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The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Tourist boat with 26 aboard loses contact off Hokkaido
SAPPORO – A tourist boat with 26 crew and passengers including two children lost contact after reporting it was taking on water off eastern Hokkaido on Saturday, the Japan Coast Guard said.
A helicopter and patrol boats were dispatched to the site near the Shiretoko Peninsula, part of which has been designated as a World Natural Heritage site, to implement a rescue.
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U.S. highlights need for stable exchange rates in talks with Japan
WASHINGTON – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her Japanese counterpart Shunichi Suzuki have affirmed the importance of stable foreign exchange rates amid the yen’s recent rapid decline against the U.S. dollar, the Treasury Department said Friday.
The announcement was apparently meant to showcase that the United States and Japan are aligned on the issue, which has become a major concern for Tokyo on the back of the diverging monetary policies of the U.S. and Japanese central banks.
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U.S. warns Solomon Islands against allowing China military presence
WASHINGTON – The United States said Friday it has warned the Solomon Islands against any possible moves toward inviting a Chinese military presence following the recent signing of a security agreement between the Pacific nation and the Asian economic powerhouse.
“If steps are taken to establish a de facto permanent military presence, power-projection capabilities, or a military installation, the delegation noted that the United States would then have significant concerns and respond accordingly,” the White House said following a trip by senior U.S. officials to the island country.
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Japan, Russia strike deal on salmon, trout fishing despite sanctions
TOKYO – Japan and Russia have clinched a deal on Tokyo’s fishing quota for salmon and trout spawned in Russian rivers, Japan’s Fisheries Agency said Saturday, reaching an agreement on the issue despite Japan’s economic sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
The two countries agreed on Japan’s quota of 2,050 tons within its exclusive economic zone for 2022, the same level as last year, and the payment to Russia of a fee between 200 million yen ($1.5 million) and 300 million yen, depending on the actual catch.
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Romania vows to boost defense, condemns Russian aggression in Ukraine
TOKYO – Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca has pledged to strengthen his country’s deterrence and defense posture on the eastern flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, saying the country stands on the “front line” of the war in Ukraine.
In a written interview with Kyodo News, Ciuca thanked Japan for a total of $200 million in emergency humanitarian aid for displaced people in Ukraine as well as Romania, Moldova, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic following “Russia’s brutal, unjustified and unlawful invasion of Ukraine.”
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IMF-World Bank meeting also raps Russia’s war but skips communique
WASHINGTON – A joint panel of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank gave up on issuing a communique after its meeting Friday, releasing instead a chair’s statement criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The joint IMF-World Bank Development Committee skipped a communique for the first time under its current system. But the move followed suit after the IMF policy-setting body and finance chiefs of the Group of 20 economies also ended their respective talks without a joint statement.
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U.S. envoy to Japan highlights acceptance of LGBTQ people
TOKYO – U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel has said it is important to accept people of different sexual orientation and will attend Sunday’s Rainbow Parade in Tokyo to drive home the point.
The ambassador, who has also worked to promote marriage equality in his own country, said that gays and lesbians should be acknowledged as part of an inclusive society.
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FOCUS: Japan’s bid to address weak yen sidelined by G-20 rift over Russia
WASHINGTON – The meeting of Group of 20 finance chiefs this week in Washington, rather than showing unity, revealed a bitter divide among the world’s major economies over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, despite no shortage of other pressing issues to discuss.
For Japan, the yen’s recent fast-paced depreciation was a central concern it hoped to raise. But despite Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki taking every opportunity to raise the issue, his efforts to arrest its weakness seem to have borne no fruit.
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