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Japan, Britain and Italy to build joint jet fighter

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Japan, Britain and Italy are merging their next-generation jet fighter projects in a ground-breaking partnership spanning Europe and Asia that is Japan’s first major industrial defence collaboration beyond the United States since World War Two, Reuters reported.

The deal, which Reuters reported in July, aims to put an advanced front-line fighter into operation by 2035 by combining the British-led Future Combat Air System project, also known as Tempest, with Japan’s F-X programme in a venture called the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), the three countries said in a statement on Friday.

Against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and intensifying Chinese military activity around Japan and Taiwan, the agreement may help Japan counter the growing military might of its bigger neighbour and give Britain a bigger security role in a region that is a key driver of global economic growth.

“We are committed to upholding the rules-based, free and open international order, which is more important than ever at a time when these principles are contested, and threats and aggression are increasing,” the three countries said in a joint leaders’ statement.

Amid what it sees as deteriorating regional security, Japan this month will announce a military build up plan that is expected to double defence spending to about 2% of gross domestic product over five years, read the report.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak separately said that his country needed to stay at the cutting edge of defence technology and that the deal would deliver new jobs.

Britain’s BAE Systems PLC (BAES.L), Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T) and Italy’s Leonardo (LDOF.MI) will lead design of the aircraft, which will have advanced digital capabilities in AI and cyber warfare, according to Japan’s Ministry of Defence.

European missile maker MBDA will also join the project, along with avionics manufacturer Mitsubishi Electric Corp (6503.T). Rolls-Royce PLC (RROYC.UL), IHI Corp (7013.T) and Avio Aero will work on the engine, the ministry added.

According to Reuters the three countries, however, have yet to work out some details of how the project will proceed, including work shares and where the development will take place.

Britain also want Japan to improve how it provides security clearances to contractors who will work on the aircraft, sources with knowledge of the discussion told Reuters.

Other countries could join the project, Britain said, adding that the fighter, which will replace its Typhoon fighters and complement its F-35 Lightning fleet, will be compatible with fighters flown by other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) partners.

Confirmation of the plan comes days after companies in France, Germany and Spain secured the next phase of a rival initiative to build a next-generation fighter that could be in operation from 2040, read the report.

The United States, which has pledged to defend all three countries through its membership of NATO and a separate security pact with Japan, also welcomed the joint Europe-Japan agreement.

“The United States supports Japan’s security and defence cooperation with likeminded allies and partners, including with the United Kingdom and Italy,” the US Department of Defense said in a joint statement with Japan’s Ministry of Defense.

Japan had initially considered building its next fighter with help from U.S. defence contractor Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N), which had proposed an aircraft that combined the F-22 airframe with the flight systems from the F-35 fighter.

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‘Massive cyberattack’ brings down Elon Musk’s X

Digital Trends reported Tuesday that there are reports suggesting X is still having issues

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Social media platform X went down intermittently on Monday, with owner Elon Musk blaming an unusually powerful cyberattack.

“We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources. Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved,” Musk said in a post on X on Monday.

He did not clarify exactly what he meant by “a lot of resources” and his comments drew skepticism from cybersecurity specialists, who pointed out that attacks of this nature — called denials of service — have repeatedly been executed by small groups or individuals.

X faced intermittent outages, according to Downdetector, Reuters reported.

Digital Trends meanwhile reported Tuesday that there are reports suggesting X is still having issues. 

Internet industry experts have said X was hit by several waves of ‘denial of service’ throughout Monday. 

Musk said in an interview with Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow the cyberattack came from IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area.

An industry source told Reuters he disputed Musk’s account, saying that large chunks of the rogue traffic bombarding X could be traced back to IP addresses in the United States, Vietnam, Brazil and other countries, and that the amount of rogue traffic coming directly from Ukraine was “insignificant.”

In any case, denial of service attacks are notoriously hard to trace back to their authors and the IP addresses involved rarely provide any meaningful insight into who was behind them, Reuters reported.

