TOKYO (AP) — Japan can now give defense equipment and technology to Vietnam under an agreement signed Saturday, as the two countries step up their military cooperation amid worries about China’s growing military influence.

Japan’s Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said the deal elevates their defense partnership “to a new level” and that Japan and Vietnam plan to deepen defense ties through multinational joint exercises and other means. Details about the transfer of specific equipment, including naval vessels, will be worked out in subsequent talks, the ministry said.

Japan’s Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, speaks to the members of the media after he inspected the British Royal Navy’s HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier, back, at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, Sept. 6, 2021. Photo: Kiyoshi Ota/Pool Photo via AP/TT

The two countries stepping up their military cooperation amid worries about China’s growing military influence.

Japan, Vietnam sign defense transfer deal amid China worries

WASHINGTON (AP) — They’re a source of frustration. A risk to their fellow citizens. A threat to the nation’s economic recovery.

President Joe Biden is trying to concentrate the anger of the nation’s inoculated majority against the stubborn 25% of eligible Americans who remain unvaccinated against COVID-19.

President Joe Biden speaks in the State Dining Room at the White House, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021, in Washington. Biden is announcing sweeping new federal vaccine requirements affecting as many as 100 million Americans in an all-out effort to increase COVID-19 vaccinations and curb the surging delta variant. Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP/TT

The unvaccinated minority, Biden added, “can cause a lot of damage, and they are.”

Analysis: Biden’s war on virus becomes war on unvaccinated

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet said Wednesday it will launch a new task force that incorporates airborne, sailing and underwater drones after years of maritime attacks linked to ongoing tensions with Iran.

Navy officials declined to identify which systems they would introduce from their headquarters on the island nation of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. However, they promised the coming months would see the drones stretch their capabilities across a region of chokepoints crucial to both global energy supplies and worldwide shipping.

In this handout image from the U.S. Navy, an MQ-9 Sea Guardian unmanned maritime surveillance drone flies over the USS Coronado in the Pacific Ocean during a drill April 21, 2021. The U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet said Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021, it will launch a new task force that incorporates airborne, sailing and underwater drones after years of maritime attacks linked to ongoing tensions with Iran. Photo: U.S. Navy/Chief Mass Communication Specialist Shannon Renfroe, via AP/TT

The new task force will incorporate airborne, sailing and underwater drones.

US Navy launches Mideast drone task force amid Iran tensions

Zebulon Simentov – som bodde i en förfallen synagoga i Kabul, levde enligt kosherreglerna och bad på hebreiska – genomled flera decenniers krig samtidigt som landets judiska befolkning, som funnits i flera hundra år, krympte.

Talibanernas maktövertagande i augusti verkar ha varit droppen som fick bägaren att rinna över.

Bild från 2009 av Zebulon Simentov, den siste afghanska juden boendes i landet och ensam medlem i Kabuls judiska församling. Foto: David Goldman/AP/TT.

Zebulon Simentov bodde i en förfallen synagoga i Kabul och levde enligt kosherreglerna.