US TRACKING SUSPECTED CHINESE SURVEILLANCE BALLOON

A suspected Chinese surveillance balloon was spotted in US airspace but the Pentagon decided not to shoot it down as it could cause harm to people on the ground. The floating 'spy' balloon has caused further strain on US-China relations.

A senior defence official told reporters the Pentagon is very confident that the Chinese balloon was flying over "sensitive sites" to collect information. The balloon was spotted in Montana, home to one of the nation’s three nuclear missile launch facilities at Malmstrom Air Force Base, AP reported.

The government is tracking a balloon that is “currently travelling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground”.

The Pentagon, in a press briefing, said similar balloons have been spotted in the past as well and the US has taken steps to ensure it did not collect sensitive information.

The US did get fighter jets, including F-22s, ready to shoot down the balloon, but the Pentagon recommended against it as its size would create a debris field large enough that it could have put people at risk in Montana.

It was not clear what the military was doing to prevent it from collecting sensitive information or what would happen with the balloon if it wasn’t shot down.

The official would not specify the size of the balloon, but said it was large enough that, despite its high altitude, commercial pilots could see it.

“From the spy balloon to the Chinese Communist Party spying on Americans through TikTok to CCP-linked companies buying American farmland, I’m deeply troubled by the constant stream of alarming developments for our national security,” Montana Governor Greg Gianforte said in a statement.

IMF REJECTS PAKISTAN'S DEBT MANAGEMENT PLAN, SEEKS RAISE IN ELECTRICITY TARIFF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday rejected Pakistan government's circular debt management plan and asked the authorities to raise the electricity tariff by Rs 12.50 per unit as talks begin on a potential bail out.

The electricity tariff raise is to restrict the losses of the cash-bleeding power sector, a report said.

An IMF mission is currently in Pakistan holding talks after which a staff-level agreement is expected between the two sides.

During the second day of technical-level talks, the Washington-based lender termed the revised CDMP as “unrealistic”, which is based on certain "wrong assumptions".

The newly developed debt management plan seeks to restrict losses of power distribution companies to 16.27% on average during the current fiscal year, Geo News reported.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was against the tax rises and subsidy slashing demanded by the International Monetary Fund, fearful of backlash ahead of elections due in October. But in recent days, with the prospect of national bankruptcy looming and no friendly countries willing to offer less painful bailouts, Islamabad has started to bow to pressure.

U.S. MILITARY TO GET GREATER ACCESS TO PHILIPPINES BASES

The United States and the Philippines announced a deal on Thursday to give U.S. troops access to another four bases in the Southeast Asian nation, as the long-time allies seek to counter China’s military rise.

The agreement to expand cooperation in “strategic areas of the country” was made during a visit by U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.

It comes as the countries seek to repair ties that were fractured in recent years. Previous Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte favoured China over his country’s former colonial master, but the new administration of Ferdinand Marcos has been keen to reverse that.

Beijing’s growing assertiveness on Taiwan and its building of bases in the disputed South China Sea have given fresh impetus to Washington and Manila to strengthen their partnership.

Given its proximity to Taiwan and its surrounding waters, cooperation from the Philippines would be key in the event of a conflict with China, which a four-star U.S. Air Force general has warned could happen as early as 2025.

The four new locations bring the total number of sites accessible to U.S. forces to nine, Mr. Austin told reporters on Thursday.

Talks were ongoing for a potential 10th site, a senior Philippine official said.

PUTIN PREDICTS VICTORY OVER ‘NEW NAZISM’ IN UKRAINE

President Vladimir Putin evoked the spirit of the Soviet Army that defeated Nazi German forces at Stalingrad 80 years ago to declare on Thursday that Russia would defeat a Ukraine in the grip of a new incarnation of Nazism.

In a fiery speech in Volgograd, known as Stalingrad until 1961, Mr. Putin lambasted Germany for helping to arm Ukraine and said, not for the first time, that he was ready to draw on Russia’s entire arsenal, which includes nuclear weapons.

“Unfortunately we see that the ideology of Nazism in its modern form and manifestation again directly threatens the security of our country,” Mr. Putin told an audience of Army officers and members of local patriotic and youth groups.

“Again and again we have to repel the aggression of the collective West. It’s incredible but it’s a fact: we are again being threatened with German Leopard tanks with crosses on them.”

Mr. Putin evoked what he said was the spirit of the defenders of Stalingrad to explain why he thought Russia would prevail in Ukraine, saying the World War Two battle had become a symbol of “the indestructible nature of our people”.

