News Headlines - 15 December 2020
▽Japan to halt travel program over New Year holidays amid virus surge
The Japanese government will suspend its subsidy program for promoting domestic tourism nationwide during the New Year holidays amid a surge in coronavirus cases, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Monday, upending efforts to spur an economic recovery despite the pandemic.
The "Go To Travel" campaign will be halted from Dec. 28 to Jan. 11, and whether to restart the program will be decided at that point based on the latest situation, Suga told a meeting of the government's task force on the coronavirus response.
▽Court finalizes state payment to asbestos victims | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News
Japan's Supreme Court has ordered the government to pay more than 22 million dollars in compensation to former construction workers who developed lung diseases caused by asbestos.
The ruling is the first holding the government responsible in lawsuits filed by former construction workers and bereaved families. The plaintiffs say former workers developed lung cancer and other illnesses after inhaling asbestos at construction sites. They have demanded that the state and manufacturers of the material pay damages... The ruling also acknowledged the government's responsibility for health problems of self-employed construction workers.
▽Japan's 'Twitter killer' sentenced to death over 2017 serial murders
A Japanese court on Tuesday sentenced a man dubbed Japan's "Twitter killer" to death for the 2017 serial murders of nine people who posted suicidal thoughts on social media.
Takahiro Shiraishi, 30, was found guilty in the high-profile case by the Tachikawa branch of the Tokyo District Court of murdering, dismembering and storing the bodies of the nine in his apartment near Tokyo.
▽JAXA: Black sand grains from asteroid Ryugu found in Hayabusa2 capsule - The Japan News
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced Monday that it has found black sand grains from the asteroid Ryugu in the capsule ejected from the Hayabusa2 space probe.
With the preliminary discovery, the most crucial mission of Hayabusa2 to bring back to Earth samples from the asteroid - a six-year, 5.24 billion-kilometer journey - has been proved successful... According to JAXA, the capsule has a two-layer structure, and the black grains of sand were found on the bottom of the container outside the small box to hold samples.
The amount is yet unknown, but it is enough to be visible, making it highly likely that a much larger amount of samples than the first mission was collected
▽South Korea bans anti-North leaflets; defector says he won't stop | Reuters
South Korea on Monday banned the launching of propaganda leaflets into North Korea, drawing the criticism of rights activists and defiance from a prominent North Korean defector who said he would not stop sending messages to his homeland.
