CHINESE SPY BALLOONS HAVE TARGETED SEVERAL COUNTRIES, INCLUDING INDIA’

Amid the diplomatic row over the downing of the Chinese spy balloon by the US, a report has linked the aircraft to the vast surveillance program run by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which targeted India too.

A report by The Washington Post said the U.S. officials have begun to brief allies and partners who have been similarly targeted. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman briefed about the spy balloon programme to some 150 people from about 40 embassies, besides providing every US Embassy  "detailed information" on the espionage, that can be shared with allies and partners.

The US has also shared "specifics with officials in countries such as Japan whose military facilities were targeted by Beijing."

The surveillance balloon programme is operating out of Hainan province off China’s south coast and may have gathered information on military assets in countries and areas of emerging strategic interest to China including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines, the report quoted several unnamed U.S. officials.

Besides North America, the PLA balloons have been spotted over four other continents. According to an official, this was a "massive effort." "What the Chinese have done is taken an unbelievably old technology and basically married it with modern communications and observation capabilities to try to glean intelligence on other nations’ militaries," he added.

The official said that many countries have responded with interest as they realise that they may be vulnerable to this spying tactic.

TURKEY LEADER ADMITS 'SHORTCOMINGS' AS QUAKE TOLL HITS 12,000

ANTAKYA, Turkey - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday conceded "shortcomings" after criticism of his government's response to the massive earthquake that killed over 12,000 people in Turkey and Syria.

The sprawling scale of the disaster that flattened thousands of buildings, trapping an unknown number of people, has swamped relief operations already hampered by freezing weather.

Survivors have been left to scramble for food and shelter -- and in some cases watch helplessly as their relatives called for rescue, and eventually went silent under the debris.

As criticism mounted online, Erdogan visited one of the hardest-hit spots, quake epicenter Kahramanmaras, and acknowledged problems in the response.

"Of course, there are shortcomings. The conditions are clear to see. It's not possible to be ready for a disaster like this," he said.

The window for rescuers to find survivors is narrowing as the effort nears the 72-hour mark that disaster experts consider the most likely period to save lives.

Yet on Wednesday, rescuers pulled children from under a collapsed building in the hard-hit Turkish province of Hatay, where whole stretches of towns have been levelled.

Officials and medics said 9,057 people had died in Turkey and 2,992 in Syria from Monday's 7.8-magnitude tremor, bringing the total to 12,049 -- but that could yet double if the worst fears of experts are realized.

The White Helmets, leading efforts to rescue people buried under rubble in rebel-held areas of Syria, have appealed for international help in their "race against time".

The issue of aid to Syria was a delicate one, and the sanctioned government in Damascus made an official plea to the EU for help, the bloc's commissioner for crisis management Janez Lenarcic said.

A winter storm has compounded the misery by rendering many roads -- some of them damaged by the quake -- almost impassable, resulting in traffic jams that stretch for kilometers in some regions.

The European Union was swift to dispatch rescue teams to Turkey after the massive earthquake struck the country on Monday close to the border with Syria.

The Turkey-Syria border is one of the world's most active earthquake zones.

BIDEN WARNS U.S. WILL ACT ON CHINA AFTER DOWNING SURVEILLANCE BALLOON

President Joe Biden took a defiant stance toward Beijing during his State of the Union speech Tuesday, just three days after the U.S. military shot down a spy balloon that flew over the continental United States.

“Make no mistake, as we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country,” he said. “And we did.” Calling out China’s increasingly autocratic leader, Biden went off-script and shouted, “Name me a world leader who’d change places with Xi Jinping.”

During his speech, Biden said he’s told President Xi he doesn’t want the two nations to take a war footing. “I’ve made clear with President Xi that we seek competition, not conflict,” he said.

China is expanding its nuclear forces and increasing its threats toward the U.S.-allied island of Taiwan. The U.S. is responding by strengthening alliances across the Asia-Pacific region and sending additional forces and firepower to places like Guam and the Philippines.

“Let’s be clear: winning the competition with China should unite all of us,” Biden said. “We face serious challenges across the world.”

The Biden Administration has labeled Beijing as a “pacing challenge” that holds the potential to reshape the international order. In recent years, as it has amassed economic power, China has forged close ties with governments in Africa, Latin America, and Central and Southeast Asia.

Biden touted legislation passed last year with strong support from both his fellow Democrats and Republicans that boosted the US semiconductor industry, and promised more. “I will make no apologies that we are investing to make America strong. Investing in American innovation, in industries that will define the future, that China intends to be dominating,” he said.

