Floods, landslides hit central Japan months after major quake

Floods, landslides hit central Japan months after major quake
A worker clears debris and mud at the site of a landslide caused by heavy rain in Wajima city, Ishikawa prefecture on September 22, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 22 September 2024
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Floods, landslides hit central Japan months after major quake

Floods, landslides hit central Japan months after major quake
  • More than 540 millimeters (21 inches) of rainfall was recorded in Wajima in the 72 hours to Sunday morning

WAJIMA: Floods and landslides killed one person and left at least six missing in central Japan, with recovery teams at work on Sunday in a remote peninsula already devastated by a major earthquake this year.
“Unprecedented” heavy rains that lashed the area from Saturday began to subside, leaving muddy scenes of destruction as the national weather agency urged people to stay vigilant for loose ground and other dangers.
In the city of Wajima, splintered branches and a huge uprooted tree piled up at a bridge over a river whose raging brown waters almost reached ground level.
People were seen wading into the mud to try to dig out half-buried cars, while elsewhere flood waters inundated emergency housing built for those who had lost their homes in the New Year’s Day earthquake that killed at least 318 people.
Akemi Yamashita, a 54-year-old resident, told AFP she had been driving on Saturday when “within only 30 minutes or so, water gushed into the street and quickly rose to half the height of my car.”
“I was talking to other residents of Wajima yesterday, and they said, ‘it’s so heart-breaking to live in this city’. I got teary when I heard that,” she said, describing the earthquake and floods as “like something from a movie.”
Eight temporary housing complexes were affected in Wajima and Suzu, two of the cities on the Noto Peninsula ravaged by the magnitude-7.5 quake, which toppled buildings, triggered tsunami waves and sparked a major fire.
More than 540 millimeters (21 inches) of rainfall was recorded in Wajima in the 72 hours to Sunday morning — the heaviest continuous rain since comparative data became available in 1976.
Landslides blocked roads, complicating rescue efforts, and tens of thousands of people in the wider region were urged to evacuate.
Muddy rivers ran high in Anamizu, south of Wajima, where more rain fell on Sunday morning onto quake-damaged houses and the shattered stone columns of a shrine still lying on the ground months after they were toppled.
A message blared from the city’s loudspeaker disaster prevention system warning residents that the rain could flood the sewer system and dirty water could rise up.
Hideaki Sato, 74, stood on a bridge holding a blue umbrella, anxiously looking at the swollen water in a small canal.
“My house was flattened completely in the quake,” he told AFP.
“I now live in a small apartment room right there,” he said, pointing at a wooden structure behind him. “If this floods, it would be a real problem.”

Military personnel have been sent to the Ishikawa region on the Sea of Japan coast to join rescue workers, top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Saturday.
Some 6,000 households were without power and an unknown number were without running water, the Ishikawa regional government said.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) downgraded its top warning to the second-highest alert on Sunday.
The areas under the emergency warning saw “heavy rain of unprecedented levels,” JMA forecaster Satoshi Sugimoto said Saturday, adding “it is a situation in which you have to secure your safety immediately.”
Scientists say human-driven climate change is intensifying the risk posed by heavy rains because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.
One person had been killed, three were missing and two were seriously injured in Ishikawa by Sunday morning, the fire and disaster management agency said.
At least a dozen rivers burst their banks and two of the missing were reportedly carried away by strong currents.
Another three people were missing who had been working for the land ministry to restore a road in Wajima, local ministry official Yoshiyuki Tokuhashi told AFP.
One worker who had been reported missing “walked to the tunnel” near a landslide where others were taking shelter, Tokuhashi said, adding that all 27 workers had now been evacuated to safety.
Municipalities in Ishikawa told 75,000 residents in the region — including in the cities of Wajima and Suzu, as well as Noto town — to evacuate, officials said.
Another 16,800 residents in Niigata and Yamagata prefectures north of Ishikawa were also told to evacuate, the fire and disaster management agency said.


