The Latest Breaking News from Yomiuri Shimbun

GENEVA / BEIJING -- China has done an about-face since an October 2022 World Trade Organization meeting in which it clearly stated that it would not revise its standards to require office equipment such as multifunction printers to be designed and developed in China, it has been learned.

WASHINGTON -- A clear takeaway from the latest 2-plus-2 talks of the Japanese and U.S. foreign and defense ministers was the shift toward reinforcing the defense of the Nansei Islands.

The Defense Ministry is considering deploying a surface-to-air guided missile unit on a Ground Self-Defense Force camp on Yonaguni in Okinawa Prefecture, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

Aiming to eradicate dubious organ transplants overseas, five medical associations plan to issue a joint statement as early as Tuesday, according to sources.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hopes to visit the United States in January for a summit meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, and he "isn't considering" dissolving the House of Representatives soon for a general election, Kishida said in an exclusive interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun on Thursday.

Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Kentaro Sonoura resigned from the House of Representatives on Wednesday over a political funds scandal, dealing a fresh blow to the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

SHANGHAI/BEIJING -- Novel coronavirus infections are spreading rapidly in China following Beijing's altering of the nation's zero-COVID policy designed to contain the disease. The Chinese government puts the number of COVID-related deaths for December at four as of Sunday, but the figure clearly does not reflect the actual situation.

ESASHI, Hokkaido -- Birth control was only proposed "as an option" at group homes for residents with intellectual disabilities and residents agreed to it themselves, according to the director of the social welfare corporation that operates the homes.

THE HAGUE -- A recent report by a Spanish NGO has drawn renewed attention to the activities of so-called Chinese "overseas police" service stations, which monitor Chinese democracy activists and others living abroad.