Новости за 11.01.2024

Japanese firms have decided to drop their plans to get involved in a high-speed rail project connecting Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, government and company sources said Thursday.

Though the publishing industry is still struggling to come out from under the cloud of the pandemic, with supply chain issues and cash flow problems plaguing all but the biggest presses, fans of Japanese literature have little need to worry about a lack of new releases. As I wrote in my 2023 list of upcoming must-read titles, readers have become spoiled for choice in recent years — and 2024 promises to be another bumper year for Japanese literature in translation and books about Japan.

Currency fluctuations affect different populations in different ways.

Despite what was largely seen as a swift response to the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit the Sea of Japan coast on New Year's Day, a week later the government is catching some flak from the opposition.

The government on Thursday designated the powerful earthquake that rocked Ishikawa Prefecture and other parts of central Japan on New Year's Day as a "disaster of extreme severity," boosting subsidies for reconstruction work in affected communities.

Fast Retailing said on Thursday that strong overseas sales drove a 25% rise in first quarter operating profit, as the Uniqlo operator charts a third-straight year of record earnings.

There’s been a shake-up in the passport world.

North Korea is looking to step up its military cooperation with Russia by sending Moscow new types of tactical guided missiles, while Pyongyang may soon conduct fresh tests of its own missiles designed to deliver nuclear strikes, South Korea’s defense minister said.

Sakie Yokota, 87, is increasingly fearful that time is ticking away, robbing her of the chance to once again see her daughter Megumi, who was abducted in Japan and taken to North Korea at the age of 13 some 45 years ago.

Measures to prevent aircraft from making runway incursions may not have been suitably shared with the Japan Coast Guard, whose plane was involved in a deadly collision at Tokyo's Haneda airport, information revealed by the transport ministry suggested Thursday.

China's recent mediation of talks between Myanmar's ruling junta and three ethnic rebel groups in the country has highlighted a perceived absence of Japan's leadership in addressing the prolonged crisis there, which observers believe has reached a turning point since the 2021 coup.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority has ordered its secretariat to thoroughly investigate the cause of damage to a nuclear power plant from the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula on Jan. 1.

Japanese food-maker Meiji plans to increase production of liquid baby formula products to accommodate increasing demand following a massive earthquake that struck central Japan on New Year's Day, company officials said.

The Bank of Japan is fully prepared to put an end to the world’s last negative interest rate, and April is the most likely timing for when it might do so, a former BOJ board member said.

When it comes to Sino-U.S. relations, things are likely to get worse in 2024 before they get better.

The 225-issue Nikkei average reached its highest level since February 1990 on Thursday, with a weaker yen buoying exporters and caution over an impending hike by the Bank of Japan continuing to fade on the back of weak wage data.

A Japanese technology giant is in the crosshairs of British lawmakers for building the faulty accounting software that led to what has been called the country's biggest ever miscarriage of justice.

It is hard to appreciate how strong the Japan-U.S. relationship is right now.

The Bank of Japan should gradually raise short-term interest rates and make its bond yield control policy more flexible, if inflation stays around its 2% target and is accompanied by sustained wage growth, the OECD said on Thursday.

Years of harrowing losses have left Chinese stocks with a diminished standing in global portfolios, a trend that’s likely to accelerate as some of the world’s biggest funds distance themselves from the risk-ridden market.

A cabin blowout at 16,000 feet and the grounding of more than 170 Boeing jets have rekindled frustration among airlines over the planemaker's struggle to contain a series of safety and supply crises, industry officials and experts said.

A Boeing-Lockheed joint venture's launch of a new Vulcan rocket this week inaugurated a formidable rival to Elon Musk's SpaceX, a milestone long sought by the U.S. government as it seeks to build a list of launch suppliers for its satellites.

A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Alabama can proceed later this month with the first execution by nitrogen gas asphyxiation, saying that the condemned prisoner was unlikely to show the new method amounts to cruel or unusual punishment.

Israel prepared to defend itself on Thursday at the top U.N. court against accusations of genocide in Gaza, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly rebuffed for the first time calls by some right-wing ministers to permanently occupy the enclave.

Taro Aso, vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, voiced a warning Wednesday about China's increased military pressure on Taiwan, saying in his speech in Washington that there should be more peaceful communication between Beijing and Taipei.