Chinese coast guard ships entered waters off disputed islands in the East China Sea yesterday, the Japan Coast Guard said, a day after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe angered Beijing by sending an offering to a controversial war shrine.
Three Chinese vessels sailed into territorial waters that extend 12 nautical miles (22.2km) around one of the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), which are controlled by Japan — which calls them the Senkaku Islands — and also claimed by Taiwan, as well as China, which calls them the Diaoyu Archipelago (釣魚群島), shortly after 10am, the Japanese coast guard said.
Relations between Japan and China have been in deep freeze for two years over the ownership of the islands and what Beijing views as Tokyo’s rewriting of history — especially concerning World War II.
To mark the start of a four-day autumn festival on Friday, a cross-party group of Japanese parliamentarians said 110 of its members paid homage at the Yasukuni Shrine in downtown Tokyo.
Abe himself sent a potted tree with his name and title prominently displayed.
The visits to Yasukuni by three of the five women in Abe’s Cabinet came just hours after Abe shook hands with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) on the sidelines of an Asia-Europe summit in Milan, Italy.
The pilgrimage to Yasukuni by three of Abe’s ministers — all well-known for their strident nationalist views — will likely do little to curry favor abroad, including in key ally the US, but will play well with a core group of right-wing supporters at home.
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
French singer Kendji Girac, who was seriously injured by a gunshot this week, wanted to “fake” his suicide to scare his partner who was threatening to leave him, prosecutors said on Thursday. The 27-year-old former winner of France’s version of The Voice was found wounded after police were called to a traveler camp in Biscarrosse on France’s southwestern coast. Girac told first responders he had accidentally shot himself while tinkering with a Colt .45 automatic pistol he had bought at a junk shop, a source said. On Thursday, regional prosecutor Olivier Janson said, citing the singer, that he wanted to “fake” his suicide
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other