Japan takes down screen blocking tourists’ view of Mount Fuji
Town authorities in Japan’s Fujikawaguchiko have removed a huge black screen that had been blocking an iconic view of Mount Fuji, officials said Tuesday.
The screen, installed in late May this year, was removed last Thursday to prevent it from being damaged by Typhoon Ampil, the officials said.
Known as a place that offers some of the best views of the iconic Japanese mountain, the town erected the screen on a stretch of street to deter tourists from overcrowding the place.
A particularly popular photo location was outside a Lawson convenience store, from where a photograph taken at a particular angle would make it seem as if Mount Fuji was sitting atop the store roof.
The tourists, mostly foreigners, even dubbed the spot “Mt Fuji Lawson.”
But the townspeople were unhappy as visitors would block the narrow sidewalk, take photos on the busy road or walk into neighbours’ properties in pursuit of their shot, officials said. Construction of the 2.5m-high black mesh net, stretching for 20m along the sidewalk, was completed on 21 May.
The town lowered the screen on 15 August as the typhoon approached. While the poles and wires for the screen remain in place, it will not be put up again as long as visitors’ behaviour remains improved, one of the officials said. Although Ampil was not expected to make landfall, authorities issued evacuation orders and warnings in anticipation of dangerous conditions.
“We wanted to see what would happen,” the town official told AFP. “There are still some people who come to the place.”
There has been no trouble since the screen was taken down last week, the local officials told the wire agency.
Thousands of people in Japan were ordered to evacuate last week and hundreds of flights and trains cancelled as Typhoon Ampil approached Tokyo.
The widespread disruptions came as Japan celebrated the Obon holiday week when millions of people returned to their hometowns.
Ampil, which was expected to reach waters near Tokyo by Friday, was the seventh typhoon of 2024 to hit Japan. It packed sustained winds of 162kph and moved north at 15kph, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Additional reporting by agencies
Rats taking over Pakistan’s parliament so big ‘even cats are scared’
Pakistan‘s parliament is facing a new crisis: giant rats that have overrun the South Asian country’s corridors of power.
Authorities have allocated a budget of Rs1.2m (£3,300) to employ hunting cats to catch the rodents wreaking havoc in the parliament house in Islamabad.
The rats have mostly infested the first floor of the building, which houses the office of the opposition leader in the senate and the food hall and is used to host political party meetings.
“The rats on this floor are so huge that even cats might be afraid of them,” national assembly spokesman Zafar Sultan told the BBC.
The infestation came to light after records of a meeting from 2008 were found gnawed by the rats. Even computer wires were not spared.
The rats keep to themselves during office hours but become active at night, causing significant damage.
“When there are usually no people here in the evening, the rats run around in there like it’s a marathon,” a national assembly official told the broadcaster.
While old guards have become accustomed to the menace, the rodents scare newer appointees.
The Capital Development Authority plans to counter the rat menace by enlisting hunter cats and installing netted barriers.
Authorities have issued advertisements in several Pakistani newspapers to find pest control companies to tackle the infestation.
Two cafeterias in Pakistan’s parliament were sealed in 2022 after lawmakers found cockroaches in the food, according to Samaa TV.
In 2019, the lawmakers had protested the quality of food served in the cafeterias along with regulation breaches vis-a-vis cleanliness.
Biden approves new nuclear strategy focussed on Russia-China threat
President Joe Biden has quietly approved a new US nuclear strategy focusing on China’s rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal earlier this year, a new report has revealed.
The Nuclear Employment Guidance (NEG) is designed to prepare the US for potential nuclear confrontations with Russia, China, and North Korea, The New York Times reported. The strategy takes into account the rapid expansion of China’s nuclear arsenal and ongoing threats from Russia, particularly in the context of the war in Ukraine, the report said.
On Tuesday, the White House said it was not a response to any specific country or threat, but rather a broad deterrent policy. Spokesperson Sean Savett said that while “the specific text of the guidance is classified, its existence is in no way secret. The guidance issued earlier this year is not a response to any single entity, country, nor threat”.
