President Barack Obama ordered a comprehensive review of US hostage policy as Islamic State militants stepped up threats to behead American hostages the terrorist group kidnapped in Syria, The Daily Beast reports.

A letter from US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Christine Wormuth says the review will look for "innovative and non-traditional solutions" to improve how the government handles hostage cases.

The letter is full of vague bureaucratic wording, but The Daily Beast notes that the review will seek to "[put] a stop to turf wars and [get] the various corners of the government on the same page."

Obama ordered the review over the summer, according to the White House.

The US is known for refusing to pay ransoms for hostages — doing so could make Americans more attractive targets for kidnappings because terrorist organizations know that certain countries are willing to pay large sums of money to free their citizens.

But the issue of whether or not the US government is doing enough to recover Americans taken hostage overseas has resurfaced in light of highly publicized videos from ISIS showing terrorists beheading hostages. 

Most recently, American aid worker Peter Kassig was beheaded by the terror group. ISIS released video of the killing. ISIS has also released videos of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff being beheaded.

Foley's family publicly criticized the government's handling of his case. His mother said it seemed that their efforts to free Foley were an annoyance to the US government.

Wormuth's letter mentions "family engagement" as a point of focus for the review of hostage policy.

While this focus on improving hostage policy might result in a more coordinated response from the government in the future, a drastic change in government policy toward paying hostage ransoms isn't likely.

Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser to President Barack Obama, said in August that the government is right to refuse to pay hostage ransoms.

"We feel very strongly that it is not the right policy for governments to support the payment of ransom to terrorist organizations," Rhodes said. "In the long run, what that does is it provides additional funding to these terrorist organizations, which allows them to expand their operations. It incentivizes the kidnapping of foreigners in ways that we've seen, frankly, with organizations like ISIL and some al-Qaeda affiliates."

But Rhodes did say that the US might step up its efforts to recover these hostages.

"What we will do is use all the resources of the U.S. government to try to find and, if possible, bring home those Americans who are missing," he said.

SEE ALSO: Here's an overview of the US approach to its hostage policy

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In addition to an active-duty military numbering more than 2 million China has a paramilitary force with almost 4 million members. 

By comparison, the US military has 1.4 million active-duty members.

The paramilitary serves as an auxiliary force for the People's Liberation Army. During times of peace, it's primarily concerned with law enforcement and internal security.

In times of war, they could triple the size of China's available military force — a potentially crucial source of strength, considering Beijing's ongoing tensions with its neighbors over its borders and various islands in the South China Sea.

They've previously received criticism for oppressing journalists and using violent tactics to quash protests in Tibet.  

Reuters published a photo of a Chinese paramilitary member crawling through the sand in 102-degree temperatures. We decided to take a look at the paramilitary police training, and at what China's massive auxiliary force goes through.

This report is originally by Brian Jones.

The text on this wall reads "perfect mastery."

It describes the aim of the Chinese paramilitary police's rigorous training regimen.

They practice deadly choke holds ...

In late 2013, English photographer Christopher Nunn found himself in a small town in Ukraine, alone and unable to speak the language, just as the crisis in Crimea was starting to foment.

Equipped with only his camera, Nunn had been in the country for months, attempting to reconnect with his family's forgotten Ukrainian roots through photography. He was especially interested in capturing the everyday lives of Ukraine's common citizens.

But as crisis spread and unrest grew, Nunn's work took a different tone.

"I never set out to document the political situation or the war directly," Nunn says.

Nonetheless, he captured what he saw, chronicling the subtle and not-so-subtle effects the violence and turmoil had on daily life in Ukraine, in both big cities and small towns.

This body of work, titled "A Row Of Bones," is an understated but affecting look at life right now in Ukraine. More work can be seen on Nunn's website.

In early 2013, Nunn decided to travel to his grandmother's hometown of Kalush, in western Ukraine. His grandmother left the town when she was 15 years old and never returned. Nunn wanted to connect to a part of his family's history that he was unfamiliar with by exploring and photographing.

Nunn, who was traveling alone and did not speak any Ukrainian, says that the country "was like another world to me. I was interested in the way people live, but I didn’t want to see this from a distance, I wanted to get close and understand more and take my time."

Nunn says he spent a lot of time "walking around, drinking vodka, and smoking cigarettes." He met briefly with another photographer who wrote a note for him which read "Please can I take photo?" in Ukrainian before leaving. From then on, he was on his own.

Within a single year the world has experienced a 61% increase in terrorist attacks, according to the 2014 edition of The Global Terrorism Index from the Institute for Economics & Peace. 

The index covers 99.6% of the world's population and ranks 162 countries based on the impact of terrorist activities along with analysis of economic and social factors. The IEP defines terrorism as "the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation."

Here are the key findings from the report (and here is the full report):

Iraq Breeds The Most Terrorism Along With These 4 Nations

Approximately 17,958 people were killed in terrorist attacks last year, and of those deaths 82% occurred in just 5 nations: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. 

Of the 162 surveyed nations, Iraq holds the deplorable top spot with approximately 2,492 terrorist attacks in 2013,  which killed 6,362 people.

Combined, these nations accounted for nearly 15,000 fatalities. Since 2000 only 5% of these crimes were suicide attacks.

