Authorities in the Japanese city of Fujiyoshida have decided to cancel a long-running spring cherry blossom festival at one of the country’s most photographed Mount Fuji viewpoints after residents raised concerns about overcrowding and disruptive tourist behaviour.

The city government in Yamanashi prefecture said on 3 February that it would not stage the annual Arakurayama Sengen Park Cherry Blossom Festival this year. The festival, which has been organised for about a decade, typically draws around 200,000 visitors who come to photograph Mount Fuji framed by blooming cherry blossoms and a five-storey pagoda.

Authorities said the number of tourists had surged in recent years, fuelled by a weaker yen and the viral popularity of scenic locations on social media. Now, nearly 10,000 people pass through the area every day during peak blossom season – a volume that the small community says it can no longer comfortably manage.

Japan welcomed a record number of foreign tourists last year, with arrivals surpassing 40 million for the first time.

Fujiyoshida city representatives pointed to a growing list of resident complaints for the cancellation, describing nuisance behaviour that was affecting daily life. Authorities cited sanitation issues among the most serious problems, including cases of visitors entering private homes to use toilets, relieving themselves in residential yards, and causing confrontations when challenged, according to Kyodo News.

Safety worries have also emerged, particularly from families living nearby. According to the city, parents have reported children being pushed aside on school routes as large crowds gather along narrow pavements to reach popular photo spots.

There are numerous cherry trees inside the Arakurayama Sengen Park, including a few around the Arakura Fuji Sengen Shrine at the entrance. It provides a picturesque frame for tourists to capture Mount Fuji and the cherry blossoms.

Fujiyoshida mayor Shigeru Horiuchi said the decision reflected growing anxiety among residents about balancing tourism with community life.

“I feel a deep sense of crisis as I witness the reality that, behind this beautiful scenery, the quiet lives of our citizens are being threatened,” he said.

Japan’s enthusiasm for welcoming more tourists has not been without challenges, not least concerns about overtourism. In some cases, inappropriate behaviour by visitors or cultural misunderstandings has caused friction with local communities.

Popular destinations like Kyoto have faced particularly intense pressure. Residents have pointed to worsening traffic congestion, longer queues, and disruption to daily life.

Although the festival will not take place as an official event – and will not be promoted under its usual name on tourism platforms – officials expect visitor numbers to remain high when cherry blossoms bloom in April.

Preparations are underway to handle the influx, with officials planning to step up security and establish temporary car parks and portable toilet facilities to reduce pressure on neighbourhoods.

The Arakurayama Sengen Park is one of the most popular viewing points for Mount Fuji, especially in the spring season when long queues, sometimes lasting up to three hours, form as travellers wait to capture images of the mountain behind the pagoda and pink blossoms.

NEW YORK — A small handful of calls against the Nuggets this season have been so instantly appalling to David Adelman that they’ve evoked a visceral physical reaction from him on the sideline. The foul called against Christian Braun with 90 seconds left in overtime Wednesday night elicited one of those from him, with the entire Nuggets’ bench behind him.

Braun reeled in a defensive rebound. Knicks forward OG Anunoby tripped over his left foot while beginning to run back on defense. Braun was turning his back to Anunoby as it happened. But an offensive foul was quickly whistled. Adelman was in disbelief that he even needed to burn his last challenge to overturn the call. After the game, he still had a bone to pick — but with the NBA’s consequences for using a challenge, not with the specific call itself.

Unprompted, Adelman ended his postgame news conference by calling for a rule change, suggesting that coaches who successfully challenge a call near the end of a game should get to keep either the challenge or the timeout used to issue the challenge. In Denver’s case at Madison Square Garden, Adelman lost both his final challenge and his final timeout of overtime to flip a call he thought was obvious in the first place.

“They have to change the rule with the challenges. … And I’m not saying this is the refs’ fault. It’s not the coaches’ fault. If I challenge a play and win the challenge in overtime and lose my challenge and lose my last timeout and lose control of the possession game … I think they have to look at that, and look deep at it,” the first-year Nuggets coach said. “Because if I’m winning the challenge with under a minute to go in a game, there should be some kind of positive coming back my way. I should keep a timeout and/or a challenge. To lose both when you’re told that you’re right is really frustrating. And it doesn’t allow you to control the game late because I can’t stop the game.”

The Nuggets ended up stretching the game into a second overtime before they lost, so Adelman’s lost timeout didn’t cost them the game. But it might have contributed to an awkward final possession of the overtime period, when Jamal Murray was forced to launch a deep 3-pointer as time ran out. (Ironically, a fortuitous loose-ball foul against New York as the buzzer went off allowed Braun to tie the game with free throws at 0.3 seconds left.)

