Yamaguchi, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–A fire at a Buddhist temple and two nearby buildings in the city of Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, in the small hours of Friday resulted in the deaths of five people, according to local police and

(Adnkronos) – Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani was on Friday set to hold talks in Stuttgart with counterpart Johann Wadephul during their attendance at Germany’s ruling conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU)’s party congress, foreign ministry said in a statement.  “The presence of

Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–Combined net profits at Japanese listed companies in April-December 2025 rose 3.9 pct from a year earlier to a record 44,528.1 billion yen, according to SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. The increase, which marked the third straight year of

Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan said Friday that it has selected Kansai Electric Power Co. President Nozomu Mori as its new chairman. Mori, 63, assumed the position at the industry group, which comprises the country’s

Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government will send Parliamentary Vice Minister for the Cabinet Office Naoki Furukawa to this year’s annual ceremony for the Takeshima Islands, minister for territorial issues Jiro Akama said Friday. Furukawa will attend the “Takeshima Day” ceremony

(Adnkronos) – A “stronger, more prosperous” Japan, with a turning point in economic and security policies, is the promise reiterated by Sanae Takaichi, the first female prime minister of the Land of the Rising Sun, a staunch conservative, considered a hawk when

(Adnkronos) – Words full of optimism from Kim Jong-un at the Workers’ Party Congress in Pyongyang. The Kcna agency reported this the day after the start of the event, which normally takes place every five years. For Kim, North Korea, under sanctions

(Adnkronos) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is running for re-election as CDU chairman at the two-day Congress in Stuttgart. He will participate in the proceedings as a guest of honor, his first presence at a congress since the end of his chancellorship,

(Adnkronos) – The long-time correspondent in Turkey for the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle has been arrested in Ankara. Alican Uluda was stopped in front of his family by 30 officers and transferred to Istanbul police headquarters where he will soon appear before

(Adnkronos) – “China is intensifying efforts to unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion in the East and South China Seas while expanding and intensifying its military activities in the areas around our country,” Japanese Premier Sanae Takaichi denounced in

Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese version of Major League Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani’s English-language picture book about his beloved dog, Decoy, was published Friday. The book, whose original title is “Decoy Saves Opening Day,” describes how the dog, called Dekopin in

Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–Japan and the United States are considering next-generation nuclear power reactor construction as a strong candidate for the second round of Japan’s investments in and loans to the United States totaling 550 billion dollars as part of the

(Adnkronos) – Italy observed the first meeting of US president Donald Trump’s Board of Peace on Thursday in Washington DC to be at frontline of efforts to achieve peace in Gaza and a two-state solution to the long-running conflict between Israel and

Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–The Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. group will start a forest inventory service using drones in collaboration with Hitachi Systems Ltd., Jiji Press learned Friday. In Japan, forests, which cover about 70 pct of the archipelago, have increasingly been

Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Research Commission on Security on Friday approved a draft proposal for the government to scrap current rules limiting the scope of defense equipment exports, thereby allowing lethal arms shipments in principle. The

Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s health ministry ordered a clinic in Tokyo to improve its operations Friday over its violations of the law on safety in regenerative medicine. An on-site inspection of Ginza Phoenix Clinic found violations, including administrations of cultured cells

Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–Police have arrested six men in their 20s to 30s, including an apartment management company employee, for allegedly setting fire to a private house and an adjacent vacant apartment building in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward last year, investigative sources

Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–Japan will promote economic growth through crisis management investment, economic and fiscal policy minister Minoru Kiuchi said in a parliamentary speech Friday. Kiuchi said that the biggest mission of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is to realize a

Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama on Friday pledged to reform the country’s fiscal structure to realize a strong economy and ensure fiscal sustainability. The country will “shift to a fiscal structure that supports a strong economy” by focusing

Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government submitted to the Diet, the country’s parliament, on Friday a draft fiscal 2026 budget, which was compiled under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s “responsible and proactive” fiscal policy. General-account spending under the draft budget for the

Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi in a speech before parliament Friday stressed the importance of communication with China. It is necessary to keep in touch with China all the more because there are pending issues between the two

Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi proclaimed before parliament Friday that her administration will promote investment for boosting the country’s overall strength. Delivering her first parliamentary policy address since taking office last October at a plenary meeting of the

Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. on Friday suspended operations at the No. 6 reactor of its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, for inspections, part of procedures for restarting a reactor that has been

Yokohama, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)–Seven officers of the Kanagawa prefectural police department were referred to prosecutors on Friday for allegedly falsifying traffic violation tickets and related investigation reports. The police department of Kanagawa, south of Tokyo, will cancel some 2,700 traffic violation

(Adnkronos) – A general strike is underway today in Argentina against the labor market reform proposed by ultra-liberal president Javier Milei. This is the fourth time Argentine unions have called a general strike against Milei’s far-right government, and today’s strike coincides with

(Adnkronos) – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen “will visit the Arctic region” in March, on a trip that “will also include Greenland”. This was confirmed by the EU executive’s chief spokesperson Paula Pinho during the daily press briefing, specifying that

(Adnkronos) – Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, will assume the role of deputy commander in the international stabilization force in Gaza. This was announced by American General Jasper Jeffers during the inaugural meeting of President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace,”

(Adnkronos) – Last Saturday, a jihadist incursion on a paramilitary base in Burkina Faso killed about 40 people, according to what a security source told AFP today, stating that the Tandjari forest area, in the eastern province of Gourma, “was the target

(Adnkronos) – Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani has condemned the murder of far-right French activist Quentin Deranque in the French city of Lyon last week by suspected radical left militants, calling the killing “a serious matter than concerns us all”.  “The killing

(Adnkronos) – Foreign minister Antonio Tajani underlined Italy’s ongoing support for the war-shattered Gaza Strip’s reconstruction and its civilians during talks in Washington DC on Thursday with the High Representative of US president Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, Nickolay Mladenov.  “Before the