Tokyo, 17 July, /AJMEDIA/
Japan’s daily COVID cases top 110,000 for 1st time
TOKYO – Japan’s daily COVID-19 cases on Saturday topped 110,000 to set a new record as the country grapples with a seventh wave of coronavirus infections partly driven by the highly transmissible BA.5 Omicron subvariant.
The previous record was around 104,000 infections, set on Feb. 3 during the sixth wave of the virus. While infections were on a steady decline since then, a resurgence has been seen from late June.
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G-20 ends finance talks without joint statement amid rift over Russia
NUSA DUA, Indonesia – Finance chiefs from the Group of 20 major economies fell short of issuing a joint statement as they wrapped up a two-day meeting Saturday due to their rift over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Indonesia, this year’s chair and host of the G-20 meetings, explained that the member economies agreed on the necessity to address urgent problems the world economy faces today, such as global food insecurity and debt conditions among low-income countries.
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10 civilians killed in Indonesia’s restive Papua
JAKARTA – At least 10 civilians were killed Saturday in the easternmost, restive Indonesian province of Papua after a group of men, believed to be members of the separatist Free Papua Movement, opened fire on a truck, local police said.
“The victims were in the truck when it was stopped by a group of about 20 men carrying rifles,” provincial police spokesman Ahmad Musthofa Kamal said in a statement.
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New S. Korea envoy arrives in Japan with mission to improve ties
TOKYO – New South Korean Ambassador to Japan Yun Duk Min arrived at his posting Saturday with a mission to improve bilateral ties that have soured over wartime labor and other issues stemming from Japan’s colonial rule of Korea.
“South Korea and Japan are the most important partners that share strategic benefits,” Yun told reporters at Tokyo’s Haneda airport. “I will do my best to build a future-oriented relationship between South Korea and Japan, based on our shared values.”
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Japan aims to maintain stakes in Russia’s Sakhalin 2 energy project
TOKYO – Japan has decided to maintain its interests in the Sakhalin 2 oil and liquefied natural gas project in the Russian Far East, with the government coordinating with two Japanese stakeholders to that end, government sources said Saturday.
With the plan, Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Corp. would keep 12.5 percent and 10 percent stakes, respectively, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s signing of an order that sets up a new operating company to tighten its grip on the project.
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Sport climbing: Nonaka golden as Japan rocks World Games bouldering
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Japan’s Miho Nonaka overcame sweltering heat to win the women’s bouldering gold medal in sport climbing at the World Games on Friday, as Japan secured four of the six medals on offer.
Kokoro Fujii won the men’s silver medal, and World Games defending champ Yoshiyuki Ogata the bronze. Mao Nakamura won the women’s bronze medal at the games for a wide variety of mostly non-Olympics sports.
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Baseball: Uwasawa pitches Fighters to 7th straight win
SAPPORO – Naoyuki Uwasawa pitched into the eighth inning to earn the victory as the Pacific League’s last-place Nippon Ham Fighters rolled off their seventh straight win 1-0 over the Seibu Lions on Saturday.
At Sapporo Dome, Uwasawa (6-5) allowed five hits and three walks over 7-1/3 innings to outduel Kona Takahashi (6-7) and hold off the Lions, who fell a half-game out of first place.
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Soccer: 10-man Antlers salvage draw against Vissel
KASHIMA, Japan – Ryuji Izumi’s late goal and an injury-time save from keeper Kwoun Sun Tae allowed 10-man Kashima Antlers to salvage a 1-1 J-League first-division draw with Vissel Kobe on Saturday.
The result at Ibaraki Prefecture’s Kashima Stadium snapped relegation-threatened Vissel’s three-game win streak, although the visitors drew first blood on Yuya Osako’s 52nd-minute goal.