Tomoyasu Website 2023

1. Japan has won the World Baseball Classic for the third time, beating the defending champion United States 3 to 2 in the final. It’s their first title since 2009. Japan finished the tournament undefeated and Ohtani was named the Most Valuable Player.
2. Chinese President Xi Jinping has met with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. The two leaders have framed their relationship as one with “no limits.” Putin and Xi discussed their shared goal of providing a counterbalance to the West. They hailed what they called a “new era.”
3. Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has said Tokyo will make 30 million dollars available through NATO trust funds to help Ukraine acquire non-lethal equipment. Kishida said he definitely wanted to visit Ukraine meet Zelenskyy in person and deliver his country’s unwavering solidarity before Japan hosts the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima in May.

1. Japan advanced to the final of the World Baseball Classic by beating Mexico 6-5. “Samurai Japan” will face Team USA in the final on Tuesday in Miami.
2.Japanese officials say Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is heading to Ukraine after visiting India. It will mark the first visit to Ukraine by a Japanese leader since the start of the Russian invasion.
3. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping held an informal meeting in Moscow on Monday. The Chinese president is on a three-day state visit to Russia. This is his first visit since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

1. Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Moscow to hold summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Xi started his three-day state visit to Russia on Monday. This is his first visit since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February last year. A summit meeting is scheduled to be held on Tuesday.
2. Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has invited his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to the G7 summit in May and Modi accepted. The two leaders met in New Delhi, the capital of India on Monday. Both countries agreed to continue to commit to maintain a rules-based world order. 3. Six major central banks have announced a coordinated move to inject more dollars into the global financial system. The decision follows the collapse of two US banks and comes amid a deal for an emergency takeover of Credit Suisse.

1. Western analysts say Russia’s offensive in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk may be losing steam as Ukrainian troops continue all-out resistance. Russian private military firm Wagner Group and Ukrainian forces are locked in a fierce battle for full control of the Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmut. 2. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has told his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba that Beijing intends to play a constructive role in bringing about a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. China’s Foreign Ministry said the two ministers held telephone talks on Thursday. The ministry quoted Qin as saying he had expressed concern about an escalation of the Ukraine-Russia crisis and the possibility of it getting out of control.
3.Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol have agreed to resume the so-called shuttle diplomacy between the leaders of the two countries. Such mutual visits have not taken place in more than a decade.

1. The Japanese Prime Minister and South Korean President are holding talks in Tokyo. Kishida Fumio and Yoon Suk-yeol are hoping to improve strained relations between the countries, as North Korea speeds up its nuclear and missile development. Yoon is the first South Korean president to visit Japan in 12 years – excluding international gatherings.
2. Japan’s defense ministry says the suspected intercontinental ballistic missile fired by North Korea on Thursday likely had the capacity to travel as far as 15,000 kilometers. That is enough to reach the entire US mainland. There is a high possibility that it was what’s known as a lofted missile. 3. A senior White House official has spoken about the US drone that went down into the Black Sea, after it has a physical encounter with a Russian jet. He said the device might never be recovered.

1. Economic data released by China on Wednesday show the world’s second-largest economy picking up at the beginning of this year, following the end of the “zero-COVID” policy. The National Bureau of Statistics says retail sales in the first two months rose by 3.5 percent from the same period a year ago. It was the first increase after three straight months of declines going back to October of 2022. 2. Japan’s annual wage negotiations are set to peak on Wednesday, when many companies will respond to labor unions. Many unions are having their demands met, but the question is whether workers at not only big firms but also smaller ones will be given persistent pay raises. 3. Japan’s Upper House has stripped a member of the chamber of his status as a lawmaker for failing to attend a single Diet session. On Wednesday, the Upper House plenary session voted 235 to one to expel opposition Seijikajoshi 48 Party member GaaSyy. He will no longer be a lawmaker.

1. South Korea’s military says North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles on Tuesday morning. This comes one day after US and South Korean forces began joint military drills. 2. US President Joe Biden has pledged to do whatever it takes to contain the fallout from a pair of banking collapses. He is working to restore confidence after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
3. China’s President Xi Jinping is reportedly planning a visit to Russia next week for talks with his counterpart Vladimir Putin.

1. Nobel Prize-winning Japanese novelist Oe Kenzaburo died of old age on March 3. He was 88. Oe won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1994, becoming the second Japanese author to receive the honor after Kawabata Yasunari.
2. China’s President Xi Jinping has reiterated his determination to push for the reunification of Taiwan in a speech to the National People’s Congress. Xi said he will advance the process of the reunification of the motherland, stressing that China will firmly oppose pro-independence and secessionist activities and the interference of external forces. 3. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed confidence that his forces will successfully defend the strategic city of Bakhmut from Russia. The city is a Ukrainian stronghold in the country’s eastern region of Donetsk.

1. Policymakers at the Bank of Japan have wrapped up their two-day meeting on Friday, the last one for Governor Kuroda Haruhiko. Reflecting on the past 10 years, he called monetary easing a success, and said the potential of Japan’s economy had been fully demonstrated. 2.Twin panda cubs at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo are being prepared for independence from their mother starting on Friday. Male Xiao Xiao and female Lei Lei will be 21 months old on March 23. Wild pandas become independent of their mothers around the age. 3. The latest polls in South Korea show that almost 60 percent of the respondents are against the government’s plan for settling the wartime labor issue with Japan. The plan announced on Monday says a government-backed fund supported by donations from domestic companies is to compensate people who say they or their relatives were forced to work for Japanese firms during World War Two. The survey shows that 35 percent of the respondents support the plan, saying it is good for the national interest and relations with Japan. But 59 percent said they are against the plan as it does not include apologies and compensation from Japan.

1. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol will visit Japan for two days from next Thursday to hold summit talks with Prime Minister Kishida Fumio. It will be the first visit to Japan by a South Korean president in about four years.
2.Japan’s Lower House has endorsed the appointment of economist Ueda Kazuo as the new governor of the Bank of Japan. Ueda, a former BOJ policy board member, is to replace Kuroda Haruhiko, whose term ends on April 8.
3. International Women’s Day demonstrations have taken place in Turkey, Peru, Brazil and many other parts of the world, calling for advances in women’s rights.

1. Japan’s Imperial Household Agency has resumed processions of horse-drawn carriages for newly appointed foreign ambassadors, after a three-year suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic. A procession is held when newly appointed envoys present their credentials to the Emperor. Office workers and foreign tourists were seen taking pictures and videos as the carriage passed through a tree-lined avenue in the business district.
2. Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip have flown kites to mark the 12th year since the massive earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan’s northeast. The kite flying event started in 2012 with the support of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, or UNRWA. The event has since been held annually except for 2020, when it had to be canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. 3. Japan’s tourist industry is struggling with a shortage of workers as demand for travel surges in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government organized job fair in a bid to help companies affected. More than 30 businesses, including bus companies and hotel operators, sent recruiters to the fair on Wednesday. Job-hunting university students and workers seeking to switch jobs visited corporate booths, where they were briefed on the work and wages.

1. The Japanese government has approved a draft of revisions to the immigration law and related legislation. The draft of revisions to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act was approved at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
2. Japan’s launch of its new flagship H3 rocket ended in failure after the second-stage engine didn’t ignite and the mission was aborted. According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, about eight minutes after liftoff it was announced that ignition of the second-stage engine had not been confirmed.
3. Britain’s Financial Times newspaper is reporting that Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is planning to meet with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the United States in April. The article published Monday says. “Several people familiar with the situation said that Tsai and McCarthy had agreed to meet in the US because of Taiwanese security concerns.”

1. South Korean officials have unveiled a plan to settle a longstanding issue with Japan. They say South Korean companies will compensate people who say they were forced to work during World War Two. Foreign Minister Park Jin said, “We are willing to develop the relationship between South Korea and Japan to a higher level, to a more future-oriented one.”
2. South Korea’s government has disclosed plans to halt the process of its complaint with the World Trade Organization against Japan while discussions proceed on Japan’s export restrictions. South Korea’s industry ministry announced on Monday tat Seoul and Tokyo agreed to conduct bilateral consultations on export control issues.
3.The head of Japan’s largest business group says the organization will consider new programs to step up cooperation with its South Korean counterpart, following Seoul’s announcement of a plan to settle the wartime labor issue between the two countries.

1. NHK has learned that preparations are underway to launch Japan’s new H3 flagship rocket on Monday. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) aborted a launch attempt on February 17 due to a system malfunction. Sources involved in the launch have told NHK that arrangements are being made for a second attempt on March 6.
2. A meeting of foreign ministers from the Quad nations of Japan, the United States, Australia and India is underway in New Delhi. The Quad foreign ministers are expected to oppose any attempts to change the status quo by force amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. They will likely confirm efforts to maintain and strengthen international order based on the rule of law. 3. The top diplomats from the US and Russia have attended some of the same meetings since the start of the war in Ukraine. However, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had never taken the opportunity to speak together. On Thursday, they met in person.

1. Foreign ministers from the Group of 20 are meeting for a second day in New Delhi, where the war in Ukraine is expected to take center stage. Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said, “Let us remind ourselves that this grouping bears an exceptional responsibility. We first came together in the midst of a global crisis.” 2. Japan’s agriculture ministry says the number of chickens and other birds culled across the country due to avian flu is to top 15 million this winter – a new record high.
3. The board of education in Toda City, north of Tokyo, has instructed schools to take thorough security measures after an intruder slashed a teacher. Police on Wednesday arrested a 17-year-old senior high school student on suspicion of attempted murder. The student allegedly trespassed into a junior high school in the city and wounded a teacher with a knife.

1. At least 29 people are dead after two trains collided in Greece. Eighty-five others are injured. The crash took place near the city of Larissa, about 200 kilometers north of the capital, Athens. One of the trains was carrying passengers, while the other was transporting freight. 2. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill on Tuesday suspending the country’s last nuclear arms treaty with the US, known as the New START treaty. Putin declared in a national address last week that the would put the agreement on hold. The deal limits the number of nuclear warheads, missiles and bombers in each country’s arsenal.
3. Commanders on both sides of the war in Ukraine have expended soldiers and weapons in a standoff in the east. Month after month, those defending the city of Bakhmut have held their lines in the face of a Russian onslaught. But now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has issued a warning about their fate. Zelenskyy said on late Monday that Russian troops are shattering anything the Ukrainians could use to shield themselves. He said they have been relentless. Still, his troops are refusing to give up.

1. US media says one of the federal agencies comprising the country’s intelligence community now concludes the COVID-19 pandemic was most likely caused by a leak from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the Energy Department recently submitted to the White House a report concluding that the virus likely accidentally spread from the laboratory. 2. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Monday to underscore Washington’s commitment to supporting the country. In a meeting with President Zelenskyy, Yellen stressed, “Ukraine’s fight is our fight. We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.” 3. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is visiting China on Tuesday for talks with President Xi Jinping. The meeting comes amid pressure by the United States on China to avoid providing military aid to Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.

1. A boat crowded with migrants from Afghanistan, Iran and other countries has capsized off the coast of Italy, killing at least 59 people. Italian authorities and media say the wooden vessel crashed against rocks in bad weather and capsized off the coast of the southern Italian province of Calabria on Sunday. It had set sail from Turkey several days earlier. 2. A Japanese venture firm is providing evacuees from Ukraine with an opportunity to learn Japanese via their smartphones. Tokyo-based firm Monoxer is a provider of memorization tools and develops learning platforms mainly for educational institutions and businesses. Now it has created an application for Ukrainian evacuees in Japan who are having trouble finding work due to the language barrier. 3.Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed the commander of Ukrainian forces fighting Russian forces in the Donbas region in the country’s east. He has given no reason for the dismissal of Eduard Moskalyov announced on Sunday. He stressed his resolve to regain all occupied territories from Russia.

1. The government’s nominee for Bank of Japan governor has told a Lower House hearing that he intends to stick with the BOJ’s massive monetary-easing program. Economist Ueda Kazuo said, “If I am approved as governor, I would like to work closely with the government and implement appropriate policies in accordance with developments in ‘economic activity and prices’.” 2. The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution demanding Russia immediately withdraw its forces from Ukraine and urging lasting peace. The resolution was put to a vote at a special session at UN headquarters in New York on Thursday, the eve of the anniversary of Russia’s invasion. In the vote, 141 countries voted in favor of the resolution, while Russia and other six countries voted against it. Another 32 countries, including China, abstained.
3. Finance chiefs and central bank governors from the Group of Seven nations have reaffirmed their “unwavering support” for Ukraine, and their unity in condemning Russia’s invasion. The officials released a statement after their meeting in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru on Thursday, the eve of the first anniversary of the start of the invasion. They were joined by Ukraine’s Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko.

1. Japan’s Emperor Naruhito has greeted the general public on his birthday at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. The Emperor turned 63 on Thursday. This is the first time he has delivered a public birthday greeting since he ascended the throne in 2019. To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, only 4,800 people, chosen by lottery, were allowed into the palace grounds. 2. Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared his intention to boost his country’s nuclear forces, just a day before the one-year anniversary of the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The president hailed Russian forces in Ukraine, saying, “Our troops are heroically fighting the neo-Nazism that has taken root in Ukraine, protecting our people in our historical lands, and are fighting courageously and heroically.”
3. A senior United States government official has expressed deep concerns over China’s possible support for the Russian military in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine and said if assistance is given, it will seriously impact US-China relations.

1. Japan and China have held their first security dialogue in about four years. Senior foreign affairs and defense officials from the two countries met Wednesday in Tokyo.
2. South Korea’s fertility rate in 2022 marked a record low for the seventh year in a row. Statistics Korea said on Wednesday that the average number of children born per woman stood at 0.78 last year, down 0.03 from the previous year. The agency says South Korea is the only country among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development with a fertility rate below one. 3. Prices of new condominiums in Japan reached record highs for the sixth straight year in 2022. The increase were due to a combination of strong demand and soaring building-material costs.

1. US President Joe Biden’s visit to Ukraine was accomplished after careful planning and strict control of information. Accompanying reporters say Biden arrived in Kyiv at 8 a.m. Monday, local time, and shortly after 8:30 a.m., he arrived at the palace to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska.
2. Eighty percent of the people who participated in a survey conducted in Ukraine said that they have physical and mental problems because of the war. Using mobile phones, NHK and the Kyiv-based research organization, Rating Group, surveyed people aged 18 and older across Ukraine. They did not question people living in the eastern region of Donbas or the southern region of Crimea. One thousand people responded.
3. The United Nations Security Council has held an emergency meeting about North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launches. Most of the member nations are standing united, but Russia and China continue to block any strong response.

1. Ukrainian leaders are bracing for major missile attacks as the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion approaches on Friday. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video message on Sunday that the more losses Russia suffers in the eastern region of Donbas, the faster Ukraine will be able to end the invasion.
2. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister has criticized the United States and South Korea for conducting a joint air force drill involving US B-1 bombers on Sunday. Kim Yo Jong noted, “We are carefully examining the influence it would exert on the security of our state,” and added, “we will take corresponding counteraction if it is judged to be any direct or indirect threat.” 3.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said he conveyed his concerns to China’s top diplomat about Beijing’s possible support for the Russian military in the ongoing Ukraine invasion. Washington is apparently warning that it will take measures should Beijing respond to Moscow’s request.

1. Experts are trying to figure out why Japan’s new H3 flagship rocket was not able to lift off from a site in southwestern Japan as scheduled. The rocket was set to launch from the Tanegashima Space Center on Friday morning.
2. Doctors say US President Joe Biden is “fit for duty” after a physical exam. At the age of 80, Biden is the oldest president in US history.
3. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has addressed a prestigious film festival, urging filmmakers and others to assist his country amid Russia’s invasion. The president said Russia has been killing people in Ukraine for almost a year. He stressed that art and culture should not help the “evil” by remaining silent.

1. Candidates to become the next head and deputy heads of the Bank of Japan are set to explain their ideas on Japanese economic policy to Lower House members on February 24. The government on Tuesday presented the Diet with the nominations of Ueda Kazuo as the new central bank governor and Himino Ryozo and Uchida Shinichi as deputy governors. The term of incumbent Governor Kuroda Haruhiko ends in early April.
2. A winter festival featuring huts made from snow has welcomed back tourists for the first time in three years in Akita Prefecture, northern Japan. The event is held every year in the city of Yokote on February 15 and 16. About 40 of the “kamakura” huts were built for the festival. 3. The Financial Times reports Western intelligence shows Russia is amassing aircraft close to the border with Ukraine. It said the move indicates Moscow is preparing to bolster its faltering land offensive. The paper says intelligence shared among NATO allies shows Russia is assembling both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft. The article notes that Russia has used its air forces sparingly, relying instead on long-range missiles, artillery and land-based troops.

1. Providing aid to survivors has been especially hard in Northwest Syria as the civil war in the country continues. But officials are hoping to speed up deliveries with newly opened routes. 2. The government of Turkey and Syria, as well as the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, say the combined death toll from the recent devastating earthquakes that hit southern Turkey has exceeded 40,000.
3. Former Japanese Defense Minister Onodera Itsunori raised concern that objects believed to be Chinese spy balloons could suggest possible vulnerabilities in the nation’s defenses. The ministry on Tuesday said balloon-like objects were spotted over Japanese territory at least three times between 2019 and 2021.

1. Russia is believed to be intensifying its offensive against Ukraine ahead of the first anniversary of its invasion, despite suffering heavy casualties. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a media conference on Monday, “What Russia does now, what President Putin is doing now, is sending thousands of thousands more troops, accepting a very high rate of casualty, taking big losses, but putting pressure on the Ukrainians.”
2. Syria has reportedly agreed to open more land routes from Turkey to allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid by the United Nations to earthquake victims in the opposition-controlled northwestern part of the country. UN emergency relief coordinator Martin Griffiths informed the UN Security Council in an emergency online meeting that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to open two more border crossings for three months.
3. Search and rescue efforts continue in Turkey and Syria. A 12-year-old boy was reportedly pulled alive from the rubble of a collapsed apartment in southern Turkey, more than one week after the devastating earthquake hit. Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported on Monday that the boy had been trapped in the debris for 182 hours in the province of Hatay.

1. The death toll from a series of earthquakes that have rocked Turkey and neighboring Syria over the past week has exceeded 33,000. A magnitude 7.8 quake hit southern Turkey in the early hours of last Monday, followed by more tremors. Turkey has counted 29,605 deaths while Syria tallied at least 3,581 fatalities. Search-and-rescue efforts are underway in quake-stricken areas as many people are believed to be still trapped under collapsed buildings.
2.A government aircraft is delivering medical equipment and supplies to Turkey in the wake of last week’s massive earthquake. The Defense Ministry says the plane is heading to Turkey after stopping at Narita Airport to load about 15 tons of supplies for a Japanese emergency medical team, including tents, beds and operating tables.
3.The United States is calling on UN Security Council members to vote for increased access to quake-stricken Syria by opening more border crossings from Turkey. UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen stressed, “We are mobilizing funding and we are trying to tell everyone, put politics aside. This is the time to unite behind a common effort to support the Syrian people.

1. Japanese weather officials have issued heavy snow warnings for central Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture, located north of the capital. It’s the first warning of its kind for central Tokyo since January 6, 2022.
2. The Japanese government plans to allow people to make their own choices about wearing face masks to prevent coronavirus infections, beginning in March. The government currently recommends that masks be worn indoors. It is reviewing the recommendation because the coronavirus will be reclassified to the same category as seasonal influenza from May 8.
3. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says a UN convoy has entered quake-hit Syria to deliver relief supplies.

1. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made pitches to allies around the world, but rarely in person. On Wednesday, he went on a surprise visit to London to repeat his demands for fighter jets to use in his country’s fight against Russian forces. Zelenskyy said, “I appeal to you, and the world, with the simple and yet most important words: Combat aircraft for Ukraine. Wings for freedom.” 2. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sought additional military support from France and Germany in a meeting with the two countries’ leaders. French President Emmanuel Macron said Russia could not be allowed to win the war, and stressed the need to continue military support for Ukraine and its future as long as Russia keeps attacking.
3. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over a huge military parade in Pyongyang on Wednesday night that showcased intercontinental ballistic missiles. The event marked the 75th founding anniversary of the country’s armed forces and was the first large-scale parade since April last year.

1. The death toll from Monday’s earthquake and aftershocks that hit Turkey and Syria has surpassed 8,300, as desperate efforts continue to rescue people trapped under rubble. A powerful quake with a magnitude of 7.8 hit southern Turkey near the Syrian border early on Monday, followed by another major quake and a series of aftershocks.
2. US President Joe Biden stressed his achievements, including the creation of record employment levels, in a State of the Union address that also outlined policies for the coming year. Biden delivered his second State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, as attention is focused on whether he will soon announce his candidacy for reelection. 3. A Tokyo Olympics executive has been arrested on suspicion of violating Japan’s Anti-Monopoly Act. Sources say former deputy director of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics Organizing Committee’s operations bureau Mori Yasuo has admitted to involvement in rigging bids for test events. Prosecutors and Japan Fair Trade Commission officials suspect that the organizing committee colluded with Dentsu, the country’s largest ad agency, to steer contracts to specific companies.

1. Two men suspected of orchestrating a series of robberies across Japan have arrived in the country to face separate fraud charges. They were deported from the Philippines. They allegedly coordinated the crimes with another pair of Japanese nationals. Who may also soon face deportation. 2. A senior White House official says the US military has recovered parts of a suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down off the US Atlantic Coast on Saturday. A US Air Force fighter jet downed the balloon after it traveled across US territory last week. 3. Crews in southeastern Turkey near the border with Syria are searching in near-freezing temperatures to find survivors of earthquakes. At least 3700 people were killed. A magnitude 7.8 quake struck early Monday while many residents were still asleep. In the hours that followed, they felt dozens of aftershocks including one of magnitude 7.5. Thousands of buildings collapsed.

