October 1, Wednesday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Michael Rhys and Ms. Fumiko Konoe
1. The British government says it has launched air strikes against the Islamic State militant group in Iraq.
2. Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists engaged in a fierce firefight at an airport in the eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk on Tuesday.
3. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators are continuing their sit-in in downtown Hong Kong despite heavy rain.
October 2, Thursday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Raja Pradan and Ms. Hiroko Kitadai
1. Pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong took to the streets on Wednesday. The protest has now marked the largest number so far.
2. The vice foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea have agreed that the two governments should have high level dialogue to improve the strained bilateral relations.
3. The foreign ministers of Russia and North Korea have agreed to promote exchanges and strengthen economic ties between the countries.
October 3, Friday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Raja Pradan and Ms. Fumiko Konoe
1. Hong Kong’s political leaders say they are ready to hold talks with pro-democracy protesters.
2. The Palestinian Authority has drafted a U.N. Security Council resolution which calls for Israel to withdraw from all occupied Palestinian territories by November 2016.
3. A volcano in central Japan is believed to be continuing its activity.
October 4, Saturday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. David Crystal and Ms. Hiroko Kitadai
1. Rescuers in central Japan have found three more people without vital signs on Mount Ontake. The rescue teams are racing against time in their search for victims before the arrival of an approaching typhoon.
2. Police in Hong Kong have arrested 19 people in scuffles between pro-democracy protesters and other citizens angered by the prolonged demonstrations.
3. The Canadian government has announced a plan to send fighter jets to join U.S.-led air strikes against the Islamic militant group in Iraq.
October 5, Sunday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Hirokazu Sakamaki and Ms. Risa Shimizu
1. A large and powerful typhoon is moving towards Japan’s main island.
2. Japanese authorities have confirmed the deaths of four more people from the eruption on Mount Ontake last week.
3. Leaders of the student-led protests in Hong Kong say they will accept talks with government officials conditionally. But the top executive hinted at a possible crackdown.
October 6, Monday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Raja Pradan and Ms. Yuka Matsumoto
1. Large and powerful typhoon Phanfone made landfall in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, on Monday morning.
2. Protesters calling for democratic elections in Hong Kong have eased their blockade of an area in front of the city’s government headquarters , but they continue a sit-in.
3. Brazilians will go to a second-round vote on October 26th to choose their next president, as no candidate won a majority in Sunday’s election.
October 7, Tuesday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Risa Shimizu and Mr. Mick Corliss
1. The Islamic State militant group is intensifying its offensive along the border between Syria and Turkey.
2. Pro-democracy protesters and government officials in Hong Kong have agreed to engage in dialogue by Sunday.
3. Japan is set to launch a next generation weather satellite atop an H-2A carrier rocket on Tuesday.
October 8, Wednesday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Helen Lewis and Mr. Michael Rhys
1. This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to two Japanese scientists and one Japanese American scientist for their invention of blue-light-emitting diodes.
2. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has exchanged brief words with an aide of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
3. Pro-democracy students in Hong Kong are staging sit-in protests in the city center ahead of planned talks with the government.
October 9, Thursday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Jonathan Sear and Ms. Yuka Matsumoto
1.South Korean prosecutors have indicted a former Seoul bureau chief of the Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun for defaming President Park Geun-hye.
2.Japan and the United States have compiled an interim report on revising their defense cooperation guidelines.
3.U.S. military officials say the battle against the Islamic State group will be a long campaign because of the absence of a friendly ground force in Syria.
October 10, Friday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Maxwell Powers and Ms. Risa Shimizu
1. Japan’s government says it will continue to seek a bilateral summit with South Korea while it conveyed concern over the indictment of a Japanese journalist.
2. The leaders of global financial institutions and Ebola-stricken African nations are appealing to the world to act quickly to contain history’s worst outbreak of the lethal virus.
3. The Japanese government says it will extend for four months the deployment of a Ground Self-Defense Force unit in South Sudan under a U.N. peacekeeping mission.
October 11, Saturday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. David Crystal and Ms. Fumiko Konoe
1. This year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Malala Yousafzai says she is honored to have been chosen, and she expressed her determination to continue to advocate for every child to be able to get an education.
