The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Japan annual wage negotiations begin as impetus for hikes grows
TOKYO - Japan's annual wage negotiations kicked off on Wednesday, with a focus on whether the growing impetus for pay raises among the country's large companies will spread to smaller firms amid historic price rises.
This year's negotiations are attracting heightened attention as the Bank of Japan, which has pushed forward with unprecedented large-scale monetary easing, is believed to be closely watching the outcome as part of its assessment of when to possibly end its negative interest rate policy.
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PM Kishida to vow stronger steps for recovery of central Japan quake
TOKYO - Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will pledge to take stronger steps for the recovery of a central Japan region devastated by a New Year's Day earthquake when he delivers his policy speech in the upcoming Diet session, government sources said Wednesday.
He is expected to announce the establishment of a headquarters, which he will lead, dedicated to formulating and executing reconstruction measures in the wake of the magnitude-7.6 earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast, claiming over 230 lives, the sources said.
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Bullet trains restart in eastern Japan 20 hours after power outage
TOKYO - Bullet train services in eastern and central Japan resumed Wednesday, their operator said, some 20 hours after a power outage caused a shinkansen train to halt between two stations the previous day.
Although some services were canceled, bullet trains on the Tohoku, Joetsu and Hokuriku lines have been operating normally since the morning, East Japan Railway Co. said.
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China announces bank reserve ratio cut to shore up slowing economy
BEIJING - China's central bank said Wednesday it will cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves from Feb. 5 as a monetary easing measure to shore up the slowing economy amid a property sector crisis.
Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People's Bank of China, said at a press conference that the reserve requirement ratio will be lowered by 0.5 percentage point to pump about 1 trillion yuan ($140 billion) of liquidity into the economy. After the cut, the average reserve requirement ratio for financial institutions will be 7.0 percent.
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Trump wins again in race for U.S. Republican presidential nomination
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire - Donald Trump scored his second straight victory Tuesday in the race for the U.S. Republican presidential nomination, further cementing his grip on the party and raising doubts about his sole remaining rival Nikki Haley's path forward.
Despite facing a host of legal problems, including 91 criminal charges in four separate cases, the former president's win greatly increased the likelihood he will seal the nomination and head into a general election rematch in November against his successor Joe Biden.
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Ex-LDP member Tanigawa resigns as lawmaker amid funds scandal
TOKYO - House of Representatives member Yaichi Tanigawa, indicted over slush fund allegations involving the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's largest faction, resigned as a lawmaker on Wednesday.
Tanigawa, who belonged to the faction formerly led by late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has tendered his resignation after last week facing a summary indictment for violating the political funds control law. Fukushiro Nukaga, the speaker of the lower chamber, accepted his resignation.
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Toyota's Daihatsu unit to recall over 320,000 minivehicles in Japan
TOKYO - Safety scandal-hit Daihatsu Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp.'s small car manufacturing unit, said Wednesday it is recalling a total of 322,740 minivehicles in Japan due to a faulty door locking system.
The defect was uncovered during Daihatsu's review of its vehicle safety testing, prompted by a conclusion from a third-party panel set up by the company that revealed decades-long safety test rigging.
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North Korea fires cruise missiles into Yellow Sea: South Korea
SEOUL - North Korea fired several cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, the South Korean military said.
The missiles were fired at around 7 a.m., South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
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Kyoto arson defendant's doctor calls for ways to resolve isolation
KYOTO - The doctor who saved the life of the defendant in the fatal 2019 Kyoto Animation arson has said he hopes the case spurs a discussion on ways to resolve isolation in society ahead of Thursday's ruling.
Suffering severe burns himself, defendant Shinji Aoba, 45, was in a critical state when he was brought to a hospital in Osaka Prefecture where Takahiro Ueda then worked, two days after the attack on July 18, 2019, that killed 36 and seriously injured 32 people.
Video: Popularity contest for monkeys
