'My heart is broken': Fire nearly destroys historic Japanese castle built 500 years ago - USA TODAY

Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press

Published 8:49 AM EDT Oct 31, 2019

TOKYO — A fire broke out early Thursday and spread quickly through historic Shuri Castle on Japan's southern island of Okinawa, nearly destroying the UNESCO World Heritage site.

Firefighters battled the blaze for about 12 hours before bringing it under control in the afternoon.

The fire in Naha, the prefectural capital of Okinawa, started from the castle's main structure and quickly jumped to other buildings. Three large halls and four other structures burned down, a fire official said.

No one was injured. The cause was not immediately known.

An annual weeklong castle festival that began Sunday was to run for a week but the remaining events were canceled.

Video on NHK public television showed parts of the castle engulfed in orange flames, then turning into a charred skeleton and collapsing to the ground. Many residents watched from a hillside road and quietly took photos to capture what was left of the castle before it was largely lost. Some people were crying.

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"I feel as if we have lost our symbol," said Naha Mayor Mikiko Shiroma, who led an emergency response team. "I'm shocked."

Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki cut short a trip to South Korea to return to Naha. "My heart is broken," he said. "But I also feel strongly that we must reconstruct Shuri Castle, a symbol of the Ryukyu Kingdom filled with our history and culture."

The castle is a symbol of Okinawa's cultural heritage from the time of the Ryukyu Kingdom that spanned about 450 years from 1429 until 1879, when the island was annexed by Japan.

It is also a symbol of Okinawa's struggle and efforts to recover from World War II. The castle, built 500 years ago, first burned down in 1945 during the Battle of Okinawa near the war's end, in which about 200,000 lives were lost on the island, many of them civilians.

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The castle was largely restored in 1992 as a national park and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000 as part of a group of ancient ruins, castles and sacred sites that "provide mute testimony to the rare survival of an ancient form of religion into the modern age."

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that the central government will do its utmost to reconstruct the castle.

The government dispatched officials from the Agency for Cultural Affairs and other government organizations to join efforts to investigate the cause of the fire and study ways to protect other historical sites from disasters, Suga said.

Kurayoshi Takara, a historian at the University of the Ryukyus who helped reconstruct Shuri Castle, said he was speechless when he saw the fire. He told NHK that the castle reconstruction was a symbolic event for Okinawans to restore their history and Ryukyu heritage lost during the war.

"I still can't accept this as a reality," Takara said. "It has taken more than 30 years and it was a monument to the wisdom and efforts of many people. Shuri Castle is not just about the buildings, but it reconstructed all the details, even including equipment inside."

UNESCO Director General Audrey Azouley expressed her sympathy. "Deep emotion and sincere solidarity with the Japanese people as we see the tragic fire at the beautiful #shuricastle," she wrote on her Twitter account. "This is a loss for all humanity."

Okinawa was under U.S. occupation until 1972, two decades after the rest of Japan regained full independence.

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2019-10-31 11:57:00Z
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Hong Kong's first recession in a decade could be even worse than feared - CNN

Hong Kong plunged into recession in the third quarter, according to official data released Thursday. The economy shrank 3.2% during the three months to September, compared to the previous quarter. That's a sharp slowdown from the 0.5% contraction recorded in the second quarter, and much worse than economists had expected.

With no immediate resolution to the city's political crisis on the cards, Hong Kong's first recession in a decade could extend into the new year. Compared to the previous year, the economy shrank 2.9% in the third quarter.

"Frankly, there is no room for optimism," embattled Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at a business event on Thursday, ahead of the preliminary growth figures. Hong Kong will release revised GDP figures next month.

As a major trading hub, Hong Kong was already hurting from the US-China trade war and China's slowing growth. Five months of mass demonstrations is now pushing the city toward an economic crisis.

A government spokesperson said Thursday that Hong Kong's economic growth had been on an upward trend since last year amid a slowing global economy and US-China trade tensions, but "the situation showed an abrupt deterioration recently due to the severe impacts of the local social incidents."

"Much of the pressure is now coming from the political unrest. The trade war itself would cause Hong Kong's GDP growth to slow but not a contraction, while the political unrest could," said Tommy Wu, a Hong Kong-based economist with Oxford Economics.

Economists are now predicting that for the whole year, Hong Kong will miss its earlier target of between 0% and 1% growth, and the pain could continue into next year.

Hong Kong's GDP "is quite likely to fall into negative growth in 2019 and also 2020 [...] I can't see how the protests could end," said Iris Pang, economist for Greater China at ING.

Wu expects Hong Kong's economy to contract 0.1% in 2019 and "only to grow at a meager 0.6% in 2020."

"The downside risk to the forecast is significant. If the political unrest prolongs beyond this year, I would expect next year's GDP to contract as well," he said.

Mass demonstrations have decimated the city's tourism industry. Visitor numbers plunged 37% year on year for the third quarter.

Hotels are on average only two-thirds full, a drop of 28% compared to the same period a year earlier. InterContinental Hotels Group said in an earnings report earlier this month that revenue per room in Greater China fell 36% last quarter, citing "ongoing unrest in Hong Kong." The company operates several luxury hotels located in areas frequently targeted by protesters.

Retail figures are also taking a beating as several shops have been forced to close early or shut down for a full day several times over the last few months.

Some protesters have targeted shops, restaurants and banks viewed as unsympathetic to their cause, smashing in windows, vandalizing storefronts with graffiti and even setting fire to some properties.

Last week, the city's Financial Secretary Paul Chan announced a new round of economic measures to support businesses affected by the ongoing unrest, including slashing rents in half at properties leased by the Hong Kong government, providing fuel subsidies for taxi drivers and fee subsidies for local ferries. Those plans follow on earlier initiatives, including the allocation of 2 billion Hong Kong dollars ($255 million) to support small companies and a 19 billion Hong Kong dollar ($2.4 billion) stimulus package to help safeguard jobs and provide relief to "people's financial burden."

Despite the troubled Hong Kong economy, the city's financial markets are largely holding up. The Hang Seng Index (HSI) is still up 4% for the year, and the political crisis hasn't been a deal breaker for investors yet, many of whom still see the city as an important gateway to Asia.

The IPO market is also proving resilient: In September Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) listed its Asia business on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKXCF) raising $5 billion in the second biggest IPO of the year after Uber (UBER).

That deal pushed the amount of funding raised on the Hong Kong exchange to the third highest in the world this year after the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq, according to Deloitte.

Michelle Toh contributed to this report.

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2019-10-31 11:10:00Z
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North Korea fired 2 unidentified projectiles, South Korea says - CNN

It is unclear what exactly was launched, but South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the military "is maintaining its readiness by monitoring relevant movements in preparation for further launches."

Japan's Coast Guard said in a statement "it appears that North Korea has launched a missile" and advised ships to avoid the area.

If confirmed as a missile test, it would be the first by Pyongyang in nearly a month and the 12th since May. The country said it tested a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile on October 2. Experts voiced concern over that event because it was the first missile test by North Korea in some time that didn't involve a shorter-range weapon.

The US and North Korea held working-level nuclear talks a few days later, but those concluded without an agreement. Both sides offered a very different picture of events -- Pyongyang accusing Washington of lacking flexibility, but the State Department said the US "brought creative ideas and had good discussion with its DPRK counterparts," using the formal acronym for North Korea.

Despite their differences, US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have continued to speak positively of their personal relationship.

Kim was quoted last week as saying his relationship with Trump is "special" and the two leaders maintain "trust in each other."

However, Pyongyang has been particularly critical of Trump's advisers and the diplomats around him. And the clock on striking an agreement may be ticking.

Kim said in an important policy speech in April that he would give the Trump administration until the end of the year to change its negotiating strategy. Since then, North Korea resumed test-firing missiles and has reiterated in state media that Pyongyang is giving the US until the end of the year to solve the issue. It's unclear how serious that deadline is.

This week also marked the first time Kim has communicated with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in weeks.

Kim sent a letter to Moon to offer condolences to the South Korean leader after his father died, according to Moon's office.

The letter was delivered Wednesday and handed over at Panmunjom, the joint security area in the demilitarized zone that divides North and South Korea.

CNN's Chie Kobayashi contributed to this report

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2019-10-31 10:00:00Z
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70 dead after gas cylinder explosion sparks fire on Pakistan train - CNN

The train was passing through the Punjab city of Rahim Yar Khan on Thursday morning when the cylinder exploded, causing a fire which spread through the train, according to local police officer Amir Taimoor.

Seventy people are dead and another 30 are injured, said Nadeem Zia, the medical supervisor of District Headquarters Hospital in Liaquatpur, a city in Rahim Yar Khan district.

Earlier, Taimoor said that around a dozen people are critically injured. Army troops, paramedics, and an army aviation helicopter are currently on site.

