News Story: Blast In Pakistan’s Kurram Agency Leaves 5 Dead

A blast at a market in a market in Parachinar, the capital city of Pakistan’s Kurram Agency, on Friday killed at least five people and wounded 40 others, Pakistani media reported.

Confirming the incident, a local political agent Ikramullah Khan, said the explosion took place this morning in the crowded Noor market, the Dawn reported.

According to the report, Pakistani security forces have cordoned off the area while emergency services have been dispatched to the site.

Read the full story at TOLOnews

News Story: US warns China it is losing patience over North Korea

The US ambassador to the United Nations on Thursday said China can and must do more to force North Korea to halt its nuclear and missile programs.

Ambassador Nikki Haley said President Donald Trump would raise the issue next week at his first summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

And, amid reports that Pyongyang is preparing another banned nuclear test, Haley said Washington would not settle for holding another UN debate.

"I have no patience for it, and it is not helping anyone. And it's not about me. This administration has no patience for it," she said.

"Look, can we change the way North Korea thinks? No. They're not going to cave. China can, and that's the part we want to look at.

"I know China says they're worried about North Korea. I know China wants to see North Korea stop with the testing. Prove it. Prove it."

China, Haley said, could prove it is serious about restraining its rogue neighbor by enforcing an embargo against North Korean coal exports.

China announced it was halting coal imports from North Korea on February 18 -- although in that month as a whole the trade still increased by 40 percent.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: US diplomat arrested over contacts with Chinese spies

A US diplomat who allegedly took tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts from Chinese intelligence agents was charged Wednesday with lying to investigators over those contacts.

The Department of Justice said Candace Marie Claiborne, 60, knew that the two Chinese men she had regular contact with while working for the US State Department in China and other countries were from the Chinese security services, and that the money they gave her was in exchange for US secrets.

She took cash and an iPhone for herself, but most of the funds went to an unidentified man half her age with whom she lived in Beijing and Shanghai.

The Chinese agents paid for his fashion school tuition, apartment rental, a sewing machine, vacations, and other needs as requested by Claiborne, according to a complaint unveiled in the US federal district court in Washington, DC.

"Candace Marie Claiborne is a US State Department employee who possesses a Top Secret security clearance and allegedly failed to report her contacts with Chinese foreign intelligence agents who provided her with thousands of dollars of gifts and benefits," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary McCord in a statement.

"Claiborne used her position and her access to sensitive diplomatic data for personal profit."

The Justice Department's initial charges against her were limited to obstructing the investigation into her case and lying to agents.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: Malaysia Again Says It Will Boost Maritime Surveillance

ATR-72MP

by Chen Chuanren

The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) has made the acquisition of maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) its “number one priority,” according to Maj. Gen. Kamalruzaman bin Othman, assistant chief of staff, operations and strategy division. Responding to the requirement, Leonardo brought one of the ATR-72MP aircraft that it recently delivered to the Italian air force to last week’s Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) show. However, a previous Malaysian defense minister made the same declaration four years ago, with no action taken since.

“With the current situation in Sabah and Sarawak, it requires a lot of maritime surveillance,” said Kamalruzaman. He was referring to the repeated pirate attacks on shipping in Sulu Sea, including the kidnapping of sailors and tourists. But the RMAF currently operates just three MPAs. These are Beechcraft B200T Super King Airs, two of which are fitted with the Thales Airborne Maritime Situation and Control System (AMASCOS). A fourth B200T was written off last December, adding to the RMAF’s urgent need for an MPA.

Industry sources said that the RMAF is looking for an MPA focused on surveillance capabilities, rather than an armed platform. The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), which is responsible for policing duties in the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), is also scouting for a light maritime surveillance aircraft. It currently flies just two CL-415 amphibians in this role.

Read the full story at AINonline

News Story: LIMA Show Reveals Malaysian Indecision Over Military Needs

Malaysian Air Force F/A-18D Hornet (Image: Wiki Commons)

by Chen Chuanren and Vladimir Karnozov

The 2017 Langkawi International Marine and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) attracted 555 exhibiting companies and more than 40,000 trade visitors and witnessed deal signings worth a reported RM3.8 billion ($860 million). This enabled Malaysian defense minister Hishammudin Hussein to declare the show “a big success.” But there was no disguising the fact that most of the signing ceremonies duringLIMA were small-scale, and that none of Malaysia’s supposed requirements for new military aircraft were firmed up.

The main reason has been the national economy slowdown, lowering GDP growth to 4.2 percent in 2016, much below earlier expectations. Speaking at the show opening, Prime Minister Najib Razak repeated that a total of RM26 billion ($5.9 billion) had been allocated under the 11th national economic development plan to bolster defense, public order and enforcement. Most of that money, however, is already spent, leaving little room for follow-on acquisitions, such as the long-discussed maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) and medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned air vehicle.

