MDA and U.S. Navy sailors in the USS LAKE ERIE successfully conducted a flight test of the Aegis BMD system, resulting in the intercept of a ballistic missile target over the Pacific Ocean by the newest missile defense interceptor missile SM-3 Block IB.

A network of new-generation Voronezh-class anti-missile radars will enter combat duty in Russia ahead of the approved schedule, officials said on Tuesday.

The US Defense Department is urging Congress to grant its request for one more year of funding for a divisive multinational project to develop new battlefield antimissile technology,

Germany has today caved into demands made by Italy and Spain for immediate eurozone aid to bring down their soaring borrowing costs.

According to a US government source privy to the Nato meeting called by Turkey on Tuesday, Ankara has requested that the alliance draw up contingency plans for a no-fly zone to protect Turkish territory in the event of further acts of Syrian aggression.

The German leader's tough words set the scene for what is likely to be a bruising summit beginning Thursday.

It was only the second time in NATO's 63-year history that members have convened under Article 4 of its charter, after Turkey requested talks about the Iraq war in 2003.

Cyprus on 25 June became the fifth euro country to ask for help from the zone's bailout funds, hours after Spain formalised its request for a bank rescue.

EU officials have drawn up a far-reaching plan that would eventually turn the eurozone into an outright fiscal union, but acceptance by EU leaders - whose powers it reduces - will require a major leap of political faith.

NATO condemned the downing of a Turkish jet by Syria last week as “completely unacceptable” but gave no indication it would take retaliatory action. The prime minister of Turkey, however, said his country would react militarily to any future violations.

Turkey said Monday it would push NATO to consider Syria's downing of a Turkish jet as an attack on the whole military alliance.

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said that his country would respond decisively to Syria’s shooting down of his country’s military jet on Friday which he said was on a reconnaissance sortie.

Turkey has invoked the softer article four of the Nato treaty after Syria shot down one of its warplanes.

Envoys from NATO member states will meet on Tuesday after Turkey requested consultations over the downing of its military jet by Syria, a NATO spokeswoman said on Sunday.

A high-profile meeting of the eurozone's biggest economies on Friday (22 June) saw commitment to boost growth by adopting measures worth ?130 billion, but disagreement on eurobonds and how to fund ailing banks.

If Turkey has reason to believe that Syria shot down its plane, might NATO respond in a similar fashion? It's not an entirely unreasonable question.

Eurozone ministers are pressing Spain to formalise its bank aid request at the latest by Monday, and promise to send international creditors to Greece to hold talks with the newly formed government.

Monti is hoping to secure a preliminary deal with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French president Francois Hollande, and Spain's prime minister Mariano Rajoy.

A senior NATO source, speaking on condition of inscrutability, suggested that an alliance in search of a vision might well have the answer, either through its existing AWACS or through a suitably modified drone.

Barclays had its credit rating cut by two notches from A1 to A3, while HSBC, Britain’s largest bank by market capitalisation, saw its rating cut one notch from Aa2 to Aa3.

Italy's technocrat government risks a parliamentary mutiny unless premier Mario Monti can secure major concessions from Germany at a crucial summit of the eurozone's Big Four powers in Rome on Friday.

American Forces Press Service announced the start of a joint NATO and US Air Force and Army technical trial, Unified Vision 2012, on 18 June 2012. They will be operating at Oerland Air Station in Brekstad, Norway, and at other locations in Europe and US.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s insistence that the EU should not change the terms of the Greek rescue programme came under thinly disguised criticism on 19 June, ahead of a key eurozone ministers meeting planned at the end of the week.

In the survey by Ilta-Sanomat, 65 per cent of respondents felt that Makarov’s comments did not have any impact on their views. Less than one-tenth estimated that their opinion had become more negatively.

Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr. Nizar Madani visited the NATO headquarters in Brussels Monday and met with Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Not many people would immediately associate NATO with the Euro 2012 Football Championship. But NATO's "Eye in the Sky", the AWACS will be playing an important role in the security of the European teams' competition over the next three weeks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated Moscow's strong opposition to the U.S. missile defense system on Tuesday, saying that President Barack Obama's re-election would not end the dispute and insisting on joint development of the shield.

Russia and China have not agreed to any plan for the removal of President Bashar al-Assad from power but do recognize the danger of an all-out civil war in Syria, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday

Europe won support from world leaders on Tuesday for an ambitious but slow-moving overhaul of the euro zone, even as pressure built in financial markets for quicker solutions to its debt crisis that threatens the world economy.

"Frankly we are not coming here to take lessons on democracy or on how to handle the economy," said Jose Manuel Barroso ahead of a G20 meeting in Mexico, where the eurozone crisis was expected to play a central part in discussions.

Europe's leaders have vowed to mobilise all possible means to counter the region's escalating crisis after Spain's borrowing costs threatened to spiral out of control.

