Tokyo, 30 March, /AJMEDIA
Russia says it will sharply cut back military activity near Kyiv
ISTANBUL – Russia said Tuesday its military will sharply cut back operations near Kyiv and Chernihiv, a northern Ukrainian city, as a confidence-building measure, the most significant concession by Moscow since invading its neighbor more than a month ago.
In the clearest sign yet of progress in their cease-fire talks, Ukrainian negotiators said the war-torn country is prepared to give up on joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and adopt a neutral stance in return for security guarantees.
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Japan to lower adulthood age in April for 1st time in over 140 yrs
TOKYO – Japan will lower the age of adulthood from 20 to 18 in April by revising the Civil Code and changing the legal definition of an adult for the first time in over 140 years, opening up new freedoms and responsibilities for 18- and 19-year-olds.
While the move aims to encourage active social participation by youth, there are also concerns they will become easy targets for scams after being allowed to enter into consumer contracts without parental consent.
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Biden renews U.S. commitment to Indo-Pacific region amid Ukraine war
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden reiterated the growing U.S. commitment to the Indo-Pacific region in a meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday as they agreed to strengthen bilateral relations, the White House said.
In a joint statement released after their talks in Washington, the two countries recognized that the region is affected by threats to the rules-based international order anywhere, including Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine, saying, “The war in Ukraine has a negative impact on the Indo-Pacific region, which already faces many complex challenges.”
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South Korea refutes North Korea’s claim it launched of new type of ICBM
SEOUL – South Korea’s defense ministry on Tuesday refuted a claim by North Korea that a missile it launched last week was a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile, saying it was likely an existing type of ICBM.
Briefing South Korean lawmakers behind closed doors on the analysis of the ICBM fired last Thursday, the ministry said the North launched a Hwasong-15 ICBM and not the new “Hwasong-17,” which military analysts have dubbed a “monster missile.”
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Japan had fewer foreign residents in 2021 amid COVID border controls
TOKYO – Japan had fewer foreign residents as of the end of 2021, down 4.4 percent from a year before, apparently due to its tighter border controls amid the coronavirus pandemic, official data showed Tuesday.
The number stood at 2,760,635, marking the second yearly decline, with that of technical interns and international students dropping 27.0 percent and 26.0 percent, respectively, according to the data released by the Immigration Services Agency of Japan.
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Biden’s $6 tril. budget eyes defense boost amid Russia, China threats
WASHINGTON – The U.S. administration of President Joe Biden on Monday released a $5.8 trillion budget proposal for fiscal 2023, featuring what it calls one of the largest investments in national security in the country’s history amid threats posed by Russia and China.
The budget plan also included a 20 percent minimum tax rate on U.S. households worth more than $100 million, as part of efforts to increase state revenue to put toward cutting deficits and improving the country’s long-term fiscal outlook.
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Nagasaki mayor repeats call for Biden’s visit
NAGASAKI – Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue repeated his call Tuesday for U.S. President Joe Biden to visit the atomic-bombed city during his expected visit to Japan later this year as Russia has threatened to use nuclear weapons in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
“We have been consistently saying Nagasaki should be the last atomic-bombed city and I want the president of a nuclear power to appeal (to the world) by saying, ‘Let’s make this place the last,'” Taue told a press conference in the southwestern Japanese city that suffered a U.S. nuclear attack in 1945.
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Japan gov’t spokesman to concurrently serve as vaccination minister
TOKYO – Japan’s top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said Tuesday he will take over the post of vaccination minister from Noriko Horiuchi, who is set to leave the job at the end of March.
The departure of Horiuchi coincides with the end of a period designated by law to create the ministerial post in charge of work related to last summer’s Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, a title she has doubled in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
