Sat, Sep 29, 2018 page7

• World News Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  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.
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