Tokyo, 1 May, /AJMEDIA/
Japan likely conducted forex intervention worth around 5 tril. yen
TOKYO – Japan likely spent some 5 trillion yen ($32 billion) on Monday in currency market intervention, data by its central bank and market sources showed Tuesday, in the clearest evidence yet of the nation’s attempt to slow the yen’s rapid fall.
The government has not confirmed that it intervened after the yen on Monday tumbled versus the U.S. dollar beyond the 160 line, a 34-year low, and then jumped to the 154 zone in a short span of time.
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Japan PM Kishida leaves for trip to France, South America
TOKYO – Prime Minister Fumio Kishida left for France on Wednesday, the first leg of a six-day overseas trip that is also set to take him to Brazil and Paraguay during Japan’s early May Golden Week holiday period.
On Thursday, Kishida is scheduled to address the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris on various issues including climate change and international rules for generative artificial intelligence.
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G7 agrees to phase out coal power by 2035 but gives leeway
TURIN, Italy – Group of Seven environment and energy ministers agreed Tuesday to gradually phase out coal-fired power plants that have no carbon dioxide emission-reducing measures in place, specifying a deadline of 2035 for the first time.
But the joint communique issued at the G7 environment and energy ministers meeting in Turin, Italy, also indicated the goal should be achieved “in a timeline consistent with keeping a limit of 1.5 C temperature rise (as outlined in the Paris Agreement) within reach,” creating a loophole for countries reluctant to set a phase-out timeline, such as Japan.
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China implements law to strengthen control on state secrets
BEIJING – China on Wednesday implemented a revised law on guarding state secrets that is expected to help Beijing further safeguard national security following the entry into force of an amended counterespionage law in July last year.
The legislation calls for the strengthening of the management of secrets at military facilities and stresses the guidance of the country’s ruling Communist Party, allowing relevant officials to decide on their own what constitutes a state secret.
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China uses water cannons on Philippine ships in South China Sea
MANILA – Three Chinese coast guard vessels on Tuesday fired water cannons at two Philippine government ships near the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, the Philippine Coast Guard said, in another incident showing heightening tensions between Manila and Beijing over their competing claims in the sea.
The attack on a vessel belonging to the Philippine fisheries bureau and a coast guard ship took place while they were on a maritime patrol in the waters near the shoal, located 124 nautical miles west of the northern Philippine province of Zambales, according to the coast guard.
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Japan’s Itochu sets up new firm to take over scandal-hit Bigmotor
Itochu Corp. said Wednesday that it and an investment fund have set up a new company to take over main operations of used car dealership Bigmotor Co., which had been mired in an insurance fraud scandal.
The new company, Wecars Co., will run Bigmotor’s core businesses such as used car sales and repair operations, with all management executives of the troubled company dismissed from their posts. Bigmotor was renamed Balm Co. and will focus on reparations.
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Families of Japanese abducted by North Korea call for U.S. support
WASHINGTON – The families of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea decades ago on Tuesday met with senior U.S. government officials, asking them for help getting the victims home as soon as possible.
Takuya Yokota, the 55-year-old head of a group representing the families, said he told the officials in Washington that the aging parents of the abductees “do not have time” to wait.
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2 more arrested in case of burned bodies found outside Tokyo
TOKYO – Two men were arrested Wednesday in connection with the burned bodies of a man and his wife that were found outside Tokyo in April, police said, bringing the total number of suspects to four.
Kang Kwang Ki, a 20-year-old South Korean national, and Kirato Wakayama, 20, were arrested on suspicion of damaging the corpses that were discovered on a riverside in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, on April 16.
