Sunelita Toppo fired a field goal as India eked out a narrow 1-0 win over hosts Japan to enter the final of the Women’s Junior Asia Cup hockey tournament here on Saturday.
The win also sealed their berth in the FIH Junior World Cup slated to be held in Santiago from November 29-December 10 this year. The top three teams from the Women’s Junior Asia Cup 2023 make the cut for the global showpiece.
Tokyo: Japan’s fertility fell to a record low of 1.26 in 2022, declining for the seventh consecutive year, government data showed.
According to data released by the Health Ministry on Friday, the average number of children born per woman during her lifetime was 1.26 last year, down 0.05 points from the final figure for 2021 and on par with a record low marked in 2005.
By prefecture, Tokyo had the lowest fertility rate at 1.04, followed by Miyagi at 1.09 and Hokkaido at 1.12, while Okinawa reported the highest fertility rate at 1.70, followed by 1.63 in Miyazaki and 1.6 in Tottori, Xinhua news agency reported.
The number of babies born in 2022 was also a record low at 770,747, down 40,875 from the year before, marking the first time the number dipped below 800,000.
The latest statistics come a day after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida released a draft plan to boost “unparalleled” child-rearing support in a bid to reverse the country’s falling birthrate, which includes a plan to start offering child allowance to all households with children, regardless of income, from fiscal 2024.
Ghaziabad (IANS) | A new record has been set on the Ghaziabad-Aligarh Highway (NH-91) by laying 100 km of bituminous concrete (making Dabur Road) in 100 hours. 200 roadrollers and more than two thousand laborers were employed in this work. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari celebrated this achievement of the six-lane highway. Earlier there was a record of constructing 75 kilometer road in 100 hours. A lot of care has been taken for the beauty of this six lane highway. There is complete greenery on the divider in the middle of the highway. At some places there is divider and at some places there is proper lighting on the side wall.
Let us tell you that in the year 2011, NHAI had made this highway four lane. Now it is being made six lane in collaboration with Singapore’s Cube Highway Company. About two thousand laborers worked continuously for 100 hours day and night. After this, they have been able to prepare 100 kilometer road. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted and wrote- ‘Remarkable achievement on a very important highway. This reveals the importance given to both the pace for better infrastructure and the adoption of modern methods.’
Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari tweeted- ‘This achievement speaks of the dedication of India’s road, infrastructure, infrastructure industry. I congratulate the exceptional teams of Cube Highways, L&T and Ghaziabad-Aligarh Expressway Pvt Ltd for their outstanding achievement. The Ghaziabad-Aligarh section is 118 km long. This project starts from Ghaziabad and passes through Dadri, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Secunderabad, Bulandshahr, Khurja. It serves as an important trade route. Facilitates movement of goods. Contributes to regional economic development by connecting industrial areas, agricultural areas, educational areas.
HIROSHIMA: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday landed in Hiroshima, Japan to attend the annual summit of the Group of Seven (G7) the world’s most industrialised countries.
Live footage on Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK, showed Zelensky stepping off a French plane at an airport in Hiroshima. A red carpet was rolled out minutes before his arrival, and he was immediately whisked away in a black sedan, according to the New York Times.
“Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security and enhanced cooperation for our victory. Peace will become closer today,” Zelenskyy tweeted on arrival in Japan.The Ukrainian leader, who made a surprise visit to an Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia on Friday, is looking to rally the international community to increase sanctions on Russia and pledge further support for Ukraine, according to a report in Al Jazeera.
Zelenskyy’s visit comes a day after US President Biden informed the G7 leaders in Hiroshima that the US would support the joint allied training of Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter jets, including the F-16. Once the training gets underway, it would be decided when and how many aircraft would be delivered and who in the coalition would provide them.
Biden said he was also prepared to let other countries give F-16s to Ukraine, reported The New York Times.
The G7 grouping includes the US, Japan, Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Canada.
On Saturday morning, in Hiroshima, Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, confirmed to reporters the shift in Biden’s stance.
Zelenskyy left Jeddah, Saudi Arabia late Friday after attending the Arab League summit, the Saudi state news agency reported, as cited by NYT.
