Delhi, Beijing hold talks on border dispute
NEW DELHI, Dec 22: India and China are holding border talks with focus on ways to prevent a repeat of a recent face-off between their armed forces at a Himalayan plateau where China, India and Bhutan meet. The Indian side at Friday's talks is led by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and the Chinese delegation by Special Representative Yang Jiechi. The two had met in Beijing in July on the sidelines of a meeting of the BRICS nations. — AP
Discovery of neutron star collision is 'breakthrough' of 2017
MIAMI, Dec 22: The world's first-ever detection of two faraway neutron stars colliding, causing a massive blast that rippled through the fabric of space and time, was judged the scientific breakthrough of 2017, the journal Science said Thursday. The smashup of the two ultra-dense stars observed on August 17 "confirmed several key astrophysical models, revealed a birthplace of many heavy elements, and tested the general theory of relativity as never before," said the report. — AFP
Indonesia beefs up security for Christmas, New Year
JAKARTA, Dec 22: Indonesia will deploy some 180,000 security personnel ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays, authorities said Friday, following the arrests of more than a dozen suspected militants in the world's biggest Muslim-majority country. Thirteen suspected militants were arrested in separate, pre-emptive raids across the Southeast Asian nation earlier this month. — AFP
Raul Castro to step down in Apr
HAVANA, Dec 22: Cuban President Raul Castro will step down in April 2018 straight after his successor is chosen by a top governing council, according to a vote Thursday in the island state's National Assembly. The decision means Castro, 86, will stay on two months longer than previously anticipated. — AP
Uganda attacks rebels accused of killing UN troops in Congo
KAMPALA, Dec 22: Uganda says it has attacked rebels accused of killing 14 United Nations peacekeepers in eastern Congo earlier this month. Military spokesman Brig. Richard Karemire tells The Associated Press that the ongoing assault, based on shared intelligence with Congolese officials, is meant to pre-empt further hostilities by the Allied Democratic Forces. — AP
Toshiba unveils Fukushima nuclear reactor probe device
YOKOHAMA, Dec 22: Toshiba Corp.'s energy systems unit has unveiled a long telescopic pipe carrying a pan-tilt camera designed for an internal probe of one of damaged reactor chambers at Japan's tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant. The device shown to media Friday is 13 meters (43 feet) long and designed to give officials a deeper view into the nuclear plant's Unit 2 primary containment vessel. — AP
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
