Tokyo, 22 December, /AJMEDIA/
Kirin may seek Japan aid in dispute with Myanmar military entity
TOKYO – The top executive of Kirin Holdings Co. said Tuesday the company may ask the Japanese government for help to resolve a dispute over ending its beer business partnership with a Myanmar military-linked entity.
Kirin Holdings President and CEO Yoshinori Isozaki said in an interview with Kyodo News that his company may need such support, depending on the ruling by a Yangon district court after its partner Myanma Economic Holdings Public Co. unilaterally filed a petition last month to liquidate a joint venture called Myanmar Brewery Ltd.
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Japan gov’t to dispose of unused “Abenomasks” amid growing costs
TOKYO – The Japanese government plans to dispose of unused cloth masks that it has been keeping in storage since an unpopular free distribution program at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday, as keeping them is proving costly.
The washable cloth masks won the name of “Abenomasks” in some quarters in Japan after then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who decided to distribute them last year to cope with tight supplies of disposable ones.
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Japan to keep strict border controls for the time being: PM Kishida
TOKYO – Japan will extend the current strict border control measures “for the time being” past early January as the nation remains vigilant amid uncertainty over the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday.
Even with the number of daily confirmed coronavirus cases staying at low levels and a community spread of Omicron not unfolding, Kishida said Japan needs to strengthen its preparedness by accelerating booster shot rollouts and promoting orally administered COVID-19 drugs.
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Biden vows expansion of free testing in bid to calm Omicron fears
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden on Tuesday sought to calm fears of returning to a coronavirus-induced economic shutdown amid a surge of U.S. infections with the Omicron variant, announcing plans to distribute half a billion free at-home tests beginning in January as well as other steps to prepare for further outbreaks.
“What happened was, the Omicron virus spread even more rapidly than anybody thought,” Biden said at the White House, but emphasized that the country is much better prepared now than when the pandemic hit last year.
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Japan to pay 75 bil. yen more under new 5-yr deal to host U.S. troops
TOKYO – Japan’s government said Tuesday it will increase its financial support for U.S. forces stationed in the country to 1.05 trillion yen ($9.2 billion) under a new five-year agreement starting in fiscal 2022, up 75 billion yen from the previous deal.
Raising the sum from the total of 980.1 billion yen for the five years through fiscal 2020 that ended in March, Japan’s latest agreement with the United States means that Tokyo’s so-called host nation support will average out at 211 billion yen per year.
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Xi calls for Germany’s cooperation to tackle “Cold War” mentality
BEIJING – Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday told new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that the two nations should join hands to tackle the “Cold War” mentality, state-run media reported, as Sino-U.S. tensions have been escalating.
The leaders talked over the phone for the first time since Scholz of the Social Democratic Party became Germany’s chancellor earlier this month following a general election in September. He replaced Angela Merkel, who served in the post for 16 years.
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Only non-establishment electee of H.K. legislature to seek reform
HONG KONG – The only non-establishment candidate elected to Hong Kong’s Legislative Council said Tuesday that he will seek reform in politics including completely democratic elections.
Third Side party leader Tik Chi-yuen won a seat in the social welfare sector of trade-based functional constituencies in the Sunday election, Hong Kong’s first legislative polls held under the new Beijing-imposed electoral system designed to ensure that only “patriots” govern the city.
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U.S. to facilitate aid delivery in Afghanistan, says official
ISLAMABAD – The United States will show leniency in financial sanctions against the Taliban to facilitate aid delivery to needy Afghans, but it is unlikely to unfreeze $9.5 billion in Afghan central bank assets, a State Department official said Tuesday.
“It is not in our interest to see Afghanistan get destabilized,” the official told reporters at a background briefing in Islamabad.