At Hiroshima, “symbol of peace”, the G7 members pledged to mobilize all their policy instruments and, together with Ukraine, make every effort to bring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine as soon as possible.
The G7 leaders in a statement condemned, Russia’s manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations (UN) and the impact of Russia’s war on the rest of the word.
The statement further read, fifteen months of Russia’s aggression has cost thousands of lives, inflicted immense suffering on the people of Ukraine, and imperiled access to food and energy for many of the world’s most vulnerable people.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement earlier that Ukraine president Zelensky is expected to address the leaders of the Group of 7 nations.
In Hiroshima, Zelenskyy will almost certainly meet one on one with Biden and will meet PM Narendra Modi as well, the New York Times reported.
Incidentally, the venue of the G7 Summit is Hiroshima, one of the two Japanese cities bombed with nuclear weapons by the US during World War II.
Leaders of the Group of Seven called on Friday for a “world without nuclear weapons”, urging Russia, Iran, China and North Korea to cease nuclear escalation and embrace non-proliferation, according to a statement released by the White House.
The G7 leaders on Friday said they had ensured that Ukraine had the budget support it needs for this year and early 2024 as they renewed their commitment to provide financial and military support in its fight against Russia.
“We reaffirm our strong commitment to ensuring that Ukraine has the economic support it needs. Under the leadership of Japan’s G7 Presidency, together with the international community, we have ensured Ukraine has the budget support it needs for 2023 and early 2024,” read the White House G7 Leaders’ Statement on Ukraine.
They also welcomed the approval of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and looked forward to the swift implementation of Ukraine’s reforms supported by the program.
The program will help to stabilize Ukraine’s macroeconomic and financial situation, contribute to longer-term economic sustainability, and help to catalyze further financial support from other countries and institutions as well as the private sector.
“We commit to continuing our security assistance to Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s aggression, tailoring our support to Ukraine’s needs. We stress the importance of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in coordinating military and defence assistance by each country provided in line with its national circumstances,” added the statement.
KIEV (Ukraine): Ukrainian government officials have confirmed that President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend the ongoing G7 Leaders’ Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, in person, marking his first trip to Asia since Russia launched its full scale invasion in February 2022.
a live TV address to the nation, Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, said: “Who would doubt that our President would be present there? We are confident that our President will be where he needs to be, anywhere in the world, to address the sustainability of our country.
“Very important things will be decided there, so the physical presence of our President is absolutely important in order to defend our interests, to provide clear proposals and clear arguments on the events that are taking place in our country.”
The announcement comes a day after the Japanese government said on Thursday that Zelensky will attend the three-day Summit online,reports Ukrayinska Pravda.
In his announcement, Danilov also stressed the importance of face-to-face meetings. “Because when a person is far away, across the ocean or somewhere else, they do not always feel and understand what is happening here in our country,” he added.
“It is the physical presence of our president that is extremely, extremely important at such events,” CNN quoted the top official as saying
G7 member countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US — include Ukraine’s largest backers.
the Summit got underway, a joint statement of the G7 leaders said: “We are renewing our commitment to provide the financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support Ukraine requires for as long as it takes.
“We are imposing further sanctions and measures to increase the costs to Russia and those who are supporting its war effort. We are also building on the success of our efforts to ensure that Russia is no longer able to weaponise the availability of energy against the world.”
The statement also said that “Russian troops’ complete and unconditional withdrawal” is required for peace, reports the BBC.
The Summit’s main point of focus is the Ukraine war, and the US will also announce fresh sanctions against Russia, including a ban on 70 entities from receiving US exports, as well as 300 new mesures on other individuals or entities, aimed at crippling Moscow’s “war machine” in Kiev.
The UK has also announced new sanctions against Russia, targeting companies connected to the theft of Ukrainian grain and those involved in the shipment of Russian energy.
Meanwhile, Arab diplomats confirmed to CNN that Zelenksy will first stop at Jeddah to attend the Arab League’s 32nd Summit on Friday.Although, there has been no official confirmation on this development from Ukraine. this month, he visited France, Germany and the UK, where he secured defence aid packages worth millions of dollars.
