Inmates killed in Honduras
JAPANESE prime minister Shinzo Abe has lifted a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and four other remaining areas, ending the restrictions nationwide.
Experts on a government-commissioned panel approved the lifting of the emergency in the capital, neighbouring Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama prefectures, and in Hokkaido to the north, which had remained under the emergency declaration after it was removed in most of Japan earlier this month.
Japan, with about 16,600 confirmed cases and 850 deaths, has so far avoided the large outbreaks experienced in the US and Europe despite softer restrictions.
Mr Abe said the lifting of the emergency does not mean the end of the outbreak. He said the goal is to balance preventive measures and the economy until vaccines and effective drugs become available.
But the world’s third largest economy has fallen into a recession, and public discontent over his handling of coronavirus has sent his support ratings tumbling. Recent media surveys show public support for his cabinet has plunged below 30%, the lowest since he returned to office in December 2012.
Mr Abe declared the state of emergency on April 7 in several parts of Japan including Tokyo, expanded it to the entire nation later in the month, and then extended it until the end of May.
Under the emergency, people were asked to stay at home and non-essential businesses were requested to close or reduce operations, but there was no enforcement.
Since May 14, when the measures were lifted in most of Japan, more
A GROUP of inmates at a women’s prison in Honduras used a fire to distract prison officials and murdered six other prisoners, authorities said.
The National Penitentiary Institute said in a statement that an inmate set fire to an area at the prison north of Tegucigalpa.
Prison officials said they were working with police and prosecutors to investigate the attack.