Tokyo, 12 January, /AJMEDIA/
North Korea’s Kim was at successful hypersonic missile test Tues.: KCNA
BEIJING – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watched the successful test-firing of a hypersonic missile on Tuesday, state-run media reported, a day after Japan and South Korea said Pyongyang launched a suspected ballistic missile in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
The missile hit a target in waters 1,000 kilometers away, the official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday, but did not specify how fast the projectile had traveled.
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Fed chair Powell vows to tackle inflation in reconfirmation hearing
WASHINGTON – U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Tuesday vowed to tackle inflation to keep the country’s economic recovery on track, calling elevated prices a “severe threat” to the central bank’s key goal of achieving a high level of employment.
“We will use our tools…to prevent higher inflation from becoming entrenched,” Powell said during a hearing of a Senate committee considering his nomination for a second term as the Fed chief.
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Toyota, SoftBank Group among top-tier firms in Tokyo bourse shakeup
TOKYO – Toyota Motor Corp. and SoftBank Group Corp. are among the 1,841 firms that will be placed in the highest trading tier when the Tokyo Stock Exchange implements its reorganization plan on April 4, the bourse operator said Tuesday.
The restructuring by Japan Exchange Group Inc., known as JPX, is aimed at improving market availability and luring foreign investment.
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Japan to administer COVID vaccine to children under 12 in March
TOKYO – Japan plans to expand the scope of COVID-19 inoculation to children under the age of 12, possibly in March, to cope with another wave of infections amid the rapid spread of the coronavirus Omicron variant, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other officials said Tuesday.
The government will reopen mass vaccination centers run by the Self-Defense Forces in Tokyo and Osaka in February at the earliest to administer third shots, Defense Ministry officials said.
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World Bank cuts 2022 growth outlook to 4.1%, warns of marked slowdown
WASHINGTON – The World Bank on Tuesday warned that the global economy is entering a “pronounced slowdown” amid fresh threats of COVID-19 variants and a rise in inflation, forecasting growth this year to slow to 4.1 percent, down 0.2 percentage point from its estimate in June.
The Japanese economy, however, is expected to grow at a rate 0.3 point higher than the earlier projection, reaching 2.9 percent in 2022 on the back of a likely pick-up in economic activity thanks to the rollout of coronavirus vaccines, the Washington-based institution said.
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Tokyo court tosses suit by 3 Taiwanese to restore Japan nationality
TOKYO – A Tokyo court dismissed Tuesday a lawsuit filed by three Taiwanese men born in Taiwan during Japan’s colonial rule seeking to have their Japanese nationality reinstated after they automatically lost it following World War II.
According to the suit filed with the Tokyo District Court, all three plaintiffs, including Yang Fu-cheng, 99, are in their 80s or 90s and were born to parents of Taiwanese origin.
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Japan further extends anti-COVID entry ban until end of Feb.
TOKYO – The Japanese government will further extend an entry ban on non-resident foreigners until the end of February, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday.
The ban has been in place since Nov. 30, after the country confirmed its first case of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
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Tokyo to hold ceremony to mark 1st anniv. of Olympic Games in July
TOKYO – The Tokyo metropolitan government said Tuesday it will hold a ceremony in July to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which were held last year amid the coronavirus pandemic and took place without spectators for the first time in history.
In addition to the ceremony planned for July 23, the same date as the 2021 Olympics opening ceremony, the Tokyo government said it will also hold an event on Aug. 24, exactly a year after the Paralympics opening ceremony, and host a half-marathon in October as a city to promote sports.
