NHK led with a report on the planned merger between Yahoo! Japan and LINE, saying that the tie-up might not be able to achieve its aim of countering U.S. and Chinese tech giants. TV-Asahi and Fuji TV gave top play to the arrest of a suspect in connection with a murder in Niigata. NTV’s top item was a confession by arrested actress Erika Sawajiri that she has been using illegal drugs for over 10 years. 

All national dailies other than Mainichi led with reports on the joint announcement on Monday by the operators of Yahoo! Japan and LINE that they have reached a basic agreement to merge in October 2020. Mainichi gave top play to a Hong Kong court ruling that the government’s emergency anti-mask law is unconstitutional.