French Government Survives No-confidence Votes Over Pensions

A placard that reads "No" burns during a demonstration against the government pension reform at Vauban square in Paris, France, 20 March 2023. (EPA)
A placard that reads "No" burns during a demonstration against the government pension reform at Vauban square in Paris, France, 20 March 2023. (EPA)
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French Government Survives No-confidence Votes Over Pensions

A placard that reads "No" burns during a demonstration against the government pension reform at Vauban square in Paris, France, 20 March 2023. (EPA)
A placard that reads "No" burns during a demonstration against the government pension reform at Vauban square in Paris, France, 20 March 2023. (EPA)

Parliament adopted a divisive pension bill Monday raising the retirement age in France from 62 to 64, after lawmakers in the lower chamber rejected two no-confidence votes against the government.

But the bill pushed through by President Emmanuel Macron without lawmakers' approval still faces a review by the Constitutional Council before it can be signed into law. The council has the power to reject articles within bills but usually approves them.

The first no-confidence motion, proposed by a small centrist group with support across the left, narrowly missed approval by National Assembly lawmakers Monday afternoon, garnering 278 of the 287 votes needed to pass. The second motion, brought by the far-right National Rally, won just 94 votes in the chamber.

Macron’s centrist alliance has more seats than any other group in the lower chamber.

The speaker of the National Assembly, Yael Braun-Pivet, said the failure of both votes means parliament has adopted the pension bill.

Yet this is not the end of the complex path to turn the bill into law. Opponents said they would ask the Constitutional Council to review the text before it is formally promulgated, opening the door to the possible rejection of articles within the measure if they are not in line with the constitution. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said she would ask the council to censure it.

Macron, who has remained silent since his decision to push the bill through last week, will meet Tuesday morning with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and the leaders of his centrist alliance.

After the first vote Monday, some leftist lawmakers called for Borne to resign.

“Only nine votes are missing … to bring both the government down and its reform down,” hard-left lawmaker Mathilde Panot said. “The government is already dead in the eyes of the French, it doesn't have any legitimacy anymore.”

The Senate, dominated by conservatives who back the retirement plan, approved the legislation last week.

The head of The Republicans’ lawmakers, Olivier Marleix, earlier explained why his group would reject the motions.

“We acknowledge the need for a reform to save our pension system and defend retirees’ purchasing power,” he said during the debate Monday afternoon. A minority of conservative lawmakers strayed from the party line and voted in favor of the first motion.

Centrist lawmaker Charles de Courson, whose allies introduced the motion supported by the left, deplored the government's decision to use a special constitutional power to skirt a vote on the pension bill last week.

“How can we accept such contempt for parliament? How can we accept such conditions to examine a text which will have lasting effects on the lives of millions of our fellow citizens?” he exclaimed.

France, like many richer nations, has a low birth rate and its citizens have longer life expectancy.

The tensions in the political arena have been echoed on the streets, marked by intermittent protests and strikes in various sectors, including transportation, energy and sanitation workers. Garbage in Paris has piled ever higher and reeked of rotting food on the 15th day of a strike by collectors. The three main incinerators serving the French capital have been mostly blocked, as has a garbage sorting center northwest of Paris.

On Monday, hundreds of mainly young protesters gathered by Les Invalides, the final resting place of Napoleon, to demonstrate against pension reform. Some trash bins were set on fire in early evening, but the protest was otherwise calm. Participants listened to the proceedings in the National Assembly through a channel broadcast on loudspeaker from a union van.

“The goal is to support the workers on strike in Paris ... to put pressure on this government that wants to pass this unjust, brutal and useless and ineffective law,” said Kamel Brahmi, of the leftist CGT union, speaking to workers with a bullhorn at the Romainville sorting plant.

Some refineries that supply gas stations also are at least partially blocked, and Transport Minister Clement Beaune said on France-Info radio Monday that he would take action if necessary to ensure that fuel still gets out.

Opinion polls show a large majority of the French oppose raising the retirement age.

Economic challenges have prompted unrest across Western Europe, where many countries have low birthrates, leaving fewer young workers to sustain pensions for retirees. Spain’s leftist government joined with labor unions last week to announce a “historic” deal to save its pension system.

Spain’s Social Security Minister José Luis Escrivá said the French have a very different, unsustainable model. Spain’s workers already must stay on the job until at least 65 and won’t be asked to work longer — instead, their new deal increases employer contributions for higher-wage earners.

