World in brief

Patriotism to get push in schools

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government on Friday successfully pushed through landmark laws requiring Japanese schools to encourage patriotism in the classroom and elevating the Defense Agency to the status of a full ministry for the first time since World War II.

Both measures are considered cornerstones of Abe’s conservative agenda to bolster Japan’s military status and rebuild national pride in a country that had long associated patriotism with its imperialist past. The legislation cleared the upper house of parliament on Friday after winning approval in the lower house last month and will come into effect early next year.

Beijing

Currency talks end with little progress

U.S. and Chinese officials pledged Friday to work on reducing China’s swollen trade surplus, but they ended two days of closely watched talks with little progress on currency and other disputes that are straining ties.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said China would pursue currency flexibility, long-sought by Washington. But he seemingly came away with little more than Beijing’s standard statement that it will relax currency controls and enact market-opening reforms at its own pace.

The talks were billed as the start of a long-term “strategic economic dialogue” created in August by President Bush and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao.

Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Thousands protest president’s actions

Hundreds of thousands of Bolivians in this eastern lowland city protested Friday to demand more autonomy from the government of President Evo Morales and reject his control over an assembly rewriting the constitution.

The crowds stretched for blocks in all directions from the city’s signature giant Jesus statue, forming a sea of green-and-white flags of the state of Santa Cruz, which has long sought greater leeway from La Paz, the capital 400 miles to the west.