Japanese PM’s call to drink more milk successful, mass disposal averted - SoraNews24

We did it!

Late last year, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addressed the nation and talked about various measure to deal with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He not only discussed measures to prevent the spread of the virus but also ways to mitigate its effect on the economy.

It was then that he issued an urgent call to arms that may define his entire term as Prime Minister…in my mind at least.

“I am asking the people of Japan to use milk in cooking and to drink cups of milk always through the New Year’s holiday in order to prevent a mass disposal.”

According to the prime minister’s plea, the milk producers of Japan were sitting on a huge 5,000-ton glut of white crude caused mainly by canceled school lunches throughout the pandemic. If this milk could find no home, it would have to be spilled, and despite our best efforts to tell people not to, some were sure to cry over it.

Online reaction to the news was initially lukewarm, with many demanding they lower the price first or just use it to make butter and yogurt. However, it turned out the silent majority had stepped up and drank milk like there was no tomorrow, because on 12 January the Japan Dairy Association, also known as J-Milk, announced that the crisis had been adverted and the mass disposal milk was no longer necessary. And since kids have recently gone back to school after the holidays, the demand for milk as a part of their lunches has returned to its normal balance.

▼ J-Milk issued a thank you to the entire country for the support.

Image: J-Milk

In addition, it turned out that the dairy industry was indeed going full-tilt to process as much of the milk as possible into products like butter and cheese. So we should give them all a big hand for their roles too, especially if it results in some cheaper stuff from them down the line.

We all worked hard. How about some butter sushi for everyone?

Image: ©SoraNews24

Many of the cynical online comments attached to the initial news of the surplus seem to have given way to sighs of relief and people declaring that they had pitched in over the holidays.

“I was a little worried and bought an extra carton over the holidays. I’m glad it worked out!”
“I like Lawson hot milks, but could only drink about a liter myself.”
“Great! My kids love milk so I bought a lot at the end of the year.”
“My whole family likes milk so we got more than usual and drank it all when we got together.”
“I drank so much milk.”
“Happy Nyu Year! [‘gyunyu’ is the Japanese word for cow’s milk]“
“I don’t drink milk but I put it in my coffee so I’m grateful for this.”

I too did my part for the cause by having a large box of The Elf on the Shelf cereal airlifted in, and many a crepe was made throughout the holidays as well. I even took to dunking my Oreos in tall glasses of milk, which was difficult as I converted to eating them exclusively in spam-Oreo sandwiches back in 2020.

It goes to show that we all have to make sacrifices sometimes, but when the chips are down and the challenge is mildly enjoyable, together we really can make a difference.

Source: FNN, Hachima Kiko
Top image: ©SoraNews24
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2022-01-14 06:00:13Z
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UK's Prince Andrew loses royal and military links - CNA

LONDON: The Royal Family removed Prince Andrew's military links and royal patronages on Thursday (Jan 13) and said he will no longer be known as "His Royal Highness", as the son of Queen Elizabeth fights a US lawsuit in which he is accused of sex abuse.

Andrew, 61, the Duke of York, was forced to step down from public duties in 2019 because of his connections to convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and after a disastrous BBC TV interview which the prince had hoped would clear his name.

Thursday's move by the royal family means he will now lose all his royal connections.

"With the queen's approval and agreement, The Duke of York’s military affiliations and royal patronages have been returned to the queen," Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

"The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen."

On Wednesday, Andrew's lawyers failed to persuade a US judge to dismiss a civil lawsuit in which Virginia Giuffre accuses him of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager.

US District Judge Lewis Kaplan said Giuffre, 38, could pursue claims that Andrew battered her and intentionally caused her emotional distress while Epstein - a financier who killed himself in jail in August 2019 while awaiting his sex trafficking trial - was trafficking her.

The prince, the 95-year-old queen's second son, has denied Giuffre's accusations that he forced her to have sex more than two decades ago at a London home of former Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and abused her at two Epstein properties.

The judge's decision means Andrew could be forced to give evidence at a trial which could begin between September and December 2022 if no settlement were reached.

'MARATHON NOT A SPRINT'

"Given the robustness with which Judge Kaplan greeted our arguments, we are unsurprised by the ruling," a source close to Andrew said.

"However, it was not a judgement on the merits of Ms Giuffre's allegations. This is a marathon not a sprint and the Duke will continue to defend himself against these claims."

