cruise

SEOUL, March 11 (UPI) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from a naval destroyer, state media reported Wednesday, as the United States and South Korea began a large-scale joint military exercise this week.

The North’s Choe Hyon destroyer launched the missiles at island targets in the Yellow Sea on Tuesday, the official Korean Central News Agency said, with Kim watching via a video feed. The missiles flew for roughly two hours and fifty minutes before striking their targets, KCNA said.

Pyongyang described the weapons as “strategic,” a term it typically uses for systems capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

The launches came days after North Korea conducted a similar cruise missile test from the destroyer ahead of its commissioning.

The test also coincided with the start of the allies’ annual Freedom Shield exercise on Monday, an 11-day program of command-post simulations and field training drills.

North Korea has long condemned the joint exercises as rehearsals for invasion. On Tuesday, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of Kim Jong Un, warned that the drills could destabilize the region and lead to “unimaginably terrible consequences.”

After observing the launch, Kim praised the “superiority of the destroyer’s integrated combat system,” according to KCNA.

“The components of our war deterrent are now being included in the very sophisticated operational system … and the country’s nuclear forces have made a switch to the phase of multifaceted operation,” Kim said.

Images released by state media showed Kim watching the test alongside his daughter Ju Ae, who has appeared frequently with her father at major events. South Korea’s spy agency said last month that Ju Ae, believed to have been born in 2013, appears close to being designated as Kim’s successor.

Pyongyang launched the Choe Hyon, its first 5,000-ton destroyer, last April as Kim called for strengthening the country’s naval capabilities. North Korean reports say the vessel carries a range of weapons, including nuclear-capable cruise missiles and tactical ballistic missiles.

Photos released by state media show the ship’s missile and radar systems resembling those found on Russian vessels, prompting speculation Pyongyang may have received technical assistance from Moscow.

North Korea has deployed troops, artillery and weapons to support Russia’s war in Ukraine and is believed to be receiving financial support and advanced military technology in return.

A second destroyer, the Kang Kon, suffered an accident during its launch ceremony last year that left it listing on its side before it was repaired and relaunched in June.

Kim has ordered another 5,000-ton destroyer completed by Oct. 10, the anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.

Cruise missiles were seen launching into the sky as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw tests from a new naval destroyer aimed at assessing the warship’s capabilities.

The voyage departs from Barcelona in November 2027 and will take guests to the most remote destinations

One of the longest continuous cruises on the planet is Villa Vie Residences’ World Uncharted voyage, which is due to set sail in 2027. Passengers aboard the Villa Vie Residences will explore more than 100 countries across five continents over 301 days.

The extraordinary cruise will transport guests to some of the most isolated destinations, from the Amazon to Antarctica, the Panama Canal and Greenland. The 301-day journey, with prices starting from approximately £27,000 or $119 (£90) per day, will depart from Barcelona, Spain, in November 2027 and conclude in London in 2028.

World Uncharted will take holidaymakers “from Europe’s grand capitals to the icy frontiers of Antarctica, the wild beauty of the Amazon to the serene villages of Northern Europe”.

Kathy Villalba, CEO of Villa Vie Residences, said: “In our eighth month of sailing with full-time Residents, we’re proud to introduce our boldest adventure yet. World Uncharted embodies how far we’ve come-and just how far we’re going.”

Passengers can remain on board for up to five years, or buy a cabin and make it their “forever” home, as the company provides a “3.5-year continuous world journey, repeating,” reports the Express.

Accommodation includes complimentary weekly cleaning and laundry service, and each villa is tailored for long-term life at sea, with storage solutions such as wardrobes and cabinets. The cruise also boasts refined restaurants, a spa, theatre, fitness centre, pickleball courts, a business centre and even a medical centre with experienced healthcare professionals.

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“ogether, our pathways meet you where you are: Ownership for full-time living on board the ship, Golden Passport with age-advantage pricing for lifetime residency, Month-to-Month with Rent-to-Own for flexible stays, and Home Suite Home, limited side-by-side villas for extra space and comfort.”

Kim Jong Un supervised the launch of sea-to-surface ‘strategic cruise missiles’ from country’s new naval destroyer.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has overseen the test-firing of “strategic cruise missiles” from a new 5,000-tonne naval destroyer before the vessel’s official commissioning, according to state media.

Kim supervised the launch of sea-to-surface missiles from the destroyer Choe Hyon on Wednesday, assessing the test as a “core” element of the new warship’s capabilities, which he described as a “new symbol of sea defence” for his country.

Calling for the production of more warships of a similar class or better, Kim said his navy’s adoption of nuclear weapons was making progress.

