Voice of America’s immigration news

TOKYO — The idea of an "Asian NATO" floated by Japan's new prime minister is one to consider in the mid- to long-term but not imminent, the new foreign minister, Takeshi Iwaya, said on Wednesday. Asian nations have expressed skepticism and reticence in response to the call from Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who took up his post on Tuesday. "I think it's one idea for the future," among efforts to create a multi-layered network of like-minded countries and boost regional deterrence, Iwaya told a news conference in Tokyo. "It's difficult to immediately set up a mechanism that would impose mutual defense obligations in Asia, so it's more of a vision for the future." In a paper to the Hudson Institute thinktank in September, Ishiba had argued for locking Washington into an "Asian NATO" as a way to deter China from using military force in Asia. On Tuesday, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar countered that the South Asian country did not share the vision for an "Asian NATO," saying it had never been an ally of another country and took a different approach. The United States has also quietly brushed off the idea. It was too early for such talk, Daniel Kritenbrink, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, said last month. Such a framework would not be aimed at any specific country, Iwaya said when asked at Wednesday's press conference whether it was targeting China. "The best way would be for a defense and security co-operation relationship that spans the Indo-Pacific without excluding any specific nation," Iwaya said. The new defense minister, Gen Nakatani, told a separate press conference that Ishiba had not asked his ministry to pursue a proposal to set up an Asian equivalent of NATO.

TOKYO — A regional airport in southwest Japan was closed on Wednesday after a U.S. bombshell, likely dropped during World War Two to stem "kamikaze" attacks, exploded near its runway, causing nearly 90 flight cancellations. Miyazaki Airport shut its runway after the explosion caused a crater seven meters wide and one meter deep in the middle of the taxiway next to the runway, according to a Japanese transport ministry official. A bomb disposal team from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force later found that the cause of the explosion was an American bomb that had been buried beneath the land surface, probably dating to a wartime air raid, the official said. No injuries were reported but live cam footage showed an airplane had been taxiing nearby just two minutes before the explosion, according to local broadcaster MRT. The runway shutdown has led to the grounding of 87 flights but there is no danger of any further explosions and repair works to fill the hole should be completed by Thursday morning, said Japan's top government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi. The affected flights were operated by JAL, ANA and other airlines connecting Miyazaki with cities such as Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka, according to the airport website. Located at the southeast end of Kyushu island, Miyazaki airport was formerly a Japanese navy base until the end of World War II, from where hundreds of young "kamikaze" pilots set off on their final missions, according to the Miyazaki city website. Multiple unexploded bombs previously have been found at Miyazaki airport, the transport ministry official said. More than 79 years since the end of the war, unexploded bombs from the intense airstrikes are still found across Japan today. A total of 2,348 bombs weighing 37.5 tons were disposed of during fiscal year 2023, the Self-Defense Forces have said.

Bangkok — Thai police have arrested the driver of a bus carrying young students and teachers that caught fire and killed 23 in suburban Bangkok, as families arrived in the capital Wednesday to help identify their loved ones. The bus carrying six teachers and 39 students in elementary and junior high school was traveling from Uthai Thani province, about 300 kilometers north of Bangkok, for a school trip in Ayutthaya and Nonthaburi provinces Tuesday. The fire started while the bus was on a highway north of the capital and spread so quickly many were unable to escape. Trairong Phiwpan, head of the police forensic department, said 23 bodies were recovered from the bus. The recovery work and confirmation of the total dead had been delayed earlier because the burned vehicle, which was fueled with natural gas, remained too hot to enter for hours. The families were driven from Uthai Thani in vans to the the forensic department at the Police General Hospital in Bangkok on Wednesday to provide their DNA samples for the identification process. Kornchai Klaiklung, assistant to the Royal Thai Police chief, told reporters the forensics team was working as fast as it could to identify the victims. The driver, identified by the police as Saman Chanput, surrendered Tuesday evening several hours after the fire. Police said they have charged him with reckless driving causing deaths and injuries, failing to stop to help others and failing to report the accident. The driver told investigators he was driving normally until the bus lost balance at its front right tire, hit another car and scraped a concrete highway barrier, causing the sparks that ignited the blaze, Chayanont Meesati, deputy regional police chief, told reporters. The driver said he ran to grab a fire extinguisher from another bus that was traveling for the same trip but he could not put out the fire, and ran away because he panicked, Chayanont said. Police said they are also investigating whether the bus company followed all safety standards. In an interview with public broadcaster Thai PBS, bus company owner Songwit Chinnaboot said the bus was inspected for safety twice a year as required and that the gas cylinders had passed the safety standards. He also said he would compensate the victims’ families as best as he could. Three students are hospitalized, and the hospital said two of them were in serious condition. A 7-year-old girl suffered burns on her face, and a surgeon said doctors were doing their best to try to save her eyesight.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danish police said on Wednesday they were investigating two blasts in the vicinity of Israel's embassy in the northern outskirts of Copenhagen. "No one has been injured, and we are carrying out initial investigations at the scene," Copenhagen police said on social media platform X. "A possible connection to the Israeli embassy, located in the area, is being investigated," they said. A large area was cordoned off amid heavy police presence, according to local media reports. Investigators were seen wearing coverall suits as they combed the scene for evidence, tabloid B.T. reported. The Israeli embassy was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters. Police said they will give an update on the investigation in the hours ahead.

