月: 2021年4月

1. U.S. President Joe Biden has used a public rally to pitch his plan to rebuild the middle class by raising taxes on wealthy Americans and large corporations.
2.The first shipment of the coronavirus vaccine developed by U.S. biotechnology firm Moderna has arrived in Japan. A plane carrying the vaccine vials in six refrigerated containers arrived at Kansai Airport in western Japan from Belgium on Friday.
3. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 698 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday. The figure is down 61 from last Friday, marking the first week-on-week decline in 30 days. However, the seven-day average remains on an upward trend. The tally for the week up to Friday stood 773.4, up 10.9 percent from the previous seven days.

1. U.S. President Joe Biden declared on Wednesday that America was “on the move again” during his first speech to a joint session of Congress. Biden started his address by highlighting the progress made in the fight against the coronavirus during his first 100 days in office. He said America is “turning peril into possibility, crisis into opportunity, setback into strength.” 2.The coronavirus continues to create serious question marks for Tokyo 2020 organizers. They met on Wednesday, and all related parties confirmed they would make a final decision in June on the number of domestic spectators allowed.
3.The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says it confirmed 1,027 new cases of the coronavirus on Thursday. It is the first time since January 28 that the daily tally has topped 1,000 in the Japanese capital.

1. In Japan officials are grappling with rising coronavirus cases as Tokyo, Osaka and two other prefectures remain under a state of emergency. Experts blame the surge on a more infectious variant. 2. India has confirmed record-high daily numbers of new coronavirus cases and deaths, overwhelming the country’s healthcare system. India’s government said 360,960 new coronavirus infections were confirmed in the country on Wednesday, marking the largest-ever daily tally and topping 300,000 for a seventh straight day.
3. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has eased its guidelines on the wearing of face masks. It says people fully vaccinated against the coronavirus can resume some outdoor activities without masks, except in certain crowded settings and venues. The agency now says fully vaccinated people can attend small outdoor gatherings and dine at outdoor restaurants without wearing masks. But it recommends that everyone should keep wearing masks at crowded outdoor events like live performances or sports events.

1. Japan’s defense minister has welcomed the U.K. government’s plan to deploy a fleet led by its new flagship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, to the Indo-Pacific region.
2.Myanmar’s military chief says he will consider accepting a special envoy whom ASEAN leaders proposed sending to help mediate dialogue among parties involved in the crisis following the February coup. 3. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed never to repeat the Chernobyl nuclear tragedy of 35 years ago. The accident occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in what is now Ukraine on April 26th, 1986, when one of its reactors exploded.

1. Japan’s main ruling Liberal Democratic Party failed to win any of the three seats up for grabs in parliamentary elections on Sunday, the first national elections since Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide took office in September last year.
2.India hit a record high in daily coronavirus infections on Monday with more than 350,000 new cases. 3. A Swedish think tank says world military spending rose to almost 2 trillion dollars last year despite the coronavirus pandemic.

1. Some parts of Japan are preparing to enter their third state of emergency of the pandemic. The measure is expected to take effect in Tokyo, Osaka, Hyogo, and Kyoto prefectures this weekend. 2. Tokyo Metropolitan Government officials are facing the challenge of building momentum for this summer’s Olympics amid the spread of coronavirus infections, with just three months to go before the Games open.
3. The World Food Programme has estimated that up to 3.4 million more people in Myanmar will go hungry within the next six months particularly in urban centers.　

1. World leaders are meeting to discuss how to tackle one of their major common challenges…climate change.
2. Australia appears set to cancel two agreements sealed between its state of Victoria with China on cooperation with Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative.
3.Large-scale protests were held across Russia on Wednesday, demanding the release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, despite President Vladimir Putin’s rejection of such calls from the West.

1. A South Korean court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of people referred to as comfort women and relevant families. The suit was seeking damages from the Japanese government. 2. Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member countries will meet on Saturday to discuss how to respond to the situation in Myanmar.
3. U.S. President Joe Biden says the guilty verdict for the death of George Floyd “a step forward” and urged efforts to end racial discrimination. Biden gave a speech at the White House on Tuesday shortly after a jury in the state of Minnesota reached a verdict finding former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all counts in the death of Floyd last May.

1. European Union members have agreed to reinforce the bloc’s strategic focus, presence and actions in the Indo-Pacific, apparently with China’s increasing influence in the region in mind. 2. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has expressed concern that the United States is falling behind China in the renewable energy industry. He has stressed that the U.S. will take a leading role in global efforts to tackle climate change.
3.Police in the U.S. State of Texas believe that no one was driving the Tesla car with a semi-autonomous driving system that went off the road and crashed near Houston. Two passengers died in the accident.

1. Osaka Governor Yoshimura Hirofumi suggested on Monday that he will ask the central government to issue a state of emergency in the prefecture to contain surging coronavirus infections. Daily infections in Osaka reached a record high on Sunday.
2. Witnesses in Myanmar said that Japanese journalist Kitazumi Yuki has been taken into custody. They said on Sunday night security forces took him from his home in Yangon. The Japanese embassy in Myanmar has been trying to confirm his whereabouts. 3. Eleven people were killed and dozens injured in a train accident in Egypt on Sunday, the health ministry said in a statement. It is the latest of several rail accidents to hit the country recently.