WASHINGTON DC: According to one report, sources within the Iranian military establishment have claimed that President Ebrahim Raisi’s chopper may have been tampered with and listed sabotage as one of the possible reasons for the crash, though there is no official confirmation of the same.

“Investigators have not ruled out sabotage or tampering,” an Iranian military official was quoted as saying. The unnamed high-ranking official also hinted at the possibility that some ‘outside players’ could have been involved, hinting at the military agencies of Israel and the US.

Raisi and his foreign minister were killed when their helicopter crashed as it was crossing mountain terrain in heavy fog, an Iranian official told news agency Reuters.

The helicopter, carrying the 63-year-old President Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other officials, lost contact approximately 30 minutes into the flight. This sparked immediate concerns and a massive search and rescue operation was launched.

Iran’s Mehr news agency confirmed the deaths, reporting that “all passengers of the helicopter carrying the Iranian president and foreign minister were martyred”.

An Iranian official earlier told Reuters, the helicopter carrying Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was completely burned in the crash on Sunday. State TV reported that images from the site showed the aircraft slammed into a mountain peak, although there was no official word on the cause of the crash.

Apparently, the helicopter was flying low and due to zero visibility, it diverged from its route, lost its way and slammed head-on into a mountain peak. However, some Iranian military officials refused to accept this theory, saying the pilot was experienced and knew the terrain well. The helicopter also had advanced systems and couldn’t have strayed from its flight path, they claimed, while suggesting that sabotage was the only reason possible for the crash.

NEW DELHI, (ANI): After completing his UAE visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Doha on February 14 to hold bilateral meetings with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, there, the Ministry of External Affairs announced on Monday. This visit assumes significance as it comes after a diplomatic victory of India following the release of eight Indian Navy personnel who were detained in Qatar for nearly 18 months since August 2022.

“From UAE after completing his visit on February 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Doha, Qatar on February 14 afternoon. During the visit, PM Modi will hold bilateral meetings with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and other high dignitaries in Qatar,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said while addressing a special briefing on PM Modi’s visit to UAE. The Foreign Secretary expressed that PM Modi’s visit would provide an opportunity for leaders to discuss ways to further deepen and strengthen the multifaceted partnership.

“PM Modi’s visit to Qatar will provide an opportunity for the top leadership of the two countries to discuss ways to further deepen and strengthen our multifaceted partnership as well as exchange views on different regional and international issues of mutual importance,” Kwatra noted. Kwatra highlighted that this will be the second visit of PM Modi to Qatar, with the last one taking place in June 2016.

Emphasising the growing ties between India and Qatar, the Foreign Secretary mentioned high-level visits to Qatar. “There have been several high-level exchanges between India and Qatar in recent years. You would recall the visit of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar to Doha in November 2022 as also the visit of then Vice President Venkaiah Naidu in June 2022. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has also undertaken multiple visits to Qatar in last 3 to 4 years,” the Foreign Secretary also said.

The relationship between the two countries has grown multifaceted with robust energy partnership and collaboration in culture, education, and security. The bilateral trade currently stands at approximately USD 20 billion, with Qatar emerging as a significant investor across various sectors in India. “The bilateral relationship between India and Qatar that has been steadily growing includes a comprehensive span, including political ties, trade and investment linkages, a strong energy partnership and ties in the field of culture, education and security,” he said, adding, “Strong bilateral trade between India and Qatar currently stands at roughly USD 20 bn and Qatar is also a significant investor in India across the whole range of economies.”

Specifically mentioning the recent agreement between QatarEnergy and India’s Petronet for the supply of 7.5 million metric tons per year of LNG from Qatar to India for a duration of 20 years, starting in 2028, Kwatra said, ” You’d be aware following the recently concluded India Energy Week, QatarEnergy and India’s Petronet had signed an agreement for the supply of 7.5 million metric tons per year of LNG from Qatar to India for 20 years starting 2028″. The large Indian diaspora in Qatar, numbering around 840,000, was underscored as a vital connection between the two nations.

In a major diplomatic triumph for India, eight veterans of the Indian Navy who were sentenced to death in Qatar, were released by Doha on Monday. The capital punishment was commuted to an extended prison term earlier following diplomatic intervention by New Delhi.