However, Malaysia might soon seek surplus jets and helicopters from Saudi Arabia according to Hishammuddin, who spoke following a visit by the Saudi monarch King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud and his entourage to Kuala Lumpur in late February.

The MRCA debate continues, with no apparent progress since 2015. Marketing teams from BAESystems, Dassault and Saab again came to LIMA to press the respective merits of the Eurofighter Typhoon, Rafale and Gripen, with the latter two also present in the form of actual hardware. Senior RMAF officers gave mixed signals about the air arm’s future fighter plans. Although the RMAFcommander Gen. Affendi told AIN that the dwindling operational fleet of MiG-29s might be upgraded, his assistant chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Kamalruzaman, told AIN that the type will be decommissioned.

Kamalruzaman further told AIN that the RMAF could streamline its future inventory as a new strategy to increase fighter availability and reduce costs.

Read the full story at AINonline

News Story: Myanmar state counselor vows to build federal union with peace

Aung San Suu Kyi

Hanoi (VNA) – Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi vowed to continue building up a federal union with eternal peace as she made a TV speech to the nation on March 30 evening.

The remark was made in celebrating the first one-year tenure of the government of the National League for Democracy (NLD).

Suu Kyi also expressed thanks to the people for their patience and understanding of the government in its first year in office.

Speaking of the achievements in the past year, she said the government enacted laws that could give protection to the people while removing some others that used to suppress them.

She highlighted the government’s increased spending on public healthcare which is improving rapidly to the extent that the world has acknowledged Myanmar’s progress.

Read the full story at VietnamPlus

News Story: Thailand, Cambodia defence ministries set up hotline

Hanoi (VNA) – Thailand and Cambodia agreed to form a hotline between their armies to promote cooperation.

The decision was made on March 30 after the meeting of the Thailand-Cambodia Joint Border Committee in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Thai Defence Ministry spokesperson Kongcheep Tantrawanit said the hotline will help the two sides make contacts quickly at both decision-making and operation levels.

Read the full story at VietnamPlus

News Story: Phl to raise SCS construction during Beijing meet

By Pia Lee-Brago

MANILA, Philippines -  The Philippines will raise China’s construction of military facilities in the South China Sea during the bilateral consultation mechanism meeting in May, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said yesterday.

This position will be adopted despite China’s assurances that the reports on building permanent structures on Panatag (Scarborough) shoal “are not official government plans” and that China has “no intention of doing that.”

In an interview on Isss, Manalo said China’s construction activities within the Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and the images released by the Washington-based CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) on these developments are taken by the Philippines “very seriously” and “we will have to seek clarification from China on what these are all about.” 

“What is important is that we are constantly monitoring this and we are certainly not sleeping on this. The DFA in coordination with other security agencies is keeping a tight watch on developments,” Manalo added. “We will have to verify with China. It will be one of the issues. What is the intention of building this?”

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: Philippines to verify Chinese military assets in Spratlys

By Patricia Lourdes Viray

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government said it is yet to verify the completion of Chinese military assets in the Spratly (Kalayaan) Islands in the South China Sea, the country's top diplomat said Thursday.

This is despite Washington-based think tank CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative's (AMTI) recently released satellite images showing the nearly complete construction of infrastructures on Subi (Zamora), Mischief (Panganiban) and Fiery Cross (Kagitingan) Reefs.

Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said that the AMTI is basically suggesting that the facilities could accommodate military assets when it took the photos.

"We take it very seriously but I think when they say that this would accommodate this and that... We will have to verify with China," Manalo said in an interview with ANC's "Headstart."

The think tank reported that the facilities in the three air bases would allow Beijing to deploy military assets including combat aircraft and mobile missile launchers to the Spratly Islands any time.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: 12 killed in troops' clash with Reds in Quezon Province

New People's Army (NPA) "Soldiers"

MANILA, Philippines — Troops clashed with communist rebels in a Quezon Province town, leaving 10 guerrillas and two soldiers dead, military officials said Friday, in violence that comes just days before the resumption of peace talks aimed at ending one of Asia's longest-running rebellions.

Maj. Gen. Rhoderick Parayno, an Army division commander, said the military did not recover the rebels' bodies but witnesses counted 10 killed among 30 guerrillas encountered by troops Thursday in General Nakar town east of Manila. Two soldiers also died and two more were wounded.

In Manila, nearly 100 members and supporters of the underground Communist Party of the Philippines, most wearing red shirts with red kerchiefs over their faces, marched Friday near the presidential palace in a show of force before Sunday's resumption of peace talks with the government.

The marchers carried red banners, including one with the party's hammer and sickle logo during the "lightning rally" as a handful of policemen watched. They urged the people to join the revolution and they chanted "Long Live the New People's Army," the party's military arm.

Read the full story at PhilStar