1. A powerful earthquake struck south-east Turkey on Monday morning, reportedly leaving at least 100 people dead in the country and neighboring Syria. Turkish disaster management officials say the quake with an estimated magnitude of 7.4 hit the south-eastern Turkish province of Kahramanmaras, near Syria, at 01:17 UTC on Monday.
2. Visitors to the port city of Nagasaki in southwestern Japan have enjoyed watching a reenactment of a parade featuring a Chinese goddess of maritime safety. The procession on Sunday was the climax of the two-week Nagasaki Lantern Festival. The event recreates a Chinese sailors’ procession from the Tokugawa period between the 17th and 19th centuries.
3.A Japanese exporter of bonsai trees is preparing to welcome foreign buyers for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The Bonsai Network Japan ships potted ornamental trees and shrubs abroad from its facilities north of Tokyo. Europe is its major export market.

1. US television network ABC has aired images of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been observed flying over the continental United States. They show what appears to be black equipment underneath the white balloon.
2.Japan’s two biggest airlines logged improved results for the April-to-December period last year as demand for travel rebounded. Japan Airlines says group sales for the 9 months roughly doubled from a year earlier in yen terms, to over 1 trillion yen, or over 7.8 billion dollars. Japan Airlines’ main competitor, ANA Holdings, saw group sales for the April-to-December period rise about 70 percent. The figure was just over 1.25 trillion yen, or over 9.7 billion dollars.
3. The value of Japan’s exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products last year reached a record high owing to the weak yen and recovering demand in the global restaurant industry. The value of exports has increased for 10 consecutive years. The figure in 2022 was about 3.1 times that in 2012.

1.Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa says his country is seriously concerned about the further extension of the state of emergency in Myanmar. He said the country’s military has been failing to work for political progress, such as the release of all of detained people, including Aung San Suu Kyi.
2.A former commander in Russian private military company Wagner who fled to Norway has spoken about the brutality of the fighting in Ukraine. Andrei Medvedev was interviewed by Norwegian public broadcaster NRK. Asked why he signed the contract with Wagner, he said he grew up as an orphan and had believed Russian propaganda. Medvedev said he decided to desert after he saw what was happening on the frontline. He added that he wanted to apologize to the Ukrainian people,and expressed a willingness to cooperate with an investigation into war crimes.
3.The transportation authority of the western Japanese city of Kyoto says it will do away with one-day bus passes at the end of March,2024. The aim of the move is to ease passenger congestion by reducing the number of tourists on buses.

1.A UN human rights expert on Myanmar has called for a coordinated response by the international community ahead of Wednesday’s two-year anniversary of the military coup that overturned the democratically elected government.
2.The Philippines is taking steps to repatriate four Japanese nationals who are believed to be linked to a series of robberies in Japan. Attention has been focused on how soon the suspects will be sent. Philippine officials are expected to discuss the matter as early Wednesday afternoon.
3.Police in Pakistan say they suspect a security lapse may have been to blame for a deadly blast that occurred at a crowded mosque on Monday. The massive explosion took place in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar. Local authorities say it left at least 95 people dead and more than 200 others injured.

1.The members of the UN Security Council discussed North Korea for the first time this year during a meeting on Monday. The conference was chaired by Japan. Last year, North Korea repeatedly launched ballistic missiles. It fired at least 73 missiles, including cruise missiles, toward the Sea of Japan and other destinations.
2.US media outlets are reporting that former world champion skier Kyle Smaine was killed in an avalanche in central Japan on Sunday. Many messages have been posted on social media. The US Freeski Team wrote, “Today we lost an incredible person friend, skier and teammate to the mountains.” It added, “Smaine loved exploring the mountains, was a fierce competitor but an even better person and friend.”
3.Russian commanders have been trying for months to break through defensive positions in eastern Ukraine. Now, they may have some momentum. The troops had already captured Soledar, a town they see as a foothold in the Donetsk region. Now, authorities claim soldiers have secured a place that has been a Ukrainian bastion since the outset of the war.

1.The head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will arrive in Japan on Monday. He is expected to discuss strengthening bilateral ties amid growing collaboration between Russia and China. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will meet Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and other officials during his three-day visit to Japan.
2.Four Chinese government ships have entered Japan’s territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The vessels are reportedly navigating in waters a few kilometers away from Japanese fishing and survey ships.
3.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked the international community to supply new weapons quickly to his country as Russian attacks there continue to kill civilians.

1.An expert panel of Japan’s health ministry agreed on Friday that COVID-19 should be downgraded to the same category of infectious diseases as seasonal influenza in about three months. The government is expected to decide at a meeting of its coronavirus task force later in the day that the disease’s classification will be downgraded on May 8.
2.Japan’s government has decided on additional sanctions on Russia in response to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Exports will be banned to 49 more entities, including Russian aircraft repair factories. More items will be added to the list of banned exports to Russia.
3.Canada has joined Germany and the United States in sending battle tanks to Ukraine. Canada’s defense minister Anita Anand announced on Thursday that her country will supply Ukraine with four of its German-made Leopard 2 tanks.

1.Germany has announced that it will supply its highly capable Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. The German government said on Wednesday that it will send its first batch of 14 and also train Ukrainian soldiers in Germany. It also said it will allow countries that possess Leopard 2 tanks to provide them to Ukraine.
2.The United Nations’ cultural agency UNESCO decided to add the historic center of Odesa in Ukraine to its World Heritage List on Wednesday. Called the Pearl of the Black Sea, Odesa developed as a port city during the age of Russian Empire. It flourished as a strategic hub of maritime trade, where a variety of cultures and nationalities mingled.
3.Ukraine’s ambassador to Japan says victory is on the way, but not without help. NHK sat down with Sergiy Korsunsky to talk about Russia’s invasion, now 11 months in. The ambassador says Japan can play a crucial role in setting up and running the financial platform that will be created for the reconstruction and modernization of Ukraine.

1.Weather officials forecast heavy snow will continue to fall in areas along the Sea of Japan coast in northern and eastern Japan. They are calling on people to stay on the alert for possible traffic disruptions.
2.Heavy snow in central and western Japan has left vehicles stranded over a 10-kilometer stretch of expressway between Nagoya and Kyoto. The Central Nippon Expressway Company says vehicles have become trapped on the Shin-Meishin Expressway between the Komono Interchange in Mie Prefecture and the Koka-Tsuchiyama Interchange in Shiga Prefecture.
3.Investigative sources say police suspect that a person using the name “Luffy” was the mastermind behind a spate of robberies in Japan. Police suspect that the robberies were carried out by groups of people who had been recruited through social media. They allegedly broke into homes and shops in accordance with Luffy’s instructions.

1.Many areas across Japan are expected to be affected by the coldest air mass of the season from Tuesday. Weather officials are advising people to prepare for heavy snow and low temperatures and refrain from going out in the worst of the weather.
2.Businesses across Japan are preparing to respond to a bout of severe winter weather in the coming days. Demand for some goods has been unexpectedly high at some shops. A home improvement store in Fukuoka City in southwestern Japan says it has sold all of its merchandise for coping with heavy snow and icy weather. Among the items sold out were snow shovels and covers for water pipes to keep them from freezing up.
3.Japanese insurers are planning to hike premiums for coverage of war damage to ships in waters around Russia and Ukraine. The move comes as Russia’s drawn-out invasion of Ukraine prompts reinsurance companies to increase their rates.

1.Police in the United States say the suspect in a deadly shooting outside Los Angeles has been found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It ends a manhunt that began after a gunman killed 10 people and injured 10 others during Lunar New Year’s celebrations. The male suspect’s body was found inside a van in a parking lot about 30 kilometers from the crime scene.
2.Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio says addressing the country’s falling birthrate will be a top priority for the government. Kishida said births in Japan last year are estimated to be under 800,000. He said the government will try to implement unprecedented countermeasures to boost the number of births. He said he intends to devise steps and seek stable financial sources to achieve the goal.
3.Japanese weather officials are urging people to prepare for heavy snow and cold temperatures as soon as possible. They warn that the coldest air mass of this winter is expected to bring heavy snow to much of the country from Tuesday.

1.Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has instructed ministers to consider steps toward recategorizing COVID-19 into the same class of infectious diseases as seasonal flu this spring.
2.South Korea plans to ease its indoor mask mandate at the end of this month, after the Lunar New Year holidays. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told a task force meeting on Friday that the daily number of new infections of the coronavirus has been declining for three weeks.
3.Japan has submitted a revised recommendation letter for a group of gold and silver mines on Sado Island on the Sea of Japan to be registered as a World Cultural Heritage site.

1.Eyes around the world will soon turn to Germany where defense chiefs with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are set to meet. The Friday talks will once again focus on help for Ukraine. And this time the main topic is tanks.
2.Japan has posted its biggest annual trade deficit on record. The weaker yen and soaring energy prices were mostly to blame.
3.New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced she is stepping down. She says her time in office has been her greatest honor, but says she is no longer the right person for the job.

1.Politicians, business leaders, academics and activists are weighing in on global issues from a resort town in the Swiss Alps. They have descended on Davos for the world Economic Forum. Ukraine’s first lady says some leaders have failed to use their influence to help stop the fighting. Olena Zelenska says, if her country loses, the war could ignite wider crises.
2.A US Defense Department spokesperson says the US military has begun training Ukrainians to use and maintain the Patriot missile defense system. The US-produced Patriot is a mobile surface-to-air missile system designed to intercept ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as aircraft. The Dutch defense ministry on Tuesday said it was also ready to provide Ukraine with the Patriot system.
3.A former commander with Russia’s private military contractor Wagner has reportedly fled to Norway and is seeking asylum there. Norwegian human rights group Gulagu.net released an interview with Medvedev in which he explained his reasons for defecting.

1.China says its population dropped by around 850,000 people last year, marking the first decline in 61 years. The National Bureau of Statistics announced on Tuesday that the total on the mainland stood at an estimated one billion, 411 million, 750 thousand as of the end of 2022. China ended its one-child policy in 2016 after struggling with labor shortages and a rapidly aging demographic.
2.Japan is marking the 28th anniversary on Tuesday of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, which left 6,434 people dead. The powerful quake jolted the western prefecture of Hyogo and nearby areas on January 17, 1995, causing scores of buildings to collapse and fires to break out across affected areas.
3.The Japanese government says it has decided to offer debt relief of 7.8 billion yen to Ukraine to help ease the economic burden imposed on the country since it was invaded by Russia. Ukraine was supposed to pay back the amount, which is equivalent to over 60 million dollars at current rates, to Japan by the end of this year. It was to have been part of repayment of financial assistance. Japan’s Foreign Ministry says it has agreed with Kyiv that the money will be repaid in 10 installments over a six-month period, starting June 2027.

1.The world Economic Forum will open its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Monday with the slogan “Cooperation in a fragmented world.” Participants are expected to discuss the impact on the world economy of the US-China standoff and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They are also expected to exchange views on what can be done to put the economy back on the globalization track.
2.Japanese pharmaceutical firm Eisai on Monday said it has applied to Japan’s health ministry for approval of its Alzheimer’s drug. The drug is designed to slow the progression of the neurodegenerative disease by reducing the accumulation of amyloid beta in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. The abnormal protein is believed to induce neuronal cell death.
3.Bankruptcies of nursing care providers across Japan hit their highest level last year since 2000. Credit research firm Tokyo Shoko Research says 143 care providers went bankrupt in 2022. Businesses with fewer than 10 employees accounted for more than 80 percent of the bankruptcies.

1.Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has found some common ground with his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau as part of his efforts toward a free and open Indo-Pacific. The two met in Ottawa on Thursday. Kishida is touring five Group of Seven countries and meeting with their leaders ahead of the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May.
2.Japan and the United States are to start discussions for effective operation of Japan’s counterattack capabilities under its new defense policy. Japan’s Defense Minister Hamada Yasukazu and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met at the Pentagon on Thursday.
3.Ukraine’s deputy defense minister says a fierce battle is continuing near the Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmut in the eastern region of Donetsk. Hanna Maliar briefed reporters on the status of fighting over the town of Soledar on Thursday. She said Ukrainian soldiers are fighting desperately despite the difficult situation.

1.Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and his British counterpart, Rishi Sunak, have affirmed unity ahead of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima in May. Kishida flew into London on the third leg of a weeklong tour. He previously visited France and Italy, and will travel next to Canada and the United States.
2.Japan and the United States say they are reorganizing their defense cooperation to be more effective. This comes as Tokyo is strengthening its capability to respond to attacks, and as both countries say they want to counter China’s attempts to change the status quo.
3.Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has arrived in Ottawa to hold talks with his Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau. Kishida is currently on a tour of France, Italy, Britain, Canada and the United States, ahead of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima slated for May. Canada is the fourth designation of the tour.

1.Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni have agreed to upgrade the two countries’ relationship to a strategi partnership. Italy is the second stop of Kishida’s trip to five of the Group of Seven nations. His trip comes ahead of May’s G7 summit, which Japan will host in Hiroshima.
2.The coronavirus is rapidly spreading in China. And, travelers from there are facing restrictions imposed by multiple countries. Those include Japan and South Korea. Beijing is now hitting back with its own. It has suspended issuing certain visas to people from both countries.
3.Japanese Defense officials say a Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer that is stranded in western Japan may have struck rocks, noting shallow waters were spotted nearby.

1.Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and French President Emmanuel Macron have agreed the two nations will work closely to ensure the success of the upcoming Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima. Kishida told Macron that he wants the summit, scheduled for May, to be a forum where G7 nations can express their resolve to uphold a free and open international order based on the rule of law. He also said the meeting will give the G7 countries a chance to show their commitment to strengthening strict sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, as well as their strong support for Kyiv.
2.Researchers in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, have confirmed for the first time that endangered Japanese eels inhabit Dotonbori River in the middle of Osaka City.
3.A Japanese saury fishing cooperative says the country’s catch of the fish hit a record low in 2022 for the fourth year in a row.

1.Brazilian media outlets say security authorities have removed supporters of the country’s former President Jair Bolsonaro from the Congress and other buildings in the capital, Brasilia. But they say clashes between Bolsonaro loyalists and police are continuing in some parts of the city. The mob breached security barricades and entered the Congress building on Sunday. They also stormed into the nearby presidential palace and the Supreme Court.
2.US President Joe Biden has visited the US-Mexico border for the first time since he took office two years ago. Biden visited El Paso on Sunday to inspect immigration control. He exchanged opinions with border security officials and local lawmakers.
3.Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has left for France on the first leg of his tour of five Group of Seven nations. Kishida plans to visit France, Italy, Britain, Canada and the United States from Monday through Sunday to hold talks with their leaders in the run-up to the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May. Japan holds the presidency this year.

1.Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his troops to observe a ceasefire starting Friday to mark Orthodox Christmas. He said soldiers “along the entire line of contact” with Ukraine will hold their fire for 36 hours. He called on Ukrainian forces to follow suit. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected the idea.
2.Firefighters in Tokyo have held their annual New Year’s drill. They conducted the drill to prepare for a possible major quake, as this year marks the centennial of the magnitude-7.9 Great Kanto Earthquake.
3.A government survey shows that 27.9 percent of Japanese companies allow their employees to stay on the job until age 70. The figure is up 2.3 percentage points from a year earlier. A law that took effect in April 2021 requires companies to do what they can to keep their employees on the payroll until age 70 if they wish to continue working, as Japan’s population is rapidly aging.

1.Fishers based at a port with the largest annual catch in Japan have marked their first day at sea in 2023. The fishers poured sake rice wine into the sea in a ritual to pray for the safety of their operations and good catches in the year ahead.
2.US President Joe Biden has revealed that his country is considering sending armored fighting vehicles to Ukraine to help Ukrainians take back territory from the Russians. Biden is considering Bradley Fighting Vehicles, which run on caterpillar tracks and are equipped with an autocannon and other weapons. They can attack while transporting soldiers.
3.A senior White House official says the United States is considering enhancing defense cooperation with Japan and South Korea amid North Korea’s growing threats.

1. Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is set to meet with US President Joe Biden at the White House on January 13. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced the meeting Tuesday in a statement that said the leaders will aim “to further deepen ties between our governments, economies, and our people.”
2. Japan’s ambassador to the United Nations has vowed to make efforts to maintain the peace and security of the international community as the country serves as a non-permanent member of the Security Council.
3. The US House of Representatives has failed to elect a speaker on the first ballot for the first time in 100 years. The Republicans won a majority in the chamber following the elections in November and the new session adjourned on Tuesday. Top House Republican Kevin McCarthy was seen as a favorite within the Republican Party to become speaker. But he fell short of a majority in the first ballot after failing to gain support from hardliners and other Republican representatives. He also failed to win a majority in the subsequent two rounds of voting.

1. Japan’s airports, railway stations and expressways are crowded on Tuesday as people return from their year-end and New Year holidays. This holiday season saw more travelers as it was the first time in three years that there were no coronavirus restrictions in place.
2. Japanese businesses are increasingly finding practical applications for quantum technology from worker shift-scheduling to railway operations. Electronics and other firms have been engaged in research into quantum computers, which would vastly surpass the calculating power of supercomputers.
3. Russia’s defense ministry said on Monday 63 of its soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian rocket strike in the eastern region of Donbas. It also said Ukraine used a HIMARS rocket launcher supplied by the US.

1. Worshippers flocked to a shrine in central Tokyo in the early hours of New Year’s Day to pray for good luck in 2023. Crowds of people gathered at Meiji Jingu before midnight on New Year’s Eve. They waited in line to hear the sound of a drum that signaled the arrival of the New Year.
2. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been sworn in as Brazil’s president. He now faces the difficult task of reuniting the country following an intense campaign. Lula, who led Brazil’s leftist government from 2003 through 2010 during two previous terms as the country’s leader, beat former right-wring president Jair Bolsonaro in an October runoff. Lula’s inauguration ceremony took place on Sunday in the capital Brasilia.
3. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken with China’s new Foreign Minister Qin Gang by telephone. The talks took place on Sunday, as Qin was leaving Washington for his new role. China appointed the ambassador to the United States to head the foreign ministry on Friday.

1. Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has returned to power with a hardline coalition government after winning November’s national election.
2. Brazilian soccer legend Pele, a three-time World Cup winner, has died. He was 82. Pele, whose real name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, was born in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais in 1940. He joined the national squad at the age of 17 and helped it win the World Cup for the first time in 1958. 3. Russian forces have unleashed another large-scale missile barrage at energy infrastructure and other targets across Ukraine, causing casualties and severely disrupting daily life amid the bitter winter cold.

1. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stressed his resolve to retake territory from Russia and help Ukrainians who have evacuated the country to return. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces have already managed to liberate more than 1,800 cities and villages from Russian occupation, and pledged to continue efforts to restore the country’s territorial integrity. The president said millions of Ukrainians have been displaced and found shelter abroad since Russia’s invasion began. He expressed gratitude to all the countries that have accepted and helped those people. Zelenskyy went on, “But we must reserve them as a part of Ukrainian society. We have to ensure their return.” 2. Battles for control of the Russian stronghold of Luhansk in Ukraine’s eastern region appear to be intensifying as Ukrainian forces try to take it back. Ukrainian forces are continuing counteroffensives to seize territories Russia is occupying. In the Luhansk region, Ukrainian troops appear to be stepping up their offensive to recapture Kreminna. 3. Railways, airports and expressways in Japan are packed with people heading off to hometowns and vacations during the year-end and New Year holidays.

1. Many people in Japan are heading overseas to enjoy their first year-end and New Year holidays since the country significantly eased border controls against the COVID-19 pandemic. 2. Sources say the Japan Football Association has decided to let men’s national team coach Moriyasu Hajime stay in his post. Moriyasu, 54, led the Samurai Blue in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar earlier this year. The team advanced to the last 16 after beating powerhouses Germany and Spain in the group stage, but failed to reach the quarterfinals as the team had hoped. 3. A government survey has revealed that airports across Japan are facing a severe shortage of security staff amid a recovery in air travel. A transport ministry survey shows that the number of security staff fell from 7,400 in April 2020 to 5,600 in September 2022. That’s reduction of 1,800 staff, or about 25 percent.

1. Indonesians have commemorated the 18th anniversary of the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami that struck on December 26, 2004. The disaster left more than 220,000 people dead or missing in a vast area spanning from Southeast Asia to East Africa. The tsunami was triggered by a massive earthquake that struck off the coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island. More than 160,000 people were killed in Aceh province, located on the northwest tip of the island. 2. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says his country wants an international conference on ending the war to be held at the end of February. Kuleba also suggested that Ukrainian soldiers will be trained outside the country to learn how to use the US Patriot air defense system. He said that the Patriot missile battery will be operational in less than six months and that Ukraine will do whatever it can to win the war next year. 3. Japan’s reconstruction minister Akiba Kenya has submitted his resignation over political funding irregularities and other issues.

1. Britain’s King Charles has delivered his first Christmas message to the nation as monarch. He remembered his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September, and expressed gratitude to public workers.
2. Some of Ukraine’s Orthodox churches held Christmas services on December 25 in a break with the Russian Orthodox tradition that observes Christmas on January 7.
3. China’s Zhejiang Province reported more than one million new coronavirus cases on Sunday as the number of the infections surge nationwide. Provincial health authorities say the number of new COVID cases is expected to peak before the New Year holidays. They say the daily tally could reach up to 2 million. But the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention says new COVID cases nationwide reached only 2,940 on Saturday.

1. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a direct appeal to Americans for more support during a surprise visit Wednesday to Washington. In a speech delivered before Congress, he thanked the US for continuing to provide military aid, which he called an investment in democracy. 2. The Japanese government has released a report on experts’ opinions about its handling of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s state funeral in September. The government heard from 21 experts in various fields, including scholars of the Constitution and administrative law, between October and December. 3. Newly released tax records for former US president Donald Trump show that he paid no income tax in 2020, his final full year in office. The Ways and Means Committee of the US House of Representatives has released a summary report on Trump’s tax filings from 2015 to 2020.

