INDIA
Curfew eased for prayers
Authorities were yesterday to ease a curfew in troubled Kashmir so that the Muslim-majority population could go to Friday prayers, the region’s police chief told reporters. “People are allowed to pray within their neighborhood, there is no restriction on that,” Jammu & Kashmir Police Director-General Dilbag Singh said. “But they should not venture out of their local area.” Kashmir, also claimed by Pakistan, has been on lockdown since Monday with no Internet or telephone service and severe restrictions on movement after the government canceled the Himalayan region’s special autonomous status. Tens of thousands of additional troops have been sent to the region to impose the clampdown, which has been condemned by Pakistan and some opposition politicians. However, there have been sporadic protests, with police chasing groups of pro-separatist demonstrators, many of whom gather at night, residents said.
JAPAN
Mayor decries nuclear arms
Nagasaki yesterday marked the 74th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city as the mayor criticized nuclear states, including the US and Russia, for challenging survivors’ efforts toward establishing a nuclear-free world. Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue lamented in his peace declaration that the opinion that nuclear weapons are useful is gaining traction. The US and Russia are returning to development and deployment of nuclear weapons, as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was dissolved, he said. Taue urged world leaders to visit the atomic-bombed cities and learn firsthand the inhumanity of nuclear weapons. Survivors and other participants marked the 11:02am blast with a minute of silence.
THE NETHERLANDS
Heat caused more deaths
Almost 400 more people died in the nation during Europe’s record-breaking heat wave than in a regular summer week, Statistics Netherlands said yesterday. In total, 2,964 people died during the week that started on July 22, the agency said, which was about 15 percent more than during an average week in the summertime. Temperature records tumbled across Europe during the heat wave late last month and on July 25 topped 40°C in the country for the first time since records began. The death toll during that week was comparable to the rate during two heat waves in 2006, which were among the longest ever in the country, researchers said. About 300 of the additional fatalities were among people aged 80 or older. Most of the deaths occurred in the east, where temperatures were higher and the heat wave lasted longer. The heat wave was Europe’s second in a month, and climate specialists warned that such bursts of heat might become more common due to global warming.
A string of rape and assault allegations against the son of Norway’s future queen have plunged the royal family into its “biggest scandal” ever, wrapping up an annus horribilis for the monarchy. The legal troubles surrounding Marius Borg Hoiby, the 27-year-old son born of a relationship before Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s marriage to Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon, have dominated the Scandinavian country’s headlines since August. The tall strapping blond with a “bad boy” look — often photographed in tuxedos, slicked back hair, earrings and tattoos — was arrested in Oslo on Aug. 4 suspected of assaulting his girlfriend the previous night. A photograph
The US deployed a reconnaissance aircraft while Japan and the Philippines sent navy ships in a joint patrol in the disputed South China Sea yesterday, two days after the allied forces condemned actions by China Coast Guard vessels against Philippine patrol ships. The US Indo-Pacific Command said the joint patrol was conducted in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone by allies and partners to “uphold the right to freedom of navigation and overflight “ and “other lawful uses of the sea and international airspace.” Those phrases are used by the US, Japan and the Philippines to oppose China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
‘KAMPAI’: It is said that people in Japan began brewing rice about 2,000 years ago, with a third-century Chinese chronicle describing the Japanese as fond of alcohol Traditional Japanese knowledge and skills used in the production of sake and shochu distilled spirits were approved on Wednesday for addition to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, a committee of the UN cultural body said It is believed people in the archipelago began brewing rice in a simple way about two millennia ago, with a third-century Chinese chronicle describing the Japanese as fond of alcohol. By about 1000 AD, the imperial palace had a department to supervise the manufacturing of sake and its use in rituals, the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association said. The multi-staged brewing techniques still used today are
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