2. The World Health Organization says the number of confirmed and suspected deaths from Ebola has topped 4,000, mainly in West Africa.
3. Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 nations have ended their talks by calling for more infrastructure investment in emerging economies to boost global growth.
October 12, Sunday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Hirokazu Sakamaki and Ms. Keiko Kitagawa
1. People in western Japan are bracing for a powerful typhoon as it heads north after passing over Okinawa’s main island.
2. Protesters in Hong Kong continued to stage sit-ins on Saturday demanding democratic electoral reform.
3. Japan and Egypt have confirmed their support for reconstruction of the ravaged Gaza Strip.
October 13, Monday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Yoshi Ogasawara and Ms. Yuka Matsumoto
1. A powerful storm has made landfall on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu.
2. Donors have pledged 5.4 billion dollars in aid to help rebuild the Gaza Strip that was devastated by the recent fighting between Israel and Hamas.
3. A healthcare worker in the United States has been confirmed of having contracted Ebola.
October 14, Tuesday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Mick Corliss and Ms. Risa Shimizu
1. Powerful storm Vongfong has left devastation across Japan, and authorities say two people have been killed.
2. A Chinese court has sentenced 12 people to death for terrorism in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in July.
3. The Sri Lancan president helped to reopen a railway on Monday linking the largest city, Colombo, to the northern city of Jaffna.
October 15, Wednesday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Michael Rhys and Ms. Fumiko Konoe
1. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has left for Italy to attend a meeting of Asian and European leaders.
2. The U.N. Security Council has been warned that new Ebola infections will reach 10,000 cases a week by early December.
3. The military chiefs of the United States and 21 other countries have met to discuss how to combat the Islamic State militants.
October 16, Thursday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Raja Pradan and Ms. Hiroko Kitadai
1. Officials at the World Health Organization say nearly 9,000 confirmed and suspected cases of the Ebola disease have been reported in seven affected countries up to October 12th.
2. Pro-democracy protestors and police officers in Hong Kong scuffled early Thursday following reports of an alleged police beating of a protestor.
3. The U.S. president and the Ukrainian president have agreed on the need to put international pressure on Russia to abide by the ceasefire plan for eastern Ukraine at an upcoming Asia-Europe summit.
October 17, Friday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Raja Pradan and Ms. Fumiko Konoe
1. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said Japan is considering more aid to contain the Ebola outbreak.
2. Pro-democracy students in Hong Kong say they are ready to hold dialogue with the government’s senior officials.
3. A wave of bombings has hit Baghdad, raising concerns that the U.S. aerial campaign in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State has not slowed its momentum.
October 18, Saturday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. David Crystal and Ms. Fumiko Konoe
1. Leaders from Asian and European countries have agreed on the importance of resolving disputes over Ukraine and elsewhere by peaceful means in accordance with the U.N. Charter and international law.
2. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has called on the international community to do more to fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
3. In Hong Kong, pro-democracy protestors have clashed with police at one of the sit-in sites after police removed their barricades.
October 19, Sunday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Hirokazu Sakamaki and Ms. Keiko Kitagawa
1. Tension remains high in Hong Kong despite a government offer to talk to pro-democracy protestors. The protestors have scuffled with police in an effort to reclaim territory.
2. Government officials in Japan may send Self-Defense Force personnel to consult with U.S. military officials on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
3. Suspected Boko Haram militants have carried out a string of deadly attacks on Nigerian villages, despite a ceasefire announcement.
October 20, Monday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Raja Pradan and Ms. Yuka Matsumoto
1. Japan’s Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yuko Obuchi has resigned, taking responsibility for a scandal involving her political funding organizations.
2. Hong Kong government’s leader claims there has been foreign influence over the ongoing pro-democracy protest movement.
3. The U.S. defense secretary has ordered the creation of a 30-member medical support team to provide emergency help in treating Ebola in the U.S.
October 21, Tuesday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Risa Shimizu and Mr. Mick Corliss
1. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has swiftly named replacements for two scandal-tainted cabinet ministers, and hopes to shift attention back to his policies.
2. The World Health Organization has declared Nigeria free of the Ebola virus.
3. Representatives of Hong Kong’s government and student protestors are set to hold talks for the first time on Tuesday since pro-democracy rallies began on September 28th.
