December 5, Wednesday, 2018 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Raja Pradhan and Ms. Mariko Kojima

  1. An earthquake has occurred in the southern Pacific off the coast of New Caledonia at 4:20 UTC on Wednesday. The quake measured at magnitude 7.5 with a depth of 10 kilometers.
  2. NHK has learned that a draft of the government’s new defense guidelines says Japan will introduce state-of-the-art F-35B stealth fighter jets.
  3. The French government has announced it will suspend fuel tax hike planned for January.

December 3, Monday, 2018 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Yoshi Ogasawara and Ms. Emma Howard

  1. Tokyo stocks opened sharply higher on Monday, as U.S. President Donald Trump shelved a planned tariff hike on Chinese imports.
  2. The U.N. climate change conference has opened in the Polish city of Katowice.
  3. French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will begin talks with representatives of political parties and demonstrators to find a way to end the unrest that has left many people wounded.