News Headlines - 24 March 2020

▽Toyota, NTT team up on developing smart city platforms - Reuters

Toyota Motor Corp and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp have agreed to work together on developing smart cities and will invest 200 billion yen ($1.8 billion) in each other to cement the relationship, the two companies said on Tuesday.
The two companies will develop a data platform which will compile and analyze information from homes, vehicles, and public institutions, which will be used to create new services focusing on transportation, health, and energy usage.
Under the agreement, Toyota will take a 2.07% stake in Japan’s biggest telecoms company, while NTT will take a 0.9% stake in the automaker.

▽UK government draws up plans to buy into airlines | Financial Times

The UK government is drawing up plans to buy equity stakes in airlines and other companies hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis, after warnings that the economic packages it has announced so far will not be enough to save them.
The plans would see the UK taxpayer inject billions of pounds into companies including British Airways in exchange for shares that would eventually be sold back to private investors, according to three people briefed on the proposals.
Two of the people said the government was contemplating the move after being warned by bankers that the support it has already unveiled - including ￡330bn of loan guarantees - would not be enough to stave off the collapse of companies that had seen their revenues all but evaporate.

▽Amid coronavirus, NYC officials tout safety of masturbation - New York Daily News

The city Health Department, in a list of Saturday tips for enjoying sex in this scary time of social distancing and shuttered bars, cited masturbation as the safest option currently available.
“You are your safest sex partner,” advised health officials. “Especially if you wash your hands (and any sex toys) with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before and after sex.”

▽Experts warn Japanese growing complacent of coronavirus risk - Reuters

Infectious disease experts guiding the Japanese government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak sounded the alarm on Tuesday that people are not taking the threat seriously... Over the three-day holiday this past weekend, Tokyo’s public parks were full of people at cherry blossom-viewing parties while the K-1 kickboxing organization held matches before 6,500 fans at the Saitama Super Arena.

▽Olympic torch relay began in 1936 at Hitler's Berlin Games - Japan Today

The torch relay was not always a fixture of the modern Olympics, which began in 1896.
The relay tradition started at Adolph Hitler's 1936 Berlin Olympics - the Games of the XI Olympiad - and was the brainchild of Carl Diem, who was the head of the organizing committee.
The Tokyo Olympic relay is scheduled to begin its Japan leg on March 26 in northeastern Fukushima prefecture.