Category: Japan

After strikes, transport disruption, soaring inflation, a jump in COVID-19 infections and even the resignation of its prime minister, now the sweltering summer is about to add to the havoc in the U.K.

The Met Office issued its most severe warning for next week, with temperatures set to rise above 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) in parts of England, including London, and possibly threatening national records. The red alert, with potential power outages, canceled flights and posing a danger to life, was triggered for the first time and is in place for Monday and Tuesday.

Washington – The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of military technical assistance to Taiwan worth an estimated $108 million, the Pentagon said Friday.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and the democratically governed island has complained of increased military pressure from Beijing to try and force it to accept its sovereignty.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is planning a parliamentary speech in August to mourn former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, it was learned Friday.

The LDP will discuss with opposition parties about who will give the speech at a plenary meeting of the Lower House. They will also determine when it will be delivered.

ROME – Italy’s president rejected the resignation of Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Thursday after a day of political drama that threatened to bring down a national unity government that has been in office less than 18 months.

Draghi, the former European Central Bank (ECB) president, announced he was to resign on Thursday after the 5-Star Movement, a coalition party, failed to back him in a confidence vote over his plan to combat soaring prices.

Sri Lanka’s main city, Colombo, was calm on Thursday as people waited for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled to the Maldives to escape a popular uprising that erupted as the country struggled with an economic crisis.

Rajapaksa was on his way to Singapore from the Maldives on Thursday, a Sri Lankan government source said. His decision on Wednesday to make his ally Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe the acting president triggered more protests, with demonstrators storming parliament and the premier’s office demanding that he quit too.

A top LGBTQ advocacy organization, after seeing an escalation of hateful attacks on platforms such as TikTok and Twitter, has come up with a score for the social media sites’ safety for vulnerable users. All of the networks received a failing grade.

The top five social networks all scored less than 50 out of 100% on safety for LGBTQ users, a new ranking in the Social Media Safety Index developed by GLAAD, an organization that fights hate against gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer people. The report, released Wednesday, ranks Instagram the least bad at 48%, followed by Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok.

On Cuba’s far-flung Guanahacabibes peninsula, park guard Roberto Varela watches as a green sea turtle lumbers ashore and a ritual as old as the dinosaurs unfolds.

“To see them lay their eggs and to know their nests will be protected, you get the sense you are making a difference,” said Varela, who helps oversee turtle research in a national park that spans much of the peninsula.

The James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful observatory to be placed in orbit, has revealed the “deepest and sharpest infrared image of the early universe” ever taken, going back 13 billion years, NASA said Monday.

The stunning shot, revealed in a White House briefing by U.S. President Joe Biden, is overflowing with thousands of galaxies and features the faintest objects ever observed, colorized from infrared to blue, orange and white tones.