At least one person has been killed and several others have been injured after a car rammed into pedestrians in the southwestern German city of Mannheim, local police said Monday.

The incident occurred shortly after midday local time (6 a.m. ET), said Stefan Wilhelm, a spokesperson for Mannheim police. A suspect has been arrested, he added.

Germany’s federal government issued an “extreme danger” warning in the city and said a large-scale police operation is underway.

Mannheim University Hospital said that three of the injured people it has received are receiving urgent acute care, including a child. Police have not yet said how many people were injured.

Germany has been rocked by a string of deadly car ramming attacks in recent months. Police have not yet said whether Monday’s incident was a deliberate attack.

In December, a vehicle plowed into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing six people, including a 9-year-old boy. The suspect is a 50-year-old Saudi citizen who had lived in Germany for more than a decade and worked to help Saudis leave his home country. Social media posts showed he was a fervent critic of Islam.

In February, a person drove a Mini Cooper into demonstrators in Munich, killing a mother and her child and injuring more than 30 others. The suspect is a 24-year-old Afghan man.

That attack came on the eve of the Munich Security Conference and just days before the country’s federal election, where concerns over immigration and security helped propel the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to second place.

Monday’s incident comes as Germany celebrates “Rose Monday,” a carnival held before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.

German police were already on high alert ahead of the carnival celebrations, but the incident in Mannheim has prompted some forces to take additional measures. Police in Ulm, a city southeast of Mannheim, said they have “noticeably increased” their presence around carnival events.

Mexico has extradited 29 alleged criminals to the United States, among them the so-called “narco of narcos” Rafael Caro Quintero, many accused of murder and several alleged members of cartels now designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

Here’s what you need to know about the extradited men and the accusations leveled against them.

Rafael Caro Quintero

Caro Quintero is the most high-profile individual among the 29 extradited. Known as the “narco of narcos” and pursued by the US for 40 years, the erstwhile leader of the now-defunct Guadalajara Cartel is alleged to have been among those responsible for the 1985 murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena and others. When news broke of his extradition on February 27, the DEA’s Los Angeles office tweeted out a portrait of Camarena with the caption “Justice Served!”

Caro Quintero appeared before a judge in Brooklyn on Friday afternoon, pleading not guilty to charges related to the decades-old killing of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent and other drug-related charges.

Caro Quintero has already spent 28 years in prison in Mexico for his alleged role in Camarena’s murder before he was released on a technicality in 2013. That year, the Mexican Supreme Court overturned the decision that freed him.

Added to the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives in 2018, Caro Quintero returned to drug trafficking as a senior leader of the Sinaloa cartel, according to the FBI. The Sinaloa Cartel is now considered a terrorist organization by the US.

In July 2022, Caro Quintero was captured by the Mexican Navy during an operation in which a navy dog found him hiding among some bushes.

“Caro Quintero, a cartel kingpin who unleashed violence, destruction, and death across the United States and Mexico, has spent four decades atop DEA’s most wanted fugitives list, and today we can proudly say he has arrived in the United States where justice will be served,” DEA Acting Administrator Derek S. Maltz said in a February 27 press release.

Judge Robert M. Levy clarified in court that Caro Quintero was expelled from Mexico under a provision within the national security law, which permits the Mexican government to remove an individual without undergoing the formal extradition process.

Alder Marin-Sotelo

Alder Marin-Sotelo and his brother were charged with the murder of Wake County, NC sheriff’s deputy Ned Byrd in August 2022 . Prosecutors accuse Marin-Sotelo of shooting and killing Byrd during a traffic stop.

In May 2023, while awaiting trial in a Virginia jail, Marin-Sotelo and another inmate managed to escape, with Marin-Sotelo fleeing to Mexico. He was captured there less than a week after his escape. His sister was later arrested and pleaded guilty in federal court to help him escape by paying $2,500 to arrange for the getaway car, according to court documents.

Court documents indicate that both Alder Marin-Sotelo and his brother are scheduled for arraignment in court on March 3.

Andrew Clark

Clark is the only Canadian citizen among the 29 prisoners. Known as “El Dictador,” or “the Dictator,” Mexican authorities captured Clark in Mexico in October 2024, and soon after the US Department of Justice hit him with a 16-count superseding indictment.

The DOJ alleges that Clark was one of two figures at the head of a massive drug-smuggling ring bringing “hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada and other locations in the United States,” according to a department press release in October 2024.