-IANS
I will leave for Hiroshima, Japan to attend the G7 Summit under the Japanese Presidency at the invitation of H.E. Mr. Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan. It will be a pleasure to meet Prime Minister Kishida again after his recent visit to India for the India – Japan Summit. My presence in this G7 Summit is particularly meaningful as India holds the G20 Presidency this year. I look forward to exchanging views with the G7 countries and other invited partners on challenges that the world faces and the need to collectively address them. I would also be holding bilateral meetings with some of the leaders attending the Hiroshima G7 Summit.
From Japan, I will be visiting Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. This will be my first visit, as also the first ever visit by any Indian Prime Minister, to Papua New Guinea. I will host on 22 May 2023 the 3rd Summit of the Forum for India–Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC III Summit) jointly with H.E. Mr. James Marape, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. I am grateful that all 14 Pacific Island Countries (PIC) have accepted the invitation to attend this important Summit. FIPIC had been launched during my visit to Fiji in 2014, and I look forward to engaging with the PIC Leaders on issues that bring us together, such as climate change and sustainable development, capacity building and training, health and well-being, infrastructure and economic development.
Apart from the FIPIC engagements, I look forward to my bilateral interactions with Papua New Guinea Governor General Sir Bob Dadae, Prime Minister Marape and some of the other PIC Leaders participating in the Summit.
Thereafter, I will be travelling to Sydney, Australia at the invitation of Prime Minister Albanese. I look forward to our bilateral meeting, which will be an opportunity to take stock of our bilateral ties and follow up on our first India-Australia Annual Summit held in New Delhi in March this year. I will also interact with Australian CEOs and business leaders, and meet the Indian community in Sydney at a special event.
TOKYO: The number of foreign visitors to Japan in April recovered to 66.6 per cent of the level in the same month of 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, government data showed.
The country saw an estimated 1,949,100 foreign visitors last month amid higher tourism demand during the cherry blossom season, up nearly 14-fold from a year before, Xinhua news agency quoted the Japan National Tourism Organization as saying.
The total number marks the highest figure of foreign visitors since February 2020, when the pandemic caused a sharp decline in arrivals, it said.
Meanwhile, the number of Japanese who went overseas came to 560,200, up from 129,168 in April last year, but still 66.4 per cent less than the same month in 2019, the organisation said.
-IANS
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia from May 19 to 24, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Tuesday.
Modi will be in the Japanese city of Hiroshima from May 19 to 21 for the G7 summit.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the prime minister will speak at G7 sessions with partner countries on subjects such as peace, stability and prosperity of a sustainable planet; and food, fertiliser and energy security.
From Japan, Modi will then travel to Port Moresby where he will host the third summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation jointly with Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape on May 22, the MEA said in a statement.
On the third and final leg of the trip, Modi will visit Sydney in Australia from May 22 to 24 to attend the Quad Summit.
The summit, being hosted by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, will also be attended by US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
“The summit provides an opportunity for the leaders to exchange views about developments in the Indo-Pacific region and advance their vision for a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific,” the MEA said.
Tokyo (IANS) | A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck Japan’s southern Chiba Prefecture on Thursday. The Japan Meteorological Agency gave this information. The quake struck southern Chiba Prefecture at 4:16 a.m. local time at a depth of 40 km, according to the weather agency.
The epicenter of the earthquake was located at 35.2 degrees north latitude and 140.2 degrees east longitude.
The tremors of the earthquake were felt in Tokyo, the capital of Japan.
–IANS
CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin will fly to Japan on May 23 to seek more foreign direct investments to State. After laying foundation stone for Mitsubishi’s new AC plant, the Chief Minister said that the trip will strengthen the Indo-Japan relationship. “Will invite Japan companies to take part in Global Investors Meet which will be held in 2024 January in Tamil Nadu,” he added.
The Chief Minister layed foundation stone for air conditioner and compressor factory project by Mitsubishi Electric India in presence of Thangam Thennarasu, Minister for Industries and Kazuhiko Tamura, MD, Mitsubishi Electric India, Yasumichi Tazunoki, Group president, MEI and Masayuki Taga, Consul General, Consulate Generalof Japan, in the event held at Chennai on Tuesday.