News in Brief

Date: 09 December 2022 - 22:05

News ID: ۱۰۹۹۳۹

TOKYO (AP) — Japan announced Friday that it will jointly develop its next-generation fighter jet with the UK and Italy as it looks to expand defense cooperation beyond its traditional ally, the United States. The Mitsubishi F-X fighter jet will replace the aging fleet of F-2s that Japan previously developed with the United States. The nations will merge their current plans for development of next-generation planes — the F-X and Britain’s Tempest, a successor to the Eurofighter Typhoon — to produce the new combat aircraft for deployment in 2035. The deal will give Japan greater support in countering China’s growing assertiveness and allow Britain a bigger presence in the Indo-Pacific region.

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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Ten miners died in a coal mine explosion in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province on Friday and four others were rescued, officials said. “The last victim was found after a search in a 240-meter (800-foot) -long tunnel. Most of the victims suffered burns. All of the survivors experienced shortness of breath and were evacuated for further treatment,” said Octavianto, a spokesperson for the local search and rescue agency, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. The blast, caused by a buildup of gases including methane, occurred in the privately owned mine in Sawahlunto district.

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BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s prime minister said Friday the country’s leadership was close to demanding the deployment of their security troops to Kosovo, claiming lives of minority Serbs there were being threatened. The return of Belgrade’s troops to the former Serbian province could dramatically increase tensions in the Balkans. Serbian officials claim a UN resolution that formally ended the country’s bloody crackdown against majority Kosovo Albanian separatists in 1999 allows for some 1,000 Serb troops to return to Kosovo. NATO bombed Serbia to end the war and push its troops out of Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008.

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BERLIN (AP) — Climate activists have briefly disrupted traffic at Munich airport in southern Germany, in a protest against the environmental impact of air travel. The group Last Generation said some of its members glued themselves to the tarmac in Munich, while others entered the grounds of Berlin airport. Henner Euting, a spokesperson for Munich airport, confirmed that the northern runway was briefly closed. Planes had to be routed over the southern runway, causing short delays, he said. A spokesperson for Berlin airport, Sabine Deckwerth, confirmed that a police operation was ongoing but said air traffic there was not disrupted.

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BENI, Congo (AP) — Arbitrarily shooting, stabbing, raping and abducting people, rebels in eastern Congo have killed at least 131 people and inflicted “unspeakable violence” against civilians, says a new UN report. The M23 rebel group killed men, women and children in two villages in Congo’s Rutshuru territory in North Kivu province last month, according to a preliminary investigation by the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office in Congo and MONUSCO, the UN peacekeeping mission in the country.