He’s further alleged to have ordered numerous murders. Clark’s accused co-conspirator is a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder, Ryan Wedding, who remains at large in Mexico, according to the FBI.

José Ángel Canobbio Inzunza

Also known as “El Güerito” and/or “El 90,” Canobbio is allegedly the leader of the armed group Los Chimales. According to Mexico’s top security agency, Canobbio was the second in command of the criminal group Los Chapitos – a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman’s sons.

In November 2024, a federal grand jury in Chicago indicted Canobbio “for allegedly manufacturing cocaine, fentanyl, and other drugs in Mexico and importing them into the United States,” according to the DOJ.

Norberto Valencia González

Valencia is accused of money laundering as a financial operator for the Beltrán Leyva Cartel, according to a press release from Mexico’s federal security agency SSPC. US Attorney General Pam Bondi’s statement on his extradition says that he faces “up to life imprisonment.”

José Alberto García Vilano

Known by his nickname “La Kena,” Mexican authorities say Garcia is accused of drug trafficking and money laundering. Allegedly, Garcia was the leader of the Los Ciclones group in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, one of the Gulf Cartel’s offshoots. In a February 28 press release, the Justice Department said that Garcia was charged with drug trafficking and money-laundering-related crimes.

The Gulf Cartel is infamous for allegations that it kidnapped four American tourists in Tamaulipas in 2023, killing two. Authorities believe the cartel had mistaken the tourists for Haitian drug traffickers.

Evaristo Cruz Sánchez

Alias “El Vaquero,” according to SSPC, Cruz is accused of drug trafficking as a regional leader of the Gulf Cartel – one of the six Mexican cartels now considered terrorist organizations by the US government.

In the same press release announcing Garcia’s capture, the Justice Department said that it charged Cruz in a “nine-count indictment for his involvement in drug trafficking between 2015 through 2021.”

Miguel and Omar Treviño Morales

Alleged former leaders of Los Zetas, like other members of the cartel, who often take on nommes de guerre beginning with “Z,” these two brothers are known by their respective aliases “Z-40” and “Z-42.” Founded by former members of the Mexican Special Forces and once powerful, according to InSight Crime, the Los Zetas cartel is currently weak and fragmented.

Miguel is allegedly the founder of the Cartel del Noreste – now considered a terrorist group by the US. Before his capture in 2015, Omar was considered a potential successor, according to InSight Crime in 2021.

Who are the remaining 20 prisoners?

The other 20 prisoners are all accused members or lower-level leaders of cartels and other criminal groups in Mexico, according to a press release from Mexico’s top security agency. Among them are alleged members of Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), Cartel Del Noreste, and the Sinaloa Cartel – all now considered terror organizations by the US government.

Pope Francis experienced “two episodes of acute respiratory failure,” the Vatican said Monday, marking the latest in a series of medical crises the 88-year-old pontiff has endured since he was first hospitalized last month.

Monday’s episodes were caused by “significant accumulation of endobronchial mucus” and a consequent narrowing of the airways, the Vatican said.

Earlier in the day, the pope underwent two bronchoscopies and doctors removed a buildup of secretions.

In the afternoon, Francis was given an oxygen mask to help with his breathing, according to the Vatican.

Throughout, the pontiff remained alert and cooperative, the Vatican said.

“It was a complicated afternoon,” Vatican sources said, adding that the acute respiratory crisis, which lasted for part of the afternoon, is now over, and that the pope is now resting.

“The accumulation of the mucus is a result of the pneumonia and that causes coughing and spasm as the bronchi try to expel the mucus as it irritates them,” the sources said.

The sources added that Francis’ blood tests remain the same and his prognosis remains “reserved.”

In a previous update on Monday morning, Vatican said the pope “rested well” throughout the night and sources said he was receiving high flows of oxygen through nose cannulas.

Pope Francis has been hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital since mid-February, where he has been battling double pneumonia. On Friday, he had a sudden respiratory episode, which required him to receive an oxygen mask. His current hospitalization is his fourth – and now longest – stay since he became pope in 2013.

The Vatican has been releasing twice daily updates on the pope’s health.

The pontiff has suffered from lung-related issues for much of his life. As a young man, he suffered from severe pneumonia and had part of one lung removed.

On Sunday, Vatican sources said the “picture is still complex” and that the “risk of crisis” remains.

Rabezzana said the family has not been in touch with Francis but receives updates through the news. The last phone call the family had with the pope was on Christmas, she said.