The strategy is also significant as the New Start nuclear arms control agreement with Russia is set to expire in 2026 without a replacement in place. Under the treaty, which was last extended back in 2021 through to 2026, the two nations are allowed to inspect each others’ nuclear weapons facilities.
In January last year, a US State Department spokesperson said that Russia “is not complying with its obligation under the New Start Treaty to facilitate inspection activities on its territory”.
“Russia’s refusal to facilitate inspection activities prevents the United States from exercising important rights under the treaty and threatens the viability of US-Russian nuclear arms control,” the spokesperson said.
The NYT reported that the NEG reflects the Pentagon’s assessment that China’s nuclear capabilities will soon rival those of the US and Russia, fundamentally altering the global nuclear landscape.
“The president recently issued updated nuclear weapons employment guidance to account for multiple nuclear-armed adversaries,” Vipin Narang, an MIT nuclear strategist who served in the Pentagon was quoted as saying by the outlet.
“And in particular,” he added, the weapons guidance accounted for “the significant increase in the size and diversity” of China’s nuclear arsenal.
Over the past few years, the global nuclear landscape has shifted dramatically, prompting the Biden administration to reevaluate and update its nuclear strategy. Traditionally, US nuclear policy has been heavily focused on deterring Russia, given the size and scope of its nuclear arsenal.
However, China’s rapid expansion of its nuclear capabilities has become a growing concern for US defence officials.
“The Chinese side has decided to hold off discussion with the US on a new round of consultations on arms control and non-proliferation. The responsibility fully lies with the US,” Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, told a regular news briefing last month.
The suspension of talks dealt a potentially serious setback to global arms control efforts, with Beijing joining Moscow in refusing to discuss with Washington measures to contain a nuclear arms race.
NYT reported that the new document serves as a clear warning that the next president, taking office on 20 January, will face a far more unstable and dangerous nuclear environment than the one seen just three years ago.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has made multiple threats to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine, including during a particularly tense episode in October 2022. During that crisis, President Biden and his team, after reviewing intercepted communications between high-ranking Russian officials, were concerned that the chances of nuclear deployment could have escalated to 50 per cent or more.
The US, which in June this year declared the possibility of deploying more strategic nuclear weapons to deter Russia and China, currently possesses about 3,700 nuclear warheads, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
According to the Guardian, Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, said that while US intelligence estimates suggest China may increase the size of its nuclear arsenal from 500 to 1,000 warheads by 2030, Russia currently has about 4,000 nuclear warheads “and it remains the major driver behind US nuclear strategy”.
Pakistani web developer charged over fake details spread about Southport accused
A Pakistani web developer is facing a criminal charge over claims he helped spread misinformation about the accused Southport attacker.
Farhan Asif, 32, has been charged with cyber terrorism after false claims quickly spread online that the suspect was a Muslim immigrant to the UK, when in fact he was born in Wales and comes from a Christian family.
Pakistani police announced the charge on Wednesday, and said that Asif claimed he was not the original source of the false information, but reposted it from social media.
After three little girls were murdered at a holiday club in Southport on July 29, false rumours including a fake name for the suspect spread on X, formerly Twitter, appearing to originate from an apparent news website called Channel3 Now.
The site’s editor-in-chief posted an apology July 31 for “the misleading information published in a recent article on our website, Channel3 Now. We deeply regret any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused.”
The false details spread quickly online in the UK, with riots breaking out in various locations.
There were also anti-racist counter-demonstrations attended by thousands of people.
Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency, which deals with cyber-terrorism, has taken over the investigation.
In Pakistan police charge suspects with offences, and they are indicted later.
Federal investigators were given a day to question Asif by a court on Wednesday, and he is due to appear in court on Thursday when investigators are expected to seek more time to quiz him.
Hundreds of people have so far been charged in the UK following the widespread disorder.
On Wednesday, the latest batch of defendants to appear in court included men accused or convicted of unrest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham.
