News in Brief

Date: 09 June 2023 - 22:18

News ID: ۱۱۵۸۷۰

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s foreign ministry said on Friday that it had summoned the Japanese ambassador over Tokyo’s decision to supply military equipment to Ukraine. Japan - which has backed Western sanctions against its long-time antagonist in East Asia in response to Moscow’s war in Ukraine - last month promised Ukraine around 100 military-use vehicles having previously given protective equipment such as helmets and bullet-proof vests.

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TOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden will allow NATO to base troops on its territory even before it formally joins the defense alliance, the prime minister and defense minister said on Friday. Sweden applied last year to join NATO as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Objections from Turkey and Hungary have delayed the bid and Sweden now hopes to join by a NATO summit in Lithuania next month. “The government has decided that the Swedish Armed Forces may undertake preparations with NATO and NATO countries to enable future joint operations,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Defense Minister Pal Jonson said.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former president Donald Trump has been indicted on seven counts in the special counsel’s classified documents probe, a stunning development that marks the first time a former president has faced federal charges. Trump is facing a charge under the Espionage Act, his attorney Jim Trusty said on CNN Thursday, as well as charges of obstruction of justice, destruction or falsification of records, conspiracy and false statements. The special counsel has been investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents that were brought to his Mar-a-Lago Florida resort after he left the White House in 2021, as well as possible obstruction of the investigation and government efforts to retrieve the material.

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MANILA (Reuters) - Authorities in the Philippines on Friday began evacuating around 10,000 people living near the Mayon Volcano after volcanic earthquakes and hundreds of rockfall events were detected. Mount Mayon is situated in the eastern province of Albay, some 330 kilometers south of the Filipino capital of Manila. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said that the volcano was “in a relatively high level of unrest” and that a “hazardous eruption is possible within weeks or even days.” “Fair crater glow and incandescent rockfall shed from new fluidal lava at the summit of Mayon Volcano were also observed last night,” the institute said in a Friday advisory. Images shared on social media showed an orange glow coming from the volcano.

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TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s parliament on Friday approved a revision to an immigration and refugee law that will allow the forced repatriation of asylum seekers after they are denied refugee status twice, a change that rights activists say could lead to their persecution at home. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s governing coalition and other conservative parties passed the revision with their overwhelming majority despite strong opposition. Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party and supporters of the revision say it allows immigration authorities to quickly repatriate foreign citizens who do not qualify for refugee status but keep reapplying for asylum under the current system which allows multiple applications so they can stay in Japan longer.