The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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G-7 to call for peace across Taiwan Strait in post-summit statement
CARBIS BAY, England - Leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations are set to wrap up their three-day talks Sunday with a call for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, a diplomatic source said, a development that is likely to anger China.
In a joint communique to be issued after the meeting in Cornwall, southwestern England, the G-7 leaders are also expected to back the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics starting next month in a boost to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who faces a public skeptical about Japan's hosting of the events amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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China raps G-7 for trying to create global rules within "small group"
BEIJING - China has countered the Group of Seven's calls on it to participate constructively in the rules-based international system, saying the era of "pseudo-multilateralism" based on the interests of "a small group of countries" is over.
"The days when global decisions were dictated by a small group of countries are long gone," the Chinese Embassy in London said in a statement posted on its website amid a three-day G-7 summit under way in Cornwall, southwestern England, through Sunday.
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ANA begins on-site vaccination, first among Japanese firms
TOKYO - All Nippon Airways Co. on Sunday began its COVID-19 inoculation program for employees at Tokyo's Haneda airport, moving up the schedule set by the government by more than a week and becoming the first Japanese firm known to start offering workplace vaccinations.
The government unveiled a plan earlier this month to allow companies and universities to administer coronavirus vaccinations on site from June 21 as Japan looks to accelerate the pace of its daily COVID-19 shots and expand eligibility to younger people.
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Biden says he supports Suga's plan to hold safe Tokyo Olympics
PLYMOUTH, England - U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday reiterated his support for Japan's plan to hold a safe Tokyo Olympics next month amid the coronavirus pandemic, as he briefly talked with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
During several exchanges amounting to roughly 10 minutes of conversation on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Britain, the two also agreed to closely cooperate so that the G-7 can deliver "a powerful message" when it wraps up its talks on Sunday, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
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Japan, Australia vow to promote Quad cooperation with U.S., India
CARBIS BAY, England - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison agreed Sunday to promote coordination with the United States and India in the Quad grouping in an effort to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Meeting on the fringes of the Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, southwestern England, Suga and Morrison expressed their "strong opposition" to economic coercion and unilateral attempts to change the status quo with force, in a veiled rebuke against China's assertive behavior in the region.
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Japan welcomes German, French commitment to Indo-Pacific
PLYMOUTH, England - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga welcomed the commitment to the Indo-Pacific region expressed by Germany and France in his separate bilateral talks with the leaders of the two countries on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit on Saturday.
In their first in-person talks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Suga that she regards the Indo-Pacific as an important area for Berlin and that she wants to step up bilateral coordination in security and other areas, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
Germany is planning to dispatch a navy vessel to the region this summer.
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12 killed, 138 injured in gas explosion in central China
BEIJING - A gas explosion in central China's Hubei Province on Sunday morning has left 12 people dead and 138 injured, including 37 seriously, according to local media.
The blast happened at around 6:30 am at a two-story building in Shiyan city's Zhangwan district, China Daily reported.
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Judo: Asahina, Kageura claim heavyweight wins at world championships
TOKYO - Kokoro Kageura and Sara Asahina continued Japan's dominance at the world judo championships in Budapest on Saturday by winning the men's and women's heavyweight competitions, respectively.
Kageura broke a world championship drought for Japan in the men's over 100-kilogram division dating back to 2003 by defeating Russian Tamerlan Bashaev in the final at Laszlo Papp Arena.
