There is still no snow on Mount Fuji – first time in 130 years
Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji has stayed snowfree well into autumn this year, something that hasn’t happened since recordkeeping began 130 years ago.
Japan’s highest mountain is generally snowcapped by mid-October, signalling the start of winter. This year, however, warmer temperatures have kept Fuji bare, breaking the previous record for latest snowfall, set on 26 October 1955 and tied in 2016.
Meteorologists from the Kofu Local Meteorological Office, located about 40km from Fuji, confirmed that unseasonably high temperatures have delayed snowfall.
They announce the first snowcap of the season as soon as it is visible from their observation point, a tradition dating back more than a century.
Although seasonal weather patterns occasionally lead to delays, officials attribute this year’s unusually late snowfall to ongoing climate trends which have increased average autumn temperatures in recent decades.
The delayed snowfall on Fuji is part of a pattern of unpredictable seasonal changes around the world due to the climate crisis. The longer summers are impacting both snow cover and precipitation. In fact, 2024 is set to be the hottest year on record for the world for the second straight year.
Japan’s coastal and mountain regions have seen similar impact, with warmer autumns and milder winters becoming more common.
The country suffered its hottest summer on record for the second straight year in 2024, with temperatures 1.76C higher than the average from 1991 to 2020. Now, unseasonably warm autumn weather is delaying the first snowfall.
Dozens of cities in Japan have recorded high temperatures, close to or over 30C, in the early days of October, according to analysis from the nonprofit research group Climate Central.
The unusual heat Japan has experienced was made three times more likely because of the climate crisis, the study found.
In 2024, a record number of people died from heatstroke in Tokyo, with 252 people dying between June and September. Most of the victims were elderly people who were found dead in their homes without air conditioning. Earlier this year, Japan’s early bloom of cherry blossoms had also sparked concerns.
Beyond climate concerns, Fuji has faced other challenges, including overtourism. This year, local authorities implemented a tourist tax to help manage the influx, aiming to mitigate the environmental strain from millions of visitors who trek to the iconic mountain each year.
Mother collecting child crashes car through school fence killing boy
A 40-year-old mother picking up her child from a school in Melbourne, crashed her car through a fence, hitting an 11-year-old boy who later died in the hospital, police said.
Police reported that a vehicle was travelling along Burgess Street when it is believed to have veered off the road and crashed through a fence near a sports court at the Auburn South Primary School shortly after 2.30pm on Tuesday.
The vehicle struck an outdoor table where five children were seated.
An 11-year-old boy was critically injured and later died in the hospital, while two 11-year-old girls, a 10-year-old girl, and a 10-year-old boy sustained serious injuries.
The driver was arrested at the scene and is currently in custody.
Victoria Police spokesperson Craig McEvoy told reporters: “It appears it is a tragic accident.”
“A 40-year-old female has driven to the school to collect a child, after collecting the child, she’s performed a U-turn, and [crashed] into the fence of the school,” he said.
“Unfortunately, she has struck a table where there were five children seated within the school grounds.
“Very tragically and sadly, one of those children has passed away while being conveyed to hospital.”
Police reported that the primary school-aged child in the passenger seat of the car was unharmed.
Video footage showed the estate car, which had significant damage to its front-left wing, coming to a stop after passing through a shaded recreation area.
”Multiple Advanced Life Support (ALS) and Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance (MICA) paramedics attended the scene,” Victoria Ambulance said in a statement.
“Three children were transported by road to The Royal Children’s Hospital. Two children were transported by road to Monash Medical Centre.”
The Department of Education spokesperson told 7NEWS.com.au: “Our thoughts are right now with the entire Auburn South Primary School community.”
“We are working closely with staff, students and parents of the school to support them during this deeply distressing time.
“We will provide further information as soon as we can.”
Minister for education Ben Carroll expressed his condolences to the students and their families, stating that the government was closely monitoring the situation. “I’ve asked [the Department of Education] to be on standby to provide whatever supports are needed,” Mr Carroll said in a post on X.
A local business owner, identified by his first name Guy, told ABC News that he went to the school to offer any help he could after the tragic incident.
“There were some kids that are very, very frightened, not themselves,” he was quoted as saying.
After the crash, he described the scene as “chaos”, with Burgess Street near the school closed to traffic.
Victorian premier Jacinta Allan stated that a “dark shadow” has fallen over the state following the incident. “I know tonight Victorians will be thinking of Auburn South Primary, and holding our kids even closer,” she said.
Opposition leader John Pesutto described the situation as “devastating” and extended his heartfelt condolences to the injured students, their families, and the broader school community on behalf of Hawthorn.
