Japanese parliamentary elections crucial for new PM's rule
Japan’s new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida faces a crucial test in Sunday's national parliamentary elections, which will determine if his government will have enough support to stay in power long enough to repair the pandemic-hit economy, and tackle climate change and China’s rise.
Vaccines, masks? Japan puzzling over sudden virus success
Almost overnight, Japan has become a stunning, and somewhat mysterious, coronavirus success story. Daily new COVID-19 cases have plummeted from a mid-August peak of nearly 6,000 in Tokyo, with caseloads in the densely populated capital now routinely below 100, an 11-month low. Japan, unlike other places in Europe and Asia, has never had anything close to a lockdown, just a series of relatively toothless states of emergency.
news.yahoo.comKishida vows to lead with 'trust and empathy' to fix Japan
In his first policy speech, new Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has promised to strengthen the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic in case of another resurgence and revive its battered economy while bolstering defenses against threats from China and North Korea.
Japan's Kishida, Biden agree to cooperate on China, N Korea
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held his first talks as Japanese leader with President Joe Biden and confirmed to strengthen their security alliance and cooperate in regional security in the face of growing challenges from China and North Korea.
Japan new PM to seek fresh mandate to handle virus, economy
Newly elected Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says he will dissolve the lower house next week in preparation for Oct. 31 elections as he seeks a fresh mandate to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, the sagging economy and security threats from China and North Korea.
First ‘Quad’ Summit Tests Biden’s Foreign Policy Linchpin
For the United States, the alliance is a foreign policy linchpin. Friday’s Quad meeting comes as Biden’s image around the world has taken a battering over the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan after 20 years. Biden is following up on Obama’s “Pivot to Asia” in hosting the Quad summit. “If China behaves coercively and challenges the ‘rules-based system,’ the Quad gains more relevance; if China is collaborative, then the Quad is less relevant.”But Friday’s Quad meeting is unlikely to make this explicit, Neill said. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison pose for a photo outside of the speaker’s office at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 22.
thewestsidegazette.comBiden announces Indo-Pacific alliance with UK, Australia
President Joe Biden has announced that the United States is forming a new Indo-Pacific security alliance with Britain and Australia that will allow for greater sharing of defense capabilities — including helping equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.
Fukushima nuclear water to be released via undersea tunnel
The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant says it plans to build an undersea tunnel so that massive amounts of treated but still radioactive water can be released into the ocean about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) away from the plant to avoid interference with local fishing.
Coronavirus latest news: Backlog of heart patients will take five years to clear, experts warn
Macron grapples with new 'gilets jaunes' protests against vaccine passports Ditch the travel traffic light system, says former head of vaccine taskforce Middle class students will have upper hand in exam appeals system Army on standby to restock Britain’s shelves amid truck driver shortage Pubs and clubs that enforce vaccine passports could open fully during Covid surges
news.yahoo.comThe Latest: Head of Africa CDC has 'unbearable' COVID-19
Meanwhile, the African Union says the first of the 400 million single-shot Johnson & Johnson doses that African countries have collectively procured on their own started arriving this week and all should be distributed by September 2022. The African Union says the 400 million doses “bring Africa halfway towards its continental goal of vaccinating at least 60% of the population.” More than half of Africa’s 54 countries are seeing a deadly resurgence in confirmed coronavirus infections.
news.yahoo.comJapan grants health benefits to A-bomb 'black rain' victims
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Monday he has decided to grant official medical benefits to 84 Hiroshima residents who were exposed to highly radioactive “black rain” after the city's atomic bombing. Suga's decision ends a long legal battle by the central government that delayed medical aid for the “black rain” victims, who were outside a government-set boundary used to decide survivors’ eligibility for medical care. On July 14, the Hiroshima High Court upheld a lower court’s decision that the 84 are eligible for the same benefits as other atomic bomb survivors who were inside the boundary and ordered the government to certify their applications for state health care benefits.
news.yahoo.comIn venue fit for head of state, Japan PM seeks Pfizer doses
Japan's prime minister met with Pfizer's CEO in an unusually high-profile setting Friday to make sure the drugmaker would deliver the COVID-19 vaccine as promised by this fall as the nation faces supply concerns and a growing outbreak. Pfizer Inc. CEO Albert Bourla, who is in Tokyo to attend Friday's opening ceremony of the Olympics, was greeted by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at the Akasaka Palace state guest house, usually used to welcome heads of state. Suga’s special hospitality for Pfizer's leader comes as Japan is seeing its vaccination drive slow as local officials pressure the central government for speedier and stable deliveries.
