May 19, Thursday, 2022 (1:30 p.m.) Newsline

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.