“Our Navy’s forces for attacking from under and above water will grow rapidly. The arming of the Navy with nuclear weapons is making satisfactory progress,” Kim said at the Nampo Shipyard in the west of the country, according to North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“All these successes constitute a radical change in defending our maritime sovereignty, something that we have not achieved for half a century,” he said.

South Korea’s official Yonhap news agency noted that North Korea uses references to “strategic” weapons to indicate they could have nuclear capabilities.

According to KCNA, over a two-day visit to the shipyard, spanning Tuesday and Wednesday, Kim inspected the Choe Hyon, the lead vessel in a new series of 5,000-tonne “Choe Hyon-class” destroyers currently under construction in North Korea.

‘Wage a more active and persistent struggle’

In May 2025, North Korea’s ambitious naval modernisation programme suffered a major setback when a second Choe Hyon-class destroyer capsized during a botched side-launch ceremony at Chongjin Shipyard, an incident witnessed by the Korean leader.

Later, and in a rare admission of failure, KCNA reported that a launch mechanism malfunction caused the stern of the 5,000-tonne destroyer to slide prematurely into the water. The accident crushed parts of the hull and left the bow stranded on the shipway.

At the time, Kim characterised the launch failure as a “criminal act”, blaming the incident on “absolute carelessness” and “irresponsibility” across multiple state institutions.

This week’s missile tests come after the North Korean leader pledged in late February to lift living standards as he opened a rare congress of the governing Workers’ Party, held once every five years.

Kim told the congress that the ruling party was “faced with heavy and urgent historic tasks of boosting economic construction and the people’s standard of living”.

“This requires us to wage a more active and persistent struggle without allowing even a moment’s standstill or stagnation,” he said.

North Korea has prioritised nuclear weapons development and military strength above all else, claiming that it must be militarily strong to resist pressure from the United States and its ally, South Korea.

Since taking power in late 2011, Kim has maintained the military as a core priority while simultaneously emphasising economic strengthening to address the country’s chronic impoverishment.

The Navy has posted its first pictures from Operation Epic Fury, showing a variety of actions that have been taken so far, especially the launches of RGM-109 Tomahawk Land-Attack Missiles (TLAMs) from its Arleigh Burke class destroyers. One image, in particular, caught our eye. It shows a glossy black TLAM unlike any we have seen before.

To date, we have never seen a black Tomahawk before. Today, the missiles are usually painted in the same haze gray tone we have been accustomed to seeing on pretty much everything in the U.S. Navy. All the other TLAMs shown being fired appear to be painted in this standard scheme, so what we are seeing appears genuinely new.

The dark color of the TLAM in question fits with that of another missile in the U.S. Navy’s inventory, the stealthy AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM). These advanced cruise missiles are delivered, at least in part, not in the flat gray tone as seen on their land-attack cousins, the AGM-158 JASSM, but instead with a glossy black coating. This appears to be the case for earlier testing models and at least some operational ones. It’s our best guess that a very similar coating is now being applied to the latest TLAMs coming off the production line for the Navy.

As for why black is the new gray, as it would seem, we would expect this to be a low observable coating aimed at enhancing the survivability of the weapon, especially for strikes against maritime targets. It can also make the missile harder to spot while skimming low over the water. Having radar-absorbent and infrared suppressive properties could also be a major benefit. This is especially true for the TLAM, which has been around for decades and has been continuously improved upon to keep it relevant and effective. That has included adding low observable features, such as the chined crease in its nose section that reduces its radar cross-section from the critical front aspect. It’s also worth noting that the small v-shape gray portion of this black TLAM is the inlet door that retracts once the missile is boosted to sustained speed shortly after launch.

This new coating would appear to be part of the upgrades likely included on the latest Maritime Strike Tomahawk, otherwise known as the MST, which has a long-range anti-ship function.

F-18 follows Tomahawk Missile

The Maritime Strike Tomahawk (MST) is a subvariant of the latest Block V variant of the Tactical Tomahawk (TACOM), and is also known as the Block Va. Though the Block IV TACOM already has a demonstrated anti-ship capability, MST has additional features to optimize it for this role. This most notably includes a new multi-mode guidance system that reportedly includes an imaging infrared seeker. All Block V Tomahawks also come with a two-way data link, allowing them to receive course correction and other targeting updates, as well as be entirely retasked, during flight.

A set of unclassified briefing slides that Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) released last year lends additional credence to the black-colored Tomahawk being an MST. One slide includes a mention of MST along with a very low-resolution picture showing a dark-colored missile.

It isn’t clear when the first MSTs were delivered, but unless this coating is being put on past variants of the missile, this may be the first time we have seen one of these new Tomahawk variants in action.

