World

TEHRAN: Iran said that the misalignment of an air defence unit's radar system was the key "human error" that led to the accidental downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane in January. "A failure occurred due to a human error in following the procedure" for aligning the radar, causing a "107-degree error" in the system, the Iranian Civil Aviation Organisation (CAO) said in a report late Saturday (Jul 11). This error "initiated a hazard chain" that saw further errors committed in the minutes before the plane was shot down, said the CAO document, presented as a "factual report" and not as the final report on the accident investigation. Flight 752, a Ukraine International Airlines jetliner, was struck by two missiles and crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran's main airport on Jan 8...

Four decades after the U.S. established diplomatic ties with communist China, the relationship between the two may have reached a turning point. Tensions have reached new heights on what has always been a rocky road, as the ambitions of a rising superpower increasingly clash with those of the established one. China ordered the closing of the U.S. Consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu on Friday, in rapid retaliation for the closing of its consulate in Houston. Two weeks ago, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi asked aloud if relations could stay on track. On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered an answer: The time has come to change course. "The old paradigm of blind engagement with China simply won’t get it done," he said in a speech at the Richard Nixon Presiden...

A health worker sprays disinfectant inside a Vietnam Airlines airplane to protect from the recent coronavirus outbreak, at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi, Vietnam February 21, 2020. Vietnam has suspended all flights to and from Danang for 15 days after at least 14 cases of the novel coronavirus had been detected in the city, the government said on Tuesday. The Southeast Asian country is back on high alert after authorities on Saturday confirmed the first community infections since April, and another three cases on Sunday, all in or around Danang. A further 11 cases linked to a Danang hospital were reported late on Monday. All bus and train services to and from Danang have also been suspended from Tuesday, the statement said. The city, a tourism hot spot, had reintroduced social distancing me...

US President Donald Trump holds up swabs as he speaks during a Coronavirus Task Force press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 19, 2020. The White House is trying to block billions of dollars for coronavirus testing and contact tracing in the upcoming stimulus relief bill, two Republican sources told NBC News, even as infections surge across the country and Americans face long wait times to receive test results amid high demand. Senate GOP lawmakers, in a break with the administration, are pushing back and trying to keep the money for testing and tracing in the bill, the sources told NBC News. Some White House officials reportedly believe new money shouldn't be allocated for testing because previous funds remain unspent. The White House declined CNBC's request for c...

Team New Zealand have blamed "informants" for spreading "highly defamatory and inaccurate" allegations about the body organising their America's Cup defence, triggering government questions over "financial and structural matters". WELLINGTON: Team New Zealand have blamed "informants" for spreading "highly defamatory and inaccurate" allegations about the body organising their America's Cup defence, triggering government questions over "financial and structural matters". The team, who will defend the 169-year-old sailing trophy in Auckland next year, said suspicions that there were "informants" in the America's Cup Event (ACE) organisation were confirmed when leaked information came back to them from Europe. "The motives of the informants who had access to the Team New Zealand base ca...

PARIS: A protest movement against the deployment of 5G mobile technology in France risks dampening the country's attractiveness to investors, French tycoon Xavier Niel said on Tuesday. "5G is an element of attractiveness for our country," Niel, founder of French broadband internet provider Iliad , said at a news conference. "There is a moment when we are going to have to generate jobs in this country, so we need foreigners and investors to come here." France plans to hold its much-awaited 5G spectrum auction at the end of September after several delays, including due to the coronavirus outbreak. Germany and Italy have already raised billions of euros through 5G spectrum auctions, raising questions in France over how much the French state will aim to raise. Orange , Altice Europe’s...

PARIS: The Grands Prix in the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Canada have been scrapped this year but three races in Europe have been added to the coronavirus-affected season, Formula One said Friday (Jul 24). There will be an F1 debut for Portugal's Portimao track and a return for Germany's Nurburgring and Imola in Italy. The US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, had been scheduled for Oct 23, with a race in Mexico City a week later and Brazil on Nov 13, but with coronavirus infections rising in all those countries, organisers have abandoned attempts to hold races there. The race in Canada had originally been scheduled for June, but plans to hold it later in the season have been scrapped due to Canadian travel restrictions. The race at the historic Nurburgring circuit, which last saw ...