Facebook is facing what it describes internally as a "tsunami" of privacy regulations all over the world, which will force the company to dramatically change how it deals with users' personal data.

A document was written last year by Facebook privacy engineers on the Ad and Business Product team, whose mission is "to make meaningful connections between people and businesses," and which "sits at the center of our monetization strategy and is the engine that powers Facebook's growth.".

This is the team that is tasked with building and maintaining Facebook's sprawling ads system, the core of the company's business. And in this document, the team is both sounding an alarm, and making a call to change how Facebook deals with users' data to prevent the company from running into trouble with regulators in Europe, the US, India, and other countries that are pushing for more stringent privacy constraints on social media companies.

"Facebook has a general idea of how many bits of data are stored in its data centers.Where [the data] goes part is, broadly speaking, a complete shitshow. It is a damning admission, but also offers Facebook legal cover because of how much it would cost Facebook to fix this mess. It gives them the excuse for keeping that much private data simply because at their scale and with their business model and infrastructure design they can plausibly claim that they don't know what they have."

Johnny Ryan, a privacy activist and senior fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, told Motherboard in an online chat:

"This document admits what we long suspected: that there is a data free-for-all inside Facebook, and that the company has no control whatsoever over the data it holds. It is a black and white recognition of the absence of any data protection. Facebook details how it breaks each principle of data protection law. Everything it does to our data is illegal. You're not allowed to have an internal data free-for-all."

Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next, a trade organization that represents journalism publishers and an outspoken critic of Facebook, said that

"consumers and regulators would and should be shocked at the magnitude and disorder of the data inside of Facebook's systems."

The leaked document also refers to a new, unreleased, product called "Basic Ads," which the document authors refer to as a "short term" response to requirements of regulations around the world.

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Washington doesn't want to see the Ukraine conflict expand to Transnistria or Moldova, says the US defense secretary

The US is still analyzing the recent incidents in the breakaway region of Transnistria and does not want to see the conflict in Ukraine "spilling over" to the area, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday at a conference in Germany on supplying Kiev with weapons and equipment.

"Certainly, we don't want to see any spillover, and again, it's important to make sure we do everything we can to ensure that Ukraine is successful," he added.

Austin was in Germany to organize some 40 US allies to send weapons to Ukraine, promising to "move heaven and earth" to help Kiev "win" the conflict with Russia.

His remarks came as the government in Chisinau convened an emergency meeting on the situation in Transnistria, a breakaway region of Moldova where a series of attacks have taken place over the past two days.

Two explosions on Tuesday destroyed two radio towers in the town of Mayak, which had been broadcasting Russian radio signals to Transnistria. On Monday, someone fired rocket-propelled grenades at a government building in Tiraspol, the capital of the breakaway region. A military base in Parkany was also attacked. There were no casualties.

Authorities in Tiraspol have called the incidents "terrorist attacks" and placed the territory of the self-proclaimed Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR) on high alert.

Russia is also "watching the situation very closely," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, but added there were no plans to arrange a meeting with Moldovan President Maia Sandu at the moment.

Sandwiched between Moldova and Ukraine, the largely Russian-speaking Transnistria declared independence amid the breakup of the Soviet Union. A Russian peacekeeping force has been stationed in the region since the 1992 armistice froze the conflict with Chisinau.

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The US and UK have given Sweden "concrete promises" of military protection between its application to join NATO and its formal acceptance into the alliance, Aftonbladet reported on Monday. Although neutral since the 19th century, Sweden is reportedly preparing to abandon its policy of non-alignment and join the US-led military bloc this year.

Politicians in Stockholm have long flirted with the idea, but Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said earlier this month that Europe's "security landscape has completely changed" following Russia's military offensive on Ukraine, and that Sweden would reevaluate its neutrality in response.

Should Sweden apply for membership, the UK and US have promised to provide military protection between application and membership, after which the alliance's mutual defense clause would come into effect.

One source said that while NATO members are forbidden from expressing any formal guarantees of protection to non-members, they would still be able to take informal measures like stationing troops in Sweden, hosting military exercises, and offering "political support."

"In practice, Sweden will be treated as a full-fledged NATO member shortly after a declaration of interest."

The UK has specifically offered to increase its naval presence in Swedish waters during the application process.

Russia has warned that the inclusion of Sweden and Finland in NATO would have "military and political consequences," and would threaten stability in Europe. Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and current deputy chair of the Russian National Security Council, said earlier this month that Russia would have to strengthen its forces in the region in response, and suggested that the Baltic area would not remain "nuclear-free" if the Nordic nations joined NATO.

NATO members Latvia, Estonia, and the Netherlands will hold joint naval exercises with Finland in the Baltic Sea, Helsinki has confirmed, noting the drills will focus on "mine countermeasures."

The wargames will be held between Thursday and Friday following a visit to Turku, Finland by NATO's Mine Action Division. The drills will include a Latvian mine-laying vessel and mine-sweepers from Estonia and the Netherlands. Coastal Fleet's chief of staff, Commander Mikko Villikari, said

"The main goal of the exercise is to search for and identify underwater objects. In these exercises, we learn to work as part of a group that we do not regularly interact with. It helps to maintain international expertise."

Two Katanpaa-class mine-hunters from Finland's fleet will also take part in the training.

The Finnish military said the wargames will be carried out somewhere in the Archipelago Sea within the Baltic, located 330 miles (540km) from the Russian city of St. Petersburg. Moscow, which shares an 830-mile (1,340km) border with Finland, has warned such a move could force it to "restore military balance" in the Baltic region.