Boris Johnson says sorry after report slams lockdown parties - Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologized Monday after an inquiry found that Downing Street parties while Britain was in lockdown represented a “serious failure” to observe the standards expected of government or to heed the sacrifices made by millions of people during the pandemic.

But Johnson brushed off calls to quit over the “partygate” scandal, promising to reform the way his office is run and insisting that he and his government can be trusted.

“I get it, and I will fix it,” he said in Parliament after senior civil servant Sue Gray published interim findings on several gatherings in 2020 and 2021 while the U.K. was under government-imposed restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Gray found that “failures of leadership and judgment” allowed events to occur that “should not have been allowed to take place.”

“The hardship under which citizens across the country worked, lived and sadly even died while observing the government’s regulations and guidance rigorously are known only too well,” Gray wrote.

“Against the backdrop of the pandemic, when the government was asking citizens to accept far-reaching restrictions on their lives, some of the behavior surrounding these gatherings is difficult to justify,” she added.

Gray’s glimpse inside a 10 Downing St. marked by excessive alcohol consumption and staff afraid to speak out about workplace problems are a blow to Johnson, despite the fact that Gray’s conclusions relate to just four of the 16 events she investigated.

Her findings on 12 others have been withheld at the request of the police, who last week launched a criminal investigation into the most serious alleged breaches of coronavirus rules. The Metropolitan Police force said it had asked for cuts to Gray’s report “to avoid any prejudice to our investigation.”

The force said Monday that it would be interviewing party attendees and looking at more than 300 photos and over 500 pages of documents it had received from Gray’s team.

Among the events under police investigation are a June 2020 birthday party for Johnson in Downing Street and two gatherings held on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral in April 2021 — a funeral at which the widowed Queen Elizabeth II had to sit alone.

The cuts to Gray’s report have led opponents to accuse Johnson of a whitewash.

The allegations that the prime minister and his staff flouted restrictions imposed on the country to curb the spread of the coronavirus — holding “bring your own booze” office parties, birthday celebrations and “wine time Fridays” — have caused public anger, led some Conservative lawmakers to call for Johnson’s resignation and triggered intense infighting inside the governing party.

Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said the British public had made “heart-wrenching sacrifices” and endured “a collective trauma” during the pandemic.

“The prime minister took us all for fools,” he said. “He held people’s sacrifice in contempt. He showed himself unfit for office.”

Starmer said many British people “think the prime minister should do the decent thing and resign. Of course, he won’t. Because he is a man without shame.”

Johnson can ignore opposition criticism, because the Conservatives have a large majority in Parliament. His fate rests on how Conservative lawmakers respond to his apology. Some previously said they would push for a no-confidence vote if Gray found Johnson was at serious fault or had misled Parliament with his previous insistence that no rules had been broken.

Johnson urged his critics to wait for the conclusions of the police investigation.

But one Conservative legislator, Andrew Mitchell, said in the House of Commons that Johnson “no longer has my support.”

Another, Aaron Bell, recalled attending his grandmother’s small, socially distanced funeral in May 2020 and asked: “Does the prime minister think I’m a fool?”

Former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May said that either Johnson and those around him “had not read the rules, or didn’t understand what they meant. … Or they didn’t think the rules applied to them. Which was it?”

Gray did not criticize the prime minister directly, but said “there is significant learning to be drawn from these events which must be addressed immediately across government.”

The government has not promised to publish Gray’s full findings once the police investigation is finished, saying only that it will consider it.

Johnson could be interviewed by detectives as part of their probe and may face a fine if he is found to have breached the law.

Johnson, meanwhile, sought to change the subject from his personal woes, marking the second anniversary of Brexit on Monday by touting economic opportunities outside the European Union.

The U.K. officially left the now 27-nation bloc on Jan. 31, 2020, though it remained part of the EU’s economic structures for another 11 months.

Since then, U.K.-EU trade has fallen, though the upheaval of the coronavirus pandemic has obscured the economic ructions caused by the end of frictionless trade with Britain’s biggest economic partner.

Johnson vowed Monday to unlock the potential of Brexit, unveiling a “Brexit Freedoms” Bill that the government says will slash red tape for British businesses by amending laws that were carried over from the U.K.’s years as an EU member.

Johnson also plans a diplomatic push to try to ease tensions between Russia and Ukraine. He is expected to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone later and to visit Ukraine on Tuesday as part of efforts to deter Russia from invading its neighbor.

Some political observers said Gray’s circumscribed and partial report may give Johnson at least a temporary reprieve from calls for his ouster.

“It’s a mess,” said Will Walden, a former Johnson aide. “It’s probably bad for democracy, but inadvertently good for the PM.”

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tests positive for Covid-19 - CNN

Ottawa (CNN)Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has tested positive for Covid-19, he announced Monday, as his nation continues to face a surge in cases due to the Omicron variant, as well as rowdy protests in the capital over pandemic health restrictions.

"This morning, I tested positive for COVID-19," tweeted Trudeau, who is fully vaccinated and boosted. "I'm feeling fine -- and I'll continue to work remotely this week while following public health guidelines. Everyone, please get vaccinated and get boosted."

Two of Trudeau's three school-age children also have tested positive, the Prime Minister said Monday during an outdoor news conference. He and his family have been isolating for days after announcing a Covid-19 exposure, of which he hasn't given details. Trudeau met in person Wednesday with several members of his Cabinet.

The Trudeau family has been relocated to an undisclosed location as a precaution as protests continue in Ottawa by those opposing Covid-19 health restrictions. The events began as a protest by truckers opposed to vaccine requirements and gained followers calling for an end to other Covid-19 mandates.

