The sound of an explosion was heard in New York’s famed Times Square. The people in the vicinity mistook the incident as a bomb attack and started to run away in panic. Emergency and police teams closed part of the area. While the authorities announced that explosions occurred in three different manholes, the New York Fire Department (FDNY) intervened. Information on the cause of the manhole-induced explosion was not shared.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that NATO’s increased defense spending will harm the alliance and lead to its collapse.
Speaking after the CSTO meeting in Kyrgyzstan, Lavrov criticized Poland’s foreign minister and said Russia would reduce its military spending, acting “with common sense” instead of reacting to “imaginary threats.”
At last week’s NATO summit in The Hague, members agreed to allocate 5% of GDP to defense.
TR