The reform in France also would require 43 years of work to earn a full pension at 64, otherwise workers would still have to wait until they turn 67.

Unions in France have called for new nationwide protests on Thursday to demand the government simply withdraw the retirement bill.

“I know the questions and concerns that this reform is raising. I know what it asks of many of our fellow citizens,” Borne said Monday.

Macron vowed to push the pension plan through, she said, out of “transparency” and “responsibility,” because it is needed to keep the system from diving into deficit amid France’s aging population.



US Says 'Unsafe' Action by China Near American Ship In Taiwan Strait

  American destroyer USS Chung-Hoon (FILE/Reuters)
American destroyer USS Chung-Hoon (FILE/Reuters)
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US Says 'Unsafe' Action by China Near American Ship In Taiwan Strait

  American destroyer USS Chung-Hoon (FILE/Reuters)
American destroyer USS Chung-Hoon (FILE/Reuters)

A Chinese Navy ship maneuvered in an "unsafe manner" near an American destroyer transiting the Taiwan Strait, the US military said Saturday.

It is the second close encounter between American and Chinese military assets in less than 10 days, following what the US military said was an "unnecessarily aggressive maneuver" by one of Beijing's fighter's near one of Washington's surveillance planes last week.

The Chinese ship "executed maneuvers in an unsafe manner in the vicinity of Chung-Hoon," an American destroyer, during the Saturday transit, the US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) said in a statement.

Beijing's ship "overtook Chung-Hoon on their port side and crossed their bow at 150 yards. Chung-Hoon maintained course and slowed to 10 (knots) to avoid a collision," the statement said, AFP reported.

It then "crossed Chung-Hoon's bow a second time starboard to port at 2,000 yards (meters) and remained off Chung-Hoon's port bow," coming within 150 yards at the closest point, the US military said, adding that the "US military flies, sails, and operates safely and responsibly anywhere international law allows."

The incident occurred as the Chung-Hoon sailed through the Taiwan Strait with a Canadian warship in a joint mission through the sensitive waterway that separates self-ruled Taiwan from China.

The Chinese military said it had monitored the passage, but made no mention of a close encounter.

"The relevant countries are intentionally creating trouble in the Taiwan Strait, deliberately stirring up risks, and maliciously undermining regional peace and stability," said Senior Colonel Shi Yi, the spokesman of China's Eastern Theatre Command.

US warships frequently sail through the strait. The last joint US-Canada passage was in September 2022.

China claims Taiwan as its territory -- vowing to take it one day, by force if necessary -- and has in recent years ramped up military and political pressure on the island.

The Taiwan Strait ship encounter followed what the US military characterized as a risky maneuver by a Chinese jet that "flew directly in front of and within 400 feet of the nose" of an RC-135 surveillance plane on May 26 over the South China Sea.

Beijing blamed US "provocation," with a foreign ministry spokeswoman saying the "United States' long-term and frequent sending of ships and planes to conduct close surveillance on China seriously harms China's national sovereignty and security."


Russian Missile Attack on Dnipro Kills 2-year-old, Injures 22

A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine shows Ukrainian rescuers work on a place of rocket hit in the Dnipro area, central Ukraine, late 03 June 2023, amid the Russian invasion. EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE / HANDOUT
A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine shows Ukrainian rescuers work on a place of rocket hit in the Dnipro area, central Ukraine, late 03 June 2023, amid the Russian invasion. EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE / HANDOUT
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Russian Missile Attack on Dnipro Kills 2-year-old, Injures 22

A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine shows Ukrainian rescuers work on a place of rocket hit in the Dnipro area, central Ukraine, late 03 June 2023, amid the Russian invasion. EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE / HANDOUT
A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine shows Ukrainian rescuers work on a place of rocket hit in the Dnipro area, central Ukraine, late 03 June 2023, amid the Russian invasion. EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE / HANDOUT