Francis’ schedule has been cleared to accommodate his intensive medical treatment. He did not lead the Angelus prayer on Sunday, for the third week in a row.

He also will not lead the Ash Wednesday service, which marks the start of Lent, a 40-day period of prayer, repentance and fasting for many Christians, for only the second time in his papacy, according to the Vatican. A cardinal is expected to lead the service instead.

It’s not unusual to see superheroes in the streets when it’s Carnival time in Brazil.

Batman, Superman and Spider-Man are common sights on the streets of São Paulo during what’s sometimes called the world’s biggest party.

But among the many people dressed in figure-hugging colorful lycra for this year’s festivities, four dressed as the 1990s-era Power Rangers really went the extra mile.

Footage shared by São Paulo authorities on Saturday showed what appeared to be the red, blue, yellow and green Power Rangers restraining a suspected phone thief in front of a crowd of Carnival revelers chanting “Power Rangers! Power Rangers!” in one scene, while a fifth Power Ranger – in black – brandishes a fistful of recovered devices in another.

“It’s morphin’ time!” wrote São Paolo’s governor Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas in a post on X, in which he revealed the “Power Rangers” were in fact undercover law enforcement officers taking a novel approach to crime at the festival.

He alleged that as a result of the arrest, police had recovered four more stolen phones and roughly $2,425 in cash.

“Our Civil Police Power Rangers are putting on another show this Carnival!” he added.

Brazil’s most populous state says gangs specializing in theft and robberies often take advantage of large crowds at festival time, and credits its strategy of disguising undercover police as partygoers for significant declines in festival-related crimes.

“Over the pre-Carnival weekend, 880 cases of cell phone theft and robbery were reported, a significant drop from the 2,344 cases recorded in the same period last year,” São Paulo’s government said recently.

The police don’t just dress up as Power Rangers, however. Last month, police released an image of an officer dressed as the Mexican parody superhero “El Chapulin Colorado” (the Red Grasshopper) escorting a handcuffed suspect.

Brazil’s festivities will continue until the first day of Lent in the Christian calendar, which this year falls on March 5.

There are three major hurdles to holding new elections, officials said. Only three quarters of Ukraine’s polling stations are operable at present and preparations to get elections to “international standards” would take six months, said the deputy head of Ukraine’s electoral commission, Serhiy Dubovyk.

Ukraine’s constitution also mandates, upon the president’s resignation, that the speaker of parliament takes his place until elections are complete.

Finally, Ukraine is currently under martial law, prohibiting elections until it is lifted, meaning a sustained ceasefire or peace would be needed.

Focus on Zelensky’s future has grown since US President Donald Trump’s closest advisers spent Sunday hinting he might no longer be the leader Ukraine needs. On Monday, Trump responded to Zelensky being quoted as saying an end to the war was “very, very far away” by suggesting America would not put up with such talk “for much longer.” Conversely, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Trump had no interest in removing the Ukrainian president.

Zelensky himself appeared to dismiss the idea of his resignation when he spoke to journalists Sunday in London, providing a riddle of how to remove him from power.

“It is not enough to simply hold elections,” he said. “You would have to prevent me from participating in the elections … You’ll have to negotiate with me,” he said, before suggesting, as he has done previously, that he would resign if Ukraine received NATO membership – something the Trump administration has repeatedly ruled out. He joked, with a little defiance, that NATO entering Ukraine would mean “that I have fulfilled my mission.”

The practical headaches of staging an election swiftly are manifold, said Dubovyk. “First, the legal aspect of ending martial law must happen,” he said.

“Secondly, there must be a preparatory process, because the country is at war, with systemic damage (and) only 75 percent of polling stations are ready for the elections, including on the occupied territories.”

He said “the six-month preparatory period confirmed by representatives of all factions of the (Ukrainian parliament, the) Verkhovna Rada is a reasonable timeframe.”

He added it could be “accelerated, but in this case, it is impossible to fully guarantee compliance with all international standards.”

Dubovyk and several other Ukrainian officials mentioned the logistical challenge of allowing the approximately 7 million Ukrainians living abroad as refugees the chance to vote, and the potential frontline crisis of having to allow the estimated million Ukrainians in the military the chance to both vote, and run in, the election.

The Kremlin has persistently referred to what it claims is the illegitimacy of Zelensky, falsely questioning his mandate in wartime, a talking point that crept into the White House’s statements last month.

