TOKYO, May 19 (Xinhua): The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) on Sunday raised its alert level for Mt. Hakone as seismic activity has been increasing in the popular hot-spring resort area near Tokyo.

On the JMA's alert scale that peaks at five, the agency raised its warning for the first time since 2015 from 1 to 2, advising people not to approach the volcano's crater.

The agency said it made the decision because the number of volcanic earthquakes increased to 45 on Saturday, compared with zero on the previous day.

Palghar, May 18 (PTI) A 22-year-old labourer has been handed a 20-year rigorous imprisonment by a sessions court in Vasai in Palghar district of Maharashtra for raping a four-year-old girl in 2016.

Additional Sessions Judge Rahul Bhosale convicted the accused, Suresh Mukne, under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and under section 366 A (procuration of a minor girl) of the Indian Penal Code on May 16.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The Netherlands won the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv Saturday, with Duncan Laurence’s doleful piano ballad “Arcade” crowned champion of Europe’s annual music extravaganza.

MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/: An 6.8-magnitude earthquake was registered off New Caledonia’s shore on Sunday, the United States Geological Survey reported.

The epicenter was located 178 km east of the town of Tadine, where 7,500 people live, at a depth of 14 km.

No information about injuries and destructions was reported; no tsunami warning was issued.

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France in the Pacific Ocean.

Jammu, May 18 (PTI) A 17-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a youth here and the accused has been arrested, police said Saturday.

A family lodged a written complaint at police station Janipur Friday, alleging Karan Singh, a resident of Shivalik Puram, allegedly abducted their minor daughter and raped her in captivity, a police official said.

TEL AVIV, May 18. /TASS/: Russia’s Sergey Lazarev performed his technically sophisticated show without a hitch at the Eurovision Song Contest’s final on Saturday, TASS reported from the scene.

The singer sang his ‘Scream’ surrounded by eight digital screens as each projected an image of the singer creating an effect of doubles amid images of lighting and rain.

Russian celebrated pop singer Philip Kirkorov produced Lazarev’s Eurovision entry. Kirkorov co-authored the song with Dimitris Kontopoulos (Greece) and Sharon Vaughn (US).

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bogged down in a sprawling trade dispute with U.S. rival China, President Donald Trump took steps Friday to ease tensions with America’s allies — lifting import taxes on Canadian and Mexican steel and aluminum and delaying auto tariffs that would have hurt Japan and Europe.

By removing the metals tariffs on Canada and Mexico, Trump cleared a key roadblock to a North American trade pact his team negotiated last year. As part of Friday’s arrangement, the Canadians and Mexicans agreed to scrap retaliatory tariffs they had imposed on U.S. goods.

NEW YORK, May 17 (APP): US President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to avoid a military confrontation with Iran, the New York Times reported Friday.

The Times said that Trump, during a Wednesday morning meeting in the White House Situation Room, sent a message to his hawkish aides that he does not want the US pressure campaign against Iran to explode into an open conflict.

Seoul, May 18; AFP/GANASHAKTI: North Korea has demanded the United Nations take "urgent measures" to help return a cargo ship taken by the United States, calling the seizure a "heinous" act.

Washington announced last week it had taken possession of the North Korean-registered bulk carrier M/V Wise Honest -- a year after it was detained in Indonesia -- citing sanctions-violating activities.

WASHINGTON (AP) — It started with a surprise statement on a Sunday night that the U.S. was rushing military forces to counter alleged Iranian threats. What followed were two weeks of bombastic rhetoric and swells of fear and confusion over whether Washington and Tehran were lurching toward open conflict. And that’s how President Donald Trump says he likes it.

“With all of the Fake and Made Up News out there,” Trump wrote Friday on Twitter, “Iran can have no idea what is actually going on.”

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. diplomats warned Saturday that commercial airliners flying over the wider Persian Gulf faced a risk of being “misidentified” amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

The warning relayed by U.S. diplomatic posts from the Federal Aviation Administration underlined the risks the current tensions pose to a region crucial to global air travel. It also came as Lloyd’s of London warned of increasing risks to maritime shipping in the region.

BEIJING, May 17 (Xinhua): China hopes to work with the Iranian side to eliminate complicated disturbing factors and make efforts for the full implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday.

Wang made the remarks when meeting with visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.