Update:

We are also seeing video showing what appear to be TLAMs with forward swept wings. If these are indeed TLAMs, this would likely be another measure to reduce the missile’s radar cross-section and making it more survivable, and thus battlefield relevant. It’s also possible that this is a long-range Israeli cruise missile that has not been identified, although this seems less likely. Still, Israel does have the Popeye Turbo cruise missile that is nuclear-armed and used as a second strike deterrent aboard its diesel electric submarines. It is possible that this is a conventional version of that weapon.

The MQ-9 family of medium altitude, long endurance uncrewed air vehicles, which includes the new SkyGuradian and SeaGuardian variants, are getting the ability to reach out and hit targets at extreme ranges. In essence, the addition of long-range cruise missiles to their quivers — basically turning the drones into standoff “missile trucks” — will give these aircraft another new mission that is also relevant in high-end conflicts.

MQ-9’s long-range and extreme loitering time would offer a level of flexibility not really available in a tactical aircraft-sized package. As it sits now, Lockheed Martin’s stealthy AGM-158 JASSM and its anti-ship variant, LRASM, as well as Kongsberg-Raytheon’s Joint Strike Missile are being looked at as weapons options.

General Atomics writes in a release: “Hypothetically, a mission profile might look like this: MQ-9Bs could launch from a number of friendly bases in the Western or Southern Pacific, fly to a hold point and loiter there outside a hostile power’s weapons engagement zone. If the order came to release the weapons, the aircraft could launch them in coordination with other U.S. or allied operations.”

The goal is to start flying with at least one of the missiles this year.

Our Jamie hunter was on the show floor in Denver Colorado at the Air Force Association’s Warfare Symposium to discuss this new addition to the MQ-9’s repertoire directly with with Scott Gilloon, Sector Vice President for Strategic Programs at GA-ASI. Check out the video at the top of this story to hear what he had to say about the new standoff weapons offering for the MQ-9.

THE birch trees either side of us become a blur as we speed through the snowy woodland, our sled being masterfully pulled by a pack of energetic dogs.

Looking up, I spot a sheet of vibrant green and fiery pink spread across the night sky.

It had always been a dream of mine to experience the elusive Northern Lights.

Now I was getting the chance to do it in the best way possible: a Norwegian Fjords voyage.

February is one of the best times of year to see the natural phenomenon in Norway, although you stand a pretty good chance at any point from late September to April.

My partner Gemma and I were travelling with Ambassador Cruise Line, which has affordable sailings from the UK, removing the need for a flight.

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Our home for the next couple of weeks, Ambition, was a modern 1,200-passenger vessel that oozes glamour with plenty of polished wood and brass, and a cosy, relaxed ambience.

Cabins are luxurious, spotless and well-appointed — refreshed each day by doting “butlers”.

Everyone on board has a complimentary dining place in either the light and airy Buckingham restaurant or smaller, more intimate Holyrood, both of which serve high-quality food with plenty of options for vegetarians like Gemma.

There is also the buffet-style Borough Market which serves delicious meals from early to late.

Plus there is speciality dining such as the fabulous Saffron, an Indian restaurant which left Gemma in raptures about the veggie selection platter.

The highlight for me, however, was the Chef’s Table experience where we were treated to a fascinating tour of the ship’s galleys before executive chef Cleo Murzello showcased his culinary skills in nine sensational courses paired with wines.

Just be prepared that you won’t feel able to move from your seat afterwards!

When we weren’t exploring the fjords, on board entertainment kept us busy every day with games — we couldn’t keep away from the high-prize £3-a-play bingo — West-End worthy theatre performances and fascinating talks including how to photograph the Aurora Borealis.

With seven bars, six restaurants, a shopping galleria, library, games room and incredible spa there’s always something going on.

Then there’s the shore experiences with everything from snowshoeing and rib-boat riding to ice bars visits and cable car trips available.

On our first morning in Norway, we woke to see low rocky islands sliding past as we got our first glimpse of the fjords — the long sea inlets between majestic mountains.

Alesund is one of Norway’s most beautiful towns. The best way to see it is to climb the 418 steps to its hillside view point and reward yourself with a svele pancake from the cafe at the top.

Then wander around the shops filled with the Norwegian obsession of trolls and slippers, then the gorgeous harbour.

Next morning, after crossing into the Arctic Circle, Ambition glided between snow-covered peaks up Straumsfjorden to the city of Tromso.

Here we took the mountain cable car to the top of snow-clad Storsteinen, 1,382ft above sea level.

The views were spectacular — as was the high-altitude beer at the summit cafe.

But it wasn’t until our evening dog-sledding adventure that we finally got what we came for.

As darkness fell the night sky began to bubble and split.

From behind the dark mass of mountains, a collection of dancing green fingers reached upward and outwards, curling and filling the sky.