Canada has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, with about 4 in every 5 Canadians fully vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Trudeau warned Canadians this month to "hunker down" for winter.

"The strain on the health care system is tremendous, and as much as we can do, all of us, individually, collectively, to decrease the pressure on the hospital system, our exhausted health care workers on the front line, I think that's really what we need to be focusing on," Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada's deputy chief public health officer, said.

The Prime Minister had not previously reported contracting Covid-19, though his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, tested positive for the virus in March 2020.

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US, Russia to face off over Ukraine at UN Security Council meeting - The Washington Post

Russia angrily denounced the United States Monday for “whipping up hysteria” over Ukraine, saying it had brought “pure Nazis” to power on Russia’s border and wanted to make "heroes out of those peoples who fought on the side of Hitler.”

In a blistering attack at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said the United States itself was “provoking escalation” of the situation by falsely charging Moscow with preparing to invade Ukraine. “You’re waiting for it to happen, as if you want your words to become a reality,” Nebenzya said in remarks directed toward U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

The confrontation was one of the sharpest in years in the international forum. Nebenzya’s comments followed a charge by Thomas-Greenfield that Russia was “attempting, without any factual basis, to paint Ukraine and Western countries as the aggressors to fabricate a pretext for attack” by more than 100,000 heavily armed troops it has amassed on Ukraine’s border.

Russia, which has demanded a Western commitment to exclude Ukraine from its security umbrella, “has threatened to take military action should its demands not be met,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “If Russia further invades Ukraine, none of us will be able to say we didn’t see it coming. And the consequences will be horrific, which is why this meeting is so important today.”

Russia, with the support of China, forced a vote at the beginning of the U.S.-called meeting on whether to hold the session behind closed doors. Calling for the continuation of diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis, Chinese Amb. Zhang Jun said that “what we urgently need now is quiet diplomacy, but not microphone diplomacy.”

But the majority of the 15-member council voted to proceed with the open meeting, which President Biden, in a statement issued by the White House, called “a critical step in rallying the world to speak out in one voice.”

Beyond the Security Council, world leaders continued applying diplomatic pressure on Russia across several fronts in an effort to head off what they have said is an invasion that is possibly only days or weeks away.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin later Monday and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will speak again this week, a senior State Department official said, after earlier efforts by the top diplomats to reach a resolution were unsuccessful.

In London, speaking to reporters on Monday before his call with Putin, Johnson said: “What I will say to President Putin, as I have said before, is that I think we really all need to step back from the brink … I think Russia needs to step back from the brink. I think that an invasion of Ukraine, any incursion into Ukraine beyond the territory that Russia has already taken in 2014 would be an absolute disaster for the world and above all it would be a disaster for Russia.”

In Moscow, Russia’s military announced that thousands of troops from southern and western military bases were returning to barracks after military exercises, as the Kremlin again accused the United States of fanning hysteria over Ukraine.

It was too early to determine whether Russia’s move to send 6,000 troops of the Southern Military District and 3,000 others from the Western Military District back to barracks presaged a de-escalation of military tensions near Ukraine’s border. Military commanders in Belarus announced last week that Russian forces would leave that country after a massive joint military exercise with Russian and Belarusian forces due to begin next week. Thomas-Greenfield said at the Council meeting that “we’ve seen evidence” Russia intends to expand its troop presence in Belarus to “more than 30,000.”

The Russian navy also announced that 20 warships and other naval vessels from its Black Sea fleet had returned to port after live firing exercises.

The import of all the activity and talk remained uncertain, with no breakthrough in sight that might relieve the tension and fear of an invasion, which would likely trigger non-military punitive measures by the west and countermeasures by Moscow.

“We’ve entered the period in which they could launch an attack on Ukraine,” said Jon Finer, U.S. deputy national security adviser, speaking on NPR, “and I think that has been the case for some time and it is why we are increasingly concerned about the necessity and the urgency of the diplomatic effort that we’ve been trying to launch.”

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said it was too soon to judge the meaning of Russia’s announcement on the return to barracks of the troops. “On the whole, distrust persists today toward Russia’s actions and words,” Kuleba told journalists at an online briefing. “It is not enough to just say that ‘We are pulling back someone and something,’” Kuleba added, calling for more clarity and detail from Russia.

Separately, Ukraine’s interior ministry claimed Monday it had detained two people who planned to stage violent protests in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. The ministry said the plan involved “pseudo-activists” provoking violence with police and security officials “in order to undermine and destabilize the situation in Ukraine.” Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky said the group planned to stage injuries, using “fake blood.”

U.S. officials warned earlier in January that Moscow was increasing its use of state media to “fabricate Ukrainian provocations” that the Russians could use as a pretext for military intervention.

On a Jan. 26 train ride from Kyiv to Kharkiv, in the east of the country, Ukrainians gave voice to their anxiety over a possible conflict with Russia. (Whitney Shefte, James Cornsilk/The Washington Post)

Russia’s massing of troops and equipment near Ukraine, coupled with multiple military exercises, has escalated tensions between Russia and NATO over Ukraine, with Moscow demanding an end to NATO expansion, barring Ukraine from ever joining the alliance. U.S. officials have warned that a Russian attack on Ukraine could happen at any time and have called on Russia to de-escalate. Moscow officials deny any plan to attack.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday accused the United States of fanning hysteria over Ukraine and charged that U.S. media have spread “unreliable, false and provocative information about the situation in Ukraine and around Ukraine.”