A representative for Giuffre did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Andrew's links to Epstein had led to a swathe of damaging media reports, leading the prince to decide to do an TV interview in November 2019 which he hoped would resolve the matter.

It instead led to ridicule and further questions, and as the controversy grew, Buckingham Palace had increasingly distanced itself from the prince, declining to comment and referring all questions to his lawyers.

"This is now about the protection of the royal family's reputation. This is likely to do, and is already doing, considerable reputational damage - it's being followed around the world," the BBC's royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell said.

The US conviction last month of his friend Ghislaine Maxwell on sex trafficking and other charges of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein to abuse, together with his own case, had left his reputation in the British media in tatters.

A royal source said the decision over Andrew came after wide discussions among the Windsors, and that his military affiliations and patronages would be redistributed to other members of the family.

Earlier, an open letter to the queen, signed by more than 150 veterans calling for Andrew too have his military titles taken away and "if necessary, that he be dishonourably discharged", was published by the anti-monarchy campaign group Republic.

They called for Elizabeth to take immediate action because her son had been "uncooperative and less than truthful" about his relationship with Epstein, and had brought the armed services he represented into disrepute.

"Regardless of the result of Virginia Giuffre’s civil case against Prince Andrew, his position in Britain's armed forces is now untenable," the veterans' letter said.

The scandal surrounding Andrew comes on the heels of the damage caused after the queen's grandson Prince Harry and his American wife Meghan quit royal duties to forge new careers in Los Angeles, later accusing the royal household of racism.

They too were stripped of all their patronages, the 'His and Her Royal Highness' titles, and Harry also lost his prized military roles.

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2022-01-13 18:39:00Z
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Indonesia relaxes export ban to allow 37 coal vessels to depart - CNA

JAKARTA: Indonesia, the world's biggest thermal coal exporter, has allowed 37 loaded coal vessels to depart after they secured approvals from authorities, the Coordinating Ministry of Maritime and Investment Affairs said on Thursday (Jan 13).

In a statement, the ministry said an export ban implemented on Jan 1 had been eased for miners that had met a requirement to sell a portion of their output for local power generation after the state utility procured enough coal at power stations to ensure 15 days of operations.

"I request that this is supervised closely so this also becomes a moment for us to improve domestic governance," Luhut Pandjaitan, coordinating minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs, said in the statement.

The 37 vessels included 14 ships whose clearance was announced earlier in the week. It was not immediately known how much coal the vessels carried.

Sending shockwaves through global energy markets, Indonesia set the export ban after state power company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) reported critically low coal stocks at power plants that left Indonesia on the brink of widespread power outages.

Indonesian authorities blamed the coal supply crisis on miners failing to meet a so-called Domestic Market Obligation (DMO), requiring them to sell 25 per cent of output to local buyers with a price cap at US$70 per tonne for power plants.

The government has been lobbied by coal miners and also some of its biggest buyers including Japan and South Korea to ease the export ban.

There were about 120 vessels either loading or waiting to load off Indonesian's coal ports in Kalimantan on the island of Borneo on Wednesday, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

The ministry said in the statement on Thursday that mining companies that had met their sales contract with PLN and 100 per cent of their DMO requirements for 2021 would now be allowed to begin exporting.

Miners that had not fulfilled their PLN contracts and DMO would face fines, it said.

Citi in a research note on Jan 5 estimated around 490 out of 631 coal miners in the country had not yet fulfilled their DMO obligation. These 490 coal miners represent about 35 per cent to 40 per cent of Indonesia's total production, it added.

According to minutes of a meeting between miners and the trade ministry earlier this month, 418 miners did not sell any of their coal to local generators last year.

Indonesia's two largest coal groups, PT Bumi Resources and Adaro Energy, as well as state coal miner Bukit Asam, were among companies who said in stock exchange filings they have met DMO requirements.

Bumi Resources director Dileep Srivastava said on Thursday said the company was awaiting formal confirmation from the government but said an easing would be a positive development.

An Adaro spokesperson said its ships were yet to leave port as of Thursday morning.

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2022-01-13 00:29:00Z
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Omicron less severe than Delta but still poses danger for unvaccinated: WHO - CNA

The highly infectious Omicron coronavirus variant causes less severe disease than the Delta strain but it remains a "dangerous virus", particularly for those who are unvaccinated, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday (Jan 12).

Speaking at a news briefing, director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said more than 90 countries were yet to meet the target of vaccinating 40 per cent of their populations and more than 85 per cent of people in Africa were yet to receive a single dose.

