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Russia has carried out its annual nuclear exercises, with its President Vladimir Putin watching them via video link from a big white room at the Kremlin. His government announced that ballistic and cruise missiles were launched in the Far East and Arctic. While the US was informed of the drills, they come at a time of heightened tensions with the West over his his invasion of Ukraine. Without providing any evidence, Russia has accused Ukraine of plotting to use a "dirty bomb" - an explosive device mixed with radioactive material. Western countries have widely rejected those allegations as false, and Ukraine has warned that Moscow itself could be preparing such an attack. Will Belarus join the war? IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGE...

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is being urged to raise UK defence spending by a key eastern European ally. Estonia, which borders Russia, has hosted British troops on rotation for years. Its foreign minister Urmas Reinsalu told the BBC it was "vital" all Nato countries spend 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence. Mr Sunak has not matched a pledge, set by predecessor Liz Truss, to meet that target by 2030. The new prime minister, who replaced Ms Truss in Downing Street this week, has previously described such targets as "arbitrary". However, he also said he believed in "investing in our armed forces" during his campaign to be Tory leader over the summer. The UK currently spends just over 2% of GDP - a measure of the...

Three men have been convicted for supporting a plot to kidnap the governor of the US state of Michigan. A jury found Joseph Morrison, 28, his father-in-law Pete Musico, 44, and Paul Bellar, 23, guilty of gang membership, firearms violations and providing material to support terrorism. The militiamen face up to 20 years in prison. They are among 13 men who were arrested in October 2020 for the plot to kidnap Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Prosecutors said the men, who are members of a militia group called the Wolverine Watchmen, targeted Ms Whitmer because of the Covid-19 restrictions she imposed early in the pandemic. They planned to take her at gunpoint to stand "trial" on treason charges and hoped the abduction would start...

Deep inside the Arctic Circle, the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard is home to the world's northernmost permanent settlement, Longyearbyen, which is estimated to be heating at six times the global average. So what is being done to save it? Svalbard's church is a blood-red wooden building with bright white trim - the most northerly place of worship in the world. Its priest, Siv Limstrand, has been here for only three years but is shocked by the impact of climate change she has witnessed in that time. "Every Sunday when we gather for worship, a part of our intercessions is always about climate change and its threats," explains Limstrand. "We know that the clock is ticking." Image caption, Siv Limstrand Life on Svalbard feels about ...

The case of a former political adviser accused of raping a colleague inside Australia's Parliament House has been aborted after juror "misconduct". Bruce Lehrmann, 27, denies sexually assaulting Brittany Higgins on a government minister's sofa after a night out in March 2019. He says they did not have sex at all. But after a 12-day trial and five days of deliberation the jury was discharged when it emerged one member had looked at academic research on sexual assault. Juries are required to decide a case only on evidence presented in court. "It may be that no harm has been done, but that is not a risk I can take," Chief Justice Lucy McCallum told a Canberra court. Judge McCallum estimated she had given the jury at least...