TOKYO, Sep. 6, 2010 (Kyodo News International) -- ----------
Malaysian man gets 6 months in jail for smuggling snakes
KUALA LUMPUR - A Malaysian wildlife trader was on Monday sentenced to six months in jail for trying to smuggle nearly 100 snakes out of the country.
Anson Wong, 52, who pleaded guilty to exporting the endangered animals without a permit, was also fined 190,000 ringgit (about $61,000) by the Sepang District Court.
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Fujifilm to enter Chinese cosmetics market with antiaging products
TOKYO - Fujifilm Corp. said Monday it will enter the Chinese cosmetics market with its antiaging skin-care brand later this month in a bid to meet growing demand from Chinese consumers, particularly in urban areas.
The Japanese company plans to start selling its Astalift skin-care series via a major Chinese online shopping site on Sept. 16 and also at its local distributor's outlet in Hong Kong sometime in September, with a view to expanding the business to other Asian countries.
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Tokyo to keep close eye on N. Korea's future leadership
TOKYO - The Japanese government is keeping a close eye on the reported North Korean meeting that is expected to determine its future leadership, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said Monday.
''I am aware of news reports (about such a meeting), but all I can say is that we are collecting information from various fronts and rushing to analyze it,'' Sengoku told a news conference.
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Japan's imported auto sales jump 75% in August
TOKYO - Sales in Japan of new imported vehicles, including those made by Japanese automakers overseas, in August jumped 74.9 percent from a year earlier to 19,718 units, rising for the 10th straight month, an industry body said Monday.
It is the highest rate of year-on-year increase for a month since June 2007 when the Japan Automobile Importers Association began gathering the statistics under the current format.
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N. Korea stresses significance of Kim's visits to China at expo
SHANGHAI - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's visits to China in May and in late August underscored the significance of China-North Korea ties, the North's Urban Management Minister Hwang Hak Won said Monday.
North Korea will continue efforts with China in strengthening and developing friendship relations, Hwang said at a ceremony to mark Pyongyang's National Pavilion Day at the Shanghai World Expo.
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Sengoku criticizes Ozawa's stance on budget ahead of DPJ election
TOKYO - One of the right-hand men of Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Monday denounced Ichiro Ozawa, a ruling party bigwig vying to become Japan's next leader, as lacking details on how to craft the fiscal 2011 budget.
''He is strongly criticizing (Kan) by not facing reality,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said at a news conference, when asked about Ozawa's repeated claims that the government has failed to slash wasteful spending and wrest control over the formulation of the annual state budget from the country's powerful bureaucracy.
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Freed Japanese journalist says his kidnappers not Taliban
OSAKA - A Japanese freelance journalist who was released Saturday after going missing in late March denied late Sunday that his kidnappers were Taliban insurgents as claimed by Afghan security authorities.
Reporting his arrival at Dubai airport on his way back to Tokyo,
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M'bishi Heavy to build environment, chemical plant base in Asia
TOKYO - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Monday it will set up a marketing and service base for environmental and chemical plant projects in Singapore next month to enhance its competitiveness in the growing Southeast Asia and Middle East markets.
MHI Industrial Engineering & Services Private Ltd., Mitsubishi Heavy's wholly owned subsidiary, would be its third base overseas in the business field, following subsidiaries in the United States and the Netherlands.
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REFILING: Justice Minister Chiba comprehends details on death row inmates
TOKYO - Justice Minister Keiko Chiba said in a meeting with campaigners against the death penalty Monday, ''I'm apprised at all times of information about individual death row inmates and keep it in mind.''
She was responding to a demand filed by the campaigners, including Amnesty International Japan, that executions particularly of those who are mentally impaired, old and seeking retrial should be suspended.
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China's Hu offers condolences to Manila victims, meets H.K. tycoon
HONG KONG - Chinese President Hu Jintao offered condolences to victims of a deadly bus hijacking in the Philippines on Aug. 23 when he met Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang on Monday.
Tsang's office that said before Hu attended a celebration marking the anniversary of Shenzhen getting special economic zone status he ''expressed condolence to family members of the deceased and survivors of the hostage taking incident in Manila. The central government will continue to support the (Hong Kong government) in handling the aftermath.''
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Dollar falls in lower 84 yen despite firm U.S. payroll report
TOKYO - The U.S. dollar fell slightly in the lower 84 yen level Monday in Tokyo despite Friday's stronger-than-expected U.S. payrolls report as some market players tested the dollar's downside in thin trading during the long U.S. Labor Day weekend.
At 5 p.m., the dollar fetched 84.15-16 yen, down from 84.38-48 yen in New York and 84.29-30 in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Friday.
