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Kyodo news summary -9-(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) TOKYO, Nov. 27 -- (Kyodo) _ ---------- Seven & I to offer free Internet connection at 10,000 outlets TOKYO - Seven & I Holdings Co. said Tuesday it will offer free Wi-Fi Internet connection service at its around 10,000 retail outlets, including Seven-Eleven convenience stores and Ito-Yokado supermarkets, from Saturday. Under the new service, which is touted to be one of the largest of its kind provided by a retailer in Japan, the company will offer original online games to attract customers while aiming to have the public use it as information infrastructure in case of major disasters, it said. ---------- OECD cuts Japan growth forecasts on slowing reconstruction TOKYO - The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Tuesday downwardly revised its projections for Japan's economic growth, citing waning government spending on reconstruction following the March 2011 earthquake and the world economic downturn. The OECD said in its biannual report that the Japanese economy would expand 1.6 percent this year, downgraded from its May forecast of 2.0 percent in terms of inflation-adjusted gross domestic product growth. ---------- DPJ vows to phase out nuclear energy in election pledge TOKYO - The ruling Democratic Party of Japan, headed by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, promised Tuesday to phase out nuclear energy in the 2030s and fight deflation by cooperating with the Bank of Japan in its manifesto Noda implies focuses more on feasibility than appeal. In its pledges released ahead of the Dec. 16 House of Representatives election, the party also said it will simultaneously promote Japan's participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks and other free trade frameworks such as a trilateral pact with China and South Korea. ---------- Norovirus epidemic signs seen in Japan TOKYO - The health ministry urged local governments in Japan on Tuesday to pay attention to a norovirus epidemic after suspected cases of infectious gastroenteritis caused by noroviruses increased at the highest pace since 2006. The average number of suspected norovirus patients reported by 3,000 medical institutions in Japan stood at 11.39 in the week of Nov. 12-18, the highest for the period since 16.42 in 2006, said the National Institute of Infectious Diseases. The number was close to last year's peak at 12.76. ---------- Japan to launch radar satellite on H-2A rocket in Jan. TOKYO - The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Tuesday they will launch a fourth radar intelligence satellite on an H-2A rocket on Jan. 27. If the launch is successful, Japan will have two radar satellites in operation capable of taking images at night and through cloud cover of objects on earth as small as one meter. ---------- 3 more Tibetans self-immolate to protest Chinese suppression HONG KONG - Three more Tibetans have died in self-immolation protests against China's suppression of Tibetans, bringing to 22 the number that have taken place so far this month, the Tibetan government-in-exile said Tuesday. Sangay Dolma, a 17-year-old nun, set herself on fire and died Sunday in a village in the Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province; Kunchok Tsering, an 18-year-old man, did the same Monday in a town in the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Gansu Province; and Gonpo Tsering, a 24-year-old man did likewise in the prayer hall of a monastery in the same Gansu prefecture, the India-based Central Tibetan Administration said on its website. ---------- Juroku Bank allies with Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Bank NAGOYA - The Juroku Bank said Tuesday it has tied up with Ayeyarwady Bank, a major private concern in Myanmar, in the first such arrangement between a Japanese regional lender and a Myanmar financial institution to help Japanese companies set up business in the Southeast Asian country. Based on the agreement, the Juroku Bank, based in the central Japan city of Gifu, will provide its client companies with information about the business environment and the legal system in Myanmar. (c) 2012 Kyodo News International, Inc. |