Election advocates said this, and Russia’s history of electoral interference – such as when it sparked the vast pro-Western protests of the Orange Revolution in 2004 – made it only more important to ensure the vote met international standards.

“We need to reload all freedoms of movement and speech, and have a competitive electoral process,” said Olha Aivazovska, from the electoral reform group the Opora civil network.

She said elections in wartime were “impossible because it will be unconstitutional. Everything we have now because of the war, we have to change. It is about the reputation and legitimacy of the Ukrainian state as it is. Without legitimacy this state will not survive, because Russia will destroy our reputation and then we will be a failed state.”

Japan is fighting a forest fire that has damaged dozens of homes and forced hundreds of residents to evacuate in a northeastern coastal city.

The fire has burned about 2,100 hectares (5,190 acres) of forest in Ofunato since it started Wednesday, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

The agency said at least 84 homes have been damaged, and over 1,200 people evacuated. The fire has subsided in some areas. More than 2,000 troops and and firefighters have been deployed from across the country.

A man was found dead on a road Thursday, and authorities are examining if the death was linked to the fire, the agency said.

The northeastern regions, including Ofunato, have had their driest winter since 1946, when the Japan Meteorological Agency started collecting data.

Warning: This report contains details of sexual assaults. Reader discretion is advised.

Armed forces in Sudan’s ongoing civil war are perpetrating systematic sexual violence against young children, with one-year-olds the youngest survivors of rape, according to a new report from UNICEF, the United Nations’ (UN) children’s agency.

The UNICEF report, released Tuesday, said that at least 221 cases of child rape had been recorded since the beginning of 2024, along with an additional 77 reported cases of sexual assault against children.

Four one-year-olds were among those who survived sexual assaults, while another 12 survivors were children under the age of 5, according to the report. Of the rape survivors, 66% are girls and 33% are boys.

The data, compiled by gender-based violence service providers in Sudan, only represent a “small fraction” of the total child rape cases, UNICEF said, noting that survivors, their families and even frontline workers are often unwilling or unable to report the crimes due to challenges around accessing services, cultural stigmas and the fear of retribution from armed groups.

The report, which detailed firsthand accounts of sexual violence against children from December 2024 and January 2025, found that children were sexually abused during invasions of cities, while fleeing danger, while being held against their will or in detention – and sometimes in exchange for food or other essential supplies.

Sudan has been gripped by war for nearly two years, as forces loyal to two rival generals fight for control of the country.

The generals – Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – have viciously competed for territory in a country still reeling from the massacre of tens of thousands of people in the early 2000s and the displacement of millions more.

Since April 2023, more than 28,700 people have been killed according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data initiative, and more than 11 million have been forced to flee their homes.

UNICEF received firsthand reports of “armed men storming homes and demanding at gunpoint that families surrender their girls, often while violently attacking the family members or raping the girls in front of their loved ones,” according to the report.

Frontline workers have seen an increase of violence against internally displaced people living in shelters or who are sheltering at informal sites, UNICEF said, noting that the risk of sexual violence is high within these communities, especially against children.

One rape survivor, a woman who asked to be called Omnia, told UNICEF that she was detained by armed men for 19 days. She said that she became suicidal after hearing young girls being raped every night.

“After nine at night, someone opens the door, carrying a whip, selects one of the girls, and takes her to another room. I could hear the little girl crying and screaming. They were raping her… She is still just a young child. They only release these girls at dawn, and they return almost unconscious,” Omnia said.

Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s executive director said the testimonies should “shock anyone to their core and compel immediate action,” adding that “widespread sexual violence in Sudan has instilled terror in people, especially children.”

The report noted that violence is not limited to only one part of Sudan and that cases of child rape were reported in nine states across the country.

The SAF controls the eastern and northern parts of the country, according to the British government, while the RSF controls western, southern and central Sudan – including the Darfur region.

As President Donald Trump unleashes sweeping changes across the US government and overturns decades of American foreign policy, Chinese leader Xi Jinping is preparing to hold a major political gathering designed to project something else: tightly-controlled stability.

Thousands of delegates are arriving in the Chinese capital this week for the country’s “two sessions” annual meeting, a highly choreographed spectacle where Xi and his officials will broadcast China as a major power that’s confident in its direction and steadily advancing its tech prowess and global rise.

