'barbaric act'.

In a statement, Obama called Goto courageous and said America applauds Japan's steadfast commitment to advancing peace and prosperity in the Middle East as well as around the world.

Also on Saturday, Andreas Kreig, assistant professor for defence studies at King's College London, told MailOnline that he believes the footage is genuine.

We are an Islamic Caliphate with... an entire army thirsty for your blood
He said: 'The technology that is used to film, they way the shots are cut, the way the footage transitions from one shot to the next, these are all things we have seen before in ISIS videos.'

Anthony Glees, Professor of Security Studies at Buckingham University, added: 'This kind of video still has the power to shock. 'It's particularly shocking because in this case everyone had a sense that Mr Goto may be released, as would the Jordanian pilot.'

Last night ISIS tweeted to say they were going to give King Abdullah, the deceased ruler of Saudi Arabia, a present on what would have been his 91st birthday.

Last night terror expert Shiraz Maher, who works for King's College London, tweeted the message, and added: 'I suspect, sadly, we'll see hostage videos released soon.'

Asked whether he had been expecting ISIS to release footage this evening, Dr Kreid added: 'We had not been expecting anything, but something had to happen, because ISIS had issued an ultimatum that was not met.'

Mr Goto first appeared in an ISIS propaganda video a week ago alongside fellow Japanese hostage Haruna Yukawa, 42.

ISIS demanded $200million for the release of both of the men, the same amount the Japnese government pledged to help fight the organisation.

The Japanese government has said it is currently trying to verify the footage, which was distributed by ISIS' propaganda arm al-Furqan Media Foundation.

Mr Goto, 47, a war correspondent with experience in Middle East hot spots, went to Syria in late October to try to help release Mr Yukawa, who was captured in July.

Mr Yukawa's arrival in the Middle East followed a number of difficult years, which appeared to begin in 2005, when his business failed, leaving him in debt and, at one point, reportedly homeless.

The Japnese government has previously condemned ISIS' threats against Mr Yukawa and Mr Goto, while stating that they will not cooperate with terrorists.

After news of Mr Yukawa's killing spread, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said: 'Considering the unbearable pain and sorrow that his family must be feeling, I am speechless.

'Such act of terrorism is outrageous and impermissible, it causes me nothing but strong indignation. I condemn it strongly and resolutely.'

U.S. officials said they were trying to confirm the authenticity of the video.

Bernadette Meehan, a spokesman for the White House's National Security Council, said: 'We have seen the video purporting to show that Japanese citizen Kenji Goto has been murdered by the terrorist group ISIL.

'The United States strongly condemns ISIL's actions and we call for the immediate release of all the remaining hostages. We stand in solidarity with our ally Japan.'

Junko Ishido, Mr Goto's mother, has previously issued a tearful appeal for her son to be released.

Speaking at a press conference last week, she said: 'I say to you people of the Islamic State, Kenji is not your enemy. Please release him. 'Kenji was always saying 'I hope to save lives of children on battlefields'. He was reporting war from a neutral position.'

Mr Gotos' death, if confirmed, adds to a long list of foreign hostages that have apparently been killed by Jihadi John, including Harnua Yukawa. The list of victims also includes British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and aid worker Peter Kassig.

Russia says nuclear arms to keep military edge over NATO, United States

(Reuters) - Russia's top general said on Friday a strong nuclear arsenal will ensure military superiority over the West as Moscow forges ahead with a multi-billion dollar plan to modernize its forces by 2020.

Russia, facing a likely recession because of a fall in oil prices and sanctions over Ukraine, must deal with new forms of Western aggression, including economic confrontation, said Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov.

But despite the deep economic woes, he said the Russian military would receive more than 50 new intercontinental nuclear missiles this year.

"Support for our strategic nuclear forces to ensure their high military capability combined with ... growth of the military potential of the general forces will assure that (the United States and NATO) do not gain military superiority over our country," said Gerasimov.

Tensions between Russia and the West have risen over the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where the United States and Europe say Moscow is fuelling an insurgency by sending in troops and weapons. Moscow denies this.

Russia has criticized NATO expansion in eastern Europe and President Vladimir Putin has accused the Ukrainian army, which is fighting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, of being puppets of NATO with a policy of "containing" Russia.

Russian war planes have increasingly been spotted over Europe in recent months. Britain summoned the Russian ambassador on Thursday to complain about two Russian long-range bombers that flew over the English Channel, forcing British authorities to reroute civil aircraft.

Russia promises to push through by 2020 a more than 20-trillion-rouble ($286.62 billion) military modernization plan conceived by Putin, and military expenditures will remain unchanged even in the face of a growing economic crisis that has cut the budgets of other ministries.

The modernization project aims to revamp Russia's weapons systems to assure that 70-100 percent of the armed forces weapons and equipment has been modernized by the end of the decade -- a plan confirmed by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

"We plan to fulfill the government armament program and reach by 2020 the intended quantities of modern weapons systems," he said at the meeting.

Russia keeps its state nuclear capabilities shrouded in secrecy, but its military has approximately 8,500 warheads in total, including those non-deployed -- some 1,000 more than the United States possesses -- according to a study last year by the Center for Arms-Control and Non-Proliferation.

Speaking against a backdrop of rising prices brought on in part by a weaker rouble, Gerasimov said Russia had to deal with new kinds of Western aggression.

"Western countries are actively using new forms of aggression, combining military as well as non-military means. Political, economic and information methods are also being used," Interfax news agency cited him as saying.

‘You will discover hell on earth’: French govt launches campaign against jihadists

The French government has released a graphic video that “deciphers jihadist propaganda” in order to discourage young people from going to the Middle East to fight alongside extremists by saying they will find “hell on earth.” 

The video with the hashtag #StopJihadism was published in a bid to counter calls to join extremist groups in the Middle East, including the Islamic State militants who are rampaging through parts of Syria and Iraq.

The beginning of the video shows popular jihadist groups on social media and an anonymous invite to join the terrorists saying “the truth is out there and now is the time to go... if you want more info just give me your number..." It then goes on to explain the difference between what the jihadists say about joining them and what the reality is.

"They told you: "Sacrifice yourself by our side for a just cause," the message in French says."In reality, you'll find hell on earth and you'll die alone, far from home." The text is accompanied by footage of people killed and their bodies dumped.