Kashmir assembly demands restoration of special status revoked by Modi in 2019

Kashmir assembly demands restoration of special status revoked by Modi in 2019
Updated 4 sec ago
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Kashmir assembly demands restoration of special status revoked by Modi in 2019

Kashmir assembly demands restoration of special status revoked by Modi in 2019
  • Kashmir lost semi-autonomy when PM Narendra Modi’s government repealed Article 370 of constitution
  • All parties in the assembly supported the move except for lawmakers from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party

NEW DELHI: The newly elected assembly of Jammu and Kashmir passed on Wednesday a resolution requesting the Indian government to start talks for the restoration of the region’s special status.

Kashmir lost its semi-autonomy in August 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government repealed Article 370 of the Indian constitution and downgraded it from state to union territory.

Article 370 acknowledged the special status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir in terms of autonomy and its ability to formulate laws for its permanent residents.

The region has been under direct control of New Delhi since, with India’s Parliament as its main legislator, but last month the territory elected its local legislative assembly, with voters choosing representatives in opposition to Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

The election was the first in 10 years, with the restoration of statehood being a main promise of all contenders, including the BJP.

The National Conference, the oldest party in Kashmir, won the polls and formed a government led by Omar Abdullah, who had earlier served as the chief minister of the state of Jammu and Kashmir between 2009 and 2014.

Wednesday’s resolution was filed by Abdullah’s deputy, Surinder Kumar Choudhary.

“This assembly upon the Government of India to initiate dialogue with elected representatives of people of Jammu and Kashmir for restoration of special status, constitutional guarantees and to work out constitutional mechanisms for restoring these provisions,” the resolution read.

“This Legislative Assembly reaffirms the importance of the special status and constitutional guarantees, which safeguarded the identity, culture, and rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and expresses concern over their unilateral removal.”

All parties in the 90-member assembly supported the resolution except for 29 BJP lawmakers.

After the revocation of Article 370, a series of administrative changes followed, with the Indian government removing protections on land and jobs for the local population, which many in the Muslim-majority region likened to attempts at demographically altering it.

While the restoration of Kashmir’s statehood was on the table, with the region’s New Delhi-appointed lieutenant governor, Manoj Sinha, bringing it up earlier this week, the assembly’s call to restore the special status and protections came as a surprise.

“It was a surprise, but it was expected. It was not expected that this would happen quickly. The NC in its manifesto was committed to do it,” Prof. Noor Ahmad Baba, political science lecturer from the University of Kashmir, told Arab News.

“That is implied that the with the special status statehood, too, would be restored.”

The wording of the resolution, which did not mention Article 370 of the constitution, allowed room for negotiation with New Delhi.

“They have not asked for the restoration of Article 370, they have asked for the safeguarding of culture, identity and rights of the people,” Baba said.

“On the face of it, it looks difficult for New Delhi to accept the demand for special status. But there is also a window open here. It can be a negotiated kind of relationship, which can be symbolically different from Article 370.”

An agreement could also help to improve India’s relationship with Pakistan, he said, and become a “basis for that.”

Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir is part of the larger Kashmiri territory, which has been the subject of international dispute since the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Both countries claim Kashmir in full and rule in part. Indian-controlled Kashmir has, for decades, witnessed outbreaks of separatist insurgencies to resist control from the government in New Delhi.


New bird flu outbreak confirmed in UK

New bird flu outbreak confirmed in UK
Updated 1 min 23 sec ago
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New bird flu outbreak confirmed in UK

