Briefly

JAPAN

Record rains kill eight, stranding thousands

Record rainfall in Japan stranded thousands of travelers at Tokyo's Narita airport on Friday, bringing floods to the surrounding area that disrupted transport, knocked out power to 20,000 homes and killed eight. During one of Japan's busiest holiday weeks, more than 360 millimeters of rain fell in 24 hours in parts of the Chiba area. The eight dead included one person trapped in a submerged vehicle, public broadcaster NHK said, citing Chiba authorities and police.

DPRK

Upcoming US-ROK military drills slammed

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea slammed the upcoming joint military drills between the United States and the Republic of Korea, set to start on Monday, as "a rehearsal for an aggressive war", the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Friday, citing a statement released a day earlier by a DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesperson. Referring to a US announcement that the large-scale Ulji Freedom Shield exercises are quite different from those of the past five years and are intended to master the ability to fight a war on the basis of the new aspects of modern warfare, the statement said that by doing so, the United States "did not conceal its aim to complete preparations for the substantial military confrontation with the DPRK".

RUSSIA

Moscow rejects Tokyo's claims over islands

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that the Southern Kuril Islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan, "have been, are and will remain Russian territory". He further said that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's rhetoric claiming the islands are "inherently Japanese" would change nothing. Earlier on Thursday, Takaichi "strongly protested" Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to a disputed island. Takaichi said Japan could "absolutely not accept" this visit, insisting that the Northern Territories are Japan's "inherent territories". Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday, "We categorically reject these statements, which we consider politically inappropriate, insulting and …legally unfounded."

UNITED KINGDOM

Nigel Farage wins British by-election

Hard-right British politician Nigel Farage was re-elected to his parliamentary seat on Friday in a by-election shunned by the major parties — handing his main rival Count Binface, a large share of the vote. Farage, who triggered Thursday's polls by resigning from the parliamentary seat he had held since 2024 over an investigation into his finances, swept 63 percent of the ballots in the eastern English constituency of Clacton, results showed.

EUROPE

Ukraine offers truce in Black Sea: Source

Ukraine has sent Russia an offer suggesting they both halt attacks on civilian targets in the Black Sea, a source said. Russia on Friday dismissed the idea of a ceasefire in the Black Sea, saying it saw no grounds for "half measures" that would offer a respite to the other side. Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said she was commenting on a statement by Turkiye's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in an interview that Ankara had put proposals to both Russia and Ukraine for a moratorium on military operations in the Black Sea. She said Russia had received no formal proposal from Turkiye.

AGENCIES-XINHUA