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Authorities in Saitama Prefecture called off their search Sunday for a missing 74-year-old man whose truck was engulfed by a sinkhole in the city of Yashio last month, according to media reports. Firefighters resumed search operations with heavy machinery Sunday morning after a several-day suspension due to water leaking into the hole. While water levels had decreased by Sunday morning, water began flowing back into the hole shortly after, forcing authorities to halt operations after about 30 minutes, NHK and NTV reported. During Sunday’s search, no clues about the missing driver were found in the hole. Authorities have decided to stop the search due to safety concerns for rescuers as further collapses of the sinkhole are possible. Firefighters are now considering alternative search methods, including entering the sewer pipes through manholes, NHK reported. The accident occurred on the morning of Jan. 28, when a section of the road at an intersection in Yashio caved in, causing a passing truck to plunge into the hole. While a piece believed to be part of the driver’s seat of the fallen truck was discovered last week inside a sewer pipe about 100 to 200 meters downstream from the site, the whereabouts of the driver remain unknown. Source link

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, fresh off his return from Washington, said Sunday that U.S. President Donald Trump did not press him to boost Japan’s defense spending or discuss tariffs on Japanese automobiles during their first meeting a day earlier. Speaking on an NHK program, the prime minister said Trump, who Japanese officials had feared might ask Tokyo to continue to hike its own defense budget, did not broach the issue. “It’s not a matter of simply increasing the amount of money, and it is not something that the United States should tell Japan to do,” Ishiba said. “It is for Japan to make that judgment.” Source link

MADRID – Kylian Mbappe secured Real Madrid a 1-1 draw against rivals Atletico Madrid, keeping Los Blancos top of La Liga on Saturday. Julian Alvarez dinked home a controversial first-half penalty for Atletico but Mbappe was in the right place at the right time to bundle home early in the second half on his first appearance in the tense derby clash. Reigning champions Real Madrid lead second-place Atletico by a single point, with third-place Barcelona, given the chance to cut the gap on the top two when they face Sevilla on Sunday. Atletico shaded a close first half but were left holding on in the second period as the hosts stepped up a gear at the Santiago Bernabeu. “The team is disappointed because they think they deserved more… but we’re happy because we’re still leaders,” Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti told reporters. “In the second half, we had total control, we had a lot of chances.” Ancelotti opted to deploy his four key attacking players in Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo Goes, in lieu of a more conservative approach. The star names got stuck in, not always a given in a defensive sense, and the first half was a hard-fought, intense battle with few clear openings for either side. Atletico were upset when Real Madrid midfielder Dani Ceballos was only booked for an ugly challenge on Pablo Barrios, but it was the hosts who were left raging when referee Cesar Soto Grado pointed to the penalty spot. Aurelien Tchouameni, covering at center-back for Madrid with Antonio Rudiger and Eder Militao out among others, clumsily trod on Samuel Lino’s foot in the box. After a VAR review, Soto Grado awarded a controversial penalty to Madrid’s frustration, with the incident happening after the ball had run past the duo. Los Blancos attacked Spanish refereeing earlier in the week after they were upset by a decision in a shock defeat last weekend, bringing heavy scrutiny on the officials ahead of the derby. Alvarez took the penalty — the first given against Madrid in La Liga this season — and cheekily executed a Panenka down the middle. “I can’t say I wasn’t a bit nervous (with the penalty), but I was sure, I knew what I would do, and it was a great goal for the team,” Alvarez told Movistar. “Corruption in the federation,” chanted Real Madrid fans in response to falling behind, buying into their club’s stance. Ancelotti refused to talk about the refereeing but appeared exasperated on the sideline as Soto Grado pointed to the spot. Madrid pulled level early in the second half when Rodrygo broke loose on the right of the box and crossed for Bellingham. The England international’s shot was blocked, but Mbappe was on hand to turn home the rebound and score on his first Madrid derby appearance. Bellingham twice came close to putting Madrid ahead, nodding against the crossbar from Vinicius’ cross and then heading straight at Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak from a similar position, kicking the post in frustration. Madrid played with far more fluidity in the second half and pegged Atletico back. Oblak made a smart save to deny Vinicius after the Brazilian winger burst through the gap between two Atletico defenders and pulled the trigger from a tight angle. The Slovenian goalkeeper also made fine saves from Rodrygo and Mbappe to ensure the two sides ended with a point apiece. “We had a good first half, but we weren’t relaxed enough in front of goal to (score) more,” said Simeone. “In the end, it was a draw in which both teams think they could have taken more from it.” Real Madrid face another big challenge on Tuesday when they travel to face Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the Champions League play-off round first leg. Earlier Athletic Bilbao, fourth, beat Girona 3-0 with an Oihan Sancet hat-trick to maintain their Champions League charge. Antony, on loan from Manchester United, netted his first goal for Real Betis in a 3-2 defeat by Celta Vigo. Source link

