Grappling with the imperial challenge of continuing the heredity of the royal family in Japan, a government body has recommended two measures to solve the problem. 

The panel, headed by former Keio University President Atsushi Seike, was appointed by the government after Japan’s parliament passed in 2017 a non-binding resolution urging the government to come up with a stable imperial succession plan.

Of the two recommendations submitted to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday, the panel has said the female members of the imperial family, who marry commoners, be allowed to retain their royal status.

Besides, imperial law prohibits the adoption of children.

The second recommendation allows male heirs “from former branches to be adopted into the imperial family,” Kyodo News reported.

For the two recommendations to be adopted, Japan would require to revise its 1947 Imperial House Law. The move will aim to stop the dwindling number of eligible heirs.

Japan’s Emperor Naruhito, 61, has three heirs, including his younger brother Crown Prince Fumihito, 56, his nephew Prince Hisahito, 15, and his uncle Prince Hitachi, 86.

Japan’s imperial law only allows accession to the thrones to a male who has an emperor on his father’s side. And those female members who marry outside to a commoner lose their royal status.

The panel, however, postponed giving its conclusions regarding specific measures on succession.

On the issue of whether women or matrilineal imperial members will be eligible to ascend the throne, the panel said: “The issue should be judged in the future.”

In a recent setback to royal family numbers, Princess Mako, niece of emperor Naruhito, married her sweetheart this October and flew to the US where they are settled now.

The panel also suggested that the discussions on succession “should be pushed back until Prince Hisahito comes of age to marry as engaging in the debate now could destabilize the throne.”

“Women would not be given a choice about whether to remain in the imperial family after marriage to a commoner, and descendants of former branches adopted into the imperial family will not have the right to succeed to the throne,” the panel has recommended.

“In the event that the two options fail to secure a sufficient number of eligible heirs, making male heirs from former branches imperial family members by law should be considered,” said the Kyodo News report, quoting the panel recommendations.

Prime Minister Kishida said he will “respect the conclusions drawn from the discussions of the panel.”

The government will now submit the report to the parliament for deliberations.

There are 11 former branches of Japan’s imperial family that share a common ancestor some 600 years ago and had to abandon their status in 1947, two years after the end of World War II, Kyodo News said./aa

The UN confirmed it demanded security for staff and offices in Afghanistan in return for money.

When asked by Anadolu Agency at a news conference whether the UN pitched to the Taliban $6 million for security, Farhan Haq, a spokesman for Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said the budget proposal the UN initially made for 2022 was prepared before the Afghanistan government fell in August.

"And some of that language in our budget submission is no longer current. So, that budget is currently under review," he said.

Haq also said since the second half of August, the UN has requested various security assurances and assistance from de facto authorities in Afghanistan.

"The system is providing allowances to personnel who perform supplementary security services, which are critical for the safety of our personnel and our compounds, as well as operations and movements in the country.

"But any such allowances, any such supplementary security services money, is provided to the concerned persons directly. And, again, like I said before, it's not through the de facto authorities," he added.

Separately, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution Wednesday that exempts sanctions against the Taliban to ease humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.

The resolution introduced by the US was unanimously approved by the 15-member council./aa

The US sanctioned members of an alleged network of al-Qaeda in Brazil on Wednesday.

Three individuals, including Haytham Ahmad Shukri Ahmad Al-Maghrabi, an al-Qaeda operative, and two entities have been designated by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Al-Maghrabi arrived in Brazil in 2015 and is known as one of the initial members of an al-Qaeda network. He is accused of having contact and business dealings with another al-Qaeda-linked individual, according to the OFAC.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the group and its regional affiliates continue to pose a threat to countries around the world.

"The United States is taking action today to stem the funding of this terrorist group by designating members of a Brazil-based network of al-Qa’ida-affiliated individuals and their companies as Specially Designated Global Terrorists," said Blinken.

The top diplomat said the US is committed to working with partners, including Brazil, to disrupt al-Qaeda's financial support networks./aa

Indigenous chiefs expressed disgust at the Canadian Catholic Church's failure to present a US$23.3 million fundraising plan for residential school survivors, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported Wednesday.

The CBC learned that details of the fundraising goal and when fundraising was to start would be made public in November, following a promise made in September by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB).

"The Bishops of Canada have committed and tasked themselves to develop national principles and strategy, timelines, and the public communication of these collective initiatives this November," the promise read.

It is the latest in a series of broken promises that did not surprise Indigenous chiefs and residential school survivors.

"For God's sake, look at their history," said Chief Byron Louis, of the Okanagan Indian Band in the Canadian province of British Columbia. "Why do people expect anything different from them?"

A CCCB spokesperson told the CBC that the fundraising plan will be available soon.

