For Fukushima supermarket owner, water release spells renewed battle for survival

By Akiko Okamoto, Kiyoshi Takenaka and Tom Bateman

On a recent Wednesday morning, supermarket owner Takashi Nakajima expertly sliced into slabs of raw sea bream and horse mackerel, placing the thin wedges of the local Fukushima catch on a plate to be sold in the store he inherited from his father.

It’s been a long battle to get radiation-wary customers back to the seafood from waters near the Fukushima nuclear power plant that was wrecked in the 2011 tsunami, Nakajima says. Now, with the imminent release of treated radioactive water from the plant into the Pacific, he fears a return to square one.

“This can’t be happening,” the 67-year-old said in the backyard kitchen of his supermarket in Soma city, just 45 km north of the stricken power plant.

Eighteen bodies found in Greek forest hit by fire believed to be migrants

Hundreds of firefighters struggled Tuesday to control major wildfires burning out of control for days in northeastern Greece

Rich Booth

Greek authorities said the bodies of 18 people were found Tuesday in an area of northeastern Greece struck by a major wildfire.

The charred bodies were found in a remote village in northern Greece on Tuesday, where wildfires have been raging for days, the fire brigade said as a heatwave hitting southern Europe turned deadly.

Greek media said the bodies found south of the village of Avantas in northern Greece were thought to be of migrants. The broader Evros region is a popular route for migrants crossing from Turkey into Greece.

African Union suspends Niger over coup

The AU said the suspension would remain in place until civilian rule in the country is restored, and that it would assess the implications of a military intervention in Niger.

The African Union (AU) said it suspended Niger on Tuesday after a coup by the West African state’s military in late July.

The AU also reiterated calls for the coup leaders to release elected President Mohamed Bazoum  and stand down.

It called on all member states to “reject this unconstitutional change of government and to refrain from any action likely to grant legitimacy to the illegal regime in Niger.”

AU to assess implications of ECOWAS deployment

Over the weekend, coup leader Abdourahmane Tchiani said that transitioning power to civilian rule could take up to three years.

Can BRICS end ‘apartheid’ against the Global South?

As the grouping of five emerging economies meets in South Africa, here’s what to expect.

Delegates from the world’s major emerging economies, and dozens of leaders from across the developing world, are meeting in Johannesburg for the BRICS summit starting Tuesday, with one question taking precedence: Is it possible to reshape global governance so the world’s majority has an equal voice in decisions that affect its future?

The Global South, which accounts for 85 percent of the world’s population, is “on the margins and outliers in terms of global decision-making” while political and financial institutions are still dominated by a select few in the West, said Anil Sooklal, South Africa’s ambassador to the BRICS, which also includes Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Ukraine war: The men who don’t want to fight

Hundreds of migrants killed by Saudi border guards – report

Spanish soccer leader’s behavior at Women’s World Cup final provokes angry reaction

The man who leads the Spanish soccer federation took some unwanted attention away from the celebrating players moments after Spain won the Women’s World Cup

David Brunat,Graham Dunbar

Moments after Spain won the Women’s World Cup, the man who leads the country’s national soccer federation took some unwanted attention away from the celebrating players.

Criticism from the Spanish government and the soccer world rained down Monday on Luis Rubiales for his inappropriate conduct while reveling in Spain’s 1-0 win over England in Sunday’s final in Sydney, Australia.

By grabbing his crotch in a victory gesture — seemingly oblivious to 16-year-old Princess Infanta Sofía standing nearby — and then kissing Spain player Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the medal and trophy ceremony on the field, Rubiales’s behavior marred the biggest day for women’s soccer.

Pakistan to compensate Christians after blasphemy riots

Pakistani authorities say they will compensate nearly 100 Christians who lost their homes to a Muslim mob. The rioters were angered by reports of the alleged desecration of Islam’s holy book, the Quran.

Christians who had their homes destroyed last week by Muslim rioters outraged by the alleged desecration of a Quran by a Christian man and his friend will be compensated to the tune of 2 million rupees (€6,236, $6,800), Pakistani officials said on Monday.

In the incident last Wednesday, a mob rampaged through Christian neighborhoods, burning at least 16 churches and damaging houses in their fury.

The two men accused of the desecration, which allegedly involved ripping pages out of the Quran and throwing them on the ground while writing insulting remarks on other pages, have been arrested, along with 160 suspected rioters so far.

‘Intense and long-lasting’ heatwave hits France, record temperatures expected

Tens of millions of people in France sweated through a late summer heatwave on Monday, with record temperatures expected in the wine-growing Rhone valley region and a forest fire also blazing in the southeast.

