Briefly

INDIA

18 sailors kidnapped off Nigerian coast

India's Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday confirmed the kidnapping of 18 Indian sailors onboard a Hong Kong-flagged ship that was "taken over" by pirates off the Nigerian coast. Ministry sources said that they were in touch with the Nigerian authorities and security agencies seeking the whereabouts of the kidnapped Indians. The ship MT Nave Constellation off Bonny, Nigeria, is said to be in the custody of some unidentified pirates. Earlier, a section of the Indian media had quoted ARX Maritime, a global agency tracking maritime developments in the region, as saying that 18 Indians and one Turk onboard a Hong Kong-flagged vessel were kidnapped by pirates near the Nigerian coast on Tuesday evening.

JAPAN

Govt plans to send troops to Middle East

Japan is planning to send about 270 seamen to the Middle East to guard ships supplying Japan under a law that allows military deployments for research and intelligence gathering, the Nikkei business daily reported. Japan maintains friendly ties with both the United States and Iran, and has said it would not join any US coalition to protect merchant vessels in the region. Nikkei said the government would propose deploying one escort ship and a patrol aircraft on a one-year mission that could be renewed annually. It plans to finalize the plan by year-end, the newspaper said.

SOUTH KOREA

Veteran MP named new justice minister

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday nominated a five-term ruling Democratic Party lawmaker as new justice minister after the former minister stepped down about two months earlier over an allegation of irregularities involving his family. Choo Mi-ae, 61, was named to lead the justice ministry amid the ongoing push by the Moon government to reform the prosecution office, the presidential Blue House said. It came after Cho Kuk resigned as justice minister on Oct 14 over alleged wrongdoings involving his family. Cho was nominated as justice minister on Aug 9 and took office a month later.

AUSTRALIA

3 charged over largest crystal meth seizure

Three people have been charged with drug offenses over Australia's largest seizure of methamphetamine, which had been smuggled to Melbourne from Bangkok in stereo speakers. Police estimate the 1.6 tons of the drug, also known as ice and crystal meth, had a street value of $818 million. The 37 kilograms of heroin also seized were the largest haul of that drug in Australia since 2017, police said. "It's almost a quarter of the annual usage in Australia, so this will have an impact," Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Neil Gaughan said, referring to the crystal meth.

MEXICO

Progress seen in talks to revise trade deal

Mexico's government said on Wednesday that progress was being made toward revising a new North American trade pact to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, and that protections for biologic drugs will be sharply reduced under it, in what would be a setback for US pharmaceutical companies. Mexico approved the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, earlier this year, but US ratification has been held up by Democrats pressing the Donald Trump administration to make changes to the deal, including on drug protections. Following nearly four hours of talks with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Washington, Mexico's top negotiator for the USMCA, Jesus Seade, said he believed a deal was closer than before.