月: 2022年3月

1.People across much of eastern Japan were woken Wednesday night by a powerful earthquake. Figures gathered by NHK show it left three people dead and more than 200 injured. The quake registered 6 plus on the Japanese seismic scale of zero to 7. Damage has been reported in a number of places.
2.Russian forces are intensifying their operations in areas along the Black Sea coast in southern Ukraine three weeks into the invasion. The two sides are holding ceasefire negotiations, but there is little optimism for the talks as Russia remains staunchly opposed to US military support for Ukraine.
3.People in a village in Moldova near the border with Ukraine are offering assistance to people with children who have fled their country. The volunteers in Palanca have set up a temporary nursery in a tent near where evacuees are waiting for buses to take them to their next destination. The nursery is equipped with baby supplies, including diapers and cribs.

1.NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has warned of a risk of “incidents and accidents,” following Sunday’s airstrikes by Russia on a Ukrainian military facility in western Ukraine. The facility is located near the border with Poland. He said, “When we see more military activities, when we see fighting going on close to NATO borders, there’s always a risk of incidents and accidents.”
2.US President Joe Biden has signed a funding bill into law that includes 13.6 billion dollars in emergency aid for Ukraine, amid Russia’s invasion of the country.
3.Japan will lift coronavirus quasi-emergency measures as scheduled for 18 prefectures. The restrictions are set to end on March 21. The quasi-state of emergency covers some of Japan’s biggest prefectures, including Tokyo and Osaka.

1.Russia’s tightly controlled TV news got a shock on Monday when an anti-war protester rushed onto the set of a live, primetime broadcast. A woman ran behind the anchor shouting “Stop the war!” Her sign read “Don’t believe propaganda. They are lying to you here.” The woman is now reportedly in police custody. Russian media have identified her as Marina Ovsyannikova.
2.Nearly three weeks have passed since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. US officials say Russian forces are using more long-range weapons, without any apparent concern over what they hit. Ukraine’s capital Kyiv was under attack early on Tuesday. Airstrikes also continue in the country’s west.
3.The mayor of Kyiv says a 35-hour curfew will be imposed on the Ukrainian capital, starting on Tuesday night. Vitali Klitschko said the curfew order is based on an assessment by the Ukrainian military indicating the city is at high risk. He said Kyiv residents will be asked to stay home or in shelters.

1.Negotiators from Ukraine and Russia have resumed their talks amid deadly Russian assaults on Ukraine’s cities. The talks come as Russian forces step up offensives across Ukraine. They are closing in on Kyiv from three directions. They also attacked a military facility in the west of the country with missiles.
2.A Ukrainian woman sheltering in a Kyiv subway station has told NHK she will stay in the capital because it is her hometown. Alyona Bychkovska said in an interview on Sunday that she will keep trying to do her best, even though she feels scared. The Japanese language teacher is one of the many Kyiv residents who are taking shelter underground in subway stations.
3.Senior US and Chinese officials are preparing to meet, as worries grow that the Asian superpower will help Russia evade unprecedented, and punishing sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. The talks come as Russian forces push even further west. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will meet with China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi in Rome on Monday. This will be the first, senior face-to-face talks since Russia’s invasion began.

1.People are remembering the victims of a massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan’s northeast. It’s been 11 years, but families affected by the disaster—and the nuclear accident it triggered—are still in mourning. Around 15,900 people were killed. More than 2,500 people are still missing. And, over the years, officials have attributed another 3,786 deaths to illnesses linked to the disaster.
2.The UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson has rejected Russia’s claim that there were no women and children at the maternity hospital that was attacked by Russia in Mariupol, Ukraine. Stephane Dujarric said in a news conference on Thursday that “a human rights team there verified and documented what they described as an indispensable air strike on the hospital, and that the hospital was serving women and children at the time.”
3.A senior US Defense Department official says Russian forces are within roughly 15 kilometers from the center of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Speaking to the reporters on Thursday, the official noted that the troops are advancing from the northwest. The official also said another line of troops are advancing from the northeast and are likely to be about 40 kilometers from the capital.