LONDON – England ended their painful losing run with a stunning 26-25 Six Nations bonus-point victory over France at Twickenham on Saturday as Elliot Daly’s last-gasp try punished the French for a catalogue of handling errors. Those mistakes allowed England to reach halftime level at 7-7 and although they got their noses in front, Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s second try with five minutes left looked to have earned the French a fourth successive win over their old rivals. England, however, surged back and replacement Daly blasted through for their fourth try at the death. Flyhalf Fin Smith, making his first start, converted to send Twickenham wild and reignite England’s championship hopes following their opening defeat by Ireland. “I felt like a rabbit in the headlights in the first half,” Smith said. “But I found my feet in the end, and I am delighted with the win more than anything but this is cool for a first start anyway. “We have lost plenty of games and luckily this one went our way today. It was far from perfect but that group fought for it.” England coach Steve Borthwick, who has spent most of the last 12 months explaining away narrow defeats, was delighted to be on the other side. “You want things to happen instantly. This England team is going to be a good England team and there’s a lot of talent. Today you saw something improve,” he said. “(We showed) bravery and courage with the ball. We scored four tries against a brilliant French defence and restricted them to three tries.” Borthwick would have been anything but happy in the opening exchanges as his team survived only thanks to French handling errors with tries looking easier to score than miss, The dam burst after half an hour, however, when Damian Penaud chipped for Bielle-Biarrey to score the opening try. England had entered the French 22 only once in that period but when the forwards did apply pressure it opened the way for center Ollie Lawrence to blast over and make it 7-7 at halftime. France’s profligacy continued after the break when hooker Peato Mauvaka spilled the ball when all he had to do was fall over the line. They edged ahead with a Thomas Ramos penalty but when England had a chance to match it they kicked to the corner — and duly turned the ball over after another scruffy lineout. Ramos added another penalty but England claimed a second try when winger Tommy Freeman rose to catch a pinpoint kick by Fin Smith. Marcus Smith missed the conversion, though, to keep France a point ahead going into the final 20 minutes. They quickly stretched that to six when Penaud finished a crisp move in the corner to take his international try tally to 37 tries in 54 games — one short of Serge Blanco’s national record. England hit back when prop Fin Baxter barrelled over and Fin Smith took over the kicking duties for the conversion after two bad misses by namesake Marcus to nudge England a point ahead. It did not last long, however, with England’s defence again torn to shreds as Bielle-Biarrey scored his second try. But England, having faded in the latter stages so often during their wretched run of seven successive defeats against Tier One nations that began with a heart-braking late defeat against France in Lyon last year, showed real energy. Driving a lineout maul forward, they sucked in French defenders and Daly, his bright white shirt glowing among his muddied teammates, burst through to score three minutes after coming on. Fin Smith kicked the straightforward conversion to grab the lead and England dealt with the restart efficiently to secure a precious victory. They next face Scotland at Twickenham while France visit Italy in two weeks. “It’s a big disappointment but the championship is not over with a big clash against Ireland,” France captain Antoine Dupont said. “We should have scored more.” France defense coach Shaun Edwards was nonplussed by what he had seen. “We got the oopsies, didn’t we? Every time we got near the tryline we seemed to just drop the ball,” he said. “I’ve never seen that happen before. The French lads are normally magnificent handlers of a rugby ball.” Source link

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a pair of bills allocating $50 million to fight the Trump administration in court and provide legal aid for immigrants, escalating the state’s efforts to push back against the president’s policies. The funding package, approved by the Democratic-led legislature in a special session called by Newsom, directs $25 million to Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office for litigation against the federal government and another $25 million to help nonprofit groups providing legal-aid services to undocumented immigrants. The funding comes as California prepares for a renewed legal battle over President Donald Trump’s pledge to carry out mass deportations, impose restrictions on federal aid and roll back environmental protections. “The legislation establishes legal resources for the California Department of Justice and state agencies,” according to a statement from Newsom’s office on Friday. “It also augments existing funding for legal services for veterans, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable Californians.” The state sued the federal government more than 100 times during Trump’s first term in office and lawmakers said they expect further litigation on many of the same issues again. California’s government has already challenged an executive order Trump issued to end birthright citizenship and the freeze on federal grants and loans. Judges have blocked both actions. Democratic lawmakers argue the new legal fund in California is necessary to safeguard the state’s policies and federal funding streams, particularly after Trump suggested he could tie disaster relief — such as aid for the Los Angeles-area’s wildfire recovery — to concessions from the state. Newsom discussed the aid with Trump last month during a tour of the wildfire zones and again this week during an Oval Office meeting in Washington. Source link

