IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Japan

Typhoon on track to drench country

Japan is bracing for a super typhoon likely to soak central and eastern regions over the three-day weekend and wreak damage from torrential rains and strong winds. Typhoon Hagibis, which means "speed" in Filipino, had maximum sustained winds of up to 270 kilometers per hour and stronger gusts at noon on Thursday near Chichi Island, about 1,000 km off Tokyo's southern coast. The typhoon was moving north at the speed of 20 kph and is expected to weaken over cooler waters as it nears Japan's main island. The Japan Meteorological Agency forecast that Hagibis will arrive in the Tokyo area late on Saturday and urged people to take precautions.

South Korea

Seoul, Tokyo to hold talks over disputes

South Korea's trade ministry said on Thursday that a senior official will hold trade talks with his Japanese counterpart this week in Switzerland about Japan's curbs on exports to South Korea. The trade spat led Seoul to file a complaint against Tokyo with the World Trade Organization on Sept 11. The meeting between the director-general-level trade officials from the two countries will be held in Geneva on Friday, according to the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. It would be the first procedure of the WTO dispute settlement since South Korea filed the complaint.

United Kingdom

Airport braces for possible shutdown

London City Airport was braced for disruption on Thursday after climate-change protesters Extinction Rebellion vowed to occupy its terminal and shut down operations for three days as part of its action in the British capital. The airport is the capital's fifth-biggest and most central airport, popular with business travelers, bankers and politicians for short-haul and regional routes. On Thursday, 18,000 passengers were due to arrive or depart from the airport, with 286 flights scheduled. Extinction Rebellion, which has targeted government buildings over the past few days, said protesters would lie, sit or glue themselves to "nonviolently use their bodies to close the airport".

Italy

Leonardo loan blocked by court

A court in the northern Italian region of Veneto has suspended a plan to loan Leonardo da Vinci's iconic Vitruvian Man to Paris' Louvre Museum. The famed pen-on-ink drawing - showing a man in two superimposed positions, legs and arms apart, illustrating the proportions of the human body - was intended to be the centerpiece of the Louvre's exhibition celebrating the 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death. The exhibition is scheduled to open on Oct 24. The previous Italian government, which collapsed on Aug 20, refused to loan any works to the Louvre, arguing that Leonardo's death should be best celebrated in Italy, where the Renaissance polymath was born and lived most of his life.

Agencies - Xinhua

(China Daily 10/11/2019 page11)