AJMEDIA News Digest: Jan. 1, 2023

Tokyo, 1 January, /AJMEDIA/

N. Korea fires ballistic missile toward Sea of Japan

SEOUL – North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan on Sunday, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported, quoting the country’s military.

The projectile appears to have fallen outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone and no damage to aircraft or ships has been reported, a Japanese government official said.

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China’s Xi seeks public’s perseverance after easing of COVID policy

BEIJING – Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday urged the country’s people to pull through as Beijing has “entered a new phase of COVID response,” with infections rapidly spreading across the nation following a major easing of the strict antivirus measures earlier this month.

“Everyone is holding on with great fortitude, and the light of hope is right in front of us,” Xi said in his televised speech on New Year’s Eve.

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Former Pope Benedict XVI, 1st pontiff in 600 yrs to step down, dies

ROME – Former Pope Benedict XVI, the first pontiff to voluntarily step down in about 600 years, died Saturday at a Vatican monastery, a spokesperson for the Holy See said. He was 95.

Benedict shocked the world in February 2013 when he announced at age 85 that he no longer had the strength to carry out his duties due to his advanced age. Pontiffs are normally expected to serve until death.

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Lennon, Ono asked Japan to allow A-bomb film to be shown abroad

TOKYO – Beatles musician John Lennon and his peace activist wife Yoko Ono asked Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in 1969 to permit overseas release of an unedited film on the aftermath of the U.S. atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to prevent a similar “atrocity,” the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s archives show.

“Effects of the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” taken as a scientific documentary a month after the bombings in 1945, was requisitioned by the United States a year later. It was returned to Japan in November 1967, but only its edited version had been shown to the Japanese public.

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Boxing: Ioka-Franco unification bout ends in draw

TOKYO – Japan’s Kazuto Ioka and Joshua Franco of the United States fought to a draw in their world super flyweight boxing title unification match Saturday.

After 12 rounds of almost non-stop punching on New Year’s Eve at Tokyo’s Ota City General Gymnasium, two of the three judges scored the contest 114-114, while one favored World Boxing Association champion Franco 115-113.

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Elderly couple missing in landslide in northeastern Japan

YAMAGATA, Japan – A landslide occurred Saturday in northeastern Japan, destroying or damaging about 10 buildings and leaving an elderly couple missing, police and firefighters said.

Authorities have deployed heavy machinery and mobilized more than 240 personnel to search for the man in his 80s and his wife in her 70s.

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