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Major crackdown on smuggling launched* * A magnitude 7.6 earthquake, with the Noto region of Ishikawa Prefecture at its epicenter, struck at 4:10 p.m. on Jan. 1. The quake registered a seismic intensity of 7 on the Japanese scale in Wajima and Shika as well as upper 6 in Nanao, Suzu, Anamizu and Noto. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued the first major tsunami warning since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. The tsunami reached a wide area which included Ishikawa, Toyama, Niigata and Yamagata prefectures. A total of 228 people died as a direct result of the earthquake, while 241 people have died in Ishikawa Prefecture due to quake-related causes, such as stress from life as evacuees, according to figures as of Dec. 17. Including quake-related deaths in Toyama and Niigata prefectures, the death toll from the earthquake totaled 475. The figure is the third highest among death tolls resulting from natural disasters since the Heisei era (1989-2019), following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake. Fault displacement resulting from the quake caused massive ground upheavals, which some described as being on a scale that could occur “only once in several thousand years,” mainly along the northern coastline of the Noto Peninsula. According to analysis by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, the upheavals reached as high as four meters in some parts of Wajima. More than 260 buildings were destroyed in a massive fire that broke out after the quake around the Asaichi-dori area in Wajima. The Wajima Morning Market is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the northern Noto Peninsula, with shops for lacquerware and souvenirs as well as stalls selling seafood and other products. Demolition of damaged buildings is underway, paid for using public funds. Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season. In addition to winning the National League home run and runs-batted-in (RBI) titles in the 2024 regular season, he was named the league’s Most Valuable Player. He left the Los Angeles Angels last December to join the Dodgers on a 10-year, $700 million contract, which was worth about ¥101.5 billion at the time. Surgery on his right elbow prevented him from returning to his two-way role as a hitter and pitcher, but he put his skills in running and hitting on display. Ohtani finished the season with his batting average of .310, 54 homers, 130 RBIs, and 59 stolen bases, clinching the home run title for two years in a row and becoming the first Japanese player to win the RBI title in MLB. The Dodgers won the National League Championship Series and played in the World Series against the American League champion New York Yankees. The Dodgers defeated the Yankees to win the title for the first time in four years. On Nov. 21, Ohtani unanimously won this year’s National League MVP, following being unanimously chosen as the American League MVP in 2021 and 2023. He also became the first primary designated hitter to win the award. The 33rd Summer Olympic Games opened in Paris on July 26 for 17 days of competition through Aug. 11. Japan took 45 medals — 20 gold, 12 silver and 13 bronze — a national record for an overseas Summer Olympics. Japan ranked third in the number of gold medals by country and region, behind the United States and China at 40. Japan finished sixth in the total number of medals. About 11,000 athletes competed in 329 events across 32 sports. The Japanese delegation numbered about 400, the country’s largest for an overseas Summer Games. Haruka Kitaguchi won the gold medal in the women’s javelin throw. This was the first time a Japanese woman won a gold medal in an athletics event other than the marathon. Japan’s artistic gymnastics team won the gold in the men’s all-around event, upsetting China on the final apparatus, the horizontal bar. Shinnosuke Oka won gold in the individual all-around event and men’s horizontal bar. The sport in which Japan shone brightest was wrestling. The squad won 11 medals in the 18 weight classes, including eight golds. The women, currently the dominant force in the world, medaled in all six divisions, taking home four golds and two bronzes. Japan also got two golds each in men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman. The Bank of Japan began delivering newly designed banknotes to financial institutions July 3, marking the first renewal in 20 years. The portrait on the new ¥10,000 bill is that of Eiichi Shibusawa, the industrialist known as the “father of Japanese capitalism,” and the ¥5,000 bill features Umeko Tsuda, a pioneer of women’s higher education in Japan. Bacteriologist Shibasaburo Kitasato is the face of the new ¥1,000 bill. It has been 40 years since the portrait changed from Prince Shotoku to educator Yukichi Fukuzawa on the ¥10,000 banknote in 1984. For the first time in the world, a type of 3D hologram technology that makes the portrait appear to rotate when viewed from different angles was adopted as an anti-counterfeiting measure for the banknotes. The new banknotes use