TOKYO: Six people have died of heatstroke in Tokyo as Japan swelters under a rare rainy season heatwave, prompting authorities to issue a flurry of health warnings.
Over the weekend, the central Shizuoka region became the first in Japan to see the mercury reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) this year, far surpassing the 35-degree threshold classified by weather officials as “extremely hot.”
Such severe heat in the middle of Japan’s rainy season is “rather rare,” caused in part by a strong South Pacific high-pressure system, a weather agency official told AFP.
Temperatures also hit record highs near 40 degrees Celsius on Monday at observation posts in Tokyo and in the southern Wakayama region, according to local media.
The past few days have seen authorities issue heatstroke alerts in much of the country, urging residents to avoid exercising outside and to use air conditioning.
The capital logged three deaths linked to heatstroke on Saturday and three more on Monday, when the mercury hovered around 35 degrees Celsius at midday, according to the city’s medical examination office.
“Without the AC on, I find it difficult to survive,” Tokyo resident Sumiko Yamamoto, 75, told AFP, adding she feels “it’s gotten drastically hotter” since last year.
“Through the advice given on TV, I try to stay hydrated as much as possible. Because I’m old, I’m being careful not to collapse,” she said.
Heatstroke is particularly deadly in Japan, which has the second-oldest population in the world after Monaco.
Yamamoto’s age puts her in the demographic flagged by health experts as particularly vulnerable to heatstroke, along with infants and those living alone or who are too poor to afford air conditioning.
The Japanese Association for Acute Medicine on Monday warned of the rising death toll from heat exhaustion nationwide, which grew from just a few hundred per year two decades ago to around 1,500 in 2022.
The sheer number of fatalities suggests that heatstroke now poses a danger on par with that of “a major natural disaster,” the group said, warning against non-essential outings.
Tokyo business executive Mikio Nakahara, 67, says the difference between Tokyo 50 years ago and now is stark.
“Tokyo wasn’t as hot as it is now,” he told AFP.
But these days, “I try to work remotely as much as possible so I don’t have to go outside.”
With ever-hotter summers becoming the norm around the world, tourists like Ainhoa Sanchez, 29, aren’t too surprised by Tokyo’s temperatures.
“So the plan is going sightseeing a little bit. Drinking a lot of liquids. Maybe when we get too hot, we can get into a shop, look around, chill a bit and then go back to the street,” she told AFP.
Six dead in Tokyo as Japan swelters in heatwave
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Six dead in Tokyo as Japan swelters in heatwave
Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Harris has faced criticism for seemingly avoiding one-on-one interviews with national media since she took over as the Democratic nominee, and Trump hammered away at this Sunday
WASHINGTON: With just one month left in a deadlocked US presidential election, Donald Trump urged supporters Sunday in battleground Wisconsin to get out the vote, as Kamala Harris kicked off a week-long media interview blitz with a focus on reproductive rights.
Polls have the Republican and Democrat candidates neck and neck, fueling a high-cost, high-intensity scramble for each and every wavering voter in the seven key states that are likely to decide the outcome on November 5.
Trump lost Wisconsin in 2020 and this was his fourth visit in eight days. Harris was there earlier this week, holding a rally in Ripon, birthplace of the Republican Party, where she appealed to moderate and disgruntled conservatives.
“I’m only asking you to do one thing,” Trump told the crowd in the town of Juneau. “Just go out and vote.”
Trump also repeated false allegations that the Biden-Harris administration had redirected relief funds for areas devastated by Hurricane Helene and spent it on migrant programs.
Harris, he said, is “someone who steals your wealth and abandons your family when the flood waters rise.”
Harris has faced criticism for seemingly avoiding one-on-one interviews with national media since she took over as the Democratic nominee, and Trump hammered away at this Sunday.
“She doesn’t do interviews because she can’t answer the questions. She can’t answer anything,” he said.
In her bid to reach key voters, the vice president is taking to the airwaves in the coming week with a host of television, radio and podcast appearances.
Harris began her media flurry with an appearance Sunday on the podcast “Call Her Daddy” — one of the most popular programs on Spotify — that focuses on advice and issues affecting women.
