US signal to China: Stay away from Taiwan during Ukraine crisis

With two nuclear powered aircraft carrier strike groups patrolling the Philippines Sea and another one forwardly deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, the US has sent a strong message to China to stay away from Taiwan while the former is locked with Russia over Ukraine.
The PLA on Sunday responded to the massive US naval drills by sending as many as 39 warplanes, largely fighters like J-10 and J-16, into Taiwan’s south-western air defense identification zone (ADIZ) as tensions escalated over the breakaway island country. The Taiwan air force resumed combat air patrol and activated surface to air missile systems to deter the aggressive PLA Air Force. This is the first time after October 2021 that the PLA has responded to US drills with so many fighters.
This large-scale Taiwan airspace transgression by Chinese fighter took place when the US Navy has three aircraft carrier strike groups in support of Taipei and freedom of navigation operations in Philippines Sea. While USS Carl Vinson and Abraham Lincoln are patrolling near Taiwan, the USS Ronald Reagan is on standby near Yokosuka in Japan. The US has also large scale marine presence with presence of USS Essex amphibious ready group and USS America expeditionary strike group joining the aircraft carriers. Patrolling with the massive carrier force is Japanese Hyuga class helicopter destroyer with USS strike groups deploying as many as 26 F-35 fifth generation fighters.
The US Navy build-up near Taiwan is a clear message to China that it cannot have a free pass to Taipei while Washington is locked up in a confrontation with Russia over Ukraine. “The message to China is that US has not taken off its eyes from Beijing and wants PLA to stay away from Taiwan till such time the Ukraine crisis gets resolved,” said a former Indian ambassador to US.
Since the US-Russia escalation over Ukraine has started, many believed that this would give President Xi Jinping a free pass to aggressively pursue what China calls its core interests. The Biden administration has this month already conveyed to China that it is watching PLA build-up in Ladakh as the India-China stand-off on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) completes second winter on Tibetan plateau.
-
Imran, PTI leaders booked over arson, vandalism by supporters during Azadi March
In the first case, a First Information Report was registered for fire and vandalism on the Jinnah Avenue, while a second FIR was launched for arson and damage to property in the Express Chowk area of the city. Both the FIRs were registered on the complaint of police officials, but the second case clearly named Imran Khan and senior PTI leaders Asad Umar, Imran Ismail, Raja Khurram Nawaz, Ali Amin Gandapur and Ali Nawaz Awan among others.
-
Instagram down for thousands of users: Downdetector
Meta Platforms Inc's image-sharing platform Instagram was down for thousands of users on Thursday, according to outage-tracking website Downdetector.com. More than 6,000 users reported issues with Instagram on Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from several sources including user-submitted errors on its platform. The outage may be affecting a larger number of users. Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
-
Powerful 7.2-magnitude quake rocks southern Peru
A strong 7.2-magnitude earthquake rocked southeastern Peru on Thursday, the US Geological Survey said, with Peruvian authorities adding there were no dead or injured. The quake hit at 7:02 am local time (1202 GMT), at a depth of 218 kilometers (135 miles), according to the USGS, sending people fleeing into the streets. Peru's National Seismological Center said the quake had a magnitude of 6.9 and a depth of 240 kilometers.
-
Facebook to roll out updated privacy policy from July 26
Social media platform Meta, formerly Facebook, has started sending out notification to users about privacy policy update which it will roll out from July 26, the company said on Thursday. Meta in its post said that it has rewritten and re-designed its privacy policy to make it easier to understand and clearer about how it uses users' information.
-
Man in Japan spends ₹12 lakh to look like a dog, pictures go viral
In a bizarre incident, a man from Japan has fulfilled his lifelong dream to look alike a dog by spending a whopping amount of ₹12 lakh. The man didn't go for any medical procedure but commissioned a life-sized dog costume from a professional agency called Zeppet to look like a collie - dog breed. Japanese news portal news.mynavi reported that Zeppet is known for making sculptures for advertisements, movies, and amusement parks.