A team of Japanese researchers found that social loneliness decreases the levels of oxytocin, known as the “happy” or “love” hormone, in mice, resulting in lipid metabolism disorders in the liver and worsening arteriosclerosis. The team from Keio University and others said that loneliness without social connections contributes to the development of mental illness, obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Clinical studies conducted on humans have shown that loneliness increases an incidence of myocardial infarction. But the detailed mechanism of how that happens had not been fully understood. Atsushi Anzai, a lecturer at the university, and his colleagues divided sibling mice born from the same mothers into groups of four or five, then observed them for 12 weeks. They analyzed the risk of developing arteriosclerosis and lipid metabolism disorders, as well as the effect of oxytocin on the liver. Oxytocin, produced in the hypothalamus in the brain and released into the bloodstream, not only facilitates childbirth but also affects emotions. The team found that mice kept alone secreted less oxytocin than those in groups, suffering increases in neutral fat and bad cholesterol levels in the blood and progression of arteriosclerosis. It also discovered that oxytocin regulates lipid metabolism in the liver and helps release bad cholesterol into the intestine. The government stepped up measures against the problem of social loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic as social interactions decreased in addition to an increasing number of single-person households. “It’s been reported that people with little physical contact with others have lower levels of oxytocin. Enriching social connections is important to prevent dyslipidemia, which causes arteriosclerosis,” Anzai said. The team’s study was published in the U.S. journal Circulation Research. Source link

MOSCOW – U.S. President Donald Trump said he has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone about ending the war in Ukraine, the New York Post reported, the first known direct conversation between Putin and a U.S president since early 2022. Trump, who has promised to end the war in Ukraine but not yet set out in public how he would do so, said last week that the war was a bloodbath and that his team had had “some very good talks,” In an interview aboard Air Force One on Friday Trump told the New York Post that he had “better not say,” when asked how many times he and Putin had spoken. Source link

Sydney – U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said President Donald Trump supported the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal, after Australia on Friday confirmed its first $500 million payment under the defense pact. “The president is very aware, supportive of AUKUS, recognizes the importance of the defense industrial base,” Hegseth said in opening remarks of a meeting in Washington with his Australian counterpart, Richard Marles, according to a transcript released Saturday. Under AUKUS, Australia will pay the United States $3 billion to boost the capacity of the U.S. submarine industry, and Washington will sell several Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to Australia in the early 2030s, while Britain and Australia will later build a new AUKUS-class submarine. Australia transferred the first $500 million payment after a call between Marles and Hegseth on Jan. 29, Marles said Friday. When asked, at the meeting with Marles, if the U.S. would deliver the nuclear submarines to Australia on time, Hegseth said: “We sure hope so.” “Part of what President Trump is committed to doing is cutting red tape, investing in the defense industrial base, ensuring that we stand by our allies and partners,” he said. Marles said Australia was “pleased with the progress that we’re seeing in terms of the rate of production, both in terms of construction and sustainment,” referring to the Virginia-class submarines. Marles is the first foreign counterpart hosted by Hegseth since his confirmation in the role. The pair was expected to discuss security in the Indo-Pacific region and the growing U.S. military presence in Australia in addition to talks on AUKUS. Formed in 2021, AUKUS is aimed at addressing shared worries about China’s growing power and designed to allow Australia to acquire the nuclear-powered attack submarines and other advanced weapons such as hypersonic missiles. Source link

Seoul – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un criticized trilateral military cooperation among the United States, Japan and South Korea for raising tensions in the region and vowed countermeasures, including the further development of nuclear forces. Kim said U.S. deployments of nuclear strategic assets, war exercises and military cooperation with Japan and South Korea were inviting military imbalance in the region and raising a grave challenge to the security environment, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday. “The DPRK does not want unnecessary tension of the regional situation but will take sustained countermeasures to ensure the regional military balance,” Kim said during a visit to the Defense Ministry on Saturday to commemorate the founding day of its army. Source link

Japanese listed companies are poised to report record profits in fiscal 2024 ending next month, driven by the strength of the financial sector and businesses benefiting from the unabated artificial intelligence boom. But company executives are keeping their guard up, concerned about the course of the tariff policy of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. With third-quarter earnings announcements peaking for companies that close the books in March, such businesses are forecast to post record profits for the fourth consecutive year. Source link