Japan scrambles jets as Russian bombers fly over high seas

A Russian Tu-95 strategic bomber conducts flight over the neutral waters of the Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan, in this still image from video released Jan. 30, 2025. (Russian Defense Ministry via Reuters)
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Updated 31 January 2025
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Japan scrambles jets as Russian bombers fly over high seas

  • ‘We confirmed that Russian military bombers and fighter jets flew over the high seas of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan yesterday’
  • Tokyo has raised the issue with Moscow in the past through diplomatic routes, including regarding a Russian fighter jet’s intrusion into territorial airspace in September

TOKYO: Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian bombers flew over international waters around the country, Tokyo’s top government spokesman said Friday.
“We confirmed that Russian military bombers and fighter jets flew over the high seas of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan yesterday, and we scrambled Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets” in response, Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.
“It is difficult to say clearly what the purpose of the flight was... but the Russian military has been active on an ongoing basis in areas surrounding Japan,” he said.
Tokyo has raised the issue with Moscow in the past through diplomatic routes, including regarding a Russian fighter jet’s intrusion into territorial airspace in September, which Russia denied according to media reports.
“We will continue to monitor (the situation) closely and do our best to take measures in patrolling and responding to airspace incursions,” Hayashi said.
Russia’s defense ministry said on Telegram Thursday that two long-range bombers flew over international waters in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk.
The Russian ministry also released a video of two Tupolev-95 aircraft escorted by Russian fighter jets conducting what it called a regular flight over more than eight hours.
“All flights by Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft are carried out in strict compliance with international rules on the use of airspace,” it said in a statement.


US condemns Uyghur deportations from Thailand to China

Updated 28 February 2025
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US condemns Uyghur deportations from Thailand to China

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday strongly condemned ally Thailand for deporting dozens of Uyghurs back to China, where he said the mostly Muslim minority faced “genocide.”
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms Thailand’s forced return of at least 40 Uyghurs to China, where they lack due process rights and where Uyghurs have faced persecution, forced labor and torture,” Rubio said in a statement.


Italian Jews call for end to ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Palestinian territories

Updated 28 February 2025
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Italian Jews call for end to ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Palestinian territories

ROME: More than 200 Italian Jews have signed an appeal against “ethnic cleansing” in the Palestinian territories, provoking strong media reaction and dividing the country’s Jewish community.
Writers, academics, philosophers and journalists were among the 220 signatories of the text, which was published in daily newspapers La Repubblica and Il Manifesto.
It claimed that US President Donald Trump “wants to expel Palestinians from Gaza. Meanwhile in the West Bank the violence of the Israeli government and settlers continues.”
“Italian Jews say no to ethnic cleansing. Italy must not be an accomplice,” they added.
The call aims to “bring out a clear and strong Jewish voice of disapproval,” said the Jewish Antiracist Laboratory, a group of young Jewish-origin Italians which is behind the petition.
The organization said it was “opposed to the annexation of Palestinian territories by Israel and all forms of anti-Semitism.”
The head of the Jewish community in Rome, Victor Fadlun, criticized what he said was a “dishonorable” initiative at a time when Israel was holding the funerals of three former hostages.
Shiri, Kfir and Ariel Bibas were kidnapped in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and were killed in captivity in Gaza.
Fadlum’s predecessor, Riccardo Pacifici, said the petition risked “stirring up anti-Jewish hatred,” according to comments published in Il Corriere della Sera.
One of the newspaper’s journalists, Federico Fubini, signed the appeal and wrote on X that he was “against ethnic cleansing in Gaza and oppression in the West Bank.”
Both were “very close to my heart,” he added. “But in no way does this endorse Hamas, obviously, nor the many forms of explicit, insidious and hypocritical anti-Semitism that we see everywhere, including in Italy.”


Ethiopia, Somalia reaffirm ties after diplomatic row

Updated 27 February 2025
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Ethiopia, Somalia reaffirm ties after diplomatic row