October 22, Wednesday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Michael Rhys and Ms.Helen Lewis
1. The operator of the Fukushima Daiichin nuclear power plant has begun dismantling the cover of one of its damaged reactions.
2. Student protest leaders and senior government officials in Hong Kong have failed to find common ground in their first meeting to resolve the standoff over election reforms.
3. West Africa is facing a critical situation seven months after the onset of Ebola due to shortages of medical facilities.
October 23, Thursday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Yuka Matsumoto and Mr. Jonathan Sear
1. Japan’s government says it is seeking a meeting between a Japanese delegation and So Tae Ha, the vice minister of North Korea’s Ministry of State Security.
2. Canadian police have killed a gunman during exchanges of fire with him in the parliament buildings in the capital, Ottawa.
3. The Islamic State militant group still has much of its military power one month after the U.S.-led air attacks began against the extremists in Syria.
October 24, Friday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Maxwell Powers and Ms. Risa Shimizu
1. New York City says a male doctor who recently returned from Guinea, West Africa, tested positive for Ebola.
2. Authorities in Canada are trying to figure out the motive behind an attack in the nation’s capital.
3. A senior U.S. government official has stressed the need to cut off the flow of funds to the Islamic State group, calling it the world’s best-funded terrorist organization.
October 25, Saturday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. David Crystal and Ms. Fumiko Konoe
1. U.S. health authorities have announced that a doctor who returned to New York from West Africa has contracted the Ebola virus.
2. Japan’s health ministry has compiled basic measures to administer unapproved Ebola drugs in the event a patient tests positive for the disease in the country.
3. In Turkey, suspicious power has been sent to Western consulates. Five nations have received the suspicious envelopes as part of the U.S.-led military coalition against the Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria.
October 26, Sunday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Hirokazu Sakamaki and Ms. Keiko Kitagawa
1. West African countries bordering Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone andMali are making efforts to contain the Ebola virus.
2. Ukrainian voters go to the polls in a parliamentary election on Sunday, but pro-Russian activists who control part of the eastern region say they will not participate.
3. A delegation of Japanese government officials will leave for Beijing on Sunday evening before heading to Pyongyang to seek an update on a major investigation.
October 27, Monday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Yoshi Ogasawara and Ms. Yuka Matsumoto
1. Cabinet ministers from 12 Asia-Pacific countries have agreed to continue working-level talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement.
2. A delegation of Japanese officials will arrive in North Korea on Monday for a four-day visit.
3. Former Fukushima vice governor Masao Uchibori has won Sunday(s gubernatorial election in the prefecture.
October 28, Tuesday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Mick Corliss and Ms. Fumiko Konoe
1. Japan’s health ministry plans to launch a task force to prepare for possible cases of Ebola infection in the country.
2. Japanese and North Korean officials have begun talks in Pyongyang on the North’s investigation into the fate of Japanese abductees and other missing Japanese citizens.
3. Japan’s prime minister has expressed his hope to hold summit talks with the South Korean president to improve bilateral relations.
October 29, Wednesday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Michael Rhys and Ms. Fumiko Konoe
1. Japanese and North Korean officials are meeting in Pyongyang to discuss the North’s investigation into the fate of abductees and other Japanese nationals.
2. Pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong say they want to hold talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
3. The head of the U.N. mission to fight Ebola says stepping up aid work in the next 30 days will be crucial to bringing the crisis under control.
October 30, Thursday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai
1. The Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company are to revise the timetable for decommissioning the No.1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
2. The World Health Organization says the number of confirmed or suspected Ebola infections has topped 13,000.
3. Children’s rights activist Malala Yousafzai has received this year’s World’s Children’s Prize in Sweden.
October 31, Friday, 2014 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Raja Pradan and Ms. Fumiko Konoe
1. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says North Korea has pledged to investigate the abduction of Japanese nationals. However, Pyongyang has so far failed to provide detailed information on the missing.
2. The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has removed part of the cover of a reactor building on a trial basis.
3. Countries from around the world have agreed on a sharp cut in the catch of bluefin tuna in the Eastern Pacific starting in 2015.