Foreign News
Japan marks 81 years since atomic bombing of Hiroshima
Hiroshima held its annual peace ceremony on Thursday, marking 81 years since the atomic bombing. People across Japan are taking time to pause and remember the victims.
Hiroshima fell silent at 8:15 a.m., the same minute the US dropped the bomb in 1945.
The heat and radiation from the blast destroyed the city, killing an estimated 140,000 people by the end of the year. Many who survived suffer from cancer and other diseases related to radiation exposure.
Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae and representatives from a record 121 countries and regions attended the ceremony.
Hiroshima Mayor Matsui Kazumi placed an updated list of atomic bomb victims inside the park’s cenotaph. It now holds 353,639 names, including 4,393 who died or whose deaths were confirmed over the past 12 months.
Matsui delivered a peace declaration, calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. He said: “Policymakers of the world, civil society demands the immediate abolition of nuclear weapons. How much longer do you intend to disappoint us? Surely you understand that any use of nuclear weapons would inflict catastrophic damage on humanity, and that nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament can only be addressed through multilateral efforts. Leaders of nuclear-weapon states, you bear primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament. You must surely recognize the imperative to lead by example.”
Prime Minister Takaichi also spoke at the ceremony. She said: “Japan firmly upholds the Three Non-Nuclear Principles and as the ‘only nation to suffer atomic bombings during war,’ will persevere in bringing about a ‘world free of nuclear weapons.’ This is the mission we carry. Today, the global security environment is becoming increasingly severe. Recently, the ‘Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference’ was held and it showed us that the path toward a ‘world without nuclear weapons’ is far from smooth. Yet that is exactly why we must keep moving forward.”
For some, the pilgrimage to the Peace Memorial Park began hours before the ceremony.
The daughter of an atomic bomb survivor said: “My mother, who survived the atomic bombing, has also passed away. When she was alive, I listened to her stories intently. The number of the survivors continues to dwindle. So I think we, as their children, must pass on the story of what happened with the atomic bomb and keep speaking about the importance of world peace for the future.
The son of an atomic bomb survivor said: “Today is a special day, so we came here to think again about peace. I pray for world peace for children.”
A high school student said, “Because the number of survivors is decreasing, I think it is important for more younger people like us to listen to their stories so we can pass on their experiences to future generations.”
There were about 91,000 atomic bomb survivors alive at the end of March. Their average age is now over 86 years old.
(NHK World)
US authorities have found debris from a medical transport aircraft that went missing with six people on board.
The Federal Aviation Administration told the BBC it had lost contact with the Gulfstream G-100 plane just after 01:00 local time (05:00 GMT) on Saturday, while it was travelling from Bermuda to Boston, Massachusetts.
The search for survivors continues off the coast of Nantucket, a Massachusetts island, the US Coast Guard said.
Authorities have notified the next of kin of those on the flight, four Canadian nationals and two Bermudian nationals.
“Search crews located a debris field confirmed to be from the aircraft off the coast of Nantucket,” the US Coast Guard said in an update on Saturday night. It added that ships, helicopters and planes were involved in searches that would through continue the night.
The plane departed from Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International Airport at 23:40 local time, according to flight data from FlightAware, and was due to land at Boston’s Logan International at 01:30 EDT (05:30 GMT).
According to the tail number released by the Coast Guard, the plane belonged to Latitude Air Ambulances, a company that provides international medical flights for patients returning home.
Among those on board were two pilots and two medical staff, both Canadian, Clarence Togeretz, director of flight operations at Latitude, told CBC News.
The crew flew to Bermuda to collect a patient and their relative, who are not Canadian, Togeretz said.
FlightAware’s tracker shows the aircraft significantly dropped in altitude before its communications went dark, plummeting from around 7,300m (24,000ft) to 3,300m (11,000ft).
Radio transmissions shows trouble with communications between the air traffic controller and the pilot, the Boston Globe reported based on transmissions provided by LiveATC.net.
“You’re coming in blind? Is that what you said?,” the air traffic controller asked. “Are you declaring an emergency, or no?”
The pilot’s response was inaudible.
“You’re coming in a little weak so I didn’t hear what your response was, if you were declaring an emergency or not,” the air traffic controller said, according to the Globe.
The air traffic controller later confirmed the pilot had declared an emergency.
An area fire dispatcher asked emergency crews just after 01:00 EDT to prepare to meet a plane with an “electrical issue”.
The dispatcher later said “the aircraft has lost radio and radar”.
The Coast Guard said it would provide an update on Sunday morning local time.
[BBC]
A car has crashed into a crowd of rugby league supporters in the eastern Australian city of Newcastle, injuring 10 people, including three children.
New South Wales police said on Saturday that two of the injured – a five-year-old girl and a 67-year-old man – were in a critical condition and the other eight were in stable condition in hospital.
Police said they had arrested the 18-year-old man driving the vehicle and were investigating what happened. They said the crash was not believed to be related to “terrorism”.
The crowd had gathered to farewell the local rugby league side, the Newcastle Knights, ahead of their grand final against the Sydney Roosters on Sunday.
Newcastle Lord Mayor Gavin Morris said the driver, a rugby league fan, had lost control of his vehicle and had been taken into custody.
“He was revving the car, he was excited, he was a supporter, he was there for the joy of the moment,” Morris told the national broadcaster ABC.
“Somehow he lost control of the car … and he’s gone into the crowd,” he added.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “My thoughts are with everyone injured or involved in the horrible incident this morning in Newcastle.”
“Rugby league brings people together, and this should have been a weekend of excitement and pride for Newcastle fans,” he wrote in a social media post.
[Aljazeera]
Polls have opened in Latvia for an election taking place against the backdrop of perceived security threats from Russia and a nationwide cost-of-living squeeze.
Saturday’s vote is the first electoral test for Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs after coming to power in May this year when his predecessor resigned due to a backlash from stray drone incursions from Ukraine.
Kulbergs, whose right-wing United List party is currently polling at about 20 percent, is expected to hold onto his position, but the decline of two allies in his current coalition means he is set for a complicated negotiation over the makeup of any future government.
Polls opened at 05:00 GMT and will close at 17:00 GMT. The results are not expected to change Latvia’s pro-European and pro-Ukrainian course.
About 1.5 million people are eligible to vote in the country’s 11th parliamentary election since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Latvian politics are highly fragmented, with parties rarely seeing above 20 percent vote share and coalitions being the norm.
This year, 14 electoral lists are contesting the election, but polls indicate only seven are likely to enter parliament, with the rest expected to fail to meet the minimum 5 percent vote threshold.
Rising living costs, low wages, strains on the healthcare system and long-term population decline have all featured prominently in campaign debates.
Most parties in Latvia are pro-Ukraine; however, the populist Sovereign Power party – which says it wants Ukraine to win but argues money spent supporting Kyiv would be better spent at home – looks likely to become the country’s second-biggest party, with more than 9 percent of the vote. Most other parties have ruled out forming a coalition with Sovereign Power.
Latvia First, a pro-Ukraine and populist nationalist party currently polling at about 9 percent, could be a potential coalition partner for PM Kulbergs.
The Progressives, a pro-European social democratic party, are polling at 6 percent.
Ethnic Russians make up roughly one in four Latvian citizens, but their vote, which has traditionally been cast along identity-based lines, looks set to be made according to economic and social issues.
Latvia is the poorest of the Baltic states, and it has sharply increased its defence spending since Russia invaded Ukraine, now allocating nearly 5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) to defence.
[Aljazeera]
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