Japan struggles to fill bullet trains running with empty seats

These days, the section of Tokyo Station serving regional destinations is a shadow of its former self. Gone are the usual crowds, and on a mid-week afternoon in late September, just a handful of commuters browsed bento-box stores.

“I see more cleaning staff getting off trains than passengers,” said Taro Aoki, who oversees 18 fast-food outlets in the capital’s main intercity rail terminal. “People used to swiftly pick which bento to buy and wait in line, but now, there’s hardly anyone around.” Source JapanTimes

100 migrants attempt to break through Röszke border crossing

A group of more than 100 migrants attempted to break through the Röszke border crossing with Serbia, in southern Hungary.

According to local police, the illegal entrants threw stones at the police while some 30 of them climbed on the border fence. Police thwarted the attempt. Source Abouthungary

Isère: Gendarmes targeted by two Molotov cocktails during an intervention in Villefontaine

A gendarmerie crew was the target of two Molotov cocktails this Monday evening in Villefontaine (Isère). For Patrick Nicole-Williams, the mayor of Villefontaine, the gendarmes have fallen into an ambush. The soldiers were called to intervene in the Muissiat district around 11 p.m. Source Actu17

Air France planning to cut 7,500 jobs by 2022 amid industry slump

Air France aims to present a plan to trade unions to cut just over 7,500 jobs over the next two years, sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, as the French carrier grapples with the coronavirus crisis. Source France24

Nord Stream 2 Pins Hope on Germany for EU Gas Rule Hurdle

Nord Stream 2 expects regulators to decide by May whether its contested natural gas pipeline linking Germany to Russia will be able to operate as planned. Already suffering U.S. sanctions, the project led by Gazprom PJSC is pinning its hopes on German regulator Bundesnetzagentur to help it clear hurdles erected by European Union competition authorities. So-called unbundling rules rolled out by the trade bloc last year require the owners of gas and those who deliver it by pipeline or ship to be separate legal entities, even the fuel comes from outside the EU. Source: Bloomberg

China’s corporate borrowing soars and cash flows deteriorate, survey shows

Three developments have emerged from the survey: signs that cash flows have deteriorated quickly; new orders continue to fall; and the Chinese economy saw record levels of corporate borrowing.
The rise in business loans is in part due to the comeback of shadow financing, according to the China Beige Book survey. Source: CNBC

Chinese CPUs Now Work On Domestically-Produced Operating System

MyDrivers reports that China’s homegrown Zhaoxin processors are now operational with its self-developed Unity Operating System (UOS). The news come on the tail of new Chinese government restrictions that force Chinese institutions to replace all foreign-powered PC hardware and software with domestically-produced products over a three-year span. Tongxin Software, the developer behind UOS, has been able to get the KaiXian processors to work on the desktop and server versions of UOS, respectively. The Chinese CPU maker has already laid out its ambitious plans for the company’s next generation of processors. Source: Tom’s Hardware

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