Hello, a very warm welcome to NHK Newsline. I'm Yamamoto Miki in Tokyo.
A Japanese court has ordered the group, formerly known as the Unification Church, to disband as a religious corporation.
The organization has been accused of financially taking advantage of its followers. The Tokyo District Court issued the order on Tuesday in response to a request made by the Education and Culture Ministry in 2023.
Japan's government claims the group has violated civil law by pressuring people into donating huge sums of money by exploiting fears around spiritual well-being. The former Unification Church was cast into the spotlight after the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo in 2022.
The suspect told investigators he believed Abe had close ties to the group.
He said his mother had made large donations to it, ruining his family's finances. This is the third time that a court in Japan has ordered a religious corporation to dissolve for a law violation. One of the past cases involved the Aum Shinrikyo cult responsible for the deadly sarin gas attack on Tokyo's subway system just over 30 years ago. This is the first time a group has been ordered to disband for violating Japanese civil law.
The former Unification Church will be able to continue religious activities.
but loses religious cooperation status.
It will no longer have tax benefits and will have to dispose of assets. The group is expected to appeal the decision.
Wildfires continue to rage in two prefectures of western Japan, the evacuation order in one, Okayama, has been lifted, but some residents of Ehime are still being urged to get away.
One of the fires broke out on Sunday in Imabari City in Ehime. The city said as of early Tuesday, the fire had scorched at least 214 hectares.
That makes it the largest fall fire in the prefecture in over 30 years.
Firefighters are working hard on the ground, while helicopters from the prefecture and the self-defense forces are battling the blaze from the air. The city has issued evacuation orders to more than 1,700 people.
I just want the fire to be put out, nothing more.
Nearby, Saito City has also issued evacuation orders of its own.
The United Nations says it is reducing staff members in the Gaza Strip following the resumption of Israeli attacks. One official was killed in strikes that hit a UN compound last week.
The Secretary General has taken the difficult decision to reduce the United Nations footprint in Gaza, even as humanitarian needs soar and are concerned over the protection of civilians intensifies. Guterres said about one-third of around 100 international staff will be temporarily relocated to outside of Gaza this week.
But he stressed the UN remains committed to providing aid to people in the enclave. Israeli forces launched attacks across Gaza on March 18 amid stalled ceasefire negotiations.
Humanitarian aid supplies have not been allowed to enter the strip for more than three weeks. Guterres referred to strikes that hit a UN compound in central Gaza on March 19, killing a UN official from Bulgaria and injuring six others. He said the attack was caused by an Israeli tank.
He said Secretary General Antonio Guterres is demanding an independent investigation into the incident.
In the United States, top officials in the Trump administration are under fire for reportedly sharing plans for military strikes on a rebel group in Yemen in a message chat that included a journalist. The incident is raising concerns over how the administration handles classified information.
Editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, says he received a connection request on the Signal messaging appby someone and identifying himself as National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
Goldberg says he was later added to a group that included key national security officials. He says a person that seemed to be Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted operational details of upcoming strikes on the Houthi group in Yemen. This reportedly included information about targets, weapons and attack sequencing. Goldberg says the March 15 attack took place roughly two hours after he received a message about the plans. Members of the chat group are said to have celebrated the operation's success. An account labeled as Waltz posted emojis of a fist, an American flag, and a fire.
The White House National Security Council acknowledged in a statement that the message thread appears to be authentic.
It added that, quote,there were no threats to our service members or our national security. Hegseth has denied the report, criticizing the journalists involved.
You're talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again.
He maintained that no one had texted any war plans.
Thai authorities have deported a Japanese man suspected of luring a high school student to Myanmar to work for a scam operation.
Hujinuma Tomu arrived in Osaka on Tuesday morning on a flight. He and the student became acquainted through an online game.
Fujinuma allegedly convinced the youth to come to Thailand in January and arranged for him to work at a scam center in eastern Myanmar. Fujinuma had been in Thai police custody since February after his visa for Thailand was revoked.
Thai authorities escorted him to an airport near Bangkok on Monday night and handed him over to Japanese police officers. A Thai police official told NHK that Fujinuma went by the name Gen. and worked for a Chinese group. He is suspected of involvement in several similar cases.
We believe his role was to lure people to work in Myanmar. We also suspect that he was trying to do the same in Cambodia as well.
Fujinuma was arrested in connection with a different case while on the flight to Japan.
Campaigning is underway in Canada for next month's general election. It's still early days, but already top of mind for many voters as well as candidates.
Tensions with the US and a lot of people are paying attention. Earlier, I spoke with NHK World's Steve Silva for histake.