"We mustn't allow this virus a free ride or wave the white flag, especially when so many people around the globe remain unvaccinated," he said.

In its weekly epidemiological report on Tuesday, the WHO said cases increased by 55 per cent, or 15 million, in the week to Jan 9 from a week earlier - by far the most cases reported in a single week.

"This huge spike in infections is being driven by the Omicron variant, which is rapidly replacing Delta in almost all countries," Tedros said.

He said the majority of people hospitalised around the world with COVID-19 were unvaccinated and that if transmission was not curtailed there was greater risk of another variant emerging that could be even more transmissible, and more deadly, than Omicron.

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2022-01-12 21:12:00Z
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WHO says new vaccine to combat Omicron likely needed amid fears variant could infect half of Europe - South China Morning Post

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2022-01-12 12:03:40Z
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Cathay Pacific faces 'legal action' over Hong Kong COVID-19 outbreak - CNA

HONG KONG: Cathay Pacific is being investigated and faces possible legal action over an Omicron variant coronavirus outbreak in Hong Kong that began with the airline's employees, the city's leader said on Tuesday (Jan 11).

The revelation came as chief executive Carrie Lam announced the suspension of all kindergarten and primary schools until after Chinese New Year in early February.

Like China, Hong Kong maintains a strict zero-COVID-19 strategy that has kept cases low but largely cut the international finance hub off from both the mainland and the rest of the world for the last two years.

A recent outbreak traced to Cathay air crew who breached home quarantine has sparked a dramatic tightening of already strict social distancing controls and travel restrictions, causing renewed anger among residents and businesses.

On Tuesday, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said authorities were investigating "whether this airline has complied with the regulations".

"We will take the legal action once we have the full evidence of what wrong it has gone into," Lam said in English.

The revelation piles new pressure on Cathay Pacific, which has been decimated by the pandemic and has no domestic market to fall back on in a city that used to be a major Asian transport and logistics hub.

Cargo flights, the one area where the airline made some cash, have been slashed recently because new quarantine rules imposed on crew have left managers struggling to find enough pilots.

Last month AFP reported that Cathay pilots were leaving in droves.

Lam's government is facing growing anger over there being no end in sight to zero-COVID-19 controls at a time when rival business hubs are learning to live with the virus.

Her administration, which is also carrying out a crackdown on democracy activists and Beijing critics, has hewed to China's approach and says restarting travel with the mainland must come before the rest of the world.

But the mainland is battling its own outbreak and appears to be in no rush to open to Hong Kong, leaving the city facing a double isolation.

Lam's government has also failed to persuade enough people to get vaccinated during the zero-COVID-19 controls, especially the elderly, with just 62 per cent of the population inoculated despite ample supplies.

That makes Hong Kong the third least vaccinated place in a list of the International Monetary Fund's 39 advanced economies, above only Latvia and Slovakia.

Among the over 80s - the demographic most at risk from severe COVID-19 illness - only 23 per cent have taken a first vaccine dose.

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2022-01-11 05:09:00Z
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ATP says events leading to Djokovic's court hearing 'damaging on all fronts' - CNA

The events that led to Novak Djokovic being held in an immigration detention center after arriving in Melbourne for the Australian Open amid a dispute over his COVID-19 vaccine medical exemption have been "damaging on all fronts," the ATP said on Tuesday (Jan 11).

The ATP, the governing body of men's tennis, applauded Monday's ruling that allowed Djokovic to remain in Melbourne and compete in next week's tournament but said the confusion surrounding the world number one's entry into the country highlighted the need for clearer understanding, communication and application of the rules.

"In travelling to Melbourne, it's clear Novak Djokovic believed he had been granted a necessary medical exemption in order to comply with entry regulations," the ATP said in a statement.

"The series of events leading to Monday’s court hearing have been damaging on all fronts, including for Novak's well-being and preparation for the Australian Open.

"Player medical exemption requests are made independently of ATP, however, we have been in constant contact with Tennis Australia to seek clarity throughout this process.

"We welcome the outcome of Monday's hearing and look forward to an exciting few weeks of tennis ahead."

The statement also made clear that Djokovic could have avoided the problem.

"ATP continues to strongly recommend vaccination for all players on the ATP Tour, which we believe is essential for our sport to navigate the pandemic ... We are encouraged that 97 per cent of the Top 100 players are vaccinated leading into this year's Australian Open."

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2022-01-10 22:19:00Z
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