August 1, Monday, 2022 (1:30 p.m.) Newsline read by Ms. Keiko Kitagawa

1.Ukraine’s infrastructure minister says a ship loaded with thousands of tons of corn has departed from the southern port of Odesa. It is the first since Russia blocked shipments through the Black Sea in February. The cargo vessel ‘Razoni’ sailed from the port on Monday. It is the result of a deal between Ukraine and Russia, which was brokered by Turkey and the UN last month.
2.Local authorities in central Japan have ordered a real estate company to remove soil mounds that remained after a deadly mudslide last year. Shizuoka Prefecture on Monday issued the order to Shinkansen Building. The company built the mounds on an elevated piece of land it owned in the city of Atami. The mudslide in July last year left 27 people dead and one person missing. The prefecture estimates that the mounds still contain 21,000 cubic meters of soil.
3.Delegates of parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons are gathering in New York to discuss global nuclear arms reductions. The NPT review conference is to open on Monday at the United Nations headquarters, with a speech by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The treaty has 191 states parties. It obliges the five nuclear powers – the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China – to negotiate for nuclear arms reduction, while banning others from developing or possessing nuclear weapons.