Although gas cylinders are banned on trains, passengers were using gas-powered cookers to prepare breakfast inside the train carriage when the explosion occurred, Taimoor added.

He added that many of the people on board the train were heading to a protest in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) from Rahim Yar Khan.

The train was running on the Tezgam line, a daily service that goes from the coastal city of Karachi to the northern city of Rawalpindi.

CNN's Sophia Saifi contributed to this report from Islamabad.

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2019-10-31 10:06:00Z
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US releases footage, provides more detail on al-Baghdadi raid - Al Jazeera English

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2019-10-31 05:13:00Z
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Shuri Castle, Historic Tourist Draw on Okinawa, Is Destroyed by Fire - The New York Times

A devastating fire on Thursday destroyed most of Shuri Castle, a top tourist destination on the Japanese island of Okinawa and a World Heritage site that was once the seat of a kingdom that spanned 450 years.

No one was injured in the blaze, which was first reported at 2:40 a.m. and was extinguished by 11 a.m., according to local officials and news reports. But the fire burned seven buildings to the ground, including the austere main hall, according to NHK, the national broadcaster.

Television images showed flames engulfing the skeleton of the main hall, a symbol of Okinawa that sat on a hill overlooking the city of Naha. Officials have not yet determined the cause of the fire.

The wooden castle, first built more than 500 years ago, served as the palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom, which ruled from 1429 to 1879, when the Ryukyu Islands were annexed by Japan. It has been destroyed several times in its history, most recently in 1945 during the Battle of Okinawa in World War II. The site was reopened as a national park in 1992, and the castle was restored to its original appearance.

10 Miles

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By Jin Wu/The New York Times

Tourists flocked to it, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared it a World Heritage site in 2000.

“The exact replica of the lost structure is now a great monument symbolizing the pride of the Ryukyu people,” the indigenous inhabitants of the islands, the Unesco website says. The Ryukyu Islands are southwest of the four main islands of Japan.

Inside its red tiled exterior, the castle offered visitors modern museum exhibits showcasing ancient artifacts.

Kurayoshi Takara, a professor at the University of the Ryukyus, told NHK that the fire took not just the building and its history, but also many of the priceless artifacts, like tools used in the kingdom. “I cannot accept the reality,” he said.

Mikiko Shiroma, the mayor of Naha, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture, said the local government would consult with the central government on reconstruction, according to Ryukyu Shimpo, a local newspaper.

City officials said that no sprinklers had been installed inside the castle, but that there were some under the roof of the main building to prevent fire from entering from outside, the newspaper reported. Inspections are conducted twice a year, and fire drills occur at least once per year, the officials said.

In April, after the devastating fire at Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, cultural officials in Japan said they would conduct emergency inspections of national treasures and take new precautions to prevent fires.

“I have no words as a former minister in charge of cultural heritage,” Masahiko Shibayama, a former education minister, said on Twitter. “After the Notre-Dame cathedral fire, we’ve just started reviewing fire countermeasures at cultural assets.”

Makiko Inoue and Hisako Ueno contributed reporting.

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2019-10-31 07:44:00Z
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Body found after live-streamer falls climbing Japan's Mount Fuji - CNN

The video -- taken from the hiker's point of view -- shows what appears to be a scene near the top of Japan's iconic mountain, above the clouds. The ground is covered in heavy snow, and the man tells his viewers that it is slippery and dangerous along the route.

"Am I on the right track? So much of the route is covered with snow," he says as he climbs upward.

"I'm slipping," the man shouts, as he then appears to fall.

Authorities were alerted to the incident after receiving calls from people watching the live stream of the climb up the mountain, Aiko Kishibata, a press officer with Shizuoka prefectural police, told CNN earlier Wednesday.

Rescue workers from Shizuoka and Yamanashi, the two prefectures that Mount Fuji straddles, have been searching for the climber since early Tuesday morning, she added.

Officials found a body Wednesday afternoon, and are working to identify it, said Masahiro Haruta, a spokesman for the Shizuoka Prefectural Police. The body was found at an altitude of around 3,000 meters (9,800 feet). Haruta said it was too early to say if the person who died was in fact the live-streamer.

Kishibata said earlier that the accident appeared to have taken place near the summit.

Mount Fuji has been closed for hiking since September, and local police advise people not to climb there because it is especially dangerous when covered in snow, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

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2019-10-30 12:43:49Z
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