A 2-year-old girl was killed and 22 people injured, including five children, when a Russian missile struck near the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the regional governor said on Sunday.
"Overnight, the body of a girl who had just turned two was pulled from under the rubble of a house," Serhiy Lysak wrote on the Telegram messaging channel.
Seventeen people were being treated in hospital after the attack on a residential area by Iskander short-range cruise missiles, Reuters quoted Lysak as saying.
Reuters could not independently verify the report. There was no immediate reaction from Moscow.
Mykola Lukashuk, head of the Dnipropetrovsk region council, said 17 children have died in the region since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
"No words can soothe the pain of parents who have lost the most precious thing in their lives," Lukashuk said.
The war has killed at least 485 children in Ukraine and injured nearly 1,500, the country's Office of the Prosecutor General said on Sunday on Telegram.
The missile hit between two two-story residential buildings in the Pidhorodnenska community, partially destroying them and damaging a number of houses, cars and infrastructure, Lysak said.
"Once again, Russia proves it is a terrorist state," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on Saturday after the first reports of the explosions.
Moscow and Kyiv deny their military forces target civilians.
Pictures posted on social media showed rescue teams working at a shattered, smoldering building amid piles of twisted building materials.
Following the attack in Dnipro, Russia launched a new wave of overnight air strikes on the country. Ukraine's air force said on Sunday it destroyed more than half of the air targets.
Four of the six cruise missiles and three of the five Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia were downed, the air force said on Telegram.
Kyiv's city military administration earlier said all Russia-launched targets approaching the capital had been intercepted. It was not immediately clear where the missiles and drones that were not destroyed hit.
Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukraine's capital since May, chiefly at night, ahead of a long-expected Ukrainian counteroffensive to reclaim territory, in what Ukrainian officials say is an attempt to inflict psychological distress on civilians.


US Says Will Continue to Support a Civilian Government in Sudan

Sudanese army touring a Khartoum neighborhood (AFP)
Sudanese army touring a Khartoum neighborhood (AFP)
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US Says Will Continue to Support a Civilian Government in Sudan

Sudanese army touring a Khartoum neighborhood (AFP)
Sudanese army touring a Khartoum neighborhood (AFP)

The United States affirmed its support of the Sudanese people's demand for a civilian government and the resumption of Sudan's disrupted democratic transition.

Washington warned that the ongoing fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) threatened the people of Sudan with the prospect of a protracted conflict and widespread suffering.

The US Embassy in Khartoum issued a statement asserting that Washington will continue to hold the belligerent parties accountable for their unconscionable violence and blatant disregard for the will of the Sudanese people.

The statement added that every day hostilities continue, the parties hinder the delivery of humanitarian assistance to those who need it most, destroy key infrastructure, and deny the aspirations of the Sudanese people for freedom, peace, and justice.

Meanwhile, violent clashes erupted in Khartoum as people commemorated the fourth anniversary of the forceful dispersal of the sit-in on June 3, 2019, during which the army general command killed hundreds and injured thousands of others.

It marks the second day in a row of clashes with heavy weapons, after the collapse of the Jeddah cease-fire agreement signed by the two warring parties, with Saudi-US mediation, amid the deterioration of the humanitarian situation and the increasing number of displaced people.

Clashes renewed in the old Omdurman and south of Khartoum, and explosions were heard in the cities and around vital and strategic locations.

Residents of Khartoum reported that the army's warplanes had bombed areas in the south of Khartoum, and the RSF units responded using ground anti-aircraft missiles.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese Red Crescent announced the burial of 180 unidentified persons after the bodies piled up in the streets and people's inability to go out to bury them.


NKorean Leader's Sister Vows 2nd Attempt to Launch Spy Satellite, Slams UN Meeting

Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. AP
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. AP
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NKorean Leader's Sister Vows 2nd Attempt to Launch Spy Satellite, Slams UN Meeting

Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. AP
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. AP

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed again Sunday to push for a second attempt to launch a spy satellite as she lambasted a UN Security Council meeting over the North’s first, failed launch.

The North’s attempt to put its first military spy satellite into orbit last Wednesday failed as its rocket crashed off the Korean Peninsula’s western coast. An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was still convened at the request of the US, Japan and other countries to discuss the launch because it had violated council resolutions banning the North from performing any launch using ballistic technology.

On Sunday, Kim’s sister and senior ruling party official, Kim Yo Jong, called the UN council “a political appendage” of the United States, saying its recent meeting was convened following America's “gangster-like request.”

She accused the UN council of being “discriminative and rude” because it only takes issue with the North’s satellite launches while thousands of satellites launched by other countries are already operating in space. She said her country’s attempt to acquire a spy satellite is a legitimate step to respond to military threats posed by the US and its allies.

“(North Korea) will continue to take proactive measures to exercise all the lawful rights of a sovereign state, including the one to a military reconnaissance satellite launch,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media.

In her earlier statement Friday, Kim Yo Jong said the North’s spy satellite “will be correctly put on space orbit in the near future" but didn't say when its second launch attempt would take place.