The unrest outside the Holiday Inn Express, in Manvers, on August 4 left 58 police officers, three police horses and a police dog injured, and saw attempts to storm the building and set it on fire.
Railway engineer Morgan Hardy, 29, of Melton High Street, Rotherham, is accused of throwing chairs, fencing and a fire extinguisher at police guarding the hotel, and denies violent disorder.
Former soldier Peter Beard, 43, of Becknoll Road, Brampton Bierlow, Rotherham, was jailed for two-and-a-half years after admitting pushing aggressively at the line of officers.
The father-of-three, who undertook tours of duty in Kosovo, Bosnia and Northern Ireland, was told by Judge Jeremy Richardson KC: “Your conduct was shameful, it was disgraceful and, in many respects, astonishing.”
Passing sentence at Sheffield Crown Court, the judge heard how Beard served in the Royal Green Jackets between 1998 and 2003, and said he was “astonished” that the defendant had become involved as he had been “on the receiving end” of public order incidents as a peacekeeper.
A 27-year-old man who threw a wood panel onto a fire outside the hotel admitted a charge of arson with intent to endanger life.
Recorder of Sheffield Judge Jeremy Richardson KC told Thomas Birley his offending is “unquestionably” the most serious of all those he has dealt with in the last fortnight in relation to the rioting outside the Holiday Inn Express, at Manvers, Rotherham, on August 4.
Birley, of Rowms Lane, Swinton, Rotherham, who also admitted violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon, will be sentenced on September 6.
Elsewhere Jake Lowther, 20, of Abrams Fold, Banks was sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders’ institute for throwing stones at police in Southport.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he picked up two pieces of brick or stone from a broken wall and threw them towards police, with one hitting a riot shield.
A number of people involved in the Southport disorder were jailed on Wednesday, including father-of-three Luke Moran, 38, who was sentenced to three years after trying to smash a police van window.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that the officer inside, Pc James Hayes, feared for his life as Moran used a large piece of concrete to hit the carrier three times.
Cocaine addict Daniel Carrigan, 41, of Preston Grove, Liverpool, was jailed for two years and eight months after admitting violent disorder and criminal damage, for throwing items at a police van and kicking the vehicle.
The court heard he had been convicted of a racially aggravated common assault in 2016 after telling a traffic warden he should “return back to his own country”.
Thomas Whitehead, 53, was arrested on a plane at Manchester Airport after his picture was circulated by police as part of the mob that had gathered outside the town’s mosque.
The father-of-three was sentenced to one year and eight months for violent disorder for throwing “items” at police.
Manager for a scaffolding firm Nicholas Sinclair, 38, of Bury Road, Birkdale, was seen in footage throwing bricks at the officers, and was jailed for two years and four months for the same offence.
In a separate case, a man who live-streamed disorder outside an asylum hotel was warned to get a lawyer and that he is in a “serious position” by Judge Maurice Greene at Manchester Crown Court.
Aaron Johnson 32, of Criterion Street, Stockport, admitted inciting racial hatred by using racist language in a live stream broadcast to “millions of people” from outside an asylum hotel in Stockport on August 5.
He will be sentenced on September 19.
Declan Dixon, 22, of Salisbury Avenue, Hindley, Wigan, was jailed for 18 months at Teesside Crown Court for throwing a missile towards police on July 31 in Hartlepool.
The electrician, who told police he had been present “out of curiosity”, had admitted violent disorder and possessing cocaine.
Japan spots China’s next-gen amphibious assault ship near its waters
China is sailing a state-of-the-art amphibious assault ship in the western Pacific for the first time in over a year, in what is seen by regional rivals as a show of strength.
The Type 075 vessel, along with a guided missile destroyer, was seen floating some 120km northeast of Japan’s Miyako islands on Saturday.
The ships were moving southeast between the main islands of Miyako and Okinawa towards the Pacific Ocean, Japan’s Joint Staff Office said on Monday.