Temperatures are expected to peak on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the most intense heat in the southern parts of the country where the mercury is already pushing past 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

Health authorities have placed 50 out of 96 departments in mainland France in the second-highest heat warning level, with some areas expected to be placed in the maximum red category in the coming days.

“Some records could be broken, notably on Tuesday in the Rhone valley with 40-42C expected,” national weather service Meteo France said.

‘People foaming at the mouth’: 10 years since chemical attacks in Ghouta

In 2013, the Syrian regime attacked the towns of Zamalka, Ein Tarma, and Irbin in Ghouta countryside with a nerve agent.

 It has been 10 years since the chemical attacks in eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus, and Umm Yahya – a nurse at a local hospital at the time – still cannot forget the images of people convulsing and foaming at the mouth.

Shortly after midnight on August 21, 2013, the Syrian regime attacked the towns of Zamalka, Ein Tarma, and Irbin in the Ghouta countryside with a nerve agent.

According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), a total of 1,127 people were killed in the attacks. Nearly 6,000 others suffered from suffocation and respiratory problems.

Analysis: A BRICS no-show speaks volumes about Putin’s shrinking horizons

Once upon a time, Russian President Vladimir Putin was the man to see: In the weeks preceding Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, world leaders took turns shuttling to Moscow to urge the Kremlin leader to step back from the brink and call off any plans for an attack.

Those efforts failed. But the man who set a catastrophic war in motion now finds his travel options extremely limited.

That may seem a trifling matter for a man who rules a country that spans eleven time zones. After all, Putin has an open door to Beijing, and Kremlin-friendly leaders in Central Asia and Iran have rolled out the welcome mat since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

And of course, he’ll always have Minsk: Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko, who provided Russia a launching pad for the invasion, has also played host to Putin.

Thousands of people have fled their homes in the capital of South Kordofan state in Sudan after an attack by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North rebel group, one of three forces now fighting in the area.

The SPLMN has been trying to capture the city from the regular army, known as the Sudanese Armed Forces, since June, when it entered the conflict that broke out in April between the SAF, led by Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

“The situation is really bad,” a resident of the state capital, Kadugli, said. “Families ran away with nothing, no food, no money. Even the international NGOs could not feed them.”

Creeping CounteroffensiveThe Never-Ending Battle for Bakhmut

Four hand-held fire extinguishers for more than 40 tons of steel – that’s the fire safety at the front near Bakhmut. It’s all they have, says the commander of an artillery battery who calls himself “Viy” as he shows off his Soviet-era howitzer. The 2S19 gun, at least 30 years old, is set up on the edge of a deciduous forest near the city in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. It is hidden in a hole in the ground, under a cage made of steel beams, camouflage netting and wire mesh designed to protect it against reconnaissance and kamikaze drones, at least a little bit.

Viy explains how Russian remote-controlled Lancet drones have managed to strike their howitzer three times in recent months. Each time, his men smothered the flames with the hand-held fire extinguishers. He describes their response as “heroic,” because the ammunition surrounding the gun, of course, could have exploded at any time. They only managed to acquire the odd cage-like structure a few weeks ago, he says.

Seine River events scrapped again, renewing doubts over Paris Olympics plan

High levels of water pollution in the Seine River caused two swimming events to be cancelled over the weekend, after two others successfully went ahead on Thursday and Friday. A year ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, organisers say there is no Plan B for swimming events set to be held in the river.

“I always dive with [an] open mouth. It’s not going to be funny if I wake up tomorrow morning with … whatever,” triathlete Kristian Blummenfelt told reporters on Wednesday, August 16, before jumping in Paris’s Seine River.

Athletes were testing out the water on Wednesday to get used to the river currents before four days of triathlon test events ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics, during which multiple swimming races are set to be held in the river.

The races were a partial success for organisers. The women’s and men’s triathlons went ahead as planned on Thursday and Friday, before the swimming stages were called off for the weekend’s para triathlon and mixed relay races after high levels of E.coli bacteria were detected in the river water.

Results of water quality tests showed “significant discrepancies” in the hours leading up to Saturday’s events, organisers said in a statement.

Vietnam War: The pastor who survived 17 years in forgotten jungle army

By George Wright

BBC News, London

Pastor Y Hin Nie, 75, preaches the gospel from the comfort of his church in the US state of North Carolina. But as a young man he survived nearly two decades in the jungle, giving sermons to his comrades fighting Vietnamese troops long after the war had ended – his AK-47 never far from his side.

