Tokyo, July 14 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government is considering conducting a survey of credit card payment processing service firms to gain a clearer picture of them, industry minister Ryosei Akazawa said Tuesday. Akazawa made the comments at a press conference after the

Tokyo, July 14 (Jiji Press)–Fujifilm Corp.’s Utsurundesu single-use film camera, sold as QuickSnap outside Japan, celebrated its 40th birthday this month, enjoying a recent resurgence in popularity. A younger generation of users has bought into its analog photo-taking experience, including rolling the

(Adnkronos) – A conference at Italy’s lower house of parliament on Tuesday was set to focus on Italy’s economic role in rebuilding war-battered Ukraine, Gaza and Syria, the parliament said in a statement.  Lower house speaker secretary Francesco Battistoni was due to

Tokyo, July 14 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s industry ministry said Tuesday that it will provide up to 159 billion yen in subsidies to the Japanese unit of Israel’s Tower Semiconductor Ltd. Tower Partners Semiconductor Co., based in Toyama Prefecture, central Japan, plans to invest

Osaka, July 14 (Jiji Press)–Japanese police sent papers to prosecutors on Tuesday accusing a smoker of causing a fire that killed two firefighters in the western city of Osaka in August last year. The Osaka prefectural police department suspects that the fire

Tokyo, July 14 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Fair Trade Commission raided three companies Tuesday over suspected bid-rigging in contracts to supply refrigeration equipment for Seven-Eleven Japan Co. stores, informed sources said. The FTC searched the offices of Fuji Electric Co. in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward,

Kyoto, July 14 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese district court on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit seeking an injunction to suspend operations at the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Oi nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture. Akira Saito, presiding judge

Tokyo, July 14 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling and opposition parties agreed Tuesday to put a bill to establish a secondary capital of the country to a House of Representatives committee vote Wednesday, a development making it possible for the legislation to clear the

Tokyo, July 14 (Jiji Press)–Rising interest rates are leading to higher interest rates on loan-type scholarships for university students in Japan. Higher rates on such scholarships may cause some people’s repayment balances to increase by more than 1 million yen. This would

Tokyo, July 14 (Jiji Press)–Japan will enhance heatstroke and cold protection measures at disaster evacuation centers under a revision of its basic disaster management plan decided Tuesday. The revised plan, which serves as the cornerstone of disaster response measures by the central

Toyama, July 14 (Jiji Press)–Police have arrested a 53-year-old man in the central Japan prefecture of Toyama for allegedly planning indiscriminate killing in Tokyo and preparing a knife for the potential rampage. The suspect, Katsumi Mori, who is unemployed and from the

Tokyo, July 14 (Jiji Press)–Japan is closely watching with concern the U.S. government’s plan to urge signatories to the International Criminal Court to withdraw from the ICC, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Tuesday. Japan has “consistently supported the ICC” from

Shusha, Azerbaijan, July 14 (Jiji Press)–Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has suggested that the country can work with Japan in the defense industry, among other sectors. “I think that we can cooperate in quite a broad range of issues–energy, technology and potentially…the defense

Tokyo, July 14 (Jiji Press)–The number of children on waiting lists for “gakudo hoiku” after-school care facilities in Japan fell for the second straight year, preliminary data showed Tuesday. As of May 1, 14,713 children were on the lists, down by 1,617

Tokyo, July 14 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Justice Ministry has come up with a draft report calling for the protection of the voices of famous individuals, alongside their portraits, regarding the use of generative artificial intelligence. The draft report on civil responsibility over the

Tokyo, July 14 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government is expected to establish a national intelligence council as early as July to strengthen its command over intelligence gathering and analysis. The council, to be chaired by the prime minister, is intended to create an

Kobe, July 14 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese inquest panel has decided that public prosecutors’ decision not to indict Takashi Tachibana, head of a political group criticizing Japan Broadcasting Corp., or NHK, over his alleged intimidation of a local assembly member in 2024 was

Tokyo, July 14 (Jiji Press)–The head of Japan’s suprapartisan National Council on Social Security on Monday presented a revised draft of a new benefit program for low- and middle-income workers. The council resumed discussions for compiling an interim report at the day’s

(Adnkronos) – Three British citizens, one French woman, one Belgian and one Spaniard are the first of the 13 identified victims of the massive fire near Almeria in Andalusia, southern Spain. Local authorities announced this after the first autopsies were conducted and

Saiki, Oita Pref., July 13 (Jiji Press)–Four people were injured and sent to hospital after a knife attack near a Tsutaya rental video store in the city of Saiki in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Oita on Monday morning, investigative sources said.

(Adnkronos) – The Yemeni government recognized by the international community has ordered the closure of Yemen’s airports following reports from the capital Sana’a, which has been in the hands of the Houthis since 2014. “The Civil Aviation and Meteorology Authority (Cama) informs

(Adnkronos) – Lebanon views with “cautious optimism” the sixth round of direct negotiations with the Jewish state mediated by the US, scheduled for tomorrow in Rome. This is reported by the online version of the Qatari newspaper Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed, citing official Lebanese

(Adnkronos) – There is a phrase, spoken by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Davos on January 20th, that captures the state of the international system better than many analyses: the world has emerged from “a pleasant fiction” and entered “a harsh

(Adnkronos) – Rome on Monday underlined its unwavering commitment to Serbia’s European Union membership bid and the opening of negotiating Chapter Three, saying it is part of Italy’s strong support for the European integration of the western Balkans.  “Italy supports the opening

(Adnkronos) – Italy welcomed European Commission vice-president Raffaele Fitto’s appointment on Monday as special representative for Cyprus, saying it reflects the bloc’s commitment “at the highest level” to the divided island’s reunification – an issue that is “absolutely crucial for Europe” and

(Adnkronos) – North Korean Premier Pak Thae Song expressed hope for a further strengthening of bilateral relations with China, at the end of his three-day visit to Beijing, during which he participated in the celebrations for the 65th anniversary of the friendship

(Adnkronos) – The internationally recognized Yemeni government has declared that it hit the capital Sana’a’s airport after a dispute related to the arrival of an Iranian plane carrying a Houthi delegation, the Shiite rebel group supported by Tehran that controls the capital

Tokyo, July 13 (Jiji Press)–Japanese and Vietnamese defense ministers affirmed their commitment to enhancing bilateral security cooperation on Monday in support of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific initiative. Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi met with his Vietnamese counterpart, Phan Van Giang, at

Tokyo, July 13 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese House of Councillors special committee is set to vote on a bill Wednesday to revise the Imperial House Law, after the major ruling and opposition parties broadly agreed the schedule. Yoshihiko Isozaki, the Liberal Democratic Party’s

(Adnkronos) – The Nato summit last week in Ankara “has strengthened relations between Europe and the United States,” Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Monday, adding that this “is certainly a positive development”.   “Controversy is unhelpful at such a delicate