INDIA
Hijacking suspect brought in
Authorities yesterday brought 35 people accused of piracy to Mumbai, days after they were apprehended when naval commandos recaptured a hijacked bulk carrier and rescued several hostages. The hijacking in December last year of the Maltese-flagged MV Ruen was the first time since 2017 that any cargo vessel had been boarded in an act of piracy. Commandos boarded and took control of the vessel on Sunday last week about 260 nautical miles (481.52km) off the coast of Somalia. The destroyer INS Kolkata, which led the rescue operation, arrived in Mumbai early yesterday carrying the men accused of the hijacking. All appeared to be in good spirits although some showed signs of slight injury including visible bandages. They were expected to be brought before a magistrate later in the day.
RUSSIA
Two killed in airstrikes
Multiple air attacks on the border region of Belgorod adjoining Ukraine yesterday killed two people and injured at least seven, the governor said. Further east, an overnight drone attack on the Samara region caused a fire at a major oil refinery, the latest in a series of strikes against Russia’s fuel industry. Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram that two districts in his region as well as the regional capital, also called Belgorod, had been hit in drone and air attacks. In the Samara region — 1,000km from the front lines — the local governor reported “several drone attacks” on local oil refineries, one of which caused a fire at the Kuibyshev refinery, Governor Dmitry Azarov said in a statement on Telegram, adding that there were no casualties. The attacks came 24 hours after Russia unleashed one of its largest aerial barrages of the two-year conflict, hitting dozens of Ukrainian energy sites and leaving more than 1 million temporarily without power.
UNITED STATES
FBI warns passengers
The FBI has told passengers who were on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 that experienced a Jan. 5 midair emergency that they might be victims of a crime, according to letters seen by Reuters. The letters, a procedural step in some criminal investigations by the Department of Justice, are a sign that its probe into the MAX 9 emergency is moving forward. The letters, dated Tuesday, say the FBI has identified the passengers “as a possible victim of a crime. This case is currently under investigation by the FBI... A criminal investigation can be a lengthy undertaking, and, for several reasons, we cannot tell you about its progress at this time.” Boeing declined to comment on Friday, but said this month it would continue to cooperate fully and transparently with all government investigations. Alaska Airlines said it was fully cooperating with the investigation and does not believe it is the target of the probe.
UNITED STATES
‘Babar’ author dead at 98
French artist Laurent de Brunhoff, the author and illustrator of dozens of children’s books starring the affable elephant character “Babar” created by his father, died on Friday at the age of 98, US media reported. De Brunhoff’s wife, Phyllis Rose, had on Wednesday posted on Instagram that he had recently suffered a stroke and was in hospice care at home in the US. Rose told the New York Times on Friday that De Brunhoff, who was born in Paris in 1925, had died at home in Key West, Florida. Created in 1931 by Laurent de Brunhoff’s parents, the Babar series has sold millions of copies around the world and has been translated into more than a dozen languages.
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
DEFENSE UPHEAVAL: Trump was also to remove the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the judge advocates general for the army, navy and air force US President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former lieutenant general Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer. The president would also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service,
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian