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Kyodo news summary -1-(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) ---------- North Korea invites EU human rights envoy BRUSSELS - The North Korean government has invited the European Union's special representative for human rights Stavros Lambrinidis to the country and the EU is currently considering how to respond to the offer, a spokesperson for the European External Action Service said Friday. North Korea has been showing signs of engagement with the international community against the backdrop of growing criticism of the country's human rights issues, prompted by a U.N. report in February on rights abuses and a draft U.N. resolution unveiled in October by the EU and Japan denouncing rights violations. ---------- FOCUS: GPIF reform likely to support stock market in long run TOKYO - New asset allocations announced Friday by the world's largest public pension fund may play key roles in supporting the Japanese stock market in both the short and long term. "The Nikkei stock index could aim for 17,500 by the end of this year," also helped by the "surprising" additional monetary easing announced Friday by the Bank of Japan, said Shingo Ide, chief researcher at the NLI Research Institute. ---------- FEATURE: Filipino man continues to promote "nobility" of WWII kamikaze pilots ANGELES CITY, Philippines - Seventy years since the first ever kamikaze unit for a war was organized in the Philippines, a Filipino man continues to promote his personal belief that the Japanese suicide attackers during World War II are noble warriors who deserve to be honored through various memorials. Daniel Dizon, 84, said that despite the strong opposition he received from the time he co-founded the Kamikaze Memorial Society of the Philippines and initiated the erection of a kamikaze monument in the 1970s in his home province of Pampanga, north of Manila, his endeavor to honor the kamikaze pilots shall linger, even beyond his lifetime. ---------- Dollar, U.S. stocks climb on Bank of Japan's surprise easing NEW YORK - The U.S. dollar jumped above 112 yen for the first time in nearly seven years in New York while U.S. stocks reached record highs after the Bank of Japan's overnight surprise action to sharply ease monetary policy. At 5 p.m., the dollar traded at 112.26-36 yen, after temporarily hitting 112.47 yen, its highest level in roughly six years and 10 months, fueled by speculation that interest rate gaps between Japan and the United States will widen. The dollar was at 111.22-23 yen at 5 p.m. Friday in Tokyo. ---------- U.S. blacklists Myanmar official over alleged human rights violations WASHINGTON - The U.S. Treasury Department said Friday it has designated a senior Myanmar government official as subject to economic sanction measures for alleged involvement in human rights violations. Aung Thaung, former head of the Ministry of Industry 1, was involved in human rights abuses related to political repression and activities facilitating public corruption, it said. ---------- Hitachi Metals of Japan agrees to U.S. fine for cartel WASHINGTON - The U.S. Justice Department said Friday Japanese machinery parts maker Hitachi Metals Ltd. has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $1.25 million fine for its role in a price-fixing cartel for auto components. The department alleged the company was involved in a conspiracy to rig prices from 2005 to 2009 for brake hose sold to Toyota Motor Corp. in the United States and elsewhere. ---------- FEATURE: Professor close to making Japan's best dinosaur find ASAHIKAWA, Japan - A 42-year-old professor is on the verge of unearthing in Hokkaido what could be the best-preserved and most complete fossils of a dinosaur ever found in Japan. In September, a team led by Yoshitsugu Kobayashi, associate professor at the Hokkaido University Museum, conducted a second round of excavations at a site in Mukawa that was part of the seabed around 72 million years ago in the late Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic era. ---------- ANALYSIS: Surprise BOJ move presses Abe to raise tax TOKYO - The Bank of Japan's decision Friday to additionally ease monetary policy was a surprise to many. It soon became clear, though, that BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda is pressing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to raise the consumption tax again next year as planned to improve the country's fiscal health despite concerns it could further slow Japan's economic recovery. ---------- Tesla Motors opens temporary showroom in Osaka amid elevated interest OSAKA - Tesla Motors Inc., a U.S. maker of electric vehicles, opened a temporary showroom in Osaka City on Saturday ahead of the establishment in spring of a permanent shop to showcase its products. Tesla said it has been receiving inquiries and orders from customers in the region as its name recognition increased due to ties in the battery business with Panasonic Corp., a major Japanese electronics maker with roots in the western Japan city. (c) 2014 Kyodo News |