The operation began in Kazuno, a small town nestled among forested mountains that has seen a sharp rise in bear sightings

International News via Reuters:

Japan deployed troops to the country’s rugged north on Wednesday to help trap bears after local authorities said besieged communities were struggling to cope with an unprecedented wave of attacks.

The operation began in Kazuno, a small town nestled among forested mountains that has seen a sharp rise in bear sightings. For weeks, residents have been urged to avoid the thick woods and stay indoors after dark to keep clear of bears foraging near homes for food.

“Even if just temporary, the SDF’s help is a big relief,” said Yasuhiro Kitakata, who oversees the town’s bear department. “I used to think bears would always run away when they heard noise, but now they actually come toward you. They’re truly frightening animals,” he added.

There have been more than 100 bear attacks with a record 12 people killed across Japan since April, according to the Ministry of the Environment. Two-thirds of those deaths were in Akita prefecture, where Kazuno is located, and nearby Iwate.

In Akita, authorities say bear sightings have jumped six-fold this year to more than 8,000, and attacks are on track to set a new record, prompting its governor to request help from the Self-Defense Forces last week.

“The townspeople feel the danger every day,” Kazuno Mayor Shinji Sasamoto said after meeting 15 or so soldiers who rolled into town in an army truck and jeeps, equipped with body armour and a large map.

“It has affected how people live their lives, forcing them to stop going out or cancel events,” Sasamoto said.

The troops were there to transport, set and inspect the steel-barred traps used to capture bears that are later shot by trained hunters hired to cull the population. 

On a mountain road outside the town, local forestry officials showed soldiers how to assemble and load the traps onto trucks. The white-helmeted troops carried bear spray and were guarded by others with shields and long wooden poles shaped like rifles usually used for bayonet drills.

“I thought maybe something was on fire,” said a local resident who stepped outside to see what was happening, her radio blaring to scare off bears. “We all try not to encounter the bears, but we keep hearing about people getting attacked,” she said, declining to give her name.

After Kazuno, a town of around 30,000 people known for its hot springs, scenery and variety of sweet apples, the soldiers will head for the cities of Odate and Kitaakita under an agreement lasting until the end of November. 

ATTACKS IN SUPERMARKET, HOT SPRING RESORT

Rising bear numbers, climate change-driven shifts in natural food sources and depopulation of rural areas are increasingly bringing people into contact with bears, while an ageing cohort of hunters who authorities once relied on find themselves overwhelmed.

In recent weeks, bears have attacked customers inside a supermarket, jumped a tourist waiting at a bus stop near a UNESCO World Heritage site and mutilated a worker at a hot spring resort. Some schools have temporarily closed after bears were spotted wandering around their grounds.

Bear attacks usually peak in October and November as the animals forage intensively before winter hibernation.

“Last year there was an abundance of food in the mountains, and many cubs were born. This year, the food supply has run out,” said Kitakata in Kazuno.

Japanese black bears, common across most of the country, can weigh up to 130 kg (287 pounds). Brown bears on the northern island of Hokkaido can weigh as much as 400 kg.    

It is not the first time Japan has deployed troops to assist in wildlife control. The military provided aerial surveillance for hunts of wild deer around a decade ago and culled sea lions to protect fisheries in the 1960s.

Tokyo will this month announce a package of emergency measures to deal with the bear problem including recruiting more licensed hunters, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kei Sato told a press conference. In September, the government relaxed gun rules to make it easier for hunters to shoot bears in urban areas.

“As bears continue to enter populated areas in many regions and injuries from bear attacks increase daily, we absolutely cannot afford to put off bear countermeasures,” he said. 

Reporting by Tim Kelly and Tom Bateman in Kazuno and John Geddie in Tokyo; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Hugh Lawson

A day ahead of the BoE meeting, markets are still pricing around a one-in-three chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut

International News via Reuters:

The pound stabilised on Wednesday as traders looked to fine-tune positioning ahead of Thursday’s important Bank of England meeting, but remained at close to a seven-month low against the dollar and its weakest in well over two years against the euro.

A day ahead of the BoE meeting, markets are still pricing around a one-in-three chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut, leaving scope for a knee-jerk reaction in the pound in either direction depending on the outcome.

Sterling was last up 0.2% on the dollar at $1.3049 , though it hit $1.3011 in early Asia trade, its lowest since mid-April.

Similarly, the euro was down 0.1% at 88.07 pence after hitting 88.3 pence in Asia trade, its highest since May 2023.

A raft of data released last month, most notably cooler-than-expected inflation figure, caused markets to raise bets on BoE easing, and weighed on the pound.

It has continued to weaken this week, and Chris Turner global head of markets at ING said in a note this might “probably have more to do with the global equity correction,” given BoE expectations have been fairly steady most recently.

Stocks around the world, particularly highly valued tech names, have come under pressure this week. [MKTS/GLOB]

All else being equal, the pound typically performs well when investors are positive about global growth and the stock market, and comes under pressure when they are not.

Also in the mix for sterling investors is Britain’s budget, due later this month. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves, in a speech on Tuesday, paved the way for broad tax rises.

If that weighs on growth, it could cause the BoE to ease rates more quickly, in turn dragging on sterling.

There was little British economic data on Wednesday, but a survey showed pay settlementsawarded by British employers held steady in the three months to September, holding at the joint lowest level since December 2021.

Editing by Tomasz Janowski

Between 2016 and 2021, alleged criminals used credit card details for 4.3 million individuals from 193 countries in their scheme

International News via Reuters:

An internationally coordinated action against alleged online fraud and money laundering networks that included German payment service providers resulted in 18 arrests, German authorities said on Wednesday.

Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office and prosecutors said that between 2016 and 2021, alleged criminals used credit card details for 4.3 million individuals from 193 countries in their scheme, racking up damages of more than 300 million euros.

The suspects siphoned funds via subscriptions to fake websites designed for streaming, dating and entertainment.

The defendants compromised four major German payment service providers in order to process payments, they said. The firms weren’t named.

Late on Tuesday, authorities disclosed they had searched buildings in Germany, Italy, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, the U.S. and Cyprus.

Prosecutors said they are focused on 44 suspects in Germany and other countries. Among them are members of the fraud network, employees of payment firms, and crime-as-a-service providers.

Editing by Ludwig Burger

The blaze engulfed the seventh floor of the old nine-storey building at around 1945 GMT on Tuesday, sending flames and smoke pouring out of the top floors into the night sky

International News via Reuters:

The death toll from a fire at a retirement home in Tuzla in northern Bosnia rose to 11 on Wednesday and about 30 people were injured, police said.

The blaze engulfed the seventh floor of the old nine-storey building at around 1945 GMT on Tuesday, sending flames and smoke pouring out of the top floors into the night sky. The cause was not immediately clear.

Local media said many of the dead had disabilities and those rescued were moved by emergency crews from the upper floors to lower ones. Some of the injured were in critical condition.

Identification of the victims will start later on Wednesday, and an investigation into the cause of the fire will start once conditions allow it, police said.

“Authorities are taking all necessary actions to shed light on the conditions that caused this tragic event”, the retirement home said in a statement.

The government of Republika Srpska, the Serb Republic, one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, offered its assistance to Tuzla.

“We feel the pain and are always ready to help,” Savo Minic, Prime Minister of the Serb Republic wrote on X.

Reporting by Amel Emric and Daria Sito-Sucic; Writing by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Edward McAllister and Timothy Heritage