Foreign News

Indian airlines hit by nearly 1,000 hoax bomb threats

Published

1 year ago

2024/11/29

Priyan

A dramatic surge in hoax bomb threats had caused widespread disruption in flight services in October [BBC]

India’s airlines and airports received 999 hoax bomb threats this year as of 14 November, the country’s deputy civil aviation minister told its parliament.

This was nearly 10 times more than the threats received in 2023, Mr Murlidhar Mohol said.

More than 500 of the year’s threats were received just in the last two weeks of October.

The dramatic surge in hoax threats had wreaked havoc on flight schedules, causing widespread disruption in services.

The recent threats were all hoaxes, Mr Mohol said, with “no actual threat detected at any of the airports/aircraft in India”.

Police have registered 256 complaints and 12 people have been arrested in connection with these threats, the minister said.

But the cases mark an unprecedented spike in such hoaxes.

Between 2014 and 2017, authorities had recorded just 120 bomb hoax alerts at airports, with nearly half directed at Delhi and Mumbai, the country’s largest airports.

The flurry of hoax threats this October had delayed several affected flights while others were diverted. Hoax threats against flights heading for other countries also lead to international agencies getting involved.

In October, Singapore’s Air Force sent two fighter jets to escort an Air India Express plane following a bomb threat. The same month, another Air India flight from New Delhi to Chicago was forced to land in a remote airport in Canada. Passengers on the flight were later airlifted to Chicago on an Air Force plane deployed by Canadian officials.

India’s civil aviation ministry had then said it was making “every possible effort” to safeguard flight operations.

India’s airports have a Bomb Threat Assessment Committee which assesses the gravity of the threat and takes action accordingly. A threat can lead to the involvement of the bomb disposal squad, sniffer dogs, ambulances, police and doctors.

Passengers are off-loaded from the plane along with cabin baggage, check-in baggage and cargo, and they are all screened again. Engineering and security teams also search the plane before it is cleared for flying again.

The resultant delay can cost thousands of dollars in damages to airlines and security agencies.

More than 150 million passengers flew domestically in India last year, according to the civil aviation ministry.

More than 3,000 flights arrive and depart every day in the country from more than 150 operational airports, including 33 international airports.

[BBC]

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Foreign News

Iran begins 40-day mourning after Khamenei killed in US-Israeli attack

Published

29 mins ago

2026/03/1

Priyan

People mourn at the Enghelab Square in Tehran [Aljazeera]

Iran has begun 40 days of mourning after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in ongoing attacks by the United States and Israel, according to Iranian state media.

Top security officials were also killed in Saturday’s strikes, along with Khamenei’s daughter, son-in-law and grandson. The killings mark one of the most significant blows to Iran’s leadership since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned the killing as “a great crime”, according to a statement from his office. He also declared seven days of public holidays in addition to the 40-day mourning period.

Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi said people were pouring into the streets of the capital following the news of Khamenei’s killing.

“There will be expected ceremonies,” he said, noting they would likely take place amid continuing bombardment across the country.

Protests denouncing Khamenei’s killing were also reported elsewhere, including Shiraz, Yasuj and Lorestan.

Footage aired by Iranian state media showed supporters mourning at the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad, with several people seen crying and collapsing in grief.

The killing also led to protests in neighbouring Iraq, which declared three days of public mourning. In Baghdad, protesters confronted security forces in the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses Iraqi government buildings and foreign embassies.

Videos verified by Al Jazeera showed demonstrators waving flags and shouting slogans, with witnesses saying some were attempting to mobilise towards the US Embassy. Footage also showed protesters blocking vehicles at a roundabout near one of the entrances to the area.

Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite armed groups gather after the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Baghdad — *Protesters demonstrate near the entrance of the Green Zone after the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Baghdad, Iraq, March 1, 2026 [Aljazeera]*

There was also a protest in the Pakistani city of Karachi, where footage, verified by Al Jazeera, showed people setting fire to and smashing the windows of the US consulate.

However, there have also been reports of celebrations in Iran, with the Reuters news agency quoting witnesses as saying some people had taken to the streets in Tehran, the nearby city of Karaj and the central city of Isfahan.