South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Wednesday it will likely take “more than several weeks” for North Korea to learn the cause of the failed launch but it may attempt a second launch soon if defects aren’t serious.

Washington, Seoul and others criticized the North’s satellite launch for raising international tensions and urged it to return to talks.


Financial Times: Rob Malley Holds Direct Talks with Iran’s UN Ambassador

US special envoy for Iran Robert Malley (File photo/AFP)
US special envoy for Iran Robert Malley (File photo/AFP)
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Financial Times: Rob Malley Holds Direct Talks with Iran’s UN Ambassador

US special envoy for Iran Robert Malley (File photo/AFP)
US special envoy for Iran Robert Malley (File photo/AFP)

US’s Iran envoy Rob Malley has met several times with Iran’s UN ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani, amid reports that the 2015 nuclear accord “is not on the US government's agenda”, The Financial Times reported.

The discussions focused primarily on the possibility of a prisoner exchange with Iran, a person close to the administration said. Tehran holds at least three US-Iranian nationals

Tehran last week agreed to a prisoner exchange with Belgium and separately released two Austrians held in Iran. A successful US prisoner exchange could improve the environment for any nuclear talks.

Diplomats and analysts say potential options include some form of interim deal, or a de-escalatory move by both sides under which Iran reduces its enrichment levels in return for some sanctions relief.

According to The Financial Times, US and EU powers have resumed discussions on how to engage with Iran over its nuclear activity "as fears mount that the Tehran's aggressive expansion of its program risks triggering a regional war."

“There is recognition that we need an active diplomatic plan to tackle Iran’s nuclear program, rather than allowing it to drift,” said a western diplomat to the newspaper.

“The thing that worries me is that Iran’s decision-making is quite chaotic and it could stumble its way into war with Israel,” he added.

Iran has been enriching uranium to 60 per cent purity, and in January the International Atomic Energy Agency discovered particles enriched to about 84 per cent, which is almost weapons grade, at the Fordow plant.

IAEA also said that Iran’s estimated stockpile of enriched uranium had reached more than 23 times the limit set out in nuclear deal.

As of 13 May, Iran’s total enriched uranium stockpile was estimated at 4,744.5 kilograms (10,459 pounds). The limit in the 2015 deal was 202.8 kilograms.

The report also said that Iran is continuing its enrichment of uranium to levels higher than the 3.67 percent limit in the deal, AFP reported.

The stockpile of uranium enriched up to 20 percent is now believed to be 470.9 kilograms — up 36.2 kg since the last report in February — while the amount enriched up to 60 percent stands at 114.1 kilograms, an increase of 26.6 kg.

 

 


NATO Member Türkiye to Send Troops to Kosovo amid Unrest in the North

A US member of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) stands guard in an armored vehicle outside municipal offices in Leposavic, Kosovo, June 2, 2023. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski/File Photo
A US member of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) stands guard in an armored vehicle outside municipal offices in Leposavic, Kosovo, June 2, 2023. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski/File Photo
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NATO Member Türkiye to Send Troops to Kosovo amid Unrest in the North

A US member of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) stands guard in an armored vehicle outside municipal offices in Leposavic, Kosovo, June 2, 2023. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski/File Photo
A US member of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) stands guard in an armored vehicle outside municipal offices in Leposavic, Kosovo, June 2, 2023. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski/File Photo

Türkiye plans to send commandos to Kosovo on Sunday and Monday in response to a NATO request to join the alliance's KFOR peacekeeping force following unrest in the north of the country, the Turkish defense ministry said.

In a statement on Saturday, the ministry called for restraint and constructive dialogue to resolve a crisis that it said could harm regional security and stability.

"Our assigned unit (a commando battalion) is planned to be deployed to ... Kosovo on June 4-5," the ministry said.

A political crisis that has spiraled into violence in Kosovo's north has intensified since ethnic Albanian mayors took office in the region's Serb-majority area, which led the US and its allies to rebuke Pristina. The majority Serb population had boycotted the April election, allowing ethnic Albanians to be elected.

In violence on Monday, 30 peacekeepers and 52 Serbs who protested against the installation of the mayors were injured. The violence prompted NATO to announce it would send additional troops on top of 700 already on their way to the Balkan country to boost its 4,000 strong mission.