1. The White House says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is visiting Washington and holding a summit with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday. A source close to the Ukrainian government said it will be the first time for Zelenskyy to visit a foreign country since Russia began its attacks in February.
2. NHK has learned that police in Japan have raided a number of seafood traders who are suspected of selling clams illegally imported from North Korea.
3. US billionaire Elon Musk says he is stepping down as CEO of social-media giant Twitter. His resignation would follow a poll in which a majority of Twitter users voted in favor of him quitting the CEO job.

1. Kyiv authorities illuminated a Christmas tree in the Ukrainian capital on Monday evening amid continued power outages caused by Russian attacks. Standing in a city center square, the tree is 12 meters tall, less than half the usual height, and the daily hours of illumination have been shortened.
2. Japan’s central bank has surprised markets by adjusting its monetary policy, allowing long-term interest rates to fluctuate in wider band. The Bank of Japan believes the new range will improve market functions. The yield for the 10-year Japanese Government Bond will now be allowed to move in a range of around plus and minus 0.5 percent. The earlier range was plus and minus 0.25 percent.
3. A food maker in northern Japan is rushing to meet demand for “datemaki” rolled omelets. They are part of the colorful “osechi” delicacies traditionally served over the New Year holiday. The company in Hokkaido plans to make more than 3,000 of the distinctive cog-shaped rolls in time for New Year.

1. Argentina has won the men’s soccer World Cup in Qatar by defeating France in the white-knuckle penalty shootout of the final. It was the South American team’s first title in 36 years, and its third overall. The two powerhouses clashed at Lusail stadium on Sunday. Argentina is third in the FIFA rankings while defending champion France is fourth. 2. Britain and the United States are stepping up their military aid to Ukraine as Russia continues missile attacks on Ukraine’s cities and infrastructure.
3. Record snowfalls for a 24-hour period have been observed in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, and Niigata Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan coast. Weather officials are urging caution for the possible impacts of accumulated snow and icy roads on public transport as well as blackouts and avalanches.

1.The UN General Assembly has adopted for the 18th straight year a resolution urging North Korea to immediately return all foreign nationals it has abducted. The assembly adopted the resolution without a vote on Thursday. It has been submitted by the European Union every year. More than 60 countries, including Japan and South Korea, co-sponsored the resolution this year. 2. In a major milestone in efforts to revamp Japan’s defense strategy – the Cabinet is set to approve three key documents which reimagine how the nation should be able to defend itself and provide a plan to pay for some big changes. The National Security Strategy and the National Defense Strategy outline a new policy that would give Japan the ability to launch counterstrikes – only under specific circumstances. They would be limited to self-defense and would never be preemptive.
3. Experts tasked with assessing the coronavirus situation in Tokyo are calling on residents to be on the alert for a resurgence of infections. They say the number of new daily cases may double from the current figure to reach nearly 30,000 in mid-January.

1. Defending champions France are through to the World Cup final in Qatar after a 2-nil win over tournament surprise package Morocco. The match was billed as a battle between French superstar Kylian Mbappe and Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou who had conceded just once in five games that included a penalty shootout. But it took France just 5 minutes to beat him. A goalmouth scramble saw the ball fall to defender Theo Hernandez who angled a shot home. 2. Participants of a UN Security meeting have called for urgent reform of the body. Observers say the council is failing to take united action over the situation in Ukraine and other matters due to disagreements between member states with veto power.
3. Post offices across Japan started accepting New Year’s greeting cards on Thursday. In this age of social media, the postal service is encouraging people to give their greetings in the traditional way by sending “nengajo.”

1. The Bank of Japan said on Wednesday that its Tankan survey shows that business sentiment among major manufacturers worsened for the fourth straight quarter. The BOJ polled over 9,000 companies from early November to early December.
2.Dozens of countries have pledged over 1 billion euros, or about 1.1 billion dollars, in additional aid to Ukraine to help the people there survive the freezing winter weather. France initiated an aid conference for Ukraine, as Russian missile attacks have left Ukrainian citizens desperately short of power, heat and water across the country. 3. Superstar Lionel Messi led Argentina into the final of the FIFA World Cup with a 3-0 win over 2018 runner-up Croatia. Argentina is seeking its first World Cup championship since 1986.

1. Japan’s Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa says the government is considering supporting the African Union’s admission to the Group of 20 economies. The African Union comprises of 55 members and is one of the largest regional blocs in the world. US President Joe Biden has indicated that he will announce support for its membership. 2.The United States has announced that it plans to give Africa 55 billion dollars in aid over the next three years. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan made the announcement on Monday, as President Joe Biden was preparing to host the US-Africa summit in Washington. 3.Ukraine is once again pressing its Western allies for help to battle back Russia’s invasion. The Group of Seven responded with a pledge to bolster Ukrainian air defenses and push Moscow to work for peace. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the leaders online Monday. He asked for more air defense systems, howitzers and long-range rockets.

1.China’s official coronavirus case count has dropped, but the actual number is believed to be much higher after the government eased its zero-COVID policy. The Chinese government says more than 8,000 new cases were confirmed on Sunday. The daily tally dropped to about one-fifth of the figure when the infection peaked in late November. But the case count is believed to have fallen partly because fewer people are taking PCR tests, after authorities stopped requesting people to present negative test results at may public places. 2. The US government says it has taken custody of a Libyan man accused of being involved in making the bomb that destroyed Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. 3. Japanese venture firm has successfully launched what could become the first privately-funded spacecraft to land on the moon.

1. Japan’s Empress Masako marked her 59th birthday on Friday. In a statement released by the Imperial Household Agency, the Empress said she feels deep sorrow over the fact that the lives of many people, including children, have been lost due to wars and conflicts around the world. 2. Japan’s Finance Minister Suzuki Shunichi says the government must sincerely explain to the public its plan to raise taxes to finance the country’s growing defense budget. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio instructed ministers and the ruling coalition parties to raise Japan’s defense budget amid the increasingly severe security environment surrounding the country. 3.Chinese President Xi Jinping is exploring new territory during what he has called a “pioneering” trip to Saudi Arabia. He has signed dozens of deals to “usher in a new era” in relations with the Arab world.

1. Russian President Vladimir Putin says the risk of nuclear war is on the rise, but he insists his country sees its arsenals as purely defensive deterrent. At Russia’s Human Rights Council on Wednesday, Putin said he understands “what nuclear weapons are.”
2. Japan’s Lower House has passed a bill that would regulate donations to religious entities. They include the controversial group formerly known as the Unification Church. The bill has been sent to the Upper House and is expected to be enacted on Saturday. 3. Peru’s Congress voted on Wednesday to oust President Pedro Castillo during an impeachment trial that was prompted by allegations of corruption. Vice President Dina Boluarte was sworn in to replace Castillo.

1. In the United States, the Democratic incumbent has won Tuesday’s Senate runoff in the state of Georgia. The result is a setback for former President Donald Trump, who had backed the Republican candidate. The race in Georgia came to a runoff after none of the candidates won the required majority of votes in last month’s midterm elections. 2. Japan faces a rising tide of aging infrastructure that cannot be repaired due to tight budgets and worker shortages. Local authorities are required to inspect bridges and tunnels every five years, following a fatal tunnel collapse a decade ago. The accident in the Chuo Expressway’s Sasago Tunnel in Yamanashi Prefecture killed nine people. 3. Business leaders across the US saw a shortage of semiconductors put a wrench in global supply chains already disrupted by the pandemic. They and President Joe Biden are hoping the world’s largest contract chipmaker can help. On Tuesday, Biden visited a plant in Arizona being built by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Executives have spent 12 billion dollars on the facility and hope to have it running in 2024. They have also announced they will build another factor nearby. Their investment of 40 billion dollars is one of the largest outlays by a foreign company in US history.

1. Chinese President Xi Jinping and other members of the country’s leadership have paid tribute to former President Jiang Zemin, who died last Wednesday. He was 96. Jiang was appointed General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party by then-supreme leader Deng Xiaoping after the Tiananmen Square incident in June of 1989. Pro-democracy demonstrators were militarily cracked down in the incident. He promoted economic reforms that involved the introduction of a market economy under socialism.
2. Japan has missed its chance to advance to the quarterfinals at the men’s soccer World Cup in Qatar. The Samurai Blue lost to Croatia on penalties. This was the third World Cup to pit Japan against Croatia which was the runner-ip in 2018. Japan’s Maeda Daizen opened scoring just before half time. Croatia equalized the score in the 55th minute. 3. Hundreds of soccer fans witnessed Japan’s heartbreaking World Cup defeat to Croatia at a public viewing spot in Tokyo. Their reaction to the loss, however, was largely positive. The crowd roared when Maeda Daizen netted the opener in the first half. But the fans turned jittery again after Croatia got the equalizer to take the game into extra time. There was a sigh of disappointment after Japan lost in the penalty shootout. But it was soon followed by a round of applause.

1. Authorities in China have begun loosening some measures against coronavirus infections across the country. The move comes as the government indicated its intention to “optimize” anti-infection measures last week. Beijing’s strict “zero-COVID” policy has recently sparked protests in various cities.
2. Japan’s ruling and opposition parties are closer to an agreement on a bill that would regulate religious group’s questionable solicitation practices. The government submitted the bill to help people who have suffered financially from the actions of the former Unification Church.
3. A fierce battle continues in eastern Ukraine as Ukraine and Russia fight for gains in areas they will control during the winter months. Russian forces are mounting incessant attacks on Ukrainian-controlled Bakhmut in the eastern region of Donetsk.

1.In the men’s soccer World Cup, Japan again came from behind to seize victory. Japan defeated former champion Spain 2-1 in a Group E match, advancing to the knockout stage. Spain took the control of the game at the beginning, with Alvaro Morata scoring in the 11th minute. The tide turned when Japan sent in two attackers at the start of the second half. Japan took the ball with aggressive defense, and Doan Ritsu scored a game-tying goal in the 48th minute. Just three minutes later, Mitoma Kaoru turned a cross ball, and Tanaka Ao pushed it in.
2.History was made on Thursday when a female referee took charge of a men’s World Cup match for the first time. Frenchwoman Stephanie Frappart oversaw the game between Germany and Costa Rica.
3.British defense analysts said on Thursday that Russian forces are striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure to “demoralize” the populace and force their leaders to “capitulate.” However, they say the strategy has likely been “blunted.”

1.Kyiv is calling for all-out resistance against Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and Washington has announced new aid to help Ukraine restore its energy facilities. Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk on Tuesday posted on social media that the country would not succumb to cold and darkness. She called on citizens to hold tight for 100 days until spring arrives.
2.The death of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin is expected to help President Xi Jinping to further consolidate his power base. China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that Jiang died of leukemia in Shanghai on Wednesday. He had been seen as an influential counterweight to Xi’s power.
3.NATO leaders are concerned about the risks around depending too much on China. That’s one of the big takeaways from a two-day meeting of foreign ministers.

1.Factory activity in China shrank for the second-straight month in November. Lockdowns amid a new wave of coronavirus infections weighed on the economy.
2.Tokyo police say the suspect who stabbed a university professor on Tuesday may have known the victim’s work scheduled in advance. The attacker is still at large.
Sociologist and Tokyo Metropolitan University Professor Miyadai Shinji was stabbed by a man at the university’s Minami-Osawa campus in the city of Hachioji.
3.China has announced that three astronauts have successfully docked with the country’s orbiting space station to finish the facility’s assembly.

1.Protests against China’s tough COVID restrictions have spread to Hong Kong. Many people gathered near a station in central Hong Kong Island on Monday night with flowers in a response to an online call to hold a vigil for the victims of an apartment fire in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Dozens of them held up blank sheets of paper in a silent show of protest for the victims in the city of Urumqi.
2.US government officials have backed the right of people to “peacefully protest” in China as protesters in multiple Chinese cities have demonstrated against the government’s “zero-COVID” policy.
3.British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said “the golden era” with China is over in his response to Beijing’s crack-down on massive protests against its zero-COVID policy. Sunak said on Monday that Britain needs to evolve its approach to China, saying “the so-called golden era is over, along with the naïve idea that trade would lead to social and political reform.”

1.Japan’s Emperor Naruhito has left a Tokyo hospital after undergoing a prostate biopsy, or examination of tissue samples. Earlier this month, the Emperor had an MRI prostate scan at the same hospital after a blood test showed a level of protein, called PSA, was a little higher than normal.
2.Japan’s top government spokesperson says the government will promote comprehensive measures to help increase the number of childbirths. The health ministry released a preliminary report last week which said the number of babies born with Japanese nationality in the whole of the year could be fewer than 800,000 for the first time since record-keeping began.
3.Female leaders from African countries attending an international conference in Tokyo have stressed the need to take measures to ensure a stable food supply. The first Asia Pacific and Africa Women’s Economic Exchange Summit opened on Monday. In the summit, Fatoumatta Bah-Barrow, the wife of the Gambian president, expressed concern about the current food situation.

1.The United Nations Human Rights Council has decided to establish an independent mission to probe Iran’s alleged suppression of ongoing mass protests. The public anger in Iran was sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly improperly wearing her hijab headscarf. Her death has led to protests across Iran for more than two months. The UN and human rights groups say Iranian security authorities have been cracking down on demonstrators, killing more than 300 people.
2.Authorities have raided Dentsu, one of Japan’s major ad agencies, over alleged bid-rigging involving test events for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. Tokyo prosecutors and the Japan Fair Trade Commission searched Dentsu’s head office and an event-organizing firm, both in the capital, on Friday. Authorities suspect the two violated Japan’s anti-monopoly law.
3.Artisans in a city north of Tokyo are busy producing traditional daruma dolls in a bid to root for the Japan squad in the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament in Qatar. Takasaki City in Gunma Prefecture is the top producer of the dolls, which are a symbol of good luck. They are modeled after the legendary Buddhist monk Dharma. A local workshop has been producing the dolls to support Japan’s national team since the 2006 World Cup tournament in Germany.

1.In the World Cup, Japan pulled off its biggest upset since first appearing in the tournament back in 1998. The Samurai Blue came from behind in Wednesday’s Group E clash to defeat four-time champion Germany 2-1.
2.Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has condemned Russian attacks on his country’s energy-related infrastructure as “energy terror.” The president said Ukraine was hit by almost 70 missiles on Wednesday alone, affecting hospitals, schools, transport, and residential areas.
3.Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed the unity of former Soviet republics as an alliance sharing a common history. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is a Russian-led military alliance of former Soviet states.

1.People in Ukraine are bracing for the toughest winter ever, following Russian missile attacks that have knocked power supplies down to half their original level. Residents are trying to save energy and stocking up on clothes and blankets. They have been told to expect power outages through the end of March.
2.In the soccer World Cup in Qatar, Saudi Arabia has pulled off what is being called one of the biggest upsets in tournament history. On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia took on Argentina, ranked third in the world and one of the pre-tournament favorites. Argentina took control early with superstar Lionel Messi scoring on a penalty kick. But early in the second half, Saudi Arabia tied the game. Then just five minutes later, Salem Al-Dawsari scored from distance to complete the stunning comeback.
3.Japan’s soccer squad faces a crucial World Cup opener against four-time champions Germany. The Group E match is set for Wednesday in Qatar. The Samurai Blue has a history of relying on first match results in the tournament.

1.The death toll from a powerful earthquake that struck the Indonesian island of Java on Monday has risen to 62. The magnitude 5.6 quake hit western Java in the afternoon. The National Disaster Management Agency said 62 people had been confirmed dead in the Cianjur district of West Java province.
2.The World Health Organization says this winter “will be life-threatening” for millions of people in Ukraine. It cites as reasons Russia’s attacks against energy infrastructure and over 700 medical facilities.
3.Japan’s education and culture minister, Nagaoka Keiko, says she will exercise the government’s legal authority on Tuesday to question the religious group formerly known as the Unification Church. The group is accused of soliciting large donations from followers and conducting dubious marketing practices known as spiritual sales.

1.The FIFA men’s soccer World Cup finals got underway on Sunday in Qatar amid some controversial changes. It’s the first time the tournament has been awarded to a Middle Eastern country, and also the first held outside the traditional European summer window. The opening ceremony featured a taste of the local culture alongside a lineup of international artists.
2.A member of Iran’s national soccer team is speaking out on the eve of the country’s opening game at the World Cup. The player voiced concern about deadly anti-government protests at home. Iranian captain and defender Ehsan Hajsafi told a news conference that players support Iranians who are suffering. He said they have to accept that conditions in Iran are not right and that people are not happy.
3.Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio on Monday appointed former Foreign Minister Matsumoto Takeaki as the new internal affairs minister. Matsumoto is replacing Terada Minoru, who had come under fire over a series of problems linked to political funds.

1.Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and Chinese President Xi Jinping have met in Bangkok. It marks the first bilateral in person summit for their countries in three years. Kishida said, “It is important for both sides to accelerate efforts to build constructive and stable Japan-China relations.” Xi said, “We want to grasp the direction of bilateral ties from a strategic point of view and build relations that meet the demands of the new era.”
2.Russia’s economy shrank for the second consecutive quarter as it continued to feel the impact of Western sanctions imposed in response to its invasion of Ukraine. The Russian federal statistics service said gross domestic product shrank 4 percent year-on-year in the July-September period.
3.Japan’s top government spokesperson says what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile was fired from near the west coast of the Korean Peninsula at around 10:14 a.m. on Friday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu added that the missile likely landed at around 11:23 a.m. inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, in waters about 200 kilometers west of Oshima-oshima in Hokkaido.

1.The United States and Britain have criticized Russia over the recent deadly missile explosion in Poland in the UN Security Council. Russia has argued that Ukraine’s air defense fired the missile. Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward called the incident “a tragedy that indisputably stems from Russia’s illegal and unjustified invasion.”
2.A spokesperson for Myanmar’s military has told NHK that Japanese journalist Kubota Toru will be released from detention on Thursday under amnesty. The Japanese Embassy in Myanmar said on Thursday it had been notified by Myanmar authorities that Kubota would be released later in the day and it is confirming the details.
3.South Korea’s military says Pyongyang has fired a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters. The launch comes four days after the leaders of the United States, Japan and South Korea held a bilateral summit.

1.The summit of the Group of 20 economies in Bali, Indonesia, came to a close on Wednesday with the leaders adopting a declaration. The declaration said, “Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine.” But it also acknowledged, “There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions.”
2.Former US President Donald Trump has announced his bid for the 2024 presidential race, stressing that he will “make America great and glorious again.” Trump spoke to supporters on Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
3.US space agency NASA says its new unmanned Orion spacecraft is on its way to the moon, after separating from a rocket. NASA’s new moon rocket, the Space Launch System, blasted off from the US state of Florida early on Wednesday.

1.Leaders of the Group of 20 major economies opened a two-day summit in Indonesia on Tuesday. The meeting is the group’s first since Russia invaded Ukraine. Indonesian President Joko Widodo welcomed world leaders including Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
2.Japan’s health ministry says 11,196 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in Tokyo on Tuesday. It is the first time that the figure has exceeded 10,000 since September 14.
3.The 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee on Monday unveiled the official mascots for the events. The mascots are named after Phrygian caps, which during the French revolution symbolized freedom. The committee says the two mascots named Phryges are almost identical, to reflect its policy of not differentiating between the Olympics and the Paralympics.

1.A team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency has arrived in Japan to inspect the project to release treated water from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea.
2.Ukrainian officials say they are uncovering more details of life under Russian occupation in the liberated areas o the southern Kherson region. In a video address on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, “Investigators have already documented more than 400 Russian war crimes, and the bodies of both civilians and military personnel are being found” in the Kherson region.
3.The Turkish government says it detained a female member of a Kurdish military group in connection with an explosion that killed six people and wounded 81 others in Istanbul. The blast occurred Sunday on Istiklal Avenue, a popular tourist spot, in the country’s largest city.

1.Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has decided to dismiss Justice Minister Hanashi Yasuhiro, who has been under fire for controversial remarks. Kishida conveyed his decision to senior officials of the Liberal Democratic Party. Hanashi said on Wednesday that he has a low-profile job that makes headlines only when he authorizes executions. He made the remark at a gathering of LDP lawmakers of the Kishida faction.
2.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stressed that his country’s military is trying to retake territory from Russia in the southern region of Kherson and elsewhere. Zelenskyy said in his latest video message on Thursday, “The number of Ukrainian flags returning to their rightful place in the framework of the ongoing defense operation is already dozens.” He added, “41 settlements were liberated.”
3.NHK has learned that a Japanese national, who is believed to have been a “volunteer fighter” with the Ukrainian forces, has died in Ukraine. Sources close to the Japanese government say that a man in his 20s died in Ukraine on Wednesday. Details, such as where he died, are unclear. The sources say this is the first time a Japanese national involved in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has died.

1.Russia on Wednesday ordered its troops to withdraw from the Ukrainian city of Kherson. In an online interview with NHK, Ukrainian military expert Oleg Zhdanov said the decision is “catastrophic” for Russian President Vladimir Putin. But Zhdanov told NHK that he has yet to see a large-scale withdrawal of Russian forces from the front.
2.Control of both chambers of US Congress still hangs in the balance a day after the midterm elections as vote counting continues. Voters cast their ballots on Tuesday to decide 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives.
3.US President Joe Biden has described Tuesday’s midterm elections as a “good day for democracy.” Biden told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. “Our democracy has been tested in recent years, but with their votes, the American people have spoken and proven once again that democracy is who we are.”

1.Midterm election results in the United States are still coming in. The Republicans had hoped frustration over record-high inflation would fuel a red wave that decimates Democratic support in Congress. But the race is closer than they had expected.
2.Leaders of developing countries at a UN climate conference have drawn attention to severe damage from extreme weather events caused by climate change.
3.Sky watchers across much of Japan have enjoyed an enormously rare celestial spectacle—Uranus hidden by a totally eclipsed moon.

