Martimurano comments

If the new law as proposed is going to give the right to both the father and the mother for a joint shared custody situation, then neither parent would have to give consent for this to take place, as the new right means exactly that - it establishes a right for a joint shared custody situation to take place.

This would end the conflicting aspects of a separation, which are at the heart of most solutions to these very difficult circumstances.

It's his wife, Cheryl Hines, I feel sorry for - she has to listen to crap from him like this all the time.

I rarely see so much hot-air posted on a news article about a physical assault which is alleged to have taken place.

It doesn't matter in the slightest that the suspect is a Swedish man, nor does it matter that, at 33-years old, he is in a relationship with a woman in her 50's.

These are just small pieces of information which are not worth getting excited about in any way, which the journalist sees fit to include as a matter of completeness in their reporting.

I seem to remember that the nearest this matter got to being settled was during the Premiership of Shinzo Abe, when there were suggestions that there was a possibility that Russia would cede the two smaller islands to Japan whilst retaining 'ownership' of the two larger islands..... then came the CoronaVirus pandemic, followed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Everything seems to have gone south since then.

The ever-present danger of misinformation has lead to some serious injuries being caused to many innocent people; AI-generated material (based on algorithms triggered by specific search-words) is a very dangerous development which requires urgent reeling-in by legislators - yet another instance of 'the next-big thing' which takes hold quickly before anyone realises the ramifications and the need for rules and regs to be applied.

The online Russian rumour-machine was also quick off the mark in providing the misinformation in this case, stoking serious trouble from behind the scenes, never one to miss an opportunity.

Slowly but surely it will dawn on the CCP that the endlessly aggressive foreign policies China pursues against most of it's neighbours in the region is not paying dividends in any sense. Eleven separate disputes being waged by China in the region highlights one inescapable fact - China is the aggressor in every instance, for what ?

There is so much that is rotten in the state of China, which stems from the repressive dictatorial nature of the regime there - change must come, revolution even, if things are to improve and peaceful existence with the neighbours maintained. Nobody on this planet ever votes for a totalitarian regime, and given the choice, no-one in their right mind would really ever choose to live under one.

In the interests of civilised intellectual debate, I refer you to my previous comment:

"I would be obliged if you phrased your comments in a more considerate and polite manner".

This doesn't have anything to do with Russia. So beat your anti-Russia, anti-China drum elsewhere.

I never suggested the article did have anything to do with Russia (or China, for that matter) - I was drawing a comparison with the ineptness of the U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances in their handling of cases brought to their attention.

I would be obliged if you phrased your comments in a more considerate and polite manner, especially as the essence of what you stated missed the point of my post completely.

I wouldn't hold my breath with regards the involvement of the U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances..... the U.N. is universally renowned as being one of the most useless and ineffective organisations on this planet.

Agreeing with Chop Chop above, there is a very good reason that most subway-trains and bus-services ban any e-scooters or e- bikes on there transport systems - imagine a couple of these e-suitcases batteries malfunction at 36,000 feet, it would be a total inferno with catastrophic consequences, just because someone thought it would be a good idea to motorise a suitcase.

People are becoming utterly thoughtless and irrational - never a thought for the safety and welfare of all travelling passengers. Too much laziness and stupidity creeping in daily.

Actually I admire their creativity on this one, brightens up a very dull building for a while; surprised we haven't seen maneki neko up there though.....

Not a single mention of the Real Villains of the piece here - the Chinese, who wilfully released their catastrophic Chinavirus plague on the world's population, killing 8.4 million people, infecting over 5 billion people, causing death / misery / suffering on a scale not seen for 80 years.

Instead, the tedious old former judge drones on about wine, balloons, beer and other total trivia - this could only happen in the UK, a massive misdirection of where the blame lies, rather than using her platform for calling-out the deceitful Chinese and how they should account for their horrendous actions, and offer apologies and compensation to the people of our world.

Best result would be that, on the day of his trial, his lawyer announces that he'd tied himself in a plastic-bag the previous day, and he won't be appearing anywhere again.

Never buy anything from this malignant state - buy a car from any other country in the world which stand for ethical standards.

For all the suffering China causes people, both domestically and internationally, they should be made to suffer in the parts which hurt them most, ie: Financially.

Deafening silence from the Sec-Gen of the UN - utterly useless organisation, bordering on the totally inept. All the civilised countries of the world who contribute to the vast coffers of the UN should be imploring them to step-up to the plate and intervene, ie: telling the Chinese to stop behaving like a barbaric tribe, intimidating innocent fishermen.

Who the hell do they think they are, that they can launch an attack with knives, sticks, and axes on unarmed fishermen, attacking another sovereign state ??

Wouldn't it be great if, tomorrow morning, we could wake up and see Mr Antonio Guterres on the TV holding a press-conference at UN HQ imploring the Chinese to Stop Immediately this barbaric treatment of the innocent Phillipine fishermen - this is like something out of the Dark Ages, fighting with sticks and axes. Who the hell do the Chinese think they are that they behave in such uncivilised manner; they need to be stopped right now.

