Pilot dies; fighter jet crashes at air show

A Thai air force pilot died when his fighter jet crashed at an air show Saturday during the country’s Children’s Day. Amateur video footage shows the JAS 39 Gripen jet maneuvering over the Hat Yai air base in southern Thailand when it suddenly lost altitude and crashed in a ball of fire away from spectators. The Ministry of Defense was investigating the cause of the crash. Deputy government spokesman Werachon Sukondhapatipakerachon said Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha expressed condolences to the pilot’s family. Children’s Day is usually observed with public outings at military bases. of the migrants in 2016, with a 10-fold increase in their numbers since 2010, Frontex reported.

Leaders of Australia, Japan to cooperate

The leaders of Australia and Japan agreed Saturday to boost cooperation between their militaries, as Japan tries to shore up security ties throughout the Asia-Pacific region amid concern over China’s growing military might.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull said they had signed an upgraded defense agreement after talks in Sydney on trade and regional security issues.

The leaders said the pact would allow their militaries to provide each other with logistical support during exercises, and that they are working toward an agreement that would make it easier to participate in joint military exercises.

Abe arrived in Sydney from the Philippines on Friday on the second leg of a four-nation swing intended to boost Japan’s trade and security engagements amid China’s emergence as a military power in the Pacific. After Australia, he visits Indonesia and Vietnam. the European Union’s large single market. The House of Commons’ Exiting the EU committee urged May to publish her plan soon and to give lawmakers a vote on whatever deal is concluded with the 28-nation EU.

Their report was released Saturday, just days before May is to deliver her vision about Britain’s post-EU future in a major speech. Members of the committee also warned that the task of preparing for Brexit was placing a “strain” on departments across the British government and said more staff may be required. The committee is seeking a framework of the U.K.’s future trading relationship with the EU as part of the Article 50 negotiations — arguing that transitional arrangements would be needed for trade to continue if a deal wasn’t complete by 2019.

It acknowledged, though, that Britain’s government may not be in a position to deliver this objective, since it would also depend on the other 27 members of the EU. Jolo town in predominantly Muslim Sulu province.

The Moro rebels, who signed a 1996 peace deal with the government, have helped negotiate the release of several hostages of the smaller but more violent Abu Sayyaf, which is blacklisted by the U.S. as a terrorist organization for kidnappings, beheadings and bombings.

The freed hostages appeared well but were not immediately allowed to speak to reporters. President Rodrigo Duterte’s adviser dealing with insurgents, Jesus Dureza, said he was not aware of any ransom being paid in exchange for the freedom of the sailors. At least 27 hostages, many of them foreign crewmen, remain in the hands of different Abu Sayyaf factions, he said.