Nato has warned Belarus that it may face further fallout for diverting a passenger plane to arrest the dissident journalist Roman Protasevich and his partner.
Nato's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said it needed to be made clear to Belarus that "violating basic international norms and rules" would result in "costs" being imposed.
"I think the most important thing now is to make sure that those sanctions that are agreed are fully implemented. And I also know that other allies are looking into where they can step up further," he said in London, after meeting UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
"And I'm also sure that Nato leaders, when they meet, this will be an issue they will discuss as part of the response to the unacceptable behaviour of Belarus, but also as part of their response to a more assertive Russia," said Mr Stoltenberg, referring to the Nato meeting due later this month.
"Because this is part of the behaviour, we also see Russia and Belarus are working closely together."
Mr Johnson described Belarus's diversion of the plane as an "appalling, outrageous incident".
"I think Nato members will be wanting to stand together in protest against what happened and to call for the release of Roman Protasevich and indeed his girlfriend from captivity in Belarus," he said on Wednesday.
Mr Johnson also mentioned the "really outstanding" support the UK had received from Nato. He mentioned in particular the expulsion of Russian diplomats after the 2018 poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, England, which has been blamed on Moscow.
"But what we want to do is make sure that we work together to defend, protect ourselves against cyber threats, against all the kinds of intimidation that some Nato members still feel there on Nato's eastern borders," said Mr Johnson.
"And we work together to protect against that."
Mr Protasevich, 26, was detained by Belarus on May 23 after his Ryanair flight was forced into an emergency landing in Minsk in an incident that caused global uproar.
Mr Stoltenberg's comments came after Nato recently launched a major training exercise in Europe.
On Monday, US B52 bombers flew over every Nato member to demonstrate the alliance's aerial prowess.
"Bomber missions demonstrate the credibility of our forces to address a global security environment that is more diverse and uncertain than at any other time in our history," said Gen Jeff Harrigian, the commander of the US air force in Europe and Africa.
Nato recently sent more than 9,000 troops, several warships and dozens of aircraft to the Atlantic and Europe as part of a separate exercise.
Nato said its Steadfast Defender 2021 exercise is designed to prepare its forces for any threat and ensure they work co-operatively.
While Nato said the exercise was not aimed at Russia specifically, it comes as tension remains high with Moscow on a number of fronts.
The alliance has stationed battlegroups in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland – each of which borders Russia – in recent years, to establish its “forward presence” in the Black Sea region.
While Nato is at odds with Russia on a number of issues, Moscow’s deployment in April of thousands of soldiers to its border with Ukraine caused alarm.
"Nato is there to defend all our allies, and this exercise sends a message about our ability to transport a large number of troops, equipment across the Atlantic, across Europe and also to project maritime power," said Mr Stoltenberg last week, aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Russia, meanwhile, has announced the formation of 20 new units in the west of the country. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the move was in response to Nato's frequent military drills, its deployment of warships and flights by US bombers near Russia territory.
He said such actions “destroy the international security system and force us to take the relevant countermeasures".
Mr Stoltenberg said Russia’s measures had led Nato to increase “the readiness” of its forces.
“Russia over the last years has invested heavily in new, modern military capabilities, from conventional to nuclear weapon systems”, and "has been willing to use military force against neighbours in Georgia, in Ukraine”, he said.
Normcore explained
Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
DMZ facts
- The DMZ was created as a buffer after the 1950-53 Korean War.
- It runs 248 kilometers across the Korean Peninsula and is 4km wide.
- The zone is jointly overseen by the US-led United Nations Command and North Korea.
- It is littered with an estimated 2 million mines, tank traps, razor wire fences and guard posts.
- Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un met at a building in Panmunjom, where an armistice was signed to stop the Korean War.
- Panmunjom is 52km north of the Korean capital Seoul and 147km south of Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital.
- Former US president Bill Clinton visited Panmunjom in 1993, while Ronald Reagan visited the DMZ in 1983, George W. Bush in 2002 and Barack Obama visited a nearby military camp in 2012.
- Mr Trump planned to visit in November 2017, but heavy fog that prevented his helicopter from landing.
Profile of Bitex UAE
Date of launch: November 2018
Founder: Monark Modi
Based: Business Bay, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: Eight employees
Investors: Self-funded to date with $1m of personal savings
The struggle is on for active managers
David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.
The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.
Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.
Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.
Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.
At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn.
Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face
The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.
The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.
Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.
"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.
Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.
The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.
