月: 2022年7月

1.Gotabaya Rajapaksa has officially stepped down as president of Sri Lanka. This comes after months of anti-government protests over a worsening economic crisis. Sri Lanka’s parliamentary speaker officially accepted Rajapaksa’s resignation on Friday. Earlier this week, the now-former leader fled the country with his wife. He is now reportedly in Singapore.
2.China’s economy grew at its second-slowest pace in 30 years in the last quarter compared to a year ago. The blame mainly goes to the stifling effects of the country’s strict coronavirus measures.
3.Consumer prices in financially-strapped Argentina have made their biggest leap in 30 years, sparking protests by the public. The national statistics bureau announced on Thursday that the consumer price index rose in June from a year earlier by a whopping 64 percent. That’s the biggest margin of increase since January 1992. There are growing concerns about the future of the national economy.

1.President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he is thankful to the UN and Turkey for their efforts to help grain exports resume from Ukraine. Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude on Wednesday for their negotiations to help end Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian agricultural shipments passing through the Black Sea. The blockade has raised concerns over food insecurity worldwide.
2.Energy ministers from the so-called Quad nations have agreed to promote the use of ammonia and other clean fuels. The ministers from Japan, the US, Australia and India met in Sydney. They discussed how they can cooperate in the energy sector at a time when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created instability in international energy markets.
3.Researchers in Japan say the BA.5 subvariant of the coronavirus Omicron variant may be more pathogenic, or more likely to cause disease.

1.Investigators in the killing of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe say the suspect had wanted to attack a religious group leader. The suspect told police that his mother became an avid follower of the religious group and made huge donations to it, which ruined the family’s life. The suspect also said he believed Abe was close to the group.
2.The Tokyo District Court has ordered four former directors of Tokyo Electric Power Company to pay about 97 billion dollars in damages to the utility. The shareholders claimed the company incurred massive losses from the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
3.A district court in Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, has dismissed a damages lawsuit filed by relatives of victims of the eruption of Mount Ontake eight years ago. The volcanic mountain straddling Nagano and Gifu prefectures erupted in September 2014, leaving 63 people dead or missing.

1.Officials of Japan’s main ruling Liberal Democratic Party say about 1,000 people offered incense at Tuesday’s funeral of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. About 200 of them attended the service inside a Buddhist temple in Tokyo.
2.Sri Lanka’s economic turmoil and political chaos have continued, amid conflicting reports about whether President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled or remains in the country. Rajapaksa reportedly announced that he would resign on Wednesday. The presidential office has not commented about his whereabouts.
3.Japanese Finance Minister Suzuki Shunichi has met with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in Tokyo. The pair said in a statement that their countries will increase sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

1.Japan’s ruling coalition scored a sweeping victory in Sunday’s Upper House election. The Liberal Democratic Party was able to win more than half the open seats without the help of its coalition partner, Komeito. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio promised to address the biggest issues facing the nation, including the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the soaring cost of living. He vowed to revive the Japanese economy.
2.Japanese business leaders are welcoming Sunday’s Upper House election results. They are urging the administration of Prime Minister Kishida Fumio to act boldly to tackle major challenges.
3.The head of Japan’s central bank has reiterated it is sticking with its massive monetary easing policy as the economy continues to face great uncertainty.

1.People across Japan are coming to terms with the shocking death of one of the nation’s most influential modern leaders. Former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo was shot and killed at a Friday campaign event. His alleged attacker was arrested at the scene.
2.China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said his country opposes any act that tries to take advantage of the Ukraine situation to instigate a Cold War mentality and fuel confrontation. He was apparently referring to moves by Western countries.
3.Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Moscow has barely started its military operation in Ukraine, and challenged the West to take on its forces. Referring to the invasion, the president said, “Everybody should know that, by and large, we haven’t started anything yet in earnest.”

1.The Russian invasion of Ukraine has left European Union leaders scrambling for other sources of energy, even as they try to tackle climate change. Now, they have decided to label natural gas and nuclear plants as “green.”
2.Infections with Omicron subvariant BA.4 or BA.5 are now estimated to account for 70 percent of new cases in the United States. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the BA.5 subvariant is now responsible for 53.6 percent of new cases nationwide, while BA.4 makes up 16.5 percent.
3.Kabuki Actor Ichikawa Ebizo says he will work hard to live up to the prestigious centuries’ old stage name of Ichikawa Danjuro he will assume in November. Ebizo was set to become the 13th Ichikawa Danjuro in a performance in May 2020. But the show was postponed due to the spread of the coronavirus.

1.South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol has ordered the country’s military to “swiftly and firmly” punish North Korea if it carries out any provocation. Yoon stressed a firm stance against Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile development, saying the threats are increasing.
2.Russia is carrying out missile attacks as it steps up its offensive in Ukraine, mainly in eastern parts of the country. Russia’s defense ministry announced on Tuesday that troops had conducted missile strikes in the regions of Donetsk and Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, and the Mykolaiv region in the south.
3.Representatives at an international conference on Ukraine’s reconstruction after the Russian invasion have wrapped up two days of talks with a pledge to support a recovery process led by the Ukrainians. Tue Ukraine Recovery Conference was held in the southern Swiss city of Lugano on Monday and Tuesday.

1.The Japan Meteorological Agency says tropical storm Aere has become a low pressure system after making landfall in Nagasaki Prefecture in western Japan early Tuesday. Weather officials continue to warn of heavy rainfall in many parts of the country.
2.Police have taken a man in custody who is suspected of having opened fire on an Independence Day parade in the US Midwestern state of Illinois on Monday. Local authorities say at least six people have been killed and more than 20 others, including children, injured.
3.Ukraine’s government estimates the cost of rebuilding the country following Russia’s invasion at 750 billion dollars. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal revealed a recovery plan at a conference in the southern Swiss city of Lugano on Monday. The plan is split into three phases. The first stage involves the reconstruction of lifeline infrastructure, including water supply and bridges, followed by the rebuilding of such facilities as schools and hospitals.

1.Tropical storm Aere is heading north toward Japan’s southwestern main island of Kyushu after passing near Okinawa. It is expected to come very close to Kyushu, possibly making landfall there on Tuesday. 台風４号（アイレー）
2.The Russian defense ministry says its forces are in “full control” of Luhansk. It is one of Ukraine’s two neighboring eastern regions Russian forces have been trying to seize.
3.Japan’s Defense Ministry says a Chinese and a Russian naval vessel were spotted just outside Japan’s territorial waters off the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea on Monday.