1.Voters in the United States are going to the polls on Tuesday to vote in the midterm elections. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Donald Trump, his Republican predecessor, have made last-minute campaign efforts to help their parties win control of Congress.
2.Former US President Donald Trump says he will make a big announcement next Tuesday. His remark is widely seen as a hint that Trump will announce he’s running for another term in the 2024 presidential election.
3.Russia’s independent media say a battalion of Russian conscripts has been nearly wiped out in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk. The reports on Saturday cited a surviving soldier and others as saying that the death toll may exceed 500.

1.The annual United Nations climate conference COP27 kicked off in Egypt on Sunday. But as delegates try to find unity on ways to address climate change, there are worries the gathering will be clouded by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The conference is being attended by representatives from more than 190 countries and territories. The gathering comes amid a deepening rift between the West and Russia over the invasion.
2.Researchers at two major Japanese firms have launched tests of a promising new fuel source that could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Japanese machinery maker IHI and electricity producer Jera have started trials at a thermal power plant in central Japan that mixes ammonia with coal. Ammonia does not emit carbon dioxide. Researchers hope the mixture can be readily adopted at existing plants.
3.Japanese convenience-store chains have been introducing energy-saving measures to do their part for decarbonization. With around 14,000 stores nationwide, Lawson plans to upgrade its refrigerated displays. This includes adding glass doors in front of shelves for sandwiches and salads to keep in the chill. Heaters that prevent dew condensation in beverage showcases will be shrunk in size.

1.Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa has urged China to fulfill its responsibility as a major power at a Group of Seven meeting in Germany. The G7 foreign ministers exchanged views on China and the Indo-Pacific region on Thursday.
2.The International Atomic Energy Agency says its inspections of three Ukrainian locations have found no indications of undeclared nuclear activity or materials. Earlier, Russia accused Ukraine of planning to use a so-called dirty bomb designed to disperse radioactive material. Moscow alleged that nuclear-industry-related institutions in Ukraine have been involved in preparing such a device.
3.Japanese pianist Igarashi Kaoruko has won third prize in the Geneva International Music Competition. The contest is widely viewed as a gateway to success for young musicians. The final round of the piano division in the prestigious competition took place on Thursday. Four pianists advanced to the final out of 182 contestants.

1.Russian leaders rejoined an agreement on Wednesday to export Ukrainian grain. They had pulled out of the deal on Saturday, citing an alleged drone attack on their Black Sea fleet.
2.North Korea launched several ballistic missiles on Thursday morning. Officials from Japan’s Defense Ministry say one may have been an intercontinental ballistic missile. They are trying to determine the latest details.
3.Parts of Brazil remain in chaos as protesting supporters of outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro continue to refuse to accept his defeat in Sunday’s presidential runoff.

1.Supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro are calling it “the biggest fraud in their electoral history.” The have taken to the streets to protest an election they feel was stolen. The president himself said he will comply with the results—but has yet to concede defeat.
2.Exit polls suggest former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on course for victory and could return to power after the election on Tuesday. Natanyahu is currently on trial over allegations of corruption. He denies the charges against him.
3.South Korea’s military says North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles from the country’s east coast on Wednesday morning. It says that one of the three missiles crossed the de facto maritime border set up by the United Nations and fell near South Korea’s territorial waters for the first time.

1.Democratic and Republican candidates were still trying to win over undecided Americans on Monday, with a week to go before the midterm elections. Both sides know these votes are typically approached as referendums on the party in power.
2.The 22nd soccer World Cup, to be held in Qatar, will be the first in the event’s history to take place in the Middle East. Thirty-two teams will compete for the top spot at eight venues in the capital Doha and four other cities from November 20 to December 18.
3.A theme park featuring the world of Studio Ghibli’s animated films opened in central Japan on Tuesday. Three areas of Ghibli Park, “Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse,” “Hill of Youth” and “Dondoko Forest,” opened to fans at 10 a.m. on the site of the 2005 Expo in Nagakute City, Aichi Prefecture.

1.Ukraine is rushing to repair central heating infrastructure damaged or destroyed by Russian attacks to prepare for the full-fledged start of winter. Russian shelling hit the roof of a boiler house in the city of Irpin near the capital Kyiv during fierce fighting in the early stages of the invasion. Most of its windows were shattered. The damage has largely been mended, with workers now engaged in a finishing painting process.
2.Brazil’s election board says leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has won Sunday’s presidential runoff election. The 77-year-old former president beat right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in a close race. The board says that with 99.1 percent of the ballots counted, Lula garnered 50.84 percent, compared with Bolsonaro’s 49.16 percent. The election focused on how to rebuild the Brazilian economy, which has been battered by the coronavirus pandemic.
3.The South Korean media are questioning whether authorities could have anticipated that more than 100,000 people would gather in Seoul’s Itaewon district for Halloween. At least 154 people, many of them youths, died on Saturday night in a massive crowd surge in the popular entertainment district. Two Japanese women are among the victims.

1.The Bank of Japan is sticking with its massive monetary easing, despite growing pressure to raise interest rates as the yen weakens. BOJ board members decided to keep the short-term interest rate in negative territory and will also continue buying government bonds to hold long-term rates around zero percent.
2.US media have reported that billionaire Elon Musk has completed his 44 billion-dollar acquisition of Twitter. Washington Post and other news outlets reported that Musk has acquired all shares of the social media platform.
3.Investigators probing the 2013 killing of the head of a popular restaurant chain say he was shote shortly after getting out of his car at a parking lot in front of the headquarters of the firm, Ohsho Food Service, in Kyoto City.

1.The Washington Post has reported that, according to US officials, the head of a Russian private military company told President Vladimir Putin his military chiefs are mismanaging the war in Ukraine. The US newspaper published the report about the remarks by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner Group, on Tuesday.
2.Researchers from the World Health Organization and other institutions are urging action to prevent climate change from further impacting people’s health. The researchers published a report of their analysis in the British medical journal The Lancet on Tuesday.
3.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has expressed wariness about China’s third-term leadership under President Xi Jinping, warning that China is seeking to
speed up reunification with Taiwan.

1.Britain has a new leader. Rishi Sunak has officially been appointed prime minister. He is pledging to restore public trust in politics. Rishi Sunak went to Buckingham Palace on Tuesday to meet King Charles, who invited him to form the next government. It is the first time the new king has appointed a leader.
2.Ukraine’s state nuclear power company—Energoatom–says Russian troops occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the country’s south have been doing unauthorized construction work.
3.New British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by phone on Tuesday, and informed him of London’s continued support for Kyiv.

1.Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has stressed that Taiwan will not bow to pressure from China, which has made clear it will not renounce the use of force to achieve reunification.
2.A eulogy for former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo was read at a plenary session of the Lower House of the country’s Diet on Tuesday. Abe was fatally shot in July while making a campaign speech in western Japan. Former Prime Minister Nod Yoshihiko of the Constitutional Democratic Party delivered the address as Abe’s wife and others looked on.
3.Britons are set for their third leader in less than two months. Rishi Sunak will become the youngest prime minister in centuries and the first British Asian to lead the country. Sunak lost out to Liz Truss in September in the last race for the leadership. He became a favorite when she announced on Thursday that she would resign. Then, he saw other contenders withdraw in an effort to end the chaos in the Conservative Party.

1.Chinese President Xi Jinping begins a third term in office with the country facing economic challenges. The Communist Party selected seven members of its top leadership on Sunday. The new lineup is dominated by Xi’s close aides, including subordinates who worked under him in the past.
2.British media reports suggest former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak appears set to become the country’s new prime minister. The speculation comes after Boris Johnson pulled out of the Conservative leadership race. A statement from the former prime minister said his return wouldn’t be “right,” suggesting his party would not unite behind him.
3.Japanese Economic Revitalization Minister Yamagiwa Daishiro has handed in his resignation to Prime Minister Kishida Fumio after a series of revelations about his links with the religious group previously known as the Unification Church.

1.British Prime Minister Liz Truss told lawmakers on Wednesday that she is “a fighter, not a quitter.” Less than a day later, she announced her resignation. She has spent six weeks in office – the shortest tenure for any British prime minister. Truss set out a vision for growing the economy, by cutting taxes. However, her plans alarmed investors and drove the British pound to a record low. She was forced to reverse the policies and, now, to resign.
2.Japan’s latest consumer price index released on Friday shows a rise of 3 percent, an increase not seen in 31 years, excluding the effect of consumption tax hikes.
3.The United States says the sanctions and export controls it and its allies have imposed on Russia for its aggression in Ukraine have had “significant and long-lasting consequences” on Russia’s defense industry. The US State Department said on Thursday that Russia is struggling to import semiconductors and other key components, and has had to “cannibalize” existing aircraft parts.

1.Japanese companies which source products from overseas have been hit hard by the yen’s depreciation. Funasho Shoji is one of them. The company is based in central Tokyo and imports oranges, grapes and other fruit from the United States and South America.
2.The Japanese yen weakened to the 150 level against the US dollar at one point during Tokyo trading on Thursday. It is the first time the currency has dropped to this level in 32 years. The yen has now depreciated about 30 percent against the dollar this year.
3.The latest data shows Japan’s trade deficit rose to a record level in the first six months of the fiscal year, underscoring the extent to which a weakening yen is undermining the country’s purchasing power.

1.An organization of about 8,000 municipalities around the world lobbying for the abolition of nuclear weapons gathered in Hiroshima, Japan, to discuss what each of them can do toward their cause. Representatives from 93 municipalities of nine countries attended the general conference of Mayors for Peace on Wednesday. Many others took part online.
2.The pro-Russian head of the Ukrainian region of Kherson says residents as well as administrative bodies there are being evacuated to a safer area. The announcement comes amid major counteroffensives by Ukraine’s forces to retake the region annexed by Moscow. Ukrainian forces are believed to be preparing to advance to the region’s main city of Kherson as part of their counteroffensives.
3.The number of foreign visitors to Japan is on the rise thanks to eased border controls. Foreign arrivals in September topped 200,000 for the first time since February 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic had a major impact. The Japan National Tourism Organization estimates that 206,500 people visited the country last month. That’s up 21.6 percent from August.

1.A Russian warplane crashed into an apartment building in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar on Monday, killing 13 people. Local officials say the nine-story residential building in the city of Yeysk was engulfed in flames. They say 13 residents, including children, were killed and about 19 others were injured.
2.Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio says he will instruct the government to submit bills aimed at providing relief to the victims of the shady practices of the former Unification Church, possibly during the current session of the Diet. The religious group is under close scrutiny for alleged shady marketing practices, including the solicitation of large donations from followers.
3.The Ukrainian foreign ministry has urged Iran to immediately stop supplying Russia with suicide drones. Demonstrations against Iran have taken place in Kyiv. The foreign ministry stated on Monday that in the last week alone, Russia used more than 100 Iranian drones to strike residential buildings, power stations and other facilities in a number of cities.

1.An online petition has been launched to call on Japanese authorities for a court order to “disband” the former Unification Church under the Religious Corporations Act. The campaign, which started on Monday, is organized by 39 individuals and groups, including supporters of former followers and their families, children of the members of the religious group, scholars and journalists.
2.The Ukrainian government says the country’s capital of Kyiv has come under attack by so-called suicide drones. Multiple explosions were heard on Monday morning. The chief of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said Russia carried out attacks using unmanned aerial vehicles.
3.Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed his commitment to achieving the goal of building China into what he calls a “great modern socialist country” by mid-century. Referring to Taiwan, Xi said that China “will continue to strive for peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and the utmost effort.” But he added that China “will never promise to renounce the use of force.”

1.Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu says a government analysis showed that North Korea fired one ballistic missile early Friday. Matsuno told reporters that Pyongyang’s repeated launches of ballistic missiles can never be tolerated.
2.The Japanese government says the actual cost of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s state funeral last month was over 1.2 billion yen, or more than 8 million dollars. Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu said on Friday that the actual cost was about 400 million yen lower than the previous estimate of 1.66 billion yen.
3.Japan’s government has adopted a new set of suicide prevention guidelines that include more support for women. The guidelines note that the number of women who kill themselves has been on the rise since 2020. The coronavirus pandemic is cited as a factor behind the trend.

1.Two of Japan’s industrial giants Sony Group and Honda Motor launched a joint venture on Thursday that aims to deliver advanced electric vehicles by 2026. The new company is called Sony Honda Mobility. Mizuno Yasuhide, Chairman and CEO of Sony Honda Mobility said “We will try to offer high-value-added products and services that overturn conventional ideas, and build new relationships with customers.”
2.The Japanese government’s coronavirus advisory panel has come up with measures to respond to a possible double outbreak of COVID-19 and influenza. The expert panel met on Thursday to discuss how to reduce the burden on designated fever clinics if a simultaneous outbreak occurs this winter.
3.The Japanese government plans to abolish health insurance cards in the fall of 2024 by integrating them into “My Number” ID cards. Digital Transformation Minister Kono Taro said My Number cards will serve as something like a passport to the creation of a new digital society.

1.Russian missiles continue slamming into cities across Ukraine despite a wave of condemnation from abroad. Troops launched multiple attacks on Ukrainian cities for the second day in a row.
2.The International Monetary Fund is warning of grim times ahead for the global economy. It has downgraded its growth forecast for next year, citing inflation and other factors. The IMF released its latest World Economic Outlook on Tuesday. Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said, “The worst is yet to come, and for many people, 2023 will feel like a recession.”
3.The coronation of Britain’s King Charles III will be held in May of next year. King Charles ascended to the throne on September 8 following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

1.Russia is facing mounting criticism from the international community over its massive attacks on Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine on Monday. Russian missiles hit th4e Ukrainian capital Kyiv, the western region of Lviv and others, with targets including not only energy facilities but also a park and a museum in the capital. The Ukrainian State Emergency Service said 14 people were killed and 97 others were injured in the attacks.
2.The UN General Assembly has begun debate on a draft resolution to condemn Russia for its unilateral declaration to annex four Ukrainian regions. The draft demands that Moscow immediately reverse the move. The General Assembly convened an emergency session on Monday.
3.Foreign visitors arriving at Narita Airport, near Tokyo, have been saying they welcome Japan’s lifting of most of its COVID-19 border controls. People who arrived from other countries were heading to immigration counters at the airport on Tuesday morning after showing proof of vaccination or a negative test result.

1.South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency says North Korea appears to have used its recent missile launches to demonstrate progress in its tactical nuclear weapons development. Yonhap said the test firings may be an attempt by the North to show it can mount small nuclear warheads on various missiles.
2.A series of explosions rocked the center of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on Monday morning. Authorities say at least 9 people died. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he has retaliated for Saturday’s explosion on a key bridge linking Russia and Crimea. Kyiv’s mayor says the explosions occurred in two districts of the capital, and that one of them is only about a kilometer from the presidential office.
3.Three US-based economists have won this year’s Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. They include the US Federal Reserve’s former chair Ben Bernanke. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on Monday that they are being recognized for their research on banks and financial crises.

1.Sweden’s security agency says leaks from two undersea gas pipelines linking Russia and Germany were caused by detonations. The Swedish Security Service said on Thursday investigations were analyzing material to determine who was behind the leaks from the Nord Stream pipelines.
2.French President Emmanuel Macron has seen the Russian invasion of Ukraine threaten security, energy and food. In May, he pitched the idea of a community stretching across the continent. Now, leaders of what’s being called the European Political Community met for the first time in Thursday in Prague. Officials from the 27 countries in the European Union welcomed those from 17 others including Ukraine, which is waiting to join the EU.
3.A former police officer went on a rampage at a daycare center in Thailand on Thursday. Thirty-five people were killed, including more than 20 children. About 10 others were injured.

1.Atomic bomb survivors and anti-nuclear NGOs have urged senior officials at Japan’s foreign ministry to take concrete measures toward abolishing nuclear weapons. Kawasaki Akira, a leader of the Japan NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, told officials that action is urgently needed to abolish nuclear weapons amid the tensions over Ukraine and North Korea’s missile launches.
2.Spain and Portugal say they will bid with Ukraine to jointly host the 2030 FIFA World Cup. The Spanish Football Federation and the Portugal Football Federation said on Wednesday that the aim is to help rebuild Ukraine.
3.The Japanese Defense Ministry says North Korea launched two more ballistic missiles on Thursday morning, but this time, they are believed to have landed in the Sea of Japan. Defense officials think both projectiles fell outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone. This is the 6th North Korean launch in 12 days.

1.Indonesia’s professional soccer association says officials from FIFA are expected to inspect the site of Saturday’s deadly stadium stampede in East Java. The incident occurred after a professional soccer league match in Malang city. Fans of the team that lost entered the pitch and created chaos.
2.Italy’s right-wing leader Giorgia Meloni, who will shortly become the country’s prime minister, expressed her support for Ukraine in a telephone conversation on Tuesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Sources say Meloni pledged full support for the freedom of the Ukrainian people. She also said Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions holds no legal or political weight.
3.Japanese electronics giant Sony has developed a device to measure an individual’s sense of smell. The company hopes it will eventually be used at hospitals as olfactory measurement could help with the elderly detection of dementia.

1.The chief of the UN nuclear watchdog says the head of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been released. International Atomic Energy Director General Rafael Grossi wrote that he has received confirmation that Ihor Murashov, director general of the Zaporizhzhia plant, “has returned to his family safely.”
2.The Japanese government says a North Korean missile has flown over Japan and fallen into the ocean. Officials believe the ballistic missile passed over the country’s northeast before falling outside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
3.McDonald’s Japan says it will stop offering plastic straws and cutlery to customers. It is switching to tableware made of paper or wood in an attempt to reduce plastic waste. The hamburger chain said Tuesday it will provide paper straws and wooden spoons and forks at its roughly 2,900 restaurants across Japan starting from Friday.

1.Indonesian police say 125 people have died as a result of chaos that followed a professional soccer match in the province of East Java. Police say spectators invaded the pitch after a match at a stadium in Malang city on Saturday night. Host Arema FC lost to Persebaya Surabaya. Police responded by firing tear gas, causing a stampede among panicked fans.
2.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the country’s forces have been successful in taking back a number of settlements in eastern and southern regions from Russian control. Zelenskyy cited the names of liberated settlements in the Kherson region in a video message released on Sunday, and said that “the successes of our soldiers are not limited to Lyman.”
3.Brazil’s presidential election is headed for an October 30 runoff between leftist former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro after neither candidate won a majority of votes on Sunday.

1.Russian President Vladimir Putin will officially annex four regions of Eastern Ukraine, after holding a series of widely condemned referendums. Putin says he will sign documents formalizing the annexation of the four occupied regions on Friday. The areas being taken by Russia have been fully or partially occupied for months.
2.US President Joe Biden has criticized Russia for moving ahead with its plan to annex four eastern Ukrainian regions. Biden stated on Thursday that the United States will never recognize Russia’s “claims on Ukraine sovereign territory.” He said, “This so-called referenda was a sham – an absolute sham.” He added that the results were “manufactured in Moscow.”
3.Russian President Vladimir Putin says all mistakes made during the partial mobilization of reservists for the military operation in Ukraine should be corrected. He said people suffering from chronic illness and those who are past conscription age have been called up. He said all mistakes need to be corrected and people who were called up without appropriate reasons should be returned home.

1.The leaders of Japan and China have stressed the importance of developing bilateral ties for a new era as their countries marked 50 years since normalizing diplomatic relations. Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged messages on the 50th anniversary on Thursday.
2.The US space agency NASA has released footage of the aftermath of its first-ever planetary defense test, designed to see whether asteroids and other celestial bodies can be prevented from colliding with the Earth. NASA on Monday crashed a 570-kilogram spacecraft into Dimorphos, an asteroid with a diameter of roughly 160 meters located about 11 million kilometers away from Earth. The test’s aim was to see whether the impact could change the asteroid’s orbit.
3.Japan’s Lower House Speaker Hosoda Hiroyuki has admitted attending gatherings hosted by a group related to the controversial former Unification Church. Hosoda made the admission in a comment released through his office on Thursday. He had been quiet on the matter despite reports that he had attended such meetings and calls from the opposition to explain himself.

1.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called Russia’s referendums in occupied territories a “brutal violation” of the UN Charter and an attempt to steal the territory of another state. He called for Russia to be excluded from all international organizations.
2.Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is holding a third day of meetings with foreign dignitaries who are in Tokyo for the state funeral of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Kishida held separate talks with six world leaders on Wednesday morning.
3.Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has been named as the kingdom’s new prime minister. The Saudi government announced on its state-run news agency on Tuesday that King Salman bin Abdulaziz had ordered a cabinet reshuffle and appointed his son, Crown Prince Mohammed, to replace him as prime minister.

1.People in Japan have been placing flowers on altars to honor former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo since Tuesday morning. Two altars have been set up at Kudanzaka Park, which is located near Nippon Budokan in central Tokyo. Abe’s state funeral will be held at Nippon Budokan on Tuesday afternoon.
2.People in Japan are bidding a final farewell to the country’s longest-serving prime minister at his state funeral. Abe Shinzo was shot and killed during a political rally in July. More than 4,000 people have gathered at the Nippon Budokan arena in central Tokyo. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, along with the heads of the Upper and Lower Houses, as well as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, are attending. Former Prime Minister Suga Yoshihid3e is due to deliver a eulogy on behalf of Abe’s friends.
3.Abe’s state funeral is expected to be an important one for Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio on the world stage. Some 700 foreign dignitaries and ambassadors are attending. The prime minister is meeting with about 40 of them.

1.Russian protests continued across the country against a partial mobilization of reservists announced by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. Videos posted on social media show people confronting police in Makhachkala in the southern republic of Dagestan on Sunday. The protesters include women chanting “no to war” and “no to mobilization.”
2.Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is holding a series of separate talks with foreign dignitaries visiting Japan for Tuesday’s state funeral of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. About 40 meetings are scheduled over the three days through Wednesday.
3.Japanese automaker Mazda is in talks to end production at a joint venture in Russia’s Far East. The company says the war in Ukraine has made the plant unsustainable. Mazda and the Russian automaker Sollers set up their joint venture in Vladivostok in 2012 to assemble SUVs and other cars for the Russian market using parts shipped from Japan. They produced about 29,000 vehicles last year.

