Month: October 2019

Having secured exemption from military service by captaining South Korea to Asian Games glory, the Tottenham star has confessed he was nervous

Tottenham forward Son Heung-min has admitted to suffering from sleep deprivation prior to captaining South Korea to the Asian Games title.

Victory in extra time over Japan saw Son and the entire Korean squad earn exemption from 21 months of military service.

Son missed Spurs’ Premier League games against Manchester United and Watford as a result of South Korea’s success but feels he made the right decision competing in Indonesia.

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“Honestly, in the final I was a little bit nervous,” Son told BBC Sport. 

“At night I couldn’t sleep, I was very nervous.

“It was a gamble, but I was confident.

“I was very proud to win this tournament for my country.”

Success for South Korea followed an eventful World Cup campaign in Russia which despite suffering a group stage exit included a win over defending champions Germany.

All South Korean men must complete just under two years of military service but exemptions are offered to athletes who achieve major sporting success.

Olympic gold medallists can earn immunity from call-ups, while South Korea’s entire World Cup 2002 squad won exemption after they reached the semi-finals.

Son could have been called up in the next 18 months had South Korea failed to win the Asian Games.

Attempts to avoid being called up had been thwarted by former clubs Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen, who refused to release him for the tournaments in 2010 and 2014.

Tottenham refused to stand in Son’s way despite his exploits at the summer’s World Cup, a decision the forward is grateful for.

“My managers at Hamburg and Leverkusen didn’t let me go,” he said earlier this month. 

“So I’m really thankful to the gaffer. He took the risk. I made it, but without him and without his choice, I couldn’t have won gold. I’m thinking of a present for him!

“I’m looking forward to playing for Spurs. I felt sorry [to go]. It’s my team. I’ve played for three years with my heart and missed four weeks of this season.”

U.S. gymnast Simone Biles poses with her five gold medals at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. With her wins, she becomes the most decorated gymnast ever at the world championships, with 25 total medals.

Simone Biles is the greatest gymnast of our time – or any time in history. She proved that Sunday at the World Championships, where she raked in her 24th and 25th world medals, both gold.

Biles, 22, took home five of the six golds to be won in Stuttgart, Germany, winning the top of the podium in team competition, all-around, and vault in addition to floor and beam. (On the uneven bars, she took fifth.)

Combining skills of unprecedented difficulty with flawless execution, Biles surpassed Belarusian Vitaly Scherbo’s record 23 world medals he won in the 1990s.

A gold on the balance beam evaded Biles at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, and so she has her eyes on that prize next summer in Tokyo. The goal that appeared well within reach with her rock-solid performance on Sunday. She won the beam competition by more than half a point – even though she opted not to perform the difficult dismount that’s named for her, a double twisting double back.

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The dismount, called the Biles, became the subject of controversy in the days before the world championships.

FIG, the international governing body for gymnastics, decided earlier this month to award the dismount a difficulty rating just one tenth higher than the same move with one fewer twist. Many (including Biles herself) were critical of that decision, spurring FIG to release a statement in which it claimed the committee had made its decision in part out of concern for gymnasts’ safety.

That rating led Biles to scrap the dismount on Sunday. “It’s not worth the one-tenth (extra difficulty point). I’m sorry, it’s just not,” she said, according to The Associated Press.

But on the floor, Biles soared with another element named for her: a triple-twisting double back. As NBC’s announcer intoned, Biles’ floor routine was so packed with difficulty that she could have removed a twist from each tumbling pass and still won. Biles captured the event with a score of 15.133, a full point higher than her second-place U.S. teammate Sunisa Lee.

NBC Sports
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Biles beamed as the five golds adorned her neck.

And those 25 medals she’s collected from the worlds? “It’s older than my age, so I’m pretty thrilled with it,” she said.

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Raising money isn’t just a necessity for candidates hoping to make it through the long and expensive presidential primary process — it’s a way to measure candidates’ credibility and staying power in a crowded field.

