Runway safety concerns in focus as Japan probes Tokyo crash - CNA

"TECHNOLOGY GAP"

The Washington-based foundation has found that breakdowns in communication and coordination can play a role in runway crashes or near misses.

But a shortage of electronics to avoid collisions on the ground, rather than in the air where software to trigger avoidance has been available since the 1980s, is also a concern.

"Many of the serious incidents could have been avoided through better situational awareness technologies that can help air traffic controllers and pilots detect potential runway conflicts," Shahidi said.

The Federal Aviation Administration says some three dozen US airports are fitted with a system called ASDE-X that uses radar, satellites and a navigation tool called multilateration to track ground movements.

But National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy said in November the US aviation network - a bellwether for airports worldwide - lacks sufficient technology to prevent runway incursions.

In 2018, Airbus said it was working with Honeywell on a system called SURF-A or Surface-Alert designed to help prevent runway collisions.

But no date for implementation has yet been announced and rolling out complex new aviation systems can take years.

Far-reaching reforms of European and US air traffic networks that could accelerate the use of such computerised systems have faced chronic delays.

Airbus and Honeywell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Steve Creamer, a former senior director at the International Civil Aviation Organization, said preventing a landing aircraft striking a plane is among the top five global safety priorities.

Although automated landings are increasing, experts say much still depends on visual checks by pilots who may be distracted by a high workload or the blur of a night-time runway.

"I think the investigation will focus a lot on the clearances ... and then also what the (JAL) crew could see. Could they physically see that airplane on the runway," said former US air accident investigator John Cox.

Lighting was an issue in a 1991 collision between a USAir plane and SkyWest Airlines aircraft at Los Angeles International Airport in California, for example.

"One of the things that came out of that was that the USAir crew physically could not see the SkyWest Metroliner there. Although it was on the runway, the lighting was such that you … physically couldn’t see it," he said.

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2024-01-03 00:48:06Z
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5 coast guard crew killed after plane collides with Japan Airlines jet in Tokyo's Haneda airport - CNA

RUNWAYS REOPENING, CAUSE OF CRASH UNCLEAR

Haneda, one of the two main airports serving the Japanese capital, was closed for several hours following the accident, but the transport ministry official said three runways had since resumed operations.

JAL's rival Japanese airline ANA had earlier said it had cancelled 110 domestic flights departing and landing at Haneda for the rest of Tuesday due to the runway shutdown.

Transport minister Saito said the cause of the accident was unclear and the Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB), police and other departments would continue to investigate.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said authorities were working to ensure the accident at Haneda did not affect deliveries of earthquake relief supplies.

"This is a great regret as the crew members performed their duties with a strong sense of mission and responsibility for the victims of the disaster area," he said, referring to those killed on the coast guard plane.

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2024-01-02 15:11:00Z
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5 dead on coast guard aircraft after collision with Japan Airlines plane at Tokyo Haneda airport - The Straits Times

TOKYO – Five people on board a coast guard aircraft died after a runway collision with a Japan Airlines (JAL) plane at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Jan 2, the Japanese transport minister said.

“Regarding the coast guard plane, we have been informed that the captain escaped and five people were confirmed dead,” Mr Tetsuo Saito told reporters.

The coast guard plane was headed to Niigata airport on Japan’s west coast to deliver aid to those caught up in a powerful earthquake that struck on New Year’s Day, killing at least 48 people.

Earlier reports said five of the coast guard crew were unaccounted for, while the captain escaped.

The coast guard plane collided with JAL Flight 516 shortly after the passenger jet landed.

Live footage on public broadcaster NHK showed the JAL aircraft bursting into flames as it skidded down the tarmac after landing at around 6pm local time.

It was later overwhelmed by the blaze despite efforts by rescue crews to control the fire.

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2024-01-02 12:23:19Z
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China calls on Taiwan's people to promote 'peaceful reunification' - CNA

TAIPEI: The head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office on Tuesday (Jan 2) called on Taiwan's people to promote the process of "peaceful reunification", saying it was the common desire of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Song Tao's message, which comes less than two weeks before Taiwan holds presidential and parliamentary elections on Jan 13, follows President Xi Jinping's remarks in his New Year Eve's address that China's "reunification" with Taiwan was inevitable.

"The motherland will eventually be reunified, and it will inevitably be reunified," Song said in his New Year's message on his office's website.

This is the common desire and common mission of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Song added.

Taiwan's people should "promote cross-strait relations to return to the right track of peaceful development, and promote the process of peaceful reunification of the motherland", he said.

Taiwan's government rejects China's sovereignty claims. Both the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and the largest opposition party, the Kuomintang, say only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

China has offered Taiwan a "one country, two systems" model of autonomy, but no mainstream Taiwanese party supports that idea.

Song reiterated China's support for "one country, two systems" and opposition to Taiwan's formal independence or "interference by external forces".

His message made no mention of the election, which the Taiwan Affairs Office has cast as a choice between war and peace.

