Japan

TOKYO, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday extended the state of emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic covering the Tokyo metropolitan area by two weeks to March 21, as infection numbers have not fallen enough for the emergency period to be lifted as scheduled on Sunday. 

TOKYO (AP) — Myanmar’s security forces have killed scores of demonstrators protesting a coup. The new junta has jailed journalists — and anyone else capable of exposing the violence. It has done away with even limited legal protections. The outside world has responded so far with tough words, a smattering of sanctions and little else.

The slide from a nascent democracy to yet another coup, as rapid as it has been brutal, opens up a grim possibility: As bad as it looks in Myanmar now, if the country’s long history of violent military rule is any guide, things could get worse.

Tokyo, Mar 5 (AP-PTI) Japan's government will extend a state of emergency in the Tokyo region for another two weeks because its medical systems are still strained by COVID-19 patients, the minister in charge of virus response said Friday.

"For two more weeks, we will keep the measure in place ... so that we can firmly ease strains on hospitals" to meet conditions for lifting the emergency measures, economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Wednesday the government is considering a two-week extension of a state of emergency in the Tokyo area due to the pressure on the medical system from COVID-19 cases.

“I think that about two weeks will be necessary, so I would like to make a final decision after hearing the opinions of the experts and people concerned,” Suga told reporters.

TOKYO (Reuters) - An American father and son accused of helping former Nissan Motor Co Ltd Chairman Carlos Ghosn flee Japan arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday to face questioning from prosecutors and the prospect of charges that could carry a three-year prison term.

The plane carrying U.S. Army Special Forces veteran Michael Taylor and his son Peter, who were extradited by U.S. authorities on Monday, landed at Tokyo’s Narita airport, and the two men were escorted on to waiting police buses, according to a Reuters witness.

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares rose Monday on hopes for President Joe Biden’s stimulus package and bargain-hunting after sell offs last week.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 surged 2.2% in morning trading to 29,587.82. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.5% to 6,774.00.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.9% to 29,253.72, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.6% to 3,529.98 despite a survey showing slightly weaker manufacturing indicators for the month of February.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan must introduce carbon pricing and fiscal incentives for green investment to achieve its goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050, private-sector members of a key government panel said on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga last December instructed his environment and industry ministries to work on a plan in 2021 to create a carbon pricing scheme, as part of efforts to meet his pledge to make Japan carbon-neutral by 2050.

TOKYO (AP) — Former Nissan Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa told a Japanese court Wednesday he believed the compensation for his predecessor Carlos Ghosn was too low “by international standards,” and so he supported Ghosn’s retirement packages to prevent him from leaving.

“Mr. Ghosn had outstanding abilities and achievements,” Saikawa said, testifying in Tokyo District Court in the criminal trial of Greg Kelly, a former senior executive at Nissan Motor Co.

TOKYO, Feb 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Japan has requested that airlines avoid using Boeing 777 planes with Pratt & Whitney 4000 engines for take-offs, landings and overflights in its territory until further notice, the Japan Aeronautical Information Service Center said.

The notice to airmen, issued on Sunday evening, came after a United Airlines 777 landed safely at Denver International Airport on Saturday after its right engine failed.

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were mostly lower on Monday, with Japan’s benchmark rising but most others slipping despite hopes for a recovery from the coronavirus pandemic with the global rollout of vaccines.

France’s CAC 40 slipped 1.1% in early trading to 5,708.39, while Germany’s DAX dove 1.3% to 13,816.87. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 1.1% to 6,554.12. U.S. shares were to open lower, with the future contract for the Dow industrials sliding 0.7% to 31,224. The S&P 500 future fell nearly 1% to 3,865.12.