Japanese maritime forces responded to the sighting by sending a Kirisame escort squadron on a “warning, surveillance and information gathering” mission, officials said.
The Chinese navy has three Type 075 amphibious assault ships. Another of them was seen last July sailing from the East China Sea towards the Pacific Ocean near Kagoshima prefecture in Japan’s southwest. It was taking part in China’s first far sea drills, which included a 30-day live-fire exercise in the western Pacific last March.
Type 075 is China’s latest and largest landing helicopter dock amphibious assault ship. The ship considerably elevates China’s ability to transport, land and support ground forces operating outside the mainland, military experts say.
The ship measures about 237 metres long, larger than two football fields, and boasts a full-length flight deck for helicopter operations for short-takeoff and vertical-landing aircraft, according to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
It has the carrying capacity of 900 troops and can also be used as a drone-carrier.
Although smaller than similar vessels of the American navy, the think tank said, Type 075 is one of the largest amphibious assault ships in the world.
“In a Taiwan crisis, such a vessel could be employed to seize Taiwanese offshore territories or support a direct invasion of the main island,” Malcolm Davis, senior military analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told South China Morning Post.
The vessel and its bigger version, Type 076, will be essential for Chinese success in any conflicts in the South China Sea, he said.
Man arrested in Pakistan for ‘spreading UK riot misinformation’
Pakistani authorities have arrested a man and charged him with cyber terrorism for his alleged role in spreading misinformation that led to rioting in the UK earlier this month, a senior police investigator said Wednesday.
The suspect was identified as Farhan Asif, 32, a freelance web developer, said Imran Kishwar, deputy inspector general of investigations in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province.
The man is accused of spreading misinformation from YouTube and Facebook about the British teenage suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three girls and injured 10 other people July 29 at a Taylor Swift dance class in Southport.
The misleading information spread quickly online in the UK, with riots breaking out in various locations, including major cities such as Liverpool. Dozens of police officers were injured and more than a thousand people were arrested.
There were also anti-racist counter-demonstrations attended by thousands of people.
One of the platforms’ editors-in-chief posted an apology on July 31 for “the misleading information published in a recent article on our website, Channel3 Now. We deeply regret any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused”.
At a news conference in the eastern city of Lahore, police said Asif was arrested at his house in the city for questioning.
They said Asif has claimed that he was not the source of the misinformation but that he reposted it from social media.
Police have handed over the case to the Federal Investigation Agency, which handles cases relating to cyber terrorism. It was unclear if Britain had requested his extradition.
According to the latest Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) figures, 494 people have been charged in relation to the recent rioting. More than 150 people have already been sentenced, with the vast majority facing jail sentences.
On Wednesday, the latest batch of defendants to appear in court included men accused or convicted of unrest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham.
The unrest outside the Holiday Inn Express, in Manvers, on August 4 left 58 police officers, three police horses and a police dog injured, and saw attempts to storm the building and set it on fire.
Railway engineer Morgan Hardy, 29, of Melton High Street, Rotherham, is accused of throwing chairs, fencing and a fire extinguisher at police guarding the hotel, and denies violent disorder.
Former soldier Peter Beard, 43, of Becknoll Road, Brampton Bierlow, Rotherham, was jailed for two-and-a-half years after admitting pushing aggressively at the line of officers.
The father-of-three, who undertook tours of duty in Kosovo, Bosnia and Northern Ireland, was told by Judge Jeremy Richardson KC: “Your conduct was shameful, it was disgraceful and, in many respects, astonishing.”
Passing sentence at Sheffield Crown Court, the judge heard how Beard served in the Royal Green Jackets between 1998 and 2003, and said he was “astonished” that the defendant had become involved as he had been “on the receiving end” of public order incidents as a peacekeeper.
A 27-year-old man who threw a wood panel onto a fire outside the hotel admitted a charge of arson with intent to endanger life.
