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Shanghai restaurant knife attack injures 2 Japanese citizens and a Chinese national

BEIJING (AP) — A knife attack at a restaurant in Shanghai on Tuesday injured three people, including two Japanese citizens and a Chinese national, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, calling it an isolated case.

The suspect described as a person with a mental disorder was detained and the victims were taken to a hospital for treatment, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Wednesday.

The two Japanese are men, including a senior employee of a Japanese company with an office in the building where the attack occurred, while the Chinese citizen is a woman, and the Japanese consulate in the city said the injuries of both men are not life-threatening, Japan’s Kyodo News Agency reported.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Wednesday his government has extended support for the injured men, adding that Japan demanded a thorough investigation and a clear explanation by Chinese officials, severe punishment for the suspect, preventive measures and the protection of Japanese nationals in China.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry issued a safety advisory for Japanese citizens in China to be cautious and attentive, avoid going out alone and take care when accompanying children.

Guo of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said authorities were investigating and media outlets and others should not make “groundless speculation” about the case.

The attack comes at a time of rising tensions between China and Japan.

Ties between Beijing and Tokyo have been strained since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment in November that any Chinese military action against self-ruled Taiwan could be grounds for a Japanese military response. China imposed diplomatic and economic measures against Japan.

The Chinese Embassy in Japan said in April it had received multiple threats and accused Japanese authorities of failing to take effective measures despite repeated reports to the police.

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Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed from Tokyo.

Iran attacks Bahrain and Kuwait following US strikes, threatens to end talks to end the war

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launched drone and missile attacks Sunday targeting Bahrain and Kuwait in response to U.S. airstrikes that hit the Islamic Republic, and threatened a “complete halt” could come to negotiations to end the war if Washington continues its attacks. Efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf that once carried a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas, without Iran's direct oversight sparked the crossfire now gripping the region. A multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday that it would expand a route near Oman in the Strait of Hormuz to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic — setting up a new flashpoint with Tehran. Iran insists it alone must govern the strait after the war, upending decades of the world considering that the strait was international waters free for all, despite its sitting in Iran and Oman's territorial waters. Tehran has twice attacked vessels going through the Oman route, backed by a United Nations agency, in recent days. Early Sunday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on a ship at sea early Saturday morning. That ship, the Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku, carried crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar, a key negotiator between Iran and the United States.
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