Counter-Offensive on Track Despite Russian Missile Barrages, Says Ukrainian Defense Official

A Ukrainian serviceman walks in a trench at a position near the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine May 30, 2023. (Reuters)
A Ukrainian serviceman walks in a trench at a position near the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine May 30, 2023. (Reuters)
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Counter-Offensive on Track Despite Russian Missile Barrages, Says Ukrainian Defense Official

A Ukrainian serviceman walks in a trench at a position near the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine May 30, 2023. (Reuters)
A Ukrainian serviceman walks in a trench at a position near the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine May 30, 2023. (Reuters)

Ukraine's plans for a counteroffensive against Russian occupation remain on track, its deputy defense minister told Reuters on Saturday, despite an "unprecedented" wave of missile and drone attacks across the country in recent weeks.

Volodymyr V. Havrylov said that alongside cruise missile strikes, Ukraine had faced repeated volleys of ballistic missiles in May, especially in urban centers including the capital, Kyiv.

"Their primary goal is to stop our counter-offensive and target decision-making centers," he said on the sidelines of Asia's top security conference, the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

Havrylov called Russia's heavy use of ballistic missiles in May a "last strategic resort" and noted that his country's air defense systems had been "more than 90 percent effective" against the attacks.

For Russia "it was a huge surprise to find that the effectiveness of (their ballistic missiles) was almost zero against modern air defense systems, which we received from our partners," he said.

The United States and Germany provided Ukraine advanced Patriot missile batteries this year. Ukraine had already received advanced shorter-range systems such as NASAMS and IRIS-T from Western partners.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday his country was ready to launch a much-awaited counter-offensive. Havrylov said the missile barrages had not affected the timing.

"Nothing can stop our efforts, our desire, and our confidence that we'll win this war," he said.

Ukraine will "start the counter-offensive, with the ambition to liberate our territories this year," he added.

Moscow calls the invasion, which began in February 2022, a "special operation."

Havrylov declined to comment about recent drone attacks and border incursions into Russian territory, including some strikes that reached near Moscow.

"They (Russia) have a lot of internal events that are of course linked to this war," he said. "We have a lot of people inside Russia who support Ukraine."

The two countries have accused each other of spreading terror in their respective capitals with air strikes.

Havrylov, who joined defense and military officials from all over the world at the Singapore meeting, said Ukraine expects NATO allies to provide a detailed roadmap to membership at the defense pact's summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, next month.

"We want to see a clear... set of steps to be taken by both sides," he said. "Not just an indication that the door is open."

He added that Ukraine also expected guarantees of security to be provided while the country is in a "transition period" on the way to membership.

He dismissed a proposal by Indonesia's defense minister at the Singapore meetings to establish a demilitarized zone to halt the fighting in Ukraine, saying: "We are not going to negotiate any deal related to loss of our territory, including Crimea."

Havrylov praised the recent supply of British Storm Shadow cruise missiles, which British defense minister Ben Wallace said on Friday had not missed any targets Ukraine had attacked. The addition of modern fighter aircraft such as F-16s would improve the country's air defense capabilities, Havrylov said.

He said he could not comment on whether Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb, another long-range strike weapon Western allies have provided this year, had been used in combat yet.

Ukraine has had good meetings and discussions with many countries, including Asian nations, at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Havrylov said.

"We want to engage with everybody," he said.


Canada Facing Rising Threat from Cyberattacks

A computer keyboard lit by a displayed cyber code is seen in this illustration picture taken on March 1, 2017. (Reuters)
A computer keyboard lit by a displayed cyber code is seen in this illustration picture taken on March 1, 2017. (Reuters)
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Canada Facing Rising Threat from Cyberattacks

A computer keyboard lit by a displayed cyber code is seen in this illustration picture taken on March 1, 2017. (Reuters)
A computer keyboard lit by a displayed cyber code is seen in this illustration picture taken on March 1, 2017. (Reuters)

Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said on Saturday that the country's critical infrastructure was increasingly being targeted by cyberattacks, posing a significant threat to the economy of the world's fourth-largest crude oil producer.

The US State Department warned last month that China was capable of launching cyberattacks against oil and gas pipelines and rail systems, after researchers discovered a Chinese hacking group had been spying on such networks, Reuters said.

In an interview on the sidelines of an Asian security summit in Singapore, Anand said there had been an increase in cyberattacks across North America, although she did not attribute the strikes to any state-sponsored actors.

"We have seen attacks on critical infrastructure in our country and we are very conscious to advise Canadian organizations and Canadian companies to take mitigation measures," Anand said.

"The risks can be substantial to our economy and systems that are protecting the lives of our citizens."

