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WORLD NEWS Friday 21 January 2022
Ontario to lift lockdown on dining rooms and gyms

By ROB GILLIES ultra-contagious omicron
TORONTO (AP) — Canada's variant to peak this month.
largest province is ending "We can be confident the
a lockdown of restaurant worst is behind us, Ford
dining rooms, gyms and said. "We're going to very
cinemas at the end of the cautiously open up."
month. Health Minister Christine El-
Ontario Premier Doug Ford liott said non-emergency
said Thursday they will be surgeries won't resume until
allowed to reopen Jan. 31 ICU occupancy and hos-
with 50% capacity. pitalizations go down. She
The province locked down said officials expect those
again on Jan. 5, unlike U.S. to peak in the first or sec-
cities and states. Like the ond week of February.
U.S., Ontario saw record Sporting arenas and con-
new infections. cert venues will be limited
Ford said hospitalizations to 500 spectators on Jan.
are starting to slow and of- 31, but limits are to be
ficials expect cases of the eased on Feb. 21.q

US: Swift, severe response if Russia sends troops to Ukraine

By MATTHEW LEE and FRANK pears likely to fail. tention and action.” little grief from the loss of to consider certain less-dra-
JORDANS Associated Press “These are difficult issues The speech came after loved ones,” he tweeted. matic gestures but that the
BERLIN (AP) — U.S. Secre- we are facing, and resolv- Blinken and top diplomats Blinken took pains Thursday Russian demands are out of
tary of State Antony Blinken ing them won’t happen from Britain, France and to stress the U.S. and its part- the question and that Putin
warned Thursday that there quickly,” Blinken said. “I Germany met in Berlin to ners were united, noting knows they are nonstarters.
would be a “swift, severe” certainly don’t expect we’ll project a united front over that American diplomats That, Blinken said, is proof of
response from the United solve them in Geneva to- concerns that Russia may have held more than 100 Putin’s ulterior motive.
States and its allies if Rus- morrow.” be planning to invade meetings with allies in re- “So far, our good-faith ges-
sia sends any military forces He said Russia’s actions Ukraine. A day earlier, he cent weeks “to ensure that tures have been rebuffed
into Ukraine. toward Ukraine are an at- met Ukraine’s president in we are speaking and act- -– because, in truth, this
Blinken’s comments in Ber- tempt to subvert interna- Kyiv. ing together with one voice crisis is not primarily about
lin appeared to be another tional norms and just the Biden said Wednesday he when it comes to Russia.” weapons or military bases,”
effort to clear up any con- latest in a string of Mos- thinks Moscow will invade “That unity gives us strength, he said. “It’s about the sov-
fusion about the position cow’s violations of numer- and warned Russian Presi- a strength I might add that ereignty and self-determi-
of the U.S. and its NATO al- ous treaties, agreements dent Vladimir Putin that his Russia does not and can- nation of Ukraine and other
lies after U.S. President Joe and other commitments it country would pay a “dear not match,” he said. “It’s post-Soviet states. And at
Biden was heavily criticized has made to respect the price” in lives lost and a why we build voluntary al- its core, it’s about Russia’s
for saying a “minor incur- sovereignty and territory of possible cutoff from the liances and partnerships in rejection of a post-Cold
sion” by Russia would elicit other countries. global banking system if it the first place. It’s also why War Europe that is whole
a lesser response. “To allow Russia to violate does. Russia recklessly seeks to di- and free.”
“If any Russian military forc- those principles with impu- But Biden also prompted vide us.” Russia on Thursday an-
es move across the Ukrai- nity would drag us all back consternation among allies Russia denies it is planning nounced sweeping naval
nian border and commit to a much more danger- after saying the response an invasion and, in turn, ac- maneuvers through Febru-
new acts of aggression ous and unstable time, to a Russian invasion “de- cused the West of plotting ary, some apparently in the
against Ukraine, that will when this continent -– and pends on what it does.” “provocations” in Ukraine, Black Sea, involving over
be met with a swift, severe, this city -– were split in two, “It’s one thing if it’s a minor citing the delivery of weap- 140 warships and more
united response from the separated by no-man’s- incursion and then we end ons to the country by British than 60 aircraft. Separate-
United States and our allies lands patrolled by soldiers, up having a fight about military transports in recent ly, Spain’s defense minister
and partners,” Blinken told with the threat of all-out what to do and not do, et days. said the country was send-
a news conference with his war hanging heavily over cetera,” he said. Russian Foreign Minis- ing two warships to the
German counterpart. everyone’s lives,” Blinken Biden said Thursday that try spokeswoman Maria Black Sea with NATO ap-
Later, Blinken accused told an audience at the “Russia has a long history of Zakharova alleged Ukrai- proval.
Russia of threatening the Berlin-Brandenburg Acad- using measures other than nian and Western talk of Amid concerns that Pu-
foundations of world order emy of Sciences. “It would overt military action to car- an imminent Russian attack tin may not be moved by
with its buildup of an esti- also send a message to ry out aggression -- para- was a “cover for staging threats of sanctions and
mated 100,000 troops near others around the world military tactics, so-called large-scale provocations of that an invasion will not
Ukraine. He said Russia must that these principles are ex- gray zone attacks and ac- their own, including those draw as strong an inter-
face a concerted and se- pendable.” tions by Russian soldiers not of military character.” national response as the
vere global response if it “We will not treat the prin- wearing Russian uniforms.” Russia wants binding secu- U.S. believes is warranted,
invades. ciples of sovereignty or Ukrainian President Volody- rity guarantees, including Blinken made a direct ap-
The stark warning was de- territorial integrity as ne- myr Zelenskyy was among a permanent prohibition peal to the Russian people
livered in Berlin, the city gotiable,” he said, adding those expressing concern on Ukrainian membership to oppose any intervention.
that symbolized the Cold that the situation is “bigger about Biden’s “minor incur- in NATO, to which Kyiv as- “You deserve to live with
War split between East and than a conflict between sion” remark. pires, and the removal of security and dignity, like all
West, as Blinken prepares two countries, and it’s big- “We want to remind the most of the U.S. and allied people everywhere, and
to meet Friday in Geneva ger than a clash between great powers that there military presence in eastern no one -– not Ukraine, not
with Foreign Minister Sergey Russia and NATO. It’s a crisis are no minor incursions and Europe. the United States, not the
Lavrov in a high-stakes bid with global consequences. small nations. Just as there The U.S. and its European countries of NATO -– is seek-
to ease tensions that ap- And it requires global at- are no minor casualties and partners say they are willing ing to jeopardize that.q