Mitama Festival at Yasukuni Shrine
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Japan Today
a day ago
- Japan Today
Mitama Festival at Yasukuni Shrine
Visitors are silhouetted in front of lanterns during the annual Mitama Festival at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Sunday night. About 30,000 lanterns light up the shrine, where more than 2.4 million war dead are enshrined, during the four-day festival, which lasts until Wednesday. © Reuters
Yomiuri Shimbun
3 days ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Russian Foreign Minister Arrives in North Korea, KCNA Says
SEOUL, July 12 (Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in North Korea on Friday, North Korea's state media KCNA said on Saturday, the latest visit by a senior Russian official to the isolated state amid warming ties between the countries. Lavrov's visit, scheduled to Sunday, includes a meeting between the countries' foreign ministers, KCNA reported. Lavrov flew out of the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur following the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting and arrived in Wonsan, North Korea's eastern coastal city, which is home to a recently opened resort and known for its missile and naval facilities. Lavrov's visit is the latest high-level meeting between the two countries amid a dramatic upgrading of their strategic cooperation that now includes a mutual defence pact. The South Korean intelligence service has said North Korea may be preparing to deploy additional troops in July or August, after sending more than 10,000 soldiers to fight with Russia in the war against Ukraine. North Korea has agreed to dispatch 6,000 military engineers and builders for reconstruction in Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched a mass cross-border incursion nearly a year ago. Russian news agencies also reported Lavrov's arrival and said after North Korea he is expected to travel to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting, which is set to take place on Monday and Tuesday. Russia's state TASS news agency said Lavrov and his North Korean counterpart, Choi Son Hui, would discuss the 40-month-old Ukraine conflict and the situation on the Korean peninsula. TASS said the new coastal resort could boost Russian tourism to North Korea, citing the resumption of direct trains from Moscow to Pyongyang and a project to build a bridge across the Tumen River forming part of the boundary between North Korea, China and Russia. TASS quoted Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko as saying more high-level delegations would visit North Korea later this year. Rudenko said the accord on strategic partnership 'clearly meets the changing needs over recent decades and strengthens traditionally friendly, good-neighbourly Russian-Korean relations to a qualitatively new level as allies.'
Yomiuri Shimbun
05-07-2025
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Greece Battles Wildfire on Crete for a Third Day as Temperatures Rise
ATHENS, July 4 (Reuters) – Gale force wind gusts complicated efforts on Friday to contain wildfires on Crete that have razed forests and olive groves and forced thousands of residents and tourists to evacuate. Around 130 firefighters, 48 vehicles and six helicopters were deployed on the third day of the effort, with the wind and dry conditions raising the risk that blazes might restart in areas of the island where they had already been contained. In Greece's capital Athens, about 800 people were evacuated from the suburb of Koropi where more than 120 firefighters battled a blaze supported by eight airplanes and eight helicopters, a fire brigade spokesperson said. The fires in Crete and in Athens come as much of Europe swelters in an early summer heatwave, which officials have linked to at least eight deaths on the continent. The blazes in Crete, which broke out in a village about 16 km (10 miles) east of Ierapetra on Wednesday, have consumed swathes of agricultural land in the southeastern corner of the island, leaving dead animals and scorched farmhouses. Olive farmer Giorgos Poulis was sorting out destroyed farming equipment beside his burned-out truck. 'The damage is incalculable in every way, from water drilling equipment, pipes, tires, cars, the cement mixer,' he said, gesturing around him. George Tzarakis, head of Hoteliers of Ierapetra and southeastern Crete, told Reuters most of the 3,500 tourists who had been evacuated were returning to their hotels. Tourism is a key earner in Crete, the largest island in Greece, and local hoteliers were concerned about future bookings as the fire hit at the start of the peak summer holiday season. Temperatures in Greece were forecast to reach up to 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit) on Friday, the Greek weather service said. In another Athens suburb, Pikermi, some 148 firefighters battled a fire that broke out on Thursday, threatening many homes, cutting power and prompting authorities to move more than 300 people to safety. The fire was contained but not extinguished, the fire brigade official said. In Italy, the health ministry put 20 of the 27 cities it monitors for heatwaves on red alert on Friday. RAI public broadcaster said temperatures would go as high as 38 C in Florence and 37 C in Rome, Bologna and Perugia. Spain's Health Ministry estimates that 341 deaths have been attributable to heat-related illnesses since the beginning of June, as the country grapples with soaring temperatures. With the heat comes a higher risk of wildfires. Greece and other Mediterranean countries are in an area dubbed 'a wildfire hotspot' by scientists – with blazes common during hot and dry summers. These have become more destructive in recent years due to a fast-changing climate, prompting calls for a new approach. 'With multiple heatwaves and fire risks expected through September, there is an urgent need to shift from reactive response to proactive preparedness,' the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said this week.
