Japan scrambles jets as Russian bombers fly over high seas

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

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.


World agrees hard-fought nature funding plan at UN talks

World agrees hard-fought nature funding plan at UN talks
Updated 6 sec ago
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World agrees hard-fought nature funding plan at UN talks

World agrees hard-fought nature funding plan at UN talks
  • The agreement on Thursday is seen as crucial to giving impetus to the 2022 deal, which saw countries agree to protect 30 percent of the world’s land and seas
  • Countries have already agreed to deliver $200 billion a year in finance for nature by 2030, including $30 billion a year from wealthier countries to poorer ones

ROME: Nations cheered a last-gasp deal to map out funding to protect nature Thursday, breaking a deadlock at UN talks seen as a test for international cooperation in the face of geopolitical tensions.
Rich and developing countries hammered out a delicate compromise on raising and delivering the billions of dollars needed to protect species, overcoming stark divisions that had scuttled their previous meeting in Cali, Colombia, last year.
Delegates stood and clapped in an emotionally charged final meeting that saw key decisions adopted in the final minutes of the last day of rebooted negotiations at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization headquarters in Rome.
COP16 President Susana Muhamad of Colombia hailed the fact that countries worked together for a breakthrough, enabling progress “in this very fragmented and conflicted world.”
“This is something very beautiful because it’s around protecting life that we have come together, and there cannot be anything higher than that,” she added.
The decision comes more than two years after a landmark deal to halt the rampant destruction of nature this decade and protect the ecosystems and wildlife that humans rely on for food, climate regulation, and economic prosperity.
Scientists have warned that action is urgent.
A million species are threatened with extinction, while unsustainable farming and consumption destroys forests, depletes soils and spreads plastic pollution to even the most remote areas of the planet.
The agreement on Thursday is seen as crucial to giving impetus to the 2022 deal, which saw countries agree to protect 30 percent of the world’s land and seas.
Talks were also seen as a bellwether for international cooperation.
The meeting comes as countries face a range of challenges, from trade disputes and debt worries to the slashing of overseas aid — particularly by new US President Donald Trump.
Washington, which has not signed up to the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity, sent no representatives to the meeting.
“Our efforts show that multilateralism can present hope at a time of geopolitical uncertainty,” said Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Ousseynou Kasse of Senegal, speaking on behalf of the Africa Group, also threw support behind global cooperation.
“We believe that this is the way that can save the world, and we must continue down this path,” he said.
Countries must be “accountable to our children, to the generations to come,” he added, saying he was thinking of what he would tell his own son when he returns home.
“I will give him good news that we have a compromise, we have a deal.”
The failure to finalize an agreement in Cali was the first in a string of disappointing outcomes at environmental summits last year.
A climate finance deal at COP29 in Azerbaijan in November was slammed by developing countries, while separate negotiations about desertification and plastic pollution stalled in December.
Muhamad, who has resigned as Colombia’s environment minister but stayed on to serve until after the Rome conference, was given a standing ovation as the talks drew to a close in the early hours of Friday.
Countries have already agreed a goal to deliver $200 billion a year in finance for nature by 2030, including $30 billion a year from wealthier countries to poorer ones.
The total for 2022 was about $15 billion, according to the OECD.
The main debate in Cali and later Rome was over developing countries’ calls for the creation of a specific biodiversity fund, which has seen pushback from the EU and other wealthy nations, who have argued against multiple funds.
Thursday saw intense closed-door talks based on a “compromise attempt” text that Brazil put forward on behalf of the BRICS country bloc that includes Russia, China and India.
The agreement reached in Rome leaves it to the 2028 COP to decide whether to set up a specific new fund under the UN biodiversity process, or to name a potentially reformed existing fund to play that role.
Georgina Chandler, Head of Policy and Campaigns at the Zoological Society of London, said the finance roadmap was a “key milestone,” but stressed that money is needed urgently.
Other decisions sought to bolster monitoring to ensure countries are held accountable for their progress toward meeting biodiversity targets.
One achievement in Cali was the creation of a new fund to share profits from digitally sequenced genetic data from plants and animals with the communities they come from.
The fund, officially launched on Tuesday, is designed for large firms to contribute a portion of their income from developing things like medicine and cosmetics using this data.
Delegates in Cali also approved the creation of a permanent body to represent the interests of Indigenous people.


Parents rush to vaccinate children after measles outbreak hits Texas

Parents rush to vaccinate children after measles outbreak hits Texas
Updated 15 min 44 sec ago
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Parents rush to vaccinate children after measles outbreak hits Texas

Parents rush to vaccinate children after measles outbreak hits Texas
  • Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus spread through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or simply breathes

Lubbock: Five-year-old Shado is one of dozens of children being rushed to a health center in the US state of Texas to get the measles vaccine, after the recent death in the area of a child who was not immunized against the highly contagious virus.
“Look at you, you’re so brave,” the nurse administering the shot tells the young girl, who is sitting on her father’s lap.
The death came as immunization rates have declined nationwide, with the latest cases in the west Texas town of Lubbock concentrated in a Mennonite religious community that has historically shown vaccine hesitancy.
Mark Medina brought his children, Shado and her brother Azazel, after they heard about that death.
“It kind of sparked fear and we’re like, ‘Alright, it’s time to go get vaccinated. Let’s go,’” the 31-year-old father told AFP.
Rachel Dolan, a Lubbock health official, said the initial outbreak spread rapidly through the community south of the town, potentially fueled by a lack of vaccination.
“It’s the most contagious virus that we know of, and so just that one little spark, you know, really caused a lot of cases and rapid spread among that population,” she said.
This year more than 130 measles cases already have been reported in west Texas and neighboring New Mexico, the vast majority in unvaccinated children.
Around 20 have been hospitalized in Texas, and officials warn the outbreak is likely to grow.
The disease’s spread comes as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long spread falsehoods about the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, begins his tenure as President Donald Trump’s health secretary.
Kennedy has downplayed the outbreak, saying: “It’s not unusual. You have measles outbreaks every year.”
'The safe side'
Nationwide immunization rates have been dropping in the United States, fueled by misinformation about vaccines.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a 95 percent vaccination rate in order to maintain herd immunity.
However, measles vaccine coverage among kindergartners has dropped from 95.2 percent in the 2019-2020 school year to 92.7 percent in 2023-2024, leaving around 280,000 children vulnerable.
News of the death in Lubbock, however, has spurred some into action.
“Well, I heard about this little kid... That’s one of the reasons, just to be on the safe side,” said Jose Luis Aguilar, a 57-year-old driver who was encouraged by his boss to get vaccinated.
Dolan, the health official, said there was an increase in people seeking the vaccine since the death.
“There are pockets of our population that are hesitant toward vaccination,” she said.
“We have seen some of those people realize that this threat is more imminent and have made that decision to vaccinate.”
The CDC says the MMR vaccine is “very effective” at protecting people against those illnesses.
Two doses of the vaccine are 97 percent effective at preventing measles, the agency says.
The last US measles-related death was in 2015, when a woman in Washington state died from pneumonia caused by the virus. She had been vaccinated but was taking immunosuppressive medication.
Before that, the previous recorded measles death was in 2003.
Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus spread through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or simply breathes.
Known for its characteristic rash, it poses a serious risk to unvaccinated individuals, including infants under 12 months who are not ordinarily eligible for vaccination, and those with weakened immune systems.
While measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, outbreaks persist each year.


Russian divers found dead near popular Philippines resort

Russian divers found dead near popular Philippines resort
Updated 17 min 26 sec ago
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Russian divers found dead near popular Philippines resort

Russian divers found dead near popular Philippines resort
  • While three of the group were able to surface and return to the boat, the others were found by rescuers hours later
  • Shark attacks in the waters around the Philippines are exceedingly rare, with none recorded in at least a year

MANILA: Two Russian divers were found dead, one in the jaws of a shark, after a strong current separated them from their group in a popular Philippine scuba spot, a coast guard official said Friday.
Four Russian men aged 18 to 57 were diving Thursday afternoon near the resort area of Batangas on the main island of Luzon when they and their dive master were pulled apart by the current, coast guard district chief Airland Lapitan said.
While three of the group were able to surface and return to the boat, the others were found by rescuers hours later, according to Lapitan, who said the first man discovered was pronounced dead on arrival at a local hospital.
“The other one was found at about 4-5:30 p.m. (0800-0930 GMT Friday) and retrieved around 5-6 p.m.,” he said. “When the rescuers found him, he was being pulled by a shark. He was eventually retrieved but his arm was missing.”
It was unclear if the man had been killed by the shark or was already dead, Lapitan said, as the bodies were turned over to family members without an autopsy.
Shark attacks in the waters around the Philippines are exceedingly rare, with none recorded in at least a year, according to a global database.
The Russian embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


Zelensky, Trump to sign minerals deal at White House

Zelensky, Trump to sign minerals deal at White House
Updated 42 min 51 sec ago
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Zelensky, Trump to sign minerals deal at White House

Zelensky, Trump to sign minerals deal at White House
  • Trump upended years of US policy on Ukraine two weeks ago when he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and started talks on ending the three-year-old war