Greece is expected to ask for a third international bail-out agreement as soon as a government is formed, ramping up the pressure on Germany and Brussels to back the eurozone or break it.

Moscow has sent a ship carrying a small contingent of combat forces to guard Russia’s deep-water port and military base at the Syrian city of Tartus, the US officials said.

The United Nations suspended its monitoring mission in Syria on Saturday, a day after the chief observer there warned that spiraling bloodshed was hindering the ability of his team to fulfill its obligations.

The UK has signalled it accepts that a eurozone banking union will go ahead and that it will not be onboard but warned it will seek "safeguards" to protect its financial sector and the single market.

Germany is powerful but cannot solve the euro-crisis alone, Chancellor Angela Merkel told German lawmakers on 14 June, renewing calls for a political union ahead of a G20 meeting in Mexico and putting pressure on Spain to seal the bail-out deal.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard committed to deepening NATO-Australia security cooperation on Thursday (14 June) after they signed a new accord formalising bilateral relations.

Cyprus could seek as much as ?4 billion in emergency help and is looking to Europe, Russia and China for the best possible bailout terms, according to news reports in a nation that is next in line to hold the rotating EU presidency.

Prime Minister Mario Monti made a dramatic appeal to Italy's politicians on 13 June to back his tough economic medicine to avoid the country becoming the next victim of the euro debt crisis.

The European Parliament on 13 June approved draft laws that would strongly increase Brussels' power over eurozone countries' budgets. But they tempered the previously austere proposals with measures for growth, debt redemption and democratic scrutiny.

Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey and the UK participated in the Schriever Wargame 2012 at the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada in the Unites States for the first time this April. Canada and Australia also participated.

The European Commission on Tuesday (12 June) confirmed it is giving legal advice on possible capital controls and border checks should Greece leave the eurozone.

The long-range air and missile defense system, worth more than $4 billion, has attracted companies from China, Europe, Russia and the U.S.

Germany's defense minister on Monday rejected the suggestion that military intervention was the way to go in efforts to bring an end to the fighting in Syria.

Mr. Rasmussen said he agreed with the British foreign secretary, William Hague, who told Sky News over the weekend that the crisis in Syria was starting to resemble the sectarian warfare in Bosnia two decades ago.

The UK would be better off staying in the EU, the country's foremost eurosceptic think tank says, amid a growing debate among Conservatives on the merits of a British exit from the European Union.

For example, President Obama announced in Chicago that he has directed the transfer of the AN/TPY-2 radar deployed in Turkey to NATO operational control. The EPAA also includes BMD-capable Aegis ships that can perform many roles besides BMD.

Not many people would immediately associate NATO with the Euro 2012 Football Championship. But NATO's "Eye in the Sky", the AWACS will be playing an important role in the security of the European teams' competition over the next three weeks.

The funds will be channelled directly to a state-run fund for bank rescues in Spain, the Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring, but the Spanish government will sign a memorandum of understanding.

Russia's latest ballistic missile submarine, the Borey class Yury Dolgoruky will complete an initial sea trial on June 7, its maker Sevmash shipyard said on Tuesday.

Fitch downgraded Spain by three notches yesterday, citing a serious mishandling of the debt crisis by European leaders.

Cypriots officials have more than doubled in number in the EU capital, are working Sundays, sleeping little and whittling down their to-do list to euro crisis essentials as the country prepares to take over the day-to-day running of the EU.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she will use the gathering of EU leaders at the end of the month to push ahead with plans for a political union, including more sweeping powers to Brussels.

The agreement maps out practical steps where NATO and New Zealand will deepen their cooperation in areas such as intelligence, counter-terrorism, cyber-defence, disaster relief, crisis management and joint education and training.

European leaders are mustering resources to rescue Spanish banks, regardless of Madrid's protestations, amid intensifying pressure from markets and politicians around the world.

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi on Wednesday (6 June) did not rule out further cheap loans to struggling euro-banks and said that nobody can force Spain into a bail-out.

Military cooperation between Russia and NATO is progressing well and is beneficial to both parties. In contrast, cooperation between Finland and NATO threatens Russia's security.

Announcing the trip next week to Australia only hours before meeting New Zealand Prime Minister John Key in Brussels, Mr Rasmussen said "both countries are making a real difference to our mission in Afghanistan".

Spain has admitted for the first time that it can no longer raise money on the global markets or roll over its sovereign bonds, threatening to set off a dangerous escalation of Europe's debt crisis.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on 4 June said she supports more integration in the eurozone - a veiled reference to pooling debt provided EU institutions gain more supervisory powers.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and John Key, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, pledged closer security cooperation after signing a new partnership cooperation accord at NATO headquarters on 4 June 2012.

