White-robed monks clean the Big Buddha at Todaiji Temple in the former Japanese capital of Nara, western Japan, on August 7, 2022, during an annual “ominugui” cleaning event, which resumed after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Kyōdo) == Kyōdo
Here is the latest list of news digests selected by Kyodo News.
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China continues large-scale military exercises near Taiwan
BEIJING — China on Monday continued its military drills near Taiwan launched in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island last week, keeping tensions across the strait high and high. raising fears that it is seeking to normalize its military pressure in the region.
The large-scale drills, dubbed by local media as “Taiwan lockdown drills”, have been carried out since Thursday in six locations surrounding the self-governing democratic island. They involved ballistic missile launches and the crossing of the median line in the Taiwan Strait by Chinese warplanes and warships.
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SoftBank logs record $23 billion. loss in April-June, Vision Fund falls
TOKYO-SoftBank Group Corp. reported a record net loss of 3.16 trillion yen ($23.4 billion) in the April-June quarter on Monday, the largest quarterly loss ever by a Japanese company, after its Vision Fund suffered heavy losses in the global market slump.
The result follows a net loss of $2.1 trillion in the three months ended March and is a sharp turnaround from the 761.51 billion yen profit in the same quarter last year.
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Japan, UN share ‘serious concern’ over rising tensions over Taiwan
TOKYO — Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday expressed “serious joint concern over rising regional tensions” following China’s large-scale military drills near Taiwan, it said. the Japanese government.
During their meeting in Tokyo, Hayashi and Guterres also agreed on the importance of easing tensions, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, as Beijing began the exercises on Thursday in response to the visit of the speaker of the House of States. United, Nancy Pelosi, on the self-governing Democratic Island last week. .
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Japan to offer Omicron COVID vaccine to at least two vaccinated people
TOKYO – A new COVID-19 vaccine considered effective against the Omicron variant will be available to everyone who has had at least two inoculations as early as mid-October, the Japanese government announced Monday.
The bivalent vaccine, so named for its combination of ingredients derived from existing COVID-19 vaccines and the Omicron variant BA.1 subtype, has been reported to provide some increase in neutralizing antibodies against the BA subtype. .5 currently widespread throughout the country.
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Japanese SDF member stabbed at WWII memorial ceremony in Solomon Islands
SYDNEY — A member of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force was stabbed Monday during a memorial service marking the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands.
The Japanese sailor suffered minor neck injuries after he was approached from behind by a local man and stabbed with what appeared to be a pair of scissors, according to the Japanese Embassy in the Solomon Islands.
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Japan’s January-June current account surplus down 63% to lowest level in 8 years
TOKYO – Japan’s current account surplus shrank 63.1% in the first half of 2022 from a year earlier to 3.51 trillion yen ($25.9 billion), the lowest in eight years due to a large deficit in trade in goods stemming largely from higher oil prices and a weak yen, the finance ministry said on Monday.
The current account surplus, one of the broadest indicators of international trade, fell to its lowest level since sinking into the red in the first half of 2014, according to the ministry’s preliminary report.
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Sri Lankan family calls for Japanese commission to review death of inmate
NAGOYA – The sisters of a Sri Lankan woman who died last year while detained at an immigration center in Nagoya filed a lawsuit Monday with a judicial panel seeking a review of prosecutors’ decision not to press charges in the case.
The move came after the Nagoya District Procuratorate decided in June not to prosecute 13 officers at the facility, including its then-director, for the death of Ratnayake Liyanage Wishma Sandamali on March 6, 2021.
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Preimplantation genetic testing leads to fewer miscarriages: study
TOKYO — Testing fertilized eggs undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment to identify genetic diseases before pregnancy reduced miscarriage rates in women who had multiple miscarriages, a large clinical trial has found ladder.
The Japanese Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, which analyzed the clinical trial involving 9,097 people at 200 facilities, concluded that the method was effective in reducing miscarriage rates in results released Sunday.