“We consistently criticize this line and call on Washington and its allies on the European continent to drop this line and take a calm, balanced and constructive position,” Peskov said.

Peskov said the warnings from U.S. officials were frightening Ukrainians.

“The hysterics fanned by Washington indeed lead to hysterics in Ukraine — people are practically packing go bags there,” he said “And this is the reverse side, very harmful side of the campaign which Washington is pursuing now.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior officials in Ukraine have played down the threat of an invasion and warned that panic could harm Ukraine’s economy.

The U.N. Security Council session is seen by Washington as a forum to pressure Moscow, since Russia’s Security Council veto effectively rules out any concrete action over its military escalation. China, another of the five permanent Security Council members, also has a veto and has backed Russia’s pressure for an end to NATO’s expansion.

“Our voices are unified in calling for the Russians to explain themselves,” the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said of the United States and its allies on the 15-member U.N. security body during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.

A diplomatic resolution to the crisis would need to include “Russia making the decision to pull their troops back and to come to the diplomatic table and talk with the United States, with the Ukrainians, with our NATO allies, about their security concerns,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

In Washington, key U.S. lawmakers say they could soon have a deal on sanctions meant to deter Russia from invading Ukraine and severely punish Moscow if it does — punitive measures that have found support on both sides of the political aisle. Britain will introduce legislation Monday paving the way for tougher sanctions that, according to officials, could include seizures of property in London owned by Russian oligarchs.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed optimism Sunday during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” that some sanctions could be approved before any Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sen. James E. Risch (Idaho), the committee’s top Republican, said the two parties hit a sticking point over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will carry natural gas from Russia to Germany when it is activated and is one of the more controversial sanctions targets, but he indicated that the differences were surmountable.

The Biden administration will brief all senators in a classified setting on the crisis in Ukraine on Thursday, a Senate aide said.

Meanwhile, President Biden is set to host Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani, at the White House on Monday afternoon as U.S. officials work to shore up alternative energy sources for Europe, which relies on Russian natural gas exports, in the event that Moscow responds to potential sanctions by cutting off supplies.

Even as officials seek a diplomatic solution to the crisis, many are planning for the worst. Canada announced Sunday it was withdrawing all nonessential employees and remaining dependents from its embassy in Ukraine, following similar moves in the past week by the United States, Britain and Australia.

Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand arrived in Ukraine on Sunday. She warned that Russia would face “severe sanctions and consequences” if it doesn’t de-escalate the situation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported. Senior officials from Britain, France, Germany and Poland are also expected to visit the country in the coming days.

Russia has repeatedly denied that its massive buildup of troops and military equipment around Ukraine, along with a wave of military exercises, is a precursor to a renewed assault.

“We do not want war. We don’t need it at all. Those who are pushing toward it, especially those from the West, they are pursuing some self-serving false goals of their own,” the head of Russia’s security council, Nikolai Patrushev, said Sunday.

Russia has long taken issue with NATO granting membership to countries in the former Soviet sphere. Moscow is reviewing U.S. and NATO counterproposals on security, submitted last week in answer to Russia’s earlier demands that NATO roll back its forces and promise that Ukraine would never join the alliance, whose members vow to come to one another’s aid in the event of an attack.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday the alliance has no intention of sending its troops into Ukraine if Russia invades.

“We have no plans to deploy NATO combat troops to Ukraine. … We are focusing on providing support,” Stoltenberg told the BBC. “There is a difference between being a NATO member and being a strong and highly valued partner as Ukraine.”

Still, he said there would be a “high price to pay” if Russia’s aggression escalates. “The more aggressive they are, the more NATO they will get at the borders.”

Western officials have warned that a Russian invasion, potentially one similar to its 2014 annexation of Crimea, could come at any time.

Britain announced Saturday that it would offer more forces, including jets, warships and military specialists, to support NATO’s eastern flank. Biden said Friday that he planned to send some U.S. troops to Eastern Europe to bolster NATO allies, describing the number as “not too many.” The U.S. military has issued “prepare to deploy” orders to 8,500 personnel.

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UN panel to confront Russia as US considers vote on the 'mother of all' sanctions - New York Post

​The US ambassador to the United Nations said the Security Council would confront Russia over its military threat against Ukraine as two senators predicted a vote as soon as this week on the “mother of all sanctions” against the Kremlin.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said the Security Council on Monday would press Russia on its massive troop buildup along Ukraine’s border and fears that an invasion is imminent. ​

“They know that they cannot block the meeting and I expect that, knowing what we’re dealing with, that they will make an attempt,” Thomas-Greenfield said​ on ABC News’ “This Week​,” noting Russia’s veto power as one of the council’s permanent members.

“But the Security Council is unified, our voices are unified in calling for the Russians to explain themselves. We’re going to go into the room prepared to listen to them, but we’re not going to be distracted by their propaganda and we’re going to be prepared to respond to any disinformation that they attempt to spread during this meeting​,” she said.

The US has repeatedly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that an invasion on Ukraine would result in “severe” consequences and penalties for the country.

SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

The US has warned that an attack on Ukraine would spark “severe” economic consequences for Russia but there has been disagreement about pre-emptive sanctions.

Those divisions may have been resolved as Sen. Bob Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, floated the idea that some ​penalties may be imposed immediately to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“There are some sanctions that really could take place up front because of what Russia’s already done — cyberattacks on Ukraine, false-flag operations, the efforts to undermine the Ukrainian government internally,” Menendez ​(D-NJ) ​said on CNN​’s “State of the Union.”