The four terrorist groups responsible for the most destructive acts are Taliban, Boko Haram, ISIS, and Al-Qaeda. The report notes that radical variants of Islam was “the key commonality for all four groups.” However, the study does not take into account the recent attacks from ISIS since the research tapers off at the end of 2013. 

Although terrorism is on the rise, the report notes that the figures are still relatively small when compared to the 437,000 people killed by homicide in 2013. For example, in the US an individual is 64 times more likely to die from a homicide than terrorism.

The overwhelming method of carrying out a terrorist attack was by way of explosives. Since 2000, only 5% of these crimes were suicide attacks.

At Risk Countries

According to the report, more than 90% of all terrorist attacks occur in countries that have gross human rights violations.

IEP identifies the following 13 countries with a high risk potential of terrorism activity. 

These nations either have violent ongoing conflicts or notable social and economic setbacks. 

Angola, Bangladesh, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cote D' Ivory, Ethiopia, Iran, Israel, Mali, Mexico, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Uganda. 

Causes Of Terrorism

From the report, the following are the 3 main factors associated with terrorism:

Greater social hostilities between different ethnic, religious and linguistic groups, lack of intergroup cohesion and high levels of group grievances.

Presence of state sponsored violence such as extrajudicial killings, political terror and gross human rights abuses.

Higher levels of other forms of violence including deaths from organized conflict, likelihood of violent demonstrations, levels of violent crime and perceptions of criminality.  

SEE ALSO: The World Is Becoming More Violent — Here Are The Most And Least Peaceful Countries

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For a long time, Japan's military force was an exercise in contradiction. The country has ranked among the world's top military spenders, at almost $50 billion in 2013 — despite a constitution that explicitly forbids war (and even the maintenance of "land, sea, and air forces").

But in July, the cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe approved a reinterpretation of the pacifist clause called Article 9.

Without changing the constitution's wording, Abe made clear that Japan intended to step up its military prerogative in the region, allowing it to come to the aid of an attacked ally, for instance.

The country spends the equivalent of 1% of its GDP on defense, a figure that could grow after a decade of flat-lining; last year Abe's cabinet approved a five-year spending plan on a laundry list of military hardware: Three surveillance drones, stealth aircraft, 52 amphibious troop carriers, 28 next-generation fighter planes (the F-35) and 17 Osprey aircraft units.

The total expenditure from the plan is estimated to reach $232 billion to $240 billion.

Aside from foreign purchases, Japan has also undertaken the development of its own advanced fighter. The ATD-X is envisioned as being a stealthy air-superiority fighter that could be deployed to counteract the development of fifth-generation fighters by China and Russia. 

Japan's Ministry of Defense plans to use the research developed for the ATD-X as a stepping stone to the eventual development of a sixth-generation fighter that would be designed for counter-stealth capabilities.

Japan also wants to expand its fleet of submarines from 16 units to 22, an asset Japan has much experience leveraging. The National Interest explains that Japan keeps its submarines "at a number of key invasion routes to Japan [...] This concentration is a Cold War holdover, from when Japan expected that Soviet Union might invade during wartime."

The BBC's Tokyo correspondent agrees that Japan's military was once mainly a foil to the Soviet threat, "designed in the days of the Cold War to protect Japan against an invasion from the north, from Russia."

The new perceived threat is China, a country with which Japan's relationship has never fully recovered from the latter's imperial aggression before and during World War II. Alongside China's economic growth has come a mushrooming defense budget, which has steadily climbed since 2000 (to $132 billion).

In 2010, tensions reached a low boil, catalyzed by a territorial dispute over the Senkaku (or Diaoyu) Islands in the East China Sea. More recently, China has shifted tactics over the island chain by sending fishermen en masse to the region in an effort to assert de facto control.

Ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit (APEC) last week in Beijing — where the two countries' leaders halfheartedly shook hands for the cameras — Japan's prime minister did at least open the door to fielding Chinese claims on the territories.

But an eventual armed clash in disputed waters is certainly possible.

"All those hotspots, and what's the common denominator? It's China," Gordon Arthur, a journalist focusing on Asian Pacific defense, told Business Insider. "I think they've been very assertive under president Xi Jinping, so I think it's very possible that an accident or escalation could happen."

That case is the main driver for Japan's renewed defense priorities, and for its move to base its new amphibious capability — including a radar station— in southwestern Japan.

"In case of various situations, it is essential to respond effectively and minimize damage by achieving air superiority and command of the sea," a document from Japan's Ministry of Defense states.

Alongside new military spending is the country's cultivation of regional allies, and stronger cultivation of its long-standing alliance with the United States.

"You can't look at Japan's military as only Japan," said Steven Herman, the Voice of America's bureau chief in Bangkok. "So what Japan has in addition to its own so-called Self-Defense Forces, it has the full weight and might of the United States military behind it."

If ever there was a formula for world wars, it's minor disputes between countries backed by big allies ("it's likely that there will be a third world war to fight for sea rights,"reads one op-ed by a professor at a a Chinese military university). Even Shinzo Abe, a man in leadership rather than academia, this year compared the trade-heavy relationship between China and Japan to that of the UK and Germany before World War I.

The advent of another great war isn't foregone. The Japanese public, for one, still remains largely opposed to war. In a 2013 Pew research poll, 56% of the Japanese public said they were against any form of military effort other than defense, although there has been a gradual trend towards military action becoming more acceptable within the nation.

