China blocks Japanese seafood imports
Japan has begun its controversial discharge of treated waste water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean, sparking protests in the region and retaliation from Beijing.China is the biggest buyer of seafood from Japan, and on Thursday it said it would block all such imports.
Japan says the water is safe, and many scientists agree. The UN’s nuclear watchdog has also approved the plan.But critics say more studies need to be done and the release should be halted.
More than a million tones of water stored at the nuclear plant will be discharged over the next 30 years.China, which has been the most vocal of opponents since the plan was announced two years ago, called the water discharge an “extremely selfish and irresponsible act” and said Japan was “passing an open wound onto the future generations of humanity”. Shortly afterwards, China’s customs office announced that an existing ban on seafood imports from Fukushima and some prefectures would be immediately extended to cover the whole of Japan to “protect the health of Chinese consumers”.
The move is calculated to inflict economic damage, and Japan has admitted that businesses will take a “significant” hit. Mainland China and Hong Kong together import more than $1.1bn (£866m) of seafood from Japan every year – making up nearly half of Japan’s seafood exports.
But analysts say that the reactions from China in particular, are as much motivated by politics as they are by genuine concerns.
Tokyo’s relationship to Beijing has deteriorated in recent years as it draws closer to the US and also shows support to Taiwan, a self-ruled island claimed by China.
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Saudi Arabia and Iran are among six countries invited to join BRICS as new members next year, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced on the final day of a summit of the group that considers itself a counterweight to Western powers.
The group encompassing five major emerging economies – China, Brazil, South Africa, Russia and India – which makes decisions by consensus, agreed on “the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures of the BRICS expansion process”, during the three-day annual summit held in Johannesburg this week, Ramaphosa said on Thursday.
Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been invited to join as full members from January 1 next year.
(Aljazeera)
Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a failed mutiny against Vladimir Putin, was on a plane that crashed in western Russia, say aviation officials.
Authorities say all 10 people on board were killed after the private aircraft came down near the village of Kuzhenkino.
They also say the passengers included Prigozhin, who is the head of mercenary group Wagner, and his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin.
Russian authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the crash, amid heavy speculation.
Prigozhin kept a low public profile since he led his mutiny in June, which lasted only 24 hours.
He last appeared in a video earlier this week which was said to have been filmed in an unspecified location in Africa.
The Wagner mercenary group was founded in 2014 and was highly active in the Ukraine war until the mutiny.
(BBC News)
India’s Chandrayaan-3 becomes the first space mission to land near the south pole of the Moon
“India is now on the Moon,” announces PM Narendra Modi immediately after the Vikram lander touches down on the lunar surface.
Inside the lander is the six-wheeled Pragyaan rover, which, if all goes to plan, will roam the lunar surface gathering images and data.
Scientists believe craters that are permanently in shadow on the dark side of the Moon may hold frozen water.
The attempt – India’s third lunar mission – comes days after Russia’s unmanned Luna-25 spacecraft span out of control and crashed into the Moon.
(BBC News)
