The earthquake struck off the coast at 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT) on Monday, and the Japan Meteorological Agency said a tsunami as high as 3 metres (10 feet) could hit the country’s northeastern coast

International News via Reuters:

Japanese authorities lifted tsunami warnings on Tuesday hours after a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake shook northeastern regions, injuring at least 30 people and forcing about 90,000 residents to evacuate their homes. 

The earthquake struck off the coast at 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT) on Monday, and the Japan Meteorological Agency said a tsunami as high as 3 metres (10 feet) could hit the country’s northeastern coast. Warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and tsunamis from 20 to 70 cm (7 to 27 inches) high were observed at several ports, JMA said.

By the early hours of Tuesday, the JMA downgraded the warnings to advisories, and later lifted all advisories. There were no reports of major damage.

The epicentre of the quake was 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of Aomori prefecture, at a depth of 54 km.

On Japan’s 1-7 scale of seismic intensity, the tremor registered as an “upper 6” in Hachinohe city, Aomori prefecture – a quake strong enough to make it impossible to keep standing or move without crawling. 

“As of now, I have received reports of 30 people being injured and one fire,” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters. 

East Japan Railway suspended some services in the area, which was also hit by a massive 9.0-magnitude quake in March 2011. Other train services are facing delays in northern Japan, the operator said.

Following the tremor, the JMA issued an advisory for a wide region from the northernmost island of Hokkaido down to Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, calling on residents to be on alert for the possibility of a powerful earthquake hitting again within a week.    

“There is a possibility that further powerful and stronger earthquakes could occur over the next several days,” a JMA official said at a briefing. 

No irregularities were reported at nuclear power plants in the region run by Tohoku Electric Power and Hokkaido Electric Power, the utilities said. Thousands of households had lost power immediately following the quake, but service resumed by Tuesday morning.

YEN WEAKENS BRIEFLY

The yen weakened against major currencies after news of the tremor, with the dollar and euro both touching session highs.

Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, with a tremor occurring at least every five minutes. Located in the “Ring of Fire” of volcanoes and oceanic trenches partly encircling the Pacific Basin, Japan accounts for about 20% of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or greater.

The northeastern region suffered one of the country’s deadliest earthquakes on March 11, 2011, when a 9.0-magnitude tremor struck under the ocean off the coast of the northern city of Sendai. It was the most powerful ever recorded in Japan and set off a series of massive tsunami that devastated a wide swathe of the Pacific coastline and killed nearly 20,000 people.

Drawing on lessons from that disaster, when a magnitude 7-level earthquake had struck two days beforehand, the government now issues a one-week “megaquake” advisory whenever a significant earthquake occurs in the region. 

The 2011 tsunami also damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, leading to a series of explosions and meltdowns in the world’s worst nuclear disaster for 25 years.

Reporting by Mariko Katsumura, Chang-Ran Kim, Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Stephen Coates

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has no majority in parliament and his scramble to win Socialist support has alienated centrist and conservative allies, leaving the bill’s fate uncertain

International News via Reuters:

France’s social security budget faces a knife-edge vote on Tuesday that could trigger a fresh political crisis and leave a 30-billion-euro ($35 billion) hole in funding for healthcare, pensions and welfare.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has no majority in parliament and his scramble to win Socialist support – including suspending President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform – has alienated centrist and conservative allies, leaving the bill’s fate uncertain.

Lawmakers in the lower house begin reviewing the bill after 4 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Tuesday, days after narrowly approving the taxation side of the legislation.

Socialist leader Olivier Faure said on Monday his party could back the bill after winning concessions – including suspension of Macron’s landmark 2023 pension reform until after the 2027 presidential election.

But the far right and hard left are expected to vote against, while government allies such as the centrist Horizon and the conservative Republicains could abstain or vote ‘no’. They say Lecornu gave too much ground by sacrificing pension reform and raising taxes to appease the Socialists.

Social security accounts for over 40% of France’s overall public sector spending, covering welfare, healthcare and pensions.

Lecornu, a Macron loyalist, warned last week that rejection would create a shortfall of up to 30 billion euros ($35 billion) – nearly twice the 17 billion euros in the original bill. That would jeopardise the entire 2025 public sector budget with time running out to pass it before year-end, potentially forcing him to seek stopgap legislation.

The government aims to cut France’s budget deficit – already one of the euro zone’s largest – to less than 5% of GDP next year. But it has little room to manoeuvre in a fractious parliament where no party holds a majority.

Budget battles have intensified since Macron lost his majority in a snap election last year, triggering instability that has toppled three governments. A fight over last year’s budget brought down Michel Barnier’s cabinet through a no-confidence vote.

($1 = 0.8604 euros)

Reporting by Leigh Thomas and Elizabeth Pineau, Editing by William Maclean

Local leaders and green groups said deforestation linked to mining and logging aggravated the impact of the floods and landslides

International News via Reuters:

Before the deadly landslides and floods hit Indonesia about two weeks ago, Amran Siagian, 39, frequently met Tapanuli orangutans on a hill in the region of Sipirok, North Sumatra province. 

Siagian, who has been working as a ranger to protect the endangered animal at the Orangutan Information Center (OIC) for at least five years, remembers how the orangutans were fond of eating durian and other fruits from farms in the area. 

But after the landslides hit Sipirok, the orangutans are nowhere to be seen. 

The cyclone-induced floods and landslides have killed 962 people as of Tuesday, with 291 listed as missing. The storms also killed about 200 people in southern Thailand and Malaysia.

“They must have moved away, further and further away. I could no longer hear their voices,” Siagian told Reuters. 

Local leaders and green groups said deforestation linked to mining and logging aggravated the impact of the floods and landslides.  

In Sipirok, a village in the region of South Tapanuli which was among the hardest hit by the disaster, large trees appear to have been cut down. Siagian said a company had been logging in the area for at least a year. 

The deforestation had affected the orangutans even before the floods, he said. 

“The orangutans live by moving between forest canopy, from branch to branch. If the forest is sparse, it must be difficult for them,” Siagian said. 

OIC founder Panud Hadisiswoyo said there were about 760 orangutans living in Tapanuli region. 

“The major threat is the loss of forest due to plantations and extractive industry,” he said.     

In total, around 119,000 orangutans live in Indonesia and Malaysia, according to World Wildlife Fund.   

“If there is no government help, the orangutans could go extinct here. Especially with this massive deforestation,” Siagian said. 

Reporting by Ahmad Luqman Ismail and Aidil Ichlas in South Tapanuli; Writing by Ananda Teresia; Editing by Stephen Coates