TOKYO: Japan is bracing for heavy rains and high winds on Wednesday as a strong typhoon is forecast to make landfall near the capital of Tokyo, the latest storm to hit Japan in recent months.
Typhoon “Shanshan,” a Chinese girl’s name, is currently a Category 2 typhoon but is expected to weaken slightly as it moves closer to the eastern part of Japan’s main island of Honshu, drawing near to Tokyo in the early hours of Thursday and possibly snarling the morning rush hour.
The Japanese Meteorological Agency warned that Tokyo and surrounding areas could get as much as 350 mm (14 inches) of rain in the 24 hours to noon on Thursday, with winds gusting as high as 180 kmh (111 mph).
Shanshan is expected to move extremely slowly, perhaps as slow as 15 kmh (9 mph), meaning intense rain may fall in one area for an extended period.
After pounding the area near Tokyo the storm is expected to rake the northeastern part of Honshu before weakening to tropical storm strength and heading out into the Pacific.
Western Japan, the site of deadly floods in July, will be spared.
Japan has been hit by one weather disaster after another since the start of July, including a record-breaking heatwave that saw temperatures surge to 41.1 Celsius (106 Fahrenheit) and killed at least 132 people as of August 5.
Japan bracing as strong typhoon heads for Tokyo
Japan bracing as strong typhoon heads for Tokyo
- Shanshan is expected to move extremely slowly, perhaps as slow as 15 kmh meaning intense rain may fall
- Japan has been hit by one weather disaster after another since the start of July
Zelensky says Russia using Belarus territory to circumvent Ukrainian defenses
- While President Lukashenko has vowed to commit no troops to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he allowed Russia to use Belarusian territory to launch its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine
KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that Russia was using ordinary apartment blocks on the territory of its ally Belarus to attack Ukrainian targets and circumvent Kyiv’s defenses.
The Kremlin used Belarusian territory to launch its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and Belarus remains a steadfast ally, though longstanding President Alexander Lukashenko has vowed to commit no troops to the conflict.
“We note that the Russians are trying to bypass our defensive interceptor positions through the territory of neighboring Belarus. This is risky for Belarus,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram after a military staff meeting.
“It is unfortunate that Belarus is surrendering its sovereignty in favor of Russia’s aggressive ambitions.”
Zelensky said Ukrainian intelligence had observed that Belarus was deploying equipment to carry out its attacks “in Belarusian settlements near the border, including on residential buildings.
“Antennae and other equipment are located on the roofs of ordinary five-story apartment buildings, which help guide ‘Shaheds’ (Russian drones) to targets in our western regions. This is an absolute disregard for human lives, and it is important that Minsk stops playing with this.”
The Russian and Belarusian defense ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Zelensky said the staff meeting also discussed ways of financing interceptor drones, which officials in Kyiv see as the best economically viable means of tackling Russian drone attacks, which have grown in intensity in recent months.
The president said the Ukrainian military’s general staff had been charged with working out changes to strategy in fending off air attacks “to defend infrastructure and frontline positions.”
Lukashenko this month said Russia’s Oreshnik ballistic missile system, described by Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin as impossible to intercept, had been deployed to Belarus and entered active combat duty.
An assessment by two US researchers, reported by Reuters on Friday, said Moscow was likely stationing the nuclear-capable hypersonic Oreshnik at a former air base in eastern Belarus, a development that could bolster Russia’s ability to deliver missiles across Europe.