Democrats are dealing with their largest primary pool in at least 40 years, and how they fare in raking in cash could separate the candidates in the pack. Here are the financial figures that the candidates, including President Trump, have reported to the Federal Election Commission, so far. The president’s totals include money that other committees, such as the Republican National Committee and the Trump Victory Committee, have transferred to him.

These numbers reflect the total amount raised through the third quarter of 2019. This includes, among other sources, money raised from individual contributions and money transferred from other campaign accounts, such as a candidate’s past Senate or House campaign:

There are also more detailed fundraising metrics that give the public an idea about the priorities of the candidates and how they run their campaigns.

Democrats have widely rejected, for example, support from corporate political action committees. While these committees have allowed businesses and trade groups in the past to funnel huge amounts of cash to eager candidates, Democrats have become increasingly worried about the appearance of businesses having undue influence over the political process.

Campaigns are also making a point of touting the amount they have raised from small donors (those who give less than $200). These donors, who don’t have to disclose their names or information, can represent the measure of a candidate’s grassroots support. That, of course, doesn’t always translate to primary delegates — as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders learned during his unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2016 — but it certainly gives candidates staying power.

Candidates are required to file quarterly reports with the Federal Election Commission through 2019 and then will switch to monthly reports if they’ve raised or spent at least $100,000.

Total money raised for each candidate includes the following:

This page will be updated as more fundraising numbers become available.

Can’t see the graphics in this story? Click here.

This story was originally published on April 16, 2019.

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NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine speaks during a demonstration of two NASA spacesuit prototypes for lunar exploration on Tuesday.

NASA has unveiled prototypes of its next-generation spacesuits to be worn inside the Orion spacecraft and on the surface of the moon when American astronauts return there as soon as 2024.

At the space agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., two NASA engineers modeled the new suits destined for the Artemis program, one known as the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU), designed for walking around the lunar surface, and the other, the Orion Crew Survival System, a bright orange pressure suit to be worn when astronauts launch from Earth and return.

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The design criteria? After keeping the crew safe, including America’s first female moonwalker, it’s all about mobility.

To that end, the suited models demonstrated bending, squatting and walking around in the bulky garments.

Kristine Davis bends down to pick up a rock during a demonstration of the mobility of the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU), one of two NASA spacesuit prototypes for lunar exploration.

“This is the first suit we’ve designed in about 40 years,” Chris Hansen, a manager at NASA’s spacesuit design office, said. “We want systems that allow our astronauts to be scientists on the surface of the moon.”

Amy Ross, NASA’s lead spacesuit engineer, said: “Basically, my job is to take a basketball, shape it like a human, keep them alive in a harsh environment and give them the mobility to do their job.”

Another spacesuit engineer, Kristine Davis, sported the new red, white and blue xEMU, which includes a ring at the midsection to make it easier for future moonwalkers to get around than had their Apollo-era counterparts, the last of whom left bootprints on the moon in 1972.

“The mobility is one of the biggest things,” astronaut Kate Rubins said at the event. For picking up a rock or setting up a scientific instrument, “you need that upper torso mobility,” she said.

The Apollo moon suit, known as the Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or EMU, was famously so restricted that some astronauts preferred to “bunny hop,” taking advantage of the moon’s low gravity to lope over the surface.

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Since well before the space shuttle program wrapped up in 2011, NASA has been an agency in search of a mission. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush first proposed a return to the moon “to stay” and ultimately, missions to Mars.

In March, the Trump administration directed NASA to land humans on the moon — preferably at the unexplored southern lunar pole — by 2024, with the eventual goal of landing on Mars.

“Ultimately the goal is this: We’re going to Mars,” NASA chief Jim Bridenstine said. “And in order to go to Mars, we need to use the moon as a proving ground.”

The new xEMU is a one-size-fits-all garment designed for men and women — something that would have come in handy in March when the first planned all-female spacewalk had to be scrapped because one of two medium-sized suits on the International Space Station wasn’t ready to go.

