News In Brief

climate targets
AFP, Brussels
 When the Belgian government said recently it was hoping for a climate deal it wasn’t talking about the UN talks in Paris — it was talking about its own troubles.
Arguments between the French and Flemish speaking regions of an increasingly divided country meant Prime Minister Charles Michel went to Paris without any agreement.

Montenegro invited to join NATO
Reuters, Brussels
NATO foreign ministers invited tiny Montenegro on Wednesday to join their military alliance in its first expansion since 2009, defying Russian warnings that enlargement of the U.S.-led bloc further into the Balkans would be a provocation.
In a scripted session at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels, Montenegro’s Foreign Minister Igor Luksic strode into the imposing conference hall to loud applause from his peers as NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg declared: “This is the beginning of a very beautiful alliance.”

UK poised to join Syria bombing with vote
AFP, London
Britain’s parliament looks set to vote Wednesday in favour of joining the bombing campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria, despite growing doubts among the public and some MPs.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who stepped up pressure for air strikes after last month’s Paris attacks, will lead the House of Commons into more than 10 hours of debate on joining the US-led action.

Russia to build two military bases on Kuril islands
AFP, Moscow
Russia has begun building two modern military compounds on the far eastern Kuril islands, defence minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday, heightening long-running tensions with Japan over the disputed islands.
Russia is “actively carrying out construction of military compounds on the islands of Iturup and Kunashir,” Shoigu said at a meeting with military top brass, according to the ministry’s website.