Gist Coven

A Russian fighter jet reportedly made unsafe maneuvers near a US aircraft flying over the Black Sea. The fighter jet flew in front of the US aircraft and turned on its afterburners. The incident comes amid divisive rhetoric from Russia, in which it likened US service members operating in Syria to "occupying forces." A Russian fighter jet reportedly made unsafe maneuvers near a US aircraft flying over the Black Sea, CNN reported Monday. The Russian Su-30 jet reportedly crossed in front of the US P-8A Poseidon aircraft Saturday, flying as close as 50 feet, and turned on its afterburners, Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said to CNN. The maneuver left "violent turbulence" in its wake, forcing the P-8A to deal with a 15-degree roll, according to Baldanza. The incident reportedly lasted 24 minutes. "The US aircraft was operating in international airspace and did nothing to provoke this Russian behavior," Baldanza said in the repo...

Social media giants Twitter is taking new steps to ban certain advertising after revealing that bots linked to Russian attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election used the platform to spread their message. “State-sponsored attempts to “interfere with and disrupt” the election are “not something we want on Twitter,” the San Francisco social media company said on its blog. Twitter said it will donate the $1.9 million in advertising revenue it has obtained since 2011 from Russia Today to outside research about Twitter’s use in “civic engagement and elections.” Sputnik and Russia Today, also known as RT, won’t lose their ability to post to Twitter — meaning they can continue using the service to circulate articles, videos and opinion pieces. Twitter’s move comes as social media platforms face increased scrutiny for their failure to stop bots, foreign governments and anonymous ads from spreading misinformation and propaganda. Twitter and Facebook have both pledged t...