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A stabbing spree at a vocational school in Wuxi, located in eastern China, on Saturday resulted in eight deaths and 17 injuries, according to local authorities. The incident occurred at the Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology in Yixing, a smaller city within Wuxi, around 6:30 p.m. local time, the Yixing police reported. The suspect, 21-year-old Xu, a student at the school, was arrested at the scene. Authorities revealed that Xu had failed his exams and was upset about not graduating, as well as being dissatisfied with his internship pay. They said he chose to express his frustrations through the violent attack. Videos shared on Western platforms like X showed the aftermath, with victims lying on the street and bystanders trying to assist. Meanwhile, Chinese social media platforms, such as Weibo, show only the police statement, with no images or footage of the event. This is likely due to the Chinese government’s censorship of content deemed sensitive or political. Additionally, Western social media and search engines, like Google, are often inaccessible in China due to the country’s strict internet regulations, known as the Great Firewall. Read: Islamic State group claims responsibility for knife attack that killed 3 in Solingen, Germany This marks the second deadly attack in less than a week. Earlier, a man rammed his car into people at a sports facility in Zhuhai, in southern China, killing 35 and injuring 43. Random public attacks have been a growing concern in China. In October, a man was arrested for stabbing children at a school in Beijing, injuring five. In September, three people died in a knife attack at a supermarket in Shanghai, and 15 others were injured. The suspect in the Shanghai attack had financial disputes and reportedly went to the city to “vent his anger.” That same month, a Japanese schoolboy was fatally stabbed while on his way to school in Shenzhen. Sources: agency

For many in New Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities, Lodhi Garden is an escape in the heart of India’s capital. Park regulars say they won’t let rising pollution levels deter them — even if they have to tweak their routine because of the smog. The park is one of hundreds dotting the city. Those who love it say what makes it special is a combination of nature and other visitors — you’re never lonely even when you're alone. For others, it’s the nostalgia for bygone times. Generations of the same family have walked the trail circling the park — a habit passed down, a habit that becomes tradition. On any given day, retired bureaucrats walk in groups, discussing politics. Yoga practitioners meet for their dose of wellness and an aspiring marathon runner whizzes by. Young couples look for privacy behind trees while those more senior openly hold hands. On weekends, the park’s lawns spill over with picnickers. But as a toxic blanket of smog engulfed the city this month and New Delhi’s air quality officially fell into the “severe” category, some of the park regulars shared how this has impacted their daily routine. Old friends hashing out world problems For over 20 years, Rajiv Sikri, 76, and Subodh Jain, 72, have been meeting in Lodhi Garden for a morning walk that kicks off their day. “The pollution is worrying but how do you insulate yourself at home?” Sikri said. “We like to walk. One round or a little more than a round.” They “chat and solve the world’s problems,” he jokes. “What is the option,” Jain asks. “You can’t just sit at home and do nothing.” Time to leave the city? Rajiv Gupta, 54, and his wife, Manisha Gupta, 50, say they have considered moving out of New Delhi, home to more than 33 million people. Regulars for 15 years, the couple says the park has lost some of its “magnetic power” because of the pollution — Rajiv says they've had scratchy throats and breathing problems. “We come in the morning for fresh air and we are unable to get fresh air,” he said. "What’s the charm of coming to such a beautiful park then?” For Manisha, “seeing people of all ages being so active ... encourages me to be like them.” But she worries about their children and doesn't know "how to keep them safe from the pollution.” Tears in your eyes but hoping the trees will win The park has been part of 60-year-old Bashir Ahmad Mir's daily two-hour run and exercise routine for the past 10 years. But the carpet seller who moved to New Delhi from Kashmir says the pollution is now affecting his eyes. “I have to continuously clean my eyes," he said. "I know the pollution is bad for me but I have no choice. Where do I go?” Vanita Pathak, 55, who has been coming for the past 20 years, says she is not giving up and hopes the trees can help “fight the pollution.” “We keep hearing (the) advisory to stay indoors but I do not feel that coming here is harmful,” she said. Many are worried, others not so much Anita Gahtori says her in-laws stopped coming to the park since the start of the month, just after Diwali, the Hindu holiday when people traditionally shoot off fireworks and the city’s pollution levels spike. “I will stop bringing my children," she now says, her 12-year-old daughter Sakshi by her side. "I worry for their health.” Yoga teacher Ajay Chowdhary, 51, has been coming to the park every morning for more than 30 years — he says it's great for both his physical and mental wellbeing. But on the days when the pollution is high, he tweaks his workout. “We change the style of exercise," he said. "We do light exercises which do not involve deep breathing.” A habit that grows on you A white-haired man, walking his three dogs on a leash and wearing a facemask, said he's been a regular at Lodhi Garden for more than 50 years and that it's the "most wonderful place one can come to." “The pollution is a bothersome thing,” said Ajay, giving only his first name without explaining his reasons. "But you see it’s a habit. So it grows on you.” A boy at the park, Agastya Shankar Laul, said he didn't think his mother, Charu Shankar, was worried about the pollution. “Mom has given up,” Charu quipped. “I used to worry about it seven years ago. And year after year it’s just been the same story.” At home, her air purifiers run all the time and she makes her own remedies against the pollution. But what really upsets her are the people in power who have done so little. “Of course I’m angry, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be locked up,” she said.