Kolkata, India — Tens of thousands of people packed the streets of one of India's biggest cities after doctors resumed a strike and called fresh rallies over the rape and murder of a colleague. The discovery of the 31-year-old's bloodied body at a state-run hospital in Kolkata two months ago rekindled nationwide anger at the chronic issue of violence against women. Doctors in the eastern city went on strike for weeks in response and walked off the job again on Tuesday, saying pledges by the West Bengal state government to improve safety and security at hospitals had been unmet. They were joined on Tuesday evening by thousands of people from all walks of life for a huge protest march, with many carrying the Indian tri-color flag and some staying out until dawn on Wednesday. ‘’We want to send out the message that our protests will not end until we get justice," rally organizer Rimjhim Sinha, 29, told AFP at the march. Kolkata is days away from the start of a festival held in honor of the Hindu warrior goddess Durga, the city's biggest annual religious celebration. Sinha said that the dozens of civil society groups backing doctors' calls for public protests would use the occasion to demand an end to violence against women. "The festival of worshipping Goddess Durga epitomizes the victory of good over evil," she said. "This year it will turn into the festival of protests." With further demonstrations called over the coming days, a senior police official told AFP on condition of anonymity that more than 2,500 extra officers had been put on active duty around Kolkata. The victim of the August attack is not being identified in keeping with Indian laws on media reporting of sexual violence cases. Her father attended Tuesday's march and told AFP that his family was still "devastated" two months after her death. "My daughter's soul will not rest in peace until she gets justice," he said. Doctors had briefly returned to limited duties in emergency departments last month, only to strike again in defiance of a September order from India's top court to fully return to work. They say that the state government's promises to upgrade lighting, CCTV cameras and other security measures in hospitals have not been fulfilled. Tens of thousands of ordinary Indians took part in the protests that followed the August attack. One man has been detained over the murder but the West Bengal government has faced public criticism for its handling of the investigation. Authorities sacked the city's police chief and top health ministry officials. The gruesome nature of the attack drew comparisons with the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus, which also sparked weeks of nationwide protests.

TOKYO — Japan's newly appointed economy minister, Ryosei Akazawa, said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expects the Bank of Japan to make careful economic assessments when raising interest rates again. "Our top priority is to ensure that Japan completely exit from deflation," said Akazawa in his first news conference as the economy minister. "It will take some time to achieve the full exit." "Ishiba's (previous) comments on the need for monetary policy normalization have conditions attached," said Akazawa, a close ally of Ishiba. The government wants the BOJ to share its view that the exit from deflation is Japan's top priority and to make careful decisions on whether to raise interest rates further, he said. The minister also stressed the administration would closely communicate and coordinate with the BOJ to decisively beat deflation. The BOJ raised rates in July, but kept policy steady at the September meeting, saying it could afford to spend time eyeing the fallout from global economic uncertainties.

SINGAPORE — China's commerce ministry said on Wednesday it has asked the World Trade Organization to rule on Canada's imposition of steep tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles as well as steel and aluminum products. Following the lead of the United States and European Union, Canada began imposing on Tuesday a 100% levy on EVs shipped from China, having also announced in late August a 25% tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum products. "China has raised a litigation to the WTO over Canada's unilateral and trade protectionist measures, and will conduct anti-discriminatory probe into these restrictive measures," the ministry said in a statement. The ministry repeated its strong opposition to the tariffs, which it says will "disrupt and distort global industrial and supply chain."

