A mammoth Der Spiegel article points to Russian-German understanding for a broad settlement of the Ukrainian conflictYesterday Russia Insider published a lengthy account from the German magazine Der Spiegel of the Minsk negotiations.

This article is a good example of the sort of press Merkel gets in Germany. It portrays her as the heroine of the hour, battling to save peace from the sinister designs of others. The article lavishes praise on her in a way that readers outside Germany might find unsettling. Contrary to what many in the West think, the Russian media never writes about Putin in this way.

The very favourable publicity Merkel gets in Germany is coordinated by her own office. Articles like the one in Der Spiegel are written in close communication with her office. This means that though the article gives a rather one-sided account of the Minsk negotiations, it is nonetheless packed with information if one knows how to read it properly. In the case of this particular piece, we can be certain that Merkel's office was involved since the article actually names it as a source.

The first thing we learn from the text is that what triggered the Minsk process is the disintegration of the Ukrainian economy and especially of the Ukrainian military.

"Israel is an apartheid state." For a second, I think I must have misheard. I'm at a gala in downtown Manhattan on February 3 held by the ultra-Zionist newspaper Algemeiner, and the opening speaker appears to be going off-script. "Israel targets civilians," she continues. Is this an awkward attempt at reverse psychology? Did she feel a last-minute pang of sympathy for the Palestinians on her way here, tossing her prepared speech out of the Uber and starting anew? She rattles off a few more common criticisms of Israel, none of which any honest observer would dispute, before pulling a quick rhetorical 180 that by now the audience is prepared for: "These are some of the lies you hear in the mainstream media." It's going to be a long evening.

The gala is meant to honor the "Jewish 100," a list of the "top 100 people positively influencing Jewish Life." The list of honorees, many of whom are not Jewish, includes Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi, One Direction member Harry Styles, and the Pope. Algemeiner is not exactly a household name, but it has managed to carve out a niche for itself publishing online articles filled with a particularly rabid brand of hasbara. "Why do 80% of Palestinians Support Murder?" one piece asks. Another approvingly quotes an Israeli think-tank's claim that "almost 50% of those killed in Gaza" during Operation Protective Edge were "terrorist operatives" (according to the Gaza Health Ministry, 70% were civilians, while a recent AP investigation concluded that only 11% were militants). The publication's tone should be familiar to anyone who has waded into the morass of right-wing Zionist propaganda: fear masquerading as strength.

The militants of the Islamic State terrorist group are going to occupy the territory of Libya and use it as a beachhead for attacks all over the Southern Europe, reports The Daily Telegraph with reference to revealed letters written by the group's supporters.

According to the edition, the document was written by an IS agitator recruiting extremists in Libya since Muammar Kaddafi's overthrow and the beginning of the internal military conflict.

Jihadists are going to flood Libya with IS militants from Syria and Iraq that will try to cross the Mediterranean Sea passing off as migrants, the document states. This data was provided by the British counter-extremist foundation Quiliam.

Kiev troops surrounded in the city of Debalstevo have started to surrender en masse, Ukrainian rebels have said. President Poroshenko announced a complete withdrawal from the contested city.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko confirmed in a video statement that he has given an order to withdraw troops from Debaltsevo on Wednesdsay.

"We stated and proved that Debaltsevo was under our control and that there was no encirclement. Our units withdrew according to plan in an organized manner. They took military hardware with them - tanks, APCs, artillery pieces, tow-tracks, cars," the president said.

He added that some 80 percent of the troops have already left the city.

Reuters cited a witness who saw the troops, some of them injured, arriving in Artemyevsk, a city northwest of Debaltsevo, through which a road leading to Kiev-controlled areas goes.

Hackers working primarily from Gaza, Egypt, Morocco responsible for attacks on Israeli government, military and infrastructure systems.

Palestinian hackers were behind a series of cyber-attacks on Israeli targets, according to a new report published by the Trend Micro company. The slew of attacks, which began in 2013, were directed at government, Israel Defense Forces, academia and infrastructure websites, and were meant to collect information for the purpose of conducting further cyber-attacks in the future.

The report, entitled Arid Viper, and compiled with cooperation from the U.S. Air Force, reveals that the hackers were working primarily from the Gaza Strip, but also from Egypt and Morocco, and used contaminated emails in order to get harmful programs into Israeli organizations' computer networks. The company did not reveal which companies were attacked, or how much information was stolen.

The hackers' used the tactic, known as Spear Phishing, primarily against employees at Israeli companies. It is a common method among hackers, both those who work for intelligence organizations, as well as hackers with criminal motives. In Israel, the tactic is known for an instance in which it was used to send a fake email, supposedly from outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, to various officials within the Israel Police and the Foreign Ministry.

You can take the leader out of his battalion, but you can't take the battalion out of its leader: a Ukrainian MP has issued outrageous threats against Crimea and threatened to torch its population.

The militantly pro-Ukrainian Dnipro Battalion leader- turned-MP Yuri Bereza has promised to "burn down Crimea, with all of its residents if needed," vociferously refusing to "liberate the peninsula in a somewhat cultural manner." The saber-rattling politician, did not specify who might need the people to be burnt and why.

The threat was voiced in a live broadcast on the Ukrainian national TV channel 1+1.

Although Pennsylvania's new Governor Tom Wolf, who last November unseated Republican incumbent Tom Corbett, cited more than 315 million solid reasons to back his surprise order putting an immediate moratorium on executions in Pennsylvania, law enforcement organizations in the state still castigated his action, calling it an outrageous assault on a criminal justice system that they contend works well.

When Wolf announced his imposition of a moratorium on executions due to a disturbing history of abuses and errors in death penalty prosecutions in the state with the fifth largest death row in the country, he cited a damning statistic overlooked in most news media accounts of his recent action.

Operating the death penalty in Pennsylvania over the course of the past thirty-plus-years has cost the state's taxpayers between $315-to-$600-million, Wolf noted in a memorandum his office released that detailed why he halted executions.

The state of Pennsylvania "has received very little, if any, benefit from this massive expenditure," Gov. Wolf said. An exact cost figure for death penalty prosecutions in Pennsylvania remains elusive because state legislators and top officials in its court system have to date resisted compiling specific such figures.

The enormous expenses associated with the death penalty, from trial through appeals to execution, is a reason why many other states that have halted executions. Death penalty prosecutions cost three times as much or more than non-capital murder prosecutions, repeated studies nationwide have documented.

New Jersey, a state adjacent to Pennsylvania, abolished its death penalty in 2007 due largely to costs. Seventeen other states nationwide have abolished the death penalty, too. Four others, now including Pennsylvania, have imposed moratoriums on executions.

During a CNN internal town hall Tuesday, network chief Jeff Zucker said it's not a conflict of interest for an executive of the network to host the president and First Lady in their home, an insider familiar with the event told TheWrap.

Responding to an anonymous email question from a CNN staffer regarding an unnamed D.C. executive who hosted the Obamas — along with other parents — in their home for dinner, Zucker said there's no issue.

"Zucker said no [it's not a conflict] because he goes to cocktail parties all the time with different parents of his children's friends," the insider told TheWrap.

An insider familiar with the gathering told TheWrap, "The dinner was for parents and kids from Sidwell Friends School [in D.C.], where President Obama sends his kids to school," adding that it wasn't a private dinner for the Obamas.

A CNN D.C. bureau spokesperson did not immediately respond to TheWrap's request for comment.

Vice President Joe Biden clearly takes a hands on approach when it comes to his day job.

Tuesday, at Defense Sec. Ash Carter's swearing-in ceremony, Biden got all touchy feely with Carter's wife, Stephanie. From the pictures, it looks like he's whispering sweet nothings into her right ear. He's also getting a good whiff of her shampoo.

Let's give him the benefit of the doubt: Perhaps he was trying to be comforting after her spill on the ice at the Pentagon this morning while she was accompanying her husband on his first day on the job.

She doesn't necessarily look uncomfortable, but then again we're not mind readers.

In December, 2013, Biden grabbed the waist of The Hill's White House reporter Amie Parnes at a White House holiday party. As she appeared to protect her underboob, he veered dangerously close to her abdomen. The picture quickly went viral.

Clearly laughs were had by all. Happy holidays!

The Obamas have spent an estimated $2.5 million after Barack and the rest of his family took separate weekend breaks.

President Obama spent Valentine's weekend in California, where he managed to squeeze in three rounds of golf at a California course owned by Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison.

Meanwhile, his wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia flew to Aspen in Colorado for a skiing trip on board a separate presidential aircraft.

According to the White House, President Obama flew to San Francisco on Thursday afternoon where he had several events, before taking Saturday, Sunday and Monday off. He delivered a speech at a summit on cyber security before attending a round-table meeting with business leaders. His final official engagement of the weekend was a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee at the home of venture capitalist Sandy Robinson.

Guests paid $10,000 for dinner and a photograph with the president or $32,400 to co-chair the fundraiser.

While President Obama was in California, his wife was in Aspen, Colorado, where she has spent several Presidents' Day holidays away from her husband.

President Obama used his weekly television address to wish his wife a happy Valentine's Day.