Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar passes away at 63

  • The Goa CM Manohar Parrikar died on Sunday after prolonged illness.
  • Parrikar will be accorded state funeral with full military honours at Miramar Beach today at 5pm.
  • He breathed his last at private residence in Dona Paula near the state capital after battling a pancreatic ailment since February last year.

Indian Navy deployed nuclear submarines amid heightened tensions with Pakistan

  • In a major step, the Indian Navy on Sunday said it had deployed its frontline warships, including nuclear submarines and aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, near the Pakistan waters in the Arabian Sea.
  • Navy sources said nuclear submarine INS Chakra was deployed with the Carrier Battle Group of INS Vikramaditya to provide protection to it and also be ready to thwart any offensive action.

Black Box Shows “Clear Similarities” Between Ethiopian, Lion Air Crashes

  • Ethiopia’s transport minister confirmed that the flight data recorder on the Ethiopian Airlines jet shows “clear similarities” with the crash of the same type of plane in Indonesia in October.

Flash Floods triggered by rain, Landslide kill 50 in Indonesia’s Papua

  • At least 50 people have been killed by flash floods in Indonesia’s eastern Papua province, an official said on Sunday, as rescuers raced to find more victims of the disaster.
  • Dozens of homes were damaged by floodwaters, national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

China’s Xi Jinping to visit Italy, France as Rome joins ‘New Silk Road’

  • Chinese President Xi Jinping will travel to Italy, Monaco and France this week, the foreign ministry said on Monday
  • Rome expected to join his global trade infrastructure programme despite reservations in other European countries.
  • An Italian official said last week that Rome would sign a non-binding MoU with Beijing to officially support Xi’s massive $1 trillion Belt and Road initiative, also known as the New Silk Road.

Mumbai bridge collapse

  • The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has directed one of their consultants to carry out inspections and review the structural audit report of 157 bridges in Mumbai on a “most urgent” basis.
  • BMC orders ‘most urgent’ structural audit of 157 bridges, seeks report in a month