1.The yen has rallied against the dollar after Japanese authorities intervened in the currency market. It’s the first time in 24 years that Japan has waded into the currency market to buy yen—which briefly climbed back to the 140 level. The dramatic move came hours after the yen had tumbled to the upper 145-yen level against the greenback.
2.Japanese weather officials say a tropical storm has formed over the sea to the south of Japan. The Meteorological Agency says Tropical Storm Talas was located about 300 kilometers off Kochi Prefecture in western Japan at 9 a.m. local time on Friday.
3.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has strongly condemned Russia for moving ahead with plans to hold referendums in parts of Ukraine that it controls. Pro-Russian separatists in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south, plan to hold votes on joining Russia starting Friday through Tuesday.

1.Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and US President Joe Biden have confirmed that they will work together to reform the UN Security Council. The two leaders are in New York for the UN General Assembly.
2.Russian President Vladimir Putin has resisted ordering the country’s people into military service to reinforce his troops in Ukraine. But he has ratcheted up the war effort, announcing plans to call up 300 thousand reservists.
3.Protesters are taking to the streets across Russia after President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of military reservists on Wednesday. In central Moscow, security forces detained demonstrators shouting anti-war and anti-mobilization slogans and shoved them into vehicles.

1.Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has said that he had signed a decree on partial mobilization beginning on Wednesday to bolster forces in Ukraine. Putin made the announcement in a televised address to the nation on the day. He accused Western countries of trying to weaken, divide and ultimately destroy Russia.
2.China has urged efforts toward a peaceful end to the fighting in Ukraine, after pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine unilaterally decided to hold referendums on joining Russia. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters on Wednesday that China respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries.
3.A panel of experts at Japan’s health ministry has expressed concerns over a possible simultaneous outbreak of seasonal influenza and COVID-19 this autumn or later. The experts proposed on Wednesday that necessary measures be taken on the assumption that the flu may spread earlier than usual and prevail along with coronavirus infections.

1.British citizens continue to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth a day after her state funeral. The funeral was held at Westminster Abbey in central London on Monday. Her coffin was laid to rest next to her late husband Prince Philip at St. George’s Chapel of Windsor Castle, near London. The castle was her home in her later years.
2.Concerns are growing again over nuclear safety in Ukraine following reports of a Russian missile strike near a nuclear power plant in the country’s south. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social media post on Monday that a missile fell 300 meters from the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant in the Mykolaiv region, causing a short-term power outage.
3.The price hikes hitting Japanese consumers how no signs of abating. One supermarket in Tokyo is planning more price hikes from October. The retailer in Koto Ward has raised prices for about half of the products in the store since spring, including essentials such as noodles, bread, and cooking oil.

1.Japan’s Emperor has attended a reception hosted by Britain’s King Charles III ahead of the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II. Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako are in London to attend the funeral of Britain’s longest-serving Queen.
2.Severe Tropical Storm Nanmadol is making its way up western Japan, bringing violent winds to almost all of Kyushu and parts of the nearby Chugoku and Shikoku regions.
3.US President Joe Biden has indicated that US forces would defend Taiwan in the event of an unprecedented attack by China. Asked if, unlike Ukraine, US forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, Biden responded “yes.”

1.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says a mass grave has been found in a liberated key stronghold city. Zelenskyy said, “Bucha, Mariupol, now, unfortunately, Izyum… Russia leaves death everywhere. And it must be held accountable for that.”
2.NHK has learned that Tokyo prosecutors have questioned former Japanese Olympic Committee President Takeda Tsunekazu about sponsorship contracts for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Sources close to the matter tell NHK that Takeda was questioned on a voluntary basis.
3.Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping have held their first face-to-face meeting since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. They reaffirmed their ties amid tensions with Western leaders. The leaders met during a summit of the economic and security group, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

1.A US Senate committee has approved legislation that would increase US military support for Taiwan, amid heightened tensions between the US and China. The bill would allocate 4.5 billion dollars in military assistance for Taiwan over four years, designate Taiwan as a major non-NATO ally and support Taiwan’s participation in international organizations.
2.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stressed that his country’s forces have retaken much of Kharkiv region in the east from Russian occupiers. Zelenskyy on Wednesday visited the recaptured key city of Izyum, where he observed a moment of silence for soldiers killed in the fighting and raised the Ukrainian flag.
3.Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has ordered officials to come up with specific measures to achieve sustained wage hikes and to boost the nation’s earning power by taking advantage of the weak yen. Kishida said it is necessary to control the situation in which an outflow of national income to foreign countries is continuing due to rising import prices.

1.Tokyo prosecutors have arrested the chairman of major Japanese publisher Kadokawa on suspicion of bribing a former executive of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee over a sponsorship deal.
2.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stressed that stabilization measures are moving forward in territories that have been liberated from Russian control.
3.Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will attend the state funeral of late British Queen Elizabeth II. The funeral is scheduled for Monday.

1.Russia has reiterated its resolve to continue the military operation in Ukraine despite recent setbacks in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the military operation will continue until all goals are achieved. Ukrainian counteroffensives are apparently pushing Russian troops out of Kharkiv.
2.People in Scotland are divided in their support for the British monarchy. Still, thousands turned out on Monday to mourn Queen Elizabeth. They tried to catch a glimpse as her coffin began its journey from Balmoral Castle to her final resting place at Windsor Castle.
3.A World Food Programme official has warned that foot shortages around the world could worsen next year, despite the resumption of Ukraine grain exports last month. Corinne Fleischer, WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, Northern Africa and Eastern Europe, told NHK on Monday that the resumption of agricultural exports out of conflict-hit Ukraine was a major step forward. But Fleischer said the Russian invasion created havoc for farmlands and infrastructure in Ukraine.

1.Ukrainian forces are stepping up a counteroffensive to take control of wider areas in the eastern region of Kharkiv, including the key strategic area of Izyum. However, a Ukrainian military expert indicated that the country needs a long-term strategy and more military assistance from the West to take back control of more territories.
2.The hearse carrying the coffin of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has arrived in the Scottish city of Edinburgh. The convoy left Balmoral Castle on Sunday, the Queen’s summer home in Scotland, after she died there on Thursday at age 96. Her coffin was draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland with a wreath of flowers, including her favorite, placed on top of the flag. Mourners lined the route of the convoy to pay tribute to the Queen for her 70 years on the throne.
3.Japan’s National Center for Global Health and Medicine says an increasing percentage of people are dying after developing moderate symptoms of COVID-19. It also says many of them had pre-existing conditions that worsened after they became infected. The center analyzed the data of 2,861 COVID-19 patients who died after being admitted to hospitals across the country through late August.

1.Canadian media reports say the final suspect in a mass stabbing rampage is dead. The reports say the man died of self-inflicted injuries after police located him and drove his vehicle off the road. The stabbing spree on Sunday killed 10 people and rattled the country.
2.Japan’s current account balance has gone into the black for the first time in two months, but surging energy prices made it the smallest surplus for July on record.
3.Researchers in Japan say their 20-year-long study shows that people who east lots of fruit and vegetables are at lower risk of death compared to those who eat little of such food.

1.Japan’s ruling and opposition camps have agreed to hold a meeting on Thursday to discuss the state funeral of later former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.
2.The UN Security Council has met to discuss security at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. This comes amid mounting concerns that continued shelling in the area could trigger a catastrophe.
3.Britain’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss has reiterated her country’s support for Ukraine’s freedom and democracy in her first phone call with a foreign leader since taking office. Truss spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday, and the leaders discussed measures needed to cut off the funds Russia is using to pay for the war.

1.The Japanese government says the total cost of the state funeral for later former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is estimated at about one billion 660 million yen, or around 11.8 million dollars. The funeral for Abe, who was fatally shot during an election campaign speech in July, is scheduled for September 27 in Tokyo. The government will foot the entire bill.
2.Tokyo prosecutors have arrested two former senior officials of major Japanese publisher Kadokawa on suspicion of bribing a former executive of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee. Former Kadokawa executive Yoshihara Toshiyuki and former senior official Maniwa Kyoji were arrested on Tuesday.
3.A pro-Russian hacker group says it has attacked a Japanese government website. The Killnet group posted a message on social media shortly after 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Japan time, saying it attacked the “e-Gov” portal site run by the government. NHK tried to access the site, and found part of it temporarily inaccessible.

1.Liz Truss has been elected as the next leader of Britain’s Conservative Party. She will become prime minister on Tuesday, succeeding Boris Johnson.
2.Russia’s president is taking part in an international economic forum in the country’s Far East. Vladimir Putin says the event will focus on moving away from what he calls an “obsolete unipolar model.” Top officials from China’s Communist Party, and the military junta in Myanmar, will also attend.
3.The Canadian police say a series of stabbing attacks in the central province of Saskatchewan have left at least 10 people dead and 15 more wounded. The police have identified two suspects, age 30 and 31, who remain at large. They are calling on residents to remain alert.

1.Russia’s presidential office says President Vladimir Putin will not attend the funeral of Mikhail Gorvachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union. Gorvachev, who brought the Cold War to an end, died on Tuesday at the age of 91. His funeral is scheduled to take place on Saturday in Moscow.
2.A survey by an independent Russian polling organization shows that the public in the country is divided over whether Moscow should continue its military actions in Ukraine or engage in peace negotiations. The Levada-Center has been conducting face-to-face interviews with more than 1,600 people in Russia toward the end of every month since the invasion of Ukraine began.
3.Students in Ukraine and Russia have received special visitors to start their school terms. They welcomed in the leaders of their countries. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited a school in Irpin on Thursday that, like thousands of others, was damaged in the fighting. In Kaliningrad on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin had his own message for students. He used a back-to-school ceremony to talk about the invasion of Ukraine, which he calls the “special military operation.” He said people in “the territory of Ukraine” have begun to create an “anti-Russian enclave that threatens our country.”

1.Two-way baseball star Ohtani Shohei of the Los Angeles Angels has become the first Japanese player to hit 30 home runs in the Major League for two seasons in a row. Ohtani reached the milestone with a three-run homer in a game against the New York Yankees on Wednesday.
2.Typhoon Hinnamnor is expected to re-approach Japan’s southern prefecture of Okinawa after briefly moving away to the south. Japan’s Meteorological Agency says as of Thursday morning the violent typhoon was moving southwest at a speed of 25 kilometers per hour over waters 250 kilometers south of Miyakojima Island.
3.A team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to begin inspecting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine from Thursday. The IAEA team on Wednesday arrived in the city of Zaporizhzhia about 60 kilometers from the plant.

1.Russian media outlets have reported the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last
leader of the Soviet Union, as breaking news. A Russian state-run television broadcast a special program looking back on his political career and his activities after retirement.
2.Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio says he will attend lawmakers’ meetings while the Diet is out of session to further explain the significance of holding a state funeral for former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Kishida noted on Wednesday that Abe had assumed a heavy responsibility as the country’s longest-serving prime minister.
3.Japan’s Defense Ministry is requesting a record high budget allocation of nearly 5.6 trillion yen, or about 40 billion dollars, for next fiscal year. The ministry made the budget request on Wednesday as part of its drive to drastically enhance Japan’s defense capabilities over the next five years.

1.The UN Security Council is calling on the global community to provide aid to Afghanistan. This comes as Kabul marks one year since the United States completely withdrew its troops from the country.
2.Ukrainian forces have launched a new counter-offensive against Russian troops in the country’s southern Kherson region. Media outlets in Ukraine reported on Monday that Ukrainian troops had breached the first line of Russian defenses and forced part of the Russian forces to retreat from their positions in Kherson.
3.International Atomic Energy Agency officials have worried fighting around Europe’s largest nuclear plant could spark a catastrophe. Inspectors arrived in Ukraine on Monday to check on the Zaporizhzhia complex for themselves. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi is leading the team. They’ll survey the damage, evaluate working conditions, and check on safety measures.

1.The International Atomic Energy Agency says its expert team will visit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine this week. The plant has been under the control of Russian forces since early March.
2.Shares in Tokyo started the week sharply lower following a broad sell-off in New York on Friday. The Nikkei 225 dropped by more than 800 points within an hour of the open on Monday.
3.Britain’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss remains the frontrunner in the race to choose a successor of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. About 160,000 members of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party are choosing between Truss and former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak. Economic policy is a key issue in the race as Britain faces steep inflation.

1.The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says it is likely that the organization will send an expert team to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine within a few days.
2.The Japanese government will spend about 1.8 million dollars on a state funeral for former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, who was fatally shot in July. All expenses for the funeral will be paid from state coffers.
3.The Japanese government has selected 10 universities and laboratories where it will create world-class research centers for vaccine development.

1.The head of Japan’s police agency says he intends to resign over last month’s fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. The announcement comes following the release of a review of the security at the time of the incident. Nakamura Itaru’s resignation is expected to be approved at a Cabinet meeting on Friday.
2.President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Russian forces might do something “particularly ugly” on Ukraine’s Independence Day. And they did. A missile attack on Wednesday killed 22 people at a train station in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region. Zelenskyy says it was a reminder of the perils faced by civilians across the country.
3.The Japanese government will soon formally approve costs for the state funeral for former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo in late September. Abe was fatally shot in Nara City, western Japan, on July 8 while making a campaign speech for a candidate in the Upper House election.

1.Ukraine is bracing for possible intensified attacks by Russia on Wednesday, which marks six months since the invasion began. It is also the day Ukrainians celebrate their independence from the now-defunct Soviet Union. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that “hideous Russian provocations and brutal strikes are possible.”
2.Officials in the US say they are preparing what could be their largest package of military aid since the Russians invaded Ukraine. The assistance to equip and train Ukrainian forces would be worth 3 billion dollars. The goal is to help shore up Ukrainian defenses over the medium to long term.
3.A senior Ukrainian official has stressed that the country has reached a phase of taking the offensive to take back territories captured by Russia, including Crimea. Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the Ukrainian military are using weapons provided by the United States and other Western nations to focus on destroying Russia’s arms depots, fuel storage facilities and strategic command posts to drive Russia into withdrawal.

1.Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has ordered the government to continue providing support to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia by closely coordinating with other Group of Seven partners. The prime minister, who is now isolating due to catching the coronavirus, attended a meeting of relevant Cabinet ministers online.
2.Police searched the offices of a bus operator on Tuesday, a day after a fatal crash on an expressway in Nagoya City, central Japan. Aoi Kotsu, or Aoi Traffic Corp., in Komaki city, north of Nagoya, was the operator of the bus. The bus overturned and caught fire on Monday morning. It was heading for Nagoya Airport from the city center. Two people on the bus died. Six passengers and the driver of a vehicle that collided with the bus were injured.
3.Ukrainians will mark their independence from the Soviet Union on Wednesday, the same day they’ll mark a half year of war. But authorities have banned them from celebrating because of a heightened risk of attack. Residents of the capital, Kyiv, came out on Monday to look at Russian weapons destroyed in the fighting. “They must know their history,” one father said of his children.

1.The United States and South Korea have kicked off joint military drills with scenarios assuming an emergency on the Korean Peninsula. The drills are scheduled from Monday through September 1.
2.US President Joe Biden has discussed the situation in Ukraine with leaders of Britain, France, and Germany. According to a statement issued by the White House on Sunday, “The leaders affirmed their continued support for Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself against Russian aggression,” and “They also discussed the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, including the need to avoid military operations near the plant.”
3.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has issued a warning that Russian forces could intensify attacks on his country this week. Wednesday marks six months since Russian forces invaded Ukraine. It is also Ukraine’s independence day, commemorating its departure from the Soviet Union.

1.Russian and Ukrainian forces have traded fire around the largest nuclear plant in Europe. And they are trading accusations over who is to blame for shelling that has sparked fears of a global disaster. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has used a visit to Ukraine to call for both sides to pull out of the area.
2.Workers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine have posted on social media an appeal for cooperation from the international community. The plant has been under Russian control since the early days of the Russian invasion.
3.Russia has dismissed a proposal by the UN chief to demilitarize Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Russia now controls the plant in southeastern Ukraine.

1.Officials of China’s Foreign Ministry say the country’s top diplomat has told the head of Japan’s National Security Secretariat that the Taiwan question bears on the basic trust between the two countries. Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Yang Jiechi was quoted as making the remark in the talks with Akiba Takeo, the secretariat’s secretary-general, in Tianjin on Wednesday.
2.World-renowned Japanese fashion designer Mori Hanae has died at the age of 96. She was known for her signature butterfly motifs. Mori was born in the western Japanese prefecture of Shimane in 1926. She took the first step in her long career with the opening of a studio in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district in 1951.
3.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is in Ukraine for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Guterres arrived in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Wednesday. Guterres will hold a meeting with Zelenskyy and Erdogan on Thursday. They will exchange views on exports of agricultural products agreed upon by Russia and Ukraine and mediated by Turkey and the UN.

1.South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has stressed his intention to resolve the wartime labor dispute before relevant Japanese companies’ assets in his country are liquidated under a possible finalized court order. Yoon spoke at a news conference to mark his first 100 days in office on Wednesday.
2.Rainfall is intensifying in many parts of Japan, triggering warnings of landslides and flooding. Some places on the southwestern island of Kyushu have had torrential downpours.
3.Iran has responded to what the European Union calls a “final” proposal to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. The agreement was aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear activities in return for a lifting of sanctions by the international community. The deal has been dysfunctional since US President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from it in 2018. Iran responded by stepping up its nuclear development.

1.A group of 42 nations is calling for the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine. The 42 countries, including European Union member states, Japan and the United States, made the appeal in a joint statement issued on Friday. The countries said that the deployment of Russian military personnel and weaponry at the nuclear facility is “unacceptable and disregards the safety, security and safeguards principles” that need to be respected.
2.The Chinese military announced on Monday that it carried out exercises near Taiwan. The announcement comes after a bipartisan group of five US congressional lawmakers, led by Senator Ed Markey, arrived in Taiwan on Sunday.
3.Japanese teenager Baba Saki has won the 122nd US Women’s Amateur golf championship. The 17-year-old high school student on Sunday became the first Japanese player to win the title since Hattori Michiko in 1985. The tournament is regarded as one of the world’s top championships for female amateur golfers.

1.People in Japan are observing a solemn anniversary this Monday. On August 15, 1945, a statement from Emperor Showa was broadcast on the radio, announcing that the country had surrendered in World War Two. Nearly eight decades later, Japan marks the end of that war… and prays for peace. Japan’s government holds a ceremony in Tokyo every year to remember the approximately 3.1 million people who died in the war.
2.Ukraine’s deputy prime minister has called on people in the southern region of Kherson to evacuate as the government expects fighting against Russian forces there to drag on. Iryna Vereshchuk made the appeal on Sunday, saying a hard winter is coming. She said the government needs to save the residents from the cold and the Russian invaders.
3.Monday marks one year since the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan. But Taliban rulers remain under growing international criticism for restricting the rights of girls and women. The Islamist group took over the capital, Kabul, on August 15, 2021 amid the withdrawal of US forces from the country.

1.US Attorney General Merrick Garland has confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation searched the Florida resort home of former President Donald Trump. The top US law enforcement officer told reporters on Thursday that he had personally authorized the decision to order the search. Trump had earlier said that his Mar-a-Lago estate was raided by FBI agents on Monday.
2.Japanese weather officials are forecasting more heavy rain in the northeastern prefectures of Aomori and Akita. The Meteorological Agency says a low-pressure system approaching northern Japan brought developed rain clouds over the two prefectures overnight into Friday.
3.The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has called for cooperation from Russia and Ukraine to allow its inspectors access to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, following a recent series of shellings there.

1.Major US newspapers have suggested Ukrainians were involved in the explosions that rocked a Russian air base in Crimea on Tuesday. Russia unilaterally annexed the region in southern Ukraine eight years ago. Russia’s defense ministry denied the air base was attacked. It said the explosions were caused by detonation of aircraft ammunition.
2.Weather officials in Japan are urging people to stay alert for heat stroke due to persistently high temperatures. The mercury on Thursday has already topped 35 degrees Celsius across wide areas from Kanto to Kyushu.
3.The Russian TV journalist who protested her country’s invasion of Ukraine live on state television in March has been charged with spreading false information about the Russian military. Russian media has quoted Marina Ovsyannikova’s lawyer as saying that she was charged after posting a photo on social media last month showing her near the Kremlin holding a poster saying Russian President Vladimir Putin is a killer.

1.The Chinese government says in a white paper that it will pursue the peaceful unification of Taiwan but will not renounce the use of force.
2.Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has shaken up his Cabinet. He says his new lineup will address challenges at home and abroad. He said, “I have established an experienced and capable LDP-Komeito coalition government that has the ability to overcome what is said to be the most difficult time in several decades. We are faced with various historic challenges at home and abroad such as the coronavirus, Ukraine crisis, US-China tensions over Taiwan and global surge in prices.”
3.The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, formerly known as the Unification Church, says there were no political interventions nor irregularities in the approval process for tis name change in 2015.

1.People in Japan are remembering the victims of one of history’s most catastrophic wartime attacks. Tuesday marks 77 years since the atomic bombing of Nagasaki during World War Two.
2.Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu says China’s real intention behind its military exercises around Taiwan is to “alter the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and the entire region.” Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Wu referred to the large-scale military exercises China launched in response to the visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He said China is using Pelosi’s visit as “a pretext.”
3.A senior US official has suggested that Russia has seen a “tremendous” number of casualties since the country’s invasion of Ukraine began in February. US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl told reporters on Monday that the Russians have probably had 70,000 or 80,000 casualties in less than six months.

1.The second straight day of shelling near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine has fueled concerns in the international community. Ukraine’s nuclear power company Energoatom says an area near a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel came under attack on Saturday.
2.Worshipers gathered on Sunday for the first summertime cleaning in three years of the Great Buddha statue in the ancient capital of Nara in western Japan. The cleaning of the 15-meter-high statue is designed to refresh the Buddha’s appearance ahead of the midsummer Bon festival, when people pay respects to their ancestors.
3.The US Senate has approved a 430-billion-dollar bill to combat climate change and lower healthcare costs. The legislation calls for spending to promote renewable energy use and other measures while raising taxes on major businesses to fund them.