a larger font size or the numerals denoting the value of the bills. Also, the identifying marks on the notes that can be distinguished by touch are differently positioned according to the type of banknote to make them more accessible for visually impaired people. More than 20 robberies by “dark” part-time workers have occurred mainly in Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa prefectures since August. On Oct. 15, a man in his 70s was murdered and robbed of about ¥200,000 in cash by men who had broken into his Yokohama residence. Most of the perpetrators of these crimes were recruited to take part in the robberies through social media such as X. About 50 people have been arrested in connection with these incidents, including ones who actually committed robberies and ones who collected cash from them. About 80% of those arrested were in their teens or 20s. The National Police Agency has taken emergency measures to strengthen their analysis of smartphones belonging to the perpetrators. The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito suffered a heavy defeat and lost its majority in the House of Representatives election on Oct. 27. The ruling camp failed to secure 233 lower house seats, the number required for a simple majority in the lower house, in the face of fierce public anger over money scandals involving LDP politicians. As a result of the 50th lower house election, the ruling coalition holds 215 seats, including 191 held by the LDP. In the final stage of the campaign it was revealed that the LDP headquarters had provided ¥20 million even to branches led by candidates who were unendorsed due to their involvement in a political funds scandal. This sparked further criticism. Opposition parties differed in their election outcomes. The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan increased its seats significantly to 148 from the 98 it had before the lower house dissolution, while the Democratic Party for the People quadrupled its number to 28. The number of lower house seats held by the Japan Innovation Party decreased by six, falling to 38. Former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba was elected as the party’s 28th president on Sept. 27. Nine candidates vied to succeed then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the largest number since 1972, when endorsements from 20 LDP Diet members became a condition to file for candidacy. Kishida announced in August he would step down. In the election, Ishiba placed second in the first round of voting, but beat economic security minister Sanae Takaichi in a runoff. Ishiba became the 102nd prime minister after voting at the Diet to designate the prime minister, and he launched his Cabinet on Oct. 1. The approval rating for the Cabinet stood at 51% in a Yomiuri Shimbun survey held immediately after the launch, down from 56% logged by Kishida’s Cabinet in a survey conducted in October 2021 upon their launch. An Airbus A350-900 — Japan Airlines Flight 516, which was arriving from Shin-Chitose Airport in Hokkaido — and a Bombardier DHC-8 belonging to the Japan Coast Guard, collided and caught fire on a runway at Haneda Airport on Jan 2. While all 379 passengers and crew on board the JAL aircraft were able to escape, five people on board the JCG aircraft were killed. Only the Bombardier’s captain survived. The air traffic controller had addressed the JCG aircraft as “No. 1,” meaning it was to be the first in line to take off, and instructed the aircraft to run to the stop position before the runway, but the Bombardier proceeded onto the runway and collided with the JAL airplane that was about to land. The JCG aircraft had been scheduled to fly to Niigata Airport to deliver relief supplies to areas hit by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake. Nihon Hidankyo, or Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to eradicate nuclear weapons, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced Oct. 11. Nihon Hidankyo was highly praised for its continued efforts to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons through activities such as passing on the experiences of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On Dec. 10, cochair Terumi Tanaka reiterated the call for the abolition of nuclear weapons in a lecture he gave in Oslo for the peace prize. Nihon Hidankyo is the second Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Japan, with former Prime Minister Eisaku Sato having won in 1974 for advocating Japan’s three nonnuclear principles. Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co. announced a voluntary recall of three of its products, including the Benikoji CholesteHelp supplement, on March 22 after kidney illnesses developed in several people who had taken one of the company’s supplements made with benikoji red rice mold. In September, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said it had identified puberulic acid derived fom blue mold detected in the supplements’ ingredients as the cause of the kidney damage. The number of deaths suspected to be related to consumption of the supplements has exceeded 100.