Tensions in China, Japan, and South Korea are greater than they were even in the '80s, when the wounds of World War II were fresher, said Herman. "What we're finding is more liberal voices in all of these countries," voices advocating for an understanding of other countries' perspectives, "are being squelched to a greater degree than they were in the past."

SEE ALSO: This epic map shows the border disputes that could tear Asia apart

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The US military's space defense command, or NORAD, is tracking an orbiting object that analysts speculate might be designed to fix — or attack — other satellites.

Governments keep tabs (and so can you) on what's floating in low orbit, which is why NORAD initially labeled the object as space debris.

But in May, Russia's government told the United Nations that a launch made last Christmas Day had sent four satellites into orbit, instead of the trio that is typically set up in a single launch.

That could explain the provenance of the mystery object, which is moving toward other Russian assets in space before potentially revealing its function. "It could have a number of functions, some civilian and some military," space security expert Patricia Lewis told the Financial Times.

One of the possible military uses was the launch of "kinetic pellets which shoot out at another satellite," Lewis said. In wars of the future, it might be advantageous — though very publicly hostile — to take out a rival nation's eyes.

In 2012, anonymous sources told Reuters, US intelligence completed a report analyzing "the growing vulnerability of US satellites that provide secure military communications, warn about enemy missile launches, and provide precise targeting coordinates."

Killing satellites is something both the US and the Soviet Union tested in the 1980s but had let go until testing by China led to the US doing the same (and making the report).

In 2007, China destroyed one of its own, aging weather satellites with an anti-satellite device mounted on a ballistic missile. The result was a proliferation of space debris that, as depicted in a fictional scenario in last year's blockbuster "Gravity," poses a danger to other satellites.

The US followed suit the next year by destroying a spy satellite — one that was already out of commission — simply by ramming a missile into it; no explosive was used. At the time, the Pentagon specified that resulting debris would burn upon re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.

The difference here, of course, is that Russia's experiment could involve an asset with more longevity, rather than a missile used just once. If it is indeed a weapon, it could lend new urgency to the previously tentative race to weaponize not just air, land, and sea, but space as well.

NOW WATCH: Watch This Mesmerizing Time-Lapse Of All The Flights Across The North Atlantic In 24 Hours

SEE ALSO: A Tiny Florida Firm Is Making A Fortune Off Russian Rocket Engines

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The 2011 rapture turned out to be a dud, and the world didn't end at the end of the Mayan Calendar, either. But that hasn't eased everyone's fears about an apocalyptic event.

The Survival Condo Project is a luxury condo community near Concordia, Kansas that caters to that fear. Built 174 feet below ground, its developers claim it is "prepared for anything," including a nuclear bomb.

A condo in this 2,000-square-foot underground space will cost you anywhere from $1.5 to $3 million. 

Tyler Allen, a 45-year-old sports bar and nightclub owner who bought one of the condos, told the Wall Street Journal that "he isn’t a “tinfoil hat-wearing” type preparing for the end of the world." Allen says he bought the condo because of a growing fear of "global health pandemics, cataclysmic weather, and terror attacks."

Allen is not alone. The first survival condo complex that was built is already completely sold out, but the developer, Larry Hall, is currently working on a second. Hall's condos are built on former nuclear missile sites that were meant to withstand a nuclear bomb.

Hall's company told the WSJ that residents can live a life of "uninterrupted luxury" because the bunker includes a spa, a dog park, a gym, and medical facilities. The Survival Condo Project's website reads:

"We believe that given the present worldwide economic conditions, historical disaster evidence, and the obvious signs of global climate changes; that it is prudent to have a “disaster plan and shelter” in place should a need for it occur. 

Our designs include planning for: physical protection, psychological design considerations, advanced technology, and the concept of an extended family with diverse backgrounds."

The entrance to the condo has two doors that are 16,000 pounds each.

Here's a floor plan. The condo goes 174 feet underground.

 And this is what a unit looks like. Full- and half-floor units are available. Full-floor units have 1,820 square feet of space and a maximum occupancy of 10 people. Half-floor units are 900 square feet and have a maximum occupants of 5 people. All of the fully furnished units have a full kitchen with stainless steel appliances and Kohler fixtures, a washer and dryer, a 50-inch television, and a five-year food reserve per person.

Of course, there is 24-hour surveillance.

Part of the reason why the condos are so pricey are the amenities. If you're going to be stuck 174 feet underground when the apocalypse comes, you're going to want something to do. There's a community pool with an outdoor scene painted on the walls.

A rock climbing wall and a gym to stay active.

And a movie theater to stay entertained.

Inside the units, there are video screens that act as windows. Residents can change the screen to show what kind of outside scene they like.

Each unit's kitchen has state-of-the-art appliances.

 The bedrooms have the window screens as well.

No need to worry about bringing too much stuff. Here's the walk-in closet in a master bedroom.

The second complex is currently under construction and according to the website, will sell out "well before it is complete."

Take a video tour of the luxury condos here:

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Germany trumps the US in the annual Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index as having the "best  perceived brand" in the world. 

The Denmark-based organization compiled the index with a total of 20,125 interviews across 20 countries to measure the global perceptions of 50 nations. 

The study used 23 factors including strength in exports, governance, culture, immigration, tourism, and investments. 

The US has held the top spot since 2009 but has recently suffered from its perceived shaky stance on "various international confrontations," according to the report. 