She addressed reproductive rights — which Democrats view as a major vote winner among undecided voters, especially women.
At one point Harris was asked how she felt when she heard Trump, in their presidential debate last month, say that some Democratic states allow the “execution” of babies after birth.
In an impassioned reply, Harris denounced that as “a bold-faced lie,” something “outrageously inaccurate” and “insulting to women.”
“This guy,” she added, “is full of lies.”
Asked how she was feeling with just a month to go before the election, the vice president replied, “nervous” — then jokingly mentioned what she called an old adage: “there are only two ways to run: without an opponent or scared.”
Trump’s visit to Wisconsin came on the back of a theatrical campaign return on Saturday to the same venue in Butler, Pennsylvania where he narrowly avoided a would-be assassin’s bullet back in July.
The former president campaign’s team had hoped to recapture the momentum he enjoyed at that time — riding high in the polls before President Joe Biden upended the race by withdrawing and being replaced by Harris.
In a long, often rambling speech delivered from behind bulletproof glass, Trump suggested his political opponents may have been behind the failed assassination bid.
“Those who want to stop us... have slandered me, impeached me, indicted me, tried to throw me off the ballot, and who knows, maybe even tried to kill me,” he told tens of thousands of supporters who had gathered for the event.
The gunman, who was shot dead, was a registered Republican and investigators have found no motive — and no political link — to his attempt on the former president’s life.
Harris spent Saturday in North Carolina, meeting relief workers and residents in one of the areas most impacted by Helene, which left a trail of destruction across half a dozen states and more than 220 people dead.
Later in the week, she will also be a guest on ABC’s “The View,” as well as “The Howard Stern Show” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” — all of which are seen as generally sympathetic to the Harris campaign.
And former president Barack Obama will add his star power by stumping for Harris in key swing states from Thursday right through until election day, the campaign says.
ICC pursues arrest warrants for key figures
- When asked by NPR (National Public Radio) if he agreed with this assessment, Khan responded: “No is the short answer”
NEW YORK: In May, the International Criminal Court sought arrest warrants for several key Palestinian and Israeli figures.
These were: Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar, the architect of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel; Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, commonly known as Deif, commander-in-chief of Hamas’s military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades; Ismail Haniyeh, the former head of the Hamas Political Bureau, assassinated by Israel in July; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Karim Khan, the chief ICC prosecutor, accused these leaders of bearing criminal responsibility for a range of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Regarding the Hamas leaders, Khan said that there were reasonable grounds to believe they were criminally responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians during the Oct. 7 attacks and for the abduction of at least 245 hostages. “We submit that these crimes could not have been committed without their actions,” Khan said in a statement.
Khan further asserted that Netanyahu and Gallant are criminally responsible for war crimes, including the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, extermination and/or murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.
Last week, Israel’s foreign ministry filed a petition to appeal against the warrant, stating that the ICC failed to “provide Israel with the opportunity to exercise its right to investigate the claims raised by the prosecutor before proceeding.”
When asked by NPR (National Public Radio) if he agreed with this assessment, Khan responded: “No is the short answer.” He reiterated that his office is investigating crimes alleged against Hamas and Israeli leaders, noting: “There were no applications by Israel since 2021 until today. But we’ll deal with the filings in the normal way. It would only be right to respond first to the judges.”
US President Joe Biden criticized Khan’s move as “outrageous,” asserting that the application for warrants against Israeli leaders implies an equivalence between Hamas and Israel. Some US legislators condemned the ICC, with certain Republicans threatening to impose “consequences” against the tribunal. Republican Senator Tom Cotton labeled Khan’s move as “a farce.”
Khan in response said: “As an officer of the court, the umbrella of the law should apply equally. And I have just as much compassion for Kfir Bibas, who was a 10-month-old snatched from a kibbutz that I visited and taken by Hamas, as I do for children 10 months old or younger or older that have also died in Gaza.”
When asked by Arab News if he supports arrest warrants against Sinwar and Netanyahu, UN chief Antonio Guterres was unequivocal: “I support all the decisions of the ICC.”
Pascale Baeriswyl, the Swiss UN ambassador and president of the Security Council for October, also expressed her country’s support for the ICC.
