| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Thursday, January 20, 2022 by Linda Noakes | Hello Here's what you need to know. Russia's troop buildup near Ukraine is galvanising NATO defences, the U.S. Supreme Court spurns Trump's bid to keep Capitol attack records secret, and aid finally reaches devastated Tonga | | | | | Today's biggest stories  A pilot sits in a cockpit during the flight testing of Ka-52 'Alligator' reconnaissance and attack helicopters conducted by the Russian Air Force at a military aerodrome in the Rostov region, Russia, January 19, 2022. REUTERS/Sergey Pivovarov WORLD The European Union threatened "massive" economic sanctions if Moscow attacks Ukraine, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken rallied allies ahead of last-ditch crisis talks with Russia aimed at preventing war. We explain how Western sanctions might target Russia, and look at how a Russian troop buildup has sparked an unintended NATO renewal.
A senior Conservative lawmaker accused the British government of intimidating and attempting to "blackmail" those lawmakers they suspect of wanting to force Prime Minister Boris Johnson out of power.
The first aircraft carrying humanitarian supplies arrived in Tonga, five days after the South Pacific island nation was hit by a volcanic eruption and tsunami that devastated communities and spoiled most of its drinking water. A 57-year-old Tongan man who said he swam around 27 hours after getting swept out to sea has been hailed a 'real life Aquaman'.
North Korea will bolster its defences against the United States and consider resuming "all temporally-suspended activities", state news agency KCNA said, an apparent reference to a self-imposed moratorium on tests of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.
Chinese forces followed and warned away a U.S. warship which entered waters near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, the country's military said, but the U.S. Navy denied the ship had been warned off.
|  U.S. President Joe Biden holds a formal news conference in the East Room of the White House, January 19, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque U.S. President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats suffered twin legislative defeats in their push to toughen voting rights protections in the run-up to this November's mid-term elections that will determine control of Congress in 2023.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected former President Donald Trump's request to block the release of White House records sought by the Democratic-led congressional panel investigating last year's deadly attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters.
The federal prosecution of three former Minneapolis police officers who took part in the deadly arrest of George Floyd begins today in a trial that turns on when an officer has a duty to intervene in a colleague's excessive use of force.
Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers formally asked for a new trial after the British socialite's lawyers raised concern about a juror's possible failure to disclose before the trial that he was sexually abused as a child.
New Mexico asked National Guard members and state employees to volunteer as substitute teachers to keep schools and daycare centers open during a surge in COVID-19 infections.
| | | | | | | | | Video of the day  Robot dog takes a rough hike for research A robot dog has been given new powers to work out how to walk over any terrain by combining what its sensors can ‘see’ with what it knows about its surroundings. | | | Thanks for spending part of your day with us. | | | | | |
