77 years ago (August 9, 1945) an all-Christian bomber crew dropped an experimental plutonium bomb on Nagasaki City, Japan, instantly incinerating, asphyxiating and/or vaporizing tens of thousands of innocent civilians, mostly women and children. Very few Japanese soldiers were killed by the bombs.

When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the shadow on the steps was still there. It was an almost perfect impression of a human being at ease: legs splayed, back bent, one hand by her side as she sat waiting for a bank to open.

At a quarter past eight on the morning of August 6, 1945, she and her silhouette were burned into the granite.

I stared at the shadow for an hour or more, then I walked down to the river where the survivors still lived in shanties.

The most powerful weapon to ever be used against other humans was detonated by the United States in Japan 75 years ago. 

On August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber famously known as the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, marking the first of two times the bomb has ever been used in warfare.

As of Thursday morning (LT), August 4, 2022, over 540 000 residents living in the Tohoku and Hokuriku regions of Japan were ordered to evacuate as heavy rains continue falling over the Sea of Japan shoreline, triggering floods and landslides.

Japanese leaders' recent actions on Taiwan question are not friendly and have disappointed China very much, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a press conference on Friday, noting that some countries are making groundless accusations against China and spreading disinformation and Japan is among those taking "very wrong actions."

Beijing has cancelled a bilateral meeting between the Chinese and the Japanese foreign ministers in Phnom Penh over a G7 joint statement on Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing on Thursday.

The U.S and Indonesian militaries were joined by partner nations for the first time as they began nearly two week long drills on Sumatra Island and the Riau islands in Indonesia. 

The planned drills opened after China´s Defense Ministry said Tuesday night it would conduct a series of targeted military operations to 'safeguard national sovereignty' in response to U.S House Speaker Nancy Pelosi´s visit to self-governed Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory to be annexed by force if necessary.