Cabinet has approved event for 27 September but critics question cost and possible political exploitation
Opposition is mounting to plans to hold a state funeral for the former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead earlier this month.
The cabinet on Friday approved arrangements for the funeral – only the second of its kind for a former Japanese leader in the postwar period – on 27 September.
Continue reading...People in Okinawa asked to avoid non-essential outings amid new wave of infections driven by highly transmissible BA.5
Japan’s government has urged people to exercise the “highest level of vigilance” after the country reported a record number of new Covid-19 cases in a new wave of infections driven by the highly transmissible BA.5 subvariant.
More than 186,000 cases were recorded nationwide on Thursday, while Tokyo easily beat its existing daily record with 31,878 cases. The capital, along with Osaka and Fukuoka, were among 30 of the country’s 47 prefectures to report record highs this week.
Continue reading...UK temperatures exceed 40C while France and Portugal hit new highs, with some extreme consequences
Record-breaking heat continued to affect parts of western Europe during the past week, with UK temperatures exceeding 40C (104F) for the first time since records began.
On Tuesday, several weather stations across London, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire broke the 40C barrier, with a top temperature of 40.3C in Coningsby, Lincolnshire. A further 39 stations across central and southern England also broke the previous highest temperature of 38.7C, which was set in July 2019.
Continue reading...Warning comes after 18 people allegedly killed in gruesome attack in Highlands region
Dozens of people have been killed in Papua New Guinea during a tense few weeks of voting during the country’s elections, along with reports of sexual abuse, including of children, and 3,000 people displaced due to conflict, the UN has warned.
The warning comes after 18 people were allegedly killed in a gruesome attack on Wednesday by warring tribes in Porgera, Enga Province, in the north of the Highlands region.
Continue reading...Defence ministry also sounds alarm at prospect of Beijing-Moscow ties deepening amid expectations Tokyo will boost defence spending
Japan’s defence ministry has said it is alarmed at fresh threats from Russia and has growing worries about Taiwan, in an annual report that comes as Tokyo considers significantly increasing military spending.
The document includes a chapter on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which it says risks sending the message “that an attempt to unilaterally change the status quo by force is acceptable”.
Continue reading...US military advises against House speaker’s reported trip as president is due to talk to Xi Jinping for first time in four months
Joe Biden has cautioned against the reported trip to Taiwan next month by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, saying the US military had assessed “it is not a good idea right now”.
The Financial Times reported earlier this week that Pelosi would lead a delegation to Taiwan in August to show support for the democratically ruled island, which Beijing claims is a breakaway province. The trip was initially scheduled for April but was postponed due to Pelosi testing positive for Covid at the time.
Continue reading...Thousands send condolences after zoo staff euthanise panda, who was in poor health and had stopped eating
The world’s oldest male giant panda in captivity has died in a Hong Kong zoo on Thursday.
The panda, named An An, was euthanised at the age of 35, the equivalent of 105 years for humans. He was born in the wild in the south-western Chinese province of Sichuan in 1986.
Continue reading...Satoko Kishimoto sets sights on ‘radical change’ in Japan, where only 2% of local government leaders are women
The first female mayor of a district in Tokyo has vowed to challenge Japan’s male-dominated politics, weeks after she became one of only two women leading municipalities in the Japanese capital.
Satoko Kishimoto was elected mayor of Suginami ward last month to become the district’s first female leader in its 90-year history. The progressive candidate beat the conservative incumbent – by just 187 votes – despite having recently returned to Japan after a decade living in Belgium.
Continue reading...Agriculture minister Murray Watt says federal government confident new biosecurity measures enough to protect livestock industry
The federal government is resisting calls to close Australia’s border to Indonesia over the foot-and-mouth disease threat, after more fragments of the potentially devastating livestock virus were detected in South Australia.
The agriculture minister, Murray Watt, said he was confident that new federal biosecurity measures would be sufficient to keep out foot-and-mouth disease, which could threaten Australia’s entire meat industry, as farmers call on the government to not overreact.
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Continue reading...Toxic metal present in both blood and eggshell samples, but the New Zealand birds appear to have formed a tolerance for it
Lead has been detected in nesting native kākā chicks in Wellington, but unusually, the birds look to have developed a tolerance to the toxin, a study has found.
Kākā are a noisy, smart parrot, with bright green plumage and blood red patches under their wings and chest. They are particularly animated at dawn and dusk, and some Wellingtonians are known to curse their raucous squawking, while others delight in their cheekiness.
Continue reading...Claimants say they are experiencing serious negative impacts and demand Swiss-based Holcim pay compensation
Residents of an Indonesian island threatened by rising sea levels have begun legal action against the cement producer Holcim.
