French rail strikes resume as unions square off with Macron, gird for 'marathon'
Travelers grappled with another crippling wave of transport strikes in France on Sunday, as train workers protested President Emmanuel Macron's economic reforms and a stand-off between the government and rail unions hardened. Train staff last week began three months of nationwide rolling strikes in a ...
French rail strike call sets stage for showdown with Macron over reforms
French rail unions on Thursday called a wave of strikes, setting up a confrontation with President Emmanuel Macron as he tries to push through an overhaul of the state-run rail operator. Reforming the debt-ridden state-run operator SNCF has long been a political hot potato in ...
INCJ looks to become holding company in bid to boost investment in startups
The state-backed Innovation Network Corporation of Japan investment fund will turn itself into a holding company to strengthen governance and boost investment in promising startup firms, a draft plan showed Thursday. The INCJ has been criticized for an excessive emphasis on rescuing financially struggling companies ...
Economic revitalization chief Motegi to tackle education, labor reforms
The new Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe aims to carry out drastic reforms to the nation's labor and education systems in a bid to wean the country off its "one-track" career tradition as the population rapidly ages, the newly appointed economic revitalization minister ...
U.S. eases some Myanmar sanctions to push reforms but keeps most economic curbs in place
The United States eased some sanctions on Myanmar on Tuesday to support ongoing political reforms, but maintained most of its economic restrictions in an effort to punish those Washington sees as hampering the country's newly elected government. U.S. officials said they were easing sanctions to ...
Panel calls for cuts in Lower House seats, reallocation of others to correct vote-value disparities
The reform would rectify gaps in the weight of votes between constituencies, and also cut the total number of seats to a postwar low of 465.
Obama, at NAACP gatheriing, urges Congress to overhaul mandatory minimum sentences
President Barack Obama called on Congress to pass legislation by year's end to lower or eliminate mandatory minimum sentences. Unduly harsh sentences and enforcement disparities undermine trust in the legal system, Obama said in a speech Tuesday at the annual convention of the NAACP in ...
Pope pays brief high-altitude Bolivia visit, praises reforms, pays tribute to slain priest
Pope Francis arrived in Bolivia on Wednesday, praising the government of leftist President Evo Morales, the country's first indigenous leader whose frosty relationship with the Catholic Church has begun to thaw under the Argentine pontiff's papacy. Morales has nationalized key industries such as oil and ...
Asian and African leaders on Thursday called for "a comprehensive reform" of the U.N. Security Council so it can better represent the realities of the international community in the 21st century. "We call for continued efforts to reform the United Nations, including the revitalization of ...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet on Friday approved a bill to help reform the agriculture sector by estranging a politically powerful farming lobby by revising agriculture laws. The move is part of Abe's effort to ensure long-term economic growth through structural reforms. The government is ...
Abe's JA reforms no salve for core problems, experts say
Takashi Tomita, who heads an agricultural cooperative in Echizen, Fukui Prefecture, is considered a ray of hope for a farming sector on the brink of collapse. Tomita's JA Echizen Takefu is a member of the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) group, the mammoth national organization that ...
2015: Make or break year for 'Abenomics'?
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is likely to pursue a variety of policies that may hold the key to Japan’s economic recovery in 2015.
