August

August 1, Monday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Mick Corliss and Ms. Yuka Matsumoto

1. Former Japanese defense minister Yuriko Koike has won the Tokyo gubernatorial election.

2. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to reshuffle his Cabinet and the executives of the party.

3. Bangladeshi authorities have detained about 200 people they suspect of being members of a terrorist group following a hostage-taking incident that left several people dead.

August 2, Tuesday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Fumiko Konoe and Ms. Risa Shimizu

1. Tokyo’s new governor, Yuriko Koike, has begun work following her victory in Sunday’s gubernatorial election.

2. The Japanese government has expressed strong concern in this year’s Defense White Paper over China’s increasing maritime activities in waters surrounding Japan.

3. Two U.S. Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft were witnessed to have landed at U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa prefecture.

August 3, Wednesday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Emma Howard and Ms. Yuka Matsumoto

1. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will soon reshuffle his cabinet.

2. Japan’s Defense Ministry says the ballistic missile North Korea has fired appears to have fallen into the sea inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

3. Chinas has expressed strong dissatisfaction with Japan’s defense white paper for its strong concern about China’s increasing maritime activity.

August 4, Thursday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Raja Pradan and Ms. Hiroko Kitadai

1.Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and members of the newly reshuffled cabinet have devised their policy outlines.
2.China has reiterated calls for dialogue with North Korea as Japan, the United States, and South 3.Korea seek a harsh response to the latest missile launches by Pyongyang.
The International Olympic Committee has approved 5 sports to be added to the Tokyo 2020 Games.

August 5, Friday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Raja Pradan and Ms. Mariko Kojima

1.The Washington Post says U.S. President Barack Obama has decided to seek a U.N. Security Council resolution that would call for countries to end nuclear testing.
2.The Japanese government is in final arrangements to keep its interception order for any incoming missile effected at all times.
3.Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is likely to show his government’s response to a speech expected to be delivered by Emperor Akihito.
August 6, Saturday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Fumiko Konoe and Ms. Shelley Yamamoto
1. 1.People throughout Hiroshima are marking 71 years since the U.S. atomic bombing on August 6, 1945. The Hiroshima mayor called on countries to take action to abolish the absolute evil of nuclear weapons.
2. 2.The 26th Summer Olympic Games have kicked off in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. It is the first time a South American country has hosted the summer Olympics.
  August 7, Sunday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Hirokazu Sakamaki and Ms. Keiko Kitagawa
  1. 1.At the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Japanese swimmer Kosuke Hagino has won Japan’s first gold medal.
  2. 2.A U.S. citizens’ group has handed over a letter of apology to an atomic boming survivor from Hiroshima.
  3. 3.Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says the country will never possess or even consider possessing, nuclear weapons.
    August 8, Monday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Yuka Matsumoto and Ms. Risa Shimizu
    1. 1.Japan’s Emperor Akihito will deliver a message to the public on Monday. The emperor has been informing close aides of his wish to abdicate.
    2. 2.Japan’s Coast Guard has stepped up its patrols in the country’s territorial waters around a group of islands in the East China Sea after spotting more than 10 Chinese ships sailing nearby.
    3. 3.A majority of Thai voters has approved a new draft constitution in Sunday’s referendum.
  August 9, Tuesday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Fumiko Konoe and Ms. Risa Shimizu
  1. 1.The western Japanese city of Nagasaki commemorates the 71st anniversary of the atomic bombing on Tuesday.
  2. 2.A suicide bombing at a hospital in southwestern Pakistan on Monday killed at least 70 people.
  3. 3.Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida has lodged a protest against repeated intrusions by Chinese fleets of Japanese territorial waters in the East China Sea
  August 10, Wednesday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Helen Lewis and Ms. Mariko Kojima
  1. 1.Japan’s Coast Guard has spotted 10 Chinese government ships in the contiguous zone just outside Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
  2. 2.Japan’s Defense Ministry is planning to upgrade its missile defense capability in response to North Korea’s repeated test-launches of ballistic missiles.
  3. 3.Russian and Turkish leaders have agreed to restore bilateral ties damaged by Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian warplane last November.
    August 11, Thursday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Ms. Yuka Matsumoto
    1. 1.Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida has met with the top leaders of the Philippines to discuss China’s increased maritime activity in the East and South China seas.
    2. 2.Officials of Japan’s Coast Guard say a Chinese fishing boat and a cargo ship registered with Greece collided Thursday morning in high seas near the Senkaku Islands, Okinawa Prefecture.
    3. 3.Japan’s Kohei Uchimura took the gold in men’s all-around gymnastics at the Rio Olympic Games on Wednesday.
      August 12, Friday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Risa Shimizu and Ms. Mariko Kojima
      1. 1.The Ikata nuclear plant in western Japan has become this country’s 3rd facility to go back online under new regulations introduced after the Fukushima disaster.
      2. 2.U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has pledged to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement even after she is elected president.
      3. 3. Friday marks 31 years since Japan's air disaster. Many bereaved relatives are climbing to the crash site on a mountain, west of Tokyo, to mourn for their loved ones.
        August 13, Saturday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Fumiko Konoe and Ms. Risa Shimizu
        