A fire tore through a neonatal intensive care unit in a hospital in northern India, killing 10 newborn babies and injuring 16 others, authorities said. The fire occurred late Friday at a hospital in Jhansi city in India's Uttar Pradesh state. Officials said the blaze spread quickly through the ward, where 55 infants were being treated. Forty-five babies were rescued and are receiving medical care, said Bimal Kumar Dubey, a local official. It was not immediately clear what sparked the blaze. Brajesh Pathak, the deputy chief minister of the state, visited the hospital and met with families on Saturday. He pledged government support for the victims’ families and promised a thorough investigation. “We will identify those responsible for this tragedy and take strict action. The government stands with families during this difficult time,” he said. When the firefighters arrived, the ward was engulfed in flames and plumes of smoke. Rescuers had to break through windows to reach the newborn babies. Eyewitnesses said the rescue operation began about 30 minutes after the fire erupted, delaying evacuation efforts. The accident has raised questions over the hospital’s safety measures. While fire alarms had been installed in the intensive care unit, parents and witnesses said they did not activate during the blaze. Hospital staff acted only after they saw signs of smoke and fire. “If the safety alarm had worked, we could have acted sooner and saved more lives,” said Naresh Kumar, a parent who lost his baby. Akhtar Hussain, whose son was rescued and is receiving treatment in an adjacent ward, agreed that the tragedy could have been prevented if the hospital had better safety protocols. Fires are common in India, where building laws and safety norms are often flouted by builders and residents. Poor maintenance and lack of proper firefighting equipment in the country also leads to deaths.

As the first week of COP29 draws to a close, discussions on climate finance have made some headway, but a comprehensive agreement remains elusive.  Negotiators have made progress by streamlining the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) draft text, which is seen as a positive step forward.  However, with over 15 pages still needing reduction, reaching the ideal 10-page document remains a challenge. Bangladeshi CSOs demand fossil fuel phase out, revision of power master plan at COP 29 How Much Funding is Needed? Developing countries are calling for an annual climate finance commitment of $1.3 trillion, which they believe is essential for meeting their climate action targets and coping with the escalating impacts of climate change. Who Will Contribute? Initially, wealthier nations were expected to be the primary contributors. However, there is increasing pressure on emerging economies to also participate financially. Developed countries are now advocating for the inclusion of emerging economies as significant contributors to the climate fund.   Who Will Benefit? The climate fund is primarily intended to support developing countries, with particular emphasis on Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and climate-vulnerable states. The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the LDCs have separately called for dedicated funds, with LDCs requesting $220 billion and AOSIS seeking $39 billion. Notably, both groups, typically aligned with G77 + China, have taken an independent stance on this issue. A Day of Rest Tomorrow has been declared a rest day at COP29, allowing delegates to recharge before resuming critical discussions on Sunday. The negotiations will be crucial in shaping future climate action and determining the fate of those most affected by climate change. As COP29 enters its second week, it remains to be seen whether global leaders can bridge   

The party of Sri Lanka’s new Marxist-leaning President Anura Kumara Dissanayake won a two-thirds majority in parliament, according to official election results Friday, providing a strong mandate for his program for economic revival. Dissanayake’s National People’s Power Party won 159 of the 225 seats, according to the Elections Commission. The Samagi Jana Balawegaya, or United People's Power Party, led by opposition leader Sajith Premadasa had 40 seats and was in second place. The election comes at a decisive time for Sri Lankans, as the island nation is struggling to emerge from the worst economic crisis in its history, having declared bankruptcy after defaulting on its external debt in 2022. The margin of victory will enable Dissanayake to carry out sweeping reforms, including a