The caption to the photo states that the NK soldiers are 'working' at this location - precious little sign of any work being done...... It's more likely they're sent there to mill around as an irritating provocative move by the Dear Leader.

What a terrible way of life for these miserable and ruthlessly repressed people - you get one chance at a life on this planet, it's so depressing that for the 24million population there, this will be their lives wasted.

Same problem the world over - go-karts, e-bikes and e-scooters, e-rickshaws, they're all given the go-ahead, until people get hurt (usually innocent bystanders / pedestrians), and then the authorities try and reel them all in with rules and regs, but by then it's always too late. Common-sense never seems to get a look-in these days, people should be far more safety-conscious - life, good-health and well-being are the top priorities.

South Korea really has to step-up with a relentless propagandist campaign of leaflet-dropping, informing and advising the totally-repressed North Korean people on how to prepare for the inevitable revolution which has to come, which unfortunately will be extremely brutal and bloody. Otherwise, the dreadful medieval conditions, in which their peasant-like existence continues, will never change. The end of the Kim dynasty can't come soon enough.

Let's start with cutting-out all the stupid wars - Russia, Israel/Palestine, Sudan, Myanmar, Syria, Yemen, not forgetting the warmongers China, NK, Iran - these are all totally unnecessary and extremely wasteful of precious resources. All conflicts to be ended by diplomatic intervention starting Now.

Then there's the emissions, with the world's No. 1 polluter China churning out 35% of all the emissions, which they continue to do without a care in the world. It is up to us as consumers to reject all of the junk they produce, millions of containers of unnecessary stuff we can adapt to easily doing without.... I've avoided anything from China for years on ethical grounds, and have always urged others to do the same, on the basis I don't like their system or their politics so I buy nothing from them, simple.

It's up to everyone to individually take a stance, voting not only with your wallet, but also by promoting politicians who preach only Peace.

"We would like to once again urge our citizens to observe local laws and express (personal views) rationally while abroad" says a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.....

Quite ironic really, given that Chinese people are not allowed any freedom of thought or speech when they're back home in China.

This dumb imbecile should try out his graffiti stunt in Singapore or Malaysia - extremely different outcome there for sure...

When will people learn, violence is NEVER the answer - doesn't matter what happened prior, just walk away and forget it, simple.

With the desperately deranged Kim dynasty trying to hang on to power in his pathetic fiefdom, the South Koreans really need to step-up the leaflet-dropping / balloon project, informing all North Korean citizens that there is massive outside support for them to prepare for the revolution.

This touched a very raw nerve with Kim & Co. yesterday, so the South Koreans should multiply their efforts infinitely. The demise of this despicable regime can not come soon enough.

Yet again the monolithic UN proves itself to be totally impotent - they can't even call an emergency Security Council meeting to bring all parties to the table, and then to make them stay there until a ceasefire solution is hammered out.

Only the ICJ has intervened (and South Africa, to an extent), and rightly called Netanyahu and the 3 Hamas leaders out as War Criminals, for the very good reason that far too many innocent people have been killed and maimed in this pointless war. Only strong diplomatic intervention will bring about a ceasefire.

With a killing ratio of 24 Palestinian people to 1 Israeli, this has all the hallmarks of state sponsored collective punishment, and Netanyahu has felt like he has Carte Blanche to continue with such vicious, sadistic state-terrorism.

Seems a bit odd that it would take the annual net salary of a conbini worker to buy this pair.....

Oh good, I'll look forward to this 3-way meet-up next week - the perfect opportunity for President Yoon and Prime Minister Kishida to spell it out very clearly and strongly to Premier Li Qiang to Stop the bullying tactics against Taiwan, and in case he's not understanding the message clearly, they should tell him to "Get their filthy Chinese hands" off Taiwan, a strong sovereign independent nation, which has no wish whatsoever to become a part of China.

I really hope they don't fail on this - this is their opportunity to get the message out there, knowing the rest of the civilised world support them, and is watching closely.

...and so he hits her on the head with a banana peel...

Good job he didn't use a bunch....

The problem with a lot of diplomats is that they can be very undiplomatic, especially so with the Chinese ones.

Wu Jianghao's comments are borderline threatening, which is very disturbing from a neighbourly point of view - he should go back for re-training in the art of subtle diplomacy, and if he fails again, he needs to be fired. Yoshimasa Hayashi is absolutely right to call him out on this.

I seem to remember an electric fork being developed by another university / start-up collaboration in Tokyo several years ago, based on almost the same lines, only I don't think the sales figures were anywhere near where the inventors had imagined they'd be..... I just hope there are no patenting issues involved, it's probably not worth fighting over.

Now, the electric knife, I certainly wouldn't be without that - this has been a very successful product.

Totally anachronistic in this day and age - nobody should have any needs for yakuza or gangs of any description, they really should be finished now.

In rules-based Japan, almost everyone behaves reasonably, courteously, and considerately - this is all that anyone needs or expects here, and it's what makes Japan such a refreshingly different place to hang out in.