Astronaut Christina Koch had planned to spacewalk with Anne McClain, but because McClain preferred a medium suit and there was only one available, NASA swapped Koch for astronaut Nick Hague on the walk.

But NASA said Tuesday that it is going to try again for an all-female spacewalk on Oct. 21, this time with Koch and fellow astronaut Jessica Meir.

If all goes according to plan, the two will exit the International Space Station as part of a series of spacewalks to install new batteries on the aging orbital outpost.

President Trump speaks to reporters outside the White House on Oct. 4. The White House sent a letter to House Democrats saying it would not cooperate with requests as part of their impeachment inquiry.

Updated at 8:45 p.m. ET

The White House will not participate in Congress’ ongoing impeachment inquiry, it said Tuesday, stepping up a political and legal standoff between the executive and legislative branches of government.

In a blistering eight-page letter to Democratic congressional leaders, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, White House counsel Pat Cipollone repeatedly mocked the Democrats’ process.

It “lacks any legitimate constitutional foundation” and is simply an effort to “nullify the outcome of the democratic process” by reversing the outcome of the 2016 election and influence the upcoming 2020 election, he wrote.

Moreover, Cipollone argued that because there has been no formal vote to begin an impeachment inquiry, there is no official process underway and accordingly the administration is not required to comply.

In a fiery response, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the letter “manifestly wrong.”

“The White House should be warned that continued efforts to hide the truth of the President’s abuse of power from the American people will be regarded as further evidence of obstruction,” she said in a statement Tuesday night.

“Mr. President, you are not above the law. You will be held accountable.”

Pelosi has said that an official vote is not necessary under House rules and the relevant House committees can continue their investigations under a banner of impeachment.

The president and the speaker have been trading arguments over these process questions since Friday, when Trump said he would memorialize his objections in the letter unveiled on Tuesday.

Now the White House has made clear that it believes no vote in the House means Republicans are being denied investigative and other powers to defend the president.

“Given that your inquiry lacks any legitimate constitutional foundation, any pretense of fairness, or even the most elementary due process protections, the executive branch cannot be expected to participate in it,” Cipollone wrote.

“Because participating in this inquiry under the current unconstitutional posture would inflict lasting institutional harm on the executive branch and lasting damage to the separation of powers, you have left the president no choice.”

Translation: no documents and no witnesses.

On a conference call with reporters, however, a senior administration official would not commit to cooperating with Democrats even if there were a formal vote.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who has repeatedly drawn Trump’s ire, tweeted that the letter shows that the White House thinks Trump “is above the law” but that “The Constitution says otherwise.”

The ambassador who wasn’t there

The release of the letter followed the Trump administration’s order blocking Gordon Sondland — the U.S. ambassador to the European Union — from testifying before Congress.

Trump wrote on Twitter that he wasn’t going to subject Sondland to questions from a “kangaroo court,” an allusion to what he called the unfairness of the process.

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Congressional Democrats want answers about Sondland’s and others’ participation in the growing scandal over Ukraine and Trump’s pressure on a foreign government to investigate his potential 2020 rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.

Later on Tuesday, House Democrats issued a subpoena to Sondland compelling him to testify next Wednesday, October 16, and produce requisite documents.

In a statement, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said that the effort by Democrats is “purely political” and “ignores the fundamental rights guaranteed to every American.”

“These partisan proceedings are an affront to the Constitution—as they are being held behind closed doors and deny the president the right to call witnesses, to cross-examine witnesses, to have access to evidence, and many other basic rights,” Grisham said.

The Reds striker needed only one chance to snatch a point for his side at Chelsea in the most spectacular of fashions

He only needed four minutes.

Four minutes to make his mark. Four minutes to silence the boos of his former supporters. Four minutes to light up a blockbuster clash in the most spectacular of manners. Four minutes to save his side’s unbeaten start to the season.

What a moment for Daniel Sturridge! What a moment for Liverpool!

Having looked like taking nothing from a frantic but frustrating clash with Chelsea, they escaped with a point that keeps them rolling on, kept off the top of the table only by Manchester City and their superior goal difference. City, of course, visit Anfield next weekend.

