日: 2024年4月26日

1. The Japanese government has conducted its first survey on child abuse linked to the religious beliefs of the child’s guardians. It found that there were 47 cases of such abuse in the country during an 18-month period through last September. The Children and Families Agency conducted the survey at child consultation centers, schools and other places. It released the results on Friday.
2. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi are holding a meeting in Beijing. The talks got underway on Friday morning. At the start of the meeting, Wang said that the China-US relationship is beginning to stabilize overall. But he noted that negative factors in the bilateral relationship are still increasing and building. He added that China’s core interests are always facing challenges. 3. The Bank of Japan says it will leave its monetary policy unchanged. On the Tokyo foreign-exchange market, the BOJ decision prompted investors to sell the yen. The Japanese currency dropped to the 156 yen-level a fresh 34-year low. Market watchers believe the wide interest-rate gap between the United States and Japan will remain for the time being. That’s driving the move to the higher-yielding dollar.

1.　Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and her Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son have agreed to work for regional stability based on international law. Vietnam’s state-run media says the two exchanged views on trade and security at a meeting on Wednesday in Hanoi. 2. The leaders of Iran and Pakistan have agreed to further expand trade and economic cooperation, vowing to increase annual trade to 10 billion dollars. Pakistan’s foreign ministry issued a joint statement on Wednesday. It said the neighboring nations vowed to take annual bilateral trade to 10 billion dollars in five years. They also agreed to quickly finalize a free trade agreement.
3. The Philippines and the United States have agreed to work toward sharing military information, and to hold a dialogue between their defense chiefs this year. This comes as tensions between Manila and Beijing heat up over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.