Here's the top 10:

SEE ALSO: The 30 Most Prosperous Countries In The World

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Tuesday's attack in Jerusalem was the deadliest terrorist incident in the city since 2008, escalating tensions in one of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict's central frontlines.

But the attack — in which four worshippers were hacked apart with axes and knives while praying in a synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood of West Jerusalem — was not the work of Hamas, Fatah, or Islamic Jihad (the three highest-profile and best-armed Palestinian factions).

Instead, it was the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine that took credit for the massacre. The PFLP was one of the more notorious radical left-wing militant organizations of the 1970s and is among the most influential terrorist groups in history. The group was largely responsible for developing airline hijacking as a method of political terrorism. It was a transnational organization that carried out attacks throughout the Middle East and Europe, and it enlisted foreign volunteers for some of its most high-profile operations.

The organization lost ground in recent decades thanks to the emergence of the Islamist group Hamas in the late 1980s and the empowerment of Fatah as a result of the peace process. (The end of the Cold War and the resulting loss in status for militant Marxism might have had something to do with it as well.) It isn't thought to have significant weapons supplies and has only pockets of highly localized support throughout Gaza and the West Bank.

But the PFLP still carried out a few of the most spectacular terrorist attacks of the 1970s.

In September 1970, PFLP operatives (including one Nicaraguan) hijacked three commercial planes to a remote airstrip in Jordan's western desert and blew them up in front of the international media. No passengers were killed in the incident — although it was one trigger for the internal crackdown that resulted in Jordan's "Black September" war.In 1972, the PFLP partnered with a Japanese leftist faction for an attack in which 28 people were killed at Israel's Lod Airport. The PFLP also perpetrated deadly attacks at airports in Munich, Brussels, and Greece throughout the 1970s.

The PFLP was founded as an international revolutionary Marxist organization. But its recent activities have divested the group of anything but a rhetorical connection to far-left-wing ideology.

The group rejected the the early 1990s peace process and claimed responsibility for three suicide bombings in the early 2000s, a tactic with religious rather than left-wing ideological trappings. The PFLP is a strong backer of the right-wing Arab nationalist Ba'athist Assad regime in Syria. And the PFLP leadership in Syria was at least implicated in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri — an attack most likely carried out by Hezbollah, a group promoting Iranian-style Shi'ite Muslim clerical rule.

In recent years, PFLP leaders began to see the group's leftist heritage as something of an albatross. As Hazem Balousha wrote for Al Monitor in 2013, the PFLP  "mutated from being a Marxist-Leninist organization — in the Soviet sense of the term — during the early years after its founding to currently become merely guided by the aforementioned ideals."

As one PFLP leader told Hazem Balousha, the group had actually become hamstrung by "the pathological condition that prevailed organizationally and ideologically which prevented the movement from entering into alliances and forming relations able to give rise to a third option on the Palestinian scene."

Regardless of whether the "pathology" of being a leftist outsider in the Palestinian militant ecosystem has been cured, the group has proved capable of carrying out an act of violence with the potential to scramble an already explosive situation in the Middle East.

It has gone from being on the radical, pioneering edge of Marxist terrorism several decades ago to believing in little more than preserving itself and upping the body count. And it's vaulted back to into relevance as a result.

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The British embassy in the Ukrainian capital has tweeted out a snarky guide on how to recognize a Russian tank.

The guide was created to help Russia identify its own T-72BM tanks within Ukrainian territory. 

The T-72BM is a signature Russian tank that is not used by the Ukrainian military. This necessitates that the tanks spotted throughout Ukraine were supplied by the Russians to the separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine.

According to the graphic from the British embassy, the T-72BM has been spotted at least three times during the ongoing Ukrainian crisis. Photographers managed to capture pictures of it on August 28 near the rebel stronghold of Luhansk, on September 4 in a dug in defensive position, and on October 23 by the rebel stronghold of Donetsk. 

The tank's presence all but confirms Russia's military actions within its neighbor's borders. Ukraine had been claiming for months that Russian equipment was being shuttled across the border and was falling into the hands of the separatists in order to build a proper army. 

Russia and the separatists instead claimed that the weapons had been looted from Ukrainian military bases and fleeing soldiers. 

The T-72BM is a main battle tank that had been designed and produced during the Soviet Union. The BM model is distinguishable from other T-72 variants by the box-like armor in front of the turret and a larger gunner's sight that is used in conjunction with an anti-tank missile. 

NATO warned on Nov. 12 that Russia was once again pouring troops and equipment into Ukraine on a massive scale. Although the exact number of troops was indeterminable, there were at least several convoys headed for the city of Donetsk prompting the Ukrainian president to declare that he was ready for "total war."

(H/t Daniel Sandford)

SEE ALSO: Western space agencies are tracking what could be a Russian satellite killer

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A recent LiveLeak video shows a variety of Russian artillery weapons firing in ultimate slow motion.

Many of these weapons have been used during the current war in Ukraine between Russian-back separatists and loyalists to the Ukrainian national government.  

We've highlighted some of the most astonishing segments of the video through GIFs, which show what heavy projectiles look like after being launched and give an idea of just how much firepower these pieces of artillery can pack.

The 2A36 Giatsint-B is a Russian towed field gun.

Originally created by the Soviets, the weapon can fire effectively at ranges of more than 19 miles. 

While the 2A36 fires shells, the BM-21 Grad is a mounted multiple-rocket launcher that can launch two rounds a second. 

