Briefly

UNITED KINGDOM

London, Tokyo to sign major defense deal

The British and Japanese prime ministers were expected to sign a "hugely significant" new defense deal allowing UK troops to deploy in Japan when the pair meet in London on Wednesday, Downing Street said. The deal will be the latest sign of London's growing interest in the Asia-Pacific region. It will create a legal basis for the deployment of British and Japanese troops on each other's territory for training and other operations. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's office called it "the most significant defense agreement between the two countries in more than a century".

GERMANY

Extreme weather causes $270b loss

Hurricanes, floods and other natural disasters inflicted $270 billion in damage worldwide in 2022, less than the "extremely costly 2021" with $320 billion, German reinsurer Munich Re said in a report published on Tuesday. The costliest natural disaster in 2022 was Hurricane Ian in the United States, which caused losses of around $100 billion. The second costliest and greatest humanitarian disaster in 2022, with at least 1,700 deaths, was the severe flooding in Pakistan resulting from "record-breaking monsoon rainfall".

BRAZIL

Judge orders arrest of Bolsonaro ally

A Supreme Court judge ordered the arrest on Tuesday of the capital's most recent public security chief after supporters of right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro led a rampage through government buildings. Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the arrest of Anderson Torres, who was Bolsonaro's justice minister before taking over this month as the public security chief for Brasilia, where thousands of protesters vandalized the Supreme Court, Congress and presidential offices on Sunday. Torres, who was removed from office on Sunday, was not in the city when the riots occurred, having flown to Florida last month.

Agencies - Xinhua