In the event of an invasion, Menendez said the Kremlin would face “the mother of all sanctions” targeting Russian banks to cripple the country’s economy.

At the same time, US would step up supplying Ukraine with lethal aid.

​”These are sanctions beyond any that we have ever levied before​,” Menendez said.​ 

​Sen. James Risch, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said a bipartisan group of senators are prepared to vote on the measures to deter Putin.

He said he didn’t think the Russian leader has made up his mind on invading Ukraine but warned the US must show strength and unity in the face of the threat.

Sources claim that Russia has stationed as many as 100,000 troops along the Ukrainian border.

AFP via Getty Images

“There’s a lot of us that believe that, if Putin sees weakness, if he sees bumbling, if he sees ineptitude, if he sees indecision, that he will take advantage of that. I don’t think he’s made a decision to do that yet,” Risch said on CNN, appearing alongside Menendez.

“What Bob and I and a coalition of bipartisan senators are attempting to do is to project the resolve that we have, as Americans, to see that he doesn’t do that, to provide the strength, to project the strength, and convince him that this would be a very, very bad idea, and it’s going to be extremely painful,” Risch (R-Idaho) said. 

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby also said Sunday that the US is weighing a level of sanctions that would go beyond anything Russia has ever seen. 

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby reiterated that there would be economic consequences for Russia but that there is still time to reach a diplomatic solution.

AP

Kirby was asked by “Fox News Sunday” host Dana Perino about the potential consequences Putin could face if he launches an invasion into Ukraine.

“I think we’ve been very clear with Mr. Putin about the economic consequences that could come his way and the way the Russian people should he further incur — invade inside Ukraine. And one of the things about sanctions is once you trip that, then the deterrent effect is lost,” he said.

“I think we’ve been very, very clear that we’re going to look at sanctions and economic consequences, the likes of which we have not looked at before even considering even as far back as 2014,” Kirby said, referring to Russia’s invasion of Crimea. 

Despite Russia’s saber-rattling, Kirby said, “it doesn’t have to come to conflict.”

“We still believe there’s room and space for diplomacy and we’d like to see that be the solution here,” he added.

Russia on Sunday shrugged off claims that it was poised to invade its neighbor despite the presence of more than 100,000 troops along the border.

“At this time, they’re saying that Russia threatens Ukraine — that’s completely ridiculous,” ​Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia’s Security Council, said Sunday, according to the Russian news agency Tass. ​

Thomas-Greenfield was skeptical of Russia’s denial.

“You don’t amass 100,000 troops if you don’t have intentions to use them,” she said on ABC.

The ambassador said the Security Council meeting will give Russia another opportunity to find a diplomatic way out.

“We’ve made clear that we’re prepared to address our concerns, Ukrainian concerns and Russian concerns at the diplomatic table, but it cannot be done on the battlefield,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

With Post wires

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North Korea tests longest-range missile since 2017 - Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Sunday fired what appeared to be the most powerful missile it has tested since President Joe Biden took office, as it revives its old playbook in brinkmanship to wrest concessions from Washington and neighbors amid a prolonged stalemate in diplomacy.

The Japanese and South Korean militaries said the missile was launched on a high trajectory, apparently to avoid the territorial spaces of neighbors, and reached a maximum altitude of 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) and traveled 800 kilometers (497 miles) before landing in the sea.

The flight details suggest the North tested its longest-range ballistic missile since 2017, when it twice flew intermediate-range ballistic missiles over Japan and, separately, three intercontinental ballistic missiles that demonstrated the potential to reach deep into the American homeland.

Sunday’s test was North Korea’s seventh round of launches this month. The unusually fast pace of tests indicates its intent to pressure the Biden administration over long-stalled nuclear negotiations as pandemic-related difficulties put further stress on an economy broken by decades of mismanagement and crippling U.S.-led sanctions

While desperate for outside relief, Kim has showed no willingness to surrender the nuclear weapons and missiles he sees as his strongest guarantee of survival. Analysts say Kim’s pressure campaign is aimed at forcing Washington to accept the North as a nuclear power and convert their nuclear disarmament-for-aid diplomacy into negotiations for mutual arms reduction.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called an emergency National Security Council meeting where he described the test as a possible “mid-range ballistic missile launch” that brought North Korea to the brink of breaking its 2018 self-imposed moratorium on the testing of nuclear devices and longer-range missiles.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi also told reporters that the missile was the longest-range the North has tested since its Hwasong-15 ICBM in November 2017.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un chaired a ruling party meeting on Jan. 20, where senior party members made a veiled threat to lift the moratorium, citing what they perceived as U.S. hostility and threats.

The latest launch suggests Kim’s moratorium is already broken, said Lee Choon Geun, a missile expert and honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute.

In his strongest comments toward the North in years, Moon said the situation around the Korean Peninsula is beginning to resemble 2017, when North Korea’s provocative run in nuclear and long-range missile testing resulted in an exchange of war threats between Kim and then-President Donald Trump.

Moon said the North’s latest moves violated U.N. Security Council resolutions and were a “challenge toward the international community’s efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, stabilize peace and find a diplomatic solution” to the standoff.

The North “should stop its actions that create tensions and pressure and respond to the dialogue offers by the international community including South Korea and the United States,” Moon said, according to his office.

