Rice stockpile eyed as Japan PM orders swift relief from rising prices
Voice of America
FILE - Shigeru Ishiba, Japan's prime minister, speaks during a news conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, Japan, on Nov. 11, 2024.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has ordered the swift implementation of measures to give consumers relief from inflated food prices, including an unprecedented release of stockpiled rice to bring down costs, a minister said on Tuesday.
Cargo shipping containers sit on a container ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles on Feb. 3, 2025. China and the U.S. rolled out back-and-forth tariffs over the past two days. A photo released on Jan. 31, 2025, shows two suspects being presented with confiscated illegal drugs at an undisclosed location in Mexico. The Mexican government announced that day it had seized 18 kilos of fentanyl hidden in a bus.(Mexican Ministry of Defense and Navy via AFP) A 2024 Ford F-150 Raptor truck is displayed at the Dearborn Truck Plant, on April 11, 2024, in Dearborn, Michigan. Ford and General Motors are two companies that could be hit hard by Chinese tariffs, experts say.
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FILE - Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa waits to welcome the senior Ukrainian delegation led by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha in Damascus, Dec. 30, 2024.
Thailand' s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra arrives at Government House for the cabinet meeting in Bangkok, Feb. 4, 2025.
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FILE - This picture taken on Sept. 10, 2023 shows Chinese tourists posing for photographs at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Thailand is concerned about the impact of Myanmar-based scam centers on its tourist market.
This handout photograph taken and released by Ukrainian State Emergency Service on Feb. 2, 2025 shows firefighters putting out a fire in Eastern Ukraine Sumy region following a Russian strike.
Israeli soldiers stand guard at a checkpoint where the military said an attacker fired at an army base near the village of Tayasir in the northern West Bank, Feb. 4, 2025.
FILE - In this image taken from video provided by the Philippine coast guard, two Chinese ships aim their water cannons on a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessel, center, as it approaches Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Dec. 9, 2023.
FILE - Shigeru Ishiba, Japan's prime minister, speaks during a news conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, Japan, on Nov. 11, 2024.
Members of the Congolese Red Cross and the Civilian Protection group bury dozens of bodies in a cemetery in Goma on Feb. 3, 2025.