Tarō

Bulgaria hopes a Japanese carmaker will invest in it. Japan's investments in Bulgaria have been the focus of talks between Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva and Japan's first diplomat Taro Kono.

Japan's Foreign Minister visits Bulgaria at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister Zaharieva. This is the first visit at this level in 12 years.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono has said he will pay an official visit to Turkey on Dec. 28.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono on Dec. 28 paid an official visit to Turkey

Three earthquakes of magnitude 2.6, 3.3 and 4.4 on Sunday shook the region around the northern Italian town of Parma, but no damage were reported Gulf Times reported.

The strongest temblor took place at 1.37 pm (12:37 GMT) and had its epicentre at a depth of 32 kilometres, near the town of Fornovo di Taro, Italy's volcanic institute INGV said.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said stronger pressure would be needed on North Korea after its latest missile launch, which flew over Japanese territory early on Tuesday, Reuters reports.