Philippine Navy to inspect Japanese warships for possible transfer
Navy spokesperson Capt. John Percie Alcos said a team of naval experts will be dispatched to Japan for a joint visual inspection, following an official invitation from the Japanese Ministry of Defense.
'This planned inspection forms part of exploratory discussions on the possible transfer of these naval assets to the Philippines,' Alcos said in a statement released Sunday.
The Abukuma-class destroyers are designed for anti-submarine and anti-ship warfare. If acquired, the vessels are expected to strengthen the Philippine Navy's maritime defense capabilities, particularly in the West Philippine Sea.
The Navy said the initiative reflects the deepening strategic partnership between the Philippines and Japan, and supports both countries' commitment to maritime security, interoperability, and regional stability.
The planned inspection comes after both countries ratified the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA), which facilitates joint military exercises, humanitarian missions, and temporary deployment of troops by easing legal and logistical barriers.
Japan has been a key defense partner of the Philippines in recent years having supplied two 97-meter multi-role response vessels, BRP Teresa Magbanua and BRP Melchora Aquino, which are actively deployed in patrol operations in the West Philippine Sea.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Dubai Eye
13 hours ago
- Dubai Eye
Nagasaki mayor warns of nuclear war as city marks 80 years since A-bomb
Thousands bowed their heads in prayer in Nagasaki on Saturday to mark the 80th anniversary of the city's atomic bombing, as the mayor warned that current global conflicts could push the world again into nuclear war. The western Japanese city was levelled on August 9, 1945, when the United States dropped a 10,000-pound plutonium-239 bomb, nicknamed Fat Man, instantly killing some 27,000 of the city's estimated 200,000 people. By the end of 1945, the death toll from acute radiation exposure had reached about 70,000. Nagasaki's destruction came three days after a US uranium-235 bomb destroyed Hiroshima. Japan surrendered on August 15, ending World War Two. After a moment of silence at 11:02 am, marking the time of the blast, Mayor Shiro Suzuki called on leaders to return to the principles of the UN Charter and show a concrete path toward abolishing nuclear weapons, warning that delay was "no longer permissible". "This is a crisis of human survival that is closing in on each and every one of us," Suzuki told the crowd, estimated by Japanese media at 2,700. He quoted the testimony of a survivor to illustrate the reality of a nuclear attack: "Around me were people whose eyeballs had popped were strewn about like stones." "Is it not this 'global citizen' perspective that will serve as the driving force behind stitching back together our fragmented world?" Suzuki asked, calling for a solution based on mutual understanding and solidarity. The US military is believed to have chosen Nagasaki as a target due to its significance as a major industrial and port city. The city's geographical features, including its hilly terrain, were also thought to concentrate the blast. Representatives from 95 countries and territories, including nuclear superpower the United States, and Israel - which neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons - attended the annual ceremony at the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Park for the milestone year. Russia, which possesses the world's largest nuclear stockpile, was also represented. Daiji Kawanaka, a 14-year-old tourist from Osaka, echoed the mayor's sentiments. "I truly believe a tragedy like this must never be repeated," he told Reuters, saying the anniversary prompts conversations about peace even among his young peers. "We can only pledge to take the initiative ourselves in making a step toward peace." Japan's leading organisation of A-bomb survivors, Nihon Hidankyo, won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for campaigning for a world without nuclear weapons. Survivors, known as hibakusha, continue to suffer the effects from radiation and social discrimination. With their numbers falling below 100,000 for the first time this year, their stories fuel ongoing efforts to advocate for a nuclear-free world. Japan, the only country to have suffered nuclear attacks, has stated its commitment to nuclear disarmament but is not a signatory or observer of the UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons.
ARN News Center
a day ago
- ARN News Center
Nagasaki mayor warns of nuclear war as city marks 80 years since A-bomb
Thousands bowed their heads in prayer in Nagasaki on Saturday to mark the 80th anniversary of the city's atomic bombing, as the mayor warned that current global conflicts could push the world again into nuclear war. The western Japanese city was levelled on August 9, 1945, when the United States dropped a 10,000-pound plutonium-239 bomb, nicknamed Fat Man, instantly killing some 27,000 of the city's estimated 200,000 people. By the end of 1945, the death toll from acute radiation exposure had reached about 70,000. Nagasaki's destruction came three days after a US uranium-235 bomb destroyed Hiroshima. Japan surrendered on August 15, ending World War Two. After a moment of silence at 11:02 am, marking the time of the blast, Mayor Shiro Suzuki called on leaders to return to the principles of the UN Charter and show a concrete path toward abolishing nuclear weapons, warning that delay was "no longer permissible". "This is a crisis of human survival that is closing in on each and every one of us," Suzuki told the crowd, estimated by Japanese media at 2,700. He quoted the testimony of a survivor to illustrate the reality of a nuclear attack: "Around me were people whose eyeballs had popped were strewn about like stones." "Is it not this 'global citizen' perspective that will serve as the driving force behind stitching back together our fragmented world?" Suzuki asked, calling for a solution based on mutual understanding and solidarity. The US military is believed to have chosen Nagasaki as a target due to its significance as a major industrial and port city. The city's geographical features, including its hilly terrain, were also thought to concentrate the blast. Representatives from 95 countries and territories, including nuclear superpower the United States, and Israel - which neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons - attended the annual ceremony at the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Park for the milestone year. Russia, which possesses the world's largest nuclear stockpile, was also represented. Daiji Kawanaka, a 14-year-old tourist from Osaka, echoed the mayor's sentiments. "I truly believe a tragedy like this must never be repeated," he told Reuters, saying the anniversary prompts conversations about peace even among his young peers. "We can only pledge to take the initiative ourselves in making a step toward peace." Japan's leading organisation of A-bomb survivors, Nihon Hidankyo, won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for campaigning for a world without nuclear weapons. Survivors, known as hibakusha, continue to suffer the effects from radiation and social discrimination. With their numbers falling below 100,000 for the first time this year, their stories fuel ongoing efforts to advocate for a nuclear-free world.
Al Etihad
2 days ago
- Al Etihad
Major Japan newspaper sues 'free-riding' AI firm Perplexity
8 Aug 2025 10:53 TOKYO (AFP)Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, one of the world's biggest by circulation, is suing US-based AI firm Perplexity for allegedly "free-riding" on its content on its search lawsuit filed Thursday is one of a slew by media companies worldwide against AI firms using their material and is the first by a major Japanese news organisation, Yomiuri accuses Perplexity of "free-riding on the results of the activities of news organisations, which have invested a great deal of effort and expense".A spokesman for the paper added that this "could have a negative impact on accurate journalism... and shake the foundations of democracy".The lawsuit filed in Tokyo seeks damages of 2.2 billion yen ($14.7 million), equivalent to 120,000 Yomuiri articles used "without permission" between February and is also seeking damages for lost advertising revenue, saying that Perplexity users click only on its search summaries and not on the newspaper's website, reducing Yomiuri, with a daily circulation of around six million -- down from over 10 million in 2010 -- and some 2,500 reporters, is one of five major daily newspapers in was not immediately available for a lawsuit by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post in October, Perplexity criticised the "adversarial posture" of many media as "shortsighted, unnecessary, and self-defeating".They "prefer to live in a world where publicly reported facts are owned by corporations, and no one can do anything with those publicly reported facts without paying a toll," it said. "We should all be working together to offer people amazing new tools and build genuinely pie-expanding businesses."
