الكاتب: kafej

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin has admitted he “did not handle this right” and should have told President Biden and the public about his prostate cancer diagnosis.

However, he said he didn’t order his staff to hide his condition.

“We did not handle this right and I did not handle this right. I should have told the president about my cancer diagnosis. I take full responsibility,” Mr Austin said.

Middle East latest: Austin warns US will take ‘necessary action’ amid ‘dangerous moment’

The defence secretary was diagnosed in early December, and had surgery on 22 December, but did not tell the president and other senior figures until days after complications forced him into intensive care on 1 January.

Mr Austin admitted his error in his first news conference since he was diagnosed.

His slow disclosure of his condition has prompted an internal Pentagon review and an inspector general review into his department’s notification processes.

Mr Austin was taken back to hospital by ambulance with severe pain 10 days after his surgery.

It emerged one of his staff asked paramedics not to use lights and sirens when collecting him from his Virginia home.

The 70-year-old passed decision-making authority to deputy defence secretary Kathleen Hicks, but did not inform her why.

Mr Austin is just below the president in the military chain of command and is required to be available at a moment’s notice to respond to any national security crisis.

“I never directed anyone to keep my January hospitalisation from the White House,” he told reporters on Thursday.

President Biden previously said it was poor judgement from Mr Austin not to tell him he was in intensive care.

However, he said he still had confidence in him.

Mr Austin worked from home for two weeks after being discharged on 15 January and returned to the Pentagon on Monday.

Back on his defence duties, he briefed reporters today on the latest situation following the deaths of three soldiers in a drone attack on a US base in Jordan.

He said “terrorist groups backed by Iran and funded by Iran” had been increasing attacks in the Middle East during a “dangerous moment” for the region.

Read more:
What are Biden’s options after drone attack?
Middle East one move away from bigger war – analysis

However, he stopped short of blaming a particular group for the attack in Jordan.

“We will respond where we choose, when we choose and how we choose,” said the defence secretary.

But he stressed the US wanted to avoid a wider conflict while taking “necessary” action to protect their interests.

Mr Austin said that included freedom of navigation in the Red Sea – where the US and UK have targeted Houthi forces from Yemen who have been attacking commercial ships.

The response to the Jordan attack would be “multi-tiered”, Mr Austin said, and America would have the ability to strike back a number of times.

President Biden indicated this week that he had already decided how the US would hit back.

A pigeon accused of being a Chinese spy has been cleared by police and released back into the wild.

The bird was detained by officers after it was captured in May last year near a port in Mumbai, news agency Press Trust of India reported.

It was found with two rings tied to its legs featuring words that appeared to be Chinese.

Detectives suspected the pigeon was involved in espionage and took it in, before later sending it to Mumbai’s Bai Sakarbai Dinshaw Petit Hospital for Animals.

However, after eight months in captivity, it emerged that the creature was an open-water racing bird from Taiwan which had escaped and flown to India.

Police then approved the bird’s transfer to the Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, where doctors set free the falsely accused avian on Tuesday.

Read more from Sky News:
Man wanted over chemical attack named
Trump legal claim over ‘sex party in Russia’ dismissed
Fugitive monkey shot with tranquiliser

Pigeons have been used in spying and combat throughout history, including by UK forces in the First World War and Second World War to deliver messages.

A pigeon called Gustav brought the first news of D-Day back to the UK, after a correspondent wrote a report and attached it to the bird while landing on Sword Beach in Normandy on 6 June 1944.

India has also previously detained the birds over security fears. In 2020 suspicious police in Indian-controlled Kashmir captured a pigeon that belonged to a Pakistani fisherman.

An investigation found the bird was not a spy, and had simply flown across the border between the countries.

In 2016 another pigeon was detained after it was allegedly found with a note that threatened Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.