India tests-fires ICBM
Updated 0841 GMT (1641 HKT) January 18, 2018
India has successfully test-fired its Agni-V long-range intercontinental ballistic missile, the Indian Defense Ministry said in a tweet Thursday.
The nuclear-capable Agni-V is believed to be India's most advanced ICBM missile.
It was fired Thursday morning India time on Abdul Kalam island off the coast of the eastern state of Odisha.
The ministry called the test a "major boost" to the country's defense capabilities. India is believed to have about 120 to 130 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, according to the Federation of American Scientists.World's confidence in US leadership under Trump at new low, poll finds
- Approval for US falls to 30% from 48% under Obama
- ‘Historic low’ of Gallup poll ‘sets a new bar for disapproval’
The survey of opinion in 134 countries showed a record collapse in approval for the US role in the world, from 48% under Obama to 30% after one year of Donald Trump – the lowest level Gallup has recorded since beginning its global leadership poll over a decade ago.
The result comes just a day after a separate Gallup survey found that Trump reaches the first anniversary of his inauguration with the lowest average approval rating of any elected president in his first year.
That poll showed that Trump has averaged just a 39% approval rating since his inauguration. The previous low was held by Bill Clinton, whose first-year average was 10 points higher than Trump’s, at 49%.
Teenage Palestinian girl who slapped Israeli soldiers is denied bail ahead of military trial
Amnesty International says Ahed Tamimi 'posed no actual threat' and calls for immediate release of teenChris Baynes
An Israeli military court has denied bail to a 16-year-old Palestinian girl ahead of her trial for slapping and pushing two soldiers.
The ruling in the high-profile case against Ahed Tamimi has been denounced by human rights activists and her father, who said Palestinians could not expect justice in Israel’s military court system.
In video of the 15 December incident, the teenager is seen slapping and pushing the Israeli soldiers outside her West Bank home while demanding they “get out”. The men, wearing helmets and combat gear and armed with assault rifles, swatted away her blows.
Russia moves toward creation of an independent internet
Experts say Russia is planning the next step in making the country independent from the West, at least in cyberspace: Moscow wants to install its own root servers. But why, and does it make any sense?
Freedom on the internet has diminished over the years in Russia: people go to jail for posts on social media, there's a ban on VPN services and expanded data storage is hard to come by. And recent moves by the Russian government indicate that further developments are yet to come.
According to a report by the RBK web portal, Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2017 ordered his government to negotiate independent root name servers for the so-called domain name system (DNS) with the BRICS states, which apart from Russia includes Brazil, India, China and South Africa, by August 2018. These servers contain global databases of public IP addresses and their host names.
If Russia had its own root servers, it could create a kind of internet of its own, experts say.
Why some African Americans are moving to Africa
by Azad Essa
They have come from the big cities of San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. Thousands of them. And many refuse to return.
A new wave of African Americans is escaping the incessant racism and prejudice in the United States. From Senegal and Ghana to The Gambia, communities are emerging in defiance of conventional wisdom that Africa is a continent everyone is trying to leave.
It is estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 African Americans live in Accra, the Ghanaian capital. They are teachers in small towns in the west or entrepreneurs in the capital and say they that even though living in Ghana is not always easy, they feel free and safe.
North Korea crisis: South to continue talks with 'clear eyes'
South Korea says it will continue high-level talks with North Korea with "clear eyes" amid global warnings that Pyongyang might be playing for time to continue its nuclear-arms programme.
"We have to make the most" of the opportunity, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told the BBC.
The two Koreas earlier agreed to march under a "unified Korea" flag at next month's Winter Olympics in the South.
The talks come as the US and its allies vowed to keep pressure on the North.
On Wednesday US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said sanctions were "really starting to hurt", expressing confidence that the pressure would eventually force the North to the negotiating table over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
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