The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Kishida Cabinet, lower house speaker face no-confidence motion
TOKYO - Japan's main opposition submitted Wednesday a no-confidence motion against the Cabinet of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida over its response to rising prices and another against the House of Representatives speaker mired in a sexual harassment scandal as the end of the current Diet session nears ahead of a House of Councillors election.
Kenta Izumi, who heads the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters ahead of the submission that his party cannot overlook the Kishida government's failure to protect people's lives from the impact of rising prices.
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BOJ chief retracts price tolerance remark amid criticism
TOKYO - Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Wednesday retracted a controversial remark claiming consumers had become "tolerant" of rising prices, after facing criticism from lawmakers and consumers.
Speaking during a parliamentary session, Kuroda said his remark Monday at an event organized by Kyodo News did not mean that households had begun to accept rising prices.
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Family of dead Sri Lankan detainee demands apology from Japan gov't
Nagoya - The family of a Sri Lankan woman who died while in custody at an immigration center in central Japan last year demanded an apology from the government on Wednesday in a damages suit against the state.
The family of Ratnayake Liyanage Wishma Sandamali, who alleges she was illegally detained and died due to a lack of necessary medical care, filed the lawsuit in March, seeking 156 million yen ($1.17 million) in damages.
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Cambodia reassures no foreign military base to be allowed in country
PHNOM PENH - Cambodia's Defense Minister Tea Banh reassured Wednesday that no foreign military base would be allowed in the country as it goes against its Constitution.
At a ground-breaking ceremony for the modernization of facilities at the Ream Naval Base with Chinese aid, Tea Banh, also deputy prime minister, suggested some countries have spread misinformation about cooperation between Cambodia and China.
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OECD cuts 2022 growth outlook on high inflation after war in Ukraine
TOKYO - The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development downgraded on Wednesday its global economic outlook for 2022 to a real 3.0 percent expansion as Russia's war in Ukraine sent food and energy prices sharply higher.
The estimated growth of the world's gross domestic product was slashed 1.5 points from the previous December projection after Moscow began its invasion in late February. In 2021, the world's GDP expanded 5.8 percent.
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TSMC forecasts 30% sales growth in 2022 amid global chip shortages
TAIPEI - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. on Wednesday forecast its sales will grow about 30 percent in 2022 from a year earlier amid global chip shortages.
"TSMC is entering a high-structural growth year" despite the impacts of Russia's war on Ukraine, China's coronavirus lockdowns and global inflation, said C.C. Wei, chief executive officer of the world's biggest chip foundry, at a board of directors meeting.
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Japan economy watcher sentiment up in May on service sector recovery
TOKYO - Business confidence among workers with jobs sensitive to economic trends rose for the third straight month in May, supported by a solid service sector in the wake of the removal of anti-coronavirus restrictions, government data showed Wednesday.
The diffusion index of confidence in current conditions compared with three months earlier among "economy watchers," such as taxi drivers and restaurant employees, came to 54.0, up 3.6 points from April, according to the Cabinet Office.
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Japanese man wanted over COVID subsidy fraud arrested in Indonesia
JAKARTA - A 47-year-old Japanese man wanted by Tokyo police on suspicion of fraudulently receiving government COVID-19 subsidies along with his family members has been arrested in Indonesia, immigration authorities said Wednesday.
Mitsuhiro Taniguchi is suspected of defrauding the government of more than 960 million yen ($7.22 million) using a subsidy program for smaller firms reeling from the pandemic. Taniguchi's whereabouts were unknown after leaving Japan for Indonesia in October 2020.
