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Kyodo Top12 News (13:20)(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) ---------- Putin, Xi meet in Brazil, hail cozy ties MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jingping met Monday in Brazil and agreed to continue pursuing intensified cooperation ahead of Putin's scheduled visit to China in the autumn, which will be his second this year. "We have an enormous volume of cooperation. It is growing from year to year and our cooperation is gaining speed in nearly all areas," Putin told Xi in their talks on the sidelines of a two-day BRICS summit among the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which begins Tuesday, according to a transcript released by the Kremlin. ---------- S. Korea bids to host China-initiated infrastructure bank HQ: report SEOUL - South Korea has put in a bid to host the headquarters of a new infrastructure investment bank that China wants to set up as a counterbalance to the Asian Development Bank led by the United States and Japan, a Seoul newspaper reported Tuesday. The government made the request in April, saying it wants to establish the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank headquarters in Seoul or Songdo International City, west of the capital, the English-language Korea JoongAng Daily reported, citing government sources. It remains unclear, however, whether South Korea's joining the bank is contingent on the headquarters being based in the country, the report said, noting that it is believed China wants the headquarters to be in Beijing. ---------- BOJ keeps inflation forecasts steady, projects 1.9% in FY 2015 TOKYO - The Bank of Japan on Tuesday kept its ultraloose monetary policy steady to boost the economy while sticking to its earlier inflation forecasts, in a move that suggests the central bank will not immediately take action to further ease monetary conditions. The BOJ, which ended a two-day policy meeting, cut its projection for the country's growth for fiscal 2014 to an average 1.0 percent from 1.1 percent forecast in April, due apparently to negative impact from the April 1 consumption tax hike. It maintained the forecast for consumer prices to increase 1.9 percent in fiscal 2015, the year in which the bank aims to achieve its 2 percent inflation goal. ---------- U.S. military transfers 1st air tanker to Iwakuni from Okinawa YAMAGUCHI, Japan - A U.S. military KC-130 air refueling tanker arrived Tuesday at the Iwakuni base in the western Japan prefecture of Yamaguchi in the first transfer under a bilateral agreement to reduce the disproportionate burden of hosting U.S. bases on Okinawa. The long-delayed transfer will bring a total of 15 KC-130s to Iwakuni by the end of August, along with approximately 870 U.S. military personnel and their family members, according to the U.S. Marine Corps Iwakuni air base. It is the first time that U.S. troops have been moved from Okinawa to another area in Japan. ---------- Japan, S. Korea to hold talks Wednesday on N. Korea TOKYO - Senior officials from Japan and South Korea will hold a meeting Wednesday in Tokyo on issues related to North Korea, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday. The two sides will "exchange views on recent developments surrounding North Korea," Kishida told reporters. Japan is expected to brief South Korea about negotiations between Tokyo and Pyongyang over the latter's reinvestigations of missing Japanese including those abducted in the 1970s and 1980s. Junichi Ihara, director general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau at the Foreign Ministry, and Hwang Joon Kook, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, are expected to reaffirm trilateral coordination with the United States in reining in North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons development programs. ---------- Abe to make 5-nation Latin America trip from late July TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Chile and Brazil between July 25 and Aug. 4, the government said Tuesday. Abe will hold meetings with the leaders of the five countries, and in Trinidad and Tobago, he will attend the first summit between Japan and the member states of the Caribbean Community, or CARICOM. In Sao Paulo, Abe will make a speech on Japan's Latin America policy. Abe is also expected to seek support for Japan's bid for a nonpermanent seat on the U.N. Security Council in next year's election during the five-nation trip. "The region has grown increasingly important to the Japanese economy as a global manufacturing base and a supplier of resources," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference in discussing the purpose of Abe's visit. ---------- N. Korean missiles fired to counter U.S.-S. Korea drills: lawmakers TOKYO/BEIJING - North Korea recently fired missiles into the Sea of Japan to counter upcoming military exercises between South Korea and the United States, not to send a message to Japan, a group of Japanese opposition lawmakers said Monday following a visit to Pyongyang. "We asked if the missiles were fired because of Japan. They said that wasn't the case," lawmaker Taro Yamada told reporters at Beijing's international airport on his return from North Korea, where he and other legislators met with veteran North Korean diplomat Kang Sok Ju. He said Kang, who has strong influence over Pyongyang's foreign policy, described the launches as "countermeasures" against the annual South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises, which are scheduled to start Wednesday. ---------- Police may arrest system engineer involved in Benesse data leak TOKYO - Police may arrest a system engineer who has admitted to involvement in a massive customer data leak at Benesse Holdings Inc., as investigative sources said Monday the police plan to launch a formal investigation into the engineer as early as this month. The temporary employee worked at a contractor for Synform Co., a Benesse affiliate which provided database management services for the company, the biggest provider of correspondence education for children in Japan. While questioned by the police, the employee admitted to removing the data because of money, the sources said. The employee is suspected of violating the unfair competition prevention law, which bans unauthorized use or disclosure of trade secrets. ---------- KDDI, Sumitomo to enter Myanmar mobile phone market with local partner YANGON - KDDI Corp. and Sumitomo Corp. plan to operate a mobile phone service in Myanmar in partnership with the state-run Myanma Posts and Telecommunications, sources close to MPT said Monday. The parties are expected to sign an agreement on the joint operation in the country's administrative capital Naypyitaw on Wednesday, according to the sources. They had initially planned an agreement by May after MPT's decision last year to partner KDDI, a major Japanese mobile phone carrier, but negotiations were extended over budget and human resources issues, the sources said. The joint initiative would likely involve several billion U.S. dollars in investment, mostly on building and expanding telecom infrastructure in the country where only a fraction of its 60 million people has access to mobile phones. ---------- Abe's foreign policy draws mixed reactions in Asia: U.S. poll WASHINGTON - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's foreign policy is distrusted by people in China and South Korea but viewed favorably in countries involved in territorial rows with Beijing, a U.S. research agency said Monday. According to a Pew Research Center poll, confidence in Abe stayed very low in Japan's two neighbors but many respondents in Vietnam and the Philippines said they trust the Japanese leader. Abe is "quite well respected in a number of other Asian countries, with half or more in five of 10 trusting him in world affairs," the poll said. ---------- Tokyo stocks rise in morning, dollar in mid-101 yen zone TOKYO - Tokyo stocks rose Tuesday morning as investor sentiment was brightened by overnight gains on Wall Street. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 119.84 points, or 0.78 percent, from Monday to 15,416.66. At 1 p.m., the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average was up 100.17 points, or 0.65 percent, from Monday at 15,396.99. The broader Topix index was 8.67 points, or 0.69 percent, higher at 1,274.13. On the currency market, the U.S. dollar moved little in the mid-101 yen range. At 1 p.m., the dollar fetched 101.59-60 yen compared with 101.50-60 yen in New York late Monday afternoon. The euro was quoted at 138.31-35 yen against 138.24-34 yen in New York. ---------- Weather forecast for key cities in Japan TOKYO - Weather forecast for Wednesday: Tokyo=cloudy, occasionally fair; Osaka=cloudy, occasionally fair; Nagoya=cloudy, occasionally fair; Sapporo=cloudy, occasionally fair; Sendai=cloudy, then rain; Niigata=cloudy, then rain; Hiroshima=cloudy; Takamatsu=cloudy, occasionally fair; Fukuoka=cloudy, occasionally rain; Naha=fair. (c) 2014 Kyodo News |