The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Japan to vaccinate people aged under 64 at state centers from Thurs.
TOKYO - Japan's state-run mass coronavirus vaccination centers will start inoculating people aged between 18 and 64 on Thursday in an expanded drive to fill in vacant slots, the ministry in charge of operations said Tuesday.
The centers in Tokyo and Osaka were set up last month by the Defense Ministry to give shots to people aged 65 and older living in seven prefectures in the metropolitan and Kansai areas.
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Japan lower house votes down no-confidence motion against Suga's Cabinet
TOKYO - Japan's ruling coalition voted down a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's Cabinet in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, deflecting criticism over the government's COVID-19 response and plans to push ahead with the Tokyo Olympics.
Four opposition parties submitted the motion after the Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito rejected their demand to extend the current parliamentary session beyond its scheduled end on Wednesday.
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South Korea holds drill around disputed islets amid Japan protest
SEOUL - South Korea's military and maritime police began a joint defense exercise on Tuesday around a group of islets in the Sea of Japan, local media reported, with Japan protesting the move around the outcroppings it claims.
The South Korean-controlled islets are called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea. South Korea conducts the drill twice a year, usually in June and December.
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Japan to donate 1 mil. COVID-19 vaccine doses to Vietnam on June 16
TOKYO - Japan will donate one million coronavirus vaccine doses to Vietnam on Wednesday, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said.
Tokyo is also mulling donating amounts of COVID-19 vaccine to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand in July, Motegi said in a press conference on Tuesday.
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Japan gets vaccines for 20,000 more Olympic workers, total 40,000
TOKYO - The Japanese government has agreed to receive from U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. COVID-19 vaccine doses for an additional 20,000 workers involved in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, Olympic minister Tamayo Marukawa said Tuesday.
With the total number of donated vaccinations for Olympic-related staff doubled to 40,000, Japan has expanded its vaccine eligibility to volunteers who will be working at the athletes village, members of the organizing committee and domestic media.
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Moon intended to tell Suga plan to attend Olympic ceremony: report
SEOUL - South Korean President Moon Jae In intended to convey to Japan's leader his plan to attend the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics next month but could not do so because talks between them did not happen on the fringes of the Group of Seven summit in Britain, a local newspaper reported Tuesday.
The absence of talks between Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga during the weekend summit has prompted a war of words between the two neighbors, with Seoul reportedly claiming that Tokyo unilaterally canceled an agreed-on meeting, a claim dismissed by Japan as not factual.
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Panel concludes Mizuho Bank's poor system operation caused ATM failures
TOKYO - A series of system failures that hit Japanese megabank Mizuho Bank earlier this year, including many of its automated teller machines, were due to poor operation and management rather than system defects, a third-party panel concluded Tuesday.
The panel consisting of lawyers and system management experts said in a report that human errors such as in the placement of technology-related staff and the company culture of hesitating to speak up during contingencies to avoid liability issues caused the problem.
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NATO says China poses "systemic" challenges, to enhance Japan ties
BRUSSELS - Leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Monday warned that China's military ambitions pose "systemic challenges" to their alliance and agreed to enhance ties with Japan and other Asia-Pacific nations to back the rules-based international order.
The tough line against Beijing, which was taken in a communique released after the NATO summit, came as U.S. President Joe Biden rallies allies to counter what he calls autocracies like China and Russia that are challenging an open international order.
