日: 2022年6月16日

1.Several European leaders are now visiting Ukraine. As Russian forces step up their offensive in the country’s east, the leaders want to convey a clear message. The European Union stands together in helping Ukraine. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in Kyiv by train Thursday morning.
2.Japan’s political parties are set to begin their campaigning for the Upper House election scheduled for July 10. The 150-day ordinary session of the Diet ended on Wednesday. Official campaigning for the Upper House race kicks off next Wednesday.
3.Policy-makers at the US Federal Reserve have spent months trying to overcome concerns about inflation. However, prices have risen beyond even their own expectations. Now, they are moving aggressively to bring them down. They decided to raise the benchmark interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point.

1.Key economic indicators show that China’s zero-COVID policy continued to weigh heavily on both consumption and production in the country in May. The National Bureau of Statistics say China’s retail sales last month fell 6.7 percent from a year earlier, marking a decrease for the third straight month.
2.Ukrainian leaders are pleading for outside help to repel Russian attacks that have cut off escape routes in a key eastern city. NATO leaders will soon meet to discuss how they can help. Russian troops have pushed deep into Severodonetsk, forcing hundreds to shelter in a chemical plant. They are calling on the Ukrainians to surrender. Local officials say constant bombardments mean mass escape is now impossible.
3.Prosecutors and police in Ukraine are investigating suspected war crimes that Russian troops are alleged to have committed in towns near the capital Kyiv. The troops previously occupied those towns.

1.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed for a faster supply of weapons to help his nation “liberate” territories occupied by Russia. He voiced concern over the lack of information about what was happening in regions of Ukraine currently occupied by Russian troops.
2.Amnesty International reports that Russian forces have used cluster munitions seven times in Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv, killing a number of civilians. International conventions currently ban the use of cluster munitions, which eject smaller submunitions, on the basis of indiscriminate cruelty.
3.A US Congressional panel investigating the 2021 Capitol riot on Monday presented more video testimony by close aides to former President Donald Trump. The aides said Trump ignored their repeated advice that his claims of election fraud were unfounded.