Jurgen Klopp had spent much of this game in a state of anger, but when the time came he grabbed the dice and rolled a double-six. Sturridge, summoned from the bench to replace James Milner in the 86th minute, delivered.

What a goal it was!

Collecting a pass from Xherdan Shaqiri, he turned to find options limited in front of him. No bother, he simply drew back that gifted left foot and unfurled the most explosive of shots. Whipped but with power, it flew past Kepa Arrizabalaga, the world’s most expensive goalkeeper, and into the top left-hand corner of his net.

It was Sturridge’s 50th league goal for Liverpool, and his fourth of this campaign – surpassing his tally for the whole of last season. He’s the club’s joint top-scorer, despite starting just two of their nine games in all competitions. The dance in front of the away end had extra feeling.

Having chosen not to cash in on the England man in the summer, Klopp’s faith has already been repaid. This could prove a crucial point come the end of the campaign.

“He’s in the best shape since I’ve known him,” Klopp said afterwards. “He’s a fantastic football player, and just a good lad.”

It had looked for a long time as if Eden Hazard’s goal, finished clinically 25 minutes in, would settle this contest and that Liverpool would be left to rue their own wastefulness.

Mohamed Salah, tentative on his return to his former club, missed a trio of openings in the first half, and both he and Roberto Firmino had efforts scrambled off the line. Shaqiri sliced horribly wide with an excellent opportunity shortly after his own introduction. 

“It’s like riding a bike,” Klopp said. “You don’t wake up one morning and forget how to finish, or how to ride a bike. That’s how it is.

“A good football team, which we are, creates chances. If we play like we did tonight we will win football matches.”

Sturridge, thankfully for Klopp and for Salah and Shaqiri, had a trick up his sleeve. He was jeered upon his arrival, Chelsea fans clearly not enamoured with their former striker, but he was to have the last laugh.

Fit, sharp and scoring, he could be a key figure if Klopp’s side are to keep themselves at the top of the Premier League table. Not many sides have a striker of his quality to call on as a backup. 

Liverpool weren’t terrible here, working hard to limit Chelsea’s space and having more than enough of the ball. Rather, that cutting edge to which we were accustomed last season was lacking. Salah looked short, Firmino was peripheral, Sadio Mane too. Still, Chelsea needed Kepa to make a marvellous one-handed stop to deny Mane after half-time. The visitors always carried a threat. 

In the end it was a draw which felt like a victory to those who had travelled down from Merseyside. Liverpool’s supporters were left singing as they headed off towards Fulham Broadway, given a moment to savour by their No.15.

Chelsea may well rue their luck. Sturridge is renowned as a finisher, but not necessarily from that distance – though, as Klopp pointed out, he hit the bar with an eerily similar effort on Wednesday night at Anfield.

Maurizio Sarri’s men will have felt they had done enough to ride out the Liverpool storm, and could have wrapped up the points through Hazard in the second-half. This time, Alisson was equal to the brilliant Belgian.

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That proved to be a huge save in the end, the Brazilian making himself big as Hazard raced clear from N’Golo Kante’s quick free-kick. It was, in fact, as decisive an intervention as Sturridge’s.

Sturridge’s, though, is the one which will be replayed up and down the country. We can close the book on goal of the month, surely?

Liverpool’s four-minute man kept the Reds’ charge on course.

The midfielder has hailed his current boss while also declaring himself ready for an England recall

Ross Barkley believes he’d be a better player today if he’d had the chance to work with Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri earlier in his career. 

After a miserable 2017-18 campaign beset by injuries, Barkley has found his feet at Stamford Bridge, making nine appearances in all competitions for the Blues.

He is expected to start for the sixth time under Sarri in Thursday’s Europa League clash with Vidi as the Premier League side look to make it two wins out of two in the competition.

And Barkley credited Sarri for his improvements this season, suggesting the Italian would have helped him reach his potential sooner had they worked together earlier in his career.

