UNITED KINGDOM
Third spy in Skripal attack
A third Russian military intelligence officer who carried out a reconnaissance mission before the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal has been identified by counterterrorism police and services, the Telegraph newspaper reported on Thursday. The Russian agent is believed to have visited Salisbury to help plan the attack before two of his colleagues brought weapons-grade nerve agent into the UK, the newspaper said. Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were struck down with the poison in March. They were found unconscious on a public bench in Salisbury on March 4.
UNITED STATES
Airstrike first for new jet
The stealthy F-35 fighter jet has conducted a combat airstrike for the first time, culminating years of development and anticipation for the aircraft’s move to the battlefield. A Marine F-35B Lightning on Thursday took off from the USS Essex amphibious assault ship and launched an airstrike against Taliban targets in Afghanistan. The aircraft is assigned to the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. There are multiple versions of the F-35 for the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. The supersonic Marine version, which is meant to replace the AV-8B Harrier, can take off over a short distance and land vertically, like a helicopter. Each plane costs about US$100 million. The F-35 program has been criticized by members of the US Congress over testing problems, delays and cost overruns.
FRANCE
Polanski making spy thriller
He has spent half his life as the accused, but director Roman Polanski’s next film is to be called J’accuse (“I accuse”), its producers said on Thursday. The Polish-born filmmaker, who has spent four decades as a fugitive from US justice after admitting to the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977, is making a historical spy thriller based on the Dreyfus Affair — the most famous miscarriage of justice in French history. The script has been written by British novelist Robert Harris, who previously worked with Polanski, 85, on the critically acclaimed The Ghost Writer in 2010 starring Ewan McGregor. J’accuse is to star French Oscar winner Jean Dujardin as the often forgotten counter-espionage officer who proved that Jewish captain Alfred Dreyfus had been wrongly accused of spying for the Germans. The story, Polanski said, is “absolutely pertinent for today’s world — a witch-hunt against a minority, paranoia about security, secret military courts and intelligence services out of control; lying governments and an enraged press.” The film will be in French, with actor Louis Garrel playing Dreyfus.
INDIA
Chain loses to Starbucks
An Indian coffee shop chain rhyming with Starbucks and with a similar logo has agreed to change its name after being sued by the US giant, the Indian firm said yesterday. Starbucks, which entered the vast Indian market in 2012 and now has 125 outlets, began legal proceedings against “SardarBuksh,” which has 25 shops in New Delhi, in July. “Our name rhymed with Starbucks which is why the court has ruled [on Thursday] in their favor,” SardarBuksh cofounder Sanmeet Singh Kalra said. His company has agreed to change the name to the not-so-different “Sardarji-Bakhsh” within two months. However, Kalra said that his logo, which like Starbucks’ is a circle of green and black with a figure at the center — albeit a man in a turban and not a mermaid — will not change.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in