Indian authorities are preparing to introduce special protocols in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to establish an expedited response to unidentified flying objects like surveillance balloons. This move follows the revelation that unidentified balloons, similar to the ones reported in the US and Canada, had been spotted multiple times near the islands last year.
Pakistani police attempted to arrest former PM Imran Khan in Islamabad on Sunday. However, he was not present at his residence. As Khan faces several charges of corruption, a court issued an arrest warrant after he failed to appear in court.
Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Chairperson for the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), said on Sunday that the NCM had managed to rescue 12 Indian nationals stranded in Libya. The Indians from minority communities had been illegally taken to the foreign land under the pretext of employment opportunities. However, once there, they were forced to work without pay and beaten mercilessly. With the help of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Indian embassy in Tunisia, four of the 12 had been successfully brought back by 12 February, while the remaining nationals returned on 2 March.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made his final exit from the Chinese Communist Party on Monday, after delivering a speech to the parliament. Li, who completed almost 10 years as the premier of China, stepped down after finishing his two-term limit at the party.
On Sunday, outgoing Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for “resolving the Taiwan question” and taking “resolute steps to oppose Taiwan independence and promote reunification” by implementing the Chinese Communist Party’s policy. The Mainland Affairs Council in Taipei responded that Beijing should acknowledge that the two countries are “not subordinate to each other.”
Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin on Sunday warned of Russia losing its defence lines in Bakhmut in case his mercenaries do not receive the ammunition promised by the Kremlin last month, signalling a new strain in ties between Prigozhin and the Russian Defence Ministry. “For now, we are trying to figure out the reason: is it just ordinary bureaucracy or a betrayal,” Prigozhin asserted in reference to the lack of arms provision to Wagner mercenaries.
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, visited American commanders and troops in northeastern Syria on Saturday. While there, he “received updates on the counter-ISIS mission, inspected force protection measures, and assessed repatriation efforts for the Al-Hol refugee camp.” Al-Hol houses tens of thousands of Syrians and Iraqis, of whom about 20,000 are children and most of the rest are women — wives, and widows of ISIS fighters. About 900 US troops are stationed in northeastern Syria currently, as per US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Dana Stroul.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday slammed Rafael Grossi, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), for saying that a military attack on any Iranian nuclear facility is “outlawed.” Grossi said any military strike “is out of the normative structures that we all abide by.” Criticising Grossi’s comments as “unworthy” of his position, Netanyahu stressed that Israel could not sit idly as Iran calls for the its extermination and holds nuclear weapons. “Nothing will prevent us from protecting our country and preventing oppressors from destroying the Jewish state,” Netanyahu insisted.
Thousands of protesters clashed with the Greek police in Athens on Sunday over the death of 57 people in a train collision, regarded as the worst train disaster in Greece’s history. While protesters hurled Molotov cocktails at police and set bins ablaze, security forces responded with tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the demonstrators. Moreover, tens of thousands of peaceful protesters gathered in Athens to demand government accountability for the disaster.