Japan

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares skidded again Tuesday on deepening worries over the expanding outbreak of a new virus in China.

Markets in Hong Kong and mainland China were closed Tuesday for Lunar New Year holidays, while South Korea’s benchmark tumbled 3.4% to 2,170.88 as it reopened after its own holidays.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.9% to 23,128.24, while Australia’s S&P ASX/200 slipped 1.4% to 6,988.60. Shares also fell in Taiwan, Jakarta and Singapore.

TOKYO, Jan 25 (NNN-NHK) – A supplementary budget worth 4.47 trillion yen (40.77 billion U.S. dollars), for fiscal 2019, earmarked in part, to underpin reconstruction efforts in Japan, after a series of natural disasters, is likely to be approved by parliament next week, lawmakers were quoted as saying.

TOKYO, January 23. /TASS/: During the last stage of 1956 negotiations on restoring diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, the Japanese government dropped its claim that the sovereignty of the South Kuril Islands must be determined during future talks on a peace agreement, says the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, citing previously unpublished diplomatic notes made at the time by the staff of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

TOKYO, January 22. /TASS/: The development of Japanese-Russian relations has reached unprecedented heights over the past year due to implementing joint economic projects in the Southern Kuril Islands, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said during the debate in the parliament on Wednesday.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Oil prices dropped on Wednesday as the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) forecast of a market surplus in the first half of this year was enough to cancel out concerns about military disruptions that have slashed Libya’s crude output.

Brent crude LCOc1 was down 30 cents, or 0.5%, at $64.29 a barrel at 0731 GMT, after falling 0.3% on Tuesday. U.S. oil CLc1 fell 33 cents, or 0.6%, to $58.05 a barrel, having declined 0.3% the day before.

OKUMA, Japan (Reuters) - At the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant north of Tokyo, workers in protective suits are still removing radioactive material from reactors that melted down after an earthquake and tsunami knocked out its power and cooling nearly nine years ago.

On an exclusive tour of the plant, spread over 3.5 million square meters (865 acres), Reuters witnessed giant remote-controlled cranes dismantling an exhaust tower and other structures in a highly radioactive zone while spent fuel was removed from a reactor.

TOKYO, January 20. /TASS/: The Japanese government is determined to achieve a solution to the territorial issue and sign a peace treaty with Russia, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in his program speech at the parliamentary session’s opening on Monday.

"Step-by-step, the agreements, which we reached with Russian President [Vladimir] Putin are being implemented," Abe said. "Former residents of the [Southern Kuril] Islands go on a pilgrimage tour by plane to their relatives’ graves and joint economic activity is being cultivated on the four islands."

TOKYO (Reuters) - President Donald Trump marked the 60th anniversary of the signing of the security treaty between the United States and Japan with a call for a stronger and deeper alliance between the two countries, despite criticizing the pact six months ago.

“As the security environment continues to evolve and new challenges arise, it is essential that our alliance further strengthen and deepen,” Trump said in a statement dated Jan. 18.

TOKYO (AP) — One of the Japanese lawyers for former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn has stepped down from that job after Ghosn fled the country.

Junichiro Hironaka had been representing Ghosn in his defense against various financial misconduct allegations. His move, announced Thursday, was widely expected after Ghosn fled to Lebanon late last month.

TOKYO (AP) — A lawyer for former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn, who fled to Lebanon while awaiting trial in Japan, said his client was questioned an average of seven hours a day without a lawyer present.

Takashi Takano said on his blog post Saturday the questioning continued through weekends, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Takano has said he told Ghosn he couldn’t expect a fair trial in Japan, but his chances of winning were good because the evidence against him was so weak.