The two men spoke alongside Russian leader Vladimir Putin in a press briefing after the 29th regular EU-Russia summit, held on Monday, 4 June in St Petersburg.

Spain's ruling party has begun to crack under pressure, signalling for the first time that the country may need a European rescue to shore up its banking system.

Putin's stance on Syria and appetite for closer ties with the European Union, Moscow's largest trading partner, will be in the spotlight on Monday at his first summit with the EU since he returned to the Kremlin last month.

This will probably strengthen Western suspicions that Iran is "sanitizing" the site of any incriminating evidence before possibly allowing inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into the complex.

According to government sources, Ireland's referendum on the EU's new fiscal treaty is likely to pass by a margin of more than three to two, but with a turnout as low as 50%.

The U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder said the military alliance lacks two key mandates that would allow it to intervene in Syria to stop violence between President Bashar al-Assad and opposition forces.

The head of the European Central Bank hit out at the political paralysis gripping the region as he warned the eurozone's set-up was "unsustainable".

The last thing the US needs at the end of a difficult election year is a massive crisis over federal spending and national security - one triggered by the 2011 Budget Control Act, which mandates roughly $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts over ten ye

In short, for the first time since the end of the Cold War, U.S. Middle East policy is once again subject to larger great power issues, and in this case, what amounts to a de facto veto by Moscow, backed by Beijing.

The crisis of the euro zone is a geopolitical as well as an economic event. While Europe may yet find a path out of its economic quagmire, it will turn inward for some time. The world will not stand still while this happens.

The popular belief holds that the future of NATO rests on the strength of the Euro-Atlantic bond, any weakening of which is interpreted as a potential death knell for the Alliance.

The exact circumstances and timing of Greece’s ejection from monetary union no longer have any systemic importance for global finance. The damage has already been done. Formalising it changes little.

Obama is not up to the job in Syria. The gravest risk of American involvement is that his administration and Iran might find common ground in the Middle East chess game.

The commonly held belief that U.S. forces are in Europe to protect European allies from a threat that no longer exists is wrong. In fact, forward-basing U.S. troops in Europe is just as important now as it was during the Cold War.

In the years ahead, the security of the transatlantic community will be affected much less by military conflict than by the effects of climate change, nuclear proliferation, or the disruption of energy supplies.

The US, Europe and Arab nations are mounting a concerted effort to convince Russia that it can maintain its alliance with Syria without Bashar al-Assad at the helm.

Eurozone leaders in the early hours of Friday morning (29 June) agreed to allow bailout funds to recapitalise banks directly and to buy bonds for "well-behaving" countries - states which are pursuing reforms but suffering from market pressure.

The North Atlantic Council, which includes the ambassadors of all 28 NATO Allies, will meet on Tuesday 26 June, following a request by Turkey under article 4 of NATO's founding Washington Treaty.

Mohamed Morsy of the Muslim Brotherhood sets about building a civilian administration for Egypt on Monday that can heal a divisive history of oppression and coax a mistrustful army into relaxing its grip on power.

Italy's technocrat government risks a parliamentary mutiny unless premier Mario Monti can secure major concessions from Germany at a crucial summit of the eurozone's Big Four powers in Rome on Friday.

A three-party coalition was formed in Greece on Wednesday (20 June) with Antonis Samaras sworn in as new prime minister, a precondition for any negotiations on the second bail-out to take place.

The Euro end game is upon us. Last night President Hollande said at the G-Empty summit in Los Cabos that the bail-out fund should be used to ease the cost of Spanish and Italian borrowing.

"I am relieved. I am relieved for Greece and Europe. As soon as possible we will form a government," New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras said Sunday night, adding he would seek a grand coalition with "no preconceptions", including with the Syriza party.

A classified draft of next week’s EU summit conclusions is the first step on an emerging “roadmap” to a banking union, pooling debt via eurobonds and political union via EU treaty change over the next 10 years.

George Osborne unveiled a £140 billion emergency scheme to try to avoid a second credit crunch caused by the ongoing chaos in the eurozone.

The Obama administration said Tuesday that Russia is sending attack helicopters to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime and warned that the Arab country's 15-month conflict could become even deadlier.

Europe has lit the fuse on an economic and financial bomb. The rescue package for Spain cannot plausibly be contained to ?100bn once it begins, given the subordination of private creditors and collapse of global confidence.

Spain became the fourth and largest country Saturday to ask Europe to rescue its failing banks, a bailout of up to ?100 billion ($125 billion) that leaders hoped would stabilize a financial crisis that threatens to break apart the 17-country eurozone.

David Cameron promises to 'protect' Britain from German plans for a eurozone superstate with common banking and political systems.

The euro has essentially broken down as a viable economic and political undertaking. The latest rush of events reeks of impending denouement.

The euro faces 'disintegration' unless European governments do much more to work together, the European Commission has warned.