at 18:30 (JST), December 29

Asian View

"Asian View" is a five-minute news segment broadcast by NHK WORLD-JAPAN. It features the latest news and deep analysis from Japan and the rest of Asia. Listen to “Asian View" and get the latest information from a region that's playing an increasingly important role in the world.

　

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20201229183000_english_1.mp3


Key words : south africa confirmed
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20201229_02/

A new variant of the coronavirus that was first detected in South Africa has been confirmed in Japan.

On Monday, the health ministry said it was found in a woman in her 30s who arrived at Narita Airport near Tokyo on December 19. She traveled from South Africa.

Ministry officials also said they have now confirmed six more cases of a different variant that is spreading in Britain and other countries.

The people, who are in their teens to 40s, arrived from Britain between December 1 and 24.

Key words : chinese court
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20201229_03/

A Chinese court has handed a four-year prison sentence to a woman for independently reporting on the coronavirus outbreak in the city of Wuhan, where the first cases were identified.

The court in Shanghai sentenced former lawyer Zhang Zhan on Monday on the grounds of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble."

Zhang traveled from Shanghai to Wuhan, which is located in Hubei Province, in February. She then posted firsthand accounts of the situation online, including authorities' response to the outbreak.

She was later detained, and accused of spreading false information and disrupting social order.

In the first hearing held on Monday, Zhang's lawyer said the defendant denied the charges, and even refused to be tried.

The lawyer described the ruling as unjust, adding that the prosecutors presented no evidence of Zhang spreading false information. The lawyer also pointed out that the right to freedom of speech is guaranteed under Chinese law.

Zhang is one of several people who have been detained in China for attempting to report on the coronavirus situation in Wuhan.

Key words : IHI developed
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20201228_17/

NHK has learned that Japanese machinery maker IHI has developed technology to use ammonia as a fuel for thermal power generation, potentially cutting carbon dioxide emissions by more than half.

IHI has been working to develop technology for the "co-firing" of natural gas and ammonia. Ammonia does not emit carbon dioxide when burnt.

Sources say the company succeeded in stably generating power at a 2,000-kilowatt plant when the ratio of ammonia was at 60 percent.

They say the technology can lower greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent of the level of natural gas-only fuel.

IHI is said to be aiming to put the technology into practical use for power generators at factories.

Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, or NEDO, commissioned IHI to develop the technology. NEDO says the development marks the first time in the world that the ammonia ratio has been raised to 60 percent for a relatively large power-generating facility.

Japan's government aims to make the country carbon neutral by 2050. It is considering ammonia as a fuel to help achieve that goal.

Key words : Rwanda education
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/videos/20201216075051594/

Some educational facilities in the African country are being forced to close down due to economic fallout from the pandemic. NHK World's Yotsumoto Jun reports on one school that's struggling to survive, and an effort by people in Japan to make sure that it does.