Russian war games in Belarus designed to ‘send Ukraine a message’
Experts raise alarm over imminent drills which NATO says mark the biggest deployment to Belarus since the Cold War.
Russia is preparing to begin 10 days of military drills in Belarus in a show of strength that security experts have said is designed to show Ukraine and the West that it is serious about the potential of war.
Russian forces and hardware began arriving in Belarus in mid-January, with about 30,000 combat troops expected to participate in exercises known as “Allied Resolve”.
Two battalions of S-400 surface-to-air missile systems and 12 Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets have also been positioned.
Nuclear fusion heat record a ‘huge step’ in quest for new energy source
The prospect of harnessing the power of the stars has moved a step closer to reality after scientists set a new record for the amount of energy released in a sustained fusion reaction.
Researchers at the Joint European Torus (JET), a fusion experiment in Oxfordshire, generated 59 megajoules of heat – equivalent to about 14kg of TNT – during a five-second burst of fusion, more than doubling the previous record of 21.7 megajoules set in 1997 by the same facility.
The feat announced on Wednesday follows more than two decades of tests and refinements at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy and has been hailed as a “major milestone” on the road to fusion becoming a viable and sustainable low-carbon energy source.
Lithuania requests permanent US military support amid Russia build-up
Lithuania will ask the United States to permanently station troops in the country to help boost security, the Baltic nation’s president has said amid rising tensions over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Gitanas Nauseda spoke after welcoming new rotation of German-led international Nato battle group, deployed in 2017 and soon to include 350 additional German troops in response to Russia massing its troops near Ukraine.
Since 2019 the US has deployed non-overlapping rotations of its own groups of about 500 troops and equipment in Lithuania, adding to the alliance’s efforts to deter Russia from its vulnerable flank.
NATO and Russia: Conflicting views in southeastern Europe
The West is arguing about how best to deal with Russia, and NATO member states from Croatia to Turkey are central to these deliberations. Some in the region have expressed forceful — and conflicting — views.
NATO is uncharacteristically divided on how to deal with Russia in the escalating crisis over Ukraine. "The US and the UK favor deterrence and a hard line; Germany, France and Italy are emphasizing dialogue, and a third group, including Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia, wants to stay out of the conflict and any troop deployment," says Stefan Meister, an expert on Russia and eastern Europe at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).
He told DW that, while Germany is usually the moderate link between these groups, that link is currently missing because of weak leadership.
UN court orders Uganda to pay DR Congo $325 million in war reparations
Judges at the International Court of Justice on Wednesday ruled that Uganda must pay $325 million in reparations to the Democratic Republic of Congo for its role in conflicts in Congo's resource-rich Ituri province.
"The court sets out the total amount of compensation awarded to the Democratic Republic of Congo which is $325 million," presiding judge Joan Donoghue said.
Uganda must pay the sum in five yearly instalments of $65 million to start in September of this year, she added.
The total award is far short of the over $11 billion, Congo had asked for, but the court dismissed several claims including all the claims for macroeconomic damage saying there was insufficient evidence to support Congo's calculations.
Ambassador Bridge protest: Truckers block vital Canada-US border crossing
Truck drivers are blocking a key border crossing between the US and Canada, sparking fears of economic disruption.
While limited US-bound traffic is being allowed to cross the Ambassador Bridge in Ontario, Canada-bound lanes from Detroit remain closed.
Business associations have called for the bridge to be immediately cleared to ensure the steady flow of goods.
The protests across Canada against vaccine rules and Covid restrictions are now two weeks old.
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