News Headlines - 15 May 2020
▽In blow to Abe, panel delays showdown over prosecutor retirement bill | The Japan Times
In an unexpected move, the Lower House Cabinet Committee on Friday postponed a vote on a bill that would extend the retirement age for prosecutors, pushing back a showdown over the controversial plan until next week... The delay was a partial setback for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who had insisted that raising the retirement age is important to preserve expertise and that the move is consistent with a previous revision extending the retirement age for public servants. The ruling party is hoping to approve the bill next week.
▽Summer Koshien organizers mulling cancelation due to coronavirus concerns
Organizers of the National High School Baseball Championship are mulling the possibility of canceling this summer's tournament in light of the novel coronavirus pandemic situation, a source familiar with the matter said Friday.
According to the source, the Japan High School Baseball Federation will discuss whether to cancel the Aug. 10-Aug. 25 event at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, when they hold a board meeting on May 20.
▽First coronavirus case found in Bangladesh Rohingya refugee camps | Al Jazeera
The novel coronavirus has been detected in one of the camps in southern Bangladesh that are home to more than a million Rohingya refugees, according to officials.
An ethnic Rohingya refugee and a local person tested positive for COVID-19, a senior Bangladeshi official and a United Nations spokeswoman said on Thursday. It was the first confirmed case in the densely populated camps as humanitarian groups warned the infection could devastate the crowded settlement.
▽COVID-19 economic impact could reach 8.8 trillion U.S. dollars globally: ADB report - Xinhua
The global economy could suffer between 5.8 trillion U.S. dollars and 8.8 trillion U.S. dollars in losses -- equivalent to 6.4 percent to 9.7 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) -- as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, said a new report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday.
The report, Updated Assessment of the Potential Economic Impact of COVID-19, found that economic losses in Asia and the Pacific could range from 1.7 trillion U.S. dollars under a short containment scenario of 3 months to 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars under a long containment scenario of 6 months, with the region accounting for about 30 percent of the overall decline in global output.
The new analysis updates findings presented in the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2020 published in April, which estimated COVID-19's global cost to range from 2.0 trillion U.S. dollars to 4.1 trillion U.S. dollars.
Asahi Shimbun Publishing Co., Ltd. apologized for its inaccurate reporting which suggested that one of Japan’s top SNS influencers/model Darenogare Akemi did drugs in the past. Asahi put a notice on their AERAdot. (dot.asahi.com) as a notice and not as a new article. No headline (just aera.dot) and no apology mentioned but on the body of the text.
