TOKYO: The Japanese government has ordered a veteran freelance journalist to surrender his passport to prevent him from going on a reporting trip to Yemen.
The decision came amid debate in Japan about whether journalists should be prevented from going to war zones after the capture and release of a Japanese reporter in Syria last year.
Kosuke Tsuneoka, 49, told local media that immigration officers stopped him at Tokyo’s Haneda airport on Feb. 2, citing an order for him to surrender his passport.
Foreign Minister Taro Kono said Tuesday the government issued the order to “a male Japanese national” at Haneda airport.
When asked whether the action violated Tsuneoka’s right to travel, Kono said the journalist had the right to legal recourse.
“I wish to express my utmost respect to journalists who are reporting in dangerous places,” Kono said, while declining to disclose other details.
Tsuneoka was about to leave for the war-torn nation via Qatar and Sudan.
The rare step came amid mixed views in Japan over people taking risks with their safety after shock killings and kidnappings of journalists and other Japanese nationals in Middle East.
Tsuneoka was not available for immediate comment but has discussed his ordeal with Japanese media.
He said he planned to cover humanitarian and relief programs in Yemen, where militia have been at war with government forces backed since 2015 by a Saudi-led coalition.
Tsuneoka attempted to visit the war-torn nation in January, but was stopped in Oman and deported, according to Japanese media.
The latest decision came after the release in October of another freelance journalist, Jumpei Yasuda, who was held in Syria for more than three years.
In 2015, Tokyo also confiscated the passport of photographer Yuichi Sugimoto, who planned to travel to Syria.
That decision followed the execution of two Japanese citizens — war correspondent Kenji Goto and his acquaintance Haruna Yukawa — by extremists in Syria.
Sugimoto later received a new passport, which specifically barred him from travel to Syria and Iraq.
Japan stops journalist going to Yemen
Japan stops journalist going to Yemen
- The decision came amid debate in Japan about whether journalists should be prevented from going to war zones
- He said he planned to cover humanitarian and relief programs in Yemen
Eurovision Sport, Camb.ai to provide live subtitling for Paralympic Winter Games
- Partnership aims to increase accessibility for all audiences
- Milano Cortina Games run from Friday to March 15
LONDON: Eurovision Sport, the European Broadcasting Union’s free-to-air streaming platform, will provide live and on-demand subtitling for coverage of the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games in partnership with AI language company Camb.ai
The service will run across all competition days, allowing viewers to stream all six Paralympic Winter Games sports on Eurovision Sport with real-time subtitles. The Games open on Friday and run through March 15.
Camb.ai will supply contextual speech-to-text transcription for both live and catch-up coverage, which the organizers said would support accessibility without altering the editorial integrity of broadcasts.
Eurovision Sport Managing Director Alan Fagan said the aim was to make the Games available to “the widest possible audience,” by scaling up digital accessibility across every event on the platform.
The initiative forms part of the EBU’s most extensive digital coverage of a Paralympic Winter Games to date and complements member broadcasters’ linear output.
It also reflects a wider industry push to make live sport easier to follow for viewers watching without sound, people with hearing impairments and audiences consuming content on demand.
Camb.ai’s Chief Technology Officer Akshat Prakash said the company was proud to deepen its partnership with Eurovision Sport, describing the platform as a leader in applying new technology to sports coverage.
The two organizations began working together in 2024, when they delivered what they described as Europe’s first AI-powered real-time translated sports commentary during European Athletics events.
