INDIA
Nuclear sub plans approved
The Cabinet on Wednesday approved plans to construct two of a new class of nuclear-powered attack submarines among the six the navy plans to make, two defense officials said on condition of anonymity, in a project estimated to cost about 450 billion rupees (US$5.4 billion). Faster, quieter and capable of longer underwater stays than conventional diesel-powered craft, which makes them more difficult to detect, nuclear-powered attack submarines rank among the most potent naval weapons in the world. Only a handful of nations make them, including China, France, Russia and the US. The new submarines are to be built at the government’s shipbuilding center in the port of Visakhapatnam. Conglomerate Larsen and Toubro is also expected to join the project, one of the officials said.
EGYPT
Cairo rejects Sudan claims
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied allegations by Sudanese paramilitary chief Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, at war with the army since April last year, that its military has been involved in the conflict. The war between Daglo’s Rapid Support Forces and the regular military, led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has killed tens of thousands and caused the world’s largest displacement crisis. In a video posted online on Wednesday, Daglo accused the Egyptian air force of carrying out strikes targeting his forces near Jebel Moya, a key area south of Khartoum. In a statement issued later that day, the ministry denied the allegations “regarding the participation of the Egyptian air force in the battles taking place in brotherly Sudan,” it said.
MALAYSIA
Death penalty commuted
A former police officer convicted of murdering a Mongolian translator yesterday won an appeal against his death penalty, with the federal court commuting the sentence to 40 years in jail. Azilah Hadri, 48, was one of two bodyguards to then-
minister of defense Najib Razak convicted of shooting in 2006 Altantuya Shaariibuu, and then blowing up her body with military-grade explosives near Kuala Lumpur. His accomplice, Sirul Azhar Umar, fled to Australia in 2015, where he was held in immigration detention until his release in November last year. Azilah had filed the appeal after the nation passed a law last year that allows judges to commute death penalty sentences. Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat noted that Azilah’s appeal for a lighter sentence was also backed by the victim’s father, as she revised the penalty to 40 years behind bars and 12 strokes of the cane. Altantuya’s killing was linked to a scandal that allegedly saw kickbacks doled out during a 2002 deal to purchase French submarines, on which the Mongolian national worked as a translator.
JAPAN
Nuclear reactor to shutter
Kansai Electric Power Co yesterday said it would shut a nuclear reactor after finding a “tiny” hole in a pipeline, threatening to increase fossil fuel requirements to fill any electricity shortfall. The No. 3 reactor at the Mihama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture was to be closed for inspection, the utility said in a filing, which did not provide a timeline for the shutter or restart. The hole was discovered in a pipe used to release water to the sea from the cooling system. Kansai Electric has canceled a tender to sell a cargo of liquefied natural gas for December delivery following the incident, traders with knowledge of the matter said. The tender was to close yesterday.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
RELEASE: The move follows Washington’s removal of Havana from its list of terrorism sponsors. Most of the inmates were arrested for taking part in anti-government protests Cuba has freed 127 prisoners, including opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, in a landmark deal with departing US President Joe Biden that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island. Ferrer, 54, is the most high-profile of the prisoners that Cuba began freeing on Wednesday after Biden agreed to remove the country from Washington’s list of terrorism sponsors — part of an eleventh-hour bid to cement his legacy before handing power on Monday to US president-elect Donald Trump. “Thank God we have him home,” Nelva Ortega said of her husband, Ferrer, who has been in and out of prison for the
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