First Thing: Russia calls increased US deployments a ‘destructive step’

The US decision to deploy more than 3,000 US troops in Germany, Poland and Romania will make it harder to reach a compromise over Ukraine, Russia’s deputy foreign minister said

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Yesterday Joe Biden announced that the US will deploy more than 3,000 US troops in Germany, Poland and Romania as Russia continues to build up its forces around Ukraine. Russia’s deputy foreign minister has since responded, calling the move a “destructive step”.

Alexander Grushko said the increased troops would “increase military tension and reduce scope for political decision”, and would “delight” Ukrainian authorities.

• Russia had been moving 30,000 combat troops and modern weapons to Belarus over the last few days, Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said today. It is Moscow’s biggest military deployment to the country since the end of the cold war.

• This comes as the west continues to deploy a flurry of diplomatic efforts – yesterday Boris Johnson, the United Kingdom prime minister, warned Vladimir Putin in a phone call that he will make a “tragic miscalculation” if he invades Ukraine.

• France’s Emmanuel Macron was set to speak to Putin on Wednesday night as well, their third conversation in less than a week, while the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said he would meet Putin in Moscow soon.

• Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will fly to Moscow to offer himself as a mediator between Ukraine and Putin. A wild card of Nato diplomacy, Turkey was criticized by both Russia and Ukraine last year – Putin was unhappy when Turkey sold drones to the Ukrainian army, while Ukrainian politicians have been angered by a gas pipeline that takes gas from Russia to Turkey.

Joe Biden commits to reducing cancer death rate by 50% over the next 25 years

To reignite the “moonshot” initiative against the deadly disease that was first announced in 2016 when he was vice-president, Joe Biden has announced a 25-year timeline for reducing the cancer death rate by 50%.

“We can end cancer as we know it,” Biden said. “I committed to this fight when I was vice-president. It’s one of the reasons why, quite frankly, I ran for president. Let there be no doubt, now that I am president, this is a presidential White House priority.”

Biden’s son, Beau, died of brain cancer in 2015.

Four men charged in overdose death of actor Michael K Williams

Actor Michael K Williams died of acute drug intoxication in September and was found by family members in his penthouse apartment. At the time, the death of the Wire and Boardwalk Empire star was ruled an accident.

A federal prosecutor announced yesterday that Williams overdosed on fentanyl-laced heroin, and four men have been charged in connection with his death. “This is a public health crisis,” the prosecutor said. “And it has to stop.”

Trump risked disaster with praise of Palestinian leader in Israel meeting

In a new book, Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, recounted how the former president “knocked everyone off their chairs” in a meeting with then-president of Israel Reuven Rivlin in May 2017, when he criticized the then-prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for being unwilling to seek peace while Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, was “desperate” for a deal.

“Although the meeting was private and off the record, we all envisioned a headline tomorrow that Trump had praised Abbas and criticized Netanyahu – the worst possible dynamic for the president’s popularity or for the prospects of the peace process,” Friedman wrote. “Fortunately, and incredibly, the event wasn’t leaked.”

In other news …

• US special forces have killed 13 people in a hunt for high-ranking jihadists in north-western Syria, an operation the Pentagon described as “successful”.

• The International Space Station will plummet to a watery grave in 2031 after more than 30 years in service, when Nasa plans to “de-orbit” it out of commission.

• A Northern California county is on track to be run by a militia-aligned group after voters in the conservative outpost ousted a retired police chief from his role on the county board of supervisors.

• Tainted cocaine has killed at least 20 in Argentina and sent dozens more to the hospital. Authorities are investigating whether the drug had been intentionally cut with a toxic substance.

Stat of the day: Exposure to one nasal droplet is enough to become infected with Covid-19

Researchers conducted a landmark trial in which healthy volunteers were intentionally given a dose of Covid-19 and found that exposure to a just one nasal droplet is sufficient to become infected. The trial, conducted by scientists at Imperial College London, was the first to have monitored people during the entire course of infection.

Don’t miss this: The gaslighting of Covid longhaulers

More than two years into a deadly pandemic that has irrevocably changed the course of history, individuals suffering from long Covid – the long-term, lingering effects of coronavirus, long after any initial flu-like symptoms have abated – are still fighting for recognition and find themselves often still trying to convince skeptics that their symptoms are real.

Climate check: We didn’t start the fire

Wildfires today are grabbing headlines across the world with their destructiveness, erratic behavior and size. However, fewer fires are actually burning today than ever before – but that’s not a good thing. In shunning indigenous traditions of burning excess vegetation as a method of land management, fires have become stranger and less predictable.

Want more environmental stories delivered to your inbox? Sign up to our new newsletter Down to Earth to get original and essential reporting on the climate crisis every week

Last Thing: ‘We have to be visible’

For nearly 30 years, the small mountain town in northern Colombia, El Carmen de Bolívar, was infamous for the violence perpetuated by the police and paramilitary against the LGBTQ+ community in the area. These days, members of the community are remembering their history and reclaiming their place in their home, living their lives more visible than ever – even in the face of lingering prejudice.

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