Important Takeaways:
- Japan raises alarm over China’s military, Russia ties and Taiwan tensions in new defense paper
- The Japanese government stepped up its alarm over Chinese assertiveness, warning in a report issued Friday that the country faces its worst security threats since World War II as it plans to implement a new strategy that calls for a major military buildup.
- The 2023 defense white paper, approved by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet, is the first since the government adopted a controversial new National Security Strategy in December, seen as a break from Japan’s postwar policy limiting the use of force to self-defense.
- China, Russia and North Korea contribute to “the most severe and complex security environment since the end of World War II,” according to the 510-page report. It says China’s external stance and military activities have become a “serious concern for Japan and the international community and present an unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge.”
- On Thursday, Russian and Chinese delegates joined North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in North Korea’s capital for a military parade that showed off the country’s latest drones and long-range nuclear-capable missiles.
- Russia and China have also stepped up strategic ties
- The report predicted that China will possess 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035 and increase its military superiority over Taiwan, in what Japan views as a security threat, especially to its southwestern islands including Okinawa.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- North Korea fires suspected intercontinental ballistic missile
- North Korea has fired multiple missiles, including a failed suspected intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that forced the Japanese government to issue evacuation alerts in the northern and central parts of the country.
- The launches on Thursday are the latest in a series of North Korean weapons tests in recent months that have raised tensions in the region. They come a day after Pyongyang fired more than 20 missiles, the most in a single day, including one that landed off South Korea’s coast for the first time and prompted Seoul to fire air-to ground missiles in response.
- The United States said the launch was a clear breach of UN resolutions.
- “This action underscores the need for all countries to fully implement (North Korea) related UN Security Council resolutions, which are intended to prohibit (North Korea) from acquiring the technologies and materials needed to carry out these destabilizing tests,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Matthew 24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
Important Takeaways:
- Strong Earthquake Rattles Northern Japan; No Damage Reported
- A magnitude 6.2 earthquake shook Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido on Sunday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
- No tsunami warning was issued. There were no reports of problems at the nuclear plants in the area, or of disruptions to power supply or bullet trains running in northern Japan.
- The quake, which hit at 6:54 p.m., was 136 kilometers (85 miles) deep and struck the southwestern part of Hokkaido, according to the Japanese Meteorological Agency.
- It shook much of the island, including the cities of Chitose and Atsumacho, the agency said. It warned people should watch for strong temblors that could follow over the next few days, as well as for landslides.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Japan warns it will destroy any North Korean missile that enters its territory after Pyongyang signals satellite launch imminent
- North Korea’s space development agency had said last year it would finish preparations for the reconnaissance satellite by April 2023.
- Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno also said Monday that any North Korean missile launch disguised as a “satellite” is a “threat” to the nation’s security.
- If North Korea follows through on its plan to launch a missile, it would violate United Nations’ Security Council resolutions and be a “serious provocation”, Matsuno told reporters.
- Matsuno said Japan’s Defense Ministry and Self-Defense Forces have issued an order regarding the preparation of destructive measures against ballistic missiles.
- In addition, the Defense Ministry is also taking other precautions, such as deploying Patriot missile defense batteries and Aegis destroyers with ballistic missile defense capabilities to waters around Japan’s Nansei Islands, an archipelago that stretches from the southern tip of the main island of Japanese Kyushu south to near Taiwan.
- In mid-April, a North Korean missile test raised fears on the Japanese northern main island of Hokkaido after the government’s emergency alert system warned residents to take cover.
- North Korea later said that missiles was a new, solid-fueled ICBM, a development that analysts say could allow it to launch long-range nuclear strikes more quickly and easily as it ramps up its missile program.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Ecclesiastes 5:8 If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still
Important Takeaways:
- The Group of 7 will meet at a crucial time for slowing global growth as a result of hawkish central banks aiming to bring down inflation.
- Leaders will discuss international trade and security as the world grapples with an ongoing war in Ukraine and worries over U.S.-China decoupling persist.
