BANTENG MERAH 11

China has expressed its “strong dissatisfaction and protest” against the United States’ decision to shoot down its high-altitude balloon, accusing it of “overreacting” and “seriously violating international practice.” US military fighter jets on Saturday shot down the balloon over the Atlantic Ocean in a mission President Joe Biden hailed as a success. The United States believes the balloon was involved in espionage, but China has refuted this, insisting it was a civilian research vessel blown off course. Shortly after the downing of the balloon, China’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Sunday morning local time expressing its “strong dissatisfaction and protest against the US’s use of force to attack a civilian unmanned aircraft.” “The Chinese side has repeatedly informed the US side after verification that the airship is for civilian use and entered the US due to force majeure – it was completely an accident,” the Foreign Ministry said. “Force Majeure” is a legal term which mea...

Russia is bringing its war against Ukraine closer to the industrial cities of Donetsk with a series of missile strikes against densely populated areas. On Thursday, two S-300 missiles were fired at the center of the city of Kramatorsk, landing about a minute apart and less than a hundred meters from a CNN team. An earlier Iskander missile strike had killed four people and hospitalized several more in the same area – an entirely residential zone with shops, a hospital and a clinic. One of those killed was a well-respected school principal, Hanna Valeriivna, weeks before her 48th birthday. Rescue crews still at the scene had no warning of Thursday’s attack. CNN witnessed the second missile’s last moments in flight before a large fire erupted and smoke billowed into the air. There were no further fatalities, though at least five civilians were injured. Some people ran in panic from the scene; others seemed fatalistic. “Of course, we are frightened,” said Natalia, a middle-aged woman cower...

Shares in Gautam Adani’s businesses plunged further on Thursday after an attempt by the Indian billionaire to reassure panicking investors failed to halt a stock market meltdown that has wiped $100 billion off the value of his conglomerate. “For me, the interest of my investors is paramount and everything is secondary,” the 60-year-old businessman said in a recorded video address posted after he abruptly abandoned a $2.5 billion deal to sell new shares in his flagship company, Adani Enterprises, just 24 hours after it was sealed. “Once the market stabilizes, we will review our capital market strategy,” he added It was the first time the tycoon has spoken about the market mayhem that has slashed his personal fortune by nearly $50 billion in just over a week, removing his crown as Asia’s richest man. But it wasn’t enough to calm markets. Shares in Adani Enterprises plunged 25% Thursday, while shares in his other companies fell 5% to 10%. The unprecedented crash in the value of Adani Grou...

Ukraine is pressing its allies for faster weapons supplies as intense fighting continues in the eastern Donetsk region. Following a weekend of attacks on the cities of Kharkiv and Kherson and ongoing battles around Bakhmut in Donetsk, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that “Russia hopes to drag out the war, to exhaust our forces. So we have to make time our weapon. We must ... speed up the supply and opening of new necessary weaponry options for Ukraine.” Ukraine’s allies agreed last week to provide the country with heavy battle tanks, with Kyiv then pressing for fighter jets too. One Ukrainian governent advisor was reported stating Saturday that “negotiations” were taking place over the possibility of sending fighter aircraft. Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz insisted over the weekend that fighter jets would not be provided to Ukraine, however, telling a German newspaper that “the question of combat aircraft does not arise at all,” Scholz told the Tagesspiegel newspa...

Western countries will deliver more than 300 tanks to Ukraine, Kyiv’s ambassador to France said Friday. “As of today, numerous countries have officially confirmed their agreement to deliver 321 heavy tanks to Ukraine,” Vadym Omelchenko told French TV station and CNN affiliate BFM television. He did not specify which countries would provide the tanks or provide a breakdown of which models. The figure from Omelchenko comes after the US this week pledged to provide 31 M1 Abrams tanks and Germany agreed to send 14 Leopard 2 A6s. Previously the United Kingdom has pledged 14 Challenger 2 tanks, while Poland has asked for approval from Germany to transfer some of its own German-made Leopard 2s to Ukraine. Omelchenko’s interview came as North Korea accused the United States and its allies of “further crossing the red line” by sending tanks to Ukraine. The US has a “sinister intention to realize its hegemonic aim by further expanding the proxy war for destroying Russia,” said Kim Yo Jong, the s...

Just over a decade ago, the Palestinian flag hung alongside Israeli and American flags at the Israeli prime minister’s residence, when Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas shared a historic handshake. Today, Netanyahu is back in power and Abbas never left, but many other things have changed, including Israel’s attitude toward the Palestinian flag. This month, new Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir ordered police to take down Palestinian flags in any public place in Israel, claiming they are a rallying symbol for terrorists. At least one artist felt forced to respond to Ben Gvir’s decree. As soon as he heard about the minister’s order, Tel Aviv-based visual artist Michael Rozanov drew himself in the colors of the Palestinian flag and made the artwork his Facebook profile picture. “It’s ridiculous, you want to take down flags? What if I am a flag, what would you do? Would you put me down because I’m wearing certain colors?” said Rozanov, kn...

Poland has formally asked for approval from Germany to transfer some of its German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, its defense minister said Tuesday, raising the pressure on Berlin to respond to Kyiv’s pleas and send its own shipment of vehicles into the battlefield. “The Germans have already received our request for consent to the transfer of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine,” Mariusz Blaszczak said on Twitter. “I also appeal to the German side to join the coalition of countries supporting Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks. This is our common cause, because it is about the security of the whole of Europe!” The German government confirmed receipt of the request; it would not say how quickly it would come to a decision, but emphasized that the process would take place with “necessary urgency.” Germany has so far resisted calls from Poland, the US and a handful of other NATO countries to transfer the tanks into Ukraine, or authorize other countries to send some of their Leopards to Kyiv. That posi...