“From a technical point of view, he has made me a better player,” the midfielder told a media conference.

“We have done a lot of tactical work and his philosophy is suitable for my style. I feel as the season goes on that I will continue to improve.

“His attention to detail is really important for everyone to understand what he wants. In each game we go into, we go into it with a different approach, so he prepares for each game and each opponent really well.

“I’ve thought about it and I believe if I did have that type of approach from a coach when I was younger then maybe I would have improved a lot more.”

Barkley hopes his recent form will earn him a return to the England set-up, with Gareth Southgate set to name his latest squad on Thursday.

“I believe I am [ready to play for England],” Barkley said. “I have played a big role in the side and I feel like my performances have showed that I am back in that routine.

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“Last season I obviously didn’t play that much, but I knew that this season would be the chance for me to kick on and Sarri has given me the chance to play and I have played, and I hope that I have taken that chance.

“I have played a lot of minutes from the start of the season and I had a strong pre-season as well.

“I am feeling as fit as I have before. I feel [with] the amount of games I have played I am ready to be called up.”

Jurgen Klopp insists he is completely relaxed about Mohamed Salah’s form after the Egyptian’s underwhelming start to the season.

Mohamed Salah’s slow start to the season is nothing to worry about ahead of Sunday’s huge Premier League clash with Manchester City, according to Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.

Salah enjoyed a sensational first season with the Reds last term, scoring 32 times in the league as the records tumbled.

The Egypt international set a new benchmark for goals in a single 38-game Premier League season and became the first African player to reach 30.

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He was also decisive in the Champions League, playing a vital role as Liverpool made it to the final, where his campaign sadly ended early as he suffered a dislocated shoulder in the first half of the 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid.

Salah’s start to the new season has failed to live up to expectations, having scored just three goals and set up one, but Klopp – who has been nominated for the Premier League Manager of the Month award – insists everything is fine with the forward.

“Expectations changed, that’s normal as he set a new standard,” Klopp told reporters on Friday.

“Nobody expected 10 goals after five, six, seven games. Each striker could write a book about these moments, scoring without knowing how.

“It’s so rare, 98 per cent of a striker’s work is the hardest work, two per cent is the easy-going stuff.

“The only thing which has changed is the kind of questions you [the media] have asked. First, it [Salah’s excellent form last season] was a nice surprise, now it isn’t. That’s the world.

“It’s the same with me. If I win games, I know everything about football. If I lose three in a row, I have no clue about football.

“Both are not true, it’s always somewhere in between. There’s nothing to worry about. I’m relaxed about that [Salah’s form].”

The team’s interim coach says he does not know when – or if – the Barcelona star will return to international duty

Lionel Messi’s international future remains unclear after Argentina’s interim coach Lionel Scaloni said he has not spoken to the Barcelona star about when he will return to the squad.

Messi, who captained Argentina at the World Cup, is yet to comment on when he may be available again, having skipped a pair of friendlies in September.

The 31-year-old, a frustrated figure during Russia 2018, is not included in Scaloni’s squad for games against Iraq and Brazil this month either.

And Scaloni, in charge on a temporary basis as Argentina seek a successor to Jorge Sampaoli, is unclear on when he may be able to select Messi.

“I spoke with Messi about 10 days ago, after the talk we made the final decision he is not to be called up,” Scaloni said at a news conference on Monday.

“We do not talk about what could happen in a while, we talked about how the team played because honestly Leo sees everything. 

“But not beyond that because in my head we have not planned more than six games.”

Messi has previously taken time away from Argentina following the 2016 Copa America Centenario after La Albiceleste lost to Chile on penalties.

However, the star would return and prove instrumental in Argentina qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, which the nation did on the final day of qualifying thanks to a Messi hat-trick against Ecuador. 

While some no doubt hope Messi will again make his return to the team after a break, Argentina legend Diego Maradona has told Messi to retire from international duty, claiming he receives too much criticism for the team’s results.