MOGADISHU: Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed visited Somalia on Thursday and met with its President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to reinforce their fragile reconciliation after a row over ties to a separatist region.
They discussed topics “including peace and security, economy, diplomacy and potential to build joint infrastructure,” Ahmed said in a message on X afterwards.
The Somali government said in a statement ahead of the meeting that they would also discuss “the fight against terrorism in the region.”
Residents reported mortar attacks in areas near Mogadishu airport shortly after the visiting delegation passed through it en route to the presidential palace.
It was unclear whether the attacks were linked to Abiy’s arrival.
Security officials at the airport said Abiy’s delegation safely left the airport without incident.
Somalia’s security situation is highly volatile, with the Islamist Al-Shabab group maintaining a presence in the country.
“Two rounds of mortar shells landed in Bulohubey neighborhood. An elderly woman was wounded after the shell exploded close to her house,” local resident Abdiraham Hassan told AFP.
A member of Ethiopia’s delegation told AFP they had not been aware of any mortar attacks.
Tension between the two countries mounted last year after Ethiopia struck a deal with the Somali breakaway region of Somaliland to gain access to the sea.
But they announced a full restoration of diplomatic ties in January following a deal mediated by Turkiye.
The two countries said in a joint statement that Thursday’s visit “reinforces the normalization of bilateral nations.”
Abiy said in his post after the meeting: “Regional thinking and collaboration are essential, and we are ready to work with Somalia to make this a reality.”
A source in the Somali presidential palace told AFP on Wednesday, on condition of anonymity, that Abiy’s visit was “part of a broader effort to complete and implement the Ankara agreement,” referring to the deal struck in the Turkish capital in December.
Somaliland said its January 2024 deal with Ethiopia would have led to Addis Ababa recognizing its independence — though that was never confirmed — in exchange for a long-desired naval base for the land-locked nation.
Mogadishu was furious over the deal and withdrew its ambassador from Ethiopia.
Following the rapprochement, the fate of Ethiopia’s deal with Somaliland remains uncertain.


8 killed in Philippine fire that gutted a residential building in less than an hour

Updated 27 February 2025
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8 killed in Philippine fire that gutted a residential building in less than an hour

MANILA: Eight people were killed in a nighttime fire in the Philippine capital region that gutted a three-story residential building early Thursday in less than an hour, officials said.

The fire, which also injured at least one resident, broke out after midnight in the building, which was mostly made of wood, as people slept in San Isidro Galas village in suburban Quezon city, officials said.

An investigation was underway to determine the cause of the fire.

Two of the dead were found on the ground floor and six others were recovered on the second floor, where the fire apparently started, senior fire officer Rolando Valeña told The Associated Press, citing witnesses.

The blaze happened just two days before the Philippines marks fire-prevention month in March, when the government launches an annual campaign to raise awareness about fire hazards ahead of the onset of the scorching summer season.

Many deadly fires in the Philippines have been blamed on poor enforcement of safety regulations, overcrowding and faulty building designs.

A 1996 disco fire in Quezon city killed 162 people, mostly students celebrating the end of the school year, in one of the deadliest nightclub fires in the world in recent decades. 

They were unable to escape because the emergency exit was blocked by a new building next door.


France threatens to review longstanding accords with Algeria

Updated 27 February 2025
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France threatens to review longstanding accords with Algeria

  • The threat to cancel the agreement with Algeria on free movement came after a deadly knife attack in which the main suspect is a man of Algerian origin

PARIS: French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou threatened  to cancel a longstanding agreement with Algeria on free movement after a deadly knife attack in which the main suspect is a man of Algerian origin.

The row is just the latest in a series of disputes that has heightened tension between France and its former colony.

Bayrou spoke following a Cabinet meeting held days after Saturday’s knife attack in Mulhouse in which one person was killed and several others wounded.

Prosecutors say the 37-year-old suspect is an Algerian-born man who was on a terrorism watchlist and subject to deportation orders.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has said that France had repeatedly attempted to expel him, but Algeria refused to accept him.

Bayrou said Wednesday: “The victims we saw in Mulhouse this weekend are the direct victims of the refusal to apply these agreements” between the two countries.

The suspect had been presented to the Algerian authorities 14 times and on each occasion they had refused to take him back, he added.

Under the 1968 accords between the two countries, Algerians enjoy favorable treatment on immigration matters in France.

But Algeria has in recent months refused on several occasions to accept its citizens when France has expelled them.

Bayrou said France would ask Algiers to examine how the relevant agreements between the two countries were being applied, giving them a month to six weeks to comply.

If there was no response, then canceling the existing agreements would “be the only possible outcome,” he added — even though “this is not the one we want.”

On Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced travel restrictions on Algerian dignitaries.

On Wednesday, Barrot said those measures, involving several hundred people, had been in place for several weeks.

Algiers has denounced the new measures as a “provocation.”

This new dispute is just the latest in a series between two countries feeding the tension between Paris and Algiers.