News In Brief

Taiwan’s move to buy US arms angers China
AFP, Taipei
Taiwan on Thursday confirmed that it is hoping to buy state-of-the-art tanks and portable missiles from the U.S. in a proposed deal that drew an angry rebuke from China.
Taipei’s Defence Ministry has formally asked for 108 M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks, more than 1,500 Javelin and TOW anti-tank missiles, and 250 shoulder-fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, it said in a statement.

Journalist detained in Moscow
Reuters, Moscow
A Russian journalist known for investigating corruption among Moscow city officials has been detained by police and accused of drug offenses which he denies, his lawyer and employer said on Friday.
The journalist, Ivan Golunov, was detained in central Moscow on Thursday on his way to a meeting with a source and a bag containing drugs was later found in his rucksack, according to his employer, online news portal Meduza. Golunov said the bag did not belong to him.

Oman-Dubai bus crashes, killing 17 in UAE
AP, Duba
A bus from Oman smashed into a warning sign coming off a major highway in Dubai, killing 17 people, including at least eight Indians, authorities said Friday.
The number of Indians killed in the crash Thursday night in the United Arab Emirates was likely to rise, Indian consular officials said. The bus drove straight into a low-clearance sign in Dubai’s Rashidiya neighborhood around 6 p.m., smashing through the driver’s side of the bus. The sign hangs over a car-only off-ramp of the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road, a major highway in Dubai.

Two ex-police among four militants killed in Kashmir
Reuters, Srinagar
Indian security forces killed four militants in a gun battle in Kashmir on Friday, police said, including two auxiliary police officers who fled this week to join a decades-long insurgency in the Muslim-majority region.
The firefight took place in the Pulwama district where India has intensified security operations since a suicide attack killed 40 paramilitary police in February.