NAIROBI: A Kenyan official says gunmen have opened fire at a mosque in Kenya’s east, killing seven people.
Maalim Mohammed, the county commissioner of Kenya’s Garissa county, said Thursday that about eight gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles shot at a mosque in the village of Malele near the Kenyan-Somali border.
Mohamed says the motive of the attack is not clear. The region has been a hotspot of attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda-linked militants from Somalia. Somalia’s Al-Shabab militants have vowed to carry out attacks on Kenyan soil in retaliation for Kenya’s military push into Somalia in late 2011.
Thursday’s attack comes less than two weeks before Kenya holds nationwide elections. There are fears Al-Shabab-affiliated militants may try to disrupt the election with attacks.
7 killed in mosque attack in Kenya’s east
7 killed in mosque attack in Kenya’s east
Japan to test mine rare-earth mud from deep seabed
TOKYO: Japan will conduct test mining of rare-earth-rich mud from the deep seabed off Minamitori Island, some 1,900 kilometers (1,180 miles) southeast of Tokyo, from January 11 to February 14, the head of the government-backed project said on Tuesday.
The operation will mark the world’s first attempt to continuously lift rare-earth mud from a depth of around 6,000 meters on to a vessel.
Tokyo, like its Western allies, is seeking to secure stable supplies of critical minerals as China, the dominant supplier of rare earths, tightens export controls.
“One of our missions is to build a supply chain for domestically produced rare earths to ensure stable supply of minerals essential to industry,” Shoichi Ishii, program director of the Cabinet Office’s national platform for innovative ocean developments, told reporters.
The Japanese government is pressing ahead with a national project as part of broader efforts to strengthen maritime and economic security.
The January test will focus on connecting the deep-sea mining system and confirming its ability to lift 350 metric tons of rare-earth mud per day. Environmental impacts will be monitored both on board and on the seabed throughout the operation.
No production target has been set, but if successful, a full-scale mining trial will be conducted in February 2027.
The government-funded project has spent about 40 billion yen ($256 million) since 2018, Ishii said, though estimated reserves have not been disclosed.
Ishii also said that while their research vessel was conducting rare-earth surveys within Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around Minamitori Island from May 27 to June 25, a Chinese naval fleet entered the waters on June 7.
“We feel a strong sense of crisis that such intimidating actions were taken, despite our activities being limited to seabed resource surveys within our EEZ,” he said.
China’s foreign ministry said the activities of its military vessels are in line with international law and international conventions, and called on Japan to “refrain from hyping up threats and provoking confrontation,” in a reply to Reuters’ request for comment.
