World War 2

Thousands evacuated in Hong Kong after discovery of large WWII-era bomb

Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in Hong Kong overnight so experts could defuse a large US-made bomb left over from World War II that was discovered at a construction site. Police said the bomb was 1.5 metres in length and weighed about 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms). It was discovered by construction workers in Quarry Bay, a bustling residential and business district on the west side of Hong Kong Island. We have confirmed this object to be a bomb dating back to World War II, said Andy Chan Tin-Chu, a police official, speaking to reporters ahead of the operation. He said that because of the exceptionally high risks associated with its disposal, approximately 1,900 households involving 6,000 individuals were "urged to evacuate swiftly. The operation to deactivate the bomb began late Friday and lasted until around 11:30 am on Saturday. No one was injured in the operation. Bombs left over from World War II are discovered from time to time in Hong Kong. The city was .

Children of Radium: 'Digging for Trauma' in Nazi Germany's History

In the course of his research, Dunthorne makes multiple visits to Germany and tries to retrace and recreate his great-grandfather's life

WWII bomber crash killed 11; remains of 4 soldiers finally coming home

As the World War II bomber Heaven Can Wait was hit by enemy fire off the Pacific island of New Guinea on March 11, 1944, the co-pilot managed a final salute to flyers in an adjacent plane before crashing into the water. All 11 men aboard were killed. Their remains, deep below the vast sea, were designated as non-recoverable. Yet four crew members' remains are beginning to return to their hometowns after a remarkable investigation by family members and a recovery mission involving elite Navy divers who descended 200 feet (61 metres) in a pressurised bell to reach the sea floor. Staff Sgt. Eugene Darrigan, the radio operator was buried military honours and community support on Saturday in his hometown of Wappingers Falls, New York, more than eight decades after leaving behind his wife and baby son. The bombardier, 2nd Lt. Thomas Kelly, was to be buried Monday in Livermore, California, where he grew up in a ranching family. The remains of the pilot, 1st Lt. Herbert Tennyson, and ...

Russia's Victory Day Parade: MEA backs multilateralism, flags terrorism

MoS Defence Sanjay Seth represented Russia's Victory Day in Moscow. The MEA statement highlighted India's WWII contributions, backed multilateralism, and flagged terrorism as a shared global threat

70% of Jewish Holocaust survivors will be gone in next 10 yrs: Report

Eighty years after the Holocaust, more than 2,00,000 Jewish survivors are still alive but 70 per cent of them will be gone within the next 10 years meaning time is running out to hear the voices of the last generation who suffered through one of the worst atrocities in history. Currently, the survivors' median age is 87, and more than 1,400 of them are over 100 years old, a new report said Tuesday. We have known that this population of survivors would be the last, our final opportunity to hear their first-hand testimonies, to spend time with them, our last chance to meet a survivor, said Greg Schneider, the executive vice president of the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also referred to as the Claims Conference, which published the study. The report's analysis of population projections and mortality rates provides details through 2040. It is based on the extensive data collected since 1952 by the Claims Conference, which includes survivors who .

White House says US is why French don't speak German: Is it true?

White House rebuffs French Parliamentarian's call to reclaim the Statue of Liberty, asserting that US intervention in WWII saved France from Nazi rule

US SC deals severe blow to Holocaust survivors' lawsuit against Hungary

A unanimous Supreme Court on Friday dealt a severe blow to Holocaust survivors and their families in a long-running lawsuit seeking compensation from Hungary for property confiscated during World War II. The justices threw out an appeals court ruling that had allowed the lawsuit to continue despite a federal law that generally shields sovereign nations like Hungary from suits in US courts. The high court heard arguments in December in Hungary's latest bid to end the lawsuit filed in 2010 by survivors, all of whom are now over 90, and heirs of survivors. Some survived being sent to the Auschwitz death camp in what was German-occupied Poland. The appeals court had held that the survivors satisfied the exception the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act makes for property taken in violation of international law. To qualify, the survivors must be able to show that the property has some commercial tie to the United States. The survivors had argued that Hungary long ago sold off the property,

In a World War II reminder for Japan, war-era bomb detonates at airport

Japan authorities confirmed that a Second World War-era 500-pound US bomb was responsible for the explosion at Miyazaki Airport in southwestern Japan, and no further threat remains

US bomb from WW II explodes at Japan airport, causes large crater

An unexploded US bomb from World War II that had been buried at a Japanese airport exploded Wednesday, causing a large crater in a taxiway and the cancellation of more than 80 flights but no injuries, Japanese officials said. Land and Transport Ministry officials said there were no aircraft nearby when the bomb exploded at Miyazaki Airport in southwestern Japan. Officials said an investigation by the Self-Defence Forces and police confirmed that the explosion was caused by a 500-pound US bomb and there was no further danger. They were determining what caused its sudden detonation. A video recorded by a nearby aviation school showed the blast spewing pieces of asphalt into the air like a fountain. Videos broadcast on Japanese television showed a crater in the taxiway reportedly about 7 meters in diameter and 3 feet deep. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said more than 80 flights had been cancelled at the airport, which hopes to resume operations on Thursday morning. Miyaza