China has continued military pressure around the island, ended some tariff cuts for Taiwan and threatened further economic measures as the vote has neared.

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2024-01-02 04:00:16Z
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Lee Jae-myung: From factory worker to South Korean presidential contender - CNA

SEOUL: A rarity among politicians in status-obsessed South Korea, former child factory worker Lee Jae-myung rose to become a presidential contender, telling voters his working-class roots equipped him to fight inequality.

Lee, who was under treatment in Seoul after being stabbed in the neck on Tuesday (Jan 2), lost the tightest presidential election in South Korean history to Yoon Suk Yeol in 2022. The motive behind the attack was unknown.

Leading the country's main opposition party, Lee has since been a staunch critic of President Yoon, and is widely expected to run for the top office again in 2027.

"I had to work in a factory because I couldn't pay for school," he told AFP before the 2022 election.

"My parents were cleaners. I escaped poverty, but many around me are still stuck ... I want to change the system."

Lee's political rise coincided with growing worries about inequality, sky-high housing prices and youth unemployment.

His time in elected office has been marked by policies including cash handouts to young adults, free school uniforms and free maternity care.

He has previously vowed to expand his universal basic income scheme nationwide as president.

While his supporters say these policies are rooted in Lee's own experience and empathy for the less fortunate, his opponents accuse him of being a populist who will pile on debt to pay for these schemes.

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2024-01-02 09:07:00Z
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At least six dead after huge earthquake rocks Japan on New Year's Day - CNA

TOKYO: A powerful earthquake that hit central Japan on New Year's Day killed at least six people, as police and local authorities early on Tuesday (Jan 2) reported bodies being pulled from the rubble of collapsed buildings.

The quake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 struck in the middle of the afternoon on Monday, destroying buildings, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and prompting residents in some coastal areas to flee to higher ground.

It also triggered waves about 1m high along Japan's long western seaboard as well as in neighbouring South Korea.

Army personnel were dispatched to help with rescue operations, while one local airport was shut down after the quake tore open cracks in the runway.

The extent of the damage as well as the toll remained unclear a day after the disaster, with major roads to the worst-affected areas badly damaged, hindering rescue efforts.

Public broadcaster NHK reported doctors were unable to reach the hospital in the hard-hit town of Suzu. It said the hospital was relying on a backup generator because of a power outage.

Six people are confirmed to have died so far, the national police agency said.

NHK reported three people died after being trapped under collapsed buildings while one man was killed by a stone lantern.

More than 90 tremors have been detected since the quake first hit the remote Noto peninsula on Monday, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The agency has warned more strong shocks could hit in the coming days.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters late on Monday search and rescue teams were struggling to reach the worst affected areas due to badly damaged and blocked roads.

Many rail services and flights into the affected areas have also been suspended.

In Toyama city, around 100km from the worst-hit area, some shelves in convenience stores were empty as the disaster disrupted the delivery of goods across the region.

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2024-01-01 22:41:00Z
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Israel signals tactics shift, troops pull back as US carrier heads home - CNA

JERUSALEM/CAIRO/GAZA:  Israel pulled tanks out of some Gaza City districts on Monday (Jan 1), residents said, as it announced plans to shift tactics and cut back on troop numbers, but fighting raged elsewhere in the Palestinian enclave along with intense bombardment.

Israel says the war in Gaza, which has reduced much of the territory to rubble, killing thousands and plunging its 2.3 million people into a humanitarian disaster, has many months to go.

But it also signalled a new phase in its offensive, with an official saying on Monday the military would draw down forces inside Gaza this month and shift to a months-long phase of more localised "mopping up" operations.

A US official said the decision appeared to indicate the start of a shift to lower-intensity operations in the north of the Palestinian enclave.

The hints at a lowered tempo in Gaza came as the US Navy announced that the Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier was returning to its home port in Virginia after being deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean following the outbreak of hostilities.

The Israeli official said the troop reduction would allow some reservists to return to civilian life, shoring up Israel's war-battered economy, and freeing up units in case of a wider conflict in the north with Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Artillery fire between Hezbollah and Israel has rattled the border since the start of the Gaza conflict, with Israel's military saying it carried out an air strike on Monday.

Residents and security sources said Israeli raids targeted houses in the Lebanese village of Kafr Kila near the border, killing three people. They identified them as rescuers, but Lebanon's Hezbollah movement later said on its Telegram account on Monday that the three were fighters with the movement.

The Israeli official said the situation on the Lebanese border "will not be allowed to continue. This coming six-month period is a critical moment".

Any new escalation carries risks for a wider regional war. Tehran-backed fighters in Yemen have attacked Red Sea shipping, drawing a US military response, and an Iranian warship has sailed into the waterway, Iranian media reported on Monday.

The Gaza war was triggered by a surprise Hamas attack on Israeli towns on Oct 7 that Israel says killed 1,200 people. Palestinian health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza say Israel's offensive there has killed more than 21,978 people.

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2024-01-01 19:55:00Z
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