Grad rockets can be fired in a barrage. Russian-backed separatists have acquired Grad launchers and have used them to pound Ukrainian government positions in the east of the country.

The rebels have also made frequent use of the T-12 anti-tank gun. Though effective, the weapon is relatively old and ceased to be the main anti-tank gun of the Eastern Bloc in the 1980s. 

The 2S19 Msta-S is a self-propelled piece of armored artillery. Both sides in the conflict in Ukraine have used this weapon, which can fire rounds more than 18 miles. 

Like the Grad launcher, the TOS-1 is a multiple-rocket launcher. However, the TOS-1 is made of a 30-barrel launch system mounted on a T-72 tank chassis. It can launch two rounds a second. 

Ukraine has said for months the presence of artillery in the rebels' arsenal suggests they're being armed by Russia. However, the rebels and Russia deny these allegations, contending that the weapons were captured from Ukrainian soldiers and military bases. 

Regardless, both sides have been accused of recklessly using artillery while shelling enemy positions. 

You can watch the entire LiveLeak video below.

SEE ALSO: Putin's Elite Counter-Terror Troops Have An Insane Training Regimen

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An Afghan man once detained in Guantanamo for three years is now leading efforts in northern Pakistan to recruit fighters for ISIS, according to US officials who spoke with The Weekly Standard.

Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost, who is in his 50s, swore allegiance to the extremist group's leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi on July 1, just two days after Al Baghdadi declared the territory stormed by ISIS this year a caliphate.

Dost's positioning in Pakistan is another sign of ISIS' global ambitions, alongside the group's capture of a Libyan city on the Mediterranean coast.

His experience is suitably international, according to a biography detailed in a propaganda video. Dost studied in Afghanistan, and starting in the late '70s fought against the country's occupation by the Soviet Union.

He was also among the radicals who besieged the Grand Mosque in Mecca, one of Islam's holiest sites, in 1979. He escaped to Peshawar, Pakistan, where he was detained in late 2001 before being transferred to Guantanamo.

From there he would be transferred back to Afghanistan in April 2005 and released due to health problems. A leaked memo by Joint Task Force Guantanamo concluded that "the detainee poses a low risk, due to his medical condition [...] JTF GTMO recommends this detainee be released or transferred to the control of another country for continued detention."

Dost is also an author, who in 2006 published "The Broken Shackles of Guantanamo," the story of his time in the controversial prison.

The book is what may have led to Dost's arrest that year, before he benefitted from a prisoner exchange between the Taliban and the Pakistani government two years later.

According to Dawn, an English-language newspaper in Pakistan, Dost's work involves creating and distributing propaganda in the form of pamphlets declaring that ISIS will expand to Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and beyond.

But in Pakistan especially, ISIS is antagonized by the Taliban and Al Qaeda, which publicly disavowed ISIS in February after a spat over its outsized ambitions.

Still, the group has attracted many would-be jihadists from across the world, and might have a similar pull on some of the Taliban's ranks.

SEE ALSO: Here's how ISIS recruits westerners

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After a change to national gun law on Tuesday, Russians can now carry certain guns in public for the purposes of "self-defense."

The new policy allows the use of weapons to "protect their lives, health and property" but not against "women, disabled persons, and minors, unless they attacked you with a group and arms," according to an analysis by Russian media site Arguments and Facts.

These weapons include "long-barreled weapons, pistols, revolvers, 'home-made tubeless firearm units' with cartridges, bullets and ammunition; gas pistols and revolvers, electric shock devices, devices equipped with tear gas, and home-made spark gaps," according to the state-owned TASS news agency.

Additionally, those who have attained licenses are prohibited from carrying weapons during rallies, meetings, demonstrations, recreational activities, and religious ceremonies, according to Arguments and Facts. During certain events and parades, however, cossacks and participants of the events are allowed to carry swords as part of their costumes. 

Prior to the change, weapons were only allowed for hunting and sporting events, as well as training and shooting practice. Laws also prohibited rifles, pistols, and revolvers, according to GunPolicy.org.  

Many Russians, however, don't approve of this amendment. "Horrified. I am horrified," one Muscovite told Business Insider. 

Additionally, Russian politician and former deputy of the State Dumas, Russia’s current Commissioner for Human Rights Ella Pamfilova said, “I have a very negative attitude to this decision, I believe that it is fraught with many dangerous and tragic consequences. I don’t doubt that it will increase the number of accidents — the use of these weapons in the heat of passion.”

Currently, only 46% of Russians feel safe walking alone at night, compared to a global average of 82%, according to the Legatum Group's annual survey of global prosperity. 

Gunpolicy.org estimates the number of both legal and illegal guns in Russia at 12,750,000, making the rate of private ownership about 9 firearms for every 100 people. The rate of registered ownership, however, falls much lower — 3.5 guns per 100 people. 

For comparison, the U.S. has nearly 20 times more guns than Russia (on the low end of the spectrum), anywhere from 270 to 360 million. Therefore, the estimated rate of private ownerships is also much higher: 101.5 firearms per 100 people. 

In 2013, 8,454 people were murdered at the hands of someone wielding a gun in the U.S., according to FBI Statistics. Unfortunately, Russia doesn't break down its homicides by weapon.

Speaking the same day as the change, President Vladimir Putin said: "You can get a lot more done with politeness and a weapon than with politeness alone," according to the New Republic. 

