Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Wednesday that she merely responded to what was asked when she made parliamentary remarks on a possible contingency around Taiwan. “I answered as much as could be said about what was asked,”

Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japanese stocks rose on Wednesday, fueled by hopes for a U.S. interest rate cut. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average gained over 1,000 points at one point before ending the day at 49,559.07, up 899.55 points, or 1.84

Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)–Work is underway to pave the way for Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s planned visit to Japan next year to mark the 160th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Wednesday.

Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s services producer prices in October rose 2.7 pct from a year before, marking the 56th consecutive month of growth, the Bank of Japan said Wednesday. The services producer price index stood at 112.1 against the 2020 base

Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo Gas Co. said Wednesday that it will procure about 1 million tons of liquefied natural gas annually for 20 years from U.S. LNG supplier Global Venture Inc., starting in 2030. The Japanese company will procure LNG from

Washington, Nov. 25 (Jiji Press)–U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he had “a great talk” with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi earlier in the day. “We have a great relationship,” Trump told reporters on the presidential plane flying to Florida, after

Japan Chain Stores Association Nov. 26 Yr/Yr Change Total 1,033,551 M. Yen Up 2.0 pct Foodstuffs 734,139 Up 1.5 Clothing 47,835 Up 0.1 Sundries 89,155 Down 2.9 Furniture and Interior Goods 58,697 Down 0.8 Home Electric Appliances 2,483 Up 3.9 Note: Year-on-year

Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japanese chipmaker Rapidus Corp. is considering starting the construction of its second plant in as early as fiscal 2027, it was learned Wednesday. The Tokyo-based company hopes to mass-produce advanced semiconductors with a circuit line width of 2

Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)–A code payment function will be added to the Mobile Suica and Mobile Pasmo apps, their operators have said. The function, called “teppay,” will be available on the Mobile Suica app from next autumn and on the Mobile

Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japanese upstart political party Sanseito has submitted two bills aimed at preventing espionage, seeking tougher penalties for leaking information to foreign governments and laying out a national counterintelligence framework. Sanseito hopes to draw support from the ruling Liberal

(Typo in 3rd para corrected) Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)–Department store sales in Japan in October rose 4.3 pct from a year earlier on a same-store basis thanks to strong inbound travel demand, extending their winning streak to three months, according to

Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average briefly rose over 1,000 points Wednesday morning, as investors bought a variety of names in anticipation of an additional U.S. interest rate cut. The key index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s top-tier

Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)–The profit margin at general hospitals in Japan, excluding psychiatric institutions, stood at minus 7.3 pct on average in fiscal 2024, which ended in March, a health ministry survey showed Wednesday. The figure improved by 0.2 percentage point

Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)–Defense ministers of Japan, Britain and Italy have affirmed their close cooperation on the joint development of a next-generation fighter jet. The trilateral cooperation was confirmed in a Tuesday teleconference among Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, British Defense

Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)–In the face of a serious shortage of drivers in the logistics industry, Japan’s government and commercial vehicle makers are accelerating experiments aimed at putting self-driving trucks into practical use. They are aiming to attain so-called Level 4

(Adnkronos) – The majority of Germans are against the idea of Germany taking on a military leadership role in Europe: according to a Forsa public opinion poll commissioned by the Körber Foundation, promoter of a foreign policy forum currently underway in Berlin,

(Adnkronos) – Italy wants to create joint business ventures with strategic partner Saudi Arabia in the Mideast, Africa and elsewhere within the framework of Riyadh’s Vision 2030 economic diversification plan and the major events the Kingdom will host in the coming decade,

(Adnkronos) – Italy’s Senate building, Palazzo Madama will be illuminated in orange from sunset on Tuesday to dawn on Wednesday to mark the start of the United Nations Orange the World campaign to end violence against women, according to the Senate.  The

Tokyo, Nov. 25 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese women’s basketball and volleyball teams won gold medals at the Tokyo Deaflympics on Tuesday. Japan narrowly beat the United States 65-64 in the women’s basketball final, and trumped Turkey to win their first women’s volleyball gold

(Adnkronos) – The German investigative journalism platform Correctiv, which works on Russian disinformation and the networks that the Kremlin builds in Europe, has been declared “undesirable” in Russia. “This means that our activities in Russia are prohibited,” the Essen-based group specified. Russian

(Adnkronos) – Japan has launched its own version of the American government efficiency commission, just as news arrives – almost simultaneously – from the United States that the Doge wanted by Donald Trump and Elon Musk would have been dissolved months in

(Adnkronos) – Thousands have demonstrated in Syria, in the Alawite-majority coastal area, after recent attacks against the community. According to AFP correspondents, these are the most significant protests ever recorded in the Alawite-majority region since the end of the Assad era last

Tokyo, Nov. 25 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called for sufficient wage increases to counter rising prices, at a government-labor-management panel meeting on Tuesday. This was the first meeting of the three-way panel under the Takaichi administration. The panel brings together

Maebashi, Gunma Pref., Nov. 25 (Jiji Press)–Mayor Akira Ogawa of the city of Maebashi, the capital of Gunma Prefecture in eastern Japan, plans to step down following a scandal involving her “love hotel” visits with a married male city employee, it was

Tokyo, Nov. 25 (Jiji Press)–A second person has died in Monday’s hit-and-run incident involving a stolen car in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward, it was learned Tuesday. According to the Japanese capital’s Metropolitan Police Department, Gladys Grace Rotaquio Testado, a 28-year-old company worker of

Tokyo/Beijing, Nov. 25 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government indicated Tuesday that it will not change its conventional position regarding a so-called existential crisis situation under Japan’s national security legislation, following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent remark on a possible contingency around Taiwan. The

Tokyo, Nov. 25 (Jiji Press)–A powerful earthquake hit southwestern Japan on Tuesday, measuring up to upper 5, the fourth-highest level on the country’s 10-point seismic intensity scale, in Kumamoto Prefecture. The temblor with an estimated magnitude of 5.8 occurred at a depth

Nara, Nov. 25 (Jiji Press)–Tetsuya Yamagami, on trial for the 2022 murder of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said in court Tuesday that he felt despair and a sense of crisis over Abe’s video message in 2021 to a group affiliated

(Adnkronos) – In Australia, the far-right senator Pauline Hanson, who entered the chamber yesterday wearing a burqa, has been sanctioned. Seven days of suspension, local media report, for the leader of the One Nation party, who is not Muslim and advocates for

(Adnkronos) – The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights today appealed to the Nigerian authorities, urging them “to take all necessary legal measures” to end mass kidnappings in the country. “We urge the Nigerian authorities at all levels to take all