A missing Japanese F-15 frontline fighter is believed to have crashed and its two crew members remain unaccounted for, Japan said on Tuesday.
The Japan Air Self-Defence Force jet disappeared from air traffic control radars on Monday shortly after take-off, around 5 kilometres from Komatsu airbase on the Sea of Japan coast, which has two tactical fighter squadrons, according to the defence ministry.
Speaking to reporters, Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi dismissed an early media report that one of the pilots had been found.
Search and rescue helicopters and three coast guard ships continued their search after earlier finding aircraft debris in the sea, the Japan Coast Guard said in a press release.
Most of the Boeing Co F-15 jets flown by Japan were built under licence by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and have been Japan's mainstay frontline fighter for four decades, regularly scrambling to respond to Chinese and Russian aircraft probing the country's airspace.
Japan has around 200 F-15s, half of which will be upgraded by Boeing to extend their operating life and improve capability.
Former US President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an "aggressive form" of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, his office said in a statement on Sunday.
Israel will ease its blockade and let limited amounts of food into Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said, after the military announced it had begun "extensive ground operations" in the northern and southern parts of the enclave.
Romania's centrist Bucharest mayor, Nicusor Dan, won the country's presidential election on Sunday in a shock upset over a hard-right, nationalist rival who had pledged to put Romania on a path inspired by US President Donald Trump's politics.
Pope Leo XIV formally began his reign on Sunday by calling for unity, vowing to preserve the Catholic Church's heritage and not rule like "an autocrat".
The Israeli military said on Sunday it had begun "extensive ground operations" in northern and southern Gaza, stepping up a new campaign where Palestinian health authorities said Israeli strikes killed at least 130 people overnight.
The UAE has expressed its solidarity with Finland and Estonia following the collision of two helicopters near Eura Airport, which resulted in five fatalities.