日: 2023年2月17日

1. Experts are trying to figure out why Japan’s new H3 flagship rocket was not able to lift off from a site in southwestern Japan as scheduled. The rocket was set to launch from the Tanegashima Space Center on Friday morning.
2. Doctors say US President Joe Biden is “fit for duty” after a physical exam. At the age of 80, Biden is the oldest president in US history.
3. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has addressed a prestigious film festival, urging filmmakers and others to assist his country amid Russia’s invasion. The president said Russia has been killing people in Ukraine for almost a year. He stressed that art and culture should not help the “evil” by remaining silent.

1. Candidates to become the next head and deputy heads of the Bank of Japan are set to explain their ideas on Japanese economic policy to Lower House members on February 24. The government on Tuesday presented the Diet with the nominations of Ueda Kazuo as the new central bank governor and Himino Ryozo and Uchida Shinichi as deputy governors. The term of incumbent Governor Kuroda Haruhiko ends in early April.
2. A winter festival featuring huts made from snow has welcomed back tourists for the first time in three years in Akita Prefecture, northern Japan. The event is held every year in the city of Yokote on February 15 and 16. About 40 of the “kamakura” huts were built for the festival. 3. The Financial Times reports Western intelligence shows Russia is amassing aircraft close to the border with Ukraine. It said the move indicates Moscow is preparing to bolster its faltering land offensive. The paper says intelligence shared among NATO allies shows Russia is assembling both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft. The article notes that Russia has used its air forces sparingly, relying instead on long-range missiles, artillery and land-based troops.