Tokyo, 18 September, /AJMEDIA/
Japan issues special typhoon warning for Kagoshima Prefecture
TOKYO – Japan’s weather agency issued Saturday a special typhoon warning for Kagoshima Prefecture in the country’s southwest as an “unprecedented” storm approached.
Large and powerful Typhoon Nanmadol could make landfall in Kagoshima and bring record rain to the prefecture and nearby areas, with the agency calling for maximum vigilance as violent winds and high waves are expected, possibly triggering landslides and flooding.
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Obama to skip Japan ex-PM Abe’s state funeral, Hagerty to attend
WASHINGTON – Former U.S. President Barack Obama is no longer expected to attend the state funeral of assassinated former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to be held later this month, U.S. and Japanese sources said Saturday.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan William Hagerty is set to attend the funeral slated for Sept. 27 in Tokyo as President Joe Biden’s administration wants to offer condolences through a bipartisan representative, they said.
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Japan emperor, empress leave for Queen Elizabeth’s state funeral
TOKYO – Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako left for Britain on a government plane Saturday to attend Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral, marking the couple’s first trip abroad since he ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019.
For the empress, who has long been battling a stress-induced illness, it is also her first overseas trip since she attended the coronation of Tonga’s King Tupou VI in 2015.
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60% of people with foreign roots questioned by Japanese police: survey
TOKYO – Around 60 percent of more than 2,000 people with foreign roots surveyed earlier this year by the Tokyo Bar Association have been questioned by Japanese police over the past five years, with encounters more frequent among those of African or Latin American backgrounds, a recently released report showed.
The survey found most people who had been questioned had undergone the treatment on multiple occasions, according to the report released by the association on Sept. 9, adding 80 percent of those with African and Latin American roots had to deal with investigators.
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U.S., S. Korea state “serious” concern over N. Korea nuclear doctrine
WASHINGTON – The United States and South Korea on Friday expressed “serious concern” about North Korea’s first-use nuclear doctrine and warned that any nuclear attack would be met with an “overwhelming and decisive response.”
In a joint statement following a bilateral dialogue on extended deterrence, which refers to the use of the U.S. nuclear arsenal to protect allies, the two countries said they had committed to using “all available levers,” including diplomatic, military and economic tools, to counter North Korean threats.
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World’s largest flower blooms in non-natural habitat for 1st time
BOGOR, Indonesia – An endangered stinky lotus flower called Giant Padma, known as the largest flower in the world, has bloomed for the first time outside its natural habitat at an Indonesian botanical garden after centuries of conservation efforts, according to the National Research and Innovation Agency.
The flower with a diameter of 60 centimeters blossomed on Monday at the Bogor Botanical Gardens in the suburbs of Jakarta following efforts to conserve the species outside its natural habitat since its discovery in 1818. The flower’s diameter can reach up to 150 centimeters.