GENEVA — The volume of Switzerland's glaciers shrank again this summer, compounding the negative impact of climate change after a devastating two-year run that depleted the ice by more than 10%, scientific experts reported Tuesday. The cryosphere observation team at the Swiss Academy of Sciences reported that high temperatures in July and August, combined with the heat-absorbing impact of reddish-yellow dust blown northward from the Sahara Desert onto Swiss glaciers, led to a loss of 2.5% of their volume this year. The shrinkage came despite "extremely favorable" conditions through June, the academy said, thanks to 30% more snowfall in the preceding winter compared to average levels, meaning that the glaciers had an extra layer of protective covering of snow — before temperatures rose. "August saw the greatest loss of ice recorded since measurements began," the academy said in a statement summarizing the findings. "The retreat of the glacier tongues and their disintegration continue unabated as a result of climate change," it said, adding that the 2.5% loss of volume was higher than the average levels over the last decade. Experts at the Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland network, known as GLAMOS, said that more than half of the glaciers it monitored completely lost their snow coverage throughout the summer. Several topmost measurement points on glaciers, such as Plaine Morte and Gries in the south and Silvretta in the east, recorded melt rates of a meter or more, the network said in a report for the Swiss Academy of Sciences. GLAMOS cited three factors: "very high" average air temperatures in July and August; good weather in those months in which there was no fresh snow; and southwesterly winds in the winter and spring that dumped the Saharan dust onto the Alps, causing a warming effect on the ice. Switzerland is home to the most glaciers of any country in Europe, and saw 4% of its total glacier volume disappear last year. That was the second-biggest decline in a single year on top of a 6% drop in 2022.

Washington — Vice Presidential hopefuls Tim Walz and JD Vance squared off Tuesday night in what may be the last debate of the 2024 presidential campaign. It was the first encounter between Minnesota's Democratic governor and Ohio's Republican senator, following last month's debate between the tops of their tickets, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.  No more debates are on the political calendar before Election Day. Tuesday's confrontation came as the global stakes of the contest rose again as Iran fired missiles at Israel. The vice presidential hopefuls sparred over the violence in the Middle East, climate change and immigration. Here are some takeaways from Tuesday's debate.  Mideast in turmoil  Iran's ballistic missile attack on Israel on Tuesday elicited a contrast between the Democratic and Republican tickets on foreign policy: Walz promised "steady leadership" under Harris while Vance pledged a return to "peace through strength" if Trump is returned to the White House.  The differing visions of what American leadership should look like overshadowed the sharp policy differences between the two tickets.  The Iranian threat to the region and U.S. interests around the world opened the debate, with Walz pivoting the topic to criticism of Trump.  "What's fundamental here is that steady leadership is going to matter," Walz said, then referenced the "nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes" and responding to global crises by tweet.  Vance, for his part, promised a return to "effective deterrence" under Trump against Iran, brushing back on Walz's criticism of Trump by attacking Harris and her role in the Biden administration.  "Who has been the vice president for the last three and a half years and the answer is your running mate, not mine," he said. He pointedly noted that the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, happened "during the administration of Kamala Harris."  Vance and Walz punch up  Vance and Walz trained the bulk of their attacks not on their on-stage rival, but on the running mates who weren't in the room.  Both vice presidential nominees sought to convey a genial mien as they lobbed criticism at Harris and Trump, respectively.  It was a reflection of the fact that most voters don't cast a ballot based on the vice president, and on a vice presidential nominee's historic role in serving as the attack dog for their running mates.  Walz pointedly attacked Trump for failing to meet his pledge of building a physical barrier across the entire U.S.-Mexico border at the country's southern neighbor's expense.  "Less than 2% of that wall got built and Mexico didn't pay a dime," Walz said.  Underscoring the focus on the top of the ticket, during a back-and-forth about immigration, Vance said to his opponent: "I think that you want to solve this problem, but I don't think that Kamala Harris does."  Climate change  In the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Helene, Vance took a question about climate change and gave an answer about jobs and manufacturing, taking a detour around Trump's past claims that global warming is a "hoax."  Vance contended that the best way to fight climate change was to move more manufacturing to the United States, because the country has the world's cleanest energy economy. It was a distinctly domestic spin on a global crisis, especially after Trump pulled the U.S. out of the international Paris climate accords during his administration.  Walz also kept the climate change focus domestic, touting the Biden administration's renewable energy investments as well as record levels of oil and natural gas production. "You can see us becoming an energy superpower in the future," Walz said.  It was a decidedly optimistic take on a pervasive and grim global problem.  Immigration  The two running mates agreed that the number of migrants in the U.S. illegally is a problem. But each laid the blame on the opposing presidential nominee.  Vance echoed Trump by repeatedly calling Harris the "border czar" and suggested that she, as vice president, single-handedly rolled back the immigration restrictions Trump had imposed as president. The result, in Vance's telling, is an unchecked flow of fentanyl, strain on state and local resources and increased housing prices around the country.  Harris was never asked to be the "border czar" and she was never specifically given the responsibility for security on the border. She was tasked by Biden in March 2021 with tackling the "root causes" of migration from the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador and pushing leaders there and in Mexico to enforce immigration laws. Harris was not empowered to set U.S. immigration policy — only the president can sign executive orders and Harris was not empowered as Biden's proxy in negotiations with Congress on immigration law.  Walz advanced Democrats' arguments that Trump single-handedly killed a bipartisan Senate deal to tighten border security and boost the processing system for immigrants and asylum seekers. Republicans backed off the deal, Walz noted, only after Trump said it wasn't good enough. 