- Leaders of the seven major industrial democracies – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States – will discuss the future of global relations and the world economy as it faces a number of uncertainties: growing geopolitical tensions, central banks’ combat against rising inflation and a U.S. debt ceiling deadlock.
- Geopolitical tensions with the U.S. overshadow China’s growth outlook as well as instigate fears over global supply chains.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Mathew 24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
Important Takeaways:
- At least one dead as 6.5-magnitude earthquake strikes Japan
- At least one person was killed and more than a dozen were injured after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck Japan on Friday.
- Local authorities confirmed that a 65-year-old man in the city of Suzu, near the epicenter of the quake, died after falling off a ladder.
- Japan’s Meteorological Agency, there was no tsunami, but sea levels rose around nearly four inches and tremors of 4.7 magnitude continued to be felt after the initial quake.
- The fire department in Suzu said at least three houses in the area collapsed and two people trapped in the collapsed houses were rescued, while as many as 22 people sustained injuries throughout the Ishikawa Prefecture.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- North Korea Launches ICBM Before South Korea-Japan Summit
- The North’s first ICBM test in a month and third weapons test this week also comes as South Korean and U.S. troops continue joint military exercises that Pyongyang considers a rehearsal to invade.
- The missile flew about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) with a maximum altitude of 6,000 kilometers (3,730 miles) during the 70-minute flight, according to South Korean and Japanese assessments. That’s similar to the flight details from a February launch of another ICBM, which experts said demonstrated a potential range to reach deep into the U.S. mainland.
- The missile fell in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan after being launched on a steep trajectory, apparently to avoid neighboring countries.
- The North’s ongoing aggressive run of weapons tests has been widely expected. Leader Kim Jong Un last week ordered his military to be ready to repel what he called “frantic war preparations moves” by his country’s rivals, referring to large joint drills between the U.S. and South Korea that began Monday.
- The top nuclear envoys of Seoul, Washington and Tokyo discussed the North’s ICBM launch over the phone and agreed to coordinate to elicit a unified international response toward the North’s weapons activities, according to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Ezekiel 7:19 “They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall become abhorrent; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they shall not satisfy their souls, or fill their stomachs, for their iniquity has become a stumbling block.”
Important Takeaways:
- Retail price of gold in Japan hits all-time high of $67 per gram
- The retail price of gold in Japan has hit an all-time high of 9,000 yen ($66.94), according to data released by one of the country’s largest producers and sellers of precious metals, Tanaka Kikinzoku, on Monday.
- The record price was fixed amid investors’ growing interest in stable assets following the bankruptcy of one of America’s largest banks, Silicon Valley Bank.
- On March 10, the California Department of Financial Protection announced the bankruptcy of SVB, the 16th-biggest lender in the United States. It served mainly employees in the technological sector and companies financed with venture capital. It became the largest bankruptcy of a US bank since the 2008 financial crisis as estimated by the CNN TV channel.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- North Korea fires two more missiles into Pacific ‘firing range’
- North Korea on Monday fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the Pacific Ocean, with the sister of leader Kim Jong Un saying that the nation’s use of the waters as “our firing range” depends on the “action” of U.S. forces.
- The new launches come after North Korea on Saturday fired a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the ocean off Japan’s coast, a move the U.S. National Security Council called “a flagrant violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions.”
- In the wake of the firings, Japan has requested an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- South Korea scrambles fighter jets after Chinese and Russian warplanes enter air defense zone
- Two Chinese H-6 bombers are spotted repeatedly entering and leaving the zone and later returned from the Sea of Japan with six Russian warplanes, the South Korean military says.
- “Our military dispatched air force fighter jets ahead of the Chinese and Russian aircraft’s entry of the KADIZ to implement tactical measures in preparation for a potential contingency,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
- Japan also scrambled fighter jets after the Chinese bombers flew from the East China Sea into the Sea of Japan, where they were joined by two Russian drones, its defense ministry said later.
- An air defense zone is an area in which countries demand that foreign aircraft take special steps to identify themselves.
- Moscow does not recognize South Korea’s air defense zone. Beijing said the zone is not territorial airspace and all countries should enjoy freedom of movement there.
Read the original article by clicking here.