On the run and cut off from the world, Hin Nie and his unit of insurgents foraged for food and hunted for tiger skins to pay the Khmer Rouge. His “forgotten army” did not give up arms until 1992, after Hin Nie negotiated their freedom.

The first time Y Hin Nie nearly died was on the night of 30 January 1968, when the Vietcong, fighting for the Communist North in Vietnam, launched a massive attack, firing barrages of rockets on US-held areas under the cover of Tet – or New Year – celebrations.

Kishida vows safety over Fukushima water release during on-site visit

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Sunday during a visit to the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant that he has urged the operator to prioritize safety ahead of the planned release of treated radioactive water stored at the facility into the sea.

With fishermen remaining concerned over how their businesses could be affected by the move, Kishida also told reporters that he plans to meet with the head of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations on Monday.

While Kishida refrained from specifying the exact timing of the start of the water release during the visit, he has been preparing to meet with other Cabinet ministers on Tuesday to make the final decision on the issue, with the end of the month eyed.

Niger coup: ECOWAS delegation arrives after ‘D-day’ invasion threat
Soldiers who overthrew the democratically elected president in July have quickly entrenched themselves in power and rebuffed dialogue efforts.

A delegation from regional nations arrived in Niger in a last-ditch diplomatic effort to reach a peaceful solution with mutinous soldiers who overthrew the country’s president last month.

A plane carrying the delegation landed in the capital Niamey at about 1pm (12:00 GMT) on Saturday, a day after the bloc’s military chiefs said they were ready to intervene to reinstate deposed President Mohamed Bazoum.

Niger’s governing military council confirmed the arrival of the ECOWAS representatives, headed by former Nigerian leader Abdulsalami Abubakar.

Pakistani opposition leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi detained
Reason for arrest of former foreign minister and leader of PTI is not immediately clear, party says

Reuters
Sat 19 Aug 2023 16.19 BST
Pakistani opposition leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi was detained on Saturday, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said, just hours after he said it would challenge any delay to the country’s election in the courts.

Party spokesperson Zulfi Bukhari told Reuters the specific reason for the detention of Qureshi, twice Pakistan’s foreign minister, was not immediately clear. The caretaker information minister did not respond to a request for comment.

Bukhari condemned the arrest on the social media platform X, saying Qureshi was “arrested for doing a press conference and reaffirming PTI stance against all tyranny and pre poll rigging that is going on currently in Pakistan”.

Taiwan slams Chinese ‘bully next door’ amid military drills

The air and sea drills close to Taiwan are seen as a response to a visit of its Vice President William Lai to the US. China has derided Lai as a “troublemaker” who backs “Taiwanese independence” separatists.

China conducted military exercises around Taiwan on Saturday as a “stern warning” in reaction to the recent US stopover by Taiwan’s Vice President, William Lai.

State media CCTV announced that the operation involved missile-armed boats and fighter jets, simulating an encirclement of Taiwan.

“The Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army on Saturday launched joint air and sea patrols and military exercises of the navy and air force around the island of Taiwan…meant to train the coordination of military vessels and airplanes and their ability to seize control of air and sea spaces,” state media Xinhua reported, quoting Chinese military sources.

Japan’s Fukushima water release plan fuels fear despite IAEA backing

Japan plans to release more than 1 million metric tonnes of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean by the end of August. After years of debate, and despite a green light from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the plan continues to stoke fears among the local population and in nearby countries.

Twelve years after the triple catastrophe – earthquake, tsunami, reactor meltdown – that struck the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in 2011, Japan is preparing to release part of the treated wastewater from the stricken plant into the Pacific Ocean this month. A recent article from the daily Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun revealed the upcoming release without specifying a date.

The release of contaminated water by the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has been on the cards since 2018 but it was repeatedly postponed until it finally received endorsement from the International Atomic Energy Agency in early July. After a two-year review, five review missions to Japan, six technical reports and five missions on the ground, the international nuclear watchdog said the discharges of the treated water were consistent with the agency’s safety standards, with “negligible radiological impact to people and the environment”. The green light, which cleared the path for the completion of the project, was greeted with scepticism by some members of the scientific community and with animosity by many local fishermen who fear that consumers will shun their products.

Scientists race to understand highly mutated coronavirus variant spotted in four countries, including the US
By Brenda Goodman, CNN

A highly mutated new variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 has countries on alert as scientists scramble to understand how far it has spread and how well our immunity will defend against it.

The new variant, called BA.2.86 and nicknamed Pirola by variant hunters on social media, has more than 30 amino acid changes to its spike protein compared with its next closest ancestor, the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, according to Dr. Jesse Bloom, who studies viral evolution at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle.

