月: 2024年6月

1. Leaders of the Group of Seven nations have begun their second day of summit talks in Italy with a focus on China’s overproduction and artificial intelligence.
2. The president of the International Criminal Court is seeking widespread understanding and support for the activities of the court to establish the rule of law in the international community.
3. The operator of a short railway that runs in a city near Tokyo will launch a facial recognition ticketing system on Saturday.

1. Leaders of the Group of Seven nations are aiming to reach an agreement on a plan to utilize frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine. One of the main focuses is whether the G7 nations will agree to utilize Russia’s central bank assets, which have been frozen by Western sanctions, to assist Ukraine.
2. The World Bank says Myanmar’s economy faces some extremely difficult challenges, as inflation surges and trade falls. Fighting has been raging in the country since the military seized power in a coup nearly three and a half years ago.
3. People across Japan will soon be facing another price hike, with mail feels in the country set to rise for the first time in 30 years. Starting from October, postage for standard-size items will go up to 110 yen, or around 70 cents. The cost of postcards will rise more than 30 percent in yen terms to just over 50 cents. Express mail will get about a 15 percent increase.

1. Shipments of Japanese plums known as “sumomo” started on Wednesday in Yamanashi Prefecture, central Japan. Yamanashi is the country’s top producer of sumomo plums, Minami-Alps City boasts an annual shipment of about 1,500 tons.
2. The oldest member of K-pop boy band BTS, Jin, has been discharged from South Korea’s military, completing his 18 months of mandatory service. The 31-year-old was seen leaving an army facility close to the military demarcation line between the two Koreans on Wednesday morning.
3. A survey shows that Japan’s standing in the global gender equality rankings still trails behind most of the world, despite some improvement from last year. The result highlights the slow pace of progress for women politically and economically. Japan ranks 118th among 146 nations in the annual Global Gender Gap Report released by the World Economic Forum on Wednesday. Its ranking went up by seven places, from 125th last year.

1. South Korea’s military says its troops fired waring shots when North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the military demarcation line between the two countries on Sunday. More than 10 North Korean soldiers apparently violated the land border by mistake. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Tuesday that the incident occurred shortly past noon on Sunday. It added that the North Korean soldiers immediately returned to their territory, after the South Korean military issued warning broadcasts and fired warning shots. 2. A survey shows bankruptcies in Japan rose to the most in 12 years in May. The failures come as pandemic-related government support for struggling businesses nears its end. Research firm Teikoku Databank says 1,016 companies started liquidation last month. That’s a 46 percent year-on-year increase.
3. NHK’s latest poll indicates that more than 80 percent of the respondents feel a sense of crisis about the impact that Japan’s falling birthrate could have on society. Government statistics released last week showed that the country’s total fertility rate fell to 1.20 in 2023. That is the lowest since record-keeping began in 1947. The figure represents the number of children a woman is expected to have during her lifetime.

1. The Iranian government has unveiled the list of six people allowed to stand in the presidential election on June 28. Most of the major reformist and moderate applicants were disqualified. The Interior Ministry on Sunday announced the candidate lineup for the election, which was called after President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash last month. Eighty people filed for candidacy. The Guardian Council, or a panel of Islamic jurists and others, approved only six of them as candidates after examining their qualifications, such as loyalty to the country’s Islamic establishment.
2. Companies across Japan officially started holding job interviews for university seniors this month. The declining workforce means that potential recruits have lots of options. Among the many firms hiring, those that show concern about social and environmental issues are standing out from the competition. Uchida Keigo has decided to join a Tokyo-based energy firm that promotes carbon neutrality. He turned down a provisional job offer from a major appliance manufacturer.
3. Japan has logged its biggest-ever current-account surplus for the month of April. The record was set as rising overseas interest rates and the weak yen pushed up the interest income companies earn on their bond holdings. The Finance Ministry said on Monday that the surplus was 2.05 trillion yen, or about 13 billion dollars. That is the most for any April since 1985, when comparable data became available. April also marked the 15th straight month of surplus.

