(260122) — JAKARTA, Jan. 22, 2026 (Xinhua) — Julie Dawall Jakobsen of Denmark hits a return through the ladies’s singles spherical of 16 match in opposition to Chen Yunfei of China on the Indonesia Masters 2026 badminton event in Jakarta, Indonesia, Jan. 22, 2026. (Xinhua/Veri Sanovri)
Drift Ice Season Begins in Hokkaido
HOKKAIDO, Jan 23 (News On Japan) –
Abashiri City in Hokkaido introduced the season’s “first day of drift ice” on January twenty second after the ice was confirmed from an remark deck.
A white band stretching throughout the ocean might be seen from Mount Tento’s observatory, marking the arrival of the area’s signature winter drift ice. The metropolis stated the drift ice was noticed with the bare eye at 1:20 p.m. on January twenty second.
Until 2025, the Abashiri Local Meteorological Observatory had been answerable for monitoring the primary look of drift ice, however it ended the follow as advances in climate satellites and different know-how made the observations much less obligatory.
From 2026, the Okhotsk Drift Ice Museum has taken over the function of monitoring and saying the primary sighting.
A vacationer from Taiwan praised the surroundings, saying Hokkaido is known for its views and that it was “wonderful.”
Taguchi Kei, president of the Okhotsk Drift Ice Museum, stated the drift ice appeared out of the blue and described the second as “a level of excitement I’ve never felt before.”
Compared with previous information recorded by the meteorological observatory by means of 2025, Abashiri’s first drift ice day this season was in keeping with the typical, and got here 24 days sooner than in 2025.
Source: HBCニュース 北海道放送
(SP)CHINA-BEIJING-FIGURE SKATING-ISU FOUR CONTINENTS-WOMEN-SHORT PROGRAM (CN)
(260122) — BEIJING, Jan. 22, 2026 (Xinhua) — Zhu Yi of China performs through the girls’s brief program on the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Beijing, China, Jan. 22, 2026. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)
Nuclear Reactor Halted After Control Rod Trouble
NIIGATA, Jan 23 (News On Japan) –
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings stated it should shut down the reactor on the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Niigata Prefecture after a malfunction occurred whereas management rods had been being withdrawn throughout restart operations.
According to TEPCO, an alarm sounded at 0:28 a.m. on January twenty third whereas operators had been withdrawing management rods at Unit 6, indicating an issue with one rod, prompting them to droop the operation.
The firm changed electrical parts contained in the management and monitoring panel for the management rods, however the scenario didn’t enhance, and with the trigger anticipated to take time to establish, TEPCO determined to cease the reactor.
The plant stays secure and there’s no impression from radiation outdoors the ability, TEPCO stated.
TEPCO had begun withdrawing management rods at Unit 6 shortly after 7 p.m. on January twenty second, restarting the reactor for the primary time in 14 years, and confirmed it had reached a vital state during which nuclear fission reactions proceed.
Source: TBS
JAPAN-TOKYO-CENTRIST REFORM ALLIANCE-INAUGURAL CONVENTION
(260122) — TOKYO, Jan. 22, 2026 (Xinhua) — Co-leaders of the brand new opposition celebration Centrist Reform Alliance Yoshihiko Noda (L) and Tetsuo Saito shake fingers throughout a conference in Tokyo, Japan, Jan. 22, 2026.
Japan’s new opposition celebration Centrist Reform Alliance held a conference on Thursday to mark its official launch forward of the Feb. 8 decrease home basic election.
The new celebration was shaped final week between the principle opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) and the Komeito celebration, searching for to defeat the conservative ruling bloc led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party within the upcoming contest. (Xinhua/Jia Haocheng)
AIF trade emerged as key driver of personal capital formation: Chairman, SEBI
Osaka [Japan], January 22 (ANI): Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Tuhin Kanta Pandey, on Thursday stated India’s mutual funds have deep penetration with robust month-to-month fairness inflows, whereas the Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) trade has emerged as a key driver of personal capital formation.
Talking about India’s capital market throughout his handle to an buyers assembly curated by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Osaka, Japan, Pandey described the rise of home buyers as one in every of India’s most important developments. ‘India at this time ranks because the world’s fifth-largest fairness market by market capitalisation share, with the United States main globally at 48.2%, adopted by China, Japan, and Hong Kong,’ he stated.
He additional talked about that capital-raising exercise stays sturdy, with India rating first globally within the variety of IPOs and third by way of capital raised in 2025.
‘Debt markets proceed to broaden, non-public fairness and AIF inflows are rising, and REITs and InvITs are more and more channelising long-term capital into infrastructure and actual property. The municipal bond market can also be gaining momentum,’ he stated.
The SEBI Chairman additionally harassed that investor schooling stays central to SEBI’s agenda, with intensified efforts to fight digital fraud and promote accountable investing.
