http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstCategory/index.php?cmenuid=2 Kyodo News on the Web: Daily international, Japan news, Japan News, national and local news coverage from the newspaper, breaking news updates, technology news, sports, reviews, listings. Kyodo News (C) All Rights Reserved http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstCategory/index.php?cmenuid=2 en http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=490080 U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday outlined a new strategy to double the country's exports over the next five years through fresh funding of $2 billion fund per year from the U.S. Export-Import Bank to support small and midsize firms. Under the National Export Initiative, the Export Promotion Cabinet, comprising the secretaries of state, treasury and others, was created to push forward a comprehensive policy to boost U.S. exports. http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=490078 The following are the headlines of top stories carried by major Japanese newspapers in their Friday morning editions: -- Hatoyama Cabinet to exclude pro-Pyongyang schools from tuition-free program (Asahi) http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=490072 Myanmar's detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday denounced the ruling junta's decision to bar her from upcoming elections as ''unjust'' and called for forces within her National League for Democracy party to mount a ''unanimous response'' to the decision, her lawyer said. Lawyer Nyan Win who met with Suu Kyi Thursday afternoon for nearly two hours at her house where she has been detained said she had appealed for a ''unanimous response'' to the new election law, which has effectively disqualified Suu Kyi from participating in the national elections. http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=490071 Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos in December that Japan would eventually accept the 2006 accord to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station from Ginowan to the coastal area of Camp Schwab in Nago, both in Okinawa Prefecture, bilateral diplomatic sources said Thursday. Tokyo, however, has been forced to seek another relocation plan as the opponent to the current relocation accord won the Nago mayoral election in January. http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=490066 Selected editorial excerpts from the U.S. press: AN ENERGY HEAD FAKE (The Wall Street Journal, New York) http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=490061 Finance Minister Naoto Kan is scheduled to release some information Friday regarding a Japanese zero-interest account found at a U.S. Federal Reserve Bank in connection with the financing of the 1972 reversion of Okinawa, government sources said Thursday night. The Finance Ministry has confirmed the existence of the bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, but Kan is unlikely to say that it was used to provide extra money to Washington in exchange for bringing about the reversion of Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty from U.S. control, the sources indicated. http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=490056 Cabinet ministers compiled Thursday a draft climate bill for its official adoption on Friday, which stipulates Japan's goal of slashing its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 and measures to realize the target, such as emissions trading scheme, carbon tax and incentives to boost renewable energies. The ministers overcame differences over the architecture of the envisioned emissions trading mechanism, and the promotion of nuclear power generation as a step to implement the emissions-cut goal. http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=490055 The Government Revitalization Unit signed off Thursday on a new round of efforts to cut waste in government programs during the new fiscal year from April, this time directing each ministry to review projects and organizations under its jurisdiction, government revitalization minister Yukio Edano said. The newest review, which will be conducted ahead of the compilation of budget requests for the fiscal year from April 2011, will be modeled on a similar review of government programs by the key panel last November. Review sessions will involve outside experts and the process will be open to the public. http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=490053 Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told visiting former Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan on Thursday he will consider visiting China for an expo in Shanghai from May, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said. Hatoyama also pledged to the former Chinese foreign minister, who is now serving as an honorary adviser to the China-Japan Friendship Association, that his government will cooperate with a panel of experts working on the promotion of better understanding between the two countries. http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=490050 The farm ministry said Thursday it aims to have farmers increase the production of rice for feed use to 70 times the fiscal 2008 level in order to raise Japan's food self-sufficiency rate to 50 percent in fiscal 2020. In line with the goal of raising the rate to 50 percent from 41 percent in fiscal 2008, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said it aims to have farmers increase production of rice for use in animal feed to 700,000 tons from 10,000 tons in the fiscal year ended March 2009.