
-
UK spy agency MI5 reveals fruity secrets in new show
-
Leverkusen's Wirtz to return 'next week', says Alonso
-
England bowler Stone to miss most of India Test series
-
Taiwan earmarks $2.7 bn to help industries hit by US tariffs
-
Rat earns world record for sniffing landmines in Cambodia
-
Elton John says new album 'freshest' since 1970s
-
EU announces 'new era' in relations with Central Asia
-
Greece nixes Acropolis shoot for 'Poor Things' director
-
'Historic moment': South Koreans react to Yoon's dismissal
-
Israel kills Hamas commander in Lebanon strike
-
Trump unveils first $5 million 'gold card' visa
-
Crashes, fires as Piastri fastest in chaotic second Japan GP practice
-
India and Bangladesh leaders meet for first time since revolution
-
Israel expands ground offensive in Gaza
-
Families of Duterte drug war victims demand probe into online threats
-
Stocks extend global rout after Trump's shock tariff blitz
-
Kolkata's Iyer more bothered about impact than price tag
-
BP chairman to step down after energy strategy reset
-
Indian patriotic movie 'icon' Manoj Kumar dies aged 87
-
China floats battle barges in Taiwan invasion plans
-
McLaren's Piastri fastest in chaotic second Japanese GP practice
-
South Korea seize two tons of cocaine in largest-ever drug bust
-
Pacific nations perplexed, worried by Trump tariffs
-
The race to save the Amazon's bushy-bearded monkeys
-
TikTok must find non-Chinese owner by Saturday to avert US ban
-
Trump tariffs to test resiliency of US consumers
-
Clamping down on 'forever chemicals'
-
Prominent US academic facing royal insult charge in Thailand
-
Yana, a 130,000-year-old baby mammoth, goes under the scalpel
-
'Don't want to die': Lesotho HIV patients look to traditional medicine
-
Curry scores 37 as Warriors outgun LeBron's Lakers
-
Crops under threat as surprise March heatwave hits Central Asia: study
-
Japan PM says Trump tariffs a 'national crisis'
-
Security 'breakdown' allows armed men into Melbourne's MCG
-
Norris fastest in Japan GP first practice, Tsunoda sixth on Red Bull debut
-
Albon says Thailand taking bid for F1 race 'very seriously'
-
'It's gone': conservation science in Thailand's burning forest
-
Protest as quake-hit Myanmar junta chief joins Bangkok summit
-
EU leaders push for influence at Central Asia summit
-
Asian stocks extend global rout after Trump's shock tariff blitz
-
Lewandowski, Mbappe duel fuelling tight La Liga title race
-
South Korea court upholds President Yoon's impeachment, strips him of office
-
Liverpool march towards title as Man City face Man Utd
-
Finland's colossal bomb shelters a model for jittery Europe
-
Athletes frustrated as France mulls Muslim headscarf ban in sport
-
Korda downs Kupcho to stay alive at LPGA Match Play
-
German industry grapples with AI at trade fair
-
Irish school trains thatchers to save iconic roofs
-
'Frightening': US restaurants, producers face tariff whiplash
-
Cuba looks to sun to solve its energy crisis

Belarus independence 'under threat' by Russian troops: opposition
The presence of tens of thousands of Russian troops inside Belarus, which the West fears could be used to invade Ukraine, represents a threat to Belarusian independence, the country's exiled opposition leader said Wednesday.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who the West believes was the true winner of August 2020 presidential elections that kept autocratic leader Alexander Lukashenko in power, told Agence France-Presse that her country now needed to fight "for our independence" as well as "against dictatorship".
She also expressed horror that a referendum in Belarus this weekend could give Lukashenko the legal means to house Russian nuclear weapons in the country.
Lukashenko was prepared to sacrifice the country's sovereignty because he was "grateful" for the Kremlin's support in the aftermath of the 2020 vote that prompted mass protests, said Tikhanovskaya, who now lives in Lithuania.
"We want to be friends with our neighbours but we do not want to be the appendix of another country," she said during a visit to Paris.
"We see that our independence now is under threat... We see the threat of a slow occupation of our country."
Tikhanovskaya said she believed there were now some 30,000 Russian troops in Belarus -- ostensibly there for carrying out military drills -- as well as even more units of military hardware.
"Lukashenko was supported by the Kremlin and now he is showing his loyalty to the Kremlin -- he is grateful for the support he got, and now he is giving lands for military drills to show this loyalty," she said.
"But it's not in our national interest. People do not want these troops on our lands, we do not want to be a country that is an aggressor to our Ukrainian brothers."
The military exercises were supposed to end last weekend but Minsk then announced that the troops would remain to carry out more manoeuvres for an unspecified duration.
The Ukrainian capital of Kyiv lies just 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of the Belarusian border, while the northern Ukrainian city of Chernigiv is a mere 60 kilometres (40 miles) east of Belarus.
- 'Threat to Europe' -
Tikhanovskaya urged Western powers to denounce the February 27 referendum on constitutional reform called by Lukashenko, who has been in power for almost three decades and is accused of brutally repressing the 2020 post-election protests.
Opposition activists say there are now over 1,000 political prisoners in Belarus.
Tikhanovskaya said the most concerning aspect of the referendum was proposed changes to Belarus' neutrality that would allow it to house Russian nuclear weapons.
"It shows us where Lukashenko wants to go. He can use our territory for nuclear weapons and this will be a huge threat to Europe," she said.
Lukashenko had already raised the prospect earlier this month that Belarus could host nuclear weapons.
"All countries must declare they do not accept any result of this referendum, it is illegitimate. If something happens with a nuclear weapon, Lukashenko will bear all the responsibility," said.
"We want to be neutral," she added, noting that the presence of Russian troops in Belarus also represented a risk for Lukashenko, who was dependent on the Kremlin rather than popular support to stay in power.
"The illegitimate leader understands this is a threat to himself as well," she said. "He is weak and he may also think that one day when the Kremlin does not need him, they can get rid of him."
Ch.Campbell--AT