Iran launched around 200 missiles into Israel on Tuesday, the latest in a series of escalating attacks in a yearslong conflict between Israel and Iran. We talk to Alex Vatanka, the founding director of the Iran program at the Middle East Institute. Tim Walz and JD Vance met for their first and possibly only vice presidential debate Tuesday to argue their case before the election. And Claudia Sheinbaum was sworn in Tuesday as Mexico’s first female president in more than 200 years of Mexico's history as an independent country.

Washington — Iran's brazen missile attack on Israel has heightened tensions across the Middle East, with some analysts predicting a powerful Israeli response. What is less certain is whether this will be a one-off exchange or ignite a series of tit-for-tat strikes that could engulf the entire Middle East in conflict. "It could go either way," said Shaan Shaikh, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "At every exchange, the actors – Iran and Israel – have options to escalate or de-escalate. There is no predetermined path that they must choose." James Jeffrey, a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Iraq, said Iran's military capabilities are more limited than Israel's. "At the end of the day, military strength can be decisive," Jeffrey, who served as a special envoy for Syria engagement, told VOA. In a statement released Tuesday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it crried out the attack in retaliation for the Israeli killings of three key figures: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh and an Iranian commander. Involving nearly 200 ballistic missiles, this was Iran's second and largest direct attack on Israel from its own territory. In April, Iran fired more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel in response to an Israeli attack on an Iranian diplomatic base in Syria. But unlike its measured response in April, Israel is expected to respond more forcefully to the latest strike. In a video statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iranian leaders made a "big mistake" and warned that they will "pay for it." Why now? Prior to the latest attack, Iran's muted response to a series of Israeli strikes on Iranian officials and proxies in recent months had raised doubts about Tehran's willingness to confront a stronger adversary. That may be so, but Iranian officials could not sit back and watch one of their key allies, Hezbollah, decapitated by Israel, Shaikh said.  "They need(ed) to push back both to protect Lebanese Hezbollah and also to show to their other proxy groups and allies across the region that they will defend their interests," Shaikh said in an interview with VOA. The Iranian strike follows Israel's ground incursion into southern Lebanon on Monday, after weeks of airstrikes that have killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon and crippled Hezbollah's leadership. Israel has described the operation as "limited, localized and targeted," aimed at pushing Hezbollah forces away from the border area and eliminating its military infrastructure. Following Iran's attack in April, the Biden administration reportedly persuaded Israel to respond with restraint. Whether a similar diplomatic effort will be mounted or is desired remains uncertain. The stakes appear higher this time. President Joe Biden said he directed the U.S. military to help Israel shoot down the Iranian missiles, adding, "Make no mistake: the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel." Jeffrey, the former envoy, said that following the April attack, the understanding between Israel, the U.S. and Iran was: "This is the last time, Bubba. If you do this again, there will be a serious retaliation." The question now is how far each side will test the limit of the other's tolerance. Shaikh, the CSIS analyst, warned that the longer the conflict drags on, the more political pressure each side will face to "engage with more firepower, and that's a concern." Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, said the attack gives Netanyahu "an opportunity to deal really quite a big blow to Iran." "Whether he will be restrained by the United States or not, we just don't know," Landis said in an interview with VOA. 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a review and evaluation of the 1921 race massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said. The massacre started on May 31, 1921, when white attackers killed as many as 300 people, most of them Black, in Tulsa's prosperous Greenwood neighborhood, which had gained the nickname "Black Wall Street." In announcing the review on Monday, Clarke said the department aims to have it finalized by the end of the year. "When we have finished our federal review, we will issue a report analyzing the massacre in light of both modern and then-existing civil rights law," said Clarke, who oversees the Justice Department's civil rights enforcement efforts. The review will be conducted under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, which allows the Department of Justice to investigate death-resulting civil rights crimes that occurred on or before Dec. 31, 1979. The massacre started after a Black man was accused of assaulting a white woman. "We have no expectation that there are living perpetrators who could be criminally prosecuted by us or by the state," Clarke said. "Although a commission, historians, lawyers and others have conducted prior examinations of the Tulsa Massacre, we, the Justice Department, never have." Clarke said the department is examining available documents, witness accounts, scholarly and historical research and other information related to the massacre.