The United States deployed two B-52 long-range bombers over the Gulf on Thursday in a show of force directed at Iran as Washington moves to cut its ground-level military presence in the region. The two bombers took off at short notice from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana for the non-stop, 36-hour mission to cross Europe and then the Arabian Peninsula to the Gulf, looping near Qatar while keeping a “safe distance” from Iran’s coastline, US defense officials said. The flight was coordinated with US allies, and aircraft from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar flew with the bombers as they traversed the airspace, according to a US defense official.

Hariri killing: Hezbollah man

gets five life terms in prison

The UN-backed Lebanon Tribunal yesterday sentenced a Hezbollah member convicted of conspiring to kill former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri in a 2005 bombing to five terms of life imprisonment. Salim Jamil Ayyash was found guilty in August of homicide and committing a terrorist act over the deaths of Hariri and 21 others in the attack on Beirut’s waterfront. The trial was conducted in absentia and Ayyash remains at large. Three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. Hariri’s assassination plunged Lebanon into what was then its worst crisis since its 1975-90 civil war, setting the stage for years of confrontation between rival political forces.

Hong Kong media mogul

charged under security law

Hong Kong media tycoon and Beijing critic Jimmy Lai was charged under a new national security law yesterday, accused of colluding with foreign forces, the latest pro-democracy figure targeted under the legislation. Lai, 73, is the most high-profile figure charged under the sweeping law, which has targeted the city’s pro-democracy movement but brought a semblance of calm to the finance hub after months of often-violent protests. The city’s new national security unit charged him “with one count of ‘collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security’”, police said in a statement. National security offences carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Lai is the owner of Hong Kong’s best-selling Apple Daily, a popular tabloid that is unashamedly pro-democracy and fiercely critical of authorities.