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Germany Bans Pro-Palestinian Group Samidoun, Slams Iran

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends a lower house of parliament Bundestag session, in Berlin, Germany, October 12, 2023. REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends a lower house of parliament Bundestag session, in Berlin, Germany, October 12, 2023. REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
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Germany Bans Pro-Palestinian Group Samidoun, Slams Iran

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends a lower house of parliament Bundestag session, in Berlin, Germany, October 12, 2023. REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends a lower house of parliament Bundestag session, in Berlin, Germany, October 12, 2023. REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen

Germany will ban the pro-Palestinian group Samidoun, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday, adding that its members were celebrating Hamas "terror" in Israel on German streets.
"Our law governing associations is a sharp sword. And we, as a strong constitutional state, will draw this sword," Scholz said in an address to parliament in Berlin.
The group, which identifies as a Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, posted photos on Instagram on Sunday of pro-Palestinian activists distributing sweets in Berlin in celebration of Saturday's Hamas attack in Israel.
The group has been organising pro-Palestinian protests and is now monitored by Berlin's domestic intelligence agency, according to German magazine Der Spiegel.

Scholz told legislators that Iran bore responsibility for allowing Hamas to grow to the point where it launched the weekend's attack on Israel.

"While we have no firm proof that Iran operationally supported this cowardly attack, it is clear to us all that without Iranian support Hamas would never have been able to launch this unprecedented attack," he said.

"Sadly, we can foresee the suffering of the civilian population in the Gaza strip likely growing further - but that too is the fault of Hamas and its attack on Israel," he added.
 

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Japan Ends Megaquake Advisory on Nankai Trough Disasters

Stone lanterns fall at a shrine following a strong earthquake in Nichinan, Miyazaki prefecture, southern Japan, on Aug. 9, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)
Stone lanterns fall at a shrine following a strong earthquake in Nichinan, Miyazaki prefecture, southern Japan, on Aug. 9, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)
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Japan Ends Megaquake Advisory on Nankai Trough Disasters

Stone lanterns fall at a shrine following a strong earthquake in Nichinan, Miyazaki prefecture, southern Japan, on Aug. 9, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)
Stone lanterns fall at a shrine following a strong earthquake in Nichinan, Miyazaki prefecture, southern Japan, on Aug. 9, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

Japan on Thursday ended its call for higher-than-usual risks of a major earthquake, one week after a strong tremor on the edge of the Nankai Trough seabed zone caused the government to issue its first-ever megaquake advisory.

Citizens can now return to normal life as no abnormalities were observed in the seismic activity of the Nankai Trough located along Japan's Pacific coast in the past week, said Yoshifumi Matsumura, the state minister for disaster management.

A Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) expert panel on Aug. 8 released an advisory that there was a "relatively higher chance" of a Nankai Trough megaquake as powerful as magnitude 9, after a magnitude-7.1 quake hit the country's southwest.

While the advisory was not a definitive prediction, the government asked residents of a wide range of western and central regions to review evacuation procedures in case of severe earthquake and tsunami disasters.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cancelled a diplomatic tour to Central Asia and Mongolia over the weekend to prioritize disaster management.

On Aug. 9, a magnitude-5.3 earthquake hit eastern Japan near Tokyo, but its epicenter was located outside of the Nankai Trough zone where the JMA signaled the chance of a megaquake, and the damage was small as only three mild injuries were reported.

Central Japan Railway ended its week-long precaution of reducing the speed of trains running near coastal areas, although the risk of another natural disaster, approaching Typhoon Ampil, forced the company to cancel high-speed trains connecting Tokyo and Nagoya on Friday.

Japan has predicted a 70%-80% chance of a Nankai Trough megaquake occurring in the next 30 years.

The government's worst-case scenario has estimated that a Nankai Trough megaquake and subsequent tsunami disaster could kill 323,000 people, destroy 2.38 million buildings and cause 220 trillion yen ($1.50 trillion) of economic damage.

Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries. More than 15,000 people were killed in a magnitude 9 quake in 2011 that triggered a devastating tsunami and the triple reactor meltdowns at a nuclear power plant in northeast Japan.