News in Brief
LONDON (Reuters) -- British and French military jets were scrambled to investigate suspected Russian fighter aircraft flying over the North Sea Thursday.
Colonel Cyrille Duvivier, a spokesman for the French Air Force, told Reuters one or several Russian planes were detected and that the actions were not hostile.
"The usual response mechanisms were triggered: Rafale fighters took off in the late morning from the base of Saint-Dizier with a refueling plane and positioned themselves for possible intervention," Duvivier said.
RAF jets regularly monitor Russian warplanes near UK airspace and they intercepted jets near Romania last month.
Britain's Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Mark Lancaster, spoke about "an ever more assertive Russia" in a speech in London in July.
He said the RAF has had to scramble jets more than 80 times over the last decade to intercept Russian military aircraft.
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ISLAMABAD (AP) -- Pakistan says Prime Minister Imran Khan has written to his Indian counterpart, seeking to resolve outstanding disputes between the two nuclear-armed nations, including issues such as the divided region of Kashmir.
The foreign ministry's spokesman, Mohammad Faisal, tweeted Thursday that Khan's letter reciprocated Indian Premier Narendra Modi's sentiments earlier this month for a "meaningful and constructive engagement."
Khan also asked in his letter that the two countries' foreign ministers hold a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York later this month.
India's external affairs ministry has responded positively about that meeting.
Pakistan and India have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, divided between the two countries but sought by each in its entirety.
***
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -- Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of two more Chilean bishops, bringing to seven the number who have stepped down since a sexual abuse scandal swept the nation's Roman Catholic Church.
A Vatican statement on Friday said the two were Bishop Carlos Eduardo Pellegrin Barrera of the diocese of San Bartolome de Chillan, and Bishop Cristian Enrique Contreras Molina of the diocese of San Felipe.
In both cases, Francis appointed other bishops as commissioners, known as Apostolic Administrators, to run the dioceses until further notice.
Francis accepted the resignations of five other bishops in June, a month after all of the country's bishops offered to step down en masse during an emergency meeting with the pope over allegations of a cover-up of sexual abuse in the Latin American country.
***
TOKYO (Reuters) -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won a ruling party leadership vote on Thursday, setting him on track to become Japan's longest-serving premier and try to cement his legacy, including by revising the pacifist constitution.
If Abe, who resigned abruptly after a troubled 2006-2007 term, stays in office through November 2019, he will have exceeded the 2,886 days marked by Taro Katsura in the early 20th century.
"I want to tackle constitutional reform together with all of you," Abe told his Liberal Democratic Party after the vote.
First, however, he has the immediate challenge of a likely summit with U.S. President Donald Trump next week, when he will face pressure to cut Japan's $69 billion surplus with its key ally, nearly two-thirds from auto exports.
***
LONDON (Reuters) -- British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt said Thursday that the international community should consider referring the treatment of Rohingya in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court unless those responsible are tried and held accountable in the country.
"If there is not going to be accountability and justice in Burma, then the international community needs to look at all options including ICC referral," Hunt said on Twitter, posting during a visit to Myanmar.
"The latter would need the support of the security council which it may not get so we need to look at other options too."
***
BERLIN (Reuters) -- Support for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc has slumped to a new low, and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) would be the second-biggest party if an election were held right away, a poll showed Friday.
The ARD DeutschlandTrend survey put support for Merkel's conservative alliance – her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU) – at 28 percent, down one point from Sept. 6 and at a record low.
Merkel, who has led Germany since 2005, only narrowly averted the collapse of her coalition government in June after a row between the CDU and the CSU over immigration policy.
The conservative sister parties and their Social Democrat junior coalition partners agreed to oust the head of the BfV domestic agency over accusations that he harbored sympathies to the far-right.
Colonel Cyrille Duvivier, a spokesman for the French Air Force, told Reuters one or several Russian planes were detected and that the actions were not hostile.
"The usual response mechanisms were triggered: Rafale fighters took off in the late morning from the base of Saint-Dizier with a refueling plane and positioned themselves for possible intervention," Duvivier said.
RAF jets regularly monitor Russian warplanes near UK airspace and they intercepted jets near Romania last month.
Britain's Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Mark Lancaster, spoke about "an ever more assertive Russia" in a speech in London in July.
He said the RAF has had to scramble jets more than 80 times over the last decade to intercept Russian military aircraft.
***
ISLAMABAD (AP) -- Pakistan says Prime Minister Imran Khan has written to his Indian counterpart, seeking to resolve outstanding disputes between the two nuclear-armed nations, including issues such as the divided region of Kashmir.
The foreign ministry's spokesman, Mohammad Faisal, tweeted Thursday that Khan's letter reciprocated Indian Premier Narendra Modi's sentiments earlier this month for a "meaningful and constructive engagement."
Khan also asked in his letter that the two countries' foreign ministers hold a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York later this month.
India's external affairs ministry has responded positively about that meeting.
Pakistan and India have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, divided between the two countries but sought by each in its entirety.
***
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -- Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of two more Chilean bishops, bringing to seven the number who have stepped down since a sexual abuse scandal swept the nation's Roman Catholic Church.
A Vatican statement on Friday said the two were Bishop Carlos Eduardo Pellegrin Barrera of the diocese of San Bartolome de Chillan, and Bishop Cristian Enrique Contreras Molina of the diocese of San Felipe.
In both cases, Francis appointed other bishops as commissioners, known as Apostolic Administrators, to run the dioceses until further notice.
Francis accepted the resignations of five other bishops in June, a month after all of the country's bishops offered to step down en masse during an emergency meeting with the pope over allegations of a cover-up of sexual abuse in the Latin American country.
***
TOKYO (Reuters) -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won a ruling party leadership vote on Thursday, setting him on track to become Japan's longest-serving premier and try to cement his legacy, including by revising the pacifist constitution.
If Abe, who resigned abruptly after a troubled 2006-2007 term, stays in office through November 2019, he will have exceeded the 2,886 days marked by Taro Katsura in the early 20th century.
"I want to tackle constitutional reform together with all of you," Abe told his Liberal Democratic Party after the vote.
First, however, he has the immediate challenge of a likely summit with U.S. President Donald Trump next week, when he will face pressure to cut Japan's $69 billion surplus with its key ally, nearly two-thirds from auto exports.
***
LONDON (Reuters) -- British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt said Thursday that the international community should consider referring the treatment of Rohingya in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court unless those responsible are tried and held accountable in the country.
"If there is not going to be accountability and justice in Burma, then the international community needs to look at all options including ICC referral," Hunt said on Twitter, posting during a visit to Myanmar.
"The latter would need the support of the security council which it may not get so we need to look at other options too."
***
BERLIN (Reuters) -- Support for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc has slumped to a new low, and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) would be the second-biggest party if an election were held right away, a poll showed Friday.
The ARD DeutschlandTrend survey put support for Merkel's conservative alliance – her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU) – at 28 percent, down one point from Sept. 6 and at a record low.
Merkel, who has led Germany since 2005, only narrowly averted the collapse of her coalition government in June after a row between the CDU and the CSU over immigration policy.
The conservative sister parties and their Social Democrat junior coalition partners agreed to oust the head of the BfV domestic agency over accusations that he harbored sympathies to the far-right.