Japan

"The number of new cases is falling. I think that measures targeted at eating and drinking have been effective," Suga said in Parliament. According to the Prime Minister, the extended emergency period will be applicable to 10 prefectures including Osaka, Aichi and Fukuoka, reports Xinhua news agency.

On Friday Tokyo, the hardest-hit by pandemic among Japan's 47 prefectures, reported 868 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the city's total infection tally to 98,439, reports Xinhua news agency.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the job availability ratio fell 0.42 point to 1.18, equating to there being 118 job openings for every 100 people seeking work, The figure marked the fastest slide since a 0.59 point drop was booked in 1975, with the figure marking the lowest level since 2014, the Ministry said.

During the conversation, Suga welcomed Biden's decisions to return to the 2015 Paris Agreement on curbing carbon emissions and not to withdraw from the World Health Organization, Xinhua news agency reported. The Ministry confirmed that Biden also invited the Prime Minister to take part in a summit on climate change slated for April 22.

The additional supply added to the country's agreement last year with the drugmaker to acquire doses for 60 million people, which accounted for roughly half the country's population of 126 million, reports Xinhua news agency.

The majority of entries were suspended in December, although travellers arriving on business and associated with some student programmes from certain countries had been exempt from the tightening restrictions, Xinhua reported.

According to the sources, Suga told executives of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) that he intends to broaden the initial state of emergency that came into effect on January 8 for Tokyo and its three neighbouring prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama, to cover the western areas, reports Xinhua news agency.

NUSI General Secretary Abdulgani Y. Serang said that these crew members, along with their counterparts on another ship, 'MV Anastasia', were stranded off the China anchorage since six months.

Suga told a press conference that he will prepare for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games with "determination" and take all possible measures against the infection and deliver "hope and courage" to the whole world, reports Xinhua news agency.

Nikkei Asia is reporting that the 15-year project has acquired urgency to counter China's cascading advancement of hi-tech weaponry. Currently, Tokyo stands outmanned and outgunned by its larger neighbour, the daily observes. It points out that China possesses more than 1,000 fourth-generation fighter jets that can reach supersonic speeds, about triple as many as Japan. It has also began deploying fifth-generation stealth fighters.