“It’s been a concern for the coaches, I know,” Adelman said. “And look, I make a million mistakes. The refs make mistakes. Whatever it is. But they have to clean that up. … It would have been nice to call a timeout and organize something after they told you you were right.”

Adelman was then asked if he ever intentionally chooses not to use a challenge for that exact reason — to conserve a final timeout in case it’s needed to advance the ball later.

“It was just such a huge play,” Adelman said. “I’m giving them possession back with a minute left. What you’re looking at if you do the math and you go, three 24-second possessions: I’m giving them two possessions, control of the game. So it’s like, you can’t do that. You have to try to control the clock as best you can with situations, with a team that has Jalen Brunson. I don’t want to give him a multitude of opportunities. So that was frustrating. It’s something I think we will probably revisit this summer as a league. I just think it kind of takes away from the beauty of what that game was, where you’re basically told, ‘Good job. You’re right. You have no control left in this game.’”

Coaches get up to two challenges per game, with the second only becoming available if the fist is used successfully. In the loss at Madison Square Garden, Adelman used his first challenge only three minutes in.

“We had a chance,” Adelman said afterward, acknowledging that his rule complaint wasn’t what cost Denver the game. “Give them credit. They just flat-out beat us in the second overtime.”

Peyton Watson injury

Peyton Watson underwent an MRI that revealed he suffered a right hamstring strain in the loss to New York, a league source told The Denver Post, confirming a report by The Athletic.

No specific timeline has been announced by the Nuggets regarding the amount of time they expect Watson to be out, but they were already bracing for him to miss extended time immediately after the game on Wednesday night. Adelman said he’ll need to evaluate the roster for another new starting lineup and rotation with the small forward out. “Get ourselves to the break,” he said, “and take a long, long rest.”

Watson was averaging 22.2 points and 5.5 rebounds in his last 18 games before he suffered the injury. Shooting 50% from the field and 42.5% from three, he’s been one of Denver’s most valuable players this season, especially as the team has navigated other injuries. He’ll join Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, Braun, Cam Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas in missing extended time.

How numb have the Nuggets gotten to those injuries? Jamal Murray said in the locker room on Wednesday that he hadn’t even noticed that Watson didn’t return to the game after limping off in the second half.

“Just seen so much of this this year,” Adelman said. “I just feel bad for the guys in the locker room. It’s deflating when you keep seeing guys go down around you when you’re trying to build toward something.”

Nikola Jokic on playing past his minute restriction

Denver’s three-time MVP winner played well past his minutes restriction on back-to-back nights this week in Detroit and New York, only for the Nuggets to lose both games. But Jokic was not remotely concerned about the workload after he played both overtimes Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. He described it as a “normal thing to do” under the circumstances. He was already past the restriction (at 34) by the end of regulation, the Nuggets were trying to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season, and they had two days off waiting for them afterward.

“I feel good,” Jokic said. “I don’t feel any tiredness. I think we have like muscle memory. My body. … My people, we’re used to it, to play.”

New Brunswick is leaving X after recent concerns surrounding the social media platform’s operations.

In a post that was shared on X — as well as Facebook — Premier Susan Holt said the province will no longer use X for routine communications.

“Protecting the safety and well-being of young people is a core responsibility of the government,” she wrote.

“We recognize that the platform’s recent history, including reports of harmful content and inadequate safeguards, has eroded trust that it can be used in a way that aligns with our values and obligations to New Brunswickers.”

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X, formerly Twitter, has been facing global condemnation and some crackdowns on its AI chatbot Grok for creating deepfake sexual images of children and women.

Last week, the European Union opened a formal investigation into X over the issue and Canada has been considering its response too.

Holt said she will continue to use other social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky to communicate.

0:40
Prosecutors raid X offices in Paris over alleged child sexual abuse images, deepfakes

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An external investigator has dismissed a code of conduct complaint filed by the mayor of Kamloops, B.C., against a city councillor.

Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson, who has repeatedly clashed with members of Kamloops council, had filed the complaint against Coun. Dale Bass after statements she gave to CFJC Today in October 2024.

Bass had said in an article posted on Oct. 30 of that year, that Hamer-Jackson’s behaviour towards staff had led the rest of council to strip him of his official office.

“He bullies and harasses, and staff does not feel safe. We have staff off on medical leave because of his presence,” Bass told the publication.

Hamer-Jackson filed a complaint afterwards, alleging Bass’s statement was broadcast “with no proof, evidence and facts” and contravened the city’s code of conduct.

But external investigator Reece Harding, who previously served as the City of Surrey’s ethics commissioner, found that Bass’s statement was true after speaking to city staff.

