News Headlines - 12 March 2020

▽Tokyo stock prices close at nearly 3-year low | NHK WORLD

Share prices in Tokyo closed at their lowest level in nearly three years on Thursday. The key index briefly fell more than 1,000 points at one stage.
The benchmark Nikkei Average ended the day down 856 points, at 18,559 -- its lowest level since April 2017. The broader TOPIX index of all first-section shares was down 57 points at 1,327.

▽Tokyo police arrest two for receiving stolen NEM cryptocurrency | The Japan Times

Tokyo police arrested two men on Wednesday for alleged possession of NEM, a cryptocurrency, that they knew was stolen in a massive cyberattack on a Japanese startup in 2018, according to investigative sources... According to the sources, the two suspects knew that the cryptocurrency they acquired was part of the ￥58 billion worth of NEM stolen from the cryptocurrency exchange operator Coincheck Inc. on Jan. 26, 2018. In the incident, almost all NEM owned by Coincheck’s clients was fraudulently accessed and stolen.
The MPD suspects that the two traded other currencies such as Bitcoin for the stolen NEM in February and March 2018.

▽Argentina needs 'substantial' relief in $70 billion debt talks, economy minister says - Reuters

Argentina will need “substantial relief” as it restructures nearly $70 billion in debt with international bondholders, the country’s economy minister Martin Guzman told Reuters, signaling a tough tonic ahead for the country’s creditors.
In his first interview with international media since taking up his role in December, the 37-year-old U.S. trained economist, said a March 31 deadline to strike a deal with bondholders may also be affected by a global coronavirus outbreak that was hitting plans for road shows for the government’s debt proposal.

▽EU announces ‘Clean Hydrogen Alliance’ for launch in the summer - EURACTIV.com

Plans for an EU-wide hydrogen alliance were confirmed on Tuesday (10 March) when the European Commission unveiled its new industrial strategy.
“The Alliance will build on existing work to identify technology needs, investment opportunities and regulatory barriers and enablers,” the Commission said in a statement today, outlining “a new industrial strategy for Europe“.
Hydrogen is “a clear candidate” for an EU-wide initiative aimed at promoting home-grown production of clean gases in support of the bloc’s objective of becoming the first climate-neutral continent in the world by 2050, an EU official told EURACTIV.

▽Tom Hanks, Wife Test Positive for Coronavirus in Australia - Bloomberg

Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks and his actress wife, Rita Wilson, have tested positive for the new coronavirus while in Australia for a movie shoot... In Australia to shoot a movie about Elvis Presley, Hanks was set to play the role of the singer’s eccentric manager, who groomed Presley to stardom in the 1950s. Directed by Australian director Baz Luhrmann, filming was due to begin on Monday.