Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 1600 GMT, July 31

TOKYO -- The Bank of Japan (BOJ) on Wednesday announced the decision to raise interest rates and cut back on government bond purchases, seen as a big step taken to shift its monetary easing policy.

The BOJ has decided to raise its policy rate to 0.25 percent from the previous range of zero to 0.1 percent, which was set when the BOJ ended its negative interest rate policy in March.

The second policy rate h