Mallya’s extradition hearing to start from December 4

LONDON: A defiant Vijay Mallya, wanted in India on loan defaults to several banks amounting to nearly Rs 9,000crore, on Monday appeared before a local court in London for his pre-trial hearing where the liquor baron’s extradition hearing was confirmed for eight days starting December 4.

The 61-year-old businessman, out on bail on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard earlier this year, was released by the Westminster Magistrates’ Court judge on the same bail conditions and asked to appear in the court on December 4.

The extradition trial will last until December 14, with December 8 marked as a nonsitting day.

Speaking to reporters as he left on Monday’s case management hearing, Mallya said, “it will all become clear in court”.

His defence team, headed by barrister Clare Montgomery, updated Judge Arbuthnot that the defence argument skeleton had been submitted last week and now “the ball is in the Indian government’s court” to present their reply by next week.

She also presented the judge with a “running order” of witnesses to be deposed in the case, adding that the Indian authorities are “content with that order”.

Based on the defence timtable, the judge should be ready to rule on the case by December 24. However, given the tight timeline for both sides to submit their closing arguments in writing, the judge suggested scheduling a half-day hearing in January after the oral closing submissions to conclude the trial in the new year instead.

However, Mallya’s barrister was not in favour of that delay. GOMA: Six people, including two soldiers, have died in clashes between the army and militiamen in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congolese army said on Monday.

An army position was attacked by two so-called MaiMai armed groups near the town of Beni in North Kivu province yesterday, it said.

Since the beginning of 2017, Mai-mai militias have regularly attacked Congolese army positions in the region and in neighbouring South Kivu.

“At the moment, the situation is under the army’s control,” a regional spokesperson for the military, Lieutenant Jules Tshikudi, told AFP.

“We routed the Mai-mai who attacked our position in Bulambo Isale. The death toll is four Mai Mai dead and four wounded. Two members of the national armed forces died in combat.” The assault was probably carried out by two “Mai-mai” groups, the Mazembe and Malaika, who say they are defending the Nande community, according to sources. SEOUL: North Korea may conduct additional missile tests this year to polish up its longrange missile technology and ramp up the threat against the United States, South Korea’s spy agency said on Monday, adding that it was monitoring developments closely.

North Korea is pursuing nuclear weapons and missile programmes in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions and has made no secret of its plans to develop a missile capable of hitting the US mainland. It has fired two missiles over Japan.

The reclusive state appears to have carried out a recent missile engine test while brisk movements of vehicles were spotted near known missile facilities, Yi Wan-young, a member of South Korea’s parliamentary intelligence committee which was briefed by Seoul’s National Intelligence Service, said.

No sign of an imminent nuclear test had been detected, Yi noted. The third tunnel at the Punggye-ri complex remained ready for another detonation “at any time”, while construction had recently resumed at a fourth tunnel, making it out of use for the time being.