JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Russia, China and South Africa are set to begin naval drills off South Africa’s Indian Ocean coast in a demonstration of the three countries’ close ties amid the war on Ukraine and China’s tense relationship with the West. The 10 days of exercises, named Mosi II, will coincide with the first anniversary of the conflict in Ukraine on Feb. 24. A Russian frigate, the Admiral Gorshkov, arrived in Cape Town earlier this week sporting the letters Z and V on its sides, letters that mark Russian weapons on the front lines in Ukraine and are used as a patriotic symbol in Russia.

 

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – The FBI, the lead federal agency for investigating cybercrime in the U.S., has itself been hacked. The bureau confirmed that it’s probing an “isolated” breach of its computer network. Hackers compromised a computer system at the agency’s New York field office, CNN reported, citing unidentified sources who had been briefed on the matter. The system had been used in investigations of child sexual exploitation. “The FBI is aware of the incident and is working to gain additional information,” the agency said in a statement to multiple media outlets. “This is an isolated incident that has been contained. As this is an ongoing investigation, the FBI does not have further comment to provide at this time,” RT reported. It’s not clear when the hack occurred, how the system was breached or what the perpetrators aimed to achieve. The FBI is reportedly still trying to determine the origin of the intrusion. Terry Cutler, CEO of Montreal-based cybersecurity firm Cyology Labs, said the hacker in the latest incident may have breached the FBI system to sell access to it.

 

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BEIJING (Reuters) – A group of Chinese officials arrived in Taiwan on Saturday on the first visit in three years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, to attend a cultural event at a time of soaring military tensions across the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan’s government this week allowed the trip of six officials, lead by Liu Xiaodong, deputy head of the Shanghai office of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, to attend the Lantern Festival in Taipei, at the invitation of the city government. Liu, arriving at Taipei’s downtown Songshan airport, did not answer questions from reporters. His group was ushered into a van under heavy security and driven away. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an, from the main opposition party the Kuomintang which traditionally favors close relations with China, told reporters they “very much welcomed” the delegation.

 

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NEW YORK (Dispatches) – The United Nations is planning to cut its food aid to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh, blaming a funding shortfall that is expected to deepen food insecurity and malnutrition in the world’s largest refugee settlement. The UN’s World Food Program (WFP) has announced that it will cut the value of its monthly allowance for food assistance to $10 per person from $12 starting next month, warning more cuts will be necessary without new funding by April. “That the international donor community is now turning its back on half a million Rohingya children and their families really shows the limits of its commitment to some of the most vulnerable people in the world,” Onno Van Manen, Save the Children’s country director in Bangladesh, said in a statement. “If these cuts are made, they will be imposed on vulnerable people who are already food insecure,” Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on food insecurity, and Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, said in a joint statement. Fakhri and Andrews also warned of the “devastating consequence” of the funding shortfall, saying it was “unconscionable” to cut rations just before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the UN human rights agency said in a statement. According to a statement, there are high levels of malnutrition in the camps in Bangladesh.

 

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SYDNEY (Reuters) – The death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle in New Zealand rose to nine on Saturday as the clean-up continued on the battered North Island and authorities worked to find missing people. The cyclone hit the uppermost region of the North Island on Sunday and tracked down the east coast, causing widespread devastation. Police on Saturday said they were investigating a possible cyclone-related death of a person in the hard-hit Hawke’s Bay region, taking the death toll to nine. Getting aid to impacted communities was also a priority, with the Navy saying a ship with 26 tons of supplies was on its way to Napier, in Hawke’s Bay. The Air Force said helicopters loaded with food and water were bound for the stranded village of Tutira, about 105 kilometers (65 miles) further north. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the response to the crisis was “still underway and there are people across the North Island working around the clock”.

 

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ISLAMABAD (AFP) – At least seven people have been killed and several injured after militants stormed a police station in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi as gunfire and loud explosions could be heard from the area.  Some eight to 10 militants breached the 5-story Karachi police, according to reports. Police snipers took up positions near the station and all lights in the area were switched off. Three of the assailants were killed in the attack. “I can so far confirm that the KPO building has been cleared. 3 terrorists have been neutralized,” Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab tweeted.  The Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), took responsibility for the attack in a message sent by their spokesman to journalists. “Can’t exactly tell how many terrorists have entered but there are at least more than five,” Deputy Inspector General Irfan Baloch told Reuters. The station houses offices of the city’s most senior police. Baloch said there could have been up to 30 police at the station at the time of the attack. The Islamist TTP, separate from the Taliban ruling neighboring Afghanistan, has recently increased attacks on police in the northwest of Pakistan as part of its campaign against the government in Islamabad.