at 20:00 (JST), September 11

 

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20210911200000_english_1.mp3


Key words : victims honored
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210911_09/

Ceremonies to remember the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States took place in the country on Friday, the eve of the 20th anniversary of the incidents.

A memorial in New York honored firefighters and police officers who died in the collapse of the World Trade Center towers after they were hit by hijacked aircraft.

Photographs of more than 400 victims were posted on walls of the venue. Visitors offered carnations.

A woman who lost her firefighter father said her wound has never healed since his death.

Another ceremony in the eastern state of Pennsylvania paid tribute to 40 people who lost their lives when their hijacked plane crashed in a field.

Relatives and friends lit candles at a cenotaph bearing the victims' names.

Key words : bush
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210911_12/

People in the United States are marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

On September 11, 2001, hijackers flew two planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, a third plane into the Pentagon near Washington DC, and a fourth plane into a field in Pennsylvania. The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people.

A memorial ceremony will start at around 8:30 a.m. in lower Manhattan at the site of the World Trade Center.

President Joe Biden and bereaved families will be in attendance.

Participants will observe a minute of silence six times through the morning, to correspond with the times when the World Trade Center towers were struck and collapsed, and the times of the attack on the Pentagon and the crash in Pennsylvania.

The names of each victim will be read aloud.

The attacks on the US sent shockwaves around the world, and led then-President George W. Bush to launch a military operation on Afghanistan.

Last month, President Biden pulled all US troops out of the country, bringing an end to a conflict described as America's longest war. But public opinion in the US is divided over his decision.

Key words : Biden unity
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210911_07/

US President Joe Biden has called for national unity in a video message released to remember those killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, and to express condolences to their families.

The White House posted the video on its Twitter account on Friday, the eve of the 20th anniversary of the attacks.

Biden said that no matter how much time has passed, commemorations of the attacks "bring everything painfully back as if you just got the news a few seconds ago."

He said that after the attacks, Americans saw "something all too rare, a true sense of national unity. Unity and resilience, the capacity to recover and repair in the face of trauma."

The president said, "Unity is what makes us who we are. America at its best. To me, that's the central lesson of September 11th."

Biden said, "It's that at our most vulnerable, in the push and pull of all that makes us human, in the battle for the soul of America, unity is our greatest strength."

He added, "We find light in the darkness."

Biden plans to visit the scenes of the attacks, including the World Trade Center in New York where hijackers flew two aircraft into its towers.

Key words : gratitude support
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210911_10/

The acting US ambassador to Japan has expressed gratitude to Japan for its support and friendship in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

Charge d'Affaires ad interim Raymond Greene posted a video message on his Twitter account on Saturday, Japan time, the 20th anniversary of the attacks.

Greene said that "the United States solemnly remembers the nearly 3,000 victims, including 24 Japanese citizens who lost their lives on that fateful day."

He said, "We continue to mourn alongside those who knew and loved the victims who perished in those heinous attacks."

Greene said, "We also remember the friends and allies who extended their sympathies and stood beside us in that dark hour."

He also thanked Japanese people for what he calls their tremendous demonstrations of support and enduring friendship.

Greene said, "In the wake of the attack, Japanese firefighters from Tokyo, Osaka, Kanagawa, Saitama and Aichi joined search-and-rescue efforts at the World Trade Center."

Key words : mori sanae
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210911_08/

Saturday marks 20 years since terrorist attacks in the United States claimed the lives of 2,977 people, including 24 Japanese.

Ota Akemi, who is 61 years old, lost her niece on that day, September 11, 2001.

Twenty-seven-year-old Mori Sanae was visiting the World Trade Center on business when hijacked aircraft slammed into the buildings.

Interviewed in the village of Otari, Nagano Prefecture, Ota spoke of her feelings for her niece. Her home is decorated with artworks created by Mori.

Ota pointed out a collage of photographs of people of various races. She said Mori had wanted to work at the United Nations, and the photographs express her wishes for peace.

Ota says she is concerned the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan worsens global security and will trigger more terror attacks.

