Japanese universities step up to help international students after Harvard ban
Eighty-seven Japanese universities have announced support measures for international students in the United States, following an order barring Harvard University from accepting such students, the education ministry and the Japan Student Services Organization has said.
The scope of students eligible for the support measures and the extent of such aid differ from university to university, they said Friday.
Tohoku University said that it will accept undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in U.S. universities who face difficulties continuing their studies mainly due to the ban by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration. They will be accepted to the national university in northeastern Japan as nondegree students not required to pay tuition or enrollment fees.
Many Japanese universities will accept those affected as regular students or nonregular occasional students, regardless of nationality or where they currently study.
Some universities have said that such students will be exempt from tuition and be provided with lodging at dormitories.
According to the student services organization, five other universities were considering support measures as of Friday. It will continue to update related information.
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Japan Times
an hour ago
- Japan Times
What are the nuclear contamination risks from attacks on Iran?
President Donald Trump said Iran's main nuclear sites had been "obliterated" in military strikes overnight, including on the deeply buried Fordo facility, as the U.S. joined attacks launched by Israel on June 13. Experts have said military strikes on Iran's uranium enrichment facilities pose limited risks of contamination, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Sunday no increased off-site radiation levels had been reported following the U.S. attacks. Which Iranian nuclear sits have been hit so far? The U.S. military struck sites at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. Trump said Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities had been "completely and totally obliterated." The attacks follow previously announced Israeli attacks on nuclear sites in Natanz, Isfahan, Arak and Tehran itself. Israel says it aims to stop Iran building a nuclear bomb and the U.S. says Tehran would not be allowed to get such weapons. Iran denies ever seeking nuclear arms. The international nuclear watchdog IAEA has previously reported damage to the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, the nuclear complex at Isfahan that includes the Uranium Conversion Facility and to centrifuge production facilities in Karaj and Tehran. Israel has also attacked Arak, also known as Khondab. The IAEA said Israeli military strikes hit the Khondab Heavy Water Research Reactor, which was under construction and had not begun operating, and damaged the nearby plant that makes heavy water. The IAEA said it was not operational and contained no nuclear material, so there were no radiological effects. Heavy-water reactors can be used to produce plutonium which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make an atom bomb. What risks do these strikes pose? Before the U.S. strikes took place, experts said Israel's attacks had posed limited contamination risks so far. Darya Dolzikova, a senior research fellow at London think tank RUSI, said attacks on facilities at the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle — the stages where uranium is prepared for use in a reactor — pose primarily chemical, not radiological risks. At enrichment facilities, UF6, or uranium hexafluoride, is the concern. "When UF6 interacts with water vapor in the air, it produces harmful chemicals," she said. "In low winds, much of the material can be expected to settle in the vicinity of the facility; in high winds, the material will travel farther, but is also likely to disperse more widely. The risk of harmful chemicals being dispersed is lower for underground facilities." A satellite image shows the Arak heavy water reactor facilities in Iran before Israeli airstrikes on June 18. | Maxar Technologies / Handout via REUTERS Simon Bennett, who leads the civil safety and security unit at the University of Leicester in Britain, said risks to the environment were minimal when subterranean facilities are hit because you are "burying nuclear material in possibly thousands of tonnes of concrete, earth and rock". James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that before uranium goes into a nuclear reactor it is barely radioactive. "The chemical form uranium hexafluoride is toxic ... but it actually doesn't tend to travel large distances and it's barely radioactive," he added. Attacks on enrichment facilities were "unlikely to cause significant off-site consequences", he said, while stating his opposition to Israel's campaign. What about nuclear reactors? The major concern would be a strike on Iran's nuclear reactor at Bushehr on the Gulf coast. Fears of catastrophe rippled through the Gulf on June 19 when the Israeli military said it had struck a site in Bushehr, only to say later that the announcement was a mistake. Israel says it wants to avoid any nuclear disaster. Richard Wakeford, honorary professor of epidemiology at the University of Manchester, said that while contamination from attacks on enrichment facilities would be "mainly a chemical problem" for the surrounding areas, extensive damage to large power reactors "is a different story." Radioactive elements would be released either through a plume of volatile materials or into the sea, he added. Acton of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said an attack on Bushehr "could cause an absolute radiological catastrophe." Why are Gulf states especially worried? For Gulf states, the impact of any strike on Bushehr would be worsened by the potential contamination of Gulf waters, jeopardizing a critical source of desalinated potable water. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is on high alert to monitor for any possible environmental contamination after the attacks, said a source with knowledge of the matter. There have been no signs of radiological contamination so far, the source said, adding that the GCC had emergency plans in place in case of a threat to water and food security in the Gulf. In the United Arab Emirates, desalinated water accounts for more than 80% of drinking water, while Bahrain became fully reliant on desalinated water in 2016, with 100% of groundwater reserved for contingency plans, authorities say. Qatar is also 100% dependent on desalinated water. In Saudi Arabia, a much larger nation with a greater reserve of natural groundwater, about 50% of the water supply came from desalinated water as of 2023, according to the General Authority for Statistics. While some Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE have access to more than one sea to draw water from, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait are crowded along the shoreline of the Gulf with no other coastline. "If a natural disaster, oil spill, or even a targeted attack were to disrupt a desalination plant, hundreds of thousands could lose access to freshwater almost instantly," said Nidal Hilal, professor of engineering and director of New York University Abu Dhabi's Water Research Center. "Coastal desalination plants are especially vulnerable to regional hazards like oil spills and potential nuclear contamination," he said.
