Dawn.com, Mumbai
India launched it’s second French-designed Scorpene-class submarine in Mumbai on Thursday, NDTV reported.
The INS Khanderi, a diesel-electric submarine, can undertake a range of missions, including anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering, mine laying and surveillance, according to Indian media.
The submarine has the ability to launch attacks with precision-guided weapons and torpedoes, as well as tube-launched anti-ship missiles, both underwater and on surface.
Cyprus peace talks begins in Geneva
AFP, Geneva
UN chief Antonio Guterres opened a crunch conference Thursday aimed at ending decades of division in Cyprus, billed as the “very last chance” to solve one of the world’s longest-running political crises.
Guterres was undertaking his first foreign trip as UN chief in a bid to achieve a breakthrough at the Geneva summit that also involves rival Cypriot sides as well as Greece, Turkey and former colonial power Britain.
HK deputy announces leadership bid
AFP, Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s tough pro-Beijing number two Carrie Lam announced her bid to lead the deeply divided city Thursday after stepping down from her current post.
Lam is deputy to Hong Kong’s unpopular leader Leung Chun-ying and rose through the ranks as a career civil servant before taking public office.
Japan rescues 26 N Koreans from sinking ship
CNN, Tokyo
Twenty-six North Koreans are in Japanese custody after being pulled from a sinking cargo ship off the coast of Japan late Wednesday. The Japanese Coast Guard (JCG) went to the rescue after receiving a distress signal from the ship, which had run into difficulties off Japan’s Kyushu Prefecture, 38 miles (61 kilometers) southwest of the Goto Islands, a spokesman said.
The ship’s crew members had evacuated and were on life boats when the Japanese Coast Guard reached them.
