Osaka recorded more than 90 cases of water pipe leaks under its roads in the 2024 fiscal year, according to the city’s waterworks bureau.

“Tackling ageing water pipes requires a huge investment. So I have nothing but appreciation,” Yokoyama told reporters on Thursday, in response to a question about the huge gold donation.

Yokoyama said the amount was “staggering” and he was “lost for words”.

The same mystery donor had previously given 500,000 yen in cash for municipal waterworks, he added.

The city’s waterworks bureau said in a statement on Thursday that it was grateful for the gold donation and would put it to good use – including tackling the deterioration of water pipes.

More than 20% of Japan’s water pipes have passed their legal service life of 40 years, according to local media.

Sinkholes have also become increasingly common in Japanese cities, many of which have ageing sewage pipeline infrastructure.

Last year, a massive sinkhole in Saitama Prefecture swallowed the cab of a truck, killing its driver. The sinkhole was believed to have been caused by a ruptured sewage pipe.

That incident prompted Japanese authorities to step up efforts to replace corroded pipes across the country. But budget issues have stalled the progress of such pipe renewal works.

[BBC]

Speaking as the Board of Peace convened on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had “agreed with our ally the US there will be no reconstruction of Gaza before the demilitarisation of Gaza”.

The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Israel responded to the attack by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 72,000 people have been killed, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The enclave’s economy is in ruins, with its buildings and infrastructure largely destroyed. The UN estimates the cost of damage at $70bn.

Countries including the UK, Canada, France and Germany have refused to join the Board of Peace that came into being last month.

In an effort to address concerns that the organisation was meant as a way of sidelining the UN, Trump told the board’s first meeting in Washington that “we’re going to be working with the United Nations very closely, we’re going to bring them back”.

Gaza, the US president said, was “no longer a hotbed of radicalism and terror”.

“And to end that, we have today, and I’m pleased to announce that Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, UAE, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and Kuwait have all contributed more than $7bn toward the relief package”.

“Every dollar spent is an investment in stability,” he said, adding that the UN would contribute $2bn for humanitarian assistance, while football body Fifa would raise $75m for soccer-related projects in the Strip.

Nickolay Mladenov, a Bulgarian politician who has been given the title of high representative for Gaza as part of the board, said the process of recruiting a new transitional Palestinian police force had begun and “just in the first few hours we have 2,000 people who have applied”.

But both Israel and the US have insisted that the force is not drawn from the existing Hamas-controlled police without stringent vetting, nor do they want it simply made up of the security forces of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

That means starting from scratch, and the task is daunting.

Mladenov has previously said the Palestinian police force must be the primary security agency in Gaza, assisted by the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), and not vice-versa.

According to the US plan, the ISF will work with Israel and Egypt, along with a newly trained and vetted Palestinian police force, to help secure border areas and ensure the process of permanently disarming non-state armed groups, including Hamas.

But Mladenov said there is little evidence such a force could yet oversee the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian factions.

Meanwhile, there was no indication at the meeting that Hamas was prepared to hand over its weapons, despite Trump’s combination of optimism and threat on this point.

So far, Hamas has publicly appeared to make handing over weapons contingent on – at least – Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Progress on this issue is critical because none of Trump’s proposals for reconstruction and governance can take place without a security force on the ground that has broad backing of the Palestinian population, given its role includes assuming a monopoly of force within Gaza.

The Washington meeting itself was characteristic of Trump’s approach to Israeli-Palestinian peace-making over his two terms – involving a future for Palestinians seen often through the lens of real-estate development and wealthy investor funding.

Meanwhile Israel’s leadership has been wary about some of Trump’s efforts, particularly the invitations to his board for Turkey and Qatar, whom Israel does not want to see take a prominent role in decisions on the future of Gaza.

Trump and his team have defended his unconventional approach saying it amounts to “new thinking” to try to solve the conflict.

However, Mladenov has warned that without rapid progress, Gaza will remain split into two territories, one under continuing Israeli occupation and the other under Hamas control – and also split from the West Bank, making a future independent state unviable and failing to secure either Palestinians or Israelis.

[BBC]

Security personnel have sealed off the mine, which is about 200km (124 miles) south-east of the state capital of Jos, as investigations get under way to find out the cause of the leak.

State officials are yet to visit the area and response efforts have reportedly been slow because of security concerns – armed criminal gangs, known locally as bandits, have been active there in recent years.

Safiyanu Haruna, one of the miners who found the bodies at the start of his shift, told the BBC that some of the miners who were underground survived and were taken to a hospital in Wase for treatment.

[BBC]