She says she has been asking herself what she can do. She says Japanese people must think about why terrorist attacks take place in the world.

Key words : JAPAN lawmaker
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210911_01/

The heightened activities of Japan's Self-Defense Forces in the 20 years since the September 11 terrorist attacks is prompting discussion about what role it should play in the future.

The government plans to continue dispatching the SDF as it seeks to contribute to global peace and stability.

Terrorism and other issues have grown more severe around the world. The government believes the SDF's missions, including counter-piracy and disaster response, have been highly valued by the international community.

Following the 9/11 attacks, Japan sent Maritime Self-Defense Force ships to the Indian Ocean to assist US warships with refueling and other logistical operations.

National security legislation enacted in 2015 allows Japan to rescue and protect its citizens during overseas emergencies.

Some lawmakers within the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party want to make it easier to deploy the SDF abroad. They say the government failed to respond quickly to the recent chaos in Afghanistan following the Taliban's power grab.

SDF aircraft evacuated one Japanese woman and 14 Afghans from the country, but the mission ended with others left behind.

Debate will likely hinge on whether the SDF should be dispatched to areas with a worsening security environment, as well as the scope of its activities.

Key words : afghan islamabad
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210911_05/

Japanese foreign ministry officials have revealed that 10 of about 500 Afghans who Japan is trying to evacuate from Afghanistan fled the country by land and have reached the capital of neighboring Pakistan, Islamabad.

The group comprises two Afghan staff members of the Japan International Cooperation Agency and their family members. They are expected to arrive in Japan on Sunday or Monday.

They were unable to make it out of the country on a Japanese Self-Defense Force aircraft in August.

Japan has plans to evacuate about 500 Afghans, including staff members working for the Japanese Embassy and other organizations.

But the dispatched SDF aircraft was only able to airlift one Japanese national. It also took 14 Afghans at the request of the US government.

The 10 Afghans who arrived in Islamabad are the first of those on Japan's list who are known to have escaped the country since the SDF evacuation mission.

Japan's government plans to negotiate with the Taliban for the safe evacuation of the rest.

Key words : afghan france minister
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210911_04/

It has been revealed that two Afghans who competed in the Tokyo Paralympics are now staying in France. Their whereabouts had largely been unknown after they left Japan.

French sports minister Roxana Maracineanu made the announcement at a news conference on Friday.

The two are male long jumper Hossain Rasouli and female taekwondo athlete Zakia Khudadadi.

They had initially given up hope of competing in Tokyo after the Taliban's power grab in Afghanistan deprived them of a safe way to travel.

They arrived in Japan via France in late August, days after the Paralympics had opened. They flew from Tokyo to Paris last Monday, but their movements since then were unknown.

Maracineanu said she will ask them about their future plans, including whether they intend to remain in France.

The minister said information about the two athletes should be handled carefully, citing the danger any media exposure could pose to them and their families.

Key words : ig nobel
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210910_15/

A team including Japanese researchers has been awarded an Ig Nobel Prize for studying how pedestrians distracted by smartphones can disrupt the orderly movement of crowds.

The spoof prize for "research that makes people laugh and then think" was presented on Thursday online instead of the usual venue at Harvard University, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Kinetics Prize was awarded to a Japanese, Swiss and Italian team for studying how "mutual anticipation can contribute to self-organization in human crowds."

The team enlisted two groups of 27 pedestrians, and watched how they spontaneously organized bidirectional flows by anticipating each other's movements.
The experiment showed that when three pedestrians in a group were distracted by mobile phones, both the distracted and non-distracted had difficulty avoiding collisions. The team says the group required nearly twice the time to form an orderly pattern.

Assistant Professor Murakami Hisashi of Kyoto Institute of Technology said he was surprised and pleased that the team won the prize. He said he wants people to turn their attention to the interesting individual interactions that shape collective human behavior.

This is the 15th straight year that Japanese researchers have won an Ig Nobel.

The Economics Prize went to a team whose study concluded that politicians' obesity may be a good indicator of their countries' corruption. The Entomology Prize was awarded to studies of a new method of cockroach control on submarines.