Russia kicks off huge war games just over Ukraine's border in Belarus
CBSN
Zhytomyr Oblast, northern Ukraine — Russia kicked off huge joint military exercises on Thursday in Belarus, an ally and neighbor that also shares a border with Ukraine. The war games — which Moscow has said will last for 10 days, after which the Russian forces will leave Belarus and return to Russia — have prompted the U.S. and NATO to bolster their forces in the region and carry out their own military drills.
The tens of thousands of troops and weapons that Russia has sent into Belarus for the exercises are just one element of Russia's months-long military buildup around Ukraine's borders. The U.S. government says President Vladimir Putin now has more than 100,000 troops positioned around Ukraine's southern, eastern and northern borders, and that he could decide to order a new invasion of the neighboring country any time.
Russia insists it has no plans to attack Ukraine, but an intensive diplomacy effort by the U.S. and its NATO partners with Moscow this week has failed to yield any signs of deescalation.
Paris — Jean-Marie Le Pen, the historic leader of France's far-right political movement, died Tuesday at the age of 96, the French news agency AFP said, citing his family. Le Pen, who had been in a care facility for several weeks, died Tuesday "surrounded by his loved ones," the family said in a statement.
Seoul, South Korea — North Korea said Tuesday its latest weapons test was a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile designed to strike remote targets in the Pacific as leader Kim Jong Un vowed to further expand his collection of nuclear-capable weapons to counter rival nations.
Beijing — A strong earthquake killed at least 53 people in Tibet on Tuesday and left many others trapped as dozens of aftershocks shook the region of western China and across the border in Nepal.
Brazilian police have arrested a woman facing charges of triple homicide after several members of her family were poisoned by an arsenic-laced Christmas cake, police said Monday.
The top bidder at a Tokyo fish market said they paid $1.3 million for a tuna on Sunday, the second highest price ever paid at an annual prestigious new year auction.
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer hit back at Elon Musk on Monday after the world's richest man repeatedly lobbed a host of inflammatory allegations at the country's leader over his government's record on a long-running national child grooming scandal.
Thirty-two dolphins have died since fuel oil spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers three weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, which separates the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula from Russia's southern Krasnodar region, an animal rescue group said Sunday.
Seoul — North Korea on Monday test fired a ballistic missile as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited South Korea, where he warned that Pyongyang was working ever closer with Russia on advanced space technology. Blinken also said that while he believed a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas would end the war in Gaza, it may not happen until after President Biden's term, under returning President-elect Donald Trump.
A soccer-loving nun from Brazil is believed to have become the world's oldest living person at nearly 117 following the recent death of a woman from Japan.
Ukrainian forces launched a counterattack in the western border region of Kursk, warning that Russia was "getting what it deserves."
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Saturday he will resign in the coming days after talks on forming a new government failed a second time.