Ukraine, OSCE discuss child deportations
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met on Tuesday with a delegation from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Parliam...
Thousands gathered in Hiroshima on Wednesday to mark 80 years since the city was devastated by an atomic bomb, as the mayor warned of the growing threat of nuclear weapons and urged global leaders to reflect on the lessons of the past.
The annual ceremony, commemorating one of history’s deadliest wartime attacks, was attended by representatives from a record 120 countries and regions.
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui addressed the gathering, warning of a growing global drift toward militarisation and renewed reliance on nuclear weapons.
"Among the world's political leaders, there is a growing belief that possessing nuclear weapons is unavoidable in order to protect their own countries," he said, noting that the U.S. and Russia possess 90% of the world's nuclear warheads.
"This situation not only nullifies the lessons the international community has learned from the tragic history of the past, but also seriously undermines the frameworks that have been built for peace-building.
"To all the leaders around the world, please visit Hiroshima and witness for yourselves the reality of the atomic bombing."
Yoshikazu Horie, a 71-year-old tourist, echoed the mayor’s concerns.
"It feels more and more like history is repeating itself. Terrible things are happening in Europe ... Even in Japan, in Asia, it's going the same way, it's very scary," he said.
"I've got grandchildren and I want peace so they can live their lives happily."
Survivors of the bombing, known as "hibakusha", have long faced social stigma over fears they carried diseases or passed on genetic damage. Their numbers dropped below 100,000 for the first time this year.
On 6 August 1945, the United States dropped a uranium bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy", on the western Japanese city, killing about 78,000 people instantly. The blast and resulting radiation claimed tens of thousands more lives by the end of the year - estimated to be around 140,000 by the end of that year.
Hiroshima had served as a military headquarters and supply base during World War Two. U.S. planners selected it partly because the surrounding mountains were expected to concentrate the bomb’s force and amplify its destructiveness.
"Little Boy" unleashed a heatwave reaching 4,000 degrees Celsius (7,200 Fahrenheit), followed three days later by a plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki killing around 70,000 people.
Japan surrendered on 15 August, bringing the war to an end.
The country, the only one to have experienced nuclear attacks, has declared its commitment to nuclear disarmament, though it is not a signatory or observer of the U.N. treaty to ban nuclear weapons.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
The newly elected mayor of Herdecke in northwestern Germany, Social Democrat Iris Stalzer, was seriously injured in a knife attack near her home by an unknown assailant or assailants.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met on Tuesday with a delegation from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly, marking the first visit to Ukraine by the group’s president, Pere Joan Pons.
The European Parliament has passed new legislation making it easier to suspend visa-free travel for nationals of third countries found to violate human rights or ignore international court rulings.
Two years after the Gaza conflict began, President Donald Trump on Tuesday pledged United States backing for Gaza’s security guarantees and said he believed an agreement to free the remaining hostages was nearing completion.
At least 15 people have been killed after a rain-triggered landslide sent huge boulders crashing onto a private bus in India’s northern state of Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday evening.
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