Washington: A week ago Donald Trump branded Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator. On Friday he will host the Ukrainian president at the White House and sign a deal granting Washington access to Ukraine’s rare minerals.
The extraordinary turnaround caps a week of frantic international diplomacy centered on Washington, as Kyiv seeks to shore up support despite Trump’s recent pivot toward Russia.
Trump upended years of US policy on Ukraine two weeks ago when he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and started talks on ending the three-year-old war — without Kyiv.
He also alarmed allies as he appeared to turn on Zelensky, berating him as a “dictator without elections” and blaming Ukraine for Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
But Trump’s tone has softened in recent days after visits by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“I have a lot of respect for him,” Trump said of Zelensky on Thursday. “We’re going to get along really well.”
Trump also backtracked on the “dictator” broadside he launched on social media at Zelensky last week — a jibe he had previously refused to retract even as he declined to call Putin a dictator too.
“Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that,” Trump responded when asked about the Zelensky comment by journalists during a meeting with Starmer.
The dictator outburst was sparked in particular by Zelensky’s initial rejection of the deal to give Washington preferential access to Ukrainian natural resources, including oil, gas and rare earth metals.
Zelensky demanded US security guarantees as part of any deal but Trump has refused to give any commitments.
’Dig, dig, digging’
Trump, a billionaire real estate tycoon, insisted the deal was necessary for Washington to recoup the billions of dollars it has given Ukraine in military and other aid.
Finally, Zelensky relented and agreed to come to the White House to sign it.
The deal would give the United States a share in much of Ukraine’s mineral wealth.
“We’ll be dig, dig, digging” for Ukraine’s resources, Trump told reporters Thursday.
Few details of the minerals deal have emerged. Zelensky told reporters this week that it would act as framework for broader deals.
Further discussions between US and Ukrainian officials would determine the nature of security guarantees for Ukraine and the exact sums of money at stake in the accord, he said.
But Trump has repeatedly refused to commit to any guarantees.
Britain and France have both offered peacekeepers in the event of a deal to end the Ukraine war but say there must be a US “backstop” — including American intelligence and possibly air power.
The US president told Starmer Thursday he was “open to many things” in terms of security guarantees but that he wanted to get a Russia-Ukraine deal in place first.
Trump added that there had been a “lot of progress” toward a deal but then added: “It’ll either be fairly soon or it won’t be at all.”
US and Russian officials met on Thursday in Istanbul in a new round of talks.
Putin and Trump said after their February 12 phone call that they had agreed to meet personally — but they have not finalized any meeting yet.


North Korea performs cruise missile tests, days after vowing to respond to US threats

North Korea performs cruise missile tests, days after vowing to respond to US threats
Updated 28 February 2025
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North Korea performs cruise missile tests, days after vowing to respond to US threats

North Korea performs cruise missile tests, days after vowing to respond to US threats
  • Kim Jong Un oversaw the missile tests off the country’s west coast Wednesday
  • They were North Korea’s fourth missile launch event this year

SEOUL: North Korea said Friday it had test-fired strategic cruise missiles to demonstrate its nuclear counter-attack capability, days after it vowed to respond to what it called escalating US-led hostilities since the start of the Trump administration.
The official Korean Central News Agency said leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the missile tests off the country’s west coast Wednesday. They were the North’s fourth missile launch event this year and the second of President Donald Trump’s second term.
The launches were designed to inform “the enemies, who are seriously violating our security environment and fostering and escalating the confrontation environment,” of the North Korean military’s counterattack capability and the readiness of its nuclear operations, KCNA said.
Kim expressed satisfaction over the results of the drills and said the military must be fully ready to use its nuclear weapons, the report said.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement later Friday that it had detected and tracked the North Korean launches. It said the South Korean military maintains readiness to repel any potential provocation by North Korea based on the solid South Korea-US military alliance.
Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has boasted of his summitry with Kim during his first term and said he would reach out to Kim again. North Korea hasn’t directly responded to Trump’s overture as it continues its typical aggressive rhetoric against the US and weapons testing activities.
Many experts say Kim, now preoccupied with his support of Russia’s war against Ukraine with supply of weapons and troops, won’t likely embrace Trump’s outreach anytime soon. They say Kim could reconsider if he doubts he’ll maintain North Korea’s current solid cooperation with Russia after the war ends.
Last Saturday, North Korea’s Defense Ministry alleged the US and its allies were ramping up more serious military provocations targeting North Korea since Trump took power. It cited the recent US-South Korean aerial exercise involving a US B-1B bomber and other reported activities involving US military assets. A Defense Ministry statement said North Korea will counter the strategic threat of the US with strategic means.
Kim and Trump met three times from 2018-19 to discuss the fate of North Korea’s nuclear program, but their diplomacy derailed due to disputes over US-led sanctions on the North. Kim has since sharply increased the pace of weapons tests to expand and modernize his nuclear arsenal. Having a bigger nuclear arsenal now, experts say Kim would think he could win greater US concessions if he revives diplomacy with Trump.