Tokyo, 14 July, /AJMEDIA/
Abe shooter’s plan to target religious head thwarted by COVID limits
NARA, Japan – The suspect in former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s fatal shooting originally planned to kill the head of a religious organization but switched his target after the leader stopped coming to Japan due to the coronavirus pandemic, investigative sources said Wednesday.
Tetsuya Yamagami has told investigators he believed Abe had links with the organization, widely known as the Unification Church, founded in South Korea in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon. Yamagami has said he harbored a grudge against the group because his family’s finances were ruined after his mother donated a huge amount of money to the organization.
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Euro briefly falls below parity with dollar for 1st time in 20 years
NEW YORK – The euro briefly fell below parity with the U.S. dollar in New York on Wednesday for the first time in around 20 years, as investors sold the European currency amid fears that energy shortages stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could trigger economic setback in Europe.
Investors also rushed to shed the euro on the widening interest-rate differentials between Europe and the United States, traders said.
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Ex-TEPCO execs found liable for damages over Fukushima nuclear crisis
TOKYO – A Tokyo court on Wednesday ordered former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. to pay the utility some 13 trillion yen ($95 billion) in total damages for failing to prevent the 2011 crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The ruling in favor of shareholders who filed the lawsuit in 2012 is the first to find former TEPCO executives liable for compensation after the nuclear plant in northeastern Japan caused one of the worst nuclear disasters in history triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
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U.S. drug regulator OKs Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, 4th of its kind
WASHINGTON – U.S. drug regulators on Wednesday granted emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine developed by biotechnology firm Novavax Inc., making it the fourth shot of its kind available in the country.
The protein-based vaccine is expected to offer an alternative for individuals with an allergic reaction to the mRNA vaccines already in wide use, such as the one made by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. It has already been authorized for use in other countries including Japan.
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Japan’s new COVID-19 cases top 90,000, 1st time in 5 months
TOKYO – Japan’s new COVID-19 cases topped 90,000 for the first time since Feb. 17 on Wednesday, official data showed, as public health experts said the highly transmissible BA.5 subvariant of Omicron is fueling a seventh wave of infections.
The 94,493 cases come close to the peak number of cases of some 104,000 that the country saw in February.
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Japan calls Taiwan vice pres. attending Abe’s funeral “a figure”
TOKYO – A Japanese government spokeswoman on Wednesday called Taiwan Vice President Lai Ching-te, who attended former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s funeral, just “a figure” without mentioning his name and position, apparently avoiding being seen as recognizing the democratic island as a nation.
“We recognize that the figure you mentioned visited Japan only for a private purpose,” Foreign Ministry Press Secretary Hikariko Ono said at a news conference when asked about Lai’s attendance at Tuesday’s funeral for Abe, who was shot dead while giving an election campaign speech last week.
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Indonesian president to visit Japan in late July on East Asia tour
JAKARTA – Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo is planning a trip to East Asia, including a visit to Japan late this month to meet with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida, an Indonesian government source said Wednesday.
During the envisaged tour, Joko is also expected to visit China and South Korea to meet with their respective leaders, Xi Jinping and Yoon Suk Yeol, according to the source.
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Japan software firm to provide “inflation allowance” to employees
TOKYO – A Japanese software company said Wednesday it will pay its employees a so-called “special inflation allowance” in a bid to cushion rises in living expenses amid soaring prices across the globe.
Staff at Cybozu Inc. will be paid between 60,000 and 150,000 yen ($440-$1,100) on top of monthly wages, depending on employees’ working hours.