Tokyo’s Firebrand Governor, Shintaro Ishihara, Quits To Form New National Party

PARIS — A fire broke out Thursday in the spire of the medieval cathedral in the northern French city of Rouen, authorities said. Witnesses speaking on BFM television described smoke emanating from the spire, and recalled a devastating fire in 2019 at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris that toppled its spire and collapsed its roof. The cathedral in Rouen in Normandy is widely known from a series of paintings by impressionist Claude Monet. Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol posted on the social media platform X that “the beginning of a fire is underway on the spire of the cathedral of Rouen.

LONDON — A man suspected of killing the wife and daughters of a BBC radio sports commentator with a crossbow was being treated in a hospital Thursday after being found injured in a cemetery some 15 miles (22 kilometers) from the scene of the crimes. Police had spent almost a day hunting for Kyle Clifford after the attack on Carol Hunt, 61, and her daughters Hannah, 28 and Louise, 25 at their home in Bushey, northwest of London.

JAKARTA — Indonesia’s anti-graft court sentenced a former agriculture minister to 10 years in prison Thursday after finding him guilty of corruption-related extortion, abuse of power and bribery involving ministry contracts with private vendors. The case has tarnished President Joko Widodo’s credibility in fighting corruption. Five other members of Widodo’s Cabinet have been sentenced to prison terms in corruption cases, casting a shadow over his efforts to clean up government while his term will end in October. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Read More: Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo Once Symbolized Democratic Hope—His Plan for a New Capital Represents a Darker Legacy The court in the capital, Jakarta, ruled that the former Cabinet minister, Syahrul Yasin Limpo, was guilty of abusing his power by enriching himself and other officials.

China sent a record number of warplanes across a U. S.-drawn boundary in the Taiwan Strait—a move that comes as the new president of the archipelago mulls a trip that may include a stop in America. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Some 56 planes crossed the so-called median line as of early Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense in Taipei said on the X social media site. 66 PLA aircraft and 7 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m.

Former President Donald Trump will meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Florida on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter, less than a week after he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Read More: Why MAGA Republicans Are Obsessed With Viktor Orbán [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The visit is likely to fan concerns that the Hungarian leader is working as an intermediary between Putin and Trump. Trump and Putin professed a fondness for one another during the U.

WASHINGTON — In their most serious rebuke against Beijing, NATO allies on Wednesday called China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine and expressed concerns over Beijing’s nuclear arsenal and its capabilities in space. The sternly worded final communiqué, approved by the 32 NATO members at their summit in Washington, makes clear that China is becoming a focus of the military alliance.