August 25, Tuesday, 2020 (1:30 p.m.) Newsline

  1. The head of the World Health Organization has called on countries to take part in a framework that would ensure participants fair access to coronavirus vaccines. He said, “Vaccine nationalism only helps the virus.”
  2. Researchers using Japan’s latest supercomputer say they have found that some face masks can help block viral droplets, but thorough room ventilation is still needed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
  3. Japan’s tourism minister Akaba Kazuyoshi says more than 4 million people made use of the government’s “Go To Travel” program over the past month.

 

 

August 24, Monday, 2020 (1:30 p.m.) Newsline

  1. Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo spent three and a half hours at a hospital in Tokyo on Monday for medical reasons. He says it was a follow-up to a test he took last week. But the visit adds fuel to concerns the prime minister may be in poor health.
  2. Japan’s two major airlines are cutting domestic flights again in September. That’s because rising coronavirus infections are putting a renewed damper on travel around the country. All Nippon Airways says it will reduce its scheduled domestic flights by 45 percent next month.  Japan Airlines also plans to halt 43 percent of its domestic flights in the first half of September.
  3. U.S. President Donald Trump has unveiled his key policies for a second term ahead of the Republican Party’s national convention. On foreign affairs issues under his “America First” policy, Trump is vowing to make U.S. allies “pay their fair share” of defense costs, and also withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. Relations with China are emphasized as an important issue.