Japan is considering using military aircraft to deliver relief supplies to Afghan refugees as an alternative to its naval mission supporting US-led operations in Afghanistan, a report said yesterday.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama plans to end the Indian Ocean naval refueling mission, which expires in January.
The alternative plan would use C-130 transport aircraft to deliver food, tents and other supplies to the estimated 1.8 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, the Nikkei Shimbun reported, without naming sources.
After talks with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the US, Hatoyama said he would move quickly to find a way to provide support to Afghanistan.
“I’m aware that the Afghan issue should come first,” Hatoyama said. “Our coalition government needs to show a reasonable course on Afghanistan — one of the two biggest subjects.”
During a meeting with Obama on Wednesday, Hatoyama proposed fresh support for Afghanistan such as job training for former soldiers in the country as a possible alternative to the refueling mission.
While in opposition, his party briefly forced a halt to the naval mission, arguing that Japan — officially pacifist since World War II — should not abet “American wars.”
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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