International

The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter. Intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided WikiLeaks with thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, according to U.S. officials. Those officials described the individuals as actors known to the intelligence community and part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and hurt Clinton's chances. "It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia's goal here was to favor on...

Professional child actors were used to make the film in Morocco A video appearing to show a young Syrian boy braving sniper fire to rescue a girl was faked by a Norwegian film crew as an experiment, it has emerged. The unidentified boy was labelled as a hero after footage circulated showing him apparently dodging a shower of bullets with the terrified girl to drag her to safety. After being shared by Syrian activists and the Shaam Network, it attracted international attention and has so far garnered more than 5 million views on YouTube. But now a group of Norwegian filmmakers has come forward to say they faked the video and deliberately presented it as reality to “spur debate”. It was scripted and filmed in Malta over the summer with professional child actors and Syrian refuge...

CIA Says Russia Favored Trump by leaking emails

Footage of Syrian boy ‘braving sniper fire’ to rescue girl was faked by Norwegian filmmakers