Australian navy sailor dies during shore leave in Oman
An Australian navy sailor has died during shore leave in the Oman port town of Muscat, officials said June 16.
The Australian Defense Force released few details of the circumstances of the death.
The sailor was on shore leave in Muscat when he was found, defense officials said in a statement. Despite medical treatment, the sailor could not be revived, it said.
The sailor was a crew member of the guided missile frigate HMAS Darwin which was in Muscat at the time. The ship is part of international maritime security operations in the Middle East.
Officials did not name the sailor or say when the death occurred.
The Australian Defense Force Investigative Service was assisting local authorities with their investigation.
Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported the 22-year-old leading seaman was found unconscious in a hotel room by colleagues who tried to revive him.
ABC said the sailor may have consumed dangerous body building supplements that he had bought locally. AP
Errors, inexperience cited in Navy SEAL parachute death
A Navy investigation into last year’s death of a SEAL during parachute training has cited errors made by supervisors as well as the relative inexperience of the 29-year-old man who was killed.
But the probe found there was no single cause or one person responsible for the incident.
Jason Kortz of Colorado plummeted to his death after his main parachute got tangled during a high-altitude jump in March 2015.
The San Diego Union-Tribune June 14 cited a Naval Special Warfare probe that found Kortz’s body position was wrong when he exited the aircraft.
The top Navy SEAL, Rear Admiral Brian Losey, wrote that Kortz’s superiors allowed the inexperienced parachutist to participate in a complex jump before he was ready.
SEAL officials say training has been changed to include a more gradual progression toward difficult jumps. AP
NATO ministers approve expanded aid package for Ukraine
NATO defense ministers have approved an expanded assistance package for Ukraine, whose military forces are battling a Russian-backed insurgency in the country’s east.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the package approved Wednesday aims at helping Ukraine ”establish more effective defense and security structures,” and strengthen civilian control of the Ukrainian armed forces.
The U.S.-led NATO alliance has already been assisting Ukraine in many areas, including in improving logistics, cyberdefense and rehabilitating wounded soldiers.
NATO officials said the expanded program will add new projects on countering hybrid warfare and booby traps and other explosive devices, as well as strategic communications.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is expected to attend next month’s NATO summit in Warsaw to discuss the next steps for the projects’ implementation. AP
Chinese naval ship enters Japanese territorial waters
A Chinese intelligence ship entered Japan’s territorial waters early morning June 15, the first report of a Chinese navy vessel doing so in more than a decade.
A Japanese surveillance plane spotted the ship in waters west of Kuchinoerabu island before dawn, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshige Seko told reporters. It sailed out of Japan’s waters about 90 minutes later, he said.
A U.N. agreement allows what is known as “innocent passage” by foreign ships through another country’s waters, but Japan nonetheless expressed concern to China that this incident and other recent Chinese military activity is escalating tensions between the two countries.
China’s Defense Ministry said in a brief statement that the ship sailed through “a territorial strait open to international navigation” in accordance with freedom of navigation under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Japan reacted more harshly last week after a Chinese navy ship sailed near a group of remote islands that are administered by Japan but also claimed by China. Though the ship didn’t enter territorial waters around the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japanese and the Diaoyu in Chinese, the dispute makes the situation there much more charged.
The Chinese Defense Ministry responded that the islands are China’s inherent territory, and “it is rational and legal for Chinese warships to sail in waters under (Chinese) jurisdiction.”
The latest incident took place much closer to Japan’s main islands, in waters south of Kyushu. The only previous time Japan had reported a Chinese naval vessel in its territorial waters was a submarine detected in 2004. AP
China bans exports to NKorea with possible military use
China June 15 banned exports to North Korea of technology and materials that might be used in weapons production in a new response to the North’s development of nuclear weapons and missiles.
The list of banned “dual use” items with possible civilian and military use includes metal alloys, cutting and laser-welding equipment and materials that could be used in production of chemical weapons, the Commerce Ministry said.
Beijing has long supported the North Korean government but in a sign of growing frustration signed on in March to United Nations sanctions enacted in response to the North’s fourth nuclear test. Those penalties include a ban on sales of “dual use” items.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s government has intensified nuclear activities in defiance of U.N. sanctions.
China is the impoverished North’s main trading partner and aid donor, making its cooperation essential for the success of trade penalties.
In April, China banned imports of North Korean coal and iron ore, an important revenue source for the impoverished country. Beijing also banned sales of jet fuel to the North, though it said civilian aircraft would be allowed to refuel on flights to China.
Beijing balked at previous demands by Washington and other governments to use trade as leverage against North Korea. Chinese diplomats said the potential humanitarian impact of sanctions had to be considered. AP