        1.Japan’s government says it will act promptly to disburse funds to support those referred to as wartime comfort women.
        
        2.North Korean media has said the issue of abductions of Japanese nationals by the North has been already resolved.
        
        3.The Court of Arbitration for Sport has banned 2 athletes from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics to testing positive for performance-enhancing substances.
        August 14, Sunday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr.Hirokazu Sakamaki and Ms. Keiko Kitagawa
        
        1.Sunday marks 4 months since the first in a series of strong earthquakes struck southwestern Japan. The lack of housing remains a serious concern.
        
        2.India and China have agreed to hold a summit soon to discuss China’s opposition to India joining a global club of nuclear suppliers.
        
        3.The Wall Street Journal says a proposal under consideration by U.S. President Barack Obama to declare a protocol of “No First Use” for nuclear weapons is running into opposition from top cabinet officials and U.S. allies.
        August 15, Monday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr.Mick Corliss and Ms. Helen Lewis
        
        1.Japan marks 71 years since the end of World War II.
        
        2.Government officials have just announced that the country’s real Gross Domestic Product in the April to June quarter was unchanged from the previous 3 months.
        
        3.A group of South Korean lawmakers landed on Takeshima Islands in the Sea of Japan on Monday.
        August 16, Tuesday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Fumiko Konoe and Ms. Risa Shimizu
        
        1.The Japanese government has posted an online video of Chinese ships that intruded into Japan’s territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
        
        2.A Japanese government task force that fosters earthquake research is set to review the method for evaluating the dangers posed by active faults.
        
        3.Several people were injured at Rio’s Olympic Park when a television camera suspended by cables plummeted about 30 kilometers to the ground.
        August 17, Wednesday, 2016 (2: 00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Emma Howard and Ms. Yuka Matsumoto
        
        1.Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is advancing negotiations to arrange repeated top-level meetings with Russia to pave the way for a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Japan by the end of this year.
        
        2.Russia says it has used an Iranian air base for the first time to carry out a “concentrated airstrike” against the Islamic State group and other militants in Syria.
        
        3.Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi will begin a 4-day official visit to China on Wednesday for talks with Chinese leaders.
        August 18, Thursday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Raja Pradan and Ms. Hiroko Kitadai
        
        1.Officials in Tokyo are arranging a meeting of foreign ministers from Japan, China and South Korea for next week.
        
        2.South Korea says a high-ranking North Korean diplomat stationed in Britain have defected with his family to the South.
        
        3.On the 13th day of the Rio Olympics, Japan won 3 gold medals in women’s wrestling.
        August 19, Friday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Raja Pradan and Ms. Mariko Kojima
        
        1.Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may visit Cuba late next month after attending the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
        
        2.A Russian Cabinet minister says President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will hold talks in Vladivostok on September 2nd.
        
        3.Japan has won its first-ever Olympic gold medal in badminton, with Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo claiming the prize n the women’s doubles in Rio.
        August 20, Saturday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Fumiko Konoe and Ms. Risa Shimizu
        
        1.A United Nations working group has decided to advise the General Assembly to begin negotiations as early as next year on a new treaty to ban nuclear weapons.
        
        2.Japanese lawmakers have told a top Chinese political adviser that they hope the leaders of their countries can meet in China.
        
        3.Japanese athletes won more medals at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Friday, bringing Japan’s total medal count to 41, the highest ever at an Olympic event.
        
