Tokyo, Japan – Chika Hashimoto, a 23-year-old who recently graduated from Tokyo’s Temple University, is not averse to having a family in the future, but nor is she jumping at the opportunity. “It is definitely not my first choice,” she told Al Jazeera. “Fulfilling my career and enjoying my freedom is far more important than getting married and having children.” Hashimoto cites economic concerns as the primary reason why she, and many other young Japanese women, are reevaluating a future centred around family life. “Raising a child really costs a lot of money,” she said. “It’s not easy for Japanese…
Author: National Tone
Biden administration’s announcement comes after reports of underage refugees and migrants working in dangerous industries.The United States government has announced plans to clamp down on child labour in the country following a surge in violations and news reports detailing the illegal employment of underage refugees and migrants in dangerous industries. US officials said on Monday that the Department of Labor had seen a nearly 70 percent increase in child labour violations since 2018, with 835 companies found to have violated child labour laws in the last fiscal year alone. Officials told reporters during a conference call that US President Joe…
Taipei, Taiwan – At opposite ends of Southeast Asia, researchers Pornampai Narenpitak and Heri Kuswanto are both working on the same problem: Is it possible to mimic the cooling effects of volcanic eruptions to halt global warming? Using computer modelling and analysis, Narenpitak and Kuswanto are separately studying whether shooting large quantities of sulphur dioxide into the earth’s stratosphere could have a similar effect on global temperatures as the eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Tambora in 1815. The eruption, the most powerful in recorded history, spewed an estimated 150 cubic kilometres (150,000 gigalitres) of exploded rock and ash into the air,…
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador continues to rebuke the removal of Peru’s left-wing former President Pedro Castillo.Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has hit out at his Peruvian counterpart, Dina Boluarte, describing her as a “puppet” of oligarchs in the latest escalation of tensions between the two countries. Relations between Mexico and Peru have been strained since December’s removal of former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo. On Monday, Lopez Obrador continued his criticism of Castillo’s arrest and imprisonment, calling the situation a “total farce” and a “great injustice”. He speculated that the “end goal” of Castillo’s removal is “an oligarchy plundering the…
Authorities urge caution as a series of winter storms continue to bring extreme weather across the US.A series of tornadoes has lashed the central United States, leaving a trail of wreckage and injuries as winter storms continue to cause extreme weather around the country. The National Weather Service reported nine tornadoes had swept through Kansas, Oklahoma and northwest Texas on Sunday night, flipping cars and bringing down trees and power lines. The fierce winds knocked out electricity for about 12,000 homes and businesses in Oklahoma, according to Poweroutage.us. “I could hear the wind coming,” Frances Tabler, an Oklahoma resident, told…
NEW YORK (AP) — K’Andre Miller of the New York Rangers says spitting at L.A. Kings defenseman Drew Doughty was completely accidental. Miller in a message posted on social media Monday said he would never intend to spit at an opponent on purpose. .acf-block-preview .instagram-twitter-container width: 340px; margin: 0 auto; “It goes against everything I am as a person and player,” Miller wrote. “I felt awful about it.” The 23-year-old also thanked Doughty for giving him the opportunity to apologize after the game. Miller was given a match penalty and ejected late in the first period, and the Rangers played…
Debris was all that was left of a wooden sailing boat that crashed against rocks in the early morning hours on Sunday, near the Italian seaside resort of Steccato di Cutro. It had left Turkey days earlier. Witnesses say up to 200 people were on board. But faced with rough seas, the boat sank in the Mediterranean and at least 62 people drowned in a shipwreck that has reminded the world of the worst horrors of Europe’s refugee crisis. At least 12 children died, including a months-old baby and twin toddlers. “It was a tragic scene,” Red Cross representative Ignazio…
Barely hours after Jordan hosted a meeting between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the Red Sea city of Aqaba, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the building of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank will continue to go ahead. Sunday’s meeting, which was also attended by Egypt and the United States, was called in order to discuss steps to de-escalate tensions amid surging violence in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Jordanian foreign ministry published the closing statement of the Aqaba summit, saying: “The Government of Israel and the Palestinian National Authority confirmed their joint readiness and commitment to…
Gordon Elliott expects to know later this week whether his stable jockey Jack Kennedy will be fit to ride at the Cheltenham Festival.Kennedy has been sidelined with a broken leg since early January and is in a race against time to make the showpiece meeting in the Cotswolds in just over a fortnight. Following his injury, Davy Russell came out of retirement to fill the void, but he has taken only two rides since suffering a heavy fall at the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown earlier this month. Whether one or both of the two leading riders will be in…
SEOUL (AP) — Former Germany great Jurgen Klinsmann was hired Monday to coach South Korea’s national soccer team. The 58-year-old Klinsmann, who won the World Cup as a player with West Germany in 1990, replaces Paulo Bento. The Portuguese coach left the team after leading South Korea to the second round at last year’s World Cup in Qatar. “I am very happy and honored to be the head coach of South Korea’s national football team,” Klinsmann said in a statement. “I know well that the Korean national team has been, over a long period of time, constantly improving and producing…