Tokyo, 5 March, /AJMEDIA
G-7 to slap tougher sanctions on Russia if attack on Ukraine goes on
TOKYO – The foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations on Friday agreed to impose tougher sanctions on Russia if it does not stop assaulting Ukraine, and demanded in particular that Moscow stop attacks in the vicinity of nuclear power plants.
The meeting in Brussels, which Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi joined online, took place as Russia’s attacks on Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, the largest in Europe, briefly fueled fears of a devastating nuclear catastrophe.
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SMBC Nikko Securities workers nabbed for alleged stock manipulation
TOKYO – Tokyo prosecutors on Friday arrested four employees of SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. in connection with alleged stock manipulation and searched the Tokyo headquarters of the major Japanese brokerage.
The four employees, including Trevor Hill, the 51-year-old head of the company’s equity department, are suspected of trying to prevent a decrease in share prices for five individual stocks on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange through actions including placing buy orders from December 2019 to November 2020, investigative sources said.
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U.N. to set up panel to probe rights violations by Russia in Ukraine
GENEVA – The U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday overwhelmingly voted in favor of establishing an independent commission tasked with investigating and preserving proof of human rights violations by Russia in Ukraine.
Of the 47-member Geneva-based body, 32 countries, including Japan and the United States, voted for the text, while 13 nations such as China, India and Pakistan abstained. Only Eritrea joined Russia in opposition.
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Beijing Paralympics open under shadow of war in Ukraine
BEIJING – The Beijing Paralympics opened Friday night at the Chinese capital’s National Stadium with the ongoing war in Ukraine casting a shadow over the world’s largest winter sports event for athletes with disabilities.
Athletes from the Russian Paralympic Committee and Belarus were excluded from the games after tensions escalated in the games’ villages ahead of the opening ceremony, with many athletes and teams refusing to take the field of play alongside athletes from aggressor states after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, with the help of Belarus.
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Russia seizes Europe’s largest nuclear plant in southern Ukraine
LVIV, Ukraine – Russian military forces on Friday attacked and seized control of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, even after the two countries agreed on a halt in fighting to create corridors to allow civilians to evacuate and prepare for the next round of cease-fire talks.
A huge blaze in a training building of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been extinguished and Ukrainian nuclear authorities said there are no safety concerns.
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Biden to increase share of U.S.-made parts for gov’t purchases to 75%
WASHINGTON – The administration of President Joe Biden said Friday it has decided to support U.S. manufacturing by raising the share of American-made parts in products the federal government buys eventually to 75 percent from the current 55 percent.
More than $600 billion is spent in government procurement every year, with the country’s Buy American law saying products bought with taxpayer dollars must “substantially all” be made in the United States.
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U.S. economy adds better-than-expected 678,000 jobs in Feb.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. economy added a larger-than-expected 678,000 nonfarm jobs in February, while the unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage point from January to 3.8 percent, the Labor Department said Friday.
The job creation data exceeded the market consensus of an increase of 400,000.
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NYC to lift COVID-19 restrictions amid sharp decline in infections
NEW YORK – New York Mayor Eric Adams said Friday the city will lift most of its COVID-19 restrictions and the vaccination proof requirement next week as the number of coronavirus infections has been rapidly dropping.
The announcement marks a milestone for the largest U.S. city, once the country’s hardest-hit spot in the pandemic. The city has reported around 40,000 deaths from the disease since the pandemic intensified in the United States in early 2020.
