News Headlines - 19 May 2020

▽Thai Airways enters bankruptcy protection | NHK WORLD

Thailand's government has approved a plan to bring flagship carrier Thai Airways International to a bankruptcy court for debt restructuring.
The approval given on Tuesday paves the way for the airline, hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, to seek rehabilitation under court supervision.
The carrier posted a net loss in 2019 for the third straight year amid intensifying competition with low-cost carriers. The pandemic has dealt a further blow to the firm, forcing it to suspend international flights and leading to worsening performance.

▽Sony To Buy Its Financial Unit For $3.7 Bln; Name Changed To Sony Group Corp | Nasdaq

Japanese consumer electronics maker Sony Corp. (SON.L, SNE) offers to buy a remaining stake in its financial services business, Sony Financial Holdings Inc, for 400 billion yen or about $3.7 billion. The company also said it would change its name to Sony Group Corp. starting on April 1, 2021. Meanwhile, Sony and Microsoft are partnering on AI-powered cameras.

▽Suspect in Japanese woman's murder to be extradited to France - Japan Today

French authorities suspect that Nicolas Zepeda Contreras, 29, murdered Narumi Kurosaki, a student from Japan's University of Tsukuba whose whereabouts have been unknown since she dined with Zepeda and returned with him to the dorm of her university in Besancon, eastern France, on Dec 4, 2016. She was 21 years old at the time.
In giving a final ruling granting the extradition request, the supreme court said there was enough evidence against Zepeda.
Chilean prosecutors said they have informed France about the decision and are now preparing to extradite Zepeda. Transfers usually take about two months, but the suspect's arrival in France could be delayed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

▽Dozens of small quakes hit Nagano and neighboring regions | The Japan Times

Dozens of small shallow-focus quakes hit Nagano Prefecture and its surrounding regions on Tuesday as the weather agency issued an emergency alert for possible strong temblors.
The largest of the quakes, measuring a magnitude 5.3 and a 4 on Japan’s intensity scale, hit Takayama in Gifu Prefecture at 1:13 p.m... More than 30 quakes registering 1 to 3 on the Japanese earthquake intensity scale of 7 have been observed in the areas since dawn on Tuesday. Though the magnitude is not large, shallow quakes can cause disproportionately intense shaking.

▽Tokyo Olympics protest parody of logo that depicts COVID-19 - The Mainichi

Tokyo Olympics officials are incensed that their games emblem has been used in the cover design of a local magazine that combines the logo with the novel coronavirus.
Tokyo spokesman Masa Takaya said in an online news conference on Tuesday that organizers had requested the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan "take down" the image.
Takaya did not answer a direct question if Tokyo 2020 was planning a legal challenge. He suggested negotiations were going on "in a private manner" with the Tokyo foreign journalists' club.