US Navy intercepts Russian bombers flying near ships
US fighter planes intercepted two Russian bombers flying unusually close to an American aircraft carrier in the western Pacific during the weekend, The Associated Press has learned.
A US military official says that one Russian Tupolev 95 buzzed the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz twice, at a low altitude of about 2,000 feet, while another bomber circled about 91 kilometers out. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because the reports on the flights were classified as secret.
The Saturday incident, which never escalated beyond the flyover, comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and Russia over US plans for a missile defense system based in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Such Russian bomber flights were common during the Cold War, but have been rare since.
The bombers were among four Russian Tupolev 95s launched from Ukrainka in the middle of the night, including one that Japanese officials say violated their country's airspace over an uninhabited island south of Tokyo.
US officials tracked and monitored the bombers as two flew south along the Japanese coast, and two others flew farther east, coming closer to the Nimitz and the guided missile cruiser USS Princeton.
As the bombers got about 800 kilometers out from the US ships, four F/A-18 fighters were launched from the Nimitz, the official said. The fighters intercepted the Russian bombers about 50 miles south of the Nimitz.
At least two US fighters trailed the bomber as it came in low over the Nimitz twice, while one or two of the other US fighters followed the second bomber as it circled.
Less time to read?
Try Quickreads
-
Salman Rushdie's attacker Hadi Matar charged with attempted murder, assault
Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old New Jersey man who stabbed Mumbai-born author Salman Rushdie in New York on Friday, has been charged with 'attempted murder and assault in the second degree', the Chautauqua Country district attorney's office said on Saturday. Matar was born and raised in the US, the head of the local municipality, Ali Qassem Tahfa, told news agency AFP. Rushdie remained hospitalised in serious condition.
-
Monkeypox: WHO creates forum, asks public to propose new name for virus
The WHO has been in the process of renaming monkeypox since June alongside other efforts to urge the global community not to have any stereotypes around it. The zoonotic disease is disproportionately affecting men in sexual relationships with men and spreads via close contact.
-
Salman Rushdie: The free speech champion whose 'verses' put his life at risk
A Booker Prize that catapulted him to the pantheon of global literary stalwarts to a fatwa by Iran's Supreme Leader that forced him into hiding and years of death threats, Mumbai-born author Salman Rushdie was both idolised and demonised for a singular trait that defined his life and works -- championing free speech. His memoir is Joseph Anton, named for the pseudonym he used while in hiding.
-
Iran's hardline newspapers praise Salman Rushdie's attacker Hadi Matar
While Iran is yet to make an official statement on the attack on 'The Satanic Verses' author Salman Rushdie, several hardline newspapers in the country on Saturday openly praiseRushdie'ser. Rushdie was stabbed in the neck and torso on Friday while onstage at a lecture in New York state by Hadi Matar, a man from Fairview, New Jersey, who had bought a pass to the event at the Chautauqua Institution.
-
Salman Rushdie had once complained about ‘too much security’: Report
Read French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo slams Salman Rushdie, who was attacked and stabbed on stage at a literary event here stabbing A bloodied Rushdie was airlifted from a field adjacent to the venue to a hospital in northwestern Pennsylvania where the 75-year-old writer underwent surgery. In 2001, Rushdie publicly complained about having too much security around him, The New York Post reported.
