Japan plans to sign a military data protection pact with the US that could lead to increases in information sharing amid efforts by Tokyo to step up its coordination with Washington on defense matters, a news report said yesterday.
Defense Agency chief Fumio Kyuma is expected to announce Japan's plan to conclude the General Security of Military Information Agreement at a meeting in Washington next month, the Asahi newspaper said in an unsourced story.
The meetings bring together the defense and foreign ministers of each country to discuss a range of issues. Japanese media have been reporting that a meeting has been arranged for next month, but neither government has confirmed the reports.
The two sides have already reached broad agreement on the security pact in working-level talks, the Asahi said. The Japanses government hopes to formally conclude the pact and have it ratified by parliament as early as the first half of next year, it said.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sought to bolster the country's defense coordination with the US, which bases some 50,000 troops here. The agreement would expand the amount of military information the two sides could share beyond what is permitted under their existing mutual defense agreement, the Asahi said.
It would also broaden the range of US military equipment that Japanese contractors could be called upon to service and repair, it said.
Neither Foreign Ministry nor Defense Agency officials could be reached for comment yesterday morning, with many government offices already closed for the year-end holidays.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS