Tokyo, 2 July, /AJMEDIA/
Japan eases travel advisory for 34 nations, including China, South Korea
TOKYO – Japan’s government on Friday eased its travel warning over the coronavirus pandemic for 34 countries, including China, South Korea and India, and is no longer requesting that residents in Japan refrain from nonessential trips to those nations.
The Foreign Ministry also lowered its travel advisory for France, Germany and Italy, as well as other 11 European nations, by one notch to the lowest Level 1 on its four-point scale, advising Japanese nationals traveling to those regions to “stay fully alert.”
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“au” mobile customers across Japan hit by network troubles
TOKYO – The operator of the “au” mobile brand, one of Japan’s top three carriers, said Saturday its customers are facing difficulties making calls and connecting to the internet as a result of nationwide network trouble.
KDDI Corp. with some 60 million au customers, said the disruption started at around 1:35 a.m. and work is under way to restore services. The cause is being investigated.
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Russia to install new operator for Sakhalin 2 energy project
TOKYO – Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to set up a new operating company for the Sakhalin 2 oil and liquefied natural gas project, Russian media reported, casting the investments of two major Japanese trading houses into doubt.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida denied it would immediately cause a halt in the shipment of LNG to Japan. “We must communicate with the operator and consider how to respond,” he told reporters in Okinawa Prefecture.
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China’s Xi calls Hong Kong governance a success on 25th anniv. of handover
HONG KONG – Chinese President Xi Jinping called his country’s governance of Hong Kong a success on the 25th anniversary Friday of the handover of the former British colony as he attended a ceremony marking the special administrative region’s transition into a new era under Beijing’s tightened grip.
Making his first trip outside mainland China since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Xi said in a speech at the ceremony to swear in the city’s new chief that Beijing’s “one country, two systems” policy has “achieved success in Hong Kong recognized by all.”
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U.S. renews commitment to nuclear nonproliferation treaty
WASHINGTON – The United States reaffirmed its commitment to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a U.N. review conference on the pact is one month away, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday.
Noting that the treaty opened for signatures on this day 54 years ago, Blinken said in a statement, “The NPT has provided the essential foundation for international efforts to stem the looming threat — then and now — that nuclear weapons would proliferate across the globe.”
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North Korea makes veiled COVID-19 accusation against South Korea
BEIJING – North Korea on Friday claimed the cause of the country’s COVID-19 outbreak, saying people who had touched “alien things” near the border with South Korea had been first infected with the novel coronavirus.
The claim came as North Korea has long criticized the South for failing to prevent defectors from launching balloons across the border that contain leaflets critical of leader Kim Jong Un’s rule — a recent source of tension between the two Koreas.
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ANA resumes A380 superjumbo flights on Narita-Honolulu route
TOKYO – All Nippon Airways Co. on Friday resumed operations of its Airbus A380 superjumbo passenger jets on its Narita-Honolulu route, after regular flights were suspended for more than two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.
One of the three double-decker giant planes the company owns took off in the evening from Narita airport near Tokyo for the seven-and-half-hour trip to Hawaii.
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2-time Olympic figure skate champ Yuzuru Hanyu hints he’s still competing
TOKYO – Two-time Olympic men’s figure skating champion Yuzuru Hanyu hinted he will compete in the upcoming season in a comment posted on the Japan Skating Federation website Friday.
Hanyu was hurt at this year’s Beijing Olympics, where he attempted an unprecedented quad axel but finished fourth in his bid for a third straight championship. Since then, he has been quiet about his future plans to compete.
