at 18:30 (JST), July 21

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/20220721183000_english_1.mp3


Key words : united nations afghan violation
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220721_01/

A United Nations report says Afghanistan's Taliban interim government has been committing human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, released a report on the country's human rights situation on Wednesday. It covers the 10 months from August 15 last year, when the government collapsed and the Taliban took over, through June 15.

The report says UNAMA confirmed 160 extrajudicial killings of former Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, and government officials by the de facto authorities.

It also says UNAMA found rights violations against 163 journalists and media workers by the de facto authorities.

Markus Potzel, acting secretary-general's special representative for Afghanistan, said, "I urge the de facto authorities to do their utmost to address the concerns outlined in our report and meet their international obligations to protect and promote the human rights of all Afghans."

A spokesperson for the interim government responded on Twitter, "The UNAMA report on this matter is not true, but propaganda."

Key words : sri lanka fuel food
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220720_38/

Sri Lanka's former acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe has been voted in as the country's new president.

Wickremesinghe secured a majority in the parliamentary vote on Wednesday, beating out two other candidates.

He will replace former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country and resigned last week after months of anti-government protests over a worsening economic crisis.

Wickremesinghe will now finish Rajapaksa's term, scheduled to end in November 2024.

He said after the vote that people do not want the old politics as usual, but a new way forward. He also said the parliament must unite amid the issues the country faces.

Sri Lanka has been struggling with acute inflation and shortages of essentials, including fuel and food.

Wickremesinghe's primary task will be rebuilding the economy. But he is also facing skepticism. He served as prime minister under the previous administration that led the country into turmoil.

Key words : trade record
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220721_16/

Japan's trade deficit rose to a record in the first six months of the year.

That was as fuel prices remained high due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the weaker yen made imports more expensive.

Preliminary trade data released by the Finance Ministry show a deficit of nearly 8 trillion yen for the January-to-June period.

That's equal to about 57 billion dollars and is the highest half-year number since officials started keeping comparable data back in 1979.

Imports surged 38 percent in yen terms on the year to 390 billion dollars, outpacing a 15-percent increase in exports.

The ministry said the trade deficit in June was 1.3 trillion yen, or roughly 10 billion dollars.

Japan's trade account has stayed in the red for 11 straight months.

Key words : olympic money questioned
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220720_34/

Sources say a former senior official on the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee may have received a lucrative consulting fee from one of the Games' sponsors.

Takahashi Haruyuki was on the committee's executive board. He heads a Tokyo-based company that signed a consulting contract with major business suit retailer Aoki Holdings.

The sources say Takahashi's company allegedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Aoki Holdings while he served on the executive board.

Aoki Holdings was a Tokyo Games sponsor and supplied official uniforms.
Tokyo prosecutors have questioned the former chair of Aoki Holdings, Aoki Hironori. Sources say he admitted paying the money.

Takahashi has denied giving any favors to the apparel company with regard to the Olympics.

Japan's criminal code forbids members of the organizing committee's executive board from accepting money or gifts related to their duties.

The International Olympic Committee's Code of Ethics also bans them from accepting remuneration and fees related to the Games.

Key words : tokyo record high
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220720_27/

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 20,401 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday.

The daily tally in the capital city exceeded 20,000 for the first time since February 5.

The figure is up 3,523 from a week ago.

The number of seriously ill patients on ventilators or ECMO heart-lung machines in Tokyo is 18, down one from Tuesday.

A total of 152,536 cases were registered nationwide on Wednesday. That exceeds the previous daily record of more than 110,000 marked last Saturday.

A total of 30 prefectures across Japan are also logging record high new infections.

Osaka Prefecture confirmed 21,976 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. The figure is the highest ever in the prefecture and the first time it exceeded 20,000.
Wednesday's tally is 2.1 times from a week earlier.

Okinawa Prefecture reported a record 5,160 new infections, surpassing the previous record of 4,165 marked on Sunday by about 1,000.

The total number of cases in Okinawa since the beginning of the pandemic has broken through 300,000, which is equivalent to roughly 20 percent of Okinawa's population of about 1.46 million.

Miyagi Prefecture reported 2,094 new cases on Wednesday. That is more than double the figure of a week ago and much higher than the previous record of 958 shown last Saturday.

Key words : researcher three antiviral
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220721_02/

A group of researchers says its experiments show that three antiviral drugs approved in Japan are highly effective against the Omicron subvariant BA.5, which is spreading across the world.

The group, including researchers of the University of Tokyo and the National Institute of Infectious Diseases from Japan, released the results in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The researchers infected cultured cells with the BA.5 subvariant and administered a wide variety of drugs to the cells. They checked to what extent multiplication of the virus was suppressed by the drugs.

They say the three antiviral drugs for COVID-19 -- remdesivir, molnupiravir and nirmatrelvir/ritonavir -- were more effective against BA.5 than the BA.2 strain.

They also say some drugs using antibodies were less effective against BA.5 than previously identified virus types.

Key words : foreign visitors
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220720_25/

The number of foreign visitors to Japan topped 120,000 in June, exceeding 100,000 for the third straight month.

The Japan National Tourism Organization estimates 120,400 foreigners visited Japan last month.

Almost all of those entering Japan were admitted for purposes other than tourism.

The number of technical trainees and students entering Japan rose from the same period last year. The government had suspended their entry due to the coronavirus pandemic.

By country, Vietnam topped the list with 22,900 visitors, followed by China with 14,700 and South Korea with 11,200.

Japan resumed accepting foreign tourists from June 10.
The organization says only 252 foreign sightseers had arrived in Japan as of the end of June. It said the low number was mainly due to the time-consuming process of obtaining visas.

But officials expect the number to rise since more than 14,000 people have applied to enter Japan beginning July 1 for the purpose of sightseeing.