Moon’s efforts to reach out to North Korea derailed after the collapse of the second Kim-Trump meeting in 2019, when the Americans rejected North Korea’s demand for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Sunday’s missile flew for around 30 minutes and landed in waters outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone. There were no immediate reports of damage to boats or aircraft.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the United States condemned North Korea’s testing activity and called on Pyongyang to refrain from further destabilizing acts. It said the latest launch did not “pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, territory, or that of our allies.”

Takehiro Funakoshi, director-general for Asian and Oceanian Affairs at Japan’s Foreign Ministry, discussed the launch in separate phone calls with Sung Kim, Biden’s special envoy for North Korea, and Noh Kyu-duk, South Korea’s nuclear envoy. The officials shared an understanding that Sunday’s missile was of enhanced destructive power and reaffirmed trilateral cooperation in the face of the North Korean threat, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said.

Experts say the North could halt its testing spree after the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics next week out of respect for China, its major ally and economic lifeline. But there’s also expectation that it could significantly up the ante in weapons demonstrations once the Olympics end in February to grab the attention of the Biden administration, which has been focusing more on confronting China and Russia over its conflict with Ukraine.

“North Korea is launching a frenzy of missiles before the start of the Beijing Olympics, mostly as military modernization efforts. Pyongyang also wants to boost national pride as it gears up to celebrate political anniversaries in the context of economic struggles,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

“It wants to remind Washington and Seoul that trying to topple it would be too costly. By threatening stability in Asia while global resources are stretched thin elsewhere, Pyongyang is demanding the world compensate it to act like a ‘responsible nuclear power,’” Easley added.

The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said Washington had imposed sanctions against North Korea in the past few weeks and was looking at other options.

“We are open to having diplomatic discussions. We have offered this over and over to the DPRK. And they have not accepted it,” Thomas-Greenfield said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“Our goal is to end the threatening actions that the DPRK is taking against their neighbors,” she said, referring to North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

North Korea has justified its testing activity as an exercise of its right to self-defense. It has threatened stronger action after the Biden administration imposed fresh sanctions following two tests of a purported hypersonic missile earlier this month.

___

Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo.

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Northern Ireland marks 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday - Reuters

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War-weary residents lament homes lost in eastern Ukraine shelling - Al Jazeera English

Nevelske, Ukraine – Surrounded by empty wheat fields and buried under a thick layer of snow, the village of Nevelske in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region lies all but abandoned – it was destroyed amid an escalating Ukraine-Russia crisis that has taken Europe to the brink of conflict.

Located just 24 km (15 miles) northwest of separatist-held city Donetsk, residents of the farming settlement had weathered more than seven years at the coalface of a conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists, until heavy shelling in mid-November caused most of its remaining residents to flee.

Before the war began in 2014, about 300 people lived in Nevelske, according to the UN humanitarian affairs office (OCHA). The population had fallen to 45 by the time of the November attacks – now only a handful remain.

The shelling took place amid simmering tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine, with Moscow amassing tens of thousands of troops and an array of military hardware near Ukraine’s border.

Valentina Omelnycka and Andriy Dmytryuchenko’s back yard in Nevelske [Emre Caylak/Al Jazeera]

‘Everything was destroyed’

Before the attacks, Nevelske was a relatively modern village, with bathrooms and indoor toilets – a luxury in the poverty-stricken, rural region.

Residents had worked hard to develop the village by hand and could plant enough vegetables in the fields nearby to be mostly self-sufficient, something particularly important for older residents who were unable to work.

The home of Valentina Omelnycka, was ringed with a blue picket fence and had a lush garden where she grew flowers and grapes in summer, and had a pen in the yard for herAn abandoned house in Nevelske village, Ukraine cherished pigs.

The 63-year-old put “so much love” into her house, she said.

After the first attack took place on November 14, she and her husband of 24 years, Andriy Dmytryuchenko, 45, had hoped it was a one-off and decided to remain in their home.

But in the early hours of the morning on November 18, Dmytryuchenko recalls seeing a light in the sky through the window and calling Omelnycka and stepdaughter Olha Snehovska, 36, to their shelter in the basement.

“Everything was shaking, and when we came out everything was gone and we didn’t sleep at all that night,” said Dmytryuchenko.

Dmytryuchenko, 45, showing a shrapnel piece from his old house’s garden in Nevelske [Emre Caylak/Al Jazeera]

“We looked around the yard and saw the barn was gone, ducks were laying dead and pigs, one full of shrapnel, were dead … We tried so hard to make it nice and everything was destroyed in 40 mins.”

The pig pen had been razed, an unexploded shell became lodged in the wardrobe and 12 kittens were killed.

As is the case other settlements in the militarily controlled area Ukraine’s Joint Force’s Operation calls the “red zone”, hearing gunshots and explosions is a part of daily life in Nevelske.

It has weathered fighting since war broke after Russia invaded and annexed Ukraine’s southern Crimean Peninsula and backed separatists who captured large swathes of the country’s east.

The two sides reached a ceasefire in 2015, but hostilities have continued and almost 14,000 people have been killed, including more than 3,000 civilians.

Tensions between Russia and the West reignited in October, as Ukraine attacked a howitzer operated by Russian-backed separatists with an armed drone and with the emergence of satelite images that appeared to show Russia had amassed tens of thousands of troops near its borders with Ukraine.

Western leaders have been scrambling to defuse a crisis, which some have warned could lead to an invasion of Ukrainian territory, by reaching out to Russia, while attempting to ramp up pressure by promising harsh sanctions in the event of an invasion.

‘They aimed straight at us’

Omelnycka and Dmytryuchenko, both of whom have gold-toothed smiles and gentle blue eyes, said that over the course of the conflict, mines and other weapons had struck gardens and fields, but rarely houses in the village.

