Washington (AFP) - Pro-Russian separatists likely used weapons supplied by Moscow to shoot down Ukrainian aircraft in recent weeks, NATO's top commander General Philip Breedlove said Monday.

Russia was maintaining a large troop presence near Ukraine's border and had provided anti-aircraft weapons and other hardware to the rebels, Breedlove told a Pentagon news conference.

Asked if the separatists used the weapons to take out Ukrainian aircraft in recent weeks, Breedlove said all the facts need to be "sorted out" but "I would say it's a very good likelihood" that Russian-supplied arms were behind the attacks.

"What we see in training on the east side of the (Ukrainian) border, is big equipment, APCs (armored personnel carriers), anti-aircraft capability . . .and now we see those capabilities being used on the west side of the border," the general said.

A Ukrainian military cargo plane was shot down on June 14, killing 49 people on board, and a Ukrainian helicopter was downed last week, leaving nine troops dead. Officials in Kiev blamed pro-Russian separatists for both incidents.

Breedlove said the Russian military had more than seven battalion-sized task groups and "numerous" special operations forces deployed near the border.

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NATO's top commander General Philip Breedlove speaks during a press conference on May 22, 2014 a …

"That's not a helpful development," he said.

Although there had been encouraging words from all sides promoting a truce, there was "continued conflict" on the ground and "continued support" for conflict from the Russian side of the border, he said.

NATO would have to watch the situation "with a wary eye," he said.

Breedlove, the supreme allied commander of NATO, said the crisis illustrated the need to avoid any further cuts to US forces in Europe.

While there was room to scale back some unnecessary bases or other infrastructure for budget savings, Breedlove said he opposed any cuts to the number of troops stationed in Europe.

"As far as force structure, I don't think we can take any more reductions," he said.

Some additional US forces might be needed to deploy to Europe for temporary "rotational" missions, he said, as the transatlantic alliance seeks to bolster its profile in Eastern Europe and reassure allies due to tensions with Russia.

The United States has roughly 66,000 troops in Europe, down from a peak of about 400,000 during the Cold War.

The U.S. is sending another 300 troops to Iraq to beef up security at the U.S. Embassy and elsewhere in the Baghdad area to protect U.S. citizens and property, officials said Monday.

That raises the total U.S. troop presence in Iraq to approximately 750, the Pentagon said.

The State Department, meanwhile, announced that it was temporarily moving an unspecified "small number" of embassy staff in Baghdad to U.S. consulates in the northern city of Irbil and the southern city of Basra. This is in addition to some embassy staff moved out of Baghdad earlier this month,

Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the Baghdad embassy "will be fully equipped to carry out" its mission.

The White House announced that President Barack Obama had directed that 200 troops be sent to reinforce security at the embassy, its support facilities and Baghdad International Airport.

The Pentagon said the 200 arrived Sunday and Monday.

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Iraqi policemen take part in a search operation for illegal weapons as part of intensified security …

"The presence of these additional forces will help enable the embassy to continue its critical diplomatic mission and work with Iraq on challenges they are facing as they confront Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant," the Pentagon's press secretary, Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, said in a written statement.

Obama notified House and Senate leaders in a letter on Monday of the additional forces heading to Iraq. Officials said they bring a detachment of helicopters and drone aircraft to improve airfield and travel route security in Baghdad.

Obama has ruled out sending combat troops back into Iraq. He said the extra troops will stay in Iraq until security improves so that the reinforcements are no longer needed.

Kirby said another 100 troops, who had been on standby in the Middle East since mid-June, also will move into Baghdad to provide security and logistics support.

That raises to about 470 the number of U.S. troops providing security in Baghdad.

Those forces are separate from the teams of up to 300 U.S. military advisers that Obama authorized for deployment to Iraq earlier in June. Of those 300, about 180 had arrived as of Monday, the Pentagon said. They are assessing the state of Iraqi security forces and coordinating with Iraqi authorities.