That metaphoric split screen between the two powers will be in the spotlight on Wednesday morning in Beijing, when Trump’s first address to Congress will roughly coincide with a state-of-the-union-like speech delivered by China’s No. 2 official Li Qiang at the opening meeting of the National’s People Congress (NPC), which rubber-stamps decisions already made behind closed doors.

There, Li is expected to announce China’s yearly targets for economic growth and military spending — and lay out how Beijing plans to continue its economic growth and transformation into a technological powerhouse in the face of mounting pressure from the United States.

This year’s two sessions, which includes roughly weeklong meetings of both the NPC and the country’s top advisory body, gets underway as the White House is due to double the additional tariff on all Chinese imports to the US to 20% from 10%. Those duties sit atop existing tariffs on hundreds of billions in Chinese goods.

It’s unclear how Beijing will respond to the latest move. Last month, it took what were seen as modest retaliatory steps against 10% duties by slapping 15% tax on certain types of American coal and liquefied natural gas and a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery, large-displacement cars and pickup trucks, while restricting exports of certain raw materials.

Despite the challenges, analysts aren’t bracing for any major policy surprises or U-turns. True decision-making power lies with the Chinese Communist Party, whose authority cannot be challenged in the country – and Xi, the party’s most powerful leader in decades.

The increased tariffs — and the threat of more economic and tech controls to come — are casting a long shadow over China’s two sessions, which observers will also be watching for signs on how Beijing will continue to address its rumbling economic difficulties at home.

And signs point to Beijing staying the course on its leader’s strategies to bolster innovation, industry and self-sufficiency to steel itself against frictions ahead: all while projecting that, in China, it’s business as usual.

We must “face difficulties head-on and strengthen confidence” amid growing external challenges, the Communist Party journal Qiushi quoted Xi as saying in an article released Friday that’s meant to set the tone for the gathering.

High-tech prowess

China is entering this year’s two sessions buoyed by a surge of confidence and national pride in its tech sector.

Earlier this year, privately owned Chinese AI firm DeepSeek stunned Silicon Valley with the breakout success of its latest open-source large language model. Adding to that milestone: Beijing’s long-term plans for achieving global dominance in green technologies have borne fruit, with its top electric vehicle maker rivaling Elon Musk’s Tesla.

China’s leaders are expected to continue to prioritize investment in innovation and making the world’s second-largest economy self-sufficient in high tech. Xi and his cadres see high-end chips, quantum computing, robotics and AI as critical to powering economic growth and upgrading Chinese manufacturing.

“China needs to find a new engine for its economic development. The old model, the big infrastructure, construction–driven (one), is probably not going to work … and (the high tech sector) is the most feasible path China has,” said political scholar Liu Dongshu of the City University of Hong Kong. “China will prioritize this – and US pressure makes this more urgent.”

Last month, Washington said it was considering expanding restrictions on US investment in sensitive technologies in China and would continue to restrict Chinese investment in strategic American sectors.

But it’s not all negative pressure, Liu added, as China “sees an opportunity to replace the United States in some parts of the world order.”

“China may think that since (DeepSeek’s success) it can be the leader in global AI over the US, or similarly in areas like climate change, where electric vehicles might be China’s signature policy to solve the climate change problem,” he said.

Observers will also be watching closely what steps Beijing may take to unleash private industry to advance innovation as it gears up for the potential of more restrictions from the US.

Xi sent a strong signal that China needed its entrepreneurs to step up in this fight last month, hosting the country’s top tech executives in Beijing, where he proclaimed it was “prime time” for private enterprises “to give full play to their capabilities.”

Beijing followed the meeting with steps to improve market access for private firms and discussion of a Private Economy Promotion Law, which could be passed in the months, if not the days, ahead – seen as a significant course correction following a years-long, sweeping regulatory crackdown on private industry.

‘Doubling down’

The two sessions gathering is also set, as in past years, to reflect Xi’s increasingly tight grip over China’s political system. The leader used the 2018 NPC meeting to pave the way for him to stay in power indefinitely, with the removal of the presidential two-term limit in the Chinese constitution.

Last year, the scrapping of a longstanding annual press conference led by the country’s second highest-ranking official was widely seen as another sign of Xi’s control over the official narrative – and eliminated a rare chance for journalists to interact with a top Chinese official. The event is not expected to resume this year.

This year, the gathering is expected to again highlight how united the political apparatus is around his vision for the future, despite the country’s economic hurdles.

“The NPC this year will really be in the context of continuing to derisk China’s rise and really hardening its posture against global uncertainties,” including in Beijing’s relationship with the US and Europe, said Nis Grünberg, a lead analyst at MERICS think tank in Germany.