1.Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio plans to reshuffle his Cabinet and executives of the governing Liberal Democratic Party as early as next Wednesday. Observers will be closely watching how much Kishida will change his Cabinet lineup.
2.The fatal shooting of Japan’s former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has stirred media attention. It has put a spotlight on the relationship between a controversial religious group and certain members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Now, a former education minister is being questioned over his role in allowing the notorious former Unification Church to officially change its name.
3.Former Vice Admiral of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force Koda Yoji says China’s ballistic missile launches on Thursday were aimed at showing Beijing’s anger with Washington over US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. But he also points out that Beijing gave some consideration to avoiding provoking the United States too much, noting that the missiles were not the latest models.

1.Weather officials have revised their highest-level emergency rain alert for Niigata Prefecture…to a warning. They are still urging people to watch for further potential hazards, with downpours forecast to continue across parts of the Hokuriku region.
2.China is ratcheting up military pressure on Taiwan following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit. Pelosi left Taiwan on Wednesday after meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. She became the first speaker of the US House of Representatives in 25 years to visit Taiwan.
3.The US government has criticized China’s increasing military activity around Taiwan, which came in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stressed again that there is no change in the One China policy of the US. She said the speaker’s visit is consistent with the longstanding policy.

1.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stressed that the country’s gain exports must continue in a stable manner. The first ship carrying Ukrainian grain since the Russian invasion began arrived in waters off Turkey on Tuesday.
2.US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, and stressed America’s solidarity with Taiwan. At the outset of the talks, Tsai welcomed the first visit by an incumbent US House Speaker in 25 years. She presented Pelosi with an award for promoting US-Taiwan ties, calling the speaker Taiwan’s most devoted friend.
3.Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have kicked off a series of meetings in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.

1.US President Joe Biden has announced the death of Al-Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a US drone strike in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday – more than a decade after the group’s previous head was killed.
2.A senior official in the Ukrainian grain industry welcomed the departure of a ship loaded with grain from the port of Odesa. It was the first shipment since Russia blocked exports in February.
3.Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio says his speech at the review meeting of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was to show Japan’s strong resolve to uphold the treaty along with other parties. Kishida told reporters after addressing the NPT review conference on Monday that he will lay out a realistic road map to achieve a world without nuclear weapons.

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.

1.US Commerce Department officials reported on Thursday that the economy has contracted for a second consecutive quarter. They report output from April through June fell at an annualized pace of 0.9 percent. Gross domestic product is the broadest measure of the nation’s production of goods and services. GDP in the first quarter had dropped 1.6 percent. The second quarter decline brought the economy in line with a common definition of recession.
2.The Tokyo Metropolitan Government confirmed 36,814 new cases of coronavirus infections on Friday. Five deaths were reported. The daily tally was up by 1,819 cases from the same day last week. It was the tenth consecutive day that the count was higher than the previous week.
3.Russian forces continue their attacks on Ukraine’s east and south, while the United Nations says grain exports from Ukraine will be able to resume as early as Friday.

1.Russia continues to attack infrastructure in eastern and southern Ukraine while Ukrainian forces intensify their counter-offensive in an effort to retake the southern region of Kherson. Russia is trying to seize full control of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine and consolidate its hold over southern regions.
2.Railway workers in Britain staged a walkout on Wednesday to demand higher wages to cope with surging inflation. A labor union says about 40,000 members across the country joined the strike that brought much of the network to a halt.
3.US President Joe Biden has emerged from isolation and resumed in-person duties after contracting COVID-19. Biden tested positive for the coronavirus on July 21. He has since been working in isolation at the White House. His doctor announced on Wednesday that Biden’s symptoms had largely disappeared and he tested negative that morning and the previous night.

1.The Ukrainian ambassador to Japan has appealed to the public to continue paying attention to “Russian war crimes and crimes against humanity” in Ukraine. Sergiy Korsunsky spoke at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on Tuesday. He also showed photos of what he described as victims and destruction from the past five months of Russian attacks.
2.A senior White House official says US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are expected to discuss Taiwan and Ukraine by phone or online later this week. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that the discussion will cover “everything from the tensions over Taiwan, to the war in Ukraine, as well as how we better manage competition between our two nations, certainly in the economic sphere.”
3.A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the northern Philippine island of Luzon on Wednesday. Local media say no major damage has been confirmed so far. The US Geological Survey says the quake was shallow but powerful. Tremors were felt hundreds of kilometers away in the capital, Manila. But officials say there is no threat of tsunami.

1.The Pope has apologized to Indigenous Canadians for decades of abuse. He asked for their forgiveness on Monday for what he called the “evil” they suffered at residential schools. Starting in the late 1800s, authorities forcibly removed at least 150 thousand First Nations, Metis, and Inuit children from their homes. They put them into state schools in what members of a national commission called “cultural genocide.”
2.Tokyo prosecutors have raided the home of a former executive of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee suspected of receiving a lucrative consulting fee from a sponsor. The prosecutors searched Haruyuki’s residence, the headquarters of Tokyo-based advertising agency Dentsu, and other sites on Tuesday.
3.The Japanese government on Tuesday carried out the death sentence of a man convicted of going on a deadly stabbing rampage 14 years ago in Tokyo’s busy Akihabara shopping district. Kato Tomohiro was charged with ramming a truck into a crowd of shoppers in June 2008, and then indiscriminately stabbing passersby. Seven people were killed and 10 others were wounded.

1.Myanmar’s state media says the ruling junta has executed four people, including pro-democracy activists. According to local media, it is the first time the death penalty has been carried out in the country in over 30 years. The military announced the planned executions last month, drawing a firestorm of international criticism.
2.Russia attacked a key grain port in Ukraine Saturday, jeopardizing an agricultural export deal brokered a day earlier with the United Nations and Turkey. Ukraine said the missile attack in Odesa also caused injuries and damaged infrastructure.
3.The Japan Meteorological Agency says a volcanic eruption occurred on Sakurajima in southwestern Japan’s Kagoshima Prefecture on Sunday evening. The agency estimates that imminent massive eruptions from the volcano are unlikely.

1.Japan has stressed in its annual defense white paper that the international community should not tolerate Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. The report says that if Russia’s invasion is tolerated, it could carry the wrong implication that a unilateral change in the status quo is allowed in other regions including Asia.
2.Civil groups in Japan have protested the government’s decision to hold a state funeral for former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Organizers of the rally said that about 400 people, including members of 11 organizations and individuals, took part. They gathered in front of the prime minister’s office in Tokyo on Friday.
3.Japan’s health ministry plans to offer fourth coronavirus vaccine shots to healthcare workers and staff at facilities for the elderly from Friday amid a rapid resurgence of infections. Currently, people who are eligible for a fourth shot are those aged 60 and older, those aged 18 and older with underlying diseases, and those aged at least 18 who are deemed by doctors to have a high risk of becoming seriously ill.

1.The head of the International Monetary Fund says it will lower its global economic outlook again. The IMF’s last downgrade was in April, when it projected 3.6 percent growth in 2022. The new outlook comes out next week.
2.US President Joe Biden says he expects to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping within the next 10 days. Their discussion will likely be online or by telephone. The Biden administration has been mulling a partial lowering of tariffs on goods imported from China to help ease inflation in the US.
3.The First Lady of Ukraine has told US lawmakers that the Russians are “destroying” her people. Olena Zelenska said, “Help us to stop this terror against Ukrainians. And this will be our great joint victory in the name of life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness.”

1.Sri Lanka’s lawmakers have chosen Ranil Wickremesinghe as their new president. The political veteran has been acting in the role since Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and resigned amid growing protests.
2.The Japanese government is finalizing arrangements to hold a state funeral for former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo on September 27 at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. Abe was fatally shot in Nara City, western Japan, on July 8 while making a campaign speech for a candidate in the Upper House election.
3.A senior US official says Russia appears to be preparing to annex Ukrainian territory that it now has under its control. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the White House, John Kirby said, “Russia is laying the groundwork to annex Ukrainian territory that it controls in direct violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty.”

1.Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has asked South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin to make efforts to resolve outstanding bilateral issues. Relations between the two countries are said to be at their lowest since the end of World War Two.
2.Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, has appealed for US aid for her country on her visit to Washington. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken harshly condemned Russian attacks on Ukraine, which continue to wound and kill innocent civilians, and stressed the US will continue to provide assistance to Ukraine, including supporting Zelenska’s mental health initiative for citizens affected by the war.
3.In the leadership race of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party, former finance minister Rishi Sunak has won the most support in the third round of the vote. Sunak led other four contenders by securing 115 votes after finishing in top place in the first and second rounds. Junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt came in second with 82 votes, followed by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss with 71 votes.

1.Grudges against a religious group were expressed in social media posts believed to have been written by the man accused of murdering former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Investigators have learned that the suspect, Yamagami Tetsuya, had developed animosity toward the Family Federation of World Peace and Unification, formerly known as the Unification Church, to which his mother had donated money. The 41-year-old was arrested at the scene of the fatal shooting of Abe in Nara City on July 8.
2.A memorial service was held on Monday for people killed in an arson attack at a western Japan animation studio three years ago. The fire at Kyoto Animation on July 18 in 2019 killed 36 people and injured 32.
3.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired the country’s prosecutor general and the head of the state security service. He announced the decision to remove Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and dismiss the head of the security service, Ivan Bakanov, in a video post on Sunday.

1.Gotabaya Rajapaksa has officially stepped down as president of Sri Lanka. This comes after months of anti-government protests over a worsening economic crisis. Sri Lanka’s parliamentary speaker officially accepted Rajapaksa’s resignation on Friday. Earlier this week, the now-former leader fled the country with his wife. He is now reportedly in Singapore.
2.China’s economy grew at its second-slowest pace in 30 years in the last quarter compared to a year ago. The blame mainly goes to the stifling effects of the country’s strict coronavirus measures.
3.Consumer prices in financially-strapped Argentina have made their biggest leap in 30 years, sparking protests by the public. The national statistics bureau announced on Thursday that the consumer price index rose in June from a year earlier by a whopping 64 percent. That’s the biggest margin of increase since January 1992. There are growing concerns about the future of the national economy.

1.President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he is thankful to the UN and Turkey for their efforts to help grain exports resume from Ukraine. Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude on Wednesday for their negotiations to help end Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian agricultural shipments passing through the Black Sea. The blockade has raised concerns over food insecurity worldwide.
2.Energy ministers from the so-called Quad nations have agreed to promote the use of ammonia and other clean fuels. The ministers from Japan, the US, Australia and India met in Sydney. They discussed how they can cooperate in the energy sector at a time when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created instability in international energy markets.
3.Researchers in Japan say the BA.5 subvariant of the coronavirus Omicron variant may be more pathogenic, or more likely to cause disease.

1.Investigators in the killing of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe say the suspect had wanted to attack a religious group leader. The suspect told police that his mother became an avid follower of the religious group and made huge donations to it, which ruined the family’s life. The suspect also said he believed Abe was close to the group.
2.The Tokyo District Court has ordered four former directors of Tokyo Electric Power Company to pay about 97 billion dollars in damages to the utility. The shareholders claimed the company incurred massive losses from the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
3.A district court in Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, has dismissed a damages lawsuit filed by relatives of victims of the eruption of Mount Ontake eight years ago. The volcanic mountain straddling Nagano and Gifu prefectures erupted in September 2014, leaving 63 people dead or missing.

1.Officials of Japan’s main ruling Liberal Democratic Party say about 1,000 people offered incense at Tuesday’s funeral of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. About 200 of them attended the service inside a Buddhist temple in Tokyo.
2.Sri Lanka’s economic turmoil and political chaos have continued, amid conflicting reports about whether President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled or remains in the country. Rajapaksa reportedly announced that he would resign on Wednesday. The presidential office has not commented about his whereabouts.
3.Japanese Finance Minister Suzuki Shunichi has met with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in Tokyo. The pair said in a statement that their countries will increase sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

1.Japan’s ruling coalition scored a sweeping victory in Sunday’s Upper House election. The Liberal Democratic Party was able to win more than half the open seats without the help of its coalition partner, Komeito. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio promised to address the biggest issues facing the nation, including the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the soaring cost of living. He vowed to revive the Japanese economy.
2.Japanese business leaders are welcoming Sunday’s Upper House election results. They are urging the administration of Prime Minister Kishida Fumio to act boldly to tackle major challenges.
3.The head of Japan’s central bank has reiterated it is sticking with its massive monetary easing policy as the economy continues to face great uncertainty.

1.People across Japan are coming to terms with the shocking death of one of the nation’s most influential modern leaders. Former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo was shot and killed at a Friday campaign event. His alleged attacker was arrested at the scene.
2.China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said his country opposes any act that tries to take advantage of the Ukraine situation to instigate a Cold War mentality and fuel confrontation. He was apparently referring to moves by Western countries.
3.Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Moscow has barely started its military operation in Ukraine, and challenged the West to take on its forces. Referring to the invasion, the president said, “Everybody should know that, by and large, we haven’t started anything yet in earnest.”

1.The Russian invasion of Ukraine has left European Union leaders scrambling for other sources of energy, even as they try to tackle climate change. Now, they have decided to label natural gas and nuclear plants as “green.”
2.Infections with Omicron subvariant BA.4 or BA.5 are now estimated to account for 70 percent of new cases in the United States. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the BA.5 subvariant is now responsible for 53.6 percent of new cases nationwide, while BA.4 makes up 16.5 percent.
3.Kabuki Actor Ichikawa Ebizo says he will work hard to live up to the prestigious centuries’ old stage name of Ichikawa Danjuro he will assume in November. Ebizo was set to become the 13th Ichikawa Danjuro in a performance in May 2020. But the show was postponed due to the spread of the coronavirus.

1.South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol has ordered the country’s military to “swiftly and firmly” punish North Korea if it carries out any provocation. Yoon stressed a firm stance against Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile development, saying the threats are increasing.
2.Russia is carrying out missile attacks as it steps up its offensive in Ukraine, mainly in eastern parts of the country. Russia’s defense ministry announced on Tuesday that troops had conducted missile strikes in the regions of Donetsk and Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, and the Mykolaiv region in the south.
3.Representatives at an international conference on Ukraine’s reconstruction after the Russian invasion have wrapped up two days of talks with a pledge to support a recovery process led by the Ukrainians. Tue Ukraine Recovery Conference was held in the southern Swiss city of Lugano on Monday and Tuesday.

1.The Japan Meteorological Agency says tropical storm Aere has become a low pressure system after making landfall in Nagasaki Prefecture in western Japan early Tuesday. Weather officials continue to warn of heavy rainfall in many parts of the country.
2.Police have taken a man in custody who is suspected of having opened fire on an Independence Day parade in the US Midwestern state of Illinois on Monday. Local authorities say at least six people have been killed and more than 20 others, including children, injured.
3.Ukraine’s government estimates the cost of rebuilding the country following Russia’s invasion at 750 billion dollars. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal revealed a recovery plan at a conference in the southern Swiss city of Lugano on Monday. The plan is split into three phases. The first stage involves the reconstruction of lifeline infrastructure, including water supply and bridges, followed by the rebuilding of such facilities as schools and hospitals.

1.Tropical storm Aere is heading north toward Japan’s southwestern main island of Kyushu after passing near Okinawa. It is expected to come very close to Kyushu, possibly making landfall there on Tuesday. 台風４号（アイレー）
2.The Russian defense ministry says its forces are in “full control” of Luhansk. It is one of Ukraine’s two neighboring eastern regions Russian forces have been trying to seize.
3.Japan’s Defense Ministry says a Chinese and a Russian naval vessel were spotted just outside Japan’s territorial waters off the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea on Monday.

1.The former British colony of Hong Kong is marking 25 years since its return to Chinese rule. Anniversary events have kicked off, and China’s president is making his first visit since 2017. Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the “one country, two systems” policy has been recognized as a success.
2.Russia’s forces are intensifying their offensive in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, while Ukraine says it has taken back a key island in the Black Sea. The city of Lysychansk in Luhansk has been coming under heavy attacks. According to the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Ukrainian troops have recaptured Snake Island. This island off the coast of Odesa in southern Ukraine was seen as a key stronghold of the Russian troops.
3.The Russian government will establish a new firm that will take over the operation of the Sakhalin-2 oil and natural gas development project. Japanese companies are major stakeholders in the project.

1.NATO leaders have wrapped up their summit in Madrid, with a renewed commitment to defend both member states and their partners. They say that commitment extends far beyond the North Atlantic. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, “Both Moscow and Beijing are using economic leverage, coercion and hybrid approaches to advance their interest in the region.”
2.NHK has learned that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will attend the peace memorial ceremony in Hiroshima city, western Japan, on August 6 this year to mark the US atomic bombing of the city in 1945.
3.China’s President Xi Jinping has arrived in Hong Kong for a ceremony on Friday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the territory’s return to China. Xi arrived at the West Kowloon high-speed railway station in Hong Kong on Thursday. He got off his train wearing a face mask as Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and local citizens welcomed him by waving national flags.

1.The leaders of North Atlantic Treaty Organization member states have begun their talks in Madrid, Spain. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the start of the talks that the leaders will make key decisions to keep NATO strong and ready in a more dangerous and competitive world.
2.Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is expected to confirm a major revision to a document that specifically outlines Japan’s cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization at a two-day summit in Madrid, starting on Wednesday. Kishida will be the first Japanese prime minister to attend the NATO talks.
3.Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and his British counterpart Boris Johnson have agreed to swiftly move forward with the signing of a bilateral defense cooperation agreement. Kishida expressed his gratitude for the United Kingdom’s decision to lift import restrictions on food products from Fukushima Prefecture, which were introduced after the 2011 nuclear accident. The easing took effect on Wednesday.

1.A Russian missile strike on a shopping mall in central Ukraine has killed at least 18 people. Ukraine’s president has described it as “one of the most daring terrorist attacks in European history.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the mall held no strategic value to justify the Russian attack. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Monday said the Biden administration is finalizing another weapons package for Ukraine. It will include long-range air-defense systems specially requested by Zelenskyy.
2.Leaders at the G7 summit in Germany are accusing Russia of causing a global food crisis. They are also warning that new sanctions will be imposed, if the Russians continue their aggression in Ukraine.
3.Moldovan President Maia Sandu met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a visit to Ukraine on Monday,and toured heavily affected areas. Sandu tweeted that she was “left speechless by the level of violence and destruction” and that “It’s an unimaginable tragedy.”

1.Speaking in Germany, US President Joe Biden condemned an attack on Kyiv as an act of “barbarism.” That’s after a salvo of Russian missiles shattered weeks of relative calm in Ukraine’s capital. Officials say at least two residential buildings were struck and a nearby kindergarten was damaged.
2.A heat wave hit wide areas of Japan on Monday, while weather officials announced that the rainy season apparently ended unusually early in some regions. Meteorological Agency officials said the rainy season has ended in the Kanto-Koshin region, which includes Tokyo, as well as in the Tokai and southern Kyushu regions.
3.NHK has learned that Japan plans to provide a bout 200 million dollars to help address a global food crisis amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is expected to announce the plan when the G7 leaders discuss Ukraine and food security in Schloss Elmau, southern Germany, on Monday. Officials say the fund would probably be used to help build storage facilities for wheat and other crops in Ukraine, whose exports have been disrupted by Russia’s blockade of sea ports.

1.Humanitarian agencies are struggling to get help to areas devastated by Wednesday’s earthquake in Afghanistan. At least 1,000 people were killed and survivors living in remote villages are running out of essential supplies.
2.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the decision by leaders of the European Union to grant Ukraine membership candidate status is a victory for his country. Zelenskyy said, “Today you have adopted one of the most important decisions for Ukraine in all 30 years of independence of our state.”
3.An opinion poll has shown that about two thirds of respondents in Ukraine believe it will take at least six months for the country to win the war against Russia. The survey showed 93 percent of the respondents believe that Ukraine will be able to “repel Russia’s attack.”

1.People in Japan’s southern prefecture of Okinawa are observing the 77th anniversary of the end of the Japanese military’s combat against US forces in the closing days of World War Two. The Battle of Okinawa in 1945 left more than 200,000 people dead. One in four of the residents were killed.
2.The Myanmar military has moved the country’s ousted de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi from a secret detention location to a prison in the capital Naypyitaw. Aung San Suu Kyi was detained on February 1 last year when the military seized power from her elected government.
3.A Japanese government survey shows nearsightedness is starting to occur at an early age, affecting 6th-graders at the same level as adults. The national survey of children was the first to examine the length of the eyeball axis, between the cornea and retina, as a measure of nearsightedness.

1.Campaigning has officially started for Japan’s Upper House election. Voters head to the polls in about two-and-a-half weeks. Party leaders are already making their pitches to the public.
2.A strong earthquake in eastern Afghanistan early on Wednesday has reportedly killed at least 255 people. The US Geological Survey says the quake’s magnitude was estimated at 5.9. Its focus was about 10 kilometers below Khost Province.
3.Russia is still fighting for complete control of the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk. Its troops and artillery have failed so far to dislodge the Ukrainian defenders, who are holding on to the last stronghold in the besieged city of Severodonetsk.

1.Russia is concentrating its forces and firepower on the last Ukrainian stronghold in the eastern region of Luhansk. While the battle for Severodonetsk hits maximum intensity, Ukrainian forces are pushing to recapture the southern region of Kherson.
2.Japan Coast Guard officials say two Chinese government ships have entered Japan’s territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The officials said the ships entered waters off Uotsuri Island at around 4:10 a.m. on Tuesday, Japan time. They added that the ships apparently tried to approach a Japanese fishing boat operating in the area.
3.The last British governor of Hong Kong says China is behaving “dishonorably and dishonestly” in relation to the Sino-British joint declaration on the territory. Chris Patten said that in 1997 he was hoping that the Chinese Communist Party would stand by its word and would continue to give Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy and defend its freedoms under the rule of law.