news.yahoo.comTokyo new virus cases near 2,000 a day before Olympics open
Tokyo hit another six-month high in new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, one day before the Olympics begin, as worries grow of a worsening of infections during the Games. Thursday’s 1,979 new cases are the highest since 2,044 were recorded on Jan. 15. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who is determined to hold the Olympics, placed Tokyo under a state of emergency on July 12, but daily cases have sharply increased since then.
news.yahoo.comJill Biden in Tokyo for Olympic Games, meets prime minister
Jill Biden embarked on her first solo international trip as first lady, leading a U.S. delegation to the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where the coronavirus is surging and COVID-19 infections have climbed to a six-month high. The first lady has a robust agenda for roughly 48 hours on the ground in Japan’s capital.
news.yahoo.comTokyo virus cases hit 6-month high 2 days before Games open
Tokyo is currently under its fourth state of emergency, which will last until Aug. 22, covering the entire duration of the Olympics that start Friday and end Aug. 8. Fans are banned from all venues in the Tokyo area, with limited audiences at few outlying sites. “What we have worried about is now actually happening,” Japan Medical Association President Toshio Nakagawa said at a weekly news conference.
news.yahoo.comUgandan Olympic Weightlifter Who Vanished in Japan Has Been Found
Dean Mouhtaropoulos/GettyThe Ugandan weightlifter who disappeared in Japan after failing to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics last week has been found.Julius Ssekitoleko, 20, left a note ahead of his disappearance which said that life in Uganda was too hard and he wanted to stay in Japan. He went missing last Friday and was reported to have bought a bullet train ticket to Nagoya, hundreds of kilometers away from his Izumisano hotel.Katsunobu Kato, the chief cabinet secretary to Prime Minister Yoshi
news.yahoo.comWith no summit, South Korean president to skip Olympics
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has decided not to visit Japan for the Tokyo Summer Olympics, citing a failure to set up a summit with Japan's prime minister that would produce meaningful results in improving relations. Moon’s office said Monday that officials from Seoul and Tokyo held talks over longstanding disputes about wartime history and a “future-oriented” development of their relations, but did not find enough common ground to support a summit between their leaders. The countries had been discussing the possibility of Moon visiting Tokyo to participate in the Olympics’ opening ceremony and having talks with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga about repairing bilateral ties that have sunk to postwar lows in recent years with disputes over history, trade and military cooperation.
news.yahoo.comPacific Rim leaders agree to step up COVID vaccine sharing
Leaders of Asian Pacific nations agreed on Friday to step up COVID-19 vaccination sharing as China said it has pledged $3 billion in international aid to support coronavirus response efforts in developing countries. The virtual retreat for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden, Chinese Prime Minister Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Russian President Vladimir Putin was held as the delta variant is spurring a spike in infections around the globe.
news.yahoo.comBach meets Suga as Tokyo virus cases approach 6-month high
Tokyo reported its highest number of new COVID-19 cases in almost six months on Wednesday, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said with the Tokyo Olympics opening in just over a week. The surging numbers came out on the same day that International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach paid a courtesy call in Tokyo on Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. Suga and Bach have both pledged that the Tokyo Olympics will be “safe and secure” despite the games opening with Tokyo and neighboring prefectures under a national government-imposed state of emergency.
news.yahoo.comSoutheast Asian Games 2021 In Vietnam Postponed To 2022
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam has been postponed due to ongoing Covid-19, the Olympic Council of Malaysia said on July 8. The 31st edition of the Southeast Asian Games was earlier scheduled from Nov. 21 to Dec. 2, 2021. “The Southeast Asian Games Federation which met today agreed to postpone the organization of the 31st Southeast Asian Games 2021 to the year 2022,” an official statement read. “The Southeast Asian Games Federation members praised the work done thus far by the Vietnam Organising Committee but took note of the current conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Southeast Asian region.”A new date will now be determined by the Southeast Asian Games Federation Council. The countries participating in the Southeast Asian Games are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.
thewestsidegazette.comGlobal stocks sink after Fed discusses cut in US stimulus
Global stock markets and Wall Street futures fell Thursday after the Federal Reserve talked about possibly reducing U.S. economic stimulus. London and Frankfurt opened more than 1% lower while Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong also retreated. Also Thursday, South Korea reported a one-day record increase of 1,275 new coronavirus infections, adding to gloom about the disease.
news.yahoo.comJapan's leader pushes rescue after deadly mudslide hits town
More than 1,000 soldiers, firefighters and police on Sunday waded through a giant mudslide that ripped through a resort town southwest of Tokyo, killing at least two people and leaving about 20 missing as it swept away houses and cars. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told reporters 19 people had been rescued, and 130 homes damaged in Atami. “The area is still having heavy rainfall, but arduous rescue efforts will continue,” Suga said, warning residents to watch out for more landslides.
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