campaign promise of anew constitution, without having to rely on other parties. Dissanayake was elected president on Sept. 21 in a rejection of traditional political parties that have governed the island nation since its independence from British rule in 1948. He received just 42% of the votes, fueling questions over his party’s prospects in Thursday’s parliamentary elections. But the party received a large increase in support less than two months into his presidency. In a major surprise and a big shift in the country's electoral landscape, his party won the Jaffna district, the heartland of ethnic Tamils in the north, and many other minority strongholds. The victory in Jaffna represents a great dent for traditional ethnic Tamil parties that have dominated the politics of the north since independence. It is also a major shift in the attitude of Tamils, who have long been suspicious of majority ethnic Sinhalese leaders. Ethnic Tamil rebels fought an unsuccessful civil war in 1983-2009 to create a separate homeland, saying they were being marginalized by governments controlled by Sinhalese. According to conservative U.N. estimates, more than 100,000 people were killed in the conflict. Top NPP official Tilvin Silva described the victory as “complete and one with political weight,” because voters from all corners of the country voted for a single program. He especially thanked Tamil voters in the north for trusting a leader outside their stronghold. “We have very well understood the weight of this victory. The people have placed immense trust on us and we must keep that trust,” he said. Veeragathy Thanabalasingham, a Colombo-based political analyst, said northern voters chose the NPP because they were disillusioned with traditional Tamil parties but could not find a local alternative. “The Tamil parties were divided and contested separately, and as a result the Tamil people's representation is scattered,” he said. Of the 225 seats in parliament, 196 were up for grabs under Sri Lanka’s electoral system, which allocates seats in each district among the parties according to the proportion of the votes they get. The remaining 29 seats — called the national list seats — are allocated to parties and independent groups according to the proportion of the total votes they receive countrywide. Sri Lanka is in the middle of a bailout program with the International Monetary Fund, with debt restructuring with international creditors nearly complete. Dissanayake said during the presidential campaign that he would propose significant changes to the targets set in the IMF deal signed by his predecessor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, saying it placed too much burden on the people. However, he has since changed his stance and says Sri Lanka will go along with the agreement. Sri Lanka’s crisis was largely the result of economic mismanagement combined with fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, which along with militant attacks in 2019 devastated the important tourism industry. The pandemic also disrupted the flow of remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad. The government also slashed taxes in 2019, depleting the treasury just as the virus hit. Foreign exchange reserves plummeted, leaving Sri Lanka unable to pay for imports or defend its currency, the rupee. Sri Lanka’s economic upheaval led to a political crisis that forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign in 2022. Parliament then elected Wickremesinghe to replace him., The economy was stabilized, inflation dropped, the rupee strengthened and foreign reserves increased under Wickremesinghe. Nonetheless, he lost the election as public dissatisfaction grew over the government’s effort to increase revenue by raising electricity bills and imposing heavy new income taxes on professionals and businesses as part of the government’s efforts to meet the IMF conditions. Voters were also drawn by the NPP’s cry for change in the political culture and an end to corruption, because they perceived the parties that ruled Sri Lanka so far caused the economic collapse. Dissanayake’s promise to punish members of previous governments accused of corruption and to recover allegedly stolen assets also raised much hope among the people. Jeewantha Balasuriya, 42, a businessman from the town of Gampaha, said he hopes Dissanayake and his party will use their resounding victory to rebuild the country. “People have given them a strong mandate. I am hopeful that the NPP will use this mandate to uplift the country from the present pathetic situation,” he said.