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From 1998 to 2008, two twin brothers distributed thousands of pounds of cocaine across Chicago and other major US cities. 

Then Pedro and Margarito Flores started cooperating with the feds.

Originally sealed for the brothers' protection, their testimony recently became available to the public. The documents reveal fascinating details about how one of the largest Mexican drug cartels functioned. 

After their arrest, the Flores brothers went on record, giving information about an even more sought-after criminal: Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, more widely known as "El Chapo," the head of the Sinaloa cartel, one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world.

In 2013, the cartel supplied 80% of the heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and methamphetamine flooding the streets of Chicago, according to the DEA. 

On many occasions, the brothers collaborated with the cartel, which used a wide array of creative methods for transporting cocaine and money from Central America into the US. They once even passed the operation off as a humanitarian aid project. 

The Business

After slinging drugs in the US for several years, Pedro and Margarito, fearing arrest, moved back to Mexico in 2003 and 2004, respectively. But they set up an elaborate network that would allow them to sell cocaine in the US from Mexico, according to the testimony. 

This network included three groups: cocaine and heroin suppliers in Mexico; a US crew; and about 30 wholesale customers across eight US cities: Chicago; New York; Washington, DC; Philadelphia; Cincinnati; Columbus; Detroit; and Los Angeles.

Between 2006 and 2008 — what the Flores' brothers considered "peak distribution"— they transported and sold approximately 3,300 to 4,400 pounds of cocaine every month. While wholesale value varies due to a number of factors, including the location of the shipment, a kilogram, or about 2.2 pounds, in Chicago could easily run $30,000, according to their testimony. As such, their operation moved $60 million of drugs primarily through the Midwestern metropolis every month.

How It Worked

Prior to late 2007, the Flores twins moved almost all of their drugs in semi-trucks and trailers with trap compartments in the roof.

After that, Pedro and Margarito started working with a man named Alfredo, who claimed to be a lifelong friend of El Chapo, even godfather to his son. On behalf of the cartel leader, Alfredo helped them transport cocaine from Colombia to Mexico in airplanes, submarines, and trains. 

The Flores brothers soon agreed to establish legitimate shipping companies with Alfredo and his wife, which gave them a simpler method for transporting cocaine to the US. The brothers didn't want to run the businesses themselves, but they invested $600,000 in startup money and agreed to pay $1,000 for every kilogram moved by train. 

Once the cocaine arrived, the Flores brothers maintained several warehouse and "stash houses" in Chicago and other cities. There, the crews unloaded shipments of drugs for customers, and they counted and packaged the profits of those sales. All of the money went back to suppliers in Mexico. 

Also, for a 3% to 7% fee, Alfredo's wife shipped cash profits from one location to another using both planes and cars. The shipments ranged from $100,000 to several millions, according to the brothers' statements. 

Alfredo also gave the brothers access to cocaine transported in 747s and submarines by El Chapo and other members of the Sinaloa cartel, like Ismael Zambada-Garcia, known as "El Mayo" or "Mayo Zambada."

They used the 747s with no seats to ship clothing to Central or South America as part of humanitarian aid projects. Once the planes arrived, workers unloaded them and replaced the clothes with up to 13 tons of cocaine for the return trip to Mexico, according to the testimony. After landing at Mexico City International Airport, El Chapo's paid contacts unloaded the cocaine and transported it out of the airport.

The process also often required smaller airplanes, submarines, tractor trailers, fishing vessels, speed boats, personal automobiles, and El Chapo's infamous tunnel system. 

The Sinaloa Cartel Today

After a 13-year manhunt, Mexican marines finally caught up with El Chapo in February 2014. (He escaped from a high-security Mexican prison in a laundry cart in 2001.) 

El Chapo appeared on numerous lists of both the wealthiest and most wanted in the world. His bloody feuds with two other cartels, the Juárez and Los Zetas, have left nearly 80,000 people dead in the past seven years.

After El Chapo's capture, El Mayo reportedly took over the Sinaloa cartel. Despite his son's arrest in November 2014, El Mayo remains at large, with unknown whereabouts. 

"I knew that once the people I have talked about today found out I was cooperating, they would try to kill me and my family," Margarito, now in witness protection, said in his statement.

SEE ALSO: The World's Most Notorious Drug Kingpin: 'I'm A Farmer'

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The acting head of the U.S. Secret Service said on Wednesday that the agency charged with protecting the president had been "severely damaged" by harmful lapses, including allowing a knife-carrying man to jump a fence and run into the White Housein September.

Joseph Clancy told the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee he had sought to establish a culture of trust within the Secret Service since replacing Julia Pierson, who resigned under fire as director on Oct. 1.

A lack of trust had driven some employees to take concerns about internal problems to people outside the Secret Service rather than trusting their supervisors and the agency leadership to confront issues head-on, Clancy said.

In his first congressional testimony since becoming acting director, Clancy noted "an urgent need" to re-establish what he called one of the most basic tenets of a well-functioning workplace: "Trust your boss that he will stand up and do the right thing."

An internal review released last week found that an intruder was able to scale the White House fence and enter the main floor of the building on Sept. 19 because of major Secret Service failures, including an agent distracted by a personal cellphone call.

The incident involving Iraq war veteran Omar Gonzalez was one of the worst security breaches since President Barack Obama took office in 2009.