“After the heaviest fighting here in 2014, people came back after a month, but this time I don’t think they will. Then, the bombing was random, but this time it felt like they were aiming to hit peoples’ houses,” said Omelnycka.

“They know civilians live here, we shouldn’t be targeted. But they aimed straight at us.”

Of the village’s 50 buildings, 16 were hit and 11 were destroyed. A military doctor who was posted to the village sustained serious shrapnel wounds, but later recovered in hospital. Several farm animals were killed.

Valentina Omelnycka, 63, and Andriy Dmytryuchenko, 45, in their friend’s barn near Pisky, Ukraine [Emre Caylak/Al Jazeera]

Many of Nevelske’s houses are still habitable, including Omelnycka and Dmytryuchenko’s, but the attacks left the village without gas and electricity, and without water due to the use of electric-powered water pumps.

There is no longer a grocery shop, with the nearest a ten-minute drive away. Residents are wary about investing money in costly repairs to their homes when they believe the village could be targeted again.

Residents say they have received small amounts of humanitarian aid from the International Committee of the Red Cross and Czech charity People in Need.

The growing concern about a possible escalation of hostilities has raised fears of a worsening of the humanitarian crisis in the wider region.

Rights group Amnesty International warned on Friday that further armed conflict in Ukraine would have devastating consequences for the human rights of millions and could cause a refugee crisis. Some 1.45 million people have been internally displaced, according to government figures.

A calendar showing the month of November, when the last attack happened, inside an abandoned house, Nevelske [Emre Caylak/Al Jazeera]

Dmytryuchenko and Omelnycka are now staying temporarily at his sister’s house in a nearby village. They will soon need to find a more permanent solution, but are not yet sure how they will pay for rent.

When a village is damaged, they say, prices nearby go up due to increased demand from those fleeing. According to Dmytryuchenko, house prices in the area have soared in recent years.

“We are talking to friends in other cities like Nipro – their kids took them away – and I call them and talk about moving to where they are. We cry every time because they want to come back and we want to stay here,” she said.

“I just want peace and the rest we can do ourselves. Maybe then even those who left in 2014 would come back.”

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Britain to widen sanctions on Russia, calls Ukraine invasion plans 'highly likely' - The Washington Post

As Russia continues to mass forces on its border with Ukraine, top Russian and U.S. diplomats are likely to meet next week in an effort to defuse the widening crisis, a senior State Department official said on Sunday.

Referring to written responses Washington and NATO delivered last week to the Kremlin’s demands for security guarantees, Victoria Nuland, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, told CBS News’ “Face the Nation:” “We’ve heard some signs that the Russians are interested in engaging on that proposal. Including the fact that Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken and [Russian] Foreign Minister [Sergei] Lavrov will likely speak this week.”

The two officials met earlier this month in Geneva but failed to resolve their countries’ differences over Ukraine, where leaders have sought to tamp down U.S. warnings of an imminent Russian invasion and avoid a public panic.

“We want to settle these issues through diplomacy,” Nuland said. Russian President Vladmir has "given himself that option, but he’s also given himself the option of a major invasion. So we have to be ready for that.”

Senior U.S. lawmakers also said Sunday that they are optimistic about bipartisan agreement on punishing sanctions against Russia.

“I believe that we will get there,” Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“We have been working in good faith,” he said. “We’ve been accommodating different views and we are committed, jointly, in a bipartisan way to defend Ukraine and to send Putin the message: it’ll be bluntly and consequential.”

Officials and politicians on Jan. 30 emphasized the threat posed by Russia to Ukraine warning of "devastating consequences" should an invasion take place. (Zach Purser Brown/The Washington Post)

James E. Risch (Id.), the committee’s top Republican, said the two parties had hit a sticking point over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, but indicated that the differences were surmountable.

“We’ve had a disagreement on that, continuing disagreement, since the administration took office,” Risch said. But he said that Germany’s decision to halt certification of the pipeline, which could pump billions of cubic meters of Russian gas into Europe, had “changed the dynamics and open the door, really, for us to reach agreement.”

Menendez added that some sanctions could be approved before a Russian invasion of Ukraine, a measure that Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, said her government supports.

“We ask [for] both” before and after a Russian attack, Markarova told “Face the Nation.” She said that Russia had already invaded Ukraine in 2014, when it annexed Crimea. “And they didn’t change the behavior during the eight years. So, yes, we believe the basis for sanctions is there.”

Responding to U.S. concerns that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was downplaying the threat of an imminent Russian invasion, Markarova said that leaders didn’t want to panic Ukrainian citizens.

“We are not downplaying the risk. We actually see the situation the same way and we see the build up,” she said.

“To defend our country, we cannot afford to panic. We have to get ready, all of us, not only our military, our very capable military and veterans, but also all civilians. So we know and we see what is going on,” Markarova added.

Britain’s foreign secretary said Sunday the United Kingdom would “widen” its sanctions on the Kremlin to include “companies involved in propping up the Russian state,” as Washington and its allies intensified their efforts to deter a possible invasion .

The comments by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss came a day after Britain said it was preparing to send extra land, air and sea forces to Eastern Europe to support NATO allies.

Truss, asked about Putin’s intentions during an interview with the BBC on Sunday, said it was “highly likely that he is looking” to invade Ukraine. “That is why we are doing all we can through deterrence and diplomacy to urge him to desist. That’s why we are strengthening our sanctions regime here in the United Kingdom. We’re going to be introducing new legislation so that we can hit targets including those who are key to the Kremlin’s continuation and the continuation of the Russian regime.”