“This makes it an evolutionary jump comparable in size to that which originally gave rise to Omicron,” Bloom posted on his lab’s website.

Chernihiv: Russian missile strike kills seven and injures 110, Ukraine says

By James Waterhouse & George Wright
BBC News in Chernihiv and London
Seven people, including a six-year-old child, were killed when a Russian missile struck the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, officials said.

Twelve children were among 110 people wounded, the interior ministry said. Twenty-five people were hospitalised.

Among the victims were people who had been celebrating an Orthodox religious holiday at church, the ministry said.

A main square, university building and a famous theatre were damaged in the attack, which the UN called “heinous”.

The city’s imposing theatre was hit directly. Tiles were blown off the roofs of neighbouring buildings with one catching fire 100 metres away.

What will be left?’ 20,000 flee Canada city as fire surges

As you can see from the chart below, Canada is experiencing a record year for wildfires.

The comparison goes all the way back to 1983, which had a relatively minuscule amount of fires.

“It is by far the worst forest fire season in our history… it is an incredibly difficult year,” says Canada’s federal minister for environment and climate change, Steven Guilbeault.

Summary

1. The evacuation of the northern Canadian city of Yellowknife is continuing as wildfires bear down
2. As of Thursday, the fire was 15km (9 miles) north-west of the city, which is home to some 20,000 people
3. Residents have been ordered to get out by noon on Friday and long queues have formed as locals wait for planes to evacuate them
4. A separate fire about 2,000km (1200 miles) away has caused the city of Kelowna, home to 150,000 people, to declare a state of emergency and begin evacuations
5. There are nearly 240 wildfires in the Northwest Territories as Canada battles with its worst fire season on record

Germany: AfD politician convicted over Holocaust remarks

In a Facebook post, the former Bundestag member for the far-right party had compared COVID measures with the persecution of Jews by the Nazis.

A court in the German city of Munich on Friday convicted a politician from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party over remarks comparing a coronavirus vaccination campaign with Nazi-era anti-Jewish pogroms.

Florian Jäger, who served as a member of Germany’s national parliament, the Bundestag, posted a video on his Facebook page in 2021.

In it, he claimed that the German government’s COVID measures were comparable with the November pogrom terror campaign against German Jews in 1938.

What the court said about the AfD politicians remarks

The court ruled that the comments in question amounted to incitement and sentenced Jäger to pay a fine of €2,700 ($2,930). The amount was reduced from €5,400 due to the poor state of the politician’s personal finances.

More than 2,400 killed in Haiti gang violence since January 1, says UN

More than 2,400 people have been killed in Haiti since the start of 2023 amid rampant gang violence, including hundreds killed in lynchings by vigilante mobs, the UN said Friday.

The toll comes as gang violence in Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince this week left 30 residents dead and more than a dozen injured.

“Between January 1 and August 15 of this year, at least 2,439 people have been killed and a further 902 injured,” UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.

In addition, she said, “951 people have been kidnapped” during the same period.

And as anger grows over the gang violence, she warned that a rise in popular justice movements and self-defence groups was spurring further violence.

“Since April 24 up to mid-August, more than 350 people have been lynched by local people and vigilante groups,” she said, adding that of those, 310 were alleged gang members and one was a police officer.

ECOWAS defence chiefs continue talks on possible Niger intervention

ECOWAS defence chiefs are attending a two-day meeting in Accra to fine-tune details of a potential military operation in Niger.

West African military chiefs are holding a second day of talks in Ghana on Friday, preparing for a possible armed intervention in Niger after a coup removed President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) agreed a day earlier to activate a “standby force” as a last resort to restore democracy in Niger after generals toppled and detained Bazoum.

ECOWAS defence chiefs are having a two-day meeting in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, to fine-tune details of a potential military operation to restore Bazoum if continuing negotiations with coup leaders fail.

China’s ‘Lehman moment?’ Big investment firm misses payments

A major Chinese investment trust has missed payments to corporate investors, sparking a rare protest and adding to concerns that a slump in China’s property market could trigger a wider financial crisis.

At least three Chinese companies — Nacity Property Service, KBC Corporation and Xianheng International Science and Technology — said in separate stock exchange filings in recent weeks that Zhongrong Trust had failed to pay the interest and principal on several investment products. The scale of payments missed exceeded 110 million yuan ($15 million), according to their statements.

Zhongrong Trust, which managed $87 billion worth of funds for corporate clients and wealthy individuals as of the end of 2022, is one of thousands of wealth management firms in China that offer relatively high levels of return to investors.