1. Friday marks the fifth anniversary of the deadly mudslide that hit Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture, in central Japan. The massive mudslide, triggered by the collapse of illegally created soil mounds upstream, struck the Izusan district on July 3, 2021. The disaster claimed 28 lives.
2. A Hong Kong bookseller who had been detained by Chinese authorities after selling books critical of the country’s Communist Party has died in Taiwan. Taiwanese media reported that Lam Wing-kee, former manager of Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong, died of cancer at a hospital in Taipei on Thursday. He was 70.
3. The Ukrainian government has invited international diplomats to observe the scale of the damage in Kyiv caused by the large-scale, fatal attacks Russia conducted earlier this month. Russia carried out a major missile and drone assault on Ukraine through Thursday. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service confirmed that there was damage at more than 20 locations in Kyiv. It put the death toll at 25.