1.A strong earthquake has hit the Noto region in central Japan. No tsunami alert has been issued. The magnitude 5.0 quake struck Ishikawa Prefecture at 10:31 a.m. on Monday. In Suzu City, the quake registered upper 5 on Japan’s seismic intensity scale of zero to 7.
2.The central alliance of French President Emmanuel Macron has suffered a major setback in the final round of the parliamentary election and has lost its majority in the National Assembly. The French interior ministry says that Macron’s party and its coalition partners have secured 245 seats, down from 345 before the election.
3.A Japanese survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima has urged the world to reject what she calls the “dangerous myth” about nuclear weapons. Setsuko Thurlow, who lives in Canada, made the appeal in an online speech on Saturday at an event sponsored by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, or ICAN.

1.Skepticism about the invasion of Ukraine appears to be on the rise in Russia, prompting elite businesspeople and oligarchs to leave the country. This is likely to exacerbate the war’s long-term damage to the nation’s economy. According to an intelligence update from the British defense ministry, the war has accelerated Russia’s long-term trajectory towards authoritarianism. Efforts are underway to criminalize speaking out against the invasion and the state.
2.Delegates from around the world have wrapped up a ministerial World Trade Organization conference in Switzerland. They’ve emerged from several days of tough negotiations with breakthrough deals on a range of subjects. High on the agenda was food security. It’s an issue that’s taken on added importance since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cut off grain shipments from Black Sea ports.
3.Policymakers at the Bank of Japan have agreed to keep their short-term benchmark interest rate in negative territory. BOJ Governor Kuroda Haruhiko has repeatedly indicated he will stay the course in a bid to boost Japan’s pandemic-battered economy.

1.Several European leaders are now visiting Ukraine. As Russian forces step up their offensive in the country’s east, the leaders want to convey a clear message. The European Union stands together in helping Ukraine. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in Kyiv by train Thursday morning.
2.Japan’s political parties are set to begin their campaigning for the Upper House election scheduled for July 10. The 150-day ordinary session of the Diet ended on Wednesday. Official campaigning for the Upper House race kicks off next Wednesday.
3.Policy-makers at the US Federal Reserve have spent months trying to overcome concerns about inflation. However, prices have risen beyond even their own expectations. Now, they are moving aggressively to bring them down. They decided to raise the benchmark interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point.

1.Key economic indicators show that China’s zero-COVID policy continued to weigh heavily on both consumption and production in the country in May. The National Bureau of Statistics say China’s retail sales last month fell 6.7 percent from a year earlier, marking a decrease for the third straight month.
2.Ukrainian leaders are pleading for outside help to repel Russian attacks that have cut off escape routes in a key eastern city. NATO leaders will soon meet to discuss how they can help. Russian troops have pushed deep into Severodonetsk, forcing hundreds to shelter in a chemical plant. They are calling on the Ukrainians to surrender. Local officials say constant bombardments mean mass escape is now impossible.
3.Prosecutors and police in Ukraine are investigating suspected war crimes that Russian troops are alleged to have committed in towns near the capital Kyiv. The troops previously occupied those towns.

1.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed for a faster supply of weapons to help his nation “liberate” territories occupied by Russia. He voiced concern over the lack of information about what was happening in regions of Ukraine currently occupied by Russian troops.
2.Amnesty International reports that Russian forces have used cluster munitions seven times in Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv, killing a number of civilians. International conventions currently ban the use of cluster munitions, which eject smaller submunitions, on the basis of indiscriminate cruelty.
3.A US Congressional panel investigating the 2021 Capitol riot on Monday presented more video testimony by close aides to former President Donald Trump. The aides said Trump ignored their repeated advice that his claims of election fraud were unfounded.

1.Russia intensified its attacks in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, while holding events to celebrate a Russian national holiday in areas that Moscow claims are now under its control. In the city of Severodonetsk in the eastern region of Luhansk, Russian shelling destroyed a bridge amid intense fighting. Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai told local media on Sunday, that he expects Russia to go all out soon to capture Severodonetsk.
2.A World Trade Organization ministerial conference began in Geneva on Sunday. On the first day of the four-day meeting, representatives discussed the challenges facing the multilateral trading system. The WTO aims to promote international trade through the system. But this fundamental principle has been shaken by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
3.The yen fell to a 24-year low against the US dollar on Monday. Investors sold the Japanese currency and bought the greenback to lock in higher US yields on a widening interest-rate gap between the two countries. The US Federal Reserve appears more committed to tighten policy to curb inflation. The Bank of Japan, by contrast, is sticking to its easy-money stance.

1.Japan has eased its anti-coronavirus border controls to start accepting overseas tourists for the first time in about two years. The government on Friday reopened the borders to foreign sightseers from 98 countries and regions deemed to be at the lowest risk of spreading COVID-19. They include the United States, South Korea and China.
2.Japan is one of the countries that have been voted to a two-year term on the United Nations Security Council. General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid made the announcement. The other countries are Ecuador, Malta, Mozambique, and Switzerland. Their term begins on January 1, 2023.
3.Researchers who have analyzed samples from the Ryugu asteroid say its parent body is believed to have had large amounts of water. The samples were collected and brought back to Earth by Japan’s Hayabusa 2 space probe in 2020. Eight teams in Japan have been analyzing the materials. A team says 23 different amino acids, including glutamic acid and aspartic acid, have been found in the samples.

1.A pro-Russian separatist leader reported that a close aide to President Vladimir Putin visited the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, apparently in a show of Russian control over the region. Denis Pushilin posted a video of First Deputy Chief of Staff Sergei Kiriyenko on social media on Wednesday. Kiriyenko traveled in a car marked with the letter “Z”—a symbol of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.
2.Inflation in Russia remained high last month due to tough international sanctions imposed in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s statistics agency said on Wednesday the consumer price index in May rose 17.1 percent from a year earlier. Food prices surged 20.05 percent.
3.Farmers in Ukraine work in what has been called the “breadbasket of Europe.” But now, many of them are looking into their fields of grain and seeking risks. The Russian invasion has stopped the flow of vital food supplies. Ukrainian leaders have accused the Russians of blocking grain shipments out of ports on the Black Sea. The Russians say Ukrainian mines have made potential shipments too dangerous.

1.Japan’s Cabinet has approved plans for what Prime Minister Kishida Fumio calls a “new form of capitalism.” The strategies are aiming to double people’s incomes from assets. The government wants to grow the economy while dealing with issues like climate change and digital transformation.
2.Russia’s Foreign Ministry says it will suspend the implementation of a 1988 agreement with Japan that allows Japanese fishing boats to operate safely near the four Russian-held islands claimed by Japan.
3.Ukraine is the setting of Russia’s months-long invasion, but the impacts are being felt far beyond. Key shipments are being blocked, driving up food costs and putting people in danger of going hungry.

1.The governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency have outlined a range of nuclear threats across the world. They gathered in Vienna on Monday for their quarterly meeting. The governors worry about what might happen after the biggest nuclear plant in Europe fell into Russian hands. They want to send a team of experts to the site in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.
2.Government data for April painted a discouraging picture for Japanese households. Figures showed workers made slightly more than in the same month a year earlier, but that in real terms their wages were down.
3.Ukraine’s president has warned that Russia’s blockade of ports in southern Ukraine could prevent the country from exporting 75 million tons of grain by autumn. Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv on Monday that roughly 22 to 25 million tons of grain have already been blocked from export. He suggested that the amount may increase to 75 million tons by autumn.

1.Fierce fighting continues in Ukraine, with Russian forces carrying out missile attacks in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv. In the key eastern city of Severodonetsk, they have met fierce resistance.
2.South Korea and the United States have fired eight ground-to-ground missiles toward the Sea of Japan in response to North Korea’s missile launches a day earlier.
3.Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that his country will strike facilities if long-range rocket systems are supplied to Ukraine. Putin made the comments in an interview aired by Russia’s state-run TV on Sunday. The US government announced last week that it would send four High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, to Ukraine.

1.Huge crowds have gathered outside Buckingham Palace to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on the British throne. Celebrations for the Platinum Jubilee began on Thursday, with a large number of military personnel marching outside Buckingham Palace in London. The Queen appeared on the balcony of the palace and received a salute from guards. She also waved to cheering crowds.
2.A US magazine has quoted senior US intelligence officials as saying Russian President Vladimir Putin has undergone treatment for advanced cancer.
3.Military analysts expected Russian troops crossing over into Ukraine would overwhelm any defenses. By Friday, Ukrainian forces had held on for 100 days. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russians control almost 20 percent of the territory, almost 125,000 square kilometers. Zelenskyy said Ukrainians are fighting a “war of courage.” He said the Russians have lost more than 30,000 soldiers. And he said tens of thousands of Ukrainians have been killed.

1.The Ukrainian national soccer team has beaten Scotland 3-1 in their World cup playoff, putting it one win away from qualifying for the competition in Qatar later this year. The match was held in Scotland on Wednesday after being postponed due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It was originally scheduled to take place in March. The Ukrainians made a good start with an opener in the 33rd minute by veteran captain Andriy Yarmolenko. They added two more goals in the second half, clinching their victory.
2.The number of confirmed cases of monkeypox has now exceeded 550 worldwide. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said on Tuesday that 321 cases of monkeypox has been confirmed in 12 European Union countries.
3.Tokyo police have arrested a tax bureau official and six others on suspicion of fraud for illegally receiving government subsidies for businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

1.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s attack of Severodonetsk in the Donbas region is “simply madness.” Zelenskyy also said in the newly released video on Tuesday that the situation in the Donbas region is “very tough.”
2.The governor of the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk said on Tuesday that Russian forces attacked a chemical plant in Severodonetsk, causing a toxic gas leak. Governor Serhiy Haidai said in a message posted on social media that a Russian strike hit a tank containing nitric acid at the plant. Two posted pictures show a rosy cloud billowing above what appears to be an apartment complex.
3.The Ukrainian state nuclear company has warned of a possible disaster at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant that is under the occupation of Russian forces. It says the Russians have explosives and weapons on the premises of the facility.

1.European Union leaders have reached a compromise to impose a partial oil embargo on Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. But it’s not a total ban. They’re allowing a temporary exemption for imports by pipeline. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, “Council should now be able to finalize a ban on almost 90% of all Russian oil imports by the end of the year. This is an important step forward.”
2.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is causing a global food crisis by blocking his country’s ports. Zelenskyy said the blockade is destabilizing the situation on a global scale and, as a result, food is becoming increasingly expensive in different countries.
3.A Japanese Defense Ministry think tank says Russia likely launched its invasion of Ukraine without fully understanding the capabilities of Ukrainian forces. The report compiled by the National Institute for Defense Studies concludes that Russia began the invasion because President Vladimir Putin was determined to annex Ukraine. However, Russian forces underestimated Ukraine’s military capabilities and their operations lacked sufficient preparation.

1.Japan’s top government spokesperson says the maritime survey South Korea conducted in Japan’s exclusive economic zone near the Takeshima Islands is unacceptable as no prior consent was given. South Korea controls the islands in the Sea of Japan. Japan claims them.
2.Russian troops are intensifying their offensive in Severodonetsk. The city is seen as Ukraine’s last stronghold in the eastern region of Luhansk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country is trying to obtain more modern weapons. He says peace will return to Ukraine in the end. Russia is stepping up operations and trying to surround Severodonetsk in order to gain full control of Luhansk.
3.Authorities in Shanghai say restrictions on businesses will be removed from Wednesday, for the first time since the city was hit by a recent coronavirus outbreak. The decision comes following two months of lockdown measures for the Chinese commercial hub.

1.Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin visited Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, on Thursday and held a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukraine’s presidential office reported that Marin said, “The heroic spirit of the Ukrainian people, who are fighting for their freedom and the whole of Europe, is admirable.”
2.Small groups of foreigners have been arriving in Japan to take part in government-sponsored guided tours, as the country prepares to welcome tourists next month. A participant from a travel agency in Australia said, “we really hope that the Japanese people are excited about having tourism back in the country again.”
3.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the most serious long-term challenge to the international order is the one posed by China. Blinken said US officials can’t rely on the Chinese to change their trajectory. So, he said, the Americans want to shape the strategic environment to advance their vision of an open and inclusive international system.

1.US media say the 18-year-old gunman who attacked an elementary school in the state of Texas on Tuesday had been bullied at school for a speech impairment. Salvador Ramos, who was a student of a local high school, broke into an elementary school in Uvalde and shot to death 19 children and two teachers.
2.The mayor of Hiroshima says he decided not to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the annual ceremony marking the US atomic bombing of the city to ensure the event can be held smoothly. Matsui Kazumi explained the reason for not inviting Putin at a news conference on Thursday.
3.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked for more military aid, saying his country’s forces are far outnumbered by Russian troops and military equipment in some eastern regions.

1.Three months of fighting in Ukraine have left thousands dead and millions fleeing to other countries. The conflict shows no signs of ending but Russian military officials say they remain confident they will achieve their goals on the battlefield in the long run. Commanders in the east say their troops destroyed an arms depot. Now, they’re making a push for the Ukrainian stronghold of Severodonetsk.
2.Nineteen students and two other people have been killed in a mass shooting at an elementary school in the US state of Texas. Local authorities say the suspect is an 18-year-old high school student. He is believed to have been shot dead by police at the scene. The incident took place around noon on Tuesday in the city of Uvalde.
3.Ukrainian President Volodymryr Zelenskyy sat down for an exclusive interview with NHK on Tuesday. After months of war, his defiance is undimmed. Zelenskyy said, “The world initially thought Ukraine would only last for three days after Russia invaded. But much to the surprise of the world, we have fought not for three days, not 30 days but already three months. The interview took place in Kyiv. Zelenskyy suggested peace in Ukraine must come without ceding any land.

1.The leaders of Japan, the United States, Australia and India say they’ll work closer on economic development, climate change and security. The Quad summit touched on fears that fighting in Ukraine could spark unrest elsewhere with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio presenting a united front.
2.Colombia’s defense ministry on Monday announced it will dispatch a team of demining experts to train Ukrainian troops. Colombia, a NATO partner, reportedly made the decision at the request of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Eleven Colombian military engineers will be dispatched to a NATO member neighboring Ukraine.
3.Western countries and Russia traded accusations Monday at a UN Security Council meeting over information warfare and cyberattacks in relation to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The exchanges came during a session on the use of digital technologies to maintain peace.

1.The leaders of Japan and the US have committed to boosting regional defense. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio met with President Joe Biden amid rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific. Kishida said, “I announce my resolve to secure a larger defense budget, and President Biden strongly supported this. We also agreed to expand and deepen our Japan-US cooperation to ensure security.”
2.Tuesday’s Quad meeting will be a major test for Australia’s new prime minister, Anthony Albanese, who is attending the summit less than a week after taking office.
Speaking in his first news conference as prime minister, he said his government would stand up for Australian values and he singled out China.
3.Russian commanders have found victories in Ukraine have not come easy. On Monday, they marked three months since they invaded. They’ve killed thousands of civilians. But military success has eluded them. The Russians have launched a series of assaults on Sievierdonetsk, one of the last cities in the region under Ukrainian control. But, once again, they’re facing determined resistance.

1.Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has agreed with the head of the international nuclear watchdog to work together to ensure the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. Kishida Fumio said, “Japan highly appreciates the IAEA’s efforts to ensure the safety of nuclear facilities in Ukraine.”
2.The United Nations Security Council held a ministerial meeting on Thursday to discuss the issues of food security and conflict. This comes amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of wheat, other grains and fertilizer. But Russia’s invasion has disrupted exports from the two countries. this has caused prices to soar and raised concerns about food shortages.
3.Russian forces appear poised to intensify their offensive to capture the whole of the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as more Ukrainian fighters surrender at a steel plant in Mariupol. But Ukrainian forces may be preparing to mount counterattacks on all fronts.

1.Japanese experts on coronavirus infections are offering new advice on face masks. They say there may be more situations where people do not need to wear them. Health ministry experts say people don’t necessarily need to wear masks outdoors as long as they and people around them are not talking much. They say that applies even when people can’t social-distance.
2.The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has visited the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to assess progress in its decommissioning and preparations for releasing treated water from the plant. Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, along with four other IAEA officials, spent two hours inspecting the plant on Thursday morning. The visit was Grossi’s first to the plant since February 2020.
3.Russia is poised to take full control of the port of Mariupol, but Ukraine says it is not giving up on the city. The mission to defend its final stronghold ended this week, leading the way for Kremlin’s biggest victory so far. Fighters have been emerging from the devastated steel plant for days.

1.Japan’s nuclear regulator has approved a plan to release treated water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean. At a meeting on Wednesday, members of the authority concluded they could find no problems in the submitted document. Their review included how to check the levels of tritium and other substances before releasing treated water into the sea. They also discussed effects on the surrounding environment and people.
2.Finland and Sweden have officially applied for NATO membership. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels called it a “historic moment” and said he warmly welcomes the requests by Finland and Sweden to join NATO. He added, “You are our closest partners, and your membership in NATO will increase our shared security.”
3.Mariupol has become both a symbol of Ukrainian resistance and a sign of Russia’s relentless military drive. Now a final stronghold has fallen. Ukrainians who fought for weeks to defend a steel mill have been carried out on stretchers.

1.Ukrainian forces say that they have ended a combat operation aimed at defending a steel plant in the strategic port city of Mariupol. The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces issued a statement on Tuesday. It said, “The Mariupol garrison has fulfilled its combat mission.” It was referring to the troops at the steel plant.
2.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has expressed dissatisfaction that medical supplies are not being delivered swiftly enough as more than one million people have developed what the regime refers to as a fever in recent weeks. Kim criticized the Cabinet and health authorities for the slow distribution of medicines, and ordered the mobilization of the military’s medical corps.
3.Authorities in the Chinese city of Shanghai are planning for a return to normal life in June after a prolonged lockdown to combat coronavirus. The daily count of new cases last month often exceeded 20,000. But on Sunday, the figure dropped to below 1,000 for the first time since March 23.

1.An adviser to the mayor of Mariupol in Ukraine says Russia’s military used incendiary or white phosphorus bombs against the defenders of the city. Petro Andryushchenko said the bombs burn at a temperature of 2,000 to 2,500 degrees Celsius, and that the combustions are almost impossible to stop.
2.Sweden’s ruling Social Democratic Party decided on Sunday to support the country’s plan to apply for NATO membership, reversing its previous opposition to the move. Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said that joining NATO would be the best thing for the security of Sweden and the Swedish people.
3.Russian troops aiming to seize control of eastern Ukraine appear to be losing momentum after being pushed back in counterattacks by Ukrainian forces.

1.Russia’s presidential office says the country will host a summit meeting of a Russia-led military alliance next week. The office said on Thursday that the leaders of all six member nations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, or CSTO, will attend the meeting in Moscow on Monday.
2.A number of countries have accused the Russian military of taking the lives of many Ukrainian children in its invasion of Ukraine. An official of the United Nations Children’s Fund said that in the last month the United Nations has verified nearly 100 child deaths from the fighting, with an actual figure that is likely to be considerably higher.
3.Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto says his country will officially file an application to join NATO as early as next week. Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin had earlier announced their country would apply for NATO membership without delay.

1.The International Labor Organization estimates that nearly a third of Ukraine’s jobs have been lost due to the Russian aggression. In a brief released on Wednesday, the ILO said 4.8 million jobs have been lost in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion in February. That accounts for 30 percent of the pre-conflict employment in Ukraine.
2.The wives of Ukrainian fighters holed up in a besieged steel plant in Mariupol have appealed to the Pope for help to evacuate the soldiers safely. Kateryna Prokopenko and Yuliia Fedusiuk met with Pope Francis on Wednesday in the Vatican. Their husbands are among the Azov battalion fighters at the Azovstal steel plant, which is surrounded by Russian troops.
3.Ukraine says it is negotiating with Russia over the evacuation of seriously injured Ukrainian fighters from a steel plant in Mariupol in exchange for captured Russians. Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Miniser Iryna Vereshchuk said in a messaging app post on Wednesday that Ukraine has offered the exchange and negotiations are underway.

1.Japan’s government is considering raising the cap on new arrivals per day from the current 10,000 to 20,000, starting next month. Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio said during a visit to Britain last week that his government will ease coronavirus restrictions so that entry into Japan will be as smooth as in other Group of Seven nations.
2.Toyota Motor say it posted record group sales and net profit for fiscal 2021 despite a global shortage of semiconductors. That is due to robust sales in North America and Asia as well as a weaker yen against the dollar.
3.The draft of Japan’s annual defense white paper refers to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It stresses that similar events should never occur in the Indo-Pacific region. The draft white paper has a new section to discuss the Russian invasion. It says unilateral attempts to forcibly change the status quo cannot be tolerated and would shake the foundation of the international order.

1.A new political era is underway in South Korea. Yoon Suk-yeol was sworn in as president Tuesday morning, ushering in the country’s first conservative government in five years. One of Yoon’s main challenges will be dealing with North Korea, which is accelerating its nuclear and missile development. He said there is room for dialogue and a way for the North to benefit.
2.Local media in the Philippines project that the son and namesake of ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos will be the country’s next president. Sixty-four-year-old Marcos will inherit a nation hit hard by the pandemic, and he’s promised to rebuild.
3.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly sent a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulating him upon the May 9 anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany.

1.Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke in front of more than ten thousand troops at a massive military parade. He defended his country’s invasion of Ukraine. Putin said, “We saw hundreds of foreign military advisors getting involved and NATO countries regularly providing the most up-to-date weapons. That was increasing the threat day by day. Russia reacted preemptively against the aggression. It was necessary and timely decision. For Russia! For victory!”
2.In Ukraine, hostilities show no signs of letting up as Russia prepares to mark the May 9 victory of the former Soviet Union over Nazi Germany. Fighting in eastern Ukraine has been especially intense. Russian forces reportedly carried out an airstrike on a school in the Luhansk region where civilians were sheltering. The regional governor said the airstrike claimed at least two lives, and left about 60 people trapped in the rubble.
3.German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says his country will continue to provide military support to Ukraine “to defense justice and freedom.” He made the remark in a televised speech Sunday on the 77th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe. Scholz expressed remorse for Germany’s past, noting the Germans had perpetrated a “crime against humanity.”

