Briefly

JAPAN

Govt announces record annual budget

Japan's government on Friday unveiled its biggest full-year budget in history, including record military spending. Cabinet ministers approved a draft national budget of a whopping 107.6 trillion yen ($940 billion) for the 2022-23 fiscal year, including 5.4 trillion yen for defense. Both figures have been increasing steadily for a decade as the cost of caring for an aging population rises and the country seeks to boost its military capability. Its draft budget includes 127.8 billion yen for the purchase of 12 F-35 fighter jets, and aims to boost "capability in new areas such as space, cyberspace and electromagnetic waves".

BANGLADESH

Ferry fire leaves at least 38 dead

A massive fire swept through an overloaded river ferry in southern Bangladesh early on Friday, leaving at least 38 dead and 100 others injured, as passengers jumped off the three-story vessel and swam to the shore, officials said. The blaze broke out around 3 am on the MV Avijan-10 off the coast of Jhalokati district on the Sugandha River. The United News of Bangladesh news agency quoted fire officer Kamal Uddin as saying the ferry was carrying 800 passengers from Dhaka, the capital, to Barguna, nearly 250 kilometers to the south. No deaths of foreign nationals have yet been reported. The ferry services in Bangladesh, a key means of transport in the country, usually do not maintain a list of passengers.

UNITED STATES

Ex-officer found guilty over fatal shooting

A Minnesota jury on Thursday found former police officer Kimberly Potter guilty of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of black motorist Daunte Wright during a traffic stop at which she mistakenly discharged her handgun instead of her Taser. A 12-member jury declared Potter, 49, guilty of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in the death of the 20-year-old Wright, whom she killed in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center on April 11 with a bullet to the chest. Potter faces sentencing on Feb 18. The first-degree and second-degree manslaughter charges carry maximum sentences of 15 and 10 years respectively.

Agencies - Xinhua