Briefly

JAPAN

LDP pledges to boost military ahead of poll

Japan's ruling party on Thursday vowed to "fundamentally" reinforce the country's defense capability and increase spending on it in the next five years, ahead of an upcoming House of Councilors election. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is targeting to roughly double Japan's military spending to 2 percent or more of the country's GDP. The goal is hustled as one of the pledges for the upper house election scheduled for July 10. For years under the pacifist Constitution, Japan has been committed to an exclusively defense-oriented policy, limiting its military spending to around 1 percent of its GDP, or 37 billion, in the fiscal 2022 budget.

UNITED KINGDOM

Govt clears Assange extradition to US

Britain on Friday approved a US government request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face trial over the publication of secret military files, prompting outrage from his supporters. The Interior Ministry said Assange had 14 days to appeal the decision, which comes after a UK court issued a formal order clearing his removal in April. Assange's supporters have held frequent rallies to protest the planned deportation in what they claim is a defense of media freedom and free speech.

UNITED STATES

2 dead, 1 hurt in church shooting in Alabama

A lone suspect fired on a small group meeting at a suburban church near one of Alabama's major cities on Thursday evening, killing two people and injuring a third before being taken into custody, authorities said. The shooting was the latest of several high-profile shootings, including a racist attack last month that killed 10 black people at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket, and the shooting deaths on May 24 of 19 children and two adults at an Uvalde, Texas, elementary school in which the gunman was killed.

Agencies - Xinhua