As China “doubles down” on this approach, deepening “the role of the party and the core of the party – Xi Jinping – to steer this whole process is more important than ever to the leadership,” he said.

China’s slowing economy has been roiled by a property sector crisis and high local government debt, while foreign investment has cratered, consumption has flagged and young people struggle to find jobs.

China earlier this year reported 5% economic growth in 2024, a figure viewed with heavy skepticism by many external observers, and analysts say it’s likely to float a similar number for its GDP target this year. Signs for how Beijing plans to address these challenges will also be closely watched, after a raft of policy adjustments since last summer were seen as falling short.

In the days ahead, Beijing may unveil new efforts to boost consumer spending through stimulus or social welfare benefits. US tariffs make this even more urgent, observers say, as China’s manufacturers may need to rely more on the domestic market.

Xi linked weak demand to China’s “economic security” during a key Communist Party economic meeting late last year, according to his speech published Friday in Qiushi — in a signal of the increasing importance of addressing the issue.

But even still, analysts see little sign of a departure from Xi’s primary focus on bolstering support for industry.

Beijing is likely to release policies to “make sure that at least the big and some of the medium-sized industrial producers can survive additional (US) tariffs,” according to Victor Shih, director of the University of California San Diego’s 21st Century China Center.

Beijing is counting on its subsidized companies being able to weather those tariffs, given the dependency of US industries on Chinese goods – and to have its own firms ultimately come out dominant.

“So in a sense they’re not afraid of (them),” he added, of US tariffs.

In the short term, such industrial support could create more friction with the US and China’s other trade partners. The country’s reliance on exports as an agent of growth propelled it to a nearly $1 trillion trade surplus with the rest of the world last year – a driving factor for Trump’s tariff push.

For China, that fits in with the wider message it’s expected to send in the coming days: even as headwinds mount, it’s confidently staying its course – and ready to be seen as a champion of global trade and order.

Japan’s Prince Hisahito, the second in line to the throne, held a debut news conference on Monday, telling reporters he would try to balance official duties and his university studies and research about the dragonfly.

Hisahito turned 18 last September, becoming the first male royal family member to reach adulthood in almost four decades in Japan. It marked a significant development for a family that has ruled for more than a millennium but faces the same existential problems as the rest of the nation — a fast-aging, shrinking population.

The prince said he would follow the good examples of his uncle, Emperor Naruhito, and other elder members of the Imperial family, while pursuing his university studies, beginning next month.

Speaking to reporters at the Akasaka Estate residence in Tokyo, Hisahito said he believes the role of the emperor as a symbolic figure is someone who “always thinks of the people and stays close to them.”

Hisahito is second in line to Japan’s Chrysanthemum Throne, only after his father, Crown Prince Akishino. Before Hisahito’s birthday last year, his father had been the last male to reach adulthood in the family in 1985.

The prince is the youngest of the 16-member all-adult imperial family and one of only five men, including former Emperor Akihito. He said he barely had time to celebrate his adulthood on September 6 as he is still finishing high school.

The 1947 Imperial House Law, which largely preserves conservative pre-war family values, only allows a male to succeed to the throne. Female royal members who marry commoners lose their royal status.

Hisahito’s older cousin, Princess Aiko — the only child of Naruhito and his wife Masako and a Harvard-educated former diplomat — is seen as the public’s favorite, though the law for now bars her from becoming an empress, despite being in a direct line of descent.

Japan’s conservative government wants to keep the royal succession male-only, without relying on women, though it is looking for a way to allow women to keep royal status if they marry commoners and serve in royal duties.

In his childhood, Hisahito showed an avid interest in insects and plans to study biology at the Tsukuba University near Tokyo, starting in April. He hopes to focus his studies on dragonflies, a species that has captivated him.

Apart from researching dragonflies and other insects, Hisahito told reporters he is also interested in studying ways to protect insect populations in urban areas. His other interests lie in growing tomatoes and rice on the palace compound.

Because Japanese royals have to stay away from politics, members of the Imperial Family tend to study biology, literature and arts. Naruhito’s specialty is water transport while his father, Emperor Emeritus Akihito who abdicated in 2019, researches fish. Hisahito’s father, Crown Prince Akishino, is an expert of chickens.

Japan will hold a coming-of-age palace ceremony for Hisahito on September 6, his 19th birthday.