The claim for compensation, filed in Switzerland by three men and one woman, is understood to be the first major climate damages lawsuit against a cement company.
Continue reading...Officials in Guangzhou apologise for ‘violent’ behaviour after 84 homes broken into during search for possible close contacts
Authorities in southern China have apologised for breaking into the homes of people who had been taken to a quarantine hotel, in the latest example of heavy-handed virus-prevention measures that have sparked a rare public backlash.
State media said that 84 homes in an apartment complex in Guangzhou city’s Liwan district had been opened in an effort to find any “close contacts” hiding inside and to disinfect the premises.
Continue reading...The decision to produce a film glorifying China’s Communist party in a town destroyed by civil war has been described as ‘appallingly bad taste’
A Chinese action film executive-produced by Jackie Chan has triggered outrage after shooting scenes in al-Hajar al-Aswad, a Syrian town destroyed in the civil war.
Home Operation, directed by Song Yinxi, is inspired by China’s evacuation of hundreds of its nationals from Yemen in 2015 during the civil conflict there, and is the first joint venture between Chinese and Emirati producers. AFP reported that Song said the film was intended to glorify the Chinese Communist party (CCP): “It takes the perspective of diplomats who are Communist party members, who braved a hail of bullets in a war-torn country and safely brought all Chinese compatriots on to the country’s warship unscathed.”
Continue reading...Traps set and residents warned to keep windows shut after infant grabbed in most serious incident
Police in Japan are searching for a wild monkey that has attacked 10 people in the space of a fortnight.
The attacks began on 8 July in the Ogori district of Yamaguchi prefecture in the country’s south-west. In the most serious incident, it badly scratched an infant after invading a family home.
Continue reading...Dr Ashley Bloomfield dramatically scales back planned event, including cancelling the karaoke, in face of Omicron surge
New Zealand’s Covid chief has had his farewell party scuppered by a rising wave of Omicron cases.
“We’ve canceled karaoke,” the director general of health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, said when questioned about his plans for farewelling the high-stress role. “We’ll do that later in the year, I hope, if the staff still want to come.”
Continue reading...It’s important to view encounters between the two militaries in operational context
Last week it was reported that in early July an Australian warship had been closely followed by a Chinese guided-missile destroyer, a nuclear-powered attack submarine and multiple military aircraft as it travelled through the East China Sea.
This incident followed a confrontation on 26 May, when an Australian maritime surveillance plane was dangerously intercepted by a Chinese fighter over the South China Sea.
Continue reading...Alexander Matsegora tells Russian newspaper there are ‘a lot of opportunities’ for economic cooperation, despite UN sanctions
North Korea could send workers to two Russian-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine, according to Russia’s ambassador in Pyongyang – a move that would pose a challenge to international sanctions against the North’s nuclear weapons programme.
According to NK News, a Seoul-based website, ambassador Alexander Matsegora said North Korean workers could help rebuild the war-shattered infrastructure in the self-proclaimed people’s republics in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Continue reading...Analysis: worsening meltdown in the country’s debt-laden property market is at the heart of a problem that comes at a precarious time for the Communist party
The alarm bells are ringing louder. Last week, hundreds of depositors gathered in front of the Zhengzhou branch of the People’s Bank of China in the provincial capital of Henan, demanding their frozen life savings held in rural banks. A day later, tens of thousands of homeowners threatened to stop paying mortgages on scores of unfinished housing projects they had purchased. All of this happened in a week where the officials reported lacklustre second-quarter economic performance.
China’s economy is facing a dangerous cocktail of stalling growth, high unemployment, spreading mortgage payment strikes and continued Covid shutdowns that threaten to explode with serious social and political consequences.
Continue reading...Global Times quotes comments by foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on military encounters in the South China Sea
China has accused Australia of provocation in the South China Sea and said Australia – along with the United States and Canada – must “refrain from abusing China’s restraint”.
Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin was responding to a question about recent military encounters in the South China Sea, including reports in Politico that a Chinese fighter jet had an “unsafe” and “unprofessional” interaction with an American C-130 aircraft.
Continue reading...Intervention comes as thousands of homebuyers refuse to make mortgage repayments in deepening property sector crisis
Chinese banks have been told to bail out struggling property developers to help them complete unfinished housing projects and head off the growing mortgage strike that threatens to seriously damage the economy.
With thousands of homebuyers banding together to refuse to keep up with mortgage instalments on unfinished apartments bought off the plan, regulators have stepped up efforts to encourage lenders to extend loans to qualified real estate projects.
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