| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Thursday, February 3, 2022 by Linda Noakes | Hello Here's what you need to know. Big Tech is cut in two as Meta melts down, Russia will have 30,000 troops on drills north of Ukraine, and a Texas butterfly sanctuary closes due to conspiracy threats | | | | | Today's biggest stories  Tanks are seen during joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus, at a firing range in Belarus, February 2, 2022 WORLD NATO said Russia had stepped up deployments to Ukraine's northern neighbor Belarus in recent days and was expected to have 30,000 troops there for joint military exercises this month. President Tayyip Erdogan will discuss tensions between Ukraine and Russia with his counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv today, after pitching Turkey as a mediator.
U.S. special forces successfully carried out a counter-terrorism mission in northwest Syria, the Pentagon said, a raid which Syrian sources said was believed to have targeted an al Qaeda-linked jihadist. Syrian rescue workers said at least 13 people including six children were killed by clashes and explosions that erupted after the raid began.
The United Arab Emirates said it intercepted three drones that entered its airspace over unpopulated areas in the fourth such attack on the Gulf commercial and tourism hub in the past few weeks.
Insurgents in the Pakistani province of Balochistan attacked two military bases, killing seven soldiers while losing 13 of their own men, the army said, in the latest violence in the resource-rich region where China is investing.
The streets of tsunami-hit Tonga were empty and silent on the first full day of a lockdown imposed in the previously coronavirus-free nation after two wharf workers were diagnosed with COVID-19.
|  Police officers attend a funeral service for New York City Police Department officer Wilbert Mora, who was killed in the line of duty while responding to a domestic violence call, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in the Manhattan borough of New York City, February 2, 2022 U.S. President Joe Biden's meeting with New York Mayor Eric Adams today to discuss combating escalating gun crime signals Democrats want to send a message that they will not cede the issue of public safety to Republicans this election year. His trip comes a day after hundreds paid tribute to fallen New York police officer Wilbert Mora, two weeks after he was killed responding to a call.
Sarah Palin and the New York Times are scheduled to go to trial today as the 2008 Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor seeks to hold the newspaper liable for defamation.
The federal trial for three former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd's civil rights in a deadly 2020 arrest has been paused until at least next Monday after one of the defendants tested positive for the coronavirus.
The FBI said it has not detected any explosive devices, after several historically Black colleges and universities across the United States reported receiving bomb threats earlier this week.
A Texas butterfly sanctuary on the Mexican border has closed to the public indefinitely following escalating threats from supporters of former President Donald Trump who are promoting a fabricated claim the sanctuary is part of sex-trafficking ring.
| | | | | | | | | Video of the day  Thai artist goes back in time with miniature models Detnarin Khunaran recreates detailed scenes of what life was like in Thailand decades ago. | | | Thanks for spending part of your day with us. | | | | | |
