NATIONAL Japan News Review has not been updated the past two weeks because of a staff shortage, and will remain inactive for the next month. Service will be resumed on June 1. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.

KANTO A U.S. Navy serviceman has admitted to fatally stabbing a taxi driver on March 19 near the Yokosuka Naval Base and could be handed over to Japanese authorities soon, police sources said Wednesday. (4) [ASAHI]

POLITICS A stopgap bill extending a series of tax breaks until the end of May passed through the Diet Monday ensuring that a tax to fund road works ran out, meaning gas will become about 25 yen cheaper from Tuesday. (1) [MAINICHI]

KANTO A team of doctors has requested that media organizations continue to refrain from covering the private activities of the ailing crown princess, Grand Master Issei Nomura of the Imperial Household Agency said Friday. (1) [KYODO]

POLITICS Prime Minister Fukuda attempts to break a deadlock in the Diet by offering to let revenue from road-related taxes be spent on something other than roads in fiscal 2009. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

CHUGOKU The family and colleagues of a man killed by a train after being pushed off a platform at JR Okayama Station on Tuesday were further pained to learn the suspect’s irrational motive. [YOMIURI]

INTERNATIONAL The appeal against the acquittal of Joji Obara on charges of being involved in the death of Lucie Blackman is dividing the parents of the slain Tokyo bar hostess. [KYODO]

NATIONAL The school textbook screening process in 2007 is coming under fire for nit-picking over trivial matters. The problem seems to have arisen because no social studies textbooks, a major source of controversy in past screenings, were submitted for approval last year. [YOMIURI]

INTERNATIONAL China’s evolving space development should be closely watched for its potential impact on the country’s military buildup, a Japanese Defense Ministry think tank report said Thursday. [KYODO]

INTERNATIONAL The health ministry has suspended imports of Italian-made buffalo mozzarella after high levels of dioxin were found in the cheese, an official said Wednesday. [AFP]

CHUGOKU Police are questioning an 18-year-old boy over the death of a stranger who was pushed in front of an approaching train at JR Okayama Station late Tuesday night. (4) [ASAHI]

BOOKS/MANGA A budget panel of the Tokyo metropolitan assembly on Wednesday approved a controversial plan to invest an additional 40 billion yen for Shinginko Tokyo on condition that the metropolitan government strengthens its surveillance of the heavily indebted bank and spends no more taxpayers’ money on it. [KYODO]

SCIENCE Why do millions of people repeatedly fail to stick to their diets despite longing for slim, good-looking bodies? Mostly because they can’t withstand the hunger, according to a 2007 survey of 693 people conducted by Asahi Breweries, who claim to have developed a secret protein powder that could put a halt to diet futility. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

POLITICS Car owners can expect a break at the pump in the near future if the Democratic Party of Japan makes good on its threat to block a government-backed bill to extend higher rates on road-related taxes that expire March 31. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

KANTO Up to 6,300 people would die during massive flooding in the Tokyo area if a dyke lining the Tonegawa river were to break, according to a report released by the government’s Central Disaster Management Council. [ASAHI]

NATIONAL Japan will urge citizens to carry their own chopsticks instead of using disposable ones and go shopping with their own bags instead of using plastic ones, in a bid to more than halve the garbage it produces. (1) [AP]

POLITICS Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said Tuesday he would push for a permanent law to enable Japan to deploy troops abroad, despite its pacifist constitution that limits its military activities. [AFP]

INTERNATIONAL The U.S. Coast Guard said that bad weather forced it to suspend the search for the last missing crew member of the sunken U.S. fishing ship Alaska Ranger off the coast of the Aleutian Islands on Monday night. [KYODO]

NATIONAL Many of Japan’s high school textbooks will get more difficult in the 2009 academic year, in line with the planned scrapping of the cram-free education policy, according to the results of textbook screening released Tuesday. [YOMIURI]

KANTO The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday sentenced Susumu Ojima, former president of now-bankrupt Huser Ltd., to three years in prison, suspended for five years, for defrauding clients by selling condominiums whose earthquake-resistance data were falsified. (1) [YOMIURI]