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NATO leaders concluded their three-day meeting in Madrid Thursday with the Western security alliance strengthening its defense against Russian aggression, warning of global challenges posed by China and inviting neutral countries Finland and Sweden into the group, Voanews.com reported.

US President Joe Biden described the summit as “historic.”

“The last time NATO drafted a new mission statement was 12 years ago,” Biden said, referring to a document also known as the alliance’s Strategic Concept.

“At that time, it characterized Russia as a partner, and it didn't mention China. The world has changed, changed a great deal since then, and NATO is changing as well. At this summit, we rallied our alliances to meet both the direct threats that Russia poses to Europe and the systemic challenges that China poses to a rules-based world order. And we've invited two new members to join NATO,” Biden said.

Biden reiterated that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine has only strengthened NATO.

“He tried to weaken us, expected our resolve to fracture but he's getting exactly what he did not want,” Biden said. “He wanted the ‘Finland-ization’ of NATO. He got the ‘NATO-ization’ of Finland.”

On Wednesday Putin dismissed the imminent expansion of the Western alliance.

“With Sweden and Finland, we don't have the problems that we have with Ukraine. They want to join NATO, go ahead," Putin told Russian state television.

“But they must understand there was no threat before, while now, if military contingents and infrastructure are deployed there, we will have to respond in kind and create the same threats for the territories from which threats towards us are created,” he warned.

As it sets to expand, NATO leaders agreed on a massive increase in troop deployments across Europe. A total of 300,000 soldiers will be placed at high readiness across the continent starting next year to defend against potential military attacks by Moscow on any member of the alliance – what Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg characterized as “the most serious security crisis” since the Second World War.

To bolster NATO’s defense, the United States is also set to establish a permanent headquarters for the U.S. 5th Army Corps in Poland, add a rotational brigade of 3,000 troops and 2,000 other personnel to be headquartered in Romania, and send two additional squadrons of F-35 fighter jets to Britain.

Reaffirming commitments made by other Western leaders, Biden said the U.S. will stand firm against Russia’s aggression. He offered little indication the conflict would conclude anytime soon, suggesting that Americans would have to bear high gas prices longer.

“As long as it takes, so Russia cannot in fact defeat Ukraine and move beyond Ukraine," he said.

CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and noted cine artist Rajesh Hamal had a meeting at the former’s residence in Khumaltar on Friday.

The meeting focused on matters relating to Nepal's art and cine sector and other related issues.

According to musician Chetan Sapkota, who was also present on the occasion, the status of Nepal's film industry, State's investment in the relevant field and motivational aspects were among the issues discussed during the meeting.

Stating that the State's sufficient role was still awaited to elevate the domestic film industry to an international-standard, the former Prime Minister insisted on combined efforts for the promotion of the industry. He also took time to praise the long contribution of Hamal as an artist to the enhancement of the industry.

In response, Hamal said leader Dahal was accredited for providing a ground to develop a culture of artists joining the politics openly and acknowledging their presence and experiences in the political sphere. As he stressed, political stability was a prerequisite for institutionalized development in other fields. The two also held general discussions on the nation's latest political developments, it is said.

The main opposition CPN-UML boycotted the clause-wise discussion on the Finance Bill 2079 in the National Assembly.

The UML lawmakers obstructed the meeting soon after it started.

As soon as National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Timilsina gave time to Finance Minister Janardan Sharma to present a proposal asking to start clause-wise discussion on the Finance Bill 2079 endorsed by the House of Representatives with a message, UML lawmakers stood from their seats in a gesture of protest.

Later, Timilsina gave time to UML lawmaker Bhairab Sundar Shrestha to speak.

He said that they would not take part in the discussion until Finance Minister Sharma resigns from his post.

The lawmakers walked out of the hall after lawmaker Shrestha said that the party had decided not to take part in the discussion on the proposal presented by Minister Sharma.

The UML had been demanding resignation of Sharma saying that it is not morally appropriate for him to remain in the post after questions have been raised pertaining to changing tax rates on the eve of the budget presentation.

An unstable world could get even more dangerous if NATO does not remain strong and united, the head of the alliance said Thursday at the end of a summit where Western leaders labeled Russia “a direct threat” to the security of their nations, Associated Press reported.

During their three-day meeting in Madrid, NATO members confronted a geopolitical landscape marked by big-power competition and myriad threats, from cyberattacks to climate change. The leaders cast their sights around the world —- drawing a rebuke after accusing China of posing “serious challenges ” to global stability. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine dominated the summit. 

“We live in a more dangerous world and we live in a more unpredictable world, and we live in a world where we have a hot war going on in Europe,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. “At the same time, we also know that this can get worse.”

That is why the Western military alliance has a “core responsibility” to keep the war in Ukraine from spilling into other countries while making clear to Moscow that it would “protect every inch of NATO territory,” Stoltenberg said.

That territory is set to grow. At the summit, NATO leaders formally invited Finland and Sweden to join the alliance, after striking an agreement to end opposition from Turkey. However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he could still block the Nordic countries’ membership, if the Nordic pair do not keep their promises.

If the accession is approved by all 30 member nations, it will give NATO a new 800-mile (1,300 kilometer) border with Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned he would respond in kind if Sweden or Finland agreed to host NATO troops and military infrastructure. He said Russia would have to “create the same threats for the territory from which threats against us are created.”

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said Putin’s threats were “nothing new.”

“Of course, we have to expect some kind of surprises from Putin, but I doubt that he is attacking Sweden or Finland directly,” Kallas said, according to Associated Press.

NATO leaders turned their gaze south for a final summit session Thursday focused on Africa’s Sahel region and the Middle East, where political instability — aggravated by climate change and food insecurity sparked by the war in Ukraine — is driving large numbers of migrants toward Europe.

The U.S. and other Western nations also are seeking to counterbalance the growing influence of China and Russia in the developing world. Stoltenberg said “Moscow and Beijing are using economic leverage, coercion and hybrid approaches to advance their interests in the region.”

The Beijing government called the alliance a “Cold War remnant” and accused it of “maliciously attacking and smearing” China by including it on NATO’s list of global challenges.

But Stoltenberg said it was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that had brought “the biggest overhaul of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War.” In response, NATO has poured troops and weapons into Eastern Europe on a scale unseen in decades. 

The NATO leaders agreed at the Madrid summit to dramatically scale up military force along the alliance’s eastern flank, where countries from Romania to the Baltic states worry about Russia’s future plans.

NATO announced plans to increase almost eightfold the size of the alliance’s rapid reaction force, from 40,000 to 300,000 troops, by next year — though details of specific troop commitments remained vague. 

Most of the troops would be based in their home nations but dedicated to specific countries in the east, where the alliance plans to build up stocks of equipment and ammunition.

Member nations have given Ukraine billions in military and civilian aid to strengthen its resistance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who addressed the summit by video link, asked for more, Associated Press reported.

He urged NATO to send modern artillery systems and other weapons — or “face a delayed war between Russia and yourself.”

“The question is, who’s next? Moldova? Or the Baltics? Or Poland? The answer is: all of them,” he said. 

US President Joe Biden, whose country provides the bulk of NATO’s firepower, announced a hefty boost in America’s military presence in Europe, including a permanent US base in Poland, two more Navy destroyers based in Spain, and two more F35 squadrons in the UK.