from yesterday's Nikkei

液晶生産　低価格品を縮小　携帯など中小型　海外勢、攻勢で　エプソン内外の拠点を集約　東芝など情報端末向け増産

Seiko Epson corporation has decided that it will cut down its production of the small to midum-sized liquid crystal panel,which are low priced and used for cellular phone handsets,taking into consideration the recent fierce competition with foreign makers.Specifically,it will reduce the current six production sites to two by the end of fiscal Another move is that Toshiba and others are going to increase the production ratio of high quality products like portable information terminals.

from today's Nikkei

ソフトバンク　中国ネット大手を傘下に　交流サイト会員２２００万人　最大市場に攻勢　グーグルなども進出　攻防激しく

SOFTBANK Corporation has reached an agreement with a Chinese major Internet service provider Oak Pacific Interactive,based in Beijing,that OPI will come under the umbrella of SoftBank. According to the deal,Softbank is going to have a 40-percent stake of OPI with about 40 billion yen,and get the grip of the company's management.SoftBank intends to make this company play a central part in providing new services such as information delivery through the cellular phone in Chinese surging Internet market, where the number of the Internet users will become world's No.1 reaching more than 220 million ,exceeding that of the U.S.In the circumstances that many other comapnies,including U.S. Google, it is ceratin that the competition among companies there will become more and more fierce.

from today's Nikkei

民主、山口補選に勝利　対決姿勢強める　福田政権に打撃　票差２万越す　「高齢者医療」批判など影響
The poll for the House of Representatives Yamaguchi No.2 constituency's by-election was carried out on April 27 and the ballots were counted the same day.Because it is the first national election since the inauguration of the Fukuda Administration, the election has been drawing much attention from both the ruling and opposition camps.The result was that Hideo Hiraoka,54,a former House of Representatives member,endorsed by the Democratic Party of Japan,defeated Shigetaro Yamamoto,59,backed by the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito,with the margin of more than 20,000 votes.This result is sure to give a heavy blow to the Fukuda Administration and then give a confrontational momentum to the opposition parties.It is said that among the reasons the ruling parties lost the election was the criticism towards "medical treatment expense system for the elderly ."

from today' Nikkei

小麦高騰　コメで代用　農水省検討　米粉増産へ捕縄金　コスト、高止まりも
The Agriculture Ministry has decide to start the support of increasing the production of ground rice,which they think could make up for shortage of wheat flour,against the backdrop of the current situation that the wheat price has been surging up in the international market.Next year the ministry will submit a necessary bill for giving subsidy to the ground rice producers or related farmers to the ordinary session of the Diet.But the cost of ground rice is not so cheap,and there are some concerns that the price will stay at the high-level range.

from today's Nikkei

丸紅　銅鉱山　チリで大型開発　２０００億円　３割の権益取得　国内需要の５％、安定確保

According to sources,Marubeni Corporation has decided to participate in a big exploitation project of copper mine in Chile,investing about 200 billion yen for it. Marubeni will get the right of using 30% of the output and begin the import of 210,000 tons a year of copper ore,which is equivalent to 5% of the domestic demand,to Japan,starting the autumn in the year 2010.In terms of the volume of the imports a Japanese company undertakes in a single project,it would be the largest ever.And this deal will lead to securing the stable supply of rare metal for the Japanese companies.