"Without question, the agency has been severely damaged in recent years by failures ranging from disgraceful misconduct on the part of some employees to operational breakdowns that undermine the trust and confidence that previous generations worked so hard to establish," Clancy testified.

Clancy called the report on the Sept. 19 incident "devastating."

"Although I firmly believe that the Secret Service is better than this incident, I openly acknowledge that a failure of this magnitude - especially in light of other recent incidents - requires immediate action and longer-term reform," Clancy added.

Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican, said incidents including the Gonzalez one "give me great concern that the policies, procedures and training at the Secret Service are not entirely up to the task.

"Others include the Columbian prostitution scandal, the recent ability of a security guard with a criminal history to take a service weapon into an elevator with the president and the incident in the Netherlands dealing with intoxicated Secret Service agents," Goodlatte added.

(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

SEE ALSO: Internal report reveals how the Secret Service let an intruder into the White House

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North Korea has aimed fresh threats at the United States, reports The Associated Press. Specifically, it is sounding alarms that it will beef up its war capability and conduct a fourth nuclear test.

The controversial nation is pointing its accusations at the United States because of a recent UN resolution urging the Security Council to refer the North's rights situation to the International Criminal Court.

"It's the first time a U.N. resolution included the idea that the North's absolute leader could be targeted by prosecutors. Before the U.N. vote, a North Korean envoy threatened a nuclear test," writes the Associated Press.

North Korea fired back in the wake of this news saying that the resolution approval is a "grave political provocation" orhcestrated by the US.

The AP notes that an unidentified ministry spokesman says that North Korea's war response will be boosted up in an "unlimited manner" to match what they see as hostility coming from the US.

"The reality is the need for us to maintain powerful state capability in order to defend our people's human rights," said Choe Myong Nam, North Korea's UN representative, according to CNN. "The outrageous and unreasonable human rights campaign staged by the United States and its followers in their attempts to eliminate the state and social system of the (North Korea) is compelling us not to refrain any further from conducting nuclear tests."

CNN reports that China, Russia and Cuba are all against the resolution in question and they said the result of the vote was manipulated. China and Russia are among the five UN Security Council members who have the power of veto.

North Korea's leaders have been accused of using murder, torture, slavery, and other tactics to, as CNN puts it "prop up the isolated regime and exercise total control over its citizens." The country denies all human rights allegations that have come its way. 

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The US Army is seeking to reinvent itself in the face of a host of unprecedented challenges. Between tightening budgets, a shrinking military force, and a world of smaller and asymmetrical threats, the Army has released a new global strategy. 

The new strategy, encapsulated in the US Army Operating Concept manual "Win in a Complex World," describes how the Army of the future will shape the world's security situation through conflict prevention and the ability to conduct expeditionary maneuvers and combined arms operations. 

A significant part of this new strategy comes down to investing in new technology that should aid the Army in the number of new uncertain roles it may play in the future. 

“The world is changing all around us, so we have to adapt and change,” General Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, told The Wall Street Journal. “We are facing one threat in Korea, we are facing another threat with Russia, and another with ISIS. So we have to mold our response.”

Below are the main technologies that the Army indicated will become a central focus of their new operating strategy. 

"Mobile Protected Precision Firepower" 

In order to better protect its soldiers, the US Army is investing in lighter weight and lower volume vehicular platforms. These platforms would offer increased protection to soldiers on deployment, while being easier to maneuver and maintain. 

In addition to new vehicular platforms, the Army is researching the development of sensors that would locate and identify threats to provide better protection for troops in the field. 

"Lethality And Effects" 

The Army hopes to develop technology that would improve the lethality and accuracy of future weaponry. This would include the creation of next generation command systems for attack launches, weapons systems that are interoperable with allies, and precision guidance systems that would significantly decrease the chance of civilian casualties. 

"Logistics Optimization" 

Recognizing the difficulties inherent with extended supply lines, the Army envisions a host of new technologies that would radically change the face of logistics. These methods include water generation on demand, 3d printing, increasingly efficient power saving and generation technologies, and improved power storage. 

Each of these technologies would allow the Army to reduce sustainment and lift requirements of operating bases. This would lead to significant cost cutting and an increase in efficiency. 

"Army Aviation" 

The Army's wish list for future aviation technologies centers around improved vertical take-off and landing technologies and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The general aim is to increase the overall effectiveness and ease with which supplies can be airlifted to soldiers in deployment at any time, including through the deployment of supplies by UAS. 

The Army will also pursue technologies that allow for UAS to better survive electronic attacks while having greater enhanced situation understanding and lethality. 

"Medical Sciences"

The Army is pursuing advances in medical sciences that would both offer a qualitative improvement in life for veterans and life saving technologies. Qualitative improvements include the development of more responsive prosthetic technologies, while life saving technologies include current research into treating traumatic brain injuries. 

"Information To Decision"

As the Army seeks to streamline its entire order of operations, there is also an increasing focus on the development of analytical tools that will aid in mission command decisions. These tools will be based around simple and resilient technologies, such as cloud-enabled networks, that would allow operators to take advantage of the new systems in austere environments.

In relation to these advances, the Army will spend significantly more resources combating cyber attacks while increasing its own offensive cyberspace capabilities.

