Washington, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–The International Monetary Fund said Monday that the global economy is estimated to grow 3.3 pct in 2026, up 0.2 percentage point from its previous projection last October. The fading impact of high U.S. tariffs and surging artificial

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi unveiled a plan Monday to reduce the consumption tax rate for food items to zero for two years as part of her ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s policy pledges for the upcoming general election.

Sendai, Miyagi Pref., Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese court on Monday sentenced a man, 29, to three years in prison, suspended for five years, for transporting a then high school student to Myanmar last year to get him to engage in fraud

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced Monday that she will dissolve the House of Representatives at the start of this year’s ordinary session of the Diet, the country’s parliament, to be convened Friday, to call a snap general

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government is unlikely to secure the passage of its fiscal 2026 draft budget by the March 31 end of the current fiscal 2025, after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced on Monday her decision to dissolve the

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced Monday that she will dissolve the House of Representatives at the start of this year’s ordinary session of the Diet, the country’s parliament, to be convened Friday, to call a snap general

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Yoshinobu Tsutsui, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, on Monday affirmed that the public and private sectors will cooperate to strengthen the supply chains for critical materials. At a meeting

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. said Monday it launched the same day a service to allow individual customers to make fixed-amount monthly deposits in foreign currency accounts using credit cards. In the first-ever service in Japan, users of

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced Monday that she will dissolve the House of Representatives at the start of the ordinary parliamentary session, which is to be convened on Friday, to call a snap general election. The prime

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–The yield on the newest issue of 10-year Japanese government bonds, the country’s key long-term interest rate, briefly rose to 2.275 pct in Tokyo interdealer bond trading Monday, reaching its highest level since mid-February 1999. The rise came

(Adnkronos) – The moderate socialist Antonio José Seguro won the first round of the Portuguese presidential elections yesterday, followed by far-right leader André Ventura; the two will face each other in a runoff on February 8.  In the five decades since Portugal

Niigata, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Monday that it has postponed the restart scheduled for Tuesday of the No. 6 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan. The delay came after a problem

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government has asked prefectures to lead efforts to secure hotels as shelters during large-scale disasters. Guidelines drawn up by the Cabinet Office call on local officials, mainly at prefectural governments, to work to secure accommodation and

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Japanese companies are facing quickly growing threats of so-called business executive scams, or CEO fraud, in which email directives are issued by those pretending to be top executives of target companies. Small and medium-sized firms tend to fall

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–The Centrist Reform Alliance, a new party launched by the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito, is expected to take realistic approaches on various issues including national security, it was learned Monday. Regarding security policy,

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Department store operators and confectionery makers are trying to ride a wave of the Valentine’s Day-related shopping binge in Japan by offering products and services featuring experiences, highly valued by consumers these days. The Matsuya Ginza department store,

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. plans to postpone the restart scheduled for Tuesday of the No. 6 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, sources familiar with the matter said Monday. The plan

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s seasonally adjusted core machinery orders in November last year fell 11.0 pct from the previous month, marking the first decline in three months, following large-scale orders in October, the Cabinet Office said Monday. Private-sector orders excluding those

Berlin, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Japanese agriculture minister Norikazu Suzuki expressed concerns about new regulations on packaging to be introduced by the European Union, during bilateral meetings with his counterparts from EU member countries in Berlin. During the meetings on Friday and Saturday,

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–The benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond yield, the country’s key long-term interest rate, rose to 2.230 pct in Tokyo interdealer bond trading Monday morning, reaching its highest level since February 1999. The rise came amid concerns that Japan’s

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Three major Japanese convenience store operators posted growth in their group operating profits for March-November 2025, according to their earnings reports. Seven & i Holdings Co., the operator of industry leader Seven-Eleven Japan Co., saw its operating profit

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Efforts to establish a sovereign wealth fund, a state-owned investment vehicle intended to manage and grow national assets in the public interest, are gathering momentum in Japan. Many politicians and experts emphasize the need for such a fund,

Tokyo, Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party will lift an election penalty on party members involved in the party’s slush fund scandal, it was learned Sunday. In the next general election, the LDP will allow these members to be listed

Tokyo, Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–A lawmaker of Reiwa Shinsengumi has left the Japanese opposition party over his recent meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Reiwa Shinsengumi said Sunday that it has accepted the resignation from the party of Ryo Tagaya, a

Tokyo, Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will hold a press conference on Monday evening to officially announce her intention to dissolve the House of Representatives when the Diet convenes for an ordinary session on Friday. This will be the

Toyota, Aichi Pref., Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–The burned body of a woman has been found after a fire at an apartment in the central Japan city of Toyota, Aichi Prefecture. The victim was identified as Akiko Ogawa, a 42-year-old corporate employee and

Nago, Okinawa Pref., Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–The incumbent mayor and two challengers filed their candidacies on Sunday for the Jan. 25 mayoral election in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, which will focus on the planned relocation of a U.S. military base to the city’s

Toyota, Aichi Pref., Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–A burned body has been found after a fire at an apartment in the central Japan city of Toyota, Aichi Prefecture. A judicial autopsy determined that the body was a woman who died from suffocation, according

Tokyo, Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–Senior officials from Japan’s ruling and opposition camps both expressed willingness to cut the consumption tax, in a television debate on Sunday ahead of the anticipated general election. Shunichi Suzuki, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, indicated

New Delhi, Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi has inspected the Delhi Metro subway system developed with Japanese cooperation. On Saturday, Motegi visited a station in central New Delhi and rode a train to check its safety and comfort. Opened