Japan

TOKYO (Reuters) - Oil fell a third day as the horror show for crude investors continued on Friday amid panic about evaporating demand from the coronavirus pandemic, with Brent set for its biggest weekly loss since 1991 and U.S. crude heading for its worst week since 2008.

Brent crude LCOc1 was down 47 cents, or 1.4%, at $32.75 a barrel by 0317 GMT after falling more than 7% on Thursday. For the week, Brent is set to fall nearly 28%, the biggest weekly decline since the week of Jan. 18, 1991, when it fell 29% at the outbreak of the first Gulf War.

TOKYO (AP) — President Donald Trump’s suggestion to postpone the Tokyo Olympics for a year because of the spreading coronavirus was immediately shot down by Japan’s Olympic minister.

“The IOC and the organizing committee are not considering cancellation or a postponement — absolutely not at all,” Seiko Hashimoto, an Olympic bronze medalist, told a news conference on Friday in Tokyo.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the central bank was ready to respond with further steps to support the economy, after a meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday.

Policymakers are working to bolster fragile growth after the coronavirus epidemic added to the country’s economic pain from trade tensions and slowing global demand.

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares plunged Thursday after the World Health Organization declared a coronavirus pandemic and indexes sank on Wall Street.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dived 4.9% to 18,468.99. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 6.6% to 5,348.60. South Korea’s Kospi dipped 4.7% to 1,815.98. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 3.8% to 24,269.06, while the Shanghai Composite index shed 1.3% to 2,928.80.

Thailand’s benchmark plunged 8%.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan marked the somber nine-year anniversary of devastating natural disasters and a nuclear accident on Wednesday as official commemorations and vigils were canceled because of fears over the spread of the coronavirus.

The March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami triggered the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl at Tokyo Electric Power Co’s (9501.T) Fukushima Daiichi plant, 220 kilometers (130 miles) northeast of Tokyo.

The natural disasters and meltdowns at the Fukushima plant forced hundreds of thousands of residents to flee their homes.

OKUMA, Japan (AP) — Inside a giant decontamination facility at the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant, workers in hazmat suits monitor radioactive water pumped from three damaged reactors, making sure it’s adequately — though not completely — treated.

Three lines of equipment connected to pipes snaking around in this dimly lit, sprawling facility can process up to 750 tons of contaminated water a day. Four other lines elsewhere in the plant can process more.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is set this week to revise a law allowing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to declare a formal state of emergency over the coronavirus, if needed, as Abe faces persistent criticism for his handling of the outbreak ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games.

In perhaps his biggest test since returning to office in 2012, Japan’s longest-serving premier has come under fire for what critics have called an initial lack of leadership, followed by abrupt steps like school closures that left parents and employers scrambling.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s economy contracted at a dismal 7.1% annual rate during the October-December period, worse than the initial estimate, raising fears the world’s third largest economy could be headed to a recession.

The contraction was the first for Japan in more than a year and followed an Oct. 1 increase in the sales tax, which hit retail spending. The Cabinet Office data, released Monday, were a revision from last month’s estimate of a 6.3% decline.

TOKYO, Mar 7 (NNN-NHK) – Japan is planning to, at least, double its farm exports to two trillion yen (19 billion U.S. dollars) by 2025, the government said.

Following from its 2025 target, the country is then hoping to see its agriculture, fishery and forestry exports balloon to five trillion yen by 2030, the government said.

The government is planning to boost its farm exports to underpin its agricultural industries, that have suffered from a decline in domestic demand, which is inextricably linked to the nation’s shrinking population.

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares slipped Friday as fears about the virus outbreak once again dominated financial markets.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei dived 3.1% to 20,663.32. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 2.1% to 6,259.20. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 2.3% to 2,037.08. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 2.1% to 26,213.51, while the Shanghai Composite slumped 0.9% to 3,049.95. Shares also dropped in Taiwan and Southeast Asia.