Serbia puts military on high alert over Kosovo
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Belgrade’s peaceful stance doesn’t mean that it’s weak and can be harassed, the defense minister said

Belgrade put its military on high alert on Tuesday as the breakaway region of Kosovo began implementing a plan to ban Serbian license plates, the country’s defense minister, Milos Vucevic, announced.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who is also the commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces, has ordered the military “to increase the level of combat readiness to be prepared to respond to any task,” Vucevic said in an interview with the broadcaster Happy TV....

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Tories suspend ex-minister over TV ambitions
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Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock has lost his party’s whip after signing up for ‘I’m a Celebrity’

Former UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock was suspended as Tory MP on Monday over his intention to take part in the popular reality show ‘I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!’.

Conservative Party Chief Whip Simon Hart made the announcement shortly after The Sun revealed that Hancock would soon swap the halls of Westminster for the Australian jungle, where he will be fighting for survival along with other well-known contestants....

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Serbia issues shoot-down order for drones
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Belgrade scrambled fighters after UAVs were spotted above military bases near Kosovo

The Serbian military now has orders to immediately destroy any hostile drone in the country’s airspace, President Aleksandar Vucic announced on Tuesday. The new rules of engagement come after MiG-29 interceptors were sent to fend off UAVs spotted above military bases near the boundary with the disputed province of Kosovo.

Multiple unmanned aerial vehicles were detected above a military facility near Merdare, one of the designated crossings between Kosovo and the rest of Serbia, and Vucic ordered the military to deploy planes with orders to shoot. The drones then... ...

Türkiye not ready to approve Sweden’s NATO bid
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Ankara still demands that Stockholm extradite suspects it considers terrorists, a Turkish official has said

Türkiye is still not ready to lift its veto and endorse Sweden’s NATO bid, a spokesman for the leading AK Party, Omer Celik, said on Monday. Promises made by Stockholm in relation to Ankara’s concerns about providing asylum to suspects it considers terrorists are not enough, he added.


“These statements of Sweden are good, but not enough until they are implemented,” Celik said, according to Bloomberg. “We are waiting for it to come to life.”

Türkiye stalled the process of approving the applications of Sweden and Finland to j... ...

Dangerous tropical disease spreading in Germany – media
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The number of new cases of West Nile fever in the country has doubled since last year

Twice as many people contracted the West Nile fever in Germany this year than in 2021, Der Spiegel reported on Tuesday, citing data provided by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the national health watchdog.

The number of infections registered in Germany since the end of August has risen to ten, according to RKI. At least eight of them were proven to have been contracted within Germany, the agency’s spokeswoman told Der Spiegel.

At least four states have been affected by the spread of the disease, including the capital of Berlin, the easter... ...

Top Swedish general reflects on hosting NATO nuclear weapons
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The country’s commander-in-chief claims it should allow the bloc to use its territory as they see fit

Sweden should not “set reservations at an early stage” before even joining NATO, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces Micael Byden told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday. Byden recommended the government present no objections should the US-led military bloc seek to place nuclear weapons or bases on Swedish soil. 

The commander-in-chief revealed that the armed forces plan to more than double the number of conscripts to 50,000 by 2035. Stockholm will reach NATO’s required expenditure of 2% of GDP on defen... ...

US looking at Guantanamo Bay for Haitian migrants – media
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Washington wants to double the capacity of a holding camp amid fears of “mass exodus,” NBC News claims

Anticipating a surge of migrants from Haiti, the US government is looking at doubling the capacity of a detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as one of the options, NBC News reported on Tuesday citing two officials and an internal document. 

The US military base in Guantanamo Bay currently has a detention facility capable of accommodating about 200 migrants, and the White House is looking at doubling that capacity.

The National Security Council has also asked the Department of Homeland Security at which point a third country w... ...

Top US health official tests positive for Covid-19 again
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CDC director Rochelle Walensky got the latest round of booster shots less than two months ago

Rochelle Walensky, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has tested positive for Covid-19 a second time after undergoing treatment with Pfizer’s antiviral drug, the organization revealed on Monday. 

“CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky experienced mild symptoms from her recent COVID-19 infection, completed a course of Paxlovid, and, after a period of isolation, tested negative for the virus,’’ the agency said in a statement. On Sunday, however, “...

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