Canada is home to a number of large oil pipelines that are important for global crude supplies. Multinational energy companies like Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell have major operations in the country.

Anand was speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's top security meeting, where rising tensions between the United States and China have dominated proceedings.

Chinese military officials have accused the US and its allies of using the conference to gang up on Beijing and open divisions in the Asia-Pacific region.

"We have to keep our eyes wide open on China. They have become an increasingly disruptive global power," Anand said when asked about China's complaints.


Russia to Come Back to START if US Abandons Its ‘Hostile Stance’, Says Foreign Ministry

In this handout photo released by the State Duma, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov addresses lawmakers during a session at the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, May 16, 2023. (The State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament via AP)
In this handout photo released by the State Duma, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov addresses lawmakers during a session at the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, May 16, 2023. (The State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament via AP)
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Russia to Come Back to START if US Abandons Its ‘Hostile Stance’, Says Foreign Ministry

In this handout photo released by the State Duma, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov addresses lawmakers during a session at the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, May 16, 2023. (The State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament via AP)
In this handout photo released by the State Duma, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov addresses lawmakers during a session at the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, May 16, 2023. (The State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament via AP)

Russia will come back to full compliance with the New START treaty if Washington abandons its "hostile stance" toward Moscow, Russian news agencies reported, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

The United States said earlier this week that it would stop providing Russia some notifications required under the arms control treaty, including updates on its missile and launcher locations, to retaliate for Moscow's "ongoing violations" of the accord.

According to Ryabkov, the move didn't come as a surprise to Moscow, and Russia's decision to suspend the New START treaty stands despite any counter-measures.

"Regardless of any measures or countermeasures from the US side, our decision to suspend the START Treaty is unshakable," the TASS news agency quoted him as saying.

"And our own condition for returning to a fully operational treaty is for the US to abandon its fundamentally hostile stance toward Russia."


One Dead, Two Missing in Japan after Heavy Rain

A general view shows a flooded street in Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture on June 3, 2023, after heavy rains caused by passing Tropical Storm Mawar hit much of the country the day before. (AFP)
A general view shows a flooded street in Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture on June 3, 2023, after heavy rains caused by passing Tropical Storm Mawar hit much of the country the day before. (AFP)
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One Dead, Two Missing in Japan after Heavy Rain

A general view shows a flooded street in Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture on June 3, 2023, after heavy rains caused by passing Tropical Storm Mawar hit much of the country the day before. (AFP)
A general view shows a flooded street in Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture on June 3, 2023, after heavy rains caused by passing Tropical Storm Mawar hit much of the country the day before. (AFP)

Heavy rain across parts of Japan has killed one person, left two missing and injured dozens more, authorities said Saturday, with thousands of residents issued evacuation warnings.

The inundation has been caused by the remnants of former Typhoon Mawar, now downgraded to a tropical storm.

A rescue team in central Aichi region's Toyohashi, where the country's highest-level evacuation alert was issued Friday, "found a man approximately in his 60s in a submerged car, but he was later confirmed dead," a city official told AFP.

In western Wakayama, where several rivers burst their banks, officials told AFP that they had resumed the search for one man and one woman missing in the region.

A total of six people were seriously injured and 24 suffered minor injuries as of Saturday morning, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.

In central and western Japan, many evacuation orders -- which are non-compulsory, even at the highest level -- were being downgraded as rains eased.

But new warnings were issued in areas close to Tokyo in the early morning due to flooding risks.

With several cities including Aichi's Toyohashi and Koshigaya near Tokyo reportedly seeing the highest 24-hour rainfall on record, the Japan Meteorological Agency urged residents to "be on high alert for landslides, overflowing rivers, and flooding of low-lying areas".

Some 4,000 households in regions close to Tokyo suffered power outages early Saturday, the Tokyo Electric Power Company said, but the issue was mostly resolved several hours later.

Shinkansen bullet trains were temporarily suspended between Tokyo and Nagoya, but Japan Railway said they resumed operations around noon.

Scientists say climate change is intensifying the risk of heavy rain in Japan and elsewhere, because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.

Strong rain in 2021 triggered a devastating landslide in the central resort town of Atami that killed 27 people.

And in 2018, floods and landslides killed more than 200 people in western Japan during the country's annual rainy season.

Earlier this week, Mawar -- then a typhoon -- passed just north of the Pacific island of Guam, uprooting trees and leaving tens of thousands of homes temporarily without power.