US secretary of state to United Nations: "I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one"
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was speaking to the United Nations about Russia and Ukraine "not to start a war, but to prevent one."
"I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one. The information I presented here is validated by what we've seen unfolding in plain sight before our eyes for months. And remember that while Russia has repeatedly derided our warnings and alarms as melodrama and nonsense, they've been steadily amassing more than 150,000 troops on Ukraine's borders as well as the capabilities to conduct a massive military assault. It isn't just us seeing this. Allies and partners see the same thing," Blinken said.
Crackdown on Ottawa truckers protest appears imminent as police gather
Justin Trudeau says ‘high time these illegal and dangerous activities stop’ after nearly three weeks in Canadian capital
Police have poured into downtown Ottawa in what truckers feared was a prelude to a crackdown on protests against Covid-19 restrictions which have paralysed the Canadian capital for nearly three weeks.
The city’s police chief declared his intention to break up the protest and take back downtown “in the coming days” and early on Thursday, work crews began erecting fences outside parliament.
Belarus says it could host nuclear weapons if it faces western threat
Alexander Lukashenko said he may consider buying several Russian S-400 missile systems
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday his country could host nuclear weapons if it faces an external threat as tensions soar between ally Russia and the west over Ukraine.
He also said that Belarus is considering buying several Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to place them near the capital Minsk.
“If necessary, if such stupid and mindless steps are taken by our rivals and opponents, we will deploy not only nuclear weapons, but super-nuclear and up-and-coming ones to protect our territory," Lukashenko said, according to the state-run Belta news agency.
How to prevent the planet from becoming an uninhabitable desert
Deserts across the world are rapidly expanding as more and more soils dry out and lose their fertility. How can we breathe life back into desolate sandy landscapes and green the desert? Here are four ideas.
Stretching across Mongolia and China's northwest is the fastest growing desert on Earth. It's already 1.2 million square kilometers in size, but each year the Gobi Desert adds around another 6,000 to that number.
As it expands, it devours grasslands, swallows whole villages and turns vast swaths of fertile land into an uninhabitable wasteland. Tens of thousands of people have already been forced to relocate, and only a few thousand can still live in the region.
Barkhane, Takuba, Sabre: French and European military missions in the Sahel
France on Thursday announced the withdrawal of its military mission in Mali, Operation Barkhane, after nine years of battling jihadists in the region. At the request of Malian authorities, France launched an intervention in January 2013 to oust Islamists who had taken over much of the north.
Half of the 4,500 French soldiers currently deployed for Operation Barkhane are stationed in Mali but will soon leave the country after coming under pressure from Mali's new military leaders, who seized power in a 2020 coup.
"Multiple obstructions" by the ruling junta meant the conditions were no longer in place to operate effectively in Mali, read a joint statement signed by France and its African and European allies.
‘Like a war zone’: Deaths in Brazil floods, mudslides top 100
Authorities say 24 people have so far been rescued by firefighters, while 35 were registered as missing.
Rescue workers are racing against time, searching for any remaining survivors among mud and wreckage after devastating flash floods and landslides hit the picturesque Brazilian city of Petropolis, as authorities said on Thursday the death toll had risen to 105.
Streets were turned into rivers and houses swept away when heavy storms dumped a month’s worth of rain in three hours on the scenic tourist town in the hills north of Rio de Janeiro.
Inside, the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, told MPs that it was “high time that these illegal and dangerous activities stop”.
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