Donald Trump appoints John Ratcliffe as CIA chief, sidelines Kash Patel
Washington, D.C.: US President-elect Donald Trump has selected John Ratcliffe as the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), bypassing Kashyap 'Kash' Patel, who was previously considered a leading candidate for the position. Ratcliffe, a former Director of National Intelligence and a Texas Congressman, is known for his conservative political stance and close alignment with Trump’s policy views.
Ratcliffe has previously served as the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) during Trump’s administration, holding office in the final eight months of Trump's presidency. A lawyer by training, Ratcliffe's career includes representing Texas in the US House of Representatives from 2015 to 2020 and serving as mayor of a Texas town for four terms.
Trump’s statement praised Ratcliffe's "fearless commitment to Constitutional Rights and national security" and expressed confidence in Ratcliffe's leadership at the CIA, particularly on issues like Israel and China. Ratcliffe has voiced strong criticism of President Joe Biden’s foreign policies, particularly regarding Israel and the US approach to China.
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IndiGo cancels flights to Tbilisi, Almaty, Tashkent, Baku till Jan 28
New Delhi (PTI): IndiGo has cancelled its flights to Tbilisi, Almaty, Tashkent and Baku till January 28 due to the prevailing situation in Iran.
"We remain vigilant to developments in the region around Iran and are proactively reviewing flight operations, with safety being our highest priority," the airline said in a post on X on Sunday.
In view of the prevailing situation and after careful assessment, IndiGo said it was cancelling flights to and from Tbilisi (Georgia), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and Baku (Azerbaijan) on January 26, 27 and 28.
For these destinations, the airline flies over the Iranian airspace and due to the current situation, it is avoiding that airspace, an official said.
Generally, the duration of flights from India to these cities is in the range of six to seven hours. The airline operates flights with its A320neo aircraft on these routes that do not have the range and fuel holding capacity to operate on longer alternative routes.
IndiGo on Sunday cancelled flights between Delhi-Tbilisi and Mumbai-Almaty.
Tensions have escalated between Iran and the United States, and there are apprehensions that the situation could result in a military conflict.