Meanwhile, the official IRNA news agency reported that a three-person council, consisting of the country’s president, the chief of the judiciary, and one of the jurists of the Guardian Council, will temporarily assume all leadership duties in the country. The body will temporarily oversee the country until a new supreme leader is elected.

Khamenei assumed leadership of Iran in 1989 following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had led the Islamic revolution a decade earlier.

While Khomeini was regarded as the ideological force behind the revolution that ended the Pahlavi monarchy, Khamenei went on to shape Iran’s military and paramilitary apparatus, strengthening both its domestic control and its regional influence.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) pledged revenge and said it had launched strikes on 27 bases hosting US troops in the region, as well as Israeli military facilities in Tel Aviv.

[Aljazeera]

Foreign News

Briton among 19 killed in Nepal bus crash

Published

5 days ago

2026/02/24

Priyan

A 24-year-old British man is among 19 people who were killed in a bus crash in Nepal, police say.

The bus – which had been carrying tourists – had been travelling to the capital, Kathmandu, when it lost control and fell 200m on to the bank of the Trishuli river, in the country’s central Dhading district, in the early hours of Monday morning.

There were 44 people onboard including the driver, 25 of whom suffered injuries. The bus had been travelling from Pokhara, a popular tourist spot.

Nepal’s Home Ministry has created a five-member taskforce to investigate the cause of the incident. The UK Foreign Office said it was assisting the family of the Briton who was killed.

Nepalese authorities identified him as Stewart Dominic Ethan. His name has not been confirmed by the Foreign Office.

Nepalese police say they have identified all 19 bodies, including a 40-year-old Chinese woman and a 32-year-old man from India. Among the injured is a Chinese national and a New Zealander.

All the injured had been taken to hospitals in the capital, they added. Children were among those onboard.

Multiple teams were sent to the site, including police units, the army and a rescue team of divers, authorities said.

Police spokesman Abinarayan Kafle said 17 people died at the scene, with two more dying while receiving treatment, BBC Nepali reported.

Road accidents are relatively commonplace in Nepal, due to a range of factors including poor road maintenance and narrow paths in mountainous areas.

In 2024, at least 14 people died after a bus travelling from Pokhara to Kathmandu fell into the Marsyangdi river in the Tanahun district.

“We are supporting the family of a British man who has died in Nepal and are in contact with the local authorities,” a Foreign Office spokesman told the BBC.

Nepal is a popular destination for many international visitors, especially climbers, who travel there to access a key section of the Himalaya mountain range that includes Mount Everest.

Home to eight of the world’s tallest peaks, mountaineering is a significant source of revenue for the country – in 2024 climbing fees brought in $5.9m.

[BBC]

Foreign News

Mexico’s most wanted drug lord ‘El Mencho’ killed in military operation

Published

6 days ago

2026/02/23

Priyan

Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as 'El Mencho', was leader of the Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) drug cartel [BBC]

Mexico’s most wanted man and the leader of the feared Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) drug cartel has been killed during a security operation to arrest him, the defence ministry has said.

Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho”, died on Sunday as he was being taken to the capital Mexico City, after being seriously injured in clashes between his supporters and the army.

Four CJNG members were killed in the town of Tapalpa, the central-western Jalisco state. Three army personnel were also injured. The US had given Mexico with information that assisted the operation.

CJNG retaliated by setting cars alight, building roadblocks and attacking security forces in eight states.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo later urged people to remain “calm”.

In a post on X, she wrote that “in most parts of the country, activities are proceeding normally”.

The CJNG cartel – which had its original power base in Jalisco – is now present across Mexico.

El Mencho, a 59-year-old former police officer, ran a vast criminal organisation responsible for trafficking huge quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the US.

It had offered a $15m (£11.1m) reward for information leading to El Mencho’s capture.

In a statement, the Mexican defence ministry said the operation was “planned and executed” by the country’s special forces.

Aircraft from the Mexican Air Force and the National Guard were also deployed.

It also said that several armoured vehicles and weapons – including rocket launchers – were seized during the operation.

The US had been providing information to Mexico that assisted its operation, the statement said.