TOKYO: Seventeen heat records were broken in Japan on Monday, the weather agency said, after the country sweltered through its hottest ever June and July.
Heatwaves are becoming more intense and frequent worldwide because of human-caused climate change, scientists say, and Japan is no exception.
The city of Komatsu, in the central region of Ishikawa, saw a new record of 40.3 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.
Toyama city in Toyama prefecture, also in the central region, hit 39.8C (103F), the highest temperature since records began, according to the JMA.
Fifteen other locations across cities and towns soared to new highs between 35.7C (96F) and 39.8C, added the JMA, which monitors temperatures at more than 900 points in Japan.
On July 30, Japan experienced its highest recorded temperature, a sizzling 41.2C (106F) in the western region of Hyogo.
The rainy season ended about three weeks earlier than usual in western regions of Japan, another record.
With low levels of rainfall and heat, several dams in the northern region were almost empty, the land ministry said, with farmers worried that a water shortage and extreme heat could result in a poor harvest.
Experts warn Japan’s beloved cherry trees are blooming earlier due to the warmer climate, or sometimes not fully blossoming because autumns and winters are not cold enough to trigger flowering.
The famous snowcap of Mount Fuji was absent for the longest recorded period last year, not appearing until early November, compared with the average of early October.
Japan this year had its hottest June and July since data collection began in 1898, with the weather agency warning of further “severe heat” in the months ahead.
The speed of temperature increases across the world is not uniform.
Of the continents, Europe has seen the fastest warming per decade since 1990, followed closely by Asia, according to global data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
17 heat records broken in Japan
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17 heat records broken in Japan
- On July 30, Japan experienced its highest recorded temperature, a sizzling 41.2C (106F) in the western region of Hyogo.
Rubio says new governance bodies for Gaza will be in place soon
- Rubio said progress had been made recently in identifying Palestinians to join the technocratic group and that Washington aimed to get the governance bodies in place “very soon,” without offering a specific timeline.
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that a new governance structure for Gaza — made up of an international board and a group of Palestinian technocrats — would be in place soon, followed by the deployment of foreign troops, as the US hopes to cement a fragile ceasefire in Israel’s war in the Palestinian enclave.
Rubio, speaking at a year-end news conference, said the status quo was not sustainable in Gaza, where Israel has continued to strike Hamas targets while the group has reasserted its control since the October peace agreement brokered by the US.
“That’s why we have a sense of urgency about bringing phase one to its full completion, which is the establishment of the Board of Peace, and the establishment of the Palestinian technocratic authority or organization that’s going to be on the ground, and then the stabilization force comes closely thereafter,” Rubio said.
Rubio said progress had been made recently in identifying Palestinians to join the technocratic group and that Washington aimed to get the governance bodies in place “very soon,” without offering a specific timeline. Rubio was speaking after the US Central Command hosted a conference in Doha this week with partner nations to plan the International Stabilization Force for Gaza.
Two US officials said last week that international troops could be deployed in the strip as early as next month, following the UN Security Council’s November vote to authorize the force.
It remains unclear how Hamas will be disarmed, and countries considering contributing troops to the ISF are wary that Hamas will engage their soldiers in combat.
Rubio did not specify who would be responsible for disarming Hamas and conceded that countries contributing troops want to know the ISF’s specific mandate and how it will be funded.
“I think we owe them a few more answers before we can ask anybody to commit firmly, but I feel very confident that we have a number of nation states acceptable to all sides in this who are willing to step forward and be a part of that stabilization force,” Rubio said, noting that Pakistan was among the countries that had expressed interest.
Establishing security and governance was key to securing donor funding for reconstruction in Gaza, Rubio added.
“Who’s going to pledge billions of dollars to build things that are going to get blown up again because a war starts?” Rubio said, discussing the possibility of a donor conference to raise reconstruction funds.
“They want to know who’s in charge, and they want to know that there’s security so and that there’ll be long term stability.”
