Israel is upgrading plans to hit Iran over nuke surge

Jerusalem: Israel is upgrading contingency plans to strike Iranian targets if Tehran shows signs of nuclear escalation, the defence minister has said, in the latest sign of rising tensions between the two arch enemies.

Benny Gantz told Fox News that Israel is still working on its plans, but “we have them in our hands, of course”.

He added: “The Iranian nuclear escalation must be stalled. If the world stops them before, it’s very much good. But if not, we must stand independently and we must defend ourselves by ourselves.”

His comments came as US President Joe Biden considers rejoining a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers to limit Tehran’s nuclear programme, with some changes to toughen curbs.

Former president Donald Trump pulled America out of the atomic accord in 2018 and imposed a so-called campaign of maximum pressure, including sanctions, on Tehran.

Since then, Iran has stepped up uranium enrichment. The UN atomic watchdog agency said earlier this week that Tehran had nearly tripled its stockpile of enriched uranium since November in violation of its deal with world powers.

Myanmar: Youtube has removed five channels run by Myanmar’s military for violating guidelines, it announced, as protesters defied increasing violence by security forces and staged more anti-coup demos ahead of a special UN Security Council meeting on the country’s political crisis.

Youtube said it is watching for any further content that might violate its rules. It earlier pulled dozens of channels as part of an investigation into content uploaded in a co-ordinated influence campaign.

The decision by Youtube to remove Myawaddy Media, MRTV, WD Online Broadcasting, MWD Variety and

MWD Myanmar followed Facebook’s earlier announcement that it had removed all Myanmar military-linked pages from its site and from Instagram, which it owns.

Canada: The country is getting a fourth vaccine to prevent Covid-19 as the country’s health regulator has cleared a Johnson & Johnson shot that works with just one dose instead of two, sources said.

Health experts are eager for a single-shot option to help speed up vaccination programmes.

Canada has also approved vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Astrazeneca.

Like many countries, Canada does not have domestic production and has struggled with a shortage of vaccines.

Canada has pre-purchased 10 million Johnson & Johnson doses, with options to buy another 28m.

North Pacific: Wisdom the albatross, the world’s oldest known wild bird, has had a chick at the age of at least 70.

The Laysan albatross hatched the chick on February 1 in a wildlife refuge in the North Pacific Ocean, the US Fish and Wildlife Service said.

Laysan albatrosses usually only live for 12-40 years. But Wisdom was first identified by researchers in 1956.

The father is Wisdom’s partner, Akeakamai, whom she has been with since 2012, US wildlife officials said.

Albatrosses usually mate for life, but it is believed Wisdom had other partners in the past she outlived.