News Headlines - 29 January 2020

▽Nintendo wins legal battle against one of Tokyo's real-life 'Mario Kart' tours | Engadget

Mario Kart-themed go-karts may soon disappear from the streets of Tokyo following a decisive legal win by Nintendo. On Wednesday, the gaming giant announced that Japan's Intellectual Property High Court had ordered Mari Mobility, one of the more popular go-kart operators in Tokyo, to pay a 50 million yen (approximately $458,000) fine for infringing on its IP rights
The court order ends a multi-year legal battle between the two that started in 2017 when Nintendo sued Mari Mobility, then known as MariCar, for copyright infringement. In 2018, a court ordered the company to pay a 10 million yen (approximately $91,600) fine.

▽Prosecutors search office of Ghosn's ex-lawyer | NHK WORLD

Japanese prosecutors have begun searching the office of a lawyer who served for former Nissan Motor chairman Carlos Ghosn. Ghosn, who has been indicted in Japan over financial misconduct, escaped to Lebanon last month, skipping bail.
The prosecutors are investigating Ghosn's flight as suspected violation of the immigration control law. They say those who helped him flee could be charged on suspicion of aiding a criminal in avoiding capture.
They searched the office of lawyer Junichiro Hironaka in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Wednesday morning. Hironaka was among Ghosn's defense team.

▽Top court upholds divorce of Samsung chairman's eldest daughter | Yonhap News Agency

Ending a legal fight that lasted over five years, South Korea's top court said Monday it has reaffirmed a lower court's ruling accepting a divorce claim filed by Lee Boo-jin, the eldest daughter of the family that owns Samsung.
The Supreme Court upheld the lower court's decision that ordered the Hotel Shilla chief to pay 14.1 billion won (US$12.1 million) in an asset split to her estranged husband, Im Woo-jae. The court granted parental rights and custody of their only child to Lee.

▽Controversial Nike Vaporflys to escape ban but running shoe rules will tighten | The Guardian

World Athletics will not be imposing a blanket ban on the controversial hi-tech Nike Vaporflys that have transformed athletics when it announces its long-awaited decision on shoe technology on Friday, the Guardian understands.
Instead the sport’s governing body is expected to announce a temporary suspension of any new shoe technology until after the Tokyo Olympics this summer, alongside the launch of a comprehensive research project to examine just how advantageous the shoes, and others like it from rival brands, are at elite level.

▽Left holds Italy's Emilia Romagna in key regional vote - The Local

The defeat was a major rebuff of Salvini and his nationalist League, which had hoped to score a historic upset and force snap elections in the regional vote in Emilia Romagna, but a high turnout favoured the incumbent centre-left candidate.
The Democratic Party's (PD) Stefano Bonaccini won 51.36 percent of the vote against the anti-immigrant League candidate Lucia Borgonzoni's 43.68 percent, according to official results released by the interior ministry on Monday.