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WORLD NEWS Friday 1 November 2019
Fire nearly destroys historic Japanese castle

By MARI YAMAGUCHI the island, many of them
Associated Press civilians.
TOKYO (AP) — A fire broke The castle was largely re-
out early Thursday and stored in 1992 as a national
spread quickly through park and was designated a
historic Shuri Castle on Ja- UNESCO World Heritage site
pan's southern island of in 2000 as part of a group of
Okinawa, nearly destroy- ancient ruins, castles and
ing the UNESCO World Heri- sacred sites that "provide
tage site. mute testimony to the rare
Firefighters battled the survival of an ancient form
blaze for about 12 hours of religion into the modern
before bringing it under age."
control in the afternoon. Chief Cabinet Secretary
The fire in Naha, the pre- Yoshihide Suga told report-
fectural capital of Okina- ers that the central govern-
wa, started from the cas- ment will do its utmost to
tle's main wooden struc- reconstruct the castle.
ture and quickly jumped The government dis-
to other buildings, in part Smoke and flames rise from burning Shuri Castle in Naha, Okinawa, southern Japan, Thursday, patched officials from the
because of windy weather. Oct. 31, 2019. Agency for Cultural Affairs
Three large halls and four Associated Press and other government or-
other structures burned ganizations to join efforts
down, a fire official said. Video on NHK public tele- Mikiko Shiroma, who led Okinawa's cultural heritage to investigate the cause of
No one was injured. The vision showed parts of the an emergency response from the time of the Ryukyu the fire and study ways to
cause was not immediately castle engulfed in orange team. "I'm shocked." Kingdom that spanned protect other historical sites
known. flames, then turning into Okinawa Gov. Denny Ta- about 450 years from 1429 from disasters, Suga said.
An annual weeklong castle a charred skeleton and maki cut short a trip to until 1879, when the island Tokyo University of Science
festival that began Sunday collapsing to the ground. South Korea to return to was annexed by Japan. Professor Ai Sekizawa, an
was to run for a week but Many residents watched Naha. "My heart is bro- It is also a symbol of Oki- expert on fire prevention,
the remaining events were from a hillside road and qui- ken," he said. "But I also nawa's struggle and ef- told NHK that the exten-
canceled. Event organiz- etly took photos to capture feel strongly that we must forts to recover from World sive damage occurred
ers were preparing the next what was left of the castle reconstruct Shuri Castle, a War II. The castle burned because the fire broke out
day's events at the castle before it was largely lost. symbol of the Ryukyu King- down in 1945 during the in the middle of the night
until after midnight, but no Some people were crying. dom filled with our history Battle of Okinawa near the when nobody was around,
one was there when the "I feel as if we have lost our and culture." war's end, in which about delaying the initial firefight-
fire broke out, officials said. symbol," said Naha Mayor The castle is a symbol of 200,000 lives were lost on ing effort. q

India, Naga rebels hold

peace talks, but no

agreement signed

NEW DELHI (AP) — India's about an agreement and
government and Naga said all stakeholders would
rebel groups held talks be consulted and their
Thursday on ending 70 concerns taken into ac-
years of armed insurrection count before any settle-
in the country's troubled ment is reached.
northeast, but did not sign It did not elaborate or say
a widely expected peace whether the government
agreement. had accepted a conten-
Nagaland state's top tious demand by one Naga
elected official, Neiphiu faction for a separate flag
Rio, said in a tweet that a and constitution.
breakthrough had been A seven-member umbrella
achieved in the talks in group of rebels, the Naga
New Delhi, but gave no National Political Group,
details. also participated in Thurs-
He described the develop- day's talks.
ment as a "great joy for all Indian media reports said
Nagas and the nation as government negotiators
a whole," and said peace had set Oct. 31 as a dead-
would pave the way for line for concluding the
genuine progress and na- talks.
tion-building. The Naga insurrection be-
A home ministry statement, gan in the mid-1950s with
however, referred to anxi- rebel leaders seeking an
ety among some groups independent homeland.q