Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–An advisory panel to Japan’s health minister decided Friday to allow public health insurance coverage for a gene therapy for muscular dystrophy beginning Feb. 20 and set the drug’s official price at about 304.97 million yen. Elevidys, a

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi expects the Bank of Japan to raise its policy interest rate in the near future, but not this spring, Etsuro Honda, an economic adviser to the Japanese leader, has said in a recent

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will hold a meeting with Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda on Monday, the government said Friday. Takaichi and Ueda are expected to exchange views on the economic and price situations, and financial

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s health ministry released on Friday the five-year survival rates of people newly diagnosed with cancer across the country in 2017 and 2018, showing that prostate cancer patients had the highest rates among those aged 15 or over.

Nagoya, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–Toyota Motor Corp.’s labor union decided Friday to demand pay scale and regular wage increases of 8,590-21,580 yen a month in this year’s “shunto” spring negotiations. The request amount differs depending on employee’s job type and wage grade.

(Adnkronos) – Foreign minister Antonio Tajani and his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand are due to hold talks Monday at the foreign ministry in Rome, followed by a joint press conference, the ministry said in a statement.  Italy and Canada enjoy friendly ties

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–Major Japanese restaurant chains posted robust consolidated earnings in their financial reports released by Friday as their efforts to retain customers, such as introducing seasonal menu items amid inflation, paid off. Skylark Holdings Co.’s net profit in the

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi instructed her ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Friday to expedite deliberations at the upcoming special session of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, so the government’s initial budget for fiscal 2026 can pass through the Diet

Kyoto, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–A weakening of a mechanism that produces a sense of satisfaction after drinking could lead to excessive alcohol consumption, a team of Japanese and other researchers has found. The discovery by the team, including researchers from Kyoto University,

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–Dentsu Group Inc. said Friday that it logged a record consolidated net loss of 327.6 billion yen for the year through December 2025, due chiefly to an impairment loss of 310.1 billion yen from sluggish overseas operations. The

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–Kimi Onoda, Japanese minister in charge of intellectual property strategy, on Friday criticized a new video-generating artificial intelligence product developed by Chinese technology giant ByteDance Ltd. “A situation in which existing copyrighted materials are used without permission cannot

(Adnkronos) – The views of United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese – who is accused of calling Israel “a common enemy of humanity” – are not shared by Italy’s government and are “incompatible” with her role, according

(Adnkronos) – The Islamic Republic of Iran has been elected vice-president of the United Nations Commission for Social Development. The election was approved without objection during a recent meeting of the commission at the UN headquarters in New York. Iranian representative Abbas

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese opposition Centrist Reform Alliance on Friday elected Junya Ogawa, former secretary-general of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, as its new leader. Ogawa, 54, gained 27 of the votes cast by the new party’s 49 House

(Adnkronos) – The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Tarique Rahman, son of former premier Khaleda Zia who died last December, has claimed victory in the general elections held yesterday in Bangladesh. Projections assign a clear majority in Parliament to the political

(Adnkronos) – A Chinese fishing boat has been seized by Japanese authorities. The captain has been arrested. The accusation is that he failed to comply with an order to stop while the vessel was within Japan’s exclusive economic zone off Nagasaki Prefecture,

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–Bank of Japan policymaker Naoki Tamura said Friday that the central bank’s 2 pct inflation target could be deemed to have been achieved as early as this spring. In a speech in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo,

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–Cavity rates for kindergarten, elementary, junior high and high school students in Japan all rewrote record lows, an education ministry survey for fiscal 2025 showed Friday. According to the survey for the year ending next month, 19.44 pct

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese opposition Centrist Reform Alliance on Friday elected Junya Ogawa, former secretary-general of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, as its new leader. Ogawa, 54, gained 27 of the votes cast by the new party’s 49 House

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–Nearly 60 pct of companies in Japan do not want the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates over the next year, a poll by Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd. showed Friday. The results indicated that many companies are

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–Dentsu Group Inc. said Friday that it logged a record consolidated net loss of 327.6 billion yen for the year through December 2025 due chiefly to an impairment loss of 310.1 billion yen from sluggish overseas operations. The

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party plans to recommend former Justice Minister Eisuke Mori as speaker of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, senior LDP officials said Friday. Mori, a 77-year-old LDP

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department sent papers on two U.S. Marines to public prosecutors on Friday, alleging that they broke into restaurants in the Japanese capital and stole cash, Jiji Press has learned. The Marines, aged 20 and 26

Fukuoka, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–Japan has seized a Chinese fishing vessel and arrested its 47-year-old Chinese captain after the boat allegedly tried to flee an inspection in the Japanese exclusive economic zone off an island in Nagasaki Prefecture, southwestern Japan. It was

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government will come up with an outline of a consumption tax cut and a refundable tax credit by June, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said Friday. The administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to set up

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–An advisory panel to Japan’s health minister on Friday recommended raising medical fees under the country’s health insurance system to reflect rising prices and support wage increases for medical workers. According to the recommendations by the Central Social

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s opposition Centrist Reform Alliance on Friday elected Junya Ogawa, former secretary-general of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, as its leader. In the leadership election, Ogawa, 54, gained 27 votes from the new centrist party’s 49 lawmakers,

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. said Friday its smartphone payment service unit PayPay Corp. will go public on the U.S. Nasdaq stock market. PayPay filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a statement explaining its initial public offering

Washington, Feb. 12 (Jiji Press)–Japan and the United States have yet to work out the first batch of U.S.-bound investment deals worth 550 billion dollars planned by Tokyo, visiting Japanese economic minister Ryosei Akazawa said Thursday. After a 90-minute meeting with U.S.

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–The Diet, Japan’s parliament, will kick off a special session on Wednesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told party representatives on Friday. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is expected to be re-elected on the first day of the session