Recorder of Sheffield Judge Jeremy Richardson KC told Thomas Birley his offending is “unquestionably” the most serious of all those he has dealt with in the last fortnight in relation to the rioting outside the Holiday Inn Express, at Manvers, Rotherham, on August 4.
Birley, of Rowms Lane, Swinton, Rotherham, who also admitted violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon, will be sentenced on September 6.
South Korea lashed by 6 inches of rain in aftermath of Storm Jongdari
A tropical depression dumped heavy rain in southern South Korea and the populous Seoul region on Wednesday after weakening from a tropical storm.
Some southern parts of the mainland and the island of Jeju recorded 10 to 16 centimetres (3.9 to 6.2 inches) of rain. Some areas in the capital region saw 8 to 9 centimetres (3.1 to 3.5 inches) of rain as of Wednesday morning.
The depression that was once Tropical Storm Jongdari made landfall Wednesday and South Korea’s weather agency said the system was expected to dissipate soon.
No injuries have been reported.
At least 19 vehicles were damaged by floods in the southern town of Ulju and the nearby city of Ulsan, according to South Korea’s ministry of the interior and safety.
Emergency workers also responded to at least one flooded home, the ministry said.
Government officials had urged public vigilance and monitoring of areas like underground passageways and basement dwellings that are at high risk of flooding.
Dozens of roads and many public parks were closed.
The Korean Peninsula, which includes South Korea, is often impacted by typhoons, especially between July and September when the heat is at its peak.
This month, South Korea broke a century-old weather record with the 26th so-called tropical night in a row, when the temperature stays above 25 degrees Celsius (77 Fahrenheit), according to official data.
“The cold air is not coming down from the north and as we are affected by the warmer side of the southwest, the temperature is continuously recording around 25 degrees Celsius or above,” Youn Ki-han, director at Seoul’s Meteorology Forecast Division, told AFP.
Last week, typhoon Ampil brought Japan to a standstill, hundreds of flights and trains cancelled during Obon holiday week when millions of people return to their hometowns.
Mob kills elephant with flaming spear in ‘revenge’ attack in India
The death of an adult female elephant in India has sparked an outcry after a mob of locals fired flaming spears and spiked iron rods at the animal while chasing it away following the death of an elderly person in an elephant attack.
Officials said the elephant died shortly after the attack from locals in Jhargram in the eastern state of West Bengal on Thursday, leading to questions about rising human-elephant conflict.
A viral video of the attack showed dozens of locals chasing a herd of tuskers with massive flamethrowers in their hands on Thursday. Another video posted on social media showed the attacked elephant falling to the ground crying in pain from an open wound likely made by an iron rod. It also showed several iron nails on the injured elephant’s lower back.
The elephant succumbed to its injuries eight hours after the attack, local activists said, citing efforts by the forest department to rehabilitate it, reported national daily The Times of India.
Police officials have registered a first information report (FIR) – one of the first steps in any police procedure in India – against unknown people and said an investigation was underway to identify the people who attacked the elephant.
At least six elephants, including two calves, were targeted in Jhargram’s Raj College colony after one of the males of the herd attacked and killed a local in the early hours of Thursday.
In a bid to control the situation, the forest department called on local people tasked with chasing away animals using torches or percussion instruments, known as the hulla (noise) team. At least 35 people appeared with massive flaming torches and hunted down the elephants. Targeting of wildlife animals by using and throwing fireballs is banned under India’s wildlife protection law.
The team also darted one of the male elephants with a tranquiliser spear on Thursday afternoon. Indian wildlife activists and animal rights groups have slammed the incident and the killing of the elephant.
“This is against the law (Wildlife Protection) Act, 1972. The Supreme Court of India has completely banned, outlawed the use and throwing of fireballs for driving elephants… and for what it is worth, I am the petitioner,” said Prerna Singh Bindra, a wildlife conservationist who challenged the use of fireballs in taming wild animals in India’s Supreme Court in 2018.
She added: “We claim to protect, worship elephants – but we can’t provide them habitat, can’t give them space, either physically, or in our hearts.”