PTI office in Chennai receives bomb threat, turns out to be hoax: Police
Chennai (PTI): About 30 e-mail bomb threats have been received in Chennai in the last one month, including the one targeting Press Trust of India (PTI) office here on Friday and all of them have turned out to be hoax, police said.
The bomb threat to the office of the country's premier news agency located at Kodambakkam was sent through email and currently investigation was underway to trace the sender, a senior police official said.
Initially a police team arrived at the PTI office and evacuated the staff present there. Later a police sniffer dog squad and Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) conducted a thorough check in the premises and nothing suspicious was found, police said.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the sender had issued the threat through a fake email ID, to the DGP office, the official said.
"We have received 20-30 email bomb threats since the past one month and in all those cases, such threats were sent from fake email IDs. We are engaged in tracing the IP addresses to narrow down on the sender," the official told PTI.
The police have been receiving similar threats to the office and residence of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, residence of actor-politician Vijay, BJP state headquarters Kamalalayam and Puthiya Thalaimurai Tamil TV channel office.
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Lebanon appoints new representative for talks with Israel, rejects linkage to Iran
Beirut: Lebanon’s has moved to underline its independent position in ongoing regional developments, amid attempts to link the country to the broader conflict involving Iran, the United States and Israel.
President Joseph Aoun, while announcing the appointment of former US ambassador Simon Karam as Lebanon’s representative in talks with Israel, made it clear that Karam would be the sole representative for Lebanon and that there would be no substitute.
The move comes in response to what the Lebanese officials see as efforts by Iran to tie Lebanon’s situation to the wider regional conflict. Iran had indicated that there would be no ceasefire involving the US, Israel and Iran unless it also included a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Some groups, including Hezbollah and its supporters, had expressed support for linking the situations, citing concerns that the Lebanese government has limited leverage in negotiations with Israel. Lebanon is not formally a party to the conflict, and its army is considered weak.
However, others, including Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, have opposed this approach. They view Iran’s stance as an attempt to influence Lebanon’s internal affairs and see it as undermining the country’s sovereignty.
Officials backing the government’s position say the move is aimed at reaffirming Lebanon’s sovereignty and ensuring that decisions about peace and ceasefire within the country are not dictated externally.
They also see it as a safeguard, so that any breakdown in talks between the US, Israel and Iran does not automatically lead to renewed conflict in Lebanon.
