Key words : security council rotating looks forward
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20240302_10/
Japan assumes UN Security Council's rotating presidency
Japan has assumed the UN Security Council's rotating presidency for March amid a widening rift between major powers over the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Japan's Ambassador to the UN, Yamazaki Kazuyuki, spoke at a news conference in New York on Friday.
Yamazaki said Japan looks forward to working closely with other member countries for the Security Council to fulfill its mandate to maintain international peace and security.
Japan will host a ministerial-level meeting on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation at United Nations headquarters in New York on March 18.
In response to a question from a reporter on the situation in Gaza, Yamazaki said Israel has the right to protect its people. But he went on to say, "Any parties, any nations in the international community, especially as a member of the United Nations, we need to abide by international law, especially including the international humanitarian law."
He also said the council will discuss a new resolution the United States is preparing for a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages.
Discussions are expected to continue heating up this month as tensions increase in Gaza and Russia's invasion of Ukraine drags on. As the rotating chair, Japan faces the difficult task of steering the Security Council, which some say is not functioning as it should.
Key words : Biden airdrop
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20240302_09/
US announces plan to airdrop aid supplies into Gaza
US President Joe Biden has announced that the United States is planning to airdrop aid supplies into the Gaza Strip amid continuing fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Biden made the remark at the opening of talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the White House on Friday.
He said of Gaza, "People are so desperate that innocent people got caught in terrible war, unable to feed their families." He added, "Aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough now."
Supply shortages are serious especially in the northern region because aid trucks can enter Gaza only through two checkpoints in the south.
Biden announced that the US is going to provide airdrops of additional food and supplies in the coming days.
He said his country will also seek to open up other avenues into Gaza, including the possibility of a maritime corridor to deliver large amounts of humanitarian assistance.
White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said the airdrops would become a sustained effort, not a one-time measure.
Biden later answered a question from reporters about negotiations between Israel and Hamas to pause the fighting and release hostages. He said he is hoping a deal can be reached by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts around March 10. He said the related parties are working hard, but are not there yet.
Key words : family member funeral
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20240302_N01/
Russian opposition leader Navalny laid to rest in Moscow
Family members and thousands of supporters of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have attended his funeral in Moscow. The ceremony took place at a church on Friday before his body was laid to rest in a cemetery nearby.
Mourners shouted Navalny's name as his coffin was carried into the church amid heavy police presence. Foreign diplomats, including the US and French ambassadors to Russia, attended alongside Navalny's parents and other family members.
Navalny's wife and children did not attend out of fear of being arrested. Instead, Yulia Navalnya shared her memories on social media and thanked her husband for 26 years of "total happiness."
She has vowed to carry on his political activities and said there are tens of millions of Russians who are "against the evil" embodied by President Vladimir Putin.
She and many Western leaders believe Navalny was killed in prison. The Kremlin has claimed that he died on February 16 of "natural causes."
Dozens of people across Russia who gathered at makeshift memorials were detained. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned that any "unauthorized gatherings" violate the law and those who participate will be "held accountable."
Key words : russia test-fired
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20240302_11/
Russia says it test-fired nuclear-capable Yars ICBM
Russia says it has successfully test-fired a nuclear-capable Yars intercontinental ballistic missile.
The Russian defense ministry announced Friday that the launch took place at a spaceport in northern Russia. Yars is said to be able to carry multiple nuclear warheads.
The ministry released footage of the test. It said the missile successfully hit its targets on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Yars has a range of more than 10,000 kilometers. The missile is the mainstay ICBM in Russia's nuclear force. Russia says the missiles have been deployed for practical use.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday in his annual state-of-the-nation address that Russia's strategic nuclear forces "are on full alert and the ability to use them is assured."
US think tank Institute for the Study of War said Putin and Russian officials "frequently invoke nuclear threats to instill fear in Western audiences and weaken Western support for Ukraine." But the think tank added it continues to assess that "Russian nuclear use in Ukraine and beyond is highly unlikely."
Key words : iran election preliminary
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20240302_05/
Iranians vote in parliamentary election
Iranians have gone to the polls in a parliamentary election largely devoid of candidates seeking dialogue with the West.
The vote took place on Friday, with 290 seats up for grabs. Preliminary results are expected in several days.
The election is held every four years.
Authorities disqualified a quarter of the people who filed for candidacy in pre-election screenings. Many were reformists.
The move prompted some eligible voters to abstain.
Local media say Iran's conservative hardliners, who back the anti-US policies of President Ebrahim Raisi, are likely to increase their dominance.
Alireza Abbasi, a candidate and senior member of the radical Front of Islamic Revolution Stability party, told NHK that Tehran should maintain support for Hamas in Gaza.
He said Iran has been wrongly accused of destabilizing the enclave. And he criticized Washington for supporting Israel, saying the crisis will be resolved once the United States stops interfering.
Some citizens expressed concern about Iran's worsening rift with the West.
Some say economic sanctions are taking a heavy toll, and others call on Tehran to seek ties with other countries to improve people's lives.
Key words : lift osprey
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20240302_08/
Pentagon to lift ban on Osprey flights next week, AP says
The Associated Press says the US military plans to lift its ban on flights by the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft next week. All types of Osprey were grounded following a fatal crash in Japan last November.
The US news agency on Friday quoted US government officials as saying that the Pentagon will lift the ban and allow US forces to begin implementing their plans to get the Osprey back in the air.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reportedly met with top leaders of the air force, navy and other services earlier in the day, and endorsed the plans for the Osprey to return to operations.
The AP also reported that a senior US military official will fly to Japan next week to brief the country's Ministry of Defense in person on the plans.
A US official was quoted as saying no Ospreys will fly until that briefing has taken place.
A CV-22 Osprey from the US Yokota Air Base in Tokyo crashed into the sea off Yakushima Island in southwestern Japan on November 29. All eight crewmembers on board were killed in the crash.
In December, the US military grounded not just the CV-22 fleet used by the air force but all Ospreys deployed around the world, including the MV-22s used by the US Marine Corp and others.
The investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing. In the initial phase of the probe, the military said it believed it had identified a mechanical failure that led to the crash. But it has not revealed which part of the aircraft was at fault, or other details.
0 件のコメント:
コメントを投稿