1.Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says his impression from the meeting with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov was that Russia is not in a position at this point to establish a ceasefire. Kuleba said that Ukraine has the will to face up to the conflict and will never surrender.
2.More civilian facilities in Ukraine are under attack. Officials in the eastern city of Mariupol say three people including a child were killed in a Russian airstrike on a maternity hospital. They say 17 others were wounded.
3.The US House of Representatives has passed a massive federal spending bill that includes a 13.6 billion-dollar military and humanitarian aid package for Ukraine as it battles Russia’s invasion. The emergency aid for Ukraine includes 3.5 billion dollars for providing weapons and other military assistance, and 3 billion dollars for sending more US troops to countries around Ukraine to bolster their defense. The package also covers food, medicine and other humanitarian assistance for Ukraine.

1.A humanitarian evacuation corridor has been cleared for Ukrainian civilians fleeing the northeastern city of Sumy. The first such route was opened after an agreement between Russian and Ukrainian officials. Residents of the city fled to Poltava, to the south.
2.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a speech to British lawmakers via videolink that his country will fight to the end. The Ukrainian president described the 13 days of fighting as the war that “we did not start and we did not want.” He said, “But we are waging it. Because we do not want to lose what we have, what is ours – Ukraine.”
3.US President Joe Biden has announced a ban on Russian energy imports. The decision comes as the US and its allies target the Russian economy over the invasion of Ukraine. He said the US is united in its purpose to keep pressure mounting on Putin and his “war machine.” He said he is exacting the ban to inflict further pain on Putin.

1. US President Joe Biden and the leaders of Britain, Germany and France have agreed to strengthen their pressure on Russia and continue assistance to Ukraine.
2. The two leading candidates in South Korea’s presidential race have made their final appeals before voters cast their ballots on Wednesday. The election will decide a successor to President Moon Jae-in. Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party and Yoo Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party are neck and neck in the opinion polls.
3. A senior US Defense Department official says Russia has deployed almost all of its forces that had amassed around the border with Ukraine before last month’s invasion. It comes as efforts to evacuate Ukrainian civilians are underway. The official says Moscow’s advance into Ukraine has stalled north of the capital Kyiv because of heavy resistance. The airspace over the country is still contested so Russian forces are increasingly relying on missile and artillery strikes.

1. So-called humanitarian corridors of the type that Moscow has declared it will set up in Ukraine were also a feature of Russia’s intervention in the civil war in Syria. Evacuation routes for civilians were often announced before the government, backed by Russia, launched attacks on enemy strongholds.
2.Ukrainian athletes have been outstanding at the Beijing Paralympics. The country has added another gold with a win in cross country-skiing. Oksana Shyshkova finished well ahead of her rivals in the women’s long distance vision-impaired race. The 30-year old is from Kharkiv, which has been under heavy attack. She said, “It is very difficult to focus on the race but we should prove that Ukraine is a strong country.”
3.Share prices in Tokyo tumbled on Monday over fears that crude shipments from Russia could stall, pushing up oil prices further. The benchmark Nikkei Average dropped 2.9 percent to its lowest close of the year.

1.Negotiators from Russia and Ukraine have held a second round of talks. Ukraine’s Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said, “The parties have reached an understanding about the joint provision of humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians.” The head of the Russian Delegation Vladimir Medinsky said, “The positions of both sides are clear. They are written point by point. We managed to find common ground on some of them.”
2.Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says a fire has broken out on the premises of a nuclear power plant in the country’s southeast following Russian military attacks. Kuleba tweeted on Friday that the Russian army was firing from all sides at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the city of Enerhodar.
3.The International Atomic Energy Agency tweeted early on Friday that regulators in Ukraine have told the agency that no change has been reported in radiation levels at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine.