Japan News Online

New York transit union ends three-day strike

The executive board of the Local 100 union of the Transit Workers Union, voted overwhelmingly Thursday afternoon to end the three-day transit strike in New York City, while continuing negotiations to work out a contract with the Metropolitan State Authority with state mediators. TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint appeared relieved as he spoke to reporters. ''I'm pleased to announce that the Local 100 executive board just voted overwhelmingly to direct transit workers to return to work immediately and to resume bus and subway service throughout the five boroughs of New York City, and we thank riders for their patience and forbearance,'' he said.

KDDI to tie up with Qualcomm for mobile phone broadcasting

KDDI Corp. said Thursday it will tie up with Qualcomm Inc., a U.S. wireless communication technology firm, to start a broadcasting business for mobile phones. KDDI, a major Japanese telecommunications company, said it will establish a planning firm for the new business with Qualcomm Japan, the Japanese arm of the U.S. company, next Tuesday.

Japan aims to develop original next-generation Internet search engine

Japan set up a study group Thursday consisting of officials from the government, industry and academia in a bid to challenge Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. by developing a next-generation Internet search engine that will be capable of looking for music as well as images and videos. The group, which was set up at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, brings together electronics and telecommunications giants, such as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Hitachi Ltd., NEC Corp., Sharp Corp., Fujitsu Ltd., Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., as well as major media companies and universities.