Myanmar, Japan-linked consortium reach agreement on new airport plan
The Myanmar government and a consortium that includes Japanese engineering firm JGC Corp. has reached a broad agreement over a plan to construct a new airport on the outskirts of the country's largest city, Yangon. With the deal, the consortium, which also includes Singapore's Changi ...
Food banks spring up in Japan to match food waste with nation's hidden poor
Food banks are springing up in Japan as people become aware of the disconnect between food waste and the needs of the nation's hidden poor. Food banks supply items donated by individuals or companies to needy families such as single mothers and cash-strapped pensioners. The ...
Xi's African tour highlights China's expanding security role on continent
To see China's evolving foreign policy, look to Africa, where a desire to protect economic investment is leading to a revision of the country's hands-off approach to the internal affairs of other nations. Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to begin a five-day African visit ...
Delayed Kabul-Jalalabad road project highlights China's challenge in Afghanistan
A new road linking the Afghan capital with a trade hub near Pakistan has been stuck in the slow lane since a state-owned Chinese company took the contract to build it two years ago, bedevilled by militant attacks and accusations of mismanagement. The 106-km (65-mile) ...
Japan pledges ¥1.3 trillion yearly to developing nations by 2020 ahead of Paris climate talks
In a bid to fight global warming, Japan promises to boost its assistance for developing nations to ¥1.3 trillion a year by 2020.
Japan revisits Samawah, offering yen loans for Iraqi water treatment plant
Japan is seeking to extend tens of billions of yen in new loans to Iraq for a water purification plant in Samawah, the first major aid Tokyo has offered the city in about seven years, government sources said. The new assistance to the city, where ...
Abe treads in China's footprints in Central Asia, picks up human rights baggage
Prime Minster Shinzo Abe's trip to Mongolia and Central Asia — in which he became the first Japanese leader ever to visit Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan — looks to bring in a raft of investment deals for Tokyo. But the whirlwind tour likely had ...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday pledged a total of ¥13 billion in aid to Kyrgyzstan for repairing a major road and procuring equipment at Manas International Airport serving the nation's capital, Bishkek. In a meeting in the capital, Abe and Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev ...
Japan to provide ¥480 million in aid for Syrian refugee crisis
The Foreign Ministry said Friday that Japan will provide via international organizations approximately ¥480 million ($4 million) in emergency aid to Lebanon and some European countries affected by the influx of migrants and refugees. Some ¥240 million will go to Lebanon, which is hosting 1.2 ...
U.S. Congress look set to reject plan to admit more refugees as aid ante upped by $419 million
White House plans to allow thousands more refugees into the United States face stiff opposition on Monday in the U.S. Congress, where Republican lawmakers demanded the right to review, and reject, the effort, citing fears of terrorism. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday announced ...
The government decided Tuesday to provide ¥9 billion to help Myanmar cope with damage caused by severe flooding and send a monitoring team for the Southeast Asian country's general election in November. Of the total, ¥4 billion will be disbursed in grant aid to help ...
