Tokyo, 26 November, /AJMEDIA/
Japan eyes using enemy base strike capability with U.S.
TOKYO – Japan is considering using an enemy base strike capability, or what it prefers to call “counterstrike capability,” with its ally the United States, in the event it comes under attack, a source familiar with the matter said Friday.
Highlighting the need to obtain the capability in response to a worsening security environment, the government will also limit the targets of such attacks to “military” ones, but it may be loosely defined to include not only enemy bases but also other sites, such as command centers, the source said.
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Ad giant Dentsu raided over alleged Tokyo Olympic bid rigging
TOKYO – Japanese prosecutors on Friday searched offices of ad giant Dentsu Inc. and an event company, and the home of a former Tokyo Olympic organizing committee senior official on suspicion of involvement in bid rigging for contracts related to test events ahead of last year’s games.
The searches, joined by Japan’s fair trade watchdog, followed a widening sponsorship bribery scandal over the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, also involving a former executive of the now-defunct committee that resulted in the raid of Dentsu’s headquarters in July.
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Tokyo says Uber Eats labor union has collective bargaining rights
TOKYO – Tokyo authorities on Friday ordered the operator of Uber Eats food delivery service in Japan to enter into negotiations with a labor union representing its staff, agreeing with the organization that the unit of the U.S.-based company had engaged in unfair practices.
The union, formed in October 2019, had been pushing for the operator to negotiate contract terms and seek improved working conditions, but the firm had been arguing that those using the platform for work are independent contractors and, therefore, should not be regarded as workers under Japan’s labor union law.
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Death toll in Indonesia earthquake surpasses 300, 24 still missing
JAKARTA – The death toll from Monday’s magnitude 5.6 earthquake on Java Island in Indonesia rose to 310, with 24 still unaccounted for on Friday, according to the country’s disaster management agency.
More than 20,000 houses were damaged, and over 160,000 people were displaced after the quake struck Sukabumi Regency, West Java Province, the agency said.
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China cuts bank reserve requirements to shore up slowing economy
BEIJING – China’s central bank said Friday it will cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves from Dec. 5 in a bid to ease credit and shore up the economy that has been slowing amid the nation’s strict “zero-COVID” policy.
The 0.25 percentage point reduction of the reserve requirement ratio to 7.8 percent by the People’s Bank of China will pump about 500 billion yuan ($69.7 billion) of liquidity into the economy. It will be the second cut this year following the 0.25-point reduction in April.
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Japan ex-assemblyman’s life term in drug case finalized in China
GUANGZHOU, China – The life term for a 79-year-old Japanese former city assemblyman in a drug smuggling case was finalized Friday after his appeal was rejected by a high court in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, his lawyer said.
The High People’s Court of Guangdong Province turned down a claim by Takuma Sakuragi, a former assemblyman in Inazawa in the central Japan prefecture of Aichi, that he had been asked to bring a suitcase to Japan by a Nigerian acquaintance but was unaware it contained stimulants.
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Japan space research team tampered with experiment data: JAXA
TOKYO – Japan’s space agency said Friday that a research team headed by astronaut Satoshi Furukawa tampered with data from an experiment simulating life on the International Space Station, indicating that it would subject him to disciplinary action.
Although there are no changes to Furukawa’s scheduled voyage to the ISS around next year, the 58-year-old astronaut will be “appropriately” punished as he bore partial responsibility due to his supervisory role in the experiment, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said at a press conference.
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Ex-finance official’s role decisive in document falsification: court
OSAKA – An Osaka court determined Friday that a senior Finance Ministry official played a decisive role in the 2017 falsification of documents related to favoritism allegations against then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but denied he was personally liable for the subsequent suicide of a ministry bureaucrat.
In its ruling, the Osaka District Court dismissed a damages suit filed by the bureaucrat’s wife, who claimed he killed himself due to mental anguish following the order by Nobuhisa Sagawa to alter state-owned land transaction documents related to Abe’s wife, Akie.
