4/16/15

* 'F-35 designed to deal with threats like S-300,' Lockheed Martin official in Israel says The F-35 fighter jet is designed to counter advanced threats just like the one posed by the Russian-made S-300 surface to air missile system, a senior Lockheed Martin executive who is visiting Israel said on Wednesday.

* Putin: S-300 delivery to Iran will not threaten Israel Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Iran's willingness and flexibility in trying to find a solution with the West over its nuclear program had spurred his decision to lift a 2010 ban to deliver an S-300 missile defense system to Tehran, adding that the advanced Russian unit would not pose a threat to Israel.

* Islamic State steps up assault on Iraqi city of Ramadi Islamic State (IS) has stepped up its assault on the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, launching a series of suicide bomb attacks, officials say.

* Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day The State of Israel marks its annual Holocast Remembrance Day on Thursday with ceremonies commemorating the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis during World War II.

* Netanyahu says West is 'comatose, delusional' in face of today's Nazis: Iran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday compared Iran's violent and expansionist aspirations in the Middle East to the Nazi campaign to conquer Europe during World War II.

* Turkish 'documentary' says Jews have been 'mastermind' for 3,500 years Mastermind, a new anti-Semitic "documentary" film, is being repeatedly broadcast in Turkey and presents Jewish "domination of the world" as going back 3,500 years, since the days of Moses.

* More than 220,000 Killed in Syria Conflict, Monitor Says The conflict in Syria has left more than 220,000 dead since it began four years ago with an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, a key monitoring group said Thursday.

* Ukraine's State News Agency Hopes for New World War According to Ukraine's state news agency Ukrinform, the US House of Representatives vote on sending lethal aid to Ukraine means that the United States is ready to begin, what the agency is calling, a "fourth World War:"

* Putin wants neither Russian Empire nor army of clones: Q&A highlights Russia sees no enemies among other countries and advises no one to treat it as such. It wants to be America's equal partner and refuses to be Uncle Sam's vassal.

* Hackers have 'begun targeting nuclear power plants,' cyber warfare expert warns Computer hackers have begun targeting electric and nuclear power plants around the world, as well as other critical infrastructure sites in increasingly audacious attacks, a senior Israeli cyber security expert warned on Thursday.