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JAPAN
Aug 9, 2000

BOJ under pressure on zero interest rate

The Bank of Japan on Tuesday came under heavy political pressure to keep its "zero-interest-rate" policy during a meeting with the government's most influential politicians on economic matters.
EDITORIALS
Aug 6, 2000

Between a rock and a riptide

Where culture and technology are concerned, the news isn't just news any more; it's a chronicle of emblems. Barely a week passes without some fresh development highlighting the fact that everyday life is caught up in a riptide of change. Even those still standing timidly on the shore can see the way...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 3, 2000

Okinawa seen through the summit prism

It's a common belief that the annual G-7 or G-8 summits accomplish little more than allowing the leaders of the industrialized world to get together and make a show of global unity. Consequently, the only thing you can count on in the post-summit analyses is that they will dwell on what wasn't discussed,...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2000

Lebanon's Daily Star does battle on a new front

BEIRUT -- The Daily Star did not need to send a reporter to the front line to cover the first salvos of the 15-year civil war that nearly broke Lebanon's back. The newspaper's offices were already there.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2000

East Asia feels impact of the Putin effect

HONG KONG — As Russian President Vladimir Putin cut a swath through East Asia recently, visiting China, North Korea, Japan and the Russian Far East in a breathless seven days, he gave plenty of indications of the ways in which Russia is likely to change under his leadership.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2000

Pyongyang offers files on missing pair

North Korea's Red Cross Society has handed its Japanese counterpart files on two missing Japanese, but the pair are not among the 10 Japanese believed to have been abducted by North Korean agents, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jul 29, 2000

DDI to unite cell-phone providers into 'au'

Telecom carrier DDI Corp. said Friday it will merge seven of its eight regional cell-phone service providers on Nov. 1 to increase efficiency, naming the merged entity "au."
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jul 27, 2000

Sasaki talking the talk in Seattle

SEATTLE -- The good news is that Kazuhiro Sasaki is learning a little English. The bad news is that his teacher is Seattle Mariners teammate Jay Buhner.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2000

South Korea's new take on the world

The emotional pendulum swings in Korea are mesmerizing -- and predictable. First there was the euphoria triggered by last month's historic summit between the two Korean leaders. Then there was the inevitable reaction as more sober heads pointed out the difficulties that lie ahead: continuing talks to...
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2000

Top court backs state-sponsored health care for A-bomb survivors

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld lower court decisions that ordered the Health and Welfare Ministry to provide special medical coverage granted to survivors of the atomic attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima to a partially paralyzed Nagasaki woman who did not meet government criteria for such coverage....
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 17, 2000

Dioxin found deadly for sure -- and they're pumping it out

First, the good news.
EDITORIALS
Jul 16, 2000

The reliable magic of Harry Potter

It's been a bit of a Quidditch match this week in bookstores across the English-speaking world as children from 8 to 80 scrambled for their copies of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the latest book in the series that has become the biggest publishing phenomenon of the decade.
BUSINESS
Jul 12, 2000

Sogo rescue package will remain as is: FRC

Financial authorities are not considering, at present, reviewing a controversial bailout plan for Sogo Co., the Financial Reconstruction Commission chairman said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2000

Snow Brand scandal grows

OSAKA -- Snow Brand Milk Products Co., whose products have caused an outbreak of food poisoning since late June, replaced a dirty machinery part near a contaminated valve at its Osaka plant before a police inspection last Sunday, police sources said Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2000

Money talks loudly in American politics

After Utah Republicans booted Rep. Merrill Cook in their June primary, Republican Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, declared: "The bad news is a Republican incumbent lost." It's certainly bad news for the American people, who will be stuck paying...
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2000

Japan accepts U.S. demand for 41% NTT fee cut by '02

Kyodo News The government plans to cut interconnection fees charged by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. by 41.1 percent by the end of 2002, a move Tokyo hopes will resolve a bitter trade row with the United States before this month's Group of Eight summit in Okinawa.
BUSINESS
Jul 5, 2000

Upbeat 'tankan' may lead to rate hike

Business sentiment among the nation's corporations improved over the past three months, underscoring a recent recovery trend, according to the Bank of Japan's "tankan" business sentiment survey for June.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2000

Unemployment rate falls 0.2 point to 4.6% for May

The nation's seasonally adjusted jobless rate fell 0.2 percentage point to 4.6 percent in May, the second consecutive month of decline, the Management and Coordination Agency said in a preliminary report released Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2000

Radical Hindus wrecking India's tolerant secularism

NEW DELHI -- The new millennium has been terribly cruel to Christians in India. Fanatical Hindu organizations -- which are wings of the country's ruling party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- have unleashed a reign of terror on the second-largest minority group after the Muslims. Murder and mayhem and...
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2000

Rain-aided coalition cruises toward victory

Amid lower-than-expected voter turnout, the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling triumvirate appeared to have secured at least a simple majority in the Lower House in the general election held Sunday, exit polls show.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2000

LDP to take 64 proportional representation seats: survey

Kyodo News
EDITORIALS
Jun 25, 2000

Unbinding the ties

There is news from the Western fashion front this month that will make men breathe a little easier, especially as the days grow hotter. The tie, after having had its victims by the throat for several centuries, may finally be seeing its grip loosened.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 22, 2000

Thailand refuses to face its bloody past

BANGKOK -- The Thai Ministry of Defense recently released a 605-page report of a team that investigated a May 1992 uprising in which soldiers shot dead dozens of prodemocracy demonstrators. To people abroad, the news headlines may make it appear as if Thailand finally is coming to terms with political...
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2000

44% of electorate undecided, poll says

Interest in next Sunday's general election has grown over the past week, but 44 percent of voters are still not sure which party to vote for, a Kyodo News poll showed Sunday.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2000

Woman drops libel suit against media companies

A woman whose husband and daughter were found shot dead in California in May 1996 has dropped a libel suit she filed against Kyodo News and 31 of its member newspapers.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 14, 2000

Bombardiers and polar bears

TORONTO -- The Bombardier died about 10 km out of Arviat, and that was a stroke of luck. It's nearly 800 km from Churchill to Rankin Inlet as the snowmobile travels and there are only two settlements along the way. We broke down close to one of them.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2000

Four killed, several hurt in blast at Gunma plant

An explosion Saturday at a chemical plant in Ojima, Gunma Prefecture, killed four people and injured at least 27 — many by flying shards of glass, officials said.

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