Atmospheric conditions conspired against President Joe Biden on Thursday night at the annual National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony. The commander in chief donned a knitted hat for part of the ceremony, as the outside was frightful — cold and windy, according to reports. Biden pulled off the hat at one point, causing his hair to stand on end as it was charged with static electricity. That made for some comical that were tailor-made for some playful social media posts. Biden’s entire presidency summed up in a hairdo — Frank Castle (@jturpeningGA) Me trying to get through the day: — Underwood Dem 🇺🇸🚣 (@Undercrat) Fun with Biden’s Christmas Tree lighting hair 💨🤦 — CommonSense (@6hSense) TONIGHT: Biden at the White House Christmas Tree Lighting. 🎄 Yea, this is a real picture! — Todd Storm (@Todd_Storm) As he left the National Christmas Tree lighting, removed his stocking cap, bent over to look at the press and then asked “you’re still here?” It was very cold and windy tonight. — Andrew Leyden (@PenguinSix) Some news outlets couldn’t resist joining in the fun. “Is he the Ghost of Christmas Past — or just another Scrooge?” a reporter wrote, adding that Biden appeared “more like a character out of ’ Yuletide classic than the commander-in-chief.” The Post went on to quote another Dickens-themed social media post, captioning the photo, “Biden about to be visited by the ghosts of corruption past present and future.” To be fair, some explained that Biden’s hair didn’t look that wild at the start of the event. For a bit of context– as the night went on and temperatures dipped, Biden put on a wool stocking cap. When it came off static electricity + wind. It happens. Here is what he looked like before he put on the cap. — Andrew Leyden (@PenguinSix) “For a bit of context– as the night went on and temperatures dipped, Biden put on a wool stocking cap,” one user wrote. “When it came off static electricity + wind. It happens. Here is what he looked like before he put on the cap.” We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. .
Stocks to buy: Ankush Bajaj recommends three stocks for today—30 DecemberArsenal defender Gabriel kept Viktor Gyokeres quiet — then had the audacity to steal the in-demand Sporting Lisbon striker's trademark goal celebration. After heading in Arsenal's third first-half goal in the Champions League on Tuesday, Gabriel linked the fingers of his hands and placed them over his eyes, before laughing with his teammates. It was most likely a dig at Gyokeres, the Sweden striker who has quickly become one of European soccer's hottest properties . Because that is how Gyokeres celebrates his goals. “It's fun that he likes my celebration,” Gyokeres told Viaplay after the match. “He can steal it if he cannot come up with his own.” Gyokeres has scored 24 goals for Sporting in all competitions and was coming off netting four for Sweden in a Nations League match against Azerbaijan. Earlier in the first half, Gabriel had enjoyed tackling and dispossessing Gyokeres near the Arsenal area — waving both his arms in a gesture to the crowd. Gabriel's goal made it 3-0 to Arsenal at halftime and the English team went on to win 5-1, with Gyokeres failing to score. He did hit the post with a shot late in the game, however — after Gabriel had gone off with an injury. “Today he wasn't that dangerous,” Arsenal striker Kai Havertz said of Gyokeres, “but I think it's because we defended very well.” AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
ROME (AP) — Robert Lewandowski joined Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as the only players in Champions League history with 100 or more goals. But Erling Haaland is on a faster pace than anyone by boosting his total to 46 goals at age 24 on Tuesday. Still, Haaland's brace wasn't enough for Manchester City in a 3-3 draw with Feyenoord that extended the Premier League champion's winless streak to six matches. Lewandowski’s early penalty kick started Barcelona off to a 3-0 win over previously unbeaten Brest to move into second place in the new single-league format. The Poland striker added goal No. 101 in second-half stoppage time. Ronaldo leads the all-time scoring list with 140 goals and Messi is next with 129. But neither Ronaldo nor Messi play in the Champions League anymore following moves to Saudi Arabia and the United States, respectively. “It’s a nice number,” Lewandowski said. “In the past I didn’t think I could score more than 100 goals in the Champions League. I’m in good company alongside Cristiano and Messi.” The 36-year-old Lewandowski required 125 matches to reach the century mark, two more than Messi (123) and 12 fewer than Ronaldo (137). Barcelona also got a second-half score from Dani Olmo. The top eight finishers in the standings advance directly to the round of 16 in March. Teams