Amid desperate pleas by the anxious kin of the Navy veterans to secure their release and safe passage back to their homeland, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had assured that it would mobilise all diplomatic channels and arrange legal assistance to bring them back. Of the eight former Navy officers, seven have already returned to India, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed through an official statement earlier today.

The Union government released an official statement welcoming the decision to set the veteran officers free, saying, “The Government of India welcomes the release of eight Indian nationals working for the Dahra Global company who were detained in Qatar. Seven out of the eight of them have returned to India. We appreciate the decision by the Amir of the State of Qatar to enable the release and home-coming of these nationals.” The eight Indian nationals were imprisoned in Qatar since October 2022 and were accused of allegedly spying on a submarine programme. The retired naval personnel were sentenced to death by a Qatar court on charges that have not yet been made public officially.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai and discussed bilateral partnership and the “well-being of the Indian community” living in Qatar. (ANI)

ROME: Alexander III also known as Alexander the Great, was 20 years old when he ascended the throne of Macedonia following the assassination of his father.

Over the next 12 years he would lead his armies in an historically unparalleled series of victories and conquests that would extend his empire across more than two million square miles—from northern Greece to western India to Egypt. In the wake of Alexander’s army came Hellenistic culture, and with his conquests and the cultural exchanges that followed, he knitted the Western world together more than any person before him and perhaps more than any person since. History remembers him as Alexander the Great for his conquests and military might.

In June 323 B.C., Alexander was in Babylon, residing at the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, where he was planning an invasion of Arabia. There he fell gravely ill. Over the next twelve days his condition steadily deteriorated. Despite the best medical care available at the time, Alexander could not be saved. On June 11, he died. He was 32 years old.

The cause of Alexander’s death is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of ancient history. There are certainly no shortage of theories—ranging from a wide variety of infectious diseases, to an inherited genetic disorder, to the effects of battle wounds and/or overdrinking, to poisoning. The debate continues. And it evidently will not be resolved by recourse to an examination of Alexander’s remains, because their location is also one of ancient history’s greatest unsolved mysteries. Rumours abound regarding the disease that killed him with everything from Malaria to Dengue
being cited as the cause of his death.

After his death Alexander’s body was placed inside a gold sarcophagus filled with honey, which was itself placed inside a gold casket. The body was being transported to Macedon for entombment when one of the rivals to the throne intercepted the procession and diverted it to Egypt. There Alexander was entombed, first in Memphis, then later in Alexandria. There are accounts of Roman emperors visiting the tomb in Alexandria (Caligula supposedly stole and wore Alexander’s breastplate), but its exact location has since been lost to history. For hundreds of years archeologists, historians, and adventurers have being trying to locate the tomb. The Egyptian government has financed nearly 150 official search attempts. One of the most intriguing recent theories is that Alexander’s body was taken from Alexandria in 828 A.D. by Venetian merchants who mistook it for the body of St. Mark, and that the sarcophagus in the Basilica Cathedral Patriarcale di San Marco in Venice holds the body not of St. Mark, but of Alexander the Great. But for now at least, Alexander’s present whereabouts, like his cause of death, must be regarded as unknown.

Alexander’s death threw his vast empire into turmoil. His young wife Roxana was pregnant, but he had no children born before his death and he had named no heir. Some of Alexander’s generals pledged their loyalty to the unborn child (provided it was a son), but others claimed for themselves the right to rule or threw their support to others who did. Forty years of war followed as the factions battled for power. During that era of violent power struggles, Roxana and her 14-year-old son Alexander IV were murdered. The warfare finally ended with the empire divided into four parts, each under the control of separate claimants to the throne.

Alexander the Great died in Babylon on June 11, 323 B.C. He died due to illness, though some accounts allege he was poisoned and murdered by a group of his generals, who wanted to usurp power after his death.

WASHINGTON DC: According to a former CIA operations director who was posted in Kabul during the height of the US involvement in Afghanistan, highly-trained Afghani Taliban commandos are tracking the movements of former Pakistan PM Imran Khan with the aim of eliminating him. The Taliban commandos who are already in Pakistan are disguised as business men and traders and are charting out elaborate plans to eliminate the popular political leader.