North Korea tested exploding drones designed to crash into targets and leader Kim Jong Un called for accelerating mass production of the weapons, state media said Friday. The country’s latest military demonstration came as the United States, South Korea and Japan engaged in combined military exercises involving advanced fighter jets and a U.S. aircraft carrier in nearby international waters, in a display of their defense posture against North Korea. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency published photos of Kim talking with officials near at least two different types of unmanned aerial vehicles. They included those with X-shaped tails and wings that look similar to the ones the country disclosed in August, when Kim inspected another demonstration of drones that explode on impact. The drones flew various routes and accurately struck targets, KCNA said. Its images showed what appeared to be a BMW sedan being destroyed and old models of tanks being blown up. Kim expressed satisfaction with the weapons’ development process and stressed the need to “build a serial production system as early as possible and go into full-scale mass production,” noting how drones are becoming crucial in modern warfare. KCNA paraphrased Kim as saying drones were easy to make at low cost for a range of military activities. The report didn’t say if Kim spoke directly about rival South Korea, which the North Korean drones are apparently designed to target. North Korea last month accused South Korea of sending its own drones to drop anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets over the North's capital of Pyongyang, and threatened to respond with force if such flights occur again. South Korea’s military has refused to confirm whether or not the North’s claims were true. Tensions in the region have escalated as Kim flaunts his advancing nuclear and missile program, which includes various nuclear-capable weapons targeting South Korea and intercontinental ballistic missiles that can potentially reach the U.S. mainland. Kim is also allegedly sending military equipment and troops to Russia to support President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, which raised concerns in Seoul that he would get Russian technology in return to further develop his arsenal. In addition to his intensifying nuclear threats, Kim has also engaged in psychological and electronic warfare against South Korea, such as flying thousands of balloons to drop trash in the South and disrupting GPS signals from border areas near the South’s biggest airport. South Korean officials say North Korea will be a key topic in a trilateral summit between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba this week at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in Peru. South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on the margins of the APEC on Thursday and discussed “strong concerns” over deepening ties between Pyongyang and Moscow, particularly the deployment of North Korean troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, the U.S. State Department said.

  Salman Khan's team has denied any involvement with The Great Indian Kapil Show on OTT platform Netflix following a legal trouble against the show for presumably disrespecting Nobel laureate  Rabindranath Tagore's legacy.   Kapil Sharma's Netflix show, The Great Indian Kapil Show, has found itself in legal trouble over allegations of disrespecting Rabindranath Tagore’s legacy, reports Indian media. Reports have emerged suggesting Salman Khan's production house SKTV had been served a legal notice as well for its alleged association with the show. Dismissing speculation, Salman Khan's team has issued a statement denying any kind of involvement with Kapil Sharma's show. The statement reads, "Certain sections of the media are reporting that Salman Khan / SKTV have also received the notice, which is incorrect as we are not associated with The Great Indian Kapil Show on Netflix." The notice claims that The Great Indian Kapil Show disrespected Rabindranath Tagore's legacy and risks offending cultural and religious sentiments.