In a separate interview with Sky News, Truss did not rule out the possibility that the sanctions could include seizures of property in London owned by Russian “oligarchs.” She said “nothing is off the table.”

The head of Russia’s Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev on Sunday dismissed U.S. warnings that Russia could attack Ukraine as “absolutely ridiculous” and said Russia did not want war.

The British military commitment comes after President Biden said Friday he planned to send some U.S. troops to Eastern Europe to bolster NATO allies, describing the number as “not too many.” The U.S. military has issued “prepare to deploy” orders to 8,500 personnel.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Saturday that deploying more British forces to the region, including jets, warships and military specialists, would “send a clear message to the Kremlin — we will not tolerate their destabilizing activity, and we will always stand with our NATO allies in the face Russian hostility.”

Johnson is expected to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin this week and will visit the region in coming days.

Details of the U.K. offer — including a potential doubling of troop numbers in the region — will be finalized with NATO officials this week. The British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales has been put on standby “to move within hours should tensions rise,” the government statement said.

Tobias Ellwood, chair of a House of Commons defense committee, said the tensions in Ukraine are “our Cuban missile crisis moment, and we must not blink.”

“From a Russian perspective, there’s never been a better time to invade Ukraine — something Putin has been wanting to do for a long time,” Ellwood told British broadcaster Sky News on Saturday. “He’s enjoying this international attention.”

Russia has repeatedly denied that its massive buildup of troops and military equipment around Ukraine, along with a wave of military exercises, is a precursor to a renewed assault.

“Today, they’re saying that Russia is threatening Ukraine. This is absolutely ridiculous. There is no threat,” Patrushev, the head of Russia’s Security Council, said Sunday at a wreath-laying ceremony at a cemetery.

“We do not want war. We don’t need it at all. Those who are pushing toward it, especially those from the West, they are pursuing some self-serving false goals of their own,” he said, adding that war against Ukraine “does not suit us.”

While debate rages over Moscow’s plans, many Russia-based analysts say the Kremlin’s military maneuvers may be brinkmanship designed to drive up pressure and extract concessions from the United States and NATO on Russia’s demand that Ukraine and other countries be barred from ever joining the Western alliance. Lavrov said on state television Sunday that it was clear to everyone that Ukraine was “not ready” to join NATO, because it would not strengthen the alliance. If Ukraine was ever admitted, this would destroy Russia-NATO relations, he warned.

Russian officials are reviewing U.S. and NATO counterproposals on security, submitted last week in answer to Russia’s earlier demands to limit NATO military activity in the former Soviet sphere. Russia has demanded that Ukraine and other former Soviet states be barred from joining the Western military alliance.

Lavrov on Friday described the NATO response as “ideologically motivated” and “permeated with its exceptional role and special mission.”

Western officials have warned that a Russian invasion, potentially similar to its 2014 annexation of Crimea, could come at any time. U.S. intelligence, relying in part on satellite imagery, has found that Russia is massing forces around Ukraine in support of a potential multi-front incursion.

Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said at a news conference Friday that the evidence of an imminent invasion was insufficient, accusing his Western counterparts of inciting “panic.”

Asked about Zelensky’s complaints on Sunday, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, said the Biden administration has been trying to ensure that Ukraine is “prepared” in the event of an attack.

“We’ve seen the Russian playbook before,” she said. “They are using disinformation. They’re encouraging Ukrainians not to worry about an attack. But we know that the attack is possible. You don’t amass 100,000 troops if you don’t have intentions to use them,” she said during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”

A diplomatic resolution to the crisis would need to include “Russia pulling troops back and coming to the diplomatic table and taking with U.S., Ukrainians NATO allies about security concerns,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

“We’ve made clear that we’re prepared to address our concerns, Ukrainian concerns and Russian concerns,” she said. “But it cannot be done on the battlefield.”

Even the Ukrainian leader downplayed the threat of an invasion, though thousands of civilians across the country are training for the worst. Army reservists — some armed only with wooden replica weapons or those they’ve obtained on their own — receive basic combat training and in a time of war would be under direct command of the Ukrainian military.

Ukrainian citizens also have been trading advice about preparing for war on social media, including under the hashtag #миготові (#weareready).

The United States has requested a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Monday to discuss Russia’s military buildup, as it pushes for a diplomatic solution to the standoff. Moscow has described the meeting as a “PR stunt,” but U.N. diplomats expressed confidence that any Russian bid to stop the meeting would be voted down, Reuters reported.

Biden is also due to meet Monday with Qatar’s emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani as U.S. officials work to shore up alternative energy supplies for Europe, which relies on Russian natural gas exports, in the event Moscow responds to potential sanctions by cutting off supplies.

Amy Wang in Washington contributed to this report.

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Britain to widen sanctions on Russia, calls Ukraine invasion plans 'highly likely' - The Washington Post
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Portugal's PM Costa wins election, could clinch majority - Reuters

LISBON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Portugal's ruling Socialists looked set to win the most votes, and possibly an outright majority, in Sunday's parliamentary election, exit polls showed, triggering celebrations in Prime Minister Antonio Costa's election headquarters.

The result, boosted by a higher than expected turnout despite the coronavirus pandemic, comes as a surprise after the Socialists had lost most of their advantage in recent opinion polls, and could signal a chance for Portugal to have a stable government, contrary to most expectations.