A top US Military Intelligence source has already warned that Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan could be killed in an assassination bid any time, even in the next few hours or days, either by certain rogue elements within the Pakistan army establishment or the Afghanistan Taliban or similar militant groups operating in the region. The Taliban could collaborate with rogue elements within the Pakistan army or police as huge money is involved, said the former CIA director.

Millions of dollars are at stake, said our source. Both the present ruling dispensation in Pakistan, some top brass in the Pakistan army, millionaire business men in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, the UAE and other Gulf countries want the former Pak PM dead, said our CIA source. Khan’s life is in grave danger as there are several very powerful entities both within and without the country (Pakistan) who want him dead. He may not survive till the time elections are held in Pakistan, the former US spy said on condition of anonymity, claiming that “elaborate and sophisticated plans are made to bump off Imran Khan and to ensure that he is not available during the national polls”. There is a lot of money and powerful people with international connections involved, the official said.

The 70-year-old former premier faces 37 or 40 cases filed against him by various law enforcement agencies in different parts of the country. These include five cases filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan in connection with alleged illegal foreign funding and using inappropriate or threatening language against the poll panel and its chairman as well as trying to influence the outcome of polls using certain banned or communally offensive methods.

Imran Khan’s security was beefed up after he survived an ‘assassination attempt’ during a rally in Wazirabad in Pakistan’s Punjab province last November. According to local newspaper, Dawn, a “special contingent of commandos from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” took charge of his security following the attack in which he was injured, though not seriously.

However, US Intelligence agencies tracking the political developments in Pakistan are of the view that the present ruling dispensation in Pakistan does not want Imran Khan to be “politically active or alive” and his presence could lead to their downfall if polls are held in the next 6-10 months as his party the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) could manage to sway millions of Pakistani voters against the present government.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is still a very formidable force in Pakistan and has thousands of dedicated party workers who are ready to go to jail or even face police thrashing and firing to support Khan, as was seen in the recent police action against him.

MOSCOW, (PTI): Andrey Botikov, one of the scientists who helped to create the Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V, was strangled to death with a belt at his apartment here and police have arrested a suspect in connection with the murder, according to a Russian media report on Saturday.

Botikov, 47, who worked as a senior researcher at the Gamaleya National Research Center for Ecology and Mathematics, was found dead in his apartment on Thursday, Russian News Agency TASS quoted the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation as saying.

Russian President Vladimir Putin honoured the virologist with the Order of Merit for the Fatherland award for his work on the COVID vaccine in 2021. Botikov was one of 18 scientists who developed the Sputnik V vaccine in 2020, according to reports.

His death is being investigated as a murder, the committee, which is the investigating authority in Russia, said in a Telegram statement.

According to investigators, a 29-year-old young man strangled Botikov with a belt during an argument and fled. Law enforcement agencies said the murder was a domestic crime and the result of a conflict, the report said.

The suspect was arrested shortly after Botikov’s body was found, the federal investigative agency said in the statement.

“The location of the attacker was established in short order. During the interrogation, he pled guilty and was charged. The defendant has a previous criminal record, as he stood trial on charges of committing a serious crime. In the near future, the investigation plans to petition the court to place the defendant in custody pending trial,” the Investigative Committee said. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, (PTI): Billionaire investor George Soros is old, rich, opinionated, and dangerous and invests resources in shaping narratives, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said.

The 92-year-old hedge fund tycoon, who has been associated with supporting liberal causes, on Thursday sent shockwaves in the Indian political scene saying Gautam Adani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s fates are entwined, and alleged that Modi was not a ”democrat.” Speaking at the Munich Security conference, he also said the turmoil in Adani’s business empire may open the door to a ”democratic revival” in the country.

Responding to a question at a session at the Raisina@Sydney Dialogue, Jaishankar said Soros is an ”old, rich, opinionated person sitting in New York, who still thinks that his views should determine how the entire world works.” ”Now, if I could only stop at old, rich and opinionated, I would put it away but he is old, rich, opinionated and dangerous,” Jaishankar said. He said that a few years ago at the same conference, Soros had accused India of planning to strip millions of Muslims of their citizenship. ”We know the dangers of what happens when there’s outside interference … if you do this kind of scaremongering, like millions of people will be deprived of citizenship, it actually does real damage to our societal fabric,” he said.

”There are other manifestations of this in different countries, where people like him think an election is good if the person we want to see wins. If the election throws up a different outcome, then we actually will say it’s a flawed democracy,” he said.

