INTERNATIONAL Chinese government officials and police said Thursday that after nearly four weeks of investigation they believe it is highly unlikely that the Chinese-made frozen dumplings at the center of a food poisoning outbreak in Japan were contaminated in China. [KYODO]

INTERNATIONAL Kazuyoshi Miura argued with the judge during a Saipan court hearing Wednesday, saying he was not a fugitive. [YOMIURI]

INTERNATIONAL Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday praised what he called Japan’s “firm” stance on Iran as the Jewish state agreed to step up ties with the world’s second largest economy. [AFP]

INTERNATIONAL U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday she hoped a Marine’s alleged rape of a Japanese teenager on Okinawa island will not harm the countries’ ties as she sought Tokyo’s help in pressing North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons. [MAINICHI]

INTERNATIONAL An 18th-century Japanese carving, which was one of several stolen from British museums in 1999, has been returned to its former home, officials confirmed Tuesday. [KYODO]

INTERNATIONAL Japan’s whalers won’t kill their quota of almost 1,000 whales, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said, after the group found the fleet in the Southern Ocean using tracking devices planted on a harpoon ship. [BLOOMBERG]

INTERNATIONAL Los Angeles Police Department investigators did not say at a press conference Monday morning whether any new evidence had emerged in the case of Kazuyoshi Miura, a former president of a goods trading firm who was arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife 27 years ago in Los Angeles. [YOMIURI]

INTERNATIONAL A group of six international companies, including Google and Japanese telecommunications company KDDI, is building a $300 million underwater fiber-optic cable linking the United States and Japan. [AP]

INTERNATIONAL A Saipan court denied bail Monday to Japanese businessman Kazuyoshi Miura following his arrest Friday over the 1981 murder of his 28-year- old wife Kazumi in Los Angeles. [KYODO]

INTERNATIONAL The arrest in Saipan of a former president of a trading firm who was acquitted in Japan of murdering his wife 27 years ago was possible because the principle of prohibition against double jeopardy does not apply when a person is arrested on the same charge in two countries. [YOMIURI]

INTERNATIONAL A 60-year-old former president of an imported goods trading firm who was acquitted by a Japanese court of murdering his 28-year-old wife in Los Angeles 27 years ago was arrested on the same charge at an airport in Saipan on Friday evening. [YOMIURI]

INTERNATIONAL A Brazilian court on Thursday put on hold a plea entry of a Brazilian defendant, who stands accused of killing his girlfriend and her two sons in Japan in 2006. [KYODO]

INTERNATIONAL Although expected to recognize Kosovo, Japan also wants to show “consideration” to Serbia, which opposed the new republic’s declaration of independence, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Monday. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

INTERNATIONAL A team of Japanese police arrived Monday in Yangon to hold talks with Myanmar officials about investigations into the killing of a Japanese journalist during the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in September last year, an official said. [MAINICHI]

INTERNATIONAL The government likely will agree to take in dozens of Myanmar refugees now staying in Thailand, sources said Sunday. [YOMIURI]

INTERNATIONAL Politicians in Japan have proposed the construction of an 80-mile “peace” tunnel to South Korea that would boost trade and symbolize a recent warming of ties between the former enemies. [THE GUARDIAN]

INTERNATIONAL The United States military sets up a task force to review and reinforce its sexual-harassment and assault-prevention programs in the wake of an alleged rape in Okinawa. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

INTERNATIONAL The head of a Chinese factory that produced frozen meat dumplings linked to food poisoning cases in Japan said Friday he feels confident that there are no quality problems regarding the factory’s products. [KYODO]

INTERNATIONAL The European Commission on Monday urged EU governments to take a united stand against whaling. (7) [HOUSTON CHRONICLE]

INTERNATIONAL Japan and Russia reached basic agreement Saturday to start governmental talks on a deal under which Japan will purchase some of Russia’s surplus quota for greenhouse gas emissions, as permitted under the Kyoto Protocol. [YOMIURI]