News in Brief

Date: 23 April 2023 - 23:17

News ID: ۱۱۴۲۲۲

NEW DELHI (AP) – Indian police on Sunday arrested a separatist leader who has revived calls for an independent Sikh homeland and the secession of India’s northern Punjab state, which has a history of violent insurgency. Amritpal Singh had been on the run since last month after capturing national attention in February, when hundreds of his supporters stormed a police station in Ajnala, a town in Punjab state, with wooden batons, swords and guns to demand the release of a jailed aide. Punjab state police tweeted Sunday that Singh was arrested in Moga, a town in the state. A Sikh religious leader, Jasbir Singh Rodde, said Singh surrendered after offering morning prayers at a Sikh shrine in Moga. Police officer Sukhchain Singh Gill said police had surrounded the village on intelligence that Singh was in the shrine. “Relentless pressure built by the police over the past 35 days left Singh with no choice,″ Gill told reporters.

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SYDNEY (Al Jazeera) – Deep-sea explorers have discovered the wreck of a transport ship torpedoed by a U.S. submarine during World War II, killing nearly 1,000 Australian prisoners of war aboard. Sunk in 1942, Japan’s Montevideo Maru was en route from what is now Papua New Guinea to China’s Hainan, when it was attacked by the Americans. The U.S. claims the crew of the submarine did not realize it carried prisoners of war. On Saturday, the maritime archaeology group Silentworld Foundation which organized the mission said it found the ship at a depth of more than four kilometers off the Philippines. The sinking of the Montevideo Maru was Australia’s worst-ever maritime disaster, killing an estimated 979 Australian citizens including at least 850 troops. Civilians from 13 other countries were also aboard, the foundation said, bringing the total number of prisoners killed to about 1,060. They had been captured a few months earlier by Japanese forces in the fall of the coastal township of Rabaul in Papua New Guinea, and were being sent to the Chinese island of Hainan.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified documents to a small group of gamers had been posting sensitive information months earlier than previously known and to a much larger chat group, the New York Times reported, citing online postings reviewed by the newspaper. In February 2022, soon after Ukraine conflict, a user profile matching that of Airman Jack Teixeira began posting secret intelligence on the Russian war effort on a previously undisclosed chat group on social platform Discord, the newspaper reported, adding the group had about 600 members. This chat room was publicly listed on a YouTube channel and was easily accessible, the newspaper added. The Pentagon declined to comment on the new information reported by the New York Times. The 21-year-old U.S. Air National Guardsman facing criminal charges for leaking top-secret military intelligence records online was arrested last week. The New York Times said the newly discovered information posted on the larger chat group included details about Russian and Ukrainian casualties, activities of Moscow’s spy agencies and updates on aid being provided to Ukraine. The user claimed to be posting information from the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies, according to the New York Times. The case is believed to be the most serious U.S. security breach since more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010. The Pentagon has called the leak a “deliberate, criminal act”.

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PARIS (Reuters) – Ex-USSR countries don’t have actual status in international law because there is no international agreement to materialize their sovereign status, China’s ambassador in Paris said. Asked about his position on whether Crimea is part of Ukraine or not, Chinese ambassador Lu Shaye said in an interview aired on French television that historically it was part of Russia and had been offered to Ukraine by former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. France responded on Sunday by stating its “full solidarity” with all the allied countries affected, which it said had acquired their independence “after decades of oppression”. “On Ukraine specifically, it was internationally recognized within borders including Crimea in 1991 by the entire international community, including China,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said. China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

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MOGADISHU (AP) – Somalia’s military repulsed an attack by militants in a remote region of the country, killing at least 18 of the al-Shabab militants, according to a top army official. At least three civilians described as “traditional elders” were killed in the fighting near Masagaway town, Gen. Mohamed Ahmed Taredisho said by phone. Masagaway is located in the central region of Galgadud and home to a military base. Resident Yusuf Sheikh said that militants overran the base, confiscated weapons and burned battle wagons during the attack. “It was early in the morning, and (al-Shabab) completely took over the whole town, including the military base, forcing the government forces out of the town,” he said. Sheikh said several people were killed in the attack and others were missing.