“On behalf of the Hawthorn community, I express my sincerest condolences with the students who have been injured, their families and the broader school community,” he said.
Ex-Philippines president Duterte admits to keeping ‘death squad’
Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte admitted to a senate inquiry on Monday that he had employed a “death squad” of gangsters during his tenure as a mayor of a city.
Mr Duterte, 79, gave his testimony in the televised inquiry on his campaign of “war on drugs”, making his first public appearance since his term ended in 2022.
Mr Duterte, a divisive figure in the Philippines who served from June 2016 to June 2022, projected a “strongman” image, and once called controversial leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin his idol.
His term was marred by allegations of thousands of extrajudicial killings during a brutal crackdown on suspects in his so-called nationwide war on drugs.
During the hearing, Mr Duterte acknowledged without elaborating that he once maintained a death squad of seven “gangsters” to tackle criminals when he was the longtime Davao city mayor, before he became president.
“I can make the confession now if you want,” Mr Duterte said. “I had a death squad of seven, but they were not policemen, they were also gangsters.”
“I’ll ask a gangster to kill somebody,” Mr Duterte said, adding that he would tell them “kill this person, because if you do not, I will kill you now.”
He told police officers to “encourage” suspects to fight back so that officers could justify the slayings.
“Do not question my policies because I offer no apologies, no excuses. I did what I had to do, and whether or not you believe it… I did it for my country,” said Mr Duterte in his opening statement.
“I hate drugs, make no mistake about it.”
He, however, denied that he gave orders to police chiefs to kill suspects as the squad was made of gangsters.
Mr Duterte won the presidency by a wide margin in 2016 on promises of eradicating drugs and crime.
Prior to his presidency, Mr Duterte served as mayor of Davao city for over 22 years, where he established a reputation for reducing crime through methods that critics argue were often extrajudicial and violent.
Rights groups have said that more than 30,000 people have been killed during his term by police officers and vigilantes during his war on drugs campaign.
“Duterte ordered Philippines’ police forces to kill anyone they believe to be connected to the drugs trade when he assumed office in June 2016. State forces and vigilante groups have followed through these orders ruthlessly,” Amnesty International said.
His first testimony in the investigation came five months after an inquiry was set up by the House of Representatives into the killings. Supporters of the former president have dismissed the investigation as politically motivated.
In 2021 the International Criminal Court in The Hague authorised the court’s Office of the Prosecutor to open an official investigation into crimes against humanity allegedly committed in the Philippines between 2011 and 2019. The decision came three years after a preliminary examination into the allegations.
Former senator, Leila de Lima, one of the most vocal critics of Mr Duterte who once investigated the drug killings in Davao, said there was adequate evidence and witnesses of the extrajudicial killings but they were scared of testifying against Mr Duterte when he was in power.
“This man, the former mayor of Davao city and the former president of the Republic of the Philippines, for so long has evaded justice and accountability,” said Ms de Lima, sitting near the former president.
She spent six years behind bars on allegations but the charges were later dropped.
Mr Duterte appeared unabashed. “If I’m given another chance, I’ll wipe all of you,” Mr Duterte said of drug dealers and criminals, who he added had resumed their criminal actions after he stepped down from the presidency.
Additional reporting by agencies
Afghan women banned from ‘hearing each other’s voices’ during praying
The Taliban in Afghanistan have implemented a bizarre new edict that will further curb the voices of women who are already prohibited from speaking in public.
Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban minister for the propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice, declared that women must refrain from reciting the Quran aloud in the presence of other women, reported Amu TV, an Afghan news channel based in Virginia, US.
“When women are not permitted to call takbir or athan [Islamic call to prayer], they certainly cannot sing songs or music,” he said in remarks reported on Saturday.
“Even when an adult female prays and another female passes by, she must not pray loudly enough for them to hear … How could they be allowed to sing if they aren’t even permitted to hear [each other’s] voices while praying, let alone for anything else,” Mr Hanafi was also quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph.
A woman’s voice is considered awrah, meaning that which must be covered, and shouldn’t be heard in public, even by other women, the minister said.
Women, including human rights experts, fear this diktat would go beyond prayer and restrict them from holding conversations with each other, further minimising their social presence.
This comes just two months after the Taliban implemented a new set of laws in August that also ordered women to cover their entire bodies, including faces, when stepping out.
A midwife in Herat told Amu TV that Taliban officials forbid female healthcare workers, the last of the Afghan women allowed to work outside their homes, from speaking, especially with male relatives. “They don’t even allow us to speak at checkpoints when we go to work. And in the clinics, we are told not to discuss medical matters with male relatives,” the midwife, who has worked in remote healthcare clinics for eight years, told the channel.
