January 22, Tuesday, 2019 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Ms. Fumiko Konoe

  1. A Tokyo court has denied another bail request by Nissan Motor’s former chairman Carlos Ghosn.]
  2. The Japanese prime minister is seeking progress in talks with Russia on signing a peace treaty that would include a solution to the issue of Russian-held islands.
  3. U.S. and North Korean officials appear to have met in Sweden, following the announcement by the U.S. of a second summit next month.

January 21, Monday, 2019 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Raja Pradhan and Ms. Emma Howard

  1. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence says a second U.S.-North Korea summit scheduled for late February is expected to focus on specific steps toward the North’s denuclearization.
  2. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is heading to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin.
  3. The French economic minister has denied news reports claiming the French government told Japanese officials that it wants to integrate Renault and Nissan Motor.

January 20, Sunday, 2019 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Hirokazu Sakamaki and Ms. Yuka Matsumoto

  1. U.S. President Donald Trump says “things are going very well with North Korea” and a country has been picked to host his second summit with the North’s leader Kim Jong Un.
  2. The U.S. military has said an air strike in Somalia on Saturday killed 52 members of an Islamic militant group.
  3. A gasoline pipeline has exploded in central Mexico. Local authorities say at least 66 people were killed.

January 19, Saturday, 2019 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Risa Shimizu and Ms. Fumiko Konoe

  1. The White House says the second U.S.-North Korea summit will take place “near the end of February.”
  2. Japan’s Defense Ministry plans to make public new evidence to support its claim that a South Korean naval vessel directed its fire-control radar at a Japanese patrol plane.
  3. More than half of a million high-school students and graduates across Japan are putting their knowledge to the test at unified college and university entrance exams.

January 18, Friday, 2019 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Emma Howard and Mr. Raja Pradhan

  1. A close aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has arrived in the United States, apparently to discuss a second summit between the two countries’ leaders.
  2. Former Nissan Motor chairman Carlos Ghosn’s attorneys have made another request for bail to the Tokyo District Court.
  3. Japan has launched a 26-meter-long Epsilon-4 rocket carrying seven small satellites from the Uchinoura Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

January 17, Thursday, 2019 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Raja Pradhan and Ms. Hiroko Kitadai

  1. Thursday marks 24 years since the Great Hanshin Earthquake devastated western Japan.
  2. The French minister of the economy and finance says France’s government would like Renault to hold a board meeting within days and decide on new management.
  3. The defense chiefs of Japan and the United States have reaffirmed close cooperation in dealing with China’s growing maritime presence and other regional matters.

January 16, Wednesday, 2019 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Raja Pradhan and Ms. Mariko Kojima

  1. Britain’s parliament has overwhelmingly rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal for leaving the European Union.
  2. In NHK’s latest opinion poll, Japanese voters’ approval rating for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stood at 43 percent.
  3. Multiple casualties are being reported in Kenya after an armed group stormed an upscale hotel and office complex in the capital, Nairobi.

January 15, Tuesday, 2019 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Ms. Fumiko Konoe

  1. The foreign ministers of Japan and Russia have agreed that their leaders will meet in Moscow next week.
  2. Japan and South Korea failed to narrow their differences over last month’s radar incident in a meeting between their defense officials.
  3. A court in Tokyo is expected to decide as early as Tuesday whether it grants bail to former Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn.

January 14, Monday, 2019 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Yoshi Ogasawara and Ms. Emma Howard

  1. Israel’s prime minister says the country’s military carried out an airstrike on Iranian targets in Syria.
  2. A French far-right party has launched a campaign for this year’s European Parliament election, and is pledging to retake authority from the E.U.
  3. Japan has denied refusing to hold a news conference after Foreign Minister Taro Kono meets his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Monday.

January 13, Sunday, 2019 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Keiko Kitagawa and Ms. Fumiko Konoe

  1. Japan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson has written an article rebutting a New York Times editorial that slammed the country’s plan to resume commercial whaling.
  2. Japan’s Agricultural Ministry will conduct a survey to check whether the fertilized eggs of premium wagyu beef cattle are properly managed in the country.
  3. Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies says it has dismissed an employee who was arrested in Poland on suspicion of spying.