‘For Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs), SEBI has targeted on simplifying market entry by way of regulatory reforms, simpler registration, and improved settlement mechanisms, alongside continued engagement with world buyers,’ he stated.
Pandey highlighted that the Indian financial system stays resilient even amid ongoing world volatility in commerce and geopolitics.
‘Moderate inflation, sturdy overseas trade buffers, and steady exterior accounts place India among the many world’s strongest economies, with progress persevering with to rank among the many highest globally,’ he stated.
He additional famous that India’s digital public infrastructure has set new world requirements, whereas current reforms in revenue taxation, labour laws, and the GST framework are anticipated to stimulate consumption and reinvigorate the funding cycle.
Speaking on India-Japan relations, Pandey stated India and Japan share a long-standing and symbiotic relationship anchored of their Special Strategic and Global Partnership, with bilateral commerce exceeding JPY 3,500 billion (USD 25 billion), underscoring the depth of financial cooperation.
Japanese buyers have persistently discovered robust worth and returns in India, which has produced a outstanding variety of wealth-compounding firms, he stated.
Chandru Appar, Consul General of India, Osaka-Kobe, in his handle stated, ‘India is at the moment in a high-growth part, pushed by its demographic dividend, speedy infrastructure improvement, and increasing consumption base, supported by landmark financial reforms over the previous decade.’
He additional famous that India’s capital markets are constructed on belief, transparency, and sturdy regulation, with SEBI taking part in a pivotal position in defending buyers and sustaining market integrity.
Setsuo Iuchi, President of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI), emphasised that India is a key companion for Japanese companies, particularly as firms search alternatives within the Global South.
The interactive session was organised by CII collectively with the Consulate General of India, Osaka – Kobe and the OCCI. (ANI)
(SP)CHINA-BEIJING-FIGURE SKATING-ISU FOUR CONTINENTS-ICE DANCE
(260122) — BEIJING, Jan. 22, 2026 (Xinhua) — Holly Harris (R)/Jason Chan of Australia carry out throughout the ice dance rhythm dance on the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Beijing, China, Jan. 22, 2026. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)
Donor Nation Cuts to Global Health Financing Affect Millions
(New York) – Major donor nations dealt a devastating blow to the fitting to well being for thousands and thousands of individuals worldwide once they reduce assist for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Human Rights Watch stated in the present day. Only US$11.85 billion has up to now been pledged for 2026-2028 of an urgently wanted US$18 billion. All however one of many 10 main donors diminished their pledges.
“People will die because of donor nations’ decisions to cut pledges to the Global Fund,” stated Julia Bleckner, senior well being researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Donor nations should immediately step up and close this funding gap.”
The Global Fund offers practically two thirds of all worldwide financing for tuberculosis applications, greater than half for malaria applications, and greater than 1 / 4 for HIV applications. Since it started in 2002, the Global Fund estimated it has saved 70 million lives. In 2024 alone, the Global Fund stated it handled 25.6 million folks with HIV and one other 7.4 million with tuberculosis.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 47 nongovernmental group employees, well being care outreach employees, and support recipients affected by current cuts to international well being financing in Indonesia, Laos, and Nepal, focusing particularly on HIV/AIDS prevention and care. Human Rights Watch discovered that international well being funding cuts in 2025 have already had a dire affect, particularly for marginalized teams that face systemic discrimination and boundaries to well being care, together with males who’ve intercourse with males, transgender folks, intercourse employees, and individuals who use medication.
Those populations which are at biggest danger of HIV/AIDS transmission and sickness are additionally typically these systematically discriminated in opposition to by their governments and for whom community-based applications supported by the Global Fund and different worldwide international well being mechanisms are a sole lifeline to accessing HIV/AIDS testing, prevention, and care. HIV training, counseling, testing, assist, and medicine distribution by community-based organizations is a confirmed evidence-based strategy to defending the well being of those teams.
By following the US in divestments from international well being, donors are making a cascading collapse in international well being infrastructure that threatens thousands and thousands of lives depending on each bilateral help and multilateral funding, particularly for communities dealing with boundaries to well being created by their very own governments, Human Rights Watch stated.
At the Fund’s Replenishment Summit on November 21, 2025, in Johannesburg, France and the European Commission made no concrete monetary commitments, although they’d been main donors. As of writing, France and the EU have but to make any public commitments. Human Rights Watch wrote to the European Commission, French President Emmanual Macron, and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson elevating issues, however has obtained no reply from France or the EU.
Sweden dedicated after the summit however considerably reduce funding by $200 million from its earlier funding cycle. The Government replied to Human Rights Watch that it’s nonetheless dedicated to the Global Fund and confirmed a smaller dedication of $74.2million (683 million SEK) for 2026. The United States diminished its pledge to $4.6 billion from $6 billion. Japan decreased their pledge by greater than half, Germany by greater than 1 / 4 and the Netherlands by virtually a fifth. The United Kingdom, Canada, and Italy additionally reduce their pledges. Of the latest high 10 donors, solely Norway elevated its pledge from $193.18 million to $195.7 million.