So, Steve, you spent most of your career as a journalist in Canada, where you covered several elections. As for this one, how does US President Donald Trump fit into the conversation?
A lot of this centers on his tariffs and calls for Canada to become the 51st US state.
The countries are each other's largest export markets. That means tariffs between the two hit especially hard, and this issue is not going away. Trump has promised more tariffs on Canadian goods next week. These measures carry a particularly unsettling tone. Many people are insulted, they're worried about their livelihoods, and some are really wondering if Canadian sovereignty is at risk. But they're also fairly united on this as well.
And how are politicians tapping into that?
They're, of course, trying to tie a lot of their messaging now to Trump. Let's hear from the incumbent Prime Minister first.
We are facing the most significant crisis of our lifetimes because of President Trump's unjustified trade actions and his threats to our sovereignty.
Our response must be to build a strong economy and a more secure Canada.
Now, Mark Carney is still a newcomer to the political scene. He needs to develop trust and familiarity with the public. As well, he recently took over for former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who led the Liberal Party to some dire poll numbers. Take a look. Just months ago, 20% versus the Conservative Party at 44. That's according to a poll tracker by Canada's public broadcaster.
And now look at the situation this week.
Both are at 37%. Liberals are just a little further ahead.
It's a stunning comeback. Like, political analysts say this is thanks to Trudeau's resignation, Carney's experience as a central banker, something especially relevant amid a trade war. And he appears to be addressing the mood in Canada better than his main competitor, and that's Conservative Party leader Pierre Pollier. A lot of his focus has been on attacking Trudeau and an unpopular tax. He has a wealth of political experience, but analysts say he's struggling to come up with new messaging.
And it doesn't seem to be helping that some see him as a Canadian Trump of sorts.
We need to put Canada first for a change, with a new Conservative government that will axe taxes, unleash our resource production, build pipelines, secure our border, rebuild our armed forces, and stand up to Donald Trump from a position of strength.
Now, of course, Mickey, it's important to emphasize that this election runs five weeks, five whole weeks. That's quite a long time for things to possibly change.
Yes, absolutely. And the fact that Canadian politics have been making headlines around the world a lot lately, why do you think people outside of Canada are paying attention?
I think underdog stories have this kind of universal appeal. You have to realize Canada has a population of basically around 40 million people. Compare that to America's 340 million people.
But also the tariff situation. It's not an isolated situation. Trump is threatening to impose them on others, including Japan. So this political drama may also offer up some lessons for others.
And it is time for a check on the weather with our meteorologist Jonathan. Oh so, Jonathan. We went from freezing and snow conditions in Tokyo last week to almost late spring temperatures today. How are things looking for Wednesday?
Hello, we're definitely seeing temperatures that are more like May as opposed to March. I mean, it's a nice contrast what we saw last week, but. It does look like they were going to be sticking around with a little bit more of the warmth as you go through this week. Now, aside from just the warm weather where a good, decent portion of Japan seeing these above seasonable temperatures. We're also seeing some issues when it comes to the yellow sand that's coming in from the West and because of that we've had some reports even to Osaka and Tokyo where the yellow sand was detected. And so that's going to be of an issue when it comes to air quality as we go into Wednesday as well. Low pressure helping to kind of usher in that zonal flow from the West to the east. So that's going to continue to be the real wind machine that helps to kind of carry that yellow sand through Japan. We're going to see also some rain from that low as it moves toward the northern portions of the country and so you'll need the umbrellas in place like Sapporo and also into Niigata. A little bit cooler compared to Tuesday, but look at this 26 for the high on Wednesday in Tokyo. Definitely need a T-shirt at that point with the warmth there. 23 to Osaka and Fukuoka. I mean we're rivaling Naha here. 27 partly cloudy skies as we go throughout the day on Wednesday. Of course, nice weather means hey, maybe you want to check out the cherry blossoms, seeing the first blossoms, especially for the Westerners. From Matsuyama, Oita, Fukuoka and Saga, but even Gifu in Yokohama also now joining in on the action as we went through the day on Tuesday. Meanwhile, across North America, we're still talking about snow into Canada, places like Ontario into Quebec and also we have. the stationary front located across the Pacific Northwest and so that's going to continue to bring some wet weather into places like Vancouver with high 50 but 21 in Seattle and in Denver but single digits into Winnipeg and Toronto.
Across Europe we do have unsettled weather down toward the South another cold front up to the north near the Scandinavian Peninsula and we're looking at clouds elsewhere into the central portion of the continent for Tuesday.
Hope you have a good day wherever youare.
♫～
That is all for this edition of NHK Newsline. I'm Yamamoto Miki in Tokyo.
Thank you for staying with us.
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