The Mainichi
3 hours ago
- The Mainichi
US boosts emergency Mideast evacuations and travel warnings after Trump orders strikes in Iran
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The State Department has doubled the number of emergency evacuation flights it is providing for American citizens wishing to leave Israel, ordered the departure of nonessential staff from the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon and is stepping up travel warnings around the Middle East because of concerns Iran will retaliate against U.S. interests in the region for the weekend strikes on its nuclear facilities. In an alert sent to all Americans worldwide and posted to its website on Sunday, the State Department warned all U.S. citizens abroad to exercise caution. "The conflict between Israel and Iran has resulted in disruptions to travel and periodic closure of airspace across the Middle East," it said. "There is the potential for demonstrations against U.S. citizens and interests abroad. The Department of State advises U.S. citizens worldwide to exercise increased caution." In a notice, also issued on Sunday, the department said it had ordered nonessential personnel and the families of staff at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut to leave Lebanon "due to the volatile and unpredictable security situation in the region." The notice made no mention of any potential evacuation flights or other assistance for private Americans wanting to leave Lebanon but said those who want to should try to use existing commercial services to depart. At the same time, the department issued warnings to U.S. citizens in Saudi Arabia and Turkey to take extra security precautions given the uncertainty. "Given reports of regional hostilities, the U.S. Mission to Saudi Arabia has advised its personnel to exercise increased caution and limit non-essential travel to any military installations in the region," the department said in its notice for Saudi Arabia. In Turkey, the department said U.S. personnel "have been cautioned to maintain a low profile and instructed to avoid personal travel to the U.S. Consulate Adana consular district," which includes the NATO airbase at Incirlik. "Negative sentiment toward U.S. foreign policy may prompt actions against U.S. or Western interests in Turkey," the statement said. Late Saturday, the department said it was stepping up evacuation flights for American citizens from Israel to Europe and continuing to draw down its staff at diplomatic missions in Iraq. But even before the U.S. airstrikes on Iran were made public by President Donald Trump on Saturday evening in Washington, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem had announced the start of evacuation flights for private Americans from Israel. Sixty-seven American citizens left Israel on two government flights bound for Athens, Greece, on Saturday and four more evacuation flights to Athens had been planned for Sunday, according to an internal State Department document seen by The Associated Press. However, due to the closure of Israeli airspace after the U.S. airstrikes on Iran three of those four flights were canceled, according to an update from the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. The embassy is planning to reschedule the canceled flights to Athens on Monday when it expects as many as six evacuation flights to the Greek capital, along with a chartered flight to Rome and another flight to Cyprus, according to the update. In addition to the flights that have already left, a cruise ship carrying more than 1,000 American citizens, including several hundred Jewish youngsters who had been visiting Israel on an organized tour, arrived in Cyprus, according to the document. It also said the evacuation of non-essential personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and consulate in Erbil is continuing. Those staffers had been ordered to leave even before Israel began its military operation in Iran more than a week ago. "As part of our ongoing effort to streamline operations, additional personnel departed Iraq on June 21 and 22," the department said. "These departures represent a continuation of the process started on June 12." As of Saturday, more than 7,900 Americans had asked for assistance in leaving Israel and more than 1,000 had sought help in leaving Iran, where the U.S. has no diplomatic presence, the document said. There are roughly 700,000 Americans, many of them dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, in Israel and many thousands of Americans, most of them dual U.S.-Iranian citizens, in Iran. It was not clear how many Americans had successfully made it out of Iran through overland routes, although the document said more than 200 had entered neighboring Azerbaijan as of Saturday since the conflict began. After the U.S. strikes in Iran, security officers at all U.S. embassies and consulates have been instructed to conduct reviews of their post's security posture and report back to the State Department by late Sunday.