The major battle in Baku is over how much rich nations will help poor countries to decarbonize their energy systems, cope with future harms of climate change and pay for damage from warming's extreme weather. The old goal of $100 billion a year in aid is expiring and Baku's main focus is coming up with a new, bigger figure. A special independent group of experts commissioned by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued its own estimate of costs and finances on Thursday, calling for a tripling of the old commitment. “Advanced economies need to demonstrate a credible commitment” to helping poor nations, the report said. A coalition of poor nations at the Baku talks are asking for $1.3 trillion in annual climate finance. The independent experts' report said about $1 trillion a year is needed by developing nations from all outside sources, not just government grants. The report detailed how expensive decarbonizing the world's economy would be, how much it would cost and where the money could come from. Overall climate adaption spending for all countries is projected to reach $2.4 trillion a year. "The transition to clean, low-carbon energy, building resilience to the impacts of climate change, coping with loss and damage, protecting nature and biodiversity, and ensuring a just transition, require a rapid step-up in investment in all countries,'' said the report.   For the third straight year, efforts to fight climate change haven't lowered projections for how hot the world is likely to get — and recent developments in China and the United States are likely to slightly worsen the outlook, according to an analysis Thursday. The analysis comes as countries come together for the 29th edition of the United Nations climate talks, hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan, where nations are trying to set new targets to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases and figure out how much rich nations will pay to help the world with that task. But Earth remains on a path to be 2.7 degrees Celsius (4.9 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial times, according to Climate Action Tracker, a group of scientists and analysts who study government policies and translate that into projections of warming. If emissions are still rising and temperature projections are no longer dropping, people should wonder if the United Nations climate negotiations known as COP are doing any good, said Climate Analytics CEO Bill Hare. “There’s an awful lot going on that’s positive here, but on the big picture of actually getting stuff done to reduce emissions ... to me it feels broken,” Hare said. Climate action is stifled by the biggest emitters The world has already warmed 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times. That's near the 1.5-degree (2.7 F) limit that countries agreed to at 2015 climate talks in Paris. Climate scientists say the atmospheric warming, mainly from human burning of fossil fuels, is causing ever more extreme and damaging weather including droughts, flooding and dangerous heat. Climate Action Tracker does projections under several different scenarios, and in some cases, those are going up slightly. One projected track based on what countries promise to do by 2030 is up to 2.6 degrees Celsius, a tenth of a degree warmer than before. And even the analysts' most optimistic scenario, which assumes that countries all deliver on their promises and targets, is at 1.9 Celsius, also up a tenth of a degree from last year, said study lead author Sofia Gonzales-Zuniga of Climate Analytics, one of the main groups behind the tracker. “This is driven highly by China,” Gonzales-Zuniga said. Even though China's fast-rising emissions are starting to plateau, they are peaking higher than anticipated, she said. Another upcoming factor not yet in the calculations is the U.S. elections. A Trump administration that rolls back the climate policies in the Inflation Reduction Act, and carries out the conservative blueprint Project 2025, would add 0.04 degree Celsius (0.07 Fahrenheit) to warming projections, Gonzales-Zuniga said. That's not much, but it could be more if other nations use it as an excuse to do less, she said. And a reduction in American financial aid could also reverberate even more in future temperature outlooks. “For the U.S. it is going backwards,” said Hare. At least China has more of an optimistic future with a potential giant plunge in future emissions, he said. “We should already be seeing (global) emissions going down" and they are not, Hare said. “In the face of all of the climate disasters we’ve observed, whether it’s the massive floods in Nepal that killed hundreds of people or whether it’s the floods in Valencia, Spain, that just killed hundreds of people. The political system, politicians are not reacting. And I think that’s something that people everywhere should be worried about.”  

Sri Lankans are voting in a parliamentary election Thursday that is key for the country's new, Marxist-leaning president to consolidate his party's power and follow through on promises of economic recovery. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake won the presidential election on Sept. 21 in a victory that marked a rejection of the traditional political parties, which have governed the island nation since its independence from British rule in 1948. However, Dissanayake’s failure to secure more than 50% of the vote has fueled concerns over his party’s outlook in Thursday's election. His National People’s Power party must increase its votes significantly — from the 42% it won in the presidential election — if it is to acquire a minimum of 113 seats to take control of the 225-member Parliament. The biggest challenge for the NPP — which was founded in 2019 and is a relative newcomer on Sri Lanka’s political scene — is that many of its candidates are new faces in politics running against well-established politicians from the traditional parties. Of the 225 parliament seats, 196 are up for grabs under Sri Lanka's proportional representative electoral system, which allocates seats in each district