It is not known whether the latest rule has been implemented or how widely.
The Taliban have increasingly curtailed women’s rights, even banning formal education for them, since they returned to power in 2021 after overthrowing the Nato-backed regime.
Mr Hanifi’s latest remarks have sparked a furore on social media.
“After banning women’s voices from public, the Taliban’s ministry of vice and virtue banned women from speaking to each other. I am in loss for words to express my utter rage and disgust about the Taliban’s mistreatment of women,” said journalist Lina Rozbih said. “The world must do something! Help millions of voiceless and helpless women of Afghanistan.”
“This surpasses misogyny,” said Nazifa Haqpal, a former Afghan diplomat. “It exemplifies an extreme level of control and absurdity,” she said.
Zubaida Akbar, a human rights and civil society activist from Afghanistan, called for the Taliban leaders to be held accountable for their “gender apartheid” diktats. “Today’s ban on women’s voices in each other’s presence comes from Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, Taliban’s minister of vice and virtue, who published a 100-plus page book of edicts against women last month,” she said on Twitter/X.
“Every ban on women has a face behind it and must be held accountable for gender apartheid,” she said.
Children among five injured in knife attack near school in China
Five people, including three children, have suffered injuries in a knife attack near a prestigious primary school in Beijing.
The attack happened on Monday around 3.20pm local time (3.20am ET) in the capital’s upscale Haidian district, the police said in a statement.
The knife-wielding suspect, identified as a 50-year-old man, was subdued at the site and arrested.
The attack is believed to have taken place outside the school gates around a time students were leaving. The police said the injured have been taken to hospital and “are not in life-threatening condition”.
Footage circulating on social media showed emotional and chaotic scenes as at least two children were seen lying on the pavement and bleeding as cycles lay strewn on the ground. One of the injured children lay unresponsive in a mother’s lap.
A man with his face covered in blood was being held to the ground after the attack, images showed.
It was the latest knife attack in the series of incidents that have continued to rock the country where violent crimes are still rare. The country has seen a number of high-profile stabbings including at schools and hospitals as it has very tight gun control laws, making knives and homemade explosives among the most common weapons.
The incidents have also sparked a debate on social media on mental health issues with many reflecting how discontent and anxiety over the country’s economic struggles have affected people.
The world’s second largest economy has been slowed down since the stringent Covid-19 lockdowns that locked the people into their homes and the country suffered problems like property crisis, weak spending, and unemployment.
Last month, a 10-year-old Japanese student died after being attacked with a knife near his school in the southern city of Shenzhen.
In June, a Chinese woman who tried to intervene in a stabbing attack at a school bus stop for a Japanese school in Suzhou was killed while a woman and her child were injured.
In early October, three people were killed and 15 others were wounded in a knife attack in a Shanghai supermarket.
Nine injured as festival rush triggers stampede at Mumbai station
A stampede at a railway station platform in the Indian city of Mumbai left at least nine people injured, two critically, as passengers attempted to board a moving train amid festival season crowding on Sunday.
Western Railway officials said that the incident happened at Bandra when passengers tried to board the 22921 Bandra Terminus-Gorakhpur Antyodaya Express before it had fully stopped, resulting in serious injuries to two people.
“Due to the rush on Platform 1, several passengers were injured in the stampede reported around 5.30am. The injured persons were taken to the Bandra Bhaba hospital,” Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials said in a statement.
The incident triggered a wave of criticism and backlash, with politician Rahul Gandhi criticising the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government and labelling its alleged negligence a “serious concern”. He also blamed the BJP government for inadequate infrastructure and poor crowd management.
“The stampede is the latest example of India’s crumbling infrastructure. The Balasore train accident in June last year claimed the lives of 300 people, but instead of compensating the victims, the BJP government has entangled them in a long legal battle,” he said.
“Inaugurations and publicity are good only when there is a foundation behind them that actually works to serve the public. It is a serious concern when a lack of maintenance and neglect of public property lead to loss of lives.”
Political party Shiv Sena (UBT)’s leader Sanjay Raut said that more than 25 major railway accidents have taken place nationwide, claiming over 100 lives since the Modi government assumed office. He questioned, “What is the point of talking about bullet trains, Metro and high-speed trains?”
The two critically injured passengers were identified as Indrajith Sahani, 19, and Noor Mohammad Shaikh, 18, who were taken to the local KEM hospital for treatment.
Among the other injured passengers, five were receiving treatment at the Bandra Bhaba Hospital. They were identified as Parmeshwar Sukhdar Gupta, 28, Ravindra Harihar Chuma, 30, Ramsevak Ravindra Prasad Prajapati, 29, Sanjay Tilakram Kangay, 27, and Divyanshu Yogendra Yadav, 18.
