Tokyo, 16 May, /AJMEDIA/
Xi, Putin agree on political settlement of Ukraine crisis
BEIJING – Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday he and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, agreed that a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis is the “right way forward,” and that Beijing stands ready to play a constructive role in achieving this.
Xi said at a joint press conference with Putin following their summit talks in Beijing that China hopes peace and stability will return to the European continent at an early date, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
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Japan’s 3 biggest carmakers eye tie-up over vehicle software
TOKYO – Japan’s three biggest automakers are considering collaborating over vehicle software to increase development efficiency as electric vehicles gain a growing share of the market, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.
Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., and Nissan Motor Co. aim to standardize part of their software to promote collaboration with their parts suppliers and IT firms over vehicle controls and developing services, the sources said.
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Japan’s economy contracts annualized real 2.0% in January-March
TOKYO – Japan’s economy shrank an annualized real 2.0 percent in the January-March period, marking the first contraction in two quarters, as domestic demand took a beating from higher inflation and a halt in vehicle shipments caused by a safety testing scandal at Daihatsu Motor Co., government data showed Thursday.
Real gross domestic product in the first quarter of 2024, adjusted for inflation, declined 0.5 percent from the previous quarter. GDP is the total value of goods and services produced in a country.
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Toshiba to cut up to 4,000 jobs in bid to turn business around
TOKYO – Toshiba Corp. said Thursday it will slash up to 4,000 jobs through offers of early retirement and integrate four subsidiaries into the parent firm to cut costs and turn around its struggling business.
The streamlining effort is part of a new growth strategy the Japanese technology conglomerate formulated after delisting in December. The company had around 110,000 employees as of the end of March 2023.
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Honda to spend 10 trillion yen on EVs through fiscal 2030
TOKYO – Honda Motor Co. said Thursday it will double its investment in electric vehicle technology from its previous plan to around 10 trillion yen ($65 billion) for the 10-year period through fiscal 2030.
The investment is aimed at enhancing the Japanese automaker’s competitiveness with powerful overseas rivals such as Tesla Inc. and China’s BYD Co. Honda seeks to increase the ratio of electric and fuel-cell vehicles to 100 percent of its overall new car sales in 2040.
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Japan government again ordered to pay damages over Cameroon detainee death
TOKYO – A Japanese high court on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling ordering the government to pay 1.65 million yen ($10,600) in damages to the bereaved family of a Cameroonian man who died in 2014 while being detained in an immigration control facility in eastern Japan.
The mother of the 43-year-old man was seeking 10 million yen in damages, alleging that immigration officials at the Higashi-Nihon Immigration Center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, failed to send him to a medical institution despite his claims of ill health.
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Japan agrees with Singapore to deepen ties under new prime minister
TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed on Thursday to strengthen bilateral relations with Singapore during talks with its new premier, Lawrence Wong, the Foreign Ministry said.
During their first phone talks, held one day after Wong was sworn as Singapore’s prime minister, Kishida said the two nations are “important partners working together on challenges faced by the region and the international community,” according to the Japanese ministry.
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Philippine civilian boat sails close to China-controlled shoal
MANILA – A boat belonging to a Filipino civilian flotilla reached the vicinity of a China-controlled shoal in the South China Sea on Thursday and distributed fuel and food packs to Filipino fishermen after evading a Chinese navy ship, officials of the group said.
The group that organized the flotilla — “Atin Ito” meaning “This is ours” in Tagalog — hopes to assert the Philippines’ rights to its exclusive economic zone.
