Author: Himalaya Post

TOKYO – A bell tolled Monday in Hiroshima as Japan marked 73 years since the world’s first atomic bombing, with the city’s mayor warning that rising nationalism worldwide threatened peace. The skies over Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park were clear, just as they were on August 6, 1945, when an American B-29 bomber dropped its deadly payload on the port city dotted with military installations, ultimately killing 140,000 people. Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, standing at the park near ground zero for the annual ceremony, appealed for a world without nuclear weapons and sounded the alarm over increasing nationalism. Without naming specific nations, he warned that “certain countries are explicitly expressing self-centred nationalism and modernising their nuclear arsenals.”They were “rekindling tensions that had eased with the end of the Cold War”, he added. He urged the abolition of nuclear weapons, in a year when President Donald Trump pledged to increase the US nuclear arsenal. “If the human family forgets history or stops confronting it, we could again commit a terrible error. That is precisely why we must continue talking about Hiroshima,” Matsui said. “Efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons must continue.”His call however highlighted Japan’s contradictory relationship with nuclear weapons.Japanese officials routinely argue that they oppose atomic weapons but the nation’s defence is dependent on the US nuclear umbrella. – New relations – This year’s ceremony comes amid a diplomatic push for...

Sukma (Chhattisgarh), India –  In a massive victory to the security forces in Chhattisgarh, at least 14 Maoists were killed in an encounter on Monday near Sukma’s Konta and Golapalli police station limits. The security forces also recovered 16 weapons from the spot. According to Sukma’s Superintendent of Police, Abhishek Meena, the encounter broke out in the morning when the police patrol party was carrying out a search operation in the area. The security forces are continuing with their search to check the presence of more Naxals around the encounter site. Earlier this month, the Chhattisgarh Police said that Maoists had released a pamphlet claiming that they lost 247 of their cadres in encounters with security forces over the last two years. However, Special Director General (Anti-Naxal Operations) DM Awasthi said that security forces recovered bodies of 208 Naxals in more than 500 encounters between August 2016 and July 2018....

OTTAWA- Canada said Monday it is “seriously concerned” about reports that its ambassador to Riyadh is being expelled by Saudi Arabia. The kingdom announced earlier it had declared the Canadian ambassador persona non grata and given him 24 hours to leave the country following Ottawa’s vigorous demands for the release of jailed activists. “We are seriously concerned by these media reports and are seeking greater clarity on the recent statement from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” said Marie-Pier Baril, a Canadian foreign ministry...

TOKYO  – Some 3,000 pieces of military equipment including guns, swords and grenades believed to date back to World War II have been found buried at a Tokyo elementary school, officials said Monday. Construction workers found the weapons last month when they excavated the grounds of Tanashi Elementary School in the city of Nishitokyo in metropolitan Tokyo to build a new storehouse. The weapons included 1,400 firearms, 1,200 swords, eight grenades and 302 bullets. “We were totally surprised to be informed about the discovery,” said Masaki Fujisawa, a city official. “The items are all rusted away and nothing can be used anymore.” “I suspect they were buried during or after the war but we will investigate the case,” Fujisawa told AFP. News reports said the weapons may have been discarded after Japan surrendered in 1945. Unexploded bombs and weapons are still occasionally found in Japan, more than 70 years after the conflict...