It couldn’t have been a more perfect setting as the panting huskies ploughed through the snow.

More excitement was to come, though.

Cruise stops include the frozen port of Alta, in the Finnmark area of northern Norway, home of the Sami people.

Those keen to learn about the culture can book tours which include a visit to a village and reindeer sledding.

Instead, we headed to Alta Museum to take in some of the 6,000 amazing rock paintings dating from 4,200BC, discovered in 1973.

If ice snow experiences are more your thing, try the port of Narvik, home to a breathtaking Arctic train ride and polar wildlife park.

Or there’s the city of Bergen, where you can pick up souvenirs from local shops that line the cobbled streets.

I may have returned home with a pair of troll slippers but it’s the memory of Northern Lights that I’ll be cherishing for years to come.

Even the pictures on my phone don’t do it justice.

A seasoned cruise ship worker has shared the four things that crew members really hate about passengers

Cruising should be an enjoyable and tranquil getaway, but certain passenger behaviours can seriously spoil the atmosphere for everyone involved. Lucy Southerton, a veteran crew member with nine years under her belt working aboard cruise ships, has revealed some of the biggest gripes shared amongst her colleagues.

Boasting a loyal following of more than 65,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel Cruising as Crew, Southerton provides insider perspectives and practical guidance for cruise aficionados. In a recent upload, she explored the irritations encountered by crew members, from dishevelled cabins to inappropriate advances.

Here are four behaviours passengers ought to steer clear of to guarantee a more pleasant voyage for all, reports the Express.

1. Dishevelled Cabins

According to Southerton, crew members, especially those in housekeeping and stewarding roles, become exasperated by passengers leaving their cabins in complete chaos.

She stressed that their role involves cleaning and sanitising the accommodation, not picking up after guests.

“It’s crazy to think they’re only on board for five days because of the amount of stuff that’s everywhere,” Southerton remarked. She appealed to passengers to show consideration and respect for crew members’ duties whilst occupying their cabins.

2. Inappropriate Advances Towards Crew

Southerton warned passengers against making unwanted romantic or flirtatious overtures to crew members, describing it as a form of sexual harassment.

She shared accounts from male cabin crew who felt uneasy and irritated when travellers overstepped the mark. “It’s hard when they take it another way and they think that they have a chance with you just because you’re a sexy crew member,” Southerton explained.

3. Lack of Manners

Among the most frequent complaints from cabin crew is passengers’ failure to display basic courtesy. Southerton emphasised the significance of simple pleasantries like saying “please” and “thank you.”

She recalled occasions where travellers would bark orders without a shred of politeness, underlining the necessity for respectful conduct, particularly whilst on holiday.

4. Bragging

Finally, she voiced her frustration with passengers who show off, particularly those who parade their wealth in front of less privileged individuals.

She encouraged passengers to be conscious of their surroundings and avoid boasting, especially to crew members grafting hard to provide for their families.

“Brag to people who are on a similar level to you,” Southerton advised, emphasising the need for consideration and compassion.

By remaining mindful of these behaviours, passengers can help create a more enjoyable and considerate atmosphere aboard cruise ships, encouraging positive exchanges between travellers and crew members alike.

Zimbabwe finished top of Group B at the T20 World Cup after stunning England’s next opponents Sri Lanka in a six-wicket victory in Colombo.

Both sides were already guaranteed their place in the Super 8s but Zimbabwe, who did not qualify for the last T20 World Cup in 2024, progress unbeaten after completing a fine chase of 179 with three balls to spare.

Opener Brian Bennett, who is yet to be dismissed in the tournament, followed his score of 64 not out in the famous win over Australia last week with an unbeaten 63 to steer home the chase.

He shared an opening stand of 69 with Tadiwanashe Marumani and, after Marumani fell for 34 and Ryan Burl 23, played the anchor role as captain Sikander Raza struck 45 from just 26 balls.

Raza and Tashinga Musekiwa fell in the penultimate over but, with eight runs needed from the last, Tony Munyonga emerged and hit a six before Bennett drove the winning runs through the covers.

Co-hosts Sri Lanka, who play England in both sides’ Super 8s opener in Pallekele on Sunday, dropped catches and leaked boundaries with misfields.

They were without injured bowler Matheesha Pathirana and fellow seamer Dushmantha Chameera, who was resting.

Pathum Nissanka, who also scored a fine century in Sri Lanka’s win over Australia, continued his form with 62 from 44 balls in his side’s 178-7.

Zimbabwe progress into a Super 8s group with co-hosts India, South Africa and West Indies.

Their first match is on Monday in Mumbai against the Windies, who beat Italy earlier on Thursday to continue their unbeaten record.