Jaishankar said globalisation allows seamless opportunities but also allows narratives to be shaped, money to come in, and organisations to get about their agenda. ”All this is done under the pretense of advocacy of an open society of transparency.”

The Adani Group has been under severe pressure since the US short-seller Hindenburg Research on January 24 accused it of accounting fraud and stock manipulation, allegations that the conglomerate has denied as ”malicious”, ”baseless”, and a ”calculated attack on India.” (PTI)

TAIPEI, (PTI): Taiwan’s Defence Ministry says a Chinese weather balloon landed on one of its outlying islands, amid U.S. accusations that such craft have been dispatched worldwide to spy on Washington and its allies.

The ministry’s statement on Thursday said the balloon carried equipment registered to a state-owned electronics company in the northern city of Taiyuan.

The islet where it was found, Tungyin, is part of the Matsu island ground lying just off the coast of China’s Fujian province. Taiwan maintained control of the islands after the sides split in 1949 amid civil war and they are considered a first line of defense should China make good on its threats to bring Taiwan under its control by force if necessary.

Calls and messages sent to the company identified in the report, Taiyuan Wireless (Radio) First Factory Ltd., went unanswered. Information on the equipment was written in the simplified Chinese characters used on the mainland rather than the traditional on Taiwan, the ministry said.

China regularly sends military aircraft and warships into Taiwan air identification zone and across the middle line of the Taiwan Strait. That has prompted Taiwan to boost military purchases from the U.S., expand domestic production of local planes, submarines and fighting ships, and extend compulsory military service for all males.

Washington is Taiwan’s closest military and diplomatic ally, despite a lack of formal ties, which were cut in 1979. Beijing protests strongly over all contacts between the island and the U.S., but its aggressive diplomacy has helped build strong bipartisan support for Taipei on Capitol Hill.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden said the U.S. is developing “sharper rules” to track, monitor and potentially shoot down unknown aerial objects, following three weeks of high-stakes drama sparked by the discovery of a suspected Chinese spy balloon transiting much of the country.

Biden has directed national security adviser Jake Sullivan to lead an “interagency team” to review U.S. procedures after the U.S. shot down the Chinese balloon, as well as three other objects that Biden said the U.S. now believes were most likely “benign” objects launched by private companies or research institutions.

While not expressing regret for downing the three still-unidentified objects, Biden said he hoped the new rules would help “distinguish between those that are likely to pose safety and security risks that necessitate action and those that do not.” (PTI)

DEARBORN, (PTI): Ford Motor Co. has suspended production and halted shipments of the F-150 Lightning electric pickup after a battery caught fire during a pre-delivery quality check.

Production at Ford’s Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, has been stopped until at least the end of next week. The automaker said in a statement Wednesday night it has no reason to believe electric pickups already in use by customers are affected by the battery issue.

“By the end of next week, we expect to conclude our investigation and apply what we learn to the truck’s battery production processes,” Ford spokeswoman Emma Berg said in the statement. “This could take a few weeks.” The fire happened at an outdoor lot nearby in Dearborn where vehicles are held for quality checks. The truck with the battery problem and two nearby vehicles were damaged by the fire, Berg said. No injuries were reported.

The company believes it has identified the root cause of the battery problem, including the likely population of trucks affected by it. “We monitor vehicle data to help ensure our vehicles are performing as expected in the field,” Berg said.

The company will continue to hold completed trucks until engineering and production changes are made. Batteries for the trucks are supplied by SK Innovation, a Korean supplier with a factory in Georgia. The production halt comes at an inopportune time for Ford, which has struggled with quality issues, recalls and high warranty costs for several years.

The problem also stops production of a popular product. Berg said the company is still working through a backlog of nearly 200,000 reservations for the F-150 Lightning since it stopped taking them in December 2021. Reservation holders put down $100 deposits, which Ford was converting to orders.

Last year, Ford sold more than 15,000 of the trucks in its first full year of production.

There have been previous problems with the lithium-ion batteries used in most electric vehicles. Fires in the batteries can burn very hot and take thousands of gallons of water to extinguish, which has caused difficulty for firefighters attempting to put out battery fires in several Teslas after crashes. General Motors, Hyundai, BMW and others have issued recalls of the batteries. (PTI)