News Headlines - 16 March 2021

▽Senior bureaucrat close to Suga resigns amid hospitality scandal | The Japan Times

The resignation of Yasuhiko Taniwaki, who played a pivotal role in fulfilling Suga’s policy pledge of lowering mobile phone fees, came along with a decision by the communications ministry to suspend him from work for three months.
Taniwaki, who had been touted as a candidate for vice minister, the top post for bureaucrats at the ministry, was found to have violated the ethics code for central government officials by receiving lavish dinners from telecom giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.
Taniwaki was originally scheduled to retire at the end of the month.

▽Japan Suicide Cases Rise for 1st Time in 11 Years in 2020 - JIJI PRESS

The revised number of people who killed themselves in Japan in 2020 rose 912, or 4.5 pct, from the previous year to 21,081, up for the first time in 11 years, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Tuesday, citing National Police Agency statistics.
The revised figure was 162 higher than the preliminary result of 20,919, announced in January.
Of the total, men accounted for 14,055, down by 23 from the previous year, the 11th consecutive annual fall, while women accounted for 7,026, up by 935, the first increase in two years.

▽China vows crackdown on sand mining on Yangtze | Reuters

China has launched a crackdown on illegal sand mining operations on the Yangtze river, which have made large parts of central China more vulnerable to drought.
Excessive sand mining on the Yangtze, which provides water for a third of the Chinese population, is believed to be responsible for the abnormally low levels of water during the winter drought season in recent years.
Sand mining in the river and its connecting lakes and tributaries has also affected shipping routes and made it harder for authorities to control summer floods.

▽Serious security lapse at nuclear plant in Niigata | NHK WORLD

Japanese nuclear regulators have assessed a security lapse at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture as being at the most serious level in terms of anti-terror measures.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority was notified by the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, in January that a worker accidentally damaged sensor equipment for detecting intruders.
On Tuesday, the result of an investigation of the plant was reported at an NRA closed-door meeting.

▽London Police Criticized Over Clashes at Sarah Everard Vigil | Time

London’s Metropolitan Police force was under heavy pressure Sunday to explain its actions during a vigil for a woman whom one of the force’s own officers is accused of murdering.
Hundreds defied coronavirus restrictions to gather and protest violence against women, but the event ended with clashes between police and those attending and many questioned whether the police force was too heavy-handed.