“The platform was packed with people. There was no space to even stand. People were jumping and pushing each other to reach the train’s doors. I came to drop him, saw him vanish in the crowd. Later, I got to know he was badly injured,” Vikas Gupta, brother of Mr Gupta, was quoted as saying by The Hindu.
“He was going home after a year,” he said.
In response to the accident, Western Railway imposed temporary restrictions on platform ticket sales to control crowding until early November.
Thousands of kindergartens closed across China as birth rate declines
China’s declining birth rate has led to a significant drop in both kindergarten numbers and enrolment, a new report has revealed.
In 2023, the number of kindergartens decreased by over five per cent, with 14,808 closures, marking the second year of decline, according to an annual report by the ministry of education. Enrolment dropped by 11.55 per cent, or 5.35 million children, leaving around 40.9 million enrolled, which is the third consecutive year of falling numbers.
Primary schools across China have also seen a 3.8 per cent reduction.
This demographic shift reflects China’s decreasing birth rate and population, with only nine million births recorded in 2023 – the lowest since 1949.
The fertility rate, reportedly under 1.0 in 2023, is far below the replacement level of 2.1.
“Meanwhile, the burden of elder care is intensifying, all amid economic stagnation,” He Yafu, an independent demographer based in Guangdong province was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post.
“Kindergarten operators need to adjust strategically to meet new challenges, such as expanding early childhood education to include children under three and establishing an integrated care-education system.”
Last week, it was reported that China was launching a massive survey to explore public apprehensions about having children, amid the ongoing decline in the birth rate despite previous government initiatives to encourage larger families.
The study, which will involve 30,000 participants from 1,500 communities, aims to uncover the reasons behind this reluctance and inform policies to support fertility.
The survey is part of broader efforts to address demographic challenges, including the country’s ageing population and economic pressures, which have deterred families from having more children.
In response, officials are promoting marriage and shared parenting and are considering raising the retirement age to cope with a shrinking workforce. Analysts believe that economic pressures and high living costs have deterred families from having children, with many kindergartens converting into elder care centres to meet the growing demand.
Earlier this year China announced improved policies to promote childbirth as a government report said the regime would create a “birth-friendly society and promote long term, balanced population development”.
Such policies would include “refining parental leave policies, improving the mechanism for sharing the related labour costs of employers and increasing the supply of childcare services”, a report from Chinese premier Li Qiang read.
New Himalayan snake species named after Leonardo DiCaprio
A new snake species discovered in the Himalayas has been named after Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio to honour the actor and environmentalist.
The Anguiculus dicaprioi is a copper-coloured snake with a short head, large nostrils, “dozens of teeth” and a “steeply domed snout”, according to a study published in the scientific journal Nature.
The snakes grow up to 22 inches, the group of researchers from Germany, the UK and India said.
They were discovered when researchers in the summer of 2020 decided to search for some poorly known snake species as part of ongoing research on reptiles.
The snakes were found basking on mud roads in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. They remained motionless till they were caught and made no attempts to bite, according to the scientists.
These snakes are mostly active from late May to August and are not found at other times of the year. The researchers confirmed their discovery through DNA analysis and found that the new species lived in the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and neighbouring Nepal.
The snake is believed to survive at places up to 1,800m above sea level.
The snake was first found by scientist Virender Bhardwaj in the backyard of his home in the western Himalayas during the Covid-19 lockdown, according to reports.
The discovery led to a three-year-long investigation by Zeeshan A Mirza, Mr Bhardwaj, Saunak Pal, Gernot Vogel, Patrick D Campbell and Harshil Patil.
Researchers said they named the new species after Mr DiCaprio because he “has been actively involved in creating awareness about global climate change (and) increased biodiversity loss”.
“In addition to this, he has made funds available for field conservation activities and research,” the report said.
In 2023, he was given the honour of naming the new species after it was discovered in the Panamanian jungle. The Dicaprio snail-eating snake is named Simon irmelindicaprioae after the actor’s mother, Irmelin Indenbirken, who he frequently brings to awards ceremonies and credits for his success.
Mr DiCaprio started his eponymous foundation in 1998 at the age of 24 after being inspired by watching nature documentaries as a child.
Since then, the foundation has funded over 200 projects across more than 50 countries, protecting endangered species, restoring ecosystems, providing clean water and funding renewable energy.
He was named in The Independent‘s inaugural Climate 100 List, which included changemaking activists, scientists, academics, philanthropists, political leaders, business and tech leaders, and fashion entrepreneurs.