-
Fed maintains easy monetary policy as economic recovery moderates
The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept its monetary policy steady with interest rates near zero and no changes in its bond purchasing, while warning that the recovery of the pandemic-hit economy has slowed in recent months. After a two-day meeting of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank said it will maintain its target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 0.25 percent and will continue buying $120 billion in bonds each month. While maintaining its commitment to using its "full range of tools to support the U.S. economy in this challenging time," the Fed sa...
Kyodo News
-
Japan's cinema admissions, box office revenue plummet in 2020
Cinema admissions and box-office revenue in Japan took a historic dive in 2020, due to delays in major releases and people staying home because of the coronavirus outbreak, a film industry body said Wednesday. An animated movie based on the blockbuster "Demon Slayer" manga series, however, provided a silver lining for the country's movie industry, earning about 22 percent of total revenue, according to the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan. In the reporting year, annual theatergoer numbers totaled 106.14 million, plummeting to the lowest since 1955, when the association was launche...
Kyodo News
-
Japan's Fujifilm to open cancer screening center in southern India
Fujifilm Corp. has announced the Japanese imaging and healthcare solutions company will set up a medical center focusing on cancer screening in southern India in February as the first project of its health examination business in emerging economies. The facility, called NURA, will open in Bengaluru, formerly known as Bangalore, on Feb. 4 to cater to an anticipated increase in the local demand for the early detection of cancers and lifestyle diseases. The center will be operated by Fujifilm DKH LLP, a local joint venture set up in 2019 by Fujifilm and Dr. Kutty's Healthcare, an Indian company, ...
Kyodo News
-
URGENT: Japan likely to extend COVID-19 state of emergency: sources
A growing number of people in the administration of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Japan's ruling party believe it will be necessary to extend the state of emergency for Tokyo and other parts of the country seeing a high number of coronavirus cases, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday. The state of emergency, which entails urging the public to refrain from going outside unnecessarily and asking restaurants and bars to shorten their opening hours, could remain in place until the end of February, the sources said. The current end date is Feb. 7.
Kyodo News
-
IMF upgrades 2021 growth forecast on stimulus in Japan, U.S.
The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday forecast the global economy to grow 5.5 percent in 2021 from a year before, upgrading its October estimate by 0.3 percentage point as Japan and the United States rolled out fresh stimulus funding to weather the coronavirus pandemic. Japan is expected to see a 3.1 percent economic expansion this year, up 0.8 point from the earlier estimate, while U.S. growth is projected at 5.1 percent, up 2.0 points, the Washington-based institution said in its update of the World Economic Outlook report. "The upgrade for 2021 reflects the positive effects of the onse...
Kyodo News
-
Japan to secure 20,000 freezers for coronavirus vaccines
Japan plans to secure about 20,000 freezers for hospital storage of coronavirus vaccines, as the country steps up preparations for their delivery, government officials said Tuesday. The government will purchase deep freezers and distribute them to medical facilities nationwide, with vaccinations expected to start in the country in late February, commencing with medical workers. The government will sign contracts with four freezer makers, possibly in early February, at an estimated cost of more than 10 billion yen ($96.4 million), according to the officials. With a population of around 126 mill...
Kyodo News
-
2 Tokyo doctors indicted without arrest over toddler's death
Two doctors were indicted Tuesday without arrest on a charge of negligence resulting in the death of a 2-year-old boy at a Tokyo hospital in 2014 due to excessive use of a sedative. The anesthesiologists who worked at Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital -- Toru Kotani and Satoshi Fukuda -- were charged with administering an excessive dose of the sedative propofol after the boy underwent neck surgery on Feb. 18, 2014. Although police referred a total of six doctors to Tokyo prosecutors last year, the two were deemed to have heavier responsibility in the fatal case and were charged, while ...
Kyodo News
-
Japan 2020 laptop shipments hit record high on teleworking
Shipments of laptop computers in Japan surged 25.1 percent in 2020 to hit a record high due to increased teleworking amid the novel coronavirus pandemic and the government's policy to supply computers to each elementary and junior high school student, an industry body said Tuesday. Laptop shipments reached 8.9 million units, but fell 0.2 percent by value to 679.7 billion yen ($6.6 billion) from a year earlier, partly because demand concentrated on low-priced laptops to secure units in a limited budget to distribute them to schools, the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries As...
Kyodo News
-
ANA to halt int'l flight services on 16 routes from late March
All Nippon Airways Co. said Tuesday it will suspend services on 16 international flight routes from late March due to falling travel demand amid the coronavirus pandemic. The services to be halted in the new schedule between March 28 and Oct. 30 include those between Tokyo's Haneda airport and Moscow, and Narita airport east of the Japanese capital and New York, as well as San Francisco, while reducing the number of flights between Haneda and Bangkok and on two other routes. The scale of operations is likely to be half of last year's initial plan for the period. ANA, which has now cut about 80...
Kyodo News
-
Biden signs "Buy American" order to support manufacturing industry
President Joe Biden on Monday signed a "Buy American" executive order to ensure that the federal government spends taxpayers' money on U.S.-made goods in an effort to revitalize the country's manufacturing industry. "Under the previous administration, the federal government contract awarded directly to foreign companies went up 30 percent. That is going to change on our watch," Biden told a press conference, criticizing former President Donald Trump's "America First" policy for not doing enough to invest in the country's businesses. Some $600 billion is spent for government procurement every y...
Kyodo News
- More