INTERNATIONAL A Japanese government agency on Thursday concluded a cooperation framework agreement with Russian state-run oil company Rosneft with an eye to developing oil fields in eastern Siberia. [KYODO]

INTERNATIONAL The Japanese community in Britain is hoping the government will rethink plans for a new English language requirement for foreign nationals coming to work in the country. [KYODO]

INTERNATIONAL Antonio Negri, an Italian political philosopher considered by many to be a symbol of anti-globalism, has given up a plan to visit Japan from Thursday due to difficulties in obtaining an entry visa, the sponsor of his planned trip said. (1) [KYODO]

INTERNATIONAL A group of 18 Japanese tourists who were staying in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa returned to Japan on Thursday afternoon on a ferry from Shanghai. One of the travelers commented, “Although we did not face any danger, the military checked the photos we took.“ [KYODO]

INTERNATIONAL Jimmy Sakoda, a retired chief investigator of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office who led investigations into the 1981 shooting of a Japanese woman in California, arrived in Japan on Wednesday, informed sources said. [KYODO]

INTERNATIONAL Top Japanese nuclear negotiator Akitaka Saiki said Monday he and his U.S. counterpart, Christopher Hill, agreed North Korea must give a full account of its nuclear activity as required under a six- party denuclearization deal. [KYODO]

INTERNATIONAL Veteran adventurer Kenichi Horie left here on a 7,000-kilometer solo voyage to Japan using a vessel powered only by waves. (1) [ASAHI]

INTERNATIONAL Eight geography books seized at Shanghai customs that had been destined for a school for Japanese children residing in China have been sent back to Japan probably because they depicted the disputed Senkaku Islands as belonging to Japan, the Education, Science and Technology Ministry said. [YOMIURI]

INTERNATIONAL Australian Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson says his government has been investigating the radical protest activities conducted against Japanese whaling vessels by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a U.S. antiwhaling group, and it is open to bringing criminal charges against the activists. [YOMIURI]

INTERNATIONAL When astronaut Takao Doi entered the logistics module of Japan’s Kibo laboratory on the International Space Station on Friday, a man and his young daughter watched via monitors from the visitor’s gallery at the Johnson Space Center’s control room. [YOMIURI]

INTERNATIONAL A defense attorney filed a motion Friday seeking to throw out the Los Angeles arrest warrant for a Japanese businessman being held in Saipan in the 1980s murder of his wife, claiming that a new trial for Kazuyoshi Miura would be double jeopardy because he was already tried in Japan. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

INTERNATIONAL A Japanese journalist suffered injuries Saturday in a bomb attack on an Italian restaurant in central Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital.

INTERNATIONAL The Japanese government decided Saturday to extend its economic sanctions against North Korea for another six months beyond their expiration on April 13 unless progress is made on the issue of North Korea’s past abductions of Japanese nationals and other pending issues, a government source said. [KYODO]

INTERNATIONAL Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura called on Saturday on both the Chinese government and demonstrators to exercise self-restraint following the recent clashes in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. (1)

INTERNATIONAL Canadian and the U.S. government officials and a law expert Friday urged Japan to join an international legal framework to resolve cross-border cases of child abduction by parents and others. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

INTERNATIONAL The head of China’s food safety watchdog on Thursday accused some sections of the news media of fuelling public anxiety in Japan over a food poisoning outbreak involving Chinese-made “gyoza” dumplings. [KYODO]

INTERNATIONAL Japan has denied paying for delegates from small states to attend international whaling negotiations, following a claim from the Solomon Islands that Tokyo had usually funded its attendance at meetings of the International Whaling Commission. [BBC]

INTERNATIONAL A 45-year-old Japanese man has been shot dead by gunmen in the northern Philippines during a botched robbery attempt, police said Saturday. [KYODO]

INTERNATIONAL The Japanese Embassy in London has racked up more than £1 million worth of unpaid traffic charges and penalties in a diplomatic dispute with city chiefs. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

INTERNATIONAL A top aide to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Tuesday urged that the United States lift its sanctions on Sudan and also said that Khartoum will welcome Japan’s contribution of troops for demining and infrastructure construction. [KYODO]