Japan Times
3 hours ago
- Japan Times
World awaits Iranian response after U.S. hits nuclear sites
The world braced on Sunday for Iran's response after the U.S. attacked key Iranian nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution. Iran vowed to defend itself a day after the U.S. dropped 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs onto the mountain above Iran's Fordo nuclear site while American leaders urged Tehran to stand down and pockets of anti-war protesters emerged in U.S. cities. In a post to the Truth Social platform on Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the issue of regime change in Iran. "It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!" he wrote. Iran and Israel continued to trade volleys of missile attacks. An Israeli military spokesperson said Israeli fighter jets had struck military targets in western Iran. Earlier, Iran fired missiles that wounded scores of people and flattened buildings in Tel Aviv. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned of a "heightened threat environment" in America, citing the possibility of cyber attacks or targeted violence. Law enforcement in major U.S. cities stepped up patrols and deployed additional resources to religious, cultural and diplomatic sites. An organization that monitors flight safety risks warned that the U.S. strikes could lead to threats against American operators in the region and some flights were canceled on Sunday and Monday. Tehran has so far not followed through on its threats of retaliation against the United States — either by targeting U.S. bases or trying to choke off global oil supplies — but that may not hold. Speaking in Istanbul, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said his country would consider all possible responses. There would be no return to diplomacy until it had retaliated, he said. "The U.S. showed they have no respect for international law. They only understand the language of threat and force," he said. Trump, in a televised address, called the strikes "a spectacular military success" and boasted that Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities had been "completely and totally obliterated." But his own officials gave more nuanced assessments. With the exception of satellite photographs appearing to show craters on the mountain above Iran's subterranean plant at Fordo, there has been no public accounting of the damage. The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said no increases in off-site radiation levels had been reported after the U.S. strikes. Rafael Grossi, the agency's director general, told CNN that it was not yet possible to assess the damage done underground. A senior Iranian source said that most of the highly enriched uranium at Fordo had been moved elsewhere before the attack. People attend a protest following U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, in Tehran on Sunday, | Arash Khamooshi / The New York Times Trump, who veered between offering to end the war with diplomacy or to join it before ultimately moving ahead with the biggest foreign policy gamble of his career, called on Iran to forgo any retaliation. He said the government "must now make peace" or "future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier." U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Washington was not at war with Iran but with its nuclear program, adding this had been pushed back by a very long time due to the U.S. intervention. In a step towards what is widely seen as Iran's most effective threat to hurt the West, its parliament approved a move to close the Strait of Hormuz. Nearly a quarter of global oil shipments pass through the narrow waters that Iran shares with Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Iran's Press TV said closing the strait would require approval from the Supreme National Security Council, a body led by an appointee of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Attempting to choke off Gulf oil by closing the strait could send global oil prices skyrocketing, derail the world economy and invite conflict with the U.S. Navy's massive Fifth Fleet, based in the Gulf and tasked with keeping the strait open. Oil is likely to rise by $3-5 per barrel when trading resumes on Sunday evening after the U.S. attacked Iran at the weekend, market analysts said, with gains expected to accelerate only if Iran retaliates hard and causes a major oil supply disruption. Security experts have long warned a weakened Iran could also find other unconventional ways to strike back, such as bombings or cyberattacks. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS's "Face the Nation" that there were no other planned military operations against Iran "unless they mess around." The U.N. Security Council met on Sunday to discuss the U.S. strikes as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council the U.S. bombings in Iran marked a perilous turn in the region and urged a halt to fighting and return to negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. Israeli officials, who began the hostilities with a surprise attack on Iran on June 13, have increasingly spoken of their ambition to topple the hard-line Shi'ite Muslim clerical establishment that has ruled Iran since 1979. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israeli reporters that Israel was very close to meeting its goals of removing the threats of ballistic missiles and the nuclear program in Iran. U.S. officials, many of whom witnessed Republican President George W. Bush's popularity collapse following his disastrous intervention in Iraq in 2003, have stressed that they were not working to overthrow Iran's government. "This mission was not and has not been about regime change," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon, calling the mission "a precision operation" targeting Iran's nuclear program. Anti-war activists organized demonstrations on Sunday in New York, Washington and other U.S. cities, with signs carrying messages such as "hands off Iran." Meanwhile, some Iranians described their fear at the prospect of an enlarged conflict involving the U.S. "Our future is dark. We have nowhere to go — it's like living in a horror movie," Bita, 36, a teacher from the central city of Kashan, said before the phone line was cut. Much of Tehran, a capital city of 10 million people, has emptied out, with residents fleeing to the countryside to escape Israeli bombardment. Iranian authorities say more than 400 people have been killed since Israel's attacks began, mostly civilians. Israel's bombardment has scythed through much of Iran's military leadership with strikes targeted at bases and residential buildings where senior figures slept. Iran has been launching missiles back at Israel, killing at least 24 people over the past nine days. Air raid sirens sounded across most of Israel on Sunday, sending millions of people to safe rooms. In Tel Aviv, Aviad Chernovsky, 40, emerged from a bomb shelter to find his house had been destroyed in a direct hit. "It's not easy to live now in Israel (right now), but we are very strong. We know that we will win,' he said.