New bird flu outbreak confirmed in UK
LONDON: The UK government warned bird keepers to remain vigilant after bird flu was detected at a commercial poultry farm in northern England, the second outbreak this year and first of the season.
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) confirmed on Tuesday the presence of the H5N5 strain of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), commonly known as bird flu.
The virus was detected at a farm in Yorkshire, meaning the UK is no longer free from bird flu as per World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) rules.
All poultry on the premises was set to be culled, with a three-kilometer (1.8-mile) protection zone placed around the farm, near the seaside town of Hornsea.
While the last outbreak in February 2024 was of the H5N1 strain of the virus, the H5N5 virus detected this time around follows previous findings in Europe, according to DEFRA.
No bird flu cases have yet been detected during this outbreak in Wales or Scotland.
While the risk level to poultry remains low for premises with strong biosecurity, the risk was increased from medium to high for wild birds.
Between 2021 and 2023, the UK experienced its largest ever bird flu outbreak due to the H5N1 strain. It killed 3.8 million birds and the virus became widespread in wild bird populations.
Some UK seabird populations experienced “extensive declines” in the period, said a study by conservationists at the start of 2024.
The disease mainly affects birds and the risk to the general public’s health is very low, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
However, scientists have raised concerns about the virus’s ability to spread to and between mammals.

Indian-administered Kashmir legislature passes resolution asking Delhi to restore partial autonomy

Indian-administered Kashmir legislature passes resolution asking Delhi to restore partial autonomy
Updated 51 min 4 sec ago
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Indian-administered Kashmir legislature passes resolution asking Delhi to restore partial autonomy

Indian-administered Kashmir legislature passes resolution asking Delhi to restore partial autonomy
  • PM Modi’s administration scrapped Delhi-controlled Kashmir’s autonomy in August 2019
  • Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which has 29 members in 90-seat assembly, rejected resolution

SRINAGAR: Indian-administered Kashmir ‘s regional legislature passed a resolution on Wednesday demanding the federal government restore the disputed region’s semi-autonomy that was scrapped by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration in 2019.
The assembly passed the nonbinding resolution by a majority vote to noisy scenes in the house.
“This assembly calls upon the Government of India to initiate dialogue with elected representatives of people of Jammu and Kashmir for restoration of special status,” the resolution read.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which has 29 members in the 90-seat assembly, rejected the resolution. It requires the approval of Lt. Gov. Manoj Sinha, New Delhi’s appointed top administrator in Kashmir.
The National Conference party, which sponsored the resolution, came to power last month in the region’s first vote in a decade and the first since Modi’s Hindu nationalist government scrapped its semi-autonomy.
The federal government also downgraded and divided the former state into two centrally governed union territories, Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir.
The move — which largely resonated in India and among Modi supporters — was mostly opposed in Kashmir, including by the National Conference, as an assault on its identity and autonomy.
Many fear it would pave the way for demographic changes in the region, which has since been on edge with civil liberties were curbed and media freedoms restricted.
The region continues to remain a “union territory” — directly controlled by the federal government with India’s Parliament as its main legislator.
India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. The nuclear-armed rivals have fought two of their three wars over the territory since they gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947.
Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored “terrorism.” Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.
Modi and his powerful home minister, Amit Shah, have repeatedly stated that the region’s statehood will be restored after the election, without specifying a timeline. However, they vowed to block any move aimed at undoing the 2019 changes.


‘Going to be rough’: NATO braces for Trump’s return

‘Going to be rough’: NATO braces for Trump’s return
Updated 56 min 19 sec ago
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‘Going to be rough’: NATO braces for Trump’s return

‘Going to be rough’: NATO braces for Trump’s return
  • NATO chief Mark Rutte — chosen recently in part due to his good relations with Trump — was quick to congratulate the victor and played up the positive impact he could make

