Foreign News
More than 100 aftershocks hit Japan after powerful quake that killed 13
Japan’s south-western Kyushu region has had more than 100 aftershocks since it was struck on Tuesday by a powerful earthquake which left at least 13 people dead.
Many others were said to be in cardiac arrest – a term often used in preliminary reports in Japan before a death is officially confirmed.
In searing heat, rescue crews are digging through the rubble at a paper factory and a shopping mall in Kumamoto prefecture, looking for trapped survivors. The mall suffered an explosion in the hour after the quake struck.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warned it was “truly a race against time” to rescue those trapped. Thousands are in evacuation centres and many are without power.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) is urging residents to be alert for the possibility of strong aftershocks, public broadcaster NHK reported.
“For the next week or so, especially the next two to three days, we would like people to watch out for potential earthquakes with a maximum seismic intensity of 7,” a JMA official said.
Tuesday’s quake hit the Kumamoto prefecture on Kyushu island at 16:27 local time (07:27 GMT).
One of the worst-hit buildings was the Aeon Mall in Kashima, where a portion of the second floor collapsed.
Footage of the shopping centre showed white smoke rising as people ran into the car park. Large parts of the centre’s exterior were blown off, exposing the steel beams underneath.
Three people remain unaccounted for as rescuers search the rubble.
Aeon Mall president Akio Yoshida confirmed three people were killed in the mall explosion. Some 2,700 people were employed at the mall, officials said.
Yoshida said four people were taken to hospital from the mall, adding that one person had been rescued from a bathroom and another person was in cardiac arrest.
“We sincerely apologise for this incident,” Yoshida said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Other areas affected include a factory in Yatsushiro City where two people were found to have no signs of life and nine others were unaccounted for, NHK reported.
“Although more than 20 hours have passed since the earthquake, there are those still in need of help,” Takaichi said on Wednesday.
More than 4,600 personnel were deployed to help with rescue efforts, Takaichi added.
Officials advised rescuers and quake survivors to take precautions against heatstroke in the clean-up work as temperatures hit about 35C (95F).
Defence Minister Shinjirō Koizumi said in a post on X that about 300 air conditioning units would be flown to Kumamoto and distributed in the worst-hit areas.
The JMA measured the earthquake magnitude at 7.1 and the US Geological Survey later placed it at 6.8. Quake magnitude figures are often updated as seismologists obtain and analyse new data.
The quake’s shallow epicentre – with a depth of 10 km (six miles) – was about 20km south of Kumamoto city.
Footage aired by NHK showed cracked roads and bridges and several buildings on fire. Train services were suspended and electricity cut off for thousands of homes.
Residents in Kumamoto prefecture awoke on Wednesday to the aftermath of the quake, with images showing debris on the streets and collapsed buildings, including the worship hall of the 19th Century Yatshushiro Shrine.
One resident, Hiroko Ogata, 75, told the BBC she was at the restaurant she runs in Yatsushiro City when the earthquake hit.
“All of a sudden there was a big jolt, and I was surprised and scared… I have lived here for 75 years, but I have never experienced such a big quake. I thought I would die.”
American tourist Chantel Mohar was also in Kumamoto with her family when the earthquake struck.
While travelling in the tourist bus, everyone’s phones went off with earthquake alerts. “There was just a lot of rocking and confusion,” she told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
[BBC]
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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