Asked on Wednesday about Biden’s remarks, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said: “The Chinese side has always believed that China-US relations are not a zero-sum game in which you lose and I win, and you rise andI fall”. “China does not shy away from or fear competition, but we oppose using competition to define the entire China US relationship,” Mao said.

UKRAINE WAR: ZELENSKY ASKS FRANCE AND GERMANY FOR FIGHTER JETS

Ukraine's leader has taken his request for fighter jets to France and Germany after meeting UK officials.

President Volodymyr Zelensky met the two countries' leaders in Paris on Wednesday evening, where they pledged ongoing support to Ukraine.

France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Olaf Scholz restated their belief that Russia must not win the war.

Mr Zelensky will make more requests for jets when he meets European Union leaders in Brussels on Thursday.

He believes the fighter jets and long-range missiles are important in addition to the Leopard 2 tanks Western nations have recently committed to supplying.

Speaking at a joint news conference on Wednesday evening with Mr Macron and Mr Scholz, Mr Zelensky said France and Germany had potential to be "game-changers" in the battle against Russia by providing Ukraine with battle tanks, modern fighter planes and long-range missiles.

He said the supply of the jets had been discussed, and warned there was "very little time" to provide the weaponry.

Mr Macron said Ukraine could count on France's support and that the country was "determined to help Ukraine to victory and the re-establishment of its legitimate rights".

Mr Scholz also said: "The position is unchanged: Russia must not win this war."

Whether that means the two nations may commit to supplying fighter jets is unclear for now.

MH17 PROBE POINTS TO PUTIN’S INVOLVEMENT

There are “strong indications” that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally approved the supply of the missile that shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014, international investigators said on Wednesday.

But the investigators said they were halting their eight-year probe, since Mr. Putin has immunity as head of state and there is not enough concrete evidence to prosecute him or other suspects.

All 298 people on board were killed when a Russian-made missile slammed into the plane travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, sending it crashing in eastern Ukraine. The announcement comes less than three months after a Dutch court convicted two Russians and a Ukrainian in absentia over the downing of MH17.

“There are strong indications that a decision was made at presidential level, by President Putin, to supply the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) with the Buk TELAR” missile system, Dutch prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer told a news conference in The Hague. “Although we speak of strong indications, the high bar of complete and conclusive evidence is not reached.”

PAKISTAN NAVY TO HOST 50 NATIONS IN MARITIME EXERCISES FROM FEB. 10

KARACHI: Pakistan's Navy said it will host 50 countries for maritime exercises from February 10-14. At a news briefing, the Commander of the Pakistan Fleet, Vice Admiral Ovais Ahmed Bilgrami, commented on the importance of the exercises in light of piracy, terrorism, narcotics and arms trafficking, and climate change.

TAIWAN OPPOSITION LEADER MEETS BUSINESS COMMUNITY IN CHINA

BEIJING: The vice chair of Beijing-friendly Opposition Nationalist Party from Taiwan was visiting China for meetings with officials and the local business community. Andrew Hsia’s nine-day trip comes as China renews attacks on the ruling Democratic Progressive Party over its refusal to recognise Taiwan as a part of China.

PAK RIGHTS PANEL SAYS ALARMED BY RISE IN FORCED CONVERSIONS, SEEKS LAW AGAINST IT

Islamabad : Expressing concern over the continued persecution of religious minorities in the country, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has called for an urgent legislation to criminalise forced conversions.

In its latest report, ‘A Breach of Faith: Freedom of Religion or Belief in 2021-22’, released on Tuesday, the HRCP expressed alarm over the state of religious freedom in the country. It said that forced conversion, particularly of Hindu girls in Sindh province, and desecration of places of worship of religious minorities as well as marginalisation of Ahmadiyya community remained “worryingly co nsistent” between July 2021 and June 2022. In 2021 alone, at least 60 cases of forced conversion — most of them from Sindh, which hosts nearly 90% of Pakistan’s Hindus — were reported in the local media, of which 70 per cent were girls under the age of 18, the report revealed.

Hindus account for nearly 2. 1% of Pakistan’s 207 million population. Successive governments have failed to stop the kidnapping and forced conversion of Hindu girls, and their subsequent marriages to Muslim men — in most cases, to their abductors — mainly due to pressure from Islamic groups.

The HRCP, in its report, echoed the need for a representative and autonomous statutory national commission for minorities as well as concerted efforts by the state to counter sectarian violence.

It also flagged the large number of blasphemy cases — 585 in 2021 alone — registered against religious minorities. Referring to murders by mobs and fanatics over blasphemy allegations, the report called for steps to ensure that the blasphemy laws were not “weaponised by people to settle personal vendettas”.