“We don’t send our tanks to their borders but we have the means to respond, and it won’t end with the use of armoured vehicles, everyone must understand that,” Mr. Putin said.

PAKISTAN MOSQUE BOMBER WAS ‘IN POLICE UNIFORM’

The suicide bomber who killed more than 80 police officers at a mosque inside a sensitive compound earlier this week entered wearing a uniform and helmet, a provincial police chief said on Thursday.

Hundreds of police were attending afternoon prayers inside what should have been a tightly controlled police headquarters in the northwest city of Peshawar on Monday when the blast erupted, causing a wall to collapse and crush officers.

The suspect is shown in CCTV images arriving at the gates on a motorcycle before walking through a security checkpoint and asking officers where the mosque was located.

Authorities are investigating how a major breach could happen in one of the most sensitive areas in the city, which houses the intelligence and counter-terrorism bureaus.

It is Pakistan’s deadliest assault in several years and the worst since violence began to resurge in the northwest bordering Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021.

The assault has put a scarred city on edge, harking back to when Peshawar was at the centre of rampant violence carried out by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

SPYING? AUSTRIA EXPELS FOUR RUSSIAN DIPLOMATS

Vienna : Austria is expelling four Russian diplomats for behaving in a manner inconsistent with international agreements, a reason often invoked in spying cases, the Austrian foreign ministry said on Thursday without giving specifics. The move brings to nine the number of Russian diplomats Austria has expelled since 2020, though any connection between the three separate decisions is unclear. Austria has generally been more reluctant than many other western European countries to expel Russian envoys.

Two of the four diplomats declared personae non gratae on Thursday and ordered to leave the country by February 8 are stationed at the Russian Embassy toAustria while the other two work at the Russian mission to the UN in Vienna, the ministry said in a statement. “Two diplomats at the Russian embassy have acted in a manner inconsistent with their diplomatic status. They were therefore declared unwelcome persons (personae non gratae) in accordance with Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” the ministry said. The two working at the Russian mission to the U. N. acted in a way that was inconsistent with the host country agreement between the UN and Austria, it added. The ministry did not specify what any of the diplomats had done.

U.S. OPENS EMBASSY IN SOLOMON ISLANDS

The U.S. opened an embassy in the Solomon Islands on Thursday in its latest move to counter China’s push into the Pacific.

The embassy in the capital, Honiara, is starting small, with a chargé d’affaires, a couple of State Department staff and a handful of local employees. The U.S. previously operated an embassy in the Solomon Islands for five years before closing it in 1993.

The opening comes as Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka appears to be reassessing his nation’s engagement with China.

ARGENTINA UNVEILS NEW 2,000-PESO BANKNOTE AS INFLATION BITES

A new 2,000-peso banknote will be issued in Argentina in response to soaring inflation, the country's central bank (BCRA) has confirmed.

The new note - which will be worth $11 (£9) officially - comes after consumer prices jumped by nearly 95% in the 12 months to the end of December.

It marks Argentina's fastest pace of inflation since 1991.

The largest current bill, the 1,000-peso note, is worth just $2.70 on the alternative markets.

Writing on Twitter, the BCRA said the new note would "commemorate the development of science and medicine in Argentina".

It will feature pioneering doctors Cecilia Grierson and Ramón Carrillo, it added - although it is not clear when the note will enter circulation.

INDIAN PRINCESS, KNOWN FOR ROLE IN UK WOMEN SUFFRAGE, TO GET BLUE PLAQUE

London : An Indian princess who became famous for playing a leading role in the British suffragette movement is to be honoured with a blue plaque outside one of the homes she lived at in Britain.

Sophia Duleep Singhwas born into Punjabi royalty in 1876 as a daughter of Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last ruler of the Sikh Empire. She was the granddaughter of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. But her father had been deposed at the age of 10 by the British when the East India Company annexed Punjab at the end of the Second AngloSikh War in 1849. He had moved to Britain aged 15 in 1854. He was close to Queen Victoria, who became Sophia’s godmother. It was he who, as a child, had signed over the Kohinoor to Queen Victoria in 1846 as part of the Lahore Treaty. English Heritage, which aims to award about 12 plaques annually, has announced that Sophia will be honoured with a blue plaque this year though the date is yet to be confirmed. The plaques scheme celebrates link between significant historical figures and the buildings in which they lived and worked.