日: 2022年5月20日

1.Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has agreed with the head of the international nuclear watchdog to work together to ensure the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. Kishida Fumio said, “Japan highly appreciates the IAEA’s efforts to ensure the safety of nuclear facilities in Ukraine.”
2.The United Nations Security Council held a ministerial meeting on Thursday to discuss the issues of food security and conflict. This comes amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of wheat, other grains and fertilizer. But Russia’s invasion has disrupted exports from the two countries. this has caused prices to soar and raised concerns about food shortages.
3.Russian forces appear poised to intensify their offensive to capture the whole of the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as more Ukrainian fighters surrender at a steel plant in Mariupol. But Ukrainian forces may be preparing to mount counterattacks on all fronts.

1.Japanese experts on coronavirus infections are offering new advice on face masks. They say there may be more situations where people do not need to wear them. Health ministry experts say people don’t necessarily need to wear masks outdoors as long as they and people around them are not talking much. They say that applies even when people can’t social-distance.
2.The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has visited the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to assess progress in its decommissioning and preparations for releasing treated water from the plant. Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, along with four other IAEA officials, spent two hours inspecting the plant on Thursday morning. The visit was Grossi’s first to the plant since February 2020.
3.Russia is poised to take full control of the port of Mariupol, but Ukraine says it is not giving up on the city. The mission to defend its final stronghold ended this week, leading the way for Kremlin’s biggest victory so far. Fighters have been emerging from the devastated steel plant for days.

1.Japan’s nuclear regulator has approved a plan to release treated water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean. At a meeting on Wednesday, members of the authority concluded they could find no problems in the submitted document. Their review included how to check the levels of tritium and other substances before releasing treated water into the sea. They also discussed effects on the surrounding environment and people.
2.Finland and Sweden have officially applied for NATO membership. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels called it a “historic moment” and said he warmly welcomes the requests by Finland and Sweden to join NATO. He added, “You are our closest partners, and your membership in NATO will increase our shared security.”
3.Mariupol has become both a symbol of Ukrainian resistance and a sign of Russia’s relentless military drive. Now a final stronghold has fallen. Ukrainians who fought for weeks to defend a steel mill have been carried out on stretchers.