She told Arab News: “We do support the ICC. We have been strong supporters for many years,” she said, adding that they await the pre-trial chamber’s decisions before proceeding further.
Baeriswyl responded to concerns about US politicians attacking the international court, stating that Switzerland has “been one of the very active ICC member states in the past, trying to protect the court.” She emphasized that the court must be able to fulfill its mandate without intimidation and called for protection of the court’s work.
Khan had asserted: “Let us today be clear on one core issue: if we do not demonstrate our willingness to apply the law equally, if it is seen as being applied selectively, we will be creating the conditions for its collapse. In doing so, we will be loosening the remaining bonds that hold us together, the stabilizing connections between all communities and individuals, the safety net to which all victims look in times of suffering. This is the true risk we face in this moment.
“Now, more than ever, we must collectively demonstrate that international humanitarian law, the foundational baseline for human conduct during conflict, applies to all individuals and applies equally across the situations addressed by my office and the court. This is how we will prove, tangibly, that the lives of all human beings have equal value.”
Has the UN failed the Gaza test?
- UN chief defends group’s actions against accusation it is not doing enough for Palestine
NEW YORK: As the war in Gaza continues unchecked, many across the Middle East and the world believe the UN has failed the Gaza test.
They feel that fear of confronting the US and Israel has led the organization to retreat from the very international laws it was created to uphold, undermining its own credibility.
However, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres insists that “there is no fear in the UN Secretariat building to confront anybody.”
In an interview with Arab News on the sidelines of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Guterres stated: “If I can be proud of anything, it is that my voice has been loud and clear in defense of the UN Charter, in defense of international law, in defense of international humanitarian law, and in defense of the right to self-determination of peoples, particularly the Palestinian people.
We have no real power, let’s be honest. The body of the UN that holds some power is the Security Council, and that body is paralyzed.
Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General
“I don’t think the UN can be accused of not being very clear in all these aspects, just as we have been clear in Ukraine and many other situations around the world.”
Guterres argues that blaming the UN for the failure to end the war in Gaza distracts from the real culprits: “Let’s be clear. The responsibility for the war lies with those who wage it.
“Could the UN have done more? I genuinely never felt we had the opportunity to do more than what we have done from the very beginning.
“We have called for a ceasefire, the release of hostages, and effective humanitarian aid since the start. Our voice has been loud and clear.
“We have pressured all parties, especially those with direct influence over Israel. But let’s be honest: It’s impossible to convince those who do not want to be convinced.”
Guterres further emphasized: “We have no real power, let’s be honest. The body of the UN that holds some power is the Security Council, and that body is paralyzed.”
The primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security lies with the Security Council.
However, the dynamics and composition of this 15-member body reflect the historical context in which the UN was established in 1945, following the Second World War.
The veto power was granted to the victorious nations, which now include China, the UK, Russia, France, and the UK.
Tarek Al-Banai, Kuwait’s permanent representative to the UN, who has led negotiations for Security Council reforms alongside his Austrian counterpart for the past two years, highlighted the troubling reality that a single veto-wielding permanent member can obstruct action, even when a majority supports a motion.
He told Arab News: “The use or misuse of the veto has been a central focus for member states.
“Unfortunately, one member or a combination of members with that ability can halt the international community’s movement toward addressing critical issues, such as the genocide currently happening in Gaza.”
This unconditional US military and diplomatic support for Israel has been especially evident during the current war in Gaza, exacerbating internal divisions within the Security Council and severely impacting its ability to act. Since Oct. 7 of last year, the US has exercised its veto power four times against resolutions calling for ceasefires or humanitarian pauses in Gaza.
Despite this, the Security Council did manage to pass three resolutions — two concerning the entry of aid and one calling for a ceasefire during Ramadan.
However, even when the US abstained on Resolution 2728, allowing it to pass, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield undermined it by claiming it was non-binding, further weakening the Security Council and deepening divisions, reinforcing what many have described as US and Western “double standards.”
Nonetheless, the Security Council is just one institution among many within the UN system.
While these entities are interconnected, their responsibilities and approaches to conflict vary significantly.
These include the secretary-general, the General Assembly, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Human Rights Council, the International Court of Justice, and UNICEF.
Guterres, who identifies as a humanitarian, expressed to Arab News that he has been “deeply saddened” by his inability to do more for Gaza, where the humanitarian crisis has reached catastrophic levels and the specter of famine looms over the embattled enclave.
“There have consistently been a series of obstacles — many caused directly by the Israeli authorities, as well as by insecurity in the area, where law and order have completely broken down,” he said.
“The proof that we are not doing more due to these obstacles is evident in the vaccination efforts for polio. When these obstacles are removed, humanitarian action becomes possible.
“It’s not that the UN isn’t capable of doing more; it’s that we have not been allowed to. When we are permitted to act, we do and we deliver, as evidenced by our past actions.
“However, I always say there is no humanitarian solution to humanitarian problems; the solution is always political.
“That is why we need to stop the war. We must create a clear roadmap for a two-state solution, one that aligns with the international community’s previous deliberations and allows Israelis and Palestinians to live together in peace and security.”
A massive blast outside Karachi Airport in Pakistan kills 2 and injures at least 8
- Police and the provincial government said a tanker exploded outside the airport, which is Pakistan’s biggest
KARACHI: A massive blast outside Karachi Airport in Pakistan on Sunday killed two people and injured at least eight, officials said.
Police and the provincial government said a tanker exploded outside the airport, which is Pakistan’s biggest.
But the provincial home minister, Zia Ul Hassan, told local TV station Geo that it was an attack targeting foreigners.
A Home Ministry official told The Associated Press that it was an attack on Chinese nationals, one of whom was injured. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Thousands of Chinese workers are in Pakistan, most of them involved in Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative that connects south and central Asia with the Chinese capital.
Videos showed flames engulfing cars and a thick column of smoke rising from the scene. There was a heavy military deployment at the site, which was cordoned off.
Deputy Inspector General East Azfar Mahesar told media that it seemed like it was an oil tanker explosion.
“We are determining the nature and reasons for the blast. It takes time.” Police officers were among the injured, he added.
The home minister and inspector general also visited the blast site, but they did not talk to the press.
Rahat Hussain, who works in the civil aviation department, said the blast was so big that it shook the airport’s buildings.
Carrying pro-Hezbollah signs at Gaza and Lebanon protests a ‘criminal act,’ says British minister
- The Metropolitan Police made at least 17 arrests during the protests, including two individuals suspected of supporting banned organizations
LONDON: A British government minister warned on Sunday that displaying support for Hezbollah constituted a “criminal act.”
Science Secretary Peter Kyle said any show of support for the group, a proscribed terrorist group in the UK, should be punished after signs with pro-Hezbollah slogans were seen during a pro-Palestine demonstration in central London over the weekend.
The Metropolitan Police made at least 17 arrests during the protests, including two individuals suspected of supporting banned organizations, Sky News reported.
The force said it was “aware” of social media posts showing people “holding placards with messages of support for Hezbollah,” adding that the footage had been passed to specialized officers.
Kyle appeared on the Sky News program “Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips” and stated law enforcement agencies had “the full support” of the home secretary, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the government “in doing what they need to do to make sure that criminal acts like that are tackled.”
The protests come amid rising tensions in the Middle East, with Israel conducting targeted raids against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran launching missiles into Israel.
The Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks has led to more than 2,600 protests in the UK over the past year, resulting in 550 arrests.
UK political and faith leaders, including Starmer, have called for calm and rejected any incitement of hate, urging communities to unite ahead of the first anniversary of the Hamas attack that has seen around 42,000 people killed, according to Gaza health authorities.
The prime minister, writing in The Sunday Times, said the “flames from this deadly conflict now threaten to consume the region,” adding “the sparks light touchpapers in our own communities here at home.”
He continued: “During difficult times, our differences and diversity should bind us together more strongly, not drive us apart. But there are always some who would use conflict abroad to stoke conflict here.
“Since Oct. 7, we have watched vile hatred against Jews and Muslims rise in our communities. Any attack on a minority is an attack on our proud values of tolerance and respect. We will not stand for it.”