        August 21, Sunday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Hirokazu Sakamaki and Ms. Keiko Kitagawa
        
        1.Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says Japan will maintain close contact with the United States on the issue of nuclear weapons.
        
        2.North Korean state media branded a diplomat who defected to South Korea as a criminal.
        
        3.A bomb that exploded at an outdoor wedding party has killed and wounded scores of people in southeastern Turkey near the Syrian border.
        August 22, Monday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Yuka Matsumoto and Ms .Risa Shimizu
        
        1.Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to provide the best conditions for athletes during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
        
        2.Typhoon Mindulle made landfall near Tateyama City in Chiba Prefecture, south of Tokyo, early Monday afternoon.
        
        3.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blamed a suicide bomber aged between 12 and 14 for the fatal terrorist attack at a wedding party near the border with Syria.
        August 23, Tuesday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Fumiko Konoe and Ms. Risa Shimizu
        
        1.Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike says she will quickly examine costs for preparing and operating the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
        
        2.A nuclear reactor at a plant in western Japan is operating at full capacity for the first time in 5 years and 4 months.
        
        3.China says its Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet the foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea in Tokyo on Wednesday.
        August 24, Wednesday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Keiko Kitagawa and Ms. Helen Lewis
        
        1.South Korean military officials say that North Korea fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile, or SLBM, from the Sea of Japan on Wednesday morning.
        
        2.Russia’s national team will most likely not be allowed to compete in next month’s Rio de Janeiro Paralympics.
        
        3.The U.S government says it has received a formal request from Turkey for the extradition of U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen.
        August 25, Thursday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Ms. Yuka Matsumoto
        
        1.The U.N. Security Council has failed to come to an agreement on how to respond to North Korea’s latest missile launch.
        
        2.Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is heading to Kenya to attend the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD.
        
        3.The number of deaths from Wednesday’s earthquake in central Italy has risen to well over 100.
        August 26, Friday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Mariko Kojima and Ms. Sarah McDonald
        
        1.Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has arrived in Kenya to attend the Tokyo International Conference on African Development.
        
        2.Kagoshima Prefecture’s new governor will ask the operator of a nuclear power plant to suspend its operation in order to re-check its safety.
        
        3.Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways says it will cancel more than 300 flights of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet over the coming weeks due to a problem with the plane’s engine parts.
        August 27, Saturday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Fumiko Konoe and Ms. Keiko Kitagawa
        
        1.The 6th Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD, will open in Kenya on Saturday.
        
        2.The United Nations Security Council has issued a strong condemnation on North Korea over a series of missile launches.
        
        3.U.S, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has said the case for increasing interest rates has strengthened in recent months.
        
        August 28, Sunday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Hirokazu Sakamaki and Ms. Keiko Kitagawa
        
        1.The 6th Tokyo International Conference on African Development held in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi will adopt a declaration calling to diversify the African economy.
        
        2.Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry say they will continue to strengthen the bilateral security alliance between the countries.
        
        3.Around 2,500 people who lost their homes have been living in tents and other makeshift facilities in central Italy where a powerful earthquake struck on Wednesday.
        August 29, Monday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Yoshi Ogasawara and Ms. Mariko Kojima
        
        1.Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed that the people and government of Japan will continue to provide assistance for Africa’s development.
        
        2.People in Japan are bracing for another powerful typhoon that is approaching the main island with violent winds and torrential rain.
        
        3.An international conference on the management of Bluefin tuna stocks in the Pacific Ocean will begin on Wednesday in the western Japanese port city of Fukuoka.
        August 30, Tuesday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Fumiko Konoe and Ms. Risa Shimizu
        
        1.A powerful typhoon could make landfall in Japan’s northeast on Tuesday afternoon, bringing heavy rains.
        
        2.A suicide car bombing has hit a military facility in Yemen’s southern city of Aden, killing at least 50 people.
        
        3.U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have agreed for their governments to cooperate on countering terrorism.
        August 31, Wednesday, 2016 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Emma Howard and Ms. Yuka Matsumoto
        
        1.A senior Russian official says President Vladimir Putin will visit Japan in December.
        
        2.Heavy rain from Typhoon Lionrock has burst riverbanks and caused flooding over a wide area of northern Japan.
        
        3.UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked Myanmar’s top leader Aung San Suu Kyi to improve the ethnic affairs of its Rohingya Muslim minority.