BRUSSELS: US allies at NATO scrambled Wednesday to put a brave face on the return of Donald Trump to the White House amid fears the unpredictable Republican could upend European security and pull the plug on Ukraine support.
Trump sealed a dramatic comeback to power after sweeping to victory in the US presidential election against Democrat Kamala Harris.
NATO chief Mark Rutte — chosen recently in part due to his good relations with Trump — was quick to congratulate the victor and played up the positive impact he could make.
“His leadership will again be key to keeping our Alliance strong. I look forward to working with him again to advance peace through strength through NATO,” Rutte said.
But beneath the veneer of calm, there remains deep disquiet about what Trump could do to European security as an aggressive Russia wages war on Ukraine just beyond NATO’s border.
The volatile former reality TV star rattled NATO during the campaign by saying he’d encourage Moscow to “do whatever the hell they want” to members not spending enough on defense.
Senior diplomats at NATO, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues, sought to put a positive spin on his return for a second term, saying it could push Europe to get serious about protecting itself.
“Why be scared by Trump now? It is going to be rough, but at least he will pump some energy into the whole thing,” one diplomat said.
Trump’s first term in power was a rollercoaster for NATO as the bulldozing president lambasted European allies such as Germany for weak defense spending and reportedly even mulled pulling Washington out.
But officials said that not only did the alliance survive — it actually emerged stronger as Trump and his no-holds-barred style pressured Europe to spend more.
“During his first term, our working relationship focused on bolstering transatlantic security and adapting NATO for the future. In a world of growing instability, strong US leadership remains essential,” former NATO head Jens Stoltenberg wrote on X.


Analyst Camille Grand of the European Council on Foreign Relations said there are “two theories” on how a second Trump term could go for NATO.
“One is that it will be like the first time, unpleasant but not catastrophic,” he said.
“Or, we are today in a different world with a Trump entourage who are unwaveringly Trumpist, who share his doubts about alliances, support for Ukraine; and especially during the first mandate there was no war in Europe.”
In a bid to appeal to Trump, NATO leaders have sought to repeatedly credit him with making other allies cough up more on defense.
The urgency on spending in Europe was ramped up by Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and now 23 of the 32 NATO members reach the target of spending two percent of gross domestic produce on defense — up from just three a decade ago.
Now the feeling is that Europe will have to do even more to make sure it can stand on its own.
“I expect a serious push to finally start taking our security and defense in Europe seriously, to invest much more, to finally do it,” said one former senior NATO diplomat.
But the ex-official warned to expect more rhetoric from Trump questioning Washington’s commitment to NATO’s collective defense clause that would “undermine security” and could embolden Russia and China.
For Ukraine, already struggling to hold back the Kremlin’s forces on the battlefield, the picture appears grim.
Trump has cast doubt on continuing US military support for Kyiv and promised to cut a quick deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war.
“If Trump starts negotiations with Russia, it will be very transactional, not built on values and principles — and this may lead to a result that would be catastrophic for Ukraine and for the whole of Europe,” the former diplomat said.
Other officials agreed that Ukraine was in a perilous position, but said Trump coming to power could give Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky the cover to make hard compromises.
And if Putin pushes for too much he could find the notoriously whimsical Trump far from pliant — and even willing to back Kyiv harder if the Kremlin doesn’t give ground.
“The Russians always make exaggerated demands,” said the first NATO diplomat.
“If they annoy Trump too much, they will get something in return they weren’t counting for.”


Swiss ‘burqa ban’ to take effect from 2025

Swiss ‘burqa ban’ to take effect from 2025
Updated 06 November 2024
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Swiss ‘burqa ban’ to take effect from 2025

Swiss ‘burqa ban’ to take effect from 2025
  • Facial coverings will remain permitted for reasons relating to health and safety

ZURICH: A contentious Swiss prohibition on facial coverings in public spaces widely known as the “burqa ban” will take effect on Jan. 1, the government said on Wednesday.
Narrowly passed in a 2021 referendum in neutral Switzerland, and condemned by Muslim associations, the measure was launched by the same group that organized a 2009 ban on new minarets.
The governing Federal Council said in a statement it had fixed the start of the ban, and that anyone who unlawfully flouts it faces a fine of up to 1,000 Swiss francs ($1,144).
The ban does not apply to planes or in diplomatic and consular premises, and faces may also be covered in places of worship and other sacred sites, the government said.
Facial coverings will remain permitted for reasons relating to health and safety, for native customs, or due to weather conditions, it said. They would also be allowed on artistic and entertainment grounds and for advertising, it added.
If such coverings are needed for personal protection in exercising freedom of expression and assembly, they should be permitted provided the responsible authority has already approved them and public order is not compromised, it said.