He found that at least two city employees had to take medical leave due to Hamer-Jackson’s behaviour toward them, and staff had repeatedly had their personal information disclosed by the mayor.

WATCH | After previous report, Hamer-Jackson had refused to resign:

Kamloops mayor refuses to heed council’s call to resign

City council in Kamloops, B.C., has formally called on Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson to resign after a scathing report by a provincially appointed municipal adviser was made public on Tuesday. But, CBC’s Marcella Bernarndo explains, the mayor is refusing to resign.

In addition, the report revealed that four complaints had been filed against Hamer-Jackson “due to bullying and harassing behaviour” with WorkSafeBC, the province’s workplace regulator.

“I am left, at the end of this matter, somewhat puzzled as to why Mayor Hamer-Jackson filed this complaint,” Harding wrote.

“While I do not intend to engage in an analysis as to whether [the complaint] was frivolous, vexatious, or filed in bad faith … I wish to note that the Code of Conduct should be taken seriously as a set of ethical guidelines to which Council has agreed to hold itself.”

The mayor has been no stranger to controversy since his 2022 election, including accusing a local journalist of assault.

He has filed two defamation suits against a fellow city councillor — one of which has been dismissed — and has had his pay cut after leaking confidential documents.

In 2024, eight councillors formally asked him to resign as mayor. Hamer-Jackson declined to do so.

In an interview, Bass welcomed the investigation’s findings, and said it would help the public understand the steps council took to protect staff from Hamer-Jackson.

“I don’t know how to explain the mayor’s behaviour to anyone anymore,” she said.

“It makes no sense to me at all what he does, why he does it, how he does it. It’s just chaotic bluster from my viewpoint.”

‘Who hired you,’ mayor asks of external investigator

In his report, Harding noted that Hamer-Jackson was uncooperative with the investigation and refused to provide the investigator with necessary information.

As the investigation progressed, after multiple requests for more information from Harding, Hamer-Jackson eventually began accusing Harding of bias.

“In response, Mayor Hamer-Jackson sent an email which stated the following: ‘Who hired you. The individual please,’” the report says, referring to one request for information.

“I advised him that I was hired by the City, not any individual person, and reminded him that I had responded to this inquiry previously on several occasions and that I would not be responding to it further.”

The report ultimately says that, despite Hamer-Jackson being the complainant in the case, he provided Harding with little information to back his complaint up.

In an interview with CBC News, Hamer-Jackson said Harding has handled a number of complaints for the city and questioned why another external investigator wasn’t assigned in the case.

“You hire a lawyer to get the result you want and I think the [city] CEO should be questioned on why Reece Harding all the time,” he said.

In an email, Harding said he would not make public comments on the investigation and said that was his approach with any investigations he conducted.

Last year, the province promised to introduce more oversight for dysfunctional city councils in B.C., with changes likely to happen after this year’s municipal election.

A 33-year-old woman was seriously injured after being struck by a vehicle late Wednesday night in Kitchener. Waterloo regional police arrested and charged the driver, a 32-year-old man from Alberta.

Driver, a 32-year-old man from Alberta, was arrested at the scene

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A 33-year-old woman was taken to an out-of-region hospital with serious injuries Wednesday night after being struck by a vehicle in Kitchener.

Waterloo regional police and emergency crews responded to the area of Weber Street near Madison Avenue around 8 p.m. after receiving reports of a collision involving a pedestrian.

Police arrested the driver, a 32-year-old man from Alberta, at the scene.

Police charged the man with dangerous operation causing bodily harm and operation causing bodily harm.

Anyone who may have witnessed the incident or has video footage is asked to contact police.

The capacity to double the population in 13 southeastern Manitoba communities is a step closer after they signed a contract to build a $205-million wastewater treatment plant.

The plant will be just north of Niverville, where it’s desperately needed, says Mayor Myron Dyck.

Currently, the six municipalities — with a total of 13 communities — that are part of the project rely on lagoons to handle wastewater. With the population quickly growing in the area, those lagoons are reaching capacity.

“Let’s just put it this way, because the province was aware of this project coming on, they’ve given us a little grace [with our lagoon],”said Dyck.

Along with Niverville, the municipalities of Hanover, Ritchot, La Broquerie, De Salaberry and Taché will own the facility as the Red-Seine-Rat Wastewater Cooperative.

The plant, to be built by Toronto-based Aecon, will be able treat and send effluent to the Red River for up to 70,000 people, with a modular design that makes it easier to expand the plant’s capacity even further.

Just over 30,000 people currently live in the six municipalities, which include Hanover, Manitoba’s largest rural municipality.

