The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Gov't to aid central Japan quake recovery with more subsidies
TOKYO - The Japanese government on Thursday designated the powerful earthquake that rocked Ishikawa Prefecture and other parts of central Japan on New Year's Day as a "disaster of extreme severity," boosting subsidies for reconstruction work in affected communities.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government aims to expand its financial support for local authorities to implement measures such as the speedy reconstruction of roads and farmland, following the magnitude-7.6 temblor that left 213 people dead and 52 unaccounted for.
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Japan runway incursion measures not shared suitably with coast guard
TOKYO - Measures to prevent aircraft from making runway incursions may not have been suitably shared with the Japan Coast Guard, whose plane was involved in a deadly collision at Tokyo's Haneda airport, information revealed by the transport ministry suggested Thursday.
In the Jan. 2 collision between the coast guard's aircraft and a Japan Airlines jetliner, experts have pointed out the possibility that the former mistakenly entered the runway. Five of six people aboard the coast guard plane died and its captain was severely injured, while all 379 passengers and crew on the commercial aircraft escaped.
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BOJ can gradually raise interest rates from early 2024: OECD
TOKYO - The Bank of Japan can start raising interest rates from early 2024, given that inflation will likely remain above the central bank's 2 percent target and wage dynamics are also changing, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Thursday.
In its economic survey report on Japan, the OECD also urged the BOJ to make its yield cap program more flexible, warning of renewed market pressures to scrap it.
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Japan's ruling LDP starts debates to reform political funds rules
TOKYO - Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday started discussions to review rules for making the handling of political funds by its factions more transparent, in the wake of an ongoing secret slush money scandal that has shaken the LDP.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who heads the LDP, held the "political reform" panel's first meeting, with approval ratings for his Cabinet having plunged to their lowest levels since he took office in October 2021 against the backdrop of the scandal.
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Baseball: U.S. ambassador shares photos of meeting with Shohei Ohtani
TOKYO - U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel shared photos on social media Thursday showing him meeting with Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani in Tokyo.
According to the U.S. Embassy in Japan, the pictures were taken recently at the diplomatic mission while Ohtani was temporarily back in the country.
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Japan firms opt out of Malaysia-Singapore high-speed rail project
KUALA LUMPUR - Japanese firms have decided to drop their plans to get involved in a high-speed rail project connecting Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, government and company sources said Thursday.
The companies, including East Japan Railway Co., had hoped to utilize Japan's shinkansen bullet train system in the project but they have decided it will be too risky without the Malaysian government's financial support, said the sources, including those at the Japanese and Malaysian governments.
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South Korea top court upholds wartime labor ruling against Japan firm
SEOUL - South Korea's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld lower court decisions ordering Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp. to pay damages to South Koreans over wartime labor.
The ruling comes after the top court last month ordered the company and two other Japanese firms to compensate victims of forced labor during Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
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Japan's Renesas to buy U.S. chip firm Transphorm for $339 mil.
TOKYO - Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp. said Thursday it will buy U.S. power semiconductor company Transphorm Inc. for $339 million to strengthen its lineup to meet increasing demand for products in the auto, energy and computing sectors.
Renesas will acquire all outstanding shares of the U.S. company for $5.10 per share, a 35 percent premium to its closing price Wednesday, the Japanese company said. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the second half of the year.
Video: Rohingya people flee to Indonesia by boat
