Warning conflict in Taiwan ‘would be a disaster’

Beijing: A conflict with China, which threatens to invade Taiwan, would be a disaster for all sides regardless of the outcome, the island’s defence minister said.

Beijing claims the selfgoverning island democracy is Chinese territory, to be annexed by force if necessary.

“Nobody wants a war,” Taiwan’s Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng told reporters. “It really has to be thoroughly thought over.”

“If you really went to war, it would be disastrous for all,” Mr Chiu said.

At the annual meetings of China’s rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress, in Beijing, delegates blamed foreign influence and separatism in Taiwan while increasing China’s legal and financial might to counter Taiwan support.

China has been staging threatening exercises and flying military planes near the island’s airspace, including on February 24, the day Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.

Tehran: Iran has offered mixed signals as a deadline looms in talks over its tattered nuclear deal with world powers, with its president defending the negotiations, while a top security official blamed America for deadlock.

Talks in Vienna have sought to get the US to return to the accord it withdrew from in 2018, and have Iran restore limits on its nuclear programme.

Western diplomats have signalled the talks had reached their conclusion, laying the final decision with Iran.

Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, wrote on Twitter to try and blame America for deadlock instead.

“The US isn’t interested in a strong deal that would satisfy both parties,” Mr Shamkhani wrote.

A short time later, hardline President Ebrahim Raisi’s Twitter account appeared to offer Iran’s theocracy cover for potentially supporting a possible deal in Vienna. “The government is doing negotiations in the way of the supreme leader’s framework,” he wrote.

Florida: Rainfall has eased the wildfires threat across much of the

Florida Panhandle in the US, but state officials said dead trees and vegetation left by a Category 5 hurricane in 2018 remains a risk for more blazes.

Without additional significant rainfall, the debris left on the ground by Hurricane Michael will quickly dry out and serve as fuel for wildfires, the Florida Forest Service said. In the meantime, firefighters are continuing to improve containment lines on the Chipola Complex fire and monitor any new activity.

Atlanta: Film director Ryan Coogler was briefly handcuffed by Atlanta police after a bank employee mistook him for a robber.

The Black Panther director, who is black, walked into a Bank of America branch and passed the bank employee a withdrawal slip with a note asking her to “be discreet when handing him the cash”, according to a police report.

He was trying to withdraw more than $10,000, and the employee “received an alert notification” from his account and alerted her manager, saying Coogler was trying to rob the bank, the report says. Police determined the incident was a mistake.