News Headlines - 11 March 2021

▽NTT Group Entertained 2 Past Communications Ministers: Report - JIJI PRESS

The Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. <9432> group has wined and dined two past Japanese communications ministers, adding fuel to a high-profile hospitality scandal involving the telecommunications giant, a Japanese weekly magazine reported on Wednesday.
The two are Seiko Noda, currently executive acting secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and Sanae Takaichi, an LDP lawmaker in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country's parliament, according to the Shukan Bunshun report published online.

▽Keiko Fujimori Charged With Corruption by Peru Prosecutors, Threatening Campaign - Bloomberg

Peruvian prosecutors filed corruption charges against presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori that threaten to derail her campaign and could lead to more than 30 years in prison.
In a statement Thursday, the prosecutors’ office said it was charging Fujimori, the daughter of jailed former president Alberto Fujimori, with organized crime, money laundering, obstruction of justice and perjury.
Also named in the suit is Fujimori’s political party, Popular Force. If there is a conviction in the case, prosecutors said they will ask for the party’s “dissolution and liquidation.”

▽Anti-Asian hate crimes increased by nearly 150% in 2020, mostly in N.Y. and L.A., new report says

The analysis released by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, this month examined hate crimes in 16 of America’s largest cities. It revealed that while such crimes in 2020 decreased overall by 7 percent, those targeting Asian people rose by nearly 150 percent.

▽EU approves Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine - France 24

The European Union approved the single-shot Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine on Thursday -- the fourth jab to get the green light for the 27-nation bloc.
The decision offers a boost for the EU's sluggish vaccination programme even if reports say the first J&J shipments may not arrive in European countries until April.

▽Audio cassette tape inventor Lou Ottens dies aged 94 - BBC News

Lou Ottens, the Dutch engineer credited with inventing the audio cassette tape, has died aged 94... Ottens became head of Philips' product development department in 1960, where he and his team developed the cassette tape.
In 1963, it was presented at the Berlin Radio electronics fair and soon became a worldwide success.
Ottens struck a deal with Philips and Sony that saw his model confirmed as the patented cassette, after a number of Japanese companies reproduced similar tapes in a number of sizes.