Briefly

RUSSIA

'Militarization' of Japan condemned

Russia accused Japan on Thursday of abandoning decades of pacifist policy and embracing "unbridled militarization", responding to a $320-billion defense plan announced by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last week. "It can be clearly seen that Tokyo has embarked on the path of an unprecedented buildup of its own military power, including the acquisition of strike potential," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Kishida's plan will double Japan's military outlays to about 2 percent of its GDP over five years and make Japan the world's third-biggest military spender.

JAPAN

New policy adopted for max nuclear power

Japan on Thursday adopted a new policy promoting greater use of nuclear energy to ensure a stable power supply amid global fuel shortages and to reduce carbon emissions — a major reversal of its phaseout plan since the Fukushima crisis. The new policy says Japan must maximize the use of existing nuclear reactors by restarting as many of them as possible and prolonging the operating life of old reactors beyond their 60-year limit, and by developing next-generation reactors to replace them. Anti-nuclear sentiment and safety concerns rose sharply in Japan after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, and restart approvals have since come slowly under stricter safety standards.

BAHAMAS

Fallen crypto king now in US custody

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried left the Bahamas on Wednesday on a United States-bound flight to face fraud charges as federal prosecutors announced that two of his former associates had pleaded guilty to charges and were now cooperating with the government. Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams said in a video posted on Twitter late on Wednesday that Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research, and Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX, had pleaded guilty to defrauding investors in the crypto trading platform. The revelation that two of Bankman-Fried's closest former associates had decided to cooperate with the government ramped up pressure on the former billionaire.

PERU

Govt scrambles to quell chaos after protests

President Dina Boluarte promoted the country's defense chief to the prime minister's job as part of a shuffle of her 11-day-old Cabinet on Wednesday, as Peru reeled from ongoing protests against the ouster of her predecessor. Alberto Otarola, a lawyer who had been the Andean nation's defense minister, was named prime minister, and four others entered the Cabinet. Otarola earlier oversaw a state of emergency that allowed military deployment to help quell protests in support of ousted president Pedro Castillo. He is Peru's seventh prime minister since Castillo took power in July 2021.

AUSTRALIA

Vandals destroy ancient rock art

Authorities said on Wednesday that vandals had destroyed rock art believed to be some 30,000 years old. The vandals appeared to have removed parts of a barbed wire fence at Koonalda Cave and got underneath, before using their fingers to draw over the top of the Indigenous artwork, said Kyam Maher, the Aboriginal Affairs Minister of South Australia state. The art is considered sacred to the Indigenous Mirning people who live on the Nullarbor Plain.

Agencies Via Xinhua