Hanover Reeve Jim Funk says the RM’s five communities needed to do something quickly, with so many people moving into the area and filling the lagoons.

Bothwell Cheese is also in the RM, and has expressed interest in expanding after the wastewater plant is running.

Providence University College is also connecting to the plant.

Business and residential growth estimated at $1.9 billion will help ease the sticker shock of the plant’s cost, said Funk, comparing the project to the Red River Floodway — a massive project built in the 1960s that now protects Winnipeg from flooding.

“It was a huge amount of money” to build the floodway, said Funk. “And yet how many times have they … been saved by having that floodway?”

Saving farmland

Funk, who chairs the co-op, says more than 700 hectares (about 1,800 acres) of farmland will be saved from turning into lagoons because of the new treatment plant.

“In some of our communities, [it’s] prime ag land,” said Funk. “And land is not replaceable.”

The plant is also expected to lower emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas, by 90 per cent compared to lagoons.

The final design of the plant is expected to be completed by March, with construction to begin this year.

But a builder is still needed for the 100 kilometres of pipes connecting the large swath of southeast Manitoba.

That hire is expected in April and will bring the total price tag to an estimated $235 million.

It’s a cost Niverville Mayor Dyck insists will make his town, just over 30 kilometres south of Winnipeg, more self-sustaining.

“We still are a commuter community, but we can have less reliance on that, more people living and working in Niverville,” said Dyck.

The provincial and federal governments are contributing $40 million for the project.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank is loaning up to $93 million.

About $100 million will come from the six municipalities in the co-op through loans from Access Credit Union, increased sewer rates, or by selling any extra capacity at the plant to neighbours.

WATCH | $205M deal to build new southeastern Manitoba wastewater plant:

$205M wastewater deal signed for 13 southeast Manitoba communities

A contract signed for a $205-million wastewater treatment plant near Niverville, Man., allows 13 communities to double their populations and bring in heavy industry. Fast growth in southeast Manitoba has left lagoons full, and the plant will avoid converting farms to effluent pits.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor vouched for Jeffrey Epstein during a UK state visit to the United Arab Emirates with Queen Elizabeth II in 2010, according to newly released emails.

The email was sent from “The Duke” to Epstein on 24 November of that year, with the subject listed as “Abdullah” – an apparent reference to the UAE foreign affairs minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

“You are in big time,” the Duke wrote to Epstein. “He thinks you are great and would like to introduce you to Sheikh Mohammed, the Crown Prince.

“Doesn’t think it can be done before the end of the year though. I will discuss further and report back.”

The date of the email coincides with Mountbatten-Windsor’s trip to the UAE alongside his mother, the queen; his father, Prince Philip; and the then UK foreign secretary, William Hague.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was the crown prince of Abu Dhabi at the time.

In 2022, he assumed the role of Abu Dhabi’s ruler and president of the UAE.

Epstein appeared to respond to Mountbatten-Windsor’s email about his meeting with the UAE foreign minister by suggesting that they arrange a holiday together.

“Ask Abdullah for a date when we can all go on vacation,” Epstein wrote.

A separate email appeared to show that Epstein himself met Sheikh Abdullah and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, just weeks earlier.

“I met with both abdulla -aby dhabi, and mahammed -dubai [sic] today,” read the email, which was sent from Epstein to The Duke on 7 November 2010.

A third email appeared to show Epstein guiding Mountbatten-Windsor on how to vouch for him during his meeting with Sheikh Abdullah.

Epstein told the Duke to tell the UAE foreign minister about qualities including “trust”, “financial expertise”, “funder of extreme science”, and “fun” with the UAE foreign minister.

The emails, released by the US Department of Justice, do not imply any wrongdoing by the UAE officials.

All emails appear to have been sent when Mountbatten-Windsor served as special representative for UK trade and investment – a role he held from 2001 until 2011.

In a separate exchange, Mountbatten-Windsor appeared to discuss how to circumvent restrictions on making investments with Epstein while serving as a UK trade envoy.

The emails suggest that the former prince considered himself barred from making personal business investments or taking seats on company boards while serving in the role. But the documents also show he discussed ways around the restrictions with Epstein.

In one email exchange dated May 2010 – when Epstein was under house arrest after pleading guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution – Mountbatten-Windsor appeared to refer to an earlier phone call about potential investments and restrictions on making them.

He wrote to Epstein: “So long as I delegate any responsibility to invest then there are no problems.

“So Trusts are delegated responsibility as to [too] are any Banks or Investment Vehicles or for that matter Trusted individuals.”

Mountbatten-Windsor has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein’s crimes.