News Headlines - 28 December 2020

▽Ex-transport minister Hata dies of coronavirus | NHK WORLD

Japan's former transport minister Hata Yuichiro, who died on Sunday at the age of 53, has become the first incumbent lawmaker in the country to die of the coronavirus.
Hata developed a fever on Thursday and was due to take a PCR test on Sunday. His condition deteriorated suddenly while on his way to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A posthumous test confirmed that he had been infected with the coronavirus.

▽Japan halts new entries from around world over coronavirus variant | The Japan Times

Japan on Monday suspended new entries into the country by nonresident foreign nationals arriving from most of the world through the end of January as it seeks to prevent the spread of the new, potentially more transmissible coronavirus variant.
The government will also require Japanese citizens and foreign residents coming from countries and territories where the new variant is confirmed to submit negative virus test results within 72 hours of departure and undergo tests upon arrival from Wednesday through the end of January.
The new virus strain, first detected in Britain, has since been confirmed in more than 20 countries as well as in Hong Kong.

▽'Demon Slayer' becomes Japan's highest-grossing film | The Japan Times

An animated movie based on the blockbuster “Demon Slayer” manga series has become the highest-grossing film in Japanese box-office history, its distributors said Monday, ending the reign of Hayao Miyazaki’s “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi” (“Spirited Away”) from 2001.
The film, a tale of an adolescent boy fighting human-eating demons, amassed as of Sunday ￥32.47 billion and drew more than 24 million to theaters since its opening on Oct. 16, according to co-distributors Aniplex Inc. and Toho Co.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic limiting cinema audiences, the movie had raked in ￥32.12 billion as of Saturday, surpassing Oscar-winning director Miyazaki’s film, which chalked up ￥31.68 billion in box-office sales.

▽China jails citizen-journalist for four years over Wuhan virus reporting | Reuters

A Chinese court on Monday handed down a four-year jail term to a citizen-journalist who reported from the central city of Wuhan at the peak of this year’s coronavirus outbreak on the grounds of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, her lawyer said.

▽Saudi Arabia jails women′s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul | DW

A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced women's rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul to five years and eight months in prison, local media reported on Monday. The jail term comes despite pressure from international organizations and human rights groups to release her.
Al-Hathloul was convicted of "various activities prohibited by the anti-terrorism law," Saudi media allowed to attend the trial cited the court as saying. The charges included agitating for change, pursuing a foreign agenda and using the internet to harm public order.