As exit polls came out on TV screens showing the Socialist Party in the 37%-42.5% range - well ahead of the main centre-right opposition Social Democrats on 26.7%-35% - Socialist supporters at the party headquarters shouted “Victory, victory!”. One woman waving a flag said: "What a relief."

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The far-right Chega, on 4.5%-8.5%, could emerge as the third-largest parliamentary force, but is closely followed by the moderate Liberal Initiative, according to the polls published by the three main television channels SIC, RTP and TVI.

If the Socialists do not secure an outright majority but come close to the 116 seat threshold, Costa could try to seal a pact for support with two small ecology-minded parties, PAN and Livre.

The vote was called in November after Costa's hard-left Communist and Left Bloc allies joined the right in striking down his minority government's budget. Costa will now get a new chance at forming a government and approving the 2022 spending plan. read more

The Left Bloc and Communists lost a large share of their votes compared to the previous election in 2019.

A stable government would bode well for Portugal's access to a 16.6-billion-euro ($18.7 billion) package of EU pandemic recovery aid and its success in channelling funds into projects to boost economic growth in western Europe's poorest country.

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Writing by Andrei Khalip, additional reporting by Miguel Pereira; editing by Barbara Lewis, Andrew Heavens, Peter Graff

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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In eastern Ukraine, war-weary soldiers and civilians await Russia's next move - BBC News

The frontlines of Eastern Ukraine are snow-laden and the big guns are largely silent. But snipers are bedded into this winter white wasteland. Ukrainian troops who forget to stay low in their World War One-style trenches risk a bullet to the head.

The conflict here has been frozen in place since 2014, when separatists, backed by Moscow, seized parts of the Donbas region. At least 13,000 people have been killed, both combatants and civilians. Now Western leaders are warning of something much worse - a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. If it comes, the eastern front would be an easy place to start, with the pro-Russian rebels here paving the way.

Maria was trying not to stress about all that. The 26-year-old Ukrainian soldier, talkative and slight, was in her trench, armed with a Kalashnikov and a perfect manicure. She's part of Ukraine's 56th infantry brigade. (The army asked us to stick to her first name, to prevent trolling on social media.)

"I try to avoid politics and not to watch TV, I try not to get too worried," Maria said. "But we are ready. We have had a lot of training. I understand that it won't be like a training exercise, it will be hard for everyone. But our morale is high and we are standing our ground."

Maria has a band of brothers. Two served in Ukraine's national guard. Her youngest brother will soon be heading to the frontline, as a tank gunner. Back home her retired parents are caring for her four-year-old son.

"It was very hard to leave him," she said. "But since I was six years old my dream was to join the army. I didn't think that I would end up on the frontline, but I don't regret that I am here." Nearby, one of her brothers in arms chopped wood with an axe. The cold is a constant threat, like the separatists about a kilometre away.

Maria walked through a warren of tunnels to her home away from home, a berth below ground. Brightly coloured children's drawings were stuck to the mud walls. "These come from different schools, as a thank you," she said. "It helps to boost our morale."

Maria's war is about the future of her homeland, but there may be far more at stake than the fate of Ukraine. Russia is drawing battle lines in a new Cold war. At issue now is the future shape of Nato, and the established security order in Europe.

US President Joe Biden has warned of a "distinct possibility" that Russia will invade in February and by doing so "change the world". The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson has invoked the horrors of Chechnya and Bosnia. But the soaring international concern is at odds with what you hear from some Ukrainians.

• What is Nato and why doesn't Russia trust it?
• Is Russia preparing to invade Ukraine?
• How big is the Russian military build-up?

"I don't believe the Russians will come," said a social worker in the east, who did not want us to use her name. "I believe my eyes and my ears. It's actually quieter here now than last month. This is just an information war." This 'nothing-to-see-here' refrain is echoed regularly by Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

But some here are afraid. "Every time I hear a noise my heart pounds," said Ludmilla Momot, a 64-year-old great grandmother with a gold-tipped front tooth. Momot knows only too well what Moscow and its allies can do. Her home of 30 years, in the village of Nevilske, was destroyed last November by separatist shelling. She returned to Nevilske, now a ghost town, to show us the wreckage.

"This is a wound that will last for the rest of my life," she said through tears, glancing at the gaping hole where her front door used to be. "I had to crawl out over the rubble in my nightgown. My feet were bloody. It is the eighth year of the war, how long can our suffering continue?"

I asked the retired milk maid if there was anything she would like to say to President Putin. "Make peace," she said. "Reach an agreement. You are all adults, educated people. Make peace so that people can live freely, without tears and suffering."

In the modern-day version of war and peace, the Russian leader's end game remains unclear. Has he massed around 100,000 troops along the Ukrainian border to force concessions from NATO - for which read the United States - or to seize another chunk of the country?

One possible scenario is a limited incursion, with forces only sent into Eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin would likely try to present them as "peacekeepers", protecting Russian passport holders. Moscow has been busy issuing hundreds of thousands of passports in separatist held territory.

Ukrainian troops insist that if the Russians come, it won't be as easy as annexing the Crimean peninsula in 2014. "We are better prepared this time," said Alyona, a soldier stationed in the East. "I doubt the Russians will invade. They want to create panic and use it as leverage," she said.

Even if there is no ground invasion - and Moscow insists there won't be - damage has already been done. The international chorus of concern about a possible invasion is destabilising this vast Western-looking nation.

President Putin has already achieved a victory, without firing a shot, by weakening the neighbouring state he covets, and forcing the international community to hang on his every word.

But many Western leaders fear he won't be satisfied with that.

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