News Headlines - 21 December 2020

Tokyo governor urges residents not to go out during holiday season | Reuters

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike on Monday urged the capital’s 14 million residents to stay home during the upcoming holiday season to prevent the further spread of coronavirus infections, as the metropolis has seen record daily cases in recent days.

Coronavirus cases in Japan top 200,000 | NHK WORLD

The total number of coronavirus infections in Japan has topped 200,000... Japan reached the 100,000-mark on October 29. Another 100,000 people contracted the virus in less than two months.

Japan's Cabinet approves record ¥106.61 trillion budget for fiscal 2021 | The Japan Times

The Cabinet on Monday approved a record-high ¥106.61 trillion ($1.03 trillion) draft budget for fiscal 2021 as the country grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, its rapidly graying society and new security challenges... To finance the budget, new bond issuances will soar ¥11.04 trillion from the current year’s initial plan to ¥43.60 trillion, the first year-on-year rise in 11 years on an initial basis.
Tax revenues, which were increasing in recent years due to strong corporate earnings and tax hikes, are estimated at ¥57.45 trillion, larger than the downwardly revised estimate of ¥55.13 trillion in fiscal 2020.
As a result, 40.9% of the budget will be funded by debt, compared with 31.7% in the current year. The ratio could be bigger if Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga opts for taking additional measures against the pandemic through supplementary budgets.

Parents lose lawsuit over destruction of son's porn stash

A man who sued his parents for getting rid of his pornography collection has won a lawsuit in western Michigan and can seek compensation.
U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney ruled in favor of David Werking, who said his parents had no right to throw out his collection. He lived at their Grand Haven home for 10 months after a divorce before moving to Muncie, Indiana.
Werking said boxes of films and magazines worth an estimated $29,000 were missing.

Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, 21 December 2020 - skyatnightmagazine

On 21 December 2020 the closest giant planetary 'kiss' since 1623 will see gas giant planets Jupiter and Saturn just 0.1 apart.