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A Japan Airlines Co. Boeing 767 passenger jet with a Disney-themed livery is unveiled to the press at Tokyo’s Haneda airport on Oct. 21, 2024, before its debut mainly on domestic flights to and from the airport later in the day. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Japan ruling bloc struggling to retain lower house majority: poll
TOKYO – Japan’s ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito party may lose their majority in the upcoming House of Representatives election, according to the most recent Kyodo News poll.
The outlook underscores the severe impact of the LDP’s slush funds scandal on the ruling bloc. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who heads the LDP, has set a goal of retaining at least 233 seats for the coalition, enough to maintain a majority in the 465-member chamber he dissolved earlier this month.
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NATO calls North Korean troop dispatch in Ukraine major “escalation”
BRUSSELS/SEOUL – NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday posted on social media a warning to North Korea that sending troops to support Russia in its war against Ukraine would mark “a significant escalation,” amid reports that their deployment to Russia’s Far East has started.
Rutte talked with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on the phone the same day, according to the South Korean government, with Yoon explaining that his country’s spy agency had discovered that North Korea had already shipped 1,500 special forces troops to Russia for training.
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U.S. F-35B makes 1st landing on Japan SDF carrier Kaga off San Diego
TOKYO – U.S. military’s F-35B stealth fighter jet has made the first landing on the Japanese destroyer Kaga in waters off San Diego, the Maritime Self-Defense Force said Monday.
The vertical test landing, executed at around 3 p.m. Sunday local time, is part of efforts to turn the Kaga, an Izumo-class destroyer, into a full-fledged aircraft carrier. The exercise is slated to continue through Nov. 18, the MSDF said.
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Japan woman likely swindled out of 100 million yen in marriage scam
NAGOYA – Japanese police on Tuesday arrested two men for allegedly swindling a 47-year-old woman out of 36.5 million yen ($242,000) under a false promise of marriage, suspecting she lost over 100 million yen in total.
Shuichi Ejiri, 51, and Yuki Takeda, 32, who had already been arrested earlier in the month on a separate forgery charge, are suspected of conspiring to defraud the victim, a resident of Aichi Prefecture in central Japan, according to the prefectural police.
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Vietnam elects Luong Cuong as new president
HANOI – Vietnam has elected Luong Cuong, a Politburo member, as its new president, the country’s second-highest position after general secretary of the ruling Communist Party.
He was elected president by the National Assembly on Monday and took over the post from To Lam, who had held it concurrently after assuming the role of party chief in August following the death of Nguyen Phu Trong the previous month.
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More Japan firms extend food expiration dates to reduce waste
TOKYO – Efforts to reduce food waste are gaining momentum in Japan, with many companies extending expiration and best-before dates for processed foods, although small businesses have been notably slower to do so, a recent survey showed.
The survey, conducted by a Consumer Affairs Agency panel and targeting 585 food manufacturers, found that expiration or best-before dates had been extended for 43 percent of the 935 products covered.
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China’s Wang praises Ishiba gov’t in talks with Japanese official
BEIJING – China’s top diplomat Wang Yi commended Monday the new government of Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba during phone talks with a senior Japanese official, saying it appears committed to promoting strategic and mutually beneficial bilateral relations, state-run media said.
Wang told Japan’s chief national security adviser, Takeo Akiba, that Ishiba’s government appears intent on not decoupling from China and eager to conduct high-level exchanges and engage in dialogue and cooperation in various fields so that the Sino-Japanese relationship can achieve a “smooth start,” the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Video: Japan Airlines B-767 with new Disney livery unveiled