Musk has joined U.S. President Donald Trump, whom he serves as an adviser, in criticizing Ukraine’s continued efforts to fight off a Russian invasion. 

Musk said on Sunday that Ukraine’s front line “would collapse” without his Starlink satellite communications service, though he said he would not cut off Ukraine’s access to it.

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NASA says ‘city killer’ asteroid has a 3.1 % chance of striking Earth in 2032

Despite the rising odds, experts say there is no need for alarm

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An asteroid that could level a city now has a 3.1-percent chance of striking Earth in 2032, according to NASA data released Tuesday — making it the most threatening space rock ever recorded by modern forecasting.

Despite the rising odds, experts say there is no need for alarm. The global astronomical community is closely monitoring the situation and the James Webb Space Telescope is set to fix its gaze on the object, known as 2024 YR4, next month.

“I’m not panicking,” Bruce Betts, chief scientist for the nonprofit Planetary Society told AFP.

“Naturally when you see the percentages go up, it doesn’t make you feel warm and fuzzy and good,” he added, but explained that as astronomers gather more data, the probability will likely edge up before rapidly dropping to zero.

2024 YR4 was first detected on December 27 last year by the El Sauce Observatory in Chile.

Astronomers estimate its size to be between 130 and 300 feet (40–90 meters) wide, based on its brightness. Analysis of its light signatures suggests it has a fairly typical composition, rather than being a rare metal-rich asteroid.

The International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN), a worldwide planetary defense collaboration, issued a warning memo on January 29 after the impact probability had crossed one percent. Since then, the figure has fluctuated but continues to trend upward.

NASA’s latest calculations estimate the impact probability at 3.1 percent, up from 1.6 percent last month, with a potential Earth impact date of December 22, 2032.

Richard Moissl, head of the European Space Agency’s planetary defense office, which puts the risk slightly lower at 2.8 percent told AFP that  this “is not a crisis at this point in time. This is not the dinosaur killer. This is not the planet killer. This is at most dangerous for a city.”

If the risk rises over 10 percent, IAWN would issue a formal warning, leading to a “recommendation for all UN members who have territories in potentially threatened areas to start terrestrial preparedness,” explained Moissl.

Unlike the six-mile-wide (10-kilometer-wide) asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago, 2024 YR4 is classified as a “city killer” — not a global catastrophe, but still capable of causing significant destruction.

Its potential devastation comes less from its size and more from its velocity, which could be nearly 40,000 miles per hour if it hits.

If it enters Earth’s atmosphere, the most likely scenario is an airburst, meaning it would explode midair with a force of approximately eight megatons of TNT — more than 500 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb.

But an impact crater cannot be ruled out if the size is closer to the higher end of estimates, said Betts.

The potential impact corridor spans the eastern Pacific, northern South America, the Atlantic, Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and South Asia — though Moissl emphasized it is far too early for people to consider drastic decisions like relocation.

The good news: there’s ample time to act.

NASA’s 2022 DART mission proved that spacecraft can successfully alter an asteroid’s path, and scientists have theorized other methods, such as using lasers to create thrust by vaporizing part of the surface, pulling it off course with a spacecraft’s gravity, or even using nuclear explosions as a last resort. — Agence France-Presse

 

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Panjshir will soon be connected to national fiber optic network

The statement said that this project covers a 36-kilometer route from Gulbahar to Bazarak, and the districts of Shatal, Anaba and Rukha will also benefit from fiber optic services.

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The Panjshir provincial media office said in a statement on Wednesday, February 1 that practical work was to connect the province to fiber optic will begin within the next month.

The statement said that this project covers a 36-kilometer route from Gulbahar to Bazarak, and the districts of Shatal, Anaba and Rukha will also benefit from fiber optic services.

The statement added that the project is being implemented by Afghan Wireless, Afghan Telecom and ICG companies as a result of the efforts of the Panjshir provincial administration and the special attention of the leadership of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

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