INS Vikrant : Aircraft carrier 'INS Vikrant' raises hackles in China

BEIJING: The launch of INS Vikrant has raised hackles in China, with Chinese defence experts saying the aircraft carrier would have great significance for India as it would allow the Indian Navy to wade into the Pacific Ocean - which Beijing considers as its backyard.

"This bears great significance to Indian Navy. It makes India only the fifth country after the US, Russia, Britain and France to have such capabilities," Senior Captain Zhang Junshe, Vice-President of China's Naval Research Institute, told the state-run CCTV today.

The Indian Navy will have lead over China as it will have two aircraft carriers by the end of this year with INS Vikramaditya, the refitted carrier from Russia joining INS Viraat, which is already in service even though Vikrant was expected to be operational by 2018, he said.



"Which means by the end of this year India will become the only country in Asia to have two aircraft carriers. This will enhance the overall capabilities especially the power projection capabilities of the Indian Navy," Zhang said.

Ruling out any race for more carriers in the region, Zhang defended India and China having more carriers since they have vast coasts and huge populations and the importance of defending the sea lanes far from home due to dependence on external trade.

Last year China has launched its first aircraft carrier, Lioning. Its hull was imported from Ukraine and refurbished in China.

China also subsequently launched J-15 aircraft to operate from its deck. The ship with over 50,000 tonnes displacement will have about 30 aircraft on its deck.

China is reportedly building two more aircraft carriers but their schedules are not known yet.

Zhang earlier told the state-run China Daily that with Vikrant, the Indian navy will be more capable of patrolling distant oceans.

"India's first self-made carrier, along with reinforced naval strength, will further disrupt the military balance in South Asia," he said.

India is very likely to quicken its pace to steer eastward to the Pacific, where the US and China are competing to dominate.

The launch of the Vikrant as well the first nuclear submarine Arihant also aroused the curiosity and concerns among analysts from different state-run think tanks in China.

"The new indigenous carrier will further strengthen India's naval power and also add some bargaining chips with the world's major military vendors such as Russia," Wang Daguang, a researcher of military equipment based in Beijing told the Daily.

Song Xiaojun, a military commentator in Beijing, said the Vikrant uses technology from the 1980s and thus serves as an experiment for the Indian Navy to set technical standards for future vessels.

Source : EconomicTimes Indiatimes

Hannah Anderson : Another way out!

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Hannah was taken to a hospital where crisis counsellors and health care providers were assisting her. Her father was expected to arrive in Idaho on Sunday to reunite with her.

"We will make sure she gets as much care as possible, physically and emotionally," said Andrea Dearden, a spokeswoman from the Ada County Sheriff's Department who has been leading the communication team for the inter agency effort in Valley County.

The shooting came after officers participating in a massive manhunt for the pair spotted the campsite from the air and an FBI hostage recovery team trekked to the site near More head Lake.

"No one really knows where an investigation like this will lead," said Mary Rook, special agent in charge of the FBI's Salt Lake City division. "In this case, our team faced a very challenging situation."

The FBI said it was sending a team to investigate what unfolded before, during and after the shooting. Authorities offered few details Saturday night.

The location wasn't far from what had been the last known sighting of the pair. A horseback rider called authorities Thursday night to report that on Wednesday he had seen two people who resembled Anderson and DiMaggio with camping gear on a trail near the lake. The rider, whose name wasn't released, didn't realise they were subjects of a massive search until he got home and saw news reports.

The case began when the charred bodies of Hannah Anderson's mother, Christina Anderson, 44, and the teens 8-year-old brother, Ethan Anderson, were found in DiMaggio's burning house outside San Diego, near the Mexico border.

DiMaggio was close to the family. Christina Anderson's husband, Brett Anderson, has described him as a best friend and said the children thought of him as an uncle.

Authorities have said DiMaggio had an "unusual infatuation" with Hannah, although the father said he never saw any strange behaviour.

An Amber Alert was issued, and tips led investigators to Oregon after DiMaggio and the teen were reportedly spotted there.

But it wasn't until the Idaho horseback rider called in his tip that investigators found a major lead - DiMaggio's car, hidden under brush at a trail head on the border of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in central Idaho.

A contingent of about 270 law enforcement officers from the FBI, the Valley and Ada County sheriffs' offices, Idaho State Police, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Border Patrol, aided by experts from federal land management and wildlife agencies, worked around the clock to figure out the best way to track DiMaggio and the teen in the road less area.

San Diego County Sheriff William D. Gore announced Hannah's rescue and DiMaggio's death from a news conference in California. He said members of his office notified Hannah's father, Brett Anderson, of her rescue.

"He was very relieved and very excited and looking forward to being reunited with his daughter," Gore said.

The father described a range of emotion in a text message to CNN.

"I am nervous excited saddened 4 my wife and son and worried what my daughter has been through," he wrote to the network. "It's now healing time. Keep us in your prayers."

At a separate news conference in Idaho, Dearden said she didn't know if DiMaggio fired shots at officers but there were no reports of any injuries to authorities involved in the encounter. Cascade residents gathered behind Dearden, Rook and the other officials gathered at the news conference and cheered at the news of Hannah's rescue.

Rook said FBI victim specialists were working with Hannah and her family to get them the resources they need.

"As grateful as we are that she was recovered safely, we also remember the other victims in this case who lost their lives," Rook said.

FBI policy calls for an investigation whenever an agent fires a weapon, Rook said. A team from Washington, D.C., was preparing to investigate the events at the campsite, and until that investigation is complete, Rook said she couldn't share any other details.