among the parties according to the proportion of the votes they get. The remaining 29 seats — called the national list seats — are allocated to parties and independent groups according to the proportion of the total votes they receive countrywide. There are 8,821 candidates vying for the 196 seats for elected members of Parliament. Read: Train hits and kills 2 wild elephants in Sri Lanka as 2 of its fuel-carrying tankers derail Sajith Premadasa, who came in second in the presidential election and his Samagi Jana Balawegaya, or United People's Power party, is NPP's main competition. Dissanayake, while campaigning for his party’s candidates, has called on voters to help elect them to Parliament so he won’t need to rely on a coalition to enact the reforms he promised. Election results are expected on Friday. The election comes at a decisive time for Sri Lankans, as the island nation is struggling to emerge from its worst economic crisis, having declared bankruptcy after defaulting on its external debt in 2022. The country is now in the middle of a bailout program with the International Monetary Fund and debt restructuring with international creditors nearly complete. Dissanayake had said during the presidential campaign that he planned to propose significant changes to the targets set in the IMF deal, which his predecessor Ranil Wickremesinghe signed, saying it placed too much burden on the people. However, he has since changed his stance and says Sri Lanka will go along with the agreement. Sri Lanka’s crisis was largely the result of economic mismanagement combined with fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, which along with 2019 terrorism attacks devastated its important tourism industry. The pandemic also disrupted the flow of remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad. Read more: Sri Lanka closes schools as floods hammer the capital The government also slashed taxes in 2019, depleting the treasury just as the virus hit. Foreign exchange reserves plummeted, leaving Sri Lanka unable to pay for imports or defend its currency, the rupee. Sri Lanka’s economic upheaval led to a political crisis that forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign in 2022. Parliament then elected Wickremesinghe to replace him. The economy was stabilized, inflation dropped, the local currency strengthened and foreign reserves increased under Wickremesinghe. Nonetheless, he lost the election as public dissatisfaction grew over the government’s effort to increase revenue by raising electricity bills and imposing heavy new income taxes on professionals and businesses, as part of the government’s efforts to meet the IMF conditions. Dissanayake’s promise to punish members of previous governments accused of corruption and to recover allegedly stolen assets has also raised much hope among the people.

Japan's nuclear watchdog on Wednesday formally disqualified a reactor in the country's north-central region for a restart, the first rejection under safety standards that were reinforced after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The decision is a setback for Japan as it seeks to accelerate reactor restarts to maximize nuclear power. The Nuclear Regulation Authority at a regular meeting Wednesday announced the Tsuruga No. 2 reactor is “unfit” as its operator failed to address safety risks stemming from possible active faults underneath it. Tsuruga No. 2, operated by the Japan Atomic Power Co., is the first reactor to be rejected under the safety standards adopted in 2013 based on lessons from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi meltdown disaster following a massive earthquake and tsunami. “We reached our conclusion based on a very strict examination,” NRA chairperson Shinsuke Yamanaka told reporters. The verdict comes after more than eight years of safety reviews that were repeatedly disrupted by data coverups and mistakes by the operator, Yamanaka said. He called the case “abnormal” and urged the utility to take the result seriously. The decision is a blow to Japan Atomic Power because it virtually ends its hopes for a restart. The operator, which is decommissioning its other reactor, Tsuruga No. 1, had hoped to put No. 2 back online, but it would require an examination of dozens of faults around the reactor to prove their safety. An NRA safety panel concluded three months ago there's no evidence denying the possibility of active faults about 300 meters (330 yards) north of the No. 2 reactor stretching to right underneath the facility, meaning the reactor cannot be operated. Japan’s government in 2022 adopted a plan to maximize the use of nuclear energy, pushing to accelerate reactor restarts to secure a stable energy supply and meet its pledge to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Concern about the government’s revived push for nuclear energy grew after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit Japan’s Noto Peninsula on Jan. 1, 2024, killing more than 400 people and damaging more than 100,000 structures. The quake caused minor damage to two nearby nuclear facilities, and evacuation plans for the region were found to be inadequate. Building key nuclear facilities, such as reactors, directly above active faults is prohibited in earthquake-prone Japan. Yamanaka said the NRA is not immediately ordering a decommissioning because the reactor, which is offline and its spent fuel safely cooled, will not pose a major threat if active faults move. If the utility decides to reapply, it must address not only the faults issue but it also must implement adequate safety measures for the entire plant, Yamanaka said. Providing scientific proof of the status of faults underneath key nuclear facilities is difficult, but other operators that obtained restart permits all cleared the requirement, he noted. The Tsuruga No. 2 reactor first started commercial operation in February 1987 and has been offline since May 2011. The operator denied the NRA panel's 2013 on-site inspection results, which concluded that the faults under the No. 2 reactor were active, and it applied for a restart in 2015.