Japan imposes sanctions on Russia over actions in Ukraine.
Japan is imposing sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday, terming Moscow's moves an unacceptable violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and international law.
Western nations on Tuesday imposed new sanctions on Russian banks and elites after Moscow ordered troops into separatist regions of eastern Ukraine.
Japanese firms fear sanctions on Russia will cause higher fuel prices.
Japanese business organizations are concerned that economic sanctions against Russia could lead to even higher petroleum prices on the global market, pushing up costs for consumers.
Company officials say their Russian operations have so far not been affected from the developments in Ukraine, but they are keeping a close watch on whether tougher sanctions will be imposed against Moscow.
Ukraine's economy is another victim of Russia's 'hybrid war'.
One by one, embassies and international offices in Kyiv closed. Flight after flight was canceled when insurance companies balked at covering planes arriving in Ukraine. Hundreds of millions of dollars in investment dried up within weeks.
With Russian troops encircling much of the country, Ukrainian businesses large and small no longer plan for the future — they can barely foresee what will happen week to week.
New COVID-19 cases continue week-on-week decline in Tokyo.
Tokyo metropolitan government officials reported 14,567 new COVID-19 cases on Feb. 23, down from 17,331 infections confirmed on the previous Wednesday.
The daily average of new cases for the week ending Feb. 23 was 13,608.4, or 90.2 percent of the average for the previous week.
There were 80 COVID-19 patients with symptoms serious enough to require the use of a ventilator or other breathing equipment.
Naruhito turns 62, confident ‘grim reality’ of virus will pass.
Emperor Naruhito, turning 62 on Feb. 23, expressed his earnest hopes that the nation will soon overcome the “grim reality” of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also referred to lukewarm public sentiment toward his niece, the former Princess Mako, how emperors have traditionally viewed their role in society, his thoughts on this year’s 50th anniversary of Okinawa’s reversion to Japanese sovereignty and his daughter, Princess Aiko.
Japan Embassy blasts China for detainment of diplomat.
The Japanese ambassador here visited the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to protest the temporary detainment of a Japanese diplomat by authorities in Beijing.
The Japanese Embassy in China said Ambassador Hideo Tarumi on Feb. 22 demanded an apology and measures to prevent a recurrence in his meeting with Wu Jianghao, assistant minister of foreign affairs.
According to the embassy, a Japanese diplomat was detained in Beijing on the afternoon of Feb. 21 and was later released.
World should send 60 million COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea, U.N. investigator says.
The international community should form a strategy to provide North Korea with at least 60 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to head off humanitarian disaster, an independent U.N. human rights investigator said on Wednesday.
The vaccines could be a way to persuade the country to ease lockdowns that have left some of its 26 million people on the verge of starvation, Tomas Ojea Quintana, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, told a briefing in Seoul.
Tonga's internet finally restored 5 weeks after big eruption.
Tonga's main internet connection to the rest of the world has finally been restored more than five weeks after a huge volcanic eruption and tsunami severed a crucial undersea cable.
Three people in Tonga were killed by the Jan. 15 tsunami, dozens of homes were destroyed and drinking water was tainted.
Graphic novel by Hayao Miyazaki to be issued in the US.
A graphic novel by Oscar-winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki is being released for the first time in the US, nearly 40 years after it was published in Japan.
Miyazaki's "Shuna's Journey," a 1983 release which contains elements later built upon in his films "Princess Mononoke" and "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind," will be published Nov. 1 by the Macmillan imprint First Second. Alex Dudok de Wit is translating the book into English.