“The under-15s lose and it’s Messi’s fault,” Maradona told Clarin. “The fixture in Argentina puts Racing against Boca and Messi is to blame. It’s always his fault. I would say, ‘Don’t go anymore’. Let’s see if they can handle it.”

Meanwhile, Juan Foyth and Rodrigo De Paul have been called up to the Argentina squad for the first time for the upcoming Iraq and Brazil matches.

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Workers stack sandbags at a construction site in preparation for Typhoon Hagibis on Enoshima Island, Kamakura, west of Tokyo on Friday. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Typhoon Hagibis, the largest to hit Japan in 61 years, made landfall Saturday evening, sweeping northeast through the Tokyo region as a 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck an area in the storm’s path earlier that day.

According to NHK, Japan’s national broadcaster, the storm’s path has left two dead, 10 missing and 90 injured so far, the 19th named storm this year. At least eight rivers have flooded their banks, several dams have begun discharging water and landslides threaten those sheltering in their homes as Hagibis continues to pour down a record amount of rain and whip the land with strong winds. If the dams do release their water in an emergency measure, they risk flooding downstream areas that already face storm surges, where civilians may not have evacuated.

As NPR reported on Friday, the Japan Meteorological Agency forecast chief Yasushi Kajihara said that Hagibis resembled the 1958 Kanogawa Typhoon that killed more than 1,200. Although the typhoon abated after landfall and has made its way back to the Pacific Ocean without numbers approaching those of the Kanogawa Typhoon, the death toll may rise as recovery and rescues continue for those threatened by continued flooding and landslides.

Officials in Gunma Prefecture said a landslide destroyed houses in Tomioka Saturday evening. Two persons were rescued from the wreckage, but one died afterward. Another two are missing in a Fukushima landslide, according to the Japan Times.

Evacuation orders are still in place for more than 4 million people, although the JMA has lifted emergency warnings on Nagano, Niigata and Fukushima prefectures. Miyagi and Iwate prefectures are still under emergency warnings and are at extreme risk of landslides, and most of central and eastern Japan are under general warnings.

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Surging waves hit against the breakwater and a lighthouse as Typhoon Hagibis approaches at a port in town of Kiho, Mie prefecture, central Japan on Saturday. (AP Photo/Toru Hanai)

The typhoon made landfall in Shizuoka prefecture Saturday evening local time as the 5.7-magnitude earthquake off the coast of neighboring Chiba province sent tremors ahead of the storm’s fury. No tsunami warning was issued after the earthquake. Just north of Shizuoka is Tokyo prefecture, where NHK reports that the Tokyo and Nagano governments have asked Japan’s military to assist in the region.

The storm, as of midnight local time, had passed through the Tokai, Tokyo and Kanto regions and is projected to move along the northeastern coast past Hokkaido and the Kuril Islands, according to the JMA. The storm has also left more than 430,000 homes in the Tokyo metropolitan region without power, according to NHK.

Transportation has been disrupted over the weekend, with the Japan Times reporting that rail and airport service has been cancelled in the affected areas until deemed safe. NPR reported that All Nippon Airways grounded all domestic flights coming out of the Tokyo region on Saturday, and the Japan Times reported that Central Japan Railway Co. canceled all shinkansen, or bullet train, service on Saturday.

The storm has also forced the cancellation of Rugby World Cup games as the event approaches the quarterfinals. Two games have already been cancelled, and the Scottish Rugby Union has threatened legal action if its game with Japan is cancelled, not rescheduled, which would advance the Japanese team and send the Scots home.

Typhoon Faxai ripped through Tokyo about a month ago, killing three and injuring 147 after it made landfall in Chiba prefecture. The Japan Times reported that the Abe administration was heavily criticized in the aftermath of that storm for not holding a meeting of ministers before or after landfall as power outages continued in Chiba prefecture well after the storm had passed.

As Hagibis approached the Japanese mainland, Abe’s cabinet held a disaster management meeting Friday in order to act more “proactively” than with Faxai.