- 'Business as usual' for Australia match-winner Carey amid boos
- Israeli jets pound Lebanon after deadly Beirut strike
- Ten Hag bemoans Man Utd's lack of killer instinct in Palace stalemate
- France's Macron appoints new government in shift to right
- Cheika proud of Leicester grit after winning start as boss
- Profligate Man Utd pay price in 0-0 draw at Palace
- Kane, Olise run riot as Bayern thump Bremen
- Diaz fires Liverpool top of Premier League, Man Utd held at Palace
- LIV champion Rahm out of LIV Team semis with severe flu
- Slot surprised by tearful Nunez's moment of magic
- Title rivals Norris, Verstappen on 'cool' front row for Singapore GP
- Biden talks China with 'Quad' leaders in hometown summit
- Juve and Napoli play out goalless draw in early Serie A title tussle
- Alcaraz fears tennis tour grind will 'kill us'
- Carey sparks recovery as Australia thrash England in 2nd ODI
- Leclerc, Sainz lament 'disappointing' Saturday in Singapore
- Bottega Veneta holds investors' aces as Madonna pops into D&G
- Beirut digs for victims at building flattened in Israeli strike
- Verstappen stages protest over 'ridiculous' swearing punishment
- Bayern boss Kompany lauds 'special talent' Olise
- Diaz fires Liverpool top of Premier League, Spurs bounce back
- Heavy fire over Israel-Lebanon border after deadly Beirut strike
- Ramos guides unbeaten Toulouse to Montpellier win despite Hogg scuffle
- Myanmar flood death toll jumps to 384
- Chelsea owners 'happy' with win at West Ham amid rift report
- Kane and Olise run riot as Bayern thump Bremen
- Ramos guides unbeaten Toulouse to Montpellier win
- Norris pips Verstappen to dramatic Singapore pole after Sainz crash
- Carey takes Australia to 270 in 2nd ODI against England after collapse
- Two Hezbollah leaders killed in Israel's Beirut strike
- Hungary Danube waters reach decade high after Storm Boris
- Bagnaia cuts Martin's MotoGP lead with Emilia-Romagna sprint win
- Jackson double fires Chelsea to victory at woeful West Ham
- Fiji beat Japan to lift Pacific Nations Cup
- Kasatkina to face Haddad Maia in Korea Open final
- S.Africa snowfall closes roads, strands motorists overnight
- Lawyers of women alleging Al-Fayed sex abuse receive over 150 new enquiries
- President Museveni's son backs Ugandan strongman for 7th term
- Norris quickest as Verstappen bounces back in Singapore practice
- Wallabies lament All Blacks' fast start
- Germany's Oktoberfest opens under tight security after attacks
- Environmental protesters block French cruise liner port
- Hezbollah in disarray after Israeli strike kills top commanders
- No place like home: Biden hosts 'Quad' leaders
- One dead, 7 missing as heavy rains trigger floods in central Japan
- Zelensky says no UK, US go-ahead to use long-range missiles
- New Zealand edge Australia 31-28 in Bledisloe Cup thriller
- Japan orders evacuations as heavy rains trigger floods in quake-hit area
- New Zealand pilot freed in Indonesia after 19 months in rebel captivity
- Hezbollah in disarray after Israeli air strike kills top commanders
Putin nuclear threats 'extremely dangerous', 'blackmail': ICAN
Russian President Vladimir Putin is using nuclear "blackmail" to keep the international community from interfering in his Ukraine invasion, the head of the Nobel prize-winning group ICAN said.
"This is one of the scariest moments really when it comes to nuclear weapons," Beatrice Fihn, who leads the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, told AFP in an interview Tuesday.
The 40-year-old Swede, who has spearheaded the group's global efforts to ban the weapons of mass destruction since 2013, said she had never in her lifetime seen the nuclear threat level so high.
"It is incredibly worrying and overwhelming."
Just days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its pro-Western neighbour on February 24, Putin ordered his country's nuclear forces to be put on high alert, sparking global alarm.
Addressing the US Congress on Tuesday, Avril Haines, US Director of National Intelligence, described Putin's move as "extremely unusual".
"We have not seen a public announcement from the Russians regarding a heightened nuclear alert status since the 1960s," she pointed out.
Fihn described the move as "extremely dangerous".
"Not only is this meant to instil fear in the whole world; it's also meant to scare anyone from helping in Ukraine."
- 'Everyone is terrified' -
Countries during the Cold War argued that large nuclear arsenals served as deterrents, helping avoid conflict. Now Moscow was using its arsenal to enable conflict, she said.
"Russia is using it to blackmail almost, to be able to invade Ukraine, and nobody can interfere."
The nuclear threat "is now being used in an extremely malicious and evil way, to... enable an illegal invasion of a country that doesn't have nuclear weapons."
Would Putin actually use nuclear weapons? Fihn stressed she still did not think it was likely.
But "it is not ruled out", she said. "We are starting to worry that it might happen."
But even if there is no plan to actually use such weapons, with tensions soaring "misunderstandings can escalate quickly and we could stumble into nuclear use by accident", she warned.
Fihn said she had received numerous messages from people asking how to speak to their children about the threat.
"Everyone is terrified right now," she said, acknowledging that the situation was getting to her too.
"I spent the last decade talking about what happens when a nuclear weapon is used, what happens to bodies, what happens to cities," she said.
"I am finding it very difficult to talk about it now."
- 'Wake-up call' -
But Fihn hopes the current crisis will serve as a wake-up call that will push countries towards nuclear disarmament.
"If we survive this, we're not going to be so lucky all the time," she said.
"We cannot let countries do this to other countries anymore, (just) because they have nuclear weapons."
ICAN won the 2017 Nobel Peace Price for its key role in drafting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which took effect a year ago.
Fifty-nine countries have ratified the treaty, and more have signed it.
Fihn pointed out that the treaty bans the kinds of nuclear threats being made by Russia, which is not a party to it. Nor are any of the states known to possess nuclear weapons.
But the current crisis has sparked growing interest in the treaty, she said.
"I feel like there's an opening now that we can really start working towards nuclear disarmament."
Once the conflict ends, she aid, Russia should not be permitted to maintain its current nuclear arsenal.
"They're going to have to do something... in order to be able to be let back into the international community again, and nuclear disarmament should be that."
O.Lorenz--BTB