"The $30-million (US$23.3 million) national financial pledge is an ambitious undertaking, requiring substantial efforts from dioceses across the country," said the Catholic Bishop's Jonathan Lesarge in an email to the CBC. "A group of bishops have been working diligently to develop a strategy that ensures this pledge is transparently achieved and that all funds are allocated to deserving projects with appropriate oversight."

Lesarge added fundraising will begin in the "near future."

Chief Louis said the church could write a check for the money right now, citing the fact more than US$233 million was earmarked for Catholic building projects at the same time the church made a promise to compensate survivors. Other Indigenous leaders expressed the same view.

"They are protecting their assets," said Louis. "These are not the actions of a church. This is a corporation."

The survivors were forced to attend historic Indian Residential Schools, an educational system of 139 schools that began in the 1820s - the last one closed in the 1990s.

About 150,000 Indigenous children were forced into the system and it is estimated about 4,000 died from disease and abuse. The Catholic Church operated about 60% of the schools which were established to drum out Indigenous culture in the children./aa

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution on Wednesday that exempts sanctions against the Taliban to ease humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.

The resolution introduced by the US was unanimously approved by the 15-member council.

According to the resolution, humanitarian assistance and other activities that support basic human needs in Afghanistan, processing and payments of funds that will not violate sanctions against the Taliban and use of financial assets and economic resources will be permitted.

US Ambassador to UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield welcomed the adoption of the resolution, saying it "puts in place an exemption to @UN sanctions in Afghanistan for humanitarian aid and activities supporting basic human needs."

"I applaud the #UNSC for unanimously voting for this carveout, which is desperately needed by the humanitarian community in Afghanistan," she wrote on Twitter.

Barbara Woodward, the UK's envoy to the UN, said the resolution "will help save lives by ensuring that 1988 sanctions regime poses no obstacle to provision of humanitarian assistance."

According to the UN, 24 million people require life-saving assistance in Afghanistan whose economic collapse "is happening before our eyes."/aa

 A Moroccan women advocacy group on Wednesday condemned abuses against Palestinian female prisoners in “Israel”.

“We express our condemnation and outrage at the brutal assault on Palestinian female prisoners, including placing some of them in solitary confinement,” the Moroccan Women Against Political Detention said in a statement.

The NGO stressed its "full solidarity with the Palestinian female prisoners brutally assaulted by the Zionist repressive apparatus inside prison.”
It also demanded the immediate release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.

On Tuesday, the Prisoners' National Movement, a group representing Palestinian prisoners, called for dedicating the coming Friday to show solidarity with Palestinian female prisoners in “Israel”.

Palestinian factions have earlier called for “an appropriate response” to attacks on female prisoners in Damon and Nafha prisons.

Prisoners’ rights groups on Sunday accused “Israeli” prison authorities in Damon of "carrying out successive abuses against Palestinian female prisoners.”

There are around 4,500 Palestinian detainees in “Israeli” prisons, including 32 women, and 170 minors, according to institutions concerned with prisoners’ affairs./agencies

The omicron strain of the coronavirus continues spreading across the world, with numerous countries reporting new cases of the fast-spreading variant of concern, as declared by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The new strain of COVID-19, first detected on Nov. 25 in South Africa, is spreading faster compared to the Delta variant, even in countries where a high level of immunity had been achieved via vaccination, according to the WHO's weekly COVID-19 report released on Monday.

As of Monday, omicron cases have been detected in a total of 106 countries so far.

The UK has registered the most omicron infections, according to the German company Statistica, with as many as 2,957 as of Thursday, followed by South Africa with 1,000 cases, and the US with 321.

Among other European countries, Denmark has counted 213 omicron cases, Switzerland 124, and Belgium 121.

Deaths caused by the variant have only been reported in Israel, the US, and UK, despite a month having passed since the strain was first detected.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 5.37 million lives in at least 192 countries and regions, with more than 276.3 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US' Johns Hopkins University./aa

Major US stock indexes opened slightly higher Wednesday after economic growth for the third quarter was revised up.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 8 points, or 0.02%, to 35,503 at 9.39 a.m. EDT. The S&P 500 was up 2 points to 4,650.

The Nasdaq was up 1 point to 15,340.

The US real gross domestic product (GDP) was revised to an annual rate of 2.3% for the third quarter, according to the Commerce Department’s third and a final reading. The second reading made last month was at 2.1%

The VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, was down 2.2% to 20.54 shortly after the opening bell.

The dollar index was down 0.28% to 96.22, while the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes fell 2.04% to 1.457%.

Precious metals were on the rise with gold adding 0.15% to $1,792 per ounce and silver increasing 0.5% to $22.63.

Crude prices were slightly up with Brent crude trading at $74.07 per barrel with a 0.15% gain, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude was at $71.26 -- a 0.2% increase./aa