Brazilian govt apologises for post-WWII persecution of Japanese immigrants

The Brazilian government on Thursday apologized for human rights violations in the persecution and incarceration of Japanese immigrants in the years after World War II. I want to apologize on behalf of the Brazilian state for the persecution your ancestors suffered, for all the barbarities, atrocities, cruelties, tortures, prejudice, ignorance, xenophobia and racism, said Ene de Stutz e Almeida, president of the Amnesty Commission, an advisory board of Brazil's Ministry of Human Rights that analyzes amnesty and reparation requests to victims of political persecution in the country. The board approved the apology plea in a session in Brasilia attended by members of the Brazilian government and prominent members of the Japanese community. Flags of both countries were displayed on the table where the speakers sat. A report by the Amnesty Commission acknowledged that 172 immigrants were sent to a concentration camp off the coast of So Paulo, where they were mistreated and tortured from

Destruction of housing in Gaza unprecedented, not seen since WW2: UN

The world hasn't seen anything like the unprecedented destruction of housing in Gaza since World War II, and it would take at least until 2040 to restore the homes devastated in Israel's bombing and ground offensive if the conflict ended today, the United Nations reported Thursday. The UN assessment said the social and economic impact of the war launched after Hamas' surprise attack in southern Israel on October 7 has been increasing in an exponential manner. It called the level of casualties 5 per cent of Gaza's 2.3 million population -- unprecedented in such a short time. By mid-April, it said, over 33,000 Palestinians had been killed and more than 80,000 injured. About 7,000 others remain missing, most believed to be buried under the rubble. Every additional day that this war continues is exacting huge and compounding costs to Gazans and all Palestinians said United Nations Development Program Administrator Achim Steiner. The report by UNDP and the UN Economic Commission for ..

How the world once handled war crimes

Professor Gary J Bass delves into the forgotten history of the Tokyo trial after World War II, exploring the complex dynamics of justice, politics, and international law in the aftermath of conflict

The lucky cohort

Unlike those born in the 1940s and '50s, the current generation can no longer take global peace and lifelong economic progress for granted

Kishida marks 78th year of WWII's end, doesn't mention Japan's agression

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida renewed a peace pledge Tuesday as Japan observed the 78th anniversary of its World War II defeat but did not mention the country's wartime aggression in Asia, while three of his former and current Cabinet ministers visited a shrine seen by neighboring countries as a symbol of militarism. Japan will stick to our resolve to never repeat the tragedy of the war, Kishida said at a solemn ceremony in a speech that was almost identical to what he read last year. The absence of any reference to Japanese aggression across Asia in the first half of the 1900s or its victims in the region followed a precedent set by then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2013, in what was seen by critics as a move to whitewash Japan's wartime brutality. Kishida stressed the destruction that Japan suffered from the war, including the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, fire bombings across Japan and the bloody ground battle on Okinawa, and the suffering of Japanese ..

Tension on Taiwan Strait: What is the dispute between China and Taiwan?

The tensions between the two states on either side of the Taiwan Strait have remained high since World War II. Here is a look at the brief history of the conflict

Betrayal and survival

In The Collaborators, some readers may find Buruma's permissiveness toward his subjects' conduct and moral barometers disturbing

Italy's leader Meloni forms nation's first far-right-led govt since WWII

Giorgia Meloni on Friday formed Italy's new ruling coalition, assembling the country's first far-right-led government since the end of World War II and becoming the first woman to obtain the premiership. A presidential palace official announced that Meloni and her Cabinet would be sworn in on Saturday. Meloni's Brothers of Italy, a party with neo-fascist roots, was the top vote-getter in Italy's national election last month. A few hours before the new government's formation was announced, Meloni, 45, a career politician, told reporters that she and her allies had unanimously asked President Sergio Mattarella to give her the mandate to govern. Obtaining the premiership capped a remarkably quick rise for the Brothers of Italy. Meloni co-founded the party in December 2012, and it was considered a fringe movement on the right during its first years. Meloni made no public comments before leaving the Quirinal presidential palace. Earlier in the day, she met with Mattarella along with her

Japan marks 77th anniversary of Hiroshima bombing in final days of WWII

Japan on Saturday marked the 77th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima that took place in the final days of the Second World War

Poles mark 78th anniversary of Warsaw Uprising; compare to Ukraine

Poles marked the 78th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, with some including the president comparing the wartime Polish resistance to that of Ukrainians today fighting Russia's invasion

New Sri Lankan PM Gunawardena's India connection from World War II era

As Dinesh Gunawardena took oath as Sri Lanka's 15th prime minister, its local media highlighted the background of his father Philip Gunawardena who was at the centre of the anti-imperialist campaign