TOKYO (Reuters) -A volcano erupted in Japan on Wednesday, blasting ash several miles into the sky and prompting officials to warn against the threat of lava flows and falling rocks, but there were no reports of injuries or casualties. Mount Aso, a tourist destination on the main southern island of Kyushu, sent plumes of ash 3.5 km (2.2 miles) high when it erupted at about 11:43 a.m. (0243 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency said. It raised the alert level for the volcano to 3 on a scale of 5, telling people not to approach, and warned of a risk of large falling rocks and pyroclastic flows within a radius of about 1 km (0.6 mile) around the mountain s Nakadake crater. Local police said there were no reports of people injured or missing as of Wednesday evening, and that 16 people who had gone hiking on the mountain earlier on the day came back safely. Television networks broadcast images of a dark cloud of ash looming over the volcano that swiftly obscured large swathes of the mountain
By Tim Kelly and Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - Maki Kaji, a puzzle enthusiast and publisher who was known as the Godfather of Sudoku - the number puzzle played daily by millions around the world - has died, his company said. He was 69. A university dropout who worked in a printing company before founding Japan s first puzzle magazine, Kaji took hints from an existing number puzzle to create what he later named sudoku - a contraction of the Japanese for every number must be single - sometime in the mid-80s. The logic puzzle challenges people to fill a grid of 9X9 blocks, with nine boxes in each block so that all columns, both vertical and horizontal, contain the numbers 1 to 9 without repetition. The number of filled-in figures for a grid at the start of the puzzle determines how difficult it is. Known as the Godfather of Sudoku, he was adored by puzzle lovers around the world and we would like to express our gratitude to all of you, his company, Nikoli, said on its website on Monday. T
Hong Kong to reopen bars, nightclubs from April 29 for vaccinated customers
FILE PHOTO: A staff cleans outside a bar in Hong Kong s Lan Kwai Fong after bars, nightclubs and other entertainment venues were closed in response to a renewed rise in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, China November 26, 2020. REUTERS/Lam Yik reuters tickers
This content was published on April 27, 2021 - 10:09
April 27, 2021 - 10:09
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong will reopen bars and nightclubs from April 29 for people who have been vaccinated and who use a government mobile phone application, the Asian financial hub s health secretary said on Tuesday.
Sophia Chan told a press briefing the measures extended to bathhouses and karaoke lounges and would enable the venues to stay open until 2.00 a.m. All staff and customers must have received at least one vaccine dose for the venue to be operational and they must operate at half capacity, she said.
Grounded by COVID restrictions, skiers embrace the humble snow shoe
FILE PHOTO: People walk with snowshoes on a winter day amid lockdown measures during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in the resort of Semnoz in Viuz-la-Chiesaz near Annecy, France, January 20, 2021. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse reuters tickers
This content was published on January 21, 2021 - 10:03
January 21, 2021 - 10:03
By Cecila Mantovani
ANNECY, France (Reuters) - No one relishes the COVID-19 epidemic and the death it has brought, but Philippe Gallay, boss of one of the world s biggest snowshoe manufacturers, acknowledges it has been good for business. Sales of his company s product have exploded.
In France, where Gallay s TSL firm is based, and in other countries, officials stung by virus clusters in ski resorts have closed chair lifts, button lifts and cable cars at ski resorts.