Japan: 88-year-old acquitted after nearly 50 years on death row

Today's news: US and France call for 21-day truce in Lebanon after UN Security Council; New billion loan to Pakistan from International Monetary Fund; The Vatican Library will exhibit its works in an exhibition set up in the terminal of the Saudi airport where pilgrims disembarking to Mecca; In Kazakhstan new fences at the presidential palace to make demonstrations impossible.

JAPAN

A Japanese court acquitted Iwao Hakamata, an 88-year-old former professional boxer, decades after he was sentenced to death for a quadruple murder case in 1966. Hakamat spent almost half a century behind bars before new evidence got him out of prison in 2014. His case marks the fifth time since the post-war period in Japan that new trials have ended in acquittal after a death sentence. It took more than nine years to reopen the case after the Shizuoka District Court granted him a retrial in 2014. The focus of the retrial was the reliability of the main piece of evidence - five items of clothing he allegedly wore during the incident: the Tokyo High Court had ruled in March last year that there was a strong possibility that they had been planted by investigators. Commenting on the news, the Archbishop of Tokyo, Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, reiterated the call of the Catholic Church in Japan for the abolition of the death penalty in the country.

LEBANON-ISRAEL

The United States, France, and nine allies including the European Union, Italy, Japan, and Saudi Arabia called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, also expressing support for a truce in Gaza. The request is contained in a joint statement by the countries released by the White House after yesterday's emergency UN Security Council meeting on Lebanon. In the meantime, Israeli raids continued in the area, which according to Lebanese health sources have killed at least 72 other people.

VIETNAM-UNITED STATES

On the sidelines of the ongoing UN General Assembly in New York , Vietnamese President To Lam - who is now also secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party - met with US President Joe Biden. A senior US official said the two discussed ways to accelerate the strategic partnership agreed upon last year. According to the Vietnamese news agency, To Lam told Biden that his country ‘will continue to firmly implement its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralism and diversification’. In New York, the Vietnamese president also met with representatives of large US companies, including Meta.

PAKISTAN

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a new loan of billion for Pakistan, which is unable to get out of its economic crisis. The country will receive the first billion dollars immediately, while the balance will be disbursed over the next three years. Pakistan has obtained more than 20 loans from the IMF since 1958 and is currently the fifth largest debtor of the financial institution.

VATICAN-SAUDI ARABIA

The Vatican Apostolic Library has announced that from 25 January to 24 May 2025, several works from its collections will be exhibited at the AlMadar section of the Islamic Arts Biennale to be held at the Hajj terminal of Jeddah airport, through which millions of travellers to Mecca pass each year. The exhibition will offer a multifaceted representation of the art of numbers in all its aspects, from its origins in nature to its infinite applications in Islamic culture, mathematical advances, terrestrial and celestial mapping, navigation and trade, rituals and spiritual life.

RUSSIA-TURKEY

Turkey, the world's third-largest buyer of Russian oil, has drastically reduced its imports mainly due to restructuring work at the Star oil industry near Izmir, which processes 45% of imported oil. It has fallen to less than 200,000 barrels per day compared to 400-450 three months ago. It will only be seen in two months - at the end of the work - whether the oil trade will be restored to previous measures.

KAZAKHSTAN

A new fence has been placed on the territory around the Akorda, the presidential palace of Astana in Kazakhstan, and by now if the gates are closed it becomes impossible to approach and even walk along the picturesque Esil riverfront, making the entire administrative centre of the capital inaccessible to avoid any possible demonstration in the vicinity.

• Asia
• Today