1. The UN General Assembly has elected former Cameroon prime minister Philemon Yang as its next president. His one-year term will begin in September. In a speech on Thursday, Yang said that geopolitical tensions continue to fuel distrust among states and intensify an arms race. He added that conflicts are increasing in various regions of the world with an unbearable toll on civilians, and the “cases of Gaza and Ukraine are very painfully illustrative in this regard.” 2. The Japanese government is working to sign a new document with Ukraine that includes economic measures to support the reconstruction of the country. Government sources say arrangements are underway for Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to hold talks and sign the document on the sidelines of this year’s Group of Seven summit. The G7 summit will be held in Italy from June 13.
3. A group of countries formed to counter China’s rising influence in Asia agreed Thursday to promote investments in decarbonization and to aim for economic fairness. Ministers from the 14-country Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity signed statements setting out goals for clean and fair economies in the region. The clean economy pact targets member country investments of at least 120 billion dollars in renewable energy and power storage. The “fair economy” accord sets a goal of preventing corruption.

1. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed a strong sense of crisis following reports by a UN weather agency on Wednesday that the rate of global warming is increasing. In a speech made the same day, Guterres appealed to the international community to do more to contain global warming, calling for “an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell.” 2. The Lower House of Japan’s Diet is expected to pass a bill to revise the political funds control law on Thursday. The main ruling Liberal Democratic Party amended the bill it submitted to include demands from its coalition partner Komeito and the Japan Innovation Party. The bill mandates that lawmakers create a document to confirm the contents of their political funds reports. This is to introduce a system of “guilt by association.” 3. An expert says the Russian economy has become increasingly dependent on China since Western countries imposed sanctions on Moscow. Alexandra Prokopenko of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center says the sanctions have made China an irreplaceable partner for Russia. She adds that Russia may become subordinate to China, as the Chinese economy is much larger than Russia’s.

1. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared victory in the country’s general election after his alliance secured a majority in the lower house. But his own party fell far short of winning a single-party majority.
2. Japan’s government statistics reveal that the total fertility rate last year dropped to the lowest since record-keeping began in 1947. The number of children a woman is expected to have during her lifetime fell to 1.20.
3. Government officials are conducting an on-site inspection at the head office of Yamaha Motor in central Japan.

1. Tuesday marks the 35th anniversary of the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. On June 4, 1989, Chinese troops opened fire on thousands of student-led protestors who had gathered in and around the square calling for democracy. The government says 319 people were killed, but some say the figure was actually much higher. 2. Japanese Finance Minister Suzuki Shunichi says the country’s recent intervention in the currency market had some effect in stabilizing the yen. Suzuki was speaking on Tuesday after his ministry admitted on Friday that the government and the Bank of Japan had funneled nearly 9.8 trillion yen, or about 62 billion dollars, into the market over the past month. 3. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has suggested that the rank of the commander of the US forces deployed in Japan may be upgraded. This comes at a time when Japan is setting up a joint operations command to coordinate its Self-Defense Forces.

1. Japan is changing the design of its paper currency for the first time in 20 years. Three new banknotes will go into circulation on July 3, and industries are busy installing systems to accept the bills. A survey by the finance ministry found that more than 90 percent of bank ATMs will be alle to handle the notes when they appear.
2. Multiple media reports say Claudia Sheibaum is on course to become Mexico’s first female president. A preliminary vote count shows that she secured more than 50 percent of the ballots in Sunday’s election. Sheibaum, a former Mexico City mayor from the ruling leftist party Morena, had about 58 percent of the vote in the preliminary results released by Mexico’s National Electoral Institute.
3. Japan’s Imperial Household Agency says Empress Emerita Michiko has been infected wit the coronavirus. The agency says the Empress Emerita has had coughs since early Sunday morning and discomfort in her throat from Monday morning.