The U.S. also has a permanent group of about 100 military personnel in the Office of Security Cooperation, at the U.S. Embassy, to coordinate U.S. military sales.

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AP National Security Writer Robert Burns contributed to this report.

Washington (AFP) - The US National Security Agency has been authorized to intercept information "concerning" all but four countries worldwide, top-secret documents say, according to The Washington Post.

"The United States has long had broad no-spying arrangements with those four countries — Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand," the Post reported Monday.

Yet "a classified 2010 legal certification and other documents indicate the NSA has been given a far more elastic authority than previously known, one that allows it to intercept through US companies not just the communications of its overseas targets but any communications about its targets as well."

The certification — approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and included among a set of documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden -- says 193 countries are "of valid interest for US intelligence."

The certification also let the agency gather intelligence about entities such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, European Union and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the report said.

“These documents show both the potential scope of the government's surveillance activities and the exceedingly modest role the court plays in overseeing them,” Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union who had the documents described to him, told the Post.

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In this image taken from video provided by NBC News on Tuesday, May 27, 2014, Edward Snowden, a form …

The report stresses the NSA did not necessarily target nearly all countries but had authorization to do so.

It should come as cold comfort to Germany which was outraged by revelations last year that the NSA eavesdropped on Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone, as well as about wider US surveillance programmes of Internet and phone communications.

Germany's parliament is investigating the extent of spying by the US National Security Agency and its partners on German citizens and politicians, and whether German intelligence aided its activities.

The privacy issue is a particularly sensitive one in formerly divided Germany.

Ties between Washington and Europe more broadly, as well as other nations such as Brazil, have been strained since the revelations, despite assurances from US President Barack Obama that he is ending spy taps on friendly world leaders.

The Obama administration has insisted the NSA needs tools to be able to thwart terror attacks not just against the United States, but also its allies.

Snowden, a 30-year-old former NSA contractor was granted temporary asylum by Russia last August after shaking the American intelligence establishment to its core with a series of devastating leaks on mass surveillance in the US and around the world.

Report: Only 4 countries exempt from NSA spying

Secret documents reveal the agency was authorized to intercept data "concerning" 193 countries worldwide.
Leaked by Snowden

Sarkozy detained in French corruption probe

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy enters a room to meet with Spain's King Juan Carlos at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, May 27, 2014. Sarkozy earlier met with Spain's Premier Mariano Rajoy. (AP Photo/Paul White)

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NANTERRE, France (AP) — Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been detained and was reportedly being questioned by financial investigators Tuesday in a corruption probe that is rattling France's conservative political establishment.

A judicial official said Sarkozy was in custody in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. The official, who was not authorized to be publicly named discussing an ongoing investigation, would not provide further details.

French media reports say Sarkozy is being questioned in an investigation linked to financing for his 2007 presidential campaign. The case centers around whether Sarkozy and his lawyer were kept informed of insider information on the investigation by a friendly magistrate.

Sarkozy and his lawyer have denied wrongdoing. His lawyer, Thierry Herzog, is also being held for questioning, according to French news reports.

Investigators are basing suspicions at least in part on tapped phone conversations that Sarkozy has denounced and compared to actions by the secret police in the old East Germany.

The detention threatens to further cloud Sarkozy's reputation as he considers a political comeback after his 2012 defeat by President Francois Hollande.

Allies from his conservative UMP party — which has been in leadership crisis because of questions over spending during Sarkozy's 2012 presidential campaign — jumped to the former president's defense. "They have never imposed such treatment on a former president, with such a surge of hate," lawmaker Christian Estrosi tweeted Tuesday morning.

Former French President Jacques Chirac was convicted in a corruption investigation in 2011, after he left office, but when he was questioned in the case he was not held in police custody.

The Socialist government tried to stay above the fray.

"Justice officials are investigating, they should carry out the task to the end. Nicolas Sarkozy is a citizen answerable to justice like any other," government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said on i-Tele television.