Tokyo, 28 May, /AJMEDIA/
G-7 ministers voice grave concern about soaring energy prices
BERLIN – Ministers from the Group of Seven developed nations expressed grave concern Friday about soaring food and energy prices in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine, an aggression that has been threatening energy security in the world.
The G-7 affirmed cooperation in addressing soaring energy prices without compromising climate policy mechanisms that would spur transition to clean energy from fossil fuel, according to a communique issued after a two-day ministerial meeting on climate, energy and environment issues in Berlin.
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Former Ukraine leader Poroshenko says “maniac” Putin cannot be trusted
KYIV, Ukraine – Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko learned during Vladimir Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and conflict in his nation’s east that the Russian leader is unreliable and interested only in wielding power.
“Putin is a dangerous negotiator. But he understands only strength…Don’t trust Putin,” he said in a recent interview with Kyodo News conducted as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine passed the three-month mark.
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Kishida, Malaysia PM agree to cooperate in Ukrainian crisis response
TOKYO- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Malaysian counterpart Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Friday affirmed opposition to infringement of any nation’s sovereignty and agreed to cooperate in responding to impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the global economy and tackling humanitarian issues resulting from the crisis.
The leaders reaffirmed the importance of maintaining international order based on the rule of law, with Kishida saying he strongly opposes any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East and South China seas, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said, referring to military activities of an increasingly assertive China.
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Japanese Red Army militant leader released after 20-yr prison stint
TOKYO – Fusako Shigenobu, the founder of the now-disbanded Japanese Red Army militant organization that committed a string of terrorist attacks around the world in the 1970s and 1980s, was released from prison on Saturday after serving a 20-year sentence.
Shigenobu, 76, was incarcerated for masterminding the 1974 seizure of the French Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands, by the leftist revolutionary group that she founded three years earlier in Lebanon.
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U.S. imposes fresh sanctions on N. Korea over missile development
WASHINGTON – The United States on Friday imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea over its development of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles, a day after China and Russia vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution to slap tougher sanctions on Pyongyang.
The Treasury Department said two banks, one trading company and one individual are the targets of the new sanctions for their support of North Korea’s weapons development programs.
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Japan mulls easing weapons export rules to prop up defense industry
TOKYO – Japan is considering relaxing rules for exporting defense equipment in an effort to prop up the domestic defense industry, government sources said Friday.
Details of the planned revision will be included in a basic policy for economic and fiscal management to be finalized by the government in June, the sources said. But the easing of export controls is expected to raise concerns that Japanese-made weapons may be used in conflicts overseas.
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BOJ’s gov’t bond holdings in FY 2021 fall for 1st time under Kuroda
TOKYO – The Bank of Japan’s holdings of government bonds dropped in fiscal 2021 for the first time since Governor Haruhiko Kuroda took the helm as more short-term issues intended to finance the government’s pandemic responses reached maturity, though total assets hit a new record, its earnings report showed Friday.
The BOJ owned 526.17 trillion yen ($4.1 trillion) in Japanese government bonds in the year to March, down 1.1 percent from a year ago, roughly about half of the state’s bonds outstanding. The Japanese central bank has been gobbling up government debt to keep borrowing costs at extremely low levels to support the economy whose size stood at about 540 trillion yen as of March.
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Japan to provide grants to encourage Ukrainian evacuee hiring
TOKYO – Companies employing Ukrainian evacuees to Japan will be eligible for grants of up to 600,000 yen ($4,720) per employee as part of measures to support people fleeing the Russian invasion, the labor ministry said Friday.
The aid, intended to help those evacuees find work while in Japan, is expected to be implemented from Monday.