"Human Performance Optimization" 

Human performance optimization hopes to cut down on required training times, while increasing the aptitude of soldiers, through a variety of tools. New blended virtual reality tools hold promise for increasing competence among soldiers and commanders, while better screening tools can more accurately match an enlistee with the best possible military occupation. 

"Autonomy-Enabled Systems"

Ultimately, the US Army is seeking to develop learning autonomous and semi-autonomous unmanned ground systems (UGS). UGS will function as a force multiplier for the Army in a multitude of ways. Firstly, UGS will be able to operate in areas that are potentially lethal for humans, such as after a nuclear disaster like Fukushima. 

Secondly, UGS systems will be able to play increasingly larger expeditionary roles for routine maintenance, re-supply operations, and persistent surveillance and reconnaissance. This would limit the potential human cost, and would increase Army efficiency. 

SEE ALSO: 15 astounding technologies DARPA is creating right now

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The U.S. military is the largest, most powerful force in the world. After two wars over the last ten years, it's clear that the U.S. has had plenty of time and practice to keep our forces battle-tested.

Combat troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan in 2014, effectively marking the end of the war. President Obama has pledged that all US troops will be out of the country by 2016. However, Marines, Army, and Navy continue to train and stay battle ready. 

The following night photos, drawn from the U.S. Marines, Army, Air Force, and Navy show just how cutting-edge our military has become.

Inspired by similar images posted by Foreign Policy, we have prepared our own gallery including a few more exclusively from military photographers.

A Marine Special Operations Team member fires a M240B machine gun during night fire sustainment training in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

U.S. Marines with Lima Battery, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, fire M777A2 Lightweight Howitzers during exercise Steel Knight in California.

Marines participate in an external load lifting exercise with a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter.

As Russian military supplies continue to pour into Ukraine, it becomes harder by the day for Putin to deny that Moscow is providing arms to the separatists. 

Since the conflict in eastern Ukraine began last spring, the separatists have become increasingly well equipped and capable of resisting the Ukrainian military. Some of the supplies the separatists use have been captured or looted from governmental personnel.

However, a number of pictures prove that the separatists are armed with Russian weapons that have extremely rarely, if ever, been exported outside of Russia. 

The Armament Research Services has released their third report on the arms and munitions being used by both the Ukrainian government and the rebels in the ongoing conflict. Complete with photographic evidence, it is clear that Moscow has been covertly supplying an assortment of older Soviet weaponry along with recently introduced Russian equipment to the separatists. 

Self-Loading Rifles

Self-loading rifles are a popular weapon of the separatist forces. 

Aside from a number of AK rifle varieties, the separatists also sport a host of recreation hunting and sport firearms. In one case, a separatist was documented using VSS rifles. These are Russian-made marksman rifles that are analogous to those used by Russian forces during the annexation of Crimea. 

The self-loading rifles used by the separatists include: 

Soviet AK-74
Soviet AKS-74U
Soviet AR-10 and AR-15 hunting rifles
Russian VSS designated marksman rifle 

Light Machine Guns

Light machine guns make up some of the most common weaponry of the separatists.

The light machine guns utilized by the separatists include weaponry used by the Ukrainian military, as well as Russian-produced guns that are not in service with Ukrainian forces. The PKP 'Pecheneg' light machine gun, for example, is not used by the Ukrainian forces and has been exported outside of Russia in only minimal quantities.

The light machine guns used by the separatists include: 

Russian RPK-74
Russian PK and PK GPMGs
Russian PKP 'Pecheneg' 

Shotguns And Bolt-Action Rifles

The use of shotguns and bolt-action rifles have been documented as being used by separatists who are incapable of accessing better quality small arms. 

Some older bolt-action sporting rifles have also been documented being used by the separatists. These rifles are in some cases antiques, dating to use with the Russian infantry from World War II or earlier. 

The shotguns and bolt-action rifles used by the separatists include:  

Russian semi-automatic Saiga 12 shotguns
Turkish semi-automatic Akkar Altay shotguns
Philippino Armscor Model 30 pump-action shotgun
Russian infantry Mosin M91 rifle 

The Central Intelligence Agency was not impressed with Glenn Greenwald's latest book.

According to a ABC News article published Thursday, the CIA took at "No Place to Hide," wherein Greenwald tells the story behind the series of scoops on the US National Surveillance Agency that he published last year. Those stories were largely based on information provided by famed National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

The CIA published its review of Greenwald's book, which was released in May, on its website, in a section titled "Intelligence Officer’s Bookshelf." It was written by Hayden Peake, the curator of the CIA Historical Intelligence Collection.

"Greenwald's often bitter ad hominem rationale for this is unlikely to be the last word on the subject," Peake wrote.

The review also accused Greenwald of ignoring "other interpretations regarding the legality" of the NSA's surveillance programs.

"Greenwald is appalled at the concept implied in the chapter’s title and analyzes it with the presumption of illegality while dismissing without comment the intelligence issues that led to its adoption," wrote Peake. "Greenwald also ignores other interpretations regarding the legality of the NSA’s collection programs—for example, the views of retired admiral Michael McConnell, former director of the National Security Agency and national intelligence." 

The review, which includes assessments of two other books about Snowden,  nevertheless offered some backhanded praise for Greenwald's work. 

"'No Place To Hide' is the most complete, though far from the most objective account of the Snowden affair to date," it noted.

Greenwald, who now works at The Intercept, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, but he did express his amusement on Twitter.

"I love that so much," he wrote of the review.

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