GLOBAL SNAPSHOT

‘Botched’ US raid

SANAA: IT was supposed to be US President Donald Trump’s first successful terror raid on alQaeda, but the “botched” operation may have cost an eight-year-old girl her life. Nawar al-Awlaki, the daughter of the alQaeda propagandist and American citizen Anwar alAwlaki, is believed to have been shot in the neck. The Pentagon hasn’t confirmed if the girl was killed in Sunday’s raid.

Nun: Mary no virgin

BARCELONA: A Spanish nun, who said she received death threats for suggesting that Mary probably had sex with her husband Joseph, has apologised. But Sister Lucia Caram said her critics had misunderstood her point. “Sexuality was a God-given, basic part of every individual and a means of self-expression,” she said.

Israel cops rebuke

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has warned Israel that constructing new settlements “may not be helpful” to Middle East peace efforts, striking a tougher line with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. The matter will be discussed during Mr Netanyahu’s US visit this month.

Nazi sub located

BERLIN: A Nazi-era submarine that sunk in the Atlantic Ocean during WWII has been found by German researchers. The wreck of U-581 was found last September at a depth of about 900m near the Azores island of Pico in the Atlantic Ocean. Footage shows the wreck covered in cold water corals.

Tigerair grounded

JAKARTA: Tigerair said it has permanently ended all flights to Bali after Indonesian authorities required “an alternative regulatory solution” for its operations. The airline said it would take six months to meet the Indonesian requirements and would compromise its ability fo provide low-cost fares.

Next stop Mars

ABU DHABI: THE United Arab Emirates is preparing to become the first Islamic nation to launch a mission to Mars. Last year, religious leaders in the UAE issued a fatwa forbidding Muslims from landing on Mars. However, the robotic spaceship will not actually touch down on the Martian surface. It will blast off aboard a Japanese rocket in 2020 and then go into orbit around the planet.

Mattis: Be afraid

SEOUL: In an explicit warning to North Korea, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said any use of nuclear weapons by the North on the United States or its allies would be met with what he called an “effective and overwhelming” response. Mattis also discussed with the South Koreans a timetable for deploying an advanced US missile defence system.