JAPAN
Quake injures four people
An earthquake shook Tokyo and surrounding areas yesterday, injuring several people and causing minor damage, officials and media said. The epicenter of the magnitude 5.4 quake was in Chiba Prefecture, southeast of Tokyo, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. No tsunami warning was issued. Four people were injured, including a man who was hit by a falling ceiling light, and some rail services were canceled or delayed, Kyodo news agency said. The country is in one of the world’s most earthquake-prone regions, and a massive 2011 quake and subsequent tsunami killed thousands and caused a meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
SOUTH KOREA
Cattle culled over disease
Authorities have ordered the culling of several hundred cattle and put in place biosecurity measures after confirming cases of foot-and-mouth disease in farms in a central province, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said. The cases mark the first confirmed outbreak since January 2019, media reports said. The contagion occurred in three farms in North Chungcheong Province, the ministry said. “Related agencies and local governments are asked to make all-out efforts on preventive measures ... to stop further spread of foot-and-mouth disease,” Vice Minister of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Kim In-joong said. The disease is highly transmissible and causes lesions and lameness in cattle and other cloven-hoofed animals, but does not affect humans. A team has been sent to the area to investigate the outbreak, disinfect farms and enforce a 48-hour halt on the movement of people and livestock, the ministry said.
ASEAN
Myanmar progress stalls
Myanmar’s ruling military has made no meaningful progress on implementing a peace plan agreed two years ago and the bloc must show unity in deciding how to address the escalating crisis, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said yesterday. Widodo, who chairs the bloc this year, was speaking on the second day of a summit in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia, where the “five-point consensus” peace plan is in the spotlight. “I must speak candidly. On implementation of the peace plan, there has not been significant progress,” he said. “Therefore, ASEAN unity is required to decide on the next steps.” The president called on the 10-member grouping, of which Myanmar is a member, to chart a way forward to de-escalate violence in Myanmar since a coup in 2021.
UNITED STATES
Modi invited for state dinner
President Joe Biden is to host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a state dinner on June 22, the White House said on Wednesday. It would be the third such formal event hosted by Biden after dinners for the leaders of France and South Korea. “The upcoming visit will affirm the deep and close partnership between the United States and India, and the warm bonds of family and friendship that link Americans and Indians together,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in the statement. The two leaders are to focus on a secure Indo-Pacific region and technology partnerships on defense, clean energy and space, Jean-Pierre said. The state visit comes as the Biden administration is working to deepen its relationship with key countries to counter what it sees as a growing threat posed by China. The two leaders would “explore ways to strengthen India-US collaboration in plurilateral and multilateral fora, including in the G20,” the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing
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