1.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for the immediate evacuation of civilians still trapped in a besieged steel plant in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine. Zelenskyy said in a video message released on Thursday that a rescue operation continued that day in Mariupol with the assistance of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Russian forces have been trying to take control of the port city.
2.Israel says its prime minister and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Thursday. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said Putin apologized to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for the recent remarks made by Russia’s foreign minister that Adolf Hitler had “Jewish origins.” It said Bennett accepted Putin’s apology.
3.Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has appealed for increased investment in Japan in a speech in Britain’s financial center, the City of London. The prime minister said he wants to convey a single message, which is “Invest in Kishida.”

1.US exports to Russia have posted a steep year-on-year decline of nearly 80 percent in March, mainly due to severe economic sanctions. A report released by the US Commerce Department shows that the United States exported products totaling 101 million dollars to Russia in March. That’s a drop of 78.8 percent from the same period last year.
2.Policymakers at the US Federal Reserve have seen inflation rise to its highest level in 40 years. They raised interest rates by half a percentage point on Wednesday, their biggest rate hike in 22 years.
3.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called on European Union nations to agree to a complete ban of Russian oil imports by the end of the year. Von der Leyen made the proposal to the European Parliament on Wednesday as part of an additional package of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

1.The United Nations human rights agency says that as of Monday at least 3,193 civilians, including 227 children, had been killed in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on February 24.
2.Russian forces have launched a fresh assault on Mariupol in eastern Ukraine, despite efforts to evacuate civilians trapped in a steel plant in the besieged city. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video message released on Tuesday that 156 civilians have managed to evacuate from the Azovstal steel plant to the Ukraine-held city of Zaporizhzhia in the southeast.
3.A Japanese Self-Defense Forces aircraft carrying aid supplies for Ukrainian evacuees has arrived in Poland. Japanese government officials say the supplies will initially be stored in a warehouse in the airport, before being transported to a number of areas.

1.Prosecutors in Ukraine say the Russian invasion has killed at least 219 children and injured 405 as of Monday. The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office says the eastern region of Donetsk had the highest number of child casualties at 139, followed by the Kyiv region at 115, the eastern region of Kharkiv at 95, and 68 in the Chernihiv region in the north.
2.An evacuation effort has been underway for those trapped in a steel plant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol. But there are fears that more people may not be able to leave as Ukrainian officials said Russian troops have resumed shelling.
3.The founder of a major Russian bank says he was forced to sell his stake in the entity after criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s administration for invading Ukraine. Oleg Tinkov, the founder of one of Russia’s major banks, slammed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “crazy” in a social media post last month. He also wrote that 90 percent of Russians don’t support the war.

1.Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio held talks on Monday with his Thai counterpart Prayut Chan-o-cha in Bangkok. At the outset of the talks, Kishida said that together with Prayut, he wants to further strengthen friendship with Thailand, a strategic partner of Japan.
2.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed hope that civilian evacuations from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol will continue on Monday. Zelenskyy said in a video message on Sunday that the evacuation corridor had finally started working, and more than a hundred civilians had already been evacuated.
3.Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the eldest son of a former Philippine president, is maintaining his lead in the latest opinion poll, one week before the country’s presidential election. Filipinos will vote on May 9 to choose a successor to Rodrigo Duterte, as presidents are limited to serving a single six-year term. Ten candidates are vying for the country’s top office. Major campaign issues include Duterte’s authoritarian rule, and how to deal with China.

1.The Japan Coast Guard has confirmed that the object found on the seabed off the coast of Hokkaido in northern Japan is the tour boat that went missing on April 23. The 19-ton “KAZU I” was carrying 24 passengers and two crew members. Fourteen people were confirmed dead as of Thursday. The others remain unaccounted for, and search operations are continuing.
2.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says five Russian missiles struck Kyiv immediately after his talks with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the capital.
3.Russia fired two missiles at Kyiv during UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ visit to the Ukrainian capital. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko posted on social media that two Russian missiles landed near a residential building in the city’s Shevchenko district. Ukrainian authorities say at least 10 people were wounded in the attacks.

1.Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has met with his German counterpart Olaf Scholz. They discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other security issues including China’s increasing maritime assertiveness.
2.The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has said “the worst of crimes is war itself” during a visit to Ukraine. He also called on Russia to cooperate with a war crimes international investigation into the killing of Ukrainian civilians.
3.Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda Haruhiko spoke about the rapid depreciation of the yen after the bank’s 2-day policy meeting. He said he has not changed his view that the weak yen is favorable to the Japanese economy in general.

1.The Japan Coast Guard is braving bad weather and sea conditions in search of passengers and crew of a tour boat that went missing off Hokkaido, northern Japan. The boat, named “KAZU I,” went missing on Saturday during a cruise along the Shiretoko Peninsula, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
2.The mayor of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson is defying a Russian commander who said mayoral powers would be given to someone else. Igor Kolykhaev said in a Facebook post he is remaining in the city with the people who elected him. He stressed that Kherson belongs to Ukraine.
3.The Russian military is stepping up its offensive in eastern and southern Ukraine, claiming it has taken control of some areas and justifying the expansion of areas under its control. Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russia’s air force destroyed arms depots and surface-to-air missile systems in and near Slovyansk in the Donetsk region on Tuesday. That is according to Russia’s Defense Ministry.

1.US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have reiterated their intention to continue military support for Ukraine. Austin said Ukraine “can win if they have the right equipment, the right support. And we’re going to do everything we can.” Blinken said, “In terms of Russia’s war aims, Russia has already failed and Ukraine has already succeeded.”
2.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is meeting with world leaders to push for a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine. Guterres met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Monday. The two agreed that more must be done to establish safe passage for civilians caught in the fighting in Ukraine, and to deliver humanitarian aid.
3.Russian troops are now focusing their efforts on taking control of eastern Ukraine, but their advance has apparently stalled due to resistance from Ukrainian forces.

1.The Coast Guard and the Self-Defense Forces have expanded the search area for people who went missing in a boat accident off the Shiretoko Peninsula in Japan’s northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido. The 19-ton tour boat, Kazu One, with 26 people on board, went missing on Saturday after making a distress call.
2.French President Emmanuel Macron has won a second term after defeating far-right challenger Marine Le Pen in the country’s presidential runoff on Sunday. The interior ministry says Macron won 58.55 percent of the vote and Le Pen 41.45 percent.
3.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have reportedly held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. It is their first visit to the Ukrainian capital since the Russian invasion of the country began two months ago.

1.Russian forces look poised to extend areas under their control in eastern Ukraine following the Kremlin’s claim that it has seized the key port city of Mariupol. But they are facing fierce resistance from the Ukrainians, who are receiving more military aid from the West.
2.Britain’s Defense Ministry says a full ground assault by Russia on a steel plant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol “would likely incur significant Russian casualties, further decreasing their overall combat effectiveness.” The ministry on Friday released an update on the situation in Ukraine, following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to blockade the Asovstal plant instead of storming it. Ukrainian troops and many civilians remain in the plant.
3.An orchestra based in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv has started a European tour to rally support for the country. The Kyiv Symphony Orchestra kicked off the tour on Thursday with a concert in Poland’s capital Warsaw, where many Ukrainian evacuees are seeking refuge.

1.France’s centrist President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right contender Marine Le Pen faced off in a fierce debate ahead of Sunday’s presidential runoff. The two candidates clashed in a TV debate on Wednesday over issues including the war in Ukraine and the soaring prices of fuel and other goods.
2.In Major League Baseball, Japanese two-way star Ohtani Shohei of the Los Angeles Angels has earned his first win of the season. Ohtani faced the Houston Astros at the starting pitcher in Texas on Wednesday. He carried a perfect game through five and 1/3 innings.
3.A Ukrainian evacuee has begun studying at the University of Tokyo. Iryna Petrychenko, a researcher from a state university in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, has been in Japan since March 21.

1.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the situation in Mariupol as “unchanged” and “severe.”
2.Eight Russian officials have left Japan following Tokyo’s decision to expel them on April 8. It is rare for Japan to expel multiple foreign officials. The move was made to put more pressure on Moscow over tis invasion of Ukraine.
3.A local railway in Kagawa Prefecture, western Japan, is running a train in the Ukrainian flag colors of blue and yellow in a show of solidarity with railway operators in the country.

1.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian forces have launched a full-scale offensive in an effort to take over the eastern part of the country. Zelenskyy said, “We can already say that Russian troops have begun the battle for Donbas, for which they’ve been preparing for a long time. A significant part of the entire Russian army is now concentrated on this offensive.”
2.Independent media in Europe and Russia have reported that dozens of crew members died aboard the Russian cruiser Moskva, which sank in the Black Sea last week. The reports are raising doubts over Moscow’s claim that none of the crew died.
3.Japan has introduced an import ban on 38 products from Russia as an additional measure over the country’s invasion of Ukraine. It’s the first time Tokyo has imposed an import ban in connection with the conflict.

1.Ukrainian forces in the besieged port city of Mariupol have rejected Russia’s demands to surrender. Officials say Russian forces have encircled civilians and military personnel. Russia set a Sunday deadline for Ukrainian forces in the southeastern city to lay down their arms.
2.NHK has learned that at least 500 Belarusian volunteers have traveled to Ukraine to fight against Russian troops. An organization in Warsaw linked to Ukraine’s Azov Battalion has been training Belarusian fighters in Poland and sending them to Ukraine, according to the leader of the organization, Pavel Kukhta. The Azov Battalion has been putting up resistance against the Russian invasion in eastern Ukraine.
3.Japanese students studying international law at Waseda University in Tokyo have held a mock trial on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In March, the International Court of Justice issued a provisional order for Russia to immediately suspend its military action in Ukraine after Kyiv filed a suit asserting that Russia had no lawful basis for military action. Using the ruling as a reference, the students prepared statements.

1.Leaders of the Group of 20 nations are debating whether they want Russian officials at their table. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said he’ll take part in a meeting with his counterparts next Wednesday.
2.As Russian and Ukrainian forces fight on the ground, their leaders spar with words. Each side is claiming major victories that the other will not concede. The latest disagreement centers on the sunken flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
3.Ukrainian officials say they are investigating about 2,000 cases of suspected war crimes by Russia in areas near Kyiv, including Makariv and Bucha.

1.US Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has indicated that a humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine does not seem possible at the moment.
2.A draft resolution to require the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to explain their decision when they exercise veto power will be submitted shortly to the General Assembly.
3.The US Defense Department says the US will quickly send more military equipment and supplies to Ukraine in newly authorized assistance. President Joe Biden promised an additional 800 million dollars’ worth of military aid in phone talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday.

1.The total number of COVID-19 cases worldwide has surpassed 500 million, with the number of associated deaths exceeding 6.18 million.
2.Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has seen cities destroyed and thousands of civilians, including many children, killed. Millions more have fled. Now, US President Joe Biden says these attacks amount to “genocide.”
3.British newspaper The Times has reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed about 150 officials of the Federal Security Bureau and arrested some of them. The newspaper said the FSB had provided the Kremlin with misinformation about the situation in Ukraine before the invasion.

1.Japan’s health ministry has confirmed the country’s first case of the XE strain of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The ministry said a woman in her 30s was found to be infected with the XE strain after she arrived in Japan from the United States on March 26.
2.Russia has come under fire at the United Nations Security Council over the number of civilian casualties resulting from its military operation in Ukraine. On Monday, the Security Council discussed the situation that women and children in Ukraine are facing.
3.Japan’s government has formalized additional sanctions on Russia that include freezing the assets of President Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters. The move comes in response to the mass killing of civilians in the suburbs of Kyiv and elsewhere amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

1.The United Nations human rights agency says as of Saturday at least 1,793 civilians, including 142 children, had been killed in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on February 24.
2.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian troops “will move to even larger operations” in eastern Ukraine. Zelenskyy appeared in a video released on Sunday. He suggested that Russian troops could even use more missiles and aerial bombs against his country.
3.The World Bank says Moscow’s ongoing offensive in Ukraine is likely to wipe out almost half of the beleaguered country’s economy this year. The World Bank projects in its latest report issued on Sunday that Ukraine’s GDP will contract by 45.1 percent compared with last year.

1.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia has become “the greatest threat on the planet” following the discovery of mass civilian deaths in Bucha, near Kyiv.
2.Ukrainian leaders are warning civilians in the eastern part of the country to evacuate as soon as possible. The move comes as attacks by Russian forces are expected to intensify.
3.Japan’s Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hagiuda Koichi says Japan will work to reduce reliance on coal imports from Russia in stages, with the goal of eventually phasing them out altogether.

1.A leading Japanese manga artist, Fujiko A. Fujio, has died. He was known for such popular series as “Ninja Hattori-kun” and “Kaibutsu-kun,” or the monster kid. He was reportedly found dead at his home in Kawasaki City, near Tokyo, on Thursday morning. He was 88.
2.A group of child musicians in central Japan have raised about 1,300 dollars for displaced Ukrainians. The seven children in Takayama City in Gifu Prefecture visited the city hall on Wednesday, and handed the equivalent of 1,350 dollars to the deputy city mayor.
3.Some Ukrainian athletes are selling the medals they won at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to raise funds to support their country amid the Russian invasion. Paralympian canoeist Serhii Yemlianov won the gold medal in the men’s kayak single 200 meters at the Tokyo Paralympics last year. He says he is selling his medal to support the “Defenders of Ukraine.” Ukrainian karate athlete Stanislav Horuna won the bronze medal in the men’s kumite in the minus 75-kilogram class at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He is also selling his medal on an online auction site.

1.Leaders around the world are reacting to the message delivered by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the United Nations Security Council. The president said Russia must be held accountable for what he calls “war crimes.” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, “All you need is a VPN connection to access independent information from anywhere in the world. And when you find the truth, share it.” At least 16 countries have announced they are expelling more than 300 Russian diplomats and officials.
2.The United States, Britain and Australia say they will jointly develop hypersonic weapons via the trilateral security alliance known as AUKUS.
3.European countries and other nations have agreed to give Moldova 659.5 million euros, or nearly 720 million dollars, in aid. Moldova has been accepting large numbers of people fleeing from Ukraine. Moldova is one of the poorest nations in Europe. It has accepted more than 390,000 evacuees from Ukraine since the Russian invasion began. That number represents 15 percent of Moldova’s population.

1.The human toll of the invasion of Ukraine is becoming ever more apparent as Russian troops pull out of the region of the nation’s capital Kyiv. In a Telegram post, Sumy Governor Dmytro Shyvytskyi confirmed that Russian forces had begun withdrawing from the region and hundreds of civilians have been killed. The post strongly condemns Russians for what the governor describes as unprecedented acts of cruelty.
2.German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has condemned Russia for the atrocities in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, saying her country will expel a significant number of Russian diplomats based in Berlin. Baerbock said, “The images from Bucha reveal the unbelievable brutality of the Russian leadership and those who follow its propaganda.”
3.Russia is facing growing outrage and accusations that it committed war crimes in Ukraine. The Kremlin continues to deny responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of civilians in the suburbs of Kyiv. But world leaders are threatening to impose new sanctions.

1.Ukrainian authorities say they’re investigating potential war crimes after hundreds of civilians were found dead in the suburbs of Kyiv. But Russia is denying the allegations. Ukraine has retaken the region around the capital from Russian forces. Officials say when Ukrainian troops moved into the town of Bucha, they found civilians dead in the streets. The town’s mayor told Reuters that some had their hands and feet bound and had been shot at close range.
2.Hong Kong’s incumbent leader says she will not seek a second term. Carrie Lam was Hong Kong’s chief executive when massive pro-democracy protests led China to impose a sweeping national security law in the city. Lam told reporters she has decided to focus on her family.
3.The US Ambassador to the United Nations has announced an additional 50 million dollars in aid to Moldova to help the country accommodate displaced Ukrainians.

1.US President Joe Biden says he is skeptical that Russia will scale back military operations around the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Biden told reporters on Thursday that there is no clear evidence that President Vladimir Putin is “pulling all of his forces out of Kyiv”.
2.The Japanese government will provide blankets, plastic sheets and other emergency supplies for people who have been forced to leave their homes amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The government has noted that over 10 million people have been internally displaced or crossed into neighboring countries since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
3.Russian forces are regrouping and shifting focus. Some Ukrainians are feeling relief, while others, especially in the east, are worried that the deadly fighting will soon get worse. Russia has promised to scale back attacks on Kyiv. But people fleeing the capital say that’s not their experience.

1.The United Nations human rights chief say there are credible allegations that Russian armed forces have used cluster munitions in populated areas in Ukraine. Cluster munitions are banned by an international convention for their cruelty.
2.Ukrainian officials are closely watching Russian movements, following promises to scale back attacks on the capital, Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy updated US President Joe Biden on the fighting, once again, asked for help. White House officials say Zelenskyy also updated the US leader on ceasefire talks. Biden promised another 500 million dollars in aid and more money to help Ukraine’s military.
3.Russia and China have agreed to widen cooperation as the rift between Moscow and Western countries grows over the invasion of Ukraine. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi exchanged views on the Ukraine situation. Russia’s Foreign Ministry says Lavrov explained the developments with Russian forces, while Wang reiterated his opposition to sanctions other countries have imposed on Russia.

1.In the ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine, Russian delegates are promising to withdraw some troops from positions around Kyiv. But other parts of the country are facing new attacks. Ukrainian officials reported some progress in the talks. They said they discussed a new framework to ensure that Ukraine has security without becoming a member of NATO. They named possible security guarantors, including the US, Britain, Canada, Poland and Turkey.
2.People who have flied the fighting in Ukraine still have no idea how long they will be forced to say in neighboring countries. The border between Ukraine and Moldova is crowded with evacuees heading in both directions – some fleeing Ukraine while others make brief trips home to pick up family members and belongings. As of Monday, Moldova was hosting more than 380,000 Ukrainian evacuees.
3.Russian Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin said, “We have decided to drastically scale down military activity around Kiev and Chernihiv.” US officials are, however, skeptical about Russia’s pledge. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday, “I have not seen anything that suggests that this is moving forward in an effective way, because Russia – at least we have not seen signs of real seriousness.”

1.Ukraine’s besieged city of Mariupol has seen the worst of the fighting for weeks.The UN says the constant shelling has made it difficult to know just how many people have been killed. Ukrainian media outlets quoted the mayor of Mariupol as claiming that about 5,000 people have been killed since the Russian invasion.
2.A private university in Tokyo has decided to accept Ukrainian students who want to evacuate to Japan. The International Christian University says it will solicit applications with refugee support group Pathways Japan. Eligible applicants should be students at universities in Ukraine who have remained in the country or fled to another country since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
3.The Group of Seven countries have agreed to refuse Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand to pay for natural gas imports in rubles. G7 ministers looked into the plans Putin revealed last week to demand ruble payments for gas sales to what Moscow has deemed “unfriendly” countries, including the US and European nations.

1.Negotiators from Russia and Ukraine are expected to hold ceasefire talks in Istanbul on Tuesday. In an interview with Russian journalists, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskky indicated that his government is prepared to discuss a new security framework, replacing Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership.
2.South Korea’s President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol has stressed the need for Japan, the United States and his country to strengthen cooperation to deal with North Korea’s nuclear and missile development.
3.The Japanese film “Drive My Car” has picked up the Oscar for best international feature film. The Hamaguchi Ryusuke-directed film is based on a short story by author Murakami Haruki. It’s about a stage director grappling with the death of his wife and his interaction with a woman assigned to be his driver.

1.The situation in Ukraine is also affecting the lives of millions of children. A NGO,Save the Children, says many are suffering and in immediate need of support. Pete Walsh, Country Director for Save the Children in Ukraine, says they face great risk while the authorities try to reunite them. He also called for a ban on adoptions of children who have been uprooted in the war.
2.Ukrainian troops are continuing their all-out defense against the invading Russians. Ukraine said on Thursday that it had destroyed a Russian landing ship in the occupied southern port of Berdyansk, less than 100 kilometers from the besieged city of Mariupol. The media is quoting Ukrainian officials as saying the country’s military also damaged two other vessels at the port.
3.A Ukrainian government official says the country has exchanged 10 prisoners of war with Russia. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk posted on social media on Thursday that the “first full-fledged exchange of prisoners of war” has taken place. She reportedly said ten Ukrainian personnel were released in exchange for ten captured Russian soldiers.

1.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the United States has officially determined that Russian forces are committing war crimes in Ukraine.
2.A senior US Defense Department official says that some of the Russian ground forces advancing toward Ukraine’s capital Kyiv have been pushed back by Ukrainians. The official said on Wednesday that one Russian unit that had been 20 to 30 kilometers northeast of central Kyiv is now about 55 kilometers away.
3.Britain’s Defense Ministry says Ukraine has launched a series of counterattacks against Russian forces near the capital, Kyiv. The ministry tweeted on Wednesday that Ukrainian troops are intensifying their offensive in the northeast of the city. It noted that the Russian units there are “facing considerable supply and morale issues.”

1.The head of the United Nations has called for immediate negotiations to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Speaking to reporters at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted that Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine a month ago, in violation of the UN Charter.
2.Russian troops are intensifying their attacks on the besieged port city of Mariupol in Ukraine. Russia has demanded that Ukraine surrender the city, but Ukraine’s leadership has refused.
3.The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says that as of Monday, more than 3.53 million Ukrainians have fled their country since the Russian invasion began. Ukraine’s western neighbor Poland has taken in the largest number, at over 2 million. The Polish government says about 70,000 Ukrainian children are attending school in Poland. But many face challenges due to the language barrier.