ranked ninth to 24th go into a knockout playoffs round in February, while the bottom 12 teams are eliminated. Haaland converted a first-half penalty to eclipse Messi as the youngest player to reach 45 goals then scored City's third after the break to raise his total to 46 goals in 44 games. Ilkay Gundogan had City's second. But then Feyenoord struck back with goals from Anis Hadj Moussa, Santiago Gimenez and David Hancko. Inter Milan beat Leipzig 1-0 with an own goal to move atop the standings with 13 points, one more than Barcelona and Liverpool, which faces Real Madrid on Wednesday. The Serie A champion is the only club that hasn't conceded a goal. Bayern Munich beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 — the same score from the 2020 final between the two teams. PSG ended with 10 men and remained in the elimination zone. The French powerhouse has struggled in Europe after Kylian Mbappe’s move to Real Madrid. Kim Min-jae’s first-half header was enough for Bayern, especially after Ousmane Dembelé was sent off in the 56th with his second yellow. Atalanta moved within two points of the lead with a 6-1 win at Young Boys. Charles De Ketelaere scored two and assisted on three other goals for Atalanta. Also, Arsenal kept red-hot striker Viktor Gyokeres quiet in a 5-1 win over Sporting Lisbon; and Germany star Florian Wirtz scored two goals and was involved in two more as Bayer Leverkusen boosted its chances of finishing in the top eight with a 5-0 rout of Salzburg. AC Milan followed up its win at Real Madrid with a 3-2 victory at last-place Slovan Bratislava in an early match. Christian Pulisic put the seven-time champion ahead midway through the first half by finishing off a counterattack. Then Rafael Leao restored the Rossoneri’s advantage after Tigran Barseghyan had equalized for Bratislava and Tammy Abraham quickly added another. Nino Marcelli scored with a long-range strike in the 88th for Bratislava, which ended with 10 men. Bratislava has lost all five of its matches. Argentina World Cup winner Julian Alvarez scored twice and Atletico Madrid routed Sparta Prague 6-0 in the other early game. Alvarez scored with a free kick 15 minutes in and Marcos Llorente added a long-range strike before the break. Alvarez finished off a counterattack early in the second half after being set up by substitute Antoine Griezmann, who then marked his 100th Champions League game by getting on the scoresheet himself. Angel Correa added a late brace for Atletico, which earned its biggest away win in Europe. Atletico beat Paris Saint-Germain in the previous round and extended its winning streak across all competitions to six matches. AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccerStock market today: S&P 500 ends at record high as November jobs data fuels investor optimism
Popular LA Radio Host Dies at 44PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Saquon Barkley normally would have tossed his game-used cleats to the kid who asked for the pair as the star Philadelphia Eagles running back ran off the field and back to the locker room. Sorry, kid. Not today. Barkley kept his mucked-up cleats for good reason — he became the ninth running back in NFL history to top 2,000 yards rushing in a season, reaching the milestone with a 23-yard run in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 41-7 win over the Dallas Cowboys. That rush gave Barkley 2,005 yards with one game left and stuck him exactly 100 yards from Eric Dickerson's record of 2,105, set in 1984 for the Los Angeles Rams. Barkley left the game after the run that got him past 2,000, finishing with 167 yards on 31 carries. “We definitely knew what the number was to at least get 2,000,” Barkley said. “We weren't leaving this field without at least accomplishing that. That's not the words from me, that's the words from the guys up front.” Whether Dickerson likes it or not — and the Hall of Famer made clear last week he does not — Barkley is coming for the record next Sunday against the New York Giants. Well, maybe. The Eagles have clinched the NFC East and least the No. 2 seed in the conference, making that game mostly meaningless. Coach Nick Sirianni could opt to rest Barkley to protect him from injury ahead of the playoffs. “Whatever his decision is, I'm all for it,” Barkley said. “If his mindset is, go out and try it, we'll go out and try it. If his mindset is, let's rest and get ready for this run, I'll all for it, too.” Sirianni simply said, “we'll see.” His backward hat askew, Barkley laughed when asked if he wanted to break the record in a delicious twist against his old team. “I'm not overly trying to go get it,” Barkley said. “I'm not scared to. I would love to. But at the end of the day, we've got bigger things we're focusing on.” Barkley gets a shot at the record thanks to a 17th game of the season that Dickerson and the NFL did not have in 1984. Derrick Henry was the last running back to exceed 2,000 yards. He had 2,027 for the Tennessee Titans in 2020. Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson ran for 2,097 yards in 2012, the second most in an NFL season. Barkley, who left the Giants to sign a three-year deal with the Eagles for $26 million guaranteed, also set the NFL mark Sunday for most yards rushing in a player's first season with a new team. He ran for 176 yards and a touchdown in his first career game against the Giants. “I didn't come here or sign here just to rush for 2,000 (yards) and break a record,” Barkley said. “I'm here to do something special.” Barkley was drafted out of Penn State with the No. 2 overall pick in 2018. He was an instant success with New York and ran for 1,307 yards his rookie season. Barkley ran for 5,211 yards and 35 touchdowns and had 288 receptions for 2,100 yards and 12 TDs in six years with the Giants. He hit free agency after the Giants elected not to put a franchise tag on him. “I was in the dark,” Barkley said. “You don't know what's going to happen, you don't know where you're going to be. Everything is kind of up in the air.” His mission is clear — win a Super Bowl and maybe take down Dickerson. Sporting his trademark goggles and Jheri curl, Dickerson had seven straight 1,000-yard seasons in the 1980s, and the Hall of Famer is widely considered one of the best running backs ever. Dickerson finished with 13,259 yards, the ninth most in NFL history. Emmitt Smith holds the career record with 18,355 yards. “I don’t think he’ll break it. But if he breaks it, he breaks it,” Dickerson told the Los Angeles Times . “Do I want him to break it? Absolutely not. I don’t pull no punches on that. But I’m not whining about it. He had 17 games to do it? Hey, football is football.” In 1984, Dickerson topped 100 yards rushing 12 times to break O.J. Simpson’s 1973 record of 2,003 yards rushing in a season. Simpson set his record in 14 games for the Buffalo Bills before the NFL expanded to 16 in 1978. The NFL moved to 17 games in 2021. “The way football is right now, it’s kind of hard to rush for 2,000 yards in 14 games,” Barkley said. "So, whether it’s 16, whether it’s 17, it’s a feat that you can never take away from what I was able to do with the O-line. And only eight other players did it, so it’s a special moment.” AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
A federal appeals court panel on Friday unanimously upheld a law that could lead to a ban on TikTok in a few short months, handing a resounding defeat to the popular social media platform as it fights for its survival in the U.S. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied TikTok's petition to overturn the law — which requires TikTok to break ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance or be banned by mid-January — and rebuffed the company's challenge of the statute, which it argued had ran afoul of the First Amendment. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.Federal appeals court upholds law requiring sale or ban of TikTok in the USThe selection committee made a few tough choices before they revealed the final bracket for the College Football Playoff on Sunday. One of the most contentious choices for the committee was deciding if a 9-3 Alabama team deserved to receive the final at-large bid over an 11-2 SMU team that lost the ACC Championship Game to Clemson on a walk-off field goal on Saturday night. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Thanks for the feedback.
Proteas must be more ‘clinical and ruthless’, says captain Bavuma
Imran likely to be booked for ‘inciting people against state’ After approval of federal cabinet, there is plan to try Imran Khan in special anti-terrorism court ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided iAn principle to initiate a major action against former prime minister Imran Khan, it is learnt. A criminal case against the former prime minister under the Pakistan Penal Code on charges of inciting people to revolt against the State and the institutions through social media. Sources said approval to initiate action against Imran will be taken from the federal cabinet, and the Interior Ministry has been given the task of preparing a summary for the cabinet. The FIA Cyber Crime Wing conducted an inquiry against the PTI founder, after which it was decided to initiate action. After the approval of federal cabinet, there is a plan to try Imran Khan in a special anti-terrorism court (ATC). Sources said action will be initiated against Imran under Chapters 6 and 9A of Pakistan Penal Code and other relevant sections. Approval of the federal cabinet is a necessary requirement for filing a complaint under Section 196 of CrPC and taking action against the accused for various crimes.