月: 2023年1月

1.The members of the UN Security Council discussed North Korea for the first time this year during a meeting on Monday. The conference was chaired by Japan. Last year, North Korea repeatedly launched ballistic missiles. It fired at least 73 missiles, including cruise missiles, toward the Sea of Japan and other destinations.
2.US media outlets are reporting that former world champion skier Kyle Smaine was killed in an avalanche in central Japan on Sunday. Many messages have been posted on social media. The US Freeski Team wrote, “Today we lost an incredible person friend, skier and teammate to the mountains.” It added, “Smaine loved exploring the mountains, was a fierce competitor but an even better person and friend.”
3.Russian commanders have been trying for months to break through defensive positions in eastern Ukraine. Now, they may have some momentum. The troops had already captured Soledar, a town they see as a foothold in the Donetsk region. Now, authorities claim soldiers have secured a place that has been a Ukrainian bastion since the outset of the war.

1.The head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will arrive in Japan on Monday. He is expected to discuss strengthening bilateral ties amid growing collaboration between Russia and China. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will meet Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and other officials during his three-day visit to Japan.
2.Four Chinese government ships have entered Japan’s territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The vessels are reportedly navigating in waters a few kilometers away from Japanese fishing and survey ships.
3.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked the international community to supply new weapons quickly to his country as Russian attacks there continue to kill civilians.

1.An expert panel of Japan’s health ministry agreed on Friday that COVID-19 should be downgraded to the same category of infectious diseases as seasonal influenza in about three months. The government is expected to decide at a meeting of its coronavirus task force later in the day that the disease’s classification will be downgraded on May 8.
2.Japan’s government has decided on additional sanctions on Russia in response to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Exports will be banned to 49 more entities, including Russian aircraft repair factories. More items will be added to the list of banned exports to Russia.
3.Canada has joined Germany and the United States in sending battle tanks to Ukraine. Canada’s defense minister Anita Anand announced on Thursday that her country will supply Ukraine with four of its German-made Leopard 2 tanks.

1.Germany has announced that it will supply its highly capable Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. The German government said on Wednesday that it will send its first batch of 14 and also train Ukrainian soldiers in Germany. It also said it will allow countries that possess Leopard 2 tanks to provide them to Ukraine.
2.The United Nations’ cultural agency UNESCO decided to add the historic center of Odesa in Ukraine to its World Heritage List on Wednesday. Called the Pearl of the Black Sea, Odesa developed as a port city during the age of Russian Empire. It flourished as a strategic hub of maritime trade, where a variety of cultures and nationalities mingled.
3.Ukraine’s ambassador to Japan says victory is on the way, but not without help. NHK sat down with Sergiy Korsunsky to talk about Russia’s invasion, now 11 months in. The ambassador says Japan can play a crucial role in setting up and running the financial platform that will be created for the reconstruction and modernization of Ukraine.

1.Weather officials forecast heavy snow will continue to fall in areas along the Sea of Japan coast in northern and eastern Japan. They are calling on people to stay on the alert for possible traffic disruptions.
2.Heavy snow in central and western Japan has left vehicles stranded over a 10-kilometer stretch of expressway between Nagoya and Kyoto. The Central Nippon Expressway Company says vehicles have become trapped on the Shin-Meishin Expressway between the Komono Interchange in Mie Prefecture and the Koka-Tsuchiyama Interchange in Shiga Prefecture.
3.Investigative sources say police suspect that a person using the name “Luffy” was the mastermind behind a spate of robberies in Japan. Police suspect that the robberies were carried out by groups of people who had been recruited through social media. They allegedly broke into homes and shops in accordance with Luffy’s instructions.

1.Many areas across Japan are expected to be affected by the coldest air mass of the season from Tuesday. Weather officials are advising people to prepare for heavy snow and low temperatures and refrain from going out in the worst of the weather.
2.Businesses across Japan are preparing to respond to a bout of severe winter weather in the coming days. Demand for some goods has been unexpectedly high at some shops. A home improvement store in Fukuoka City in southwestern Japan says it has sold all of its merchandise for coping with heavy snow and icy weather. Among the items sold out were snow shovels and covers for water pipes to keep them from freezing up.
3.Japanese insurers are planning to hike premiums for coverage of war damage to ships in waters around Russia and Ukraine. The move comes as Russia’s drawn-out invasion of Ukraine prompts reinsurance companies to increase their rates.

1.Police in the United States say the suspect in a deadly shooting outside Los Angeles has been found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It ends a manhunt that began after a gunman killed 10 people and injured 10 others during Lunar New Year’s celebrations. The male suspect’s body was found inside a van in a parking lot about 30 kilometers from the crime scene.
2.Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio says addressing the country’s falling birthrate will be a top priority for the government. Kishida said births in Japan last year are estimated to be under 800,000. He said the government will try to implement unprecedented countermeasures to boost the number of births. He said he intends to devise steps and seek stable financial sources to achieve the goal.
3.Japanese weather officials are urging people to prepare for heavy snow and cold temperatures as soon as possible. They warn that the coldest air mass of this winter is expected to bring heavy snow to much of the country from Tuesday.

1.Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has instructed ministers to consider steps toward recategorizing COVID-19 into the same class of infectious diseases as seasonal flu this spring.
2.South Korea plans to ease its indoor mask mandate at the end of this month, after the Lunar New Year holidays. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told a task force meeting on Friday that the daily number of new infections of the coronavirus has been declining for three weeks.
3.Japan has submitted a revised recommendation letter for a group of gold and silver mines on Sado Island on the Sea of Japan to be registered as a World Cultural Heritage site.

1.Eyes around the world will soon turn to Germany where defense chiefs with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are set to meet. The Friday talks will once again focus on help for Ukraine. And this time the main topic is tanks.
2.Japan has posted its biggest annual trade deficit on record. The weaker yen and soaring energy prices were mostly to blame.
3.New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced she is stepping down. She says her time in office has been her greatest honor, but says she is no longer the right person for the job.

1.Politicians, business leaders, academics and activists are weighing in on global issues from a resort town in the Swiss Alps. They have descended on Davos for the world Economic Forum. Ukraine’s first lady says some leaders have failed to use their influence to help stop the fighting. Olena Zelenska says, if her country loses, the war could ignite wider crises.
2.A US Defense Department spokesperson says the US military has begun training Ukrainians to use and maintain the Patriot missile defense system. The US-produced Patriot is a mobile surface-to-air missile system designed to intercept ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as aircraft. The Dutch defense ministry on Tuesday said it was also ready to provide Ukraine with the Patriot system.
3.A former commander with Russia’s private military contractor Wagner has reportedly fled to Norway and is seeking asylum there. Norwegian human rights group Gulagu.net released an interview with Medvedev in which he explained his reasons for defecting.