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BRUSSELS - NATO is flatly dismissing a claim by Russia that its actions and expansion constitute a menace for Russia's security. Alliance spokesperson Oana Lungescu said Tuesday that NATO is still studying Russia's new security doctrine, approved last week. "That said," Lungescu added, "we categorically reject totally unfounded claims that NATO and its policies constitute a security threat" for Moscow.

urkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday condemned an attack on the rebel-held Syrian city of Idlib, believed to have been carried out by Russian jets, and said Syria will not be part of "Russian imperialist goals". Relations between Ankara and Moscow are already at their worst in recent memory after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane over Syria last month. This weekend's air strikes killed scores of people in the center of Idlib in northwest Syria on Sunday, rescue workers and residents said. Turkey, which has long called for the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and supports the...

The European Commission unveiled plans for a new external border and coastguard force that will be able to intervene even without the host country's consent on Tuesday, saying it had to restore EU security threatened by the migration crisis. The new agency will have a rapid reaction force of 1,500 guards and a "right to intervene" in European Union nations that are either overwhelmed by a migration influx or are deemed to be failing to secure their frontiers. With 1 million mainly Syrian refugees and migrants set to arrive in Europe by the end of this year, the record movement...

The country's top finance official, Anton Siluanov, said the government must be prepared for prices to fall further in 2016 as the global glut grows and new supply -- for example from Iran -- enters the market. "Everything indicates that low oil prices are likely to dominate next year. And it is possible that at some periods [the oil price] will be $30 per barrel," Siluanov was quoted as saying by Russian state-run news agencies. That would spell more pain for Russia. Oil and gas exports make up almost half of government revenue. Oil futures were trading at their lowest...

The U.K. Independence Party’s only member of the British Parliament has criticized party leader Nigel Farage for harsh comments about immigrants during the recent campaign. Douglas Carswell says Farage was wrong and mean-spirited when he said in a televised debate that Britons are upset by immigrants coming to Britain for treatment of health problems like HIV. …

A top UN official has provoked outrage after likening David Cameron’s threat to scrap human rights laws to Nazi Germany. The Prime Minister has warned the Government could withdraw the UK from the convention in order to deport foreign criminals. It is the most radical option as part of plans to scrap the Human Rights Act, which enshrines the convention in UK law, with a “British Bill of Rights” enforced by the UK’s Supreme Court rather than by judges in Strasbourg. But Professor François Crépeau, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, said: “We have to remember...

Conchita Wurst is responsible for flooding that left over 50 people dead earlier this month, church leaders in the Balkans have claimed. The Austrian drag artist, whose real name is Thomas Neuwirth, seized international attention after winning Eurovision 2014 with his hit Rise Like a Phoenix. […] “This [flood] is not a coincidence, but a warning,” Patriarch Amfilohije of Montenegro said, according to e.novine.com. “God sent the rains as a reminder that people should not join the wild side.” […] The Russian Orthodox Church has previously described Conchita as an “abomination” and that his victory was “one more step in...

The Russian Orthodox Church and several politicians have strongly condemned last week's Eurovision winner, a bearded Austrian cross-dresser who promotes gay rights, and have suggested that they will create their own pop competition. "The last Eurovision contest's results exhausted our patience," Communist Party deputy Valery Rashkin said about the winner of Europe's top pop competition, 25-year-old Conchita Wurst. "We must leave this competition. We cannot tolerate this endless madness." He added that he would like to see the creation of "Voice of Eurasia," which would invite other countries from the former Soviet Union to participate, according to AFP news agency....

I confess, when I woke up and saw this headline on Drudge I was concerned: Bearded Drag Queen Wins!What a relief to discover it wasn’t another Lady M first. It was actually Conchita Wurst, aka “Tom” from Austria who won the Eurovision Song Contest. Ms. Wurst's onstage drag persona was created by a 25-year-old singer named Thomas Neuwirth. Sporting a skintight glittery dress, long brown hair and a beard, Ms. Wurst won the contest with a song titled "Rise Like A Phoenix." Despite singing with a British accent, his/her native language is Austrian (h/t BHO).Nor does Conchita have much else...