News Headlines - 26 December 2020

▽Twitter Will Reset @POTUS Account To Zero Followers After Biden Transition : NPR

Right now it's over 33.2 million, but that number will drop to zero after President-elect Joe Biden takes over the official @POTUS account on Inauguration Day.
Twitter has confirmed that the institutional White House Twitter accounts will not "automatically retain their existing followers."
Biden's team is pushing back against Twitter's decision, which is a reversal from the last presidential transition. Former President Barack Obama's 13 million followers were moved to the new @POTUS account after President Trump took over.

▽My Baggage sells bottles of 'fresh air' from different UK locations | Daily Mail Online

If you're stuck on what to buy friends and relatives from the UK living abroad this Christmas you can breathe a sigh of relief – and send them some fresh air. Literally.
Bottles of 'fresh air' from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales can be shipped for £25 and are being marketed as the perfect gift for homesick Britons living overseas over the festive period. Bottles featuring air captured on the London Underground and air from the inside of a busy Norfolk fish and chip shop are also available.

▽Japan to Fully Halt Go To Travel Program from Mon. - JIJI PRESS

The government will suspend its Go To Travel tourism support program from Monday until Jan. 11 across Japan in response to a surge in new coronavirus infection cases.
The government hopes to slow the spread of the coronavirus by taking intensive countermeasures, including the nationwide suspension, during the year-end and New Year's holiday period.

▽Tokyo reports record high 949 new coronavirus cases; nationwide tally 3,881 - Japan Today

The Tokyo metropolitan government on Saturday reported a record high 949 new cases of the coronavirus, up 65 from Friday. The number is the result of 9.502 tests conducted on Dec 23.
The tally brought Tokyo's cumulative total to 55,851... Nationwide, the number of reported cases was 3,881. After Tokyo, the prefectures with the most cases were Kanagawa (480), Osaka (299), Aichi (265), Saitama (265), Chiba (201), Hyogo (175), Hokkaido (161), Fukuoka (160), Kyoto (135), Hiroshima (87), Miyagi (56), Shiga (49), Gifu (45), Kumamoto (44), Tochigi (42), Gunma (37) and Okinawa (36).
As of 8 p.m., 47 coronavirus-related deaths had been reported.

▽Melted fuel removal at Fukushima delayed by pandemic - The Mainichi

Japan's government and the operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant said Thursday that the removal of melted reactor fuel planned to start in 2021 will have to be postponed by about one year due to the worsening coronavirus pandemic.
This 2017 photo shows Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. (Mainichi)
The economy and industry ministry and Tokyo Electric Power Co. had planned to start removing a first batch of melted debris from the Unit 2 reactor at Fukushima Dai-ichi sometime next year, marking the 10th anniversary of the disaster triggered by the massive earthquake and tsunami on March, 11, 2011.
The start of the melted debris removal will now be delayed until late 2022, officials said.