Donors’ retreat from the Global Fund is especially alarming in gentle of the United States’ huge and abrupt cuts to bilateral well being support in 2025. The human affect of those cuts are profound, with estimates of greater than 740,000 folks having died due to the US support cuts thus far.
Major donors to international well being ought to enhance assist for multilateral efforts to advertise the fitting to well being, moderately than comply with the United States’ retreat, Human Rights Watch stated. Notably, India elevated its pledge by 20 %, Cote d’Ivoire by 30 %, and South Africa by greater than 100%.
International support to assist community-based non-governmental programming is crucial to finishing up a rights-based strategy to well being care that addresses stigma and discrimination confronted by many marginalized populations. “Just leaving the house as a trans person is scary,” Aika, an HIV optimistic transgender outreach employee in Indonesia. “Without an outreach worker, the person will be alone, and they won’t get care.”
Nongovernmental group and well being care outreach employees who serve these populations stated that the reductions in Global Fund assets would imply that these communities will merely lose entry to life-saving care with no different supply of assist. “If the Global Fund stops, new cases will skyrocket,” the director of a gaggle in Indonesia stated. Interviewees additionally stated {that a} discount in assets will have an effect on monitoring, thus hiding the affect of the funding reductions.
“We are witnessing a coordinated abandonment of the world’s most vulnerable populations that will reverse decades of progress against HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria,” Bleckner stated. “Donors should invest in the Global Fund before millions of people die preventable deaths.”
Source: Human Rights Watch
Photo Flash | Japan’s Centrist Reform Alliance holds inaugural social gathering conference
(260122) — TOKYO, Jan. 22, 2026 (Xinhua) — This photograph taken on Jan. 22, 2026 reveals a view of a conference held by Japan’s new opposition social gathering Centrist Reform Alliance in Tokyo, Japan. Japan’s new opposition social gathering Centrist Reform Alliance held a conference on Thursday to mark its official launch forward of the Feb. 8 decrease home normal election.
The new social gathering was fashioned final week between the primary opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) and the Komeito social gathering, in search of to defeat the conservative ruling bloc led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party within the upcoming contest. (Xinhua/Jia Haocheng)
India to grow to be third-largest financial system in 1-1.5 years, says MP CM Mohan Yadav at WEF in Davos
Davos [Switzerland], January 22 (ANI): Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav stated India’s sturdy development trajectory and rising international confidence are creating important alternatives for states like Madhya Pradesh, as he pitched the state as a strategic funding hub on the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos, asserting that Madhya Pradesh, particularly, is attracting investments in electrical autos (EVs) and renewable vitality.
Yadav stated India has despatched its largest-ever delegation to WEF, reflecting the nation’s rising international function. ‘India is marching forward in each sector. India is about to be the third-largest financial system in 1-1.5 years. So, there’s immense potential in Madhya Pradesh,’ he informed ANI on Wednesday, including that the state has made main strides over the previous two years within the vitality, well being, IT and tourism sectors.
Meanwhile, India grew to become the world’s fourth-largest financial system in July 2025, surpassing Japan and marking a major shift in Asia’s financial steadiness, based on the Rubix Country Insights Report: Japan by Rubix Data Sciences. Highlighting renewable vitality initiatives, the Chief Minister stated Madhya Pradesh has emerged as an influence hub, with solar energy technology now underway on the Omkareshwar Dam, noting that round 32 lakh farmers have been supplied photo voltaic pumps and claiming that the state affords the most affordable electrical energy charges within the nation from renewable sources.
On the electrical car sector, Yadav stated the state’s central location, sufficient land financial institution and energy availability are drawing sturdy investor curiosity. ‘We have enough land financial institution, electrical energy. We are centrally situated within the nation. So, we have now been receiving every kind of proposal and in India, Madhya Pradesh is changing into the hub for it. Several individuals have signed an MoU with us on this route,’ he stated.
The Chief Minsiter additionally spoke about rising worldwide engagement, together with discussions with Mohamed Saeed, Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Maldives. He acknowledged that each side see scope for collaboration throughout tourism, fisheries, IT, well being and schooling, with plans for future visits to deepen cooperation.
Earlier, the Madhya Pradesh authorities held a roundtable titled ‘Invest in India: Madhya Pradesh – A Strategic Investment Hub’ at WEF, showcasing alternatives in cars, renewable vitality, prescribed drugs, textiles, IT-ITeS, agriculture and logistics. The state additionally held conferences with company leaders, together with Sumant Sinha of ReNew Power, to discover increasing renewable vitality and information centre investments, officers stated. (ANI)
