links for 2007-05-19

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition voted for the law, which cites “loving our country” as a goal of Japanese pupils’ compulsory education.

In his first public comments on Sudan since taking office last month, Yang Jiechi said boycott calls and other attempts to place pressure on China over the situation in Darfur would not succeed.

China’s decision to widen its currency’s trading band is a “useful step” but Beijing must still move more quickly to having the market set the currency’s value, a U.S. Treasury Department official said on Friday.